Evolution Schematic 08.08.07: Stevie Richards (Version 2.0)

I felt like going old, old school this week. Perhaps it’s because of getting Seasons 1-4 of the Simpsons on DVD (Tip: Don’t watch season 1 a few hours after seeing the movie. Mind trip X 763, trust me). Perhaps it’s now owning a Wii, thus technically being part of the Wii60 movement and the retro goodness that awaits me while I wait for Super Smash Bros Brawl. Perhaps it’s just lusting after Victoria and cursing Kenny Dykstra’s name. Or maybe, just maybe, I was late home and really don’t want to research a whole new column this week. Don’t worry, next week will be brand spanking new (and quite Pure, and short, and end with an American Dragon…), but this week, we go back to my first ‘offical’ Schematic, HHH got me past the first round, JBL won me the spot, and this was my debut. Updated, of course. Enjoy!

Overview

So, getting down to business, what is it that defines Mr. Richards? What is it that drives him, what is it that gets him out of bed in the morning, that makes him train as hard as he does, that makes him put his body through the rigors of Professional Wrestling? What is it that makes Stevie Stevie? Sure, he’s not the most stable guy on the roster. He’s not ‘normal’, but then who is? But despite the idiosyncrasies, despite the odd nature of his soul, inside Stevie’s heart there is a yearning. A yearning that can show that a follower of a grunge fighter, a leader of a impersonation group (twice!), a mimic in his own right, a leader of an ultra-right-wing group, a man on a losing streak regardless of brand, and a loving, caring boyfriend all makes sense. That yearning? To simply be accepted and loved. To have someone care about him. Be it an abusive mentor, a sweet girlfriend, an overweight lackey, an overweight lackey’s fan, a tag team, a bunch of brainwashed followers or merely a butch or insane girlfriend, Stevie just wants someone to care for him. And who are we to deny him that?

Well, we are the fans, and we can deny him that if we try hard enough. And I’m sure Vince could REALLY mess it up. But why would we, or Vince, want to do that? Well, Vince might want to take him out if he’s part of the paternity suit… But that’s preposterous. So, for now, let’s just set out Stevie’s career, and see if we can’t make sense of it.

Origins- He was born. That’s pretty much the lot.

We, alas, do not know much about Steven’s upbringing. He hails from Philadelphia. Apart from that, it’s unknown. So we have to take some logical guesses. The most obvious thing to say is that his childhood was not happy. He did not get much, if any love from his family. That is, assuming he has a family. Who is to say that Steven’s parents were married, or even in a relationship? The bastard love child from a one night stand between a right wing conservative and a Masochistic prostitute, for example, would go a long way as to understanding his life. That’s far fetched, but an unhappy childhood with little true affection is a fairly safe thing to say. So, what do you do for a job when you are raised in Philly and are unhappy with the world?

And Tom Hanks doesn’t do it for you? (My god that’s an out-dated reference. Still, can’t think of any better ones, so it stays. Sorry.)

You wrestle.

Debut- Tito Santana vs. The Executioner, Pillman vs. Lyger, Richards vs. Jannetty.

Richards’ first important match is one that belongs in that group. Why? Because they were all first matches. In this case, February 25th 1992, Steve Richards vs. Jimmy Jennetty, a match that ended in a 20 minute draw, was the first match on the first ever card for a small group calling themselves Eastern Championship Wrestling. Steve, who at the time was a basic, simple guy with no discernable drive or emotions (a common ply most wrestlers seem to employ when they first start out. If I don’t act outlandishly, if I keep to myself and keep things simple, I’ll avoid any major attention, until I get some wins. Keep my head down for now. This rarely seems to work, yet is often attempted… Even by yours truly.), would spend the next year or so fighting, and losing to several key figures, such as Eddie Gilbert, Cactus Jack and Terry Funk. He tried, but his inexperience plus his lack of support led to a long period of losses. After several months, he would solve at least one of those problems, by finding himself the first of a surprising number of girlfriends, a girl calling herself Angel (#1). This led to him returning to ECW, at the HeatWave 94 event.

