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Post by jason1980s on Aug 24, 2022 23:40:13 GMT -5
Brawl For All has come up in this thread, but no one has mentioned Bart Gunn specifically. Poor guy thought he was going to get a huge push out of the thing and it was just crickets from both fans and Creative. He probably could have done decently if they had actually done something with him. Instead they just shelved him and he became a Lanny Poffo, collecting contract money to sit home. He should have been beloved by Vince-a homegrown WWF talent who knocked out a guy who had been in every territory but WWF for a decade or more but because Vince stupidly paid Dr. Death too much, the heat was on Bart. It's a real shame I also forgot about Babu with Tiger. He didn't last long.
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Johnny B. Decent
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Had one once
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Post by Johnny B. Decent on Aug 24, 2022 23:43:11 GMT -5
At least knocking out Dr. Death gave Bart Gunn a path to a respectable run in AJPW, so it wasn't all bad for him.
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Aug 25, 2022 0:06:21 GMT -5
Brawl For All has come up in this thread, but no one has mentioned Bart Gunn specifically. Poor guy thought he was going to get a huge push out of the thing and it was just crickets from both fans and Creative. He probably could have done decently if they had actually done something with him. Instead they just shelved him and he became a Lanny Poffo, collecting contract money to sit home. He should have been beloved by Vince-a homegrown WWF talent who knocked out a guy who had been in every territory but WWF for a decade or more but because Vince stupidly paid Dr. Death too much, the heat was on Bart. It's a real shame I don't think there was much upside to Bart even without the Butter Bean thing (which shouldn't have happened). he won the brawl for all that's about all he had... boxing gimmicks almost entirely never work, and dude didn't have much charisma or even that great of a look. I don't think there's any universe in which Bart was anything more than he was.
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tirtefaa
Unicron
If you wanna know the truth, you gotta dig up Johnny Booth.
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Post by tirtefaa on Aug 25, 2022 1:15:17 GMT -5
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Sam Punk
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Post by Sam Punk on Aug 25, 2022 1:55:33 GMT -5
Val Venis
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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on Aug 25, 2022 3:24:02 GMT -5
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Post by sungod2020 on Aug 25, 2022 7:55:31 GMT -5
Brawl For All has come up in this thread, but no one has mentioned Bart Gunn specifically. Poor guy thought he was going to get a huge push out of the thing and it was just crickets from both fans and Creative. He probably could have done decently if they had actually done something with him. Instead they just shelved him and he became a Lanny Poffo, collecting contract money to sit home. He should have been beloved by Vince-a homegrown WWF talent who knocked out a guy who had been in every territory but WWF for a decade or more but because Vince stupidly paid Dr. Death too much, the heat was on Bart. It's a real shame I also forgot about Babu with Tiger. He didn't last long. Now that you brought that up, it's pretty baffling that Vince and management DID NOT take Bart Gunn to the next level. There was even a thread on suggestions on how he should've been used after he won that god awful tournament. officialfan.proboards.com/thread/617952/booked-bart-gunn-post-brawlI mean, as much of a trainwreck as the BFA was, the one good thing that could've came out of it was making a new (even if it was unintended) star. My favorite post is the one.... "Bart “Shot” Gunn or “KO” Bart Gunn. You’ve spent time on your TV building him, keep doing it now. Anyone he catches with that left hook, they go down and stay down. Let him be the unlikely muscle for McMahon. Vince says he knew Bart was something special when he hired him, and now that he’s realized his potential, Vince wants him to take the title off Austin. It’s not an out and out heel turn, just a good man being taken advantage of because Bart knows this may be his one shot at becoming the WWF Champion. He’s got the left hook that can put anyone down, he’s got Vince. And depending on whether Austin will play ball or not, I’d even have one Raw end with Bart catching him with that left hook, putting Austin down. Maybe even two Raws if we’re lucky. Now Bart KNOWS he can do it, and since that left can come out of nowhere, it creates tension throughout the match. When does he throw it? Will Austin lose? No, because it’s Austin in 1998. No way he loses. But, Bart hits the punch that has Austin knocked out at ringside. Bart and Vince manage to get Austin back into the ring at 9, but Austin kicks out at two. Add a spot where Bart accidentally catches Vince, then Austin ends it with a Stunner to retain. You get maybe another match since Bart and Vince will point out that Bart had Austin dead to rights before, setting up a Falls Count Anywhere. Again, Bart loses, but hopefully it’s competitive enough that it makes Bart look like a legitimate threat. With any luck, we’ve established Bart as a credible upper midcarder. You can split Bart and Vince at this time and have Bart be a thorn in the side of The Corporation, or have Bart stay as the enforcer. I’d follow sungod’s booking at this point, save for having him go over Butterbean at WM 15. Bart’s entrenched now and makes himself valuable in the ever changing IC Title picture (or Hardcore), and see where he fits after The Radicalz come in 2000 and possibly 2001 depending on whether you keep him or not."
