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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on May 15, 2022 7:45:38 GMT -5
I didn't start watching until 98 or 99 so I wasn't watching in 97 when this angle happened but I have been seeing it on Reliving the War and... People who were watching at the time, was it as bafflingly out of place as a gimmick as it seems now?
I know there was a huge US vs the world angle going on, but the Hart foundation's gimmicks and characters did not solely consist of 'flag.'
The Patriot seems like a gimmick teleported in from 1991. Even with the Attitude Era not fully started yet and several hokey gimmicks around, he still feels like an absolute relic.
Plus it being a gimmick under a hood makes it seem even weirder
Was this over? Did you like it? Why did they scrap it in the end?
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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on May 15, 2022 7:46:23 GMT -5
Posted in the wrong section like a heathen (I have reported it)
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Post by Clash, Never a Meter Maid on May 15, 2022 8:18:29 GMT -5
Bret needed an All American foil since Austin was still a work in progress, and apparently Bruce P, JR and Cornette loved him.
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Post by James Fabiano on May 15, 2022 9:23:32 GMT -5
Patriot would have been a good bodyguard/mascot for Kurt Angle.
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pinja
Unicron
Posts: 3,009
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Post by pinja on May 15, 2022 9:53:16 GMT -5
I have little memory of him, but I think he did about as well as he could for the brief time he was on top. He had some babyface fire, a rather good look, was competent in ring - and the Uncle Slam may be the only really good looking full nelson slam I've ever seen. Was he over? Reliving the War makes me feel he was kinda or, as implicated, as over as he could given the circumstances.
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Post by sportatorium on May 15, 2022 10:21:28 GMT -5
It didn't help him that they booked him immediately as a challenger for Bret. He was mostly a tag guy in WCW & most of the audience probably wasn't watching All Japan or Global for his stuff when he worked on top. He was pretty broken down when they got him too.
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Post by jason1980s on May 15, 2022 13:08:38 GMT -5
I know debut promos were a bit of a thing of the past at the time but they put more effort into doing Brakkus promos for his debut than Patriot. I knew who he was but the first I saw him was against Sultan on a Sunday morning show. I don't recall much introduction to him, though he beat Sultan who was a JTTS at the time. Then not long after that he's in the feud with Bret. I seem to recall Bret didn't like that feud. I liked Patriot but he was not really Bret level and that character was about as good as Rocky Maivia in 1996-no offense to either-just the fans wanted more attitude era/hardcore styles.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 15, 2022 15:20:42 GMT -5
I loved The Patriot. His matches and feud with Bret was seriously underrated.
The fact that he was "out of place" kinda makes me appreciate him more.
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Mozenrath
FANatic
Foppery and Whim
Speedy Speed Boy
Posts: 121,125
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Post by Mozenrath on May 15, 2022 15:23:07 GMT -5
He was working hurt, and really blatantly a filler feud for Bret. I do think that he could have done worse, given all the strikes against him, but there was only so much he could do in this position, I think.
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Post by government mule on May 15, 2022 17:05:40 GMT -5
Didn't he have some sort of career ending injury (I want to say he tore a tricep) after the Bret feud?
Plus the fact he was out of his mind on prescription drugs at the time probably didn't help his cause either
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Post by Celexa Bliss 54 on May 15, 2022 17:08:27 GMT -5
I was 12 at the time and I remember thinking he didn't quite fit with everyone else on the roster. I don't think I bought into him possibly beating Bret and when he just disappeared after his injuries caught up to him, I wasn't too surprised or disappointed. Never really seemed like a gimmick that would have legs for very long.
Fun fact: his first Raw was the same night as the Flag match between Bret/Owen/Davey and Austin/Undertaker/Dude Love, and the same night Bret came out and got into a brawl with Vince at the announce table (Vince's first real on-camera physicality, almost two months before Austin stunned him)
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Post by GuyOfOwnage on May 15, 2022 17:14:42 GMT -5
Given the miles he had on his body at that point and the fact that he was brought in and immediately pushed into a World title feud with Bret, he was only ever going to be a short-term project. To their credit, though, The Patriot gimmick was the perfect opposition for Bret's anti-American character and it got him pretty over as a result, albeit briefly. Even more impressive is the fact that it got over during 1997's Proto-Attitude era. In some ways, The Patriot was the last gasp for the traditional, white meat babyface in the WWF for almost a decade.
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Post by Killah Ray on May 15, 2022 23:01:47 GMT -5
Stars and Stripes were one of my favorite teams when I was a kid so seeing the Patriot show up against Bret who was my favorite singles wrestler at the time felt like real life action figure booking...
Knowing now that he was pilled out and had a pretty bad injury not too long after, I think they did just about as good as they could have given all of that going on...
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tirtefaa
Unicron
If you wanna know the truth, you gotta dig up Johnny Booth.
Posts: 2,865
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Post by tirtefaa on May 15, 2022 23:21:05 GMT -5
It was fine. There was plenty of hokey stuff going on. The only thing I didn't like was how abrupt he came and went.
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Post by GodzillaIsMyMonster on May 16, 2022 3:35:48 GMT -5
His match with Bret at Ground Zero is really good,but they shouldn't have had him tap to the sharpshooter. Bret should have cheated to beat him with a tights assisted roll up or something.
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Post by The Dark Order Inferno on May 16, 2022 3:51:25 GMT -5
Pointless busy work, like teacher assigning kids tasks involving construction paper and glitter just to kill a bit of time as they've nothing worthwhile planned for the rest of the day. Patriot needed to be established before his feud with Bret, like Jean Pierre Lafite he was a former tag guy who hasn't actually done anything of note as a solo performer so needed building up. Bret could carry a broom to a good match, but one good match doesn't make for a worthwhile feud.
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Post by Super Nintenjoe KBD on May 16, 2022 3:58:10 GMT -5
It seemed random but I liked him, even as things were clearly going more Attitude Era already, it was cool to have a kind of comic book character in the mix as well. And that future-Angle theme.
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Post by jimmyjackezekiel on May 16, 2022 7:03:49 GMT -5
The Patriot was like the last true signing of the New Generation Era, and his injury and departure was kinda the first of the Attitude Era.
That's what I find most interesting about his run.
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Post by Ronny Rayguns Is All Elite on May 16, 2022 7:33:57 GMT -5
Even as a kid I wondered who this fool was and why Bret was suddenly feuding with a nobody
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2022 9:10:41 GMT -5
I know debut promos were a bit of a thing of the past at the time but they put more effort into doing Brakkus promos for his debut than Patriot. I knew who he was but the first I saw him was against Sultan on a Sunday morning show. I don't recall much introduction to him, though he beat Sultan who was a JTTS at the time. Then not long after that he's in the feud with Bret. I seem to recall Bret didn't like that feud. I liked Patriot but he was not really Bret level and that character was about as good as Rocky Maivia in 1996-no offense to either-just the fans wanted more attitude era/hardcore styles. Besides the Brawl for All match and the time he squashed a Los Boriquas member, did Brakkus ever come? |
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