7 Elaborate WWE Vignettes That Led To Nothing

In today's WWE, vignettes promoting the debut of a soon-to-be member of the main roster aren't really necessary. Thanks to NXT, fans are already well acquainted with the company's rookies, and even without it, many of them have extensive backgrounds on the independent circuit anyway.

In previous eras, however, they were almost ubiquitous. Seldom did a WWE wrestler take their first steps in the ring without having to film an elaborate promo delivered directly into the camera, often while standing in the middle of an on-location setting tangentially related to their new gimmick (a beach, a graveyard, a funfair).

Though comically over-the-top, these vignettes more often than not served a purpose, namely introducing an upcoming character to the audience and giving them a general idea as to the type of person they were. In short, they worked - hence WWE kept using them as a means of promotion.

That said, there are a small number of examples of elaborate vignettes which didn't quite succeed in setting the featured wrestler up for a long and successful wrestling career. In fact, here are a bunch which barely made it into the ring...

In early 2003, Sean O'Haire appeared in a series of vignettes in which he implored viewers to commit various "sinful" acts. In the above video, for example, he suggests that men in the WWE audience should cheat on their spouses, telling them, "your wife will thank you later".

It was all part of his radical new Devil's Advocate gimmick, for which he began wearing a comically over-sized leather jacket and covered his body in tasteless spider tattoos.

The main highlight of the run was his short-lived alliance with Roddy Piper, who enlisted the help of the former WCW star in his ongoing feud with Mr America. The pair met at Judgement Day, where Zach Gowen helped his hero score a routine win.

Despite being occasionally quite entertaining - O'Haire succeeded, for instance, in persuading a young Brian Kendrick to strip backstage and run into general manager Stephanie McMahon's office - the character was abruptly dropped a couple of months later, and the man behind it soon after released.