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Gabe Sapolsky (*Possible Spoilers*)

  • 18-02-2013 5:03pm
    #1
    Normstorm
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 61 ✭✭


    First time poster, long time creeper here! I've always enjoyed reading the opinions on this forum and I've finally decided to delve into the mix.

    Anyway, while watching Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins stand toe to toe with Cena & Co in the 6 man tag match at Elimination Chamber last night I couldn't help but think of one man...Gabe Sapolsky.

    How proud must Gabe be when he (presumably) tunes into any WWE programming and sees CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins & Antonio Cesaro featured prominently. He must be filled with a great sense of pride. We hear alot about wrestler being "Heyman guys" but in reality these are "Sapolsky guys" (doesn't quite have the same ring to it, I know!).

    However, I fear that Gabe mightn't get the credit he deserves for his eye for talent. Paul Heyman does give him credit and features him on the Heyman Hustle but in the wider wrestling world does Gabe get the recognition he deserves? Are WWE aware of his role in finding these talents? Or are his contributions worthy of the recognition of the WWE?

    What do you guys think?


Comments

  • #2
    Xenji
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,506 ✭✭✭✭Xenji


    I am not sure you can really say that he found most of these talents, Danielson would be the only one out of all those you have mentioned. But what he did do was let and give them a place to develop, hone their skills and let them truly shine, the man was a excellent booker and created some legendary feuds, I personally loved ROH and still watch it quite a lot. You could see it did take a dip after he left, and you can see the influence he has had on Dragons Gate USA. I am sure people within the WWE do think very highly of him, but I actually think like Heyman he is just to good to be a booker or writer for them, he would butt to many heads.


  • #3
    the flananator
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,433 ✭✭✭the flananator


    Normstorm wrote: »
    First time poster, long time creeper here! I've always enjoyed reading the opinions on this forum and I've finally decided to delve into the mix.

    Anyway, while watching Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins stand toe to toe with Cena & Co in the 6 man tag match at Elimination Chamber last night I couldn't help but think of one man...Gabe Sapolsky.

    How proud must Gabe be when he (presumably) tunes into any WWE programming and sees CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins & Antonio Cesaro featured prominently. He must be filled with a great sense of pride. We hear alot about wrestler being "Heyman guys" but in reality these are "Sapolsky guys" (doesn't quite have the same ring to it, I know!).

    However, I fear that Gabe mightn't get the credit he deserves for his eye for talent. Paul Heyman does give him credit and features him on the Heyman Hustle but in the wider wrestling world does Gabe get the recognition he deserves? Are WWE aware of his role in finding these talents? Or are his contributions worthy of the recognition of the WWE?

    What do you guys think?

    I dunno. To my mind Sapolsky's legacy seems to be that he was blessed with having a huge array of very talented workers available to him, and having the smarts/vision to put the right guys in the right matches, and letting them go. He wasn't a visionary in the sense that Heyman was with the innovative characters, feuds and branding he masterminded when he booked ECW; the only two 'high concept' angles I can think of that Sapolsky put together are the CZW feud and the Age of the Fall story line, the former being more successful than the latter. I don't know if he can take the credit for the development of Danielson, Punk, Styles, Joe etc. in the same way Heyman can say he made Sandman, Tommy Dreamer and so many others look like stars despite their (now obvious) limitations.

    Perhaps someone more knowledgeable about ROH will disagree and fight Gabe's corner for him, but for me I would say Gabe was a smart guy who was in the right place at the right time; a time right at the end of a boom period when a lot of young guys were just breaking into the business, and where there was no WCW or particularly ECW to sign them up, and before they were ready to be snapped up by TNA and WWE. Neither Evolve nor DG:USA are exactly setting the world alight under his management (they're not even the most popular indies in the US), which is perhaps the best indication that it was Punk and the boys who made ROH so good under Sapolsky's command, and not the other way around.


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