For wrestlers to stay relevant throughout their career, they have to keep on updating themselves and stay on top of their game. They should also have a good reputation among the fans and also have a good liaison with the backstage officials.
Those who managed to maintain the above-mentioned traits went on to reach great heights in their careers, while those who failed soon found themselves getting pushed down the card and treated similar to enhancement talents. With that said, let's take a look at ten such wrestlers from WWE who were relevant five years ago but ended up losing all their momentum.
9 Enzo Amore
Enzo Amore's WWE career saw its fair share of ups and downs, but after his partnership with Big Cass ended in 2017, he became the face of the rejuvenated cruiserweight division.
He went on to become a 2-time Cruiserweight Champion and raised some eyebrows by being instrumental in the cruiserweight division getting featured on the Raw main event on multiple occasions.
But his real-life scenarios led to him getting released by WWE, and since then, he didn't get signed by any major promotion and still continues to perform on the sidelines on the independent circuit.
8 Elias
It was not very long ago when the WWE fans chanted in harmony as WWE stands for "Walk With Elias." He had the perfect heel gimmick that could've taken him to greater heights as a singles performer. But despite the WWE writers not coming up with anything significant for him, Elias survived very well on his own.
But he soon began losing all his momentum as WWE placed him in lackluster positions on the shows, and the fans started losing interest in the Drifter. WWE tried to repackage Elias by ditching his old gimmick, and then reintroduced him as Ezekiel, the younger brother of Elias, Only time will tell if he would gain more success than his first run.
7 Pete Dunne
Looking back at Pete Dunne's career five years ago, he had made his WWE debut at the inaugural Cruiserweight Classic tournament and went on to the final only to lose to Tyler Bate. However, he captured the United Kingdom Championship from Bate and had a lengthy run with the title that lasted for a record 685 days.
But since he lost the title to Walter, WWE soon began to cool off on his push. He did compete in significant matches and won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and the NXT Tag Team Championship with Matt Riddle, but soon got put in random matches that didn't have much importance.
He's now a part of the SmackDown roster after undergoing a character change as Butch. He aligned himself with Sheamus and Ridge Holland, and the fans have been highly critical of his current booking.
6 Velveteen Dream
Velveteen Dream was making quite the strides in WWE after his re-debut with the company under the unique character for NXT in May 2017. He soon went on to capture the NXT North American Championship and had multiple high-profile matches.
When things were looking good for The Dream in NXT, his real-life predicament played spoilsport on his wrestling career. WWE took him off television for over five months before eventually releasing him in May 2021.
He is yet to make his return to the ring and continues to remain on the sidelines until he sorts out his personal issues.
5 Bray Wyatt
Bray Wyatt is one name that rightfully shouldn't be on this list, but despite the success with The Fiend gimmick after his previous cult leader character lost its value, WWE failed to elevate Wyatt to a top tier.
His two Universal title reigns turned out to be futile, and to make things worse, WWE released him as part of the budget cuts in July 2021. His final feud with Randy Orton didn't do him any favors, and the fans are awaiting his next move and are anticipating where he'd show up next.
4 Finn Balor
Making his WWE debut in 2014 as a former leader of the infamous Bullet Club, Finn Balor was a well-known name among the hardcore wrestling fanbase. He found some initial success in NXT and went on to capture the NXT Championship, and when he made his main roster debut in 2016, WWE inserted him in the Universal Championship picture straight away, to everyone's surprise.
He went on to become the inaugural Universal Champion but had to relinquish the title the next day after sustaining a shoulder injury during the title match at SummerSlam 2016.
He never reclaimed that momentum after returning from injury, and WWE continues to use him in underwhelming storylines and give him transitional title reigns.
3 Shinsuke Nakamura
When WWE signed Shinsuke Nakamura in 2016, the fans expected big things for the Japanese sensation in the promotion. Things started on a positive note for the King of Strong Style as he went on to become a 2-time NXT Champion.
When he got called up to the main roster, WWE backed him up with a decent push and had him win the 2018 men's Royal Rumble match. However, he lost the WWE Championship match against AJ Styles at WrestleMania 34 and turned heel at the event, and had multiple failed attempts at winning the title against Styles and others.
He soon became a mid-carder in WWE, and the company continues to use him in lackluster feuds and matches and might not have any big plans for him in the future.
2 Kofi Kingston
Kofi Kingston has been a mainstay in WWE for over 18 years in WWE so far and has been in mixed spots on the weekly shows over the years. While he remained as a mid-card superstar for the majority of his WWE run, his stock began rising after he became part of The New Day alongside Big E and Xavier Woods.
Looking back five years ago, they went on to become the longest-reigning tag team champions in WWE history and have won multiple tag team titles so far. The Power of Positivity soon led him to win the WWE Championship for the first time in his career, but as soon as he lost the title in an unceremonious way to Brock Lesnar, WWE cooled off on pushing Kingston as a singles performer.
He's now back in the tag team division, and with the trio split up, Kingston has no signs of breaking out as a singles performer again.
1 Jinder Mahal
In a move that surprised the entire WWE Universe, Jinder Mahal became the No.1 contender for the WWE Championship in 2017 and went on to defeat Randy Orton to win the title at that year's Backlash PPV.
He held the title for an impressive 170 days and defended it against the likes of Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura, and also escaped a MITB cash-in attempt by Baron Corbin before dropping the title to AJ Styles.
Following that, WWE pushed him down to the mid-card and gave him a short reign with the US title before pushing him even down to the 24/7 title picture. He's now back to working as an enhancement talent and has lost all the momentum from his historic WWE title reign.