Kong vs. Angle

[pgi86 0]

KONG VS ANGLE

 

By: Lance Storm

The Fight Network

 

I was on Wrestling Observer Live this past Sunday night and Bryan Alvarez thought out the idea of putting the TNA World Title on Awesome Kong. His view was that Kong and Tomko were the only two people in TNA that the booking committee hasn’t made a complete joke out of and that she has enough credibility that he would be completely fine with TNA putting the World Title on her. This got me thinking and while putting the World Title on Awesome Kong would not be my first choice of things to do, I think TNA could do a lot worse than building towards a “Battle of the Sexes” Kong vs. Angle World Title match.

 

I’m not suggesting that Kong win the TNA World Title, I’m just saying building towards this match and selling it on PPV could potentially generate a lot of publicity and in turn create enough interest to draw PPV buys and thus be considered a success. Kong has been booked very strong since her debut and has dominated and laid waste to every TNA knockout on the roster. She is actually bigger than most of the guys on the TNA roster, she is a very solid worker, and perhaps more importantly has been drawing higher quarter hour ratings than her male counterparts on Impact of late. There is a brief window of opportunity here to create a unique Main Event that has never been done before.

 

There will of course be people that compare it to Chyna wining the Intercontinental Title, but I think it is completely different. I think Kong is a far superior worker who currently stands out as a legit dominant force. Kong isn’t just a chick that is built like a dude, trying to compete with the men, she is a uniquely dominant force, which has enough credibility right now to allow us to be able to speculate about whether she could compete with the men or not. Challenging one time for a World Title shot is different than trying to just straight up compete in the men’s division. You promote this as a novelty concept and you do it now while she is still fresh, strong, and over. You build for the one match and sell the curiosity factor. You make this a one time only “Battle of the Sexes”.

 

The one obstacle I see in building this match is the “no guy on girl” violence policy in TNA. I know Spike TV has told TNA they don’t want guys hitting girls on Impact anymore, but I’m wondering if they might make a small exception considering it would actually be more girl hitting guys in the build up for this match. Last week on Impact they aired a clip of Kong power bombing the referee so there must be some flexibility. I think the key to booking this match is creating the justification for Kong getting a title shot without her just starting to wrestle guys and earning it. If she starts wrestling guys the novelty will be worn off before it gets to PPV and you run the risk of damaging roster credibility if you job a bunch of guys to a girl, even if it is Kong.

 

What I would do is have her destroy ODB on Impact to lay waste to the #1 Contender, leaving her without a viable challenger. I would have both Gail and ODB selling long-term injuries from the beating they took from Kong, and the other knockouts terrified to face her. I would then use the Petey Williams – Scott Steiner feud to get Kong her title shot via the “Feast or Fired” brief case. You could book a match between Williams and Steiner for the brief case as an Impact Main Event. When the match is first booked Williams is of course very worried and reluctant to put up his case. When he comes to the ring for the match he is very confident and sure of himself. When Steiner’s music hits, Scotty is nowhere do be found. Petey is laughing and demands they start the match. They could cut to the back and show Steiner laid out somehow (it will be revealed later that Petey jumped him backstage and knocked him out, or hit him with a car whatever). In ring Petey continues to demand they start the match, he can say it’s not his fault Steiner isn’t ready for the match, if Steiner was a real pro he’d be ready to fight anybody anytime just like Petey is right now. At this point you have Kong hit the ring jump Petey and they ring the bell. Petey after all just said he was ready to fight anyone, anytime, right now. You could have Cornette or Morgan at ringside to actually make this call officially to make it legit.

 

I would book this match extremely short for a couple of reasons. If you keep it short Petey can save face a little, by saying he got beat because he got jumped by surprise and if it’s short enough you can avoid the guy on girl violence issue on Spike. I’d have Kong club the hell out of Pete when she jumps him from behind and take his head of with the spinning back fist. She will be a fair bit bigger than Petey, which will really help her credibility. She can then send him off the ropes for a backdrop Pete stops and hooks her for the Canadian Destroyer. This should get a great reaction. When he goes for the Destroyer she blocks it and Alabama Slams the living hell out of him for the finish. Kong then grabs the Heavyweight Title shot brief case, and you go off the air.

 

With Kong in possession of the brief case the match is set for PPV, she doesn’t need to face any more guys to earn the title shot. You hype the match with video packages, and do face-to-face stuff to put over Kong’s size. You don’t need an angle to build the match at this point the whole sell is curiosity for the “Battle of the Sexes”; the first time ever the Women’s World Champ vs. The Men’s World Champ. You can even do a tale of the tape to show that she is as big or even bigger than the Men’s World Champ.

 

You would then have to be very careful how you laid out and book the match on PPV, but Kurt is a fantastic worker and Kong is both big enough and strong enough to work a competitive enough match and still protect Kurt’s credibility. Kurt got pinned clean by Jay Lethal not that long ago, and no offense to Lethal, Kong has been booked stronger than he was at that point and likely has more credibility. They could work a competitive enough match that Kurt could go over clean and not lose much if any credibility. Kong would be even stronger and more over than before, she just held her own with the World Champ. Even if the match had to be kept a little short to avoid Kurt having to sell too much for Kong, the fact that a World Title match on PPV had a completely clean finish would more than make up for it.

 

Again let me state that I am not saying this would be my first choice of angles to book. I’m just saying I could think of a lot worse things to do, and I’d bet it would create interest and likely draw as well if not far better than what TNA has been doing on PPV of late.

 

Discuss...

[dubq 0]

Honestly? As much as I hate inter-gender shit in wrestling this is probably more interesting than anything that TNA has done in.. shit, a long time.

[SamoaRowe 0]

I'd actually pay to see that.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I can't fault any of that logic.

 

I think that would probably be the biggest draw that they could have at this point.

 

I also think the match would be kinda good...

 

 

[dubq 0]

Ditto. Kong is easily one of the most entertaining workers in TNA right now. IMO, at least.

 

I know a lot of people fault Lance Storm for bitching about their booking in the past, "as if he could do any better", but I can totally see where he's coming from. TNA has/had the chance to be a real alternative to the WWE and something special, but they keep squandering their opportunity away on trying to be WWELite instead.

 

I'd actually like to see TNA get fed up with Lance's criticisms and give him the book for a few months just to see how he'd do.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

They have a great booker that their paying to come out and try and sell the ridiculous match concepts the booking team comes up with.

 

Seriously...I don't know how cornette is able to try and sell "FOUR GAUNTLETS for rankings (ignoring the ridiculous briefcase top contenders from last month)" with a straight face.

[MikeJordan23 0]

They have a great booker that their paying to come out and try and sell the ridiculous match concepts the booking team comes up with.

 

Seriously...I don't know how cornette is able to try and sell "FOUR GAUNTLETS for rankings (ignoring the ridiculous briefcase top contenders from last month)" with a straight face.

 

Cornette is hardly a "great" booker, but certainly a better option then the current regime.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

I'd like to see TNA get rid of Mantel and Russo and give D'Amore the book again. He had the book in '05/'06, right? That was some good shit until they got rid of him. Not spectacular, but good enough to actually watch.

 

As for Kong/Angle...it's a similar concept to a main event NECW had back in '04. Mercedes Martinez was THE most dominant woman on the roster, and frequently competed with men. Considering she's a very solid worker and made everything look believable (IIRC, she was VERY stiff, or at least was great at making everything look like it fucking KILLED), it worked. She went against the NECW Heavyweight champion, Maverick Wild, and the two had a very solid 15-minute match. Most of it was standard wrestling fare, mutual respect and such, and Maverick was hesitant to get too rough until Mercedes really pissed him off. Wham, wham, wham, it turned into a nice fight. The match wasn't too good, but I blame Maverick's WWE-style and Mercedes was still kinda green, and since Angle and Kong are both far superior to Maverick and Mercedes...it could work. Then again, Sheldon Goldberg's a much better booker than Russo and Mantel and Jarrett, but alas, it COULD work.

[Mike wanna be 0]

Where does it go after the PPV? You've got Angle who just beat Kong, and you can throw him at any number of challengers you've established/bullshitted into the role in the meantime...but what about Kong? You established her as the most dominant female wrestler and that every other woman on the roster is either injured because of her or scared shitless and unwilling to face her for the sole reason of booking Angle/Kong...are they suddenly less injured and/or less afraid because she had a competitive match with a male Olympic gold medal winning wrestling champion?

 

Unless you threw her in the X-Division so Mike Tenay can spew about how it's not about weight limits it's about no limits and Don West can vomit up how it's not about gender limits either.

[MikeJordan23 0]

Making Kong world champion would be incredibly stupid.

[Ripper 0]

He didn't say she should win.

 

But yeah, there is no where to go after the match except her as a regular against male wrestler performer.

 

Though honestly, I don't know where they can go with her in the womens division either. I guess its just going to be her and ODB going at it, but they do have alot of talent in the division so no telling where they could go.

