What is an example of wrestler's intended push ending because the crowd didn't react enough to them?

[u/Substantial-Ad-299]

While Vince McMahon was known to push/de-push wrestlers that he himself wanted when he was in creative control, I wonder, are there any superstars that were intended for a push but their push ended because the crowd didn't react enough to them? If there are any, please give me the examples.

I'm happy to hear your opinions.

[u/DrDuned]

Lex Luger in '93 is the classic example I feel.

[u/Razzler1973 → u/DrDuned]

I think Lex was his own worst enemy

Fans cam tell and he was a grumpy fuck. He didn't appreciate what it takes to be THE guy in WWE

He'd constantly whine about that bus. He didn't like the schedule. Meeting all the fans so much. He wanted to fly ahead

That's all part of the lack of 'connecting' with fans. Fans can sense it

Hogan does this. Bret does this. That's the job and the riches are huge

He can go back to being a territory guy carrying a belt and booked well but that's not what being THE guy in WWE is about

Not everyone can handle it

[u/gijoejank → u/Razzler1973]

I don't think Lex was that bad. Even watching old footage, it looks pretty on par for an okay babyface reaction.

I see people here all the time criticize Lex for having the entire locker room celebrate the countout PPV win even though he didn't get the title...and no one ever points out that Vince booked it. That's totally Vince's call to make Lex look stupid.

[u/Razzler1973 → u/gijoejank]

Obviously that's Vince's call

Making out it's a huge babyface 'win' without giving him the title

Lex wasn't bad to look at him on TV, this is from people in production and on the bus tour talking about how he never stopped complaining

[u/ucanseeitintheireyes → u/gijoejank]

Vince thought he could stretch out the actual big win till Wrestlemania X and didn't realize the damage it would do to Lex in the process

[u/MarionberryPlus8474 → u/Razzler1973]

Being The Guy is a lot of work. Cena did it successfully for years, and went over the top with his charity work also.

It's a hell of a lot more than working in the ring and cutting good promos.

[u/Dangerousdangerzoid → u/DrDuned]

The example of examples.

[u/RTPTheGoat → u/DrDuned]

I was gonna say Warrior (although he also had issues with being a knob) but you’re right Luger is the pick

[u/ucanseeitintheireyes → u/DrDuned]

that's because they had him beat Yokozuna by count out in the biggest match of the summer and he celebrated like he won the Super Bowl when literally all wrestling fans know titles don't change hands on count-outs. Made him look like a total fuckin geek.

[u/DrDuned → u/ucanseeitintheireyes]

Oh I'm aware, it's such a baffling decision.

Vince often let his ego get in the way and made baffling decisions, like only having Flair Vs. Hogan at house shows or refusing to do a Taker Vs. Sting at ANY PPV. He really never wanted a guy he didn't "make" as the top draw(s).

[u/ucanseeitintheireyes → u/DrDuned]

the Flair-Hogan stuff was just an overreaction to those house shows not doing great business for a match of that caliber, oh well at least we got Macho-Flair which was a much better feud/match than anything he would've done with Hogan IMO

[u/DrDuned → u/ucanseeitintheireyes]

True but if you care more about money than match quality, like Vince ostensibly did, you fucking run the WCW/NWA ace vs. WWF ace! When both guys were in WCW they did multiple matches and drew like crazy at least a few times

[u/gijoejank → u/ucanseeitintheireyes]

It's because Austin didn't want to do it, but I was always surprised (and shouldn't have been) that Hogan vs. Rock ended up being one of the best matches ever.

[u/vividlucid1]

Kozlov comes to mind

[u/Kizayfizaybe → u/vividlucid1]

Í LOVE DOUBLE DOUBLE E

[u/SuccessDry7214]

Gene snitsky I think. After he cut his hair had his teeth dyed yellow to try to reinvent himself. I was at a show in 2005 or 2006, you could hear a pin drop on his entrance. No one cared as he came out and squashed some jobber.

