Why did they drop Paul Heyman from Curtis Axel?

[StunningBlackMamba24]

This has been a question I have been wondering ever since. What went wrong with Axel? I know his mic skills are god awful but he is really good and has got potential. I'm not really digging this whole rybaxel thing unless they go face, because Ryback sucks as a heel and axel isn't too bad as a babyface if you go back to his nxt days. I understand Ryback and heyman parting ways, since heyman since some harsh words and thus ryback getting angry and leave him, but I do not understand what happened to axel. Does anyone know why? Or what happened? And what do you think should happen to Ryback and curtis axel.

 

[Dirk]

I don't know about you, but I can't listen to Paul Heyman talk all day (unlike that foul-mouthed American, Jim Cornette). There was a time when he was having beef with Punk, representing Lesnar, AND recruiting for his stable. I think at that time, Axel being an afterthought in the Heyman-story didn't do him any favours.

I don't think Axel has terrible mic skills, I just think he was pushed too hard too soon. Also, being the son of a wrestler and taking his persona isn't really a gimmick - just ask Ted jr.

 

[Softcore Holly]

Don't have exact reasons, just my thoughts.

For one Heyman was getting written off TV since his feud with Punk was over. (And to sell how badly Punk beat him) At that point WWE had nothing for both Axel and Ryback, so they wanted them to become RybAxel. But for that team to work you can't have someone that essentially got fired by Heyman teaming up with a Heyman guy since logically Ryback would rather kick Axel's ass than team with him. So easy solution: make Axel no longer a Heyman guy thus Ryback has no reason to have beef with him.

What I think should happen to the 2 guys? Hard to say, they're in a pretty decent place where they are now. I don't know Axel from his NXT days(didn't watch) but I can't seem him being impressive enough to get farther than he is now. Axel is very solid in the ring, but he doesn't stand out like other guys so it's hard to see why he would be worth pushing, especially considering his lack of mic skills.

Honestly I think his current role might be perfect for him(no pun intended), being in a tag where he's paired up with someone more noticeable than he is. Axel keeps putting on solitd performances and does most of the grunt work while his partner keeps the audience's focus on him so they don't notice how unexciting Axel is.

As for Ryback he's certainly easier to think of ways to use him than Axel, but really his current role of jobbing to faces is fine. Like I can think of a few interesting ways to use him, but there's a long list of guys I would rather see get the time and attention.

 

[The Butcher]

Curtis Axel is neither really good nor does he have potential. He's a good hand in the ring, no doubt, but that's about it. He was a serviceable foot soldier in Heyman's war with CM Punk, but any hopes of him breaking out and earning the moniker "Heyman Guy" were dashed as week after week he'd talk after Paul and show just how lacking his promo ability is. If I had to guess what happened to their relationship, I'd say that Paul probably pulled Vince McMahon aside at a Raw or SmackDown taping and said, "Vince, you beat me again, you bastard. I can't get this zero over. I beg of you, put him with Ryback and let me get back to saying 'Brock Lesnar.'"

As for what should happen to Rybaxel, they're fine doing what they're doing.

 

[Sexcellence of Sexecution]

Curtis Axel sucks and he's exactly where he deserves to be. If he and Ryback get a run with the Tag-Team Titles they'd be lucky.

 

[Reflection]

The problem with Curtis Axel is that he is not special in anything. He is a good wrestler, but his moves are too traditional- he doesn't have any flashy or worth-remembering move in his moveset, his matches are mostly slow (unless his opponent is quite fast, his promo skills are mediocre, his face looks goofy, he doesn't have any charisma, his entrance theme sucks, and he doesn't have any character of his own- apart from being known as the son of Mr. Perfect. He doesn't have anything going for him at the moment.

As for Rybaxel, I think the first and easiest thing to do would be to turn them face and see where things go from there. Ryback can start ShellShocking wrestlers again, and Axel can be the guy that gets beat up until he makes the hot tag. Yeah! Getting beaten up might be the only thing Axel is good at Moreover, if it worked for Jesse and Festus, it should work for them as well.

 

[JJV]

Both Axel and Ryback couldn't defeat Punk, which is the reason Heyman got beat up so he left Axel and Ryback (kayfabe).

