7 Wrestlers Who Were ELITE Everywhere Except WWE

Raven is one of the most fascinating characters of the 1990s. He's a man who looks like a walking Soundgarden album with a black cloud hanging heavily over his head; Raven told some of the best stories in ECW history. Paul Heyman regularly waxes lyrical about the layers and depth to the character he and Scott Levy put together in 1995, and for 2 years Raven was the architect of incredible matches, moments and narratives in Philadelphia.

Even when signing for WCW in 1997, his matches took place under 'Raven's Rules'. That saw him bring a little of his hardcore roots to their more conservative programming. The persona's nihilistic streak was gloriously sadistic as he bullied his members of Raven's Flock, and his 2003 Ring Of Honor feud with CM Punk was a generational meeting of minds long after WCW closed doors.

No matter what Punk does between now and retiring, this will stand among his best work. Such was the genius of Raven and the dynamic that they shared, eh?

In amongst all of this, Raven had a run in WWE between 2000-2003. It wasn't that his WWE work was bad, and his stuff in the hardcore division had flashes of brilliance, it's just this: When you have a character that shows the ugliest side of life with nuance and poetic storytelling, seeing him being reduced to feuding with Perry Saturn and his mop feels several thousand feet beneath him.

He never really got going in WWF/WWE.