Lately, upon watching various ECW talent come and go, it seems that there's always a back-end talent that comes along with the deal. This type of talent always seems to be the lowest on the bar, the least likely to make an impact, and the last person to get over with anyone. Such examples include Braden Walker (yikes), Gavin Spears, and D.J. Gabriel. They had the opportunity to join Evan Bourne, Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger, and the biggest success story of the ECW talent initiatives, C.M. Punk, as a star or stars on the rise, but, to no avail. It was always something that kept this from happening. The crowd wasn't behind them. The backstage staff wasn't supporting them. They looked weak in the ring. They looked bland in the ring. They lacked charisma. They couldn't talk on the microphone. The list of problems is endless. However, I believe even the lowest of talent has a chance to get over one way or another. What does this have to do with Tyler Reks? Well, upon looking at the new guys in ECW, he seems like the back end talent in the deal, even though he doesn't have to be. To me, he is or can be a combination of stars that I've seen. It's an interesting assessment to say the least. However, one has to wonder whether or not Tyler has the tools in place to succeed, or if he ever did. Let's take a look at this guy and see what we can find.
Thanks again, Wikipedia for your allowing us all to know more about Tyler. For starters, his name is Gabriel Allan "Gabe" Tuft. He debuted with Ultimate Pro Wrestling (UPW) professionally in February of 2007. One year later, he signed on to a developmental contract with the WWE, and joined Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) under his actual name, until the WWE changed it to Tyler Reks. He won the FCW tag titles with Johnny Curtis in December of 2008 and, just two months ago, won the FCW Heavyweight title from Drew McIntyre. On June 30th, he debuted for ECW, as he was challenged by Zack Ryder. When he did show up on ECW t.v., he gave us a look at his character: a surfer dude from Laguna Beach, California who's big on catching waves, rays, and just chilling out. But, don't let it fool you, as he does mean business in the ring. He lost to Ryder on WWE Superstars after suffering a knee injury prior to that. After about a month to recuperate, he wrestled on ECW and defeated Paul Burchill, only to get attacked by Burchill from behind, coercing a rematch one week later. Reks won that match as well. How did he do it? He won with a springboard dropkick off the top rope. For a guy who's 6'3" and 249 lbs, that's impressive. Well, not so much the move, but the attempt at doing it and succeeding. Lastly, a rumor had gone around courtesy of Matt Striker that Reks was actually a civil engineering graduate from college. Quite impressive to say the least.
Backstory aside, here's my assessment of Tyler Reks. I look at him and I get the distinct flavor of about three different wrestlers. He's got the physique of D.J. Gabriel, the same first name as Tyler Black of ROH, and the laid back but somewhat serious side of Rob Van Dam, even though he lacks RVD's cockiness. This might seem a little farfetched for someone like Tyler Reks as he just started and little can be said about him. But, that doesn't mean he can't channel these guys and make it work.
It's surprising that he got the call up to mainstream wrestling for the WWE with only about 2 years of experience under his belt. But, he has the physique the WWE is looking for. So did D.J. Gabriel. Both are slender yet chiseled. The muscles look natural enough to not criticize, but imposing enough to impress Vince McMahon. However, if there was anything that Gabriel had over Reks, it was definite wrestling experience, albeit just a few years more. Sadly, no one really could get behind D.J. Gabriel, no matter how much dancing he did. Sadly, since Alicia Fox is no longer with him, I'm pretty sure no one will. However, one man's loss is another man's gain as Tyler Reks can make up for that by being that physical specimen that can appeal to the crowd and get them fired up. It's too bad he comes off a little too general with his delivery, so his charisma needs work.
