Liam O'Rourke Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 For this week's podcast we're taking a look at examples throughout history where certain guys were pushed far beyond their limitations, and want to know about those particular instances that actually annoyed you as a viewer and why. This can manifest itself as:a) A terrible wrestler you couldn't stand getting a spot they shouldn't have.b) An acceptable midcard act being ruined by being spotlighted too much.c) A badly executed push for a talented guy.Either way, what is an example of a really aggressive promotional push you couldn't stand, and why did it annoy you? As always we'll be reading the best examples on the show (which will be up this weekend) and crediting you accordingly. So what's your pick? Â EDIT - The show discussing your candidates for overdone pushes is now online and available to listen to at the following link: http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/play/qtizxc/SCGRadio44-OverdonePushes.mp3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reychampion Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Bobby Lashley. He could have been potentially great but they rushed him, gave him an unbeaten streak. He didn't have the personality to connect straight away from the beginning. He could have been positioned as a gun for hire, given a manager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Your Fight Site Posted June 22, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted June 22, 2015 The Natural Born Thrillers in WCW spring to mind. I just couldn't stand them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted June 22, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted June 22, 2015 Sgt. Slaughter being WWF Champion in 1991. Hw was an absolute shitarse at that point and if it wasn't for a massively distasteful angle, he wouldn't have been anywhere near. He got to beat the Warrior an'all. What a load of shit that was and still is - even though the Savage/Warrior angle that spun off it was ace. Â "The One" Billy Gunn always comes to mind too. He was a good talent - probably the best pure athlete in the WWF! He just wasn't blessed with the it factor you need to move above that spot. It was such a half arsed effort to push him with that horrendous nickname. It's one of those "Who on earth thought that was a good idea on paper?" type things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members herbie747 Posted June 22, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted June 22, 2015 Bob Backlund in 1994. I mean, WTF? And they marketed themselves as "The New Generation". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Van Dammer Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 I loved Backlunds run. Well actually, I hated it, as I loved Bret, which makes me love it looking back. He played the part really well and it was relatively short lived. He beat Bret because of Owens sneaky tactics and lost it to Nash in quick time, job done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted June 22, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted June 22, 2015 What was the thinking behind Backlunds run then? Even as a 12 year old kid i thought it was weird as shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members herbie747 Posted June 22, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted June 22, 2015 What was the thinking behind Backlunds run then? Even as a 12 year old kid i thought it was weird as shit. No idea - I thought it was shit. Same with Sgt Slaughter. They brought back this uncool boring old guy who was a star decade(s) earlier, but the current audience didn't give a shit about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callum1993 Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 It may sound like an odd pick to some but I'm going with Hornswoggle. For a guy with no disearnable talents he was given big opportunity after big opportunity. I know the majority of his run has been as a comedy act but he was still able to have undeserving roles in big time storylines. Him being revealed as both the McMahon 'Bastard Son' turned a storyline with some promise into a comedy bit. Similarly it was a huge cop out to make him the Anonymous Raw GM. He was also briefly in DX and he killed the Cruiserweight title. Definitely overpushed in an undeserving manner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WyattSheepMask Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 I think a lot of the hate that Sheamus gets stems from his first big punch when they put the belt on him. He debuted on ECW on June 30th and won the WWE Title from John Cena, the biggest star in the company by far, only 166 days later. Only Brock Lesnar (126 days) and Ric Flair (113 days) have gone WWE debut to title victory quicker, that puts Sheamus in some very exclusive company. Was it good for him or the company to execute a push so quickly? Probably not, but this was the period were people were crying out for news stars and Vince responded by throwing shit at the wall to see what stuck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members bAzTNM#1 Posted June 22, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted June 22, 2015 Backlund's push was probably a sympathy push from Vince after the carry-on that let to his initial departure. Â I loved the first few weeks of his heel run. His original matches with Bret Hart (not the Survivor Series 1994 one, before that) were great, especially the one Backlund turns heel at the end of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdgarTheSlouch Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Backlund's push was probably a sympathy push from Vince after the carry-on that let to his initial departure. Â I loved the first few weeks of his heel run. His original matches with Bret Hart (not the Survivor Series 1994 one, before that) were great, especially the one Backlund turns heel at the end of it. Plus, even though he was being touted as being part of the 'New Generation, Bret was 37 ish at the time, and had been in WWE 10 years straight and needed good heel opponents to work with that wasn't Owen. Given that Backlund was 8 years older than Bret, it made Bret look more youthful than he actually was, quite likely cooler too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C-Rock Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 I read some place that the reason they pushed Backlund was purely as a transitional champion and the plan was for him to drop the title to the Diesel thus establishing the New Generation after an easy win over an established veteran. I also read that Backlund was a plan B as WWE had talked with other veterans about giving them they eventual Backlund spot but for one reason or another it didn't work out and the spot was indeed given to Backlund. Having the match at MSG was also a symbol of the New Generation takin over as obviously MSG has been the mecca for WWE for decades and there was no where better to draw a line in the sand and begin a new generation then at the arena were stars like Backlund had made a national name for themselves years prior and were still over. Â The dropping of the title from a veteran to a new young star in such a short match was probably a shot at WCW as well as they were at their peak of riding and pushing Hogan and Savage at that time and were obviously relying on them instead of their younger new talents to garner attention and ratings. WWE took a different path and attempted to switch gears and put their faith in their new talent in the hope it would bring that attention and ratings back to them but it didn't really work, depending on who u ask, Diesel as champion did very little in the way of boosting ratings or house show attendances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members herbie747 Posted June 22, 2015 Paid Members Share Posted June 22, 2015 I read some place that the reason they pushed Backlund was purely as a transitional champion and the plan was for him to drop the title to the Diesel thus establishing the New Generation after an easy win over an established veteran. I also read that Backlund was a plan B as WWE had talked with other veterans about giving them they eventual Backlund spot but for one reason or another it didn't work out and the spot was indeed given to Backlund. Having the match at MSG was also a symbol of the New Generation takin over as obviously MSG has been the mecca for WWE for decades and there was no where better to draw a line in the sand and begin a new generation then at the arena were stars like Backlund had made a national name for themselves years prior and were still over. Â The dropping of the title from a veteran to a new young star in such a short match was probably a shot at WCW as well as they were at their peak of riding and pushing Hogan and Savage at that time and were obviously relying on them instead of their younger new talents to garner attention and ratings. WWE took a different path and attempted to switch gears and put their faith in their new talent in the hope it would bring that attention and ratings back to them but it didn't really work, depending on who u ask, Diesel as champion did very little in the way of boosting ratings or house show attendances. Well I was 12 at the time and didn't know or give a shit about what their reasons were behind it. I just saw this boring old guy beating Bret for the title & I stopped watching around that time, because it was simply boring. I didn't know or care about who he was or what he did years ago. He had no charisma and looked like my Dad. And they wonder why 1995 was so bad. Â I genuinely stopped watching in 1991 too after they brought Slaughter back & he beat Ultimate Warrior for the title. I had no interest in this old fat bald guy in army gear with a shit tache - his prime was before I was born. He beat the Warrior and then they started the whole Gulf War crap angle - as a kid, it was boring, so I stopped watching wrestling - something I had previously obsessed over as a kid. I dipped back in around 1994 and I see Backlund shite. So then I stopped watching again until late 1998. Â Yeah, so for me it had to be Slaughter & Backlund, because they legit made me stop watching for a few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon-Carr_92 Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 Ryback I didn't get since he went from routinely squashing local jobbers for months to straight into the WWE Title picture. One of those cases where the guy could've done with a U.S./IC Title run first to build him up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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