The Memory Remains II: Kizarny

[DethMetal]

Second Installment!(?)

This time I bring you guys:

Kizarny was a dude who debuted on Smackdown! around 2008 I believe. He ran about 2-3 months worth of promos. His debut match was against MVP, which he won. Afterwards, he competed in a battle royal. My questions are this, same as last time I did this:

1. If you could bring Kizarny back, would you? Why or Why not?

2. Did you enjoy this character? Why or Why not?

3. What would you have had Kizarny do(feuds, alliances, titles, etc.)(I would've made him a deranged heel. I think making him the playful face was a mistake.)

 

[Klown_Karnage]

Kiz, I have to admit, was a little bit of a mystery to me. He just showed up for one match, goofed around a little backstage, and was out on his weird little rump before we could say "thanks for comin'." I read the reasons why he thought he was dropped from the WWE, and I have to say that I do see some merit to what he says. I think he would have gone a lot farther in the attitude era when wrestlers were allowed to look a little weirder. He'd have done even better in even earlier days among folks like Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, and Randy Savage. Those days, looking and acting weird was a plus. Still, on to your questions.

1. If you could bring Kizarny back, would you? Why or Why not?

Yes, I would. I'm just really curious about this character and want to find out a little more about what his deal was. We saw some promos, we saw him talking weird, and we saw him wrestle one match against a losing streak MVP. I wanted to see him actually get into a story, do some more matches, get a better feel for his wrestling style. I'm left very curious about what could have been where Kizarny is concerned.

2. Did you enjoy this character? Why or Why not?

I did enjoy his character. I personally love the circus idea, especially the side show, and I think that Kizarny had a lot to offer in that regard. I also like the weird and the out there...nuff said. His persona also had a lot of potential for both face and heel antics. I think that, at that time, a sort of New Oddities could have been formed with Kizarny right in the middle of it.

3. What would you have had Kizarny do?

I would have started Kizarny in the midcard, but doing reasonably well. I'd have had a few backstage vignettes with Kizarny weirding out various characters and build up a feud with another midcard, maybe a stuffed shirt type, though I'm not sure who specifically. Zach Ryder might have been a good candidate. From there, I'd put him in a sort of freakshow stable. Perhaps combine Kizarny, The Great Khali, Hornswoggle, and (just to add some legitimacy to it) have it lead by Jeff Hardy (who was still around at the time.) Eventually, I'd have him feud with the likes of Jack Swagger and maybe have him constantly pop up in different places to scare/annoy Michael Cole.

 

[LegendKiller716]

I would bring him back. He is good in the ring, good on the mic, and has a unique look.

I can't say if I enjoyed his character, I didn't see enough of it.

I don't know what he would have done then, but If I brought him back I would do it like this.

I'd have him come attack top guys after matches every week, heel of face, gaining Nexus style heat. He can say he is mad because WWE hyped him up and fired him. He says he isn't back for glory, fame, or even gold, but he is back to destroy the WWE.

He would have a Dark Knight Joker gimmick based of of this quote. "Some people want to rule the world, others just want to watch it burn."

 

[jgm_2011]

Wasn't he tight with Edge too? That may have given him some pull in the long run if he were able to develop.

 

[WZMember####]

Check out what he is doing in CHIKARA thats pretty much what he could of done in WWE. He could of got his own band of oddities together sort of like well the next gen of Oddities or a new verison of The Brood. If someone like Kevin Thorn was still around or even someone less creepy could fill the position.

He could of kicked around the singles divison for awhile slowly building a rep until the time came that he needed back up and then he could of recuited anyone from Curt Hawkins to Trent to even Masters but not in the comedic way but more in the "his sideshow of freaks" ....Rosa by his side...Masters his muscle and a young tag team doing his evil bidding on Smackdown. The Corre wouldnt stand a chance.

The deal breaker is feuding with Kane and letting him go over. It doesnt have to be Taker...but Kane. Maybe even the Inferno Match. And yeah he was in with Edge he is also married to The Kat a former wife of Jerry The King. THe possiblities are endless with this guy.

The issue is some fans are just like "he talks funny he sucks" or whatever...I mean this guy was in TNA too with The New Church with a former member of PG-13! Wonder how many so called WWE fans remember them...lol bring him back and talk about how he brought him over to the dark side.

 

[Charismatic Enigma]

I'm just going to link to a post I made in a discussion about him a while back, because my feelings haven't changed much since:
http://forums.wrestlezone.com/showthread.php?t=149679&page=2

but in short, never gonna go all the way but had serious potential that I feel WWE misused.

 

[xrawxtalentx]

1. If you could bring Kizarny back, would you? Why or Why not? No, simply because I saw this guy last week at the Cauliflower alley and he was in bad shape, just looked alot heavier.

