ATH First Round Match 4 : JP Liz V1 vs Bounty Hunter

beakerjoe

Around The Horn 2014 is in full swing, Match 4 is now upon us as Christian Cages biggest fan, JP Liz takes on PW boardsies own moderator, Bounty Hunter. Can the Peep of Peeps keep Mr Hunter down? lets find out.....


Simplified version of the rules:

I will post a topic and you have to post your response including why you made that choice within a given time limit (before the next match is scheduled to begin), take care while making your responses however as the other contestant can counter your arguement i.e pointing out possible flaws in what youve said.

*you can only counter an arguement two times so make sure your point is
worth making. If someone's defense of their arguement isnt good it will
count against them.


*You can use the same answer as your opponent if you wish i.e
you agree
with their choice however its hard to win a debate when your
making the
same points someone has already made


see the OP of the main thread for further details or if
any examples
are needed check out previous years competitions.

Question 4: For those living under a rock, Brays own Fergal Devitt has signed with WWE (Hurray), and has debuted on NXT as Finn Balor. Kevin Steen has also just signed and Vince wants you to handle his debut. How do you book him? What gimmick do you give him, is he heel or face? Would he go straight to the main roster? Only catch is you have to change his name!!! What name do you give him? Give a reason for your answers.




after your first post: why would your choice be better than your opponents?

Bounty Hunter

beakerjoe wrote: »

Question 4: For those living under a rock, Brays own Fergal Devitt has signed with WWE (Hurray), and has debuted on NXT as Finn Balor. Kevin Steen has also just signed and Vince wants you to handle his debut. How do you book him? What gimmick do you give him, is he heel or face? Would he go straight to the main roster? Only catch is you have to change his name!!! What name do you give him? Give a reason for your answers.

I won't answer these in the order asked but...

Kevin Steen would not go straight to the main roster, Kenta didn't, Devitt didn't so Steen won't for me won't. Instead he will go to NXT for a short while at least and perfect the WWE way of things but also like those two in NXT they will make him seem like a big deal, like someone who was a star already outside of the WWE.

Those two had their names changed upon arrival in NXT and as per the question Steen would be no different and again similar to those his new name would derive from his cultural heritage and would come in two parts, parts that like Devitt he could highlight the significance of via social media.

His first name would be Itka (pronounced like Itika) - This is an Inuit name which means Guardian Spirit spirit and would obviously be to his Canadian roots as the Inuits are considered the first people in Canada. In fact there are Quebec Inuits (also refered to as Ungave) and Steen himself is from Quebec

His second name would be Fox, so Itika Fox. The surname is a nod to a true Canadian legend Terry Fox. don't know him not surprising but Canadians know him. Terrance Stanley "Terry" Fox CC OD was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated, he embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research.

So pretty much an all round great guy and a Hard B*stard all rolled into one.

As said he would arrive on the scene in NXT in a similar vein as Kenta & Devitt did and he would be billed as a real powerhouse and he along with those guys, Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville would be presented as a level above what is already on NXT and unless it was against each other the guys who WWE.com dubbed "The NXT Five" recently would dominate in NXT. Infact I would have Fox (Steen) become the NXT champion during his run there by defeating Tyler Breeze for the belt in a match that would be a real clash of styles, looks etc.



This name would continue to get referenced a lot on WWE tv and in doing so create a lot of buzz for NXT and a demand for these guys to get brought up. Chants for them would start to be heard on Raw especially as I would have them continue having the occasional NXT promotional match on Raw.

The week before Wrestlemania 31 ( a Mania headlined by Brock vs Bryan) on Raw we would have one such promotional match booked and Sami Zayn would be first out but then much to everyone's surprise Randy Orton comes out. He is already p!ssed off that he isn't in the Wrestlemania main event, his running storyline is vs Dolph Ziggler (or someone of his ilk, like his recent Jericho PPV match) but he believes Ziggler is beneath him and that so too are the NXT 5, a group that people only talk up because they have never faced anybody but themselves and other NXT rookies. So he says that tonight he will send a message to both at once, Ziggler can witness what awaits him at Mania while the NXT 5 will see what a true WWE star looks like and learn to not get ahead of themselves.

