The WWE says goodbye to the Moscow Mauler

Last Friday, the WWE announced that they had released Vladimir Kozlov. I'm not surprised but I'm a little disappointed because I think Kozlov was a missed opportunity. Kozlov was someone who could have been a terrific heel in the WWE, but instead he was barely better than a jobber before he was released.

Vladimir Kozlov debuted in the WWE on Friday Night Smackdown on April 4, 2008. Kozlov defeated a jobber named Matt Bentley that night. It was the first of several consecutive wins for Kozlov. He won so many matches that he quickly became a #1 contender for Triple H's WWE Championship and had a title match against Triple H at Survivor Series on November 23, 2008. Edge was added to the match after the title match had already started and ended up pinning Triple H for the win. Although Kozlov failed to win the WWE Championship, he was not pinned and thus his undefeated streak remained intact. Kozlov was not pinned until February 15, 2009 at the No Way Out Pay-Per-View when he was eliminated by the Undertaker during the Smackdown Elimination Chamber match. However, Kozlov was still undefeated in singles matches and because of that, it was decided that Kozlov would be a great opponent for the Undertaker at WrestleMania 25. Undertaker was, and still is, undefeated at WrestleMania and Kozlov had never been beaten in a regular one-on-one match. However, Kozlov would have to earn his opportunity to face the Undertaker so he competed against Shawn Michaels on RAW on March 2, 2009 in a match that would determine who would face the Undertaker at WrestleMania 25. Michaels won the match and Kozlov's 11 month undefeated streak in singles matches finally ended. Just 11 days later, Kozlov lost for the first time on Smackdown after being defeated by the Undertaker. 

I followed Kozlov's career very closely in his first year and I was disappointed that he didn't have any big accomplishments during that year. He had opportunities to accomplish something great but he kept falling short. I liked Kozlov's gimmick. He was 6 feet, 4 inches and he weighted 300 pounds. Kozlov had a great heel look and his Russian accent made people hate him. I really liked his potential. Before his undefeated streak ended, Kozlov was crushing his opponents. He looked very impressive. The problem was that he wasn't much of a threat when he faced strong competition like Triple H or Shawn Michaels or the Undertaker. I can't recall Kozlov ever getting a huge win. Most of his wins came against opponents that were not very impressive.

On April 13, 2009, Kozlov was drafted to ECW. I was sad to see him leave Smackdown because I watched Smackdown a lot more than I watched ECW but I thought ECW would be a nice place for him because I assumed he would win the ECW Championship there. I was wrong. Kozlov did not win any championships while on the ECW roster. Kozlov joined the RAW roster on  March 8, 2010 but his career did not get much better. Although he won the WWE Tag Team Championship with Santino Marella as his partner on December 6, 2010 on RAW, I expected Kozlov to accomplish something bigger than the Tag Team Championship. Kozlov should have won the WWE Championship by then. 

There should have been a Cena-Kozlov feud at some point during Kozlov's WWE career. I think it would have been great. In my opinion, Kozlov should have had a two year undefeated streak and face John Cena at WrestleMania 26. The WWE could have built Vladimir Kozlov as an unstoppable Russian force that no one could stop. John Cena would be named as Kozlov's WrestleMania opponent and people would actually wonder if Cena could win. But that feud and WrestleMania match never happened. Kozlov had an impressive unbeaten streak but it was much shorter than it should have been and after Kozlov was pinned for the first time, he stopped looking like a threat to become a World Champion in the WWE. 

Maybe the WWE didn't want Kozlov as the top heel of the WWE. Vladimir Kozlov's real name was Oleg Prudius and Oleg wasn't a great in-ring performer or great on the mic. The WWE usually rewards the performer not the gimmick. Vince McMahon likes Mike Mizanin more than The Miz. Vince McMahon loved Mick Foley more than Mankind. The Miz and Mankind are examples of Superstars that did not have the look of a WWE Champion but Vince McMahon liked how they performed so much that he found ways to make them look better than they really were. Vince rewards WWE Superstars based on how they perform and not based on how they look. If Vince rewarded Superstars based on looks then Superstars like The Great Khali, Big Show, and Mark Henry would have won the WWE Championship a combined 30 times. Instead those three, despite being three of the largest Superstars in WWE history, have combined to win just three World Championships in the WWE. Vladimir Kozlov looked like a champion but Oleg Prudius did not perform like a champion. 

I would have loved to see Vladimir Kozlov win a World Championship in the WWE just one time but oh well I guess. When Kozlov was Santino's partner, he looked like a joke and not like the evil Russian bad ass that he was when he first debuted. I'm sad to see him released but it hurt me to see the way he was treated in his final weeks in the WWE so I'm kinda glad too. Kozlov deserved better I think especially after how his WWE career started. Why make him look so powerful and then make him look so weak? Kozlov got to be a WWE Tag Team Champion which is better than nothing but he should have accomplished a lot more in the WWE.