It seems these days taking time to build a feud with the match taking place at a pay per view does not equal buys or at least not enough to please the higher ups in WWE and TNA (although TNA aren't getting that many buys regardless of what they put on their pay per views). But the "gimmick" PPV has been around for a long time.
Gimmick PPV are shows built around a certain type of matches occurring throughout the night or just one or 2 special matches occurring on the night. You can say that the first "gimmick" PPV was Survivor Series 1987 the show was built around 4 on 4 elimination matches and that would be the type of match that filled the card. Just months later WWE would hold it's first Royal Rumble a show built around the first time ever unique battle royal this would be the only time 20 men took part as it went up to 30 the next your and stayed that way until last years when it went up to 40. These two events would happen ever year and still do to this day. These shows were unique and have made such an impact that the Royal Rumble has been ripped off by so many companies and indy promotion even promote 4-on-4 elimination matches as Survivor Series style. While this was probably the start of gimmick pay per views there was a good reason for them in my view. At that time WWE only had 4 pay per views a year the other two being wrestlemania and summerslam the rest of the year was completely free to watch including Saturday Night's Main event which was a supershow of sorts so WWE needed to come up with a way to get the audience to buy these shows and what better way than to have shows which were completely unique and wouldn't happen any other time. It was a great idea and when WWE started adding more pay per views ending with one a month those two shows were still the only gimmick shows on their lists.
The gimmick PPV wouldn't really be used again until WCW's Uncensored PPV in 1995 started the show revolved around idea that their was relaxed rules and it consisted of many gimmick matches throughout the night. However it never really worked well as the Uncensored PPV's ended up being rubbish and confusing for example at one Hogan beat Vader in a strap match by dragging Ric Flair (who was in a dress) around the ring and touched all 4 corners! The only show that was OK was the 98 show which was mainly held together by the undercard. The main problem was the gimmicks were just weird and confusing plus the main event stars were old and couldn't carry them, I'm looking at you Hogan! So the Uncensored PPV was a bad attempt at WCW starting a gimmick PPV.
The gimmick PPV was a forgotten thing by the 2000's as the Rumble and Survivor Series were just accepted and the Survivor Series would often have less and less 4-on-4 matches sometimes having none at all. But it would be revived in 2005 when TNA held it's first ever Lockdown PPV. Lockdown was the first PPV that had cage matches from the first to the last, it was originally meant to just have two but TNA decided "If we put it up at the beginning and leave it then it would make a good show" well they were kind of right as Lockdown is one of their best brought shows. TNA would often do gimmick shows being built around certain matches including shows focused on the Ultimate X or their Slammiversary show being built around the overly confusing King of the Mountain match, luckily they've got rid of that match but they haven't fired Russo the man who came up with that crap! And in a weird turn of events WWE decided to copy TNA and started doing more gimmick pay per views throughout the year, usually TNA copy everything WWE do so they must of loved the fact WWE used their idea. Now we've got to the point were their are more gimmick pay per views than normal ones but the question is do they work?
Gimmick pay per views much like anything else have good points and bad points. One positive to gimmick pay per views is that they can increase the quality of the overall show, TNA's latest gimmick show Destination X which focused on the X Division was one of their best shows in ages but when you look at over gimmick shows the wrestlers will usually have more creative freedom than in a normal match. I personally also like gimmick matches because of that if you watch shows like Extreme Rules they are often good from start to finish because you get such a range of gimmicks and creativity coming out. Having so many different gimmicks happening during the show can keep the audiences attention as you're unlikely to see the same thing one match after another. But one of the biggest positives to gimmick pay per views, in my eyes, is that it allows the fans to see matches that we wouldn't at any other time and that could be due to the fact you cannot build a story around these matches. Let's face it no matter how many times WWE tries to build a story around the Royal rumble match it never sticks and the reason why people watch is because we love the rumble match itself, it's just something special that we get caught up in for that hour plus that it's on. I personally never miss a rumble match as their one of my favourite matches to watch every year. But the rumble match isn't alone here. Let's be honest when WWE introduced the elimination chamber they tired to build stories around them but they failed mainly because it's hard to book 6 guys to work the one match and another reason was that it's not needed. WWE have done the perfect thing placing a pay per view around it and saying that if you want to be the main event at wrestlemania you have to win this match it's your last chance. The same can be said about Money in the Bank that is just a match that happens and the winner gets a push and a eventual World title run you can't put a story on that.
