On the heel’s of Mo’s tremendous article (found HERE) regarding why Ryback is unlikely to be the next Goldberg I thought it would be fun to republish an article I did last year where I chose Skip Sheffield to get a Goldberg-like push. For those of you who are unaware, and even if you are, Ryan Reeves is/was both Skip Sheffield and Ryback.
With that prefaced, here is my article from last April:
The WWE’s New Mainstream Star?
by Addie, 04-19-2011
I have been sitting back and thinking ever since the retirement of Edge and, like a lot of people, marvelling at the lack of depth on the WWE roster. It’s no secret that WWE is hurting for stars. The reasons are obvious both in hindsight to those in the bubble and were obvious to those of us outside the bubble at the time. While some of the failure to create new long term stars was out of the “Fed’s” hands (Benoit, Jeff Hardy, Batista) the reality is that no one in the past ten years has reached the level of Hogan, Rock, or Austin…..the mainstream star.
John Cena has come the closest but he is stuck at the level of Bret Hart or Shawn Michaels…the top guy when business is down. Randy Orton and Batista were chosen as the heir apparents but both have had a combination of injuries and bad booking, in Orton’s case, and a lack of passion, in big Dave’s case. Other holdovers from the hot period like Hunter, Big Show, and Kane have added “star power” to some main events but have also lacked the mainstream crossover appeal. Jericho and Edge came up to the main events in the last 10 years and had great matches and some interesting angles but didn’t have enough to break into pop culture like the major stars of the past.
All this being said, I can’t hop in my Delorean and go back to the future. So what do I do to create that next breakout star? Something that Vince and company have been afraid to do in the last ten years, and really in the last fifteen to twenty years:
AN UNDEFEATED STREAK.
Sure it’s not an original idea (Goldberg, Samoa Joe) but it is one that the WWE/F has never really used long term outside of Undertaker’s once a year Mania matches. It’s not even something that I would call a “streak” as that phrase would be reserved for Taker (stupid I know but it’s the way they work). The logical (and I may just have sunk my idea using that word folks) way for me to implement this gimmick is to start it on Smackdown this summer. I have the guy (more on him in a minute) start winning quick squash matches on Smackdown 3 out of every four weeks for the summer against guys like Trent Beretta and Curt Hawkins to get him over as a killer. Once the fall hits I give him his first midcard feud, transition that into a great performance in the rumble where he does the “Diesel” spot of throwing the most guys out before being eliminated by an Upper Midcard heel. That heel can brag about eliminating him leading to a Wrestlemania match. All of this occurs on Smackdown until the draft of 2012 where he is moved to RAW and feuds with their current crop of upper midcard and main eventers leading to a Royal Rumble win and a main event title win at Wrestlemania 30.
The comparisons to Bill Goldberg will be there, no doubt, but if Vince can get behind his creation and the “entertainer” can stay injury free I think a new mainstream breakout star can be had. The gimmick and angle has been formed. Now who do I use in the role?
SKIP SHEFFIELD.
Agree or Disagree? Drop me a line at addie@wetalkwrestling.com and let me know what you think!
