Christian Cage’s Consultant: The Suspects

This past week on TNA Impact, Christian Cage revealed that he was working with a consultant to prepare himself for Kurt Angle.

The clues:
this person, they think just like you
this person wrestles just like you
this person is intense just like you
this person, like me, and for good reason can’t stand you

Suspects:
Sylvester Terkay – Recently released by WWE. According to Wikipedia, “While attending North Carolina State University, he finished second in the 1992 NCAA Division I Heavyweight tournament, losing to future Olympic gold medalist (and future fellow Pro Wrestling superstar) Kurt Angle by points, 2-1, and later became champion in 1993.”

Samoa Joe – Obvious candidate.

Eric Angle – Kurt Angle’s older brother. Perhaps he doesn’t fit Cage’s description perfectly, but could easily “think just like” his brother, Kurt. Additionally, Eric Angle could be built up to fit Cage’s description. I do not know his current contractual status.

Brock Lesnar – mentioned specifically by Kurt Angle, the WWE and Lesnar worked out a deal April 25, 2006. The terms of the deal aren’t known, but I would bet there is a no-compete clause that probably prohibits participation in TNA or wrestling in the United States.

Chris Benoit – Currently the WWE’s United States Champion, he fits Cage’s description perfectly. Unless Chris Benoit does something completely uncharacteristic like walking out on his WWE contract, Benoit should be staying put.

Goldberg – Another person specifically named by Kurt Angle as a possible consultant. Goldberg doesn’t fit Cage’s description at all. Unless “wrestles just like you” means that this person is a wrestler in the business and not describing Angle’s method of wrestling.

RVD – Also under a WWE contract, see Goldberg comments. No intensity here.

2006: Reviewing the Year of Wrestling: Part 1.

There are plenty of other articles looking over the past year in wrestling. I’ll be writing a couple of articles about the past year. I’ll look at the year in terms of WWE, TNA, their main event scenes, their undercard, tag team situation and miscellaneous. This will be a multi-part posting considering how long this post could be.

WWE Main Event Scene:

Raw’s WWE Championship scene brought in new main eventers this year. Only three men held the WWE Championship this year: John Cena, Edge, and Rob Van Dam.

Edge has now solidified himself as a believable main event-caliber wrestler. He had some fantastic matches with Cena, but the one match that stands out to me is Edge’s title defense against Ric Flair in a ladder match on Raw. The match was excellent with dangerous spots and showed how badly Edge wanted to keep his WWE Championship. Actually, every WWE Championship match Edge performed in showed how badly Edge wanted to be champion. From good promos to excellent matches, Edge should remain a main eventer (assuming Triple H doesn’t crush him in singles competition).

Rob Van Dam looked to be the new/old face of WWECW. WWE took a chance by having the WWE Championship given to the high flyer at an ECW PPV. WWE’s biggest championship belt rested on the shoulder of RVD. RVD then blew his spot by getting caught on drugs. The ECW and WWE championships were taken from RVD quickly and it looks as though Van Dam will never be a champion again. I expect RVD to go to TNA as soon as his contract is over.

John Cena is the champ and has been quite established as the top face of WWE. I think his ring skills have improved and he does what he can with scripted promos. Raw is stacked with other main event level talent such as HBK, Triple H, Randy Orton, Ric Flair (when necessary), Umaga and Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Okay, I’m kidding about Duggan – just seeing if you were paying attention.

SmackDown!’s World Heavyweight Championship scene was chaotic. Batista vacated his title, Raw’s Kurt Angle filled in as champion (after HBK refused to go over to SmackDown! according to articles online), Rey Mysterio was terribly booked as champion only to lose to the revitalized King Booker. King Booker kept the title with excellent promos, created a stable of wrestlers, but lost the championship to Batista in November. The best thing for the division this year was King Booker. His size and ability allowed him to feud with wrestlers of all sizes and his personality made the fans root for the babyface. Hopefully, he’s solidified himself as a true main eventer after numerous false starts (such as the WrestleMania XIX debacle against Triple H).

SmackDown! needs to position some more main eventers for its championship scene. Finlay’s feud with Batista, involvement in King Booker’s court and his excellent ring work make him a candidate for rising to the main event. Chris Benoit is a main eventer and does not need the U.S. title. Mr. Kennedy has positioned himself at the upper mid-card/lower main event after his excellent feud with Undertaker. If need be, Kane can become a champion with the right push. Mysterio and Undertaker can float around in whatever scene they would like although Taker has more control over his own destiny.

Next Time: I’ll cover either TNA’s main event scene or WWE’s undercard.

Angle to TNA

Holy flurkin’ snit.

Kurt Angle has jumped to TNA. Now I have to start watching Impact again. TNA has a golden opportunity here. Angle is already a huge star. All TNA has to do is ride that. Angle could make TNA a legitimate competitor to the WWE. If he signed over there, what’s to stop other top WWE names?

TNA has to play this carefully. This could be their one chance to get a major superstar in the business and get people to switch to TNA from the WWE. Maybe with Angle’s jump, Chris Jericho isn’t far behind.

I am a bit shocked that Angle would burn his WWE bridge like this. Hopefully, TNA is protective of Angle and will not let him kill himself in the ring. The schedule should be less rigorous and could be advantageous.

There may just be a new wrestling war.

Kurt Angle to participate in MMA?

Various websites have suggested that Kurt Angle may participate in Mixed Martial Arts (“MMA”). Generally, I haven’t been that interested in MMA. I’ve seen some UFC stuff (after it was cleaned up), but I didn’t become a fan.

