The Reality of Wrestling: Samoa Joe, 2-Time X-Division Champion

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The Reality of Wrestling: Samoa Joe, 2-Time X-Division Champion
By Phil Clark & J.D. Speich

This last Thursday, TNA started off their first Thursday iMPACT! show with a bang: Samoa Joe regained the X-Division title in a physical, very exciting match with Christopher Daniels. The match was also TNA’s guinea pig for the “can’t miss feel” that they’re trying to create for iMPACT! They executed this by have a series of cut-ins during The Ultimate Fighter and starting the show with the match JIP (joined in progress) with Daniels already bloodied. It seemed to be effective as everyone has agreed that the match was a fantastic T.V. match, but everyone also agrees on asking the same question: why should Joe get the X-Division belt back when he’s now being pushed as a heavyweight?

P.C. Says: TNA booked the title change for the fans

I know that may seem like something The E would say in justifying a decision few people agree with, but I honestly believe that. I also honestly believe that TNA booked themselves into a corner once again. TNA has made a habit of doing this, but this is one instance where everyone has taken notice very quickly. Was it the right thing to give Joe the belt back? Of course not. Was it the only choice TNA had? You bet your ass it was.

TNA has prided themselves on being something different than any organization—especially The E—since their inception in 2002. One of the things that have made them different is having the majority of their matches end in clean finishes. Minus this year’s Final Resolution and the typically insane booking from Big Dust last year, if the match doesn’t involve Team Canada (minus Petey) or Jarrett, nine times out of ten it’s going to have a clean finish. That is one thing that subtly draws fans to TNA; feuds consistently end conclusively and there isn’t an overflow of screwjob endings to matches. In the case of Joe/Daniels, what else could they do? With guys like Daniels, Joe, Styles, and Sabin (the workrate guys) people expect clean finishes because in these cases they want to see who the better man is (see the Benoit/Angle feud from 2002-03). So, they couldn’t end Joe’s winning streak on T.V., they couldn’t have a DQ finish because that would likely cause a bigger backlash, they didn’t want to have a double-DQ even though that would fit the storyline more, so they went with what was left: a clean finish. Besides, who wouldn’t be done after a Top Rope Emerald Frosion?

Another reason this was a move that I respect (if not agree with 100%) is that it does add something to the unpredictability of the show. Not only did these guys open their first Thursday show with an action packed match already in progress, but a title change! That, more than having the match JIP fuels that “can’t miss” nature.

I’d be a lot more pissed about this decision if I didn’t have some perspective on it. First off, Daniels is always going to be the king of the X-Division; it’s that simple. Whenever Styles has taken his two or three-month vacation to the heavyweight division, Daniels has either held the gold or has been portrayed as the living legend-type guy who owns the division. Second, Daniels is going to get that belt back eventually. If TNA has taught me anything since I started watching them, it’s that the X-Division belt will always come back to either Styles or Daniels. Third, the match was good. Are these guys even capable of having a match with each other that’s not entertaining? I doubt it. You have to remember that these are two of the top workers in North America and easily in the top 10 on the planet, so you know that they’re reliable in putting on matches that excite viewers. TNA must’ve sensed this and that’s why they were chosen as the guinea pig for the “can’t miss” beginning on Thursday. While the decision was questionable, the match was still everything TNA is looking to put on with their re-formatting of how iMPACT! is portrayed as a show.

J.D. Says: TNA shouldn’t have made the title change

For the last 10 months Samoa Joe has been a dominating force in TNA. He’s defeated the likes of A.J. Styles, Chris Sabin, and Christopher Daniels, just to name a few. So the question is what should TNA do with their new bad boy of the business now that he’s beaten pretty much all of the X-Division contenders and now has the belt off of him? The answer that TNA went with was putting the X-Division Title back on Samoa Joe as he defeated Christopher Daniels at TNA’s iMPACT debut on Thursday nights.

The fact that my colleague said that this was TNA’s only move is untrue, however I will agree with the fact that they had to go with this decision based on the fact that TNA booked themselves into a corner. There was one other choice TNA had with this match- up, and that choice they had was to have the match finish with the unpopular double disqualification. Though this isn’t a highly popular decision it still would have been a better bet than Joe winning the title back. If the double DQ would have happened Joe would still have kept his undefeated streak alive and Daniels would still be wearing the X-Division Title.

This brings me to my next point as to why the decision TNA made was a bad one; Christopher Daniels had a very short title run. What was the point of Christopher Daniels winning the title at Destination X if he was just going to job to Samoa Joe in his very first title defense? By making this choice TNA is proving that they’re no different than WWE seeing as they pulled the same stint as WWE did, except instead of Edge doing the jobbing in his first title defense it was Daniels jobbing. By choosing to make Daniels lose to Joe you’re pretty much crushing Daniels as a worthy title holder and now he’s going to be sent down to the bottom and has to work his way back up to the top. At least with a double DQ TNA would have kept both wrestlers in good positions for the next couple of months.

My final reasoning as to why TNA’s decision was a bad one is because they leave us with the question of what’s going to happen to Joe next? When Joe lost the title at Destination X I personally thought that this was going to be his push into the heavyweight division and Daniels was going to be left to carry the X-Division. With Joe’s opponent named at Lockdown to be Sabu I thought it was all but written in stone that Joe was going to be a heavyweight. Now that Joe has the title back on his waist it leaves a plethora of questions as to what the future holds in store for Joe. Will he beat Sabu and get his big push to the heavyweight division with the X Division Title still around his waist ultimately giving Joe two titles, or will TNA do something daring and have Sabu win the X Division Title over Joe, in which case Joe ends up going to the heavyweight division with a loss over his head? Only time will tell what the fate of Joe holds and if TNA’s booking decision was the right one.

The Reality is…TNA hasn’t screwed up with Joe yet. Every promotion has a collection of can’t miss pushes that get f*cked up due to a variety of different reasons. TNA is no acception in this department. Where Joe’s case is different lies in the fact that he hasn’t been booked or written into anything really close to involving Jarrett. For the past 10 months Joe has been booked as an unstoppable killing machine mowing over overmatched opponents. It’s a solid foundation that could end with TNA actually being able to create a heavyweight ace.

This week’s “FUCK YOU!” goes to:

RANDY ORTON
I’ve defended this guy long before I even began writing online, but my patience has run out. For a guy who had the makings to become the future of the company in 2004, he sure pissed it away quick. Right after he won the belt, you could literally watch his momentum slip away day by day. After the title win, Orton’s interviews (both face and heel) became less inspired, his in-ring improvement came to a screeching halt, and his attitude changed. The change in attitude is mainly what brought his downfall and this little rant about. Seriously, when Benoit hates your guts, you’re f*cked. Plus, he’s on Taker and HHH’s shit list, so that can only mean sayonara for the legend killer. The backstage behavior (you just can’t call women the c word) has slowly eaten away at me to the point where now I really don’t care what happens to him. I hope you enjoyed your 15 seconds of fame Randy, because that may be all you get.