Guys who were supposed to be "The Guy" in the future

[suave]

Reading that thread about MVP and Kennedy got me thinking. There have been so many guys with enormous hype that never became "The Man" like they were supposed to. One is Vladamir Kozlov. Dude had the streak, was put in with a bunch of big names like HHH and Hardy, but after he lost to HBK he kind of slowly dwindled to obscurity. Another guy is Bam Bam Bigelow. He was the focus of an article in Sports Illustrated while he was still training. He had that big angle with all the managers vying for him when he came in. He had the look, the skills, and IMO he could have been a gritty counterpart to what the WWE offered at the time. I mean, he main evented Wrestlemania 11, and he had a good, long career, but he could have been more. There were a ton of guys like this. Can anyone think of more?

[Joe Neglia]

Megaman Tom McGee - Vince had him pegged as the guy to follow Hogan based, legendarily and allegedly, on one really outstanding match he had with a young Bret Hart. And then it became painfully clear Bret carried him the entire way...

[hypnoticgenes]

Elijah Burke and Drew McIntyre were both christened by Vince McMahon himself to be future WWE champions.

[Deleted]

Apr 18, 2014 14:47:34 GMT -5 hypnoticgenes said:

Elijah Burke and Drew McIntyre were both christened by Vince McMahon himself to be future WWE champions.

Burke was good, but he had the rotten setup of being a guy not named CM Punk on ECW. Nobody besides Punk was going to succeed there.

I still think a lot of McIntyre's issues came from his really terrible theme song. People here enjoyed it but it was so slow and plodding and generic evil that it was like a giant sigh of MEHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

[saintpat]

Apr 18, 2014 14:34:52 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Megaman Tom McGee - Vince had him pegged as the guy to follow Hogan based, legendarily and allegedly, on one really outstanding match he had with a young Bret Hart. And then it became painfully clear Bret carried him the entire way...

I'd like to see some support for the idea that McGee was ever going to be THE GUY from something other than Bret's account of one match ... where they likely told Bret what he had to hear to get him to do the job. They wanted to see what the guy could do and might have planned to push him, but I don't think they pegged him as the future of the company in any way.

Kozlov got a monster heel push but not a THE GUY push. They were making him credible.

The most interesting one to me is that Undertaker never, in any way, was THE GUY. I never understood that. Maybe his gimmick after time better suited a "special attraction" role than a carry-the-company role, but there were plenty of times before that where he could have been elevated: the American Badass could have been pushed to the very top, or the same could have happened in the mid-2000s when the Dead Man returned.

He was uppercard for the better part of two decades, but never pushed to the very top in a meaningful and sustainable way.

[JTH]

I think a lot of people can make a case that Sheamus was going on that route for a while.

[keezy]

Ryback was the most recent one, and they really wanted to make Del Rio and Sin Cara top Latino babyfaces.

[Old Jack Burton]

[Allie Kitsune]

Kenny Dykstra.

That sure turned out great.

[Push R Truth]

Bobby Lashley was the last real 'Holy Shit I never knew you could push a guy this hard' that I remember. He was the centerpiece in the Trump/Vince stuff.

For a couple months I fully believed Vince thought he was going to be the next Big Thing. His nickname around the net for a long time was Black Lesnar for petes sake

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

Apr 18, 2014 15:41:55 GMT -5 JTH said:

I think a lot of people can make a case that Sheamus was going on that route for a while.

Not really. His entire face run seemingly had him spinning his wheels in borderline irrelevance with 18 Seconds being his sole "highlight".

[Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby]

Apr 18, 2014 16:12:21 GMT -5 CATCH_US IS the Conversation said:

Apr 18, 2014 15:41:55 GMT -5 JTH said:

I think a lot of people can make a case that Sheamus was going on that route for a while.

Not really. His entire face run seemingly had him spinning his wheels in borderline irrelevance with 18 Seconds being his sole "highlight".

18 Seconds seemed like a badly, horribly misguided attempt to make Sheamus. Everything after that was the fallout of him being way less over than they wanted, and having too few main event heels to challenge him (hence endless ADR).

[psychokiller]

Ludvig Borga was supposed to be a top heel back in the mid 90's but than he had a bad injury which changed plans. There were rumors that plans were to eventually put the WWE Title on him.

[Deleted]

Unfortunately I see Roman Reigns hitting this list.

Nothing against him, I like the guy but I see him becoming a Batista more than a Cena. I'd say Seth Rollins has a brighter future if we talk about being "the guy". A lot of guys always come up like this. Hell, a few months ago they said the same thing about Mojo Rawley and the fact they feel he could "carry the company on his back". I recall a similar comment about Rusev too. Sheamus was considered too before the whole 18 Seconds thing. There has been a good amount of guys and it makes you think.

I wonder what makes these guys think someone will be "the guy" I mean, they've been wrong numerous times.

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

Apr 18, 2014 17:27:20 GMT -5 @kn said:

Unfortunately I see Roman Reigns hitting this list.

Nothing against him, I like the guy but I see him becoming a Batista more than a Cena. I'd say Seth Rollins has a brighter future if we talk about being "the guy". A lot of guys always come up like this. Hell, a few months ago they said the same thing about Mojo Rawley and the fact they feel he could "carry the company on his back". I recall a similar comment about Rusev too. Sheamus was considered too before the whole 18 Seconds thing. There has been a good amount of guys and it makes you think.

I wonder what makes these guys think someone will be "the guy" I mean, they've been wrong numerous times.

They look at past successes and feel that the talent in question reminds them of that star or they try to pigeonhole them into the mold of a former top star. Even John Cena who DID become "The Guy" is a victim of this, as a lot of the "comedy" material they give him comes from them trying to turn him into a Rock clone.

[Sajoa Moe]

Apr 18, 2014 15:02:16 GMT -5 @mightykretzler said:

Apr 18, 2014 14:47:34 GMT -5 hypnoticgenes said:

Elijah Burke and Drew McIntyre were both christened by Vince McMahon himself to be future WWE champions.

Burke was good, but he had the rotten setup of being a guy not named CM Punk on ECW. Nobody besides Punk was going to succeed there.

I still think a lot of McIntyre's issues came from his really terrible theme song. People here enjoyed it but it was so slow and plodding and generic evil that it was like a giant sigh of MEHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

McIntyre's theme has pretty much the same vibe as "Voices", except McIntyre didn't have the character to match.

[Ron Woodsman aka Shempaholic]

Apr 18, 2014 15:55:42 GMT -5 Allie Kitsune said:

Kenny Dykstra.

That sure turned out great.

I never understood what people saw in him.

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

Apr 18, 2014 18:37:39 GMT -5 Ron Woodsman aka Shempaholic said:

Apr 18, 2014 15:55:42 GMT -5 Allie Kitsune said:

Kenny Dykstra.

That sure turned out great.

I never understood what people saw in him.

He was 20 years old.

[king1836]

John Morrison

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

Apr 18, 2014 18:31:56 GMT -5 Sajoa Moe said:

Apr 18, 2014 15:02:16 GMT -5 @mightykretzler said:

Burke was good, but he had the rotten setup of being a guy not named CM Punk on ECW. Nobody besides Punk was going to succeed there.

I still think a lot of McIntyre's issues came from his really terrible theme song. People here enjoyed it but it was so slow and plodding and generic evil that it was like a giant sigh of MEHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

McIntyre's theme has pretty much the same vibe as "Voices", except McIntyre didn't have the character to match.

He kind of did. He wasn't a brooding psychopath like Orton, but I do think the song fit McIntyre's character. He was an entitled SOB with a vicious streak who would beat someone within an inch of their life just because he had Vince's blessing to do so.