Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
The WWF/WWE has had some type of developmental system for years now. Whether it was the USWA, Ohio Valley, Power Pro, Heartland, Deep South, Florida Championship Wrestling or NXT…many of the company’s top superstars got their start in at least one of them. While some developmental names like John Cena, Kurt Angle, Randy Orton, The Miz, Brock Lesnar and Charlotte Flair all made big stars of themselves by first training in developmental, others never got to see the light of day. This series will focus on those wrestlers…the ones that at some point were a lock to get called up to the main roster and never quite made it. What once was hot, suddenly became a “not” as a WWE superstar.
Ron ‘H20’ Waterman
Ron Waterman got his start in pro wrestling a bit later than the typical trainees. He was 35 years old, when he signed a developmental deal with WWF/WWE. Waterman was a former high school teacher, who also served as the school’s amateur wrestling coach. From there, Waterman began a career as a Mixed Martial Arts fighter for several MMA organizations including UFC and Pancrase. At the time he joined WWE, he had an MMA record of 5 wins 1 loss and 1 draw.
His signing came with a lot of hype as another hybrid wrestler/fighter version of a guy like Ken Shamrock. Waterman spent time training with Les Thatcher in Cincinnati, Ohio for the Heartland Wrestling Association and further training at OVW. Waterman was the prototype of the kind of wrestler Vince McMahon coveted. He stood 6 ft 2 inches tall and weighed 280 pounds of solid muscle. He wasn’t just a muscle head however, Waterman was extensively trained in amateur wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu and kickboxing.
Despite only two years in developmental, Ron Waterman was one of the most talked about trainees to eventually get called up to the main roster. He wrestled several house shows and dark matches before TV tapings against the likes of fellow trainee Randy Orton, Val Venis, Crash Holly, Big Bossman, The Brooklyn Brawler and Spike Dudley. He also formed a tag team with another developmental stand out Brock Lesnar to take on teams like The APA and Orton and Rico Constantino. While still pretty green inside the ring, Waterman did show his trainers the ability to learn, adapt on the spot and be very careful in the ring as to not injure himself or an opponent.
While it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Ron ‘H20’ Waterman was going to get a push to the main roster and potentially become a member of the class of 2002 with others like Orton, John Cena, Brock Lesnar and Batista….he was surprisingly released in July of that year instead. So what happened?
The reasoning Waterman received from WWE management, was that he was lacking a certain charisma that they were searching for. Others in the industry suspected that the real reason might have been that Waterman resembled Scott Steiner a little too much. Steiner was signed by WWE just three months after Waterman’s release. Ron Waterman has his own take on why he was cut loose from WWE. He believes his Christian faith had something to do with it. Waterman wasn’t the biggest fan of a lot of the risque content that the company presented at the time and refused a few angles and storylines which may have resulted in his release.
Regardless the true reasons why he was cut, Ron Waterman did try his hand in New Japan Pro Wrestling for a spell. He was used mostly in tag teams and wrestled the likes of Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Keiji Mutoh. Ultimately though, Waterman realized that pro wrestling wasn’t meant to be and returned to MMA for a bit. He has since retired from MMA and wrote a book, joined a evangelical ministry as a minister and became a paramedic/firefighter in Colorado.