| I think that with JBL, WWE tried to pull a reverse, fast-forward version of what they did with Stone Cold Steve Austin. Think about it: Austin was a midcard nobody as the Ringmaster when he first arrived in the then-WWF. He wasn't over, didn't have much to his character, and was pretty forgettable. Then, he slowly evolved into the badass, trash-talking neo-babyface and took off.
JBL, similarly, was a midcard nobody who didn't have much to his character and, like SCSA as the Ringmaster, was pretty unforgettable. Then, he very quickly evolved into a smug, high power update of the Million Dollar Man and was given the WWE Championship. The unfortunate thing for Bradshaw is that he doesn't have nearly the talent that Austin did, and he was given this transformation in a month, not over the course of two years.
He's done everything he can to get over his character, and has done a decent job at it. The difference between a heel and a hell that draws is the ability to follow up solid storyline build-up with an equally solid payoff match, and Bradshaw simply doesn't have that level of in-ring talent. It's the difference between a Ric Flair and a Sycho Sid. Both were good at their characters, one delivered in the ring and was a huge heel draw, the other...well...
But, on the other hand, Smackdown hasn't done a great job with its "top tier" babyfaces since JBL got the belt, so nobody seems like that credible of a contender. I'd like to see RVD get a quick run with the belt before dropping it to someone like Kurt, but I don't book the shows. How sad... |