Norman Smiley

Scott,

Towards the end of 1998, Norman Smiley was given a pretty strong mid card push as a heel. Fans seemed to be responding well to him and his "big wiggle" dance caught on to the point he was made a babyface.

If Russo did not come in and changed his character to "Screamin" Norman Smiley and made him a comedy character in the hardcore division, could Norman have had a chance to at least break through to an upper tier mid carder who could make a decent US or TV champion?

​Yeah, fans would have bought him as TV champion without a problem. I think anything past that would be pushing it, but this is the same company that tried guys like Alex Wright, Prince Iaukea and Ultimo Dragon in that spot​, so why not Smiley?