Would Marc Mero Have Been Better Off Without Sable?

[The Brain]

I don’t read too much about Marc Mero on the forum. Maybe I’m mistaken but I get the impression he’s not very well liked around here. I wasn’t a big fan of Johnny B. Badd, but I liked the Wildman when he came to the WWF in 1996. Once he shred the Badd gimmick I recognized Mero as a pretty talented wrestler. I believe he was the first person to use a shooting star press in the WWF and his innovative style was a hit with the fans. He had a pretty good year in 96 feuding with Triple H, Steve Austin, and Goldust and eventually won the IC title. He had Sable by his side and things were looking good. It looked as though Mero could be a pretty big star in the WWF.

In early 1997 Mero’s momentum was derailed when he suffered an injury that kept him sidelined for approximately nine months. A match with Rocky Maivia at WrestleMania had to be scrapped and Mero fell out of the spotlight. It was at the Slammy Awards the night before mania that a new star took his place. That star was none other than Mero’s valet Sable. The WWF was becoming more risqué in 1997 and the sex starved audience couldn’t get enough of Sable. By the time Mero returned in the fall Sable was one of the most popular stars in the WWF. This caused jealousy in Mero. He demanded that the fans give their attention to him and forget about Sable. This of course made Mero a hated man. Mero’s insecurity and jealousy drove him and Sable apart and by the spring of 1998 they were actually feuding with one another. Sable got the upper hand over Mero a few times and Mero’s career would never recover. The fans were having a hard time taking him seriously and he would be gone from the WWF by the end of the year.

Would Marc Mero have been better off without Sable? He was never a top guy but he got over as a mid card talent in WCW without her. He was pretty popular in the WWF in 1996 and while Sable may have helped I think he would have done just as well on his own. By the time he returned from injury he had no chance in competing with Sable’s popularity. Constantly being on the losing end against Sable damaged his credibility he would never find his way back on the path he was on in 1996. How do you think Mero’s WWF career would have played out if he never brought Sable along with him?

 

[RicoLen]

He was a good wrestler, but he looked uh... worse than John Morrison, shall we say. Goldust was over the top and meant to be a creepy heel. But Mero just, blarg. I think Mero just needed a completely different look. He was pretty decent on the mic, even better in the ring, but I just didn't like looking at him. I can't say much more about Mero than that. For my part, I don't think Sable was a factor one way or the other, if anything I think she might have extended his career insomuch that when he did his heel turn she kept him relevant.

 

[mrhexum]

I always thought Mero had potential. The Johnny B. Badd gimmick in WCW was pretty lame. I always wished they would've drawn more on his boxing background, mixing it with his high flying.

On to the topic- It's really hard to say what effect Sable really had on his WWE run. On one hand, she got him some more attention, but, just as the angle played out, she started to over shadow him and once they turned on eachother that was pretty much it for Marc. With that said, I'm gonna say Sable more than likely helped his run in the WWE.

 

[wrestler36]

Yes, the Johnny B. Badd gimmick was pretty lame, but it still got him over. I was a Mero fan too, but the Wildman gimmick wasn't really catching on. I believe this is when wcw started taking wwf talent so Mero was one of the first with a guaranteed contract. Bottom line is he was one of the highest paid wrestlers on the roster at the time, but he wasn't bringing in an audience. That's not exactly his fault, but still when you're one of the few at the time with a guaranteed contract, you have to be able to deliver, and unfortunately, he did not. Did he get a fair shot? That's for another discussion

 

[CalciferBoheme]

I really think he would have done better without her. She didn't serve a real purpose with him, and totally took away the focus.

I don't know how well he would have done without her, as WWE couldn't bring him in as Johnny B Badd (which is what Vince would have ideally wanted). but He would have at least had a better shot.

Jim Cornette talks about it one his upcoming dvd. The clip is on Youtube, it's pretty interesting.

 

[DeathClutch]

I never realized Rocky/Mero had been planned for Mania 13, makes sense thou, tagged at Survivor Series 96, around Rumble 97 I remember hearing Sable was interested in managing Rocky then Mero seemed to be off TV (injured).

