The biggest era in WWE history was arguably the Attitude Era, a period where business was way up thanks not only to a shift to edgier content than its previous kid-friendly stuff, but also big stars like Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. But not everyone in the Attitude Era was huge, including many projects that WWE tried to get over.

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Ahmed Johnson is a well-known example of a WWE project from the period that never quite made it, but there are loads of ones that fans remember far less. Let’s take a look at 10 of these forgotten projects.

UPDATE: 2023/11/05 07:30 EST BY ANDREW KELLY

WWE’s Attitude Era was one of the hottest periods in professional wrestling history, and it featured some of the all-time greatest wrestlers from multiple generations, all being housed in one place. Not everything was entirely perfect throughout this period though, and unfortunately there were several failed and forgotten projects of that time. There are actually more than you might expect, and despite the roaring success of the era, WWE did come up short when it comes to a fair few of their wrestlers. Whether that be booking issues or other problems, there are a number of Attitude Era projects that fans might’ve forgotten about.

15 Los Boricuas

Los Boricuas

After parting ways with the Nation of Domination, Savio Vega went on his own path and started the Los Boricuas faction, also involving Miguel Perez, Jose Estrada, and Jesus Castillo. Despite being rich with professional wrestling in their blood, this group was short-lived.

They didn’t pose much of a threat to anyone, and were eventually just used as cannon fodder to bigger names. It was an act that had potential to begin with, but with many other more prominent factions, they didn’t stand a chance.

14 Bart Gunn

Butterbean v Bart Gunn WrestleMania 15

After a decent stint with Billy Gunn as the “Smoking Gunns”, Bart Gunn was tried out as a singles competitor. When the Attitude Era began, WWE booked the shoot “Brawl for All” tournament, and Gunn competed.

Gunn would win, but then spent months doing nothing. Eventually, he had a “Brawl for All” match against Butterbean, but he was embarrassed in a quick defeat at WrestleMania. This ended his push and he was released shortly after. It is interesting to imagine what his career would’ve been like had he won the tournament.

13 Shawn Stasiak

Shawn Stasiak Meat

Shawn Stasiak debuted in WWE as “Meat”, who was a sex-obsessed jobber who lost his matches due to being so worn out by his extracurricular activities. A lot of silly gimmicks and characters got over in the Attitude Era, but Meat was not one of them.

The gimmick was pretty much DOA despite a few early victories in his run, and he was soon released from his contract, heading over to WCW instead. He would have a brief comedy gimmick that involved him running into things and knocking himself out backstage as well. While it was funny, it wasn't going to make him a star.

12 Essa Rios

Essa Rios Light Heavyweight Champion Cropped

Essa Rios was brought into WWE to help boost the Light Heavyweight division, which was in place to counter WCW’s Cruiserweight division. He did become Light Heavyweight Champion briefly, but his reign wasn’t anything special. Lita was the most interesting part of his act, and she would go on to team with the Hardy Boys.

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He had multiple different names in WWE, with several false starts to his time in the company, and it was clear that WWE didn’t really know what to do with him. He spent multiple years with the company but he was never mentioned after his release.

11 K-Kwik

K-Kwik

WWE fans will recognize R-Truth today, but some may not know that he was a forgotten project of WWE’s Attitude Era as the rapping wrestler K-Kwik.

His team with Road Dogg was fine, but Kwik didn’t spend too much time doing anything of note aside from a few Hardcore Title wins.

10 Tiger Ali Singh

Edge v Tiger Ali Singh Capital Carnage 1998 Cropped

The year 1997 saw the debut of Tiger Ali Singh, the son of Tiger Jeet Singh, a legendary heel who worked in Japan and Canada. While Tiger Jeet was known for his chaotic persona, Tiger Ali Singh was your bog-standard wealthy heel in the vein of Alberto Del Rio and other heels who followed in Ted DiBiase’s footsteps.

After serving as the manager of the equally forgettable tag team Lo Down, Singh sustained a career-ending injury in late 2001 and retired from the business.

9 The Truth Commission

The Truth Commission

Originally debuted in the United States Wrestling Association, which had a working relationship with WWE that involved developmental work and talent exchanges, the Truth Commission made their WWE main roster debut in 1997.

