Kurt Angle/Jeff Jarrett sparring for power?

Rumor went out yesterday (here) that Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle have become conflicted when it comes to backstage power and politics. The conflict is so apparent that men in the company have started to go around trying to convince other workers to take sides on the matter. Supposedly this conflict between the two former and current World Champions has come about as both are vying for the most stroke and influence on TNA President and daughter of owner Bob Carter, Dixie Carter. The rumor goes on to make up the sides' leaders as Kurt Angle and Vince Russo on one hand, and Jeff Jarrett and Dutch Mantel on the other. What could have caused this struggle? What could have supposedly forced these men to become so conflicted that it could be sending the workers of the promotion into a civil war? I have one idea, the wrestling concept that emphasizes no limits but is predominantly made up of wrestlers 220lbs and lighter, the X Division.

Let me set this up...

TNA last week officially went into their weekly two hour television program. The long awaited shift to two hours is something fans and wrestlers of the company alike have been working for so long to accomplish, as they hoped the extra forty or so minutes of programming would help rid the promotion of flaws in writing, booking and lack of lengthy matches. Another supposed promise that was being made in some ways to fans, and a whole lot to the workers of the company was the re-push of the X Division and the wrestlers within it. One Matt Bentley in an interview said that it was a promise that was being made on and on over the last year, that when they got their two hours, the Division would receive a more prominent role in the company.

When the X Division first started in 2002 the coined phrase and tagline of the division was made by Mike Tenay, as "it's not about weight limits, it's about no limits", that is, no limit as to how you can use your speed, agility and your body as your force in the ring. The division's early days could best be compared to the days of when World Championship Wrestling's cruiserweight division thrived, and you had many new, fresh faces representing it that the audience would pop for upon entrance. Names like AJ Styles, Jerry Lynn, Psicosis, Low Ki, Chris Sabin and others started in it and electrified crowds with amazing performances as wrestlers and as athletes. The division in TNA's early days held a cult-like following amongst fans, as matches were booked so well that many saw the division, wrestlers, and the X Division Championship as somewhat of equals to the promotion's other workers, and then NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

The original intent of the division was not for it to be strictly cruiserweights or junior heavyweights if you will, but to simply show a new form of professional wrestling, styles clashing in the ring that were inspired by promotions from all over the globe. You had the luchadore style, the strong style, technical abilities and catch being exhibited. As there were no weight limits instituted on the division or on the booking itself, it only made sense for certain workers who could work just as well as those in the division to be dropped in, regardless of size or weight. Early on there was Sonny Siaki, 240lb agile wrestler of American Samoa with some very innovative moves and high risk offense in his repertoire, he went on to hold the division's championship for two months after winning it in very heel-like fashion from Jerry Lynn to Kid Kash.

Down the line you saw probably TNA's biggest(no pun intended) independent wrestling acquisition to date, the close to 290lb, later to be nicknamed the Samoan Submission Machine, Samoa Joe. Joe was a wrestler who worked most prominently in Ring of Honor around the East Coast in the United States and in the ZERO-1 promotion in Japan. Joe's style can best be described as smash mouth, stiff, and technical, with an occasional tope through the ropes to the outside. Joe started off pretty light, and by light that's no diss to the rest of the X Division at the time, but later, he'd be the match that once again lit the X Division on fire. He had great bouts with Christopher Daniels and AJ Styles alike, as well as a Three-Way Match that main evented TNA's Unbreakable pay-per-view for the X Division Championship, that earned the promotion its first, and currently only 5-Star Match rating from Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter. It was only after these amazing bouts that the three men put on that the Division again lost much of it's touch.

Styles and Daniels went on to start competing as a tag team, and Samoa Joe went onto the heavyweight division of the promotion competing for the NWA Title, as well as feuding with Scott Steiner. The title went to Senshi(formerly Low Ki), and a shadow was cast over the division, sometimes found to be a rarity was a title defense booked on the card.

