Episode 59 is now available for download.
This week's topics include:
-WWE TLC review.
-TNA Final Resolution preview.
-Bret Hart signing with WWE.
-round table discussion: if we were going to start a company with 10 workers to start, who would they be?
-also, the week in wrestling, mail bag, promo of the week and much, much more.
Special guests: Big_D & Dennin
December 20, 2009
December 19, 2009
Previewing Final Resolution
CHALLENGE MATCH
Mick Foley & Abyss vs. Raven & Dr. Stevie
FK9: Seriously? Good lord, why is this match even on the card? Can't we just put this storyline out of its misery already? With all the other stuff going on in TNA right now, what is the point of continuing to drag out The Feud That Would Not Die? Can they really not think of anything else to do with Abyss? Foley has been totally focused on Hogan's arrival and has barely even mentioned this match for the last month. If even the guy in the match doesn't care about it then the fans have no reason to care about it either. I don't think actually promoting the match is going to get the fans interested in it, but the fact that the writers haven't even bothered trying to promote it speaks volumes.
Who should win: Kurt Angle recently beat Raven & Dr. Stevie in a handicap match in about 3 minutes. After that, anything other than the babyfaces completely destroying the heels in a quick squash will make Foley & Abyss look like chumps.
chessarmy: This is another one of those feuds that should have ended a looooong time ago. If you think about it, Abyss has been feuding with Dr. Stevie since Slammiversary. That was 6 months ago! I think Dr. Stevie/Raven will end up getting the win, they'll run an angle where Foley is too distracted mentally by all this Hogan crap, that he'll end up costing Abyss the match and maybe turn heel in the process. If I was booking however, I'd do something simple -- Abyss/Foley win, they celebrate in the ring and the feud ENDS.
Who should win: Abyss/Foley
The Quintastic One: I love Raven, I like Dr. Stevie, I love Daffney, I like Abyss, I even like Mick Foley. I don't have a bad thing to say about any of these guys. But honestly, this feud has gone on for far too long. It's had far too many swerves and it's become Robert Roode vs. Eric Young. I mean, they've been feuding since before Slammiversary for crying out loud. Abyss has already beaten the crap out of Raven, Dr. Stevie and even Mick Foley 10 times 'til doomsday. What more can you possibly add to this feud?
Who should win: It's obvious, Mick Foley & Abyss are going to go over, yet again. Mick Foley is probably gonna do his 5,000th alignment turn of the year, attack Abyss post match and we'll get a 3-on-1 handicap match for Genesis that Abyss will STILL go over in. And lord knows this feud may never end.
-----
LAST MAN STANDING MATCH
Bobby Lashley vs. Scott Steiner
FK9: Lashley takes his first loss in TNA to Steiner at Turning Point and then soon after wins a future world heavyweight title shot. That should tell you everything you need to know about how much this feud means. All it is is a way to keep Lashley occupied for a while. The problem is it's not really making Lashley any more interesting and it's certainly not making me want to see more of Steiner.
Who should win: Steiner won the first match, so Lashley should win this one, hopefully ending this awful feud. Afterward, the fans will continue not caring about Lashley that much and continue wondering why in the blue hell Scott Steiner is still on television.
chessarmy: Why is this feud still going on and on and on? Steiner sucks, plain and simple. I love his promos, but in the ring he's a broken down man who needs to think about retiring. I'm sure this has been said over a thousand times by many different people on the interwebz, so I guess there's no point in repeating it. Lashley should win and move on to bigger and better things.
Who should win: Bobby Lashley
The Quintastic One: Say what you will about Scott Steiner being an immobile dinosaur constantly in pain, but this guy can been consistently delivering in matches since Bound for Glory. I swear, he's done more suplexes and Frankensteiners than he's ever done in his career. I know that's not saying much but for a guy who was pretty much limited in his arsenal back in the NWO days, he's been impressive in both his physique and his ability in the ring. Lord knows he has to be if he's going to keep his job.
Who should win: That being said, I'm giving this one to Bobby Lashley. He's essentially the suplex machine that Scott Steiner is, except younger, in better shape and more marketable towards today's audience. It'll be interesting to see what they do with Bobby since he's signed a deal with Strikeforce, but I don't see that being a detriment to his chances to win tonight.
-----
8 MAN ELIMINATION
Team 3D, Rhino & Jesse Neal vs, "Pope" D'Angelo Dinero, "the Blueprint" Matt Morgan, Hernandez & Suicide
FK9: Remember when the fans would chant "Next world champ!" when Morgan came out to the ring? They don't do that anymore. I'll give you 3 guesses why. How does this man go from having a MOTY candidate with Kurt Angle at Bound for Glory to being used as glorified enhancement talent to get Jesse @#$%ing Neal over? I'm sorry, but Jesse Neal hasn't shown me a thing yet -- I see no reason why he should be getting pushed ahead of Morgan, Pope, Supermex & Suicide and the same goes for Rhino and 3D. I see what the writers are trying to do here, but this feud is doing no favors to guys who TNA are billing as the future of the company. Morgan & Hernandez are future world champions and Pope has been an instant star in TNA; they should NOT be made to look so weak against a group of perennial midcarders.
Who should win: The heels won the last match so the faces need to go over here. The young guys need to get some momentum going if they're going to hold onto whatever heat they still have.
chessarmy: The heels have had waaay too much of an advantage so far in this feud. They've won almost every match, they've done everything to make the fans think the young stars just aren't in their league. Because of this, Morgan's team MUST get the victory at Final Resolution. If they don't, they'll look like a bunch of jobbers and they might even be buried. We suffered through this type of booking with the MEM storyline; please TNA, dont make us do it again.
Who should win: D'Angelo Dinero, Matt Morgan, Hernandez & Suicide
The Quintastic One: I'm going to make this one brief because this is going to legitimately piss me off if it doesn't happen. Morgan, Hernandez, Dinero & Suicide BETTER win this match. I will not tolerate this storyline being Main Event Mafia 2.0. Team 3D has had the upper hand in this feud the ENTIRE time. They need to put over the younger stars and they need to do it now. I don't care if they're booked to win the match. If they have any sense of decency they will barge into Russo's office and say "We're not Hogan, we're not Triple H, we're not the Undertaker, we put over new guys when they deserve it. We don't want to hog the spotlight." I'll go so far as to say if it doesn't happen, I'm watching RAW on January 4th over iMPACT.
Who should win: Morgan, Hernandez, Dinero & Suicide
-----
KNOCKOUTS TITLE MATCH
Tara vs. ODB (c)
FK9: Tara's as over as she's ever been and coming off the biggest win of her career at Turning Point. ODB's title reign has gone nowhere and consisted mainly of her piggybacking on other people's feuds. Meanwhile, her character has grown stale and her recent heel turn (which, at the very least, is something different for her) hasn't really done much to change that. It's time for a fresh face at the top of the Knockout food chain and Tara deserves the belt. This one's a no brainer.
Who should win: Tara
chessarmy: With Roxxi returning on iMPACT it would be great to see her inserted into the Knockouts title picture, but I guess they need to build her up first. Until then, they should give the belt to Tara. ODB is a terrible champion, she's done nothing with the belt and I've been waiting for someone to beat her for it since she won the damn thing.
Who should win: Tara
The Quintastic One: This should be a good match. It's a shame that we don't have more Knockouts wrestling following up on this. But for what it is, it's going to be a hard hitting contest. I just hope Tara doesn't fall victim to the ODB "Victory Sequence" and actually picks up the win on this. She defeated Awesome Kong in a great steel cage match last month and she's earned this title.
Who should win: Tara
-----
TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH
Motor City Machine Guns vs. the British Invasion (c)
FK9: It is about damn time that the writers got behind the Guns like this. They should've gotten this push 2 years ago, but what's done is done. Sabin & Shelley have had the British Invasion's number for the last 2 months and they are the clear top contenders for the tag team titles. Finally.
Unfortunately, the very fact that the Guns have been booked so strongly against the Brits is why I think the Brits need to retain the titles. For ONE more month. As much I want the MCMG to finally win those damn belts, Magnus & Williams need to get some heat in this feud before that happens or them dropping the titles to Sabin & Shelley won't really mean anything. The Machine Guns getting screwed out of the win at Final Resolution, only to come back and win them for the first time at Genesis would mean a lot more than them winning the titles at a 'B' PPV after having their way with the champions for weeks. But whatever happens, I just hope that the outcome of the match won't hinge on the actions of the British A1, Rob Terry.
Who should win: The British Invasion. BUT... Sabin & Shelly ABSOLUTELY MUST win the tag team titles at Genesis. It's their time, damn it!
chessarmy: Final Resolution should be the PPV where the Guns finally win the tag belts. It's been waaaaaay too long since they've been in the title picture, they've put on so many memorable matches, they are an amazing tag team that deserves at least one reign with the straps. The Brits have held the titles since Bound for Glory and it's time for a changing of the guard in the tag division. Give the belts to the Motor City Machine Guns, for the love of god! (hehehe, stole one from FK there)
[Editor's Note: Stop stealing my catchphrases, you jerkass!]
Who should win: The Motor City Machine Guns (I forgive you, Shelley, for asking for 5K for a @#$%ing interview!)
The Quintastic One: It's felt like forever since the British Invasion first won tag team gold. I know they had a different set of belts before this point, but still, they've been tag team champions on a consistent basis. They've had a good long reign, and now you've got a pair of young guns (no pun intended) who are ready to finally earn themselves tag title belts.
Who should win: It's a wish, it's a hope, it's a prediction and it's a borderline demand. Put the damn belts on Shelley & Sabin. Normally you could make the argument that the Brits need to retain in order to legitimize World Elite. But considering your leader of the stable jobbed to Hamada of all people 2 weeks ago, @#$% legitimizing them further. Give the belts to the Guns.
-----
FEAST OR FIRED MATCH
One TNA Superstar will be fired from the company
FK9: Oh, so this match is on the PPV then? You wouldn't know it from watching iMPACT. In all the build up for Final Resolution, I don't think they've mentioned this match more than once or twice. Gosh, I wonder why TNA's PPV buyrates haven't shown any real growth in the last few years. It's a mystery for the ages...
Anyway, there is no global title shot at stake here, which just proves how little that belt means right now and Eric Young refusing to defend it is not helping matters any. It will be a joke if Samoa Joe DOESN'T get the world title shot. By that same token, and all due respect to Bashir & Kiyoshi, but Homicide is the only man in this match who should be getting an X-division title shot. Concurrently, Beer Money are the only ones here who should be getting a tag team title shot. Unfortunately, all that probably makes just a little too much sense for the TNA writers to be interested in doing it.
