- yesterday
Even the most legendary of wrestlers go through weird periods of irrelevance.
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00:00If you're going to have a long wrestling career, the past has told us you may have a short period
00:04where things don't click. This is mainly due to the fact that sports entertainment never ends,
00:09so if you are appearing on a show every week for every year, yeah, nobody has that kind of
00:14batting average. Doesn't mean you can't secure yourself a legendary overall run,
00:18but here's some weird periods certain old-timers would like you to forget.
00:22Number 10, Kane in 2007. So I will die on this hill, although I do understand it.
00:27Kane should never have taken the mask off. I suppose he had to, but my thoughts don't have
00:32to make sense. The magicka of that character was sort of lost. This was really reflected in 2007
00:37when WWE didn't know what to do with the guy, hence we got to WrestleMania 23, and he was put
00:43in a feud with the Great Khali. One of these few occasions where his sentence rhymes, but it's still
00:48bad. As we know, the Great One wasn't the most mobile, so it was the big red machine who had to
00:52take the punishment and the selling. That's just silly. See, no evil was also in cinemas,
00:57so the hook from the movie was brought into proceedings, but that made the whole thing
01:01even stranger. Now they were actually trying to kill each other. Big Daddy V was up next,
01:05and he too suffered from the exact same issue, so once more Kane was the person just getting his
01:10ass whooped. This is not the Vey. When you do go through the whole year, this is what WWE kept
01:15doing too. Maybe because it was a calling card of fake brother The Undertaker at one point. I mean,
01:20go through his earlier Mania matches. It was always, how on earth can he defeat somebody so
01:25much bigger? This was sort of wild, however, because all of the Dead Man's matches were better
01:29with smaller opponents. It should have been what we did with Kane 2. You really don't need to watch
01:34much of what the big red machine did in 2007, and it's not even his fault. He's just placed in an
01:40impossible situation. Number 9, Ric Flair in 2001 and 2002. I quite like Ric Flair coming into the WWE
01:47and being the secret new owner of the company. It was a nice way to remind you that Flair was the
01:52man, but behind the scenes, yeah, something was brewing. Triple H had been very vocal about how
01:57lacking in confidence Ric was during this time, mostly because WCW had chewed him up and spat him
02:02out. Now even a Flair at 50% was still better than most, but it did show in his work, as it would for
02:07anyone. Ric felt like he had lost the magic, so sort of sculpted around the place scared of his own
02:12shadow. Let's not pretend that we haven't all been there. It's one of the reasons Hunter did get him
02:17into evolution as the legendary veteran so they could restore faith in himself, and the difference
02:21is noticeable on TV. Before long, he felt like the old Ric Flair, and from there, everything was far
02:27better. Some may say the current Ric is in a similar situation, but this is totally different.
02:31He's like a 75-year-old man now. When you bring that into the chat, yeah, it kind of makes sense
02:37why this would be the way. Number 8, The Big Show in 2003. Well, Vince McMahon would profess to know
02:42exactly what to do with WCW's giant before he signed Paul White. It turned out this was all hot
02:48air. As soon as he did debut in the WWF as The Big Show, it was the same old thing, and any chat
02:54being used as a special attraction was thrown out the window. It meant there was a lot of back and
02:58forth, especially because management was insistent they couldn't push him properly until he lost
03:02weight. So when we got to 2003, there were less ideas than ever. Seems odd as you're dealing with a
03:07huge man in wrestling. Sometimes things are too obvious and you'll forget. He did kick off the
03:12year as the world champion and ended it with the United States title, but everything in between was
03:16a head-scratcher. The show did have a feud with The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar, which had their
03:20moments, but by the end of each, it felt like he lost more steam. I mean, he wasn't gaining anything
03:25from it. The ring-breaking spot with Brock will remain an all-timer, but as 2004 rolled around,
03:30there was even some talk that the powers that be were having second thoughts. There's no one today who can
03:35say the big show didn't have a Hall of Fame career when all was said and done, but times like these
03:39were confusing. He's massive. Just let him talk, people. Number 7, Triple H in 1996. I suppose the
03:46best way to sell this one is that look what Triple H was within five years. Exactly. When he did join
03:52the WWF in the mid-90s, though, ridiculous gimmicks were in, and therefore he was introduced as Hunter
03:57Hurst Helmsley, a Greenwich blue blood who thought he was better than you because he was rich.
04:02All right, then. In 1996, however, I'm not sure the company knew what they were going to do with
04:07him because he was feuding with the likes of Duke the Dumpster Drozzy and got wrecked by the Ultimate
04:12Warrior at that year's WrestleMania. He also had to have a hog pen match with Henry Godwin. I mean,
04:17none of this was good. It wouldn't be until October when a program with Mark Merrow for the
04:21Intercontinental title heated things up. From there, it was D-Generation X. We know the rest. But for a good
04:26few months there, it looked like Triple H was going to be totally lost as he fought with the stalker,
04:31Freddie Joe Floyd and Savio Vega. There's nothing against those guys. They just so happen to be
04:36pegged at a lesser level. Number six, Stone Cold Steve Austin in 2002. We talked about this in the
04:42mega ups and downs I did for WrestleMania, and it just stands out like a sore thumb. Despite all his
04:47success, the WWE had no clue what to do with Steve Austin in 2002. This really is underlined when you
04:53watch his match with Scott Hall at WrestleMania 18 because of just a lot of nothing. Part of this was
04:58to do with Hall's personal issues, with the finish even being changed, because management wasn't
05:03convinced they could rely on Scott. It's also why Kevin Nash doesn't do much of anything on the
05:07outside. The second half of the year was even worse as Stone Cold was so down on creative he
05:11walked out of the company. But actually, this wasn't a massive shock. From January to this point,
05:16it felt like the rattlesnake had feuded with everyone, the hill turn hadn't gone as we thought,
05:20and Steve didn't want to work with Hulk Hogan. Didn't trust him. It all imploded when Austin went on the
05:25show and very legitimately aired his grievances against his storytelling. He was then told to
05:30lose to Brock Lesnar. We know the rest. It is such a shame as it feels like a lost period of Steve's
05:35career these days, but either way, not like the rest wasn't all time. It absolutely was.
