Good Influences

For those who missed it, and who haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere else since, the ROH and New Japan War of the Worlds co-production featured a scene that saw Chris Daniels announce he will be returning to Ring of Honor at June’s Best in the World. This has come about because of ‘The Fallen Angel’s’ departure from TNA, a result of the promotion senselessly opting not to renew his contract.

He’s promised he’s not coming alone and the frontrunner to be accompanying him is his Bad Influence tag partner Frankie Kazarian. His TNA contract has also expired recently and there’s nobody else ROH could bring in that would be a particularly meaningful pairing with Daniels. Outside of him joining up with AJ Styles as a Bullet Club member, which isn’t going to happen, there’s nothing that could satisfy the promise of Daniels returning “home” with an accomplice quite like Bad Influence.

The duo being added to the ROH tag ranks seems like a safe bet. It’s an injection the division could do with after the loss of the American Wolves and the failed experiment of Outlaw Inc. The pairing of Top Prospect tournament entrants Raymond Rowe and Hanson is something fresh but they don’t have the name power to step into the gap at the top. Given time they could work their way up and become a popular combo (they have a look that helps to set them apart and have been pretty good in the matches I’ve seen them in) but that’s a gradual process. And while it’s great that ROH have been making use of Forever Hooligans and the Young Bucks they’re not available regularly enough to help keep the tag scene sufficiently varied and interesting.

'Phenomenal' Frankie and 'Stick Man' Chrissy D.

Bad Influence would be great opposition for reDRagon and could also be put to good use in big event matches against the Bucks and Hooligans. Hey, if Outlaw Inc does miraculously turn back up again at least they’d have a fresh match waiting for them against Daniels and Kazarian. Plus there are various singles matches that would be interesting to see both guys in. Daniels versus AJ Styles in particular could be a big thing for ROH.

I think Bad Influence could also be a good fit with Truth Martini. Over the last couple of years ROH’s resident manager extraordinaire has moved away from managing large groups to being paired with just one client. Which is a waste. Martini is more than just a mouthpiece. Granted that was his function with Matt Taven and is a large part of what he’s doing with Jay Lethal but he can work up a crowd simply being at ringside, he doesn’t necessarily need a microphone. I imagine he’d do well in the stooge manager role of providing outside interference, laughing at jokes, and providing a hyped up intro for clients who can talk well (think Bobby Heenan with Ric Flair).

Not only that but I think Martini’s character would be a nice fit with the former world tag team champions of the world, and that a stable of Daniels, Kazarian and Lethal could be pretty enjoyable. It’s easy to imagine the trio having very good six man tag team matches and working alongside a charismatic guy like Daniels would help to mask Lethal’s less than flamboyant manner. Martini would benefit from managing tag team champions (which I’m sure Bad Influence will become at some point in ROH) and have more bragging rights when he inevitably ends up managing a newcomer at some point in the future. Meanwhile Daniels and Kazarian would benefit from having more people to involve in their skits.

If Truth Martini doesn’t manage Bad Influence it won’t be the end of the world. They’ll still wrestle great matches with reDRagon and Lethal will continue to benefit from playing a new character alongside a manager who helps hide his flaws. But I hope it does happen. Because it could be very entertaining.

ROH and New Japan War of the Worlds review

We start, as always, with a video package. This one was little more than a hype video showing the best of both companies. In the arena the crowd kicked off with a loud chant for New Japan. Steve Corino and 'Cool as a Cucumber' Kevin Kelly welcomed us to the show before AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows and the Young Bucks walked out to the ring. They too got loud chants. Anderson introed 'The Phenomenal One'. There was a "Fuck TNA!" chant before he could speak. When he did it was to say he's not the leader. Because all Bullet Club members lead.

Kazuchika Okada and Gedo interrupted him. Gedo, as translated by Anderson, said Okada could beat Styles. Styles disagreed, and did Corino's aside-to-the-comedy-sidekick shtick (which I enjoyed even if no one else did). He also said he had his hands full with Elgin and that Okada would have to wait for his title rematch.

Then Michael Elgin wandered out. He asked for Nigel McGuinness to come out and make a three-way title match (odd as he was stood in the ring with one of New Japan's bookers). After checking with the NJPW chairman Nigel said the match would happen if all three wrestlers agreed. They all did, giving us a changed, and much more desirable, main event.

Takaaki Watanabe teamed Forever Hooligans to take on ACH, Matt Taven, and Tommaso Ciampa in the solid enough opener. Everyone did what you'd expect. That basically meant it was enjoyable but there were no surprises. There was a buzz of finishers followed by a dive onto the Hooligans by ACH before Taven got the win for his team with the tumbling DDT. I was surprised at that result. I thought the hooligans would win, being the regular combo who've held tag gold in both promotions and all.

Match two saw Roderick Strong and BJ Whitmer of the Decade team to face The World a Class Tag Team. The wrong graphic was displayed when the Decade entered, which was pretty embarrassing. The match was good. There were several exchanges of stiff kicks and chops but many seemed oddly mistimed, probably because the two teams aren't used to working with each other. Strong survived a chair shot from Gedo to hit a gut buster, followed by a Whitmer lariat and a sick kick for the victory. It was another mildly surprising result. Gedo and Jado are an accomplished team and it felt like they should have been the ones to win.

After the match Cedric Alexander ran in and took out every member of the Decade before being restrained by security. The Decade ran off. It was ROH's way of reminding us of that feud. It was effective enough and practically guaranteed a stipulation and-or gimmick match between the two at Best in the World.

Match three saw Marty McKUSHIDA challenge Jay Lethal for the ROH TV championship. The New York City crowd didn't provide the intense heat for Lethal that the Toronto crowd had. That was disappointing. Lethal had looked like a top of the line villain at Global Wars simply because of the crowd heat.

