Val Venis

[Guest Redhawk]

I was watching an old PPV from 1998-99 or so, back when Val Venis was supposed to be one of the WWF's future stars. He seemed to have everything you'd want as far as "the tools" go, so what went wrong? Personally, I thought his initial porn star character got kinda corny after a while, but with some retooling he coulda been huge. So why is he a nobody now?

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Three Simple Words: The Gimmick. Got Stale. Plus the fact his non Val Venis gimmick (Bischoff's "chief") didn't click well with the fans, and his Val Venis character has been boring since 1999.

[Guest JRE]

The gimmick is soooo bad now, dropped angles all over the place too. He was doin' okay as Chief Morley...I really dunno why they changed it- it could have eben okay for the one-night thing at Judgment Day to get in the IC match....but nobody cares about his porn star exploits. Nobody!

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

Three Simple Words: The(1) Gimmick(2). Got(3) Stale(4).

[JoeDirt 0]

He needs a complete retooling and another chance. He's pretty good in the ring and has a good look...they just need to give him a good feud or a reason for people to care about him one way or another.

[Guest Redhawk]

In between "Porn Star" and "Chief Morely" he had a few different characters, too: there was the "Right to Censor Val" and the "White Tights Short-Hair Val" that hung with Trish Stratus for a minute.

[Guest Mulatto Heat]

-They kept on going back to the porn star gimmick again and again when it was obvious that nothing more could be done with it.

 

-Being part of the go-nowhere RTC didn't help.

 

-Going back to Val Venis last year was the kiss of death. At least as Chief Morley he was on RAW every week. He went back to Val Venis and was back on the B-Show circuit almost immediately.

 

He WAS touted as the future back in 1998 much like how a Randy Orton or Rene Dupree is these days. He and Rikishi are two big examples of how having a "Can't Miss" gimmick which brings much popularity could go suddenly awry and how those who have these kinds of gimmicks today should beware. I think - or hope - you know who I'm referring to. (*brushes shoulder*)

[AndrewTS 0]

I thought the problem was injuries? The Chief Morley role seemed like it was intended for him to have an on-camera role but he wouldn't need to wrestle.

 

It seemed really stupid for him to go back to the Venis gimmick, because he was great in the Morley role. He was great on the stick, and had a lot of neat acting subtleties down pat. However, they stick him back into the same midcarder gimmick that's never going to get him anywhere higher.

 

It could only work if they alter it heavily, like the "new" Goldust (pre-Tourette's).

 

was the "Right to Censor Val"

 

EVIL ICE CREAM MAN!

[JoeDirt 0]

I thought the problem was injuries? The Chief Morley role seemed like it was intended for him to have an on-camera role but he wouldn't need to wrestle.

 

It seemed really stupid for him to go back to the Venis gimmick, because he was great in the Morley role. He was great on the stick, and had a lot of neat acting subtleties down pat. However, they stick him back into the same midcarder gimmick that's never going to get him anywhere higher.

 

It could only work if they alter it heavily, like the "new" Goldust (pre-Tourette's).

It's really weird, because he's got a great build and he's decent on the mic like you said. Who knows if Vince'll decide to ever give him another serious push, or if he'll just be released at the end of the contract.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Val Venis, What went wrong?

 

Trying to be too much like the late Rick Rude

[AndrewTS 0]

Val Venis, What went wrong?

 

Trying to be too much like the late Rick Rude

At least he was more successful than the other classic gimmick revival they tried about the same time: The Million Dollar Arab, Tiger Ali Singh.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Three Simple Words: The(1) Gimmick(2). Got(3) Stale(4).

Oops. I was going to say "It Got Stale", but the word It doesn't really describe what. So 4 simple words.

[JoeDirt 0]

Val Venis, What went wrong?

 

Trying to be too much like the late Rick Rude

At least he was more successful than the other classic gimmick revival they tried about the same time: The Million Dollar Arab, Tiger Ali Singh.

Though Tiger Ali Singh has about as much talent as Val's left nut.

[Guest TheAnvil]

I thought the problem was injuries? The Chief Morley role seemed like it was intended for him to have an on-camera role but he wouldn't need to wrestle.

Yes, he was injured for a while. He had an accident lifting weights and injured his neck. When he came back from that injury, they put him in the Chief Morley gimmick. I really like the gimmick, and he seemed to be getting some okay heat as a heel. Then, they just have him fired, have Austin punk him, and stick him back in his shitty gimmick.

 

I thought it was great when he was tag-team champions with Lance Storm. Why can't they wrestle as a legitimate team in the tag division? Instead, we get shitty teams like Booker T and RVD and Batista and Flair fighting for the titles. Those are 4 singles performers cutting into the TV time of talented stars, when they could be doing their own thing.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Val Venis, What went wrong?

 

Trying to be too much like the late Rick Rude

At least he was more successful than the other classic gimmick revival they tried about the same time: The Million Dollar Arab, Tiger Ali Singh.

Though Tiger Ali Singh has about as much talent as Val's left nut.

And you would know this, how?

 

 

Seriously, Ali Singh just flat out SUCKED. Did he ever draw heat?

[AndrewTS 0]

Val Venis, What went wrong?

 

Trying to be too much like the late Rick Rude

At least he was more successful than the other classic gimmick revival they tried about the same time: The Million Dollar Arab, Tiger Ali Singh.

Though Tiger Ali Singh has about as much talent as Val's left nut.

Then they thought "maybe he'd make a good manager! Let's stick turbans on a couple of jobbers and give it a go! Add racist jokes to taste."

[Cuban Linx 0]

The gimmick had outlived it's usefulness about half a decade ago, for him to still be stuck with it in this day and age just shows how much the WWE still cares about giving Val anything useful to do.

