Years before the Women's Revolution took off, the Women’s Division of WWE had made huge strides forward in the 2000s. Trish Stratus and Lita thriving in the Attitude Era gave WWE a couple of top stars to build the division around. However, the company was still hit or miss on their booking of female wrestlers. Many people in the company still only valued their female performers as eye candy, but there were better women wrestlers on the roster than ever before.
Unfortunately, not all the talented women were used to the best of their ability by the biggest wrestling promotion. Quite a few saw their potential wasted as in-ring performers and characters due to how WWE viewed them. These performers were ahead of their time and certainly deserved a bigger push under WWE's umbrella.
10 Brooke Adams
The WWE run of Brooke Adams is rarely remembered since she did not have much of a role outside of the third brand of ECW. Adams, Kelly Kelly, and Layla united as the Extreme Expose delivering dance routines in the ring.
The occasional matches didn’t show much of Brooke’s potential and WWE eventually released her. TNA reaching out turned out to be a great move as Adams became a huge success story for the Knockouts Division. WWE giving Brooke the time to improve could have gave them another female star of the late 2000s.
9 Serena Deeb
Serena Deeb is having a resurgence in the wrestling scene today thanks to strong success with AEW and NWA. However, the WWE run in her prime provided the best timing for her to have a huge run in the industry.
WWE missed the boat by only utilizing Deeb in the Straight Edge Society faction with CM Punk. Serena was fired after getting heat for drinking after shows instead of living the gimmick. WWE robbed us of Deeb’s prime years, but the current success is still a great consolation prize.
8 Christy Hemme
The Diva Search for WWE was meant to find the next few top female stars of the future. Christy Hemme certainly looked to be on that trajectory when winning the first season. Fans supported Hemme and WWE even benefited from Playboy wanting to feature her.
The initial push of Christy ended after a few months when losing to Trish Stratus at WrestleMania 21. WWE transitioned Hemme into a manager and eventually fired her with no explanation. TNA found more success with Christy as a popular wrestler, effective manager, successful ring announcer, and eventually part of the creative team.
7 Tori
Tori started off 2000 involved in a huge storyline as the girlfriend of Kane. The eventual betrayal saw Tori dumping Kane to start dating X-Pac as the newest member of D-Generation X. Tori’s background in stunt work allowed her to get more physical than many of her peers.
WWE, however, chose to book Tori as a secondary figure behind X-Pac and Stephanie McMahon in DX, helping them win matches. Tori was planned to have a bigger angle with Raven, but WWE dropped the idea and released her to end the wrestling chapter of her life.
6 Dawn Marie
WWE signed Dawn Marie a little while after ECW ended when looking to add more depth to the women’s portion of the roster. The brand split allowed Dawn to get a huge role on the SmackDown brand as the top heel feuding with Torrie Wilson.
Marie rarely received many victories since her main purpose was to put over the more heavily pushed Torrie. WWE never found an ideal role for Dawn outside of the Torrie feud even though she was once a great manager in ECW.
5 Victoria
The emergence of Victoria saw her becoming an instant positive addition to the Women’s Division when feuding with Trish Stratus for the Women’s Championship in 2002. Victoria’s initial storyline was great, but WWE struggled to book her afterwards.
The two Women’s Championship reigns were successful for Victoria. WWE not pushing her outside of those reigns just felt confusing since she did everything right. Victoria was a secondary member of the Women’s Division for her final five years before leaving for TNA in 2009.
4 Tiffany
Taryn Terrell had a very short run in WWE under the name of Tiffany. WWE primarily used Tiffany in the role of ECW General Manager where she did better than most could have as a face authority figure not yet established.
WWE never pushed Tiffany in the ring as her move to SmackDown rarely saw much television. The release landed her a spot in TNA a few years later under her real name. Taryn’s incredible rivalry with Gail Kim elevated her into a top role that WWE clearly missed out on.
3 Jazz
The end of the Invasion storyline saw Jazz joining the Alliance as part of the Women’s Division. Jazz emerged more after the angle ended and she moved into a singles program with Trish Stratus over the Women’s Championship.
The matches between Trish and Jazz helped establish the Women’s Division at the time, but Jazz had a thankless position. WWE lost interest in her outside of the Stratus feud and never elevated her into a bigger role. Jazz deserved at least a few more years and a bigger run in the 2000s for WWE.
2 Gail Kim
Gail Kim will always stand out as one of the biggest mistakes WWE made in the Women’s Division by not using her in a better manner. The debut match in WWE did see Gail winning the Women’s Championship, but it was done for an intentionally short title reign.
Kim would get slotted into a secondary spot on the roster before getting released. TNA signed Gail and made her the face of their Knockouts Division to great success. WWE looked even worse when bringing Kim for a second run only to use her even worse this time.
1 Katie Lea Burchill
The WWE run of Katie Lea Burchill could have been so much more when looking at her skill set as a strong in-ring worker and charismatic character. Early plans suggested Katie and her on-screen brother were meant to have an incest storyline until WWE went PG a few weeks into the idea.
The angle dropping eventually ended the ties together. Katie moved forward on her own as part of the Women’s Division, but she never received a proper push. The move to TNA as Winter showed that she could have been a top player for the Women’s Division in WWE if they pushed her.