Anyways gimmicks hurt Mero, the wildman was a good nickname, his look was a bit OTT but it netted him an IC title run and feuds with Goldust and HHH. But after his injury and WWE's Attitude Era he was repackaged as himself (a boxer) which I liked but he wasn't doing anything of substance, BRAWL FOR ALL came along and he was eliminated twice, TWICE yet he was meant to be this golden gloves champion, that hurt him, Sable feud got her over big time and SHOULD have gotten him over but his gimmick held him back, it was salvagable but he was released left around Nov 98, after losing to Gilberg, had he been kept I'm sure he'd of been a staple in the hardcore division and his boxing gimmick could of been played upon better.

WWE in 1998 had A LOT of talent and unfortunatly for Mero he's been lost in the shuffle with his injury and his repackaged gimmick was to counter-act the toughmen comps that were big around that time, either way I liked Mero, ironic as it may be he's actually involved in a match I consider one of my favs (Survivor Series 1996).

 

[GameOver]

Sable was there to make him like a Macho Man clone with her being the Elizabeth i'm pretty sure, but she was too much of a diva/spotlight hog, so yes i'd say he coulda been a main eventer if it hadn't been for his involvement with Sable

He needed to stick with the Wildman gimmick that was a perfect fit for him, if i will something good for WWE on this topic is that they didn't keep the Johnny B Badd gimmick he had in WCW.

 

[PagingMr.ass]

Mero was a very under rated wrestler. He was a fast rising star in WCW and at the time it was a big steal for WWF to get a young guy with a bright future to jump ship. It wasn't like the Jericho and Guerrero stories where was being over looked and underutilized, Judging from his air time and ppv spots WCW had an invested interest in him. I too had heard the rumor that the wwf had wanted too continue with the Johnny B. Bad gimmic, I've even heard a number of people say the original plan was to bring him into wwf as Johnny B. Good, so for his sake i think its better that they went with the Wild Man. He really had all the tools to make it, he was talented in the ring as on the mike and cutting promos and he had an amazing finisher. The shooting star press (I believe he called it "The Wild Thing") hadn't really been introduced to large tv crowds like that and people ate it up. When he transitioned into the boxer he dropped the SSP for the most part, he still broke it out on rare occasions, and went with the TKO, which was in its self a great finisher. It was like a firemans carry into a Diamond Cutter and it looked great. And to top it all off he was being managed by one of the hottest woman to ever step foot in the ring, Sable. At one point she was one of the biggest names on the roster and just as popular as the main eventers. Another problem was that they didn't really run with the whole boxer thing. They did when it was first introduced but but after that it wasn't really played into and it turned into just a guy who wears boxing gear to the wring for some reason. Although Sable and Mero went along great together at the start i feel in the long run it hurt his career. On screen it hurt because, less face it when you being worked as the antagonist to one of the top faces in the company, and that person also happens to be a gorgeous woman its not going to do much in getting people behind the character. Their divorce kind of hurt him off camera too. After they split he wan't being used any more, it almost seemed like they were just kicking him around until his contract expires. I remember him being thrown into a lot of intergender mixed tag matches towards the end as if they had nothing else for him. And his departure wasn't given any attention, he announced wight before a match with light heavy weight camp Gillberg that he'd hang it up if lost, he got pinned and we never heard from him again. So even though I think some aspects of Sable didn't help you cant really blame her for anything. Because in the end He just decided to leave on his own. He got out of a contract half a year before it was up and by turing bown guarenteed money, and he never really took any stabs at a comeback. That being said i think it was pretty clear that Mero made the decision himself to leave the business, so you can't really blame anybody else for his shortened career when he decided himself it was time to move on

 

[Azane]

I think Sable is the only reason we remember Mero, I don't think his career was ruined by her, I think his relevance is founded around her.

I had to think hard to remember Mero before sable.

Look at the names popping up around that time though, you had arguably the strongest roster of all time coming into their own, and I don't think there was room for him.

 

[Cookie14]

I think that Sable was one of the biggest reasons people paid attention to Mero when he first came in. By the time he got injured, he'd managed to get himself over and proven himself in decent fueds. The downfall for Mero was having him fued with Sable when he returned. He was never going to win that fued because of how popular Sable had become, and losing that fued would only ever damage his credability.

