Kodo Sawaki
Championship Contender
Dunno if I am allowed to post some text from other site but there it is
http://www.ringsidenews.com/blogs/why-should-anyone-care-about-the-league-of-nations/
Sheamus, Rusev, Alberto del Rio, and Wade Barrett are four very, very talented international wrestlers. But they all have one unfortunate thing in common here: nobody cares about them.
Wade Barrett, earlier this year, was given what was essentially a demotion; he won the King of the Ring tournament. With the last King of the Ring tournament winner that actually got something (a WWE Championship match) being Brock Lesnar in 2002, the tournament itself has been almost completely useless. I say almost because the tournament was single-handedly responsible for resurrecting and re-branding Booker T; an underrated, super talented wrestler with equally as underrated charisma but also a guy that fans, before he won the tournament, had viewed as just another guy on the Smackdown! roster. Barrett, unlike the success that followed Booker T after he became King Booker, has been pretty much a joke, and, of course, a victim of WWEs standard of not using talented wrestlers to their potential. Theres no reason for an average fan to care about King Barrett.
When Alberto del Rio surprisingly returned to pin John Cena, clean, to win the United States Championship, he was definitely on a hot streak. He looked good, still is a great wrestler, and fans were really intrigued, initially, with his paring with Zeb Colter. As the weeks unfolded, its very apparent that while Zeb and Alberto are a unique paring, its odd, pointless, and at times, nonsensical. The two began this very strange gimmick of sorts called MexAmerica, and the fans were so bored and disillusioned by this that it was wisely dropped.
The only positive thing about these two being put together is the return of another talented athlete, Jack Swagger, but the problem here? Youve guessed it, nobody cares about Jack Swagger. Back in the prime of Daniel Bryans WWE run, some asked whether or not the yes chant was more over than the wrestler. In that case, the fans proved that it wasnt. In this case, the we the people chant is significantly more over than Jack Swagger. Without that chant, fans would care less about Swagger than they already do. Its unfortunate because for Alberto to return and be on a bit of a hot streak, only for him to feud with a mid-card Jack Swagger it affects Albertos fan image. I think the Zeb/Alberto experiment has contributed more to the fans losing interest in Alberto, but I cannot imagine why any average fan would care about his feud with Jack Swagger, a feud over tea-party, borderline-racist philosophies that Zeb once has, but [apparently] no longer.
Some will point to Rusev losing his feud with John Cena earlier in the year was the catalyst for Rusevs decline, and I would agree that it probably was. The thing that killed Rusev? That God-awful, unnecessary, unbelievable story with Summer Rae, Lana, and Dolph Ziggler. Rusev, a man who entered WrestleMania 32 on a tank, an actual tank, was now moping around backstage on crutches after losing his woman to a known [babyface] superstar who brags about stealing peoples girlfriends. Then, Summer Rae was introduced into the fold as Rusevs companion, and then she was interested in Ziggler again it was a total and complete mess that never should have made a soap opera, let alone a wrestling show. Despite that Rusev was probably the most likeable person in that story, fans recognized that this story was so bad that they simply stopped caring. The good news is that Lana and Rusev are reunited, as they should be, and that story is over. However, with WWEs lackadaisical effort in re-constructing Rusevs character as a brute force and a legitimate athlete, why should anyone care about this guy or even take him seriously? Consider that, just several days ago on Monday Night RAW, he willingly lost a match by count-out to tend to his hurt fiancé, a total babyface move. Why hes now in this villainous alliance is a bit confusing alone, but who the hell cares?
Their ringleader, Sheamus, is the icing on the cake, so to speak. That is, if the cake was made from ingredients that nobody in their right mind would ever want on a cake, like mayonnaise, horse manure, ear wax, scotch tape, Vince McMahons outdated ideas, dish washing soap, and buffalo sauce. If youve read my other columns, I posted a column that praised Sheamus and said that he can be WWEs version of NJPWs Shinsuke Nakamura: he can be WWEs King of Strong-But-WWEs-Version-of-Strong Style. I said that he could bring prestige and legitimacy back to the Intercontinental Championship, turning it back into the work-horse championship that it was once known as being. And, you know what? I still believe that, because Sheamus is a damned good worker. I was the only one in the United States happy to see Sheamus become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion again at Survivor Series, because hes a good worker and gets a whole bunch of flack from the fans. But whats the reason for all of the flack? The dude doesnt have much of a personality.
