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JOE VS. ANGLE: TOO MUCH TOO SOON FOR TNA?
On the October 26th edition of TNA Impact!, it was announced that the “Undefeated Samoan Submission Machine†Samoa Joe will face Olympic Gold Medallist Kurt Angle at TNA Genesis. I have been waiting to see this match since I saw Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe debut in pro wrestling years ago. It is obviously clear that TNA fans around the world also want to see this match. Just watch recent TNA Impact! episodes or TNA Bound For Glory for proof of this.
As much as I want to see this match happen, I can’t keep getting the thought out of my mind that TNA is pushing this match to fast for their own good. I know with the monthly pay-per-views and weekly television programs, that not having the one on one match quickly is hard to avoid. However, I think it would be in the best interest of TNA in terms of TV Ratings and PPV buyrates to slowly build this feud so that they can maximize its effect of the wrestling fans and make the most money for their product.
In the past, wrestling companies have spread out feuds for a very long time in order to build up interest for the eventual encounter.
In Extreme Championship Wrestling, they spent a whole year building up the Taz vs. Sabu feud that culminated at ECW Barely Legal. Although these two have wrestled each other before and even held the ECW Tag Team Titles, but ECW built the feud up so well for that year, when the match finally took place, the interest was at its peak. They built the feud up by having Taz choke out and attack people thinking they were Sabu and Taz even called Sabu out. Sabu eventually returned at ECW November To Remember, but as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared…making ECW fans want that confrontation even more.
In World Championship Wrestling, the dream match all wrestling fans wanted to see took over one year to happen, when Hollywood Hogan met Sting. It all started building when a new Sting (Looking Like The Crow) started emerging from the rafters attacking members of the New World Order. Sting eventually turned his attention to Hollywood Hogan and the fans starting salivating more the match they wanted to see. WCW built the match smartly, by having Commissioner JJ Dillon trying to book Sting in matches with Curt Hennig (who had just jumped to the NWO) and Syxx, but Sting refused those matches, instead using his baseball bat to point to the fans who chanted “Sting versus Hogan.†Eventually JJ Dillon got it right and we got to see Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan for the WCW Heavyweight Title at WCW Starrcade.
In World Wrestling Entertainment, the first properly built women’s wrestling feud in years was built between Trish Stratus and Mickie James. We all knew the minute that Mickie James came into the picture as the “Biggest Trish Stratus Fan Ever†that she would turn on Trish Stratus. However, WWE took their time on the turn by interjecting Melina, Candice Michelle, Ashley and other women into the feud. When Mickie James finally turned on Trish Stratus (At WWE Saturday Nights Main Event), she developed into the “Psycho†and became the biggest threat to Stratus’s WWE Women’s Title reign in over one year. Then when we finally saw the Blowoff to the feud at WWE Wrestlemania 22, the pass was torched as Mickie James won the title and the WWE had a new top level WWE Diva in their ranks.
The point that I’m trying to make with all three examples above is that since the feuds were built properly, the stars were made (or re-emerged In some cases), the money was made and the pay off for the fans was a lot better than it could have been.
Getting back to Angle vs. Joe, which either way TNA books, will be one of the most anticipated matches in wrestling history. However, just think about how much bigger the match could have become if TNA took their time building it, instead of rushing directly into the battle.
You can reach David Tees at thejobbersjournal@yahoo.com.
