That's why if I was ever a wrestler, I would not sign with Vince or Dixie. I rather be free to wrestle to my full potential.

Why would you not want to make any money?

I think Barrett and Sheamus are the most recent, glaringly obvious names they've had.

Sheamus being on Raw didn't bode well in the end for him. Too many other up and comers for him to try and leapfrog. Nobody was stopping the Miz, and Sheamus, and Barrett, both got bumped down.

Not putting the belt on Barrett, and blowing the whole Nexus feud with Cena, on top of basically jobbing him out and moving him to SD! killed a lot of momentum for him. He was the top heel in the company last summer. It's going to be difficult to try and build that much interest in him again. Hopefully he can get another shot this summer, as SD! is in dire need of a top heel, and I like Barrett in that role if they're not goiong to turn anyone.

Another guy I recently thought of is Vade Hansen he didn't even get a chance.

To me, it's not about money. That's everybody's wrong way of thinking of being a wrestler, with all the flash, fame and fortune. It's about heart, passion, pride, honor, and self-respect. Those things are more important in a individual than money. And I would not sell out my beliefs for money. I'd rather enjoy being in the Indies and around the world (Canada, Europe, Japan, Puerto Rico, etc.) rather than be somewhere you'll be unhappy with in the long run.

I'd be happy entertaining millions of people, win or lose, in exchange for good money.

Hahaha, you're a trip dude.

I'm pretty sure that the endgame of every wrestling promotion that exists is to make money.

OCW is non profit, DLVH84 could live the dream there:shifty:

Kizarny could definitely have been something if they’d done things differently. Made him a heel for starters. Not had him talk entirely in carny for another. Have him be WWE’s boogeyman who haunted them and targeted various superstars, just to be evil to faces and taking delight in their fear.

I agree with that sentiment.

That's a pretty bold statement CSL.

Was about to call shenanigans on "not wrestling for Vince/Dixie"

I'm with CSL

Joe E. Legend and Johnny Swinger.

They're dropping it on CM Punk right now. Dude's HOT, the crowd loves him, yet I see some resistance from WWE's part in letting him become what he CAN become...they're definitely giving him a LOT more exposure than before, mainly because the fans have almost MADE them do so, but I still don't see them "on board" with Punk...I see some resistance to actually let him go out there and become the hottest thing since Austin.

I called "shenanigans" on that back in May, but WHATEVER.

Where to even begin in this thread. Good lord.

I suppose I'll start with these shennanigans about Big Show being misused. Yeah, he was a bit mishandled his first few years, but ever since his second title reign, he's stayed in the upper midcard/main event level. Big Show is fine where he is. He's like Jericho in that he doesn't need the title, but he can believably challenge for it at any time. They need guys like that, who can switch from upper midcard to main event and vice versa at any given time.

A lot of the other sane posters here have touched on most of the other absurd suggestions.

As for Wade Barrett, why the hell does he need to be champion right away? This happens quite often these days. Like any time someone gets a little hot it's as if everyone on the internet collectively spazzes out when they don't give them the strap.

I miss the days when guys fought several years or more to get to that spot. Made it so much more memorable when they did win it.

Barrett is young, and he has plenty of time. His first run against Cena was a great way to introduce him, but anything more than what he accomplished would have felt forced to me. As it stands, he was a strong obstacle for cena to overcome, and it established him as a major player in the midcard for the future.

I will admit things could have gone smoother after his departure from nexus, but there wasn't nearly enough damage done, for him to be mentioned in this thread.

You'll be unhappy living out of your car for that long run.

MVP

He had a solid build for his first year, was the longest reigning US champ on Smackdown, held the tag titles and made Matt Hardy look like a possible upper-midcard threat, beat Benoit in a 2/3 falls match at WRESTLEMANIA, and then defeated Jeff Hardy clean on PPV.

Then what? Loses his push because he made fun of a drug tester, and plus his criminal record, gets fucking tagged with Mark Henry and jobbed out in random one off matches for over a year till he makes the wise decision to GTFO and go work elsewhere for a while.

Guys. I think we are getting misused confused with "in limbo".

Listen. Unless you're talking John Cena, there are going to be times when a wrestler isn't in the main event, or competing for any major titles.

I would label Ultimo Dragon as misused. You had one of the top cruiserweight talents in the world, and they barely even used him. Mind you this was when WWE had a moderately successful cruiserweight division. Building to Ultimo vs Rey at Wrestlemania could bolstered the division greatly, and things might have ended differently for that title had the right decisions been made.

