Eric Young is an Established Star

[It's Damn Real!]

As a matter of fact. There's no point even arguing against this anymore. You can continue to bring up his comedic background, his "marriage" to ODB, Super Eric, his failed World Elite run, etc. and continue to talk about how you can't take him seriously anymore, but anyone who has been watching TNA the last two years should be more than able to forgive his past in favor of his present, because his present is just plain working.

We can argue to whatever degree how "crazy" he is, but there's no denying at this point, IMO, that he's established himself. It took a long, long time, and a controversial run as TNA champion in the wake of the rise of Daniel Bryan, but he's there now. Regardless of his checkered past.

There are now two things you can count on EY for week in and week out, comedy not among them.

1. Being one of TNA's best in-ring workers.
2. Being one of TNA's most natural heels.

I'm sure within a post or two I'll be reminded of something from his comedic past as an excuse for why he can't be taken seriously, but again, this just is not true. He had a lot of damage control to do, but he's done it, and his "brand" is reestablished.

 

[klunderbunker]

Same response as Matt Hardy: I do not care.

Eric Young does have a screwy past and all that is behind him. Now though, he's basically Christian from 2011: always whining about how he should have ONE MORE MATCH and how he deserves to be handed everything. That's fine, but it's not going to make me want to see you.

I have no reason to care about Young. Yeah he's been around for a very long time and there are far worse guys in the ring, but that's far from enough to warrant a main event or even upper midcard spot. At the moment he's taking attention away from Bram, who could do almost the same character in a better performance.

I don't care about Eric Young and I really don't need to see him at this high a level ever again.

 

[filthyanimalz]

EY has been very good for a very long time, even his comedic roles were first class. He is a natural entertainer and right up with the very best on the mic, loving his current work with Bram and wouldn't mind seeing the two of them reform Global Elite.

 

[whoopin' ass]

I am not against the character, i think it works. My issue has always been the sudden World Title push. I think the crazy character makes sense - he was the comic guy who finally snapped and now is just plain nuts. I think that is a good gimmick but he should now be trying to win the World Title to show how good he is, not back when they made him champ. I think that is the issue for a lot of people - he was made champ before the character was in place and ready. He keeps saying the World Title goes though him but he hasn't been champ in a year and a half - hardly comes across as a threat when he can't win it back. I think that is damaging to the character. But the character itself is fine.

 

[Aquaman6686]

As a matter of fact. There's no point even arguing against this anymore. You can continue to bring up his comedic background, his "marriage" to ODB, Super Eric, his failed World Elite run, etc. and continue to talk about how you can't take him seriously anymore, but anyone who has been watching TNA the last two years should be more than able to forgive his past in favor of his present, because his present is just plain working.

We can argue to whatever degree how "crazy" he is, but there's no denying at this point, IMO, that he's established himself. It took a long, long time, and a controversial run as TNA champion in the wake of the rise of Daniel Bryan, but he's there now. Regardless of his checkered past.

There are now two things you can count on EY for week in and week out, comedy not among them.

1. Being one of TNA's best in-ring workers.
2. Being one of TNA's most natural heels.

I'm sure within a post or two I'll be reminded of something from his comedic past as an excuse for why he can't be taken seriously, but again, this just is not true. He had a lot of damage control to do, but he's done it, and his "brand" is reestablished.

No. Just...no. Eric Young is a complete joke, and always will be. He's a god-awful wrestler and has the charisma of a dead fish. It's impossible to take him seriously. He's had 20,000 gimmicks and none of them worked. In TNA's long history of a few good gems buried amongst thousands of turds, Eric Young is the single worst thing in TNA history.

 

[Starkist]

No. Just...no. Eric Young is a complete joke, and always will be. He's a god-awful wrestler and has the charisma of a dead fish. It's impossible to take him seriously. He's had 20,000 gimmicks and none of them worked. In TNA's long history of a few good gems buried amongst thousands of turds, Eric Young is the single worst thing in TNA history.

Could you provide an explanation of some sort to inform us why you think EY is the worst thing in TNA?

I think he is annoying but a good annoying. I do not want to cheer on EY as the "cool" bad guy. I want to boo EY out of the building. Just how Triple H was doing it on RAW is how EY is doing it currently. He just gets heat. True heel heat too. Eric Young has hit his stride and it is working for him. Bram will also succeed working with EY as long as booking books them correctly and the two get over as well. But on subject, EY generates heat, can work a mic "some people cannot take his voice", hits a mean looking Pile Drive, is funny and also a TNA original. These are my reasons of disliking EY for all the right reasons.

 

[Rayne]

I think the issue people have with Eric Young is that he never really had a transitory period between "comedy relief" and "serious wrestler", and you see that come out in the frequent knock on him which IDR brought up.

Being the comedic relief in a promotion is a double-edged sword. On the positive side, if you're good at it, it's incredibly steady work. Guys like Santino Marella don't get taken super seriously, but they're on the show every week- and that was the sweet spot Eric Young was in. The negative side is that it's awfully tough to transition out of that role; you end up getting typecast. Something has to happen to transfer "comedy guy" into "title guy".

In Eric Young's case, it seems like all of the sudden, he was the head of World Elite. He'd get forgotten, then asked to be Daniel Bryan, then drift along; despite TNA certainly trying to elevate him, there was never a consistent process to bring him into a new role. One week, fans were asked to take him seriously.... and they couldn't. Here we are years later, and people still pigeonhole him the same way.

And at this point, it's inescapable; there are going to be people who view him as a comedy guy no matter what he does. He could walk out onto Impact and start smacking around the production crew with a tire iron, and there will still be a segment of the audience that will be unable to buy into it. Come to think of it- and this is late night, fifteen minutes before sleep Rayne talking- I can't think of anyone who has successfully made that jump from established comedy guy to established promotion leader.

