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Last Chance - Powerslam
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Last Chance
By Fin Martin
Powerslam #77
December 2000
Raven has arrived in the WWF to become a major superstar. Well, that's the idea. FIN MARTIN wonders if the tattooed brawler still has what it takes ...
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Scott "Raven" Levy has worked for the World Wrestling Federation before. Not as Raven of course. And not as a wrestler. First time around, Levy was a manager, announcer, presenter and TV bod. Mr Multifaceted, Scotty did almost everything - except wrestle.
In May 1993, Levy made his WWF debut as zany manager Johnny Polo. First guiding the career of Bryan "Adam Bomb" Clark, Polo was later hooked up with the then-entertaining Quebecers, Jacques Rougeau and Pierre Oulette, who enjoyed three WWF world tag team title reigns between autumn 1993 and spring 1994.
Away from the action, Polo provided lively, witty commentary alongside Vince McMahon on Superstars and the late Gorilla Monsoon on All-American. He turned up on Saturday morning programme WWF Mania, hosted selected federation video releases and learned television production. On the surface it seemed like Polo had it made.
However, like almost everything in wrestling, that broad, rich kid smile and carefree demeanour was a façade. Deep down, Levy was far from content. At the age of 32, he realised the clock was ticking away and that if he was serious about wrestling, he had no time to waste. He also realised that, to be taken seriously as a wrestler, he had to change companies.
Though Polo had been booked in a handful of comedy matches, Vince McMahon would not and could not push him as an in-ring performer. So in October 1994, Polo bid the promotion farewell and resumed his bone-bending career on the small-time, low-paying independent scene in Maryland ...
Making his pro debut in February 1988, Scott Levy popped up in the Championship Wrestling Association in Memphis, Tennessee later that year, under his real name. Enjoying little success in the territory, Levy migrated to Florida, where he did another lorry load of jobs. In 1989, Levy bagged his first break in Don Owen's Pacific Northwest region in Portland, Oregon. Repackaging himself as flamboyant heel Scotty The Body, Levy wrestled and provided colour commentary on the territory's local television show. A wisecracking riot, Scotty's announcing was first-class stuff, earning him rave reviews in the wrestling press - and a spot in the WWF's broadcast booth some four years later.
Meanwhile, in the ring, Scotty The Body was a championship magnet. Portland's premier bad guy, Scotty wore the PNW heavyweight belt three times, after scoring victories over Carl Styles, Rex King and The Grappler (Len Denton), and the PNW tag team title three times with Top Gun (WCW jobber David Sierra), The Grappler and Steve Doll.
Levy left Pacific Northwest shortly after he and Doll dumped the doubles straps on December 5, 1990 and resurfaced in the Georgia All-Star group a few months later. Taking the name Scott Anthony, our transient friend ran into Fabian (Marcus Bagwell) and Chris Walker, before he moved on again, this time to Dallas, Texas home of the newly formed Global Wrestling Federation which was attracting the country's top independent talent, thanks to it's national television deal with ESPN.
Forming the fiendish Cartel with Cactus Jack, WCW loser Rip Rogers and Makhan Singh (Mike Shaw), Anthony received a healthy push in the organisation. With Rogers he reached the final of a tournament to crown the first GWF tag team champions in July 1991, and was given wins over The Handsome Stranger (Marcus Bagwell), Sam Houston and former ECW world champion Jerry Lynn, prior to a swing with popular GWF North American champion The Patriot (Del Wilkes).
Global began crumbling in early 1992, due to talent defections and turmoil behind the scenes. So, our man must have breathed an enormous sigh of relief when WCW called in the spring and presented him with a contract. Wrestling was paying him six-figures, at long last.
But there were conditions: Levy would undergo another name change - to "Palm Beach Heart Throb" Scotty Flamingo - and would become a member of the Light Heavyweight division.
Still hot on the heels of the sensational series between Jushin Liger and Brian Pillman, WCW's light heavy scene was the talk of the biz. The spotlight was on it, the fans were lapping it up; for the first time in decades, Junior heavys were over on a large scale in the US.
