History EnsembleDarkHorse / ProfessionalWrestling

* There have always been calls for Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels to be in a higher position in TNA, excepting when he was part of Bad Influence, which itself is was an ensemble darkhorse {{tag team}} that only came together out of a {{Shocking Swerve}} {{diabolus ex machina}} to make the life of Wrestling/AJStyles worse.

* [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] and Wrestling/{{Ryback}} were both former [[Wrestling/TheNexus Nexus]] members, and both of them became popular baby faces. In fact, Bryan was so popular that when it was revealed he wasn't a participant in the 2014 Royal Rumble, the arena went into a complete and utter meltdown, booing the thirtieth entrant, the wildly popular Wrestling/ReyMysterio, who is ''never'' booed. To say nothing of what they did to the actual winner, Wrestling/{{Batista}}. The only person the fans would have accepted as a suitable winner in his place was Wrestling/CMPunk, and when he got eliminated by Wrestling/{{Kane}}, and legit quit the company the day afterwards out of frustration for the torrid booking the company had been putting him and Bryan through the last six months, fans all but rioted to put Bryan in the main event of ''Wrestling/WrestleMania'' that year. The company had no choice but to comply or risk the entire event imploding in on itself.

* [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] and Wrestling/{{Ryback}} were both former [[Wrestling/TheNexus Nexus]] members, and both of them became popular baby faces.

* Near the end of 2014) the WWE has had [[Wrestling/DamienSandow Damien]] [[Wrestling/TheMiz Mizdow]].

* There have always been calls for Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels to be in a higher position in TNA, excepting when he was part of Bad Influence, which itself is was an ensemble darkhorse tag team that only came together out of a {{Shocking Swerve}} {{diabolus ex machina}} to make the life of Wrestling/AJStyles worse.

* Hiroyo Matsumoto and Misaki Ohata, the Seven Star Sisters, were the most popular tag team SHIMMER had ever seen. SHIMMER couldn't get much out of 3S though since Ohata wasn't a fan of travel.

* Despite their status as jobbers, Wrestling/{{ThreeMB}} (Heath Slater, Jinder Mahal, and Drew [=McIntyre=]) has a pretty big following and is the subject of the "Reasons to Like 3MB" meme.
** Outside of 3MB, Heath Slater is an Ensemble Darkhorse in his own right.

* Ol' Blue Pants was the most over woman on NXT by at least her second appearance, despite having been in nothing but under an under a minute squash.

* Recently (near the end of 2014) the WWE has had [[Wrestling/DamienSandow Damien]] [[Wrestling/TheMiz Mizdow]].

* Recently (near the end of 2014) the WWE has had [[Wrestling/Damien|Sandow]] [[Wrestling/TheMiz Mizdow]].

* WWE backstage interviewer Renee Young is actually incredibly popular with fans. It helps that she is both very good at her job and is a genuine wrestling fan. And,if we're being honest, the fact that she's [[HotScoop good-looking]] doesn't hurt either/

* Ethan Carter III's popularity bears mentioning considering he was in nothing but irrelevant {{squash match}}es in what felt like all year. Even follow two pay per view "feuds" he still had only had two matches that anyone could consider worth watching. What worked for him were his promos and video packages being hilarious. His partner, Rock Star Spud also qualifies, despite having even less in ring credibility to his name, mainly existing to serve as a [[VeryPunchableMan meat shield]] for Ethan Carter and whoever else TNA wants to milk an impending encounter with. Again, what works is people finding him funny.

* Kaientai's hilarious over the top evil gimmick made them incredibly over, coupled with the fact that they were 2 of the best wrestlers in the WWE at the time (Mick Foley is on record stating that if the WWE title was actually based on talent, Taka would be the champion). Unfortunately, being over made them unusable as jobbers, and resulted in the team being broken up.

* Diabolic Khaos always had more supports than a duo (then quartet) of demonic vagabonds with few redeeming qualities and fewer social skills would suggest, especially at Gateway Championship's "Adult" shows and ''especially'' Wrestling/MsChif, who was repeatedly voted by fans to be GCW's best wrestler. [[Wrestling/HunterJohnston Delirious]], despite being nothing more than a jobber in Wrestling/{{TNA}} and Wrestling/RingOfHonor, remained getting massively positive responses whenever he showed up, leading to him getting his own angles in ROH (Jim Cornette threatening to fire him if he didn't stop losing, Hang Men 3 turning him crazy by trying to kill him, feuds with Rhett Titus also involving Wrestling/DaizeeHaze and Wrestling/JerryLynn, a prominent spot in Age Of The Fall, ect)

* What was seemingly a roll with ReplacementScrappy written all over it, substituting for Wrestling/AjaKong, [[Wrestling/KiaStevens Amazing Kong]] quickly took off to the point game shows were requesting her and some fans were calling for a World Heavyweight Championship run after ''two'' appearances in TNA, which consisted of {{squash| match}}ing Wrestling/GailKim and being eliminated in a battle royal.

