Big E Langston full story

Much as The Shield debuted in a big way last month, the WWE brought up another NXT wrestler, Big E Langston, in major fashion, having him lay out Cena to end both Raw and Smackdown this week when Cena was about to beat Ziggler. He also laid out Miz on Smackdown. Langston is doing a bodyguard role for A.J. and Ziggler, although that exact term isn’t used. The term is that he is a friend of A.J. who is there to take out anyone who does her wrong. 

Clearly this idea had not been planned in advance, at least more than ten days. At the last NXT taping, on 12/6, Langston, pushed as the top babyface, was the one chosen to beat Seth Rollins in dominant fashion for the NXT title since Rollins was moved to the main roster, so the idea was at that point that at no time soon would Langston be brought to Raw or Smackdown television. Since NXT is taped weeks ahead, his title win won’t even air for several more weeks, long after his debut as a heel on the main roster, making that show seem out of synch with everything else. 

Langston, 26, is Ettore Ewen, a former high school wrestler, football player and powerlifter who was successful at all three sports. Ewen went to Wharton High School in Tampa, where he was a state high school wrestling champion in the super heavyweight division in the spring of 2003. He didn’t even go out for football until his senior year, in the fall of 2003, but started in the state All-Star game, was named County Iron Man of the Year in football and nominated for the Florida high school sports Hall of Fame. 

He was recruited by the University of Iowa as a defensive lineman, but was never a starter, and missed two years due to injuries. As a 5-foot-11, 290 pound powerhouse with a thick chest, arms and shoulders, not only extremely strong, but looking the part, he signed a developmental deal in 2009, and debuted at the end of the year. As noted before, Ewen is one of the guys who meets all the different benchmarks those in favor like. He was a good student-athlete in high school and college, which is something Jim Ross likes to favor because of the feeling someone like that is generally more mature than someone who is a flake. The body and powerlifting appeal to Vince McMahon and HHH, although the 5-foot-11 is a minor detriment. The wrestling/football combination and real athlete also hits the HHH, Ross, Dusty Rhodes and Gerald Brisco group. 

Ewen in recent months had been mentioned to us as, along with the guys in The Shield, Bray Wyatt, Richie Steamboat and Kassius Ohno as the top developmental prospects. Ohno, who is tall, can talk, and is the best worker in NXT at this point, is hurt by physique only. Wyatt was hurt by physique and has been injured and out of action with a torn pec, but is actually a great athlete and exceptional talker in his role. Steamboat is a good technician, but is not as charismatic as most stars and also looks and wrestles so much like his father that there is a natural comparison, and that is a comparison that wouldn’t be favorable to all but a few men in history.

John Layfield in announcing kept pushing Langston as a USAPL champion, which is legitimate. USAPL is USA Powerlifting, which are drug tested meets without special bench and squat suits being legal. It’s the same organization that Mark Henry set world records in during the 90s. Ewen set Florida state records under USAPL rules in the bench press, squat, deadlift and total in the 275-pound weight class. He competed in the national championships in 2010 in Davie, FL and 2011 in Scranton, PA, taking first place in both, doing a 2,039 pound three lift total in the latter event. While they were good for national titles, his numbers aren’t even in the same ballpark as what Doug Furnas (2,403 pound total in 1987) and Mark Henry (2,337 pounds in 1995) did in their competitive days. But they are excellent marks for that type of drug tested competition, with personal competition bests of a 711 pound squat, a 799 pound dead lift and a 529 pound bench press, all in the Scranton meet.

It’s part of HHH’s plan of making sure the top talent in developmental aren’t put on the roster with no creative in place and have them languish and get to be perceived right away as undercard talent.