A "Prime" Example

[Monkey_Mania]

Lets say this. A wrestler at the beginning of his career finally hits it big and win the big one. Starts going on a hell of a streak an gets pushed to the moon. Flat out never backs down and works hard as fuck. Then he drops off. He squanders around for awhile and then hits his stride again. Effectively starting his second prime. Yes you read that right. A second prime.

Now the question is. Who has done this? Two names come to mind. Triple H and Hulk Hogan. Both were on fire when they got their first title run and on. Then each both squandered for a little while. Always staying a prominant figure though. Then Hogan did the unthinkable and turned heel. While Triple H broke away (once again) from DX. They both started performing immensely better and got back into the main spotlight.


Now the question for you is. Do you think a wrestler can have more than one prime. Because I've heard people say that you can only have one prime. I find this to be a little wrong, that's just me.

So do you agree? If so also give examples of wrestlers who have entered a prime more than once. If not just state your reasons why.

 

[CDR]

It would be really hard to do but I think yes, you can. You would have to be extremely awesome and likable though. I think there may only be two people in WWE right now who could do that. First, John Cena. He is the next Hulk Hogan, and Hogan did do it. So that means Cena can have two primes. He might be the biggest face guy in the WWE right now. But I don't that would happen because Vince won't ever pull him down from the damn moon. Second, Edge. He is one of the best heels in the business and if for some reason he went down and contended for the U.S. title or the tag titles, he could come back, win the championship and be fully successful. He would be even more successful if he and Vickie reunited.

 

[NSL]

I think that wrestlers can, and HHH and Hogan are probably the best examples.

Jeff Hardy may be having a 2nd "prime", because you can argue he had one as a tag wrestler, and obviously now as a singles performer.

The same can be said for Edge, in the same situation...

It may be a bit of a reach, but Christian may have had 2 primes...He was the lesser known in his tag team, and had a major push in a smaller company, but if his career ended today, you can say he had two peaks

 

[Cena's Little Helper]

Now the question is. Who has done this? Two names come to mind. Triple H and Hulk Hogan. Both were on fire when they got their first title run and on. Then each both squandered for a little while. Always staying a prominant figure though. Then Hogan did the unthinkable and turned heel. While Triple H broke away (once again) from DX. They both started performing immensely better and got back into the main spotlight.

I understand the point of your thread (you state your points succinctly), but you would have to make very convincing arguments for Hogan and HHH having second primes. With respect to Hogan, while he definitely had a prominent role in WCW while captaining the nWo, I don't think this was so much a second prime as being in the right place at the right time (I think it was during this time that Scott Hall and Kevin Nash hit their primes). And, as for HHH (assuming you consider his first prime from 1999-2001), I wouldn't say that he hit a second prime; rather, I would say that his first prime was not able to run its natural course due to the fact that there were stars that shined brighter than him (he played an excellent heel during his first few runs with the title, but this is also during the time when the Rock hit his prime and when Austin was about to return from health problems).

But, I would actually have to argue that wrestlers rarely have second primes; and, if they do, it is because they transition from one type of professional wrestling into another. However, before I elaborate on this point, I would like to say (on a more optimistic note) that wrestlers can most definitely have extended primes if they don't overexpose themselves (examples being the Undertaker and the gentleman in your avatar). In my opinion, having an extended prime requires little more than alternating time between the main-event and mid-card.

Now, as to having second primes, I base my opinion of them on the career of Terry Funk. Throughout the 70s and 80s, this main was a force to be reckoned with in southern territories sanctioned by the NWA. Moreover, he was an excellent ring technician. But, by the early 90s, he was lucky to get a call from WCW to do one-off legends matches with the likes of Tully Blanchard. However, he definitely hit a second stride in the mid-90s when he went "hardcore" (I am well aware that Funk has always been quite extreme, but I don't think you can argue that he did not take it to another level once he started with ECW). Unlike his matches in various NWA territories and with WCW (once it was taken over by Ted Turner), his ECW matches mainly consisted of Funk brutalizing his opponents and being brutalized himself. Subsequently, he made a name for himself again. Thus, although it was acquired in a way that some may consider humiliating and demeaning, I would consider this Funk's second prime.

