How good were Johnny, Mitch, Kenny and Mikey?

[Deleted]

I have never seen them in OVW, but I did year over the years that Johnny and Kenny were suppose to be the real stars of the group when they broke off. Mitch and Mikey I didn't hear much and we all know the story about Nicky.

Did anyone else watch them work in OVW? How far could those four guys go if they didn't get neutered. What if they all had a chance and got repackaged like Dolph Zigger did.

If each of them got a Dolph Ziggler like remake, would they be as successful as Nicky? And no, Kenny Dykstra doesn't could as a good of enough repackaging of a character like Nicky became Ziggler.

Too bad the other 3 didn't even get a chance to be repackaged at all.

[MrBRulzOK]

Well... Mitch sucked. He said so himself.

[Ben Wyatt]

Kenny was alright. His (reported) attitude did him no favors though.

[A Platypus Rave]

I remember Mikey being awesome

Johnny Jeter was also reportedly really good... though I remember a report that after the Spirit Squad he got really out of shape.

[CATCH_US IS the Conversation]

I remember Johnny Jeter did the move now known as the Trouble in Paradise. That's all I remember about him.

Mikey could've been the new Crash Holly.

Mitch sucked. It was obvious since he wrestled the least despite almost always being front and center of the group.

[Deleted]

I think Kenny could've amounted to something but that's about it.

[Bub (BLM)]

Johnny and Mikey were actually really talented. Kenny was about as overrated as a young prospect could get, and Mitch just f***ing sucked.

[Hit Girl]

The Spirit Squad in general were good.

[Deleted]

Dec 29, 2014 16:02:22 GMT -5 Ben Wyatt said:

Kenny was alright. His (reported) attitude did him no favors though.

And he stopped being 21 years old

[Tiger Millionaire]

Dec 29, 2014 16:44:50 GMT -5 @fsinfan said:

Dec 29, 2014 16:02:22 GMT -5 Ben Wyatt said:

Kenny was alright. His (reported) attitude did him no favors though.

And he stopped being 21 years old

And Cena went to Arbys.

[Andrew is Good]

From worst to best:

4. Mitch - Tough Enough 4 alumnus Nick Mitchell signed a developmental deal after Tough Enough along with Ryback, Miz, Daniel Rodimer and Daniel Puder. He wasn't very experienced and was in DSW training at the time. I do believe he was the replacement for Elijah Burke in the unit.

3. Kenny - He was young and certainly had potential. It seemed he was pushed because he was the youngest. He seemed to have a major attitude problem. Too much, too fast.

2. Mikey - Mike Mondo was a great talent and was in WWE developmental for awhile at the time. Even after being sent back to developmental, he formed a tag team with Dolph Ziggler doing a frat boy gimmick. He went to FCW with a Super hero gimmick before getting let go after a DUI. He went to ROH but despite being incredibly talented, ROH fans shit all over him because he was one of Jim Cornette's boys. He stuck around in wrestling too and besides Ziggler, became the best out of the bunch. But at the time:

1. Johnny - Johnny Jeter should have been a top guy. Incredible heel in developmental under Paul Heyman, who used him as his top heel down in OVW for awhile, especially in his feud with Matt Cappotelli. There's a great youtube clip of Johnny Jeter cutting a heel promo and the locker room flipping out at him. Jeter ended up leaving the business, recently coming back in the King of Trios as part of the Spirit Squad.

[Unaffiliated]

Perhaps Ziggler benefited from not being a prominent member of the Spirit Squad, thus allowing him to get the re-packaging he got.

Like the OP said, Kenny's re-packaging doesn't quite count as good enough. That's because he was essentially the leader and got featured the most, so there was no way they could suddenly change him completely and pretend the Spirit Squad stuff never happened. He was alwasy going to be "That Spirit Squad Guy".

Ziggler, on the other hand, has essentially had his Spirit Squad history erased. Would he still have been able to get to where he is now if, instead of Dolph Ziggler, he was brought back as "Nicky, formerly of the Spirit Squad"? I'm not too sure about that.

[arrx]

Being a member of The Spirit Squad was the last time Dolph Ziggler was entertaining.

[Nic Nemeth]

What I thought was hilarious is that Nicky was the only person they actually put in the crate meaning he was the only person they actually considered repackaging. Pretty top level foreshadowing WWE.

[lovingway]

I always felt Mondo was very underrated and, like someone else posted earlier, was very Crash Holly esque. His ROH run wasn't too bad but he suffered fromk being a "Cornette guy"

[cabbageboy]

Okay, I watched these guys in OVW and here's the lowdown:

--Johnny Jeter was a big prospect in OVW, being the champ down here and having a mega feud with Matt Cappotelli before Cappotelli's brain tumor obviously ended that rivalry. It frankly appalled me that Jeter was put in the Squad to begin with since it basically killed any chance he had on the main roster.

--Nick Mitchell was a nobody. I barely recall him at all but he wasn't any good.

--Mike Mondo was a perennial OVW guy and was an okay talent but no one I would build around. Of the various Spirit Squad guys he was probably best suited to the comedy nature of the gimmick.

--Ken Doane/Dykstra was probably the most "can't miss" of these guys, feuding with Lashley in OVW and generally being one of the better talents in developmental.

From what I recall there were some other guys rumored to be in the group. Seems like they tried to recruit CM Punk on OVW TV one time and he stared at them like they had 6 eyes a piece. I recall Punk's hilarious line of "Why would I be afraid of 5 male cheerleaders? 5 Samoans maybe, but not cheerleaders." I think Elijah Burke was also rumored for the Spirit Squad, but to me if ever there was a gimmick to have 5 geeky white guys, this was it.

As far as Nemeth/Ziggler goes, he wasn't any great shakes in OVW from what I recall. Just a guy that was down here. He was terrible as Chavo's caddy as well as being crappy in the Spirit Squad. It's actually pretty surreal that the guy finally made it on the main roster when guys like Jeter and Doane never really did.

[Nic Nemeth]

Dec 29, 2014 19:09:21 GMT -5 cabbageboy said:

As far as Nemeth/Ziggler goes, he wasn't any great shakes in OVW from what I recall. Just a guy that was down here. He was terrible as Chavo's caddy as well as being crappy in the Spirit Squad. It's actually pretty surreal that the guy finally made it on the main roster when guys like Jeter and Doane never really did.

Except he did one thing better than all the other four, tell a story in the ring. Rewatch any Spirit Squad match, Nicky was always trusted to carry the match. Whether it was by selling, being the only one chosen to wrestle the more fragile opponents, or dominating the heavy portion of the match while the other guys got their spots in (hence why he never did any).

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

Mikey went onto to wrestle in ROH for a year or two. I always enjoyed him.

[Reflecto]

Johnny, Kenny, and Mikey were all arguably better than Nicky was during the Spirit Squad (though that's less a "they were lost prospects" and more the fact that Ziggler kind of sucked while he was Nick Nemeth/Nicky.

[froggyfrog]

They all own except Mitch