A former WWE star has admitted his time in the company was “mediocre”.
Mark Jindrak was one of many wrestlers who joined the promotion in the wake of Vince McMahon’s purchase of WCW in 2001. He first appeared as part of the WCW/ECW Alliance but was soon sent to developmental territories HWA and OVW.
He joined the main roster of WWE in 2003, forming a tag team with Garrison Cade which saw little success. In 2004, the team was split during the draft when Jindrak was moved to SmackDown while Cade remained on Raw.
From here, Jindrak mostly appeared on Velocity where he racked up an impressive win streak. Late in 2004, he joined up with Luther Reigns to aid Kurt Angle in his feud with the Big Show. Reigns and Jindrack ended their association with Angle in 2005 and went on to feud with Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero over the SmackDown Tag Team Championships.
After losing to Mysterio and Guerrero, the team imploded and Jindrak defeated Reigns in a match on SmackDown. After that, he was relegated back to Velocity with only sporadic appearances on the blue brand before he was released in July 2005.
Mark Jindrack recalls his WWE run being “mediocre”
During a recent appearance on ‘Developmentally Speaking’, Jindrak said he sees his run as being in the “middle of the pack” and things could have been better if he had been part of Triple H’s Evolution stable as originally planned.
“I look back on it now and it was mediocre. I wasn’t like a jobber or anything or enhancement talent, I felt like I was in the middle of the pack. Obviously, with Evolution that could have been a big feather in my cap.”
When it comes to why he was ultimately replaced by Batista in the group, Jindrak believes he was too immature for the role at the time.
“I was kind of too immature. [Randy] Orton and I liked to joke around a lot and I think that hurt me and my chances … I’m not going to point fingers at anyone, it was mainly my blame. I didn’t take the opportunity I had and run with it.”
“My head wasn’t fully into the game, I was still young. From an athlete’s standpoint, in my mind, I was like, ‘I’m a phenomenal athlete so I’m always going to have a place,’ and then when I got released from WWE in 2005 it was nothing personal.”
H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the above transcription.