On Sunday night, the wrestling world was abuzz in the aftermath of TNA Wrestling’s latest pay-per-view as Slammiversary XI showed TNA at its very best. Bully Ray defeated Sting to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a brutal No Holds Barred match while Kurt Angle defeated AJ Styles in the best pure professional wrestling match in years. Taryn Terrell and Gail Kim garnered national attention even outside the wrestling world for their surprisingly brutal and high-impact Last Knockout Standing match won by Terrell. From James Storm and Gunner winning the TNA World Tag Team Championships to the returning Abyss winning the Television title to Chris Sabin winning his fifth X-Division Championship in an outstanding Ultimate X match, the card exceeded expectations in all aspects. Only the most ignorant and blind of TNA Wrestling “haters” could deny that Slammiversary was the best pay-per-view event of 2013.
Then, Tuesday happened.
Late last week, TNA owner/president Dixie Carter announced on Twitter that TNA had signed a major free agent. The wrestling world buzzed over whom TNA could have landed. After all, there is a ton of talent out there without a contract right now. I could see Montel Vontavious Porter, John Hennigan (the former John Morrison), Chris Mordetzky (the former Chris Masters), Carlito Colon, Rob Conway (current NWA World Champion), or Shelton Benjamin as all major acquisitions for TNA Wrestling. Hell, they could have went into Ring of Honor and grabbed Davey Richards, Eddie Edwards, Roderick Strong, or Michael Elgin and pulled off a huge coup. The point is that TNA could have grabbed any number of professional wrestling talents currently on the sidelines or in a lesser promotion.
Instead, TNA Wrestling signed Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.
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| As you can tell by the t-shirt, TNA Wrestling is clearly his number one priority. |
Yes, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. In a multi-year partnership with Spike TV and Bellator MMA as well, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will fight for Bellator MMA, wrestle for TNA Wrestling, and be the subject of a reality TV show for Spike TV.
I know many TNA fans are optimistic about this signing. They see “Rampage” Jackson as a means to get national attention from sports media like ESPN and FOX Sports as well as entertainment media like Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood. I am definitely NOT one of those optimistic people. This signing is less TNA making a big move and more TNA taking another step backwards with a big mistake.
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson will do for TNA with this agreement what “King” Mo Lawal did for TNA Wrestling: NOTHING. Both TNA and Bellator are not getting the same Jackson who dominated the octagon in the UFC or starred in The A-Team with Liam Neeson. They are getting a Jackson who “retired” from the UFC in January after three consecutive losses had Dana White on the verge of cutting Jackson from the promotion. They are getting a Jackson who has only made direct-to-DVD movies since The A-Team and is clearly not a movie star. Unless Quinton Jackson pulls a Chris Benoit, he is not bringing TNA any of the national attention that fans are coveting.
Of course, does TNA even need to worry about that national attention right now? I do not think so for a second. TNA needs to worry about appealing to a wrestling audience and converting the wrestling fans who are blindly following WWE’s garbage (even while complaining about WWE being garbage). TNA does not need the Access Hollywood or ESPN attention; they need the wrestling fans. TNA is a wrestling company, not an entertainment company.
In being a professional wrestling company, TNA needs to have professional wrestlers. The “King” Mo debacle flopped. For the attention made about his arrival, the fact that he served as a guest enforcer for one match and has did nothing since means it is a failure. While Jackson may prove me wrong, the odds are also in my favor because most MMA-to-professional wrestling moves fail miserably. Ken Shamrock, a former NWA-TNA World Heavyweight Champion, WWF Intercontinental Champion, and 1998 King of the Ring, stands out as a success story. He is the rare exception to the rule. What did Tank Abbott do in professional wrestling? How did Bob Sapp or Don Frye set the world on fire in professional wrestling? Do Dan Severn’s accomplishments really mean anything in the grand scheme of things when he flopped miserably on the big stage? These men all were never the top draw or came close to bringing the drawing power that TNA now believes Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is going to bring.
For every one of you people waiting to pull the Brock Lesnar card, need I remind you that Brock Lesnar was a professional wrestling star first in the WWE? Should I remind you how Lesnar and his wrestling image was what helped elevate the UFC? How about a reminder that professional wrestling made Lesnar relevant again after he got beat in UFC and did what Lesnar does – quit when it gets hard? The wrestling machine created Brock Lesnar – his MMA background did NOT benefit the WWE when he returned.
TNA Wrestling could have made a huge signing of a free agent wrestler to create fresh matchups on Impact Wrestling. They could have added a new name to add more credibility to one of the best rosters in the business. Instead, Dixie Carter pissed away another ton of money as part of a multi-faceted agreement that will give Bellator a former UFC star, Spike TV an unwatchable reality show, and TNA a guy who will appear a handful of times and bump the ratings once. Coming off one of the best pay-per-views of all-time in Slammiversary XI, TNA takes a major step back with Dixie Carter’s worst “big announcement” yet.
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