MINISTRYrising
Championship Contender
I have asked you before if Bam Bam Bigalow and the Brittish Bulldog should have been World Champions. But this time i want to know if you think the Big Boss Man should have been World Champion or not.
Should the Big Boss Man have been World Champion
- Thread starter MINISTRYrising
- Start date
Lowdown
Ooh baby I like it roooaaaaw!
Nope. Bossman was a novelty gimmick it its time. Don't get me wrong, I found him entertaining, especially when he had Slick as his manager. But Bossman at best was a tag team specialist and an occasional mid-card guy you would see in a squash match on Superstars. He was decent for a big guy, but I doubt he would've been over as the champ during his peak in the late 80's.
WJDwjdWJDwjd
Getting Noticed By Management
Ray Traylor was great at what he did. He was a gimmick heel, and kind of big dude. His role was to be a scary, but effective jobber to up and coming faces, and already established faces who needed a few wins. An enhancement talent. One of the best I might add. He was great on the mic, could put over guys in the ring, but his gimmick was a crooked law enforcement guy in the WWF/E. There were a plethora of gimmicky characters in the 80's and 90's that were NEVER going to get over in the capacity as a legitimate main event World Title holder. Bossman was one of many.
amodernphoenix
Occasional Pre-Show
It surely helped his character that Ray was an actual prison guard prior to how wrestling days. That said, I agree completely with the previous posters. I don't believe he should have been champion and especially in the late 80s as someone noted. Title runs were longer then and reserved for the elite. As good as the Bossman was, he didn't fit in that category.
I do believe they did horrible things with the gimmick at the end of his run... the funeral, hanging him in Philly (I saw it live and it looked like we were watching a man get killed. Even though we knew it was a show, it was way too far) and some of the other nonsense. Vince never envisioned that character to be champion.
I do believe they did horrible things with the gimmick at the end of his run... the funeral, hanging him in Philly (I saw it live and it looked like we were watching a man get killed. Even though we knew it was a show, it was way too far) and some of the other nonsense. Vince never envisioned that character to be champion.
ECW Sandman
Getting Noticed By Management
I couldn't see Boss Man as WWF Champion but He could have been a decent IC Champion, to me the best wrestlers in the WWF in the 1980's minus Randy Savage did not have to be WWF Champion.
Roddy Piper was and still is probably the best wrestler to never win the WWF Title He did not need to be champion although Vince should have put the title on him .
Another person that was never champion that should have been champion was the greatest heel of the 1980's and 1990's and I'm talking about The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase He could have been a very great champion but it was never meant to be. Dibiase should have gotten a run as IC champ though.
Roddy Piper was and still is probably the best wrestler to never win the WWF Title He did not need to be champion although Vince should have put the title on him .
Another person that was never champion that should have been champion was the greatest heel of the 1980's and 1990's and I'm talking about The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase He could have been a very great champion but it was never meant to be. Dibiase should have gotten a run as IC champ though.
Boss Man got pretty close to the Intercontinental Belt against Mr. Perfect and was kept strong the whole feud. He was very over as a face but it doesn't feel right thinking of him as champ. He was like Jake Roberts and Jim Duggan in that Boss Man did not need a title during that run. Then, in WCW he came in as the Boss and got a non-title win over Rude, during his time as the fake champion with the real belt, only for Rude to get the win back, and again, Boss Man was best in the role of contender. At the end of the day with all these threads, it's about business and I don't see Boss Man as THE guy.
Even though he was one of my favorite wrestlers when I was a kid he just wasn't world champion material. The Bossman just wasn't somebody you could build the whole show around. He was good in midcard feuds and maybe getting in a slaparound with a main eventer or two but in the overall scheme of things you gotta love him for what he was, a midcarder.
amodernphoenix
Occasional Pre-Show
Why should Vince have put the title on Piper or the IC Belt on Boss Man? They are props, used to put people over, to generate buyrates, boost merchandise sales and sell tickets. Belts are not a reward for being good at what you do, they're a tool for people who need them like Sheamus in the beginning, Randy Orton in the beginning and so many others.
