WWE Resurrection: Is Awesome Truth a Perfect Opportunity for John Morrison?

Whenever I look at WWE's main roster talent, primarily the ones that are prancing around Superstars and NXT as regulars, the last thing I think is, "wow, here's a bunch of guys that deserve to be unemployed."

One guy in the middle of said prancing lately is John Morrison, a guy who started slow as a Tough Enough winner, built some steam in the tag team and secondary championship divisions seemed to be working toward a main event push this past year, but has since deflated and is rumored to not be re-signing a new contract.

Whether or not this is set in stone just yet, I don't know, but my feeling for a while has been that he should stay in WWE.

For no other reason than it's one of those "you have to play to win" scenarios.  That's what they say in the lottery, right?  You can't win the big pay out if you don't buy the ticket.  He leaves, he may find success elsewhere, but two things are likely to happen.

Danger #1: His Space Gets Paved over by Someone New

Morrison satisfies a certain need for WWE fans, however, if he goes, WWE will likely choose another potential name to fill that void on TV.

After all, I'm not sure of the full depth and breadth of the response to Brodus Clay's promos hyping up his return next week on Raw, but just listening to this guy speak interests me more than watching Morrison play punching bag and over and over with no direction or purpose.

At least if it seemed to be leading somewhere, I'd have blind faith in him, but it's getting harder to do.

Daniel Bryan has been on a losing streak, but at least he has the blue Money in the Bank briefcase.  He has a ticket to a world title match in his hands right now as we speak, and to say his chances of winning that title are good is an understatement.

John's mic skills are decent but not sparkling, meaning, if he goes, WWE is extremely likely to find a new superstar or push an existing one that gets over with fans much stronger than Morrison did.

He gets great pops from crowds for his acrobatics, and it's not like fans will forget him if he goes, but their claps and cheers won't stop because he goes either.  They'll just give their cheers and/or boos to someone else.

Danger #2: the Stars in His Eyes at Other Promotions Will Fizzle Quickly

Morrison could go to another wrestling promotion like TNA, ROH, etc., and maybe he'll make it big somehow.  Maybe.

Lots of WWE castoffs have gone to TNA because TNA wants guys who are established on TV previously for what they believe to be the easy ratings.  WWE castoffs who leave for TNA also think they'll be guaranteed stars because TNA usually hands a lot of them world titles the minute they walk in the door.  Or, if not immediately, soon after.

Maybe he'd make it in TNA, as maybe he won't be as held back by cue cards and teleprompters and shooting in promos will show more of his humorous side.  Then again, maybe he'll keep tripping over his words and the pressure of being on TV again will get to him and he'll be the American Sin Cara.

Enough failure or pressure usually leads to the Jeff/Matt Hardy route, and I'd hate to see that.

Morrison's a Lot Like Gail Kim...if You Think About It...

John Morrison should also not leave via the Gail Kim route either.

She's currently back in TNA, which is fine for her, however, she asked for her release from WWE at the worst possible time.  With Beth Phoenix as the Divas Champion, WWE seems to have been chomping at the bit for talented Divas to step up to Beth and Natalya.

They went with Eve after Kelly's rematch puttered out, but Gail could have been chosen next.  The Halloween costume battle royal would have been a great way to transition Gail into a new feud with the Divas of Doom.

Unfortunately, she wasn't around to accept that spotlight, and I read that she's teaming with Madison Rayne for some reason.

Anyway, I digress...

Perfect Time for Morrison's Rise? It's Mr. Opportunity Knocking...

The point is that John Morrison is in WWE at a crucial time.  There's a huge build toward Wrestlemania 28, which is looking to be hot already, even with only one match scheduled so far.  The conspiracy is winding roads all through Raw and Smackdown.  The COO is out of commission.  Rock is coming back in two weeks and will be competing at Survivor Series.

Deception, backstabbing, politics, it's all going down, and of all people to save Morrison, his career may just find new life in the Awesome Truth.

But how?  A few ways come to mind.

