Welcome back to ringside everyone. Bound For Glory came and went and we are now on our way to a primetime slot and Genesis.
News & Shit
*Puder vs. Angle
So in a interview with MMAWeekly.Com, Daniels Puder claims he would destroy Kurt Angle and he wants to destroy Kurt Angle. Now as you all know, I have turned into a huge UFC fan and this right here is a fight I would pay for. It already has a backstory (something that is an added bonus to any UFC fight) and it has a wrestling cross-over. Problem is, this fight won’t happen. TNA isn’t stupid enough to risk Angle to an MMA fight or a loss. If you risk him to an MMA fight, you’re putting his health at risk for the short term. How bad would it looks if Angle showed up on Impact with a black eye and a broken nose? Second, they can’t afford to have Angle to lose. Kurt Angle going to TNA is the biggest jump since Nash and Hall left for WCW. They can’t subject him to a loss outside of the company and they can only subject him to a loss to a few people in the company. They sure as hell can’t subject him to a loss in a real fight.
So as much as I want to see Angle fight Puder (or Lesnar or Ortiz), it’s not going to happen anytime soon. Maybe if Angle gets bored in TNA he will jump to UFC and do a few fights but as long as he is a hot commodity in TNA, you won’t see him in another company.
*Abyss swallows”¦a tack
So because Abyss is a company player, he allowed Samoa Joe senton onto his back, crushing his face into a pile of tacks. Not only did the tacks get stuck in his head, one tack got stuck in his throat. I honestly feel for Abyss. Here’s a guy that goes through tacks and tables when really he doesn’t need to. If you’ve seen his ROH work then you know that he’s above all the hardcore shit he does in TNA. But if that’s not bad enough, he has yet to hold the World Title and he truly is the main event jobber in TNA. Now, for those who think wrestling is fake”¦go swallow a tack.
Bound For Glory Recap
So I somehow some way (keep coming up with funky ass shit like every single day) avoided results to BFG for a whole 24 hours as I waited for my torrent to finish so I could watch the show. Then, to make sure my opinion was non-influenced I typed this portion of the column up right after viewing each match.
*Kevin Nash Invitational: So if I didn’t know Kevin Nash wasn’t going to be in the match, I would have had the winner of this one correct (remember, I picked Aries with the 2nd best shot to win). Once I saw Aries enter this thing first, it just gave me more reason to think he was going to win (as everyone loves the whole “enters first and wins” storyline). The workers in this match were pretty much everyone I thought they would be with a couple of good surprises (D-RAY!!!!!!) and bad surprises (Zach Gowen). I honestly wanted Nash to enter the match and powerbomb Gowen for no other reason than just to do it.
The storyline to be taken from this match is of course the jealousy shown by Shelley after Aries won. They could honestly go one of two ways with this whole thing: 1. Shelley gets fed up with it all and drops out of the group, turning him face or 2. Nash turns on Aries to re-align with Shelley. I personally like the 2nd idea better just because Shelley plays a much better heel than face and Aries new gimmick is something that can really work either way (it works better as a heel, but it can work as a face). In the end, I see Nash putting over Aries, Shelley, and possibly both.
*The Naturals vs. Team 3-D vs. America’s Most Wanted vs. The James Gang: Yeah, I pretty much skipped through this match. As I mentioned last week, no team really interests me and this match really didn’t interest me. I started watching with about 3 minutes left and even that was pretty boring and it had a pretty bad ending. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t give a damn that Team 3-D won but the ending was just anti-climatic.
As I mentioned, I honestly don’t care that Team 3-D won this match and I honestly don’t care that they pinned The Naturals in order to win. All it does is set up Shane Douglas being pissed that they lost and The Naturals turning on Douglas. Simple right? Then of course they feud with Team 3-D because they’re pissed that Team 3-D beat them at the PPV.
I’m just happy I didn’t sit through that entire match just to see that boring ass ending.
*Samoa Joe vs. Spike vs. Raven vs. Abyss: Yikes, was this match slow or what? Surely it didn’t live up to the hype created by Monsters Ball 2 at last years PPV. It had it’s moments but it’s biggest moment was ruined by a close up of Jake Roberts. Honestly, how bush league does TNA look when they have a close up of Jakes Roberts instead of Abyss falling off the platform? Come on guys, gets your camera angles down. Everything else was just sort of there. Joe with the senton onto Abyss driving his head into the tacks, Raven and Roberts exchange, and Spike falling off the platform, it was all just there. None of it was really that special and none of it will be remembered after next months PPV. Also, they need to stop throwing Spike into the crowd unless they are back in Philly. The crowd does nothing but toss him right back to the floor without surfing him around.
No shock that Joe won as that was the only logical decision. I didn’t like that he sort of needed Roberts help to win though. Raven vs. Roberts would have been a dream match 15 years or so ago but right now, it’s two old druggies trying to hold on to the past. Joe should have been able to beat Raven clean and if the Roberts help was needed, he should have destroyed Roberts after the match.
