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Post by ChitownKnight on Apr 30, 2024 23:00:45 GMT -5
What are examples of this? I think the best example that I can think of right now is Swerve. He was in a jobber group in wwe and in AEW, he’s the world champ.
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Abadebe
Don Corleone
Man of the Hour
Posts: 1,469
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Post by Abadebe on Apr 30, 2024 23:33:00 GMT -5
DDP was a multi-time WCW champion. His WWE run was less than stellar.
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Post by DSR on Apr 30, 2024 23:59:29 GMT -5
DDP was a multi-time WCW champion. His WWE run was less than stellar. Same for Vader. From absolute monster in WCW to "just a fat piece of shit" in WWE.
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El Pollo Guerrera
Grimlock
His name has chicken in it, and he is good at makin' .gifs, so that's cool.
Status: Runner
Posts: 14,742
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Post by El Pollo Guerrera on May 1, 2024 0:08:38 GMT -5
"Dr. Death" Steve Williams as well. A boss in WCW and All Japan, a chump in the WWF.
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Post by yokohamacpfc on May 1, 2024 0:18:20 GMT -5
Okada and the Young Bucks in TNA compared to everywhere else they’ve wrestled has got to be the biggest. I think if Swerve had stayed he’d have won the NXT title but would have had to wait for Vince’s fall to do so.
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Mozenrath
FANatic
Foppery and Whim
Speedy Speed Boy
Posts: 121,127
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Post by Mozenrath on May 1, 2024 0:20:59 GMT -5
Okada in TNA is up there, though excursions are sort of unusual cases. Given the wrestler is there to learn, and is not expected to remain with the company, they don't usually get handed the world on a silver platter. Still, it was egregious enough to annoy NJPW, as was their use of SANADA (even if he got it way better than Okada did), and damaged the relationship between the companies for quite some time, along with other perceived disrespect.
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Post by grungesmurf on May 1, 2024 3:04:49 GMT -5
Ronnie Garvin was the world champion in the NWA😖 became a referee in the WWF.
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chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 84,935
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Post by chrom on May 1, 2024 4:54:12 GMT -5
Raven was very successful in WCW and ECW, just a generic hardcore guy in WWF
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Post by The Barber on May 1, 2024 5:08:21 GMT -5
Jean Paul Levesque in WCW.
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Post by Can you afford to pay me, Gah on May 1, 2024 5:24:52 GMT -5
This can be said for a lot of the ECW guys when they went to WWE or WCW in the late 90s into the end.
Mike Awesome World Champion in ECW to that 70s guy fat chick thriller. Taz went from the suplex machine badass to midcarder by mid 00 to anouncer. Justin Credible ECW World Champion to a jobber to the stars midcard stable with Xpac Lance Storm had a good run in ECW and WCW, started ok in WWE than went to jobber to the stars with the boring gimmick. Tommy Dreamer Top guy in ECW to lower card guy in WWE. The Sandman see Tommy Dreamer Super Crazy amazing in ECW to WWE given a racist gimmick as Mexicools and than a jobber to the stars. Jerry Lynn pushed to the top in ECW to WWE had light weight title run but was only on B and C shows. Hardly ever saw him on Raw or Smackdown. Raven: See above post Dean Malenko: Short but good run in ECW, was pushed hard in WCW for the Crusiwerweight divison. WWE low card and only remember for really stalking Lita and getting beat up by her and the Hardys in a hotel.
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Post by dirtyoldman on May 1, 2024 5:45:56 GMT -5
This can be said for a lot of the ECW guys when they went to WWE or WCW in the late 90s into the end. Mike Awesome World Champion in ECW to that 70s guy fat chick thriller. Taz went from the suplex machine badass to midcarder by mid 00 to anouncer. Justin Credible ECW World Champion to a jobber to the stars midcard stable with Xpac Lance Storm had a good run in ECW and WCW, started ok in WWE than went to jobber to the stars with the boring gimmick. Tommy Dreamer Top guy in ECW to lower card guy in WWE. The Sandman see Tommy Dreamer Super Crazy amazing in ECW to WWE given a racist gimmick as Mexicools and than a jobber to the stars. Jerry Lynn pushed to the top in ECW to WWE had light weight title run but was only on B and C shows. Hardly ever saw him on Raw or Smackdown. Raven: See above post Dean Malenko: Short but good run in ECW, was pushed hard in WCW for the Crusiwerweight divison. WWE low card and only remember for really stalking Lita and getting beat up by her and the Hardys in a hotel. Rob Van Dam and the Dudleys must be the only ECW guys who kept their momentum.