The only problem with this plan is that despite being on top for most of the match Orton just can't seem to put Zayn away and eventually seemingly out of pure frustration signals to the back and out come the other Authority members Kane & Seth Rollins and Zayn takes a hell of a beating.

The following week on the post-Mania Raw we have a rematch which Zayn apparently asked for and it looks like we are going to have a repeat as The Authority once again come out to try and help Randy win but the moment they do start to do so Zayn slides out of the ring, grabs the Mic and points out how he knew Randy wouldn't fight fair so he too brought some friends with him tonight. Just then the rest of the NXT 5 emerge to a huge pop before charging down and opening a can of whoop ass on The Authority.

This would lead into Extreme rules where there would be a 5 on 5 tag match and much akin to the Shields multi man tags it might just steal the show. The other two Authority members would be either a fit again Bad News Barett (who had almost joined up with them previously) and Cesaro/Sheamus or perhaps a heel tag team like The Ascension who could feud with Balor/Itami after the PPV.

The finish of the PPV would come after Orton is pinned after Itika Fox (Steen) hits him with his signature Piledriver

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbVewK1UFEY

The following night on Raw you would have Orton go mad, ranting and raving about how that is an illegal move and how the decision should be overturned. He even gets HHH (who backs him up and tells Fox the Piledriver is dangerous and banned in the WWE) to strip Fox of the NXT championship now that he is appearing on Raw / WWE PPVs (although Randy wanted it to be cos Hunter had just suspended him). Thus a singles feud begins between these two and tbh as much as some might dislike him or think him stale, Orton is great at being hated and he is great in the ring so a debuting face could do a lot worse than work with Orton especially when they are trying to make a big deal of him, the would bill Fox / Steen as having been King of The Indies while they big up the others past achievements such as Balor / Itami in Japan.


Bringing Itiki Fox up in this way would not only make him a big deal and potentially an instant star but it would make the entire NXT 5 a big deal and potentially instant stars.

JP Liz V1

I would debut Kevin Steen as a heel called Eddie Brawley straight to the main roster on Raw as part of the Authority as a protector of HHH's golden boy Seth Rollins the current Mr. MITB

I choose the name Eddie from Paul Newman's character from The Hustler Eddie Felson and Brawley as his style is of a brawler

The Debut: - On one Raw main event we have Cena and Ambrose teaming up to take on Kane and Orton when Rollins interferes but Cena and Ambrose gain the upper hand and are in control when out comes Brawley dressed in jeans, plaid shirt open and black vest with a pool cue and he takes out both Cena and Ambrose.

For the next few weeks Brawley can team with Rollins/Orton/Kane against Cena and Ambrose and have single matches against Cena and Ambrose. I would even give Rollins and Brawley a tag title reign too. Later down the line Brawley could break away from Rollins and the Authority and be more of a tweener in IC or US title scene eventually winning one of them.

I choose to have him debut on Raw and bypass Nxt as I think Raw needs some new talent to shake it up and make it fresh and pairing him with the No. 1 heel seemed the best option to me plus it is always more entertaining and easier to gain heat as a heel.

Bounty Hunter

Alright here goes... Rebuttle time!

I won't spend too much time on the names as every name takes a while to settle in Ziggler as is often noted for example or of course more recently the debate around Hideo & Balor shows it can be hard for some to adjust to a star they know under a completely different name. That said something about your name for Steen reminds me of OSW review as Its exactly the type of name I could imagine them giving him while they are making fun of him i.e calling him Brawley cos all they know about him is he likes to Brawl. I think I would find it hard to move past that connection in his name while the other connections in the names mentioned like Finn for Fionn mac Cumhaill or Fox for Terry Fox would eventually (quicker at least) fade into the background.

The next thing is that you have him debut straight away on Raw bypassing NXT. I don't see this happening as nobody goes straight to Raw anymore but that is beside the point as you can book as you choose but the effect of this booking should be considered. They didn't do that with Devitt who was a huge star in New Japan and is older than Steen, why is Steen so special? Does he not need to go to NXT so that he can master the WWE style? for example my Piledriver storyline is just that one of many potential story lines such a feud could have but it does highlight that he might need to adjust his move set at the very least before he debuts. Brinigin him straight up could also cause resentment in him from current and old NXT stars`Would a Devitt or even an Ambrose / Rollins (who you would have him working with) have no issue with the fact that they with similar experience behind them had to go through NXT but Steen didn't. I understand you cite a need for new talent to shake things up but im sure Sami Zayn, Tyler Breeze, Adrian Neville etc could take exception to not being considered next in line after already putting in their time in developmental.

