Pacman Jones' debut in ring flops - Nashville, Tennessee - Friday, 08/10/07 - Tennessean.com
excerpt:
So far, Pacman Jones' professional wrestling career has been all talk and no action.
Judging from the suspended cornerback's taped appearance on television Thursday night, however, the folks at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling plan on making Jones a star.
Jones didn't wrestle on TNA's iMPACT! show on Spike TV. The segments featuring Jones were taped and plugged into breaks in the action, when other wrestlers hit one another over the head with such objects as folding chairs and trash can lids. But during the hour-long show, Jones was shown five times, and he was mentioned on several other occasions as the weekly show promoted Sunday's pay-per-view telecast Hard Justice.
"You don't know me. Nobody knows me,'' Jones said. "Nobody knows who I am.''
On Sunday, TNA said, it plans to "review all the details of (Jones') new career.''
Jones recently signed a contract with TNA and is expected to make three or four appearances per month, TNA co-founder Jeff Jarrett said.
On Thursday's show, TNA billed Jones as "the most controversial figure in sports.'' During a brief taped segment, cameras showed Jones walking down a dark hallway with his shirt off before shots of him shadow boxing and leaning on a rope inside a ring, a stocking cap on his head.
As music played, Jones said the words "misunderstood, player, team player, game breaker, risk taker, a man, and team player," and those words appeared on the bottom of the screen. At one point, a black man with shorts that had "Pac" stitched on the bottom hurdled another wrestler in the ring, but the athlete's face wasn't shown.
"Pacman is coming to Hard Justice,'' Jones said. "Pacman is coming to TNA''
Later, Jones said the word, "Redemption.''
Jones was suspended in April by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for an accumulation of off-the-field incidents. Goodell will review his case after 10 games, at which time he could be reinstated.
Coach Jeff Fisher said last week wrestling "is not permitted in accordance with (Jones') contract.''