**MERGED** Brodus Clay Discussion- KEEP IT ALL IN HERE!

[Game Boy]

I personally love the "Funkasaurus" gimmick! It is new, different and quite frankly is darn right entertaining! The guy was building a huge head of steam with the live crowds at least, I do not understand why they have yanked him off of TV. They need to get him back on there and involved in a feud fast!

 

[Honkey_Kong]

Brodus could be a big success with this gimmick if they can give his character some depth. The novelty of his gimmick will only last for so long, but it leads a huge problem.
How do you book this guy who is basically a big monster in a feud and keep him looking dominant and also have an opponent for him that will keep interest? I think this is the big problem WWE has with this guy and why he's not on TV lately.

 

[PlayTheGame]

As I previously mentioned along with numerous others, Clay has not "failed", at least yet. I wanted to highlight a few points that a few others made and put them together- it would do Clay nor the WWE any good for him to bet yet another heel monster, as the WWE has plenty of them right now. If he became a heel monster tomorrow (or even debuted as one to begin with), he wouldn't get close to the world title, and eventually he'd get lost in the midcard because the WWE already has established monster heels in the world title scene- Henry & Kane, to name two. So while there's no room in that department, there's certainly room for him as the lovable Clay he is now, getting over with the crowd and establishing himself. I think the WWE made a good call by making him into the Clay he is now, where he has to room to get over at a slow pace. Then, theoretically, once he is over and established months down the line, he could then have the opportunity to either keep it going or turn heel- whatever would be best for his character at that point in time. Plus, Clay could become a merch-seller if he continues to pick up steam. It seems like his character has the potential to be marketable. The WWE really made the right call on this one. They made Clay into what they needed AND what was best for him- a RARITY in professional wrestling. Now it all comes down to if they can keep doing right by him and if he can continue to get over with the crowd and produce in the ring/on the mic.

 

[HorsemenNo4]

Clay is far from a failure at this point. It's nice to see the crowd smiling and dancing to his theme song. They look like they're having a really good time. What happens when Henry, Ryan, or other monsters come out. They stand, look, and sit back down. There isn't much excitement. Clays entrance and match has fans laughing and enjoying themselves. Yes, it's clear I like his character but I can admit when I'm wrong. In this case, I don't think I am. He's getting a better reaction every week. What he needs right now is a decent opponent or a match that isn't a squash.
keep the gimmick, just give him a feud.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

You have got to understand that each guy on the roster means a different thing to the show. As such, you cannot measure the success of say a John Cena and the success of a character like Brodus Clay on the same scale. John is supposed to be the highlight of the show, the man everyone comes to see and if he is used poorly, then you have to say that the creative is doing a poor job with him.

Brodus is a character that is supposed to cheer up the audience every time he walks out there and so far he has done a swell job with his catchy entrance music and his dance moves. The crowd has reacted favourably to him every time he has gone into the ring. He is novelty character, someone whom the crowd enjoys seeing once in a while but does not neccesarily come to the show to see. If you ask me, he is more important to the roster than a number of generic midcard faces and heels like Ezekiel Jackson or Heath Slater because. Since he is doing the job that was given to him well enough, you cannot call him a failure.

There are too many monster heels in the WWE at the moment anyway with Mark Henry and Big Show both essaying the same role. I am sure that once there is a vacancy Brodus will be called upon to play a monster heel. Till then, take a chill pill and enjoy the show.

 

[I_Like_All_Wrestling]

What else is he going to be? Another fat guy monster? I wouldn't buy him as a monster over Mark Henry, Khali, or the Big Show...all of which I find boring (but all of which I enjoy when they are comedy characters). And I wouldn't buy him beating top tier talent either.

I look forward to Brodus Clay matches because I think they're funny and I actually think he has a good time with it, even if he wants to be a serious guy.

Far from a failure I'd say. He was never going to be the next big thing.

 

[Raptor93]

Clay should stay in the character he's got, everyone says their an endless list of guys who get stuck with stupid gimmicks and go no where, I think theres an equal list of "monsters" snitiski, koslov, terki( can't remember how its spelt he was with pope/ elijah bourke) zieke , among others. So he's got as good a chance with this gmmick as a monster

 

[KoC417]

I'll be the first to admit I was skeptical at first about the Funkasaurs. But after thinking about it for some time. Didn't most of today's top guys and guys of the past start out in stupid/utterly useless gimmicks? This is Bordus Clay's chance to bide his time in this gimmick, thrive and give WWE a reason to invest in him. If his merchandise picks up the way we all appear to think it will then he is in. They can tweak his gimmick, turn him heel do whatever. For now the Funk is doing what he needs to do- Staying out of trouble outside the ring, not injuring anyone inside the ring, entertaining the "target" audience of the WWE, and keeping the people behind the scenes happy.

