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Brought to you by Joel Muckett

The wacky world of professional wrestling has seen numerous crossovers from all-forms of entertainment. Whether it’s celebrity involvement like World Wrestling Entertainment’s use of hosts for their flagship show Monday Night Raw throughout a certain period; the infamous fight between Antonio Inoki and Muhammad Ali or World Championship Wrestling’s use of basketball stars Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman during the late 90s. Crossovers have a prominent role in the business.

The latest crossover, is one that sees mixed martial arts once again meet the drama of pro wrestling.

Rampage Jackson recently inked a deal with Bellator, which followed a disappointing end to his career in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Jackson had become frustrated under the Zuffa banner, feeling he was not respected enough by his superiors. In an interview on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Jackson said Dana White being mad at him for not making weight (at UFC 144 in Japan) was the straw that broke the camel’s back. But in reality, it was a series of issues that made him unhappy, including Zuffa’s refusal to let him wear Reebok gear to fights (something Nike might be responsible for).

An interesting part of the Bellator deal is the fact Jackson will make appearances for Total Nonstop Action (TNA) when he’s not fighting. ‘Page’ made his debut a fortnight ago on Impact Wrestling – TNA’s flagship television show.

Everything about the debut of the former UFC Light Heavyweight champion screamed ‘big’. As he made his entrance, the fans went crazy. To drive home the point of how much of a star he was when he walked out: many people in the crowd took out their camera phones and tried to get a quick snap of the man. When he eventually got in the ring, a one-on-one interview with Jeremy Borash – TNA’s long-time interviewer – was conducted.

If you don’t know, I started off as a big wrestling fan,” Jackson said addressing the crowd. “I’m from Memphis, it’s really big there. That’s why I used to do all those big slams [in PRIDE] until I got addicted to knocking people out.”

The interview started off rocky, but Jackson managed to get himself into it before Kurt Angle interrupted him. After a brief promo by Angle, they both shook hands, but Bellator’s newest acquisition drew him in for an intense stare down. In the next episode, Jackson would save Angle from the Aces and 8s group, chain in hand and clearing the members of the group out of the ring.

Looking at these two main angles, it seems like TNA are going to try and make a ‘big deal’ out of Rampage being with them. And they should. But how well can Jackson do in his new ‘profession’?

First of all, his trademark howl and steel chain is one of the keys to him getting popular (or, in wrestling terms, ‘over’). Wrestling fans enjoy catchphrases that they can chant along to. For example: Ric Flair’s iconic ‘Woo’ that he screams or Stone Cold Steve Austin’s ‘What?’ that comes up often to this very day, a decade after he first coined it. Jackson’s howl may not be at the level of ‘Woo’ or ‘What?’, but it can be something that fans could do alongside him as he stands atop of the stage.

While fans enjoy catchphrases, they also enjoy props. If you were a fan of the old Extreme Championship Wrestling in the mid-90s and early-noughties, you saw several wrestlers with their own props, signature weapons and so on. The Sandman for example. He would walk out to ‘Enter Sandman’, brandishing a Singapore cane. Rampage Jackson’s steel chain is something that can aid him to success. When we see him on screen, he’ll likely be having the chain swinging around his neck.

The chain could be part of the psychology involved with the angles he is in. The people who write and book TNA could make the chain something that should be feared. In the episode of Impact Wrestling where Jackson saved Angle, Aces and 8s cleared house when he arrived and started swinging the chain. You genuinely could believe that they were afraid of him.

Aside from the trademark howl and steel chain, Jackson has the charisma to help translate success in professional wrestling. If you’ve ever seen any of his interviews, you can tell that Rampage can be entertaining. He also has the look. You could say, that Rampage is naturally menacing and intense. The stare down with Angle during his debut showed this.

Another plus to what he could bring to the ring, is his slams. Although he rarely uses them now due to him falling ‘in love’ with his hands, Rampage could very well utilise what made him feared in PRIDE and translate it into wrestling.

The tools that Jackson has at his disposal can prove to be helpful, but it all relies on how he is booked/how his character is written and how much he wants to commit to pro-wrestling.

King’ Muhammad Lawal, when he signed with TNA, was used primarily as a ‘special enforcer’. I assume that Jackson is going to take up a similar role. But there’s a possibility that he could wrestle. Maybe not a straight wrestling match, but a gimmicked match like a ‘street fight’ or a ‘falls count anywhere’ match, would help cover his faults in the ring.

Ideally, a tag team match would work best for Jackson. If you team him up with Kurt Angle (which it seems like they’re heading towards) to battle the Aces and 8s, it will most likely gain interest from mixed martial arts fans and the media. They could also employ a similar strategy that they used with Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones in 2007 when he teamed with Ron Killings (now, R-Truth in WWE). Killings would do most of the work in the ring, was done by Killings, with Pacman staying on the sidelines, coming in and hyping that he was going to do something in the ring. Of course, ‘conveniently’, something would happen to his opponent, which would enable him to get a pinfall (his opponent could be attacked, they could leave, etc.)

Of course, they would not follow the same formula because Rampage can wrestle and isn’t contractually bound from doing so. But even then, he hasn’t had any training in pro-wrestling. They could book it, so that he would have limited involvement but tag in at the end of the match and then get the victory by hitting the opponent with a chain or something.

There are so many possibilities that come with someone of Rampage’s stature in TNA. Whether or not they realise what kind of card that they have in their hand, is another story.

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