Welcome back to ringside folks. This weeks column will be short as I have very little free time on my hands.
News & Shit
*Want to work for TNA?
So according to Botter, TNA is/was/will be offering a contract to anyone that would listen. Names on that list include: Chris Jericho, The Big Show, Jim Ross, JBL, Lita, and Trish Stratus. So pretty much if you’re in WWE and your contract/career is coming to an end, prepare to see “Jeff Jarrett” appear on your caller id. Out of all those names on the list, here’s the order I would like to see: Chris Jericho, Jim Ross, Trish Stratus, JBL, The Big Show, Lita. Jericho is at the top of the list because he brings pretty much everything to TNA as far as an in ring character goes. Jim Ross is next because he brings everything to TNA as far as out of the ring goes. The rest of the list is just pretty biased on who I want to see in the company and who I really don’t care about it. As it stands, I can only see Lita joining the company and sleeping with Matt Bentley during her stay.
*Brown between jobs.
So while Brown was backstage at a recent WWE event, he has yet to be offered a contract and it appears that TNA has a bit of interest in bringing him back. Whatever, he’s more suited for WWE but if TNA brings him back and goes through with the whole BET stable, then I’m all for it.
Training Day
Was that Styles/Sabin encounter horrible or what? Memo to TNA, Styles and Hemme should not be trying to act in the same room together.
Wow, talk about getting the short end of the stick. Chris Sabin, a guy whose been in the X Division since day one, wins the belt off of Low Ki in his hometown in a memorable match at Bound For Glory. How does he lose the belt? A 5 minute match on Impact with no build. I honestly feel for the guy. It’s not that I’m a big Chris Sabin fan or anything but come one. This guy went through the stupid jackass angle, he went through not getting the rub from Nash, and he tried to carry the X Division while Styles, Daniels, and Joe were gone and what’s his payment? A 2 week (in reality, two day) run with the belt. As much as I love AJ Styles, he doesn’t need the belt and the belt doesn’t need him. Sadly, Russo has a hard on for AJ and that’s exactly why he’s the X Division champion once again. I feel TNA is going for a little older, old, new thing heading into their primetime debut. The NWA World Champion is Sting, a guy who can draw back some old WCW viewers, the X Division Champion is AJ Styles, a guy who can draw back the NWA: TNA viewers, and the NWA Tag Team Champions are LAX, guys that keep the new viewers around. Understand kids?
So the cancer in TNA was not Jeff Jarrett but it is the NWA World Title. Cool, get rid of the belt and problem solved right? Strangely enough, I like this storyline. I don’t know why, but I do. Eh, maybe it’s the Nyquil talking.
So was anyone else shocked to see Killings go over? It seemed like Hoyt was in line for a mini push and that went right out the window when Killings scored the win. I’m not complaining or anything because I don’t think Hoyt should have been in this whole tournament in the first place but it just seemed odd that Killings would win. Whatever, whoever won this match was going to be the least favorite to win the whole thing anyway.
I don’t understand, nor do I like this whole James Gang thing. They’re threatening to leave TNA and go to WWE? Dear lord, please make that come true.
Roode defeated Daniels, which was no shock. It would be nice to see Roode win the whole thing but we all know that’s not going to happen. I hope they continue with his push although without a mid-card belt, he’s not going to go all that far in TNA.
Another Daniels/Styles feud? I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, I could watch these two wrestle for 24 hours straight and never get bored. So while I don’t think it’s a great move (considering we’ve seen it a number of times), I won’t complain about it.
Christian vs. Rhino was ok but it really wasn’t needed. You can tell Russo is booking the shows though as only he loves “____ On A Pole” matches this much. I would have liked it better if these two didn’t fight until their Barbed Wire Catch match. I also don’t see the point of only bringing certain weapons to the match and I really don’t see the point of Christian and Rhino only using the weapons they can bring.
I enjoyed the training videos of Joe and Angle. I really like how this whole thing is almost like an MMA fight and the training video took that to another level. Joe actually looked like he was training for an MMA fight while Angle just looked like he was building muscle and cardio. I thought they handled the build for this match very good this week and it was a nice break from “pull apart brawl” theme they seemed set on.
Overall, the show was pretty hit or miss. I know TNA wants to be wrestling based but 4 matches in one hour is just a bit too much. It also lacked a lot of build heading into Genesis. The tag division got paid no mind this week as it was all about singles matches and the Fight For The Right tournament.
The End
I once again apologize for the lack of content this week. This is a rushed column and it’s even late. I promise next week will be better. Before I go though, I would like to thank Rob Blatt for hooking me up with the new At Ringside logo that you see on the Pulse Wrestling main page. Drop me a line at AMPLine4Life@aol.com and join me next time, At Ringside.