The story of the bout was that KUSHIDA was good enough to beat Lethal (there was a lovely spot where Lethal went for the Lethal Injection and KUSHIDA countered with a drop kick to the face during the handstand portion) so Lethal had Truth distract him to get the advantage and then slowed the pace with stomps, rest holds and other similarly dastardly moves. Eventually KUSHIDA made a comeback and almost had the match won after a DDT but Martini pulled the referee from the ring. That got him ejected from ringside. Lethal survived a wonderful top rope hurricanrana before winning with a super kick and a Lethal Injection. KUSHIDA took the move better than I've ever seen it taken before. It's not easy to make it look natural and as though it's a surprise to see coming. That guy is a talent.

Up next were Mark and Jay Briscoe challenging Bullet Club members Doc Gallows (the artist formerly known as Fake Kane) and Karl Anderson for the IWGP tag team titles. The crowd were pretty evenly split. NYC has a history of not being keen on 'Dem Boys'. Perhaps they're mellowing on them.

This was not a technically sound match, not that that should surprise anyone. They started off with a brawl around the ring which saw a table get destroyed and Jay Briscoe perform a modified plancha. When they got back into the ring the action was rough and ready. After a while Mark was wiped out with a back body drop on the floor, leaving Jay at the mercy of both Bullet members. He withstood some double teaming before Mark managed to return. The Briscoes downed Anderson and got a near fall with Mark's frog elbow drop but the crowd didn't react. Which was a pity.

Jay was wiped out with a double handed choke bomb and Mark was dropped with a shoulder height double team move for the win. The two teams shook hands afterwards. Jay glared at Gallows and refused to let go of his hand for an uncomfortable amount of time. It was a powerfully erotic moment.

Shinsuke Nakamura v Kevin Steen was one of the matches I was most looking forward to on this show. They're interesting characters who generally work pretty intense matches. Beyond that they're among my favourite wrestlers from their respective promotions. Everything pointed to them meshing and having a solid match. Steen got more streamers than Nakamura. I hadn't expected that. It speaks to Steen's popularity.

Everything about the match was great. Nakamura's movements were so fluid. Even when doing something as simple as running the ropes over a dropped down Steen he exuded grace and poise. His mannerisms were perfectly judged and warmly received while his moves were perfectly timed and, as always, looked thoroughly believable. 'Mr Wrestling' was not to he outdone. He worked the crowd expertly and matched Nak when it came to well timed offence.

The closing moments were a triumph. Steen reversed running knee into pop up power bomb. Nakamura rolled through a package piledriver attempt and kneed Steen in the face, then followed up with the Boma Ye. Steen stunned Nakamura by kicking out of that at one. But the adrenalin wouldn't last. He fell to another knee seconds later.

Nakamura left immediately. He didn't hang about to shake hands or tease a rematch or anything. Steen took a mic and joked about his jaw possibly being dislocated (or at least I assume he was joking). He acknowledged he hasn't always been happy in ROH but that he loves the company. For a year he's not felt like he belongs, and losing two big matches in a row reaffirms that. He said he was going to step away for a bit, which got "No!" chants. Then Silas Young interrupted him.

'Wrestling's Last Real Man' said he agreed with the fans regarding Steen leaving. To illustrate how much ROH needs "real" men Silas mentioned that the world champ looks like a ladyboy (which prompted Corino to say "a sexy one"), the tag champs look like kids off a Disney show and the TV champ "runs around with a fruit" (peculiar when you consider a major part of Truth's gimmick is that he likes the ladies). Perhaps they're trying to establish Silas with an overtly homophobic gimmick. Apparently wrestling has not moved beyond such things in 2014. Pity.

Silas felt Steen was the only other man in the locker room. Then he called Steen a pussy for thanking the fans and for walking away. Steen went to leave then Young said his son would grow up to be a quitter too. Because Steen's a fightin' face a brawl erupted. It ended when Steen leapt off the top rope onto security, at which point it was revealed that Silas had wandered off, evading the attack. This was followed by intermission.

It seems clear from this that Kevin Steen is getting ready to move away from Ring of Honor. It's common knowledge that he participated in a WWE tryout in February (alongside ACH and Roderick Strong) and doesn't appear to be working a number of ROH's future shows. The obvious assumption to make is that he's been made and has accepted a developmental offer from WWE. If that's the case I hope Steen can succeed in the WWE system. There's nothing to say he can't. He knows how to develop a character and make it popular and he's been a fan of WWE for years (and has friends in the company) so knows what to expect. It will be a blue for Ring of Honor if he leaves though. With or without the championship he has been ROH's top star since 2011. Hopefully he can give Silas Young a boost on his way out.

The second half opened with Michael Bennett facing Hiroshi Tanahashi. For the record Tanahashi had opened the second half at Global Wars too (not counting RD Evans's win over Bobby Cruise). Also, Bennett was wearing a shirt which read "Eat, Sleep, Beat Tanahashi, Repeat". It was modelled on Lesnar's pre-'Mania Streak-beater T-shirt and his conquer and repeat T-shirts. The thing is combining them doesn't work here, because beating Tanahashi again and again is not something that Bennett's going to get the chance to do.

Anyway, the match followed the basic pattern of a Bennett match but was better than his average outing. He stalled, trolled the audience with deliberately poor wrestling, brawled at ringside, and channelled CM Punk. The match was significantly poorer than the average Tanahashi match. There was once again a miscue between Bennett and Maria, this time Bennett ended up lightly tapping his girlfriend on the cheek. On the subject of Maria, she interfered and got placed in a cloverleaf by Tana. The crowd were into that. Personally I thought it was uncalled for.

