If WWE is to be believed, Monday Night Raw is a show that is constantly full of surprises and unexpected twists. Well, as for this week’s episode, easily the most unexpected and surprising thing was that Alex Riley showed up on TV. And on top of that, he won his match. Yes, it was to further a feud that Riley isn’t in but still, if you were making a list of most likely to be “future endeavored” by Christmas, Riley would have a good argument for being on that list. The thing about Riley though is I would really like to see the guy get a chance. I liked his work with The Miz, and he has a good theme song, I just figured he was going to end up being one of those unlucky guys who was nothing more than a trivia question five years from now. But there are plenty of guys in the locker room that are in that same boat. Below, is a list of superstars who are all currently active according to the roster online that I would like to se more of.
Drew McIntyre: Remember when this dude was “The Chosen One?” What happened there? The last thing I remember seeing McIntyre in was on Team Laurinaitis back at WrestleMania. Was McIntyre even among the jobbers that attacked Kane on Raw 1000? I can’t really remember. At one point this guy looked like he had a legitimate shot at being a Main Eventer and now what? With a decent storyline and a feud against somebody he can work with, I would like to see McIntyre get one more shot before we forget about him forever.
Evan Bourne: A few years ago, I was a big fan of Evan Bourne. Around the time that he was feuding with Chris Jericho, I was sure that Evan Bourne was on his way to being the next big thing. Remember the guy’s big spots? How about that mid-air RKO from Randy that one time? Or what about his leap off of the ladder at MiTB? Then with the fastest back-to-back Wellness violations in recent memory, we haven’t seen Bourne since January. I would love to see Bourne again, but if WWE decides to never give this guy another chance, I’ll admit I probably can’t really blame them on this one.
Johnny Curtis: I’ll admit I have actually seen very little of this guy in the ring. And what I did see didn’t wow me. I didn’t hate it or anything but it wasn’t anything terribly memorable. However his storyline with Maxine on NXT earlier this year was the main reason that for a while NXT was on the same “must see” level that Raw was. Now that Maxine is no longer a part of the company, Curtis is all we have left from that and I would like to see what he could do on his own. Maybe it’ll be terrible but we won’t know till we try.
Mick Foley: This one is a bit of a cheat since Foley is technically listed as an alumni on the website, not an active wrestler. But since Foley is my all time favorite, I do really wish the company would do something with him. I remember being stoked to learn that Foley would be returning to WWE a while back and even though I don’t expect any more hardcore matches from the guy, I really just want to see him on the TV.
William Regal: William Regal is a lot like CM Punk in that I try not to sound like a squealing fan when talking about him, but he just makes it so easy to fall into that category. While I don’t think there’s much hope of ever seeing this guy in any real ring feuds at this point in his career, he is currently my number one choice to be any sort of on screen authority (GM of either brand, or both) or at the commentary table. And I don’t mean just on NXT. Replacing any current commentator with Regal, or simply adding him to the table would be a massive improvement on how terrible the commentary currently is.
Yoshi Tatsu: I have no reason for liking Yoshi, except that he had one really good match one time. It was probably about two years ago at this point, and I don’t remember what show it was even on, or who he was in the ring with, but whatever it was, the match impressed me. So while I know there is no chance of ever seeing Yoshi as a Main event star or even a belt holder anytime in the near future, what I would really like is to see the guy in more singles competitions. You have three hours to fill every week now. Maybe use him as more than just Battle Royale filler.
Unrelated thought: Who else let out an audible groan this week when Brock Lesnar stole the mic from Paul Heyman. Why did Brock even need to be there? If you have limited Lesnar appearances, why would you ever have him show up to not fight, but to talk? That’s what you pay Heyman for. At any rate, the face palm from Heyman when Lesnar took the mic says more about how I feel than anything I can think to put here.
