Paid Members air_raid Posted March 24 Paid Members Share Posted March 24 16 minutes ago, Carbomb said: Not having kept an eye on things WWE, have to ask: wasn't Jinder Mahal quite quickly raised from a jobber to world champ? Yes, but by the time Mania 34 came round he was merely in a multi man US title clusterfuck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Statto Posted March 24 Paid Members Share Posted March 24 Yeah, the spectacular rise for Jinder was runner up in the battle royal on the pre-show to WWE Champion at the next PPV. Although looking at it with hindsight you could see the spot he was in at Mania 33 as the start of a move to prominence - although he didn't win, he was the one getting pounced by Gronk which obviously was a moment that got a lot of mainstream media coverage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted March 24 Paid Members Share Posted March 24 Do Benoit & Eddie Count as they both wrestled in title matches on what was ostensibly the last two matches on the card at Mania 20 (Yeah, they had that Undertake return in between, but that was more about the entrances), but were in the first two matches at Wrestlemania 21. Or how about Yokozuna? He wrestled two matches each for the WWF title at Wrestlemanias 9 and 10, then was tagging with Owen against the Smoking Gunns at 11. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperBacon Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 I dunno if either of those could be "fall from graces" to be honest. They were still pretty prominent/important matches they were involved in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westlondonmist Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 1 hour ago, SuperBacon said: I dunno if either of those could be "fall from graces" to be honest. They were still pretty prominent/important matches they were involved in. Yeah people don't realise how over the Smoking Guns were. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted March 25 Paid Members Share Posted March 25 7 hours ago, westlondonmist said: Yeah people don't realise how over the Smoking Guns were. So over that chunks of Hartford cheered when Owen & Yokozuna beat them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted March 25 Paid Members Share Posted March 25 13 hours ago, Jazzy G said: Or how about Yokozuna? He wrestled two matches each for the WWF title at Wrestlemanias 9 and 10, then was tagging with Owen against the Smoking Gunns at 11. Yoko works the other way around too. Hadn't even been hired by Mania 8 and had very little national recognition before main eventing Mania 9. Very little precedent for that in the company's history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Jazzy G Posted March 25 Paid Members Share Posted March 25 Very much so. He only debuted at Survivor Series in 92, won the Rumble, and was champion by Mania. It's almost like Flair's run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Supremo Posted March 25 Paid Members Share Posted March 25 On the subject of people flying to the top of the card in record time, Bianca Belair made her main roster debut with a run-in at Wrestlemania 36, helping the Street Profits fight off Angel Garza, Austin Theory and Zelina. By Wrestlemania 37, she was main eventing with Sasha Banks. The only other one I can think of with a similar trajectory is Brock. Debuted the night after Mania 18, main evented Mania 19 against Kurt Angle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted March 25 Paid Members Share Posted March 25 (ahem) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members tiger_rick Posted March 25 Paid Members Share Posted March 25 I thought about Sid with the Yoko comparison, but he was a pretty major star though. Not quite the same as if Flair had main evented 8 but closer to that level than the complete unknowns of Yoko or Lesnar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westlondonmist Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 I thought Macho Man was a climb, a fall then a huge climb then a fall. IC title match at 3, win the title at 4, main evented 5.  Then he wrestlers Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire in a comedy match. Not even a good comedy match. He lost too, although Sherri took the pin.  At 7 he wrestlers Warrior in what I would call a co-main event. It felt just as important as the title match. Then at 8 he's back in the title picture. At 10 he's wrestling Crush. What a waste of the machine man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 2 Paid Members Share Posted April 2 24 minutes ago, westlondonmist said: I thought Macho Man was a climb, a fall then a huge climb then a fall. IC title match at 3, win the title at 4, main evented 5. Then he wrestlers Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire in a comedy match. Not even a good comedy match. He lost too, although Sherri took the pin. I think you gravely underestimate how much business Dusty vs Savage was on the live shows for a huge six month run of straight matches, lumberjack matches, cage matches and mixed tags (yes, even Liz went on the road) in a time when they were able to get three decent gates every night. Feud was massive and the blow off was featured prominently in the TV build. Only the title matches and Jake vs Million $ Man was a bigger deal on the marquee. Nobody considered this a comedy match at the time even though there obviously was some humour in some spots and in the baddies getting their comeuppance. Although, I was with Jesse - why people cheered the people cheating was beyond me, even as a child. 31 minutes ago, westlondonmist said: Then at 8 he's back in the title picture. At 10 he's wrestling Crush. What a waste of the machine man. In isolation it looks like a drop if he went from a title match to wrestling Crush. In reality, he transitioned into "non wrestler" before IX then came off his sabbatical gradually in the months leading up to X to do the big pay off of the deeply personal feud they started six months earlier. It's not a bad spot for a bloke that wasn't wrestling on the show the year before. It's hardly "wrestled Hogan for the belt on last" to "falling over midgets" inside a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westlondonmist Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 Fair enough. I think it's Sapphire more than Dusty that I see as a bit shit. Had it been Macho Man vs Dusty in a singles match I'd look upon as a higher end match, and one that definitely sits high up on that card. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted April 2 Paid Members Share Posted April 2 1 hour ago, westlondonmist said: Had it been Macho Man vs Dusty in a singles match I'd look upon as a higher end match, and one that definitely sits high up on that card. Weirdly enough for the time they did blow that off in singles at SummerSlam, serving as a transition to Dusty putting Ted over. Without going down the rabbit hole too far a lot of the practices of the WWF in the 80s through to about 94 (and definitely by 95 with the advent of one PPV a month) PPVs rarely represented the big feuds (a main event aside) and often the matches existed to set up the next serious runs and any matches that did feel like blow offs had non finishes or finishes designed to continue rather than finish the run. Mania VI is a decent example - they set up Duggan vs Earthquake and Boss Man vs DiBiase as big feuds for the road, neither of which will end up blown off at SummerSlam. In turn SummerSlam sets up  Teddy vs Dusty, Quake vs Boss Man and LOD vs Demolition - none of which will get a full blown PPV feud ender either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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