goodhelmet Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 I am looking at guys who have come up through the system and made the main roster in the last couple of years. I started with the Shield making the main roster since they had a cup of coffee at FCW. I will happily edit any names I forgot. FEELS LIKE UNTAPPED POTENTIAL Big E Langston - This feels like a company miss more than a BIg E Sucks thing. Don't want to put him in the failure category yet but the NEw Day is making it harder to keep him out. Dean Ambrose - success in the Shield, failure as a single? Erik Rowan - success as a Wyatt but failure as Ryback partner? Paige - Can any Diva on the main roster be considered a success? SUPER WORKER FAILURE Cesaro Luke Harper Clear Success Stories: defined as pushed and/or somewhat protected Roman ReignsBray Wyatt Seth Rollins Rusev Clear Failures: Bo Dallas The AscensionXavier Woods Adam Rose Emma I don't know when Sandow debuted but he feels like a guy who could be on this list of guys. Same with Fandango Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bierschwale Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 I think that Ambrose has surpassed Bryan as the conspiracy theorist's superstar-that-isn't. Like, they've fucked up with Bryan, but people know why. It's impossible to figure out why they've nerfed Ambrose. I saw multiple people say that the Rollins/Stewart segment went into the fight when it did because Stewart was about to call Ambrose the rightful MITB winner and they don't want fans to remember that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Evans Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 Sheamus should count as a success story. Probably Barrett too. Swagger might be a untapped potential guy. Kaval is a failure. Heath Slater too. Drew Mcintyre could be in either untapped potential or failure. The Bellas have to be the most successful divas to come out of FCW/Developmental. AJ is a distant second followed by Paige and Nattie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted March 13, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 I am not counting anyone who came up before the Shield. Defintely takes any OVW, Deep South, Nexus guys out. Keep this focused on the Tampa/Orlando crew from the last 2 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 FEELS LIKE UNTAPPED POTENTIAL Big E Langston - This feels like a company miss more than a BIg E Sucks thing. Don't want to put him in the failure category yet but the NEw Day is making it harder to keep him out. Never understood the appeal of Big E.. To me he's Ice Train 2.0.. And I kinda enjoyed Ice Train, but it's not like he was setting the world on fire. And yeah, since he's in the New Day, he's gone straight to failure anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodear Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 I wonder if we are calling the call ups 'failures' because they themselves are unable to fill roles or because WWE main roster booking is unable to use them well? I think this is an important distinction that should be clarified before moving forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSR Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 I am not counting anyone who came up before the Shield. Defintely takes any OVW, Deep South, Nexus guys out. Keep this focused on the Tampa/Orlando crew from the last 2 years. Rules out Sandow then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoe Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 I wonder if we are calling the call ups 'failures' because they themselves are unable to fill roles or because WWE main roster booking is unable to use them well? I think this is an important distinction that should be clarified before moving forward. I think the answer is both. Creative didn't do them any favors. Though Bo Rotunda wasn't a good enough wrestler to work near the top. He easily could have been like a heel Santino role. Adam Rose was killed with all the bunny stuff. His gimmick was fun enough to get over as a mid card act. Still as a wrestler he's lacking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodear Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 I think booking is causing 90% of the problems the call ups are having with only a few people just not being worth the squeeze. But then I also think the booking has caused 90% of the main roster problems to begin with especially when it comes to murdering the mid card by having them working each other trading wins and jobbing to the stars too often. Mark my words, if you really want to improve the shows there need to be clearer tiers to talent and they need to save key matches for pay per view. With that in mind, you need to have wrestlers to fill out those tiers and having guys come up to fill those roles aren't 'failures' in my mind. I would agree that Bo Dallas has a relatively low ceiling as a WCW television championship level where he wins on flukes and escapes with the title. But that's a good role to fill on your shows! Bo could provide that mid level heat segment on the fifth spot from the top that doesn't burn out the crowd or kill anyone else's spots. Guys like the Ascension and Adam Rose spent so long in developmental that they either had to cut ties entirely or move forward. Adam (as mentioned) got completely derailed with the Bunny stuff and the Rose Buds nonsense and comes off so much better in NXT even as late as a week ago with Tyler Breeze. But again, low ceiling on the card for me and I don't know he does anything that Heath Slater doesn't. The Ascension are not in any way good with Viktor actually being miscast as a 235 pound 'monster' and Konnor being another case where I think WWE doesn't think he's ever going to get any better so they might as well toss him up and see if he sticks (NOPE). The Divas are totally underused on main TV and while I think Emma under performed, no one is going to actually excel in that environment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fantastic Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 It's impossible to figure out why they've nerfed Ambrose. I'd guess a portion of it has to do with the fact he doesn't look particularly impressive. His physique isn't bad, but it's not anywhere near the kind of size that keeps Vince and his cronies happy. To