The Most Pointless WWE Signings Ever

WWE is an end goal for many of those who want to have a career as a professional wrestler, but not every career ends up the same way. WWE has signed hundreds of free agents over the years. While some like Cody Rhodes have worked out incredibly, others have just ended up pointless. The question is, who are the most pointless WWE signings ever?

Many times, it’s not the fault of the given WWE performer. If creative has nothing for you or if WWE uses you in a way that you were never meant to be used, there’s nothing the performer can do. We’re going to go over some of the signings in WWE history that have had us scratching our heads.

Buckle up. Apologies to the performers in advance for making this list. It’s not you, it’s them. Okay…for some of you, it was definitely you!

MIKE & MARIA KANELLIS 

We have no idea what happened here. Honestly, we just don”t get it.

Maria Kanellis had been a WWE Diva for many years in WWE. When she was last in the company, the plucky redhead was the last girl to pose for Playboy while under a WWE contract. They allowed her to mostly be a backstage reporter with occasional matches throughout her WWE career. She was usually a ditzy chick who didn”t know what was going on half the time. Think Cat Valentine from the Victorious television show, that was Maria.

She left WWE and eventually met a wrestler named Mike Bennett who she”d marry. Maria was often with him on the independent scene, and everyone knew Mike had the tools to be a good worker for WWE. Eventually, he”d get the opportunity and the two debuted on the main roster under Maria”s real-life maiden name. Why did WWE do this?

First, they could own Mike”s WWE name, and second, because they assumed people would know Maria”s last name from her time in WWE before. However, WWE never really used her last name, soooo….there”s that. They were heels who used “the power of love” to help them get things done. Mike never had much of a chance after this. WWE writers and creative team members had no idea how to use them. Maria would even get legitimately pregnant during this time.

Yet they were a two-person act, so if Maria was not on television then Mike could not be either. That led to missed TV time. When they were on TV, it was mostly competing for the 24/7 Championship. Honestly, we feel so bad for Mike and Maria here. They deserved better. Yet they were sadly part of the most pointless WWE signings ever crew.

EVA MARIE (ROUND 2)

Eva Marie might have worked in the Divas era of wrestling. However, when she signed her first contract with WWE in 2013, things were changing dramatically. She was part of a new breed of wrestlers like Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, and Becky Lynch. The only thing different for Eva Marie was…well…she couldn’t wrestle to save her life.

Time and training can help one improve. Unfortunately for Eva Marie, she never got better. They legitimately tried to help her during her first run and even in the second. They had her work with Brian Kendrick one-on-one for a time to improve, and he did his best. Yet no one could help seemingly.

WWE had to release her eventually.

While we don’t fault WWE for the first contract, we have to fault them for the second contract. Four years after her initial departure, they still brought her back for the second time. Had she gotten better in the ring? Nope! Was she capable of working with the caliber of women the WWE had on their roster? Not at all.

Who in talent relations forgot to check and see if she had improved at all in the ring? Apparently, everyone.

Many believe this was a Vince McMahon call, as he wanted her to fit a specific character he had in mind. Yet Marie never really performed in a match on television. Her most notable “match” appearance was one in which she had a “wardrobe malfunction.” This effectively ended the match before it began.

It’s not unusual for WWE to bring someone into the company because they like their look, but looks alone couldn’t get Eva Marie the first time. There was no reason to think she”d be worth signing again.

BUFF BAGWELL

Buff Bagwell had reasonable success at WCW, but his WWE run was incredibly short-lived. What actually happened with Bagwell differs from everyone else you”ll see on this list. It is widely assumed that when Vince McMahon bought WCW, the purchase also included several people under contract with WCW at the time. Others like Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, & Scott Hall actually signed with Turner Media rather than WCW itself.  Therefore, their contracts were not absorbed in the purchase.

Bagwell accepted an offer from AOL Time Warner to be bought out of his contract. Yet part of this deal was that he”d get to sign a new deal with WWE. This allowed Bagwell to show up and have a shot at the WCW Championship on an episode of WWE RAW on July 2, 2001. When he arrived at the RAW Taping the following week, he was informed he was getting released.

Why did they do so? Simple. His first and only match in WWE was considered horrible, even with Booker T trying to help him during the bout. To be fair, Buff was never that good in the ring. He had a great look and could cut a decent promo, but he was otherwise horrible. While he did have some popularity in the industry, it was nowhere near enough to keep him employed in WWE. All of this made Bagwell clearly one of the most pointless WWE signings ever.

