Okay… now… AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle is the single worst booking I’ve seen in ages. I’m so frustrated right now, that this is the column on TNA Pulse gets for Friday. Ready? Let’s go.
Okay, first AJ vs. Kurt Angle is as big a match as AJ vs. Sting, but they want me to pay for the latter in 3-days. If I can get that kind of quality match free, why the hell would I pay? At least this is an opportunity to make AJ Styles look good. Maybe if he looks good enough, I’ll be more interested in Bound For Glory.
Hey, wait a second… these guys are supposed to be a big deal… why isn’t this the main event of Impact? If they can’t main event the free show, why pay for them to main event on Sunday?
AJ and Angle have a pretty good match with a solid story before it develops, like so many Angle matches, into finisher spamming. Usually, that’s not a problem, but here it’s a huge error. Why? AJ Styles had not only his main finish, the visually impressive Styles Clash killed, but also his new killer finish, the Springboard 450 escaped. Now if any of those pin Sting, that’s great, but they still weren’t enough for Angle, making it mean less.
Now, finally, the worst of it- in the end, AJ has to go over, right? The purpose of this is to make him the top guy so he can beat Angle, then Sting and really be over huge. Him looking great beating Angle makes his match with Sting mean more so more people buy the Pay Per View… but no. AJ Styles didn’t beat Angle. Angle had AJ in the Ankle lock with the grapevine in the center of the ring, with AJ ready to tap, the time ran out.
Let’s reiterate that- AJ Styles, the world champion, on the go home Pay Per View, for the biggest show of the year, finished the supposed main event ready to tap out, to his opponent, who is not the guy he’s facing at the Pay Per View. Why on earth would I pay to watch the champion who just should have lost a match face a guy who isn’t the one who just almost beat him?
And, of course, post-match Kurt Angle gets to cut a promo saying that he’s better than AJ Styles and had him beat. AJ, the top baby-face, whines that he shouldn’t have taken the match and says “he didn’t lose or win that match.” Awesome. I so want to root for him now.
As an added bonus, half the show was dedicated to getting over Mick Foley wanting to hurt Abyss for being an imitation… so the hype video for their match focuses on Mick promising a great hardcore match that they want to be “the best hardcore match ever.†I give up.
