Eugene's Evolution

   Remember Eugene?  He was the mentally challenged character in WWE years ago.  I had an idea about this particular character that's a little out there, but then again, so is even introducing this kind of character!

   Before I get into the character, I'll preface the man behind the gimmick.  In the early 2000's, WWE's premier developmental promotion was OVW.  In fact, OVW's class of 2002 is now known as a who's who of incredible wrestlers and future Hall of Famers.  That includes, John Cena, Randy Orton, Brock Lesnar, Batista, and Shelton Benjamin.  One of the other important men to the structure of OVW was Nick Dinsmore.  He was a pure wrestler and he had multiple reigns as the OVW Champion.  Not every OVW alumni that got called up immediately caught on or succeeded during his or her stint on the main roster. Cena was generic as they come and Batista was D-Von Dudley's Deacon, after all.  For Dinsmore, things took a turn for the ridiculous.

   An idea was pitched for a mentally challenged character.  Whether this was the brainchild of Dinsmore himself or not remains to be seen.  The character would be a savant of sorts, being an actual incredible ring performer, mostly from watching his favorites on television.  Outside the ring was a different story altogether! For Dinsmore, that character would become Eugene, who was introduced as the nephew of then Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff.  Bischoff tried to get his nephew off his hands so he sent him to William Regal to reluctantly take under his wing.  In general, I was not a fan of the character; not because it was offensive, but simply because it was just stupid.  Yes, many people were offended by the character but I was more offended by it's pure stupidity!

   Eugene's start on the roster was amidst the antics of the infamous faction Evolution and Triple H's perceived "reign of terror."  If you recall, Evolution consisted of leader Triple H, wrestling legend Ric Flair, and the younger upstarts in Randy Orton and Batista, the later of whom playing the role of their enforcer.  The faction was for sure influenced by the Four Horsemen, only with a slightly different take.  In fact, some of Eugene's biggest moments happened at the expense of Evolution.  He ended up taking on Triple H at 2004's SummerSlam event.  That's where the title of my blog really comes to life! That same night, Randy Orton won the "World" Heavyweight Title, becoming the youngest Champion in history.  If you've read my blogs, you'd understand why I put quotations on that word, but that's neither here nor there.  The next night, Orton was promptly kicked out of Evolution.   

   Evolution never replaced Orton.  In fact, after the storyline with Orton was over, Evolution began to implode when Batista won the 2005 Royal Rumble and opted to go after Triple H's Championship in the main event of that year's WrestleMania.  Back to Orton's dismissal, I had an idea about replacing him with a new member, much like the Four Horsemen did several times before.  This would take place during the Fall of 2004 in the aftermath of Orton's departure.  Much like they did other times, on Raw, Evolution would come out and pick on Eugene one particular night.  After their verbal abuse, Triple H, Flair, and Batista would then assault the helpless Eugene in a 3 on 1 attack, specifically on a night when William Regal was not around.  Fans would think Eugene was in big trouble without his one confidant Regal by his side.  To the delight of the fans, Randy Orton would come out to make the save.  

   The following Raw, Evolution attacks Orton, only this time for Eugene to make the save.  Eric Bischoff would then set up a tag team match for the following Raw, with Triple H and Batista taking on Randy Orton and Eugene.  I think you can guess where I'm going with this!  During the match, Eugene does the unthinkable and turns on Orton.  Eugene, along with Evolution, viciously attack Orton.  Eugene then starts to laugh and sheds his traits of a mentally challenged person.  He reveals that it was all a ruse.  He then states his real name is Nick Dinsmore and he is a wrestling technician, and the newest member of Evolution.  Fans would be absolutely shocked at what just transpired.  The only problem is that having them admit that this character used mentally challenged traits as a ruse would probably garner even more backlash from those that were offended by the Eugene character.

   In any event, I don't really have an idea for how much further this can go, especially with the Triple H/Batista angle coming in early 2005.  However, I think this could have definitely been interesting and a great way for them to separate themselves from the debacle that was the Eugene character.  To be fair, though, it wasn't all bad.  I remember when The Rock asked Eugene who his favorite wrestler was, assuming his answer would be the Great One himself, and I nearly laughed to death when Eugene replied "Triple H!"  Overall, though, it was a dumb idea to do a character like that.  They eventually did turn Eugene heel but it was a bad idea to do it with the same character.  How can you suddenly start hating a mentally challenged man?  That's just messed up!  With my idea, more possibilities come for Nick Dinsmore.  He could have perhaps stayed with WWE even longer than he did.  What do you think of this angle?  What could have come from it and how could they have transitioned him into other things after Evolution ended?  Could they have just continued Evolution and replaced Batista the way I proposed for Orton?  Please let me know your thoughts!

  If you have any further thoughts on this topic, let me know in comments.  Heck, let us all know on The WAR Report podcast, every Tuesday at 7PM EST on YouTube, brought to you by tagmeadate.com, the first and only dating site for wrestling fans.  Go to askthewarreport@gmail.com or #askthewarreport.  For TagMeADate members, our Android and Apple apps are vastly approaching so stay tuned!
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