me though, it's Ambrose's facial features that absolutely don't stand out. He could pass as a regular guy when he's not doing his crazed lunatic expressions, he doesn't have that kind of facial presence that says "I am a big deal". Don't get me wrong, these aren't issues for me as a fan, I think Ambrose is great, but it's certainly the kind of thing WWE takes exception to, and that's what I'm driving at. The other side of the equation is that Ambrose came from a garbage wrestling background. Even though he's very well refined as a WWE worker, there's still a kind of stigma attached to "hardcore" wrestlers. This goes back years, Terry Funk wasn't taken particularly seriously by the WWF, even though he had a rich background in traditional "rasslin" prior to his stint in Japanese death matches. Mick Foley even suffered from some of the stigma of his wrestling background, the Hardcore title was designed to get heel heat on the McMahon, whilst simultaneously being a behind the scenes rib on Foley's reputation within the Hardcore wrestling scene. If it wasn't for the crowd falling in love with Foley and forcing the WWF to push him, he probably would never have moved past being an upper card journeyman and tag team wrestler in the promotion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(BP) Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 I think the story going around was that Vince and co. loved Ambrose, but they thought his act was bulletproof and they could job him to elevate others without hurting him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimmas Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 I think the story going around was that Vince and co. loved Ambrose, but they thought his act was bulletproof and they could job him to elevate others without hurting him. The jobbing hurt, but the shitty angles hurt more. I don't buy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childs Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 I've never quite seen in Ambrose what others seem to see. He has an offbeat energy that sets him apart, but he doesn't do anything mechanically to excite me. And some of his shit--the rebound lariat, the flurries of open-handed strikes to an opponent's back--I actively dislike. I'm not sure I've ever watched an Ambrose performance and come away thinking: damn, that guy's great. He was hugely over, no denying that. And I'm never happy to see a young guy stagnate. But his saga doesn't bum me out nearly as much as the Bryan stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
funkdoc Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 FEELS LIKE UNTAPPED POTENTIAL Big E Langston - This feels like a company miss more than a BIg E Sucks thing. Don't want to put him in the failure category yet but the NEw Day is making it harder to keep him out. Never understood the appeal of Big E.. To me he's Ice Train 2.0.. And I kinda enjoyed Ice Train, but it's not like he was setting the world on fire. And yeah, since he's in the New Day, he's gone straight to failure anyway. he's a victim of their robotic style/presentation. the guy is hilarious but you wouldn't know that just from watching WWE - he absolutely kills it on social media. they just can't or won't try to translate that to TV. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 Never understood the appeal of Big E.. To me he's Ice Train 2.0.. And I kinda enjoyed Ice Train, but it's not like he was setting the world on fire. And yeah, since he's in the New Day, he's gone straight to failure anyway. he's a victim of their robotic style/presentation. the guy is hilarious but you wouldn't know that just from watching WWE - he absolutely kills it on social media. they just can't or won't try to translate that to TV. I'm not sure I would take in account how funny a guy can be outside of the pro-wrestling realm. First, I don't think the main quality of a worker is to be hilarious. Second, guys like Dean Malenko and Brad Armstrong had this rep of being really funny in real life, but it never translated into anything in front of the cameras in term of work, character and/or promo ability. So yeah, people being hilarious in real life is something, but I'm not sure it necessarily means much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 Supposedly, Cesaro, Sheamus and Roman Reigns all have personalities that would translate well to television that they aren't really allowed to show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted March 13, 2015 Report Share Posted March 13, 2015 I've said before that Roman Reigns shows all kinds of personality on the radio interviews I've heard but he isn't being scripted there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artDDP Posted March 14, 2015 Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 Ambrose should be cutting Brian PIllman promos with a cigarette dangling from his lip, not the warmed-over John C. Reilly outtake shit they give him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strand Peanut Posted March 14, 2015 Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 There are a couple interviews Dean Ambrose did in post show / fall out segments that were pretty tremendous. Some real straight up old school stuff. I've always thought those segments were unscripted, but I'm not sure. "Only three things can survive a nuclear attack.. Twinkies, Cockroaches, and Dean Ambroses" Those post show interviews often seem the like the only time a lot of the wrestlers can freelance. Tho, they do run skits there as well. It's always interesting to see different folks in that environment. Off the cuff interviews have been a huge staple of TV wrestling. Maybe only second to the action in the ring ? But in today's WWE, it's tucked away on youtube and rarely a feature on their main shows? As a reeeeal casual watcher, I'm not sure. Is that a fair assessment... anyone ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stiva Posted March 14, 2015 Report Share Posted March 14, 2015 I remember Bryan cutting a great promo around Mania time on the one of the post-shows last year. The adrenaline must have still been pumping through him because it was a great fiery babyface promo on HHH. So, there probably is truth to those post-shows being a bit looser and unscripted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.