So that's the positives to gimmick pay per views "But Christian what's the negative?" I hear you all ask well I'll tell you!
While gimmick pay per views allow us to see matches we wouldn't normally see they also over due matches that we do normally see. TNA Lockdown is the perfect example one a show with 7 matches it results in 7 cage matches OK that would be fine if it was just for the one night but TNA hold cage matches on a regular basis so holding a show with all cages is nothing special. This also leads to my next problem which is adding gimmicks to gimmicks, TNA are famous for this. In order to separate one match from the other they add another match type to one that's already standing look at the first Lockdown and you'll see a tables match inside a cage! WWE are no different here as during their Breaking Point PPV built around submission matches they held a "Submission Counts Anywhere" match which made no sense since all the wrestlers involved (DX vs. Legacy) weren't known for submissions nor did they build the story around submissions. The ultimate gimmick on gimmick match has to be the King of the Mountain match which was a "reverse" ladder match which also had pinfalls/submissions, guys going into a cage when pinned and wrestlers having to earn eligibility to hang the belt! By adding gimmicks onto gimmick matches you are making the matches too confusing and harder to follow the ultimate solution would be to not have so many gimmick matches on the show.
In my last point I mentioned a story being built and that brings me nicely onto the fact that some gimmick pay per views revolve around matches that should occur when the story is right. The best example I can make here is the Hell in a Cell PPV. When the Cell was introduced to the WWE it was the ultimate solution and the ultimate conclusion to a feud. The match would probably only occur once or twice a year mainly because that's when it was needed. Look at some of the famous feuds that have ended in the Cell. Undertaker vs. Batista ended in the Cell at Survivor series after starting at Mania of that year, Undertaker vs. Edge lasted a year and a half (on/off) before ending in the cell at Summerslam and Undertaker(he's been in a lot hasn't he and I'll get to that in a moment) vs. Randy Orton started at Wrestlemania 21 and ended in the cell at the final PPV of the year. This was the perfect end to the feuds and they happened when they did. Look at the last two Hell in a Cell PPV's did CM Punk-Undertaker deserve to be in the cell? No as they only started working together 2 months before. Did Sheamus-Randy Orton deserve to be in the cell? No as they hardly feuded with each other. You lose the matches meaning when it's literally just a gimmick for one show. Hell in a Cell was one of my favourite matches to watch, not so much now that it's gone PG, but it's just another gimmick to me now that I'll only get to see for one night. Maybe WWE should do matches when they are meant to happen and not for just one random night or remember that they have that show and place time and effort into the feuds so they make sense when they are in the cell.
Having mentioned the Undertaker's repeated Cell matches in my last point brings me to my final grief with gimmick ppv's. As I've mentioned some gimmick shows over due certain matches and one of the problems is that these gimmicks are synonymous with specific wrestlers. Undertaker has been involved in the most Hell in a Cell matches than anyone else in WWE and it's hard to imagine a Hell of a Cell show without him however they must take their toll on him, Taker is a physical wreck right now who seems to only be able to wrestle once a year. The same can be said for Edge and Ladder matches, Edge recently retired and part of the credit has to go to the huge amount of ladder/TLC matches he has been in. By doing these gimmick matches too often you are risking injuring your workers on a more regular basis and cutting down their career length in the long run.
So do gimmick PPV's work? Basically NO! WWE now have more gimmick PPV's than normal PPV's and yet they still aren't getting any more buys than they wish they could get.
But my ultimate example showing that gimmick PPV's don't work is ECW's December to Dismember PPV. That show spent months promoting one match, later two, that being the "Extreme" Elimination chamber and the Hardy's vs. MNM, which was a brilliant match and it's a shame that Jeff is to busy messing up his life with drugs and Matt is too busy getting himself over on Twitter to put on anything close to a good match these days. The show is remembered as one of the worse ever and promoting a 3 hour PPV with 2 matches that will take up less than an hour is a stupid move and their is no reason to watch the other matches that will be thrown out there.
