Does WWE not know how to build up babyfaces anymore? Sheamus started getting over as a babyface by standing up to people and fighting them like a man. After WrestleMania and Raw they seem to think that him cheap shotting people when they're not looking makes him a badass. I'm a huge Daniel Bryan fan so obviously I was upset that they didn't get a chance to put on an actual match. Then on Raw Del Rio comes out and talks to him face to face and Sheamus waits until Del Rio turns around to get a new mic before kicking him in the face when he wasn't ready. So why is anyone supposed to cheer for Sheamus?
Because they tell you to, fella. I don’t blame Sheamus in all this, I like him just fine, but he’s in a really bad position at the moment.
And honestly, no, they don’t know how to build up babyfaces. Just look at poor Zack Ryder.
The only saving grace for Daniel Bryan is that they intended to push him from the start, versus Zack Ryder who willed himself into a quasi-push because of a grassroots push that caused a groundswell of support. CM Punk had the benefit of touching a nerve with the general public, which forced the WWE to strap a rocket to his ass and fly to the moon. Ryder made the mistake of only connecting with the paying fan base, which is why he's slowly dying away.
ReplyDeleteSheamus is going to be protected in the long haul because of his connections (Geez, where have we heard that before?), but he does have a unique look. I'm not a fan of his on the microphone to be honest, which is why I don't like him moving forward as a top-level face. But Daniel Bryan could definitely be in line for something if the crowd reactions stay hot for him.
Sheamus is in a bad position to a certain, relatively small, portion of the audience. Smarks lose perspective too quickly, especially after nights like last night, of the fact that they are the vocal minority of wrestling fans. I'm sure far more people were asking themselves what was wrong with that crowd last night, like kids and casual fans, than thinking how fresh and neat the atmosphere was.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree with Scott and the reader who sent the email, those who've succeeded in getting over in the past few years have done so in spite of the WWE.
ReplyDeleteI'm like Sheamus well enough, but not in a way where I'd pay for a t-shirt with his name on it, y'know? He has a unique moveset and look, but he's not connected with the audience despite getting favourable booking for much of his time in the company. Ironically, it might be Bryan who comes out of Wrestlemania best.
Poor Sheamus. Here's a guy the company clearly wants to be one of their new megastars, he's a good worker, has a great look, can cut a decent promo....and yet his big "Wrestlemania moment" is just 18 seconds long. That short match hurts him even more than it did Bryan, since Bryan has now become even more of a cult hero from the result.
ReplyDeleteThe dumb thing is, fans LIKE Sheamus. Smart fans like him, the kids like him, etc. There was a general expectation that he was going to win at Mania and everyone was cool with that. This whole thing could've been avoided had the bookers simply given Bryan/Sheamus at least ten damn minutes to wrestle.
Sheamus cheap-shotting people doesn't work because he's not Austin. With Stone Cold, it was well-established that he would attack you at any time just cuz. With Sheamus, his face persona is that he's somewhat of an honourable berserker --- he's a nice guy who loves to fight but will do so to an open challenge, not a sneak attack.
Spot on. They're so concerned with fucking "Wrestlemania Moments" that they fail to see what consequences these booking decisions will have.
ReplyDeleteI still remembering attending a Smackdown taping in 2003 in the bizarro world of Toronto the week after Eddie Guerrero turned on Tajiri by throwing him through the windshield of his low-rider. The crowd reacted to this "heel turn" by giving him an enormous POP! Over the next weeks, Eddie kept coming out to massive pops wherever he wrestled, which eventually lead to him finally getting a push as a main event babyface.
ReplyDeleteNow, I have no idea if WWE ever had serious plans to push Eddie as a heel and if the babyface reactions totally caught them off-guard, but the point is that they managed to capitalize on it and run with it. I'd really hate to think that of Eddie receiving the same type of surprising crowd reaction today and getting buried and depushed for it.
