While I always hope that the works of professional wrestling will always be full and prosperous with wrestlers of the best caliber that dazzle the world their the fancy pro wrestling skills, there is nothing that I truly love more than when a wrestler is pushed into the main-event scene and proceeds to both crash and burn into failure. Is it sad that I enjoy watching a wrestler fail on the grand stage? Perhaps, but there is just something about seeing a wrestler be thrust into the spotlight of a main event position when they are clearly not ready for it because I know that it will not last for very long – there are always wrestlers who are ready for that position waiting in the wings, so I know that wrestling will be alright. So why not enjoy the car crash of a wrestler failing in front of my eyes?

We have seen multiple wrestlers over the years be put into main event positions when they should not be there – whether it's because of their physical size, who they are personally connected to or if they were just given the opportunity out of the blue, there are numerous examples from all the major promotions that we can look at. But the real question is, what happened to these wrestlers after their failure? Some would go on to other promotions to apply their craft, and some would even be successful elsewhere, while others would move on from the wrestling game completely and try to forget that their light burned out in front of so many fans.

15 WWE: Vladimir Kozlov - Movie Star

When you take a look at main eventers for WWE that just did not work out despite many tries, one of the first people that come to mind is Vladimir Kozlov, who for all intents and purposes fit WWE management’s definition of what a main event level superstar should be. Kozlov was built like a brick house, looked as menacing as they come and had a built in background as a legitimate kick-boxing champion to give him credibility. Was he a success as a main eventer? After feuding with The Undertaker, Triple H and Jeff Hardy, he received some “accolades” from wrestling magazines. His well deserved Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards for Most Overrated Wrestler and Worst Worked Match in 2008 say that his main event run was not very well received by critics and fans alike.

Ultimately, the rest of Kozlov’s career did not measure up to his initial push and he ended up retiring from wrestling in 2012.

Since his failed main event push he focused on a career in Hollywood, appearing as a stuntman in movies such as Fast and Furious 6 and John Wick 2, and ultimately opened his own production company to further ingratiate himself in the film industry.

14 WCW: Jeff Jarrett - WWE Hall Of Famer

J-E-Double F J-A-Double R-E-Double T, certainly has not had a wrestling career that many would like to emulate. After his relationship with WWE was left on strained terms, Jarrett ended up in WCW as the self-proclaimed “Chosen One” only two days after his final WWE appearance. Jarrett wound up in the main event level of WCW by reforming the New World Order with Bret Hart, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall as the nWo 2000 group, and quickly ended up winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship less than a year into his stint with the company. Jarrett would be with WCW until they closed their doors in 2001, and was infamously fired by Vince McMahon live on RAW.

Since his time in WCW, Jarrett has ended up as an infamous figure in professional wrestling, with personal and substance abuse problems causing him to leave various companies that he has started over the years, including both TNA and Global Force Wrestling. Presently, Jarrett is set to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, with many fans questioning why.

13 TNA: Eric Young - NXT Superstar

Magic cannot just be created out of nowhere, it has to be the right place at the right time for it to happen naturally. This is a lesson that Eric Young learned all too well during his failed main event run in TNA. In an effort to duplicate the success of Daniel Bryan’s underdog story, Eric Young was portrayed as having to fight “against all odds” to finally achieve a championship run as the TNA Heavyweight Champion. The issue with this was that Daniel Bryan was over organically – TNA tried to replicate these feelings for Young in only two months of “struggle”.

Ultimately, the wrestling world did not buy Young in his underdog role, and his title run was over quickly.

Following this blunder, Young ended up signing with WWE and has been in NXT developmental as the leader of the SAnitY group for over a year. It appears fans have forgotten about this run in TNA, as it's looking likely that Young will be called up to the main roster soon.

12 WWE: Jack Swagger - Indies, Joining Bellator MMA

Not every wrestler is born to be a main event level star, which should be very obvious from the contents of this list so far. While there are many mechanisms designed to get wrestlers “over” with fans, they will not work with every wrestler despite how much WWE management may try. This was very apparent with Jack Swagger, who was given every opportunity in 2009 to become a top tier wrestler but did not rise to the occasion. Despite having all these opportunities and being a formidable wrestler, Swagger was not considered to be on the same level as other members of the main event class, and he quickly fell out of favor with the fans and was sent back down to the mid-card level.

These days, Swagger has been trying his hand not only in the world of independent wrestling but has also signed a deal with Bellator MMA to begin fighting professionally with their promotion.

