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Post by EvenBaldobombHasAJob on May 3, 2013 14:05:08 GMT -5
I don't remember the X-Pac hate really ever being that overwhelming, though I haven't watched a lot of stuff since then. And I always thought the whole concept of X-Pac heat was silly, and just off. When people start trying to interpret what fans "really mean" by their reaction, they're inevitably going to put their own opinions in. I think if the fans are making noise they care about you. Silence is the killer. I don't remember it being as bad as people say it was myself, but it was definitely there. it's just been worse for other wrestlers who had it since then. case in point, John Cena doesn't get it now but when he was first getting boos it was definitely X-pac Heat. and it was a lot worse when he got it. as for whether or not it exists, well I always said "of course it does". any time people hate a character because of the performer and not the character, that's X-pac heat. if people change the channel or go do something else when that character appears, that's X-pac heat. the thing is, it's not a concept that's unique to wrestling. it exists in other media too. 2 words; Chris Brown.
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Post by Brickstone Kid on May 3, 2013 18:09:08 GMT -5
From this blog wallsofjerichoholic.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/x-pac-heat-is-myth.html:"The term originated back when X-Pac had temporarily split from D-Generation X (or the group had been temporarily dissolved) and was a good guy. He didn't get cheered like most good guys of the time did, even though he was part of a really cool team with Kane at the time. The fans booed him, which caused certain people on the Internet to say that it was because they wanted him not to be on TV anymore. That made sense at the time, but then people started applying the term to actual heels, like you could f***ing tell the difference between a chorus of boos a guy got for, say, kidnapping Stephanie McMahon and rape-marrying her at a drive-thru chapel and the one gotten just for being a greasy little shit." So yeah, probably originated with a forced face turn. The same happened with Randy Orton in 2004, he turned face after Evolution ditched him, but nobody wanted to cheer him because he was a horrible little twerp. He was turned heel again about 4 months later. oh that explanation's a load of crock. fans LOVED the Kane/X-pac team. the X-pac Heat thing came later. Agreed...X-Pac and Kane were SUPER over (I remember this vividly because it's when I started watching regularly and they were my favorite tag team). X-Pac heat didn't really show up until after he turned on Kane (a terrible move that has haunted his career to this day).
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Post by celticjobber on May 3, 2013 18:32:50 GMT -5
His act got really, really stale. And people simply got tired of him.
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Rave
El Dandy
Perpetually Bored
Posts: 8,104
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Post by Rave on May 3, 2013 19:36:43 GMT -5
There was at least one occasion where people chanted "X-Pac Sucks" even though he wasn't even on the card.
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Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on May 3, 2013 23:31:04 GMT -5
X-Pac, by the middle of 2000, was easily the stalest act on the roster that was still in a prominent position on the roster. Most of the 98-99 guys had been given new gimmicks or were Jakked regulars. Yet, X-Pac was still wearing DX green and still doing his tired heel act and looking totally unworthy compared to the WCW and ECW imports like Benoit, Jericho, Tazz, Angle, etc.
X-Pac's feud with Jericho illustrated so many of his problems. I remember at No Mercy, Jericho ripped the hell out of X-Pac wearing DX green despite the stable being dead, and out came X-Pac wearing new red tights as if he just changed because of Jericho's insults.
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BigBadZ
Grimlock
The Rumors Are All True
Posts: 13,923
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Post by BigBadZ on May 4, 2013 2:22:08 GMT -5
The only time I ever cared for X-Pac was when Stone Cold would call him "X-Pack"
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Chip
Hank Scorpio
Slam Jam Death.
Posts: 5,185
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Post by Chip on May 4, 2013 4:02:10 GMT -5
I can still remember a Mick Foley promo at that time, where he was talking about unifying all of the WWF belts with their WCW counterparts. "I was planning on unifying the Cruiserweight Title with the Light Heavyweight Title; unfortunately, no one seems to know where X-Pac is, and quite frankly no one seems to care." As a life-long X-Pac fan, that quote pisses me off still to this day. If it helps any supposedly Foley was told to say that by Steph.
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Post by Wolf Hawkfield no1 NZ poster on May 4, 2013 4:08:00 GMT -5
Because his character was staler than 4 month old loaf of moldy bread.
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Magician under the moonlight
Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Always Beaten To The Punchline. Always.
A magician and a thief. That's Badass
Posts: 15,727
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Post by Magician under the moonlight on May 4, 2013 4:11:25 GMT -5
oh that explanation's a load of crock. fans LOVED the Kane/X-pac team. the X-pac Heat thing came later. Agreed...X-Pac and Kane were SUPER over (I remember this vividly because it's when I started watching regularly and they were my favorite tag team). X-Pac heat didn't really show up until after he turned on Kane (a terrible move that has haunted his career to this day). What made it even dumber is when Tori turned on Kane for X-pac, One of the worst couples ever.
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Jiren
Patti Mayonnaise
Hearts Bayformers
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Post by Jiren on May 4, 2013 6:03:29 GMT -5
I was around 13-14 around the 98/99 era and I was an X-pac mark and was super pissed when HHH turned on him at Mania 15.
But as soon as he turned on Kane that was it, Hated him since.