2. Did you enjoy this character? Why or Why not? Actually I did, why? because it was fun, and i had a lot of high expectations for him

3. What would you have had Kizarny do(feuds, alliances, titles, etc.)I agree with the OP, Heel for sure, deranged but sadistically funny.

 

[kozzomozzo]

worst in ring perfomer i have ever seen

 

[Iversen]

worst in ring perfomer i have ever seen

You really can't have watched much wrestling then. I could name at least 10 people currently appearing on a weekly basis on TV that are worse than what I've seen of Kizarny.

1. If you could bring Kizarny back, would you? Why or Why not?
Yea, why not haha. I mean the guy was interesting if nothing else. He could easily fit into the mid card in the WWE.

2. Did you enjoy this character? Why or Why not?
Yea I did. He's different. The WWE is currently overflowing with dull generic characters and he is far from that. It's always nice to see someone go against the norm.

3. What would you have had Kizarny do(feuds, alliances, titles, etc.)
I like the idea of the band of misfits. You get them together and you just have them go around beating up random people on the roster. Probably not someone I'd push to the main event but he could be a strong mid card talent.

 

[fenfool]

He was a throwback character of sorts...the vignettes were 95% of his character. The "Carny Talk" got annoying very quickly. I was not all that engaged with his character. His one match didn't really show anything...I would not bring him back based on that, but maybe presented in a different way we would come off better.

 

[Musiq]

that fool Kizarny sucked, hell nah i wouldn't want to see him back. Therefore, I wouldn't want to see him feud with anybody, & i obviously didn't like his character.

The last i remember of him was that he was out of shaped, & his promos were dumb & was hard to understand what the hell that guy was saying. I kept thinking "is this fool going to honestly talk this way every week? He's going to end up stumbling over his own words!"

It's a shame that his "memory remains" in my head.....smh

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Kizarny!

1. If you could bring Kizarny back, would you? Why or Why not?

Yes because the guy stood out. At a time where Dolph has now conformed to the current 'look', a guy like Kizarny would easily stand out and be noticeable to the passive viewer.

2. Did you enjoy this character? Why or Why not?

I don't think I dis-liked the character, but it seemed to have potential despite it being very gimmicky. There was also something that reminded me of the original Doink too.

3. What would you have had Kizarny do(feuds, alliances, titles, etc.)

I think he could have been a heel or face quite easily, kind of like the boogeyman. Boogeyman was creepy and the audience wasn't quite sure what to make of him, but Kizarny didn't seem as OTT as BM so he could just be the proverbial 'wildcard' and do as he pleased due to him being 'out there'. Perhaps have him as a sort of Heath Ledger Joker-esque character in some ways, but not as obvious as giving him green hair etc. Just present him as a guy whose been with the circus, isn't as attuned to societal norms and as consequence of that likes to cause chaos.

I'd have him on Smackdown and have him feud with either Drew or Cody as both are guys that have an air of entitlement around them whereas Kizarny is the polar opposite. He could even provide Drew (or whoever) with the opportunity to get more mic time as you could not just have an in-ring feud with this guy without talking about having to be in the ring with some freak, they should be competing for the WHC etc. It dam near writes itself!

 

[Mustang Sally]

You have to wonder if there was some unknown aspect to the story of Kizarny; something that caused him to be released that was never revealed to the public.

If he was a lousy ring worker, couldn't the company have found this out before investing a ton of money in those promos? Someone in this thread said he was the worst worker ever in the ring.....if it was so, would it have been so hard for Vince McMahon to determine this before pushing this guy to the moon?

If the problem was that he wasn't getting a big enough reaction from the crowd, I would say they didn't give it enough of a chance to find out for sure. What did he work; two TV matches? That's not enough exposure to know if he was going to catch on.

I just can't believe the company would invest that kind of promo money just to dump the guy so fast. There must have been something else going on.

 

[Musiq]

If he was a lousy ring worker, couldn't the company have found this out before investing a ton of money in those promos? Someone in this thread said he was the worst worker ever in the ring.....if it was so, would it have been so hard for Vince McMahon to determine this before pushing this guy to the moon?

David Otunga is a lousy ring worker & he's somehow still w/ the Nexus. Now he didn't receive alot of promos & build-up, but i'd say the Nexus storyline had more put into it than Kizarny. Or how bout Shad Gaspar? JTG was ALWAYS doing all the ringwork, & i know Shad receieved promos.
I guess you can say Kizarny was just never over, & in my eyes a horrible character. Now that i'm 22, i don't want to see a "new" Doink the Clown...maybe a Papa Shango, but no Circus Act....

