It comes across that there is a sudden tension or negative vibe running through the company, with the belief that Vince McMahon does not believe in his current group of talent, while also feeling the product is stale as reported by Cage Side Seats.

Vince does have a point about the stale product, but it’s a lot to do with booking decisions, storylines and the predictable formula. It isn’t so much the talents fault.

However, due to Vince not being happy, it appears that the locker room has had some negative vibes, with several talents unhappy about lack of TV time, poor booking of their characters and odd storylines. As of today, Tye Dillinger, Hideo Itami and TJP, were granted their release from the company as reported on wwe.com

Another reason that could be contributing to superstars frustrations, is the watering down of the superstars wrestling styles and characters. Again this is my personal opinion, but it would certainly be frustrating as a talent, knowing you can’t provide a decent match for the fans, due to WWE wanting to focus on entertainment, rather than in-ring storytelling.

Some of these talents that have stayed or are going to stay for the remainder of their career have been badly underutilized. Today I will take a look at 10 WWE superstars who have not been utilized properly.

It does make you understand why some choose to leave in search of greener pastures due to all the restrictions placed upon them, not to mention the overloaded roster. There are those who choose to stay, whether it be for monetary reasons, global recognition and exposure, or simply just believing in themselves that they will get a chance to shine.

Please remember that this is an opinion only and is only based on how they have been booked.

#1 Finn Balor

The ’ Demon King’ Finn Balor has been grossly misused on the main roster. What started off as a promising start in 2016 for Finn, turned into a nightmare, when it was revealed that Balor had gotten injured in his Universal championship match at Summerslam 2016. He managed to win the match to become the inaugural Universal champion but had to relinquish it the next night on Monday Night Raw.

It was rumored at the time he was going to have a lengthy title reign, however, it wasn’t to be. He had already defeated Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins within a few weeks of debuting on Raw, and to see it snatched away due to a botched manoeuvre, was gut-wrenching.

It was equally more difficult to watch when he returned and was doing literally nothing except participating in random matches and meaningless feuds for nearly two years, before finally getting a shot at the Universal title again.

Even though Brock defeated him, he still proved what an incredible athlete he is, while proving he can go up against anybody he is put up against. At the present stage, he is the Intercontinental champion.

The Demon King should hold the Intercontinental title for a lengthy amount of time, as he is overdue for a title run and he hadn’t had a push before the start of the year, since when came up. He is popular with the fans and is an excellent in-ring worker.

WWE need to realize that athletes like Finn don’t come around very often and they need to give him decent storylines, as well as let him show how good he is in the ring. He deserves another world championship run.

#2 Braun Strowman

What did WWE do to Braun Strowman?

Braun was becoming quite popular in the WWE universe in late 2017- early 2018, being built a monster and future world champ. He virtually destroyed everybody in his path. His momentum kept receiving a stop and start push for most of last year and ever since, it seems he is no longer being given a chance to be the Universal champion in the short term at least

Over the last year, Braun managed to win the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia and the Money in the Bank briefcase. The rest of his year resulted in a failed contract cash in, repetitive feuds with the Shield and subsequent losses to Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. He got injured ( storyline wise ) by Baron Corbin and his cronies before making a return and is still feuding with Corbin. He was the most popular superstar in late 2017- early 2018, then they decided to put him in a random tag team match against The Bar with a ten-year-old kid as his partner.

It’s unknown why Braun has had such a tumultuous run on the main roster but he deserves to be treated a lot better. He definitely should have had a Universal title run, or a mid-card title run at the very least.

It’s really disappointing to see far he has fallen out of favour with management given the momentum he has. He fits the build of what Vince likes so it does make you question why is he not up there.

Management may not believe in him, but the WWE Universe would be certainly happy to see him become a world champion going by the audience reactions he still receives.You only have to look at all the destruction he has caused and how over he is st, to know he is capable of being at the elite level.

#3 Elias

You kind of have to feel sorry for Elias. He hasn’t had a meaningful storyline really since he come up to the main roster, yet he is still one of the best acts on Monday Night Raw.

Elias has the ‘It factor’ and is able to connect with the audience in a way that not many other Superstars can. It’s just a shame that he hasn’t had a run with a title like the Intercontinental Championship because if anybody deserves it, it is him.

It seems that his role on the main roster is to help get other people over and be more of a musical/comical character rather than be somebody serious who could lead the company into the future. If the WWE plays their cards right with Elias, they could have him be like a modern-day version of The Rock.

Elias isn’t any sort of technical wrestler in the ring, however, he has improved quite a lot and he’s able to play both a face and a heel character and still get great reactions, despite which alliance he has. Only a few Superstars are able to do that and WWE have failed to capitalise on it.

