Thursday's announcement of former Light Heavyweight Champ Muhammed "King Mo" Lawal joining Bellator in 2013 seemed on-par with a lot of MMA analysts predictions as to what The King would do after being released from Zuffa earlier this year. What took some MMA analysts by surprised and what they didn't see coming was the announcement of the simultaneous signing of The King to pro wrestling organization Total Non-Stop Action (TNA). Pro wrestling and MMA have long ties going all the way back to Japan. In just the last 20 years MMA stars like Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, Tito Ortiz, Tim Sylvia, Josh Barnett, and Mark Coleman have all made the jump at some point in their careers to MMA. Only recently within the last 10 years wrestlers have begun to return the favor as Alberto Rodríguez, Brock Lesnar, Sean O'Haire, and Bobby Lashley made the jump into MMA with various results. Former Olympian turned pro wrestler Kurt Angle is a huge fan of MMA and is well known to incorporate elements of MMA such as catch-as-catch-can wrestling and judo submissions into his matches throughout the years, most notably in 2005. With the exception of Brock Lesnar, no MMA fighter in recent history has moved into the world of pro wrestling with more fanfare then The King. The unique and unprecedented joint press conference between TNA and Bellator was held on Thursday at 2pm in New York with both companies announcing the unique and unprecedented signing of The King. Afterwards the most common question I witnessed being asked was "Why TNA?".

The decision made by The King to sign to TNA is puzzling since TNA isn't known for a finely tuned product like its well-established competitor WWE. Since its inception, TNA has not been able to grasp the reality of their surroundings and direct business in accordance to the current market's landscape. A 21st century wrestling company with a 20th century business mentality has lead to a lot of embarrassing moments over the years for TNA and the company's frustrated and dwindling fan-base. Holding onto the old pro wrestling standard of treating the fans and people outside the business as marks and continuing to allow their veteran stars to con the younger more computer/tech savvy generation into believing that the Internet is a bad place where disgruntled and jaded marks voice their uninformed opinions on wrestling forums while at the same time the unscrupulous dirt-sheets serve up non-flattering 'rumors' being masked as news by Meltzer and the likes, has lead to the overall perception of the company by fans and commentators alike to be seen as a 90's nostalgia vanity project without a WWE budget. However, despite its many (and there are a ton) shortcomings: the popularity of mixed martial arts has never been lost on TNA Wrestling as evident by its history. With TNA's relaxed (or non-existent depending on who you talk to) drug policy, an inexcusable and unmatched history of catering to 'outside the bubble' stars that come in, and a greater respect for the MMA business then their own, makes TNA -- fit for a king.

The decision made by The King to sign to TNA is puzzling since TNA isn't known for a finely tuned product like its well-established competitor WWE. Since its inception, TNA has not been able to grasp the reality of their surroundings and direct business in accordance to the current market's landscape. A 21st century wrestling company with a 20th century business mentality has lead to a lot of embarrassing moments over the years for TNA and the company's frustrated and dwindling fan-base. Holding onto the old pro wrestling standard of treating the fans and people outside the business as marks and continuing to allow their veteran stars to con the younger more computer/tech savvy generation into believing that the Internet is a bad place where disgruntled and jaded marks voice their uninformed opinions on wrestling forums while at the same time the unscrupulous dirt-sheets serve up non-flattering 'rumors' being masked as news by Meltzer and the likes, has lead to the overall perception of the company by fans and commentators alike to be seen as a 90's nostalgia vanity project without a WWE budget. However, despite its many (and there are a ton) shortcomings: the popularity of mixed martial arts has never been lost on TNA Wrestling as evident by its history. With TNA's relaxed (or non-existent depending on who you talk to) drug policy, an inexcusable and unmatched history of catering to 'outside the bubble' stars that come in, and a greater respect for the MMA business then their own, makes TNA -- fit for a king.

