Did the Brawl For All ruin Dr. Death's career?

[fortknox]

The people talking about Doc's age are missing the point. It's not his age that was the problem, it's the fact that he was broken down from all the years of hard hitting matches in Japan. In other words I doubt his body could stand up to a main event run and all the work it would require.

[Confused Mark Wahlberg]

Like Booker and Ahmed fought over the letter 'T', Austin and Dr. Death could have fought over the name 'Steve'.

[thehottag]

Apr 9, 2020 15:15:52 GMT -5 fortknox said:

The people talking about Doc's age are missing the point. It's not his age that was the problem, it's the fact that he was broken down from all the years of hard hitting matches in Japan. In other words I doubt his body could stand up to a main event run and all the work it would require.

I don't even think it's that (I mean, Foley was pretty beat up at that time too). It's that everyone at that time had an OTT gimmick & personality. DX were crude & sophomoric, Undertaker was an undead cult leader, Kane was a burned slasher-villain, Austin was a beer-guzzling rebel. Then there's Steve Williams, a guy from Oklahoma who JR says is tough. I'm not trying to disrespect the man, it's just that he doesn't fit, especially in this timeframe.

[romanstylesiii]

Doc Death had little promo ability. He would have crashed and burned in an era of the WWF where promo work and character were so important.

He was perfect for Japan or an ECW

[Cranjis McBasketball]

I don’t know but at least he repaid JR’s loyalty by showing up in WCW and being apart of Oklahoma.

[Squirrel Master]

By this time Dr. Death's role: he was destined to be a scrub in WWF.

[Hulk With A Mustache]

Honestly, I do see Vince pushing Dr. Death in a feud with Austin if he had won the B4A. But, I don’t see it getting over. He was past his prime and had no real history in WWE. He stuck out as an NWA guy. Plus, they had better feuds for Austin: Foley, Kane, Undertaker, and eventually Rock and Triple H. They didn’t really need him.

[kingoftheindies]

Apr 9, 2020 18:52:51 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

I don’t know but at least he repaid JR’s loyalty by showing up in WCW and being apart of Oklahoma.

I always wondered if Doc blamed JR for his failure at all. I'm pretty sure it was evident to him that JR hyping him up got him a lot of heat

[koreycaskets]

As a fan of the Attitude Era and went to Raws etc back then I just don't see him getting over at all during that period. Watch the Dark Side Episode when Bart knocks him out the crowd goes crazy.

[XaviersSS2015hair]

I think Williams could have had the role Dude Love had against Austin in 98 after WM. Williams comes in with Vince and co. as a mouthpiece and to legitimize Williams to the WWF audience that doesn't know who he is. Feed Williams jobbers and lower mid card guys, have Williams and Vader work a Japanese style match on ppv with Williams winning clean and decisively, have Williams attack Austin the next night on Raw, we're off to the races for a 2 month program before Austin retains and moves on and Williams goes back down the card. It could have worked, but nothing beyond that.

[Joe Neglia]

Apr 8, 2020 17:56:15 GMT -5 @conebone69 said:

I say this as a late-90's teenager in high school at the time....no one wanted to see a Austin/Dr. Death feud. Maybe Jim Ross did, but no one in Vince's target audience at the time did.

I was 21 at the time and having been a huge Doc fan growing up, I definitely wanted to see it when news broke that he was on his way in. I still contend had it been done properly, it could have worked. It certainly didn't, though.

[Kevin Hamilton]

Apr 12, 2020 5:30:13 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Apr 8, 2020 17:56:15 GMT -5 @conebone69 said:

I say this as a late-90's teenager in high school at the time....no one wanted to see a Austin/Dr. Death feud. Maybe Jim Ross did, but no one in Vince's target audience at the time did.

I was 21 at the time and having been a huge Doc fan growing up, I definitely wanted to see it when news broke that he was on his way in. I still contend had it been done properly, it could have worked. It certainly didn't, though.

I think you'd kind of have to have been aware of him before though. Like you&me knew him cuz we grew up with Mid-South etc. WWF didnt do a damned thing about presenting why this guy should be anything special.

[Bob Schlapowitz]

Somewhere in the world, there is probably a toy store with three Dr. Death figures still warming the pegs.

[jason1980s]

Apr 12, 2020 11:00:02 GMT -5 Bob Schlapowitz said:

Somewhere in the world, there is probably a toy store with three Dr. Death figures still warming the pegs.

