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[writeandwrong]

Who would you say are the top 5 dead weight characters taking up room on the show and the top 5 characters in need of a push on the show right now folks?

Might give us some perspective on where things need changed the most overall.

I think doing a whole top 5/bottom 5 is probably going a little overboard, but I'll give you one for each.

Dead Weight: Ryback
Dude is just boring as hell. No real characterisation beyond "I'm a tough guy", not fun to watch in the ring, and aside from the crowd liking to chant his catchphrase he gets almost no reaction. You could hear a pin drop when he pinned Big E in that Survivor Series style match, whereas when Ambrose or the Usos got a pin the crowd went wild.

Push This Guy To The Goddamn Moon: Cesaro
New Day might be the all-around most entertaining thing in WWE, but if you go purely on in-ring entertainment Cesaro is at the top of that list. The crowd always pops when he sets up for the swing, gets a hot tag or does his gorgeous springboard uppercut. I also think his mic skills are vastly underrated. He doesn't need to be THE top guy, but he should definitely be A top guy.

 

[hamchan]

Who would you say are the top 5 dead weight characters taking up room on the show and the top 5 characters in need of a push on the show right now folks?

Might give us some perspective on where things need changed the most overall.

Dead weight: Big Show, Kane, Ryback, Sheamus, Charlotte

Push: Dean Ambrose, Cesaro, Rusev, Kalisto, Sasha Banks

 

[mercenar1e]

Dead weight: Big Show, Kane, Ryback, Sheamus, Charlotte

Push: Dean Ambrose, Cesaro, Rusev, Kalisto, Sasha Banks

Creative doesn't have anything for them lol

 

[hamchan]

Creative doesn't have anything for them lol

I know and that's a pretty big problem when your creative can't be creative enough to think of things for all these talented wrestlers.

 

[mercenar1e]

I know and that's a pretty big problem when your creative can't be creative enough to think of things for all these talented wrestlers.

Vince has the final say on who's getting a push and all of them aren't on the list lol

 

[The Incarnation]

Deadweight: Ambrose, Big Show, Kane, Reigns, Ziggler
Push: No one, everyone's shite.

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

The dead weight is Vince and Kevin Dunn in the back along with their staff of 20-30 writers.


There's so much dead weight that just a "top five" is not enough even if they're not taking up main show TV time.

Big Show, Kane, Curtis Axel, Sandow, Diego, Fernando, El Torito, Ziggler, Fandango, Heath Slater, Hornswoggle, Wade Barrett, Ryback, Sheamus and Zack Ryder are all pretty much dead weight at this point. I would release or "retire" in the case of Show and Kane, all of them except the Colon cousins since the masks allow them to be repackaged easier and worse comes to worst they can be the bottom rung tag team to get others over while they beat jobbers on Superstars. Some could use a few yeras out of the WWE system to "find" themselves, Barrett and Sheamus could probably do well in Japan. I left Truth out because I do think the man has been grossly underutilized for years and while probably near the end of his career I think something could still be done with him since despite how long he's been with WWE I don't think he's as damaged as others.

Going through the women's roster there's not enough there to really get rid of, they need jobbers and I'll give Eva Marie a little bit more of a chance as much as it pains me to, they should just give her a "Stepford Wife" gimmick. Rosa ain't getting fired any time soon for obvious reasons. I also want them to eventually reintroduce the women's tag titles when the main women's roster grows a bit more and let the Bella Twins have that for the Total Divas push for a while.


Plus Stephanie and Triple H off fucking TV and being so domineering over the roster and taking up TV time that could be dedicated to something else. The whole authority figure has been played out for a decade and yet here we are with WWE still relying on it. The whole Authority bullshit should have ended almost a year ago or at the very, very least WrestleMania but again they're still around doing the same shit they were doing two or whatever many years ago it's been.


I don't feel like writing out a "push" list right now, it's a bit more complicated with the way I'd do it than just list five guys and it too would be way more than just five people, that's basically one person per title and I'd want to structure it by rank and tier even though I just pretty much gutted much of the mid and upper mid-card.

 

[abstract alien]

The dead weight is Vince and Kevin Dunn in the back along with their staff of 20-30 writers.

Wait...Kevin? Kevin Dunn is still there? What in the ever loving fuck...I am legit shocked at that.

