As you've probably guessed from the title, this thread (and hopefully series of threads if it works out) is going to be about things in wrestling that make me say 'what the fuck'. In this case, that's the two Brits who've debuted in the last year Drew McIntyre and Wade Barrett. In case you don't know what these two were doing before they got called up I'll give you the longwinded backstory.
Our story begins before their WWE debuts (well, before Drew's redebut. You may remember that he flopped on his first one). Specifically it begins in mid-late 2008, because that's the last time they were booked as equals. At the time, Barrett (under the name of Stu Sanders) and McIntyre were tag team champions in FCW under the name of 'The Empire', here's one of their matches from that time when they were equals.
[YOUTUBE]odrIjVjJjpI[/YOUTUBE]
You can probably notice a few things here, first they lost. Second that Stu Sanders was a better talker than Drew McIntyre (this hasn't changed). Third that they were a pretty good tag team. Fifth that they were both about as good as eachother. and finally that Eric Perez (read: Escobar) was always shit.
So, what happened next for The Empire? Well, in short they imploded. As all good tag teams do, the team split up faced eachother in a couple of matches then got on with their lives. Interestingly, they were still booked as equals at this point, as niether scored a win in either of their (untelevised, I believe) matches, as the first was a time limit draw, the second was a double countout. After the Empire fell? Well... I'll let the footage speak for itself:
[YOUTUBE]ziELW8iRt1w[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]Zvmdhyv9chQ[/YOUTUBE]
Stu Sanders became Lawrence Knight, played second fiddle to Byron Saxton - who apparently attended the Randy Orton Academy of Heel Promocutting - in his 'conglomerate' and on the losing end of a feud with Johnny Prime. In the mean time, Drew McIntyre got a main event push and eventually ended up as Florida Heavyweight Champion. (NB I am aware of the time difference between the two videos, but FCW footage isn't too easy to find and in any case, Drew was put into the main event straight away, as he was in the finals of a tournament to crown the FHC straight after the breakup). And what's more, Drew was essentially given a gimmick he'd been working with for years along with the push. Compare his promo above, with this one from before his signing and note the similarities:
[YOUTUBE]QMpGu1wtyQU[/YOUTUBE]
So while Drew was given a big push with a gimmick he'd been working for years, Sanders was given a brand new one, put on the loosing end of a feud with a manager he doesn't need. Fun times for both of them I'm sure.
Flash forward to about a year ago, Drew McIntyre now has a new gimmick (presumably someone realised that the same old shit still stinks and won't get over), which initially consisted of him saying 'The party's over' (which if you recall his previous gimmick, is quite a shift in attitude) and jumping people for seemingly no reason. For some reason Drew didn't get over. So, Mr McEvil was drafted in to vouch for him (and call him a future world champion and a 'badass'), this is sensible as McMahon is still loathed by the crowd (see: Nexus beatdown of him eliciting a positive reaction from the crowd). Drew still didn't get over. To remedy this, they decided to drop the whole 'the party's over' schtick, put him in proper matches, give him a title and see how that works out. So, they fed him John Morrison. Specifically a John Morrison who was the hottest he'd ever been, and was cutting some almost decent promos (a feat he has yet to repeat). It didn't work, Drew got the same middling amount of heat, and Morrison cooled off, caught 'Shelton Syndrome' and went back to being a charismaless spotmonkey. Drew's quest to get over continued by going on a short losing streak where McMahon would expunge the losses from his record (failed), beating up Matt Hardy (failed), and feuding with Teddy Long (failed). Drew is finally beginning to get over as a heel, but my god he took his sweetass time about it.
You may be wondering what happened to Lawrence Knight at this time. Well presumably he continued to do nothing in FCW for a while, but at around the same time as Drew McIntyre was trying (and failing) to get over, something went Knight's way. He became Wade Barrett, stepped into the commentary booth and became the single most entertaining person on FCW. Observe:
[YOUTUBE]6KBM29899ao[/YOUTUBE]
Eventually the NXT season one rookies were called up, and the rest was history. Wade proceeded to outperform every other rookie at promocutting and (with a couple of exceptions) at wrestling. He was also finally put into title contention in FCW at this time, when he was in two triple threat matches for the title. He was unsuccessful on both occasions, but on the second occasion it was because he was paid off to give the 'third man' (Alex Riley) the win (completing the storyline that removed him from the booth in the first place).
Which leads on to the point of this thread, which is what the fuck were they thinking when it was decided to push Drew McIntyre over Stu Sanders (which, imo is where it all went wrong)? Stu was not only the better wrestler (if we include mic skills), he was also the one who can get himself over better. Which he did in FCW (when he was a better colour commentator than any of his contemparies on the main shows) and on NXT (when he revealed to the world that he's good in the ring and completely unflappable). In the 4 months he's had on the roster, he's successfully gotten more over than Drew has in 10, and he's done it largely off his own efforts. Nexus did, admittedly take him from 'that guy off NXT' to getting ME level heat (except when beating up McMahon, proving that it's not McMahon's fault Drew hasn't been able to sponge any heat off him); but I think he would have gotten to that point anyway as he simply needs exposure and a microphone to get over (which he did very effectively in FCW and NXT). Winning NXT and feuding with Cena would have provided that. Nexus however (and the numbers agree with me here), was the superior road to go down.
