Unfulfilled Potential

The list of wrestlers with unfufilled potential is a massive one but to give others a chance at discussion, I will least only three or four at a time and give reasons for my choices.

Brock Lesnar - Brock Lesnar recieved a massive push from his debut in 2002 and the crowd responded well to this. Pushing the athletic, fast moving powerhouse was a great move by WWE. They had plenty of star power from the past but they needed a young gun to lead the company. Brock was the perfect choice. He had great ability in the ring and with the charismatic Paul Heyman as his manager, he was one of the best all-round performers in the world. Even without Heyman in 03 and 04, Brock was still got super loud reactions from crowds despite his lack of mic skills. And then he left his position as the main attraction on Smackdown to fail at NFL. Brock had the wrestling talent and overness to reach HOF level and hold numerous World Titles. Now he's doing great in the UFC but the chance to be a pro wrestling legend is gone.

Raven - Raven was a character formed in ECW by Scott Levy and Paul Heyman. It was dark, moody and most importantly, unique. The Undertaker had been doing a dark gimmick in WWF but it wasn't executed anywhere near as Raven in ECW. With the compelling storylines with Tommy Dreamer and The Sandman helping advance his interesting character, Raven became a massive star in ECW and one of the leading members of the roster. He had decent wrestling ability, pretty basic without weapons and stuff but he had charisma in the ring which entertained the fans. He also had phenomenal mic skills which I rate up there with The Rock, Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair and Mick Foley. Raven acheived some success in WCW but was outshined by the nWo. That isn't surprising really when the nWo were the biggest thing in wrestling but it's still a shame. Upon arriving in WWF, instead of pushing Raven in the same style ECW did and enabling him to form an entourage, WWF booked Raven as a lower card garbage wrestler. A feud against The Undertaker would have elevated Raven up the card and got him over even more. It's such a shame that a wrestler with such skill at mic working was a Heat regular. He could have been an upper card attraction in WWE at least.

Chris Jericho - Chris Jericho is a wrestler with the whole package. He's a top quality wrestler who's developed a great hybrid skill from his time spent in Canada, Germany, Japan and Mexico. He's one of the few wrestlers around today who have experience around the world so wrestle a more entertaining style. Jericho also has top mic skills. His promos in WCW and WWE have always been original and interesting, something which most promo guys can't do. On the stick, he is funny as a face and entertaining as heel. His charisma is unmatched on Raw and he's one of the best all-round performers in the world today. His 2001 reign as Undisputed Champion was booked poorly with Jericho playing Stephanie McMahon's lackey and the Y2J/HHH rivalry playing a backseat to the HHH/Steph angle. Jericho's reign was weak but he wasn't really ready to be pushed over The Rock and Steve Austin in the same night. The fans hadn't accepted him as the man to take over yet. He should have won the belt in 04 or 05 and lead the company, he had all the skills too. Instead he was opening the show with Shelton Benjamin. He's champ now which is good but I still reckon he could have been much more of a big deal with bette booking earlier on in this WWE career.

I will post more later.