The pink slip is the easiest one. Nobody, and I mean NOBODY wants to see Kevin Nash winning a title shot of any kind, but he's still in the match for some reason. So what better reason than for him to get "fired" and be taken off TV for a while? It would great payback after he booked that unspeakably awful show last week.
Who should win: World title shot -- Samoa Joe. X-division title shot -- Homicide. Tag team title shot -- Beer Money. FIRED -- Kevin Nash (but if Bashir or Rob Terry get it instead, I won't complain).
chessarmy: This will be a cluster@#$%. There's like 24087 guys in the match. I hope they actually reveal what's in the cases at the PPV instead of making us wait for iMPACT. Isn't that why people pay 30 bucks for the damn show? To see the outcomes of storylines and feuds? We shouldn't have to wait for the free TV show to see what the cases contain. I cant make a prediction for this because I dont know who all the competitors will be. All I can say is I think either Kiyoshi or Homicide will end up with the Fired case. Beer Money will probably get the Tag Title shots, and Samoa Joe SHOULD get the world title shot.
Who should win: N/A
The Quintastic One: Ah yes, TNA's annual "Let's shove everyone in who doesn't currently have a decent program and see what happens" match. You've got The Jobber Elite in this match, accompanied by about 3 more jobbers, Samoa Joe, Beer Money and Kevin Nash. But as we know this match is not always as predictable as we'd like it to be, so here goes anyway.
Who should win: Beer Money are too obvious for the tag titles so I'm gonna say Sheik Abdul Bashir gets the tag title shot. Samoa Joe gets the X-division title shot. Kevin Nash gets the world title shot, and when Hogan comes in he's gonna book Nash to be the champion. And Eric Young gets the "You're fired" case.
-----
THREE DEGREES OF PAIN
Desmond Wolfe vs. Kurt Angle
FK9: Desmond Wolfe's push has been awesome so far, but he's reaching the point where he's going to lose credibility if he doesn't start getting some meaningful wins. The nice thing about this match is that it virtually guarantees him at least one victory over Angle, be it pinfall, submission or escaping the cage. Unfortunately, one victory won't mean that much if it's Angle who gets his hand raised at the end. I know TNA kind of telegraphed the finish of this match when they let the Genesis poster get leaked onto the net, but there's plenty of ways for Kurt to save face and still have Desmond go over.
Who should win: Desmond Wolfe. He needs the win more than Kurt Angle does. I say have him get the pin, give the submission to Angle and let Wolfe win the match by escaping the cage, thus evening the score 1-1. Then have the rubber match on iMPACT where they wrestle for the #1 contendership and have Angle win that one. Kurt Angle gets the main event of Genesis, but Desmond Wolfe still looks strong. Everybody wins.
chessarmy: This feud has been amazing from beginning to end, I honestly would rather see a normal match to end it, but the 3 Stages of Hell style match definitely won't disappoint. If I was booking, I'm not sure who I'd give the 'W' to. Considering Kurt Angle is getting a title shot next month, it would make perfect sense to give him the victory here. However, I really like Desmond Wolfe so it'll be a hard decision. In a way, the 3 Stages of Hell stipulation is going to work here, because if Angle wins in 3 matches, you could make the argument that Desmond Wolfe was skilled enough to at least pin the Olympic Gold Medalist once.
Who should win: Kurt Angle
The Quintastic One: So this is basically 3 Stages of Hell without the copyright infringement. Still, if the story we've seen from these guys is any indication, you know the match is gonna be good. I think they've strayed too far away from the feud in recent weeks. As Desmond has been more preoccupied with Styles and Daniels than he has been focused on taking out Kurt Angle. So either TNA is planning on having Desmond bypass Angle in a big way here or something's not right with the way this story has been handled.
Who should win: I see Desmond winning this, plain and simple. Desmond will gain the pinfall, Angle will make him tap, and when the cage lowers you're gonna see alot of crazy spots. But Wolfe will find a way to escape before Angle does.
-----
TNA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH
Daniels vs "the Phenomenal" AJ Styles (c)
FK9: Again, the leaked Genesis poster kind of spoiled the finish, not that it wasn't kind of obvious. I love that Daniels is finally getting a long-deserved main event push and he and AJ will deliver a fantastic match, but the former Fallen Angel is not winning the title at Final Resolution, nor should he. He hasn't been built up enough to be the world champion, for one. He hasn't had nearly enough screen time, for another. Also, it's just too early to take the belt off of AJ Styles. After Sting anointed AJ as his successor, it would completely cheapen that if he lost the title anytime soon. It's unfortunate, but Daniels' push has most likely been something to stall for time while the Kurt Angle match simmers in the background. Daniels will still get something out of this as long as he doesn't fall back to the midcard afterward and I do believe that he has it in him to be a world champion given the right push and the right promotion, but not this time.
Who should win: AJ Styles
chessarmy: The match itself has taken a back seat to all this Mick Foley/Jeff Jarret/Dixie Carter garbage. It's unfortunate but true, even though the match is for the world title, it lacks hype and I'm not sure how many people even know it's on the card. Either way, I think it could be a MOTY candidate. Both workers know each other so well, if TNA gives them the right amount of time, they could tear the house down.
Who should win: AJ Styles
The Quintastic One: This is an interesting one for me. On one hand, you have Bobby Lashley being presumably #1 contender, or at least in line for a title shot sometime in the near future. On the other hand you have Kurt Angle who presumably has some form of guaranteed agreement to be AJ's next opponent, or so I've heard. So this match is pretty much going to come down to who TNA plans on having the next opponent for the ensuing champion. Will AJ win and face Kurt Angle or will Daniels win and face Bobby Lashley?
Who should win: I don't see AJ Styles dropping the belt to Daniels. Which I agree with. I want Styles to have as long a reign as possible before he inevitably drops it to Desmond Wolfe (my opinion). The fact that he's retained over Sting and both Daniels & Joe thus far is a good indication that Styles is having a quality reign.
December 18, 2009
Knockout Match of the Year
Well, it’s that time of year when the “Best of…” lists start coming out. TNA recently put out a poll on their website for the fans to vote on what they thought was the best match of 2009. I thought this topic deserved its own column for two reasons.
1) Several Knockout matches were given consideration on this list of candidates.
2) This list is a complete and utter farce.
There are no less than 24 matches to choose from on this list TNA put together, which is ridiculous in and of itself. Realistically, there should be less than 10. That was the first warning sign.
The second warning sign was some of the matches that were on it. Quite a few of them were not even that good and some of them were downright awful! I won’t insult your intelligence by reprinting the entire list here, but I will say that it was weighed down by such painfully mediocre fare as Abyss vs. Matt Morgan at Lockdown and Bobby Lashley vs. Rhino at No Surrender. And suffice to say, any “Best of...” list that includes Kevin Nash matches (no, I’m not kidding) has no credibility whatsoever.
Perhaps even more baffling were some of the matches that were NOT included. How can TNA possibly expect the fans to take this list seriously when the Chris Sabin vs. Alex Shelley X-division title match from Genesis is mysteriously left out? That is absolutely idiotic. That match the Motor City Machine Guns put on was not only the best X-division match of the year, but the best X-division match in SEVERAL years. Even if it wasn’t the best match of the year in TNA, it was certainly in the top 5 at least.
And on top of that, ALL television matches were excluded from the list as well for some insane reason. Can anyone honestly say that AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle from the Super iMPACT show does not count among the best matches of this year? It was certainly a hell of a lot better than most of the matches that made the list.
Okay. Now that we’ve established that this list is an absolute joke, let’s get to the three Knockout matches that were nominated.
-Sacrifice: Angelina Love vs. Awesome Kong: Knockouts Championship
-Slammiversary: Abyss/Taylor Wilde vs. Raven/Daffney: Monster’s Ball
-Victory Road: Angelina Love vs. Tara: Knockouts Championship
They can’t be serious. Can they?
I honestly think that whichever brain trust put this list together didn’t even bother to watch most of the matches, and instead, put on a blindfold and picked a bunch of random matches out of a hat.
The mixed tag Monster’s Ball I’ll grant you, but no Angelina Love match belongs on this list. Angelina’s Knockouts title reign was, in general, pretty lackluster for the sole reason that she did NOT deliver in the ring. Go back and reread the Month in Review columns because I went over this in detail -- Angelina cut some great promos, but not a single match she put on while she had the belt was worth talking about because she had no chemistry with her series of opponents (Kong, Tara, ODB) and the writers never bothered to put her in feuds with women that she could have strong matches with.
As much as I liked Angelina, there were plenty of Knockout matches in the last year that were far better than anything she produced.
So, in an effort to quell my frustration with this ridiculous list of contenders, I’m going to show you the Best Knockout Matches of 2009 list that SHOULD have been:
-Slammiversary: Abyss/Taylor Wilde vs. Raven/Daffney: Monster’s Ball
TNA Slammiversary 2009 8/18
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TNA Slammiversary 2009 9/18
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-iMPACT: Sarita vs. Alissa Flash
Alissa Flash vs Sarita (Impact 07.16.09)
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-iMPACT: Daffney vs. Hamada
-Turning Point: Tara vs. Awesome Kong: 6 Sides of Steel
Tara vs Awesome Kong (Turning Point 2009) TNA
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-iMPACT: Hamada vs. Taylor Wilde
Hamada vs Taylor Wilde (19-Nov-2009) TNA Impact
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-iMPACT: Hamada vs. Sarita
Hamada vs Sarita (03-Dec-2009) TNA Impact
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IMO, these were the best Knockout matches of 2009. Unsurprisingly, they all involved women that I’ve said TNA should be building the division around.
But I’m actually being a bit generous here. In the interest of avoiding the same thing I just criticized TNA for, let’s narrow down the list a bit further.
Hamada vs. Sarita -- these are the two best workers the Knockout roster has to offer. By all rights, this should have and WOULD have been the match of the year if the bookers had given them more than 3 minutes and change. This was a fantastic contest and had it been 10 minutes or longer I’m confident that it would have been every bit as good, if not better than Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong from Final Resolution 2007. But as great as the match was, the bottom line is it simply wasn’t long enough to be match of the year.
Hamada vs. Taylor Wilde -- same deal. The women delivered a great match for the short amount of time they were given, but they just weren’t given nearly enough.
Abyss/Taylor Wilde vs. Raven/Daffney: Monster’s Ball -- some people may try to call me out on this one. I don’t care. I’ve always thought this match was overhyped. It was a good match, Taylor and Daffney worked their asses off and, IMO, the most memorable spots definitely came from them. But in the end, that’s all it was -- a collection of big spots rather than a wrestling match. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but when I think about the best wrestling matches of the year, table spots and thumbtack bumps aren’t the first place my mind goes to. I do appreciate the effort both women put in and I would certainly call this one of the most memorable Knockout matches of the year, just not necessarily one of the best.
