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TNA Heavyweight Division
December 2, 2005 by Peter Le

I recently did an article on the TNA X Division. I pointed out the great stars of the X Division and that the division is unique, exciting and has no weight limits. The first question pointed my way was if the TNA Heavyweight Division has a weight limit. The TNA Heavyweight Division has had wrestlers with weight disadvantages like AJ Styles. TNA's Heavyweight Title is a prestigious title that has been held by the greats, which include Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race, and now the new wrestlers of TNA. The title was first awarded to Orville Brown and has been in existence since 1948. This article will help all those who have started to watch TNA and want to know about the heavyweight division.

Jeff Jarrett: The current reigning NWA TNA Heavyweight Champion. He is cocky, arrogant, experienced and the self-proclaimed "King of the Mountain". Jarrett is the five time NWA TNA Heavyweight Champion. With America's Most Wanted and Gail Kim currently on his side, he is an unstoppable force to be reckoned with.

Rhino: Simply known as "The Man Beast". His finisher is the ever so powerful GORE! He has held the heavyweight title once, but only lasting less than a week. He is a fresh new face to TNA coming over from the WWE and is the most explosive force in TNA.

Monty Brown: Monty Brown is also known as the "Alpha Male" and has the Pounce in armoury of weapons. He is a former football player with great mic skills and great wrestling skills. He is a new face of wrestling and my bet for the next NWA TNA Heavyweight Champion.

Abyss: He is known as monster for his viciousness and devastating moves. He is the premier destructive force in TNA wrestling. With moves like the Black Hole Slam and the Shock Treatment he can break you in half.

Raven: He is a diabolical character, which has seen very little action lately. He is a former heavyweight champion, but believes he got screwed out of the title. Now is working his way up the ladder. Quote the Raven, nevermore!

Jeff Hardy: He is "Charismatic Enigma". He is the lighter of the heavyweight division and uses speed to defeat his bigger enemies. He is a flying daredevil risking his body to beat his enemy. He is the master of the Swanton!

Sabu: He is the Homicidal, Genocidal, and Suicidal Sabu! He does death-defying moves that break his own body. Abyss' Black Hole Slam to Sabu on thumbtacks was hard to take, but even harder to take when he got the Black Hole Slam on a Barber Wire Chair. Sabu may be more suited for the X Division, but his intensity brings him up to the heavyweight division.

Lance Hoyt: When I first started watching TNA, Lance Hoyt was teaming up with Kid Kash (now WWE Superstar) and Lance Hoyt just seemed like any other big man that can do a big boot. As soon as Kid Kash left Lance Hoyt started to shine. He is probably the most agile big man there is in wrestling. He is 6'9 and can do a moonsault. At Sacrifice he pulled off the craziest move yet when he hit the Vanterminator to Abyss.

by Peter Le ..

Gus Davis wrote:
Jeff Jarrett is a HHH wanna be. He carries around a guitar, HHH carries around a very dangerous sledge hammer. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, who would win that battle if those two fought with those weapons" Face it TNA sucks, The # of viewers TNA has been getting on Spiketv has barely been beating the AM Raw viewer numbers. TNA is just filled with WWE rejects[with the exception of Christian, good for him for moving on from WWE, he was really misused.] The only part of TNA I like is the X-division along with the Barbed Wire Massacre match between Sabu vs. Abyss.

FJ Parlan (Philippines) wrote:
How about Christian Cage" =)

Spiro K (Queens NY) wrote:
This is a very poorly written article that made me laugh a few time. Let's face it; the heavyweight division in TNA isn't much to look forward to. Sabu's intensity makes him a heavyweight" I thought the division was based on how much you weight on a weighting scale not an intensity one. Most of the heavyweights are WWE rejects people that never got the chance to make it in the WWE. I am a wrestling fan so in my eyes Rhino is awesome but in the eyes of a mainstream WWE fan that just started watching TNA Rhino is a WWE jobber (Ask my father he'll tell you). That makes TNA look like 2 levels below WWE. Jeff Jarrett will never get over as much as he tries and in the end he will be the reason for the downfall of TNA.

John A. wrote:
First of all, let me tell you Gus something about Jeff Jarrett. When he for the first time came to the WWE(yes, he has been there). he had a country singer gimmick. Therefore he carried a guitar with him, and also used it in some of his matches. So telling that because HHH carries a sledge and Jarrett has a guitar, he's a HHH wannabe is complete BS. HHH wasn't even in WWE during that time. Jarrett just hasn't been around much since WCW closed and TNA has been around only 2 years.