Scenario #1: Morrison Joins the Ranks of Those Shafted by the Conspiracy

R-Truth started all the speculating about WWE conspiring against him, and in the midst of all his funny costumes and lunatic ranting, he came upon the Miz.  Miz is an egotistical, yet somewhat impressionable, youth of a superstar who seemed fairly easy to convince that a conspiracy was working against them both.

Since rebelling against the system, they're the second-most prominent pairing in WWE behind the Tag Team Champions, Air Boom.

Look at CM Punk.  His contract was up just like Morrison's is, and even in kayfabe, he made one last ditch effort to get noticed, and he got noticed and then some.

Perhaps Morrison feels a tad shafted, too.

Sure, R-Truth turned his back on Morrison for taking his place at Extreme Rules, but so what?  What did getting that shot really gain him?  Respect?  Noticed?  Because Cena was involved, neither occurred.  Morrison has just fallen farther and farther downward, even after making such a bold move and skunking his friend, a move that many need to make in order to get anywhere.

And sure, when his tag team with Miz fell apart, Miz out-shined Morrison 100 fold, and Morrison briefly looked like the "Jannetty."  Miz berated Morrison and made fun of him.

Morrison has good reason to hate both those guys.

But when they're right, they're right.  They've been fighting each other all this time, when in reality, they should've hung together and their combined strength could have been a thorn in the conspiracy's side all along.  They might have their differences, and those differences can be settled another time.

Right now, the three of them should band together, waste no more time and the three of them can look strong as a group.

While this seems like I'm calling for Morrison to turn heel, I'm really not sure how long Awesome Truth will remain heels.  Yes, they're talented at being heels, but much of their charisma would easily translate back to being faces if need be.

If Morrison joined Awesome Truth and they made some kind of trio, Morrison may look heelish initially, but should the conspiracy shun them officially and publicly, then the stock the three of them generate as a 3-man stable would rise considerably when they decide to fight the real bad guys.

As of now, Awesome Truth are seen as unofficial allies of Laurinaitis, however it's my opinion that their goals are merely parallel.

Of course, if Awesome Truth ends up joining the conspiracy outright with Morrison in tow, John still manages to take a place among a powerful group of people and will gain more notoriety as a result.  It's still an option that benefits his character.

Scenario #2: Morrison Risks His Own Neck to Save His Fallen Enemies

In a similar line of thinking, Awesome Truth may end up getting an early shove as far as Laurinaitis' executions of the conspiracy's aims.

Take a look at the video here.  Awesome Truth gets made fun of by a carefully placed backhand by Laurinaitis backstage at Vengeance.  While it seems as if they're playing it off, the fact that Laurinaitis gave Cena the right to employ The Rock to help him beat back Awesome Truth, and the beating they took at the end of Raw, it all tells me they may just see the real truth about Laurinaitis sooner than later.

And if the conspiracy has others working for them, like Vicki and her clients, guys like Cody and Barrett and Christian, Miz and Truth will be severely outnumbered and likely to take a massive beatdown if they continue to step out of line.

So, who can be expected to help them?

Cena?  He hates those two.  As altruistic as Cena is, he won't save Awesome Truth from that.  Rock?  He barely shows up ever, and if he did, he'd let the bad guys get beat by other bad guys.  Sheamus or Orton?  Nah, they like it when people get theirs.

But is it that out of the question for Morrison to come to the rescue?

Picture it...Awesome Truth's taking a beatdown and Morrison's music hits.  Everyone would not only be shocked, but confused.  Would Morrison be getting in on the beatdown, too?  He would have to, right?  He hates both those guys.  Does this mean he's turning heel?  What's he going to do?

Then, bam.  A flash kick catches one of the assailants, a few leaps and twists, a Starship Pain on a second assailant, and only three men are left in the ring.

Miz, Truth and Morrison.

