Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2013 7:20:06 GMT -5
What was the reason that Gangrel and Esse Rios wern't appearing on Raw and Smackdown in 2000?
Gangrel seemed to only wrestle on Metal (seemed a waste for such an elaborate entrance) and Rios only worked on Heat (he made a brief appearance on Smackdown once when Kurt Angle challenged him backstage to a match...... on heat)
These 2 were literally having matches every week on Metal and heat but not appearing at all on the main shows at all.
I think it was the only 2 it was happening to everyone else on the roster even if Heat and Metal regulars would still at least appear on Smackdown every now and then.
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Crappler El 0 M
Dalek
Never Forgets an Octagon
I'm a good R-Truth.
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Post by Crappler El 0 M on Sept 21, 2013 7:31:10 GMT -5
My guess is that Vince McMahon wasn't a big booster for Gangrel and Essa Rios. Even when Gangrel was the 'leader' of the Brood, to me it seemed like Edge was the real chosen one of the group.
As for Essa Rios, I always felt like WWE was more behind Lita. Essa Rios didn't talk much and the Attitude Era had become a time when performers who could speak got more exposure. I'm surprised he was used as much as he was, going through the masked Aguila character and briefly as Papi Chulo.
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Post by TheMediocreWarrior on Sept 21, 2013 8:01:19 GMT -5
Sometimes I wonder if Gangrel would have had a better WWE run years later when vampires became more popular.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2013 8:27:40 GMT -5
Gangrel was injured at times throughout 2000. Not for long, but enough to miss certain events (like WM2000). He was inactive the last couple months of his time there for whatever reason (his last match was a house show in November; he was released in Jan 2001, before the Rumble, along with Viscera). Plus his mic skills were pretty crap, I believe.
And, of course, he was a fat vampire bastard.
As for Essa Rios, I'm rather certain it was a language barrier at the time that held him back. I remember stories about him being asked to learn English so he could do promos and get over verbally. He was a good hand, got used a lot (although I also recall he was also inactive around WM2000 time, and he'd just debuted & won the light heavyweight title a month or so earlier) and was with the company well into 2001. But he was very limited communication-wise and that rendered him a Jakked/Metal/JTTS guy at best.
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Post by The Man They Call Asher on Sept 21, 2013 8:34:28 GMT -5
I heard Esse Rios had heat with The Rick and The Big Shoe, but it's hard to tell what's the truth and what's bullshit these days.
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Post by wildojinx on Sept 21, 2013 9:37:14 GMT -5
I get the feeling that Essa Rios was meant to be a transition champ so they could get the belt off gillberg (a gimmick that was incredibly dated by 2000), and get the belt onto someone else (that someone else was malenko, who also appeared less and less on the main shows by the summer ironically, what was with the WWF treating cruiserweights like that?).
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Essential1
Hank Scorpio
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Post by Essential1 on Sept 21, 2013 10:15:16 GMT -5
I always had fun watching Essa Rio's each week on Heat. A seriously underrated worker at the time and never really got many chances.
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Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on Sept 21, 2013 10:23:05 GMT -5
Remember when Essa Rios wore tights that said NO DESTINY on them?
I wonder if he even knew what that meant.
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Post by thegame415 on Sept 21, 2013 10:29:27 GMT -5
I dont know if Gangrel had any matches on Raw or Smackdown in 2000.
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Post by "Gentleman" AJ Powell on Sept 21, 2013 10:31:51 GMT -5
Remember when Essa Rios wore tights that said NO DESTINY on them? I wonder if he even knew what that meant. So Essa Rios was the inverted Alberto Del Rio? My god, it all makes sense now! Also, can't have a Gangrel thread without this. |
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Post by Young Game on Sept 21, 2013 10:42:20 GMT -5
Remember when Essa Rios wore tights that said NO DESTINY on them? I wonder if he even knew what that meant. He was obviously a huge fan of The Vigilantes. |
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souper
Mephisto
Punch, kick, jump, beef mode.
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Post by souper on Sept 21, 2013 11:29:30 GMT -5
I don't understand why they changed his name to Essa Rios. Papi Chulo is the most underrated wrestling name in the history of THIS BUSINESS.
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Post by wildojinx on Sept 21, 2013 11:37:22 GMT -5
I don't understand why they changed his name to Essa Rios. Papi Chulo is the most underrated wrestling name in the history of THIS BUSINESS. Didnt Papi Chulo mean "Pimp daddy"? That might be a reason for it. |
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Post by Ryback on a Pole! on Sept 21, 2013 11:49:00 GMT -5
I miss both guys.
WWE needs another vampire gimmick, they're always fun. In fact, given the popularity of vampires since Twilight, I'm actually shocked WWE hasn't jumped on the bandwagon and given a good looking guy like Gabriel a vampire gimmick.
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Post by Mesousa287793 on Sept 21, 2013 12:20:22 GMT -5
I remember playing Essa Rios a lot on one of the older WWE video games.
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Post by A Platypus Rave is Correct on Sept 21, 2013 12:52:46 GMT -5
I miss both guys. WWE needs another vampire gimmick, they're always fun. In fact, given the popularity of vampires since Twilight, I'm actually shocked WWE hasn't jumped on the bandwagon and given a good looking guy like Gabriel a vampire gimmick. Well it's because Gabriel is a Werewolf  |
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Post by Paul E. Funk on Sept 21, 2013 13:08:10 GMT -5
I dont know if Gangrel had any matches on Raw or Smackdown in 2000. He had at least one match on SmackDown vs Test for the Hardcore title. I think it was late January, possibly early February. He got pinned in a big skip along with Luna I think. |
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Post by JTG Fan on Sept 21, 2013 13:21:38 GMT -5
I remember Gangrel appeared in a segment promoting Edge's appearance in the Highlander movie in 2000 on SmackDown. He was on Heat a lot though, not just Jakked.
"featured a backstage segment with the stars of "Highlander: Endgame" - Christopher Lambert, Adrian Paul, and Lisa Barbuscia - in which they came to say hi to Edge, who was also featured in the film, but were more excited to meet Gangrel than to hear Edge & Christian tell the story about winning the tag team titles at WrestleMania; included a trailer for "Highlander: Endgame"
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Post by Andrew is Good on Sept 21, 2013 13:54:30 GMT -5
There were some little things on Heat Gangrel did. I remember Gangrel wanted to form his own protection agency with Mideon and Bradshaw ended up beating them both in a handicap match.
Essa Rios was really entertaining to watch with his Metal matches, and one reason I usually tuned into the show. I did hear that Essa's biggest issue was his inability to speak english and that probably is the biggest factor to holding him down. I always thought the match with Kurt Angle on Heat was done to give Essa a bit of a rub because of how good his matches were on Metal/Jakked. I also remember he ended up on Raw the next week teaming with Big Show to face the tandem of Kurt Angle and Raven.
One of my favourite hardcore match segments involved Essa Rios as well. The whole locker room was coming for Big Show, and eventually Big Show was able to get alone with Essa Rios and pin him against the wall for a victory, even though Essa wasn't the champion and it didn't really make much sense. But it was a cool spot none the less.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2013 14:30:21 GMT -5
I remember playing Essa Rios a lot on one of the older WWE video games. Essa Rios was f***ing unstoppable on SmackDown! 2's Season Mode. |
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