CAIN VELASQUEZ

What the f&*K was that?

It”s okay if you forget that Cain Velasquez worked for the WWE. We almost forgot too. He was in the WWE from 2019 to 2020, technically.

What was his biggest accomplishment? Getting beaten in 90 seconds by Brock Lesnar.

Even though these two had a notable legitimate fight in the UFC several years prior, where Cain beat Brock, WWE let Brock squash him at WWE Crown Jewel in 2019.

It”s not the best use for a star with legit cross-over appeal. On April 28, just a month after the world shut down due to COVID-19, Cain was released from WWE.

Let’s run this back to make sure we got this correct. He shows up as muscle for Rey Mysterio. A month later, Lesnar beats him in 90 seconds at Crown Jewel. He then is never seen again. Cool stuff.

Did Rey even need Cain to help him? Nope. The really weird part is that Cain also came in noticeably out of shape with what was clearly some sort of knee problem from the beginning. While Cain does have a legitimate wrestling background and was a great heavyweight in the UFC, his best days were long gone. Making him one of the most pointless WWE signings of all time.

NATHAN JONES

Not ringing any bells? That’s fine. Just to let you know, when one discusses Jones, he will likely be best known as one of the most pointless WWE signings of all time.

Jones was signed to WWE in 2002. He wrestled his first match in April 2003. He was quickly put into a storyline with The Undertaker. WWE was actually preparing to have him in a WrestleMania tag team match alongside “The Deadman.” Yet he was clearly not ready for this. To get him out of the issue, the company ran an injury angle resulting in Undertaker having a triple-threat match at WrestleMania, which he won.

WWE sent him to Ohio Valley Wrestling to be trained more. However, he was soon gone and forgotten forever. This is a guy that they wanted to rush to the main roster rather than let him develop because they probably liked his look.

Nathan Jones was a great physical specimen. However, that just wasn’t enough. It almost never is. It was a waste of TV time and a spot for someone who could work in the ring. If they had had a better developmental system, then he might have made it. Sadly, he could never get going, and the signing now looks utterly pointless.

Interestingly, Jones has stayed in the world of entertainment and had some relatively good success. Following his WWE release, he”d land roles in major movies like Troy, First Strike, Mad Max: Fury Road, Conan the Barbarian, Hobbs & Shaw, Mortal Kombat, and even a WWE Studios project known as The Condemned.

EC3

How WWE managed to screw this one up is anyone”s guess. When EC3 was first in WWE, he went by the name “Derek Bateman.” At most, he was only ever part of the Reality/Game Show version of WWE NXT. Letting him go was not a big deal as he was never thought to be much of a star. He proved WWE wrong in a massive way, as he jumped to TNA Wrestling to become Ethan Carter III, the nephew of then TNA President/Owner Dixie Carter.

Not only was his style dramatically improved, but he managed to get into phenomenal shape too. From there, he had terrific matches in TNA consistently. He even went on to capture the TNA World Championship. Triple H, now in charge of Talent Relations and the new NXT, wanted to bring “EC3” to WWE. He got that chance and we”d see EC3 signed in 2018.

At first, we saw a version of EC3 we recognized from TNA. He arrived on NXT and had some great matches. However, everyone knew he was ready to be on the main roster from moment one. That led to Vince McMahon taking him out of NXT and throwing him on the RAW Brand. Yet in typical Vince fashion, he grew to not be much of a fan of EC3. That resulted in seeing him go from a serious mid-card talent who could fight for the United States or Intercontinental Titles to a comedic act.

This made EC3 one of the most pointless WWE signings in history.

ULTIMO DRAGON

What do you do when you have one of the greatest masked wrestlers of his generation in your company now? Do you have him start a feud with Rey Mysterio? Do you have him wrestle classic matches with Eddie Guerrero or Chris Jericho?

Probably not.

Instead, you ask to unmask him because…well, we don’t know but that’s apparently what they wanted to do with the man. This was likely due to WWE not comprehending that the mask also meant something special to Japanese performers. They kind of understood it with the Lucha Libre performers like Rey Mysterio. However, they loved to unmask a lot of the Mexican/Lucha Libre performers when they came into WWE too.

