Paid Members mim731 Posted March 25, 2021 Paid Members Posted March 25, 2021 I've been making my way back through all the Royal Rumble matches starting from the very first one (it has taken much longer than I anticipated, I started in January and foolishly thought I'd be done by this year's Rumble). As I got to 2017 and started watching the match, out walked Big Cass and Enzo Amore and the whole massive Alamodome lost their shit, following along with every word of their pre-match promo. Proper stars in the eyes of that audience on that night. Now for various reasons, including Enzo being a bellend (and allegedly a lot worse) that really didn't last very long at all. Less than 18 months later they were both gone from the company. This got me thinking about people who were massively over with the crowd, but burnt out their good will pretty sharpishly, and I thought it might generate some fun discussion. What performers were crowd favourites but then fell off the map pretty rapidly?
Paid Members JNLister Posted March 25, 2021 Paid Members Posted March 25, 2021 Fandango week was fun. It felt like it was nailed on that if he got played on the Chart Show, he was getting a WWE title match at Backlash. Just missed out at #44 and he was done.
MVP RULZ Posted March 25, 2021 Posted March 25, 2021 Fandango has to be a top contender for this Was over Massively due to his theme more then anything, everyone was singing it. At the o2 Arena just after Wrestlemania it was crazy that he actually ended the show to send the fans home happy all singing that theme. Didnt Everton even get involved in it all at one point? Then in typical WWE fashion I guess it was shoved down our throats at every opportunity and within a few months it was over. I guess Fandango has had a fairly decent career on the whole since then but for that brief moment he was the most over guy in the company
Paid Members Scott Malbranque Posted March 25, 2021 Paid Members Posted March 25, 2021 Adam Rose had me a wee bit giddy before they changed his entrance music, and then I wasn't giddy anymore.
Paid Members IANdrewDiceClay Posted March 25, 2021 Paid Members Posted March 25, 2021 It seems fucking ridiculous now, but there was a period that Ryback, Adam Rose, Enzo and Cass and Fandango were going to be the future of the company. Slightly less than those, but Tyler Breeze looked a star that Takeover when he got his new music.
The King of Old School Posted March 25, 2021 Posted March 25, 2021 Ryback was going to my nomination. Had a couple of months where he looked like he was going to be the next huge babyface star, destroying everyone and getting great reactions. Then he lost to CM Punk at HITC in October, and didn't win again on PPV until the following July where he was a lukewarm heel.
Paid Members marc2j Posted March 25, 2021 Paid Members Posted March 25, 2021 Admittedly though, at the time I was like 'oh no, they ruined Ryback', but having heard him speak or write about almost any subject since, he really wasn't the best person to give the ball too.
Paid Members Chris B Posted March 25, 2021 Paid Members Posted March 25, 2021 During the invasion, the five minutes where it looked like Rob Van Dam was going to be a megastar and then stayed at exactly the same level for the rest of his career.
RedRooster Posted March 25, 2021 Posted March 25, 2021 Obviously it's TNA, so you have to view things through a certain lens, but there were points in time where Tomko, Monty Brown, Chris Harris/Braden Walker and Lance Hoyt/Archer were getting really over in and it genuinely felt like they might go on to be important wrestlers for the company. From a WWE point of view, I didn't watch wrestling until late 2002, but from watching back old programming I find it pretty shocking how over Crash Holly was at various points. I wonder if Bayley would also fit the criteria laid out by the original poster? She's obviously still a big star, but there was a point in time where she was arguably the most popular female wrestler and it felt that she could end up being a break-out female star. She felt like a huge deal when she made her first main roster appearance, as Sasha's surprise partner, but when she became a regular member of the main roster she had to fizzle out, before finding her feet again as a heel.
Paid Members Supremo Posted March 25, 2021 Paid Members Posted March 25, 2021 “Rusev Day,” felt like all the stars aligning at the same time. A proper breakthrough moment. So disappointing when it came out people were actually only chanting it and going nuts for Rusev ironically.
Paid Members DCW Posted March 25, 2021 Paid Members Posted March 25, 2021 I maintain Fandango floundered cos they got rid of the lovely original dancer he did his entrance with & replaced her with tacky Summer Rae!
Briefcase Posted March 25, 2021 Posted March 25, 2021 Fandango only seemed to be over with the WrestleMania Crowd (which you could argue was British fans making noise) during Wrestlemania week and on UK tours. I think with Fandango he was one of them that if he lost the music and got a big push as a different character he would have had no reactions at all, so had to keep the music and the dancer aspect to get those reactions, but a great warm up act (along with Truth) which isn't anything he should be ashamed of.
Tsurutagun Posted March 25, 2021 Posted March 25, 2021 The pops Virgil got in 1991 were big. A product of good booking and a despicable heel. Once Dibiase left the scene it was over but Virgil vs Dibiase at Summerslam 91 and the angle of the Rumble will always be a go to just for how hot the crowd were for it.
The King Of Swing Posted March 25, 2021 Posted March 25, 2021 On the subject of TNA I remember the original LAX being pretty hot for a time only for them to be stripped of the tag belts for saying mean things about the US or something. Think it was all downhill after that but I could be wrong.
Paid Members air_raid Posted March 25, 2021 Paid Members Posted March 25, 2021 The Funkasaurus. Or whatever they called him.
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