Jay Lethal - What Happened?

[gd]

Remember a few weeks ago when Jay Lethal lost to Ric Flair? That 60 year old guy? We all thought it was no big deal because Doug Williams interfered, meaning Lethal was certainly going to feud with him for the X-Division Title, right? Wrong.


Lethal has been nowhere to be seen ever since the Flair match, Williams is in fortune feuding with EV2.0 and Serge Carter. TNA - fucking stupid yet again.

Sure, Jay wasn't the best wrestler ever, but he's better then, uhh, the FBI or Rhino. He's still more than useful.

What do you think is going on here? Is Lethal's push done? Is he even still alive? Are you disappointed with this turn of events?

 

[It's Damn Real!]

What's to be disappointed about? Lethal himself is a disappointment. Outside of the world of his ability to mimic the stars of the past—which he does fantastically, might I add—what discernible characteristics does Jay Lethal have that could even marginally be compiled to create a recognizable personality?

Lethal is the TNA version of WWE's Kofi Kingston – he's almost a token black guy who's been given an unjust push because of his high level of energy in the ring. Both are card-carrying members of the DPC, and both are incredibly boring outside their matches, so is this really such a crying shame that a guy with a bleak future was dropped from a push out of the blue?

 

[Alex]

I agree with IDR.

It's kind of bad when you're best at impersonating people but when people complain about it and want you to be you but your personality is boring you're fucked.

I wanted Jay Lethal to be himself thinking this guy must have buckets of charsima if he's great at impersonations. But when I saw 'him' I wasn't impressed. I still like his matches but outside of that he doesn't do it for me.

 

[NWannabe]

So, this thread is admitting Orlando Jones >>> Jay Lethal? How about Creed? He upchucked and got booted, but I always thought him more interesting promo wise. Lethal really needs a persona. Like, I get he's calm but he seems so dispassionate. Like this is no big deal for him despite him saying it's a big deal.

Alex; WHat are you talking about? Him eating lunch was SO charismatic!

 

[Mitch Henessey]

I enjoyed watching some of Lethal's Ring Of Honor stuff, but his TNA run hasn't been all that memorable so far. He mimicked Randy Savage for so long. He did a good job at it, but that's been one of his main problems. If your greatest strength if is imitating wrestling legends, then that can't be looked at as a good sign. I'm sure we were all entertained when Lethal was impersonating Flair a while back, but once he was done mocking Flair, then what he did he have to offer? Lethal just doesn't have the same spark, when he's not doing an impersonation. Lethal isn't bad in the ring, but Jay Lethal just isn't an entertaining character.

This is kind of shocking to me, because during the feud with Flair and Fortune, it seemed like Lethal was sky rocketing to the top. I even remember Tommy Dreamer saying something like, " what Ric Flair did for Jay Lethal is what Terry Funk used to do for us" during one of the EV2.0 hype promos not too long ago. All signs for his rise to the top seemed to be there, but as we can see, things have really cooled off for him. I don't see Lethal getting back to where he was anytime soon. Too many big storylines are going on in TNA right now, and I don't think there's going to be any room for Lethal to get a big push again.

 

[shattered dreams]

I would not count him out yet. That stuff about his mom sure seemed like worked shoots so he could be taking a step back to spend some time with a family situation. Or it could be a contractual situation. Plus a few other possibilities like giving time to justify some fourtune joining or something. I have a hard time believing a guy getting the flair seal of approval coming out in hogan colors is simply getting shelved for no reason. I also disagree with those saying he does not have "it," especially those suggesting he has no mic skills beyond impersonations. My main question is what did AJ have at Lethal's age that Lethal does not have? Seems like there is an opening in this storyline for a group of people like Lethal and maybe Joe and a few others to form up in something like the wolfpac to fourtunes nWo.

 

[JuviJuiceIsLoose]

What happened to him was The Pope. When Lethal was feuding with Flair, having those really entertaining promos and was being pushed. The Pope was out with an injury. The Pope returns, and Jay Lethal moves back in the card like he was before The Pope got injured.

I think Jay's push was as a placeholder until the Pope was ready to return.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I was wondering what happened to Jay Lethal myself. This thread also made me ask the same question with Evan Bourne in the WWE as they're in somewhat similar situations. Both of them seemed to be gathering steam and getting fairly hot for a while and then, within the past several weeks, they've just stopped. Evan Bourne has disappeard from WWE television completely and Lethal seems to be following the same path.

Both Bourne and Lethal have been stalled in favor of bigger storylines at the moment. Lethal is being put on the backburner with the Fortune/EV2.0 feud and Bourne looks to be taking a backseat to the WWE Championship scene and The Nexus right now. I like Lethal ok, he's pretty good in the ring and I'd personally prefer to see him over anybody in EV2.0 at the moment. As for Bourne, I'm hoping he winds up going to Smackdown when it hits Syfy as he's just getting swallowed on Raw right now.

