The TNA video opened up the show followed by a video recap of the nifty reverse Battle Royal (like a reverse ladder match wasn't bad enough) and the two subsequent stages from the "Fight For The Right" tournament. Why do I feel like that's some kind of voting campaign slogan? Anyway, they hype all that happened ending up with Lance Hoyt and Abyss. I won't even touch the fact that Lance Hoyt lasted all the way to the end of the match when Christian, Rhino, Samoa Joe, and Kurt Angle weren't even in the match. You just have to love Vince Russo. Without someone making such god awful match concepts and booking decisions, how are we to appreciate the good concepts and decisions? Hell, this makes me beg for even mediocre ones from Stamford. Anyway, after that, they showed a quick shot of the pull-apart from Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle. Angle should be nowhere near a wrestling ring, but God damn if their facials don't sell what kind of match the two will have.
After that, Tenay and West pop up on screen to hype up the quarter finals and then inform us of some major developments that happened earlier today. I don't think I got as anxious and giddy waiting for it to pop up as TNA would have hoped. Anyway, they showed us Chris Sabin backstage with his X Division Title as well as Christy Hemme. He's midway through a rant about how old timers wear belts on the shoulder and he thought it was a "belt." It's funny because it's true, right? Anyone? Anyway, he started another rant about how people have doubted his focus and in-ring abilities, especially Jerry Lynn. He then stated that a man's physical peak is at thirty years of age and Lynn is beyond that while Sabin is beneath that. I know what he was trying to get across, but Sabin saying he's beneath his physical peak just didn't come off as impressive to me especially since he's six years away from that peak. He then went on about how the X Division Title proves Jerry Lynn wrong.
Suddenly, AJ Styles popped up and fired at Sabin that he's not just going to sit over there and listen to that crap. He then asked him in true redneck fashion if he had any idea what "Jerry Lynn done for that title." He then told him to have a little respect to which Sabin responds with "eat me, punk." Styles then ran at Sabin and started a fight with Christy screaming and the camera falling to the ground directly followed by a cheesy "one hour later" caption as Styles was then shown with Christy. Styles was apologizing to Christy and then Sabin barged in asking Styles how it felt to have his interview interrupted. He then brandished his title, asked if it's what Styles wants, and then stated he's not going to let him "punk him out" & he's not going to wait for him to challenge him for the title. Sabin then decided that he'd rather wrestle Styles for the belt tonight and put it up for grabs before walking off. All during this little squabble, Christy was just channeling Napoleon Dynamite with the exasperated cries of "God" and sudden jerks of frustration. I can see exactly why TNA just had to have her as their backstage interviewer. Surprisingly, I was actually enjoying Chris Sabin somewhat as he actually showed some personality. I don't think I've seen that from him in TNA since early 2004. After all those hijinxs, the iMPACT! video played and we were greeted again by West & Tenay pumping up some inane pole match between Christian & Rhino that would set up or segue way into their second inane match on the primetime debut. God bless you, Vince Russo. With all that out of the way, it was time to see the product of the little tiff backstage. Yay!
Fight For The Right Quarter-Finals
TNA X Division Championship
Chris Sabin (c) Vs. AJ Styles
Sabin trash talked and pushed Styles from the beginning causing Styles to take him down. The two then rolled out of the ring and had a quick face-off on the outside before jumping back in the ring and locking up. Why they felt the need to hop back inside to lock up is beyond me. Styles then did a modified Fireman's Carry and tried to work over the arm, but Sabin nipped up and gave Styles an arm drag. Some good back and forth from there happened until Styles hit the Jerry Lynn spinning back breaker. Styles then dug his knee right into the back of Sabin for a quick rest. Sabin fought out of it and got a backslide followed by a dropkick to the knee & a kick to the back of Styles for two straight near falls. He then nailed a snapmare into a chinlock. Styles tried to stand out of it, but Sabin slammed him down, stomped him, hit a leg drop, and locked in the chinlock again. Nothing special by this point, but nothing really boring either. Styles got out of the chinlock for good this time and hit two clothesline followed by a spinning kick to take Sabin down for a bit. He then charged at the X Division Champion in the corner, but Sabin lifted him over and out to the apron where Styles bounced off hitting his springboard forearm to a big pop. Styles then motioned for the Styles Clash, but Sabin flipped out of it and hit a nice enziguri to Styles as he geared up for a roaring forearm. Styles ducked it and went for a kick to Sabin which the young punk ducked allowing him to bounce off the ropes with a Tornado DDT onto Styles in the best spot of the match. Sabin then picked him up and started to go after him with some rights before motioning for a roaring clothesline, but Styles ducked it and hit the Pele also to a big pop. No matter how tired they are and how many times they've seen it, Orlando fans will always pop for a trademark move from their golden boy. Styles then recovered in the corner and got Sabin in the Inverted DDT position, but Sabin snapmared him out of it and nailed a straight kick to Styles in the corner. Sabin then went for the Cradleshock, but Styles rolled out of it and into a cradle to pick up the win and the X Division title.
