NOTE FROM THE EDITOR: Every month, the Columnist of the Month contest is held in the LOP Columns Forum. The winning columnist gets to have one of his columns posted on the main page. Today, we welcome a new member to the COTM club. Be nice to him. He's Australian, so he's got big shoes to fill. He's the first Aussie to grace the main page since the legendary DaveyBoy stepped down. Please welcome Box Car Rocco and his column series, BCR Is Wrestling!
Thanks to Romeo for the awesome banner.
Hello everybody and welcome to the 22nd edition of BCR is Wrestling. What a massive week in wrestling it has been; Breaking Point has come and gone while Jeff hardy is in trouble for drug related issues once again, yet I don't seem to care. You see, I have a rule when it comes to wrestling news; if doesn't involve TNA, I don't care. Now that those extremely unimportant issues are out of the way, let’s get onto the column.
We've Crossed the Line, So Should You - Part 3.
Now this isn't a series I've been doing recently, it was something I did this a few months ago but with the recent additions to the TNA roster, I thought it was time to bring this back. Luckily, I've been able to get a hold of these to get their perspective on crossing the line. All that's left to do is for you to sit back and enjoy.
The responses were sent to me on the 16th of September 2009. That's before the Impact and following PPV that might have changed their responses.
Line Crosser #7 - Elijah Burke.
Yo, I'm The Pope D'Angelo Deniro and I crossed the line a couple of months ago. I've often wondered if I’d ever be wrestling on national T.V again, TNA stopped that wondering and saved my career. Oh, sorry, most of you probably won't recognise me under this new name. Do you all remember Elijah Burke? Yeah, the one that Vince McMahon called the future of ECW on national T.V. It shows you how wonderful kayfabe truly is, doesn't it? If Vince wanted to say that in front of everyone, why couldn't he have showed that behind closed doors by giving me the push that I deserved? No, and that's why Elijah Burke is gone for good.
Now my career has been saved and it's all because I crossed the line. Elijah Burke wasn’t who I was supposed to be because if it was, I would have made it. In fact, I should have made it. I have charisma, I’m good in the ring and there’s certainly nothing that’s holding me back. The people who make the decisions in TNA realised that, they knew what a great talent I am and hired me after one tryout match. Elijah Burke was gone; it was time to enter The Pope.
Yep, this is who I was supposed to be and TNA let me be that person. I haven't been an on-screen character for long but I've been hot shotted to somewhat of a major feud already. Yeah, that's right, it's a major feud. You may think that the X-Division is dead or has been buried but my feud with Suicide and Joe's feud with Daniels is the start of something. Since Suicide doesn't talk much and I'm yet to have cut a promo, this feud has relied on getting back to the basics. It's been really fun so far to be in a feud like that, simple interference and tag matches slowly builds heat in a feud and that's what we're going for, a slowly built feud that will finish off with a memorable match. How do I know it will be memorable? Well firstly, I'm awesome. Secondly, the few times that I've worked with Suicide we have seemed to click so when we meet one on one, it should be awesome.
The future should be great for me; I won't turn into some Jethro Holiday that's for sure. You make think that I'm sounding cocky but relax, The Pope knows how hard TNA worked to get his services and when you work that hard, you don't screw him over. Wouldn't it be a shame if the two biggest wrestling companies in the world could both have the tagline, "We've misused Elijah Burke/The Pope"? TNA won't do that however, they're smarter than the WWE. They know exactly how to use their talent and in the upcoming months, big things will be happening for me. I am The Pope, and I'm preaching for all of you to cross the line, you won't regret it.
Line Crosser #8 - Bobby Lashley.
Hi, I'm MMA star Bobby Lashley and I crossed the line. Crossing the line was such an easy decision for me. I had been absent from wrestling for a while yet I still had a passion for it, I also wanted to continue on with my MMA fights, what was someone in my situation to do? The answer to that was easy, cross the line. If it wasn't for some unfortunate circumstances back in 2007, I would never have had to leave professional wrestling in the first place. Now that I look back on those events, I cherish them because without them, I would never have crossed the line.
Ever since crossing the line, TNA management has done everything within their power to make me feel at home. That's something I haven't experienced anywhere else I've been; I left the WWE because of their treatment of my wife and Dana White doesn't want me in the UFC because of my professional wrestling commitments. TNA didn't care about all that, they were happy to have me despite my MMA commitments.
Now that's something I want to talk about, my MMA commitments. Now I know most of you are wrestling fans so I won't talk about MMA specifically, I will however talk about how I balance MMA and pro-wrestling. A lot of people think I'm super human for doing what I've been doing lately, but it isn't that hard. MMA training and wrestling training has been quite similar for me, which is handy as I don't have to do double the training, my training can be compressed into one. It also means that I have time to focus on TNA, which if you're one of the hard working youngsters, is a light schedule. For me, I have an even lighter schedule while still playing my part as an on-screen character without being worn out. Just another advantage about crossing the line I suppose.
