20 Most Underappreciated WWE Stars Of The 21st Century
Who deserved more from the company?
It's no exaggeration to say that since 2000, WWE has employed hundreds and hundreds of wrestlers who have made varying marks on the company. Some, like Roman Reigns, were earmarked for greatness from day one. Others, like Daniel Bryan and CM Punk, were independent darlings who fought hard to make it to the top of the biggest stage in wrestling.
Unfortunately, for every Bryan and Punk who grabbed glory and every Reigns who was a company project, there were dozens upon dozens of wrestlers who didn't reach anywhere close to those heights. In some cases, that was for the best (looking at you, Heidenreich), but there were also stars who really deserved a much higher profile than WWE gave them.
This list looks at the top 20 men and women who put in a lot more than they got out of their WWE careers. Some of them still work for the company, and so the door isn't shut on their fortunes just yet. Others could potentially return someday.
For the rest, unfortunately, there are no more opportunities, and they'll simply go down in history as stars who didn't get what they deserved.
20. Raven
During the 1990s, Raven became one of the cornerstones of ECW via a feud with Tommy Dreamer and a character that was deemed more cerebral than anything the big two were offering. Still, to call him a big fish in a small pond would be inaccurate - the star jumped to WCW in 1997 and, without changing his character, became hugely popular in the organization. While he didn't reach the main event, he was still benefiting from a ton of exposure.
Surely WWE - which absorbed much of what made ECW so revolutionary by the end of the 20th century - could make Raven a superstar, right? He arrived in the organization in 2000, but it was clear almost from the get-go that WWE's higher-ups simply weren't interested in giving him a real push. He teamed with Tazz in a feud against announcers Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler, and while he ended up winning the Hardcore Title multiple times, he was lost in the shuffle of the Invasion.
Eventually, Raven was "banished" from Raw to Sunday Night Heat, a pretty stark demotion. He soon left the company for TNA.