History RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap / ProfessionalWrestling

* For a large portion of 2015, Wrestling/RomanReigns recieved a lot of heat after the results of the Royal Rumble. While it calmed down considerably after [=WrestleMania=], it refused to dissipate completely. Then Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 2015 happened where he had a title shot against the more over Wrestling/DeanAmbrose in the finals of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament[[note]]Wrestling/SethRollins was forced to vacate due to injury[[/note]]. Roman won... only to lose it five minutes later to Sheamus, who had been booked like an undercard joke character for the past several months despite being Mr. Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank, and who the fans wanted to be champion even less than they did Roman. While it got Roman more sympathy, it's because it revealed how crappy the booking is, not only for him, but for all of the roster. Then, at TLC 2015, he fought Sheamus and lost again thanks to interference from the League of Nations, which caused him to snap and start beating all three members (Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio and Rusev) with a chair. Then Wrestling/TheAuthority arrived to stop Roman's rampage -- only for Wrestling/TripleH to become the target of his wrath instead. The resulting NoHoldsBarredBeatdown caused Hunter to be ''hospitalized'' afterwards, and got the Boston crowd, which had been shitting on the main event match with chants for NXT, Wrestling/DanielBryan, Wrestling/CMPunk, Wrestling/SethRollins, and [[CueTheFlyingPigs even]] ''Wrestling/JohnCena'', to cheer him on. The fans loved it so much that the next night on RAW, he received chants of "Thank You Roman!" in ''Philadelphia'', the same place where his XPacHeat has started. He still gets a few mixed reactions though.

* It might be shocking for fans to believe this but Wrestling/{{Charlotte}} was widely held up as the most useless NXT Diva after she debuted. Although playing a {{Face}}, she came across as a DesignatedHero and appeared to be being protected in the ring. Fans also worried that she didn't have any of her [[Wrestling/RicFlair father's]] trademark charisma - especially after her first pitiful attempt at cutting a heel promo. Then she had the NXT Takeover match where she defeated Wrestling/NatalyaNeidhart to win the NXT Women's Championship. All the indifference was immediately forgotten and Charlotte was held up as a top Diva in the making.

* For a large portion of 2015, Wrestling/RomanReigns recieved a lot of heat after the results of the Royal Rumble. While it calmed down considerably after [=WrestleMania=], it refused to dissipate completely. Then Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 2015 happened where he had a title shot against the more over Wrestling/DeanAmbrose in the finals of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament[[note]]Wrestling/SethRollins was forced to vacate due to injury[[/note]]. Roman won... only to lose it five minutes later to Sheamus, who had been booked like an undercard joke character for the past several months despite being Mr. Wrestling/MoneyInTheBank, and who the fans wanted to be champion even less than they did Roman. While it got Roman more sympathy, it's because it revealed how crappy the booking is, not only for him, but for all of the roster. Then, at TLC 2015, he fought Sheamus and lost again thanks to interference from the League of Nations, which caused him to snap and start beating all three members (Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio and Rusev) with a chair. Then Wrestling/TheAuthority arrived to stop Roman's rampage -- only for Wrestling/TripleH to become the target of his wrath instead. The resulting NoHoldsBarredBeatdown caused Hunter to be ''hospitalized'' afterwards, and got the Boston crowd, which had been shitting on the main event match with chants for NXT, Wrestling/DanielBryan, Wrestling/CMPunk, Wrestling/SethRollins, and [[CueTheFlyingPigs even]] ''Wrestling/JohnCena'', to cheer him on. The fans loved it so much that the next night on RAW, he received chants of "Thank You Roman!" in ''Philadelphia'', the same place where his XPacHeat has started.

* A return snipe that Wrestling/{{TNA}} fans usually only get from its more immediate rivals (ie Wrestling/{{N|ationalWRESTLINGALLIANCE}}WA, Wrestling/{{R|ingOFHONOR}}OH, PWS), the "Better than the divas!" chants generated by Wrestling/GailKim's matches with TarynTerrell and Wrestling/AngelinaLove in 2014 had fans of NXT putting forth Wrestling/{{Paige}} and Wrestling/{{Charlotte}} as counterpoints. They pretty much agree otherwise though that "Diva" seems to still have a way to go before it's completely out off the heap.

