Alex Wright In WWE?

[The Brain]

Alex Wright is probably a name that most wrestling fans haven't thought about in a long time. I wasn't the most avid WCW viewer so I don't know a whole lot about Wright's career. I know he debuted with WCW in 1994 at the tender age of 19. He was immediately popular with the fans and was a pegged as a future star. He seemed to get kind of lost in the shuffle of the crowded WCW roster during the Monday Night War as many stars did during that era. Wright was on tv often but was rarely a featured part of the show from what I remember. Wright stayed with WCW until the WWF bought the company in early 2001. Like many others, Wright was under contract with AOL Time Warner and WWF did not buy out the contract.

Had Alex Wright come to the WWF in 2001 he probably would have been an Alliance lackey like Shawn Stasiak or Chavo Guerrero. In 2002 a lot of WCW guys came over to the WWF as their contracts were expiring. We saw Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Ric Flair (late 2001), Rey Mysterio, and Scott Steiner all come into the WWF after the invasion angle ended. Obviously Alex Wright is nowhere near as big a name as any of those guys but with the brand extension just taking place 2002 might have been a good time for him to join the WWF. I don't know when his Time Warner contract was up but I assume it was around that time since so many others had come up.

I'm not saying Alex Wright would have ever been a main event player but I could see him fitting in pretty well on Smackdown in the mid 00s. Wright was only 27 years old in 2002 and had seven years experience wrestling for a top promotion in the US. He could have been a top guy in the cruiserweight division or he just as easily could have worked with guys like John Cena and Eddie Guerrero. I mostly remember Wright as a face but he could have worked heel too against guys like Mysterio, Edge, or Benoit. I don't see Wright coming out on top that often against those guys or even getting big enough angles to go to ppv with them but I think he is the type of guy that would have always been picked to make an opponent look good in a lengthy match regularly on Smackdown, kind of a Gregory Helms type.

Maybe I'm underestimating Wright. As I mentioned I wasn't a hardcore WCW fan and really don't remember much about him once the nwo took over. Could he have been better than I'm suggesting? Given his age and experience it's kind of surprising that Wright never came to WWE. How do you think he would have fared had he come in around 2002/2003?

 

[J.J.]

There are 3 wrestlers from WCW I never took seriously. Disco Inferno, Buff Bagwell and Alex Wright.

Alex Wright could never get over during the height of WCW. I remember he was gone off television(perhaps by injury?) and came back packaged as Berlyn - supposed to been some German bad ass heel.

They hyped him up for weeks on Nitro before he came back. Imagine taking Santino off TV for months and trying to bring him back with a more serious character.

He even had an enforcer/bodyguard called The Wall who ultimately got over more than him. It didn't quite work out for him if I remember correctly.

Given WWE had a large talent pool at the time after the acquisition of WCW - I highly doubt he would've made any name for himself. I could only see him getting lost in the shuffle.

 

[UFOcalling]

I have similar memories of Alex Wright to J.J.'s. My first memories of Wright are from his tag matches with Disco Inferno. I think they tried to make a dancing connection between the two of them? I remember Wright came out to techno music (Kraftwerkesque, if memory serves), and danced obnoxiously on the stage before coming down to the ring (imagine an East German Fandango, without a valet/dance partner). From what I remember, at the time, they were kind of mismatched. Disco was getting the Cena treatment from the fans (just on a much smaller scale) - by that I mean he was booed in some cities, but cheered in others. It also seemed that women & kids liked him, and the 14+ males hated his guts (obviously he wasn't getting Cena-sized reactions, I just mean the way the fans treated him). Alex Wright seemed to get X-Pac heat, and was booed no matter where they went.

The only feud I can remember for Alex & Disco (that lasted more than a one-off match, I mean) was with Public Enemy. I remember one PPV tag match with the four of them starting as a traditional match. I believe it was the opening match of this particular PPV as well. If I'm remembering correctly, Public Enemy was disqualified after using a weapon (or maybe putting Disco or Wright through a table?) - then the match was restarted as a "street brawl" (a no DQ match). I think it was when Disco called them "punks" in a whiny voice on the mic, and challenged them to restart the match as a "street brawl". That sounds like it could have been good, but no one cared about any of these guys. The "street brawl" challenge was booed by the fans, because they hoped the match wouldn't have continued at all. The crowd was chanting "boring", even though Public Enemy was all about putting people through stacked tables at that time (which fans popped for with other wrestlers). You know it's bad when Disco is getting the biggest reaction out of all four guys.

I also remember Wright being repackaged as Berlyn. I guess they finally "saw the light", and realized that the fans would boo him no matter how much they tried to push him as a face with Disco. They should have turned him heel long before they did. So Alex Wright returned as Berlyn - with newly dyed black hair, a black trench coat, and dark sunglasses. His moveset also changed, I remember he was more of a high-flyer/cruiserweight as "Alex Wright", but more of a technical ring-mechanic as Berlyn. The character was forgettable, but Wright did seem to grow as a performer after he changed gimmicks. It wasn't necessarily his fault the gimmick failed, he did a decent job with what he was given. Since he wasn't getting over as Berlyn, they introduced a guy who wore black slacks, a white dress shirt (with no sleeves), a black tie, black dress shoes, dark sunglasses and spiky bleach-blonde hair. As J.J. already mentioned, this guy was called "The Wall" - and he became Berlyn's bodyguard. Needless to say, The Wall eventually dropped the German gimmick (but kept the name "The Wall") and WCW tried to push him to the moon. I think The Wall may have even been involved in a World Title feud or two, although I don't think he actually won any titles...maybe the WCW Hardcore title, but I can't remember for sure.

I don't remember what happened to Alex Wright after The Wall surpassed him in popularity, I think they may have tried to pair him up with Disco again? That didn't last too long, though. I remember the best stuff with Disco was when he kept trying to lose weight so he could compete for the Cruiserweight title. That, and when he was trying to become a member of the Wolfpac/nWo Elite (after nWo Hogan & nWo Wolfpac merged, and became "nWo Elite"?; also after the finger poke of doom incident). The backstage stuff with Disco & Hall/Nash cracked me up. Almost every segment ended with Disco getting a Jackknife Powerbomb or an Outsider-Edge, after saying or doing something he "shouldn't have". Disco also made it seem like a huge deal when they finally let him wear a red & black nWo shirt (like joining the Yankees, or something). I might have been one of the only ones laughing, though.

Wright could have fit in with the "invasion" angle, I could see him tagging with Lance Storm or General Rection as part of team WCW. He might have made a good addition to WWF/E's Cruiserweight division, once the invasion angle ended. Considering the caliber of guys that WWF/E got right after the buyout, Alex Wright would have fit right in. As it's been said so many times, the initial group of guys that came over were WCW's B-team. Alex was definitely a B-level wrestler, if not even lower than that. I don't see Wright sticking around too much longer after the invasion angle ended (had he come at that time), unless they thought he had something to add to the Cruiserweight division at that time. Maybe they could have repackaged him, or maybe they could have had Disco & Alex Wright reprise their tag team. Personally, I would have rather seen Lenny & Lodi in the WWF/E (those two cracked me up when they tagged together in WCW)...Billy & Chuck obviously "borrowed" a lot of their match ideas from them, except Lenny & Lodi were a lot funnier. It used to crack me up when they would fall on each other in the "69" position, or get themselves in positions where it looked like they were about to kiss. Those guys were just better at the physical comedy aspect of it than Billy & Chuck were, IMHO.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Generally speaking, Alex Wright looked like someone who had the potential to be a hot, young rising star in WCW in the mid 1990s. He was a very young, good looking kid who was only 19 years old when he was discovered by WCW officials during a tour in Germany. Considering he was so young, they packaged him as something of a pretty boy babyface as "Das Wunderkind", which is German for "Wonder Child." When he came out to his entrance music and did the dance stuff, I thought it made the guy look like a joke, but he had some legit ability inside the ring. Wright had a brief feud with Jean-Paul Levesque, better known to us as Triple H, in late '94 and went over him at a match at Starrcade. From there, he entered into an on again/off again partnership or feud with Disco Inferno that'd last for the next couple of years.

During mid 1995, Wright feuded with Arn Anderson for the WCW World Television Championship, including a ppv bout at Slamboree, but Anderson handed Wright his first loss in the company. Also in '95, WCW had a working relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling and Wright competed in the second Best of the Super Juniors tournament, or rather the second year the tournament was renamed to BOSJ, and delivered a good showing for himself. He placed 3rd in the tourney with 1st place going to "Wild Pegasus", AKA Chris Benoit, marking the 2nd time in 3 years Benoit won the tournament.