The conspiracy shows just how dastardly they are in attempting to take out two guys who likely would've been loyal, even for the right price.  Two guys who did their best to get noticed by anyone who would take notice, no matter how many enemies they had to make in the process, no matter how many bridges they tried burning.  And even they aren't deemed worthy by those in charge.

Who better to sympathize with such a plight than Morrison?

The two guys he saves in this scenario are the two guys who had done that exact thing to him.  They didn't offer Morrison any support or comfort.  They just got bitter when Morrison would see success, and used Morrison as a stepping stone to their own successes.  Neither one deemed him worthy for more than a short while, and when he started gaining even a little notoriety on his own, both Miz and Truth got jealous and screwed him over.

Overly critical fans might see this move as illogical, but truthfully, it would be the most gracious and selfless showing of forgiveness ever to occur in WWE.

Scenario #3: Morrison Was Secretly a Member of the Conspiracy All Along

R-Truth wasn't lying when he said a conspiracy was working against him and Miz.

Things haven't gone their way at all the past year or two.  Well, Miz was WWE Champion, but not a very credible one, and he only got that chance by winning Money in the Bank, not because people in charge recognized him as such.  And even though there isn't any concrete proof to show the conspiracy exists, circumstantial evidence is pretty abundant to suggest R-Truth's claims have serious merit.

Thus, why did Morrison need to challenge R-Truth for his spot in the triple threat cage match at Extreme Rules?  Just because he lost the gauntlet match the week before?  That's not particularly becoming of an honorable, stand-up individual, or a face that people want to root for.

And then calling out that Truth smokes?  So what?

I consider myself "not-so-straightedge", in that I've never done drugs, I've never smoked, and although I enjoy an occasional Coors Light or Smirnoff Ice, I've never been drunk.  I certainly don't think that it's okay for people to abuse substances in order to feel better or enhance their life.  However, I have known people who smoke that were generally good people at heart.

Clearly, from what we see of Truth's change in attitude on the particular night in this video, Truth might not be entirely good-hearted, however the fact that he smokes doesn't inherently make him a bad person.

So again, why did Morrison feel the need to take Truth's spot?  Maybe Morrison has been in on this plot all along.

As many know, my belief is that John Cena's success and protection has been paramount to the conspirators.  Rock got in the way of John Cena acquiring the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania, and at Extreme Rules, Cena faced even greater odds in a cage.  Although, good news for the bad guys, Rock would be nowhere in sight.

The Anonymous Raw GM was the one who made the gauntlet match, and when Miz and Alex Riley screwed up the finish, it was the Anonymous Raw GM that declared that both Cena AND R-Truth would be placed into the match.

Of course, at that point, we hadn't a clue about any conspiracies being in place.  Just that it was awful funny at the time that Truth had found himself in a WWE Championship match, thanks to a boss that only made him/herself known through emails read by Michael Cole.

One week later, Truth celebrates his victory and Morrison, a guy who had failed at capturing world championships repeatedly, challenges Truth for his position and pulls out a surprise victory.  Some could speculate that if Truth couldn't beat Morrison that night, then maybe he didn't deserve to be in the triple threat cage match at all.

Then again, he was taken off guard and agreed to an impromptu match.  That's not entirely fair either.  And if Morrison is willing to hold back and be the fall guy so that Cena can regain the title?  That would make Cena's win a lot easier.

It would be sad to watch Morrison turn heel and be revealed as a key member of the conspiracy to keep John Cena in the spotlight, but what it would do to Awesome Truth's rep would be fantastic.  Not to mention Morrison would still get a lot more spotlight being associated with the powerful conspirators.

All in all, a win-win for everyone.

A Link to the Past...Not Involving the Blond Guy Who Looks Like Peter-Pan...

John Morrison was once known for his Palace of Wisdom, and in most of these scenarios, his room to show just how much wisdom he has would be undeniable.

In the second scenario, to show that level of forgiveness, so that all three men could achieve vengeance and success against the big bad enemy plaguing everyone?  There would be no set guarantee that Morrison would make good returns on such a risk.  Plenty of people in history have helped their fallen enemies, just to get stabbed in the back for their trouble.

