The Reality of Wrestling: Joe/Sting & Bound For Glory IV

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Not what I wanted, but what I expected

Last weekend saw TNA’s version of Wrestlemania, Bound For Glory, and while the results and booking may not have been what most expected (or maybe it was), the event itself was a success for TNA. The crowd was hot for the entire show—typical for Chicago—and the building was reasonably full the roster working hard and producing an overall good show. Still, it was far from pre-Russo TNA, and was full of interference and Russo finishes that really had no place at a show that’s billed as TNA’s Wrestlemania or “our World Series” as Mike Tenay often has described Bound For Glory as. The main-event, the biggest match TNA has had since Joe/Angle at Lockdown, saw Joe’s first TNA title reign end at the hands of Sting—now with an Undertaker-like streak at BFG—after Kevin Nash’s heel turn and one of the shittier baseball bat shots since WCW was still around. TNA: it’s WCW 1994.

P.C. Says: Bound For Glory was a good show, but said a lot about TNA’s negatives

I knew that Joe wasn’t going over about an hour before the main-event when Beer Money retained the tag titles meaning that every title in TNA minus the world title had been retained and no Wrestlemania or Wrestlemania-like event can have all titles retained and still be an overall good show. So, like Taker at Mania, Sting went over one more time for the world title at Bound For Glory and like Taker at The E’s Wrestlemania, it was against the greater good. When Sting was giving interviews about coming to TNA in late 2005, all he could talk about was him wanting to do the right thing and put over people and blah, blah, blah. I say that because in reality Sting hasn’t made anyone a star by putting them over in the near three years he’s been in TNA. But hey, it was nice moment live right?

Was anyone surprised that the Steel Asylum match delivered plenty of awesomeness? I’m not. Why? Because everyone in the match—minus Super Eric and Shark Boy—can deliver the goods in singles or tag matches on PPV’s if given the proper amount of time, as opposed to the five minutes they get on iMPACT! Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal stealing the show in Toronto last month is proof of that because that was a match that nobody had any high expectations for because of the horribly shitty angle it involved (thanks Vinnie Roo). But they delivered and had what most called the match of the night. You’re telling me that The Guns or Petey or Curry Man couldn’t do the same thing? Like it or not, Sabin & Shelley are the best tag-team on the planet when pure talent and tag moveset is concerned. They have the charisma to be all-out heels or edgy faces—I thought them channeling the Chicago/Detroit bad blood was nice and going around giving everyone in the ring their hand gesture after pounding them into the ground—and once again stole the show when given the opportunity as they were the best thing in this match. However, Petey Williams got to prove once again why he’s the most underrated wrestler in TNA putting out some great stuff and proving once again—with his Petey Pump gimmick—that Russo can’t book light heavyweights and needs a separate booker for the X-Division (Tenay, anyone?). This was easily the best choice for the opener and it did its job of getting the crowd into the show with gusto.

Kurt Angle, Awesome Kong, and Consequences Creed all should’ve won in Chicago. Taylor Wilde simply hasn’t brought anything to the table as women’s champion. Her upset angle would’ve been better suited—like Shinsuke Nakamura’s first IWGP title reign—as an angle advancing her up the card towards a title shot instead of a title reign. She has very little charisma and the whole underdog story would work a lot more if she got upset after upset instead of a one-night fluke win on T.V. that was supposed to make everyone believe she was legit. If this were the finale of her ascent to the women’s title instead of another defense, it would’ve gone over much better and would’ve been better. Plus, Kong is a much better fit as women’s champion because her dominance and overbearing size compared to all the other women in TNA made Wilde’s upset so shocking. That’s what TNA’s women’s division needs right now is Kong to go on another killing spree giving them time to groom someone new for the top since Gail left and left a huge void talent-wise in that division because of her departure. Angle should’ve won for the same reason Joe should’ve won: it would be better for the big picture. That being said, it was a great moment for Angle to get the slapnuts guitar shot and Jarrett to get the one and everyone goes home happy. If TNA were a more stable promotion, I could’ve lived with that finish, but Angle/Joe VI would’ve been a better follow-up to Joe/Sting for the old v. young angle than Styles being rushed into a match with Sting that—knowing Russo and TNA—he will likely lose as Russo is usually three or four months (and many matches) late on pulling the trigger on someone or some angle. Take away the fact that booking 101 indicated that Creed gradual rise to the top would peak with a title win at the biggest show of the year, Creed should’ve won because Davari’s title reign has been nothing (getting squashed by Joe on T.V.) and most people aren’t going to buy a foreign heel as much as a regular heel because most see through the America versus the world crap as being just that as far as wrestling angles are concerned, at least in the last decade or so. Plus, you would’ve thought that Davari would’ve been against this kind of character or feud or angle after how swimmingly it went for him in The E. I don’t have any problems with Beer Money winning, that was the right move as Russo doesn’t know what to do with LAX (I know, it’s so hard), and TNA needs a stable champion team right now, so kudos to them for that as they did make Roode & Storm look good in the win.

