El Generico Unmasked: Good, Bad, or Wait And See.

**Viperfish** · 03-08-2013, 11:32 PM

Originally Posted by eyehatecena

But this is WWE- they have to control and own everything and everything has to be their idea. CM Punk was lucky though- he toiled away in OVW, then ECW(WE) with Heymen being there for him along the way. I'd think if it were not for him- Punk would have another name now. But I agree with you- with some of the people coming in they actually have a starting point with them, some kind of background

Bryan Danielson couldn't be just Bryan Danielson

Claudio couldn't just be Claudio

Chris Hero couldn't just be Chris Hero

Joe Henning........

The Rotundo brothers......

Britina Knight.......

Kong........

The kist goes on and on

To be fair, it's entirely possible that Generico was in fact given an opportunity to debut as his character and he rejected on the basis of not wanting the ownership of the name and persona to fall in WWE's hands. I'm not sure what that character is worth at this point, but I suppose if it doesn't work out with him and WWE, he would have an established name and persona to fall back on instead of having nothing once his no-compete would be done.

It's weird because as of right now he's going by his real name. WWE can't take ownership of that. They can take ownership of that in combination with a specific look and persona and establish that as an intellectual property but they can't stop him from using his real name if he were to go back to the indies... and that defeats the entire point of them not going with the El Generico character(again, unless he refused).

**Robstar** · 03-09-2013, 12:15 AM

So WWE offers these guys the opportunity to be paid a decent amount to do what they love to do on a platform large enough for the biggest exposure possible and they're the villains now? Are WWE wrong to want to own the rights to their characters names? I'm sure they make the offer to buy these guys names from them but it's the wrestler who decides if they want to keep that in reserve for later, knowing full well that there may come a time when they no longer want to be in the WWE anymore and want to use their favoured moniker again. So, the wrestler weighs up whether accepting the opportunity and wrestling under a sometimes ridiculous name is worth it and guess what? They accept the job AND the name and get on with it and leave a small section of fans to quibble over a really unimportant issue. The case of CM Punk is something rare for WWE these days and I would love to know the details of what they worked out there but seriously, they're not going to do that for everybody.

It's really easy to point the finger at WWE for what is really a very standard business practice. It's just a name.

**FLWWEFan** · 03-09-2013, 04:48 AM

Last edited by FLWWEFan; 03-09-2013 at 05:24 AM.

**Steve Austin** · 03-09-2013, 04:59 AM

Mask or no mask, he'll midcard or tag team it at best.

**second_city_sinner** · 03-09-2013, 05:19 AM

Its too early to decide yet IMO, they are still trying to find a gimmick for him which is obvious by them using his real name but changes don't effect the best wrestlers cesaro, bryan, ohno are all still great and if ADR was still under a mask as dos caras he would be back in mexico right now. Im just hoping whatever they do with him at least keep the ole chants going because the fan interaction from that would get him over alone

**second_city_sinner** · 03-09-2013, 05:26 AM

or use the tried and tested method of choking cole with his own tie

**eyehatecena** · 03-09-2013, 08:32 AM

i don't fault wwe for wanting to 'own' things they have invested in such as a character, just like i wouldn't fault a wrestler refusing to sign over something they created(if thats the case here). Just as long as he is used correctly and does not get lost in the crowd or barely used at all- such as what they did with Colt Cabana and Lowki(though he did get a little more exposure before being shitcanned) or even lke they are doing with Joe Henning. And i am sure when called up El Generico will have yet another new WWE name. As for Richie Steamboat, yeah, surprised they haven't renamed him yet, but they probably will when he is called up- unless of course WWE bought the rights to the name as that is not his given name

**merhardt03** · 03-09-2013, 09:13 AM

Its just a name. Someone said it best anyway that he'll be a low-mid card or tag team at best. The main event talent pool is very stacked right now, especially with WM around the corner, but even after, it wont cool down too much. Let the guys talent speak for itself, not the mask.

**TheJosephBanks** · 03-09-2013, 11:09 AM

Originally Posted by Viperfish

You'd think after the success of CM Punk as a guy who came in with an established name and persona and the flop of Tensai as a guy coming in with a fresh character who has a history as someone else, they'd smarten up and let another guy with an established character and an established buzz keep all of that and come in as the guy that they're known for.

There is a difference here, I reckon, at least on the Tensei point.

He was well known in WWE, not the indies, so it's really not the same thing. El Generico likely isn't as well known as Albert is, so changing his gimmick would go over smoother than Albert to Tensei(Though, WWE does allude to him having been in WWE before, and went to Japan and took over, so the gimmick, imo, should work).