Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2020 14:35:47 GMT -5
The following is something that Bruce Prichard said about him in the latest podcast. I got this from wrestlezone... “Diesel was a heel and we made him, we took Diesel away from him, JR starts calling him ‘Kevin.’ I don’t know who the  Kevin is. I don’t care who Kevin is. I cared about my guy Diesel and when we humanized him, I think at that moment, Diesel lost all of his momentum when we made him champion the first time as a babyface and tried to present him as a legitimate athlete with legitimate credentials. Who gives a ? Nobody gives a . They want to be entertained, they want characters and there are people that want the legitimacy well then go to something legitimate. If you want story and entertainment then that’s what we’re trying to give and when it got to be a departure from what we had been doing. I think that’s where we lost them. I think that’s where it just became, ‘I don’t want Kevin from Tennessee. I want Diesel. I want the badass.’ “We took him from being a larger than life character and made him the guy next door that goes to college and plays basketball. Wasn’t good enough to go pro. Didn’t play for a major university, and I’m not knocking anybody that plays college athletics in any way shape or form because that’s a different level than, ‘Hey, by God, I made the high school football team or the basketball team.’ Helluva athlete, but if I wanted to watch a mediocre basketball player, you can watch that all day long somewhere. If I want a larger than life, kick ass in’ Diesel, that’s my guy. Not the guy that in’ went in a dorm in east Tennessee. I just hated it, I in’ hated it.” I've disagreed with Bruce on a lot of things he said, but he is spot on here isn't he? |
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Post by PJ on Jul 13, 2020 16:53:46 GMT -5
I agree in the fact that he believes it. But that said a guy Nash’s size could have been called Kevin and still been seen as a larger than life character the way he was as Diesel to the fans if the wwe and Nash put the same passion in as baby face Kevin as they did as Diesel. But just from what you quoted he clearly didn’t want to see it so the passion wasn’t there from Prichard.
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Post by BrIaNMeRcY on Jul 13, 2020 17:57:36 GMT -5
Wrestling really is a double edge sword. I do understand Bruce Prichard's frustrations with Jim Ross trying to humanize Diesel by revering him as Kevin and bringing up Kevin Nash's athletic background. I did listen to this podcast over the weekend. By this point, Jim Ross was still the Jim Ross of WCW. Ross had not assimilated to the WWF-style of commentating. Ross finally got out of that habit about 1996-1997.
Prichard is right/wrong here. I do understand his frustrations but at the end of the day, you gave somebody the championship to be the face of the company. Looking back, I feel bad for Diesel. No matter who was champion in 1995, you can forget having him sell tickets and have the SRO signs go out in the building.
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Post by jason88cubs on Jul 13, 2020 19:26:20 GMT -5
When did JR start calling him Kevin?
i had never noticed
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Ohtimate Wahriah
Main Eventer
WF 10 Year Member
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Post by Ohtimate Wahriah on Jul 13, 2020 22:13:23 GMT -5
This is trademark WWE though. He’s over, let’s push him. Ok...first thing we’ll do is change him.
If he already GOT over, why are you changing him?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 13, 2020 23:42:17 GMT -5
Other than the attitude era and the pre-Hogan era, WWE has mostly geared its product towards kids. Once you become the face of the company they turn you into a hero who the kids love, but the adults hate. It happened with Cena in 2005, Reigns in 2015, and Nash in 95. I wonder who it’s going to be in 2025?
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Jul 14, 2020 0:39:17 GMT -5
The only time I remember Diesel being called "Kevin" was when I wanna say Bob Backlund did a promo saying, "Kevin Nash!" and HBK and Vince were on commentary on Raw. And HBK said, "you know who that is, right Vin man??" And Vince said, "Yes, I do." Or something along those lines.
I always remember him being called Diesel or Big Daddy Cool. I didn't know his name was Kevin Nash until WCW and not until I wanna say Great American Bash it was that I heard his name being said as Kevin Nash.
I wouldn't put too much into what Bruce has to say. I am not saying he doesn't know his stuff, but I think over the years things have been either forgotten, or changed around in his mind, and he just thinks that is what happened.
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The Dave
Main Eventer
Con-Chair-Tos all around!
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Post by The Dave on Jul 14, 2020 16:07:21 GMT -5
I referred to him as Cool Daddy.
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Retrospect
Main Eventer
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Post by Retrospect on Jul 14, 2020 17:54:48 GMT -5
I like it when he does it but sometimes it takes away from the character. Could you imagine if JR did this with Taker? "By God! Chokeslam from Hell! The Undertaker is one Evil Bastard! Straight out of Houston, TX where he played Basketball in high school. Majored in Sports Management in college. What a Phenom!!!!"
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Post by jason88cubs on Jul 14, 2020 19:12:50 GMT -5
I like it when he does it but sometimes it takes away from the character. Could you imagine if JR did this with Taker? "By God! Chokeslam from Hell! The Undertaker is one Evil Bastard! Straight out of Houston, TX where he played Basketball in high school. Majored in Sports Management in college. What a Phenom!!!!" Cornette would lose his shit |
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Post by Mongo Bears on Jul 14, 2020 21:05:03 GMT -5
Diesel sucks
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Jul 14, 2020 23:28:49 GMT -5
Diesel sucks at being horrible.
There, I fixed that for ya!
