The push that was Vladimir Kozlov

[CM Steel]

When Vladimir Kozlov first debut in the WWE on the Smackdown brand he had a juggernant like push towards the main event scene. In late 2008 Vladimir Kozlov was in fueds over the WWE title with the likes of Triple H, Jeff Hardy, and Edge. But out of those four superstars Vladimir Kozlov was the one not to be the WWE champion. And months after that he was drafted to the now defunct ECW brand, where he would have a better chance to become a "world champion".

But Vladimir Kozlov's time in ECW was more going downhill then getting better. He had some shots at becoming the ECW champion. But soon after that he became more of a goon type wrestler involving himself with William Regal in his "Ruthless Roundtable" along with Ezekiel Jackson.

And now Vladimir Kozlov is now on the RAW brand as tag team partner to Santino Marrella of all people where Santino serves more as the head of the tag team. And now Vladimir Kozlov has won his first WWE title as a tag team champion with Santino Marrella. But in single's action it's been more of the same for Vladimir Kozlov with him playing the jobber role?

So to speak, whatever happened to the push that was Vladimir Kozlov?

 

[Y 2 Jake]

WWE pushed him hard, he didn't get over in the slightest, so they stopped. That is basically all that happened. If Kozlov was any good, or at the very least, engaging, he would've been a world champ by now. WWE wanted, and tried, to make him a star, Kozlov wasn't talented enough to get himself over. If only they'd invested the time in somebody else.

His current role suits him better anyway.

 

[Maddog Lionheart]

Well. It died. I had high hopes for him as well. He was even going into the fight for the WWE title before Jeff Hardy left. I honestly don't know but it doesn't make sense to me either.

 

[Dagger Dias]

The fans did not react enough so he got demoted to ECW and comedy with Santino. I think that he was pushed to the main event too fast. He had an undefeated streak going on and could have worked up to the top of the card slower to make the fans care. This push did not work because WWE were too impatient and immediately threw him into a world title match with Trips. Clearly they learned their mistake with this push as others like Sheamus or Del Rio have had time to get over first.

 

[Mr. Piledriver]

He also had a clean win over the Undertaker on Smackdown thenthe bottom just went out and nothing, I believe it was Harley Race who first brought him to the WWE as a handler/manager but once again nothing came out of it.
They really dropped the ball when he came in. But hey lets push Kofi lol

 

[zman21]

like many have pointed out he had no fan reaction which is the worst in pro wrestling. when sheamus got his big push in 2009 he got alot of heat from the crowd but koslov got none. he is better where he is at now a comedy tag team with santino, sure he wont be wwe champion but the crowd loves him and reacts to him now

 

[Gomez13]

yeah after he defeated undertaker CLEAN with a POWERSLAM of all moves lol, i actually thought he was gunna win the rumble that year or possibly face taker at mania. 1 of the 2 might have happened... but fan reaction was against him and now he stuck with santino till he gets released...

 

[muzz-rocks]

I think Koslov is completly underrated as far as in ring work goes but for me it was his promos that needed A LOT of work! I'm sure i read something about him hurting HHH badly at a house show and the match having to be called off which put his push in the dog house, much like when RVD frog splashed HHH from one of the pods during an Elimination Chamber match. RVD would later get a push for the title when Vince was bringing back ECW unlike Koslov who had nothing going for him. If he was given a mouth piece to do his promos for him, i think he would be one of the top heels in WWE now.

I love his comedy role in WWE now but i would like him to turn on Santino and be a mid card heel on Smackdown.

 

[penguin74]

I actually liked Kozlov in the beginning. I think the mistake made was not giving him a manager. He could easily have pulled off an Ivan Drago kind of character, the Russian machine that doesn't feel pain. Something that could have built off the Undertaker win, leading to a real feud where they try and convince us that as much as he tries, Taker just can't hurt the man.

If he had been used similar to the way Umaga was at first, with Estrada being the mouthpiece to get him the heat he couldn't get on his own, he could have made something of himself. You could even have used Estrada, forming a stable of monsters he recruits from around the globe to destroy the WWE or some such nonsense.

 

[JBK2008]

WWE really did try in 2008 with him and the fans just didn't embrace him for very long. His tag team with Santino is good for him, or he's be a jobber and eventually released IMO. His music though...ugh if only he was over because I like it when he comes to the ring. Once the bell rings though...eh...

 

[Malenko316]

OK all WWE marks and haters of actual wrestling, time for a reality check: Koslov came in '08, got pushed and then ran into two guaranteed blocks to success in the WWE: 1) creative realised he was actually a more technically sound guy than Taker or 90% of the guys on the roster at that time and if they let him use his Sambo skills, he would make the established guys look silly (a la Ken Shamrock or Bryan Danielson). 2) Even worse, he was matched against one of the 3 guys at the time you couldn't make look silly in Triple H (the others being Taker and Cena) and alongside those 2 and Michaels, Trips also carried the most backstage weight and only put over guys he wanted to (and only does now with fellow gym rats like Seamus).