Unfortunately, Liger and Pillman had set a standard, which no other twosome in WCW could possibly duplicate. Consequently Pillman's subsequent title defences failed to illicit the same response from the masses, and the division quickly lost its lustre.
Flamingo defeated Pillman to capture the Light Heavyweight championship at Beach Blast on June 20, but dropped the belt 15 days later to Brad Armstrong, who new WCW governor Bill Watts saw as the future of the division.
As the months passed, it became obvious that Watts didn't see the same potential in Flamingo: he was not even booked on any further pay-per-view events for the remainder of his stay with the company and, although he did turn up on two Clash Of The Champions television specials, his gimmicked win over Johnny B. Badd in a boxing match and pinfall loss to Too Cold Scorpio hardly bode well for his future prosperity in the company.
Not surprisingly, Flamingo was canned after WCW's Real Event tour of the UK in March 1993. Later that month, he held the USWA tag team belts with Brian Christopher (Grandmaster Sexay) for a whopping seven days, and then headed northeast where he began a new life jolly Johnny Polo in the WWF.
Though reluctant to hang up his tights, Levy was smart enough to realise that his options as a grappler were virtually nil at that juncture, and that he hadn't been knocking 'em dead in the ring since his tenure in Portland ended more than two years earlier. Wrestling would have to wait, he mused.
Seventeen months later, it could wait no longer ...
While Levy was bouncing around the independent circuit in late 1994, Smoky Mountain Wrestling promoter Jim Cornette invited him to join his firm as a wrestler and assistant booker. Aware that Corny only paid his top-liners $400,000 per week [Vic's note -- this has to be a typo. It's probably 400 or more likely 4,000 dollars a week], Levy turned him down. Besides, Scott wasn't desperate he had something in the pipeline - something a little different.
On January 7, 1995, Raven made his ECW debut at the Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At first, fans didn't know how to react to the new grunge rocker gimmick, which bore no relation to Johnny Polo, Scotty Flamingo or anything else Levy had done before. The persona was such a departure, in fact, that it raised numerous questions. Why did he look so vacant, so devoid of emotion? Why did he simulate the crucifixion? And why was he consorting with that twerp Stevie Richards? Some questions were never answered, which only enhanced the mystery encircling wrestling's most enigmatic character.
What we did learn, within weeks of his arrival, is that Raven had come for Tommy Dreamer. According to the storyline, the two had attended summer camp together when they were kids. The stunning Beulah McGullicutty, who was introduced in April, had also been at the camp. Way back when, she was the object of their affection, or something. In 1995, however she sided with Raven and was repeatedly piledriven by Dreamer in a spot, which would change wrestling's attitude towards violence against women.
As convincing as the Raven character was, it would have fizzled if his matches had resembled Scotty Flamingo's with Brad Armstrong. Fortunately, he anticipated that and made the necessary adjustments. As Raven, Levy was a high-powered brawling machine: absorbing and dealing out full-on weapon shots, bleeding heavily and often, and battling all over arenas, Raven was a bona-fide hard-core sensation. He got over quickly, he got Dreamer over, and their feud - which sucked in Cactus Jack, Luna Vachon, Francine, The Dudley Boyz, Bill Alfonso, The Blue Meanie, Brain Lee and others - was the hottest thing in wrestling for the next 18 months.
Raven and lackey Stevie Richards captured the ECW World tag team title twice, with wins over The Public Enemy and The Pit Bulls, in 1995. On January 27, 1996 Raven was given the go-ahead to pin chief babyface The Sandman to raise the ECW World crown. This was his moment - and he wasn't going to blow it.
At the centre of some ground-breaking storylines, including Beulah's fake pregnancy and lesbian scenario with Kimona and the controversial saga in which he "stole" Sandman's wife Lori and nine-year old son Tyler, Raven even managed to make a few World title defences while nursing a broken ankle.
