Is WWE reviving a dying breed?

[Trill Co$by]

With Seth Rollins, Kassius Ohno, Dean Ambrose, and Antonio Cesaro in FCW and the likes of Evan Bourne, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, and even Hunico and Sin Cara... it would appear that WWE has begun to revive a dying breed.

A while ago, Jericho did an interview where he claimed Shawn Michaels came up to Jericho when he was leaving and basically told him that because of his experience in working the territory-like ways and coming up the right way that WWE will always have a place for him.

Well here we are in the current days of WWE and we have now nine competitors under WWE contract who came up the Chris Jericho route. Although they didn't work true territories, all of these men have traveled from region to region and country to country to learn more and more about their craft. Ultimately, there's a reason why indy fans love them so much with their vast knowledge of various wrestling styles and abilities to adapt.

My question is, with all of these stars being signed, do you see WWE finally reverting back to the days where the true time and tested indy stars get signed more so than the models and it factors? If so, do you find this better, worse, or noneffective in WWE's eyes?

 

[The Dragon Saga]

You need to watch their Florida Championship Wrestling stuff to understand the fact, that even though their still great wrestlers, they aren't the same guys you may have seen on the independent scene. They've adapted to the WWE style, where each have their own specific move-set and they use the moves accordingly, it isn't like Ring of Honor where they can throw something random out whenever they please.

However, I do like the signings. Difference between guys like Castagnoli and say a Davey Richards for example, who is the proclaimed "King of the Indies", is that Castagnoli has great in-ring talent, he has the look and he has something a Davey Richards hasn't got, he has a personality. WWE have signed Tyler Black, Darren Ambrose and Chris Hero, all three have unique personalities and they're showing that in Florida. May not be the most eccentric personalities (Ambrose plays a pretty dry character, but can cut some awesome promos) but personalities nonetheless.

I'm please they signed these guys, because they were all sticking out on the independent circuit. I think WWE could look towards a few other guys as well, Eddie Edwards is someone I think that could make a pretty good midcard talent in WWE. But yeah, I'm happy with WWE signing guys like Kings of Wrestling, Black and Moxley.

 

[KevinCarsner]

To the dude above, the OP didn't say anything about WWE changing to an independent style.
Anyways, I sincerely hope this is the route they are taking. The cookie cutter way that they assembled their current roster has been a failure as far as I'm concerned. As a fan no matter how much I want to it is hard for me to invest in a bunch of different shades of green. It is very rare that someone in their early to mid 20's without much experience other than WWE developmental has mentally matured to the point where they really understand the psychology of the game, and appreciate being at the top of the business as much as someone who rose through the ranks the proper way, paying dues for years. It shows in the quality of performances. CM Punk is a shining example of this. I believe he is the first of this WWE era to have come up the hard way, and been pushed , and look at how much that has paid off.

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

I would rather watch Brock Lesnar, Batista, Randy Orton in place of the other generic indy guys who are all the same. And who are these models in the WWE you are talking about ?

 

[The Dragon Saga]

To the dude above, the OP didn't say anything about WWE changing to an independent style.
Anyways, I sincerely hope this is the route they are taking. The cookie cutter way that they assembled their current roster has been a failure as far as I'm concerned. As a fan no matter how much I want to it is hard for me to invest in a bunch of different shades of green. It is very rare that someone in their early to mid 20's without much experience other than WWE developmental has mentally matured to the point where they really understand the psychology of the game, and appreciate being at the top of the business as much as someone who rose through the ranks the proper way, paying dues for years. It shows in the quality of performances. CM Punk is a shining example of this. I believe he is the first of this WWE era to have come up the hard way, and been pushed , and look at how much that has paid off.

Reading has became a lost form of intelligence.

I never said that they were changing to an independent style, what I was saying is that the guys who are this generations "independent work horses" such as guys like Jericho, Benoit, Guerrero etc, were back in the 90's aren't going to be brought forward and allowed to be like the Jericho's, Benoit's and Guerrero's were because their style has been altered in Florida to the style WWE prefers.

That is why you don't see CM Punk performing the Pepsi Plunge. That is why you don't see Danielson perform Cattle Mutilation. That is why you don't see Jericho perform as many moves as he once did, because his style is altered to the WWE way of doing things, so even if WWE are bringing up this generations work horses who rose through the independent circuit, which is today's version of rising through territories, it won't matter because they'll be changed anyway.

Read before you post, may save yourself some typing.

 

[BreezyDaProtege]

It makes since to go more of the Indy route for WWE. They want performers who will stay loyal and not walk out on them once they become a supstarer and majority of Indy wrestlers have a genuine love for the biz.

 

[Leviticus]

I honestly don't think that it matters what route a wrestler takes to get to the top. If a wrestler is entertaining, then it doesn't matter if they went to different parts of the world and wrestled for different organizations, and it doesn't matter if they came up through the WWE. I'm gonna judge them on how they do when they get to the big dance, not on how they got there. They could be the most exciting Indy wrestler, but if they choke when they get to WWE it won't matter. I look at everybody the same when they enter the WWE, and ask myself if I'm entertained. If the answer to that is "no" then then fact that they went through a bunch of Indy organizations to get there won't change my mind. Same goes for guys that come up through the WWE.

 

[jobesukulele]

It can't of escaped their attention how their hand picked body builders always seem to flop and how the indie bred wrestlers always seem to comfortably move their way up the card.

Vince has got a reputation of letting his company suffer just so he can get his way though...

So although the signs are looking promising, don't go and get your hopes up.

 

[GameOver]

as others have said, it doesn't matter what they were in the indy's.
They were picked up because they had promise, were already a good talent or have a good attitude, however WWE will always mold them to there way of doing things which as you've seen with most talent once they get to Raw or Smackdown they are a different beast.

They can't do everything they could get away with in the non televised shows and on the the indy curcuit..

i'd think more to the point they may be heading to there own XDivision style brand, they've already stated there's a possiblity of a cruiserweight division again.

 

[TWJC: The Beginning]

The WWE doesn't set out to "revive" anything. They look for products that can draw. You can splice it anyway you want, but they seem SOMETHING in all of those guys.

Punk and DB can read an audience and work it. Have no idea what they see in Rollins, but I know that Hero and Castagnoli can work an audience. Ambrose has a hell of a character.

The bottom line is, if you can make the people believe in your character, you are golden. that's why richards will never make it. He's not a character. He's just some midget but fit puro mark who is good at immitating a puro style only without any selling or coherant in ring storytelling.

Also, for something to be revived, it has to be gone. The WWE has always had their share of "workhorse" type guys on the roster. If the number is lower/higher it simply reflects the drawing ability of those guys.

To the guy talking about "changing their style" of course they change their style. It'd be ******ed not to. On the indies you see 40 powerbombs and flips in the first match alone. So what happens by the main event? No one cares about those moves. that's why WWE has agents. You'll notice that for the most part, nobody does someone else's finish as one of their regular moves, that makes it mean something. They start to wrestle slower, this is so the audience can digest what's going on. They start to sell more, this is so the audience believes in the match more. These are all good things. Wrestling super fast and packing a million moves in is horrible. It makes the entire product look contrived and ridiculous.