Ryan Sheckler is the defending X Games Street champion, and will be going into this year's X fresh off a Dew Tour win. Although, this does anything but guarantee another gold for the San Clemente, CA skate prodigy, and reality TV star. Before his recent win in Boston, Sheckler had run into some obstacles.

He was once an unstoppable force on the contest circuit. In 2007 Sheckler won all but three events and the overall Dew Tour Championship. Since then he has had a reoccurring elbow injury that may have cost him last year's Maloof. Not to mention, a youngster by the name of Chaz Ortiz, who came out of nowhere to steal some glory, and prevent Sheckler from winning his fifth consecutive Dew Tour.

The Sheck had a disappointing Maloof this year finishing fifth, and he didn't even show for the Thrasher magazine Wallenburg contest, which cost him some cred. Although, he did impress the core skateboarding community a few months earlier when he edged out skate legend, Andrew Reynolds, at the Bust or Bail event, another Thrasher contest. He turned heads with his performance at the sketchy at best, 17 stair rail, that was open to anyone to enter. That's one thing a lot of the Sheckler haters don't realize, the kid can go fucking huge. Jamie Thomas, who is known for going big, and for his attempt at the Leap of Faith (which he did not complete), an ollie over a rail to a two-story drop, claimed in a Thrasher interview earlier this year, he thought Sheckler could do it.

Now, here we are, X Games 15, and Sheckler has shown flickers of brilliance, but hasn't fully turned on the light. He has tons of distractions with corporate sponsors, TV producers, annoying reporters and a harem of screaming girls pulling him in all sort of directions. If he can use his new confidence boost after winning in Boston, and keep his head free from non-skateboarding people, he can by all means make it two in a row.

Here's my favorite Sheckler performance from the Thrasher magazine Bust or Bail contest: