For the past few years, I've been a proponent to push Big E as a top wrestler in the WWE. If you dig into my archives at my previous website, you'll see that I was constantly talking about Big E wrestling as a singles performer but remaining with the New Day while Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods remained as a Tag Team. A few years ago, I wrote a column about how I'd push Big E, Braun Strowman, Cesaro, Jason Jordan, and Apollo Crews as the 5 guys whom I saw real potential in blossoming as top guys. For the record, I said this about Braun before Brock Lesnar kicked his arse a few times and tagged with a child.
I have documented proof that I've been on the Big E bandwagon for quite sometime...
Recently, however, I've been calming a few overly anxious WWE fans who hopped upon that Big E bandwagon after the 2020 Brand Extension Draft officially split the New Day apart. Almost immediately, there were calls to have Big E win the 2020 Royal Rumble match to become the #1 contender for a World Title at Wrestlemania 37. I was like "pump the brakes", as Big E was just in a Comedic group who mostly wrestled Tag Team matches together. Let's give Big E a full year where he can re-learn working singles matches and figure out his character. Then by 2022, he's primed to become a top babyface star.
I was watching Smackdown this past Friday and I was just baffled by the Apollo Crews and Big E segment. For one, Big E is still trying to do comedy with his promos but worse yet, he's sounding very scripted. Before with Kofi and Xavier, he seemed more comfortable executing comedic lines and didn't come off as scripted at all. Now, it's very clear that someone is writing his lines. Then, when Apollo Crews comes out, he has to somehow flip on the serious switch to talk down a challenger. It was just too much hot and cold.
If we are go get to Royal Rumble 2022 or even SummerSlam 2021 where we'll anoint Big E as a World Champion, we may need to tweak a few things beforehand. Big E has the talent, experience, look, and charisma to pull it off but he might be receiving bad advice here or there, or just maybe there's nobody backstage to give Big E proper advice on how to become a major singles star. That or everybody is too thinned out backstage to help.
Thus, I'm going to provide legitimate advice and tough love to Big E. And LET ME BE CLEAR here... I want to HELP Big E accomplish his hopes and dreams of becoming a top WWE superstar at the highest level. If there is something that I've listed below that irritates you or you believe is wrong, then hit me up in the Comments section below on how to do it better. Simple as that...
In my opinion, the base and frame is there for a top guy but it just needs to right combination of artwork and presentation to make it a success.
Mr. Tito's PHAT Advice to Make Big E become a Top WWE Singles Star
#1 - Get your last name back. Big E LANGSTON sounds better. I don't know why the WWE does this... The strip off parts of names as if we live in a world where people only have 1 name. If you become famous, yes, that's when everyone would call you by 1 name. WWE overdoes it and makes their wrestlers sound idiotic. Remember when Charlotte Flair went from "Charlotte" and then back to "Charlotte Flair". If Charlotte Flair can regain her last name, so can Big E. Bring back Big E Langston. Big E sounds like "Biggie"... But Big "E" Langston makes you wonder what the "E" stands for. Oh yeah, his real name is Ettore Ewen and the "E" can stand for either part of his name. Easy to understand. Langston is a great sounding last name, BRING IT BACK!
#2 - Acknowledge his past careers as College Football player and Powerlifter. Last time I checked, football and lifting backgrounds helped other superstars create an identity for themselves. It's what made Bill Goldberg who he is for football and ditto for Mark Henry/Braun Strowman for lifting. Big E (Langston) did BOTH. Both playing College Football and Powerlifting can add to the psychology why Big E should be considered a tough guy and legitimate fighter. Yet, we've heard nothing... It's as if he just came of age and became a pro wrestler.
#3 - Grow some sideburns. Sorry, but the hairstyle of shaving your sides and not having sideburns is so 1990s. Come on, man, grow some chops. Grow some badass sideburns like Shaft or what the Rock once had. You have a thick head of hair that isn't balding... Why shave part of it off? Use it as an asset to look cool. Your current haircut is so dated with you going overboard on shaving everything on the sides.
#4 - Get serious about his entrance music, WWE. There's no Jim Johnston around to create great themes, so commission a legitimate artist to create something perfect for Big E. Mark Henry's career really began to blossom when he obtain the Three 6 Mafia theme song. You KNEW that pain was going to happen just by hearing that theme song. Create something serious yet impactful. What you need is something that wrestling fans are comfortable downloading and blasting in their cars.
