WWE Makes an “Awesome” Signing
By Drowgoddess · · 7 CommentsWWE has reportedly signed former TNA Knockouts champion Awesome Kong to a contract.
Kong tweeted that she had finally scored her “dream job,” but made no mention of WWE by name.
The Good:
Focus in WWE has gradually shifted to legitimate female wrestlers like Natalya, Beth Phoenix, and Melina (though Gail Kim has continually been ignored), and hopefully this means that Michelle McCool’s thoroughly undeserved reign of terror will soon come to an end. Imagine Kong, Tamina, Natalya, Beth Phoenix, Gail Kim, and Melina in different programs for the Divas title. The glory days of Trish Stratus, Lita, Molly Holly, and Jazz could be upon us again, and that would be fantastic news. Kong will finally be paid more of what she is worth, as opposed to the $200 per show with no hotel, travel expenses, or food allotment that most of the women are given in TNA. Good for her!
The Bad:
Think of what Kong looks like. Now think of the sheer glee with which John Cena mocks Vickie Guerrero for her weight and appearance. Will Vince and Co. actually allow someone who doesn’t look like a Barbie doll stripper to do anything significant, particularly when that person came from TNA? Gail Kim truly seemed to be punished for daring to go to TNA and return to WWE, but Kim started out with WWE and left them. Kong has never worked for them at all, so there’s nothing to hold against her. WWE has a very poor track record of handling women who don’t cause people in power to pleasure themselves, and one needs look no further than Rhonda Singh being turned into Bertha Faye to find an example of how wrong this could go.
This news, the release of Hamada from TNA, and Taylor Wilde’s announcement that she had quit TNA of her own accord, puts a new spin on my as-yet unposted series of articles on women’s wrestling, to be sure.
Like this post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed today and never miss another!
7 Comments
Gee Hall
Well, the WWE has a bona fide monster heel now. Provided they book her as such. It would serve them well to give her a valet (wouldn't that be epic?) or a manager of sorts. I'd opt for a manager personally, even though I know I am living in the past. A valet would likely end up being Chavo Guerrero and lead to some really awkward and bad comedy moments with Vickie and Dolph! Here's hoping the WWE let's this indie worker just jump right into the thick of things and avoid "learning the WWE style" in development.
I have concerns for Beth Phoenix's role, though. Don't get me wrong, Beth is great. The problem is how they choose to book her after bringing in Kong. Albeit, we haven't seen her in a while, so perhaps they can present her from here as a competitor, and not a giant?
I look forward to the next installment of your series. Of course let me know about further contributions towards it as well! 🙂
pintnoir
This is just sad. Is Vince really ready to acknowledge female wrestling superiority and allow such talented woman to flock to his venue? What's even funnier is how TNA is making such asinine mistakes treating these woman like dirt. 200 Dollars an appearance! No expenses paid!! And yet during the All Knockouts Specials and various 2009 matches their Women Division out rated the rest of the program. They should at least be signed to contracts and make around 200K plus the added bonus of going out and booking independent matches. Their getting waitress pay! The way this is shaping up in two years or more WWE will have all the top female talent and a renaissance in the Diva division circa 98-05. Shame on Dixie from a female point of view she's a hypocrite.
Gee Hall
@pintnoir, consider contacting the DrowGoddess directly about Knockout/Diva talk. Clearly you have some things to say…
Geez, the highest draw for the show… and yet they get paid that little? That's horrible. Actually, a friend of mine would say that's turrible. I've read/heard various aspects of how the pay works in the TNA promotion, and I suppose I shouldn't be shock(master)ed. And I realize that they get, for the lack of a better description, dick-all for PPV buyrates. And I won't even get into the fact that they book a carwreck show that doesn't even draw fucking buyrates for that matter. But this approach they use, seems to be like an inverted trade-show deal or something.
"Pay to be here, and you get national promotion… but we display you as we see fit." Ok, those quotations are facetious. Still… You go to promote yourself, and then Russo/Hogan/Bischoff/some-random-drunk books you to job out via 3849378 run-ins (including use of flaming chainsaw barbedwire flaming tables) in a reverse grab-a-midget-off-a-Mike-Tenay match. And you paid your own airfare.
I hope Kong makes a ton of money for all her hard work regardless of how the WWE uses her. As a fan, I want to see her shine. As an empathetic person, I hope she banks some cash to make up for dealing with Bubba the Love Sponge.
pintnoir
Thanks for the suggestion, Gee Hall. I'm just vocal because I have been watching TNA female wrestling for quite some time and just feel that up until Hogan/Bischoff showed up we were seeing mainstream female wrestling that one didn't have to sift through Shimmer and Chickfight dvds to appreciate. I mean i was witness to free entertaining women wrestling and then Dixie with her "Your either with me or you can leave"attitude cost us. Because thanks to her i have to go and dig around for Shimmer wrestling and shell out $15 or so bucks to watch these same woman perform in a undeserving small gymnasium. I keep hoping someone catches a clue.
xkiharux
Are you kidding? If John Cena tried making ANY comments about her size, she'd knock him flat… and I would thoroughly enjoy it. I love John Cena, but that was just pathetic.
ThinkSoJoE
Holy crap! Two news articles in a row? When did we become PWI?
All kidding aside, I shudder to think how WWE will actually use Kong, though I would like to point out that even though Gail Kim is just in WWE so TNA doesn’t have her (and probably getting paid way more in the process), Christian also left for TNA and came back, and was featured prominently on ECW, even winning the brand’s championship.
Bull Nakano didn’t go the same route Rhonda Singh went, and this was at a time when the WWE really wanted to portray the women’s division as on par with the men’s. Nakano came in an destroyed the pretty little women tossed her way. Hopefully, with a roster of women who can actually wrestle, Kong will be portrayed in the same way.
Jamie Kennedy
I'm actually digging that some news is being posted up here! Creates a lot of chatter alongside the articles! 🙂
Nice to see Kong get a run in WWE. She's a wrestler I've always been impressed with and just loved her run against Gail Kim in TNA. Not REALLY holding out much hope for a similar type of feud in WWE but you never know, she might just be the breath of fresh air the female grap game needs in that promotion.
Even though I'm a big fan of the sports entertainment vibe WWE bring to the table, I would like to see somebody with the skills and experience Kong has put to good use. No fat jokes please.