Sheamus -
Brought in strong, wins a battle royal to set up a title tables match vs Cena which he wins. Loses title at Elimination Chamber as part of Mania setup. Loses vs Trips at Mania 26. Wins 2nd World Title at Fatal 4-way and defends title thru Summerfest. 2011 comes along: Doesn't even get a match at Wrestlemania (it was a dark lumberjack match vs Bryan). Completely wasted since and had a massive losing streak to Morrison, a guy they let go. Last I saw him on Smackdown he was feuding with Jinder Mahal before winning the Rumble. I'm also pretty sure he was eliminated from a battle royal by a midget a few weeks ago.
Wade -
Brought in strong right away after NXT with the Cena feud. Gets the rub from working with the Champ and you can see him continually improving. Feud basically ends after he loses a match where if he loses Cena gets fired. Cena shows up the very next night and costs him another title match. Wade never wins the title and goes on to some terrible Corre thing that pretty much sucked. Total shit with him since as he continues to cut awesome promos.
The All-American American and former World Heavyweight Champion Jack Swagger -
Brought in strong with a long undefeated streak which leads to ECW title. He worked a lot with Finley and Christian, presumably learning a ton from their 2 best vets. Eventually drafted to Raw and feuded with Kofi and MVP. They have him win MITB at Mania in 2010 and wins the title within a month. Only 2 title defenses and is later reduced to running around with an eagle mascot for the rest of the year. Doesn't even get a match at Mania in 2011. He cornered Cole vs Lawler and has done nothing for almost a year now.
It's not even a coincidence anymore, it seems like a formula they stick to.
If they can't figure it out with any of these 3 guys I'm not sure who they think the future of the company is. These 3 guys are all heavyweight guys as opposed to the smaller tier guys we know Vince hates because they're too small (Punk, Ziggler, Bryan, Miz). I have to think there (and i hate the term) has to be a glass ceiling for these guys. So there's 7 guys they can't figure out how to get over to a REAL main event level. Punk and Bryan are champs but they're not main event superstars. There no reason Sheamus and Swagger shouldn't be huge by now. They know this, I wonder what their plan is going forward? Continue to have Cole try as hard as he can to make viewers hate the wrestlers and the product? More skits with Zack changing his tire? A mystery GM angle that goes for months with no payoff? Months of mystery vignettes with no payoff? Kane's magic powers? With Linda running for Senate again this year, I can't imagine much focus on the wrestling end for 2012.
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Drop In wrote:
I'm picturing a 12 year old Bob Loblaw bitching out a Randy Savage Wrestling Buddy for botching his finisher. Also envisioning Bob Loblaw getting bitched at for lighting the living room table on fire for said finisher.