Rockwell's Return to Oklahoma Wrestling Less Than Spectacular
It’s been a couple of months since we last saw TAP Tag Team Champion Tim Rockwell in an Oklahoma ring. In that time, he became a father for the first time and had time to rest and recuperate from various injuries. The time off also caused him to refocus on his in-ring career and that Rockwell has vowed that he will once again be a singles champion in the state. Based on his performances this past week, it may be harder for him to achieve that goal than originally thought.
Rockwell and his manager Stevie Caballero opened the MWA show Friday in Spavinaw. He reminded everyone that when his uncle, Raymon Downey, was commissioner, he was put in the first ever Triple Threat Bullrope Match in Oklahoma history, a match he lost. He never got a title rematch in the one year since that match had been held and he wanted that rematch that night. MWA Commissioner Mike Iles pointed out how Timmy had come to rely on the assistance of both his uncle Raymon and his uncle Bernard Funk, but they were both gone now and there was no “family advantage”. He also acknowledged Timmy’s accomplishments in MWA, but said MWA had 3 titles and that Tim had never been the MAX Division Champion, so he was going to give him a chance to earn a shot at that title by putting him in a Triple Threat Match against The Canadian Red Devil and El Super Colibri later that night.
Rockwell had things well planned out in the Triple Threat, spending much of the opening minutes of the match sitting at ringside and not getting caught between the other two combatants. Picking his shots carefully, he gained an upper hand for a time, but CRD & Colibri had no problems setting aside their differences and working together to overcome the challenger from Texas. In what could be considered the move of the night, the Devil was able to put Rockwell in the Camel Clutch and Colibri in a Boston Crab..simultaneously. This showed the ingenuity of the Devil and and the flexibility of Colibri, who withstood the pain without tapping out. And to Rockwell’s credit, he screamed in agony, but never submitted.
The match finally ended when Colibri connected with a crossbody block off the top rope. TAP Oklahoma Heritage, MWA MAX-Division and ComPro Champion Shane Morbid jumped in at this point and began a post-match attack, something Rockwell wanted nothing to do with. He was already thinking about his surprise for the next night in ComPro.
Rockwell had last been seen in ComPro on November 7, 2009, when he had lost a match to the Canadian Red Devil which resulted in his being suspended for the remainder of the year. He had left with the fans’ respect, admitting that the Devil was the better man and thanking the fans for coming to support him and the others. No one was sure when he would return. And no one expected what they got.
Night of Champions XVIII began with a Triple Threat Match seeing Chris Chaos, Sam Stackhouse and Ty Thunder locking up. Stackhouse seemed the obvious favourite in this one, based on his size, but try as he might he wasn’t able to get the win. Then, as the match seemed to be coming to an end, Dexter Hardaway hit the ring with a steel chair and wiped everyone out! Hardaway, who had not been in ComPro for about 6 months after being severely injured in his Last Man Standing match with Shane Morbid, stood in the centre of the ring and said the match sucked and Night of Champions needed some excitement, or rather, some “entertainment”. ComPro owner Mike Two appeared on the scene and said that Dexter wasn’t the only one to make a reappearance that night. He then brought Rockwell (who was only announced by that name) out. Rockwell said he was there because of the fans. He noted how 6 years ago, Dexter had trained him, but now he was better than Dexter. He said that Dexter taught him how to be a nice guy, but that Dexter was actually a punk. He then ran down a list of recent accomplishments and asked Dexter what he had done recently. Dexter took the opportunity to slap Rockwell in the face and the match was on. The fans, who for so long had loathed Rockwell with every fibre of their being, had a hard time bringing themselves to cheer him, but Dexter’s tactics and cowardly behavior helped out quite a bit. It didn’t bring success to Rockwell, though, as Dexter resorted to a handful of tights to gain the win. Rockwell was upset and grabbed the steel chair that Dexter had brought to ringside, then chased him back to the dressing area with it.
Two matches and two losses is not the most auspicious way to begin a year, but there’s plenty of time for Tim Rockwell to turn things around. All he needs is the right focus. In the past, that has been tag team gold, although singles has been known to work as well. There’s plenty of qualified champions who would love to notch up a victory over a former #1 wrestler in the state. Rockwell needs to remain aware of that if he intends to keep his reputation alive throughout the year.
