Chris Kanyon started off his WWE run well, but he fizzled out to enhancement status by the end. This was a shame as although he was not a main eventer in WCW, he was at least allowed to showcase his ample skills. Kanyon developed an offensive move set that defined innovation and more often than not he would usher a move that had never been seen before. Kanyon would later claim that he was let go by the WWE because of his homosexuality. Whether that is true or not will remain a mystery, but Kanyon would later commit suicide do to inabilities to deal with his depression.
With all respect to James Dudley, the first real African American manager of note in the WWE was “The Doctor of Style”, Slick. The jive talking street hustler was one of the more fun characters, but he was rarely paired with a wrestler who complimented his style. Slick had a decent run, but it has to be wondered if an updated version of his character (even though there is no real manager of note today) could take off better now.
The Great Kabuki may have only competed one match for the WWE (The Royal Rumble in 1994) but he had competed in multiple promotions in the United States long before his lone match for Vince McMahon. Kabuki was of course always cast as a heel (as all Japanese or like looking performers were from his era), but he holds the claim to fame for popularizing the “Asian Mist” in wrestling. Kabuki did do well in his native Japan as well as the U.S., though this will not likely be enough to make him the next Japanese wrestler inducted.
It could easily be argued that Lance Storm was one of the top technical wrestlers of whatever promotions he was in. Considering that he competed in ECW, WCW and the WWE, the above statement becomes even more impressive. Lance Storm had main even talent but he was mainly used in the mid card. This isn’t to denigrate what he accomplished in the ring (as few reach the elite level), but he was such a natural talent that excelled at making people look good while making a victory over him seem important. Few could do that, though if “we could be serious for a moment”, we would have loved to have seen him in a World Title program. He deserved that opportunity.