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Post by jason88cubs on Jul 17, 2020 19:58:00 GMT -5
Wasnt Diesel about to be released before his performance at Royal Rumble where crowd got behind him
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2020 20:10:34 GMT -5
Wasnt Diesel about to be released before his performance at Royal Rumble where crowd got behind him He was? I didn’t know that. |
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jason1980s
Main Eventer
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Post by jason1980s on Jul 18, 2020 9:32:36 GMT -5
I think JR was fired at some point in late 1994 or 1995, it wouldn't surprise me if that was why. I always liked his yesteryear references for guys but I can see why it could hurt their gimmick at the time.
I can't imagine Diesel being fired before Royal Rumble. WWF gave chance after to chance to Pierre, Crush, Prince Albert and Viscera despite never connecting with the crowd so why not Diesel? If the gimmick doesn't work I can see him being repackaged like any of the above mentioned guys. But at the time he didn't need to get over a wrestler. All he needed to do was interfere in the last part of a Shawn Michaels match. They probably didn't even have plans for him as a wrestler unless it could fill out a card like Survivor Series or Royal Rumble. Pat Patterson probably added all the eliminations and it just happened to connect with the fans.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Jul 18, 2020 10:40:17 GMT -5
Wasnt Diesel about to be released before his performance at Royal Rumble where crowd got behind him
Wrong!
At an MSG show about two months before, Diesel was in a six man tag and Vince and Luger were watching the match from behind the curtain. Vince kept saying, "look how big he is! He's so big!" Lex knew right then that his chance was done and that Diesel was going to be the guy Vince gets behind. Which is why Diesel dominated so many in the Rumble that year.
If Diesel was going to get fired, Vince wouldn't have had him take out like 8 guys in a row.
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Post by jason88cubs on Jul 18, 2020 14:32:12 GMT -5
Wasnt Diesel about to be released before his performance at Royal Rumble where crowd got behind him
Wrong!
At an MSG show about two months before, Diesel was in a six man tag and Vince and Luger were watching the match from behind the curtain. Vince kept saying, "look how big he is! He's so big!" Lex knew right then that his chance was done and that Diesel was going to be the guy Vince gets behind. Which is why Diesel dominated so many in the Rumble that year.
If Diesel was going to get fired, Vince wouldn't have had him take out like 8 guys in a row.
That's just what I've read before, that or Vince was souring on Diesel.
AND I'm not doubting you but that story sounds similar to the Take/Yokuzuna story lol
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Post by JokerFC on Jul 20, 2020 5:20:55 GMT -5
Its been said a few times that Diesel was the recipient of Ludvig Borgas dominant booking in the RR94 which suggests that Vince was not going to be showing him the door any time soon. When Borga (who Vince loved) was injured? Nash benefited greatly.
From whats Ive read, whats been said? Borga was to be beaten by Tatanka and then enter the RR & have an really good showing to keep him strong. Prichard & Cornette said before that Vince wasn.t even convinced he was gonna let Chavis go over Borga...Vince loved the character but you could tell that.
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jason1980s
Main Eventer
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Post by jason1980s on Jul 20, 2020 9:56:58 GMT -5
Its been said a few times that Diesel was the recipient of Ludvig Borgas dominant booking in the RR94 which suggests that Vince was not going to be showing him the door any time soon. When Borga (who Vince loved) was injured? Nash benefited greatly. From whats Ive read, whats been said? Borga was to be beaten by Tatanka and then enter the RR & have an really good showing to keep him strong. Prichard & Cornette said before that Vince wasn.t even convinced he was gonna let Chavis go over Borga...Vince loved the character but you could tell that. That is a great "what could have been" match in PPV history. Tatanka should have gotten the return win but then again, what was he slated to do afterwards? He was in a throwaway match at WrestleMania, if it had made the PPV and most likely just kind of "existed" in the Lex sold out angle. Borga lost to Lex at Survivor Series and I can't recall anything much he did do after that but it probably would have helped him more than Tatanka to get the single match win and then eliminate a bunch of guys. BUT, no way he gets cheered doing so. So I'm not sure why they would even try with that. |
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Post by JokerFC on Jul 20, 2020 12:55:56 GMT -5
Its been said a few times that Diesel was the recipient of Ludvig Borgas dominant booking in the RR94 which suggests that Vince was not going to be showing him the door any time soon. When Borga (who Vince loved) was injured? Nash benefited greatly. From whats Ive read, whats been said? Borga was to be beaten by Tatanka and then enter the RR & have an really good showing to keep him strong. Prichard & Cornette said before that Vince wasn.t even convinced he was gonna let Chavis go over Borga...Vince loved the character but you could tell that. That is a great "what could have been" match in PPV history. Tatanka should have gotten the return win but then again, what was he slated to do afterwards? He was in a throwaway match at WrestleMania, if it had made the PPV and most likely just kind of "existed" in the Lex sold out angle. Borga lost to Lex at Survivor Series and I can't recall anything much he did do after that but it probably would have helped him more than Tatanka to get the single match win and then eliminate a bunch of guys. BUT, no way he gets cheered doing so. So I'm not sure why they would even try with that. Id say they were keeping him strong as a potential contender. Vince wasn't sure which way he was going at this point...Bret or Lex. Borga was pencilled in to feud with lex but would have made a suitable opponent for either man in fairness. Borgas injury could even have benefited Owen greatly too.... |
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