10: Andrade

When Andrade returned to WWE in early 2024 following a failure of a stint in AEW, there was rampant excitement. Andrade was and still is insanely talented, and due to his strong and healthy relationship with Triple H, fans hoped that Andrade would be pushed into the main event scene.

Unfortunately, for the first-half of 2024, Andrade has just lingered around other people’s storylines with nothing substantial to do. Whenever he’s been booked to wrestle, he’s done a great job, yet these matches have been limited. Andrade has had under 10 matches since returning, and one of these was on WWE Speed.

WWE have brought Andrade back into the company without a clear plan for the former US Champion. Fans are slowly becoming annoyed at this, and it’s only a matter of time before Andrade takes his frustrations to social media and begins to question his disappointing booking.

9: Finn Balor

2023 was a great year for Finn Balor. Under the leadership of Triple H, Balor was pushed into the main event scene with a World Title feud with Seth Rollins, and their matches were tremendous, especially the SummerSlam match. 2023 wasn’t without hiccups for the inaugural Universal Champion, as Balor was bizarrely booked to lose as The Demon inside Hell in a Cell against Edge at WrestleMania 39. With Edge now in AEW, this decision becomes even more baffling.

In 2024, Balor has only won one 1 vs. 1 match, and that took till early June to achieve. Balor still has so much to offer the company, and he still consistently performs at an elite level, it’s just that WWE (no matter who is running the show) can never fully commit to presenting Balor as a main-event level star in the long-term.

8: Omos

Whilst fans were initially against the Omos push of 2023, The Nigerian Giant managed to win the fans over, thanks to solid performances against the likes of Brock Lesnar and Seth Rolins.

Furthermore, Omos has managed to build a solid connection with the fans thanks to his social media presence, in particular his TikTok page which is incredibly wholesome, and Omos has allowed fans to see the man behind the character.

Omos could easily be presented as a draw, and he has the ability to deliver when booked on the show. Unfortunately, it looks like WWE and Triple H have no plans to feature him in a meaningful role. Omos has mainly wrestled on live events and in battle royals in 2024, which is frustrating, as Omos succeeded in getting over with the fans, yet WWE just pulled the rug from under him with no logical explanation.

The same can be said for MVP. MVP is one of the best talkers in the entire company, yet Omos’ established manager is never featured on TV, which seems like a massive waste of talent.

7: Shayna Baszler

When Shayna Baszler was first called up to the WWE main roster, fans had high hopes. Baszler’s NXT run was polarising, yet she managed to establish herself as a dominant wrestler, and her MMA style made her one of the more unique female talents in the company.

After a strong presentation early on, Baszler fizzled out extremely quickly, and she has spent the past four years in random tag-teams and putting people over.

This looked to change in the summer of 2023, when Baszler entered into a feud with Ronda Rousey. Unfortunately, this feud fell flat, and their eventual PLE match at SummerSlam was arguably the worst PLE match of the Triple H era. Whilst the quality of the matchup was without a doubt a major issue, the booking of the feud and the match was also a key factor in why the entire program flopped.

Baszler still has a ton of talent to bring to the table, but it seems unlikely that she’s ever going to be given the chance to reach the upper echelon of WWE again.

6: Ricochet

Ricochet has been a hot topic amongst wrestling fans in 2024, especially when top AEW star, Will Ospreay spoke out regarding Ricochet’s booking in WWE.

In an interview with Comic Book, Ospreay shared the opinion of many WWE fans who believe that Ricochet’s WWE booking has been “appalling”:

"The fact that they only value his time for under five minutes is appalling to me. I just want people to remember who he is. If you go and look at 2012-2013 Dragon Gate Ricochet, he was untouchable at the time. When it came to this generation of high-flyers, he was the greatest. He's the greatest high-flyer ever. I know it sounds weird, but I do include him on the same level as Rey Mysterio."

Of course, Ospreay is referencing Ricochet being relegated to the WWE Speed show on X. Ricochet has been given pushes in the company, notably reigns as Intercontinental Champion, and US Champion, but unfortunately, WWE have always seen Ricochet as a mid-carder and nothing more.

There is the argument that Ricochet doesn’t have the mic skills to be pushed into the main event picture. Whilst this is a somewhat valid argument, some of the top names in WWE history have relied solely on their in-ring talent to get them over, and it would be relatively easy to assign Ricochet a mouthpiece.

5: Sheamus

For most of his career, Sheamus has been criticised for being pushed into the main event scene where there was a lack of demand to see him in the role.

In 2009, Sheamus won the WWE Title despite only being on the main roster for a matter of months, and in 2012, he dethroned Daniel Bryan, at a time in which Bryan was slowly becoming one of the most popular acts in the company.

These arguments may have merit, yet there’s no denying that Sheamus didn’t have somewhat of a connection with the crowd, and his in-ring work has always been excellent.

