10 Wrestlers You Never Knew Had WWE Tryouts

3. Steve Corino (2002 & 2007)

Corino, a well-traveled indie and Japanese wrestling veteran, actually spent time in WWE's training system in the late 90s. The King of Old School attended the Funkin' Dojo camp (alongside the likes of Kurt Angle and Christopher Daniels) and even made a few appearances on shows like Shotgun Saturday Night, where he worked as a jobber. He was not offered a contract, however, and continued to ply his trade on the indies, in ECW and then primarily in Japan over the next several years. He received another WWE tryout, this time as a colour commentator, in 2002 but didn't impress the right people. He was not offered a deal. So it was back to the indies and Japan. Then WWE came calling again, in 2007. This one came about courtesy of Dusty Rhodes, who was a mentor to Corino on the indies in the early 2000s. Corinio's pro-wrestling, anti-establishment attitude clashed with WWE (naturally) and it, once again, he was not offered a contract. Incidentally, another rumoured reason for Corino's lack of deal was that, despite his talent, Vince McMahon was disgusted by his appearance, particularly his scar tissue-heavy forehead, the result of years of reckless blade jobs.