In the case of Sheamus, his babyface momentum has suffered TWICE now, not just because of the WM squash because people wanted Jericho to win the Rumble and could sense that Sheamus only won for the sole purpose of swerving the fans. In short, the fans are turning on him not because of anything he's done, but because of how the booking team has treated his opponents!
I think people's anger/frustration over the Daniel Bryan situation is making them lose perspective and grasp at straws. It's a bad thing for Sheamus to sneak attack Del Rio and Bryan? What's one of the fans' biggest pet peeves about John Cena? He's too good, too nice, all the time. You can't turn Sheamus into a goody-two-shoes who's afraid to get his hands a little dirty. People like him cause he says he's going to kick yoour ass, and then he goes out and does it!
ReplyDeleteLook at Orton, Punk, Austin, Rock, Batista. They all pulled that shit at one time or another as babyfaces (especially Austin and Orton). Hell, Hulk Hogan used to pull some dirty heelish tricks back in the day, and nobody gave a shit (except Jesse Ventura).
I really hope they don't hotshot the title back to Bryan. It will kill Sheamus' career.
ReplyDeleteIsn't everyone a 'smark' now?
ReplyDeleteWould you agree that he's not over to the extent he should be given the strong booking he's received?
ReplyDeleteI disagree, there have been lots of people who got over by design. Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler, Mark Henry, Miz, Kofi, Sheamus, Brodus, Johnny Ace... they were all booked/pushed/presented in a certain way to get over (either as a heel or face) and the WWE's plan worked (not saying the guys' aren't talented, they are... except Miz).
ReplyDeleteYes, there are guys I'd classify as having done 95% of the work themselves (Punk, Bryan, Ryder, Santino), but you have to give the E some credit.
I've said it before, I think we lose perspective on how good the company's on-air product has been the last 1 year+ (from a macro perspective). There's a LOT of talented, over guys on the roster, and we can't act like the WWE lucked into it all.
I still think the vast majority of fans under the age of 12 are still pure. At WM, the kids in front of me cried when Cena lost...can't make that shit up.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I would say most of the girl friends/wives that go to shows with their husbands/boy-friends tend to also be non-smarks.
There are also good amount of casual viewers that good with their kids (see above) that probably don't care or have a faint recollection from their childhood about wrestling pre-internet.
So, I would say, no, the Miami crowd last night was an aberration although they are creeping higher and higher.
They're crazy. The spend so much time railing against bullying, yet often have their bully play by play guy instruct fans to cheer for bullying behavior. If fans don't follow the instructions, they are often chastised or ridiculed for their opinions.
ReplyDeleteYet, John Cena is their biggest hero. A guy that smiles as he is continually upstaged by more aggressive individuals and appears even happier after his ass has been kicked by them. Yet, when fans boo Cena not getting aggressive in return, we are told how stupid we are for doing so.
It's such a double standard, yet that's the world Vince McMahon lives in. The one where it's ok for him to put his competition out of business, but not ok for the competition to try to put him out. A world where anyone that speaks badly of WWE 'doesn't get it' or 'has an ax to grind', yet when WWE lashes out, it's justified.
By and large, Vince McMahon has never created a hero. People gravitated towards the wrestlers they liked and Vince ran with it. However, he's great at creating heels, because he is an asshole at heart.
No way. Even though the information may be readily available most people don't care to take the time to find it. They'd just rather watch the show when it's on. They don't care to read and write about it afterward. It's the same with other shows and sports. Some people want to go online and find out all the information they can. Others just want to watch and cheer for who they like.
ReplyDeleteThe perfect example is the smarks boo Cena and the marks cheer him.
Ryder is dying out because he losses every match. That is what kills me to no end with this company. If people cheer someone, let them win and more people will cheer them, or some may start to boo but either way it will create some emotion and that will in turn make money for the company and everyone is happy.
ReplyDeleteInstead they make him lose to some other guy that no one gives a shit about and you get a match with zero reaction from the fans because they don't care about the guy winning and they don't want to get their hopes up when they know the guy they like is going to lose again.
He's definitely over enough to be the champ on Smackdown. If he was receiving this push on Raw in place of Punk I'd say it's not warranted.
