Adam Thinks #5: Five Young Stars to Build a Company Around

Young stars are all the rage in the WWE today. NXT is growing in popularity by leaps and bounds. New blood is showing up with such regularity that even older established stars are joining the party, sometimes after waiting for approximately 284 years to do so. Yeah, we're looking at YOU Joe.

It's a situation I haven't seen since the cusp of the Attitude Era, nearly twenty years ago. For the small group of you who aren't…..okay…let's write this sentence honestly. For the vast majority of you that aren't old enough to remember that, the time just before the Attitude Era (about 95-97) saw the rise of the likes of HBK, Bret Hart, Golddust, and The Undertaker. When the switch got flipped, a lot of young hungry guys were really just getting into the company or just starting to make their mark. Austin, Rock, Foley, and HHH were really just starting to get their feet wet in the WWF. I could add another dozen or more names to the list. Meanwhile, at the same time, WCW was experiencing the same thing with the likes of Goldberg, Jericho, Benoit, and a whole mess of cruiserweights.

The moment felt a lot like it does today. Like we were on the cusp of a great time for wrestling. While we're not quite there yet the evidence is ample that its coming and the possibilities are wide open for what could happen in the next couple of years. Whether or not the companies involved are up to the task is another story. We've all got our personal tales of frustration with a character or storyline. I still mourn for what could have been with Muhammed Hussan years ago had they stayed with their original course. I'm sure you all have a story just like it. Just like I'm sure most of us have said at some point that we could book the company better than they do. We could make stars better than they do. We could build up the young guys better than they do.

Well, here I am. I'm going to put my money where my mouth is. Not for real, because that is disgusting. Seriously. Stop putting money in your mouth. You might as well drink Herpes from a can. But in a real metaphorical way. In public. On the internet. Where nothing is ever forgotten. I'm going to pick a group of five wrestlers under 30 years of age and I am going to tell you how I build my company around these groups. I'm going to tell you why. I'm going to elaborate. I'm going to eat column space with dramatic short sentence explanations of my plans.

Fine, Austin Aries. Let's get this show on the road. What I'm going to do for each wrestler is give a little insight into why they're on my list, and then a general explanation of what I'd do with them in terms of characters, as well as booking. I also plan to tie into into the larger picture that is my fictional wrestling company. I'm going to give you some of my personal wrestling philosophy along the way and I'm going to try my best to explain to you why you're wrong if you disagree with me.

For starters, my character plans tend to revolve around gimmicks that are a reflection of real life. It's my opinion that the best wrestling and wrestlers have been built around realistic characters that struck a nerve for that time period. Hogan basically WAS the 80's. The All-American "dude" shouting patriot could've fit right in with every action star and icon from the era (and did actually). The Attitude Era was a reflection of its time, with the coming of age of the "extreme" fans, who had spent their teenage years weaned on grunge and a weird rise in piercings and vulgarity. Your average episode of Raw was no worse than an episode of Jerry Springer. People like D-X and Stone Cold resonated.

That's why my characters will tend to fit that mold, or the universal mold. Guys like Ric Flair (wild living playboy), Triple H (rich asshole banging the boss' daughter), or The Rock (smartass arrogant cool guy) fit a universal mold. These are people we've known in our lives, just turned up a little. I could go on and on with this, but I won't because I said so (and because I've been writing this column for two weeks now). The biggest characters all fit one of those two molds and mine will too. All right, let's get this show on the road with our first person.

CODY RHODES

Cody is basically the reason this article exists. Well, I should say he's the reason it exists in June. See, Cody turns 30 tomorrow. And I was NOT doing this list without him. Cody is a master of playing a gimmick to its hilt. From Dashing, to the darker version with a mask, to the mustache, to Stardust, Cody has taken every ill thought gimmick and made it work somehow or another. He's great at finding the reality of every dumb ass gimmick they give him, and making people relate to it, or at least react to it. That is a rare quality. Couple that above average ring skills and very good adaptability, and you've got the makings of a star. Just for the icing on the cake, he's got a wonderful mind for the business, and more or less created the Bad News Barrett gimmick as a joke. And even THAT got over before they cut the legs off.

Unfortunately, all the WWE seems to be able to do is put a star on his face. Well, in my company, we're getting rid of some of that idiocy. I'll take the Stardust gimmick shift it somewhat. As Golddust was a movie star, so Stardust should be the rock star equivalent. Cody's best work has been in finding ways to make really vain gimmicks work, and I know he could take all the inherent weirdness of the likes of Lady Gaga or other off kilter musical acts and run with it. Making him face will give him a chance to really work with the fans too, as he does good work there. When the time comes for a turn, we can go the route of the arrogant popstar who has ridiculous demands and acts like he's better than everyone or the rocker on the downside of his career in rehab and denial of his place. A role Cody could play in his sleep. Also one that is primed to succeed. Either way Cody will have all sorts of chances for memorable moments. And when it passes its time, Cody can morph into any one of a dozen other characters that also play to his strengths.