* Michael Elgin early on was considered a generic power wrestler distinguishable only by his mullet, but he rode the wave of positive responses following a surprisingly good match with Davey Richards to the ROH World Championship at ''Best In The World''.

* [[Wrestling/BlackRose La Rosa Negra]] was a last minute addition to SHINE 7 who got called back semi regularly after SHINE 13. The responses she got in The Orpheum can be explained by it [[AHeroToHisHomeTown being in her stomping grounds]]; those of everyone outside cannot. She had no wins, promo time, video packages, and little individual focus in 3-4 ways with those who did, yet even had professional reviewers abuzz with questions. Her first real angle with Shanna at SHINE 18 got more attention than her main event work elsewhere.

* WWE backstage interviewer Renee Young is actually incredibly popular with fans. It helps that she is both very good at her job and is a genuine wrestling fan.

* [[Wrestling/BlackRose La Rosa Negra]] was a last minute addition to SHINE 7 who got called back after show 13 semi regularly. The responses she got in The Orpheum can be explained by it [[AHeroToHisHomeTown being in her stomping grounds]]; those of everyone outside cannot. She had no wins, promo time, video packages, and little individual focus in 3-4 ways with those who did, yet even had professional reviewers abuzz with questions. Her first real angle with Shanna at show 18 got more attention than her main event work elsewhere.

* [[Wrestling/BlackRose La Rosa Negra's]] responses in The Orpheum can be explained by it [[AHeroToHisHomeTown being in her stomping grounds]]; those of everyone outside cannot. She had no wins, promo time, video packages, and little individual focus in 3-4 ways with those who did, yet had comment sections, forums and even professional reviewers abuzz with questions. Her first real Shine angle with Shanna got more attention than her main event work elsewhere.

Pro wrestling features an elaborate set of character alignments written by the people who create the show. A {{Heel}} is the bad guy. The {{Face}} is the good guy. A [[WildCard [=Tweener=]]] is a character who shares aspects of both sides in their character, or one who gets cheered like a face despite behaving like a heel.

However, despite what the creators give their wrestlers in terms of characterisation, it is up to the fans of the promotion to actually follow through. The best wrestlers and writers can push the characters in a certain direction to achieve the specific heel/face reception from the supporters but the fans may not take to the wrestler like they expect.

This can take the form of XPacHeat, where instead of disliking the character because of their heel behaviour, they simply dislike the performer themselves and don't want them showing up at all.

Being an EnsembleDarkhorse in pro wrestling is the opposite of that. It can take the form of a character or wrestler being viewed as underused or undervalued by the fans of the promotion. Or a character who is popular regardless of what alignment they play because they can do both roles well.

* Wrestling/AJLee started as a losing ''Wrestling/{{WWE NXT}}'' entrant (which was fan voted), but after Daniel Bryan shot her into the main event became wildly popular. Once the creative team recognized that, she was given a General Manager role on ''Raw'', followed by winning the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-diva.html WWE Divas' Title]] soon after.
** Her former Wrestling/ChickBusters partner Kaitlyn as well. Despite being the least trained and least capable wrestler, it showing, and admitting it, she bagged the most votes to win NXT Season 3 and proved popular enough with fans to push her for the Divas' Championship against Eve.

* Wrestling/DolphZiggler was supposedly a heel all the way from his debut until he won the World Heavyweight Title the night after ''[=WrestleMania=]''. Not that you would've noticed from the booming cheers when it happened.
* Diabolic Khaos always had more supports than a duo (then quartet) of demonic vagabonds with few redeeming qualities and fewer social skills would suggest, especially at Gateway Championship's "Adult" shows and ''especially'' Wrestling/MsChif, who was repeatedly voted by fans to be GCW's best wrestler. [[Wrestling/HunterJohnston Delirious]], despite being nothing more than a jobber in Wrestling/{{TNA}} and Wrestling/RingOfHonor, remained getting massively positive responses whenever he showed up, leading to him getting his own angles in ROH (Jim Cornette threatening to fire him if he didn't stop losing, Hang Men 3 turning him crazy by trying to kill him, feuds with Rhett Titus also involving Wrestling/DaizeeHaze and Wrestling/JerryLynn, a prominent spot in Age Of The Fall, ect)
* While Alexis Laree was popular every she didn't have a full on heel gimmick, not even that stopped WWE fans from loving {{psycho lesbian}} Wrestling/MickieJames.

