Kid Kash

[Dylan Waco]

Discuss Here.

[Luchaundead]

He was one of the few entertaining and exciting things left in the dying days of ECW even if at the time he wasn't completely polished he was a great Mortonesque baby face, obviously because he was trained by Morton but, he was so good at selling at getting just enough in that his hope spots kept his mini-feud with Mike Awesome believable that he could possible pull off a big win at anytime. It was very unfortunate that he came into wrestling at the tail end of WCW as one of his best early opponents EZ Money signed with WCW right as they went out of business and if they had gotten to show off their matches on a national stage it probably would have gotten over. Another huge issue he had was that he didn't fit in WWE well. Kid Kash was always a stand out even in TNA it's too bad that he didn't really come into his own as a well rounded wrestler until recently after he had already had chances in major companies and is probably realistically winding down his career.

[Dylan Waco]

I understand this will sound hyperbolic, but as a guy who prides himself on being an obsessive fan and not letting talented guys slip through the cracks, the fact that Kash is just now getting a nod makes me think he has to be one of the most underrated wrestlers of all time. Before you dismiss this as just Dylan being Dylan, at least consider the scope and diversity of Kash's career.

 

He first comes to prominence as an undercard attraction in ECW, where he is cast as an underdog spotfest worker. He sells better than almost anyone else on the roster, though he's rarely put in positions where that matters or means anything. He has the good sense to develop one exciting looking spot that he runs into the ground - a necessary staple of wrestling during that era, especially in ECW - and sort of quietly coasts along as a guy who is in consistently fun matches that don't matter much. As a result he gets over big time, and was probably poised to be a big star either near the top of ECW, or at the top of the WCW cruiserweight division, but then both companies went under.

 

He ends up going back to the indies and TNA, where he is on the early end of the style revolution taking place, though he is almost never cited as one of the guys who was either an influence on it (as Tajiri and Super Crazy sometimes are for example), or one of it's early practitioners. This is of course demonstrably false, as with the exception of Jerry Lynn, Kash is probably the only guy who can really claim to have been both. He ends up being one of the better dance partners for both Amazing Red and AJ Styles, having some of the better matches that both guys had at that juncture of their careers. This is also a period where we start to see Kash morph into a more veteran bruiser role, as he's often cast as the more experienced guy going up against up and comers. As a result he starts to add stiff strikes, heel tactics, and a more deliberate demeanor where called for, often resulting in matches that seemed destined to go off the rails being held together. Going back and watching a lot of the TNA stuff over the last several months, Kash is one of the most consistent performers from the pre-Impact period, and was almost certainly the most versatile X-Division guy when it came to playing a variety of roles effectively.

 

After this period he ends up working the WWE, a short lived stint, that saw him repackaged with short hair, and a much more deliberate mean streak. This period is notable for a variety of fun matches teaming with Jamie Noble in "The Pitbulls" and as a single, many of which were built almost entirely around body part psychology. Kash turns into more of a striker, targeted assassin, and guy who will murder you dead with his brainbuster which was probably on the short list of "holy fuck" finishers during this period.

 

Leaving the WWE, he ended up back on indies, where he would occasional work "dream match" type affairs, but was largely in the role of "mean spirited veteran, pissed off at what the wrestling world and his place in it." It was during this period where you'd first start to see him popping up on Tennessee indies almost touching off riots by trolling fans, completely controlling crowds, and stiffing the shit out of people. He was as good at building a feud as anyone in wrestling, and though much of this didn't survive online, watching in real time he came across as a dangerously unhinged sociopath who you never wanted to miss in action.

 

He went back to TNA during this period and had some fun matches v. Joe, Aries, and others, but it's really the run in places like USWO, SAW, and other places where Kash stood out as a completely believable bad ass, who could make any third rate hack, washed up has been, or talented but green kid look like a star. Even last year he had an incredibly emotional, and well built match with Chase Owens where he put his career on the line against Ricky Morton's (yes you read that right). Kash lost, and who knows if that stip will hold, but the execution of the feud and bout were excellent.

 

One other thing I really appreciate about Kash is that he's a guy that fully invested into his respective "looks" so that the various characters he portrayed over the course of his career were especially believable. When was breaking in he was supposed to be a Ricky Morton clone and he looked like it. When ECW decided to run a bit with the "Kid" aspect of his name, and give him a Kid Rock makeover he ran with that. When he ended up in WWE as a thickened out "pitbull" he became a guy you who looked like a jacked up, little man syndrome having, bully. And when he was the cranky old vet on the Southern indie scene, the scowl and the sleeve tattoos really helped get across the vibe of him as the dickhead dad of the dickhead kid who just beat your kids ass.

 

Watching several Kash matches tonight, one of the themes was that each match seemed to have one or two "off spots" early. Then it was almost like Kash got mad, everything he clicked, and the match quickly went to the next level. The flaws were pretty well obscured by the character portrayal, psychology, and effort. It's like he angered himself into good performances when things should have gone terribly wrong. In a way that is far more impressive to me than a guy who goes out every night and hits all his cues, and wrestles like their isn't a flaw in the world.

 

I can't honestly say Kash will definitely be on my ballot, but there is a unique quality to him that's hard to deny.

[SomethingSavage]

Excellent write-up.

His offense has really become hard-hitting, snug, and just nasty at times. His high-flying is HEAVY - packed with impact and weighted with serious force. It's a popular praise for guys like 2 Cold Scorpio - and rightfully so. But I definitely think it also applies to Kash, especially in his later years.

It looks less like he's carefully executing dives, moonsaults, and kicks - and more like he's throwing his body & limbs around with malicious intent. It brings a sense of energy & urgency that lends itself to a "fight" feel and is certainly appreciable when he can do it without legitimately maiming his dance partner out there.

[JRGoldman]

I think people who weren't watching at the time don't get a clear sense of how over Kash was during that ECW run. When he would come out and just dive on everyone, people would go nuts. I don't know if that alone is enough to get him on my ballot, and I don't think I've as big a fan of his post Pitbull Indy stuff as Dylan and some others, but I don't think he should be written off entirely.

 

I also think that he would have more support and consideration if people did not associate him with a Kid Rock tribute gimmick, which makes him seem like a fossil that was only over due to a pop culture reference.