by Brian Phelps (http://wrestlersway.blogspot.com)
A year ago, I said that Fortune was a much better faction than Nexus. Everyone laughed at me as I stated in my last blog post. Back then, the Nexus was a dominant group of rookies taking the WWE by force. Meanwhile, Fortune was comprised of AJ Styles, Kaz, and Beer Money. AJ Styles was #1 in the last PWI 500, and had just come off a 7 month World Title reign as well as a TV Title run. Beer Money are TNA's premier tag team, and the current tag champions. Beer Money also had that amazing best of 5 series of matches against the Motor City Machine Guns. Kaz just came off a X-Division title run. They are the 4 guys who have been with TNA from the beginning and built the company from the ground up before all the "superstars" arrived. Then to make them that much greater, they were led by the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair who founded the group to be the new 4 Horsemen incarnation. Yet somehow, everyone said I was crazy for thinking they were the better faction, but back then it was different. I saw the silver lining. The elephant in the room that no one wanted to see... and that is that WWE can't do factions as I stated in the last blog. Now, Fortune is still going strong while what's left of the Nexus has fizzled down to irrelevancy. AJ Styles is embroiled in a strong feud with top heel Bully Ray and Tommy Dreamer. Beer Money is still the tag team champions, and Robert Roode is about to get the push of his life. They are grooming him to become a huge singles star. Kaz is the leader and face of the X-Division. Now, let's examine the Nexus... or what's left of it. The New Nexus is now nothing more than CM Punk and a few mindless guys with no personality. I mean... when is the last time a New Nexus member (besides CM Punk) even cut a promo?? The New Nexus stopped being interesting the moment CM Punk took over because they just became essentially a rehash of the Straight Edge Society with CM Punk preaching for Otunga, Mason Ryan, and McGillicutty to have "faith"... "believe in him"... and throwing up their fists to CM Punk in the same cult-like fashion as SES. The only difference is they don't have their heads shaved lol. None of the Nexus guys have even been in a real story line or feud (other than Punk). They're boring now and have completely lost their identity. To say they are better than Fortune is a bad joke. The Nexus went from new and different to just some generic mindless heels. The only thing the Nexus has ever accomplished is a couple of meaningless tag title reigns that did nothing to build them further or add anything to their characters. Not to mention, the kicked out and changed members a hundred times. Fortune destroys Nexus on star power alone. Fortune actually has personality (you see them in the back dressing up, or drinking together or getting girls together. They actually come off like friends. They don't come off so scripted and rehearsed with the same cookie cutter bad guy persona that WWE tends to use with all their factions.) Not to mention, even Fortunes theme song embodies who they are and has personality. It's not just another main stream WWE rock song. Fortunes song is specifically written about Fortune. I love CM Punk to death, but since he took over the New Nexus are just some mindless drones and that's WWE creatives fault. Just like Rhodes and Dibiase were in Legacy. Just like Slater and Gabriel in The Corre. WWE uses the same formula for all their factions. The same cookie cutter lackey bad guy persona. You know what I'm talking about... the whole leader does all the talking, and all the other members in the group do is just mindlessly run in during the leaders matches and lack any shred or morsel of personality. Fortune is a really well done faction. If you watch both WWE and TNA, or watched the attitude era or NWA in the late '80s... then you already know and understand why and how Fortune is the better faction. It's sad too, because Nexus started out so promising.
