Was the Legacy faction done right?

[CM Steel]

Three and a have years ago the Legacy faction was into play with Randy Orton as the leader. Ted Dibiase (Jr.) & Cody Rhodes were chosen while Sim Snuka & Manu were eliminated by the three. By the time that Legacy first started Dibiase & Rhodes won the tag team title's on RAW, while Randy Orton was once again on the prowl for the WWE championship.

Dibiase & Rhodes lost the RAW tag team title's by the time Randy Orton finally won the WWE title from Triple H. But isn't every faction or stable suppose to have a dynasty run in wrestling like the Four Horsemen & Evolution once had? Legacy looked reminiscence of "Team Angle" from Smackdown in 2003. Where the tag team would take all the bumps and falls the leader is suppose to and serve as the leader's goons in the process while the head would receive all the heat.

But what if Legacy had four members opposed to just three? Like a solid mid-carder going for the mid-card title. If someone like a David Hart Smith would have joined Legacy he could have been groomed & polished more and he would still have had a job in the WWE today opposed to being released. Joe Henning wasn't ready yet to be on WWE TV. And Jesse aka "Slam Master J" was a joke!

So could the Legacy faction had been done better?

 

[d3thRoW]

I would have liked to have seen Snuka maybe kept in the group to add some kind of diversity to it. Like you said, there were plenty of other guys around who would have also fit. Also during that time it seemed to me like DiBiase was going to really launch as a a face, fans seemed to be behind him, especially when the tension started with Orton, though that didn't ever really materialize for Ted afterwords. I did love the Royal Rumble where Orton kind of ordered Cody to attack Goldust, felt like that was a beginning of a breakthrough for Cody, and where his character would go. Orton as a mentor to the two of them is actually the most interesting he has been since his evolution days. Seemed to me also that Cody and Ted should have had the tag belts more, or maybe one of them snagging a singles title and it starting a rivalry between them for Orton's approval might have been interesting...ah well, that's hindsight for ya.

 

[Jmister]

I think the main problem for me was, it just didn't seem like Orton really cared about Ted or Cody. He didn't really seem to take them seriously. If he wasn't fully committed to them being the future of the business why would I believe for a second they would be. He beat them up as much or more than their opponents. Legacy was all about Orton plain and simple. The moment it looked like Ted was going to get over it was like someone said wait this is supposed to be all about Randy and they quickly put an end to what should have been a break out moment for Ted. Now with that being said and after watching Ted since the days of Legacy it may have been for the best. Even still there was enough 2nd and 3rd gen talent on the roster and in development at the time to really do something cool. I think an extra tier of talent in Legacy would have made all the difference in the world. If Orton was really behind Ted and Cody as the future and there were two or three other members trying to earn that level of respect from Orton it could have changed everything. I remember being in love with the Legacy concept at the time but always feeling like it was just in it's infancy stage. Sadly it just never matured the way I would have liked.

 

[DirtyD79]

Legacy had two major problems, for starters they were always getting jobbed to hell and back. They never really seemed like much of a threat to Triple H and John Cena. A babyface is only as strong as the the heels they're up against. When you turn half the act into soup cans you lose the conflict and the conflict of whether or not the babyface is gonna win is a large part of what gets the fans into a match.

The Second problem which is related to the first is Ted Dibiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes never really seemed like they were on equal footing with Randy Orton. It was less like a stable and more like Randy Orton and two lackeys largely because it was Cody and Ted eating a lot of those pins and beatdowns. Sim Snuka was just barely there for a cup of coffee.

 

[Aeon Mathix]

It seemed as if Legacy was only there to put over Orton. The 3 of them as a stable never did anything note worthy. You can make a case for Cody that he wouldn't be at the level he is today without the faction, but DiBiase is basically where he started before Legacy happened. Cody and Ted had a forgetful tag title reign but that was about it. This stable needed maybe Sim Snuka or another 3rd generation star and would have had to been booked properly like Evolution was.

Legacy was kind of like this: Orton was the focal point of the show, then when he was in trouble or something, here comes DiBiase and Rhodes to help him out and we are like "oh yeah, they are in a stable together aren't they?". The two of them weren't showcased or pushed as well as they could have been and the stable ended being lackluster and just a way to get Orton over. Bottom line, GREAT concept, terrible execution with Legacy.

 

[TheLoneCharles]

First off, Legacy used WAYYY too much lotion for guys coming to the ring in their underwear. Their intro looked like the front page of male swimsuit edition, it was too homoerotic for my tastes.

With that said, Orton was the one with the best booking, and both Ted and Cody like everyone else has said were clearly the lackeys. In fact, I thought Ted actually got better treatment than Cody within the faction, which led me to believe at the time that Ted was going to be the breakout star.

Cody never had a chance to grow into something until he was on his own. With Ted, he had a breakout moment where the fans were chanting "Teddy" in hopes of him turning on Orton...and since then it seems Ted has never been able to come close to that.

When the blowoff to the Legacy feud is having Orton dominate the two at a Wrestlemania in a triple threat match, it says alot. Cody is making with IN SPITE of being a lackey in Legacy. And Ted....well....DiBiase Posse isn't doing it for me. If anything, Legacy turned Orton face and into the "Cena-lite" version people whine about online.

