Having conveyed my overall feelings regarding the Jarrett/Angle feud previously, I can now approach an article updating the latest developments in the story line. As anyone who watched Impact Wrestling last week on Spike TV, Kurt Angle's mistress was finally revealed to by none other than Joanie Laurer, a.k.a. Chyna! Although not as massively built as she was back in the Attitude Era, Chyna came out looking to be in great shape. As always in the wrestling business, it is good to see familiar faces return from time to time.
Like most, I was expecting Isis the Amazon to debut as Angle's mistress, a story twist that I was not looking forward to. I will admit to having no first hand knowledge of Isis or her in-ring abilities, but none of the early reports I've seen have been favorable. I am of course intrigued by Isis if only based on her impressive and imposing physicality, but I'd prefer that a company like TNA take their time introducing a unique talent like Isis, allowing her to learn the business before putting her in the ring.
As for the match at Sacrifice, I was pleasantly surprised. I've been tired of the Jarrett and Angle feud since before it began, but I cannot deny that both of these guys can work. Jeff Jarrett is a solid performer, in-ring and out, a fact that many tend to deny. Jarrett actually is great match to Angle's in-ring abilities, and these two guys have given us some utterly tremendous slobber-knockers over the last few months. The real key to the match at Sacrifice though was the involvement of Chyna. The audience at the Impact Zone were way into Chyna, and the crowd felt positively electric during this match-up.
The crowd reaction to Chyna was a bit of a surprise to me, although I don't mean to say it was undeserved. Chyna was an amazing talent and still possesses that same potential. The TNA audience has seen so many big surprise comebacks from ex-WWE guys that such "big" comebacks have sort of become meaningless. It was actually refreshing to see a return welcomed and fully embraced by the TNA fans.
As for her performance in the match, Chyna wasn't given a whole lot to do until the very end of the match. This was expected given that she would be primarily working with Karen Jarrett. Chyna did get some offense in against Jeff Jarrett and she looked good doing it. Once Chyna finally got her hands on Karen Jarrett the crowd positively erupted. It's hard to say if this can really be contributed to the favor of the audience for Chyna, or if they were just pleased to finally see Karen get her comeuppance. Either way, Chyna was in the right place at the right time. TNA creative did good and really helped reinvigorate a faded star.
I look forward to Chyna's continued involvement in TNA.
No comments:
Post a Comment