While their South African militia gimmick wasn’t a bit left-field for North American pro wrestling fans, the group seemed to offer something new, especially with a charismatic leader in The Jackyl. However, they failed to really make a mark during their time together aside from showing up near the end of the big Gang Wars storyline.

8 Kurrgan

Kurrgan

There was an obvious breakout from the Truth Commission, however, in the form of Kurrgan (a.k.a. The Interrogator), a seven-foot man with a great look. As the Commission kept losing in the ring, The Jackyl began to show preferential treatment for Kurrgan, resulting in the breakup of the group.

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However, his post-Truth Commission run saw him become a part of the comedy faction The Oddities with other would-be monster heels, and most of the group was released from the company in 1999.

7 Beaver Cleavage

Beaver Cleavage and Mrs. Cleavage

It’s tough to imagine a more Attitude Era concept than Beaver Cleavage, a repacking of Headbanger Mosh that involved bizarre, innuendo-laden vignettes that parodied the classic sitcom Leave It To Beaver, albeit with way more incest themes.

When it came time for the character to debut, WWE shifted gears and the former Mosh abandoned the character on-screen in a worked shoot, leaving fans to wonder just what the point of it was. From there, Beaver Cleavage performed as Chaz until he reunited with Thrasher.

6 Brakkus

Brakkus in WWE

While the Golden Era was well into the rearview mirror, in the Attitude Era WWE still occasionally attempted to roll out a guy with a ridiculous bodybuilder physique and limited in-ring abilities.

One of the more forgettable projects in this genre was Brakkus (or Brakus), portrayed by German bodybuilder and 1990 Mr. Universe winner Achim Albrecht. It’s understandable if fans forgot about Brakkus, considering he only wrestled four televised matches for WWE, including a loss in the Brawl For All tournament.

5 Mr. Hughes

Curtis Hughes

The year 1999 saw Chris Jericho jump from WCW to WWE, though there were some growing pains as Jericho was establishing himself in the new company.

One such pain was the forgotten addition of an enforcer for Jericho in Mr. Hughes, who had two previous runs in WWE: first in 1993 where he stole The Undertaker’s Urn and then in 1997 as Triple H’s enforcer before Chyna came onto the scene. He mostly stuck around for Jericho’s feud with Ken Shamrock before Jericho betrayed him after about a month.

4 LOD 2000

LOD 2000

After spending a couple of years in WWE in the early 1990s, The Legion of Doom (a.k.a. The Road Warriors) returned to the company, enjoying a 48-day run with the World Tag Team Title before receiving an ill-advised repackaging. They were still Hawk and Animal, but were “modernized” to become LOD 2000, with new outfits.

However, this version of LOD lasted about a year, with the duo’s most memorable storyline being that angle that uncomfortably played on Hawks’ real-life substance abuse problems.

3 Just Joe

Just Joe in WWE

Otherwise known as Joe E. Legend, in WWE this Canadian performer was known under the ring name “Just Joe.” A very minor heel character in execution, Just Joe had a hilariously simple gimmick: sowing the seeds of discord in WWE by playing messenger between other more important wrestlers, causing said wrestlers to start feuding.

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His run with the WWE would last from mid-2000 to the spring of 2001, though most fans were probably unaware he was even there at all.

2 Tom Brandi

Tom Brandi in WWE

One of the various bottom of the barrel gimmicks to come out of the New Generation Era was that of Salvatore Sincere, a New York gangster type whose gimmick mostly amounted to claiming he sincerely loved people, but was obviously lying.

This persona didn’t really go anywhere until late 1997 when Marc Mero revealed his real name of Tom Brandi before a match, resulting in a character change for Brandi. However, he still remained a jobber, and left the company by the following spring. He still wrestles today.

1 Steve Williams

Steve Williams

Already well-established with stints in WCW, All Japan Pro Wrestling, and even ECW, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams came to WWE in 1998 and was set to enter a big feud with Stone Cold Steve Austin. Williams was such a big deal that WWE organized the aforementioned Brawl For All tournament to establish him as a dominant force.

However, because Brawl For All was a legitimate fighting tournament, things didn’t go as planned, with Williams losing the tournament and getting released in 1999.