20 Most Underappreciated WWE Stars Of The 21st Century

18. Ultimo Dragon

Montel Vontavious Porter
WWE

There are few wrestling stars of the past 25 years who have had the influence of Ultimo Dragon. Not only did the star hold just about every junior heavyweight championship worth mentioning, and not only did he successfully manage to combine Japanese and Mexican wrestling styles, but he also trained a generation of men who would take the reins of the sport, including current New Japan ace Kazuchika Okada.

An arm injury in the late '90s nearly ended his career, but when he was finally able to return to the ring, he wanted to do it in WWE. The company was happy to sign up him, thinking they were getting another Rey Mysterio, but soon after, they realized that Dragon's style was very different. WWE officials soon lost interest, and he spent the next year having great matches on Velocity, often teaming with with Funaki.

It was a bummer of a run, but Dragon still got to check two goals off his list - he wrestled in Madison Square Garden and he competed at WrestleMania.

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Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013