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Why did they build up Tatanka and then bury him.

12K views 38 replies 29 participants last post by  The A 
#1 ·
Just wondering. They brought him in and gave him an almost 2 year undefeated streak, put him in fueds against HBK and Martel, had him beat both several times, and then they burried him. People loved Tatanka and he wrestled better than most of the jacked up buff guys at the time so I don't understand it. He was already one of the most popular guys and just needed one IC reign and he could have been a star.
 
#14 ·
I doubt that the story with the burial is true. I doubt that Shawn Michaels had already control in early 1993, even the Kliq wasn't formed during that time and Nash, Hunter and Waltman were not even in WWE at that moment. It's possible that Shawn said that Tatanka had a bad attitude but Michaels was not relevant enough at this moment to make Vince McMahon change his mind.
I think there were other factors and Tatanka tried to find an explanation why and assumed it was Shawn but failed to realize that Michaels had no backstage power at that moment
 
#3 ·
Re: Why did they build up Tatanka and then burry him.

The same could be asked about the couple dozen people in the same circumstance. The ADD booking used to be less of a problem back in the day, so I understand why you ask. I think it's something to do with that politicking little douchebag Shawn Michaels, something about WrestleMania 9. But I'll let someone else fill in the details who knows better.
 
#5 ·
I think Tatanka was scheduled to win the IC Title at WM 9 but of course, Shawn doesn't lay down for anybody. But from an interview I heard, Tatanka didn't seem to have any hard feelings behind it.

And 2 years after that, he & Bigelow were scheduled to win the tag team titles and according to Bigelow, someone politicked to prevent that from happening and instead the belt went back to one of the Kliq members. In actuality, Tatanka & Bigelow were supposed to beat the Headshrinkers for the belts but instead, Diesel & HBK did. They got stripped of the belts, a tournament was held, in which Bigelow said they were going to get the belts again but they went to Bob Holly & 1-2-3.
 
#6 ·
Ah it all makes sense now, it sucks that the Kliq burried so many guys. At least Tatanka wasn't anything special when it came to talent or charisma but I still hate that he was so popular and had all the buildup he needed to get a belt just to have HBK ruin it. Now I understand why so many people hated him all those years.
 
#9 ·
I have thought the same thing in the past. They used to make a big deal about Tatanka being undefeated. I knew at the time he would never be world champ, and the undefeated thing didn't even seem relevant to me, but when I got older and undefeated streaks were always looked upon as a major feat, made me think of Tatanka.

Sad they he was politicked away from the IC title and ended up as a lackluster heel in the Million dollar corporation.
 
#19 ·
I don't know when the incident Tatanka is talking about occurred but Nash joined WWE in the summer of 1993 and Waltman joined in the spring of 1993. So, 4 members of the future Kliq were already there.


But, in Marty Jannetty's shoot interview, he spoke upon HBK's politics as far back as 1992.


Jannetty was fired, after allegedly being drunk and passing out backstage at the TV Taping after Royal Rumble. He told Vince he was tired and went to sleep, as he had been at the arena since 1:00 with nothing to do. He wanted Vince to test him, as it was a big deal because Jannetty's contract had a no drinking clause based on him flipping out while drunk once in a hotel in Canada.

Jannetty says it was Curt Hennig who got WWE to bring him back a few months later. He says Hennig told him it was HBK who went to Vince and got Jannetty fired. Vince rehired Jannetty, supposedly on the claims that HBK himself was intoxicated the night before the show, passing out face first in his food from too many Somas. Allegedly, the incident lead to a punishment towards HBK by Vince, when he had him drop the belt to Jannetty. Jannetty also said that several wrestlers had grew sour on HBK, with one wrestler saying "He thinks this is real".


I don't think it's as much as HBK buried Tatanka but more about HBK just flat out being an asshole. I've long heard he refused to drop the belt to Tatanka but I can't honestly say that was true, only what I heard.
 
#20 ·
HBK was just a dick his entire WWF career before 2002, even when he wasn't a main eventer. It's just that when Vince pushed him to the WWF Title he was put in a position of power and he abused it, hard. Wouldn't surprise me if Vince eventually just decided that Tatanka wasn't main event material anyway so why bother pushing him further?
 
#24 ·
You could ask the same thing about nearly hundreds of guys over the years. It's just what WWE does. They build people up, find something they don't like about them, and then bury them.
 
#25 ·
To me it is one of th greatest mysteries in wrestling history.
Why have him being undefeated for almost 2 years, and then job on WWF Superstars for no apparent reason to Ludvig Borga of all people.
 
#28 ·
I think an IC dynasty could have worked with him... he was one of the few brightspots in the gimmicky characters and was fun to watch. Even as a kid, I tended away from those types of characters but Tatanka was cool. I don't know if he could have made world champion though... he was a lot like Val Venis to me: great character, good wrestler, but the gimmick was just a bit too gimmicky to be a world champ.
 
#30 ·
It's amazing how much power Shawn Michaels is perceived to have had back in early 1993 when he'd been a singles wrestler for a year and there was no Clique as none of Kevin Nash, Triple H or Sean Waltman had debuted yet. Tatanka remained undefeated for months still after that but basically Vince McMahon stopped pushing him and 1993 revolved around Hulk Hogan briefly, Bret Hart, Lex Luger, The Undertaker, Yokozuna, Jerry Lawler and Curt Hennig which saw Tatanka pushed aside.

Scott Hall was being built up as a babyface and Shawn Michaels was being built up as a heel but neither were a main focus until early 1994 and it wasn't until WrestleMania 10 that a lot of people took genuine notice of Shawn Michaels backstage or saw him as a serious player. Maybe from latter 1994 people can use the whole politicking thing for any success or avoiding of losses Shawn Michaels achieved but early 1993 is a HUGE stretch.
 
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