The Menagerie

From 2012 to 2013 Knux was a member of Aces and Eights. For those who don't remember (lucky them) that was a card-loving biker gang set up by Bully Ray to bring about the end of TNA.

For a while the group achieved moderate success as a lead heel faction. It will not be remembered as one of the greatest units ever but then very few things in TNA fall into greatest ever category. It did as well as could be expected before meeting its inevitable uninspired end. The breakup was slow and undramatic. Much like the average episode of Impact.

Since the group went their separate ways the only member that's remained a constant presence on Impact is Bully Ray. Which makes sense. Not only was he the group's biggest star but he was also the only member left at the end who had had a TNA contract before the group formed. It was easy enough to assume that everyone else had gone because they didn't have contracts while TNA were legally stuck with 'Calfzilla'.

Instead of doing the smart thing and taking the opportunity to cut ties with the useless lump that is Knux TNA decided to keep him around for reintroduction later on. A recent series of vignettes have shown him shambling around small town America reconnecting with his roots. Those are not his real life roots though. No, those are kayfabe roots, which have revealed that Knux is actually descended from circus folk.

TNA will be reintroducing Knux to television as the head of his very own faction, The Menagerie. If we're being honest Knux’s leadership alone practically dooms it from the start. A second rate member of a second rate group whose most memorable contribution to WWE before he got cut was being the possessive boyfriend of Kelly Kelly. If this man is the leader, the best the faction has to offer and the man all other members take direction from, then it doesn’t say much about the group’s other members.

Beyond that there is the more obvious problem that this is TNA's latest WWE knockoff. The group seems poised to be presented as a gaggle of misfits from backwater America flocking around a charismatic leader who gives their lives meaning. It doesn’t seem possible to read The Menagerie as anything other than TNA's answer to The Wyatt Family.

The main difference is that we’ve had what comic book fans would dub an origin story with this group, whilst the means by which Bray Wyatt convinced Luke Harper and Erick Rowan has remained a mystery. Which is for the best. It adds to the group’s air of mystery. That’s something TNA failed to grasp when cobbling together their version.

They've shown a fair amount of restraint holding off on copying the Wyatt approach for as long as they have. The Bray Wyatt character debuted on NXT in July 2012 and introduced Harper in November. Perhaps Lagana and the crew thought The Wyatt Family should become a success before they lifted it for Impact.

The Menagerie seems like it doesn’t have a chance before it even shows up. Even if the other wrestlers involved have talent (and I'm in no way saying they don't) they're going to suffer comparisons to a very successful gimmick in a rival company. TNA's track record indicates the group will be mishandled or, perhaps worse, be openly modelled on said other group.

This is exactly what TNA needs to move away from if it is to increase its audience and remain in business. It needs its own voice and its own fresh ideas to be taken seriously and be seen as a company worth watching by anyone but TNA die-hards. No matter what small successes it may find, and I don't doubt it may find some, The Menagerie is not the solution to any major problems in TNA, nor can it contribute to solving any.

No Surrender 2013 review

Remember Chris Sabin? He's the man who has worked for TNA for a decade, routinely being relied upon to provide exciting matches. He's the man who was chosen to unseat TNA's lead heel as world champion. He's the man that, with a little bit of work, could have been a perfectly satisfactory addition to the company's rather drab main event scene.

You and I may remember who Mr Sabin is but TNA's writing team apparently do not. Just four weeks after his world title reign (which also lasted just four weeks) was unceremoniously halted Sabin has already slipped down the card enough to be omitted from what is allegedly a pay-per-view quality edition of Impact Wrestling. The treatment obviously does Sabin no good and it's not a positive for the TNA world championship either. That now looks like something that anyone can get a shot at and win. That's not how any promotion should present what is supposed to be their top prize.

Thankfully this was the only major complaint I have about No Surrender. Sabin's absence aside it was a perfectly fine show.

The evening kicked off with the standard video package. It was well produced. First it showed us the four men who would compete in the BFG semi-finals and finals, each man doing his utmost to stress the importance of the BFG series and the title shot the winner would receive. Following an F Scott Fitzgerald quote (I like the idea of TNA doing more literary quotes, partly because it's such a clichéd thing to do that it suits them perfectly) we were shown how the Mr Anderson and Bully Ray, the Vice President and President of Aces and Eights respectively, issue came about.

Bully Ray opened with a promo. That wouldn’t have happened were No Surrender a real pay-per-view. He said the problems between Anderson and him were because of General Manager Hulk Hogan. That brought out 'The Hulkster' who said that Bully should be focused on Anderson, cracking the same "You should be worried about facing one of your brothers, brother!" gag twice. Hey, no one can accuse Hulk of not reusing things that work.

Bully called Anderson out to the ring. His music hit immediately, almost as if he'd been waiting at the gorilla position. The Vice President of Aces and Eights refused a handshake from Hogan and joined Bully in the ring. He was told that if he just apologised it would all be over. After very briefly teasing giving that apology he decked the Pres. After that he shouted his own name and Hogan got back on the stick to say that the world title match would be a Last Man Standing match.

Match one saw Austin Aries meet AJ Styles. They had the sort of smooth and enjoyable match you'd expect. There was nothing wrong with what they have us at all. The finish came when 'A Double' went for a splash in the corner but got hung up on the top rope. Styles then hit a Pele kick and followed up with a middle rope Styles Clash for the win.

 

Finish ahoy!

 

Backstage Sting tried to give Magnus a pep talk. Magnus told him he's tired of being the future and declared he was going to be the champion. Samoa Joe was slouched on a sofa throughout.

After a break Bobby Roode was shown screaming at Taz, Mike Tenay and the referee whose surname isn't Hebner, demanding Magnus be brought out so he could beat him and then go on to beat Styles in the finals. We also got a shot of a handful of the St Louis Rams. Which was... well, it was something. Their support would mean a lot more if they were shown to support TNA on non-TNA programming. But obviously that's not going to happen.

'The It Factor' got the match off to a quick pace when he jumped Magnus and instigated some fiery brawling. When they got underway in the ring the intensity remained and they produced a very lively match. Magnus reversed a fisherman suplex into a double leg takedown, floating over for a victory from nowhere. Presumably he didn't get a more convincing result because TNA want to keep the Extraordinary Gentlemen's Club member strong.

Backstage Roode jobbed out a table before being joined by fellow EGO boys Daniels and Kazarian. Roode said it was Hogan's fault they weren't in the finals and said if they couldn't be there nobody would be. That so many heels blame Hogan for their woes is distressing. He's had his TV time cut as a way of saving money and isn't going to be working a match any time soon, yet he's essentially positioned as the company's top face, the man all the bad guys are gunning for.

Talking of Hogan, he was shown talking to TJ Perkins backstage. Apparently the Manik gimmick reminds Hogan of his Hulk Up routine. I think he may have taken one too many chair shots. Dixie Carter came in and told Hogan that Bellator has pulled Tito and Rampage until after they've had their MMA match on November 3. That's not a loss. If anything it's a good thing for TNA. It will force them to concentrate on their wrestlers for a while.

