That Was Then, Is This Too? 12.08.09: Superjobbers

Posted by Jasper Gerretsen on 12.08.2009

After an unscheduled week off, That Was Then, Is This Too? returns to look at a pair of jobbers-turned-stars.

Welcome to yet another installment of That Was Then, Is This Too?, the column that looks for parallel lines in all the right places. Unfortunately unforeseen events have delayed this column by a week, but I'm back now and better than ever. As usual, we have comments:

as usual, being tna. it doesnt make sense. if possessing the cases is all it takes. why doesnt a behemoth like abyss, matt morgan, or joe just wait to find out who has the fired case then beat the crap out of the three with the other case and have all three?

Posted By: jd (Guest) on November 24, 2009 at 01:31 PM

That's exactly the point I was trying to make in my column. It seems pointless to have a match like this when the outcome can be changed so easily.

The TNA version is both lame in concept and execution. Not only is the match a blatant ripoff of the MITB match, but just like TNA always does, they try to change it and be so different that it makes it stand out for all the wrong reasons. The 6 sided ring, reverse ladder matches, Feast or Fired, and reverse battle royals etc. are what TNA needs to lock away and pretend they never happened. It's one thing to offer something different, and it's another to be so different you alienate your fans. We want wrestling, not all these wacky rules and changed up stipulations that make the product look as if it's run by a 10 year old.

The MITB is still fresh, and makes a great tradition at Mania. It is a great concept and the WWE executed it in such an outstanding matter, and makes it really feel important. There's no stupid game show aspect to it. When the guy reaches up and pulls down the case, he has a guaranteed shot for any World title he chooses to go for, at any time he desires. That's a big deal for anybody who gets it, former champion or midcarder, you will pay more attention to him from then on.

To the guy who listed only 3 more ways MITB could play out, I beg to differ. I think it still has legs to shock us and be used in more ways than just 3. Here's what I got just off the top of my head:

1.Cashes it in at that Mania.
2.Cashes it in at the next Mania.
3.Cashes it in at a house show.
4.Cashes it in and loses.
5.Cashes it in while a match is still taking place, most likely towards the end such as after a finisher.
6.Cashes it on an ECW champion.
7.Gives it to someone.
8.Cashes it in during a Last Man Standing Match and pins during the count of 10.

All 8 of those would be frsh and exciting.

Those are just a few ideas, but I am sure there are other specific scenarios that would be pretty useful and shocking.

Posted By: Spoon (Guest) on November 24, 2009 at 03:47 PM

Those are some interesting ideas, although I really can't see 3, 5 and 7 happening. 1 and 4 could probably happen at the same time, but I doubt WWE writers have the patience for 2.

The MiTB and Feast or Fired matches make very good sense as they are a way to put somebody in title contention without some long build-up.

As for why a wrestler would participate in a match where he could likely be fired? Well why would a wrestler participate in an inferno match where they too could likely get burned just so they can burn their opponent? Why would a wrestler participate in a barbed wire match where he too can and will get cut up? Loser leaves promotion matches are nothing new. Hell they were a staple of the territory days. Was Russo bookin' them too?

Posted By: Guest#4617 (Guest) on November 24, 2009 at 08:08 PM

First of all, I never mentioned Russo. Second of all, in the territory days, a loser leaves town match meant that the loser would generally be able to find work elsewhere, while these days a TNA wrestler that gets fired is far less likely to find employment with a similar pay scale elsewhere. Finally, the gimmick matches you mentioned are used for a very different purpose, as wrestlers participating in them generally hate each other enough to be willing to risk their careers and their health just to get their hands on their opponents.

That leads us to banner! 2.0!



Colin Delaney was a typical indy wrestler, bouncing around the New York independent scene. He appeared in various NWA promotions, both as a singles wrestler and alongside of kayfabe brother Jimmy Olsen. The two were most famous for their appearances in CHIKARA, where they wrestled as a heel tag team with a comedic teeny bopper gimmick, that saw them coming to the ring to Britney Spears' toxic.

