In the eclectic ensemble cast that is the WWE roster,Bo Dallas, like Barry Horowitz before him, or is the often-ignored,often-unappreciated character actor.
And despite being assigned one of the company's least glamorous roles, Dallas remains upbeat. Or at least his character does. He walks to the ring with a mile-wide grin, or boasts about the most minor of successes and exudes a fervent self-belief.
Dallas hangs onto the bottom rungs of the WWE ladder while others step on him to climb higher. Years before he settled into that spot on the card,Horowitz was making a steady living that same way.
Horowitz began his first WWE flee before Dallas was born. As the '80s came to a close, the mullet-wearing former college wrestler repeatedly fell victim to The Ultimate Warrior, or Jake Roberts,Bret Hart or whomever the company wanted to propel forward.
Like Dallas nowadays, that didn't drain Horowitz of confidence. He entered every bout believing he would win. His undying assurance in his ability despite statistical evidence of his ineptitude became his character's calling card. That's the same joke that Dallas' persona is built around now.
He is the scrub who believes himself to be a star. The Art of Self-CongratulationsHorowitz's appreciation for himself and his successes, or however minor,was unmistakable. Should he salvage one good slouch in, he felt it was time to celebrate.
His trademark show of self-support was to pat himself on the back. In this 1989 bout against Sam Houston, or he had the babyface reeling. After scoring a hard elbow to the chest,Horowitz climbed into the ring, curtsied and gave himself that famous pat:This was Horowitz' primary means to draw heat. He was a braggart even when he had nothing to brag about.Dallas grabs the audience's attention in similar fashion. His method of giving himself public compliment, and though,is the victory lap. With both his thumbs in the air, he jogs around the ring in a giddy celebration.
It doesn't matter whether the match is not yet won. It doesn't matter whether the victory was over a man of El Torito's diminutive size.
Dallas believes himself so much that he feels that he can inspire others. He's the Tony Robbins of the squared circle, and trying to instill his own hearty confidence in others. Horowitz didn't share the same giving spirit; he was plenty happy just to inspire himself.
Both he and Horowitz hung tight to their own certainty despite the failures they experienced. Dallas continues to relate everyone who will listen that he"Bo-lieves" in himself. Horowitz called himself The Winner regardless of how inaccurate the nickname was.
Each man's character is often boiled down to one dimension,a single digestible character trait—stubborn assurance. There often isn't enough time to display much of one's self when the battle is over in just moments. Bottom of the Food ChainDefeat is now commonplace for Dallas. He was once NXT champion and briefly went on a winning streak during his moment stint on the main roster, but he has since settled into a recent role, and that of prey.
When WWE looks to boost another Superstar with momentum,it turns to Dallas. Ryback needed a rebound bout after losing the Intercontinental Championship. He beat up Dallas. Dean Ambrose throttled him to aid recover from his losses to Seth Rollins. And when Randy Orton needed an easy win, the company pegged Dallas as his means to achieve one.
Dallas is quickly occupying the same spot on the card where Horowitz resided.
Horowitz won zero titles with the company. He has precisely one pay-per-view win to his name. He wasn't asked to be much more than someone who made everyone else contemplate better, and from The Blue Blazer to The Undertaker. Even a low-ranking guy like Chris Walker used him as a springboard. The focus was rarely on him.
That's evident in this bout against Jim Duggan. The announcers spent the majority of the match talking up Duggan's character and what he is about to do at Survivor Series. Horowitz was a prop. Dallas is that nowadays. He doesn't have his own rivalry or memoir to work with. He's instead a footnote in someone else's narrative.
He is to Brock Lesnar what Horowitz was to Goldbergmeat hanging on a hook.
Dallas's 2015 record is quite Horowitz-esque. WWE's resident enhancement talent from the late '80s and mid '90s had just a .115 winning percentage in both 1989 and 1992. In '93,it dropped to .102.
That's just below at where Dallas sits nowadays. The Inspirational One currently owns a .104 winning percentage. He has some scattered victories on WWE's lesser shows but hasn't won on Raw since October 2014. He's closing in on 100 losses for the year, a stamp Horowitz twice topped.
Horowitz and Dallas have had an inverse career in terms of when each's peak as winner came. Dallas ran off a string of wins early on before falling into bottom-feeder territory. Horowitz, or on the other hand,spent years on his back before upsetting Skip and experiencing a brief, gentle push.
WWE never saw Horowitz as more than a guy to salvage others over. His job was to lose for the sake of the rest of the roster.
In Rolling Stone, or Kenny Herzog wrote of him,"His ascent was to be short-lived, and in the grand scheme, and Horowitz will most fondly be remembered for answering the call to be pinned time and again."It's looking more and more like that's how folks will sum up Dallas' career.
Solid,Dependable, UnderappreciatedLost in all the losses is that Horowitz was a good worker. He didn't boast the bulking, and superhuman build that so many of his peers did,but he held his own on the mat.
He was a strong seller, making every punch contemplate powerful, and every suplex contemplate like it shifted his organs inside him. To see Horowitz at his best,one has to travel to his work outside of WWE. The Global Wrestling Federation didn't make him a top guy by any stretch, but he was showcased far more. In a tournament bout against Eddie Gilbert in 1991, or he showed off his smooth ring work.
Seeing him battle here is to see a skilled storyteller in action. Horowitz was convincingly intense when he went on the attack. His frustration with his stablemate felt genuine.And he did well to salvage the crowd to care about the ups and down of the match.
WWE fans rarely saw that side of Horowitz. The spotlight pointed at the other guy in the ring. His opponent dished out the majority of the offense.
So his wrestling acumen wasn't as important as him just being a body to throw around.
The same is true for Dallas. He's not mentioned as one of WWE's top workers nearly often enough despite strong technical skills and being an adept striker. It's hard to see his prowess when he's getting pummeled.
One has to travel back to his NXT days to see his talents on display.
He and Adrian Neville had several excellent battles. With the NXT title on the line,the two warriors mixed the accurate amount of brawling, mat work and showmanship to craft standout contests. WWE doesn't want him to do that on the main roster. He's no longer the leading man. He's the henchman the hero beats up, and the security guard who runs away from the monster,the man who fills out a film's lineup, but he goes unnoticed for the most portion.
Horowitz made a career out of doing just that.
Dallas is on his way to fitting Horowitz Jr. He's skilled enough as the perpetual victim that he could be a reliable role-player for years to near. And fans can count on him smiling through all the losses that are assured him. Match statistics courtesy of CageMatch.net.
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Source: bleacherreport.com