New WWE Heavyweight Champion

[Loss]

Rey is over, and his size plays a part. Great. But that size also makes him completely non credible. Plucky underdog's fine. Plucky underdog world champion, when you're that much of a sodding underdog because you're almost a midget, gets boring very very quickly though.

Eddy was only three inches taller than Rey. Eddy was credible against big guys.

[Guest Bruiser Chong]

Rey is over, and his size plays a part. Great. But that size also makes him completely non credible. Plucky underdog's fine. Plucky underdog world champion, when you're that much of a sodding underdog because you're almost a midget, gets boring very very quickly though.

Eddy was only three inches taller than Rey. Eddy was credible against big guys.

Yeah and look what happened to him trying to turn his body into that of the "ideal" main eventer.

[sek69]

It all boils down to what Vince thinks. We can beat each other over the head with reasons for or against Rey as champ, but Vince is the one who decides and since he had a RAW guy move over and turn face that pretty much ends the debate.

 

It's been my argument during the Rey Wars anyway: Yes Rey *could* be a credible champion but it'll never happen as long as Vince is around.

[Guest savagerulz]

Eddie may have only been three inches taller, but he was superroided up, and looked a lot bigger than rey. There was a big size difference in the two and it made a lot of difference. Three inches, and a lot of roids, can be the difference between someone looking capable of beating Brock, The Big Show, Batista etc, and looking completely unbelievable. I could be forced into thinking Rey could get a shock upset win over Batista, much like when he beat Nash in WCW. But I couldn't believe he was capable in any sort of way that would stick him in the main event as a credible threat to guys like that.

[Marty]

And let's be honest.  The company is currently pushing Shawn Michaels to the moon and he's built like an old lady.  Misterio is at least muscular despite being small.

Remember in Loss' thread a while back about fat guys in wrestling and how they don't exist right now? Well, in that thread, Sek made a great point about how those guys are appealing to the average fan because of how they're built, so it causes the average fan to say, "Hey, maybe I can do that."

 

I think Vince pushes Michaels for the same reason, only for old ladies themselves to say that. When the WWE said that they were trying to get older fans back, hey, they MEANT it. I don't know how overly successful they've been with this, but just the other day, I saw an old lady chuck bread crumbs to some pigeons at a park, and when one of them took off to fly, the old lady nailed it with a flying forearm before kipping up. Not sure what happened after that, but I swear I heard sirens as I walked away. I might've been drunk too. Who knows.

[Loss]

If the woman was wearing leather chaps and carrying a Bible, I am officially terrified of you, Marty.

[Marty]

I'd be terrified FOR the old lady if that were the case. Remember, I live in Canada.

[Guest SweetMama Scaat]

It's kind of odd that they always go back to the Kurt Angle well when most of his big runs have tanked drawing wise.  I mean his big title win in 2001 did so awful that they had to take the belt off of him after 2 weeks.

Huh? Angle, the AMERICAN hero won the belt RIGHT AFTER Sept 11th.(1) This was during the InVasion angle wher Austin spent the entire Champion. The angle was half way done and nobody beat him for the belt (2)which he had already held for quite some time by Attitude/InVasion era standards. He began battling Angle who was pretty over as a babyface and was Main Eventing in his own hometown, I think (3). Angle won the belt to a huge crowd reaction which led to his friends and family all entering the ring and bouncing to his entrance theme IMO one of wrestling best post title celebrations.(4) This also kept his fued with Austin continuing, which was one of the few higpoints of the entire story.

 

Putting the belt on Austin was the next logical step, why would they take the belt off of him because he didnt draw for TWO WEEKS?! When has a regin ever "done so awful" that they removed the belt from a guy in two weeks? How can you even judge a reign by that?

 

Rey is over, and his size plays a part. Great. But that size also makes him completely non credible. Plucky underdog's fine. Plucky underdog world champion, when you're that much of a sodding underdog because you're almost a midget, gets boring very very quickly though.

 

We're gonna keep having these Rey as Champ debates until they put the belt on him arnt we?

 

 

And let's be honest.  The company is currently pushing Shawn Michaels to the moon and he's built like an old lady.  Misterio is at least muscular despite being small.

 

HBk is always gonna get pushed because of his status and clout. His current Angle with Mcmahon is gonna be seen as that "special" match that they seem intent on adding to their PPVs as of late. Jus like Hogan/HBK at Summerslam and Hogan/Mcmahon at WM 19...hell yall better be hoping the Hulkster doesnt show up then we'll have the strangest triple threat match yet..

[sek69]

They only put the belt on Angle because it was the first PPV after 9/11 and Vince couldn't let that go without a little old fashioned jingoism.

 

BTW, I was at that PPV (Unforgiven 2001), and many things come to mind:

 

1. Angle and Austin brawled less than 10 feet away from me, and I was shocked that they looked to be the same size if not a little smaller than me. It's like the opposite of what they say about the Big Show, guys look more impressive on TV.

 

2. It seemed that half the people in the floor seats were Angle's family, which was good for the PPV audience since it looked like everyone was hanging from the rafters when he won. When Angle's family all piled in the ring I swear the first 5 rows were empty.

 

3. My lasting memory of the celebration was watching Taker come down to the ring last (way after everyone else) still looking pissed off from the abortion that was the Taker/Kane vs Kronik match that was earlier in the evening.

[Marty]

1. Angle and Austin brawled less than 10 feet away from me, and I was shocked that they looked to be the same size if not a little smaller than me. It's like the opposite of what they say about the Big Show, guys look more impressive on TV.

If you listened closely enough, you could hear Austin say to Angle during the brawl "Is that Arn Anderson there?"

 

(Kidding!)

 

But yeah, you're right. When you're at ringside, it looks far different than when you're watching on TV, thanks to the different camera angles the WWE uses. I remember shaking hands with Billy Kidman after a house show match at ringside and thinking, "Damn, dude looks noticeably shorter than me." (I'm 6'0".) It's not always the case, as you pointed out with Big Show. I remember at the same house show, Billy, Chuck & Rico walked by me, and Gunn appeared to have towered over me significantly.

[kjh]

A-Train is much, much bigger in person than he comes across on TV. That's the problem with having so many giants on a roster, people who are huge by normal standards become just another guy, because they're dwarved by Big Show and The Undertaker. Same with the muscleheads. It's a shame WWE doesn't recognise this.