10 Attitude Era stars who are underrated by fans

#4. Steve Blackman

The story of Steve Blackman is rife with 'what might have beens.'

Blackman was a competitive bodybuilder and power lifter who transitioned to pro wrestling in 1986. After cutting his teeth on the independent circuit, he had several try out matches in the WWE in 1988, when it was still referred to as the WWF.

Blackman impressed WWE officials enough that they were going to give him a full time contract and a likely push. However, in South Africa during a wrestling tour he contracted the deadly disease Malaria.

He would be bedridden for nearly two years, and most of his impressive body builder's physique atrophied away. Though Blackman would eventually defeat the virus ravaging his body, he was a mere shell of his former self.

Because of the damage inflicted by Malaria, Blackman would never be able to re-attain his massive physique, so he focused on a different training style. He studied various forms of martial arts, especially Tae Kwon Do and the Malaysian art Escrima. Blackman also developed a new workout routine that gave him a chiseled appearance while still allowing him to retain the speed and agility he'd gained training in martial arts.

Blackman had been good friends with Owen Hart, so when it was time for him to return to wrestling he utilized his connections and made it back to the WWE. Steve Blackman had a tag title run and a hardcore title run, and was an attitude era fixture, but never broke into the main event.

Why he was underrated: Blackman had a martial artist gimmick when the WWE had also hired two prominent MMA stars; Ken Shamrock and Dan Severn. With the focus on these more famous and marketable men, Blackman was lost in the shuffle. Steve Blackman was also not the best mike worker, though he wasn't completely terrible he could never resonate with the fans.