So it's safe to say WWE is the worst it's ever been right now and it's not because there's a pandemic going on, is that playing a factor sure, but there's a bigger problem that's holding it back, that problem is in the form of a person, named Vince McMahon. If you pay attention as closely as I and most hardcore wrestling fans do, you've heard the numerous times, recently and in past years, of Vince McMahon "losing interest" in certain talents, and it getting so bad to a point that he strips away what makes them who they are, or he does absolutely nothing with them, or 50/50 books them to death making it impossible to care anymore and to have any momentum on their side at all (basically everyone except a select few). So today and I've been meaning to do this for a while it just never felt like the right time. I'm gonna break down ten talents in no particular order, that will probably never be WWE or Universal Champion as long as Vince McMahon is in charge. This is probably gonna hurt, but it's also very, very likely. Also feel free to argue any of the entries in the comments of the post or where it is shared.
10. Samoa Joe
Of all the people that will be on this list, Samoa Joe is the one out of all of them that should already have a world championship reign in WWE under his belt. He has all the tools, he's one of the best all around talents in the world, he can talk, he can wrestle with the best of them. For whatever reason he can't catch a break in WWE. Whether it's injury, or him being used to get someone over (which seems to happen a lot). We all know how good he is, Vince McMahon has to know, he's seen his work for as long as he's been in WWE. For whatever reason he won't pull the trigger on him. If you ask me, the Samoan Submission Machine, once healthy would be perfect to beat Braun Strowman and save the dying depleting Universal title picture on Smackdown. Joe is currently doing commentary on Raw but he's too good to keep there once cleared to compete again, and Smackdown is in desperate need of good heels on the male side. Vince McMahon needs to use Joe to his full potential while he's still here, and he truly deserves it, even though that is cliche to say, he actually does.
9. Ricochet
Ricochet is one of the most athletic people in WWE, and he's had some opportunities here and there. Then reports came out, that Vince McMahon was bored of him (which is mind blowing). There's going to be a trend on this list so might as well get that out of the way, the majority of the people on this list, are not WWE made, and don't fit the Vince McMahon mold. Ricochet has one huge problem in WWE, he can't talk, and whenever he does, he comes off as a nerd whose reading off a piece of paper. The whole "super heroes are real" thing doesn't work, not in this landscape, not in this era. Fans are too smart for that, however the dynamic that should matter to Vince and clearly doesn't, is the kids aspect. Kids absolutely love Ricochet, and you can easily give him a mouth piece and instantly make him seem more important. At the same time, I've been saying for a very long time, Ricochet needs a heel turn. Make him a cocky heel that comes off as the kind of person who doesn't realize how cocky he is, because he's that good. I want that so bad for Ricochet and it's safe to say that probably won't happen until someone else runs the show.
8. Chad Gable
So if you're like me, you are all the way offended about "Shorty G". I will not be calling him that ever, it's a dumb idea by stupid creative (thank you Chris Jericho for that one). The fact of the matter is this, Chad Gable is the modern day Kurt Angle, and everyone and their mother should be offended at the way he is portrayed on TV. He isn't that short, he's 5'8", so putting emphasis on that for sympathy is stupid. Guess who else was 5'8", Eddie Guerrero. Putting this character on him was an immediate death warrant on his career. Nobody is going to take someone named "Shorty G" seriously at all. I give Gable credit for doing it at all and making it work to an extent, but the fact he is as good as he is, and Vince McMahon doesn't see that, is mind blowing to me. WWE is desperate for stars, you have one right here, staring you in the face and he's a wrestling machine, just like Kurt Angle, who by the way, is only 4 inches taller then Gable. As long as Vince McMahon is getting his kicks out of this horrible character that, as we know by now is probably only funny to him, Gable is gonna hurt, and part of me, would love to see him in New Japan so he could kill it.
