Big pushes.
Sometimes they are fantastic, if you’re a wrestler stood on the precipice of going
over, a push could be all you need.
Sometimes they are not so good, if you’re a grandma stood on the precipice of the stairs
about to go over… you can fill in the blanks.
Laters grandma.
But it’s not just nanas who pushes aren’t good for, there have been plenty of times
in the PG Era alone that WWE Superstars have been pushed like they’re the next big thing
only to find out that they were just being used to put someone else over.
That person was always John Cena.
He stays young on the blood of dead careers, how do you think he grew his hair back?
Anyway, plenty have fallen foul of the big push to nowhere, I’m El Fakidor Laurie Blake
and here are 11 PG Era Pushes that went absolutely nowhere.
11 - Mr Kennedy Misterrrrrrrrrrrrr Kennedyyyyyyyy…
it’s Mr Kennedy
From all the reports at the time Mr. Kennedy was going to be the next big thing in WWE,
unlike a bunch of the names on this list he was a great in-ring worker, had skills on
the mic and got good booking early on.
He won the Money in the Bank briefcase back at WrestleMania 23 back in 2007.
However, he never got to cash it in, as he was injured during a match with Edge and had
to be out for a couple of months.
Although he made a comeback, injury and a suspension plagued the rest of his WWE career
and eventually he was released on May 29 2009.
The release itself is rumoured to have come about after Kennedy accidentally dropped Randy
Orton on his head… something the Viper was pissssed about.
But then again he did tea-bag Kennedy’s boots that one time, allegedly, so all’s
fair and being investigated...
Thankful for Ken Anderson he managed to have a successful career over in TNA/Impact and
on the indies, but without those injuries he could well have been WWE Champ.
10 - The Great Khali We all know that Vince McMahon loves big guys,
and he’s not precious, he likes them all.
From ultra muscly body-builder types to cranes in wrestling tights.
The Great Khali was the latter sort, standing 7 ft 1 inch tall and with all the movement
ability of a dying giraffe (South Park giraffe noise) he was bound to catch Vince’s eye.
His gigantic frame just wasn’t suited to wrestling and his moveset was severely limited
as well, a chop, a kick, a vice grip and a powerbomb.
He’s got less moves than Luke Owen dancing.
Harsh tbf, Luke held his own in the lip sync.
But he was really big, so he got to beat the likes of the Undertaker and then WWE had the
insane idea of putting the World Heavyweight Title on Khali which lasted until Batista
defeated him inside a Punjabi Prison at No Mercy 2007.
Thankfully WWE ended the push and found him a role he was much more suited to, being a
Playboy… a regular Huge Hefner.
9 - The Miz The Miz seems like an odd candidate to have
on this list as he is the ultimate midcard act in WWE, the safest, heel pair of hands
to go around with the Intercontinental or US Titles you are likely to find.
He’s a solid worker, depending on who he is in there with, and easily one of the best
promos in the biz.
But he was also the man who suddenly won the WWE Title in a push so sudden his tag partner
John Morrison changed his name everywhere he went to get away from being associated
with this.
Johnny Incognito.
Miz won the Money in the Bank briefcase back in 2010, cashed in on Orton to win the belt
and main evented WrestleMania 27 against John Cena and won.
Unheard of.
All the while he was secretly a mid-carder who the crowd just weren't behind.
Thankfully he’s that damn good that he’s a mainstay of the company nowadays and is
the second longest reigning Intercontinental Champion of all time.
8 - Jack Swagger As an all-American champion amateur wrestler,
Jack Swagger had everything WWE looks for in a star, be a baby Kurt Angle basically.
Even if you’re definitely not his son.
Swagger won the Money in the Bank briefcase back in 2010 and shocked the WWE Universe
by cashing in on Chris Jericho just two days later to win the World Heavyweight Championship.
Unfortunately creative ran out of ideas for Swagger right about there, so he held the
belt for two months before dropping it to Rey Mysterio.
After an attempt to recapture the belt, the company dropped him down from the top of the
card and a Swagger became a saunter became a stumble became lying down completely still
waiting for the sweet release of death.
He got a release of a different kind when WWE wished him the best of luck in his future
endeavours in March 2017, he now wrestles in Lucha Underground and is signed to Bellator
in MMA. 7 - Vladimir Kozlov
A Russian wrestler?
In WWE?
He’s a heel, no flipping doubt.
As a former kickboxing champion and standing at an impressive 6ft 6 inches you can see
why Vince was sweet on Vladimir and gave him a monster push.
Making his debut in 2008, he minced a bunch of jobbers and then got the real push.
The only issue being, he couldn’t really wrestle.
That didn’t stop WWE pushing him, he even pinned the Undertaker clean on Smackdown in
2009.
However, you can only bumble through life so long, and after several dreadful matches
Koslov’s push stopped.
He was placed into a comedy tag team with Santino Marella in 2010, the cobra was actually
a poison asp for your career.
One year later Koslov was released.