I only bring up Tyler Black because, well, it's always interesting to see two wrestlers with the same name in wrestling. It's even more interesting when that name is rarely used. Names like Evan, Zack, and even Cody or Braden are not common to the wrestling world like Mike, Dave, or John. If you happen to come across this, you can expect something unique or clever. Tyler Black is a very unique, clever, and athletically sound individual. He went from "doing it for her" in Wrestling Society X with Jimmy Jacobs, to bringing the "Age of the Fall" with Jimmy in Ring of Honor (ROH). As time passed, more and more people got behind Tyler for his athleticism, raw energy, and latent charisma. He began to have stellar matches against the top stars in ROH, and has come close to becoming the ROH champion on a number of occasions. It's only a matter of time before his name becomes well known in the wrestling circles of today, to the point where some purists will recommend his name to the WWE as they did C.M. Punk. Tyler Reks is no Tyler Black, by any means, but he can be the first Tyler to be a big star in wrestling if he shows us that he's ready and capable of having top-flight matches with anyone. Heck, he's the future of the WWE's heavyweight division, like Sheamus (refer to 8/2/09's ECW analysis on Sheamus' story). If anyone can get a better chance at the top, it's definitely Tyler Reks, because if there's anything the WWE likes to do, it's push big men.
As for Rob Van Dam, well, here's how it works out. We all know RVD to be that laid back, cocky, athletic, arrogant, and very cool wrestler we have all come to know and love. He called himself "Mr. Monday Night" and "Mr. Pay-per-view" because all of his matches were worth watching on live television or worth the price of a pay-per-view event. However, what drew us to him along with that aspect was his demeanor. He was just really relaxed and cool about everything. When push came to shove, he got serious. But, most of the time, he just relaxed and tooted his own horn. He made it cool to hate him and even cooler to like him because he knew he was better than most wrestlers, and he didn't mind showing it. Tyler Reks isn't RVD, but he can show he's cool and relaxed about stuff, like most surfers are. Some opponents might mistake this as him being air-headed, but that would make it all the sweeter to see Tyler outclass them with his wrestling style. That can help by and large for Tyler.
Tyler Reks has a chance to break the mold and really set a place for himself in the ring, but there are too many hurdles and troubles that he has to overcome. Right now, he's nothing more than the back-end portion of the new talent initiative. You know who else could be seen as such other than the guys I named? How about Ricky Ortiz? (I blogged about him on 1/19 of this year). Here you have a guy who was praised in the farm systems, praised by the pundits, was primed to be an up-and-coming heavyweight for the new generation, had an interesting look (even though he was another Latin American wrestler with an curly Afro...guess they didn't want to wait to see if Carlito was still going to be useful), and was a fan favorite of sorts. So, what happened? The fans didn't get behind him. He was considered boring. Wrestling fans found him one-dimensional, he couldn't produce merchandise, he started to look very sloppy in the ring, and even though he cleverly made fun of Jack Swagger's lisp, his mic skills started to falter and started to get very uninteresting. What did that all amount to? A handful of matches on ECW that were almost largely forgettable, mostly for the botched spots, and a drafting over to Smackdown that had him change his character to a pseudo-Richard Simmons style person who looked to get the crowd excited by twirling his towel, and looked to instill life lessons on people with video segments on the WWE website. How long did that last? I'd say about 2 months, and then, he was trounced by the Great Khali in 30 seconds and fired later. The pundits still put a lot of faith in him up until that point, as they saw that there was no improvement. It seemed as though he was unappealing as a heel and as a face. Sadly, this could be Tyler Reks' fate. But, he can avoid it.
If Tyler wants to survive, he has to break out and show some potential. He has to make sure his in-ring stuff is on point. He has to make sure he can deliver well on the microphone. He has to develop charisma, keep his talent intact, and make a severe impact in his matches. How can he do this? The same way many great passionate wrestlers do it: by immersing themselves in the business, but the right way. Not by becoming a mindless slave primped and preened to look like a beefcake loyal to the entertainment and not the craft (can you think of a few guys like that?), but by learning from the best. He should talk to road agents and absorb their knowledge on the history of wrestling. He should ask the legends how to work a good match as a heavyweight. Learn the art of selling. Sure, he was taught it in the farm systems, but he should be open to learn more. If he can do that, he can be the best he can be.
Tyler Reks has the talent and the ability to be more than just another big man on the tail end of a talent initiative. He can make up for the ones that didn't succeed. But, only he has to take the initiative. If the pundits are not positive on you after a few sets, then make them proud of you. Take the next step. Don't be complacent. Make the fans love you or love to hate you. It's in your hands. Then again, there are those who still do that and the WWE still passes over them. How many talented stars have been overlooked by the WWE for less talented stars? If I had a quarter for the amount of times that has happened....well, I'd probably be too rich to do this.
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