how to build a main event superstar

[alex0816]

why does wwe think that by just giving some one a wwe or whc, that makes them a main eventer(sheamus,swagger). they need to be built up and get a reaction from the crown, which neither gets(swagger kinda) you need to build them up, heres a perfect example:

arguably the most popular superstar in wwe history......................
stone cold steve austin. lets take a look at his wwe carrer

he debuts in 95 as the ringmaster, very low midcard

gets a win a wrestlemania 12, good job

he then becomes the kotr 96 and becomes stone cold and starts the infamous "Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass" becomes very over eith the crownd as a heel, but still not ready for gold

he next starts one of the greatest fueds ever with a main eventer bret hart and has a great match at survivor series though he lost.

he has his defining moment at mania 13 with blood down his face, screaming in pain, but still never tapped to the sharpshooter, and so him and bret switched their roles.

he becomes one of the most popular wrestlers at hat time with his anti hero attitude, but still not ready for the title

he is now a very high midcarder fueding for the ic title with owen hart and the rock

after this, wwe say he is ready for big time and so he wins the royal rumble in 98 and beats hbk for the wwf title at mania 14.

boom, thats how you build someone as a main eventer, you do it over a long peiod of time and listen to the reaction of the crowd.

now to the opposite of this, we look at swaggers run:

now, im a swagger fan, he has tons of potential and is a talented wrestler, but he's not even in the company 2 years and is now whc, wtf, insted of guys like morrison and mvp who have been here for years now.

look at swaggers run in wwe thus far:

debuts in ecw september 08

wins ecw title at royal rumble 09, ok title is worthless any, trying to build him up, he has a nice run with it

he now gets traded to raw that summer and does nothing in the mid card and doesnt really get a reaction

loses at summerslam, eliminated at survivor series, only lasted about 2mins at the rumble this year, and even lost to santino marella earlier this year and hes the whc, bad writing wwe

so do you guys agree that someone should be built up over a few years before winning the wwe or whc?

[Valdora]

I said this one on the show last night and I agree totally Alex. For me to make a champion worth it the fans need to care about them, you need to build them as strong competitors or at least characters in the mid and upper midcard first so that when they win the belt fans of there will be happy and one way or another people will care. The only reason Shemus gets booed is because the fans are like "go away". If you don't believe me listen to the reaction, or lack there off, to his in math offense.

Surprises are great but they good of had Swagger at least have a solid US title reign over the last year to get him ready.

Bad, Bad booking WWE.

[alex0816]

and i just want to add that it doesnt always have to take years to become a mian eventer or wwe champion. good examples are the undertaker, he one his first wwe title after only a year in wwe, but he was undefeated throughout his 1st year and became over as a super heel, even though his reighn was only a few days but he still got it. a 2nd example is brock lesnar-he won hi 1st championship after about 5 months, but he was dominent and beat the shit out of hogan, jeff hardy, and rvd to name a few and so became over, was a monster heel, and i didnt mind him winning the belt

[DM]

I think the real problem is two things.

One, fans 'hate' long title reigns and call the 'boring' card or the 'oh he always wins' card hence why they change it up often.

Two, the title seems to have a little bit of worth these days constantly switching hands.

First you need to establish worth of the titles, define what they are and why they are important. Two, you need to have long title defenses, aka recently Cena and Taker with the element that they could lose. Reguardless of the 'boring' factor, keep the title on them for a whlie, nine months worth as a starter and keep the title defenses OFF TV, meaning, save it for the PPV, forcing people to buy it and NO rematches on Raw, I HATE that. This will further establish a champion.

Now as far as Swagger and Shaemus goes, it was their way of getting Wrestlemania matches. They wanted Batista as a champion hence the Shaemus mini push and, lets be honest, Jericho/Edge was going no where, hence why they dropped it to Swagger.

Granted neither of them did much to acquire such an acquisition, at least it gives Smackdown a fresh start. I don't like it as much as the next person either but, the whole point of Jericho having the title was for an Edge return at a lackluster match at Mania, I'm glad they 'ended' that.

[Board Admin]

Adding onto DM's thoughts and what you say Alex is very true but you have to look at the fact that it is in two different decades in which it happened, at the time of SCSA's run they needed to build massive starts so that it could rival with the WCW brand who were doing similar things, hence the need for MASSIVE title reigns and huge building and it worked out for WWF

move forward 12 years

WWE is not in any immediate danger of being in another company rivalry and so with that WWE can do what it wants in testing other stars and trying to build stars up by pushing them into the deep end so for me i dont think building a star up is always the best way to go about it mainly for companies sake it could well be but what WWE are in right now, there is no real need to build stars up for a world title run.