TNA: In The Zone for 5/18/06
Hey everyone, welcome back to what will probably be a shorter than usual edition of In The Zone. Why short? Because this really wasn’t much of a show for me to comment about this week. Coming out of Sacrifice (which I didn’t watch due to the fact that I have bills to pay. If anyone in TNA likes my column and wants to let me watch the PPVs for free, send me an email), There isn’t a whole lot going on. We should expect new feuds to form, and old ones to be gone, but somehow I don’t expect that to be the case.
After a short re-cap of Sacrifice, Christian Cage comes out and gives a (very heartfelt) thank you to the fans. I think this is a really great way to use Cage. He lets us know that Slammiversery is coming up, and wants to know who his opponents are going to be in the King of the rin… er, I mean King of the Mountain match are going to be. (dodged a bullet there).
Monte Brown answers the call. No clue where he’s been, but he does his shtick, and then seven more people show up. It’s great how these things happen in cool, even numbers. Hmm, Monte, Rhino, Truth Raven, Jarrett, Steiner, and Sting… Let me guess. Well, I don’t have to guess. Larry Z shows up (on the giant TV, so Raven won’t get him) to let us know that we are going to have four qualifying matches. More importantly than the qualifiers, did Larry look like a bobble head doll to anyone else this week?
And Steiner? How is he even in the running for a title shot? WTF?
On a side note, I have to point out that See No Evil (starring KANE) is getting heavy rotation during TNA iMPACT. Too funny.
The world X-Cup tie-breaker is next. For my money, this tournament was way too contrived. It comes down to a captain versus captain match that we have seen many times before. Luckily, the two captains in question are Petey Williams and Chris Sabin. Thank you, Mexico and Japan, but you WERE just window dressing. Teams USA and Canada are “Locked out of the building” for this match. They should have put them on poles. First one to take down his teammates can use them!.
USA wins here (big surprise) and we find out that the whole thing was set up for a Kevin Nash beat-down on Sabin. Why didn’t he beat up Petey? Petey is X-Div. For that matter, when Team USA finally hit the ring, why did Nash let Alex Shelley leave with him. This storyline had better have a great payoff. Nash versus Team X-Div, and Shelley has to choose.
What the f*ck ever. This whole thing is another example of what they were about to do with Joe. They tried to make him look too good for the X-Division. They are shitting all over their own product. I remember another company that did that. Vince McMahon owns it now.
During the previous match, LAX has decided that they are going on strike, and taking Moody Jack with them. Talk about Art imitating Life, huh? This angle would have been funny the week of May 5th.
Steiner comes out again, this time to beat up Don West. I cheer a bit for Steiner. Then I realize what I’m doing. Wow, TNA Creative has found a way for me to like Scott Steiner. Then I realize that they are just giving Joe a chance to come out and get in Steiner’s face. There is no payoff here. Steiner can NOT carry a match with someone the caliber of Joe. No way. Joe is better now than Scott Steiner was in his PRIME. I was a huge Steiner Brothers fan, but Scotty has ruined all that for me.
Somewhere in here there was an X-Div title match (and no Nash to be seen). I think Joe squashed Chase Stevens again. The chants of “Joe’s gonna Kill You” were a nice touch. Andy Douglas (and Shane Douglas) come out and interrupt the post match beat down. I say interrupt, because c’mon, do you really think they could have stopped Joe if he didn’t feel like it? Andy looks pensive, like he’s about to turn on Chase, but they don’t pull the trigger. Maybe soon we’ll hear “You never visited me in the hospital.”
3D does a great promo about their match with the James Gang, and hits a HUGE home-run with a slaw about the WWE trying to resurrect ECW without its soul.
Next up is the KotM Qualifier. Zbysco told the guys to stay in their gear, because no one would know who their opponents would be till match time. (I bet there are gonna be some funky trunks in a couple of weeks). There are so many great combos we could see. Sting versus Rhino, Raven Versus Jarrett, hell, Sting versus Truth!
We get Abyss and Rhino… again.
And Rhino does the Job… again.
Because Bobby Roode interfered… again.
Mike Tenay goes on and on about how good Abyss is without James Mitchell (who was sacrificed at, well, Sacrifice). News flash, professor, Abyss had been sans manager up till TNA came to Spike TV. WTF? This match could have been a lot more. It wasn’t. This SHOW could have been a lot better. It wasn’t. It’s still the best wrestling on TV.
Anyway, for reminding us that the Dudleys WERE ECW, with one single promo, Team 3D is In The Zone. Oh my brother, TESTIFY!!!
Laterz,
Dougie
icarusfallz@yahoo.com