Pro Wrestling or Sports Entertainment or whatever you want to call it has succeeded because of storylines. Some of the greatest matches have excellent storylines around them with the characters having some kind of conflict.

In the world of MMA, there isn’t this kind of fabricated storyline system.

Whether Kurt Angle can jump from Olympic Gold Medalist Wrestler to Professional Wrestler to Shoot Fighter is a very intriguing proposition. If he succeeds, it may bring a layer of toughness to the “fake sport” of pro wrestling. If he fails, it will just reinforce the idea that wrestlers are not athletes.

Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar in a true shoot fight could generate serious money for whatever promotion could put that together. This kind of match could pull hardcore wrestling fans away from pro wrestling. I know I want to see who would win such a match.

Angle would be a very high profile competitor in the world of MMA. Unfortunately, I think that if he joins a true competitive sport that he could be killed in the ring. Angle has yet to get proper treatment for his neck. In pro wrestling, your opponent is supposed to take care of you. In MMA, that’s not going to happen. By the way, when I say “killed,” I mean it in the literal sense.

The idea of Angle in MMA is interesting, but it probably won’t happen. Kurt Angle wanted to be known as the greatest Pro Wrestler ever. Why would he switch from pro wrestler to shoot fighter? Arguably, he could be a professional fighter who wrestles. He would have to add a strike-based arsenal to go with his takedowns to succeed. If anyone has the determination to succeed – it’s Kurt Angle.

Whatever he chooses to do, good luck to him.

Kurt Angle Released

Today, Kurt Angle was released.

“Due to personal issues, Kurt Angle has been granted an early release from his contract. WWE looks forward to establishing a new relationship with Kurt in the near future.” (Source: WWE.com)

I am a big Kurt Angle fan – so I’m in shock that he won’t be wrestling any time soon. I just hope he uses the time off to get that proper neck surgery and heal the rest of his body so he can one day return to the WWE. I know that Angle wants to be known as the greatest wrestler of all time but he lacks longevity. Maybe this time off will be good for him.

If he never wrestles again, he’s one of the best ever. There’s nothing like watching a Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit match. It’s interesting how well those two worked together when Angle was a pro for about 5 years and Benoit was an 18 year veteran. It just shows how quickly he adjusted to the world of professional wrestling.

The statement from the WWE looks as if Angle asked for the release and since he’s a company-man, I’m sure he’ll be welcomed back if he choses to return. Either way, good luck, Kurt Angle.

Last Week’s WWE Supershow

Last week, I attended the WWE Supershow in East Rutherford, New Jersey. For those of you who don’t know, a WWE Supershow is where the WWE records both SmackDown! and Raw at the same event. SmackDown! is taped first and then is followed by the live episode of Monday Night Raw. Telltale signs of the Supershow include black ring ropes and the Raw polygon-shaped Titantron.

The show started with a dark match featuring the return of Bob “Hardcore” Holly. The fans were supportive of Holly’s return to the ring.

SmackDown! followed the dark match and the fans were pretty much sitting on their hands until Ken Kennedy and Batista had their match. The crowd did not care for SmackDown! as evidenced by a sign I saw, “I only came here for Raw.” The Chavo/Rey segment did not get as much heat as it should have. Two people in front of me tried to start an “Eddie’s Dead” chant. I found that quite distasteful and disrespectful of the late, great Eddie Guerrero.

King Booker and Undertaker had a quality match that the fans appreciated. However, the crowd was hot for Raw even though the episode of Raw was really no better than SmackDown!

The WWE Red and Blue brands shouldn’t be competing, all the WWE should see is green.

It just shows the sad state of the WWE. WWE constantly puts over Raw as the “flagship of the WWE” and puts down SmackDown! At least JBL tries to put over SmackDown! as the “A Show.” The fans have bought into the WWE thinking that SmackDown! is the B show and not worth watching. For a short time, SmackDown! was the real A show with Kurt Angle, Edge, Rey Mysterio, Los Guerreros, John Cena, Randy Orton, Big Show and Brock Lesnar.

Every time SmackDown! has some momentum, the WWE undercuts it. Take a look at that list – who is left? Rey Mysterio and Chavo Guerrero are left. Triple H took Edge and brought back Orton to Raw. Show and Angle are anchoring the WWECW with star power.

SmackDown! is usually saved by a Raw wrestler coming over to the show. When Batista vacated the World Heavyweight Championship, Raw’s Kurt Angle managed to win the SmackDown! championship. Shortly thereafter, HBK got a pinfall victory over Angle on Monday Night Raw (while Angle was the SmackDown! Champion) to further show the fans that Raw is superior to SmackDown!

I cannot understand why the WWE would bother to do this considering any WWE brand brings the WWE money. For some reason, WWE is choosing to bury one show at their own expense. WWE could be making money on all of their brands, but chooses to do so with Raw and the new ECW. SmackDown! has quickly become the third brand.

So if anyone from the WWE is reading this, build up SmackDown and ECW to be equal to Raw and just make some serious money. When the brands are built up, fights between SmackDown! and Raw during the big-money PPVs would generate buyrates. The perfect example is the interpromotional classic, Raw’s HBK vs. SmackDown!’s Kurt Angle. Two superstars whose interactions were limited by being on separated brands allow for a slow building feud that can take months and their match will make money on a joint-brand PPV.

The WWE Red and Blue brands shouldn’t be competing, all the WWE should see is green.