Last night on Sci-Fi, former TNA star The Alpha Male debuted as a member of the ECW brand. Strangely enough, Monty Brown wasn’t there.Huh? Ya.
Tha brilliant creative minds at Tha E, decided to change his ring name. He’s still the Alpha Male (although I thought TNA was careful to maintain control of their intellectual properties so I’m not sure how that works), but he’ll now be known as Marquis Cor Von.
Ladies and Gentlemen: The WWE Champion Heavyweight Champion…. Marquis Cor Von.
Nope. Doesn’t flow. I hate it.
Usually it’s TNA that has to come up with some lame ass gimmick like “Brother Runt” or whatever because WWE is the one holding all the cards. In this instance, you have a guy who already has an established name and fan base, and you are discarding it. The killer part is, his established ring name is his REAL name. So it’s free to use. It’s not owned by anyone else.
They put over his NFL past in the presser when they signed him, but now they seem to be straying from that.
The way I see it, there are three reasons creative decided to do this.
1) They create a brand new character. Forget the Serengeti. Forget all the snarling and rubbing his face on the ropes. This is a brand new character devoid of any links to the past. Although, they did keep the Alpha Male tag, so that kills that theory.
2) The other reason would be that if they were ever to let this guy go… that he will be starting over as Monty Brown, and not the established brand they’ve built.
3) The third reason is to slap TNA in the face. We took one of your biggest stars and stuck him on our shittiest show. Then we threw away his name and decided to start from scratch just to show you we can build him up better than you did.
So anyways. Marquis Cor Von won his first match under the employment of WWE. He defeated another former TNA wrestler, Cassidy Riley in just over two minutes. Yes, he DID use the Pooooooooounnnnce…. However, it was a transition move. Not a finish. Cor Von won the match with a Fujiwara armbar.
Other results from last night’s show…
CM Punk defeated Matt Striker, when he was distracted by Kelly Kelly who apparently has a crush on Punk. Kelly jumped on the apron, flashed the teacher, allowing Punk to get a 3 count off a BACKSLIDE! When’s the last time you saw a backslide finish? Damn.
In case you weren’t sure Heyman was gone, Sandman jobbed to Elijah Burke in just a minute and twelve seconds. That’s the former ECW World Champion?
In the main event, Lashley retained his stupid belt in a threeway with RVD and Test. RVD frog-splashed Test, but Lashley hit a Dominator on him to get the win. After the match, Test layed everyone out held the belt and asked “Why does Monty get a fucking name change, but I don’t?”
8 comments: on "The Alpha Male Debuts, But Monty Brown Does Not"
I don't care what his name is. I hate Monty.
Hey, at least "Cor Von" was anounced to be hailing from "The Animal Kingdom". I think thats actually a part os the Serengetti is it not?
Brian
Test actually said that?
Marquis should have went to Raw or Smackdown. Is ECW the new WWE Sunday Night Heat? It is like all the rooks go there.
I am guessing option 2 is the reason for the name change. I definetely think that if something happens down the road, WWE wants to be holding the cards.
The ratings that TNA was pulling at the time when Brown was really popular there weren't very good. By the time TNA even got to Spike TV, he was a lame heel understudy of Jeff Jarrett.
I don't think that the name "Monty Brown" is really worth much to the casual WWE fan.
WWE figures they can use him, and if it doesn't work out, they can ship him back off to try to make a buck on the indy scene without using the name that he will inevitably become most known by.
Also, I don't see the big issue with him being on ECW. Eventually the rosters will shift, and with the shotty ratings that ECW is pulling, Cor Von will have a name built for himself, but still be a largely unproven commodity to most WWE fans. In addition, he will be seasoned to the WWE style.
Basically, it's like Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart working in a tag team for 5-10 years. Jobs or lack of creative don't really hurt them, and they get experience.
Brown has the potential to be a star. Being thrown on the RAW roster because Triple H is hurt is not the answer though.
I think the WWE is actually doing the right thing for the long term with their decisions of how they are handling this, although I think a more catchy name could have been thought of.
WWE has always buried other company's main wrestlers. I think they may have considered letting him keep his name until the TNA chants pissed off Vince. I just wish they could have given him a decent name. Cor Von?
Personally if I knew I was getting Monty Brown I would have saved on assigning the MVP gimmick to Brown. He could be a REAL T.O. as he was a pro football player. Only makes sense to me.
Ha! Love that last line, Donnie.
The way those statements were put together might be a bit confusing. I am not arguing that those tag teams only existed because of a lack of creative or just to build experience.
However, it didn't hurt with experience building, and they didn't suffer when creative waned.
There are many talented guys who have gotten shuffled around because they weren't featured guys. This was totally evident in WCW, and can be seen now with Carlito.
If guys are immediately made to be high profile and either mess up or do not fit into the current creative process, they miss their shot. A lot of wrestling success has to do with timing. I think it's smart for WWE to bide some time with Brown and Punk. Eventually these two will be off ECW and headlining, because they didn't have to languish on the midcard and put over the top guys of the main shows.
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