Tanahashi overcame Maria interference, a piledriver, and the anaconda vice to win with a High Fly Flow. The reaction to his victory was staid. By this point it was clear that the audience were not as good as the guys in Toronto. The did bust out a "Please come back!" chant though. But that's almost a nicety at this point. Not that I think that was the case with 'The Once in a Century Talent'.

reDRagon were accompanied to the ring by a UFC personality named Tom Lawlor (no relation to Jerry (because it's spelt differently)) for their match with ROH tag champs the Young Bucks. It was the best match of the night, meaning that for the second weekend a row the Jackson brothers and reDRagon stole the show.

Once the action got going it didn't stop. Matt hit a perfectly timed handspring through the ropes into moonsault. Moments later he was at ringside to combat an O'Reilly flying knee from the apron with a super kick. Fish thwarted a springboard double Tombstone. O'Reilly avoided a super kick and countered into a double dragon screw leg whip on the brothers. Fish hit a falcon arrow from the top rope on Matt (he was doing more than his fair share for the Bucks, eh?). Nick hit a leg drop on O'Reilly as he had Matt scissored in a guillotine. The kick out got a great response. The champs went for More Bang For Your Buck on O'Reilly, but Nick was met with knees and Matt a triangle choke. Matt kicked out of Chasing the Dragon. O'Reilly locked in an armbar on Matt. Nick tried to make the save but Fish stopped him. Matt had no choice but to tap in another excellent ROH tag title match. O'Reilly in particular looked great.

The Bucks opted for crotch chops over handshakes. I imagine that's why people love them. Maybe I'm just too old to see the appeal.

Jushin 'Thunder' Liger was met by loud cheers that petered out quickly (because the crowd had become actively bad by this point, only reacting to moments of particular significance) when he entered for his match with ROH world champion Adam Cole. They kept the pace relatively slow for the most part, because of Liger's age (49) although that was by no means a bad thing. His offensive flurries were carefully planned out to gradually build towards a lovely finishing sequence. A better crowd willing to make the appropriate noise for the duration of match would have helped make it come scrims as the accomplishment it was. But we had what we had. Liger survived multiple super kicks and Florida Keys before falling victim to Cole's figure four leg lock. That's not as bad as it sounds. It's being built up as devastating when used by Cole.

Liger offered a handshake after the match. Cole held up the belt and then walked off sniggering. Whadda heel!

The final match was the three-way match for the IWGP championship. It was we were informed by Kevin Kelly, the first three-way IWGP heavyweight title since 8 October 2005 when Brock Lesnar successfully defended against Kazuyuki Fajita and Masa Chono (Styles is in fine company). Something I'd like to note about the main event is that it came close to having the best of three companies in it. Elgin could be considered to be ROH's best. The same goes for Okada in New Japan. While AJ Styles was until recently almost universally acknowledged as TNA's best, and is in the running for the best in NJPW too. Beyond that almost being a meaningless little achievement it's entirely irrelevant, but it demonstrates the calibre of talent involved. Elgin, Styles and Okada really are amongst the world's best.

They paced the early going with the one-on-one stretches that are now standard in three-way dances. When it started the stuff involving all three guys couldn't have been better. Early highlights included a stalling suplex from Elgin to Okada with kicks to the kid-section from Styles, which didn't put Elgin down and 'Unbreakable' also hit a Samoan drop and a fallaway slam on both his foes at the same time.

Elgin's knee got injured as he tried a new move from the turnbuckle (nicely worked into the story by Kevin Kelly) and performed a Tombstone. It was made worse when Styles put him in the Calf Slicer. He managed to perform his deadlift second rope suplex on Okada but was too injured to go for the cover, leaving him open to a 450 splash from Styles. Styles got a Pele kick on Okada and then went for a Styles Clash. 'Rainmaker' fought out of it and floored the champ with a Tombstone. Then he picked him up for the Rainmaker. Elgin made the save when he rocked Okada with a clothesline and a buckle bomb. Seconds later Okada was in control and finally connected with a Rainmaker on Elgin. Styles sent him rolling from the ring with a springboard drop kick before he could attempt a cover then gave Elgin a Styles Clash to win the match.

Afterwards Adam Cole ran out and hit everyone with his ROH championship belt. Then he shouted about being the best in the world as Kevin Kelly signed off to an ad for the next major ROH show, Best in the World.

And then... there was a comic book style "post credits" sequence. An appletini was placed on a bar. Then clips of Chris Daniels matches were played. Back in the bar 'The Ring General' was shown sitting on a stool and said he was coming home and that he wouldn't be alone.

The final two developments involving Cole and Daniels are both good news for ROH fans. It hints at a proper feud between Styles and Cole over the ROH gold in which ‘The Phenomenal One’ will play face. While fans were persuaded to boo him at the joint New Japan shows it’s not something that can be expected all the time. Simply put Styles is too well liked and fresh to the promotion to be getting booed regularly yet. Cole’s actions could also set up future bouts with Elgin. We’ve seen them clash before but not excessively. There’s even the option to have a future joint effort headlined by Cole versus Okada.

The return of ‘The Fallen Angel’ is obviously more good news. He’s a talented, charismatic veteran who’s gone through one of his periodic reinventions since he last left ROH. It’ll be interesting to see how his current character fits into the company. Of course he brings with him plenty of fresh matches (he’d make another fine challenger to Cole for example), particularly if Bad Influence teammate Frankie Kazarian is the man joining him in ROH. Daniels and Kazarian versus reDRagon is a match that could mean a lot if held off for a memorable first encounter.

War of the Worlds as a whole was a very good show. The tag title match was a match of the year contender. KUSHIDA v Lethal was the surprise of the night, being a lively tussle that established Lethal as a rulebreaker and KUSHIDA as a potential singles star (how great would it be if NJPW decided to send him on a sabbatical to Ring of Honor?). Steen versus Nakamura just about lived up to my lofty expectations. The main event was superb and a fitting end to a week of co-promotion. Everything else on the card was at least good and both companies ended up looking better than they had going in. Any future co-productions will be more than welcome if they’re this good.

