"Sterling" James Keenan FINALLY Signed With WWE!

[Sheamus' Suntan]

Actually surprised there's been nothing on this on the forums. According to the FCW website, James Keenan is now a part of the roster. His name change is actually one of the nicest I've seen in several years now, Corey Graves

In case you don't know SJK...

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And a match:

[YOUTUBE]KiCfSuapuoc[/YOUTUBE]

Things to note about Keenan (now Graves):

He is the CONSUMATE heel. By this I mean, he is just SO good as a heel that you can't help but WANT to boo him. If you're not booing him, you're cheering because he's pretty much one of the coolest heels around - IE, he has the CM Punk effect of MEGA heel but the crowd can still love him.

He OOZES Charisma. He can really speak so well on the mic.

He has a great, AMERICAN style already - this is good, as it means he won't need to pick up much for his WWE run.

Now this is great news in my book. Since first seeing him live, I've been a Sterling James Keenan fan and I've always believed he's the best unsigned act, so for him to have a contract with WWE is incredible. I look forward to seeing his work in FCW and WWE.

 

[badnewzxl]

Sterling Keenan was actually in the very first ROH match I got to see live. He didn't impress me then, but he was fighting Jimmy Rave (who, according to the above description, was the same exact character but with actual history at the time) so I didn't get to see him in this light. He looks perfect for the WWE style; just like Punk and Sydal. I actually prefer those two in WWE over them in ROH bc I felt Daniels was better than Punk and Jack Evans was better than Sydal....

 

[Sheamus' Suntan]

His work in ROH was lacking something. It wasn't quite the same SJK I have seen live. Every other time I've seen SJK live (1PW in Doncaster, England), he's been really good and pretty much the star of the show. When he's curtain jerking and NOT given promo time then he's not much, but give him promo time and he'll be over as hell.

 

[Барбоса]

I thoroughly enjoyed SJK's heel performances on the UK scene, especially his one-sided feud with Samoa Joe - not TNA Joe but ROH's "you're going to get your fucking head kicked in" Joe. SJK would continually claim that Joe was scared of him and continually ducking him despite never actually being signed to make an appearance on the show. By the time Joe did show in the UK, SJK had people really wanting to see him "get his fucking head kicked in." He has also been an effective mouthpiece of Abyss in the past so he does have good mic skills.

Could he be an Edge type heel? Possibly but he has a long way to go to get to that.

 

[KnowYoRole]

never seen his work before. That promo was pretty generic but delivery was fine. He looks comfortable and charismatic. Looking forward to seeing what he does.

 

[Sheamus' Suntan]

I thoroughly enjoyed SJK's heel performances on the UK scene, especially his one-sided feud with Samoa Joe - not TNA Joe but ROH's "you're going to get your fucking head kicked in" Joe. SJK would continually claim that Joe was scared of him and continually ducking him despite never actually being signed to make an appearance on the show. By the time Joe did show in the UK, SJK had people really wanting to see him "get his fucking head kicked in." He has also been an effective mouthpiece of Abyss in the past so he does have good mic skills.

Could he be an Edge type heel? Possibly but he has a long way to go to get to that.

In short with this, SJK did what the Miz WANTED to do with the Cena feud - calling out every show. Only thing is, SJK REALLY did it to the point where you really did want to see it happen, whereas I remember feeling indifferent with Cena/Miz.

I don't know about him being an opportunistic heel...I actually feel an eddie style would be better for SJK, cheating and lying to the ref to get the job done etc. He would definitely suit a cowardly approach while also being VERY VERY solid in ring.

 

[ZUMBOdriver]

Excellent news! This is the first I have heard of this news and I am very happy for SJK.

His work in ROH was lacking something. It wasn't quite the same SJK I have seen live.

I totally agree. SJK has got a lot more to offer than what he showed in his short time with ROH. Not that he was bad there, but he just never got a good chance to show what he's got. I got to see a lot of SJK live and in person when I was going to a lot more indy shows in Pittsburgh, where he was one of the best performers on the reg. I never have had a chance to see SJK's work outside of the US, but it seems from what I read on here that Sterling did nice work. I think Sterling has the mic skills, ring skills, and charisma to have a legitimate presence on WWE television. Hopefully he will get to work with his old pal CM Punk in some capacity.

 

[X]

Jesus, really? Only about what, ten years too late? This dude was HUGE like 6-8 years ago or so on the indies in both the UK and the states, everyone thought he was going to be the next indy guy to make it big in the big leagues but like with alot of guys like that, it just never happened for some reason or another. I haven't even seen the dude on a single major indy card in the last 3 or so years though, definitely not in the states atleast. I figured he was probably gearing up to retire or something, but shit, I guess not. This is strange, WWE really came late to the party on this one I think. Still, SJK is a good talent and if utilized correctly could wind up being a very good addition to the current crop of new midcarders the WWE is working on introducing these days. Not sure how far he'd make it in the company, but I'd like to see him atleast given a fair shot, he's earned that much after years of toiling away on the indies for peanuts.

Surprising move, but I like it.

 

[TeamAwesome]

SJK was unknown to me when i saw him in 1PW.
At my 1st show he was in the opening promo with Christian.
The guy can work heel and face, he is a better heel.

i'd love to see him get a run on the main roster before being future endeavoured