Teddy Long's Superstar Initiative

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Long tells us (and "Tiffany/Taryn", and Estrada) that he's implemented a new talent initiative for ECW. Man, this guy really likes adding people to rosters, haha, but that's good.

Except, in my opinion, it didn't start off so good. Atlas Ortiz...or Atlas DaBone....or Richard Young......whatever you want to call the guy, he made his ECW debut tonight and had a frustratingly long match against Estrada where they were essentially evenly matched, despite Atlas having a height and weight advantage. The first thing I thought when he showed up was "is this Carlito's fat fun house mirror image?". Then I thought "no, it must just be Chuck Palumbo's ethnic mirror image".

Granted the guy's only had one match against a performer who isn't exactly amazing himself, but I'm not impressed yet. Average moves, no real charisma (though it did seem like the poor guy was trying really hard. Is "nice to meet you" his tagline or something? Idk), etc etc.

Rather than start a whole thread for this new guy, I figured we'd save some space and keep the discussion of all the newcomers Long starts showing up with just in this thread alone. Mods, feel free to tweak whatever, though.

So your thoughts, folks?

 

[badboy90]

he had a strange look that will take a little getting used to he looked good early on in his match and he had an amazing dropkick but that is about all i can say about this guy (also i hate when they dont have some kind of finisher)

 

[chasingamy]

For starters, Atlas Ortiz’s entrance was truly cringeworthy. With that Carlito-like hair, what was he thinking with the rocker headbang thing? His big hair, jogging pants, and sneakers look screams wannabe-wrestler or gym rat.

At first, I thought he showed a little in-ring promise with a go behind, single leg takedown, shoulder blocks, and side headlocks. He fell apart about two minutes in. He slowed down almost like he was winded and got sloppy. Speaking of offense, it was mediocre at best. Those were some of the weakest punches and kicks I've ever seen. I expect more power from a guy that's 6'3 and almost 250 lbs. I don't think there was much of a size/weight difference between the he and Estrada though as Estrada's pretty jacked.

Ortiz was doing a decent job selling the injured arm until he ‘Hulked up’ late in the match. His facial expressions throughout the match made it hard to take him seriously; he alternated between smiling and *trying* to look fierce at inappropriate times.

Overall, it was an unimpressive debut. Maybe it was just nerves. I'm willing to give him a couple months to settle down and if he doesn't improve then send him back to developmental. If he sticks around, hopefully they'll give him a makeover.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

What I find really funny is that WrestleZone keeps reporting that Atlas was brought up due to being a really charismatic guy. Did we see ANY of that? Haha. The entire time, the audience was dead. Is FCW in that bad of a condition that they consider a guy who plays the air guitar to be charismatic just because some kid might have fond memories of Guitar Hero? Lol.

I'd much rather have seen Evan Bourne against someone than Atlas, who is going to need to come out next week with something big or else he'll make me lose all hope for him. Maybe the rest of the "talent initiative" will bring up some people like T.J. Wilson or Curt's kid...I've heard good things about those two.

 

[klunderbunker]

To me, this guy is nothing. I've seen him in OVW, and a tad in FCW, and this guy is the most overrated "young star" I've ever seen. He's a big guy, who tends to no sell offense like Hogan and Warrior put together. Also, he seems to be injury prone. Twice he was being groomed to take the developmental titles to wind up getting injured. I don't remember any good mic skills, as his main thing was shouting to "the boneyard". His character made little to no sense, and I was deflated when I saw him on ECW last night.

 

[Frank the Frowner]

I literally cringed when I caught the match on YouTube earlier, when he came out with that awful haircut, bobbing his head around, and even playing a little bit of the air guitar. He thought he was tremendously over, and the crowd responded with a response even worse than X-Pac heat. Estrada tried all he could to get the crowd going in support of this buffoon by yelling... but you could pretty much hear a pin drop in the arena. Then, he won with a goddamn backslide. When's the last time somebody won with a backslide?!

I'm interested to see who gets brought up to the ECW roster. I think it's the perfect launching point for Ron Killings, Chris Harris, and Colt Cabana. They could even run an angle where D'Lo comes back and tries to get revenge on Teddy Long for kicking him out of his group a few years ago.

Let's just hope this Atlas douche never sees a WWE ring again, or at least is turned into a jobber. I'm disappointed he got airtime over the guy they should be pushing huge right now, Evan Bourne.

 

[Shaft]

My question would be....why do a new talent initiative and bring thing..fool..up when you've got guys like Burke and Bourne and Knox on the show..and Killings waiting in the wings and Harris...?

Then again..we're talking about ECW..which probably has like..what, 20 minutes of wrestling time on an hour show...or maybe even THATS being generous.

