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Madden Report - WCW.COM - March 26, 1999
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RAVEN, INC.
By Mark Madden
Saturn is back with Raven. That happened last Monday Nitro.
Kanyon never left Raven. OK, Kanyon hasn't been around lately, but that's because he's serving as technical advisor on a movie about Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, who used to be a wrestler as well as a WCW announcer. But Kanyon is still in Raven's Flock.
Soon, Kanyon will return to WCW.
Raven, Saturn and Kanyon will be a gang.
But unlike a lot of WCW's gangs, they have a plan.
In front of the camera, Raven will proclaim that his team plays by "Raven's Rules."
Behind the scenes, Raven may incorporate himself, Saturn and Kanyon, maybe as "Raven's Flock, Inc." Once that's done, he will contract tag-team matches under the corporate name, not under the names of individuals.
That means that any two of Raven's Flock can take the contracted match.
That means the opposition can never properly prepare.
That means a tremendous advantage for Raven's Flock.
This is hardly a new concept. The first team to do such a thing was the Fabulous Freebirds in the late '70s and early '80s.
Michael "P.S." Hayes, "Bamm Bamm" Terry Gordy and Buddy Jack Roberts won and defended the old NWA tag titles as a threesome. Hayes was a decent technical wrestler with tremendous psychology, Gordy was a powerhouse and Roberts was a barroom brawler. Each Freebird was very different from the other two. The Freebirds were incredibly tough to beat because they were so difficult to prepare for. Were you going to wrestle Hayes and Gordy? Hayes and Roberts? Gordy and Roberts? Each combination was so different.
Raven, Saturn and Kanyon will be a similar package.
Raven, despite his recently revealed past as a spoiled rich kid, is still a raging psychotic capable of tremendous violence. He's got the Evenflow DDT, he's got the drop toe-hold into a chair, he swings a mean stop sign, he's as hardcore as anybody.
Saturn has two great finishing moves, the Death Valley Driver and the Rings of Saturn. He's technically sound and proficient at martial arts. He has a high pain threshold.
Kanyon has technical expertise, too, but it's a different kind of expertise. He invents offensive maneuvers out of nowhere. The Flatliner is a good finish. Kanyon is the least emotional wrestler of the three. He's very hard to rattle.
Every tag-team combination the Flock sends forth will be extremely different.
It's going to be very hard to prepare to wrestle the Flock.
It follows that it will be hard to beat them.
The plan is another example of Raven's twisted genius. More evidence of his schizophrenia. One moment, he's insane. The next, he's Einstein.
Sure, it's not an original idea. How many ideas in wrestling are?
But it's an idea that will work. That's all that matters.
It seems only a matter of time before the Flock gets the WCW tag titles. Raven and Saturn battered Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko in a match that ended in a no-contest last Monday Nitro. Once Kanyon gets stirred into the mix, that should put Raven's Flock over the top. As smart as Benoit and Malenko are, who can formulate three different game plans for one match?
Look for the Flock to dominate WCW's tag division.
It may be a defining moment for Kanyon.
When he gets the tag gold, he'll grab the mic and say, "Who's a better tag-team wrestler than Kanyon?"
And the fans will be able to respond only one way: "Nobody!"
Finally.
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