Given Swagger’s background in pure wrestling, he should hopefully prove successful with his new endeavors.

11 WCW: Tank Abott

One of Vince Russo's many bright ideas in WCW was to make former MMA fighter Tank Abbott the company's world champion. After seeing the success Ken Shamrock had as a crossover into WWE, Russo felt that Abbott's "real fighting" background would make him a legitimate champion. The problem? Unlike Ken Shamrock, Abbott didn't really have any in-ring talent and he came into wrestling after boasting the worst record in UFC history. The plan didn't work out and Abbott was eventually turned into a comedic figure by WCW.

Abbott still hasn't completely closed the door on MMA, as he was set to fight Dan Severn a while ago. Unfortunately, Abbott failed the medical tests a day before the fight was scheduled, and so, it was cancelled.

10 TNA: Monty Brown - Physical Trainer

Unlike some of the other names you'll see on this list, Monty Brown was actually someone who had potential to be a successful main eventer, but TNA's terrible booking ruined any momentum he had. Brown seemed like he was going to be the company's next big babyface. He looked like he was set for a monster push, as he defeated Kevin Nash and DDP in a Final Resolution no.1 contender's match, only to lose to Jeff Jarrett. A couple of months later, Brown inexplicably turned heel by helping Jarrett retain his title, undoing the previous months' work.

Brown would move on to WWE and have a forgettable run as Marcus Cor Von. After only a year in the company, Brown stepped away to tend to family issues, but never ended up returning. He returned to his homestate of Michigan, where he has worked as a personal trainer for the past seven years.

9 WWE: Lex Luger - Recovering From Spinal Stroke

Want proof that Vince has always liked “body guys”? Look no further than Lex Luger, whose failed main event run in the mid-1990s are clear indications that having a great physique does not equal success in the WWE.

Ultimately, Luger was not able to hang with other WWE main event talent at the time like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, and he quickly fizzled out and would not appear for WWE for the rest of his wrestling career, which he finished in WCW and sporadic appearances in TNA.

While his WWE career is widely considered a failure, his current standing in life is nothing but miraculous – after experiencing a spinal stroke, Luger was left paralyzed from the neck down for over two months, and has worked through physical therapy to slowly recover movement of his body. Luger is now close to full recovery, and no longer needs assistance walking.

8 WCW: Buff Bagwell - Set To Retire

If you are a fan of my articles, you know that one of my favorite people to rag on is Buff Bagwell. Why, you ask? Because his wrestling career makes it so easy, especially his time in WCW. Bagwell was a perennial mid-carder in WCW for most of his career before an attempt was made to push him into the main event level in 2001 when he began to feud with Goldberg. When he attacked Goldberg at one of WCW’s final pay-per-view events in 2001, fans instantly did not buy him as a credible threat to their hero, and his matches were met with silence instead of any larger crowd reaction.

These days, Bagwell is still at it on the independent wrestling scene, most recently competing in AIW’s JT Lightning Invitational Tournament which went viral for him hitting a Canadian Destroyer during a match with Ethan Page. Bawgwell has said he will retire from wrestling at some point this year, due to hip and shoulder issues.

7 TNA: Aron Rex - Pursuing Other Interests

Sometimes shifting from WWE to TNA was a great career move, such as when Christian or Kurt Angle made their moves to the TNA brand, but other times it became more of a joke such as when Damien Sandow appeared for the promotion after being released from WWE in 2016. Sandow began portraying the character of Aron Rex in TNA during his brief stint, and TNA management attempted to capitalize on his buzz from exiting WWE by pushing him into a main event program with both Bobby Lashley and Drew Galloway, but both feuds were not well received by fans.

It is speculated that Sandow/Rex had lost a great deal of passion for professional wrestling by this time in his career, and almost “phoned it in” during his run with TNA, which ended as quickly as it began.

Following his appearances with the company, Sandow announced that he is taking time away from professional wrestling to pursue a passion for acting in both film and stage. At least he has some experience as The Miz’s stunt double, right?

6 WWE: Mr. Kennedy - Running Wrestling School

In professional wrestling’s “What Could Have Been” category, Mr. Kennedy’s failed WWE main event push is one I think about often. Kennedy had all the tools to be a true superstar in WWE – he had a great physique and could talk on the mic better than some of the other main eventers. Unfortunately, he did not have the political backing from other wrestlers in the WWE, and began to develop a reputation for injuring others. During his run in 2009, he was pushed alongside other stars such as John Cena and Randy Orton, however an incident during an episode of RAW where he nearly injured Randy Orton made him lose favor in the eyes of WWE and he was released shortly afterwards.