That leaves us with three candidates:
Sarita vs. Alissa Flash -- several weeks of video packages heralding the arrival of Sarita led to her living up to the hype as she and the repackaged Melissa Anderson had the best Knockout match of the year up to the point. Though it wasn’t the longest match ever, it was longer than most iMPACT matches these days and long enough to make it eligible
Daffney vs. Hamada -- unlike Sarita, Hamada had the misfortune of debuting with zero hype. But that didn’t stop her from easily getting the crowd into her match and it didn’t stop her and Daffney from blowing the roof off the iMPACT Zone either, and luckily they were actually given the time to do it.
Tara vs. Awesome Kong: 6 Sides of Steel -- I’m including this match for three reasons. 1) It had months and months of build up, more than any other Knockout match in the history of the division. 2) It was a cage match, a rarity for the Knockouts. 3) It had a great finish. There were a few problems, however. It was too damn short, for one. It was actually longer than the other two matches in the top three, but those matches had little to no hype, whereas this was most heavily hyped Knockout match in TNA history.
After all the build up this match had, roughly 8 minutes was not nearly enough time, especially since it was in the 6 Sides of Steel. The writers apparently forgot that one of the reasons why Kong’s matches with Gail Kim were so highly regarded is that most of them were given well over 10 minutes so the women had the time they needed to tell a great story. A few more minutes would have helped this match enormously as it was just starting to get really good when they had to go to the finish. Granted, it was a really cool finish with Tara diving off the top of the cage, but it just came too soon. Tara & Kong hadn’t built up enough anticipation before they went for the payoff at the end. A few more high impact moves and a few more near falls would’ve made a world of difference.
This needed to be a tremendous match to live up to all the hype. Instead, it was a pretty good match elevated by a great finish. Not bad by any means, and Tara & Kong delivered what they could, but they were screwed over by the bookers in the amount of time they had to work, which made the match somewhat anticlimactic considering all the hype surrounding it.
For these reasons, I feel the Tara vs. Awesome Kong 6 Sides of Steel match is not the best Knockout match of the year. I think it COULD have been, but again, the time issue is an important factor. If wrestling matches were always given the correct amount of time then the final two on this list would probably be Tara vs. Kong and Sarita vs. Hamada. Unfortunately, that is not the case. This is TNA and properly timing matches is a constant and very frustrating problem in this company.
Having said all that, by now we have narrowed to field down to two. It’s a photo finish, and frankly, I could go either way on this one, but since I have to choose one, I will.
Feel free to disagree with me on this, but I am naming Sarita vs. Alissa Flash the best Knockout match of 2009. I think Hamada vs. Daffney was equally good, but ultimately it felt random and thrown together because of Hamada debuting with no hype or advance notice.
By comparison, Sarita was given several weeks of hype videos to build anticipation for her arrival, so when she finally debuted and faced Alissa Flash in a great match it meant more than Hamada just showing up from out of nowhere to wrestle Daffney, even though the match they put on was just as good.
So even though this is only the opinion of one internet writer and not official in any way, I’d just like to say congratulations to Sarita & Alissa. And here’s hoping TNA management will actually let you work a match that lasts for over 10 minutes in the new year.
1) Several Knockout matches were given consideration on this list of candidates.
2) This list is a complete and utter farce.
There are no less than 24 matches to choose from on this list TNA put together, which is ridiculous in and of itself. Realistically, there should be less than 10. That was the first warning sign.
The second warning sign was some of the matches that were on it. Quite a few of them were not even that good and some of them were downright awful! I won’t insult your intelligence by reprinting the entire list here, but I will say that it was weighed down by such painfully mediocre fare as Abyss vs. Matt Morgan at Lockdown and Bobby Lashley vs. Rhino at No Surrender. And suffice to say, any “Best of...” list that includes Kevin Nash matches (no, I’m not kidding) has no credibility whatsoever.
Perhaps even more baffling were some of the matches that were NOT included. How can TNA possibly expect the fans to take this list seriously when the Chris Sabin vs. Alex Shelley X-division title match from Genesis is mysteriously left out? That is absolutely idiotic. That match the Motor City Machine Guns put on was not only the best X-division match of the year, but the best X-division match in SEVERAL years. Even if it wasn’t the best match of the year in TNA, it was certainly in the top 5 at least.
And on top of that, ALL television matches were excluded from the list as well for some insane reason. Can anyone honestly say that AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle from the Super iMPACT show does not count among the best matches of this year? It was certainly a hell of a lot better than most of the matches that made the list.
Okay. Now that we’ve established that this list is an absolute joke, let’s get to the three Knockout matches that were nominated.
-Sacrifice: Angelina Love vs. Awesome Kong: Knockouts Championship
-Slammiversary: Abyss/Taylor Wilde vs. Raven/Daffney: Monster’s Ball
-Victory Road: Angelina Love vs. Tara: Knockouts Championship
They can’t be serious. Can they?
I honestly think that whichever brain trust put this list together didn’t even bother to watch most of the matches, and instead, put on a blindfold and picked a bunch of random matches out of a hat.
The mixed tag Monster’s Ball I’ll grant you, but no Angelina Love match belongs on this list. Angelina’s Knockouts title reign was, in general, pretty lackluster for the sole reason that she did NOT deliver in the ring. Go back and reread the Month in Review columns because I went over this in detail -- Angelina cut some great promos, but not a single match she put on while she had the belt was worth talking about because she had no chemistry with her series of opponents (Kong, Tara, ODB) and the writers never bothered to put her in feuds with women that she could have strong matches with.
As much as I liked Angelina, there were plenty of Knockout matches in the last year that were far better than anything she produced.
So, in an effort to quell my frustration with this ridiculous list of contenders, I’m going to show you the Best Knockout Matches of 2009 list that SHOULD have been:
-Slammiversary: Abyss/Taylor Wilde vs. Raven/Daffney: Monster’s Ball
TNA Slammiversary 2009 8/18
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TNA Slammiversary 2009 9/18
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-iMPACT: Sarita vs. Alissa Flash
Alissa Flash vs Sarita (Impact 07.16.09)
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-iMPACT: Daffney vs. Hamada
-Turning Point: Tara vs. Awesome Kong: 6 Sides of Steel
Tara vs Awesome Kong (Turning Point 2009) TNA
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-iMPACT: Hamada vs. Taylor Wilde
Hamada vs Taylor Wilde (19-Nov-2009) TNA Impact
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-iMPACT: Hamada vs. Sarita
Hamada vs Sarita (03-Dec-2009) TNA Impact
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IMO, these were the best Knockout matches of 2009. Unsurprisingly, they all involved women that I’ve said TNA should be building the division around.
But I’m actually being a bit generous here. In the interest of avoiding the same thing I just criticized TNA for, let’s narrow down the list a bit further.
Hamada vs. Sarita -- these are the two best workers the Knockout roster has to offer. By all rights, this should have and WOULD have been the match of the year if the bookers had given them more than 3 minutes and change. This was a fantastic contest and had it been 10 minutes or longer I’m confident that it would have been every bit as good, if not better than Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong from Final Resolution 2007. But as great as the match was, the bottom line is it simply wasn’t long enough to be match of the year.
Hamada vs. Taylor Wilde -- same deal. The women delivered a great match for the short amount of time they were given, but they just weren’t given nearly enough.
Abyss/Taylor Wilde vs. Raven/Daffney: Monster’s Ball -- some people may try to call me out on this one. I don’t care. I’ve always thought this match was overhyped. It was a good match, Taylor and Daffney worked their asses off and, IMO, the most memorable spots definitely came from them. But in the end, that’s all it was -- a collection of big spots rather than a wrestling match. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, but when I think about the best wrestling matches of the year, table spots and thumbtack bumps aren’t the first place my mind goes to. I do appreciate the effort both women put in and I would certainly call this one of the most memorable Knockout matches of the year, just not necessarily one of the best.
That leaves us with three candidates:
Sarita vs. Alissa Flash -- several weeks of video packages heralding the arrival of Sarita led to her living up to the hype as she and the repackaged Melissa Anderson had the best Knockout match of the year up to the point. Though it wasn’t the longest match ever, it was longer than most iMPACT matches these days and long enough to make it eligible
Daffney vs. Hamada -- unlike Sarita, Hamada had the misfortune of debuting with zero hype. But that didn’t stop her from easily getting the crowd into her match and it didn’t stop her and Daffney from blowing the roof off the iMPACT Zone either, and luckily they were actually given the time to do it.
Tara vs. Awesome Kong: 6 Sides of Steel -- I’m including this match for three reasons. 1) It had months and months of build up, more than any other Knockout match in the history of the division. 2) It was a cage match, a rarity for the Knockouts. 3) It had a great finish. There were a few problems, however. It was too damn short, for one. It was actually longer than the other two matches in the top three, but those matches had little to no hype, whereas this was most heavily hyped Knockout match in TNA history.
After all the build up this match had, roughly 8 minutes was not nearly enough time, especially since it was in the 6 Sides of Steel. The writers apparently forgot that one of the reasons why Kong’s matches with Gail Kim were so highly regarded is that most of them were given well over 10 minutes so the women had the time they needed to tell a great story. A few more minutes would have helped this match enormously as it was just starting to get really good when they had to go to the finish. Granted, it was a really cool finish with Tara diving off the top of the cage, but it just came too soon. Tara & Kong hadn’t built up enough anticipation before they went for the payoff at the end. A few more high impact moves and a few more near falls would’ve made a world of difference.
This needed to be a tremendous match to live up to all the hype. Instead, it was a pretty good match elevated by a great finish. Not bad by any means, and Tara & Kong delivered what they could, but they were screwed over by the bookers in the amount of time they had to work, which made the match somewhat anticlimactic considering all the hype surrounding it.
For these reasons, I feel the Tara vs. Awesome Kong 6 Sides of Steel match is not the best Knockout match of the year. I think it COULD have been, but again, the time issue is an important factor. If wrestling matches were always given the correct amount of time then the final two on this list would probably be Tara vs. Kong and Sarita vs. Hamada. Unfortunately, that is not the case. This is TNA and properly timing matches is a constant and very frustrating problem in this company.
Having said all that, by now we have narrowed to field down to two. It’s a photo finish, and frankly, I could go either way on this one, but since I have to choose one, I will.
Feel free to disagree with me on this, but I am naming Sarita vs. Alissa Flash the best Knockout match of 2009. I think Hamada vs. Daffney was equally good, but ultimately it felt random and thrown together because of Hamada debuting with no hype or advance notice.
By comparison, Sarita was given several weeks of hype videos to build anticipation for her arrival, so when she finally debuted and faced Alissa Flash in a great match it meant more than Hamada just showing up from out of nowhere to wrestle Daffney, even though the match they put on was just as good.
