John Morrison: Not Ready???

[hatehabsforever]

I have attempted on a few occasions to generate some conversation about this topic, but usually in other threads, where it got lost in the shuffle. So I decided to start a separate thread and get some points of view.

People constantly come on here and complain about the staleness of the WWE product. Tired of the same feuds and faces. Such and such a wrestler should just retire. Such and such a wrestler is shit. No new people are receiving the push they deserve. We've all read this over and over again, and I'm not disagreeing with a lot of it.

But whenever someone "new" comes along, people invariably come on here and post "he's not ready (yet)."

Which brings me to John Morrison. I personally think he's the real deal and should be the next big breakout star in the WWE. Not MVP. Not the Miz. Not Kofi. Not Ziggler. If it was up to me, John Morrison would be wrestling at the next PPV for the major belt on whichever brand he's affiliated with (currently Smackdown! for the WHC). And he would be defeating the current champ (currently CM Punk) with a clean, non-controversial pinfall in the middle of the ring for the start of an extended championship run (with successful title defenses against Batista, Undertaker, Punk, or whoever else steps up).

What does everyone mean when they say he's "not ready?" Not only do I not agree with this, but I don't even know what it means. He's appeared on all three brands over the past several years. He's been face and he's been heel. He's been solo and he's been tag team (with different partners). He's had a diva associated with him, and he's been alone. He's held minor titles before (IC, tag team). He's well removed from his lone Wellness violation and seems to be on the straight and narrow. He's got great in-ring skills including high flying moves, power moves, and a "cool" finisher. He's got mic skills (from either the face or heel perspective). He's in great shape with a great physique; he's got "the look" of a champion. He's got charisma. He's got the intangibles that most champions should possess, but not all do. He's well removed from his Johnny Nitro days and has established the John Morrison character. I think he has one of the "coolest" entrances today. He's over with the fans. How is he "not ready?" What else does he have to do to get "ready?" How much longer does he have to wait to get his shot? Because if held back out of the main event too long, he'll become stale too, and people will complain about this too.

At some point the brass in the WWE have to decide it's someone's time, and rightly or wrongly, let him go and give him a shot. I would suggest that a few years back a young guy named John Cena was on SD! and the WWE rolled the dice with him and look where this has gone. Superstardom (whether the smarks like him or not). He was no more ready at the start of his push than Morrison is today, but he was given the opportunity and he certainly has made the most of it. He hadn't been around as long, was no better in the ring, and was less experienced, and now he's the face of the WWE.

So someone please tell me, why is Morrison not ready? What does he have to do to get ready? How much longer before he is ready? What does this even mean? Or do people agree with me and feel his time is now, he's ready today.

 

[Aversion]

I agree with you, I think he is ready, and one of the top 3 performers on Smackdown! ATM. He has held the tag team titles with Miz for a long time, and he had a good run. He is a multiple time IC champ, and he has been okay with that. I see him improving each and every week. He may not be the best, but both he and Dolph Ziggler are going to be future champions. I see him winning the World title sometime around... June 2010.

 

["Cool Guy" Jensen]

John Morrison does have all the tools to go to the top. He has the ring skills, the mic skills, the charisma... everything you'd want in a World Champion. The closest he's ever been to a World Championship was when he won the ECW Championship and when he challenged Jeff Hardy for the World Heavyweight Championship. His ECW Championship wasn't exactly great. Defeating C.M. Punk to win the title and successfully defending it against him twice was good, but other than his name and character change, the title reign could have easily been forgotten had it not been for Chris Benoit.

Since then John Morrison has improved so much over the years. He's won so many titles since and he can become World Champion. The Intercontinental Championship will help him become more relevant on Smackdown. So, he doesn't necessarily need to win the World Championship now. He has time. Since getting drafted to Smackdown, he's only lost a handful of times. And without any build of any sort, he wins the Intercontinental Championship.

