A LOOK AT THE SMACKDOWN HEELS AND THEIR CHANCES AT THE WWE HALL OF FAME
By Doug Brown on 3/26/2007 7:09 PM
I hope you have enjoyed my ongoing series of columns. This is part four of the five part series looking at the three WWE rosters, and what their chances are of someday joining Dusty Rhodes, Curt Hennig, Jerry Lawler, Nick Bockwinkel, Mr. Fuji, the Sheik, and the Wild Samoans in the Hall of Fame someday. Today, as the title suggests, we are looking at the Smackdown heels. Title histories are courtesy of
www.wrestling-titles.com.
LOCKS:
KING BOOKER
Title History: 1 World Heavyweight Title, 1 WWE Tag Team Title, 2 World Tag Team Titles, 1 WWE Intercontinental Title, 4 WCW/WWE United States Titles, 2 WWE Hardcore Titles, 5 WCW World Heavyweight Titles, 11 WCW World Tag Team Titles, and 6 WCW World Television Titles
Summary: I remember when he first started as G.I. Bro, working for Ivan Putski's Western Wrestling Alliance, which was based out of Houston. I said to myself, that guy is going to be a big star. King Booker has established himself as one of the best in the business. After spending a large part of his career as a tag team wrestler, he has made the successful transition to singles star. During WCW's dying days, Booker was one of the few that was worth watching. He has wrestling ability, can cut a great promo, and knows how to make his opponents look good too. Booker is one of the few that survived the burial of the former WCW stars that came to WWE after the big March 2001 buyout, and is now thriving as arguably the top heel on Smackdown. Winning the King of the Ring, gave him a new gimmick, and he has made the most of it. There was talk of him retiring a little while back, but thankfully his royal highness put it off, and is on the CW every Friday night for our enjoyment.
JOHN BRADSHAW LAYFIELD
Title History: 1 WWE Title, 3 WWE Tag Team Titles, 1 WWE United States Title, 1 WWE European Title, and 17 WWE Hardcore Titles
Summary: JBL has been a part of the WWE family for over a decade. After a few failed gimmicks to start off, he found his first big break as one half of the APA with Ron Simmons. Their barroom brawler mentality complete with beer drinking, cigar smoking, and card playing won them over with fans. Bradshaw made a name for himself in the investment world, and that was eventually incorporated into his new gimmick of JBL. With Simmons going into retirement, Layfield took a chance to make a name for himself as a singles wrestler. After defeating Eddie Guerrero in controversial fashion to win the WWE Title, he then went on to defend that belt for over 10 months. A back injury cut his career short, but now he is making strides as one half of the Smackdown announce team. What will probably be the icing on the cake is that JBL admitted in an interview several years ago that he had the chance to do like many others and jump to WCW, but he stayed loyal to Vince.
WILLIAM REGAL
Title History: 4 World Tag Team Titles, 1 WWE Intercontinental Title, 4 WWE European Titles, 5 WWE Hardcore Titles, and 4 WCW World Television Titles
Summary: Regal is a true wrestling success story. He started wrestling at the age of 15 over in England. Regal came to WCW, and beat the great Ricky Steamboat for his first championship, the World Television Title. He briefly went to the WWF and was given the "Real Man's Man" gimmick, which may make the Hall of Shame if they create one. Regal went back to WCW. He got released, and battled some personal demons. After a stint in rehab, Vince was willing to give him another shot. Regal went on to several championships, and had a classic match against Chris Benoit at the first Brian Pillman memorial show. In 2003, he contracted an illness from an overseas tour that almost killed him. Regal managed to beat the odds again, and is now wrestling regularly for the Smackdown brand.
LIKELY:
FIT FINLAY
Title History: 1 WWE United States Title and 1 WCW World Television Title
Summary: Finlay is one of the toughest guys to ever set foot in the squared circle. The fighting Irishman was first introduced to American audiences as the Belfast Bruiser in WCW. Finlay had several classic battles over the TV title with Booker T and Chris Benoit. After an injury, it was thought that Finlay would never wrestle again. For a long time, he had retired and was working as a road agent. When he started with WWE, he was assigned to the Divas. The ladies raved on an episode of WWE Confidential about how much he helped them in their progress. Finlay eventually felt that itch to get back in the ring, and give it one last try. He is now a regular upper card guy on Smackdown. Finlay may be 47, almost 48, but you would never know it by the way he can still go. His feud with Bobby Lashley, maybe the one that put the former Army sergeant on his path to superstardom.