ReplyDeleteWho on Smackdown is more over than Sheamus (heel or face)? I'd say Orton, but I'm guessing no one on this blog wants to see that.
I'm fine with a Goldberg-esque push for Sheamus cause I think with it (and a compelling feud) he CAN get super over (and not the 'regular over' he is now).
He created the greatest hero in professional wrestling history. A guy so great I don't even have to mention his name for everyone here to know who I'm talking about.
ReplyDeleteI should've specified that I meant faces. Kofi could've been a much bigger deal than he is now, Brodus is a comedy act, and Orton was longer than a few years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe heels you mentioned I'd agree with. In fact, last year Henry was the best he's ever been.
I can only reiterate what I'd mentioned earlier; I think Sheamus's biggest handicap right now is that he's not very good on the microphone. They're wanting to push him as a tough guy, but a funny one. More or less, they're channeling more of John Cena than they are anti-hero badass, and that's gonna kill him in the long run. Sheamus needs the Batista push as an animal, as a monster—not someone who will razz people before kicking their heads off when their back is turned.
ReplyDeleteAnyone think Vince and his minions are so delusional they'll take credit for "creating" a megastar out of Daniel Bryan via the 18 second match and not realize the smarks created the megastar because of WWE's hatred of them? Not that it matters for Bryan, who would turn out just fine either way, but it may lead to even more "fan screwjob" moments?
ReplyDeleteI don't know that Sheamus really has been booked that strong really.
ReplyDeleteYes, he's won matches in convincing fashion but his feud with Bryan was such an after thought that it's not like he had the entire promotion swinging behind him.
Sheamus is about as over as someone who's been dominating matches in short order should be. The issue is he's not as over as the role of WHC needs him to be.
Compare him with Batista in 2005 on his run to the title. A similar power wrestler to Sheamus, he also picked up the RR victory and won all his matches in the run up to WM. The difference is the audience were given a reason to care and get behind him thanks to the dissolution of Evolution.
We've not been given much of a reason to care about Sheamus, but thanks to his awesomeness a lot of people began to genuinely car about Bryan. I think that's the heart of why the result of their match has pissed off so many fans and not had the result the WWE desired
I don't know if I would go as far as saying everyone is a "smark," as there will always be gradations in the degree fans are willing to invest in the product outside of the show itself: collecting/watching old matches, reading articles from various outlets online, debating on message boards, etc. But, the idea that information=smarkdom is completely obsolete. Heck, I imagine one of the reason all of you people are here is because those other huge message boards out there have been overrun by people that are either too stereotypically "smarky" (the fact that there is a stereotype shows the proliferation of the concept) or still too "marky" (the stereotype of ten-year old kids arguing online).
ReplyDeleteI remember even as far back as 2004 when I went to Summer Slam, a large portion of the section I was sitting in (especially teenage-and-up males) knew that Benoit was losing. They had read the reports and knew. This is anecdotal of course, but is also 7+ years ago!
"Smarks" aren't a homogeneous group with fixed viewpoints, but how the hell else does one explain the responses Punk was getting from day one when he debuted on ECW? Or Bryan's ridiculous responses on NXT despite being made to lose every match. Enough people out there knew at least enough about this guys to be invested in them despite not being a reason to. I am sure responses to Bryan will vary, but the idea that there are "smarky" crowds (okay, Philly is pretty intense...) is a concept that is losing any meaning. Heck, it's one of the reasons why the WWE keeps making random booking decisions - because, like at the Rumble, people know too much thanks to the interwebs.
I never thought of Chainz from DoA as the greatest hero in professional wrestling, but now that you've alluded to him, I can dig it.
ReplyDeleteI'd say that's more to do with the lack of faces on Smackdown, but it's a fair point.
ReplyDeleteFunny that you use the word 'compelling', because IMO that is exactly what he isn't.