Phase 2- I was losing, now I’m winning, must be the act!

Unfortunately, Steve lost at that event, having to submit to Tommy Dreamer. This was an auspicious start to an important period of Stevie’s life, the least of which would involve him beginning to use Stevie as a name. After losing to Dreamer, Steve looked to two men for guidance, two icons to model himself after. Shawn Michaels, which lead to the Steviekick, and Johnny Flamingo? After choosing his role models, he broke up with Angel, and worked as a solo wrestler. For several months, he was unable to rise in the rough, general ranks in ECW, he just could not win. So he tried his luck in the tag ranks.

This proved disastrous, as now not only was he still losing matches, but now partners were turning on him, on a regular basis. By mid October, so enraged by these betrayals, Stevie took his idolization of Flamingo, to a new level. We saw Stevie Flamingo, Stevie the Body and Stevie Polo, all impersonations of various stages of Flamingo’s career. This was the first of many such stages for Stevie. Dressing up, pretending seems to be a strong effect on his mental make up. Stevie enjoys it, perhaps because this is a way to gain support and affection by pretending to be other, well liked people. But regardless of why he chose to pretend to be other people, something began to happen. Stevie began to win matches. At the time, he couldn’t see that this was a confidence issue, a support issue. He was doing better, and in his mind, it was because he was pretending to be Flamingo. That had to be the reason. And with this new boost in his confidence, sure that he had the support he needed, he challenged Tommy Dreamer to a rematch.

A rematch Stevie would promptly lose. At this point, Stevie could no longer keep his secret a, well, secret. He let slip about his ‘mentor’. The fans, generally, thought he would be revealing someone equally as insane and goofy as himself. The fans would be wrong. So very, very wrong.

Phase 3- What do you get the man who wants nothing? Why, 2 tag teams and Miss McGillicutty!

Because the ECW fans did not get Scotty Flamingo. Or Scotty Polo. They got Raven. And for Stevie, nothing would ever be the same. Stevie wanted to please Raven, so he got one more match against Dreamer, who Raven hated with a passion. And yet again, he rocked up in little shorts.

I’m sorry, I meant he came up a little short. This time, despite Raven’s assistance, Stevie fell to a fry pan shot to the groin. This made Raven upset. And when Raven got upset, Stevie got hurt. And that gave Stevie the perfect way to get what he so desperately needed and not seem weird. Stevie wanted, needed, acceptance and support. Now, he could lavish affection on Raven, give him many gifts, and generally act like a lackey. The fans would assume he just wanted to avoid getting destroyed. But really, Stevie wanted a relationship with someone, he wanted to do anything he could to keep Raven as a mentor and friend. The supposed fear of pain was the perfect cover story. And thus one of the most unusual and memorable relationships in Professional Wrestling began. But ass-kissing was not the only thing Stevie did. As well as copious sucking up and such, Stevie also began to give Raven even more lackeys. It started normally enough, Stevie presenting Raven with a couple of hired guns, The Broad Street Bullies. But they did not please Raven, so Stevie tried again, this time getting the Pitbulls, another, even more vicious tag team. After The Pitbulls showed their loyalty by destroying The Bullies, Stevie then produced his greatest find, Miss Beulah McGillicutty, the woman at the center of the Raven/Dreamer hatred. Stevie would continue to be Raven’s lackey and The Pitbull’s manager for the next few months, and would occasionally put the moves on Beulah, at one point even getting a kiss from her (#2). Later in the year, Stevie, despite surviving problems with Tommy Dreamer, Mikey Whipwreck and Public Enemy, he would face one of the toughest challenges in his time with ECW.

Luna Vachon.

Phase 3b- Stevie Richards, Babe Magnet?