MR. KENNEDY
Title History: 1 WWE United States Title
Summary: Kennedy is one of the top new stars on Smackdown. He burst onto the scene with a new gimmick of doing his own ring introductions. Originally, he was using his own real last name Anderson, but at the suggestion of Paul Heyman, it was changed to Kennedy, aka Mr. McMahon's middle name. Kennedy was temporarily sidelined with a shoulder injury, but since coming back, he has continued to move up the ladder. As Michael Cole and JBL mention quite frequently, Kennedy has victories over seven World Champions. Though he didn't get the win, Kennedy proved his worth at the Royal Rumble by outwrestling Batista in the World Title Match. He has sense gone on to have several more good matches. Kennedy's star is on the rise. The hard part is going to be keeping him heel.
CHAVO GUERRERO
Title: 2 WWE Tag Team Titles, 6 WCW/WWE World Cruiserweight Titles, and 1 WCW World Tag Team Title
Summary: Chavo is a guy that should be higher up on the ladder than he is. He has been the victim of BBS (Bad Booking Syndrome). In WCW, he had stints as a salesman, a nut walking around with a stick horse, and even changed his name to Lt. Loco as part of the Misfits in Action. In WWE, he temporarily had a stint where he renounced his Latino heritage, and became Kerwin White. Chavo had been getting over as one half of the Los Guerreros tag team with his late uncle Eddie. Fans couldn't get enough of their "Lie, Cheat, and Steal" gimmick. When Eddie died, instead of letting Chavo have a major babyface run, they had him turn heel again. After the tasteless storylines with Rey Mysterio and Chris Benoit, Chavo is once again postitioned at the top of the Cruiserweight division as champion. Despite all of the garbage, Chavo has remained a solid in-ring wrestler, and a good promo cutter. I am hoping that they will let him move on, and quit dragging Eddie's legacy through the mud in the process.
GREGORY HELMS
Title History: 1 WWE Tag Team Title, 1 World Tag Team Title, 3 WCW/WWE World Cruiserweight Titles, 1 WWE European Title, 1 WWE Hardcore Title, and 1 WCW Hardcore Title
Summary: Helms was one of the guys that took an initial hit when the WWF bought WCW. He was being positioned as the top guy in the cruiserweight division. Despite being buried with the rest of the WCW/ECW Alliance, Helms was kept around. He eventually morphed into the Hurricane. The superhero gimmick helped him get over with WWE fans, and he even got a big boost with a pinfall victory over the Rock. After the Hurricane gimmick started to fade, Helms went back to being himself. He showed up last year and won the cruiserweight title at the Royal Rumble. Helms would hold that belt over a year, losing it just last month at No Way Out. While, I don't think he will ever be a main eventer, because of WWE's reluctance to push the cruiserweights, I do think he will continue to carve a niche as a solid performer on the undercard.
50/50 SHOT
JOEY MERCURY
Title History: 3 WWE Tag Team Titles
Summary: I created this new category specifically for Mercury. To me, he is one of the most underrated guys on the roster. As one half of MNM, I could definitely see him getting in the Hall of Fame. MNM is a great team, and is inexplicably not on the Wrestlemania card this year. When they had their initial run on Smackdown, they dominated the tag team ranks. As a singles wrestler, he has not been given much yet. He did have a great series of matches with Matt Hardy, but Hardy was the one that came out on top in most of them. I think Mercury, if given a push, could have some good matches with Chris Benoit for the U.S. Title, or could even drop down to cruiserweight and make that division more competitive.
TOO SOON TO TELL
MONTELL VONTAVIOUS PORTER (MVP)
Title History: None yet
Summary: MVP came to Smackdown with a lot of hype for a guy that was basically a callup from DSW. He had a vicious welcome with a feud against Kane that ended with an Inferno match. MVP has since rebounded, and is now positioned for a U.S. Title match against Chris Benoit at Wrestlemania. He had better bring his A-Game, because you know Benoit always brings his. MVP has potential, but he will need more ring time before we as fans can determine if he is going to be a big star or a bust.
DEUCE AND DOMINO
Title History: none yet
Summary: The 50's greasers are following the latest trend of trying to do something that either has never been done before, or has not been done in a long while. I like their ring entrance. One mistake WWE made is not doing some vignettes to set up for their arrival. Deuce and Domino have shown potential, but right now they are still inexperienced. They did get some non-title wins over Paul London and Brian Kendrick, but lost in the title match at No Way Out. I don't know if they've been officially sent back to OVW for more seasoning, but they have not been seen on Smackdown in a while. It would be a understandable, but a shame, because I was really digging Cherry.
DOUBTFUL
MARK HENRY
Title History: 1 WWE European Title
Summary: There may be no more bigger bust in WWE history than the World's Strongest Man. I hate to say that about a fellow Texan, and a guy I'm told outside of the ring is one of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. Henry signed a 10 year, multi-million dollar contract to wrestle for the WWF. Henry has been with the company for almost ten years now, but you would not know it with his lengthy stints on the disabled list. His latest injury was a big time case of bad luck, because it was during this latest run, that he was having his best string of matches. He had just come off feuds with Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio, and was getting ready for a big Summerslam grudge match with the returning Batista. Then came Saturday Night's Main Event, and another injury. Henry is set to return right after Wrestlemania. I wonder if the guys in the locker room have a betting pool on how long he'll last this time?
DAVE TAYLOR
Title History: None yet
Summary: Taylor is a talented competitor cut from similar molds like William Regal and Fit Finlay. The problem with Taylor is his lack of time in front of American audiences. He had a brief run in WCW as part of the Blue Bloods. He temporarily went into semi-retirement, but came back as a trainer for DSW. While down there, he reformed his tag team with William Regal. They have had some entertaining matches against London and Kendrick, but like K.C. James and Idol Stevens, and Deuce and Domino, it wound up not amounting to anything. He and Regal have not been seen in several weeks either.
JAMIE NOBLE
Title History: 1 WWE World Cruiserweight Title
Summary: Noble began his career at the WCW Power Plant. After some initial matches on World Wide and Saturday Night, he donned a mask, and moved to Nitro and Thunder as part of the Jung Dragons with Yun(Jimmy Wang)Yang and Kaz Hayashi. Noble later moved to WWE as one of the few contracts bought up in the purchase of March 2001. Noble was repackaged as part of a trailer park trash couple with Tough Enough Winner, Nidia. Noble's wrestling ability and redneck persona led him to an eventual run as cruiserweight champion. However, Noble later was released for what he admitted in a radio interview was due to steroid usage. After getting clean, he wrestled for Ring of Honor until getting the call to return to WWE. Noble's return was treated as an afterthought, and much like the other cruiserweights, they have yet to do anything of significance with him lately.
DAIVARI
Title History: none yet
Summary: They can't seem to make up their minds as to if Daivari is going to be a wrestler or a manager. Daivari first entered WWE as the right hand man to the controversial Muhammed Hassan. After much public outcry and complaints from network executives, Mark Copani, who played Hassan, was let go. Daivari was shipped back to OVW. He later resurfaced to aide Kurt Angle in his feud with John Cena on Raw. Daivari then jumped to Smackdown to manage Mark Henry and later the Great Khali. After a brief run with ECW, he is now back as a cruiserweight competitor on Smackdown. Because of his size, WWE Creative (i.e. Vince and Stephanie) will probably not push him much as a wrestler. However, he may have a successful managerial career down the road, because he is a great promo man.
JILLIAN HALL
Title History: none yet
Summary: You would think that with her being a beautiful, large breasted blonde that she would be guaranteed a push from WWE. Instead, because Jillian is a wrestler instead of a bikini model, she falls victim to BBS. First, they bring her in with that stupid thing that was supposed to be a mole on her face. Thankfully, the Boogeyman pulled it off and ate it (did I just type that?). After JBL kicked her to the curb, the logical thing would be for her to exact revenge. Instead they put her in matches with Ashley Massaro, Kristal Marshall, and Michelle McCool. Using WWE logic, the only one that can actually wrestle, Jillian, is the one that does the job. Now she is in a ridiculous bad singer simmick, because Vince is mad at Hulk Hogan, and is mocking Brooke Hogan through Jillian. She should be on Raw chasing the Women's Title, not having to deal with this junk.
NO CHANCE IN HELL
THE MIZ
Title History: None yet
Summary: How is this guy even on the roster? If you want to know what Dave Scherer means by "X-Pac heat," look no further than Mike Mizanin. I would think it was pretty obvious during the Million Dollar Tough Enough competition that he did not have that "it" factor. If it were not for his previous stints on MTV reality shows, I doubt he would have made it to the finals against Daniel Puder. Everytime, he comes on Smackdown, I know it is time to reach for the remote.
In the final installment, we will look at the entire ECW roster. Since their roster is so small, I decided to do it in one column rather than divide it into two like I did with Raw and Smackdown.