Winner: AJ Styles
Star Wrestler: Chris Sabin
Decent match. I'd give the star wrestler praise to Sabin, though Styles did get a bigger reaction out of the crowd. Actually, scratch that; Styles got a reaction for the same old spots while Sabin got a reaction for somewhat new stuff. Anyway, it was really one of those matches where you could tell it might be something special if they were given about ten more minutes. They were trying to tell the story of each man knowing the other, but with a limited amount of time and it being Vince Russo's company now, of course that didn't play out to well. It had its moments, but overall wasn't anything noteworthy except for the completely moronic title change that basically killed any momentum Sabin had built up after being made to be a joke by Kevin Nash and the Jackass shit. What's sad is that it came at a time when he was finally showing some signs of a personality. Complete & utter bullshit.
From there, Christy Hemme popped up to earn her paycheck and she informed us that we would see Samoa Joe & Kurt Angle's training session later on, but Sting is up next.
Commercial break number one has me pumped to see the training session of Kurt Angle. Seriously, just watching him being able to move his arms at this point is a straight-up miracle.
A video package played when the break ended hyping up the move to primetime on the 16th with mostly shots from Bound For Glory in Detroit. They pumped up the fact that its two hours as well as Angle's in-ring debut & Christian versus Rhino in a barbed-wire steel cage match. I wonder if it will be an actual barbed-wire match or a WWE-style barbed wire match. Well, from the shots they gave us, looks like the latter. Of course, in order to undermine what could be a good ratings draw, they give us Christian versus Rhino tonight in a throwaway match. God bless Vince Russo.
DW & Tenay introduced a video package next with Sting that apparently caught Tenay completely off-guard. I wonder if it caught him as off-guard as the time Juvi came out to the announcing table to sit with him and badly imitate The Rock. Anyway, DW played up the fact that it showed how Sting had a whole new mindset and attitude while Tenay, still visibly shocked, informed us that he never expected to see this side of Sting. From there, we got another typical TNA video package. By typical, I mean a good video, but with a voice-over trying to make it seem completely epic. Seriously, you don't need to make everything in your promotion seem grander than life itself. It's okay if you do it once in a while as a PPV opener, but a random Sting interview? It's a one-hour wrestling show viewed by less than a million people that is hyping up a PPV that will be bought by less than fifty thousand people. It's not the freakin' Odyssey. Yes, pro wrestling is an art form, but this is pushing it by all means and it's sad that I want to blame this on Vince Russo with every cell in my body, but I just can't.
Anyway, the video basically pumped up how Sting is a changed man, something that Jeff Jarrett saw at Bound For Glory. He then stated he thought the same thing about Jarrett as he's going through personal problems as well. Come on, you called this guy cancer less than a month ago and now you're sympathizing? Here's something I can blame on Vince Russo. Anyway, he lists some more things about Jarrett I didn't even bother to hear and then talked about how Jarrett wasn't the cancer, the title was and everything that the world calls success is cancer. In the past, the belt has supposedly represented lust, greed, cheating, lying, stealing, et cetera, but now, it will represent honor, respect, dignity, and truth. I don't know exactly how you go about turning cancer into something honorable, but again, it's TNA so I should just go with it. Sting then gave credit where credit is due and that's to God Almighty because without him, he's nothing. That was it. Seriously. I really don't know what to make of all this, but I definitely don't like where it's going. Trying to make a title win seem biblical just doesn't work. It's pro wrestling and while we may throw around phrases like "Mick Foley's book is my bible" to accentuate how much it means to us, it will never be that epic.