Hes changed his look, similar to what Nakamura and Kazuchika Okada did, but Sheamus didnt become The Rainmaker, or any type of interesting personality. He re-invented himself as, well, Sheamus. And nobody cared before his injury, and even less people care now. I respect Sheamus for changing up his appearance, and even for his personal goal of wanting to be an Irish wrestler with a gimmick that portrays Ireland in a positive light. Its not his fault that when it comes to international talent, WWE becomes immediately confused and believes that their audience would like these international talent if their gimmicks were stupid and idiotic stereotypes of their respective homelands. NXTs writing crew, for all the respect that they get and deserve, even introduced the very talented (and Irish) Becky Lynch as a happy-go-lucky Irish woman who came out to stereotypical Irish music and did an Irish jig. Sheamus gimmick, an Irish warrior, doesnt connect well with the fans. The most over thing that Sheamus ever did was excessively use the word fella, which can be seen by some as an Irish stereotype. Why cant WWE take a page out of Sheamus history and rebrand him under his former name, Sheamus OShaughnessy? It gives you three letters you can market in SOS, and you can make him into whatever you want. SOS and Barrett could resume their alliance to form somewhat of a fight-club type of team, and they can become two British fellows who beat the crap out of people in the ring. This type of gimmick has worked in the past with the APA, it works now with Brock Lesnar, and if WWE made a committed effort, it would work with SOS and Barrett, especially if WWE hyped Barretts past as a bare knuckle fighter and Sheamus as the guy who ended Daniel Bryans career. But no, for now, we get Just Sheamus, who is probably the least cared about wrestler on the roster.
So, you put four talented guys togetherthats good. But when the four talented guys are people that very few care about? Even as a heel faction, how does WWE expect anyone to care about these guys enough to boo them? They wouldnt be getting X-Pac or Vickie Guererro heat, theyd be getting Miz heat: you know, the kind that makes you want to switch over to the football game on ESPN. Its so unfortunate and its not even any of the guys in the League of Nations fault, but when you position a group of guys as guys that fans shouldnt care about for so longwhy would you expect them to suddenly care now that theyre united?
Lets also not forget that I think fans are tired of the foreigners vs. USA concept. It worked so well with Rusev and Lana because that story hadnt been used in a good enough time. I hope the League of Nations doesnt become an extension of that theme, because I think fans have had enough of it. The best part of this stable that nobody cares about, this stable that is probably based on an unoriginal theme, is given the unoriginal name of the League of Nations. When I think League of Nations, the history buff of me thinks of World War 1 and President Wilsons lame attempts at starting the League of Nations and failing, miserably.
And perhaps it was named that way on purposemaybe the notion of failure serves as an appropriate foreshadowing of events.
_________________________________________________________________
One question I have been asking myself eversince Sheamus cashed in and other just tagged along with that. So, there you go: Why should we care? Do we genuinly care for 4 athlethes or we should just care because WWE said so?
http://www.ringsidenews.com/blogs/why-should-anyone-care-about-the-league-of-nations/
Sheamus, Rusev, Alberto del Rio, and Wade Barrett are four very, very talented international wrestlers. But they all have one unfortunate thing in common here: nobody cares about them.
Wade Barrett, earlier this year, was given what was essentially a demotion; he won the King of the Ring tournament. With the last King of the Ring tournament winner that actually got something (a WWE Championship match) being Brock Lesnar in 2002, the tournament itself has been almost completely useless. I say almost because the tournament was single-handedly responsible for resurrecting and re-branding Booker T; an underrated, super talented wrestler with equally as underrated charisma but also a guy that fans, before he won the tournament, had viewed as just another guy on the Smackdown! roster. Barrett, unlike the success that followed Booker T after he became King Booker, has been pretty much a joke, and, of course, a victim of WWEs standard of not using talented wrestlers to their potential. Theres no reason for an average fan to care about King Barrett.
When Alberto del Rio surprisingly returned to pin John Cena, clean, to win the United States Championship, he was definitely on a hot streak. He looked good, still is a great wrestler, and fans were really intrigued, initially, with his paring with Zeb Colter. As the weeks unfolded, its very apparent that while Zeb and Alberto are a unique paring, its odd, pointless, and at times, nonsensical. The two began this very strange gimmick of sorts called MexAmerica, and the fans were so bored and disillusioned by this that it was wisely dropped.
The only positive thing about these two being put together is the return of another talented athlete, Jack Swagger, but the problem here? Youve guessed it, nobody cares about Jack Swagger. Back in the prime of Daniel Bryans WWE run, some asked whether or not the yes chant was more over than the wrestler. In that case, the fans proved that it wasnt. In this case, the we the people chant is significantly more over than Jack Swagger. Without that chant, fans would care less about Swagger than they already do. Its unfortunate because for Alberto to return and be on a bit of a hot streak, only for him to feud with a mid-card Jack Swagger it affects Albertos fan image. I think the Zeb/Alberto experiment has contributed more to the fans losing interest in Alberto, but I cannot imagine why any average fan would care about his feud with Jack Swagger, a feud over tea-party, borderline-racist philosophies that Zeb once has, but [apparently] no longer.
