Historically, which has worked better?

[The Crock]

Over the course of wrestling history many different people have recieved a push, some a major push, others a slow gradual push. My question is, which has worked better - A gradual push or a major push?

I'm a big fan of an old school gradual push. Something about seeing a guy gain that credibility as he went along does wonders for his career. It has just worked better. I'm not saying that a guy shouldn't get a major push, I just don't think it works as well. If a guy is pushed to the sky, he doesn't have a major connection with the crowd, he's missing something. I believe that working your way up the ladder just offers an extra edge, a familiarity, and I like that.

Take a look at Eddie Guerrero or even Chris Benoit. Both guys worked for years, took steady steps towards becoming champion and then they finally reached the pinnacle. For me, as a fan, it was much more worth it seeing these guys get the gold rather than a guy like Brock Lesnar, who although a good champion, got the title in record time. Albeit, Lesnar was a monster who tore through people, but it was just an example. Look at Eddie Guerrero, though. One of the most beloved and comercially successful champions ever, an did he get pushed to the sky? No, he built a lasting connection with the crowd by busting his ass, day in and day out.

So, what do you guys think?

 

[dizzle1119]

I'm a fan of the old school/slow build push myself. When you think of monster pushes, guys like Goldberg immediately come to mind, but for every Goldberg there's a Kozlov, Umaga, Bobby Lashley or Khali. These big guys come in, tear through a few jobbers and instantly become championship material. Often times they're forgotten 2 or 3 years later. This simply isn't the case with wrestlers who have to build up their legacy.

Guys like Brett Hart, Shawn Michaels, Eddie Guerrero, Benoit and Jericho are in a class above the Brock Lesnars and Goldbergs of the world. Why? Because they were built up for years. By the time they got to the highest levels, you could care about the character in a way that you simply can't care about Bobby Lashley.

 

[xxxdaniel_ariesxxx]

It all depends on the person. For someone like Goldberg a slow push wouldn't have worked, people would have gotten bored with him steamrolling over jobbers for several years. They would have said, "okay, if he's such a bad ass, why doesn't he go aftercthe big dogs?" then there are people like Shawn Michaels who main evented his first PPV challenging for the World Title at Survivor Series 92. He didn't win, but the match was great, helped build the new Intercontinental Champion (Shawn had just won the title a few weeks prior) as a possible Workd Champion down the line, Shawn went on to becoming a main stay in the IC Title picture for several years, including two Rumble Wins, and a loss in a WrestleMania World Title match before finally defeating the same man he faced in 92 for the World Title at WrestleMania XII. Over four years from the day that he threw Jennetty through the window before Finally winning the Title on the grandest stage of them all... So, what I'm trying to say is that what worked fir a Goldberg wouldn't work fir an HBK and vice versa

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Historically, an overnight push which the likes of Brock Lesnar and Goldberg got has worked only for the genetic freaks. In the case of these genetic freaks it is their look that does the job for them in the sense that it is easy to believe that a guy like Lesnar could mete out a buttload of punishment. An overnight push is not something that is given to someone on the basis of outstanding ring ability or mic skills. The look of a wrestler is the only thing that matters in this type of push.

On the other hand the wrestlers with a normal look but with outstanding mic skills or ring skills that are given a gradual push. This is the push that I, and even wrestling promotions in most cases, prefer because it gives the crowd adequate amount of time to connect with the wrestler. Also in the case of an overnight push the wrestlers recieving such a push, more often than not do not possess anything apart from a great look and so they are not able to maintain their heat after their push is stalled. A good example of this is Goldberg who lost all relevance once his undefeated streak was ended by Kevin Nash.

 

[FunKay the Inevitable]

Overnight pushes are generally saved for certain wrestlers. These type of wrestlers are the likes of The Ultimate Warrior, Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, and more recently Sheamus. What do they all have in common? They're all generally power wrestlers, they look physically dominant and they all went on an undefeated streak. It's a tried and tested theory and within the next 5 years, it'll happen again. These are the men that the instant push works for.

On the flip side, smaller men like Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero or most recently the Miz all have worked to get to their spot. This is a true example of art imitating life. It took the Miz six long years to go from Tough Enough runner-up to WWE Champion, and there was a lot of struggle in-between. The Miz's story is totally different to that of Sheamus' who was champion in just over 120 days in the company.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I prefer the slower push except on very rare occasions.

Guys like Goldberg and Lesnar looked like such monsters and the fans immediately got behind them to a degree where they WANTED to see them go after the top dogs in the company. Plus, they were so physically imposing that they looked like a legitimate threat right away.

However, I am a fan of paying your dues and earning your shot, rather than just being handed it on a plate right away. Wrestlers like Triple H, Eddie Guerrero, The Rock, Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold are all examples of how you work your way up to the top of the card, and if you have the talent you will stay there.

History is littered with examples of where wrestlers have been pushed before they are ready and then faded away quickly, such as Khali, Ahmed Johnson, and Lashley.

