Silly Little Guys Who Didn't Belong In WWE ?

3. Eli Cottonwood

Ronnie Garvin
WWE.com

Eli Cottonwood's infamous "moustache" promo was the defining moment from a short and otherwise-uneventful WWE television career, but time is rightfully kinder to the wrestlers themselves from the game show era of NXT.

A needlessly cruel and potentially damaging process, early-2010s NXT was less of a developmental than Triple H's 2019 super-indie version of the show, dragging hopefuls through a host of increasingly irrelevant tasks and trials that made a mockery of the promotion, the performers, and anybody that saw it as a viable way to make it big. It was a self-own, too - if making it in WWE really did require such a hare-brained and scattershot skillset, maybe it wasn't that great place to make it along?

Eli Cottonwood was a textbook silly little guy because he was actually a very serious big one, but trapped in a time where the company seemed more intent on doing damage to prospects rather than helping any to maximise their minutes and fulfil any dormant potential.

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