The next year or so, Wright would have various mid-card feuds with Dick Slater, Bunkhouse Buck, DDP, Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko. In January '97, WCW began a slow heel turn for him by placing him in tag matches with a rotating number of losing partners before going fully heel by the summer. He won his first title, the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, in July on an episode of Nitro, beating Chris Jericho before dropping the title back to him 15 days later. Around a week or so after that, he faced Ultimo Dragon during a Clash of the Champions broadcast and beat him for the WCW World Television Championship. He resumed his on again/off again feud with Disco Inferno and dropped the title to him after holding it for 32 days. After this, he entered into a feud with Steve McMichael with Debra playing the somewhat smitten "cougar" role and eventually wound up managing Wright for a while.

After that program eventually ended, he & Disco Inferno formed "The Dancing Fools" as a mid-card tag team act that lasted through most of the first half of '98 before he embarked on a singles course once again. Wright feuded with Fit Finlay as he "blamed" him for ending his father's career as a wrestler, British wrestler Steven Wright, that culminated in a match at Halloween Havoc that Wright won.

In early 1999, Wright was repacked with the name of "Berlyn" who sported a black Mohawk, a goatee, wearing all black, a black trench coat and refusing to speak in English. He had a "bodyguard" called "The Wall" and spoke through a female interpreter. The gimmick was a flop due in part to wrestlers refusing to job to Wright, such as Buff Bagwell, or Hacksaw Jim Duggan would no sell Wright's offense and it just went south from there.

Wright would be repackaged as generally himself again by late 2000, except with a completely shaven head, and would reunite with Disco Inferno, now called Disqo, as "The Boogie Knights." They feuded with the Filthy Animals & Natural Born Thrillers before Disqo was injured and General Rection, AKA Hugh Morris, was substituted as his partner. They captured the tag titles but, for whatever reason, Rection wasn't his partner four days later as he was substituted with Elix Skipper and they lost the straps. That was pretty much his last hurrah as he was in various cruiserweight feuds when WCW folded and he faded from the limelight.

All in all, Wright's career was pretty unremarkable, though I do think the guy had potential that WCW didn't even remotely try to build upon. Had he ultimately wound up in WWF, however, I don't think they would've done much more with him at the time. Much like what happened in WCW, he probably would've been booked into any number of forgettable mid-card feuds with guys like Doink The Clown, Big Boss Man, Al Snow, Perry Saturn & Moppy, etc. or fed to guys like Taker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, etc. Had he come into WWE circa 2002 or 2003, I think it would've been a similar story where he had a number of minor mid-card feuds, maybe a tag team run here or there. Eventually, if he made it a few years into the company, I could've seen him jobbing out to Hornswoggle the way Chavo Guerrero did or, quite possibly, floating around in the Cruiserweight Division, even winning the title a few times, though it's not like anyone would care because Vince McMahon sure as hell didn't.

 

[MrHashasheen]

Alex Wright is definitely one of the lesser-known failures-to-promote for WCW prior to and during the nWo era. He was a young wrestler with a very good look and an ability to garner significant heat to point where he worked against Steven Regal and Regal was getting the cheers (1997 he was pretty hot as a heel until Debra started costing him matches and he turned on her). He was a very good performer in the Cruiserweight Division and in the lower-card of the company, and I think that the Berlyn gimmick could have worked rather well if perhaps paired with Raven's flock in some manner. He was only 26 years old when WCW shut down, and I'm surprised to this day that WWE, ROH or TNA didn't pick him up and run with him, that he didn't even get somewhere with NJPW or AJPW during their interpromotional run during 2000 - 2003.

 

[Pedigree1]

I remember Alex Wright,he was a bright young kid,very talented for someone only 19 yrs of age at the time he made his debut.. I think he sorta got lost in the shuffle with all the Huge Egos in WCW at the time.. True i dont think he would have ever been WCW Championship material,but a TV title run longer than 32 days did not do him any favors.

