>>15757954Insider here.
Dude was never even over, it was one of those things the WWE shoved down the fans' throats at the time. They piped in cheers, used deceptive editing to make him to make him look popular on TV, and put plants in the actual crowd to get others hyped up.
He got over eventually but there was a much bigger effort behind it than WWE has ever allowed to be known. They've gone to great lengths to retroactively make it look organic. It worked at the time but wouldn't work so well now because fans were more naive back then.
Enjoy your fake wrestling legend. In fact, you're welcome.