Elsewhere in the arena Bully Ray ranted at Knuxx, Garrett Bischoff and Wes Brisco. His feeling was that they wanted Anderson as the world champ and club President over him. The three didn't get to address these accusations. They're not important enough to have speaking parts. Bully said he knew they'd do the right thing and walked off. We were left to presume "the right thing" was interfering in the world championship match on his behalf as opposed to not getting involved and seeing who could win on their own merits.

Following a recap of the tensions between Anderson and Ray we got the TNA would title match. As gimmick brawls go it wasn't a bad one. The only minor niggle I have is that Anderson wrestled in his Aces vest and jeans. Surely the storyline would've lent itself to Anderson busting out his more traditional wrestling trunks. Perhaps they want to save that for later, to signify he's finally done with the group.

Anderson had the match won from a Mic Check onto a chair but Bully had floored Hebner with a manly shove into a turnbuckle. Hebner had stood up to him, y'see, and the champ didn't like that. Anderson dragged Ray to his feet, presumably to hit another move and keep him dazed, this earning himself the gold. Instead he was floored with a Bully Cutter. This was the signal for the rest of Aces and Eights to mosey on out. Anderson staggered to his feet only to be low blowed by Brooke (Tessmacher, not Hogan) and triple power bombed (Shield style) by A&E.

Hebner recovered to make the count and Anderson managed to make his way back up by nine. A chain-assisted punch put him down for another count of nine. He finally went down for ten after he was tackled through a table by Bully.

Anderson was put on a gurney and wheeled up to the entrance ramp to be slapped about some more by Bully. The champ whipped Anderson with the leather vest and then gave him a piledriver on the steel. It's nothing we've not seen before from the character but it did earn some heavy boos, so it was obviously the right thing to do (from a booking standpoint, of course).

 

Nothing gets heat like an exposed piledriver

 

ODB was shown in a bar talking up a Knockout title match had scheduled for the next able. It was effective as a thirty second promo.

James Storm and Gunner came to the ring for a dire segment. Gunner just stood around as Storm shouted nonsensically. It was easy to believe in his gimmick of drinking heavily. Chavo and Hernandez interrupted and acted in a decidedly heelish fashion. Gunner granted them a title match for the next episode of Impact. Everyone involved seemed stilted and ill-prepared for the exchange. It highlighted how much TNA needs fresh teams.

In the main event AJ Styles defeated Magnus in a match that was fitting of being the final instalment of a lengthy series. EGO interfered at one point, attacking both competitors before being dealt with by officials. When the show returned from a break they were gone and weren't seen again. It was odd booking.

'The Phenomenal One' won with a Spiral Tap. There were more shots of Magnus immediately after the bout finished than there were if Styles celebrating. He looked glum. Perhaps a heel turn could be coming. That wouldn't be the worst thing TNA could do.

 

The next TNA world champion?

 

Styles cut a promo about not getting a response from Dixie Carter about the mistakes he pointed out a week or two ago. He asked for Dixie to show up next week, so that he can point out more mistakes presumably. It wasn't the greatest thing AJ's ever done, but I've seen far worse from him.

While this show didn't do anything wrong it didn't do anything to show that TNA understands they need to do something new and different. Some interesting possibilities were presented (potential Anderson and Magnus turns, EGO being used as a strong faction beyond the BFG series, something involving Styles and Carter) but none of them are things that will turn TNA's misfortune around.

The final words of the show? "Stay tuned, Bellator is now!" I think that says it all about TNA's standing.

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 1

That Wrestling Podcast by Dave Hatton on Mixcloud

I’ve wanted to do a wrestling podcast for a while. The usual excuses are what’s stopped me: a lack of time, insufficient understanding of technology, and an absence of people knowledgeable and willing enough to record the thing with me. As evidenced by this blog I’ve not got a shortage of opinions on the wrestling business, it’s just everything else I’ve missed.

This situation changed when Michael, a guy I worked with in a bookshop, moved back to London. My technological ineptitude remains but I now have someone to record a podcast with. So we’ve recorded one, very kindly hosted by the Voices of Wrestling website (where odds and ends of my writing can also be found).
 

I wanted to post something here on the blog for two reasons. One is to plug the podcast, which I think we can all agree is a fairly natural thing to do. The second is that, due to a general unease when getting the thing onto the internet, I didn’t really manage to provide a decent summary of the episode. Where better to do that than here?

The idea was that Michael and I would start out discussing his time in Japan and then catch up on what’s been going on in wrestling over the last year or so (because he’s not managed to keep up with anything except the major developments). Aside from a couple of seconds to check that the sound quality was decent (it is) I’ve not listened to the thing back but I’d be surprised if we spend more than five minutes talking about Japan. So if you’re hoping this is going to be puro-heavy (why you’d think that when I never write about wrestling in Japan I don’t know) you’re going to be disappointed.

Things got better once we moved onto American wrestling. We discussed WWE a fair bit, although I can’t remember anything specific (which entirely contradicts what I said above but so be it), as well as TNA and Ring of Honor. The main TNA subjects were Bully Ray and Chris Sabin’s respective world titles reigns and the Aces and Eights storyline. We touched on the fact that the company’s future is pretty bleak, but that should surprise no one.

We picked our winners for the ROH world title tournament and discussed the merits of Kevin Steen and Davey Richards. Steve Corino came up too, if you still want to classify him as an ROH performer. In between all of this we discussed gimmicks in modern wrestling (including an idea for a mid-card WWE guy), WCW and Vince Russo.

It comes in at almost exactly two hours, which is a pleasingly round number that we reached completely at random. Future episodes, which will appear as and when we’ve time, will hopefully be shorter than that. Give it a listen (you can download it through the Voices of Wrestling iTunes account) and let us know what you think.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled complaints and suggestions.

The Reunion: Now Showing in 3D

I don't normally do this but if you're the sort of person who's keen to avoid spoilers regarding TNA you'll want to avoid this until Friday morning. This is the only warning you'll get.

Last Thursday's sort-of-live Hardcore Justice edition of Impact Wrestling hinted at dissension in the ranks of lead heel stable Aces and Eights. Gang leader Bully Ray told his second-in-command Mr Anderson that he didn't feel sufficiently supported by his subordinates. Of course everything worked out for them in the end. Anderson dutifully trotted out to the ring to play his part in Bully regaining the world championship during the main event.

Just because things ended up rosy for the biker boys that don't own bikes last week doesn't mean they'll stay that way. TNA has given us a very clear tease of a potential future storyline.

