KayFabe is Dead, Long Live Kayfabe

I always thought Kyle was the ticking time bomb of repressed emotional stress and rage in the Conglomeration, and maybe he still is (See his Hey!EW Interview), but Orange Cassidy definitely has his darker sides. The difference is, he had people who knew him and could keep an eye on that for him. It was usually Chuck and whoever else was backing him up there to play handler to his Hulk, slap the power limiting sunglasses on his face, make sure he got enough naps and action movie time and orange juice when he needed it so that his worst murder kitten ideas weren't implemented without just cause.

So maybe this was inevitable back when Chuck died, but the warning signs didn't really start until back when Roddy started tagging with the Conglomeration, and Orange Cassidy tagged with Toni Storm for a while. Because the women wrestlers were exporting their gimmick of using their tag partners as weapons to the rest of the division, and Toni Storm absolutely used that with OC to great effect, tangoing and waltzing up a storm with him to decimate the competition. And so, naturally, when he started tagging with Roddy and the boys again, why not do the same thing? It got huge pops, and everyone loved it, including OC it seemed.

Except, it wasn't the same. Because with Toni, all OC had to do was go limp and hold on, and let himself be ragdolled around the ring and safely pulled back into waiting arms. And with the boys... well it started fine. Being thrown onto a pin. Then a cannonball. Then a few more aggressive spots. He started wincing. His ribs started hurting. Even Taz is pointing out 'I don't know if Orange Cassidy likes that.' He's a bit old for this. It's a bit active. They're sure tagging a lot now, huh? Do they have to end every match with this spot?

Jim described OC as 'a wrestler who doesn't want to wrestle, who will do anything he can to avoid wrestling'. And the Conglomeration was the perfect place for that after his international title, the loss of the belt he cared about most and defended tirelessly as the lazy workhorse. A place to just chill out with a gaggle of lighthearted babyfaces who were more about having a good time and being... Friends (not best friends, he's not ready for that yet, or maybe ever again) than they were about winning championships or tournaments.

But the Conglomeration is... Changing. It's been slow, sure. But the old faces aren't here. And the ones that are suddenly much more worried about getting and holding titles than they were. Hologram is El Clon now. Mark won the TNT title and challenging MJF for a World Title shot. We spent months convincing Roddy to Conglomerate officially and now that he is and Kyle is back, we're already immediately Tag Trios champs who have to defend those belts. All the time. And now he has to fight Andrade? Whatever. Fine. This is just his life now, I guess.

It's feeling a lot more like the Undisputed than the Conglomeration. And now... Takeshita in the Conglomeration? Really? The guy who just got dumped publicly for spending more time on his career than his family and partner? The Conglomeration isn't bad, they're just naturally evolving. But I don't think OC wants to evolve.

And all the people who focused on him in the group aren't there any more.

Statlander is gone.

Yuta is in the Death Riders whose 'work harder every day' mentality is antithetical to OC, even without the betrayals.

Chuck is Dead. And his ghost is only showing up to tell OC to fuck up Trent in the Don Callis family.

The thing is, unlike Kevin or Fletcher or anyone else, OC doesn't have an easy escape plan. Where's he going to go? What faction will take him? His home is slowly turning into somewhere he doesn't want to be, and he isn't someone naturally inclined to be on his own.

I see a man just waiting for an easy way out. Any way out. But for all that water follows the path of least resistance, dams will still burst eventually under pressure.

I don't think The Conglomeration even realizes that they've become neglectful or hostile to his needs, because he just isn't the type to verbalize them. After all, they're including him all the time, right? He doesn't want or need that. They're dragging him out from where he's literally hiding under sheets to nap to make him wrestle. They're making him part of the team, making him a champion, even incorporating his backpack gimmick into the whole trio-

Actually, let's talk about the backpacks. Because I think that's the best example of the disconnect going on between the Conglomeration and OC right now.

The Conglomeration become trios champs as soon as Kyle get back (OC seems surprised and exhausted by the thought of this but, okay, whatever) and being good bros who support their friend with Roddy now Conglomerating too, they all have JanSport backpacks to bring their trios belts to the ring!

This is a sweet gesture by Kyle! He's including OC, and doing something akin to trios outfits while still allowing the Conglomeration to maintain its individualistic style. When Mark gets a TNT belt he gets a backpack with a similar style print on it for his belt too! It's fun!

At least, that's the thought. They're not mocking OC, not at all. But, I don't think any of them remember, or maybe even knew at all, that the Backpack was more than just a weird little quirk of OC's. That he cared enough about it to cut a promo where he Talked.

He Talked, for quite a long time. About the international belt. The one he was very passionate about, and defended like hell for a recordbreaking reign. About how he carried that belt and protected it even though it was heavy and every time he had to carry it to the ring it got a little heavier.

That backpack wasn't a little quirk. It was both the briefcase Moxley held the championship in, but more. A lodestone around his neck that he dragged as a responsibility and privilege.

And now Mark Briscoe has one in black and white camo, Roddy carries one in a single hand like it's an awkward prop, and hell, Takeshita is going to show up with the belt he cared so much about in a bag like it one of these days, isn't he.

And now at the PPV we're treating them like magic sacks to pull out thumbtacks and Nintendos and thumbtacks and at least Willow still put orange slices in it, that's something. He hasn't had orange juice in so long.

You know who did just show up with a backpack with a belt in it? A simple, tactical military black bag, wrapped around his chest to protect it all the way to the ring?

Lio Rush.