* Wrestling/AlSnow started his career in 1982, but didn't really get much television exposure until he arrived in Wrestling/{{SMW}} in 1994-1995. He spent years jobbing in WWE under failed gimmicks (Avatar and Leif Cassidy of the New Rockers) until he got shipped down to Wrestling/{{ECW}}, where he started the [[ConsultingMisterPuppet "Head"]] gimmick, which got him over. Even with this newfound popularity and recognition, he still has only one [=PPV=] main event to his name (a loss to [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/us/ecw/ecw-h.html ECW World Heavyweight Champion]] [[Wrestling/ShaneDouglas "The Franchise" Shane Douglas]] at ''ECW [=WrestlePalooza=] 98'', May 3, 1998.)
* After {{Wrestling/Melina}} went out on her own from MNM and eventually turned face, she received great reactions from fans. She began to rival Mickie James in terms of the pops she would get - and this was after she had spent several months on the shelf due to injury just after her face turn.

* Backstage interviewer Renee Young is actually incredibly popular with fans. It helps that she is both very good at her job and is a genuine wrestling fan.
* Despite what VinceRusso may want you to believe, nearly every luchador in Wrestling/{{WCW}} had a pretty easy time getting over, no matter their usage. Examples would be Silver King and El Dandy, icons in Mexico who never received notable pushes or much to do but have still stayed remembered by American fans. But nobody got more bang for their buck than LaParka, who has been a star in every promotion he's ever worked, including WCW. Even KevinNash, who couldn't book his way out of a paper bag, decided that he was going to put him in the main event of his last show as head booker in 1999, because Parka was just that over.
* The entire WCW Cruiserweight Division, despite often being pushed aside and marginalized on the shows themselves, remained popular with the crowds. Wrestling/DeanMalenko, Wrestling/ChrisJericho and Wrestling/BillyKidman in particular. Even Wrestling/ChrisBenoit, who really was accurate to what Kevin Nash dubbed vanilla midgets, would prove popular enough to ride to the main event when given the shot in WWE. Wrestling/EddieGuerrero retained his popularity as well, even after seven years as a jobber.
* Shark Boy has been this almost everywhere he has been, even in TNA where he was rarely used and mainly as a jobber when he was. His "Stone Cold" was about the only role he took that wasn't universally received but the Impact Zone still loved it.
* What was seemingly a roll with ReplacementScrappy written all over it, substituting for Wrestling/AjaKong, [[Wrestling/KiaStevens Amazing Kong]] quickly took off to the point game shows were requesting her and some fans were calling for a World Heavyweight Championship run after ''two'' appearances in TNA, which consisted of {{squash| match}}ing Wrestling/GailKim and being eliminated in a battle royal.

* Wrestling/{{Daffney| Unger}} became surprisingly popular in TNA despite degenerating into a rarely used {{jobber}} {{heel}} as time went on, devoid of any redeeming qualities. Following her governor run she had a (weak) Freudian excuse and that was it.
* Kaientai's hilarious over the top evil gimmick made them incredibly over, coupled with the fact that they were 2 of the best wrestlers in the WWE at the time (Mick Foley is on record stating that if the WWE title was actually based on talent, Taka would be the champion). Unfortunately, being over made them unusable as jobbers, and resulted in the team being broken up.

* Similarly, the Eagles Club loved Senior Wrestling/{{Shimmer}} referee Bryce Remsburg after he protected Allison Danger from Portia Perez while Danger was pregnant.
* A brief overview of Wrestling/UltraMantisBlack's career, which involved constantly losing in title shots for ten years straight, proclaiming his disgust of the human race and love for communism, starting a {{religion of evil}} and brainwashing the aforementioned Delirious wouldn't give one an idea of just how popular he is with Wrestling/{{Chikara}}'s fans.
* Necro Butcher caught on better in Ring Of Honor than IWA Mid-South, which given the latter being in a GarbageWrestling phase you'd expect to be the opposite. Even after he joined the initially XPacHeat drawing Age Of The Fall Necro Butcher did not suffer much loss of popularity.

