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View Full Version : 2008: WWE and new characters


Evil Vito
01-02-2009, 01:36 PM
<font color=goldenrod>Alright well, this is just something that's been bugging me. It's not all that big of a deal, but it seems like last year featured some of the worst cases of ADD and lack of forward thinking that I've seen from WWE writers in terms of new characters.

Far too often last year, it seems like guys made their debut despite WWE having absolutely no clue on what to do with them when they first got the call up.

<b>Scotty Goldman, Gavin Spears, Ryan Braddock:</b> These three guys all debuted on television within a few weeks of one another. Goldman hasn't been seen since September and made all of three appearances. Spears hyped himself up as the "star" of the ECW New Talent Initiative but made about three appearances, all jobs. Braddock was used slightly more but had seemingly no gimmick. They went through the trouble of having him shave and trim his hair to look like Elvis, only to cancel that gimmick after a couple house shows. It seems like these 3 guys are only on the main roster to make it seem like the rosters are bigger.

<b>Primo:</b> Yes, Primo is in a good spot now as Carlito's tag partner. However, he first made his debut on Raw...wrestled one match....then got moved without explanation. His entire gimmick when he first started on Raw was that he DIDN'T wanna be like his brother, but then he randomly moved a few weeks later. It just looked retarded. Had they simply debuted Primo on Smackdown with Carlito, it would have actually made sense.

<b>"Atlas" Ortiz:</b> Sure he's been a semi-regular on ECW. But what annoys me is that he made his debut as Atlas Ortiz...only to change it to Ricky Ortiz a week later, coincidentally, the same week that Tony Atlas becomes Mark Henry's manager. I almost feel like somebody in Creative saw Atlas Ortiz' debut and thought "Atlas...hmm, we should ring Tony up and see what he's up to!" cause there's no way they would have given him the name Atlas Ortiz if Tony Atlas was already in the plans.

<b>Braden Walker:</b> Not much needs to be said here. They released him for being out of shape...but Stevie Wonder could have seen that he was out of shape before he made his debut. Why they even bothered bringing him on TV is beyond me.

<b>D-Lo Brown:</b> I love D-Lo, but I really don't know why they re-signed him. He won his first match back but then has wrestled twice since then. Raw has enough jobbers as it is, and so does SmackDown. Just seems puzzling to me why they felt the need to sign him.

<b>Matt Striker:</b> Matt's in a great spot as a commentator on ECW right now, so I have to give WWE credit for that. But he was drafted to Raw just a few weeks earlier. I think he was only moved back to ECW to fill in for Tazz who was filling in for Mick Foley...but it had been widely known that Foley wasn't re-signing with WWE. Pretty much exposed that they didn't know what to do with him.

<b>Kelly Kelly:</b> Meanwhile, they could have very easily had Kelly Kelly drafted to Raw. Instead, they choose to wait until the week after and have her move to Raw on her own. Not a big deal, but just retarded and makes the concept of different rosters look stupid. Mike Knox and The Burchills have also recently switched brands, but that's not as big a deal now that Raw and ECW have a working agreement.

<b>Kizarny:</b> After 2 1/2 months of vignettes, he finally makes his debut on tonight's Smackdown. However, he isn't going to be on next week's show and all indications are that management is already down on the guy. Once again, how they could hype a guy for that long and have him run dark matches only to wait until he actually debuts to decide they don't like him...I dunno.

<b>Hade Vansen:</b> The guy's name was never mentioned on TV but they got far enough where they did a vignette for him before pulling the plug. Stupid.

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There are probably more I could think of but I can't be bothered right now. I guess it just pisses me off how indecisive WWE are at times. I can't think of another year where so many people have been lost in the shuffle and have been on television despite creative not knowing what to do with them.</font>

Hanso Amore
01-02-2009, 02:55 PM
I agree. It is horrible mismanagement and a lack of foresight.

Short Term week to week booking worked during the Monday Night Wars. But now they really need to return to the old school, long term booking of the 80s.

RGWhat316
01-02-2009, 04:12 PM
Good post. Yeah it really is amazing to see people appear out of nowhere, and hardly ever be seen again. I'm partial to Scotty Goldman cus I have seen his ROH stuff, and read his WWE blogs, but I don't understand why he isn't on tv. But some of the other guys don't even get a chance to get over cus they show up and disappear too quickly. Stuff like this makes WWE a bad company to work for.

You get signed, go to developmental for a year, maybe more, just to appear on tv every once in a great while. You would think that these guys would be getting their payoff by making it to tv, yet they seem to get nothing out of it, and get released.