What sets him apart from the other young talent is that he has all the tools to succeed as the World Champion. Unlike the others. M.V.P. is good on the mic, okay in the ring, and when it comes to chemistry in the ring, finding his place, he needs to improve on it. Plus, he hasn't necessarily been a "great" champion in the past. The Miz is a much better talker and ring performer. Kofi Kingston (my favorite) has the talent to go to the top and the mic skills, but WWE doesn't let him show it off too often. He makes a great champion, but needs more depth to his character. Dolph Ziggler seems boring to me, in the ring and on the mic.

So, as you can see John Morrison is the best choice to go to the next level of his career. He's ready, but it's up to the WWE to put trust in him that he can hang with the big dogs.

 

[Dogfingers]

Morrison has it all; a spectacular array of moves, the ability to carry and the mic skills to go with it...as a heel. As a face (at the moment) I wouldn't put Morrison anywhere near a world title.

Since turning face his promo's have been passionless, genreic and badly paced. He's better when he's bouncing off someone else, alone he's rubbish and desperatley needs to inject some personality into his words.

Its easy enough to be a jerk when you're a heel, but many who were deemed the next big fan favourite lost it completely when they turned. MVP, Kennedy, Carlito and Orton were all rubbish faces despite the crowd cheering them during the final days of their heeldom. They just couldn't make the transition.

 

[Morrison_Fanboy]

Since turning face his promo's have been passionless, genreic and badly paced. He's better when he's bouncing off someone else, alone he's rubbish and desperatley needs to inject some personality into his words.

For the Dirt Sheet, he was allowed to come up with his own material. His material surpassed that of the common heel's. Since turning face, his promos have been read to him, of which a source tells that his less than stellar promos have been performed exactly the way creative wanted him to have done so.

If you watch the Dirt Sheet even with a grain of salt, you could see that if he was writing his own material as a face, he would be dishing better things out than "Mr. Ziggles" or what have you.

Just another day in WWE: killing good gimmicks.

 

[The Gribbler]

I think he is more than ready for a World Title push, BUT I think he needs to make that jump as a heel. I know he is only recently turned face a few months back, but like MVP and like Mark Henry, I just don't buy him as a face.

He is terrific on the mic and in the ring and will make a great champion. But I don't look at him and think 'Great guy' I think 'Talented Asshole'.

Just My Opinion

 

[JBK2008]

Oh he's indeed ready for the top, he's just gonna have to wait now for the Punk/Taker feud to play out. Vince probably wanted either Taker to win the gold and build up Punk or make Punk as credible champion by "beating" Taker before placing Morrison into the feud. John Morrison has been built up properly and his time is indeed coming.

 

[gd]

Not a big Morrison fan. Sure he has a 6 pack and can do some flippys, but so what? There is really nothing special about him that I can see. I'd rather see someone like Matt Hardy get moved into the main event than him. He just doesn't have it.

His promos have been pretty much a big steaming pile of "I don't care." Really, I have got nothing from him at all. I know that he looks cool and has a Jim Morrison gimmick, but that doesn't make him a main eventer. I'm fine with CM Punk as the new guy in the main event for know, Morrison can have fun with his IC Title for now.

 

[Baximus]

I think he is more than ready for a World Title push, BUT I think he needs to make that jump as a heel. I know he is only recently turned face a few months back, but like MVP and like Mark Henry, I just don't buy him as a face.

He is terrific on the mic and in the ring and will make a great champion. But I don't look at him and think 'Great guy' I think 'Talented Asshole'.

Just My Opinion

Morrison was ridiculously awesome as a heel. He was cocky and funny all at once. Everyone loves his ability in the ring and he's definitely a legitimate championship contender and I'll be very surprised if he isn't holding the strap by the new year.

That said, if he's going to make a run as champion, let it be as a heel. The Palace of Wisdom has been sorely neglected in the past few months. I want Morrison to walk out, hold up the title and tell the audience to be jealous.

