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00:00When the WWF became the WWE in 2002, it was more than just a name change.
00:06Not sure we thought this at the time, but looking back, it did indeed serve as the catalyst for a bunch of wrestlers to just disappear.
00:13Given some of these were never explained, if we are keeping it kayfabe, it means they are literally missing persons.
00:19So let us find out what really did happen to them, because I am Siren from WhatCulture.
00:23Please hit that subscribe button for more glorious content.
00:26And this is 10 wrestlers who vanished when the WWF became WWE.
00:31Number 10, Sean Stasiak, or Meat.
00:33And as he has come up, I will tell you my story quick.
00:36Because when me and a friend went to WCW over here in the UK and were basically both kids, we decided to shout Meat at Sean as loud as we could.
00:44He saw, looked sad, walked off.
00:47I still regret it.
00:48It is kind of nuts that this gimmick and that of Planet Stasiak were all WWE had for him.
00:53Because look at the guy, he is 6'4", jacked, his dad was a star, he looked like Vince McMahon made him in a lab.
00:59This all really did come to a head when he returned to the company after World Championship Wrestling had been bought out.
01:04Because not only did Stasiak let slip secret plans when it came to the invasion angle, but once done, he lost 15 matches in a row on Sunday Night Heat.
01:13It didn't look good.
01:14I think Sean knew that Tuzer asked for his release, but on TV, poof, he just wasn't there anymore.
01:20It seems like he was just done because he only wrestled for independent shows before becoming a very successful chiropractor.
01:26Stasiak is still doing the rounds as well, as I saw him at WrestleCon during WrestleMania 38 weekend.
01:31So good for him.
01:32He got out.
01:33And he is happy.
01:34Number 9, Debra.
01:35Debra had two significant runs, both in WCW and the WWF.
01:39A combined six years meant she was a mainstay on TV, and while she didn't wrestle that much, she would pop up all the time, most famously, alongside Jeff Jarrett, before teaming up with then-husband Stone Cold Steve Austin.
01:51Zoom forward to 2002, though, and things did indeed get weird.
01:55After bunting heads with Stephanie McMahon before the Raw Rumble where a brawl broke out, which seemed like a big angle, by June, she was shown the door.
02:03At the time, people were baffled, but once again it was never addressed on the show.
02:07We were soon going to find out why.
02:08Shortly after, it was revealed that Debra's marriage with Austin was falling apart, including a charge over domestic abuse.
02:15For the record, Steve pleaded no contest to these charges and was given a year's probation as well as a fine, but it's all out there from both sides.
02:22You can hear the stories.
02:23This was around the same time the rattlesnake was also gone from the company, and whereas he returned in 2003, Debra would never be seen again.
02:31The pair officially divorced that year too, and ever since, I don't even know, as long as she's doing okay.
02:36Number 8, Steve Blackman.
02:38The greatest thing to happen recently was a photo courtesy of the Hardys where they were posing with Steve Blackman.
02:43We haven't seen him in years, and yet there he was, looking great, and like he could still kick your ass.
02:48Let's make it very clear, I love that guy.
02:51Don't even know why.
02:52He was also one tough SOB, and you don't need to read any autobiography from his peers to hear the stories.
02:57Hardcore Holly once told a tale about how he was ready to kill Bradshaw after he deliberately wound him up,
03:03which makes the fact Al Snow convinced him to wear a piece of cheese on his head even more mad.
03:08What powers does that guy have?
03:10I always felt like Blackman could be one of those dudes that floated around for ages, but sadly it was the other way around.
03:15WWE had teamed Steve up with Grandmaster Sexy, because why not?
03:20And when he got released, the martial artist was sent down to HWA, which at the time was considered developmental, you tell me.
03:27This is why when his contract expired in October 2002, he decided he was done,
03:31and I think we've seen him once since then during the 15th anniversary of Raw.
03:35He also never really made that many indie appearances, and literally decided that was that, and went and beat up a tree or something.
03:42I don't know, he definitely could.