Stevie had cost Luna a match against Beulah, and thus Luna wanted a match with Stevie. But that had to wait, after all, Raven and Stevie were the new Tag Champs of ECW, and thus could not set up a match for a while. Luna responded by getting a title shot for herself and Dreamer. It was about this time that Stevie developed a relationship with his biggest fan, a woman by the name of Francine. Stevie would often take time out from his managerial duties with The Pitbulls, or even in matches, to talk and kiss Francine (#3). This partly led to The Pitbulls losing an important match against the first incarnation of the Dudley Clan (Little Snot Dudley and Dudley Dudley), which lead to the Pitbulls leaving Raven’s control, but more importantly, it led to Raven and Stevie losing tag matches. Despite gaining the ECW Tag Titles, this was unacceptable to Raven. But he put up with it for a little while. At least until Stevie would destroy Luna once and for all, at HeatWave 95, in a cage match.

Didn’t quite work out that way. Stevie lost the match. Which is somewhat understandable, since she got Stevie in a testicular claw. But that didn’t matter, they were still tag champs. But Beulah and Francine then began to have problems, and would, almost like clockwork, get into a cat fight at inopportune moments. Eventually, Raven gave Stevie a choice. Beulah and Francine had a match, in which Stevie, as special guest ref, had to choose. Stay with Raven, or leave with Francine. He chose decisively, Steviekicking Francine to give ‘Raven’s Girl’ the win and ending his relationship with Francine. Stevie would then go on to lose the tag titles with Raven, putting his still tenuous relationship with Raven on tenterhooks. Last time that was going on, Stevie got Raven some lackeys. This time round, he got himself one.

Phase 3c- Want a job in ECW? Unless you’re a Dudley, be a fan of Stevie…

The relationship with The Blue Meanie began when they traded half-shirts, Stevie swapping a “RSPW Sucks” one for a Flock of Seagulls one. Stevie allowed the overweight fan to stand at ringside with him during the match, and others. But when Meanie would cost Stevie a match, he would be beaten backstage, similar to what would happen to Stevie if he cost Raven a match. Those who are victims in abusive relationships often become abusers later on. So while Stevie was pleased and happy with more support and affection, he still beat Meanie when Meanie screwed up, since that was all he knew in mentor/partnership relationships up to that point. Former tag partners had turned on him, Raven just beat him up.

One minor sidetrack in Stevie’s career comes here, when in a show in Queens, he finds Missy Hyatte at ringside. He offers her a date with Raven, for which he gets a kiss (#4), and promises of another, more intense act later on. But in early 1996, he was focused more on getting Francine back, obviously missing female affection. But his attempts to get her back led to a dog collar match between the two, along with The Eliminators on Stevie’s side and The Pitbulls (whom Francine had begun to manage), which ended badly for Stevie, being pinned by a woman again, this time Francine. It seems to be that a side effect of being needy in relationships is that you are more prone to getting pinned by women. Or maybe it’s just Stevie always picked women who had serious back up.

Stevie responded to this loss by suing Missy Hyatte over kissing him in the workplace, and thus sexually harassing him. This would last for a few weeks, while Stevie continued to help Raven and keep the Proto-Flock together. But while Dreamer and Shane Douglas had injured him, forcing him to begin wearing a catcher’s mask, he and Meanie began to have a bit of fun out there.

Phase 4- Start Spreading The News…

Stevie and Meanie began to parody other wrestlers, similar to the way Stevie did Raven months ago. Shawn Michaels and Diesel, the Blue Bloods, Baron Von Rasche and Goldust and chorus girls to send off Cactus Jack, the two men and woman, with Miss Patricia, a fan of The Blue Meanie and Stevie’s girlfriend (#5) joining in, until she was slopped by New Jack in the middle of a Godwinns parody and was never seen again. He was still continuing his legal suit with Missy Hyatte, until he agreed to drop it if she came out and made fun of The Sandman, who Stevie was having trouble with. She did, Sandman caned her, and she somehow ended up managing him, Sandman that is.

If the above doesn’t prove how chaotic ECW was, you’re either tough to impress, a fan, drunk or possibly some combination of the 3.

But the fans at the time had begun to cheer for Stevie and Meanie, enjoying their antics. This did not sit well with Raven, but he chose to ignore it, especially when he was injured, and Stevie, thanks to a clause in Raven’s contract, had to defend Raven’s belt against The Sandman, a fact you would assume Tazz would have remembered, but then he was not thinking like an announcer back then. Stevie would often be close to winning against Sandman, but Raven would continuously interfere. The friction nearly came to a head when Stevie lost the belt to Sandman in a tag match. But it didn’t end there, couldn’t end there, since Stevie still needed that support and affection. He’d have to find a replacement before he could even think of leaving Raven’s tight grasp. It would come from what he thought would be just another parody.