* The WWE Creative department at times have been more ballyhooed than ''any of the wrestlers'' and have been the scapegoat for many of the controversial and maligned storylines in the WWE. While still a source of derision, former WWE creative writer and Wrestling/PaulHeyman understudy Dave Lagana's ''I Want Wrestling'' podcast (sadly removed after Lagana took a job with TNA) helped make past writers more sympathetic in their dealing with the micromanagement of their [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon equally decisive boss]] and his "gladhanding, nonsensical, douchebag yesmen", offering in-depth interviews with wrestlers, bookers and other producers and using maximizing the use of Twitter for live commentary of shows and [=PPV=]s.

* For a large portion of 2015, Wrestling/RomanReigns recieved a lot of heat after the results of the Royal Rumble 2015. While it calms down. It's not enough to remove it entirely. Then Wrestling/SurvivorSeries 2015 happened where he has a title shot against the more over Wrestling/DeanAmbrose in the finals which Roman won... only to lose it one minute later to Sheammus. While it gave him more sympathy, it's because it reveals how crappy the booking was not only for him but for all the roster. Then, in TLC 2015, he fought Sheamus and lost again... until he started snapping and throws chair shots at him, Rusev and Alberto Del Rio. Then Wrestling/TripleH arrives to stop Roman's rampage until to be speared by him. The ovation for this was so high that, the next day on Raw, he recived chants of "Thank you, Roman" in ''Philadelphia'' the same place where his XPacHeat has started.

*** Especially when it comes to some of his lighter movies.

** Even more so in season 6 after it moved to the intimate Full Sail University and essentially became FCW's replacement. Nowadays it has been called the [[http://www.cagesideseats.com/2013/8/25/4656298/10-reasons-nxt-is-the-wwes-best-show best show WWE is currently making,]] thanks to a combination of multiple factors such as a more streamlined and less bloated format, the lack of invincible supermen and flat-out jobbers, an unbelievably talented and hungry group of Superstars (including indy darlings such as [[Wrestling/SamiZayn El Generico/Sami Zayn]] and Pac/Adrian Neville), a much more developed and respected Divas division (talented wrestlers such as Emma and Wrestling/{{Paige}} are only the beginning, with [[http://botchedspot.com/comic/turn-paige/ this comic]] highlighting how much better NXT treats its Divas, their matches and their championship, and how the change between NXT and the mains shows is mind-boggling), more interesting and various characters (Emma as a dancing goof, Tyler Breeze as a vain model, The Ascension as dark cult members, Bo Dallas as a fake nice guy, Enzo Amore as a Jersey boy, Sylvester Lefort as FrenchJerk incarnate, Adam Rose as an Aldous Snow expy) even things such as the entrance music is seen as better than what the main shows are doing.

* When Wrestling/TheMiz came to the WWE, he was a very annoying Diva Search host who was so bad that he was blatantly reading his lines off his arms. Most felt that he hadn't paid his dues and was only there because of his [[TheRealWorld Real World]] "fame". When he was put in the ring, he wasn't very good at that either. He started to show mild improvement as he got drafted to ECW, but most felt that the TV time should have gone to anyone more talented. Case in point, he was voted to be Wrestling/CMPunk's challenger for the ECW title at Cyber Sunday because the GenreSavvy fans knew that Miz would never win the ECW title. His rescue would start when he and Wrestling/JohnMorrison were randomly thrown together and won the WWE Tag Team titles on their first night as a team. A few weeks later, WWE.com posted the first [[http://www.youtube.com/user/WWEDirtSheet/videos?view=1 ''Dirt Sheet'']] and Miz and Morrison duo became a sensation almost overnight. The Dirt Sheet videos coupled with Miz's drastic improvement in the ring while tagging with Morrison turned Miz from a [[TheScrappy Scrappy]] to a possible future main-eventer, United States Champion, and Money in the Bank ladder match winner who ultimately cashed in said briefcase on November 22, 2010 to become [[SmallNameBigEgo the most must-see]] '''[[ItsAllAboutMe WWE Champion]]''' [[SmallNameBigEgo in history]] [[CatchPhrase because he's the Miz and he's AWESOME!]]

