Jump to content

The Official WWE / NXT Discussion Thread *May Contain Spoilers*


Adam Ryland

Recommended Posts

The more I think about this I am agreeing the "X-Pac" heat is just an expression and doesnt have much validity to it. Does anyone really get the reactions the booker is looking for anymore? Cena gets booed, Orton gets cheered when he is suppose to be a hated heel. Is that an example of X-Pac heat? Maybe Vicki is just being playing the annoying heel gimmick to perfection.

 

I heard it mentioned that Cole is an example of X-Pac heat while I think he is playing his heel role perfectly. It seems to me he is getting the exact reaction they want from him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The more I think about this I am agreeing the "X-Pac" heat is just an expression and doesnt have much validity to it. Does anyone really get the reactions the booker is looking for anymore? Cena gets booed, Orton gets cheered when he is suppose to be a hated heel. Is that an example of X-Pac heat? Maybe Vicki is just being playing the annoying heel gimmick to perfection.

 

I heard it mentioned that Cole is an example of X-Pac heat while I think he is playing his heel role perfectly. It seems to me he is getting the exact reaction they want from him.

 

Yes on Cole. I just used him as an example because of the negative reaction he got from fans starting from when he started hammering Danielson

 

Re Cena: another good example. I loved how people would demand that he turned when he was getting mixed reactions 'because fans wanted to boo him.' At the time, he was still the most over worker on the roster so I never thought it made a difference.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually the very definition of X-Pac Heat is... well... X-Pac. ;)

 

Good Heat is when you're booed in a way that's constructive, where the crowd want to see you get your ass kicked. Bad Heat is when the crowd boo because they simply don't like what they're seeing. Booker/Buff got bad heat. The term X-Pac heat is so fiddly and subjective and often misused. If I were some kind of deity, my first act would be to stop people using it.

 

I like to call it "turn the channel heat" :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it would be a cool idea if someone took the sport of MMA, kept it a legitimate sport but added storylines, faces, and heels. You could get the wrestling fans and the MMA fans and force the WWE to change their product. I miss the old school WWF feel. MMA sort of gives me that however I dont usually have much rooting interest in either performer.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I like to call it "turn the channel heat" :)

Which is what Michael Cole has with me, at least. He's so overbearing and obnoxious whenever he heels it up that it takes away all the attention from whatever is going on in the ring because he's ripping into everything. It doesn't help that Cole, who is probably the biggest heel in the company, is the lead announcer and the one counted on to $hill the product and the angles to the fans watching at home. If Cole was the colour guy and you had someone else, anyone else, in the lead position, it might not be so bad. But when the lead announcer, the main salesperson of the main program, is an ultra obnoxious heel, who you either hate and want to see get killed or hate and turn off, it kind of kills his cred when he goes into hype mode.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Which is what Michael Cole has with me, at least. He's so overbearing and obnoxious whenever he heels it up that it takes away all the attention from whatever is going on in the ring because he's ripping into everything. It doesn't help that Cole, who is probably the biggest heel in the company, is the lead announcer and the one counted on to $hill the product and the angles to the fans watching at home. If Cole was the colour guy and you had someone else, anyone else, in the lead position, it might not be so bad. But when the lead announcer, the main salesperson of the main program, is an ultra obnoxious heel, who you either hate and want to see get killed or hate and turn off, it kind of kills his cred when he goes into hype mode.

 

Think about it. Everytime there is a heel announcer it is always the colour guy, not the lead.

 

Jesse Ventura with Vince McMahon

Bobby Heenan with Gorilla Monsoon

Jerry Lawler with JR

JBL with Michael Cole

Don West with Mike Tenay

Paul Heyman with JR

 

and so on and so on.............

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Which is what Michael Cole has with me, at least. He's so overbearing and obnoxious whenever he heels it up that it takes away all the attention from whatever is going on in the ring because he's ripping into everything. It doesn't help that Cole, who is probably the biggest heel in the company, is the lead announcer and the one counted on to $hill the product and the angles to the fans watching at home. If Cole was the colour guy and you had someone else, anyone else, in the lead position, it might not be so bad. But when the lead announcer, the main salesperson of the main program, is an ultra obnoxious heel, who you either hate and want to see get killed or hate and turn off, it kind of kills his cred when he goes into hype mode.

 

And that is a totally fair evaluation and I can't honetly say i disagree with it, even though I don't fell that negatively towards Cole and his act.

 

And I don't disagree with the way amp feels about Vickie, even though I think she's the goods.

 

But when people use that term 'XPac Heat' what they are saying is that there is such an overwhelmingly negative and visceral reaction to the character that large segments of the audience will turn away from their TV to avoid seeing that one worker on screen.

 

And I really don't see that happening that often and I definitely don't see it in the WWE.

 

XPac heat is kind of a myth ..and a the very least...is wayyyy overused.

 

Now who wants to talk some more about Sting coming to the WWE????? :p:D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Now who wants to talk some more about Sting coming to the WWE????? :p:D

 

Im wondering how you would put an angle for something like this in TEW. You have people believing its sting but maybe its some no name(doubtful). Do you use the overness of sting(since people think its him) or that overness of the possible wrestler very few people have heard of if its him to create that realistic angle?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And I don't disagree with the way amp feels about Vickie, even though I think she's the goods.

