the problam with 2nd generation / 3rd generation superstars

[Arsenal 4 life]

To me it seems some 2nd/3rd superstars is the can't live up too the fathers with exceptations some do eg. Orton but some don't eg Ted dibasie jr , David hart Smith too me these superstars aren't going anyway this change but probably not.

How do u think this could change do u agree , disagree?

 

[The Dragon Saga]

....

What?

I'll reply, taking a stab of a guess at what you just... typed, poorly. A lot of the second and third generation Superstars are failing, which is bound to happen, just because they're the son of someone doesn't mean they must instantly be amazing. If that was the case, Shawn Stasiak would have been a World Champion like his father. And as we all know, Shawn sucked... Hard!

Some can go above their fathers. Randy Orton and The Rock are good examples of this within the WWE. Randy has surpassed his fathers legacy, The Rock surpassed his fathers legacy and some will continue to do so. I can see Cody Rhodes do it some day, becoming more of a star than "The American Dream."

Some fail. It isn't their fathers fault and it isn't theirs... Okay, it kind of is theirs but in certain ways it isn't. In WWE, Ted DiBiase has became the bitch of Cody Rhodes, in Japan, Ted DiBiase Jr. was awesome. He's being booked in the wrong manner, he didn't get over as a heel and therefore he has failed. Not to say he can't bounce back, he's still young. DH Smith has been booked and handled awfully. He was brilliant on the indies with Wilson, he can't do anything about it. He isn't his father and that's what WWE wish for him to be.

This term, "born with wrestling in their blood" is ******ed too. Like I said, they aren't their fathers, and they don't replicate them. It is actually nice to see some trying to distance themselves, an example would be Joe Henning who prefers to be known as Michael McGillicutty.

 

[vthokie8]

I think to change it WWE needs to go one step further and not even reference their fathers. If Michael McGillicutty came out with no mention of Mr. Perfect, who would we have to compare him to? I know it is a little harder now with the internet, I can just look him up on Wikipedia, but still. I think we as fans get caught up too much on comparing them to their fathers Ted DiBiase, Mr. Perfect, and Bulldog are all hall of famers who were main event level talent at one point in time. That is a lot to live up to look at Michael Jordan and Joe Montana's kids, they aren't bad athletes but are overshadowed by that comparison. Orton on the other hand doesn't have it that rough, Bob Orton was good, but he never had a title run or a real main event program on the level the three I mentioned above did.

 

[vthokie8]

....

What?

I'll reply, taking a stab of a guess at what you just... typed, poorly. A lot of the second and third generation Superstars are failing, which is bound to happen, just because they're the son of someone doesn't mean they must instantly be amazing. If that was the case, Shawn Stasiak would have been a World Champion like his father. And as we all know, Shawn sucked... Hard!

Some can go above their fathers. Randy Orton and The Rock are good examples of this within the WWE. Randy has surpassed his fathers legacy, The Rock surpassed his fathers legacy and some will continue to do so. I can see Cody Rhodes do it some day, becoming more of a star than "The American Dream."

Some fail. It isn't their fathers fault and it isn't theirs... Okay, it kind of is theirs but in certain ways it isn't. In WWE, Ted DiBiase has became the bitch of Cody Rhodes, in Japan, Ted DiBiase Jr. was awesome. He's being booked in the wrong manner, he didn't get over as a heel and therefore he has failed. Not to say he can't bounce back, he's still young. DH Smith has been booked and handled awfully. He was brilliant on the indies with Wilson, he can't do anything about it. He isn't his father and that's what WWE wish for him to be.

This term, "born with wrestling in their blood" is ******ed too. Like I said, they aren't their fathers, and they don't replicate them. It is actually nice to see some trying to distance themselves, an example would be Joe Henning who prefers to be known as Michael McGillicutty.

Agreed on everything. DiBiase and DH Smith have been booked poorly. WWE has tried every way they can to make them a reincarnation of their dads. They strap DiBiase with the million dollar belt, and when DH first came on WWE TV he was wearing the Union Jack pants and the cape. Thing is you could make DiBiase the spoiled rich kid without making him his dad and you could make DH whatever you want him to be because he looks nothing like his dad.

