The General Wrestling Thread

[dave]

Yeah, but it was the kiss of death (no pun intended) for his career, just like the Spirit Squad guys.

Without it, he has no career period ... and, hi, my name is Dolph Ziggler. :D

[EmpireWF]

It's still amazing that the guys they saddled with the Spirit Squad shit, they actually turned it into something pretty damn fun. Then the powers that be went and squashed them for no good reason.

Unbelievable.

[Warner2BruceTD]

-Nick Mitchell is off somewhere banging Torrie Wilson and fighting MMA. He's the big winner.
-Ken Doane is stinking it up in both Dragon Gate USA & EVOLVE, yet Gabe keeps booking him...
-Nick Nemeth is putting us all to sleep with his "leverage manuevers" as Dirk Ziggler
-Johnny Jeter got fat due to the Wellness Policy taking away his "medicine", and retired
-Mike Mondo is a vehicular manslaughter waiting to happen, with his multiple DUI's, and he's coming to a high school gym near you as he tries to continue his "career"

sidenote-Elijah Burke outsmarted them all when he turned down the gimmick

[EmpireWF]

If you would have said back in 2005 that within 2-3 years, Jeter would be out of the business...it would have been insane.

When he turned on Cappotelli in OVW, holy shit, great feud.

[dave]

-Nick Mitchell is off somewhere banging Torrie Wilson and fighting MMA. He's the big winner.
-Ken Doane is stinking it up in both Dragon Gate USA & EVOLVE, yet Gabe keeps booking him...
-Nick Nemeth is putting us all to sleep with his "leverage manuevers" as Dirk Ziggler
-Johnny Jeter got fat due to the Wellness Policy taking away his "medicine", and retired
-Mike Mondo is a vehicular manslaughter waiting to happen, with his multiple DUI's, and he's coming to a high school gym near you as he tries to continue his "career"

sidenote-Elijah Burke outsmarted them all when he turned down the gimmick

Ziggler isn't that bad ... not a main eventer, but he's doing his job.
Like you said, Mitchell a big winner.
They gave Doane a real shot and he failed.
Jeter and Mondo ... don't know, don't care.

How did Elijah Burke outsmart them all? He's going nowhere and Nemeth is making way more money.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Ziggler isn't that bad ... not a main eventer, but he's doing his job.
Like you said, Mitchell a big winner.
They gave Doane a real shot and he failed.
Jeter and Mondo ... don't know, don't care.

How did Elijah Burke outsmart them all? He's going nowhere and Nemeth is making way more money.

Aside from Nemeth, who is on the road to nowhere IMO anyway, the other four were all hot prospects who are now completely off the radar...all due to the gimmick of death.

Burke will have the longest and most successful career.

[dave]

Aside from Nemeth, who is on the road to nowhere IMO anyway, the other four were all hot prospects who are now completely off the radar...all due to the gimmick of death.

Burke will have the longest and most successful career.

Not being sarcastic here - what is Burke doing right now?

Don't get me wrong, I liked him too. Thought he was a solid worker, but I have no clue what he's doing now.

And, IMO, pro wrestling being what it is, the other four could recover pretty quickly. Hell, no one remembers Kane was the fake Hall or Nash ... forget myself.

[EmpireWF]

Not being sarcastic here - what is Burke doing right now?

Don't get me wrong, I liked him too. Thought he was a solid worker, but I have no clue what he's doing now.

And, IMO, pro wrestling being what it is, the other four could recover pretty quickly. Hell, no one remembers Kane was the fake Hall or Nash ... forget myself.

Burke is in TNA and is doing well there amidst their shit

[dave]

Burke is in TNA and is doing well there amidst their shit

I had no clue he was D'Angelo Dinero.
I don't get TNA Wrestling on my satellite system. Yeah, I do, but I don't pay for it.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Not being sarcastic here - what is Burke doing right now?

Don't get me wrong, I liked him too. Thought he was a solid worker, but I have no clue what he's doing now.

And, IMO, pro wrestling being what it is, the other four could recover pretty quickly. Hell, no one remembers Kane was the fake Hall or Nash ... forget myself.

The problem is in the case of Jeter, Mondo, and Doane, it fucked with their confidence. Doane & Jeter were considered "cant miss" blue chip prospects. After the company gave up on the gimmick, they wouldnt push any of the four because of the stigma of the gimmick. Doane is the only one who stayed on the main roster, and his lack of push got to his head.