So even though this is only the opinion of one internet writer and not official in any way, I’d just like to say congratulations to Sarita & Alissa. And here’s hoping TNA management will actually let you work a match that lasts for over 10 minutes in the new year.
December 14, 2009
the Month In Review 10/22/09-Turning Point
10/22/09 iMPACT
RAISHA SAEED BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-Saeed says she knows Kong so well that she knows what Kong is going to do before Kong does. This is eerily similar to something I wrote in a previous column (KNOCKED OUT: Booking Sarah Stock).
AWESOME KONG BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-Those who have heard her cut promos outside of TNA know that Kong is actually really good on the mic. I never understood why the writers didn’t let her talk until recently. Sure, not talking added to her mystique, but it also hindered her character development. As long as they keep her promos short and sweet like this you get the same effect without needing the pointless Raisha Saeed character.
MEANEST GIRLS: BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE, SARITA & TAYLOR WILDE BACKSTAGE SEGMENT
-Wow, that was incredibly stupid. TBP start a food fight with Sarita & Taylor and then lay them out. I mean, really, what was the point? TBP were beaten easily by the babyfaces on two PPVs in a row. It’s not as if they have any argument whatsoever for deserving a third title shot any time soon. The best thing you could say about this segment was that it was short.
RAISHA SAEED vs. AWESOME KONG
-I hate to sound like a broken record, but this really needed to be a lot longer. This was a break up angle the writers spent months building up for characters that have been partners for two years. To only give this thing three minutes and change was absolutely ridiculous. This match should’ve been three times as long at least.
-They did manage to tell a story with Saeed having all of Kong’s moves scouted, but again, it would’ve been so much more effective if the match had been given more time.
-For some reason, this was the most mobile (for lack of a better word) that Melissa Anderson has ever seemed to me as the Saeed character. Maybe she was excited to finally be getting rid of the Muslim gimmick. I know I would’ve been if I were in her shoes.
-Really cool bump through the stage after the match; you never see the WWE Divas taking bumps like that. They air footage of Saeed being stretchered out of the building after the commercial break. Hopefully, the next time we see her she’ll be beating the hell out of Kong with one hand and tearing off the burqa with the other… unless this was just them phasing out the Saeed character for her to never be seen or heard from again, in which case it will have been an unbelievable waste of a fantastic potential feud.
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10/29/09 iMPACT
AWESOME KONG TEARS APART BOOKER T’S OLD DRESSING ROOM
-That’s one terrifying woman, not to mention one big FU to the departing Booker T.
“FUTURE LEGEND” ALISSA FLASH vs. TARA. AWESOME KONG ATTACKS POST-MATCH
-Solid match that wasn’t overly short like iMPACT matches usually are. Tara kind of botched her finisher a little bit, but it was a good effort from both women.
-There were dueling “Let’s go, Tara!” and “Future legend!” chants during the match. Alissa has been able to get over better than a lot of the other women on the roster despite always being booked to lose. When the hell are they going to get a clue and start pushing this woman?
-Alissa didn’t even get her entrance shown this week. Instead they were airing footage of the Hulk Hogan media conference. I was completely against TNA signing Hogan in the first place and stuff like this is certainly not going to change that.
-Just like they did during her match with Hamada, the announcers emphasized how much a win here would do for Alissa in terms of future title shots. I wonder if they could be going somewhere with this, but I’m not very optimistic at this point.
-Speaking of Alissa’s match with Hamada, what happened to that feud?
-What in the world does Alissa have to do to get a push? Velvet freakin’ Sky can get a push, but Alissa can’t? What manner of horse crap is this?
-Judging from the post-match attack, it looks like we’re in for another run with Awesome Kong as the top heel. I have mixed feelings about that, to be honest. Not that Kong isn’t great in that spot, but the problem is we’ve seen it before. Kong as the dominant top heel got old during her second title reign. The top heel spot really should’ve gone to Alissa. Kong would be much more valuable in the tag team division right now; plus, it would be something new for her.
THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE vs. ODB ©, HAMADA & CHRISTY HEMME. KONG & TARA FIGHT POST-MATCH
-If you put the other five women in this match together, they still wouldn’t be half as good as Hamada is. This can’t be all they have planned for Hamada. Losing a 6-woman tag match to TBP when a blind person can see that she could outwrestle all three of them by herself? Playing the babyface-in-peril role? Having Christy Hemme on her team? Are you kidding me? Are they actually TRYING to waste Hamada’s talent? She should be blowing the roof off the place with Kong, Alissa, Sarita and Taylor, not wasting her time with losers like this.
-Lacey did exactly two moves in this match and they both looked awful. I don’t think she could’ve botched that chokeslam more if she’d tried. Seriously, why is this woman on television? She needs to go back to wrestling school in the worst way.
-Why are Velvet, Madison & Lacey STILL being pushed? TNA has several of the best women wrestlers in the world on their roster and THESE are the women who get pushed?! This is intolerable!
-Hamada was calmly kneeling on the ring apron just a few feet away as Christy was getting pinned and yet never tried to break it up. What gives?
-It looks like we’re finally going to get that Tara vs. Kong singles match at Turning Point. It should’ve happened at Bound for Glory, but better late than never.
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11/05/09 iMPACT
MEANEST GIRLS: THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE ATTACK ODB IN THE MAKEUP ROOM
-Dear God… this was even worse than the first Meanest Girls segment a few weeks ago. I didn’t even think that was possible, but they proved me wrong, and something tells me there’s worse to come.
-Why on earth is this push of TBP still not over? Can anyone answer me that? Is it really that hard to make a new tag team for Sarita & Taylor to feud with?
TARA vs. HAMADA
-That’s it? They just throw away Tara vs. Hamada like this? They gave this thing less than three minutes! Are you ###ing kidding me?! Why even do it at all? This should’ve been treated like a big marquee match between two of the top female competitors in not just the company, but the entire industry, and they presented it like it meant less than nothing. What an unbelievable waste.
-I can’t believe they didn’t save this match for PPV. I can’t believe they just crapped all over Hamada like this. This woman was on their list of candidates to be their new top Knockout babyface, for God’s sake. If they wanted Tara to squash some loser before Kong showed up, that’s what they have Sojourner Bolt for. Someone as talented as Hamada should be exempt from garbage like this.
-Why did TNA even sign Hamada in the first place if they obviously have no idea what to do with her?
-Tenay mentions that Tara vs. Kong at Turning Point will be in the 6 Sides of Steel. Um… what? When was that even announced? Not that it doesn’t sound cool and all, but we just had a 6 sides of steel match on iMPACT a few weeks ago. Why the hell would they give us a cage match for free barely a month before they want us to pay to see one on PPV? Mankind has not yet invented a system to properly gauge how counterproductive this booking is.
TARA BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-Good, short interview, but was there something wrong with these women having a regular singles match BEFORE having a cage match. If this feud escalates so damn quickly it’s not going to have any legs and they’ll have nowhere left to go two months from now.
MADISON RAYNE vs. TAYLOR WILDE. LACEY VON ERICH & VELVET SKY INTERFERE. SARITA & ODB MAKE THE SAVE
-They must have cut out the part of that talent meeting that started the show where Dixie Carter issued the mandate that no wrestling match on iMPACT can last longer than the length of a piss break. The match was fine for the few seconds it lasted, but how the hell are matches this short going to sell PPVs? They’re not, and that’s the whole problem.
-Lacey came out brandishing a pink night stick labeled “ugly stick”. I bet they’ll have that on ShopTNA.com pretty soon. You know, if the writers put even half as much energy into marketing the rest of the women on the roster as they put into marketing TBP, the Knockout division would not be in the troubled state that it’s in right now.
-Now they’re saying that all three women’s championships are going to be on the line in a 6-woman tag match at Turning Point. If it wasn’t obvious that the babyfaces are going to win that match before, it is now. I’m sorry, but I just can’t suspend my disbelief far enough to think that Lacey ‘Rhaka Blonde’ Von Erich is going to walk out of that PPV as the Knockouts champion. If it was a non-title match then at least you’d think there was a chance the heels could take that one, but now there’s no chance at all and everyone knows it.
DR. STEVIE & DAFFNEY BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-Daffney actually got to talk this week, but otherwise it was business as usual. Daffney stands next to Stevie Richards and that’s it.
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11/12/09 iMPACT
DR. STEVIE (w/ DAFFNEY) vs. ABYSS. RAVEN RETURNS POST-MATCH
-Another small yet pointless role for Daffney. Not much else to say than that.
-I’m not sure what kind of youth movement involves bringing back Raven again for the sole purpose of prolonging The Feud That Would Not Die, thus providing Stevie Richards with a reason to still be on television.
DR. STEVIE, RAVEN & DAFFNEY BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-Lather, rinse, repeat. Poor Daffney.
“FUTURE LEGEND” ALISSA FLASH vs. TRACI BROOKS
-Holy crap! Alissa finally wins a match! And it’s not even my birthday!
-It was pointed out in the spoilers that this match took place before the taping began. I assumed it would be a webmatch. I’m certainly not complaining, but I do wonder what happened behind the scenes that lead to this match getting on the show. One thing that comes to mind was Dixie Carter asking for the fans’ opinions via her twitter page on who they want to see get pushed. She said she was going to make changes to show based on the feedback she received. I tweeted her, asking her to push (among other people) Alissa Flash. Could this be the start of a push for Alissa based on the fans’ feedback? Damn, I hope so.
-This was a weird segment. Alissa was playing the heel during the match, attacking Traci’s handicapped arm, which Tenay called attention to, and she got a big babyface reaction for it. Then when Traci retaliated after the match, which the announcers were sympathetic about, the crowd booed Traci. Seriously, this was bizarre.
-I think the intention here was to make us feel bad for Traci, and it might have worked if Alissa wasn’t far more over than she is, but that’s not what happened. The end result was Alissa looking like a badass and Traci looking like a sore loser.
-So… is Alissa still a heel or was this a face turn for her? Is Traci still a heel or was she the one turning face? On a show written by Vince Russo it’s not always clear who the good guys and bad guys are. The announcers took Traci’s side, but the crowd was firmly behind Alissa who didn’t technically do anything wrong. Was she supposed to NOT target a weakness her opponent had? I’m confused…
-I liken Alissa to Awesome Kong. She might be a heel, but she’s such a badass that the fans get behind her because they love to see her beat the hell out of people. If only her push matched the response she gets from the fans. They clearly love this woman and the writers have just refused to get behind her so far for reasons I can’t figure out. I can only hope that her win here is a sign that that’s about to change.
-This wasn’t really a match; just a quick squash. But I’m so thrilled that Alissa finally won a damn match that I don’t even care.
THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE & AWESOME KONG vs. TARA, ODB ©, SARITA & TAYLOR WILDE ©
-So Kong isn’t mad at TBP anymore for cutting her hair off a few months ago? Are we just forgetting about that? Kong really doesn’t strike me as the forgive-and-forget type. I’m just saying…
-The first time in three weeks that the production team cuts to a commercial break during a wrestling match and it’s when Lacey Von Erich is in the ring and on the offense. Could there possibly be a clearer message?
-Sarita being made to sell for Lacey makes me want to cry and vomit simultaneously.
-Lacey is awful. Absolutely awful. She doesn’t even belong in the same ring as Sarita. I have no idea why this woman is getting such a push, but I look forward to Turning Point where, hopefully, she will be exposed as the horrible worker she is and this push of TBP will finally come to an end.
-Did we really need to see TBP on the offense for that much of the match? Really? When you have Sarita, Taylor & Tara on the other team what is the point of having Velvet and Lacey carrying so much of the action? When management books a match like that it’s like that actually WANT it to suck. I don’t get it.
-I’m just dreading this 6-woman tag match at the PPV right now. With Lacey on live TV they’re not going to be able to edit out her botches in post-production, which means we’re in for one UGLY match. Madison should do fine and the babyfaces are good enough to carry Velvet, but I can only hope that the bookers will be smart enough to limit Lacey’s involvement to doing absolutely nothing except tagging in and getting pinned. Of course, even if that happens, Lacey would probably still find a way to botch something.
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11/15/09 Turning Point
-Earlier this week, TNA management finally came to their senses and released Sojourner ‘don’t call me SomeJobber’ Bolt. Wow… first Alissa wins her match on iMPACT and now this; this has been the best week ever! Seriously, the only surprising thing about this is that it actually took them this long to figure out what a waste of money Bolt was. She’s been stinking up the ring in TNA for over a year. Why did they wait so long to get rid of her? If even Awesome Kong and Taylor Wilde couldn’t carry her to watchable matches then what was the point of keeping her around, even as a token jobber? Why keep her on the roster when she wasn’t over in the slightest, couldn’t wrestle to save her life and wasn’t even particularly good looking? Beats me.
-So long, Bolt. I’ll miss making fun of your stupid name. Otherwise, I’m not going to lose any sleep over this. No offense.
-With Bolt gone, it frees up some space on the roster and Sara Del Rey’s chances of getting a contract offer just got a little better. Sara had her match at the TNA house show in Wayne, NJ this Friday and Dixie Carter was complimentary about it on her twitter page. I’ve got my fingers crossed…
-If you want Ms. Carter to sign Sara, then tweet her at www.twitter.com/TNADixie and let her know like I did.
ALL TITLES ON THE LINE: THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE vs. ODB ©, SARITA & TAYLOR WILDE ©
-Just before the match started the announcers pointed out that it’s not ALL the titles at stake, but actually the singles title OR the tag team titles, depending on who gets pinned. Why they didn’t bother to explain that before tonight I have no idea, but this new wrinkle made me very nervous that the tag titles might actually change hands here.
-There was a fan in the front row with a sign that read “Lacey Von Botch”. That sounds right to me. Taz actually acknowledged the sign, which was pretty funny.
-Hey, TNA management, I have a question for you. When the fans chant “You can’t wrestle!” at Lacey, don’t you think that’s a sign that you should keep her out of the ring, or at the very least, NOT give her title shots?
-The match was better than I thought it would be, at least when Madison Rayne was carrying the action for the heels. Not surprising, since Madison is the only one of TBP that can wrestle worth a crap. She had a nice little sequence with Sarita early on. Sure, the offense was all Sarita, but Madison did her part too. She also showed a lot of personality here. Madison has definitely grown as a performer since she’s been in TNA. It’s too bad the writers don’t make better use of her, but then you can say that about a lot of people on the roster right now.
-The right team won and the right woman got the pin, but why Lacey wasn’t booked to take the pin for the heels makes no sense. Get a freaking clue, TNA writers. This woman is worthless!
-That makes three title shots, three unimpressive performances and three losses in a row for TBP. This feud HAS to be over now. I don’t care how the writers try to rationalize it -- there is absolutely no way TBP getting a fourth title shot after this would make any sense whatsoever, and if there’s a God, they won’t. It’s high time to bring on some new challengers -- REAL challengers this time -- for the tag titles.
-I think it’s safe to say that the Lacey Von Erich experiment has been a failure, and that’s putting it lightly. She’s just embarrassing herself out there. Get this woman off my TV.
-I’m going to say this one final time: TNA, if you can’t get Angelina Love back, then break up TBP, or at the very least, deemphasize them, because they are nothing without her.
6 SIDES OF STEEL CAGE MATCH: TARA vs. AWESOME KONG
-Strong cage match with some nice high impact moves. I really liked the powerbomb spot. It wasn’t everything I was hoping for, not through any fault of the wrestlers, but because they teased this feud for ages and almost anything less than sheer brilliance would’ve been a let down after all that build up. But I won’t take away anything from the match, which was very good, although it could have been great if not for one nagging problem…
-After all the months of build up, couldn’t they have given this match more time? This really deserved more than ten minutes, but it only got around eight and that simply wasn’t enough. It just ended up feeling like they went for the big finish way too soon.
-I couldn’t believe that missile dropkick from Kong. People always make a big deal out of her size and power, but she’s deceptively agile and it’s easy to forget that. Then when she breaks out a move like that it’s a jaw-dropping moment every time, just like that summersault splash off the top turnbuckle she did at Lockdown earlier this year.
-Great effort from Tara in this match. I didn’t think she was going to dive off the top of the cage. Not to sound sexist or anything, but you just don’t normally expect women to do stuff like that, which makes it that much more impressive when they do.
-Tara going over here gave this a “blow off” match vibe. They definitely sold it like it was. I guess they’re taking the opposite approach to this feud as they have with SariTaylor vs. TBP. Looks like this was one-and-done, whereas the tag title feud is one match after another after another. I don’t know if I agree with that, but it did give this match a special feel.
-The announcers imply that Tara knocked Kong off her perch as the top Knockout in the company tonight. I don’t know what this means for Kong, but it might be a good idea if the writers scaled her back and focused on some of the other girls for a little while. It’s nothing against Kong, but she doesn’t have to be on top of the division all the time. I’d like to see them do something different with her. Even the most charismatic star can become stale if they’re constantly doing the same old thing.
-Post-match, Tara says she’s going after ODB’s title. I’d say she deserves the belt after that match. Plus, this finally gives ODB a program of her own so she doesn’t have to piggyback on other people’s feuds. It’s about time.
RAISHA SAEED BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-Saeed says she knows Kong so well that she knows what Kong is going to do before Kong does. This is eerily similar to something I wrote in a previous column (KNOCKED OUT: Booking Sarah Stock).
AWESOME KONG BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-Those who have heard her cut promos outside of TNA know that Kong is actually really good on the mic. I never understood why the writers didn’t let her talk until recently. Sure, not talking added to her mystique, but it also hindered her character development. As long as they keep her promos short and sweet like this you get the same effect without needing the pointless Raisha Saeed character.
MEANEST GIRLS: BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE, SARITA & TAYLOR WILDE BACKSTAGE SEGMENT
-Wow, that was incredibly stupid. TBP start a food fight with Sarita & Taylor and then lay them out. I mean, really, what was the point? TBP were beaten easily by the babyfaces on two PPVs in a row. It’s not as if they have any argument whatsoever for deserving a third title shot any time soon. The best thing you could say about this segment was that it was short.
RAISHA SAEED vs. AWESOME KONG
-I hate to sound like a broken record, but this really needed to be a lot longer. This was a break up angle the writers spent months building up for characters that have been partners for two years. To only give this thing three minutes and change was absolutely ridiculous. This match should’ve been three times as long at least.
-They did manage to tell a story with Saeed having all of Kong’s moves scouted, but again, it would’ve been so much more effective if the match had been given more time.
-For some reason, this was the most mobile (for lack of a better word) that Melissa Anderson has ever seemed to me as the Saeed character. Maybe she was excited to finally be getting rid of the Muslim gimmick. I know I would’ve been if I were in her shoes.
-Really cool bump through the stage after the match; you never see the WWE Divas taking bumps like that. They air footage of Saeed being stretchered out of the building after the commercial break. Hopefully, the next time we see her she’ll be beating the hell out of Kong with one hand and tearing off the burqa with the other… unless this was just them phasing out the Saeed character for her to never be seen or heard from again, in which case it will have been an unbelievable waste of a fantastic potential feud.
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10/29/09 iMPACT
AWESOME KONG TEARS APART BOOKER T’S OLD DRESSING ROOM
-That’s one terrifying woman, not to mention one big FU to the departing Booker T.
“FUTURE LEGEND” ALISSA FLASH vs. TARA. AWESOME KONG ATTACKS POST-MATCH
-Solid match that wasn’t overly short like iMPACT matches usually are. Tara kind of botched her finisher a little bit, but it was a good effort from both women.
-There were dueling “Let’s go, Tara!” and “Future legend!” chants during the match. Alissa has been able to get over better than a lot of the other women on the roster despite always being booked to lose. When the hell are they going to get a clue and start pushing this woman?
-Alissa didn’t even get her entrance shown this week. Instead they were airing footage of the Hulk Hogan media conference. I was completely against TNA signing Hogan in the first place and stuff like this is certainly not going to change that.
-Just like they did during her match with Hamada, the announcers emphasized how much a win here would do for Alissa in terms of future title shots. I wonder if they could be going somewhere with this, but I’m not very optimistic at this point.
-Speaking of Alissa’s match with Hamada, what happened to that feud?
-What in the world does Alissa have to do to get a push? Velvet freakin’ Sky can get a push, but Alissa can’t? What manner of horse crap is this?
-Judging from the post-match attack, it looks like we’re in for another run with Awesome Kong as the top heel. I have mixed feelings about that, to be honest. Not that Kong isn’t great in that spot, but the problem is we’ve seen it before. Kong as the dominant top heel got old during her second title reign. The top heel spot really should’ve gone to Alissa. Kong would be much more valuable in the tag team division right now; plus, it would be something new for her.
THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE vs. ODB ©, HAMADA & CHRISTY HEMME. KONG & TARA FIGHT POST-MATCH
-If you put the other five women in this match together, they still wouldn’t be half as good as Hamada is. This can’t be all they have planned for Hamada. Losing a 6-woman tag match to TBP when a blind person can see that she could outwrestle all three of them by herself? Playing the babyface-in-peril role? Having Christy Hemme on her team? Are you kidding me? Are they actually TRYING to waste Hamada’s talent? She should be blowing the roof off the place with Kong, Alissa, Sarita and Taylor, not wasting her time with losers like this.