I don't see Axel as a future main event player, but as a mid carder he's alright. Either he should stick with Ryback as a tag team, or he can go after the mid card championships. With all due respect, Ryback is not good. He is not fun in the ring, his mic skills aren't good and he is very annoying. I still can't believe he was put in a main event feud with Punk and Cena and he actually defeated Jericho at PPV. What the hell was WWE thinking? It's such a shame how any younger talent Jericho faces, he just has to put over the guy. Main event superstars should only put over younger talents if they have potential and if the people are into them.

Anyway, I don't see Axel getting another championship run. A tag team championship run is a possibility, but there are very less chances for that as well.

 

[GeneralKarim]

Well because he was pushed too hard too soon and too late at the same time.

What do I mean by late? Well the guy's name was McGicilututytyt w/e, and was a complete joke and a forgotten 33 yo decent jobber and then suddenly we are supposed to believe he is this great son of a legend and that he automatically has IT ?

I'm sorry that doesnt happen. Sure the guy is good in the ring but his time has passed.

He was never gonna get over, even with Heyman at his side. His "gimmick" is totally ******ed imo and because of that gimmick his promos were god awful and cheesy as heel and always seemed like they were read off a invisible prompter in front of him.

He isnt splendid on the mic but he is better than what he has shown with his current gimmick.

He has an average, very very average look and not enough, if any, charisma. He was also just an afterthought in the Heyman vs Punk feud so that didn't do him any favors.

I generally try and be pretty detached from wrestlers so I can keep my sanity. And I myself liked Joe Henning and I think if they groomed him and didnt give him that awful name he had he would've been at least a great upper-midcarder. But the past is the past and now he his a almost 34yo joke that will never be taken seriously and WWE have pretty given up on him, and Ryback.

So why take him from Heyman's side? Because of a mixture of poor booking decisions from his debut till now and his general average talent.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I don't know about you, but I can't listen to Paul Heyman talk all day....

Everything with Heyman depends on the guy he's representing, doesn't it? If WWE, or anyone else, thought Heyman could take "anyone" and make him into a star, they were disabused of that notion with Curtis Axel's association with Heyman. Yes, Curtis can work in the ring, but so can everyone else. Axel's presence as a performer is negligible, and I believe it was in that area it was thought Heyman would help. But while it's possible for a manager to make a good performer better, he/she can't make a poor performer good.

Sure, maybe Heyman seemed golden when paired with CM Punk, who didn't really need Heyman on the mic, anyway........and yeah, Heyman looks good next to Brock Lesnar, who has no interest in speaking during his rare appearances, but Heyman's chief value lies in talking for Brock when he's not here, and it was a great idea by WWE to fill in those sizable time gaps with Heyman.

But, Curtis Axel? After representing Punk and Lesnar, how was Heyman going to convince us to start following Axel? Well, he tried, but it couldn't be done, so the company abandoned the experiment, cutting it short with no explanation.

In the aftermath, Axel is probably sighing with relief that he's still on the main roster. After spending those years in WWE's version of Never Never Land, Axel is still better off now than he was before he was paired with Paul Heyman, which is likely what matters most to him.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

In my opinion, it was dropped because Curtis Axel just isn't a good enough talent to warrant pairing him up with Heyman. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of these fans who feels that Heyman can walk on water or that everything he says turns to solid gold just because he happened to run ECW. However, Heyman is one of the best talkers in the business and really always has been. He's a great heel manager who has a lot of name recognition in pro wrestling and, as a result, being paired with him can be a real boon for the career of any young guy.

However, again in my opinion, Curtis Axel just isn't that great of a talent. Heyman can't do everything, the wrestler he's assigned to manage has to have the ability as well. He's solid inside the ring and I do think he does his best, but his best just isn't all that great. He's not much on the mic, he doesn't seem to have very much in the way of charisma, he's never really made any sort of connection with fans sufficient to warrant a big push and there's just seems to be nothing overly special about him in any way. Overall, the guy's a pretty solid mid-card wrestler, nothing wrong with that, but WWE feels it'd be a mistake to waste Paul Heyman on someone that simply ain't got the goods to be a main event level guy someday.

