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Can Stevie Survive Without Texas, Inc.?

Posted: Oct 30th 2007 By: CMBurnham

The relationship between a manager and his charges often develops beyond the professional and there can sometimes be an almost familial bond amongst the people who come to the ring together to do battle. Since December of last year, that bond was present between the tag team of Texas, Inc. and their manager, Big Stevie Caballero. Since losing the ComPro Tag Team titles to Sudden Impact, that relationship has devolved into one of a dysfunctional family at best and this past weekend saw what some might consider an intervention, but most simply consider good riddance on the part of Texas.

For weeks, Caballero had been making mistake after mistake in his efforts to bring Tim Rockwell & Bernard Funk back to the tag team championships they held for 9 months. But each time, somehow Stevie's plans would backfire. Sometimes it was a mistimed interference. Other times a foreign object intended for Texas' opponents ended up knocking one of the Texans out and costing them the match. On several occassions, it appeared that Texas was going to physically accost Stevie, much to the fans' delight. But in every instance, either cooler heads prevailed or Texas simply walked to the back, trying to seperate themselves as much as they could from "The Texas Yankee".

On October 13, both members of Texas, Inc. engaged in singles matches. Rockwell faced FCW Tag Team Champion Romero Contreras in the dark match and Stevie promised not to interfere in any way. He held up his end of the bargain, but when he climbed up on the apron to try and talk to Romero, Romero reversed an Irish Whip on Rockwell and knocked Stevie off the ring. As Rockwell looked onto his fallen manager, Romero rolled him up for the win. Later, before intermission, Bernard Funk faced ComPro Tag Team Champion Sudden Impact 2 and Texas forced Stevie to empty his pockets, which resulted in an odd assortment of items, including a child's ninja sword, some brass knucks, handcuffs and pliers, amongst other things, all of which Stevie seemed to be prepared to use to win the match. Funk used the tape to tape Stevie's mouth closed, but that didn't do him any good as he still lost the contest, again due to a miscalculation on the part of Stevie. At this point, it appeared that Texas, Inc. had had enough of Stevie as they left him in the ring alone and walked away, never looking back.

The next week, Stevie came out to the ring in bad shape. Romero asked what was wrong with him and Stevie said this had all been part of his master plan. He called each member of Texas, Inc. to the ring, but no one showed up. Then, in a moment of true embarassment, Stevie urinated on himself in the middle of the ring while Romero looked on and laughed.

This past Saturday found Stevie once again in the ring at the beginning of the show, clutching a pillow and looking as if he wanted to go to sleep in the ring. Romero showed up and engaged him in an impromptu therapy session, discussing things such as the recent win-loss records of Texas, Inc., the power that titles gave you and Stevie's mother. The issue of his mother seemed to set Stevie off a bit, as he began to regain some of his confidence and stood up to Romero, poking him in the chest and saying he didn't want to talk about his mother anymore. But Romero wouldn't back down and, after putting up with the poking as long as he could, he scooped up Stevie and delivered an Atomic Drop. This brought Texas, Inc. down to the ring to defend their manager, but a double clothesline put them away. Romero then cleared the ring, leaving Stevie once again alone with Texas, Inc. Tim Rockwell took the mic and recapped the past few weeks, then announced that Stevie was FIRED!! Rockwell headed to the back while Stevie pleaded with Funk to let him stay. When Rockwell returned, he had Stevie's gear and threw it towards the building entrance, telling Stevie to get out. A dejected Stevie had no choice but to shuffle from the ring and leave Texas, Inc. alone while they basked in the newfound cheers from the crowd.

Efforts to reach Stevie Caballero have been fruitless. While both Funk and Rockwell have been successful in the first steps of their new self-guided careers, winning both their singles matches Saturday, it may take a while before they reassert themselves as the dominant tag team they once were. And while they proved they don't need Stevie Caballero to win titles (they won the NWA-U Universal Tag Team Titles without him), they always seemed more comfortable with him by their side. Funk has already shown that he doesn't quite know how to compete fairly, though Rockwell doesn't seem to have that problem. While it seems that the bond between Texas, Inc. and Stevie Caballero has been severed, nothing is ever permanent in the world of wrestling. And even if Stevie doesn't resolve his issues with Funk and Rockwell, he's shown before that his managerial guidance can lead others straight to the tippy-tippy-top just like he did with Texas, Inc.

Tags: ComPro, Texas, Inc., Stevie Caballero, Bernard Funk, Tim Rockwell, Romero Contreras