New Age Outlaws
| Voodoo Kin Mafia | |
|---|---|
| File:Vkm.gif | |
| Tag team | |
| Members | Kip James B.G. James |
| Name(s) | New Age Outlaws The James Gang Voodoo Kin Mafia |
| Billed heights | 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) - Kip James 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) - B.G. James |
| Combined billed weight | 529 lb (240 kg) |
| Debut | 1997 |
The Voodoo Kin Mafia, originally known as the New Age Outlaws (WWF) and also known as the James Gang (TNA), are a professional wrestling tag team currently in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) that consist of B.G. James and Kip James.
Originally known as the New Age Outlaws, the pair were a professional wrestling tag team in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where B.G. James was known as "Road Dogg" Jesse James and Kip James was known as "Badd Ass" Billy Gunn, or simply "Mr. Ass".
As members of the second incarnation of the professional wrestling stable D-Generation X, the New Age Outlaws became extremely popular in the late 1990s, with Road Dogg spuriously claiming that the duo sold out the 20,000 capacity arena Madison Square Garden on 47 consecutive occasions.[1] In the same time period, the New Age Outlaws had the third highest merchandise sales in the WWF after Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock.[2]
They were perhaps best known for their lengthy entrance routine, which began with Jesse James uttering the words "Oh, you didn't know? Yo' ass better call somebody!" and culminated in Billy Gunn delivering the controversial DX catchphrase, "...And if you ain't down with that, we got two words for ya - suck it!".
Career
World Wrestling Federation
The Outlaws first formed on a 1997 episode of Shotgun Saturday Night when struggling superstars Billy Gunn and "Road Dogg" Jesse James, then known as Rock-a-Billy and "The Real Double J" Jesse James respectively, ended a feud between them and teamed up.
On a later edition of Monday Night RAW, Jesse James walked out to the ring following a loss by Rock-A-Billy and asked him to turn on his manager The Honky Tonk Man and team with him. Rock-A-Billy answered by smashing a guitar on Honky Tonk Man's head and telling James he was in.[3] Rock-A-Billy re-dubbed himself "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn and Jesse James rechristened himself The Road Dogg. The team made an immediate impact on the WWF tag team scene with blatant attacks against other tag teams and, not having an entrance theme, walking out to the ring with only Road Dogg making a rant against their opponents over the PA system. The team became known for pulling wins out of nowhere via cheating and use of weapons.
By the end of 1997, they had defeated the Legion of Doom for the WWF Tag Team Titles. Not only did the team win the titles that night, but they also got their "Outlaws" nickname when they "stole" the win and then ran to a waiting car, prompting RAW announcer Jim Ross to liken them to outlaws leaving a robbery. The name stuck and the New Age Outlaws quickly became one of the most hated teams in the WWF. During their feud with LOD, the Outlaws joined D-Generation X in assaulting the team on an episode of Monday Night RAW.
Shortly after the 1998 Royal Rumble, the New Age Outlaws began a feud with Mick Foley, first fighting him as Dude Love, then as Mankind and finally Cactus Jack. When it became apparent that he needed help dealing with the Outlaws, Foley brought in Chainsaw Charlie. This feud was highlighted by the Outlaws locking Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie in a dumpster and sending it off the entrance ramp on to the concrete floor, causing Jim Ross to utter one of his most famous lines, "Those men have families!" At WrestleMania XIV, the New Age Outlaws lost the titles to Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie in a Dumpster Match. However, the next night on RAW, with the aid of Triple H and X-Pac, the Outlaws regained the titles and officially joined DX.
Joining DX switched The Outlaws from heels to tweeners, and they feuded with many different tag teams over the course of 1998. Their immense popularity was part of what helped the WWF challenge World Championship Wrestling for ratings supremacy during the Monday Night Wars.
They lost the tag titles to Kane and Mankind in the summer of 1998, only to regain the titles from that same team at SummerSlam in a handicap match (Kane no-showed). In late 1998 Vince McMahon's Corporation tried to tempt the Outlaws away from DX and failed, which led to the Outlaws losing the titles to Corporation members Ken Shamrock and Big Boss Man.