Raven disappeared for "personal reasons" in October 1996, and left the belt in the acre of Stevie Richards, who immediately dumped it to The Sandman in a tag bout. On December 7, Raven regained the title from Sandy in a brutal no-rope Barbed Wire match at the ECW Arena. On top again. But this time, Raven's star didn't shine so brightly as it had six months earlier.
Overshadowed by the feud between Sabu and Taz and the hype surrounding Terry Funk's "last chance" to capture a world title, Raven was forced to take a back seat to others. Seeing the writing on the wall, he sought work elsewhere, and had no trouble finding it.
Shortly after dropping the Worlds title to Funk at Barely Legal on April 13, 1997, Raven inked a three-year contract with WCW, worth $225,000 per annum. He was tentatively scheduled to make his debut on Monday Nitro on June 9. In the meantime he had a job to do - for Tommy Dreamer. Raven had never lost to Dreamer in their entire two-an-a-half year dispute. On his last night in, June 7, Raven had a blistering brawl with Dreamer and finally put him over, much to the crowd's approval ...
As it turned out, Raven made his WCW debut, "as a member of the audience", on the June 30 Nitro. The following week, he was joined by his old sidekick Stevie Richards, who continued to foster the tired " Raven doesn't work here/he hasn't signed a contract/he's not on this roster" gimmick which wrestling is still so fond of.
Raven and Richards had a bust up leading to a match at the last ever Clash Of The Champions on August 21. Raven, of course won. Richards rejoined Raven soon after, however, and was briefly a member of the Flock - Ravens band of weirdos. Formed at the Worldwide television tapings in October, the gang would also recruit Perry Saturn, Billy Kidman, Sick Boy (Scott Vick), Van Hammer, Scotty Riggs, Reese and Horace over the next nine months.
As a taste of things to come, Raven and the Flock had a choreographed pro wrestling style brawl with Diamond Dallas Page during the filming of the video for Stuck Mojo's song Rising on December 18 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Meanwhile, on television, Raven was in the middle of a feud with Chris Benoit. They were supposed to clash at Starrcade '97, but Raven's pancreas was giving him some bother, so Saturn filled in and defeated "Crippler" Chris by stoppage, after tons of interference from the Flock.
Benoit got a measure of revenge on January 24, 1998 when he defeated Raven in a thrilling brawl at Souled Out. Six weeks later, to coincide with the release of Stock Mojo's Rising, Raven and Benoit and Dallas Page were in the midst of a triangular dispute over DDP's United States title. At Uncensored on March 15, the threesome collided in a cracking battle, which ended when Page Diamond Cuttered Raven through a table. Five weeks on, Raven avenged his loss in a one-on-one scorcher with Page at Spring Stampede, capturing the US Championship in the process. Unfortunately for Raven, he only got to play caretaker champion, and then for a mere 24 hours.
On April 20, Raven was smashed by the phenomenon known as Bill Goldberg on Nitro. To his credit, Raven did do a terrific job with the then green Goldberg before succumbing to the Jackhammer.
There would be no run of rematches with Goldberg; Raven had to make do with his mid-card status, while the new US champion shot up the ladder. Mid-card meant further showdowns with Page, a disappointing run with Kanyon and as the Flock slowly disbanded, an entertaining dispute with Saturn, including a belting bout at Fall Brawl, which Raven lost…
Taking the Raven character in a new direction in late 1998, WCW revealed that he was actually from a filthy rich family. In a series of skits at Raven's mother's mansion, we were introduced to Raven's "sister" Chas (Denise "Chastity" Rissell) and his pal James (James "Sandman" Fullington), while Kanyon admonished the tattooed wonder for wallowing in self-pity without a shred of justification. (Raven it seemed was having mental problems). What WCW hoped to achieve with this tall tale, we'll never know: the rich kid story line was quietly dropped, James became Hardcore Hak and declared war on Raven, and Chas turned on her "brother" and sided with Hak at Uncensored '99.
