Welcome to Total Nonstop Weekly. This week will be a shortened version since I’ve got tonight’s RAW to cover. I’m mainly going to discuss some quick TNA newsbits and get on with some post-PPV analysis. The good news is that after this week, I should be back to normal, but I can’t even trust myself right now since I’ve been here and there.
Quick News
In what seems to be interesting news, most PPV providers are showing TNA Turning Point as costing $34.99, which would be a $5 increase. Bound for Glory seen a price increase as well, jumping to $39.99 from the original $34.99 price last year. It seems that with the recent decreases of PPV buys in general (everyone is having trouble in the economy), TNA is hoping that they can keep 90% of those who regularly buy their PPVs to keep their earnings the same.
Kurt Angle will be back in court next month on the alleged harassment case regarding Trenesha Biggers. The reason for the delay is that Biggers no-showed the court date last week and that the judge is giving her one more chance to show or that the charges would be dropped.
In post-Bound for Glory news, Daniels & Suicide were injured following Ultimate X. Daniels suffered a slightly separated shoulder and a bruised neck and Suicide was banged up from the spot he and Daniels did from atop the Ultimate X structure. Samoa Joe was battling a bad case of the flu, but still worked his match against Bobby Lashley last night.
As of this time, there is no injury update on Booker T, who was stretchered out of the arena last night during the Full Metal Mayhem match. It is assumed that Booker T is finished with TNA and that the stretcher job from last night was to “write” him off the storylines. It will be interesting to see what comes to light at the iMPACT tapings this week.
The “fan” in attendance last night that attacked Tara during the Knockouts Title match was none other than Kim Couture. It was made to be a shoot, but in the end it seemed to cause mass confusion with the audience and the other competitors in the ring.
Pope D’Angelo Dinero and Scott D’Amore were absent from Bound for Glory for personal reasons.
Post-Bound for Glory Commentary
It’s been about a day and I’ve enjoyed the feedback from everyone that commented on Bound for Glory. Yes I overrated some matches, came off as a woman-hater, and ultimately sold the PPV as if it was the best I’ve seen. I try my best to find positive things in what I review. Sometimes, it isn’t easy. I know I had some negative things to say about both WWE and TNA, but last night’s show was special. I’ve only watched wrestling from 2000 on. I missed out on the Attitude Era and I missed out on the truly old-school style from the late 80s and early 90s. Let’s get to some of the highlights…in reverse order.
AJ Styles d. Sting: C+
This was your showcase event. It had a good feel to it as despite what anyone else said in the AIM chat last night…it is hard to work a face v. face matchup. Both were crowd favorites and they tried to tease an old-school feel. The finish seemed out of nowhere, but when does a match HAVE to end on a finisher? The match ended with a Pele kick and a Springboard splash. Even though the bout was set for 60 minutes in case it went that long, I don’t know if TNA would be allowed to extend their allotted PPV time beyond 10PM. It would be bad if the feed cut out at 10PM without knowing the result. Oh well, damned if you do…damned if you don’t. TNA could had axed the meaningless Knockout title matches and gave their showcase event more time. More on that later.
Kurt Angle d. Matt Morgan: A-
This was your best “wrestling match” of Bound for Glory. To be honest, the time limit announced seemed to not put this match above some of the other matches. The Knockouts three-way had a 20 minute time limit, but this one only got 15. They went nearly the distance and Angle countered an electric chair into a victory roll for the victory. Both men worked their asses off and Matt Morgan earned Angle’s respect. This match puts aside my doubts on Matt Morgan as a wrestler as TNA booked him better than the WWE did. Jim Cornette was right to get Morgan involved in TNA because he seen the talent that Morgan possesses. The next step for Morgan is to win a World Title and that could happen as soon as next year.
Abyss d. Mick Foley: A+
I still think I overrated this match greatly, but I wasn’t expecting a wrestling match. I was expecting something equally as bad as a typical ECW match back in the day. It was overbooked with Stevie Richards and Daffney getting involved. Tasers, tacks, barbwire, gimmicked stages…all of that came to play. The spots were horrific in terms of violence and no matter what anyone says, TNA can put on a better hardcore match than the WWE ever did in the nearly ten years I’ve been watching. Sure, Mick Foley got thrown off a Hell in a Cell and went THROUGH a Hell in a Cell. I got called out for assuming that I enjoy women taking Hardcore bumps. I will reiterate…no woman should ever take the bumps Daffney did, but she did and you have to give her props for doing so.
Bobby Lashley d. Samoa Joe: C+
For someone battling the flu like Joe was, he still brought out a good match with Lashley. The minor problem I have is that the way it came off on television, you don’t know if it was a screwjob or not. The referee usually tries to check the person locked in a submission hold to see if they passed out, but Hebner didn’t do that. He thought Joe was out cold and he called for the bell. This confused the fans and caused them to crap all over the match. It also didn’t really help that the fans were solely against Lashley, but you have to appreciate the fans as they are the ones that will send TNA a message on who they should push.
ODB d. Awesome Kong & Tara: D+
Other people gave this match a higher rating than me, but I’m still defending the rating I gave it because the match looked awful on paper. The Tara/Kim Couture confrontation led to confusion among Awesome Kong and ODB and they were forced to improvise the match. It is something when you have the match planned out, but it looked on TV that the two wasn’t aware of the fact that Tara would be involved in this worked-shoot. It also didn’t make sense running an angle on Pay-Per-View, especially Bound for Glory. I see Bound for Glory as the “end” of the current feuds, not the beginning of them. That is what iMPACT is for.
