Rasslin’ Roundtable – TNA Genesis 2011

Steven Gepp:
There was an ex-wrestler from the ‘E,
Went by the name RVD.
An ex is also champ of TNA,
And this champ says, “Not today.”
And so Rob fights… well, just not Jeff Hardy

Is this the much-heralded arrival of Matt Hardy? The return of Randy Savage? Ed Leslie finally making an appearance? Is J Hardy going to do it under a mask? Or am I caring too much about something that could mean very little in the long run? Or is this all part of a grand plan on behalf of TNA?
Winner: Rob Van Dam in a foregone conclusion match

Matthew Michaels: Since Matt Hardy was released on October 1, his 90-day no compete should be over by now. Obviously Jeff Hardy will instead pick STEVIE RICHARDS to be RVD’s opponent and they’ll fight to a draw. No, a count-out!
Winner: RVD

Chris Biscuiti: What should happen is that Jeff Hardy chooses HIMSELF as the opponent for the title, but only AFTER RVD has to run the gauntlet of a few other wrestlers. Then, once RVD is softened up, Hardy should pick him apart until MATT HARDY shows up, costs Jeff the match AND the title, and RVD wins. This would do three things: 1. Immediately establish Matt vs. Jeff in a heated feud; 2. Rebalance the power in TNA assuming some other titles change hands; and 3. Puts RVD back where he should be after months of being off the main event grid.
Winner and new champion: RVD thanks to Matt Hardy interference

Raffi Shamir: Before I start, I implore everyone who uses twitter to follow @WWE_Creative and search for #TNAwful –this account does a brilliant job of mocking WWE but this weekend they point their arrows at TNA. As for the match on hand, what are the odds on the mystery opponent being Road Warrior Animal? IF not, I’ll go with the second best option, Matt Hardy, who gets to be the second best Hardy (and lose more) in another promotion.
Winner: RVD

Steven Gepp:
Concussions are a serious thing;
Brain injury and all it can bring.
So hits to the head
Could leave a man dead…
And yet these two are still fighting?

So two of the most over faces are fighting one another for the number one contendership, when RVD is being treated as the #1 contender by Hardy and we’re supposed to care? Okay, it does mean we have no idea who’s going to win, but is either man a good enough wrestler to pull off a face v face match? Am I reading too much into this? Will either be the one to dethrone Hardy while RVD is still in the mix?
Winner: Anderson… Anderson

Chris Biscuiti: If RVD wins the title like I hope, then Anderson must go over Morgan here. Ken is a better “gray area” character than Morgan, and the way he blurs the lines of face and heel seems very natural and unforced. I think Anderson wins by faking injury and suckering Morgan, which is logical based on how the whole storyline has unfolded.
Winner and new #1 contender: Mr. Anderson

Matthew Michaels: They obviously want to lead things up to Anderson vs. Hardy, so I’ll pick Ken here, BUT here’s how he’ll win: Mick Foley will come out mid-match and confront Matt Morgan for actually going through with the fight. It will be a swerve of course, as both Matt AND Mick turn on Ken, hitting him over and over again in the head. THEN they’ll turn on each other. Then Ken will wake up, pin FOLEY and the refs will argue. Somewhere in here, Eric Bischoff becomes World Champ, loses the belt back to Jeff Hardy, and Hardy helps the beaten down Anderson win so he can face a concussed opponent the following month.
Winner: Anderson

Raffi Shamir: Matt already had a title match with Hardy, which should have been Anderson’s spot all along. So it seems like the only logical thing would be to give the win here to Anderson. And if TNA has any sense, they’d have him challenge immediately, win and take the belt off Hardy before he perhaps goes off to jail. It’s not like the TNA championship is valuable enough to trade for cigarettes in there.
Winner: Anderson

Steven Gepp:
There once was a wrestling tag team
Did what others could only dream…
So they’re battling each other,
Brother against brother…
Rest assured, of the crop, this ain’t the cream!

So the feud no one wanted to see is actually going to happen? And it’s going to take place at the first PPV of the year? In 2002 in the WWE when the brand split happened and D-Von became a Deacon, no one cared about the prospect of this, why should we care now? Does the term ‘tag team wrestler for life’ mean anything to these guys? Does this matter one iota in the end?
Winner: (and newest member of Fourtune) Brother Ray

Matthew Michaels: Devon gets the tables. Then Brother Ray gets the deck of cards. The feud is settled during a game of Gin Rummy. Ray wins.
Winner: Bully Ray

Chris Biscuiti: Ray should win this first match of this reborn sibling rivalry, then get his comeuppance at another time.
Winner: Bully Ray

Raffi Shamir: WWE tried this in 2002 and realized it wouldn’t work. I remember being in MSG for Survivor Series 2002 and when Devon rejoined Bubba-Ray it felt like things were where they should have been all along. Now it’s 2011 and this split still feels wrong. They should have retired as one of the greatest tag teams of all times (If not the greatest), rather than go along with this feud.
Winner: Bully Ray

Steven Gepp:
So Kurt Angle comes back to TNA
To face the man who took his wife away
But really, an MMA fight?
It might be an in’tresting sight,
But would either trouble Velasquez on his day?

Why is this a part of wrestling at all? Surely they realise it just makes the whole ‘sports entertainment’ thing look even more fake than it already does, don’t they? And why is Kurt Angle doing this? Wasn’t he a freestyle wrestler, not an MMA fighter? Does this have anything to do with Brock Lesnar and all he’s achieved? And does this mean anything in the long run?
Winner: Kurt (why not?)