7. Mustafa Ali
Earlier I mentioned how Ricochet could be someone the kids look up to and he could be huge almost Rey Mysterio level. Mustafa Ali, could absolutely be that, and he can talk better then most people on the roster. Just the fact that he's a former cop and he articulates his promos in a way that pulls you in, should be enough for Vince to see money. Now imagine having the talent of Mustafa Ali, and you've been sitting at home for seven months, not because there's a pandemic going on, and he chose to, not because he was injured and he was healing up, but because WWE just chose not to use him. That is beyond ridiculous, again, you're desperate for stars, and you have a great one right here. The fact that he isn't already a former Intercontinental Champion multiple times, is insulting, the fact he isn't still on Smackdown (ya know that show you made a big deal about putting on FOX and you have zero stars on it on the men's side) and feuding with AJ Styles right now. This doesn't seem hard at all. It comes down to this, Vince McMahon is stubborn, Vince McMahon is spiteful, and because he didn't make these people they aren't worth it to him. You have a huge star right here. Also I think we can all guess by now that hacker gimmick was going to be Mustafa Ali, and that was a perfect way to reintroduce him, and it was dropped for no reason. Instead we got 50/50 booking right out the gate, and that's unacceptable, but it's the Vince McMahon way.
6. Pete Dunne
When WWE started the NXT UK Brand, Pete Dunne was pegged right away as the face of that brand. The upside was too obvious not to see. The talent was too good not reward. Triple H sees the talent in these guys because he's not as vindictive as his father-in-law. Now eventually when he's actually able to travel to the Unite States, I think it will be inevitable that Pete Dunne will be a main roster main stay at some point. The problem is, just like everyone else on this list, I fear that his talent isn't enough, if it was, everyone on this list would be champions already. Vince McMahon clearly doesn't care about people he didn't mold, he doesn't care about people who made a name for themselves outside of WWE. Unless he sees the dollar signs. Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, and AJ Styles being that exception. I worry that won't happen for Pete Dunne as long as Vince is in charge, we just now got our first Scottish World Champion, still to this day we haven't seen an England born World Champion and I don't know if Vince will see that for Pete Dunne, does he deserve it (even though that's a cliche in wrestling) absolutely, I don't think it will happen in the next three years as long as Vince is at the helm.
5. Johnny Gargano
Forget about the fact that Gargano has been an NXT main stay and continues to be. One day he's going to end up on Raw or Smackdown, and one day he will be underutilized under the leadership of Vince McMahon. Johnny Gargano is and can be another "Yes Movement" type character like Daniel Bryan. The fans have gotten behind him on that level before. The problem I can see is even if that's true, would it be enough to convince Vince McMahon. It would have to be to big to ignore, just like Daniel Bryan, that is the only way I ever see Johnny Gargano "at the top of the food chain" in WWE under Vince McMahon. Now as far as we know Johnny Gargano may stay in NXT forever, and he'd probably be okay with that, the problem with that, is there is a ceiling in NXT, and he's arguably reached it already and then some. Unlike Tommaso Ciampa who I didn't feature on this countdown for a reason, that reason being that he has said in the past he will retire before he's called up to the main roster, even though this current landscape we're in would be the perfect time for him to do a main roster run. Johnny Gargano is too good to waste if he ever went to Raw or Smackdown, I don't have hope for that under Vince McMahon.
4. Aleister Black
When Aleister Black was called up to Raw/Smackdown (considering at the time the call ups were in limbo on both shows) the ceiling of his career was really, really high. He see a guy like that, the character, the work in the ring, everything about him screams star. Fast forward to now, he was on a year and a half long winning streak in singles matches (that was never acknowledged), and it ended on a random episode of Raw just last week. His unique entrance that nobody else has, was taken from him, and even though he won at Wrestlemania, he had to sit back and watch three people who lost at Wrestlemania, get title shots before him. So what's the problem? The theme of this article is the problem, Vince McMahon. Last week it was reported that Vince McMahon doesn't see what we see in Aleister Black, that is beyond mind blowing to me. You have a guy so unique, someone fans are begging, literally BEGGING, to see reach the pinnacle. I fear for him a lot, and he deserves way better. I hope he isn't dead in the water, but right now especially it's very hard to argue and it makes me very, very sad.
