8 WWE Tag Team Stars Who Couldn't Cut It As Singles

Poor Marty Jannetty. His lack of solo success, coupled with the amazing, Hall of Fame career of his former partner Shawn Michaels, has led to him being the defacto measuring stick when it comes to gauging the success of a tag team once they split from one another.

How many times have you heard someone referred to as 'the Marty Jannetty' of a team? It's a shame, really, because the former Rocker was a talented worker in his own right and didn't exactly have a dud of a career in WWE. It has to be said, however, that whenever he was without a tag partner, he struggled.

Jannetty's best period was undoubtedly teaming with HBK, although he only won WWE tag gold when he began tagging with 1-2-3 Kid in 1993. His biggest shot at singles stardom was in a feud with Michaels, but that was brought to an abrupt end when he was fired following the 1993 Royal Rumble, apparently because Vince McMahon and WWE management felt he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, leading to the low quality of the match.

Curt Hennig apparently convinced Vince to rehire Jannetty a few months later, telling the boss that the match was actually a stinker because of the Showstopper. Jannetty captured the Intercontinental Title but dropped it back to Michaels a few weeks later and it was back to the tag ranks for him.

A low point came in 1996 when he and Leif 'Al Snow' Cassidy formed the New Rockers (putting the word 'New' in front of something is never a good idea in wrestling). Jannetty was so unimpressed with his lot that he asked for and was given his release.

In his mind, the team should have been broken up so that they could feud with one another and forge singles careers. WWE, however, felt that Jannetty had received a crack at singles stardom in the past and had failed to take advantage of it.

In their eyes, he was a serviceable midcard tag team wrestler and little else.