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WRESTLING COLUMNS
Sean O'Haire (or Sean Oh'where")
February 9, 2004 by Botmaster4lyfe
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I don't know why, but when WCW was bought out by WWE (back then, WWF), I had
high hopes for somebody who I had only seen once in the ring: Sean O'Haire. I
had seen one match, and was instantly a fan. He was a big man, but could move
like a cruiserweight (like the Seanton Bomb) (Gotta love the name of that move).
He also had a martial arts background, so if he needed to brawl or take the
match to the mat, he could.
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After the horrible InVasion storyline was finally done, O'Haire was in OVW. I
began to forget about him. Then, when he appeared on Sunday Night Heat by just
wrestling random matches, I remembered why I liked him. After that, Sean
dissapeared again.
Then, the promos started.
Hype promos for O'Haire began. He had a Character: He was Devil's Advocate,
convincing people to do what their heart truly wants them to do. He was dark,
mysterious, and damn sure cool. But then.....the promos stopped. They just
stopped.
O'Haire finally debuted on Smackdown in Chicago (which I had third row seats
to), by alligning with Roddy Piper. And I must say, I LOVED IT. Over the next
few weeks, WWE began to give him his rightful push. With Roddy Piper at his
side, O'Haire got wins over guys like Guerrero, Benoit, and even Hogan!
But then, Piper left WWE. And O'Haire dissapeared again. He began to frequent
Velocity, usually fighting random workers. Then, he started squashing jobbers.
Now, even that's rare. His character had been destroyed.
It is for this reason that I am pissed off with WWE. I thought that WWE had
intended to give O'Haire a legitimate push, maybe a run as the United States
Champion. But that idea was shot down when Piper left, and O'Haire dissapeared.
For some reason, WWE thought that O'Haire wouldn't be able to keep a crowd
captivated without Piper, even though O'Haire had done so repeatedly when he was
still doing his Devil's Advocate Character.
I'm angry that WWE would let a charismatic, over, and talented worker like
O'Haire go to waste while people like Rikishi and Chuck Palumbo get weekly spots
on TV.
Shame on you, WWE. Shame on you.
But hell, I'm not telling you anything that you don't already know......
(Had to say that)
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Those who hath been to the top of the mountain of life will Fall From Grace.
Those who shall oppose Metamorphasis shalt feel thy Last Rites. Those who
embrace the Winds of Change shall ride on Angel's Wings. The time of
Christopher Daniels hath arrived. And THAT is the Gospel according to the
Fallen Angel.
by Botmaster4lyfe..
Andrew Renaldo wrote:
I recently read your column about Sean O'Haire and I've got to tell you that I couldn't agree with you more. Vince McMahon and the other talent management of the WWE take good, solid in ring workers like O'Haire and stuff them in dark matches and Velocity, while giving no talents like Matt Morgan, Chuck Palumbo, Rikishi, & Nathan Jones ample TV time solely because they are big men. O'Haire has the capacity to be a great draw for WWE crowds, but his talent is underused. I totally agree.
RJ Ciocco wrote:
Finally!!!!!!! Someone says what i have meant to say.
Sean O'Haire would have made a great competator for the US title i mean look at your current champ Slow and then look at him. People like Nathan Jones, Matt Morgan, Rikishi, and a shitty version of the WWE approved FBI. I mean come on if Sean O'Haire was holding the US title now it would be more interesting to see John Cena versus Sean O'Hiare, not the BIG SLOW.
In closing i think Sean and those that were in WCW or ECW for the most part much like Sean got screwed big time for the orginal WWE losers.
Scott from Sligo, Ireland wrote:
I just finished reading your column which you wrote about the evident mis-use of Sean o'Haire as a character and wrestler in the "WWE".
Let's Face up to it. The sole reason, In my opinion that the O'Haire angle didn't come off. The reason that the O'Haire devil's Advocate gimmick was rubished the reason that he didn't become a big star within' the WWE is simply because he was debuted on the wrong show. Smackdown or Raw. Anyone in their right mind would scrap UPN in order to watch SPIKE. WWE is so blatantly pushing Raw out there to the ends in the knowledge that on a Thursday with No Thunder to steal the ratings, Smackdown will be a ratings winner undoubtedly. What Raw offers is the same cutting edge type storylines with your HHH's your Rock's Stone Cold's Kane's all the top stars you've come to know and love from the era that made the WWF and made it the greatest show on earth hence it's winning of the ratings war. Smackdown has plainly been a hole for youth development within' WWE, the likes of Cena, Orlando Jordan etc.. all being brought through with no real intent behind any superstar besides Cena's who's in-ring quality and drive not to mention the all important "hip" gimmick has made him a captivating superstar to watch.
If Sean O'Haire's devil's advocate gimmick was to be displayed on Raw initially, Kane's gimmick without the mask could have worked better.. and would have produced a better way than havin meaningless matches with the Hurricane to keep Kane way down the roster , instead they might have been able to harbour the misguided soul under the guise of of O'Haire's misleading father type figure to the emotionally shallow monster. Perhaps, leading to one of the greatest wrestling matches of two men with contrasting styles but both standing tall and a truly captivating match it would of been no doubt.
