Post by vanboxmeer on Dec 9, 2008 1:02:48 GMT -5
Comparison of the Characters, not the wrestlers, that are being compared "Stone Cold Steve Austin" vs "The Rock" is where the versatility argument was being made as that's how both guy made it to the top.
"Stone Cold Steve Austin" will forever be typecasted as the same character the anti-authority, beer-swelling, red neck. Essentially every other top character was able to adapt to changes to the landscape of wrestling to stay on top. Austin obviously made changes to his gimmicks before his rise to the top, but his current character is near impossible to make definitive changes that make sense.
Kurt Angle starts in the attitude era as a goofy heel character, changes his character to become much more calculating and more serious as a top wrestler, and then became a killer wrestling machine to adapt to the MMA surge in now working in more strongstyle as a wrestler.
Undertaker starts as a monster heel with a very distinct 1980's-early 90's heavy fantasy gimmick. Adjusts to the attitude era and becomes a very similar character to "Stone Cold" in a badass who takes no 0987654321 and does things his own way. When attitude faded away, he goes back to the "Deadman" gimmick, which the audience wanted.
Triple H becomes a top guy by being a badass calculating heel in the attitude era. After the brand split, adds elements of his original "blue blood" gimmick and Ric Flair and starts wearing high-class suits and living the high-life instead of being that "renegade".
Shawn Michaels becomes a top guy by being a young, flashy babyface. Adjusts to attitude by being a rebel that is constantly shifting in and out of kayfabe and shoot. Comes back for the nWo angle, a toned down version of his DX heel, interestingly he was a Christian but was still was being a heel.
Changes again to an "Christian" HBK to go alongside with his real life and surges back to the top.
Steve Austin has already incorporated most of the characteristics of his real life into his character and turned it up to 10. He can't add his condemned Hollywood experience, because it doesn't work with his famous character. He can't add any of the characteristics of his past gimmick to his character, because it's not "Stone Cold Steve Austin". If he suddenly devotes himself to god, he can't use that because it's not "Stone Cold".
He can't become a 2008 clean-cut babyface, he can't be an asskisser, he can't grow hair, he can't wear suits, he is forever stuck in the late 1990's.
Whenever Steve Austin makes an appearance, the running gag for the rest of his life will be that he will give his finisher to whoever is in the ring with him. You can't allow the other character to get the upper hand cleanly on Austin, because Austin's character demands not to made to look weak, or else the segment becomes unrealistic. Compare that to Mick Foley, who can get beat up at a regular basis as a face and still keep that same level of heat. Steve Austin appearances are only for nostalgia, easy pops, or comedy relief, but his character does not fit with any top storylines. You put "Steve Austin" with a character like Edge in a segment, and you expect "Steve Austin" to come out on top and to look stronger than the other character and it would be unlikely that Edge gives him a beatdown 1 on 1. "Mick Foley" in a segment with Edge, the audience can actually buy the heel getting the upperhand clean on him, and will not hurt "Mick" in the fans' eyes the next time he comes out. Basically the "Stone Cold Steve Austin" character has to be the same ass-kicking redneck to make sense and is not as effective as other top characters for future higher-level storylines with the new guys.
The nWo angle came before Steve Austin. WCW and ECW both come up with characters who were heelish faces before the WWF did. The WWF were still going 1980's, and that's why they were getting killed by WCW who were ahead of the curve, so they adjusted by going even further and going crash TV. There would be no attitude era if there was no WCW+ECW to force WWF's hand.
People argue that Rocky Maivia was a total failure, when truthfully he was garnering massive amounts of crowd response in booing him and passionately hating him far greater than they ever responded to the Ringmaster, when a much greater failure for the company would be if he came out to defeaning indifference. "Rocky Sucks" and "Die Rocky Die" was more beneficial to the company as a strong point of the show than the mid-card act of the "Ringmaster" who was just there. If the Ringmaster was somehow a success as a heel, then why did the company kill off his gimmick and make him "Stone Cold", instead of staying the course with the original "successful" heel. You use Austin's 7-years of hard work and put down Rock's fast rise, when I can use the perspective that the Rock was so talented, marketable, and over that there was no other choice but to push him to the top. Again, he was given the IC belt quite freely, and got a strong negative response from the audience, the company is not going to ignore that in compared if he were given the belt and get lukewarm responses. The Rock turned all those people who passionately hated him and wanted him dead and after a couple of months made them make a 180 on him and passionately love him, there is no other instance as great of a turnaround other than Hogan's heel turn that a character could make such a drastic change in such a short time in the audience's view of them. It's sort of if the Miz somehow became the most beloved character in the company rather than the most annoying character in a couple of months.
