Cult of ROH: Letting Go of Matt Sydal

We all know how hard it is to see your loved ones leave home. You watched them show up as fresh, aspiring faces with a couple of neat moves and maybe a catch phrase. Maybe they make an impression upfront, but normally they blossom. You watch that bland little white boy develop personality and learn how to chain his moves together. By the time he was ready, you really wanted him to win that title. You were scared when he missed that move, and you challenged the sanity of ROH’s booker for pushing someone ahead of him. And before you knew it, he left for WWE. Parents whose kids go to college have nothing on us.

Sure, your kids finally moving out is hard, but they don’t change their name to Evan Bourne. You’re left keeping his room just the way it used to be, wondering if he’ll get vacation from OVW (hey, Punk did!). Looking at Ruckus and Jigsaw makes you realize you did have a favorite flippy son after all.

I was stunned when Sydal got called up. Not just from OVW to WWE, but from the indies at all. I loved him, but he was tiny! And thin! And I was pretty sure all of his offense was banned in WWE. Was he really going to hit HHH with the Here It Is Driver? God bless him, but he was screwed, and wasn’t Chris Hero way closer to what they liked?

Maybe he’d be cut next drug testing (he does have a great physique for his size), or whenever they realized how small he was.

When WWE actually called him up to the roster I was floored. Seconds into it I decided they just needed a jobber. He lost to Shelton Benjamin in a six-minute match that was way more fun than it should have been. Double knees, baby! Couldn’t believe he did that on WWE TV. Then he lost. Kick-ass match, but goodbye Sydal.

But they brought him back! And I tuned into Sci Fi regularly for the first time since they cancelled Farscape. I unabashedly supported the name change. “Evan Bourne!”

Ha, perfect! Air Bourne! Evan “Air” Bourne!” If he has a winning streak, it’s the Bourne Supremacy! If he can’t tell which guy to dive on, it’s the Bourne Ultimatum! If he makes a comeback, he’s Bourne again! Having watched so much of 80’s and early 90’s WWF, my old wrestling pun reflex was going wild. It was a thousand times better than his old name, the best pun of which I’d ever made was a gimmick where he’d sneak up next to people as “The Sidler” Matt Sydal. WWE does do some things better than ROH after all.

I made all these jokes as that tag match went on. I mean, he was screwed, right? They changed his name one week in. Obviously they had no plans for the tiny guy that bumped really well.

Then he won the match, actually getting the fall. Well… damn. Good show, Evan!

From there he became the King of the Six Minute Match on Sci Fi. Against Stryker, against Nunzio, against Knox, he went about six minutes and always had these outstanding little gems. But I also was always waiting for him to choke.

“He’s wrestling Nunzio? I didn’t know they were going to give Nunzio another run. Poor Sydal… what do you mean Bourne won?”

That’s how bad this strange bias was. I liked Bourne, I wanted him to succeed, but even in there against frickin’ Nunzio I thought he would lose.

“He’s wrestling Chavo Guerrero Jr.? Former ECW champion? Well, now he’s screwed. It’ll probably be boring, too– what do you mean Bourne won?”

They got my hopes up just in time for him to lose to Mike Knox. Oh, that company and its fetish for huge guys. Enjoy OVW, Bourne!

Of course, he wasn’t going anywhere. He was back and winning a couple weeks later.

His longevity really began to sink in during his match with Miz. Yes, I thought Bourne should have been in the scramble as his style would have added variety and excitement. But I also thought he’d lose, and so I wasn’t disappointed. Instead I was impressed with all the early nearfalls and how hard Miz had to struggle. Bourne was left looking pretty formidable in defeat. That’s not what you do with somebody you don’t care for.

You’d think I’d have learned, but when he was on Raw last week I looked at the two teams of young Evan Bourne & Rey Mysterio Jr., and the Miz and John Morrison, and thought, “I know who’s losing the fall here.”

I remained tuned in for the same reason I had through his original Sci Fi tag match, the Nunzio match and the Chavo Jr. match: Bourne pulled awesome moves into energetic performances, creating something unlike anything else on WWE TV. And hey, I actually liked all four of these guys.

But what a little match they had, with Rey Jr. providing the star power, and Bourne’s lack of exposure making him a much easier and more underestimatable target. They were as exciting a new pairing I’d seen on Raw since Rey Jr. teamed up with Jeff Hardy, and Bourne being anything reminiscent of the post-TNA Jeff Hardy could only be a compliment. That back body drop out of the ring into a spinning hurricanrana was dripping with the glory of the WCW cruiserweights.

Rey Jr. mounted the final comeback and I thought, “Well, at least Team Bourne didn’t lose!” And then, “Can the word ‘born’ be punned into the name of a tag team?”

Then Rey Jr. motioned for Bourne to go up top.

“What, is he going to let Bourne do one move before he gets the pin?”

Bourne hit the prettiest Shooting Star Press in wrestling today, covered Morrison and got the three. He had his hands raised twice and posed with the most influential flyer alive in the U.S.

I had the same reaction that I’d hear Dave Meltzer voice a few hours later. “Screw Cryme Tyme. Screw whoever else you want to push. Let me watch these guys springboard onto DiBiase and Rhodes as soon as possible.”

My second reaction was a little more mature, and little more apt. I like to think I’m not victim of the pro-indy, anti-big-league biases, but all along some part of my brain expected WWE to yank Bourne’s leash back. Even this didn’t absolve it. If this team remains active I may walk into every match they have expecting Bourne to get pinned and disappear off TV. Even as I type this on Saturday I’ve got this feeling that he won’t be back to Raw and WWE was just planning to give Rey Jr. a little momentum before the story with Kane kicks up again next week. Surely some guardian angel, perhaps Rey Jr. himself, gave Bourne the winner’s spot without WWE officials knowing. Scott Hall used to do it for people all the time back in WCW. It happens.

Bourne has lasted longer than almost anyone expect, and has had more success than anyone I read predict back when he departed for OVW. He’s a league ahead of Colt Cabana who left ROH for OVW earlier than he did, and I ask you to find one serious article predicting that would happen.

For all the fears and loathing towards WWE from protective ROH fan-parents, there is a counter-balance: WWE is frickin’ nuts. Vince McMahon publicly announced the era of the heel owner was over several years ago, then went right back into the role when ratings dipped. They’ve cross-promoted with Jimmy Kimmel and are now looking to do it again with Perez Hilton. They’re nuts and even your most strident cynical criticism is doomed inaccuracy because it would require everyone in booking and production to act with one set of sensible goals. They don’t, and that’s why we waited six years and got Cena/Batista I with three weeks of build. They get lambasted for turning gold into lead, but sometimes there’s real alchemy: remember that they made Punk champion after not originally intending him to win the Money in the Bank match.

It can make for awful television, but it may also have protected one of the best undercard acts WWE has right now. And that makes this ROH fan-parent quite happy, and quite nervous when he hears IWA:MS junkies griping that we stole him from them.