Is the lost generation still considered lost?

[ChitownKnight]

If we are Counting the lost generation from Cena/batista/orton/Lesnar In 2002 to the shield guys in 2012, that’s a lot of talent, some of em who were world champs and even a couple of game changers in Punk and Bryan. Kofi,Miz,Sheamus, Ziggler and you could maybe even say Jinder were pretty successful as well and former world champs.

[Deleted]

We call them that not because we consider them "lost" now but it's just a term to describe their generation that didn't thrive during their time due to Cena's class. That class as a whole didn't get their time to shine with only them at the top of the card like the other generations but that doesn't mean that there aren't major stars to come from that generation.

[Mister Pigwell]

Lost as hell with very few exceptions. Kofi, Miz, and Cody are going hard as hell right now and maybe a half dozen others are still doing their thing but the large majority of that generation just vanished or retired already. It's a damn shame as that generation was filled with cool characters and gimmicks to be honest.

[repomark]

It is interesting that we regard anyone during this time frame who wasn’t the main event with Cena as lost - when a lot of them had successful careers in WWE just beneath him on the card.

The way we look at it is very different than it used to be. When you consider all the guys who were never world champ when Hogan was on top from 84-93, there is no real thought of them being “lost”. Mr Perfect, Piper, Jake the Snake, the Million Dollar Man, Rick Rude. It is a case of the undercard seeming more important in those days, but it is quite strange how we have changed our way of looking at it so much when on paper the situations are similar.

[eJm]

Jun 20, 2019 3:26:43 GMT -5 repomark said:

It is interesting that we regard anyone during this time frame who wasn’t the main event with Cena as lost - when a lot of them had successful careers in WWE just beneath him on the card.

The way we look at it is very different than it used to be. When you consider all the guys who were never world champ when Hogan was on top from 84-93, there is no real thought of them being “lost”. Mr Perfect, Piper, Jake the Snake, the Million Dollar Man, Rick Rude. It is a case of the undercard seeming more important in those days, but it is quite strange how we have changed our way of looking at it so much when on paper the situations are similar.

The thing that made them "lost" wasn't that they weren't successful. It was the fact they never had a real opportunity to lead a brand like Cena, Batista, HHH etc did.

For every person who won a belt, tag or singles, 99% of the time they were there to lose to Cena in his new "Cena vs. Authority" storyline or HHH two on one to put him over for a feud against the lackey of the GM or something just as ridiculous. Undertaker and Kane feuding with MVP and Ken Kennedy might as well have been them feuding with Barry Horowitz and Brookyln Brawler at times except MVP and Kennedy got wins...via cheating.

Like, some of it was their fault; Kennedy tanked his own career by being utterly untrustworthy but a lot of it was them not wanting to usurp the status quo.

[Venti]

I always think of guys like Kennedy, MVP, Carlito, Morrison, etc. They clearly all had great careers, some still wrestle as far as I know(last I heard John is doing well in Impact) but they were the guys who were pegged as future world champs in WWE.

Guys like them, Lance Cade, Ted Dibiase Jr, all looked like big future stars but they never really caught on.
Instead, the OVW 2002 class of Orton, Batista and Cena along with older generation stars like Taker, Edge, HBK and HHH all stayed on top.
And then WWE suddenly started signing the big indy stars. Lots of people forget, that at one point, no one would imagine that Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, AJ Styles, and Tyler Black would all be huge deals and main eventers in WWE.
It really all started with CM Punk. Big ROH star, got to keep his name, and really stood out amongst all the other wrestlers WWE had in the mid to late 2000s.

That got the ball rolling for them to sign Daniel Bryan, then the Shield guys, and since then a huge chunk of their main eventers have been stars from ROH, TNA, and even CZW in Ambrose's case.

So I think that the so-called "lost generation" gets overshadowed because they are stuck in between the Attitude Era/OVW 2002 stars, and all the crazy amounts of talent that WWE has signed in the past ten years.

As good of wrestlers as guys like Dykstra, MVP, and Carlito were, they just kinda got a raw deal and came in at a time when WWE was in a lull and still relying on the older guard, and by 2012 it was just too late for any of those stars to really become anything.

Obviously a few have done well for themselves. Kofi got New Day and is now WWE champion, Ziggler is still kicking it and main eventing, and Sheamus obviously did well for himself from the start.
But when you have two eras of massively great talents, no one is gonna remember guys like Eric Escobar and Bam Neely lol.

Sorry for the long post, I'm tired and getting almost somewhat nostalgic for those old days of WWE lol

[EvenBaldobombHasAJob]

Yes. For every Kofi or Miz there was 10 Gavin Spears or Mason Ryan.

[Allie Kitsune]

I'm always kind of surprised when people include Sheamus.

He's one of the very few who completely managed to emerge out from that time period (along with Miz, and in hindsight, Kofi will be there too, thanks to this title run, even if the Wildcard rule and shunting Owens back to the Status Quo has put a damper on it).

But other than those, yeah. So many talents that could have been if not the backbone, at least solid long-term hands for the company, but management just had too little faith in them and gave up on them.

Morrison, Carlito, MVP, Masters, Kennedy, Swagger, WGTT, Grenier and Dupree, Marcus CorVon (even though his departure was due to family issues), Elijah Burke...

[cabbageboy]

I think Sheamus is a weird case because there's always been the notion that his push was due to carrying HHH's bags or spotting him in the gym, etc. The guy has a first ballot HOF type resume with multiple WWE titles, World title, even the Unified title when there was just 1 belt, multiple tag title runs, Royal Rumble win, KOTR win, MITB win, etc. And he has never had any serious heat to warrant any of it.

To me the Lost Generation doesn't really become a thing until about 2006. At that point WWE called up a bunch of OVW guys as the Spirit Squad and killed them all off, and also Lashley came up during that time and for whatever reason it didn't work out. Punk did come up during that time though. Anyway after that OVW had a bleh last year under the WWE auspices and then Laurinaitis wanted to party in Tampa or whatever and developmental moved down to FCW. FCW mostly sucked though aside from the Shield guys that came up in late 2012.

[realist]

Are you suggesting that they once were lost and now they're found?

[abjordans]

I consider the lost generation to be the generation of WWE development between Cena, Orton, Batista, Lesnar and Punk/Bryan. They only produced one long term star in Miz. There were a lot of Orton clones and guys they didn’t go all in with. Lots of guys with drug issues too.

[Allie Kitsune]

Jun 20, 2019 16:54:30 GMT -5 EvenBaldobombHasAJob said:

10 Gavin Spears

What you did there, I see it.

[Germansuplex]

ABC's "Lost" was on the air from 2004 to 2010, so yeah.