Sephiroth
Wade Wilson
Surviving
Posts: 28,884
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Post by Sephiroth on Jan 16, 2021 15:04:47 GMT -5
Looking back on this gimmick due to some recent events. I feel like the concept had potential; the US and France were not on good terms at the time, and France has a long history of revolutionary anarchy. But the characters just were not well defined, and rather than try to add some depth to it, Vince fell back on the same cartoonish French tropes, portraying them as cowardly and effeminate and having a French poodle as a mascot. Th act was arguably successful in their multiple title runs and how long they stuck around, but I feel the potential was there for something unique that never got a real chance.
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Johnny B. Decent
Patti Mayonnaise
Had one once
Everybody's Favorite Arizonian.
Posts: 31,072
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Post by Johnny B. Decent on Jan 16, 2021 15:19:42 GMT -5
There was nothing more to it then 2003-circa anti-French jingoistic garbage.
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Post by Feyrhausen on Jan 16, 2021 15:35:32 GMT -5
Yeah it was just a 2003 version of Iraqi Sgt Slaughter. And just as underwhelming.
At least Sarge knew how to work. They gave the french gimmick to 2 green guys. Thats why they had to add Conway later.
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Jan 16, 2021 15:36:44 GMT -5
The poodle was Renne Dupree's solo run not as part of La Resistance. At that point La Resistance had turned into the Quebecois...
I don't even remember them having a gimmick outside of... "Evil FRENCHMAN" with generic arrogant foreign heel.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2021 16:16:01 GMT -5
I liked Dupree's 2004 run on Smackdown.
Felt they dropped the ball with him
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Post by A Platypus Rave on Jan 16, 2021 16:29:45 GMT -5
I liked Dupree's 2004 run on Smackdown. Felt they dropped the ball with him The biggest issue was he was still really green. had they let him get more seasoned he'd likely at least become an upper mid card mainstay... but then he wouldn't have gone to Japan and gotten some of the worst tattoos in history... that said I think he also allegedly had a major drug problem at the time of his Smackdown push which is why he disappeared for a while.
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Post by eJm on Jan 16, 2021 16:34:00 GMT -5
It was basically WWE joining out in the American feeling towards France not wanting to be part of the second Iraq War, thus, utter nonsense.
And that's all I can really say without getting more political than that.
Talented dudes, though.
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Post by Jaws the Shark on Jan 16, 2021 17:59:19 GMT -5
There was nothing more to it then 2003-circa anti-French jingoistic garbage. Bingo. It was a cheap heat gimmick to exploit xenophobia.
Serious question here, was anti-French sentiment really that prevalent in 2003? Not being American it's quite hard to gauge, most of the coverage of that I remember was scoffing at the idea of the White House cafeteria and numbskulls like Toby Keith getting behind renaming French fries "freedom fries" so it all seemed like a bit of a joke to me.
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Post by The Rick Jericho on Jan 16, 2021 18:15:08 GMT -5
Career Highlights:
WWE Tag Team Champions (4 Times) Jobbed to The Rockers n 2005
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Sephiroth
Wade Wilson
Surviving
Posts: 28,884
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Post by Sephiroth on Jan 16, 2021 20:08:07 GMT -5
There was nothing more to it then 2003-circa anti-French jingoistic garbage. Bingo. It was a cheap heat gimmick to exploit xenophobia. Serious question here, was anti-French sentiment really that prevalent in 2003? Not being American it's quite hard to gauge, most of the coverage of that I remember was scoffing at the idea of the White House cafeteria and numbskulls like Toby Keith getting behind renaming French fries "freedom fries" so it all seemed like a bit of a joke to me.
Hopefully not violating any rules, but here goes: 911 was still fresh in the national memory, as was how vocally supportive France had been during the aftermath. A lot of people felt betrayed that France so swiftly became an outspoken critic of the Iraq war policy. There were even anti-France demonstrations were people poured bottles of French champagne down storm drains. And urs, it was as stupid as it sounds.
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Post by eJm on Jan 16, 2021 20:10:14 GMT -5
Bingo. It was a cheap heat gimmick to exploit xenophobia. Serious question here, was anti-French sentiment really that prevalent in 2003? Not being American it's quite hard to gauge, most of the coverage of that I remember was scoffing at the idea of the White House cafeteria and numbskulls like Toby Keith getting behind renaming French fries "freedom fries" so it all seemed like a bit of a joke to me.
