Last week, the President of TNA, Dixie Carter, announced that TNA Wrestling had made a major blockbuster signing. The Internet Wrestling Community, now cautious of such pompous proclamations, curiously mused on what the signing was going to be. Some people on Twitter asked Bill Goldberg and Dave Batista if either of them were the signing, which lead to some comical responses. The most logical prediction was John “Morrison” Hennigan, who has been wrestling more on the independents again while working on his projects in Hollywood and is talking about starting his own fitness program. Working TNA Wrestling would give him a limited schedule, paid promotion and he fits perfectly in the X Division. It’s also a dream match for many to see AJ Styles and John wrestle against each other.
Today, the blockbuster came to be a joint announcement between Spike TV, Bellator MMA and TNA Wrestling to announce the signing of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson. For those who don’t follow MMA, he’s probably most familiar as B.A. Baracus for the 2010 “A-Team” remake (hey, remember that movie?) but it’s much more likely you know him from his time in UFC. Pro wrestling fans took a notice to Rampage Jackson for his chain biting, which is quite reminiscent of pro wrestling legend the Junkyard Dog.
Ever since Ken Shamrock signed with the World Wrestling Federation in the mid-nineties, pro wrestling and MMA has had a curious relationship in North America (as I’m right now ignoring the relationship between MMA and pro wrestling in Japan to keep this simple). For the one success of Shamrock you have a sea of failures in Dan Severn (NWA Heavyweight Champion for 1,479 days but nobody can name a single match he had with anyone), Tank Abbott (Three Count Superfan), Daniel Puder (the guy who beat Miz to win Tough Enough) and Tito Ortiz (appeared as a special enforcer for a TNA PPV… I think). However, this doesn’t really stop the two from working together. TNA and Bellator last year announced a co-relationship with Bellator fighter “King Mo” Lawal, who has actually been spending time in Ohio Valley Wrestling to learn how to be a pro wrestler.
Rampage Jackson is an interesting subject. On paper, you have a 6’1”, 205lb fighting machine from Tennessee with all of the athleticism needed to make the transition to pro wrestling, even when turning 35 later this month. His charisma and ability to talk is perfect for wrestling. He originally considered going into pro wrestling and even worked in college amateur wrestling. He’s likely going to have more mileage in pro wrestling than Bellator… if he wants to. What’s more likely is that he won’t be training to get into TNA Wrestling and will likely just show up in a special enforcer capacity at some point, probably for TNA Bound for Glory in September. If Bellator decides to push a King Mo vs. Rampage match, they might spill it into TNA Wrestling as cross promotion. It’s points like these that make one wonder why SpikeTV and TNA would spend so much for Rampage but if Jackson really does get passionate about being involved in pro wrestling, he could be an unlikely asset for TNA.
A more interesting question would be if TNA needs an unlikely asset like Rampage Jackson. Truth be told, ratings are hurting right now for the company. Interest and excitement for TNA Slammiversary was pretty low (last year was one of the best pay per views of 2012. This one was just tepid and luke warm). Rampage Jackson might be a draw for Bellator but I doubt he’s going to convince many MMA fans (or A-Team fans) to cross over unless he actually trains to become a wrestler. There’s a lot of doubt in that as well. MVP (@The305MVP) asked on Twitter who was going to teach him how to work and re-tweeted someone stating if he did want to be a pro wrestler, he’d goto New York (WWE). Is Jackson worth the price for TNA to have him get involved? And even if SpikeTV is fronting the bill, is he worth the television time? It honestly depends on his commitment, and that’s very hard to gauge at this point. But with some still remembering TNA’s embarrassing involvement with Pacman Jones, it’s probably best for TNA to avoid cross sport athletes unless they put their heart into it.
Last Word on Sports MMA writer, and Hammer Radio Co-Host Steve Jeffrey weighed in on the subject for Bellator’s perspective:
“I’m actually surprised that Spike and Bellator plan on having him fight. Rampage doesn’t fight for cheap, and overpaying for name fighters is how promotions die. If Bellator doesn’t isn’t going to put him on PPV, then I don’t see his fights do high enough ratings to justify his signing. I’m not paying the bills though, so I guess it’s pretty cool.”
Feel free to comment below, and follow me on twitter @lonerogue and the site@lastwordonsport.
Special thanks to Steve Jeffrey. You can read more from Steve here on Last Word on Sports or follow him on twitter @SteveJeffery. You can hear Steve Wednesday Nights on 93.3 CFMU as one of the hosts of Hammer MMA Radio, or check the podcasts here at LWOS.