Matthew Michaels: Is it bad that I kinda like this angle, in a LOL-ish kinda way? Of course, Kurt Angle needs to win.
Winner: Jeff Jarrett

Chris Biscuiti: Angle should shred Jarrett to pieces here, giving the fans exactly what they want after weeks of the Double J, Double M-A Challenge shenanigans they we’ve seen on iMPACT. I will say Jarrett has been thoroughly entertaining as this new act, but it’s time for Angle to get back into the swing of things in a big way.
Winner: Kurt Angle

Raffi Shamir: If Kurt Angle doesn’t completely KILL Jarrett here, I predict riots at the Impact Zone.
Winner: Kurt Angle

Steven Gepp:
The X-Division is back to what it was –
Insane moves and spots done ‘just because’;
Fought between two men,
Who’ll take sh*t again and again…
And in the process give the audience a buzz!

Will TNA leave the shenanigans behind and just let these two go out there and tear the house down? Will they let this be match of the night and early contender for match of the year, or will they overbook it into a messy hell from which none return? Am I hoping for too much from this match? Am I that desperate?
Winner: Kazarian

Matthew Michaels: If I was booking, I’d figure out a way to give Fortune/Immortal all of the belts. The way this will be booked, Jay Lethal will win, then join Fortune and become best friends with Ric Flair. Kaz, meanwhile, will reveal he’s actually got a British accent and join forces with Williams, Wolf, etc.
Winner: Jay Lethal

Chris Biscuiti: Kazarian should win here. He’s finally developing into a real character, and as much as I love Lethal the X title just needs the boost it will get by being in Fortune’s hands.
Winner and new champion: Kazarian

Raffi Shamir: Finally the X Division in all of its real glory. I trust these two will tear down the house with what should be one of the two best matches of the night. Kazarian is one of my favorite wrestlers in TNA, and if he showed some patience in WWE rather than be a prima donna, he could have been where John Morrison is today. He must win here.
Winner: Kazarian

Steven Gepp:
AJ, AJ, AJ, what’s happened to you?
Once world champ, now Flair’s number two?
Look, this match could be cool
Williams is no wrestling fool
But why aren’t you fighting for the big one, too?

Why is AJ mired in midcard hell while a bunch of WWE rejects occupy all the top spots? Why aren’t Joe, AJ and Daniels still giving the world wrestling clinics? What has any of this Fourtune/Immortal thing done for AJ as a character or as a wrestler? Why is he being abused like this? And why does this title even matter?
Winner: AJ Styles

Matthew Michaels: After Kaz joins forces with Doug Williams, he then turns on him, revealing he is actually NOT BRITISH. Fortune/Immortal continues to rule!
Winner: Styles

Chris Biscuiti: Williams needs to win here so that AJ can get chewed up and spit out by Bischoff and turn face in the process. AJ really is the face of iMPACT, and it’s time for TNA to undo the whole idea of AJ as a Ric Flair wannabe so that he can re-cement his real legacy.
Winner and still champion: Douglas Williams

Raffi Shamir: If 2010 saw AJ Styles go down the TNA ladder in favor of ex WWE, 2011 should see him finally break away from the shadow of Flair, Bischoff and everyone else and go back to standing on his own as TNA’s biggest (and only home grown) real star. But inb order to do that, he needs to finally distance himself from the midcard title.
Winner: Williams

Steven Gepp:
One of these loyal to TNA has remained;
The other in the ‘E made her name.
So who’s going to win here –
I think the answer’s quite clear…
And it’s not the one without the outside fame.

Is there any doubt who will win here? Will it come about through her own hard work or will Tara’s interference backfire? And why is TNA obsessed with former WWE champs instead of building their own brand?
Winner: Mickie James

Chris Biscuiti: It’s Mickie’s time to shine in TNA, and she will win the belt here because that’s what she came here to do. Hopefully, this leads to fresher Knockout feuds, too.
Winner and new champion: Mickie James

Matthew Michaels: It’s about time Madison Rayne joined Fortune. Therefore, Mickie James wins after Kip James and BG James run-in to re-form the James Gang to finally take on the evil Immortals.
Winner: James

Raffi Shamir: After two PPV events without a title match, the TNA knockouts title is back on the line. It’s time for James to do what she has to and win the title.
Winner: Mickie James

Steven Gepp:
If there is one thing TNA does right
It’s their tag teams and the way they fight
These two are the best
Miles ahead of the rest
And this could well be match of the night!

Is it too soon to have these two teams fighting again? Do TNA have any other option? Does it matter, considering the calibre of matches they’ll bring? Will MCMG lose the titles so soon? Will this lead to the wildest, most insane tag team stipulation match ever? Am I excited?
Winner: MCMG

Chris Biscuiti: Beer Money will win the tag titles to bring some more gold back into Fortune. If any team deserves to unseat MCMG after an impressive title reign, it’s the guys that helped the Guns get to that level in the first place. Perhaps GenMe interferes, too.
Winners and new champions: Beer Money

Raffi Shamir: I loved the MCMG/Beer Money feud. I brought me back to TNA after I was ready to give up on the promotion. But it feels like TNA is going back to the well too soon. Is it possible that TNA’s glorious tag division is so depleted that they have to go back to the best feud of 2010 in January 2011? It reminds me of Summerslam 95, where WWE knew the card sucked so they went back to a ladder match between Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon. The difference is that before that ladder match, there wasn’t a one on one PPV match between these guys for almost 18 months while these two teams have been giving us many (stellar) matches in 2010. Even if they don’t surpass their earlier matches and only reach the same level, we have a potential MOTYC here, but it’s time to move on.
Winners: Beer Money

That’s the roundtable. Come back to Pulse Wrestling on Sunday night for full live coverage of TNA Genesis 2011.