Phase 5- “On behalf of ECW and the Blue World Order, we have only three words for you: We’re taking over.”

It was just a take off of the nWo, the large and chaotic group in the midst of taking over WCW, (which was covered In Three Parts). The fan support was instantaneous and overwhelming. So much so that it gave Stevie enough love and support to finally do what many people had hoped he would, Steviekicking Raven near the start of 1997, and leaving him. The bWo would continue to run rampart, despite Chastity coming in one week (#6) and leaving the next to hook up with Raven, her brother. But then the injury bug would bite Stevie, in the form of Terry Funk dropping a guard rail on the back of Stevie’s neck, breaking vertebrae. He would undergo surgery, and this led to him leaving ECW. His destination? WCW.

Phase 6- “I $old out! I $old out! I’m very rich! I’m very rich!”

Stevie was in a strange land, and he thus turned to the one man who had looked after him for so long. He arrived in WCW, and immediately began to try and coax his long time mentor and friend, Raven, to sign a contract with the company. The money was better, and he wanted only the best for Raven. Before he had given him tag teams, now he wanted to give Raven a better contract. at WCW Bash at the Beach, Stevie tried to announce Raven’s signing to WCW, to which Raven responded with his typical response to most of Stevie’s efforts- a savage beating. But Stevie would forgive Raven, like he always did, because he needed that support and love, especially in a place like WCW, where despite a couple of wins and several losses, he wasn’t at home. But after Raven beat Stevie at Clash of the Champions 35, he lost that relationship. Without Raven, Stevie was completely lost. With no friends, no allies, no relationships, no support, he turned back to the only company he knew.

Phase 7- “F**k you, f**k you, f**k you, and f**k all of you. Thank you and have a good night.”

Stevie returned to ECW. He was upset, and was emotionally distressed. The fans did not help, thanks to the common attitude ECW fans had towards any wrestler who left the company for other ones (namely “You Sold Out” chants, which in WCW prompted Stevie’s reply quote as the above Phase’s title). And when he came back to ECW, the hatred from the fans seemed to drive Stevie. For the first time in his career, Stevie didn’t need someone else to give him affection and support, his self belief in his ability was such that he didn’t need it. He called himself “Superstar” Stevie, and was convinced that this time, he had it right. He cost Dreamer a match against RVD, he was on a roll, right?

He wasn’t, of course. He needed that support. He needed someone, anyone, to be there for him. He needed a relationship. Without that, he could not wrestle. He dropped out of the wrestling business completely. This seemed to be the end of Stevie Richards.

Phase 8- Suddenly

Nothing happened for several months.

Phase 9- Not quite Stevie Night Heat yet…

But then Stevie came back, and came back in the big leagues. Not returning to ECW, Stevie instead got himself into the WWF. He debuted for the first time to save The Blue Meanie, his long time friend and associate, from Al Snow. His first few weeks in WWF were similar to his first year in ECW, with no real direction nor wins. Meanie wasn’t giving Stevie the support he needed. And thus, he had to look for support from somewhere else. But Stevie was never that imaginative, as has been proven time and again. So like he went back to ECW when WCW failed, when he needed to find support from someone, anyone in WWF, he looked back to a period in ECW where he both got support from friends and got the fans on his side as well.

Phase 10- If you can’t beat em, impersonate them.

He started to appear with teams, dressed and acting exactly like them. He started by walking in from the crowd with Edge and Christian, complete in puffy shirt and gothic themed tights. They didn’t respond, so he tried the same with the Hardy Boyz. They chose not to “Give big brother a hug”. Mean Street Posse passed. Then at Unforgiven 1999, he tried to get into a teams’ good graces by pulling a double header, dressing up like the team, in this case The Acolytes (complete with the UPN symbol on his chest as opposed to the Acolytes’ wing dings), helping them beat the Dudley Boyz. They repaid this by beating the hell out of Stevie. The next night on Raw, he appeared as a Dudley, which met with about the same result. Impersonating Meat was also not well accepted.

