Reputation matters in any industry, but in the wrestling business it is especially important. Talent makes much of their living, in part, with the connections they make with promoters and fellow wrestlers. Even if they're predominantly working for one promotion, there are likely several more in their back pocket that they could potentially go to for an extended period of time. But not all promotions are created equal, and there are some wrestlers that the good ones just don't want on their roster, most of the time. It's varied over the years, but some wrestlers have a decidedly less-extensive resume than some others, and there's usually a reason for it.

Obviously, with the sheer number of promotions available to work in today, just about every wrestler is going to find work somewhere. But reading between the lines, it's clear that some are simply less desirable than others, for a variety of reasons. It's the nature of the business that some wrestlers will get more opportunity than others, but there are a handful of noteworthy names that have really been on the outside looking in on the wrestling world for some time now. They aren't wrestling for the quality of promotions that many expected of them.

Ranked below are 15 wrestlers promotions are staying away from, at the moment.

15 Ryback

Everybody always knew that Ryback was doomed to fail the second he didn't have WWE backing him. His Intercontinental Title run stands as one of the worst in the history of the company, and now that he's finally gone, he's been nearly anonymous on the Indy scene since. The promotions he's wrestled for have never eclipsed the mid-level of the indies, and he's just been the same character, devoid of personality or wrestling ability. Sure, he can milk this time with WWE for a career, but how long will that be able to last?

Ryback is the perfect example of a wrestler who never had any business being on the biggest stage, even though he looked like he could be on the biggest stage.

Leave it to WWE to fall for the talentless musclehead, and unfortunately, that's exactly what Ryback was. They realized they had made a mistake, and backstage issues with Ryback definitely played a part in that, so they were smart to cut ties when they did. The fact that Ryback has made essentially zero high-profile appearances since his WWE departure tells you all you really need to know.

14 Chris Harris

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At one point he was one of the most prominent tag wrestlers in the world due to his work in America's Most Wanted, but in recent memory Harris has been pretty much nonexistent in the wrestling world. A failed stint with WWE in 2009 pretty much sealed his fate as a talent that had eclipsed his prime. Though it wasn't his fault he was slotted with the horrible Braden Walker character, it was still a pitfall that he wasn't able to recover from. His work on the Indy scene since then hasn't been noteworthy in the least.

It's safe to say that no major promotion is going to give Harris a chance now, especially since they haven't done so for around a decade now.

AMW was certainly a great team in their heyday, but Harris was never able to reinvent himself to the degree necessary to have success anywhere else, outside of TNA. His career has been reeling for a long time now, and there's little chance for a turnaround at this point.

13 Teddy Hart

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When you have a relation to the Hart family, it's safe to say that you're going to get an opportunity if you have any degree of talent. Teddy is the grandson of the legendary Stu Hart, so naturally he was going to have a clear path to the wrestling industry. He made some waves in the mid-2000s in promotions like ROH, JAPW and the like, and even did a stint with WWE, but a lack of wrestling psychology, despite his athletic talent, as well as a bad attitude, spelled Hart's underachievement in the business. Nobody wanted to work with him after a while, just because of his entitlement.

He's been bumming around the indies for the last few years, and is currently doing a run in AAA.

That's an impressive promotion to be fair, but nobody on the same level in the United States is going to give him such an opportunity. The reality is the Hart was a good-not-great worker, and had far to many outbursts and disputes with management to be considered a reliable talent. He's likely on the downswing of his career, all things considered.

12 Enzo Amore

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Allegations of assault saw Amore be released from WWE early this year, and the fact that he hasn't appeared for another promotion yet is a clear indicator that not many are comfortable with employing him right now. It seemed that Enzo was slated to be one of the WWE's top stars with his charismatic mic skills and infectious personality. It was exactly the kind of talent that was needed on the roster over the past few years. But with the climate surrounding assault, WWE felt they had no choice but to give him his outright release, to not risk the negative press if the allegations turned out to be true.

Maybe Enzo will get back into the business, and maybe he won't, but this situation sets a precedent for WWE's policy on this going forward. This is a serious problem right now, and they'd rather not even risk the possibility of keeping an accused wrestler, even if the case is now done with and Enzo's free of any wrongdoing. Ultimately, if Enzo does want to get back in the ring again, he's probably going to have an uphill battle to gain any kind of relevance again.