This sums up where he would have gone whether BFA happened or not. Steve never even had a proper introduction to WWF audiences, not even any promos. I watched all WWF except Shotgun at the time and the first match I saw was at BFA. There was a match against Scorpio (a comic images trading card has a picture) and I always assumed it was Shotgun but turns out it was a house show or a TV taping dark match. That does him no good. At BFA I guess they figured the audience would just know who he was but the audience was changing at the time. The fans from the NWA or UWF may not have watched the 80s or even 90s WWF and the WWF fans who did like to see anything wrestling and who may have got all the "Apter mags" didn't see too much of Dr. Death in them. He wasn't a huge star to us or even the magazine writers. He may have had a small write up or a rare large article if that. He was in a Napolitano book or maybe a few but again, as a WWF fan we were probably skipping right over that. And he never lasted long enough in WCW for us to really mention.
WWF did not promoting of him at the time and he wasn't fresh off a WCW run like Steven Regal had been (he came in as the Real Man's Man) so whose to know Doc?
Around the time he came back with JR in early 1999 Jakks came out with a Dr. figure probably planned mid 1998 based on maybe hearing he would be a "big deal" but not only was Dr. Death not well known but the toy wasn't even accurate to the outfit he wore in his few WWF matches. That figure was on shelves for the longest time. I feel bad for him if he knew that or went to a store and saw but it's just the fact of the situation. As for Bart, it seems like JR got a big pop when he slapped Bart. That there should have told Bart what was up with the Butterbean situation. It's hard to know what was real and worked during the segment because I don't see Bart being so cocky as to brag to the locker room. I can see him saying "I knocked out JR's boy" maybe out of wonder what would happen to his career. I was though surprised JR got a pop during the segment. When he came out and got the pop I kind of assumed the heel turn was Vince's idea so fans would boo the crap out of him just to embarrass him. JR has been through way too much with Vince. If not for his true love of wrestling he should have quit and sued for workplace harassment or sued in the early 90s for wrongful termination.

[Joe Neglia]

Apr 12, 2020 10:17:37 GMT -5 Kevin Hamilton said:

Apr 12, 2020 5:30:13 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

I was 21 at the time and having been a huge Doc fan growing up, I definitely wanted to see it when news broke that he was on his way in. I still contend had it been done properly, it could have worked. It certainly didn't, though.

I think you'd kind of have to have been aware of him before though. Like you&me knew him cuz we grew up with Mid-South etc. WWF didnt do a damned thing about presenting why this guy should be anything special.

Oh sure on all of that, was just pointing out that the "no one wanted to see it" statement wasn't accurate.

[Toilet Paper Roll]

Apr 9, 2020 15:15:52 GMT -5 fortknox said:

The people talking about Doc's age are missing the point. It's not his age that was the problem, it's the fact that he was broken down from all the years of hard hitting matches in Japan. In other words I doubt his body could stand up to a main event run and all the work it would require.

Yeah 5+ years of being in bangers with Misawa, Kawada, Kenta and Hansen probably do an unfavorable number on your body 

[adamclark52]

Apr 9, 2020 17:58:12 GMT -5 romanstylesiii said:

Doc Death had little promo ability. He would have crashed and burned in an era of the WWF where promo work and character were so important.

He was perfect for Japan or an ECW

This

His promos are embarrassingly bad

Check out the one on the War Games DVD where he pretends to fly onto camera

[fortknox]

I was rewatching it and Cornette tells Russo he cost the company 5 million dollars.

The f***? Where did that number come from? Was it how much Doc contract was for? They overpaid.

Or did Cornette really think Doc was going to make the company that much money? Which was never going to happen even without the Brawl For All.

[sportatorium]

Apr 12, 2020 5:30:13 GMT -5 Joe Neglia said:

Apr 8, 2020 17:56:15 GMT -5 @conebone69 said:

I say this as a late-90's teenager in high school at the time....no one wanted to see a Austin/Dr. Death feud. Maybe Jim Ross did, but no one in Vince's target audience at the time did.

I was 21 at the time and having been a huge Doc fan growing up, I definitely wanted to see it when news broke that he was on his way in. I still contend had it been done properly, it could have worked. It certainly didn't, though.

This pretty much sums it up for me. I was a little older than 21, but I was ready to watch Doc get a big push and it didn’t happen.

[Jedi-El of Tomorrow]

May 8, 2020 23:10:52 GMT -5 fortknox said:

I was rewatching it and Cornette tells Russo he cost the company 5 million dollars.

The f***? Where did that number come from? Was it how much Doc contract was for? They overpaid.

Or did Cornette really think Doc was going to make the company that much money? Which was never going to happen even without the Brawl For All.

Could have been due to injuries. The guys that get injured still get their downsides, but they aren't working on shows helping to make money (granted there weren't many money makers in BFA), and WWE paying for their medical bills due to being injured in a WWE ring. Add in the money they had set aside for the winner, and any extra shit they have had to do. It could have been $5 million.