Hail That Prick, Sabin

[ABMorales787]

[YOUTUBE]YBQidBQB3Yo[/YOUTUBE]

That had to be the most prickish thing I've seen in pro wrestling. Best heel tactic I've seen in a damn long time. This wasn't some showing off, or bragging or something. This was a downright mentally damaging move if it were real life. Not to mention how realistic the situation can be.

Chris Sabin has really come to own this self-absorbed prick character as of late. At first I was skeptical. His heel turn was so forced and an obvious cop-out after they gave him the World title for an obvious paper run without seeing what would be next for him. But as of late, his using of Velvet was becoming good, cheap heat stuff like the led pipe she was supposed to hold and such. But this promo, hot damn. The sad part is, well what now? There's zero point in him holding the X Division title a 9th time. He's done all he can do at this point with that title. He's not going up the card any time soon with guys like Gunner, Roode, Joe and Angle clearly ahead of him in the pecking order. The man is easily the biggest heel in the midcard after that despicable act. But just what the hell is he supposed to? There's no real midcard to dominate over! What now?

TNA set the guy up for great things. But there's nothing great for him to grab on to. A feud? With who? Who exactly is supposed to be Velvet Sky's night in shining armor? What's next for Sabin after such a heelish tactic?

 

[The 1-2-3 Killam]

Well, TNA can't seem to tell stories using more than one or two guys without going full-blown faction vs. faction warfare. Team Dixie vs. Team MVP is just the next in a LONG, LONG line of crazy company battles. I wouldn't be surprised to see Chris Sabin join up with that crew of heels. Wouldn't be the first time; probably won't be the last time.

I also have read spoilers, so I can't really speak on what they will do with Sabin, because I kind of know where they are headed. Without spoiling anything, I think the concept is pretty different, and while they killed Sabin for me in 2013, depending on how its executed I could be interested enough to follow along.

 

[UFOcalling]

I too have been enjoying Sabin's latest run as a heel. I thought the "proposal" segment they did on iMPACT this week was good, but the only thing I didn't like about it was Tenay making such a big deal about the arena being "brand new". Tenay made several references to this episode (or maybe last week's episode, rather) of iMPACT being the very first wrestling event to be held there as well...then Sabin says that he & Velvet had their first kiss backstage at that very arena? Maybe the audience was supposed to believe this was a different arena, I don't know...maybe this segment was supposed to be "offsite" from the arena, or something, and I just missed that part. A little bit of a continuity issue, but maybe I'm shining too bright of a lantern on this story...not a huge deal, but it bothered me a bit none-the-less. I'm surprised no one in TNA creative caught that, it could have been easily fixed. Otherwise a great moment for Sabin's character development.

Sabin has been doing a great job with Velvet since his heel turn, doing the chicken-sh*t heel thing. IMHO, Sabin took that old-school character and ran with it - making it very believable. I think it would be great to see Velvet reunite with Sabin somewhere down the line, turning Velvet heel in the process. It would be a perfect scenario to put the World Title back on Sabin as well, although a lot of people would probably be against that (including TNA creative, one would assume). The best thing I can say about Sabin's current gimmick is that no one else is doing it right now. Yes - it's been done in the past, but somehow it feels fresh anyway. I would put most of the credit for this angle's success in Sabin's performance, but you have to give credit to TNA creative (and Velvet) as well.

Side-note: Last week, when Velvet "broke up" with Sabin in the ring, Sabin reminded me a bit of old-school HHH when he was yelling at her from the ring (and she was walking up the ramp). Part of that may have been due to Sabin pulling his hair out of the pony tail, but I believe it also had to do with the intensity on his face while yelling at her. It reminded me of HHH during the DX days, when HHH was hiding behind Chyna (when it was just Michaels, Chyna and HHH...maybe Rick Rude was still involved then too). Especially the way Sabin was standing on the bottom rope, it just screamed old-school DX HHH to me, and I mean that in a good way.

