That Wrestling Podcast Episode 22

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 22 by Dave Hatton on Mixcloud

I’ll start with an apology. Due to circumstances beyond our control there’s some pretty irritating background noise on this episode (more so than usual). The conversation can still be heard, it just requires attention.

JIMMY RAVE!!

The topic? It’s another Mount Rushmore discussion. Last time we discussed a hypothetical Rushmore for World Championship Wrestling, which was fairly straightforward because there aren’t a huge number of names that can realistically be suggested. This time we tackle Ring of Honor. It’s harder because ROH has had a larger number of names pass through that can be strongly associated with them.

This leads us on to a tangent about Jimmy Rave and Prince Nana. I reminisce about the period of time when they were the promotion’s top heel act. ROH has arguably never had a more effective bad guy than ‘The Crown Jewel’.

Also featured is a chat about how wrestlers carry championship belts. It’s niche but we manage to get some damn fine chat out of it. And yes, that was supposed to sound Alan Partridge.

The Bennett Protocol

Of course there is a third option.

I’m talking, of course, about how I’d book Jay Briscoe losing the ROH world championship. While I think Michael Elgin is the ideal man to replace Jay as the long term champion I’m also of the opinion that he’d be well served by having a heel champion to chase and defeat for the gold. While having him replace Jay as the champion, either by beating him directly or winning a tournament, would cast the right man as the champ it would also deny Elgin and fans a feud with a solid culmination.

So… the third idea. Assuming Mike Bennett could be confirmed to appear on shows up to and including, say, Manhattan Mayhem V, I think he’d make a very good interim heel champion. He may not be the best wrestler in the company but the knowledge that he’s been negotiating with WWE should ensure he’d be hated by fans upon winning the belt.

Yes, it’s a rerun of the CM Punk title reign. But so was Tyler Black’s final storyline and I thought that was pretty enjoyable.

If I were booking ROH with ‘The Prodigy’ confirmed for every show until Death Before Dishonor XI and access to Jay Briscoe I’d announce Kevin Steen as the challenger for the July 12^th show in Milwaukee. It would also be made clear that that would be Jay’s final night in the promotion. It would be an all or nothing situation for ‘Mr Wrestling’.

Steen would lose clean to multiple Jay Drillers and shake hands with Jay after the match. Jay would then begin a promo about his time in Ring of Honor and moving on in his career alongside his brother. This would be interrupted by Mike Bennett. ‘The Prodigy’ would tell Briscoe he’s had some impressive title defences but Jay won’t have proven he’s beaten him.

Bennett would challenge Briscoe to make his final championship defence against him. Nigel McGuinness, at ringside for commentary, would tell Jay the decision’s his, but he’s happy to let him leave as champion and put a tournament together. Jay would say that he’s going to be best remembered by ROH fans for having some wild fights. He’d tell Bennett no to a match but yes to a fight.

The challenge would be accepted but before the bell Bennett would kick Jay with a low blow and then follow up with knee drops and a headbutt to the groin. The referee in the ring (probably Todd Sinclair) would pull Bennett off and check on Jay, with Jay very clearly still wanting the match to go ahead. Sinclair would reluctantly call for the bell and Bennett would pull the champ up and perform the Box Office Smash tice before pinning him to become the champion.

 

A potential ROH champion

 

Bennett would be handed the title belt by Carey Silkin (because that’s The Tradition™) and leave before Jay could get up. The show would be released on VOD and DVD as Battle of the Superstars. Because Bennett wrestles like a WWE Superstar™ and Briscoe would be heading off to become one.

The next evening in Dearborn Bennett would have a victory celebration. You know the sort of segment this would be: Team Sexy would gloat about having the gold before getting interrupted by a babyface. In this case it would be Nigel McGuinness standing up at commentary to tell Bennett who he’d be defending the title against.

Those defences would be Jay Lethal on July 27^th in Providence, Michael Elgin on August 3^rd in Toronto, and Roderick Strong at Manhattan Mayhem V.

Bennett would defeat ‘Black Machismo’ cleanly. He’d just manage to squeak passed Elgin, resorting to cheating and shenanigans to defeat him. After that the two would have a confrontation on television and Bennett would cost Elgin a televised bout. Elgin would be awarded a rematch for Death Before Dishonor XI.

