Unrated Superstar
Thufferin' Thuccatash!
I know there's already a topic entitled "Christian" that discusses Christian's current and future career in general, but I thought it was worth starting a topic to specifically address a commonly believed idea throughout the IWC that I personally disagree with...there are actually a few variations of it that I will list...
1. Vince McMahon doesn't see enough in Christian to make him a main eventer.
2. Vince McMahon is mad at Christian for jumping to TNA.
3. Vince McMahon hates Christian.
Well in my humble opinion, and as far as I can tell, these rumors are BULLSHIT. Actually, 2 and 3 are bullshit, 1 is CURRENTLY bullshit.
First off, let's review how these rumors started. Christian was never pushed very well in his 8-year run in the WWE (I'll list more specifics of that if necessary in further posts) despite being pretty well over with many fans, so then he went to TNA, where he got pushed damn well and had two world title runs with the company during his 3-year TNA career. Then after 3 years left and signed with WWE again. Why is anybody's guess, but you could speculate that he felt he had done all he could do in TNA and felt he was ready to another crack at shining in WWE...or maybe he just felt like making more money. Either way, as soon as the rumors surfaced that Christian's WWE return may be in the works, reports started about Vince not liking Christian that much. They seemed to even continue through after his debut. I haven't heard any of those reports in a while though, and I think it's very telling. Thing is, a lot of members of the IWC are STILL clinging to those rumors.
WHY? Because he's still in ECW within a mere 10 months? Because he's not the captain of his team at Survivor Series? Umm...you do realize he's spent more than half of his ECW career, including the last 4 months as the champion of the brand? How about the fact that he's always been booked as a strong champion and contender, and even recently picked up a squeaky clean win over current unified tag team champion and co-captain of Team Smackdown at Bragging rights, Chris Jericho? Sure, it was on Christian's show, but that only gave Christian a relatively small edge in the match...aside from that, do you realize how big that is? In every match Christian ever had against Chris Jericho before he left for TNA, Christian has been booked as the weaker opponent, win or lose (and mostly lose). But a few weeks ago Christian was booked as a legit competitor against the current main eventer, Chris Jericho. And everyone talks about how he isn't ready to be considered at Edge's level in a feud...why not? If he can beat Jericho CLEAN when he has a pretty substansial history of being booked as the weaker opponent, why not Edge? Their history may be on a larger scale, but I personally don't see too much of a difference. The match with Jericho really clinched it for me.
Vince McMahon does NOT hate Christian. Maybe he didn't see him as legit main event material in the past, but I'm convinced that he sure as hell sees it now. And Vince is NOT resentful toward Christian, nor is he punishing him, for going to TNA. Christian is a valuable asset to WWE, he has the potential to be an even bigger asset, and Vince knows it. If he hated Christian so much or were still mad at him, why sign him back to WWE? I'll tell you why, because despite Vince's ego, he's a businessman. Hell, he resigned Jeff Hardy after Hardy had a run in TNA and made him world champion down the road on three different occasions! And Hardy was a well-documented drug user! But let's not get too far into that, it's just an example.
People jump ship, it happens. If Vince were really mad about it but just had to go ahead and sign him, why have him debut and challenge right away for the ECW championship? There ARE worse places he could be, people! Why not just have him challenge the Boogeyman and then have him lose and eat worms? Why not have him become a crappy late-night talk show sidekick who laughs stupidly every now and then? IT COULD BE WORSE!
The only validity to the rumors this topic is centered around could be that Vince USED TO not be very high on Christian. But have you ever though that maybe, just maybe it's possible that Vince has changed his mind? Vince's company may not acknowledge TNA on TV, but he's familiar with them, to say the least. If he weren't, he probably wouldn't sign as much talent from their company and wouldn't have thrown a fit over the Hogan/Bischoff deal. Christian really showed what he was made of in TNA, and has proved himself even further in ECW.
If you ask me, Christian couldn't have asked to have it better. There's more to becoming successful in the wrestling business than becoming a main eventer or even a world champion on Raw or Smackdown over night. It's about development and buildup just as much as anything. The Great Khali won the world title on Smackdown after a year in the WWE and look where he ended up. Christian came in at just the right spot, not TOO far up on the card, but at the top of ECW, which was a good middle point for him. He had a chance to build up again while getting fairly decent exposure and being booked as a strong competitor. Even if he's not an official "main eventer" yet, I can buy him as one much more easily now than I ever could during his first run. And yes, I do believe Christian has major potential to become a future world champion on Raw or Smackdown, sooner or later.
So I ask you, with everything Christian's done in his run, when you really think about it, how can you say Vince McMahon doesn't like Christian? The way I see it, every reason I hear now is because of some petty nitpicking about a minor setback or flaw in the way he's booked. What can you possibly be thinking when you spread these rumors?