-Lacey did exactly two moves in this match and they both looked awful. I don’t think she could’ve botched that chokeslam more if she’d tried. Seriously, why is this woman on television? She needs to go back to wrestling school in the worst way.
-Why are Velvet, Madison & Lacey STILL being pushed? TNA has several of the best women wrestlers in the world on their roster and THESE are the women who get pushed?! This is intolerable!
-Hamada was calmly kneeling on the ring apron just a few feet away as Christy was getting pinned and yet never tried to break it up. What gives?
-It looks like we’re finally going to get that Tara vs. Kong singles match at Turning Point. It should’ve happened at Bound for Glory, but better late than never.
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11/05/09 iMPACT
MEANEST GIRLS: THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE ATTACK ODB IN THE MAKEUP ROOM
-Dear God… this was even worse than the first Meanest Girls segment a few weeks ago. I didn’t even think that was possible, but they proved me wrong, and something tells me there’s worse to come.
-Why on earth is this push of TBP still not over? Can anyone answer me that? Is it really that hard to make a new tag team for Sarita & Taylor to feud with?
TARA vs. HAMADA
-That’s it? They just throw away Tara vs. Hamada like this? They gave this thing less than three minutes! Are you ###ing kidding me?! Why even do it at all? This should’ve been treated like a big marquee match between two of the top female competitors in not just the company, but the entire industry, and they presented it like it meant less than nothing. What an unbelievable waste.
-I can’t believe they didn’t save this match for PPV. I can’t believe they just crapped all over Hamada like this. This woman was on their list of candidates to be their new top Knockout babyface, for God’s sake. If they wanted Tara to squash some loser before Kong showed up, that’s what they have Sojourner Bolt for. Someone as talented as Hamada should be exempt from garbage like this.
-Why did TNA even sign Hamada in the first place if they obviously have no idea what to do with her?
-Tenay mentions that Tara vs. Kong at Turning Point will be in the 6 Sides of Steel. Um… what? When was that even announced? Not that it doesn’t sound cool and all, but we just had a 6 sides of steel match on iMPACT a few weeks ago. Why the hell would they give us a cage match for free barely a month before they want us to pay to see one on PPV? Mankind has not yet invented a system to properly gauge how counterproductive this booking is.
TARA BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-Good, short interview, but was there something wrong with these women having a regular singles match BEFORE having a cage match. If this feud escalates so damn quickly it’s not going to have any legs and they’ll have nowhere left to go two months from now.
MADISON RAYNE vs. TAYLOR WILDE. LACEY VON ERICH & VELVET SKY INTERFERE. SARITA & ODB MAKE THE SAVE
-They must have cut out the part of that talent meeting that started the show where Dixie Carter issued the mandate that no wrestling match on iMPACT can last longer than the length of a piss break. The match was fine for the few seconds it lasted, but how the hell are matches this short going to sell PPVs? They’re not, and that’s the whole problem.
-Lacey came out brandishing a pink night stick labeled “ugly stick”. I bet they’ll have that on ShopTNA.com pretty soon. You know, if the writers put even half as much energy into marketing the rest of the women on the roster as they put into marketing TBP, the Knockout division would not be in the troubled state that it’s in right now.
-Now they’re saying that all three women’s championships are going to be on the line in a 6-woman tag match at Turning Point. If it wasn’t obvious that the babyfaces are going to win that match before, it is now. I’m sorry, but I just can’t suspend my disbelief far enough to think that Lacey ‘Rhaka Blonde’ Von Erich is going to walk out of that PPV as the Knockouts champion. If it was a non-title match then at least you’d think there was a chance the heels could take that one, but now there’s no chance at all and everyone knows it.
DR. STEVIE & DAFFNEY BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-Daffney actually got to talk this week, but otherwise it was business as usual. Daffney stands next to Stevie Richards and that’s it.
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11/12/09 iMPACT
DR. STEVIE (w/ DAFFNEY) vs. ABYSS. RAVEN RETURNS POST-MATCH
-Another small yet pointless role for Daffney. Not much else to say than that.
-I’m not sure what kind of youth movement involves bringing back Raven again for the sole purpose of prolonging The Feud That Would Not Die, thus providing Stevie Richards with a reason to still be on television.
DR. STEVIE, RAVEN & DAFFNEY BACKSTAGE INTERVIEW
-Lather, rinse, repeat. Poor Daffney.
“FUTURE LEGEND” ALISSA FLASH vs. TRACI BROOKS
-Holy crap! Alissa finally wins a match! And it’s not even my birthday!
-It was pointed out in the spoilers that this match took place before the taping began. I assumed it would be a webmatch. I’m certainly not complaining, but I do wonder what happened behind the scenes that lead to this match getting on the show. One thing that comes to mind was Dixie Carter asking for the fans’ opinions via her twitter page on who they want to see get pushed. She said she was going to make changes to show based on the feedback she received. I tweeted her, asking her to push (among other people) Alissa Flash. Could this be the start of a push for Alissa based on the fans’ feedback? Damn, I hope so.
-This was a weird segment. Alissa was playing the heel during the match, attacking Traci’s handicapped arm, which Tenay called attention to, and she got a big babyface reaction for it. Then when Traci retaliated after the match, which the announcers were sympathetic about, the crowd booed Traci. Seriously, this was bizarre.
-I think the intention here was to make us feel bad for Traci, and it might have worked if Alissa wasn’t far more over than she is, but that’s not what happened. The end result was Alissa looking like a badass and Traci looking like a sore loser.
-So… is Alissa still a heel or was this a face turn for her? Is Traci still a heel or was she the one turning face? On a show written by Vince Russo it’s not always clear who the good guys and bad guys are. The announcers took Traci’s side, but the crowd was firmly behind Alissa who didn’t technically do anything wrong. Was she supposed to NOT target a weakness her opponent had? I’m confused…
-I liken Alissa to Awesome Kong. She might be a heel, but she’s such a badass that the fans get behind her because they love to see her beat the hell out of people. If only her push matched the response she gets from the fans. They clearly love this woman and the writers have just refused to get behind her so far for reasons I can’t figure out. I can only hope that her win here is a sign that that’s about to change.
-This wasn’t really a match; just a quick squash. But I’m so thrilled that Alissa finally won a damn match that I don’t even care.
THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE & AWESOME KONG vs. TARA, ODB ©, SARITA & TAYLOR WILDE ©
-So Kong isn’t mad at TBP anymore for cutting her hair off a few months ago? Are we just forgetting about that? Kong really doesn’t strike me as the forgive-and-forget type. I’m just saying…
-The first time in three weeks that the production team cuts to a commercial break during a wrestling match and it’s when Lacey Von Erich is in the ring and on the offense. Could there possibly be a clearer message?
-Sarita being made to sell for Lacey makes me want to cry and vomit simultaneously.
-Lacey is awful. Absolutely awful. She doesn’t even belong in the same ring as Sarita. I have no idea why this woman is getting such a push, but I look forward to Turning Point where, hopefully, she will be exposed as the horrible worker she is and this push of TBP will finally come to an end.
-Did we really need to see TBP on the offense for that much of the match? Really? When you have Sarita, Taylor & Tara on the other team what is the point of having Velvet and Lacey carrying so much of the action? When management books a match like that it’s like that actually WANT it to suck. I don’t get it.
-I’m just dreading this 6-woman tag match at the PPV right now. With Lacey on live TV they’re not going to be able to edit out her botches in post-production, which means we’re in for one UGLY match. Madison should do fine and the babyfaces are good enough to carry Velvet, but I can only hope that the bookers will be smart enough to limit Lacey’s involvement to doing absolutely nothing except tagging in and getting pinned. Of course, even if that happens, Lacey would probably still find a way to botch something.
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11/15/09 Turning Point
-Earlier this week, TNA management finally came to their senses and released Sojourner ‘don’t call me SomeJobber’ Bolt. Wow… first Alissa wins her match on iMPACT and now this; this has been the best week ever! Seriously, the only surprising thing about this is that it actually took them this long to figure out what a waste of money Bolt was. She’s been stinking up the ring in TNA for over a year. Why did they wait so long to get rid of her? If even Awesome Kong and Taylor Wilde couldn’t carry her to watchable matches then what was the point of keeping her around, even as a token jobber? Why keep her on the roster when she wasn’t over in the slightest, couldn’t wrestle to save her life and wasn’t even particularly good looking? Beats me.
-So long, Bolt. I’ll miss making fun of your stupid name. Otherwise, I’m not going to lose any sleep over this. No offense.
-With Bolt gone, it frees up some space on the roster and Sara Del Rey’s chances of getting a contract offer just got a little better. Sara had her match at the TNA house show in Wayne, NJ this Friday and Dixie Carter was complimentary about it on her twitter page. I’ve got my fingers crossed…
-If you want Ms. Carter to sign Sara, then tweet her at www.twitter.com/TNADixie and let her know like I did.
ALL TITLES ON THE LINE: THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE vs. ODB ©, SARITA & TAYLOR WILDE ©
-Just before the match started the announcers pointed out that it’s not ALL the titles at stake, but actually the singles title OR the tag team titles, depending on who gets pinned. Why they didn’t bother to explain that before tonight I have no idea, but this new wrinkle made me very nervous that the tag titles might actually change hands here.
-There was a fan in the front row with a sign that read “Lacey Von Botch”. That sounds right to me. Taz actually acknowledged the sign, which was pretty funny.
-Hey, TNA management, I have a question for you. When the fans chant “You can’t wrestle!” at Lacey, don’t you think that’s a sign that you should keep her out of the ring, or at the very least, NOT give her title shots?
-The match was better than I thought it would be, at least when Madison Rayne was carrying the action for the heels. Not surprising, since Madison is the only one of TBP that can wrestle worth a crap. She had a nice little sequence with Sarita early on. Sure, the offense was all Sarita, but Madison did her part too. She also showed a lot of personality here. Madison has definitely grown as a performer since she’s been in TNA. It’s too bad the writers don’t make better use of her, but then you can say that about a lot of people on the roster right now.
-The right team won and the right woman got the pin, but why Lacey wasn’t booked to take the pin for the heels makes no sense. Get a freaking clue, TNA writers. This woman is worthless!
-That makes three title shots, three unimpressive performances and three losses in a row for TBP. This feud HAS to be over now. I don’t care how the writers try to rationalize it -- there is absolutely no way TBP getting a fourth title shot after this would make any sense whatsoever, and if there’s a God, they won’t. It’s high time to bring on some new challengers -- REAL challengers this time -- for the tag titles.
-I think it’s safe to say that the Lacey Von Erich experiment has been a failure, and that’s putting it lightly. She’s just embarrassing herself out there. Get this woman off my TV.
-I’m going to say this one final time: TNA, if you can’t get Angelina Love back, then break up TBP, or at the very least, deemphasize them, because they are nothing without her.
