What is the correct "push"?

[BestWrestlingOpinions]

We have been hearing a lot about needing a push, this guy has it all, this guy needs to get to the main scene etc. What is the best way to push someone, though, at this era or the WWE? Let's take some examples:

-Daniel Bryan: He came in at NXT. Then, he was involved in the Nexus angle, and after that, he won the US championship. He won the MitB, cashed in successfully to become the WHC. Typical mistake by the WWE not giving him the spotlight / story lines he needed to make full use of his WHC run. He lost it at WM by Sheamus, then had a great feud with him. He tagged with Kane, which was the launching point of his career to the main event. After about 7-8 months of them tagging, he won the WWE title, and soon after, we come to where we are. So, let's break down his push.

He was involved into the biggest angle with the Nexus, but people didn't react. He won the US championship, then the MitB, then the WHC, which is a big push supposedly, people still didn't react. Then he was sent back to the mid card, where he started getting over and now he is a solidified main eventer. So we had a HIGH-MID-HIGH push, with the reactions being MID-HIGH-HIGH. This example means that people weren't interested to the WHC, but instead enjoyed the organic feeling from Daniel Bryan.


Ryback: He was beating jobbers to look dominant, then was rushed to the WWE title scene, because of the absence of Cena. He lost, but kept some momentum, lost the Rumble and lost to Henry at WM. Lost to Cena and now is a jobber-joke. His pattern is HIGH-HIGH-MID-HIGH-LOW and reactions were LOW-HIGH-MID-MID-LOW. This means that another rushed push failed.



Cody Rhodes: Basically being in the mid-card for this entire career. He can't get a big reaction from the crowd, when he should, because of how many years he has been performing. He is the typical mid-carder as of now. This means that stalling someone in the mid card to get slowly over might fail, because they become an afterthought after some point, same as Kofi Kingston.


All of the above bring me to the Reigns situation. He has been mid-to-high card for more than a year now, with the Shield faction and it seems like it is about time that they all break up. What is the correct way to push Reigns?

-Do you push him straight to a match with HHH, and then insert him in an angle for the WWEWHC? This might go down the Ryback way as many people say, but I think that he is already over with most fans and knows what he is doing and is pretty much a solidified Superstar and a "serious" character.

-Do you let him in the mid-card, win the IC/US titles, have some feuds with other guys and then get his main event chance, a la Bryan? The risk here is that, even though Bryan made it this way, people might just get disinterested him Reigns if he stays in meaningless feuds for too long.


I know that the Superstar himself isn't able to create a strong reaction if the booking is bad. But everything stated above is based on the current booking abilities, and it seems that inserting Reigns in the mid-card for 1 year might make people disinterested in him, because of the probable meaningless feuds he will have. He is semi-hot right now, and I think it is the best time to capitalize on this with a big WM moment, and insert him in a high-tier feud.


Other Superstars though are not in the same position as Reigns. Ziggler for example. He is over with the crowd, even when he is in meaningless feuds, people still get behind him. But he can't go into any main events soon, so probably for him, the best way is to become a strong IC champ, and work from there.



In general, it is weird which is the best way to push someone. People say that his is the best way, others say no, this is the best etc. What do you guys think of the above pushes? What would you do?

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The problem is that the word push has been appropriated by the IWC and fans, much in the way guys like Flair so despise that it has gotten twisted.

Today push means the "rocket to the moon" variety where you never lose a match go through a mid-card title and win the world within 2 years... if that doesn't happen then your push has "stalled".

Look at the Hogan era, push meant something totally different - it meant going from being an enhancment or opening talent who was invariably squashed, to having a storyline, then another, then another. The guys being "pushed" in the Hogan era were the ones who always had a TV worthy storyline to their matches, whether they won them or not.

