The Ripple Effect 3.09.07: Christian Cage

It can never be said that I’m not a man of initiative.

Diversions…

So I got onto 411 a few nights ago to see what was going on, just expecting to get one or two little bytes of news (wrestler X just died, JR has another damn blog). And right on the front page, I see that WSX is getting the official axe, TNA is splitting from the NWA, and Kurt Angle’s using steroids…jackpot!

I suppose I’m not really surprised about the cancellation of WSX, but I’m certainly disappointed. All these people spent all this time getting all the wrestlers and promotional stuff and TV deals together for it to last a whole FOUR EPISODES? From what I’ve gathered, the cancellation is a combination of severely declining ratings and the now-infamous “fireball” stunt that got the promotion in so much trouble with MTV. This is bad for two reasons: 1) it makes me (who said “fiction” last week when asked about it) look like an idiot, and 2) it deprives the fans of a product that had potential…kind of. It’s just too bad.

As far as TNA’s split with NWA goes, I really wonder what this will really do for the promotion. It’s not like they’ve made great use of the NWA legacy as it is. They haven’t even called themselves NWA:TNA for years, and the only time they even mention the letters is in reference to the titles. I hope this doesn’t make the TNA titles less important in the fans eyes, because it’s the same company with the same group of guys. Hypothetical: if Samoa Joe wins this Sunday, would he be the last TNA-era NWA champion, the first TNA champion, or both?

But much more interesting than both of those pieces of news is the Kurt Angle steroid allegation! A Sports Illustrated article has accused our Olympic Hero of getting some juice from a rehab center in Palm Beach. The accusation specifically names the rehab place and the prescription drugs Angle was allegedly using. This little bit of news is pretty hot, but I wonder how much impact it’ll actually have. Maybe if Angle was still with WWE it would matter a little more, but TNA’s made it pretty clear how much they care what Angle abuses. The most interesting part? The reporter, in introducing Angle, mentioned the gold medal but didn’t specifically mention WWE or TNA. Is this evidence that professional wrestling organizations aren’t worth mentioning anymore?

The RE Wrestling Clip of the Week

Kurt Angle mocks John Cena

In honor of this breaking news story, I would like to show you guys another instance in which Angle kind of looked like an idiot. In one of the most bizarre segments of WWE television I’ve ever seen, our Olympic Hero pulls out the “parody your opponent” gag on the not-yet-Champ, and hilarity ensues. It started out innocently enough, with some cute rhymes and a pretty damn good impression by Angle, but when Angle’s music hit and Mini Angle came out all I could think was. “I wish I were high right now.”

There are SO MANY interesting things about this video. You get to see Angle working as a babyface, which doesn’t happen often. You get to see Cena working heel, which happens even less often. You get to hear Tazz use the word “apropos.” You get to see Angle almost kill the crowd with his weak rhymes and then save the whole thing by yelling out, “Yeah, I’m John Cena and I’m a bad son of a bitch!” Definitely worth your time this one is!

Feedback

We’ve got some guys commenting on last week’s topic, a response to my girlfriend’s cock-sucking threat and a man who insists on keeping the HBK thing rolling. I’ll happily play along…

First, from Ray Tugman, whose name is a nice cross between two fat wrestlers, one of whom is dead (figure it out…):

Listen, buddy I am tired of all this talk about Smackdown being the number two show. I enjoy Smackdown much more than Raw. Many of my friends feel the same way. Benoit, Kennedy and Undertaker make the show worth watching. The best part of smackdown is that I do have to see Edge on my TV screen. He is the most overrated superstar ever. He sucks in the ring and his interviews are even worse. Chris masters is better because at least Masters can get a few laughes from the crowd when he does his masterlock challenge. Have a good night.

I hope I didn’t give the impression last week that I personally thought SmackDown was the weakest show. On the contrary, I really like the brand. But there’s no doubt that WWE considers it to be less important, and that’s really what the column was focusing on.

I’ve got to disagree with you when it comes to Edge. He may not have all the holds and locks down, but he brings the intensity and plays his character remarkably well. We’ve effectively gotten a feel for his personality, and that goes a long way. And how dare you insinuate that a laugh (or anything resembling a smile) is the proper response to the Masterlock Challenge?

Thanks for the response.

From Roadwariorkev, who must’ve had the same soft spot for Heidenreich I did:

I forgot how good Smackdown was at one time. I was slightly reminded on Smackdown a few weeks back on the From the Vault section when the match featured Y2J v Hogan when Edge stormed the ring at the end of the match to make his return. For me, the departure of Captain Charisma shortly after Eddie’s death also contributed to me rapidly losing interest in the blue brand. Especially when a matter of months later he was the World Champ on TNA and showing the E exactly what he could have been if creative really were CREATIVE.

