Big E The Main Eventer
 

I was thinking about unlikely main eventers today, guys like JBL or Jeff Hardy who at certain parts of there career felt very unlikely main eventing in any meaningful way yet the right moment or gimmick grabbed everyone and changed there entire legacy. That line of thought led me to Big E.

I couldnt help but think Big E seems a bit stuck in an admittedly very successful stable/tag team but I feel like he could be a ready made main eventer within a few months. He seems to have the look and the charisma and he works really well with a great impact style.

I could imagine with some sort of dominant heel champ, a Lesnar or a Strauman running roughshod over SD and maybe injuring a member of the New Day leading to Big E getting a bit serious and taking a sort of underdog/unlikely win over an uber monster.

Which led me to the question who is your pick of the mid card right now who has all the tools to be a main eventer but might be just a bit under utilized right now. Another name that springs to mind for me is Cesaro.

Elias, but he's on his way.

Elias really intrigues me, I dont enjoy his singing thing but his in rig work is pretty good and when hes wrestling he almost looks bigger than he seems normally. I could get behind an Elias push of some description.

Cesaro. If he could talk, he'd be champion already, no doubt in my mind.

Rusev and Big E

Why is Rusev a jobber? So weird.

Luke Harper.

When he finally split from Bray, the crowd was really hot over the idea of him doing something really great but WWE quickly pushed him to the side after a couple weeks.

Cause he's horrendous and almost the whole roster sucks so you lower your standards.

Luke Harper is tremendous.

Idea for Big E:

Be "severely injured" by a gang attack where he had to have plastic surgery because of a broken jaw. He is out for several months and then comes back with a "mask" sort of like Bane from Dark Knight. His attire is somewhat a mix between vader and shield's attire (or just black, padded tights like sting used to have in WCW). He slowly, arrogantly walks to his opponents as he beats them down, runs through everybody on the roster, have two guys with him (even though he doesn't need them).

He has to me more of a brawler, with some good wrestling involved too. Sort of like how Scott Steiner was in '98-00. But he HAS to turn on New Day and demolish them. He then can start a campaign where he is trying to "take over" WWE. HHH/Steph/Vince will combat this, but other wrestlers will start to align with Big-E because they can't stand the McMahons.

It will have a twist of Batman's Dark Knight storyline, but with wrestling. Hell, if they want to really want to get Brock off of TV if he doesn't renew his contract then they could have Big-E beat him.

Just thinking out loud.

Naaaah, I don't see it.

I do realize you can bury your old gimmick deep down and become a whole different character (Rocky Maivia) but I dunno, I just don't think Big E is Main Event material.

I could see Big E as a fun-loving charismatic babyface main eventer who can get shit done in the ring. Would have to drop some of the more cartoony aspects but personality-wise, he could be pretty over without going completely serious.

Basically, that horrible thing they tried to do with Braun when they decided to have him sing a couple weeks ago. Big E doing that could work.

Cesaro.

Fans love him (as in, his work), pretty much everyone on the roster seems to love him, always praising him and saying how underrated he is. Has a great look, great work ethic, has kept his nose clean.

Despite his lack of mic skills (and in fairness, he's not the worst talker in the world), the guy has everything going for him... except that Vince doesn't like him.

:fu: Vince!

Big E does not have what it takes to be a successful main-eventer. I have been watching wrestling for quite some time now and so I know what it takes for a wrestler to truly be over. On the current roster, I think the only mid card guy that really could have been something special was Cesaro. Cesaro was extremely over about three years ago, and was doing quite well with Zeb Colter. The WWE should have kept Cesaro with Colter, and should have just given Swagger's theme music to Cesaro. Unfortunately, I think the WWE waited too long with Cesaro and his time to be a successful main-eventer has now passed. He can still be a main-eventer, but his ability to be an actual draw for the company is long gone. Bray Wyatt, to a lesser extent, was in the same boat.

Big E should be getting the Roman Reigns push right now.

Big E doesn't have the mic skills or charisma to warrant such a push. Big E is a decent mid card act but he'd flop big time as a main-eventer. The other thing to keep in mind is that for most wrestlers, they need to be pushed within a certain window of time in order to be successful main-eventers that can potentially draw.

Big E would benefit a lot from going to Japan and the Indies.

I guess it's a good thing we have the Uber charismatic Mic God that is Reigns getting that push :/

Big is is the black charismatic Ryback. Short muscular guy with average in ring skills. I will say, Big E had a killer promo on SD that showed that maybe he can become something more.

