A Push That Was Suddenly Stopped

[Honkey_Kong]

There are several I can think of. Look at Umaga, that guy was unstoppable for a while, rises quickly to the main event, then in a matter of months is a JTTS in the midcard.

Also, look at The Patriot Del Wilkes. That guy in the WWE gets to feud with the Anti-American Bret Hart. After he loses the feud to Hart gets future endeavored shortly after and finishes his go-nowhere career in the indys.

 

[legendkiller1979]

It could be argued that this wasn't a push as much as it was a favor to Hulk Hogan but I'm gonna go with The Honky Tonk Man. The story I have heard is that when Butch Reed no showed, it was Hulk Hogan that hand picked HTM to go over Ricky Steamboat. He went on to be the longest reigning intercontinental champion ever. This happened basically because Jake Roberts was not healthy enough to take the belt. When it was time for him to lose the belt, he was destroyed by The Ultimate Warrior. After this he did nothing of consequence. Until the end of his run with the WWF he didn't even have feud, meaningful or not. How is it that a guy that will forever be known as the longest reigning IC champ of all time is reduced to jobber immediately after losing the belt. Maybe he should have never had the belt to begin with.

 

[UltimateHitman]

Ok, I've read the posts, and I cannot believe one guy is not on here. One poster even had him as his avatar for pete's sake! I'm speaking of the Man Called Vader. Remember him in WCW, a monster heel that was scaring anybody and everybody and giving Sting a run for his money? They made him look almost like the Juggernaut from the X-Men (tell me he wouldn't have made a good Juggernaut...) in WCW. Then, he arrives in the WWE, and in no time at all, he's turned into, well, the best comparisons I can make are present day Kozlov and Khali. Two other monsters that all of a sudden don't seem so intimidating anymore. Or, if you prefer to go back in time, when they had Nikolai Volkoff turn face and all of a sudden he wasn't this huge, tough, Russian bear anymore, but more of a teddy bear. But anywho, that's my pick, Big Van Vader. They dropped the ball with him back in the day.

 

[King Blitzkonic]

Ok, I've read the posts, and I cannot believe one guy is not on here. One poster even had him as his avatar for pete's sake! I'm speaking of the Man Called Vader. Remember him in WCW, a monster heel that was scaring anybody and everybody and giving Sting a run for his money? They made him look almost like the Juggernaut from the X-Men (tell me he wouldn't have made a good Juggernaut...) in WCW. Then, he arrives in the WWE, and in no time at all, he's turned into, well, the best comparisons I can make are present day Kozlov and Khali. Two other monsters that all of a sudden don't seem so intimidating anymore. Or, if you prefer to go back in time, when they had Nikolai Volkoff turn face and all of a sudden he wasn't this huge, tough, Russian bear anymore, but more of a teddy bear. But anywho, that's my pick, Big Van Vader. They dropped the ball with him back in the day.

Good point bub. If you remember correctly though, Vader at least got a title belt in WCW. Therefore he didn't quite make my number one pick. Vader's definitely number two back of Kozlov, then Dean Malenko number 3. By the way, Kozlov IS still intimidating even though he's stuck with Santino. Would YOU want him headbutting you? I thought not.

 

[Big Sexy]

Tatanka- The guy was undefeated for over a year and his winning streak was constantly being brought up. He finally loses to Ludvig Borga after a chair shot and misses a few months after an attack from Yokozuna. When he returns he gets a non ppv title shot against Yoko, loses, and then a few months later he turns heel. As a heel in the Million Dollar Corporation he did nothing of note and was soon gone from the WWE. With the winning streak he had and the way he was being pushed, it seemed to come to an end fairly quickly.

Boogeyman- He debuted and dominated jobbers for a while. Then at the Royal Rumble he beat former world champion JBL in under 2 minutes and at Wrsetlemania 22 he took out Booker T in under 4 minutes. Then he suffered an injury and was released before coming back. When he was rehired he never had a push anywhere near close to his original one.

 

[UltimateHitman]

Good point bub. If you remember correctly though, Vader at least got a title belt in WCW.

You're absolutely right. I was kind of in a WWF/E zone, thinking solely about his WWF run. That's why I mentioned being a monster in WCW but then fading away in WWF. I agree, in WCW, it was like he loomed over everybody and was like a stampeding mammoth. Then he got into WWF and didn't quite feel so "huge" anymore after just a short while. I should have made the point of saying strictly WWF run. lol

I wanted to also add that Tatanka and Boogeyman were great choices also. Never thought about them. But I did have a couple other ones that I thought deserved mentioning. Shane Douglas for one. I know his attitude burned a lot of bridges, but that guy obviously had a love for the business and had talent to burn. I think there could have been more done w/him. Also wanted to add Ultimo Dragon's WWF run. They hyped the hell outta the guy, he came in, and was quickly hustled to the background. I remember flipping out when he debuted, and couldn't wait to watch his matches, but he quickly fell by the wayside. And lastly, I think an honorable mention to Vampiro is fitting. He was getting some pretty good pops in WCW and was enjoyable to watch in the ring, and also had that kick ass ICP entrance music (even though the lyrics didn't sound like they made much sense, from what I could tell) yet he ended up getting buried and disappeared pretty quickly as well.

 

[god-soldier]

My biggest sudden stop push fo me was El Matador Tito Santana he was given a fresh new gimmick after more than a decades worth of hard work and loyalty too the WWF and constantly puting over new stars and talents. The El Matador gimmick i thought might have been a push for him to maybe get a world title or another I-C title I'm not really sure but it started out with all these bull fighting videos and when debuted he beat countless of jobbers and then lost to Ric Flair in his debut then lost to HBK in his new gimmick debut then lost to Yokozuna in his debut so what was the push for? Just for him to lose as a alleged new guy i cant understand the reasoning behind this but Vince just being discriminating against him for being Mexican