Whats your opinion and thoughts on Justin Gabriel?

[Guest PWB]

I like the guy, he's got the ability and the look, a bit on the smaller side but hey, these days it doesn't matter as long as you have everyting else. Obviously with time working on his promo's and high pressure matches, he will have a more established status in the WWE, he just needs a push!

Is it just me, or does he remind you of Rob Van Dam? The way he moves around the ring, sets up his moves, the selling, etc.. I wonder if Rob Van Dam is one of his favorite wrestlers?

 

Thoughts?

[Guest Jimmy Redman]

I dont get the RVD comparison, physically he's nothing like RVD and doesnt noticeably do anything similar to the way he does.

 

But anyway, I do like him a lot. He's a picture perfect piece of small, good looking, babyface flipping. He could really be something in that role for years to come. He's not really big enough or a good enough talker to make it to the top, but he doesnt have to. Definitely needs a push on SD.

 

Also, considering he somehow spent the first 12 months of his career as a heel, he actually turned into a hell of a little heel worker too, so he has that going for him.

[Guest Jamster26]

One of the shining lights of WWE.

[Guest BratSan]

Gabriel has real potential as an intercontinental champion or US champion at most. Although I would very much like it, but I don't see him challenging for WWE championship any time soon or stepping up to the next level either. He will be the best hi-flying baby face after Kofi if pushed properly on SD. But that's all to it. He will be stuck there for the eternity, which is a shame.

[DC 536]

Also, considering he somehow spent the first 12 months of his career as a heel, he actually turned into a hell of a little heel worker too, so he has that going for him.

It was that little pause and sideways smirk before hitting the 450 that did it for me in regards to Gabriel being convincing as a heel.

 

That and the fact he was usually given the task of being the one who took out Nexus victims.

[Guest Jimmy Redman]

I liked the early ones he did where you could sort of tell he was sh*t scared, but he ended up doing them with this really blank stare on his face, just no emotion like a killer, that was great too.

[Guest Jayfunk]

I would put him on the release list, I wouldn't be surprise to see his name appear within a year. IMHO is to meh nothing really special

[Omega 354]

There's a kind of a group of guys around his size like Cody Rhodes, Heath Slater et al who would make a seriously amazing undercard to the guys in the world title picture and I think Gabriel is one of them. For me he's the right side of flippy-ness and has a great look. With the acccent he's destined never to win a world title but as has been said he'd be a credible US/Intercontinental champ.

[Guest Jimmy Redman]

Its not the accent thats the problem, more that he's a pretty bad talker.

[Omega 354]

Oh that too but people can learn to be better on the mic (not great maybe but certainly better). I just can't ever see the WWE pushing a guy with a really foreign accent as a champ unless they are playing the evil foreigner gimmick and unless they somehow resurrect some kind of apartheid gimmick for him there isn't really any huge feeling for South Africa in the states to do that.

 

In fact (Including Mexican and Canadians as really being "American" for a given closeness geographically) there hasn't ever been a WWE/F champ with a strong foreign accent who wasn't a heel and even then those were Yokozuna who never spoke, Andre who had a manager speak for him a lot of the time and Sheamus who is Irish and really the American-Irish community is large enough to make that a lot less foreign.

[Guest Jimmy Redman]

There isnt an example of a non-North American babyface with an accent who has been WWE Champion, but thats a pretty specific category and "WWE Champions" is a pretty small group. That doesnt automatically mean there couldnt be one.

 

I think that is more of a case of "well how many non-North American babyfaces with an accent have been in the company to begin with?"

 

And yeah, with the caveat that he hasnt won a world title as a babyface (yet), Sheamus is a pretty good counter to your argument straight up.

 

Its just that, to Americans, I dont think a South African accent is as xenophobia-inducing as other kinds of accents - others like Japanese or Indian or French seem to contain way more 'evil foreign enemy' connotations for American crowds. It would to you in the UK, and to me here in Australia, we're far more linked as countries and retain sporting rivalries, but I dont think Americans care about South Africa nearly as much, not in that way.

 

So I think that if, hypothetically, Gabes had all the other tools to be a world champ, I dont think the accent would be enough of a stumbling block on its own to prevent it.

 

But its all pretty moot really, because, well, he doesnt.

[Omega 354]

Well on it's own possibly not but you could say that about most things. Benoit was rubbish on the microphone but was still a world champ.

 

The point I'm making is that, whilst you're correct that percentage wise funnily enough in an American company the majority of the roster is American\Canadian\Mexican, that there simply hasn't been opportunities for talent that spoke with thick accents. I mean, I'm not saying it would never happen but really the evidence is there that "foreign" pretty much keeps you in the undercard. Plus you'd have thought that the "foreign" guys who actually have been hired generally must be a cut above the local talent otherwise what would the point be?

 

As for Sheamus, well like I said Irish-American is a pretty well noted demographic. He's not overtly foreign in the kind of way that Regal or Davey-boy weren't (unless Regal was playing up the snobby brit act as a heel).

 

As you say Gabriel isn't going to be world title material anyway but I think to discount that the fact he speaks with a very noticeable South African accent which can't be used to turn him into wrestling archetypal "evil foreigner" is a stumbling block would be a little naive.

[Guest Jimmy Redman]

I just think, if anything, its way down on the list of reasons why he isnt main event material. His size and lack of overt charisma and especially speaking skills are way more crucial than just the fact that he has an accent. Its not a belligerent or comedic accent particularly, its just...an accent. And I agree that its not necessarily a good thing, but I dont agree that its necessarily a bad thing either. Its only in conjunction with everything else that it matters, I think.

[Omega 354]

yeah, of course. I'm certainly not saying that simply because of his accent it's a "never going to happen" thing but I think still it's a point worth noting that heavy accents do you no favours in being a top champ in a US based company.