Where did Carlito go wrong? (If he did at all)

[James McCloud IS John Godot]

Oh, Carlito. One time your future seemed so bright. Your 'fro was small and had some spring and you were fresh faced and fancy free. You cheated your way into our hearts and stole John Cena's United States title in your debut.

And it kind of went to crap from there.

But why? Is it the writers fault? Is Carlito just, gasp, not very good? Did he whine too much? Was it growing out his afro? That really weird apple logo with the face on it? His not-exactly-intimidating theme music? Was it Jesús with the switch-blade in the nightclub?

[I Like Your Poetry]

The pairing with Matt Morgan and the poison-apple angle didn't help matters much, and is when he first started going downhill.

I'd say the whole late-2007 "Carlito's on Raw and is running into fake holes in the wall" is probably when Carlito was unbearable to me. And I'm a fan of the guy.

[GaTechGrad]

My vote goes to the time when he tried to run through the hole painted on the wall by Hornswoggle.

[BigJerichool222]

Flair.

[Deleted]

Horrible Face Turn.

[lionheart21]

Combination of whining and a lack of motivation

[Deleted]

Combo of himself and he's where he should be

[Allie Kitsune]

I'm going with Flair on this one. It was supposed to be a wake-up call to Carlito and he didn't take the hint.

[Sumbody Gon' Get Dey Kneelift]

I still think there's hope.

[Krimzon]

Where's the "All of the Above" option? Every option seems to be a factor.

[Renslayer]

He and Primo would've made a good tag team, but that got broken up. Of all things, working with Ric Flair brought him down. And being sent to RAW was the worst for him. Sometimes it's best to stay on SmackDown. He'd be in much better shape if that was the case.

[rnrk supports BLM]

While there's a great many factors to it...

Mar 31, 2010 21:29:04 GMT -5 James McCloud IS John Godot said:

Is Carlito just, gasp, not very good?

...this is probably the crux of the matter.

[Alex Shelley]

Being sent to Raw.

I seriously don't think Carlito is to blame for this. When he's given the opportunity, he shines. But I think they beat down his morale so much that he doesn't even bother trying to get that chance anymore. He's not given enough time in the ring to make himself stand out so he doesn't try.

Which is why I seriously think he needs to be given tons of matches on Superstars. Continuously put him in lengthy matches on that show and he'll perform. Hopefully.

[rrm15]

Carlito and Shelton Benjamin have always been two favorites of mine that did ok and now are in mid-card hell for various reasons. This thread is only about Carlito though so I'll just share my thoughts about him.

The first problem with Carlito is, of course, his attitude. We've all heard about it and honestly, he just doesn't seem to want to go further then where he is. At times, he did screw himself, no doubt, but there are other factors.

While the face turn really wasn't THAT bad, the feud he had with Orton was the first problem. They tested the waters on a Carlito push, then dropped it. This was when Carlito started doing a bunch of spots, he was over, he was fun..then one PPV match where he had a pretty good little match with Orton, but they used the feud to elevate Orton instead. That was the first step down the slippery slope.

Next came the Flair angle. The first night Flair went off on Carlito, I was pissed. It reminded me of Triple H making the "how to lose 50 pounds in 2 weeks" comment to Chris Masters. There is a difference between trying to send your talent a message and needlessly burying them on TV. What the hell was that Flair promo supposed to accomplish? Why would anyone take Carlito seriously after that?

BUT, despite the stupidity of it, there was still time. Pretty much everything in wrestling is all about the follow through. What SHOULD have happened was Carlito snapping and showing a fire he never had before on Flair. What DID happen was basically Carlito going "Gee, Ric, you're right, I do suck!" WTF?! Carlito became Flairs bitch, and they had some pointless thrown together tag team.

THEN, when Carlito FINALLY turned on Flair, which should have happened in the first month and set up Carlito vs. Flair at WM23, it went nowhere. I think there was like one match, then Flair went off to SD leaving Carlito to flounder.

Carlito did nothing until he started teaming with his brother, and they made a damn good team. Then after about a year, they split up, leaving both of them to do nothing again.

BUT, even with all that, I feel Carlito would have been a mid-carder anyway. He's good, but he's not THAT good.

[Cela]

When he debuted. I hate him!

[mo]

The Trish Stratus boyfriend face turn and accompanying Randy Orton feud is where I lost interest in him, don't think I've cared about the guy since.

[Throwback]

My first instinct that he was going down was when He was knocked out by Vince for no reason at all.

[Dave at the Movies]

I don't get the whole.........Carlito isn't very good and has no inspiration conspiracy theory.

The guy was suppose to be huge but I think what brought him down is they expected way too much from him. YOu have to remember that Carlito debuted around the same year that WWE creatively died for the most part overall. They pushed him way too fast on both Smackdown and RAW. First match on Smackdown.......he wins the US title. First match on RAW.....he wins the IC title.

There was no where else for him to go after that except the main event and both were filled on both shows. What else did they expect from him.

anyone who says he isn't a good wrestler isn't watching him wrestle. the guy can do amazing things that guys like RVD and Jeff Hardy would get huge credit for if they could do.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

Apr 1, 2010 0:16:36 GMT -5 Throwback said:

My first instinct that he was going down was when He was knocked out by Vince for no reason at all.

I thought that segment was funny.

[Wii M Punk]

Going to Raw, turning face and then the angle with Flair that went nowhere....