#5 - Give Big E a chance to script his own promos. Big E is a highly intelligent man. He has a Bachelor of Arts and as you've heard him throughout the years on the microphone with the New Day, he has great communication skills. ON TOP OF THAT, he's 11+ year veteran and has done it all with the WWE. Give him some opportunity to write and create his own promos. Forcing him to read scripted lines cause him to sound forced. WWE may give him parameters, certainly, but Big E is smart enough to know how to cut a promo that fits him and his character. He has to believe in what he's saying and too much scripting ruins that. If Big E says things that are more natural to him, then a catchphrase that works for him can be developed and marketed. When he reads a script, he sounds too robotic and like a smartass. He needs to represent a Comic Book hero instead as a top babyface.
#6 - Be careful accusing WWE of Identity Politics in the public space. On the August 22nd, 2020 of Talking Smack, Big E attempted to defend the honor of Kofi Kingston. However in doing so, he was breaking character and mostly accusing the WWE of "cutting his legs out" by losing to Brock Lesnar and then denying Kofi another opportunity to challenge for the World Title. I'm NOT saying that Big E shouldn't have an opinion, but do it with Vince McMahon, Triple H, other WWE officials, or even WWE's Human Resources department behind closed doors. Sorry, but I just can't buy the WWE treating Kofi unfairly after years of great merchandise sales and actually making him World Champion. Again, Big E is a 11+ year veteran who has worked hard the entire time. I'm sure that the WWE officials will give him a closed door meeting to air any issues. I agree, Kofi got a raw deal by jobbing quickly to Brock Lesnar, but you could have handled that better especially with the WWE who has given you a nice career for the last 11+ years.
#7 - Reconsider your finishing move. I just cannot buy your finishing move... So you hold them up for a powerslam and then you drop on your back with all of your weight to take a bump and their weight is coming crashing down on you. It just doesn't make any logical sense. You need something better, something more flashy, and something that appears more effective. A move that nobody is using at the present moment... Maybe like Ron Simmons' Dominator move? Maybe Taka Michinoku's Driver move? Maybe the Electric Chair bomb? (wrestler on their shoulders and them slamming them forward). Razor's Edge? Something impactful that looks like it would knock out your opponent in one move. Your current move just looks like it would hurt you, not your opponent.
#8 - Obtain a Submission Hold. Create multiple ways to win and it also would give you a chance to build psychology. I've suggested this for YEARS for Roman Reigns and nobody listened... If you mix a Full Nelson with Iron Sheik's Camel Clutch, it is an unbreakable hold. If that doesn't you, how about the Human Torture Rack? You've got the strength to pull it off... Something like Ricky Steamboat's Chickenwing. Maybe something simple like the Boston Crab, but could you imagine someone with Big E's strength applying Chris Jericho's Walls of Jericho style hold? He'd kill somebody.
#9 - Look to the past for unused moves to use them in the present. There are a lot of older school moves that people don't do now... For example, many wrestlers used to work on the arms by acting like they were twisting them... But some would lock in the arm and then occasionally slap their bicep for added measure. Big E could lock in that arm with his strength and just slap the bejesus out of someone's bicep.
#10 - WWE needs to display more examples of humility, publicly. Not many people, outside of the locker room, knew how close Big E and Jon Huber (Luke Harper in WWE, Brodie Lee in AWE) were as friends and co-workers. Big E was one of the WWE wrestlers who knew how sick Huber was and was checking in on him often. From everything that I've read on him, he's a great guy, great friend, and does really well for WWE appearances and charity events. Let's hear MORE about this stuff which will help shape his character as a sympathetic babyface which we'll all believe in. Oh, and if Big E ever wrestles in any hardcore matches, he's required to wrestle in beat-up jeans and a tanktop white undershirt.
