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Nemesis Can't Defeat Their Greatest Opponent: Each Other

Posted: Sep 30th 2008 By: CMBurnham

When 2008 began, the landscape of SWCW seemed to change as the faction of Nemesis was formed. For most of the next 9 months, Damien Morte, Crisstopher Crow and Rage ran roughshod over the Oklahoma City fed, capturing the SWCW Tag Team Title. They also made inroads into MSWA and up to Tulsa at ComPro. Strength in numbers was generally their motto and they pulled off some amazing successes based on always having a member in backup.

But as with all good things, they have to come to an end. And the end for Nemesis seemed to begin when, no matter what they did, they could never get the better of Jason Kirby in MSWA. Humiliation, torment and defeat was handed to the little "giant killer", but he kept coming back and bringing friends with him.

Over in SWCW, things seemed to take a more disastrous note. Crow was expelled from the group in July for undisclosed reasons. And while Nemesis did briefly entertain the possibility of replacing him with Rage's brother Sage, that partnership didn't last any longer than one MSWA show. Morte, Rage & Sage were all beaten down by a furious 3rd Rail and Sage was blamed for the outcome of that event.

With only Rage & Morte comprising Nemesis, the pair began to feel the weight of the faction on their shoulders and that weight didn't set very well. Losses mounted, dreams went unfulfilled and tensions arose. It seemed that Morte was beginning to take a new approach to wrestling, realising he could get all the wins he needed to without resorting to underhanded tactics. Rage, meanwhile, was content to continue business as usual and embrace an "ends justifies the means" approach to winning. As related in a previous article, Morte's attempts to persuade Rage to his view resulted in increased bad blood between the faction members.

Rage had plenty to concentrate on at the last SWCW event. He had a chance to face his brother Sage for the SWCW Cruiserweight TItle. Not only could he put his name in the record books by winning a title, but he could also prove in his mind who the superior brother was. Sage, accompanied by Angel 3rd, came out to face off against Rage, accompanied by Damien Morte. And while Morte attempted to provide encouragement, Rage was not very receptive to the advice. The pair almost came to blows on more than one occasion, but Rage remained focused on winning the Cruiserweight title from his brother.

The beginning of the end commenced when Rage went to grab a chair from under the ring and use it on Sage. Damien Morte hopped up on the apron and grabbed the chair, telling Rage that he was "better than that". While the Nemesis partners were arguing, Sage hit an Enziguri and cleared the ring apron. He then grabbed Rage and dragged him inside, preparing to give him an 8-second ride, but Rage slithered out of that and hit an amazing Canadian Destroyer flip-piledriver which allowed him to pin the champion and win the belt.

The match was over, but the war was just beginning as Rage then stripped Damien Morte of his Nemesis T-shirt, saying he wasn't deserving enough to wear that shirt. Rage rechristened himself Rage Logan and said that he carried the faction the entire time. Now that he was Cruiserweight champion, greatness would be thrust upon him and, according to him, greatness was spelled "R-A-G-E".

Even a prolonged intermission wasn't enough to calm down these now-bitter rivals. Rage was the first guest on Damon Windsor's new interview segment, The Hollywood Hit List. Again, Rage took the opportunity to proclaim himself the supreme member of Nemesis and said he was the only person in the group who ever did anything. This constant bragging proved too much for Morte as he rushed in from the crowd and attacked Rage on-set. Security had to be called to keep them apart while the crowd chanted "Fight! Fight!"That would not happen this night and the bitter ex-partners were seperated and escorted from the building.

Even though Rage clearly announced that Nemesis was over as a faction, it seems that not everyone heard that. A surprise awaited Rage & Morte when they arrived the next day for the MSWA event and found that they would once again be forced to tag together in a Triple Threat match against The New Varsity Club and The New Style Angels, who were made up of former Nemesis members Crisstopher Crow & Sage. Obviously not interested in moving up the tag team ranks together or even the financial rewards of winning the match, Morte and Rage bickered like an old married couple for the duration of the match. At one point, the crowd begged for Morte to be tagged into the match, even though his partner Rage was in. This resulted in a brief one-on-one conflict which settled nothing. And nothing was settled by this match either as The New Age Syndicate burst in, causing a No-Contest. The Syndicate said they wanted everyone see what a real tag team looked like. It seems to go without saying that Morte and Rage no longer fit that bill.

With everything that has transpired, Rage Logan looks like a targeted man. He's got an unresolved issue with Damien Morte. He's got to face Sage in a rematch. And now he's the SWCW Cruiserweight Champion, which will bring many other people to him, wanting shots at that title. He sounds like a person who needs other people to surround him, protect him and help his title reign be long and fruitful.

Too bad that can't happen anymore...

Tags: SWCW, Nemesis, Damien Morte, Rage, Crisstopher Crow, Jason Kirby, MSWA, Sage, 3rd Rail, Angel 3rd, The New Varsity Club, The New Style Angels