Could Jay Lethal Have Been the TNA World Champion?

[The Extract]

Now I'm not talking about this Jay Lethal:

I am talking about the one on this poster of Victory Road 2010/Jay Lethal vs. Ric Flair:

In 2005 Jay Lethal signed a TNA contract and since then he has been a 6-time X-Division Championship, and a one-time tag champ. He had no real character, until 2006, where he adopted the nickname 'Black Machismo' Jay Lethal. That was just a lot less succsessful version of the Macho Man Randy Savage.

While staying in the X-Division(2008-2009), Jay entered the tag team division with current FCW superstar, Xavier Woods(formerly Consequences Creed). They won the tag championship.

In 2010, Lethal got what I feel as a well deserved push. He started to feud with Fortune, primarily Ric Flair. But right when I felt he was going to get the title, he instead was given the X-Division title!

On to the real question, Could he have been the World Champ?

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

Yeah it is a bit weird his push was just killed... at the time I was all for it, Jay Lethal as a main eventer hell yeah! But looking back I think he became a little too generic after dropping the black machismo gimmick. If he had some other kind of gimmick, that the fans could get behind, then yeah. But he didn't he was just Jay Lethal.... to borrow from Bobby Roode's dictionary, he did not have that "It Factor".

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Absolutely not, because as I've said for years with him now, when he's not impersonating stars, he's a complete fucking dud. Being able to wrestle well or put together a nice X Division match does NOT qualify you as a main eventer. I can't say it enough — World Champions have to be MARKETABLE. Jay Lethal is not, and was not marketable. No one gives a shit about him except a few folks on the internet. No one is buying a ticket to see him. No one.

 

[Kizzani]

Black Machismo could have been a world champion. Boring Jay lethal could not. Jay was sweet as Black Machismo but when he became the cry baby who loves his mama from Jersety he became boring as hell to me. But after 20+ years of watchign wrestling gimmicks are gone now they are just trying to be "A guy" Normal names no cool gimmicks just the person. They are trying to make WWE/TNA/etc like MMA, which is lame.

One of the biggest pops in wwe is the Undertaker...the dead man...NOT MArk Calaway. Triple H the cebral assassin... No Paul Levesque. Just changing the name is not enough ( I am talking to you Cm flunk). You need to be that person.

Where did all the gimmicks go?

 

[Trance Metaphor]

Sure he would have been able to win the TNA World Championship, but I could only see him as a transitional Champion because of his staleness. Without a proper gimmick to bring life to his personality, he only has in-ring skills. While those are entertaining on their own, they're more fit for the X-Division in which he in my personal mind excelled in. Jay Lethal is a good wrestler, but it takes more than just flashy moves and athleticism to become the top guy. That's pretty obvious. There's nothing wrong with him if he wants to continue being Jay Lethal though. He's a solid mid-carder that can find success on the indie scene as much as he wants to.

 

[Mark Gallows]

Black Machismo could have been a world champion. Boring Jay lethal could not. Jay was sweet as Black Machismo but when he became the cry baby who loves his mama from Jersety he became boring as hell to me. But after 20+ years of watchign wrestling gimmicks are gone now they are just trying to be "A guy" Normal names no cool gimmicks just the person. They are trying to make WWE/TNA/etc like MMA, which is lame.

One of the biggest pops in wwe is the Undertaker...the dead man...NOT MArk Calaway. Triple H the cebral assassin... No Paul Levesque. Just changing the name is not enough ( I am talking to you Cm flunk). You need to be that person.

Where did all the gimmicks go?

This guy gets it! The reason wrestling isn't drawing right now, there are no STARS, just because you tell me some boring, junkie looking douche from chicago is a "superstar" dosen't make it so. Could Lethal have been world champ? How they were booking him, no. With the right gimmick, yes. And when I say gimmick I don't mean "doink the clown" but if he had retained some of Macho's larger-than-lifeness and the outlandish clothing but brough more of himself into the character, used his own voice and played it a bit more serious, yeah, I would've had no problem with him getting the strap. That could've been a great character, a little Macho man, a little Dennis Rodman and Lethal's natural humour and likeability, that's what Black Machismo should've been, in my opinion

 

[Lowdown]

Jay Lethal is a talented in ring performer without question. But that hardly translate to him being marketable, especially he were given a title run. I see him in ROH now, and he looks to be in the same spot he was in right before he left/was released by TNA. He's cookie cutter unless he's using a gimmick like Black Machismo. He makes a good X division and possibly TV champ (he's already a former TV champ in ROH), but he's lacking in the department of star power. He's probably the man on the indy circuit, but how many wrestling fans really know who is on a national stage? TNA diehards for sure, and ROH fans. So I don't think he could've gotten and carried the HW strap for long or at all.