He was someone as well,who got repackaged way too much.. When he was battling guys like Ultimo Dragon and Lyonheart Chris Jericho,that was his best work.. I liked Alex the guy could really deliver for such a young rising star.. As soon as he was paired with Disco Inferno,that was the beginning of the end for Alex.. In 2002 he was only what 26 27 years old?

But then again that was in the era of Trips,the Rock,Brock,SCSA,so Alex even then doesn't sniff the ME event scene.. But a mid-card status would have been fine.. When WCW shut down the guy was only 26,at least ROH or TNA should have signed him.. I just think he was someone who was in the wrong era!

 

[J.J.]

I read an article several years ago that he retired couple years after WCW purchased by WWE. Perhaps he wanted to venture into a new avenue?

I think WWE wouldn't have done him any good. WCW had the proper platform for Cruiserweights and Luchadors . Nitro was well setup for a 3 hour show - they had dedication to their Cruiserweight division. Remember towards the end they had a Cruiserweight tag division.

Alex Wright was paired with Disco Inferno on two different occasions, I do recall them being together towards end of WCW. Boogie Knights(Nights?).

WWE's Light Heavyweight division was almost nonexistent. Remember Duane Gill held the Light Heavyweight title for how long?

Kidman, Dean Malenko, X-Pac, Tajiri, ect who pretty much held those belts until they became deactivated. So no I don't think Alex Wright would've made it.

Buuuut...mind you WWE pushed their more quality WCW Cruiserweights into the major title picture. Such as Eddie and Rey.

 

[Slash-LN]

I remember liking him when I first saw him. The dancing was kind of weird but I didn't know anything about German stereotypes back then.

He was young and had a good look and wasn't bad in the ring. He got lost in the shuffle along the way. Then when he came back as Berlyn I lost most of my interest in him. He got a stupid haircut and dyed his hair black. Eventually he shaved all his hair off.

I did like him and Disco as a tag team. It was silly but I still enjoyed it as a kid.

According to an interview he did the WWE contacted him twice about going there and he said he declined to negotiate because he "couldn't give 180% and that wouldn't be fair to the company or the fans".

Had he gone to the WWE he would have probably been lost in the shuffle the way he was with WCW.

Had Vince and company actually cared about the Cruiserweight division he could have been a decent piece there. But they didn't.

 

[De Mysteriis Dom Satanas]

I read an article several years ago that he retired couple years after WCW purchased by WWE. Perhaps he wanted to venture into a new avenue? .

He's mentioned in several interviews that he wasn't happy with the backstage politics. He runs a very, very well-regarded wrestling school in Germany and occasionally still works shows in Europe for NEW, which he owns. And apparently, WWE tried to buy out his contract from Turner but Wright declined because he wanted to start a family and was burned out by being on the road with WCW for so long. (Source)

As for Berlyn, the fact that the gimmick debuted so soon after the Columbine massacre was sure to sink it.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I seem to remember there was a chance of him coming over to the WWF far earlier than 2001, perhaps around 1996-97 but he was one talent JR couldn't convince Vinny to go with. at the time like he had with Pillman, Austin, Foley and Faarooq.

Alex Wright was a great worker for his age and talent and in 96-97 would have been a great addition to the roster. That "Berlyn" gimmick would have played straight into the WWF perfectly, or even one based off of David Bowie's "Thin White Duke". He could have been a great tag partner/stable mate for Goldust at that time and that they then reactivated the Light Heavyweight title would have easily been it's champion. WWF Berlyn vs Taka etc would have been far better than having Scott Putski in the division for example.

For whatever reason it didn't happen which is a shame.

In 2001 I think there were too many similar/better talents they could pick up in the buyout to make him stand out. They got Helms, Kidman, Storm and Bagwell for starters, all were better than him in some way and although Bagwell Buffed it up the others ran with their chance enough to justify their selection over him.

I hear he is now working in NXT on occasion as a trainer and that is good to hear, guys with solid "gimmick" knowledge, particularly of making bad ones work are very valuable. His knowledge of the German wrestling scene and more international styles also makes him a good "guest trainer" from time to time.

I can't say it's tragic he never got a WWF run cos it all went perfectly well without him, but I think like I said he and Goldust in 97 as a group, perhaps with one more "outrageous" person like Pillman could have done something special.

