Photo Source: WWE.com
With the WWE roster stuffed to the gills, it’s inevitable that some superstars will be lost in the shuffle. Who could reinvigorate their career by heading to the independent scene?
We’re a week removed from the Royal Rumble weekend. For two straight nights, the superstars of WWE and NXT put on some of the most fantastic wrestling in recent memory – no small feat, considering the shows from New Japan the same days.
But mixed in with all the great WWE action were a handful of introductions to new superstars. During TakeOver: Philadelphia, new signees Ricochet, War Machine, and EC3 were shown in the crowd. Candice LeRae was also at TakeOver, although with a more substantial role. There’s also rumors of Bobby Lashley making a return to WWE after several years away.
All these new names and faces are joining an already stacked roster. According to Wikipedia and my rudimentary math skills, there are roughly 185 (!) active superstars split between Raw, SmackDown Live, and NXT. This includes injured superstars like Big Cass, Alicia Fox, and Drew McIntyre. It also includes those superstars who have so far primarily or only appeared on NXT Live Events, like Chris “Donovan” Dijak and Dakota Kai. It doesn’t include the newest signees – but it does include Ronda Rousey.
So just where are these new and incoming superstars going to fit in? It’s a crowded scene just about everywhere in WWE, from the NXT Live Events all the way up to the main events on the main roster. Just trying to imagine who is going to lose out on TV time to a guy like Ricochet or Lashley makes my head hurt.
Then I saw this tweet from Sean Ross Sapp from Fightful:
WWE is going to have to create some major room on the main roster, or have some sort of creative renaissance to make non-title programs compelling or else they'll end up creating an entire generation of creatively stifled wrestlers that become indie stars with worldwide exposure
— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) February 3, 2018
If we take what Sapp says here in, there’s two options. One is to do one of those semi-regular roster purges – like the ones that usually happen in the late spring/early summer. The post-WrestleMania period is usually a time to put all the pieces in place for the next year of programming, and getting rid of some underused talent is a way to clear space for what’s ahead. The other option is creative change, which lol.
So if there’s a group of wrestlers about to get the axe, who would most benefit from some time away from WWE? Cody Rhodes is the poster boy for rejuvenating a career away from the worldwide leader. Drew McIntyre and EC3 also have benefitted from time away, before heading back.
Let’s look at five current WWE superstars who get limited TV time that could benefit greatly from a run on the independent scene.