Like many independent wrestlers, he was given an appearance on WWE television when the show passed through his neck of the woods, working as a jobber. At only 5'11" and 150 lbs, he looked like the kind of guy you could get a victory over simply by shouting in his general direction. He was everything a jobber should be, bouncing around like crazy and never getting more than two shots in on his opponents.

In his first appearance he got absolutely destroyed by Shelton Benjamin, lasting just a hair over a minute and a half. This was nothing unusual. What was unusual however, was that Colin returned two weeks later to be served to Mark Henry. He only lasted a minute against the world's strongest man, and yet he still didn't seem to have learned his lesson. He kept coming back for more beatings, suffering at the hands of the likes of Big Daddy V and The Great Khali. Somehow they kept allowing him back into the ring despite needing more and more taping just to remain standing upright, and his tenacity caught the attention of Tazz, who repeatedly interviewed the kid before his weekly ritual murder. Before long Colin Delaney was a regular fixture on the ECW roster, somehow having found a dream job despite his size. Sure, he was getting reduced to a pulp in new and interesting ways every week, but he had still achieved more as a professional wrestler by age 19 than 90% of his colleagues.

Still, at this rate the dream would probably be over in a matter of weeks, as Colin was quickly reaching the point where they'd have to strap him to a ringpost to keep him standing upright. He somehow made it to the final show of January in a single piece, but it seemed like a vicious post-handicap beating at the hands of then-WWE tag team champions Miz and Morrison would be the end of his career, until the ECW original Tommy Dreamer made the save.

Meanwhile over in Colin's home promotion of CHIKARA, where they apparently don't get the Sci-Fi channel, Colin couldn't get medical clearance to wrestle on the Two Eyebrows Are Better Than One show that would open the 2008 season, proving that somehow a promotion that would consider an attendance of 1.000 people huge has more common sense in it than the billion dollar behemoth from Stanford. Colin ended up blaming his injuries on "an incident with a set of stairs while coming back from his Grandmother's dialysis appointment.", forcing his brother Jimmy to go at it alone against Sabian.

Colin was completely absent from the promotion by the time the annual King of Trios came around, forcing his brother and Brodie Lee to use Retail Dragon as a replacement partner. The team lost in the first round, and Jimmy began a quest to find his brother. It was Vin Gerard who told Jimmy where his brother really went, and in response Jimmy went on a rampage, trying to unmask several babyface wrestlers in a desparate attempt to prove Gerard wrong.

Over in the land of extreme, the alliance between Colin Delaney and Tommy Dreamer was going strong. Delaney was still taken regular losses, but with Dreamer's protection he was at least walking out of the ring in stead of being carried out. They even managed some success against the WWE tag team champions. They ended up being unsuccessful even in an extreme rules match, but Dreamer gave Delaney the confidence he needed to stand up for himself and become more than a stepping stone.

There was just one problem: Delaney still hadn't earned an ECW contract, and Armando Estrada, the president of ECW, demanded that Delaney earned his contract through a singles victory. Estrada even put Delaney up against his mentor, with the added stipulation that Dreamer would be fired if he lost to prevent any shenanigans. It wasn't until Estrada stepped into the ring himself that Delaney secured his win, scoring the upset with a sunset flip.

Estrada continued to torment Delaney, even giving up his position as general manager to join the ECW roster just so he could beat on him more. This ended up costing him everything however, as, after losing a match to Matt Hardy, he was immediately pitted in a match against Colin Delaney in which his job was on the line. He ended up losing to Delaney again, and was subsequently fired from ECW.

Tommy Dreamer meanwhile had become involved in a feud with reigning ECW champion Mark Henry, and it seemed like Delaney would be the key to Dreamer's victory, as he made a good foil for Mark Henry's manager Tony Atlas. To everybody's shock however, Delaney actually ended up costing Dreamer his shot when he shoved Dreamer just as he was on the top rope, crotching him and allowing Henry to finish him off.