 

[KnowMyRole-ShutYourMouth]

There was no direction to Brodus' character. I mean, yeah, he was entertaining. But every single appearance was exactly the same. He'd dance with his bitches, squash someone, and dance some more.

At this point, in Wrestlemania Season, there's no time for filler. There just isn't. They have their current roster along with guys like Triple H, Undertaker, The Rock, Chris Jericho, and Kane back from various hiatuses. It almost seems unfair to put Rock 3rd but its not a ranking, don't bitch. It's just he hasn't appeared since SS.

Brodus Clay will either return after Elimination Chamber. Or, I could even see him getting a reboot as a more serious character after the draft. It depends on if the WWE has any sort of long term plans for him. Currently, I doubt they do. Clay doesn't matter in terms of buy rates, and probably won't be on the WM card (Hey, he might win the all important prematch battle royal!!!)

 

[mdj2010]

This post infuriates me and epitomises the true essence of what is wrong with the WWE (not wrestling) and its fans in the 21st century. Brodus has barely even begun and you already see him as failed? he hasn't even started and last time I saw him, there was a nice Funkasaurus chant going on and everyone at live shows, myself included, seemed to be getting a kick out of seeing him.
Why is everything boring before its begun, why is noone over unless they do so immediately. Where is your god damn patience?
The people that constantly coplain about this era and expect everything to happen immediately are what is wrong with the era and one of the key reasons so much ends up getting done on the fly.
Sure, you have the internet an endless stream of TV shows, video games and much more to entertain you, but it shouldn't mean you can't just wait and see how a performer does or a storyline plays out.
The same goes for people saying they failed with the Punk Jericho feaud - IT JUST STARTED.
Anyway, it has gotten to the point whhere I wonder why I come to this or any other forum, because sadly, it seems very few of the posters like wrestling. Or at least, they certainly don't like it as much as they like bitching about it.
I'd love a stat, but Id lay down some hefty mioney to suggest that well over a quiarter of the posts on any wrestling forum are moaning about the product.
If it weren't for the more than fair spam rules in this forum, I would simply state 'If you don't like it, stop watching!'

SOMEBODY CALL MY MOMMA!!!!

 

[SmattyG]

This is the reason WWE needs at least a lower card championship so people like Brodus are getting themselves on the championship ladder and more importantly on the television week in and week out and they have a plateform to feud on and a tricket where people can get behind.

Imagine for all intensive purposes the WWE has the European Championship, Brodus Clay's been European champion for 8 months, had some lower card feuds and built himself to the point he's IC title meterial so he goes for the belt but can't seem to win the IC belt, so he continues to defend the European belt dominating so the IC champion challenges Brodus for the European belt and Brodus dominates, but when he goes for the IC belt he can't seem to get it until that point where the fans are clamouring for that moment, it makes the IC belt look important and gives people that storyline nearly everyone can understand how you have something in your grasp only to lose it.

100% agree on the need for a lower card title. Brodus would be a great European Champ and it would make the matches on NXT and Superstars involving Tyson Kidd, Trent Barreta etc more meaningful.

 

[MayorMcCheese]

WWE has totally railroaded his momentum.

Here he takes a gimmick, that he didn't like at first, and makes it AWESOME.
He gets OVER and every week the cheers got bigger.

Then he's off the next 2 RAW's and next 3 Smackdowns? WWE fucking pisses me off, they can devote 50 minutes to promos or videos, but can't give 5 to him? NO WONDER THIS FUCKING COMPANY CAN'T BUILD STARS AND HAS TO GO BACK TO UNDERTAKER/HHH AGAIN!!

 

[berlinbrawler]

Well, the Funkasaurus thing definitely has an expiration date. I admit I'm surprised they took him off TV again already, but in the end it was inevitable. I mean he'll still be there, now and then, doing his dance thing and stuff, eventually have a feud of sorts. But a few month from now he'll be a complete joke, if he isn't one already. I don't see any championships in the Funkasaurus' future, except maybe the tag titles with Santino or Hornswoglle or whatever.

