• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

Devil Dominates Beginning Of 2011

Posted: Jan 14th 2011 By: CMBurnham

It's probably a fair statement to say that 2010 was not the best year for the Canadian Red Devil.

Although he began the year as the ComPro Showtime Champion, he lost that belt at the first ComPro show of the year. And that began a year that saw many more losses than wins. Despite appearing in virtually every federation in the state, the Devil made little to no personal progress. He rarely challenged for titles and appeared complacent enough to simply compete in matches that held no personal stake.

As a result, the masked competitor, who had been considered one of the top 5 wrestlers in the state by this website, saw his Top 50 ranking fall to #30. And perhaps that lit a fire underneath him as he began 2011 with 3 straight wins and the hope for even greater things to come.

January 6 saw the Devil open the MWA event in Spavinaw against Brandon Walker. Both competitors were very familiar with each other and had at one point been tag team partners in MWA. As a result, they were very cautious, sometimes moving almost in slow motion to try and psyche out the other on the way to victory. Walker's confidence, at an all-time overload since losing the mask of El Super Colibri and turning his back on the fans, believed he had the Devil dealt with and screamed the assembled fans "It's over!" while holding the Devil in preperation for the Defamation of Character, but the Devil reversed that with a double-leg sweep and a somersault pin to gain his first win of the new year.

The next night at the ComPro event in Tulsa, it was supposed to be a 6-man tag team match with Stevie Caballero's newly formed New Era 2nd against New Canada and Jesus Rodriguez. Apparently visa problems prevented the Canadian Luchadore from making it to the show, which left the Devil and Rodriguez in a 2-on-3 situation (2-on-4, if you count Caballero at ringside), but the Devil and Jesus were not ones to back down. Both teams made many tags, trying to keep a fresh man in the match, but with this many people involved, eventually it broke down and all 5 men were brawling in the ring. The Devil and Jesus were able to throw Chris Morrison & Richie Adams into the corner, then flatten them with Sam Stackhouse before charging into the corner themselves to add some injury. The Devil then locked the Sharpshooter on Morrison, but was unable to gain a submission. After the Devil released the hold and Morrison came to his feet, he got into a shoving match with referee Mark Wilson, earning Caballero's charges a DQ loss. This didn't stop the assault by the terrible trio as a post-match beatdown commenced, culminating with Stackhouse annhilating Jesus with the Black Hole Slam, almost flattening him over the Devil.

But the Canadian superstar was recovered by the next afternoon and made his final appearance that weekend at the MSWA show in OKC. Here he was somewhat surprised to find himself competing against his former tag team partner, SWCW Hardcore Champion Damien Morte. As the Canadian Cone Connection, this duo had engaged in a hot fued with the New Age Syndicate in 2009, but those days were a distant memory for Morte, despite the Devil's offers of a handshake and fair play. "I'm a bad guy now!" screamed "The Suicide Saint" and it was clear that this match would be no friendly spectacle. The match quickly spilled outside and became rather hardhitting with Morte seemingly in his element. But Morte made key error when he missed his somersault senton finisher, which allowed the Devil to roll him up and gain a 3rd win of the weekend.

The Devil offered congratulations to his former partner after the match was over, despite the lack of recognition he received at the beginning. Hopefully the Devil won't allow the "nice guy" attitude to undermine his momentum going into 2011. With Blake Albright out of the picture, the Devil must be considered a top contender for Dustin Heritage's MWA MAX-Division Title, especially with a victory over a former champion. He still has unsettled business with Chris Morrison, which means dealing with his new alliance partners. And he and 3rd Rail haven't received a title shot against MSWA Mid-South Tag Team Champions Greatness On Demand. The new year certainly presents new opportunities for the Devil. Now it's up to him to make the best of them.