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WWE has a very large talent roster right now. Counting only the men, there are 80 Superstars on WWE's main roster (40 on RAW, 40 on SmackDown). That's a lot of talent, but you need a lot of stars when you have five hours of television to produce every week. One issue that has plagued the WWE Universe for many years is the treatment of Superstars who have proven themselves as very good wrestlers inside the ring and, importantly, always receive a loud reaction from the audience.
It all boils down to whether or not a wrestler is "over", making it a popularity contest of sorts. At least that's what would make the most sense. It turns out that's not always the case, and Superstars who make the crowds leap to their feet may lie on the backburner while others who might leave the audience sitting on their hands get all of the attention from the powers that be.
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A good push and upward momentum can be beneficial to both the company and the wrestlers. Here are five Superstars who fit that criteria.
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#5 Apollo Crews
Just about any time you see or hear people talking about a Superstar that needs a push or deserves a shot, the name Apollo Crews is likely to come up. Crews is a very good example of a Superstar who was transitioned from NXT to the main roster before it was his time. While WWE does have a history of using stars from NXT a lot differently when they move up in the company, it's even more difficult when someone is used differently and brought up too soon.
Apollo Crews made his debut at Takeover: Brooklyn where he defeated Tye Dillinger in under five minutes. The match was a showcase of his unbelievable in-ring prowess and the crowd responded immediately. He earned an opportunity for the NXT Championship within two months of his debut, though he would fall short of winning the gold. After only seven months in NXT and barely any losses under his belt, Crews would show up on RAW.
He started by easily defeating low-card guys but then jumped up too high, too soon. He was placed in big matches with big stars (MITB qualifiers, battle royals and six-pack challenges for WWE Title opportunities, for example) but always fell short. It made the guy look like someone who was biting off way more than he could chew.
He failed to win the Intercontinental Championship and ended up in a weird 2-on-1 feud teaming with Kalisto against Dolph Ziggler. Why were the good guys the ones with the advantage? The world may never know.
After that crazy period was over, Crews slipped further, as he began his membership in Titus Worldwide, which was a comedy team alongside Titus O'Neil. That fizzled out after a few months, and Apollo has barely made a peep since.
#4 Eric Young
It's very important to note that we are not insinuating that any of the men on this list should be getting opportunities at the WWE or Universal Championships. Unlike you may see on Twitter, a push truly exists when a Superstar finds himself in a consistent role on television with a clear direction. No need to be a World, Intercontinental or United States Champion -- just a meaningful spot on the roster would do wonders.
Eric Young is a guy who has never failed to hit a home run no matter what type of pitch is hurled his way. In TNA, he was an amazing lackey, a great comedy guy, a convincing angry heel, and eventually an extremely solid main-event star who even had a brief reign as World Champion. When he came up to the main roster from NXT, SAnitY was almost immediately disbanded, and all of them essentially disappeared.
With the new brand split in full effect, it's a perfect time for different Superstars to get chances at a little bit of glory. Aleister Black is still looking for someone to knock on his door, so why not Eric Young? It's a great way to reintroduce Young as a madman and it could give Black an interesting feud on television. There's no reason EY has to come out as the overall victor, but he slots in perfectly in any role. He's perfect as a crazy guy -- he's essentially R-Truth, just without TV time. Give it a shot!
#3 Bo Dallas
It seemed like many fans were speculating (and maybe just hoping) that when Bray Wyatt was being repackaged (before The Fiend existed), his real-life brother would become the newest part of his family. He would replace Harper and Rowan, WWE could acknowledge that they are real brothers, and Bo Dallas could have new life breathed into him. The speculation became even more spiritied when the former NXT Champion started growing his beard out. He had to be joining Bray, right?
That didn't happen. Instead, he went from Social Outcast to Miztourage member to B-Teamer (although he did get a run as a tag champion), and then disappeared. He won the 24/7 Championship (for a few minutes) a couple of months ago, but it was a brief TV appearance that went nowhere.
Now that his brother is on SmackDown, the same brand that Bo was drafted to, WWE has another shot at reuniting them as a duo. In fact, Bo's former gimmick, the man who wanted everyone to "Bo-Lieve", might be perfect as a supporting character on the Firefly Fun House. Tweak the character just slightly and make him a little bit more sadistic in the ring (which was already an underlying element of the character) and you could have gold.
The two men don't even have to exist in the same world when Bray is The Fiend. Bo can be on his own when The Fiend is around and only associate himself with his brother when Bray Wyatt is the smiling guy who spends his time with puppets.
#2 Cesaro
Indeed, this topic has been discussed ad nauseum for years. The fact that Cesaro still hasn't been given a shot outside of the tag team ranks is why the conversation continues to be relevant. It's more relevant than ever now that it is fully possible that Sheamus may never return, and if he does, it's more than likely not going to be as a full-time performer.
Cesaro has it all. He has the look. In the ring, he has a very unique combination of size, speed, agility, power, and, well, you can literally name every in-ring style that exists. Cesaro can do everything. The one thing he doesn't have is complete fluency in spoken English, but there are myriad ways to get around that. The list is long enough that we could spend days discussing it. In the absence of speaking ability (which he is actually qute good at thanks to having very strong timing), Cesaro posessed one extremely important aspect of a true Superstar. Presence. When a man like him walks into a room, or an arena, you can't help but stop what you're doing and look.
WWE clearly trusts him as a safe wrestler who can help others look good. He had a series of great matches with Ricochet shortly after the debut of "The One and Only", and more recently was tasked with putting together a match with young Saudi Arabian star Mansoor, and he absolutely knocked it out of the park.
He can be a good guy, he can be a bad guy -- he can be anything you want him to be. He can be World Champion, he can be United States Champion (too bad he's on SmackDown, as a program with AJ Styles could be stellar), or he could be a man for hire. Have a problem? Cesaro can solve it. He could be a one-man modern version of the APA.
#1 EC3
Much like the first entry on this list, Apollo Crews, the former Derrick Bateman suffered from the symptoms that occur when a man is brought from NXT to WWE's main roster before it's their time. In this case, it's not that he wasn't ready -- EC3 is a multi-time former TNA World Champion and performed on television for years at a high level -- but that WWE just had nothing for him.
The (not really) nephew of the former President of TNA Wrestling appeared on RAW because WWE was looking to do something new and different, but instead fell into a weird paradoxical storyline/real incident involving the former Dean Ambrose. It led to him disappearing from television only weeks after he debuted.
EC3 is a guy, much like Drew McIntyre, who left WWE and completely reinvented himself. It garnered a ton of attention throughout the wrestling world, and when his contract in TNA was up, WWE came a-knockin'. The man behind EC3 proved himself to be a great heel and a great babyface, and he had everything going for him.
He has the look solid in-ring skills and perhaps most importantly in the Universe that is WWE, he can talk. He may be one of the best talkers WWE has on the entire roster, but when you're on Main Event every week, you don't get much time to say anything.
Almost a year has passed since the debacle with Dean Ambrose. It may be time to bring EC3 back to RAW to show the whole world what the goofy guy from the NXT game show can do.
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