One of the hottest topics among online fans is the push given to The Revival. Do they deserve more? Does their NXT run not mean anything? Rob Bonnette weighs in.

One of the big complaints I’ve seen this year about WWE booking is in regards to the Revival.  Not a week goes by that someone isn’t mad on the internet about what’s being done with them, and now it’s to the point where people are openly hoping they just walk so they can stop getting ‘buried’.

Now I agree that they don’t have a place on the pecking order that lines up with their in ring ability,  but I’m not as gloom and doom about it all.  I’m not part of the ‘just put belt on them you cowards!’ school of thought when it comes to anybody; you have to show me why someone should be champion right now instead of whoever is holding the title at the time.  So why exactly do you think the Revival deserve a big push, big matches, and a tag team title?  Here’s what you always hear:

• They’re great wrestlers and a great tag team
• They had a great run in NXT

And to that I say…….

So what?

Seriously, so what?  I gotta say this once again; what you did in NXT does not matter once you hit the main roster.  Why?  Because most of the people watching you on RAW or Smackdown don’t watch NXT and don’t know who you are.  So if you don’t have something about you that can hook them in on first sight then you have your work cut out for you.

And the Revival do not have that thing.   They don’t look impressive in any kind of way – they’re not big guys, don’t have a distinctive look, and they’re acceptable on the mic but don’t blow you away with promos.  The not-so-dirty not-quite-secret is that workrate alone doesn’t do a damn thing for you as far as getting over; you can have all the skills in the world but people aren’t into you first then they will snore their way through your great technical exhibitions when they’re not busy on their phones.  And to that end, if you don’t get them out of the box then you have to go through a process.

“OK fine, then they should be booked strong and then they’ll get over.”

Again I ask why, and you go back to those same two things you said before – they’re great in the ring and they had a great in NXT.  And again I say, not enough.  Because anywhere from 75 to 90 percent of their new audience doesn’t care about them yet.  Wins that don’t matter can be worse than losses in that they aren’t anything to celebrate if no one loves you yet, and they aren’t anything to get riled up about if no one hates you either.

To build towards either of those takes time and repetition so that people get familiar with who you are, what you do, and can develop a relationship with you where you are now.  With a few exceptions those relationships just don’t happen they have to be earned.  This is not NXT where people are wired to love you from jump or because you’re a great worker.

This is where Ted DiBiase came on board as a top five in ring worker and became an all time big star off of nothing having to do with ring work.  You can’t expect to get handed big matches and title reigns because you’re good in the ring and you had good matches somewhere else.

That doesn’t mean that they’ve been booked perfectly since they got called up, or that they’ve been booked well throughout.  They were injured most of 2017 and killed their momentum immediately.  Since coming back they’ve been losing a good bit, other than when they back to back wins in tag team matches against Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley a few months ago on RAW.

So things don’t look to good for them at a surface level.  But go beyond that and you can see that they’re on TV every week, a lot of their losses were in title matches, and they’re in an actual angle right now that is revolving around them getting screwed by the rules every week.

And to their credit they are giving it a legit effort as far as playing along.  I know that losing a bunch of five minute matches on RAW to the Lucha House Party looks like rock bottom, but the point of it all is to put them through some kind of struggle so they find some way out of it that will get them over.  Maybe it’s adding a third member, maybe it’s getting a manager.

I know if you are a fan of the Revival that this is eternally frustrating and makes want to just give up on them.  You may curse Vince every day, and maybe you want them to jump ship when they get the chance and take their talents to New Japan or Ring of Honor or Impact so that they will be ‘used properly’.

But be careful what you wish for; there’s no guarantee that any of those companies will push them as far as you want, either.  And let’s be real, as much as you may rip WWE now you’d much rather them be Raw or Smackdown tag team champions than NJPW Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champs or ROH Tag Team Champs.

But that’s not going to happen just because they’re good.  It will only happen when people who didn’t watch them in NXT give a damn about them.  And that’s going to take time and long term booking that makes them interesting characters, not just great wrestlers.  And while there are no guarantees, there is an example of that very thing.

Demolition spent most of their first year jobbing at house shows; they went on to become an all time great WWF tag team and multiple time champion.  The initial reaction to them was that they were a couple of Road Warrior knockoffs (which was true) and nobody had anything for them.  But they stuck around, put other teams over for a while, and then once people got accustomed to them and they became a mainstay things turned around.

The Hart Foundation didn’t win a title for at almost two years after debuting.  Neither did the British Bulldogs.  The Rockers never officially won one at all.  I know I’m reaching back a ways here with these comparisons but those are teams that people remember, which is what I’m trying to compare them to because you guys talk them up like they have that kind of talent.  Like I said at the beginning they don’t have that ‘it’ factor that gets people hooked, so they have to go through the doldrums first.

Earlier this year I did a few pieces about the need to go slow with NXT call ups (here and here), and get the audience accustomed to them before giving them a big push.  I am sticking with that even in situations like this where the outlook is pretty bleak at the moment.  If you’re an NXT fan you are just going to have to accept that some of the guys and gals you’ve come to love are not going to impress the main roster audience on day one and are not going to get a big push from jump.

Everyone is not the Shield or Kevin Owens or The Four Horsewomen.  Some of these people are going to have to work to get over and be booked in a way that eventually gets people to invest over time.  The Revival lost time due to injury early on, and they don’t excite people on sight.

That doesn’t mean they can’t eventually become an accomplished team but it’s going to be a struggle and quite frankly that should have been obvious.  I’m no savant and even I figured they’d have issues because they come off like just a couple of guys, and that does matter.

So don’t give up yet.  It’s not over for them as of now.  Yes, things may never come to fruition like you may hoped it would for them and I’m not saying that every booking choice for them has been a good one.  I for one don’t think they’re ever going to be a big enough hit with the dreaded casual fan to get a major run with either title.  But that doesn’t mean they can eventually have some matches worthy of their talents and a few title wins to boot.  It’s all about managed expectations, and at the same time realizing that what goes into making a star isn’t all that you’ve been told.

There are people who didn’t look like much of anything in NXT who have gone on to become a big deal on the main roster – Elias, Alexa Bliss, Carmella – and others who didn’t get any kind of epic run and are much more now than they ever were there – Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, Becky Lynch, Rusev.  The Revival aren’t any of them and you have to be realistic about that.  But if you’re willing to give it time and keep investing in them yourself until some more people get on board, there can be better days ahead.

Let us know what you think on social media @theCHAIRSHOTcom and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!