They need to split the new day soon and turn someone heel. they are beyond stale to me at least. all these guys can use a gimmick change or just a new direction.

To his credit, Reigns has drastically improved on the mic. He has taken a huge step since his feud with Cena. Having said that, he can still improve in this area.
Big E’s biggest drawback is that he has simply been around for too long. If wrestlers are around for too long without having received a significant and sustained (successful) main event push of some kind, their chance of being a relevant draw for the company declines drastically. The chance of the fans really buying into them as champ also declines drastically, and the wrestler becomes perceived as a ‘transitional champ’ at best.

Tl;dr = the chances of Big E being a successful main eventer are slim to none.

If the WWE are looking for the next successful main-eventer, then they need to protect and invest in Jason Jordan. Aside from his solid abilities, Jordan is still within his ‘window’ due to being relatively new. But again, I’ve been following wrestling for over 25+ years so what do I know? :roll:

Luigi, in how many of your 8 posts do you mention you've been following wrestling for a very long time? Do you put that shit in your resume when looking for a job? Do you tell it to the ladies in your first date?

Alright. So 4 out of 8. But out of those 8 one is about NHL.

So 4 out of 7 posts about wrestling. Keep it up, brah.

@Sixx: I fail to see what your posts have to do with wrestling, and I’m not interested in continuing this conversation. I would appreciate it if we could stay on topic. Thank you.

Luigi, what they have to do with wrestling is that I'm mocking you for bragging about watching wrestling every other post.

Oh, wait, you wanted to stay on topic. Big E has a huge ass.

#1-wwf-fan is right. Don't change what is not broken about Big E. He's fun without being too cheesy to eliminate the chances of him being taken seriously. He can appear to all the demos, frankly. I don't think you even need to split The New Day. Keep Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods as allies who can take the beatings from the heels that Big E eventually destroys.

I wouldn't mind Xavier Woods becoming the Lex Luthor to Big E's Superman, but it really isn't necessary, and I don't know how sustainable Woods as a main eventer is. It's not that there's anything objectively wrong with any aspect of his game -- he can talk, wrestle, looks good, is charismatic, etc. -- but he just doesn't project that heavyweight feel.

He has been around too long to be taken seriously but a drastic overhaul and he could main event. They gave the title to Jinder, they will give it to anyone.

JBL was on the roster 8 years before his WWE Title run. Big E has been on the main roster 5 years.

He had a great promo on Smackdown vs. the Usos. I could see it.

Also, it's his Birthday. So, Happy Rusev Day Big E.

I like the idea of them staying together while Big E has a main event push but then down the road Woods turning and being an evil genius trying to take Big E out. If it were just him challenging Big E, it wouldn't really have legs. Big E should squash him like a bug physically. Woods using his brain and leading a stable to take him out would be interesting though.

Woods is pretty great. Just saying.

I have been watching 25.5+ years... So what would I know. :rofl::rofl::rofl:

I dont mind him staying part of the New Day, I could just see him as a guy that comes out of nowhere at the right moment or if there was a run of injuries and someone had to step up he could.

He just has something about him, but I guess that might disappear if he was given too much limelight. You never really know unless it happens I suppose.

Big E dosent have the mic skills? You can't be serious Did you not see him on SD and in general really.

As for Big E being around too long without A push I thought about Triple H right away it took YEARS and hes not even that good.

Big E has only been in WWE for 5 yrs

Edge was in the Company since 1996 and won the World title in 2005

Mark Henry hit his stride with the Hall of Pain gimmick in 2011 he had been around since 96

Jeff Hardy Won the belt in 2009 after being with the company since 1994

I don't think you know what youre talking about Luigi.

Jinder Mahal was in WWE for seven years before his title victory! His come third in the emotional ranking after Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero.

Edit: Okay he wasn't in WWE for the full seven years but whatever. I've also been watching for 25 years so I'm qualified to make mistakes.

if you want to go back even further look at Backlund and Slaughter. I loved both of their runs.

I have noticed people on here trying to discard what I have said in an extremely vile and abusive way, but I’ll choose to be the bigger man - again. I never once said that if someone is in the WWE for too long a time, that they can’t become a champion. What I said was that IF someone is in the WWE, and they haven’t received a (successful) significant main event push within their first two years, then their chances of being a huge draw or break away star for the company becomes significantly less. Perhaps the “2 year window” was bigger in the old days, but in the new Social media era, I would argue that the window is around 2 years. A wrestler needs to make serious inroads within their first two years otherwise their chance at being:

1) a huge draw that brings in new fans (Austin/Hogan/Rock)
2) a guy that completely owns a specific demographic (Hogan/Cena)

Becomes significantly less.....to the point of there being almost zero chance.

