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2nd Generation Prospects


Loki

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Although i'm not usually one to advocate recycling ideas and it's arguable that the 1st experiment was a bit of a failure, considering how stuck in limbo and drifting Orton has been lately, when he's got so much to offer, i'd be all for him building a new Legacy stable with some of the 2nd genners. WWE seem to have gone well off the idea of acknowledging the bloodlines now though.

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Whatever happened to Ric Flair's youngest son? He was signed up to development a while back but I've not heard anything of him since.So who's going to be the next Rock or Orton, and who's going to be the next DiBiase or Hart?

Flair's daughter just got signed, apparently.
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WWE should be pushing the fuck out of the Second Generation theme- it's the perfect vehicle for cashing in on the nostalgia trend whilst making it relevant to the current product. I'm not for a minute suggesting that anyone with a famous daddy should be automatically main eventing PPV's, just that they should be making the most out of the ready made backstories that the second generation talents have. If they wanted to they could really push the idea of WWE being a family business. I think it would have a big appeal.

To who? The only people who still remember/care about the likes of the Rougeaus and Haku are watching anyway, and usually hate everything. A bit of nostalgia fanwank for the five people who care about old wrestlers and don't automatically hate everything WWE does isn't going to change anything.They really can't do much with "REMEMBER HIS DAD? HEY? REMEMBER HIS DAD? HE'S NOT LIVING UP TO IT, IS HE?" theme anyway. For one thing, it's pretty much all the same stories (babyface = "I want to make my dad proud", heel = "I'm better than my dad ever was", dad's disappointed but may or may not turn heel to help him) and using up those stories on bland cunts nobody's interested in just dilutes them, making them less impactful (impactive?) when a good second-generation wrestler uses them. "Please like this lad, his dad was on WrestleMania back when you still liked wrestling and didn't just watch it to moan about on the Internet" isn't going to help any wrestlers or draw any eyeballs. I doubt the Usos have made one appearance where the commentators didn't talk about who their dad is, same for Michael McGillicutty, Tamina Snuka and loads of other 2G blanders, and they're in no better a position on the card or in fans' eyes than Heath Slater or Justin Gabriel (who might also be second-gen but it's a very forgettable label nowadays).I think the second-gen thing would work a lot better in a hardcore-fan oriented promotion, where you're far more likely to get an audience that thinks highly of IRS and Larry Zbysysyazusko. But in WWE, it's been done way too much over the last five years, and with way too many useless shitehawks, for it to have any meaning. It's like if they debuted ten wrestlers with the Ryback gimmick this year, and eight of them were crap. They've just damaged the gimmick for the two good ones.
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Fair points Pity. I think the Evolution angle could be done again though, i know Legacy was a take on it but with the right guys i think it could work and i think it's an apt situation to involve a 2Ger or two. And i think Orton would currently be the best guy to lead.

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To who? The only people who still remember/care about the likes of the Rougeaus and Haku are watching anyway, and usually hate everything. A bit of nostalgia fanwank for the five people who care about old wrestlers and don't automatically hate everything WWE does isn't going to change anything.

I'm not talking NEW BOOM PERIOD stuff here, as there doesn't seem to be much WWE can do to pull in new viewers these days. They need to concentrate on keeping the people that are already watching entertained and I reckon a little nostalgia fanwank would probably please more people than it would turn off.

"Please like this lad, his dad was on WrestleMania back when you still liked wrestling and didn't just watch it to moan about on the Internet" isn't going to help any wrestlers or draw any eyeballs.

Well of course it isn't, but they aren't going to say that are they? It's all about the presentation. Nobody puts together a better video package than WWE. The bits and pieces they put together for The Rock where he talks about his father and grandfather, growing up around the business and wrestling being in his blood were fantastic. You watch those and can't help but like him more. People warm to guys with stories like that.

I think the second-gen thing would work a lot better in a hardcore-fan oriented promotion, where you're far more likely to get an audience that thinks highly of IRS and Larry Zbysysyazusko.

Yeah, you're right on that perhaps, but no other promotion has the story telling capabilities that WWE has. The WWE have their archives to dig footage out from.

But in WWE, it's been done way too much over the last five years, and with way too many useless shitehawks, for it to have any meaning. It's like if they debuted ten wrestlers with the Ryback gimmick this year, and eight of them were crap. They've just damaged the gimmick for the two good ones.

I guess my argument is that they have had a lot of 2G guys, but they haven't made the most of it. The Ryback comparison doesn't really work for me, as that's a pretty one-dimensional gimmick defining his character. Being 2G doesn't have to define anybody's on-screen character, it's just a part of their backstory, if you know what I mean. Like Cody Rhodes or Randy Orton, those two guys are their own men, yet everybody knows that they're second generation and have wrestling in their blood.
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The bits and pieces they put together for The Rock where he talks about his father and grandfather, growing up around the business and wrestling being in his blood were fantastic. You watch those and can't help but like him more. People warm to guys with stories like that.

Wasn't that part of the reason fans turned on him so early, that he was pushed so hard so soon and rammed down our throats because of his bloodlines? Rocky Johnson turning up with him at Mania 13 went over like a lead balloon.
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The bits and pieces they put together for The Rock where he talks about his father and grandfather, growing up around the business and wrestling being in his blood were fantastic. You watch those and can't help but like him more. People warm to guys with stories like that.

Wasn't that part of the reason fans turned on him so early, that he was pushed so hard so soon and rammed down our throats because of his bloodlines? Rocky Johnson turning up with him at Mania 13 went over like a lead balloon.
Maybe so, but just as I said earlier on, I'm not suggesting for a minute that being second generation should mean a free pass to the top of the card. If you're shit, you're shit. There's little hope for someone like McGillicutty, for example.
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RE McGillicutty, when I went to the Raw house show in Nottingham last year it took me 'til the train ride home to realise I'd seen Mr Perfect's son. And if I didn't know that, and you'd told me before that a Hennig Jr was on the card, I'd have picked out Dolph Ziggler every time.

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They've probably scrapped the 2nd gen idea given how poor the results have been. It almost seems to damage the legacy of these original legends, because theoretically their son or daughter should have learnt all they could and improved on it. It's hard to say, "Hey, it's the son of the Million Dollar Man!" and half the roster does better work than him. Newer fans will think, "Well, if that's the new generation, his dad can't have been that great." Not a fair link to make, but it is one that could be made when WWE do the 2nd/3rd gen presentation.

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