SPOTLIGHT on...

I wasn't intending on getting to this one for a while longer, but now seems oddly appropriate. Tonight, on "SPOTLIGHT on..." we're looking at my longest running character, the man the Holzerblog seemingly jinxed (j/k), Karl "The Dragon" Brown.



For those who've never encountered the character, he was the first character I created, back in 2003. His first match was against Andrew Dalton in the MCW World Title tournament, where he won controversially when Dalton's foot was on the rope during the pin. Brown then went on to beat Christian Sands, before losing in Mayhem Mountain against Adam Benjamin. MCW closed about three cards later, but Brown had already agreed to work in Empire Pro Wrestling, and later joined the NWL. In EPW he lost in the quarter-finals of the World Title tournament to Christian Sands, whilst in NWL, he managed victories over Canada's Hero, Hacker, Lars Magellan, and The Watcher, with a loss to Dakota Smith, and a draw and loss against Maelstrom, to place second in the Wrestling League Series. NWL sadly closed shortly after :(



Brown continued to appear in EPW, losing the inaugural Intercontinental Championship match to Adam Benjamin, before meandering around for the rest of 2004. He came third in the Natural Selection tournament held at the end of the year in HWF, but 2004 was mostly a meh year in EPW for him. In 2005, he became number one contender to the IC title, retained the right to his moniker "The Dragon" against "The (now former) Dragon" Eric Davis, came fourth in the Natural Selection Summer Solstice tournament, and in November finally won gold when he beat Sebastian Dodd's replacement, JA, for the Intercontinental Championship. His success continued into 2006, where he won the first TEAM Invitational Tournament, and continued his singles unbeaten streak until a loss against D! in a Champion of Champions match. He flirted with the main event, getting a draw from Lindsay Troy in December '05, was part of the 6-way Title match at Unleashed, and got the pin in a six person tag team match when he teamed with Joey Melton and Lindsay Troy against Troy Windham and his Entourage. He then feuded with Stephen Shane, entered into a storyline with Foxx, and has just lost the Intercontinental Championship after 23 months.



That's his e-fedding history in a nutshell I guess, lol. Character wise, where do I start?



Well, as the name suggests, he's based primarily on me if I were to be a wrestler. He's two years older than me, but that was because I didn't fancy starting a 19 year old in a pro company when I started out. I felt having him as 21 would work better. He's incredibly well educated, but throughout his three years as an undergrad always found time to train, jet-setting back and forth from UEA in Norwich, England, to Japan, Canada, America, anywhere he could get something different. I modelled his wrestling style, as I have with Otaku and Mr Entertainment, on a combination of some of my favourite wrestlers - in this case, Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Brian Pillman circa 1992, and Jushin Liger. I deliberately made him a lightweight at 211lbs, but have always suggested he's far stronger than he looks, which people used to say about me when I played rugby - I was about 130lbs and could easily tackle people a good fifty to eighty pounds heavier, without getting hurt.

He's also much more similar to me, in that he played rugby, and has a bad left knee from that career. In the spirit of competition, when he (I) got the injury, he (I) played the very next week, despite the knee swelling to over twice its normal size incredibly quickly - certainly less than 10 minutes, if not less than 5. Brown played on the injured knee for the rest of his rugby and athletics careers, injuring it to the point he had to give both up when he was about 16/17/18. I did, however, allow him to keep his Taekwondo going, so as of... next May he's going to hold a fifth dan (or the title of Master, whichever you prefer. In reality, my certificates stop at first poom, the under 16 equivalent of a dan grade), which helps explain his inordinate strength.

There's also a little known fact about Brown which I'll share with everyone here before I forget. The first is he's got an MA in Medieval Writing and Culture. I decided to give him that since it would explain any mentions I end up making on medieval culture, or use of medieval dragons, which is what my dissertation for my MA was on. So if you see him mentioning dragons and their cultural uses sometime, that's why - I've momentarily re-entered dissertation writing mode, lol.

What about his character...

I guess you could say his character is extremely similar to mine at the time I write his promos, more so than any other character I handle. He's not an entertainer in the same way as Mr Entertainment, nor is he worried about titles like Blitz. He also doesn't have something to latch on to, like Otaku does. He also quite some time back stopped worrying about his opponents - he'll wrestle anyone in any match he's given. This came back to haunt him a little once, when he faced X in what was turned into a chain match (Brown won). His biggest opponent isn't any of the people he's faced in the ring, but he sees it as himself - if he doesn't keep improving and pushing beyond his own limits, he fails. That's all that actually pushes him these days. Before, he actually revelled in who his opponents were, as it gave him a chance to test himself against other people, but somewhere along the line that kinda fell by the wayside for him. He's very much a loner, and doesn't make friends easily, but he's not all that concerned about it, as he lives by the teaching that "If there's a way to end the suffering, there is no need to worry, and if there is no way to end the suffering, then there is no use in worrying."



