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Founding Fathers Of EP At Odds?

Posted: Dec 9th 2010 By: CMBurnham

Everything was fine in Excellence Personified at the beginning of the year. And then current ComPro Showtime & TAP Tag Team Champion Michael Barry lost the MWA Title to Jeff Starchild.

It wasn't the loss that caused the problem. It seems to be that he never got a rematch. But ComPro & TAP Tag Team Champion Jack Legacy DID get a shot at the title. And he made good on it, thanks in part to assistance from Mike Iles. Now some people would say that everything should be okay because the title is back in the possession of EP. But it seems that at least one person doesn't see it that way.

Not only is Barry not champion, but his win-loss record this year hasn't exactly been stellar. While these past two months have seen Barry string victories together, that wasn't exactly the case for much of 2010. Meanwhile, Jack has been racking up victories (although his defence of the MWA Title has been rare so far).

Last month in Spavinaw, Legacy introduced a new interview segment called "The Heartbreak Lounge". He opened his first segment with Brad Michaels accompanying him and said that since he had beaten Brian Breaker and Butch Reed, he didn't have anything to prove anymore. He then brought Barry out as his first guest. Barry seemed surprised to be there, but said he was honoured and told Jack the belt looked good on him. Jack called Barry a "good follower" and then recapped some events from one of the recent radio broadcasts where Barry said that he was "loaning" the title to Legacy. Barry said that there were some things said in the heat of the moment that weren't true. Jack said that everyone knew he was better than Barry and pointed out that Barry was the only regularly active member of EP in MWA without gold. Barry tried to bring up that he trained MWA MAX-Division & ComPro & TAP Tag Team Champion Dustin Heritage and if it weren't for Barry, Dustin wouldn't be anywhere, but Jack countered by saying he was in the 2nd-ever Tai Pei Death Match and asked what Barry could claim to equal that? As friction built between the men Barry went so far as to call Legacy a bore before Michaels stepped between them to calm things down, then threw a little zinger in by saying that Barry was "2nd best".

The following month, it seemed that everyone was back on the same page. Legacy made a successful title defence against UWE & MERC Tag Team Champion Max McGuirk, despite competing with an injured foot. McGuirk was a ball of energy who assaulted Legacy from practically every direction at once. After taking out Legacy & Barry with a plancha over the top rope, McGuirk then destroyed the ringside bell table by throwing Legacy across it not once, but twice. Legacy eventually schoolboyed McGuirk and had to grab the ropes for leverage, but did escape with his title intact, much to McGuirk's irritation.

When main event time came, Michael Barry was supposed to face off against Jeff Starchild. But Starchild was late to the event and Barry knew he wasn't ready, so he took the opportunity to run down the crowd. Legacy was in the ring with him and after Barry was through, noticed that Starchild's girlfriend was in the audience. Barry saw a chance to really get under Starchild's skin and referred to her as a "4th rate Kardashian". This brought Starchild out, irate and ready to get at anyone, but mostly at Barry for his comments. Starchild took all the frustration over Barry's ill-timed comments out on his opponent and was going to the top rope when Legacy shoved him off of it, earning a DQ. McGuirk then returned to assist Starchild from being the victim in a gang-beatdown. He took the mic and said that EP had been cheating all night. He then challenged them to a tag team match. Iles said that Legacy had already beaten McGuirk and Barry had Starchild beaten. Barry called Max & Jeff "The Olsen Twins" and "Paris & Nicole" and said Starchild would disappoint his 4th -rate girlfriend and Max would disappoint his "blind, dead Grandfather" if that match happened. Legacy said they had nothing to prove so they would just go get in the limo. And then Mike Iles said that they would accept the deal. This was an announcement that didn't seem to have been discussed with Barry & Legacy, but the bell was rung and the match was on.

With both Barry & Legacy competing on bum wheels, it wasn't too much of a surprise that Max & Starchild dominated the match. That is, until Iles called Dustin Heritage out to the ring. Dustin dove into the ring and battled with Max to the outside. Meanwhile, Barry held Starchild from behind while Legacy prepared to break his jaw with a punch. But Starchild avoided the punch and Legacy knocked Barry on the face. And Barry turned 15 shades of red as his anger almost boiled over at this. Starchild went on to win the match, but Barry wasn't done and after Starchild & McGuirk had left, Barry called Legacy back and this was where things got very interesting. Barry complained about the instances where he had the match won for EP, but they messed it up. He then turned to the fans and said that he had never pandered to them, but maybe they were right about EP. Barry finished by telling his fellow stablemates that "you three jerk-offs can talk about it later."

All this discontinuity can't sit well for the faction that has dominated most of 2010. Barry has a defence of his ComPro Showtime Title on December 18 against Tim Rockwell. And Dustin has put his title up against the career of Blake Albright at the January MWA event. And Legacy will be defending against Starchild at that same event. Mike Iles desperately needs to keep his camp under control if they are going to be the dominant unit in 2011 that they were in 2010.