Is there something I missed? If there is, I beg you to let me know.
1. Vince McMahon doesn't see enough in Christian to make him a main eventer.
2. Vince McMahon is mad at Christian for jumping to TNA.
3. Vince McMahon hates Christian.
Well in my humble opinion, and as far as I can tell, these rumors are BULLSHIT. Actually, 2 and 3 are bullshit, 1 is CURRENTLY bullshit.
First off, let's review how these rumors started. Christian was never pushed very well in his 8-year run in the WWE (I'll list more specifics of that if necessary in further posts) despite being pretty well over with many fans, so then he went to TNA, where he got pushed damn well and had two world title runs with the company during his 3-year TNA career. Then after 3 years left and signed with WWE again. Why is anybody's guess, but you could speculate that he felt he had done all he could do in TNA and felt he was ready to another crack at shining in WWE...or maybe he just felt like making more money. Either way, as soon as the rumors surfaced that Christian's WWE return may be in the works, reports started about Vince not liking Christian that much. They seemed to even continue through after his debut. I haven't heard any of those reports in a while though, and I think it's very telling. Thing is, a lot of members of the IWC are STILL clinging to those rumors.
WHY? Because he's still in ECW within a mere 10 months? Because he's not the captain of his team at Survivor Series? Umm...you do realize he's spent more than half of his ECW career, including the last 4 months as the champion of the brand? How about the fact that he's always been booked as a strong champion and contender, and even recently picked up a squeaky clean win over current unified tag team champion and co-captain of Team Smackdown at Bragging rights, Chris Jericho? Sure, it was on Christian's show, but that only gave Christian a relatively small edge in the match...aside from that, do you realize how big that is? In every match Christian ever had against Chris Jericho before he left for TNA, Christian has been booked as the weaker opponent, win or lose (and mostly lose). But a few weeks ago Christian was booked as a legit competitor against the current main eventer, Chris Jericho. And everyone talks about how he isn't ready to be considered at Edge's level in a feud...why not? If he can beat Jericho CLEAN when he has a pretty substansial history of being booked as the weaker opponent, why not Edge? Their history may be on a larger scale, but I personally don't see too much of a difference. The match with Jericho really clinched it for me.
Vince McMahon does NOT hate Christian. Maybe he didn't see him as legit main event material in the past, but I'm convinced that he sure as hell sees it now. And Vince is NOT resentful toward Christian, nor is he punishing him, for going to TNA. Christian is a valuable asset to WWE, he has the potential to be an even bigger asset, and Vince knows it. If he hated Christian so much or were still mad at him, why sign him back to WWE? I'll tell you why, because despite Vince's ego, he's a businessman. Hell, he resigned Jeff Hardy after Hardy had a run in TNA and made him world champion down the road on three different occasions! And Hardy was a well-documented drug user! But let's not get too far into that, it's just an example.
People jump ship, it happens. If Vince were really mad about it but just had to go ahead and sign him, why have him debut and challenge right away for the ECW championship? There ARE worse places he could be, people! Why not just have him challenge the Boogeyman and then have him lose and eat worms? Why not have him become a crappy late-night talk show sidekick who laughs stupidly every now and then? IT COULD BE WORSE!
The only validity to the rumors this topic is centered around could be that Vince USED TO not be very high on Christian. But have you ever though that maybe, just maybe it's possible that Vince has changed his mind? Vince's company may not acknowledge TNA on TV, but he's familiar with them, to say the least. If he weren't, he probably wouldn't sign as much talent from their company and wouldn't have thrown a fit over the Hogan/Bischoff deal. Christian really showed what he was made of in TNA, and has proved himself even further in ECW.
If you ask me, Christian couldn't have asked to have it better. There's more to becoming successful in the wrestling business than becoming a main eventer or even a world champion on Raw or Smackdown over night. It's about development and buildup just as much as anything. The Great Khali won the world title on Smackdown after a year in the WWE and look where he ended up. Christian came in at just the right spot, not TOO far up on the card, but at the top of ECW, which was a good middle point for him. He had a chance to build up again while getting fairly decent exposure and being booked as a strong competitor. Even if he's not an official "main eventer" yet, I can buy him as one much more easily now than I ever could during his first run. And yes, I do believe Christian has major potential to become a future world champion on Raw or Smackdown, sooner or later.
So I ask you, with everything Christian's done in his run, when you really think about it, how can you say Vince McMahon doesn't like Christian? The way I see it, every reason I hear now is because of some petty nitpicking about a minor setback or flaw in the way he's booked. What can you possibly be thinking when you spread these rumors?
Is there something I missed? If there is, I beg you to let me know.