Post by Tyfo on Jul 17, 2008 22:49:08 GMT -5
Tyfo's Top 10 Characters That Never Were Countdown
10) "The Reject" Shannon Moore (2006)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBtkZHWEwiw
In the Summer of 2006, ECW was still a new brand in the world of WWE. With this new brand came an influx of new characters to fill up the roster for Tuesday nights. One of them was a name WWE fans were already familiar with, Shannon Moore. Vignettes started airing showing Shannon Moore, now dubbed, "The Reject", and with a large spiked mohawk and face paint. He would be shown sitting alone on the Subway, or in a corner by himself silently. Eventually he would end each vignette by uttering a single word. While Moore's vignettes were still running, he worked a dark match with CW Anderson at the Hammerstein Ballroom edition of ECW on Sci Fi. As the story goes Moore was working as the face, but obviously the ECW faithful were behind Anderson. Reportedly Moore took the mic mid match and explained that he wasn't there to impress the internet. Word from the back came to change the finish on the fly and Anderson ended up going over. After that, management seemed to sour on Moore's push. In his final vignette, he was confronted by CM Punk, called a poser, and slapped, after stating he was "bringing sexy back". Moore would go on to lose to Punk in his TV debut, and "The Reject" was relegated to jobber status. A few months later, he would ditch the mohawk, paint, and Reject name and move to Smackdown.
9) Beth Phoenix - Straight Out of Mickie James' Past! (2006)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r5jYNfkatM&feature=related
In the Spring of 2006, Mickie James, as a psycho heel, was in the midst of a lengthy feud with her former idol, Trish Stratus. While Stratus was sidelined with a shoulder injury at the hands of James, she brought in a brand new diva by the name of Beth Phoenix. Mickie James was startled by Phoenix's arrival to WWE. Eventually we learned that Mickie James and Beth Phoenix had a past relationship of some kind and Beth had come to extract revenge on James for something in their past. Just a mere few weeks after her debut, Phoenix broke her jaw in a match with Victoria on Monday Night RAW that would cause her to have a plate and several screws put in. Once healed, Phoenix returned to WWE developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling. She re-debuted on RAW in the summer of 2007, now as a heel, and with no mention being made of the past with Mickie James. The two did feud again though, with James as the face, and Phoenix the heel. I guess we will never know just what happened in their past.
8) "The Loose Cannon" Brian Pillman (1997)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uiKQW0ply0&feature=related
Brian Pillman's reputation was never hotter then it was when he signed with the World Wrestling Federation in 1996. Due to a horrific car accident in April of 1996, Pillman could not wrestle upon his debut with the company. He did commentary, backstage interviews, and things of that sort. Of course, most people know about the infamous Austin-Pillman Gun incident of late 1996. In 1997, Pillman would return to the ring and joined up with the Hart Foundation, as the only non-family member in the group. In his last few months, Pillman had gotten involved in a very personal rivalry with Goldust, including him gaining the services of Terri for 30 days. Unfortunately, Pillman passed away before the storyline could conclude. We will now never know how far Brian Pillman could have taken this "Loose Cannon" character. But from the way things were going, the sky may have been the limit. Some even refer to Pillman as one of the founding fathers of what became known as the Attitude Era.
7) Kerwin White (2005)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE8yQJVcPwg
Following the 2005 WWE Draft, Chavo Guerrero was shipped from Smackdown to RAW. In July of 2005, Chavo debuted on Monday Nights in an interview backstage with Maria. During this interview, Guerrero, renounced his Mexican heritage and determined that to get ahead in this world, you need to be a middle class white male. Thus, Kerwin White was born. Chavo bleached his hair blonde, started wearing sweater vests and slacks, came to the ring in a golf cart, carrying his golf bag, and would hang his sweater up before the bell rang. He also developed a new catch phrase, "If it ain't White, it ain't right". Kerwin would also add a "caddy" to accompany him to ringside, OVW wrestler, Nick Nemeth and enter the arena to the sounds of Frank Sinatra. In November of 2005, Chavo's uncle, former WWE Champion, Eddie Guerrero passed away. In the wake of his passing, Chavo dropped the Kerwin White gimmick and went back to Chavo Guerrero to honor his late uncle. Kerwin White has been shelved ever since.