He then approached Mick Foley, a friend from ECW. He asked, perhaps out of either nostalgia over the effect pretending to be the various faces of Raven way back when, or an attempt to get Mick as a mentor figure, he asked if he could become Dude Love. Mick agreed, but while Stevie tried, he just couldn’t be the Dude. (And thus made this writer look like a bit of a fool for forgetting to cover this in Dude’s ES.) He stopped pretending to be the Dude, and started to pretend to be something else.

A woman.

See, Jericho was having troubles with Chyna, stemming from the Intercontinental Title. On one particular Raw, Jericho looked into the audience for a woman to fight Chyna for him. He found a red haired, dress-wearing woman with a unique style and grace about her (sound familiar?). It was, of course considering who this Schematic is about, Stevie in full drag. He, alas, fell to Chyna who during the match stripped him of the dress and tissue stocked bra, thus continuing Stevie’s stellar inter-gender win/loss record. But this led to the next Smackdown, where Jericho wanted revenge on Stevie for losing. Stevie then came out, dressed like Chyna. Complete with thong and extremely pale ass. But Chyna interfered, and Stevie got his first major win in the WWF. The next Raw however, Chyna wanted revenge on Stevie, who had borrowed without permission her bra for his appearance as her. This time he appeared dressed as Jericho. Chyna beat him, but that only cemented his feelings for Chyna. After all, Raven was his best friend, and he beat him, and seemingly all his past girlfriends had at some point pinned him, so if Chyna beat him up and pinned him, it just had to be. He was in love! He serenaded her ala Elvis, and cost Jericho a match against the Godfather. But Jericho responded by injuring Stevie’s foot, forcing him to take a hiatus as he healed.

Phase 11- When in doubt, go backwards.

His injury was still playing up, thus limiting his ability. When he came back, Chyna was far out of his reach, so he once again went back to impersonating people, Test, Bossman. He teamed with Val Venis, with Essa Rios. Trying to find a friend, Stevie would scare people off with his over eagerness and general weirdness.

But with this general stonewalling, the more and more people turned their backs on him, the angrier he got. Dammit, he was Stevie, no, Steven Richards! Didn’t they know who he was? He had to show them. He had to show them the light. He had to prove that he knew better than them. But how? Well, what did they have in common? They all couldn’t see talent, obviously. They all didn’t know a good thing when they saw it. They were all too, too, decadent? No, not decadent, too sinful. They weren’t moral, that was it. Well, Steven could fix that. If they didn’t notice him before, he’d make them notice him now.

Phase 12- Worst theme ever, or your typical dance track?

All the people who had turned their back on him would pay. How? By being denied what they wanted. And thus Steven Richards, and the Right To Censor were born. While the morality and beliefs could very well have been genuine, it seems a little too convenient that all those that RTC went after (with a couple of exceptions, such as Too Cool and Rikishi, mainly those who sought out the RTC to fight) were those that Stevie, sorry, Steven had had problems with before. The Dudleys, Chyna, Acolytes, those they targeted were paying for their previous actions to Steven. They being those that Steven, with his experience of brain washing and seeing first hand manipulation back with Raven and his followers was able to get the support and affection from those he brainwashed. Bull Buchanan, The Go(o)dfather, Val Venis (who wore all white since he was still a trainee or new convert), and finally Ivory, who may or may not have had a relationship with Steven (#7). And Steven with his managerial experience, would get gold for the group, Ivory as the Woman’s champion, Goodfather and Buchanan as the Tag Champs.

But despite taking Chyna out, she would return and take the Women’s title belt off Ivory in a drastically one sided fight at Wrestlemania X7. The tag straps by that point were long gone. RTC did win The Kat as a member, but they used that power to get her fired, to rid the WWF of a stripping slut. But all too soon, his converts tired of Steven’s neediness, which still remained despite being the leader of a group. They all turned their backs on him in late April 2001, leaving The Undertaker to beat Steven up. Despite trying to keep going, Steven lost his way, as he often did when he had no allies or support, and he disappeared for a few months. In that time, WCW folded, and Steven went to work to find a new tag team. He found one in the ruins of WCW.

