The Fast Tracking Of Talent To World Titles

[Low_Ki]

Apologies if anyone has touched on this in any other thread.

But with the recent fast tracking of seemingly green wrestlers (Swagger/Shaemus) to the world titles, is this going to be a new trend to help elevate younger wrestlers to the main event picture quicker?

It seems the case but I am now worried that these 'stars' are not over enough to elicit a reaction from the fans. Don't get me wrong, I am not doubting the legitimacy of Swagger, the man can wrestle, but I was shocked to see him win the world title.

As a second part to this thread, does anyone recall any past WWE superstars that were fast tracked to the title? Is the whole fast track thing a good idea, or an idea set up to fail the WWE Universe?

 

[jhauth11]

i think they are pushing some guys to fast and to quick that they fail (Shamus and dont know about Swagger) but guys like Drew, they are slowly building and working their way up will be the ones that get successful title runs, and Swaggers ran as champ isnt going to last as all MITB cash ins title runs are about 1-2 months

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

I wouldn't say Swagger was fast-tracked. To the ECW title, yeah, but not to the world title. Sure, he hasn't had exactly the biggest build or anything, but he did have a decent reign as the top champion and focal point of the entire C-show and was able to withstand a move to Raw without being released (an impressive feat lol). Sheamus, now he definitely was fast-tracked, as he went from feuding with Goldust to being the world champ in like zero time. McIntyre's IC title win is about on par with Swagger's ECW title reign, a bit too much at the time, but not as "wtf" as Sheamus.

Hopefully they don't continue to do this but every once in a while, as in my opinion, it really does nothing positive unless you're willing to follow it up with great things, and if you were willing to put that effort into their feuds in the first place, you wouldn't need them to win a championship quickly to try to get over, you'd be able to do it in the slower build method which has worked for the majority of the best wrestlers out there (Rock, Austin, HBK, HHH, Hart, Jericho, etc)

 

[luis_is_king]

It is true that the WWE's major titles namely the WWE and the World Heavyweight Titles was recently used to elevate the young guys, most recently was Swagger. I think making them go through the midcard first is a better idea even the Rock, Stone Cold and Triple H all went through the midcard titles before moving on to the big-time championships but the reason why is because their past gimmicks namely: Rocky Maivia (was getting reaction but for the wrong reasons), Ringmaster( wasn't going anywhere) and the Blue-Blood gimmick( which I think is nice but what really put him over was when he joined DX) is to help them find out what they need to improve on and fortunately for all of us they found it and made it to the big time. This gradual method of finding out if guys have what it takes to make it/ to be the face of the company. For Sheamus it was truly a WTF moment because he was like only 2 months in RAW and became the top dog there while Swagger though wasn't as fast-tracked, his win too was a bit WTF because like 2 months ago he was getting his ass handed to him by Santino.

As for the Fast-Tracked thing, I think it could be good as long as the wrestler is properly built in the shortest of time(i.e. Brock Lesnar who defeated legit guys before winning the title) but if it was like Sheamus' title win where he just popped out of nowhere and suddenly gets a title shot and wins the title.

*On a side note: About Sheamus' reign, I think it could have been better if he was given more air time, beat someone other than Evan Bourne cleanly and beat Cena by pinfall even if it is by means of cheating as long as he pinned Cena's ass it is way better than a DQ win/loss.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

First guy to get ftracked was Yokozuna, PPV debut at Survivor Series, Won The Rumble and Champ at Mania, 2 time Champ by June... thats 8 months... Taker won the title one year after his debut exactly at Survivor Series... WWE has done this in the past, and look how it turned out... 18-0?

 

[Ferbian]

While I do agree some of the elevations could've been handled differently and more stable, I must admit I don't see the reason to become all worked up over Jack Swagger, or for that sake Sheamus' quick title reign, seeing as not everybody is to be pushed the same way, any else it creates predictable and stale television.

Giving a rookie, or for that sake giving anybody a quick surprising world championship can prove to be quite a success because he either becomes over with the crowd quickly, or because he already is over, seeing as there's a lot of people on this form that has a love for Jack Swagger, personally I like him somewhat too, so I'm not really complaining about it.

Besides, with some of the veterans slowly getting older on the verge of retirement (seeing as we've just lost Shawn Michaels) I can't blame WWE for trying to push one or two stars to the moon, quickly, besides it's a good way of testing the waters to see if the move of pushing talents incredibly quick is good for business, or if the guy being pushed can prove to handle the pressure of main eventing and carrying the company permanently one day.

 

[ascott1984]

I'm not a fan of 'fast tracking' simply because i feel no emotional investment in superstars that haven't been around as long as others. A perfect example of how to get fans emotionally invested in a world title win was Jeff Hardy's journey from contender to champion. Swagger for for me was just 'meh' Hopefully he can be given the proper push and time from creative to do something memorable.

To get away from the fast track tag i feel Swagger needs to have a lengthy title run to establish himself as a main event player because i still don't feel Sheamus Is at that level. Have him go over guys such as Jericho, Edge and the Undertaker cleanly so the fans say 'this guys legit.'

