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Post by sungod2020 on Nov 30, 2022 13:07:05 GMT -5
I'm talking about guys who you're surprised barely made it in the history books despite their longevity with said company and the level of push they were given. Here are my picks(all of which are WWF/E since I was raised mostly on that)...
Mabel/Viscera/Big Daddy V: The near 7 foot 500 pounder has been with the company on and off for 15 years. Was given failed push after failed push(except maybe as The Worlds Largest Love Machine did he get over), yet has a COMBINED championship history of TWO DAYS. Winning the tag team titles(with Mo) by accident before losing it back to The Quebecers two days later and was Hardcore Champion at Wrestlemania 2000 for nearly 7 minutes in the Hardcore Battle Royal.
Mr. Kennedy: The loudmoth superstar was prominently featured on WWE programming for the latter half of the 2000s, was given a pretty decent push(such as being Mr. Money in The Bank), before being released in May 2009. During his time there, he only held the United States championship for a little over a month, winning it from Fit Finlay before losing it to Chris Benoit.
Albert/A-train:Another forcibly pushed prospect, Giant Benard was IC champion for only a month. Winning it from Kane before losing it to Lance Storm. From June to July 2001. You'd think he'd have either a longer reign or another one or two to get him over, but apparently that wasn't the case.
Baron Corbin: This one can change since the Lone Wolf is still employed by the E, however, he's been with them since 2016(2012 if you want to count NXT), yet the only reign he was given was the United States Championship for two months.
Any can you think of?
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Spider2024
Patti Mayonnaise
Dedicated 6,666th post to Irontyger
I believe in Joe Hendry.
Posts: 39,240
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Post by Spider2024 on Nov 30, 2022 21:47:09 GMT -5
That Baron Corbin one actually is surprising, considering they've wanted to make him "a big deal" for like 7-8 years straight.
One Man Gang/Akeem is another good one. Only one U.S. Title reign in WCW, no titles in WWF.
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tafkaga
Samurai Cop
the Dogfather
Posts: 2,118
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Post by tafkaga on Nov 30, 2022 21:53:33 GMT -5
Roddy Piper, IC champ for 2 months, after main eventing WrestleMania and being the arch villain of the Rock & Wrestling era.
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Post by TOK Hehe'd Around & Found Out on Nov 30, 2022 22:04:58 GMT -5
Andre the Giant's only single title of note was an 8 minute reign
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Cranjis McBasketball
Crow T. Robot
Knew what the hell that thing was supposed to be
Peace Love and Nothing But
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Post by Cranjis McBasketball on Dec 1, 2022 0:19:26 GMT -5
Roddy Piper, IC champ for 2 months, after main eventing WrestleMania and being the arch villain of the Rock & Wrestling era. Piper never wanted belts. He felt it held him to the territory and he couldn’t just f*** off if he felt it if he had a belt because it would hurt the boys he left behind.
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Post by EoE: Well There's Your Problem on Dec 1, 2022 1:10:33 GMT -5
Jake Roberts not only never held a championship in the WWF, he barely had any championship matches. Only twice did Roberts have a televised match for a sanctioned championship in the WWF (not counting his match with Ted DiBiase for the Million Dollar Championship at WrestleMania VI). A match for the Intercontinental Championship against Randy Savage on a Saturday Night's Main Event in November 1986, and the 1992 Royal Rumble which was for the vacant WWF Championship.
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Post by Lizuka #BLM on Dec 1, 2022 2:47:44 GMT -5
You'd kind of figure at this point Elias would have gotten a token midcard title run but the most he's ever gotten is a few 24/7 wins.
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Post by Rumble McSkirmish on Dec 1, 2022 6:14:01 GMT -5
Despite being the heart and soul of ECW Tommy Dreamer only had two brief reigns as ECW champion.
The first was almost immediately losing the belt to Justin Credible after beating Taz for it in the spring of 2000 and then Dreamer went on to have a two week reign as WWECW champion back in 2009 winning it in a triple threat match on PPV and then dropping it Christian on TV.
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Post by ThankGodForSidJustice on Dec 1, 2022 6:48:59 GMT -5
That Baron Corbin one actually is surprising, considering they've wanted to make him "a big deal" for like 7-8 years straight. One Man Gang/Akeem is another good one. Only one U.S. Title reign in WCW, no titles in WWF. That One Man Gang US Title win was so weird and out of nowhere. What makes it more strange is that according to him he wasn't even under contract during that run. He was also among one of the final guys in the ring in the World War 3 battle royal. Strange that they would do these things with him when he wasn't even signed.