A year ago, I said that Fortune was a much better faction than Nexus. Everyone laughed at me as I stated in my last blog post. Back then, the Nexus was a dominant group of rookies taking the WWE by force. Meanwhile, Fortune was comprised of AJ Styles, Kaz, and Beer Money. AJ Styles was #1 in the last PWI 500, and had just come off a 7 month World Title reign as well as a TV Title run. Beer Money are TNA's premier tag team, and the current tag champions. Beer Money also had that amazing best of 5 series of matches against the Motor City Machine Guns. Kaz just came off a X-Division title run. They are the 4 guys who have been with TNA from the beginning and built the company from the ground up before all the "superstars" arrived. Then to make them that much greater, they were led by the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair who founded the group to be the new 4 Horsemen incarnation. Yet somehow, everyone said I was crazy for thinking they were the better faction, but back then it was different. I saw the silver lining. The elephant in the room that no one wanted to see... and that is that WWE can't do factions as I stated in the last blog. Now, Fortune is still going strong while what's left of the Nexus has fizzled down to irrelevancy. AJ Styles is embroiled in a strong feud with top heel Bully Ray and Tommy Dreamer. Beer Money is still the tag team champions, and Robert Roode is about to get the push of his life. They are grooming him to become a huge singles star. Kaz is the leader and face of the X-Division. Now, let's examine the Nexus... or what's left of it. The New Nexus is now nothing more than CM Punk and a few mindless guys with no personality. I mean... when is the last time a New Nexus member (besides CM Punk) even cut a promo?? The New Nexus stopped being interesting the moment CM Punk took over because they just became essentially a rehash of the Straight Edge Society with CM Punk preaching for Otunga, Mason Ryan, and McGillicutty to have "faith"... "believe in him"... and throwing up their fists to CM Punk in the same cult-like fashion as SES. The only difference is they don't have their heads shaved lol. None of the Nexus guys have even been in a real story line or feud (other than Punk). They're boring now and have completely lost their identity. To say they are better than Fortune is a bad joke. The Nexus went from new and different to just some generic mindless heels. The only thing the Nexus has ever accomplished is a couple of meaningless tag title reigns that did nothing to build them further or add anything to their characters. Not to mention, the kicked out and changed members a hundred times. Fortune destroys Nexus on star power alone. Fortune actually has personality (you see them in the back dressing up, or drinking together or getting girls together. They actually come off like friends. They don't come off so scripted and rehearsed with the same cookie cutter bad guy persona that WWE tends to use with all their factions.) Not to mention, even Fortunes theme song embodies who they are and has personality. It's not just another main stream WWE rock song. Fortunes song is specifically written about Fortune. I love CM Punk to death, but since he took over the New Nexus are just some mindless drones and that's WWE creatives fault. Just like Rhodes and Dibiase were in Legacy. Just like Slater and Gabriel in The Corre. WWE uses the same formula for all their factions. The same cookie cutter lackey bad guy persona. You know what I'm talking about... the whole leader does all the talking, and all the other members in the group do is just mindlessly run in during the leaders matches and lack any shred or morsel of personality. Fortune is a really well done faction. If you watch both WWE and TNA, or watched the attitude era or NWA in the late '80s... then you already know and understand why and how Fortune is the better faction. It's sad too, because Nexus started out so promising.
It wont be long now before fortune falls apart as all others have. yeah they all have backstage promos and all and seem like friends, but they did that with Flair too and now suddenly he goes from father figure to most hated enemy. you need to remember Brian, who is the story writer for TNA? yes thats right... its Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff. The same Russo and same Bischoff that ran WCW into the ground. The same Russo and same Bischoff who will one day soon run TNA or impact wrestling into the ground. I cant believe how dumb Dixie Carter and Jeff Jarrett were to let them be in charge of things. They saw what happened in WCW and its happening in TNA... Vince Russo is a Virus that will rot TNA out of existance if they dont do something soon. Even Paul Heyman would be better than these clowns. Sting was right on imapct last week when he said that Bischoff was a virus and that Hulk Hogan lets him ride his coat tails. Hogan could put an end to all of this but wont. I wonder what Bischoff has on him...
ReplyDeleteLets see, where to begin, for starters CM Punk is one of the best in the business today, just making sure we're clear on that point.
ReplyDeleteTo address the anon comment, he's right about Russo rotting TNA but thats an argument for a later date.
Fortune is nothing more then a rip off of the Horsemen, and a very poor one at that. I love how you try to make Flair being at the helm sound like thats a good thing. Is Nexus better than Fortune, in both groups primes, yes. But the thing is Roode is about to get his own singles deal, and he will probably have a falling out with his tag partner. I've really argued this point way to much in real life to go on, but you get the gist of what i'm saying.