And we come back to the main-event. First off, this match was booked the exact opposite of how it should’ve been because Joe should’ve gone over. The match should’ve been a back and forth brawl for fifteen minutes, possibly some blood on both sides, before Joe chokes Sting out via the pass out finish allowing Sting to put Joe over without even really jobbing. Second, if this is the real beginning of the young vs. old angle, they’re in big trouble. Anyone—and I saw this a lot after the show—who believes that Sting HAD to win are fucking idiots, period. I’m not going to be kind about this because every major young v. old feud that has paid off in the past has had one thing in common: the young guy(s) draw first blood. The best example—one I will use however long TNA runs this feud—is the early 90’s feud in All Japan Pro Wrestling between Mitsuharu Misawa and Jumbo Tsuruta. Tsuruta was the old wily veteran while Misawa was the man Giant Baba—All Japan’s founder and booker—picked almost on a whim as the heir to the position as company ace. Their first match was a classic match of the year and match of the decade candidate that saw Misawa shock Tsuruta and Japan with an upset win that actually had people in attendance crying. Tsuruta won the rematch and the two traded singles and tag wins against the other for the next two years (1990-1992) and the only reason the feud didn’t stretch into 1993 and possibly 1994 was because Tsuruta was diagnosed with Hepatitis B. The point of using that feud as an example is because Tsuruta beat Misawa while Misawa was wrestling as Tiger Mask II two years before and Misawa’s career and the company remained in a bit of a holding pattern, but Misawa’s win symbolized that the new generation had arrived and sure enough within the next six months, Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, Akira Taue became staples in the main-event scene feuding with (or siding with) Tsuruta and veterans Stan Hansen, Terry Gordy, Steve Williams, and Yoshiaki Yatsu. The result of this feud: All Japan was able to move the young guys into the main-event and the new blood at the top card helped produce a streak of 200 straight sell-outs in Tokyo including almost five straight years of sell-outs every time they ran Budokan Hall.

I’m not saying that Joe going over Sting in Chicago would’ve immediately pushed TNA to the top. But that win would’ve at least sent the message that TNA is for real about pushing younger talent as they’ve been claiming to be, but haven’t done since getting on Spike TV back in 2005. As of now The E looks to be a LOT more serious about pushing younger talent as is evident by the pushes or giving or more T.V. time to C.M. Punk, Cody Rhodes, Ted Dibiase Jr., Matt Hardy, Shelton Benjamin, Jeff Hardy, and MVP this year.

The Reality is…TNA is WCW in 1994, and that’s not a good sign for their future. WCW in 1994 saw the pushing of new stars like Cactus Jack, Vader, Steve Austin, Guardian Angel, Dustin Rhodes (when he still had a little talent), with old stars like Sting, Ric Flair, and Ricky Steamboat still producing in the ring; I guess the main difference between WCW then and TNA now is that the old guys could produce in the ring for WCW back then. The point is that at the time, WCW’s product was actually better than The E’s and with the business being what it was at the time, they could’ve actually made a real offensive on The E because they were pushing their new talent hard and letting the older guys do what older wrestlers have to do at some point in their careers: put over new talent that are going to have to carry the promotion into the future. TNA in 2005 and 2006 was exactly that and has stayed that way with the only—and major—difference being that the older guys are not only hogging the spotlight, hogging the air time, but are hogging the meaningful wins and that is what turned Samoa Joe from the future of TNA into a choke artist and what saw A.J. Styles turn from being a vital part of TNA’s future into Kurt Angle or Christian Cage’s lackey for the better part of a year. TNA needs to pull a miracle with this young versus old thing and that means a few things: the young guys HAVE to be the faces and the old guys HAVE to be the heels, the old guys have to job in the majority of the important matches, and effort has to be at 100% throughout or it’s just not going to work. And if TNA does pull a miracle and make at least one star out of this whole thing—A.J. being the most likely candidate now—TNA has to get rid of Vince Russo for good. Jeff, I know he’s a friend and all, but he nearly killed this company in ’07 and if he doesn’t go, it’ll happen again.

This week’s “FUCK YOU!” goes to

THE SEC
This past Saturday a referee in the South Carolina/LSU football game, I don’t know the ref’s name or care, appeared to hit and take down South Carolina’s quarterback. Replays and repeated viewings of the play show that the ref was not bracing for impact—an act that requires stiffening the body or moving a foot back to help brace, but no forward movement—and actually moved forward leaning toward and into the hit that took this QB down. But, for some reason, the SEC ruled that the ref was in the right and no action was taken against him. I love the SEC because I believe they do produce the best college football there is (even though the Big-12 may have eclipsed them this year), but this is a pretty big faux pas on their part for not at least fining the guy. Ref’s make a lot of mistakes in football (and I’m not talking about all the shitty calls), but this isn’t accidentally getting in the way of a striding receiver or not getting away from a charging player quick enough, this was getting into the play itself. This split second decision on the ref’s part was just plain wrong, and just plain wrong that the conference condoned it.