Most heartbreaking departure

[ChitownKnight]

I think these are the three biggest unexpected losses in the 21st century. There have been other stars that left but that was either seen coming (Batista, Jeff Hardy) or retirements (Flair, HBK). I would have to say Ambrose, I feel like he had so much more to offer in wwe and his heel turn would of picked up in a fued vs Balor or something. Stone colds kind of sucked too since he was about to fued with Eddie. The Punk/HHH mania fued would of been good but at that point Punk did pretty much everything he could

[Push R Truth]

Maven finally grabbed a microphone and showed he had real charisma and was finally entertaining. Then he was fired less than 24 hours later.


I remember being legit pissed because they spent years on the guy doing diddly shit. Then the moment he actually shows improvement he's toast.

This is not a joke answer believe it or not.

[KobashiChop]

Punk. Killed his interest in wrestling, he got given his termination papers on his wedding day. The end result was him and Cabana turning on each other, and Colt/Punk was one of wrestlings best bromances.

Ambrose will go somewhere else and be a star.

[Prince Petty]

None of them broke my heart, to be honest.

Austin in 2002? Was that when he stormed out over being asked to job on TV? Nah, not sad about that.

I never liked Punk very much, and always thought his opinion of himself was so, so much higher than it had any right to be. But it sucks that his love of wrestling was destroyed.

Ambrose is leaving because the WWE is incompetent. That's not bad for him, it's bad for the WWE.

[Dub H]

I mean,the saddest in term of bigges loss/waste was Punk.He proved he could be bigger than Cena, be a new icon of wrestling. You couldnt grab more brass rings.


Saddest personal story?Punk by far. Guy almost died, got fired at his wedding, lost his best friend.(sure you can say that last one is their own fault, but it is still sad)

[The Thread Barbi]

None of the ones listed.

I can't feel any sympy for multi-millionaires not liking what the employer wants them to do.

[Deleted]

Ambrose simply because there's so much more they could do with him. My interest in Punk had slipped more and more since New Nexus (although the Brock/Heyman feud was great). Austin was exhausted and having all sorts of issues.

[Tenshigure]

Sure, the situations these individuals had leaving the company was disappointing, but I wouldn't go as far as to say it's heartbreaking to see them no longer working for the WWE. Austin was more than done when he took off, Punk pissed away all that sympathy with the actions he's taken since his departure, and Ambrose has yet to even leave yet to warrant whether it'll be heartbreaking to see him go versus happy for him (if this isn't a work) because he deserves the proper time and rest after giving his entire being to a company that completely misunderstood why he's in the business.

I guess gun to my head I'd say Ambrose since there's still so much more potential there for him that they're squandering in the process. Their loss is whatever future company has him, if he continues wrestling that is.

[Deleted]

Austin is my all time favorite, but at least he had as run as top guy. CM Punk was a guy that should have been top guy but they would always cut him off just short of it. The fact that he was such a hugely over star that never got his due is a little disheartening.

[Deleted]

Interesting thread title, considering Bret Hart (1997) isn't an option.

[Woo]

Feb 13, 2019 13:27:09 GMT -5 Push R Truth said:

Maven finally grabbed a microphone and showed he had real charisma and was finally entertaining. Then he was fired less than 24 hours later.


I remember being legit pissed because they spent years on the guy doing diddly shit. Then the moment he actually shows improvement he's toast.

This is not a joke answer believe it or not.

GOD DAMN that pissed me off! Why do they wait for people to get over or good to release them? You can look at Chris Masters for another example.


Austin's character peaked with his phenomenal heel turn. The best work of his career. Him turning face in late 2001 was just him treading water, though the hilarious WHAT stuff gave him fantastic new promos. The one with him entering the 2003 Rumble was hilarious. (Sadly he never entered). It was a shame the Eddie angle was cut short as that would have been awesome or that Vince's refusal to make Austin vs Brock a bigger deal denied us that match, but I wasn't too sad to set him leave.

Ambrose will always be wacky hijinks guy to Vince, so I'm not too sad either.

Punk, yeah that one hurt. But his final face run was similar to Austin's final face run- treading water and creativity spent.

I'm more sad at people like Neville, Itami and Emma going actually.

But the biggest ones to me is Vince trying to retire Savage after the 1993 Rumble. He's your biggest star and wants to put over Bret and Shawn... Let him do it, you idiot. Just keeping Savage around could have turned The New Generation around.

Speaking of the New Generation Diesel leaving in 1996 sucked. Yes he did the nWO, but I honestly don't think too highly of that and think Kevin's work from losing the belt at the 95 Survivor Series to Good Friends Better Enemies is the best fun (I was supposed to say "run", but yeah "fun" too) of his career and perhaps the greatest tweener character ever, Pentagon aside.

And finally although not Attitude Era or even New Generation the saddest departure for me (not caused by injury or death) is that of Jake Roberts in 1992. His heel Trust Me character was fantastic and I would have loved to have seen him feud with a face Bret Hart, or anybody in general really.


But for 21st century I would have to say.....

.... Ken Shamrock. Had he just hung around until Angle, Benoit and Eddie arrived he could have found people to make him step up a gear. They teased a return and feud with Angle in the WWF magazine in late 2001 but it never happened for whatever reason.

[I'm Team Bayley and Indi]

Feb 13, 2019 13:56:28 GMT -5 @knapp said:

Interesting thread title, considering Bret Hart (1997) isn't an option.

