No where to go but down...

[The One]

I don't care what anybody says...in order to have a HUGE boost in popularity for pro wrestling you need to have a single guy to base it all around. The 80's had Hulk Hogan, and when his popularity started to go down, wrestling in general went down. We had our 6 or 7 years lul until Steve Austin showed up, boosted popularity again, when Austin turned heel...well...it all went down. Now I look around. And believe me I have looked everywhere. Raw, SmackDown, NWA, NJPW, American Indies, Canadian Indies, Mexican Indies, and I can not find anyone. There are three essential elements to making a HUGE star. A gimmick, charisma, and not being limited. Gimmick is very self explainable, Charisma again neds no explination, but the not being limited is where I find the big problem. Hogan, Rock, and Austin are some of few men who are not limited to a specific idea. We have high flyers, muscle men, tall guys, and underdog. If you can classify a specific wrestler to any one of those catagories, they don't have unlimited drawing power, only the ability to draw fans who enjoy that area.

Anyway I guess my rant here is basically just saying I dont see anyone who has charisma, isn't limited, and could play a gimmick that would appeal to the vast majority of wrestling fans. Please, tell me that there is someone I have overlooked. Please give me the name of the next guy we can base Pro Wrestling around. Please tell me someone out there has found a big star just waiting to show himself. Or I might just have to accept that no one is going to save Wrestling for years to come...*sigh*

[The CyNick]

I dont see anyone coming along that could rival Hogan/Rock or Austin, but at the same time I dont think anyone thought Austin would become the biggest star in the business when he was doing promos in ECW or when he debuted in the WWE as the Ringmaster or when he was getting no TV time in WCW, so you never know.

I think they are going in the right direction on Smackdown, working with what they have. I think putting the title on Eddie was a smart move (I still think they should have waited a little longer, but it can still work) because they can use him to get their Latino fanbase into the arenas. I'll be interested to see what happens in terms of ratings and hosue show attendance if Eddie is given a REAL chance to run with the ball.

The other guy who could have a mass appeal is John Cena. He looks like just about every teen/early 20s male that you see, especially in the larger cities. The whole hip hop thing is all the rage, or so I am told, and he reaches their favorite demographic. We all know he can talk, his work isn't the best, but it really doens't have to be.

Over on RAW, I dont really see anyone. I mean I think Randy Orton will be a huge star, but he doesn't have any real gimmick that can get him over to a "Rock-like" level. Who knows he could develop something over the years (as Rock did), but right now I dont see a huge crossover appeal with him. But like I said, I think he'll be a big star within wrestling.

The big problem with the WWE right now is that they have nobody to steal ideas form. I dont say that to put them down, but their past success was largely based on seeing an idea is another promotion, and then using their marketing abilities to make it worldwide and seem 'larger than life'. They did it with Hogan (from the AWA) and with the whole Attitude era stuff (from ECW).

Right now, there are no promotions doing anything new. TNA does the same old heel booker vs babyface, who fights the odds. ROH promotes themselves on having great wrestling, but that alone will never draw 900,000 buys on PPV. In Japan you have a movement towards shoot fighting, and mixing in pro wrestling, but thats not the best idea because you shorten careers.

The most important thing however is for the WWE to create stars and hope they catch on to the mainstream fans, but thats easier said than done.

[Corkscrewed]

Well, now that you have two brands, you sort of need TWO huge stars to build around. On SD!, that could be Angle, Cena, or Eddie, IMO. They wouldn't be as big as Austin or Hogan were, probably, but they'd come pretty close.

I personally think that the WWE can't always rely on one person as a quick fix. Keep on looking for the next Austin and you'll be looking for a while. Rather, they need a solid group of individuals who, collectively, would be as big as one Austin.

Just my two cents.