While you might expect one of Total Nonstop Action’s hottest storylines to come to a boiling point in a match at Turning Point this Sunday, that won’t be the case for the Voodoo Kin Mafia and their campaign against World Wrestling Entertainment.
The angle, which has involved “brothers” BG (whose real name is Brian James) and Kip James (a.k.a. Monty Sopp) trying to get WWE to cease and desist with the resurgence of D-Generation X, will not be played out in a ring or anywhere anytime soon, so admits the man once known as “Road Dogg” Jesse James.
BG, who was on a conference call earlier this week with the media, fielded several questions about his current role with TNA, as well as several in regards to his former role in the then WWF as a member of DX, who, much like the Voodoo Kin Mafia (or better known as VKM), were invading World Championship Wrestling during the late-1990s.
During that span, both BG and Kip (then known as “Bad Ass” Billy Gunn) worked alongside Triple H (Paul Levesque), X-Pac (Sean Waltman) and Chyna (Joanie Laurer) in several management-defying, line-crossing sketches. Now, however, only the two men stand together in a quasi-war against their wrestling competition, though there had been thoughts to add another former DX alumnus to the mix, but only one.
“From what I understand, there was some interest in bringing Kiddo (ie. the 1-2-3 Kid, a.k.a. X-Pac) in, but there was no interest in Joanie,” BG said. “I don’t know the ins and outs of that deal. I’m not in the upper eschelon, but I have heard stuff about trying to bring Kiddo in.”
The formula of the tandem known previously in TNA as The James Gang and in WWE as The New Age Outlaws however, has worked. As VKM, Armstrong and Sopp have returned to the days when they were rebels on the run, bouncing around WWE wreaking havoc in mental games.
It was that same mind of Armstrong’s that helped create the name Voodoo Kin Mafia. BG explained that the origin of the admittedly odd name came from a bit of word searching with his son.
“We sat down in our living room and I wrote down ‘V’,” James recalled. “He was looking on the computer and I was looking in a dictionary, because I don’t know how to use a computer and he doesn’t know how to use a dictionary.”
Armstrong described how the two went through every cool word they could think of for the first word until they arrived at “voodoo.” “Kin,” as Armstrong explained, was an easy selection because he and Sopp are storyline brothers. How did he come up with “Mafia” for M then, you ask?
“I went through a lot – militia… militants… I went through a lot of Ms,” BG admitted. “The Mafia is perceived to be cool: killing a person with a shovel and putting them in the trunk of your car, that’s cool.”
While that skit hasn’t been played out yet, one that made the rounds over the weekend was a successful entry by VKM into a WWE house show (the two, along with other TNA officials, simply bought tickets). Perhaps more than any other skit BG and Kip have done thus far, that was most reminiscent of the DX Invasion of WCW, when the five members of the team attempted to gain entry into a Monday Nitro broadcast. As older fans will recall, the effort was very unsuccessful.
But what if DX had been able to enter the arena WCW was occupying that Monday night so long ago? What if Eric Bischoff had called their proverbial bluff and welcomed Road Dogg, Gunn and the rest of the DX Army into the building and onto the show? Did the WWF’ers have a plan of action?
“We would’ve just winged it,” Armstrong admitted.
What WWF viewers did see on that day wasn’t the full story.
“We had no idea what to do,” Armstrong continued. “They actually called the cops on us. About 10 cops pulled up around us in our rental van. It was exciting but it wasn’t very fun when they searched our car and everything. At the time it was great because I was caught up in all of the wrestling and the drama. I’ve grown up a little bit now and know a little bit more about the business and cops pulling up around me now ain’t cool.”
So what does the Voodoo Kin Mafia have up their sleeves next? Only one way to find out – order TNA Turning Point this Sunday.
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