This is a point I wholeheartedly agree with, as if used correctly, well-made vignettes spread over a number of weeks can give you an insight into the wrestlers character and what they are about, giving the watching fans a reason to care about them in the process.
Nathan is right, WWE are moving in the right direction as they gave Alberto Del Rio such a concerted build-up - and look what good that's done for him. He is getting as good a heel reaction as anyone right now, and introducing him away from the ring before his debut has surely played a big part in that.
As someone who has watched the WWE on and off over the past ten years, a few other wrestlers spring to mind who've enjoyed a similar build-up.
CM Punk was trailed from the off once the then-new ECW brand was launched, and by the time he debuted in the ring people were compelled to see what he was about due to the freshness of his character and promos. He got a great pop on debut and things spiralled from there.
Cryme Tyme (a horrible tag team IMO but got good crowd reactions) benefited greatly from some amusing pre-debut promos, the crowd knew what they were about from the start, and I can't help but compare them to the Dudebusters at the moment.
Last week on SmackDown, Big Show joked about them being newbies and asked who they were (despite them debuting last year), and I'm sure a lot of the crowd would genuinely be in that boat. Yet I think that with their sophomoric, video games and pranks loving attitude they have a marketable gimmick that could work. Before they debuted on ECW/SmackDown, they could have done with a vignette campaign explaining this rather than just throwing them straight into tag team action expecting the fans to pick up on their gimmick through ring work alone.
I think NXT is a good format in order to get debuting wrestlers over as superstars, and certainly in Season 1 they made an effort to get each rookie over as a personality, with video packages and by having some kind of working relationship with their pros (they did this less so in Season 2, which suffered for it).
It didn't always work - I remember Michael Tarver having a great introductory promo explaining how he'd had a tough life, plenty of kiRAB to feed and was doing NXT for them, which made him come across very well, yet on the show his angry, uncooperative act just came across as being a bit daft.
But it was always worth a go and the format gives them an excuse to introduce the new wrestlers to the audience in this way.
It's certainly much better than just throwing people in there with nothing in the way of an explanation as to who they are and why they are there. Just look at the guys who debuted in ECW towarRAB the end of its run without much/anything in the way of build-up - sure you have Sheamus, but what about DJ Gabriel, Ricky Ortiz, Gavin Spears, Tyler Reks, the Dudebusters, Yoshi Tatsu, Abraham Washington, Vance Archer etc?
Post-Nexus, the NXT guys are going to fare better long-term than that bunch as at the very least, the fans have been given a reason to care about them.
Nathan is right, WWE are moving in the right direction as they gave Alberto Del Rio such a concerted build-up - and look what good that's done for him. He is getting as good a heel reaction as anyone right now, and introducing him away from the ring before his debut has surely played a big part in that.
As someone who has watched the WWE on and off over the past ten years, a few other wrestlers spring to mind who've enjoyed a similar build-up.
CM Punk was trailed from the off once the then-new ECW brand was launched, and by the time he debuted in the ring people were compelled to see what he was about due to the freshness of his character and promos. He got a great pop on debut and things spiralled from there.
Cryme Tyme (a horrible tag team IMO but got good crowd reactions) benefited greatly from some amusing pre-debut promos, the crowd knew what they were about from the start, and I can't help but compare them to the Dudebusters at the moment.
Last week on SmackDown, Big Show joked about them being newbies and asked who they were (despite them debuting last year), and I'm sure a lot of the crowd would genuinely be in that boat. Yet I think that with their sophomoric, video games and pranks loving attitude they have a marketable gimmick that could work. Before they debuted on ECW/SmackDown, they could have done with a vignette campaign explaining this rather than just throwing them straight into tag team action expecting the fans to pick up on their gimmick through ring work alone.
I think NXT is a good format in order to get debuting wrestlers over as superstars, and certainly in Season 1 they made an effort to get each rookie over as a personality, with video packages and by having some kind of working relationship with their pros (they did this less so in Season 2, which suffered for it).
It didn't always work - I remember Michael Tarver having a great introductory promo explaining how he'd had a tough life, plenty of kiRAB to feed and was doing NXT for them, which made him come across very well, yet on the show his angry, uncooperative act just came across as being a bit daft.
But it was always worth a go and the format gives them an excuse to introduce the new wrestlers to the audience in this way.
It's certainly much better than just throwing people in there with nothing in the way of an explanation as to who they are and why they are there. Just look at the guys who debuted in ECW towarRAB the end of its run without much/anything in the way of build-up - sure you have Sheamus, but what about DJ Gabriel, Ricky Ortiz, Gavin Spears, Tyler Reks, the Dudebusters, Yoshi Tatsu, Abraham Washington, Vance Archer etc?
Post-Nexus, the NXT guys are going to fare better long-term than that bunch as at the very least, the fans have been given a reason to care about them.