6) The Impostor Kane (2006)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aet0_NIvUvA
In early 2006, WWE began promoting the release of their first movie from WWE Films, See No Evil, starring, WWE Superstar Kane. The movie's release date was May 19th, and to promote the date, a storyline was formed around something happening in Kane's past on that date. He would hear voices in his head (that apparently the audience could hear as well) saying May 19th and "It's happening again", among other things. This went on for weeks. Finally, an impostor version of Kane appeared on RAW, dressed exactly like Kane did upon his debut in the company. We learned that Kane knew the individual behind the mask from his childhood and almost seemed to fear the person. This lead to a match between the two Kane's at Vengeance 2006, that the impostor won following a chokeslam. Shortly after, the angle was dropped as the real Kane beat down the impostor, drug him backstage, took the mask off of him and tossed him out the back door of the arena, and he was never seen or heard from again. Of course, the man who played the Fake version of Kane, we now know and love as Festus from Smackdown's Jesse and Festus tag team.
5) Mordecai (2004)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWMdWN6YF1Q
Following WrestleMania XX in 2004, vignettes started running on Smackdown for a debuting wrestler named Mordecai. Dressed in all white, with white hair and facial hair, Mordecai was kind of the anti-Undertaker. In his vignettes, he would talk about coming to WWE to wipe out the evil and unrighteous, specifically targeting then WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero in one of his final vignettes for his admitted lying, cheating, and stealing. Mordecai made his in-ring debut at Judgment Day 2004 easily defeating Scotty 2 Hotty in impressive fashion. After this Mordecai would continue to squash lower card wrestlers, until entering into a very quick feud with Hardcore Holly for the Great American Bash, which Mordecai won. The week after the Bash, Mordecai suffered his first defeat at the hands of Rey Mysterio and was then dropped from WWE TV. After being released from the company, he was re-signed in 2006 and placed on ECW as Kevin Thorn, a follower of vampireism.
4) Muhammad Hassan (2005)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK1Dro5pr_0&feature=related
In late 2004, vignettes began on RAW for Muhammad Hassan and Daivari. As men of middle eastern decent, they were trying to fight the racial stereotypes as Muslim American citizens. Fans still chanted USA at them, and they explained this was the kind of ignorance they were trying to defeat. In June of 2005, Hassan and Daivari were moved to Smackdown in the WWE draft. Upon arriving, Hassan entered into a feud with the Undertaker leading to a match at the Great American Bash with the winner receiving a championship match at SummerSlam. At a Smackdown taping in early July, the Hassan character took a strange twist. He was aided by several masked men, who carried Daivari away over their heads like a martyr, after he was "sacrificed" by Hassan to the Undertaker. The masked men attacked Taker and did what many considered to be a simulated beheading by choking him with piano wire. Unfortunately, the day this Smackdown episode was to air, there was a major terrorist attack in London, England. The angle ran as it was taped, but a disclaimer was scrolled across the screen throughout the night warning viewers about what was to come. Afterwards, UPN, Smackdown's network at the time, wanted nothing to do with the Hassan character, and he was forced to be kept off TV for the weeks leading to the Great American Bash. At the Bash, Hassan's character was "killed off" by the Undertaker after he was given the Last Ride through the stage and never seen again.
3) Waylon Mercy (1995)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=exuTuZ9TE7U
In the fall of 1995, veteran wrestler Dan Spivey signed with the World Wrestling Federation and was given the gimmick of Waylon Mercy. A take off from the movie Cape Fear, Waylon Mercy was a southern gentleman of sorts who would enter the arena shaking hands with fans, the referee and even his opponent. But once the bell rang, he would snap. Mercy finished off his opponents with a sleeper hold in which he would have a deranged look in his eyes. Mercy had a dagger tattooed on his forehead, and in his debut vignettes had a pet worm which he would squash at the end of them. His entrance music proclaimed that "Lives were gonna be in Waylon Mercy's hands. Ya know what I mean?" Spivey suffered a back injury a little over a month into the gimmick's debut and was forced to retire from the ring, just as he was in the beginning stages of a feud with the Undertaker.