After that, they hyped up the tournament some more and went backstage to Borash who was with Lance Hoyt and Ron Killings in what promised to be a scintillating segment. Borash played up how they have teamed together a lot and must now face each other with Killings retorting that it's the "same shizzle, different dizzle." I'll save a rant on Killings' attempted ghetto lifestyle for another review. Killings then laid down the facts that he's a two-time World Champ (something that still boggles my mind) and anytime an opportunity comes around, he "get in where he fit in." He then told Hoyt that he's his boy (and what a boy to have), but friends don't pay his bills and this is all about the business. He then basically laid down a challenge saying it's about separating the men from boys and he hopes that's what Hoyt's about to do. Hoyt then got on the mike for some illogical reason and proved why he should never be talking...ever. He agreed that they are friends, but Killings has been a champ before while this is his chance to be champ for the very first time. He then told him to watch out because he will take his head off if he gets a chance but they'll still be cool when it's all done. They then share a pound to validate their street cred & their understanding and that it was it from them. Borash tried to segue way into a commercial break from there, but we saw Eric Young crawling around in the back before popping up as if out of thin air. He asked Borash if he's seen Jeff which Borash declared he had not before congratulating Young on keeping his job. Young was naturally still paranoid and replied back with a worried "for now," but he's apparently worried about Jarrett at the moment and misses him. He then told Borash to relay the message to Jarrett that he's looking for him, but to keep it within the movement. Borash then did his normal "holy shit, this guy's smarter than our booker" look and we headed into Christy again pumping up Joe & Angle in addition to Christian Vs. Rhino and Hoyt Vs. Killings.
Commercial break number two begs the question: where are they going with Eric Young from here? I know it's bad to question a good thing and Eric Young is hilarious, but seriously; where are they going with him? It's all about direction, or lack thereof, in TNA and it's the burning question right now. Well, other than how Kurt Angle is still able to move.
Fight For The Right Quarter-Finals
Lance Hoyt Vs. Ron Killings
This was pretty bad. From the start of the match, Don West informed us that this could be a Cinderella story for Lance Hoyt which instantly killed any chance I had at making it through this match with some respect for Don West. They gave each other another pound before the match and then firmly locked up to start it off. The went back and forth for a few seconds until Killings ducked a lock-up and rolled up Hoyt for a near-fall and then locked in a small package for another one. Killings then bounced off of the ropes and Hoyt hit him with a pretty pathetic shoulder block. It's not that it was bad, but for someone the size of Hoyt hitting someone the size of Killings; it may be one of the worst shoulder blocks in recorded history. They went back and forth until Killings walked into a horribly telegraphed big boot for a two count followed by some more back and forth antics leading to Hoyt hitting a sidewalk slam for another two count. Hoyt is beyond sluggish in everything he does. Killings may lack a lot, but being sluggish is one thing you can never say about him. After that crap, Killings flipped out of a sluggish splash in the corner and then did his splits to avoid another sluggish move all before nailing Hoyt with a kick to the face. Killings ducks a clothesline from there, kicked him in the gut, and went for the Axe Kick. Of course, you can't hit your finisher correctly on the first try in TNA or WWE so Hoyt ducks out of it and goes for the big boot which Killings saw coming a mile away like everyone else watching. Killings then nailed his spinning shoulder block followed by the Axe Kick to a "dazed" Hoyt to pick up the win.
Winner: Ron Killings
Star Wrestler: Ron Killings
Holy Science what a shitty match. The fact that it was Killings in this match was probably what made it bad as Killings was trying to make the match faster paced which just made Hoyt looked more and more slothful and blown-up. No doubt at all who was the better wrestler here and no doubt that this was one of the worst wrestling matches I've seen in a few months.
After the match, it was time for the first true worked shoot of the new Russo era and he couldn't have picked two worst wrestlers to do it with. The James Gang hit the ring and BG immediately whispered something to a bewildered Killings before apologizing to both men on the mike publicly. BG informed his that he was going to make this history lesson brief which had me laughing because The James Gang is easily more long-winded than I am and if you're reading this review, you know just how long-winded I am. Anyway, BG states that they were scouted ten years ago by some "nothing scallywags who couldn't get themselves over" so they hired him and Kipper to do the dirty work for them. I just have to touch down on that. Ten years ago? I just love how the "history" lesson involves him talking about something that happened "ten years" ago, yet after the Montreal Screwjob which was barely even nine years ago, something TNA has done a lot to remind us of this year by the way they used Hebner. BG went on saying that a little while after that, the world saw through the two of them and saw who the real champions were and they couldn't fool them anymore. God, even more mind-numbingly moronic statements and considering it's supposed to be a "worked shoot," I'm going to take a wild stab and think someone legitimately believes this. First off, Shawn Michaels was gone by the time the Outlaws joined DX. Second off, say what you want about Triple H, but there is no way in hell that BG James or Kip freakin' James are better than him in any area of being an athlete, wrestler, or entertainer.