So for me the Kane betrayal
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Paco
Hank Scorpio
Posts: 7,145
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Post by Paco on May 4, 2013 6:35:17 GMT -5
As it's been said: staleness.
I remember going to a Smackdown taping in 2001 and when X-Pac's music hit...oh my God, you could feel the "aw...not this guy" vibe...especially from my buddies I went with. It wasn't legit heel heat...if the crowd could've "fast forwarded" a live match, they would've.
Too bad...dude is a tremendous talent but it goes to show how important booking and character development is.
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Juice
El Dandy
Wrong? Oh he can tell ya about being wrong.
I'm the one who raised you from perdition.
Posts: 8,172
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Post by Juice on May 4, 2013 15:37:14 GMT -5
I actually liked X-Pac better than HHH. Never understood the hate towards him. same, he was always one of my favorites, I even liked X factor.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2013 10:34:43 GMT -5
Huh. I actually thought it started after the final dissolution of DX (mid-2000), when he was booked as a solo heel who was just constantly getting wins - and at that point, the smarks and regular fans knew he was a HHH guy, so they booed him extra for that.
Heck, I recall almost a collective groan from the Raw audience (and a loud uprising from online fans) when he ran out and joined the new nWo in 2002. It was like everyone expected him to show up, and then he did.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2013 14:24:09 GMT -5
It should be renamed Mahal heat or something like that.
If you hate someone enough to chant anything in their direction then you obviously care about them on some level. The ultimate way to show that you don't want to see someone would be to greet them with silence and not contribute in any way to their overness. If a wrestler gets cheered or booed they'll usually always be pushed to some degree. If a wrestler gets no reaction whatsoever they'll probably end up becoming a full time jobber or getting released.
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Post by EvenBaldobombHasAJob on May 6, 2013 21:21:13 GMT -5
It should be renamed Mahal heat or something like that. If you hate someone enough to chant anything in their direction then you obviously care about them on some level. The ultimate way to show that you don't want to see someone would be to greet them with silence and not contribute in any way to their overness. If a wrestler gets cheered or booed they'll usually always be pushed to some degree. If a wrestler gets no reaction whatsoever they'll probably end up becoming a full time jobber or getting released. we already have a name for that. it's the Conway Pop, the only worse reaction than X-pac Heat.
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Dr. T is an alien
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I've been found out!
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Post by Dr. T is an alien on May 7, 2013 7:46:16 GMT -5
For me there were a few issues:
1) If an act gets stale, why doesn't the writing team do anything about it? Russo was an idiot but they still had plenty of talented people who knew what they were doing in charge of writing when he became stale (before Steph took over Creative). It is as if they wanted to have his character be the equivalent of the high school running back who still wears his letterman jacket when he is 25.
2) Part of the problem was his booking in general anyways. The whole underdog act worked well when he was younger but the time came and went to change that. He was established and at one point in time could have been legitimized but they did not do it, probably because of Vince's muscle fetish. I did not understand what was so hard about it. He was well over 6 feet tall, in the neighborhood of 200 lbs, and had some legitimate martial arts training. Jean Claude Van Damme had only one of those and was able to become a legitimate action star. What would have been so hard to believe that a fast guy with some muscle on him being able to kick like a horse and legitimately knock around bigger guys who lack his level of training? He tried to carry himself around like that but his booking kept undercutting that.
3) Another part of his problem, quite frankly, was his looks. He is not a good looking guy. That's okay, neither am I, but as someone who is also kind of on the ugly side I know that there are only so many looks that are passable for me. If he shaved his babyface showed through, so he needed his beard. If he cut his hair his weird-shaped head showed so he had to keep his hair at least 6 inches long. He almost always worked in a singlet/trunks combination because he was likely conscientious about his body, which was probably enhanced by Vince's muscle fetish making people skittish to be anything other than muscle bound. Therefore he was not likely to change anything looks-wise.
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Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on May 7, 2013 8:05:54 GMT -5
For me there were a few issues: 1) If an act gets stale, why doesn't the writing team do anything about it? Russo was an idiot but they still had plenty of talented people who knew what they were doing in charge of writing when he became stale (before Steph took over Creative). It is as if they wanted to have his character be the equivalent of the high school running back who still wears his letterman jacket when he is 25. I think "creative" wasn't quite the environment we hear about today, as I think people were given a little bit more creative freedom than we see now, but I am merely speculating. However, there were quite a few people on the roster reinventing themselves at the same time X-Pac was running his stale DX act into the ground. The Brood started reeking of awesomeness. D'Lo Brown changed his look three times that year, once to tag with the Godfather and twice as part of Lo Down. Val Venis and the Godfather shed their womanizing ways to be part of Right to Censor. The Dudleys shed their tie dye for camo. The Acolytes got rid of the Ministry symbols and became the APA. Even X-Pac's former running buddies went through changes, as Road Dogg got Rowdy and Mr. Ass became The One. It seems like almost everyone that ushered in the Attitude Era except X-Pac went through changes that year (or were primarily on the C-shows like Bossman and Gangrel), and it all seemed to emphasizes the staleness of X-Pac even more in comparison.
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