Ultimo wanted to work a WrestleMania match in his career, which he was able to do. However, it was just after WrestleMania when WWE wanted to unmask him so he asked for his release and went back to Japan.

Ultimo would wrestle for WWE for less than a year as a result. He did miss some time with an injury too.

This is a long-standing tradition of WWE getting smaller guys in and having absolutely no idea what makes them special. Instead, they wanted to change everything about them. Luckily Ultimo was granted his release and allowed to go back to Japan where he has continued his professional wrestling career. In fact, he started the Dragon Gate Promotion, which went on to become one of the Big 4 Japanese promotions.

SHANE DOUGLAS

Mileage may vary on how people feel about Shane Douglas. However, no one can deny that he”s relatively respected by hardcore wrestling fans. That’s why when WWE finally signed him in the mid-1990s, there was a thought that he would be a nice addition to a roster in need of a boost. After all, he had already been successful before WWE ever signed him.

Don’t forget, this was 1995. This was when WWE was still reeling from the steroid trial and business was in a world of trouble. This was also a time when WWE felt like everyone needed a gimmick. This meant that taking a guy with street cred like Shane Douglas and letting him be himself made sense. Sadly, that is not what WWE had in mind for him.

What’s better than a hardcore ass-kicker? A college dean, of course! Shane Douglas only lasted about a year in that version of his gimmick. Much like a lot of what WWE was doing at that time, it just didn’t work.

Douglas might not have ever been a main event star for the company. Yet it would have been interesting to see him enter WWE at the time the Attitude Era was happening. It would have been better than a College Dean. Douglas proved how great he could be in places like ECW, where he became a 4-time ECW World Champion. He would win the WWE Intercontinental Title during his WWE period, but he just could never get over with this idiotic gimmick given to him.

Making Douglas one of the most pointless WWE signings of all time.

HIDEO ITAMI

You have to feel bad for Hideo Itami. Known as KENTA on the independent scene, he had been a very influential performer for years. Most Americans knew him for his work in Ring of Honor. However, he”d get his start and become a star in Japan. He initially began his career in All Japan Pro Wrestling, but once the President of AJPW, Mitsuharu Misawa, decided to leave…KENTA was right behind him. Misawa would start his own company called Pro Wrestling NOAH where KENTA would join him.

He”d stand out as a star for NOAH during his time there. He performed for the promotion at the same time as he worked with ROH. Eventually, he seemed to want to stay in Japan while only taking a few bookings outside the country. That was until WWE called him up, which was a huge opportunity.

Funny enough, KENTA was the inventor of the “Go 2 Sleep” move and was also known for his flying knee finisher. CM Punk adopted the Go 2 Sleep while Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) used the knee finish. Due to being such a revolutionary performer, it only made sense that he”d be great with WWE. However, that never really took place.

Now going by the name “Hideo Itami,” he would experience numerous injuries and never could seem to get going. After a while, WWE brought him to the main roster but had nothing for him ultimately. Itami left WWE, having never lived up to expectations. However, that can hardly be blamed on him, as injuries happened to him in training or against green opponents. Then the creative team had nothing for him. This sadly made him one of the most pointless WWE signings of all time.

CHRISTOPHER DANIELS

We all wish this one would have worked out better.

A supremely talented wrestler, Christopher Daniels joined the WWE in 1998. Daniels was a smaller guy, so he was potentially able to do a lot of great work in the ring at least for the Light Heavyweight division. WCW”s Cruiserweight Division forced WWE to have a Light Heavyweight Division anyway, so Daniels could have been a great asset here. Yet WWE did not see this for Christopher.

They thought he”d be best used as just a jobber. He was part of the comedy relief as Los Conquistadores, which had him in a mask anyway, so you wouldn’t have known it was him.

Let’s not forget that this guy was a very accomplished indie wrestler. While the WWE roster was pretty stacked during the Attitude Era, they could have found something better for a talent like Daniels than jobbing out on a B-show.

Luckily Daniels hasn’t needed the WWE, as he found success in places like TNA, ROH, and now AEW. Still, it would have been nice to see what he could have done with a proper run. As sad as it is to say, Christopher Daniels was technically one of the most pointless WWE signings of all time. For no fault of his own.