11 Alberto Del Rio

After a storied career that has seen many changes along the way to go with a bevy of title runs, it seems like Del Rio is resting on his laurels right now. He's back in AAA, is 40-years-old, and should be near the end of his rope as a main event talent that can succeed in the United States. With all of the fallout from his recent WWE and Impact Wrestling runs, it would be surprising if anybody would be willing to put him in the main event scene again. Simply, Del Rio has done all that he can do at this point, and is on the downswing of his career.

There are younger, better talents which companies are going to want to go after if they want to make a splash signing.

Del Rio was that guy at one time, but ultimately he's dead weight now. He'll be able to get quality matches in AAA due to his history there, but he's unlikely to resurface for a new company to be one of then top guys. The interest just isn't there from most noteworthy promotions these days.

10 Charlie Haas

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One of the more prominent WWE figures of the 2000s, Haas was a tag team specialist who  was around for much of the decades best moments. Nobody would ever confuse him for a great singles wrestler, but he's the kind of worker that was a benefit to the roster, and could be versatile at the same time. The World's Greatest Tag Team was a great tandem in an era that wasn't the greatest for tag wrestling in WWE, and Haas definitely helped fill the void. He's still active now, but it's fair to say that he hasn't wrestled a high-profile event in quite some time.

His last stint with somewhat of a major company was for Ring Of Honor five years ago, and since then he's been bouncing around from one mid-level indie promotion to another. There's just not much left for him to do at the age of 46, and Haas is squarely planted in the twilight of his career right now. A return to WWE in any capacity wouldn't garner much interest, and he's probably going to retire fully in the near future. Definitely a good wrestler, but his career has passed him by.

9 Montel Vontavious Porter

Most known for his run in WWE as the MVP character, Porter has been largely on the out for the last few years in the wrestling world. The only notable signing he's made to any promotion in the last several years was to Lucha Underground, but he last less than two weeks there. It's clear that he's content to bum around on the lower-level Indy circuit at this point in his career. Or maybe he just doesn't have any other choice. Either way, Porter is an artifact from the mid-2000s era-WWE, and he hasn't been able to live up to it since.

He's had stints before in TNA and in Japan, but nothing he did in either company was particularly noteworthy.

A solid worker, but also a bit nondescript, Porter always had a short shelf-life as a wrestler, at least for how long his appeal would remain. There are simply better talents on the market right now, and not many promotions are going to seek him out based on a so-so WWE run from over a decade ago.

8 Shark Boy

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TNA's infatuation with this character, even on the level of a gimmick performer, was always a bit of a head-scratcher. Sure, you'd expect it to be used as enhancement talent for a while, and as a filler on the roster. But he's been on the active roster in some capacity for the better part of 15 years, and still occasionally appears at Impact Wrestling events today. Shark Boy was always a fun lower mid-card gimmick, but the degree of legend that has been built surrounding it, has always appeared to be a bit strange. For TNA though, it begins to make slightly more sense.

Needless to say, Dean Roll, who has always portrayed Shark Boy, hasn't done much else notable in the wrestling world except for his TNA run with the character. It's good that he found his niche in TNA a long time ago, because no other major promotion would have given him a second look, if we're being honest about it. He's just that not a superior talent, and that's proven with the outside interest in his services.

7 Kenzo Suzuki

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You may remember Suzuki from the WWE in the mid-2000s, where he was brought in to give the roster some variety. The problem was, while Suzuki was definitely an International talent that stood out on WWE's roster, he also wasn't a very good international talent. He's had stints in New Japan, AAA, and now All Japan, all of which he hasn't really made an impact in. He's a mid-card talent at best, and one that doesn't deserve to be anywhere near the main event scene for any reason. As such, he doesn't have much clout in the modern wrestling landscape.

So there's little chance that Suzuki is able to land as a productive member of a roster anywhere else, this late into his career. He'll likely go out freelancing low-level promotions, and remain an afterthought in the business. Outside of his lone WWE run, there's been nothing to distinguish Suzuki from any number of other wrestlers.

6 James Storm

The other half of America's Most Wanted, along with being a member of Beer Money along the way, Storm has been a lifer in TNA. At least, he was until 2017, when he officially left the company. This sent him on a search for a promotion that he could latch on to, even at the age of 40. So far, that search has been unfulfilled; Storm has only made appearances for low-level promotions like Defiant Wrestling and ICW in the past few years. Not exactly what he was looking for, in all likelihood.

