Don't know why I was thinking of this. A couple of tag teams come to mind. The Pitbulls had a real Road Warriors vibe going in ECW. I was surprised Vince didn't pick them up. The other team is the Headhunters. Those guys were huge. They were on RAW like one time and in ECW once or twice, but that was it.
They just called Morgan up far too early and he had no clue what to do on TV. Should've left him in developmental for another year or so.
Had they not saddled him with an awful character and constantly farted about with him in different roles from 2000 onwards, Sean Morley could've easily been a main event player. He had the look, the size, the ability, and the mic skills.
Originally posted by Big BadDunno why WWE didn't hold onto Matt Morgan for longer. That guy was a total prototype for them. Imagine him in Evolution in Batista's place.
Batista was the better choice. Batista had a quiet charisma until they did their big push with him. Even when he got the big, he was more of a man of action then big talker. Mogan's strength is his size and his heel mic skills. Morgan could have never pulled off the face turn that Batista did and probably would have taken some thunder away from Orton if given the chance to talk. Morgan being TNA is big fish in little pond, I am actually more shocked they haven't thrown the belt on him in TNA then WWE not doing anything with him.
I doubt if this counts or not, but Shelton in 2004 was a deadlock that somehow got away. He had a good to ok career in the WWE, but I still don't know why WWE stopped pushing him especially after his showing in Money in the Bank as well as some really great matches during that time. He would have been the perfect foil for Orton if they kept Orton heel.
Most of the guys who made it Big were either groomed by WWE ie Brock, Rock, Hogan and so on or were accidents like Austin, Cena and others. Those who didn't make it big probably never had the look WWE wanted, shoved into gimmicks that never really worked, were bad on the mic or just didn't move merchandise. I am sure there are people I am forgetting, but in the last few years WWE have been pushing or at least employing the right people while getting rid of people who were not going to fit in any way.
Originally posted by Big BadDunno why WWE didn't hold onto Matt Morgan for longer. That guy was a total prototype for them. Imagine him in Evolution in Batista's place.
I agree with lotjx, Morgan <<<< Batista. Morgan has the look and stuff, but he sucks in the ring. Batista had tons of 3-4 star and up matches with Taker and Cena, and had good tv matches wtih Henry and some fun tags with Rey, Morgan is kinda clunky in the ring
Originally posted by lotjx Most of the guys who made it Big were either groomed by WWE ie Brock, Rock, Hogan and so on or were accidents like Austin, Cena and others.
- Eddie wasn't home grown and has an outstanding legacy. - Neither was Rey, who is very popular. - Chris Jericho started in WCW and in Japan, and like he says he's the best in the world at what he does. - The Big Show was introduced via WCW, and has been in and out of the main event picture for a few years. - Mick Foley had a run in WCW/ECW, so he wasn't exactly "groomed". - Chris Benoit wrestled in Japan. - Ric Flair received a big push in 1992 if I'm not mistaken.
So there has been a few that are outside the paradigm.
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I thought Above Average Mike Sanders had Christian potential. His only legacy is that his finisher (the 3.0) is now Randy Orton's backbreaker.
Chris Hamrick worked in ECW for a time, and he was a solid midcard guy in the vein of Santino Marella. With the right gimmick, he could have been as big as, say, La Resistance.
Family matters caused Monty Brown/Marcus Cor Von to leave the WWE, but I loved his gimmick and THE POUNCE. Kevin Thorn was another WWECW guy with a nice moveset and a complete gimmick. Also, Ariel.
Paul Burchill should have been huge. The highlights I saw from his England days were astounding, and he never got traction in the WWE.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
I always thought that the Fantastics (the Tommy Rogers version) were one of the best tag teams around but they never got treated like they were in the top-5 and only won the NWA United States Tag Team titles. I definitely preferred them over the Rock and Roll Express.
Holy fuck shit motherfucker shit. Read comics. Fuck shit shit fuck shit I sold out when I did my job. Fuck fuck fuck shit fuck. Sorry had to do it....
*snip*
Revenge of the Sith = one thumb up from me. Fuck shit. I want to tittie fuck your ass. -- The Guinness. to Cerebus
Agree 100% on Morley (sp?). I remember reading all of the IWC sites when he and Edge were in developmental territories about to be called up and the "buzz" on him was as great if not greater than it was for Edge. That's the thing though, he came out with a popular gimmick that gave him both immediate popularity and a ceiling. He was always going to be Val Venis and Val Venis was always going to be a mid-card guy.
Going to the way back machine, I thought that Brad Armstrong had every tool for his era, but he just never made it.
(edited by Rudoublesedoublel on 15.9.10 0938) "I'm on my time with everyone." - Kurt Cobain
Originally posted by lotjx Most of the guys who made it Big were either groomed by WWE ie Brock, Rock, Hogan and so on or were accidents like Austin, Cena and others.
