RADICAN'S TAKE RADICAN: Saturday’s Big Three: Angle interview, Live Impact hype, ROH enters Virginia Mar 22, 2008 - 11:25:38 AM

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By Sean Radican, PWTorch Columnist

Kurt Angle talks TNA, upcoming match vs. Joe: Kurt Angle gave an interview on Between The Ropes radio this past week where he talked about his upcoming match against Samoa Joe at Lockdown and changes he expects to be brought about in TNA. “"We're going to have an MMA style at the pay-per-view and this is the beginning of what TNA is going to start doing,” said Angle in the interview. Of course the problem with Angle is that he can say something that sounds good in theory, but then he’ll say something totally crazy, such as when he went on to say, "Joe and I are actually putting a hell of a match together that is going to be very much MMA oriented. It's going to be inside a cage. I don't even think we're wearing shoes. We're going to tape our ankles. We're going to be putting on the gloves." I don’t know about you, the PWTorch.com readers, but nothing says MMA to me like wearing no shoes, taping your ankles, and wearing gloves on your hands.

I’m cautiously optimistic that Joe and Angle are going to deliver the first classic match we’ve seen in TNA in a long time. TNA did the right thing by having Joe leave Impact to train for his TNA Title match with Angle at Lockdown. The problem is that despite the serious start to the build towards the Joe-Angle match, I somehow believe creative will find a way to botch the execution of the match. If Joe and Angle try to simulate an MMA fight, it could fall flat.

In the preview for the live Impact for March 27, TNA announced that Angle would face off against Tomko and A.J. Style in four one-minute rounds. On paper, this sounds like a bad idea and if TNA is looking to go in a more serious direction when booking Impact, this sure isn’t the right way to start. Is Angle going to face Tomko and Styles at the same time for a minute? Is Angle going to face Tomko for a minute for the first round and then take on Styles for a minute in the next round? I like the idea of Angle doing sparring sessions, but I’m concerned this concept will fall flat on its face.

TNA’s live Impact on March 27: After not mentioning they are having an important live event last week on Impact, TNA picked up the ball and ran with it when it came to hyping their upcoming live edition of Impact on March 27. Judging by the preview for next week’s live Impact, the show is going to be built around the big angles in TNA, including the progression of the Joe-Angle feud with a promo from Joe taped in California where he is currently training for his match with Angle at Lockdown. Also featured heavily in the preview was an opportunity for fans to vote which Knockout will face Awesome Kong for the TNA Knockout Title, a sitdown interview with Karen Angle, and the return of Sting.

I feel all of the announcements in the preview have the potential to add up to TNA delivering when they need to when the spotlight is on the promotion. The return of Sting will definitely send the Impact zone into frenzy and that should be a fun live moment. The big ace up TNA’s sleeve is the recent teaser announced in a video preview for the show on TNAwrestling.com that there will be a huge main event match televised commercial free.

One of the topics Kurt Angle addressed in his interview with Between the Ropes radio was TNA taking Impact in a serious direction with more wrestling featured on the show. I’d love to see the result of that on Impact this coming week. I think there’s room for angles like the Karen Angle storyline if it doesn’t get in the way of TNA trying to improve their product. Depending on whom the fans choose as Kong’s opponent, her match should be very good and with what I expect TNA’s largest audience ever for Impact, the Knockouts division could really shine. Everything else announced for the show sounds good on paper and TNA has given fans one more reason to get excited about being in Orlando, Fla. this coming weekend.

ROH announces Virginia debut: I was surprised to find out that ROH was running a show in Manassas, Va. on May 9. I don’t hear a lot of stories going around about how Virginia is a hotbed for wrestling, but ROH management did their research and decided that they had found a venue to run in that market, as they try to expand south this year. I think ROH’s biggest obstacle is going to be drawing a large crowd to the debut show, especially given the fact that they are running in the Hammerstein Ballroom the next night in Manhattan, N.Y.

ROH is trying to find way to combat some of their DVD tapings feeling like “house shows.” I don’t think ROH is going to have a tougher time of doing that then when they go into Virginia on May 9 with a huge show in Manhattan the next night. ROH announced a preliminary talent roster for the show yesterday, which included the return of GHC Champion Takeshi Morishima and Naomichi Marufuji, along with several ROH regulars. I’ll wait to make a final judgment on whether ROH can successfully enter the Virginia market until I see the lineup they post for the show, but it’s going to be very difficult to make both shows special for booker Gabe Sapolsky, as the biggest matches for that weekend are almost certain to take place in Manhattan.

Either way, the news of ROH’s desire to expand is a positive sign for the company. The company has surprised me in the past and delivered above and beyond what I expected. You can’t discount the Impact Morishima and Marufuji can have on an ROH card in terms of the depth and star power they add to each event they appear on. Neither of them has appeared in ROH in quite some time, so their appearances could generate some interest and perhaps some people will travel out to Virginia to see them wrestle, but for now I’m taking the wait-and-see approach when it comes to ROH entering this market.

I’m interested to hear from everyone how they feel about any of the topics discussed above. Agree or disagree with me about Angle’s interview, the hype for the live Impact, or ROH entering Virginia? I will be publishing a reader feedback feature soon, so feel free to hoot me an email here.

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