9 Early 2000s WWE Failures The Company Had Huge Plans For

3. Maven

Like Mark Jindrak, Maven was also at one point in the running to become a member of Evolution. Why it never happened is something of a mystery, but Maven went from the winner of the first ever Tough Enough, feuding with The Undertaker and appearing on WrestleMania to bland babyface job boy in dishearteningly quick fashion. After a very promising first few months in WWE, the talented and likeable Maven broke his fibula during a May 2002 house show match with Christian, pinning him to the sidelines for a few months. When he came back he was mostly used on Heat and in an undercard role on Raw, before receiving an all-too-brief push in 2004. He began feuding with Evolution and even had a World Heavyweight Title match with Triple H in the main event of Raw, before turning heel and beginning a feud with IC Champ Shelton Benjamin. It was here that many hoped Maven would finally start showing how far he'd come on as a worker, since he'd clearly been working on his physique and changed his look, ditching the boring black shorts in favour of colourful trunks. Alas, his new body did not coincide with any substantial push and he was pinned by Benjamin (twice) in a matter of seconds on PPV. It was an embarrassment. Maven subsequently formed a team with fitness guru Simon Dean, although they were basically jobbers and the union didn't last long, with Dean drafted to Smackdown. Maven was released in July 2005. At one point, it looked like WWE had the youngster pegged for superstardom, but things just didn't work out like they were supposed to for one reason or another.