I wouldn't give up on Lethal or Bourne quite yet. Both of them are extremely young, they've shown loyalty to their respective companies and there's still time for some potentially good things to happen.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I would not count him out yet. That stuff about his mom sure seemed like worked shoots so he could be taking a step back to spend some time with a family situation. Or it could be a contractual situation. Plus a few other possibilities like giving time to justify some fourtune joining or something. I have a hard time believing a guy getting the flair seal of approval coming out in hogan colors is simply getting shelved for no reason. I also disagree with those saying he does not have "it," especially those suggesting he has no mic skills beyond impersonations. My main question is what did AJ have at Lethal's age that Lethal does not have? Seems like there is an opening in this storyline for a group of people like Lethal and maybe Joe and a few others to form up in something like the wolfpac to fourtunes nWo.

Quite simply: passion (when speaking).

Even at his absolute worst, AJ came off as passionate and caring about everything he was saying or doing at the time, even when he would end up in a fuckin' turkey suit as a result.

Lethal, at least to me, doesn't exude the same passion or the same strain at all – he mostly just talks, rather monotonously at that (sans of course when he's doing an impersonation).

 

[The Best At What I Do]

So basically what you're saying Juvi is that only one black wrestler can get pushed at a time?

I think what happened to Jay Lethal is that TNA saw how absolutely boring he was as a human being. The Macho Man impersonation gimmick was great imo since it kept the audience entertained. Then the company decides to just drop the gimmick and let him be himself. The best Lethal could come up with was pointing to the letters T, N and A in his entrance. He had no character and zero personality and that is simply a death warrant when your job is being an entertainer.

 

[gd]

I wouldn't exactly consider Lethal a DPC guy. I mean, those impersonations, while ridiculous, were ridiculously entertaining at the same time. It's not like he's gotten any more than 5 minutes of serious promo time either.

I'm not the biggest Lethal fan or anything. Sure, I like this guy, but he's not a god or anything. I just think that given what happened the last time he was on TV, it seemed like there was a completely logical way to have him continue his storyline, a match with Williams, even if it was just on iMPACT or something.

Just seemed like an odd way to stop Lethal's push, having him lose to Flair. I thought he was coming along quite well before that, actually.

 

[Rasha]

Here's what I'd do with him...

Have Eric Young come up to Lethal and say that he should bring back Black Machismo. Eric can say he has his own really awesome impression and they'd make a great team. Lethal hesitantly agrees, and then later that night we see Young come out with an awful attempt at an impression of some legend. Lethal gets mad, but Young apologizes and wants to try something else. This continues for a few weeks until finally Lethal snaps and goes heel on E.Y.

A heel Lethal would be great. He could talk shit, cheat, and borrow all of these things heels use to compensate for a lack of charisma. He needs the turn to survive in TNA, because the face version is just way too bland.

 

[Kenny Powers]

Lethal is on and off again like a lot of talents. He was involved in the championship tournament on Impact last week at least. He probably should be feuding with Doug Williams for the X division title, but I think someone from EV 2.0 will be fighting Williams. It would be better for Lethal to wrestle him. Maybe we will see Lethal back again, but the man is a mid carder at best. He is a good performer and does some funny impressions, but besides that he isn't main event material.

 

[JuviJuiceIsLoose]

So basically what you're saying Juvi is that only one black wrestler can get pushed at a time?

I think what happened to Jay Lethal is that TNA saw how absolutely boring he was as a human being. The Macho Man impersonation gimmick was great imo since it kept the audience entertained. Then the company decides to just drop the gimmick and let him be himself. The best Lethal could come up with was pointing to the letters T, N and A in his entrance. He had no character and zero personality and that is simply a death warrant when your job is being an entertainer.

I didn't say that at all. I was saying that when a wrestler goes out to injury, there's always someone to take his place in an angle.

Before Pope was injured, he was doing almost the same things and interacting with the same people that Jay Lethal was when he was out.

 

[a0161613]

Unfortunately it's typical TNA. They push one guy one month, make him look like a star with great matches, good segments and lots of exposure. And then nothing. Just like Wolfe, the TV title, they all get left behind for something that is less interesting.

They will never succeed while this is ongoing. Until they understand that a build requires consistency over months rather than weeks then they will continue to be mediocre.

I hate saying that.

 

[ABMorales787]

What happened? 2 weeks happened. Geez, Lethal isn't the first guy to be getting a steady push and then fall victim to overbooking. Last he was seem was at last weeks Xplosion. Making Douglas lose to Amazing Red. Little time goes by and suddenly people say he vanished. What? No love for Hernandez? Who hasn't been seem in 4 weeks? Geez people, he lost one match to Anderson 2 weeks ago and you start filing missing persons reports. He was in this weeks ReACTiON wasn't he? With Anderson, right. So he's around then? Good.

