The Attitude Era of the WWE would be the most popular time for professional wrestling in the United States with adult and child fans tuning in every week for Raw and SmackDown, plus the heated rivalry between WWE and WCW giving wrestling fans something to talk about all the time. Many fans mark WrestleMania 17 to WrestleMania 18 as the official end of the Attitude Era and thus the Ruthless Aggression Era was born.
This new era had a stronger focus on the in-ring action and a decent amount of focus on the storylines and shock factor compared to its predecessor. With many names like The Rock and Steve Austin walking away from the business, newer names like Batista, Brock Lesnar, and John Cena started to receive bigger pushes to the main event. Not every name got that treatment and many were pushed to the waste side even if their in-ring talent shined above others.
10 Rodney Mack
Rodney Mack had a great physique and looked like the kind of person you wouldn't want to mess with, but for some reason, he never really got a big push in the WWE. His biggest accolade in the company was capturing the Ohio Valley Wrestling Tag Team Championship with Shelton Benjamin in 2002.
He only wrestled for the promotion from 2002 to 2004 before getting released. Mack had the potential to be much bigger and a decent threat in the mid-card scene and his tag team with Mark Henry and Teddy Long should have been solid contenders for the Tag Team Championships.
9 Kenzo Suzuki
Up until recently, WWE didn't have the best success with Asian wrestlers. The biggest success stories were names like Tajiri and Taka Michinoku who both didn't make it far past Cruiserweight Championships or Tag Team success. Kenzo Suzuki would be a victim of the style of booking that the WWE tended to have back then.
His original gimmick was going to be a Japanese patriot who had anti-American views, luckily that was dropped, however. Suzuki had teamed with Rene Dupree to capture some Tag Team gold but failed in his pursuits for the United States Championship. Injury would result in him being released and wrestling elsewhere.
8 Charlie Haas
When most fans think of The World's Greatest Tag Team, Shelton Benjamin is typically the person fans believe deserved much better than he had, and he for sure does, but Charlie Haas was no slouch either and could have achieved much more if he wrestled in a different era.
Haas wouldn't capture a singles title during his tenure with the promotion and would receive a few failed singles pushes. If the Charlie Haas fans watched in 2003 and 2004 got to wrestle in the current wrestling landscape, he would be a multiple-time singles champion by now.
7 Eugene
Now this is much less about the character of Eugene and more about the man playing the character, Nick Dinsmore. Prior to becoming Eugene, Dinsmore had an impressive amateur career where he captured the OVW Heavyweight Championship a record-setting ten times.
He also captured the OVW Tag Team Championship ten times as well. Once he left OVW and made his way to Raw, however, he was saddled with the Eugene gimmick which obviously has aged rather poorly.
6 Jamie Noble
Jamie Noble was a constant in the Cruiserweight division feuding with names like The Hurricane, Billy Kidman, and Tajiri before he left the company and started working in other promotions. During his year away from the WWE, Noble proved how good he was in the ring by teaming with a young Bryan Danielson in New Japan Pro Wrestling and capturing the Ring of Honor World Championship.
Noble was mostly used as either a Cruiserweight heel or a comedy gimmick in the WWE holding him back from any possible success he could have had. Noble currently works as a producer for the WWE helping newer stars create amazing matches.
5 Paul London
The common theme here seems to be that WWE hired some of the best names on the independent scene at the time and used them for the Cruiserweight or Tag Team divisions. Paul London had a pretty great run with Ring of Honor before signing with the WWE in 2003.
London captured the World & WWE Tag Team Championship on a few occasions and held the Cruiserweight Championship once during his WWE tenure, but his work in Ring of Honor and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla showed that London had the potential for so much more and was held back in the WWE due to his size.
4 Umaga
Edward Fatu started wrestling on the main roster for WWE in 2002 as Jamal alongside his cousin Rosey as 3-Minute Warning. That team didn't really take off and instead, both men would be repackaged and used elsewhere on the card.
Jamal would become Umaga and immediately start a decent undefeated streak leading to the Intercontinental Championship. Despite having the most success out of everyone listed here, Umaga still deserved much more and could have held either the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship, mostly when compared to names that were like The Great Khali or the constant bouncing around between Orton, Cena, and Triple H.
3 Mr. Kennedy
Mr. Kennedy was being groomed for much bigger things in WWE, but many factors outside his control started to hold him back. He captured the United States Championship and soon after became Mr. Money in the Bank at WrestleMania 23.
Injuries would cost him his briefcase and shot at a world title. Once revealed his injury wasn't as serious as thought, he was moved to Raw and was planned to receive another push before problems backstage ended his time with WWE. Kennedy moved to Impact Wrestling where he quickly captured the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and had a decent run in that promotion.
2 Sean O'Haire
When a topic such as this comes up, many fans' first name they think of is Sean O'Haire who only had a short run in the WWE before suffering a horrible motorcycle accident and getting released. O'Haire's vignettes that started airing in early 2003 were interesting, and something fans didn't see before.
Once he fully started wrestling he was quickly paired with Roddy Piper, a pairing that wasn't well-beloved but did see Sean get big wins over names like Mr. America, Eddie Guerrero, and Rikishi. After being let go from WWE, O'Haire would wrestle briefly in New Japan before leaving the sport altogether.
1 Gail Kim
Gail Kim was starting off amazingly with the WWE when she captured the WWE Women's Championship in her debut match. Things would sadly go downhill from there as she lost the belt after four weeks and only successfully defended it once.
Kim wouldn't last in the WWE for too long before leaving and joining Impact Wrestling where she helped the promotion start their Knockouts Division. Kim returned to the WWE and had a run that last longer but went worse than her initial stint. All of this and some backstage issues with WWE have led Kim to strongly dislike the promotion and instead help Impact Wrestling.
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