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Post by sungod2020 on Aug 25, 2022 7:55:49 GMT -5
I don't know if you're serious or not.
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spagett
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Post by spagett on Aug 25, 2022 9:17:36 GMT -5
He was very over. He seems a horrible person in real life so I don't like saying it but yeah, he was very popular for a mid card act.
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Post by sungod2020 on Aug 25, 2022 9:36:01 GMT -5
He was very over. He seems a horrible person in real life so I don't like saying it but yeah, he was very popular for a mid card act. Val Venis is a horrible person? How so?
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Post by jason1980s on Aug 25, 2022 9:45:55 GMT -5
I thought it was pronounced "Sev'Ren"
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Post by Jindrak Mark on Aug 25, 2022 9:55:25 GMT -5
He was very over. He seems a horrible person in real life so I don't like saying it but yeah, he was very popular for a mid card act. He was definitely over in 1998, maybe into early 1999 but he lost a lot of fan interest pretty quickly. In late 99 they tried to give him a bit of a mini main event push working with Rock and Foley and he wasn't over at all. If you watch his PPV matches at the time (Unforgiven v Blackman, No Mercy v Mankind, Survivor Series/Armageddon v Bulldog/D-Lo) the crowd is completely dead for his matches. He had a bit of a Godfather thing going on were people usually popped for the music and the pre-match catchphrase but lost all interest once the bell rang. His 2000 SRS heel run when he was managed by Trish wasn't really over either.
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spagett
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Great Job!
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Post by spagett on Aug 25, 2022 10:07:08 GMT -5
He was very over. He seems a horrible person in real life so I don't like saying it but yeah, he was very popular for a mid card act. Val Venis is a horrible person? How so? It's to do with his politics which we can't go into. Safe to say he's a nutjob though. When they tried to make him more serious in late 99 and then again in 2000 yeah he wasn't over enough to be an upper midcarder. Especially not when the mid card in WWE at that time was so stacked with Jericho and Benoit and Eddie and Rikishi etc. He was definitely very over though doing his original porn star gimmick in 1998.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 25, 2022 11:11:17 GMT -5
You could hear crickets when Al Snow and The Godfather came out in 1998/99!
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Post by jason1980s on Aug 25, 2022 11:17:08 GMT -5
Val was a poor man's Rick Rude. They were trying to go with an edgier, time appropriate Rick Rude type of character in Val but like mentioned "once the bell rang." Rude was a special type and Val didn't have his IT Factor.
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Post by sungod2020 on Aug 25, 2022 12:02:17 GMT -5
Val Venis is a horrible person? How so? It's to do with his politics which we can't go into. Safe to say he's a nutjob though. When they tried to make him more serious in late 99 and then again in 2000 yeah he wasn't over enough to be an upper midcarder. Especially not when the mid card in WWE at that time was so stacked with Jericho and Benoit and Eddie and Rikishi etc. He was definitely very over though doing his original porn star gimmick in 1998. After watching some RAWS in 2000, you're right, when he came out he got no reaction, even when he was IC champion during the summer. Him joining the Right to Censor maybe revitalized him a bit, but if he's gotten any heat at all, it was his association with the group that was mainly on Steven Richards. My best bet is Val's original porn star gimmick was a product of it's time that wouldn't work in any other era, so it was more or less cheap heat than the performer himself.
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Aug 25, 2022 12:47:42 GMT -5
He was very over. He seems a horrible person in real life so I don't like saying it but yeah, he was very popular for a mid card act. Yeah, he was over for a long time... hell being so over as Val Venis is kinda what killed his career. Cause everyone knew him as the Porn guy.
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Post by sungod2020 on Nov 23, 2022 11:40:58 GMT -5
I don't think Luna Vachon was over except maybe during her feud with Sable, and that's only because the fans wanted to see Sable mop the floor with her, so over by association at best.
Viscera wasn't over until far after the Attitude Era, with his "Worlds Largest Love Machine" gimmick.
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Post by James Fabiano on Nov 23, 2022 11:52:08 GMT -5
To add to this thread, Jeff Jarrett comes to mind. At least until he got a haircut and ditched the Country Singer gimmick. Even then, it mostly came from his association with Debra and a maybe Owen Hart as well. He wasn't over on his own until the spring/summer of 99 after Owen Hart died and became IC champ three more times. His misogynistic character and feud with Chyna really amped up his heel character. Someone mentioned Mero before, well, Slapnuts was kind of like that. Mostly over for either being accompanied by or feuding with women.
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Post by James Fabiano on Nov 23, 2022 11:53:03 GMT -5
Hardcore Holly immediately sprung to mind. He got crickets on his best day and was the usurped by Crash Now I need to know. Was he over with the IWC only? Don't laugh, in 1999 they dug the super heavyweight thing, even before Crash.
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