 

[theBec2101]

it would of been better if they would of kept Sim Snuka and Manu. It just same a little wierd and had a little racial intention with who they kicked out of the group, thats when it was, kinda like when HBK kicked out the only black guy, Booker T. Im not saying that was there motive, but thats the way it appeared.
Then there is Cody Rhodes. As I aid in other posts, I do not see the big deal with him. He small yes, but he is not flash like other small men. Like rey, Kofi, Gabrial, Sin Cara etc.
But if they would of kept it with 4 or 5 people I think it would of lasted longer and had better feuds. I all successful stables or fraction had larger groups of people. Look at the NWO(all versions), LWO, 4 horsemen(they had more then 4), DX(i mean there were the main 2), the ministry, evolution the NOD lasted for awhile. Remeber when wwe is was into the whole gang thin, DOA, the Los Boricuas. So they could of been something.

 

[logan_punisher]

i praise the wwe creative when legacy came out and all the way they did it was perfect i was wanting to keep watching. i was interested in it. great opinions on this topic and a good question. i think legacy was done right. just my opinion.

 

[scottyshowman82]

I think when they took out Manu and then Sim Snuka it messed up the angle. It had the opportunity to be great. But to me Legacy was an angle that never really took off or got going. I agree with the fact they should have had four. At one time I was thinking they throw Chris Masters in there just because he looked like the rest of them. I know I know he's not a 2 or 3rd generation superstar, but if Orton was like we need a strong enforcer or body guard to watch our back, I would have bought it and it would have helped Masters out and made them look stronger. Hell Orton was ready to offer Batista a spot.

 

[IHW]

Legacy did fine and it culminated in a three way WrestleMania match. I enjoyed the stable the whole time they were together, and i wouldn't mind seeing Legacy 2.0.

 

[King Michéal]

For me Legacy did not work. Cody looked really weak, which hindered his development. Ted got a push, but after the Mania match, they dropped the ball with him.
Thw whole point of the stable was to get the younger guys over. I thought Ted should have been chasing a midcard title, and Sim Snuka and Cody go after the tag team titles. Orton should have done more to make them look strong, instead it was more about him getting over

 

[iwinulose]

legacy was alright, though as a lot of other people mentioned rhodes and dibiase did take most of the punishment. on the other hand since then both rhodes and dibiase had some decent run's, they even feuded with DX, they even beat DX on a couple of occasions, besides, when legacy was together that was basically sanding the rough edges and to get rhodes and dibiase some attention while making a decent stable, whether they jobbed or not is kinda irrelevant. one could argue and say that they helped the tag team division stay relevant. plus if you look at rhodes and dibiase have come far since legacy and it added onto their careers.

so what i'm trying to say is that yes they should have jobbed less, no the extra member would't have helped because they weren't really one of those dominant stables, more to get randy over then anything, in which case they did a good job and now they are reeking the rewards of job's well done so it helped everyone out.

 

[JJ15776]

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure Legacy counts as a faction. It was just Orton and his two lackeys, Rhodes & DiBiase. They were never equals. He never did anything to help them, it was just them helping him and each other. He never taught them anything or mentored them in any way.

And the breakup of the faction seemed kind of jumbled up, which I believe was a result of the WWE not getting the crowd reactions they expected. I think they wanted to use the stable to turn Rhodes and DiBiase face, but the crowd decided to make Orton the face.

They needed a 4th member. I'm not sure Snuka or Manu was the answer, though. DH Smith would've been perfect.

 

[HBKistheHOF]

First off I'd like to say that I believe Legacy to be the best Stable/Faction since Evolution! Nothing lasted as long as they did and consistantly week in and week out made an impact or progression on some level even if it be minor.

Now that I've said that I thought it could have been done alot better, considering it will be probably the only Orton led stable and only some-what incarnation of Evolution(which is tied with the Four Horsemen for my favorite team/stable/faction EVER!)

1.) I Agree that it seemed Randy knew those guys were there to make him look good and he didn't seem to even slightly care about the team. Every great team(while usually having a leader that was more dominant that the other members) always led and supported the team, not treated them like goons.

2.)And I feel like this is where alot fell apart, is when Dibiase left to get married and got replaced by Manu. Not only was that just a cheap excuse for Umaga at the time(no offense he just was WWE's transitional samoan guy) but Dibiase obviously suffered in the long run too. So while they were great, they missed a couple steps.

 

[BillAlfonso]

They screwed up when they kicked the other guys, Snuka and Manu, out. It was like, they were just really introduced in this manner and then they were gone. I was expecting something to come if it but, uh, no. Also, as a previous poster said, it gave an unintentional racial vibe to the angle for a moment. They continued to sink the ship when they seemed to insulate them from other next gen guys that were on the roster like The Hart Dynasty and Slam Master J. I thought it would've been good to see some of them get involved to some capacity especially since they had other guys like The Usos, McGillicuty, Husky Harris, and Mike DiBiase in FCW at the time. They could've had them all join up as a sort of invasion from within with RKO turning them loose at will or had them go to war with each other with Legacy, probably RKO, The Dibiase Brothers, Rhodes, and McGillicuty vs Golddust, The Heart Dynasty, Slam Master J, and Harris vs Chavo Guerro, The Usos, Snuka, and Manu. It could've started off that way and had them change between stables until the war was over with each of the veterans leading them. Anyway, however you slice it, it's just another missed opportunity from creative and another reason for a single booker.

 

[Wald]

I thought they could have done more with Snuka in the group alright. They should have booked Snuka as this crazy Samoan who was tough as nails, kind of like Haku/Meng, a silent but deadly character that Orton could turn loose on his enemies.

That said Legacy failed in the same way the vast majority of heels fail in the WWE now, they weren't ever presented as threats to guys like Triple H or John Cena. To make the faction seem legit Orton should have taken the title early and held it for long, leading to a three way struggle over it with Cena and Triple H.

Triple H and Cena would have had to sell for Snuka, DiBiase and Rhodes and present them as dangers too, especially if Snuka were to play the assassin character I think he was suited for.