Doane is so bad now. His stuff on the indy circuit is brutal. No energy, no swagger. He stalls and does restholds. I'm convinced Spirit Squad killed his career, along with Jeter for sure. To be fair, Mitchell had a bad back, and Mondo is a drunk.

Ziggler sucks, but thats just my personal opinion. He has a silly gimmick and does nothing special in the ring. He works sooooo sloooooow, but to be fair thats probably what they want since he's a heel.

[SuperKevin]

And, IMO, pro wrestling being what it is, the other four could recover pretty quickly. Hell, no one remembers Kane was the fake Hall or Nash ... forget myself.

Since when are you everybody. I'm pretty sure a lot of wrestling fans remember Kane was the fake Diesel. Heck, they once accidentally leaked it on live TV that Kane used to be Isaac Yankem DDS

[IamMedellin]

It's still amazing that the guys they saddled with the Spirit Squad shit, they actually turned it into something pretty damn fun. Then the powers that be went and squashed them for no good reason.

Unbelievable.

HEY!!...Hey..

The spirit squad was squashed so that dX could get over...and if Triple H & HBK don't get put over...who know's what high school gym they'd be working at now?

sidenote - Dolph Ziggler is still employed? Really?

[FedEx227]

I thought the Spirit Squad was actually turning into something entertaining before DX decided to beat them EVERY SINGLE WEEK for like 2 months.

They were getting legit heat for awhile.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

The problem is in the case of Jeter, Mondo, and Doane, it fucked with their confidence. Doane & Jeter were considered "cant miss" blue chip prospects. After the company gave up on the gimmick, they wouldnt push any of the four because of the stigma of the gimmick. Doane is the only one who stayed on the main roster, and his lack of push got to his head.

Doane is so bad now. His stuff on the indy circuit is brutal. No energy, no swagger. He stalls and does restholds. I'm convinced Spirit Squad killed his career, along with Jeter for sure. To be fair, Mitchell had a bad back, and Mondo is a drunk.

Ziggler sucks, but thats just my personal opinion. He has a silly gimmick and does nothing special in the ring. He works sooooo sloooooow, but to be fair thats probably what they want since he's a heel.

THIS.

There were only three guys in the Spirit Squad with any ability to stick on the roster once the gimmick was over. Nick Nemeth, Johnny Jeter, and Ken Doane.

Doane was a guy that was, at one point, seen in the same light as Randy Orton or Ted Dibiase Jr.

Totally agree with the assessment here...if you've seen Ken Doane as The Blue Chipper back in OVW, he was no where near the same after a few weeks of the Spirit Squad breaking up...they also gave him a shit name.

Jeter went back to OVW and soon faded into bolivia when he couldn't roid. However, his work in OVW was very very strong.

Nick so far has gotten farther than both for one reason...he was immediately taken off TV, sent down for him to be forgotten about forever. Then, when he comes back, its with a completely different look and he is never ever recognized as the dude from the Spirit Squad ever again.

Sadly, the Spirit Squad concept was more of a stigma to the boys in the back and Vince McMahon and the rest of creative than it was to the fans. Those guys actually did a fine job, IMO, taking an unworkable gimmick and making it work, despite getting squashed on the regular. They turned the All-Male Cheerleaders into more of a "group of frat house guys" and I think it worked...it wasn't amazing, but it shouldn't have been a career killer.

Doane should have gone on to have a similar career to a Cody Rhodes at least, to this point. Jeter would be a regular on ECW. And you'd have Dolph Ziggler who would be where he is now.

It shouldn't have been such an evil concept or carried such a stigma, and it didn't to the fans, but to the creative dept and those that matter is such things, it did.

It killed some careers in the WWE, for sure.

[IamMedellin]

- Hulk Hogan has been complaining to friends about frustrations from working in TNA because he feels pressure to give pushes to people he doesn't want to push. Word is that Dixie Carter doesn't want the TNA originals to be buried but there are wrestlers from the old crew that Hogan sees nothing in and wants to get rid of. Hogan was apparently high on Tomko as he made a remark about how at least Tomko looks like a wrestler.

Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter

well this sux for Daniels

http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/tna/6266.html