Unleashing the Monster
By George Appiah; Contributing Writer
February 9, 2008

When you think of monster big men in WWE, you think of names like the Undertaker, Kane, Big Daddy V, Mark Henry, Umaga and the Great Khali. At one point or another in their careers, all of the above superstars had an impressive streak of dominance which cemented their “monster” status. And while some superstars, such as Kane, have been plagued with illogical booking decisions and ridiculous storylines, they’ve somehow managed to keep their monstrous character and fan base intact.

The same can’t be said for TNA, which has only one dominant big man in “The Monster” Abyss. TNA has chosen not to protect Abyss in the same manner that WWE protects its big men.

When I first started watching TNA, there was something about Abyss that I liked. While he isn’t the greatest in-ring performer by any means, compared to the monsters of WWE, he’s leaps and bounds ahead of them. He’s extremely agile for a man his size, plays his role well, is willing to do things that the superstars of World Wrestling Entertainment wouldn’t dare, like willingly being slammed on thumb tacks, glass and barbed wire week in and week out. In fact, these are a few of the reasons that make Abyss a true monster.

There was a time the former TNA Heavyweight champion was a dominant monster heel, destroying everything in his path. The decline in Abyss’ character came when he began suffering brutal and bloody beat downs for what seemed like several weeks in a row. While no competitor should be exempt from getting beat down, your big men should never have to endure such situations on a weekly basis as it makes their characters weaker in the eyes of the fans and they begin to lose their credibility and allure of invulnerability, something the company had spent months building up.

The problems that TNA face with Abyss’ character are the lack of decent feuds, constant changes, explanations and secrets of his past. The random and ridiculous secrets ranged from Abyss being in jail, to witnessing a murder, to watching his mother shoot his father in the back and last but not least, the revelation that Father James Mitchell was in fact biological father. At the end of the day, the fans don’t really care. No one cares. TNA failed to realize that it was Abyss’ mysteriousness that made his character so unique. Let him be the dominant monster that the company groomed him to be in their early days.

The best thing for Abyss is to finally end this never-ending feud with Father James Mitchell. TNA needs to book Abyss to win all of his matches against the likes of Rellik, Black Reign, his brother, Judas Mesias, and any other monsters Mitchell can conjure up. The wins must be decisive and impressive. The feud has dragged on for far too long and the fans are clamoring for something different for “The Monster.”

Perhaps even a win over Mitchell himself in a match could mark the culmination of the feud and the beginning of Abyss’ return to the main event scene, with the recapturing of the TNA World Heavyweight championship being his only concern.

TNA Abyss T-Shirt Check out this awesome Abyss t-shirt. It’s an awesome design featuring his mask donein metal. Kind of reminds us of the Quiet Riot mask.