RIPPA 34,385 Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 I totally forgot Bentley (or Michael Shane for his TNA name) even existed until I was going through the TNA title histories looking for ideas. And Shane was a two time X-Division champ - including co-holding the belt with Kazarian because why not??? Oh and just to comply with Vordell Walker standards Link to post Share on other sites
BurningBeard 4,316 Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 I thought he had a great look and his work was solid enough without showing much of anything. Wasn't he HBK's nephew or something? Link to post Share on other sites
RIPPA 34,385 Posted July 29, 2014 Author Share Posted July 29, 2014 I thought he had a great look and his work was solid enough without showing much of anything. Wasn't he HBK's nephew or something? Cousin Link to post Share on other sites
J.T. 11,113 Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 He was a good looking kid and a solid worker, but nothing about him said "superstar." Seemed to be a huge backlash against him everytime he was pushed in TNA. I think he was a victim of his relationship with HBK more than he was a benefactor of it. Link to post Share on other sites
Web Conn 3,000 Posted July 29, 2014 Share Posted July 29, 2014 VS Chris Sabin for the X Division Championship Ultimate X on the first Primetime IMPACt! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xNgpDrfCd8 Anybody else remember Serotonin? Link to post Share on other sites
Niners Fan in CT 15,602 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Wasn't he mostly a victim of that relationship because he decided to ape HBK in every possible way? Link to post Share on other sites
Brian Fowler 15,473 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Fuck, I need to edit my post in Most Hated Wrestler. Oh god, I totally forgot about this asshole in that thread. The "Bentley Bounce" is the worst fucking thing fucking ever. Rage. Pure, blind rage. Fuck Michael Shane. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
The Nature Boy 1,845 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Was he actually HBK's cousin or was that kayfabed? I've never even seen Shawn Michaels acknowledge him in any way other than as a trainee. Link to post Share on other sites
Hollywood Cibernetico 216 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 The Michael Shane backlash started in part due to the Bentley Bounce yes, but also because he was wrestling in the X Division despite not being as fast, innovative, etc. as Sabin, Williams, Kaz, Dutt, Styles, etc. Bentley was seen as the odd man out. Bentley even said he didn't like wrestling the X Division style and actually perfered going up against guys like Truth, Brown, Abyss, etc. I am not sure WHEN it happened (Hoytamania), but Bentley just became ass in the ring. Slapping his leg while missing superkicks left and right. He definitely had 'future star' potential in his ROH and early TNA days, however in retrospect I'd put him in the early 2000 wrestlers that were considered good but didn't pan out. Wrestlers like Xavier and Bentley work well in a bubble and ONLY when present in that bubble. I.E. if this was 2003- Bentley would be the shit, but because its 2014 and we are reviewing 2003- not so much. He worked well within his time, but I don't think a lot of his work (espiecally post 2004) holds up. Link to post Share on other sites
Ryan 6,111 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 His career peaked as a masked gimmick in AJPW in 2003 named Omega Griffon for a whole five shows. The mask was kind of cool at least. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6sgr7_ajpw-kaz-hayashi-jimmy-yang-vs-low_sport Link to post Share on other sites
Stuttsy 145 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 I actually really liked 2003-era Bentley but yeah, as others have pointed out, it seemed the bloom was off the rose rather quickly. Somewhat irrationally now that I think about it, he was actually one of my favorite workers in the world at one point. Link to post Share on other sites
Ultimo Necro 2,240 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Yeah, I really liked Bentley during the early ROH, TNA, MLW days. He had a good douchey charisma about him which the Young Bucks seem to have inherited. The Bentley Bounce was the WORST though. Link to post Share on other sites
Jingus 544 Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Bentley seemed like he had enough athletic ability to be capable of doing really cool shit... and then he never did anything worth remembering. I do think being Shawn's nephew probably did eventually hurt him; it's David Flair syndrome, where it doesn't matter how much you improve, you'll always be compared to an incomparable standard. I remember getting the stinkeye from him one time at TNA, when he happened to be walking by right as I was saying "Shawn Michaels only had like five moves", missing the entire context that this was an anti-MOVEZ~! monologue about how half the greatest wrestlers ever had their own personal five moves of doom. Link to post Share on other sites
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