The Mad Scientist: Ranting about Bo Dallas

Contrary to the opinion of my fellow number 2 contender, The Teacher, I don’t like Bo Dallas.

I don’t like Bo Dallas, and not in the way that I’m supposed to not like Bo Dallas.

I get it, I get the gimmick; Bo Dallas is the antithesis of what wrestling fans like. The attention to detail is there, from the smarmy look, the too-toothy grin, the constant state of wet – everything on this guy is hosed down before he heads to the ring, from hair to shirt. Someone probably should have told Bo that being constantly wet was the Shield’s gimmick, but with that group disbanded I guess the theft is acceptable.

Class is in Session: A Tale of Two Rookies, Adam Rose and Bo Dallas

We begin our class today with a variation of one of the great opening lines in the history of literature.

“He had the best of gimmicks, he had the worst of gimmicks.”

In the first half of 2014 in the WWE, two young new superstars named Adam Rose and Bo Dallas emerged, looking to continue the success they had experienced in NXT.  Each one had something unique to offer the wrestling world that seemed to capture fan attention, both positively and negatively.  It seemed, as recently as two months ago, that these rookies were going to be fixtures on RAW and Smackdown for years to come.

Now, however, it seems that their two career paths are heading in opposite directions.  Adam Rose has, almost overnight, become a joke, fighting with Damien Sandow over ownership of a Sonic hot dog.  Bo Dallas, on the other hand, is riding high into Battleground, where he stands as a potential favorite to win the vacant Intercontinental title.

How did this happen?  How can one man’s star rise so quickly while another plummets equally as fast?

It is in answering this question that we find today’s lesson.