Is Vladimir Koslov being Misused?

[Trivia247]

I remember when Vladimir appeared, he was a Monster, he would come down with that Russian esque theme, look like he was marching down, he was all offense, muscling manhandling everyone in his path. I think his greatest win in his career at the start was beating the Undertaker on Smackdown, Pulling him off of Oldschool and just Powerslamming him for the three count. He was looking like he could be a legit Upper cardsmen too potential main eventer.

And then...

He becomes the straight man to Santino's antics. Even though he is a world tag champ currently with Santino it seems his personal push just ground to a halt.

Do you think that he is being misused at the current stage of his career, or was Vladimir somehow showing some weakness in his wrestling and needed to be pulled down the card level so he could become more seasoned?

 

[Disturbed]

I think WWE just realized how green he truly was and still is. They know, that they can't, make a star out of him so they put him with Santino in a comedy tag team. I am glad they did this too because I didn't want to see Kozlov in the main event on Smackdown. He cannot wrestle at all and he is russian, so it is very hard to understand him. When you can't wrestle and you can't talk, there is only one role for you and that is in a tag team with Santino. Kozlov is more than where he should be as he shouldn't be in the WWE.

 

[Nate DaMac]

Not really. He was flopping at the top of the card. No one was buying him as legit contender and I cringed at the thought of him actually getting a title reign which at times, seemed to be a legit possibility. If anything, he should be thankful to be a partner in Santino's comedy act. At least he's relevant and getting tv time. A lot of people bitch about them as tag champs, but I think it's working.

 

[Papa Pillman]

Misused?

I am going to agree with the other responses so far and say that he is lucky to just be being used at all. Unless he improves ALOT, this current tag team and title reign is probably the most success that Kozlov will have for the remainder of his WWE career, he should make the most of this "opportunity" while it is there.

 

[culantro]

he is boring in the ring and more importantly he can't talk, so i don't really think he is being missused, i think he's just being used the best he can... if you don't really have something to relly on, then you get what you can and for me, he's lucky to get so much tv time as he does with santino, he will never be a main eventer or upper carder, because he doesn't have anything going for him...

 

[The Duke]

He's this generations Steve Blackman. He's got some talent but is still a bit stiff and has no mic skills, partially because his handle on the english language isn't that superb. That being said, put a smooth speaking manager on him and who knows where he could end up.

 

[Y2JChrisJericho]

A lot of the times the IWC thinks someone is not being used properly, Kozlov is one person who is being OVER used if anything. He had a big push in 2008, and it really showed how flawed he was. He got a big pinfall victory over guys like Taker, but no one bought him as a legit tough guy. Reason for this was that he was pretty bad in the ring. I liked Kozlov when he had no music and he wouldn't even speak, that was interesting. Face Kozlov though, is by far the best thing ever. He's less stale than ever, and he's had a great run with Santino as a tag team, they have over achieved just because Santino is so over.

 

[Uncle Phatso]

Right now he's being used just fine. He's not the greatist in the ring, but thats what people need to know about sambo. Its not that fluid of a martial art as say Bjj or any form of karate. Bigger Sambo experts are basically brutes, guys who use arm and leg takedowns to get their opponet to the ground and then basically stuff them. Thats why he looks so strange in the ring when he's using his "sambo" gimmick moves. Other than that he's fine, hes a big strong dude. He dosen't need to have 200 moves, for his charicter his moveset is fine.

I believe the addition of him being face and having an over mic worker like Santino was a great idea. I liked him with Regal and Zeke but for me two big dudes that arent great on the mic that tower over their speaker really dosen't work. With Santino he can have his T.v. time and now he's got a title belt on him. Its great, I believe that he shouldn't of been pushed up to the moon like he was in 08, but I've seen biger fails.

 

[TheLoneCharles]

Since the days of Harvey Wippleman are over, it appears there is no longer a such thing as having a manager be the mouthpiece.

In that case, tag champs with Santino sounds about right.

 

[xBANEx]

What...? Unless people are referring to his character: 1. Kozlov is actually from Ukraine, and 2. He can speak English.

ANYWHO, on topic, I don't really think he's over or underused. He doesn't really scream "main event" material and the idea of him being a jobber is silly, also, so why not? It's not like the tag titles mean anything anyway.

 

[Rock]

Koslov was dominant when he first appeared on smackdown.He was unbeaten for a long time,and he even defeated the Undertaker.
But I think he wouldn't have gone far with this dominant style,so it's good for him now that he is in a tag with Santino.
They decided to give him the comedy style with Santino,and it looks okay for them.
Anyways,I don't think he would be a world champion in the future.

 

[barclayteo]

i think he could be better i will admit he has no mic skills but thats why you move him to fcw for about 5 or 6 months so his in ring skills can get better and as for the no mic skills put him with a badass heel manager. the thats 2 things to fix him and the final thing is he needs to go heel again be the monster he was put on to be but if wwe thinks he could do it he just needs to be written off of tv for a while. and get a belivable finisher not the headbut.

 

[gh88us]

Koslov of 2011 is the Nikoli Volkoff from the 80's-90's. He will contantly be in the tag team picture, and occasionally in the Hvy Wght title scene. IMO the WWE needs managers back in a BIG way. Today's wreslters do not have the mic skills as the wrestlers from the 80's -2000's

 

[a7xoff]

I for one think that Kozlov is probably in the best spot he can me in right now. When a new guy comes into WWE with the dominant monster look, it seems to pan out for a little while, then it kinda fades into nothingness. I'll throw out some examples...

