Heidenreich

[CM Steel]

Jon Heidenreich: Another former NFL football player who broke into wrestling and got signed by the WWE. Heidenreich got started wrestling in OVW tag teaming with Nathan Jones before getting called up to the Smackdown in the fall of 2004. But soon after that he was sent back down to OVW for re-packaging. But in 2005 he was brought back to the main roster on the Smackdown brand being managed by Paul Heyman. Heidenreich would soon feud with legends like Booker T and the Undertaker as the WWE tried to push him as the next big star in the WWE.

After Heidenreich broke away from Paul Heyman he started using this poet gimmick which was made famous by the Genius (the late Randy Savage's brother). Where Heidenreich would go around reading poetry. Shortly during his stint as the poet, Heidenreich had a feud with MNM for the WWE tag team championships. And who better to partner with Heidenreich? Road Warrior Animal! And they both won the WWE tag team title's from MNM at the Great American Bash pay per-view in the summer of '05. But shortly after losing them back to MNM Heidenreich got released by the WWE for bitching about an ear infection to WWE chairman Vince McMahon.

But if Heidenreich would have worked out in the WWE, how far could he have gone?

 

[Y 2 Jake]

Heidenreich had a pair of tits tatttoed on his chest, he'd have been gone as soon as the PG era started.

He sucked. Nobody could get him over. I think the loudest reaction he ever got was when they teased him teaming with Snitzky, which would've been so hilariously awful I would've thrown my money at WWE.

I liked it when he tried to rape Michael Cole. I miss those days when WWE was less P.C.

 

[SuperTaco]

Heidenreich had a nice physique/look and he was a big man that could work decently in the ring, but that's pretty much all that was going for him in WWE. Once he broke away from Heyman and became a poet, things went downhill and his gimmick simply did not connect with the fans. I am of the opinion that Heidenreich needed to show more of his skills in the ring to get over, but he kept reading his poetry and doing backstage segments. It felt like the fans stopped caring when he went from a dominant big man to an oversensitive poet.

I liked him best when he was owning people in the ring and feuding with Taker.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

He was done the moment they implied male rape on Michael Cole, just as Melina was when they used that (very quickly) dropped sexual harrassment/rape angle with Batista. He was probably only doing as he was told, but it left a lot of people with a very bad taste in their mouth and whether his fault or not, mud sticks for doing that kind of angle. In Melina's case they got loads of complaints and the angle was dropped within a week, she never really got a "major" story again and kinda the same for Heidenreich... very quickly he was depushed and only really got a break with the LOD stuff, but even that sucked. The poetry stuff did kind of work but once it went "there" then it got messy for him.

Was he a bad worker no, but fate took him out when it took his home in New Orleans out and it was, sadly for him, no loss to the business.

 

[Pedigree1]

The whole Michael Cole Rape thing,killed Heidenreichs career.. Buried it much like Muhammad Hassan. Heidenreich was a decent worker,pretty big dude,moved quick for someone his size.. He was given that angle,whether his idea or not,it buried him..

Its a shame IMO he could have thrived in the PG era.. I think enough time has passed,maybe they should give him another shot.. But realistically that ship has sailed and i dont see him ever returning

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I thought Heidenreich was absolute dog breath. Terrible at all aspects of wrestling, and I shed precisely 0 tears when the inevitable release came.

The "Disasterpieces" were painful to listen to and watch, and when they tried to make him a face it got even worse. That annoying entrance theme was a pile of shit too, and even his look annoyed me. Thank you so much for reminding me just how terrible he was, I'd blocked it from my mind until now!

 

[BigBombB]

Are we forgetting when he nearly killed Stevie Richards and injured numerous others? The dude didn't get over because he was sloppy and clumsy, wasn't charismatic, and was about as generic looking as a big man can get. He had no future in wrestling and I hope he managed to find employment elsewhere that suited him better.

 

[Dragon Chief]

I grew up watching Heidenreich and never cared for him in the slightest and that's saying something because I was a huge fan of Eugene, Shelton Benjamin and Carlito, who were new talent at the time as well. Heidenreich had a good look but that was it. The only time I enjoyed his work was when he was a part of the new Legion of Doom with Animal, he fit the team well but sadly that was short lived. Other than that, I thought he was a very generic wrestler.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

Why Heidenreich's theme isn't some wrestling Rick-Roll yet is beyond me.

He was generic, repetitive, and filled with unflinching hype. Much like his music.

That elbow thing he did while walking to the ring as a face didn't really help him either. It was hard to get into his character for me, especially with his "poetry". I don't think he really had much left as a character.