5 Current WWE Wrestlers Who Deserve Better

The WWE in 2016 is like if Pulp Fiction had been directed by Michael Bay. All the tools and talent are there for a great wrestling renaissance, but the guy moving them about is mainly interested in the explosions. Vincent Kennedy McMahon is an undeniable genius of wrestling as entertainment, but if the booking of late days anything it’s that the popular culture has passed him by.

How many guys are being wasted? How many performers are being shoved down our throats ahead of better, more popular talent? Cough! Reigns. Cough! Lesnar. If it were just one or two guys being wasted by WWE’s creative team this might be forgivable – booking a wrestling promotion with nearly one hundred main roster athletes is no small feat. But what of wrestlers who are constantly used badly? The ones who could fly higher, if only Vince and co stopped pelting stones at their wings? Here are five WWE wrestlers who deserve better.

 

Cesaro

Come on, tell me I’m wrong. Be the one person on the internet who disagrees with me here, I dare you. Cesaro has built an organic fanbase in WWE by delivering great matches – and of late he’s been pretty electric in promos too. The whole James Bond gimmick is dorky, but like the New Day before him he’s making it work.

For some reason though, Vince just doesn’t see it. He’s 6 ‘5, super strong, great in the ring and the fans are on his side and still Cesaro has been punted from one random programme to the next since his return from injury earlier this year. Worst of all, none of it has led him anywhere. His current feud – a seven match series with Sheamus – must be hard enough. Now he’s suddenly thrown into the tag division with the Celtic Warrior because New Day have no one left to job for them? We all know how that’s ending.

At Clash of Champions Cesaro and Sheamus managed to put on a pretty good match, flat finish aside. So why is this guy not holding a championship? Why is he not main eventing pay-per-views? Tell me internet, please.

 

Paige

I’m sure some folks will count Paige’s recent suspension, and everything surrounding it, against her. Without knowing what happened behind the scenes I’m not sure we can really comment. Paige’s steady shunting to the sidelines has been a thing for a while though, and it speaks more broadly to how WWE treats its female athletes.

For as long as I can remember WWE’s women wrestlers have been treated as single use superstars. Unlike its male talent, who get multiple main event runs, the likes of Kaitlyn, AJ Lee and now Paige are given one major run before being ignored by creative. Paige can go in the ring – we know this. She’s popular and still sells merch, but WWE creative are trapped by the idea there can be only one women’s storyline per show.

The rise of the four horsewomen is great (and Bayley is my spirit animal) but Raw is three hours long. Are we really saying there’s no room for the rest of it’s female roster, not least Paige? I suppose this is a moot point until the Brit returns from injury, but someone so talented shouldn’t be wasted the way she has been.

 

Apollo Crews

Oh, Apollo Crews, who are you? I ask because six months after your main roster debut I’m still not sure. Is it his own fault? Was he bought up from NXT too soon? The man known on the independent circuit as Uhaa Nation has no shortage of ring skill and athletic ability. But as with Cesaro, Crews is clearly at the bottom of creative’s to do list.

Why is he here? What is he fighting for? We don’t know because he’s never given a chance to tell us. What Apollo Crews does is smile a lot. He’s happy to be here. If creative thinks that’s a character, then the guy is in serious trouble. Let me ask you this: who is Crews feuding with right now? No direction, no feud and no character has left him as enhancement talent for Baron Corbin. Baron fricking Corbin you guys. That’s like being the bad guy in a Taylor Lautner movie.

 

Bray Wyatt

The magical thing about Bray Wyatt is that no matter how much WWE piss away his talent, he always feels like a half year of strong booking could turn him into a legitimate championship contender. Problem is, there must be some kind of clause in his contract prohibiting more than four consecutive weeks of good booking.

The Bray Wyatt character has heaps of main event potential. Perhaps the only character since the turn of the decade to have been entirely manufactured by WWE and yet embraced by fans, it’s kind of alarming Vince hasn’t done a thing with him. He’s been built up for short stretches for the sole purpose of giving the likes of John Cena, Roman Reigns, The Undertaker and Randy Orton a big win.

Here’s the thing: Wyatt’s magic mic skills and talk of doom only work if at some point he actually brings the doom. His words should chill us to the bone because we know he can truly break his opponents. Instead, they sound empty. It makes the feuds he’s in empty, because his resume of opponents all end in him losing. The further they bury him, the harder they’ll have to push him before we buy into the cult of Wyatt again.

 

The Vaudevillains

Okay, it’s a tag team and not a singles superstar, but of all the NXT call ups after Wrestlemania The Vaudevillains were the biggest surprise. There was no way their gimmick would work on main, right? This was just two guys whose persona would fall flatter than a Big Show heel turn. But when Aiden English and Simon Gotch showed up on Smackdown on April 21 to spar verbally with Enzo Amore of all people, they crushed it.

In a way which they never had in NXT, The Vaudevillains made sense. Aiden English was Damien Sandow reborn, using smugness and condescension perfectly to poke legitimate heat from the crowd. In the ring their mannerisms and moveset was slightly skewed to the old school too. Then, in the midst of Enzo’s injury, the pair suddenly found themselves pushed to a tag team title shot.

It was the most competitive the tag division had been in months, and then Simon Gotch decided to get into a real backstage fight with Sin Cara. Since then The Vaudevillains have been an afterthought, losing in the first round of the Smackdown tag team titles tournament to the Hype Bros. In that first month on main these guys showed they can entertain as bad guys and produce decent work in the ring. For some reason though, they’re getting nothing right now. Just imagine these guys feuding with Heath Slater and Rhyno, then tell me you wouldn’t be entertained.