 

[Headman]

Alex Wright is probably a name that most wrestling fans haven't thought about in a long time. I wasn't the most avid WCW viewer so I don't know a whole lot about Wright's career. I know he debuted with WCW in 1994 at the tender age of 19. He was immediately popular with the fans and was a pegged as a future star. He seemed to get kind of lost in the shuffle of the crowded WCW roster during the Monday Night War as many stars did during that era. Wright was on tv often but was rarely a featured part of the show from what I remember. Wright stayed with WCW until the WWF bought the company in early 2001. Like many others, Wright was under contract with AOL Time Warner and WWF did not buy out the contract.

Had Alex Wright come to the WWF in 2001 he probably would have been an Alliance lackey like Shawn Stasiak or Chavo Guerrero. In 2002 a lot of WCW guys came over to the WWF as their contracts were expiring. We saw Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Ric Flair (late 2001), Rey Mysterio, and Scott Steiner all come into the WWF after the invasion angle ended. Obviously Alex Wright is nowhere near as big a name as any of those guys but with the brand extension just taking place 2002 might have been a good time for him to join the WWF. I don't know when his Time Warner contract was up but I assume it was around that time since so many others had come up.

I'm not saying Alex Wright would have ever been a main event player but I could see him fitting in pretty well on Smackdown in the mid 00s. Wright was only 27 years old in 2002 and had seven years experience wrestling for a top promotion in the US. He could have been a top guy in the cruiserweight division or he just as easily could have worked with guys like John Cena and Eddie Guerrero. I mostly remember Wright as a face but he could have worked heel too against guys like Mysterio, Edge, or Benoit. I don't see Wright coming out on top that often against those guys or even getting big enough angles to go to ppv with them but I think he is the type of guy that would have always been picked to make an opponent look good in a lengthy match regularly on Smackdown, kind of a Gregory Helms type.

Maybe I'm underestimating Wright. As I mentioned I wasn't a hardcore WCW fan and really don't remember much about him once the nwo took over. Could he have been better than I'm suggesting? Given his age and experience it's kind of surprising that Wright never came to WWE. How do you think he would have fared had he come in around 2002/2003?

I don't recall a time where Wright was ever popular with the fans. He was worse than Marcus Alexander Bagwell and Erik Watts combined. I think they only time he ever got any reaction at all was with the Boogey Knights. He can thank Disco for that.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

I seem to remember there was a chance of him coming over to the WWF far earlier than 2001, perhaps around 1996-97 but he was one talent JR couldn't convince Vinny to go with. at the time like he had with Pillman, Austin, Foley and Faarooq.

Alex Wright was a great worker for his age and talent and in 96-97 would have been a great addition to the roster. That "Berlyn" gimmick would have played straight into the WWF perfectly, or even one based off of David Bowie's "Thin White Duke". He could have been a great tag partner/stable mate for Goldust at that time and that they then reactivated the Light Heavyweight title would have easily been it's champion. WWF Berlyn vs Taka etc would have been far better than having Scott Putski in the division for example.

For whatever reason it didn't happen which is a shame.

In 2001 I think there were too many similar/better talents they could pick up in the buyout to make him stand out. They got Helms, Kidman, Storm and Bagwell for starters, all were better than him in some way and although Bagwell Buffed it up the others ran with their chance enough to justify their selection over him.

I hear he is now working in NXT on occasion as a trainer and that is good to hear, guys with solid "gimmick" knowledge, particularly of making bad ones work are very valuable. His knowledge of the German wrestling scene and more international styles also makes him a good "guest trainer" from time to time.

I can't say it's tragic he never got a WWF run cos it all went perfectly well without him, but I think like I said he and Goldust in 97 as a group, perhaps with one more "outrageous" person like Pillman could have done something special.

I would have to agree that the time for him to come to the WWF was in 96-97. Any later, and he gets lost in the crowd... and by the time WCW was bought out, fawgetaboutit. Too late for him.

I actually look at Alex Wright a little as a 'what if' for Triple H. As in, what may have happened to Jean-Pierre Leveque had he not left the WCW and been redubbed Hunter Hearst Helmsley? Both were talented. Both were given bad gimmicks by WCW that were destined to go no further than the mid card. Both had little chance of going any higher than that in WCW. One recognized that and got out when he got the chance... and one didn't.