This Thursday's Impact (recorded last week, hence the uncharacteristic spoiler warning above) will feature a ten men tag match with the stipulation that the man who's pinned must leave TNA. It will be Devon who takes the fall. That could be TNA's way of moving him off our screens and into the D'Lo Brown shaped agent position they have backstage. It could be their way of legitimately getting rid of a guy who has far less to offer than recent firees Joey Ryan and Matt Morgan (and it should be noted neither of them had much to offer). Or it could be the promotion preparing for the next instalment of their long running storyline.

It's easy to imagine Bully Ray losing his world title at Bound For Glory come October. To who doesn't matter. The important thing here is that a bright-eyed babyface is likely to wrestle the title away from Bully at BFG.

What if the loss of the world title leads to Mr Anderson leading a coup of Aces and Eights? He could claim Bully's become a weak link and kick him out if the group. This would work incredibly smoothly, although slightly differently, if it were Anderson that won the BFG series. But honestly, can you see that happening? No, me neither.

With Bully out of A&E the stage would be set for him to battle with the gang for weeks on end until TNA's next pay-per-view rolled around (expected to happen in January). It's not too difficult to envisage Bully challenging Anderson and any member of his crew to meet Bully and a "mystery partner" at that pay-per-view.

 

Could a Team 3D reunion be in the works?

 

Obviously this mystery man would be Devon and we'd have the first major Team 3D match in years against the massive heel faction Bully fashioned in his own image. Just as obviously this scenario would be tedious to watch play out and illogical even by wrestling standards. Why should we care if Bully's kicked of a group he created to bring down TNA (through unspecified means)? The answer is that we shouldn't.

Some people would probably get behind a babyface Bully. He worked well as a good guy last year and for the first few months of this year. But that doesn't mean this scenario’s a good idea. I've written this simply to flag up the possibility. And to give myself something to link back to in six months’ time if they do go ahead with it.

Hardcore Justice 2013 review

It’s a good job Hardcore Justice wasn’t presented as a pay-per-view this year. Had it been I think TNA would have had a lot of unsatisfied customers. It was not a good show. There were no matches that rose above average and far too much time was dedicated to the progression of storylines that are hard to care about.

The worst offender there was the Main Event Mafia and Aces and Eights plot. MEM ate up a ridiculous number of segments throughout the show. It was entirely unnecessary. The same things could have been accomplished with half the screentime they got. The way they’re presented doesn’t help people to care about them. They come across as swaggering, egotistical idiots more interested in how they look than anything else. Sunglasses indoors? C’mon guys.

The chief problem with the MEM is that they try so hard to be macho. It always ends up verging on ridiculous. They are not an act people feel they can invest in.

The show opened with the first of three multi-person matches. It was a four-way ladder match involving leather-loving loner AJ Styles, frequent face-heel flipper Austin Aries, run-in bump fodder Frankie Kazarian and facepaint aficionado Jeff Hardy. As matches of this type go it wasn’t bad. The trouble is that we see so many ladder matches these days that it’s tough to care about them. One means little more than another, and it doesn’t help that both TNA and WWE more often book them to fit with the theme of a show than because they fit well with a programme.

Through a combination of this fact and a lack of memorable spots this match failed to rise above the average level of ladder battles. And again, this is not the guys’ fault. It’s because the modern pro wrestling product has become oversaturated with gimmick bouts.

Frankie picked up the twenty points (amusingly represented by a clipboard with 20 written on it) after interference from old pal Chris Daniels and new pal Bobby Roode. ‘The It Factor’ dashed an appletini (easily the greatest foreign object currently used in pro wrestling) into Hardy’s face, causing him to fall off the ladder and giving Kazarian a free shot to the top. Why Hardy feel because liquid was thrown into his face wasn’t clear. Perhaps it was secretly acid.

 

That's a victory pose, right there

Now is as good a time as any to discuss the commentary work of the evening. It was bad. Really bad. Tenay spent far too much time hyping Bellator. He mentioned the Bellator show that airs after Impact a nauseatingly high number of times. He wittered on about the Rampage Jackson v Tito Ortiz Bellator match that will happen in a few months too, but that at least made a little sense as they’re both on the TNA roster.

He also decided to kick things off by discussing a “hardcore three-way” between three Knockouts. It was accurate but his wording could have been less evocative. Similarly his claim that Hardcore Justice was a pay-per-view on free TV could have been better. If it’s on free TV it’s not a pay-per-view, Mike.

Tenay’s not a bad play-by-play guy. Whoever’s producing him is doing a horrible job. He spends too much time shilling for irrelevant things or focusing on storylines. The amount of time he spent talking about action in the ring was minimal. Taz was awful too but by this point that’s expected.

Backstage, TNA world champ Chris Sabin put Bully Ray and Devon over as vicious guys. He said he won’t take them lightly but warned they shouldn’t take him lightly either. It was one of many inconsequential interview segments. It accomplished its goal of hyping the main event and was kept short. I don’t think we could ask for more than that.

The Main Event Mafia got the “already in the ring” treatment next. They were joined by Dixie Carter. She was there to inform everyone that Kurt Angle had checked himself into rehab after his latest brush with the law. She, the company and the MEM are all in full support of the guy, apparently. Personally I find it hard to sympathise with Kurt’s position. It’s entirely self-inflicted and it’s happened too many times for Kurt to deserve the benefit of the doubt. He’s clearly not learnt from his mistakes.

The Dixie-related fun was interrupted by Aces and Eights. Mr Anderson cut a boring promo designed to hype this coming Thursday’s MEM v A&E match. The man who takes the losing pinfall there will have to retire. The rest of Aces just stood around laughing and nodding, as bit part players in large heel stables tend to.

The segment ended with a brawl. Because they had a one person advantage Aces and Eights came out on top.

Match two (yep, we’re only on the second match) was the three-way Knockouts match that had so excited Tenay at the start of the broadcast. It saw Mickie James tangle with Gail Kim and ODB. The title was not on the line but that didn’t become clear until James was pinned and a title change didn’t occur. ODB went over with her Bam (TKO) finisher.

Again this match failed to be anything special. It was proficient but nothing happened that we haven’t seen before. It was just a solid match that we were given no particular reason to get into.

Cutting backstage again we saw Sting chatting to Austin Aries in a locker room. ‘The Icon’ asked ‘A Double’ to join the Main Event Mafia and help them fight Aces and Eights. The final shot was of Aries smirking.

Elsewhere in the building Bobby Roode said he has to win the twenty points available to him tonight. Doing so would help him leap from amongst the bottom scorers in the series to second place. This was the best interview segment of the night. It was kept short and Roode explained his point clearly and concisely. He’s got more than enough charisma to get through promo segments like this with no trouble at all.

Back in the Main Event Mafia’s pokey shared dressing room (hardly a main event aura, is it?) Sting returned to inform his cohorts that Aries had turned them down. Rampage said he had one last option but it had to be taken care of in the ring. Of course it did.

The backstage segments wrapped up with Bully on the phone. He referred to the mystery person as honey and said he’d bring the world title. He ended the call by saying “I love you too, Brooke.”