So yeah, Wade Barrett is better than Drew McIntyre, he's proven it (what with him getting over and being entertaining) and I hope that whoever thought that it was the other way around gets his ass removed from the booking commitee and slapped in the face.
Discuss.
Our story begins before their WWE debuts (well, before Drew's redebut. You may remember that he flopped on his first one). Specifically it begins in mid-late 2008, because that's the last time they were booked as equals. At the time, Barrett (under the name of Stu Sanders) and McIntyre were tag team champions in FCW under the name of 'The Empire', here's one of their matches from that time when they were equals.
[YOUTUBE]odrIjVjJjpI[/YOUTUBE]
You can probably notice a few things here, first they lost. Second that Stu Sanders was a better talker than Drew McIntyre (this hasn't changed). Third that they were a pretty good tag team. Fifth that they were both about as good as eachother. and finally that Eric Perez (read: Escobar) was always shit.
So, what happened next for The Empire? Well, in short they imploded. As all good tag teams do, the team split up faced eachother in a couple of matches then got on with their lives. Interestingly, they were still booked as equals at this point, as niether scored a win in either of their (untelevised, I believe) matches, as the first was a time limit draw, the second was a double countout. After the Empire fell? Well... I'll let the footage speak for itself:
[YOUTUBE]ziELW8iRt1w[/YOUTUBE]
[YOUTUBE]Zvmdhyv9chQ[/YOUTUBE]
Stu Sanders became Lawrence Knight, played second fiddle to Byron Saxton - who apparently attended the Randy Orton Academy of Heel Promocutting - in his 'conglomerate' and on the losing end of a feud with Johnny Prime. In the mean time, Drew McIntyre got a main event push and eventually ended up as Florida Heavyweight Champion. (NB I am aware of the time difference between the two videos, but FCW footage isn't too easy to find and in any case, Drew was put into the main event straight away, as he was in the finals of a tournament to crown the FHC straight after the breakup). And what's more, Drew was essentially given a gimmick he'd been working with for years along with the push. Compare his promo above, with this one from before his signing and note the similarities:
[YOUTUBE]QMpGu1wtyQU[/YOUTUBE]
So while Drew was given a big push with a gimmick he'd been working for years, Sanders was given a brand new one, put on the loosing end of a feud with a manager he doesn't need. Fun times for both of them I'm sure.
Flash forward to about a year ago, Drew McIntyre now has a new gimmick (presumably someone realised that the same old shit still stinks and won't get over), which initially consisted of him saying 'The party's over' (which if you recall his previous gimmick, is quite a shift in attitude) and jumping people for seemingly no reason. For some reason Drew didn't get over. So, Mr McEvil was drafted in to vouch for him (and call him a future world champion and a 'badass'), this is sensible as McMahon is still loathed by the crowd (see: Nexus beatdown of him eliciting a positive reaction from the crowd). Drew still didn't get over. To remedy this, they decided to drop the whole 'the party's over' schtick, put him in proper matches, give him a title and see how that works out. So, they fed him John Morrison. Specifically a John Morrison who was the hottest he'd ever been, and was cutting some almost decent promos (a feat he has yet to repeat). It didn't work, Drew got the same middling amount of heat, and Morrison cooled off, caught 'Shelton Syndrome' and went back to being a charismaless spotmonkey. Drew's quest to get over continued by going on a short losing streak where McMahon would expunge the losses from his record (failed), beating up Matt Hardy (failed), and feuding with Teddy Long (failed). Drew is finally beginning to get over as a heel, but my god he took his sweetass time about it.
You may be wondering what happened to Lawrence Knight at this time. Well presumably he continued to do nothing in FCW for a while, but at around the same time as Drew McIntyre was trying (and failing) to get over, something went Knight's way. He became Wade Barrett, stepped into the commentary booth and became the single most entertaining person on FCW. Observe:
[YOUTUBE]6KBM29899ao[/YOUTUBE]
Eventually the NXT season one rookies were called up, and the rest was history. Wade proceeded to outperform every other rookie at promocutting and (with a couple of exceptions) at wrestling. He was also finally put into title contention in FCW at this time, when he was in two triple threat matches for the title. He was unsuccessful on both occasions, but on the second occasion it was because he was paid off to give the 'third man' (Alex Riley) the win (completing the storyline that removed him from the booth in the first place).
Which leads on to the point of this thread, which is what the fuck were they thinking when it was decided to push Drew McIntyre over Stu Sanders (which, imo is where it all went wrong)? Stu was not only the better wrestler (if we include mic skills), he was also the one who can get himself over better. Which he did in FCW (when he was a better colour commentator than any of his contemparies on the main shows) and on NXT (when he revealed to the world that he's good in the ring and completely unflappable). In the 4 months he's had on the roster, he's successfully gotten more over than Drew has in 10, and he's done it largely off his own efforts. Nexus did, admittedly take him from 'that guy off NXT' to getting ME level heat (except when beating up McMahon, proving that it's not McMahon's fault Drew hasn't been able to sponge any heat off him); but I think he would have gotten to that point anyway as he simply needs exposure and a microphone to get over (which he did very effectively in FCW and NXT). Winning NXT and feuding with Cena would have provided that. Nexus however (and the numbers agree with me here), was the superior road to go down.
So yeah, Wade Barrett is better than Drew McIntyre, he's proven it (what with him getting over and being entertaining) and I hope that whoever thought that it was the other way around gets his ass removed from the booking commitee and slapped in the face.
Discuss.