Coffey

I dunno about either Cena or Guerrero. Guerrero has the experience, but how big of an audience can he relate too? How dependable is he with his past incidents? How much longer can he go? Cena is stuck in a dead end gimmick. He does seem to have some charisma, and I credit him with making a crappy gimmick work at least somewhat. He has youth. I think it stops there though. He doesn't bring a whole lot to the table in terms of wrestling talent, however I guess that hasn't mattered to WWE in the past. I could see Cena actually. I'm having trouble seeing Guerrero in the role though. Mainly because of his age, his body starting to break down and his drug problems that he's had in the past.

My initial thought was Chris Jericho. He's in his thirties, but he's wrestled in WCW, ECW, Japan and I believe Mexico. So, he has the experience. He's shown in the past that he can get over. He obviously has charisma, even if he's been on autodrive for awhile. In the ring, there's obviously better, but he's not really a slouch. He can put on good matches when he has good opponents. When he has bad opponents, well, at least he can bump for them. He can work as a heel or a face, although personally I believe that he's better as a cocky heel. As far as merchandise is concerned, to be honest, I really don't know a lot about it. I'm sure with his popularity that he doesn't suck though. Jericho also doesn't seem to get injured too often. In fact, the only thing I can remember happening to him recently is a concussion or two. He doesn't have the size of a Hulk Hogan or a Triple H, so apparently that's his downfall in WWE. Outside of that, and his not being WWE made, what else is going against him? It just seems silly that WWE wouldn't use him more. Is Triple H his equal? Does Triple H excel in any area over Jericho? Outside of family relationship and size...what does H have that Jericho doesnt? Is H younger than Jericho? I know H doesn't have Jericho's experience....

On Raw or Smackdown. You only get one. Heel or face. I'm curious as to what people will say. Will you pick someone that can wrestle? Someone with a lot of charisma? A good talker? If you were to "franchise" one wrestler from WWE, whom would it be? How young will they be? Will they have a lot of experience? A good merchandise mover? Someone well traveled in the business?

Yes! He's like the drunk guy at a frat party that tries to start shit with you. You ignore him because you know he's just a dumb fuck jock...but then he throws a punch. So, you have to beat the fuck out of him in his drunken stupor. It doesn't work when he's a babyface. It's just like "how the hell could he beat HHH?" Everything about him just screams "I'm trying to fit in!" The body tats, etc. as you all listed. Then I think about his military record, and I just know he's a mo-mo.

How about the winner of the King of the Ring (KotR) gets #30 in the Royal Rumble (RR)? WWE seem hell bent on giving away the number every year, and at least it would add some advanced booking to the shows. It'd almost be like a #1 contender status as they'd more than likely have to defend it. Like, at Summerslam (SS) if the winner of the KotR lost to Wrestler X, Wrestler X would become #30 in the RR. I don't know. It's like, I think the winner of the KotR shouldn't get a title shot at SS because that eliminates the possibility of a midcarder winning the KotR. On the other hand, if they win the KotR, being #30 in the RR doesn't guarantee that you'll even get anything for your KotR win. You could win the KotR and then just get tossed out of the RR and go home empty handed. It'd be a great way to get over a heel that throws tantrums or complains a lot. Like Edge's current character. How he always talks about being screwed over. Or Christian's old character. Maybe #30 in the RR, #2 Contendership and a trophy? It'd be a great way for WWE to reincorporate some sort of ranking system. The KotR would only be open to wrestlers whom weren't the current champion or ranked #1? Trophies could add a little bit more legitimacy to the "sport." Winning the tournament should be a big deal, but it shouldn't be too obvious who's going to win it. When you have someone like Brock Lesnar in the match, you know what the outcome it going to be. You know he's going on to SS and winning the title. With my proposed idea, someone like The Hurricane could win it. They'd get ranked #2, which could put them into a feud, and you wouldn't have to worry about giving away #30 in the RR later. It's not like The Hurricane would have to win the RR.

