Silly Little Guys Who Didn't Belong In WWE ?

9. Rob Gronkowski

Ronnie Garvin
WWE

Rob Gronkowski was a supremely successful NFL star, with achievements and awards including four Super Bowls, four first-team All-Pros, five Pro Bowls, and a host of other awards and acknowledgements that all sound very good but don't mean an awful lot if you don't know your football.

If you know your wrestling - and you're here, so good start - Gronk's contributions to the industry before 2020 started and ended with being Mojo Rawley's friend and helping him win the Andre The Giant Battle Royal at WrestleMania 33. Not exactly glittering, but any athletic background can be enough if you've got charisma, and he appeared to have plenty of that.

Until, bizarrely, he didn't. An entire WWE "special attraction" run spent working under pandemic conditions didn't help, but when you're brought in for your mainstream appeal as much as your wrestling skill, that shouldn't really matter. Gronk's wooden displays as the WrestleMania 36 host and 24/7 Champion were roundly critiqued as well.

Only an incredibly silly debut sticks out from an all-around torrid time.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett