Throughout the years fans have seen a number of different characters on WWE programming from all different backgrounds. Fans have seen characters who seem like their wrestling persona isn't all too different from their real life persona such as Kevin Owens. Fans have also witnessed characters who they'd rather forget such as the Anonymous Raw General Manager that was played by Hornswoggle. Some characters were thought to be doomed from the beginning but ended up becoming stars such as Damien Mizdow. Let's not forget about characters that they thought had potential to become big stars and the company dropped the ball such as Wade Barrett. Fans have seen wrestlers that they thought had the potential to become big stars but the superstar dropped the ball such as Mr. Kennedy.

Here, we take a look at fifteen wrestlers who should have never made it to WWE.

15 15. The Great Khali

via WWE.com

Billed at standing 7'1'' and weighing in at 347 pounds, passing on inking the Great Khali would seem to make little, if any sense for the WWE. The problem was that while Khali was indeed a towering and imposing presence and brought with him a large Indian fan base, Khali had simply no business inside the squared circle. Khali sold for absolutely none of his fellow wrestlers and whether that was simply because he was incapable of or was unwilling to do is something only Khali knows. He was extremely slow on his feet and had a move set that was even more limited than John Cena's "five moves of doom". By the way Cena haters, I think even you can agree that Cena has proved in recent years that he has far more than fives moves. But back to Khali, your departure was and is met with much exuberance.

14 14. Rosa Mendes

Rosa Mendes taunts an opponent
via wwe.com

In fairness to Rosa Mendes, she debuted when the WWE's lack of focus on its women's wrestlers was to put it mildly, of little importance. First appearing in 2008, playing the role of Beth Phoenix's number one fan, Mendes wore a number of hats in her close to decade run with the company. Most prominently, Mendes was the manager of Primo and Epico. In addition, Mendes also played the role of Fandango's dance partner, a backstage correspondent and falsely "woo woo wooing" (pun intended) Zack Ryder. Yet, despite being with the company for close to a decade, Mendes was amongst its worst female talents from the day she was signed. She lost matches endlessly and seemed like she was incapable of picking up wins and was not once over as a character. She recently retired in February of 2017 but most would've probably thought she wasn't even employed by the company at the time of her retirement.

13 13. Nathan Jones

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Now defunct, Pro Wrestling Illustrated once had an award (if it can be called that) recognizing the Worst Wrestler of the Year. In its final year, Nathan Jones was the recipient of this award. Jones didn't have any memorable moments in WWE, with the arguable exception of him teaming with A-Train, Big Show, Brock Lesnar and Matt Morgan at Survivor Series in 2003. But, while his wrestling skills were far from polished, Jones character issues were an even bigger issue. The Australian native had grown sick and tired of the lengthy travel schedule by WWE and had used a trip to his home country to call it quits. Essentially, Jones used his plane ticket (allegedly paid for by WWE)  to quit while saving some extra coin. Suffice to say, ethics weren't something Jones believed in.

12 12. Fake Razor Ramon

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Unlike the Fake Diesel who wound up becoming the "Big Red Machine", Kane, the Fake Razor Ramon ended up becoming nothing. Moreover, the Fake Razor Ramon only lasted within the WWE ranks for a year and the gimmick was a colossal failure from the moment the fake Outsider appeared on television. Not only did the Fake Razor Ramon not end up finding success in the WWE, but he was unable to find success outside of WWE once he departed in 1997. The Fake Razor Ramon gave it a shot in New Japan Pro Wrestling from 1997-1999 but he failed to establish himself as one who could be a force. This was the end of the Fake Razor's wrestling career as a recurring neck injury kept plaguing him.

11 11. Mantaur

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A minotaur is one that is half man and half bull with the head resembling the latter and the body resembling the former. For reasons unknown to the masses, and only known to the powers that be at WWE, they decided that this Greek mythologic creature would be a viable character to introduce to the wrestling world. In 1995, Mantaur first appeared in WWE; in 1995 he also last appeared in WWE. The character got off to a good start when he first debuted as he defeated a number of jobbers. But, audiences were not buying into the character and Mantaur failed to establish himself as one who could be a compelling character. Mantaur would not appear in WWE again under the same name or in any other promotion with the Mantaur gimmick and that shouldn't surprise anyone based on the lack of success of the character in his initial run.

10 10. The Spirit Squad

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The Spirit Squad could occupy four spots on this list as Kenny, Johnny, Mitch and Mikey never amounted to much in the WWE. However, the WWE Universe is forever indebted to the Spirit Squad because while the forenamed four cheerleaders were nothing short of lackluster, the fifth member was and continues to be a stud. That fifth member, Nicky, is better known to the masses today as Dolph Ziggler. With a gimmick of male cheerleaders it's hard to be depicted as a force to be reckoned with and to the Spirit Squad's credit, they did hold the tag belts on one occasion. Nonetheless, no one is lining up to see male cheerleaders in the WWE and whoever came up with green and white donning cheerleaders hopefully got their pink slip already.

9 9. Battle Kat

via wwe.com

The late Dean Peters had quite the affinity of playing catlike characters. He was once a character named Fire Cat: he was once a character named Lynxx; he was once a character named the Masked Firecat. But, before he was any of these feline characters, he was Battle Kat. Debuting in 1990, Battle Kat wore a black cat mask along with a singlet and referenced his catlike quickness as being the reason as to why he'd defeat his opponents. Dean Peters ended up only playing the character from May 1990 to October of 1990 before he was released. You'd infer that once Peters was released that the character would no longer appear on television, but you'd be wrong. The character was then played by Bob Bradley, which did nothing for the character's development.

8 8. Zeus

via WWE.com

The name Zeus may not ring a bell at first glance. Does the name Deebo from the movie Friday ring a bell? Zeus was indeed none other than Deebo from Friday and he had a short and unmemorable stint with the WWE in 1989. No selling moves (especially finishers) in fashion that would even make Hulk Hogan envious, Zeus shouldn't have been billed as "the Human Wrecking Machine"; he should've been billed as "the Human No Sell Machine". Zeus wasn't a wrestler and it clearly showed in the ring as he was almost never (if ever) placed in a one on one match. Instead, he'd be placed in tag matches so his partner(s) could carry the load. Deebo is a beloved character in the film industry; unfortunately for him, the same cannot be said about Zeus in the wrestling industry.

7 7. Mean Street Posse

via WWE.com

Comprised of Joey Abs, Pete Gas and Rodney, the latter two names were legitimate high school pals of the boy wonder, Shane McMahon. The three sported sweater vests and slacks trying to play the heavy for McMahon. Yet, the three never gained much traction despite all of them holding the Hardcore Championship for a brief time period at WrestleMania 2000. Furthermore, neither Gas nor Rodney were legitimate wrestlers; on the contrary, they benefitted from their real life friendship with Shane O'Mac. All three were released in 2001 and while it wasn't surprising for Gas and Rodney to call it quits for their wrestling career, it was a little surprising to see Abs call it a career as well. Nonetheless, this gimmick wouldn't have been easy to pull off for anyone.

6 6. Giant Gonzalez

via WWE.com

Sporting a ridiculous body suit with air brushed muscles and large patches of hair, the former NBA hopeful Giant Gonzalez debuted in WWE in 1993. The Argentinian big man had spent the past three years in WCW where he failed to solidify himself as a towering giant that could be perceived as a top act for the company. In WWE, Giant Gonzalez didn't fair much better as he lasted less than a year with the company before he was given his walking papers. The bodysuit proved to be a failure from the get go as Gonzalez appeared cartoonish and not human. The big man tragically passed away in 2010 at the age of forty-four as he was plagued by both diabetes and a number of heart issues.

5 5. Eva Marie

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Had Eva Marie came along during the Attitude Era or even the early 2000s and even during the late 2000s, she could've served a purpose within the WWE ranks. The reason being that WWE was not invested in their female talent becoming noteworthy in ring talent during this time period. Instead, WWE was invested in their female talent being eye candy that fans would drool over. Unfortunately for Eva Marie, she finds herself in the WWE ranks at the worst time for a woman of her skill set, or to better put it lack of skill set. Eva Marie is by far the worst women's wrestler on WWE's roster and considering that we're in the midst of the Women's Revolution, Eva Marie is nothing more than persona non grata in today's WWE landscape.

4 4. Phantasio

via GeekyBro.com

When you've had former ring names such as Gangsta B.I.G., Magnificent Maurice Spellbinder and Super Spell, the name of Phantasio should be the least of your problems. Wearing a black and white mask that resembled that of a mime, Phantasio was a magician of sort. Curious about his magical powers? You shouldn't be; once again, you REALLY shouldn't be. Phantasio was responsible for making the boxers of referee Earl Hebner as well as opponent Tony DeVito disappearing. How exactly do we know that Phantasio should have never made it to the WWE? Well, this was literally his lone television appearance (he had a few more appearances at house shows). Luckily, WWE figured out that this gimmick wasn't going anywhere from the minute they rolled the Phantasio character out.

3 3. Gobbledy Gooker

via cagesideseats.com

In 1990, the WWE inexplicably put a rather large egg on display at a number of events. While the egg looked comical, it created plenty of intrigue as fans were invested in knowing what or who was inside the egg. Fans finally received their answer at the 1990 Survivor Series when the egg had hatched. As the egg cracked, a colorful turkey named the Gobbledy Gooker appeared. Needless to say, fans "were not impressed" (in my best Lana voice). The character was pretty much dead on arrival as fans hoarded the turkey with boos. WWE saw that the writing was on the wall and scrapped the character all together shortly after Survivor Series. Today, the character is still regarded as one of WWE's biggest failures in terms of television characters.

2 2. Jackie Gayda

via Heartbreakers.Me

The real life wife of former "World's Greatest Tag Team" member, Charlie Haas, Jackie Gayda is infamous in the wrestling world for a match she participated in on July 8th, 2002. Teaming with real life Harvard Grad Christopher Nowinski to face-off against Bradshaw and Trish Stratus, Gayda was responsible for a number of botches in the match. The match has even been christened "that Jackie Gayda match" and is memorable for all the wrong reasons. Gayda was rightfully sent down to developmental after this match to work on her craft. Gayda would reappear in a managerial role in 2003 and would also give it a go in the ring from 2004-2005 before her release. To Gayda's credit she had improved since "that Jackie Gayda match". But, then again, it wasn't too hard to improve from that horrible display.

1 1. Hornswoggle

via WWE.com

Standing 4'6'' and weighing in at 142 pounds, Hornswoggle was mostly used as a comedic (a stale comedic character) during his decade with the company. Somehow, some way, Hornswoggle lasted ten years with the company, while wrestlers such as Wade Barrett and Damien Sandow were unable to last that long. Hornswoggle is persona non grata for two major reasons. For one, he was revealed to be the Anonymous Raw General Manager in an angle that was initially intriguing but became an immense letdown when the former "Little Bastard" was the one revealed to be the Anonymous Raw GM. Secondly, prior to the Cruiserweight Championship being reintroduced in 2016, Hornswoggle of all people was the last person to hold the belt before it was right. Way to disrespect the likes of Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio, WWE!