The Boz Report
The eventful history of Grell
by Jim Boz
During the second taping of Volume Three, a debuting heel by the name of Grell made his way out to the ring and demanded a shot at the World title. Grell went on to claim that if his wish was not granted then he would take a �victim� each week. After it became obvious to him that he would not get a World title shot that night, Grell proceeded to take his first and only �victim� from the crowd. Personally, I had high hopes for this �victims� gimmick as I felt that if it was allowed to run its course it could lead to a nice angle with Grell and a top babyface. The trouble with this storyline however was that if it was run properly, then it would mean that the man behind the mask would have to go a significant amount of time without actually wrestling a match. Hence, the �victims� gimmick was rushed through and not played out properly: for example, on only his second on camera appearance, Grell was thrown into a four way. From that point on, we heard nothing more from Grell about the World title or the �victims� that he would supposedly take.
Nevertheless, although Grell�s storyline fell through at an early stage, he did still have a unique character to fall back on. Back in the year 2000 the hottest thing around was the Scream films franchise and, on the back of this, the Grell character was created to strike fear into the hearts of an already terrified public. With the momentum of his character firmly behind him, Grell was placed in an angle revolving around the Intercontinental title and, until a late booking alteration, he was scheduled to take the I.C title at the Double Jeopardy pay-per-view. But, because management felt that at this point in his career Grell would be better suited to an intense feud rather than a title reign, the Intercontinental title stayed with Dave Daniels and Grell was placed into a highly visible feud with Mushroom throughout the summer of 2001.
Thus, it was clear that St.LCW finally had a plan for Grell: his feud with Mushroom culminated with a memorable tables match at Hell Freezes Over 2001 and, after his victory in that match, Grell went on to a lengthy feud with the then popular babyface, Se7en. The war between Grell and Se7en over the I.C title spanned Volumes Six and Seven with both men experiencing success and failure at various intervals. And, it was during Volume Seven that Grell eventually got his hands on that previously elusive piece of gold as he was handed the Intercontinental title by Cardinal Yeomans who had stripped Se7en of the title and, consequently, his first St.LCW championship. Grell�s run as I.C champ was ended abruptly however during Volume Eight as Mimmickmaster defeated him and thus took his title.
Because Grell had been in and around the Intercontinental title scene for most of his career, management decided that Volume Nine was the time for Grell to engage in a high profile feud. Hence, Grell battled against Hornblower for the duration of that Volume and had a wild encounter against him at Breach of Conduct in a last man standing match. Although Hornblower was the man who emerged victorious from that brutal battle, Grell�s performance had undoubtedly given him a garnishing of respect from �the fans�. Thus, Grell was turned face on Volume Ten and got his new persona off to a fine start by defeating Sid Justice at Lost Souls. Grell�s career then continued to skyrocket as he won Volume Eleven�s Survivor Series/Battle Royal tournament and thus gained number one contendership for the World title. This however is when luck deserted Grell as he picked up an injury in the build up to the biggest match of his life. Thus, Grell was not medically cleared to wrestle for the World title against Moriarty at Hell Freezes Over 2003. Hence, commissioner Winnie Nobbe withdrew Grell from that match and, since then, Grell has fallen back down the card: challenging unsuccessfully for the European title at Tides of Change. But, as history has shown us, Grell has risen up the card before, so who�s to say that history wont repeat itself. |
