Post by hbk on Sept 27, 2006 2:19:43 GMT -5
Well it is soon to be 72 hours now since the announcement that has turned certainly TNA and perhaps the wrestling world on its ear. Kurt Angle, who just 6 weeks ago was a WWE superstar, and 6 months ago main evented Wrestlemania as World Champion has signed with TNA.
The announcement was made on air Sunday Night during the closing segment of TNA’s pay per view event No Surrender by Jim Cornette in what was undoubtedly a huge surprise. Since then we have learned many, many details as to how all of this came about (and to TNA’s credit they pulled this off with most everyone largely in the dark) and so we here at WrestleView.com decided to try to do a wrap up so to speak. What we know now about the deal. When did it come about? Who was in the know? TNA President, Dixie Carter’s, reaction:
It began Sunday evening prior to No Surrender when word came out through, Dave Meltzer, that the surprise was not informed to TNA’s talent roster and that the majority of them would find out live as the announcement would close the pay per view. It was revealed at this time that the person was believed to be away from the building in a hotel room and would be kept there until 9:30pm eastern time. That turned out to be false as Angle was (to our knowledge at this time) not in Orlando at all and was not at the show. Word starts to come out that some TNA talent were upset that they were not aware of who the surprise was. It was also rumored that those in the know had signed non disclosure confidentiality agreements so word would not be spread.
During the final segment of the No Surrender pay per view, Jim Cornette, announced a time switch for TNA’s television program, iMPACT!, starting with a 2 hour November 16th broadcast at 9pm. Cornette then said that was his announcement, but “this is the announcement”, with that they cut to a video package of Kurt Angle announcing that the former WWE & World Champion was heading to the company. Immediately following, TNA’s traffic on their website, was so great that the website went down. A splash page of Angle coming to TNA was put up and the site later returned with the video package from the pay per view.
Quickly after the pay per view went off the air, word started leaking about the details this last week that led to it all. It became apparent that Angle’s Mixed Martial Arts rumors was nothing but a smokescreen to hide his deal with TNA (around the time the MMA rumors came out is when TNA President, Dixie Carter, announced a “huge surprise” for No Surrender). It was revealed that the video clips that were show on No Surrender were actually shot late last week (rumored to be last Wednesday night at midnight) in a warehouse in Nashville Tennessee.
TNA hired local independent workers to come to the warehouse, set the ring up, sign confidentiality agreements and leave the building. Angle then arrived, did some promos, shot the scenes for the video package and left. The “ring crew” was then allowed back in the building to break the ring down.
Kurt Angle’s official website, KurtAngleWWE.com, posted a statement about the deal and we learned that the TNA staff was not informed of the announcement until approx. 15 minutes before it aired on live pay per view. Those who knew in advance are believed to be TNA President Dixie Carter, Jeff Jarrett, Terry Taylor, Dave Sahadi, and a few others and all signed confidentiality agreements.
TNA then sent out a press release announcing Angle’s entry to the promotion, TNAWrestling.com, put up several stories including TNA Superstar thoughts on the announcement.
There is no word at this time of what Kurt’s contract with WWE was as many expected a no compete clause, which is obviously not the case. No word yet on how Vince McMahon reacted to the announcement but one has to believe it was not positive.
In the end, regardless of how you feel about the deal, TNA managed to pull off something that is very rare in today’s wrestling market, especially with the internet – they pulled off a “huge announcement” that lived up to the hype. No one knew this was coming and it was definitely a shocker. Where does it go from here remains to be seen, Kurt Angle could rise like a phoenix and get a second run like Hulk Hogan did when he signed with WCW, or this could be potentially the beginning of the end of the most celebrated athlete in the wrestling industry.
Late Notes: Kurt Angle is back with his wife Karen and is not going to rehab, but is going to see a doctor on pain management. We've also been told that Angle was scheduled to be paid by WWE until February 25, 2007.
The announcement was made on air Sunday Night during the closing segment of TNA’s pay per view event No Surrender by Jim Cornette in what was undoubtedly a huge surprise. Since then we have learned many, many details as to how all of this came about (and to TNA’s credit they pulled this off with most everyone largely in the dark) and so we here at WrestleView.com decided to try to do a wrap up so to speak. What we know now about the deal. When did it come about? Who was in the know? TNA President, Dixie Carter’s, reaction:
It began Sunday evening prior to No Surrender when word came out through, Dave Meltzer, that the surprise was not informed to TNA’s talent roster and that the majority of them would find out live as the announcement would close the pay per view. It was revealed at this time that the person was believed to be away from the building in a hotel room and would be kept there until 9:30pm eastern time. That turned out to be false as Angle was (to our knowledge at this time) not in Orlando at all and was not at the show. Word starts to come out that some TNA talent were upset that they were not aware of who the surprise was. It was also rumored that those in the know had signed non disclosure confidentiality agreements so word would not be spread.
During the final segment of the No Surrender pay per view, Jim Cornette, announced a time switch for TNA’s television program, iMPACT!, starting with a 2 hour November 16th broadcast at 9pm. Cornette then said that was his announcement, but “this is the announcement”, with that they cut to a video package of Kurt Angle announcing that the former WWE & World Champion was heading to the company. Immediately following, TNA’s traffic on their website, was so great that the website went down. A splash page of Angle coming to TNA was put up and the site later returned with the video package from the pay per view.
Quickly after the pay per view went off the air, word started leaking about the details this last week that led to it all. It became apparent that Angle’s Mixed Martial Arts rumors was nothing but a smokescreen to hide his deal with TNA (around the time the MMA rumors came out is when TNA President, Dixie Carter, announced a “huge surprise” for No Surrender). It was revealed that the video clips that were show on No Surrender were actually shot late last week (rumored to be last Wednesday night at midnight) in a warehouse in Nashville Tennessee.
TNA hired local independent workers to come to the warehouse, set the ring up, sign confidentiality agreements and leave the building. Angle then arrived, did some promos, shot the scenes for the video package and left. The “ring crew” was then allowed back in the building to break the ring down.
Kurt Angle’s official website, KurtAngleWWE.com, posted a statement about the deal and we learned that the TNA staff was not informed of the announcement until approx. 15 minutes before it aired on live pay per view. Those who knew in advance are believed to be TNA President Dixie Carter, Jeff Jarrett, Terry Taylor, Dave Sahadi, and a few others and all signed confidentiality agreements.
TNA then sent out a press release announcing Angle’s entry to the promotion, TNAWrestling.com, put up several stories including TNA Superstar thoughts on the announcement.
There is no word at this time of what Kurt’s contract with WWE was as many expected a no compete clause, which is obviously not the case. No word yet on how Vince McMahon reacted to the announcement but one has to believe it was not positive.
In the end, regardless of how you feel about the deal, TNA managed to pull off something that is very rare in today’s wrestling market, especially with the internet – they pulled off a “huge announcement” that lived up to the hype. No one knew this was coming and it was definitely a shocker. Where does it go from here remains to be seen, Kurt Angle could rise like a phoenix and get a second run like Hulk Hogan did when he signed with WCW, or this could be potentially the beginning of the end of the most celebrated athlete in the wrestling industry.
Late Notes: Kurt Angle is back with his wife Karen and is not going to rehab, but is going to see a doctor on pain management. We've also been told that Angle was scheduled to be paid by WWE until February 25, 2007.
