Summer in WWE is over. D-Generation X reunited and taught us the meaning of a mid-life crisis. Smackdown switched to a new network but remains in the death timeslot. ECW debuted on Sci Fi and caused fans of the old promotion to declare Big Show the devil. A lot happened over the Summer, but perhaps most importantly of all, WWE showcased a lot of new talent on all three of their brands. It's time to meet them. The purpose of this is two-fold. First, a lot of WWE fans don't watch all of the brands. The most common question someone asks about a brand they haven't seen in a while is "What's new?" Second, to give some thoughts, examinations and predictions on these new arrivals and how they were introduced.
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Mike "The Miz" Mizanin: Here we go. Love him or hate him time. There's rarely any middle ground. For those who hate him, allow me to humanize Miz a little by giving some background. Mike Mizanin attended Miami Unversity in order to study business. While there, he roomed with former Miami Redhawks hockey player Nick Jardine as well as bodybuilder/gymnast Todd J. Hartman. He dropped out when he was selected to participate in The Real World: Back to New York. From there, his reality show credentials include Battle of the Seasons, The Gauntlet, Battle of the Sexes 2, The Inferno, The Inferno 2, Battle of the Network Reality Stars, Fear Factor and, of course, Tough Enough. Depite taking only second place in TE, losing to Daniel Puder, he signed with WWE under a developmental deal. He wrestled in Deep South for a while until WWE finally decided to take advantage of his moderate star status.
After a failed feud with Palmer Cannon (he departed WWE, leaving Miz with nothing cooking), Mizanin was given the role of host of Smackdown and later the MC of the Diva Search. He flubbed his lines and got on the crowd's nerves, but in the end, he was still one of the most recognizable personalities on the roster. So, WWE gave him a shot at wrestling on Smackdown this Summer. Having read an Observer report that insisted WWE officials claimed Mike "needs to be a face", Mizanin's attitude on Smackdown is clearly heel. Both in his mannerisms and because all his opponents have been faces. He just has not made the full turn yet, which is why Michael Cole still seems to like him. His act as an obnoxious characters is perfect because he is, in fact, obnoxious. Frankly, it's awesome. His spastic gestures and ridiculous promos are in the "so bad, it's good" category. He has even showed some surprising athleticism in recent weeks as he becomes more comfortable.
The Miz could easily become one of the most hated heels on Smackdown. He's already on his way. Some people think it is "bad heat". There's no such thing unless he makes fans do something drastic like avoid going to shows so not to see a particular wrestler. This doesn't happen. Heat is heat. Currently, Mizanin has not yet wrestled on Pay-Per-View (unless you count his legit boxing match with Puder), but a good feud with maybe Jimmy Wang Yang or Matt Hardy might do wonders for his fledging career. I really don't see any ceiling for Mizanin because the "worse" he gets, the better he is.
KC James and Idol Stevens: The new ultra-bland tag team on Smackdown. James and Stevens had moderate success in OVW. Both in different tag teams. Stevens and Nova won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championships from Chris Cage and Tank Toland. James won the same belts alongside Roadkill in a match against Domino and Deuce Shade. The pair was combined and brought up to Smackdown as a new team.
James and Stevens made a terrible, terrible debut. On the same show in which the new tag team wrestled their first match, Elijah Burke had his debut match as well, and Montel Vontavious Porter made his first (non-wrestling) appearance. The feeling was Smackdown booking saying "Here are some new guys, fans! You figure it out!" No vignettes hyping their debut. No video package. No hanging out backstage for a couple weeks, causing trouble and prepping for a feud. Nothing. When they showed up on Smackdown, it felt like we were just introduced to a couple indy jobbers.
They don't even have a gimmick or even a vague idea about their personalities. Brian Kendrick and Paul London are goofy, crazy daredevils with distinctive masks and unique (for WWE) movesets. The Highlanders are Scottish brutes who are trying to figure out a new culture. The Spirit Squad consist of male cheerleaders. KC James and Idol Stevens are two guys who are managed by Michelle McCool. Even their tights are bland! At least give them a name. Teacher's Pets was mentioned briefly but not enough.
The best thing they have going right now is that Kid Kash has just been released. No more Pitbulls. They are, by default, the top heel tag team on Smackdown. If they are vying for the belts at No Mercy, don't you think WWE should develop their characters before that even becomes a possibility? They are wrestling for the tag belts and they are not the slightest bit over.
Elijah Burke and Sylvester Terkay: Smackdown has a lot more debuting talent than the other brands. Enter the duo of Terkay and Burke. Their gimmick is that they are legitimate fighters who are entering the world of professional wrestling. Of course, Michael Cole and JBL don't use the word "legitimate" when describing them because it would imply that WWE is illegitimate, which it is. They tiptoe around the fact that these two can really hurt you...as opposed to the rest of the roster, I guess. Whatever. Elijah Burke was an amatuer boxer with a very strong record. Meaning if he actually went pro, he may have only been so-so. In the realm of professional wrestling, he has been OVW Heavyweight Champion. Sylvester Terkay has a solid amatuer wrestling background as well as a brief MMA career. In wrestling, he was The Predator in Zero-One before making it to WWE.
As previously indicated, Burke and Terkay debuted in the same range at James, Stevens and Porter. It didn't feel like a big splash. Also, there was no hint of their debut in the weeks leading up to it. They just showed up and Smackdown expected them to get over. Burke can promo well enough. Terkay can't. Last week, Terkay exclaimed "I am Sylvester Terkay." Good for you. His matches have been abysmal. Burke is better. Mysterio had a halfway decent showing with him. If they have made an impression on the fans, I haven't seen it. If they have made an impression on the bosses, I haven't seen that either because No Mercy's schedule is full and they aren't on the card. Unless one of them will be facing MVP, which would make no sense because they're all heels, Burke and Terkay won't be on the Pay-Per-View.