This "match" coming up between Velvet & Sabin has me a little worried, however (Sabin challenged Velvet to a match, for next week if I'm not mistaken?). If the match actually happens, obviously Sabin can't hit any moves on Velvet...I don't think Spike TV allows men to do any wrestling moves on any women...not that I necessarily agree/disagree with their stance, I just think that's the case. That being said, if the match takes place it would have to be Velvet hitting all the offense. I think the match will be a lose-lose scenario for Sabin; either Velvet pins Sabin, or Sabin cheats to pin Velvet. Either way, Sabin will look very weak in the process. I don't know what the saving grace will be (I try to stay away from spoilers, if/when I can resist the temptation), but hopefully TNA creative won't bury Sabin in the process. Please, don't repeat Sable/Marc Mero...when Mero was Sable-Bombed and pinned, there was absolutely nothing left for Mero. When a male wrestler is beaten by a woman, he might as well pack up his gear and go home for good. My assumption is that the match won't take place at all, but you know what happens when you assume. Either way, I'm hoping Sabin becomes even more over as a hated figure. Sabin is good enough to deserve the TV time he's getting, and I've been loving this side of him. Hail Sabin.

 

[TDFG]

TNA set the guy up for great things. But there's nothing great for him to grab on to. A feud? With who? Who exactly is supposed to be Velvet Sky's night in shining armor? What's next for Sabin after such a heelish tactic?

They've signed Extreme Tiger, if TNA want to go down the road of someone coming to Velvet Sky's rescue, good opportunity for him to debut.

 

[Alex]

TNA set the guy up for great things. But there's nothing great for him to grab on to. A feud? With who? Who exactly is supposed to be Velvet Sky's night in shining armor? What's next for Sabin after such a heelish tactic?

In a perfect world they'd re-sign Alex Shelley but that ain't happening. It'll probably be another X-Division wrestler. We haven't seen either Kenny King or TJ Perkins/Manik for a while it could be one of them or one of the new signings they've teased us with.

Sabin really has come into his own recently. Before his gimmick was really he was from Detroit/had fucked up knees. Now he's got the pretentious prick gimmick and he pulls it off without being forced which is great. I've always liked Sabin and felt he was an underutilised talent on the roster and this gimmick and the subsequent feud he'll have will almost certainly make him a bigger deal. Heck this would be the perfect time to bring back the TV title. He could lay claim to he's so great he deserves to be on TV all the time.

 

[It's Damn Real!]

I was really worried about how the World Heavyweight Championship failure was going to affect Sabin, especially with how poorly he went over as a face, but as usual, in going heel again, he's shown quite the bounce-back.

That segment was great, and he's really come into his own again, where I feel he's probably most comfortable. Right at the top of the X Division. Even his feud with Aries was great.

 

[nightmare]

Sabin as a face does not work unless Alex is around. Other than that, he plays a great heel. He has been solid there & really one of only a few reasons I keep up with TNA still besides seeing Joe & the awesome team of Daniels\Kaz.


I think the lack of a roster may hurt him. You run out of things to do with a limited talent pool & he really needs a strong face to go against. I liked the fact he had the main title, but it really went nowhere fast. Find him a talented face to go against & this heel run will last for a bit.

 

[Cereal Killer]

That was a great segment. A short yet one of the best parts of the show. Sabin is doing a fantastic job in playing the heel. I don't see him as your everyday heel, but one that actually irritates all audiences. Usually smarks aren't that bothered by them because of their knowledge of kayfabe but I think most people here can say Sabin really got under their skin.

What Sabin is doing is that he is playing a character most people have come across in real life and that are regularly seen as cliché bad guys in movies. Instead of attacking a face from behind, Sabin's been playing a character where he's very cocky as well as a jerk to Velvet Sky, somebody very over with the fans. What separates him from most heels is his acting. He sounds easy going and looks calm until he says something really infuriating, does that cocky little smirk and as an end result, makes you want to punch him in the face.

At first I was a little nervous as to where this was going to go, but I can say that after a couple of weeks, Sabin showed us that he can play a great heel and it was the face move which was holding him back. He may have been entertaining and enjoyable in the MotorCity Machine Guns but bear in mind that your work as somebody in a tag team is completely different to your work as a singles superstar. You don't have anybody holding your hand, carrying half of the match and somebody there to boost your confidence. You're at it a lone and Chris Sabin is doing great in this position. This is the best I have ever seen Sabin in his career.