Malenko, Benoit, Mongo, and Flair VS AJ Styles, Beer Money, and Kaz.
Its pretty obvious which is the better team.
Now... to dethrone your arguments.
ReplyDelete1) I never disputed CM Punk's ability. I agree that he is one of the best in the business. Take him out of the equation and the Nexus is nothing but a few mindless lackeys with no personality.
2) Your arguments about Vince Russo are mute because it has nothing to do with Fortune or Nexus. We're arguing factions, not creative writers. Even if we were, Russo has been with TNA 7 out of the 9 years of existence he is obviously doing something right because they went from 0.4 ratings on Fox Sports Net to averaging a 1.2 rating on Spike.
3) You obviously don't know anything about TNA or Fortune, otherwise you would know that Fortune is not a rip off of the 4 Horsemen. Fortune ARE THE HORSEMEN.
In the very first Fortune Promo, when Flair introduced the faction... he said "I'm reforming the 4 Horsemen, but we're going by a new name. Fortune".
Fortune are the Horsemen. Then Flair continued the promo by comparing each member of Fortune to a specific Horsemen predecessor... pointing at Storm and telling him "Barry Windham would throw you into the crowd."
3) Flair founding Fortune and being at the helm is a good thing. Flair will forever be one of the greatest mic workers of all-time. As manager of Fortune, he was used in the perfect way. He showed Fortune what it means to be Horsemen... without wrestling.
4)Saying Nexus is better than Fortune in both groups primes is ridiculous, because FORTUNE IS STILL IN ITS PRIME. Nexus is an AFTERTHOUGHT. Nexus is a shell of its former self.
5) Saying that Malenko, Benoit, Mongo and Flair are better than AJ Styles, Beer Money, and Kaz is not a fair argument. It's easy to say that 97 Horsemen are better now that Benoit went on to become a legend. Back in 97, Benoit hadn't even held any belts. Malenko was only a cruiserweight champion... and don't make me laugh about MONGO. Mongo couldn't wrestle his way out of a paper bag. Mongo was a horrible wrestler in every sense of the word. So, back then Benoit hadn't done anything yet... Malenko was a cruiserweight champion, and Mongo couldn't even wrestle... Flair was the only big name at the time back in 97. Fortunes members (outside of Flair) have done more, won more belts, at this point in their careers than Benoit, Malenko, and Mongo had won at the same point in time as the 1997 Horsemen.
1) you're damn right you arent!
ReplyDelete2) When you argue factions you have to argue creative as well. they are ultimately in control of what happens with a faction. IE the bad job of working with Nexus.
3) You're right, I don't know anything about TNA, but if Fortune is the new "Horsemen" it just a joke of a group to begin with. You can't change what the original Horsemen did. Not to mention lets have some fresh ideas.
(again?) 3) Flair sucks, lol.
4) Fortune is not in its prime anymore, they are barley ever even talked about as a group at this point. Roode is doing his own thing, as well as styles and Kaz, its barley mentioned anymore.
5) You blow my mind on that one friend. Malenko and Benoit are two of the best technical wrestlers in the business, and very few can argue that. Its not about BELTS and what had happened in their careers, its about their talent. And Malenko and Benoit had way more talent than the current "Horsemen". Mongo I just had to mention because he was a part of the group, even without him they still kicked more ass than Fortune. You get it twisted, with your view that titles make the man.
All factions fall apart... Fortune will too very soon... As will TNA. Vince McMahon will buy TNA and fold it like he did WCW. Nobody can compete with the WWE an with Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff running the show... TNA is bound for the same fate as WCW. McMahon realized that and fired them both before they could ruin his precious WWE. It sucks to say but soon most of the great talent of the TNA roster will be jobless. AJ Styles may survive... But Sting will be done once again and all the talent they have will go bye bye. It's sad by true...
ReplyDelete