That's not to say that it's ALL because of Axel. I had a bad feeling from the start when Axel was tossed into the Punk vs. Heyman program because I knew that Axel would ultimately be overshadowed. I had a feeling that Axel would play second banana to Heyman, would ultimately wind up looking like a chump against CM Punk and that's exactly what happened. I think that was a screw up on the part of management but, at the same time, maybe they already felt that Axel was just gonna be fodder for Punk before the program involving him & Heyman started. If so, then WWE should've had Axel drop the IC title before the program started. Not having the title may have made Axel look weak going into the feud with Punk against Heyman, but it wouldn't have looked as bad as he did because, in the end, what we saw was another example of the IC title getting buried. Man, 2013 was not a good year for the Intercontinental Championship.

 

[CyberPunk]

As many have already stated, Curtis Axel is just not that special. Expecting Heyman to change his fortunes around is just asking for too much. His mini-feud with CM Punk didn't help him either. His IC title reign proved to be a boring one and he continued losing to Punk while holding the strap.

Paul Heyman experiment with Curtis Axel or Ryback was bound to fail. Why? Because just before managing them, he was managing people like Brock Lesnar and CM Punk, both marquee names. The experiment failed, crowd didn't warm up to either of them and they canned the whole idea.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

I think the major issue with Curtis Axel was his lack of charisma. They tried to make him the second coming of Curt Hennig by trying to do as much as possible to link son and father but it backfired. Curtis Axel is solid in the ring. He has good moves. However, he's generic on the mic and doesn't bring any quality that hasn't been seen already. I figured that Paul Heyman could work as his mouthpiece, but I also thought that it was a waste of time because Curtis Axel's lack of charisma was tantamount to a bread stick. You could see it in the very first few weeks. I was already thinking once he won the Intercontinental Championship that that was all he was gonna be winning before being relegated to jobber status which was the case when he donned the Michael McGillicutty name. The odd thing is that you would think a team like Rybaxel would actually win a few matches. And then there's the lack of chemistry between Paul Heyman and Curtis Axel. Paul was great on his own, but Curtis Axel didn't bring the charisma of CM Punk or the physical carnage of Brock Lesnar. Both guys had chemistry with Paul Heyman. Curtis Axel had his second chance to shine and he didn't pass. It's a shame too considering how he picked up wins over Triple H and John Cena. He just couldn't follow through with any reason for people to care. In fact, his case is similar to Tensai's and I actually liked Tensai's gimmick.

 

[zwbruno]

I would love to see a long term storyline with Rybaxel, eventually leading to a Ryback face turn.

Ryback has been playing the bully, but what if Curtis Axel starts to bully Ryback? At first, have him stop Ryback from bullying others, and then slowly have it turn into the same tactics Ryback had been using and then even worse. At first the crowd would probably cheer for Axel or at least be confused, but as he gets more sadistic and controlling and downright mean (which Ryback meekly takes) the crowd begins to want Ryback to stand up for himself. I think Ryan Reeves is a good enough student of the game and actor to make this work, and Curtis Axel, who I have heard go OFF on the mic before, could really get the crowd behind Ryback. Once he finally turns, he'll be mega over because he's already endeared himself to the crowd. If he turned back into the unstoppable hero, especially if he quests for another undefeated streak, people would rally behind that story. Have him win the title in the fall (After the Summer of Bryan (or Punk??)) You could even continue it leading up to Mania, have Cena (with an unfortunate Rumble victory) v Ryback: this era's Hogan v Warrior, but the match would be 1000% better, there'd even be a hurricarana haha

 

[Rich the UK WWE Fan 2k14]

This has been a question I have been wondering ever since. What went wrong with Axel? I know his mic skills are god awful but he is really good and has got potential. I'm not really digging this whole rybaxel thing unless they go face, because Ryback sucks as a heel and axel isn't too bad as a babyface if you go back to his nxt days. I understand Ryback and heyman parting ways, since heyman since some harsh words and thus ryback getting angry and leave him, but I do not understand what happened to axel. Does anyone know why? Or what happened? And what do you think should happen to Ryback and curtis axel.

