– As is now clear, Kurt Angle did not have a WWE non-compete clause lasting until February 2007. However, the company had agreed to pay him through to that time, presumably to deter him from signing a big-money offer from an MMA promotion. That worked, but not in the way they were expecting. TNA began pushing to get Angle a few weeks before No Surrender, when Dixie Carter asked Jeff Jarrett to rank Angle, Goldberg, Jericho and Lesnar in order of their potential benefit to the company. On 9/20, when the infamous No Surrender vignette was filmed, Angle wrote a six-page thank-you letter to Carter by hand. Angle’s manager, Dave Hawk, is still pushing for a UFC deal too, since Angle’s TNA contract is non-exclusive. Angle may even wind up as one of the coaches on the next season of Spike’s Ultimate Fighter show, which will probably not start until April next year. “TNA is a working business passion he wants to do. He also still wants to train for MMA” said Hawk. A close friend of Angle’s responded by saying “He will continue to talk about MMA to leverage other potential deals but, sadly, may buckle under a large money deal. His inner circle needs to make Kurt aware of the imminent danger of fighting when he is essentially a sitting duck with a bad neck that will be exploited. Kurt needs to take 2006 off and get mentally and physically ready. Denial is a deadly emotion.”
– Kevin Eck, who worked alongside Vince Russo in WCW and now writes for the Baltimore Sun newspaper, spoke about TNA’s decision to bring Russo back to their booking committee:
“I hadn’t watched much TNA until they got on Spike and I was really starting to warm up to it. I made it a point to tape the show every Thursday. The return of Vince Russo, however, will put an end to that. I understand they are panicking and they need a shake-up, but Russo? Hasn’t everyone seen through him by now? I guess you really can fool some people all of the time. I give him credit for being a very important part of WWF’s ‘Attitude’ era but everything he did after that not only was a failure but was embarassingly awful.
“I was hired as the editor of WCW Magazine just as he was brought back to work with Eric Bischoff in the ‘New Blood’ era. It didn’t take me long to figure out Russo was a total fraud. I would sit in on meetings with the guy and it was obvious that he couldn’t plan anything long-term. He would talk about these elaborate storylines one week, and then the next week he would say he changed his mind and instead we were doing something entirely different.
“One two-hour meeting was devoted entirely to figuring out how to bring back Sting unscarred after he had been ‘burned’ and dropped off a scaffolding. People from several different departments of the company were pitching scenarios to explain the unexplainable, but Russo shot them all down. Finally, he just said Sting would take off his mask and it would just never be acknowledged. What a way to insult your audience. Even Sting told me he thought the whole thing was ridiculous. Other topics he would discuss at great length at meetings included these brilliant ideas: paying OJ Simpson $1 million to take a lie detector test on PPV; doing a Who Wants To Marry A Sports Entertainer? segment on the show, in which Disco Inferno would actually marry a woman who wins a contest. Then there were the times he told us that Booker T had more charisma than The Rock, how Scott Steiner was more talented than Steve Austin, and how Midajah was doing to be ‘our Sable’. What I really loved the most was that he had an open-door policy when it came to ideas and welcomed suggestions for storylines. I personally pitched a few ideas to him, every one of which he shot down. The reason he rejected them? He told me I was ‘thinking too much like a wrestling fan’.”
– Jim Cornette has been the most vocal backstage about Vince Russo returning to TNA. Cornette told the other members of the new booking committee, Jeff Jarrett and Dutch Mantel, that he did not want to leave but would not work with Russo, take directions from Russo, or be anywhere near Russo. As long as Mantel continued to produce Cornette’s segments, there would be no trouble. Russo requested a private meeting with Cornette to talk things through, but was refused.
– A couple of last-minute booking changes were made at No Surrender, including a planned X Division title win for Chris Sabin. LAX were also initially meant to keep the tag team titles and were angry about the result being changed in order to build to a Bound For Glory rematch. The original plan was for Styles and Daniels to return to the X Division to try and get some other stars over there, with LAX facing the Naturals for the titles.
– There are no more plans to use Slick Johnson or Earl Hebner as characters rather than referees.
– Terry Taylor recently pitched an idea where Elix Skipper, Monty Brown and Ron Killings would form a stable called BET.
– It is uncertain whether or not Sting will extend his current contract, which expires at the end of the year. The feeling backstage is that he has not increased business and has refused numerous booking ideas for angles building towards his matches, plus has issues with bleeding and selling. The addition of Kurt Angle to the roster and payroll is said to have no bearing on the decision the company and/or Sting will make.
– TNA is supposed to get weekly TV on the TV-Azteca affiliate in Monterrey, building to the big Arena Monterrey show on 11/25. The original plan was to do a TNA vs. AAA show, but now that Angle might be involved the promoters are thinking of switching it to just a TNA show. TNA sees this as a major opportunity, as the promoters also do shows in Argentina and Chile. Sting will not be involved in the show however, which could cause a problem if he is NWA Champion at the time.
Credit: Wrestling Observer newsletter (click here for subscription information)
