Welcome back to ringside everyone. This week we continue to build for Bound For Glory and I throw in some UFC goodness.
Watch What Happens Next
Yikes, did that opening suck or what? It went from fireworks and an empty ring to no fireworks and Joe in the ring. Whatever, he’s Samoa Joe and he is God. Let me just state something about Samoa Joe before I go any further: Here’s a guy that doesn’t need mic skills. He could have the mic skills of Randy Orton and no one would give a shit because he is Samoa Joe and his wrestling does all the talking for him. He is much like Chris Benoit in the fact that no one gives a shit that Chris Benoit sucks on the mic because he is Chris Benoit. But Samoa Joe isn’t Chris Benoit. Samoa Joe is the most unique wrestler in the business today. He’s 300 or so pounds yet he can wrestle with Brian Danielson, brawl with Scott Steiner, or fly with AJ Styles. Then on Impact, he showed that he could hang with Christian Cage on the mic. There’s not many people in the world of wrestling that can do all of those things. Hell, if you can name me 10 guys, I’ll give you a prize. Fact is, Samoa Joe is one of those 10 guys and that’s why he is pro wrestling.
All that said, I still hate this storyline. To make matters worse, Christian gets involved. Now don’t get me wrong, these two men have rightful claims to the NWA World Title. Christian Cage was screwed out of the belt at Slammiversary and Samoa Joe beat the World Champ at No Surrender. Still, Bound For Glory is TNA’s so called Wrestlemania. This past year at Wrestlemania, you didn’t see Triple H taking a month off while Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit battled over John Cena’s belt. Whatever, I guess TNA feels a bunch of video packages are good enough to hype up Sting vs. Jarrett.
Once again, Styles, Daniels, Homicide, and Hernandez deliver the goods. See how simple it is to continue a blood feud? If Sting really hated Jarrett, he wouldn’t take a month off to train, he would beat the shit out of him until the refs came out and even then, he would continue to beat the shit out of him. The booking here is so simple yet it works because of who is it and what they’ve been through.
Hey look, Bobby Roode picked Traci (come on, everyone recognizes those tits) to be his manager. Didn’t I call that when this whole angle first started? Yup, it just took TNA a month or so to actually pull the trigger on the whole thing.
So are the stupid ass errrr Jackass antics over? If so, it took you guys long enough TNA. Glad to see TNA listened to their fans on this one. Normally the Impact Zone is filled with a bunch of retards who dress up like Jeff Hardy because they think he’s still employed by the company but for once, they were right in booing the Jackass antics. As for a possible Jerry Lynn vs. Chris Sabin feud, I’m all for it. I’m sure Lynn can still cut it in the ring and I bet he would be willing to put Sabin over unlike”¦.
Hey look, Kevin Nash returned to TNA. Hey look, Kevin Nash continued to burry the X Division. Hey look, Kevin Nash spoke the complete truth about the X Division. On the real, I still like Kevin Nash. He continues to bring the funny but now he needs to prove he will bring the put over. If Nash continues to do nothing but burry the division and then fakes an injury to get out of putting over Lethal, Aries or Dutt (because we all know that’s who will win) then what good is he?
Does Sting have new face paint every week? I only give a shit about all of this if the pay off leads to him returning as Surfer Sting. That would be a mark out moment for myself for a number of reasons.
So Diamonds In The Rough job again and I continue not to give a shit about them. It does look like BET is now coming together with Killings doing that hand shake stuff with Skipper. Honestly, if you’re black and you read this column, please tell me what all that shit you do is. I’ve seen black people do a hand shake that lasts 5 minutes because of all the twists, turns, claps, and snaps they do. Is there really a meaning behind it all? I’m begging you to let me know.
Wait, The James Gang is breaking up? Never would I have seen this coming. If ever there were two workers more made for each other, it’s those two. Why? Because they completely suck as singles workers.
So the Kurt Angle interview came and went. Honestly, it was very short but in that short time, it was also very effective. There was no shooting on WWE and I detected no bitterness in Angle. Kurt Angle did exactly what I and other TNA fans have been begging Team 3-D and James Gang to do since they went on their shooting sprees. “Shut up about WWE and help TNA grow by the day”. Angle did just that when he said, “Watch what I do here, because you haven’t seen anything”. Can Kurt Angle go like he could when he first entered WWE? I doubt that because age and pain catches up to everyone. Can he go like he did earlier this year against Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, and Randy Orton? I sure as hell don’t doubt him. I still wish the interview was a bit longer but it served purpose and got me that much more excited for the debut of Angle next week.
I enjoyed the main event this week. You guys know my feelings on the entire storyline but that shouldn’t take away from a solid match between Joe and Christian. Both men really looked on their game in the match and they seemed to have a solid chemistry with each other. Combine that with the fact that a ladder came into play and it made for a solid main event. Hell, I even enjoyed the ending with Abyss, Raven, Spike, and Rhino coming down to the ring. It continued to build the two separate feuds heading into BFG and made for a couple of cool moments (the Joe/Rhino face-off was cool in my book). I also liked how neither Joe nor Christian lost sight of the belt even after the interference by Raven, Abyss, and Spike. Again, not a fan of the storyline but if the whole thing focuses on the belt, then they shouldn’t lose sight of the belt. I thought it was a solid way to end the show.
Overall it was a very good episode of Impact. No one can complain about the amount of Jarrett as he only took up 10 seconds, if that. I wish they would put more focus on Jarrett vs. Sting but with only one week left before the PPV, it’s almost too little too late. Maybe they’ll blow their wad next week and have an appearance by both Sting and Angle on the same show in order to hype up the BFG Main Event. One thing is for sure, Jeff Jarrett better get his belt back next week or else I really have no reason to care about the Title vs. Career match.
UFC Talk
So unless you live under a rock, you’ll know that Ortiz vs. Shamrock: The Final Chapter was on free tv this past Tuesday. Heading into the event, I was hyped to say the least. I knew Ortiz/Shamrock wasn’t going to last long but I was more excited to see TUF3 Fighters Kendal Grove, Ed Herman, and Matt Hamill fight. Well Grove and Hamill proved that training with Ortiz pays off as each man won their fight. I know on the show Hamill was groomed to by Ortiz’s Golden Boy but I see a lot more promise in Grove compared to Hamill. Matt is a great wrestler but his striking sucks and his ground and pound looks weak. Luckily he trains with Tito Ortiz, the king of ground and pound. Grove looked more like Ortiz’s Golden Boy on this night scoring a first round victory. Grove is a unique fighter to say the least being as lanky as he is. At this rate, it’s only a matter of time before we see him on PPV. As for Ed Herman, he didn’t fair so well. I think he’ll get another shot in the UFC but if he loses to another unknown fighter, that will be the last of him.
I said before the fight started that if Shamrock got out of the first round, he would be lucky. Well he didn’t get out of the first round as Ortiz dominated him for the 3rd straight fight. After the fight, people weren’t too happy with the actions of Ortiz with the whole burial and flipping him off. What do I think about it? I loved every second of it. Tito Ortiz is my favorite fighter because he is a character. He’s made his name by not only being a good fighter but by being entertaining after his fights. His whole feud with Shamrock started with middle fingers and he was going to end it with middle fingers. Now I will admit, Ortiz looked like a jackass flipping off Shamrock just moment before Shamrock was going to bury the hatchet but they both said it, “We made a lot of money together” and they made that money because of who Tito Ortiz is. Ortiz didn’t know he was going to bury the hatchet so he had every right to do his post fight antics. Still, it was a nice moment when both men embraced after the fight and the saga.
But the UFC week isn’t over my friends. UFC 64 is this Saturday and I have no problem splitting it with my tag team partner and big brother John. As with UFC 63, this event doesn’t have the big name fighter like Liddell or Ortiz but it does have Rich Franklin and the return of the Lightweight Title. Plus I’ve come to realize that you may rent the PPV for one fight, but you get your money worth based on the entire card.
Plugs
Botter delivers the best news on the web.
Blatt takes on ECW
Joel reviews the final TNA PPV of 05
The End
That’s all for this week folks. I return next week with a recap of UFC 64 as well as a preview of Bound For Glory. Drop me a line at AMPLine4Life@aol.com and join me next time, At Ringside.