Oh noes! We were meant to assume that Bully and Brooke Hogan had swerved us all. My initial reaction was that I’d missed an important plot point revealing that they’d got back together at some point (because, y’know, this is TNA and everything). I hadn’t missed anything and neither had you. It will be revealed on this week’s show (taped last week) that Bully Ray was actually on the phone to Brooke TessmacherI. Brooke Hogan has been written off TV because she was released from her TNA contract last week. Apparently someone in the company realised they’d had to release some wrestlers for financial reasons and that Brooke should probably have gone too.

So there we are. The payoff to the months’ long Bully Ray and Brooke Hogan romance-slash-divorce plot culminated in a backstage segment. How thoroughly TNA.

Rampage Jackson finally made it out to the ring. For no reason at all Samoa Joe was with him. Rampage talked about how MMA fans have called him a sellout by joining TNA but that he doesn’t think that’s true because he’s always been a wrestling fan. After he’d rambled on about that he called out Tito Ortiz.

For those who don’t know, Ortiz rocked up in TNA a couple of weeks before. It’s part of a cross promotional deal set up by television company Spike with MMA outfit Bellator. It heavily favours the MMA league. I’ll avoid repeating my feelings on the signing. You can find them here if you're interested.

Ortiz came out in a T-shirt that read Wrestling Is Real. Take that however you want to.

 

Even Joe was bored by this segment

Rampage talked up their Bellator match but said that’s separate, it’s not TNA business. Tito repeated back everything Rampage had said, which never makes for a good promo. It also made him look thick. Bully Ray then came out and got himself some heat by saying if he had time he’d get into the ring and beat all three men. Rampage and Joe then did the hold me back routine on Tito as Bully sauntered to the back.

It was yet another boring segment.

Back from a break Anderson and Magnus had joined Joe at ringside and Bobby Roode was making his entrance. The match would be fought under table rules. The first man to put one of his opponents through a table would gain twenty BFG series points.

Magnus and Joe, MEM members both, worked together during the match. Anderson and Roode mostly stayed separate and when they did interact it was to confirm that they’d work together. So the bout effectively functioned like a tag match, Magnus and Joe swapping between their heel foes. It wasn’t a bad effort but as was the case with the previous in-ring offerings there was nothing on display that we’ve not seen before and we were given no reason to care about the tables stipulation. It had been added for the sake of it as opposed to being a logical heightening of drama in a continuing feud.

Repeating the finish of the evening’s opening match, Bad Influence headed to ringside at the match’s conclusion. Daniels threw his appletini (he certainly gets through those things) into Magnus’s face, allowing Roode to power bomb him from the second rope through a table in the centre of the ring. Twenty points went to Mr Roode.

 

Looks like Roode's doing a little dance, doesn't it? Well he's not. He's doing a power bomb

The evening’s final backstage interlude saw a camera crew catch up with Sting for his thoughts on Tito Ortiz. Sting said the guy’s an asset wherever he goes. He also said he felt Ortiz would join up with the MEM.

We were then treated to a shot of Bully and Mr Anderson. They bickered and ‘Calfzilla’ finally admitted (supposedly not aware of the camera crew filming him remember) that he was unsure if he could beat Sabin because the guy’s pinned him twice already. Bully said he wanted support from his club and that Anderson appeared to be more of an enemy than a friend. The message we were meant to take from this was that trouble is brewing in Aces and Eights. Not that it was subtle or anything.

The main event finally got underway with twenty minutes left of the show. The challenger controlled the first half of the match, overcoming occasional flurries from the champ. An attempted power bomb turned the tide of the match: Sabin reversed it into a sleeper and then spiked Bully with a tornado DDT. Sabin then blasted the Aces’ president with punches, kicks and an enziguri before whipping him with his leather gang coat.

Bully came back with a big boot and a Samoan drop. He tried to climb out of the cage but got stopped, which just so happened to place the two in the perfect position to botch a hurricanrana, which they managed wonderfully.

Moments later Bully was up on his feet trying to walk out of the door. Sabin stopped him and tried a walk out of his own. That got stopped too. Referee Brian Hebner (surely the unluckiest official in wrestling) took a bump as Bully scooped up the champion. Sabin came back with a missile drop kick but couldn’t get the win because there was nobody to count it. He shouldn’t feel too hard done by: when was the last time someone won a match off a missile drop kick?

Sabin tried to win via exit but Anderson appeared and slammed the door closed. Instead of simply climbing over the cage wall on the opposite side of the ring to Anderson, which would have guaranteed him victory, Sabin stood and stared incredulously at the Aces member. He looked an idiot.

Rampage Jackson and Tito Ortiz ran out at this point. Rampage threw Anderson off the ramp and down to the concrete floor then got blasted in the back of the head by a rubber hammer wielding Ortiz. Sabin, who’d stood and stared at this development like a slack-jawed mark, was rammed into the side of the cage by a recovered Bully Ray and then power bombed in the centre of the ring to lose his title.

 

Yep. Another TNA swerve turn

Tito Ortiz and Taz joined Bully in the ring to celebrate his victory. Ortiz raised the champ’s hand. The champ raised Ortiz’s hand. Nobody raised Taz’s hand. Back on commentary Tenay feigned disbelief at Ortiz’s “shock” betrayal. It had been a setup all along. The final shot of the show was two time world champion Bully Ray posing with his championship belt. That he regained it surprised precisely nobody.

Hail Sabin

Tonight Chris Sabin will make his first (televised) defence of the TNA world championship. Bully Ray is the challenger, getting his contractually obligated rematch after losing the title to Sabin on last month's X Division themed episode of Impact Wrestling (where wrestling and slogans matter). The rematch will be fought inside a steel cage so as to stop Bully's Aces and Eights gang interfering. Finally, if Bully loses he will (allegedly) never get another shot at the title.

Let's point out the obvious logic flaw first of all. The cage stip will not nullify A&E. Cast your minds back to Lockdown in March. In the main event of that show Bully Ray defeated Jeff Hardy for the TNA title with help from the Aces. The steel didn't stop them then so why should we believe it will stop them now?

The other big problem this match has is that everyone expects Bully Ray to win. That was the case the moment the rematch was announced and adding the no more title shots stipulation has only added to that.

There’s good reason to expect ‘Calfzilla’ to win. The Bully v Sabin feud has very clearly been a time killer from the very beginning. It's the drawback of the Bound For Glory series. Western wrestling fans expect world titles defended roughly once a month. With the BFG series running from June to September and involving TNA's most credible challengers it makes booking world title programmes hard: the champ can’t defend against someone in the series because that negates the purpose of the series, so he has to kill time with mid-card talent.

TNA's answer, as we've seen with Sabin and last year with Austin Aries, has been to allow the X Division champion to vacate their title and step into the main event. But this is not a solution because anyone familiar with the way wrestling works can see that they're not going to become a headline mainstay unless they have the required qualities. 'A Double' did. Chris Sabin does not.