The alliance between Henry and Delaney didn't last long, as the world's strongest man demolished Delaney after Henry lost a match to Matt Hardy. Delaney remained heel however, helping, of all people, Armando Estrada earn his ECW contract by beating former mentor Tommy Dreamer. In return, Dreamer easily destroyed Delaney in an extreme rules match. It would be the last major match Delaney was involved in, as he was released from his WWE contract due to budget cuts in August of 2008.

After his release, Delaney soon returned to his home promotion of CHIKARA, where many fans expected a happy reunion with his brother Jimmy. He soon ended up turning on his brother however, joining Vin Gerard and Stigma in the UnStable. Delaney had, for lack of a better term, 'gone Hollywood', appearing at shows wearing shirts advertising WWE PPVs, calling himself the Extremely Cute Wrestler and using moves like the FU and the RKO as finishers.

Of course he wasn't the first jobber turned extreme wrestler paired up with a hardcore legend we've seen...

That Was Then...

Mikey Whipwreck has always been somewhat of a cult figure among fans of the original ECW. He got his original break in the company when Paul Heyman saw him flipping around the ring he himself helped set up as part of the ring crew. He spent most of his time getting his ass kicked, but after months of abuse he suddenly upset Pitbull #1 for the ECW television title. He would hold on to the title for the rest of the summer of 1994. He got an unexpected break two weeks later, when Terry Funk was unable to make an appearance and he ended up forming a tag team with Cactus Jack. The two managed to beat the Public Enemy team of Rocco Rock and Johnny Grunge. They managed to hold on to their titles for just over a month.

Following the loss of the tag team titles, Whipwreck began to saw increased success as a singles wrestler, even managing to beat The Sandman in a ladder match for the ECW world heavyweight championship, making him the youngest wrestler to ever hold that title and the first wrestler to ever complete the ECW triple crown. He would make several successful title defenses, including one against Steve Austin, before losing the title to The Sandman again.

Late in 1995 Whipwreck reunited with Cactus Jack, and through a stipulation where multiple titles were on the line they captured the ECW tag team championships again while Whipreck also won his second ECW television title. They held on to the titles for five weeks before losing them to the Eliminators. Cactus Jack blamed Whipreck for the loss, and they feuded for several weeks. Whipwreck lost to Cactus Jack in his farewell match.

In late 1998, Whipwreck became another of the many ECW wrestlers that were pulled away from ECW by WCW. He mainly competed in the cruiserweight division and against fellow ECW alumni, but left after several months due to the fact that, again, like many ECW wrestlers, he was dissatisfied with the treatment he received from ECW management.

On his return to ECW, he soon fell under the management of the Sinister Minister, formed a new tag team with Yoshihiro Tajiri. The two managed to capture the ECW tag team champions, and would remain a team until ECW folded in 2001. Whipwreck wasn't signed by WWE, and would go into semi-retirement, making only sporadic appearances while also trying to pursue a career in pyrotechnics.



...Is This Too?

It seems that whoever wrote the Colin Delaney storyline was trying very hard to recapture the magic of Mikey Whipwreck, without actually doing their homework on what made the Mikey Whipwreck persona work. They took a small guy, let him get beat up a few times and then paired him up with an ECW legend and put them in the hunt for the tag team titles. What they didn't understand however, was that Mikey Whipwreck's popularity had very little to do with the fact that he got beaten up on a regular basis. In stead, the appeal lay in the fact that ECW fans could look at Mikey and see that he was one of them. He got his start as part of the ring crew, working his way in from the ground up.

And then there's the matter of Delaney's tag team partner. While Tommy Dreamer certainly is a hardcore legend in his own right, he simply can't match Cactus Jack for sheer insanity. Whipwreck was dragged along by Cactus Jack's madness, and often ended up taking horrid beatings because of it, which made Whipwreck an even stronger babyface. In comparison, Dreamer was more of a guardian for Delaney, and Delaney was actually a willing partner for Dreamer.

All in all, it seems that the Colin Delaney story was one last attempt by WWE's creative team to recreate a piece of ECW magic. Of course they abandoned the plan within weeks, turning Delaney heel for unspecified reasons, then releasing him because of budget cuts. Still, it was nice to see a young independent wrestler getting his fifteen minutes of fame.