Some will point to Rusev losing his feud with John Cena earlier in the year was the catalyst for Rusevs decline, and I would agree that it probably was. The thing that killed Rusev? That God-awful, unnecessary, unbelievable story with Summer Rae, Lana, and Dolph Ziggler. Rusev, a man who entered WrestleMania 32 on a tank, an actual tank, was now moping around backstage on crutches after losing his woman to a known [babyface] superstar who brags about stealing peoples girlfriends. Then, Summer Rae was introduced into the fold as Rusevs companion, and then she was interested in Ziggler again it was a total and complete mess that never should have made a soap opera, let alone a wrestling show. Despite that Rusev was probably the most likeable person in that story, fans recognized that this story was so bad that they simply stopped caring. The good news is that Lana and Rusev are reunited, as they should be, and that story is over. However, with WWEs lackadaisical effort in re-constructing Rusevs character as a brute force and a legitimate athlete, why should anyone care about this guy or even take him seriously? Consider that, just several days ago on Monday Night RAW, he willingly lost a match by count-out to tend to his hurt fiancé, a total babyface move. Why hes now in this villainous alliance is a bit confusing alone, but who the hell cares?
Their ringleader, Sheamus, is the icing on the cake, so to speak. That is, if the cake was made from ingredients that nobody in their right mind would ever want on a cake, like mayonnaise, horse manure, ear wax, scotch tape, Vince McMahons outdated ideas, dish washing soap, and buffalo sauce. If youve read my other columns, I posted a column that praised Sheamus and said that he can be WWEs version of NJPWs Shinsuke Nakamura: he can be WWEs King of Strong-But-WWEs-Version-of-Strong Style. I said that he could bring prestige and legitimacy back to the Intercontinental Championship, turning it back into the work-horse championship that it was once known as being. And, you know what? I still believe that, because Sheamus is a damned good worker. I was the only one in the United States happy to see Sheamus become the WWE World Heavyweight Champion again at Survivor Series, because hes a good worker and gets a whole bunch of flack from the fans. But whats the reason for all of the flack? The dude doesnt have much of a personality.
Hes changed his look, similar to what Nakamura and Kazuchika Okada did, but Sheamus didnt become The Rainmaker, or any type of interesting personality. He re-invented himself as, well, Sheamus. And nobody cared before his injury, and even less people care now. I respect Sheamus for changing up his appearance, and even for his personal goal of wanting to be an Irish wrestler with a gimmick that portrays Ireland in a positive light. Its not his fault that when it comes to international talent, WWE becomes immediately confused and believes that their audience would like these international talent if their gimmicks were stupid and idiotic stereotypes of their respective homelands. NXTs writing crew, for all the respect that they get and deserve, even introduced the very talented (and Irish) Becky Lynch as a happy-go-lucky Irish woman who came out to stereotypical Irish music and did an Irish jig. Sheamus gimmick, an Irish warrior, doesnt connect well with the fans. The most over thing that Sheamus ever did was excessively use the word fella, which can be seen by some as an Irish stereotype. Why cant WWE take a page out of Sheamus history and rebrand him under his former name, Sheamus OShaughnessy? It gives you three letters you can market in SOS, and you can make him into whatever you want. SOS and Barrett could resume their alliance to form somewhat of a fight-club type of team, and they can become two British fellows who beat the crap out of people in the ring. This type of gimmick has worked in the past with the APA, it works now with Brock Lesnar, and if WWE made a committed effort, it would work with SOS and Barrett, especially if WWE hyped Barretts past as a bare knuckle fighter and Sheamus as the guy who ended Daniel Bryans career. But no, for now, we get Just Sheamus, who is probably the least cared about wrestler on the roster.
So, you put four talented guys togetherthats good. But when the four talented guys are people that very few care about? Even as a heel faction, how does WWE expect anyone to care about these guys enough to boo them? They wouldnt be getting X-Pac or Vickie Guererro heat, theyd be getting Miz heat: you know, the kind that makes you want to switch over to the football game on ESPN. Its so unfortunate and its not even any of the guys in the League of Nations fault, but when you position a group of guys as guys that fans shouldnt care about for so longwhy would you expect them to suddenly care now that theyre united?
Lets also not forget that I think fans are tired of the foreigners vs. USA concept. It worked so well with Rusev and Lana because that story hadnt been used in a good enough time. I hope the League of Nations doesnt become an extension of that theme, because I think fans have had enough of it. The best part of this stable that nobody cares about, this stable that is probably based on an unoriginal theme, is given the unoriginal name of the League of Nations. When I think League of Nations, the history buff of me thinks of World War 1 and President Wilsons lame attempts at starting the League of Nations and failing, miserably.
And perhaps it was named that way on purposemaybe the notion of failure serves as an appropriate foreshadowing of events.
_________________________________________________________________
One question I have been asking myself eversince Sheamus cashed in and other just tagged along with that. So, there you go: Why should we care? Do we genuinly care for 4 athlethes or we should just care because WWE said so?
