 What's good y'all, it's your Bob Ross back again with another video. So let's check out 10 wrestlers WWE refused to push after they got over organically. We have seen it time and time again where a wrestler finds a way to reach that imaginary brass ring and for whatever reason, WWE or Vince McMahon and management, they don't like the fact that they actually reached the brass ring by themselves, got over by themselves. Fans want to see them. Fans are chanting for them without any type of extra push from management or Vince or the company itself. It's like they get upset about that. Like they don't like that. So they will try to do anything to depush you even though the objective that Vince has always stated is reach that brass ring. And then when they do on their own, why did you reach the brass ring? I didn't tell you to do that. I said, we will help you reach it. You're doing it by yourself. What's wrong with you? You know what? You're fired. That's usually what happens at the end of it all. They end up getting fired or let go for actually getting over themselves. It's very weird, but we're gonna check out some of these moments, man. Appreciate all the love and support. Let's get right into this one, man. Wrestler gets over in WWE. They can do one of two things. They can either capitalize on the immense popularity and push that wrestler up the card and in turn reap the financial rewards. Or they can completely ignore it and hope that the popularity dwindles down. Over the years, WWE have had a toxic habit of doing the latter. As a wrestler getting over on their own accord is seen as a taboo. And WWE traditionally aren't fans of a wrestler breaking out into the main event if they don't have it in their own creative vision. Join us now as WrestleMania looks at 10 wrestlers WWE refused to push after they got over organically. So be sure to subscribe and hit that notification bell for daily wrestling videos and follow us on Facebook for exclusive lists. Also, check out our new channel, WrestleMania Shorts. Drive it and wrestle with me if you haven't already. Number 10, Rusev. Oh, yeah. Rusev was pushed relatively quickly when he joined the main roster in 2014. But it was when Rusev began his Rusev Day persona when his popularity truly skyrocketed. Virtually overnight, Rusev became one of the most popular stars in WWE. And when he joined forces with aid in English, the Rusev Day Act was complete. WWE needed to take full advantage of Rusev's new founded popularity. And they didn't. Rusev would often have the best selling merchandise on WWE's shop. And his name was chanted throughout shows as the fans would stop at nothing to show support for the former US champion. WWE resented the fact that Rusev had managed to get over with the Rusev Day Act and WWE barely featured him on programming. WWE would act in such a petty manner as they made bizarre decisions such as editing Rusev Day Chants out and they would try to come up with a plan to get the Rusev Day Chance to go away forever. Rusev, who now goes under the name of Miro in AEW, would discuss the great lengths that WWE went to to diminish his popularity on Ryback's podcast. And this is what he had to say. They started putting my segment early so the Rusev Chance could go away. There was a period when I wasn't even supposed to be at WrestleMania, the one that I lost to Jinder at the height of my career of Rusev Day. I was not on TV for three weeks. At this point I'm sitting back listening to the people all day chanting Rusev Day. At this point I went to see one of the writers and said this is not right. This is the first time I yelled at a writer which I feel really bad about. He said we don't know what to do. I said what do you mean you don't know what to do? Just listen, stay here and listen. They will tell you what to do. I'm busting my ass to get to the top level and finally I'm getting close. Then they shoved me down and I don't understand why. What I'm fighting for. That sucks. And like WrestleMania said, they initially pushed him. I think one of his biggest feuds, he ended up feuding with John Cena. Like that was a big feud for him. You know what I'm saying? They were pushing this guy. And then they kind of changed this gimmick a little bit and he got over even more. More than they expected, he got over and he was getting these baby face reactions even though I think they wanted him to mostly be a heel, but he got over. The guy that you initially pushed got over and he got over in a different way. Probably the way that you didn't expect. But instead of rewarding that and capitalizing on that financially, you say, we're not going to do anything with you because we don't like the way you're getting over. That's fucking stupid. And Dango. When the Fandango gimmick first debuted on WWE TV, fans assumed it would be a short-lived character. The ballroom dancer persona didn't have too much depth. But when Fandango defeated Chris Jericho at WrestleMania 29, the fans did a complete 180 on Fandango. The next night on Raw, the fans hijacked the show by singing Fandango's theme song throughout the show. The WWE will point the phrase Fandango in. Vince McMahon evidently wanted Fandango to get over as a top heel in the company, and this was the complete opposite. The fans were turning Fandango baby face and due to the going against McMahon's vision, there was no doubt plans being put in motion to stop the Fandango hype train. There was creative put in place for Fandango to compete for the intercontinental title at the payback pay-per-view, but he suffered a concussion, taking him out of the match. When he returned, WWE failed to present him in a meaningful manner, despite the support still being there. Eventually, fans stopped caring and it was hard to chant and cheer for someone who is barely being featured on WWE television. The influence of Zack Ryder on the wrestling world can never be denied. Ryder was arguably the first wrestler to use social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to elevate his career, and his hit YouTube show was so immensely popular and unique that fans gravitated towards Ryder's WWE character. Due to the popularity of his social media work, fans began to chant his name at WWE shows, and due to Vince McMahon not having a clue what Ryder was doing on social media, these chants were ignored for months. When the chants and demand to see Ryder became too noticeable for WWE to ignore, he would slowly be moved up the card, and he would even win the US title at the PLC pay-per-view in 2011. The problem was that WWE had clearly no plans to use Ryder in a meaningful role, and it could be dropped the title to Jack Swagger. WWE then completely derailed the legitimacy and credibility of Ryder's character, as he became a secondary character in the game versus John Cena feud. WWE did everything they could to stop Ryder's popularity indefinitely, and the crazy thing is, all they had to do was feature Ryder in a substantial and engaging role, and fans would have been satisfied. 7. Cesaro Time and time again during his WWE career, Cesaro looked to be on the brink of greatness, but WWE always seemed reserved in pulling the trigger on Cesaro as a main eventer. Cesaro's popularity took off in 2014, as his work in the Real Americans made fans notice his insane strength and his stellar in-ring work. WWE would, to their credit, put over Cesaro in a huge way at the WrestleMania 30 Battle Royal, but instead of allowing Cesaro to flourish as a babyface, they decided to keep him as a heel, and they paired him with Paul Heyman, which was an unnatural fit. It was made clear when Vince McMahon appeared on Stone Cold's podcast that he wasn't a Cesaro supporter, as his comments completely buried one of WWE's most promising stars. He's not connecting yet, and we hope he will. He doesn't quite have the charisma, he doesn't quite have the verbal skills as well, and maybe because he's Swiss, I don't know in terms of the European style, but those are the big things that he's lacking. The audience needs to care about you, they need to be able to feel your presence, you need to be able to project that. He's an extraordinary physical talent, extraordinary, but at the moment, and hopefully he'll get it, he lacks it. Unfortunately over the next few years, this belief in McMahon would remain in place, as Cesaro would stay over with the fanbase, but McMahon would always hold back on making Cesaro a major player. 6. Bad News Barrett The Bad News Barrett character was something completely different to what had been seen on TV before, and it was finally the role that Barrett looked like he was born to deliver. The character was engaging, hilarious, and the best thing that was when Barrett stepped into the ring, his in-ring work could perfectly match the outlandish persona. This gimmick was incredibly popular by WrestleMania season in 2014, and WWE did the right thing in allowing Barrett to become Intercontinental Champion. Eventually, Vince McMahon realised that he wasn't happy with how over Barrett was with the gimmick, and he remembered that the gimmick was supposed to be booed. Instead of doing the logical thing and turning Barrett baby face, they decided to change Barrett's gimmick completely, and they had Barrett portraying a generic and stale King gimmick following his 2015 King of the Ring victory. 5. Luke Harper 2017 was the beginning of a seemingly breakout year for Luke Harper. Harper was involved in a storyline with Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton, and organically Harper had become one of the most popular baby faces on SmackDown. At one stage, it even looked like Harper was going to be involved in the WWE title match at WrestleMania 33. The fan reactions to Harper kept getting louder and louder. There was a major push on social media to see Harper get the WrestleMania nod. According to Harper, during an interview on Talk is Jericho, when he botched a spot in the battle royal, it gave WWE the justification to stop his push. 4. L.A. Night 5. WWE made one of the smartest decisions imaginable when they allowed L.A. Night to ditch the max Dupre persona. The Dupre character was failing to show off the best version of L.A. Night, and when the L.A. Night character was back on TV, fans instantly connected with him. Thanks to the outstanding might work and unbelievable charisma, L.A. became a fan favorite in early 2023, but WWE were hesitant to push him. He would be left off WrestleMania and then it looked like he was going to win the 2023 Money in the Bank ladder match, but this also failed to come to fruition. It's been reported that WWE will be pushing L.A. Night, and there are plans in place to capitalize on his popularity, yet it looks like L.A. Night is getting over on his own and has angered some of the top people within WWE. 3. Well, I think it's safe to say Triple H most likely is not going to let that fall by the wayside. They're doing things with him. He has a program now that he's mixing it up with Roman Reigns. They're not going to put you in the mix with Roman Reigns unless they got something for you. Hey, he definitely was looking like he was about to get featured and devoured with that when he was like the manager for the male models. He looked like he was about to get featured and devoured, but thank goodness Triple H took over at the right time, got rid of that gimmick for him and let him just get over on his own. That's exactly what happened and I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with him. Dolph Ziggler. There have been points in Dolph Ziggler's career where the fans have chosen him as the next top guy, but they've always had other ideas. When Ziggler won the world title in 2013, this was the payoff to years of Ziggler being beloved by the audience. But when Ziggler suffered a concussion, it gave WWE a good enough reason to bring Ziggler's main event push to an end. The year after Ziggler's world title debacle, Ziggler would once again become one of the most popular stars in the company. After he was a sole survivor at the 2014 Survivor Series event, this should have led to a huge main event push for Ziggler, but the best they could do for him was a mid-card feud over the Intercontinental title. WWE fans have become accustomed to being let down when it comes to Ziggler and this likely explains why these days the former two-time world champion often receives zero reaction when he makes his entrance. 2. Rob Van Dam One of the breakout stars of the Invasion storyline was the CW legend Rob Van Dam. His daring offense as well as his likable personality had made fans fall in love with him and in 2002 there was a blatant opportunity for WWE to crown a new top babyface in the company. RVD was a without question the most popular babyface on the board and when he collided with Triple H at the unforgiving pay-per-view, it was a strong argument to be made that RVD should have won the world title. Unfortunately, WWE went in a different direction and ultimately kept RVD away from the main event scene, deciding instead to place him in a tag team would came before giving him a run in the mid-card in 2003. This was such a wasted opportunity as during this time, WWE needed legitimate main event stars and RVD was exactly what they needed. RVD would discuss why WWE didn't take advantage of his organic popularity during an appearance on the Angle podcast and this is what he had to say. Wow, because he turned them down. That's crazy. And once again, this is the same guy that beat John Cena became the WWE Champion at one point and then because of some drug related stuff, you know, they kind of had to move away from him. So the fact that he was even saying potentially given that, you know, that opportunity and just because he turned it down, even though he was still over, they looked at it as like, ah, he turned down Triple H, aw hell nah. We're not going to push this guy, but he's still over. That's kind of a weird reason to turn someone to derail someone's mega push because he didn't want to work with someone. That's kind of weird. I ain't going to lie to you, bro. That sucks. 1. Daniel Bryan The growth of Daniel Bryan in WWE was fascinating. But Bryan started off in the company as someone who got decent enough ovations, but when he turned heel during his first world title reign, everything changed. Bryan's character work was outstanding and his yes chant took off with thousands of fans on a weekly basis, imitating Bryan's chant. WWE would attempt to transfer Bryan's growing popularity onto Sheamus at WrestleMania 28 when they had Bryan drop the title to him in just 28 seconds. But this backfired on WWE as Bryan became even more popular and the fans weren't going to stop showing their support for one of the most well-rounded performers in the company. WWE then had the idea to move Bryan away from the world title picture and place him in a pairing with Kane. This in turn made Bryan even more likely to... Everything they did to derail him or to slow down his push, it didn't matter. It's just he got even more over and more over and more over. Enduring as his work would came with some of the finest work of the respective era. He was so charming and it's aged extremely well. WWE then finally decided to give Bryan a run as the top guy in the summer of 2013. But a few months into this experiment, Vince McMahon had the Bryson idea to attempt to transfer Bryan's popularity onto the Big Show, as Big Show would obnoxiously begin to do the yes chants. Thankfully, WWE fans weren't buying it and the push to see Bryan as the number one guy continued. Fast forward to WrestleMania 30 and before CM Punk walked out of WWE, Bryan was going to yet again face Sheamus at the event. However, due to the aforementioned Punk workout, as well as a less than stellar response to WWE's plan to have Randy Orton vs Batista main event WrestleMania, Bryan would be added to the main event. They were then crowned Bryan in one of the most satisfying moments in WWE history if everyone's hard work was worth it. And he just goes to show that fans should never give up showing support to their favorite wrestlers. There was nothing they can do, bro. There was nothing they can do. There was no way you could have WrestleMania 30 main eventing closing off the show with Batista and Randy Orton. I love these guys. I love what they've done for the business, but it wasn't their time no more. It was Daniel Bryan or nothing. That crowd was going to shoot on that main event. If it was not Daniel Bryan being involved, it's that simple. That simple. They had no other choice. There was nobody that over. There was nobody that over. CM Punk was pretty much gone. Even CM Punk wasn't as over as that at that point. He was the most over person in wrestling. And there's only one thing you had to do. You had to put them in the main event of that show and you had to have him win the end. And that's why it's one of, in my opinion, one of the one of the better WrestleMania's and one of my favorite WrestleMania's and just a great way to end off a show. That man, WrestleMania 30. That was the way that show ended was fantastic. So comment down below. Let me know some other wrestlers you feel like got the short end of the stick should have been pushed or should definitely should have been pushed more since they got over organically. But WWE said, nah, we're not going to push them. In fact, we're going to de-push them because they got over. If they weren't on this list, let me know down below. But I appreciate all love and support. Road to 150K. And I'm still here on the speedy. You do rest of the champ. We appreciate y'all kicking with me. See y'all next one. Peace.