TNA Rasslin’ Roundtable: Genesis
Sunday night, TNA presents their next pay-per-view offering, Genesis. This entire show, however, is almost overshadowed by TNA’s promotion of a “major acquisition” coming in to the promotion at the show. Rumor has it that this will be none other than former WWE superstar Christian. Still, if not Christian, the question remains: Who else could it be?
Joining me for the Roundtable are Jed Schaffer – professional Re-Writer and Re-Viewer; Matthew Michaels – Master of Moodspins & Wrestling; Vinny Truncellito – Alternate Reality Expert, and PK – Overseer of Figures. With the introductions out of the way, let’s get to the action!
Six-Man Main event
Rhino and Team 3D vs. Jeff Jarrett and America’s Most Wanted
Jed Shaffer: Should be a lot better with Rhino in it then Nash. Still … six-man tags such as a PPV main event. It’s like paying for a Clash of the Champions. Anyway … with Rhino in there looking better then his ECW days, Jarrett likely to bleed gallons, and AMW, this should be a passable hard sell for the inevitable AMW/3D match at the next PPV.
Winners – The Big F*ckin’ Deal and The Deadly Brothers
Matthew Michaels: No titles on the line, so I’m saying the babyfaces win to send the crowd home happy. Ray gets the pin over Storm.
Winners – Team ECW
Vinny Truncellito: Rhino’s out for revenge, and deservedly so. He’s the second consecutive NWA champ Jarrett has screwed out of the title. Big win for Team ECW here.
Winners – Rhino and Team 3D
PK: I’m not really sure how Rhino got this…I mean I like him as much as the next guy, but Main Eventing…nah. Team 3D is just about as boring as they were on Smackdown. There really are only 3 major tag teams now, they can get lame quickly. That being said…faces have to go over now, so they can lose in title matches later.
Winners – Rhino & 3D
Widro: I like how this storyline has played out, and this is a nice stop gap to more title matches
Winners – Rhino and Team 3D
David Brashear: This one’s been building since Rhino got screwed out of the title and AMW threw the funeral for the Dud – er, 3Ds. No way they win it here.
Winners – Rhino and Team 3D
X-Division Championship
AJ Styles vs. Petey Williams
Matthew Michaels: Not time to take the belt off of AJ yet — that’s for Daniels or Joe.
Winner – AJ
Vinny Truncellito: AJ is super over in Orlando, regardless of his championship status. It’s time to showcase that Canadian Destroyer!
Winner – Petey F’n Williams
PK: Aside from AJ and Daniels…Petey has to be the best X Champ on the roster. The Destroyer is the coolest move anyone has ever seen, and let’s face it, he can put on one hell of a match. However, AJ keeps the belt here, since he is the brightest star TNA has made, and this is the best way to feature him on Spike.
Winner – AJ Styles
Widro: As much as i like Petey, AJ will retain
Winners – Styles
David Brashear: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – it’s time for guys like AJ, Christopher Daniels, and Joe to move on to the main event. In order for that to happen, AJ needs to drop the belt, and Petey’s a perfectly good choice to carry it for a while.
Winner – Petey Williams
Jed Shaffer: They’re obviously building up to a Samoa Joe face turn, since the crowd refuses to boo him. But rather then put Joe over Styles, they’ll use Petey as a transition champ and build up a can-he-Canadian-Destroyer Joe? angle. As long as this runs longer then their first PPV match, it should be MOTN.
Winner – CANADIAN DESTROYAHHHHH!!!
Elimination X match – Elimination rules
Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, Alex Shelley, and Roderick Strong vs. Chris Sabin, Matt Bentley, Sonjay Dutt, and Austin Aries
Vinny Truncellito: TNA does Survivor Series? I like it! They really have a hard-on for Samoa Joe, but I can’t for the life of me understand why he’s in the X Division as opposed to the heavyweight division. My boy Rodriguez thinks it’s because all his RoH opponents are there, so the only way TNA can recreate RoH magic is to have Joe compete as an “X guy”. All that being said, I can’t see them having him lose to anyone here, especially if Jushin “Thunder” Liger couldn’t get the job done. Therefore…
Winner – Samoa Joe
Note – look for more tension between Joe and Daniels.
PK: So, it’s a Survivor Series match? Daniels is the story in this match, but I think that the sole survivor will end up being Joe.