Team 3D wins the IWGP Tag Titles and The British Invasion wins the TNA World Tag Titles: A
The key highlight of the match was that Scott Steiner looked BETTER on this show than some of the times I’ve seen him. For someone who is on his way out of TNA, Steiner put on a performance that no one could expect. The crowd ate up the spots where Steiner gave out a top-rope suplex for anyone who wanted one and for hitting the Frankensteiner on Doug Williams. Booker T did a stretcher job and it seems that he might be out of TNA, but Steiner held his own and he put over the younger talent in Beer Money and the British Invasion. Team 3D got back the New Japan Tag Team titles, but I still don’t like how New Japan’s property is being used like a cheap escort because Vince Russo thinks it is a good idea. The British Invasion won the TNA World Tag Team Titles and it seems that the World Elite is taking the spot of the Main Event Mafia as the “Gold Standard” of TNA.
Eric Young d. Kevin Nash & Hernandez: C
Ever since Young suggested that Nash put his Legend’s Title on the line for $60K as an insurance policy to eliminate Hernandez, I knew that Young was scheming. I really, REALLY wanted to respond at length to Pulse Glazer’s hatred over Eric Young, but time constraints prevented me from doing so in a timely matter. I’ll be brief here. Eric Young is more over now than he ever was. He is in a high profile role and he has gotten better in the ring and on the microphone. He is in a more meaningful role now and he FINALLY won a TNA Title that won’t be stripped from him for stupid reasons. It was a basic heel v. heel v. face Triple Threat match where the heels worked together long enough for a bigger heel to screw the other. Hernandez kept the match as even as he could. This wasn’t about Eric Young eliminating Hernandez; but Eric Young using money to show Kevin Nash that you can’t trust someone that has the cash. It worked masterfully and I’m intrigued to see where this goes.
Taylor Wilde & Sarita d. The Beautiful People: F
Oh God…I’ll say it again. When the highlight of the match happened before the opening bell, you know there is something wrong. I would rather see Lacey Von Erich wrestle than to make out with random people in hopes to stay at ringside. Another point, WHO IS IN CHARGE OF TNA? Mick Foley? TNA Referees? No wonder Jim Cornette left. There’s too many authority people on the promotion. It’s fine when the referees evict someone during the match, but for the commentary to explain that the referees can remove people before the match or change the match in its entirety. I’m sure the Beautiful People will play this out that they weren’t prepared to wrestle without Lacey at ringside. Between this match and the Knockouts Championship match, I asked if Scott D’Amore was on vacation. It turns out that he was absent for personal reasons. The matches showed that. Hopefully this is a blip and that the Knockouts can rebound from this.
Amazing Red wins Ultimate X: A
I was expecting a huge clusterf*ck and they delivered. The spots were insane and I’m sure everyone thought Daniels died or suffered a broken neck after the spot he and Suicide took from the top of the structure. The match got the crowd pumped up for the show and Amazing Red retaining was awesome since he was recently paired with Don West and I’m sure that will lead to many new and exciting things. I can’t really say a lot more about the match besides my expressions I had during the live report.
The Motor City Machine Guns d. Lethal Consequences: C
The preshow match began with nothing at stake until it was revealed that D’Angelo Dinero wouldn’t be at the show due to a family emergency. The match was a standard tag and it gave the Guns a chance to earn a PPV payday since they aren’t featured on TV that much.
Overall, the show was okay. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad. I do question them ending the show with Sting breaking kayfabe, but it is easily overlooked since TNA was in Sting country last night. The gimmick matches were good and Morgan/Angle delivered in spades. Everything else was around average, with the exception of the Knockouts matches. I enjoyed watching it and I enjoyed proving live coverage on the Pulse. Thank you to those that read the report and commented on it. I do appreciate your comments, whether it be good or bad.
For another perspective, Widro & Daniels team up in the Mango PPV Rewind.
Bound for Glory Roundtable Results
Five writers gave their witty remarks on Bound for Glory and yours truly was a late addition, having to leave a comment under the Roundtable post.
Unofficial Roundtable Champion: Paul Marshall (7-2)
Does it count since I replied to the Roundtable post? Â Or is it that my nearly flawless record means nothing since I had nothing witty to say? Mark Allen, our statistics guy, will be the decider of that.
Here are the other results…
David Brashear: 5-4
Tess Nolde: 4-5
Raffi: 3-6
Widro: 2-7
Mark Allen: 2-7
One thing to note, for the Full Metal Mayhem match, if the picks contained the British Invasion or Team 3D, I counted that as a right since there were two winners so to speak. TNA didn’t do a good job in announcing that even though there was a graphic saying that it was for both titles.
Elsewhere on Pulse Wrestling
Mark Allen catches up on the major news from the WWE including Shane McMahon leaving the company.
Kevin Thayer debuts his column today on the Pulse. He discusses how managers are still important in wrestling today.
Brad Curran does me a favor and he previews iMPACT this week.
Pulse Glazer talks about punches and kicks in wrestling.
Until Next Time
It’s late already and RAW is on in a little while, so I’ll be back next week in what hopes to be my normal column. Until then, continue being a fan.
