Why has Eddie gone from World Champ to mid-card?

[Guest TroughOfMantaur]

I need help with something that has been bugging me for months. I'm sure if I had a subscription to the Observer, I wouldn't need to ask, but I can't afford it, at least until our income becomes more steady. Why did Eddie go from world champ all the way to his current non-direction in the mid-card? I have a feeling that JBL wasn't planned to go over at GAB, but that Vince did it to spite CNBC and the smarks that wrote and called CNBC to get him canned. What I've never heard is why Eddie wasn't ever given the belt back, when he was obviously the most over guy on Smackdown. I had hopes that they were gonna slingshot him back in the ME scene when Angle returned to action at Summerslam, but thanks to Kurt's great politicking to get the clean win when it was obvious it would do major damage to Eddie, he was once again shunted to the mid-card. What caused Eddie's fall from grace in the eyes of the office? Was it the fan altercations he had? Was it people getting in Vince's ear to try and get him de-pushed so their own spots wouldn't be taken? Did he fall off the wagon? It's been slowly driving me nuts, so if someone can help, let me know.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Him practically suffering a nervous breakdown surely didn't help his standing.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

Eddie couldn't handle the pressure, which was due in large part to the pathetic nature of the SD brand at the time. Angle was hurt, Brock was gone, Benoit was on Raw, Big Show was hurt (I could be wrong on that one), they wouldn't push RVD against Eddie, Booker was trapped in the quasi-voodoo gimmick and being Taker's bitch, Taker wouldn't go heel against Eddie, and they were going all out making JBL a ME-level heel. He literally had no support, and was feeling the weight of SD sinking under his reign.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Big Show was hurt (I could be wrong on that one)

 

Nope, you're right. He had knee surgery after killing Angle on Smackdown.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Didn't help that Raw went virtually nuclear during the time Eddie was champion and everyone else was tied up/injured, making Smackdown look awful in comparison.

[Precious Roy 0]

I had hopes that they were gonna slingshot him back in the ME scene when Angle returned to action at Summerslam, but thanks to Kurt's great politicking to get the clean win when it was obvious it would do major damage to Eddie

 

I didn't think that was so bad. Eddie went over clean at Mania and there's no reason for Angle not to get a high profile job back. My problem was that they followed that up by letting Angle win the TV blowoff matches and transitioned the feud to Luthor Reigns where it just died. Eddie would have been absolutely fine if allowed to win the big TV match between the two.

 

I don't remember exactly because I was watching SD very sporadically at that point, but didn't they have a lumberjack match and then a 2/3 falls match and Angle won both?

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

I think his nervous breakdown was in large part due to the obscene amount of blood that he lost at Judgement Day.

 

He was never the same after that match and seemed to get more and more fatigued as time went on.

[JN News 0]

Eddie's title reign on SD! would have been much better if Vince had kept HHH on SmackDown! Eddie would've had a credible heel to work with instead of Bradshithead.

[Guest Loss]

There's a dilemma with Eddy because he's clearly a market draw, even now, but he tends to put too much pressure on himself on top. I don't know what the answer is, except that Eddy needs to be protected in an upper card position, even if he's not the champ.

[Tim Cooke 0]

What nervous break down?

 

Tim

[humongous2002 0]

The fact that he had a nervous breakdown and his height didn't help Eddie stay on top.

[Guest Loss]

He never had a nervous breakdown. He was an emotional rollercoaster, yeah, but there wasn't a moment when he completely lost it.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

He never had a nervous breakdown. He was an emotional rollercoaster, yeah, but there wasn't a moment when he completely lost it.

Are there any specific stories related to this?

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

He never had a nervous breakdown. He was an emotional rollercoaster, yeah, but there wasn't a moment when he completely lost it.

Are there any specific stories related to this?

I think in Florida he punched a few fans harassing his family.