Wright was talented, which shows in the fact that he was able to get so much out of such a horrible gimmick that WCW gave him. If he'd jumped to the WWF in 1996, he would have had the chance to be repackaged properly before he got too much of the bad gimmick stink on him, and then I think the kid could have really made a run of it. Could he have reached Triple H levels? Who knows? He had the talent to do so, but it takes more than just that to succeed. I think had he gone to the WWF in 1996 though, that he'd definitely be a guy that's remembered fondly today.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

I hadn't been so excited for a debut as "Das Wunderkind" Alex Wright as "The Z-Man" Tom Zenk!

Then Glacier came in with all those cool Power Ranger Ninja moves, and I forgot all about Wright.

Personally, I think they needed to team Wright up with Kwee Wee -- I long hoped the WWE would've picked up both these fine talents.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

I would have to agree that the time for him to come to the WWF was in 96-97. Any later, and he gets lost in the crowd... and by the time WCW was bought out, fawgetaboutit. Too late for him.

I actually look at Alex Wright a little as a 'what if' for Triple H. As in, what may have happened to Jean-Pierre Leveque had he not left the WCW and been redubbed Hunter Hearst Helmsley? Both were talented. Both were given bad gimmicks by WCW that were destined to go no further than the mid card. Both had little chance of going any higher than that in WCW. One recognized that and got out when he got the chance... and one didn't.

Wright was talented, which shows in the fact that he was able to get so much out of such a horrible gimmick that WCW gave him. If he'd jumped to the WWF in 1996, he would have had the chance to be repackaged properly before he got too much of the bad gimmick stink on him, and then I think the kid could have really made a run of it. Could he have reached Triple H levels? Who knows? He had the talent to do so, but it takes more than just that to succeed. I think had he gone to the WWF in 1996 though, that he'd definitely be a guy that's remembered fondly today.

There are a lot of variables that would have made a different, in Vince's eyes they had just signed a high flyer in Pillman, that he then got hurt so quickly likely made Vince sour on some of JR's other picks. That he had to fight for Foley and Simmons particularly Austin is telling of Vince's attitude at the time. He didn't see that "potential" in many of the talents of the day unless they were monsters. Someone like Wright would have been a sell too far for good ol JR... He was tiny in comparison to all, German so a harder sell than many nations and despite talent was still very green as a performer character wise. Trips wasn't when he came over, he had the charisma by the bucket load, had the abilities and was immediately able to take to what he was given... that 2 of his best friends from WCW were already there in top positions was no hinderance either.

Wright coulda, woulda, shoulda been and I am sure they did look but at the end of the day he would have been saddled with a horrid gimmick in the WWF of those times... They would have had him goosestepping the moment Attitude rolled around or made him the stereotypical "Herman The German"/Hitler Youth/Skinhead type gimmick" of the time, so in many ways it's better he didn't go. The best example was that Vince allowed the signing of Marc Mero not realising the Johnny B. Badd gimmick wasn't his... and saying "I thought we were getting Johnny B. Badd... not THIS!" but it got Sable in I guess and we KNOW Vince knows all about Sable... lol

There are talents like Regal, Disco, Kanyon, Benoit and Booker who all would have benefited and fitted in more in the WWF at that time than Alex Wright would have done.

 

[Papa Pillman]

I think you kind of hit it Brain when you said he would've likely been lost in the shuffle. Had Wright stuck around the U.S. and gotten a run in the WWE after his AOL/Time Warner contract expired he would have probably been a solid curtain jerker to make sure the midcarders looked good, but that likely would have been the extent of it.

For a guy who won midcard titles in WCW from the likes of Jericho and Ultimo Dragon at the age of only 22, he should've been destined for much more than he accomplished. The Dancing Fools/Boogie Nights pairing with Disco sunk Wright into a comedy character purgatory that he was sadly unable to escape.

 

[justtxyank]

Avid WCW watcher here.

Wright was really good worker. His big problem was he couldn't talk. He had a pretty boy look but he had a hard time speaking in English.

As for the Berlyn gimmick, it is actually a gimmick that a lot of WCW fans were really fond of. However, like a lot of things in the latter years of WCW, Standards and Practices brought a lot of pressure on the company because of the Colombine shootings. Then Berlyn debuted finally, was supposed to beat Buff Bagwell and instead got defeated back to back by Duggan and Brad Armstrong and it was over.

