Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Big Cup O' Wrestling #3 Who's in TNA?!?

What the fuck is going on!?!

Sorry, but it just had to be said! I was originally going to write a column on Gabe Sapolsky's new role in booking Dragon Gate USA and give a personal reflection on the show they recently ran in Chicago (which I may still do at some point), but recent news involving one of my favorite indy wrestlers takes precedence over anything else.

Where to even begin? Ugh, my head is spinning from all the news and opinions that I've tried to ingest in the last hour.

Anyways, this column will be all about one of the greatest wrestlers out their right now, quite possibly "The Best in the World", the man who is always "in it, to win it":

-Nigel McGuinness-
(you thought I meant that other guy, nope, but we'll get to him later)

The end of this story is that Nigel McGuinness is officially part of TNA's roster. It's the "how" and "why" that make things interesting. McGuinness began his wrestling career in '99 and over the next ten years he made himself into one of the most successful wrestlers on the independent scene. With his unique wrestling style, his look, and his amazing ability to cut a promo, he was a lock to eventually make his way into the big leagues. Why it took ten years for the WWE to come knocking is anyone's guess. Yes, I said WWE, not TNA, this is where things get a little difficult.

Early in September '09, it was announced on Ring of Honor's website that McGuinness had agreed to a contract with WWE "in principal". This was right around the same time that news broke that fellow Ring of Honor star Bryan Danielson had also signed a contract with WWE. Around this time rumors were flying about that WWE was interested in signing various new talent that already had extensive wrestling experience and ability since they have had mixed results with most of their inexperienced talent that they were currently training down in Florida. It comes as little surprise that over the years WWE preferred to sign up guys that are largely new to wrestling since they would prefer to build a wrestler from the ground up and hopefully build them into just the kind of star they want, which works...sometimes. For every John Cena, there are a dozen Seth Skyfire's and Domino's. So when rumors of WWE interest in more experienced wrestlers came about it came as a bit of a surprise, but just as soon as that story hit the internet people began to make predictions on who would be getting signed. Many assumed that some of ROH's bigger names would be the first to go, and they were right, you don't get much bigger then McGuinness and Danielson.

The final event for both men with Ring of Honor was on September 26th in New York at the "Glory by Honor VIII" show. As a means to fully capitalize on their departure, both men wrestled each other in the main event in what is said to be an amazing match (not out on dvd yet) and afterwards both men gave emotional speeches to the crowd thanking them for their years of support.

And after that, there was nothing.

Nearly a month had gone by with little to no news regarding the status of either man. Were they going to debut right away or where they going to be sent to the developments for a while? Where they going to brought up together considering there past, or separate? Would they be able to keep there names? What brand would they be on? No answers to any of these, non what so ever. It's very unusual to be this in the dark, when news that wrestlers like Low-ki (aka Kaval) and Serena Deeb (aka Mia Mancini...wow, I wonder if she's Italian) were signed, they almost immediately appeared in FCW (WWE's Florida-based development league). People didn't particularly seem all that concerned, it just seemed a little odd that everything was so quiet regarding two fairly big names.

Then came today.

News began to appear online late this afternoon that not only had contract discussions between McGuinness and WWE had stalled, but that he was already backstage in Orlando at that evenings TNA Impact tapings! Not only did his future with WWE appear to be dead in the water, it would appear he was about to make an impact (ugh...sorry) with their only real rival, and what an impact it would be.

It's October 20th and TNA are filming their tapings for the 10/22 edition of Impact. I'm not going to go through the entire show (the spoilers make it sound like one hell of a show to catch though), I will just focus on the bits that regard McGuinness (this entry is already getting crazy long). About half way through the show, Kurt Angle (one of TNA's biggest stars and more less a pretty huge name in pro wrestling) is being interviewed in the back where he is talking about how great the young talent is. Out of no where McGuinness shows up, introduces himself as Desmond Wolfe (I'll get to that later) and proceeds to say good things about Angle and then suddenly begins to beat the crap out of him. Later in the show, Angle goes to the ring and demands that Wolfe come to the ring and confront him. Angle gets impatient and goes to find McGui...Wolfe, but then suddenly Wolfe blindsides him, they fight for a bit, end up in the ring where Wolfe gives Angle a low blow and follows it up with what sounds like his "Tower of London" finisher, unreal! Wolfe then says something along the lines of "I could break your neck now, but that's to easy. I want you to think about this.", insane! This is his first day with TNA and he is already being put into a feud with one the biggest names in all of pro wrestling, now that's how you build up someone new, fast! It's a little early to make any predictions on where this feud will go, but so far, I am intrigued and I think I will do something I haven't done in a while, watch TNA.

That name, what do I think? McGuinness has been one of my favorite wrestlers for the last 5 years, it's hard to think of him going by any other name. I understand why he had to change it, so he could keep the legal rights to McGuinness, that's cool, I get it, but what an odd name to go with, Desmond Wolfe. Jury is still out on that one, but to be honest, I think it's already starting to grow on me.

So far it would appear that the stalled contract negotiations with WWE didn't really seem to have anything to do with any real disputes between the two parties, but due to the fact that WWE were just dragging their feet on getting him signed to an actual, tangible contract. Also news is coming out that WWE may have gotten cold feet when they learned about his long list of injuries that he has suffered (you would think that would look into that first before offering him a contract).

Basically, in my opinion, there are 3 fairly strong reasons to the quick appearance and seeming push of McGuinness (or should I say Wolfe?)

1. TNA very suddenly seems to be making a push to focus on not only their younger talent, but also talent that aren't cast offs from WWE or WCW. A perfect example of that is the fact that, for the first time in a while, none of their current champions are former WWE/WCW stars, all home grown, impressive, and the most certainly the right move to make.

2. McGuinness (or Wolfe, whatever) knows a lot of people currently in TNA that will easily vouch for him. Consider that he's competed against and had great matches with the likes of Samoa Joe, Homicide, Doug Williams, Christopher Daniels, and even Mick Foley. Kind of puts him in a nice place to start.

3. TNA is basically giving WWE a giant middle finger, well earned I say.

To be honest, TNA is most certainly a step down from the prestige of WWE, but in all honestly. If used right, McGuinness could really become a big star in TNA, while in WWE he might end up jobbing to leprechauns and doing comedy skits with C-list comedians. Hard to say, but to be honest, if this means I get to see more of him on TV and possibly live since I live fairly close to Orlando, then I'm a happy fan.

"My name is Desmond Wolfe, and I'm in it to win it!"
.....I'm sure he'll come up with something new.

I leave you with this question, where is Bryan Danielson?


(A fantastic tribute video to Nigel, enjoy!)
(I am such a spaz, I actually got goosebumps at the end of the vid)


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