This is not to belittle Sabin. He's a talented wrestler, he's just not cut from the main event cloth. He looks, wrestles and carries himself like a mid-carder. He can’t cut a half-decent promo, let alone a promo befitting a world title feud. He looks like he belongs in the X scene. He does not look like he should be at the top of the card.

 

Chris Sabin: lacking in main event aura

 

I'd feel this way no matter how his reign had come about but I will say that TNA didn't do Sabin any favours when laying out his victory last month. After selling for ten minutes Sabin got hold of the rubber hammer Aces member Mr Anderson had introduced to proceedings, clobbered his foe with it and then fluked a rollup.

The rollup was inoffensive enough. Considering the size difference in the match it was a logical move for the match to finish on. But coupled with the hammer blow and selling it made Sabin look weak. He should have entered a spirited, gutsy performance in which he peppered Bully with high flying moves and just survived all of his big moves.

Using the hammer, even in a turning the tables scenario, was the move of a heel and only served to underline that Sabin could not win a fair fight. If the hammer had to come into play (and there's an argument for its use because TNA need to keep Bully looking strong for his presumed Bound For Glory title match) it should have been an Aces member smashing Bully by accident and then Sabin following up with a move or a rollup to score the win.

The poor presentation has continued since Destination X. Sabin has been presented as a fluke champion and played second fiddle to the endless crushing boredom that is the Aces and Eights v TNA-slash-Main Event Mafia feud. Reducing a first time champion to the role of bit part player in a feud involving several big names does him no favours. It doesn't do the title any good either.

Some people have suggested that Sabin has been given the title reign as a reward for his years of loyalty and dedication. I couldn't hope that's not the case more. World titles shouldn't be handed out based on terms of service. They should be awarded based on how credible a wrestler will be in the role of champion. If TNA want to award Sabin's loyalty and hard work great, they should. But it shouldn't come in the form of a reign with what is supposed to be their most prestigious prize. Give him a cash bonus or a lengthy run with the X Division belt. Don't present him as the number one man in the promotion unless you're willing and able to fully get behind him in the role.

Adding to the frustration is that TNA had alternatives. They could have had Jeff Jarrett return to work the summer feud with Bully. The storyline there is obvious: ‘Double J’ has returned from exile to save the company he built from Aces and Eights.

They could have done something interesting with James Storm and Bully. Storm’s the only former world champ under the age of forty not to be involved in the BFG series, his omission coming because of his tag title reign alongside Gunner. He has the status within TNA to be involved in a world title feud. He and Bully could have had some great matches and Gunner could have been used for some interesting tag team matches and evening odds. There would have been a natural Gunner and Storm v Team 3D match to book as well.

There were plenty of things TNA could have done that would have been just as good, if not better, than slinging the belt on Sabin for a few weeks. In the long run I think the title reign is going to do Sabin more harm than good. He's unlikely to ever have a second reign, and if he does happen across one it will in all likelihood come about under circumstances similar to his first. Once he loses the title back to Bully and the feud wraps up Sabin is destined to slip back down the card.

That's only going to degrade the world championship because it will have been worn by a mid-carder. Meanwhile Sabin himself will look like he was out of his league and has been sent packing to his rightful spot. TNA really needs to get a grasp on the star building process before they bungle a main event push for everyone on the roster.

Destination X 2013 review

Until last year Destination X was one of TNA’s twelve annual pay-per-views. The move to four annual pay-per-views this year has resulted in the event being demoted to the status of TV special. As the name suggests it traditionally focused on the X Division and its competitors. In practice that had been something of a problem for TNA for a few years, thanks to the general inability of the company to keep the X roster sufficiently stocked.

The answer to this, as far as TNA’s concerned, is to bring in outsiders for Destination X. If the sole aim is to put on a decent show featuring X Division matches then that’s a fine answer. But in actually it’s a course of action that overlooks the fact that TNA has to attract an audience for their weekly television show and market pay-per-views.

Bringing in outside talent does not help in these areas. Very few people are going to buy a pay-per-view or tune in to a television special to watch a bunch of guys that they don’t know. The ones that do tune in are going to be disappointed when they watch the next episode of Impact and discover that most of the X Division guys will be appearing.

The answer is obvious: sign new talent to be a part of a rejuvenated X Division. That’s easier said than done, of course. TNA is going through some pretty public financial difficulties right now, which makes signing new talent unlikely.

TNA management have nobody to blame but themselves. Instead of concentrating on big names like Sting and Hogan they should have spent their money on enlarging the roster, allowing them to create their own names. It’s now reached the point where the TNA roster is comprised almost exclusively of men and women who have been with the promotion for years, making fresh matches impossible to come by, which in turn leads to an uninspiring product that uncontracted wrestlers don’t want to be associated with, which means TNA can’t bring in sufficient new talent and so the problem becomes worse.

It’s a vicious circle. Right now it looks like the problems are too far gone to be fixed. TNA should have acted years ago. I hope they survive and can become a worthwhile number two promotion but I can’t see it happening.

Anyway, last Thursday’s Impact was this year’s Destination X. It featured the return of Homicide, Sonjay Dutt, Petey Williams, and Rubix, as well as Boot Camp victor Rockstar Spud. The former Trent Barreta also made his first TNA appearance, wrestling under his real name of Greg Marasciulo.

I’m sure all or most of these wrestlers combined would work for the same amount of money as Sting or Hulk Hogan. They’d be better for the product too. But TNA would rather have the former WCW names, doing the same things they’ve been doing for years and being incapable of offering anything to the future of the company.

The show opened with a shot of the men who would be wrestling in triple threat X Division matches during the night. Chris Sabin was then shown preparing for his main event match with Bully Ray (more on that below) in what appeared to be a bathroom. That’s how you make talent look like stars!

TNA champion Bully Ray kicked the night off with an in-ring promo. It was standard stuff. ‘Calfzilla’ belittled Chris Sabin, said he’d leave with the title, and assured us that Aces and Eights would be destroying the reformed Main Event Mafia very soon. He also referred to himself as the most hated man in wrestling. He’s not at the top of the list but I’d say he’s pretty close.

Bully called out Brooke. She came tottering out and told him that she’s moving on with her life. She brandished the ring she was given by NFL hunk Phil Costa to drive her point home. For those unaware Brooke and Bully are married in TNA storylines and Brooke is engaged in real life to the aforementioned NFL player. This uneasy marring of storyline and real life is a standard move from TNA.

Hogan came out and told Bully that he’d raped and pillaged TNA and his family for long enough. I thought the use of rape was a little strong but it came from the same guy who called Aces and Eights terrorists and pussies at Slammiversary. ‘The Hulkster’ is not the sort of man to tone things down.

Anyway, Hogan said the raping and pillaging is over because enough is enough. Someone needed to remind him that’s not how pro wrestling works: things get sorted in matches, dammit! Luckily Kurt Angle and the MEM were watching things from backstage and took this moment to pipe up. Appearing on the big screen ‘The Cyborg’ told Bully he’d lose the TNA title in a fair fight and there was nothing he could do about it. Powerful stuff, right?

