Anyone can entertain, but only some are capable entertainers. Among those who are capable, the exceptional ones can make their audience feel their performances. Making your audience feel your craft and taking them on an emotional rollercoaster places you in that upper echelon. A duality, if you will, of entertaining and evoking emotions.
Charisma is defined as “a personal magic of leadership arousing special popular loyalty or enthusiasm for a public figure.” It can also be defined as “a special magnetic charm or appeal” (shout out to Merriam-Webster). Montez Ford embodies both definitions. He possesses unique qualities that elevate him to the status of an upper-echelon entertainer. Singing, rapping, dancing, acting, modeling, all while being a pro wrestler. A damn good one at that.
It’s been ten years since his second tryout, nine years since he signed, and seven years since The Street Profits (alongside Angelo Dawkins) won their debut match on NXT. Ford being signed in 2015, having a match on TV a year later, being repackaged with a tag partner, and getting their “debut” win another year later is a testament to the type of performer we’re discussing.
As the Street Profits, Dawkins and Ford have enjoyed a fair amount of success. They’ve won tag titles in Evolve once; and in WWE once each on NXT, Raw, and SmackDown. They’ve also consistently ranked in the top 50 of the PWI tag team rankings yearly since 2020. Their entrance is one of the most popular on the roster. While they’ve enjoyed some success at every stop, it’s been almost four calendar years since they’ve held tag team gold. They’ve been in and around the tag team title picture, but not having another run with a championship makes some fans weary.
During the Road to WrestleMania last year, Ford competed in the men’s Elimination Chamber match. Given the spotlight, he did his usual and crushed it. He looked like a star among other stars. The moment wasn’t too big for him. He relished in it. From the gear to their entrance to his performance in the match, Ford screamed star. This wasn’t new to him.
Montez knew from an early age that he was destined for something special. Many began to question if this was his moment. A strong performance on a major stage can get the people talking: is it time to push Montez Ford as a singles star? The whispers grew louder. More people were seeing what some had seen for a while. It wasn’t lost on either of them. Take this exchange with Emilio Sparks and the Profits at this year’s WaleMania in Philly, for example.
Emilio Sparks started by mentioning that there had “been a lot of talk on the internet” in regards to the Street Profits not breaking up, but going off and doing “some solo stuff?” Dawkins kicked things off, uttering “my boy Tez right here” before someone in the crowd shouts “WWE CHAMP!” Dawkins, quickly, says, “you damn right,” stating that he will support his brother for life. Tez spoke it plainly: “I ain’t throwing no shade at nobody; Trick and Melo? Split. Usos, and they blood. Split. The Street Profits? No matter the situation, we here. Ain’t none of that turning on brother stuff, this my brother. Not just in the ring, but outside the ring, and that’s how its gon be,” finishing up his thought by saying “ain’t nothing happening. Because nobody wins when the family feuds.”
Dawkins recognizes and acknowledges [Ed note: Heh.] Ford’s potential. How could you not? Don’t sleep on Dawkins. He’s a very talented guy who’s upped his game in recent years. He heard the talks and silently kept improving. But Montez is still a different animal. Notice how Dawkins gave Tez his props after acknowledging the crowd. Notice how Tez also closed his statement. “Nobody wins when the family feuds” is a line Jay-Z used in "Family Feud." Fitting he used a Jay-Z lyric. Another of his lyrics came to mind when I saw this quote:
And I ain't even want to be famous
N****s is brainless to unnecessarily go through these changes
And I don't even know how it came to this
Except that fame is the worst drug known to man
It's stronger than, heroin
When you could look in the mirror like, "There I am"
And still not see what you become
I know I'm guilty of it too but not like them
Montez has been very gracious about his rise to stardom. Does he dream of one day becoming a WWE champion and headlining a WrestleMania? Yes. He’s said as much in interviews and acknowledged it’s been something he’s wanted to be since childhood. However, unlike most traditional tag teams, he’s set on Dawkins being along for the ride, and so is Dawkins.
