havoc7179
Main Eventer
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Joined on: Oct 16, 2012 9:11:18 GMT -5
Posts: 4,189
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Post by havoc7179 on May 16, 2017 11:30:03 GMT -5
I remember before guys like AJ Styles and Samoa Joe came up, the magazines and chat rooms were talking about the Damaja, Basham, Rob Conway, Nick Dinsmore and other guys in OVW as if they were the greatest wrestlers alive. Were we wrong or did WWE fail them? I never really saw OVW and just got my information from second hand sources or magazines. Then they debuted with really weird gimmicks (Damaja became a Basham despite Basham being his main opponent; Dinsmore became Eugene; Conway became a Frenchman and then possibly a gigolo?), but I never was really impressed by them.
Did the "hype" cut them off at the legs and people were really expecting more from them since very few saw them ahead of time? Were their gimmicks doomed to fail and did that ultimately hurt their marketability? What happened to those wrestlers? Why didn't they become the big stars the mags thought they would be. Obviously, with youtube today, we can now judge for ourselves and our judgment of up and comers have been pretty decent since that time (e.g., Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe)
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Post by JC Motors on May 19, 2017 8:36:09 GMT -5
I think the problem was that WWE didn't know what to do with them once they reached the main roster
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on May 20, 2017 0:48:43 GMT -5
They were there at a time frame when John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista and Edge were all just ready to explode into the main event scene. And at that time, Lesnar was there and just leaving, and Benoit, Guerrero, Triple H, and JBL all had the WWE or World Title wrapped up.
So I wouldn't say the WWE failed them in their quest of being 'the next big thing' in the WWE. But I do know that for tag teams there is a formula usually.
Tag team forms
Tag team wins some matches
Tag team wins some non title matches over the champions
Tag team wins the Tag Titles
The tag team that loses the belts splits up and feuds with each other or one gets drafted to the other show
Then one (or both) get released.
It happened with Cade/Murdoch, Kidman/London, London/Kendrick, Hart Dynasty, La Resistance, MNM, Los Guerrero's, Cody Rhodes/Hardcore Holly, Carlito & Primo, Ryder & Hawkins, and I am sure there are more I am forgetting.
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Post by TKO Propagandist on May 20, 2017 9:49:12 GMT -5
Dinsmore was a really good wrestler that was in the system for a long time but they never had anything for him creatively. He pitched the Eugene persona in hopes he could finally catch a break. Obviously the character had a ceiling but I really don't think he and the others mentioned could ever really have advanced from being just good hands.
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Post by PJ on May 20, 2017 12:04:29 GMT -5
I remember before guys like AJ Styles and Samoa Joe came up, the magazines and chat rooms were talking about the Damaja, Basham, Rob Conway, Nick Dinsmore and other guys in OVW as if they were the greatest wrestlers alive. Were we wrong or did WWE fail them? I never really saw OVW and just got my information from second hand sources or magazines. Then they debuted with really weird gimmicks (Damaja became a Basham despite Basham being his main opponent; Dinsmore became Eugene; Conway became a Frenchman and then possibly a gigolo?), but I never was really impressed by them. Did the "hype" cut them off at the legs and people were really expecting more from them since very few saw them ahead of time? Were their gimmicks doomed to fail and did that ultimately hurt their marketability? What happened to those wrestlers? Why didn't they become the big stars the mags thought they would be. I think all those guys you mentioned didn't become top level stars because they never had it in them. They were all mid-carders at best. They might have been big fish in places like OVW and such, but once they got to top tier federation like WCW or the WWE where the best of the best were at then they became the small fish in the ocean. And most just couldn't hang or adapt/evolve to stay relevant. |
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Post by Grenouille on May 21, 2017 20:46:22 GMT -5
I think the failure of some of the products from the OVW era show far things have come today with NXT. Typically when guys are ready for the main roster today they are a "finished" product rather than someone who needs to grab something from the gimmick bin before debuting.
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Post by King Richius on May 21, 2017 20:51:46 GMT -5
Dinsmore was a really good wrestler that was in the system for a long time but they never had anything for him creatively. He pitched the Eugene persona in hopes he could finally catch a break. Obviously the character had a ceiling but I really don't think he and the others mentioned could ever really have advanced from being just good hands. Dinsmore as Eugene did manage to star in one of my all time favorite moments ever. Of course, it was when Sandman made his "surprise" appearance at One Night Stand and beat the crap out of Eugene with two kendo sticks. |
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Post by TKO Propagandist on May 22, 2017 9:01:53 GMT -5
Dinsmore was a really good wrestler that was in the system for a long time but they never had anything for him creatively. He pitched the Eugene persona in hopes he could finally catch a break. Obviously the character had a ceiling but I really don't think he and the others mentioned could ever really have advanced from being just good hands. Dinsmore as Eugene did manage to star in one of my all time favorite moments ever. Of course, it was when Sandman made his "surprise" appearance at One Night Stand and beat the crap out of Eugene with two kendo sticks. Dinsmore does commentaries and gives insight on his most famous moments in WWE. Here is his one on ONS 06 |
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Deleted
Joined on: Nov 30, 2024 5:31:55 GMT -5
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2017 11:48:54 GMT -5
Dinsmore had PPV matches with Kurt Angle and Triple H. Dude was over and he did very well for himself.
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Post by Fighter Hayabusa on May 22, 2017 13:53:01 GMT -5
I lived in Louisville during the height of OVW and the stars stood out. You knew Orton, Cena, Batista, and Brock were gonna be huge one day. The rest, not so much. Densmore is someone I think had potential but was never called up for the longest time. I enjoyed Eugene but you're never gonna be world champ as a mentally challenged wrestler and once he was that character there was no way to ever transition into anything else. Only other person I think that coulda been a star and they failed to push properly was Sheldon Benjamin. He had a decent run but he coulda and shoulda been main event talent.
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Post by ~*Young $ Money*~ on May 22, 2017 22:21:02 GMT -5
I think they were decent for what they were. I think Eugene was a pretty cool character at that time and could have went further as a mid card talent, but that was about it for that character. It could have only lasted so long though. The others I don't really remember either way
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Post by HHH316 on May 24, 2017 9:53:39 GMT -5
I think the bar was set pretty high for those guys coming in. After how impressive the previous class was, (Orton, Batista, Lesnar, Cena, & to an extent, Rico) I'm not sure those guys had much of a prayer. Outside of Eugene, who was the only successful one, the rest of them were given a lot of TV time, but couldn't connect.
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Post by ricflair4ever on May 24, 2017 16:09:09 GMT -5
For the ones brought in as tag teams, mostly thrown together ones at that, they weren't really given much to work with. Especially in the case of guys like Damaja, Doug Basham, and Rob Conway. All 3 of whom i saw potential in during OVW. If the Bashams would have been put in a position of showcasing some personality, i think the team could have lad legs beyond the above mentioned cycle where team debuts, wins gold, gets filtered out. Conway and Dinsmore had a hell of a team pre WWE. The Lords of the Ring were solid, in some ways kind of like The Revival are now. Truthfully, if i were in charge of WWE at the time, i would have brought them in as a team. But ,since Dinsmore was able to make some cash off his Eugene run, I'm sure he's ok with how things went. Lol
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REAL REVY
Main Eventer
1000 Posts
Joined on: Feb 8, 2012 16:27:26 GMT -5
Posts: 1,000
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Post by REAL REVY on May 25, 2017 13:53:27 GMT -5
Eugene woulda been world champ but HHH was too afriad hed get more over and he would have another beniot situation
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