Last column, I spoke of managers and helping the young talents “break through.” To me, breaking through is getting a reaction (loud cheer or loud boos) from the fans and heading up to main event status. There is breaking through and then there is a complete transformation altogether.
Most recently, the artist formerly known as Festus has now become Luc Gallos, presumably a bodyguard to CM Punk. The story here is that Festus had a less than favorable family life and was heavily medicated (thus explaining the drooling, hypnotic state before and then after the bell). CM Punk’s straightedge lifestyle and rules has gotten the former Festus to the path of righteousness (by looking like a wannabe biker/criminal, I guess). Festus was taken off television a while before this, off the WWE Universe’s conscious and then magically reappeared with CM Punk simply telling us of Mr. Gallos’ transformation as opposed to anything we actually saw progress. My point is, why not SEE Punk find Festus and set him straight. It could be entertaining, if not slightly comical. The late 90’s did this frequently, having a wrestler stuck in a gimmick, only to denounce it and show the audience who he “really is.”
Dustin Rhodes/Runnels/Goldust/Artist Formerly Known As Goldust/Seven did this several times (probably did a few more times than I recall).
Luc Gallos has no build up, no character evolution. We can only take CM Punk’s word on this new found revelation.
One of the earliest instances I recall is the One Man Gang’s transformation into Akeem. To this day, I never understood the point, but at least it was explained (not very coherently, but it was).
Why the One Man Gang could not be paired with the Big Boss Man to form the Twin Towers as opposed to Akeem, I don’t really know, even to this day. I do know that he still arguably achieved more success and headlining time then the Gang ever did (even if the OMG was a much “cooler” gimmick and uneventfully won a WCW US Title in 1995). Sting while not changing his name was able to reinvent himself into The Crow gimmick the fans and WCW “questioning his loyalty.” It was long, drawn out and he never spoke. It was played up perfectly by WCW until of course Starrcade 97, which led to a complete letdown in match then Sting talked again (the rest is history).
Even Raven was pointed out as Scotty Flamingo and Johnny Polo in ECW upon his arrival (thus noting the drastic change in appearance). My point is that we at least got a reason. I could go off on tag teams splitting up without much explanation, but that is a whole other column. If you take the effort to switch things around, why not drag it out and explain? The WWE splits up teams and changes characters to accelerate a wrestler’s growth and a lot of times when they get there, they’ve already run out of ideas. Take the Spirit Squad. I don’t really care what people say about them, they entertained me. A bunch of athletic young kids, not really able to make an impact solo, but as a five-some, they were great. Using a trampoline to do moves, any of the five members being able to defend the tag titles and the annoying cheers truly generated heat (unlike the silence that Sheamus is getting). Kenny Dykstra comes on the scene, teaming up with guys like Ric Flair and Triple H no less and within a year he is being kidnapped by Jesse and Festus (as we come full circle) and getting released (and ultimately quitting the business altogether and doing some reality dating show). Dolph Ziggler, formerly the Spirit Squad’s Nicky, re-debuts and is on some never-ending quest to win the Intercontinental title, yet still can’t seem to break through. Had they come out and revealed that, yes they are who the marks know they are, former male cheerleaders, it would have been to denounce that character and start fresh. The public forgives entertainers who come clean with their shortcomings, (Hugh Grant and the hooker, A-Rod and steroids, Kobe and the rape charges…eventually Tiger too) why not take a cue from “real life” admit who you are and develop as a character.
My point is build up Luc Gallos, have him denounce the Festus gimmick/lifestyle while reminding us who he WAS and explain why he hated this. It gives the fans some incentive and the writers some material, it should be a win-win. The term reboot is a popular one among movie producers, mainly due to a lack of creativity days. The reason movies like Batman Begins are even made is because there is something there in the source material that made it famous to begin with. Sure there was Batman and Robin which nearly killed off comic book movies from even being produced, but sometimes characters need to hit rock bottom (no pun intended) before redemption. The same is with a wrestler. If a talent is truly gifted, they can find a way to break through the walls of pessimism that fans usually have about new characters.
Can Luc Gallos do this? Do you even care? Or better yet is he talented enough to make you care?
