WWE RAW Discussion Thread - April 7, 2014 from New Orleans, LA (#1089)

[Guest The Beltster]

His gimmick is that he's crap and he plays it to perfection.

[Guest Ciaran The King]

A retired newscaster who always gave bad news lol

 

He has no gimmick, Barrett has skills but he's being absolutely wasted. I think he would benefit from being aligned with Paul Heyman but that's just not gonna happen. The McMahon's like Barrett due to his size, looks and that he can talk. I think he's forever gonna be a midcard act

[Guest The Beltster]

Is he being wasted? What potential does he actually have? I mean, he's certainly not a main event guy, he's a mid card guy at best and thats where he is right now, and even then he seems like he's getting more TV time than he deserves. He's one of those guys who should only ever been on Main Event or Superstars or one of those lame weekend hell shows.

[Guest Ciaran The King]

I think he's good enough to have a place but he just fizzles out over time, they keep giving him chances but he just does f**k all with it

[Guest The Beltster]

This isn't directed at you, but one piece of what seems like obvious, common sense logic that seems to be lost on alot of fans these days is what not everybody is meant for the main event, not everybody is meant for the heavyweight title....I know alot of people love the idea of everybody having their turn with the belt and stuff like that, but thats what devalued the belts in the first place, letting everybody have a go. Rey Mysterio, world champion...oh dear.

[Guest Inno]

Barrett's chances of main eventing died the day John Cena popped up from a DDT on concrete and destroyed the Nexus.

[ViciousPrism 177]

Barrett's chances of main eventing died the day John Cena popped up from a DDT on concrete and destroyed the Nexus.

 

Ah so that's why he main evented two PPVs afterwards. ;)

 

(Point taken, that remains to be one of the worst decisions in recent-ish memory. Nexus never really recovered.)

[DC 536]

Are the Wyatt's actually billed from anywhere? Manson's from Ohio, and Cape Fear's set in Georgia, but Max Cady (the horror movie dude Bray's based on) makes a lot of Louisiana-y illusions, and he kept mentioning that they were in New Orleans before his matches, and, of course, he had the big voodoo entrance. It sort of seemed they were pushing it as a bit of a homecoming.

I'm sure they've been billed from Snake Bight, Florida.

[Guest CMHunk]

This isn't directed at you, but one piece of what seems like obvious, common sense logic that seems to be lost on alot of fans these days is what not everybody is meant for the main event, not everybody is meant for the heavyweight title....I know alot of people love the idea of everybody having their turn with the belt and stuff like that, but thats what devalued the belts in the first place, letting everybody have a go. Rey Mysterio, world champion...oh dear.

I'm sure that I didn't realise the connection at the time, but Rey Mysterio winning the Rumble and then the World Title also coincided with me not watching the WWE for about the next two years. It's not like I said "omg, Rey's won the World Title, I'm never watching again", but there was definitely something about the show and the product that I just didn't care about anymore and looking back now it seems too much of a coincidence that a wrestler who should have been wrestling cruiserweight matches in show openers won the Rumble and the World Title right before I'd had enough and stopped watching.

 

and your other point is spot on. People over analyse things and look for a reason why every single wrestler in the company didn't get pushed to the moon. The reality is that in this business, even moreso the modern day, if you're good enough you get over regardless and are successful. There are so many stories of people supposedly getting buried by some micro-analysed moment, or some gimmick, or match, but that's rarely what happened. Usually that guy just wasn't good enough to grow any further and finds their suitable spot on the roster. Austin was the Ringmaster, Rock was Rocky Maivia, Cena was hanging around with Bull Buchanan being a dorky wigga. They still all got to the top in the end. Hell, CM Punk had supposedly the sort of look and character and personality that the company would never have wanted at the top of their shows, yet he had a ridiculously long world title run in the end and dominated the shows.

 

I can barely think of any single example of some guy who didn't get over and into the main event or have the world title, who was actually better than the guys ahead of him on the roster. If you're good enough you get through.

Edited April 9, 2014 by CMHunk

[ViciousPrism 177]

I'm sure that I didn't realise the connection at the time, but Rey Mysterio winning the Rumble and then the World Title also coincided with me not watching the WWE for about the next two years. It's not like I said "omg, Rey's won the World Title, I'm never watching again", but there was definitely something about the show and the product that I just didn't care about anymore and looking back now it seems too much of a coincidence that a wrestler who should have been wrestling cruiserweight matches in show openers won the Rumble and the World Title right before I'd had enough and stopped watching.