03:44Number 7, Perry Saturn.
03:45What a year 2002 was for Perry Saturn.
03:48When it began, he had just finished his Moppy storyline, and if you don't know, Google it right now.
03:53So WWE decided to try and turn him into a serious warrior again.
03:57Given that he had just been in love with a cleaning utensil, I don't really know what they thought was going to happen.
04:02Just before the big initial change, Saturn was drafted to SmackDown during the first roster split,
04:07and it was bad instantly because he was the last person to be named.
04:11It then got worse when he injured his ACL, and four months later, when it was time to let guys go, Perry was told he was on the list.
04:19That is a mad turnaround, given a year prior, the Radicals had been the coolest thing ever.
04:23Following this, it didn't really click either, because after a small stint in TNA, a few New Japan dates, and some indie bookings,
04:29Saturn was just gone, barely even with a word.
04:31Very sadly, as we soon learned, Saturn had some very serious personal issues with drugs and ended up being homeless.
04:37The good news is, today, he has overcome all that and is back on his feet, but it goes to show.
04:41Take every day as it comes, you really never know.
04:446. Terry Runnels
04:46If you watch the attitude era, you know almost every single Raw featured Terry Runnels, literally nearly every one of them.
04:52She was a backstage interviewer, a wrestler, a manager, a sometimes girlfriend, turned up as Melina every now and then.
04:57She was a fixture of WWF TV as we headed towards the millennium, and then we had the name change, got to the end of 2002, and nobody knew where she was.
05:06Now, Terry must have had some goodwill built up, because despite barely ever getting into a story, she wasn't released until March 2004.
05:12It really did feel, though, like after the influx of new women, after WCW was done, she got bumped down the card, and when other projects, such as the WWF XS show dwindled, there wasn't much else for her to do.
05:23It got even more strange, as 15 months after not doing a whole lot, she teamed with Lita to lose to Molly, Holly, and Gail Kim, and then fell off the wrestling map.
05:32Terry was on Raw 25 in 2018, and a talking head on Dark Side of the Ring, but otherwise, she had clearly had her fill.
05:38So Charles Wright hasn't gone anywhere. We see him all the time, usually talking about The Undertaker, but in terms of that 2002 period, it was a proper 180.
05:48We all know the deal with the Godfather character too, but look, it was crazy over and got reactions every single night, which is why when the newly found WWE decided to fire him in December, some people went, huh.
05:59It was such a rollercoaster too, as he had spent six months as the Goodfather alongside Wright to censor, which he has since admitted he hated, before he got to the Royal Rumble, and boom, the pimp was back.
06:08What a sentence that is.
06:10It can't have been the ultimate plan, however, as while he did get a little run, as soon as the World Wrestling Federation was gone one month later, so was he.
06:17Wright basically retired after this, although did do some matches here and there, but look, he's married, he's got kids, he's in the Hall of Fame, he has a successful business, so it ain't all bad.
06:25Kind of did feel like he'd get a bigger send-off than this, though.
06:28Number four, Ron Waterman.
06:30Forget Brock Lesnar.
06:31In the early 2000s, everybody was saying that Ron Waterman was the next big thing.
06:36He was thrown around in the same breath as the Beast, given they were tagging together, and was in the same developmental class that housed John Cena, Batista, and Randy Orton.
06:45It really did feel like Waterman was going to be the guy, especially as he was a high school wrestling coach who had done MMA.
06:50This is the stuff that WWE loves.
06:52So you may now be saying, well, I've never heard of the guy.
06:55And that's because it all went weird.
06:57After being called up in 2002 and working some Raw and SmackDown Dark matches, he was fired before he even got on TV.
07:05Yep.
07:05Happening in July 2002, just as we were getting the F out, I don't think anybody knows why.
07:10I suppose they just figured he didn't have it, or they were too busy looking at Brock.
07:14Ron soon returned to mixed martial arts and was in New Japan for a bit in 2005,
07:18although mostly he started to fight fires.