But taking that risk at all would give him more character.  Standing by his enemies would give him character.  Helping those he hates and empathizing would give him character.

Even if he decides that John Cena is the man and he should be protected, he's showing what wisdom he's gained.  He's come to grand realizations, earth-shattering epiphanies, shot through the five stages of grief to the Acceptance that lies at the end.

New superstars in a company like WWE only dream of opportunities of this magnitude to show that kind of depth and emotion in the face of that level of adversity.

John Hennigan co-won Tough Enough with Matt Cappotelli for a reason, and that reason is because he once had that kind of emotion.  Because he once had that level of passion to be the most man he could be in that ring.

Somewhere in between the name changes, the gimmick changes, the tag team partners, the backstage misbehavior and his romantic scandal, Hennigan's lost his way.

That's why I put up this video.  It's constantly abused by smart aleck wrestling writers who think it's hilarious that this guy had a bad night cutting a promo in a taped interview.

Truth is, they've all had bad nights, even when they were spot-on and said everything they were supposed to.  Look back at some early DX promos if you don't believe me.  HBK and HHH go on for upwards of 10 minutes yammering on and on about absolutely nothing.  The only reason we watched is because Shawn had already proved himself to us.

Hennigan needs something new to happen to him.  Actually, his dressing like a rockstar and coming to the ring to a tune that sounds like Jimi Hendrix is quite ironic.  He's like the opposite of Vincent Damon Furnier... 

I Was Referring to Alice Cooper, Had to Wiki That One...How About a Conclusion?

Little VH1 history lesson to cap this off...

During Alice Cooper's rise to stardom, the man behind the character ended up practically becoming the character.  Alice's songs were all about drinking, drugs, violence, decadence, sex, every naughty and nasty thing under the sun that could be sung about without a warning label stuck on it.

And the man behind the character got heavily into every one of those things his songs were about.  It wasn't till much later in his career did he clean himself up and remember what was really important.

John Hennigan is pretty much the opposite.  He started as a no-name rookie and now dresses like the rock star he only wishes he could be.

He almost seems to have gotten jaded with what little fame he's achieved in the company.  He's been a mid-card standard for a long time, riding small waves here and there.  His most recent antics backstage and in front of cameras has allegedly gotten him in the proverbial "doghouse," and many speculate that his losing streak of late is a result of such behavior, just riding out the rest of his contract until he can legally leave.

However, in order to make it in WWE, you need to dig deep and make an impact.  You need to look inside, speak powerfully and quickly and leave people wanting.

When CM Punk cut his infamous worked-shoot promo back in June, many of us thought it was 100% real.  Or at least, we wished it were real, and that Punk had actually went nuts and hijacked the show.

Regardless of the exact measure of how real it was (my guess is about 87.9% real), he said a lot of important things that people needed to hear.  Management needed to hear it, the fans needed to hear it, the locker room needed to hear it, and people in other promotions needed to hear it.

If Hennigan went off script and schedule after some match, grabbed a mic and spoke for literally two minutes off-the-cuff, made a powerful statement and stormed backstage, it could make all the difference.  He wouldn't hold up a live show like Raw, that can go over time anyway, but he'd still grab peoples' attention and get them listening.

Hennigan needs to get thrown into an impromptu match, take a useless 30-second beating, and flip out on the mic.  He needs a moment like when Dustin Rhodes was in WCW and they tried to turn him into "Seven."  Fast forward to 1:44 to see how to shoot on a company.  This was a classic WCW moment, and a classic moment in wrestling, in my opinion.

We need a more "Punk" John Hennigan.  No cue cards, no teleprompters, no writing staff, just pure Hennigan, saying what's on his mind and why he deserves more respect. Just John in his street clothes and a mic for two minutes of unleashing the beast and reminding people why the damn Web-Crawler of WWE deserves to be treated fairly.

Sounds like a good way to transition him into feuding with Awesome Truth, too.

Any takers?