You hit the nail on the head, Buster Abbott - Sheamus has all the tools to be a big star, the company obviously WANTS him to be a big star, and I'd even argue that the FANS want him to be a big star (they like him, just not the idea of Bryan being sacrificed at his altar), and yet they can't figure out how to combine those three ingredients into a winning recipe.
ReplyDeleteI like Sheamus a lot; he's always had a great look and decent mic-skills, and I (and many others, I'd imagine) became a fan of his in-ring work during his feud with Morrison. However, for a guy that's basically supposed to be a no-nonsense ass-kicker, he sure spends a lot of time telling cute little stories, cracking lame jokes, and smiling like a goof. They're making him into another Cena. Which, don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with Cena himself, but it doesn't make any sense to have two of them running around, or to have them both cater to the same demographic.
It's almost like the "inVasion" on a smaller scale: they have what should be a can't-miss prospect being served up on a silver platter, and proceed to bungle it beyond belief.
[As an aside, you know what could be really cool for next year's WM? Another Bryan/Sheamus match, except with both as faces, and with Shawn in Bryan's corner and Trips in Sheamus' corner. Almost like teacher-and-student vs. teacher-and-student, with all of the history of their last two WM matches behind them, and with Shawn and Trips continuing their good-natured feud via their proteges. Just an idea.]
Boy, do I feel stupid. I've got egg on my face and crow in my mouth. You were probably referring to Wildman Marc Mero. CM Punk, The Rock, Big Show, Daniel Bryan--all Mero clones, basically.
ReplyDeleteExactly - Ryder's reaction at "TLC" was great.
ReplyDeleteI was talking about Miguel Perez Jr of Los Boricuas, you idiot.
ReplyDeleteAgreed that info=smark is obsolete, but then surely so is the notion that ONLY smarks (or the dreaded, nebulous IWC) like wrestlers such as Punk and Bryan.
ReplyDeleteJust because he hasn't been booked well doesn't mean he hasn't been booked strongly.
ReplyDeleteAnd this goes back to the reader's email, is simply winning matches - as opponent to booking compelling feuds, making people *care* - enough?
I agree 100%. I just think the line is very blurred. I am not sure the IWC or "smarkdom" really exists anymore... Then again, the more "marks" that like Bryan and Punk, the happier I am!
ReplyDeleteThat's what I meant, really (not my designed-to-antagonise 'Isn't everyone a smark?'), that because of the number of people who interact with wrestling via the internet, and indeed the WWE's encouragement of this, divisions of the smarts and the marks don't exist in the same way as they did even five years ago.
ReplyDeleteI'm not big on Sheamus. I know most are, so it's probably more my personal taste rather than him not being deserving of his push, etc..but he just doesn't do it for me. Character wise I'm just not into him. It might be because he seems to be pushed beyond what I accept him as - they gave him a main event run when I had no idea who he was outside of the guy who beat up Jamie Noble a couple of times. I would have bought him as a heel midcarder, they pushed him as a heel WWE Champion. By the time I came around to accepting his as a top heel midcard/main event type of guy, they turn him into a face main eventer type of guy. They just seemed to rush everything about him and him winning the title the way he did at WM was no better than a MITB cash in, and is further cheapened by the fact he's already had two meaningless title reigns.
ReplyDeleteIt just seems that it's like pulling teeth to get them to push guys the fans naturally take to and get behind, but when they come across someone they like they'll shove them down our throat until we either accept it or reject it. And it takes a lot of rejecting for them to acknowledge we're rejecting it. The fans like Bryan. They wanted to get behind him and cheer for him. But they wanted us to want Sheamus, so Bryan turns heel and Sheamus becomes the guy we're supposed to want to beat the guy we were cheering for in the first place. You know how they say that a real wrestler or "ring general" has to be able to go out there and feel the crowd and adjust the match based on the crowds reaction? And they shit on guys who go out and have the match they planned on regardless if the crowd is buying it or not? That's basically how they write the show now - they write it, present it, and for the most part ignore how people actually react to it.
The Internet isn't the minority any more. It has won.
ReplyDeleteIf your last sentence is true, then smarks are the majority at every arena now.
