d_henderson1810
Mid-Card Championship Winner
I was watching some old WWE from the Network, and I remembered something from the 80's- Jobbers.
In the 80's, I watched "Superstars Of Wrestling". Every week, they would have five matches, pitting a superstar against a "preliminary" wrestler, or a jobber. The jobber was just cannon fodder to make the star look good. People like "Iron" Mike Sharpe, David Stoudemire, Steve Lombardi and others constantly forever saw the lights to the superstars of that era. Losing was their job.
Some others got the occassional touch of spotlight. "Special Delivery" Jones was at WM1 (before getting squashed by King Kong Bundy in nine seconds). Paul Roma only escaped the jobber role years later when he tagged with Hercules, and later with fellow ex-jobber Jim Powers in the tag-team "The Young Stallions".
One or two of these jobbers got a win. Barry Horowitz (AKA. he who pats his own back) pinned Skip at "Summerslam '95" and on two other occassions. Also, Mike Stone caused an upset on Jake "The Snake" Roberts when "The Model" Rick Martel squirt some perfume and blinded Roberts, which lead to a Blindfold Match at WM between Roberts and Martel.
My point is, there were guys who ALWAYS LOST. They had a job to do, and did it well. They didn't cry about not main-eventing or winning titles. They got paid to lay on their back.
Yet, today, these guys are a dying breed. Because today, these guys would have fanbases, who demand that their guy be "pushed to the moon", like they do with Zack Ryder (who would have been a jobber in the 80's). If you don't make their guy headline Wrestlemania, "WWE is burying them and Vince doesn't know anything about wrestling and should retire" you would cry.
I mean, yes, it is good that Kevin Owens pinned John Cena. The debate now is that unless Owens pins Cena EVERY SINGLE TIME, then the company is burying Owens, and he will never amount to anything. No one is allowed to job, unless they are multi-time world champions, or it will end their career before it starts, and you all then go and hate on WWE.
But unless Cena remains strong (as in, wins matches) Kevin Owens beating him isn't such a big deal, since Owens should have beaten Cena, if you got your wish, and Cena never won.
It is a strange mentality. Unless all new guys from NXT have Goldberg-like undefeated streaks, you will refuse to invest in them. One loss, and they are no good any more, and never will be. The established stars are supposed to lose all the time to the new guys, and only beat each other, and no-one else, no matter if it is better to progress a storyline or not, best for business or not.
Every guy who is an internet darling (Bryan, Ziggler, Ambrose, Ryder and every single person from NXT) has to win 100% of the time, or else.
Which reminds me. Let's take Dean Ambrose. Here was a guy who was "buried" by Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt. Yet he main-evented PPVs and is in the title picture again. Yet, unless he wins, and has a two-year title reign, he isn't any good. He must also beat Seth Rollins (who is a new guy, albeit a successful one), which, by your logic, wouldn't that bury him? But, I forgot, once someone wins the WWE Title, they must then start jobbing to all and sundry.
Too bad the internet wasn't around back in the 80's. "Iron" Mike Sharpe, David Stoudimiere, Steve Lombardi and "The Duke Of Dorchester" Pete Doherty. Then they could have fanbases who demand that WWF push these guys to the moon and have Hulk Hogan, Randy "Macho Man" Savage and the British Bulldogs get cleanly pinned by them, or they won't care about their "idol" anymore.
In the 80's, I watched "Superstars Of Wrestling". Every week, they would have five matches, pitting a superstar against a "preliminary" wrestler, or a jobber. The jobber was just cannon fodder to make the star look good. People like "Iron" Mike Sharpe, David Stoudemire, Steve Lombardi and others constantly forever saw the lights to the superstars of that era. Losing was their job.
Some others got the occassional touch of spotlight. "Special Delivery" Jones was at WM1 (before getting squashed by King Kong Bundy in nine seconds). Paul Roma only escaped the jobber role years later when he tagged with Hercules, and later with fellow ex-jobber Jim Powers in the tag-team "The Young Stallions".
One or two of these jobbers got a win. Barry Horowitz (AKA. he who pats his own back) pinned Skip at "Summerslam '95" and on two other occassions. Also, Mike Stone caused an upset on Jake "The Snake" Roberts when "The Model" Rick Martel squirt some perfume and blinded Roberts, which lead to a Blindfold Match at WM between Roberts and Martel.
My point is, there were guys who ALWAYS LOST. They had a job to do, and did it well. They didn't cry about not main-eventing or winning titles. They got paid to lay on their back.
Yet, today, these guys are a dying breed. Because today, these guys would have fanbases, who demand that their guy be "pushed to the moon", like they do with Zack Ryder (who would have been a jobber in the 80's). If you don't make their guy headline Wrestlemania, "WWE is burying them and Vince doesn't know anything about wrestling and should retire" you would cry.
I mean, yes, it is good that Kevin Owens pinned John Cena. The debate now is that unless Owens pins Cena EVERY SINGLE TIME, then the company is burying Owens, and he will never amount to anything. No one is allowed to job, unless they are multi-time world champions, or it will end their career before it starts, and you all then go and hate on WWE.
But unless Cena remains strong (as in, wins matches) Kevin Owens beating him isn't such a big deal, since Owens should have beaten Cena, if you got your wish, and Cena never won.
It is a strange mentality. Unless all new guys from NXT have Goldberg-like undefeated streaks, you will refuse to invest in them. One loss, and they are no good any more, and never will be. The established stars are supposed to lose all the time to the new guys, and only beat each other, and no-one else, no matter if it is better to progress a storyline or not, best for business or not.
Every guy who is an internet darling (Bryan, Ziggler, Ambrose, Ryder and every single person from NXT) has to win 100% of the time, or else.
Which reminds me. Let's take Dean Ambrose. Here was a guy who was "buried" by Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt. Yet he main-evented PPVs and is in the title picture again. Yet, unless he wins, and has a two-year title reign, he isn't any good. He must also beat Seth Rollins (who is a new guy, albeit a successful one), which, by your logic, wouldn't that bury him? But, I forgot, once someone wins the WWE Title, they must then start jobbing to all and sundry.
Too bad the internet wasn't around back in the 80's. "Iron" Mike Sharpe, David Stoudimiere, Steve Lombardi and "The Duke Of Dorchester" Pete Doherty. Then they could have fanbases who demand that WWF push these guys to the moon and have Hulk Hogan, Randy "Macho Man" Savage and the British Bulldogs get cleanly pinned by them, or they won't care about their "idol" anymore.