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Big Stevie Caballero: Desperately Seeking a Winner!

Posted: Oct 18th 2006 By: CMBurnham

Since making his debut as a manager back in April, Big Stevie Caballero has been unable to fulfill his major ambition in this business: to guide a wrestler to a championship. And although he came ever-so-close this last Saturday at the Mayor's Fall Festival in Wagoner, once again Stevie was frustrated in his attempt to dethrone Rocco Valentino.

Caballero's tenure in SRPW was full of in-ring victory, even though there was never any gold in his possession. His guidance of the career of Tommy Smash allowed Smash to break out of the tag team division when he turned on his championship partner Pork Chop. Caballero and Smash would hound Pork Chop for the rest of SRPW's existence. Caballero also took 2-time SRPW Champion Shane Morbid under his wing and was even a brief member of the P.I.N.K. Nation when they brought Morbid into their fold. But when the Nation forced SRPW to shut it's doors, it appeared that Caballero's run as a manager was over before it had really begun.

Fortunately, the end of SRPW also marked the beginning of COMPOUND Pro Wrestling and Caballero found his way in there, thanks to a joint show featuring from COMPOUND and FCW (where Stevie made his official debut). But the road in COMPOUND hasn't been as easy as it was in SRPW. Caballero is determined to bring some gold into his possession and signed several wrestlers in succession, all of whom have failed him. First, Caballero signed long-time nemesis Pork Chop, in an attempt to take the FCW Title away from Michael York. This failed and Caballero fired Pork the next week. Caballero then turned around and hired Michael York, who was booked in a title-vs-title match against NWA-U Oklahoma and COMPOUND Pro Champion Rocco Valentino. Caballero figured that he could buy one title and win 2 others, given the success York had achieved in his rookie year, but York didn't seem to benefit from Caballero's guidence and Valentino won the FCW title, establishing what is now being referred to as the first Oklahoma Triple Crown.

Caballero then took desperate action, subletting space on this very site so that wrestlers could fill out application forms and he could choose the best talent that was interested in working with him. And he chose well when he signed AACW Mid-American Light Heavyweight Champion Dexter Hardaway, who had been embroiled in a heated feud with Rocco Valentino that stretched back to the closing days of TPW. Caballero led Dexter into combat in Wagoner and it looked like things were finally going to go Stevie's way, as Dexter defeated Michael York in the first show held there. Dexter then took the microphone and announced that the time had come for his match against Rocco. Rocco didn't repsond to that announcement, but after he defeated Bernard Funk, Dexter and Stevie attacked Rocco in the ring and the Oklahoma Legend had no choice but to step up and defend his honour (and the COMPOUND Pro Title) against Hardaway.

That evening's second show began with this match, 6 months in the making. It was a hard-fought bout for Rocco as his opponent, though smaller and less experienced, controlled most of the match. But some poorly timed interference from Big Stevie and a well-applied STF submission hold in the middle of the ring put Dexter in a bad situation. To his credit, Dexter did not submit, but it didn't make Caballero happy when Dexter passed out from the pain, once again leaving Caballero without the COMPOUND Pro Title he so desperately wants.

Oklafan contacted Stevie Caballero to see what his future plans with Dexter were and this was the response we got: "I should have known Dexter didn't have the goods to get the job done. Even I beat that guy once for a title. Yeah, really, it's true. Back when I was the best ringside photographer on the circuit, I pinned him for the SRPW Hardcore title. Why the heck did I even think he would be able to beat Rocco? He needs to go back to the tag team division, where he can do what he's best at, playing second fiddle. He was nothing but a waste of my time."

At this point, the future plans of Big Stevie are up in the air. He won't reveal the names of other COMPOUND stars who filled out online applications for his services. But it is possible that he might not be looking within the confines of COMPOUND at all. Former client Tommy Smash is currently a member of Corporate America, but the right amount of money might convince Talon to lease out her newest charge. And former WWE star Brent Albright is now making appearances around the country. Might Caballero bring in the one man who knows Rocco Valentino better than anyone else? If so, the possibility of Big Stevie shouldering some gold might finally happen.