Everyone who reads this knows my position on pushing and elevating new talent. It’s vital that WWE puts the men and women, to a lesser extent because it doesn’t have the female talent capable, in the spotlight to make the relevant and important as we go forward into the year and into the future. That is a given. Even more so when you realise that at time of writing we’re just a fortnight away from WrestleMania and there is no better stage on which to take someone from zero to hero in one night than the grandest stage of them all.
WWE have done this time and time again with wrestlers who didn’t look important coming from the territorial regions so why can’t they do it when the talent isn’t being brought in from elsewhere and it’s their own, home-grown talent? One such point is Randy Savage. On the territorial circuit Savage was a very good wrestler but wasn’t going to get looked at as a main event player. Had Savage never jumped ship to WWE in the 80’s then he may never have been the headline star we all loved him to be and he may never have been champion. Even when Savage came to WWE he wasn’t immediately thrust into the spotlight because of the power and reach of Hulkamania. Toiling on the under card for a decent amount of time, Savage and WWE bided their time until they pushed him hard and at Wrestlemania 3 the call finally came.
It was Randy Savage who was chosen to hold the once illustrious WWE Intercontinental Championship and drop it to Ricky Steamboat at Wrestlemania 3. Whilst it was WWE who gave Savage the right break at the right time on the right show, it was Savage and Steamboat who put on a wrestling classic in the squared circle and got themselves noticed. Would the man born Randy Poffo have been the huge star we fell in love with had WWE not seized the moment and booked him to defend the Intercontinental Championship at the third instalment of the biggest wrestling event in history? The answer is debateable. All I will say is that Savage was a mid card player he made the world stand up and take notice in his defeat to Steamboat.
All it takes is a little ingenuity and forward planning and WWE would have had a star on their hands. More importantly than that, a star who would have shone when it mattered and not forced to go through months of insufferable toil on the undercard, jobbing to the dated Brodus Clay and suffering a Jack Swagger 2012 burial just so he could ‘pay his dues’. Looking at the WrestleMania 29 card then, who is that WWE have chosen to play this star making part and have their careers changed in a huge way? Which bright, young, up and coming wrestler will be heralded as the new generation of WWE? Yes, Fandango and that bright young thing, Mark Henry.
It’s quite unbelievable that WWE would book two men who have no hope of being a legend in WWE and two men who simple are going nowhere. Mark Henry has been such a flop in WWE since 1996 that it’s hard to recall a moment of Henry’s that truly stands out. Someone who has had that much time to shine and has failed to do so on every occasion should surely have been fired by WWE in 2013. There have been many, more talented wrestlers who have suffered the ‘Future Endeavour’ treatment, who could have made the most of Mark Henry’s spot. And to make it worse, have WWE booked him in a match with someone who has the ability to hide his flaws? Nope. They’ve booked him in the spot originally meant for Big Show, against Ryback. Does anyone have a towel, because we can throw it in now.
Not content with having us shoulder the burden of having to pay out money to watch Mark Henry wrestle, both on the night and when the DVD and Blu-ray release hits the shelves, WWE have gone one better and booked the comedy character Fandango against Chris Jericho on the same card. From what I’ve garnered from the Fandango character thus far, not that there’s been much evidence to go on, is that WWE are going to go two ways with him. Fandango will either surprise us all and pull out a truly momentous performance against Y2J at Mania, or he’s going to join Santino in the comedy character ranks. Knowing WWE, I’d plump for the latter.
Don’t get me wrong, my judgment could be totally misplaced and Jericho and Fandango could have a belter of a match that elevates Fandango into the main event scene in WWE. Fandango could be the Randy Savage of 2013 and just be waiting for his chance to grab the spotlight. From a wrestler who has been booked to walk out of everyone of his matches because his opponents can’t say his name correctly, I seriously doubt it. You can read more about this in the WrestleMania 29 preview which will be up for your pleasure on Friday April 5th. I just hope WWE realise the damage that they’ve already done the Fandango character before he locks up with Jericho.
If I asked you to name two more, deserving wrestlers who could have utilised these spots better than Henry and Fandango then I’m sure everyone who is reading this sentence could reel off ten or more names. I for one would have loved to have seen Bo Dallas fight Jericho at WrestleMania 29 and Tensai pushed hard and occupy either Henry’s spot or another high profile outing up the card. However much we moan, I suppose it should be an encouraging sign that WWE have decided to invest something in a brand new star. As for Mark Henry, well, what else is there left to say?
Onwards and upwards...
