Celebrities and wrestling are a traditional as old as the term "sports entertainment". From Andy Kaufman's famous altercation with Jerry Lawler, to "The Rock and Wrestling Connection", to Wrestlemania's annual courtship of celebrities, to 2009's guest host concept on Raw, celebrities always seem to find themselves inside a wrestling ring. Sometimes it's a success (see the original Wrestlemania and Mike Tyson at Wrestlemania 14) while other times it fails miserably (see Pam Anderson at Wrestlemania 11 and David Arquette as WCW Champion). However, promoters never back off on trying to draw mainstream appeal to their wrestling promotion.
Fast forward to today. On the heels of The Rock being announced as guest host of Wrestlemania and Justin Bieber all but confirmed to sing the national anthem at the event, TNA felt they needed to counter. Granted, they are a much smaller entity and certainly dont' have the monetary enticement that WWE has, but in their quest to draw viewers to their product, they have reached out and obtained a couple of celebrities they are hoping will do the trick.
For those who don't know me personally, I do have interests outside of wrestling.
Shocked?
Don't be. I've written on Pinstripepartisan.com about my beloved Yankees and recently did a column about Carmelo Anthony coming to New York. If you haven't read that one yet, do so at thesportslead.com. Anyway, it should be pretty obvious (if you haven't picked it up from where I attend WWE events) that I am a New Yorker.
As such, I am also a New York Jets fan. Ever since my first training camp in 1994, the Jets have been my team, though it is admittedly difficult to keep up hope for a team that hasn't seen the Super Bowl since the Nixon administration. Lately, expectations have been as high as head coach Rex Ryan's cholesterol, so I've been excited on that front.
But what would happen if two of my great passions combined into one?
No, I'm not talking about combining football and baseball into one sport as portrayed at the beginning of the classic comedy BASEketball. In this case, football and wrestling will combine, and it is a New York Jet that will cross the line!
Admittedly, I'm late to the party as my buddy Jon over at HCoftheNYJ has already relayed this news to the FanVsFan universe, but here's my take on it. Bart Scott cut a wrestling promo after a playoff win and Hogan took notice. Two months later, Scott will be in a wrestling ring, living out a lifelong dream. However, he was not alone.
Also on the show will be Angelina Pivarnick of "Jersey Shore" fame. I've never watched the show, but my friends who do have informed me that her stint was short lived due to her unlikeability. Perfect for TNA, as she will play the heel to JWoww's babyface with the hopes that the two eventually square off in a grudge match.
If you remember a couple of months ago, JWoww made an appearance on TNA wrestling that was basically useless. However, it garnered TMZ and gossip news attention, so it may have been a positive in that sense. This would be leading towards a payoff in TNA's mind, the type of payoff we used to receive from Eric Bischoff back in WCW. Remember Hogan and Rodman vs. DDP and Malone? You may be getting something similar here?
So what does it all mean? Is it a good thing? A bad thing? Should we even care? As a Jet fan, I do want to see how Bart does out there. Some Jet fans may tune in to find out as well. As for Angelina, Jersey Shore fans don't even like her, so how are you going to bring in that crowd? Of course, Impact airs while Jersey Shore does, so how are you targeting those fans anyway?
The bottom line is that this is another attempt to draw ratings, just as the guest host concept was for the WWE last year and just like every other celebrity interaction with wrestling before. Will it work? That depends. Did reading this article make you want to watch the show? Now you know that two celebrities will appear on it, will you watch? What if I told you another big surprise was coming? We'll talk about that one.................in another article.
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