 

[DeathyBoy]

Wait...Kevin? Kevin Dunn is still there? What in the ever loving fuck...I am legit shocked at that.

He knows where the bodies are buried

 

[The Elite]

WWE has a lot of talent. As has been mentioned a lot of the dead weight is in production. Thirty writers is going to destroy creativity. Kevin Dunn destroys creativity.

Let's check the dirtsheets...

They really should have let Sandow win the Miz gimmick from Miz. That would have been great to run with for a while and extended what was a pretty good feud that the crowd was into. There were a lot of places to go with that.

 

[DeathyBoy]

Also, no way should they can Barrett. The guy, along with Stardust, is ridiculous in how he gets the shittiest gimmicks over. All while Cesaro is still rubbish on the mic even after months with Heyman.

 

[Jerm411]

Who would you say are the top 5 dead weight characters taking up room on the show and the top 5 characters in need of a push on the show right now folks?

Might give us some perspective on where things need changed the most overall.

Dead Weight - Big Show, Kane, Ryback, Sheamus, Bellas

Push - Cesaro, Ambrose, Barrett, Cody Rhodes (not Stardust), Owens

 

[Arrowgigantic]

Dead Weight:
Alex Riley - Yes, he's still on the roster.
Big Show - It's time.
The Usos - Their theme song is pretty cool?
Roman Reigns - It is not going to happen.
Tamina - I feel like at this point I'm picking on Polynesia but damn they're pretty bad.

Push:
Cesaro - He's so strong. Inspiring.
The European Union - Trios are in, these guys make a good one.
Damien Sandow - He can make pretty much anything work.
Fandango - I am not even a real journalism.
Dean Ambrose - Approaches CM Punk levels of charisma.

Old af:
Sting

 

[Deleted member 47027]

A lot of you people and your folks under the Dead Weight category are next level bonkers. The Big Show? Ryback? Ryback sells a ton of merch. Show is always there to pretend to be a credible opponent.

 

[Violence Jack]

Outside of the Rumble and Wrestlemania times, I expect the ratings to keep tanking until they get rid of the 3 hour format. Also, who exactly is their top draw now that Cena has taken time off? Fans aren't tuning in to see Reigns or Rollins. There's no edge to them.

 

[KingBroly]

I think Reigns has improved a lot since Wrestlemania. He's still got a LOOOOONG way to go, though. They just need to take out his shitty contacts and not let him speak....ever.

 

[Deleted member 47027]

Sting was never that big of a draw anyway. WCW always wanted him to be a bigger draw than he really was. Every time he won the title they took it off him fairly quickly because business always went way down. He was a great wrestler but he was never Flair/Hogan level like WCW wanted him to be.

He was most popular when he wasn't wrestling for 18 months. Once he started wrestling again he was back in the midcard after a few months.

Sting kept their business afloat for a few years. Nobody else in WCW could have at that time. He did his time, he proved his worth. Of course, this was Godly Surfer Sting, the best Sting of all.

 

[Mahonay]

Sting kept their business afloat for a few years. Nobody else in WCW could have at that time. He did his time, he proved his worth. Of course, this was Godly Surfer Sting, the best Sting of all.

 

[Gonzalez]

They really should have let Sandow win the Miz gimmick from Miz. That would have been great to run with for a while and extended what was a pretty good feud that the crowd was into. There were a lot of places to go with that.

Yeah, I'm so pissed about that. It should have been like that episode of Seinfeld that had Jerry, and Kramer switching personalities. But played off more as Mizdow slowly turning into a much more evil Miz, and Miz reverting back to the old shy Mike Mizanin from the Real World. All culminating in a winner take all battle of the Miz's at Wrestlemania.

 

[HeisenbergLannister]

Too many hours of TV and too many PPVs where nearly every wrestler and match are overexposed to hell and back.

 

[Mahonay]

Too many hours of TV and too many PPVs where nearly every wrestler and match are overexposed to hell and back.

They have quite a few wrestlers that are not regularly featured on RAW.

Their problem has been overusing the same people every week.

 

[Paracelsus]

Their problem is that their wrestlers have no clear direction, whether that's revenge, a feud for someone or something, or the title.

2003.