In the 80s, Hogan wore the strap longer than anyone, just like Austin and the Rock did in the 90s. All three were for the same reason- they blew the merchandise sales away. EVERYONE had a Hogan shirt back in the day, or an Austin shirt or a Rock shirt.
Guys like Hart, Macho Man, Ultimate Warrior were also good and sold merchandise, but the belt gave them more credibility in the eyes of the fan. In reality, Hart and Macho Man were very good and really didn't need to belt to get over, but they DID need it for that extra push to get on Hogan/Austin/Rock's level. They also needed it to then lose it to someone else as a rub. The Undertaker got that rub at the beginning of his career and he ran with it.
These days, the belts are passed around back and forth so often, they have relatively no meaning. That's why we have people talking about so and so 'deserving' to have the belt. They don't understand its purpose.
THTRobtaylor
Once & Future Wrestlezone Columnist
Big Bossman was a classic case of the "belt not required" SUPERSTAR... Let's be clear from 1987 to early 92 BBM was in the top 8 superstars WWF had in terms of popularity, merch, overness and ring work. For a big man he had all the tools, while he lost a little bit of his fire as a face, he was still one of the most recognisable guys they had in that era. That he could also put on an excellent match with most of the roster was a pleasent bonus.
BUT
He had a gimmick...a very successful gimmick that precluded him from ever having a belt. As a heel, he had the ball and chain and cuffs... then the nightstick to beat people to a pulp. One of my earlier WWF memories is him handcuffing Koko B. Ware to the ropes and battering him. He was uber-violent for the Hogan era and it worked. Problem is, you add a belt to that and it's another physical prop he has to juggle and make work during intros and post match.
Once he went face he retained the nightstick, which he was clearly proficient at handling, twirling etc. Not to make him sound like a majorette but in reality a belt as well would have made his matches slower, less interesting. Plus he was pitched as a "bad cop" then "good cop" and cops don't look right with a belt...
When he came back in 99 he got a PPV main event that many believed he deserved. He also got "hung" which he didn't.
On balance, yes Bossman had all the tools for a WCW/NWA run in the late 80's but he pitched his wagon to Vince and on balance, it was right he never got one. He worked solidly for the gravy years, went to WCW when Hogan did and made a shedload more and got "one last run". He is also one of the most remembered and missed characters the WWF has had...A belt wouldn't have improved that.
BUT
He had a gimmick...a very successful gimmick that precluded him from ever having a belt. As a heel, he had the ball and chain and cuffs... then the nightstick to beat people to a pulp. One of my earlier WWF memories is him handcuffing Koko B. Ware to the ropes and battering him. He was uber-violent for the Hogan era and it worked. Problem is, you add a belt to that and it's another physical prop he has to juggle and make work during intros and post match.
Once he went face he retained the nightstick, which he was clearly proficient at handling, twirling etc. Not to make him sound like a majorette but in reality a belt as well would have made his matches slower, less interesting. Plus he was pitched as a "bad cop" then "good cop" and cops don't look right with a belt...
When he came back in 99 he got a PPV main event that many believed he deserved. He also got "hung" which he didn't.
On balance, yes Bossman had all the tools for a WCW/NWA run in the late 80's but he pitched his wagon to Vince and on balance, it was right he never got one. He worked solidly for the gravy years, went to WCW when Hogan did and made a shedload more and got "one last run". He is also one of the most remembered and missed characters the WWF has had...A belt wouldn't have improved that.
I always felt he deserved the PPV main event against the Phenom, he paid his dues and deserved a few moments of main event glory. However, I also felt the hanging was a good move for the company to make since they were trying to sell the Ministry off as the most evil stable ever, so to have it look like they were willing to murder their opponents, it put the evil across in a big way. I actually was a little let down that they didn't take the horror theme even further. And the WWE still needs to release some kind of Ministry anthology type thing on blu ray.
As for the topic at hand, I don't think Boss Man should have been champ, he just wasn't the right type for the title. He was great to use in feuds as someone who they could use to cause trouble for a champ or someone else, but his gimmick and a title just would have been overkill.