 

[jmt225]

It is possible, but it was much more likely to happen during the territory days.

A wrestler back then would be the biggest thing in the World in their respective territory for two years straight, and then, he starts to lose steam. But that would be okay back then because instead of just being put into the mid-card as some nobody, that person could move to another territory where no one had ever heard of him and start completely over. And usually, if a character would work one place, it would work in another places as well.

So, back in the day, people had fucking five primes because of how the business was. Today, it's much harder to recover from a character completely falling off the charts. But it is possible for someone to rebound. For example, Randy Orton.

Orton becomes the youngest World Champion in history, and then becomes absolutely nothing once he loses the belt to Triple H. His babyface run ends up being very unsuccessful, so of course... he turns back heel by RKOing Stacy Keibler. He then feuds with 'Taker for a while and that seems to go well, but when that's done, he's back to being a nobody feuding for the US Championship and having a meaningless feud with Kurt Angle. That period lasted for months and months (injuries had a lot to do with that as well). But, Cena gets hurt and Orton receives the ball. This time around, he fucking runs with it. Ratings consistently do well and you didn't hear much bitching over him being top guy, so people were happy with what he was doing.

So, to me, Orton is a guy who has had two primes thus far in his career. People, including myself, thought his prime was his feud with Foley in 2004, but fuck... three to four years later, Orton is arguably the best heel on WWE's A Brand.

 

[Mustang Sally]

For the purpose of this thread, Hogan and Cena are the best examples, but it's not as if their fall-off was extreme. They were always considered top-echelon wrestlers.

To find someone who was near the top and then really fell off, I have to go back to the '80's and Tito Santana. He was a consistent winner in his singles and tag team efforts (Remember Strike Force?). Then, he started losing quite a bit before being repackaged as "The Matador" which allowed him to climb a few rungs in the ladder......at least for awhile.

But, when you put your mind to it, it's hard to find anyone else who was allowed to hit the heights a second time.

 

[KillBill]

I know who could do it. And thats the Rock. He hit his prime, and ended 4 or 5 years ago. He could come back tomm and be the main event for another 5 years, seeing as how hes younger than many of the maineventers now. You could say Sid Vicious had a few primes, He started in WCW kinda big, went to wwe and had fueds with main eventers, then faced hogan in the main event at wrestlemania. Then he went back to wcw and kinda didnt do much for a couple years. Then he went back to wwe, as hbk's bodyguard, got some title shots, but failed. he disappeared for a few months, then returned as a face, capturing the wwe title twice as a main eventer. then disappeared for almost 2 years, with a very short stint in ecw, then finallty went back to wcw and finally won the WCW title twice. You could almost say he had 3 primes.

 

[Miko]

You've used the best examples in Hogan and HHH but I'll chime in with Chris Jericho, the guy started to make a name for himself in WCW before jumping ship to the WWF. During this time he got over to the point that they made him a face.

This is what I'd call his first prime, he spent the better part of the year after WM 17 chasing the World Title and eventually won it after turning heel (the turn was a mistake in my opinion as it killed his heat) becoming the first ever undisputed champion and even went on to Main-Event Wrestlemania 18. Well we say Main-Event it was the last match on the card at least, was never going to top Rock vs Hogan.

Anyway after being made to look heroic on Smackdown by Hogan (I mean that by the way) he soon jobbed to HHH again in the cell and his career went downhill, jobbing to the rookie John Cena and everything. After that he toiled in the mid-card on RAW with the occasional ME jump before jobbing to a rookie Batista turning heel again for one last ME push before leaving the company.

Then he comes back to probably less fan-fair to what he left in and while having okay fueds with JBL and Randy Orton and winning them both technically (if you call DQ victories winning) he fueded with HBK. This is where he has re-entered his prime as he turned into one of the most hated heels on the roster, he has since won the World Title twice in 2008 and continues main-event PPV's today.