6 SIDES OF STEEL CAGE MATCH: TARA vs. AWESOME KONG
-Strong cage match with some nice high impact moves. I really liked the powerbomb spot. It wasn’t everything I was hoping for, not through any fault of the wrestlers, but because they teased this feud for ages and almost anything less than sheer brilliance would’ve been a let down after all that build up. But I won’t take away anything from the match, which was very good, although it could have been great if not for one nagging problem…
-After all the months of build up, couldn’t they have given this match more time? This really deserved more than ten minutes, but it only got around eight and that simply wasn’t enough. It just ended up feeling like they went for the big finish way too soon.
-I couldn’t believe that missile dropkick from Kong. People always make a big deal out of her size and power, but she’s deceptively agile and it’s easy to forget that. Then when she breaks out a move like that it’s a jaw-dropping moment every time, just like that summersault splash off the top turnbuckle she did at Lockdown earlier this year.
-Great effort from Tara in this match. I didn’t think she was going to dive off the top of the cage. Not to sound sexist or anything, but you just don’t normally expect women to do stuff like that, which makes it that much more impressive when they do.
-Tara going over here gave this a “blow off” match vibe. They definitely sold it like it was. I guess they’re taking the opposite approach to this feud as they have with SariTaylor vs. TBP. Looks like this was one-and-done, whereas the tag title feud is one match after another after another. I don’t know if I agree with that, but it did give this match a special feel.
-The announcers imply that Tara knocked Kong off her perch as the top Knockout in the company tonight. I don’t know what this means for Kong, but it might be a good idea if the writers scaled her back and focused on some of the other girls for a little while. It’s nothing against Kong, but she doesn’t have to be on top of the division all the time. I’d like to see them do something different with her. Even the most charismatic star can become stale if they’re constantly doing the same old thing.
-Post-match, Tara says she’s going after ODB’s title. I’d say she deserves the belt after that match. Plus, this finally gives ODB a program of her own so she doesn’t have to piggyback on other people’s feuds. It’s about time.
December 13, 2009
QCWradio episode 58
Episode 58 is now available for download.
This week's topics include:
-WWE TLC preview.
-TNA's 'New Year's Knockout Eve' show.
-we discuss our favorite mark out moments.
-roundtable discussion: who will be the new stars to take the X-division back to its glory days.
-also, the week in wrestling, mail bag, promo of the week and much, much more.
This week's topics include:
-WWE TLC preview.
-TNA's 'New Year's Knockout Eve' show.
-we discuss our favorite mark out moments.
-roundtable discussion: who will be the new stars to take the X-division back to its glory days.
-also, the week in wrestling, mail bag, promo of the week and much, much more.
December 12, 2009
December 06, 2009
TNA Insider Spin Cycle
Recently, Talon Thorne, one of the founders of TNAinsider.com, invited me to participate in the first ever 'Insider Spin Cycle'. Check it out!
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1. In your opinion, how would 2009 in TNA rate up there against past years?
(Talon) This was a tale of two halves for TNA. The first half of the year was a mix between solid and horrific programming from TNA. Up until the changing of the guard, we saw a lack of consistency with programming. There was definitely some strong programming, but it was overshadowed by the same old crap.
Following Victory Road, things got much better. The product was the same but the main players were different. Because guys like AJ Styles, Daniels and younger studs were featured more, the match quality went up and so did the quality of the show. Victory Road was horrible, Hard Justice was a vast improvement, No Surrender was very good, BFG was better, and Turning Point was definitely PPV of the year. Quite a good way to top off the year for TNA!
How it would rank against other years is the important aspect. My favorite year in TNA was 2006, and still is. However this year either fell a little short or matched that year. Unfortunately, the lack of consistency early on in 2009 hurt it. But it was a vastly better year than last year.
(FK9) The first half of 2009 with the M.E.M. dominating every facet of the product was one of the worst periods in TNA history -- possibly even worse than 2008 from a creative standpoint. The second half of 2009, starting when Jeff Jarret & Dutch Mantel were removed, was comparably much better. They deemphasized the old men and started pushing the young talent finally. Right now, they're still in damage control mode, trying to fix all the problems they created for themselves in those first 6 months (and a lot of '08 for that matter), but at least they've finally gotten on the right track.
1st half of '09: Possibly the worst time in company history.
2nd half of '09: Pretty damn good by comparison.
(D-Day aka TNAInsider) I want to steer in the way of saying TNA is going in the right direction. Granted, there are still a number of quite annoying quirks. There's little denying that the entire landscape of TNA has literally changed from top to bottom in just less than 6 months.
(PhenomAJJones) I think TNA took a big step forward in 2009. We got the youngsters headlining main events, we got less people being held down and having an opportunity to shine. It seems like in 2009 the glass ceiling was shattered and we are seeing new blood in the main event scene with Matt Morgan, Daniels and not the same main events we have seen before.
2. What were your top highlights for TNA in 2009?
(FK9) -AJ Styles winning the world heavyweight title.
-Sting finally doing the right thing and passing the torch to AJ at Bound for Glory.
-The signing of great new talents: D'Angelo Dinero, Desmond Wolfe, Sarita, Hamada, etc.
-Jarrett & Mantel being removed from creative.
-The new creative team having the good sense to end the M.E.M. storyline before it did any more harm to the product and the young roster.
-Booker T & Sharmell leaving the company (good riddance).
-Turning Point.
(D-Day aka TNAInsider) That's clearly the youth movement. If there is one thing that TNA has done in such a small amount of time it is that they have sucessfully made a number of lower-tier/midcard talents into what could be household names if TNA continues to expand. This is something that WWE has utterly failed at doing. There are just too many WWE stars who not only wrestle unforgettably, they look the part as well. TNA has a number of guys that simply look the part right now. Even the average non wrestling fan could likely differentiate Hernandez or Beer Money over Kofi Kingston and Legacy. TNA has guys that not only look like wrestlers but wrestlers that look like future stars if their runs continue.
(PhenomAJJones) Elijah Burke aka D'Angelo Dinero coming to TNA. Elijah is a great talent, he can wrestle, he can talk, he has great charisma and it was sad to see him cut from his previous employer but I am glad he is in TNA because he has the ability to put on a great match as we saw with his match against Kurt Angle on Impact. Pope is pimpin' and I am glad he is in TNA.
AJ Styles has been with TNA from day one. Like Burke he has the ability to put on great matches with everyone in the company. AJ works his butt off and it was nice to see his work rewarded with a reign as TNA World Champion. His last reign was over 4 years ago, I think he definitely earned the championship and I hope he keeps it for a long time.
(Talon) There are way too many to count, but to name a few: Don West turning heel, Joe joining the Mafia, Daniels returning, AJ winning the World Title, the Implosion of the Main Event Mafia, Mick Foley interviewing himself, Desmond Wolfe vs Kurt Angle, Dixie Carter’s speech and of course the signing of Hulk Hogan.
3. What were the low points for the company in 2009?
(PhenomAJJones) The whole Jeff Jarrett/Kurt & Karen Angle personal drama being made public. In wrestlng all the action is suppose to be inside the ring and when it spills outside the ring and a person's personal life gets public it takes the focus off the wrestlers, fans, and everyone who loves TNA and turns it into Jerry Springer. My opinion it should have stayed in private and not out in public.
(Talon) Victory Road was a horrible PPV, but I was really down on TNA after Destination X. Thank God TNA delivered a great iMPACT afterwards. One major low point for me was the release of Petey Williams, which I still question to this day.
(FK9) -95% of the young roster being decimated so a group of 50-year-old men could relive their glory days, almost killing the company's future in the process.
-Destination-X & Victory Road. 'Nuff said.
-Anything involving Hulk Hogan.
(D-Day aka TNAInsider) Dixie Carter ignoring her promise some 9 months ago about bringing back the X-division. While there have been some excellent X-division matches, TNA has continued to leave their flagship division behind in both talent, storyline and by burying them with the likes of older, heavyweight talent.
4. Name your top 3 choices for MVP in TNA?
(D-Day aka TNAInsider) - Kurt Angle: No Doubt that Kurt Angle continues to carry the company. He pretty much does this week in and week out. There's not enough I could say about that. While I think Angle will be held in the same high esteem next year, I don't think he would take the top spot.
- AJ Styles: This is a close second. He is without a doubt the face of the youth movement. This is indicative of every other young talent and their grandmothers now going after AJ for the title. AJ is the one who opened the floodgates for the younger guys to come into the main event scene way before the average fan even thought most of these guys would get a chance at the title.
- Suicide: Yes, believe it or not, my pick is Suicide. As much as I dislike the corny masked character, he carried what little X-division diversity we saw. Like him or not, Suicide put on some great matches and was a fighting champion during his reign as X-division title holder. Easily beats Amazing Red in just the sheer amount of matches put out in the year. It's time to give Suicide the legit push he deserves, without the mask!
(Talon) AJ Styles is up there because of his breakout into the world title scene. He won the legends belt earlier in the year, was about to quit, won the world title, ended Sting’s BFG streak, and has had multiple MOTY contenders (Turning Point and with Kurt Angle).
Kurt Angle is another since he has had numerous good to great matches, had great promos, elevated Matt Morgan, AJ Styles, Robert Roode and countless others.
The dark horse for me would be Dixie Carter. Many fans were down on the constant pushing of the same old talent until Dixie Carter decided enough was enough and it was time for a change, and change she did. She removed Jeff Jarrett and his friends, allowed Vince Russo to take the creative reigns, brought back Scott D’Amore, signed a new deal with Spike TV and signed Hulk Hogan to a deal. If there was anyone in a non-wrestling role who deserves the honors, it would be her.
(FK9) -Kurt Angle -- before Joe joined the group, Angle was the only person worth watching in the M.E.M. He battled through injuries, had several MOTY contenders, came off like a superstar on Global iMPACT 2, argued on behalf of the young talent backstage, made Matt Morgan's career at BFG. Need I go on?
-AJ Styles -- the figurehead of TNA's long overdue youth movement. When a guy like Sting passes the torch to you, that means something. He doesn't get the attention in the storylines that Angle does, but he's no less important.
-Samoa Joe -- say what you want about Joe joining the Mafia, but that heel turn needed to happen. Ever since then, Joe has been set free. Gone is the whiny babyface used as enhancement talent for Sting, Nash & Steiner. He's been replaced by the cold, sadistic badass that Joe always should have been. He looks poised to reclaim his former glory in 2010 and I can't wait.
(PhenomAJJones) Angle, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe. Kurt Angle has got to be one of, if not the greatest wrestler alive. Kurt is like Michael Jordan, Kurt sick is better than alot of guys who are healthy. Kurt is 40 years old, he wrestles at a high level, his matches in TNA have been great and in 2009 they have stayed at a high level which is why he is a choice for MVP.