As you can see there is more negative results in the gimmick PPV's than positive, in my view. The question is will WWE go back to holding more normal PPV's, who knows I kind of doubt it though. While gimmick PPV's can help build a feud along by placing them into gimmick matches it can also rush them which ultimately hurts them and cuts them short. For example Randy Orton faced off with John Cena in the Hell in a Cell, which like I said was meant to be the ultimate end, and yet they worked a hour long match just one month later which was meant to be the end!
The common theme of this blog seems to be removing the meaning behind the gimmicks and if done enough those gimmick matches will soon just become just another normal match to the fans and the wrestling companies will have to go to new extreme which will likely end up adding gimmicks to gimmicks and like I said it will make it harder to keep up with and just lose even more meaning. I'm all for gimmick PPV's if they are held 4 times out of the 12+ PPV's WWE put on ever year.
Monday 25 July 2011
Wednesday 13 July 2011
Well we gave it a Shot!
They have been many times when a company will try to establish a new star as it's main attraction but it doesn't go according to plans. So I decided to look at 8 guys who were given a run with a big companies main title and see what went wrong (in my opinion). So lets begin!
Xavier-ROH World Champion
Ring of Honor has been around since 2002 and since that time it's world title has been held by 15 guys (16 reigns as Austin Aries held it twice) and 14 out of those 15 are a whose who of wrestling who became huge in wrestling, in one aspect or another. The other one was Xavier. Xavier ended the Low Ki's reign as the first champion in September of 2002 and would lose the belt in March of 2003. Over this time Xavier never looked like a main event guy and especially didn't look like he deserved the World title. After his reign had ended he was barely used in ROH and just left soon after, he wouldn't receive another title shot until Bryan Danielson's reign where he made a surprise one night return to little care. So what went wrong?
Well there were several factors that hurt his reign. First was him being apart of the Phophecy group, while the group was the main heel stable he never looked like a main member and just a sidekick. Christopher Daniels was the groups main star and probably should of been the man who was World champion if he wasn't already involved in programs. And this leads me to the other problem he had. Xavier was a OK worker in a roster full of fantastic workers so why was he chosen to be champion and so many others were over looked? Xavier didn't stand out and while his title matches were good it was mainly due to the guys he worked with. This ultimately summed up the issue with the fans, we couldn't understand why Xavier was champ. Sure that could be the "you didn't see it coming" factor that wrestling bookers love but it has to make sense in the long run. I'll put it like this, lets say that Justin Gabriel gets a match for the World title and he wins it right now while we all will say "Holy crap I didn't expect that" you also wouldn't accept him as champion as the win came from no where and he's sent the last year in a mid-card tag team. That's what we got with Xavier, someone who screamed mid-card being played as a main event and it just didn't work.
Ron Killings-NWA World Champion Twice
While R-Truth may be one big push away from being a main event in WWE now back in 2002 he was a far cry off. For this argument I'm going to look at his first reign as his second reign lasted just two weeks and it could of been anyone holding the belt. For Killings first reign we once again got the shock factor as he beat Ken Shamrock when no one thought he would but saying that Ken wasn't very committed to wrestling at the time and was probably more MMA than wrestling. Killings would keep the belt for 105 days until losing it to Jeff Jarrett. And that is the main problem and it would be a common one for TNA for years. While Killings was champion you hardly knew it as the focus was all on Jeff's "rise" to the championship. I can't tell you of any matches Killings had while champion as I just don't remember them. It was all on Jeff Jarrett and so when Killings lost to Jarrett instead of continuing the program they just said well that's it and put him in the 3 Live Kru. While the focus on Jeff was probably the biggest problem I have to say the timing probably hurt his chances as well. Killings was just a few years into wrestling and only a couple years removed from his K-Kwik gimmick which sank so fast in WWE. Now my thinking is TNA put the belt on him as a way of saying "We push the stars WWE don't" but it really didn't work. Killings is only just now being seen as a possible future champion 9 years after the fact he was a world champion.
