The Evolution of the WWE Viewing Audience

[Guest deinly1]

Jericho and Benoit are both guys who have blatantly gotten their one run with the title and have been booked like lesser stars since.

 

Benoit's better off than the other two because he's never been jobbed out the same way, even though he's been dropped down the card. Just look at how he was allowed to squash Orlando at Summerslam. Jericho & RVD would never be allowed to do that. Benoit still has his credibility and that is a big deal. He's still seen as a threat, whether he is challenging for the World Title or in the opener.

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As far as Benoit is concerned we all can see his in-ring ability is far beyond most the WWE has to offer, and his recent "coffee" promo was a new side of greatness. In my opinion from what I have heard, Benoit was given the title to appease smarks all over the world- but promptly lost it to put over Orton because Vince just doesn't give a guy who is under 6'4 and 260 lbs the strap. (unless of course there is no one else he likes as in the days of Hart/HBK). Even though Benoit has shown he can out match and put moves on anyone in the company, until he grows 6 inches in height Vince just wont give him his truly deserved props. It's sad but true.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

So... explain Stone Cold Steve Austin.

[cabbageboy 0]

Austin slides just under the bar of Vince's standards I guess. As far as Benoit goes, he's the sort of guy who never really stays over. People acknowledge his skills but he's never really wildly popular. If he's getting pushed, fans generally respond. If he's not getting pushed, the casual fan doesn't chant his name exactly.

[Boon 0]

Austin gets a pass b/c he put the company back in the spotlight.

[Guest deinly1]

Austin? The man single-handedly carried the new generations "attitude" for several years. His mic skills (and the way he was pushed of course) made the transfer from the old honkey-tonking gobbledy-gooker( YES, I remember that) days of the WWE to a mere shadow of what we still see today unfortunately.

 

Comparison between him and Benoit is crazy. As for size, Austin is listed at 6'3 240. Granted his gimmick was a take-off of the wildly popular yet still relatively unknown Sandman of ECW.

[CanadianChick 0]

Bullshit Austin's 6'3. He looks an even 6 foot.

 

And the reason Austin got a shot was because of the reactions he was getting and Vince being desperate to beat WCW. I do wonder if Austin did debut without WCW around if he would have been able to go to the heights he did.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

My point was that just because you're small doesn't mean Vince won't give you a chance. He did it with Austin. Thus your reasoning for Benoit not getting a push because of his height is... flawed.

[CanadianChick 0]

But very rarely, unless he's pretty well backed in a corner, does Vince let the smaller guys (which I sadly mean 6 foot or under) truly shine. Shawn and Bret were pushed because of the steroid scandal. Austin was pushed because Vince was losing badly to WCW and Vince needed somebody.

 

In my opinion though, the bigger problem since say 1999 is not pushing non-homegrown talent.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Yes that would be a better reasoning for not pushing Benoit, "He's not a homegrown talent." than what deinly was trying to claim, "He's too short!"

[CanadianChick 0]

But you have to see were deinly is coming from. Short guys are hardly taken seriously in WWE. The cruiser division gets no focus. Vince likes the "bigger than life" presence of bigger guys. You can't deny that much.

[Guest deinly1]

Hey, I'm the first one to admit Beniot is great and SHOULD be given the push, But I'm also saying Vince doesn't like to give a guy who isn't a hoss much consideration- in most cases. Of course Bret and HBK and Austin are smaller guys who rose to the top, for very diffrent reasons as far as I'm concerned. Now go through the long list of guys Vince gave tons of tv time to based solely on size. Going all the way back to days of One Man Gang - you can't think he was given tag team titles with Bossman because of his abilty or charisma(even though I do think the Akeem gimmick was hilarious) the name of the team was even Twin Towers. Also, take a look at someone like Test, the guy was a bodyguard for Motley Cru or some shit, no way he didn't get all that hype if he was 5'9'' and not 6'7".

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Of course Vince would like guys who would look impressive on TV, may it be ripped physiques or being giants or whatever, but don't use that as an excuse for a smaller guy not getting pushed. There's other reasons to factor in like CC's point about non-homegrowns and sometimes believe it or not, some guys don't get pushed because they rub the management the wrong way (Chris Jericho currently comes to mind).

 

edit: Not to say being small isn't a reason that people don't receive pushes, but if they have other intangible factors, Vince will push you regardless of your size.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

When were the Twin Towers ever Tag Team Champions?

[Guest news_gimmick]

They never held the titles.

[cabbageboy 0]

Yeah I was about to say Demolition held the tag titles and maybe lost them to the Brainbusters for a bit, then maybe the Colossal Connection. Bossman and Akeem never got near em.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Yeah I was about to say Demolition held the tag titles and maybe lost them to the Brainbusters for a bit, then maybe the Colossal Connection.  Bossman and Akeem never got near em.

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I seem to remember it going Demolition --> Brainbusters --> Demolition --> Colossal Connection --> Demolition --> Hart Foundation --> etc.

[cabbageboy 0]

Yeah and the Harts jobbed to the Nastys at WM 7 so Bret could go solo. Nastys lost to the LOD, LOD to Money Inc., then Natural Disasters, then Money Inc. and after that it's blurry to me a bit. I think the Steiners won somewhere in there and once the Quebecers won the belts in that bogus fashion I lost interest in the tag division.

[Guest deinly1]

Sorry, that was so long ago I really thought they had gold at one point.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Didn't it go Money Inc --> Steiners --> Money Inc --> Steiners in a short amount of time in the summer of 1993?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Didn't it go Money Inc --> Steiners --> Money Inc --> Steiners in a short amount of time in the summer of 1993?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They did three tag title changes in five days in June of 1993.