Hello and welcome to Wrestling Wremix, where I get all the clicks because I post about what the people want- new directions for the Miz, Cody Rhodes and Tyson Kidd. Whoops, spoiler alert! I’m James A. Sawyer and also @todaysjimsawyer.
Who’s Tyson Kidd, you ask? Well he got married on Total Divas. For the past year or two, that’s probably how you know him. But apparently he might be a talented worker. CM Punk mentioned him in a promo about underutilized guys in another “technically this is a heel speech but I’m actually completely right.” Ziggler named him as a dream opponent in an interview. And he was briefly in the new Hart Dynasty before they split them up and canned DH Smith because of… reasons?
Well he suffered an injury at the worst possible time last year after getting a bump in recognition due to the speech, but now he’s back. And what to do with him? Here’s my idea…
I thought about this back when Daniel Bryan was feuding for secondary belts like the IC and US championship. Back when WWE didn’t know what to do with him besides try to bury him in the undercard and pray their investment in huge guys continues to pay off, I thought a good way to get him noticed and over would be to have him beat Santino Marella for the IC belt. Santino at the time was doing a gimmick where he was attempting to beat the record held by the Honkytonk Man for longest championship reign. Now, I actually like Santino. He’s a fine comedy wrestler. Not everyone needs to be a strong-style badass and engage in bloodfeuds. I’m not a total grump, there needs to be breaks in pacing, which is why before the main event at Wrestlemania it’s often a Divas match or a dance routine by a fat 1980s rapper imploring us to call all of our mothers. But he’s not meant to hold a belt and thus have comedy matches with everyone on the roster for a year. That would get old. Daniel Bryan would have been the perfect person to win the belt, and break Honkytonk’s streak. Along the way, he’d pick up a bodyguard, Kevin Nash. This would make sense, as in a way, if Daniel Bryan is like a son to Shawn Michaels, that would make Kevin Nash his surrogate uncle. And Nash could protect him from outside interference and other heel-ish shenanigans. He’d cut promos with him, helping showcase Bryan’s charisma and personality.
Up until he betrays him by powerbombing him outside the ring, rolling him in and giving Tyson Kidd the championship. The reason? The reason why Nash did anything, Kidd gave him more money. And this betrayal would hurt all the more since Nash is betraying a “son of the Cliq” for a member of their hated Hart family. After a rematch and DQ win for Bryan, he could be free to go after a big belt, and let Kidd have the IC for the time being.
Now, obviously Bryan is firmly entrenched in the main event scene (as of this column. He could be shuffled down to a feud with Sweet T for all I know). But Tyson Kidd is still a perfect candidate for a long Intercontinental reign and to be the employer of Big Daddy Cool Diesel.
You could say a lot about Kevin Nash, and a lot of it could be negative and some of that would be true. One thing you can’t argue is that he has a personality and a half. Hell, just for this exchange alone (as seen in Mick Foley’s first autobiography) he deserved mic time-
DDP- “The best thing about Eric Bischoff is that he listens to the wrestlers.”
Nash- “The best thing about Eric Bischoff is that he’s sexy in a shy kind of way.”
Now that he’s retired from in-ring competition (kinda, Wikipedia tells me he was wrestling as recently as last year in Japan and for Juggalos) and safely away from any booking position, he’s the perfect familiar face to add value to a young talent. He’s still got some mic skills, now has some veteran insight, and is fit enough for an occasional powerbomb or to be on the receiving end of a punch or superkick. Why not pair him up with Tyson Kidd?
Kidd has kind of a old heel-era Shawn Michaels air about him, with his blondish hair, “pretty boy” ring attire and arrogant in-ring demeanor. I think he’d be the perfect candidate to turn his back on Bret Hart and the Hart legacy (thus instantly turning him heel even in Canada) and side with Nash and “The Cliq.” He could even give up the Sharpshooter for a while and use the Sweet Chin Music, X-Factor and Razor’s Edge. Knowing how close Nash and HBK were with Triple H, he’d be a natural to side with the Corporation 2.0 and be their representative in the midcard. And now that the fans’ last memory of Michaels is of him screwing Bryan and siding with Hunter, he’d be the perfect guy to come back and endorse Kidd and initiate him into the group deciding what’s best for business.
Okay, here’s some mic work by Kidd. Not bad, comes across believably as smarmy and douchey. Perfect personality type for a capable wrestler who nevertheless still insists on having backup and is not afraid to break the rules. Kidd is also a capable in-ring performer, and could probably have a host of good to great matches against guys like Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne, Rey Mysterio, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Justin Gabriel, Antonio Cesaro, etc.
(Also, remember when Drew McIntyre was a thing and not inexplicably loathed by Creative and/or the McMahons?)
I, for one, would love to see Kidd make a comeback, win the IC championship (calm down, Big E can win the US title and Dean Ambrose can have major feuds leading up to a world title push) and use Kevin Nash as a bodyguard/mouthpiece up until he either pushes Nash too far, ends up as a victim of a powerbomb and loses the title but keeps the heel status, or turns face and fires Nash and embraces the Hart legacy with a Sharpshooter win over a hated opponent.
Thanks to advanced planning and dedication, I’ve kept up my streak of weekly columns despite heading into my last heavy treatment week. Man, how am I still unemployed? Oh, right, having an English degree… and this economy. Thanks a lot, BD.
What say you? Is this a decent idea, or am I… Kidding myself? Haw!