Justin Credible-ECW World Champion
I could put any ECW Champion from the last year of it's existence here but decided that Jerry Lynn, Steve Corino and Rhino actually went on to do big things while this was the last big thing Justin ever did sadly. WWE and TNA used him but never in the right way and he never got past their mid-cards. So lets look at what went wrong during his ECW title reign, there are a few things in my mind. Probably the biggest problems were his big PPV matches and how he won the belt. Justin won the title at Cyberslam 2000 by beating Tommy Dreamer but that match happened just seconds after Dreamer beat Taz to become champion, the match was long it wasn't a money in the bank moment which has become over done lately but it still didn't help establish him as a main event star. His next PPV title defenses didn't go well either, when he retained against Lance Storm the fans were more bothered about Tommy Dreamer who was meant to be in the match but left after Justin threatened to thrown the belt in the trash, kind of stupid when you consider you could then reach in to that trash can and pick the belt up! So the fans didn't care about the match taking place. His next PPV match against Dreamer in a Stairway to Hell match i.e. a Ladder match for no reason what so ever, got overshadowed by the XPW guys trying to get themselves over and then them getting the crap beat out of them. When Justin lost the belt to Jerry Lynn at Anarchy Rules the match went well however it was Justin himself who hampered it here. The match was in Lynn's hometown so you knew the crowd would be red hot but Justin decided to go overkill and talk on the mic while attacking which was kind of cheap. Justin would remain in the title picture until ECW closed, which wasn't long but he would never be a main star in other companies. But before I move one there is one more reason I think he didn't get established or make that two, that being Francine (see what I did there!). This being ECW they focused on Francine, how hot she was and how little she wore in doing so she really out shadowed him, hell in his match with Dreamer one of the things I remember is her being stripped of her shirt and her boobs being covered by tape! When Justin was with Jason at least Jason could do stupid crap which would help get Justin over, like most managers do, but Francine couldn't take those bumps without gaining focus because it would usually be a guy doing the bump to her. So while placing her with him was meant to help it probably damaged him more.
Diamond Dallas Page-WCW World Champion Three times
DDP was WCW champion three times is that impressive? Not when you consider the fact he only held the belt for 29 days! That's about one month. While I love DDP and he is a legend the fact is he was never accepted as a main event star and his short time as champion proved that but who's to blame DDP or WCW? WCW it's WCW lets face it. DDP was the first victim of the Russo booking crap that helped destroy WCW. I remember watching WCW Nitro one night and in the first hour DDP lost the WCW title to Sting and then in the second hour he won it back in a four way! And lets no start on the fact it was him who lost the WCW title to David Arquette! I mentioned in another blog that WCW should of pushed DDP earlier, he was the biggest babyface in 1997/1998 and should of be champion then especially since the Hogan heel run was so horrible and boring but instead they decide to give DDP one month as a heel champion and he looked like crap because of the booking. So basically that sums up went wrong with DDP, the booking and nothing else.
Booker T-WCW World champion Five times
While Booker may be a five time champion it was in the final year of WCW and nearly everyone could of been champion and the fact is after his reigns and going into WWE he had to become a mid-card talent all over again and that was the problem. It was once again a "Let's surprise the fans" decision but WCW decided to stick to it. Booker had never really been pushed and just kind of stayed in the same spot then all of a sudden he was in the main events, which was a huge mess at that time and Booker was forced to work with guys who either didn't really care what performance they put on or wouldn't be able to put on a good show. Booker may have been a 5 time champion but the that championship was a joke by that time, remember this was the same year that David Arquette and Vince Russo got reigns as champion.
