15 WWE Pushes That IMMEDIATELY Backfired
6. Sin Cara (2011)
WWE held a heavily-covered press conference in Mexico City on 24 February 2011 to announce the signing of Mexican stand out star Mistico. There, they revealed that he’d be called Sin Cara from now on, and he was all set to become a mega-star who’d supplant Rey Mysterio as the premier masked man in the company. Several standard cameo appearances on TV followed, then Cara wrestled his first match on the 11 April Raw.
It wasn’t a spectacular outing whatsoever.
In fact, none of Cara’s matches were all that great, and his aerial work didn’t stand out as anything special or particularly bespoke. Those expecting the next coming of Mysterio were left thinking WWE had signed a dud. It was hard to shake that feeling when following Cara's first forays onto TV, to be honest.
A Wellness Policy violation in July didn’t help him, but the push was tanking before that anyway and everyone watching knew it. Sin Cara's trampoline-assisted entrance sometimes went awry and made him look clumsy rather than acrobatic. Think Rey Fenix if he fell down or slipped 5 out of 10 times he scaled the ropes for some flashy aerial work - people would soon get sick of those botches.
Instead of becoming Mysterio's successor, Sin Cara became somebody who needed rescued by a casting change. Mistico was out, and the ex-Hunico was in. He did a better job with the gimmick than predicted. It was never going to be headline material again, but at least it wasn't a crushing disappointment and occasional laughing stock like it had been before.