2) "Pirate" Paul Burchill (2006)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVMYd7FBZzQ
In early 2006, Paul Burchill and William Regal went their separate ways as a tag team. Burchill proclaimed that he was the ancestor of pirates. Burchill debuted his pirate gimmick shortly after and entered into a feud with Regal. Burchill would enter the arena by swinging in on a rope, dressed like Johnny Depp's character from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. A few months into the gimmick, Burchill was shelved by a post match attack from Mark Henry. Reports say that Vince McMahon did not understand the gimmick and did not get why a pirate character would be a face. He supposedly was unaware of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, and thus the gimmick was done away with. After a lengthy stay in OVW, Burchill finally reappeared in 2008 on Monday Night RAW.
1) Sean O'Haire - Devil's Advocate (2003)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycLv3EQGkBo
After the purchase of WCW by Vince McMahon in 2001, many WCW wrestlers were brought aboard, but none in my opinion had the promise of Sean O'Haire. An athletic big man with the look they loved and the ability to back it up. O'Haire was still green upon his arrival to the WWF and was sent to OVW for seasoning after dropping the WCW Tag Team titles he and Chuck Palumbo held, while making occasional appearances on Heat as well. In early 2003, vignettes began to appear on Smackdown for O'Haire in the role of a devil's advocate. O'Haire would tell the people to do whatever they felt like and not worry about the consequences. After telling you what to do, he would finish by saying, "I'm not telling you anything you don't already know". O'Haire made his first appearances on Smackdown backstage where he convinced Brian Kendrick to streak through the arena to get noticed, and told Dawn Marie to flash the audience after feeling down for Torrie Wilson being picked for Playboy over her. Shortly after his arrival, O'Haire was placed with "Rowdy" Roddy Piper as his manager/partner. Piper was fired after comments he made on an HBO special and O'Haire began to flounder. He became a regular on the weekend B show, Velocity. He also didn't receive any more mic time to help get his gimmick over. But the gimmick had been all but abandoned during his time with Piper anyway. O'Haire was released from WWE in 2004 with very little fanfare and pretty much left wrestling completely. This gimmick had main event written all over it, and the talent behind it had the ability to be there as well. Theres absolutely no reason that Sean O'Haire shouldn't be a focal point in WWE right now. But hell, by the looks of the lists sent in, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know!
Honorable mentions/Just missed the list:
Kanyon
Singing Trevor Murdoch
Heel Eugene
Tajiri's Japanese Mafia stable
Lucha Haas
Ludvig Borga
Maven and Simon Dean
10) "The Reject" Shannon Moore (2006)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBtkZHWEwiw
In the Summer of 2006, ECW was still a new brand in the world of WWE. With this new brand came an influx of new characters to fill up the roster for Tuesday nights. One of them was a name WWE fans were already familiar with, Shannon Moore. Vignettes started airing showing Shannon Moore, now dubbed, "The Reject", and with a large spiked mohawk and face paint. He would be shown sitting alone on the Subway, or in a corner by himself silently. Eventually he would end each vignette by uttering a single word. While Moore's vignettes were still running, he worked a dark match with CW Anderson at the Hammerstein Ballroom edition of ECW on Sci Fi. As the story goes Moore was working as the face, but obviously the ECW faithful were behind Anderson. Reportedly Moore took the mic mid match and explained that he wasn't there to impress the internet. Word from the back came to change the finish on the fly and Anderson ended up going over. After that, management seemed to sour on Moore's push. In his final vignette, he was confronted by CM Punk, called a poser, and slapped, after stating he was "bringing sexy back". Moore would go on to lose to Punk in his TV debut, and "The Reject" was relegated to jobber status. A few months later, he would ditch the mohawk, paint, and Reject name and move to Smackdown.
9) Beth Phoenix - Straight Out of Mickie James' Past! (2006)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r5jYNfkatM&feature=related
In the Spring of 2006, Mickie James, as a psycho heel, was in the midst of a lengthy feud with her former idol, Trish Stratus. While Stratus was sidelined with a shoulder injury at the hands of James, she brought in a brand new diva by the name of Beth Phoenix. Mickie James was startled by Phoenix's arrival to WWE. Eventually we learned that Mickie James and Beth Phoenix had a past relationship of some kind and Beth had come to extract revenge on James for something in their past. Just a mere few weeks after her debut, Phoenix broke her jaw in a match with Victoria on Monday Night RAW that would cause her to have a plate and several screws put in. Once healed, Phoenix returned to WWE developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling. She re-debuted on RAW in the summer of 2007, now as a heel, and with no mention being made of the past with Mickie James. The two did feud again though, with James as the face, and Phoenix the heel. I guess we will never know just what happened in their past.
