Dean Malenko is now regarded as one of the wisest and most experienced road agents in the WWE, but was also once an excellent technical wrestler in his own right. After a very highly regarded career in WCW, he jumped ship from WCW with the rest of The Radicalz stable and quickly won the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship. Unfortunately, he was never able to deliver upon his tremendous potential in the same manner as close friends Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit, suffering a series of niggling neck injuries which ultimately forced him to retire in 2001. Although he was 41 at the time, Vince McMahon and co. clearly believed that Malenko had a future as an established WWF superstar, consistently providing him with feuds with popular stars such as The Hardy Boys and Scotty 2 Hotty. A disappointingly premature end to a promising WWF run, but one which Dean admirably managed to turn into a successful backstage career.
