The Brain Buster 8.04.13: The TNA/Bellator Connection

As I’m sure most are aware at this point, TNA’s big reveal – what they have been teasing for a bit now – came to revelation this past week. While most people expected this mystery wrestler to be someone like Low Ki or MVP, TNA put the swerve on us and revealed the mystery man who – from what I gathered is only discernable because he does not care about Spike or TNA – to be UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz. Now, as I watched, I could feel the audience’s collective eye roll when the Huntington Beach Bad Boy walked out and awkwardly stared at the wrestlers. I joined them too, not because I was disappointed, but mostly because I was not let down in the least. “That’s TNA…” TNA’s last three talent acquisitions that have received big debuts have all been professional mixed martial artists with no experience in professional wrestling. These wrestlers, who need much more time in development and are no where near ready to be wrestling on television, let alone main events, are trodded out and made to look like they are game changers. King Mo, Rampage Jackson, and Tito Ortiz are all certainly talented in one way or another, but to be considered a high player in the professional wrestling business at this point is farfetched, to say the least. All of these men are over thirty; the youngest being King Mo at 32, and all would have a long road ahead of them to be able to put on great matches; yet, they are paraded out and given the spotlight. For what? “Because it’s TNA…” As I repeated that, I realized it’s not TNA. Not really. Not actively. King Mo, Rampage, and Tito are not given airtime on TNA for their talent or their potential, but rather for a childish game between two opposing companies.

A company known as Viacom owns TNA and Bellator, which are featuring all of these competitors. Viacom owns and distributes through networks such as Spike, Nickelodeon, VH1, BET, and many more. They also are contracted to the material presented on these networks. Viacom sits on billions of dollars, and is theoretically a great backer for any product. TNA is contracted to Viacom, as they appear on one of their networks. Bellator, the MMA counterpart, is partially owned by Viacom. So, the relationship between the two companies, which are beginning a talent exchange, exist through their parenting company and their CEO Philippe Dauman. He was on the forefront of purchasing Bellator and putting Viacom in the promotion business. Even though Viacom had no experience in promoting fights, they figured they had enough experience working with MMA to pick it up. This experience lay when they contracted the UFC for almost a decade. The UFC had left for greener pastures, as they were presented a deal on network television, which left Spike and Viacom without the leading promotion in MMA. After this occurred, the bad blood between Viacom and Zuffa, the parenting company of UFC, came out into the public. It is this tension that brings us to the forefront of TNA’s talent acquisition.

To hold a grudge in big business is nothing new. We have seen it throughout the history of American capitalism, as men become obsessed with destroying their nemesis. We see the same throughout the battle between Viacom and Zuffa. A few months ago, one of Bellator’s star fighters Eddie Alvarez signed a deal with the UFC that promised him a hefty payday. Viacom had the right to match the offer, which they claimed they did; however, when you put into consideration the money UFC’s PPVs bring in for fighters, coupled with the fact that Bellator had, at the time, no PPVs to speak of, showed that the two deals were not equal or matched. Bad words and lawsuits began and are still on going, as Alvarez continues to sit on the sidelines during his prime fighting years. All because of a grudge.

This grudge between Zuffa and Viacom continued as Bellator began picking up more talent in an attempt to compete with UFC. If one was to look at the ratings, it is a pretty one sided victory for Zuffa and UFC; however, the bad blood began expanding into a new domain known as TNA. As mentioned previously, the talent acquired by TNA recently has all been mixed martial artists. More directly, they are all mixed martial artists who are former employers of Zuffa. King Mo was an employee of Strikeforce, which was purchased and eventually disbanded by Zuffa, and was destined to be on the UFC roster until a series of miscommunications and poor judgment made him a free agent. He was offered an opportunity to come back to Zuffa; however, chose to go another way. He would be the first signed to the dual MMA and Pro Wrestling contract; however, we have only seen him featured as an enforcer on TNA television. Next was Rampage Jackson. He is a bigger name in the MMA scene, who turned his nose to Zuffa from what he felt was mismanagement and bad booking. He too jumped at the opportunity to have a second career on TNA. Lastly we had Tito appear. Three major segments dedicated to these ex Zuffa employees who have no wrestling experience. What is the potential in them?

As stated, all these men are not only green, but fairly old. Rampage is 35, and Tito is 38. Is it conceivable that these gentlemen could pick up wrestling quickly and effectively? I wouldn’t put it past them, but honestly, the chances are not very high. We’ve seen great MMA fighters like Dan Severn have trouble grasping important aspects such as selling and ring psychology. None of these men come from a catch wrestling background either, so they would not have the opportunity to easily transition like wrestlers such as Kazushi Sakuraba have. With their little background, what is the point? Could TNA try to ride on the popularity of MMA? They tried it before with Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe. Could they just be following up? As positive as I try to stay, I would be hesitant to believe that. The truth is the reason these men are featured on TNA has little to do with their talent, and everything to do with their former employer. Viacom wants to rub the fact that these men preferred them over Zuffa, and show that they, Viacom, are the true home of MMA.