8) "The Loose Cannon" Brian Pillman (1997)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uiKQW0ply0&feature=related
Brian Pillman's reputation was never hotter then it was when he signed with the World Wrestling Federation in 1996. Due to a horrific car accident in April of 1996, Pillman could not wrestle upon his debut with the company. He did commentary, backstage interviews, and things of that sort. Of course, most people know about the infamous Austin-Pillman Gun incident of late 1996. In 1997, Pillman would return to the ring and joined up with the Hart Foundation, as the only non-family member in the group. In his last few months, Pillman had gotten involved in a very personal rivalry with Goldust, including him gaining the services of Terri for 30 days. Unfortunately, Pillman passed away before the storyline could conclude. We will now never know how far Brian Pillman could have taken this "Loose Cannon" character. But from the way things were going, the sky may have been the limit. Some even refer to Pillman as one of the founding fathers of what became known as the Attitude Era.
7) Kerwin White (2005)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QE8yQJVcPwg
Following the 2005 WWE Draft, Chavo Guerrero was shipped from Smackdown to RAW. In July of 2005, Chavo debuted on Monday Nights in an interview backstage with Maria. During this interview, Guerrero, renounced his Mexican heritage and determined that to get ahead in this world, you need to be a middle class white male. Thus, Kerwin White was born. Chavo bleached his hair blonde, started wearing sweater vests and slacks, came to the ring in a golf cart, carrying his golf bag, and would hang his sweater up before the bell rang. He also developed a new catch phrase, "If it ain't White, it ain't right". Kerwin would also add a "caddy" to accompany him to ringside, OVW wrestler, Nick Nemeth and enter the arena to the sounds of Frank Sinatra. In November of 2005, Chavo's uncle, former WWE Champion, Eddie Guerrero passed away. In the wake of his passing, Chavo dropped the Kerwin White gimmick and went back to Chavo Guerrero to honor his late uncle. Kerwin White has been shelved ever since.
6) The Impostor Kane (2006)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aet0_NIvUvA
In early 2006, WWE began promoting the release of their first movie from WWE Films, See No Evil, starring, WWE Superstar Kane. The movie's release date was May 19th, and to promote the date, a storyline was formed around something happening in Kane's past on that date. He would hear voices in his head (that apparently the audience could hear as well) saying May 19th and "It's happening again", among other things. This went on for weeks. Finally, an impostor version of Kane appeared on RAW, dressed exactly like Kane did upon his debut in the company. We learned that Kane knew the individual behind the mask from his childhood and almost seemed to fear the person. This lead to a match between the two Kane's at Vengeance 2006, that the impostor won following a chokeslam. Shortly after, the angle was dropped as the real Kane beat down the impostor, drug him backstage, took the mask off of him and tossed him out the back door of the arena, and he was never seen or heard from again. Of course, the man who played the Fake version of Kane, we now know and love as Festus from Smackdown's Jesse and Festus tag team.
5) Mordecai (2004)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWMdWN6YF1Q
Following WrestleMania XX in 2004, vignettes started running on Smackdown for a debuting wrestler named Mordecai. Dressed in all white, with white hair and facial hair, Mordecai was kind of the anti-Undertaker. In his vignettes, he would talk about coming to WWE to wipe out the evil and unrighteous, specifically targeting then WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero in one of his final vignettes for his admitted lying, cheating, and stealing. Mordecai made his in-ring debut at Judgment Day 2004 easily defeating Scotty 2 Hotty in impressive fashion. After this Mordecai would continue to squash lower card wrestlers, until entering into a very quick feud with Hardcore Holly for the Great American Bash, which Mordecai won. The week after the Bash, Mordecai suffered his first defeat at the hands of Rey Mysterio and was then dropped from WWE TV. After being released from the company, he was re-signed in 2006 and placed on ECW as Kevin Thorn, a follower of vampireism.
