A good way to acknowledge the old school?

[chief]

Hello All,

I was just reading the post about bring back the big blue cage and it got me thinking about a nice way for the WWE to occasionally acknowledge the old school/nostalgia of the company.

How about a character is made that is still in love with old school wrestling, and demands matches with old school rules, the old school cage, references old storylines and maybe if he wins the IC title, he goes and swaps it for the old school IC title, possible bring back a random old wrestler as a partner once in a while, he doesn't have to be a particular focus of a show, but pops up once in a while and maybe has a couple of little runs. Just for fun. I would LOVE a character like that. I know that most of the younger fans (kids) may not get it, and since wrestling is trying to aim more towards a younger audience now then I understand, but it would be nice to have a character like that just for people that have been watching for a long time.

What do people think?

 

[Aguilac]

It would be perfect, but....how much time will happen until someone who can protrays it appears?? not only that, how much time until WWE and the creative team give him a push??

 

[chief]

Good questions, the person would obviously need some mic skills from the start, maybe Santino could start watching 'old school' tapes and become obsessed with it, (he could even then become the old school 'DVD plug guy' ha) but we could see small vignettes/promos of him watching some old matches on WWE classics or DVD's and trying to copy moves etc.., that way, he is someone who is over with fans and has great mic skills.
Problem solved?

 

[byrnside]

I think you pretty much just described Eugene, or the Eugene we never got to see maybe. Although, I like where your heads at, and as much as I love the old school, I don't really see this to be feasible. I mean it would definitely gather some interest briefly, but it would take a rather great superstar to come back after this one.

 

[Tyler44]

Honestly, i think this is a pretty cool IDEA. Having someone reinburst old times in the present time would be fun and in my opinion, entertaining.

But, would it work? I actually don't know how it would come about because as one of the previous posters said, the younger kids would be so lost and confused. With WWE aiming their program for the younger audience, i dont think this concept would click into their minds because little kids will not understand what is happening with this character, but again if the crowd is cheering the character, then the little kids will cheer as well even if they dont know exactly what is being presented.

 

[chief]

Yeah, I was thinking about Eugene when writing this thread. Although, Eugene mainly copied a few signature moves and mention a few random Superstar names from time to time.
This time around the character would not be 'special' (as the WWE described Eugene), the character probably have a brief run in all honesty, unless his seriousness seemed legit, a lot of wrestlers talk about how they attended events when they were children etc, this guy could just take it further and claim that era was a whole lot better than this era and he wants to bring back the glory days or something? I don't know, but there could be a few potential paths for the character to carry him a few years.

 

[TheFutureHasComeEarly]

Great idea and a great concept for a gimmick....but with today's wrestling fans, the only people that it would get over with is the older fans who grew up watching the WWF of the 80's and early 90's. with everyone else the gimmick would start off as entertaining and then it would slowly fizzle.

 

[grifdog44]

Great idea, but that is what Jay Lethal is. So TNA has an idea that followed Eugene. It would be great to have the same character as the person and make thosse references as Lethal does acting as the Black Macho Man. If anyone has seen some of his interviews referencing Jake the Snake, Kamala, Andre the Giant, etc. everyone will know that he has done this. What if the WWF could get Lethal, spice up his Macho Man character?

 

[thisisatest]

I'm all for it, I think it would work well and if it's the PG audience you're afraid of putting off, make his segments fall around 10:15 ish when most young'uns should be in bed.

 

[brainsuks123]

I think wwe tried to do it when they brought back Eugene or at least from what i thought but then 2 days later.....Fired.

 

[ShepFoLife]

good points made here. It should something that doesnt take up the main event of a B PPV or anything like that. Just a new or exiting character that like old school. i posted this in another thread but i have some info on the blue cage. I am gonna copy and paste it.