Finally, you make him a heel champion and you have the potential for the next truly great stable in the WWE when you bring Miz back alongside him as the US Champion. Add in a tag team like the Hart Dynasty and you have a young and charismatic group which could theortically rule Smackdown. Maybe I'm just a mark for stable wars but I really think a Morrison/Miz/Hart group would be fantastic and an answer to what DX used to be a decade ago instead of the packaged crap we get now.

Morrison has such potential for greatness. I hope they take advantage of it.

 

[X]

Morrison is definitely not ready yet. He's got boatloads of talent in the ring, but as of now his mic skills and charisma or absolutely terrible. He makes the Ultimate Warrior look comfortable cutting a promo. No offense to Morrison, but he sounds like a child when he tries to cut a promo. It's hard to take him seriously whenever he opens his mouth, and that's a very important ingredient to someone being a World Champion.

In the future, Morrison will continue to improve, and I don't doubt that he will eventually become a champion. But as of the present time, no, he is not ready, not even close. There are a lot of guys who deserve that push to the main event before Morrison does, Christian being the biggest one. Until Christian gets a fair shake in the Smackdown or Raw main event, I don't want to see Morrison anywhere near a world title.

 

[Coco]

I think Morrison's biggest problem when it comes to cutting promos is he's too shy to just nail it when there are thousands of people watching him. I've seen him rock it on The Dirt Sheet, funny voice and all. The man has boatloads of speaking ability and a fine aura to his promos that make him a unique persona. That said, he has yet to bring those speaking skills to television in a big way. To counteract this issue, Morrison should start taking public speaking classes and until he's ready for the big time he should be relegated to wrestling empty arena matches.

Okay, I'm joking. Anyway...

When it comes to his in-ring skills and the knocks he gets for being flippy, I scoff and call bollocks every single time I hear those arguments. There are minor problems with Morrison's flip-filled arsenal (which I'll speak about in a moment), but I can't see the major problems that other people do. In the ring he's certainly no mere spot-monkey. I think his matches with CM Punk have told fine stories while including pop-worth spots. He had a match with Evan Bourne before his move to SmackDown that got very overlooked but also told a great underdog story for Bourne and was as well executed (by both men) as any wrestling match on free TV this year (and better than 95% of the PPV matches we've been given). In addition, he's evolved into a wrestler who can get it done in the most satisfying way on both a singles or tag level and is as a result one of the most well-rounded midcard acts we've been graced with in years. Unfortunately, hardcore Morrison supporters are about to experience a mutiny in the IWC because the current anti-smark culture marginalizes the worth of guys who are deemed "too flippy." Yeah, telling a good story with athletic moves can't have substance. Right. You can respect the wrestling style of Hulk Hogan and the great stories he tells while at the same time being open to the idea that guys who use flips also tell stories. Some Morrison haters should try seeing this more often.

You want a few knocks at Morrison? Well I said earlier I had a couple minor complaints about the flips, so I should tackle those. First of all, the standing shooting star press is a nice move when it's executed properly. Morrison's blows. His legs hit the canvas in a way where I really don't believe he's hitting his opponent with the desired impact. I don't like it and he should stop doing it if it's going to keep making me roll my eyes. Also, Starship Pain is neat looking but I don't buy it as a finisher. It's something flashy he should bust out for big matches, but I'd prefer if he was finishing guys with the Moonlight Drive or the running knee. More impact and they are more likely to be hit out of anywhere. You could really turn the heat in the finishes for some Morrison matches up to eleven with a different finisher.

One last thing, and I'll direct this toward the threadstarter. If he were to win the title in a month and run with it like you propose, the crowd would turn on him hard. They don't like to think they're having a guy shoved down their throats (we have some overly fickle fans these days) and Morrison has yet to make as strong a connection as he needs for such a MAJOR run at the top. Give it time. We need main eventers, but thems the breaks. He's not quite there.

