International superstar?

[Lee]

So here we, I've been watching a few old videos and came accross this;

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Listen to the pop, this is someone winning the intercontenental championship, not the WWF title, the mid card belt. Huge pop.

Then we have this

[youtube]diF-xZ6I72Y[/youtube]

The pop gets louder as it goes on and on to the point where you can't even hear Bret's music. Heck Canada popped like hell to the Bulldog!

So here we have five guys; the Hart foundation, international superstars. Obviously Bulldog is your boyo for the UK and Bret for Canada, but this is quite an obvious gap in the market.

Your biggest star in WWE is Cena, he's an American hero, good for America, but what about the rest of the world? Do you think we will ever see another international superstar like these guys? I mean who has the UK got now? William Regal?!

 

[z99zazn]

Wow, those pops are amazing. You don't see anything resembling that these days in the WWE. In America, no one gets pops like that since the majority of the talent is homegrown. But do I think we will see another international superstar like these guys? Yeah, I do. But do I think it'll be anytime soon? Probably not. Its going to take another guy that takes a lot of pride in his nationality to get one. Yeah, we have a plethora of Canadian or other international wrestlers, but none of them truly embrace where they're from like The Hart Foundation of Davey Boy. Regal doesn't really either. I'd say the closest thing we've had to that is Finlay's debut promos, but you don't hear much about him being from Ireland other than him using a shillelagh. There's no one on the radar that is going to come up and be a symbol to an entire country for awhile, unless the Hart Trilogy steps up to fill the void. Hopefully they will somehow, but if not, we're going to have to wait for someone with a lot of talent and charisma to carry their country on their backs in the world of professional wrestling.

 

[jmt225]

You know who I always kind of dug? Rene Dupree. I thought he was going to be WWE's big international sensation for a little while there. That guy was young, had a great look, good mic skills that seemed to improve every time he cut a promo, and was very good in the ring. He really could've been a huge heel here in the states, and a God in Montreal Quebec Canada and France. But, unfortunately... he just didn't have his personal life straighten out, so his professional life went to shit.

But let me tell you something, if Vince will pull his head out of his fucking ass... you see those pops the Hart Foundation got at Canadian Stampede? I would put my life on it that if you gave Christian a serious push, he'd receive those kind of pops in Canada. Hell, he already does without the push to some degree. And the one time it looked like WWE was going to push him, look at how he was receipted in Canada:

[youtube]iKtSCdNSzXw[/youtube]​

Even in the UK they were going nuts for this guy back then when he was cutting those promos on Cena.

So there's your answer, Lee. Look no further than Christian, as he's the one who could truly generate that kind of love from the International audience.

 

[GSM]

I know it´s hard to believe, since India is a growing market the Great Khali could be a big draw, I even heard in terms of the Indian reception he is.

I´ve never seen an Indian house show, but I could imagine that Khali could get a pretty big pop there if used correctly.

 

[Phoenix]

One person I can think of who gets cheered in his homeland, even though he's a heel! The Rated R Superstar Edge. Check out him at Unforgiven 2006 (3.20 & 7.40):

[youtube]/v/u1kZApCnsiY&hl=en&fs=1&[/youtube]

For a heel to get this pop (outside of the Summerslam 2004 where the heels got cheered and faces booed), it's really amazing, admittedly it's not as big as Hart or Smith, but this was impressive for a heel to get such a pop, he definitely has an international appeal. Even William Regal gets booed in the UK, I was one of them at InsurreXtion to do so!

I think DH Smith could be a possibility to generate a big support, but I think he needs to get a big push and do a win much like his father did against Bret, especially in his home country. Doesn't Jericho generate great support outside of the US? I mean yeah he's a heel at the moment, he still generates great support wherever he goes. Hmm

 

[pyrusane]

Off the top of my head, I can think of one guy that gets that kind of reaction from American fans. Witness:

[youtube]XVZ8WSwnuzU[/youtube]

 

[Milkyway!]

Well obviously, people will chant for their hometown hero. Just listen to the canadians when the WWE visits over there, its the epitome of epicness when it comes to pops.

Take Rey Mysteryo, the guy gets massive pops in Mexico, and as we saw at "The Bash" in California, he gets 2x the pops as to anywhere he goes. Its just the simple, Hometown Hero effect.

So to answer your question, yes, an international superstar would be great. Sure, we have stars from other countries, but none of them are truely represented. I think, thats one thing TNA really has going for them the Samoans, British, Canadians, Japanese, and Americans are very well represented. With the WWE wanting to become more global oriented, as we know from the "american" bash being switched to "The Bash." It would only make since to have international superstars.

 

[Cheech 72]

That Hard Foundation pop is amazing. I know they were in Canada but even Edge and Christian didn't get that big of a pop. I've been to Raw's with Hogan, Austin, Rock, Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, and Cena. Cena's pops are big they are nowhere near as loud as the other superstars I just mentioned.