A great storyline can make a wrestler as surely as in-ring skills or scintillating mic work. As good as Steve Austin was on his own, fighting against The Hart Foundation and then Mr. McMahon and The Corporation absolutely blew him into mega-stardom. Razor Ramon, Deisel, and Hulk Hogan all left WWE after peaking and a decline, but the New World Order reveal and storyline became the single hottest thing WCW ever did. Bill Goldberg was handled brilliantly in his initial WCW run, terribly in his first WWE run, and superbly again in his latest one, giving a great juxtaposition of the merits of a good story being a necessity. There are dozens of great storylines that not only made a wrestler's career for years afterward but cemented them as Hall Of Fame worthy superstars. But not all stories are created equal and sometimes they seem designed to hamstring or outright bury a wrestler's potential and career prospects instead.

WWE and Vince himself are known for being both vindictive and apt to punish someone onscreen. Over the years several times they've shown that humiliating and belittling a wrestler or team through a series of unwatchable segments is not beneath them. At other times they merely try something that doesn't work but it nevertheless has a lasting detrimental effect on whoever is involved and it can go on longer than anyone could expect to survive unscathed. Fans speculate constantly over whether a current series of events spell doom or dominance for their favorites, hoping for the latter but dreading the former. We've got examples a-plenty of massive swings in fortune for wrestlers past and present that made them or spelled their ending respectively.

20 20. Saved: Heath Slater - I Got Kids

Heath Slater has existed at or near the bottom of WWE since leaving the aforementioned Nexus after his first year on the main rosters. After such a run he could've faded away like so many other lowly contributors, but the new WWE draft that re-separated the rosters of SmackDown and Raw presented him an excellent story to regain some credibility. The only active superstar not selected by either brand, he went on a journey of trying to get signed by either show, claiming he needed the job because, as he repeated often, 'I've got kids'.

Given an opportunity on SmackDown, he teamed with the returning Rhyno to surprisingly become the inaugural Smackdown Tag Team Champions, putting on solid matches with entertaining segments that brought him back from the brink. Now back on Raw and the team back near the bottom, he nevertheless seems more secure than he was beforehand.

19 19. Doomed: The Nexus - Super Cena

A case of not one, but SEVEN wrestlers who were single-handedly doomed by Cena's decisions about how a match should proceed. Directly recalled by Edge & Chris Jericho (members of Team Cena at SummerSlam '10), they said Cena wanted to not only win when other people were trying to convince him and Vince to go the other way, but he wanted to take a devastating DDT on bare concrete before ultimately defeating the rookie faction.

With that bad decision in the books, Cena spent the next few months dismantling The Nexus as viable contenders, taking potential main eventers like Wade Barrett and Justin Gabriel and stifling them. Not a one of the remaining members recovered to become a World Champion, and only Skip Sheffield as Ryback got somewhat of a revamp although he also ultimately failed, another run-in with Cena ensuring his limited upside.

18 18. Saved: CM Punk - Summer Of Punk

Punk was literally about to walk out the door of WWE until he was given a live microphone and in less than a month made himself the most relevant and magnetic WWE superstar since Steve Austin. Reportedly not re-signing until right up until the day of his WWE Championship match at Money In The Bank 2011, CM Punk leveraged the insane interest he generated in the infamous Pipebomb and followed up with scintillating segments with Vince McMahon and John Cena to cement his newly minted status.

Having proven himself in matches and feuds that consistently captured audience interest, Punk took out his real frustrations over the WWE hierarchy, particularly John Cena and the McMahon's rigid familial control, and caught fire, ending up becoming the longest reigning WWE Champion of the modern era. While he did eventually walk away from the company for myriad reasons, the subsequent two and a half years of being a bonafide main eventer came about because of this one storyline and his performance in it.

17 17. Doomed: Chavo Guerrero - Vs Hornswoggle

Chavo Guerrero deserved better than this. Whether you liked him or not this series where he was ritually embarrassed over and over again by Hornswoggle was painful to watch and went on for what felt like a decade. Essentially, Chavo spent most of a year being ritually humiliated week after week at the hands of Hornswoggle as crowds suffered through a cycle of stupid match stipulations and Hornswoggle pinning Eddie Guerrero's nephew with minimal entertainment for the effort.