It's pretty clear that following a failed NXT run several years ago, that major promotions really want nothing to do with Storm right now.

He's embedded himself in the TNA brand over the years, and as such, it would be difficult for him to follow up with any kind of rebranding of himself anywhere else. He's too far into the game at this point to reinvent, and that puts a cap on how much he'll be able to achieve outside of Impact Wrestling. Ultimately, it probably be wise for Storm to retire in the near future.

5 Brian Cage

Cage always seemed like a prototypical WWE star, but despite receiver a developmental deal with the company around a decade ago, he flunked out pretty early. He's jumped around since then, doing runs in ROH, PWG and TNA. He was always going to get consistent work because of his physique, but it's fair to say that Cage has shown nothing noteworthy as an in-ring talent. Though he's back in Impact Wrestling now, that's more due to the recent departures from their roster, than it is because of Cage being an asset to the company.

So while he'll likely be around for the foreseeable future, having Cage play any kind of a prominent role in any promotion likely won't be the case. He's simply not good enough to carry any roster with a noteworthy platform, and he'll probably be in Impact Wrestling for a while as a filler, until they're able to beef up the roster again. After that, expect Cage to return wrestling for a low-level Indy promotion near you!

4 Hulk Hogan

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Hogan's recorded comments which dipped into the pool of controversy are well-documented by now, and it's clear that WWE doesn't have much interest in bringing him back in any capacity because of it. Even when you're the most popular wrestler of all time, there has to be a breaking point with behavior, and for WWE, this was probably it. Hogan's words were despicable, there's no two ways about it, and now he's going to have pay the price, and not be recognized as a WWE legacy that he was always slated to be.

It's unclear if this exile of Hogan is going to last forever, but going on three years since the issue surfaced, it seems that it made an effect on the entire company, and their view of him as a person.

And so it should. Hogan had no business making these kinds of comments, even in private, so it shouldn't be a surprise any promotion would want to steer clear of him. Especially since he's not going to draw a ton of money over an extended period of time anymore.

3 Kenny King

His reputation in the business can sway in either direction depending on who you take to, but King has made his name in both ROH and TNA in the past. Athletic and a solid worker, he seems to have the skill set that would make most non-WWE promotions swoon. He's definitely wrestled for some high-profile promotions along the way, but recently his stock has gone down, in terms of being a hot-ticket item as a talent. It's difficult to see King getting another kind of a major run in a noteworthy company, even though he's been a part of them before.

He's doing a run in CMLL, and still is on the ROH roster, but in terms of any other significant promotions wanting to acquire King, it looks like that ship has sailed. He's not really in the prime of his career anymore, and he doesn't have much left to achieve in the business that would actually be possible for him. ROH is definitely a quality promotion, but the quantity of interest for King just doesn't seem to be there right now.

2 Petey Williams

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The Canadian Destroyer was once the most popular move in wrestling, and the lore around Williams skyrocketed because of it. That was a long time ago now, and although he was one of the most noteworthy wrestlers of the mid-2000s, his career was incrementally declined into being nothing more than a filler on any roster now. Williams had a lot of athleticism, and a cool finishing move, but never the depth that was going to sustain a career as a top-tier player in any company. A lack of mic skills, character extension, and varied matches all hurt his career in some way.

In recent years, he's return to Impact Wrestling, but at this point, it's nothing more than a formality. The promotion isn't doing well to begin with, and there's been no high-profile match involving Williams for years now. Most thought that The Canadian Destroyer would carry him to a great career, but it turns out that you can't rely on just a finisher to make your career. For a while, Williams did, and it delayed any progress he might have made in his early TNA days.

1 Sami Callihan

Callahan is signed to Impact Wrestling right now, but his road to it was littered with a ton of other promotions along the way. On top of a stint with NXT, he's also appeared in the likes of ROH, Dragon Gate and PWG, alongside many others. It's quite the extensive resume for Callahan, who is an innovative wrestler in the ring, and his current gimmick is interesting, at least. But for some reason, there doesn't seem to be a ton of interest on making him the absolute star that many thought, or think, that he could potentially be. Simply wrestling for Impact isn't going to get him over to that degree.

Maybe Callihan just wasn't destined to be a major star, but he had more than his fair share of potential to be just that.

As it stands now, it just seems like he's going to be slotted into the mid-card for the rest of his career. Nothing wrong with that, but the heights his career can reach are probably limited right now, especially due to his terrible Impact botch.