Samoa Joe-TNA World champion
This has links to Booker T just wait. Samoa Joe finally became TNA World champion after being the fans want for years by beating Kurt Angle in a classic at Lockdown 2008 he would lose it to Sting in another great match at Bound for Glory of the same year. The problem occurred inbetween those two events. Joe would be the first man to enter and retain the title in the King of the Mountain match which was full of odd names that year including Bobby Roode. But the biggest problem was the he was stuck with Booker T for 3 months plus. In their first one on one match they failed to deliver and that was probably more Booker's fault as he just didn't care much and Joe was fantastic at the time. So instead of seeing something that didn't work and ending it they decide to run 2 more months with it and then they built it around Sting and Jeff Jarrett's returns which overshadowed both men and the championship. Joe's reign would be seen as a flop and it's mainly due to how TNA booking handled it. If Joe was to take on the challenger of the month he could of worked with great names, him and AJ would of been a believable main event. Hell he had a fantastic match on Impact with Kazarian they could of built on that. But instead they focused on yet another former WWE guy as the main star and it seriously hurt one of the only guys that was in the main event and you could call a TNA guy.
Jack Swagger-World Heavyweight Champion
Where to begin here? The beginning would be a smart idea so let's start there. Swagger push to the main event was all of 2 days. Swagger won the money in the bank at Wrestlemania and then cashed in on the Smackdown taping the next week. Rushed isn't the word, stupid would do it. WWE could of built him so well, on the Raw before he ran in about to cash in and Cena started getting up so he grabbed the briefcase and ran off. You could of done that several times over months while having Swagger beat big names, hell you could have had him run to get the briefcase after the champion was getting up and be late and then actually beat the champion, making it look like he wasted his shot. But lets move on to the reign itself. Swagger didn't look like a champion, over his 3 month reign he hardly ever won. Now he did put on great performances with everyone he worked with but losing every match hurt him way to much. Hell he worked with Big Show and had to lose by DQ, a win would of helped him so much more. It's basic you can't build stars without sacrificing others and it's not even sacrificing as wrestlers can lose and not lose everything. WWE should of had guys put him over instead of him losing to everyone, which brings us too...
Sheamus-WWE Champion Twice
So you know where I'm going here so let's cut to the chase. During Sheamus' two reigns as champion he hardly ever won. He only just beat Cena in a tables match to win the belt (which was botched) he then lost continually by DQ to Cena, beat Orton by DQ and then lost the title in his reign. Then in his second he did pin Cena in a four way but it was because of the Nexus that he won and that was drilled home! The same occurred a month later in a cage as it was the Nexus stopping Cena from escaping that lead to Sheamus leaving the cage. He then lost by DQ to Orton and then lost the title to Orton. Just like Swagger the continuous losing hurt him more than they had planned. Now it is early days and it seems that Sheamus could be getting a push again on Smackdown lets just hope they do it right this time.
Well there you have it 8 guys who were given a chance but just never clicked. Now I was going to put Lex Luger's WCW reigns and Ron Simmons reign as WCW champion on here as well but I didn't see much of their reigns so don't want to talk about what I don't know. Anyways let me know what you think, if you agree or disagree I'm guessing the latter.
Xavier-ROH World Champion
Ring of Honor has been around since 2002 and since that time it's world title has been held by 15 guys (16 reigns as Austin Aries held it twice) and 14 out of those 15 are a whose who of wrestling who became huge in wrestling, in one aspect or another. The other one was Xavier. Xavier ended the Low Ki's reign as the first champion in September of 2002 and would lose the belt in March of 2003. Over this time Xavier never looked like a main event guy and especially didn't look like he deserved the World title. After his reign had ended he was barely used in ROH and just left soon after, he wouldn't receive another title shot until Bryan Danielson's reign where he made a surprise one night return to little care. So what went wrong?
Well there were several factors that hurt his reign. First was him being apart of the Phophecy group, while the group was the main heel stable he never looked like a main member and just a sidekick. Christopher Daniels was the groups main star and probably should of been the man who was World champion if he wasn't already involved in programs. And this leads me to the other problem he had. Xavier was a OK worker in a roster full of fantastic workers so why was he chosen to be champion and so many others were over looked? Xavier didn't stand out and while his title matches were good it was mainly due to the guys he worked with. This ultimately summed up the issue with the fans, we couldn't understand why Xavier was champ. Sure that could be the "you didn't see it coming" factor that wrestling bookers love but it has to make sense in the long run. I'll put it like this, lets say that Justin Gabriel gets a match for the World title and he wins it right now while we all will say "Holy crap I didn't expect that" you also wouldn't accept him as champion as the win came from no where and he's sent the last year in a mid-card tag team. That's what we got with Xavier, someone who screamed mid-card being played as a main event and it just didn't work.