Given those things, and the fact he is not good on the mic, he was never going to be put over, either by creative or guys like Trips who repeatedly no sold in their matches. Putting him with Santino only compounded the unease fans had with a guy they had been the chance to connect with - alot of which in ECW goes to the fact that they didn't give him a mother piece manager. Putting an either way guy with the running joke that is Santino (rather than the logical move to bring Santino in under the Oleg Prodius persona and inject the image of russians with something other than cold war prejudice), was only going to further undermine his character. Now, he can't even come across as a monster because it would ruin the 'dynamic' he has with Santino.

The only way to cure the current issue bring Alex Koslov up from slumming with the fcw dregs and onto the stage his talent deserves. Make him kick Santino's ass from Washington to Vladyvostock and team with Vladimir - it gives the current Koslov a reliable and legit mouth piece and gives Alex a good starting pointing. Whether any of the writers has that level of intelligence, and judging by the pushes given to Mizanin and Truth, I somewhat doubt it, is another story. So line up marks and real wrestling haters to take shots at me - my skin is thinker than Vlad's head - but that, is reality.

 

[HBKStreakbuster]

Validimir Who? You mean Jimmy Koslov...is he still on Superstars?

 

[Joshua]

I agree with Melanko. The only way to make this guy relevant is to give him some sorta mouth piece or handler because let's face it the guy isn't going to get better on the mic. Alex Koslov has a lot of talent and it would make sense for obvious reasons (Russian tag team blah blah). Alex has certainly spent enough time learning how the WWE does things from being in FCW.

I kinda see Vlad turning on Santino eventually and the WWE giving him some sorta midcard push to see what he can do with it. If WWE is really trying to bring back the manager aspect of wrestling, well put this guy at the top of the list for that. He might have to talk to Tyson Kidd about that though, all managers seem to go through him.

 

[natiboy]

If I remember correctly it was also because his in ring performances sucked.

I remember a couple of months ago in a match he was supposed to go over the top rope but couldn't do it right and made it looks so funny when he finally got himself over it, except now it didn't look like the opponent irish whipped him now it was like a ghost made him do it lol!

 

[Joshua]

/\That's a botched spot kid it happens sometimes. That pro wrestling for ya'.

 

[The Scarred One]

The WWE tried to push Kozlov as a monster much in the same way that they did with Brock Lesnar. The problem was that the WWE pushed him way too fast, while he didn't have the skills to substantiate such a major push. Maybe if Kozlov had been brought in with a manager like Armando Estrada or as a bodyguard much like Ezekiel Jackson was brought in, it would've been a better fit for him.

 

[911 JP]

The push may have died, but his appeal is still there.

When he frist came in, and he had his undefeated streak, he was quite promising, something different, a breath of fresh air, and I did like him. But he did get old quickly. When he went to ECW I couldnt care less about him. But the actual push, was booked right for the first half, but towards the end it wasnt as good. He begun out being undefeated, facing HHH for the WWE Championship. Then his first loss to HBK, it was good, booked well, but...

That was a match booked for the chance to take Takers streak, and twhen he lost he wasnt even on the Mania card!

But as a face I like him alot, he is better, connects with the fans, still has good skills, but has alot of appeal, he looks like a true Pro Wrestler.

 

[berlinbrawler]

Kozlov's character just doesn't fly with today's audience. Back in the 80s he would have enjoyed great success as Hulk Hogan's evil commie arch nemesis. Today being Russian means nothing to the WWE audience, except that this guy can't talk. Also his ringwork seems rather lackluster. I expect Kozlov to get future endeavored soonr rather than later.

 

[vthokie8]

I think that booking was the major issue with Kozlov on many levels. For starters, the big bad Russian gimmick played out after Rocky 4. America is not at odds with Russia, for the most part Russians are kind of comic relief now in television and film. If he would have been around in in mid 80s I'm sure he may have been Hogan's biggest nemesis hands down. The guy has no mic skills, I still remember when he was interviewed my Mike Adamle on Raw when they were first going to bring him up from OVW, he butchered his promo (double double e). If he would have been given a manager and a storyline, maybe explaining why he hated America or how he was taken for a joke because of his accent, hell anything would have worked but all we got was a big Russian coming out and destroying people. Another thing was how he fared against the big boys, he detroyed Jeff Hardy, Rey Mysterio, I think he may have even messed up Kennedy if I'm not mistaken, but when he took on Triple H and Taker he just got beat, no screw finish, no weapons used, nothing he just got beat plain and simple. If you are going to build a monster he has to detroy the competition and if he does get beat it has to take a hell of an effort to do it or he gets beat by DQ from maiming the face, I mean they even did this with Khali. Khali dominated Undertaker probably more so than Kane ever did. Giant Gonzalez crushed Taker in the Rumble, Umaga came out and took out a legend, Brock laid a path of destruction, even Taker himself wrecked the WWE when he first came in, he even took the belt from Hogan in their first meeting. Kozlov could have beat Triple H and/or Taker, maybe not for the title but if they really wanted to make him a monster he should have beat more than just Jeff Hardy and Rey Mysterio.

 

[The Crock]

It's simple, he got his push, but it just didn't work out. He was pushed because he had an interesting look and he was a big guy, plus he had some unique moves and there certainly wasn't anybody like him in the WWE. Problem is, he didn't connect with the crowd, so he got moved to a different role. He's much better where he is right now anyway, he's an entertaining comedy character having some success in the tag team division. It's better than being a jobber without a personality, easily.