The Incredible Shrinking Roster

I’d start this off with a list of the wrestlers who have left TNA over the last year because of the budget crackdown but you should all be familiar with them by now. If you’re not then you can find a list on Google easily enough.

The latest guy to go is Chris Daniels. Which is a particular shame. As Bad Influence he and Frankie Kazarian were one of the best acts TNA had access to. They could have done some good stuff with The Wolves. And I don’t just mean matches. If anyone in TNA is (or was) going to get a decent verbal exchange out of Davey Richards it’s Christopher Daniels.

Coming to a company not named TNA soon!

The bright side is that he could return to Ring of Honor or go and work for EVOLVE Inc. The former would (maybe) help ROH with their imminent proper-pay-per-view venture. Both would give us some fresh matches, especially if Kazarian were in tow. Personally I’d quite like to see Bad Influence against reDRagon.

Kurt Angle is the next significant name TNA will be negotiating with. Going on years of service Angle is actually a TNA guy more than a WWE guy. His eight with TNA beats his seven with WWE. That’s not likely to play a factor in his re-signing or departure though. Basically TNA can only afford to pay peanuts (literally according to some fictitious reports I’ve just made up) and Angle, being in his forties and a legitimate draw for any wrestling company on the planet, is unlikely to accept that. In fairness he shouldn’t have to: despite being worn down physically he remains a talented wrestler willing to and capable of helping to create new stars.

Angle is almost certainly leaving. My assumption is that he’ll return to WWE, although if his physical condition is so bad that he can’t pass their strict medical tests to wrestle (and going solely on his current appearance that’s not impossible) and convince people he’s not as barmy as he seemed a few years back he may go elsewhere. Like ‘Double J’s’ Global Force Wrestling.

At this point it seems obvious that guys like Angle are out of TNA’s price range. To be honest I don’t think they should be that worried about losing him. If Kurt Angle was capable of attracting viewers to Impact Wrestling he’d have been doing so since 2006. He’s been away from WWE for so long that he has no cache left with which to attract non-TNA viewers.

The people TNA should be concentrating on securing for their roster are young talents capable of putting on great matches. The time for having a bundle of stars from another company hanging around are gone. TNA has built up enough of a core fan base (it doesn’t rival WWE’s and probably only barely rivals that of ROH, but it’s there and it’s loyal) that it can rely on a base rating without supposed big names. Frankly I’d be surprised if they’re not already at that base level: it’s hard to imagine a wrestling show with the support TNA has drawing figures that are much worse than Impact’s.

The trouble is that prospective signees can see the trouble TNA’s in. They’ve probably got friends in the company telling them about it too. There’s very little good will left for TNA, and that’s only going to get worse when GFW launches. It’s unrealistic for TNA to expect wrestlers to agree to exclusive deals with little money on offer (which we know is the case because of the cost cutting) and with house show tours being sporadic. Sign with TNA and you’ll work a few times a month and be forced to turn down other appearances from which you could be earning some cash.

Those other appearances are something that would actually help TNA. Their wrestlers would be getting seen (and they would be TNA’s wrestlers because they’re the ones with the national TV deal), spreading the TNA word. Just as importantly it would help every wrestler keep improving and honing their craft.

The answer to me, a non-corporate outsider with no contract negotiating experience, seems pretty simple. TNA should sign wrestlers to contracts that guarantee them the pittance they want to dole out but give them the freedom to accept non-televised work elsewhere. If this is actually the case for everyone now I’d be amazed, because the only TNA performers I can remember making an indy appearance in the last year (besides the AJ Styles storyline special case) were Daniels and Kazarian doing a dark match main event for Dragon Gate USA.

Add a stipulation that wrestlers must make themselves available for TNA shows before any others and plan schedules out in advance and TNA could have a workforce of not inconsiderable size at their disposal. If wrestlers with very little experience could be signed on minimalist retainers the roster could potentially even be expanded. Not that that’s a great direction to start in.

If TNA did this they could combat their ever present money worries. They could even drop house shows altogether (let’s be honest, it’s not an area they’ve ever excelled at, even during what could generously be called “the good years”) and work with indy promoters to promote TNA shows, offering the concession that a local guy or two get to beat low card TNA regulars in exchange for keeping costs low or not insisting half the card becomes an ad for the smaller league.

This is what I’d do if I were in charge of TNA. And right now I think I’ve got about as credible a track record of running a wrestling company as Dixie Carter does.

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 12

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 12 by Dave Hatton on Mixcloud

TNA has been in a rut, creatively and financially, for a long time now. There are many reasons for this, a leading one being that they don’t have any stars capable of leading them to prosperity. None of their biggest homegrown wrestlers are up to the task and nobody brought in from WWE and-or WCW has been capable of it either.

Anyone who’s going to lead a wrestling company to success in this day and age will do so because of a combination of promo ability, charisma, luck, and wrestling ability. Someone already talented needs to come along at just the right time, and that’s not yet happened in TNA.

Was Chris Daniels ever going to be 'The Big Man on Campus' in TNA?

This forms the backbone of the twelfth episode of That Wrestling Podcast. We look at the top three TNA guys from throughout the company’s history, AJ Styles, Chris Daniels, and Samoa Joe, and talk about whether there’s any chance left of them becoming the star TNA has always needed one of them to be. TNA diehards probably won’t enjoy this episode.

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 2

That Wrestling Podcast Episode 2 by Dave Hatton on Mixcloud

That Wrestling Podcast isn't afraid to tackle the difficult questions. To illustrate that we ask one of wrestling's biggest... and it's only episode 2! Will TNA be around in five years? If they are what will they be doing and who'll be working there?

We have some ideas.

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.

