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Small guys as Main Eventers

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#41 ·
WWE just likes to push big guys, it's never going to change. Cm Punk was over as hell and thus decided to strike the iron while it was hot, Bryan on the other hand if it hadn't been for him getting fired and then brought back he would be in the midcard. You have talented guys like Austin Aries who wwe had a chance to pick up they always miss the boat because they would rather push a big guy. They have done shit like this their entire existance.
 
#42 ·
If the small guy has charisma as well as wrestling ability he will draw.

Jeff Hardy
CM Punk(2nd biggest draw today. Deny it all you want)
HBK
Kurt Angle
Eddie(Massive draw in Mexico)
Rey(As above)
Bret(Massive draw outside the USA)

The face of the company on the other hand is all about look, charisma and work ethic.
The entertainment aspect of wrestling which draws in non-wrestling fans.

Hogan couldn't wrestle
Warrior couldn't wrestle
Austin and Rock could do both
Its why they're probably the two best known wrestlers in history(Bar Hogan who popularized it)

Ask a casual who Dean Malenko was. They won't know because he had no charisma.

Ryback won't be the face of the company. My dead Gran gives better promos then him.
Ryback is this years "Bobby Lashley"

Sure. They're building him up now but he's being built to be fed to the next face of the company.
Whoever that may be.
 
#45 · (Edited)
JAROTO said:
The WMXX ending was awesome, one of the most special moments in WWE history (In spite of the Benoit stuff), but at the end of the day it didn't work as all of us would have wished. Benoit never became a draw...neither Guerrero. They were awesome performers, but they ended up being glorious mid-carders. It's great to have guys like them, main event once in a while, but it's hard to have them as the face of the company...unless they are extremely good looking or have an unbelievable charisma...like HBK.
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Benoit I agree with but Guerrero could have been a draw. He was hugely charismatic, was a good talker, excellent worker and the crowd loved him. Unfortunately he wasn't given enough of a chance and of course we know what happened after. Benoit was an amazing worker but didn't have much charisma or mic skills. But size really isn't as much of an issue any more. As you said, HBK was the guy for some time as well as Hart. These two didn't draw big but what I find interesting is is that people cite Austin yet he isn't massive. He is 6'2. Hell Flair, the biggest draw the NWA ever had was 6'1. Not exactly a giant in the wrestling world. Nash has this perception that you have to be at least 6'5 to be a draw. That is completely false.

JAROTO said:
Somehow I understand what the WWE has been doing with Cena and what they are trying to do with Sheamus and Ryback. The way I see it, I find really hard to have CM Punk or Daniel Bryan as the face of the WWE. They are not guys who would make a big impact at first sight and that's a very important thing in this business. My brother used to be a WWE fan years ago. One day I told him "Look, this is the new WWE guy." while Punk was entering the ring. He laughed, he thought I was joking, later on he watched his promo and a match and he said "ok, he isn't that bad, but if he is the new guy, I'm glad I stopped watching wrestling long time ago".
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I can understand this point and both Bryan and Punk are my favourite wrestlers. They don't have that immediate wow factor with them as they look relatively normal in size. Ryback especially has that wow factor as he has a great look, looks like a complete monster.

JAROTO said:
I mean, it's wrestling. Why would you have someone with a generic look and even shorter than the average as the face of your company? time has proved that at least in wrestling...size matters.
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Again, guys like Flair and Austin were not giants. Nash was one of the many guys who believed Austin would not be a draw or amount to anything and was completely proven wrong.

JAROTO said:
What I find strange is how hard it's to find big guys with a cool personality nowdays. Everyday that passes I appreciate guys like Hogan and the Rock even more than I used to.
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The strangest thing is that the guys with the best personalities and most interesting personas aren't huge in the slightest. There really isn't a new wrestler in WWE who is over 6'5, the minimal size Nash thinks is needed to draw who has any interesting personality whatsoever.
 
#47 · (Edited)
Smaller guy I believe can draw but it would take time. They need to book them in a unique way that would want the crowd and the audience to invest in them. Most smaller guys are booked as cowardly due to their size in WWE. With bigger guys the WWE books them as wrecking machines and people get invested. WWE has used that formula for a long time now. It is no secret WWE uses the big guys to draw in an audience but sometimes they depend on that too much and ignore the storyline and in turn produces a crappy product. So in conclusion a good storyline and character can eventually draw in an audience. WWE has a formula that works so I understand why they don't plan to derive new formulas.
 
#48 ·
I would watch WWE weekly if there was nobody over 250 lbs on the roster. Big guys= boring matches. Bryan and Punk are the perfect size to put on an entertaining match. When was the last time you saw a decent match with 2 big guys in a singles match?
 
#51 ·
I think he makes a decent point, but there are exceptions to every rule. Ric Flair isnt a huge guy by any stretch of the imagination. Neither is macho Man Randy Savage, Roddy piper and Bret Hart. So there are some smaller guys who can draw houses. But in general, theres been a larger percentage of big guys who draw for wrestling than small guys with no personality.
 