So how did we get here? The King's positive test for Drostanolone and subsequent Twitter rant against Pat Lundval lead to his availability and inevitable signing to Bellator. But why does TNA want The King? To understand the 'why' we have to go back to 2002 --The first TNA show. At the inaugural TNA pay-per-view on June 19, Former UFC and WWE veteran Ken Shamrock was booked to win the vacant NWA World Heavyweight Championship in a Gauntlet for the Gold match. An upstart promotion TNA was looking for the best way to get the most attention with the little they had. Ken Shamrock getting a run with the NWA World Heavyweight, despite being in the ring with guys who had more fan support and more impressive pro wrestling credentials, shows that TNA possessed the foresight to see the potential of a MMA/pro wrestling crossover in the 21st century. WWE and other promotions did it before with various results, but the UFC was really coming into its own and Shamrock (at the time) was arguably its biggest star. After a feud with Malice and a Ladder Submission match later, Shamrock lost the NWA World Heavyweight title to Ron "The Truth" Killings. Shamrock left TNA and embarked on a training regime to face long time bitter rival Tito Ortiz for the second time in their careers. Shamrock's very presence (and the influx of both TNA and WWE fans he brought with him) resulted in a buyrate that was nearly 4 times larger than the buyrates of the previous UFC shows.UFC 40 was a near sellout of 13,022 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena for a gate of $1,540,000, a UFC record at that point. The PPV buyrate, media buzz, live gate, and attendance attained by UFC 40, was enough to get the attention of TNA and its financial backers (Panda Energy) to do what WWE wasn't doing at the time...embrace the rising sport of MMA. Three years went by until TNA decided to reach out to the other man responsible for the record breaking UFC 40 PPV: The Huntington Beach Bad Boy Tito Ortiz.

Coming off of back-to-back wins against Patrick Cote and Victor Belfort at UFC 50 and UFC 51 (respectively), Tito was offered deals with several promotions, including PRIDE and the Don King-backed World Fighting Alliance, however when TNA reached out to him in May to be a participate in their Hard Justice PPV, Ortiz obliged.On May 15, 2005 at the TNA PPV Hard Justice, Ortiz served as special guest referee in the NWA World Heavyweight Championship match between champion Jeff Jarrett and challenger A.J. Styles. Toward the end of the match, the then longest reigning UFC champion of all time, Ortiz tried to maintain order as Jarrett and Styles both sat on the top turnbuckle as Jarrett just pounded away on Styles with right hands. In his attempt to maintain order, Ortiz was met with hostility by The King of The Mountain" Jeff Jarrett and that was followed by a forceful shove from the then longest reigning NWA champion of the TNA era to The longest reigning UFC Light Heavyweight Champion at the time. Ortiz pulled Jarrett from the top rope and informed Jarrett of Ortiz's position and authority in the match, Jarrett had zero respect for Ortiz's authority and position and shoved Ortiz. This lead to Ortiz delivering a solid right hand to the champion knocking Jarrett unconscious with the sentiment being that if Jarrett wouldn't respect Tito Ortiz the referee, then he was going to respect Tito Ortiz the Mixed Martial Artist. AJ Styles then went to the top rope and executed The Spiral Tap, a move he hadn't performed in two years, to get the victory and become the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Ortiz and Styles shook handles and raised each other's hand in victory, a gesture symbolic of the long-standing symbiotic relationship between pro wrestling and MMA. A relationship that TNA continued to foster in the coming years.TNA would later release a DVD counting down the top 50 moments in their history in 2007, with Styles defeating Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship at number 7.

Due to TNA being a private company, and being rather defensive in the release of information pertaining to their growth (or lack-thereof), no solid PPV numbers exist for the event, however the event was received positively by most fans and media pundits. The knockout blow at Hard Justice by Ortiz to Jarrett got TNA its 'ESPN' moment for the year and exposure to the same (in part) media outlets that UFC were attaining. This lead to Ortiz and TNA reuniting later that year for TNA's biggest PPV of the year: Bound For Glory, with Ortiz reprising his Hard Justice role.On October 23 at Bound for Glory Ortiz refereed the World Heavyweight Title match between Jarrett and last minute replacement for Kevin Nash, who suffered a mysterious 'heart attack', "The War Machine" Rhino. Ortiz knocked out future TNA World Heavyweight Champion "Cowboy" James Storm and multi-time TNA Tag Team Champion "Wild Cat" Chris Harris, two of Jarrett's associates, who attempted to interfere in the match, and then counted the pinfall, which made Rhino the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Unlike the post match celebration between Styles and Ortiz, the celebration between Rhino and Ortiz was more casual. A pat on the back, a brief raise of the victor's hand (as standard in any combat sport- kayfabed or not) and that was it. The moment wasn't as cathartic as moments past, but rather a casual non-nonchalant goodbye from TNA to the MMA world. The product would go in a direction far removed from anything related to MMA or a legit sport as 2006 and 2007 saw: the regression of the same minds that were able to foresee generating tons of money by incorporating elements of MMA into its product into minds with the belief that rehashing ideas, angles, and presentation from the III Pro Wrestling Golden Age was the best course for business. TNA's MMA machination would manifest again in 2008, but this time it wasn't former UFC champions at the forefront but rather an Olympic Gold Medalist and a
Samoan Submission Machine.