05:40Number 5, Daniel Bryan in 2011. Yes, I know. 2011 is when Daniel Bryan won the Money in the Bank
05:46briefcase and became the World Heavyweight Champion. That was great, but always will be.
05:51The issue was WWE sort of just did this and then forgot. I am not kidding. It all began at the
05:57start of the year when Bryan was the United States Champion, but you know the deal there.
06:01Any mid-card title was ignored. They'd lost all their charm. It didn't get defended until Mania
06:05when he lost it to Sheamus, and when he won the briefcase, if word is to be believed,
06:09it was actually a last-minute decision to try and surprise the fans. He subsequently lost to Cody
06:14Rhodes, Sin Cara, and Wade Barrett. And two weeks before he cashed in, he lost in 120 seconds to
06:20Alberto Del Rio. There was no interference either. He got wrecked. The Money in the Bank win did give
06:25us some hope, but yeah, Daniel was the champion in name only. Because WWE had no clue what they had,
06:32it was going to take him a good few years to find out too.
06:35Number 4, Randy Orton in 2015.
06:37Randy Orton is a Hall of Famer. He is way better than most people give him credit for,
06:42but he's been going so long, he falls foul to this curse more than most.
06:46Some years, WWE just shrugged their shoulders.
06:492015 started out okay as he feuded with the Authority before beating Seth Rollins at Mania
06:53with one of the best RKO's of all time. The thing is, who was standing tall by the end of the night?
06:59The technical loser of that match. It did mean he was the first contender for this title,
07:03but he was not victorious. Then he was back to fighting Sheamus, even though he had recently
07:08feuded with Sheamus. He sort of meandered from there until Randy very sadly hurt his shoulder,
07:13and while you never want anyone to get injured, there was an upside to this.
07:16Going away from TV for a while meant when he returned, he felt super fresh again.
07:21Even then though, the Jinder Mahal thing happened. I think sometimes WWE takes Orton for granted.
07:28Hopefully never again.
07:29Number 3, Becky Lynch in 2017.
07:31Becky Lynch is one of the most popular wrestlers around right now.
07:34People pretend this isn't true. That's nonsense.
07:37It's been quite the rise, because there was once this idea she was the fourth out of the four
07:41horsewomen when they were making noise, but this was mostly because WWE wasn't taking advantage of
07:46what they had. Do you remember that tag team with Naomi? It was just so random.
07:51Becky did become the first ever SmackDown Women's Champion, but it was another one of these title
07:54crownings where we didn't treat it properly. She soon lost it to Alexa Bliss, and then yep,
07:59did nothing.
08:00Now it actually turned out for the best, because Lynch would use this in her promos when
08:03she was becoming the man, but the fact you have a whole year when she was persona non
08:07grata, it's just so damn short-sighted.
08:10It is all there though. She did get overlooked for many opportunities. When WWE tried to turn
08:16her heel and the audience rejected it, we all knew she ruled.
08:20Number 2, Goldberg in 2003.
08:23Well, we all know this. WWE knows it. Bill knows it. The fans knew it. It was so obvious.
08:27We just didn't use Goldberg as Goldberg.
08:30Instead, the powers that be decided we had to WWE the WCW legend, which meant longer matches.
08:36Problem was, nobody wanted to see that. We just wanted the wrecking machine we got a couple of
08:40years before this. Dudes like Lance Storm and Rosie got ran through, but as soon as Bill was put in any
08:45program that featured a top star, it all got extended. The average Goldberg pay-per-view match
08:50in 2003 was 14 minutes. I mean, come on.
08:55Off his aura alone, he still became the world champion, but it was all such a struggle due to
08:59the above. WWE just didn't get it, and then they put him in a wig. This was dumb. And nine times out
09:05of ten, I love dumb. This wasn't it. His return in 2016 was the way to do it, and it only took
09:11management 13 years to realize this. Whoops.
09:15Number 1, The Undertaker post-streak.
09:17So, this is one for the debating team. Was The Undertaker's loss at WrestleMania 30
09:22is the turning point of his WrestleMania career. It certainly took away from his magic at the show
09:26of shows for obvious reasons, because any Mania match after this just wasn't as fun.
09:31I mean, at Mania 31, he faced Bray Wyatt, which was a double-edged sword, because nobody wanted to
09:36see Taker lose back-to-back, but we also wanted Wyatt to win. This is not an ideal scenario.
09:4132 was Shane McMahon, and 33 was Roman Reigns, a match even the Dead Man has said should have been
09:46better. 34 was Cena was super fun, but also kind of just there, and he wasn't even on 35.
09:52didn't turn up. 36 was the Boneyard match, which was excellent as a goodbye, but I do get this,
09:58it was always going to happen for the obvious reasons. As soon as the streak was over at
10:03WrestleMania, The Undertaker became just another guy, so my word. That's something to get into.
10:09Pens at the ready, go.
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