 

And Rey would have been, had Eddie not died. Rey was thrust into the scene just as a tribute to Eddie, because Rey/Eddie were close and there was no chance in hell they'd have given it to Chavo. The result was one of, if not the worst World Title reign ever, because they booked Rey as essentially a fluke champion. I would have preferred Rey take the road Eddie did with Art Barr, and refused to do the angles and just have a small move-based tribute to Eddie instead of us getting Orton saying "Eddie's in hell", the shit title reign and Rey Vs Chavo over the Eddie Legacy. It was f*cking rotten, putrid, bullshit. And I still hold it against Rey to this day.

 

EDIT: SHould add, I also hold Chavo in the same disregard because he was never talented enough to get over on his own, so he does the Eddie tribute act worldwide. I get that Eddie should be remembered (and yes, he should) but turning everything you touch into "Eddie this" "Eddie that" years after his death is just f*cking sad.

 

And WWE themselves aren't saints. Eddie's memorial lowrider used to try and "kill" Undertaker. Getting Orton to say what he did. AND the WWEShop Viva La Savings bullshit mere days after Eddie died? Whole heap of shit.

Edited April 9, 2014 by ViciousPrism

[Guest HH-Evolution]

I just realised - we've gotta tribute show coming up as a result of Warriors death...this is gonna be rough.

[Guest Ciaran The King]

This isn't directed at you, but one piece of what seems like obvious, common sense logic that seems to be lost on alot of fans these days is what not everybody is meant for the main event, not everybody is meant for the heavyweight title....I know alot of people love the idea of everybody having their turn with the belt and stuff like that, but thats what devalued the belts in the first place, letting everybody have a go. Rey Mysterio, world champion...oh dear.

 

I understand what you mean fully, I don't think Barrett will ever win the world title. He just doesn't have it

[dsrchris 190]

Are the Wyatt's actually billed from anywhere? Manson's from Ohio, and Cape Fear's set in Georgia, but Max Cady (the horror movie dude Bray's based on) makes a lot of Louisiana-y illusions, and he kept mentioning that they were in New Orleans before his matches, and, of course, he had the big voodoo entrance. It sort of seemed they were pushing it as a bit of a homecoming.

 

I think at one point they mentioned something about Bray being connected to Louisiana on NXT, but then they have also billed him from Snakebite too. I'd go with Louisiana. Especially now I've actually been there. (Sorry, had to get that in one last time :lol )

 

P.S. I also want one of the masks Mark Crozer & The Rels were wearing. Emily mentioned that she saw them in a shop while we were in New Orleans, so I'm wondering if it was planned, or they saw them and thought it was a cool idea. Of course, she only told me she'd saw them when we were at the airport. Goddamnit.

[Guest Fatherof10minis]

Why can't The Wyatts be from "Parts Unknown"? Havn't nobody been from there in years.

[dsrchris 190]

Because Chikara found it and made not so unknown. :lol

[Guest Horowitz]

Good to see it acknowledged that not everybody is meant for the world title. It's just common sense. What annoys me is when people refer to the guys who aren't world title material in a negative way, like they aren't important. Without job guys/enhancement talent making the 'stars' look good they would look pretty normal.

I've heard a few of the old guys on podcasts in the last year or so sing the praises of the undercard, especially the old TV jobbers.

I used to love the preliminary matches. Gave the stars more mistique and just made them stand out more. They also made it more special when you actually got a proper match on PPV or even TV.

It's just too easy for the IWC to mock the lower card talent i guess, as if they can do better or have no importance.

[Guest Ciaran The King]

I think performers who can stay relevant and consistent in the mid card for long periods of time are some of the better performers

[Guest Jack]

I like the Bad News Barrett gimmick. I don't like him as a wrestler or as a promo usually but popping up on a ridiculously high podium just to have a pop at the crowd is funny. I like the bluntness of it all and for what it is, it works.

[Guest HH-Evolution]

Yeah, BNB is pretty much a fun little distraction for all of 1 minute or so, and amuses me...it does what it's meant to.

[Guest Ciaran The King]

I like him on the JBL & Cole show for like the 2 minute slot he appears in but for longevity reasons it doesn't work. I liked Barrett's character when he won the IC title but it just fell flat and they didn't know what to do with him.

 

Barrett could have a good career I feel in the upper mid-card, a few more IC title reigns, tag team, leading another faction in time. He could be the mid-card guy you have to beat