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Cothern Thankful To Be Rid Of Morbid As Partner

Posted: Nov 26th 2008 By: CMBurnham

The professional wrestling business is not one that easily breeds friendships. Even the closest of friends seem willing to throw relationships to the side if the promise of titles or money are presented to them. Long time fans will remember when Shawn Michaels threw Marty Janetty through the window of the "Barber Shop" set. Or how about when Ricky Morton slapped Robert Gibson in the face, saying he'd been waiting 10 years to do so?

Just this year, we've seen the demise of several promising tag teams and factions including Nemesis and La M. And while it shouldn't come as a surprise when it happens, it still does when a team that received such accolades comes crumbling down due to jealousy between the members.

The Gentlemen Thugs had finally acheived the greatness they had been touted as having. While both had seen title gold in singles competition (Shane Morbid with the ComPro Oklahoma X Division Title and Cast-Iron Cothern with the TAP Heavyweight Title), they had never been able to put together the pieces to capture some tag team accolades. That changed on September 20 when they took advantage of a worn-out New Canada and captured the ComPro Tag Team Titles. A month and a half later, they beat the Old School Express at their own game in an Old School Butt Whoopin' Match for the Southern Tag Team Titles. Dual champions and a unified front seemed to make long title reigns an ineveitability.

But along the way, the crowd's reactions to both members of the Thugs had differed. Never the most popular people, the crowd recognised that underneath the attitude and low-down tactics, Shane Morbid was, in FACT, a top-notch wrestler. He racked up an impressive win-loss record in ComPro and distingushed himself as possibly the best wrestler in the company (and possibly the state). Cothern, on the other hand, was a seen as a lazy, undisciplined wrestler who always boasted about how much better it was to wrestle in other places such as California. That, combined with his communist philosophy, gained him no sympathy except from their manager Boss Campbell.

But as long as the team was successful, both men continued to ignore the differences between them. Which is why it was odd that, the night after winning the Southern Tag Team Titles, Cothern did not arrive at the ComPro event, leaving Morbid to compete against newcomer Das Karnage on his own. Not that Karnage posed a tremendous threat to him, but still, the lack of support from Cothern was disappointing. It was replaced, though, with overt appreciation from the ComPro crowd, who cheered every devestating move Morbid delivered to the German competitor.

The next week, again Cothern was not there. Instead, he took a booking for the Insane Wrestling League in California to compete in the first round of their tournament to crown the brand new IWL Anarchy Champion. But there was more to it than that, as Morbid had been unable to get Cothern to return his phone calls or communicate in any other fashion. So again, Morbid came to the arena for singles competition. But before he could have a match, he questioned Boss Campbell about Cothern's whereabouts. Campbell claimed to have no idea, but Morbid didn't buy this and demanded that Cothern be there next week, a demand backed up by ComPro owner Mike Two when he announced that, with or without Cothern, the ComPro Tag Team Titles would be defended on November 22 against Legion 13.

When the show opened on November 22, it appeared that once again Cothern had left his partner high and dry, but after Shane gave Cothern a count of 10 to appear, "The Mucker" arrived with his ComPro tag team title in hand and entered the ring. Morbid immediately pounced on Cothern and demanded to know why he hadn't been in touch. Cothern claimed his phone had gotten cut off and he was sorry he wasn't there. Cothern then spent the next 5 minutes extolling the virtues of Shane Morbid, calling him his best friend and saying that it was because of Shane that he could get bookings in California in the first place. He also mentioned that he had talked to his mother's lawyer out in California about their contract with Boss Campbell. Cothern then proceded to lay all the blame for the problems between the two of them at the feet of Boss and publicly fired Boss in the middle of the ring, much to the delight of the crowd. After chasing him from the ring and calling him several unfriendly terms, he promised the crowd that they would retain their titles against Legion 13.

When it came time for the main event, the newly reunited Gentlemen Thugs stepped forward to meet the challenge of Jesus Rodriguez & Dutch Hagen, managed by Ray Martinez. The Thugs knew that they would have no one to negate the presence of Martinez, but they also knew that they could be just as sneaky and dirty as Martinez could. And they used all those tactics to counter the underhanded moves Legion 13 were putting forward. If there were any feelings of dissatisfaction between Cothern & Morbid, they certainly weren't apparant as the match progressed and after a time, it appeared that once again, the Thugs would be walking out the winners. But then Boss Campbell came out to the ringside area. While arguing with Cothern, he threw a blackjack into the ring to Dutch Hagen! Hagen used it to knock Morbid out and pin the champion, ending the reign of the tag champs at 2 months. The new champions and their manager left with their belts, but the previous champions weren't through. They cornered a terrified Boss Campbell in the ring and Cothern asked the crowd if they wanted to see him take Boss out. A strong affirmative was delivered and Cothern asked Morbid to hold Boss up. Morbid stood Boss up, Cothern bounced off the ring rope...

...and delivered a devestating clothesline across the face of his partner, Shane Morbid!

It had all been a ruse. Cothern and Campbell stood celebrating over the prone body of Morbid. Cothern took the microphone and explained that there was no way he would ever care about the cheers of the fans. He went on to announce that he was glad that he had lost the belts because he wanted nothing to do with Shane anymore. He said he was going back to California where he could make real money without having to carry Shane's carcus through a match. Boss Campbell grabbed the mic and closed by saying that if Morbid tried to him in the ring, he'd regret it. The slimy duo then left as referees came out to assist Morbid in leaving the ring.

And so another promising partnership ends thanks to professional jealousy. Cast-Iron Cothern has already been vocal about his actions on the ComPro message board, claiming he's so much better now that he is no longer associated with Morbid. There has been no response from Morbid and attempts to get information about his physical and/or mental condition following the attack have proven fruitless so far.

Tags: Ricky Morton, Robert Gibson, Nemesis, La M, Gentlemen Thugs, Shane Morbid, ComPro, Cast-Iron Cothern, TAP, New Canada, Old School Express, Boss Campbell, Das Karnage, Mike Two, Legion 13, Jesus Rodriguez, Dutch Hagen, Ray Martinez