Levin: Aron Rex Is 'The Intellectual Savior' Of TNA

I’m finally getting excited about TNA wrestling again.

After watching Aron Haddad—now known to all of us as Aron Rex—I have a feeling this could be final shot of adrenaline the sinking promotion needs to get up off the mat and become relevant once again.

Speaking from the heart, Rex, who toiled in WWE for 14 years, said he would keep it real and that he did. The mid card wrestler who had his moments as the “Intellectual Savior of the Masses” eventually took a nosedive—becoming nothing more than a jobber who happened to look like a cartoon character from a 1980s episode of WWF.

Rex is as solid in front of a camera as anyone in this business, and when he showed up on Thursday night to cheers from the Impact crowd, things got a bit electric.

“When I first came here, there was a graphic that said ‘He’s doing it his way’,” Rex said during an in-ring promo introducing himself. “This is my way: even playing field; take and seize opportunity; exercise and realize my full potential. But mark my words, my way is simply proving it here. And my way is not only going to change the landscape, but is going to change the very template of our industry. And for those of you that know me personally, you know I’m telling the truth.”

It’s exactly what TNA needs.

With the news of Dixie Carter being replaced by Billy Corrigan as president of the company and stars like Ethan Carter III, Bobby Lashley, and Mike Bennett taking over for AJ Styles and Bobby Roode, who have left for Rex’s former employer, the product is better than people give it credit for.

For the first time in some time, wrestling for the “small” promotion mattered again. If Rex and his new stablemates deliver weekly, it could matter again for a long time.

TNA has, just like WWE was before its makeover, become stagnant, boring, and too “unreal” to watch. New angles involving Drew Galloway, EC3, the Hardys, and Bennett have made it new and more enjoyable. The fact Carter is no longer running the show either helps the fledgling promotion or castrates it because Corrigan may or may not be the right person for the job. By and large, TNA now has a pulse—which is slowing getting stronger. No, it will never be WWE, but it shouldn’t be compared to the mammoth company the McMahons have built. When it was started in 2002, there was a steep uphill climb—one where no company could reach the top.

Rex’s new employer should be excited, as we all should, about what he can bring to a ring and to the camera. He is charismatic and one of the most underused workers in this business. How someone can be this underappreciated for more than a decade is unfathomable. If he can ignite the masses with his words and skill every week like he did in the ring with his debut, TNA—along with its cast of characters—could finally find even footing in a business it has been trying to stand firmly in for some time now.