Curtis Axel

[Mick Donalds]

I laughed so hard when McGillicutty walked out on stage. I was like "nahhh, this has to be some kind of joke. Batista will come out and smash him or something. Some kind of angle where the real guy comes out and wrecks shop, and Heyman will laugh at McGillicutty." Then I watched as Heyman put him over on the mic.

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[video=youtube;if0Usm3zaWQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if0Usm3zaWQ[/video]

 

[Defiant]

Haven't even seen this week's Raw but this already looks ridiculous. Curtis Axel? I get now that it's a reference, but I'm just saying that name would've sounded cheesy in the 90's. What's wrong with Joe Hennig?

I'm sure Heyman used whatever the hell he could to re-introduce us to him, but does the guy even have a gimmick, or any kind of hook? From what I'm hearing, he just comes out and they talk about his lineage like it means something. We barely know who this guy is and have no reason to give a shit. I'm not necessarily saying it would work, but surely it would've been more logical to use this angle to push Cody Rhodes, or re-introduce Ted DiBiase Jr (wait, is he still with the company?), someone we're already familiar with, who has the same name value, same athletic promise and have been around long enough to know what they're strengths are?

Again, I should actually watch this segment before I come down too hard, but there's other things that bother me as well that people in this thread have covered. Seems like once again we're in for a well-meaning but hasty push that will become a waste of time.

 

[Mick Donalds]

Haven't even seen this week's Raw but this already looks ridiculous. Curtis Axel? I get now that it's a reference, but I'm just saying that name would've sounded cheesy in the 90's. What's wrong with Joe Hennig?

I'm sure Heyman used whatever the hell he could to re-introduce us to him, but does the guy even have a gimmick, or any kind of hook? From what I'm hearing, he just comes out and they talk about his lineage like it means something. We barely know who this guy is and have no reason to give a shit. I'm not necessarily saying it would work, but surely it would've been more logical to use this angle to push Cody Rhodes, or re-introduce Ted DiBiase Jr (wait, is he still with the company?), someone we're already familiar with, who has the same name value, same athletic promise and have been around long enough to know what they're strengths are?

Again, I should actually watch this segment before I come down too hard, but there's other things that bother me as well that people in this thread have covered. Seems like once again we're in for a well-meaning but hasty push that will become a waste of time.

No reason to give a shit. He's just a guy with a name in trunks. No gimmick or reason for fans to identify with him or at least hate him.

hell, with hos Fandango's been doing, they should have put Heyman with Fandango. THAT would freakin' rock.

 

[John McHenry]

It was only one outing. Hardly time to make a character.

 

[Defiant]

It was only one outing. Hardly time to make a character.

I disagree, first impressions count for a lot. We need to know who they are and what they're all about, or at least be interesting enough for people to want to see again. Citing his family's accomplishments does nothing for Axel's own credibility or personality.

If you need an example, look at any good debut. Like Fandango's first appearance I believe, where he refused to actually debut because they didn't say his name right. That was solid gold!

 

[John McHenry]

What would you have had him do? It obvious that he won't be a joke character. In his one outing he held his own with HHH. He established a legacy of well known family members. He's got Heyman as a manager so that says a lot in itself. Reminds me a lot of Brock. There are a lot of succesful guys that had bad debuts The Rock, HHH, Randy Orton the list goes on. The first time is rarely the time they look good. It's usually the second or third week that they make that promo that really sells the character.

 

[Defiant]

It isn't necessarily about how impressive they look on the first night, most people are willing to forgive green-ness. It's about establishing a character. I actually forgot he had a match with Triple H btw, but at best I'd imagine he looked good in the ring. All this would prove is that he's athletically promising and his skills have improved. I mean, I would hope so. But what did his match and kind sorta promo help us learn about him as a person/character? I'm genuinely asking, I haven't seen Raw yet. Does he have any stated goal or something, or did they just talk about his family? If the latter, I fear already that WWE don't exactly know what they're doing with him, and are just going in guns blazing hoping fans accept it.

My whole assessment is just from reading people's reactions and I could change my mind as soon as I catch up with the ER fallout. I also don't wanna seem like I'm coming down on Axel, I can't really blame him if management attempt to push him through tried and failed means, or if they choose for him to cut promos with people who overshadow him so much he actually looks duller.

TL;DR - Rule of thumb: If we haven't figured out what a wrestler/character's strengths are, it's usually a bad idea to give them a big push because we don't know what strengths they should play to. That's what we're seeing here. In this case, we really just needed more time to get familiar with Curtis Axel first.

 

[Chris]

Just watched Smackdown, and he looked pretty good. Just a short little match against Sin Cara, nothing special. I'm disappointed that he kept his same finisher though which I always thought looked weak. Really hope they get him a better one, I can deal with a shitty name, but not a shitty finisher.

 

[Dale]

I disagree, first impressions count for a lot. We need to know who they are and what they're all about, or at least be interesting enough for people to want to see again. Citing his family's accomplishments does nothing for Axel's own credibility or personality.

But isn't that the exact same thing that would have happened with Cody or Ted, two guys you said would have been more logical?

 

[Defiant]

But isn't that the exact same thing that would have happened with Cody or Ted, two guys you said would have been more logical?

It probably wouldn't do much for them either. Having a famous name is a good way to get people to check them out, but that alone will not get them over is what I'm saying. That's why Cody continued to float and Ted sunk, Cody found a way to make his character more entertaining while Ted I believe kept carrying around his dad's belt so that we take him seriously. Still, I called them more logical because the audience knows them and they have more experience.

I really don't have a strategy for Axel, mostly owing to the fact that I don't know what he's capable of. His push can still go pretty much anywhere and I'll probably warm up to him, I just see some early problems too.

 

[Troy]

*RAW SPOILERS*

It was another impressive week for Curtis Axel on RAW. First week he gets Triple H in the mainevent and this week he gets the current WWE champion John Cena. He looked good against Cena and got in plenty of offense including a perfect dropkick and a perfectplex but the match again ended in countout. I get that they obviously don't want the WWE champion pinned by some new guy with a PPV match coming up against a different challenger but two countouts in a row is a bit annoying. One is enough, they need to give him a clean win on RAW next week.

During the broadcast everyone was hyping him up from Jericho to Cena and from Bret Hart to all the commentators. No-one said a bad word against him and it was a little strange especially considering this guy is a heel. I get that they want to talk him up but it is possible to overdo it.

 

[John McHenry]

“For people who ask me if I think this guy has a chance. Not only is he talented and waited his turn and lived through the Michael McGillicutty indignity. I asked him about that and obviously he didn’t want to say anything bad about the company, but he said ,’It hurt a little, it stung when you get your name and it’s Michael McGillicutty. Short term you can say, ‘well why didn’t he beat Triple H?’ But like I said, me being on the outside looking in, depending how this thing plays out, never underestimate the verbal skills of Paul Heyman or the skills of Michael McGillicutty. As a fan it has me hooked. Even if you’re not saying Curtis Axel right now, I believe that Paul is the master. I call him the master gardener. He knows how much water and sunshine to give his project and then they have to grow on their own.”

Very good point from Foley this guy obviously won't quit trying after being Micheal Mcgilligillicutty

 

[DeathChamberzMusic]

It's not like they gave him a chance and he failed. They've never given him his chance. This is his chance with the ball to see what he can do with it.

They won't call him his real name as WWE can't claim ownership of that name. He can go anywhere and be Joe Hennig. Curtis Axel is a cool name that plays off his lineage. They basically did the same thing they did with the Rock

 

[Blujay]

The way he's been booked has really turned me away. Even with Heyman backing him he hasn't come across as a threat or really anything... At the moment he's a DEFAULT C.A.W. set to "Heel."

 

[Troy]

Three countout finishes in a row for his RAW mainevents haven't helped at all. One is fine, two is pushing it but three is too many especially in a row. He has been given plenty of offence against HHH and Cena but the endings just haven't been right. Need to give him a clean win on RAW, to go along with his two clean wins over Sin Cara on Smackdown, to continue his build.

Does anyone think he will wrestle at Payback?