E-Y

[CenaSux4Life78]

This is not an attack thread on Eric Young. This is more of a WTF thread.

For most of Youngs career in TNA he has played a fun loving, comic relief character. Then a few years ago he turned heel and became serious. I REALLY enjoyed Young in that role. His promos reminded me of Chris Jericho when he dropped the fun loving gimmick and became more serious. It was that point, in Erics career I actually began to believe he could rise above and be a major player in TNA.

Well, for whatever reason TNA dropped EY and that brilliant new role for him, and brought him back to the fun loving character. Now he has turned more into a joke to me. In this "new" version of EY, he has lost all credibility as a serious wrestler. I respect the man Eric Young, as he is doing what he is told to do. But this is a total backtrack.

What do you guys think? Do you think backpeddling EY was a good idea, when moving him back to a face? Or should TNA have kept his serious side, and just made him face that way?

 

[LuvDaBoo]

IMO, TNA has done too much damage to his character in order to gain any credibility of becoming a major player in TNA. I like EY's in-ring work, but the guy has been repackaged so many times throughout his career, that it's hard for any fan to take him serious. He's good for comedy bits and such, but nothing more. I agree, that TNA should have kept him as a serious character and not this fun-loving goof.

 

[Rasha]

I don't know what you saw that made you love the "World Elite" version of Young so much. He was adequate but it certainly never wowed me. I don't see where he'd be competing in the upper echelon of the roster today had they stuck with that direction.

You said EY is a "joke" to you. Well, isn't that the point? You've got about 110-115 minutes devoted to serious shit every week on Impact. EY shows up for the other 5-10 to make you laugh/smile. Maybe that humor doesn't work for you, but I know I'm more entertained by watching Young lock-up with an official than by anything that happened last night between Hardy and the Jarretts.

I get that the current role limits Young's ceiling and it's frustrating to people who see his talent. I certainly think he could be more. But right now, with more guys on the roster than they have TV time to offer, at least Young is in a role that actually gets him on TV and keeps him employed. That's more than some other guys, with arguably more talent, can say right now.

 

[ABMorales787]

He's still over as fuck. The man can electrify the crowd near instantly and better than many in the TNA roster. While does underutilize the guy, he shine's through every single time. I for one, love watching him on any given role. He's the kind of guy that can just run with everything that's given to him.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I might be wrong here, but I have a feeling that Eric Young has probably been told by TNA that it's this or nothing. Young left TNA not too long ago but I can't remember if it was for financial reasons, frustration with how he was being used or some combination of the two. He did come back after a while, he wasn't gone all that long as I recall, and it's just been business as usual ever since.

Young is certainly capable of more, his time as head of World Elite showed that, but I don't think Hogan & Bischoff agree. Young is for all intents & purposes TNA's version of Santino Marella and I don't think that's going to change.

 

[Zeven_Zion]

How exactly is having Eric Young do what he does best, and succeed at it, underutilizing him? Because he's a comedy character and won't win a World Title, ever? Well smack my ass and call me Judy, since when is a fake metallic prop an indication if he's used correctly?

Here's what Eric Young is:

1. Entertaining. Like him or not, the guy is a nut, he's very natural at it and he's a breath of fresh air. He's actually funny, unlike Mr.Anderson for instance. His body language, his eyes, his outfit, his delivery - he's got it nailed.

2. He's a good wrestler. He's not making you face palm or wonder why he has a job. Young can really go in the ring and that compliments his current work, making him worth watching in the squared circle as well.

3. Mic work - look at 1.

4. He's over. That right there is what matters the most. Comedy relief or a serious badass - Eric Young is over. The people like him. That's all he needs.


So, will Eric ever be a Main Eventer? Hell no. Is he going to have a World Title around his waist? At least one that wasn't thrown in a trash can? Absolutely not. But Young's current role is what he's best at. Trying to pull him away from that just so he can be taken seriously is moronic. This is what EY does. That's his thing and if you have seen his work you know he's having a blast with it.