 

[theawsomes1]

john Morrison is totally ready he is just like a young shawn michaels he is needed for greatness. he is the shaman of sexy the guru of greatness the friday night delight the intercontinental champion. All Morrison needs is a big leap like maybe defeating the undertaker if he can do that it will boost him way up to the top of the roster. he has been ECW champion made it to wrestlmania a couple times. Now Morrison is a face too. I believe that morrison will rise to the top very soon and i see a fued with the undertaker in his future. He has the abs to be at the top of his game and i am a believer that he can do whatever he wants. Ziggler is way out of his league

 

[La Mascara]

A tweener Morrison. I don't buy him as a face or a heel. Tweener is more of his style. that's how he should remain. He will have more feuds that way. He can feud with ziggler and mysterio as a tweener.

He just needs a meaningful feud so the fans can care about him, then it's time for the brass ring.

 

[gr-rod_h-town713]

Morrison will b a great champion 1 day just not right now... like ross said in his blog he is beein bread to b world champion... i new he was distend to b a star wen he was on tough enough... yes true he has already had a prestigious career so far but given him the the title right now ur asking for the john cena affect... you no how the fans were all markin out when he won the belt but now folks cant stand cena with the title.... if morrison follows the jeff hardy path (witch looks like what wwe is doin) will be better in the long run for him ya dig


RKO BEST IN THE BIS BITCH!

 

[Blade]

Yeah, he's one of the best things on Smackdown right now, maybe top 3. I know I mark out for him. But he's not ready to be a main eventer. He needs another year. I mean, CM Punk is barely ready, he's only been ready since he upped his game as a heel. John Morrison isn't close to ready yet.
I mean, sure he's great in the ring. He puts on some awesome matches on a consistant basis. But his mic work is just sooo blah. He can be face all he wants but he at least needs some attitude. His speech thanking Mysterio was slightly sickening. He needs a while to work on that. His feud with Ziggler is helping a bit, so that's good.

But there's no doubt that Morrison will be one of the heavy favourites to win MitB this year along with Christian. And it would be a great booking decision if he did get it, that way they basically have his future planned out for him and they can really build him up, get some big wins and such.

 

[hatehabsforever]

OK, so several people have posted on here agreeing with me and saying that John Morrison is ready right now. But plenty of guys continue to say he's not ready, but with little elaboration as to why not.

"Not ready to be a main eventer...Needs another year...Isn't close to ready yet." But why is he not ready if CM Punk is? What will another year give Morrison that he doesn't have right now, he's been around for several years now. Someone suggested pushing him now would produce a "John Cena effect." What's the problem with this, Cena, despite the protests of the IWC, is the hottest commodity in the WWE today. If WWE could produce another Cena in Morrison, I say go for it.

People knock his mic skills, I don't know why, especially when he was a heel. People complain that he's "flippy." I would respectfully suggest that Rey Mysterio has made a career out of this style, especially with his ridiculous 619 finisher.

And COCO, how can you suggest pushing Morrison would be "shoving him down our throats." He's been around a long time, waiting his turn, he's hardly been pushed down our throats. Even if they wait a year or two to push him, not everyone will like him, that's unavoidable.

It's time to roll the dice with this guy and do it now. Or otherwise, don't complain while we continue to have Batista and guys like this continually "pushed down our throats."

 

[X]

Here's a reason why Morrison doesn't deserve to be pushed to the main event: there are others much, much more deserving. Like Christian, who gets better pops every week then Morrison has ever gotten in his career, is better in the ring, and is so absurdly better on the mic it's hardly worth even mentioning.

Morrison is not ready yet. I don't possibly see how you could say he is. Why CM Punk and not Morrison? Well, for starters, Punk can get over with the crowd with ease. Morrison can't. Punk gets under the fans skin in a way that Morrison couldn't ever have during his heel days.

I'm all for having Morrison progress to the main event over time, but not now. He's simply not ready. What else do you want me to say? He isn't over enough yet, he hasn't shown himself capable of carrying a memorable feud, and there are others who deserve to main event before him. Simple as that.