To be honest, I don't even know how to reply to this thread. Regardless of what I type, I feel that I'll come off as being hypocritical. How can an on-line fan, whom reads and types on "The SMART MARKS" website all day long not consider himself a "smark?" So, if I were to say anything negative about them, I'd be saying it about myself. If I were to say anything positive about them, or decline my being one, it'd be hypocritical. That being said, some fans just plain suck. Regardless of if they're on-line or not, some people are just assholes. That's just the way that it is. Going against the grain, going with the flow, whatever. As a wrestling fan, you're not going to agree with everyone else about everything. There's going to be arguments, disputes, rebuttals, etc. It's the same with everything in life. Some people just straight suck. Personally, I like to talk about and discuss wrestling. I love to read about it. I want all the information I can get from it. I love reading the wrestling novels just to hear the stories of shit that went down off-camera. I like knowing what's going on behind the scenes. All of it. On the other hand, the day I stumbled across internet sites was the day that I quit being a "mark." Being a "mark" was actually more fun. I didn't take everything so seriously. I didn't worry about what a wrestler would say since it might bury someone else. I didn't care about who could "work" and who couldn't. I didn't notice things like botched spots, miscommunication, blade jobs, etc. It's like I can't "turn it off" and just watch anymore. It factors into every aspect of the business now. When a new wrestler is coming up I look to see what tools he brings to the table. If he has a good look, if he can wrestle, if he gains heat, natural charisma, etc. I didn't use to do that. I use to just watch him and be entertained. Now it takes different things to entertain me. Workrate for example. Years ago, when I was still a "mark" I would've hated Muhammed Hussan's guts. I probably would've chanted USA at my TV. Now though? When he comes out, I anticipate a good, degrading, anti-USA promo. I look for similarities to The Iron Shiek, The Shiek and possibly even Sabu. I realize that he's subpar in the ring, and that if he gets in a feud with Benoit, it'll drop Benoit down to a level that he shouldn't be at. I don't look at it like "Benoit isn't going to take this shit! He'll suplex that arab and make him tap out!" I look at it like Hussan is green, has an unoriginal gimmick, probably would be outwrestled by his manager and Benoit has to try to make him look good so WWE can push Hussan. I'm jaded. I'm fickle. I'm exposed. I couldn't tell you if that's good or bad. I don't know if it's better to be a "smark" or a "mark." Each have their benefits, and each have their weaknesses. At least I get to talk about it more this way. It provides me with MORE entertainment, because shows don't have to be on for me to be involved with wrestling. On the other hand, it's hard to hold conversations with people that you run into in the streets. Said to say, but when I run into them, I almost feel like I'm better than them. It should never get to that level. What do I do when I run into someone that says Triple H is the Game and can beat anyone? I can't start talking about him porkin' Steph whom writes the shows.