Ron Killings-NWA World Champion Twice
While R-Truth may be one big push away from being a main event in WWE now back in 2002 he was a far cry off. For this argument I'm going to look at his first reign as his second reign lasted just two weeks and it could of been anyone holding the belt. For Killings first reign we once again got the shock factor as he beat Ken Shamrock when no one thought he would but saying that Ken wasn't very committed to wrestling at the time and was probably more MMA than wrestling. Killings would keep the belt for 105 days until losing it to Jeff Jarrett. And that is the main problem and it would be a common one for TNA for years. While Killings was champion you hardly knew it as the focus was all on Jeff's "rise" to the championship. I can't tell you of any matches Killings had while champion as I just don't remember them. It was all on Jeff Jarrett and so when Killings lost to Jarrett instead of continuing the program they just said well that's it and put him in the 3 Live Kru. While the focus on Jeff was probably the biggest problem I have to say the timing probably hurt his chances as well. Killings was just a few years into wrestling and only a couple years removed from his K-Kwik gimmick which sank so fast in WWE. Now my thinking is TNA put the belt on him as a way of saying "We push the stars WWE don't" but it really didn't work. Killings is only just now being seen as a possible future champion 9 years after the fact he was a world champion.
Justin Credible-ECW World Champion
I could put any ECW Champion from the last year of it's existence here but decided that Jerry Lynn, Steve Corino and Rhino actually went on to do big things while this was the last big thing Justin ever did sadly. WWE and TNA used him but never in the right way and he never got past their mid-cards. So lets look at what went wrong during his ECW title reign, there are a few things in my mind. Probably the biggest problems were his big PPV matches and how he won the belt. Justin won the title at Cyberslam 2000 by beating Tommy Dreamer but that match happened just seconds after Dreamer beat Taz to become champion, the match was long it wasn't a money in the bank moment which has become over done lately but it still didn't help establish him as a main event star. His next PPV title defenses didn't go well either, when he retained against Lance Storm the fans were more bothered about Tommy Dreamer who was meant to be in the match but left after Justin threatened to thrown the belt in the trash, kind of stupid when you consider you could then reach in to that trash can and pick the belt up! So the fans didn't care about the match taking place. His next PPV match against Dreamer in a Stairway to Hell match i.e. a Ladder match for no reason what so ever, got overshadowed by the XPW guys trying to get themselves over and then them getting the crap beat out of them. When Justin lost the belt to Jerry Lynn at Anarchy Rules the match went well however it was Justin himself who hampered it here. The match was in Lynn's hometown so you knew the crowd would be red hot but Justin decided to go overkill and talk on the mic while attacking which was kind of cheap. Justin would remain in the title picture until ECW closed, which wasn't long but he would never be a main star in other companies. But before I move one there is one more reason I think he didn't get established or make that two, that being Francine (see what I did there!). This being ECW they focused on Francine, how hot she was and how little she wore in doing so she really out shadowed him, hell in his match with Dreamer one of the things I remember is her being stripped of her shirt and her boobs being covered by tape! When Justin was with Jason at least Jason could do stupid crap which would help get Justin over, like most managers do, but Francine couldn't take those bumps without gaining focus because it would usually be a guy doing the bump to her. So while placing her with him was meant to help it probably damaged him more.
Diamond Dallas Page-WCW World Champion Three times
DDP was WCW champion three times is that impressive? Not when you consider the fact he only held the belt for 29 days! That's about one month. While I love DDP and he is a legend the fact is he was never accepted as a main event star and his short time as champion proved that but who's to blame DDP or WCW? WCW it's WCW lets face it. DDP was the first victim of the Russo booking crap that helped destroy WCW. I remember watching WCW Nitro one night and in the first hour DDP lost the WCW title to Sting and then in the second hour he won it back in a four way! And lets no start on the fact it was him who lost the WCW title to David Arquette! I mentioned in another blog that WCW should of pushed DDP earlier, he was the biggest babyface in 1997/1998 and should of be champion then especially since the Hogan heel run was so horrible and boring but instead they decide to give DDP one month as a heel champion and he looked like crap because of the booking. So basically that sums up went wrong with DDP, the booking and nothing else.