Winner – Samoa Joe
Widro: I think Daniels somehow costs Joe a pinfall, creating a feud between them
Winners – Daniels
David Brashear: No way TNA blows Joe’s undefeated streak here. I’d say that we’ll also see Daniels eliminated due to some miscommunication with Joe.
Winner – Samoa Joe
Jed Shaffer: Welcome to Clusterf*ck City! Sure, it’s X-Division, and it has a sh*tload of good athletes, but still … this is gonna be a huge car crash. In a good way. Expect more build-up to Joe’s turn and Joe/Daniels, and the continued push of Sonjay Dutt.
Winners – Joe & Daniels
Matthew Michaels: I think Joe and Daniels will be the ‘survivors’ here, and then brawl to set up a match to see who AJ’s next challenger will be.
Winners – Joe and Daniels
No DQ match
Sabu vs. Abyss
PK: It’s Sabu…Enough said.
Winner – Sabu
Widro: I’d love if the Abyss chant was somehow outlawed in Orlando
Winners – Abyss
David Brashear: Another win over Sabu would only help to keep building Abyss toward the main event, where he belongs. Like I said last month, Sabu’s main value at this point should be to help build up others.
Winner – Abyss
Jed Shaffer: The blood shed in this match will rival a Steve Corino/Dusty Rhodes blade-a-thon. Good thing the Hardcore Title ain’t around anymore, cause this would make it look like a friggin’ joke. Sabu is here to make people look good, not get a big push, so …
Winner – Abyss
Matthew Michaels: Does it matter?
Winner – Abyss
Vinny Truncellito: No question that Abyss is the homegrown pet project, and Sabu is the hired jobber who still has a bit of name value left. Abyss is big, powerful, agile and kinda’ scary. He’s the one getting the push.
Winner – The Monster Abyss
#1 Contender’s Match
Monty Brown vs. Jeff Hardy
David Brashear: At this point in time Jeff Hardy has no place in the main event. I’ll grant that he’s starting to have a moment here and there where he looks like the Jeff Hardy people were starting to call the Next Shawn Michaels, but he’s not completely back yet. Still, TNA seems to light fires under people (look at Sean Waltman’s workrate before his disappearing act), so he might make it there someday. That day, however, is not today. Today belongs to the Alpha Male.
Winner – Monty Brown
Jed Shaffer: Part of me thinks they want to put Monty in that match already, and part of me thinks they won’t shoot their wad so soon. Hankyboy just doesn’t seem like he belongs up there, nor does he have reason to be there (hello, lost Monster’s Ball!), while Monty has been tearing through people everywhere. A win over Jarrett frees him up to deal with Raven, while Monty can have dream matches with Abyss, Rhino, Styles and Samoa Joe. Even TNA couldn’t piss that away.
Winner – MONTY!!!!!!!!! PERIOD!
Matthew Michaels: Monty’s on a roll, but this will be surprisingly good.
Winner – Brown
Vinny Truncellito: As with Abyss, Monty Brown is homegrown, WAY over with the crowd, and can go in the ring. He’s aggressive, focused, and exciting between the ropes. He can cut a solid promo, and he has a focus on the NWA strap. He’s ready to be a serious main event player in TNA. I’m not even sure Hardy knows what day it is most of the time.
Winner – The Alpha Male
PK: Don’t be so quick to pull the trigger on Monty yet…I think they have at least one more Hardy vs. Jarrett match left, then they can push Monty or Raven.
Winner – Jeff Hardy
Widro: Monty cant work long matches yet, and with Christian coming in, the main event scene has crowded up a bit. Jeff is buried with a clean loss here
Winners – Hardy
Tag Team Battle
Team Canada vs. 3 Live Kru
Jed Shaffer: Expect more Gonad/Kip tension. And since I refuse to endorse any Team Canada that doesn’t have Johnny Devine, but DOES have A1 …
Winners – 3LK
Matthew Michaels: I think the way this all plays out, we’re gonna see Konnan leave the group, and K-Kwik, Road Dogg and Billy Gunn as a new faction; just not sure if it happens yet.
Winners – 3LK
Vinny Truncellito: The Washed-Ups will probably take this one, because for some reason, the crowd likes these has-beens. Team Canada is the superior team, IMHO, but sometimes you have to book one to please the fans.
Winner – 3 Live Kru
PK: Please, please, please just pull the BG turn…we’ve been waiting WAY too long.