They need to change what they do with him and allow him to have a mid-card title run, and they could even build him up to be a future world champ. He may not be the best in-ring worker, however, he certainly makes up for it in the charisma and character department.

If WWE don’t do something with Elias, then it will be a missed opportunity. He’s only going to get better in the ring the more matches that he has, and anything that they want to work on with him can be done at the Performance Centre

#4 Bobby Lashley

Where do you start with Bobby Lashley? He was supposed to be the next Brock Lesnar for the company, however since he arrived the night after Wrestlemania 34, his run has been lacklustre.

He was an absolute powerhouse and destroyer in TNA, but on the main roster in WWE, they have had him coming out first as a smiling baby face which definitely didn’t suit him, then turning heel and doing some ridiculous poses in the ring with his hype man Lio Rush. We definitely can’t forget some of the storylines he’s participated in since arriving back to the company.

A man of his size and stature should be booked virtually the same as Brock Lesnar. Brock won’t be about the company for too much longer, and they could have built Lashley up to take his spot as the destroyer in the company. I don’t think that even if they started building him up as a destroyer now, that people would buy it because his credibility has been destroyed.

WWE could have had themselves a money making match on a grand stage between Lesnar and Lashley, but they failed to capitalise on it and they failed to make Lashley a credible opponent for Brock.

It is a missed opportunity by the WWE, as it could have been a passing of the torch moment for Lashley to become the new ‘Beast’. I think we’d all have certainly paid to see that happen rather then stand in the ring and pose with an annoying hype man.

Bobby’s run with the Intercontinental Championship seemed pretty pointless as he only held it for a few weeks before dropping it to Finn Balor. It’s not how you book an athlete of Bobby Lashley’s calibre. Let’s hope that they can build him up into a future world champion.

#5 Rusev

When Rusev came up to the main roster, he was a force to be reckoned with. It did not take him long to become the United States champion after destroying many opponents along the way. Many people think that Rusev lost his way after he lost to John Cena at Wrestlemania 32.

Whatever the reasons are for Rusev losing his push will never be known, but he could have been and still could be a great world champion if backstage officials gave him a chance. He has the look that Vince likes and he was incredibly over with the WWE Universe last year and in late 2017, which the company also failed to capitalise on.

I understand that he has been a three-time United States champion but considering how popular his ‘Rusev Day’ gimmick was, WWE could have made him one of the faces of SmackDown Live. His popularity rivalled that of Daniel Bryan. He certainly deserved to have at least one run with a world championship.

Having somebody that the crowd are behind like that is very rare in WWE these days, which makes you question why it wasn’t capitalised on. Rusev got himself over organically much the same as Daniel Bryan.

Now Rusev is stuck in a meaningless tag team with Shinsuke Nakamura doing virtually nothing. It’s disappointing how Rusev fell out of favour with management, and will never probably get a significant push again as long as he remains with the company.

#6 Samoa Joe

It’s hard to look back at Joe’s career in the WWE without being disappointed in how he’s been treated on the main roster.

Joe has the look, charisma, believability as well as superb mic skills and in-ring ability. In other words, he is one of the best all-around performers in the company today. It literally is somewhat of a crime that they have diminished his credibility in high-profile matches.

There is nobody on the SmackDown live roster that would do a better job as world champion than Samoa Joe would. You only have to take a look at his promo skills and excellent ability to tell a story, and you know that he’s somebody that could be and should be a world champion, or at least have held a mid-card title.

Samoa Joe was an absolute beast when he was in Ring of Honor and TNA Impact Wrestling. He competed with some of the best athletes in both companies, while he managed to get wins over them. Also, he was undefeated for quite a long time in ROH.

It really is quite sad that the WWE don’t have faith in Joe. He has a cult following and is a legitimate badass who could destroy anybody, whilst also being able to tell a brilliant story inside the squared circle. Let’s hope WWE managed to capitalise on Samoa Joe one day soon before he retires…

#7 Dean Ambrose

You might be wondering why I have put Dean on here but please let me explain.

Dean has accomplished a certain amount of success in WWE, but has always been considered by backstage officials to be more of a mid-card guy, rather than somebody who could be world champion. Granted that Dean has had one run with a world championship, but to be honest it’s not on the same level of success as Roman Reigns or Seth Rollins.

WWE have had plenty of opportunities to make him a world champion including when his popularity was at its peak in 2015, but it was left a year too late when he finally did capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

The fans weren’t as behind Dean as what they were the previous year, which was probably due to the atrocious match with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 32. We know that Dean wasn’t at fault for that match but some people obviously held him accountable for it.

