10 WWE Superstars who couldn't live up to the hype

A lot of people in wrestling claim that they knew when certain Superstars were going to defy the odds and make a name for themselves. From Paul Heyman's claims that he always saw something in CM Punk, to countless peers citing that they always knew Steve Austin was going to be big.

That's extremely easy to do. What doesn't get bragged about quite as often is people believing certain wrestlers were going straight to the top only to wind up falling at one of the first hurdles. They had all the backing and/or hype in the world but they just couldn't make it work.

To be fair, that happens in pretty much every single sport -- athletes being labelled as the next Lionel Messi or Michael Jordan. Well, it happens pretty often in WWE too. Here are ten Superstars who simply couldn't live up to the hype.

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#10 Matt Morgan

Matt Morgan looked very promising when he first arrived on the scene in WWE. Seven feet tall and over 300 pounds, his look, size and frame fit perfectly with what Vince McMahon viewed as the ideal man to build a roster around.

WWE didn't start Morgan off in the shallow end either. He was brought on to the main roster from developmental in order to side with Brock Lesnar towards the end of 2003. Lesnar was one of the biggest stars in the company at the time.

A few months later, Lesnar left and WWE were at a loss for what to do with Morgan. He disappeared from TV for a while and when he returned it was with a stuttering gimmick. As you can imagine that didn't really work out and Morgan was released in July of 2005.

#9 Mordecai

Many of you reading this may not remember Mordecai. That's probably because his stay on the main roster was extremely short. Mordecai debuted on SmackDown in April of 2004 and by July, the man who portrayed him, Kevin Thorn, was back in OVW.

Despite the brevity of his stay on SmackDown, WWE actually had big plans for Mordecai. The fact that he looked like The Undertaker but wore white instead of black was no accident. The plan was to have the two ultimately end up battling one another.

Thanks to things beyond WWE's control that pipe dream was crushed. Thorn got involved in a bar fight where the guy he fought ended up with a serious injury and was hospitalised. WWE tried to fight Kevin's legal battle but eventually it proved to be more than it was worth.

#8 Kharma

Kharma is another name that many fans may not recall. In this instance, though you may remember her by her other ring name, Awesome Kong. The latter is the name she went by while wrestling for TNA where she spent most of her career.

Between her two TNA stints, Kong signed for WWE. Vignettes aired during WWE television advertising and hyping the arrival of Kong, or rather Kharma at this point. However, before she even had the chance to wrestle a match she had to leave for a while as she was pregnant.

The following year, Kharma made a surprise return during the Royal Rumble match, making her one of only three women at that time to ever compete in the bout. Sadly that would be the only match she ever competed in for WWE as she was released later that year.

#7 Curtis Axel

No one gets hyped quite like a WWE Superstar following in a famous relative's footsteps. Charlotte Flair is a successful example of that, as is The Rock. However, Curtis Axel is a man who has not lived up to the hype as of yet.

The Miztourage member is the grandson of Larry Hennig and son of WWE Hall of Famer, Mr Perfect. With a pedigree like that, fans were expecting big things from The Axe Man. At one point he was even a 'Paul Heyman Guy'.

Paul Heyman and an Intercontinental Title run were unfortunately not enough to help shoot Axel to the moon though. Clearly, WWE doesn't see the same thing in Curtis that they saw in his father and he seems destined to play a comedy act and a stooge.

#6 Heidenreich

During the mid-2000s, there were a string of Superstars introduced on SmackDown that WWE tried to shoot straight to the top. They would do that by inserting them into an angle with The Undertaker very early on in their careers, from day one almost.

One of those Superstars was Heidenreich. The character Heidenreich portrayed was one of a psychopath. He and his unhinged friend Snitsky looked set to take on Kane and The Undertaker at WrestleMania 21.

The Deadman apparently decided that he'd rather face Randy Orton instead and that's the match that happened. Following that, WWE formed a new Legion of Doom between Heidenreich and Road Warrior Animal, but it didn't wind up being an idea that had any traction.

#5 Vladimir Kozlov

Another man that tried to fill those big shoes on SmackDown during the 2000s was Vladimir Kozlov. The Ukrainian star was brought in as a seemingly unbeatable entity and actually went almost a whole year without losing in one-on-one competition.

Like Heidenreich, Kozlov was being touted to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania. His first singles loss came in March of 2009 on Raw when he was beaten by Shawn Michaels. The winner of the match earned the right to go on and face The Phenom at The Showcase of the Immortals.

After that, Vladimir's WWE career began to unravel. Kozlov was drafted to WWE's unsuccessful ECW brand and eventually was reduced to a comedy act alongside Santino Marella.

#4 Tensai

Lord Tensai doing battle with Santino Marella — Tensai doing battle with Santino Marella

Matt Bloom has worn many hats during his stints with WWE. Older fans will likely remember him as either Prince Albert or A-Train, and today he has a prominent role as head trainer at WWE's Performance Center.

In between his two stints with WWE, Bloom wrestled in Japan for a while, and when he returned, WWE tried to cash in on that. They repackaged him as Tensai and made a big deal of the time he spent in Japan while making next to no reference of his previous run with the company.

Tensai racked up some high profile wins to start off with against the likes of John Cena and CM Punk. That didn't last long though and later that same year, much like Kozlov, he was half of a comedy act alongside Santino Marella.

#3 Giant Gonzalez

As established with Matt Morgan earlier in this list, Vince McMahon loves big guys. With that in mind, naturally anyone who made The Undertaker look small was going to be given something of a monster push. Enter Giant Gonzalez.

A basketball player from Argentina who stood at an incredible eight feet tall, his first feud in WWE was with The Undertaker and the pair did battle at WrestleMania IX. Gonzalez lost by disqualification, and the pair's rivalry continued throughout the year but Gonzalez in WWE just wasn't going to work.

They certainly didn't help his case by putting him in a creepy bodysuit with hair airbrushed on to cover up certain regions of his anatomy. He and WWE parted ways less than a year after he had first signed.

#2 Bobby Lashley

Unlike many of the Superstars that have featured on this list, Bobby Lashley's booking by WWE was methodical and he wasn't shot straight to the top. Vince McMahon clearly saw worth in Lashley and did his level best not to waste this opportunity.

Bobby debuted in 2005 and went almost six months before losing for the first time in singles competition. He spent some time as United States Champion and also as ECW Champion on the rebooted hardcore brand.

The pinnacle of his time with WWE was his feud with Vince McMahon. The boss only inserts himself in rivalries with Superstars he sees a lot of promise in. Shortly after that Lashley would start competing for the WWE Championship.

It was at this point that a poorly timed injury led to him needing an extended period of time off followed by his eventual release from the company.

#1 Great Khali

In 2006, Vince McMahon must have thought he had struck gold when The Great Khali arrived on his doorstep. Not only is Khali a mammoth of a man, but he hails from a land that 1.3 billion people call home. A land previously untapped by WWE.

WWE pushed Khali and they pushed him hard. The trouble with that was not only was Khali not the greatest wrestler in the world, but he also didn't bring much to the table in the way of promo skill.

Despite that, WWE once again had the new guy battle The Undertaker, and in one particular match, Khali pinned the veteran with just one foot planted on his chest. Like so many before him though the Indian Superstar's act descended into farce. He went from a terrifying behemoth to The Punjabi Playboy.

Edited by Nishant Jayaram