Acts that turned it around

[Supremo]

Of course Roman’d be the top guy regardless but there were tonnes of times when I couldn’t even enjoy watching him perform because of the huge, fuck-off elephant in the room. It wasn’t just that he was being booed mercilessly, either. It was all the wonky, panicked attempts at trying to quell or get around the booing. That became the story more than the man himself. It was fucking knackering to watch, so I can only imagine what it must have been like for him, having to fly around the world and throw himself into the mat night after night whilst all this shit was going on.

That Summerslam with Strowman’s Money in the Bank bait and switch, essentially tricking the fans into sitting in their seats and behaving so that they could get the belt on him and then immediately cut the feed like it was Montreal or something. Or when they had Brock brutally cut him open hard-way at Wrestlemania and then kept the camera on him for about six months in the (incorrect) hope it’d garner some sympathy. There’s a million examples and his poker face got worse and worse the longer it went on. As a viewer, it’s a huge sigh of relief that you can just watch and enjoy him right now. The relief for him must be palpable.

It raises an interesting point though. I do worry that them finally turning Roman and him becoming such a huge success is going to further encourage the awful sense of arrogance and entitlement a certain subsection of fans have. Much like the Daniel Bryan and CM Punk runs helped create this Us vs. Them, HiJaCk tHe sHoW~! shit. I can completely imagine that when fans do return those types are going to be more insufferable than ever, feeling the success of Roman as a heel justifies all their bullshit opinions and belief that WWE should just be their e-fed come to life.

Mostly, I’m worried these weirdos are going to campaign for more Bray Wyatt shit and WWE are going to listen. For whatever reason, the freaks on Twitter seem to love it.

Edited February 10, 2021 by Supremo

[d-d-d-dAz]

Internet wrestling fans have always struggled with intellectual agility. 
 

If they decide something is good, they’ll be ride-or-die with it until the very end.

I still see morons arguing for Cesaro to be World Champion, so it doesn’t surprise me that some haven’t noticed The Fiend has been doing laps of the shark for what feels like a lifetime.

[The Cutting Edge]

When fans return they might be so snarky and hipster that they'll think they're being ironic booing Reigns...or cheering because that's not what "Vince" wants despite it being the other way round....my head hurts.

I've said it before they should give Cesaro a solid push and world title run, if it works it works, if it doesn't I never want to hear of  "should be world champion" again

 

 

[Mr Butternut Squash]

Early 2014 was Cesaro's time. He's never getting back there again.

The crowd reactions to Drew when they return will be interesting to me. He's done a good job after being dealt a terrible hand and it's not his fault he's on the worst show ever. But lets be honest, does anybody give a shit about Drew McIntyre?

 

[The Cutting Edge]

I give a shit about Drew.

I think he's worked his bollocks off in a classic main event way to be a solid legit main event name, he fits in with Roman, Orton, Lesnar, Goldberg etc and looks above guys like Miz.

Hopefully when fans return they don't shit on him, online fans are extra venomous towards WWE the last year so it'll be interesting to see if it translates to live shows with crowds

 

[Jackpot]

On 2/9/2021 at 5:43 PM, The Cutting Edge said:

From what he said on the Austin network show, that was always the plan that the apple pie straight laced American hero gimmick would get booed during the height of the attitude era, weather that's wwe revised history or not is another matter, but I believe it to be true because his vingettes were so ott cheesy face and during that time they had more clue what the fans wanted and to expect.

Fair enough, didn't know that. 

[The Cutting Edge]

Drew is actually a good shout for this topic

From ropey debut after few weeks in the states, sent back to OVW, Chosen one, superstars jobber, 3MB, sacked, rebuilt his name on Indies and IMPACT.

Returns to NXT, looks like a focused beast and wins the title, moves to Raw and is booked hit n miss but fairly protected in losses and working with decent names.

I think tag match with Shane vs Roman and Taker is when I thought he really stepped up and got noticed, push starts beginning of last year, looks strong in the rumble and remaining few months with crowds, wins WWE Championship....here we are now in my opinion a proper top main eventer 

[IronSheik]

Drew McIntyre has certainly found his voice (and anabolic steroids) in the past few years which has been great to see.

From fresh faced, bland peripheral character he seemed to develop his own character and tap into who he was as a man when he was shit canned from Vince originally. Looks like he did a lot of good work on indies etc, got roided and bearded up and the rest is history. 