[Jericholic82 0]

I had hopes that they were gonna slingshot him back in the ME scene when Angle returned to action at Summerslam, but thanks to Kurt's great politicking to get the clean win when it was obvious it would do major damage to Eddie

 

I didn't think that was so bad. Eddie went over clean at Mania and there's no reason for Angle not to get a high profile job back. My problem was that they followed that up by letting Angle win the TV blowoff matches and transitioned the feud to Luthor Reigns where it just died. Eddie would have been absolutely fine if allowed to win the big TV match between the two.

 

I don't remember exactly because I was watching SD very sporadically at that point, but didn't they have a lumberjack match and then a 2/3 falls match and Angle won both?

angle won the 2/3 falls match with reigns' help. the lumberjack match came later and had a SPORTZ-ENTERTAINMENT FINISH TM SCOTT KEITH wher The Big Show Returned to SD and destroyed everyone with chokeslams.

 

so techincally the blowoff never really happened?

[tekcop 0]

...Bradshithead.

Wow... you're an extremely hilarious man.

[SuperJerk 0]

Eddie's title reign on SD! would have been much better if Vince had kept HHH on SmackDown! Eddie would've had a credible heel to work with instead of Bradshithead.

Was that ever really the plan? I figured they only had Triple H traded just so they'd have an excuse to have Triple H vs. Eddie later that night. They never actually planned on putting Triple H on Smackdown permanently, did they?

[Art Sandusky 0]

I really like RobotJerk's sig.

[Guest BDC]

Eddie's title reign on SD! would have been much better if Vince had kept HHH on SmackDown! Eddie would've had a credible heel to work with instead of Bradshithead.

Was that ever really the plan? I figured they only had Triple H traded just so they'd have an excuse to have Triple H vs. Eddie later that night. They never actually planned on putting Triple H on Smackdown permanently, did they?

As I remember people on this board talking about, yes, yes it was a permant plan, but Trips whined to Vince so much that they went with the Booker T/RVD for Trips plan. Supposedly that's why he had two losses to Shelton.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Hunter was never intended to go to Smackdown. The whole deal was done to ensure Hunter was seen as more important than everyone else. You know, because he really needed the boost(!)

[Lil' Bitch 0]

so techincally the blowoff never really happened?

 

Well, SSeries since it was Team Guerrero Vs. Team Angle. How stupid of them to book Show to pin Kurt instead of Eddie though.

[cameron chaos 0]

He drew poorly even though his shirts sold. He pushed himself to meet self imposed expectations of how he should have been carrying the company, leading him to be mentally and physically exhausted.

 

I believe he crashed a car when he fell asleep behind the wheel.

 

He got into it with Kurt Angle twice (one week Angle and Luther apologised even though they felt Eddy was in the wrong, the second time saw Angle frontfacelock Eddie and keep him face to the ground until agents stepped in. I believe Eddie and Angle got called before managment to settle things and shake hands to settle matters).

 

When a handful of German fans started chanting "Eddie Sucks" at a house show, Eddie, rather than play along and act like a rudo or even ignore the chants, took offense and screamed over the house mic, "Eddie doesn't suck, Germany sucks!" which is not exactly a slogan you want associated with a face champion.

 

His health suffered following the gory bladejob he did to put over JBL but he refused to go to the hospital, which led to his system going into shock since he was missing vital pints.

 

All in all, he pushed himself to hard to try be the champion he thought he should be and ended up becoming a champion that managment felt bad about putting the belt on in hindsight.

 

Edit: Missed out part of the fourth paragraph.

Edited February 3, 2005 by cameron chaos

[what 0]

He drew poorly even though his shirts sold. He pushed himself to meet self imposed expectations of how he should have been carrying the company, leading him to be mentally and physically exhausted.

 

I believe he crashed a car when he fell asleep behind the wheel.

 

He got into it with Kurt Angle twice (one week Angle and Luther apologised even though they felt Eddy was in the wrong, the second time saw Angle frontfacelock Eddie and keep him face to the ground until agents stepped in. I believe Eddie and Angle got called before managment to settle things and shake hands to settle matters).