Phase 13- We smoke weed! We’re cool!

He found Kronik. Sorry, KroniЖ. And he had one goal in mind. Make The Undertaker pay for taking his allies away from him. He got Kronik and himself into the Alliance, and he set up a match at Unforgiven 2001, Kronik vs. Undertaker and Kane. He would make Taker pay.

Actually, Kronik was soundly beaten, as was Richards. Kronik left, and Steven was lost again, as soon as he had been found. He tried to get immunity, which failed. Stevie floundered for a bit, seemingly without a job. He would eventually get rehired to the Raw brand, and almost immediately win the Hardcore Title. But that was only half the story.

Phase 14- “She’s just so cute and cuddly”

Because the more interesting fact was that Stevie was in a relationship with current Women’s Champ, Jazz (#8). The week after they were first seen together, Stevie continued his unsurpassed record in inter-gender match ups by losing the Hardcore title to Trish. He would however regain it quickly, which proves he was learning from his mistakes.

But alas, almost immediately Jazz lost her Women’s title to Trish, getting injured in the process. He would wear shirts professing his missing her, but after losing the Hardcore title to Bradshaw, and seemed to break up with Jazz. He tried to go back to Raven briefly, who left him for dead, or at least to The Hardyz. Try as he might, Stevie just couldn’t catch a break, despite building a decent win/loss record. He tried to form a relationship with a chair, which failed, since anyone who talks to a chair is obviously no-one special. He tried sucking up to Raven, didn’t work. He tried to get Stacy to cane him, presumably to try to make her #9, but Test did it instead. But because of his attempts to woo Stacy, Steven hit the jackpot…

Phase 14- Steven becomes the luckiest guy on the planet in this column’s opinion.

Stacy didn’t want to be #9? Fine. Victoria was right there. And the two formed a bond based on pain and pleasure. Sure, Stevie had to wear pink, and was subservient to Victoria. But is that really so bad? And he got to actually pin a girl first off, beating Jackie! That’s a first for Stevie. But once he hooked up with Victoria, Stevie went on a winning streak. And overall, Stevie seemed to be very, very happy. I wonder why? I mean, what could a man gain by being Victoria’s special friend?

Yes well, let’s move on quickly then to Stevie Night Heat. See, this was, perhaps, an attempt to make the most of a bad situation. He saw himself being limited to Sunday Night Heat. So, why not take over the show, if you’re stuck there? Steven had seen Raven pull all the strings back in ECW, now that he was in a position to do the same, why wouldn’t he? Maybe Victoria liked playing intern…

Sorry. But Stevie’s attempts to mold the show in his own vision wasn’t intrinsically a bad idea. Sure, he was egotistical in his decisions, but is that such a bad thing? After all, did Richards ever force any of his employees to kiss his bare ass? Did he ever make women get down on hands and knees and bark? No, that was Victoria’s job to make him do. But Stevie Night Heat was just another scheme to get affection, or at the very least, respect from his fellow co-workers, albeit self interested respect. After all, you had to ‘respect’ Stevie, or he might put you in a tough match. Or worse, he’ll use Steviecorp’s mighty corporate power to make sure you’re credit is forever bad.

But then Victoria and Stevie broke up. Why? Perhaps she tired of Stevie, which seems to happen a lot. Or maybe he didn’t like Dancin’ Victoria, maybe too many bad memories. But while she went on to defend her Woman’s title and generally be hot and popular, Steven fell into a deep depression. After all, say it with me, he needs affection. So there was really only one logical course of action.

Phase 15- A little for columns A, B, C through G and V.