And talk about " very dangerous sledge hammer", watch the document about Jake Roberts and you'll see that hitting with a guitar can be dangerous too, like hitting with any other hard object.

Now to the column. I think it's ok, still few things I have to comment.

I'm quite sure Jeff Hardy wont get anymore title shots, since he has those personal problems, no-showing and stuff. He's changed his style that now fits more to those hardcore matches. Still, I think his chances of getting to the top aren't quite good anymore.

Monty Brown has talent and is improved well during the past two years. One thing with him sucks though, The Pounce aka Flying shoulder block. One of the dumbest finishers. He should change it to something more convincing.

Raven and Sabu are ok, though age is starting to show on them. Sabu is in the limit of being a heavyweight or not but same can be said about Samoa Joe and he's in the X-Division so no big deal. Raven has great charisma and good mic skills. Too bad they didn't let him hold the title longer.

Many of the WWE n00bs say that Abyss is a Kane rip-off. Well, so far Abyss hasn't been involved in any necrophilia-, marriage- or pregnancyangles. Neither his moves aren't like Kanes, with the exception of Choke slam, but it's been used by most big men. Nathan Jones, Eric Watts, Big Show to mention some. He doesn't talk, which is good cause he has James Mitchell as the mouthpiece. And if he still improves his skills, he'll make a good heavyweight.

Hopefully the former guys who didn't get a chance to shine in WWE, thanks to Mr. Creative Control HHH, get their chances in the future. Rhyno has done it briefly but it didin't last long unfortunately. Christian just came in so he might get his chance some time too.

Bottom line is, TNA needs to improve their heavywieght division, but they have good start on it. Face it, right now there's not many others than Jarrett to hold the WHW-title, so they need to push someone. And since TNA is a young company, they need new talent, weather or not guys who have been gone from WWE. And one thing TNA does much better than WWE is the X- Division. They really know how to use the lightweights and even mix in with some heavier one's(Samoa Joe to say the least). WWE mostly bury the lightweights to Velocity or make them look like total morons. Simon Dean aka Nova anyone" Great talent ruined with a half-assed gimmick.

To the end I have to say few words to you two WWE n00bs Gus and Spiro. First of all Gus, you first say "TNA sucks", then you say good thing about it is "X-division along with the Barbed Wire Massacre match between Sabu vs. Abyss." You seem to be little wishy-washy about that. Stick to your point, if you got one. Both of you guys shoudn't watch TNA if you need to come here and just whine about it. Stop whining and stop watching TNA if it hurts you so much.

Cam M. wrote:
Gee, im pretty surprised by these responses. Let me address all the pocket TNA smears i see people parroting over and over again. First off the never ending Jarret - HHH comparaisons. Let's get one thing straght. Jeff Jarrett was walking around with a guitar for what" 10 years mabye before HHH made the sledgehammer (more accurately his hand draped over the end) his calling card. Does noone ever wonder why he doesnt swing it" The fakest looking weapon attack in wrestling. And they both cut annoying self-indulgeant promos. The difference is only 1 guy's goes on and on and on for 20 minutes. And im not even a Cena hater, but a 5 year old mark could tell you neither him or Batista could lace Jarrett's boots. TNA is full of WWE rejects. well the WWE rejects in TNA number: Jarrett, BG & Kip James, and Sean Waltman. The rest are people the WWE failed to use who are obviously more talented than most of the wrestlers Vince is putting on TV. 4 (or 5 if you count Nash showing up every few months) out of 50 or so on the roster does not constitute "full". Then theres Abyss with the same criticism time and time again. If you think Kane is a better wrexstler than Abyss, then i doubt you have ever seen one of his matches. Do all you kids really think Mankind and Kane were the original "uncontrollable monster" gimmicks in wrestling" Why arent these same people calling out the WWE on the +10 guys they have working some sort of male giggolo gimmick" There's no real reason why i personally should love or hate either TNA or WWEright off the bat. I would like to think im impartial. I watch both shows and take in what there is to take in. I dont care if some mark with his spinner belt thinks of people like Rhino or Raven. Theyre wrestling excellent matches that i enjoy. Like when you have retarded wretslers, a shameful sham of a tag team division, Batista and Ric Flair seemingly barely noticeing the titles they are holding, never-ending stupid storylines, the list goes on and on... The choice is clear for me at least.

Rhino, AJ Styles, Monty Brown, Christian, Jeff Hardy, Raven, Sabu, Samoa Joe, Ron Killings, Abyss, Petey Williams, Christopher Daniels, Chris Sabin, . Sorry but the number of WWE superstars who i enjoy watching as much as these folks can be counted on one hand. And its about time the WWE got some competition, mabye they'll stop sucking.

paul casey wrote:
I cant do much except reinforce many points that have been already made here but i might as well since no one seems to take note. Jarret was in the game hitting people with guitars before HHH even laced up his boots. Abyss is a far more talented wrestler than kane, kane could never have survived or pulled off the match abyss had with A.J in the cage. Monty Brown is excellent on the mic, though he could do with a mean, poweful slam as his finisher rather than the pounce. If wwe rejects equates to wrestlers that were not used to thier full potential, then yes there are a few of those guys in TNA. Another point to reinforce...Gus one day you will see the light after about 20 years of watching mediocre pantomime wrestling and then craving to actually SEE wrestling, you'll know where we are all coming from, WWE seriously needs to get its act together, every week i watch raw and SD hoping something good will happen, but it never does, the only decent things to come out of wwe this year were ECW one night stand (tanaka vs awesome...oh yes!), micheals vs kurt angle, the 6 way for the title shot contract at mania, and micheals vs shelton benjamin. and even teh micheals benjamin, angle matches were pale in comparrison to the x division, has anyone noticed the tower of doom moves being transplanted into the wwe" The only things TNA needs to overtake the wwe is for people to stop just accepting the nonesense they are force fed every week. The same boring matches and moves every week, all year. Yes TNA could use a betetr girth in the heavywieght division, but i dont think it will take long for that to happen. Long live TNA and good on them for letting wrestlers actually wrestle. One more point driven home before i leave, the berth of talent in TNA is astounding in comparisson to WWE , though wwe has some people who could really rock hard given free reign, angle, benjamin , the mexicools, paul london and possibly a few others who slip my mind at this point due to me being decked with the flu, they dont use them, which at the end of the day is wwe's loss.

Chris Dalgleish wrote:
Yes I accept the fact that Kane and Abyss are totally different, but that's no means for completely destroying Kane. You've judged him by the storylines that he has been put in by the creative department. Kane seemingly has no backstage pull. It's creative's fault for all the storylines that come out of that company. Be it a pregnancy angle or someone having an attitude problem.

Also, his wrestling ability. Those of you who watch WWE obviously haven't watched Kane too closely. Kane is one of the few power brawlers the company has. In which he can mix both a powerful style, with competent brawling and still get over as a monster. Kane can also complement the different styles of other wrestlers. He can make everyone look good from Matt Hardy to Gene Snitsky and Batista.

Before people make such ludicrous comparisions between the two they should look into both men's careers.

Drew Cooper wrote:
Nice column. But, where's Christian Cage!" Although I like Cage, I would love to see Sabu winning the world title or even guys like Abyss or Monty Brown or even Hardy! But, Sabu's my #1 pick to win the title next. Yet, when Sting arrives, he just may snatch that world title away from that boring Double J, Jeff Jarrett. Awesome job!

Frankie Puna wrote:
If NWA: TNA Heavyweight Title is going to get any "street credibility" and/or going to survive the uphill battle against both WWE Title and World Heavyweight Championship then heres what needs to happen: (1) TNA must to take a good look and research into their own wrestling history! The "REAL" NWA Heavyweight Championship belt is actually The World Heavyweight Title that is now in possession of the WWE! ( For those youngin's out there here's a brief history lesson...The NWA World Championship Title converted to the WCW World Heavyweight Championship which is now alive and well currently on Batista's waist in WWE' s Smackdown!) With that said, if NWA TNA is going to get any respect as a professional wrestling company and wants their heavyweight division to receive any credibility among the critics then (2) they better step their game up and their budget up and redesign that "NWA World Title". AM I the only self proclaimed wrestling expert who has really taken a good look at that belt" Have ya'll seen that belt"!" It's hilarious! It looks so weak!!! It makes the company as a whole look weak!!! I think the WCW Television title held more weight than that wack ass belt and looks better too! If TNA wants to be taken seriously then they are going to have make a bigger and better belt 'cuz to me that is my number one reason among many why TNA still "appears" to be 2nd rate wrestling--- they must attack the obvious problems first sad to say we live in a world where physical attraction is the first attraction. Granted the World Heavyweight Title is the most prestigious in all of wrestling world wide but that was a NWA belt originally and I think it will be very difficult to create that look again, but dammit I know they can do better than that! Hell, let me design it! Put aside in-ring skills, mic-skills, and storylines for awhile and get a freakin' makeover! This is my 1st entry... I finally graduated from the occasional reader guy to a man thats icthin to write columns! North Carolina's finest...

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