He was only 19 when he won the ECW title. I always thought he never got the recognition he deserved when it comes to the young world champs conversation.
I would say he was more of a gimmick than of a guy who was an exploding star.
- Tommy Rich was the hottest star on WTBS (making his title win/loss happening between tapings seem weird)
- Kerry VE was a phenom in many areas, but his ties to WCCW and drug issues shot his stardom down.
- Thesz was a shooter who was groomed for 4 years before he started at 17 and began his world title dominance by his very early 20s.
- Brock/Orton were both hand picked stars from pretty much day one, although it took Orton a few extra twists to get there, whereas Brock was pretty much smashed over (as Corny likes to phrase it).
I view Whipwreck more like a situation like had the 123 Kid actually beat Bret on RAW in July of 1994 (maybe as a backdoor way to get Owen the title and heat up Summerslam's Hart vs Hart?) In other words... an underdog who gets a run that isn't really meant to move him up w/the headliners.