So far since crossing the line, I have done some pointing. After that I thought I'd point some more before walking backstage. Ha-ha, but all kidding aside, back when I was showing up at random points during show; I hadn't actually signed a contract yet. I didn't really see the logic in that, to be honest with you guys, but the way they brought be back was genius! When I did appear many months ago, it appeared that I'd side with Kurt Angle and the Main Event Mafia. When I came back, the first thing I did was attack them in an exciting swerve. Ever since then, I've been going against them in the fight for TNA and even though I'm not a TNA original, I still think that is kind of cool.
Speaking of cool, my TNA Pay-Per-View debut is coming up in the next couple of weeks, you're all ordering No Surrender right? Of course you are, I'm wrestling on it. Now don't expect anything special from me, I am facing Rhino after all, you'll have to wait for Bound For Glory to see me at my finest. On to Bound For Glory, I won't tell you who I'm wrestling, I will tell you that I am wrestling someone who've I could have only wrestled in my dreams. He is a man I greatly respect and who has accomplished so much in this business, it will be an honour to wrestle him on TNA's grandest stage of them all.
I wouldn't be competing on such a grand stage if I didn't cross the line. I also wouldn't be wrestling again, and the thought of never wrestling again makes me sad, especially since I still love the business. Crossing the line is something everyone should do; whether you're a wrestling fan, a fan of American Idol or someone that plays online games all day, you won't regret it. This is Bobby Lashley signing off and telling you to order No Surrender!
Line Crosser #9 - Tazz.
It's the Human Suplex Machine here and I crossed the line just like many others. To me, this was such an easy decision to make. I was going nowhere in my former job, a commentator in the WWE, and it was just painful to watch ECW. I mean, would you want to stay at a place that was using the name of something you dedicated your life to? They weren't using it for good either; it was just another clog in the McMahon wheel of making money. That's why I decided to cross the line; I wanted to be in a better place.
As a commentator, I wasn't really helping young stars get over. TNA didn't want to bring me as a commentator; straight away at least, they wanted to manage a wrestler called Samoa Joe. Now if you've watched a lot of my matches and you've seen a glimpse of Joe, straight away you can tell the similarities. Firstly, both Joe and I made our opponents tap out to deadly submission holds, that's quite obvious. There's probably one big similarity though and that's our build. We're both quite large in size; yet in height, we are quite short. I think personally this is what made us both so different. It was rare for people who were of our stature to be doing what we were doing. I was suplexing people all over the ring while Joe was flying all over the ring; it's quite cool to watch.
However, some people question whether or not I actually taught Joe anything new and said I was just an on-screen mentor. I can tell you all reading right now that I was did give Joe a few tips behind the scenes. If you want proof, go back and see that suplex Joe did on Daniels after Daniels cut a promo on him a few weeks ago, that was 100% me. Joe's move set is very, very strong I'll tell you that, but I think I can say that I've added to it immensely. Once he re-enters the main event scene, he'll be ready to bust out even more moves so you all should be on the lookout.
Now onto something I'd really love to get off my chest; I had no intention of taking Don West's job. I know a lot of people have blamed me for taking Don West's job, who was an extremely entertaining commentator, might I add, but it isn't true. TNA asked me to commentate and since I'm under contract, I obliged. Hopefully this stops all the hate mails I've been receiving on Facebook; heck, I even saw a wrestling columnist dedicate a column which basically told me to fuck off. What kind of idiot does that anyway?
Off the negatives about my stint as a commentator, it's been really good to work with Mike Tenay. I've worked with some great commentators in the past, and Mike has to be right up there with the likes of Joey Styles and Jim Ross when it comes to play-by-play announcing. Another thing that I want to get off my chest, when commentating I get to watch the whole show up close and personal, not just from the confinements of the TNA lockeroom. I feel that this gives me a better chance to help the younger talent of TNA improve on some minor things. It's also awesome that I get to watch the matches that have been produced, since joining TNA I have been treated to so many classic matches that it's not funny.
Something else that's not funny is crossing the line. I've done it and people like Kurt Angle, Booker T, Sting and Mick Foley have crossed the line. Just tune in for yourself and see how great these guys are going even at their age, it's just proof that TNA revitalises careers and makes you regain that passion for wrestling we all once had. Cross the line if you can, survive the awesomeness that is TNA Impact if I let you.
That's about all we have time for today, I hope you enjoyed it. If you want to leave feedback on this column, you can email me at Criv182@gmail.com or better yet, you could sign up to the forums and drop by the Column of the Month Feedback Thread. Catch you all later.