Raven's subsequent partnership with the cross-dressing Perry Saturn led to some fine matches with Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko and the duo of Rey Misterio Jr. and Billy Kidman and a World tag team title reign, which commenced on May 9 at Slamboree when they dropped the aforementioned tandems in a Three Way Dance, with help from Kanyon. Raven went down with a serious shoulder injury soon after. Mind you, that wasn't such a bad thing because WCW had just lost the plot entirely. Indeed the bench was the safest place to be as Eric Bischoff, Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan ruined careers, abandoned story lines midstream and frittered away obscene amounts of money on sure-fire box office failures like Master P and his gang.
Raven underwent shoulder surgery in June. He would never wrestle for WCW again. Before Nitro on August 23. Eric Bischoff called a meeting in which he pledged to grant a contract release to anyone who wished to work elsewhere. In reality, he was only offering a conditional release - meaning any takers would not be able to join the WWF for the duration of their WCW deal. Having no faith in WCW, and seeing a spot in ECW which would tide him over until his agreement with WCW expired in summer 2000, Raven requested - and received - his release. On August 26, our man returned to ECW and lifted the World tag team title from the Dudley Boyz. His partner was former nemesis Tommy Dreamer.
With the exception of his homecoming, which blew the roof off in Queens, New York, and a fine match against the Impact Players at Guilty As Charged, Raven's second stay in ECW was a monumental disappointment. Initially, he had a valid excuse; his shoulder had yet to heal and, therefore, he was only able to work squash matches. But as the weeks passed, and he recovered, nothing changed: his performances still fell short.
Aggro behind the scenes with booker Paul Heyman didn't aid his cause. It was said that Raven made it a little too obvious that he was just passing through ECW, en route to the major league - the WWF. Apparently tired of his blasé attitude, Heyman erased him from the storylines. Indeed after Raven and Mike Awesome dropped the World tag team title to The Impact Players in a Three Way Dance at Living Dangerously 2000 on March 12, our man was used sparingly. He didn't wrestle at Cyberslam in April or the Hardcore Heaven pay-per-view in May. In the end, the relationship between Raven and Heyman had grown so frosty that he wasn't even given a farewell match on his last night in, July 8, at the ECW Arena. Instead Raven was blasted by Network baddies Scotty Anton and Rhino in an angle …
WWF management was keenly aware of the dissension between Raven and Heyman, and made it clear that they would not tolerate any of it: if he was coming in with an attitude, he wasn't coming in at all.
Promising to accede to their demands, raven signed a WWF contract. He made his debut at Unforgiven on September 24, helping Tazz beat Jerry Lawler. The following evening on Raw, Tazz bested Buh Buh Ray Dudley, again with assistance from Raven. Then on September 26 at the SmackDown taping, Raven teamed up with Tazz in his first WWF bout and rolled over Lawler and Chris Jericho when he pinned Jericho.
Wow! Raven was winning.
But it didn't last.
The following week on SmackDown, Raven was left laying by the Dudley Boyz. On the October 9 Raw, he was pinned by Hardcore champion Steve Blackman in a non-title match. At No Mercy on October 22, he and Tazz were quickly eliminated from The Dudley's Table Invitational by Buh Buh Ray and D-Von. The swift loss to The Duds was doubly ominous: on the way down, Raven looked like a comedy performer, who was over-matched by the "half-brothers".
Raven and Tazz have scored a televised win over Too Cool in the weeks since No Mercy and Raven has pinned Al Snow in singles action. So it's not all doom and gloom. Besides it's early days yet: perhaps the WWF are putting Raven to the test; assessing how his work and attitude are affected by a bunch of low card jobs, so he deserves and appreciate his push if and when it does come.
And most believe it will: WWF management signed Scott Levy with the intention of using his alter ego as a topliner. Levy didn't join the WWF with aspirations of losing to Steve Blackman.
Does Raven have the personality, skills and drive to scale the fiercely competitive ranks of the WWF? In a promotion laden with talent, all jockeying for position, the old Raven - the fiery brawler who rocked in ECW first time around and in WCW in 1998 - will have to make a comeback. The fellah who spent most of the last 12 months killing time in ECW doesn't stand a chance.
Powerslam Issue 77 December 2000
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