 

[Aquaman6686]

Could you provide an explanation of some sort to inform us why you think EY is the worst thing in TNA?

I think he is annoying but a good annoying. I do not want to cheer on EY as the "cool" bad guy. I want to boo EY out of the building. Just how Triple H was doing it on RAW is how EY is doing it currently. He just gets heat. True heel heat too. Eric Young has hit his stride and it is working for him. Bram will also succeed working with EY as long as booking books them correctly and the two get over as well. But on subject, EY generates heat, can work a mic "some people cannot take his voice", hits a mean looking Pile Drive, is funny and also a TNA original. These are my reasons of disliking EY for all the right reasons.

I thought that "god-awful wrestler" and "charisma of a dead fish" was a fairly good explanation, but if you need more, alright. Eric Young is one of the main reasons I stopped giving TNA more chances to impress me. He's SO boring and SO horrible, I just can't stand watching him. The fact that TNA not only keeps him around, but continues to push him and actually tries to make him a top star, just proves to me how inferior they are. I don't want to cheer Eric Young and I don't want to boo him, I just want to change the channel. I'd rather watch an hour long Iron Man Match between The Great Khali and Giant Gonzalez than watch Eric Young compete.

 

[Alex]

I have no reason to care about Young. Yeah he's been around for a very long time and there are far worse guys in the ring, but that's far from enough to warrant a main event or even upper midcard spot. At the moment he's taking attention away from Bram, who could do almost the same character in a better performance.

This sums it up pretty well. I don't hate Young, nor do I like him, he's just there. He's done very conceivable thing a wrestler can do from comedy to seriousness from tag titles to world titles now he's just there. Bram is new and aside from beating up Magnus and a few other people hasn't really had a defining storyline. I'd rather see Bram doing what Young is doing now because he'd be the focus and not the understudy. Heck I'd have taken Bram teaming with Crazy Steve over Abyss. As one's the weird one and the other would be the violent one.

 

[Bischoff's Knob Slobberer]

EY is garbage. I can't take that clown seriously after he ran around pulling his trunks down pulling a horrible Rick Flair impersation for 2 years straight. He needs to be released and younger better talent needs to be on tv. This clown held the TNA women's tag titles with ODB for Christ sakes. (His "marriage" to ODB's was one of TNA's worse angles ever, worse than Aces and Eights even..SMH.......)

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

Eric Young winning the title made me stop watching TNA. I have seen next to nothing of it since. I find it very hard to believe he is now an "established star" but since I haven't watched I obviously can't comment. Could you perhaps link me to a great promo or match he has had since he won the title? Was his reign actually any good?

 

[It's Damn Real!]

His reign wasn't a reign. It was a "run". To me, there's a difference between the two. Reigns are reigns because they draw parallels to royalty, legacy, and history. Runs are things that happen. Like Chris Sabin's run versus Bobby Roode's reign.

As to who EY is now, no, I'm not going to try to convince you to give an entire company a chance again based on a single interview or promo or match. It'd be like you tryin to tell me, "watch this Seth Rollins match — see, WWE is good again!" when you know I'm not going to be happy with like 85% of the show surrounding said match.

But EY is established now, irrespective of whether you are watching or not.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

As to who EY is now, no, I'm not going to try to convince you to give an entire company a chance again based on a single interview or promo or match. It'd be like you tryin to tell me, "watch this Seth Rollins match — see, WWE is good again!" when you know I'm not going to be happy with like 85% of the show surrounding said match.

But EY is established now, irrespective of whether you are watching or not.

I'm not asking you to convince me to watch TNA again. I'm asking for "proof" that Eric Young is an established star.

If I said "Seth Rollins is an established star" and you had not seen his work, I would be more than happy to recommend a match or two. Royal Rumble 2015 and the WM31 main event (though his participation is minor) are both matches that cemented him and proof that he is now an established star.

 

[harrythem]

Always had a soft spot for EY as his comedy stuff actually made me properly chuckle quite often (unlike Grado who is just a cunt)...
I'd say EY is established well in TNA, I just wish someone like Nash had gone to Triple H to have a word with him, as I think EY would've been a quality addition to WWE (and a natural replacement for Santino with extra talent)

 

[Hem]

I agree that he is good but why is he crazy? Why is he attacking people? Why so violent? Why is with Bram?

Ok so he pandered to the people as a funny guy and he got nothing so he snapped and went crazy I get that but is that really a reason to attack people?

His character needs justifying and a career. He needs to say things about the industry that people would believe like they always held him back because he was a small ugly guy but he wanted to be the champ. He said his friends all won the title (Roode, Angle) and never gave him a championship opportunity and now they will pay.

Climb up the ladder and slowly go to the championship picture. I love his team with Bram but now is not the time to do it. Maybe have them be known associates who have each other's backs but don't always be together.

Eventually when EY wins the title, he offers an opportunity to someone just like him, Bram. After falling short the first time, Bram is denied a rematch. This sets up a rift in the friendship. Bram starts taking out the number one contenders and faces off for the championship in three ways until he finally wins.

EY and Bram head into a crazy Vs. Crazy match and after a short initial run, Bram loses the championship after EY gets help from another guy who is just like him....Trevor Lee.


I know what I just said wasn't what the topic was but still.

 

[InsomniaMusic]

EY has been the best for TNA for like the past 5 years or so. His comedic roles have all been great. He was even good in Team Canada. Whatever role he's been given he's gone out and killed that role

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I agree, but he's been exceptionally reliable since he turned heel back when they debuted on Destination America. It's his best, most fleshed out character, and he's putting together fantastic character work in and out of the ring.