Tell you what, I'll bet good money that funny EY will be much more over, more entertaining, more valuable and more featured than any of his serious versions. Serious wrestlers are a dime a dozen. Wrestlers that can make you laugh are rare, and are needed on a roster for variety if for nothing else.

As far as I'm concerned, EY's doing just fine right now. I've skipped more Hardy/Anderson/RVD/Abyss matches than I have EY matches.

 

[marklouis]

I have no problem with Young's current role. He represents the "Entertainment" part of sports entertainment. Throughout history, wrestling promotions have had performers who served as comic relief. You knew they were there for 1 reason-to make you laugh. And it is a skill to make people laugh. The real mistake was putting a title around his waist while he served that role, because it de-valued the title & made people think Young should have a different role. He should not. He is the most consistent aspect of TNA programming, & he is way over with the fans. There is no reason to change what he does.

 

[Karilas]

Tru dat. Eric Young is an entertainer, through and through, it comes through how much of a fun guy he seems to be in general and how well liked he is whenever he's on the Spin Cycle and stuff like that. That, to me, is also when he's at his best, it's when he's being himself a fairly goofy guy that fucking loves his job.

Performance-wise I've always believed EY is at his strongest when he's a little bit odd, but not full on mental, because while that's funny and all from time to time, it does somewhat undermine his credibility as a contender.

I didn't particularly enjoy the straight-up, all business, serious Eric that emerged during the whole "Band" debacle, although that said, I did start to warm to him towards the end of that run, but I'm pretty sure it was on the same episode that it all fell apart for Nash et al, so, er, bit late, really.

 

[SpecialFNK]

I've only watched TNA since the beginning of 2010 so I don't know what EY did before that. at the time I started watching EY was all serious while being together with Kevin Nash. at that point I thought he was EXTREMELY boring and thought TNA might as well just release him.
since EY has been doing comedy I've felt like he has been GREAT. he is the only thing in TNA that has been funny. not everything in wrestling has to be serious. I remember a time in WWF way back when there were many characters for entertainment that you knew would never be championship type wrestlers, but that they still had a role to play on the TV show. which is what wrestling is, a TV show for entertainment.
I hope TNA can continue to find ways to allow EY to be funny and be seen on TV.

 

[Mr. Wrestling 513]

I think EY could be, and should be SO much more. This guy can flat out wrestle, and has the mic skills. He is one of the guys on this roster that seriously seems to be lost on the roster. Even if they just move him into the tag team division.

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

I don't know what you saw that made you love the "World Elite" version of Young so much. He was adequate but it certainly never wowed me. I don't see where he'd be competing in the upper echelon of the roster today had they stuck with that direction.

You said EY is a "joke" to you. Well, isn't that the point? You've got about 110-115 minutes devoted to serious shit every week on Impact. EY shows up for the other 5-10 to make you laugh/smile. Maybe that humor doesn't work for you, but I know I'm more entertained by watching Young lock-up with an official than by anything that happened last night between Hardy and the Jarretts.

I get that the current role limits Young's ceiling and it's frustrating to people who see his talent. I certainly think he could be more. But right now, with more guys on the roster than they have TV time to offer, at least Young is in a role that actually gets him on TV and keeps him employed. That's more than some other guys, with arguably more talent, can say right now.

i couldnt have said it better myself hes good at the comedy role i found him boring as a heel hes a comedy jobber and hes good at the role and honestly...im loving the fued between EY & robbie e its been great so far and its made both of them and rob terry intersting again imo so no i dont think TNA ruined him i think there using EY perfectly

 

[Mr. Artistic guy]

For me all you need to do is look at his match from Turning Point to realize this is what he's best at. In wrestling you play to your strengths. CM Punk get's a hella lot of mic time because WWE knows it's worth giving it to him, he can handle it. Undertaker, conversely, was never big when it came to microphones, and that's because he's a reasonable, but not very good, talker.