AJ Styles. He is easily an MVP candidate because he is the first name you think of when you say "TNA Wrestling". AJ's '09 was crazy with the Frontline, to Joe turning, to quitting, to winning the TNA world championship, the match with Joe and Daniels at Turning point was great and shows that AJ adapts well to any match, to any opponent, and without AJ Styles TNA is in a bad position. He's been with them from day 1 and if he leaves then TNA may die.
Samoa Joe. The old Joe came back. The butt-kicking, take no prisoners Joe from 2004-2006 showed back up and has ignited a fire in him. Joe is a guy that, regardless of his size, wrestlers X-division style and can compete with the heavyweights. Samoa Joe has become a big time player in TNA and lot of 2009 was focused on him, especially with the heel turn at Slammiversary. Samoa Joe is easily one of the greatest pro wrestlers of this decade along with AJ and Kurt, which is why Joe is my choice for TNA MVP.
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The read the second half of the column, click here.
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1. In your opinion, how would 2009 in TNA rate up there against past years?
(Talon) This was a tale of two halves for TNA. The first half of the year was a mix between solid and horrific programming from TNA. Up until the changing of the guard, we saw a lack of consistency with programming. There was definitely some strong programming, but it was overshadowed by the same old crap.
Following Victory Road, things got much better. The product was the same but the main players were different. Because guys like AJ Styles, Daniels and younger studs were featured more, the match quality went up and so did the quality of the show. Victory Road was horrible, Hard Justice was a vast improvement, No Surrender was very good, BFG was better, and Turning Point was definitely PPV of the year. Quite a good way to top off the year for TNA!
How it would rank against other years is the important aspect. My favorite year in TNA was 2006, and still is. However this year either fell a little short or matched that year. Unfortunately, the lack of consistency early on in 2009 hurt it. But it was a vastly better year than last year.
(FK9) The first half of 2009 with the M.E.M. dominating every facet of the product was one of the worst periods in TNA history -- possibly even worse than 2008 from a creative standpoint. The second half of 2009, starting when Jeff Jarret & Dutch Mantel were removed, was comparably much better. They deemphasized the old men and started pushing the young talent finally. Right now, they're still in damage control mode, trying to fix all the problems they created for themselves in those first 6 months (and a lot of '08 for that matter), but at least they've finally gotten on the right track.
1st half of '09: Possibly the worst time in company history.
2nd half of '09: Pretty damn good by comparison.
(D-Day aka TNAInsider) I want to steer in the way of saying TNA is going in the right direction. Granted, there are still a number of quite annoying quirks. There's little denying that the entire landscape of TNA has literally changed from top to bottom in just less than 6 months.
(PhenomAJJones) I think TNA took a big step forward in 2009. We got the youngsters headlining main events, we got less people being held down and having an opportunity to shine. It seems like in 2009 the glass ceiling was shattered and we are seeing new blood in the main event scene with Matt Morgan, Daniels and not the same main events we have seen before.
2. What were your top highlights for TNA in 2009?
(FK9) -AJ Styles winning the world heavyweight title.
-Sting finally doing the right thing and passing the torch to AJ at Bound for Glory.
-The signing of great new talents: D'Angelo Dinero, Desmond Wolfe, Sarita, Hamada, etc.
-Jarrett & Mantel being removed from creative.
-The new creative team having the good sense to end the M.E.M. storyline before it did any more harm to the product and the young roster.
-Booker T & Sharmell leaving the company (good riddance).
-Turning Point.
(D-Day aka TNAInsider) That's clearly the youth movement. If there is one thing that TNA has done in such a small amount of time it is that they have sucessfully made a number of lower-tier/midcard talents into what could be household names if TNA continues to expand. This is something that WWE has utterly failed at doing. There are just too many WWE stars who not only wrestle unforgettably, they look the part as well. TNA has a number of guys that simply look the part right now. Even the average non wrestling fan could likely differentiate Hernandez or Beer Money over Kofi Kingston and Legacy. TNA has guys that not only look like wrestlers but wrestlers that look like future stars if their runs continue.
(PhenomAJJones) Elijah Burke aka D'Angelo Dinero coming to TNA. Elijah is a great talent, he can wrestle, he can talk, he has great charisma and it was sad to see him cut from his previous employer but I am glad he is in TNA because he has the ability to put on a great match as we saw with his match against Kurt Angle on Impact. Pope is pimpin' and I am glad he is in TNA.
AJ Styles has been with TNA from day one. Like Burke he has the ability to put on great matches with everyone in the company. AJ works his butt off and it was nice to see his work rewarded with a reign as TNA World Champion. His last reign was over 4 years ago, I think he definitely earned the championship and I hope he keeps it for a long time.
(Talon) There are way too many to count, but to name a few: Don West turning heel, Joe joining the Mafia, Daniels returning, AJ winning the World Title, the Implosion of the Main Event Mafia, Mick Foley interviewing himself, Desmond Wolfe vs Kurt Angle, Dixie Carter’s speech and of course the signing of Hulk Hogan.
3. What were the low points for the company in 2009?
(PhenomAJJones) The whole Jeff Jarrett/Kurt & Karen Angle personal drama being made public. In wrestlng all the action is suppose to be inside the ring and when it spills outside the ring and a person's personal life gets public it takes the focus off the wrestlers, fans, and everyone who loves TNA and turns it into Jerry Springer. My opinion it should have stayed in private and not out in public.
(Talon) Victory Road was a horrible PPV, but I was really down on TNA after Destination X. Thank God TNA delivered a great iMPACT afterwards. One major low point for me was the release of Petey Williams, which I still question to this day.
(FK9) -95% of the young roster being decimated so a group of 50-year-old men could relive their glory days, almost killing the company's future in the process.
-Destination-X & Victory Road. 'Nuff said.
-Anything involving Hulk Hogan.
(D-Day aka TNAInsider) Dixie Carter ignoring her promise some 9 months ago about bringing back the X-division. While there have been some excellent X-division matches, TNA has continued to leave their flagship division behind in both talent, storyline and by burying them with the likes of older, heavyweight talent.
4. Name your top 3 choices for MVP in TNA?
(D-Day aka TNAInsider) - Kurt Angle: No Doubt that Kurt Angle continues to carry the company. He pretty much does this week in and week out. There's not enough I could say about that. While I think Angle will be held in the same high esteem next year, I don't think he would take the top spot.
- AJ Styles: This is a close second. He is without a doubt the face of the youth movement. This is indicative of every other young talent and their grandmothers now going after AJ for the title. AJ is the one who opened the floodgates for the younger guys to come into the main event scene way before the average fan even thought most of these guys would get a chance at the title.
- Suicide: Yes, believe it or not, my pick is Suicide. As much as I dislike the corny masked character, he carried what little X-division diversity we saw. Like him or not, Suicide put on some great matches and was a fighting champion during his reign as X-division title holder. Easily beats Amazing Red in just the sheer amount of matches put out in the year. It's time to give Suicide the legit push he deserves, without the mask!
(Talon) AJ Styles is up there because of his breakout into the world title scene. He won the legends belt earlier in the year, was about to quit, won the world title, ended Sting’s BFG streak, and has had multiple MOTY contenders (Turning Point and with Kurt Angle).
Kurt Angle is another since he has had numerous good to great matches, had great promos, elevated Matt Morgan, AJ Styles, Robert Roode and countless others.
The dark horse for me would be Dixie Carter. Many fans were down on the constant pushing of the same old talent until Dixie Carter decided enough was enough and it was time for a change, and change she did. She removed Jeff Jarrett and his friends, allowed Vince Russo to take the creative reigns, brought back Scott D’Amore, signed a new deal with Spike TV and signed Hulk Hogan to a deal. If there was anyone in a non-wrestling role who deserves the honors, it would be her.
(FK9) -Kurt Angle -- before Joe joined the group, Angle was the only person worth watching in the M.E.M. He battled through injuries, had several MOTY contenders, came off like a superstar on Global iMPACT 2, argued on behalf of the young talent backstage, made Matt Morgan's career at BFG. Need I go on?
-AJ Styles -- the figurehead of TNA's long overdue youth movement. When a guy like Sting passes the torch to you, that means something. He doesn't get the attention in the storylines that Angle does, but he's no less important.
-Samoa Joe -- say what you want about Joe joining the Mafia, but that heel turn needed to happen. Ever since then, Joe has been set free. Gone is the whiny babyface used as enhancement talent for Sting, Nash & Steiner. He's been replaced by the cold, sadistic badass that Joe always should have been. He looks poised to reclaim his former glory in 2010 and I can't wait.
(PhenomAJJones) Angle, AJ Styles, Samoa Joe. Kurt Angle has got to be one of, if not the greatest wrestler alive. Kurt is like Michael Jordan, Kurt sick is better than alot of guys who are healthy. Kurt is 40 years old, he wrestles at a high level, his matches in TNA have been great and in 2009 they have stayed at a high level which is why he is a choice for MVP.
AJ Styles. He is easily an MVP candidate because he is the first name you think of when you say "TNA Wrestling". AJ's '09 was crazy with the Frontline, to Joe turning, to quitting, to winning the TNA world championship, the match with Joe and Daniels at Turning point was great and shows that AJ adapts well to any match, to any opponent, and without AJ Styles TNA is in a bad position. He's been with them from day 1 and if he leaves then TNA may die.
Samoa Joe. The old Joe came back. The butt-kicking, take no prisoners Joe from 2004-2006 showed back up and has ignited a fire in him. Joe is a guy that, regardless of his size, wrestlers X-division style and can compete with the heavyweights. Samoa Joe has become a big time player in TNA and lot of 2009 was focused on him, especially with the heel turn at Slammiversary. Samoa Joe is easily one of the greatest pro wrestlers of this decade along with AJ and Kurt, which is why Joe is my choice for TNA MVP.
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The read the second half of the column, click here.
QCWradio episode 57
Episode 57 is now available for download.
This week's topics include:
-WWE eliminating the ECW brand in 2010.
-TNA going head-to-head with Raw in a live 3 hour special on Monday night, January 4th.
-what 3 matches would we show to a non-fan to interest them in pro wrestling?
-roundtable discussion: is WWE's youth movement for real or just a big tease?
-also, the week in wrestling, promo of the week and much, much more.
Special guest: Big_D
This week's topics include:
-WWE eliminating the ECW brand in 2010.
-TNA going head-to-head with Raw in a live 3 hour special on Monday night, January 4th.
-what 3 matches would we show to a non-fan to interest them in pro wrestling?
-roundtable discussion: is WWE's youth movement for real or just a big tease?
-also, the week in wrestling, promo of the week and much, much more.
Special guest: Big_D
December 05, 2009
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