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Texan Business Merger Proves Beneficial To All Involved

Posted: May 27th 2009 By: CMBurnham

One of the longest-running factions in Oklahoma independent wrestling is the Texas Outlaws. Originating with Bobby Burns and Dan Wilder in the World Wrestling Empire, the Outlaws have seen factions run through WWEmp, OPW, OCW, SRPW, NWA-U, SECW and TAP. Along the way, membership has varied, but two of the most prominent members have been Burns and Bernard Funk, who also joined in the WWEmp days.

Funk is also a member of Texas, Inc., a stable that was formed in TPW consisting of Funk, his nephew Tim Rockwell and Ryan Davidson. Although Davidson eventually parted ways with the other members, Funk & Rockwell went on to become the most dominant tag team in Oklahoma in the 21st century, holding 3 different tag team titles in 3 different federations simultaneously. This year, Texas, Inc. made known their intentions to not only repeat that performance, but to surpass it. They've already claimed the MWA Tag Team Titles and last month they won the TAP Tag Team Titles. Recent weeks have seen them pursuing the ComPro and SWCW Tag Team Titles as well.

During the entire existance of both teams, they've maintained a seperate but friendly relationship. Except for TAP, neither team tended to be in the same federation as another, so there was plenty of room for two Texas teams and that worked fine. But that all changed on May 22 and the change probably won't make most of the fans happy.

Tim Rockwell demanded some time prior to his match at the TAP event and revealed to the crowd that Bernard Funk had not shown up to the arena yet due to transportation issues. This seemed to put his tag team title defence at jeapordy, but Rockwell had a plan. He formally declared to the crowd that Texas, Inc. and the Texas Outlaws were merging together as Texas Outlaws, Inc. And since they were now one unit, he invoked what is commonly referred to as the Freebird Rule, which said that any two members of the team could defend the belts. Since Funk wasn't present, Rockwell chose J. W. Hardin as his partner to face the team of Brian Blade and newcomer Dewey Sparks, Jr. Rockwell & Hardin, with Bobby Burns at ringside with them, struggled a bit since they'd never tagged together before, but were able to hold their own against Blade & Sparks until Rockwell & Blade hit simultaneous clotheslines on each other and both men lay prone in the ring. At that point, Bernard Funk ran through the entrance area, still in his street clothes, and began to strip down outside the ring into his gear (which he had on under.) As soon as he was prepared, Funk entered the ring, hit a Texa-kazie on Dewey Sparks who had made the tag to Brian Blade during the commotion of Funk's entrance) and then covered him. Referee John the Encourager counted 3, to the confusion of the fans, then announced to commentator C. M. Burnham that, because Funk was scheduled to be one of the original participants in the match, he was considered a "legal man" and thus his pin would count.

Not everything went the way of TO, Inc as Bobby Burns was DQed during the next match against The Unknown, but the point was made very clear. Texas Outlaws, Inc. is determined to dominate TAP and no one is going to question Texas' rules. They just make up their own. Tim Rockwell faced a similar situation in MWA when Bernard Funk was suspended for 30 days due to a sneak attack on Jake Boulder outside the arena. Rockwell was told he had to defend the belts in a handicap match on June 5, but manager Stevie Caballero's lawyers quickly found a loophole and Rockwell hired Boris Saarikoski as his partner for the MWA Tag Team Title defence against the Old School Express.

The merger of the factions gives J. W. Hardin his first tag team title ever and Bobby Burns his first tag team title in over 2 years, but more importantly, it give Texas Outlaws, Inc. a position of major power in the coming months. Unless someone can outthink them, it seems that the Texans are going to hold the TAP Tag Team Titles for a very long time.

Tags: Texas Outlaws, Bobby Burns, Dan Wilder, WWEmp, OPW, OCW, SRPW, NWA-U, SECW, TAP, Bernard Funk, Texas, Inc., TPW, Tim Rockwell, Ryan Davidson, MWA, TAP, ComPro, SWCW, J. W. Hardin, Brian Blade, C. M. Burnham, Jake Boulder, Stevie Caballero, Old School Expr