 

[amodernphoenix]

Yeah, he was "marvelous". You all know he was married to Sable, right? That was the reason she was his valet. The person who mentioned she wanted to manage Rocky seemed to miss that point.

 

[Foshinzo]

Marc Mero wasn't bad at all, by any standards. I used to think he was pretty good back in the day, and he got overshadowed by his wife, who a lot of people thought was smoking hot but she was never my cup of tea; I thought she was really trashy. I appreciated the strong female character, but the way she dressed kind of just negated that because it never translated over with the audience. When the blond bombshell with fake breasts started talking about being independent and strong, all they saw was the blond bombshell showing off her fake breasts. Wendi Richter did way more for Women's Wrestling than Sable ever did.

But, back to Marc: even though he was good, he probably did about as well as he could have. I never remember him having a very entertaining personality (his first promo at Wrestlemania 12 was just awkward, to me), and I simply can't remember anything about him, other than a few good matches he had. He's sort of like Macho Man; Macho had Elizabeth, and he kind of had the scumbag boyfriend gimmick, but Elizabeth never powerbombed Macho and killed his career. Maybe if they had let Mero actually control Sable and he had adopted a woman beating, scumbag boyfriend gimmick where she didn't kick his ass, then he could have been a top heel. Who wouldn't hate a man like that?

Would Marc have been better off without Sable? Probably, but he may never have gotten as far as he did without the added attention that she brought.

 

[James]

I liked Marc Mero, he reminds me of Dolph Ziggler for some reason. Maybe because he is underrated. Most of the time when I got to see his matches he was losing but he actually would put on a match other than half assing it. The thing with Marc is he was in a period where he couldn't be at the very top. Goldust had it all though but he dropped the ball on himself.

 

[jaceynightheat]

I preferred him as Johnny B. Badd. I think he should have came in as that character with Sable.

I think like a lot of stars at that time, that jumped ship & changed their names - it hurt him. He still looked like Johnny B Badd but with no make up & different color tights.

I enjoyed watching him when I was a kid as JBB but once he switched to Marc Mero, I kinda lost interest in watching him. Plus Sable was distracting as hell for someone going through puberty.

 

[closet_fan]

He was a good wrestler, but he looked uh... worse than John Morrison, shall we say. Goldust was over the top and meant to be a creepy heel. But Mero just, blarg. I think Mero just needed a completely different look. He was pretty decent on the mic, even better in the ring, but I just didn't like looking at him. I can't say much more about Mero than that. For my part, I don't think Sable was a factor one way or the other, if anything I think she might have extended his career insomuch that when he did his heel turn she kept him relevant.

the look wcw made him use was obviously an homage to little richard.

and you're right. if sable hadn't come on the scene, there was no way mero would have lasted as long as he did. his only relevance was because people liked looking at the manager.

I preferred him as Johnny B. Badd. I think he should have came in as that character with Sable.

I think like a lot of stars at that time, that jumped ship & changed their names - it hurt him. He still looked like Johnny B Badd but with no make up & different color tights.

I enjoyed watching him when I was a kid as JBB but once he switched to Marc Mero, I kinda lost interest in watching him. Plus Sable was distracting as hell for someone going through puberty.

i liked the JBB character to. he definitely had more personality and charisma when he was under that moniker.

 

[The Brain]

I never realized Rocky/Mero had been planned for Mania 13

Seems a lot better than Rocky vs. Sultan right?

I think Sable is the only reason we remember Mero, I don't think his career was ruined by her, I think his relevance is founded around her.

I had to think hard to remember Mero before sable.

I think that's why he may have been better off without Sable. People remember Mero because of Sable because Sable outshined him. Mero was stuck in her shadow. What if Sable wasn't around? Mero wouldn't have been tied to her and would have had the opportunity to be involved in programs without her. Maybe he would have shined on his own.

Yeah, he was "marvelous". You all know he was married to Sable, right? That was the reason she was his valet. The person who mentioned she wanted to manage Rocky seemed to miss that point.

I don't see what that has to do with anything. Just because she was his wife in real life doesn't mean she had to be his valet on tv.