Main Event Mafia
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| The Main Event Mafia | |
|---|---|
 Members of the Mafia (excluding Kurt Angle) | |
| Stable | |
| Members | Kurt Angle(leader) Booker T Kevin Nash Scott Steiner Samoa Joe Sharmell (valet)[citation needed] Jenna Morasca (valet)[citation needed] |
| Name(s) | The Main Event Mafia |
| Former member(s) | Sting |
| Debut | October 23, 2008 |
The Main Event Mafia (occasionally abbreviated to MEM) is a villainous alliance in the professional wrestling promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). It currently consists of the leader of the group, Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash (previously with Survivor: The Amazon winner Jenna Morasca), Booker T (with his real-life wife Sharmell), Scott Steiner, and Samoa Joe. All are multiple time world champions with experience in main event matches.
The group formed in late 2008 and has since been largely successful, with Sting being TNA World Heavyweight Champion and Booker T introducing a new championship into TNA called the TNA Legends Championship and declaring himself the first official champion. The group's formation was the result of TNA introducing a new storyline in which the veterans began a rivalry with younger talent within the company (who call themselves The TNA Front Line); with the MEM being the villains of the storyline as the veterans, portrayed as being upset at the disrespect being shown by the younger wrestlers.
History
Background
In the summer of 2008 at TNA's July pay-per-view Victory Road during a bout between the fan favorite Samoa Joe and villainous Booker T (Booker Huffman) for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, Joe went on a storyline rampage and attacked referees, security, and Booker T without on-screen mercy.[1] Sting, who was also a fan favorite, then entered the arena and stopped Joe's assault, however, Joe gave Sting the middle finger and continued his assault on Booker T.[1] This angered Sting to a point in which he grabbed Joe and hit him with a baseball bat, which he held in his hand.[1] Following the event, Sting did not appear on TNA's primary television program TNA Impact! in a wrestling role or to explain his actions at the event, instead he was only seen standing in the rafters on each episode. As a result of Sting's actions at the event, a storyline within the company began that saw a possible alliance between Booker T and Sting.
It began on the July 31 episode of Impact!, while Joe was brawling with Booker T, a baseball bat fell from the ceiling hanging by a wire; Booker T grabbed it and smashed Joe over the back with it.[2] At TNA's August pay-per-view Hard Justice, Sting attacked A.J. Styles, an on-screen ally of Joe's, after Styles had just attacked Kurt Angle following their encounter.[3] The reasons Sting's actions were eventually revealed on the August 14 episode of Impact!, in which he stated that he attacked Joe and Styles because they were not showing respect for veterans such as Angle and Booker T by doing what they did at the events.[4] Sting being a veteran of the sport himself went on to say when he was Styles' and Joe's age, if he had a veteran like Booker T or Angle the way Joe and Styles' did, he pinned them for the "One, Two, Three" and walked away, he did not add insult to injury by trying to end their careers, like Styles and Joe were trying to do. This sparked a rivalry between the three, which later involved Angle and Booker T.[4]
At TNA's September pay-per-view No Surrender, Sting announced that at TNA's October pay-per-view Bound for Glory IV, he would challenge Joe for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship; later in the event during a match between Christian Cage (William Reso), Angle, and Joe, Jeff Jarrett made his on-screen return to the promotion after not being seen in TNA since late May 2007, by siding with and helping Joe retain the World Heavyweight Championship.[5] Jarrett went on to Bound for Glory to defeat Angle in a standard match with Mick Foley as Special Guest Ringside Enforcer.[6] Also at Bound for Glory, Sting defeated Joe after Kevin Nash struck Joe with a baseball bat while the referee wasn't looking to allow Sting to take the advantage and pin Joe after a Scorpion Death Drop.[6] Nash's actions were explained on the October 16 episode of Impact!, when he said that Joe disrespected him and his long time real-life friend Scott Hall in late 2007 when Joe insulted Hall for not showing up at TNA's December pay-per-view Turning Point.
Formation
The group officially joined together on the October 23 episode of Impact!, in a segment between Nash, Booker T, Angle, Sting, and Jeremy Borash, where Angle announced that the four had joined together to form what they called "The Main Event Mafia". The goal of the group was to start a "war" against the younger talent to take what they deserved: respect. The following week, they added Scott Steiner to the Mafia as he made his return from an injury and attacked Joe, Styles, and their allies. Steiner notably spared using his lead pipe on his protégé, Petey Williams, who backed off as soon as he saw him.