Xero
01-02-2009, 04:37 PM
Yeah it really is amazing to see people appear out of nowhere, and hardly ever be seen again.

When did bad booking become amazing?

Legend Killer
01-02-2009, 06:03 PM
They are really going to pull the plug on Kizarny? WTF...

Outsider
01-02-2009, 06:08 PM
What I'd like to lump in with this, as it is vaguely related, is how many times have we seen someone released this year 'because creative had nothing for him'?

Why are the creative team calling people up and doing nothing with them while still firing other people for not being able to come up with a gimmick?

Why not find writers who can write? Christ, it's pretty simple. You don't watch soaps which see a family suddenly arrive and then disappear two weeks later for no apparent reason. It would be stupid. Why does WWE think their fans won't notice?

BigDaddyCool
01-02-2009, 06:09 PM
Is Kofi the only new character to stick all year?

JT
01-02-2009, 06:26 PM
They are really going to pull the plug on Kizarny? WTF...

Well from what I hear, he's a childhood friend of Edge and Christian. It might end up being his saving grace with the company. Also saw his premiere live...wasn't anything spectacular, but not bad either...finisher sucks though.

JT
01-02-2009, 06:29 PM
Is Kofi the only new character to stick all year?

Kofi has stuck in there, but even so his gimmick bugs me. It always felt like Carlito's original gimmick but with the face twist.

Mr. Nerfect
01-02-2009, 08:11 PM
Well from what I hear, he's a childhood friend of Edge and Christian. It might end up being his saving grace with the company. Also saw his premiere live...wasn't anything spectacular, but not bad either...finisher sucks though.

I don't mind Kizarny using a Double-Arm DDT. It's sort of homage to Jake "The Snake" Roberts, who took Kizarny under his wing at one stage.

I'd just like to point out that The Brian Kendrick has seemingly had a love-hate relationship with creative, as well. He started off as a fireball, and even unofficially held the WWE Championship for eight minutes, but then soaked up the pins and couldn't buy himself a win. Now it seems he's actually being used as a vehicle to get Ezekiel Jackson over. That could be more to do with Kendrick than the company, though.

I agree with pretty much everything you said in the original post, BV22, but I just can't act surprised anymore. I actually do alright in Tipsters because I go for the worst outcome possible.

RGWhat316
01-02-2009, 09:00 PM
What I'd like to lump in with this, as it is vaguely related, is how many times have we seen someone released this year 'because creative had nothing for him'?

Why are the creative team calling people up and doing nothing with them while still firing other people for not being able to come up with a gimmick?

Why not find writers who can write? Christ, it's pretty simple. You don't watch soaps which see a family suddenly arrive and then disappear two weeks later for no apparent reason. It would be stupid. Why does WWE think their fans won't notice?

I've said that before. How is it the wrestler's fault when the creative team can't do anything for them? It seems the creative employess should be the one fired for not doing their job right, yet the wrestler always seems to take the brunt. I have never understood that.

Xerzes
01-03-2009, 02:37 AM
Don't forget Cryme Tyme getting rehired, teaming with Cena for a couple weeks, even getting some sort of group acronym, then disappearing from television for months on end.

Afterlife
01-03-2009, 06:32 AM
I just watched Kizarny vs. MVP. Didn't see any big down sides to it. It wasn't very fast, but MVP is playing depressed. THat, and most debuts aren't as long as that match.

I have heard that one guy in the office is upset about him, but I have yet to hear who or why. I think it'd be a shame to kill it now.

Legend Killer
01-03-2009, 02:14 PM
Well from what I hear, he's a childhood friend of Edge and Christian. It might end up being his saving grace with the company. Also saw his premiere live...wasn't anything spectacular, but not bad either...finisher sucks though.

Your finisher doesn't matter, look at Edge's, it's a spear.

HeartBreakMan2k
01-03-2009, 06:37 PM
I like the finisher, I'm a huge double arm ddt mark though.

JT
01-03-2009, 06:55 PM
Your finisher doesn't matter, look at Edge's, it's a spear.

Actually, I like Edge's Spear. I've seen alot of wrestlers use similar finishers, but Edge's Spear looks like it hurts.

As for Kizarny using a Double Arm DDT, I didn't know that. I saw this live and it looked like he just did a roll up. Now that I've seen the TV version of this, I'm a little less disappointed.

Mr. Nerfect
01-04-2009, 02:52 AM
There's no real big "bang" when the move hits. As corny as this sounds, maybe they should add some sort of impact sound when he hits the move. Like the sound a regular DDT would make.