Big Show takes out the Undertaker in late 2002, then takes out Lesnar, sides with Angle and Heyman (not a random move, Lesnar needs face turn and he was already showing he was out of control so Paul was irked). Angle then takes care of Benoit who is not just snuck in the main event at RR, it's years in the making (ever since Wrestlemania 16 you could say, but more specifically since when him and Angle were both to Smackdown in 2002). Heyman needs to deal with Lesnar instead, who takes out Big Show, who is then left out? No, he forgot Undertaker who is back to mess him up. Is it over? No, A-Train helps him, setting Undertaker for a WMania match. Lesnar takes out Angle who is out of action. A month that needs filler? Let's make a tournament to put the new guys over and setting up new midcard feuds (Rhyno vs Benoit, Taker vs FBI). Cena comes up, he's perfect because he was heel, trash talks more than he can chew so he can talk big and get beat up just fine. And now that he's out? Big Show wants revenge for Armageddon and the RR still, so let's have him fight Lesnar. Angle is back? Now it's a three-way. What about A-Train? He's not done, he is still set on Undertaker, so you have their SS match. And Lesnar? He's mad Angle got the title, so he drinks Vince's koolaid and turns heel. He finally gets the title back, but what now? Guess what, Undertaker hasn't forgotten Lesnar from 2002 and he's back for more, but now Lesnar got Vince behind him so he's outnumbered. Ok, let's get Stephanie behind Undertaker, it was already a thing in 2002 so. And so on, all the way into Survivor Series, where they also have continuity by having Hardcore Holly come back to smash Lesnar, leading even into a world title match months later.

EDIT: look, here's how such an insignificant thing was built up 12 years ago.

And all of this does not even concern the midcard (US title, Eddie and Benoit, long time believable feud, Rhyno and Benoit, another one, Tajiri being the wildcard from ECW and Japan also), or Rey Mastrio, Billy Kidman, Ultimo Dragon etc. Right now, all WWE has is "let's pull something out the ass as of why Bray Wyatt may have a beef with Rawmen Reins or Taker" and the Shield members going back and forth in a limbo trying to remember whether they love or hate each other to death.

 

[Fleet_of_Foot]

As someone who only started watching wrestling this year (since January) I don't understand the purpose or appeal of Bray Wyatt, or any of his hillbilly "family."

When I started watching he was calling out Undertaker, and then lost. Then he was feuding with Roman Reigns, and lost. Now they're still putting him in the ring and letting him do these stupid skits with the lightning and so on. If you keep losing big matches, you lose any credibility. Why do they keep putting him out there when he has no credibility?

I hate looking at those guys. I guess there's a demographic that ...admires people like Luke Harper? Like, big stupid white trash idiots? Eric Rowan is worse, with his stupid mask. That group is just about as far away from what I like to watch as you can get.

 

[Barrage]

Push To The Moon:

Wade Barrett, Stardust, The Miz, Cesaro, Sasha Banks

Dead Weight:

Curtis Axel, Erick Rowan, Fandango, Zach Rider, Cameron

Neither Big Show or Kane are dead weight, they have enough credibility to headline B and C-level House shows at any time which makes them valuable.

 

[Deleted member 47027]

Push To The Moon:

Wade Barrett, Stardust, The Miz, Cesaro, Sasha Banks

Dead Weight:

Curtis Axel, Erick Rowan, Fandango, Zach Rider, Cameron

Neither Big Show or Kane are dead weight, they have enough credibility to headline B and C-level House shows at any time which makes them valuable.

That's a respectable list there. Cameron is the only one I'm not convinced is dead weight. Rowan absolutely is, when you have someone like Strowman who looks universes better and is more terrifying, it makes Rowan look useless. Goddamn, Strowman is so vascular and huge.

 

[Mahonay]

Push To The Moon:

Wade Barrett, Stardust, The Miz, Cesaro, Sasha Banks

Dead Weight:

Curtis Axel, Erick Rowan, Fandango, Zach Rider, Cameron

Neither Big Show or Kane are dead weight, they have enough credibility to headline B and C-level House shows at any time which makes them valuable.

Cameron, Curtis Axel and Fandango have not been on RAW in a long time.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

Why does it matter who they need to push if they don't know how to push anyone? They'll have you hating Cesaro as much as Roman Reigns if they start pushing him.

 

[fader]

Push To The Moon:

Wade Barrett, waaaaay too late Stardust meh, gimmick kinda reached the ceiling, The Miz seriously?, Cesaro they missed the boat, Sasha Banks ok

.