Asps very dangerous, you go….
Away now... 6 - Ryback
Feed me more.
Never actually ate anyone though, bloody PG era.
Ryback debuted on the main roster as part of John Cena feeding machine the Nexus named
as Skip Sheffield.
He was destined to fail.
Or be bestest chums with Archie Andrews.
Not only was he badly named twice - we’ve already got Rhyno for christsakes Ryback,
but he was infamously a botcher and the likes of CM Punk talked openly about their anger
at his in-ring style.
Despite feuding with Punk, both kayfabe and real life, and John Cena, Ryback never managed
to win the top title and had a bland old run with the Intercontinental.
Nor did his billing as a Goldberg 2.0 help much either, with fans often droning goldberg
during Ryback’s matches.
WWE’s all you can eat buffet eventually ran out for Ryback though and he was released
in May 2016.
He now works the indies and has legally changed his name to Ryback… at least it’s not
Skip Sheffield… please sir, can you feed me more, I’m starving.
5 - Bobby Lashley Bobby Bobert Bobbins Lashley, he’s a heck
of physical specimen my maaaan and naturally got pushed to the moon during his first run
back in 2005-2008.
Unfortunately when he won the ECW title back in 2006, many fans turned on Lashley because
they were clamouring for a Rob Van Dam or CM Punk victory.
It didn’t help that he was then chosen by some dude named Donald Trump to represent
him in the infamous Battle of the Billionaires match at Mania 23.
That segment has aged well...
But Lashley’s performance in that match had him earmarked for a WWE Championship opportunity
against John Cena, but he lost, so that was that really.
As a result of this performance, he was handed a WWE Championship opportunity against John
Cena, which he lost, and that was that.
He was released in 2008 while recovering from surgery and it took ten years for us to see
him in a WWE ring again… and considering the shit they’ve done with him so far, another
ten years may not have been so bad...
4 - R-Truth What's up?
Not his career trajectory.
Which is a shame because Truth can be proper funny, but there was a time when WWE wanted
so much more from Ron Killings.
Back in 2010 Truth beat Miz on an episode of Raw to capture his first United States
Championship which was the beginning of a slow set-up for a shot at the top prize.
The following year Ron bested Rey Mysterio at Over the Limit and set his sights on WWE
Champion John Cena - who it feels like has been the champion in every story so far - and
lost, losing all momentum as he did so.
Cena strikes again.
Since then Truth has been consigned to comedy tag teams and jamming with Carmella on Smackdown.
That’s Whats up.
3 - The Nexus
When they made their excellent debut in June 2010, The Nexus seemed destined to be the
next big thing in WWE.
Led by Wade Barrett the team consisted of David Otunga, Skip Sheffield, Heath Slater,
Datten Young, Michael Tarver, Justin Gabriel and Daniel Bryan - one of these things is
not like the others.
Michael McGillicutty secretly Curtis Axel, Husky Harris secretly Bray Wyatt and Mason
Ryan secretly an independent wrestler would join at a later date.
For almost a year the group tore through WWE and seemed like they would be around for the
long-haul.
Until Cena.
John started to feud with Barrett which saw him forced to join the group, fired and exiled,
constantly interfering and eventually rehired and booked into a match with Barrett where
Cena tore through the entire Nexus and beat Barrett.
Essentially killing the group dead.
Thanks Cena.
Even a CM Punk led reboot couldn’t do much for the faction.
2 - Tensai Most will remember Matt Bloom's early 2000s
run in WWE as Albert, but in 2012 he returned as Lord Tensai, no mention of him being Albert
though, just a white dude, popped over from Japan as you do.
Tensai burst onto the scene, smushing up the undercard acts but also besting the likes
of John Cena and CM Punk.
But Cena never gives up, and never gets booked to lose without getting a win back, so he
eventually ended Tensai’s winning streak and then the downward spiral began.
Even qualifying for a World Heavyweight Championship ladder match at Money in the Bank 2012 couldn’t
resurrect this giant gaijin and he was reduced to a comedy act before eventually moving backstage
to become head trainer at the performance centre.
Alex Riley
Alex Riley had been a star in developmental brand FCW, winning the championship and gaining
a major push there, before taking part in the second season of NXT where he was mentored
by the Miz and finished third overall.
But looks like history keeps repeating itself as WWE main roster proved yet again that it
can’t handle developmental stars.
On the main roster in 2010 Riley began appearing as The Miz’s valet, The Miz would go on
to say that he had signed a ‘personal services contract’ with Riley which sounds kinky,
but just meant that Riley would accompany him to ringside, interfere in matches and
tangled up in submissions meant for the Miz, sounds kinky.
And it never really got any better, despite short-lived feuds with John Cena (the signs
were there) Riley never lived up to the promise he showed in FCW.
-------
So those were naff pushes, but those aren't the only mistakes WWE have made, how about
some really weird WWE title reigns?
Click the video on-screen now to find out more.
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I’ve been El Fakidor and that was lucha.