In early 2008, Pride and UFC veteran: Frank Trigg became to appear regularly on TNA's show Impact alongside Kurt Angle. The pair were put together due to their real off-air friendship and the fact that they look alike. As Kurt Angle was a heel (bad guy) at the time, Trigg followed suit and came off as if he has been in the business for his entire life (some will say that MMA and pro wrestling ARE the same business, but that's another article for another time).Later that year, at the TNA PPV Lockdown, Samoa Joe took on the reigning TNA World Heavyweight Champion and two time gold medalist Kurt Angle. This match was the progression of a long standing series of matches between Angle and Joe with Angle leading the series 3-1. Having ended Joe' undefeated streak two years ago shortly after his TNA wrestling debut, Angle was out to prove he was a better man then Joe. The usual theatrics that accompany wrestling matches were toned down and more straight forward. The presentation was that of a Zuffa production leading into an important title match. Vignettes of Angle and Joe training played for TNA's Impact viewing audience to hype the fight. No steel chair shots, no backstage brawls, no one getting run over by a car. An angle that was booked by-the-numbers to as close to MMA quality without loosing the identity of pro wrestling.The match was primarily technical, with each combatant switching through various holds and submission maneuvers with shades of the as-yet-to-happen Belcher vs. Palhares scrap at UFC on Fox 3 and elements of the Sakuraba/Gracie encounter from the early 90's. The match had one of the best uses of MMA and pro wrestling done in a major American based pro wrestling company in some years. The seaway from shoot grapples and holds into the more fantasy based offense was as seamless as anyone in pro wrestling could pull off at the time. Frank Trigg served as a commentator for the bout and The Irish Hand Gernade Marcus Davis was the special ring enforcer. After a brutal match Samoa Joe was awarded the victory and handed the title by The Irish Hand Gernande.

Wade Keller of the Pro Wrestling Torch reviewed Lockdown, giving the main event 4 and a half stars out of 5, Keller went on to state in his review he felt Angle versus Joe was a "really good main event". Commenting that "it felt fresh with the MMA-style, and meshed just enough pro wrestling moves in a largely believable fashion with typical (and some not-so-typical) MMA submissions throughout in dramatic fashion. It's really a stellar example of how the two styles could mesh to create a more modern, believable approach for the current era". James Caldwell also of the Pro Wrestling Torch published a review of the event. In his review, he also gave the main event 4 and a half stars out of 5.Simon Rothstein, a journalist for the United Kingdom newspaper The Sun, stated in his review of Lockdown that the Joe/Angle encounter, "best match of the night, this was perfectly booked and executed". He said that as a result it "should give TNA the impetus to quickly smash the records they set at Lockdown". And long time MMA/pro wrestling fan and current Yahoo MMA analyst Dave Meltzer also rated the match rather favorably. TNA Lockdown 2008 became TNA's most ordered PPV event of all time with the PPV buyrates rumored to be in the upper 60's (which is quite considerable considering their rumored current PPV buyrates are anywhere between 7-10K).

With all the praise from the critics and its fans, TNA for the most part strayed away from what made them so much money in April and it wasn't until the fall when TNA attempted to revisit the Joe/Angle formula on a less grander scale. The build up between AJ Styles and Frank Trigg for their match at the TNA PPV No Surrender, wasn't met with much fanfare. The same man who was heralded as bringing a breath of fresh air and legitimacy to the commentary team was the same man people boo'd out of the General Motors Centre in Oshawa, Ontario during his match against a man who only a few years prior had his hand raised by Tito Ortiz and crowned Heavyweight Champion of the World: AJ Styles. The goodwill the fans had shown at Lockdown earlier that year, Hard Justice in 2005, and when Shamrock had won the title back in 2002 was long gone. The shoot style of the match implemented by Trigg against a guy who is known by TNA and pro wrestling fans at large as a very gifted pro wrestler who has few (if any) bad matches, did not go over with the Ontario crowd. Approximately 3,500 hostile fans chanted "This is bullshit", "We want wrestling", and "Fire Russo". After the match, Styles beat down Trigg using a kendo stick and declared that "I'm a wrestler, I don't do this crap!". The backlash received by TNA from the fans and pro wrestling media alike had them reconsider their implementation of MMA into the product for the foreseeable future. Trigg, a once prominent on screen personality on Impact was never seen on TNA TV again. The romance between TNA and MMA seemed to be over for good.

