12 Most Desperate Grabs For Relevancy In WWE

Being a professional wrestler in WWE is tough. One day you're at the top of the company and on top of the world, and the next, you're yesterday's news. With ratings dropping precipitously lower, it's not just mid-card stars who are clamoring for some TV time but bigger names as well. WWE writers are struggling to get tired, jaded fans interested in a color-by-numbers product. However, bringing in big part-time names like Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker isn't exactly putting butts in seats, to borrow a term from the Monday Night Wars. We all remember that one wrestler or two who got a big push, had some fire behind them (or some heel heat), and then just vanished without a trace. After all, what ever happened to Jack Swagger or R-Truth? At one point, they seemed to have blossoming careers and had a lot of fan attention behind them. Now you never see them on Raw or SmackDown. WWE has its collective hands in more pies than ever before. The brand makes movies, produces reality TV (Total Divas, Tough Enough), creates and donates to causes, and trains stars at the WWE Performance Center in Florida. Yet, still people just aren't entertained. Whether it was WWE writers or the Superstars and Divas themselves that came up with these storylines and character changes, you can't help but feel the desperation. It's so palpable that you can cut it with a knife. These desolate grabs are last-ditch efforts for many stars, their final chance to shine and register with an already bored crowd before fading into obscurity and irrelevancy forever. The results, as you'll see, aren't always pretty.

12. Adam Rose

Remember in May when ESPN aired E:60 WWE: Behind the Curtain, which showcased the lives of a handful of then-NXT up-and-comers on their quest to stand out on a talented roster and eventually move up to WWE? The program cracked into the personal lives of wrestlers like Xavier Woods, Corey Graves, and Adam Rose. Rose, born Ray Leppan, and his wife have a son named Maverick who can only consume food via a feeding tube. Our hearts broke, and we truly felt for Adam Rose, perhaps for the first time. Leo Kruger, his brusque, accented NXT character, was doing alright, but just when Kruger could have gained some momentum, Leppan debuted as the fun-loving, partying Adam Rose with his crew of Rosebuds. His entourage shrunk every week, the Bunny jumped ship, and soon Rose came out to the same music but with a stiff, mechanic entrance and a dead look in his eyes. It was spooky. Clearly it was time for a change, so now Rose is a Right to Censor-esque character who has talked a lot about hot, steaming poops. Yeah. Sadly, we're not sure what this will accomplish for his stale career.