Eventually he will turn heel and then his career may or may not stop drowning.

 

[Suibon]

Brodus Clay is not a failure. Yes, he's stuck with a low-end gimmick, and he hasn't been appearing lately, but at least there are reasons for what you perceive to be madness.

First off, the gimmick. Brodus could've reintroduced himself to the (waiting? bored? ???-?) audience as a monster heel as portrayed during his brief Smackdown run alongside del Rio or his NXT run - but would anyone care about yet another monster heel making his debut, especially in a year where the monster heel is making headlines (Mark Henry, Kane)? The Funkasaurus is merely a way for him to get into TV and (depending on how he performs in limited time) get a reaction from his audience. Now, granted, it isn't what you or I would've expected from Brodus Clay, but at least both of us can laugh about it.

Now the recent no-shows. You might've noted them, but forgot about everything else: Jericho Jeritrolling, Punk-Ace, Cena-Ryder-Kane, etc. Surely they all recieve precedence over a series of squash matches, even if the one squashing is a big guy with a huge upside? Think about it.
​

 

[j2dlyc]

The gimmick has made Clay interesting to me, I love the funkasaurus and am pretty pissed he's not been on tv these last few episodes of raw!

 

[Jack-Hammer]

See the thing is that just because YOU don't like the character doesn't mean that Clay has failed. Huge difference between something that you're not into and something that's just been a complete and utter flop. If you take into account the general level of interest that Brodus Clay has generated and couple that with the fact that he's already been getting good & positive responses from the live crowds wherever he goes, it's a good indicator that Clay hasn't been a "failure".

If anything, I think that the Funkasaurus character has not only been successful in general thus far, but has again pointed out some huge flaws in the thinking of a lot of internet fans. Many net fans don't really want something unexpected or something that actually stands out from the crowd. Rather, they want characters & angles taking place that they simply think should be there and crap all over it if it's not. I admit that I was on the fence when Clay showed up with this character but he's grown on me. Clay's worked hard, he's embraced this character and has shown some legit personality & charisma in the process. As a whole, this has been far better so far than simply having Brodus Clay show up as a monster heel like some wanted. If anything, the Funkasaurus has shown that Clay is someone that has a lot more potential in him than being a one dimensional monster, which holds promise for him in the long run of his career.

It's true that Clay has been put on the backburner in recent weeks and it's perfectly understandable why. It's WrestleMania season. Clay is fun and he's been entertaining thus far but the fact is that there's simply bigger stuff going on right now. There's more money in Cena vs. Rock, Taker vs. Triple H, possibly Punk vs. Jericho, possibly Bryan vs. Sheamus, probably Big Show vs. Shaq and the return of MITB at WM so it makes far more sense that time is currently being or will soon be devoted to those programs.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

What's going on with Clay is just another example of WWE booking the last few years.

They give out a rare gimmick, and despite the odds, the guy manages to get the gimmick over instead of ending up immortalized in the WrestleCrap bin... so instead of running with it, they start keeping him off TV so that his heat can die down?

C'mon WWE... this is what WCW would have done when it was dying.

When Clay first came out with this gimmick, I joked that he must have done something to piss someone off. Now, I'm starting to wonder if that was true... and he was really just given the Funkasaurus gimmick as a punishment, and now he's in more trouble because he embarrassed someone by getting it over?

 

[Alastor]

Calling it a failure at this point is too harsh. But saying the gimmick is working is being too optimistic too. I think Clay is stuck being the high profile filler due to the lack of a interesting mid card on Raw. Clay don't seem to have the gimmick forced on him and it shows, and it feels that the gimmick is lacking in authenticity.

The lovable giant/funny big man/jovial monster is not something new and almost all the current veteran big men has gone through this phase except maybe the Undertaker. Kane was a Hulkamaniac, Big Show was the friendly giant, Mark Henry was a smiling face on Raw just before his current heel role. Khali had the kiss cam. I can go on. It just so happened there is an opening for this type of gimmick and WWE wanted to put Brodus on TV so they went with it. Personally I don't think much of this sort of gimmick but I understand it can play its part on a roster.