- Eddie wasn't home grown and has an outstanding legacy. - Neither was Rey, who is very popular. - Chris Jericho started in WCW and in Japan, and like he says he's the best in the world at what he does. - The Big Show was introduced via WCW, and has been in and out of the main event picture for a few years. - Mick Foley had a run in WCW/ECW, so he wasn't exactly "groomed". - Chris Benoit wrestled in Japan. - Ric Flair received a big push in 1992 if I'm not mistaken.
So there has been a few that are outside the paradigm.
I should have added big free agents to the list. Foley is an accident since he took the Mankind gimmick and ran with it. I am not sure Mankind was every going to be a Big Star, but someone Taker could feud with at first then he went on to have great matches with HBK, Austin and pretty much everyone on the roster and his promos were great. Foley's story was that him and Austin seemed to be on the outside looking in for merchandising while Mark Henry and Marc Mero were supposed to be huge stars.
Originally posted by lotjx Most of the guys who made it Big were either groomed by WWE ie Brock, Rock, Hogan and so on or were accidents like Austin, Cena and others.
- Eddie wasn't home grown and has an outstanding legacy. - Neither was Rey, who is very popular. - Chris Jericho started in WCW and in Japan, and like he says he's the best in the world at what he does. - The Big Show was introduced via WCW, and has been in and out of the main event picture for a few years. - Mick Foley had a run in WCW/ECW, so he wasn't exactly "groomed". - Chris Benoit wrestled in Japan. - Ric Flair received a big push in 1992 if I'm not mistaken.
So there has been a few that are outside the paradigm.
I should have added big free agents to the list. Foley is an accident since he took the Mankind gimmick and ran with it. I am not sure Mankind was every going to be a Big Star, but someone Taker could feud with at first then he went on to have great matches with HBK, Austin and pretty much everyone on the roster and his promos were great. Foley's story was that him and Austin seemed to be on the outside looking in for merchandising while Mark Henry and Marc Mero were supposed to be huge stars.
Your whole premise earlier was "Most of the guys who made it Big were either groomed by WWE ie Brock, Rock, Hogan and so on or were accidents like Austin, Cena and others". You add free agents to the mix and I'm not exactly sure what kind of a point you're trying to make.
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Originally posted by lotjx Most of the guys who made it Big were either groomed by WWE ie Brock, Rock, Hogan and so on or were accidents like Austin, Cena and others.
- Eddie wasn't home grown and has an outstanding legacy. - Neither was Rey, who is very popular. - Chris Jericho started in WCW and in Japan, and like he says he's the best in the world at what he does. - The Big Show was introduced via WCW, and has been in and out of the main event picture for a few years. - Mick Foley had a run in WCW/ECW, so he wasn't exactly "groomed". - Chris Benoit wrestled in Japan. - Ric Flair received a big push in 1992 if I'm not mistaken.
So there has been a few that are outside the paradigm.
I should have added big free agents to the list. Foley is an accident since he took the Mankind gimmick and ran with it. I am not sure Mankind was every going to be a Big Star, but someone Taker could feud with at first then he went on to have great matches with HBK, Austin and pretty much everyone on the roster and his promos were great. Foley's story was that him and Austin seemed to be on the outside looking in for merchandising while Mark Henry and Marc Mero were supposed to be huge stars.
Your whole premise earlier was "Most of the guys who made it Big were either groomed by WWE ie Brock, Rock, Hogan and so on or were accidents like Austin, Cena and others". You add free agents to the mix and I'm not exactly sure what kind of a point you're trying to make.
I should probably ignore free agents since WWE didn't make them BIG most of them were already BIG or had a following prior to come into the WWE. WCW made Flair, Rey, Eddie, Show, Jericho and Benoit into names prior to coming into the WWE. I was trying to shoe horn them when in reality, they already had a reputation before going to WWE. Now, would they all BIG names if they didn't go to WWE. Flair already was huge, Big Show was a World Champion, Benoit left as WCW's world champion. An argument could be made that depending on what country you were in Rey, Eddie and Chris were already BIG stars. So, its my own fault for adding a category that didn't need to be.
In retrospect there are some clues as to why he didn't do so well, but i always thought Test had a very unfortunate career that looked like it was going somewhere then fizzled out and never reignited properly.
If he had one iota of talent, Nathan Jones could've been huge. Those vignettes hyping up his debut, as well as his squash matches (look up the one with Shannon Moore on YouTube) were spectacular.
I know he was big in ECW, but I hate how Raven never really got a decent shot in WWF, or when he went to WCW. Being US champ, but never really booked to be strong just made no sense. He could work his ass off, cut great promos, and had a ton of psychology in the ring.
On the same train of thought, Stevie Richards could always work, but just never was big enough and unless he was spoofing somebody he was horrid on the mic.
Mike Awesome could have been a monster in the middle of the card. He was big for his height, and was (at least to me) entertaining. He never would have been in the world title scene, but he should have been given more to do than nearly killing Insane Clown Posse.
Available now at necw.tv The acquisition of a DSL line to my home computer has inspired me to watch some internet wrestling, one program of which was NECW...which I HAD seen some time ago (in the episode teens or so) and hadn't been overly impressed.