There is something wrong with the way Burke and Terkay are presented. They are a duo but they are not a tag team. They're just special friends, I guess. They hang out with each other backstage, cut their promos at the same time and replace each other in matches for some reason. It does not conform to wrestling's standard. That is not entirely a bad thing but it is odd and difficult to book properly.
The Highlanders: The new tag team on Raw. Their gimmick is that of two Scottish cousins who came to America to wrestle for WWE. With little knowledge of modern technology (no plumbing and electricity in Scotland, eh?), the Highlanders comedically stumble their way through our society and try to pick up wins along the way. Upon first seeing the Highlanders, I thought "Oh, great. Another over-the-top foreign gimmick from two Americans." Actually, Rory (Russell Murray) and Robbie (Derek Graham-Couch) are native Scots. They simply moved to Canada. Robbie about eighteen years ago and Rory about six. They trained in the Von Erich / Hart Brothers Wrestling School and worked independents until Tom Pritchard gave them try-out dark matches. After a long time doing this, Rory and Robbie signed developmental contracts and were sent to OVW.
More important to this article is their time on Raw. We first saw glimpses of the Highlanders through a series of vignettes introducing us to their whacky journey to America. I believe one involved learning the intricacies of a toilet. They were met with lukewarm reception on Raw, and until about a few weeks ago, that was true all Summer. Some fans loved their Buschwhackers 2K6 gimmick but others were tired of stupid Eugene-style comedy. The biggest boons to the Highlanders were working a skit with D-Generation X and getting a rub from "Rowdy" Roddy Piper. Rory and Robbie joined forces with Eugene and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan to feud with the Spirit Squad. In the end, the Squad retained the World Tag Team Championships and the Highlanders were knocked down a peg.
Of all the recent additions to WWE, the Highlanders are among the most successful...and that's not saying too much. Where do they go from here? The main problem with the Highlanders isn't internal so much as it is external. They have a good gimmick and are relatively over for a new team. The hitch is that there are very few tag teams on Raw. So what to do with them next is tricky. The only other candidates for a feud after the Squad would be Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch. I just don't see that having much heat. The Highlanders could continue to feud with the Squad, but the stock in that stable has dropped lately. Reactions are down. Perhaps because of exhaustion of the team or maybe because DX crushed them in every encounter. The Highlanders may end up victims of a poor tag division.
Mike Knox: Upon researching Knox, I realized two things I did not know: First, he was one of the masked "terrorists" who backed up Hassan and Daivari in their fight against the Undertaker. Second, Knox has been wrestling for eight years. He's so far removed from being a rookie that I know now that he will probably never improve in any significant way. After a stint in the developmentals, Knox was brought up for the new ECW. He is now one half of an occassional tag team with Test and a member of a loose stable of heel wrestlers who work for Paul Heyman.
Mike Knox's gimmick is wrapped up in his valet and on-screen girlfriend Kelly Kelly. She is an exhibitionist and more than a little flirtatious. Knox constantly covers her up and interjects himself when he notices Kelly talking to a male wrestler. Heyman gave him a heat-seeking heel character. Everyone (or at least most of the male audience) wants to see Kelly strip, Knox steps in, everyone hates Knox. Its brilliance is its simplicity. Does Knox have a future? Maybe but he does not have a future at being a good in-ring wrestler. That's my gut reaction to him. He won't even be a Test-level big man, which is saying something.
CM Punk: I've written so much about Punk in the past three years that I feel like I've done this section a hundred times. CM Punk was trained in the Steel Dominion wrestling school under Ace Steel and Danny Dominion. His name is widely believed to be a reference to an early tag team named the Chick Magents. Although, Punk oftens jokes it stands for Charles Montgomery (Burns) among other things. His early career was largely in the Mid-West wrestling for promotions like IWA-MS. Later, he was booked to wrestle long-time friend/rival Colt Cabana in Ring of Honor. His career took off from there. Punk signed a TNA contract but was mostly a minor character there. He backed out of his contract when TNA tried to force him to leave ROH. Punk became ROH World Champion in what was thought to be his last match with the promotion. He actually stayed for a couple more months to have a short but memorable reign. Punk was widely considered to be the best heel and the best promo in the independents.
Punk signed a developmental contract with WWE and began to work in OVW. He got over as a heel very quickly and eventually won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship, OVW Television Championship and the OVW Heavyweight Championship. He was brought into ECW mostly because Paul Heyman (now former booker of OVW) liked his work and wanted to use him in this new venture. Punk, unlike most of his indy and OVW run, is now a babyface. He debuted after a few weeks of backstage hype promos. He is currently undefeated and is reasonably over for a new talent.
From where I sit, as a babyface, Punk will only go so far. He is infinitely more adept at being a heel. He is getting over in ECW as a face but that is not his area of expertise. He will not be ECW World Champion as a babyface. Especially because Rob Van Dam and Sabu are ahead of him. Heyman is still primarily booking ECW. I suspect Heyman will turn Punk heel when the time is right because he knows what he can do on the microphone as the bad guy.
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Cryme Tyme and Montel Vontavious Porter have yet to wrestle. So they did not quite make the cut here. Very quickly, I will say that I love the Cryme Tyme vignettes, but based on what I've heard, I hope the vignettes continue forever and they never wrestle. MVP has mic skills. Never seen him wrestle, but if he can talk, that's enough to carry a career.
That's it for now, folks. Have any thoughts on the new blood in WWE? E-mail me at trophar@lycos.com any time.
