20 Wrestlers Who Stole A Living From WWE

20. Daniel Puder

When someone is signed to a $1,000,000 WWE contract, you€™d expect them to be a big deal and become a big star for the company. Daniel Puder did neither of those things. It was clear from the beginning that WWE had high hopes for Puder. Unlike many people on this list, Puder was a skilled grappler and mixed martial artist, and he had a look that could€™ve made him quite marketable. So when he won the first-ever $1,000,000 Tough Enough competition, many people took it as a sign that he could be the next big thing. However, after winning, his career fizzled out. WWE didn€™t do anything to build him into a big star like they tried with Maven years earlier, and Puder wandered aimlessly in WWE before being sent down to OVW and then released. One possible reason for this happening was his shoot on Kurt Angle, where he put Angle in a kimura lock and nearly broke Angle€™s arm. Had Referee Jimmy Korderas not fast-counted a pin victory for Angle, Puder could€™ve destroyed Angle€™s character entirely. As you can imagine, Angle was furious with this moment. Another example, according to Hardcore Holly, was how Puder kept bragging about how he defeated Holly at house shows, which led to Holly and fellow veterans Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero beating the hell out of him in the 2005 Royal Rumble match. It€™s a shame his career never worked out. WWE spent so much money on this guy, and tried to promote Tough Enough as this legitimate contest that can, and has, created new WWE Superstars. Unfortunately, the only person to come to WWE via that channel still employed with the company is the Miz, and he didn€™t even win the contest. For Daniel Puder, his chance at glory went down the drain when he chose to shoot on one of the best technical wrestlers in WWE history.