Kurt Angle Discusses WWE's Practice Of Pulling Wrestlers Down To Build Them Back Up

WWE doesn't exactly have the best reputation for handling star talent coming in after previously being successful in other promotions. While there have been exceptions to the rule, many wrestlers making the leap have struggled to find their footing after the initial honeymoon period. Often they are heralded as major acquisitions and treated with such importance at first, and then that's where things suddenly change. Recently on "The Kurt Angle Show," Angle himself spoke about the trend in how WWE has brought these new Superstars down a peg in order to build them back up in their image. 

"I've seen so many wrestlers come from other companies — WCW, ECW. They come into the WWE. When they get there, they're in the main event. The same position they were in their prior company ... making a lot of money for the company," Angle explained." And then, as he saw specifically in the case of someone like Rob Van Dam, a fall from grace commenced. "Then what WWE does after a while, 6 to 12 months," he continued, "they pull them down to the opening card. And they rebuild those athletes into WWE superstars." Angle mentioned Eddie Guerrero and Chris Jericho as other examples of new additions he witnessed following a similar pattern. 

But does such an approach work? Sometimes, according to Angle, it takes longer for some than for others. "So this with Rob — they brought him in larger than life," Angle added. "...Usually takes like a year or two to build yourself back up, but with Rob it took a little bit longer." After being a headliner in ECW and the longest-reigning ECW World Television Champion, RVD joined WWE in 2001. He became WWE Champion in 2005. 

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "The Kurt Angle Show" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.