 

[wwesux]

ALex Wright had potential he was a rising WCW star beating Jean Paul Levesque (HHH) lol was great! He beat Jericho for the belt , beat Ultimo Dragon had a brief feud with Xpac and beat him. When WCW repackaged him as Berlyn it worked and he was great as a heel. If I recall the timeline I believe Jean Paul Levesque didn t want ALex Wright in wwe after they purchased WCW cause of that loss that has been haunting him since he was married to Stephanie Mcmahon in 2000

 

[Soulblazed]

IF Alex Wright ever went to the WWF, realistically they would've had him on house-shows and heat jobbing to hell and back..,.

What I'd like to have seen WWF do with Wright is this-He could've been the guy to keep the European Championship relevant..He could've feuded with Regal, D'lo Brown, X-pac, etc

That in itself would've been worlds better than what WCW was doing with him, plus he would've actually held a title he could've used to get lots of heat from the crowd if his angles/matches/promos were booked right..He could've gotten big pops if he defended the European Championship on televised episodes of WWF Raw at the very least in German cities such as Hamburg, Frankfurt, Berlin, etc

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Generally speaking, Alex Wright looked like someone who had the potential to be a hot, young rising star in WCW in the mid 1990s. He was a very young, good looking kid who was only 19 years old when he was discovered by WCW officials during a tour in Germany. Considering he was so young, they packaged him as something of a pretty boy babyface as "Das Wunderkind", which is German for "Wonder Child." When he came out to his entrance music and did the dance stuff, I thought it made the guy look like a joke, but he had some legit ability inside the ring. Wright had a brief feud with Jean-Paul Levesque, better known to us as Triple H, in late '94 and went over him at a match at Starrcade. From there, he entered into an on again/off again partnership or feud with Disco Inferno that'd last for the next couple of years.

During mid 1995, Wright feuded with Arn Anderson for the WCW World Television Championship, including a ppv bout at Slamboree, but Anderson handed Wright his first loss in the company. Also in '95, WCW had a working relationship with New Japan Pro Wrestling and Wright competed in the second Best of the Super Juniors tournament, or rather the second year the tournament was renamed to BOSJ, and delivered a good showing for himself. He placed 3rd in the tourney with 1st place going to "Wild Pegasus", AKA Chris Benoit, marking the 2nd time in 3 years Benoit won the tournament.

The next year or so, Wright would have various mid-card feuds with Dick Slater, Bunkhouse Buck, DDP, Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko. In January '97, WCW began a slow heel turn for him by placing him in tag matches with a rotating number of losing partners before going fully heel by the summer. He won his first title, the WCW Cruiserweight Championship, in July on an episode of Nitro, beating Chris Jericho before dropping the title back to him 15 days later. Around a week or so after that, he faced Ultimo Dragon during a Clash of the Champions broadcast and beat him for the WCW World Television Championship. He resumed his on again/off again feud with Disco Inferno and dropped the title to him after holding it for 32 days. After this, he entered into a feud with Steve McMichael with Debra playing the somewhat smitten "cougar" role and eventually wound up managing Wright for a while.

After that program eventually ended, he & Disco Inferno formed "The Dancing Fools" as a mid-card tag team act that lasted through most of the first half of '98 before he embarked on a singles course once again. Wright feuded with Fit Finlay as he "blamed" him for ending his father's career as a wrestler, British wrestler Steven Wright, that culminated in a match at Halloween Havoc that Wright won.

In early 1999, Wright was repacked with the name of "Berlyn" who sported a black Mohawk, a goatee, wearing all black, a black trench coat and refusing to speak in English. He had a "bodyguard" called "The Wall" and spoke through a female interpreter. The gimmick was a flop due in part to wrestlers refusing to job to Wright, such as Buff Bagwell, or Hacksaw Jim Duggan would no sell Wright's offense and it just went south from there.

Wright would be repackaged as generally himself again by late 2000, except with a completely shaven head, and would reunite with Disco Inferno, now called Disqo, as "The Boogie Knights." They feuded with the Filthy Animals & Natural Born Thrillers before Disqo was injured and General Rection, AKA Hugh Morris, was substituted as his partner. They captured the tag titles but, for whatever reason, Rection wasn't his partner four days later as he was substituted with Elix Skipper and they lost the straps. That was pretty much his last hurrah as he was in various cruiserweight feuds when WCW folded and he faded from the limelight.

