Just 4 months ago, Kaval was crowned NXT season 2 champion. Last month, he cashed in his PPV title shot and lost to Intercontinental champion Dolph Ziggler. Today, two days before Christmas, two days after getting squashed by Drew McIntyre in under a minute, Kaval has been given the dreaded future endeavor notice.
The timing of the move, of course, stinks to high heaven, but then again, Kaval has been given a bad hand from the day he was called up to the main roster in May.
Like Daniel Bryan (Bryan Danielson) before him, Kaval was a huge star elsewhere, and no mention was made, save for a promo Kaval cut himself, of his rent-a-jobber matches on Heat and Velocity a few years ago, where he went by his more familiar nom du guerre of Low-Ki. TNA made him change his name to Senshi for the same reason WWE made him Kaval, for marketing purposes. At least he won some gold in TNA, which is likely to be his next destination.
On NXT, he had to endure the embarassment of being "mentored", if you can call it that, by talent far inferior to himself, in this case, the two-headed drama queen known as LayCool. They made him wear a pink "Property of LayCool" shirt. As I noted, he won the competition, but after that, won only one TV singles match. Uncreative for some reason refused to give him any kind of real push. Season 1 winner Wade Barrett, because he has the size that Vince McMahon covets, got pushed right away. Kaval? The question becomes one of, who did he tick off?
We learned one thing. The man can talk. He has a voice similar to that of actor Michael Dorn (Worf from Star Trek: The Next Generation & Deep Space Nine), and he connected with the fan base immediately. I don't recall him being this verbose during his on-again-off-again tenure in TNA. Because there is no cruiserweight division in WWE anymore, Kaval was fighting an uphill battle. WWE had something special, and once again, they let it slip through their fingers. By this time next year, I'll not be surprised to see him back in TNA, and not just in the hunt for the X title, but rather the World title.
Kaval had expressed a desire, according to published reports I'd read, to wrestle Rey Mysterio. Now, he's not going to get that chance, unless McMahon changes his mind and re-signs him sometime next year. In TNA, there are three likely dream matches. One is Kurt Angle. As Senshi, I don't think Kaval ever faced Angle before leaving TNA last year. Then, there is current champion Jeff Hardy. Problem with that is Hardy's forever-delayed court case, and the very real prospect of Hardy ending up in jail by this time next year. Finally, of course, there is Rob Van Dam. Enough said. The Warrior's Way vs. the 5-Star Frogsplash. There is money to be made here.
Of course, if he was unhappy in TNA at the end, there are other options for Kaval, like Ring of Honor or Dragon Gate USA. Who really knows if Lucha Libre USA will actually get rolling and not have to book according to MTV's whims? In Ring of Honor, at least, there is the prospect of reuniting with former Triple X teammate Christopher Daniels, the current ROH TV champion. Someone better get Elix Skipper's phone number, so he can join the party.
In the end, Kaval was never given a fair chance to succeed. Daniel Bryan has the US title, and could be a player for the WWE or World titles by this time next year. The advantage Bryan has is the connections he has, trained by Shawn Michaels & William Regal. Shame on WWE, then, for squandering the opportunity for a big money match (Mysterio-Kaval), and wasting Kaval's talents yet again, just because he wasn't made a star by Vince McMahon. One more reason McMahon and his archaic methods have to go!