To Be 'The Man'

AJ Styles has been with TNA since their very first show. He's been there through all the trials and tribulations. He was there during the weekly pay-per-view era. He was there for the Panda Energy bail out cum buyout. He was there for Vince Russo's reign of error. He was there during the hot period in 2005 and 2006 when it looked like TNA might actually become a self-sustaining worthy number two promotion. He was there when Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff came promising to revolutionise the way TNA worked. And he was there during TNA’s attempt to recreate the horror of Katie Vick with Claire Lynch.

During all of this Styles has been given every chance to succeed. He's one of the few non-former WWE employees who has been consistently presented as a star by the league. Along with Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels he was a part of what is acknowledged to be the greatest feud and match(es) in company history. The NWA world championship and its replacement TNA world championship have both been his. So have the tag team title and the X Division title. For that matter he was one of the earliest stars of the X Division and one of the men who made it stand out as something special.

He's played heel and he's played face. He's played the underdog, the villainous braggart and the charismatic loner. He's wrestled everyone of note to have ever worked for the company. TNA could not have given AJ Styles more chances to make something of himself.

And he hasn't.

Amongst TNA fans he is acknowledged as one of the best on the roster. Even someone watching TNA for the first time would be able to see how talented and skilled the guy is. As a complete package wrestler the only area that lets him down is his promo ability, and that can be overlooked because he's passable with them and so good at everything else.

 

As good as he is, he's not the star that TNA needs

 

Something that very few, if any, first time viewers of TNA programming would say about AJ is that he's ‘The Man’. I suspect such viewers, if asked to pick out TNA's main guy, would point to Bully Ray or Sting or perhaps Jeff Hardy. It’s possible that even on-screen boss man Hulk Hogan would get a nod. Styles doesn't look or carry himself like ‘The Man’. He doesn’t seem poised to take that spot either.

This is nobody's fault. Over the last decade TNA have done an admirable job at trying to present AJ as their biggest home-grown star. For his part Styles has performed everything asked of him to the best of his ability. Neither party could have done more in the pursuit of this goal. The truth is that not everybody can be a singles main event wrestler.

But what else can AJ do? A return to ROH could be creatively rewarding but would come with a pay cut and a drop in profile. That's not an option for 'The Phenomenal One' who has a family to support.

Pursuing a career with WWE could lead to big money, but at his age (36) and wrestling his style the odds would not be in his favour. The move would also come with a mandatory relocation to NXT. That would do Styles' confidence no favours. It would also lengthen the odds of him becoming a success on the main roster.

The best thing for him is to stick with TNA, where he's guaranteed a spot for as long as he wants one and is destined for a spot in their Hall of Fame (if they can survive long enough to induct him). Right now the best thing for AJ would be to return to the X Division to try and give it a boost by association. It's the one area of TNA programming WWE doesn't have an equivalent for. The company should be doing far more to spotlight it. Involving one of their biggest stars would certainly do that.

Glory Bound

At Turning Point last November AJ Styles was pinned by James Storm in a triple threat match. As a result of the pre-match stipulation that put ‘The Phenomenal One’ out of contendership to the TNA world championship for eleven months. A ban which comes to an end at this year’s Bound For Glory.

Why do I mention this? Because with the benefit of hindsight the loss was the starting point for Styles’ current story in which he’s an enigmatic loner who refuses to be affiliated with either TNA or the invading Aces and Eights faction. The loss sent him off the rails. We’ve learnt through the power of video packages that since losing at Turning Point AJ has become distant with his wife. He’s also been reluctant to get his hair cut or have a proper shave.

Look at the plot for long enough and you’ll spot a pretty obvious hole. So what if Styles was locked out of challenging for the TNA championship for eleven months? That’s not even a year. And, more to the point, many people on the roster have gone far longer than that without wrestling for the top prize. Chris Daniels’ last title shot was hyped as being his first in three years, for example.

I’m being a little facetious here. The general idea is that knowing he couldn’t earn a title shot is what sent Styles over the edge. Daniels, and anyone else on the roster who’s done a lengthy stretch with no title match, didn’t know it was coming, and so could always tell themselves they could earn the opportunity. In the wonderful world of kayfabe Styles new he would have no such luck until this October.

Which brings me to this year’s Bound For Glory series. The winner of TNA’s third annual tournament will challenge for the world championship in the main event of Bound For Glory (obviously). Styles has been entered, meaning he could have a title shot on the night on which his ban comes to an end.

 

AJ's giving up shaving since becoming a heel

 

At first glance an AJ win seems like the obvious result. After a year away from the title and setting himself apart from the rest of the roster Styles could be presented as the outsider that TNA finds itself relying on to take back the belt from the heinous Bully Ray.

Fine, makes sense. But perhaps it’s too obvious and simple. TNA is rarely a company to shy away from giving its audience something unexpected. And there are eleven other men in the BFG series, some of whom would also make credible challengers to Bully Ray’s title. Maybe AJ’s been set up as a decoy in order to disguise TNA’s real plans for the Bound For Glory main event.

The most credible entrant after Styles is Jeff Hardy. He’s a marketable force who can produce great matches with everyone on the roster. That includes Bully. Hardy challenging for the belt would make a great deal of sense as he’s probably TNA’s best hope of drawing decent pay-per-view numbers both at BFG and in the future.

‘The Charismatic Enigma’ may have wrestled Bully once on pay-per-view this year (his losing effort at Lockdown that saw the Aces Pres win the belt) but over six months will have passed since then by the time of BFG. That’s more than enough time for TNA to put a fresh spin on the contest. Although the fact that Hardy and Ray wrestled in the main event of the June 6^th Impact could indicate that they’re not meeting again in October: why would TNA give the match away free if they’re relying on it to sell a show in a few months?

