The Dragon Saga
Whale in a Teardrop
Unless you don't read the main page at all (or pretty much any wrestling news website) you probably have no clue what I'm talking about, those who do however will have most probably read little details on the situation ROH's "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin currently finds himself in.
This is Michael Elgin. For those unfamiliar to him, Elgin is known for a couple of things, one being he has a five star match from Dave Meltzer with Davey Richards at ROH Showdown in the Sun 2012, the other is he is freakishly strong and is the master of deadlifting other wrestlers into just about any move. Despite his size he is also scary agile and although a powerhouse he is also extremely technically sound. His negatives would be he can't talk all that well, many would say he's charismatic as a shoe (like the ones cobblers fix, with the wooden soles) and takes himself a tad too seriously (he publicly bitched about NJPW not taking him over as an ROH representative).
On Saturday night at ROH's All Star Extravaganza VI iPPV, Michael Elgin shockingly lost the ROH World Championship to Jay Briscoe. If you're a regular ROH fan this was pretty much the most shocking thing to happen in wrestling this year after The Undertaker's streak being ended by Brock Lesnar. The reaction of the crowd was extremely similar, albeit there was only like 1,700 people there you but you my point.
Elgin had been built to win the title for a good eight months. He was the first person to defeat AJ Styles clean following AJ's departure from TNA, he was the main event and focal point of ROH's first PPV, they even put him over Kevin Steen during WrestleMania Weekend. And 72 days later, which is a shorter reign then that of the worst ROH Champion in history Xavier, it was over and ended by Jay Briscoe no less (nothing against Jay but everyone thought AJ Styles would do it).
There has been a lot of rumors as to why Elgin lost the title.
- They were unhappy with the reaction he was getting from fans at live events.
- They were unhappy with his lack of effort in publicizing himself and the ROH World Championship
- They were unhappy that he admitted in an interview that he wanted to tryout for Major League Baseball
- They were unhappy that he jobbed to Trevor Lee, a virtual unknown on the indies at PWG's Battle of Los Angeles, as ROH doesn't like their World Champion jobbing on the indies
Whether these issues are true or not, one big issue came up on Sunday. Elgin canceled an independent show he was scheduled to wrestle at in Cleveland, Ohio. It turns out his VISA had expired and he was stopped trying to cross the Canada border from the ROH show the night before. Elgin has been placed on security watch meaning he can't leave Canada until he gets the VISA and he is stranded in Canada - despite being Canadian he and his family live in St. Louis, Missouri and he has virtually no family left in Canada.
It doesn't seem like the worst scenario, but the variables are what make it a pretty sad story. Elgin just recently signed a new 18 month ROH contract, a full time exclusive contract with a salary. Now what that means is even though ROH won't be able to use him for the next 90 days while his VISA issues are worked out, he won't be getting what they usually pay him and instead a percentage of it. He just bought a new house in St. Louis and has publicly said that without the money he gets paid from ROH he doesn't know how he'll pay off his mortage and his wife is left in America, unable to travel to Canada.
Elgin posted this on his Facebook page earlier today...
Five days ago Michael Elgin was the World Champion in one of the top wrestling promotions in America, had just signed a new contract where he is said to be getting good money, was expected to get a lengthy title reign as he'd been saying he would break the all-time defense record held by Bryan (37) and had just bought a new house with his wife in St. Louis.
Now, he's no longer ROH World Champion, if rumors are true the company who employs him are angry for multiple reasons, he isn't going to be getting the money he thought from his new contract, he's stranded in Canada with no entry back into the United States until at least 90 days and as hes said above, he has almost nothing with him.
TL;DR Michael Elgin's life sucks right now.
This is Michael Elgin. For those unfamiliar to him, Elgin is known for a couple of things, one being he has a five star match from Dave Meltzer with Davey Richards at ROH Showdown in the Sun 2012, the other is he is freakishly strong and is the master of deadlifting other wrestlers into just about any move. Despite his size he is also scary agile and although a powerhouse he is also extremely technically sound. His negatives would be he can't talk all that well, many would say he's charismatic as a shoe (like the ones cobblers fix, with the wooden soles) and takes himself a tad too seriously (he publicly bitched about NJPW not taking him over as an ROH representative).
On Saturday night at ROH's All Star Extravaganza VI iPPV, Michael Elgin shockingly lost the ROH World Championship to Jay Briscoe. If you're a regular ROH fan this was pretty much the most shocking thing to happen in wrestling this year after The Undertaker's streak being ended by Brock Lesnar. The reaction of the crowd was extremely similar, albeit there was only like 1,700 people there you but you my point.
Elgin had been built to win the title for a good eight months. He was the first person to defeat AJ Styles clean following AJ's departure from TNA, he was the main event and focal point of ROH's first PPV, they even put him over Kevin Steen during WrestleMania Weekend. And 72 days later, which is a shorter reign then that of the worst ROH Champion in history Xavier, it was over and ended by Jay Briscoe no less (nothing against Jay but everyone thought AJ Styles would do it).
There has been a lot of rumors as to why Elgin lost the title.
- They were unhappy with the reaction he was getting from fans at live events.
- They were unhappy with his lack of effort in publicizing himself and the ROH World Championship
- They were unhappy that he admitted in an interview that he wanted to tryout for Major League Baseball
- They were unhappy that he jobbed to Trevor Lee, a virtual unknown on the indies at PWG's Battle of Los Angeles, as ROH doesn't like their World Champion jobbing on the indies
Whether these issues are true or not, one big issue came up on Sunday. Elgin canceled an independent show he was scheduled to wrestle at in Cleveland, Ohio. It turns out his VISA had expired and he was stopped trying to cross the Canada border from the ROH show the night before. Elgin has been placed on security watch meaning he can't leave Canada until he gets the VISA and he is stranded in Canada - despite being Canadian he and his family live in St. Louis, Missouri and he has virtually no family left in Canada.
It doesn't seem like the worst scenario, but the variables are what make it a pretty sad story. Elgin just recently signed a new 18 month ROH contract, a full time exclusive contract with a salary. Now what that means is even though ROH won't be able to use him for the next 90 days while his VISA issues are worked out, he won't be getting what they usually pay him and instead a percentage of it. He just bought a new house in St. Louis and has publicly said that without the money he gets paid from ROH he doesn't know how he'll pay off his mortage and his wife is left in America, unable to travel to Canada.
Elgin posted this on his Facebook page earlier today...
Five days ago Michael Elgin was the World Champion in one of the top wrestling promotions in America, had just signed a new contract where he is said to be getting good money, was expected to get a lengthy title reign as he'd been saying he would break the all-time defense record held by Bryan (37) and had just bought a new house with his wife in St. Louis.
Now, he's no longer ROH World Champion, if rumors are true the company who employs him are angry for multiple reasons, he isn't going to be getting the money he thought from his new contract, he's stranded in Canada with no entry back into the United States until at least 90 days and as hes said above, he has almost nothing with him.
TL;DR Michael Elgin's life sucks right now.