07:21So fair play to that guy, out there saving lives and helping cats and trees.
07:26Number 3, The Big Boss Man.
07:28The Big Boss Man was and is one of the most underrated wrestlers ever.
07:32I don't think we realize how smoothly he moved around the ring given how big he was.
07:36The worst part is that in 2004, at just 41 years old, he passed away from a heart attack.
07:41It was horrible.
07:42His final days in the WWE were odd too.
07:45The Boss Man returned towards the end of 2001 after an injury, got in the Raw Rumble,
07:49had a brief tag team with Mr. Perfect, and then found himself lounging around on Sunday Night Heat.
07:54We then got to May when he lost to Tommy Dreamer, and very sadly got hurt again.
07:57As this is what had kept him out for a lot of 2001, both parties wanted to find something for him to do,
08:02so the real-life Ray trailer went down to OVW to help the new generation of wrestlers.
08:07It really did feel like sooner or later he would be brought back before his tragic end,
08:10because I tell you, he is great, that man.
08:13We do not respect him enough.
08:14Number 2, X-Pac.
08:16Somehow, X-Pac left WWE in July 2002 and hasn't competed in a Vince McMahon-owned ring since.
08:23I mean, how?
08:24It's even more nuts because by September that year, Sean Waltman was already back in the ring,
08:28and even in 2022, he was having matches against Joey Janela.
08:32So he can still go, and yet nobody is ringing his damn phone.
08:35The relationship is still intact, as X-Pac is a two-time Hall of Famer these days,
08:38and pops up a lot as a face to wave when needed,
08:41but this is a dude who changed the game in many ways.
08:43Surely we can come up with something.
08:46Waltman 2 seems game as he has mentioned it during the odd interview here and there,
08:49and the craziest stat is that he has been around forever,
08:52and yet is only 49 years old.
08:55Doesn't make any sense.
08:55So at the very least, let's get him as a special surprise in the Rumble.
08:59Not sure why we went off on this tangent, given it's nothing to do with the video,
09:02but still, I am very passionate about this.
09:05Number 1, Bill Buchanan.
09:07Are you ready for this?
09:08Bill Buchanan spent 8 years under WWE employment.
09:13Mad, right?
09:14Originally signed to a developmental deal in 1995,
09:16his first major role was with the Truth Commission.
09:19The less said about that, the better.
09:20But then he just bumped around the place.
09:22Had a tag team called Armageddon alongside Sniper,
09:25became friends with the Big Boss Man,
09:26won the tag titles alongside the Goodfather,
09:28and was even John Cena's lackey when he was a rapper.
09:31So the man did everything and anything he could to survive,
09:33but as ever, when that E came into focus, he was screwed.
09:37He was able to make it through to 2003,
09:39but in early February, got the chop, which was an amazing surprise.
09:42Bull hadn't done much other than appear on Velocity.
09:45Buchanan was busy after this with All Japan and pro wrestling Noah,
09:48and worked indie dates all the way through to 2014,
09:51so that's nothing to sniff at.
09:52What's really interesting is in 2006,
09:55WWE invited him back for a tryout before an episode of SmackDown.
09:59I suppose it didn't work out.
10:00To tie all this in, and in case you don't know,
10:02he still does have ties to WWE.
10:05If you go and watch NXT 2.0 and lay your eyes on Brooks Jensen,
10:09yep, that is his son, the Circle of Life.
10:12Know of any other wrestlers who vanished when the WWF became the WWE?
10:16Make sure you let us know in the comments below,
10:17and don't forget to like the video, share the video, and subscribe.
10:20Then head over to WhatCulture.com,
10:22where you can read articles like this with your eyes.
10:24Make sure you come follow us on social media,
10:25and we have some other videos.
10:27Why don't you go and check one out?
10:29My name is Simon from WhatCulture.
10:30Thank you for watching me as always.
10:32Know that I will forever be in your life,
10:34even when you don't want me to be,
10:36and I will talk to you again soon.
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