Break up
As 1999 started, the Outlaws slowly began to drift apart, with each man striving for singles gold. Road Dogg began to move towards the Hardcore Title while Billy Gunn began to challenge for the Intercontinental Championship (during the course of these challenges, Road Dogg won the IC title and Gunn won the Hardcore title). As 1999 continued and the team was officially no more, Gunn won the King of the Ring tournament and eventually turned heel.
During the fall of 1999 the Outlaws reunited, first as faces, but then as heels when they rejoined the reformed (and now solidly heel) DX. No Way Out saw the final end of the Outlaws when Billy Gunn received a serious arm injury during a match with the Dudley Boyz. Gunn exited DX after "losing his cool" and getting into a fight with all DX members.
Road Dogg would then team with fellow DX member X-Pac; however, this new team was not accepted by fans as a worthy replacement to the Outlaws. This marked the end of the tag team. They would tag one last time, along with Triple H and Chyna, on a November edition of RAW is WAR in a one-night DX reunion to take on the Radicalz. After this, both Gunn and Road Dogg went their separate ways with Gunn eventually dropping his "Mr. Ass" gimmick and Road Dogg teaming with new WWF superstar K-Kwik.
Road Dogg was released from his WWF contract in early 2001 while Billy Gunn was released from his contract in 2004 after 10 years with the company.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
"Road Dogg" Jesse James debuted in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on September 18, 2002 under his birth name, B.G. James. In July 2003, he formed a stable with Konnan and Ron "The Truth" Killings (formerly K-Kwik in WWF) known as the 3Live Kru. The trio went on to become fan favorites and eventually won the NWA World Tag Team Championship on two occasions.
Billy Gunn debuted in TNA at Against All Odds on February 13, 2005, interfering in the NWA World Heavyweight Championship bout between Jeff Jarrett and the challenging Kevin Nash. Gunn struck Nash with a chair, but he was able to kick out of Jarrett's subsequent pin attempt. After Gunn seized the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt in order to strike Nash with it, B.G. James ran to the ring and wrestled it away from him.
B.G. James and Gunn, now renamed The Outlaw, came into conflict once more on April 24, at Lockdown, when Jarrett, The Outlaw and Monty Brown faced "Diamond" Dallas Page, Sean Waltman and B.G. James (who was replacing an injured Kevin Nash) in a Lethal Lockdown match. Page, Waltman and James were victorious, although during the match James and The Outlaw refrained from fighting one another.
Through October and November 2005, "The Outlaw" (now using the name Kip James, due to threats from the WWE that "The Outlaw" sounded too similar to their copyrighted New Age Outlaws name) helped 3LK numerous times during their feud with Team Canada. Although he was obviously helping the Kru at every turn, Konnan refused to trust Kip.
On the November 26 episode of TNA iMPACT!, and even though Konnan had his doubts, 3LK inducted Kip into the group and renamed themselves the 4Live Kru. However, at Turning Point 2005, Konnan turned on the group, eventually forming his own group , the Latin American Exchange. Ron "The Truth" Killings went out on his own afterward, leaving only Kip and B.G. together.
The James Gang
On January 14, 2006 Kip James and B.G. James, now calling themselves The James Gang, announced that they had reunited in the face of Konnan and his new group after LAX attacked BG's father "Bullet" Bob Armstrong. Their official in-ring reunion took place the next night at Final Resolution, where they defeated The Diamonds in the Rough.
Their feud with LAX continued and included several more appearances by "Bullet" Bob Armstrong, including an Arm Wrestling Match between Konnan and the 67-year-old Armstrong.
In May 2006, The James Gang began a feud with Team 3D over which of them was the greatest tag team. (Although not directly referenced, this feud was, in a way, a potshot at the WWE) The James Gang picked up a victory over Team 3D at Sacrifice after Kip used a pipe on Brother Devon. They met again at Slammiversary, with Team 3D picking up the win this time.