All in all, Wright's career was pretty unremarkable, though I do think the guy had potential that WCW didn't even remotely try to build upon. Had he ultimately wound up in WWF, however, I don't think they would've done much more with him at the time. Much like what happened in WCW, he probably would've been booked into any number of forgettable mid-card feuds with guys like Doink The Clown, Big Boss Man, Al Snow, Perry Saturn & Moppy, etc. or fed to guys like Taker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, etc. Had he come into WWE circa 2002 or 2003, I think it would've been a similar story where he had a number of minor mid-card feuds, maybe a tag team run here or there. Eventually, if he made it a few years into the company, I could've seen him jobbing out to Hornswoggle the way Chavo Guerrero did or, quite possibly, floating around in the Cruiserweight Division, even winning the title a few times, though it's not like anyone would care because Vince McMahon sure as hell didn't.

That's part of the reason... the other reason was timing. When Berlyn's character debuted, the school shootings at Columbine High School were in the news and those shooters wore similar outfits that Berlyn's character had worn, thus killing his momentum. It also didn't help that he had to work with jerkasses like Duggan, who didn't feel the need to sell anything because he was American and Berlyn was portrayed as being German, or Buff Bagwell because he's an asshole.

In the WWE, Wright wouldn't have worked so well. He would have been given an even more ridiculous gimmick than Berlyn and wouldn't have even made it past Sunday Night Heat.

His place was in WCW, despite how poorly he was booked and treated along the way.

 

[enviousdominous]

Blah blah, fluff, blah. Am I seriously the only person who watched WCW back in 1990?

I remember Alex Wright not just being talked about often, but being utilized often. When Hulk Hogan was feuding with the Dungeon of Doom, Alex Wright ran out with Sting to even the odds. During this segment I recall Tony noting that Alex Wright's main inspiration for becoming a wrestler was watching Hulk Hogan. Alex became the guy who was being anticipated for big things when the time was right, hence why he went on a pretty long win streak against a slew of no-name jobbers.

There was a Paul Heyman Q&A during a conference at a hotel right after he left WCW and was taking over ECW, he noted that Ric Flair was big on Alex Wright. Apparently Ric really liked the fact that Alex brought plenty of young women to shows, but I imagine that if they weren't on the subject of hating on Flair then Heyman would have recognized that Alex's potential was also a deciding factor in pushing him.

Seriously? Nobody remembers the infamous Alex Wright vs Paul Roma match? That was the match that derailed Alex Wright's momentum. Paul Roma was told to make Alex Wright look good, and being Paul Roma he chose instead to no-sell every move and behave like a complete jack-ass. Paul Roma was fired, and Alex Wright was creatively shelved.

Then came the tag team with Disco Inferno, which while it didn't go far was probably the farthest that Disco Inferno ever got with anything. Then came the Berlyn gimmick which was one of the more sad brain dumps WCW creative has ever had. He'd do interviews in black and white speaking only German, without any explanation for what in the Hell he was ever supposed to be. Wealthy oligarch? Political despot? It was like they plagiarized a David Lynch napkin doodle. He hated America, and for that reason he chose to target a two hundred pound wet blanket named Buff Bagwell. It wasn't the best time for an aspiring pro-wrestler to go balls out for the spotlight.

Wall was more over than Alex Wright? Umm, no. If I remember correctly Wall's big break was when he stood on top of a tower and challenged Hogan. Jumping the shark doesn't have shit on what that moment was like. Hogan was in the ring jaw-jacking when suddenly he stopped and asked "What's that?" while pointing to a speck off in the distance. A WCW helicopter camera crew flew around Wall who was shouting a challenge from on top of a tower to Hogan, Hogan while still in the ring a good ten miles away was shouting back at Wall.

Wall then joined Misfits In Action, who were already at absolute zero on the over/under index.

I have fond memories of watching Alex Wright perform. I think if his debut had been with the WWF he would have fit right in with the status quo of their company, maybe eventually falling in with the Kliq. To the people talking shit, you have my pity.