It isn’t a far-fetched idea. The New Day—whose ten-year anniversary was in July this year—proved each team member could see individual successes without the team disbanding. Kofi Kingston and Big E won the WWE Championship, and Xavier Woods was King of the Ring. The fact that so many were/are calling for a “Barbershop Moment” between Tez and Dawk shows a belief in the old way of doing things. A team can stay together and support each other in pursuing their individual goals, or they can mutually agree to part ways without a bitter breakup and feud, especially when both guys want to stick together.
It’s admirable to see Montez wanting to go after his childhood dream, while not wanting to leave his brother behind. Dawkins wants to see Montez as WWE champion, and he also has some aspirations of his own. While they enjoy being The Street Profits, they also want the smoke as singles stars.
If it wasn’t clear before, doing a reality show with his uber-talented wife Bianca Belair made it crystal: Montez is a star now and is ready for the spotlight outside the ring. He’s long since proven himself in the ring and on the mic. Few wrestlers can match his speed, strength, and athleticism. Mix that with his charisma and personality, and he becomes the perfect wrestler.
Montez recently expressed his frustration about The Street Profits losing momentum. “All these things are running, we have a WrestleMania win, and then boom, it just stops,” Ford told Daily Mail. “And it’s been this constant stop and go and stop and go and stop and go with the Profits where we’ll get momentum and then the momentum will stop, then momentum will start again, and the momentum will stop. And for us, that’s frustrating, because it’s hard to get behind a team whose momentum starts and then it shifts again.” Ford also spoke candidly about a singles run and what that would mean for him in a number of aspects. “This is the crossroads that I’m at right now in life. Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to be WWE Champion. Now I’ve got the dream job I wanted, been with this tag team, and it’s been fantastic, but I’ve also made a lot of changes and adjustments to try to be successful within this tag team, and I’m now at the point where I’ve done everything to be successful, I’ve tried to do something for a long time, and there’s still no success. Is it time to adjust to a new era, a new mode, a new mindset, or do I need to start getting rid of people?”
What stood out to me was Ford discussing the need for a change. The line “change the people I’m involved with” was used; could we see a Street Profits breakup, allowing Tez to go solo? Or are we going to see a new faction formed? Could we see Montez somehow transition into solo wrestling, but Dawkins eventually supports his brother? Could Dawkins turn on Montez? Thinking about the booking options for the Street Profits has me feeling like that scene in Step Brotherswhen Brennan and Dale made their bunk bed; there’s room for so many activities.
Another change was recently proposed by two-time WWE Hall Of Famer Booker T. On a recent episode of his “The Hall Of Fame” podcast, Booker made a suggestion: "Get rid of that damn cup. That might help," Booker said. "[Ford is] one of my guys, man. I like him. He's an extraordinary talent, but you gotta know how to break out. You gotta know how to make your own breaks." (h/t Wrestling Inc.) While getting rid of the cup could symbolize a heel turn, as it suggests Ford being more serious in his presentation, he didn’t mention getting rid of his tag team partner. If anyone can speak to going solo after a successful tag run, it would be Booker. Could this be a bit of foreshadowing here from Booker?
Operating in the duality of loving what you’re currently doing but wanting more is one thing. Having the ability to compartmentalize those two emotions and continue to move in a way that feeds both is a testament to the type of man Montez Ford is. Not many of us can hide our selfish desires while still feeding our sense of duty to others. When it happens in the workplace, it gets complicated. Add in the personal relationships involved, it could get downright nasty. Somehow. Montez Ford handles it well. The duality of a man.
Lately, Montez is done hiding his frustration, as is Dawkins! Those two promos were perhaps the best ones The Street Profits have cut in their entire WWE run. Craziest part is they were both done on the same day. They both showed a seriousness not often seen and demonstrated what Montez is capable of when given a mic and told to express himself. No doubt in my mind he can draw money using his promo skills. His in-ring ability has been showcased and will continue to improve. He’s got the look. Now we’re waiting for WWE to let him flourish in the next phase of his career.