 

[klunderbunker]

My question would be....why do a new talent initiative and bring thing..fool..up when you've got guys like Burke and Bourne and Knox on the show..and Killings waiting in the wings and Harris...?

Then again..we're talking about ECW..which probably has like..what, 20 minutes of wrestling time on an hour show...or maybe even THATS being generous.

That's what this is. Atlas has been in developmental for awhile and the talent initiative is designed to bring in new talentes. Harris and Killings should more than likely be coming up at any time now, along with more than likely 3-4 more people within the next month or two. It's a good idea as it should allow ECW to be the breeding ground for superstars. It's apparently worked for Punk, so why not the rest of them?

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

I literally cringed when I caught the match on YouTube earlier, when he came out with that awful haircut, bobbing his head around, and even playing a little bit of the air guitar. He thought he was tremendously over, and the crowd responded with a response even worse than X-Pac heat. Estrada tried all he could to get the crowd going in support of this buffoon by yelling... but you could pretty much hear a pin drop in the arena. Then, he won with a goddamn backslide. When's the last time somebody won with a backslide?!

I'm interested to see who gets brought up to the ECW roster. I think it's the perfect launching point for Ron Killings, Chris Harris, and Colt Cabana. They could even run an angle where D'Lo comes back and tries to get revenge on Teddy Long for kicking him out of his group a few years ago.

Let's just hope this Atlas douche never sees a WWE ring again, or at least is turned into a jobber. I'm disappointed he got airtime over the guy they should be pushing huge right now, Evan Bourne.

I think the last time someone one with a backslide might have even been Colin Delaney haha. Or maybe that was a sunset flip, I don't know, doesn't matter in the long run. You don't really make an impression if you debut and can't beat a jobber by anything but a quick pin.

I definitely agree with you that this gives them a lot of leeway with Killings, Harris, Cabana, and others. Let's just hope that they and the others get a much better crowd reaction than the completely flatlined Ortiz debut lol.

 

[PlayTheGame]

Yeah, I dont get why theyre bringing up all these new guys when the company should really be focusing on the new guys that are already here that aren't being used. This is how Shelton Benjamins and Elijah Burkes are created.....

 

[CaseyisBA52'sGFnow]

1 good thing could come out of this. Jake Hager the man that's been pegged for superstardome might be on his way to ECW. Now it's pretty clear that they're turning ECW into their top developmental territory. Thats why they sent Finlay to ECW so he can help develop the new talent.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

Another new member of the ECW roster: Chris Harris.....or, "Braden Walker"....

1) Gay name.
2) Just the same with Atlas DaBone (or is it Atlas Ortiz? Or is it Ricky Ortiz? Or is it Richard Young?), he had a debut against Estrada, who is a jobber, and could BARELY get the win (with a shitty finish).
3) Again, the crowd was completely and utterly dead throughout.

I'm all for adding more talent to the ECW roster, but wtf is the WWE doing with this? Are they TRYING to screw up? Lol. Evan Bourne was brought out the correct way. He had an impressive match against Benjamin, and then he started having matches as a legitimate member of the roster (except tonight where Nunzio got the most offense he's ever had basically haha). With these Ortiz/Walker characters, they're just boring the audience. Combine that with how the only other matches involved a midget with a water gun, and Tommy Dreamer/Delaney/Tony Atlas/Mark Henry.....(oh and don't forget the useless Matt Hardy video package)...I'd be really pissed if I had to pay for ECW haha.

Next week: D'Lo Brown or Ron Killings comes in and barely defeats Estrada with...idk, what's left? Ortiz won with a sunset flip and Harris won with a crossbody, so I guess the next in line must be a dropkick or a headbutt.

 

[klunderbunker]

This thing could've been great, but it's just not working. And the reason to me that it's not is there are no credible wrestlers on ECW. Henry is the champion and if that's where they want to go with it then that's fine with me. I don't like the guy but he fits the monster heel role well. The problem is, there's no way you can take a guy like Harris or Ortiz and put them against him and not make them into the second Colin Delaney. Of the 3 that have shown up already, and you know more are coming, Bourne is the only one that interests me in the slightest. As I said, Ortiz never showed me anything in developmental, and i've never seen anything decent out of Harris outside of AMW. THis whole thing is a great idea, but it needs credible people to put them over. It's why Punk got no reaction when he beat Snitsky. Who hasn't beaten him at one point or another? When Nunzio or Estrada were out there, was there any doubt who was going over? That's what made the Benjamin/Bourne match good. It made you believe just for an instant that Bourne could win, but it made Shelton stay dominant looking. That's how it needs to be done, but unless Smackdown sends some decent guys over, it's not going to work.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

