"Serious" Main Eventers

[Citizen Zero]

Something I see brought up alot in wrestling discussions: "So-and-so needs to drop 'x' (x being your goofy character trait of choice) if he wants to be taken seriously as a main eventer!"

And so I was left thinking...how many 'serious' main eventers has the WWE had? When I think 'WWE Main Eventer' I think of guys like Hogan or Savage, who were pretty much living cartoon characters. Or Austin and Rock, who were also pretty epic hams in their own way.

So how serious does a main eventer need to be?

[Allie Kitsune]

HHH pretty much set the standard during his "Reign of Terror" with the "LIVE, EAT, SLEEP, AND BREATHE THE TITLE WHILE STARING INTENSELY INTO THE CAMERA AND QUIVERING" routine.

[unoriginalalex]

[who throws a shoe?!]

[Ryback on a Pole!]

I've never got why Main Event has to = SRS

The Rock wasn't exactly what you'd call serious with his cheesey jokes, catch phrases and put downs and he is, along with Austin and Hogan, the most popular wrestler of all time.

Likewise, Kurt Angle was always a bit of a goof but he still managed to become a main eventer and was always taken seriously as a threat.

[The Tank]

Jack Swagger is living proof that it doesn't always work.

He SRS'd when he became World Champion.

His career still hasn't recovered.

[Andrew is Good]

The Rock was funny at times, but when it came down to business, he was deadly serious. That's was the reason why he's one of the greatest promos. He was the perfect tv promo man. He would normally start off with something funny, but then he would turn around and he'd get right into being serious about how he was gonna whip this guy's candy ass. The Rock was brilliant.

I think it also relates more to the heel side as well. Babyfaces can get away with being funny, but heels have a hard time with it, because they become babyfaces and they end up s***ting in the cereal of the babyfaces they wrestle.

It also depends on the character. Jericho's serious gimmick was his best work, I've been watching him since he was in WCW in 97 and that's the best he's ever been. Plus, he ended up getting more heat then he ever did before.

As for Jack Swagger, he should never have been given the belt in the first place, since WWE obviously doesn't want to stay behind him. He went from main eventing Superstars, to Money in the Bank winner, and now he's back in the midcard. Him being serious had nothing to do with it.

The best example I can think of Mr. Anderson. In WWE, he did the Kennedy declares things, and Mr. McMahon puts a stop to it, because he's feuding with Undertaker, and he's too funny. So he doesn't want people cheering for him against Taker because he's "too funny". Fast forward to TNA, he comes in as a heel, does some funny things, calls people assholes, the fans love it, he's a babyface. And instead of someone being competent in TNA, they say, oh, the fans turned him. Well, of course they turned him, he was being funny. It wouldn't have happened if he wasn't being funny.

[Citizen Zero]

I find the lack of Lance Storm shocking.

[Ian Austin]

Jan 9, 2011 12:52:32 GMT -5 Andrew is Good said:

The Rock was funny at times, but when it came down to business, he was deadly serious. That's was the reason why he's one of the greatest promos. He was the perfect tv promo man. He would normally start off with something funny, but then he would turn around and he'd get right into being serious about how he was gonna whip this guy's candy ass. The Rock was brilliant.

I think it also relates more to the heel side as well. Babyfaces can get away with being funny, but heels have a hard time with it, because they become babyfaces and they end up s***ting in the cereal of the babyfaces they wrestle.

It also depends on the character. Jericho's serious gimmick was his best work, I've been watching him since he was in WCW in 97 and that's the best he's ever been. Plus, he ended up getting more heat then he ever did before.

As for Jack Swagger, he should never have been given the belt in the first place, since WWE obviously doesn't want to stay behind him. He went from main eventing Superstars, to Money in the Bank winner, and now he's back in the midcard. Him being serious had nothing to do with it.

The best example I can think of Mr. Anderson. In WWE, he did the Kennedy declares things, and Mr. McMahon puts a stop to it, because he's feuding with Undertaker, and he's too funny. So he doesn't want people cheering for him against Taker because he's "too funny". Fast forward to TNA, he comes in as a heel, does some funny things, calls people assholes, the fans love it, he's a babyface. And instead of someone being competent in TNA, they say, oh, the fans turned him. Well, of course they turned him, he was being funny. It wouldn't have happened if he wasn't being funny.

Word.

The 'cool Heel' doesn't work. If a Heel is likeable, then it screws up the balance. That's why they had to make Orton a coward in his feud with HHH. No-one was going to boo Orton beating up McMahon and triumphing at the end of Raw.

[MrBRulzOK]

I don't mind main eventers being silly every now and then but when you have guys like Cena cracking jokes after they were just beaten down the week prior then something is seriously wrong. I mean honestly would you feel like telling some cheesy one liners after undergoing a group attack?

Of course that's far from the only example. I mean we also had the Cena/Shawn Michaels/Triple H Survivor Series debacle that was a feud over HORNSWOGGLE of all people. That very feud almost killed Survivor Series until Vince perhaps realized that this terrible terrible feud was responsible for bringing down the buy rates.

I'm not even saying you can't have comedy in your main event angles, that's all fine and dandy. But when things are supposed to be taken seriously then for the love of all that is holy, take them seriously. Stop no selling things and thus making me and likely a majority of other people not care about them. Unless you're a robot (which to be fair Cena was once billed as) then stop acting like one.

The bottomline is that comedy doesn't sell people on matches. It's fine when it's occassional but when you're trying to get across how badly a beatdown or stipulation is for a guy then you can't have him acting like a total goofball about it.