Joe of course moves on to a match to Angle while Abyss becomes much remains a constant and Spike and Raven fade into obscurity.
*Eric Young vs. Larry Zybsko: Yeah, liked I watched this match. All I know is that Eric won with brass knuckles.
*I honestly didn’t see the point in the Angle vs. Joe confrontation. I like”¦no, I loved it, but it just seemed out of place. Combine that with the fact that Cornette sounded HORRIBLE and it was really just an un-needed segment. I understand that Angle and Joe hate each other but this was just un-need confrontation at TNA’s “Wrestlemania”.
*Chris Sabin vs. Low Ki: 5 more minutes. 5 more minutes and this thing could have been a MOTYC. Instead it’s just a great match with a super hot ending. Honestly, as I watched this match I was on the edge of my seat and I couldn’t believe that each man was kicking out of everything the other man had to offer. The small package ending was refreshing as almost every X Division match seems to end with a finisher.
Sabin winning was the logical choice as Low Ki has done absolute shit with the belt from the time he won it in a forgotten three way match to the time he lost it at Bound For Glory. I still don’t know if Low Ki has a contract and if he doesn’t you won’t see him in TNA until he gets one. As for Sabin, it’s obvious that he’s going to feud with Lynn, no questions asked.
*Rhino vs. Christian Cage: I really enjoyed this match. I liked how it started outside, worked around the back, and finally ended up in the ring. Would I have preferred if they actually fought on 8 Mile Road? Of course, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. It was a fun brawl while it lasted and while it didn’t have one memorable spot (although I enjoyed the ending beat down) it was still a fun brawl to watch. The match flowed nicely (aside from the first time they went for the piledriver) and did I mention that I really loved the ending? It played perfectly to the concussion angle they were running and while Rhino lost clean, he didn’t lose clean.
I’ve got to think that this feud is going to extend though. For some reason, I just can’t see this match being the blow off and I’ve got to believe that Rhino will win the next encounter. I really don’t care that they’re extending this feud as I’ve enjoyed both matches so far and as I’ve said numerous times, both men have a new fire under them.
*AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels vs. Latin American Xchange: As many predicted, this was the MOTN. If not for a few blown spots, it might have been a MOTYC. What can I say about this match that hasn’t been said about their previous encounters? Well, I could mention that Homicide is the f*cking man now because any wrestler that uses a fork, tequila, and coathanger is awesome in my book. Not only that but the man doesn’t need to use those things. He does it because he can and wants to unlike say”¦.New Jack.
So everyone knows that LAX will feud with AMW heading into Genesis and we know this because Gail Kim isn’t a little bitch and took a manly bump. But what about AJ and Chris? The only tag feud I could possibly see them doing is against The James Gang and thumbs are already down on that one. You know what that means right? Splitsville my friends. Oh well, as I’ve mentioned before, I could watch Styles and Daniels wrestle for 24 hours straight so I can live with them feuding once again.
*Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett: Ok, I admit that I marked out a bit when Sting returned with some color to his paint. It was a nice mix between his crow and surfer gimmicks.
The match was about what I expected, possibly better. It was a nice break from the Jarrett norm as this match wasn’t filled with a slew of ref bumps, weapons, and run ins. The only ref bump in the match was a needed one and the only weapon used didn’t really play a factor in the outcome. It wasn’t the most technical match ever but it was a solid old school match. It definitely had some boring points (namely the two predictable finisher kick outs) but the ending was all worth it. I once again marked out when Sting no sold the guitar shot and quickly locked Jarrett in with the Scorpion Death Lock. It was a nice ending to Jarrett’s reign of mediocrity. I also enjoyed how Angle just left Sting alone once he won the match. There was no need for Angle to ruin the celebration of Sting and he didn’t.
*Closing Thoughts: A solid PPV and I really think that waiting to watch before reading the results helped out. It wasn’t a grandslam that TNA possibly needed but it was a home run. Thank God they held this PPV in Detroit because if this was held at the Impact Zone, it would have felt like any other TNA PPV. It didn’t feel like Wrestlemania but the Detroit crowd helped the atmosphere and it was a nice break from the norm. There’s only 2 matches worth skipping through (unless you like comedy and tag action) but the rest is solid to great.
Too Early?
What a way to kick off Impact with an anti-climatic announcement of Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe. Where the hell was Jim Cornette to announce this thing? Come on TNA, you’ve got to make a big deal out of this, not just have Tenay announce “ANGLE VS. JOE AT GENESIS!!!!” followed by minutes of Don West marking out. Cornette should have announced it at the end and then they should have brawled to close the show. Even if they couldn’t get Cornette to come to the arena due to his sickness, they should have had him tape something at BFG that announced the match and aired it on Impact. I know, it’s Angle vs. Joe, who cares how they announce it right? Wrong, just because it is Angle vs. Joe, they should give it more attention and more hype. Having the announcers open the show with that just seemed lame to me. Cornette, Angle, or Joe should have announced the match, not Tenay and West.