 

When a handful of German fans started chanting "Eddie Sucks" at a house show, Eddie, rather than play along and act like a rudo or even ignore the chants, took which is not exactly a slogan you want associated with a face champion.

 

His health suffered following the gory bladejob he did to put over JBL but he refused to go to the hospital, which led to his system going into shock since he was missing vital pints.

 

All in all, he pushed himself to hard to try be the champion he thought he should be and ended up becoming a champion that managment felt bad about putting the belt on in hindsight.

This post sums it up nicely.

[Promoter 0]

He drew poorly even though his shirts sold. He pushed himself to meet self imposed expectations of how he should have been carrying the company, leading him to be mentally and physically exhausted.

 

I believe he crashed a car when he fell asleep behind the wheel.

 

He got into it with Kurt Angle twice (one week Angle and Luther apologised even though they felt Eddy was in the wrong, the second time saw Angle frontfacelock Eddie and keep him face to the ground until agents stepped in. I believe Eddie and Angle got called before managment to settle things and shake hands to settle matters).

 

When a handful of German fans started chanting "Eddie Sucks" at a house show, Eddie, rather than play along and act like a rudo or even ignore the chants, took which is not exactly a slogan you want associated with a face champion.

 

His health suffered following the gory bladejob he did to put over JBL but he refused to go to the hospital, which led to his system going into shock since he was missing vital pints.

 

All in all, he pushed himself to hard to try be the champion he thought he should be and ended up becoming a champion that managment felt bad about putting the belt on in hindsight.

Strange, I thought it was Vince just liking the fact that Bradshaw was gaining cheap heat in the media. A lot of the post is true, but Vince favours Bradshaw its rumoured because he reminds him of a 70's wrestler. It also doesn't hurt that he is kind of playing a wrestler Vince Mcmahon would be in the ring. Add to that that Bradshaw is most likely getting Brock's intended push as I read stuff that Brock was going to be put back into the title chase after feuding with Taker and win back his title. The signs are kind of there as Bradshaw has taken up Brock's "champion of champions" schtick(Brock was saying greatest champion of them all).

 

If the wwe was really serious about Eddie as champion he would not have been put into midcard matches as champion against the likes of the Bashams for crying out loud. Eddie supposedly wasn't going to be transitional according to Meltzer, but how many real face champions win a major title on a minor ppv and reign long especially before WM? Eddie's reign was doomed once Brock left because most likely Eddie was going to look like gold as champion and Brock would return back to the top beating him. Bradshaw basically has Brock's push imo. They probably jettisoned the title on Bradshaw in hopes of creating shock on the minor ppv.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

FTR, Eddie was meant to be a long term champion. Vince put the belt on Bradshaw because he wanted to strike back at what he felt was this liberal media campaign that cost Bradshaw his CNBC job. Never mind the fact that there was no media campaign, and Bradshaw actually lost his job because of 1200 wrestling fans sending a petition to CNBC. Bradshaw has kept the belt because, kind of like the Ted DiBiase character in the 80's, Vince seems Bradshaw as an extension of himself, that being pro-G Bush, pro-war, and he likes to do things to piss liberals off.

[Guest netslob]

because he's small, Hispanic and isn't married to a McMahon. duh.

[Enigma 0]

His health declined because of the bladejob and he refused to go to hospital?

 

I don't remember this.

[Promoter 0]

His health declined because of the bladejob and he refused to go to hospital?

 

I don't remember this.

I know that's what I mean. All this Eddie having a break-down and couldn't handle it at the top sounds like wwe propaganda to me. I mean I think the man has overcome much more serious things in his life and to lose his mind over being a champion sounds pretty strange.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Eddie's depression over having the WWE belt taken off him is because he saw it as the company not having faith in him to carry things, and if you feel that your employers, or anyone, don't have faith in you, then that can really hit you hard.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

His health declined because of the bladejob and he refused to go to hospital?

 

I don't remember this.

No, it was more they didn't give him any time off after the bladejob and it was all downhill after that.

 

And Bradshaw only got the belt because Vince wanted to spite everyone that was irritated over the Nazi thing.