Would a Rocky Balboa storyline work?

[Ballin247]

I was wondering if a Rocky Balboa like storyline would work in WWE. Basically in Rocky, the champ Apollo Creed gave an unknown Rocky Balboa a title shot. It looked like Rocky had no chance in hell of winning but he ended up going toe to toe with the best in the world. I was wondering if that type of story would work well in the WWE?

Basically you can have a dominant WWE or World Heavyweight Champion that beats all the available challengers. It would work best if this champ is a heel. Have him beat everyone there is to beat, face or heel. A long title reign like 9 months would work best for this angle. After deciding that there is no competition for him, he decided he will give a world title shot to a relative unknown. Meanwhile, you can have a new babyface debut on ECW though the superstar initiative and have him look pretty good but not too awesome. he would debut about 2 months before the champion makes his decision to give an unknown a title shot. He will come out on the Raw or Smackdown after his latest PPV win and declare that there is simply no competition. He will pull out a big jar that has the name o every star on the WWE roster. He says that whatever name he pulls out of the jar, will be the number 1 contender for the next PPV. While people would expect that a big name would be pulled out, he ends up pulling out the new guy that debuted on ECW a few months back. He would then downplay the guy and claim that there is no way in hell that this kid can even come close to him. They can show packages of the contender nervously accepting the challenge and freaking out over the next few weeks. They announcer could talk about how he has been given the opportunity of a lifetime. Also they can run vignettes that tell the story of the contender in order to help the fans relate to him more. He should be a hard luck guy who has had to overcome a lot of obstacles in order to reach WWE.

The most important part would be the match at the PPV. The new guy would come out on the offensive right away and completely take the champ off guard. the champ, thinking the match would be easy, takes the challenger lightly. They would then have a competitive back and forth match where it looks like the challenger could actually pull off the upset. He would take a finisher from the champ but not do something like get his foot on the rope or something. Also have the challenger hit multiple finishers on the champ but be unable to pin him. The finish would come when the challenger is closing in on the win but takes a high risk that doesn't pay off and the champ is able to hit the finisher for the win.

I think this would be a good way to build instant credibility with a new star without damaging the credibility of a main eventer. This is how the Sheamus situation should be handled. There was no build to Sheamus winning the title and that is what hurt his win. A storyline like this would help because the challenger utilizes the element of surprise in order to gain an upperhand on the champ. The champ will not look weak because it would be shown that he was facing a hungry up and comer with nothing to lose. I think this kind of story might be interesting and different. The showing of his story would also help and maybe get people into him. This is not the same as the Sheamus angle because Sheamus was supposed to be the next big thing. The challenger I'm talking about should be someone who at first doesn't seem like he has a chance but then goes toe to toe with the champ.

IDK, what do you think of this angle? Could it work? I don't know if it has been done before.

 

[Tenta]

Yeah.... To a lesser extent, the WWE tried this a couple years ago. They brought in a challenger from the audience, and put him up against a dominant champion. The champion did plenty of damage to him, and then started to take the challenger lightly. By the end of the match, the challenger proved he had guts to stand up to the champion, and even got enough offense to get by the champion. He'd go on to be champion, and even face the dethroned champion again.

You want to know how that worked out? His name's Santino Marella.

Look, the buildup of a wrestler is important; the follow through is the most important part of developing a wrestler. You can build a wrestler to the moon, but the follow through decides on if the guy's going to decide whether or not he's real. It's why men like Kozlov, MVP, and Dolph Ziggler are flailing. The building of a wrestler is important, and the Rocky Balboa idea isn't horrendous. But the WWE needs to follow through on the character.

Besides, I'm really under dogged out now. Too many of the predictable story that everyone expects

 

[neildittmar]

Given that WWE is PG, family oriented entertainment nowadays I think a Rocky Balboa type storyline could definitely work. ECW saw some success in this with Mikey Whipwreck. Mikey was at least a half a foot shorter, 50 pounds lighter, and a few years less experienced than anyone else on the roster. Initially he got squashed... a lot... mercilessly and brutally squashed night after night.

The fact that he kept coming back, along with some solid technical skills, helped build his pedigree. He then started rubbing shoulders with Sandman, Cactus Jack and other upper tier talent, culminating in an ECW title run. Most notably, his defense against a pre-"Stone Cold" Steve Austin is what really drove the point home. Here was a guy that was a big star in WCW just a short time before, cleanly putting over the much smaller Whipwreck and making no excuses about it. The win against Sandman for the title could've been construed as fluke. The victory over Austin showed that Whipwreck was "for real."