3. Shinsuke Nakamura
Remember when Shinsuke Nakamura debuted in NXT, and the red carpet was rolled out? Remember when it was special to see Shinsuke Nakamura? Remember when Shinsuke Nakamura was called up to Smackdown and we all said, they can't ruin what makes him who he is, and make him exactly like everybody else? Guess what happened? They ruined what makes him who he is and made him exactly like everybody else. How could anybody in charge of wrestling company not see the upside of this star. Enter Vince McMahon, the destroyer of dreams. Now don't get me wrong, first year saw him win a Royal Rumble, have a WWE title match at Wrestlemania, then he turned heel and it all went down hill from there, because he lost two more WWE title shots, they made him super uninteresting, and as I said earlier, just like everyone else. Why is it so hard for Vince to take chances on people he doesn't even need to work that hard to push. Shinsuke Nakamura is criminally underused, and sure he's had a short lived tag team with Rusev a failure, an Intercontinental title reign that went nowhere, but what else is there? I hope one day he gets to go back to the way he was and make him special again, that probably won't happen under Vince McMahon though.
2. Sami Zayn
Once the face of NXT, nobody was more over than Sami Zayn at one point. That certainly hasn't happened on Raw or Smackdown. I don't know what happened to him, recently, but you'd think it would get to a point like Daniel Bryan where he'd be too over to ignore, and that hasn't happened. When he came to the main roster he immediately continued his feud with Kevin Owens that we thought would never end, then they became friends on screen again and were heels, then Owens became a face again, and then, for the first time in their WWE career they were on different shows. Which is how it needs to be, but Zayn has been looked at in the same light. My guess is because he doesn't have the look Vince McMahon wants, because his talent in all aspects is undeniable. His work recently has been undeniable, his work in the last two and half years has been undeniable (except that Lashley feud). Why won't the trigger be pulled on this man, what does he have to do to reach the top of the mountain in WWE. We've seen him have great matches with John Cena, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Shinsuke Nakamura, and of course Kevin Owens, the only answer I can give, is new ownership.
1. Cesaro
So even though this entire list is in no particular order, there's only one man who out of everyone is probably the most underutilized in a singles capacity, and that's Cesaro. If you listen to podcasts like I do, the New Day Podcast, the Corey Graves Podcast, the list goes on, everyone sings the praises of how good Cesaro is. There's no such thing as Cesaro slander, and if their is, they are 100% wrong and there's no argument to give. There's no excuse as to why Cesaro isn't a twelve time former world champion at this time. The only answer again, the theme of this list, the owner of the comany. Vince McMahon, can't accept how liked Cesaro is, he can't accept how good Cesaro is because he didn't make him. He can give his stupid company answers "oh he didn't grab the brass ring" and "he doesn't have the It Factor", he can't believe that, he's bitter, and we've all heard stories about how too many people go to bat for someone backstage, and Vince gets completely turned off and instead of doing the right thing, he does the opposite and I'm convinced that is where is Cesaro is at. The man is too good, and to me he can do no wrong. He needs a real main event run in WWE before his career is over, and I don't care how many times I have to say it before it happens, forget the "good hand" role, forget "grabbing the brass ring", this is pure talent and nothing else, and that spells champion.
That's gonna do it for me, I enjoy doing these kinds of lists to fully express my opinions on certain topics and I hope people enjoy these and in the future I'll do more of them. This one I've been very open about and anyone who knows me knows my strong feelings for all of these people and there star power being wasted, it's unacceptable, and I don't what needs to happen for them to finally get their shot, but they all deserve it.
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good article keep up the good work
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