Mrs. Fam and Mimi link up for the first time on camera to break down WWE's latest reality series, Love & WWE: Bianca & Montez, which was released on February 2.
The Black Rasslin' Podcast returns with healthy dose of insight and entertainment ahead of a busy weekend. At the top of the show, illfam79, Matth, Drip, and khal linked with Eel O'Neal to learn about one of the more promising pro
wrestlers on the scenes. Later, the squad talks Mercedes Moné winning
the IWGP Women's Championship, fallout from WWE's Elimination Chamber
PLE, Montez Ford's star-making moment, and a lot more!
You know the routine: you can stream and download this week's episode via SoundCloud, and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify! We stream live every Thursday at 8:35PM ET on YouTube. We also encourage you to become a member of the BRPatreon,
where you can get even MORE exclusive content (and merch discounts)!
We'll catch you next week; tell a friend to tell their homies to LIKE,
rate, comment, subscribe, and
share!
The Black Rasslin' Podcast returns with healthy dose of insight and entertainment ahead of a busy weekend. illfam79, Matth, Drip, and khal are all on hand to preview WWE Elimination Chamber and NJPW's Battle in the Valley, talk a go-home edition of Raw that featured Seth Rollins in the MSCHF boots, and much more!
You know the routine: you can stream and download this week's episode via SoundCloud, and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify! We stream live every Thursday at 8:35PM ET on YouTube. We also encourage you to become a member of the BRPatreon,
where you can get even MORE exclusive content (and merch discounts)!
We'll catch you next week; tell a friend to tell their homies to LIKE,
rate, comment, subscribe, and
share!
The Black Rasslin' Podcast returns with healthy dose of insight and entertainment in a post-Rumble world. illfam79, Matth, Drip, Mimi, and khal are all on hand to discuss Cody Rhodes and Paul Heyman's segment, Gigi Dolin getting kicked in the
face, and everything else that went down this week in pro wrestling!
You know the routine: you can stream and download this week's episode via SoundCloud, and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify! We stream live every Thursday at 8:35PM ET on YouTube. We also encourage you to become a member of the BRPatreon,
where you can get even MORE exclusive content (and merch discounts)!
We'll catch you next week; tell a friend to tell their homies to LIKE,
rate, comment, subscribe, and
share!
The Black Rasslin' Podcast returns with the first BRP of 2023! This week, illfam79, Matth, Drip, Mimi, and khal are all here to talk Mercedes Moné debuting in NJPW, Charlotte Flair returning to the WWE—and winning the SmackDown Women's title, Naomi's future, Vince McMahon wanting back at WWE as Executive Chairman, Montez Ford's demeanor on Raw, who the best big men in pro wrestling are currently, and much more!
You know the routine: you can stream and download this week's episode via SoundCloud, and subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and Spotify! We stream live every Thursday at 8:35PM ET on YouTube. We also encourage you to become a member of the BRPatreon,
where you can get even MORE exclusive content (and merch discounts)!
We'll catch you next week; tell a friend to tell their homies to LIKE,
rate, comment, subscribe, and
share!
The time has come—the third annual #BRP50 list is here! COVID-19 put a hurt on the wrestling industry, but that doesn't mean we couldn't highlight the best Black professional wrestlers in the game today. We dropped a brief look at the criteria that goes into making a list like this, and now it's time for YOU to see that plan put into motion.
If you want to catch these first, you'll have to follow us on Instagram. We will be updating this post throughout the weekend until the final 10 is released this Saturday (Juneteenth 2021). Subscribe to our YouTube ASAP so you don't miss the Top 10 Reveal! [Ed note: You should also check out the After the 50 list that Black Rasslin' worked on with We Luv Wrestling!]
