Pro Wrestling is a wheel, and the wheel will keep spinning, with the good talent we get the mediocre talent, and with the mediocre talent we get the bad talent. But one thing remains -the audience. Whether we like it or not we will still stand by and watch it; maybe not all of us, but most.
The next few articles I’ll be doing will be looking at the FUTURE talent, the one’s to look out for, what they’ve done with their time in WWE and why I think they’re ones to watch out for.
Here we go!
Alex Riley.
Alex Riley first hit our screens as a confident jock, dubbed the Varsity Villian on NXT he became a fan favourite for everyone (well if you’re like me and love your heels then you loved him). He came runner up to Kaval -who didn’t last too long in WWE because he was misused therefore in my mind the real winner of that season of NXT was Alex Riley mainly because I wanted him to win, and because he outlasted the actual winner. On NXT his pro was none other than loud mouth Miz who seemed to teach Riley a lot, most notably how to be loud and use his mouth… Not in that way. Mic skills people, mic skills! Riley was then brought into WWE a short while after he finished up on NXT and was brought in as The Miz’s associate? Protege? Something along those lines any way. We seen Riley ride the coat tails of the Miz ALL the way and including WrestleMania earlier this year. Although the protege thing got boring and the empty briefcase carrying slightly confusing I still loved A-Ry and was gagging to see him go solo and my wise was granted. After WrestleMania tension between the Miz and A-Ry started growing, further and further until Alex couldn’t take no more, so much so that he decided to hit up the Miz (nope not that way either) starting what looked like a very promising feud. Of course we got a few segments between these two, got a satisfactory match at Capitol Punishment but then the whole angle seemed to have slipped to the side with Riley and Miz fighting off in tag matches. They had another singles match on RAW, and were included in the RAW MITB. After this match the whole thing was dropped. I was fuming, considering I wanted some more Miz-Riley matches but WWE do have a habit of dropping the ball. Riley has been dropped to a meaningless feud with Dolph Ziggler which was reason enough to have them work a dark match at SummerSlam which I also was not happy with. WWE seemed to have lost direction with A-Ry, and hopefully they pick him back up. He has the look of a champion, the mic skills to properly work a crowd (not CM Punk standard but good enough), is charismatic and should really be getting a push for the US title. I, personally, love A-Ry and I really hope that he’ll be used right, he has the goods; does WWE have what it takes to NOT drop the ball on him? Here’s hoping.
Dolph Ziggler
It’s hard to argue against Ziggler’s talent. He has shown us some of the best wrestling we’ve seen this year, Daniel Bryan vs Dolph Ziggler anyone? It takes two to tango but Ziggler performed the tango well. Ziggler has also had brilliant matches with Edge, one of Edge’s last feuds in his career -something Ziggler should be proud about. Ziggler first joined the WWE in 2005 as Kerwin White’s caddy -anyone who is unaware of Kerwin White here’s a little breakdown: worst gimmick ever played by Chavo Guerrero. When Guerrero dropped the Kerwin White gimmick, Zig-Zag was sent zig-zagging back to OVW for more training and repackaging. Skip to 2006 and we have a group of male cheerleaders -again, Ziggler didn’t get a very good gimmick to work with but instead of getting frustrated he waited his turn, got sent back to OVW (later sent to FCW) after the break-up of the Spirit Squad, and came back to our screens in 2008 as the repackaged Dolph Ziggler. Although being suspended in 2008, Ziggler was a small star waiting for it’s time to shine. Press the fast forward button at in July 2010 Ziggler beats Kofi Kingston for the Intercontinental Championship -his first ever belt in the WWE. After a 5 month reign Ziggler lost the belt to the person he defeated to become Champ -Kofiiii Kingston! As we know after this Ziggler entered a feud with Edge and one that in my books was successful -it had good matches and good stipulations such as Edge’s spear being banned. Ziggler has definitely waited his turn in WWE with dodgy gimmicks and poor feuds (yes The Great Khali I AM looking at YOU). While Ziggler’s mic skills aren’t the best, they’re not the worst either, and as everyone knows -I prefer in-ring skills over mic skills. I have personally met Ziggler, an experience that was somewhat frustrating. I gave my sister my SLR camera to take a picture of me and him together, she didn’t know how to use the camera and Mr Zig got impatient, walked off and made me look like a fan boy running after him for an actual picture (my sister still managed to cut half off his head off hahaha!) But not only that, when I asked for his autograph he shouted at me by telling me to hold the booklet FIRMLY -k Ziggler don’t be a jerk about it. Despite our awkward meeting I still love his in-ring skills and will be a fan of his for another while yet. Ziggler has the potential to be a champion in a few years when Cena doesn’t have a title shot time after time.
Next week I will do another 2 wrestlers, maybe 2 divas. Thoughts on these 2 guys is recommended, I’d love to hear y’all opinions.
I really hope Ziggler can break through to the mainevent level. It seems like WWE is testing the waters with that too, putting him in matches with maineventers, like Orton last week.
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Alex Riley. I am not sure whether or not I can see him being a main eventer for a long time. I’m sure he will be getting main event runs, but if he’ll stay there i’m not sure. I see him same as Miz, getting a chance, but then not being in main event picture for months after a push.
Dolph Ziggler. Have a lot more positively sight for the future of Ziggler than Riley. I think within the next 2 years, we could see big things from him. Hopefully.
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Riley has impressed me since ditching the Miz a few months back, he done great in the Money in the Bank Ladder match. As for Ziggler, not a fan. His gimmick annoys me as Miz’s “Awesome” gimmick does
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Also theres a few more future stars, such as Kofi Kingston & Evan Bourne. Both are great and I for one see one of them making it to the Main Event sence.
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Evan Bourne is one of the guys I might be covering in next weeks Future Stars. Kofi, although very entertaining, I don’t think he could be main event material. Hmmm. Food for thought as they say.
Agree with everyone that Ziggler has more potential, and I see him becoming main event in the next 2 years. Alex might take a while longer but he’ll get there eventually.
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Love Dolph and I see a lot of potential in him. Riley too….but it’s almost as if he’s just stale right now and needs to let us get to know him better. Good write up and this is a cool idea to concentrate on only a few at a time and keep people guessing who the next two you’re going to write about are.
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Great Blog
I think Alex Riley could be the next super Cena. He is talented and he has cool music.For me the music has to do with the emotions. His feud with The Miz was great. For me the match at Capitol Of Punishment was the big push for Riley
Dolph Ziggler is in WWE for more than two years. And he is good. He has good heel and he is awesome heel. Ziggler i former Intercontinental Champion and former World Heavyweight Champion. Also he is the US champion now. For sure WWE thinks he is great wrestler. Hell even Stone Cold said it.
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