Hey, you certainly showed more faith than the ones who left during the “JBL wins the title and Eddie’s madre has a heart attack IN THE RING” era. It really is strange to think of Hogan as a SD guy, but that’s how much they prioritized the brand back then. And on a side note, just seeing the words “Captain Charisma” in your e-mail makes me wonder why he hasn’t kept the nickname. It’s not under WWE copyright if memory serves me correctly, so why would they skip out on a money name like that? Thanks brother.

From Matt N., who suppresses his darkest desires to save face to the IWC:

Your girlfriend is mean, I was just showing some love to your ‘column’, it had nothing to do with any desire to engage in oral sex with you … honest. Man, I had my ass handed to me by a woman on an internet column – that is rough.

Oh yeah, I don’t know if that thing is rape or not, could you put anything more irrelevant into a wrestling column, well you did include a passage from the bible a few weeks ago. Only kidding, bye

Hey man, don’t be ashamed about being slammed by a girl. It’s not that you’re bad, it’s just that she’s that good.

I agree with every example you mentioned, with the trivial exceptions of MVP and Kristal…and I’m not racist.

On the Kennedy subject, the only person I’ve read who outright hates the guy is Eric “Dick” Szulczewski over at InsidePulse. And that guy doesn’t even appreciate the fucking Rock. Kennedy’s got genuine talent and a visible hunger to make it to the top, and he already has a cool finisher. He is money…period.

And on the irrelevancy thing, sometimes I just feel like talking about stuff that doesn’t pertain to wrestling but is still worthy of discussion. Perhaps if I had another column…

And finally, from Saad Manzar, who responds to my…response to his…original e-mail about my…allegedly “inflated” opinion of Shawn Michaels:

I never said HBK sucks ass. Anyone with any eye for wrestling can see how talented and athletic he really is. As far as overall ability, he may be the best or one of the top three best of the last generation.

I just explained the rest to back my points. HBK should be working to put over young talent. A Cena-HBK match could have waited for summerslam. IMO, HBK is just not important enough, or deserving enough to get the Mania main event slot. He definitely is talented enough though, and no one can take that way.

The one huge problem I have with this plan, along with many others that have been shot my way, is this insistence on putting Randy Orton in the main event. He is plainly and simply not talented enough to be put in that position. He has no concept of match flow, and his acting is uber bland.

Anyway, I agree that professionalism is important, but that kind of thing doesn’t factor into my thinking as much as it does for others. Maybe it’s because I know next to nothing about the actual business, but the in-ring product is what I base my opinion on. Would I trust him to watch my twenty bucks for me, probably not, but luckily I don’t know him so I don’t really care.

I think we can consider this matter closed, no?

Thanks to everyone, and keep them coming!

Christian…Christian…at last, you’re on your own!

Through its nearly five-year history, the one mission that’s kept TNA wrestling going is to eventually compete with (and topple) Vince’s juggernaut up north. And their main philosophy for doing that has been to give the fans something that WWE isn’t going to. They’ll make the ring into a hexagon, they’ll establish a revolutionary division that nothing else in North America can touch, and most importantly they’ll push guys that Vince has supposedly ignored. True, the Russa Era has watered down TNA’s product immensely and turned “We Are Wrestling” into a smarky joke, but they still promote themselves first and foremost as an alternative. And one event in TNA’s history serves as a better symbol of that mindset than any other. Its main instigator was Jay Reso, better known to fans as “Captain Charisma” Christian Cage.

At the time of this writing, Cage is the two-time and current NWA World Heavyweight Champion. A month ago, he successfully defended his title on PPV against honest-to-goodness wrestling icon Kurt Angle. He has been consistently pushed as one of the very top players in TNA. I think it’s safe to say none of those things would’ve happened had Christian stayed with WWE. He’s established an aura of credibility and superstar status in the past year he was never able to achieve (for whatever reason) while working for Vince.

So what was it that pulled the trigger? What suddenly turned Cage from floundering upper/mid-card act to bonafied main eventer? Well, it’s important to look at both the end of Christian’s run with WWE and the very beginning of his TNA stint to really see that transformation unfold. During these few months, Cage was able to transform his image and reputation, and unlike other wrestlers’ “coming of age,” Christian’s came without really having to…wrestle. Let’s take a look at how it all came together…

Our first stop is the last few months of Christian’s WWE career, specifically the time from Backlash 2005 to the Great American Bash of the same year. Earlier in the year at WrestleMania 21, Christian competed in the first Money In the Bank match against five other Raw superstars and unofficially established himself as “above” the standard mid-card players of the time. It was his first big chance to shine in a situation with world title implications, and he looked to be surprisingly at ease with the transition (though he didn’t win the match). From there, Christian coasted for a while until he made one of the most interesting moves of his career: calling out WWE Champion John Cena, who wasn’t even on the Raw roster yet. Expertly utilizing his rather dorky persona, Captain Charisma cut an excellent promo on Cena, lampooning his rapper character and raising his profile to a place on the card his wrestling had incidentally never taken him. When Cena was drafted to Raw that summer, Christian found himself in the envious position to receive the first shot at the champ.

