The past several days, I’ve posted 20 questions on WWE, TNA and the Indies, inviting readers to answer. After, I’ll be posting some reader response and commenting on what I think. Feel free to continue to post responses on any question after the one I’ve already answered (I’ll be going in order). The awesome Andy Wheeler replied to all 20 WWE questions over on Pulse Wrestling. No one knows more about the WWE mindset than Wheeler, so be sure to give him a read. Let’s answer the second TNA question.
2. Hernandez is getting over as a monster, but what do they do when he has to actually wrestle?
“Hernandez is a good wrestler and the best big man wrestler on national TV outside of the Undertaker.” –
This is indicative of most answers I got for this one. TNA fan-base seems to really believe because Hernandez is both big and athletic with a high impact moveset, he’s already good. While there is a lot more that goes into being a good wrestler at the top of the card, like pacing, psychology and selling (for a full breakdown, click here), it’s a very good sign that TNA has, at least, got their fans believing in this guy.
“Sometimes that is all it takes. It worked for Vader. It worked for Kane. It worked for Goldberg. I could list other examples, but just being a monster can get you over very well. Can Hernandez do more than that? His work in LAX suggests he can, but we'll just have to wait and see.” – G
Vader was a fantastic worker who had every bit of psychology and storytelling down, but Kane and Goldberg are good examples. Both were wildly over and even draws, but were unable to maintain their popularity long term due to not really developing the tertiary skills needed to maintain popularity. Can Hernandez overcome this? Perhaps, but his LAX work isn’t the answer, as he was essentially a Road Warrior in that team and while they were impressive tag team wrestlers, no one would ever claim they were out there having classics in singles. Hernandez needs to find a way to be more Vader than Hawk.
“Put him in there with Angle, AJ, or Joe. They really don't have a ton of guys who can make people look good, do they? I'd say keep pushing him as Mexican Mike Awesome (a high flying power guy; it fits!) for as long as possible and delay anything that would expose him.” – Brad Curran
And this seems to be the best idea for how to get him to be more Vader than Hawk. AJ Styles and Kurt Angle, along with numerous others, are quite experienced in leading power guys to great matches and could really show Hernandez what he’s expected to be doing in the ring. Others like Chris Daniels and Jay Lethal could help fill this role again. This only, once more, highlights, how useless the Eric Young feud is to him (in my opinion, of course). The push is working, so it shouldn’t be changed, merely stretching out his abilities by putting him in there with wrestlers of increasing quality should force Hernandez to improve and be able to maintain momentum.
Comments
Bringing in Lethal and Daniels gave me another idea; turn him heel and make him a Cruiserweight Bully. It could help them break up the sameness of having three monster babyfaces on the verge of main eventing and help him build up some momentum for a challenge at AJ, who wants to avenge his X-Division brothers or something.
I get the feeling this EY feud is leading to him squashing Young like a bug at Bound for Glory, but then again, Young is being pushed as a top guy, so who knows?
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