Samoa Joe is another man who seems like he has a good chance. The last couple of years have seen him treated pretty poorly in the series, but with a field relatively light on big names Joe is almost certain to make it to the semi-finals (a side note on the rules here: every entrant wrestles every other entrant and earns points for wins and losses, and once all matches have taken place semi-finals and finals happen between the top four scorers). Joe hasn’t been used as a proper challenger for quite a while now. Combining that fact with his already well-established feud with A&E and Joe could squeak passed the more obvious choices of Hardy and Styles to face Bully.

If TNA wanted to use the series to create a new star (and that should be one of the goals of any such tournament in wrestling) then they could have Magnus win, or at least be a top scoring entrant who just misses out in the semis or the final. That they’ve done nothing to prepare audiences for the possibility of the former Oblivion winning makes me think it won’t happen, but if it did it could considerably enhance his standing.

 

TNA Need to make the most of Magnus while they have the chance

 

Both Bobby Roode and Austin Aries stand a chance of winning thanks to their status as former world champions. That they’re heels who’ve been left on the periphery of the Aces and Eights story (lucky them) means it probably won’t happen. A heel versus heel main event would be pretty poor and I can’t see either man being turned face before October, despite the fact that both could pull the move off and benefit from the change.

The remaining six competitors strike me as unlikely winners for various reasons.

I’m not sure why Mr Anderson is in the series. As a member of Aces and Eights he seems a strange choice to be given a shot at the TNA world title. Perhaps ‘The Hulkster’, or whoever is credited with putting this together, is hoping to cause descent in Aces and Eights with the possibility of an Anderson v Bully final? Even if that was a compelling story (which, let’s be honest, it’s not) it wouldn’t happen because Anderson’s stock has plummeted over the last eighteen months. He’s not headlining a pay-per-view any time soon.

Both Christopher Daniels and Kazarian have almost certainly been included to ensure there are some solid workers involved. Neither strikes me as having a chance of winning, although ‘The Ring General’ could make it into the final four. For the record (read more on said record here) I still think that TNA should discontinue the whole A&E thing and switch to presenting Daniels as a top line heel act and title contender. That would make a far more interesting product.

Joseph Park is a comedy performer, not a pay-per-view main eventer. If I had to guess I’d say he’ll be involved in something with Abyss at Bound For Glory. Either tagging with him, challenging him for the TV title, or working in some sort of angle that finally reveals both characters have been the same man all along.

Anyone who thinks the clumsy, boring forty-year-old Hernandez is going to win needs their head examined. The plan right now is quite possibly to present him as a dominant monster. If it is it won’t last. He’ll soon start picking up losses when TNA start planning out the scoring in the latter half of the series. He’s in there to lose to people and to give him something to do.

Finally there’s Jay Bradley. He’s going to lose. A lot.

Which brings us back to AJ Styles. There’s nobody involved in this tournament that has both the credibility to headline TNA’s biggest annual pay-per-view and a story to take them to the finals. AJ is the most realistic winner to predict. It’s possible that someone else, Jeff Hardy, Joe or Magnus perhaps, will become involved in a story over the coming weeks that makes them an obvious choice to tackle Bully Ray at Bound For Glory, but it’s not likely. Everything TNA’s done over the last year points towards a showdown between AJ Styles and Bully Ray at BFG. And while that may be predictable it almost guaranteed not to be boring.

Career Suicide

Over the last week or so I’ve had cause to mention TNA’s Suicide character a couple of times. For those who don’t know Suicide is a wrestler who wears a suit that covers his entire body, emblazoned with the word “SUICIDE” in all caps, has a generic red and black colour scheme, and boasts a skull on the face. The design was chosen so as to allow multiple people to play the character when it was first introduced back in 2008.

Oh, and he’s based on a character from the awful TNA Impact! video game.

Yeah, apparently someone in the company thought having a character who debuted in a computer game before appearing as a “real” character would be a good idea. We can’t even blame Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff, the men currently tanking TNA, for this because it occurred well over a year before they joined the promotion.

 

A computer game character come to life. How very science fiction. Or, indeed, how very wrestling

The general idea was that gamers would be intrigued and enthralled as seeing a character that had been promoted as a video game exclusive creation running around on TV for real. It was a naff idea that was never going to appeal to anyone or make any money. What made things even worse was that they didn’t even come up with a good design. The outfit Suicide has worn since his debut five years ago is thoroughly pedestrian and leaves no lasting impression.

Originally Frankie Kazarian was put under the hood. When it became common knowledge that it was him Christopher Daniels started working as the character too. This allowed Suicide to appear alongside both Daniels and Kazarian (though never at the same time), presumably to prove that he was an independent entity unaffiliated with either man.

See? Naff idea.

Eventually someone at TNA realised that the gimmick was ridiculous and it was retired. No lasting damage was done to the careers of Daniels or Kazarian but it didn’t do them any favours either. They wasted time getting TNA’s stupid project over rather than getting themselves over. Anyone who’s watched the two perform as themselves could tell you what the best use of them was.

 

Chris Daniels: proof that wrestlers get over best when playing characters they can have some control over 

Anyway, Suicide was brought back to Impact a few weeks ago. Barring a brief return in the spring of 2011 the character hadn’t seen the light of day since 2010, when TNA had finally admitted defeat and retired the getup. This time around played by TJ Perkins, Suicide was manoeuvred into a programme for Kenny King’s X Division championship and was acknowledged as a former champion (because the suit is, even though TJP isn’t).

What’s so frustrating about this return is that TJP is an incredibly talented individual. Like Daniels and Kazarian before him his ability to form a connection with the crowd is being hampered by having to play an uninteresting character. He’s playing a collection of mannerisms invented by others rather than concentrating on forming a natural and genuine connection as himself.

The Suicide character is not over. It never was and never will be. There’s no need to have it on our screens. If TNA are going to use Perkins they’d be better off letting him wrestle as himself (or a character sufficiently tweaked so that they can call dibs on the legal rights, that’s the done thing in wrestling these days) so that fans can grow to accept him. He’s of more value to them that way.

