I have a 9-month-old boy who just started crawling and therefore destroying the house. I work a full-time job that’s anywhere from 40-60 hours a week. I’m the host of Inside Pulse’s new radio show the “Wrestling Pulsecast” where I interview someone from the world of professional wrestling every week at 7:30 PM EST on BlogTalkRadio. I also run my own wrestling website where I cover every big show along with features such as original wallpapers, articles, videos, etc. And because of all of this and so much more I won’t mention, I haven’t written a full article in months. And that blows.

I love to write. It’s my hobby (along with this other thing we all tend to talk about on this site) and it’s something I just don’t get that much time for anymore. It’s been bothering me for a while that I haven’t been able to find the non-existent time to lock the office door and come up with a well thought out and reasoned article analyzing this entertaining sport we all love.

Why should I? I have a beautiful wife I love doing everything with. An awesome son that becomes more active everyday. Friends and family I don’t see nearly enough of as it is. And business ventures that I’m constantly exploring and improving. But the thing is, no matter how hard I try to get away and no matter how easy the companies make it to give up on them, professional wrestling has been ingrained into my DNA since I was three years old and nothing has the power to change that.

That being said, I’m sick of not writing. Sick of feeling like all of these good ideas will never see the light of a computer screen. So I’m making a change. Nothing too significant and honestly if you’ve never read my work before, you won’t even notice a difference. It’s just a format change for “Creatively Endeavored”. Instead of fighting the losing battle every week of a daunting editorial, CE is transferring to a more reader (and writer) pleasing “Top 5″ style of article. I’m hoping this change will encourage more reader interaction and inspire lively debates.

This first piece is a new beginning where we’ll look at guys who didn’t really get their own shot at a new beginning. With the recent news of the departure of John Morrison from the WWE, it made me nostalgic for other pro-wrestlers who seemed as if they were on the verge of stardom, just to slowly fade away into nothingness. So this relaunch of “Creatively Endeavored” will take a look at the Top 5 Wrestlers WWE Dropped The Ball On.

#5: John Morrison/Colt Cabana

- John Morrison is a strange case. At the beginning of his career as Eric Bischoff’s assistant Johnny Nitro, many believed he had the look, personality and athletic ability to be a star in the future. That didn’t pan out and he was sent to OVW. His next run included Melina and Joey Mercury for the successful tag team MNM. After the split and a failed singles run on Smackdown, Nitro reinvented himself on ECW as John Morrison is a good feud with the emerging CM Punk. On ECW, Morrison discovered a chemistry he had with The Miz and another successful tag team was formed. Once they split, many though Morrison would become the next Shawn Michaels but he could never truly break out. He was stuck in the same rut for the last two years right up to his release. Could he have succeeded if given a better shot? Possibly but he was given a few opportunities. There’s no denying that he has the look and in-ring ability that if the WWE machine wanted to get behind him, we would probably be talking about another John Morrison/CM Punk feud right now.

Colt Cabana is the polar opposite. An excellent talent that WWE had signed to Smackdown and just let slip away. The potential for Cabana was immeasurable and he’s proven in the years since his release that he is a strong worker with an intense drive to succeed that would have thrived in the right environment. Cabana is still young enough that if WWE wanted to take another chance on him, he could surely contribute to any show. The stars just do not seemed to be aligned though.

#4: Curt Hennig

- “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig might seem like an odd choice for this list but hear me out. The highest Hennig reached in the then-WWF was the upper mid-card and the Intercontinental Championship. Hennig’s feuds with Brutus Beefcake, Texas Tornado, Ultimate Warrior, Ric Flair and Bret Hart consistently stole the show and his early program with Hulk Hogan proved he could hang in the main event. Unfortunately WWE didn’t capitalize early enough on his abilities and a serious back injury forced Hennig to the announce booth. Curt made a return to the ring years later for WCW and while he was still stellar in the ring, his prime was past and we never really got to see that great main event run.

#3: Goldberg

- Goldberg is arguably WCW’s greatest homegrown talent. In one year, Bill Goldberg went from training in the Power Planet to pinning Hulk Hogan for World Heavyweight Championship in a sold out Georgia Dome. In WWE, Goldberg plowed through the Rock, was one upped by Jericho week after week and wore Goldust’s wig. Eventually he captured the World title but the damage was done. Goldberg only lasted one year in the WWE and booed out of the company at WrestleMania 20 in Madison Square Garden.

#2: Dusty Rhodes

- Before “The American Dream” came to the then-WWF in 1989, Dusty Rhodes had been a 3 time NWA World Heavyweight Champion (among numerous other titles in a plethora of territories.) In 1991, Rhodes left the WWF without a single championship, two sub par feuds with Randy Savage and Ted DiBiase and retired from the ring as a full-time wrestler. For a man who many consider to be the most charismatic man ever to lace up a pair of boots, there’s no way to look at this WWF run as anything but disappointing.

#1: Ricky Steamboat

- Ric Flair has named Ricky Steamboat the “best babyface of all-time” on more than one occasion. His hour-long matches with Flair defined a generation and his match with Randy Savage at WrestleMania 3 is widely considered one of the best in history. The talent Steamboat had to rally a crowd behind him was unmatched on a national and international level. To borrow a line from Chris Jericho, he was the best in the world at what he did. But Steamboat was also a family man and the wrestling business is well-known for being just the opposite of that. The then-WWF wanted their top talent to work over 300 days a year and family time was just something Steamboat would not sacrifice. Once management realized this, Steamboat lost the Intercontinental Title, was “injured”, sacked with an actual dragon outfit upon his return and eventually banished to the wasteland of early 90s WCW. WWE had probably the second best babyface of the 80s (behind Hogan) and not only did they not capitalize on that, they dropped him from the company entirely.

Honorable Mentions:
Michael McGillicutty
Kaval
Sin Cara
MVP
Scott Hall
Diamond Dallas Page
Sean O’Haire

Tags: "mr. perfect" curt hennig, Bill Goldberg, Colt Cabanna, creatively endeavored, Dusty Rhodes, John Morrison, NWA, Ricky The Dragon Steamboat, WWE, WWF