Eric Young plays this role so well that I couldn't see anybody else doing it. I don't know much about the potential issues that he had with management as Jack-Hammer brought to light but to me, he looks like he's having a lot of fun out there. The one thing he has over Santino in spades is his wrestling ability. It actually adds to the hilarity seeing a man who can wrestle well basically mess around and use that ability in a jokey way.

He's playing to his strengths and he is probably the most consistently entertaining aspect of TNA. I certainly wouldn't want to go changing him any time soon.

 

[Rayne]

Ah, these boards. We talk about an activity we all understand is staged. We know that the winners are predetermined, the losers high-five the winners in the back for a good performance, and that almost every activity that happens in professional wrestling, not just under the lights, but online and in person, is staged in furtherance of the goal of entertainment, not competition.

So- why do people keep shitting on the comedy role around here????

The comedy guy sells tons of merchandise and has significant job security. He's over; so long as the fans don't start to loathe his comedy instead of love it, he's set for as long as he wants to be set. In just the same way as the world champion has been picked for his talents, "the comedy guy" has been picked for his.

People seem to think that a professional wrestler should be "taken seriously". That's not what we do here. If you are taking professional wrestling seriously.... well, it's a multi-million dollar business. I guess the whole thing doesn't work without a lot of people taking it seriously but thinking they aren't.

 

[Captain Mike]

I haven't watched TNA in a bit or seen E - Y lately so I have no idea what gimmick he is running but I would really like to see him with a Goldust character twinge where he can be goofy and off the wall but still have a serious side to him when need be... on a side note I love the beard he is rocking at the moment, that is an awesome look for him!

 

[Vintage]

TNA did that Kinda. He was Orlando Jordans 'partner'. EY was talking about tag teaming, OJ.. not so much. It was pretty damn funny too until one day they just released OJ out the blue.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Young has had some good moments in TNA as well as some awful ones. He's been a super hero in the Prince Justice Brotherhood, he was a member of THE BAND, he was the leader of World Elite, to name a few. Even most of Young's sillier pushes were tolerable, but once his tag team with Orlando formed then I began to be very disappointed in how TNA was booking him. They have all but destroyed him now. They can call him their answer to WWE's Santino all they want, but Santino is hilarious whereas the current version of Young is completely unwatchable because it's not funny, it's STUPID! I hate this character. He had a chance at breaking into the main event one day if his World Elite stable and character had been allowed to last longer, or even his association with THE BAND. TNA ruined a man's career by turning him into a joke.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

Rayne nailed it, IMO.

The real issue here is that internet fans seemed to have developed this incredible distaste for comedic wrestlers who don't simply do so as jests during their promos and interviews (see: Rock, The; Jericho, Chris), not whether or not Eric Young (as the cited example) is actually better off or worse off in a serious role rather than continuing to play motley each week.

Young had his shot at being a serious competitor, and though it worked to an extent I'm just not so sure people bought it or especially cared for it as much as they did/do his role as comedic relief. IMO he's never been more over than he is now. Just listen to the crowd reaction at any live taping and you'll see and hear this clearly. Would be be as over in a serious role? Maybe, but I doubt it.

I'll tell you this much: when EY was coming to the ring every week afraid of his own pyro, I stopped to watch every minute of it because I knew it was going to make me laugh. When he came to the ring to cut promos as the leader of World Elite, not so much. Now that he's back to doing a lot of what made him so appealing in the first place I'm back to really appreciating him for his willingness to do so.

 

[He's Phenomenal]

I think Eric Young is much better as a "comedy character" than he is as a "serious wrestler". I think his run as the leader of World Elite only gets praise on the internet because it's something TNA didn't follow through on. In all honesty, he was pretty boring in that role and no one cared (he was much better as Super Eric if we're talking previous incarnations of EY). The people love EY now and really enjoy the time he spends in the ring. If Young went back to being serious, I believe the reactions would go back down as well.

TNA have done nothing but help EY with his comedy gimmick. If he was playing a serious, everyday character, would he even be on TV? I don't think he would TBH. There's too many decent in ring, average character, type of wrestlers around. Young's gimmick is something different and that's what has got him over IMO.