In the past year talent in the wrestling industry has gone largely untapped with perhaps the best example taking place in the most prominent wrestling organization in the United States, the WWE.
For the past several months Harry Smith, Paul Burchill, Chuck Palumbo and Henry O. Godwinn, wrestlers with at least some appeal whether it resulted from legacy, a gimmick or experience have been under WWE contract. With this in mind, an observer may think that one of these individuals would at least appear on WWE television during that time, if in nothing more than a cameo role. That observer would be wrong.
As surprising as this may be, there is at least some logic in not bringing these individuals back to television just yet. Reasons for this include that they need to be fit into storylines, be given new or revamped gimmicks and/or train for in-ring competition. The same cannot be said for the untapped potential in WWE’s newest brand, ECW.
Since debuting in June, it has been constantly made clear that the new ECW is considerably different from the company that existed from 1992 to 2001. One feature that remains the same however is that both entities have or had a distinct lack of television time. As a result while ECW alumni such as Al Snow, C.W. Anderson and Danny Doring are technically employed by the company, they are sparingly seen.
Worse still, is that with the one hour of television time given to the company each week, the company is severely limited in the amount of new ECW wrestlers that can be built up. While much can be said about the hype surrounding C.M. Punk, he is the exception rather than the rule. Even Mike Knox, who was being billed as Punk’s most credible opponent in recent months has not won a televised match since August. Shawn Michaels eliminating Knox in a matter of seconds at the WWE’s 2006 incarnation of Survivor Series did not help matters.
Kevin Thorn, “The Reject” Shannon Moore and Matt Striker, wrestlers that are obscure enough to wrestling’s mass market to be built up as originals in the new ECW have faced similar circumstances. The best and perhaps only solution to this problem is to bring back actual jobbers to ECW rather than making their stars into ones. This could work in a number of different ways as jobber matches are fast, can make winning wrestlers look unstoppable and give new exposure to young talent not ready to enter wrestling’s limelight.
This does not mean that weekly ECW programming should be an hour of squash matches. Instead one or two matches that would go no longer than five minutes could be steadily implemented into the program. To give credibility to the most wrestlers possible, these could even be tag team matches. At the very least it would give the Full Blooded Italians something to do.
Jobbers have already proven once this year that they can still be used effectively. Without seemingly nameless faces to demolish week after week, Umaga could hardly appear as a legitimate challenge to the mighty John Cena in the eyes of a casual fan.
Before winning what were then the WWF Tag Team titles on five separate occasions together, both Matt and Jeff Hardy worked regularly as WWF enhancement talent. This gave the two some feel for the business before becoming wresting superstars in the late 1990’s. As a result over a decade since the duo began jobbing, despite various obstacles the two are together at the height of the wrestling industry and look to be receiving a push.
If jobbers are brought back similar stories to that of the Hardy brothers can occur and ensure a future for the wrestling industry to have at least experienced, if not the most technically sound wrestlers. Either way a wrestler beats a bodybuilder posing as a wrestler, which has long been a trend in the wrestling industry, any day.
Colt Cabana got a chance at national exposure as a jobber for the WWE in taped matches against the likes of Umaga, Trevor Murdoch, Gunner Scott and “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan. Independent wrestlers such as Jimmy Rave, Josh Prohibition and Matt Sydal likewise may benefit from working briefly as enhancement talent, if for nothing other than to get a feel of wrestling on its grandest scale.
Bringing new wrestlers to ECW from the Raw and Smackdown! brands, while creating some initial interest for the WWE’s newest brand, may be a mistake in the long run. ECW’s lack of television time is already forcing new and otherwise appealing talent to be lost in the shuffle as it is which can and is spreading to the talent being brought in. Proof of this has been seen as recently as the last edition of ECW programming. At this event Elijah Burke and Sylvester Terkay, who appeared to be unbeatable while wrestling for Smackdown! lost a match with no buildup whatsoever against Matt and Jeff Hardy. This occurred less than a month into their ECW careers.
For all the shortcomings that wrestlers such as Burke, Terkay and Rene Dupree may face at least they are officially part of the ECW roster. Rather than placing Raw and Smackdown! talent on ECW, to better showcase the talents of ECW competitors, bringing them onto the programming of other brands may be helpful. The Big Show recently demonstrated the possibility of such in the events leading up to Cyber Sunday. Though not always appearing as the most dominant force in the WWE, these appearances were beneficial in fleshing out Show’s character as a legitimate world champion.
With ECW’s second pay-per-view event of the year, December to Dismember occurring shortly, only two matches have been given any considerable amount of buildup. The end result of this may lead to the event being dismal at best. However the roster that ECW has is capable of being booked into a much better card, if the caged talent present in the company is unleashed.
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