Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Back in the 80’s and 90’s, it was very common to see some no name wrestler go up against a proven star of a promotion. Whether that be from the WWF, NWA/WCW, AWA or elsewhere, these nomads of professional wrestling were there to make the stars look great. They were known as enhancement talent, preliminary wrestlers or as many fans have come to know them…”jobbers.” While fans were clamoring to see big time match ups, these “squash matches” served a very important purpose. While perhaps not appreciated at the time, they were just as important as the stars themselves.
While watching old wrestling shows, you just never know who is going to pop up as enhancement talent. Men and women who were once or maybe a handful of times used on shows to help “get over” bigger named stars at that particular time. Such is the case with this latest installment of Help Wanted. These next selections are a bit more contemporary than others, but were cool to see nonetheless.
In February of 2015 in Orlando, Florida for an edition of Monday Night Raw, former tag team champion Darren Young seemingly was demoted for a bit as a glorified jobber. On one occasion, Young teamed with a relatively unknown named Kevin Kross. The duo was used to help get over ‘The Ascension’ on TV. Naturally, it was both Young and Kross that were beaten to a pulp.
In December of 2016, again on Monday Night Raw….a jobber named ‘Scarlett’ was used in a squash match against Nia Jax. Scarlett was also used several times as a faceless ‘Rosebud’ for then WWE star Adam Rose around that time.
Kevin Kross would transform into ‘Killer Kross’ on the indy scene and become a star in places like AAA in Mexico, Impact Wrestling and Major League Wrestling. Now he competes as Karrion Kross on WWE’s NXT brand with his real life girlfriend Scarlett as his manager. Karrion Kross (as of this writing) is the NXT champion and is undefeated on the black and gold brand. Scarlett made her name in places like AAA, Impact Wrestling and Ring of Honor.