#11 - Big E needs to clobber veterans, not recent NXT call-ups. While Apollo Crews has been on the WWE roster for a while, he hasn't been taken seriously by WWE Creative. As Intercontinental Champion, Big E needs to defeat any established veterans on the Smackdown roster. Just have him score regular and consistent wins over Dolph Ziggler (he has history with Dolph), Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura, Cesaro (though I want Cesaro pushed, big fan), Kevin Owens, and Robert Roode. Then, when the timing feels right, it's on to Seth Rollins and/or Kevin Owens on the Smackdown roster. I'd keep Big E away from the newer wrestlers on the WWE main roster... He needs to score more convincing wins as Intercontinental Champion to build him up to an eventual World Title push.
#12 - Place him on FOX's College Football games or shows. Big E attended University of Iowa and FOX just so happens to have the Big 10 television contract. Get him on the FOX channels, have him talk some College Football, and then have him discuss how his College Football experience helped physically set him to eventually become a Pro Wrestler. When Roman Reigns started to FINALLY acknowledge his past College Football experience and began showing up on ESPN's College Football shows, it started to break the ice for him on mainstream acceptance. If there are Power Lifting events somewhere, like maybe on NBC Sports or FOX Sports 1, get Big E on there as a special commentator too. But College Football is king in America and linking him to the Big 10 Conference would help his popularity in the Midwest.
#13 - Embrace amateur wrestling background. Did you know that in addition to being a football player and power lifter, Big E was also a State Champion in Florida for amateur wrestling? Now, there is a purpose to that... Not only can he incorporate takedowns and other grappling holds into his moveset, but also to explain his height. Big E is actually 5'11 in height but obviously he makes up with that in muscle mass by being nearly 300 pounds. WWE could sell him as having a "lower center of gravity thanks to his amateur wrestling days as a kid". Not only does it sell that he was legit as an amateur wrestler, it creates an excuse as to why other wrestlers might tower over him in height. However, his muscle mass and pure strength will obviously over come that.
#14 - Embrace your parents' heritage. It's my understanding that some of your tights' designs were made to honor the countries of your parents. Big E's parents were from Jamaica and Montserrat (within the Caribbean) and both areas have unique cultures, clothing styles, music, and their own pop culture that many Americans like and have embraced. Do more of that... Everyone is always looking for something new to consume or wear... You have a real opportunity to show off your parents' heritage and culture through your character. Americans will embrace anything on someone cool... Look at all of the weird stuff you sold as New Day. Fans thought Big E, Kofi, and Xavier were cool enough to buy cereal boxes and goofy t-shirts. Why not show off fashion trends seen in Jamaica and the Caribbean? Even as a crazy example, Marvel Comics fans have heavily embraced merchandise from the fictional Wakanda where Black Panther resides in the comics and Avengers films. That's fiction... Big E's parents came from a real place with a real culture in place. Big E has advertised some of it already, but I'm just suggesting MORE.
#15 - Seek any Hollywood opportunities, even if they are smaller roles. Right now, there is a surge to make Super Hero or STAR WARS based content right now to fill the streaming services. As you just saw with Sasha Banks, she had a real part in the Mandalorian and that show, particularly Season 2, was a HUGE HIT. Sasha just waved the green flag at Daytona 500... There are not too many human beings out there who look like Big E with his muscle mass... Just look at Batista nailing the role on Guardians of the Galaxy. Even if it's a small role, it doesn't matter... It's exposure. Remember when the Rock had a small part on an episode of Star Trek: Voyager back during 2000? That could have caused any Star Trek fan to wonder "who is that guy" and then they see him speaking about "pie" on WWE Smackdown. New fan creation possibilities.
*****
He's RIGHT THERE, folks... He's got the talent, communication skills, charisma, the look, and is a great athlete with tremendous strength. Just a few tweaks here and there while also improving the presentation just a bit.
I WANT Big E to succeed or else I wouldn't write this column...
I'm being fair and critical of a few things that could get looked at, just like I would any other wrestler... But I do see potential in Big E (please call him "Langston") that could headline shows in the years to come.
I'm a big fan of his and I'm rooting for him to succeed. Hopefully, the WWE or even Big E himself reads this very column and at least thinks about my recommendations. If not, we'll see in a few years how Big E succeeds or not as a top guy and we can look back on my suggestions.
Either way, it's FREE advice that the WWE, once again, doesn't have to pay for that could potentially make them tons of money with a newly minted top superstar.
Take it or leave it.
So just chill... Until the next episode!
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