On my card, Cody's going to occupy that line just above main event status. He's going to be the guy I can use to build stars and have instant feuds with anyone who doesn't mesh with his over the top persona. He'll be a threat to win my big belt and make a great source of filler feuds to keep other stars apart for a bit. And he'll make each one feel like it was never filler whatsoever. A good set of parallels would be his brother or Mick Foley. I'll use him to step into big moments if someone isn't getting the reaction they need or injury strikes.

BRAY WYATT

Currently, all we've really gotten one version of Bray and it's been a series of missed opportunities. He's a very gifted big man in the ring, with good movement for his size and both technical and brawling ability out the wazoo. His characterization is phenomenal, too. I really believe he could play a variety of roles in a company. Obviously we'd start with the crazy cult leader type, and add in some dashes of people like Jim Jones or Fred Phelps. Make him creepy and make it seem like other wrestlers should be terrified of him. I'd also have him interact positively with children at ringside on a semi-regular basis just to ramp up the icky factor. I believe he could play every bit of that character in such a way that you're rooting for literally anybody to get one over on him. He could take every loss he did have and turn it into a success of some kind. And yes, we would have him explain some of his plans.

Thanks, new Day. You guys are the best! As a face Bray could be more like the friendly crazy uncle. Having seen him talk while somewhat out of character I believe he could nail this role as well. He's kind of a friendly teddy bear in real life, and we would channel that into the goofy loveable but kind of crazy role that Mick Foley was so good at. Obviously, we couldn't carbon copy that, but let's be honest. We've all got that one drunk/weird/off kilter relative that is ultimately a good guy. We could use any number of character traits that fit that and build a face Wyatt around that. And people would love him.

On my card, he's probably trading the #1 heel spot back and forth with Rollins for the most part. As a face he'd still be very high up the card, and we would definitely use his crazy loveable face energy to offset every heel that is more on the slick or professional side. He'd be a long running heel champion and an Austin/Rock kind of face that gets screwed over but comes back. Side note, The Rock lost more matches as a top level face than anyone I know of. Most were with some sort of shenanigans, yes.

He lost them, though. WWE seems to have forgotten to do that part to actually make your face character seem vulnerable. Hint hint hint. Wyatt as a face would definitely be that kind of figure. He'd be a guy people would get behind or boo the crap out of. It wouldn't even be hard. I don't want to be ridiculous and say my toddler could book this character better than he has been, but….you know…kinda.

Well, I mean, that's probably true of some people on Creative too if we're being fair. And shouldn’t you be in bed?

SETH ROLLINS

At 28, Rollins has it all. In the ring he's a superb worker. Not just from a move to move standpoint. He's got great reactions, he sells well, and he does the little things that really put him over the top. Outside the ring, he's got the complete package as well. He can be serious, funny, hammy, smarmy, sarcastic, passionate, whiny, etc etc. The guy has his character traits down to a tee. I firmly believe he can take pretty much any character set you give him and run with it. Just anything, really. I mean, the guy’s a natural at pissing people off.

Personally, I'd start with the bag full of dicks character he currently has and really amp it up. Maybe he needs a real tag team to provide extra security, while allowing J&J to move into the role of point men who handle his day to day affairs (they'd be great at that). I'd play up the mastermind angle, and really let him be an obnoxious twit who is right about what he says the vast majority of the time. He's the guy that sends a spy into Wyatt's cult for six months for info. He's the guy who meticulously plans out outcomes to things we don't even know exist yet. Let him be almost supernaturally good at planning and strategizing what's to come. Most importantly, make the payoffs make sense. Basically make him Batman in that regard.

As a face on the other hand, he could be the "big good" who stops attacks before they start or manages to outmaneuver more powerful forces (most of the time). He could bring people to his side by warning them of crazy shit that's going to happen, only for them to not believe him and it actually happen. Again, in a way that makes sense. He could and would play the roles very well. He and Wyatt would probably rarely have the same alignment at the same time, since they do occupy somewhat similar roles. Rollins would be one hell of a face of the company, or the guy you love to hate. Especially when I give him back the Curb Stomp, since unlike WWE, I don't have to worry about everyone and their mother suing me (and probably winning via gigantic bias against them).

