vivix
ALF
Strike Hard Strike Fast
Posts: 1,077
|
Post by vivix on Dec 9, 2013 1:34:35 GMT -5
Glacier
|
|
67 more
King Koopa
He's just a Sexy Kurt
Posts: 11,503
|
Post by 67 more on Dec 9, 2013 3:44:06 GMT -5
Tensai's current run, he's supposedly on 500K a year.
|
|
h
Hank Scorpio
Posts: 5,734
|
Post by h on Dec 9, 2013 8:57:22 GMT -5
Lex Luger as "Mr. USA" babyface was a huge bust. Only according to revisionist history.
|
|
|
Post by jason1980s on Dec 9, 2013 9:04:59 GMT -5
Definitely Tensai as mentioned. Really, anytime he's been under contract has been a money bust. The only thing he would have been good at would be to be the George the Animal Steele Jr. character Jim Myers proposed to WWF in 1997 or 98.
There will always be two sides. Those who oppose Vince and portray him as the devil come to life and those who praise him as a good man playing an evil character. They cite him with charitable endeavors and paying for his father's legends to be on the roster.
Vince's biggest charity work is keeping guys under contract, like Tensai, who can never get over.
|
|
|
Post by EvenBaldobombHasAJob on Dec 9, 2013 9:14:29 GMT -5
Hogan in TNA comes to mind. they paid him ludicrous amounts of money, brought in all his useless buddies, and let him book an unwatchable product for a few years that only cost them viewers and even more money.
|
|
auph10imitated
Dennis Stamp
Sigs/Avatars cannot exceed 1MB
Posts: 4,951
|
Post by auph10imitated on Dec 9, 2013 10:28:07 GMT -5
In terms of Marc Mero, the WWF messed up with him. I don't really understand Jim Cornette's comments about him only being able to work the JBB gimmick, thats bullshit, he worked fine as "Wildman" Marc Mero, he was really over and could work - he was a good mid-card gimmick. Him and Sable were treated as more modern face version of Randy Savage and Elizabeth, in fact at one point they even changed their attire to match that (he changed from the leather jackets to long sequinned robes and she dropped the cat suit for the sequinned gowns)
It looked like they were building towards a triangle with The Rock leading to Wrestlemania and then Mero was injured, then on his return in October '97 they completely changed his look and gimmick and did the heel version of Savage/Liz with him just abusing her,and even bringing in Jacqueline (Sherri) and that was the nail in the coffin. There was no way of working that angle backwards and having him and Sable reunite like Liz and Savage.
I think he should have returned as a babyface, in the Wildman gimmick but make it slightly edgier to fit in with the changing times since they needed all the babyface's they could get around this period.
By November/December 1997 they only had Austin, Taker, Shamrock and Foley really.. they had to bring in Terry Funk and turn Owen babyface to even it up a bit. Mero could have contributed as a babyface.
|
|
|
Post by The Dark Order Inferno on Dec 9, 2013 10:49:37 GMT -5
Mark Mero was the prototype for the 2000s developmental guy, amazing look. but only trained to play one character and when asked to do something else, he was lost. It's a shame because he was decent in the ring and with work, they could have made him the Attitude era's version of Randy Savage, but other people were nearer the finished product, certain people didn't seem to like him backstage and eventually he was used to get his wife over, which just sucked away any credibility he had left.
As for the biggest waste of money though, has to be Hogan and Bischoff in TNA, they tore the heart out of the company and were paid a kings ransom for the privilege. I blame them for the death of WCW, and I blame them both for the current state of TNA.
|
|
|
Post by The Dark Order Inferno on Dec 9, 2013 11:00:11 GMT -5
Definitely Tensai as mentioned. Really, anytime he's been under contract has been a money bust. The only thing he would have been good at would be to be the George the Animal Steele Jr. character Jim Myers proposed to WWF in 1997 or 98. There will always be two sides. Those who oppose Vince and portray him as the devil come to life and those who praise him as a good man playing an evil character. They cite him with charitable endeavors and paying for his father's legends to be on the roster. Vince's biggest charity work is keeping guys under contract, like Tensai, who can never get over. I'm not so sure that counts as charity work, really, you're assuming that Tensai was someone they pulled back from obscurity like Golddust or Marty Jannetty so is on the same sort of contract as them and the guys they've brought up from developmental, where he can be fired on a whim. Given how he was very popular in Japan, the way the WWE threw money to get him and how he's not a dumb rookie, his contract is likely more like that of Mark Henry where the only way he's leaving before his contract expires is if he quits.
|
|
|
Post by carp (SPC, Itoh Respect Army) on Dec 9, 2013 11:15:41 GMT -5
This Mero stuff people is saying is weird. Dude was a high-flyer; then he got injured and couldn't do high-flying anymore. It's pretty simple.
Knowing the sometimes appalling culture in the WWE lockerroom sometimes, I wouldn't be surprised if Sable becoming more popular than him made people think he was less manly, or something, and people turned on him because of that.
|
|
|
Post by jason1980s on Dec 9, 2013 11:46:56 GMT -5
Mero was doomed in his WWF run from the start with Todd calling him "Morrow." Like who's going to take a character seriously if the announcer can't get his name right. It's not like Yokozuna where it seemed like they didn't know what they wanted to call him in the beginning. Mero is a real name, not a character name. Maybe I'm looking too much into it.
I always liked Mero and agree with carp's belief that backstage was trying to turn people against him. Personally, I never was much of a Sable fan. She had a great lower body but she looked like someone's 40+ year old grandmother.
