10 Most Misused Superstars on the WWE Roster

World Wrestling Entertainment is a global corporation, therefore it’s privileged with being the top destination for the best wrestling talents in the world. Triple H is the current Executive Vice President of Talent, Creative, and Live Events who, along with fantastic scouts like William Regal, has worked for years to drive the cream of the crop to the WWE pasture and make names for themselves. Because of this, a lot of fantastic superstars on the main roster are lost in the creative shuffle, with new talent constantly being brought in from NXT or elsewhere.

Sometimes it’s the talent’s fault for not doing anything new or different to stand out. Sometimes it’s the WWE creative team not providing the talent with a story they can sink their teeth into. Sometimes it’s constantly having momentum cut out from them due to shoddy booking. Regardless of the time, there will always be a band of misused, mistreated, or mismanaged superstars on the WWE roster, and here’s a list of the top 10 most squandered superstars on Raw and Smackdown.

 

10. Bobby Roode

It’s hard to say that Bobby Roode is being completely misused in his role on Smackdown Live. He made his debut two nights after Summerslam and has won all of his televised matches since; the problem is he’s playing the role of a babyface. There’s nothing wrong with Bobby Roode as a babyface, as he proved in TNA that he can be a confident competent babyface. However, if his heel run in NXT proved anything, it’s that Roode is a main event level heel, the kind of superstar you can build a brand around. Of course everyone wants Roode to be as successful as he possibly can be, however seeing him right now as anything but an arrogant villain seems like a misuse of his talents.

 

9. Cesaro

There isn’t really anything wrong with Cesaro either. At this point the man is a tag team savant, having won tag team championships with Sheamus (twice) and Tyson Kidd, he’s a former United States Champion, and he won the first ever Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. However, this is still a man who won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter award for Most Underrated four years in a row (2013-16). No one can argue his in-ring ability, he’s a better talker than he was earlier in his career, and his personality has shone through with his recent heel turn with Sheamus. The “Swiss Superman” has done more than enough to prove that he’s capable of a main event run in WWE, but it’s unknown whether or not he’ll be able to get past Vince McMahon’s words about his “it” factor from Stone Cold’s podcast.

 

8. Mickie James

To any new fans that have started watching WWE in 2017, you might not realize this, but Mickie James is a future Hall-of-Famer. You cannot help but be a bit disappointed with the most recent run of the five-time Women’s Champion and former Divas Champion; she had a great match with Asuka at NXT Takeover: Toronto last year, but her run on the main roster has been very forgettable. She’s been fed to the likes of Becky Lynch, Alexa Bliss, Sasha Banks, Nia Jax, and Emma over the last nine months. While you can argue that she’s a mentor to the new generation of women in WWE, you can’t argue the fact that James is still one of the best women in-ring-wise on the roster, in the best shape of her life, and deserving of one more shot at the Women’s Championship.

 

7. Cedric Alexander

It was down between Alexander and Noam Dar; Dar’s a few years younger than Alexander and Alexander is a bit more electric in the ring than Dar. The fact that Alexander hasn’t even been given a non-title match against Neville is a crime; the two would put on one of the most entertaining matches 205 Live has ever seen. If built up properly, Alexander could become one of the most beloved babyfaces on the 205 Live roster, the kind of character that could carry the brand and potentially make a move to the Raw or Smackdown roster.

 

6. Charlotte Flair

The “Queen of the WWE” hasn’t been seen on Smackdown Live the last couple of weeks as she’s been taking care of her father “the Nature Boy” Ric Flair after his recent medical issues. However that doesn’t change the fact that before these untimely issues for the Hall-of-Famer, Charlotte was lost directly in the shuffle since her move to Tuesday nights. She’s cooled off significantly from her reign on Raw and her Feud of the Year against Sasha Banks last year. Hopefully it won’t be long before she’s reigning supreme on Smackdown Live, as the women’s division could definitely use a little “Flair” right about now.