Phillippe Dauman said after the exit of UFC from Viacom that he built the UFC and he can build another. This is him building another. These MMA fighters are not placed in TNA to enhance the TNA product. TNA is used to enhance Bellator to these fighters. They’re given this exposure to a somewhat different audience and given career options when they are done fighting. These fighters are being given a great opportunity; however what is TNA being given? Prospects? Talent? They’re allowing these fighters to be involved in marquee matches, so there has to be something to them – some sort of promise that will give them an edge in the competition. Maybe more people will watch TNA in order to see Rampage as part of the Main Event Mafia. With that being said, we must ask ourselves, since he is featured in a main event slot, will he build the TNA brand immediately? The answer is a clear no. Having these fighters spotlighted so highly on the card is doing nothing but hurting TNA.

Let’s go back to last week on TNA. Chris Sabin, forever portrayed as the future, succeeded in defeating Bully Ray to become the TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Since he is a new to the main event scene, TNA will likely build him to show that he is a main event caliber talent. Sabin received the equivalent of a Money in the Bank title victory; therefore, he still needs to be built a bit to show the audience the caliber of wrestler he is. Is that what TNA did? He had a great match with Manik – a champion versus champion match. It could be used to show his ascension from the X-Division to the Main Event scene; however, the problem was that it was not the main event. The main event centered around the feud with Aces and 8s and the Main Event Mafia, featuring Rampage Jackson. Of course this built to their match on the upcoming Hard Justice PPV, which could arguably be the main event over Sabin and Bully Ray’s rematch. In case you forgot, these are the groups that involve Sting: who is in his 50s, Mr. Anderson: who has been in wrestling limbo, Kurt Angle: who arguably has nothing to gain or lose from this, and Rampage Jackson: who has no experience as a wrestler. Of course, their meeting set up for the mysterious August1st reveal, which was Tito Ortiz. So instead of setting up their champion as the main event- as the guy – they parade out the same group of people who have been on top of TNA for the last five years, along with an MMA fighter who has no experience or training and has publicly said he can not start training until he is finished with MMA, to introduce another MMA fighter who is almost 40 and also has no experience. They billed two people who have no experience as main eventers over their champion, who is very experience and very qualified.

The true kicker of this scenario is that these men are paraded on television as if TNA is doing something cutting edge, when they are in fact drawing away from the product. It’s fine if they want to delve into the MMA world, but to put the spotlight on these particular people immediately degrades the entire roster full of trained professionals. Why couldn’t an up and comer be included in the Main Event Mafia instead of Rampage Jackson. Why couldn’t they use this big stable feud to elevate someone to a bigger plateau? Well, we all have our theories. Mine is that TNA does what the money tells them to do, and Viacom has a lot of money. Don’t get me wrong, TNA has proven in the past that they will use ANY celebrity and try to capitalize on them, no matter which D list reality TV star they overpay to come; however, I have a feeling that the reason Rampage and Tito are involved in a main event caliber match, as well as King Mo’s involvement with Bobby Rude when he first debuted, is that it benefits Viacom’s wants over TNA’s needs. Viacom wants these fighters showcased so they can show Zuffa what they offer their fighters. It is true backstage politics, and it is already hurting wrestlers like Chris Sabin. The only difference is this is not a Monday Night War with a rival promotion – they have already proven how ill equipped they are for that. This is a war between Viacom and Zuffa over MMA. And although that may benefit King Mo or Rampage, it does not benefit TNA and it certainly does not benefit the wrestling business.

People can argue that TNA is using the MMA scene to truly tie in the connection between pro wrestling and mixed martial arts. These men are merely the stepping stone to unity between the two mediums – much like how it is in Japan. If this was the case, why wouldn’t they go after a fighter like Josh Barnett? Josh Barnett is a top 10 heavyweight, is a proven draw in MMA, and is trained and experienced catch wrestler. He has wrestled in big New Years Eve shows in Japan. He has fought in front of over 70,000 fans, as well. He has charisma. He can truly help bridge the gap. But they didn’t go after him because he was never the face of Viacom. Dana White, the promoter of UFC and partial owner of Zuffa, publicly stated his distaste for Barnett in the past, so Viacom getting him would do little in their feud. They want to use explicitly former Zuffa fighters and showcase them through mediums like TNA, despite the talent’s inability to truly help TNA. Although they are built as the next big thing for professional wrestling, they are simply a smaller pawn in an ongoing feud between two giants. And in their shadows lies the TNA talent and fans, calmly waiting for a ray of light.