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Brick By Brick: Will The Saints of Pro Wrestling Survive 2015?

Posted: Jul 24th 2015 By: Michael Hunt

Over one year ago, the Oklahoma City wrestling fans were witness to the formation of a group that looked to take over MSWA through force because one of its members had not been allowed to take control as commissioner.

When MSWA owner Bad Boy appointed C. M. Burnham to be commissioner of MSWA instead of The Roc-N-Roll Cowboy, the bitterness boiled over and Roc used his influence as a veteran in the locker room to recruit The Syndicate, Tyson Jaymes, Buster Cherry and Brandon Barricade into his group. The next 4 months saw the Saints make life hell for Burnham not only in MSWA, but also in ComPro when co-commissioner Mike Iles brought them in. An insurgence into SWCW brought Chaz Sharpe into their ranks. Even when Bad Boy brought back Outlaw to help him defend MSWA, Outlaw (who is the former brother-in-law of Roc) turned his back on his former tag team partner and joined the Saints.

With their ranks growing and a continued presence in the Oklahoma City area, fans began to wonder if the Saints would join the ranks of the greatest Oklahoma factions such as Impact, Inc., Excellence Personified or the VIP Crew. But it seems like those dreams may be lost as recently Roc as suffered significant loss of membership and fans may be witnessing the dying days of this group.

In April, Buster Cherry and Brandon Barricade parted ways with the Saints after an incident where Burnham was kidnapped and tortured as a means of forcing the Saints to be booked on MSWA cards. Cherry and Barricade both felt this went too far and they represented the first cracks in the system. But the Saints persevered, looking strong with their remaining 5 members.

Then, on June 19, Drake Gallows defeated Tyson Jaymes to open the MSWA show that day. Tyson had not been the most successful Saints member to begin with, but this loss sent Roc into a fit and after the match, he publicly berated Tyson in the ring in front of the entire crowd. Later, during a handicap match were the Sanders twins faced Buster Cherry, Roc ordered Tyson Jaymes to attack Buster after the match was thrown out. Tyson refused and Roc slapped Tyson across the face. That was all it took for Tyson to decide he no longer wanted anything to do with the group and he made his feelings known right there.

But even though Tyson no longer wanted to be a member of the group, Roc was not going to make it easy for him to leave. When contract renewals came due for Tyson, Roc had put language in the contract saying that Tyson was not under contract to MSWA, he was under contract to the Saints. This meant that Tyson was not completely free to do whatever he wanted just yet.

This past Friday, another brick in the wall of the Saints crumbled when Chaz Sharpe faced off against MSWA Mid-South Tag Team Champion Rick Russo. Before the match began, Roc made it very clear to everyone that there was an association of some sort between the Saints and the MSWA Tag Team Champions, Russo and Largus RagnaBrok. Roc then told Sharpe straight to his face that if he did not win the match, he would be fired from the Saints.

Even with that motivation, Sharpe found himself outclassed by the veteran Russo and Russo won the match, moving one step closer to possible becoming a dual champion. After the match, true to his word, Roc ordered the Saints to deliver a farewell beating to Sharpe. And that beating commenced until Tyson Jaymes came to the rescue. Jaymes was irate and after driving the Saints from the ring, demanded a match in order to free his contract from their control. Roc was reluctant, but then decided to try and stack the odds. He agreed to the match, but it was announced as being a Handicap Match against the Sanders. The situation looked grim for Tyson as he now had to face off against the longest-existing tag team in Oklahoma. Tyson knew the odds, though, and refused to back down. But as the match continued, Tyson found himself in more and more trouble. With no one to tag to and with the physical punishment starting to become overwhelming, it looked like Tyson would be in the servitude of the Saints for quite some time.

And then, like a beacon of hope, Drake Gallows appeared on the scene. Two weeks prior, Roc had tried to recruit Gallows into the Saints, but Drake wanted nothing to do with them and made that point clear to Roc personally. The appearance of Drake caused Scott Sanders to be distracted, which evened up the odds inside the ring. Tyson knew he had to capitalise and he did so, pinning Shawn Sanders and winning control of his contract.

And then there were three. What once appeared to be an overwhelming number of people is now a tag team and a manager. How much longer can the Saints survive? Perhaps the best piece of advice that can be given at this point is to not underestimate Roc-N-Roll Cowboy in desperate situations. While Drake Gallows refused his services, it is possible that there are other members of the locker room who would be more than willing to step into the spots of the fallen Saints.