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Originally Posted by The CyNick
The Eugene character as its portrayed right now has a very short life span. I read reports from the RAW tapings last night that people were ALREADY turning on him. Thats scary, I figured they'd get a longer run out of him as a babyface, but I also predicted this would happen sooner or later. His gimmick is such that people are laughing AT him, not with him. The reason why guys like Hogan, Austin, Rocky and even Foley got over huge as babyfaces were that people to some extent wanted to be like them. People wanted to be a super hero like Hogan, they wanted to smack around their boss and talk trash like Austin, they wanted to look and sound as cool as The Rock and they wanted to be as fearless as Foley. Nobody wants to be like Eugene, they like to laugh at him, but nobody would go to school and try to act cool by imitating Eugene.
Eventually the fans will turn on him. Now I'm no fortune teller, I dont know exactly when it will happen, but it will happen. The challenge at that point will be to do an effective heel turn that will save Nick Dinsmore's career. Hopefully he'll be able to move on from the gimmick and not become another Hacksaw Duggan or a Bushwacker.
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I want to discuss your first point, about fans not wanting to be like him. That doesn't mean fans can't sympathize with him. In all seriousness, the majority of wrestling marks aren't cool, which is why they want to be like Rock, Austin, Hogan. In addition, while wrestling fans try to live vicariously through their favorite wrestlers, they are doing so to hide form their own faults. Not all of us have the charisma of a Rock, which is why fans cheer him, only because he represents what fans want to be.
In actuality, many of us are the Eugene's of the world. We are easily manipulated, fooled, and picked on by everyone else. This is why fans sympathize, or even empathize with Eugene's character. He has faults, and the major fault he has is something some of us take for granted. Its not easy seeing a person with that 'condition' because people assume those with that 'condition' can never be integrated into society, which is why people feel sorry for them. This creates the ultimate underdog aura, because while we don't expect much from Eugene because we feel sorry for him, we hope he exceeds our expectations.
People want to see Eugene succeed. It make them feel good about themselves knowing that if he can do it, then I can do it. It’s a story about overcoming adversity, and living in a world that has labeled you different. This is the appeal of Eugene's character.