To compound the terribleness this occurred during the Celebrity Guest Host era of Raws, meaning that whatever happened to Chavo usually involved being themed around whichever celebrity showed up. All of these factors combined completely nullified Guerrero's credibility, and although he hung on for another year and a half after finally escaping this purgatory, he was never featured prominently again.

16 16. Saved: The Usos - The Uso Penitentiary

The Usos were regarded as a good but ultimately bland face tag team for years. Even though they were having good matches they were stuck under this perception and a change was needed. That change was a drastic heel turn where they lost their smiley, face-painted look in exchange for a trash-talking, street vibe that allowed them to shed their stagnant personas. Suddenly delivering scorching dual promos where they seamlessly finished each other's sentences, the brothers captured the SmackDown brand's tag team championships multiple times in great matches but more importantly were having breakout feud after breakout feud.

The brothers now routinely get featured speaking segments where before they were almost mute, and they sit atop the SmackDown tag team division as a formidable force who commands attention.

15 15. Doomed: Marc Mero - Sable's Punching Bag

Marc Mero had a tough time in WWE where his real-life wife Sable became the female face of the company, rendering him a distant afterthought. This conflict carried over to TV where after returning from injury, he was put in a storyline where he was wildly jealous of Sable and her fanbase. Having lost his high-flying offense due to the knee injury and now being shown as a man scorned by his wife far outshining him on national TV, Mero was quickly seen as a joke.

Mero's last hint of credibility was shredded when he spent a few months being repeatedly power-bombed by Sable, effectively killing his chances of being taken seriously in the company. As WWE got further and further behind Sable during the Attitude Era, Mero faded far into the background and was soon gone altogether fro WWE, although off-screen the pair remained together for a while longer.

14 14. Saved: Elias - Called Up From NXT

Rarely do mid-card call-ups to the main roster go so absurdly well as Elias' has. Floundering and failing to catch on in any meaningful way in NXT, Elias was called up and only glimpsed in the backgrounds of Raw for weeks on end. Such abstract and subtle presentation is usually beyond WWE, yet somehow Elias quickly found his niche. From being maligned and written off by the NXT crowds Elias has gone on to capture a significant amount of faith from both Vince and the WWE audience with consistently engaging segments every week. Almost a year on and besides perhaps Braun Strowman, he is NXT's unlikeliest success story and an integral part of Monday nights for the foreseeable future. Even losing his last name hasn't halted his momentum.

13 13. Doomed: Jeff Jarrett - Misogynist/Chyna

Jeff Jarrett's last WWE feud before he burned that bridge forever was also one that essentially finished his credibility with the company anyway. Suddenly spouting misogynistic rhetoric and generally ignorant, sexist remarks that were out of date years earlier, Jarrett went about prostrating himself so that Chyna could become the first-ever female Intercontinental Champion. Jarrett was given no leeway to look good coming out of this, eventually losing his Intercontinental Championship to Chyna in a Good Housekeeping Match at No Mercy 1999.

On top of all of this, a story about Jarrett holding up Vince McMahon behind the scenes for money to perform in the match doubly ensured his demise and supposedly to this day Vince continues to hold a grudge against Double J that will prevent the pair ever working together again.

12 12. Saved: Cody - Leaving WWE/The List/Bullet Club

A mixture of real life and stories coming together, Cody Rhodes in WWE was stuck in his Stardust persona. With his career going nowhere, he requested his release and left WWE behind. Many others have left WWE with middling success, but Cody had other plans, releasing a 'list' (before Jericho ever did) of potential opponents that had the wrestling world salivating. Before that same year was over he officially joined The Bullet Club, the hottest faction in wrestling, ensuring his name and notoriety was cemented going forward.

Since then Cody has captured his first ever World Championship in Ring Of Honor and just recently attacked the Kenny Omega, in an apparent bid for leadership of the Bullet Club. Cody has taken the examples of guys like Drew McIntyre and EC3, who left WWE to revitalize their careers. He's even promoting his own wrestling event called 'All In' scheduled for September 1st that has the wrestling world buzzing.

11 11. Doomed: Billy Gunn - Vs The Rock

For years JR would routinely talk Billy Gunn up as the best pure athlete in WWE, extolling his virtues between the ropes weekly. While he was certainly a solid wrestler, his personality and mic work were rarely successful outside of his tag team with Road Dogg and nothing highlighted this glaring deficiency more than feuding with The Rock.

