Highlights
The professional wrestling business is often unfair, with many talented wrestlers going unnoticed despite their skills and hard work.
AEW's women's division has suffered from poor booking and little creative focus, neglecting the talented wrestlers within it.
WWE has underutilized wrestlers like Mustafa Ali, Bandido, Cameron Grimes, Santana and Ortiz, Candice LeRae, Johnny Gargano, Meiko Satomura, Chad Gable, and Keith Lee, preventing them from reaching their full potential.
There are hundreds, if not thousands of wrestlers that are professionally trained, have great characters, and can hold their own inside the ring against anyone that simply won't get noticed. That is the cruel nature of the professional wrestling business, but it does not deter many people from trying to hit the big time.
Even when they get there, their talents may not fully be appreciated as there are countless wrestlers in AEW, WWE, New Japan, and elsewhere that simply won't make it to the very top of their profession. That does not mean they can't have successful careers in their own right, as many blaze a path of their own through a lot of hard work. Having said that, the companies that employ them don't tend to make it easy for them, often underutilizing some of the best performers in the world.
10 AEW Women’s Division
It is hard to single out individuals among the women in AEW who are underutilized, as the whole division has suffered through poor booking for almost four years now. Despite some of the best wrestlers in the world being in the division, it has always been clear that men are given greater chances within the company creatively.
The division now has two championships to provide more storytelling opportunities, but nothing outside the title picture ever really happens in the women’s division. It is about time that AEW addresses this clear weakness in its booking, as it may go some way in lifting the creative malaise surrounding the company at the minute.
9 Mustafa Ali
For years now it seems that WWE has wished to pigeonhole Ali as a talented wrestler who exists to put over other talent. In many ways, this is a very respectable position to have in a company, but he has a track record of seemingly wanting more for his character, and so he should.
He puts in his own work on social media, as well as inside the ring, to make sure he stays in focus when WWE loses interest in him for long periods of time. Now that he is in NXT he will be hoping for a reset, so he can climb back to the top and reach his full potential.
8 Bandido
There have been plenty of AEW wrestlers that have signed to the company in the past few years without a clear idea of where their characters will fit into the weekly drama. Bandido is among the most talented of those to have suffered due to the overcrowding, despite how great his initial performances were.
He is only brought out sparingly as an opponent to bigger stars who need a great match, which he always delivers. The former ROH Champion could be a bigger star if AEW’s booking was more focussed like it used to be.
7 Cameron Grimes
One of the most talented performers on the WWE roster that casual fans won’t be used to yet is Cameron Grimes, the former Million Dollar Champion. Grimes has proven to have all the tools to be a superstar in WWE and has recently undergone a body transformation fitting of a main event talent.
However, ever since he appeared on SmackDown a few months ago he has gotten lost in the shuffle slightly, which is a great shame as all he needs is a program to get started. Hopefully, WWE gives him something to do soon, or his misuse will evolve into a complete waste of talent.
6 Santana and Ortiz
It is unclear what personal or injury issues may be preventing Proud and Powerful from appearing on AEW together or as individuals, but they seem to have been forgotten. This is a huge shame as the team was part of the Inner Circle when the faction was vitally important to AEW as the main heel faction.
They are also just a fantastic tag team that used to get talked about on the same level as the Young Bucks or FTR, but they never won the tag titles in AEW. Even if they don’t want to be together, both men are talented enough to feature on television in some way so AEW should work to bring them back soon.
5 Candice LeRae
The career that Candice LeRae has had to this point is something any wrestler can be proud of, as a key figure on the independent scene and in NXT. However, she still has the chance to do more within the mainstream if WWE were to actually give her any semi-consistent plan for her future.
Since returning among the released crop of talent in 2022 once Triple H had taken over of WWE, LeRae has not really done anything of note except appear infrequently on television. Her partnership with Indi Hartwell would be the easiest way for WWE to use her as part of the struggling women’s tag division.
4 Johnny Gargano
Much like his real-life partner Candice LaRae, Johnny Gargano has not done much of note since returning to WWE last year. The NXT mainstay has struggled to recapture his best form on the main roster, which has seen him at least appear on television in small roles.
His former DIY partner Tommasso Ciampa has recently returned to Raw which would be an option for Gargano when he reappears, either by teaming up or feuding with his frenemy.
3 Meiko Satomura
WWE has one of the best women’s wrestlers of all time on its roster and some fans may not even know, as Meiko Satomura has performed mostly as part of the NXT UK brand. She now sporadically appears on the stateside version of NXT, but never for too long which is a shame.
It may be the case that Satomura is content with helping produce the next crop of women’s talent, acting as a mentor on the developmental brand. Selfishly though, fans would be delighted to see her wrestle some of WWE’s best talent on the main roster.
2 Chad Gable
The Kurt Angle comparisons are not unwarranted when it comes to Chad Gable, and that extends further than them both being former Olympians. Their adaptability and consistency are what make them more alike than anything, but the problem is that Gable has never had the chance to be taken seriously as Angle was.
Gable has proven to be an adept comedy character, but he is one of the best in-ring performers WWE has employed over the past decade. It would be complete malpractice if the company did not at least once try to give him a push as a singles guy, also not while being named ‘Shorty G.’
1 Keith Lee
Keith Lee looked like a breakout superstar in WWE in late 2019 when he went toe-to-toe with Roman Reigns at Survivor Series, following up with a great showing at the 2020 Royal Rumble against Brock Lesnar. Various health issues and creative blunders squandered his time in WWE, but it made his signing with AEW all the more exciting as fans awaited to see him finally be a top star.
Fans are still waiting for this to happen as he has yet again been left to be a bit-part player when he should be the main focus of any show he is on. He did not even get to finish his feud with Swerve properly which is still a baffling oversight from AEW.
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