10 Wrestlers Who Struggled As Rookies & Never Got Better

The start of a wrestler’s run in a major promotion will see them attempting to break out in their rookie years. Most names need some time to get over, but there have been some rare stars like Kurt Angle to understand the wrestling business right away. The names to have the terrible rookie years will see differing results of improving or continuing to flop.RELATED: 10 WWE Wrestlers Who Had Their Best Years As A RookieWrestlers to never improve get criticized for their downfall since fans often have high expectations for them. The pressure to live up to the hype has been too much for some performers who didn’t get over their early struggles. Each of the following wrestlers showed the rare instance of never improving after a bad rookie year.

10 El Gigante

The WCW signing of El Gigante saw the giant wrestler getting pushed due to his height. WCW made El Gigante a fixture in his first year when placed in a few noteworthy angles. Unfortunately, his in-ring skills were a huge weakness that held him back.

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WWE signed him a few years into his career with the new name of Giant Gonzalez. The signing showed that he had not improved despite being a few years into his career. Gonzalez’s horrible feud with The Undertaker was the point of no return as the worst match in The Streak.

9 Jackie Gayda

WWE trying to find new talents through the reality series Tough Enough led to some wrestlers getting on television before they were ready. Jackie Gayda joined the company after winning a contract in the second season with a huge push to follow.

The matches of Gayda showed someone not ready to deliver competently in the ring. WWE hoped to make Jackie a fixture in the future of the women’s division, but she was best used as a manager outside of the squared circle.

8 Shawn Stasiak

The history of second-generation wrestlers joining the business feature a mixed bag of great and terrible stories. Shawn Stasiak didn’t have the same success as names like Bret Hart, Randy Orton and The Rock when chasing the family dream.

Former WWE Champion Stan Stasiak was the father of Shawn, but his son could not get near that title picture. Shawn struggled with a lackluster first year in WWE and never recovered with his career failing to pan out with minimal experience.

7 Glacier

WCW signed Glacier with the intent of giving him a huge push based on Eric Bischoff’s gimmick idea. The inspiration from Mortal Kombat saw Glacier having a unique backstory with a wild entrance and delivering karate kicks in the ring as part of his offense.

Glacier didn’t live up to the hype fans had after months of vignettes. The lack of improvement showed as WCW eventually ended his undefeated streak after placing him in the lower mid-card picture. Glacier never had more success in WCW as his rookie year doomed him.

6 The Great Khali

WWE fell in love with The Great Khali due to his size and ability to tap into the Indian market. Khali received a massive push working with The Undertaker and squashing him in the early matches of his WWE career.

Fans and wrestlers criticized Khali for being one of the worst in-ring workers in wrestling history. Khali never improved and lost his push, going from a monster heel to a comedy lower-card face. WWE never got the full potential they expected to tap into from Khali when signing him.

5 Tamina

WWE initially wanted Tamina to be bonded with the Usos as a trio for the long-term future playing into their family backgrounds in the Samoan Dynasty. Jimmy and Jey always looked great to show their potential, but Tamina struggled to get the same momentum.

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The daughter of Jimmy Snuka had a lot of expectations that she could not live up to in the grand scheme of things. Tamina has been able to remain on the WWE roster for over a decade, but she never improved to become a strong in-ring worker, especially in a world with an evolved style of women’s wrestling.

4 Heidenreich

The history of big men getting pushed hard in WWE right away continued when Heidenreich received a lot of television time. Heidenreich being managed by Paul Heyman, stalking Michael Cole and entering a feud with The Undertaker saw WWE trying to get him over.

Heidenreich just couldn’t get over with the weak character work and even worse in-ring work as a rookie. WWE tried a few different things afterwards like forming a new Legion of Doom with Road Warrior Animal, but Heidenreich just didn’t improve to make his standing more important.

3 Cameron

WWE called up Naomi and Cameron together as part of the dance team with Brodus Clay as a face act. Unfortunately, Cameron had less in-ring experience than Naomi and had a poor rookie year by not being ready to have live televised matches.

Botches like pinning her opponent the wrong way led to Cameron getting a negative reputation among diehard fans. The lack of improvement as a singles star played a role in WWE deciding to release Cameron despite her potential. WWE did bring her back for one night only in the recent Royal Rumble women’s match.

2 David Flair

WCW pushing David Flair before he had any experience working in front of a crowd led to one of the worst rookie years in wrestling history. Ric Flair being a WCW legend led to his son getting recruited to join the company and placed into major storylines right away.

David never was able to pick up the wrestling business on the fly working with legendary names like Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash and Roddy Piper. The first year was bad, but David never improved enough to turn things around. A lack of success in WCW, WWE and TNA led to David leaving the business.

1 Brakkus

The bodybuilding federation project of Vince McMahon failing led to names like Brakkus getting a chance in the wrestling world. Brakkus was jacked and had a look that Vince loved from his wrestlers to get solid plans for a push.

The in-ring work of Brakkus was bad enough his rookie year to get removed from WWE television and sent to ECW as part of a working relationship. Brakkus couldn’t improve to make the most of his opportunity and became a failed story in wrestling history.