Surely the fans remember many things from WWE in 2005, as WrestleMania 21, ECW One Night Stand, Royal Rumble, Vengeance, Batista’s babyface turn, Randy Orton’s Legend Killer run, Shawn Michaels exaggerating Hulk Hogan’s moves, and much more. There were several great moments and some standout matches.
The 2005 WWE roster featured wrestlers like John Cena, Triple H, Batista, Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels, Kurt Angle, The Undertaker, Edge, Ric Flair, among others. However, in that year other well-known wrestlers wrestled for WWE, but went unnoticed. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at 10 wrestlers you didn’t know wrestled for WWE in 2005.
10 Dolph Ziggler
Dolph Ziggler made his WWE debut in 2005, but under the ring name Nick Nemeth. He teamed up with Kerwin White on a couple episodes of WWE Heat and that was it. Considering he only had two televised matches and his name was different, it’s no wonder you didn’t realize that Dolph Ziggler wrestled for WWE in 2005. It’s now 2023 and Ziggler is still working for the same company, and it’s safe to say he’s had a great career
9 marty janetty
Marty Jannetty is mostly remembered for his time as Shawn Michaels’ partner, as The Rockers. After the split, Jannetty couldn’t become a megastar like his former partner, but he was a good midcard wrestler in the 1990s. What people forget, or don’t realize, is that Jannetty returned to WWE in 2005. and had a couple of fights.
He reunited with Shawn Michaels on the March 14, 2005 episode of Monday Night Raw to defeat La Resistance (Robert Conway and Sylvain Grenier). Three days later, on SmackDown, he lost to Kurt Angle (a very good match, by the way).
8 sergeant sacrifice
Sgt Slaughter wrestled for WWE in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. Obviously, his best moments were in the 1980s and 1990s, and then the 2000s and 2010s were few matches and mostly cameos. Fans may not realize it, but Sgt. Slaughter wrestled for WWE in 2005. It was just a forgettable two-minute match against Muhammad Hassan on the January 31 episode of RAW, which Hassan won.
7 Tatanka
Tatanka was a relevant WWE wrestler in the 1990s. In fact, he had a long unbeaten streak and some good matches, though he never won a championship. Tatanka left WWE in 1996 and it seemed like she would never return. However, he returned in 2005 and had a match against Eugene on the August 1 RAW. The match lasted only two and a half minutes and Tatanka lost by disqualification.
6 CM Punk
CM Punk has had a memorable career in wrestling, and everyone remembers when he became a megastar in WWE. What many fans don’t know, however, is that CM Punk made his WWE television debut in 2005, appearing on two episodes of Heat. In April, he teamed up with Russell Simpson to take on Maven and Simon Dean. A month later, Punk lost a singles match to Val Venis. After that, Punk did not appear in WWE until August 2006.
5 doink
Doink The Clown had a WWE match in 2005. That’s right, The Brooklyn Brawler (aka Steve Lombardi), who worked for WWE on a regular basis from 1983 to 1995 (and then made several appearances in the years that followed), wrestled with the Doink gimmick for the first time in a televised match on the October 10, 2005 episode of Monday night rawwhen he lost to Rob Conway.
4 shawn spears
Believe it or not, AEW wrestler Shawn Spears wrestled for WWE in 2005. It was just one match, on the February 27, 2005 episode of Sunday Night Heat. Spears teamed with Mikael Yamaha to take on Rosey and The Hurricane. Spears and Yamaha lost this forgettable five-minute match. With such a fleeting performance, it’s no wonder you didn’t realize Shawn Spears worked for WWE in 2005.
3 roderick strong
Roderick Strong wrestled for WWE in 2005. Yes, you read that right. We are talking about the current AEW fighter who fought on NXT until 2022.
On the January 13, 2005 episode of SmackDown, Strong faced none other than Kurt Angle. Obviously, Strong played the middle man and lost in less than two minutes. That was Strong’s only WWE match until 2016.
2 mickie james
Mickie James is one of the greatest wrestlers in WWE history, and fans know a lot about her, but some didn’t realize that she wrestled for WWE in 2005.
James made his WWE debut in late 2005 and wrestled nine matches in the final months of the year. Obviously fans had no idea who she was, but she quickly caught on and was already winning the Women’s Championship by the time she finished WrestleMania 22.
1 greg valentine
The iconic Greg Valentine began his wrestling career in 1970, so it’s hard to believe that he wrestled for WWE in 2005, but he actually did. Valentine had a match against Rob Conway on the October 21, 2005 episode of Heat. It was a three-minute match that ended with Rob Conway’s victory via disqualification. As expected, Valentine looked rusty and very slow, but it was interesting to see him back in WWE.