The officials could have made Ambrose one of the permanent faces of SmackDown Live, had he stayed on the show, and he probably would have had multiple world title runs. It wasn’t meant to be though, as he got drafted back to Raw in the next superstar shake-up, and became third wheel too Roman and Seth again.

Ambrose’s character had the ability to be both a heel and babyface, yet WWE never gave him a decent heel run with a storyline that fans could have brought into. It was ultimately the best choice to have him go back to being a babyface until he leaves the company because they completely destroyed his heel turn by not allowing him to have creative freedom.

If they cannot get him to re-sign with the company, it will definitely come as a huge blow especially if he wrestles in AEW.

#8 Shinsuke Nakamura

When Shinsuke Nakamura first joined the WWE, he was a highly gifted and sought-after athlete who came from New Japan Pro Wrestling. He had some great matches for the promotion, before coming to the United States.

Upon joining NXT, he was able to show a different sort of audience exactly what he could do and just how much charisma he had. It would be fair to say he certainly must of impressed Triple H and Vince McMahon.

Whilst apart of NXT, he held the NXT championship twice and had some great feuds with Samoa Joe and many others. It wasn’t long before he got the call up to SmackDown. His start on Smackdown was average at best, not so much because of him, but because he had to water down his style so much and was also playing babyface which was something that he wasn’t used to before coming to America.

It’s nearly 3 years since the ’ king of strong style’ made his debut on the main roster and we have seen him almost fade away into obscurity. His first title run with the United States Championship was poorly booked, with hardly any title defences or appearances on TV. It kind of felt like after he feuded with AJ Styles that they didn’t really know what to do with him, so they just put the United States title on him as a consolation prize.

It does not do this man justice to be made irrelevant on the main roster when he is one of the best wrestlers in the world. It is hard to say why he has fallen so far down the totem pole, but he deserves a lot better, and if they do put another championship on him, then they need to make him defend it regularly and build on his heel character more.

#9 Asuka

Asuka’s career in WWE has been one of the strangest ones yet. On one hand, she was undefeated in NXT until she relinquished her title, due to her main roster call up. She started out undefeated right up until Wrestlemania 34, in which she got defeated by Charlotte Flair. That’s when things went downhill fo Ir her.

After Wrestlemania, Asuka started losing tag team and championship matches to people like the IIconics and Carmella. It even got to the point where she was off television for a while. Then after Survivor Series, she started getting pushed again and became Smackdown Women’s champion in a match at the TLC PPV against Charlotte and Becky Lynch.

At the Royal Rumble, She had a decent match with Becky Lynch, which Asuka retained her title. Somehow, she has become a bit irrelevant again due to the hype surrounding the Raw Women’s title. Losing to Mandy Rose of all people this week on Smackdown Live did absolutely nothing to build Asuka’s credibility back up even if it is a set up to a feud with newcomer, Lacey Evans.

Asuka should be booked as a dominant champion on the main roster, and she shouldn’t be jobbing out to people like Mandy Rose, who are nothing more than eye candy. They could have built up a feud between Asuka and Nikki Cross. Their feud in NXT was intense and featured an all-time classic, the first ever Last Woman Standing match for the company.

She is one of the most feared strikers around the planets in the world of professional wrestling due to her fierce and stiff in-ring style. If they have any hope of building Asuka back up again, then they need to have her winning all her matches. They also need to find other tougher superstars for her to face ( I.e Kairi Sane, Io Shirai, Shayna Baszler, Bianca Belair).

#10 Bobby Roode

Bobby Roode’s career in WWE has so far been a complete bust, especially on the main roster. He’s one of the best heels that TNA ever had, and was also part of the legendary tag team Beer Money with Cowboy James Storm.

One would have thought that when Bobby Roode arrived in WWE, that he would head straight to the main roster ( similar to AJ Styles), given that he was 40 years old at the time and had many years of experience behind him. It wasn’t meant to be as he was put in NXT and is a former NXT champion along with being a former TNA world heavyweight champion.

If one was to look at Bobby Roode and his career in WWE, you would probably all say that his time in NXT was probably the best that we have seen him, as he was more himself playing a heel.

His character does not fit a babyface role and that’s why it hasn’t resonated world on the main roster. He needs to be turned back into the self-righteous, conniving heel that he can be, which will be a role that he will feel much more comfortable in.

Bobby Roode has achieved a small amount of success on the main roster, as he is a former United States champion and a former Raw Tag Team champion with Chad Gable.

It is considered strange though that they don’t try him out in an upper mid-card role, with Bobby as a heel. He has proven in other promotions that he has what it takes to be a main eventer. It may be too little too late, to turn him into a big star again now considering his age and low status in the company. He would have definitely been a decent world champ and top heel on either brand.

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