6 WWE Superstars who were almost fired before going on to become champions
There have been a number of talented wrestlers over the years in WWE who never got a chance to show what they could actually do before being let go from the company. There have been others, who were almost fired but managed to save their WWE careers and went on to become world champions in the company.
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#6 Batista
Batista was one of the biggest stars in OVW before he was called up to the main roster. He was given the gimmick of Leviathan - the demon of the deep and the right hand of Satan himself. Jim Cornette, who was one of the officials in charge of OVW at the time spoke about how he had booked Leviathan as an unstoppable monster who rarely sold a move.
Cornette also told Chris Jericho on Talk is Jericho that he brought The Undertaker in to see how Leviathan could fit into the WWE roster. Cornette also revealed that Batista was instead brought in as Reverend D-Von's bodyguard and it almost led to him getting fired.
"I had brought Undertaker to help him and I told them both that this is their future pay per view opponent so now you take him and see what you can do with him, and if you can get the things you want out of him then you go tell the boss that they have a guy they can make money with.
We did all that and tailor-made gimmick for Undertaker, Kane and Big Show, and they bring him up and put him with D-Von, hang that thing around his neck and put a suit on him to cover up his muscles. I had lost my mind; then they were on the verge of firing him until he started working out with Triple H.” Source: Talk Is Jericho