At Turning Point, Booker T successfully defeated Christian Cage to retain the Legends Championship. As per the stipulation, Cage was forced to join the MEM, however, the MEM attacked Cage and kicked him out of the group because they believed he was leaving TNA. MEM proceeded to go on a rampage, assaulting Brother Ray, Samoa Joe, Petey Williams (Steiner doing the deed, finally severing the ties between the two), B.G. James, Rhino, Jeff Jarrett and A.J. Styles, injuring all in their "hits."
At Genesis, Kevin Nash could not make it to the event due to a legitimate staph infection in his left elbow. When it came time for his tag team match, Booker T announced that they had found a suitable replacement in Cute Kip (Monty Sopp). Kip was not meant to be a long-term addition to the team, as he quickly disappeared from the main event scene as the original five members of the Main Event Mafia resumed their positions.
At Destination X, Booker T lost the Legends Championship to A.J. Styles while Sting retained the TNA World title against Angle with Jeff Jarrett as the special guest referee and Mick Foley was the Special Guest enforcer.
At Lockdown, Sting lost the TNA World Heavyweight title to Mick Foley and the rest of the Main Event Mafia (Nash, Steiner, Booker T and Angle) lost to Team Jarrett, which consisted of Jeff Jarrett, Samoa Joe, A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels.
Sting's leadership and acquisition of Samoa Joe
At Sacrifice, Sting pinned Angle in an Ultimate Sacrifice match also involving Mick Foley and Jeff Jarrett to become the new Godfather of the Main Event Mafia. Sting immediately made his new leadership felt, as on the May 28, 2009, edition of Impact!, Sting dismissed Sharmell, Jenna Morasca and Angle's security men Big Rocco and Sally Boy from the alliance as part of his new leadership. Rocco and Sally promptly signed on to be Mick Foley's security the following week.
Heading into Slammiversary, Matt Morgan expressed his wishes to join the Mafia. This would lead to Angle facing Morgan in a singles match on Impact! which Angle would win. After the match Angle shaked Morgan's hand showing that he would want him in the Mafia. On the following weeks Impact! during a King of the Mountain qualification match between Angle and Sting, Morgan interfered helping Angle win. After the match Angle gave out to Morgan for helping him win. Morgan would go on and ask Sting to let him become a member of the Mafia. Sting agreed to a match at Slammiversary between Morgan where if Morgan won he could join the group. Sting went on to defeat Morgan at the pay-per-view. In the final match of the pay-per-view, Angle won the King of the Mountain match to win the World Title after Samoa Joe helped him, thus rendering Joe a villian and aligning himself with the Mafia.
On the June 25 edition of Impact!, it was explained that Joe was invested into and paid by the Mafia to join them due to being unable to defeat him. The Mafia as well as Morgan attacked Sting in disapproval of his leadership, with Angle claiming to once again become the leader of the Mafia. Because of this, any relationships between Sting and the Mafia were shattered.
In wrestling
- Finishing and signature moves
- Angle's finishing moves
- Angle Slam / Olympic slam, sometimes from the top rope
- Ankle lock
- Booker's finishing moves
- Joe's finishing moves
- Coquina Clutch (Rear naked choke)
- Muscle Buster, sometimes from the second rope
- Nash's finishing moves
- Jackknife Powerbomb (Sheer drop release powerbomb)
- Steiner's finishing moves
- Steiner Recliner (Standing camel clutch)
- Sting's finishing moves
- Scorpion Death Drop (Reverse DDT)
- Scorpion Deathlock
- Angle's finishing moves
- Signature foreign objects
- Black baseball bat – Sting
- Lead pipe – Steiner
Championships and accomplishments
- Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
- TNA Legends Championship (1 time) – Booker T
- TNA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times) – Sting (1), Kurt Angle (1, current)
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c Kapur, Bob. "Main event mars Victory Road". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
- ^ Caldwell, James (2008-08-01). "Caldwell's TNA iMPACT Report 7/31: Joe shouts, screams, and hollers his way through fruitless show". PWTorch.com. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
- ^ Keller, Wade (2008-10-31). "Keller's TNA Hard Justice PPV Report 8/10: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of event - Samoa Joe vs. Booker T in cage". PWTorch.com. Retrieved 2008-09-13.
- ^ a b Hamlin, Jeff. "Jeff Hamlin reviews TNA Impact". Wrestling Observer.com. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
- ^ Clevett, Jason (2008-09-15). "No Surrender a bore". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
- ^ a b Sokol, Chris (2008-10-15). "Sting takes title at Bound for Glory". Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
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