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Building a Faction : The Voiceless
By: Matt R-W
@maruwe22
I do love a good faction. I remember (fondly) the days of factions feuding with each other. From the nWo taking over WCW, the Radicalz joining up with the then WWF, JBL and his Cabinet, factions have always provided good entertainment. My personal favourite faction? Right to Censor – controversial I know. I loved how they always had the needs of the faction at the core of what they did, both in and out of the ring. Recruiting talent into Right to Censor, working as a team, pushing storylines and everyone working for the good of the faction was great TV for me. Plus, the angle and storyline in which they came in was credible, which only helped their cause. Factions come in different sizes, different shapes and from different backgrounds. I’m most fond of the classic setup of a tag team, a couple of singles wrestlers, a manager and female wrestler. So this week I’ve taken a long look at the WWE Roster and looked at who is currently without a spot on the roster. People who have got lost. Ladies and gentleman, I give to you : The Voiceless.
Tag Team : Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins
I’ll admit that I’m a big fan of Ryder and when he started teaming again with Hawkins I was elated, so their choice in the tag team spot was a no brainer. They already have the chemistry of a well established tag team and are fun to watch. Hawkins has been on the end of a losing streak and neither have been positioned well as of late in WWE. Ryder has got a lot of potential, both as a singles and as a tag team wrestler. After his WrestleMania Intercontinental Title win, the crowd showed how much they wanted to get behind him. He is the original source of WWE using Social Media to push and bolster storylines. And as for Hawkins, they belong together in a tag team, as much as toast needs butter.
Singles Wrestler 1 : Tye Dillinger
Tye is a classic example of NXT talent which is called to the main roster and not being handled well. He had a prefect gimmick which worked, but on SmackDown it hasn’t translated over. Why the main roster writers and NXT writers don’t get together to talk about characters is beyond me. That’s for another column however! Tye could be the cornerstone of a storyline and as part of The Voiceless, he would get a chance to show what he is capable of. Let the non-NXT viewing section of the WWE Universe see why he was referred to as the Perfect 10 in NXT. There is usually a rising star in a faction – think Batista or Randy Orton in Evolution. Tye fits this billing perfectly.
Singles Wrestler 2 : No Way Jose
Man, I feel bad for NWJ. His appearance during the Men’s Royal Rumble match was laughable and he never had much traction after the second week of his main roster debut. Does his gimmick translate from Full Sail and NXT shows to large arenas? No, and after the Adam Rose and the Rosebuds gimmick, I would have thought they would have learned their lesson. During his time in NXT, he was able to show what he could do in the ring and it was good fun. Giving him more of a spotlight can allow him to show what he is capable of doing in the ring. I would be tempted to take away the current gimmick of the party line and the conga and see what else he (and WWE Shop) could do with the simple words “No Way”
Female Wrestlers : Alicia Fox
I was going to go with Dana Brooke in this slot, but I just couldn’t think about how it would work in the ring. Whereas Alicia Fox has got the wrestling pedigree and her current gimmick is, well, not that fun to watch. Stripping back Alicia to her raw talent and giving her a clean shot is, in my eyes, long overdue. She has one of the longest tenures of wrestlers in the Women’s Division and has got talent in the ring. Given the right spotlight, she could have some fun matches for people to enjoy. The last time she received any sort of push was back in 2016, and had a title run in 2010 for little under 60 days. Everyone deserves a final shot at greatness, this could be the start of one for Fox.
Singles Wrestler 3 / Manager : Bray Wyatt
Bray will be returning to action soon and has shown that he can lead a group. He was able to give Harper and Rowan an edge. He helped create the monster of Braun Strowman. There were half a dozen other people I could have picked, but Bray pipped them to the post. He has got the mic work to get talent over, he can perform in the ring as well as the next wrestler and he has shown that he can help get talent over. Having him just as a manager would be a waste of talent; he could represent The Voiceless happily as a singles wrestler or with Ryder and Hawkins freebird style.
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Closing thoughts
This has been a lot of run to write. I like looking at different aspects of how talent is used and where they could go. The roster has a lot of talent and some may argue that there’s too much. That some will not be used as much as others, and that’s true. WWE have 7 hours of wrestling content a week to fill (longer for PPV / Network events), but they have a huge roster of talent to use (over 190). Should WWE encourage rest periods for their wrestlers? It would mean that talent get time off, storylines can be kept fresh and allows all wrestlers a chance in the spotlight, but again that’s for another column. A faction would allow the chance for 5 wrestlers who have been lost at times to get seen by the public. A chance to allow them to connect with the crowds again. Who would you put in your faction? Let me know!
Matt R-W
@maruwe22