The success of Brock Lesnar in MMA prompted TNA wrestlers Kurt Angle and Tara (Lisa Marie Varon) to make ludicrous and delusional claims of venturing into MMA themselves. These two continued to embarrass themselves and TNA about their MMA aspirations despite neither being able to pass a standard MMA physical (Kurt failed his UFC physical ordering to Dana White and Varon has a torn ACL). With Lesnar's success, TNA began to one again explore different ways to incorporate MMA into their product. This lead to the signing of then undefeated heavyweight and former WWE wrestler Bobby Lashley and an unwelcome and unflattering angle between two women who have no business in an MMA ring, Tara and The Natural's ex-wife: Kim Couture. Bobby Lashley was balancing MMA and pro wrestling at the same time and it worked well for him all considering. His involvement in the TNA didn't really improve their viewers, PPV buyrates, or get them nearly as much media attention as Shamrock, Ortiz, and to a lesser extent Trigg provided in the past. At TNA's Bound For Glory PPV on October 18 of that year,Bobby Lashley hooked it up with Samoa Joe in a match build as TNA vs. MMA. In the vein of the video packages and handling of the story in much the same way as was done for Joe/Angle leading into their Lockdown encounter, TNA mirrored that formula to mixed results. While the buildup was well received, the match was largely criticized for ending 'before it got started' and ending rather suddenly when Lashley forced Joe into submission.

Tara, on the same night, fought against Awesome Kong and ODB in a triple threat match. From all accounts the fans were into the match and cheering Tara until (unbeknownst) to the viewing audience at home Kim Couture pulled at Tara's hair while Tara was on the outside of the ring brawling with another female wrestler. From there the shoot angle between Couture/Tara ensued and the crowd went dead for the happenings in the ring as they were left confused about the happenings outside the ring. Shortly after the hair pull the match ended. Because she wanted to placate her delusions of grandeur that there was an audience drooling at the possibility of seeing Tara vs. Kim Couture (who at the time was one-and-one) who's only real claim to fame was being Randy Couture's ex wife, she left a lot of the over 2,000 paying wrestling fans at the Bren Events Center in Irvine, California,disappointed in her actions. The criticism for the event at the time was mainly due to TNA putting MMA over their product despite people being lukewarm to Lashley and being completely apathetic to Tara and Kim Couture. Tara later apologized for the shoot angle that got zero heat and made no one more interested in seeing a match everyone knew wasn't going to happen and Lashley a few months later left the organization to pursue MMA full-time and was treated as an afterthought on his way out the door of Sound Stage 21 where TNA holds their Impact tapings.

And now here we are! The King has arrived in TNA! For the first time in the 21st century a major American based wrestling promotion has not one but two gold medalists on their roster and for a company still seeking the mainstream attention, this is a great signing. Some people thought (and still think) that if The King is going to do pro wrestling then why not do it on the biggest stage of them all? Simply put, WWE will not allow their workers (who have to be on the road 300 plus days a year) to focus on multiple endeavors. Also, WWE's strict drug policy would most likely cause problems for The King somewhere down the road as WWE is worse then any Athletic commission when it comes to having a virtually zero tolerance policy relating to doctors injecting 'legal' substances into its performers. Politics in pro wrestling is something The King will have to get use to and in all reality, I don't think he is ready for the beast that is WWE when it comes to the beyond cut-throat and extremely petty backstage atmosphere in WWE where more often then not WWE will book people 'from the outside' to look like shit just to prove WWE is the better brand (see Invasion Angle 2001), TNA is a bit more palpable backstage environment for someone just breaking into the business with some name value behind them and TNA has a long history of pushing talent from outside the company over talent who in some cases have been with TNA throughout its entire 10 years history. With his charisma, athleticism, and overall enthusiasm for pro wrestling, I am sure the fans are in for a treat or as The King put it " Buttercream icing on a big ole cake – not that whipped cream stuff either!".