If you've been paying attention, you should know that The Black Rasslin' Podcast has added Davis aka Davey Boy Drip aka PG-13
to the squad as our resident stat guy. We've been keeping the stats to
the social media posts, but wanted to switch things up a bit and throw
his stats (and some additives) onto the site. Oh, this week's full episode is live on YouTube. Press play on that and keep this window open
for his stats below; let us know if Davis is on his ish!
The Koko B. Ware story that Fam mentioned was told by David Shoemaker on The Masked Man Show; I believe it was the episode that was released on September 29th of this year.
NEXUS held the WWE Tag titles twice; the duo of Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater were the champions. However, John Cena and David Otunga won the titles first, and were forced to drop them immediately afterwards to Gabriel and Slater. This was the storyline that had Cena as a member of NEXUS for a brief time period.
The members of Retribution are Mustafa Ali, T-Bar, Mace, Slapjack and Reckoning.
Lars Sullivan’s last televised match was on June 10, 2019, where he defeated the Lucha House Party in a three-on-one handicap elimination match.
Bianca Belair and Montez Ford are on the same show, but Naomi was drafted to Raw, while her brother-in-law Jey Uso, remained on Smackdown. What does that mean once Naomi’s husband Jimmy Uso returns?
Back in 2018, Pro Wrestling Illustrated expanded their PWI Women’s 50 to 100.
Tessa Blanchard won the Impact World Title on January 12, 2020, and had had one title defense against Taya Valkyrie. Her last match in Impact was on March 7th—three months later—and she was stripped of the Impact World Title.
Rhea Ripley entered 2020 as the NXT Women’s Champion. She had successful titles defenses against Toni Storm at Worlds Collide and Bianca Belair at TakeOver: Portland. She lost the title to Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 36, and failed to recapture it at TakeOver: In Your House against Charlotte and Io Shirai. I’d say right then is when Io took the momentum that Rhea had.
Shirai was injured for the first few months of the year, but returned in March, and ended up winning the ladder match that would’ve taken place at TakeOver: Tampa, but instead aired on NXT TV. This gave him the number contendership for the NXT Women’s title, she was unsuccessful in her singles match, but won it at the aforementioned triple threat match against Flair and Ripley. She has numerous titles defenses against the likes of Teegan Nox, Dakota Kai and Candice Lerai, along with a non-title victory over Sasha Banks on the Great American Bash edition of NXT.
For as dominant as Ripley was at the start of the year, she has since cooled down while Shirai has picked up steam.
These are the women that were on the PWI 500 list this year.
Eva Marie and WWE parted ways back in August of 2017. She was signed in 2013 and was part of the first six seasons of Total Divas, and had a total of 36 televised matches.
Darby Allin has only had two title matches in AEW; both of them were for the AEW World Title. He lost to Christ Jericho last October, and was defeated by Jon Moxley back in July. [Ed note: Which one of these did Darby deserve?]
This coming Wednesday on AEW Dynamite, there is going to be Le Dinner Debonair with Chris Jericho and MJF.
“Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal” was the slogan and gimmick for WCW Halloween Havoc back in 1992.
Kenny Dykstra and Mickie James were engaged back in 2007, and there have been rumors that John Cena had an affair with James. Later on in 2008, the two had some segments backstage that seemed random in regards to their own storylines. Cena ended up divorcing from his wife in 2012, after three years of marriage.
Christopher Danielsjumped from the second rope to the top rope and still executed an amazing moonsault.
If you listened to last week's podcast, you should know our feelings about The Mixxie Boys Street Profits. Welp, tonight was the night we were all waiting for: the official NXT debut of Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins' Street Profits team, and in typical fashion, the "sultans of swag" kept it super mixxie during their entrance.
You can't front; their chemistry was there, and they showed off their skills in an easy win.
After their win, Dawkins let the world know that their celebration not only happens pre-match, but it happens post-match and after the match...just in case you were wondering.