Hopefully not violating any rules, but here goes: 911 was still fresh in the national memory, as was how vocally supportive France had been during the aftermath. A lot of people felt betrayed that France so swiftly became an outspoken critic of the Iraq war policy. There were even anti-France demonstrations were people poured bottles of French champagne down storm drains. And urs, it was as stupid as it sounds. Also the whole “Freedom Fries” thing.
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Post by Feyrhausen on Jan 16, 2021 20:10:21 GMT -5
Bingo. It was a cheap heat gimmick to exploit xenophobia. Serious question here, was anti-French sentiment really that prevalent in 2003? Not being American it's quite hard to gauge, most of the coverage of that I remember was scoffing at the idea of the White House cafeteria and numbskulls like Toby Keith getting behind renaming French fries "freedom fries" so it all seemed like a bit of a joke to me.
Hopefully not violating any rules, but here goes: 911 was still fresh in the national memory, as was how vocally supportive France had been during the aftermath. A lot of people felt betrayed that France so swiftly became an outspoken critic of the Iraq war policy. There were even anti-France demonstrations were people poured bottles of French champagne down storm drains. And urs, it was as stupid as it sounds. I think that was mostly played up by right wing media. I live in the deep south and never really heard much of any anti french sentiment, beyond an occasional joke.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2021 21:23:52 GMT -5
Career Highlights: WWE Tag Team Champions (4 Times) Jobbed to The Rockers n 2005 Being in a segment with The Rock as well. One of the few things of theirs I actually remember.
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chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
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Post by chrom on Jan 16, 2021 21:38:40 GMT -5
Career Highlights: WWE Tag Team Champions (4 Times) Jobbed to The Rockers n 2005 Being in a segment with The Rock as well. One of the few things of theirs I actually remember. And getting squashed by Batista who then shoved the Quebec flagpole up their rears
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Post by Gerard Gerard on Jan 17, 2021 4:32:38 GMT -5
I have watched too much wrestling in my life. I know this because I can recall La Resistance's gritty WWECW repackaging. Complete with Renee Dupree dropping the accent and growing a ponytail.
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Post by Jumpin' Jesse Walsh on Jan 17, 2021 13:04:15 GMT -5
I have some sort of appreciation for them since they were one of the few actual teams at a time when the tag division was a barren wasteland.
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chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 84,511
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Post by chrom on Jan 17, 2021 16:31:23 GMT -5
I liked Dupree's 2004 run on Smackdown. Felt they dropped the ball with him The biggest issue was he was still really green. had they let him get more seasoned he'd likely at least become an upper mid card mainstay... but then he wouldn't have gone to Japan and gotten some of the worst tattoos in history... that said I think he also allegedly had a major drug problem at the time of his Smackdown push which is why he disappeared for a while. Dude was on so many steroids he had a permanent boner it looked like.
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4real
Wade Wilson
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Member is Online
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Post by 4real on Jan 17, 2021 17:35:59 GMT -5
Along with the Basham Brothers one of the most boring tag teams I’ve ever seen. Particularly in 2004 I couldn’t have given a damn about them by then and Conway & Grenier were not exciting workers at all.
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Post by "Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay on Jan 17, 2021 19:10:34 GMT -5
The biggest issue was he was still really green. had they let him get more seasoned he'd likely at least become an upper mid card mainstay... but then he wouldn't have gone to Japan and gotten some of the worst tattoos in history... that said I think he also allegedly had a major drug problem at the time of his Smackdown push which is why he disappeared for a while. Dude was on so many steroids he had a permanent boner it looked like. I mean Didn't he allegedly get an erection during a match?
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chazraps
Wade Wilson
Better have my money when I come-a collect!
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Post by chazraps on Jan 17, 2021 19:21:28 GMT -5
The biggest issue with La Resistance is that they were absolutely correct in every single thing that they said and week-by-week is just made the faces look worse and worse as real life kept giving audiences more and more proof.
Even The Rock struggled in an in-ring promo with them with a galaxy-brain goalpost movement of framing the conflict to being "Do you REALLY think that the FRENCH would have been able to find Weapons of Mass Distruction?"
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