* A return snipe that Wrestling/{{TNA}} fans usually only get from its more immediate rivals (ie Wrestling/{{N|ationalWRESTLINGALLIANCE}}WA, Wrestling/{{R|ingOFHONOR}}OH, PWS), the "Better than the divas!" chants generated by Wrestling/GailKim's matches with TarynTerrell and Wrestling/AngelinaLove in 2014 had fans of NXT putting forth Wrestling/{{Paige}}, and the daughter of Wrestling/RicFlair, Charlotte, as counterpoints.(they pretty much agreed otherwise though, "Diva" seeming still has a way to go before its completely out off the heap)

* The Wrestling/BellaTwins. Their gimmick had grown stale and they were going absolutely nowhere, mainly being used as arm candy for the Raw guest hosts. It started with Nikki Bella turning heel during NXT and shocked the world by revealing how good she was at it. Then she and Brie were turned fully on Raw and adopted new bitchy personalities as well as using the twin switch as a heel move. Both of them are now much more interesting because of it.

* It might be shocking for fans to believe this but Ric Flair's daughter Charlotte was widely held up as the most useless NXT Diva after she debuted. Although playing a {{Face}}, she came across as a DesignatedHero and appeared to be being protected in the ring. Fans also worried that she didn't have any of her father's trademark charisma - especially after her first pitiful attempt at cutting a heel promo. However then she had a match where she defeated Natalya to win the NXT Women's Championship. All the indifference was immediately forgotten and Charlotte was held up as a top Diva in the making.

* TheNewDay debuted as the squeaky clean faces that while met with some initial support quickly turned sour as they were booed at nearly every appearance. A FaceHeelTurn led to them gaining more of a personality and also being allowed to introduce more ideas of their own. That combined with several good matches with TysonKiddAndCesaro made them one of the most popular teams in years. At the October 5th 2015 RAW they beat down home town hero JohnCena, fan favorite DolphZiggler and legends TheDudleyBoys to a chorus of "New Day Rocks!"

* TheNewDay debuted as the squeaky clean faces that while met with some initial support quickly turned sour as they were booed at nearly every appearance. A FaceHeelTurn led to them gaining more of a personality and also being allowed to introduce more ideas of their own. They combined with several good matches with TysonKiddAndCesaro made them one of the most popular teams in years.

* The whole concept of WWE "Divas" that emerged some time in the late '90s to early 2000s, including the "Diva Search", was reviled by many wrestling fans who, while certainly not averse to looking at beautiful women, generally preferred to see actual wrestling matches using up the shows' airtime. However, some time around 2006, these "Divas" started to become actual wrestlers instead of just eye candy, which led to a revitalization of the women's division. The most surprising example of this was Candice Michelle, who rose to fame as the model from the [=GoDaddy.com=] Superbowl commercials. Sure, they're still annoyingly called "Divas", a lot of them wrestle fairly predictable matches, the "Diva Search" continued to be [[{{Filler}} a waste of time]], and there are still pointless titillation matches that only serve to insult the intelligence of the male viewers, but the situation still improved drastically, with almost every "Diva" also trains to be a wrestler.

* Maria Kanellis did this to herself after she was released from WWE. Many Diva fans had assumed she was using WWE as a stepping stone and considered her a Diva-Search bimbo. However after watching shoot interviews and getting to know the 'real' Maria, she gained a lot more fans. And it translated to the ring when she returned to wrestling with FWE.

* Even Sean "{{X Pac|Heat}}" Waltman can be rescued. On a few different occasions in WWF/E, he briefly overcame his heat just by finding his workrate and wrestling a good match. One was a singles match with Wrestling/EddieGuerrero and one was a tag match where X-Pac teamed with Wrestling/JeffHardy against two Alliance wrestlers. Later in 2011, Waltman decided to do three shows with Wrestling/{{CHIKARA}}. He reverted to the 1-2-3 Kid gimmick (even going so far as to shave his beard). He worked hard on all three matches. Lost his trios match although he didn't drop the fall, won a 4 way dance with Amazing Red, Obariyon, and Wrestling/{{Frightmare}} with a top rope X-Factor, and in his third match put over popular indy wrestler [[Wrestling/SamiZayn El Generico]]. Afterwards he claimed he'd had more fun wrestling for Chikara than he'd had wrestling in years.

* Wrestling/BrodusClay got his start as a dime-a-dozen monster heel on NXT and Smackdown before disappearing. Vignettes popped up around late 2011 hyping up his return, focusing on his status as a monster. Then the vignettes stopped and no sign of Brodus, eventually becoming a running gag that his debut on Raw was being held off. Fans, meanwhile, could not care less, not wanting to see Clay on television. When he did return, he was given a new gimmick as [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy the Funkasaurus]], with a new hometown of [[PartsUnknown Planet Funk.]] He immediately became over with the crowd as happy-go-lucky disco dancer (Wrestling/TheFunkadactyls with two sexy female backup dancers]]) doing his same routine, but with added jiggling and gyrating.

* Wrestling/BrodusClay got his start as a dime-a-dozen monster heel on NXT and Smackdown before disappearing. Vignettes popped up around late 2011 hyping up his return, focusing on his status as a monster. Then the vignettes stopped and no sign of Brodus, eventually becoming a running gag that his debut on Raw was being held off. Fans, meanwhile, could not care less, not wanting to see Clay on television. When he did return, he was given a new gimmick as [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy the Funkasaurus]], with a new hometown of [[PartsUnknown Planet Funk.]] He immediately became over with the crowd as happy-go-lucky disco dancer ([[Wrestling/{{Funkadactyls}} with two sexy female backup dancers]]) doing his same routine, but with added jiggling and gyrating.

* Wrestling/DrewMcIntyre was, at first, near universally reviled by the "internet wrestling community", as most people found him to be very boring on the mic and in the ring. However, after he lost the intercontinental championship and was pulled out of the spotlight, he became somewhat of an ensemble darkhorse and eventually succeeding the ever popular Wrestling/ChrisHero as EVOLVE Champion after his release and return to Galloway.

* A return snipe that Wrestling/{{TNA}} fans usually only get from its more immediate rivals (ie Wrestling/{{N|ationaWRESTLINGALLIANCE}}WA, Wrestling/{{R|ingOFHONOR}}OH, PWS), the "Better than the divas!" chants generated by Wrestling/GailKim's matches with TarynTerrell and Wrestling/AngelinaLove in 2014 had fans of NXT putting forth Wrestling/{{Paige}}, and the daughter of Wrestling/RicFlair, Charlotte, as counterpoints.(they pretty much agreed otherwise though, "Diva" seeming still has a way to go before its completely out off the heap)

* A return snipe that TNA fans usually only get from its more immediate rivals (ie NWA, ROH, PWS), the "Better than the divas!" chants generated by Wrestling/GailKim's matches with TarynTerrell and Angelina Love in 2014 had fans of NXT putting forth Wrestling/{{Paige}}, and the daughter of Wrestling/RicFlair, Charlotte, as counterpoints.(they pretty much agreed otherwise though, "Diva" seeming still has a way to go before its completely out off the heap)