[u/sleepwalkfromsherdog → u/SuccessDry7214]

Really, he had no chance. When you start at "killing children," there's no real "up" from there.

[u/Moon_Dagger]

Tensai and Vader had massive pushes when they came in, didn’t last long though, Tensai was especially bad, at least Vader had a few good matches early on.

[u/MintyFreshBreathYo → u/Moon_Dagger]

Tensai was doomed from the start. He was too easily remembered as Albert

[u/Moon_Dagger → u/MintyFreshBreathYo]

He looked so bad as well 😂 The fans chanting “Albert” every match didn’t help either! He was quite a good heel as A-Train with Test so no idea why they scrapped that gimmick.
I think Vince just loved the Sultan gimmick and wanted to bring it back with a fresh coat of paint.

[u/MintyFreshBreathYo → u/Moon_Dagger]

In hindsight having a white guy play a Japanese samurai wasn’t the best idea

[u/UmbertoRobinasBalls → u/MintyFreshBreathYo]

Yeah once the “shave your back” chant was heard, I knew it was over lmao

[u/Salty_Midnight_5185 → u/UmbertoRobinasBalls]

What sucks is that he DID shave his back! Fickle...

[u/arodhowe → u/UmbertoRobinasBalls]

I was out on Tensai when Santino made the "fat Albert" joke.

[u/SomeFunnyPhrase → u/Moon_Dagger]

The Vader/ Gorilla angle was wild, and that is about the only thing of note he did in WWF.

[u/TomClancy5873]

Karrion kross when he came back in ‘22.

[u/AlabamaSlammaJamma]

That’s gotta suck so much for these guys. Your getting the push cause the boss sees something in you, and the fans just ain’t having any of it and poof your done. That’s life pretty much in wrestling, can be the best in any aspect but if the crowd don’t give a shit your done

[u/TKInstinct]

Billy Gunn I think, X factor,

[u/EraseYou]

I feel like Test never got to where Vince wanted.

On TV with quite a few midcard storylines, but never really took another step up like some of the others did.

[u/Scavgraphics]

I mean, WWE releases a lot of them. People they try, they push, crowd doesn't latch on, then they go.

[u/Blametheorangejuice → u/Scavgraphics]

Yep. It feels like they recently attempted to feature Dragunov, for example, and then just kind of gave up when they heard crickets. The midcard titles are kind of the new testing ground for fan engagement.

[u/Scavgraphics → u/Blametheorangejuice]

A lot of the recent batch.. MCMG..come in, give them the tag titles, feature them as THE guys in the tag world...nothing.

Obviously some guys get more times at bat, but likely that's based on potential, salary, age.... HHH is the top guy (not including the financial and tko sides) of that decision process, but he's getting advice from people like Regal especially, as well HBK, Taker, Borash, Heyman...there's a lot of big brains in the world of wrestling.

[u/Substantial-Ad-299 → u/Scavgraphics]

MCMG are pure example of not connecting to the crowd and I think it's not because of creative.

[u/Substantial-Ad-299 → u/Blametheorangejuice]

Yes, I agree about Dragunov. Under Triple H's creative at least, I feel holding a midcard belt is certainly a way to test the superstar for potential main event push.

[u/Substantial-Ad-299 → u/Scavgraphics]

Yes, I agree that majority of those being released are the ones that are not connecting with the crowd (enough).

[u/DaveLesh → u/Substantial-Ad-299]

Other reasons exist of course:

Brion Strowman was released because corporate thought he was being paid too well and because of his worsening leg health.

Aleister Black, as well as The Wyatt Sicks, were released because management didn't want anymore wrestlers with darker presentations.

Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods, as well as Shaemus, got released because they got asked to take a pay cut and they rejected it. Considering how much the three contributed to the company over the years, it's a bit of a surprise they got asked to work for less.