Kennedy is still involved in professional wrestling and carved out a great career for himself in TNA until he was released for failing a drug test in 2016.

Since then, he has dedicated his time to running the Academy of Professional Wrestling school alongside Shawn Daivari.

5 WCW: Paul Roma - Wrestling Trainer

If you are not a long-time wrestling fan, odds are you have no idea who I am talking about, which speaks to exactly why Paul Roma is on this list. After appearing in WWE for a stint in the early 1990s, Roma became a part of the WCW roster and was very questionably inducted as a member of the historic Four Horsemen faction alongside Ric Flair and Arn Anderson. Roma’s inclusion was seen as very strange to fans and the instantly rejected his association with the faction, and he was quietly removed shortly after his debut.

Since this disastrous run, Roma did not achieve much more success in professional wrestling and has not wrestled since 2007, and mainly makes his rounds on shoot interview-style podcasts to discuss his time in both WWE and WCW, as well as running as the head trainer at a wrestling school in Connecticut. Hopefully he is not giving lessons on how to be a successful member of a faction!

4 TNA - Matt Morgan - City Commissioner

Matt Morgan has a polarizing career according to fans – some consider him to be a success story from when he left WWE in 2005 due to his appearances overseas in Japan, while others consider his various appearances in TNA to be damning evidence that he has never belonged as a main event level wrestler.

Following a disastrous (and stuttering) run in WWE, Morgan ended up in TNA and was placed into various feuds with Scott Steiner, Bobby Lashley and Jeff Hardy but fans didn't buy into him as a wrestler of main event caliber.

The rest of Morgan’s career in TNA was very up and down, which led to him asking for his release on multiple occasions in 2012, 2015 and 2017.

Following his sporadic career in TNA, Morgan decided to take up a career serving his city council in Florida, and became a City Commissioner of the Longwood community in November 2017,

3 WWE: Scott Steiner - Owner Of Shoney's

If there is one person’s wrestling career that I enjoy ragging on more than Buff Bagwell, it is Scott Steiner’s WWE run which is considered a legendary blunder. After deciding to sit out his WCW contract after the promotion closed in 2001, Steiner eventually ended up signing a WWE deal in 2002 and quickly injected into a main event program with Triple H over the World Heavyweight Championship. It was quickly evident that Steiner was not in the best ring shape to be competing with a wrestler of Triple H’s caliber, and the program was critically planned and received the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s “award” for Worst Worked Match in 2003 due to the multiple blown spots by Steiner.

Not surprisingly, Steiner’s career in WWE began to spiral downwards after his feud with Triple H and he exited the company shortly afterwards.

As recently as 2018, Steiner has made multiple appearances for TNA and is still involved in professional wrestling, but spends most of his time as a restaurateur in his home state of Georgia after opening up a Shoney’s franchise in 2017.

2 WCW: Bret Hart - In Remission And Shooting On The Business

During the Monday Night War between WWE and WCW, there were a number of talent acquisitions which tipped the scale in WCW’s favor and none created more headlines then Bret Hart defecting to WCW after the Montreal Screwjob. Hart was considered to be one of the biggest babyfaces in wrestling at the time. However, in true WCW fashion he ended up in situations which made the fans question how Bret was being utilized as a wrestler, as he was quickly made a member of the nWo group instead of a sympathetic character. Ultimately, Bret’s WCW career did not live up to the legacy that he created in WWE and due to injuries suffered during a match with Goldberg, he would retire with the company against his will.

Bret would end up wrestling some final matches with WWE after reconciling with them after almost 15 years. Nowadays Bret is still involved in the wrestling community, but mainly by providing his criticisms on current wrestlers via Twitter, and is currently undergoing remission after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

1 TNA: Garrett Bischoff - Touring Indies

Nepotism in professional wrestling is not a new concept, as promoters have often pushed their own kin to be the in areas of power when their skills do not warrant that position. The most recent example of this is Garrett Bischoff’s TNA run, as the relatively unknown son to Eric Bischoff debuted for the company in 2010 as a referee, but was quickly pushed into main-event level programs for the company despite having very little professional wrestling experience.

Bischoff even went as far as to compete in the main event of several of TNA’s pay-per-view events over the years. What is Garrett up to now?

Well, he left TNA at the same time as his father and is now navigating his way in the independent wrestling circuit – unfortunately for him, his father is not involved in the management of these promotions, so bookings have been a little bit light. This is more than likely why he now goes by the ring name of Jackson James.