 

He may have been a star of the future at one point, but since then new people the WWE considers the stars of the future have come in and Val's just been swept aside.

[JoeDirt 0]

Val Venis, What went wrong?

 

Trying to be too much like the late Rick Rude

At least he was more successful than the other classic gimmick revival they tried about the same time: The Million Dollar Arab, Tiger Ali Singh.

Though Tiger Ali Singh has about as much talent as Val's left nut.

And you would know this, how?

 

 

Seriously, Ali Singh just flat out SUCKED. Did he ever draw heat?

WE CAN'T TALK ABOUT TIGER ALI SINGH IN A VAL VENIS THREAD! STAY ON TOPIC!

 

But yeah, Tiger sucked. I remember him paying that chick that was on Howard Stern show to deepthroat a kielbasa.

[AndrewTS 0]

So, back on topic, is the "Lance as Val's protege" angle completely dropped? As stupid as it started out, it was still getting Lance a push.

 

Funny. Lance was losing and losing and being insulted by Austin, and people said "it's going to end up in a push." So they give Lance a goofy character and goofy new ring music, he gets, like, one decent win, then never wins again, they start this angle with Val, and it never went anywhere.

 

Is that about right?

 

Oddly, it isn't like Val vanished, he's a Raw jobber now.

[{''({o..o})''} 0]

I think WWE pretty much gave up on Val Venis as a star after his feud with Mankind bombed. Everything after that was just a half assed push.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

Val Venis, What went wrong?

 

Trying to be too much like the late Rick Rude

At least he was more successful than the other classic gimmick revival they tried about the same time: The Million Dollar Arab, Tiger Ali Singh.

Though Tiger Ali Singh has about as much talent as Val's left nut.

And you would know this, how?

 

 

Seriously, Ali Singh just flat out SUCKED. Did he ever draw heat?

WE CAN'T TALK ABOUT TIGER ALI SINGH IN A VAL VENIS THREAD! STAY ON TOPIC!

 

But yeah, Tiger sucked. I remember him paying that chick that was on Howard Stern show to deepthroat a kielbasa.

She does it WITHOUT being paid though....wait. OFF TOPIC AGAIN!

 

 

Another "Future Star" from 1998: Gangrel. I actually liked the gimmick though. Poor Vampire Warrior.

[JoeDirt 0]

I think WWE pretty much gave up on Val Venis as a star after his feud with Mankind bombed. Everything after that was just a half assed push.

He had the little IC title push and the cage match with Rikishi at Fully Loaded 2000 where Kish came off the top of the cage with a splash.

[JoeDirt 0]

I always liked Gangrel's entrance and he was a decent/okayish wrestler, but he never really had one good feud in the WWF in 1999, not even the feud with Edge.

[Guest TheAnvil]

So, back on topic, is the "Lance as Val's protege" angle completely dropped? As stupid as it started out, it was still getting Lance a push.

 

Funny. Lance was losing and losing and being insulted by Austin, and people said "it's going to end up in a push." So they give Lance a goofy character and goofy new ring music, he gets, like, one decent win, then never wins again, they start this angle with Val, and it never went anywhere.

 

Is that about right?

 

Oddly, it isn't like Val vanished, he's a Raw jobber now.

Yeah...like a few weeks ago, he comes out and wrestles Orton, and they put on a pretty good match. He gets a lot of offense, but loses to the RKO. That's all fine and good. The crowd was dead though, because no one really cares about Val Venis anymore. Still, they put on a good match, something that could be built from. Do they? Hell no, he has to get the Kane squash. FUCK KANE AND HIS STUPID FUCKING PUSH.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

I think WWE pretty much gave up on Val Venis as a star after his feud with Mankind bombed.  Everything after that was just a half assed push.

He had the little IC title push and the cage match with Rikishi at Fully Loaded 2000 where Kish came off the top of the cage with a splash.

Val was still kinda over, by denouncing the Venis gimmick, and changing his act a lot.

[Papacita 0]

I liked Val's I-C Title reign in 2000. He was coming along fine before they inexplicably put the belt on Chyna at SummerSlam.

 

He was also getting pretty good heat in RTC for a while before he was faded into the background for whatever reason. Val could've been really big had they given him a strong push and stuck with it.

[Guest Man Of 1,004 Modes]

So, back on topic, is the "Lance as Val's protege" angle completely dropped?  As stupid as it started out, it was still getting Lance a push.

 

Funny.  Lance was losing and losing and being insulted by Austin, and people said "it's going to end up in a push."  So they give Lance a goofy character and goofy new ring music, he gets, like, one decent win, then never wins again, they start this angle with Val, and it never went anywhere.

 

Is that about right?

 

Oddly, it isn't like Val vanished, he's a Raw jobber now.

Yeah...like a few weeks ago, he comes out and wrestles Orton, and they put on a pretty good match. He gets a lot of offense, but loses to the RKO. That's all fine and good. The crowd was dead though, because no one really cares about Val Venis anymore. Still, they put on a good match, something that could be built from. Do they? Hell no, he has to get the Kane squash. FUCK KANE AND HIS STUPID FUCKING PUSH.

....No One insults KANE!! NO ONE!!! (cries)

[Lil' Bitch 0]

When did Val cut his hair anyway? I did enjoy his feuds with Ken Shamrock and Goldust back in the ol' Attitude era.

[Guest Anglesault]

I bought the RTC shirt because of Val and Ivory.

 

Oh God, I bought the Right to Censor shirt.

 

::weeps::

[AndrewTS 0]

I think WWE pretty much gave up on Val Venis as a star after his feud with Mankind bombed.  Everything after that was just a half assed push.

 

Well, that feud did suck, but it was mainly because Venis recently had turned to a horribly dull and generic heel, and I think that angle revolved around Socko or his stupid book, or--well, it was forgettable and boring, so I can't remember.