No Major Contenders For Michael Barry
There are some people who are just too good to be true. And then there are some people who only believe that.
MWA Champion Michael Barry may have started as the latter, but given the situation in the company how, he might have become the former, as the top contenders' list for his title has rapidly diminished over his few months as champion.
Barry defeated MWA Champion Blake Albright for the title on July 10. The next night in Pryor, Albright received his rematch and came up short. This past Friday, Albright was put into a match against Barry's protege, Lars Manderson. Obviously, if Albright made it past Manderson, another match against Barry might have been possible. But Manderson used a pair of illegal knucks to knock Albright out and gain the win. One contender down.
Barry actually defended the title against Mitch Carter. Carter is by no means a heavyweight and has only competed once before in Oklahoma this year. Outsized and outmanned, Carter wasn't able to accomplish much with "Mr. Saturday Night." He did cause a pretty serious injury to Lars Manderson, though, after diving through the ropes onto "The Immaculate One" and busting open the inside of Manderson's lip. Lars ended up leaving ringside due to the injury, but that didn't prevent Michael Barry from being able to connect with the Saturday Night Special and retaining his title. Two contenders down.
Last month, Barry put the belt on the line against The Canadian Red Devil. It was an evenly contested battle and CRD certainly showed he was capable of taking the belt away. It just didn't happen that night. A rematch the next night for CRD's Showtime Title went in the favour of the Devil. But CRD & his Compound Varsity tag team partner, MWA MAX-Division Champion Justin Lee, scored what some consider an upset victory over MWA Tag Team Champions Texas, Inc. by countout and might now be considered for a title shot there. Three contenders down.
Back in April, TOPW Oklahoma Champion Brandon Groom made his MWA debut against Michael Barry. These two have a long past in NWA-OK, exchanging the NWA-OK Oklahoma Title between them in 2005. At the time, Barry was still something of a rookie and Groom hadn't yet spent a lot of time in Florida at the WWE developmental camp. When the faced each other again, it was a much harder-fought contest and both men used what they had learned in the previous 4 years to try and gain the win in the situation. Ultimately, Michael Barry was successful, but last month, Groom returned and took down TOPW Oklahoma Heritage Champion Shane Morbid. It seemed like Groom was on his way to working up to a title shot. However, rumours of professional conflict between Groom and MWA management seem to have made it unlikely that he will be appearing at any MWA events in the near future. Four contenders down.
Speaking of Shane Morbid, he had to be considered a top contender for the belt as he had one of the best win-loss records in MWA this year. But he turned his back on the fans and doesn't seem interested in challenging for the title. Five contenders down.
In January, Max McGuirk was in the Triple Threat Bullrope match that Blake won the title in from Tim Rockwell. Max was recently presented with a WWE developmental contract and has survived the recent round of cuts. His relocation to Florida and committement to the WWE prevents him from making a challenge for that title. Six contenders down.
So, in all honestly, who is left to challenge Michael Barry? The answer appears to be no one. All his strongest contenders are either uninterested, preoccupied with a tag team situation or out of the company. At this point, Barry can sit back and let the contenders come to him, because there isn't much of anyone who seems poised to make a challenge. When they do, they might find him to be a little soft, since the competition has dwindled. Or perhaps Mr. Barry is simply biding his time and tense, serpent-like. Perhaps no one believes they can match up to the reputation of the champion. Or maybe the next challenger is a lot closer than anyone, especially the champion, would like to think...