Bennett would beat Strong in the main event of Manhattan Mayhem V after a distraction from Maria and a Box Office Smash. His feud with Elgin would continue on television, Bennett costing the number one contender matches and always just managing to get away. Their rivalry would end at DBD with Elgin winning the championship fair and square in the middle of the ring.

The Life and Times of Blyler Tack

On September 11^th 2010 Colby ‘Tyler Black’ Lopez made his final appearance for Ring of Honor. Black had announced before that match that he had agreed to a WWE developmental deal and would be leaving the promotion, win or lose, after the September 11^th show. He had also declared his intention to retain the title and leave as champion. Naturally this didn’t sit well with the ROH faithful, who pelted the champion with chants of “NXT” and “FCW” as he defended the title against Roderick Strong in one of the best matches of the year.

As the outgoing heel champion Black naturally lost the match, but the biggest losers that night were the ROH fans. Black had proven himself to be a capable and adaptable performer. His promos may have needed a little work, but his wrestling was sound and he was good enough at reading an audience to know that using John Cena’s patented “You can’t see me!” hand gesture and the Five Knuckle Shuffle would get him huge heat during his bout with Strong. No doubt about it, Tyler Black was one of Ring of Honor’s most dependable all-rounders.

So what have WWE done with Black since he signed his developmental contract? What they do with practically all independent wrestlers: changed his ring name (to Seth Rollins), stuck him in Florida Championship Wrestling and left him there for a year. This isn’t anything new. It’s exactly what they did to CM Punk when he signed a developmental deal (after a storyline very similar to Black’s at the end of his ROH run coincidentally) in 2005. It’s what they’ve done to Colt Cabana, Bryan Danielson, Bryan Kendrick and tons of other talented individuals over the years. Why do they do this? All together now...

To teach them how to work!

Yes, it’s WWE’s belief that you cannot succeed in “the big leagues” without having been taught to wrestle (or sports entertain) the ‘WWE style’. In the last five years or so only a handful of men and women have bypassed FCW and debuted straight onto the main roster. Bryan Danielson was told he would be debuting on the ECW replacement (which became NXT) when he re-signed with the promotion in late 2009, but ended up working a few FCW shows of his own volition, saying that he wanted to keep free of ring rust and stay in shape.

Kia ‘Awesome Kong/Kharma’ Stevens and Sin Cara (the original one, Luis Ignascio Urive Alvirde a.k.a. Mistico) are the only other two names that spring to mind as those deemed ready for the bright lights of Monday Night RAW. In the case of Kharma WWE made the right decision: she had been ready for a spot in WWE for years. But they got it completely wrong with the former Mistico. His inability to speak English and unfamiliarity with the US style (Mexican wrestling works to a noticably different pace and logic to wrestling anywhere else in the world (it’s part of its charm)) made him the ideal candidate for FCW. That he was deemed ready despite these severe limitations puzzled most fans and time has proven that it was the wrong decision. In turn that has proven that FCW is a useful tool but not one that can be applied to every wrestler the same way.

On an edition of Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling podcast that was recorded around the time of his exit from Ring of Honor Black joked that he would be called up to NXT and given the ring name ‘Blyler Tack’, in reference to the massively unimaginative ‘Daniel Bryan’ ring name Bryan Danielson had been given, or ‘Gaylord Hanski’, in reference to the idiotic names of NXT’s second season. He was joking but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s longing for a spot on NXT now, silly ring name and all.

Black wasn’t and isn’t the perfect worker. As I noted above his promos could be better and he is (or was when he signed) used to the more frantic pace of indy matches and the stiff style of Ring of Honor. He did need to make some changes before appearing on RAW or SmackDown but a year is overkill. That WWE have had Heath Slater, David Otunga, Mason Ryan, David Hart Smith, Tyler Reks, Trent Baretta and various other no-hopers on TV throughout 2011 without giving Tyler Black a try is both astounding and moronic... especially at a time when WWE desperately needs to create new stars for its paper thin roster. He’s a star-in-waiting, and the sooner WWE realises that the better.