10 Things Only '90s Wrestling Fans Will Understand
7. The Insanity That Is The Modern WWE Career
Mabel left the WWF in 1996, and subsequently toured its unofficial farm leagues, because he didn't get over as originally envisaged. Beyond the curio that was his one-night return, he didn't stick around in the 'King' guise for over a decade as wave upon wave of new talent proved themselves more worthy of the spotlight.
He instead embodied certain à la mode stylistic tropes in his personas, like Viscera in the goth-tastic 1999, and the horny on main Big Daddy V in the sexed-up Ruthless Aggression. He wasn't King Mabel for 12 years.
That would have been insane.
Enter Dolph Ziggler, who has spent 12 years in the WWE main roster system as Dolph Ziggler, and beyond the odd turn here and there, has flirted with character development once, for three weeks or so, by dying his hair brown and cutting it short.
This isn't normal. This isn't good.
Ziggler is emblematic of the broken system and the rank laziness that has festered within WWE's monopoly. In the '90s, wrestlers were churned through a repackage generator at the slightest hint of growing stale. It was often hilarious, and ill thought-out, but damn it, even if it was as harebrained as f*ck, it was necessary not to punish the audience with repetitive tedium.
Without being too hyperbolic, Dolph Ziggler's WWE career should be illegal.
It's not just Ziggler. Randy Orton has spent much longer as Randy Orton, and if you think Legend Killer/IED Orton/Face of the Company are different enough to suffice, you'd lose your f*cking mind at the difference between Stunning and Stone Cold Steve.
Drew McIntyre's last two pay-per-view opponents have spent a combined 30 years playing more or less the same character.
That's equivalent to Steve Austin working the Iron Sheik and Don Muraco in 1998.