Pushed to Punished: The Short-Lived Superstardom of Brian Kendrick in WWE | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

The worst thing WWE could have done with The Brian Kendrick was split him from Ezekiel Jackson, which is exactly what it did in the 2009 draft. He went to Raw, while Jackson was sent packing to the ECW brand, effectively ending their alliance.

Upon his return to Raw, Kendrick could have started anew as a singles competitor, but he was essentially yesterday's news by that point. Instead, Creative had him lose every match he was a part of and fail to find a suitable partner to challenge for the Unified Tag Team Championships.

Days removed from an embarrassing loss to Kofi Kingston on the July 27 edition of Raw, it was announced he was released from his contract. The news didn't come as a surprise to fans who witnessed his downfall in the short of span of one year, but it was still sad to see WWE officially give up on a promising talent.

Thankfully for the former tag team specialist, he found success during his short-lived stint in TNA as X-Division champion and made a one-off return to NXT on the February 25, 2015 episode to face Finn Balor. He most recently helped Eva Marie with her wrestling training and is currently doing the same for two former Tough Enough contestants, Daria Berenato and Mada Abdelhamid.

If there were ever a time to give Kendrick the singles push he long deserved, it was when he was at his hottest in 2008. His crazy charisma combined with his above-average in-ring ability would have cemented him as a star, but it is very possible that a poor backstage attitude and/or, as the Wrestling Observer (via Wrestlezone) reported at the time, repeated violations of the Wellness Policy played a factor in his demise.

Be sure to drop a comment below with your thoughts on how Brian Kendrick was utilized over the course of his WWE career. Also, include any potential Superstars or Divas you would like to see featured in upcoming editions of Pushed to Punished.

Read every archived edition of Pushed to Punished here.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, is a journalism major at Endicott College. Visit his website, Next Era Wrestling, and "like" his official Facebook page to continue the conversation on all things wrestling.