So yes - while guys like JBL, Jinder Mahal, etc., have been world champions, they will be seen as transitional and/or run-of-the-mill champions at best. In an absolute best case scenario, they will appeal to the IWC or the “smart mark” crowd (I.e AJ styles, Daniel Bryan, CM Punk), but their chance of being true break away stars are almost nill. Why do you think a guy like Goldberg was a far bigger star than guys like Punk, Bryan, etc? Even a guy like Batista was seen as a far bigger star despite having a fraction of the wrestling talent.

As far as Big E Langston goes, I haven’t seen him cut a serious or intense promo even one time. There is a difference between having the ability to entertain a crowd, and being able to come across as serious and legit. Having good mic skills is multidimensional and I have yet to see that from Big E. FYI - not having multi-dimensional mic skills were also a part of the reason why guys Jericho and Christian were held back during the earlier stages of their careers....although to Jericho’s credit, he greatly improved in this regard when he returned in 2007. His work between 2007-2010 was by far and away his best work...although unfortunately by that time, his “break away star potential” was long gone.

Luke Harper is someone I could see doing well....he's one of my favourite under-utilized guys. It's insane how the guy can move for a 6-foot-something 260ish pound guy.

With respect to your comments, I would not be surprised if you were new to the wrestling world. It’s ok however as we all have to start somewhere, and I still respect your opinion. The word “well” is relative obviously, but the likely scenario is that Harper will never come close to being a worthy main-event champion. If he does manage to win the title, he’ll basically be a slightly better version of Jinder Mahal. Harper might receive a ‘respect push’ if he stays around long enough....like Mark Henry did a few years back, but outside of that, Harper has peaked.

Nah, your wrong.

Dude he’s been watching wrestling for over 20/25 years!!

We get it. You're Heyman.

I’ve been told that I sound like more of a Bret Hart than a Paul Heyman in real life, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. It is interesting however that you are the second poster on here to compare me to Heyman within two days. My real life voice is more low pitched like Bret’s.

I've been watching wrestling for over 30 years, Luigi. Your thoughts?

Congratulations?

While we are on the subject of Luke Harper, I would like to suggest the following idea: Have the Bludgeon Brothers (Harper + Rowan) come to RAW and join Braun Strowman. The three of them reunite as The Bludgeon Brothers stable. As Strowman continues to progress in his career and becomes a regular antagonist to Roman Reigns at the main-event level, you can restart a Shield vs. Wyatt Family (now Bludgeon brothers without Bray) feud. I believe this would draw great interest amongst the fans, and would further solidify Braun as a main event guy.

I can see t 25 yrs of watching wrestling has done you no good.

That is a really stupid idea.

I can see that I have been attacked in an extremely personal, vicious, and disrespectful manner. However, instead of resorting to sandbag tactics myself, I will choose to be the bigger man and respond respectfully. Here are reasons why I think my idea is good:

1) The Shield vs. Wyatt Family feud was a big hit and was still untapped. Fans loved this feud between the two factions and it was far from being played out. If the WWE chose to bring up this feud again, it wouldn't even be close to being stale. Still lots of untapped potential here.

2) It further establishes Braun as a top main-event guy. Braun is already trending as a main-eventer, but I believe him being the leader of "The Bludgeon Brothers" would really put him over the top. With Roman Reigns being the 'alpha' of The Shield, you could really establish Braun being the number one antagonist against Roman Reigns (the face of the WWE).

Shield vs. Wyatt Family (Bludgeon Brothers) part II could do good business for the WWE and could add further credibility to Braun by making him an alpha leader of a group that opposes the alpha leader of another group. Unfortunately for Bray, he is no longer worthy of being legit opposition to Roman Reigns.....whereas Braun is. These are reasons why I think my idea is good. In the future, I really would appreciate it if you could respond to me in a more respectful manner.

How many years has Big E been on the roster?

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M4JKyK5Z_7...9-52-04+AM.jpg

Long enough to the point where his chances of being a relevant draw for the company are slim to none. If the WWE are serious about creating the next break away star, they should be looking to nurture and grow their NXT talent. Braun Strowman and Jason Jordan should also be pushed and protected very heavily over these next 1-2 years.

New Day was the best thing for Kofi and Xavier, but it probably has put a ceiling on Big E.

and honestly Id rather see Kofi get a main event push over him just because he's been there the longest and never really gotten one.

I like when Big E and Xavier subtly call Kofi the GOAT.

