Around The Horn 2014 1/4 Final - Omackeral (C) vs Bounty Hunter

An excellent question with a lot of scope. There's a few ideas knocking around my head but the one I'm going to go with is probably a less obvious one. Having thought about it for the better part of the day, I'm of the opinion that this one could work and have laid out a few ideas for the character too, such as feuds and devlopment. Ladies and gents, the character I'm choosing to re-do is Vladimir Kozlov.

Let's be honest, it's hardly an awe-inspring choice is it? But that's kinda one of the main points of the question if you think about it. Kozlov, or rather the man who portrayed him, was bland. Oleg Prudius was blander than vanilla, the white crayon in the box and would be a 7 on the pH scale, for any of you chemistry nerds out there. Add to that the fact that he hadn't really a superb look and his style was very dated. He could've been Hogan fodder in a different era perhaps but, for my money, he didn't exactly fit in nicely anywhere. His English, while not Khali bad, wasn't up to much from a promo perspective.

The Kozlov character was initially rammed down our throats with him destroying jobbers with bumbling offense that didn't really do anything for anyone. He was hot shotted into main events which stunk the place out and brought those around him down e.g. Triple H and Jeff Hardy. Management began to notice this to the point where they turned him into a comedy relief face and even made up a storyline injury the day before WrestleMania just to get him off the card for the more popular and exciting Kofi Kingston. In fact Oleg Prudius, the man playing the character, was future endeavoured shortly thereafter and we haven't seen him since.

So who could have made it work? Ironically, the best man for the job in my mind, was a former tag partner of Prudius. His name? Anthony Carelli. But you may know him better as Santino Marella. That might seem like the most random and out there suggestion ever but please indulge me by watching this one minute video and tell me you can't see what I'm talking about.



Forget everything you thought you knew about Santino Marella. Anthony Carelli is the real deal. While he was active in the locker room, he was among the toughest in the back that could handle himself, no doubt about it. Add to this that he's a good looking dude with a legit background in martial arts and undoubtedly one of the more naturally charismatic wrestlers we've seen a good while and you're onto a winner.

What I'd do different. Firstly, Prudius and Carelli came into WWE within months of each other. Prudius appeared first in an awful segment on Smackdown in 2006 where he said '' I love Double Double E''. It was god awful and awkward. Carelli, as Santino, came onto our screens in 2007 on Raw when he came out of the crowd to answer a challenge in Milan, Italy and scored an upset win. It was later revealed he was an Italian trained wrestler living in the States and would compete from there on out. I would do something very similar for Carelli in my scenario only this time he's a obviously a Russian living in America. This debut wouldn't necessarily have to be in Russia for this to work by the way, even a Stateside city like Minnesota or Chicago where you have a large immigrant population.

As you can hear in the video, he has the the accent down and we know, from his portrayal of Santino Marella, that he has no problem staying in that mindset. In the video, he reminds me of a cross between Steve Blackman and the ECW version of Tazz. The latter is how I'd book him. Major emphasis on throws and suplexes but with a sprinkling of the Lethal Weapons kicks. I wouldn't have him booked as an absolute babyface but rather as someone who can kick ass without being too cocky about it. After some wins over the likes of Chavo Guerrero and Jamie Noble I would have 2nd generation stars Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase of Legacy get on his case calling him a dirty immigrant with no business being in their world while heelishly flaunting their heritage. He would get the better of them in singles matches over a 3 week period spread between Raw and Smackdown and challenge them to a 2 on 1 handicap bout. After a good back and forth, he's getting the better of them unleashing his trademark throws and kicks when suddenly Legacy leader Randy Orton slithers in and nails him with an RKO. This dick move earns him sympathy to a small degree but also makes the crowd want to see him finish what he started only, now, with Randy Orton. He could have competitive matches with Orton but come up slightly short perhaps due to tactics, distractions or just a lack of kayfabe experience compared to the Viper. He would get a massive rub working with Randy and from there I would have him go on to feud with and beat MVP for the United States title saying, while he is not from here originally, he is proud to represent the American people and will be a fighting champion. The doors would be open for a multitude of options from there and you'd have a likeable, talented and dangerous upper mid carder.... instead of a bland, forgettable fotenote that the original Kozlov was.

Scott Levy as the Devil's advocate. Interesting choice. There's something there perhaps. But, for my money, it's just on the wrong side of the Raven era. Had this been pitched maybe 5 years earlier I could maybe get on board with it but this is 2003 we're talking about. By then, Raven had gone to TNA and was an absolute shell of his former self. His good looks had deteriorated and he was creeping onto the wrong side of 40. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.






The Devil's Advocate character really needed someone slick looking and smooth who could charm. Levy at this point, was looking worse for wear owing to his drug fuelled lifestyle of the 1990's. Why would you wanna take advice from someone who looks like that? Why would you want to look the way he does? O'Haire, on the other hand looked a million bucks in his suave suits and was just in his early 30's with chiseled handsome looks. The Raven character that had Flocks and Nests and Gatherings attracted lowlifes and misfits not middle America or you or me, which is what the gimmick was all about.


Another thing I'm not sure of is are we calling him Raven still or is he Scott Levy or a new name? Because, to me, it sounds like you're tweaking/evolving the Raven character rather than rebooting the Devil's Advocate. Would we acknowledge his past as Raven or would he be a separate entity altogether along the lines of say K-Kwik and R-Truth, or more fittingly, Johnny Polo and Raven?


I get parts of what you're saying but, for me, it's creative that dropped the ball with Sean O'Haire rather than Sean O'Haire screwing up as the Advocate. Go on any online wrestling forum (obviously PW Boards is the best:P) and see are there any threads on who WWE dropped the ball with. 99/100 there'll be people saying it was Sean O'Haire. But hey.... I'm not telling you anything you don't already know.