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chrom
Backup Wench
Master of the rare undecuple post
Posts: 84,854
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Post by chrom on Dec 1, 2022 8:59:04 GMT -5
That Baron Corbin one actually is surprising, considering they've wanted to make him "a big deal" for like 7-8 years straight. One Man Gang/Akeem is another good one. Only one U.S. Title reign in WCW, no titles in WWF. That One Man Gang US Title win was so weird and out of nowhere. What makes it more strange is that according to him he wasn't even under contract during that run. He was also among one of the final guys in the ring in the World War 3 battle royal. Strange that they would do these things with him when he wasn't even signed. The OMG Title Run wasn't suppose to happen as he won by accident and they then restarted the match with Kensuke Sasaki retaining. Then Bischoff said screw it and kept the original finish.
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tirtefaa
Unicron
If you wanna know the truth, you gotta dig up Johnny Booth.
Posts: 2,862
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Post by tirtefaa on Dec 1, 2022 9:19:38 GMT -5
Andre the Giant's only single title of note was an 8 minute reign I think the record books have it as about 30 seconds, which honestly I wish they would have waited until another show for him to officially vacate instead of right then and there.
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Post by TOK Hehe'd Around & Found Out on Dec 1, 2022 9:56:26 GMT -5
Andre the Giant's only single title of note was an 8 minute reign I think the record books have it as about 30 seconds, which honestly I wish they would have waited until another show for him to officially vacate instead of right then and there. He was announced as the WWF Champion at house shows that weekend. But agreed, not being able to have any sort of actual reign to give Andre is a travesty.
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Post by sungod2020 on Dec 1, 2022 10:14:44 GMT -5
It took like 10 failed pushes and a contract renewal, but during that time, Mark Henry barely held any gold. He was signed in 1996 to a 10 year 2.5 million dollar contract, with his first championship reign being in 1999, when he was awarded(didn't win in a match mind you) the European Championship by Jeff Jarrett for turning on D'lo Brown. He then was made to look like a bitch at every turn by his former best friend before losing it to him a month later.
Went through some soul-searching shortly thereafter to work on his sex addiction before he met Mae Young only for her to give birth to a hand. Went on a lengthy hiatus, came back and was given push after push to the apathy of everyone. Resigned another contract in 2006 where they proceeded to forcibly push him. Didn't really get going until he was drafted to ECW, where he actually WON his first championship as ECW champion. Held that for two months.
Was then drafted to RAW, where he defeated then World Champion Randy Orton cleanly, and THAT'S when he truly got over, even able to CONTROL THE CROWD VOLUME WITH HIS ARMS, and then as the cruel twist of fate, THEY REFUSED TO DO ANYTHING WITH HIS PUSH. It's booking decisions like these that make me think Vince and co are purposely pissing off fans. It wasn't until two years later where they reluctantly gave him a World Championship run for three months which was his longest title reign.
While finally over, he then just proceeded to hanging around, doing nothing of note before getting a Hall of Fame nod and a backstage role before quietly leaving the company in 2021.
So in short, he was employed by them for nearly a quarter of a century, was an active in-ring performer on and off for twenty years, and his combined championships reigns(European, ECW, World Heavyweight) totalled only six months, meaning they only got(or made) miniscule use of his time there. If it wasn't for his contract renewal in 2006(which was an unpopular decision at the time), he would just be seen as another overpushed hoss. So yeah, I feel he qualifies for this thread.
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Post by Milkman Norm on Dec 1, 2022 10:58:52 GMT -5
Roddy Piper, IC champ for 2 months, after main eventing WrestleMania and being the arch villain of the Rock & Wrestling era. Piper never wanted belts. He felt it held him to the territory and he couldn’t just f*** off if he felt it if he had a belt because it would hurt the boys he left behind. And you gotta do the favor when it's time. Piper knew that he got his heat from talking & clean loses made that more difficult. It was a similar situation but for a different reason with Andre. Who wants to see a Giant lose clean to put someone over for a belt?
