Meh its all business. How many times has John Polluck compared The UFC to WWE? If he can do it so can Iš
When it comes to Vince and making stars, heās always kind of had the mentality of making one mega star, and then just feeding people to them. Hogan, Austin, Cena, and now Roman. I think itās a formula that worked in the 80ās, but hasnāt worked for a long time.
Well he also had back up plans behind those one stars just in case. Whether it was Randy Savage or Warrior and then Shawn Michaels or Diesel and The Rock and Kurt Angel.
He hasnāt made any Stars lately. He seems to get bored with them weeklyā¦ Didnāt happen in the 80s or 90s. When he was younger.
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Vinceās mom recently turned 100, heās a genetic jackhammer dammit
Maybe there was one stand out star, but there has always been other stars along with that one massive one. Even now. Vince wants to milk money out of massive stars, thatās how he makes money (or some of it at least from merch) and anyone saying he doesnāt even want to create any stars, isnāt speaking any sense in my opinion.
We can say heās not as successful at it as he once was but he definitely still wants to make it happen.
WWEās philosophy around star-making clearly changed around the time Brock left in 2004.
They were no longer going to be burnt by one star leaving, and began to focus on making āthe brandā the star.
And thus began the streak of ignoring single talents with the potential to break away from the pack. And, not taking risks with other people who were catching fire.
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Maybe. But they did ended up making two big superstars in Cena and Batista anyway. Three if you want to lump Punk in there.
They donāt count. It doesnāt fit the ignorant narrative. Neither does Orton or Edge. Or Rollins or Reigns. No one knows AJ Styles either. Becky Lynch? That whole āThe Manā stuff that sold a lot of merch drove Vince insane. Vince hates stars that make him moneyā¦ heās just wishing this McIntyre project fails.
I think the got behind groups of talent. Cena / Batista / Orton were there designated top guys, with everybody below them.
Punk should have had more focused run, but was always positioned (even as Champion) as a B-level guy. Lots of money left off the table because of it.
Ignoring organic audience momentum behind guys as well, from Shelton Benjamin back in 2004, to Mark Henry in his retirement angle, to Daniel Bryan (should be among the top guys always - but kept ignoring him until they couldnāt). Guys like RVD they didnāt get behind until the natural momentum had basically passed him by.
One thing you can look at is how many guys left WWE from 2005-2015, and were able to be drawing stars outside of the WWE machine. Not many, if any.
I agree with your overall sentiment, he has done a good job with Drew in 2020 but I wouldnt call him a āstarā yet.
You could argue Randy Orton and Becky Lynch are stars, but they are not Randy Savage or the The rock by any stretch.
Going back to drew, its really hard to truly know how big He has gotten as itās hard to assess without fans. Boards like this only tell a fraction of the story.
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WWE has failed to genuinely create / launch a break-out mainstream star since The Rock. Brock Iād say would be more because he left on his own.
Cena broke out more from showing comedy chops as a supporting role in a Judd Apatow comedy than he ever got from being a headliner in WWE for a decade.
But Cena would have never gotten that role in the first place if not for his popularity in WWE, same goes for the Rock, and Batista. So they did become mainstream because of the WWE and themselves as well.
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Thatās totally fair - but I feel like Cena getting a supporting role in Trainwreck is more than likely something he booked himself. I could be wrong, obviously.
Batistaās acting career should in no way be given any credit to WWE. He left the company, and worked his ass off in terms of acting lessons, and has proven himself to be a great character actor.
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Iām not sure how old you are, Iām assuming your 30ās/40ās, but if so, remember how Hogan was when we were younger, John Cena was that to an entire generation. A lot of these kids that grew up idolizing Cena are now in their 20ās and likely view him in a much different light than someone in their 30ās or older. I think WWE made him into a legit star. My way on gauging that was always āwould me parents know who he isā my parents knew Flair, Hogan, Andre, Piper, Rock, Austin and Cena, I think thatās it.
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WWE did a good job with Batista during his original run IMO, but I agree that he wasnāt a mainstream star by any means when he left WWE. Maybe it helped give him an opportunity for the guardians role, but that movie made him a star.
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Iām not saying Cena wasnāt a top guy. He was not a breakout mainstream success however. He connected to a certain demographic, and not until later in his career really broke out among wrestling fans because of his work ethic.
He was beloved by a segment of wrestling fans. But he really didnāt get that far out of the wrestling bubble.
Hogan, Rock, Austin, were mainstream celebrity.
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Whether he booked it himself or not. He still got the part thanks mostly to his WWE affiliation. I highly doubt Judd Apatow. Would have looked twice at Cena if Cena had never been a WWE star.
Same goes Batista. I donāt know if that was because of acting lessons. Batista had already showed natural acting ability in WWE. Heās more of a natural than a trained thespian. Also James Gunn is a wrestling fan. Guardians was Batistas big break. Thats not a coincidence.
Honestly, weāre all guessing. Maybe Judd Aptow was a wrestling fan, maybe he met Cena at a party and they built a relationship, maybe he felt Cena was a star, maybe someone else pushed for Cenaā¦who knows.
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With ex wrestlers transitioning to actors, I assume the name value gets them a chance, but that wonāt get you far. Example, Hogan, Austin, HHHā¦they all flopped in their movies. Rock took years before he was a big star. Cena is still a work in progress. Bautistaās movies had little to do with his wrestling career, and more to do with his ability in the role ( heās been in huge movies, but he isnāt the draw. He becomes his role, if that makes sense)
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