ORTON : I thought that he was going to be something special. His taped RNN segments showed a lot of charisma. That being said, they must've done a lot of retakes, because he's not showing that charisma now. I hate his finisher. It's like a crappy Diamond Cutter that looks too setup. Orton doesn't seem comfortably behind the mic or in the ring. Everything seems forced. I think him being a heel hides a lot of his weaknesses, and since his babyface run was aborted, I think that WWE should try their luck in turning him again. TAZZ : As a commentator, I only really get to hear him when he's on dual PPV's since I can't get Smackdown locally. He wasn't bad, but it seemed like he was doing the play-by-play more than Michael Cole. I don't know if that's because Cole is bad or because Tazz doesn't know what a color man is supposed to do. In the ring, I marked out hard for Taz. At least in ECW. He seemed like a legit badass. Like he lived his gimmick. He was mad at the world, and didn't give a shit about what anyone thought. I loved the Tazmission as it reminded me of the old days when Ted DiBiase was beating cats with the Million Dollar Dream. Taz didn't have a lot of psychology in his matches, but he always drew me in with his charisma and attitude. C'mon, suplex, suplex, suplex, choke out doesn't make a lot of sense! Still, I wanted to see him suplex Bigelow through a table. I wanted to see him make The Franchise tap out. I liked Taz a lot back then. Now when I see Taz, I just think he's another missed opportunity. He was killed during The Alliance. I did mark out when "Stone Cold" told RVD to "Five Star that sonuva bitch" though. JERICHO : I'm torn. I always have been. In WCW, Jericho cracked me up. He was hilarious. Everything that he did was gold. From Ralphus and the Jerichoholic Ninja, to getting lost on his way to the ring. The 1,004 moves was gold. "Armbar!" Going to the building (can't remember what building) to read the official NWA rule book to get matches overturned was comedy and a great way to get heat. I've never been on the Jericho bandwagon as far as matches go. He's always seemed average to me. He can talk and has charima, but when he's a babyface, he seems boring and clich?. I like him as a comedic heel. Especially when he writes his own shit. I saw a lot of his Japan and ECW work. Even then I didn't think his matches were great. He's more than capable of working good matches, but it has to involve a good wrestler on the other side of the ring. That's what seperates him from HBK and Benoit. SHANE-O-MAC : Ugh. I hate his entrance, and I'm not too keen on him being an on-air character. At least when he comes out, since it's not too often nowadays, you know that something is going to happen. I don't like him wrestling on PPVs or TV shows because I think there's more deserving people, whom are actually wrestlers, that should be getting that time instead. His big bumps are always entertaining to watch, but I can understand why the wrestlers don't give him a lot of respect for them. Yeah, he takes big risks, but then he doesn't have to wrestle the next night like all the other boys do. He gets time to heal. I'm not the biggest Shane McMahon fan. It's sad that the most memorable thing I get from Shane is a couple of botched spots. When Angle tried to throw him through the glass and it didn't break. He just kept landing on his head. His big leaps of faith weren't all that impressive to me. Well, I guess they were since it was WWF TV...but I saw New Jack do that crap every month in ECW. I REALLY hated Shane when he stole the Van Terminator though. INOKI : I can't really comment due to inexposure. I've never even seen the exhibition with Ali. VADER : One of my all-time favorite wrestlers. Stiff as shit, but agile for his size. I love watching him powerbomb people. Just an all around badass mother-fucker. Hell, I used to mark the hell out just for his crappy helmet when it'd spit out some steam. HA HA! ROAD WARRIORS : Definitely influencial. I always liked The Steiner Brothers and The Fabulous Freebirds more though. The Road Warriors did have a cool gimmick. I was a big fan of those shoulder pads. Their finisher was good too. Especially about fifteen years or so ago. People just didn't do shit like that back then. I wasn't a big fan of them in the ring. Just a lot of power moves and Hawk playing face in peril. Of course, Hawk playing the face in peril just meant that he got knocked down once or twice. They weren't the best of sellers. I should probably seek out some of their Japan work. I'm sure it might change my views on them at least a little bit. Their Legion of Doom run in WWF certainly wasn't anything to write home about. TITO SANTANA : My biggest memories of him are always the things that Bobby "The Brain" Heenan would say while doing commentary during a Tito match. I marked out for the way he sold The Barbarian's top rope clothesline at Wrestlemania VI. He was a decent enough IC champion, back when he was using the figure-four leglock. I was never a big fan of Strike Force though. Tito was pretty much past being good by the time I got into wrestling. I've never went out of my way to aquire old Tito footage. I probably never will. Jim Cornette : Well, since I can't watch OVW, I miss him. He's a great on-air character. Has a great mind for the business. I probably even like him more than Paul Heyman, just because I know that Heyman is a flaky person. Cornette will tell you how it is. Great talker. One of the best talkers actually. I wish WWE would use him in WWE as both a mind and an on-air character. He would have to be more beneficial to them in that capacity than by training hosses down in OVW. If we're going to add more wrestlers to talk about, I'd be interesting in what people thought about Lance Storm, Nikita Koloff, Scott Norton & Bam Bam Bigelow. EDIT: I actually replied to the original topic before reading all the replies. It appears as if I share a lot of sentiments of the other posters here. Especially Loss.