* Despite their status as jobbers, 3MB (Heath Slater, Jinder Mahal, and Drew [=McIntyre=]) has a pretty big following and is the subject of the "Reasons to Like 3MB" meme.

* Pinup lady Rayna Von Tosh, first graduate of the SHIMMER Academy, whose wrestling appearances were sporadic at best, tends to be spoken of fondly despite hardly ever being seen. Particularly by fans of her home promotion, where she has only had five matches (some of which were Dark Matches only seen by the live audience) but still got return request after a 31 volume absence. That's four years for those who don't follow.

* Pinup lady Rayna Von Tosh, first graduate of the SHIMMER Academy, whose wrestling appearances were sporadic at best, tends to be spoken of fondly despite hardly ever being seen. Particularly by fans of her home promotion, where she has only had five matches but still got return request after a 31 volume absence. That's four years for those who don't follow.

* Pinup lady Rayna Von Tosh, whose wrestling appearances were sporadic at best, tends to be spoken of fondly despite hardly ever being seen. Particularly by fans of Shimmer, where she has only had five matches but still got return request after a 31 volume absence. That's four years for those who don't follow.

* Similarly, the Eagles Club loved Senior Wrestling/{{Shimmer}} referee Bryce Remsburg after he protected Allison Danger from Portia Perez while she was pregnant.

* Referee Paul Turner is irregularly popular with Ring Of Honor fans, especially considering he got that way from stopping a fan from hitting top heel Wrestling/AustinAries.

* Ethan Carter III's popularity bears mentioning considering he was in nothing but irrelevant {{squash match}}es in what felt like all year. Even follow two pay per view "feuds" he still had only had two matches that anyone could consider worth watching. What worked for him were his promos and video packages being hilarious. His partner, Rock Star Spud also qualifies, despite having even less in ring credibility to his name, mainly existing to serve as a [[VeryPunchableMan meat shield]] for Ethan Carter and whoever else TNA wants to milk an impending encounter with. Again, what works for him is people finding him funny.

* While [[Wrestling/BlackRose La Rosa Negra's]] responses at The Orpheum can be explained by it being in her stomping grounds, the interest of everyone else cannot. She had no promo time, no video packages, no wins and little individual focus in 3-4 way matches with those who had all 4, yet had comment sections, forums and even professional reviewers a buzz with questions. Her first angle with "Portugal's Perfect Athlete" Shanna got more attention than her work main event work in other promotions.

* Wrestling/MickieJames and her psycho lesbian gimmick was incredibly popular in the women's division.

* Wrestling/AJLee started as a losing ''Wrestling/{{WWE NXT}}'' entrant, but after Daniel Bryan shot her into the main became wildly popular. Once the creative team recognized that, she was shot into the main event through her association with Daniel Bryan and given a General Manager role on ''Raw'', followed by winning the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-diva.html WWE Divas' Title]] soon after.
** Her former Wrestling/ChickBusters partner Kaitlyn as well. She bagged the most votes to win NXT Season 3 and proved popular enough with fans to push her for the Divas' Championship against Eve.

* Wrestling/ChrisBenoit was admired by a large section of the {{Smar|tMark}}k community for his technical ability as he moved from Wrestling/{{ECW}} to Wrestling/{{WCW}} then Wrestling/{{WWE}}. This underground popularity was enough for him to get a push to win the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-world-h.html WWE World Heavyweight Title]] at ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}} 20''. Even after he murdered his wife Nancy, his son Daniel then killed himself, there are still those who look to his work in the job without looking into his disgraceful death.

* AJStyles is a strange case; while he was used often by TNA, having been there since the very beginning, and has had great success, the general consensus is that he is ''still'' undervalued. That's because it's near-universally agreed upon that he should've been the ''Face'' of TNA, but wasn't due to both booking and the company's incompetence, both of which is no fault of himself. He was massively over, he had the skills, and he had the fanbase -- but instead of taking advantage of that, they mainly treated him like a midcard wrestler and shunted him aside for WWE washouts and has-beens that should've at least stepped down so the younger talent could shine. This eventually reached a point where AJ, a man known for his UndyingLoyalty to TNA and a constant in an ever-changing company, left for good, eventually signing with New Japan Pro Wrestling.