TNA Announces Major debut @ Genesis

[Guest Bulwark]

I'm fairly sure Edge would go by Adam Copeland... the name's well known enough through all the Matt Hardy stuff.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Plus it sounds good.

 

C4 would be a good name for Christian's finisher.

[slimm44 0]

As long as he doesnt have a superhero gimmick as Captain Charisma, and he doesnt team with Shark Boy..I am all for C to the 4th lol

[claydude14 0]

They should so do AJ/Christian like someone proposed in another thread, with Christian coming out to AJ's music and pyro but you see that it's him when he peeks from the hood... that'd be a sick debut and instant feud.

Hope Jay Reso is a lot better worker than WWE allowed

[King Cucaracha 0]

They should so do AJ/Christian like someone proposed in another thread, with Christian coming out to AJ's music and pyro but you see that it's him when he peeks from the hood... that'd be a sick debut and instant feud.

Hope Jay Reso is a lot better worker than WWE allowed

 

He had a good match with Spanky on Velocity, which is about as relaxed as you're going to get from WWE programming. At the very least, he's carriable.

[eirejmcmahon 0]

Just don't make him JJ's lapdog.

[TNABaddboi 0]

Mike Johnson wrote this about Christian's jump:

 

With the decision to turn down a new WWE contract offer and debut this Sunday at TNA’s Genesis, Christian has jumped into a new role, that of the first WWE star who  walks away from being part of the biggest company in the world and guaranteed money in order to help put a smaller would-be upstart company on the map, becoming a top-tier player in the process.  He's also now in the rare position of being a WWE performer who walks out without being completely buried, with a hell of an upside, and a pretty sizeable fan base to boot.   

 

Christian has solidified his place in history, although time will tell what the history books remember him for.  He could end up getting the credit for being the first star with the cajones to walk out on WWE for greener pastures and prove it can be done.  On the other side of the coin, when it’s all said and done, Christian could also end up be remembered as the one fool who  tried it and fell flat on his face, proving that you need the McMahons to be a star in the business. 

 

If you are a McMahon loyalist, you are likely shaking your head at the idea of anyone walking out of the WWE to make a bigger name for themselves.  However, despite developing his persona and mic skills, getting himself over with the fans, having good matches, and all the other things that WWE management bemoans that their Superstars need to do to become top-tier players, it wasn’t going to happen for Christian.  Vince McMahon saw him as a lower level performer.  Since it wasn’t  McMahon who was elevating Christian, but the fans, Christian was never going to be more then he was under the WWE regime.  Vince would simply have to prove to the fans they were wrong until they gave up the idea that Christian was a top name, just as they had given up on names like Tazz and Rob Van Dam, among others, before.   

 

While WWE history has proven that talented names like Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart could build themselves from being tag team performers to mid-card singles stars to legitimate main eventers, the current feudal system that is WWE management has created a situation where that is no longer the case.  Unless someone with the last name of McMahon specifically takes an interest in a performer, more often then not, the workers are wading in the water, waiting for something to happen, rather then swimming that marathon across the ocean to the other side.  There is no such thing as hard work leading to a continued push.  If there was, Shelton Benjamin wouldn’t be losing two minute Internet Heat matches because the creative team doesn’t have something for him. 

 

WWE's loss was truly TNA's gain as they have their first "name" WWE talent who walked away from the McMahon kingdom of their own accord to carve out their career in the world of the six sided ring.  This can only be seen as a positive by Dixie Carter and TNA management, and can only serve to help their growing synergy with Spike TV, having brought one of the most charismatic performers of the WWE Spike era back to the network. 

 

After talking to many within WWE, though, it’s amazing how much the wrestling world changes and how much it remains the same.  While there are many who acknowledge that the company dropped the ball by not offering Christian a better deal, it isn’t anyone with the power to have changed the course of events.  There are also some in WWE who have told me that as talented as Christian is, he will fall on his face because he needed to be part of the WWE synergy to succeed.  He can’t do it in TNA.  He isn’t talented enough to carry the ball.  It’s possible those who are saying it truly mean it, but I think deep down they are simply parroting the company line that is being practiced for the first time a stock holder asks how someone with such an upside to his work was allowed to just jump ship.   

 

The entire situation harks back to a very similar instance during the height of the Monday Night Wars, when an extremely talented good wrestler got his own persona over, had good matches, and energized a good portion of the fans with everything he did.  In the end, he was never going to get the push he deserved and despite the money on the table, took the chance to walk out and jump to the opposition. 

 

His name was Chris Jericho. 

 

Jericho's debut on Raw, going back and forth on the mic with The Rock, remains one of the most important moments in that war.  He wasn’t the biggest name but he was someone that the fans grew to care about and respect because of the work ethic and heart he put out in the ring.  He was someone the fans wanted to see on top and followed to see if it would happen.  He was someone they knew was better then he was being treated.  Sound familiar? 

 

At the time, WCW’s head, Eric Bischoff, blew off the entire situation, feeling that he would simply sign Shane Douglas and everyone would forget about Jericho.  Instead, it was the exact opposite.  No one who was watching forgot that debut, especially those who worked for WCW.  When Jericho debuted, he opened the doors for more and more talented performers, like Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero to do the same.  Only when they made the move, they knew that they would have a chance in a new setting to make money, have good matches, and not stand secondary for the rest of their career to the old guard. 

