---------- Forwarded message ------
Hey Scott,
Barring injury, how high do you think Marc Mero would've gotten up the card as "The Wildman"?
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He was pretty much at his ceiling when he got hurt.
---------- Forwarded message ------
Hey Scott,
Barring injury, how high do you think Marc Mero would've gotten up the card as "The Wildman"?
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He was pretty much at his ceiling when he got hurt.
I really liked Mero, loved his feud with Stone Cold. He had an great moveset and was exciting to watch
ReplyDeleteWhat is it about Marc Mero that other wrestlers found so terrible? In Foley's first book, he mentions how offended he and Austin were that they made less money than Mero. In one of his DVDs, HHH really buries his ability as a worker.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying the guy could have been the next HBK or Bret Hart, but he had (some) charisma and was capable of having good matches. Unless he was getting paid more than everyone apart from HBK, Undertaker and Warrior in 1996, I find it odd that he's so universally disliked (even before he spoke out against the WWE after Benoit's death).
Best name for a finisher: Marvelocity
ReplyDeleteI think he would have got farther in WCW. I don't think he'd ever have been a main eventer in either organization, but probably a perennial US champ level guy in WCW. He was always really over with the crowds there and seemed to be steadily improving. It'd been interesting to see where he would have fit into the NWO storyline. What did he miss that by, like two months?
ReplyDeleteA lot of people seem unmoved by him, but he was always someone I found very likable. He as a guilty pleasure in his initial 1991 run -- it's interesting that the southern crowd was initially hostile towards the flamboyance but he eventually started to get a babyface reaction after dumping Teddy Long despite the stereotypical gimmick. By 1995, him and DDP had worked out a very solid chemistry and he had a few other really good matches with Arn Anderson too. Seems like he just missed the boat.
I always wondered why Mero got no love, a guy willing to do the Badd gimmick at that level deserved better treatment.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, I don't get it either, he was a lot of fun in the ring and seemed like a legitimately nice guy on camera. I'm guessing he just wasn't really so nice backstage? Oh well.
ReplyDeleteI liked Marc as the dickhead boyfriend in '98. I know Sable came out of it the bigger star, but Mero might have gotten some decent programs if he stayed healthy. I think keeping Sable with the debuting Edge (her surprise tag partner in that mixed tag against Marc/Jackie) could have made Edge big right out of the gate. Too bad they couldn't do a proper feud afterward.
ReplyDeleteSeconded. Marc was a good worker and I think if he had stayed healthy, there were good matches to be had in that '99-2000 window with the Angles, Jericho, and Benoits of the world.
ReplyDeleteA Marc Mero/Goldust tag team could have been hilarious
ReplyDeleteI though he was good on the mic in his 97-98 Marvelous run... the line about Sal Sincere being Tom Brandi -- a JOBBER -- still makes me laugh.
ReplyDeleteIt might be the way he buried the business after he left it (even before Benoit's death) that might have rubbed them the wrong way so they reacted by retroactively burying him.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he thought he was above the business. At least he doesn't get Ultimate Warrior level hate (I can't think of any wrestler who comes off worse in wrestler autobiographies, shoot interviews, and DVDs -- Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior not withstanding -- than the Ultimate Warrior).
It's strange how over Johnny B. Badd was. That's a gimmick, like Goldust, that should have been dead in the water.
ReplyDeleteHave to agree with SK here. Mero was a very good midcarder that could
ReplyDeleteget over on his own, and be elevated to upper midcard or maybe even a
world title match on TV or an off month PPV. Those guys don't grow on
trees. However, I don't see him as somebody the crowd buys as world
champ.
I'll give him credit too for getting over again with
Marvelous Marc Mero after the injuries hindered his high flying. I
loved what an a-hole that character was.
The WWE need more "very good midcarders" who could "be elevated to upper midcard or world title match on TV or an off month PPV." The fact that they had such a hard time replacing Cody Rhodes with somebody credible or elevating Ryback before he started interacting with the midcard says a lot about how bad of a job the WWE is doing with developing credible midcarders.
ReplyDeleteMero is the only wrestler who's autograph I ever obtained when I was kid. He was obviously going to be really friendly to a kid at an autograph signing, so that wouldn't be a fair way judge him.
ReplyDeleteThe extended conversation he and Sable had with my mother after she made fun of his past as Johnny B. Badd, however, seems to indicate he was good people.
Oh man, Marvelous was such a funny heel. If I'm remembering it correctly, the low-blow was a big part of his moveset and I remember him coming down the aisle to face Sable one-on-one while doing the low-blow arm gesture to the crowd with this big evil grin on his face. The lunacy of it made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteI think Mero trying to sing Beautiful People while Goldust comes out dressed like Marilyn Manson is the epitome of hilarious.
ReplyDeleteTriple H burying someone's abilities as a worker is one of those "pot and kettle" situations.
ReplyDeleteHe hit his mark as Johnny B. Badd in 1996, and he really didn't fit in the WWF at all. Maybe I was just angry he left WCW in '96, but he wasn't going any higher there either. I thought maybe when Sable left the WWF in 1999 due to the lawsuits, Mero would at least get a job for WCW and he did make one appearance - called him Mark Mero - and played his old Johnny B. Badd music - so you knew he wasn't coming back. (Did WWF try to sue WCW or Rena for that stunt in 1999? Maybe not for Mark's cameo - but for her's the week before?)