Booker T-WCW World champion Five times
While Booker may be a five time champion it was in the final year of WCW and nearly everyone could of been champion and the fact is after his reigns and going into WWE he had to become a mid-card talent all over again and that was the problem. It was once again a "Let's surprise the fans" decision but WCW decided to stick to it. Booker had never really been pushed and just kind of stayed in the same spot then all of a sudden he was in the main events, which was a huge mess at that time and Booker was forced to work with guys who either didn't really care what performance they put on or wouldn't be able to put on a good show. Booker may have been a 5 time champion but the that championship was a joke by that time, remember this was the same year that David Arquette and Vince Russo got reigns as champion.
Samoa Joe-TNA World champion
This has links to Booker T just wait. Samoa Joe finally became TNA World champion after being the fans want for years by beating Kurt Angle in a classic at Lockdown 2008 he would lose it to Sting in another great match at Bound for Glory of the same year. The problem occurred inbetween those two events. Joe would be the first man to enter and retain the title in the King of the Mountain match which was full of odd names that year including Bobby Roode. But the biggest problem was the he was stuck with Booker T for 3 months plus. In their first one on one match they failed to deliver and that was probably more Booker's fault as he just didn't care much and Joe was fantastic at the time. So instead of seeing something that didn't work and ending it they decide to run 2 more months with it and then they built it around Sting and Jeff Jarrett's returns which overshadowed both men and the championship. Joe's reign would be seen as a flop and it's mainly due to how TNA booking handled it. If Joe was to take on the challenger of the month he could of worked with great names, him and AJ would of been a believable main event. Hell he had a fantastic match on Impact with Kazarian they could of built on that. But instead they focused on yet another former WWE guy as the main star and it seriously hurt one of the only guys that was in the main event and you could call a TNA guy.
Jack Swagger-World Heavyweight Champion
Where to begin here? The beginning would be a smart idea so let's start there. Swagger push to the main event was all of 2 days. Swagger won the money in the bank at Wrestlemania and then cashed in on the Smackdown taping the next week. Rushed isn't the word, stupid would do it. WWE could of built him so well, on the Raw before he ran in about to cash in and Cena started getting up so he grabbed the briefcase and ran off. You could of done that several times over months while having Swagger beat big names, hell you could have had him run to get the briefcase after the champion was getting up and be late and then actually beat the champion, making it look like he wasted his shot. But lets move on to the reign itself. Swagger didn't look like a champion, over his 3 month reign he hardly ever won. Now he did put on great performances with everyone he worked with but losing every match hurt him way to much. Hell he worked with Big Show and had to lose by DQ, a win would of helped him so much more. It's basic you can't build stars without sacrificing others and it's not even sacrificing as wrestlers can lose and not lose everything. WWE should of had guys put him over instead of him losing to everyone, which brings us too...
Sheamus-WWE Champion Twice
So you know where I'm going here so let's cut to the chase. During Sheamus' two reigns as champion he hardly ever won. He only just beat Cena in a tables match to win the belt (which was botched) he then lost continually by DQ to Cena, beat Orton by DQ and then lost the title in his reign. Then in his second he did pin Cena in a four way but it was because of the Nexus that he won and that was drilled home! The same occurred a month later in a cage as it was the Nexus stopping Cena from escaping that lead to Sheamus leaving the cage. He then lost by DQ to Orton and then lost the title to Orton. Just like Swagger the continuous losing hurt him more than they had planned. Now it is early days and it seems that Sheamus could be getting a push again on Smackdown lets just hope they do it right this time.
Well there you have it 8 guys who were given a chance but just never clicked. Now I was going to put Lex Luger's WCW reigns and Ron Simmons reign as WCW champion on here as well but I didn't see much of their reigns so don't want to talk about what I don't know. Anyways let me know what you think, if you agree or disagree I'm guessing the latter.
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