![]() Immediately following Destination X, Cage and Kurt Angle were informed by TNA management director Jim Cornette that they would each be captaining five-man teams to compete in a Lethal Lockdown cage match at the upcoming PPV Lockdown. He would be unsuccessful in that venture, yet still manage to defeat Samoa Joe to retain his NWA World Heavyweight title. During the event Steiner also abandoned Cage prior to his main event match, forcing him to seek out a replacement enforcer for the event. Later he took a (kayfabe) sudden trip to Japan (which had actually been set up well in advance, to compete for the IWGP Tag Team Championship along with Giant Bernard) that coincided with the Destination X pay-per-view. Tomko frequently commented on his distrust and dislike of Steiner, and after he won a match over new number one contender Samoa Joe on an episode of Impact!, Tomko began demanding a shot at Cage's title. This also proved to be good strategy when the "Christian Coalition", as the three men now referred to themselves, helped Cage retain his title at February's Against All Odds.Īlthough all three men were working together on Cage's behalf, from the start there was dissension evident. To prepare for his match with Angle, Cage brought Scott Steiner in as a "trainer", citing an intense dislike Steiner had for Angle at the time (which Steiner later explained as all contract negotiations involving himself having been put on indefinite hold by Angle's coming to TNA). It proved a smart move on his part when Tomko helped him defeat reigning champion Abyss and Sting in a triple threat elimination match at the January 2007 Final Resolution pay-per-view event.ĭuring the same event, Kurt Angle became the number one contender to the NWA World Heavyweight title and moved into a feud with Cage. Reprising that shared role between the two started from 2004-2005 in WWE, Christian Cage originally brought Tomko in to TNA as a personal enforcer in late-2006 to help him regain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The Christian Coalition name was recycled from Christian and Tomko in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), where they referred to Christian's fan base as the Christian Coalition. Shortly after the disbanding of the stable, the Team Cage name was used at TNA's Lockdown for Christian's teams. Alternatively, Inside The Ropes Magazine is also available as a download.Christian's Coalition (also known as Team Cage) was a villainous professional wrestling faction in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) led by Christian Cage. So, I said, ‘Well, I’ve said a thing or two, but we’re all together now.’” To read the full interview with Jim Cornette you can order Issue 5 here or take out a monthly subscription to get great wrestling interviews, features, and a whole lot more delivered to your door. He didn’t know sh*t that was going on anywhere, except the WWF. ![]() You know, I’ve not always been complimentary about the company.’ And he got this quizzical look, and was, like, ‘Oh, really?’ And that was when I realised he never watched any other wrestling, never read anything. “In fact, one of the first things I said to Vince-and this is f*cking funny-when we got up there to RAW and shook hands for the first time in seven years was, ‘You know, Vince, I appreciate the invitation up here. So, it’s not like there was a big come-to-Jesus peace treaty.” But I took that run to get The Heavenly Bodies booked up there to reward them for the work they were doing for me, to promote Smoky Mountain Wrestling, and to make myself some extra money, so that I could afford Smoky Mountain Wrestling. “I never tanked anything : I gave everything my best effort. Jim Cornette then revealed the catalyst that did make him eventually make the jump – Turner Broadcasting buying out Jim Crockett Promotions:Īs far as Jim Cornette’s dealing with Vince McMahon, they could have got off to a better start if Cornette hadn’t been so honest about the things he may have said about the company over the years: We didn’t want to change scenery-so we didn’t go.” And we were doing great : we were living in Charlotte, we were with our friends, were figured in on top. For a variety of reasons, we didn’t see that we would fit in there. Vince was already starting to do cartoon stuff then. You know, I never liked the style of the WWF: it was always the big man, slow-moving territory. ![]() We loved the NWA, we loved living in Charlotte, we had all the people we could work with: The Rock ’N’ Roll Express and Dusty and Magnum. This was when we were Crockett’s NWA World Tag Team Champions. “Actually, it was a giggle: ‘It’s come to this.’ We had talked to Vince in 1986-me and The Midnight Express. Speaking exclusively to Inside The Ropes’ own Kenny McIntosh for issue 5 of Inside The Ropes magazine, Cornette first discussed how he came to work for Vince McMahon after spending so many years working for the territories that McMahon helped put out of business:
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