KHARMA

In a way, this particular entry makes us a bit sad. Known as Awesome Kong or Amazing Kong depending on where you saw her before, WWE called her Kharma. When she first came to WWE, she ran through the WWE Divas. Kharma was the perfect person to help lead this Women”s (Divas) Division into a better place. Of course, other women had tried but Kharma could be a very useful woman in this space.

When she was in TNA Wrestling, then known as Awesome Kong, she was having classic matches with several Knockouts on the TNA roster. Gail Kim, Angelina Love, and many others had some great bouts with her. Everyone knew if she ended up in WWE, she might be able to improve things. In December 2010, she made her WWE debut and slowly began to take out several former WWE Divas Champions like Michelle McCool.

By late May 2011, Kharma confessed to the live crowd that she was pregnant and would need to take time off. This was happy news for many, but sadly along the way, she ended up having a miscarriage. She returned at the 2012 Royal Rumble, in the match itself as no women”s Rumble existed yet, and had a fun appearance. This actually counts as her first and only match during her WWE tenure. WWE did plan to have her in more though.

Yet she still needed more time and was not ready to come back full-time. She was likely dealing with a lot of depression among other issues, so by July 2012 when she still said she was not able to return, WWE was forced to release her. However, even as they did, they claimed to be open to her returning one say according to Kharma herself.

GALLOWS & ANDERSON (LATEST SIGNING)

What is the point?

Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (The Good Brothers) had a decent run from 2016 to 2020 with the WWE.

Then, they were released as part of the COVID cuts. Now gone from WWE, they bounce around AEW, TNA, and NJPW for a few years before coming back to the WWE.

They had a brief run with AJ Styles to reform “The Club,” but since then, they’ve been relegated to doing absolutely nothing. When AJ got hurt, they essentially wrote them off Television. At least, whenever it did not involve Mia Yim, who for some reason was renamed “Michin.” Now that AJ is back and working again, they have still barely been on WWE programming. Just recently, they”d show up to work some WWE NXT events.

We get that they were brought back to be stablemates for Styles, but it’s clear that WWE has moved on from that notion. What’s the point of having signed them in the first place if they had almost no plan for them? With all due respect to the Good Brothers, it’s not as if they were super hot free agents at this point. WWE did not need to sign them to keep them away from AEW or anything.

It’s not the first time WWE signed Gallows & Anderson or anyone else with no real plan for them. Still, they are capable of contributing more than this. It’s a shame they won’t seem to get to do that.

HECTOR GUERRERO

Are you not sure who that was in WWE?

Just imagine a large egg and a wrestler emerging from it in a turkey costume. You may know the being that came out of the egg to be The Gobbledy Gooker. This is, without question, one of the worst gimmicks ever designed. Funny enough, The Undertaker was actually worried that he was going to be whoever came out of the egg and was thrilled when Vince brought the “Undertaker” gimmick to him instead.

Hector Guerrero was an accomplished wrestler outside of WWE before he got into the company. Heck, people, this man is part of the Guerrero Dynasty…show him some respect! Rather than see what he could do in the ring as himself or some reasonable offshoot, they decide to hatch him from an egg in one of the worst gimmicks of all time.

Of course, this moment does have a level of infamy that is fun to look back on now, but it can’t be overstated just how stupid this was at the time. As quickly as he was hatched from an egg, he was just as quickly gone from the WWE. It is a shame too, as Hector might have been great for WWE like his brother would be later on.

This effectively makes Hector Guerrero one of the most pointless WWE signings of all time.

SIN CARA (THE ORIGINAL)

We’re not going to blame WWE for this one entirely, but they need to take it partially. Sin Cara was the first major signing for Triple H as the lead of Talent Relations for WWE, so they naturally wanted him to be on television immediately. This was their first massive mistake.

Known as Mistico outside of WWE, he was a massive blockbuster attraction in Mexico. He was having massive success and was still young. With WWE having a need for more Hispanic stars and seeing an aging Alberto Del Rio & Rey Mysterio, they needed someone who could keep Hispanic viewers invested. Sin Cara, or the Faceless One, could have been just that.

Sadly, his run was totally forgettable. It should be noted that there are two people who played Sin Cara.

Luis Urive (Mistico) as well as Jose Arriaga (Hunico).

Initially, Jose played him when Luis was suspended for a month for violating the WWE Wellness Policy.