 

[whoopin' ass]

no use for him, wouldn't bring him back. 20 years ago, would have worked but today the gimmick is just lame. as for enjoy, didn't really care one way or another. didn't run to the tv to change the channel when he came on but at the same time, didn't rush to watch him either. his problem was simple - the wwe can do great promos to introduce someone but their plans end right after the person debuts. that is what happened here - he debuted and the crowd reaction wasn't what they wanted to they dropped him and moved on to someone else. had they put him on ecw, he probably would have stayed around for a while but not on one of the two big brands.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

I just found this out this evening, but another reason why I would like to see Kizarny is that his character is a throwback to the origins of the wrestling we know today when it all started in carnivals.

Research, it's pretty dam good sometimes!

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I wasn't a fan of the promos and didnt particularly enjoy seeing Kizarny when he did debut, he just didn't do it for me. However, I have seen that people are suggesting that he could have created a new faction of "Oddities", which I guess could have been interesting.

I don't think anything about his in-ring skills deserved notice, he was average at best (and I have seen him perform in other organisations, I am not basing that on just his short WWE run).

I would consider bringing him back though, if his wife The Kat Stacy Carter would come back too. She was awesome! Puppies!

 

[neildittmar]

1. If you could bring Kizarny back, would you? Why or Why not?

Yeah I'd bring him back, if for no other reason than I don't think he got a fair shake the first time around. Kizarny was devised by WWE creative ultimately, so any blame for the weirdness of his character rests solely on them. Having said that, I think it still could've worked. It would've been much more difficult to get over in the PG era, but a heel persona would've worked wonders here. The performer (and character) looked very "out of place" with his good-natured, happy go lucky attitude upon his debut. Truthfully, it reminded me of why WWF was so terrible in the early 90's.

2. Did you enjoy this character? Why or Why not?

I didn't enjoy the character the way it was presented to the audience. However, I did appreciate the potential he could have gone in long term. As stated above, the "face Doink" type of persona didn't really lend itself well to the performer who played Kizarny. Doing a little bit of research, you can see that Nick Cvjetkovich traditionally plays much darker characters and has had success in these roles in other promotions. WWE could've benefited greatly from having a solid, non-cookie cutter heel on the roster. They made a mistake in going the other way.

3. What would you have had Kizarny do(feuds, alliances, titles, etc.)(I would've made him a deranged heel. I think making him the playful face was a mistake.)[/I][/B]

Kizarny's "heel turn" should've been in the vignettes leading up to his debut. The first one should've played out a lot like they all did... happy-go-lucky, strange carney speak, can't smile enough, etc. These promos should've then devolved into a more sinister approach... terrorizing kids and families at the carnival while incessently blathering carnival speak in varying tones and degrees. By the time his in-ring debut came along, the character could've become complete, along with a demeanor and moveset representative of the more sinister personality built up in the promos.

For feuds, I would've had Kizarny start out as a loner, letting him squash some lower card talent in his first couple matches, moving up to more competitive feuds in the mid-card. He'd be on the losing end (mostly DQ's, some count-outs, etc.) in IC or US title opportunities while his character continued to build. To see if he had what it took long-term, I'd then book him as a "shock" challenger for the WH or WWE title on TV and see which way the crowd went and how he performed at a higher level. Depending on the results, he'd either be a mid-card champion sooner rather than later or the outcome would essentially be the same as it was (a few more house shows, used when absolutely needed, then future endeavored).

 

[Dagger Dias]

Kizarny was one of the strangest characters I have ever seen on WWE. There were over 2 months of promos for him on every single Smackdown for that timeframe. He debuts in a really terrible match and then got future endeavoured immediately. I would not bring him back if given the chance for two reasons. The first reason is because his character is so weird and would just not fit in anywhere on either brand. Even at the time he would have been too weird, no one would have understood his promos and he might have gotten lost in the shuffle. The second reason is that if he got fired after ONE MATCH then something had to have been very wrong about him. Perhaps they realized he could not live up to the hype and was just awful in the ring, or that his character would be too weird. I didn't care for the character. I would've booked him as a creepy heel carnival worker, who after built up a little bit would still get squashed by someone like Edge or Batista, and then future enedeavoured. He will live on forever as the most bizarre wrestling character of this decade.

 

[reed214]

I enjoyed Kizarny!! I saw him at a live event and he played the crowd and the match almost to genius. I would love to see him come back and one of the best ideas i'v heard in these forums was from Legendkiller and make Kizarny have the Dark Knight Joker type gimmick.that would be more interesting than having a group of rookies form a gang then have them split up and then boom...two gangs. that took up months and months of t.v so why couldnt they do something like this?? you need to counter the light with a bit of darkness!!