 

[hatehabsforever]

With all due respect, X, I have to respectfully disagree with you.

You say there are others much more deserving. Excluding the current main eventers I really cannot think of many, if any, who are more deserving than JM. MVP? The Miz? Kofi? Swagger? I don't think any of these are more deserving than Morrison. Personally I love Christian but we all know a main event push is never coming for him. NEVER. It didn't come before his disappearance into obscurity and it's not coming now since returning from TNA. Sure Christian is excellent on the mic. I don't think his in-ring skills are better as you say, especially in today's WWE where "flippy" trendy moves are held in high regard. What pops are you referring to, he's on ECW for Christ's sake, there's no one there to pop. Don't get me wrong, Christian is one of my personal favorites, but he's too small for a main event push anyway.

I wouldn't say Punk has gotten over with ease. It took a lot to get him over. They had to re-work his entire character, and I'm still not sure people are fully sold on him (I'm not). Of course Punk gets under people's skin better, he's a heel, Morrison is not. Morrison was a real asshole when he was a heel. If he was a heel again, he'd get under people's skin just fine. He hasn't been shown to be able to carry a memorable feud because he's never been put in one. Put him head to head with Punk after the Undertaker story is over, heel versus face, and let's see if he can carry this feud or not. Until they try, we'll never know.

 

[Carolina dude]

And COCO, how can you suggest pushing Morrison would be "shoving him down our throats." He's been around a long time, waiting his turn, he's hardly been pushed down our throats.

Yes,he has.

Morrison is very protected.

He rarely loses and I remember when he used to show up on ALL 3 shows not that long ago w/ Miz due to the ECW talent exchange and he still didn't get reactions during his entrance on any of the shows.

In 2007 he lucked up the ECW Title only because of Benoit's death and he was constantly defeating a decently over Punk but I don't think he got really over.

Same thing this year.He defeated World Champion Punk twice and STILL
didn't get really over.

He also got a World Title shot vs Jeff but got no reaction coming out.Just
like most of his career.He's clearly favored by booking.

Morrison has been pushed HARD and harder than a guy like R-Truth who
is older in age but more over than Morrison.

Even Mickie James get bigger pops.

 

[SSJPhenom]

I don't think that Morrison is ready.

Sure he is great in the ring, he is okay on the mic, and he has a great look, but I feel like he is right where he needs to be with the IC title right now. Besides, you don't want him to become an Orton do you? Orton was pushed to hard and to fast at first and then he was essentially buried out of the ME by HHH. Sure alot of you blame HHH for this, but it was probably booking that had him do that.

Morrison should establish a strong title run with the IC title first and then get his rise to the ME. This would do wonders for him as far as legitimizing him with the fans and it will give him the much needed experience to be able to hold his own with other ME guys. Look at Punk. He is in the ME, but yet he is having to be established right now by 'Taker.

JoMo will benefit greatly from a midcard title run.

 

[shafe_41]

Ugh. People people people. Is Morrison getting bigger and better by the week? Yes. But is he ready for the main event scene? Hellz no. Because guess what? If he was ready... HE WOULD BE IN THE MAIN EVENT. He's gotten a few main event test runs on Smackdown and he did wonderful in every one of them. But Morrison needs to be featured monthly on PPVs for a period of time as well before he's put in the main event on a regular basis. I mean he wasn't even in Summerslam, he got scrapped at Breaking Point, that screams volumes. I've got nothing against Morrison. I love the guy. Always have. You could tell from the moment he debuted that this kid was a star. Everybody's argument of "he's one of the top 3 on Smackdown" is so so so so skewed. They just had to bring Batista over from Raw and like him or not... he's more over than Morrison. Jericho is better than Morrison. Punk is better. Taker is better. You could even say Big Show is still better in terms of just because he's a veteran. Jeff Hardy just left a month ago. Edge is injured. All of those guys were more over than Morrison. Do I find Morrison one of the 3 most entertaining guys on Smackdown? Sometimes. But within the last month, there's 7-8 guys (injured or not) that are more over in their respective ways than Morrison. It's as simple as that. Bringing Batista over from Raw certainly didn't hurt Morrison, but it's not going to help him either. Plus I agree with someone who said Morrison's offense is too flip-filled. He's not a high-flying type of guy. Sure he can throw a move or two in... and here comes the comparison... like Shawn Michaels... but he's not a high-flyer. Simple as that.

