Sunday, March 13, 2011

Rant: TNA's Newest Knockout

TNA has had a love affair recently with MTV's breakout hit reality show The Jersey Shore. Now, I'll be the first to confess; I've never watched it. My home is typically a Jersey-free house. Snooki and the rest of the gang would more than likely make my brain implode. It's just for safety precautions.

Maybe Dixie Carter is a huge fan of the show. Perhaps Vince Russo is. I don't know; I don't care, but what I do know is that TNA debuted a set of characters by the name of Robbie E and Cookie (who wears her hair in a Snooki bump -- get it? She's not Snooki, she's Cookie. Sigh).

TNA has been scoring a lot of TMZ publicity by having Jersey Shore cast members appear on the show, starting off with JWoww, who had a slap-fest and beat down with Cookie. I was stunned to find out that JWoww was making 15k for her appearance, when some of the Knockouts are making only hundreds to do more, but I digress.

Not content enough to have just JWoww on their program, the brain-trust at TNA decided to sign season one drop out and failed rap artist (anybody who's heard her song "I'm Hot" and has a working brain and a love for music has to agree with me here) Angelina Pivernack to a short-term TNA deal.

I will say that what I saw on Impact this Thursday was the worst garbage I have ever seen, and The Beautiful People, Rosita and Sarita and Winter all deserved better than what they were thrown into. But I won't put the entire fault of this match on Miss Angelina, as it was clunky, was sloppy and got cluttered at the end. Her involvement was pretty minimal compared to the others, so I'm willing to give her a little bit of slack. TNA viewers didn't, however, as her segment with the Beautiful People and Winter happened to be the lowest rated segment, much like the JWoww appearance had been in the ratings when she appeared.

Angelina has stated she is set to go into wrestling school, that she has found her passion and her calling pro wrestling. Go for it. It's the big reason why I refuse to pass judgment on her right now. For someone with no wrestling experience, she's bound to be just horrendous. However, I don't think announcing that she downed a cocktail and took a pill before her first match is great press for TNA, who has long been accused of turning a blind eye to drug use in wrestling. Maybe tact is something they teach in wrestling school, who knows? Also, isn't it going to get confusing having two Angelinas on the program? WWE at least makes one change their name, even if it is so they can retain copyrights when they leave.

I won't pass judgment on her unless she a) drops out of wrestling school before she graduates or b) Graduates and legitimately does suck in the ring. After all, there are people with no wrestling experience prior to their signing who have gone on to do quite well for themselves, including Kelly Kelly, Michelle McCool, Maryse and Candice Michelle. Three of these four women are champions, and with the way Kelly Kelly is being pushed, I would be surprised if she didn't hold it. Angelina could be a solid wrestler, we may just not know it. But I hope she doesn't have her heart set on big fees, because she'll be learning a tough lesson if she does.

No comments: