The Potential of Eric Young

DON’T FIRE ERIC! DON’T FIRE ERIC! 

The TNA fans chanted for months as the undersized, goofy, beyond paranoid Canadian staggered around the ring prior to his matches.

The new chant that I’d like to get going outside the doors of the Titan Towers:

PLEASE HIRE ERIC! PLEASE HIRE ERIC!

He was primarily a comedy character throughout his time in TNA, but he was always a reliable hand in the ring. A highly under-rated worker and criminally under-utilized performer overall, Eric Young has been loyal to TNA for the last half decade, but has walked away from Orlando after years of pointless storylines, dead-end gimmicks and zero direction for any of his array of characters.

Rather than looking into a crystal ball, I’m going to take a glimpse into the rearview mirror. During the infancy of the build toward the Monday Night Wars, WCW built itself a strong stable of young performers that could have been the basis of a long-term run as WWF’s chief competitor.

Rather than let their creative team build on these talents and let new faces take centerstage, they opted to recreate some big money matches that were nothing more than rehashes of the Rock N Wrestling generation. We were treated to such heralded bouts as Hogan vs. Piper and Hogan vs. Warrior.

Meanwhile, WWE cherry-picked WCW’s undercard for all it was worth. The names that are most notable are Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and so on. These were the names that defected as the ratings battle really hit its top speed. We often forgot some other under-utilized talents that had made their jump earlier.

Yes, Scorpio Rising/Jean Pierre Lefitte, better known as Triple H, was a WCW worker that was often “showcased” in the opening match on WCW Worldwide. Yes, one half of the Hollywood Blondes, better known as Stone Cold Steve Austin, was a WCW tag wrestler that had reached moderate success as the US Champion, but had hit the glass ceiling with Hogan on the roster.

That’s not to say these two fellas were instant success stories upon their arrival in Stamford, CT. The Blue Blood Hunter Hearst Helmsley spent his time toiling in pig slop matches against Henry O. Godwin while The Ring Master carried the Million Dollar Championship while receiving no crowd reaction.

Their early misfires and subsequent prominence are reasons why one of my favorite pastimes as wrestling fan is to look for the hidden gem, the unexpected breakout star that could really shock us all and have the goods to be a generational legend.

Of course, Austin and HHH are exceptions to the rule. I want to make it explicitly clear that I am not claiming Eric Young has the ability to one day be heralded as one of the biggest or longest running top draws in the wrestling industry. I will say, though, that Eric Young is an example of the type of talent that has received moderate exposure to the wrestling audience without having a well-defined character that would be difficult to navigate.

WWE has shown a willingness in the last year to give talented performers from other arena’s a chance. Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson) and Alberto Del Rio (Dos Caras, Jr.) are two leading examples. Both up-and-comers have played to huge audiences abroad. They have wrestled hundreds if not thousands of matches, played face and heel roles and cut promos in front of passionate crowds. They have both shown the ability to make the crowd buy into their act on a smaller scale.

What made these two so appealing to Vince was that he knew they were talented and there wasn’t much learning on the job necessary, but neither was an out-of-the-box star that Vince couldn’t call his own brainchild. And we all know Vince’s ego is the ultimate decision maker at WWE.

Eric Young is another one of these types of talents. He’s 31 years old with a decade of experience under his belt. He’s played to audiences around the world and performed on PPV in any style match you could ask. He’s played the clean-cut babyface, the diabolically manipulative heel, the quirky, fun comedy character and everything in between.

He knows how to be the leader of a stable and a bit player in a larger group. He wouldn’t need months of prep in FCW nor would a slow intro through NXT be required. Young has the talent to make an immediate impact by walking into the ring, picking up a mic, cutting a promo and wrestling a badass match.

His most critically acclaimed run in TNA came as the mouthpiece of the World Elite stable when he won and renamed the Legends Belt to the Global Championship. He was over with the Orlando crowd (to be fair, everybody not named The Shore is over at the Impact Zone) and could legitimately have continued up the chart as the face of the company’s top heel stable if Hogan hadn’t shown up and immediately hired a cast of retreads that commanded TV time in the main event scene upon arrival.

Young has demonstrated that he’s a team player, willing to play his role as a midcarder or curtain jerker. He’s not an ego that requires incessant stroking in order to keep him happy backstage. Adding Young to the roster would improve depth and provide another good worker, and as history has shown, WWE could always luck its way into a breakout star; sometimes you just need to dig deep.