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Post by froggyfrog on May 1, 2024 9:02:18 GMT -5
So many examples are guys who were big in one promotion and then mid card or lower once they got to WWE. Are there any examples of the opposite? Big in WWE, but lesser elsewhere? I’d assume once you make it in WWE you instantly have credibility everywhere else. Trying to come up with one and none are coming to mind
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tafkaga
Samurai Cop
the Dogfather
Posts: 2,124
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Post by tafkaga on May 1, 2024 9:04:55 GMT -5
Kevin Nash going from one shit gimmick to another in WCW before he found his voice with Diesel.
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Post by Hernan on May 1, 2024 9:17:18 GMT -5
No idea if this counts (as this is pretty diverse) but Joey Janela went to one of the indie highlights to be in AEW YouTube programming.
*EDIT*
Oh nice, I'm Trap-Jaw.
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Post by OGBoardPoster2005 on May 1, 2024 9:43:05 GMT -5
So many examples are guys who were big in one promotion and then mid card or lower once they got to WWE. Are there any examples of the opposite? Big in WWE, but lesser elsewhere? I’d assume once you make it in WWE you instantly have credibility everywhere else. Trying to come up with one and none are coming to mind What you are describing is why a lot of guys who went to WWF/WWE were less when they arrived. A perception grew throughout the 80s into the 90s that the WWF was the big leagues and when you look at the set-up..it truly was. The WWF at its peak at Wrestlemania III has Hulk Hogan, who was just short of being AWA Champion but rode that momentum to the WWF Championship; Andre The Giant, who had been a major attraction and a WWWF guy since the territory days, Iron Sheik a former WWF Champion; Jake Roberts, who had been an up and coming star in Stampede and in Georgia; Ricky Steamboat, a future NWA Champion; Randy Savage, who went on to being WWF and WCW Champion; Bret Hart, a future WWF Champion and a major player in Stampede along with Jim Neidhart and the British Bulldogs; Roddy Piper who had been a star in Mid-Atlantic and Portland; The Rougeaus were royalty in the Montreal Territory; Harley Race, a former NWA Champion and star throughout the country; Junkyard Dog, who was the main babyface in Mid-South; King Kong Bundy who was a heavy in World Class, and a whole lot of others who came in along the way. The territories meanwhile became lesser because top guys in territories all being in the WWF created a new perception of what a true Main Eventer is and whose a Midcarder because they lacked that depth of star power Nationally. It wasn't til Ric Flair in 1992 that a former World Champion won the WWF Title and even in Ric's promo he talks about how the WWF Championship is the true World Championship and only one that means something. That puts that belt on a higher pedastal than say the NWA, AWA, WCW, ECW, TNA and even AEW Championship today. You could argue that while guys may have been World Champion elsewhere they didn't face the competition thats in the WWF that most years had a stronger Main Event scene than most promotions. Vince capitalized on that and after Flair there wasn't another company's former World Champion as WWF Champion until The Big Show in 1999; CM Punk in 2011, Daniel Bryan in 2013, and then AJ Styles in 2016, before Cody won it at Mania. That alone showed how much more difficult in kayfabe it was to be WWF Champion that only 6 former World Champions elsewhere held the belt the last 40 years between AWA, NWA, WCW, ECW, ROH, TNA, and AEW. Lex Luger was shown to be in the hunt for it and was damn near close to being the 2nd former World Champion to do it; Sting at an old age gave Seth Rollins a run for his money before he got injured; Vader was in the hunt for it for the first year and a half he was there but just fell short to Taker, Shawn, and Bret; Ron Simmons got a shot at Taker at King of the Ring 1997 and may have won had he not gotten distracted by the Nation; Goldberg won the Universal and World but never the true WWF/WWE Championship; DDP I can't see having a WWF Title reign at that stage of his career but he could have been done better. All in all though it creates a perception that the WWF is a tougher league to make it in whereas the rest weren't as tolling, something the WWF pushed heavily in the 80s and 90s.
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Post by Urn Anderson on May 1, 2024 9:49:39 GMT -5
So many examples are guys who were big in one promotion and then mid card or lower once they got to WWE. Are there any examples of the opposite? Big in WWE, but lesser elsewhere? I’d assume once you make it in WWE you instantly have credibility everywhere else. Trying to come up with one and none are coming to mind I would say that Earthquake sadly fits this criteria. Big Boss Man, Barry Darsow, and Mike Rotunda after they jumped to WCW, as well. You could probably say the same about a few more. Some guys were just so over in their WWF gimmicks that bringing them out under their real names or lesser gimmicks just fell completely flat.