So, this thread is admitting Orlando Jones >>> Jay Lethal? How about Creed?

What does MADtv have to do with this?

 

[gd]

I think people should stop with the whole "this happened on XPlosion, jeez" thing. Most viewers, American at least, don't see XPlosion at all. If something really important or meaningful happens on there, it's ususally expalined on iMPACT, or it's at least referenced. If it's not, I have no reason to care about it. Same goes for ReAction, I have no reason to watch 3 straight hours of programming in one night. Especially not when WGC The Ultimate Gamer is on.

Back to the point, it's not as much to do with Lethal missing. It's more to do with the story arc of Lethal being pretty apparent, and TNA switching up to something like, say, a bunch of guys from ECW that are shit.

 

[MB1025]

It is amazing. TNA has 1 wrestling show that is aired in the United States and need to get these guys over or on TV

AJ Styles
Matt Morgan
Motor City Machine Guns
Beer Money Inc
Mr. Anderson
Abyss
The Pope
Jeff Hardy
Rob Van Damn ( I know he is out )
Kazarian
Doug Williams
Kurt Angle
Samoa Joe

Now you have Desmond Wolfe and Magnus going to be featured more on Impact than on Xplosion and we want to sit here and wonder why Jay Lethal isn't on TV. I loved what he did with Flair, but there really isn't anything special about him that makes me want to him over any of the guys above. Of course this will most likely turn into a case of TNA pushing a young guy and then throwing him off to the side because no other wrestling company has ever done such things before.

 

[MB1025]

Unfortunately it's typical TNA. They push one guy one month, make him look like a star with great matches, good segments and lots of exposure. And then nothing. Just like Wolfe, the TV title, they all get left behind for something that is less interesting.

They will never succeed while this is ongoing. Until they understand that a build requires consistency over months rather than weeks then they will continue to be mediocre.

I hate saying that.

This can also be said for the entire mid card for the WWE. Jay Lethal deserves to be where he is at right now. Fighting on Xplosion and sometimes Impact while chasing the X Division title like he is doing now.

Jay Lethal vs Doug Williams at BFG.

 

[shogunsrampage]

1. lethal is only 23-25.... he has PLENTY of time, and is still coming into his own, hes basically still a kid

2. how many storylines does tna have going on right now? you can only fit so much into 2 hrs , like somoeone above said theres so many guys that have to fit into a show and its hard. right now you got , abyss and "they", fourtune vs ev2.0, the whc tourny, tbp battling among themselves, nash/sting vs hogan/bischoff/jarret... theres simply no time.. they need another show.

3. hes not getting punished...if people read the high ups are very high on lethal. bishoff and flair are incredibaly high on lethal and even called him the future of the sport.

4. for all the people that talk bout him on the mic...do u people realize people said the SAME exact thing about rvd. rvd comes off very relaxed and non caring, he even talked about this....

lethal is just a victim of too many storylines going on right now, look for lethal to be pushed into a fued with williams once fourtune vs ev2.0 calms down.. who would he even fued with now pretty much anyone of relevance is taken up in a storyline

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

I've always thought TNA do this! They have a huge roster and what they do is use a wrestler who hasn't been used for some time and use him for like a month, put them in a feud with someone and then they dissapear again so someone else can have a lil month feud..He'll be back in the next month! or if they need someone in a escape match!

 

[The Shockmaster]

I personally couldnt stand reading these posts that claimed Lethal has no personality or character besides impersonations. The guy honestly hasn't got a chance to show off the real Lethal. People seem to think his matches with Flair and Fortune were his coming out into his own but were only little breaks in between his next impersonation of Flair. I'm sure his little Hogan appreciation attire was a creative idea as well.

I'm sad to see that he's been pushed aside but i wouldn't want to see the 5 minute match they would give him in the shadows of the bigger feuds taking place. If him being off T.V for a few Impacts is going to bring about the real Jay Lethal with his own agenda and personality i would be very happy. The guy definitely has wrestling ability and his promos (even though through impersonations) were filled with emotion and charisma. Im sure him being himself could do the same if he was allowed.

 

[goodlay]

Lethal is solid, but he isn't a future main event guy or anything. At best, he'll be upper midcard. His push was pretty fun to watch, but after his Ric Flair feud, TNA doesn't have a fucking clue what to do with him. I was hoping he would feud with Doug over the X Title after what happened a few weeks back on Xplosion, but apparently not.

And I disagree with the people saying Lethal has no personality. No, he has no gimmick. There's a difference. He's clearly shown he has the personality and the charisma with his Black Machismo gimmick and his impersonations. TNA needs to let the real Lethal out, not this Hogan ass kissing wrestler with no gimmick. He isn't a future world champion or anything, but he can be a pretty solid midcard guy for a long time.