I am wondering why WWE turns a lot of foreign talent into dumb and stupid heels.
I mean there are two things that it does,
1- It brings a lot of limitations on the talent, he has to look like this idiot foreigner who has to make a fool out of himself by speaking some rubbish against America and getting absolutely thrashed by the face. Even if the guy is talented, he has to stick to something very limited and below his potential.
2- It puts off the people of that country. Why would you want the fans from a particular to hate your product? Everyone knows its scripted, foreign stars getting poor booking will simply turn fans away unless the guy gets genuinely strong booking like Khali got.
I was thinking about how polished Rusev is, both in the ring and on the mic. He is right up there even it comes to in-ring presence, there were so many things that the creative could have done with him, but they turned him into this corny foreign heel. Rusev would have looked menacing even with a mask and Kane-like attire(the 2002 one) because of his large frame.
I wonder when this "stupid foreign heel" thing end, it serves no purpose. It does get you a bit of heat, but overall it does more bad than good. What do you guys think about this?
It probably won't, it's cheap heat for them but I agree foreign heels don't tend to have much mileage
That's why I'm hopeful Rusev keeps at it cause he's a great talent despite all the shit he's had thrown at him, will never forget him coming out in a tank :lol
It probably won't, it's cheap heat for them but I agree foreign heels don't tend to have much mileage
That's why I'm hopeful Rusev keeps at it cause he's a great talent despite all the shit he's had thrown at him, will never forget him coming out in a tank :lol
Re: When will "the stupid foreign heel" thing stop?
Some of the fans are just as much to blame for this as Vince and Dunn, with their stupid USA USA USA chants. It's 2017 - get the fuck over this country vs country bullshit, not all foreign heels are out to shit on your country.
2- It puts off the people of that country. Why would you want the fans from a particular to hate your product? Everyone knows its scripted, foreign stars getting poor booking will simply turn fans away unless the guy gets genuinely strong booking like Khali got.
In some cases perhaps, but I don't think this is a problem really. Would you count Ludvig Borga as a stupid foreign heel? I personally have never heard that a Finnish person had been upset about the character, everybody were/are happy that a Finn actually had a run in WWF/E, even if it wasn't anything significant. Sure he was booked pretty well I guess, but nevertheless.
What bugs me in case Rusev is that at first he was Russian and now he is Bulgarian. Those countries have very little to do with each other so I don't really get why and who actually came up with that s*it. Whats next, a Swedish Rusev (he might actually pull off the viking look, lol)? Same with Kofi, wasn't he from Jamaica, then Ghana or was it other way around, I don't even remember.
One of my old bae's is Bulgarian and loves the act! Plus he is a renowned power lifter and well-spoken so I don't think he is portrayed as dumb really. this seems a little zimaphobic if yall ask me!
With the political landscape in the United States it isn't even just a wrestling thing. It's genuinely how the President views foreigners. So it'll likely never stop. At least in wrestling you can laugh about it.
Never, WWE's only ever had three archetypes for foreign wrestlers generally, either 1. Generic angry man who hates Americans, 2. Dancing babyface or 3. Overly stereotypical gimmick related to their nationality.
It's a shame because guys like Rusev are really good all round performers who are limited by a lack of any real creativity.
Like the points that I made in my first post, it limits the talent if the "foreign heel" thing doesn't suit them.
But apart from that, I was talking about how it is a failure from a business point of view. WWE is not mainly limited to one country or hardcore fans. Casuals all around the world follow it, the following has reduced right now, but still, these kinds of things will actually put off such fans.
These dumb foreign heels might work well for local promotions or promotions that are aimed at only hardcore fans, but casuals wouldn't really enjoy it. Khali(is an exception and) worked because he looked like a freak and there was a lot of buzz of him beating Taker, it helped WWE get more viewers in India.
Is this just a Vince/American thing though? Isn't NJPW similar with their love of American monster heels? Don't they usually shy away from making the American talent too important.
How about TV for the international posters. How do Americans get treated on TV in your country typically. Are we fully fleshed out characters or stereotypes of certain areas (Rude New Yorkers, Texas ********, ignorant Yanks etc)
I think Rusev is GR8!!! Maybe needs to get a little haircut but his act is hilarious and he makes people lol out loud! Why h8 on a very good character and talent that pulls it off so well?
I think Rusev is GR8!!! Maybe needs to get a little haircut but his act is hilarious and he makes people lol out loud! Why h8 on a very good character and talent that pulls it off so well?
Neville was much better before they turned him heel and he says we didn't respect him yada yada yada. We all respected him and most still do even though his gimmick is a lie. He always was respected and our country embraced him. As far as bashing America and saying our Country sucks, well, we know that not to be true.
It won't stop as long as Vince draws breath.. I would have thought this question really has already been answered. As for after that day passes, well I guess we'll just have to see.
Yeah, I've never been a fan of these storylines. Rusev seems to be doing surprisingly well and has lasted a long time compared to the other similar characters. I'm actually a fan of his work.
But I always cringed with the whole Jack Swagger/John Cena/Hulk Hogan/Jim Duggan "I Love America! The land of the free! These troops in our audience! USA! USA! USA!" Vs Rusev/Muhammad Hassan/Daivari/Jinder Mahal "You Americans are stupid. Watch me speak I'm another language to get heat."
And as shitty as it sounds a lot of the time it works.
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