Can't just about any wrestler get over...

[Guest The Man in Blak]

Back on topic...

 

Let's use Undertaker as an example. I remember sometime in late 2000-early 2001 when one of the Internet writers said this about 'Taker (paraphrasing):

 

"Well, he gets this super-cool entrance with both a Limp Bizkit song AND a motorcyle, he never sells anything so he looks unbeatable, he gets 10 minutes of promo time and he never loses. He's BETTER be over after all of that."

 

Thing is, you could say that for a lot of guys. HHH, Austin, RVD, Kane, etc. Now I'm sure some of them could get over if they weren't given such a big push, but I think if...hell..Chuck Palumbo got his own entrance music by a pop star, got a lot of interview time and never lost, HE'D be way over too.

As much as I'd love to subscribe to the "WWE Could Put Over Anyone They Please" propaganda (lord knows they've already printed the packet for the office), I'll have to pass. There's been countless hours of my life wasted upon watching half-talents like Billy Gunn, Albert, Big Show and Kane clog up mic time that Austin, Rock, or Foley could have used to get other people over.

 

20 minutes with Triple H is an exercise in tedium.

 

20 minutes with the Rock in heel mode almost draws the fans into a riot.

 

What's the dividing line between them?

 

How about TALENT?

 

As it's been mentioned before, people latch onto the subtle things. The Rock's condescending chuckles. Austin's little bits of insanity. And all of those things, among other things, are a result of acting TALENT.

 

It's the same in the ring too - I'd rather watch Benoit and Angle trade hold and counterhold and build a physical match-up than watch Storm/Regal and the Dudleys blaze through every damn tag team match cliche ever created as though they were questions on a high school exam.

 

Make no mistake - the writing team and the Rock, in three segments totalling about 45 minutes, helped re-establish Hurricane (who was M.I.A. as far as Raw goes) and legitimize Booker (who had been in stasis). You don't think talent had anything to do with it? You put Chuck Palumbo in Rock's spot and convince me that he could do the same.

[Guest Nater]

Rock is probably one of the best on the mic still.

 

He gauged and controlled the crowd excellently, timing was damn near perfect. You see a lot of people have trouble dealing with the things he was expecting, for that I dont think he is being over-credited.

[Guest creativename]

the last example I can think of is Bubba/HHH...I REALLY thought they were gonna do a Long term deal with those two...because Bubba was getting over as the "Every day man"

Actually no...that feud was blown off for the sole reason that Bubba wasn't getting over at all. I remember his big 10-minute promo about HHH, where the crowd just completely turned on him. There was just no way they could accept Bubba Dudley as a main event guy.

 

Don't you remember the stories about people walking out of house shows main evented by HHH vs. Bubba? This was one time where what the fans wanted was just so blatantly obvious, the WWE had no choice but to drop the Bubba-HHH feud.

 

And the thing is, because of all this, what was more than a month of build-up for the feud, and months of extreme protection for Bubba, was thrown away on a meaningless, top of the 1st hour Raw match. Bubba had a really insane Superman run for a couple months prior to this feud where he completely dominated all opposition and was never made to look weak in the slightest. This made no sense to anyone at the time, but is now very reminiscent of RVD's, Kane's, and now Booker's pre-HHH feud buildups (especially Kane's, necrophilia aside).

[Guest Youth N Asia]

actually one of the funniest skits involved Tajiri speaking broken English just to try and get into Maven's Hospital Room, dressing up as a doctor and running around the Hospital.

*Tajiri in broken English

 

Tajiri: "Looking for Maven?"

Nurse: "And what's his last name?"

Tajiri: *pounds table* "No last name! Just Maven!"

 

Even funnier cause it came out "No rast name"

 

His facial features in that whole thing were just great...then later when Torrie's in the room with Maven and you just see Tajiri's head pop up outside of the window...gold, just gold.