ReplyDeleteThe way of this world. I can't speak if Mark cheated on her first, but Rena cheated on him, ended back in the WWE 2003-04, and now lives with Brock Lesnar. Meanwhile, Mark Mero is hated because the WWE is a pack of sinners. Mero isn't much better, and neither is any of us for all of us have sinned and fall short before God.
I liked Mero well enough. Especially after he had to drop the 450 splash or whatever silly top rope finisher he had.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, I think he pretty much achieved his potential. He had an IC run, didn't he?
I thought the Marvelous Marc Mero gimmick had amazing potential, he was just starting to tap into the potential. Sadly he was getting powerbombed by his now ex-wife right & left so that killed any top tier potential.
ReplyDeleteI always thought of "Wildman" Marc Mero as my generaton's Johnny B. Badd.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely an underrated guy. He was a really great worker before the injuries and was good on the mic and had a charisma in the ring. I think he could have gotten a little bit higher, in a owen-esque main event heel run, but I think he had a lot of success in the big two.
ReplyDeleteHe had plenty of great matches also. That gimmick should have been right up there with the gooblegooker or fandango but he actually made it work well. He could get over as face or heel. I definitely agree he is a underrated guy
ReplyDeleteHHH is out of his mind. Mero was a borderline excellent worker before his injuries.
ReplyDeleteI remember post wm14 there was a rumor that after foley Austin was going to feuding with a heel mero at kotr 98 and the july ppv. I don't remember if mero got hurt or if there was some other reason (like kane being way more over) but it never happened.
ReplyDeleteUh...what?
ReplyDeleteI haven't. God and I car share sometimes. We're super close. Totally gay for each other.
ReplyDeleteI still love his "Booker needs to be more consistent in the ring", while Triple H was being consistent with stinking up the main event scene in 2003.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Foley's book, does anyone know who the wrestler was that he was constantly burying in his first book, who had a wife that was "something of a celebrity", before he was forced to change it and just references the Mean Street Posse in his place instead? He mentioned it in his second book, but obviously couldn't go into detail about it.
ReplyDelete"Totally Gay for God"
ReplyDeleteThat needs to be on a T-shirt.
I'm sure a lot of it has to do with him bringing Sable into "this business" and everyone not named Vince not wanting to deal with her due to her becoming a colossal cunt.
ReplyDeleteI got his autograph in 1996 when he was an active poster on the old rsp-w newsgroup. I asked him for an autograph and he sent a signed WCW Johnny B. Badd photo to me (this would have been just after he quit there). So cool.
ReplyDeleteI was kind of a disaster at first, but they toned it down and he got better in the ring so it worked.
ReplyDeleteIt happened in 1998 and it kinda was.
ReplyDeleteMero could *GO GO GO* during the end of his WCW run and during the pre-injury WWF period. I'd agree that: (i) his style didn't really mesh with the Austin 90s Main Event Style (which is surprising, given he was a legit boxer); and (ii) my understanding was that Sable f'ed him by making the entire locker room hate their guts. I recall Jim Cornette crapping all over Mero as p***ywhipped (for lack of a better term) and somewhat wacky about his wife becoming a bigger star than he was.
ReplyDeleteDid Mero and Owen Hart ever do great business together? Sounds like a good match-up on paper
ReplyDeleteCan't remember if the match was any good but they met in a 1996 KOTR qualifier.
ReplyDeleteMero seems like a very good worker from all of the matches I've seen of his, pre-injury. His high-flying moves often looked better than almost anybody else's this side of 2 Cold Scorpio- it was like he was literally floating sometimes. However, his injury made him really bad (about average for an Attitude Era wrestler, though).
ReplyDeleteHe was a generic do-nothing as the "Wildman", but "Marvelous" was entertaining in a douchey heel sort of way, the way a heel SHOULD be. Cool Heels are damaging to the business, but Douchey Heels are eminently ass-kickable. You WANTED to see Sable beat him up.
I get the impression that Mero wasn't that well-liked backstage, for a lot of reasons. He brought Sable into the business, and she was kinda poison backstage, and I never got word of Mero ever trying to help- maybe the macho culture backstage made him out to be a pussy-whipped guy who couldn't control his wife? He also crusaded heavily against the evils of the business, and a lot of wrestlers probably felt like he was raising a stink over shit that he didn't need to be talking about, as it actually hurt the business in the eyes of others.
Sounds like Mero, really. He was the only guy I can think of with a famous wife, and while he was writing his books, I think Sable was actively suing the WWF over various shit that went down during her run. Foley's books coming out vocally trashing her & Mero would probably be viewed quite negatively, and so I can imagine the company making him change his words.
ReplyDeleteMero was a very good worker by the time of his early-1997 knee injury and it would've been fascinating to see how his character would've continued on in 1997, especially that proposed IC title match with the Rock (then just Rocky Maivia) at Wrestlemania 13.
ReplyDeleteIt's possible we could look back on him as HHH's first political burial job. Mero had just won the IC title in that tournament, debuted his awesome Wild Thing finisher, had Sable as a valet and looked to be on top of the world....then he jobbed away the belt to Helmsley less than two months later?
That's awesome.
ReplyDeleteThe guy wanted the business cleaned up and he gets blackballed. Its the sad ridiculous mafia mentality that wrestling breeds.
ReplyDelete