Brodus Clay Raw Debut: What the Funk Was That?

For the last couple of months, the WWE Universe had been waiting for the return of Brodus Clay to Raw television. The wait was so long, many of us were left wondering if it was ever going to happen. In the meantime many speculated how Clay was actually going to make his debut. Who would suffer at the hands of WWE's newest man monster? Well tonight on Raw, Clay finally returned and boy did he make an impact.

Maybe I should re-phrase that in the form of a question. Did Brodus Clay make an impact tonight on Raw? Well, let's put it this way, his debut definitely had WWE written all over it. Stop and think about that one for a moment. For those of you who actually saw his debut, unfortunately you know what I'm talking about. For those of you who missed it, I don't know if I have the words to describe it. Well yeah, I do; it was disgraceful! Talk about dropping the ball big time.

What we saw was a throwback to the old school days of the WWE, in what I can only describe as a cross between the late Biggie Smalls, Heavy D and LL Cool J. The WWE creative team had the audacity to repackage this behemoth as a dancing funk machine. He might as well have pop locked his way down the ramp.

Seeing him strut his stuff to the ring with two beautiful women by his side made the point quite clear; the WWE has decided to take the easy way out on this one. His match with Kurt Hawkins was exactly what it was supposed to be, entertaining. He defeated Hawkins, but that’s about it. He didn't destroy him the way he should have.

I've seen photos of Clay dressed casually; in those photos he looked menacing and like a gangsta. I personally would have packaged him like Suge Knight, former record czar of Death Row Records with a bad ass reputation. I know, this is the PG era, so none of that would work. So, instead we end up with another circus act under the big top!

WWE has really missed the boat on a young man who could have been the next Mark Henry in terms of shear brutality. They don't need a dancing machine on their hands, they need a wrecking machine. One dressed in black with an attitude.

Maybe this is temporary. Maybe Clay is still in the doghouse for the tweets he made on Twitter about his possible debut involving John Morrison. This might be a way of seeing if Clay is willing to eat crap and like the taste of it.

In the end he may be able to shake this embarrassing gimmick and get to shine for who he has the potential to be, a monster capable of destruction. If this is the case, I hope he gets out of the doghouse soon. Yes, he could be a lot worse off than he is and remain off television even longer. He could also do a lot better than what he is doing now, too.

I believe in Brodus Clay and will definitely keep my fingers crossed. That’s the great thing about wrestling; a performer is not stuck with a gimmick forever. A lot of great performers like Rock, Austin and Cena started out with one gimmick, only to go back to the drawing board in hopes of finding the right one, which they all did. This hopefully will be the case with Clay. If only.  

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