Wrestlers that jumped the shark

[RedRooster]

This week Ryan Nemeth debuted in AEW. Before I even knew anything about him I already found myself unwilling to give him a fair shake of the stick based purely on the fact he's Dolph Ziggler's brother. I immediately felt the same level of dread that I feel every time Ziggler comes out to the ring. 

Totally unfair, but I don't think I was alone in feeling this way. 

Obviously it wasn't always like that for Ziggler, his World title win over Del Rio received a great reaction, and even back in 2016 his feud with Miz on Smackdown was really fun to watch. 

But at some point in between then and now Ziggler became awful and stayed that way. It's an extreme thing to say, but he's at a stage where I'm honestly unsure I could ever enjoy anything he does again. 

What other wrestlers or wrestling characters who were once good "jumped the shark"/were you left utterly fed up of seeing? Possibly a controversial opinion, but I'm starting to feel a little bit like this about Orange Cassidy, although he's far from beyond salvage. 

Oh, and before anyone else does it: 

[Hannibal Scorch]

Foley. His post 2000 comeback was genuinely awful, so much that I have erased as much of it from my mind as possible. I think what is worse is that up to No Way Out 2000 it was an amazing end to the career. Dragging him back for Mania was a mistake. In hindsight they should have had the retirement stip being there rather then at NWO because in between those shows Foley had already appeared to be getting ready to not be a wrestler anymore.

[TomJones233]

The Rock post 2012. 

The Fiend now. 

 

[Carbomb]

Simply based on what I've read on here, it seems like Bray Wyatt might have done just that. I remember at the very beginning, there was a lot of excitement about him, because of the complexity and, for want of a better word, authenticity of the character. Astro's article on him being this confluence of cult leader, Southern Gothic horror figure, Max Cady, and Waylon Mercy, summed it all up, and I remember Rotundo himself being impressed by that breakdown. 

He was in the last match I ever watched from WWE, the Elimination Chamber Six-Man between the Wyatt Family and The Shield, and it was fucking good. The entrances alone were marvellous.

Then he became a sort of Ziggler with character, then refreshed as The Fiend, which, judging from the complaints, seems to have gone the same way.

[tiger_rick]

The answers from this thread will be 99% of all of them ever.

[TomJones233]

2 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Simply based on what I've read on here, it seems like Bray Wyatt might have done just that. I remember at the very beginning, there was a lot of excitement about him, because of the complexity and, for want of a better word, authenticity of the character. Astro's article on him being this confluence of cult leader, Southern Gothic horror figure, Max Cady, and Waylon Mercy, summed it all up, and I remember Rotundo himself being impressed by that breakdown. 

He was in the last match I ever watched from WWE, the Elimination Chamber Six-Man between the Wyatt Family and The Shield, and it was fucking good. The entrances alone were marvellous.

Then he became a sort of Ziggler with character, then refreshed as The Fiend, which, judging from the complaints, seems to have gone the same way.

I have a mate on FB who has always hated Wyatt and his complaints are honestlly valid. He hates the spookyness and the lame character. Bray doesn't know what he is half the time, Is he a cult leader, a spooky man who shoots lightening out of hands or is he a bipolar, multiple personality spooky clown with a Mr Rodgers alter ego. Its all confusing. Say what you want about 'Taker, but he had a clear character, Even as The Biker.

[garynysmon]

X-pac after the turn of the century for me.

I don't think I'm alone in saying I was sick of the sight of him after that run with Kane, total "get off my TV" heat.

Even during the WWF Invasion PPV, when he was meant to be a WWF blue eye, he was still booed.

In fairness I don't mind him now, but he needed a clean break back then.

Another one for me is Mr Anderson (Kennedy) by the end of his TNA run.

Total "Fucking hell, is he still here?" stuff. Thankfully he got sacked in the end.

Edited January 29, 2021 by garynysmon

[Lorne Malvo]

Bray Wyatt never jumped the shark, he was fucking shit to begin with. We're in an era of WWE where everyone can put on a good match in there sleep, yet the only good matches this fucker ever had was with Bryan at the Rumble years back and multi-man affairs with the Shield. And obviously not everyone needs to rely on in-ring bell to bell stuff when they've got a great gimmick or character, but his character has consistently been involved in the worst storylines and moments of the past five years. The free pass he seems to get irrationally annoys me too - I'm sure creative is responsible for a lot of how shit he's been, but surely some fault has to lie with the performer too, yet tons of people let him off because he cuts a half-decent promo once in a blue moon,

Anyway! To get back to the subject, Baron Corbin went from being one of the most over acts in NXT with the fans counting how long it took him to finish off jobbers, to one of the most boring heels I've ever seen on the main roster.

I was a massive Matt Hardy mark back in the day too and I'll always prefer him to Jeff, but he jumped the shark for me as soon as Broken Matt became a thing.

[Devon Malcolm]

8 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

Bray Wyatt never jumped the shark, he was fucking shit to begin with.

Same with Dolph Ziggler. When was he ever good? Heel or babyface, he's been exactly the same for the 78,000 years he's been in WWE.

[TomJones233]

Doesn't help that his THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME gimmick is just him turned up to 1000. Insufferable prick.

[Chris B]

1 hour ago, RedRooster said:

Obviously it wasn't always like that for Ziggler, his World title win over Del Rio received a great reaction, and even back in 2016 his feud with Miz on Smackdown was really fun to watch. 

But at some point in between then and now Ziggler became awful and stayed that way. It's an extreme thing to say, but he's at a stage where I'm honestly unsure I could ever enjoy : 

I reckon it was the feud with Rusev and the Lana thing. You had the stench of the Vince weirdness, suddenly about-facing on Rusev and Lana because she was too good-looking for him. 

But you also had Lana going with the shit denim, and going down in star-power just by being with Ziggler. And the feud did nothing for Rusev, who went from being one of the hottest acts in the company to being on Ziggler's level.

The best thing Ziggler had going for him was being the guy that the company overlooked, missing how good he was. And Rusev was a much more likeable version of that.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Chris B

[TomJones233]

3 minutes ago, Chris B said:

I reckon it was the feud with Rusev and the Lana thing. You had the stench of the Vincent weirdness, suddenly about-facing on Rusev and Lana because she was too good-looking for him. 

But you also had Lana going with the shit denim, and going down in star-power just by being with Ziggler. And the feud did nothing for Rusev, who went from being one of the hottest acts in the company to being on Ziggler's level.

The best thing Ziggler had going for him was being the guy that the company overlooked, missing how good he was. And Rusev was a much more likeable version of that.

[Chili]

Mr. Kennedy. He must the benchmark for such a sudden jump.

[DCW]

Ziggler has always been cack and always came across as a lad playing at being wrestler, but remember he came out one week with his hair dyed black? only it appeared that he used Punch boot polish as opposed to hair dye for some reason. He looked ridiculous, and not in a funny/heel way like Angle did with his wig & headpiece after losing the hair match to Edge. Nope, Ziggler just looked even more of a goon than usual.

[TomJones233]

1 minute ago, DCW said:

Ziggler has always been cack and always came across as a lad playing at being wrestler, but remember he came out one week with his hair dyed black? only it appeared that he used Punch boot polish as opposed to hair dye for some reason. He looked ridiculous, and not in a funny/heel way like Angle did with his wig & headpiece after losing the hair match to Edge. Nope, Ziggler just looked even more of a goon than usual.

Was worse than that. He just debuted on RAW with it, And looked like Evan Bourne.