A thread started a while ago asking what was the point of Val Venis. I began to think back to the late 90's and wonder myself why and how he became the new Brooklyn Brawler. Val Venis was one of many young rising talents in the last few years of the 90's. His character was over whether he was face or heel, he was a multiple IC champion and had matches with several top stars including Austin and The Rock. True, the porno star gimmick may not have been mainevent material, but the WWE could've changed it, remember Austin started out as The Ringmaster with Ted Dibiase. Back in 98/99 if you were to pick which of these 3 would win a world title, Venis, Bradshaw, or Mark Henry, (k, let's just pretend the ECW title is a legitimate title in this case) most people would've picked Venis. The funny thing is, Bradshaw and Henry had less successful middlecard tenures than Venis, yet both became World Champion, while Venis hit a wall in 2000/01 and never fully recovered.
So the questions, why didn't Val get his mainevent push? what stopped it from happening? And what if he did get his big push could he have become World Champion, or a solid middlecarder?
I think what stopped Val's push from happening were a number of reasons. 1) He began in the Austin/Rock/HHH era. Those three along with Undertaker were a part of every mainevent title fued from 98-01. 2) WCW's collapse. Big Show, Jericho, Benoit, Eddie, Booker T, Goldberg Nash Hogan Flair and Stiener for a while, all either signed before or after WCW's collapse and became maineventers from 99 to 04. Val was a multiple time IC champion, but never really was consistently dominant, never really going long stretches of dominance and always disappearing and re-appearing. His pushs were never the best, and the problem always seemed the WWE would always give up on them early, like his stint with T&A, RTC and his Chef Morley tenure. WIth a solid push like they gave Shelton or MVP, Val might've been able to become a dominant IC champ. I doubt he would've ever become WWE champion,especially with his gimmick, but if they changed it up sooner, like when he made his return in 2002, he may have progresses to mainevent.
His gimmick was becoming stale when the brought him back in 2002, they even tried re-naming him The Big Valbowski, so in 2003 they gave him a serious gimmick as Bishoff's assistant. This should've been the time to push him hard and over as a heel, not just in a power position, but to also to have him win a few matches, act kinda how Regal was briefly during his GM tenure, A man in power that is also a good wrestler. However, WWE did neither of these, making him look like Bishoff's pathetic wimpy assistant and looking almost as weak in the ring as Johnny Nitro did when he debuted as Bishoffs apprentice. Yes he was Tag Team champ with Lance Storm, but he awarded himself the title when Regal was injured, and I think they lost in either there first or second defence, but either way, putting a title on himself and then losing it quickly never looks good. After he got canned by Bishoff, he settled back into his old gimmick, formed a minorly successful tag team with Visera that got a title match, and has slowly transformed into this generations version of the Brooklyn Brawler with an occasional win, which isn't neccessarly a bad thing. He is a good wrestler, is willing to put anyone over and make them look good (which is always needed), and it is a steady job and a steady paycheck. Val may never get in the HOF, but he should because he's a class act, he's never made a big scene or had alot of backstage heat, and he's a solid talent, in the ring and out of the ring.
So thoughts? Could Val have been pushed farther, or was he never really mainevent good? What held him back?
So the questions, why didn't Val get his mainevent push? what stopped it from happening? And what if he did get his big push could he have become World Champion, or a solid middlecarder?
I think what stopped Val's push from happening were a number of reasons. 1) He began in the Austin/Rock/HHH era. Those three along with Undertaker were a part of every mainevent title fued from 98-01. 2) WCW's collapse. Big Show, Jericho, Benoit, Eddie, Booker T, Goldberg Nash Hogan Flair and Stiener for a while, all either signed before or after WCW's collapse and became maineventers from 99 to 04. Val was a multiple time IC champion, but never really was consistently dominant, never really going long stretches of dominance and always disappearing and re-appearing. His pushs were never the best, and the problem always seemed the WWE would always give up on them early, like his stint with T&A, RTC and his Chef Morley tenure. WIth a solid push like they gave Shelton or MVP, Val might've been able to become a dominant IC champ. I doubt he would've ever become WWE champion,especially with his gimmick, but if they changed it up sooner, like when he made his return in 2002, he may have progresses to mainevent.
His gimmick was becoming stale when the brought him back in 2002, they even tried re-naming him The Big Valbowski, so in 2003 they gave him a serious gimmick as Bishoff's assistant. This should've been the time to push him hard and over as a heel, not just in a power position, but to also to have him win a few matches, act kinda how Regal was briefly during his GM tenure, A man in power that is also a good wrestler. However, WWE did neither of these, making him look like Bishoff's pathetic wimpy assistant and looking almost as weak in the ring as Johnny Nitro did when he debuted as Bishoffs apprentice. Yes he was Tag Team champ with Lance Storm, but he awarded himself the title when Regal was injured, and I think they lost in either there first or second defence, but either way, putting a title on himself and then losing it quickly never looks good. After he got canned by Bishoff, he settled back into his old gimmick, formed a minorly successful tag team with Visera that got a title match, and has slowly transformed into this generations version of the Brooklyn Brawler with an occasional win, which isn't neccessarly a bad thing. He is a good wrestler, is willing to put anyone over and make them look good (which is always needed), and it is a steady job and a steady paycheck. Val may never get in the HOF, but he should because he's a class act, he's never made a big scene or had alot of backstage heat, and he's a solid talent, in the ring and out of the ring.
So thoughts? Could Val have been pushed farther, or was he never really mainevent good? What held him back?