Do you remember Tino Sabbatelli, the ex-NFL safety who spent half a decade in NXT but never really found a home in WWE?

He was… sort of there, right? Wrestled roughly 100 matches, famously appeared on one episode of AEW Dark, and then re-signed with the promotion for a few months before being released once more in June of 2021 before ever wrestling another match.

Well, did you know Sabbatelli once thought he'd be the next bit thing and was actually told by WWE Hall of Famers like Scott Hall and Dusty Rhodes that he was a “can't miss” prospect? Well, according to the man himself on the Power Alphas podcast, that's very much the case.

“I'll be honest with you, the character Tino, in my eyes, I'll say it, was one of the biggest dropped balls and missed opportunities that WWE had. I had people tell that to me, I believe it, I'll never vow away from it. That being said, I'm not going to get mad, I'm not going to be bitter, I'm going to be grateful for that opportunity. I'm going to shake their hand and say ‘Thank you' because I know I've been successful. I know the work I've put in. I know who I am as a man. You're not going to dictate, you're not putting me on stage or not writing me in a story, it's not going to make me go home and be sad,” Tino Sabbatelli said.

“It's just a shame that, that character Tino didn't get the push it deserved. I would have loved to see where that character went because I had people, legends like Scott Hall, Dusty Rhodes, rest in peace. They both pulled me aside and said, ‘Kid, you got the it. Don't let anyone tell you that you don't.' Those were the moments that kept me going. I wasn't good at wrestling, at first, it was hard. For me, to hear the boos when I would go out. I would remember The Revival [FTR], they said to me one time, ‘I've never seen a heel, when their music hits, get hated like you with no push and no storyline. I can't wait to see when they actually start to push you.' That's what kept me driven.”

Surprising? You bet, but then again, isn't that the whole point of the Performance Center, to gas up would-be WWE Superstars and make them feel like they can conquer the world? Well, if Sabbatelli wanted to make his character sound impressive, evoking the names of Hall and Rhodes is certainly a solid enough place to start. Whether he went on from there, however, will have your eyebrow raised like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, as it sounds like Mandi Rose's fiance really thought he was going to be the next big thing.

Tino Sabbatelli asserts that WWE writes thought he'd be a huge star.

Continuing his conversation about Tino Sabbatelli, the man born Sabatino “Sabby” Piscitelli asserted that he was told by a veteran WWE writer that his release was the “biggest dropped ball on a megastar,” because he was the total package.

“I used to hear all the time, ‘Wait until Vince McMahon sees you.' The last thing about Tino, which was sad to me, I won't name names, but there was a writer that was in the business for 15 years and a writer for Vince for 10. He texted me about a month after we parted ways. ‘I've been in the business 15 years. I've never seen or witnessed a bigger dropped ball on a megastar than you.' I was grateful for that,” Tino Sabbatelli said.

“To this day, I believe Vince could hear this or not, Triple H could hear this or not. I don't know if they ever had a character with the total package of being a former NFL starter, a former elite world-class athlete. The character was built like Superman. I don't know, arguable or not, that a guy who could talk, had presence, had all that. He used to say to me that I had all that, but he wanted me to get better in the ring. I needed time to do that, and I did. For me, I truly believe, I promise you, that industry has never seen a total package of a guy like Tino.”

Alright, so if Sabbatelli had the whole package to be successful in professional wrestling, could draw boos from any crowd, and become a Superman-like figure, why isn't he wrestling someone like LA Knight in the main event of SmackDown? Maybe it's because WWE never found the right storyline to push him as a character, or maybe it's because his total package, his wrestling, his promos, and his character didn't resonate with fans, as his 3.38 Cagematch rating suggests.