5 Major stars who played sidekicks to mid-carders that fans forgot about

The wrestling world is nothing if not changeable. Someone who is a top star today, may well have been a supporting cast member in their past, or be on their way to a background role in the twilight of their career.

Particularly with the WWE Hall of Fame growing into such an institution, fans tend to remember wrestlers for their best, high profile work. It can be difficult to remember how far they’ve come or fallen, though.

This article takes a look back at five major stars who played sidekicks to mid-card acts, that fans tend to usually forget.

In some cases, it could be that the company never saw the potential, or, they put a budding young talent under the tutelage of someone more experienced who nonetheless, wasn't a major star in their own right.

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#5 Deacon Batista

After a vaunted run as a Leviathan in the WWE developmental system, when Batista showed up on the main roster, he was first cast as D-Von Dudley’s sidekick—a deacon to Dudley’s new reverend gimmick.

The pairing made some sense. Dudley was certainly a talented veteran who could have mentor the young stud. Moreover, having such a physically imposing sidekick bolstered Dudley in his new singles run after the WWE audience had only known him as a tag team wrestler.

Dudley’s heel character never really took off, though, and in retrospect WWE was squandering The Animal’s potential by wedging him into this silly role that did not organically fit his personality.

Batista would go on to a better fit playing Evolution’s big man, en route to his main event level career. By contrast, WWE wound up putting the Dudley Boyz back together, recognizing that they had their greatest value teamed as a unit.

#4 Becky Lynch The Rosebud

The Rosebuds included a number of eventual stars, including 'The Man'

Becky Lynch will always have a place in history as the first woman to win a WrestleMania main event.

In addition to that, she’s one of the very few women in WWE history, who could make any sort of credible claim of having been the top star in the company for a sustained stretch (realistically, Ronda Rousey is probably the only other talent who could make a case).

Long before she was The Man, or even a top tier performer in the women’s ranks, WWE used Lynch as a Rosebud—one of the outlandish characters, who came to the ring with Adam Rose.

In contrast to Lynch, Rose would never work a non-battle royal match at a WrestleMania. His WWE tenure on the whole, fizzled pretty quickly from featured young star, to background player, to leaving altogether.

A number of eventual stars like Braun Strowman and even AEW’s Sammy Guevara had stints as Rosebuds, but Lynch may stand out most of all, as a groundbreaking star where fans got a glimpse of her as a mere sidekick.

#3 AJ Styles in The Christian Coalition

Before AJ Styles was a WWE main eventer, he played a lot of roles for Impact Wrestling, including an underling for Christian.

AJ Styles had a tumultuous run throughout his time with Impact Wrestling. Yes, he was a multi-time world champion who worked multiple Bound For Glory main event matches. He also bounced between different personas and alliances, though.

In particular, after his first stretch as a main event guy, the company relegated him to the role of joining Tyson Tomko, as supporting players for The Christian Coalition.

To be fair, Impact did treat Christian as a main eventer for much of his tenure. There’s an argument to be made that 'Captain Charisma' was ultimately more than a mid-carder in WWE, too, for the summer of 2011 he spent in the World Heavyweight Championship mix.

Just the same, taking a wide-angle view on Christian’s career in mainstream wrestling, he was mostly a very talented mid-card or tag team performer. By contrast, Styles was an off and on top guy for not only Impact, but New Japan.

Moreover, his improbable late-career run with WWE has seen him enjoy two lengthy runs as world champion—at least on paper, well out-achieving the man he once played a sidekick to.

#2 Bob Backlund Coaching Darren Young

Bob Backlund returned as a coach to less-than-top talent Darren Young.

Bob Backlund is a wrestling legend. He was the last great face WWE Champion of the pre-national expansion era, who held the title for nearly six years straight. Moreover, he managed to reinvent himself a decade later in a crazed heel persona, that garnered a short world title reign in its own right.

All in all, despite getting featured scarcely during peak periods for the wrestling business, Backlund remains one of the best known and most widely respected talents of all time.

Backlund returned to the WWE more than once, fold to play supporting roles, and the most recent instance saw him acting as a life coach and manager for Darren Young. The idea of Backlund coaching someone, in and of itself, makes good sense and Young was enough of an athlete for the pairing to make a degree of sense.

However, excluding his early run with The Nexus, Young never put the pieces together to become more than a lower mid-card guy.

Backlund acting as his sidekick comes across more as a piece of historical trivia now, than a logical pairing that advanced either man’s career or legacy in meaningful ways.

#1 Edge in The Brood

Early in his WWE run, Edge was a supporting player for Gangrel in The Brood.

Edge was as an eleven-time World Champion who main-evented a WrestleMania. He was the first man to ever cash in a Money in the Bank briefcase (let alone, do it twice). He was definitely one of the most iconic rivals for both John Cena and The Undertaker.

Over the course of all of these storylines and milestones, Edge enjoyed longevity and legitimate evolution as a WWE Superstar.

For all the accolades associated with The Rated R Superstar, it can be difficult to remember his early casting as part of The Brood.

Sure, Edge’s partnership with Christian is legendary, for how they grew as a team and for the times WWE revisited their story across time. But, the duo acting like vampires in supporting roles to Gangrel comes across as a historical anomaly to say the least.

While Gangrel carries a good deal of respect as a steady hand who did good character work and stayed active in the ring for a very long time, he never came close to the star power of either of his proteges from this faction.