DEAN AMBROSE

Ahh, the Lunatic Fringe. How I have tolerated the completely unstable way they've booked you. Ambrose COULD be one of the great crazy man type characters of all time. He does things that make no sense to anyone but him. He talks like a drunk guy riffing on whatever is in his addled brain. He throws caution to the wind and does things that make you think that maybe the guy behind the character is also batshit insane.

Yes, he could be used so much betterererer. He could absolutely be the wildcard you toss into anything at any time and just tell him "go make something up". He's the one character that doesn't require normal logic, and who can exist on hair thin explanations because we would regularly get to see him do equally crazy things, and those hair thin explanations would be perfectly in line with everything else he does. That's where the WWE has screwed up. They missed the dividing line between us being totally on board with him hiding in a car trunk for hours, but hating the cartoon BS he pulled with Wyatt. The only good thing they've really done with him is the continued theme of him stealing titles, which is hilarious. Kudos to them on THAT bit at least.

Not in my show. In my show he will still do outlandish and crazy stuff, just within a broad set of guidelines. He's the event creating celebrity we all secretly enjoy the hell out of. He's P. Diddy showing up at an awards show with an unplanned giant truck with music and his own show for no reason. He's Russell Crowe punching people who won't let him call his kids. He's Robert Downey Jr telling off paparazzi in public. We don't exactly know why he's doing things. We don't have a clue what's next. Yet it always makes some weird kind of sense, and it almost doesn't matter because what he just did was awesome. He's a Macho Man promo come to life and allowed to roam.

When he gets a little too far overboard, or crosses a few lines, he's also the completely casual insane scary bastard that's coming after the guy you're cheering for. He's the epitome of what Raven could've been once upon a time, but better. He can and will go to whatever the line is and then tap dance right the hell across it, and pretty much get away with it. He's basically The Joker, minus all that murder and such. Even the other bad guys are scared of him because he's completely unpredictable and has virtually no limits. I can use him all over my company. He can feud with anyone at any time and have really good matches. He can break up any potential monotony at any time. He is money walking around. It's just a matter of pointing him in the right direction and letting him go.

PAIGE

Yeah that's right. A woman. See, the thing is that women's wrestling is an afterthought. Yet, it's less of an afterthought than it was five years ago. More and more talented women are showing up and proving they deserve to be paid attention to. I have hope that in five years some girl will tell Stone Cold that her favorite match of all time was between two women, and the internet WON'T act like misogynist dickbags about it forever and ever. Don't worry though, I still love the 85% of you that applied to.

Paige is someone who can lead that charge. She's super young at 22, yet has more experience than most people on this list because her family runs a small promotion in England and she was wrestling at 13. She knows the business from a standpoint that dwarfs the rest of the people on this list. Couple that with seriously good ring skills and some solid but still improving mic work and you've got a dynamo on your hands. Paige is the kind of extremely rare wrestler who's more than just a wrestler. She's like a head coach on the field as well. She can be the Peyton Manning of women's wrestling. But with about a tenth of the forehead and 1/80th of the useless hand gestures.

She can play a variety of characters, but I would probably focus on what she is. The wunderkind superstar of the future who's kicking ass right now. Basically two parts her current goth punk smartass and one part Ronda Rousey. The best and brightest and most talented woman on the roster, who doesn't let anyone forget it. Every win over her is going to MEAN something for whoever pulls it off. She would (and can in real life) be the face of woman's wrestling that inspires girls to wrestle themselves for the next fifteen years. She would have Flair-esque accolades by the time she was done and she would be key in taking women's wrestling from where it sits today to where I think it should be. I see no reason that women can't be a much bigger focus than they are now. They're a larger part of the audience than ever and they are severely underrepresented. I can foresee about 25% of the show being dedicated to women alone, which is probably ten times where it is now. Paige would be the person I rode to get to that point.

MISSED THE CUT

There were actually a lot of named that could've been on my list and its wasn't exactly easy to set in stone. Magnus, Xavier Woods, Bo Dallas, Emma, Neville, and Big E almost made the fifth spot. Two of them got as far as getting write-ups before I ultimately went with my fifth person (Which was not Paige. She's at the bottom for dramatic purposes only). All of them are super talented, and all of them give me hope for that boom that's coming. Make no mistake, there are some big futures in this list as well. I would be ecstatic to be in the shoes of the promoter who has any of them to work with.

So, there it is. My team to build my company around. My booking philosophy partially laid out. My…whatever a third thing is that's good.

I don't know. Lists should have at least three though so make one up yourself. I'm sure those of you who read will have your own ideas. As always, share them in the comments. I'd love to hear what others have to say on their own dream scenario. Well, this specific dream scenario at least. You can keep the others where they belong. Locked in your skulls and not out in public. Toodaloo!