 

[Mahonay]

Strowman is so vascular and huge.

 

[bjork]

That's a respectable list there. Cameron is the only one I'm not convinced is dead weight. Rowan absolutely is, when you have someone like Strowman who looks universes better and is more terrifying, it makes Rowan look useless. Goddamn, Strowman is so vascular and huge.

I actually heard this line in Vince's voice in my mind. Then he said, "unnnnnnbelievable!"

 

[joelseph]

Push: Zayn, Rose, Cesaro

Pull: Ryback, Sheamus, Zigler

 

[Anth0ny]

Who would you say are the top 5 dead weight characters taking up room on the show and the top 5 characters in need of a push on the show right now folks?

Might give us some perspective on where things need changed the most overall.

dead weight: kevin dunn, vince mcmahon, stephanie mcmahon, kane, big show, sheamus, randy borton, bellas

push: cesaro, sasha, owens, ambrose, rusev

 

[Marvel]

dead weight: kevin dunn, vince mcmahon, stephanie mcmahon, kane, big show, sheamus, randy borton, bellas

push: cesaro, sasha, owens, ambrose, rusev

I was nodding my head until I saw Ambrose in this list to be pushed.

He is boring and annoying.

 

[Liquidsnake]

Dead weight: Big Show, Kane, Ryback, Sheamus, Charlotte

Push: Dean Ambrose, Cesaro, Rusev, Kalisto, Sasha Banks

Sorry man, maybe you haven't seen her really wrestle. because this is 100% wrong.

 

[Google]

I really like Cesaro as an in-ring performer but the guy's got no fucking charisma at all. Boring look, bad to average on the mic, bad trunks, bad intro - like he's just a by-the-numbers jobber.

I'm sure it's a case of creative pushing a lot of that on him - but I've read and heard enough about wrestling talent to know that the guys who make it to the top have to build and create their own gimmicks and push it to the stars. Listening to New Day talk about their original gimmick ideas and where they actually took it is really interesting.

Cesaro has had ample opportunity. Heyman, Natty and Kidd, NXT, etc. Look at him compared to Kevin Owens - it's night and day.

 

[Paracelsus]

Sorry man, maybe you haven't seen her really wrestle. because this is 100% wrong.

But he listened to her talk. This is sports entertainment, and the entertainment should never only come from flippy

Spoiler

shhhhit

.

 

[Couleurs]

Push To The Moon:

Wade Barrett, Stardust, The Miz, Cesaro, Sasha Banks

Dead Weight:

Curtis Axel, Erick Rowan, Fandango, Zach Rider, Cameron

Neither Big Show or Kane are dead weight, they have enough credibility to headline B and C-level House shows at any time which makes them valuable.

Whooooa what's wrong with Curtis Axel

Other than being a great example of how fucked up the WWE is with failing to create stars, as they somehow fail to capitalize on having Mr. Perfect's son on the roster

 

[Anth0ny]

I was nodding my head until I saw Ambrose in this list to be pushed.

He is boring and annoying.

hey man it was hard finding five guys/gals worth pushing >_<

I still think the most important thing is to dump vince and dunn. guys that seem shitty because of them are probably amazing and just being held back by the god awful booking.

 

[Deleted member 47027]

hey man it was hard finding five guys worth pushing >_<

I still think the most important thing is to dump vince and dunn. guys that seem shitty because of them are probably amazing and just being held back by the god awful booking.

Vince is responsible for the good AND the bad. There's a hell of a lot more good than bad.

 

[Sephzilla]

Dead Weight:
Alex Riley
Big Show
Kane
Tamina

Push:
Cesaro
Damien Sandow
Dean Ambrose
Rusev
Sasha Banks

I'm honestly tempted to put Ziggler in the Dead Weight section

 

[fader]

Sorry man, maybe you haven't seen her really wrestle. because this is 100% wrong.

charlotte is terribad.

 

[Anth0ny]

Dead Weight:
Alex Riley
Big Show
Kane
Tamina

Push:
Cesaro
Damien Sandow
Dean Ambrose
Rusev
Sasha Banks

I'm honestly tempted to put Ziggler in the Dead Weight section

I still think Ziggler is a pretty talented dude. He's never been pushed properly. They book him right now like the mega douchebag. Except he's also a babyface. Great job.