 

But when people use that term 'XPac Heat' what they are saying is that there is such an overwhelmingly negative and visceral reaction to the character that large segments of the audience will turn away from their TV to avoid seeing that one worker on screen.

 

XPac heat is kind of a myth ..and a the very least...is wayyyy overused.

 

Now who wants to talk some more about Sting coming to the WWE????? :p:D

The thing is, X-Pac's segments are really one of the worst, after his time with DX. Let me explain.

 

first, he was the Lightning Kid. Then, he was for the 1-2-3 Kid. For all intents and purposes, these are two similar gimmicks for Sean Waltman.

 

Then He was Syxx in WCW. When he left WCW, he became X-Pac. So, since 1996 upwards to 2000ish, he was Syxx (similar gimmick to X-Pac). He was stale as heck in terms of gimmicks.

 

But it wasn't just that. He was pushed beyond his abilities... first, he didn't have "it", or at least, not a lot of "it". Second, he wasn't exactly the most charismatic person (I know this didn't stop WWE before, but bear with me). Third, his mic skill wasn't so good. Four, he had very typical, run-of-the-mill matches, and he was working safe style before safe style even existed (I understood why he did it, but just bear with me a bit more). Fifth, he never compensated for stopping his aerial moves. Now, he broke his neck before. It's understand why he stopped doing flashy aerial moves ala Jeff Hardy. But guys like Lance Storm, who slowly went from a Super Junior style, to more a Technician style. Lance Storm got better at being a performer and technical moves. And he has only one (comparatively minor to others) injury. All his matches were the same. Same moves. Every time. I don't mean similar matches. It's almost all his matches were scripted the exact way, with every wrestler. Doesn't matter who he faced if he was going to win. Same match, Same moves.

 

Now, all this, I admit, even when combined, doesn't justify the hate he gets. But there's more. It's the fact that he was shoved in people's faces as a SERIOUS threat. It was just not acceptable. And this isn't just marks. This was a live crowd. Can he really beat guys Albert or even Viscera? Really? He's on the level of Triple H? What the heck?

 

These things combined made him unbearable. I really did change the channel when he was on. And I'll turn back when I realize he wasn't on anymore. It wsas a comibination of factors that's really, really hard to get. Usually, when you have two of these issues, even the WWE is like "Okay, this isn't going well". It somehow just added up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

These things combined made him unbearable. I really did change the channel when he was on. And I'll turn back when I realize he wasn't on anymore. It wsas a comibination of factors that's really, really hard to get. Usually, when you have two of these issues, even the WWE is like "Okay, this isn't going well". It somehow just added up.

 

All of that is totally fair. But again...as many people as there were on the net at the time with that opinion...was all of that bad for business? Did it hurt the WWE to have that segment of the audience - net fans, mostly - who despised X Pac? Did the 'X Pac heat' take away from the legit reaction that he go because he was a bad guy?

 

Or was it net fans just complaining loudly and assuming that everyone in the audience though the same way.

 

Take your personal feelings aside: in all honesty, did it have any effect whatsoever on the character and t effectiveness on TV?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All of that is totally fair. But again...as many people as there were on the net at the time with that opinion...was all of that bad for business? Did it hurt the WWE to have that segment of the audience - net fans, mostly - who despised X Pac? Did the 'X Pac heat' take away from the legit reaction that he go because he was a bad guy?

 

Or was it net fans just complaining loudly and assuming that everyone in the audience though the same way.

 

Take your personal feelings aside: in all honesty, did it have any effect whatsoever on the character and t effectiveness on TV?

Did it have an effect? Good news is, not much, because he wasn't at the main event. But about this... it's the exact thing TNA would do, except worse. "He's getting a reaction! Let's put him in the main event!" And then watch the ratings dwindle...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Triple H had X-Pac heat for a while there (if my memory is working) around 2004-2005. People were switching channels for his segments and it resulted in lower ratings. I could give a long list of workers who've had "X-Pac heat" but it'd just be my opinion based of stats that are variable and reported by wrestling reporters. People asking for "proof" need to realise and drill it into their head it's all subjective, like most things in wrestling and like I've said before a thousand times... or whenever these debates pop up. If you don't think X-Pac heat is real good for you, you may not think Hogan was a great worker either but there's really no argument to be made.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Both sides have used evidence to make their cases; it's constructing an argument.

 

Anyway, I feel like my point has been made and expanded on to the point where I'd be pretty happy if we could move on with using this thread to complain about WWE's horrible mis-use of talent or how their product stinks now because it's not the same as it was when you were a kid.

 

In conclusion, even if you believe one of the myriad definitions of the term "X-Pac heat," I'm not sure that it's a particularly useful distinction, and I'm not exactly the only one. Some other cogent points:

 

I don't believe in X-Pac heat either. Or at the very least I believe it's far less widespread a concept than some people claim. Any heat is good heat when used correctly.

 

So yes...while 'XPac Heat' may be an actual thing among a small segment of the audience, does it matter? I'd say no.

 

The more I think about this I am agreeing the "X-Pac" heat is just an expression and doesnt have much validity to it.

 

XPac heat is kind of a myth ..and a the very least...is wayyyy overused.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...