I'm not surprised by this, as I still can't see Lashley having much success in UFC or MMA. No knock against him, and I may well be wrong, but I've never gotten the impression that he has the "killer instinct" needed in MMA. I think he's better suited for professional wrestling. Oh, and I agree, he has to be a babyface. If you look up babyface in the dictionary, you'll see Lashley's smiling face. I would never buy him as a heel.

If TNA gets Lashley, Kennedy, and Umaga. Combine those three with Angle, Joe, and Styles and I daresay you have a product which is equal to WWE (Cena, Batista, Orton, Edge, Punk, Hardy). The problem TNA has is depth; the best in the business today, IMHO, are WWE's second-tier (Morrison, Kingston, Bourne, Benjamin, Truth, Swagger). Nevertheless, a huge potential coup for TNA.

I always liked Lashley in WWE as a performer, but your right, he lacked some things on the mic. If they would do what WWE did w/ Lesnar and give him a manager to be his mouthpiece for a while and tout him as the baddest dude on the block...that would help him tremendously.

Lashley's arrival coupled with the mainstream attention Brock Lesnar's UFC is generating may give TNA an opportunity to gain new, casual viewers. They will have to work hard to tighten up their product to feature more common sense, logical booking, slow burn progressions and TNA guys in the mix with former WWE wrestlers.

TNA has some clear strengths and has to take the next few months to magnify those strengths and become a viable alternative for casual wrestling fans. How great would it be for them to have Jim Cornette leading their team right now? He's done 'viable alternative' better than anyone else.

Thanks for your great blog, Kevin.

So will he be revealed as Samoa Joe's advisor, then? Or is it still liekly to be Tazz?

RESPONSE FROM KE: It depends on whether TNA wants to go with the original plan (Tazz) or change it because everyone "knows" it's Tazz.

Hey Kevin, I was never a huge Lashley mark when he was in WWE because of his relatively weak promo work. His billing as a sort of Lesnar/Goldberg type I always thought was a smart move, but because Lesnar was good on the mic, and a bit crazy (shooting star press crazy) Lashley always looked slightly watered down.

That being said, I did think his match with Cena was a great match that held my attention to see how it would play out in the end. Just wanted to know what you thought of that match as well.

Oh yeah, and Lashley/Joe could be an epic rivalry.

RESPONSE FROM KE: I also thought the Cena-Lashley match was very good. Especially for two guys who a lot of fans don't consider to be good workers.

It appears that Lashley has more prospects in MMA than Wrestling. Why stick with it?

I think it is really good that TNA signed him but at the same time I think his MMA career is #1 so He will be taking time off to prepare for these fights. I do think with lashley and Umanga & kennedy debuting in Sept. should make for a great influx of talent around for some great dfuture match-ups and give the Nash's and Steiners of the world a break and please no Hogan.

"Combine those three with Angle, Joe, and Styles and I daresay you have a product which is equal to WWE "

Michael in VA, are you insane? TNA is a second rate promotion that will never amount to more than a 100-person studio and some terrible PPVs until they go bankrupt in two years.

If you listen to the interview on TNA's site, Lashley explains that he only has to work four days a month for TNA and intends to spend the rest of the time training for mma. He seems to want to give both the attention they require.

Poor Jay Lethal, MCMG's, and Eric Young. They're never gonna get pushed if all this former WWE talent keeps rollin' into town.
It's sad when I guy, who has no mic skills and can't put together a serviceable match will probably be main-eventing PPV's in a few months :(
I'd rather see Hogan!!

You can't buy superstars (how well has the strategy worked for the New York Yankees?) Fact is Angle, Foley, Booker T, etc. have barely made a blip on the radar. TNA would be much wiser to build the company from the ground up than chase WWE's sloppy seconds. Lashley is going to make no difference.

Andre The Midget - Unfortunately , you are probably correct . Though I have to admit I enjoy seeing "big names" come to TNA , it doesn't help the youngsters .
By the way Andre', is your name politically correct ?

@TNAsux

I assure you, I am quite sane. If they bring in Umaga and Kennedy, TNA's main-eventers will be equal to that of WWE's.

Jerry,
His attention will require more than 4 days a month if he want's to be successful in wrestling. If what you say is true then it's obvious his attention is on MMA. I'll truly be upset if he's wrestling for the TNA title while only showing up on Impact! If he does get a main event spot how fair would that be to guy's bustin' thier tails at house shows?

Wow. TNA came up with another reason for me to NOT watch their product. Boreby Lashley doesn't interest me. It's nothing personal. I respect that he served in the armed forces and all, but I find him about as entertaining as Kevin finds Tommy Dreamer.

Kev, you got to agree that TNA is falling more and more into the WCW trap. Bringing in older guys to replace younger guys never works out in the long run(see Boston Celtics in two years or the entire LA Clippers franchise). The only thing TNA lacks currently is a quality control person to take a look at angles. If TNA angles could stay half way coherent, I would love it, as would most fans.

I always liked Lashley and was upset to see him leave WWE.

Am I missing something with TNA? I've only watched 5 minutes of TNA total. I saw Foley getting the beat down by a stable of ex-WWE performers and had to turn it off, because it was too unbearable to watch. It was beyond horrible. Can't they even PRETEND to land a punch?

TNA did ok with this signing. I am not a huge fan, but with as little as he will work if things don't work out it is not like they are "paying to sit home" since he won't be working that much anyway. I am sure there are out clauses for both sides. Kennedy and Umaga are horrible, and TNA should do something with the others on the roster than bring these guys in. Unless it is a "Douglas deal" to put someone over.

More Steiner!

I also read that Lashley is going to have Sting's schedule (TV/PPV only).

If Umaga, Kennedy, Burke, and Gavin Spears also join, then who will get released? TNA already lost Petey Williams and many others...