Hmm, a popular superstar that heavily appeals to kids & sells lots & lots of merchandise. I just wonder who that reminds me of?
You mean that guy who is worth 106 million dollars to the WWE and even though gets booed he is still massively over in that character. Remember it doesn't matter what reaction you get as long as you get it. If Cena and Rey get a reaction doing the same thing why change it?
This was the Wrestlemania after the death of Eddie Guerrero. Ever since Eddie passed, WWE had shoved down the fans throats that Eddie & Rey were BFFS, so that way when people thought of Rey, they would think of Eddie. If Eddie had never died, Rey Mysterio would have never gotten that pop, & he never would have won that match in the first place. That was not a pop for Rey Mysterio, that was a pop for the memory of Eddie Guerrero.
They haven't mentioned that fact in years, when was the last time they shoved that down our throats? Rey was getting massive pops long before Eddie died, take their ladder match at Summerslam '05 as an example, or the 1st time he won the cruiserweight title in '03, or his match against Angle in '02. Rey may not have become champion but don't for a second think that all his pops were because of Eddie, people were more than happy for Rey. It took Chavo 2 weeks to stop getting massive pops in Eddie's memory and he was RELATED to Eddie. It has a lot more to do with just Eddie dying, Rey was over before Eddies death and has stayed relevant and popular long after his death, even though they rarely mention Eddie and his relationship with Rey anymore.
That's what i'm arguing. Hulkster needed to turn heel to keep going, so does Rey Mysterio. Being the same character IS the same thing as being stale. Every time he shows up, Rey Mysterio cuts the same promo, the same matches, the same match finishes, so yes, he's reaching Hogan-levels of stale whether you'd like to admit that or not.
Are you saying people got sick of Ricky Steamboat doing the same thing for 20 years? Or The Road Warriors? These people very rarely evolved and were always massively over and NEVER stale. Constantly doing the same thing and being stale are indeed 2 different things. How is Rey's matches the same if he often loses? Hogan's level of popularity was waning when he turned heel, his pops weren't as loud and the crowd got quieter as the years went on. People still go nuts for Mysterio.
WWE knows how big a merch seller he was, so they wanted him to show up as long as possible. WWE & Vince McMahon have even been know to be impatient whenever Rey is injured, because he can't show up as much as they want him to. If he could, fans would easily be sick of him as they would be for Cena & Hogan. If Rey was as healthy as those guys, WWE would easily have him show up each & every week, day in & day out.
This whole situation is hypothetical and has no ground whatsoever. You're saying IF Rey was there every week whenever Vince wanted him he WOULD be stale. The problem with that though that's NOT the situation at all. Mysterio ISN'T there every week, there's a big difference between a hypothetical situation you just described and the reality of the situation at hand.
What does losing clean have to do with being non-stale? John Cena has lost to the Miz, CM Punk, & The Rock. Yet, he still hasn't evolved at all. Rey can lose as many matches as he wants, yet WWE would just use that to shove the "Ultimate Underdog" storyline down fans throats once more
Again, John Cena was willing to put over The Miz, CM Punk, & The Rock. And yet, despite these loses, HE IS STILL STALE. Rey has lost matches before obviously, YET HE IS STILL STALE.
Yes Cena has lost but outside of The Rock how many of those losses have actually been clean without some sort of shady doings in the process? Because Mysterio doesn't win every week it is a bigger deal when it happens. People always expect Cena to win, you know at any time Mysterio can lose so its not as expected.
They can't shove Mysterio down our throats if he's not there, Mysterio hasn't been mentioned in 6 months, its hard to shove someone down the fans throats if he simply isn't there.
The Hulkster himself doesn't exactly have the same mic skills he's had in his prime, & yet he's been able to pull off this gimmick to a tee. Rey Mysterio can easily do it as well.
Hogan on his worst day on the mic is still 100 times better than Mysterio is on his best day, this is fact. Even if Hogan isn't as amazing on the mic as he once was he's still good enough to get the job done on the mic, Mysterio has yet to prove he can do the same. Mysterio often carries the matches but his opponent always carries the mic work to sell the feud, take his feud in 2010 with CM Punk and his Jericho feud in 2009 as examples of this.
This helps prove my point even more, if whoever he's facing is good enough on the mic like Punk and Jericho it makes you want to see Mysterio overcome the odds and beat him even more, or take revenge like he did when Chavo injured his knee. Even though he was still doing the same gimmick for those many, many years people still wanted to see Mysterio in those feuds and see him win those matches.
The thing is when Cena and Hogan beat their enemy they do it so convincingly you don't want to see it again because the opponent wasn't on their level. Whether its in victory or defeat Mysterio always makes his opponent look strong (except JBL but he was leaving anyways) which makes it easier to revisit those feuds with a new twist. Almost anyone against Mysterio is a worthy challenge because he's the underdog, Cena and Hogan on the other hand always come off as in a league of their own and look so strong against their opponents you simply don't buy them facing anyone else. That's why they had him feud with The Rock and now Lesnar, those are the only people who are believable enough to give Cena a run for their money.
Mysterio is like the blues or Beavis and Butthead, even though it doesn't
change much you never get sick of it.
First, it was a hypothetical question for how his heel turn would go if anything. Secondly, that's the point. As a face, he's never been the top guy. And he never will be the top guy if stays face. Also, that's the point of his hypothetical heel gimmick. He has no torch to pass, he sees himself in the league of Hulk Hogan, El Santo, or John Cena, when at the end of the day, he isn't. He can hog a spotlight he's never had, because in hi mind, he believes there's always been a spotlight. WWE could easily turn a heel Mysterio vs John Cena feud into the big Summer Storyline of professional wrestling, with the right booking & character treatment, Rey Mysterio could thrive as a heel.
Wrestling although scripted is most effective when it comes off as organic and real. Because he's so small and such an underdog you can't believe Mysterio as an effective heel. A heel has to look strong and give the face a worthy challenge for it to look, no matter how hard he tries in the fans eyes he will never look strong or threatening to anyone he ever faces, that's why he is so effective as a face, no matter who he faces (unless its Hornswoggle or most diva's) he always comes off as the underdog because he couldn't look threatening to a face if he tried.
Lets say they turned Mysterio heel the way you described and had a program with Cena through the summer. Who would believe Mysterio is in any way a threat to Cena? He's too small, doesn't have the mic skills to sell himself as strong and everyone and their dog know Cena will murder him, take away any believability (if any) Mysterio had as a heel and after that his push is done. Mysterio could be an effective heel for maybe 3 weeks, after that people would realize he's small, wouldn't take him as a threat and would stop caring. WCW tried to make Mysterio a heel before and he went from being an uber popular face to a generic heel who got no reaction from the crowd because they didn't buy it.
Mysterio has tried to play the heel and failed miserably, Hogan and Cena have both proven to be effective heels and they did it before they became the face of a company. The truth is Mysterio's track record as a heel has been abysmal, his track record as a face however has been extremely successful.
