Since he was revealed as Raw General Manager Kurt Angle’s kayfabe son, fan reaction to Jason Jordan turned and stayed negative.
Whether his recent shift toward emphasizing more petulant, entitled character traits was a reaction to the jeers or part of the larger design has been a subject of debate among WWE fans. According to Angle, everything we’re seeing has been Vince McMahon’s plan all along.
Kurt appeared on the latest edition of CBS Sports' In This Corner Podcast and told host Brian Campbell:
“You know what's crazy? Everything that the fans have gone through the last three or four months, most of the fans can't stand him. A lot of the fans are saying, 'He's getting the wrong kind of heat because we really don't like him for real.'
Everything that has occurred up until now, Vince already knew how they were going to react, so this has been working.
We knew, and I knew personally, that this was going to make the fans sick to their stomach [of Jordan]...”
The Olympic gold medalist was never worried about Jordan’s athletic ability, but he confessed to being worried if he could handle the character work. Angle says what we’re seeing on-screen lately is proof that he can:
“I knew what he could do in the ring. I wasn't concerned about the fans saying, 'Oh man, this guy is actually pretty damn good.' We already knew that, and we were hoping that his character was [on the same level]. I didn't know if he would have the ability to carry the storyline.
As many fans will say 'it's not working' and 'get rid of him' or 'I'm not buying it,' now that the storyline has started to span out and developing further, it was a good fit. Jason is doing a great job, and he has carried the storyline very well.”
Campbell mentions a comparison a lot of people have made - to the fan-rejected launch of Dwayne Johnson’s babyface Rocky Maivia character and how that gave birth to The Rock - and Angle agreed with the analogy, although according to Kurt WWE has orchestrated the boos for Jordan. He doesn’t go so far as to say JJ is the next Great One, but he sees some similarities...
“It's going to be a pretty cool storyline, and I think a lot of fans are going to say, 'You know what? This kid deserves to be in the main event level.'”
What do you think, Cagesiders? Has this been the plan all along for Chad Gable’s ex-partner, or is the Hall of Famer retrofitting the story to the reaction? And what are Jordan’s prospects as a singles guy?
Quotes via CBSSports.com