4) Muhammad Hassan (2005)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK1Dro5pr_0&feature=related
In late 2004, vignettes began on RAW for Muhammad Hassan and Daivari. As men of middle eastern decent, they were trying to fight the racial stereotypes as Muslim American citizens. Fans still chanted USA at them, and they explained this was the kind of ignorance they were trying to defeat. In June of 2005, Hassan and Daivari were moved to Smackdown in the WWE draft. Upon arriving, Hassan entered into a feud with the Undertaker leading to a match at the Great American Bash with the winner receiving a championship match at SummerSlam. At a Smackdown taping in early July, the Hassan character took a strange twist. He was aided by several masked men, who carried Daivari away over their heads like a martyr, after he was "sacrificed" by Hassan to the Undertaker. The masked men attacked Taker and did what many considered to be a simulated beheading by choking him with piano wire. Unfortunately, the day this Smackdown episode was to air, there was a major terrorist attack in London, England. The angle ran as it was taped, but a disclaimer was scrolled across the screen throughout the night warning viewers about what was to come. Afterwards, UPN, Smackdown's network at the time, wanted nothing to do with the Hassan character, and he was forced to be kept off TV for the weeks leading to the Great American Bash. At the Bash, Hassan's character was "killed off" by the Undertaker after he was given the Last Ride through the stage and never seen again.
3) Waylon Mercy (1995)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=exuTuZ9TE7U
In the fall of 1995, veteran wrestler Dan Spivey signed with the World Wrestling Federation and was given the gimmick of Waylon Mercy. A take off from the movie Cape Fear, Waylon Mercy was a southern gentleman of sorts who would enter the arena shaking hands with fans, the referee and even his opponent. But once the bell rang, he would snap. Mercy finished off his opponents with a sleeper hold in which he would have a deranged look in his eyes. Mercy had a dagger tattooed on his forehead, and in his debut vignettes had a pet worm which he would squash at the end of them. His entrance music proclaimed that "Lives were gonna be in Waylon Mercy's hands. Ya know what I mean?" Spivey suffered a back injury a little over a month into the gimmick's debut and was forced to retire from the ring, just as he was in the beginning stages of a feud with the Undertaker.
2) "Pirate" Paul Burchill (2006)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVMYd7FBZzQ
In early 2006, Paul Burchill and William Regal went their separate ways as a tag team. Burchill proclaimed that he was the ancestor of pirates. Burchill debuted his pirate gimmick shortly after and entered into a feud with Regal. Burchill would enter the arena by swinging in on a rope, dressed like Johnny Depp's character from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. A few months into the gimmick, Burchill was shelved by a post match attack from Mark Henry. Reports say that Vince McMahon did not understand the gimmick and did not get why a pirate character would be a face. He supposedly was unaware of the Pirates of the Caribbean series, and thus the gimmick was done away with. After a lengthy stay in OVW, Burchill finally reappeared in 2008 on Monday Night RAW.
1) Sean O'Haire - Devil's Advocate (2003)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycLv3EQGkBo
After the purchase of WCW by Vince McMahon in 2001, many WCW wrestlers were brought aboard, but none in my opinion had the promise of Sean O'Haire. An athletic big man with the look they loved and the ability to back it up. O'Haire was still green upon his arrival to the WWF and was sent to OVW for seasoning after dropping the WCW Tag Team titles he and Chuck Palumbo held, while making occasional appearances on Heat as well. In early 2003, vignettes began to appear on Smackdown for O'Haire in the role of a devil's advocate. O'Haire would tell the people to do whatever they felt like and not worry about the consequences. After telling you what to do, he would finish by saying, "I'm not telling you anything you don't already know". O'Haire made his first appearances on Smackdown backstage where he convinced Brian Kendrick to streak through the arena to get noticed, and told Dawn Marie to flash the audience after feeling down for Torrie Wilson being picked for Playboy over her. Shortly after his arrival, O'Haire was placed with "Rowdy" Roddy Piper as his manager/partner. Piper was fired after comments he made on an HBO special and O'Haire began to flounder. He became a regular on the weekend B show, Velocity. He also didn't receive any more mic time to help get his gimmick over. But the gimmick had been all but abandoned during his time with Piper anyway. O'Haire was released from WWE in 2004 with very little fanfare and pretty much left wrestling completely. This gimmick had main event written all over it, and the talent behind it had the ability to be there as well. Theres absolutely no reason that Sean O'Haire shouldn't be a focal point in WWE right now. But hell, by the looks of the lists sent in, I'm not telling you anything you don't already know!
Honorable mentions/Just missed the list:
Kanyon
Singing Trevor Murdoch
Heel Eugene
Tajiri's Japanese Mafia stable
Lucha Haas
Ludvig Borga
Maven and Simon Dean