Mike Tenay and JB (who was on commentary because nobody knew where Taz was, which could be a shoot or work considering how chaotic TNA is) hyped the Bully Ray v Chris Sabin main event and then showed Austin Aries victory over Bobby Roode from last year’s show. From there we saw Roode walking down a corridor saying he was going to get his first few points in the BFG series later in the evening.

Gail Kim was shown watching a TV and playing around on her phone. She was live tweeting the show apparently. I’m sure that was a barrel of laughs.

Roode v Aries was the first match of the night. At first I wasn’t keen on Roode, a guy with no ties to the X Division, appearing on the show. But then I remembered two things. First of all, this is TNA and there are for bigger things wrong. Secondly, it was a rematch from the previous year’s show so it made sense.

Yep, he's a good guy again

‘A Double’ played face in a fast, intense bout. They crammed in a bundle of pinfall attempts, signature moves and finishers. It made for a lively match. Aries eventually went over clean with a brainbuster. The crowd were very into him.

Afterwards ‘The It Factor’ lobbed a few chairs about to illustrate his frustration. I think that could be a great gimmick for Roode: the man who takes his losses out on chairs.

Backstage Hernandez and Homicide caught up. Chavo showed up and the conversation stopped. It was super-awks. Homicide wandered off and Chavo told ‘SuperMex’ that they’d face off at next year’s DX as the X and world champions. I think that’s a bit optimistic, and not just because the chances of either man winning a singles belt are slim: there’s every chance TNA won’t be around to promote a Destination X show next year.

Mr Anderson rallied the Aces and Eights troops, asking if everyone knew what they had to do. They did. That’s hardly surprising when Aces’ plan was basically to wander to ringside and watch the main event. This segment existed simply to let viewers know that DOC’s left A&E and TNA.

The first X match of the night was Petey Williams v Homicide v Sonjay Dutt. Because none of the men are regulars on TV Tenay had to resort to referring to an online feud between Dutt and Williams. Had they been under contract that dispute could have been built up with some high quality wrestling matches. I thought that was supposed to “matter” in TNA. Has that slogan outlived its usefulness now?

Petey got hit with a Gringo Killer but Dutt made the save and nailed ‘cide with his moonsault into a double stomp for the victory. The match was pretty cool but nothing special.

After a break Kenny King and Chavo Guerrero were both in the ring awaiting the third man in their match. That was Manik. Formerly Suicide. Formerly TJ Perkins. The Suicide name has been consigned to history and TJP is now wrestling in the same suit under the Manik name. The point of this is known to no one. Perkins would be far more likely to get over if he wasn’t hampered by absurd gimmicks.

This match wasn’t quite as good as the one before it but it did feature a nice spot: Manik applied an Indian death lock on King and hit a Northern Lights suplex on Chavo. After that the commentary team started putting Chavo over as a singles guy, referencing his cruiserweight title wins in WCW and WWE, the last of which occurred in 2007. If TNA did what I suggested and concentrated on building up their own name talent they wouldn’t need to stoop to embarrassingly referencing accomplishments achieved in other companies.

Manik went over with a double underhook into a gutbuster. It was an impressive move. Definitely believable as a finisher.

In the back the MEM had a pep talk. Rampage said he was going to knock somebody out. That’s to show how manly and unpredictable he is, kids.

That was followed by another pep talk, this one being delivered by Hulk Hogan to Chris Sabin. ‘The Hulkster’ said he’d had no idea that the injuries and the setbacks suffered by Sabin had been setups for greatness. Sabin was told to make the fans remember him and bring the world championship back to TNA. Sabin’s one line in this segment was “Thank you.” That told us all we needed to know about who the star was.

The Main Event Mafia came to the ring. Four of them were wearing sunglasses, indoors and at night. They looked like idiots. Rampage Jackson (he of MMA fame) was wearing a T-shirt, army fatigues and a big chain, so he looked out of place. I appreciate what TNA are trying to do resurrecting MEM but they’ve made a mistake by having two headline guys in the group. The focus should be on boosting younger talent. At this point they should embrace the inanity of the faction and bring Scott Steiner back to cut all the promos.

The gang talked about how they’re going to rid TNA of Aces and Eights. I find it hard to care about this programme anymore. It’s been going for a year and hasn’t made a single new star or given us any truly excellent matches. I just want it to end and for a new lead storyline to be thought up.

Mr Anderson appeared on the big screen to say Aces were conserving their energy for a party later in the night. Joe took the mic to say that he and the Mafia were going to head to the back and drink the heels’ beer. And that’s what they did.

The segment ended after all the Mafia members bar Angle were locked in a room with Aces and Eights. Bully and Devon threw Angle into the back of a track and he was driven out of the arena.

The final triple threat match saw Greg Marasciulo beat Rubix and Rockstar Spud. It was a decent enough match, but again it was nothing amazing. Triple threats are hard to pull off for wrestlers. They’re equally hard for audiences to watch when there’s no legitimate reason for them to happen.

 

A rare appearance for Rockstar Spud. Why they don't use him every week I've no idea

 

We got a shot of Bully Ray chatting to someone on the phone. He put over how great his plan was and told the mystery person on the other end of the line that Angle was being taken to the location discussed to be made an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Hilariously, the next shot was of Angle driving back into the arena without any explanation as to how he’d escaped his predicament. We didn’t see him again until the main event and no mention was made of MEM having been stuck in a room backstage. Presumably Angle let them out. But it is possible they escaped by magic.

Out in the ring knockouts champion Mickie James talked about the great Knockouts division moment she'd had the week before. The footage she had played revealed that she was talking about her singing at a bar and being part of a parade. Until that footage played the fans had been cheering her. They booed her after that.

Mickie talked herself up until Gail Kim came striding out. She told Mickie the only thing people were talking about was her win in a ladder match the week before. Mickie tried to slap Gail but Gail ducked and struck first. They tussled but referees broke them up. Mickie's great as a self-absorbed heel. Gail's promising as a babyface who doesn’t back down.

Backstage Austin Aries told Chris Sabin he was the reason Chris is getting a title shot. Not because of the cash-in clause (more on that below) but because Aries tested him and drove him to improve in their recent match. Acting like a true babyface Austin said he'd be rooting for Sabin. Sabin didn’t say anything. He did not come across as a star.

Borash did the in-ring introductions for the main event. If TNA want to save themselves some dosh they should release JB. Don't feel sorry for him. He could get work on a shopping channel, no trouble.

So… this match came about because Chris Sabin was the X Division champion. A ruling was introduced last year that allows X Division champions to turn in their title for a shot at the world championship. This process has been referred to several times as “cashing in”, which makes the obvious Money in the Bank rip-off even more obvious.

