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Richie Adams: A Man NOT To Be Trusted

Posted: Jan 19th 2014 By: CMBurnham

Many say that life is about how you handle potential setbacks.

Richie Adams believed he was on the way to becoming the ComPro Champion once again. Shortly after entering the business of professional wrestling, Adams defeated Shane Morbid for the ComPro Title. It was a tremendous accomplishment for such a young performer.

But instead of catapulting his career, Adams never seemed to be able to achieve those heights anywhere else. Tag team titles came to him. Opportunities to wrestle against nationally known competitors like Matt Borne came to him. Recognition, fame and adoration, especially from young female fans, came to him. But he never seemed to be close to recapturing the ComPro Title.

Adams appeared to be satisfied with that, having formed a very successful tag team with Terry Montana. Their reign as ComPro Tag Team Champions was almost one year in length. But then, an ironic accident. Adams suffered an injury to his shoulder which forced him to vacate the ComPro Tag Team Titles. And a tournament to determine the #1 contenders to the titles then became a tournament to crown new champions. Adams, meanwhile, had been engaging in an ongoing war of words with Dutch Hagen. Hagen made it very clear that he did not respect Adams, that he did not believe he was the same calibre of performer as Adams and that Adams would never be ComPro Champion again.

With the hostile feelings between Adams and Hagen, it probably wasnt a surprise to anyone when Adams interjected himself in the middle of the ComPro Title match between Hagen & BPPW Junior Heavyweight Champion The Canadian Red Devil. After Hagen had hit CRD with the title belt, Adams ran out to try and point out what Hagen had done. As Hagen and Adams argued, Adams swung at Hagen with the timekeepers hammer, but Hagen ducked and Adams hit CRD, knocking him out and allowing Hagen to become a 2-time ComPro Champion.

ComPro commissioner Mike Iles was none too happy about this entire situation and before the December event was over, he announced to the crowd that a title rematch would be on the January event and that Richie Adams would be the special guest referee. Fans were thrilled as they knew the feelings between Adams and Hagen and felt certain that CRD would quickly regain his title.

When January 4th rolled around, Richie Adams came out to address the crowd. He apologised for his actions from the previous event, saying that he allowed his feelings to overwhelm him and acted unprofessionally. He promised to act properly as the referee in the main event and to call things down the middle.

And there was no reason to doubt Adams or his word. When the match began, Adams made it clear that he was in charge. There were instances on both sides where Adams had to admonish one of the competitors and he did so, strongly but fairly. And his counts were consistent as well, albeit somewhat slower than a regular referees' count (which was fine, as Adams was not a referee, although he had started as one). It appeared that everything was going to play out to the favour of the fans as CRD was able to lock Hagen in the Sharpshooter and turn him over. After briefly trying to withstand the pain, Hagen saw no choice but to submit.

But before Adams motioned to ring the bell, he did the unthinkable. He kicked CRD and gave him an Implant DDT. He then made one of the fastest 3-counts in pro wrestling history. And the look on Adams face revealed that it had all been a ruse. While Adams had been playing the role of the maligned, mistreated, disrespected upstart, he actually had been in apparent collusion the whole time with Hagen to ensure that Hagen won the title. And now he had ensured that Hagen kept it.

But that still left him in the same position he had been in before. And now, he is forced to face an enraged CRD in February in a First Blood match. Can Adams overcome this potential setback? And more importantly, where does his alliance with Hagen leave him in regards to the ComPro Title?