ReplyDeleteI was one of those people that said let it play out regarding Ryder, but I'm slowly coming to the point where I think they missed the boat on him....because he keeps on losing. One, or two, or even three losses in a vacuum don't matter, but if you lose ALL the time, then the cumulative effects add up. Ryder is what he is, pretty much the ol' JTTS. D Bryan on the other hand even though his heel character is sneaky and underhanded showed he has the ability to win big matches sometimes, will be ok.
ReplyDeleteHe needs to stop smiling so fucking much when he comes down to the ring!
ReplyDeleteHe was Marvelous!
ReplyDeleteI dont really watch Smackdown but when did Sheamus turn into the Irish John Cena, with the smiling and smirking and stuff? I remember seeing him lose a battle royal to Hornswoggle at some point (couple months ago maybe?) and he just laughed it off. That's when i started to see they were going down the wrong path with Sheamus. Smiling babyface doesnt work in 2012 (and hasn't worked in years) unless you're John Cena.
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing in all of this is if they had just given the fans what we wanted (a good Sheamus/Daniel Bryan match), there would not have been the YES protest Monday night.
Yes! Yes! Yes!
ReplyDeleteThe crazy thing is, I thought Ryder was about to turn a corner last night when he came out for his match. No goofy "just happy to be here" vibe and he showed more fire than John Cena has in years.
ReplyDeleteThen he lost to the Miz, who's hardly setting the wrestling world ablaze nowadays.
The thing that's baffling with Ryder is, not only does he keep on losing, but they make him look like the biggest idiot in the company.
ReplyDeleteYeah exactly, far be it for me to tell WWE what to do with their company, if they want to flush revenue down the toilet because of the preconceived perceptions about a wrestler, then that's their rights. I wonder if they think he's still such a green performer that if they put him in a more prominent role he'd expose the business? Maybe they feel like he's not ready for it as a performer? I guess we don't see the behind the scenes stuff (or maybe like a lot of people have said, it's just a simple matter of him not being "part of the plan" so he's being depushed as a result), but to me, you push the guy, and if he can really cut it, he'll run with it, if not, then you tried, then push him back down the ladder to let him work on his craft....but what do I know? lol
ReplyDeleteEven worse, some people on this very blog were suggesting the same thing in the Live RAW thread.
ReplyDeleteI refuse to believe this was all some master plan to force the smark crowd to cheer for Bryan. I think they truly believed people would be happy with that WM match. Now the crowd is responding the way they are (which has been great and really the first time since RVD the crowd has stood up and said "Fuck you, THIS is our guy") and they have no fucking clue how to handle it, as witnessed by them not having Bryan talk on Raw but still go out after the show went off the air.
I remember watching one of those "Project Paul London" things on Highspots.tv and he was speaking to someone about wrestling today and they stated how they no longer have bookers, just producers and the producers are unable to build storylines or get people over in the way that the bookers did years ago.
ReplyDeleteI understand that they're trying to get over the "OUT OF NOWHERE" factor of the Brogue kick, but it really does make him seem cowardly.
ReplyDeleteAll of this x1,000.
ReplyDeleteVince is probably like, what the fuck happened guys? Although there were reports that some folks in creative tried to change the outcome of the WM match with no success. Obviously, those trying to change it were/are in the bottom rung of hierarchy. Bet Steph/Vince/HHH feel pretty dumb right about now.
However, they have the opportunity to create the Yes t-shirt and just push the dude to the moon, now.
I agree, and I like Sheamus too, he's a pretty decent wrestler, definitely has charisma, and from the commercials I've seen, a good representative of the company. Frankly, I don't even care that he smiles a lot, or that he seems to be an Irish John Cena with a little more of an edge. There's two things going on here:
ReplyDelete1)They underestimated the support of Daniel Bryan. Obviously smarks like him, but the marks boo him, but it's not Honky Tonk Man level hatred, I think the mark fans respect his wrestling ability so an 18 second loss isn't realistic and doesn't jive with his actual abilities.