 

[Jdulemba1001]

I have to admit, Brodus Clay the Funkasaurus is my guilty pleasure on RAW at the moment. I cant help but laugh when i see him. And thats what hes there for....the gimmick is not to be taken seriously. You cant call it a failure yet, but like another poster said before me, it does have a shelf life...he cant use it forever, but for now, I am enjoying it. SOMEBODY CALL MY MOMMMA!

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

Brodus Clay is a failure. The gimmick is not even original. Even his theme song and catchphrase (Somebody Call my Mama) are a a ripoff of Ernest "The Cat" Miller.

Brodus Clay wastes time by making a long stupid entrance then we see some jobber who people already know is going to get squashed. Even people like Drew McIntyre etc get squashed. Why would anybody want to see the same boring repetitive squash matches again and again ? Its not even entertaining.

Waste of 5 minutes which can be used to have a "Wrestling" match in World "Wrestling" Entertainment.

 

[Bad Booking]

In my opinion, the night after Wrestlemania would be a good as time as ever to re-debut Brodus. This, sadly, is not the time for character development. The Road to Wrestlemania is in high gear, and all the participants on the card are going to be front and center.

If this was someone else about to get a re-package, it wouldn't be that big of a deal. Sadly though, Brodus has been kicked to the curb like a prostitute after charging $40 for a quickie.

 

[Mustang Sally]

He has already gotten over with the gimmick he's just underexposed right now.

That statement seems a contradiction in terms, doesn't it? How does someone get over with an underexposed gimmick?

It is strange, however, that Clay's gimmick was launched with great fanfare and brought him the rare privilege of appearing on both brands for a couple of weeks. Then.....nothing. He's missed the past two Raw and Smackdown shows. What gives?

It's an odd set-up in any case. Brodus Clay was a crude brawler, built for plowing through people on his way to victory (or defeat). Instead, his newest incarnation has featured far more dancing than wrestling. His matches last an embarrassingly short time and it seems as if they want to get the match over with so they can get the dancing girls back into the ring.

Has Clay's program been abandoned? It's kind of hard to believe they'd drop it this suddenly, isn't it? But if they're giving Clay a few weeks off in order to give WWE some time to re-package what has already been re-packaged, you wonder what on Earth they're going to do with this guy now.

 

[Twist02]

Put Brodus Clay and Mason Ryan together as a tag team. Give them the titles, they would be the ultimate face/comedy/monster team. This would put them on TV and help them start their characters.

 

[DeathClutch]

I read a few weeks back that Clay hates his current gimmick as it's got no connection to the real him, but Clay and others are missing the point, he should stick with the gimmick and get it over, once he's over WWE/Clay can always concoct some storyline that breaks him away from his current persona.

As I said in a previous post WWE needs to have at least one belt for the lower guys. Clay is an example of someone who could get the lower card belt and totally dominate the championship and if the fans get behind him then WWE can bump him up the card and championship ladder and him chase the IC belt. And to break him away from his current gimmick have him be unable to attain the IC championship, have him come up short on multiple occasions to the point his persona starts to take a new edge/angle maybe have him become obbsessed with the idea of being IC Champion to the point he turns heel, and tweaks his gimmick up and have him finally win the belt.

Current gimmick I can't seem him winning any belt unless he's paired with Santino and they bid for the tag belts which wouldn't help either guy at this juncture.

 

[Rayne]

It's been a month and Brodus Clay isn't mentioned in every third thread title? Clearly he's a failure.......

Dripping sarcasm aside, as has been mentioned, the WWE already has a surplus of monster heels. What would Brodus Clay do as another guy that goes out, thumps his opponent, flexes, snarls, then goes to the back? What's Rodney Mack up to these days? Vladimir Koslov surely could offer some advice on the gimmick. Hey, maybe dial up Chris Masters! You'll just have to incur some serious long distance charges to do it.

People like monster heels for a few months, then they get familiar with them, then they get bored. How many monster heel runs did Mark Henry have before people finally started reacting to him? The gimmick succeeds far less than when it fails, and all things told, Brodus Clay doesn't have a ridiculous body size. He's a big guy, but he's not a monster.

So this Funkasaurus bit is a pretty good fit. It's different from other gimmicks the WWE is doing right now- while not entirely original (Hi, Godfather!), it stands out from the neverending array of guys in their early 20's with fake names that sound real. People are talking about him, which is all that matters now. You want to build him into a feud, not suddenly thrust him in front of the audience and hope it takes.

He's in a good place right now. Don't panic.