Bret Hart took 7 years to win the big one, not sure why Luigi thinks if you don't win immediately you can never be taken seriously.

He's been watching wrestling since we were all toddlers so he knows.

Kofis been around 12+..safe to say he's not

If he was 6'5" 290lbs he would be.

:lol: Its still dumb and I didn't attack you I said your idea is stupid

1. Neither group would be what it once was and Bruan is not a leader type hes either a lone wrecking machine or the muscle. Essentially you'd end up with 3 big dudes as a stable can't see that working out.At this point it would be a step back for Bruan.


2. Fans will NEVER get behind Roman as a face against a heel Bruan Stroman. Like it or not Braun is pretty much the biggest face in the company and he has it all over Roman. Hes bigger fans LOVE him he can actually talk.
He can actually be adorable and funny (see Alexa Bliss interactions)and then turn around and destroy people without losing a shred of dignity or credibility.

Hes also crazy athletic for being so huge

You're dreaming if you think Roman wouldnt be booed outta the building everytime they fought and we've also seen that even the Shield rub no longer helps Reigns the fans still boo the shit outta him and just cheer Dean and Seth.

Bruan is great on his own and the Bludgeon bros are becoming a force on SD they are fine being seperate.

really I missed that one

He is ridiculously underrated though

I've been a wrestling fan for 31 years...didn't start watching yesterday...and hi Heyman

He was changing your diapers while watching Andre vs Hogan and you know it.

I don't think it's out of the question that a guy could win a a main event title given the current landscape and fact that the E has two "top" titles. Jinder Mahal fucking won. A guy who has absolutely zero success outside of a comedy jobber. Big E has a shot if they keep the brand split going

Feels like a point where they were doing it every promo.

I'm not saying that you can't be taken seriously if you win the WWE championship two years after being in the company. CM Punk and Daniel Bryan have already proven this in the modern era. What I'm saying is that one's potential and likelihood for stardom becomes significantly less....especially in the modern era.

Guys like The Rock, Austin, Goldberg, and John Cena all made very serious leaps within their first two years of being in the company (Austin completely re-invented himself in 1996 and in that era, it was easier for the fans to forget about a wrestler's past history with other organisations). The WWE did that with Roman Reigns. The WWE's biggest goal should always be in finding and developing the next Cena/Hogan/Austin/Rocky, etc. Both the WWE and the wrestlers themselves should be cognissant of the fact that their 'opportunity potential' is greatest if they make serious in-roads within their first two years.

If you look at today's roster.....can guys like The Miz and Sheamus be WWE champion again? Of course they can. However, their chances of actually taking the company to new heights (Hogan) or completely owning and connecting with a certain demographic (Cena-kids) is very unlikely.

And you know this......how? :wtf:

This group doesn't have to come out and cut Triple H-like promos week in week out. They can cater to their strengths and simply destroy people. For example - what if this Braun-lead stable completely squashed Big Show, Kane, and Mark Henry at a future PPV? Wouldn't that give these guys massive credibility?


You seem to have misinterpreted what I said. I said that Roman Reigns was the current 'Face' of the company (WWE grooming him to be their #1 guy), but in a potential Bludgeon Brothers/Shield feud, the fans could decide who they want to cheer for. If the fans start gravitating towards Braun Strowman and the Bludgeon Brothers for instance, then more power to the fans......and maybe the WWE can start evaluating as to whether Braun should be the true 'face/alpha' of the company.

The purpose of a Shield/Bludgeon Brother feud would be three-fold:

1) It establishes Braun and being on the same level as Roman.
2) The WWE get a popular and still untapped feud on their hands which the fans would eat up.
3) It allows guys like Harper and Rowan to become relevant again, while also allowing guys like Rollins and Ambrose to stay relevant.

Big Show, Kane and Mark Henry have zero credibility. Beating them means jack shit.

The fans have crapped on Roman for 3 years running. The company isn't going to reevaluate anything. They're going with Reigns regardless of crowd reaction.

I'm not sure if I completely agree with that. I agree that Big Show, Kane, and Mark Henry don't have the credibility that they once did, but I think the marks would definitely turn some heads if these guys were flat out SQUASHED by a Strowman-lead Bludgeon Brothers group. For the record, I'd also have Strowman to be the one to retire Undertaker for good. Have Taker go over Cena at Mania. Later on in the year, maybe Summerslam, Strowman and Taker somehow have a feud and have Strowman be the one to finally end Undertaker.

Braun should do a 3v1 match against Show, Henry, and Kane. That might mean a little.