As far as I know the old blue cage was given a facelift during the attitude era. Not sure how many matches it lasted for but i believe it was used for two. The cage was painted black to match the color scheme of the ring posts and mats, as it was blue for the blue ring posts and mats. The first match it was used in had the original set up (no rigging to have it lowered to the ring). The 2nd time it was used the WWE crew added the sliver rigging "platform" on top which is now used on the present steel cage (cyclone fencing). Not only is it better for wrestlers to preform spots from it but its easier and more time effiencent for the crew to lower it between matches instead of setting it up from ground up for that particular match, i would assume. If you youtube it; The match I know for sure it was used in was Austin vs. McMahon, PPV St. Valentine's Day Massacare (Feb of '98) I think. This was the match when Big Show debuted, threw Austin against the cage and it popped open allowing Austin the win. The 2nd time it had the Silver steel rigging on top but I'm not too sure of the match. I saw it somewhere on the McMahon DVD or WWE Classics on Demand.

Just to add this in. I also prefer the Black ring posts with the red Raw Ropes. The Silver and blue ropes for Smackdown! does look Pimp though. But the Silver with Red Ropes sucks. Once again, I really enjoy this thread. As much as I care about the matches and promos and things along those lines. The sets and colors and lighting are very important as well. At least for me they are.

Peace out

 

[TheBestThereNevaWas]

I think the best at this was Steve Corino in the old ECW. But he did it as a heel and got tremendous heat. When he dropped the gimmick, he became an amazing face...and quite a bleeder, too.

 

[paperbagman]

this wud b a good character, but i think it would be better to make him aheel of sorts... you know, have two superstars having a fight, and he comes out and is like, this is how u fight, and takes out like a cane and just beats the crap out of them. then he got into a fued w/ liek santino over old school/new school, culminating w/ a ppv match, with old school rules. he'd end up bieng kinda liek santino, but more old school

 

[Flava Flav's PMing Bitch]

Hhhmm...This character would be pretty sweet and had WWE not dropped the ball with Colt Cabana I'd say he's the man for the job, seeing as he pretty much already had this gimmick as Matt Classic in WSX. I believe he wrestled under a mask and using an old school move set, it went over pretty well from what I remember so he'd be the guy.

 

[DaBadGuyV2]

I like your idea its a good way for us to see some of our favorite legends and a way for these kids and newer fans of to see and learn what these legends are all about. Good thread.

 

[RH23]

Your idea of an old school wrestler is a good one. Now who would be a good choice, thats hard to say. When I first read this thread, I thought of Jay Lethal and Eugene. I don't know why but I would love to see a variation of Mankind return. I know that it won't be the same as the old Mankind but I miss the days when he would say Have a nice day, and use Mr. Socko. Think about all of the sudden his music hits and here comes this totally different guy portraying Mankind and he comes out and says he wants an IC title shot, but under Hardcore Rules. Then during the match, he would bust out Mr. Socko!

 

[mister_b1LL]

I watched an episode of an anime called Ikki Tousen and there was a character who beat up all of his opponents using basic moves. He was my favorite character because he showed that you don't need an extravagant moveset to take people out.

Having an old school guy come out and destroy opponents using basic/old school moves would be awesome. His ring attire could consist of touches of other famous wrestlers of the past, like Ultimate Warrior's armbands combined with Brutus Beefcake's tights (cause he had the weirdest looking tights back in the day) but most importantly, in these days of flying headscissors, 450 splashes, and GTS's, this old school guy could prove that a classic flying elbow drop (I love this move) can still be devastating.

He could even have a little feud where he fights guys with flashy movesets and says that you don't need to do so much to put a guy down. Have old school guy fight someone like Evan Bourne.

And to touch on the Matt Classic character in WSX he could even claim he was the heavyweight champion of the world...in the 50s.

I would enjoy it.

 

[Jonno]

The gimmick you are describing is basicly "The King of Old School" Steve Corino around the 98-2000 era of ECW. I think the gimmick started when Corino started fueding with Rhodes but it stayed alive right until the end of ECW I think, although by that time Corino was a face. I know I saw a match advertised with him as "The King of Old School" in AWF (Aussie independent fed), so maybe he still goes by that.