TNA X-Division champion Kenny King has “it.” A great finisher, swagger, potential on the microphone, King can play a definite role in the resurgence of the X-Division in TNA. The only problem is that TNA creative has made the belt all about the in-ring work; a huge mistake. AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and most recently, Austin Aries have taken advantage of being X-Division stars, using more mic time and exposure and making themselves World title contenders and champions.
King could definitely go the same way.
But with every encounter in the X-Division being a three-way, TNA has essentially admitted they have zero faith in their X-Division stars.
Typical TNA. Try to boil an egg with no water and tell us what happens. Try and build a star in professional wrestling with no build-up, no mic-time, no gimmick and you don’t need a smark to tell you. The guy flounders. Currently, this is the path King is headed on. It can be fixed though.
Let him get his rear handed to him by the Aces and Eights. When he comes back from the injury, let it happen again. During this time, King should sleep in the gym and separate himself physically some more. He’s already a fantastic athlete; he just needs some more definition. Then when confronted by the club to join, he makes the difficult choice and takes another beat down. This will endear him to fans. If TNA makes him look a little stronger than he should during the fights, fans will see his potential. When he makes a full face turn, the fans will respect him. Add in a decent t-shirt and a few solid promos and King has a foundation.
After that, you have him feud with AJ Styles.
That’s how you build a young star TNA. Not by a plethora of spots. Ask Petey Williams; a one of a kind finisher and the adoration of fans isn’t enough. King has the intangibles- he just needs to be developed.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
TNA X-Division champion Kenny King has “it.” A great finisher, swagger, potential on the microphone, King can play a definite role in the resurgence of the X-Division in TNA. The only problem is that TNA creative has made the belt all about the in-ring work; a huge mistake. AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and most recently, Austin Aries have taken advantage of being X-Division stars, using more mic time and exposure and making themselves World title contenders and champions.
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