With the teams standing at 1-1 (and Brother Runt returning to in-ring action), Team 3D challenged The James Gang to find themselves a partner and face them (Brother Runt included) in a 6-man tag match at Victory Road. Whereas Team 3D expected them to get someone from their family (such as "Bullet" Bob Armstrong), the James Gang "made a deal with the devil" and paid James Mitchell to have Abyss team up with them instead. (Humorously, on the episode of TNA iMPACT! where they joined Abyss, the crowd chanted "DX Rejects!", and the James Gang taunted Team 3D as they were being jumped by Abyss by taking from Jim Ross' famous line from years earlier and saying "he's got a family!") The James Gang and Abyss won the no-disqualification 6-man tag match after Abyss Black Hole Slammed Brother Runt onto a table and got the pin.
Voodoo Kin Mafia
On the November 2 edition of TNA iMPACT!, Kip and B.G. James cut a worked-shoot promo announcing they were quitting the company out of frustration. During the promo B.G. claimed that TNA had mismanaged him during his run there, and as Kip attempted to speak into the microphone it was (kayfabe) cut off. Attempts to use an announcers microphone and scream directly to the crowd were met with another microphone cutting and then the show abruptly going to commercial.[4]
After a November 11 house show in Connecticut (where World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is based) was canceled, TNA filmed a vignette at WWE headquarters featuring the James Gang discussing the show cancellation, posting it on their website two days later.
This vignette was followed with a promo on the November 16 iMPACT!, during which they announced that they had been given "creative control", and were changing their name to the Voodoo Kin Mafia (VKM for short, a play on Vincent Kennedy McMahon's initials) and declaring "war" on WWE. During the "war" they called out the revived D-Generation X (DX), calling it a "failure" and stated that the original run was saved by their insertion as The New Age Outlaws in 1998. During their matches and promos on TNA television they continually included references to DX, including use of their signature taunts and maneuvers.
Soon a series of vignettes began airing on iMPACT! with B.G. and Kip in and around Stamford, Connecticut, calling out Paul Levesque, Michael Hickenbottom, and Vince McMahon. During the vignettes they said they were trying to get a cease and desist letter signed and WWE to stop using the DX name. The vignettes were notable for using the same style of humor as the original DX while running down the revived DX for doing the same thing. It's worth noting that in a conference call B.G. made it clear that he held no ill will towards his former DX stablemates.[5]
When The Hardys reunited for December to Dismember and issued an open challenge the TNA website quickly posted a message from VKM accepting, though it had already been accepted by MNM.[6]
On December 1, VKM showed up at a WWE house show at the Knoxville Civic Center with Vince Russo, Jeremy Borash, and a camera crew. They interviewed fans outside, filmed themselves purchasing tickets and eventually entered the building, watching the main event match - featuring DX - from an upper level seat.[7][8]
At December's Turning Point, in response to Jim Ross commenting on his website that Vince McMahon probably wouldn't respond to the "war"[9], they issued a "Million Dollar Challenge" to Vince McMahon and DX, offering to put up $1 million for a legit fight between the DX members and themselves.
Championships and accomplishments
- MCW Tag Team Championship (1 time)
References
- ^ A recap of the May 11, 2006 episode of TNA iMPACT!, during which B.G. James claimed to have sold out Madison Square Garden on 47 consecutive occasions
- ^ The original text of an interview on WWF.com in which the interviewer references the sales of New Age Outlaws merchandise
- ^ The career highlights of the New Age Outlaws
- ^ Daniel Pena (2006-11-04). "TNA Interested In Trish Stratus; TNA Site Hacked, James Gang". Retrieved November 5.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "PWINSIDER Q&A: SUPERCLASH, HEYMAN, VKM AND MORE". 2006-12-07. Retrieved December 7.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "VKM Accept Challenge To Face The Hardys On Sunday". 2006-11-29. Retrieved November 29.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Breaking News: VKM Backstage At WWE House Show". 2006-12-01. Retrieved December 1.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "More On VKM Invading WWE House Show, More". 2006-12-01. Retrieved December 1.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "The Feedback Just Keeps on Coming!!". 2006-12-11. Retrieved December 11.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ The history of the WWF World Tag Team Championship (WWE.com)
- ^ The history of the WWF World Tag Team Championship (Solie's title histories)