Hey Scott,
Inspired by the recent post with the Austin/Rock serenading promo, I wrote a short article on my blog:
Now that we have the shameless self-promoting out of the way, I'd like to throw the same idea out to you and the rest of the blog. Given today's environment in WWE's creative and corporate structure, do you think many of today's legends would even make it to the top if starting today? How many would be buried for trying to get themselves over or having more fan support than they should have? Do you think any would still get over regardless, such as The Rock?
Basically, how do you think many of wrestling's (or at least WWE's) legends would be treated today if they were just starting? I shudder to think of how, say, The Undertaker would handle starting today.
The ropewalk spot wouldn't be approved in developmental, he'd get shit for not having a good body, they'd make him do goofy promos because he couldn't talk without a manager and they'd want to rib him, and then he'd get saddled with a Rhinestone Cowboy gimmick because he's from Texas and acts like a tough guy. Think I'm close there?
Sadly, I'd say that's pretty close to the truth.
ReplyDeleteAnd if he had any health problems, the WWE would turn it into an angle and rib him incessantly.
ReplyDelete"From the North Pole... "Ice Dagger" Steve Austin!"
ReplyDeleteNo no no. He can't have the same name as he had in other promotions! Someone might make the connection!
ReplyDelete"Ice Dagger" Stud Houston!
ReplyDeleteWith Cena on top, I don't think anyone can get over.
ReplyDeleteOn the flipside of this I wonder how many flops and jobbers of yesteryear would be huge stars today.
ReplyDeleteWWE Champ SD Jones?
Mark The Rhinestone Calaway is a better gimmick than the Biker Taker....
ReplyDeleteGobbley Gooker: Five time Cruiserweight champion.
ReplyDeleteI loved how SD would do that thing with his fingers right before getting killed by his opponent...
ReplyDeleteI liked Biker Taker. At least at the time, anyway. Glad he eventually went back, but for a while, it was a nice change.
ReplyDeleteThe Booger Red thing got old pretty quick though. I will always appreciate that it brought us the moment when Hogan couldnt get the bike to stay running which was live tv gold....
ReplyDeleteCaleb Matthews debuts as part of a group of NXT goons and spends his first few months in the promotion bumping around on Main Event and losing handicap tag matches on Smackdown to Daniel Bryan. He disappears and redebuts about four months later as "Mean" Mark Callous with a tough guy bully gimmick. He has an interminable feud with Kofi Kingston where neither man gets promo time but they fight each other on Raw and Smackdown for like six weeks. Then, John Cena turns around in a backstage segment and Mean Mark is there glowering at him and saying something about respect and the WWE Universe. Boom, instant feud.
ReplyDeleteCena beats Callous clean at the PPV, Raw the next night, the Raw the week after that and a Smackdown down the road. Callous spends a month or two aimless in the midcard, gets zero promo time, trades some wins with Kofi again, and winds up with the US title. He wins it and loses it a couple times, probably. No one is really paying attention.
So then he starts showing up only on Smackdown and then only on Superstars and Main Event. He pops in on Raw once in awhile to stand on the ramp while being completely emasculated by the authority figures. He shows up on Smackdown and hits, like, The Miz with a pipe or something but then the writers completely forget about it and he goes back to the C-shows.
Anyhow, he gets laid off after the next Wrestlemania. People agree he wasn't great in the ring but thought he was making progress. He goofs around the indy circuit for like five minutes but then switches to MMA.
This all happens by the time he's 25. In real life he didn't get the Undertaker gimmick until he was nearly 30.
Since he's from Texas, they'd probably name him Lenny Nebraska.
ReplyDelete