Also Steen as seen in my answer has already been dubbed part of "The NXT Five" by the WWE so it would be pretty weird if they never send him to NXT.

I can see the positives in having him debut at the top of the card against people like Cena and associating with the main heels but why is he doing this? it's not really mentioned, I assume to gain favour with the authority but unless he really knocks it out of the park in terms of his impact on the first few shows he appears on I think he might need more of a back story and reasoning for his being on Raw or else people wont care because not everyone will know him. Yeah he will get a pop from the smarks cos he's Steen but in his heel role that could actually be detrimental to the storyline, while the rest of the crowd don't know who he is or why he is attacking. Meanwhile in my answer he would have loads of back story from his time on NXT where he became champ and a proper reason to be there plus a lot of buzz from being part of "The NXT Five" which could transfer into a big face pop from more than just the smarks (but on a post mania Raw perhaps that is all I'd need) which would def fit with storylines as they face off vs The Authority.

JP Liz V1

Itaki Fox reminds me of Ikea Fox


Not everyone will be aware of who Steen is and also does many watch Nxt as in compared to Raw


I felt throwing him straight into Raw would get him known by more


I also thought he could get overshadowed by the other Nxt new recruits like Kenta or Devitt

Bounty Hunter

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Itaki Fox reminds me of Ikea Fox


Not everyone will be aware of who Steen is and also does many watch Nxt as in compared to Raw


I felt throwing him straight into Raw would get him known by more


I also thought he could get overshadowed by the other Nxt new recruits like Kenta or Devitt

Actually made a slight typo at the end of my post (now edited) and refered to him as that once but it was Itika (not Itaki) based off the Inuit name which means Guardian Spirit spirit and would obviously be referencing his Canadian roots as the Inuits are considered the first people in Canada and as mentioned there are actually Quebec Inuits (also refered to as Ungave) and Steen himself is from Quebec, but yeah like with Brawley cos he loves to brawl the focus fro me is put elsewhere

No your right not as many watch Raw as apposed to NXT but I do plan on debuting him on Raw too not just NXT and obviously going through NXT first would get him added exposure when compared to not going through it in advance of his Raw debut. Of course there are more benefits than just exposure though like learning the WWE style. Plus there are the potential drawbacks of not sending him through developmental like everyone else has had to and the resentment it could create not just towards him but towards management too for not giving other wrestlers the same opportunity or deeming them worthy of such.

Steen is probably the one of "The NXT 5" that would be the least likely to get overshadowed by the others simply due to his size / look. No doubt WWE would book him as the the powerhouse of the group if they were brought up together.

We were asked to book his debut and to say why it would be better than each others answer but not necessarily why it would be better for Steen. I still think mine would be especially in the long run (what with him being NXT champ etc before coming up) but I think the debut of the group the WWE has already dubbed "The NXT 5" including Itika Fox in the form I outlined would have far more impact than Steen debuting alone and alligning himself with the Authority for some reason having not gone through NXT.

JP Liz V1

NXT 5 reminds me of Nexus and while Steen has the physical size edge over his fellow members he could get lost and overshadowed like many of Nexus did


HHH can hire him as a bodyguard/muscle for Rollins (similar to Diesel for HBK), HHH as the boss don't need it make sense or even warrant an explanation, Orton and Kane have kinda hinted on screen at unhappiness at having to clean up for Rollins so bringing in a newbie would work


While yes backstage there could be complaints of Steen coming in bypassing NXT going straight to Raw creating conflict, it not unheard of, if HHH or Vince is high on a wrestler they will push them to the moon and give them special treatment


My final closing statement is that I feel Steen debuting as a heel character called Eddie Brawley with the gimmick of Seth Rollins's bodyguard/protector will generate him heat and exposure and make him a big deal of straight away

beakerjoe

Poll Added

beakerjoe

Bump!

beakerjoe

Congrats BH. Unlucky Liz. BH moves on to face Omackeral in the 2nd quatar final