Stasiak did suck, on that note David Sammartino and Scott Putski had legendary dads and all blew the big one. Oh and who can forget David Flair being pushed to the moon by WCW at one point in time, with no talent at all. No matter how you would have booked these guys it was lose/lose.

 

[JJYanks121]

It's about finding an identity for yourself. The ones that succeed are able to do that while the ones that don't simply try and live by the virtue that they belong because their parents did.

You look at guys like The Rock, Randy Orton, Goldust, and others that have succeeded. These guys became successes when they were able to create an identity all their own. The second you are able to look at a superstar and not think of their father first is the second they are a true superstar. I know that Rock's family are wrestlers but I rarely, if ever, think of that when The Rock comes to the ring. Same with Orton. I think about the Viper, not about Cowboy Bob.

The ones that struggle are the ones whose gimmicks are largely predicated on their parent's gimmicks. The examples I've seen are Ted DiBiase and DH Smith. Both men can wrestler well but don't have a strong character base. Why? Their characters have been too closely associated with their family. Dibiase's peak was in Legacy when he was more associated with Orton than his own family. Once that was done, his gimmick became his father's gimmick and there was no way fans were going to buy him being as good as his father in that gimmick. The same goes for DH Smith who has wrestled to fame in a tag team that honors the Hart Foundation. While his father wasn't in that tag team, his uncles were. The idea is that he is billed as "another Hart clan member" and that hurts him. Bret's a hall of famer while the rest are quite revered. To be compared to them doesn't help.

If those guys want to succeed, they have to create an identity that has nothing to do with their family. You look at Goldust and he's had a long career because at the beginning, he decided to go away from being "Dustin Rhodes" in favor of being the weirdest character anyone could think of. It worked and Goldust has been a successful wrestler since 1995. Smart fans know he's the son of Dusty Rhodes but nobody thinks about it when the Golden man walks through the curtains. The same thing is happening with his brother. Cody, while using the Rhodes name, is establishing a character all his own that has taken off. You don't think "oh, this is just Dusty's kid", you think "wow, this guy is psychotic, he's talented".

It's tough for these guys because they do have a legacy they come in with. For guys that don't have parents in the business, they come in fresh and in that sense, it's easier to not have a shadow to live in. It might be tough, but it's not impossible to get out of your father's shadow. The work just needs to be put it to become your own man......or woman.

 

[Leafy]

I'm going to agree with the general consensus how just because you are born into wrestling royalty, does not mean you are born with those abilities.

Another factor going into the failure of many second-generation superstars is the lazy booking of their gimmicks. When you just take their parents gimmick and copy and paste it onto their offspring it doesn't work. We've seen that with Ted Dibiase Jr.

If Rock just used Rocky Johnson's gimmick his entire career we would have never seen the potential he brought to the ring and microphone. You need to not treat them special because the are the wrestling royalty, but treat them like everyone else and find their character.

 

[EastCoastFan]

It all depends on who they are and who their dads are. The ones who have succeeded are the ones who don't try to be "their father's son", meaning they were their own men.

Dwayne Johnson sputtered when the WWF pushed him to the moon as "Rocky Maivia, third generation superstar", but when he ditched that persona in favor of "The Rock", he became a mega-star.

Alberto Del Rio has done great in WWE, largely because he became someone other than "Dos Caras Jr." when he came in. Being Dos Caras' son (and Mil Mascaras' nephew) helped him in Mexico, but wouldn't have helped him in WWE.

Randy Orton was able to be his own man, but he was lucky to have had a father who didn't cast a huge shadow for him. Bob Orton Jr. is best remembered as Roddy Piper's sidekick, not for anything he did himself. Same thing with Natalya. Her father is Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, who is remembered only for being Bret Hart's tag team partner. On the other hand, guys like David Sammartino, Greg Gagne, Erik Watts and David Flair were never able to escape the shadows of their legendary fathers.

Dustin Rhodes did OK in WCW being hyped as Dusty's son, but by becoming Goldust in the WWF, he was able to create his own legacy without being permanently branded as nothing more than Dusty's kid. Time will tell if Cody Rhodes is able to do the same.

Being the son of a noted wrestler can open a lot of doors, but they have to make their own name to truly succeed. Trying to be the second coming of their fathers can wind them up with an albatross around their necks, like David Hart Smith and Ted DiBiase Jr.