This thing could've been great, but it's just not working. And the reason to me that it's not is there are no credible wrestlers on ECW. Henry is the champion and if that's where they want to go with it then that's fine with me. I don't like the guy but he fits the monster heel role well. The problem is, there's no way you can take a guy like Harris or Ortiz and put them against him and not make them into the second Colin Delaney. Of the 3 that have shown up already, and you know more are coming, Bourne is the only one that interests me in the slightest. As I said, Ortiz never showed me anything in developmental, and i've never seen anything decent out of Harris outside of AMW. THis whole thing is a great idea, but it needs credible people to put them over. It's why Punk got no reaction when he beat Snitsky. Who hasn't beaten him at one point or another? When Nunzio or Estrada were out there, was there any doubt who was going over? That's what made the Benjamin/Bourne match good. It made you believe just for an instant that Bourne could win, but it made Shelton stay dominant looking. That's how it needs to be done, but unless Smackdown sends some decent guys over, it's not going to work.

Exactly. If you want Harris and/or Ortiz to give the fans something to go off of, why not put one of them against Knox, Finlay, hell even against each other lol. Put Ortiz against Harris and say "one of you might be fired by the end of the night. Its up to you two to impress us. Go." Haha. If Estrada can't even get any heat, then the fans aren't going to cheer for the incredibly generic face you put up against him, because we don't care if Estrada wins or loses. In fact, I was actually rooting for Estrada both times because I see more potential in him than Ortiz/Harris.

 

[psykohurricane]

Was it just me or does ECW just plain don'T cared about how they name there new wrestler. First you had Matt Sydel being rename, Evan Bourne now we got Chris Harris being rename Brendan Walker. Also, i got to said that the chris harris we saw last night, isn'T the chris harris that was in TNA. I know, that physically, he'S the same guy but less face it, this was one of the most boring match have seen in quite some time. Chris HArris use to be one of the most talented wrestler in the u.s. The guy could do stuff that most of the guys is size would just dream about doing. He was part of one of the greatest cage matches of the last 10 years and now, he looks like he does even give a damn about wrestling. After last night, my opinion of this guys just drop from how great he was to just how awful he is and he should even be able to get near a ring. I use to be a fans of his, even when he was doing the crybaby gimmick in TNA because at less he was somewhat entertaining but now, he'S just another generic wrestler with no gimmick and i don'T see him going anywhere anytime soon. If he'S lucky, he could get release very quickly and could go beack to TNA. Sure TNA won'T use him propaly but at less it's better then being called Brendan Walker and being just another wrestler.

 

[Monkey_Mania]

I really like this idea. Especially after I got to see Chris Harris debut. Albeit a very dissapointing debut under a ridiculous name. But nonetheless I was happy. I like the fact that they keep bringing in new guys. Whether they use them every week or not is the question. The more they bring up the more that they screw themselves over in the long run. ECW is only an hour long so the more talent they bring up its gonna shift everything around.

It's a good idea but they will need to end it after a couple of weeks. Otherwise they are shooting themselves in the foot.

 

[Jappa121]

The Idea of the New Superstar Innitiative is a very very good one, but if they bring up more people that have low quality debut matches like the two so far it may be very bad for the already mediocre ECW we've all been seeing lately, Atlas "Ortiz"'s match was kind of frieghtening, He fought in a dark match at the RAW I went to in buffalo and fought almost the same exact boring match with Drew Mcintyre..and that was almost a year ago...I wouldve figured he got alot better..but it was the same exact grapples and slow punches....he isnt impressive at all, especially for how much I hear about him...

It was sad seeing Chris Harris the way he is now ha.
Hopefully they get new impressive guys like Sydel

 

[Sparky]

This is a great idea by the WWE, To get the new people into the WWE without a story line, But if they keep it up to much longer they will end up with way to many people. They already have enough Jobbers they need to use the ones they have. With that being said I think the best thing to do would be to Have a couple debut every week in a match with each other then let the Fans decide who should stay. We do it with the Diva search i think it would be a great idea to do. if they keep going the way they are in about a month or so the ECW roster will be bigger then Raws and it only goes for an hour so its a waste of time.

 

[shaunbaby]

its a great idea they can bring in wretlers like the "wildcat", and give "greener" guys some T.V exposer so they can bring them in slower and easier and then build them up, not everyone can come up to the roster like, CM Puck did, or Kofi Kingston.

there one star they need to bring in and i would bet money he would be a top player within 6 months - Classic Colt Cabana.