Speaking of anti-climatic (yet almost fitting) how about that Sting promo (or lack there of)? I understand Christian reigning on the Sting parade and I honestly thought it worked but was it needed? For months TNA fans have chimed how Jeff Jarrett needed to drop the belt and when he does, aside from a small celebration to close the PPV, Sting didn’t get a proper celebration. He should of at least opened the show, cut a promo on how he finally won the belt and rid TNA of Jeff Jarrett, and then been interrupted by Christian. Instead Christian is already in the ring before Sting even speaks. Again, it played nicely to Christian’s heel character but they could have done that and still given Sting his moment of glory. Anyway, Christian apparently gets a title shot whenever Sting decides to give him a title shot. If Sting was badass, he would fight Christian after the Barbed Wire Catch match when Impact moves to primetime. Instead, he’ll most likely be a babyface bitch and announce months in advance when he will face Christian. Also, is Sting trying to be a rap artist? I know the Scarface game just came out but I thought only rappers made Scarface references. Come on Sting, why can’t you reference The Breakfast Club or The Notebook? Now that would be original.
Well, at least The Naturals got their tag title shot. Sadly it was a meaningless match on Impact in which the AMW/LAX brawl lasted longer than the Naturals/LAX match. Seeing as this match was on Impact and it didn’t go on last, we all knew that LAX was going to retain the belts. The biggest shock (sort of) came when The Naturals decked Shane Douglas causing him to bleed and smile (at the same time nonetheless). So I don’t know if The Naturals are going heel or if they’re still faces with a weird manager. Based on the interaction between Brother Ray and Shane Douglas during the Reverse Battle Royal, I’m going to assume that they’re leaning towards faces with a weird manager. As I called earlier, Team 3-D vs. The Naturals seems like a go. As for LAX vs. AMW, I guess AMW isn’t splitting after all. I really wish TNA would stop teasing tension between those two. Either split them or allow them to continue to be the longest running team in the business today.
So it looks like Devine is out of Eye Spy because he refused to edit the German Snuff Film. Good job dumbass, it’s a simple edit job. On the real, Devine never really fit in with Nash and Shelley. He was more of a background player with those two will Aries will be (pardon the pun) a star along with Nash and Shelley. Aries has already proved that he’s worthy of joining the group just by keeping up with Nash and Shelley on the latest Impact. Nash has already proved to be worth the money and he put over Aries right from the start of the segment. This has huge potential my friends.
Personally, I enjoyed the whole Fight For The Right thing. Not the most technical way to determine a number one contender but damn if it wasn’t original. This really has Russo written all over it because only he would think of a reverse battle royal and then combine it with a battle royal and a tournament. Honestly, for those that say TNA lacks originality, they couldn’t be more wrong. I honestly thought the right people entered the ring as well aside from possibly Christian but that was of course due to his continuing feud with Rhino and he already has a title shot lined up according to Sting. So the obvious winner seems to be Abyss as no one else seems to be worthy of facing Sting aside from Styles and possibly Daniels. Plus Sting has expressed interest in working with Abyss and now seems to be his chance to do that. Sadly, Abyss will most likely lose to Sting and fade back into putting his body on the line just for a crowd pop. I truly feel for the guy.
Another thing that came out of this whole match was the emergence of Matt Bentley in Raven’s perch area. I’m going to wait and see how this plays out before I comment on it. All I know is that it can’t turn out as bad as the whole Raven/Cassidy Riley deal”¦can it?
So does anyone buy the Jarrett sympathy turn? I still don’t. I will give Jarrett credit though, that was a very heart warming interview. He actually showed that he had some emotional range. And you know what, this face turn is going to work. As much as I want it to fail, it’s going to work. Why? Because the Impact Zone is filled with nothing but idiots who don’t know what they want.
Wow, TNA workers are either really weak or Angle and Joe really hate each other. Now I have mixed feelings on letting them fight this much before their PPV match. On one hand, I like the intensity shown by both men in this feud. On the other hand, I like the UFC approach to things where they keep each other separated until fight time. Whatever, it’s Angle and it’s Joe and it’s happening. Now some people feel that them fighting this much will take away from them actually wrestling at the PPV. Yeah, because Angle and Joe know that the fans paid 30 dollars to see them brawl and not wrestle in an actual match. Those two know what the fans paid to see and if they don’t deliver, they know the backlash of the IWC (whether they care or not is a whole different topic).
I like where things are heading in TNA right now. The booking finally seems to be in order where I wouldn’t have said the same thing a few months ago. The title is finally off of Jarrett, Angle vs. Joe is happening, the tag division remains strong, the X division is jackass free, and TNA is going primetime.
The End
That’s all for this week folks. Drop me a line at AMPLine4Life@aol.com and join me next time, At Ringside.
