There Will Never Be a New Cena/Hogan/Austin/Rock...
Dec 3, 2015 15:30:33 GMT -5
Rave, Super Duper Dragunov, and 7 more like this
Post by MrBRulzOK on Dec 3, 2015 15:30:33 GMT -5
Not as long as Vince McMahon is still in charge. It just won't happen. Not because it's not possible, but because the man at the top of the food chain has no idea how to make one of those anymore. He's completely lost his touch. We've had countless possible stars, many of whom could have been main eventers in another era, and even viable draws at that. For the past ten years people have come up to the roster with potential only to have it all suck dried by the company and their inability to allow anybody to be themselves.
Even John Cena, the closest that they've come to a new top star was almost cut by the company! All because he wasn't getting over in his current character, and rather then give him a chance to be himself, they just decided to cut him loose. If it wasn't for that one episode where he dressed up as Vanilla Ice for a Halloween party segment on Smackdown, well who knows if he'd even still be in the business today?
Or take Randy Orton, for that matter. A guy who they wanted to be their guy from day one. Except again... they had no idea how to push him to start out. They tried to push him as the typical blue chipper babyface, which... well that almost never seems to work. Eventually they got it right and pushed him as a heel, even aligning him with Evolution where things started to click. And when they finally gave him the championship for the first time--- all so they could shove it in Lesnar's face by crowning a champion even younger then he was when he won it--- well we all know how that went. It was a terrible reign basically just designed to Triple H could get the belt back seemingly. Because of course.
Or let's take a look at Alberto Del Rio. A man who when he first came in everybody was raving about. A guy who just came out of nowhere. When he was in FCW as Alberto Banderas, nobody really even cared about him. He was just another guy in a mask. But then they asked him to take off his mask and lo and behold, they found a pretty charismatic guy. And they pushed him hard at first, too hard you might even argue. However, when they had the chance to really strap the rocket to the guy by having him beat Edge at Wrestlemania... nope. Granted nobody could've predicted what happened to Edge shortly after, but still... I think that delay hurt him. And even when he won Money in the Bank and cashed in to become champion, it never really worked like they would've hoped.
Then they tried to turn him babyface. And they did so in the stupidest way possible: on a Christmas episode of all things where he "ran over" "Santa Claus". And then they tried to push him as the new Latin star, but again... they had no idea how to market him as such. HE never got over the way they did to the point that people cheered when Dolph Ziggler, a cowardly heel, cashed in and beat him for the belt. It was so bad that they ended up doing a double turn to reverse their roles a few months later. And then Del Rio pretty much became an afterhought shortly after that, up until he was cut for an incident backstage.
And then what happened? The guy became a huge star on the independent scene. He was one of the top names in Lucha Underground and making a healthy sum of money. It was like he was finally allowed to be himself, and thus became a very valuable commodity on the independent scene. Fast forward a few months later and... well, they bring him back and he's right back to where he was before he left a few weeks later. He was a huge babyface outside of the company, but because Vince decries it, he's back as a heel with a wacky alliance with Zeb Coulter, which just doesn't really make sense at all.
I could go on and on about guys like Wade Barrett, who could've been huge as the leader of Nexus, Dolph Ziggler who had many opportunities to make something of himself, R-Truth, who could've been a great crazed heel character and occasional title contender, Drew McIntyre or Chris Masters, both whom improved a great deal, but because they had already "failed" in Vince's eyes were never given another opportunity, or guys like Daniel Bryan and CM Punk, who Vince practically had to be dragged into pushing, and even then he really didn't commit as much as he probably could've. There are probably hundreds of guys you could add to this list over the years.
But the point is that every single person on the roster isn't allowed to be themselves. Maybe it's Creative to blame and the scripted promos that turn everybody into a mouthpiece for hackneyed dialogue no real human being would ever say. or the even steven booking that keeps everybody entrenched firmly in the midcard where nobody is really allowed to shine above anybody else, or perhaps the stubborn pushes where he commits to a guy and no matter what always sticks to his guns even when the push isn't really working at all.
I feel bad for Roman Reigns. He may very well be a top star one day. But he'll never be that as just another John Cena. He'll never reach his potential because he'll never be allowed to be himself. To break through and reach that next tier.
I really hope that one day there will be a new top star. But I have no faith that will happen. And that's why nowadays I just don't care about the product. Which makes me sad because deep down I still enjoy professional wrestling. But after years and years of stupid decision after stupid decision, I just have no interest in following the product anywhere near as much as I used to.
