The Goodness 09.26.06: Is This It?

Posted by  on 09.26.2006

Kurt Angle has signed with TNA! So...is this it? Is this the move that finally signifies TNA as legit competition to the WWE? Or is it the move of a company just desperate to make headlines?

Well I was all set to go with another Forgotten Goodness and TNA decides to come along last night, shock of shocks, they actually come through with an earth-shattering announcement. Looks like the Angle posts have been getting tons of hits throughout the day today (Monday) and it just seems like a big day for TNA. Since I've been critical of the promotion, it's only fair I throw my two cents in.

The Goodness: Is This It?

For as long as there's been a TNA, there's been a portion of the wrestling fanbase that has refused to accept it. The X-Division was hot for a minute until many tired of watching the same guys, sans personality, flip and flop for 15 minutes without selling. The standard X-Division guy – not A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels – all looked and seemed pretty much alike and people stopped caring. They've brought in a host of old stars from Kevin Nash to Scott Hall to Scott Steiner to Sting and none set the world on fire. There are a million reasons to explain why – past their prime, devalued by WWE runs, booked poorly – but the fact is those guys didn't change anything.

In fact, for its entire existence TNA has had only one personality – that of Jeff Jarrett. For better or worse, Jeff Jarrett has been the face of TNA. In its history, there was talk about guys like Monte Brown, Ron Killings, Christian, Sting, Styles and Samoa Joe climbing up that mountain to become the top dog and it never happened. Through it all, and according to rumors thanks to backstage shenanigans, it has always been Jeff Jarrett's name on the TNA marquee.

When TNA first moved to Spike TV and got their real national exposure – 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon on a regional sports network does not count – I was curious. I was curious as to who TNA would trot out as their biggest star or stars. I assumed, like any rational wrestling fan, that the future would be pushed. That young(er) guys like Styles, America's Most Wanted and Christian would be pushed to the forefront as the next generation of professional wrestlers. Instead, TNA took no risks and trotted out Sting and Jeff Jarrett. Oh, they have that solid fanbase that watches anything remotely associated with wrestling, but they didn't get that casual fan. They didn't draw in the guy who likes wrestling but needs a reason to watch it.

There were rumors about Goldberg coming into TNA – I would have bet money that was the surprise – and I liked it. Not because I have any real respect or desire to see Goldberg wrestle, but he's a name. He's a guy that could bring some people in and maybe that would be the catalyst to drive TNA's growth. It didn't happen. There are no other names out on the wrestling landscape that could make that impact, I thought, because the E was being very, very careful about keeping any potential star – even color guys like JBL and habitual offenders like Orton – from TNA's grasp.

Then Kurt Angle's release/fire/parting/whatever happened and still, not in a million years, did I think Angle was headed towards TNA. Call me a fool but I really thought Angle was either going to lay low and return to the WWE in a year or make a gazillion dollars fighting Brock Lesnar in mixed-martial arts. Instead, we were all fooled because Kurt Angle is now the face of TNA.

When Angle was let go those few weeks back, I wrote a column stating that I hoped Kurt stayed out of the ring for a while. We don't know what his schedule's going to look like at TNA but it'll be significantly reduced from the WWE, especially since he had joined ECW. The money, likely, is nowhere near his WWE salary but I'm sure it's enough to get Angle through the day. The fear, of course, is that Angle is one suplex, one awkward landing, one anything from a potentially serious, life-altering injury that would scare whatever company he was in – WWE or TNA – forever.

WWE wasn't willing to take that risk anymore. TNA had to.

What TNA did was an absolute, complete no-brainer and anyone who thinks otherwise is insane. I hate to go overboard but it's the truth. TNA was floundering, and bringing in Vince Russo ain't helpin'. They needed two things – they needed a better timeslot and they needed a star. Samoa Joe may move 1,000 people in Danbury, CT but he ain't making folks in Des Moines watch TNA. Sting could have made an imprint on the company if it was 1996, not 2006. As for Jeff Jarrett, he has NEVER been able to move people.

Kurt Angle, however, can. He is as close to the real thing, at least in perception media-wise, that professional wrestling has ever gotten. He is an Olympic Gold Medallist. He was a WWF Champion during arguably professional wrestling's golden age. This isn't Jeff Jarrett being WCW champion as the company was dying in 2000, this is a man who was a WWF champion with Triple H, Stone Cold and the Rock all active. This is a man who has headlined a WrestleMania, wrestled for two world titles at a WrestleMania and put on two matches, versus Benoit and Michaels, that are in the short list of best matches ever.

With his signing, TNA transformed itself from that company that can't do anything right to a wrestling company you have to pay attention to. Do you think it's any coincidence Angle's entry to TNA is announced on the same night as the new, prime-time deal? Is there any doubt that, without Angle, TNA is stuck in its old, awful timeslot. Kurt Angle made all this possible. He is the company – "We Are Wrestling," is the new slogan.

Now I'm writing this less than 24 hours of the announcement, so I can't make any broad statements about what Angle's actual impact on TNA is. We could look back on this day six months from now and rip TNA for pages about how stupid this was. We could look back in two months, when Angle doesn't affect the ratings, and blast TNA. The point is simple, though – the wrestling world is talking about TNA.

Kurt Angle is a household name. Angle is a wrestling superstar. Angle is a man, on name alone, can bring people into arena and get people to turn on their television. Angle is that guy that forces Joe Sixpack from Des Moines to turn on Spike on a Thursday night to see what the fuss is about. In fact, the success of Angle is almost secondary to what TNA does with this unprecedented interest. Will it be more of Jarrett/Sting? Will they push the young talent, as almost everyone agrees they must? Or do we get yet another WWE rip-off show?

TNA made a great short-term decision Sunday night. The question is – can they turn it into a great long-term decision? Based on their existence, the answer is no. But I'll be watching to find out.