The Rampage Problem

If you watched this week’s episode of Impact Wrestling, the confrontation between MMA legend Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and professional wrestling legend Kurt Angle was cool, right?

Not so fast.

While on paper it seems like a heck of fun, don’t forget that Jackson has zero experience in pro wrestling. It could be months or even a year before Rampage is Impact ready.

Remember King Mo’s appearance on TNA? He hasn’t been in the ring yet, for a reason. He’s not ready. Professional wrestling requires timing and precision that MMA simply doesn’t. In MMA, your actions are the most important. You don’t have to worry about taking care of the person you’re “sharing” the ring with. It’s all about you. Even seasoned pros that went back to the sport from MMA, like Brock Lesnar needed time to readjust and actually “pull” their strikes.

On a positive note, TNA worked quickly and got Jackson some fitting ring music and made his debut cooler than many would have expected. The fact that TNA snagged Jackson with Spike TV and Bellator MMA and will likely split the costs of his contract also makes this an excellent, low-risk, high-reward signing. For once, it looked like TNA made a smart move here.

Well, that was until he spoke. Although he’s definitely one of the more charismatic MMA stars in the world, that doesn’t mean anything in pro wrestling. Uncomfortable and sputtering at times, Jackson needs time in OVW to work on his promo skills before he can truly make an “impact.” It doesn’t matter how many times he borrows lines from Ric Flair either- the monster is definitely rough around the edges when it comes to his on-camera presence.

In a real-life fight, Jackson would destroy Kurt Angle, but in the world of professional wrestling, Angle would job Jackson out. If TNA can find a way to polish this iconic MMA star and make him reputable in their world, it’ll be like winning the lottery on a dollar ticket.

While it won’t be nearly as terrible as WCW’s Tank Abbott experiment if done wrong, Rampage Jackson’s tenure in TNA, if botched, could hurt future MMA stars turned professional wrestlers chances at success.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14262 Articles
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.

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