* Wrestling/VickieGuerrero was brought into World Wrestling Entertainment during a feud between Wrestling/{{Chavo Guerrero| Jr}} and Wrestling/{{Rey Mysterio|Jr}} during what was termed [[FanNickname Eddiesploitation]], eventually turning heel and siding with Chavo. Fans hated her and [[XPacHeat not in the way they were supposed to]] as they found her annoying. Then WWE decided to team her and Chavo up with top heel Wrestling/{{Edge}} in a stable known as La Familia and make her the General Manager of Smackdown. During this time, they intentionally played up her annoyingness, making her more shrill and having her loudly exclaim "Excuse me!" Because of it, she's now one of the biggest heels in the company and regularly gets what can only be described as nuclear heat. The reason for her push is due to Wrestling/VinceMcMahon, who is said to be one of her late husband Wrestling/EddieGuerrero's biggest fans.

* Michelle [=McCool=] was previously the CreatorsPet for most of 2008 and 2009 as your basic bland heel and it didn't help being wooden and robotic on the mic. Then they paired her with Layla and created "Team Wrestling/LayCool", and she became a parody of the AlphaBitch and was involved in one of the more interesting women's feuds with Wrestling/MickieJames. She has a real gift for comedy and is now much more interesting to watch. Her Sueishness also took a hit when Wrestling/BethPhoenix started beating her regularly.

* The Hart Dynasty in early 2010 were about as bland and average as it got when it comes to generic heel teams but their angle with Wrestling/BretHart and HeelFaceTurn made them go from dead crowds to standing ovations. While WWE dropped the ball by splitting them up, it did wonders for Wrestling/{{Natalya|Neidheart}} who even got her hands on the Divas' title.

* TNA Knockout Talia Madison was a scrappy since her first pay per view appearance and Velvet Sky was a ''huge'' scrappy when she was in the Beautiful People, hated for her patchy ring skills and the fact that she was MsFanservice and nothing else. After a supposed HeelFaceTurn, that saw people mostly in support of supposed heels ODB and Wrestling/{{Jacqueline}}, Sky suddenly started getting over, improved in the ring and it's safe to say she became one of the biggest stars TNA ever had. She was even cheered going against miss popularity herself '''Mickie James'''.

* Drew [=McIntyre=] was, at first, near universally reviled by the internet wrestling community, as most people found him to be very boring on the mic and in the ring. However, after he lost the intercontinental championship and was pulled out of the spotlight, he became somewhat of an ensemble darkhorse and eventually succeeding the ever popular Wrestling/ChrisHero as EVOLVE Champion after his release and return to Galloway.

* The now-infamous "NXT Invasion" of the June 7th, 2010 WWE RAW is notable for not just rescuing one or two wrestlers from the Scrappy Heap, but ''[[Wrestling/TheNexus the entire cast of Season One]]''... redeeming weeks of mediocre TV and turning seemingly poor wrestlers or no-charisma spot monkeys into superstars with tremendous heat in mere ''minutes''.

* The Bella Twins. Their gimmick had grown stale and they were going absolutely nowhere, mainly being used as arm candy for the Raw guest hosts. It started with Nikki Bella turning heel during NXT and shocked the world by revealing how good she was at it. Then she and Brie were turned fully on Raw and adopted new bitchy personalities as well as using the twin switch as a heel move. Both of them are now much more interesting because of it.

* A return snipe that TNA fans usually only get from its more immediate rivals (ie NWA, ROH), the "Better than the divas!" chants generated by Wrestling/GailKim's matches with TarynTerrell and Angelina Love in 2014 had fans of NXT putting forth Wrestling/{{Paige}}, and the daughter of Wrestling/RicFlair, Charlotte, as counterpoints.(they pretty much agreed otherwise though, "Diva" seeming still has a way to go before its completely out off the heap)

* The whole concept of WWE "Divas" that emerged some time in the late '90s to early 2000s, including the "Diva Search", was reviled by many wrestling fans who, while certainly not averse to looking at beautiful women, generally preferred to see actual wrestling matches using up the shows' airtime. However, some time around 2006, these "Divas" started to become actual wrestlers instead of just eye candy, which led to a revitalization of the women's division. The most surprising example of this was Candice Michelle, who rose to fame as the model from the [=GoDaddy.com=] Superbowl commercials. Sure, they're still annoyingly called "Divas", a lot of them wrestle fairly predictable matches, the "Diva Search" still tends to be [[{{Filler}} a waste of time]], and there are still pointless titillation matches that only serve to insult the intelligence of the male viewers, but the situation has still improved drastically. These days, almost every "Diva" also trains to be a wrestler.
** The most notable being the youngest diva ever, Paige, and the daughter of Ric Flair, Charlotte.