Other fast track champs from the past have been undertaker, kane, kurt angel, yokozuna and goldberg off the top of my head.

 

[NXTrookie2013]

Well I'm a little on the fence about it but I'm leaning towards not a good idea. The part that seemed like a good idea is you see a new face in the world title picture. Why don't I like the sudden push? Well first of all to me it seems like all the people that they have done this for are people who aren't over with the crowd or anything (swagger/sheamus). Also it's kinda a missed opportunity for some stars who actually deserve the world title, like Christian. Christian is over with the crowd, a great wrestler, He's been wrestling for a long time, and WWE is just keeping him a mid-carder yet they just throw the belt on Sheamus in 2 months? Shit I wish I was friends with Triple H I could be world champion right now xP

 

[baldjedi]

Fast tracking only works if the guy is special to the fans not McMahon. What I mean is if the guy is getting crowd reactions from the beginning, for example Lesnar got them and he deserved to go to the top. Sheamus and McIntyre have been met with indifference from day 1 and were shoved down our throats. Now they both are disappearing because the WWE understands these guys don't interest us. Both of them haven't developed mic skills or personalities.

As far as Swagger goes my only complaint is he was buried for the past year and out of nowhere wins the MITB. Now he wins the title? We don't know much about what he is except being american american american american and all-american. He is a poor man's version of Kurt Angle honestly and I hope they don't blow this one like they did the other two. He has ring potential, but I just didn't feel he was a main event guy, but we shall see what happens. He needs to get over with some major guys if he is going to stay and be worth something long term.

 

[Ferbian]

Fast tracking only works if the guy is special to the fans not McMahon.

Not necessarily, you can't always expect people to get behind a wrestler incredibly quick, but if the creative, Vince and or the wrestlers in the locker room sees him as having incredible potential, I don't see why WWE shouldn't push the guy hard without the crowds reaction to it, it pretty much goes for the same if the crowd is behind a guy heavily but a lot of people in the back isn't, it's won't always mean that the guy isn't gonna get a good push, seeing as D-Generation X was despised backstage because they did what they wanted to, and people at first found it so annoying that they almost got took off the air by USA Network, but the crowd was behind quite strongly.

 

[DexVendetta88]

The fast tracking of young stars towards the World titles is not necessarily a good idea. I say this because the WWE doesn't give these guys enough time to get a proper reaction and get over with the crowd, and this just downgrades the prestige of both midcard titles (US & IC) even further. However, you also have to factor in backstage politics (more in Sheamus' case), and how many years they've been in the wrestling business in general before coming to the WWE. The midcard titles on the other hand isn't being used to its full potential like it once used to by pushing guys who had potential to become a main event level contender, but by the looks of things the WWE wants to take a different direction by "throwing them to the wolves" and try to get a reaction quickly instead of taking the time to build it.

 

[angle10]

2 fast trackers would have to be Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar. Kurt Angle won the wwe title in less then a year form his debut. And Brock Lesnar got one of the biggest pushes in wwe history. he won the title in about 4 or 5 months. thats quicker then swagger or sheamus. and Brock became a huge success. But i do think other young wrestlers were deserving then swagger or sheamus. such as Morrison or Christian

 

[Ferbian]

Kurt Angle won the wwe title in less then a year form his debut.

Someone needs to roll through his WWE history, Kurt Angle won the WWE championship on October 22 2000, debuted in WWE 22. Nocemver 1998, that's nearly 2 years, and in the time in between that he went on to win both the European championship and the Intercontinental championship, only to top off the fact that Kurt Angle was over very well, and had been build pretty well too.

Brock Lesnar on the other hand was build as a legitimate power house, and he looked that way, while he may have been shot to the stars yes but he was put up there well, and got incredibly well received by the crowd in time, but what matters the most is that Brock Lesnar powered himself through the roster, as opposed to Jack Swagger and Sheamus has been doing.

 

[Mark0820]

I'm generally not a fan of fast tracking. Some talents like Lesnar I could understand. Most guys need to be able to be given time to develop and connect with the crowd. Unfortunately on both shows there's a big glass ceiling that's a bitch to get through so the only way to get in is to be fast tracked.

 

[SuperKick36]

i think they are pushing some guys to fast and to quick that they fail (Shamus and dont know about Swagger) but guys like Drew, they are slowly building and working their way up will be the ones that get successful title runs, and Swaggers ran as champ isnt going to last as all MITB cash ins title runs are about 1-2 months

Sheamus failed? I don't see how he's failed... at least not yet. Sheamus had a match with Trips at Wrestlemania... the other night he came out and bashed Trips with a metal pipe.

I don't see how you've labeled Sheamus' push as a fail.

With HBK gone now, Trips is back in the singles scene, and will most likely be in the title picture. If Sheamus and Trips continue their feud, and what will most likely happen is that Trips will put him over, then Sheamus will be in the title picture.

Right now, he has to get some more in-ring work. He desperately needs more mic time, because he's improving every time I see him.

As far as Swagger goes, I have never been impressed with him at all... until he won MITB. His promos were better, his lisp wasn't as noticable... WOW.

I will say this: The future stars of WWE looks bright.