Winners – Team Canada
Widro: I hope the Outlaws are back together here as faces, i wonder how Killings fits in
Winners – Team Canada
David Brashear: The Kru’s really starting to get stale, and the Kip-BG storyline’s been going on way too long. Something needs to happen with that, and it needs to happen fast. I suspect that whatever it is will also cost them the match.
Winners – Team Canada
Shark Boy vs. Nigel McGuinness
Matthew Michaels: The ROH Pure Wrestling Champion vs. a comedy jobber? Uhm…
Winner – Nigel
Vinny Truncellito: I don’t know.
Winner – One of those two guys, I suppose.
PK: Hey, at least Shark Boy has an action figure.
Winner – Nigel
Widro: I’m not a huge fan of Nigel’s style, but he has a great look
Winners – Nigel
David Brashear: No way McGuinness loses in his debut. Thanks for coming, Sharky.
Winner – Nigel McGuinness
Jed Shaffer: Token jobber vs. debuting British hardass who currently holds an RoH title. Gee, I wonder, whatever could happen here?
Winner – McGuinness
Naturals & Lance Hoyt vs. Diamonds in the Rough
Vinny Truncellito: After recent events, it seems the DitR are bound for a losing streak, which might even turn into a storyline. Reader Curtis McLean told me that Skipper is actually 5 months OLDER than Simon Diamond, which kind of ruins the image of the hardened veteran taking the young guys under his wing…
Winner – The Naturals and Test Lance Hoyt
Widro: Faces win
Winners – Naturals and Lance Hoyt
PK: Amazing how far the Naturals have fallen…but not as amazing as how far Prime Time has fallen. Remember how awesome Triple X was? Now he’s teaming with David Young. Nats and Hoyt pick up the meaningless win here.
Winners – Naturals & Hoyt
David Brashear: With Chase Stevens coming back off his injury, it’s hard to see the Diamonds pulling this one off. I’ll call the Naturals and Hoyt, but if they lose, I expect to see the Diamonds playing up Stevens’ neck injury.
Winners – Naturals and Lance Hoyt
Jed Shaffer: Poor Naturals. Poor Diamonds. I’ll even say Poor Hoyt. This is a no-win booking situation. The Naturals seem like they’ve been shunted into oblivion after their AMW war … the Diamonds In The Rough seem to be stuck in lower-mid-card land, and Hoyt is a victim of Overcrowded Upper Card syndrome; if there was a US Title, Hoyt would be perfect for it. Since the Diamonds never win the big matches, I think the choice is obvious.
Winners – Naturals/Test … er, Dallas … er, Hoyt
Matthew Michaels: Assuming the one Natural is still hurt, I’m assuming they’ll keep Simon’s team’s push going. Sorry, Hoyt-a-maniacs.
Winners – DitR
And this month – a special bonus question!
Will Christian show up, and what will his role be?
Matthew Michaels: He’ll help Team Former WWE win … and then take all three babyfaces out and finish the show with a smirk. Or maybe he’ll face (and beat) Raven, based on Larry Z.’s comments on iMPACT! and the fact that Raven was initially supposed to be feuding with Nash at this point, which obviously has been derailed.
Jed Shaffer: They’re hyping a “major acquisition”, and if they don’t produce big, they’ll lose credibility. It has to be Mr. Reso. His role? Well, they can play off the old Team RECK (Rhino/Edge/Christian/Kurt) chemistry and have him side with Rhino … or bring up the E&C/Dudleys/Hardys rivalry and have him go heel. Or, skip it all and go X. Considering how strong the TNA booking has been, I am at a loss to guess what it is, and won’t hazard a try … but I do pray he isn’t with Team Canada
David Brashear: Personally, I don’t think that there’s any way Christian won’t show up. Although my dream scenario would be for him to show up alongside buddy Chris Jericho, I’ll admit that there’s very little to no chance of that happening. (Although it would be extremely cool.) The Team Canada thing’s a possibility, but Scott D’Amore’s got the coach role there, and I don’t think they’d pull him. If it happens, I definitely expect it to happen in the main event. My call? AMW and 3D start brawling after the match and wind up backstage. Rhino gets blasted with a guitar and is out. Christian pops up, levels Jarrett, and holds the belt aloft.
Widro: Christian will debut and start a program with Raven
Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show! Also, don’t forget to keep checking Inside Pulse for developments up to the show, and live coverage during Genesis!
