TNA Stars On The Rise: Rob Terry

In my previous articles about TNA Stars On The Rise, I have been rather positive about each wrestler and their future in the company. However, this is my first where the negatives thoroughly outweigh the positives.

Rob Terry joined TNA in 2009 after a brief spell in WWE's developmental territory FCW. He also currently  competes in Ohio Valley Wrestling, TNA's developmental territory (Where he is a two time OVW Heavyweight Champion). For the first year, he was a enforcer for the excellent tag team The British Invasion (Douglas Williams and Magnus) and was thus aligned with the World Elite.

2010 was Terry's most successful year, starting in January when he beat Eric Young for the Global Championship (Now currently the TV Title)  and defended the title right through till June, subsequently breaking Booker T's record as longest reigning champion. After being a member of Hulk Hogan's stable "Immortal" and various face/heel turns, Rob Terry found stability in 2011 by teaming up with Robbie E right through to 2013 when they began feuding.

Now after that brief biography, let's get down to my opinion on Rob Terry and my predicted outlook for him. First, yes he has very impressive physique and his size is unparalleled in TNA. I won't speculate on how natural it is, but I'll take an educated guess and assume it's not 100% natural.  His in ring skills are questionable at best and I'll admit when he first debuted I was forgiven because he was young and green. Nearly four years later however and the improvements have been minimal. He can be slow and sloppy with no real sense of timing or flow in a match. He is cumbersome and due to his size, struggles to connect with a variety of wrestlers in the ring.

His mic skills are almost non-existent and I feel this is partly due to his heavy Welsh accent. I don't think that, apart from certain English accents, British accents translate well abroad. (I'm Scottish btw) As such, he cannot connect with the audience on the mic and looses them any time he opens his mouth.

I do not predict a bright future for Rob Terry in TNA. He must come on leaps and bounds and after four years of little improvement, I'm pessimistic to say the least. I understand the desire to keep him due to his size and I'm sure TNA don't want him in WWE (Where he could tag up with the Welsh Batista - Mason Ryan!) He doesn't garner much reaction from the crowd and can seem a bit unbookable at times. He should not just rely on his size to guarantee him a job and should spend more time studying tapes and training in the ring than training in the gym.

KRS