Chuck the Suicide suit. Don’t bring it back ever again. Nobody was clamouring for the character’s return and nobody ever will. It’s a naff idea that can only hinder the progression of whoever’s lumbered with playing it. It can’t make money so just let it go. Please.

The Calamity Rating

Not two months ago TNA were putting out a fairly enjoyable product. It wasn’t enough for them to rival WWE’s dominance and it wasn’t going to encroach on ROH’s business but it was good wrestling television. That’s something TNA has not always been capable of putting together.

They had a plethora of hot acts at their disposal. Bully Ray had, against all the odds, made it to the top of the wrestling world as a featured singles babyface, supported by the ever popular Jeff Hardy. Beneath them were Christopher Daniels, having one of the most riotous runs of his career, Bobby Roode, and Austin Aries. Magnus seemed poised to crack the main event while Samoa Joe, AJ Styles and James Storm all seemed to be gearing up for comebacks of one form or another.

Somehow TNA have managed to destroy what they’d worked hard to cultivate in the space of about a month and a half. We now have a product that’s not really worth following. Again. You only need to glance at the ratings for the April 11^th Impact to see I’m not alone in thinking this: the show did a 0.93 rating, the lowest it’s done all year.

 

This feud? Not a draw

 

TNA had presented a stacked card. Taryn Terrell took on Gail Kim (which doesn’t sound especially interesting but it had been built up for a significant amount of time) and Aries and Roode defended their tag team titles against Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez in what was essentially billed as a feud-ending collision. There was to be further advancement in the story of AJ Styles’ allegiance. In the main event Bully Ray defended his TNA world championship against Jeff Hardy in a Full Metal Mayhem match (basically a TLC match, the name changed to appease the mighty WWE and its lawyers).

It was a big card (notably described on air as pay-per-view quality) that TNA had put a lot of work into preparing, that guaranteed big names in matches and developments worth paying attention to. That it did such a poor rating indicates that viewers simply don’t care about the direction TNA’s going in.

I think TNA’s main problem is that its roster feels stale. The company just doesn’t seem to know how to introduce new talent. Gut Check has not proven the answer to the problems. Neither has the signing of Chavo. The best thing the company could do right now is cut a large portion of the roster (at least a third of it) and introduce some fresh blood. No matter how popular and talented the likes of Hardy, Daniels, Aries and Roode are they’re going to continue to be wasted if they face the same guys all the time and waste their time stalling through uninteresting storylines.

Do something different with the talent. Bully Ray may be effective as a heel but he was more effective a couple of months ago as a good guy. Fans were enjoying rallying behind him. Turning him just to swerve the audience (and it wasn’t really a swerve, everyone saw it coming) is incredibly counterproductive. On a similar note AJ Styles is not going to be well served by playing Sting to the Aces and Eights’ nWo and TNA’s WCW.

While they’re at it the format could do with a change. Opening with a promo every week is such a dated approach to wrestling broadcasts. More than that it’s exactly what WWE does. If TNA wants to be an alternative to the sports entertainment brand they need to be genuinely different. Put the focus on wrestling.

Most importantly the entire Aces and Eights plot needs to be dropped. It’s not going to happen because TNA has recorded One Night Only pay-per-views until the end of the year and the gang is prominent in the majority of them. I don’t think TNA can begin presenting the product it should until it gets rid of this boring, 90s style stable.

I said all of this and more last month. But that was before TNA did a terrible rating presenting what was essentially a PPV Lite card. The promotion has all the tools it needs to construct a great wrestling product. It just doesn’t want to let itself.

Total Nonstop Alterations

Recent developments in TNA have made me wonder about the company's creative direction. There's clearly a long term plan in place. Several months' worth of storylines involving Bully Ray fooling everyone into thinking he's a reformed character while secretly being the President of Aces and Eights can attest to that. But are feuds pitting Ray against 'The Hulkster' and Sting really what TNA fans want to see? I know I'm not interested, and I find it difficult to believe I'm the only one. TNA's improved over the last two years but it's still a promotion awash with nonsense and performers who aren't pulling their weight.

Things aren’t beyond saving though. There are numerous things that could be done to make TNA a more enjoyable viewing experience. I've come up with a list of suggestions that I think could improve the TNA product. They’re listed below, and anyone at TNA who happens to be reading this is welcome to use them.
 
Go all the way with Christopher Daniels: 'The Ring General' has been one of the most entertaining things on Impact for almost a year now. What started as a seemingly throwaway pairing with Frankie Kazarian has had staying power and has shown that the twenty year veteran is still capable of reinventing himself and staying relevant. Effective heels tend to end up receiving cheers from crowds who appreciate how good they are at their job so it says something about how good Daniels is that he remains capable of getting the desired reaction.
 
Daniels could have made a very effective top heel. The focus on the Aces and Eights group, and his incompatibility with it, made that impossible. That shouldn't stop TNA continuing to give him things to do. Nor should it preclude him from consideration as a future world champion. 'The Fallen Angel' is one of TNA's greatest assets. He should be the star of the company's next long term booking cycle.

Lead heel material

 
Make Magnus and Samoa Joe a tag team: They've already been reunited through the magic of battling Aces and Eights. Have them announce on Impact that they've decided to reform their tag team because they realise they can succeed together. If and when they do split, don't rush it. That's a scenario that could be used to bring Magnus into main events.
 
Make Robbie E and Jesse Godderz a tag team: It's been acknowledged that they have similar gimmicks. Why not embrace that and have them work as a unit? It's not like either man is anything special alone.
 
