Alex Marvez's weekly look at professional wrestling

By ALEX MARVEZ
Scripps Howard News Service
08-DEC-05

Jay "Christian Cage" Reso will finally have a true chance to live up to his "Captain Charisma" nickname now that he has joined Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

One of the main reasons Reso said he left World Wrestling Entertainment last month was "a little frustration as far as the creative side went for me."

Reso was relegated to a mid-card role for the bulk of his eight years in WWE performing as Christian despite the strong crowd responses he was receiving as well as his ample in-ring talent and interview skills.

Asked why a strong push as a single's performer failed to materialize, Reso said, "I don't know. I wish I could tell you. The more I tried to figure it out, the more I didn't understand, so I stopped trying. I just wanted to go out regardless and give 100 percent because the number one thing for me was to entertain the fans and made sure they got their money's worth."

Reso was particularly disappointed at not being able to work a program with WWE champion John Cena. Reso built a ready-made feud by insulting Cena on a weekly basis earlier this year. Reso did work a triangle match with Cena and Chris Jericho on June's Vengeance pay-per-view show but what could have been an entertaining rivalry ended when WWE switched Christian from the Raw talent roster to Smackdown.

"When I first mentioned Cena's name was when the tide started to change for me," said Reso, 32. "People started to see me in a different light. I really wish the fans would have had the chance to see John Cena vs. Christian one-on-one, but it will never happen."

Reso, though, is ecstatic at having the opportunity to become a front-line performer for TNA under the name Christian Cage, which is the moniker he wrestled under before joining WWE in 1998 as the tag-team partner of childhood friend Adam "Edge" Copeland. The duo was seven-time WWE tag-team champions before splitting in September 2001.

Reso made his TNA wrestling debut on Thursday night's Impact special on Spike TV that will be replayed at midnight Monday. Reso's first TNA pay-per-view match is Sunday night against Monty Brown at Turning Point, which is headlined by Jeff Jarrett vs. Rhyno.

"I had obviously been watching TNA impact since it moved to Spike (in October) and was really excited and intrigued by the direction of the company," Reso said. "I thought they were onto something and big things were starting to happen. I thought maybe if I could be a factor in helping to build TNA and make it something special that I would like to take that opportunity."
Credit: SHNS.com