Quote:
Originally Posted by Shawn Morrison
okay, Lord Tensai than
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Tensai never had a hope in hell of getting as 'over' as Ryback, because he was too well known as Albert, and the gimmick has never really suited him. In fact, the Tensai gimmick was pretty much an immediate flop as soon as he had his first match. The vast majority of people just can't take it seriously.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shawn Morrison
in fact many over the past few years have beaten up jobbers just like Ryback, none of them have actually made it to the top because they couldn't get over/didn't have the talent/the look, etc. Ryback HAS actually managed to do so however.
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A major problem with today's WWE is that they think that they can decide who we cheer for by means of forcing them down our throat with a given gimmick, whereas the most lasting, popular Superstars are the ones who are allowed to be themselves.
Look at when The Rock originally started as 'Rocky Maivia'. He was given a massive push despite being as green as shit...was the sole survivor on his team at Survivor Series '96 despite it being his first WWF match, won the IC championship from Triple H 3 months later and was also put over Bret Hart. Didn't take long for the fans to get fucking sick of it at all and he ended up getting booed mercilessly.
However, when he was allowed to be himself more during his run with Nation Of Domination, he got
massively over with the fans...not just because he was a heel but because he displayed a hell of a lot of charisma and cut some awesome promos.
If WWF/E had kept things tightly scripted and carried on trying to push him as 'Rocky Maivia', the likelihood is that he'd just be one of those forgotten characters now that people barely give 2 shits about nowadays.
Anyways...my point is, those people you say couldn't get over/didn't have the talent etc.? For the most part, it was just because they were saddled with shitty gimmicks and WWE's constraints in recent times didn't allow them to do or say the things they wanted to. WWE may think that they haven't been able to create another Rock or Austin kind of megastar over the last few years...fact is, they just haven't allowed anybody to naturally get themselves over with the fans and fill the void that was left.
Ryback is only a very temporary stopgap here. Some fans are getting behind him just because they're so damn sick of Cena, others just want some kind of a change in WWE, and by good fortune they've also managed to give him a half decent gimmick (a badass who destroys everyone in his path) and a couple of decent catchphrases. He certainly did't get himself over though, it's been 6 months of constant forcefeeding, even featuring his shitty jobber squash matches unannounced in the middle of PPVs whether fans wanted it or not. Now he's thrust into the main event, more out of a neccessity because Cena's injury is taking a bit longer to heal than anything else.
Will such a one dimensional character who barely speaks and is only where he is because he's been pushed to the hilt thus far (rather than a huge amoung of fans creating a massive buzz about him, or him actually paying his dues and working his way up to the top properly) be able to be a lasting top Superstar for WWE? I have my doubts, but I'm always willing to be proved wrong.
I hope he does prove me wrong, because WWE sure as hell need someone who can be put on top and keep themselves there other than Cena. But I'm not ever fooling myself that he deserves some kind of praise for getting himself over, because he didn't.
Like I said earlier, do you still think he'd be in the main event picture now if he still had his 'Skip Sheffield' gimmick?
Ryback Discussion Thread
Re: Ryback Discussion Thread