 

[Judah's Lion]

History is littered with examples of where wrestlers have been pushed before they are ready and then faded away quickly, such as Khali, Ahmed Johnson, and Lashley.

my only "food for thought" moment here is regarding Ahmed Johnson. this guy didn't just fade away for unknown reasons. he had a ton of major injuries that happened seemingly in consecutive bursts. every time he came back, he got hurt again. so that is what, at least in part, contributed to his fading away quickly status. IMO.

as far as the push is concerned, i agree with the OP and most of all the other responses so far. the monster push is usually reserved for monsters because it's credible. Lesnar, Goldberg, Warrior, Nash (as Diesel in WWF), Yokozuna, Sheamus and others were generally bigger than their opponents and stronger, and so it was very possible that they could and would dominate their competition.

the only exception i can see to this is Angle in his WWE debut. in one year, he won the KOTR (when it still mattered) and every singles title made available. so that was kind of different.

i'd also like to have seen, if it was possible with a guy like Benoit, or see today with a guy like Daniel Bryan Danielson, a smaller guy get a monster push because of his wrestling ability. the angle i would try (again, i acknowledge that this would be difficult to do) is that the smaller guy is not a monster that dominates the opponent, but a submission expert that can slap on a severely punishing move on any opponent of any size and make them tap. the danger here is not the size or strength but the surprise and unpredictability of when the submission could be slapped on and change the match with one move. that'd be kinda cool to try.

i do have a grievance with monster pushes that i didn't see anyone else mention yet... that is LOYALTY. it seems like some of these guys that are bigger and stronger and got monster pushes had no lasting loyalty to the company. maybe that's because they weren't with the company long enough to care or maybe because the push happened so fast that they believed their own hype. i'm not sure. but, for example, guys like Warrior, Lesnar, Diesel (jumping from WWF to WCW) and Lashley do not appear to be the most loyal guys to the company that gave them the monster push in the first place. that's always bothered me about this kind of push too.

 

[Ferbian]

It's hard to say, due to the fact that the two biggest draws in professional wrestling were pushed completely differently.

It didn't take Hogan long to become world champion within WWF. I'd like to say it was the quick push they gave him there, and it worked out IMMENSELY well for WWF as well as Hulk Hogan.

However, next we got Steve Austin, who slowly dragged his way from being a mid-carder with the Intercontinental championship and the Million Dollar Championship all the way towards being WWF champion and the most popular person in wrestling.

Both have worked very very well. However, I would probably say that the slow push is the most functional. Not because of the very fact that it has worked out better in the long run, because a lot of the quick pushes has worked out greatly, and as well as they haven't worked very well, which can also be said for the slow pushes. However, I'd have to go with the slow push simply due to the fact that there are more of them, they're more common and they've established people to the point that they're a long time main stay like Triple H, Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Batista and many more, especially in recent history.

 

[Theo Mays]

The gradual push is something that pretty much works for anyone and it makes you as the viewer reminiscent about how you have seen so and so move up their the ranks and get to where they are today. So from a viewing standpoint that kind of push is much more enjoyable than that of a mega push. Now I'm not saying a mega push is all that bad, but those kinds of pushing can only be used for the right kind of people. Whoever you give the mega push to you have to have faith in them as a performer to get over and stay over and remain a name stay for years to come. There is definitely a much high fail to success ratio in the mega push area as it isn't something you can always hit on. A gradual push gives you the option to see what the guy has and assess if he is capable of being a main event performer. If not, it doesn't hurt the product as he can float around the mid card.

As for which has worked better in wrestling history, I'd say they are about equal. Loads of stars have come from gradual pushes. Guys like Bret Hart, The Rock (he could probably go either way), Steve Austin, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, John Cena, Edge, etc... However if you look at the mega pushes they have produced some top tier guys as well. Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker, Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, etc...

Summing it up, gradual pushes are less likely to fail as you can just keep them in the midcard, whereas if a mega push fails you are back to square one and looking for a new main event face.

 

[ablestwin]

It's all dependent of exactly what you want to do with the wrestler receiving said push.

Right now, Wade Barrett could be the biggest badass in wrestling. All he would have to do is beat Cena clean, then beat Orton clean. He could do it in consecutive weeks or PPVs, and without question he would be unstoppable. The trade-off here is that booking 101 says both Orton and Cena will come back to win a bigger victory later, and will diminish the impact of Barrett's meteoric rise.

Now, if he had come off NXT sans Nexus, but a career towards the IC title in 18 months, won KotR the next year, and won the Rumble the year after that, we'd know he earned it, but he would've put in almost three years in this very quick example just getting this far.

All this said, if you need someone to fill a top role in the company right away (not unlike WWE needs now) you hotshot someone to the top, and sure they'll be forgotten soon, but you'll have either a veteran or a long-simmering slow push waiting to take over. If WWE had been putting in the good push on younger guys a couple years ago, they wouldn't be in the state they're in now.