Great to see him working at the top now.

[quote the raven]

Kevin nash.

Oz, vinne Vegas master blaster  3 years of utter dog shite in wcw to the point he nearly quits. 

3 years in WWE he goes from body guard to ic champ to world champ. 

Back to wcw for the NWO and makes millions 
 

 

Edited February 12, 2021 by quote the raven

[Perry]

On 2/9/2021 at 5:43 PM, LaGoosh said:

He debut as a heel so he was supposed to be booed. Kurt was great from the start.

You do not boo an Olympic gold medalist.  Kurt really was great from the start

[Factotum]

In terms of gimmicks, I will always think Cena, as the moment he came out in that Vanilla Ice get up you thought it might be a mid card comedy act. Slowly he used that character to get hugely over, turn face and become the biggest star in the company.

 

[jazzygeofferz]

@Liam O'Rourke might be in a better position to explain this, but could an argument be made for Brian Pillman? Yes he was a horseman towards the end of his time in WCW, but when he started the loose cannon thing and managed to work Bischoff into a shoot and get his release it lit a rocket under him. Had it not been for his passing another go round with Austin as either opponent or associate in WWE could have been a very big deal. 

[air_raid]

Sometimes it’s something as simple as a heel turn that can give someone the catalyst to move out of the pack and get noticed. My answer thus is Alexa Bliss. No idea how many plans there were for her when they put her with Blake and Murphy but becoming a bitch was a shot in the arm. Her challenge of Bayley was one of the highlights in NXT for me once Sasha, Becky and Charlotte got called up. From thereon I always felt like while I loved her, everything she did was going to be an overachievement. When she got called up to SmackDown I assumed she’d get lost in the pack with 3/4 the “Horsewomen” making waves on the main roster and presumably Bayley and Asuka on their way. When she challenged Lynch, I assumed she’d lose. When she first lost that belt to Naomi I thought the wheels were going to fall off... but I shouldn’t have. For around this time, she was really becoming a world class bitch.
 

After she got drafted and pointed towards now-Raw Champion Bayley, I first noticed some of the cheers creeping into her appearances, in that dangerous manner that heels sometimes get when they’re too good at their act for some (weird) people to boo. Every program Alexa had, she flourished, and really started showing off her versatility when she had to boss around Nia Jax while still portraying fear of her. Again, I feared the worst when she lost the belt to Jax and Ronda entered the scene, but her cash in was brilliant and she spent the rest of the year making Rousey look brilliant. At this point I genuinely started thinking that Alexa had the magic combination of being a fantastic bitch, being able to have good matches, and (sorry) a good dose of sex appeal, that handled correctly, she could be the new Trish. I believe it was the same year she had a brilliant run in the MMC with Strowman, and I genuinely enjoyed the “will they won’t they” fun of that story far more than most of the serious wrestling going on at the time. Alexa was brilliant at being happy to be winning but trying to stop Braun getting carried away.

Fast forward to 2021 and I only had to watch a video of her ring entrance from the Rumble to marvel again at her versatility. She’s been fantastic in more ways than any woman I can think of since.... yeah, Trish. Thinking back to her glitter tutu days, she could have gone the way of plenty of skilled young women have who passed through NXT without getting much of a look, or got lost in the shuffle. But she took her chance and really turned it around.

[chokeout]

On 2/9/2021 at 6:38 PM, scratchdj said:

Umanga.

Still one of the best threads on here. Sadly the 2 and a half meng image is lost to the sands of time. 

[Liam O'Rourke]

21 hours ago, jazzygeofferz said:

@Liam O'Rourke might be in a better position to explain this, but could an argument be made for Brian Pillman? Yes he was a horseman towards the end of his time in WCW, but when he started the loose cannon thing and managed to work Bischoff into a shoot and get his release it lit a rocket under him. Had it not been for his passing another go round with Austin as either opponent or associate in WWE could have been a very big deal. 

He's a brilliant candidate. After the break up of the Blonds he wasn't a priority in the company at all, and when Hogan came in he was essentially a fairly meaningless body on the card. Sullivan put him in the Horsemen as a lifeline, but he was still in the Sammy Guevera style designated jobber of the group position. His contract had six months to go and he thought they'd offer him less money, so he and Kim Wood concocted the Loose Cannon scam and character to inflate his value and Bischoff went for it. Within six months he was offered almost double his current deal and talked about as a potential top guy. That's a pretty great 180.