Nabbing the MITB concept is not, in and of itself, a bad idea. The trouble is that it’s just one of many instances of TNA emulating WWE as opposed to trying to forge their own identity and creating fresh ideas. It also serves to devalue the X Division championship. The belt now comes across as trinket that’s traded throughout the year in order to get a more important prize come July. As the X Division is the one thing that sets TNA apart from WWE that’s a real problem.

For the first several minutes of the match champion and challenger exchanged strikes, kicks and chops. Sabin pelted Bully’s ribs while Bully targeted Sabin’s knees, which had been the cause of him missing two years of action. It was a sensible story to tell.

Sabin rolled out on to the entrance ramp after a particularly vicious elbow was driven into his knee. Aces and Eight sauntered out on to the ramp which predictably brought out the Main Event Mafia. The two gangs surrounded the ring as Sabin was chucked back in by Bully.

Bully continued focusing on Sabin's knees, stopping occasionally to shout at the MEM. Bully tugged down Sabin's knee pad for extra damage (whadda heel!). The crowd started a "Bully sucks!" chant as the champ mocked Hulk Hogan's ear cupping pose but it quickly petered out when Sabin showed no signs of making a valiant comeback. He’d tried a few times but got put down every time with an attack on his knees.

Bully hit a suplex from the middle rope. Sabin kicked out. The champ pulled the challenger up and went for a Bully bomb but Sabin escaped and kicked him in the head. The challenger made it to the top rope and scored with a missile drop kick. Unfortunately the referee was caught by that too, so the subsequent cover didn't get counted.

A brawl between the factions kicked off when Anderson passed the trusty rubber hammer to Bully. A&E and MEM all headed backstage, leaving Bully and Sabin in the ring. Bully tried to use the hammer, which has put down such names as Sting and Jeff Hardy, but Sabin saved himself by kicking him in the gut.

Bully responded with a low blow and went for a power bomb but Sabin managed to reverse into a pin for the three count. Yep, just like that Chris Sabin won the TNA world heavyweight championship. The crowd reaction was not as animated as I’d expected. It could be that that result came from nowhere (a swift exchange of big moves and near falls would have been a good idea) or it could have been shock that Sabin had actually won. Maybe a combination of the two.

 

I don't think many people predicted this outcome

 

Bully feigned unconsciousness as Sabin celebrated, even though he hadn't been struck with anything that would knock him out. Perhaps the result had stunned him into fainting?

I don’t think the result is a good idea. Sabin does not have the star power to get over as a headliner in TNA. The way he won the title won’t help him there either, his victory was presented as a fluke. He’s going to be overshadowed by the Main Event Mafia and the storyline with Bully. It also seems pretty clear that the title change occurred in order to keep Bully busy until Bound For Glory. He’ll regain the gold and work against the BFG series winner in October. Sabin will have a short reign and be bumped back down into the X Division. It will look like he was out of his depth at the top.

I’m all for TNA trying new things and giving guys that deserve it a run on top. But the trouble is that Sabin didn’t deserve it. He was fine as an X Division guy. There was no call from anyone for him to become a world champion. It could work out. I’d love to be wrong and for this to be something that helps TNA turn things around. But it’s not going to happen.

Overall, Destination X was a decent show. It was an above average episode of Impact but it paled in comparison to previous instalments. That’s about what I’d expected, to be honest.

Slammiversary XI review

TNA's eleventh Slammiversary may not have done much to excite me during its buildup but it certainly delivered once the first bell rang. There wasn't a single bad match on the card, even the worst entry (Devon v Abyss) being perfectly adequate thanks to its brief time and an enthusiastic crowd. Even more impressively the show's final three matches were perfectly laid out. That's never a bad way to top off a pay-per-view.

The card kicked off with the X Division championship Ultimate X match. Kenny King defended the belt against Suicide (played by TJ Perkins) and Chris Sabin. They had as good a match as possible with what is quite a restrictive gimmick. The standard offering of flips and dives were on display. It was entertaining. It earned itself a "This is awesome!" chant fairly early on.

Towards the start of the match we were told it was the thirtieth ever Ultimate X. As soon as Tenay furnished us with that fact I remembered just how overused the gimmick was at one point. WWE hasn't reached that number of Hell in a Cell matches yet, and that's a gimmick that predates Ultimate X by well over half a decade.

King removed Suicide from the match in the closing moments by trying to remove his mask. Seconds later Sabin leapt up to join him in the centre of the crossed wires and booted him until he fell down to the mat. The former Moror City Machine Gun then unhooked the belt for the victory and the opening match pop.

Before Sabin could get backstage he was accosted at the top of the ramp by Hulk Hogan. 'The Hulkster' did his typical apathetic routine of trying to get a young guy over: saying his name and the name of the city they were in repeatedly, presumably in the hope that it would continue to generate enough of a reaction to make Sabin look like a star. It didn't. People can see through Hogan like a window in 2013.

 

The new X Division champ: endorsed by Hulk Hogan

Once the token attempt at turning Slammiversary into something special for Sabin had failed Hulk hobbled down to the ring and continued wittering about Boston, name dropping André the Giant for good measure, before Mr Anderson, Garrett Bischoff and Wes Brisco interrupted him.

Anderson uttered some thoroughly clichéd material which prompted 'The Immortal One' to call Aces and Eights terrorists and pussies. The crowd lapped it up but it still felt a very strange thing for him to say. Hogan also referred to Sting as the greatest wrestler in the business. That's not going to help make new stars, is it? Once again I feel compelled to advocate stricter rules when it comes to old hands cutting promos in TNA.

That segment led into the evening's second match, a six man tag pitting the Aces and Eights members against Magnus, Samoa Joe and Jeffrey Nero Hardy (who'd grown a beard during his time off). The match was a solid effort that gave everyone something to do.

The faces won, which I feel was the wrong result. Had Garrett or Wes pinned any of their opponents it could have been a big moment for them. Instead Brisco caught Magnus with a low blow and a rollup, only to be hit with a Swanton by 'The Charismatic Enigma'.

Backstage JB interviewed Joseph Park about the TV title match he'd have later in the night. The segment existed solely to have Park assaulted by Devon and Knux.

Match three was the Gut Check tournament final between Sam Shaw and Jay Bradley. Shaw played face but had received a bye earlier in the tournament while heel Bradley had won all his matches. That's another curious booking decision to add to the list.

Neither man got much of a reaction when they entered. The crowd had been hot earlier in the show and would liven up considerably later, so the logical conclusion to draw is that they were interested in the Gut Check participants. Perhaps it's time to retire the concept and go back to introducing new faces in a more traditional manner. A generic but inoffensive and competent match was won by Bradley after a poke to the eye, a shove to the turnbuckle and a clothesline. After winning Bradley told Christy Hemme it feels "good" to be in the BFG series. He said he'll win it and go on to become champ. I'll be honest, I don't like his chances.