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Post by froggyfrog on May 1, 2024 9:54:33 GMT -5
So many examples are guys who were big in one promotion and then mid card or lower once they got to WWE. Are there any examples of the opposite? Big in WWE, but lesser elsewhere? I’d assume once you make it in WWE you instantly have credibility everywhere else. Trying to come up with one and none are coming to mind What you are describing is why a lot of guys who went to WWF/WWE were less when they arrived. A perception grew throughout the 80s into the 90s that the WWF was the big leagues and when you look at the set-up..it truly was. The WWF at its peak at Wrestlemania III has Hulk Hogan, who was just short of being AWA Champion but rode that momentum to the WWF Championship; Andre The Giant, who had been a major attraction and a WWWF guy since the territory days, Iron Sheik a former WWF Champion; Jake Roberts, who had been an up and coming star in Stampede and in Georgia; Ricky Steamboat, a future NWA Champion; Randy Savage, who went on to being WWF and WCW Champion; Bret Hart, a future WWF Champion and a major player in Stampede along with Jim Neidhart and the British Bulldogs; Roddy Piper who had been a star in Mid-Atlantic and Portland; The Rougeaus were royalty in the Montreal Territory; Harley Race, a former NWA Champion and star throughout the country; Junkyard Dog, who was the main babyface in Mid-South; King Kong Bundy who was a heavy in World Class, and a whole lot of others who came in along the way. The territories meanwhile became lesser because top guys in territories all being in the WWF created a new perception of what a true Main Eventer is and whose a Midcarder because they lacked that depth of star power Nationally. It wasn't til Ric Flair in 1992 that a former World Champion won the WWF Title and even in Ric's promo he talks about how the WWF Championship is the true World Championship and only one that means something. That puts that belt on a higher pedastal than say the NWA, AWA, WCW, ECW, TNA and even AEW Championship today. You could argue that while guys may have been World Champion elsewhere they didn't face the competition thats in the WWF that most years had a stronger Main Event scene than most promotions. Vince capitalized on that and after Flair there wasn't another company's former World Champion as WWF Champion until The Big Show in 1999; CM Punk in 2011, Daniel Bryan in 2013, and then AJ Styles in 2016, before Cody won it at Mania. That alone showed how much more difficult in kayfabe it was to be WWF Champion that only 6 former World Champions elsewhere held the belt the last 40 years between AWA, NWA, WCW, ECW, ROH, TNA, and AEW. Lex Luger was shown to be in the hunt for it and was damn near close to being the 2nd former World Champion to do it; Sting at an old age gave Seth Rollins a run for his money before he got injured; Vader was in the hunt for it for the first year and a half he was there but just fell short to Taker, Shawn, and Bret; Ron Simmons got a shot at Taker at King of the Ring 1997 and may have won had he not gotten distracted by the Nation; Goldberg won the Universal and World but never the true WWF/WWE Championship; DDP I can't see having a WWF Title reign at that stage of his career but he could have been done better. All in all though it creates a perception that the WWF is a tougher league to make it in whereas the rest weren't as tolling, something the WWF pushed heavily in the 80s and 90s. Great response, thank you. I guess the closest thing to what I was looking for might be Ricky Steamboat going on to main event after leaving WWE. Not that he wasn’t a star in WWE. I guess he would kind of answer the OP question as well since they moved him down the card as The Dragon by the time he returned after his NWA title run. Something I’ve been very interested in lately is seeing all the territory guys that were mid card or lower that WWE was never interested in or never signed. A ton of guys who seemingly were doing well for themselves in their own territory disappeared alongside it
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Post by Urn Anderson on May 1, 2024 10:02:29 GMT -5
So many examples are guys who were big in one promotion and then mid card or lower once they got to WWE. Are there any examples of the opposite? Big in WWE, but lesser elsewhere? I’d assume once you make it in WWE you instantly have credibility everywhere else. Trying to come up with one and none are coming to mind The more I think about it, Ed Leslie has to be the poster child for this. Absolutely over like crazy as Brutus the Barber, only to go on to an entire parade of wet fart gimmicks in WCW, a couple of which were 100% centered around "this guy is/was friends with Hogan" (the Butcher and the Disciple).
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Post by Pipe_Bomb2k13 on May 1, 2024 10:03:07 GMT -5
I didn't see any of his run in ROH but from the impression I got most of you on here Punishment Martinez is light years away from Damian Priest now.
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Post by froggyfrog on May 1, 2024 10:06:10 GMT -5
So many examples are guys who were big in one promotion and then mid card or lower once they got to WWE. Are there any examples of the opposite? Big in WWE, but lesser elsewhere? I’d assume once you make it in WWE you instantly have credibility everywhere else. Trying to come up with one and none are coming to mind The more I think about it, Ed Leslie has to be the poster child for this. Absolutely over like crazy as Brutus the Barber, only to go on to an entire parade of wet fart gimmicks in WCW, a couple of which were 100% centered around "this guy is/was friends with Hogan" (the Butcher and the Disciple). Both your answers worked and both were in the Dungeon of Doom 😭
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