Honestly, I can't think of a better way to carry that type of storyline out. Most of the details here can fall into place rather easily. WWE needs a good, smaller athlete with a decent amount of charisma... an "everyman" to be sure. Initially launch him on a losing streak, then slowly build him into something over time. The main challenge here I think will be to find a "main eventer" willing to put this guy over like Austin did with Whipwreck.

With everyone so protective of their "spot", I doubt anyone noteworthy would be willing to step up. Honestly, my first thought is a heel Undertaker for the title and at Wrestlemania no less. What better way to culminate a storyline like this than to have your "Rocky" take on and defeat an unbeatable monster for the World (or WWE) championship at the biggest event of the year?

If done correctly and with the right person, it could literally be one of the biggest events in WWE history.

 

[Honkey_Kong]

Well, I think they would have to pay to use the likeness of it, but suppose this. Have the dominant champ set to face off against another wrestler. and that wrestler gets "injured" before the ppv. no screw job involved in that injury, but anyways all the other major contenders in the WWE are already either booked or have been beaten by the champ.

So they go to the indys looking for an unknown. That's where you'll find somebody who is 30-35 who was a solid worker but never had opportunity to make it to the bigs earlier. I'm sure they have somebody in FCW they could bring in for this. This guy cannot win the title though. he has to somehow look like he won but not actually win. then they can have the champ continue to beat contenders but then play on the fans reaction that he's not really the champ. And let that drive him to madness thus getting him to call out and challenge the unknown for a rematch. I think the rematch will be a huge draw. But I think the WWE will have to pay for the rights to use that angle

 

[jmt225]

You guys don't think the Sheamus/Cena storyline right now isn't a complete rip-off to Rocky 3? Come on, man. Sheamus is Clubber Lang, the seemingly unstoppable new challenger, who decimated Cena in their first match, and now Cena's on his way to getting better and in his rematch, he'll destroy Sheamus like Rocky did Clubber in their rematch. Cena's speech at the end of Raw was a clear indication that this entire storyline was based off Rocky 3. The only thing missing is Randy Orton training Cena for Sheamus, lol.

But nevertheless, could the original Rocky storyline work? Sure, it could. You take someone like let's say Christian, move him to Raw, let him stay in mid-card hell, never reaching the next level, and then a year down the line a top contender has to drop out of a match against the champion due to injury, and the cocky champion chooses Christian to fight him because he likes Christian's nickname, "The Instant Classic". They have a match, it's a lot closer than expected, and Christian gets cheated. Next month, rematch, Christian wins the belt and you go from there.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

It probably would work if WWE used the right people, but you have to remember, WWE has done this a bunch of times before, and they've done it a lot with one man....John Cena. Go back to Wrestlemania 22. Nobody thought Cena had a chance at beating Triple H. Hell, during the press conference, HHH even said, " this is going to be the easiest victory I've ever had". And during the commentary, JR kept going on about how he thought Cena had no chance to out wrestle Triple H, and then what happened....he made HHH tap out. Then there was this year's feud with Big Show, after Show threw him through the spotlight. For weeks we had to watch Cena walk to the ring as if he would collapse and die on his way there. Then Judgment Day rolls around, and surprise! Cena hits the attitude adjuster for the win. Something similar like this also happened when he feuded with Khali.

So, this probably would work, but it's been done so many times before, and not just with Cena. The problem with this is unlike Rocky, the underdog couldn't become a dominate force because it would kill the monster face or heel's credibility. Let's say Tyson Kidd beat The Undertaker via clean pinfall for the WHC. Now if Tyson goes on to beat Taker again, and hold the belt for a while, then it's going to make the Deadman look like shit. If something like this were to happen(and there's no chance in hell it ever would) then Taker would probably beat the shit of Tyson and reclaim the title on the very next ppv or Smackdown in a squash match to make his win look like a fluke.

There's another example I left out. Remember when Maven eliminated Taker from the Royal Rumble? Yeah, Maven shocked everyone, but what did Taker do shortly after he got tossed out....he beat the shit out of Maven throughout the whole arena. While this does sound like a good idea, WWE has done this plenty of times before. So it wouldn't be anything new.

 

[ipewrestling.com]

It has been done before...and not with Santino...or Cena...doesn't anyone remember a young Sean Waltman, a.k.a the 123 Kid?!?! He came from out of nowhere and pinned Razor Ramon, a.k.a. Scott Hall. Up to that match, he was jobbed out. The whole match the commentary was about how kid had no chance. And what happened? He beat Hall. And that was the start of a successful, albeit somewhat troubled, career.