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Post by sungod2020 on Dec 1, 2022 11:12:43 GMT -5
Piper never wanted belts. He felt it held him to the territory and he couldn’t just f*** off if he felt it if he had a belt because it would hurt the boys he left behind. And you gotta do the favor when it's time. Piper knew that he got his heat from talking & clean loses made that more difficult. It was a similar situation but for a different reason with Andre. Who wants to see a Giant lose clean to put someone over for a belt? It works if the giant is booked as an unstoppable heel. I don't know when or how it would happen in his WWWF/WWF tenure, but he would've been more effective as a heel champion, so when a babyface finally dethrones him(either Backlund or Hogan), the pop would be one of the greatest of all time.
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Post by Milkman Norm on Dec 1, 2022 11:16:22 GMT -5
And you gotta do the favor when it's time. Piper knew that he got his heat from talking & clean loses made that more difficult. It was a similar situation but for a different reason with Andre. Who wants to see a Giant lose clean to put someone over for a belt? It works if the giant is booked as an unstoppable heel. I don't know when or how it would happen in his WWWF/WWF tenure, but he would've been more effective as a heel champion, so when a babyface finally dethrones him(either Backlund or Hogan), the pop would be one of the greatest of all time. He was a babyface in the States because up until 84 while the McMahon's control his bookings they would book him around the country as a special attraction.
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Post by sungod2020 on Dec 1, 2022 11:28:45 GMT -5
It works if the giant is booked as an unstoppable heel. I don't know when or how it would happen in his WWWF/WWF tenure, but he would've been more effective as a heel champion, so when a babyface finally dethrones him(either Backlund or Hogan), the pop would be one of the greatest of all time. He was a babyface in the States because up until 84 while the McMahon's control his bookings they would book him around the country as a special attraction. Yeah, although he was with the company for 11 years up until that point. Could they have turned him heel sometime in the 70s after the novelty of him being a giant gets old just in time to make him a dominant heel champion? I'm sure he would've gotten major heat if he dethorned Bruno Sammartino before losing it to say, Bob Backlund before the decade was over. Obviously, it would butterfly away Superstar Billy Graham's(who was an inspiration to Hulk Hogan) reign and would change the trajectory as we know it, so maybe it's better if that didn't happen.
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Post by jason1980s on Dec 1, 2022 11:33:47 GMT -5
That One Man Gang US Title win was so weird and out of nowhere. What makes it more strange is that according to him he wasn't even under contract during that run. He was also among one of the final guys in the ring in the World War 3 battle royal. Strange that they would do these things with him when he wasn't even signed. I was shocked recently to find out he was with WCW up until January or February. I found out when I saw a match with he and Hogan from Las Vegas in early 96 and read the interview where he talked with Bischoff. That's SO WCW...either sign a guy to an insane multi year contract and don't use him or use a guy and not have him signed. I believe George Gray but can't help but wonder if his past came back to haunt him in not being signed. He left WWF in 90 despite being advertised for a PPV and he either left or was fired from WCW in 91 for refusing to lose clean to PN News (I love George's accent when saying "PN News"). Like it or not News was being put over as the new thing while Gang had already lost his feud to El Gigante. Eric was in WCW in 91 so may have remembered that issue. I thought for sure Gang's last appearance was in December 96 losing the belt to Konnan but now I don't remember if he won or lost it from Konnan. I like everything George did as Gang and Akeem but for a guy who was a true fan, he didn't make the best decisions for his career.
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Post by Milkman Norm on Dec 1, 2022 12:06:02 GMT -5
He was a babyface in the States because up until 84 while the McMahon's control his bookings they would book him around the country as a special attraction. Yeah, although he was with the company for 11 years up until that point. Could they have turned him heel sometime in the 70s after the novelty of him being a giant gets old just in time to make him a dominant heel champion? I'm sure he would've gotten major heat if he dethorned Bruno Sammartino before losing it to say, Bob Backlund before the decade was over. Obviously, it would butterfly away Superstar Billy Graham's(who was an inspiration to Hulk Hogan) reign and would change the trajectory as we know it, so maybe it's better if that didn't happen. In theory they could have but that's not how Vince Sr booked his title scene and Andre was making him money as a featured attraction babyface. There was no reason to mess with the formula.
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Post by Hypnosis on Dec 1, 2022 14:10:15 GMT -5
Jimmy Wang Yang never winning the Cruiserweight title despite being a fun character with the crowds.
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