Stuff like Barrett and MVP. I see their slow periods as "in between oppurtunities" more than being misused. MVP would have eventually been given something greater, and Wade is already starting to bounce back.

You were being specific about Barrett, but this comment is touching on something bigger.

While it may be true that "internet collectively spazzes out" when someone hot and new is on the scene, it's usually with good reason. It may look like everyone is jumping the gun on "GIVE ____ A TITLE RUN RITE NAO!!!", the inverse of that is the penchant for (WWE specifically) to push a new debut, and if he doesn't get over in a "we want t-shirts" kind of way in like the first 3 appearances, they kind of stop pushing the guy. Period. This is the feared fate of people like Wade, who was going so strong, then they just let him get lost in the shuffle and sort-of forgotten. There rarely is "slow build" anymore.

There is fear that someone like a Bryan Danielson, who became so over on the internet because he is a really gifted technical wrestler, will be given shitty assignments like wearing an eagle mascot costume or dancing the cabbage patch whilst proclaiming that he has a big penis instead of letting him do his thing and wow the crowd in a match.

Even following what logic there may be in jobbing a guy out to make him humble (insert Iron Sheik joke), why try to make someone look so strong out of the gate, then make him look like a big freakin' loser for longer? If he's that much of a loser, no one will care, and you will fufill your own prophecy.

(note: I had to abridge this- I have a couple things I need to take care of)

Now that my train of thought has derailed, I found this in the Teddy Jr. thread that rounds out my point better. And, in fewer words:

WWE has done quite a bit of the latter for us to completely trust they would follow through with the former. Thank you for unintentially helping me out, BizzaroKing!

99% of the guys mentioned didn't get over because they weren't good enough.

...Who are you, Bret Hart?

"I'd never sell the Hitman character out".

I think it's a little rash to be jumping to this conclusion.

Punk is hot property right now, that doesn't mean he has to be champ or even in the title picture. He's involved in a huge storyline that is coming along nicely and as long as he doesn't job to Nash and there's a decent payoff at the end of the angle, Punk should still be as hot as he is today.

IDK, I just don't see WWE really letting Punk go all-out and reach the status he potentially can reach...we'll see after Punk/Nash.

You brought up Mr Austin as a comparison, he cut his "3:16" speech at KotR in June of 96, he didn't win the title til Mania14 in March 98. He was given very little to do after that speech until his fued with Bret.

The moral of this story is...Be patient.

*WWE does something we like*

*IWC goes crazy*

IWC says "They'll fuck it up"*

*WWE maybe fucks it up*

IWC: "Told ya so"*

Of course, you have to be patient with these kinds of things, but...after reading that apparently Nash was making fun of Punk because of his size...and knowing Nash is good friends with HHH, you never know...

...and the times HHH has done a promo with Punk, I have noticed that HHH kinda looks at Punk funny, as if there's some ill-will towards him, which would greatly make it difficult for Punk...

...it could just be me, of course.

In other words, I just don't imagine HHH and Nash pulling for Punk to succeed like Vince did for Austin.

I give HHH enough credit to see that he himself is close to hanging it up. I credit him with the ability to see for himself that Punk is a "Pretty Big Thing" right now. I can't see HHH being stupid enough to put Nash over Punk in 2011.

Of course, he may and you can come back here and tell me those magic words ("toldjaso"), you will look like a genius and I a fool. But where does going into the story with negativity get you?

...I'm not going into the story with as much "negativity" as I am "cautious"...

I was one of the fans who when Nash came back and attacked Punk, was all like "Hell YEAH!" But now, 2 weeks later and after seeing how everything has unfolded, I'm kind of cautious...I don't really like the "flow" of things...

...but of course, we're on the same boat, dude...let's wait it out...patience. And it's not like I'm rooting for all this to fail and for Punk to be buried...

Nash will not beat Punk. Come on.

Raven was hot at this point. They should’ve done more with him.

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Raven is one of the guys I believe would’ve won the title eventually in the WWE. He was just in the right place at the wrong time and booked like a midcarder. The character had more to offer than steel chairs, they just didn’t know how to use him.

Can’t help but mention one of their biggest fumbles ever: Ultimo Dragon. He’s one of the greatest wrestlers in history, and anything Rey Mysterio can do, Dragon can match it, and they were foolish for not doing a Mysterio/Dragon tag team and having them feud with Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin in 2003 on SmackDown. That would’ve been epic.

Jerry Lynn - Aside from winning the Light Heavyweight title, they never really used him that well. And editing a RVD-Jerry Lynn match? They're stupid.