Why do I bring this up in regards to Kurt Angle's supposed problems with Jeff Jarrett, you ask? Interviews Angle did last year, the one I remember the most was one I actually took the time to listen to in around November with an Orlando-based radio station, one where Angle to me truthfully made his intentions known of why he came to TNA in the first place. Fresh faces, the interview he did spoke so positively about almost every worker in the division. He put over Chris Sabin, Senshi, Christopher Daniels, AJ Styles, lines like "oh, I could definitely have a good match with him", "I'd definitely like to work with him" were words that Angle was speaking. Only at this point to me does it really show that Angle's intentions to come to Total Nonstop Action were not about money and a reduced work schedule and a guaranteed main event spot. Angle's intentions were about passion for the business, and a chance to work with many young and talented individuals, to elevate himself back into pro wrestling prowess and to give the "no-names" of the promotion credibility.

Angle had a short X Division Title run after defeating Samoa Joe, a man who'd not competed in the division for over a year mind you, that ended in a great match, and a clean victory by roll-up to 21 year old "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal. This night is one that apparently won't be forgotten for this division, as later in the night during a post-match segment with Samoa Joe, after intentionally getting himself disqualified, beating down false security guard after security guard, members of the X Division started making their way to the ring in an attempt to calm down or restrain Joe, including Jay Lethal. Joe in character didn't take kindly to this and shoved all he could out of the way, those including the newly crowned X Champion Jay Lethal. According to some reports, Kurt Angle was also upset by management's decision to have Jay go down and be shoved around for this segment, as he felt putting over Jay Lethal as clean as he did only to be pushed around by a heavyweight semi-main event worker later on in the night was a demotion of Jay and possibly the others with him, to jobber status. The thought was also furthered on the premiere 2 hour edition of Impact last week when Team 3D knocked over Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt in a backstage interview segment, also leading to a massive beatdown of Shark Boy and Dutt in the ring.

A burial of characters, or a sign that company doesn't really have their priorities in check? You decide.

Angle verbally putting over the X Divison, putting over Jay Lethal cleanly in a title match, combined with the horrible booking of segments and placement of wrestlers by the writers of TNA exemplified on last week's edition of the Impact program, along with a major emphasis on old names, faces and rejects from the WWE taking up TV time rather than fresh young talent for the "new face of professional wrestling" has lead me to believe that maybe Angle wants to use his stroke to insure that the men that work below him on the card have a bright future ahead of them, and not one in the dirt.

In an interview about two weeks ago, Angle made it known that he was attempting to use backstage powers for good as to give the fans what they want. Instead of constant run-ins and cheap tactics securing victories in matches, Angle suggested that there be decisive and clean finishes. Could this also mean that Kurt is lobbying for more changes in the ranks of creative that go beyond just clean match booking? We know that Vince Russo was a heavy proponent of the early X Division, as he started off as the promotion's head writer and booker that gave us the memories of the Division that we long to have repeated and new memories created in the current days of TNA Wrestling.

Former manager of The Latin American Exchange in TNA, Konnan even went as far to say that the X Division would never see a push again as long as Jeff Jarrett and Dutch Mantel were apart of the creative staff, as they are very old school in their thinking, and don't appreciate the new athletic professional wrestling style, or as he dubbed it, the "flip-flop style".

My thoughts to sum up, the X Division is made up of some great talent, Senshi, Christopher Daniels, Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal, Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Elix Skipper, AJ Styles and all of them, can go with the best of them. Every single one of them is marketable, if TNA were to give all of these guys a prominent role in the company, and set it up around the athleticism and the great workers and wrestlers that they are, THAT is difference, that is an alternative. You looking for what sets TNA apart from the WWE? Truthfully, in my opinion at this point in time, you will not find it. People wonder why Ring of Honor Wrestling is so hugely popular and why those that had much better work on the independent scene than they do in TNA even have that spot in the first place. Simple, those companies get it, TNA does not. TNA needs to go with the trends of what is popular amongst professional wrestling fans, workers are becoming uphappy, there are power struggles within the locker room, and most importantly they are losing some of the audience.