I agree with most in that Bossman did not need the belt, and the gimmick and a title just didn't seem to go together. Bossman was a great heel in the beginning of his WWE career, he was a good challenger for Hogan. Then when he went face he chased Perfect for the IC title and got real close. Hid feud with Perfect is probably my favorite Bossman feud. He had great fan support, and was a great supporting character, but had no real reason to win the title.
Mr.Perfect23
Best In the World
NO! NO! NO! NO!
Is this a serious thread? what did he do in the ring or on the mic to ever, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevver earn the credibility to be a world champ? The answer is....wait for it...wait for it....NOTHING! He was a mid card guy with a mid card gimmick his ENTIRE career. FACT NOT OPINION
Is this a serious thread? what did he do in the ring or on the mic to ever, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevver earn the credibility to be a world champ? The answer is....wait for it...wait for it....NOTHING! He was a mid card guy with a mid card gimmick his ENTIRE career. FACT NOT OPINION
FlairFan2003
Mid-Card Championship Winner
Boss Man was a good performer for a big guy, his gimmick was a bit cartoonish though, and I dont think he was ever over enough with the crowd to have been a legit champ in WWE or WCW. Maybe if he would have been booked with a different gimmick but the "law man" thing stuck with him years after his intial WWE breakthrough.
There are some guys who I think had enough cred with fans to been a decent champ in either of the two feds in the late 80s/mid 90s - Piper, Rude, DiBiase, maybe Jake Roberts, I would even say Barry Whyndam circa 1987, probably the height of his career (as a heel he was good but not as good as Flair, he would have needed to get out the NWA to be a heel champ but with Flair as the lead villain he might have been a solid fan fav champ).
I also think at the height of his "Russian Nightmare" gimmick Nikita Kolloff would have been a good heel champ, circa 1986.
There are some guys who I think had enough cred with fans to been a decent champ in either of the two feds in the late 80s/mid 90s - Piper, Rude, DiBiase, maybe Jake Roberts, I would even say Barry Whyndam circa 1987, probably the height of his career (as a heel he was good but not as good as Flair, he would have needed to get out the NWA to be a heel champ but with Flair as the lead villain he might have been a solid fan fav champ).
I also think at the height of his "Russian Nightmare" gimmick Nikita Kolloff would have been a good heel champ, circa 1986.
theBec2101
Championship Contender
No. Not saying be was a bad wrestler or anything but there were people at that time that were far better then him. I think maybe if he didnt have that gimmick cause that followed him. He may not of been the cop but was some type of law enforcer. Other then that he was a decent wrestler and could talk but all his promos were about the law or enforcing it.
Hollywood Naitch
The current reigning and defending
No, I don't think he should have been the WWF Champion. When you think who was around in the late 80s, early 90s in WWE who never got the title, such as Rude, Roberts, Ramon and DiBiase and even Piper, then there was no reason why Boss Man should have been picked ahead of any of them as a guy to be champion. He wasn't good enough.
Not to say he was bad. He wasn't, but I would never have bought him as the champ. I mostly remember Boss Man from his later run in WWE though, as the Corporate Enforcer in the black outfit, and he was a good heel then too, but again not Championship material. He was good for throwing into an occasional Raw main event, or a mid-card feud but I always prefered him simply as the enforcer role and would never have wanted to see him as the main guy. There were always far better options to go with.
Not to say he was bad. He wasn't, but I would never have bought him as the champ. I mostly remember Boss Man from his later run in WWE though, as the Corporate Enforcer in the black outfit, and he was a good heel then too, but again not Championship material. He was good for throwing into an occasional Raw main event, or a mid-card feud but I always prefered him simply as the enforcer role and would never have wanted to see him as the main guy. There were always far better options to go with.
original1316
Dark Match Jobber
No. don't get me wrong I always like the Big Boss Man but I don,t think his mic skills or in ring abilitie were good enough for him be a main eventer. Sure WWE dropped the ball with him as far as not giving him a run as ic champion at some point or even a run as European champion later on in his career but I just don't think a gimmick character like the Big Boss Man would ever have worked as WWE champion