 

[Joaquim Akaem]

its a great idea they can bring in wretlers like the "wildcat", and give "greener" guys some T.V exposer so they can bring them in slower and easier and then build them up, not everyone can come up to the roster like, CM Puck did, or Kofi Kingston.
there one star they need to bring in and i would bet money he would be a top player within 6 months - Classic Colt Cabana.

Why not?, neither of them had an extravagant super hyped debut.
A couple of vignettes, a modest first match with somebody aveage, both men actually did come in slow and easy then got built up.

The problem with these talent initiative guys all having their first match against Estrada, is that, they get NO recognition whatsoever. The only person recieving any kind of push here is Teddy Long, who seems to be getting over by, A) getting a small pop by forcing the troublesome heel to have a match, B) Bringing in all these new people and taking credit for it. and C) sticking it to the previous GM, thus proving he's better.

Evan Bourne debuted in the right way, he came in against somebody credible, put on a good match, and continued to do just that in the following weeks. Ricky Ortiz last week, tried to put himself over by saying he was undefeated. That was in the most awful interview, and after one of the most mediocre matches i have ever seen. Seriously who is this guy??

If the next new talent to come in was Colt Cabana, would you rater see him repeat the same match with Estrada as what those guys have done the previous two weeks. Or would you rather he have a decent back and forth match with somebody like Chavo or Burke.

 

[mister_e]

again loving the idea of a talent intiative its all good for the future of the business however....

last week we have braden walker (horrible name) debut and if you are a wrestling fan we all know its the wildcat chris harris but fatter! now wont i dnt understand is this man was loved by TNA fans for crying out loud he got a frickin title shot! now imagine i work for wwe and ive jus hired the harris "hey guys harris has signed lets build on his fan rep and have him debut on ecw oh yeah what a great idea" vince comes along " no lets not keep his fans lets change his gimmick and his name so no one knows who is and start from scratch" bad decision he got no reaction wot so eva!

lets fink back to the monday nyt wars when bischoff got bret hart did bischoff change his frickin name no he never!

im basically sayin these name changes are not neccessary because fans arent stupid i see evan bourne wrestle and i know its matt sydal jus call him sydal its a great name!

vince needs 2 remember we arent stupid jus like i knew matt morgan never had a stutter when he first debuted so y duz he now!

NO NEED TO CHANGE THE NAMES IF ITS THEIR REAL NAME!!!!

 

[John87]

so are they going to keep bringing up newer guys to the ECW roster every week or just randomly? I also have to say that this has more than peaked my interest in ECW as of late cause of Matt Sydal and Wildcat Chris Harris and because of the idea in bring in newer faces for the fans to watch and possibly better fueds! they should bring in someone every week til they fill out the ECW roster and then after awhile, trade some of them over or just send them to either RAW or SD!

 

[jcd61309]

I am a fan of the ECW idea. Remeber this was the same storyline with Long on smackdown a few years ago when Kennedy/Lashley/Boogeyman debuted. Bourne will be fine in ECW with his style. Harris, I personaly think blew his debut when he decided to eat 3 small children. Harris worked a dark match against Shelton either right before or right after WM and was in as bad of shape and wore that singlet. That was April, this is now July. get yourself in shape. While I was excited for Harris to debut, I do not blame WWE for doing it the way they did. If Harris can't get himself in shape, why should WWE give him a monster debut. As far as Atlas or Ricky or Ortiz or whatever, he might eventually be able to catch on with his look, and in ring charisma if he remebers where he put it. I dont think Killings is ECW bound, but I would love to see Hager, The Naturals (remeber show squashed them on Smackdown) and even Matt Bently (Another smackdown squash victim, to Kozlov). The purpose of these guys beating Armando might not be about them, it might be more about the Armando character. Losing to all these "young new no name" guys, then out of no where beats a name (Dreamer, Finlay?) and starts a decent mid card heel run.

 

[Chicago2733]

there one star they need to bring in and i would bet money he would be a top player within 6 months - Classic Colt Cabana.

I hope I quoted shuanbaby right but I saw Colt Cabana wrestle a dark match on RAW the night after Wrestlemania 22 and that guy got a huge pop. During the entire match, you could "COLT CABANA" ringing through the entire place. Good call on Colt Cabana!!!!

 

[RadioGaGa]

Obviously this is a great way to get development guys on the ECW roster after the brand got mugged at the draft show. Having said that these new wrestlers will all win there first matches and , judging by the current trend, it looks like Estrada will do the job. Problem is he's not a good jobber (if that's possible), they need someone like Nunzio who's solid in the ring. He will make these debuting stars's debut matches go a lot smoother after the rather shit Ortiz and Walker matches.
As has been said countless amount of times, I really hope Cabana is brought up as he is a very charismatic guy who's sound in the ring as well. Hopefully he will debut on tonight's ECW.