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Post by romanstylesiii on Nov 25, 2020 14:59:24 GMT -5
I kinda get his appearance around Mania, but the WWE had him on the road being Shawn's manager for the next half a year. He can't really do a promo and it looked really weird having a guy with a "boytoy" gimmick having a senior citizen walk around with him.
Like, who thought that was a good idea?? I don't see how him being there helped Shawn or the WWE financially
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Post by Tiger Millionaire on Nov 25, 2020 15:03:52 GMT -5
It was trying to get Shawn over as a face. Despite it feeling like this is Vince's MO only recently, he has been trying to push who he thought was the face of the company at it's detriment longer than people give him credit for. Pre injury HBK was not a good babyface, and putting him with a face manager was something that just didn't work for him.
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Post by I'm Team Bayley and Indi on Nov 25, 2020 15:05:16 GMT -5
was there to stop the HBK character from looking like such a douchebag
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 25, 2020 15:12:37 GMT -5
And for as many jokes people make about him, he had a lengthy career and was a big deal in the Houston Wrestling promotion.
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Post by mrpeacock on Nov 25, 2020 15:14:29 GMT -5
As a six year old I loved him vs Jim Cornette at Mind Games. So he worked for that at least.
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nisidhe
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Post by nisidhe on Nov 25, 2020 15:32:52 GMT -5
It was trying to get Shawn over as a face. Despite it feeling like this is Vince's MO only recently, he has been trying to push who he thought was the face of the company at it's detriment longer than people give him credit for. Pre injury HBK was not a good babyface, and putting him with a face manager was something that just didn't work for him. Lothario was there to make Shawn look like a human being. Vince knew he'd f***ed up when he let Bret go off on hiatus after Wrestlemania XII because Bret was far more of a draw than Shawn ever was, even then. Despite the effort, mid-1990s Shawn wasn't playing ball with any of it. His public treatment of Jose, the man who purportedly trained him, was atrocious in contrast to the narrative we got about Bret and his father. It didn't play well with the long-term wrestling fans who "got" the tradition of mentor and protegee; it didn't go over well even with casual fans who likely wondered why Shawn was ignoring this old man and treating him with such contempt. It was not a good look for Shawn and it might have sealed his fate with many in the back. |
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MiLB Fan
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Post by MiLB Fan on Nov 25, 2020 16:17:13 GMT -5
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Post by sungod2020 on Nov 25, 2020 19:05:09 GMT -5
The only thing Lothario did in his run that even resembled entertaining was that noise he made when Sid attacked him with the TV camera...and the crowd popped for it!
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Cranjis McBasketball
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball on Nov 25, 2020 19:20:03 GMT -5
It was to distract from the fact HBK’s gimmick was basically a gay male stripper. Not that’s there’s anything wrong it!
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BorneAgain
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Post by BorneAgain on Nov 25, 2020 19:32:13 GMT -5
The idea was to give Rocky his proverbial Mickey, but Shawn was pretty damn far away from that type of babyface to begin with, and his clear disinterest in even pretending he cared about Lothario made things worse.
There are a few real life trainer/wrestler combinations that could make the concept work (Regal accompanying Bryan at any of the latter's babyface runs would have been great) but its not common.
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Post by The Dark Order Inferno on Nov 25, 2020 19:43:20 GMT -5
As himself? No. He was a prop, there in a ham fisted attempt to humanise Shawn when he wasn't suited to playing that kind of face, and they did an awful job of explaining why we should care about Jose.
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Post by Natural Born Farmer on Nov 25, 2020 19:46:42 GMT -5
The only thing Lothario did in his run that even resembled entertaining was that noise he made when Sid attacked him with the TV camera...and the crowd popped for it! This is really the only thing I remember about him around the time. Vaguely I got that he was supposed to be Shawn's trainer or something, but I can't remember him ever really being an obtrusive onscreen presence. |
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Nov 25, 2020 20:00:39 GMT -5
Misfire in an attempt to give Shawn a sympathetic edge and depth, honestly.
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Post by Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! on Nov 25, 2020 20:50:40 GMT -5
Its a classic case of Vince trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Shawn was a lousy babyface to begin with and trying to pretend he gave a shit about this walking peanut when he clearly didn't wasn't going to change that.
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Post by Kevin Hamilton on Nov 25, 2020 21:15:13 GMT -5
It would have helped if Lothario had ANY personality as a manager at all then. As it was he was just some dude who was standing there with Shawn.
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Crappler El 0 M
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Post by Crappler El 0 M on Nov 25, 2020 21:21:11 GMT -5
Vince thought it would help establish Shawn Michaels as a babyface. I guess Lothario would be like Mickey in Rocky.
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Post by kingoftheindies on Nov 25, 2020 21:54:32 GMT -5
From all accounts they were pulling out every step to make Shawn look as likable as possible
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Post by Larryhausen on Nov 25, 2020 22:06:42 GMT -5
Quite possibly the Greatest Thread in The History of Our Board. |
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Post by jason1980s on Nov 25, 2020 23:43:10 GMT -5
What was Shawn's problem with Jose? If Jose trained him, wouldn't Shawn at least give him some gratitude in his actions? I get it's 1990s dick Shawn but still, he can't be nice to his trainer? Or was Jose a "take the money" type of guy and let some other trainee teach Shawn?
Also, I hate seeing the end of WM 12 where Shawn says something to Earl Hebner and Earl, who looked uncomfortable doing so, told Jose something and he leaves the ring. Jose should have slapped Shawn in the face. Would Shawn fight back and ruin the show and what's Jose got to lose? He wasn't meant to be a long term employee.
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Post by Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!! on Nov 26, 2020 9:39:49 GMT -5
What was Shawn's problem with Jose? If Jose trained him, wouldn't Shawn at least give him some gratitude in his actions? I get it's 1990s dick Shawn but still, he can't be nice to his trainer? Or was Jose a "take the money" type of guy and let some other trainee teach Shawn? Also, I hate seeing the end of WM 12 where Shawn says something to Earl Hebner and Earl, who looked uncomfortable doing so, told Jose something and he leaves the ring. Jose should have slapped Shawn in the face. Would Shawn fight back and ruin the show and what's Jose got to lose? He wasn't meant to be a long term employee. By all accounts Ol' Sweatsock was one of those archetypical trainers who took Shawn's money, treated him like garbage and barely taught him anything. Stu Hart he wasn't. |
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