Winning the 1999 King Of The Ring it looked to be the beginning of Gunn's ascension, but The Rock cut such a belittling and devastating series of promos on him that any and all momentum was slaughtered right there on live television. Following that with losing a Kiss My A** match to the Brahma Bull effectively ended Gunn's chances of ever rising out of the middle of the pack, with The Rock shutting him out on the mic in such fashion as to make it academic. Gunn only brushed relevance in tag teams from then on, forever stamped as unworthy by The Rock at his peak.

10 10. Saved: Jinder Mahal -  Modern Day Maharaja

The WWE universe may not have liked it, it may not have worked as a method of expanding WWE's fanbase in India, and it may not have produced much, but Jinder Mahal is forever cemented in the WWE Championship's legacy now. Returning from being fired during the new drafting between Raw and SmackDown, Mahal spent a few months doing essentially nothing until he was suddenly thrust into the spotlight.

Suddenly given two off-siders in The Singh Brothers, and a makeover as the Modern Day Maharaja, Mahal suddenly had an impressive look and gravitas that belied the years of mediocrity that preceded it. WWE has a history of treating its world champions with a certain level of dignity, and so Mahal is now entrenched whereas before he could've been cut without a second thought from fans or Vince himself.

9 9. Doomed: Zack Ryder - Cuckold

Zack Ryder made himself without any help from WWE and was subsequently punished for it. It's become almost wrestling folklore that Vince expects his talent to reach for that 'brass ring' however when Zack clearly grabbed it he instead went through this series of crushing humiliations for his troubles. Having forged a connection with John Cena, he was targeted by Cena's current rival Kane, who bulldozed through Ryder multiple times. His recently won United States Championship was lost in mere weeks after another Kane attack left him vulnerable to Jack Swagger, and then Kane further destroyed him to the point of ending up in a wheelchair.

Through this, Ryder had been pursuing Eve Torres as a romantic interest, but John Cena ended up kissing her right in front of him, which made him look about as pathetic as any man on WWE television in decades. Long story short, Ryder has never been the same, and the groundswell of support he worked to create, is only seen in glimpses between loses and humiliations even today.

8 8. Saved: The New Day - Turning Heel

The New Day may currently be one of the best long-running acts in WWE, but they got off to a tremendously shaky start. Big E had floundered as a singles act, and Kofi had exhausted a lot of his uniqueness over a decade-long career, and Xavier Woods was so far a complete nobody on the main roster. They came together in a segment that fans thought would lead to a new version of the Attitude Era stable, The Nation of Domination, however, they came out to gospel choir pageantry and an all-smiling, positivity angle that immediately soured.

Within weeks the story of their positivity was failing, but it all turned around when the group suddenly began cheating in matches and conveyed a convincing 'lightbulb moment' where they discovered the benefits of it. They grew so popular that they had to turn back to good guys. The New Day took three talented but directionless acts and made them bigger and better than ever before.

7 7. Doomed: Adam Rose - The Bunny

Any gimmick that relies on dancing, partying, or 'having fun' is a slippery slope in WWE, because the second any of those factors becomes more of a hindrance than a help, you're heading for trouble. Adam Rose perfectly captured this common career arc when he went from debuting an outrageous party-man gimmick along with an undefeated streak, to becoming a joke as he lost over and over again due to a man in a bunny costume. Once Rose started losing to The Bunny and mostly losing alongside him when they tagged together, the writing was on the wall.

Rose lost everything positive about his gimmick in WWE, the Rosebuds, the fun-loving attitude, and anything resembling a positive winning record. He eventually lost overall to The Bunny who merely disappeared anyway, making the entire thing pointless. A few months in the Social Outcasts as a distant fourth wheel, and he was then gone altogether.

6 6. Saved: Sami Zayn - KO's Best Friend

Fans of NXT have spent a couple of years lamenting the fact that Vince McMahon doesn't seem to understand some of the gimmicks that come out of there. Bayley, Tyler Breeze, The Ascension and others have floundered to varying degrees, but Sami Zayn was perhaps the most egregious example. The heart of NXT when it went from underground to lauded, Sami's main roster experience was as little more than the guy who gets beat whenever a bad guy needs a hard-fought win. Fans were openly mourning Sami's WWE career, but a surprising heel-turn to save his former best friend Kevin Owens from Shane McMahon has propelled him back into the spotlight.

