Jay Lethal

[adduvall84]

Man, I was at the taping the other night and realized just how great Jay Lethal's current heel character is. Everything from the way he carries himself to the way he does his hair differently so that we can't even make physical comparisons to his previous babyface persona. I know there's a lot of people on here who'd like to see him get a run with the World title (and I'm not against that at all), but I'd rather see him work on putting the TV Title on the map, kind of like RVD did with the ECW TV title in 98 - 2000.

Thoughts?

[Shook1]

You're totally right. I've always been a Lethal fan, and haven't seen him live since the last time they were in Pittsburgh, but the new Lethal is my favorite Lethal in a long time. He looked great Saturday night and if I had any doubts on him in The House of Truth, he got rid of those doubts.

[adduvall84]

You're totally right. I've always been a Lethal fan, and haven't seen him live since the last time they were in Pittsburgh, but the new Lethal is my favorite Lethal in a long time. He looked great Saturday night and if I had any doubts on him in The House of Truth, he got rid of those doubts.

I would say he's someone you kind of have to see live to 100% appreciate. He definitely works on. TV, no question, but in person he really hits you as a bona fide, true heel. The visual of him and Truth, arm in arm, is the definition of being a heel.

[AndyDiaz]

Ya, I just finished watching Lethal vs. Coleman from the most recent tv and he's so good.

I was thinking what makes me say no to him being a world champ, but I couldn't think of anything.

[Burnside]

I think he's doing the best work of his entire career right now.

[Marketh.]

Letheel is infinitely more interesting than babyface Lethal, who sucked.

Hell, even that "Hey, I'm bad! Look at me, I'm so bad!" theme song is growing on me.

Did we ever get Lethal's explanation for joining the House of Truth, though? Because that was a massive leap.

[DBSommer]

Lethal is one of those guys I think is great just because you can put him anywhere in the card and he works. He can open show and get the crowd hot, he can main event as well. He can wrestle just about any style, is good in tag teams, brawls, whatever you need. He's got a good look and build. And I honestly cannot remember the last time he had a 'bad' match. When Bennett had food poisoning they had Lethal team up with Cole. He's like a utility player in baseball, and a definite type you want for your promotion. The only thing I wouldn't do is give him the world title (having runs for it is fine, though), just because the one thing I don't thing he can do is carry the promotion. But he's definitely a guy I want to see kept around for a real long time.

Hey, the man even shills for advertisers. How can you not love him?

[adduvall84]

You know, I didn't even think of it until I got to reading the replies to this thread and I don't think anyone else mentioned it in the Wheeling spoilers, but come to think of it: At the end of his title defense with Ferrara on Saturday, Lethal went up to Kevin Kelly at the announce table and said something like "if you see Jay Briscoe tell him he's not the champion of this company, I am...I'm the ROH Champion" all the while shoving the TV Title in Kelly's face. They should do a thing where all the champions are claiming to be the most dominant champion in Ring of Honor, kind of like they did in 2006 when Danielson, McGuinness and Aries/Strong all were in the midst of really long reigns. Lethal's been TV champ since April, reDRagon have basically been the tag champs for going on two years with only a few splits in between and Briscoe can harp the whole "unpinned in two years" thing and "never lost the title to begin with" thing. This could all work perfectly in conjunction with Champions vs. All Stars and maybe even Jay Lethal somehow cost Jay Briscoe the pinfall in the Champions vs. All Stars match (to Cole would make the most sense). That sets up feuds between Briscoe/Lethal and Briscoe/Cole to round out 2014 and maybe even to start 2015. All the while you could be hyping the dominance of all three of your champions and playing the whole "who will be the first to lose their title" thing.

[adduvall84]

I think he's doing the best work of his entire career right now.

Agreed. And honestly, I was never a Lethal hater or anything, but to be honest, I didn't know he had this much talent in him - especially the ability to be this good of a heel. I definitely underestimated him!

[Northwoods_Nightmare]

You're totally right. I've always been a Lethal fan, and haven't seen him live since the last time they were in Pittsburgh, but the new Lethal is my favorite Lethal in a long time. He looked great Saturday night and if I had any doubts on him in The House of Truth, he got rid of those doubts.

I would say he's someone you kind of have to see live to 100% appreciate. He definitely works on. TV, no question, but in person he really hits you as a bona fide, true heel. The visual of him and Truth, arm in arm, is the definition of being a heel.

Totally agree about the seeing him live. Prior to attending DBD, I thought he was doing fine as a heel but didn't find the new HOT particularly interesting or impressive, and found the entrance to be pretty bland.
But live was a total improvement. When Lethal and Truth walked through that curtain it was like a whole different wrestler. Lethal oozed confidence and carried himself like a real champion. It was impressive.

I like the whole idea of all the champs trying to prove to one another that they're the most important champion in ROH. I would love to see a Briscoe vs Lethal match. I desperately want to see Briscoes vs reDRagon while they all still have their gold. (Have they wrestled since 11th Anniversary?) And it all ties in so nicely with Champions vs All Stars.

[adduvall84]

I think Dragon's Reign was the last Briscoes/reDRagon match...could be wrong.

[Marketh.]

The Road to Best In The World - Night 2 was their last match.

[DXvsNWO1994]

Lethal has been a fantastic heel since his turn back in April.

[Sardonic Artery]

I think he's doing the best work of his entire career right now.

Agreed. And honestly, I was never a Lethal hater or anything, but to be honest, I didn't know he had this much talent in him - especially the ability to be this good of a heel. I definitely underestimated him!

Yup, me, too.