wrestling / Columns
Tim’s Take 09.23.08: World Wrestling Entertainment of Honor
A look at the current WWE roster sees something that one would not exactly think about right away, but upon further review, look closer. Those are former Ring of Honor wrestlers doing big things in the big ring. For a company that prided itself on bringing wrestlers up from their own minor leagues, it’s surprising to see that while the quantity is small, the quality of the wrestlers that have been put in a position to do well has been pretty exceptional. A look at how they’ve fared:
CM Punk: Obviously the most successful of the former ROH wrestlers, Punk has been pushed hard basically from the get go, and has now been World Heavyweight Champion on the top show on the WWE Brand. His following has grown over his tenure and in just over a year, the emergence of Punk as a top-tier star has been a big boost to RAW considering the lack of John Cena’s presence. Right now, he’s about to be involved in a big storyline involving Randy Orton and his crew of second-generation degenerates. As successful as he has been, you’d think that he’s the guy who could make a run at the top of the country for a long time to come.
THE Brian Kendrick: Given the draft, Kendrick slipped under the cracks and was not thought of as someone who would make an impact. Three months later, he’s in the main event at Unforgiven. His rise as the cocky youngster with the muscle of BIG ZEKE backing him has turned him into one of the freshest acts of the year, and with it, he’s put himself in position for a run not unlike the man who trained him, Shawn Michaels. Although undersized, Kendrick makes up for it big-time in personality and performance. He knows what he’s doing in the ring, and I look for him to be a big part of SmackDown!’s future.
Evan Bourne: This guy has been a huge breath of fresh air into somewhat of a stale ECW environment. When he’s on the screen, people know something exciting is going to happen. He knows how to thrill a crowd, and that type of work ethic is going to help him out in the long run. While Kendrick has done it with some cool moves and charisma, Bourne does it with grace and amazing originality. His emergence on RAW lately as a guy who looks up to Rey Mysterio and tries to help him with Kane is only going to help him get noticed, as if the Shooting Star Press wasn’t enough. What’s funny about him is that while he was this big-time spot monkey and such in his ROH days, Bourne grew a bit of a personality as he was leaving ROH, and while we haven’t seen too much of it since his WWE run, I think he has a little bit in him that we haven’t seen yet. Hopefully, this storyline will bring it out.
Meanwhile, there had been a ton of wrestlers on the roster who had been a part of Ring of Honor at one point or another, but the three I mentioned above really made their name in ROH before getting to the big leagues. On the cusp are guys like Scotty Goldman, the former Colt Cabana, and someone like Matt Striker, who has made his case as one of the best talkers the company has, and is now the primary color commentator on ECW. I like that ROH guys are getting a chance to show their stuff on a national stage like they are, and it shows that while the territories might be dead, that the big company is still looking to pull from all over the place to have the best talent going. ROH has a few people now that might be worth a look, including Nigel McGuinness and Bryan Danielson, with Danielson getting plenty of looks. While it’s thought to be out of the realm for a Ring of Honor guy to be successful in a place like WWE because of size or lack of personality, the talent like the three I mentioned show that they do have a place in the grand scheme of things. Florida Championship Wrestling might be the WWE hotbed for their young talent, but considering who’s near the top of the card, perhaps a closer look at other resources might be in order to help them in their search to have the best talent in the country, if not the world.
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