A backstage promo from Aries and Roode was followed by Devon retaining his television championship by count out. Joseph had been so thoroughly duffed up earlier that he was unable to make it to the ring, you see. Devon then got back onto the mic to run his mouth about Abyss.

That prompted the monster to return. The referee rang the bell to signal a title match. As Taz rightfully pointed out no bout had officially been made. This would be fine in ECW but TNA so often goes out of its way to emphasise tedious rules and regulations that it just seems off when they're disregarded like this. Abyss won the match and the title. No mention of how he and his brother have remarkably similar builds was made.

Dixie Carter came to the ring, completely oblivious to the fact that she is not well suited to an on-screen role. The woman seems determined to be the TNA equivalent of Vince or Stephanie McMahon. She's no Stephanie and she's certainly no Vince.

Anyway... Dixie recited a well rehearsed pro-TNA speech and invited the roster out onto the stage. Everyone bar Aces and Eights members was shown filing out. Kurt Angle was then announced as the second member of the TNA Hall of Fame. He's a good choice, particularly when you consider that he's been saying nice things about WWE again lately (because this could placate him and sway him to stay a bit longer, plus TNA are inducting him while he's under contract). A well produced video package of Angle's Olympic win and TNA career was shown after which he said a few words about the announcement and thanked the fans. Although I don't see the need for a TNA Hall of Fame I think it was a very well put together slice of television and Angle's a deserving inductee.

Backstage Bad Influence made fun of Jeremy Borash and claimed credit for making the tag team titles valuable again. I think they have a point. TNA's doubles belts meant very little until the Bad Influence v Angle and Styles feud last year. Daniels and Kazarian did help to restore meaning to the gold.

The tag team title match that followed was very good. Even Hernandez and Gunner, two men I'm not especially keen on, looked good. With so many guys involved I'd expected the match to be a mess but it was one of the better tag matches TNA's put on this year. I suppose having so many veterans in one bout helped keep the quality high.

Daniels and Kazarian were the first team eliminated when 'The Fallen Angel' was caught lamping Chavo with a title belt. Seconds later that act resulted in Chavo getting pinned by Austin Aries. Having the first two eliminations occur at the same point in the match helped the pacing. It's not a trick that could be used all the time because it would become boring and cheap but it worked well here.

The closing portion showed Gunner to be the equal of the three more high profile performers he'd been left with. It culminated with him kicking out of the 450 splash and getting the win for his team by making 'A Double' submit to the Gun Rack. TNA passed up quite a few star building opportunities at Slammiversary but they took care of Gunner. That's better than nothing I suppose.

Presumably Gunner and Storm will feud with Aries and Roode. That will be great for Gunner but a comedown for the other three men, all of whom were headlining cards last year. Hopefully some new teams are created so that they can return to singles roles.

We went back to JB for the final time to find him with Brooke Hogan. She was there to discuss the Knockouts division that she's still in charge of yet knows nothing about. Her stupidest claim was that the division has been "grown like never before". Maybe she should watch some KO footage from 2008, when the division boasted Awesome Kong and the Beautiful People along with Gail Kim and was often the most enjoyable thing about iMPACT. That was the division's golden age and should be something TNA emulate now.

When quizzed about whether she still loves Bully Ray Brooke said she'd have to end the interview. Thank heaven for small mercies.

That was followed, fittingly, by the Last Knockout Standing match between veteran Gail Kim and referee turned grappler Taryn Terrell. The match the two women had was astonishingly good. It was the best Knockouts offering I've seen for quite some time and far better than anything the WWE Divas will be allowed to produce anytime soon. It bettered the Ryback v Cena LSM from Extreme Rules too.

Memorable spots included: Taryn narrowly avoiding a Kim spear, which sent Kim tumbling into a chair out of the ring; a cross body onto a steel chair from Taryn to Gail; and the match winning running cutter from the entrance ramp to the floor for Terrell. It was an intense, believable and crisply executed match. If Taryn Terrell can wrestle like that all the time she deserves a spot in the division.

AJ Styles had new music when he headed to the ring to face Kurt Angle. People have been going crazy for it. It did nothing for me.

Styles and Angle produced a match that was predictably superb. They did everything from high spots to mat wrestling. In a break from the norm of pay-per-view wrestling Angle won after an exchange of pin attempts stemming from an attempted Angle Slam. The result surprised me. I thought they'd want to keep 'The Phenomenal One' strong for whatever push is planned for him later in the year. Apparently not. It doesn't matter really. AJ's so well established that a loss to Angle won't harm him.

 

Look at the intensity!

A poll that JB had introduced in one of his many backstage segments was revisited after that. Viewers had been asked to vote (via TNA's high-tech Facebook page) on who they thought would win the title match between Bully Ray and Sting. Sixty four per cent of voters believed Sting would become the new TNA world champion. I thought that was high at first, but perhaps viewers were swayed by the stip that Sting would never challenge for the belt again if he lost.

Bully cut a pre-match promo telling Sting he was going to beat him with the most feared move in wrestling: the piledriver. He wanted to break 'The Stinger's' neck. To begin with I thought Bully was talking about the 3D. A no DQ match would have made interference from Devon perfectly legal. But then I remembered the Motor City Machine Guns kicked out of that and lost interest in the idea.

I do like the idea of TNA building up the piledriver. It's gained a reputation as a legitimately dangerous move due to WWE's ban of the move in the late nineties, which influenced many other wrestling groups to follow suit. It's a move that could meab a great deal if limited to special occasions.

The match started out as a pretty decent brawl. Bully predictably connected with the piledriver eventually. Just as predictably Sting kicked out. He also kicked out of a power bomb through a table. Moments later Bully easily avoided a Stinger Splash and piledrove Sting on the exposed boards of the ring. Sting kicked out of that too, at which point I begun to think that the piledriver's credibility was being sorely tested.

 

You may have noticed that Bully Ray's new move of choice is the piledriver

Bully got dropped with a Scorpion Death Drop on the boards and appeared to have been beaten. Aces and Eights naturally made the save. Sting made a comeback against group jobbers Bischoff, Brisco, DOC and Knux. Devon tossed a chain to Bully but Sting grabbed it, nailed the champ and went for the pin. Devon did the old yank the ref from the ring routine and so Sting, stupidly, left the ring to chase the Aces member around ringside. That allowed Mr Anderson to hand a hammer to Bully, who landed 'The Icon' with it as he sailed back into the ring from the top rope.

Yep, Bully Ray won a PPV main event via hammer shot. Again.

I've nothing against screwy finishes to main events usually. As long as they don't happen all the time I tend to be fine with them. But because TNA's only producing four pay-per-views a year now they should be trying to avoid this sort of thing. If it has to be done they should at least vary things a little.

I liked the main event. It was a match built around brawling and false finishes and was very effective for what it was. It provided a fitting end to an enjoyable, productive and well-paced card. If TNA can thread some decent stories together between now and Bound For Glory and then replicate the in-ring action of this card on the night they'll be doing something right.