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.

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.

Slammiversary XI preview

When TNA announced they were cutting back on the number of pay-per-views they produce one of the reasons they gave for the decision was creating a schedule that would allow storylines to advance at a more natural pace. In theory that should work. A promotion putting on fewer large shows is not beholden to having two feuding parties wrestling every four weeks. Things can be teased out and foreshadowed because there's less need to fill up so many minutes of PPV.

The move should have led to tightly produced events stacked with must-see matches. It hasn't. Slammiversary, like Lockdown before it, has a handful of reasonably intriguing matches to offer but the card as a whole is underwhelming.

If TNA are incapable of cobbling together four excellent cards a year then I don't see that they can have much of a future. Any company with a roster of talent like theirs and a half decent TV deal promoting four pay-per-views a year should be able to make them great. Making them profitable is a different story of course, but the quality should be there.

Let’s start with the use of the main event crew outside of the world title bout. Kurt Angle and AJ Styles are facing one another in a regular singles match. There are no stipulations and it seems the only reason it's happening is because of AJ's questionable loyalty to the company.

The two will have a great match but is this really the best that could be cooked up for two of TNA's best wrestler with three months to play with? They've faced each other so many times, often on free TV, that something extra needs to be added to their battles at this stage. Either an interesting story (which Aces and Eights emphatically isn't) or a stipulation they've not done before. If you want to use the two as the second biggest match of a pay-per-views fans need to be given something they've not been given before.

I'm expecting 'The Phenomenal One' to win. He's going to challenge for the world title later in the year. He'll need to be kept strong for that.

The treatment of Bobby Roode, James Storm, Austin Aries and Christopher Daniels has been similarly shabby. A year and a half ago 'The Cowboy' and 'The It Factor' were gracing the main event and 'A Double' was winning the TNA championship. It felt as though TNA was finally giving us the storylines and pushes we'd wanted for a long time. The younger guys on the roster were getting the featured spots and carrying the top championship.

In just twelve months that's all been undone. All three have been demoted to the tag ranks after showing so much promise as headline singles performers. The popularity of Christopher Daniels' heel character has frustratingly not been capitalised on. Instead the writers have focused more on the tiresome antics of Hulk Hogan, Brooke Hogan and Bully Ray. Even Taz has had more of a push than Roode and company.

Unlike Styles and Angle I'm not sure these horribly under-utilised wrestlers will manage to turn in a good performance. There will be eight men in one match, one of whom is clumsy oaf Hernandez. My concern is that too many spots and sequences will be stuffed into too short a run time. The elimination rules won't help the pacing either.

Anyone could win this. There's no obvious outcome. I'd like to see Bad Influence win. That would allow, Aries, Roode and Storm to segue back into singles careers and make use of 'The Fallen Angel'. So I'll pick them.

The returning Jeff Hardy will team with Samoa Joe and Magnus to take on Aces and Eights members Wes Brisco, Garrett Bischoff and Mr Anderson. The best thing I can say about this match is that it’s a very good way of elevating Bischoff and Brisco. Teaming with Anderson isn’t really anything special but getting to wrestle opposite Joe and Hardy on a pay-per-view is a big thing for them.

While it’s a good thing for them it’s yet another example of two wrestlers who should be in more prominent spots being booked in a throwaway outing. Both ‘The Samoan Submission Machine’ and ‘The Charismatic Enigma’ should be doing far more in TNA than they currently are. So should Magnus for that matter. TNA should want to use that guy before the inevitable hard-to-resist offer form WWE comes in.

If Joe and Magnus are going to continue being associated with one another, which appears to be the case, then why aren’t they in the tag team title match? If they’re going to be a team then they should be used properly as a team. They’re one of the most long-standing units on the roster, and former champions, but they were omitted from the title match. It doesn’t make sense.

I’ll pick the Aces to win. Hardy is notoriously generous when it comes to putting others over and a win here would make sense for Garrett and Wes. Quality-wise I’m expecting little more than fast-paced filler.

The TNA world championship match has been built up well enough but Sting being involved instead of any of the younger talent mentioned above is what's wrong with the company's direction. No matter what those in charge have convinced themselves Sting is not a draw. Neither is Hulk Hogan. The only way TNA will progress as an organisation is if they accept that and use the veterans in supporting roles while aggressively elevating the Roodes, Aries and Storms of the roster. They're the guys who could be draws within a few years (on a larger and more significant scale than they are now) if only they get treated correctly.