The closest he got to being properly pushed was after he cashed in and won the title, and then like an IDIOT got a concussion. Wrong move, pal. Injury prone midgets don't get pushed.

 

[Sephzilla]

I still think Ziggler is a pretty talented dude. He's never been pushed properly. They book him right now like the mega douchebag. Except he's also a babyface. Great job.

The closest he got to being properly pushed was after he cashed in and won the title, and then like an IDIOT got a concussion. Wrong move, pal. Injury prone midgets don't get pushed.

My issue with Ziggler is that he just seems like a spot monkey now. He just pulls out big moves out of nowhere in order to get a big pop. He doesn't seem to have a really good ability to tell a story in the ring.

 

[The Silver]

Never liked Ziggler, he's almost in Alex Riley tier of go away heat with me.

 

[Into]

I cant disagree that Ziggler is talented

But my eternal image of him is getting beat up. Not just because he has lost tons of matches but it seemingly what he does best, flop around like a dead fish and make guys look great.

Even when Ziggler is on the offense is barely standing, holding on for dear life.

It just makes it look like in kayfabe that Ziggler is near death after every move, whether its recieved or given.

HBK and Flair also sold well, not as dramatically as Ziggler but they also looked cool when they delivered them

 

[Sephzilla]

Thinking about it I kind of think the cage match Ziggler had against Cena is where I started to lose interest in him. It's not entirely Ziggler's fault because that match was as CENAWINSLOL as it gets. But Ziggler hit Cena with like 3 different finishers (and Cena ate Big E's finisher too) and still lost to a single AA. In terms of kayfabe, Ziggler's character cant get shit done. His two biggest career wins were against a one legged Alberto Del Rio and needing Sting's help to pin Rollins.

 

[Ninja Scooter]

I really like Cesaro as an in-ring performer but the guy's got no fucking charisma at all. Boring look, bad to average on the mic, bad trunks, bad intro - like he's just a by-the-numbers jobber.

I'm sure it's a case of creative pushing a lot of that on him - but I've read and heard enough about wrestling talent to know that the guys who make it to the top have to build and create their own gimmicks and push it to the stars. Listening to New Day talk about their original gimmick ideas and where they actually took it is really interesting.

Cesaro has had ample opportunity. Heyman, Natty and Kidd, NXT, etc. Look at him compared to Kevin Owens - it's night and day.

This is what makes me thing that Vince and Co. have always been grossly incompetent and basically lucked into their periods of success by having a select few one in a generation type talents who were able to rise above the shit they were handed. Let's remember if it were up to Vince Stone Cold would be the Ringmaster and Rock would have been clean cut white meat baby face Rocky Maivia. Is it possible Vince and his cronies have never known what the hell they were doing and have always been painfully out of touch, the only difference is that now guys like Roman Reigns and Cesaro don't have the pure natural charisma and personality required to break out of the shitty angles and gimmicks they've been saddled with? Like maybe this whole time the WWE is surviving off the fumes of a complete fluke.

 

[Sibersk Esto]

This is what makes me thing that Vince and Co. have always been grossly incompetent and basically lucked into their periods of success by having a select few one in a generation type talents who were able to rise above the shit they were handed. Let's remember if it were up to Vince Stone Cold would be the Ringmaster and Rock would have been clean cut white meat baby face Rocky Maivia. Is it possible Vince and his cronies have never known what the hell they were doing and have always been painfully out of touch, the only difference is that now guys like Roman Reigns and Cesaro don't have the pure natural charisma and personality required to break out of the shitty angles and gimmicks they've been saddled with? Like maybe this whole time the WWE is surviving off the fumes of a complete fluke.

Every wrestler I've ever heard says that this is the case. Creative has always been shit with ideas, so you're on your own if you want to have a compelling character.

 

[Y2Kev]

They should do UFC with storylines. That would be popular. Less weird shit and more brutality. People seem to like that.

Also immediately let go of all unseemly wrestlers like the wyatts and stuff.

 

[Violence Jack]

Ziggler's last chance was the Survivor Series match where Sting debuted. The crowd was hot for him during that match. But that lead nowhere. Then there was the Royal Rumble when the crowd popped big time for his entrance, then he was just thrown out by Kane/Big Show within a minute. WWE has screwed up his push everytime, even when the crowd was for him.