To be fair they do mention in the top post that it is 21st century they are talking about

[clodhopper]

Neither, honestly. If anything I'm happy for Ambrose that he has enough freedom in his life to be able to walk away from such a well paid spot now that it is no longer fulfilling to him. Good luck to the man.

[realist]

Honestly, probably Dean Ambrose because the other two guys had really had their runs.  I think that they only scratched the surface on Dean.  If his heel run was more than, "Your town stinks," it may have been something great.

[Woo]

I want to change my answer to either John Morrison who should have been a multiple world champion with his heel Lucha Underground character (he's shown to me that with the right coaching and script he can be awesome on the mic), or Monty Brown. His exit really sucked.

[realist]

Feb 13, 2019 13:34:57 GMT -5 Dub H said:

I mean,the saddest in term of bigges loss/waste was Punk.He proved he could be bigger than Cena, be a new icon of wrestling. You couldnt grab more brass rings.


Saddest personal story?Punk by far. Guy almost died, got fired at his wedding, lost his best friend.(sure you can say that last one is their own fault, but it is still sad)

I have to disagree, buddy.  Ambrose almost died from a staph infection as well, only he came back rom it in the best shape of his life.  His new look screamed "main eventer" but they squandered it.  Ambrose could have been pushed as a top face who came back from near death or a deranged top heel, as that is the role he plays best.  Ambrose has not yet gotten fired, but he also hasn't gone home and refused to come back to work, which is something that would probably get you fired anywhere.  The lost of the best friend is kind of a CM Punk/Colt Cabana issue in that it is really something between them.  If they worked on it, they could probably mend the friendship.  Ambrose, on the other hand, may lose his best friend to a horrible disease, that he was forced by his employers to go on TV and mock.  It probably made him sick to his stomach to have to do that.  Also, in terms of WWE careers, I don't think CM Punk has a whole lot to complain about at least compared to Dean Ambrose.  I'll put it this way, Punk bitches about how he didn't get the main event of WrestleMania (because the biggest movie star in the world decided to do Vince McMahon a favor) and had to work the semi-main with The Undertaker at a time when the streak match was arguably the biggest part of WrestleMania.  Dean Ambrose on the other hand was bumped from the main card of a WrestleMania to the pre-show against Baron Corbin and wrestled in front of the empty chairs while the fans were being let into the building.  In my opinion, and that is all it is, an opinion, Dean Ambrose has way more of a gripe than CM Punk.

[Deleted]

Feb 13, 2019 13:59:24 GMT -5 I'm Team Bayley and Indi said:

Feb 13, 2019 13:56:28 GMT -5 @knapp said:

Interesting thread title, considering Bret Hart (1997) isn't an option.

To be fair they do mention in the top post that it is 21st century they are talking about

Saw that just after I posted.

Still, a curious choice for the thread title. lol

[Dub H]

Feb 13, 2019 14:21:14 GMT -5 realist said:

Feb 13, 2019 13:34:57 GMT -5 Dub H said:

I mean,the saddest in term of bigges loss/waste was Punk.He proved he could be bigger than Cena, be a new icon of wrestling. You couldnt grab more brass rings.


Saddest personal story?Punk by far. Guy almost died, got fired at his wedding, lost his best friend.(sure you can say that last one is their own fault, but it is still sad)

I have to disagree, buddy.  Ambrose almost died from a staph infection as well, only he came back rom it in the best shape of his life.  His new look screamed "main eventer" but they squandered it.  Ambrose could have been pushed as a top face who came back from near death or a deranged top heel, as that is the role he plays best.  Ambrose has not yet gotten fired, but he also hasn't gone home and refused to come back to work, which is something that would probably get you fired anywhere.  The lost of the best friend is kind of a CM Punk/Colt Cabana issue in that it is really something between them.  If they worked on it, they could probably mend the friendship.  Ambrose, on the other hand, may lose his best friend to a horrible disease, that he was forced by his employers to go on TV and mock.  It probably made him sick to his stomach to have to do that.  Also, in terms of WWE careers, I don't think CM Punk has a whole lot to complain about at least compared to Dean Ambrose.  I'll put it this way, Punk bitches about how he didn't get the main event of WrestleMania (because the biggest movie star in the world decided to do Vince McMahon a favor) and had to work the semi-main with The Undertaker at a time when the streak match was arguably the biggest part of WrestleMania.  Dean Ambrose on the other hand was bumped from the main card of a WrestleMania to the pre-show against Baron Corbin and wrestled in front of the empty chairs while the fans were being let into the building.  In my opinion, and that is all it is, an opinion, Dean Ambrose has way more of a gripe than CM Punk.

I wont disagree with anything you related with Ambrose, eveyrhting also we can just disagree

But yeh,Dean his whole career they wasted him,from the breakup he was ready to be a star

[Prince Petty]

Feb 13, 2019 13:56:28 GMT -5 @knapp said:

Interesting thread title, considering Bret Hart (1997) isn't an option.

That was the one that upset me the most. I was a huge Bret Hart fan, and loved his run after Wrestlemania 13 (where, being British, I never saw him as a heel). I was not at all internet savvy in 1997, and had no clue he was going to WCW, or even that he was leaving the WWF. I didn't realise he was really gone until Shawn and Hunter mocked him on Raw, a week or two later.

[Yamashita Enforcement Division]

I'm sad there is no "other" option, because none of those departures were actually "heartbreaking" to me. The closest I guess is Austin in 2002, who didn't have the prospects, the infrastructure, or the environment to walk out of the fed and make it on his own. As seen in that he came back before the decade was up, I guess. But anyone able to escape the fed and try something different or on their own is a parting of celebration, not sorrow for me.