WNS Column: Studs & Duds 2

Hello again, IWC, Quinn here to bring to you the 2^nd installment of STUDS and DUDS. Considering the success the last one had (thank you to the supporters), I’m excited to keep these going. I’d like to incorporate some of your thoughts and concerns so with every article I write, comment with a question of something (wrestling related) you’d like me to answer or go over!

With that being said, let’s begin.

STUD – Wade Barrett

I feel, at this time, Barrett has found the character to stick with to ensure a bright future is met for him. Nexus/Corre Barrett was good; lead heel, did the generic heel-like mannerisms and the wrestling was O.K. Wade Barrett after that seemed to be at a loss with who he was, or his role for that matter. Feuds with Randy Orton seemed to help a little but his flame was slowly dying and the injury he suffered one Raw (He caught Dolph after Dolph was tossed by Big Show and the way he caught Dolph, he partially dislocated elbow). Barrett comes back from injury, and still has little to know direction in where he’s going. He went with the Barrett barrage, but it still appeared that fans really didn’t care for it. Through another repackaging of Barrett, we were given “Bad News Barrett”.

This is where I started to become a fan of his. I will admit that when he was doing straight podium segments, I was more annoyed than excited to hear what he had to say. What changed it for me was when he interrupted the WWE Hall of Fame 2014 this past April where he received an ovation from the crowd (realistically, no one would get booed at an event like that.) That, and then the Raw after where he came back and wrestled for the first time in what seemed like months, receiving a huge ovation from another electric crowd (crowds after WrestleMania are always electric, this I do know). From there up until now, he now has a sense of direction and that direction is up. With this character, and like what I said in the last article about natural transitions into character, this is clearly his personality as a character. He appears to be having fun with it and it doesn’t seem like such a heel-character, rather than a guy that’s portraying to be a bad guy, but coming off cool with it. You can tell by what he says and how he says it. He doesn’t scowl with his promos. He’s got a smartass-like smirk on his face and the crowd is starting to appreciate his character as the week’s progress.

One notable STUD moment of his was when Raw went off-the-air this past week and having Raw in London, England, a Bad News Barrett appearance was needed. He had a spot where after he came out and delivered the Bull Hammer elbow to Eric Rowan, he proceeded to address the crowd and talk about being back home. Stephanie McMahon came out and told him that the show is over and as she left, he mentioned that she could kiss his English ‘arse’, much to the delight of the crowd. He had given appraisal to Adam Rose, which brings us to our next candidate.

DUD – Adam Rose

I get what his role is, and I will admit that the chorus of his theme song is rather catchy (guilty) but I’m a lemon towards this character. I thoroughly enjoyed his Leo Kruger character and thought it would do well on the main roster, once there was more development to it, but then this Adam Rose character came about and I’m just not with it. Maybe I’m just the bitter 22 year old that is done with these childish-like gimmicks and am looking for less gimmicks and more wrestling. I can (maybe) see what’s appealing about his character to others, but if he’s not wrestling, then I don’t care for his character. He has this pointless feud with a superstar that has much more potential than Adam Rose (I’m talking about Swagger, for those unaware.) If Adam Rose were to be successful on the main roster, he’d need to go back to the Leo Kruger gimmick or something that’s not this rave-like character that’s ironically not all PG. I would be genuinely interested to see how fast this gimmick dies out, and for him to go through another character transition and come back with a more serious role. I would love to see him and Barrett work together as a team, but that won’t happen unless Rose drops this gimmick. He and the rest of his party group aren’t Rosebuds, they’re RoseDUDS.

DUD – Alexander Rusev

It pains me to put him in this category because I thoroughly enjoy this character and the potential it has. Him squashing jobbers is obviously going to become stale (actually, already has) but this character reminded me of one that went straight to the top (almost) through his debut and past that. Was I the only one that was reminded of Umaga (rip) through this man’s debut? People might suggest Vladimir Kozlov more than Umaga, but I find Rusev to be a much better wrestler than what Kozlov was. Kozlov was a big brute that seemed robotic almost at times, while Rusev is agile and fast even for a 300 pounder. Give this man the right starting feud (I’d suggest Big E, or someone that could put him over maybe) and allow him to work his way up. Have him feud with Sheamus and defeat him for the US title. Can you imagine what kind of angle that could bring to have the Bulgarian brute, and Lana (avid Russian supporter) boast about slowly taking over the US, starting with the title, then moving his way up to top tier talent. As long as they don’t have Cena come in and feud with him, we will be golden but given the right feud, I feel that Rusev can be a star.

Now, this doesn’t have much DUD mentions, but until he stops squashing jobbers, he’s going to continue to be a DUD.

STUD – DOLPH ZIGGLER

Dolph Ziggler deserves to be on main events and to hold world championships. There’s absolutely NOTHING this guy can’t do. Whether it goes from a promo, to putting others over, to wrestling a damn fine match with any superstar in the back, he’s incredible to watch and I have all the faith that he could put the company on his back and run with it. His confidence in himself comes off cocky to others and his mouth has put him in the position that he’s in now, but whenever Ziggler is in the ring, people are in tuned and focused on him.

It’s not that his promo’s are unique or anything, but it’s how comfortably he delivers them and with the passion he has behind it and how everything he says is just effortlessly easy for him. He’s incredibly adaptable from promo to promo whether it calls for serious to fun, he can change for it.

The way he moves in the ring is admirable. He is the BEST wrestler for when it comes to selling for others. There isn’t a better wrestler (in my opinion) now, better than Ziggler at selling. Whether it’s the Brogue kick, RKO, Spear ANYTHING, he makes himself and the other wrestler look incredible. There’s an art to wrestling, then there’s the art of selling and he has that down perfectly.

Ziggler’s wrestling ability is exceptional. From dropkicks, to high-risk maneuvers, he looks graceful while doing so. Seriously, there’s a small list of people that deliver a drop kick as smoothly and beautifully as Ziggler.

This man needs to have his talents shown with the right talents and not be used as a jobber. He has too much talent in his body to be used as a pawn for other’s success and it’s time to give the success to him. When I think of the future of WWE and in 5 years who will be top tier guys, I picture Ziggler along with a list that includes Cesaro, Bray Wyatt, Daniel Bryan (granted he’s healthy by 38) among others.

Question time! This comes from Chris Thwaites from the UK and he asked:

“Given the relative irrelevance of the IC and US championships, and the fact that there are a lot of good Junior Heavyweights (or guys who would fall into that weight class), should the IC and US be merged, and the Cruiserweight championship return? Personally, I think YES!!”

I love this question because I think it would be incredibly cool to have a light heavyweight championship again that reaches out to the stars that tip the scales under 230 pounds. I also would like to see the Intercontinental and US title merged and see what sort of clever title name you could have for that.

Cruiserweight championship to return would be awesome, but the list of (true) cruiserweights are seemingly extinct in WWE nowadays and for a title like that to return, we’d need smaller stars again.

My only issue with all of this would be how the writers plan all around these titles. It’s incredibly unfortunate when there’s seemingly no interest around any title that isn’t the WWE World Heavyweight title and you have all these other champions there with no tv time to give or just no significance to the titles. To me, a champion is a champion and those that are champions deserve the recognition of a champion. I actually had to pause and think who the US champ was in this article before remembering it was Sheamus, which goes to show that they’re needing a resurgence for all titles and to not build a company around 1 championship.

That’s it for this week for Studs & Duds,

Stay Classy, Internet Wrestling Community

Quinn

#ForeverALemon

*The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect WrestlingNewsSource.com or other columnists*