 

[Alex]

Bllack Machismo Jay Lethal, yeah that probably could have worked, he was interesting there and people actually cared about him. Normal Jay Lethal no way, he was bland as hell. When he fueded with Robbie E, E was the more interesting in terms of character (and I despise all that Jersey/Geordie Shore crap) Yes Jay Lethal was a really good wrestler, but you know who else was Dean Melenko.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Not at all because Jay Lethal didn't have what it took from a charismatic perspective. Lethal was good when he was impersonating the look, mannerisms and vocal styles of Macho Man Randy Savage and Ric Flair. However, let's be honest, nobody is going to take a wrestler with an impersonator gimmick seriously as a main eventer or World Champion.

Left to his own devices with just himself, Lethal ranked pretty low on the charisma and personality scale. Lethal could go inside the ring, I'm not saying that he wasn't useful and couldn't have continued to be a valuable commodity for TNA. But the guy's strictly mid-card for life. I could never see Lethal moving beyond the X Division or Television Championship scenes as a singles wrestler. I could also see him as being part of a tag team, which he was with Consequences Creed, and making an impact in the tag team scene. But a World Champion? Not a chance. He didn't have it. It's one thing to impersonate other wrestlers that did/do have it, it's another thing to be able to generate it for yourself.

 

[IT Factor]

Simply put, no. Not even as "Black Machismo" could Jay Lethal have become the TNA World Champion. Having a win over Ric Flair really means nothing, as 2010/2011 Flair is NOTHING like the old NWA/WCW Flair. So, that win didn't exactly make him a star like it was obviously designed to.

Like others have said, there are no real stars in wrestling nowadays. No larger than life personalities like there used to be. No one you can really buy as the guy for all of pro wrestling and/or entertainment. Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker, The Rock, Ric Flair[circa 1997], Sting[circa 1999], Chris Jericho[although never truly the man], Goldberg, etc. These were big name stars. So could Jay Lethal have been in that spot? No. He'd have went down quicker than the Titanic. He was a talented in-ring performer but that'll only get ya so far.

 

[HBsam31]

Going with most everyone else here in saying no. I mean I loved his in ring work and all, but like others have said when he wasn't impersonating someone he was really bland on the mic. He was very useful in that he could go in the ring, but I don't think he had all the other parts to become TNA World Champion.

 

[MayorMcCheese]

IDK if he would have or not but I do believe a return is going to happen soon now that things are being run alot better, with a clear direction of what they want to do. I would love to see him back

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Absolutely not, because as I've said for years with him now, when he's not impersonating stars, he's a complete fucking dud. Being able to wrestle well or put together a nice X Division match does NOT qualify you as a main eventer. I can't say it enough — World Champions have to be MARKETABLE. Jay Lethal is not, and was not marketable. No one gives a shit about him except a few folks on the internet. No one is buying a ticket to see him. No one.

Exactly right. Jay Lethal is and was nowhere near World Title material.

He is a decent X-division wrestler but he was never the face of that division, and would have completely bombed as World Title contender. There are better X wrestlers than Lethal, and although the Macho gimmick was entertaining, it was never going to get him to the top of the card. It was fun, but once he dropped that he went back to being just the bland babyface that he always was.

As IDR said, who would actually buy a PPV because Jay Lethal is on it? Pretty much noone. He lacked charisma when not imitating Savage, there are plenty of others better than him in the ring, and he offered no IT factor whatsoever. He is definitely worthy of a spot in the X-Division, perhaps even TV title title level, but World Champ? No thanks.

 

[The ShIT Factor]

Black Machismo could have been a world champion. Boring Jay lethal could not. Jay was sweet as Black Machismo but when he became the cry baby who loves his mama from Jersety he became boring as hell to me. But after 20+ years of watchign wrestling gimmicks are gone now they are just trying to be "A guy" Normal names no cool gimmicks just the person. They are trying to make WWE/TNA/etc like MMA, which is lame.

One of the biggest pops in wwe is the Undertaker...the dead man...NOT MArk Calaway. Triple H the cebral assassin... No Paul Levesque. Just changing the name is not enough ( I am talking to you Cm flunk). You need to be that person.

Where did all the gimmicks go?

Black Machismo was a shitty gimmick, All he did was copy Randy Savage. Without that Jay was just stale like Subway's bread, IMO he was lucky to win the X-division title that much. Every time I saw him on tv, with or without the gimmick, I just muted him. There was definitely no way that he could've been WHC.

 

[whoopin' ass]

nope. look at the guys on the roster at that time - does he jump out at you as someone who should be champ? when he wasn't doing the macho man impression, he just didn't stand out. it is that simple. he needed a gimmick unique to him that got over with the crowd and he didn't have it. not saying he couldn't be world champ in the future but i don't see any reason why he should have been world champ already.