When Kane took his mask off, he was a total monster, beat just about everybody and was "feared" throughout the WWE. That is until he finally lost to the Undertaker at WMXX. Then he kinda faded out and only recently with his title reign really made any kind of impact. Same can be said for Shamus, he came in, ripped basically the Raw roster apart, won the title, but now he's seeing less air time and is doing less, not to mention he really doesn't seem to be as good as he used to be. Same thing with Chris Masters, as soon as the Master Lock was broken for the first time, that was about all she wrote. Umaga is another (rest his soul). Did great until loosing the title match to Cena, then went to SD and kinda faded out. Khali is another. The list goes one.

So yes I do feel that right now Kozlov is right where he needs to be as far as his use on WWE TV. He is still somewhat relevant (if you consider the tag champs relevant) and is still winning, but nowhere near the form of where he started. If WWE were to ever bring back the angry Russian who smashes people, they could easily have him turn on Santino and start again from the bottom up to kinda re-establish him as a monster.

 

[The Ace of Knaves]

Well, could it be because he was downright horrible?

His Survivor Series match with Triple H at 2008 receiving 'boring', 'TNA', and 'we want Hardy' chants. Perhaps that was the worst match ever held in Survivor Series.

His matches in Smackdown! were barely watchable. And not even Shawn Michaels & Undertaker could carry him to half decent sh*t.

All his 3 matches with Undertaker was almost as horrible as Undertaker vs Giant Gonzales, and in all three of them he constantly botched his moves and the snake eyes.

His match with Shawn Michaels at RAW to earn the right of facing Undertaker is perhaps one of the worst matches Shawn Michaels has ever had in his long and illustrious career. I find it amazing the crowd didn't chant 'boring' during the match seeing how 95% of the match was Kozlov dominating in a really slow pace before Michaels suddenly turned the table and won. It was worse than Undertaker vs Mark Henry at Wrestlemania 22 which was the worst Casket match ever, IMO.

Seeing how not even Triple H, Undertaker, and Shawn Michaels could make him barely watchable, what's with IWC ranting that he needs a push? Have they gone mad?

P.S: Until now, I'm sure the whole sports entertainment business is glad we got to see Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania 25, not Undertaker vs Kozlov.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Koslov shouldnt be anywhere near the main event. In my eyes he is lucky to have a job. He is boring, has absolutely no charisma and is very fortunate to have kept his job with all the releases WWE have made over the last few years.

He does work well with Santino though, but that is more to the excellence of Mr Marella than any skill on the part of Koslov. After this team breaks up I hope that is the last we see of him.

 

[mikead]

I would say overused rather than misused.

On the "monster" note, it is always annoying when someone comes out a destructing monster, and then turns into a mortal after the initial push.

 

[shafe_41]

He's being used perfectly right now. He's the more serious end of a tag team with Santino. He's still a powerhouse. But he's still green behind the ears.

When he came out as a monster just dominating people until he got a title match against HHH who obviously just buried him right back down, he didn't have anything else going for him. He'd just beat people that weren't even in his league. No impressive wins, no impressive matches... nothing. Just dominating undercard/midcard opponents. So right now, Kozlov is in a good spot. He's staying relevant next to one of the WWE's top faces (like it or not) and he's featured almost weekly. Plus, he's got a title. Nothing wrong with how he's being used right now.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

I think that he is being used well these days. Not that he could not be a great monster heel but in this day and age monster heels do not last very long. They are good enough for one or two feuds but after that they just tend to fade away.

Kozlov, on the other hand, has a definite role in the WWE and that means that his job is secure for the time being. Also from what I hear he is also enjoying his job and from the crowd reactions I can conclude that the fans are enjoying what they are seeing. Not everybody needs to be a main eventer to have a successful career and guys like Kozlov and Santino personify that statement.

 

[Zangash]

I actually really liked the guy on Smackdown for some reason. Mainly because his headbutt was DEATH.

That being said, he's not very good nowadays. How he is even still employed while Shelton is not is beyond me. It always makes me laugh when he goes months on end without getting the pin in his team-up with Santino. They really just tacked the guy on to try to explain why Santino is having these random bursts of talent (You've seen Santino do slams, roll people to his corner, stunners, and so much more).

 

[Jack-Hammer]

All things considered, I think that Koslov is probably being used in the best way that he can. Let's face it, the WWE tried to put him into the main event picture and it was an utter flop. Koslov is not and never will be main event material in a major wrestling promotion. Let's face it, the guy has no real personality and is more over than he's ever been or probably ever will be again because of his partnership with Santino.

I respect Koslov's legitimate toughness and skill but none of that means shit if you can't make the fans care about you. And on his own, Koslov can't make the fans give a shit about him, it's just that simple.

They've cut back a lot on the comedy aspect of the Santino & Koslov tag team but Santino is still over with fans because, well, they just like the guy. His character is lovable and somewhat endearing so Koslov should thank his lucky stars. I think that Koslov is someone that's probably just accepted his place in the wrestling world kind of like Mark Henry has. He knows he's not going to be a huge singles star, he's not going to be World Champion, he's not going to main event WrestleMania, etc. and he's probably alright with that. He's gotten himself a title run, not much of a title but that's neither here nor there, and probably makes very good living doing what he's doing. Sometimes, you've just got to be happy with and accept what you've got.

 

[KRKO KING OF KINGS]

im going to agree with the other posters koslov hasnt shown he deserves to be pushed. wen he had his chance he was a major fail because he was boring and couldnt wrestle. and with him not speaking much english it pretty much kills his chance.


i am interested to see what will happen after koztino and where he will end up but odds are he will just be another mark henry where the announcers hype him up as being a challenge then he loses in under 5 minutes to cody rhodes smh