[Zack Malibu 0]

They could do a draw, and further increase her standing, while Angles next feud segues from the fact that he couldn't put her away...although it runs the risk of making him look weak against her by not getting a decisive victory.

[dubq 0]

If it were a draw or a schmozz ending, I could see them joining forces as heels. I don't mean as a couple, either.

 

Also, I don't think making Angle weak is a bad thing at this point. Anything that lessens his value and eventually gets him off TV is a-ok in my book.

[vermilion 0]

In regards to the feuds after the intergender match, Kong can go back to ODB. I'd just have her lay ODB out now, and not in a completely clean fashion. You start an injury angle with that. While ODB is "injured", Kong does everything Lance said in his column. The next Impact after the match, ODB jumps Kong, wanting revenge for the injury and a fair shot at the title. I don't care what Angle does, he can retire or something, I'd be happy.

[Jingus 0]

Personally, not only do I not mind intergender matches, I wish there were more of them. Much like the "big guy will ALWAYS beat a little guy" myth, the old "man will ALWAYS beat a woman" bullshit is nothing but a fabrication to keep the status quo. I understand why Spike would be jittery about man-on-woman violence, when it's portrayed as a big strong dude mercilessly beating the shit out of a helpless femme. But what's wrong with portraying this as a competition between athletes of equal ability? Gail Kim wouldn't be any more overmatched against the men than, say, Amazing Red or someone like that. And Awesome Kong is actually bigger than most of the men on the roster. I've never understood the thinking that a man would "look weak" by getting beaten up by a scary amazon, whether it was Chyna back then or Kong now.

 

That being said, I think Lance's specific scenario there isn't a good one. The old "worker in an undercard division destroys all their competition, and then tries to step up to the next level" deal has been done before, and failed miserably. Like the time that Jushin Liger tore through the entire New Japan cruiserweight division, in 1999 I think, in an attempt to build him up... only to see him get beaten by the heavyweights in the eventual blowoff matches, which just made everyone look like shit.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I'd like to see TNA get rid of Mantel and Russo and give D'Amore the book again. He had the book in '05/'06, right? That was some good shit until they got rid of him. Not spectacular, but good enough to actually watch.

I'd be fine with D'Amore getting the book, as long as he stays away from the X-Division, as he's not a big fan of it. It's also worth remembering that D'Amore's stint as booker was during the time TNA had no national TV, and were forced to keep things very basic and simple as they didn't want to run any major angles. Whether D'Amore could be as disciplined and focused when booking a full, two-hour show, remains to be seen.

 

Cornette is hardly a "great" booker, but certainly a better option then the current regime.

 

Cornette knows how to book logically, make the most with the least, and hide weaknesses and accentuate strengths. By any reasonable booking standards, that makes him great.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

People think that putting Kurt Angle, the TNA World Champion in a feud against the WOMEN'S Champion is a good idea? Dear God, what happened to this forum? I can't imagine any scenario where I would be willing to pay money for a PPV with that main event.

 

 

How about properly pushing the people who actually deserve a world title feud?

[Diamonddust 0]

Cornette knows how to book logically, make the most with the least, and hide weaknesses and accentuate strengths. By any reasonable booking standards, that makes him great.

 

But by TNA standards, that makes him completely worthless as a booker.

 

In regards to Kong, as much as I like a dominant "monster" running wild, putting them into a title program is always tricky. If you let them win a title, what can they do after that? They have to lose it eventually, and then what? The monster has been beaten. Monsters worked way better in the territory days when someone like Kamala could come in, destroy Jerry Lawler, and then have a couple months on top while Lawler fights to get the rematch and wins in the end... then Kamala would go to another territory.

 

[Ripper 0]

People think that putting Kurt Angle, the TNA World Champion in a feud against the WOMEN'S Champion is a good idea? Dear God, what happened to this forum? I can't imagine any scenario where I would be willing to pay money for a PPV with that main event.

 

 

How about properly pushing the people who actually deserve a world title feud?

 

 

She is the highest ratings getting and probably one of the most over people on the roster and the match would come off as legit with her size. I would buy that PPV just because.

[Jingus 0]

People think that putting Kurt Angle, the TNA World Champion in a feud against the WOMEN'S Champion is a good idea? Dear God, what happened to this forum? I can't imagine any scenario where I would be willing to pay money for a PPV with that main event.

 

 

How about properly pushing the people who actually deserve a world title feud?

