The Pope Wins OVW TV Title; TNA Return Possible?

[Papa Pillman]

Billed as "The Pope" Elijah Burke, Burke made a surprise appearance at the last OVW TV taping this past Wednesday to defeat Flash Flanagan for the promotion's TV title.

As far as I'm aware, TNA's relationship with OVW as a developmental territory is still active, although that status seems to be on shaky footing. Even with the two company's working relationship continuing to persist to at least some degree, as has been the case all along, many of OVW's talent are not TNA workers.

The fact that The Pope was billed by his real name(also the name he used while with the WWE and during his previous stint in OVW), as opposed to his TNA moniker "D'Angelo Dinero", would seem to indicate that The Pope has not re-signed with TNA.

Could this simply be a case of OVW wanting to bring back one of their past World Champions, and a former face of the company, and Burke obliging due to needing the payday?

Could it be a way for Burke to get his feet wet and attempt a return to wrestling by working off some rust and getting a little exposure as he searches to find more permanent employment?

Could it be foreshadowing a TNA interest in possibly kicking the wheels on another run for "The Pope"? Would anyone even be interested in seeing the return of D'Angelo Dinero to Impact Wrestling?

Does anyone even care in the slightest?

My take: While I wasn't the biggest fan of The Pope during his run with TNA, and I think the quality of his mic work and ring work are both often overstated by his supporters, he was also the victim of some horrendous booking and some very ill-conceived feuds. There are many avenues that weren't explored with the character and if TNA wants to bring in outside talent and continue to strike out with top indy names as they await possible shots at the WWE, they could do worse than bringing The Pope back into the fold for another shot. He is at least familiar to the fanbase.

But I doubt any of this is relevant and Burke and TNA likely have no plans on the horizon to reunite anytime soon.

Anyone else care to discuss this development?

 

[Zeven_Zion]

Sure, if he drops that stupid preacher gimmick and just lets his charisma and personality do the work, I'll welcome him.

Pope can talk, Pope can wrestle, Pope has a look. He has it all. Literally you could push this guy to Main Event status tomorrow and it work, and we would all believe it. He's that good.

Problem is, something is wrong with him or with TNA. Maybe he was a slacker, didn't push much backstage and suffering from SamoaJoetitis, hence his backstage demeanor limited his on-screen pushes and success. Or TNA was still somehow blind to what this dude could be and let him rot in Lowcard Land until they sent him back down to OVW.

Or Dixie hates black people. She is from the South. Have you seen Kenny King lately? Hmm?

Look, if Pope is in OVW and OVW has some ties with TNA then yeah - a return is imminent. Pope wouldn't be wasting his time there if he wasn't looking to go back on the roster. He'd be doing indies (or more of them), trying to get back in the WWE - something. Oh, and maybe he'd try that ROH thing. Yuck.

Chances are, he already did that and they declined so that's why he's in OVW. I doubt it's because of his undying love for TNA. He never struck me as a "TNA" guy, if you know what I mean. Maybe that's why he seemed lazy at times.

Either way, if he rights the wrongs I'd love to see what he could do. Surely you can't get too much of a good thing.

 

[multiverseman.com]

Pope was gold on the mic. I'd welcome his return. As a matter of fact, why isn't he the TNA TV champion instead of the OVW TV champ?

 

[Superstar77]

I doubt The Pope is returning to TNA just because he's in OVW now and won their TV title. He's probably using OVW as a way to keep his name out there since they do have a weekly TV show.

Personally I wouldn't want him to go back to TNA because they dropped the ball so badly on him for the 3 years here was there. Who's to say it won't happen. IMO he's better off just working for OVW and some other indy promotions then a TNA return.

 

[Lowdown]

Isn't OVW also the development league for ROH? Anyway, I was a fan of Pope, and I would love to see him back in TNA. But I doubt him winning the OVW title means he's making a TNA comeback. Yeah it's a possibility, especially if he ended his last go round on good terms. With TNA cutting cost the way they have, I don't know if they'd be willing to extend a new contract out to Pope. Perhaps if there was a comeback, he could team with Kenny King. Lord knows a new tag team would hurt.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

If he is in fact returning (not sure this qualifies, necessarily, as an indication of such), they're doing so at the right time. With BFG around the corner, we're likely talking a clean slate moving forward, as TNA tends to culminate their largest story lines every October following Bound For Glory.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly how they'd bring him back though. At least at this moment. There's a lot going on and a lot of the focus will seemingly shift to guys like Styles, Roode and Aries going into the end of 2013. Not sure where Pope would fit in, really.

 

[Starkist]

Pope, he is the kind of guy that has all natural charisma. He is talented, can talk very well an is a naturally gifted athlete. I am happy Pope has won the OVW TV Title. If his run is good, TNA should retake notice of him. As Zion said, I agree with the majority of it. Pope could be up to par with Booker when he was going solo in WcW. He is that good. Only thing is, if TNA does use him they need to let him be himself. He could be a guy worth investing in.

If he goes to TNA, which would be hard to fit him into the setting now with the focus going towards Styles, Roode an Aries again. Who knows, but hopefully some company takes a look at him again. I was a fan, even if he had to work that stupid program with Devon.

 

[MINISTRYrising]

I would quite like the see the pope return to TNA. the guy has a lot of charisma and is a natural on the mic and while Burke is now 35 years old, I can still see him competing at a high level for at least another 5 years or so. TNA have also released a lot of tallent lately as part of there cost cutting messures and while he will probably demand more money then some of the younger indy guys, I still think he will be value for money.

 

[T2KFreeker]

The Pope was a fantastic character. Much better than the crap they had Burke doing over at WWECW. That being said, I'd like to see them get him and actually follow through with him. He could come back as a wild card character that comes from o9ut of nowhere. "IF" they put the title on Magnus on the UK Tour like I am thinking they will, have him get into a couple good feuds. D'Angelo Dinero could be a good one as Elijah is still young, can go when he needs to, and has that "It" factor. Not saying that nobody else in TNA doesn't have that too, but the more charismatic guys you have that can work both the Mic and the Crowd at the same time, what's to lose? I still believe the dropped ball on him is one of the worse ones from TNA. I don't know which was worse, this or Morgan. Both of those guys, it seemed every time they were going to push them, they got pushed all right, way back to the end of the line. Really sad.

 

[HBsam31]

I would love to see The Pope back in TNA. Not sure what happened that caused him to leave in the first place. He can talk. He can wrestle, and the fans really seemed to have an interest in him. He could come back and get right into the main event scene. I really have my doubts he will be back as they never really seemed to know how to use him, but it is something I would like to see.