The TNA career of Monty Brown showed a promising star who looked ready to accomplish big things. TNA was trying hard to find homegrown products to build along with their established stars. Name like Jeff Jarrett, Raven and Kevin Nash were there to hook the WWE and former WCW stars. However, Brown was meant to be up there with AJ Styles, Bobby Roode and James Storm as the future world champs.
The talent of Brown was obvious with his incredible athleticism and natural aptitude of learning the wrestling world faster than expected. TNA ultimately lost Brown before he could reach the top of the mountain and his career ended in quiet fashion. Monty was so close to breaking out as a major superstar before things fell apart.
How Monty Brown Broke Out In TNA
The early start of Monty Brown’s wrestling career coincided with TNA starting and looking to present competition to WWE after WCW went out of business. Brown received some bookings in the first year, but he became a full-time member of the TNA roster in 2004. The move to Fox Sports for a weekly television show saw Brown getting spotlighted as one of the faces of the company.
Monty’s background as an NFL player made it easier to sell him as the guest for the sports talk shows on the same network. The in-ring work of Brown started to improve throughout with consistent matches against experienced veterans. Brown delivered impressive work against Jeff Jarrett, Abyss, Raven and others.
Fans enjoyed the presentation of Brown with his intensity and action-packed moves making him a valuable asset. Monty eventually rose to the top of the face side with fans falling in love with The Pounce as his finisher. TNA was treating Brown as a top star during the massive shift of a move to Spike TV for their weekly show.
Bad Timing
Monty Brown turned heel against Diamond Dallas Page to help Jeff Jarrett retain the NWA Heavyweight Championship as the latest member of the Planet Jarrett faction. Rumors and online speculation had fans believing that Brown would eventually turn on Jarrett when not getting his desired title shot as the one to dethrone Jarrett.
However, TNA started to make bigger changes with new names coming in. Christian Cage and Sting each joined TNA within a few months to become the top face characters. Both men were instantly slotted above Brown due to their name value from WWE and WCW respectively. Brown remained a member of Planet Jarrett teaming with Jeff against the new faces.
TNA no longer treated Brown with the same protection in the booking as an upper card act. The momentum of Monty was all but gone. Christian winning the NWA Heavyweight Championship from Jarrett saw him defeating Brown in his final title shot. TNA built Brown up to that level without having much planned for him once losing his title shot. The next few months saw Monty struggling to get used before choosing to leave when his contract expired.
Monty Brown's Forgettable Ending To His TNA Career
WWE signing former TNA stars was not nearly as common as TNA signing former WWE stars in the first decade of TNA’s existence. Monty Brown was among the early names to jump ship when WWE offered him a contract after leaving TNA. The athletic ability and unfulfilled potential made Brown seem like the perfect signing. WWE introduced Brown as Marcus Cor Von on the smaller ECW brand.
Cor Von was right up there with Punk and Elijah Burke as the top prospects on the ECW show at the time. Unfortunately, the fit never felt right with Cor Von becoming a generic member of the New Breed faction. Burke led the group, but the other members like Cor Von, Kevin Thorn and Matt Striker struggled to break out.
WWE never let Cor Von have the time to build his character with short matches and little promo opportunities. No one could have guessed that Monty would be a flop in WWE, but the ECW brand clearly didn’t value him as much as TNA did. The WrestleMania 23 match teaming with the rest of the New Breed to lose to the ECW Originals was the peak of Cor Von’s WWE run.
Brown retired from wrestling around this time to help an ill relative and never returned. Old school TNA fans will still value the contributions of Monty to the company in the formative years. Few wrestlers improved as fast as Brown to become a rising star, but we sadly never got see his full potential play out as a world champion.