The Rock had the unmatched natural abilities that would make him be as big a star if he started in this era or any other era, while Austin was the benefit of being the right guy at the right time and otherwise was a solid talent when solid talent was more prevalent.
"Stone Cold Steve Austin" will forever be typecasted as the same character the anti-authority, beer-swelling, red neck. Essentially every other top character was able to adapt to changes to the landscape of wrestling to stay on top. Austin obviously made changes to his gimmicks before his rise to the top, but his current character is near impossible to make definitive changes that make sense.
Kurt Angle starts in the attitude era as a goofy heel character, changes his character to become much more calculating and more serious as a top wrestler, and then became a killer wrestling machine to adapt to the MMA surge in now working in more strongstyle as a wrestler.
Undertaker starts as a monster heel with a very distinct 1980's-early 90's heavy fantasy gimmick. Adjusts to the attitude era and becomes a very similar character to "Stone Cold" in a badass who takes no 0987654321 and does things his own way. When attitude faded away, he goes back to the "Deadman" gimmick, which the audience wanted.
Triple H becomes a top guy by being a badass calculating heel in the attitude era. After the brand split, adds elements of his original "blue blood" gimmick and Ric Flair and starts wearing high-class suits and living the high-life instead of being that "renegade".
Shawn Michaels becomes a top guy by being a young, flashy babyface. Adjusts to attitude by being a rebel that is constantly shifting in and out of kayfabe and shoot. Comes back for the nWo angle, a toned down version of his DX heel, interestingly he was a Christian but was still was being a heel.
Changes again to an "Christian" HBK to go alongside with his real life and surges back to the top.
Steve Austin has already incorporated most of the characteristics of his real life into his character and turned it up to 10. He can't add his condemned Hollywood experience, because it doesn't work with his famous character. He can't add any of the characteristics of his past gimmick to his character, because it's not "Stone Cold Steve Austin". If he suddenly devotes himself to god, he can't use that because it's not "Stone Cold".
He can't become a 2008 clean-cut babyface, he can't be an asskisser, he can't grow hair, he can't wear suits, he is forever stuck in the late 1990's.
Whenever Steve Austin makes an appearance, the running gag for the rest of his life will be that he will give his finisher to whoever is in the ring with him. You can't allow the other character to get the upper hand cleanly on Austin, because Austin's character demands not to made to look weak, or else the segment becomes unrealistic. Compare that to Mick Foley, who can get beat up at a regular basis as a face and still keep that same level of heat. Steve Austin appearances are only for nostalgia, easy pops, or comedy relief, but his character does not fit with any top storylines. You put "Steve Austin" with a character like Edge in a segment, and you expect "Steve Austin" to come out on top and to look stronger than the other character and it would be unlikely that Edge gives him a beatdown 1 on 1. "Mick Foley" in a segment with Edge, the audience can actually buy the heel getting the upperhand clean on him, and will not hurt "Mick" in the fans' eyes the next time he comes out. Basically the "Stone Cold Steve Austin" character has to be the same ass-kicking redneck to make sense and is not as effective as other top characters for future higher-level storylines with the new guys.
The nWo angle came before Steve Austin. WCW and ECW both come up with characters who were heelish faces before the WWF did. The WWF were still going 1980's, and that's why they were getting killed by WCW who were ahead of the curve, so they adjusted by going even further and going crash TV. There would be no attitude era if there was no WCW+ECW to force WWF's hand.
People argue that Rocky Maivia was a total failure, when truthfully he was garnering massive amounts of crowd response in booing him and passionately hating him far greater than they ever responded to the Ringmaster, when a much greater failure for the company would be if he came out to defeaning indifference. "Rocky Sucks" and "Die Rocky Die" was more beneficial to the company as a strong point of the show than the mid-card act of the "Ringmaster" who was just there. If the Ringmaster was somehow a success as a heel, then why did the company kill off his gimmick and make him "Stone Cold", instead of staying the course with the original "successful" heel. You use Austin's 7-years of hard work and put down Rock's fast rise, when I can use the perspective that the Rock was so talented, marketable, and over that there was no other choice but to push him to the top. Again, he was given the IC belt quite freely, and got a strong negative response from the audience, the company is not going to ignore that in compared if he were given the belt and get lukewarm responses. The Rock turned all those people who passionately hated him and wanted him dead and after a couple of months made them make a 180 on him and passionately love him, there is no other instance as great of a turnaround other than Hogan's heel turn that a character could make such a drastic change in such a short time in the audience's view of them. It's sort of if the Miz somehow became the most beloved character in the company rather than the most annoying character in a couple of months.
The Rock had the unmatched natural abilities that would make him be as big a star if he started in this era or any other era, while Austin was the benefit of being the right guy at the right time and otherwise was a solid talent when solid talent was more prevalent.