[EJS]

Jan 9, 2011 12:52:32 GMT -5 Andrew is Good said:

The best example I can think of Mr. Anderson. In WWE, he did the Kennedy declares things, and Mr. McMahon puts a stop to it, because he's feuding with Undertaker, and he's too funny. So he doesn't want people cheering for him against Taker because he's "too funny". Fast forward to TNA, he comes in as a heel, does some funny things, calls people assholes, the fans love it, he's a babyface. And instead of someone being competent in TNA, they say, oh, the fans turned him. Well, of course they turned him, he was being funny. It wouldn't have happened if he wasn't being funny.

Yeah how stupid of TNA to listen to the way the crowd reacted to the guy!!! Think of if WWE did that with anyone, fans would be cheering Stone Cold or The Rock or Chris Jericho!

It's much better to ignore the fan reaction, clearly.

TNA does many stupid things, turning Anderson face is not one of them.

[Ian Austin]

Yeah how stupid of TNA to listen to the way the crowd reacted to the guy!!! Think of if WWE did that with anyone, fans would be cheering Stone Cold or The Rock or Chris Jericho!

It's much better to ignore the fan reaction, clearly.

TNA does many stupid things, turning Anderson face is not one of them.

Well, common sense would dictate that if the fans cheer the Heel and you're booking him as a Heel that you eliminate the aspects the fans are cheering. By not doing it, they essentially screwed up because the job of a Heel is to be HATED.

And if they keep cheering him THEN you turn him face.

[Red Impact]

Orton's pretty much the prototypical "serious main eventer" right now.

[Beartato]

I love how SRS Jericho was actually pretty not serious. He was serious compared to his Y2J gimmick, but he was still incredibly charismatic and hilarious. It was srs done right!

And speaking of Y2J and the Rock, I remember a promo for RR2002 (which is one of my favorites) where Rock is just tearing down Jericho with insults and then Jericho just screams, "NO! THIS IS SERIOUS! I AM NOT A JOKE" and then Rock also srsed up and just went up to him and whispered that he was going to win the undisputed title from him.

It was so great. And I think cool heels and funny heels should be like this. You can still have fun and actually have a personality, but once it comes down to serious things, you can't keep telling jokes or of course you won't look credible. This is part of why I dislike Cena, he ruins serious moments with lame jokes.

[Mozenrath]

I don't think being serious is what matters. What matters is you need to have a mean streak, even if you don't always tap into it.

Even the faces are expected to go too far.

[Deleted]

Jan 9, 2011 13:31:53 GMT -5 Citizen Zero said:

I find the lack of Lance Storm shocking.

...He wasn't a main eventer in WWE ....

And I say that as one of the biggest Lance Storm marks around.

[EJS]

Jan 9, 2011 14:18:11 GMT -5 Ian Austin said:

Yeah how stupid of TNA to listen to the way the crowd reacted to the guy!!! Think of if WWE did that with anyone, fans would be cheering Stone Cold or The Rock or Chris Jericho!

It's much better to ignore the fan reaction, clearly.

TNA does many stupid things, turning Anderson face is not one of them.

Well, common sense would dictate that if the fans cheer the Heel and you're booking him as a Heel that you eliminate the aspects the fans are cheering. By not doing it, they essentially screwed up because the job of a Heel is to be HATED.

And if they keep cheering him THEN you turn him face.

"Eliminate the aspects the fans are cheering" is current WWE approach. Though oddly it often goes along with turning him face anyway...

It's not really a good idea in most cases. If a guy is naturally funny and can get the crowd behind him, not sure why you'd want to take that away. Since that's not something just anyone can do.

[mrjl]

Jan 9, 2011 11:47:40 GMT -5 Citizen Zero said:

Something I see brought up alot in wrestling discussions: "So-and-so needs to drop 'x' (x being your goofy character trait of choice) if he wants to be taken seriously as a main eventer!"

And so I was left thinking...how many 'serious' main eventers has the WWE had? When I think 'WWE Main Eventer' I think of guys like Hogan or Savage, who were pretty much living cartoon characters. Or Austin and Rock, who were also pretty epic hams in their own way.

So how serious does a main eventer need to be?

they did things that were over the top. They never did things like having a mascot. When Savage got a crown he dropped to upper midcard. Shawn Michaels didn't hit the main while he had a mirror, and I think he'd stopped posing by laying on the top by that point also.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

I think it's perfectly fine for main eventers to be funny so long as they're shown to have enough (kayfabe) ability to be in the main events.

On one hand you've got guys like Ric Flair, JBL and Miz, who can be comically over-the-top and sneaky, but they're still portrayed as obvious threats. On the other hand there's guys like Santino and Honky Tonk Man, who are clearly jokes.

Pertaining to somehing one poster mentioned, I don't see Cena being optimistic and jokey after suffering misfortunes as detrimental to an angle. That whole Survivor Series story was stupid anyway, but him making fun of guys like Nexus after getting beat up does more to establish his resilience than anything else. To bury them, he needs to get physical.

[Citizen Zero]

Jan 9, 2011 15:44:32 GMT -5 @irontyger said:

Jan 9, 2011 13:31:53 GMT -5 Citizen Zero said:

I find the lack of Lance Storm shocking.

...He wasn't a main eventer in WWE ....

And I say that as one of the biggest Lance Storm marks around.

I was more joking about the picture postings at the beginning of the thread. ...Unless Kozlov won the belt or...?