Red hair and dress, ‘The Mysterious Woman Who Could Not Possibly Be Steven Richards, No Way, No How, Uh Uh’ began assisting Victoria almost every week. She seemed confused as to why Stevie was doing this, assuming she had been listening to someone other than JR and knew it was Stevie. Wearing clothing he had worn in the past, doing what he had done in the past re assisting someone he was courting, generally acting like a putz, Stevie was trying desperately to get Victoria back. He needed companionship so badly, and his relationship with Victoria was one of the few times he seemed truly happy. It seemed destined, and yet, she did confront Steven early on in this period. At the time, Steven claimed that she would talk to the Red Head but not him. And he then went on two weeks later to accuse Chris Jericho, the one person in the company who might have remembered Stevie’s drag act from 99, of being the Red Head. Jericho responded by waiting for their match to start, then kicking his ass.

There had been confusion as to whether Stevie actually knew he was the Red Head. But it was cleared up at Unforgiven 04 when Stevie came out and saved Victoria from Travis Tomko, Trish’s Problem Solver, who attacked Victoria after she failed to win the Women’s title off Trish. Tomko then destroyed Stevie in a match that was hard to watch for many reasons, the least of which was seeing Stevie try to fight in socks.

After this humiliation, Stevie once again faded into the background as he tried to find companionship outside the industry, perhaps. However, as a new year dawned, an oaf of a man made an impact. On Stevie’s face.

Phase 16- The Masterpiece

For the Masterpiece, Chris Masters, debuted on Raw against Stevie, winning with the Masterlock but more importantly cracking his orbital bone with a stiff polish hammer. As Stevie recovered, and steamed, he made a brief lay over in a smaller company.

Phase 16b- ROH & StevieCorp, a winning combination!

Stevie, always on the look-out for companionship and to be accepted, decided to try and get some in ROH while he recovered. So on March 12, 2005, he appeared in ROH, Steviekicking CM Punk in the face (and thus establishing why they don’t like each other) to cost him the tag match and thus, hopefully, get Stevie some love from Samoa Joe and Jay Lethal, the guys he helped win.

Unfortunately WWE got wind of this, and forbid him from making any more ROH appearances, given they are competing companies and all.

A few months later Stevie returned, attacking Chris Masters then the following week getting beaten by him quite badly, although there was no injury this time round.

So, having failed to beat Masters and thus get any traction under him, he did what he often tended to do, and reverted. And lucky for him, a perfect outlet to do that was just around the corner.

Phase 17- To recap, on behalf of the Blue World Order, and not ECW, we have only three words for you: We’re taking over Again! Sorry, 4 words.

ECW One Night Stand. A celebration of all things ECW, a chance to look back, to relive, to reintroduce, and a perfect platform to re-launch the bWo. Which Stevie did, bringing in Blue Meanie and dragging Nova back out of Simon Dean. Although attacking everyone in sight involved in the main event was not the best way to start off.

But surprising many people, the bWo hung around for a little while after ONS, debuting on Smackdown after Stevie got traded over, Meanie pinning JBL one on one thanks to Batista, then the 3 of them losing to the Mexicools at the GAB.

And after this loss, not surprising many people at all, the bWo disbanded and once again Stevie was left all alone with no-one to call his own.

Phase 18- Getting paid to do nothing? Yes please!

By this time the stench of being ‘a loser’ was around Stevie, no matter what he did, he couldn’t shake it, nor get many wins, and thus no-one wanted to be near him. For nearly a year, Stevie pretty much stayed at home, quietly getting a paycheck, no-one missing him. Which is very sad, when you think about it. But then, once again, a chance to revert came calling.

Phase 19- ECW! ECW! ECW!

ECW returned, back and ‘better’ than ever. And, naturally, Stevie was there to be part of it, to once again get involved and thus recapture some of that lost joy and companionship he had back in the day.

Unfortunately, his career in the new ECW was very much like his old one on SD and Raw. Mostly losses, and no companionship at all.

Today- A glimmer of hope, possibly vanquished.

Today, Stevie is smarting. After a couple of weeks where he got shock victories over Kevin Thorn, on the last night’s edition of ECW, he got dismantled backstage by Thorn. Only time will tell if Stevie can recover, and if he can get that mythical companion he so desperately needs, now that Victoria is taken.

Dammit.

Conclusion