When people look back at some of the great tag teams in wrestling over the decades, they often try to find the "Marty Jannetty" of the team. You know, the guy that was good, but completely overshadowed by his partner. To call Stevie Ray the Jannetty of Harlem Heat would be an insult to Mr. Jannetty. The man simply couldn't work. But in WCW, that often wasn't a qualification to having a high paying job. Just ask Rick Steiner and Sid Vicious! Much like the Intercontinental Title, WCW's TV Championship was often considered the worker's belt. Men like Fit Finlay, Chris Benoit, and Booker T were often holding it in the late 90s. But when Booker went down with an injury in July of 1998, Stevie Ray was given the belt due to power of attorney. Apparently it's legal to let your belt be defended by a family member. Imagine John Cena handing over the US Title to one of his four brothers. It was the only time Stevie had a singles title. His reign lasted 27 days, and produced zero good matches. He lost the belt to Chris Jericho, and the world tried to forget the whole ordeal ever happened.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
