WWE CvC: Why "The Black Pope" Elijah Burke Deserves a Second Chance

Over the past couple days, you've seen articles for a new Creature vs. Creature contest, detailing why certain superstars deserve a second chance in WWE.

You've seen an article for Gavin Spears and one for Luke Gallows. You'll see pieces for Carlito, Kurt Angle and even Jeff Hardy. However, I believe only one man on this list is deserving of a second chance. He's been called "The Silver-Tongued Pugilist," "The Paragon of Virtue" and more recently, "The Pope!" I'm talking about Elijah Burke!

Now, I'm sure you're wondering why Elijah Burke deserves a second chance more than guys like "The Rainbow-Haired Warrior" Jeff Hardy, "The Altered Animal" Batista and "The Head A-Hole in Charge" Ken Anderson (or Jr., as he's called by The Pope.)

Well, I'll tell you. You see, Elijah Burke started out as part of a tag team called The Knock-Out/Tap-Out Connection with Sylvester Terkay, during which time he would break the winning streak of Vito after four months.

Following the release of Terkay, Burke set out on a singles career in ECW, where Mr.McMahon made a rare appearance in The House that Hardcore built and claimed Elijah as "The Future of ECW." From there, Burke would lead a group called "The New Breed" consisting of "The Alpha Male" Marcus Cor Van, Kevin Thorn and Ariel, "Your Teacher" Matt Striker and for a time, CM Punk, against The ECW Originals.

The groups had several confrontations, including an Eight-Man Extreme Rules Tag-Team Match where Burke would lead his team to victory after hitting his Elijah Express finishing maneuver and putting "The Suicidal, Homicidal, Genocidal, Death Defying" Sabu through a table face-first, in what was, and this is just my opinion, one of WWE's best matches in ECWWE history and one of the best Extreme Rules matches in WWE history.

However, after the dissolution of the New Breed, things just kind of stalled for "The Guiding Light." After two failed attempt at the ECW Title, Burke was relegated to beating on Smackdown jobbers, while later jobbing to Batista and Kane, before forming a small alliance with Shelton Benjamin until his release.

In his entire time in the WWE, not once did Burke come up short. His mic skills were the best in ECW for the longest, (he got more mic time than CM Punk even,) he had all the athletic ability in the world, (it helped he came from an amateur boxing background,) and simply had the look of a champion. WWE even gave him his own blog on WWE.com entitled "The Elijah Experience."

Add to that, Burke took it upon himself to try and garner more attention for himself, when he reinvented himself as "The Black Pope" Elijah Burke. The Black Pope being a nickname he used on his blog at times. That said, Elijah was never allowed to showcase his new gimmick for reasons unknown-a travesty considering they let other awful gimmicks be showcased on TV like "Kung-Fu Naki."

Now, if the fact he gave all that isn't enough for a second chance, maybe the fact that, in his new persona as "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero, Burke has proven he can be a main-eventer. He can be a top name. He can get the people behind him. In addition to having the look, athleticism, mic skill and whatever else Vince would ask of any top star in his company.

Elijah Burke got a raw deal in WWE-I mean he was stuck on ECWWE and still put on great matches. Why he was released is a mystery to me, but I'm sure that a lot of you will agree with me, when I say WWE dropped the ball big time with Elijah Burke.