Kurt Angle: The Original Version Of TNA’s Main Event Mafia Name, Lineup Was Always ‘Etched In Stone’
Photo Credit: TNA Wrestling
Kurt Angle says the Main Event Mafia fans saw on TNA Wrestling was the group they were always supposed to be… at least the first incarnation was.
Kurt Angle was asked about the Main Event Mafia on the “Ask Kurt Anything” episode of his podcast this week, and he explained that the name itself and the lineup appeared on TV the way it was always intended. He noted that the name “Main Event Mafia” was always the choice, and they made it work for the first lineup but had to work around things for the second run with the group.
“Well, that group was etched in stone. It wasn’t going to change, at least the first time we did it. The second time we did it, I think a couple of the guys left the company and we had to fill in some spots, with Samoa Joe and someone else. But the first one, the main event, that’s what it was all about. All of us were in the main event in our careers, and we became a mafia, the five of us. So that was never going to change, at least it wasn’t supposed to. We stuck with that as long as we could and then it ended up breaking up due to contract reasons.”
The Main Event Mafia first appeared in TNA in October 2008 as a heel stable consisting of Angle, Sting, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner and Booker T. The group’s main feud was against the “TNA Front Line” stable that included many wrestlers as various points, including A.J. Styles, Samoa Joe, James Storm, Jay Lethal and Eric Young. The MEM later came back for a revival against the Aces & Eights between June and November 2013, and that lineup would consist of Sting, Angle, Samoa Joe, Nick Aldis and “Rampage” Jackson.
Check out the full episode below: