10 Former WWE Stars Who Deserve Another Shot 7

7. Elijah Burke

Sometimes, you wonder if the WWE look at a wrestler they released making a success of it elsewhere and wonder exactly what went wrong. Now, Elijah Burke wasn’t exactly a legend in Total Nonstop Action, but he definitely made more of an impact in TNA than he did during his time with the WWE.

In all fairness, he got the same treatment Drew McIntyre got from Vince McMahon, getting pinned with a tagline that would haunt him for the rest of his time with the company. Whereas McIntyre was “The Chosen One”, Burke was dubbed “The Future of ECW’ by McMahon on a show in 2007. That caused him to be beaten down by the likes of Tommy Dreamer, Rob Van Dam and Sabu – all ECW legends – so how the WWE thought that would get Burke over is anyone’s guess. A dismal angle involving Burke forming a stable called The New Breed followed (alongside Burke were Matt Striker, Kevin Thorn and Marcus Cor Von, hardly a who’s who of professional wrestling), before he floated around the main roster until his release in 2008.
In TNA though, his gimmick as “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero was a roaring success, and he enjoyed plenty of high points during his spell with the company. He was unfortunate in that he suffered a nasty shoulder injury during a world title match against AJ Styles in early 2010 – not long after beating him in a non-title match. Clearly TNA understood what a talent they had on their hands in the shape of Burke – so maybe the WWE could give him another crack?
If a potential angle involving the Nation of Domination was to make a comeback, someone like Burke would be a great outside fit for a role in the stable.