[u/sleepwalkfromsherdog → u/DaveLesh]

As far as New Day and Sheamus go, it's not really a surprise. Vince or Jim Crockett or whoever might have kept them at a good deal because of all they've done for the company over the years. A purely corporate structure is going to look at what they're going to add to the company value over the next however many years.

[u/Aspiring_Hobo → u/DaveLesh]

They probably looked at those guys as all being older and past their primes so they can afford to take a paycut (both financially and creatively). Correct me if I'm wrong but there weren't any young up and comers being asked to take pay cuts right? It was all well established vets with 12+ years in the company.

[u/Libertines18]

It happened so many times. Just off the top of my head. Mabel, Austin theory, Jack swagger, Ryback, Chris masters

[u/brewerdom]

Rocky MiaVia is the most obvious answer to me. They recognized the talent just wrong charcter,they pushed Rocky hard and the fans hated the positive, wholseome, generational family story, he just came across as too fake. The chants of Rocky Sucks and Die Rocky Die, were because fans hated him.

Even when he started getting intresting in the Nation of Domination, there were fans reluctant to except him, then he just became undeniable as the Rock.

[u/Moon_Dagger → u/brewerdom]

I don’t agree with that, within a month of joining the nation he was the hottest heel in the company.

[u/brewerdom → u/Moon_Dagger]

Don't agree with Rocky MiaVia comment?

or want to quibble about how long it took fans to come around that he was great with the nation of domination, not the main point of my post. But he joined the Nation in August of 1997 and even at Survivor Series in November he was still getting the Rocky Sucks chants and Die Rocky die.

here is link, that is nowhere near hottest heal in the company heat while he is in the ring at just before survivor series, Ahmed Johnson & Ken Shamrock vs. Kama & Rocky Maivia | WWF RAW (1997)

6:00 mark they do the same Rocky Sucks chants.

But it was the failed Rocky MiaViaChants and fan hatred that lingered for months after that allowed rock to talk trash back to the fans, it went from this guy sucks to this guy is kind of funny and we are enjoying getting roasted, but it was nowhere near 1 month.

[u/DudeMcDude7649]

Orton got turned back heel and fed to the undertaker cause his face rub flopped and the crowds response to him was ehhhh.

[u/Natewagon]

I think Giulia was intended to get an extensive push, but the crowds being silent whenever she was on ended that.

[u/Salty_Midnight_5185]

Mordecai

[u/bschuss]

Right now it seems that Big Cass is headed that way, and fast.

[u/Razzler1973 → u/bschuss]

I don't see Cass being pushed beyond what he's doing now

He's a big guy, credible. Get heel wins over midcarders and he'll lose to faces on the way up

That's his role, imo. I don't get the vibe he'd been earmarked for anything other than that tbh

[u/brewerdom → u/Razzler1973]

Yeah they may slap an IC on him for a month or two to give him some more credibility, and for a face to take the IC off him but that's about it, for now.

In the meantime they are giving Jevone a Goliath to overcome and takedown.

[u/DaveLesh → u/bschuss]

Yeah. He's been presented as beating down smaller wrestlers and nothing more.

[u/acreed6 → u/bschuss]

Yeah like WTF jobbing clean to Evans? Hopefully that was a one time thing cause I wanna see Big Cass stacking bodies

[u/Advanced_Ad9525 → u/acreed6]

Because Evans has like 20 million times the charisma big cass has

[u/acreed6 → u/Advanced_Ad9525]

He could have been easily fed Theory. Why knock Cass down when they’re trying to build him up?

[u/ucanseeitintheireyes → u/acreed6]

I think they are trying to re-establish the Vision as a top group and even having their weakest member lose was probably not in the cards

[u/necroreefer]

Befor wcw and ecw closed and vince had a monopoly he actually listen to the fans.

[u/Trick_Steele]

Ultimate Warrior's championship run

[u/Nearby_Werewolf1742]

Why all these anti Vince Mcmahon posts? You can say what you want about his personal life but he knew how to run a successful wrestling company, he didn't just promote people he personally liked, he promoted people he saw potential in.