 

5. Bray Wyatt

There are a lot of fans in the WWE Universe that actually believe that Bray Wyatt is damaged goods at this point. Countless times has “the Eater of Worlds” talked a big game against a high-level opponent and almost every time he ends up falling short and looking weak. He’s eaten clean losses to the likes of John Cena, the Undertaker, Roman Reigns, Kane, just to name a few. He’s a former WWE Champion, whose first reign lasted a total of 49 days before he took a clean loss to Orton at WrestleMania 33 (his third consecutive WrestleMania loss). His most recent feuds on Raw against Seth Rollins and Finn Balor have been a slight turn in the right direction, but it feels like only a matter of time before Wyatt’s legs get cut out from under him, delaying what little momentum he builds up. It’s a shame, considering people were calling him the next potential Undertaker after his main roster debut.

 

4. Rusev

Poor, poor Rusev. The guy can’t catch a break. Once an undefeated monster, who happened to be a Russophile, he’s been stuck in the doldrums of the midcard for what seems like forever. The last time the two-time United States Champion was in something prominent, he was getting destroyed by Roman Reigns. His most recent move to Smackdown Live seemed like a positive move, but he’s since been jobbed out on pay-per-view to John Cena and Randy Orton (the latter in 10 measly seconds). On a recent Smackdown Live, “the Bulgarian Brute” talked about needing to regain his “competitive edge,” so maybe things will start to look up for him, but if the last year is any indication, Rusev might be in midcard hell for good.

 

3. The Club (Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows)

There is no question as to who is the most misused tag team in the tag team division, as Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows have taken countless clean pinfall losses since their debut on the main roster. Yes, they had a quick run as Raw Tag team Champions from the Royal Rumble to WrestleMania, but they’ve just been booked so horrendously compared to the beast of a tag team they were in New Japan. Gallows and Anderson are slowly falling behind in the race for the top spot in Raw’s tag team division. With the Hardys, Sheamus and Cesaro, the newly reformed team of Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, not to mention the Revival when they come back or the Authors of Pain’s eventual debut, perhaps a move to Smackdown would be the prime option for the Club.

 

2. Luke Harper

Where has Luke Harper been? The sky was the absolute limit for him following his leaving the Wyatt Family back at the beginning of the year and was even rumored to be included in the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania. He’s since accomplished a lot of nothing, hasn’t even been on television in the last couple of months. It’s a shame because he’s so talented, an impressive combination of speed and power all wrapped up in a 7 foot tall monster. A repairing with Erick Rowan and a return to the tag team division could be possible, but the best thing for the former Smackdown Tag team Champion and former Intercontinental Champion would be a spot in the United States Open Challenge, where he can showcase his talents and potentially have another midcard title run.

 

1. Sami Zayn

There is no bigger misuse of talent in the entire WWE than Sami Zayn. After being poorly used on Raw, there was general excitement when he was moved to Smackdown Live in the Superstar Shake-up. However, this has been met with just more of the same: Sami’s currently on the losing end of a feud with Aiden English. The man is a former NXT Champion and one of the most talented and beloved superstars on the roster, and he’s losing to former Vaudevillian Aiden English. If used properly, Sami has the potential to be another incredible underdog story on par with Daniel Bryan. It’s now been almost two years on the main roster and “the Underdog from the Underground” has yet to win a single championship on the main roster. At this point, something, anything constructive would be a positive step in the right direction for the most underrated superstar on the WWE main roster.

 

Honorable Mentions

Tye Dillinger
Most did not predict big things from “the Perfect Ten” when he made his debut on the blue brand the night after WrestleMania 33. But many fans have spoken up about the lack of television time for Dillinger since then. He’s had a pre-show feud with Aiden English, a few random televised losses, but did have a United States title match on Smackdown against AJ Styles so we’ll see.

Mike and Maria Kanellis
Making their debut in WWE at the Money in the Bank event, Mike has one win since then against Sami Zayn on SmackDown and nothing since. Most recently seen on television losing clean to the newly-debuted Bobby Roode, it’s a shame considering how good of a heel act he and his wife were in TNA and before.

Dolph Ziggler
Ziggler might go down as one of the most poorly used wrestler in WWE history. He had legit momentum and the fan backing back in 2012 when WWE was desperate for new stars. But due to injuries and poor booking, his character is essentially dead in the water in 2017, no fan sees him as anything more than a guy who can’t break the glass ceiling. He’d flourish on the independent scene if he ever decided to leave Stanford.