#52 ·
It's an interesting call. I would say that: size is one of the factors which makes the "IT factor" in general. but I wouldn't say it's a must. in order to be THE top gay of the company, there is one thing you must have and it's the "bigger than life" thing. If we take a look on the past-present top gays of the best known companies (WWE, WCW, etc), the vast majority were bigger than life (perhaps only Bret Hart, HBK and Flair are not fit to this roll). but surelly not all of them were/ are big guys:

Hulk Hogan in the 80's & early 90's: a big man
Ultimate Warrior in late 80's & early 90's: avarage
Bill Goldberg of the late 90's, in WCW days: not this big. I would say avarage
Steve Austin in the late 90's: not big at all, even below avarage
The Rock in the late 90's & early 2000's: avarage
John Cena in the last 7 years: avarage
Undertaker in the last couple of years: a huge man

you can easilly see that the majority of those mega-stars weren't that big in size. some have the bad-ass look, like Warrior, Hogan, Taker and Goldberg, while some haven't- Rock, Austin, and Cena.
but all of them had that thing of "bigger than life". everything about them was sensational to the fans. when their music played you knew something big is going to happen. when they got a big (and sometimes dangerous) mission to do you knew they will survive and will end as victorious. when they were prepered to a big clash with their ennemies in the ring you knew they will be with the upperhand, at the end. and all of that for one reason: they were bigger than life. some of them were believable and some of them totally not, but in the end of the day there are 2 ellements which metter the most: booking and crowd reactions. those top guys mentioned above were booked very strongly and were connected with the audience perfectlly. that's what made their character so big.
some have the bad-ass look, like Warrior, Hogan, Taker and Goldberg, while some haven't- Rock, Austin, and Cena
 
#54 ·
Re: Small guys as Main Eventers.

Asenath said:
I think this "Small guys don't draw," thing is a bit of a farce. Looking back in the day, neither Michaels nor Hart were huge guys. On the other side, Sting in the WCW days didn't seem to stand any taller than Punk even though he was billed as larger.

Sure, bring out the roided out circus freaks to draw attention, but the paragons of performance have always been smaller and faster and more nimble than grotesque. And just personally, I'd rather watch 20 minutes of Benoit/Guerrero/Malenko, 60 minutes of prime HBK/Hart, or even Punk and Daniel Bryan than a fingerpoke of doom between Hogan and Nash or a shambling Khali or snorting Ryback or (as I used to call him back in the day) Goldbore.
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In general it is not a farce. Timing, exectuion, talent and performance means a lot, also to have that "it factor".

But however, in general bigger is better, and I think anyone with a degree in marketing agree to that statement. There is a reason why they did The Hulk in the recent avengers movie by CGI. Because people in general want's to see over the top characters. And since Vince want's to target the mass audience, because there is where the money are. He should push guys that are over the top. That menas big guys, but also smaller guys like Misterio who gets over not jsut becasue he is talented, but also because of his gimmick, and that he appeal to the mexican market a lot too.

Bret Hard and Sean Michaels never drew monter houses like Warrior or Hogan did. Srue they drew, but not jsut as much. For them to have drawn that extra bit Stone Cold and The Rock did,they need that rare "extra extra" it factor, and to have the right exectuion of storylines and to have a strong economy in the country in general.
 
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#55 ·
roni10_levi said:
It's an interesting call. I would say that: size is one of the factors which makes the "IT factor" in general. but I wouldn't say it's a must. in order to be THE top gay of the company, there is one thing you must have and it's the "bigger than life" thing. If we take a look on the past-present top gays of the best known companies (WWE, WCW, etc), the vast majority were bigger than life (perhaps only Bret Hart, HBK and Flair are not fit to this roll). but surelly not all of them were/ are big guys:

Hulk Hogan in the 80's & early 90's: a big man
Ultimate Warrior in late 80's & early 90's: avarage
Bill Goldberg of the late 90's, in WCW days: not this big. I would say avarageSteve Austin in the late 90's: not big at all, even below avarage The Rock in the late 90's & early 2000's: avarage
John Cena in the last 7 years: avarage
Undertaker in the last couple of years: a huge man

you can easilly see that the majority of those mega-stars weren't that big in size. some have the bad-ass look, like Warrior, Hogan, Taker and Goldberg, while some haven't- Rock, Austin, and Cena. but all of them had that thing of "bigger than life". everything about them was sensational to the fans. when their music played you knew something big is going to happen. when they got a big (and sometimes dangerous) mission to do you knew they will survive and will end as victorious. when they were prepered to a big clash with their ennemies in the ring you knew they will be with the upperhand, at the end. and all of that for one reason: they were bigger than life. some of them were believable and some of them totally not, but in the end of the day there are 2 ellements which metter the most: booking and crowd reactions. those top guys mentioned above were booked very strongly and were connected with the audience perfectlly. that's what made their character so big.
some have the bad-ass look, like Warrior, Hogan, Taker and Goldberg, while some haven't- Rock, Austin, and Cena
Click to expand...
I've highlighted my personal favourite parts of your post.

Austin was the biggest badass the company has ever had.
Only Hogan and Warrior may have been the top gays.
Bret Hart is the GOAT and he's pretty small.
 
#56 ·
Austin isn't big? Put him next to punk, he must be 20lbs heavier atleast...hes a terrifyingly hench man!
 
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#58 ·
To say smaller guys dont draw is slapping the rich history of pro wrestling and not looking at the grand scheme of whether bigger guys are the draws. Let's look at Buddy Rogers, Bob Backlund, Gorgeous George, men who have drawn and contributed massively to the medium. How about Sammartino a small guy with a great physique, one of the greatest draws and was well loved and respected. Austin never seemed like a huge guy, but his personality helped hide that as he was so larger than life, so was Flair's and Piper's. Heck Kurt Angle was small, but he portrayed a character where he could legit beat you up, so did Benoit.

It's not about whether you are a big guy, it's about making a connection with the fans and that's what ultimately cements your legacy. Andre the Giant was loved by the nation, Hogan during his run was a national hero until scandals hit, The Rock is now a darling for the media. They became great because of the connection their performance gave to the fans. Sadly we can't say that about Kevin Nash.
 
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