But again, that's just me. If Sean O'Haire I beleive was to be debuted on Raw, his career could have taken off. But, again another lax decision from The powers that be to have Smackdown the new haven for talent and raw the rusted , chizzled heat driven and babyface clad show led to the demise of "The Devil's Advocate gimmick that in the time of George W.Bush's reign as President.. was really a goldmine for WWE" perhaps it was the huge nationalist centiment that curbed this gimmick. Hell God only knows. One other thing that I know , you know and everyone else knows is that Sean O'Haire is the most gifted entertainer all round who came from wCw's pathetic powerplant, WWE yet again screwed up. He was in actual fact just another hinge scew-up stemming from the botched Invasion Angle.
Phoenix8887 wrote:
I completley agree with what you are saying. I was discussing with my dad last night about how Vince is a genius but an idiot. In the 80's he would pump wrestlers with steroids and make them "larger than life", whereas in the NWA, you had people like Ric Flair, and Ricky Steamboat, and Ronnie Garvin and Rick Rude, to name a few, that were great world champions in their own right, they had what it took to be great champions, they got to "the Big Time" (WWE) and they don't even give them a good enough chance because the WWE wouldn't know what to do with real talent. While jokes like Hogan and Macho Man were holding the titles and showing of their freakish muscles, the NWA champs I have mentioned were working twice as hard as Hogan and Macho Man. People in the NWA whether they were champions or not, still had enough talent to put asses in the seats, because NWA knew what to do with their wrestlers. With WWE, a key example of not using talent wisley would be Pedro Moralez, he held the WWF(E) title once and after he lost it, he was just another waste of talent that the McMahons didn't know what to do with. I do think the only good thing Vince has done in the past 2 years was give the title to deserving men such as Jericho and Guerrero, instead of the same old people like HHH, HBK, Lesnar, Goldberg, and Angle. All of these men are great champions, but underdogs who have been in the business longer than they have, such as Benoit, Guerrero, and Jericho, deserve the opportunities that the others have. I can only hope that Vince will do the right thing and give Benoit and Guerrero the title and a chance to show that they are just as good as the champions before them, but I also hope that they don't fall into obscurity like Pedro Moralez.
Botmaster (original author) wrote:
I'm glad to see that everyone agrees with my column. It's nice to know that there are other O'Haire Advocates (couldn't resist) out there.
Jo xxxxxxx wrote:
I just read your Sean O'Haire (of Sean Oh'where") February 9, 2004 article and I don't know how you did it but you got fans maybe not of Sean but guys who see wrestling for what it is and aren't brain washed by it, to reply with their thoughts about the misuse of Sean, his character and athleticism.
As I have stressed in wrestling groups and on my own site [CHEAP PLUG: http://www.seanton-bombsite.com] Seanton Bombsite, Sean like all WCW guys acquired in the take over of WCW are all being discriminated against. I hold my hands up and admit to not watching WWE all that much so correct me if I'm wrong but there is not one WCW star that came with the Invasion so ignore Eddie and Benoits recent turn of luck because they came before. But anyone brought over in the Invasion has not been given a shot on WWE. They've been given the most ridiculous and lameass storylines that you could possibly imagine. And this I feel is the reason that Sean isn't holding the heavyweight championship. Because Vince can't handle the fact that WCW found a brilliant talent like Sean before he did.
And although I agree with most of your article the part about you loving Piper and Sean being together kind of turned my stomach. Because that was the biggest screw job EVER, yes even bigger than the Bret Hart one, Vince knew exactly what he was doing and in my eyes was killing two birds with one stone. He was giving Gowen the shot he wanted with his favourite wrestler at his side Hulk Hogan and was making out he was giving Sean his overdue and much deserved push with aligning him with Piper and putting him in the biggest storyline of that time. When what he was really doing was tricking us into believing Sean was getting his push and actually all along he knew that Piper wouldn't be accepted by fans or by the guys backstage or that Piper wouldn't stay for the long haul because and I stand by this for anyone who wants to disagree with me Piper is the most unreliable man in sports entertainment. He'll do anything to sell himself but if he has competition that of Hulk Hogan and maybe he felt of Sean O'Haire he would do what he could to make sure he screwed them.
Vince was looking for a way to stop the critics bashing him over wasting Seans talent so he figures put him with a top name and give him a fake push and make out that Sean sank after Pipers departure, this gets Vince off the hook with the critics, Piper out of WWE and Sean back to where he belongs with the other worthless WCW talent.
And obviously since this article was written Sean O'Haire has been fired because apparently they couldn't find a suitable storyline for him. Hello! What about the one that had everybody talking about it" What about the one clever and interesting character produced by WWE in years" What about the Devil's Advocate character" Are WWE that blind to good talent and character that they couldn't see the hype over those promos"
WWE is not worth watching anymore especially when they're disposing of good talent like Sean and not using the very little good talent they have left on the roster
Drewz wrote:
While I agree that, Sean was not given the proper chance, and I agree that he had high hopes, I don't agree that with the fact that you people think you know it all and could do anything and everything better than WWE! So WWE dropped the ball on Sean O'Haire and it sux! that doesn't make it unwatchable or even bad!
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