In 2022, the fans fully connected with Sheamus as a pro wrestler. Sheamus was delivering unbelievable work inside the squared circle, and this culminated by Sheamus having the match of his career against Gunther at Clash at the Castle. Sheamus even received a standing ovation following the match, and this insanely positive crowd response continued as the weeks and months went on, as Sheamus became a fully realised babyface that the fans wanted to see succeed.

Due to this popularity, Sheamus could have easily been chosen to dethrone Gunther, and this would have been a satisfactory end to Gunther’s acclaimed run. There was an even bigger push to see Sheamus collide with Roman Reigns for the WWE Title. WWE needed fresh babyfaces to face Reigns for the title in late 2022, and a babyface Sheamus vs. a heel Reigns was a unique matchup that would have had a fantastic and unique dynamic. Unfortunately, WWE never booked the match to take place.

With Sheamus back on the active roster on RAW, there is hope that Sheamus gets one more push up the card before he retires, as WWE have truly let him and the fans down with his booking and presentation over the past few years.

4: Montez Ford

Since Montez Ford arrived on the main roster along with Angelo Dawkins, fans have been collectively demanding that Ford goes on a singles run.

Ford’s in-ring output is tailor-made for a main event level star, and we have seen time and time again that when Ford is given the opportunity, he has every tool it takes to deliver.

As time has gone on, the chances of this happening seem to reduce. WWE seem to be adamant on keeping Ford as one half of the Street Profits, which whilst somewhat understandable, isn’t fair on Ford who could be doing so much more. Ford is currently in a group known as The Pride along with Dawkins, Bobby Lashley and B-Fab, and the group is just going through the motions. It doesn’t help that the group had a botched heel run, and this was cancelled after the crowd outright refused to boo any members of the group, which WWE should have easily seen coming.

There is still a glimmer of hope that WWE will commit to a Ford singles run, but if they don’t, then it will easily be one of the biggest missed opportunities of the past decade.

3: Kevin Owens

It’s borderline criminal that Kevin Owens has only had one World Title reign in WWE. Owens is without a doubt one of the most consistent and reliable talents in the entire company, and there’s nothing Owens can’t do as a talent.

Owens has indeed been given prominent roles on the show, and has even main evented WrestleMania twice, yet it’s truly baffling that Owens has never been considered for another World Title run.

It’s entirely possible that Owens is one of those names like Kane that gets given a World Title run towards the end of his career. This would be great to see, but ultimately, Owens is in the prime of his career right now, so there’s no time like the present to give Owens another run as the top champion in the company.

2: Kofi Kingston

2019 was the crowning year of Kofi Kingston’s career. The unbelievably good KofiMania story culminated with Kingston winning the WWE Title at WrestleMania 35. Whilst Kingston’s 180-day reign was a mixed-bag, the way it ended left a sour-taste in everyone’s mouth.

Kingston was booked to lose the title in an outright squash to Brock Lesnar on SmackDown. This was a spit in the face to Kingston, as well as every fan who had invested in the KofiMania story arc.

Almost 5-years on from the infamous loss, and there’s never been any follow up. Kingston has never sought out a rematch, and he’s never shown an ounce of anger or resentment. WWE have done a horrible job with Kingston’s character, as they’ve booked him to not give a damn about the most illustrious prize in the company.

Kingston would comment on the dreaded 2019 loss to Lesnar in a 2022 interview with NBC Sports Boston, and as always, the WWE veteran was incredibly humble:

“…I don’t really dwell on the why. There are a lot of things in the industry that you look at sometimes and go, ‘why did that happen?’ You just move on and the wheel keeps on turning. For me to dwell on what happened in that match with Brock Lesnar doesn’t serve me any purpose. It’s not going to make me better or change what happened or do anything besides make me feel bad. I’m not going to let it do that. I have a lot more career left to handle…”

1: Shinsuke Nakamura

It’s almost a certainty that Shinsuke Nakamura will NEVER win a World Title in WWE. If this sentence was uttered to a fan in 2017, they would probably laugh, as when Nakamura arrived on the roster in 2017, it was virtually a given that Nakamura would ascend to the top of WWE.

Over the past 7-years, Nakamura has had endless World Title matches, yet every single time he has been unsuccessful. Nakamura has lost title matches against the likes of Jinder Mahal, AJ Styles and even Seth Rollins, and the former NXT Champion is now at the stage of his career where if he is given a push up the card, not a single fan expects him to win the respective feud.

Nakamura is basically an established star that puts over other talent, and this hasn’t remotely changed under Triple H’s leadership, as whilst Nakamura is consistently on the main roster product, he is rarely booked to win major matches.

Nakamura was one of the most popular pro wrestlers in the world in 2017, but now, it’s rare that he receives a substantial reaction from the live audience.

WWE have failed Nakamura, and it would be an impossible task to take Nakamura back to the heights of his popularity. 

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