• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

Adams vs. Stackhouse: All About Respect

Posted: Mar 26th 2015 By: CMBurnham

The most important quality in the professional wrestling business is not strength. Or charisma. Or technical wrestling knowledge.

The most important quality is respect.

Without respect, it is impossible to have professionalism. And even when wrestlers get involved in blood feuds revolving around deeply personal issues, there is still respect present.

But sometimes, obtaining that demonstration of respect can be very challenging. At the beginning of the year, Sam Stackhouse and Richie Adams faced each other in a 1-on-1 match. No titles at stake. No special stipulations. Just a simple match which Richie won with a Cutter from the 2nd rope. As Stackhouse and Adams are former stablemates from the New Era 2nd, Stackhouse believed that some measure of brotherhood from that time period would still be present and looked for a sin of respect from Adams when the match was over.

None was given.

Two weeks later, Stackhouse and Adams met again. Before the match began, Stackhouse took the microphone and talked to Adams, relating their history with each other. Besides being former stablemates, Adams and Stackhouse had actually trained together. They even debuted in the same Oklahoma Stampede. Stackhouse made it clear that he believed that Adams should show him respect and made a simple offer: If he could beat Adams in their match, Adams would shake the and of Stackhouse. Adams, who had refused the handshake before the match started, seemed reluctant to agree to this and instead simply wanted to focus on the match itself. And this motivation seemed to be what Stackhouse needed as he was able to pull out a victory. After the match, Stackhouse again insisted that respect be shown, but Adams walked away, refusing to shake the hand.

Adams avenged that loss two weeks later when he tagged with The Canadian Red Devil and beat Stackhouse and Michael Wolf. During that match, Stackhouse continually insisted that the handshake be honoured, but Adams refused to address this issue. Then on March 21st, things took a turn for the bizarre. Stackhouse was originally scheduled to compete that day but had to have emergency dental surgery earlier in the week. Doctors would not clear him to compete on that card. Nonetheless, he showed up at the arena obviously under the influence of pain medication and attempted to get the handshake he so desperately wanted from Adams prior to the tag team match between La Famiglia and the duo of Adams and CRD. ComPro commissioner Mike Iles as well as several ComPro referees escorted Stackhouse to the back and the match began, but before it was over, Stackhouse would reappear, this time coming through the front entrance and wearing only boxers and a t-shirt. Adams abandoned the match and Thomas Knight and Wade Argento apparently picked up a win over the Devil, which allowed Argento to claim a title shot at the next ComPro event. This decision would be reversed after the referee saw the brass knuckles that Argento used, but by that point, Stackhouse and Adams were far removed from the area.

Stackhouse was not present at the March 7th ComPro event and seemed to have abandoned the issue by March 21st, but it seems quite likely that somewhere in his head, he still wants an acknowledgement from Adams of their past. And Adams may want to reconsider his position in this as well. After all, there may come a time when a sin of respect is all that saves Adams from a serious beating at the hands of an angry giant.