Sexist bullshit.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

"Like the time that Jushin Liger tore through the entire New Japan cruiserweight division, in 1999 I think, in an attempt to build him up... only to see him get beaten by the heavyweights in the eventual blowoff matches, which just made everyone look like shit."

 

This is actually a REALLY bad example. Jushin Liger did this because he booked the NJPW Juniors, and was in line to get a IWGP title shot against Sasaki. Only problem is, Riki Choshu was booker, and Riki Choshu is VERY anti-juniors. So Liger made the decision to put himself over all the NJPW Juniors to build himself up for his own title shot, in which Choshu basically booked him to get mauled against his protege Sasaki.

 

That wouldn't happen in TNA, where the main booking committee has oversight on it all. In NJPW, the Junior Division and Heavyweight Divisions are completely seperate UNLESS the Heavyweight and Juniors are in a match together, in which the main booker (currently Choshu) has the say. Another great example is Milano Collection AT. Liger made the decision to put Milano over in this year's Junior tournament. Milano was then IMMEDIATELY yanked from the Junior division and buried in the Heavyweight division. It's never been confirmed, but the thought is that Choshu wasn't happy about Milano's push, and used his power to crush it.

[Jingus 0]

Still, the point remains: is there a good example of an angle where someone in a division which is "lower" than the standard Havyweights dominates the division, crushes all possible competition, and then got "promoted" into the main event? TNA has fucked that one up more than once, both AJ and Joe come to mind, while I can't think of any examples of a similar thing that actually made money. (And no, Stone Cold throwing the Intercontinental belt into the river doesn't count.)

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

Uh...Hmm...Depends on your definition of "dominated". If you mean by "never losing" then no. That couldn't possibly work...but there were characters in WCW's Crusierweight division that were billed as top guys, then were "promoted" to bigger deals. Jericho and Rey come to mind.

 

Doing ANY kind of the unbeaten streak is a bad idea. It just doesn't work in the long run.

[foleyfanforever88 0]

If TNA ever does Angle vs. Kong, it will be the first TNA pay-per-view I buy.

[J.T. 0]

People think that putting Kurt Angle, the TNA World Champion in a feud against the WOMEN'S Champion is a good idea? Dear God, what happened to this forum? I can't imagine any scenario where I would be willing to pay money for a PPV with that main event.

 

 

How about properly pushing the people who actually deserve a world title feud?

 

Thats far to simplistic of a thought.

 

Anyone watching TNA knows that Kong is booked in a way diffrent than any woman ever in Mainstream North America. If done correctly, TNA could finally take a stand and make a leap into "a threat" for Vince. If they fuck up, they could kill Kong myth forever. I think its orverall worth the risk, but Russo is so terrible that his odds of doing it right is not good.

[MikeJordan23 0]

I'd like to see TNA get rid of Mantel and Russo and give D'Amore the book again. He had the book in '05/'06, right? That was some good shit until they got rid of him. Not spectacular, but good enough to actually watch.

I'd be fine with D'Amore getting the book, as long as he stays away from the X-Division, as he's not a big fan of it. It's also worth remembering that D'Amore's stint as booker was during the time TNA had no national TV, and were forced to keep things very basic and simple as they didn't want to run any major angles. Whether D'Amore could be as disciplined and focused when booking a full, two-hour show, remains to be seen.

 

Cornette is hardly a "great" booker, but certainly a better option then the current regime.

 

Cornette knows how to book logically, make the most with the least, and hide weaknesses and accentuate strengths. By any reasonable booking standards, that makes him great.

 

He knows how to book wrestling, with sound logic, and does a good job of hiding his talent weaknesses. However, whenever he has had the book, the shows/his own promotion was very bland and boring. There is an entertainment factor that I think Cornette doesn't have a complete grasp of, and probably never will. There needs to be a balance. He's too old school in his philosophy.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Yeah...but with the talent TNA has from bell to bell I think the boring would be downplayed a bit.

 

Styles, Angle and the MCMG and the like can bring the entertainment in the ring, we just need someone to not spew nonsense outside of it.

[Steviekick 0]

If TNA ever does Angle vs. Kong, it will be the first TNA pay-per-view I buy.

 

Same here. That match would propably get the most mainstream coverage of anything TNA's done, especially because it involves a former Olympic gold medal winner and a female wrestler who is so different.

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

I would buy it... I don't really watch much TNA, but I watched Kongo's stuff before TNA, and her match with Gail Kim.

 

But I personally would think a Kong Vs. Samoa Joe match would be more interesting. Because of both their gimmicks.

[Steviekick 0]

Kong/Joe would propably rock. Imagine if they did an intergender tag series...