Should the writers be inclined they could even grant the combo an ECW-style entourage, perhaps installed to protect them from the monstrous Rob Terry (who can be downed with a… erm… framed picture). They'd already have Tara, a great character who I think excels when placed in a group setting. They could bring back Cookie. They could give them a bodyguard, maybe some plucked from the list of cuts suggested below.

Gunner could be put with them to run interference. Give him a bizarre costume (as was done with the Musketeer and Mitch in the Simon and Swinger group) and you could get some laughs (and some incredulous looks). Is getting laughs a bad thing? Not with these guys. Robbie E, Jesse and Tara are all well established as comedy performers in TNA.
 
Once they've feuded with Rob Terry they could move on to Eric Young. A programme between comedy performers would be a nice change of pace, and there'd be lots of matches to book if EY were still hooked up with ODB.
 
Finish the Aces and Eights angle: It's been running for a year now. It took months for the group's members to be revealed. The final line-up is uninspiring or detrimental to the product. It could have been used as a tool to make bigger stars of the likes of Garrett Bischoff and Wes Brisco. They've found themselves playing even less important roles than they were when they were Team Angle 2.0. Instead it’s just been an excuse to hire a truckload of former WWE guys.
 
It's a boring, uninspiring plot that's outstayed its welcome and has nothing left to offer. If the goal was to make Bully Ray the heel champion then the objective has been achieved. 'Calfzilla' is good enough to go it alone from here, perhaps retaining Devon for their history together and to play up the Team 3D reunion.
 
The writers need to come up with something new. Something that's not a knockoff of the nWo. We've seen plenty of those. Put wrestling at the centre of stories and make wins and losses matter instead.
 
Get rid of the TV title: Let it go with Devon or, if he sticks around, stop him wearing it. Seriously, it's worthless.
 
Make Taryn Terrell a wrestler: Having a gimmick referee for the Knockouts division seemed like a peculiar idea to begin with. I assumed it was going to lead somewhere. It hasn't. The most notable thing Taryn's been involved in has been an accusation of iffy officiating. Not exactly thrilling, is it?
 
Why not have Gail Kim reveal that she's lodged a complaint against Terrell that will prohibit her from officiating matches for the foreseeable future? That would excuse Taryn from ref duty and allow her to enter into a feud with Kim, using the excuse that she remains a TNA contracted performer and a trained wrestler. She's not on par with the rest of the Knockout crew but she might learn by association. Failing that she could always be put in a tag team.

She learnt that move from Mae Young, you know

 
Improve the Knockouts division: Fairly broad point? Yeah, but I've got several suggestions that don't fall neatly under their own headers.
 
First of all, hire Ivalice Velez. She was far more impressive than Lei'D Tapa in their match on the February 28^th Impact. The audience connected with her too. That's a very good indication that someone warrants a contract.
 
Lei'D Tapa, who was signed in Velez's place, could be built up as a monster heel. Treat her like a modern day Awesome Kong. Have her stand in the aisle to watch KO matches for several weeks before attacking someone like Mickie James or Velvet Sky to setup her first programme. Maybe even allow her to beat the champion for the title in her first official match as a Knockout. That could make her a star immediately.
 
Of course for that to work fans would have to care about the division and its performers. That's not a tough thing to achieve. Viewers want to care about the Knockouts, they're just not given much of a chance to do so. Give them all their own characters again, along with something to do. That could include bringing up some of the ladies assigned to OVW to help flesh out the ranks (so to speak) and reactivating the Knockout tag belts.
 
Release some wrestlers from their contracts: I know Matt Morgan only re-signed last summer but what's he done since returning? Nothing. He's been with the company since 2007, which is more than enough time to carve a niche for himself. That he hasn't means he probably never will. The story of Morgan becoming frustrated with his lack of opportunities before becoming serious and targeting the champ had been done to death too.
 
Joey Ryan has transformed into a spectacularly banal character since getting a regular gig with the league. He could be released and not be missed.
 
RVD is another guy that has nothing to do in the current TNA. He's a man trading on past glories. He's still fine in the ring and better on the mic than he was in his prime but he's faced everyone of worth and done everything of interest. Give someone else a chance to reinvigorate the X Division.

Contract expirations are underrated

 
The entire A&E roster is ripe for a firing too. That includes Mr Anderson. TNA have floundered about with him for so long, switching him rapidly between heel and face, that he can't be cared about anymore. As I mentioned above, perhaps keep Devon around if there's a purpose behind it.
 
Finally, get rid of Hogan and Bischoff. The latter's not an on-screen performer but he's just as useless as 'Thunderlips'. Neither man has done anything to make TNA a more known brand or a more profitable company. There has been a distinct lack of fresh and entertaining programming too. The company has simply kept churning out the same WWE-inspired weirdness it has for years. If they knew how to improve things they'd have done it by now.
 
Make better use of Sting and Kurt Angle: By which I mean make both men part time. Use them as special attractions. Have Sting appear on Impact only to build up pay-per-view programmes. Have Angle replace Hulk as the General Manger and keep any wrestling matches he has either for PPV or for specially hyped episodes of Impact.
 
Restock the roster with young talent: Recruit fresh blood. The X Division in particular is bare. Why not make an offer to John Morrison. I'm sure one's been extended before but try again. He could attract fresh eyes to the X league. Longer term he could progress to wrestling for the world championship.
 
Kenny Omega and Sonjay Dutt should be natural choices to bring in. Both men would improve the booking options of the roster and make good challengers for Kenny King. How about the Young Bucks (or Generation Me as they were called in TNA) and BLKOUT? Those are four guys who could work in both the X Division and the tag division, another area of TNA programming that could do with some work.
 
Closing statement: The TNA roster is need of a shakeup. The product has been the same for so long that nothing feels fresh, no matter how it’s dressed up. The only way TNA is going to improve is with a refresh of the roster and a different tack being taken when it comes to concocting long term booking plans. Bully Ray having the title isn’t a problem, but pretty much everything else is.