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The Future Endeavors Have Begun

KeepingTheFaith

Referee
Messages
25,235
Vaudevillians were never going to last. They gained a level of appreciation from the NXT audience but it was more respect for their time and effort than anything else.
 

Parra Pride

Coach
Messages
19,723
Yeah that's what I had heard as well. Also shows that just because your gimmick gets hot in NXT, doesn't mean it will translate to the masses on the main roster.

The way they were booked didn't really help them all that much either. The gimmick was always going to be hard to translate to the main roster, but after being the #1 contenders early on they were pretty much just jobbed out. I guess they at least had it better than the Ascension? I don't think anyone has been as buried as those guys have been since day one.

God I'll be so salty if the drop the ball with The Revival and #DIY further down the line, assuming Ciampa doesn't murder Gargano before they get the call up.
 
Messages
23,952
I think it was Big Pete who asked me which of last years post Mania call ups would last, and at the moment it seems to be heading in that direction. And I agree with you PP, that gimmick suits the small passionate crowds of NXT rather than the main roster. The Ascension on the main roster has been brutal, particularly when someone thought the best way to book them was to make them The New LOD but as jobbers.
 

Big Pete

Referee
Messages
28,939
Put it this way, if Henry is still working by 2016, he's kidding himself.

He's kidding himself!!

As for the Vaudevillains, your Los Matadores comparison was pretty apt, SGL. For me, they're a golden example of a minor league act failing to translate on the bigger stage. It's easier to get over in an environment like NXT where you're not being exposed every single week and have the opportunity to grow as characters. A three hour show like Raw isn't really conducive for those sorts of characters and unfortunately by the time they made it onto SmackDown they were DOA. If it was up to me, I would have broken them up and given them a new direction to see how they would go but that wasn't the WWE's mind-set. Instead they were both stuck in this dead-end tag team on a roster where tag team wrestling is dying a death. Even a team like American Alpha who were considered the biggest stars coming out of NXT have become irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

I think the more recent batch of Nakamura, Dillinger and The Revival will have an easier time, although I'm worried about Joe. If it was my call, I'd get him off Raw pronto and as far away from HHH as I could. Joe needs to stand on his own two feet and booking him like HHH's enforcer (who is kind of shit at his job if Mania is anything to go by) isn't going to allow him to be all he can be.

Otherwise I've got to say the WWE has been pretty enjoyable as of late. My only complaint in regards to Mania is that it went for too long, otherwise it was a strong spectacle and between TakeOver, Raw & SmackDown there was plenty to get excited about.

My only complaint is that the presentation of the show is so placid. Rollins/Balor vs Joe/Owens should have been this dream match and by the time it came around it felt like an after thought.
 

Iafeta

Referee
Messages
24,357
Even Cody didn't like the Stardust gimmick.

Interestingly I watched a Mid South Episode from 1982 last night. Ted DiBiase pre the Million Dollar gimmick is on colour. Second match is Dusty Rhodes wrestling a very simple match where for some reason he spends 3 minutes wrenching his opponents leg, before a couple of minutes later he drops a simple elbow for the pin. Didn't get that psychology whatsoever, Dusty who was laughably billed at being 265 pounds did absolutely no work whatsoever. Anyhow, Dusty was called Mr Stardust as well as the American Dream in this episode.
 

Big Pete

Referee
Messages
28,939
To be a fan in the 80s.

Mid-South
Georgia Championship Wrestling/Mid-Atlantic
Memphis
Florida
WCCW
AWA
WWWF
Oregon

Then World of Sport, AJPW, NJPW, EMLL and Puerto Rico if you were that into it.

In terms of booking new talent, Mid-South maybe one of the best promotions in the world. So many guys got their starts there and while it's fascinating from a retrospective stand-point, could you imagine being a fan at the time? That's what I miss about NXT, I'm always fascinated in seeing new acts, not just 'smark-mark darlings' finally getting their due.
 
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