Maybe when Vince steps down and Triple H steps in, things will change. But whose to say when that will happen? And whose to say what shape the company will be in by the time that day comes? Sure, I don't expect the company to plummet since they're still making so much money, but in ten or twenty years? Will we even still be talking about the WWE?
I guess time will tell.
Even John Cena, the closest that they've come to a new top star was almost cut by the company! All because he wasn't getting over in his current character, and rather then give him a chance to be himself, they just decided to cut him loose. If it wasn't for that one episode where he dressed up as Vanilla Ice for a Halloween party segment on Smackdown, well who knows if he'd even still be in the business today?
Or take Randy Orton, for that matter. A guy who they wanted to be their guy from day one. Except again... they had no idea how to push him to start out. They tried to push him as the typical blue chipper babyface, which... well that almost never seems to work. Eventually they got it right and pushed him as a heel, even aligning him with Evolution where things started to click. And when they finally gave him the championship for the first time--- all so they could shove it in Lesnar's face by crowning a champion even younger then he was when he won it--- well we all know how that went. It was a terrible reign basically just designed to Triple H could get the belt back seemingly. Because of course.
Or let's take a look at Alberto Del Rio. A man who when he first came in everybody was raving about. A guy who just came out of nowhere. When he was in FCW as Alberto Banderas, nobody really even cared about him. He was just another guy in a mask. But then they asked him to take off his mask and lo and behold, they found a pretty charismatic guy. And they pushed him hard at first, too hard you might even argue. However, when they had the chance to really strap the rocket to the guy by having him beat Edge at Wrestlemania... nope. Granted nobody could've predicted what happened to Edge shortly after, but still... I think that delay hurt him. And even when he won Money in the Bank and cashed in to become champion, it never really worked like they would've hoped.
Then they tried to turn him babyface. And they did so in the stupidest way possible: on a Christmas episode of all things where he "ran over" "Santa Claus". And then they tried to push him as the new Latin star, but again... they had no idea how to market him as such. HE never got over the way they did to the point that people cheered when Dolph Ziggler, a cowardly heel, cashed in and beat him for the belt. It was so bad that they ended up doing a double turn to reverse their roles a few months later. And then Del Rio pretty much became an afterhought shortly after that, up until he was cut for an incident backstage.
And then what happened? The guy became a huge star on the independent scene. He was one of the top names in Lucha Underground and making a healthy sum of money. It was like he was finally allowed to be himself, and thus became a very valuable commodity on the independent scene. Fast forward a few months later and... well, they bring him back and he's right back to where he was before he left a few weeks later. He was a huge babyface outside of the company, but because Vince decries it, he's back as a heel with a wacky alliance with Zeb Coulter, which just doesn't really make sense at all.
I could go on and on about guys like Wade Barrett, who could've been huge as the leader of Nexus, Dolph Ziggler who had many opportunities to make something of himself, R-Truth, who could've been a great crazed heel character and occasional title contender, Drew McIntyre or Chris Masters, both whom improved a great deal, but because they had already "failed" in Vince's eyes were never given another opportunity, or guys like Daniel Bryan and CM Punk, who Vince practically had to be dragged into pushing, and even then he really didn't commit as much as he probably could've. There are probably hundreds of guys you could add to this list over the years.
But the point is that every single person on the roster isn't allowed to be themselves. Maybe it's Creative to blame and the scripted promos that turn everybody into a mouthpiece for hackneyed dialogue no real human being would ever say. or the even steven booking that keeps everybody entrenched firmly in the midcard where nobody is really allowed to shine above anybody else, or perhaps the stubborn pushes where he commits to a guy and no matter what always sticks to his guns even when the push isn't really working at all.
I feel bad for Roman Reigns. He may very well be a top star one day. But he'll never be that as just another John Cena. He'll never reach his potential because he'll never be allowed to be himself. To break through and reach that next tier.
I really hope that one day there will be a new top star. But I have no faith that will happen. And that's why nowadays I just don't care about the product. Which makes me sad because deep down I still enjoy professional wrestling. But after years and years of stupid decision after stupid decision, I just have no interest in following the product anywhere near as much as I used to.
Maybe when Vince steps down and Triple H steps in, things will change. But whose to say when that will happen? And whose to say what shape the company will be in by the time that day comes? Sure, I don't expect the company to plummet since they're still making so much money, but in ten or twenty years? Will we even still be talking about the WWE?
I guess time will tell.
