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Last night to my utter dismay I found out that Samuel Shaw and TNA Wrestling have parted ways. Here I am a day later upset and still confused as to why. Sam may not have been the most popular guy on the roster, but I couldn't wait to see him when he was on TV. There was something intriguing about his character, a genuine "creepiness" if you will. He would come out to very eerie music, his walk, the look in his eyes, the crawl into the ring, his facial expressions! the guy truly got it. His attire was very reminiscent to that of Showtime's Dexter, more specifically Dexter's kill clothes which made me ever so more interested. Being that I'm a huge Dexter MARK I couldn't wait to see what they would do with Samuel Shaw's character going forward.
Keep in mind that Sam Shaw won Gut Check back in 2012. He came in dressed as an athletic surfer with spikey hair. I thought nothing of him back then even though he put on a few good matches. He was sent to OVW shortly thereafter and we wouldnt see him again till November of 2013. When Sam returned he was a completely different person. I remember the first thing he asked was to no longer be called Sam, but Samuel Shaw. To this day I don't know why, but the way he delivered that made me feel uneasy. He was so awkward and in a very creepy way, you just knew something was off.
Then came the backstage vignettes with Christy Hemme, and boy were those something! I remember the obsessive look in Samuel's eyes as he was eyeing Christy, his disturbing look, all of it. I thought that this was some of the best stuff I've seen in TNA, and I really couldn't get enough. The thing that I liked most about Shaw was his element of mystery. You just couldn't read the guy or figure out his motives. It was truley a fresh character especially in today's wrestling market. unfortunately, in today's product many wrestlers are just that... WRESTLERS. There aren't many characters anymore. Most superstars are similar and the up and coming talent all look like clones of each other. It's all about being a good worker in the ring and putting on a five star match, and for what? Yes, in ring work is important, but not nearly as important as having CHARACTERS! I fell in love with the larger than life personalities that this business produced. It really bothers me when somebody like Samuel Shaw is released all because the writers had "nothing for him". How is that excuse even acceptable in this day and age? If you got "nothing" then you aren't doing your job! It's that simple. Many good characters today suffer from the lack of good writing. Bray Wyatt from the WWE is a perfect example of someone who gets it, but it held back by bad writing and weak material.
I feel that most wrestling companies today favor the good little workers and don't focus enough on narrative and building personalities. Samuel Shaw was a prime example of that. In my humble opinion, I think that Shaw was miles ahead of many in TNA and the company just didn't know what to do with him. It's a real shame...