2)I think a lot of the fans felt cheated with an 18 second match at Wrestlemania. Unless you had a massive face beating a chicken-$%^& heel who has been antagonizing him, or other faces for a long period of time, the 18 second match idea doesn't work. The Ultimate Warrior vs HTM worked because it was a mega face vs a heel that was antagonizing, cheating, and not really pushed as that great of a wrestler.
I think it was a good idea moving him to ADR for his first title feud, ADR is liked by pretty much no one so it could rebuild some of his face cred. Unfortunately, I'm not sure where this leaves D Bry, will be interested to find out, especially if he can sustain this momentum.
I think it might be a mistake to throw Bryan in with Del Rio and Sheamus at Extreme Rules. With such a smark heavy crowd, it will kill them.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely. WWE is way more fun than the dark days of 2009. The guest hosts were the embodiment of everything wrong the product back then.
ReplyDelete2012 will be looked at like 1997.
I think that's a stretch. Isn't the point of any manuever to try to hit it when your opponent isn't expecting it? The booking of Sheamus/Bryan was pretty deliberate. They made a point of ringing the bell before Bryan called AJ to the apron to kick her. The point was to show us that Bryan is arrogant and wasn't prepared for a competitor like Sheamus.
ReplyDeleteJudging on the crowds reaction, interrupting Cena and then F5ing the hell out of him seems like a good start in building a babyface.
ReplyDelete"They made a point of ringing the bell before Bryan called AJ to the apron to kick her."
ReplyDeleteOk I was just joking in the other thread re: Bryan's misogonistic attitude, but they really crossed a line.
I think this is way too formulaic. I think most characters can work - you just need the right person to portray them. I am howoever not sure if the smiling goofball is the right character for Sheamus.
ReplyDeletebtw: I would be considered a "smark" and I would cheer for Cena over just about anybody.
ReplyDeletethe bookers/producers thing sums it up perfectly.
ReplyDeletethey'll probably botch it like they did with Ryder.
ReplyDeleteIn which case we're arguing semantics and I think we're kind of on the same page.
ReplyDeleteSimply winning a lot of matches does not equal over. At least not over enough to be WHC
That was a good start. Kicking his hat out into the crowd was the final step in the process.
ReplyDeleteThis Sheamus babyface push was a great seed, but they just didn't water it enough. He started to gain some traction when he first turned against Mark Henry, but that match ended with Henry looking stronger, even if they tried to 50/50 it. Then Sheamus didn't do much of anything for a few months, feuding with Jinder Mahal and just kind of being the go to "mystery partner" babyface. Then he won the Rumble when no one was expecting it, but then barely even had any interaction with his Mania opponent. The he squashes Bryan when Bryan's reign was just catching fire and wasn't in a position to need to be squashed. I feel like WWE and the fans are on the same page as far as wanting to see Sheamus get pushed to the next level, but the push just didn't work this time. Their best bet is to have him drop the title back, take some time to regroup, and then try to build him up again.
ReplyDeleteThe main problem with Sheamus is they are trying to position him as Cena Lite. I wouldn't be shocked to learn that inside the company, they think Sheamus can take over for Cena when he retires as the wholesome white bread babyface.
ReplyDeleteThe WWE specialises in giving people titles and THEN booking them like the audience should care, so who knows how his title run will turn out. My instinct is that his mediocre mic skills will hamper him and that a deathly dull feud with ADR isn't going to help anyone get excited.
ReplyDeleteI think the Sheamus feud could have the additional upside of making ADR a better heel as well. I know there are split opinions on him on this blog, but he has many of the tools to make him work...he just got bogged down with the derailed "Destiny" storyline that dragged on too long. Didn't help that he was shoehorned into the Fall of Punk as well. The original character (Dibiase) and its variants (JBL & ADR) is a proven winner, Del Rio pulls it off, they just need a likeable face to play off of. Oh, and although Rodriguez gets a lot of love, he needs to be less sympathetic and turn into an annoying pest sidekick who can help turn the tide in matches.
ReplyDeleteHe's fine on the microphone, just handed the wrong script. No one cares about Uncle Fargus's lucky green testicle.
ReplyDeleteHe's been given nothing to do since the Rumble, if not before.
ReplyDeleteIt's like trying to keep a meal warm on the stove...the longer you do it, the more risk of overcooking and ruining it. Sheamus is overcooked beef.
You know what would have made the 18 seconds acceptable? One promo from Sheamus a week ago..."Daniel Bryan, you've been running and escaping with your title by the skin of your teeth...well lemme tell ya fella....I've found your weakness, and at Wrestlemania I'll show the world what it is."
ReplyDeleteHe's been kissing AJ for a few weeks now. All they have to do is point out Sheamus noticed the opening a while ago and used it to stop Bryan from "running away with the title."
Added benefit of Bryan then questioning if AJ is a help or hindrance, opening up more storyline possibilities.
Something just struck me, vis-a-vis Ryder. I don't think there's any shortage of people who are rightfully pissed off at the tract the WWE has taken with Zack Ryder lately. However, it's not without precedent, what they're doing. Not all that long ago, there was a smark darling who was being jobbed into oblivion on every show, so much that the company openly acknowledged as part of the storyline how long of a losing streak he was on. That man has gone on to become one of only a handful of potential megastars-in-the-making the WWE has landed upon in the past few years: Daniel Bryan.
ReplyDeleteCan Zack Ryder fit this mold? Well, he's gotten the squash push about as heavily as one can get over the past four months, and fans are beginning to cool on him. Say what you will about the WWE, but I can't fathom a company turning down such easy money at a point where they desperately crave any upswing in business they can lay their grubby hands on. If they wanted to let Ryder just ride the wave, so to speak, they would've kept him in the U.S. Title picture on the undercard. But Ryder's character was such that the monster face push wouldn't work, either.
So what if they tried a Daniel Bryan tract? Have Ryder lose (and get embarrassed) to the point that even his friends begin openly questioning if he should have a spot on the roster anymore. This lights a fire under Ryder, who begins sneaking by with wins here or there. "Big Johnny" can then during the summer try to hold the "plucky little loser" down as Ryder tries to qualify for Money in the Bank. Have him get in at the last moment, turning the entire storyline into "This is Zack's Last Chance". Once you've rehabilitated him to this point, the fans may be ready to get behind him again. Granted, it's not optimal, but then it's not very likely that the WWE had Ryder in their long term booking plans once he began to get over so massively.
I just can't see Triple H being a guy who would support that finish. He likes Sheamus. He respects titles. He respects talented wrestlers as long as they're not going to hinder his career. I just don't see him being a guy who would sign off on an 18 second title match between two guys who can go in the ring.
ReplyDeleteSummed up my feelings on Sheamus perfectly. Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteWhat I don't understand about Ryder is that they seemed hesitant to push him when he first got himself over. Then with the "change" in the summer, they gave him a shot - pushed him into a feud with Ziggler, had Cena help him get his title shot, and then he beats Ziggler for the US Title. Two weeks later they start the burial we're seeing now. I know having him lose, Henry kill him and Cena having to win his title shot for him isn't pushing him wrong, but they were at least pushing him. Now he's just sort of there. It just doesn't make sense why they'd go through with pushing him and then at the point where you push him more they went the other way.
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget that these are the same people who thought they could book a 50/50 crowd for Rock/Cena. Vince and his inner circle may have been "geniuses' in 1985 and 1998, but their time has passed and they just don't have the pulse of the fanbase anymore. HHH might have a clue, but he ain't going against the Family.
ReplyDeleteI think there is a long enough track record at WWE showing they don't know how to do a losing streak story and turn it into money. See also: MVP, Christian, McIntyre...
ReplyDeleteBUT BABYFACES SMILE!!!
ReplyDeleteWell, he's got the first two words down, as I don't think anyone else in the company genuinely resembles white bread quite like Sheamus.
ReplyDelete