I liked the look on Flair's face after the thumbs down by Batista. That was comedic gold right there. I think Batista could be the future, but we'll see. He has the tools.

Why would Vince have banged Stacy? It just seems like Stacy would be bright enough to say "no." Then again, she has dated Test & David Flair. Trish, to me, seems like she could be everything that WWE could ever want from a woman. She can wrestle, which is what WWE used Moolah for. She's a good interview/talker, which Sunny was as well. She can also be a manager and just look good...which is what Elizabeth basically did. If WWE didn't have a women's division, Trish would probably be the most over person on the roster. Instead she has to wrestle crappy matches against other women who really aren't in her league. Then she has to defend the non-prestigious women's title against number one challengers that are picked out of the air. Of course, if WWE just had less women, Trish would probably be the most over person on the roster as well. I thought WWE could've done something when she was trying to manage Val Venis. That fell through. I guess it was a blessing in disguise though, because after that Fit taught Trish how to work. She's definitely improved over the last couple of years. Hell, she's one of the best bumpers on the roster. I don't know if I'd stick her with H? because he's over enough. She wouldn't bring anything to the table in that scenario. However, she'd be good at getting over an Intercontinental champion. Especially if they were heel. They could run some beauty and the beast BS. Trish's mouth gets her in trouble, and her "man" gets her out of it. It could've worked with Tomko if he wasn't so shitty. Especially because he doesn't talk a lot and he's a huge dude. It could all build up to someone finally getting to Trish when Tomko wasn't around. Something like that. Actually, I think Trish Stratus and Maven could work in a Stunning Steve Austin & Miss Blossom type of role. Except Trish would do more than stand there and clap. She'd talk and cheat. They could work it into Maven's current losing streak storyline even. Just have Trish seen talking to him or something. Give Maven a robe. He'd stand out just for having the robe. Have him win the IC belt or whatever thanks to Trish, then he could become really cocky (as if he's not now). If he keeps using that new knee move as his finisher, I could see it working. It'd also get Trish away from the women's division. She could tell Maven that she "knows about winning gold" or something simple like that. Couldn't hurt to try, right? Trish is aimlessly wondering around since Lita got hurt, and Maven isn't doing shit. I could probably write about Trish and the WWE women all day. WWE seemed like they had a good thing going, then they dropped the ball. They do it over and over again. It's not like they couldn't have made the women's division work. Loss, your Molly example is a good one. What about the other women though? You mentioned Victoria, but didn't really go in-depth with it. She had one of the best characters on Raw. It got Stevie Richards TV time even. She was crazy and booked as a threat. A great finisher too. She was different. Not just another blonde. Now she dances and jiggles to crappy hip-hop music and barely gets TV time. What happened? She's just another generic woman on the roster now. Right down to the T&A. Gail Kim? She got video vignettes for her debut. She was hyped up, even moreso online by people calling her "the female Rey Mysterio." Then she debuts...in a battle royal. *slaps head* Then she randomly turned heel for no apparent reason. There at the end, before she was fired, she was working better matches. Instead of trying to fly around and have women support her with their strength, she started doing submission moves. It worked a lot better. Just a lot of missed opportunities. If WWE isn't careful, Trish will become bland. She'll always be hot, but if they don't do something with her....

Probably the Sting Vs. nWo era of WCW. There was a lot going on, and it got me to start watching wrestling again. I'd quit following it for a few months prior to that. A lot of really good undercard matches went down. Raven's Flock was swinging. Just tons of stuff that I could get into. I loved Jericho, Malenko & Eddie Guerrero. Juventud and Mysterio as well. The Cruiserweight division was fun to watch. Even when it was Silver King or El Dandy wrestling. There were a lot of wrestlers that I'd grew up watching, like Hogan and Piper, mixed in with wrestlers that were "new." Like Goldberg and DDP. I just got into it. Sting randomly Scorpion Death Dropping people made me tune in every week.

If Batista stays a tweener, or goes back to being a full-fledged heel after winning the title, then WWE won't run into this problem. Of course, that would involve Triple H turning face.