History
As TNA prepared to launch Impact on Fox Sports, there were a few last minute matters to take care of on the weekly PPVs. Specifically, Vince Russo had discovered that there were some wrestlers on the roster whose win/loss records were, shall we say, less than spectacular. Director of Authority Vince Russo’s solution was the Gut Check list. This was a list of wrestlers who’d been counting lights at the end of all their matches and showed that their jobs may be in danger.
June ninth’s show saw David Young (with an impressive 0-53 record) talking with Scott Hudson. Hudson asked Young if he wasn’t concerned for his job. After D-Ray 3000 wandered past looking for the ring, Young told Hudson he wasn’t worried at all.
The next week Young was wandering around backstage. He stopped Scott Hudson to ask where Russo was. Hudson replied that Russo had gone to the hospital after getting leveled by a Jeff Jarrett guitar shot earlier in the night. Young explained to Hudson that he had to have a match that night because he had bills to pay.
Later in the night, Glen Gilbertti (the former Disco Inferno) and Johnny Swinger were getting into their new outfits. Earlier in the night, they had lost a match to Sonny Siaki and Pat Kenney (Simon Diamond) which meant that they had to wear these costumes for 30 days. Now Gilbertti was dressed as a leprechaun and Swinger was wearing a grass skirt and coconut bra. Young showed up and asked Gilbertti who he could talk to for a match. Gilbertti directed Young to Dusty Rhodes.
The next week was TNA’s second anniversary PPV. Gilbertti was still griping about the new gear and Swinger was starting to admire how he looked in it. Young came in and said he had an idea. He told Gilbertti they should challenge Siaki and Kenney to a match with double or nothing stakes. Gilbertti liked the idea and the two walked out with Gilbertti picking Young’s brain for more winning ideas.
After Mascarita Sagrada defeated Mini Pierroth, Young hit the ring and tackled Sagrada. The referee, however, refused to count. Mini Pierroth tried to help so Young pinned him, too, but the referee still wouldn’t count. D-Ray came in and Young hit him with a spinebuster. Both minis bit Young on the rear end and Young grabbed them both by the throat. That prompted the referee to dropkick Young. Both minis and D-Ray pinned Young, and the referee counted the pinfall.
Young was missing the next week, but returned on the following episode. That night’s show opened with Frankie Kazarian and Michael Shane (Matt Bentley) defeating Gilbertti and Swinger. Young hit the ring to complain to referee Mike Posey. Posey was unintimidated and pulled his shirt off to get ready to fight. Thanks to a distraction from Gilbertti and Swinger, Young was able to hit Posey with a spinebuster.
The next week saw Big Vito furious with Gilbertti and Swinger because of their losing ways. They tried to blame Young, who said it wasn’t his fault.
Young headed to the ring and got in Mike Posey’s face, challenging him to a fight. That brought Gilbertti and Swinger out, who chased Posey under the ring. Posey came back out a moment later with a broom and started swinging at the wrestlers. He held them off until Shark Boy and D-Ray came out to help him clean house.
Scott Hudson talked to Young and Swinger the next week and we found out that despite being in a six-man match, Gilbertti wasn’t there. After D-Ray pinned Young, we saw Young’s record – 0-87. Young asked Russo for one more chance – a one on one match with Mike Posey. Young agreed to leave TNA if he lost.
Young came out the next week and mentioned that he didn’t care about Gilbertti anymore. Gilbertti, who’d been on a losing streak of his own, came out and mentioned that the two of them could get each other off Russo’s “Gut Check†list.
Young faced off against Posey and was defeated when Gilbertti caused a distraction. Young agreed that he would leave, but first went after Gilbertti. That brought out Swinger to help Gilbertti out.
The next week, Dusty Rhodes was arriving as Young was leaving. Young told Dusty that he was sad to go but Russo had told him to go home and they’d call if they had something for him.
One week later Young had his second chance. With his record now at 0-93, he faced off against Gilbertti to keep his job. Swinger came out and tried to pass Gilbertti some brass knuckles, but Young intercepted them and laid Gilbertti out for the win.
Despite his win, that marked the end of Young’s stay in TNA for a time.
Let’s be honest. Losing gimmicks never seem to work. You can try to get someone over as an underdog, but more often than not the wrestler begins to look like a goof, no matter how talented they are. Remember when the WWE put Christian in a gimmick where he’d lose and throw a tantrum after the match? I’m sure he wishes he didn’t remember it either.
That’s what happened here. The problems really started when he decided to try and pin a mini or a referee just to get a win. Considering that he was beaten by said minis and said referee, it didn’t add much to Young’s credibility.
The feud with Gilbertti didn’t add a lot, either. Gilbertti was flushing his own credibility away in a feud with Pat Kenney (who should never have given up his Simon Diamond name). Although Young did wind up winning the final match, it didn’t gain anything because he was already leaving.
In the end, nobody gained anything from this angle. Gilbertti certainly didn’t, and all Young looked like was a loser who managed to pull one win off a week too late.
In true wrestling form, David Young’s retirement from TNA lasted about four months. He had returned by the end of the year and was also competing for Georgia Championship Wrestling. Although Young won the GCW tag team titles multiple times, he was still nothing but a jobber for TNA. It looked like he was finally getting a push when he was put together with Elix Skipper as Simon Diamond’s Diamonds in the Rough. However, the Diamonds went nowhere and Young left TNA again at the end of 2006. Today Young competes for various southern promotions, such as NWA Anarchy and the United Wrestling Federation.
Gilbertti left TNA by the end of 2004 and returned to the independent scene. In April of 2007, Gilbertti was arrested in Georgia for running an illegal high-stakes poker game with a reported $10,000 buy-in.
Mike Posey left TNA and was picked up by the WWE and assigned to Deep South Wrestling. In 2006, Posey was called up to the main roster as a referee for the resurrected ECW. Posey remains on ECW today.
