Squared Circle Gazette Radio #44 - Overdone Pushes

[JaymeFuture]

This week's SCG Radio is up, as we talk about the overbearing and overdone pushes we've witnessed as fans. Taking your suggestions for guys pushed way above their limitations throughout wrestling history, we talk about world champions that maybe shouldn't have been such as Jeff Jarrett, Justin Credible and Ron Simmons, WCW nepotism with Erik Watts and Dustin Rhodes, as well as the use and talents of such individuals as Brutus Beefcake, Billy Gunn, Abyss, Hardcore Holly, Eugene, The Big Show, Alberto Del Rio, Dino Bravo, Sheamus and many more that you felt were given way too much. A really fun and entertaining show this week, check it out and let us know what you think~!

 

http://squaredcirclegazette.podbean.com/mf/play/qtizxc/SCGRadio44-OverdonePushes.mp3

[SomethingSavage]

Nice. Been waiting for this one to drop.

 

Gotta do some grilling today for the fam's "Welcome Home" back from vacation... Hope to give this one a listen while going all iron chef & they're still settling in.

 

I already see some names mentioned that I wish would've gotten more discussion on the board here. Sounds like another fun topic, for sure.

[JaymeFuture]

Really hope you enjoyed it dude, your Jarrett post forced him to get discussed first on sheer principle. Fantastic stuff.

[SomethingSavage]

Haha. Yeah. I initially thought I was too hard on ole Double J, but nah. After hearing a lot of the other candidates, I stand by it.

 

You guys covered a lot of ground, as always. I was pleasantly surprised - and maybe even a little proud - of our board that nobody referenced JBL. I've always liked the guy, even going back to his post-New Blackjack days when he was just kind of wandering around solo. He was a fun brawler & bruiser. And, as far as poor men's Stan Hansens went, I didn't mind him a bit.

 

The JBL character was forced and fast-tracked though, so I can see why it'd make the list. It checks off all the right boxes to feel like an overdone push, but I don't know. It's strictly personal preference, but I really feel like it's aged better than most. By modern WWE main event standards, I think it stuck. And Bradshaw practically resurrected the last part of his career from that.

 

Even the talk about buyrates doing a nosedive with him on top strikes me as kind of iffy. I'm not debating the accuracy of that or anything. Don't get me wrong. But who in the hell could have honestly lifted things during that terrible, horrible period of Smackdown? Kurt was hurt. Eddie felt unreliable and didn't want to carry the burden. Brock was gone. Cena was still in the building phase. Taker on top wasn't going to drastically improve anything. And that's sort of my point. I don't know that anybody could have made a difference as champ.

 

The brand split hurt them, and buyrates were going to suffer under that model. The split PPVs weren't so bad in 2002, because they had a roster of actual SUPERSTARS that felt like big stars and money players. Most of those marquee guys were either gone or mishandled in the years that followed, and so they were left with a VERY shallow pool by 2004. It's actually surprising that they didn't go full-fledged back to the merged PPV format until 2009, to be brutally honest.

 

But even then, they were doing things like bringing Cena over onto SmackDown PPVs, etc. as early as 2006. So they were aware. And I guess all that ranting was just my way of saying... Hey. The JBL experiment? Not necessarily as bad as it initially seemed, at least to me. I know it got all kinds of hate at the time - and I was admittedly one of the people bitching about the way it was done so suddenly. But yeah. He did okay with it.

 

Plus he gets bonus points, just for not being Jeff fucking Jarrett in 2000 WCW. So there's that.

 

Oh. And I couldn't help but nod along when you guys first started mentioning Del Rio. If I thought about it, I wouldn't have been able to put into words what I found so... underwhelming about his run. But yeah. You guys captured it perfectly by saying that his character simply never EVOLVED. It just felt so stale and monotonous. And then, when you'd think it bottomed out completely, they actually did him a greater disservice by STRIPPING AWAY the few things that helped him stand out & feel like a star in the first place. Incredibly detrimental and stupid.

 

I didn't agree with the assessment of his in-ring contributions, as I honestly felt like he was always - at worst - a capable worker between the ropes. And hell, for awhile there, I really felt like he had a fire lit underneath his ass for the first few weeks of his babyface run. The matches with Show were better than they had any right to be, but he ran into a brick wall when they started parading him out there as this outdated immigration spokesman. It was just so forced and... AWFUL. I don't know how they expected anyone to cheer Del Rio in that incarnation over a protective patriot in Jack Swagger... let alone Dutch fucking Mantell with a mic in his hands. Christ.