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Brass Ring Continues To Elude Albright

Posted: Sep 24th 2008 By: CMBurnham

No one said it was always easy coming from a wrestling family. While it's true that it opens many doors, it also places a huge amount of pressure and expectations on the shoulders of the individual concerned.

Such an individual is Blake Albright.

Albright's wrestling connections are extensive. As a cousin to the Valentino family, he already has "The Oklahoma Legend" Rocco Valentino to live up to. But more importantly to him is his older brother, "The Shooter" Brent Albright.

Blake's wrestling career started just last year on November 17, 2007 when he entered the tournament to fill the vacant ComPro Oklahoma X Division Title. He advanced all the way to the finals before being defeated by Bernard Funk. It seemed that he had made an impact and would be receiving some return title shots in the near future.

But that never happened. Funk would eventually lose the title to current ComPro Tag Team Champion Shane Morbid. And during a match between Morbid and Blake, Blake suffered an injury to his hand which put him out of action for several months.

Blake made a couple of sporadic appearances at ComPro and NWA-OK while fully recovering and then announced his full return to the ring at the MWA event in Spavinaw, OK on September 5, 2008. It almost seemed like history was repeating itself. Albright again advanced to the finals of the tournament to crown the 1st ever MWA Champion and faced Tim Rockwell, Bernard Funk's nephew, in that final match. Thanks to interference by current IZW Champion Michael Barry (who was paid off by Rockwell and his manager Big Stevie Caballero), Blake again went home without any gold. While he would gain some revenge the next night at the ComPro show by defeating Michael Barry, it still didn't get him any closer to his first championship.

Two weeks ago, Blake competed in a non-title match against ComPro Oklahoma X Division Champion Justin Lee. It was a very evenly fought match and that should be expected as Justin and Blake train together and know each others' moves. Blake pulled off what might be considered an upset victory in that match and, with Justin being the fighting champion he is, he offered to defend his title against Blake in a rematch the next week at Night of Champions X.

It was one of the best X Division matches in the history of ComPro. Both men showed off their speed, agility and wide arsenal of moves to try and claim that X Division title. Neither man fell victim to many of the signature moves of the other, as their experienced training together allowed that factor to be negated on both sides. But in the end, the 6 year ring advantage of Justin won out over the exuberance of Blake and once more, Blake found himself emptyhanded after a championship match.

This time, though, it seemed like things might turn out a little different. After the match, Justin extended his hand to shake Blake's and uphold the tradition he fights for of integrity in the X Division. Blake stared at Justin's hand for several seconds, then moved forward. But instead of shaking the hand like everyone expected, Blake slapped Justin's hand away and left the ring.

Perhaps it just wasn't a good night for the Albright clan, as Brent lost the NWA World Title back to Adam Pearce at a Ring of Honor event. Or maybe, deep inside, Blake is beginning to feel frustrated. He constantly has to endure the comparisons to his brother and the rest of his extended family. All of them have held titles. Blake might feel left out. Hopefully, this is something he can work his way through as it would be disappointing to see Blake turn his back on his friends and the fans at such an early point in his career.

Tags: Blake Albright, Rocco Valentino, Brent Albright, ComPro, Bernard Funk, Shane Morbid, Tim Rockwell, Stevie Caballero, MWA, IZW , Michael Barry, Justin Lee, NWA