Bret Hart had several "pushes", while he would invariably end up back with Neidhart, for those few months he was prominent as a solo act and even when in the Hart's he was the more pushed of the two. Perhaps the most notable was Survivor Series 90. In a match memorable for the debut of Undertaker it was Bret who had the performance that set him on his way to being the next star of the singles midcard against DiBiase. It was a loss, but he looked amazing doing it, had a storyline within the match (sadly due to his brother's death) and left the ring elevated to the point where everyone could see him as a singles competitor and more to the point a big name one. The Harts lost at WM7 and Bret all but disappeared till the run up to Summerslam. There was no "breakup" of the Harts, no feud. Bret went off and did some work on his act, rested up and made sure that by the time Summerslam came he looked the big shot and could carry that role. As good as Perfect was, Bret simply LOOKED like the champion from the minute he entered the ring, because the preparation was done properly.


Razor Ramon got a push at the start with 2 main events, and it screamed of too much to soon but from there his his push then continued at the right pace for him.

When he was face turned against DiBiase he gained that final bit of momentum that could see him over the line to the IC title... was his push diminished cos he never won the World title? No! because he was the lynchpin of that IC division, amazingly for only 2 years... but he was either the champ or feuding for the title in that time. he was a legit top 5 performer in the company with money to match, without being in the main event. THAT is push.

The kind of push that a Roman Reigns needs is not the modern one that has failed so many times and is behind this "WWE can't build talent" idea. He doesn't need the Kevin Nash one either which so far they seem intent on mirroring... he has 18 months on the roster so far... he needs building like Bret was over a longer period, have him the standout in the Shield for a longer time, the peacemaker, keeping it together till the the others become jealous and eject him from the group but don't have him squash them... maybe even have him disappear for a while so he can adjust his gimmick and perhaps (shock horror) work on his presentation, mic skills and ring work so that when he does return he can really look the part and LOOK the part. The problem guys like Ziggler, Ryback, Miz and even Batista have had is they didn''t look like "the guy" when they got their chance... just "the guy in that spot for now" and that is where push is going wrong, it seems all about a spot for now rather than building so they have someone viable in 5 years time as well as now.

 

[Darkshadow1234]

I agree with you. Thats what Ive been saying the whole time. Let it happen naturally. Don't rush it.

Build him up first.
Let him start at the bottom.

Build him up.
Let him come up with his own persona.


Stop pushing these talents.
To the top so quick.

No more "Rocket push to the moon."
It never works.

Fans these days. Don't know shit about building a superstar.
Fans these days. Think pushing someone to the moon is gonna work. SMH
Pushing them fast. Isn't gonna guarantee results. Or work in the long run

 

[THTRobtaylor]

It's not even build them at the bottom and then go up... it's realising that push is not about the main event, headlining a Mania or winning the belts.

It's about becoming a featured performer in a roster of over 100 people, where you are always on TV, they make merchandise with you on it and put you out there to deal with the public etc. You don't see Zack Ryder doing many WWE public appearances these days, or Zeke or, JTG shirts.

Being pushed can be as simple as making the WWE game from the first day and not being the "free DLC". Rick Martel was ALWAYS pushed in the WWE, but never got near a title. Ted DiBiase was always pushed and made to look strong as a featured player yet only main evented 5 PPV's in total over 5 years with the company, 3 of them in '88 one in 90 at Survivor Series and one co-main event with Hogan in 93 as a tag champ at Mania 9. Yet when did DiBiase not LOOK like one of "the top guys" in between? he had a push so...never! Ziggler has had more than 5 PPV main events already, so has ADR but neither are at the level DiBiase was and they have had the belt.... that's cos they're getting it wrong and mistaking push for starmaking.

I saw an interview with Bret last night where the talked about that Survivor match and what it did for him, even his "F-Bomb" after the pin made a difference and raised his stock and he was very grateful to DiBiase for that... that is how to start pushing guys, not have them come out with a new name, win the IC the first night and stick them with Heyman... or pattern their look and persona on a former star to the level the crowd just chant for the old guyback (pun intended)

What happens when trying to create new headliners isn't push, that is star making... they are two totally different things but they seem to confuse them these days so few of them actually work and they seem intent on burying the guys like Bryan and Punk who can turn push into making themselves stars cos it wasn't done "WWE's way". Hell look at Ryder, for a while he was the most over guy outside the main event but cos he did it on his own, they cut his legs off first chance they got.