 

Fast forward to 2005 and Christian is now standing in the same shoes that Chris Jericho was once wearing.  He and TNA have the chance to show the world that there is life beyond WWE, outside the gates of the McMahon kingdom.  He has the chance to leave a career legacy behind and grow TNA into a larger company and know that he was a force behind that.  He has the chance to kick open the doors and show those other underappreciated talents that there is another place to ply your trade.  With stories of Chris Benoit’s deal being up shortly, it makes the situation even more intriguing.   

 

When Chris Jericho left WCW, Eric Bischoff balked at the idea that he would make a difference in the war.  Years later, Jericho was headlining Wrestlemania and Bischoff was a McMahon employee who’s prime on-camera role was to be a subservient to the very man he tried to put out of business.  Looking back, it's amazing to think that Bischoff was so arrogant or unaware at what he was losing.   

 

It will be equally amazing to look back in a few years and see where all the players sit then.  It will be interesting to track the timeline and see if Christian’s decision sparked not just TNA into a new era, not just wrestling fans into trying a new product, but also forced WWE management, into realizing that perhaps things needed to change, or else.  This Sunday, live on PPV, a new era begins for Christian, TNA, and the entire business. History may repeat itself, or the entire thing could fall flat on it’s face.  No one truly knows what will happen and as worked as the wrestling business is, that’s one of the beauties of following it when a major story unfolds like this.   

 

Good or bad, Christian’s decision is one of the biggest stories of 2005.  No matter where Christian ends up at the end of this journey, his legacy will be that he had a chance to change the course of the history of the business, and took it.  By doing so, he’s made himself a bigger name then WWE creative could have if he stayed. 

 

Thoughts?

[Dimensions 0]

I like that article. It echoes what we've all been saying. Christian is finally getting a chance to prove what he can really do. And I'm excited. I don't know what's gonna happen and I can't wager a guess but I can tell you that I'm excited to see what goes down.

 

shift_Charisma

[Guest stringerbell]

http://www.chrisjericho.com/index1.htm

 

chris jericho hyping Genesis ppv on his site

[Stephen Joseph 0]

weird

[Failed Bridge 0]

he's friends with Christian so perhaps he's just trying to help get more people to buy and thus make his friend's premier a major success.

[hyperchord24 0]

I agree with everything that Mike Johnson said, except one thing. The Jericho signing isn’t directly analogous to the Christian signing. When Jericho left WCW for WWE, the companies were very similar in size and popularity. This is not the case with TNA. TNA is still a fledgling company with a smaller fan base. Fans who watched Jericho in WCW picked up the remote and tuned into RAW and suddenly saw Jericho. Fans can’t do that with TNA b/c they might not know about TNA’s existence. They might say, “whatever happened to that Christian guy?” And leave it at that.

 

In 1994, Lex Luger showed up at the first broadcast of WCW Monday Nitro. This started the ratings war. That was considered a big deal. Christian’s jumping ship could be just as big, especially b/c it’s obvious that Spike wants to start another ratings war. The way I see it is that history repeats itself and the WWE is starting to look like WCW (locker room issues, bad booking, holding good talent down, never getting a straight answer, politics). Christian was sick of it and jumped ship. TNA could have a slot on Monday nights by the beginning of the year, and by then, who knows how bad the WWE product will be, how improved TNA will be, who else jumped ship and what kinds of things the companies bring out for the ratings war. One thing is for sure though, we’re in for an interesting ride in the wrestling world.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

But you won't get a mass amount of wrestlers jumping ship until TNA has the financial backing to pay all of them. Right now TNA hasn't even moved up to touring around the country yet. One or two here and there is alright, but they wouldn't be able to handle a handful of big names just yet.

[Adam 0]

I think it all comes down to how the debut is handled. Jericho's was great because of the buildup, the silence after the countdown, the pyro, and then 'JERICHO' showing up on the screen, which got a monster pop. Not saying TNA can accomplish all this, but hell, they have to make it memorable. If they put Christian over as huge, and the crowd react to him like they were doing on RAW earlier this year, then they've just made some money.

[Guest Happy Go Nowhere]

Hmm...maybe it's nothing or it's in here somewhere and I just missed it, but:

 

 

It's on his site...somewhere. I got it from a different board. The link goes back to his site though.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

He's just having fun.

 

In his interview he talked about liking to mess with net fans.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

Well messing with the net fans or not he's giving TNA much needed publicity.

[Guest Happy Go Nowhere]

Then he should have picked a better picture, because that's an awful haircut.

[LaParkaYourCar 0]

Not to mention it looks like he's being bent over and taking it up the tailpipe in that pic.

[Guest Happy Go Nowhere]

Yes...and he doesn't look particularly happy about it either.

[2GOLD 0]

Looks like he's reacting to finally hearing what he sounds like live when he sings.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Classic.

[evilhomer 0]

You know, we're going to be pretty pissed if it turns out to be Torrie Wilson.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Which it won't be.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

well, the image of Jericho above the "Genesis" logo is cut off now on his site.