In June, Cage was put in a triple threat match for the title at Vengeance with Cena and Chris Jericho. Christian lost the match, even took the pinfall, but a new face had surfaced in the title picture. Unfortunately for the Christian Coalition, his push abruptly ended and he was drafted to SmackDown. From there, he feuded unmemorably with Booker T and was briefly given a talk show segment ala the Highlight Reel. But the damage was done, and Reso quit WWE.

But Vince lets guys go all the time, so what makes Christian so special? Well, our good friends on the Internet can answer that one for you. After his release, a simultaneous outcry of anger at WWE and excitement for the possibilities ahead was unleashed, and TNA was listening. The news of Cage’s arrival in Dixieland (and change to his original stage name) came as a heavily advertised announcement that would “change the face of TNA forever!” Right away the company established Christian as a hot commodity, and he embarked on a journey he’d never taken before: being a babyface. His PPV debut at Turning Point (ironically) brought a strong face reaction that eventually propelled him to winning the NWA title from Jeff Jarrett at Against All Odds 2006. He successfully defended his title over the next few months against the likes of Monty Brown and Abyss before losing it back to the J’s in the King of the Mountain at Slammiversary.

Christian’s title run, although quite successful, was marred by one problem, that Cage has always been a much better asshole than a hero. Luckily, that foul up was cleared when Christian turned heel against Sting in the main event of Hard Justice, just two months after losing the title. Since then, he’s gone on to a successful program with Rhino, a second (more fitting) run as world champion, and currently a main event feud with TNA’s little saviors, Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe. Clearly TNA has put a lot of faith into this guy and sees him as one of their marquee talents.

Since his arrival, Cage has effectively raised his profile and proven that in the case of WWE not pushing him, it was Vince who was the dumbass. Christian made an immediate impact on the promotion, and in doing so he has looked, acted like and been treated like a total star. In this writer’s humble opinion, Christian Cage’s arrival has been the most important and symbolic acquisition in TNA’s neverending quest to truly compete with Vince McMahon.

Of course, one could make the argument that Kurt Angle, not Cage, deserves this distinction. After all, he is a much bigger star that Christian, his arrival was way more publicized, and he was a world champion in WWE as recent at this time LAST YEAR. But here’s something to think about: by the time Angle left, he was pretty much damaged goods in Vince’s eyes. He failed to pass the wellness program, and they were obviously running out of directions for his character. In short, Angle’s time in WWE had run its course.

Christian, on the other hand, still had plenty left to give, but WWE just kept pulling the floor out from underneath him. So, Dixie swooped in to put her money where her mouth is; by signing and pushing Cage, TNA showed that they take their role as “WWE alternative” seriously. This was really the first time the company had been given a chance to, quite literally, give the fans something WWE simply wouldn’t, and they weren’t going to pass an opportunity like that up for mere politics. After all, Kevin Nash was just a wrestler at this point, not a booker.

In TNA’s ongoing struggle to maintain relevance, the mere presence of Christian Cage and what he represents is one of the most valuable jewels the company has left to display. Cage has gone from brooding around with Gangrel, to stealing shows with Edge, to forty-second poses, to creepy little bastard, to the Peep Show, to a release, to the most storied championship in wrestling, to his very own heel stable. And now that he’s TNA 4 Life, every time he holds that NWA championship up (or the belt that will replace it next week), the company can send a little “Fuck You” over to Stamford as a reminder of what they wasted and TNA made the most of.

Pluggin’

As always, be sure to check out these works from my most esteemed 411 colleagues:

WOTW

Fact or Fiction

Steve Cook’s Ask 411

Julian Williams’ The Top Ten

Prag & Tomlison’s Hidden Highlights

Larry Czonka’s 3 R’s

Andy Clark’s The Shimmy

Daniel Wilcox’s Schmozzes & Screwjobs

Stuart Carapola’s Friendly Competition

Sforcina & Marsico’s The Fink’s Payload

Sat & Uncle Trunx’s High Road/Low Road

Bayani Domingo’s Truth B Told

Samuel Berman’s The Independent Mid-Card

O’Dog’s The Goodness

Ari Berenstein’s Column of Honor

Stuart Carapola’s That Was Then

Michael Weyer’s Shining a Spotlight

Jordan Linkous’ WWE vs. TNA

Sean, David & Alex’s The Triple Threat

Ron Gamble’s Just S’pose

Samuel Berman’s The Box In the Attic

Sendoff

As a bonus item this week, and a follow-up on the theme of John Cena parody, here’s a clip from Royal Rumble 2005 which shows just how money Christian was, especially against worthy opponents. Lines like “Hey Tomko, give me a beat” should’ve gotten him a raise or something.

That’ll bring what I have down as the lucky THIRTEENTH edition of the RE to a close. I hope I’ve avoided any and all bad omens, and if I haven’t I cordially invite lady luck to suck it!

I’ll let you guys know if my cat gets run over.