Mistreatment

Hi


I saw a page on facebook where the 'admin' asked which WWE wrestlers were considered mistreated. I figured it would make for a nice blog entry if I took the names that were mentioned there and added my own commentary, as well as offer some names of my own.


First up

Charlie Haas.

There is one guy of which you could innately claim he was mistreated. At least as a singles competitor. Enjoying a moderate success tagging with Shelton Benjamin as the WGTT under the tutelage of Kurt Angle, but completely misused as a solo act. The guy had his chops, no doubt, but lacked virtually everything else. He was so insanely bland, it was almost torturous to watch him cut a promo. The mistreatment as such shouldn't have been a surprise. If you can't sell your act, you're essentially useless. 

The fact that Haas was rehired was a shocker, which made his second release all the more logical. Once he started to impersonate his opponents (and still jobbed to every single one of them), it was the proverbial nail in the coffin.

William Regal

Ah, one of my perennial favorites and also one of the most misused wrestlers in recent WWE history. Here's one guy who has everything. He's one of the best wrestlers to ever set foot in a WWF/-E ring and he will forever be remembered as the butt of many jokes, the most noteworthy of which come from Jericho. Here's one guy who is both skilled and entertaining, even having no issues garnering heel heat or deprecating himself as a rapper. 

Truthfully, his mistreatment is largely his own fault. Engaging in drinking (peeing on an airplane as a result), doing performing enhancing drugs ... which even caused him to miss out on a top heel position back in 2008. He had it all, winning KOTR, being cozy with Triple H and on his way to a top tier title. One steroid bust and it was all over. He's found a suitable position doing commentary and wrestling on occasion. He will still be the guy new guys go to for advice. With his experience, that might be the best suited option for him.


Paul Burchill

Also one of my favorites, to be honest. While he didn't get much of a chance at first, appearing on Velocity mostly (remember that? Because 75% of WWE's fanbase sure as hell doesn't!). Then came the pirate gimmick. That got over as fuck, for being simply fun and having a cool as fuck finisher. Of course, pirate gimmicks aren't for the long term. How it ended (disney lawsuit, necessity for knee surgery) remains a mystery. His Ripper gimmick was good, but never brought up to the main roster. That's until Katie Lea came on to the scene as his sister. And such was the birth of the incest gimmick. An incest gimmick that was painfully cut short because Linda wanted the senate seat of Connecticut for the Republican party and WWE became family friendly. Gone was incest gimmick, gone was any chance of Burchill to make it bigger. Alas, after being dropped and having jobbed to the Hurricane, it was au revoir for the Englishman. 

The man is now a firefighter. Yeah, you read it ... a firefighter. Meaning he's now a top babyface in my book.

Muhammad Hassan

This guy had the fucking golden egg during his stint in WWE between 2004 and 2005. Portraying an Arabian with a potty mouth wasn't difficult to portray when every American was ready to cause bloodshed to any Arabian with an attitude. Unfortunately, it also spelled his end, when an unfortunate timing made the network interfere in creative decision, forcing WWE to drop the Hassan character (key point: the terrorist attack on the undertaker, where piano wires were involved). Ironically, one of the terrorists was portrayed by the aforementioned Paul Burchill. 

There was no chance of Mark Copani ever reaching the heights that Muhammad Hassan made him reach. Also, it's best to remember that this whole saga gave birth to the character of Palmer Cannon. That's inexcusable in its own right. Good heavens, what a useless character that was. 

Someone on that page mentioned Bobby Lashley. Was he mistreated? In  short: fuck no. The guy got infinitely more than he deserved. This guy was greener than Finlay every March 17th.

You know who was? Kurt Angle

Huh? Yeah, you read it right. Kurt Angle was very mistreated, at least in his final stint in WWE. Forcing to work through an aggravated neck injury, only to make John Cena look good (if you haven't caught it the million times he mentioned it: he broke his freakin' neck and won the gold medal in the '96 olympics). He was  right to fuck off outta there, and it even excuses him going to TNA. 

I bet y'all can name plenty more guys (gals?) you can consider mistreated.  

Speaking of gals, what the fuck is with that Total Divas reality show. I honestly don't much care to know how Brie Bella wakes up in the morning covered in beard (courtesy of Bryan Danielson) or how much the divas don't seem to get along very well amongst each other. 

Let's face it, the most noteworthy thing the Bellas have done in their entire career is Brie's tit peeping a couple of weeks ago. It was a shapely tit, regardless.

I'll have to digress. I'm getting through 8 seasons of House MD (yes, Olivia Wilde). Painfully seeing how much I resemble the title character, personality-wise. Everyone loves House, but I can't shake the image of Hugh Laurie in Blackadder as the bumbling, slightly effeminate prince George (SAUSAGE TIME!) or as the lovable goof The Honourable Lt. George Colthurst St. Barleigh. Damn you, legendary comedy series featuring a starring cast consisting of Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry and Tim McInnerny.

Yes, that was something of a plug for those who haven't seen it yet. (And if you have, watch it again ... you know you want to)


~D.