Perhaps the plan is for Sting to lose and take up that supporting role. That would be the smart thing to do. There's no sense that I can see in derailing Bully Ray's push at the moment. He needs to be built up into a dominating champion who's dethroned by someone who can play a part in the company's future for years to come. That ain't 'The Stinger'. It's probably AJ Styles, but it could be any of the guys I've already bemoaned the use of.

'Calfzilla' to win a heated but ultimately only passable main event. For the record I'm expecting run-ins from Aces and Eights in this match, specifically DOC and Knoxx.

Sting versus Bully. Who'll win? Who'll care?

Down on the undercard is where things are really drab. The match that really stands out is the TV title match (yeah, that's still a thing) between Devon and Joseph Park. It will be a comedy affair and possibly feature a run-in from somebody substituting as Abyss. Because a plot that sees Park and his long lost brother Abyss interacting with one another is what TNA fans have been clamouring for.

I'm going to predict a win for Park. There has to be some reason for his continued presence on Impact. Scoring a victory over Aces and Eights is as good a reason as any. In an ideal world he'd win the title, vacate it, and then announce that he and Abyss are jetting off to live on an island together. Then we'd never have to see the tiresome reunion and-or feud play out. I won't get my hopes up for that though.

In the night's final title match Kenny King will defend the X Division gold against Suicide and Chris Sabin. 'Cide, for the record, will likely be played by TJ Perkins. He's the guy who was misused by Ring of Honor last year and left after wrestling a tryout match for TNA.

I don't feel very positive about this match. Suicide gimmick aside I like everyone involved. I was a big fan of ANX and King's proven very capable in his follow-up singles career. TJP is amazing, the sort of wrestler ROH management should have been desperate to hold on to but for some reason weren't. And Sabin is an incredibly talented athlete who's had a run of very bad luck with injuries over the last few years. He could easily be a highlight of a logically booked X Division.

The thing is that the X Division isn't logically booked. Take the decision to have every X Division match be a triple threat match, for example. That's a lazy attempt at making something unique. It's a substitute for compelling booking, as evidenced by the approach of trying to force an air of mystery as to who the third man in any given X match on Impact will be. The X Division deserves to be restocked with half a dozen new wrestlers and prioritised by the booking team. If TNA can't bring themselves to do that they may as well retire the concept. It's of no use or interest to anyone in its current state.

Who'll win? Sabin. It feels time for a title change and he'd get a good reaction winning the belt after returning from an injury.

The seventh match confirmed for Slammiversary is Jay Bradley v Sam Shaw. It's a tournament final, with the winner getting a spot in TNA's third annual Bound For Glory series, the winner of which gets a world title match at, yep, Bound For Glory.

The cynic in me feels that this is a rather elaborate way of including someone in the BFG series who can be used to lose regularly. They may pick up one or two fluke wins but ultimately I think it's pretty safe to assume either Shaw or Bradley will be involved to stop the likes of Robbie E, Kazarian and EY performing endless jobs.

So, really, it doesn't matter who wins at Slammiversary. They're going on to a string of losses. I'll pick Sam Shaw because I like his name better. Yes, that's my reason.

Finally there's Taryn Terrell v Gail Kim. It should be a good match. Terrell has shown promise in what she's been given to do since stepping out if the referree shirt. Her story has been logically booked and she'll be wrestling an established performer in Kim, which should mean people care about and react to the match.

I think the former Mrs Drew McIntyre will win. That would allow for an always popular underdog story and also setup a new babyface challenger to the now-possibly-heel Mickie James.

See what I mean about this being a humdrum offering? The BFG series should help to create some more meaningful rivalries for Bound For Glory in October. I've a feeling the Aces and Eights plot will be nearing completion by then too, which could bring about some pretty meaningful bouts. With four months to get ready that show ought to be something special.

I want TNA to be better than they are. The fact that they've got long term planning is great. They just need to start focusing it on wrestlers who warrant it, not the Stings of the world. My advice to whoever's scripting their shows right now would be to go back and look at what worked last year. At least the right guys were getting pushed then.

