The Curious Case of AW

[EnglishControlWwe]

Just before WrestleMania 28, Abraham Washington re-emerged in a backstage segment with Mark Henry. It looked like he would become his manager but it the angle was quickly stopped, presumably because Henry was due to have surgery at the end of April. Instead AW tried to employ the reigning tag champs Primo & Epico and their manager Rosa Mendes who were complaining about not being on TV. It was not until they lost the championships to Kofi Kingston & R-Truth the Raw after Extreme Rules that they became the first clients of All World promotions.

However the new champions instead began a very short program with Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger, retaining their titles against them at Over the Limit. AW and his clients were only seen watching the tag champions matches from afar while Mason Ryan also seemed to align himself with All World promotions, that was up to Over the Limit. Rosa was involved in a car accident just prior to the PPV and All World Promotions, sans Mason Ryan, was not seen again until a month later at No Way Out. AW informed the former champs that their rematch clause had expired and they would have to become number one contender's by winning a fatal four way tag team match. The newly debuted Primetime Players would win the match after AW turned on Primo & Epico and aligned with the PTPs. Primo, Epico & Rosa turned face for a month to feud with the PTPs, beating them the next month at Money in the Bank, but AW would only remain on TV for just over another month before he was fired due to controversial comments.

Now that I have recapped your memories I would like to know how you would have booked the storyline following Over the Limit, as I suspect the problem was that their was no long term booking. Perhaps with Rosa injured the storyline was scrapped but was that necessary if they had AW.
Do you think the plan was for AW to always end up with the Primetime Players? If so, would you have aligned him with Primo & Epico for about 5 minutes of TV time in 2 months?
Would you have had Primo & Epico build a program with Kingston & Truth for No Way Out?
Would the PTPs have been involved, allowing AW to join them?
How would Mason Ryan fit into all of this, if at all?

 

[sanefan_har]

This was one storyline neither the fans nor WWE themselves had any idea about what was going on.

I honestly thought that after a couple of months with the PTPs they would turn Darren Young face(read JOBBER) after they lost a few times. AW would get Young beaten up by Mason Ryan, and the Ryan-Titus combo could've been a legit tag team. Hell if that was going on now, we could've seen some good action between them and the Usos/Shield/Wyatt Family.

Now Titus is on the analysts' desk during PPVs or blowing that stupid whistle of his on TV. And Young could've been used for all the matches Barrett had to lose. Then again, Vince might have made him FANDANGO which would be a huge no-no.

 

[blindman]

The one thing I never got about AW is why didn't he wrestle? Would have been better than that talk show thing on ECW.

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

No clue what the thought was behind any of this. AW was pretty solid in FCW at the time, and he really found his niche when they hooked him up with the PTP.

I think the first mistake was ever even involving him with Primo & Epico. They already had a manager/valet and he didn't fit with them in any way. It's really a shame that WWE's over sensitivity in the PG era coupled with Linda's failed senate run, killed the career of a guy with a really promising upside. Good look, good talker, charismatic, decent in the ring. Pretty big missed opportunity I'd say.

They should've just debuted him with the PTP, let him manage them for a year or so, lead them to the tag titles, and then work an angle where he feels he got them to the top and they don't appreciate all he's done for them, he feuds with them, and then he could be his own established singles wrestler.

 

[Robotman]

The one thing I never got about AW is why didn't he wrestle? Would have been better than that talk show thing on ECW.

If you saw him wrestle, you'd know why. I've seen him compete live a couple of times in FCW, and there was just no way he was destined to do anything but be a mouthpiece.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Personally, I could never buy into the idea of AW being this hot commodity as a manager. I never, NEVER saw anything special in the guy. I hated him WWEECW, and I never understood why so many people on here enjoyed The Abraham Washington show on WWEECW. AW's corny jokes and Tony Atlas' annoying laugh forced me to change the damn channel every time. AW wasn't a bad talker, and he was genuinely detestable, as this loudmouthed jackass, who wouldn't shut the hell up. But he wasn't the next coming of a great manager, or someone, who was going to revolutionize the managerial role in WWE or all of pro wrestling for that matter. Not by a long shot.

Primo & Epico really didn't need any involvement from AW. They were better off with Rosa as the fiery Latina/eye candy piece. I'm not sure anyone could've helped Mason Ryan. He was just a look, and that's about it. AW was a perfect fit and he complemented the PTP like no one else on the roster in the mouthpiece/manager role for Young and O' Neil. But AW's infamous Kobe Bryant rape joke derailed The PTP's momentum.

 

[TempestH]

If you saw him wrestle, you'd know why. I've seen him compete live a couple of times in FCW, and there was just no way he was destined to do anything but be a mouthpiece.

I am of the belief that no wrestler is completely useless. AW might not have been a very good wrestler, but there's no reason why he couldn't have just been used in the ring as a jobber. He could get in the ring, and help put over some lower card faces and pad their win-loss records. That way when someone like Yoshi Tatsu or Zack Ryder gets jobbed out, it means a little more since have a few wins on their record.

 

[Robotman]

I am of the belief that no wrestler is completely useless. AW might not have been a very good wrestler, but there's no reason why he couldn't have just been used in the ring as a jobber. He could get in the ring, and help put over some lower card faces and pad their win-loss records. That way when someone like Yoshi Tatsu or Zack Ryder gets jobbed out, it means a little more since have a few wins on their record.

Well, for one thing, being brought in as a jobber who isn't good at wrestling just brings up more unneeded roster space which could very well be used for someone who's way better than him in development. And two, what's the point of the exploiting a guy's weakness when you should be exploiting his strengths? Wrestling wasn't AW's forte, but doing promos and drawing heat was. Some people just aren't cut out to be wrestlers in this business.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

I am of the belief that no wrestler is completely useless. AW might not have been a very good wrestler, but there's no reason why he couldn't have just been used in the ring as a jobber. He could get in the ring, and help put over some lower card faces and pad their win-loss records. That way when someone like Yoshi Tatsu or Zack Ryder gets jobbed out, it means a little more since have a few wins on their record.

There's a little more to being a good jobber than just getting beat.

He has to be safe in the ring. He needs to be able to not only just take the moves properly, but showcase them as good as possible. The jobbers entire job is to make the guy beating him look like a million bucks. The truth is... good jobbers actually are very good wrestlers. They simply, for whatever reason, just get assigned the role of putting people over.

If AW wasn't a good wrestler (never saw him wrestle before so I can't comment on that), then he'd be a waste as a jobber. He'd be a one and done type (one match and sorry but we won't be using you again. Here's your $50 for the night).

The guy was best off as a mouthpiece, but honestly, they really needed to give him a different gimmick to use than that headset. I simply couldn't watch matches he was involved in with the way they had him talking through the entire thing.