I would not go that far, but honestly?

I'd have Strowman be the one to definitively retire Mark Henry, Kane, Big Show, and Undertaker in one-on-one matches.

I'm going through groups who've broken up and reformed in my head and so far The 4 Horsemen are the only stable I can think of that kept working

And I'm talking about actually broke apart and went their separate ways not reshuffle membership

Last incarnation of DX was a severely watered down version of what it originally was.

nWo 2000

WWE nWo

Evolution

Shield (and it was dying a death before Roman got the clap from Bray Wyatt) Don't get me wrong the start up with Seth and Dean was great. But other than that the same spark just wasn't there anymore (maybe because it was less focused on The Shield as a unit and more of a vehicle to get Roman over)

Every version of the Corporation since the original

The Wyatts

I don't think the marks or casual fans would give two shits. Those 3 guys have been pro jobbers for the better part of a decade, give or take. Beating them means nothing.

Braun doesn't need the Bludgeon brothers and vice versa. Braunis doing just fine on his own. What those guys need is clear direction. Uniting themdoesn't seem to have any long term purpose. Braun is already a main event talent on his own.

Late to this party, but...


One, you rode right past the gimmick joke to make that "stunning" observation.

Two, in said observation, you're talking about how both Braun and Porkchop Jones should be pushed and protected, yet he's been on the roster (counting NXT for both men) a bit longer than Big E. I believe Jason Jordan was around while both Vader's and Steamboat's kid was still there. Yet, somehow, Etor is beyond his sell-by date, yet Jason has another couple of years of cultivation? Hell, by that logic, WWE should have given up on Roman Reigns about 4 years ago, because he was in developmental when FCW was a thing.

You seem to miss the fact that quite a bit of who gets what push is kinda arbitrary. Baron Corbin blows, but he somehow ticks all of Vince's boxes, but Cesaro was a guy who, at one point, embodied exactly what they want Corbin to be - a tall, "larger than life" amoral asskicker (even when saddled with kinda shitty gimmicks) and even with the "shortcoming" of not being able to talk, he had one guy in his (metaphorical) corner once upon a when who COULD do the talking, and I don't mean Dutch, I mean Paul Heyman. But what happened? They let all that evaporate, most likely because him getting over wasn't part of whatever the hell creative was planning at the time.

And this has always been a thing; culminations of "having it" and "right place/right time". For example, if someone went back in a time machine during the height of Hulkamania and said that the less charismatic half of the Hart Foundation was going to be a future WWF Champion, one half of The Rockers would also be a future WWF Champion, and the two of them would end up in not only a legendary feud, and both be considered to of the all-time greats, but end up in one of the craziest events that changes the entire course of wrestling history, people would think out were totally outside of your mind because they are just some lower to midcard tag team guys.

"Austin 3:16" happened because HHH was arbitrarily punished (there was more happenstance in there, but I'm oversimplifying to get to my point), and had Hunter not been part of the curtain call, one of the biggest icons in merch and pop culture would have just been some midcard-at-best also-ran who people would have debates about how much more he potentially could have been if he were given half a chance, or possibly been more memorable if Hollywood Blondes just reformed in WWF... because they more than likely would have just booked him like a chump, and he'd have been losing to Road Dogg and Savio Vega on the regular.

Truth is you don't know what Big E has. Nobody does. And if WWE doesn't position him in any capacity to be more, nobody ever will know.

As far as that Wyatt Family pipe dream: that's another group of guys completely mishandled. Piss-poor booking took what was a fresh gimmick and potential "second coming" of Undertaker in Bray, and relegated him into a rambling joke jobber to the stars who is no kind of threat to anyone. Harper was the favored son; once again, a tall asskicker, but on his little singles jaunt, they didn't do anything of note with him. They seemed to expect Rowan to get a face run by osmosis by listing his eclecticism and hoping they could just sell a shit ton of sheep masks. In other words, he did even less than Harper, because at least Harper got a short singles title run. And Brawn? Did you *see* how long it took for them just to do something with the guy? He's EXACTLY what people think of when folks mention Vince's "big man fetish", and they still took forever to have him do anything of note besides squash jobbers and other people who weren't doing anything.

And they *did* feed Mark Henry, Big Show, and Kane to Braun already as a singles. And they still almost didn't follow up on that. Doing it again as some half-ass group would accomplish about as much as when they had Rusev go through the "proud American trio" (Mark Henry, Jack Swagger, and Zack Ryder) in at least three rotations, with Ryder sprinkled in there a couple of extra times... which is to say it won't accomplish squat.