As for Albert being brought back most recently, I wouldn't have done it. Guy had several name changes in 2000s WWE and couldn't get over. Cut the losses, let him go and give the attention to someone else. I'm not a fan of most TNA guys but I'd much rather see them come in and try and make something of themselves as opposed to keep changing names of the same stinkers.
|
|
NOwave
Don Corleone
Posts: 1,735
|
Post by NOwave on Dec 9, 2013 19:22:17 GMT -5
Ric Flair, the first time? Granted he became a 2-time WWF champion, but he never generated anywhere near the excitement that was anticipated when his signing was announced. It's difficult to compare anything today to just the idea of Hogan vs Flair in 1990. They were more than just individual wrestlers, or even feuding champions-to many fans, Hogan represented the cartoonish WWF, and everything they detested about the WWF's takeover of the wrestling world, while Flair represented the traditional, more realistic and presumably much tougher NWA. It was almost a regional thing as well-Flair was most popular among the Southern promotions-Mid-Atlantic, Florida, Georgia, Memphis, Mid-South, World Class, Amarillo, etc, while Hogan and WWF's fanbase was in the Northeast.
It was very disappointing in how it played out. We never really saw the extended feud or the big, blowoff match between the two at a Wrestlemania. I'd bet Flair generated more money in the 2000's with Evolution and his retirement than he did as WWF champ
|
|
vivix
ALF
Strike Hard Strike Fast
Posts: 1,077
|
Post by vivix on Dec 9, 2013 20:51:17 GMT -5
Ron H20 Waterman was supposedly a big contract and never did anything.
Pacman Jones in TNA.
Mickey Rourke in WWE.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2013 22:15:00 GMT -5
Currently King Mo and Rampage Jackson have done nothing for TNA and most likely wont do anything. I have a bad feeling that Dixie has to keep them to contribute to Belator or loose her time slot for impact. Why else would she still have them?
|
|
mrjl
Fry's dog Seymour
Posts: 20,319
|
Post by mrjl on Dec 9, 2013 22:29:03 GMT -5
Why did they bury Mero so much? I was watching some stuff from the Goldust feud when she really took off. JR seemed to really hate him and talk about how unpopular and terrible he was....like more than normal heel talk. with Mero, from what I understand they gave him a huge deal only to discover after the fact that WCW owned the "Johnny B Badd" gimmick. without it, Mero was pretty much useless. I liked Wildman. And I think without the knee injury to kill his momentum he'd have been a solid upper midcarder
|
|
|
Post by champviadq on Dec 9, 2013 23:45:50 GMT -5
This may be a reach, but Rene Dupree is an example. I think he failed 3 or 4 drug tests
|
|
bob
Salacious Crumb
The "other" Bob. FOC COURSE!
started the Madness Wars, Proudly the #1 Nana Hater on FAN
Posts: 78,358
|
Post by bob on Dec 9, 2013 23:49:08 GMT -5
Brooke Hogan
|
|
|
Post by "Playboy" Don Douglas on Dec 10, 2013 12:03:50 GMT -5
The Mero talk reminded me of a story from Ole Anderson's book. He was working in the office when WCW hired Mero, and Ole was doing most of the work to that end. He said he was all for the hire because while he didn't have a wrestling background, Mero had a good look and a great attitude. According to Ole, he had Mero come to his office for the contract offer, which was to be (I think) $40,000/yr. Ole told him that while it wouldn't make him rich, it would be a living and he got over, they would sit down and renegotiate something better for him. Mark was enthusiastic and ready to sign.
Before they could get anything signed, Ole got a call from the secretary of one of the executives, telling him that the executive wanted to see him and Mero tomorrow to sign the deal. Ole said, "It's done, we're about to sign it." "He was adamant that he wanted you both there." So, Ole tells Mero and they go to the meeting the next day. The executive says, "Okay, Marc, we're going to make one offer and one only, take it or leave it. We'll pay you $150,000 per year, with a $75,000 clothing allowance." Ole said Marc looked at him, shocked, and Ole said, "You heard the man, Marc...take it or leave it." Of course, he took it.
After the meeting, the executive said, "Ole, that's how it's done. I hope you learned something."
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2013 19:03:34 GMT -5
Tiger Ali Singh got a huge signing back in 1996 or 97 at a big Raw in Toronto (at the Superdome, IIRC). To my knowledge, he never ever warranted that for anything else he ever did. Why did they bury Mero so much? I was watching some stuff from the Goldust feud when she really took off. JR seemed to really hate him and talk about how unpopular and terrible he was....like more than normal heel talk. 2 reasons. They were on his wife's chest. .....seriously. Sable got over, he wasn't, and I'd not be surprised if the WWF probably disliked him trying to leech off his wife's surging profile by forcing them to have her with him for so long.....
|
|
|
Post by Amazing Kitsune on Dec 11, 2013 20:29:38 GMT -5
I always liked Mero and agree with carp's belief that backstage was trying to turn people against him. Personally, I never was much of a Sable fan. She had a great lower body but she looked like someone's 40+ year old grandmother. I don't find Sable too attractive either, but you must know some pretty hot 40+ year old grandmothers.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 12, 2013 14:16:42 GMT -5
I think the problem with Mero was the he was SUPER over as Johnny B. Badd and just fantastic in that role. If he wasn't coming in as Johnny B. Badd, they just stripped everything interesting away from him.
|
|