ehead
Tommy Wiseau
Posts: 70
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Post by ehead on Jul 19, 2022 10:51:57 GMT -5
A lot of people hit the nail on the head but also watching a lot of his reign in 96 as well as how he was presented during the time frame? They... really made him look like a doofus and not just with him being a boring babyface.You had the Bulldog feud where he twice retained under... less than convincing fashion, you had the Vader match at Summerslam that made Shawn look pretty bad, and then youbhad him lose the title in a way that made him look like a geek. So while Shawn was arguably the best in the world in 1996, I don't think he was having matches at the level where he could overcome bad booking Amazing how in hindsight, 25 years later, we're still observing that same trope about babyfaces in WWE. And yet, most of us consider Shawn as one of the greatest performers of all-time. Would he have that same aura if his prime had happened in this era?
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Post by The Thread Barbi on Jul 19, 2022 10:59:28 GMT -5
Whereas his legend has rightly grown due to run #2, in 1997, I never saw him as special as he was made out to be.
Bret Hart was the better technician (HBK admits this himself in the recent A and E Rivalries documentary), Undertaker was a far superior character, and on the other channel, Hall and Nash were cooler and Macho Man, DDP and the cruiserweights were doing as athletic or more and entertaining things in-ring.
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Post by Bob Schlapowitz on Jul 19, 2022 16:42:35 GMT -5
I can't remember what interview it was, but I think it was before the Rumble where Shawn and Jose are live via satellite and Shawn just seethed with frustration with having to do this with Jose, he looked like he rather be anywhere else. Can you really blame him?
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Cranjis McBasketball
Crow T. Robot
Knew what the hell that thing was supposed to be
Peace Love and Nothing But
Posts: 42,016
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball on Jul 19, 2022 16:45:12 GMT -5
I can't remember what interview it was, but I think it was before the Rumble where Shawn and Jose are live via satellite and Shawn just seethed with frustration with having to do this with Jose, he looked like he rather be anywhere else. Can you really blame him? What was the point of that? Trying to leech off Bret being Stu’s son and the Dungeon?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jul 20, 2022 5:37:37 GMT -5
Can you really blame him? What was the point of that? Trying to leech off Bret being Stu’s son and the Dungeon? It's supposed to be rocky and mick, the young guy with all the energy who just needs an older guy to focus and train him, to get him ready for his world title match against bret, and then stay on as his trainer for his title run. Jose is the guy who trained him originally when he first started, so it was a "Getting back to my roots" thing for his big title win. It was just that shawn had beaten everyone other than diesel/bret/undertaker (the title main event guys) just fine all through 1995 and it was seen as changing his character for the 1996 run that turned people off. Him being the insync teen girl idol hugging people in 1996 wasn't his smarmy rebel character that he had had for the last two years (he was face since sid powerbombed him after wm 11, and he was seen as a cool rebel kind of guy) that got him over in the first place. He went from making jokes and being a wise guy comic relief kind of guy, to hugging crying girls in the front row and he's the upstanding moral authority to those lying cheating heels as champion all of a sudden. And then when bret came back, and shawn lost the title, all of a sudden he lost his smile with a career ending knee injury while he was still bouncing around just fine with bret knocking him about it. You could see through the "he's a good kid, just give him a chance!" stuff that they were doing in 1996. You could tell that athletically, he was still shawn and could go, but character-wise, they were trying to clean him up and make him more presentable to try to get the teen girl/mainstream audience to get into the show, and the actual wrestling fans that were there all along could see through it. Same reason they turned on diesel, rocky, cena, roman, etc. You can see the company changing them and shoving them at the audience "THIS is our guy, you WILL like him..." instead of it happening naturally, or at least keeping him the same character that got him over in the first place that people liked about him
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tirtefaa
Unicron
If you wanna know the truth, you gotta dig up Johnny Booth.
Posts: 3,012
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Post by tirtefaa on Jul 20, 2022 8:04:33 GMT -5
It's supposed to be rocky and mick, the young guy with all the energy who just needs an older guy to focus and train him I thought you meant Dwayne and Foley at first and I was utterly confused. I know it's now considered an all time classic, but Shawn ditching Sexy Boy for a theme that fit his character better after winning the '96 Rumble may have helped a little bit. Bret always had a theme that was accepted by all fans alike, but at the time, it wasn't cool to like a guy who sings about how sexy he thinks he is. Right Said Fred he wasn't.
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Post by wildojinx on Jul 20, 2022 9:07:18 GMT -5
It's supposed to be rocky and mick, the young guy with all the energy who just needs an older guy to focus and train him I thought you meant Dwayne and Foley at first and I was utterly confused. I know it's now considered an all time classic, but Shawn ditching Sexy Boy for a theme that fit his character better after winning the '96 Rumble may have helped a little bit. Bret always had a theme that was accepted by all fans alike, but at the time, it wasn't cool to like a guy who sings about how sexy he thinks he is. Right Said Fred he wasn't. Maybe they could have had another female-sung version. Sherri was long gone and in WCW by the time, but if they could get some female session musician to redo it, it might have at least given him a "lady's man" image a la a babyface Rick Rude.
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thehottag
Don Corleone
We're here for one reason only: fame, fortune, & the World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Champions!
Posts: 1,668
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Post by thehottag on Jul 20, 2022 9:43:34 GMT -5
"My god, looking at this sexy young man taking his clothes off! All the women love him, & he's guaranteed to show his ass at least once tonight!"
"...What do you mean he's getting booed?"
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Post by Kevin Hamilton on Jul 20, 2022 11:43:05 GMT -5
Character was still a complete douche, boyhood dream or not
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