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Rockwell, Devil: Is It All Or Nothing For These Two Stars?

Posted: Mar 3rd 2012 By: mikeiles

Two of the top stars in the state have growing hostile feelings towards each other, which is odd since they haven't stepped in the ring one-on-one since the beginning of the year.

It started very calmly. Tim Rockwell was the ComPro Champion. The Canadian Red Devil wanted that title. But in order to get a shot, he had to work his way through 19 other guys in the annual Oklahoma Stampede. He had a significant advantage in that by coming in last and did gain the win when he eliminated Richie Adams. Securing that victory put him into the title match later that night, but an unexpected appearance by ComPro Showtime Champion Brandon Walker eliminated any hope the Devil had of capturing the Heavyweight Title. To compound the problems (no pun intended), Walker then cashed in his Any Time, Anywhere contract and beat a fatigued Rockwell for the title himself. Rockwell was upset at the Devil. The Devil was upset at Rockwell. Both men were upset at Walker. And the fires of the feud smoldered for the next few weeks.

The intervening time saw the Devil victorious in UWF06 over Kunna Keyoh and then capture gold of a different sort when he beat Shane Scott, Tyson Jaymes & Sean Pearl for the vacant BYEW Caution Title. Rockwell, in the meantime, kept spoiling Walker's plans by interfering in a tag team match with Walker and UWE Champion Fuel against The Commission. This brought the Devil's win-loss record to 4-0, while Rockwell had yet to claim a victory and had lodged 2 losses in 2012.

ComPro commissioner Mike Two banned the Devil from competition at the next ComPro event, but Rockwell and Walker were set to have their rematch. That came, though, after Walker was forced to defend the Showtime Title against Steven Sterling. Walker took the cheap way out of that, kicking Sterling below the belt while the referee was distracted and getting an easy pin. Following that, there was a brief beatdown of Sterling.

Slightly worn out from his confrontation with Sterling, Walker was not really of a mind to have a match against Rockwell. And he repeatedly tried to leave during the match, eventually getting so frustrated that he grabbed his belt and tried to walk up the aisle. He knew that a countout would preserve his championship reign. Sterling knew this as well and met him in the aisle, throwing him back in the ring. But referee Chance Snodgrass saw this as outside interference and called for the DQ, resulting in another cheap win for Walker. Now, in addition to the Devil, Rockwell had an issue with Steven Sterling (and yet another loss to his record, taking him to 0-3)

Mike Two could see things getting out of control and set up the main event for the next show. 3 men, 2 titles 1 match. Rockwell, Sterling and Walker would all face off in a two-fall match. The first fall would be for the Showtime Title, the second for the Heavyweight Title. No word came regarding the status of the Canadian Red Devil. And the issues between Rockwell and Walker continued to boil over. Rockwell gave an open challenge at the UWE event on February 11 to anyone EXCEPT Walker. Walker presented a challenger in the form of The Mercenary. It was a brief match with Rockwell very frustrated about how to handle things and eventually being content to take a countout loss (0-4). But it wasn't the last that fans saw of Rockwell that evening as he made his presence known in Walker's UWE United States Championship defence against Christopher Fury. As Walker had Fury set for a pin, Rockwell came out and rang the bell. This confused the referee since he didn't order it to happen. Walker exited the ring and chased Rockwell around it, then followed him back in where Fury hit a Shining Wizard on him for the win and the title. Just one more bit of explosive material for the combustion between the two men.

When February 18th came, it could arrive soon enough for all men involved. And the show opened with Mike Two, the Canadian Red Devil and Tim Rockwell in the ring. Mike Two acknowledged that the Devil had a legitimate case towards being the #1 contender as he was not beaten in his match against Walker. But he wanted the Devil to remain backstage during their title match. Rockwell promised to walk out as champion when everything was over and said that if the Devil interfered, it would lead to disastrous things for the masked star. A face-to-face moment occurred between the two and Mike Two ordered them to the back so he could start the show.

The Devil continued his winning ways by defeating Cobra Kai, taking his record to 5-0 for the year. But all the interest lay in the main event. All 3 men can be skilled technical competitors when they want to be. Rockwell has been proven to be a deceitful brawler when necessary and Walker has shown that he's not above resorting to underhanded tactics himself. Sterling's career in Oklahoma was fairly nondescript, as he'd had a brief run as Showtime Champion, but no other significant moments aside from that. So this was a chance to prove himself and he didn't disappoint. Sterling captured the first of the two falls, reclaiming the Showtime title after forcing Walker to submit to the Even Steven. He was so excited about once again being champion that he almost didn't realise the second fall was beginning. He tried to do the same thing in the second fall, but Rockwell broke the submission up. Rockwell then struck with a vengeance, laying both of his opponents out after a thunderous Superplex/Powerbomb combination. But at that point, the Devil's music began to play and all eyes turned to the entrance way. Rockwell was irate, believing that the Anti-Hero was on his way to the ring despite Mike Two's orders. He exited the ring, which gave Walker a chance to catch his breath and pin Sterling before Rockwell could get back in to stop it. 2 falls. Both losses. Rockwell stood at 0-6 with nothing to show for it and finally the frustration overwhelmed him. Rockwell stormed to the back and the sounds of chairs could be heard clattering on the floor as Rockwell stormed through the dressing area. But no one emerged and no explanation was given.

Both men went on have a bit of a reversal of fortune in the past two weeks. The Devil DID make a successful defence of his BYEW Caution Title against Crossfire Morrison and also added the Independent Wrestling International Title to his resume, but he sufffered his first loss of the year to Dustin Heritage along the way, bringing his current record to 7-1. Rockwell was able to continue his issues with Walker on TWO feds last Saturday, as he faced Walker one-on-one in UWE's debut in Jay, OK. Neither man could keep the action under control and the match was ruled a No-Contest, taking Rockwell to 0-6-1. They then made their way to Miami for the Oklahoma debut of Mid-States Wrestling, where Rockwell holds the Southern Tag Team Titles with Cast-Iron Cothern as The Spinebusters. Rockwell & Cothern, together with their manager Stevie Caballero, defended the belts against Walker and ComPro Tag Team Champion X-Cal in a match filled with high-flying moves. Rockwell was able to FINALLY gain his first win of the year and then followed that up by putting X-Cal through a table after leaving Walker laying in a heap on the outside of the ring.

With near perfect records from both men (although Rockwell's is perfect in the way he doesn't prefer), it seems that a clash between them is inevitable. Rockwell KNOWS he can win the title back from Walker if just given a fair shot. The Devil believes he can become champion if he can just get a match. Walker doesn't care which one he faces as long as he is able to walk away as champion. It looks like the conflict between the two is going to boil over. Perhaps that moment will occur at tonight's ComPro event. Bell time is 8pm. Come see if one of these two men walks away with championship gold.