2. Back Where He Left Off
When Eddie Guerrero tragically died in 2005, his nephew Chavo Guerrero Jr. was doing a golfer gimmick as Kerwin White. That character was quickly abandoned as Chavo reclaimed his family name and performed as himself again. Some might think it was pandering, but a large segment of the fans werent going to buy Chavo as Kerwin given Eddies real-life passing. WWE had a similar situation recently when Dusty Rhodes passed away. His younger wrestling son, Cody Rhodes, has been performing as Stardust for the past year. After spending several weeks off television, Rhodes returned Monday as Stardust. In fact, he delivered a promo about how all the heroes will fall, an allusion to a crossover feud that was brewing before Dustys passing against Stephen Amell, star of TVs Arrow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge1Iy5veGSQ If this is indeed the case, it means that WWE is basically staying the course with Rhodes, having him retain the Stardust character and resume building to a SummerSlam match against Amell. WWE had a chance to allow fans to really get behind Cody, maybe really reinvent him as a serious performer rather than comic relief. When Stardust came out to face Neville Monday, fans cheered to welcome him back, but his heel act led largely to silence, which is a shame. It feels like a huge missed opportunity, all in the name of preserving a SummerSlam celebrity match.
Scott Carlson
Contributor
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
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