Amplifying Sami's reportedly earnest and over-enthusiastic traits into an entertaining heel alongside Owens has saved Sami from continued misuse. Sami had a stellar match against AJ Styles before the Rumble and looks to be headed for bigger things come WrestleMania thanks to this heel turn.

5 5. Doomed: Damien Sandow - Macho Mandow

Coming off a year of being the hottest act in WWE and the constant highlight of Raw with his hilarious 'Miz's Stunt Double' gimmick, Damien Sandow looked to have somehow recovered from his failed Money In The Bank cash-in and impersonation phase. Unfortunately what instead happened was that they ended the Miz interaction with him ultimately losing, and returning to impressions with a tag team alongside 'Axelmania' Curtis Axel.

Not only was his Macho Man impression not that good to begin with, but any and all momentum he'd gathered leading into it was immediately lost as the audience realized their investment in him wasn't going to be rewarded. Sandow was quickly back to losing matches in their tag team before Axel's gimmick was cut short by the real Hulkster's indiscretions, and that was pretty much the end for Sandow in WWE.

4 4. Saved: Matt Hardy - Iconic/Big Money/Broken

One of the rare examples where someone went to Impact Wrestling and revitalized their career beyond anything they'd ever done before. Coming after a short ROH stint where Matt showed he was finally getting past the demons that derailed his first WWE tenure, Hardy delved into his creativity and took fans on a wild journey of reincarnation. Between winning the Impact World Heavyweight Championship, turning heel and embracing his wealth and fame, to finally being Broken, Matt resurrected himself like few ever have.

Embracing the weird, wonderful, and even silly aspects of wrestling with complete dedication, Hardy captured the wrestling worlds attention to the point that Vince McMahon had little choice but to bring him back to WWE in hopes of sharing in the wealth.

3 3. Doomed: Spirit Squad - D-Generation X

Another example of a group of young talented wrestlers getting stomped back down, the Spirit Squad was a supremely annoying, yet successful group of athletes who captured tag team gold and looked to have bright futures. Well, that was only true for one of them because they were absolutely torched in a feud against aging degenerates Shawn Michaels and Triple H in 2006, leading to their ejection from the main roster.

Kenny (gaining the last name Dykstra) was the only one to remain on the main rosters but he didn't last long, and besides Nicky, all the Spirit Squad members were released over the coming months, all because they ran headfirst into the D-Generation X buzzsaw. Only Nicky went on the become something in WWE, becoming Dolph Ziggler and shedding any reference to the infamous male cheerleader group.

2 2. Saved: Fandango & Tyler Breeze (& The Ascension)- The Fashion Files

Saving the weirdest for last, the team of Fandango and Tyler Breeze only came together in response to the breakup of The Golden Truth (Goldust & R-Truth, remember that team?), and shouldn't have worked as well as it does. Finally given a chance with some goofy segments where they took their pompous characters sideways into police and detective work, The Fashion Files have been a hit whenever they've been on SmackDown. From being featured hardly ever, the team became a weekly fixture, and even without winning any tag team gold they've settled into a safe spot as a reliably popular team. Somehow, this success pulled into its orbit The Ascension, who was circling the drain before this and have grabbed onto this like it's a life-raft.

Given these hulking, demonic 'friends' to work off of has only increased the laughs and endeared both teams to the WWE audience, and if something as silly as The Fashion Files can get even The Ascension over, it's got to be one of the great saviors in WWE history.

1 1. Doomed: WCW & ECW - The Invasion

The list of wasted talent to come out of WCW and ECW during the horrendous Invasion angle is legendarily one of WWE's biggest failures. Names like AJ Styles weren't hired when they had access to them. Legends like Raven and Diamond Dallas Page were marginalized and used to a fraction of their capabilities in favor of only promoting WWE entrenched talent. Every single member of The Alliance except for Booker T and RVD were made to look completely inept, with only a handful of talents making headway in WWE in the coming years, but only at a snail's pace despite their inherent value.

Rhyno has had more success in his latest WWE run as Heath Slater's Cheez Whiz-loving tag partner than he did in this initial run after being the final ECW World Champion. The list could go on all day but it's enough to point out that this storyline not only tanked WWE in several ways, but destroyed a wealth of talent that could've have been used better by a drunk monkey.