Curtis Axel was initially pushed to the moon for the same reason as Randy Orton, HHH likes him and he has famous relatives, such as Larry "The Axe" Hennig and of course, his Dad, the late Mr Perfect Curt Hennig.

Get past that though, and you see a kid who does 2 moves and has no mic skills, a generic jobber who gets by on being Mr Perfect's kid.

 

[Pedigree1]

Curtis Axel to put it nicely,wasn't good enough to be paired with heyman. Heyman is a Genius,a guy who can make a guy who is average look great but not a guy who is poor look good.. Curtis im afraid doesn't have the talent his dad had or the mic skills.. Curtis axel im afraid wont be anymore than he is..

An average talent,and should be thankful he still has a job.. Im sure Heyman is grateful as well,that he no longer is paired with Axel..

 

[kadroan]

Both Axel and Ryback couldn't defeat Punk, which is the reason Heyman got beat up so he left Axel and Ryback (kayfabe).

I don't see Axel as a future main event player, but as a mid carder he's alright. Either he should stick with Ryback as a tag team, or he can go after the mid card championships. With all due respect, Ryback is not good. He is not fun in the ring, his mic skills aren't good and he is very annoying. I still can't believe he was put in a main event feud with Punk and Cena and he actually defeated Jericho at PPV. What the hell was WWE thinking? It's such a shame how any younger talent Jericho faces, he just has to put over the guy. Main event superstars should only put over younger talents if they have potential and if the people are into them.

Anyway, I don't see Axel getting another championship run. A tag team championship run is a possibility, but there are very less chances for that as well.

He needs to take some acting classes to get some charisma. Otherwise, he's going to be losing to everybody who needs a good match for some momentum

 

[bioshock]

I had hopes my self, personally I think WWE gets on the big name road too often. Imagine if Bobby the Brain gave up on all his guys he managed just because Andre was around for a big match. Or say Earthquake was getting a push so Jimmy Hart gives up on his guys to only manage him.

I would of really liked to of seen WWE build a Heyman stable with Lesnar, Ryback, and Axle, maybe even add another guy. But just think about it.

At Wrestlemania 30 they could of done [face] Shield vs Lesnar, Ryback, and Axle with Heyman. Then have Undertaker in a match with someone else like Bray or Cena, or Kane what ever.

Instead were getting a garbage Undertaker/Lesnar storyline that isn't worth the time of day, match might be good, but the buildup is horrid.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The problem they had with Axel as a gimmick was not going full Hennig... they tried to make us believe he was Curt Jr... but gave him the fudge name and made it clear "we own him"... Let him use Joe Hennig or even Curtis Axel Hennig and it would have worked out they went half assed with it and Axel suffered.

From there with Heyman he was basically collateral damage in the Ryback clusterfuck. They decided they wanted Ryback there and of course he blew it... the irony is they are now teaming anyway. Hennig is a good if not great hand, he has enough of the 2nd gen buzz still to make a career and has no real enemies or stigmas backstage to stop him being around for a long time... World champ no.. but neither was his dad in the WWE. Irony is if there was an AWA or similar today, Axel would be an ideal champion for them.

Heyman's part, was done - he couldn't do any more to get him over, they did their usual trick with the IC/US title in hiding it in plain sight. It was similar to Heenan's run with Perfect, too little too late. Had they gone with it earlier there was time to make it work before the IC runs but they waited on both Curt and Joe to the point they HAD to do something with them and the manager choice was a "quick fix" rather than a proper plan.

 

[streicher187]

It was a bad idea to start with - MAYBE if they called him Henning and let him use his fathers memory a bit it might have made a difference but I doubt it.

You can't just make up a "Paul Heyman guy" like WWE tried to do - I would love to see Heyman get involved in the title match and help Batista win, he could be a Heyman guy and lead to Brock coming back at Summerslam to face Batista w/ Heyman as the special ref.

You have to make it seem like Paul chose the guy but for some reason the whole Axle thing seemed doomed from start like Paul was forced to be his manager.

 

[HBK/RKO]

I'll keep this plain and simple, he stinks. His wrestling skills are average at best. He has no mic skills and zero charisma. I think that's all that needs to be said about him because he isn't worth much of my time.