Now, here's the part where I talk about his strengths and weaknesses. His greatest strength, from what I can tell, is his mind. You're not going to get under his skin intellectually, because he can grasp seemingly complex arguments and simplify them to the point anyone can understand their basic logic. He can also make something very simple sound incredibly complex, and has a vast knowledge of philosophy and literature he can use.

His mind is also, I think, his biggest weakness as a character. I remember reading once on the NAPW forums after Chris Casino jokingly ranted about losing to me, that someone said that Brown's promos are difficult to understand because a) they're long winded, b) the point I'm making isn't always clear. Thinking back on that now, I admit it. With Brown, I have a tendancy to waffle, making arguments far longer-winded than needed. And recently, most of the arguments would've been better suited to Metzgermeister - they've been social observations, thoughts on God, good, evil - anything but wrestling. Compare that to one of my favourite matches, the TEAM Invitational final in 2006 against Viktor Molotov, where we argued the very nature of wrestling, and I honestly think Brown's gone too far in that direction. The problem now is, bringing him back to a suitable point.

Another weakness of Brown, which I only noticed this morning, is placing him on the card. A lot of people have said, and I appreciate it, that Brown could make it in the main event. But this morning, when I was waiting for the bus, I was thinking about it, and as he stands, I don't think Brown could make it at the top. Not just because he's way too long winded, but because of a collection of things, one of which I'd always known about but kept in anyways.

When I created him, I actually had in mind Sting in WCW in the early '90s. Brown was going to be one of those people you could have in the upper-mid card, pushing him to the top for a short while, and the fans wouldn't have a problem with it, but he'd be at his best slightly beneath it. I certainly never intended him to be a main eventer. Now, especially, I can't see him main-eventing, because of a few things. Firstly, he doesn't care about titles, and secondly, he doesn't care about most of his opponents. He's not one to seek revenge, he's not one to attack someone backstage (which as an aside, is why he didn't compete in the first Tournament of Champions - the third round that year was impossible for him to be involved in as it involved attacking someone back stage). He's also really long-winded, and whilst what he says is good (I would say that, wouldn't I?), it's not the most charismatic of stuff to read/listen to. You'd basically have someone who doesn't care about opponents or titles in main event matches, and the fans wouldn't really be able to get behind him as a result - why's he going for the big belt when he doesn't care about it? Why's he feuding with so-and-so when he's not showing any care about the feud?

There's also another factor that comes into play with Brown and whether he could work in the main event. I never saw him as making it to the main event in a top company. In MCW, and the NWL, they were feds that were starting out. Brown as world champion would work there, because it's not a HUGE MEGA MONSTER company. It's kinda like WCW pre-NWO, or ECW, compared to WWF/E. In an American style mega-fed like EPW's become, or A1E, or New ERA, or NFW, or whereever, Brown would I think be out of place at the top, or there for more than a short feud.

Finally on the main-event subject, I don't think Brown needs to go into the main event. Like I've said, titles aren't his concern. Neither is proving he's the best. If I'm honest, he's got nothing left to prove right now. He won the first TEAM Invitational, and has just ended an almost two year title reign, during which he recorded wins over JA, Adam Benjamin, Joey Melton, Troy Windham, Stephen Shane, and others. He pinned Beast, and has a one-on-one with then World Champion, Lindsay Troy - the list of names he's faced and/or beaten reads like a who's who of World Champs. He's done everything I ever envisaged him doing, and in only four years.

So, what does the future hold for "The Dragon"? I honestly don't know. In Empire Pro, I actually think the main event is strong enough without him, and I also think it'd be wrong to have him chase the IC title again so quickly given how insistent he was in his latest promo that he didn't care about the belt. Right now I think Brown needs to step back a little bit, do something lower down the card, and I need to figure out a way to freshen him up when I write him. He's grown kinda stale and too dark for me to write well, so hopefully losing the belt will give me a chance to experiment lower down the card, and in two or three PPV cycles, maybe push back up the card with a fresh and hungry Dragon. I do have something in mind for the interim though, so you'll just have to wait and see what happens, won't ya?

Well, that about wraps it up for this SPOTLIGHT on...

Before I go, congrats to Josh for winning the IC title. I'm glad the belt went to a face, and he definitely deserves it for all the hard work he's put in. Now, he just has 23 months to go to equal my reign :-p

Wow... my characters only have one title... this feels weird :-p