When Urive returned, they had two Sin Cara performers, leading to perhaps Sin Cara”s best rivalry. Jose lost in it and became Hunico again. Yet the original Sin Cara”s work never really improved. WWE tried to hide the problems by lowering the lights to make it harder to see his matches in the crowd or on television, which is still seen as incredibly dumb.

Sin Cara would get injured a lot, screw up even more, and never work out. Urive”s deal with WWE came up and he left, allowing Jose to take over the role permanently from there. If WWE had their PC when Urive started, along with NXT, he might very well still be employed in WWE. Sadly, neither were present resulting in the original Sin Cara being one of the most pointless WWE signings.

GAIL KIM (THE SECOND SIGNING)

Gail Kim is one of the truly great professional wrestlers. She was an excellent in-ring worker at a time in the business where that wasn’t always easy to find on the women’s side. She had worked in WWE in the early 2000s and then re-signed in 2008. Her original run was noteworthy as she won the WWE Women”s Championship in surprising fashion, but wouldn”t last much longer.

She then landed in TNA Wrestling where she helped the TNA Knockout Division become notable worldwide. At one point, it was seen as the “best” women”s division outside of an all-female promotion on the planet. Naturally, it made sense to bring her back to WWE.

However, if you were hoping that she would be thrust into the championship picture, think again. Her second run with the company was a series of disappointing stops and starts. None of this is due to injury, mind you. She was just never given the momentum or the spot she needed. This was also during a time when the women’s matches were laughably short and often lacked elements like…punches.

Taking someone of Kim’s in-ring ability to relegate her to short, pointless matches was a supreme waste of her talent.

Her nearly 3-year return run in the WWE would come to an end unceremoniously. She literally eliminated herself during a battle royal, then asked for her release shortly after. However, the company forced her to sit out the remainder of her contract.

Kim was a great talent, but one of the most pointless WWE signings. Mostly because they refused to use her, so we have to ask….what was the point of signing her??

AUSTIN ARIES

Austin Aries arrived in WWE with a good reputation. He had been a standout in TNA Wrestling as well as with Ring of Honor, but that wasn’t enough for him to make an impact in WWE.

To be fair, this is not entirely WWE”s fault as Aries was known to have an attitude that made it hard to work with him. It also did not help he signed with WWE at an older age. Thereby making it harder for him to get a major spot on the main roster under a Vince McMahon-run WWE.

His debut wasn’t bad, and he was off to a decent start with NXT, but then he ended up with a few injuries that really slowed any momentum he had at the time.

After he was cleared to wrestle, he would return to the ring. This time to the main roster, where he”d spend most of his time with the company on 205 Live. Aries would end up relegated to the mid-card on what was already the mid-card show. Then, he was released from his contract less than 18 months after he signed. For a guy as talented as Aries, this was just a totally forgettable run with what is considered the most notable pro wrestling company on the planet.

While Aries was one of the most pointless WWE signings, it is certainly clear that he was worth more. WWE saw him as nothing more than a Cruiserweight, which could be why he was determined to prove this wrong. He”d do just that as he landed in TNA again and would win pretty much every title imaginable. Then he”d go to other promotions and do the same, effectively having more gold decorations on him than a rich man”s Christmas Tree.

PUBLIC ENEMY

Most knew The Public Enemy as a relatively good tag team that had worked for both WCW & ECW. They won the WCW Tag Team Titles once but held the ECW Tag Team Championships 4 times. At the time, Vince McMahon had an ongoing deal with ECW that led to getting a lot of talent from the promotion when WWE felt they were ready for primetime. This led to WWE hiring Public Enemy in early 1999.

The duo was never “accepted” backstage by veterans in the WWE locker room. This seemed to be due to the fact that they chose to sign with WCW over WWE in 1995 when they were first offered an opportunity to work for the company. The team started off well enough with a win over The Brood. Then, well, things started to go downhill very fast.

On a random Sunday Night Heat appearance in Pittsburgh, they were set to face off with The Acolytes. Things did not go very well. Apparently, they were supposed to lose in a squash match to The Acolytes. Part of this was to lose by being driven through tables, but they wanted to change the finish. The Acolytes were then instructed to ensure that Public Enemy went through with the planned finish, turning this match into a legitimate “shoot” contest. For four minutes, The Acolytes beat the holy hell out of Public Enemy.

The team would be released shortly after. Making Public Enemy one of the most pointless WWE signings of all time.