Morrison... definately not ready. Don't know how anyone could say he is ready. I do however see Morrison winning the big one before the end of next year. You people are rushing him to the top way too quickly even though he is definately talented enough.

 

[hatehabsforever]

Again, I have to disagree, this time with SHAFE_41. I disagree with the statement "if he was ready for the main event, he'd be in the main event" because we repeatedly see guys not get pushed to the extent that they should for a variety of reasons, some of which I understand and many of which I don't. Christian is good enough for a main event push but it will never happen for him in the WWE. Same can be said for others as well, so I don't buy this statement at all.

Jericho was apparently interviewed recently and was very critical of WWE's lack of development of new talent, saying something to the effect of if WWE doesn't develop some new talent and continues to go forward with the same old guys over and over again, it will be WCW all over again. WWE needs new young blood and if they don't find it, when guys retire and/or get injured, they'll have no one ready to step up. So I don't really care if Batista, or the Undertaker, or Big Show, or Jericho are more over than Morrison. That is undoubtedly true but is irrelevant. They're all older guys who won't be around forever. If they keep pushing these guys and no one new, WWE will suffer in another few years.

Hardy is gone and if the accusations against him turn out to be even remotely true, he'll never be back (I'm not saying this is the case, I'm just saying if). Even if he does come back it won't be anytime soon. Edge is injured and it's a potentially very serious injury from which he may never full recover. So right off the bat we have 2 big names to replace, with retirements of several others not too far off. What better a time to push someone new than now when the rosters are spread so thin. Push Morrison. If it works we have a new superstar (it's been working with CM Punk so far). If it doesn't work send him back to the mid-card and no harm done. His "test runs" were promising, why not try the real thing? He doesn't have to main event one of the biggest PPV's but why couldn't he main event a PPV such as the upcoming ridiculous TLC PPV. Would suit his "flippy" style to a tee. I'm not a big fan of the flippy guys as a rule, but the fans, especially the younger ones, love it (right Rey Mysterio?), so I think such moves as Starship Pain will be a huge hit with the younger audience in the PG WWE world.

Have Morrison main event the TLC PPV but lose a close encounter and still look strong in the process. Have him win the Royal Rumble and thus earn a title shot at WM26. Let HBK win the belt prior to WM for one last title run before his imminent retirement. Now we have Morrison versus HBK at WM26. And if HBK could swallow his pride for once in his life and actually put the guy over cleanly, we have a new huge superstar. Young blood. Where's the problem with this?

Otherwise, people say let him spend more time in the mid card. He's been there for ages now. He's been IC champ a couple of times, as well as tag champ a couple of times with different guys. He's been with the company for years (longer than CM Punk I think although I stand to be corrected on this). If CM Punk has been around long enough and is ready for the big time, why not Morrison?

I don't care if he's face or heel. Personally I rather him as a cocky heel. Imagine the above HBK scenario with a cocky Morrison bragging about it the next night on Raw. Gold, leading into the next feud, HBK's buddy HHH. Who could also swallow his pride and put the guy over. If this scenario could play out properly it's a slow build over the next 6-7 months, with the end result of 2 huge stars in CM Punk and John Morrison. Next they can move along such guys as MVP, Christian, Bourne, Kofi, or Swagger, more gradually, and we have the potential for a new crop of superstars. Or we let the situation continue as is with the same old same old and it's WCW all over again. Or worse again, it's TNA.