* Wrestling/JohnCena was, for many people, way on top of the Scrappy Heap during his initial push (and subsequent first title reign), when he was booked as unstoppable. He was often booed even as a face, and the amount of heat he got on the One Night Stand PPV was brutal. Arguably it wasn't until his feud with {{Edge}} and a long series of subsequent good matches (and improved technical skills) that many Internet smarks warmed up to him. On the other hand, a lot of people took a perverse pleasure in some of the more virulent anti-Cena reactions, since the people who were booing him were also fuelling a massive rise in WWE attendance during that period.

* Shelly Martinez had a reputation as [[Wrestling/{{Melina}} Kyra's]] inferior counterpart, to Wrestling/{{Mercedes| Martinez}}'s inferior tag team partner, to that creepy thing that hung around Wrestling/BethPhoenix and [[Wrestling/DamienSandow Idol Stevens]], to a dull spot in Wrestling/{{TNA}}'s otherwise promising new knockouts division. Despite this, she stuck with wrestling, gradually winning people over, till her match with Serena Deeb was seen as evidence the Pro Wrestling Syndicates "BLOW" shows were not going to be total train wrecks.
* Tyler Reks. When he debuted, he had a surfer gimmick and was generally disliked, despite being a good guy. He disappeared from TV after a few months. However, he returned about a year later, sporting a new look of wild hair, beard and a new intense personality. He immediately qualified for Team [=SmackDown=] at Bragging Rights and has remained fairly successful since.
** It doesn't hurt that he's a damn good power wrestler, and unlike a lot of WWE's heels looks genuinely intimidating. His finisher being the BURNING FREAKIN HAMMER... [[LighterAndSofter sort of]], might have something to do with it.
* Many {{Wrestling/ECW}} fans had lost major respect for Mike Awesome for jumping ship to Wrestling/{{WCW}} while world champion, and he was greeted with massive heat at ECW One Night Stand. After an [[{{Pun}} awesome]] match against Wrestling/MasatoTanaka, fans started chanting "This matches rules!" and he along with Tanaka got standing ovations. Even Wrestling/JoeyStyles, who made some [[FunnyAneurysmMoment controversial remarks]] during the match had started to commend him.

* Wrestling/BrodusClay got his start as a dime-a-dozen monster heel on NXT and Smackdown before disappearing. Vignettes popped up around late 2011 hyping up his return, focusing on his status as a monster. Then the vignettes stopped and no sign of Brodus, eventually becoming a running gag that his debut on Raw was being held off. Fans, meanwhile, could not care less, not wanting to see Clay on television. When he did return, he was given a new gimmick as [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy the Funkasaurus]], with a new hometown of [[PartsUnknown Planet Funk.]] He immediately became over with the crowd as happy-go-lucky disco dancer (with two sexy female backup dancers) doing his same routine, but with added jiggling and gyrating.
* TNA Knockout Velvet Sky was a huge scrappy when she was in the Beautiful People, hated for her patchy ring skills and the fact that she was MsFanservice and nothing else. Then after a HeelFaceTurn she improved in the ring and it's safe to say she's one of the biggest stars they have today. She was even cheered going against miss popularity herself '''Mickie James'''.

* Drew [=McIntyre=] was, at first, near universally reviled by the internet wrestling community, as most people found him to be very boring on the mic and in the ring. However, after he lost the intercontinental championship and was pulled out of the spotlight, he became somewhat of an ensemble darkhorse.