Predictions summary:

Bully Ray to defeat Sting
AJ Styles to defeat Kurt Angle
Bad Influence to outlast Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez, James Storm and Gunner, and Bobby Roode and Austin Aries
Chris Sabin to win the X Division championship
Wes Brisco, Garrett Bischoff and Mr Anderson to defeat Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe and Magnus
Taryn Terrell to defeat Gail Kim
Joseph Park to defeat Devon
Sam Shaw to defeat Jay Bradley

Bully Boy

Bully Ray has become TNA’s new chief heel, turning on his storyline father-in-law and wife (Hulk and Brooke Hogan respectively). He’s also been revealed as the boss of the Aces and Eights gang (pipping long time favourites Jeff Jarrett and Eric Bischoff to the post) and become the company’s world champion into the bargain, unseating the popular Jeff Hardy.

All of this happened in the space of one match at Lockdown. It was a busy, some may say frantic, evening for TNA and for Bully. But then the company has never been known for their well-paced stories.

 

I remember watching Hardcore Heaven '99, headlined by Ray versus Taz for the ECW championship, and thinking Bubba would never win a world title. Looks like I was wrong...

 

I wrote on Sunday afternoon that I wouldn’t be averse to a Bully Ray world title reign. I’m still not. I think Ray as a performer is easily good enough to be the top guy in TNA. I’m less thrilled by his heel turn though. He’d become a popular act for TNA, and I think fans would have been willing to embrace him as a top line babyface far more than they were James Storm. By switching him back to bad guy mode TNA have short-changed themselves.

It’s the situation we have though, and while I’m not especially interested in the dealings of the alleged outlaw biker gang and their newly revealed miscreant leader I am interested in seeing who Bully is pitted against in his new role. At the top of his challenger list will obviously be Jeff Hardy. As the wronged former champion ‘The Charismatic Enigma’ is the clear choice to be Bully’s first challenger.

The question of when is an interesting one. TNA’s next pay-per-view will be June’s Slammiversary XI (celebrating eleven years of abject nonsense). That’s a long time to wait to book a rematch. The time could be padded out with Bully originally refusing to grant Hardy his return bout, and then eventually booking it for an episode of Impact and having it end in a disqualification. Even with those tricks it’s a long time to wait.

With three months to play with TNA should really be planning on wrapping up the Hardy v Bully feud (and the Aces and Eights v TNA for that matter) earlier than Slammiversary. If built up for several weeks beforehand the rematch could get Impact a strong rating. That’s what the plan should be.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Sting and Hulk Hogan were booked in challenger roles too. Both men gave their storyline trust to Bully and were betrayed by him. Booking Bully against either man at Slammiversary seems fairly likely. If I had to pick between the two I’d go with ‘The Stinger’. He may be fifty-three but he’s more spry than Hogan.

Of course ‘The Hulkster’ is the bigger name of the two and the entire Brooke-Bully marriage plot has started to look like an elaborate setup for a Hogan v Bully match since Lockdown. Couple this with Hogan’s talk since late last year that he wants to return to the ring and be TNA champion and the fact that he’s involved in the promotion’s booking and a Bully v Hogan match looks inevitable.

 

Bully Ray's next pay-per-view opponent?

 

Will Hogan beat Bully for the gold? If ‘Calfzilla’ is still champion when the two clash I think there’s a strong chance of that happening. However, it’s also possible Bully will drop the belt over the summer and headline October’s Bound For Glory in a non-title outing with Hogan.

The man that should be used as the next challenger after Jeff Hardy is James Storm. He’s someone who was being promoted as one of the leading forces of TNA early last year. Sadly his push cooled and he’s done very little of interest for the last year. Portraying him as the outraged, loyal TNA guy and having him target Bully for messing with the company could help to rehabilitate him. Something needs doing, or he may as well be released.

Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, and Magnus would all make very good television opponents for Bully. In the case of Angle the match should be built up far in advance so that it can attract a good TV rating. ‘The Cyborg’ shouldn’t be wrestling regularly with his dozens of nagging injuries. If he appears on TV it should be a big deal.

We’ll have a better idea of who will challenge for Bully’s gold next after Thursday’s Impact. Whoever it is I don’t think it will convince me that Bully leading Aces and Eights is a good thing. Turning Bully has come at the cost of a popular act that had plenty more to do. He would have been of far greater benefit as a face. But then short-sightedness is nothing new for this company.