From there, BG went on about how they should have known their limitations (this from the guy voluntarily teaming with Kip James). He then fast-forwarded to pre-James Gang to a little clique called the 3 Live Kru and the reaction that got was literally five people saying "yay" as quietly as possible. BG laid down the formula of the Kru being a black guy, a latino, and a straight up cracker jack and in his opinion, he'll be damned if it wasn't marketable. He then began this big rant about the "upper echelon" (yes, echelon) in TNA. He basically used this opportunity to show he makes enough money to afford a decent thesaurus. He told the "echelon" that they dropped the ball again and he's fed up with it. If they can't find him work, he knows where to find it (which I guess means WWE). He then stated that they've been tagging for six months and the "echelon" still has their thumbs up their asses. He then threw his TNA hat into the crowd and told them to go wipe their asses with it because we've seen the last of the James Gang. A man can dream...a man can dream. Kip then figured it was his turn to shout so he got on the mike and said BG was being too politically correct and soft. He then said he's not going to candy-coat it and screamed something about TNA & Spike TV, but they cut off his mike. Kip started to laugh a bit, threw his mike in the air (which BG caught for two points), and headed over to the announcers table to say his piece. He stated that he's got something to say and people are damn sure going to listen. He then got out TNA & Spike TV again, but they cut him off again. He then climbed on top of the table and started screaming it, but again, they cut him off and this time headed to a break. Words will never be able to describe this, but it definitely lived up to the expectation of being the first worked-shoot of the new Russo era and then-some.
Commercial break number three has me (and I'm sure Dixie Carter) wondering how TNA ever put on a show without Vince Russo.
Fight For The Right Quarter-Finals
Robert Roode Vs. Christopher Daniels
Mediocre match here, but pretty much what you would expect. Traci distracted Daniels from the opening allowing Roode to hit him from behind and take advantage of him in the corner. He then turned around to trash talk...somebody...allowing Daniels to get back up and try and mount an offense before Roode nailed a hard back elbow and then a straight elbow drop. He followed that up with the jumping knee drop and then started to squeeze Daniels' head to, I guess, open up the wound on Daniels' forehead. I say guess because of the humongous TNA graphic in the lower left corner that was pumping something up, but covering up Daniels' face in the meantime. After that, Roode tried twisting Daniels' head off some more, but Daniels powered out to no reaction. And people wonder why AJ Styles is a former NWA Champion and he's not. Daniels ducked two clotheslines from there and tried to get a crucifix after the second one, but couldn't seem to do anything to Roode so he calmly dropped down, turned around, and gave Roode a STO while Roode stood their like a complete moron. There's a future NWA World Champion for you, folks.
Daniels then hit a forearm, clothesline, back body drop, and then an enziguri to get the crowd finally into the match. After all that, Roode hopped to the outside only to be hit with Daniels' springboard moonsault to the outside. From there, I quickly heard Tenay pumping up the TNA house shows for the first time, to my recollection, on their television program which actually had me marking out. Why? Because someone finally realized that if they advertised things on national television, more people may very well go to them. Seriously, logic must be an outlawed world in Orlando. Back in the ring, Traci tried to grab Daniels' leg as he climbed, but he kicked her off and nailed a cross body to D'Amore's golden boy. Traci had Hebner distracted here so he only counted a two-count after jumping in later. Daniels then threw Roode into the corner and went for a jumping knee, but Roode moved out of the way and as Daniels tried to recover with a clothesline, Roode ducked it and laid him out with a Full Nelson Slam. Roode then lifted Daniels up for a powerbomb, but Daniels flipped out of it and nailed his Death Valley Driver followed by the side slam and the Best Moonsault Ever. He covered Roode again, but Traci was once again with Hebner. The best line in maybe the history of announcing them came as Don West screamed "We know she's hot, but this tournament is too important!" Thanks for putting it all into perspective, DW. Daniels abandoned the pin from there and argued with Hebner and Traci, but then noticed Roode charging at the last second, ducked out, and went for the Angels' Wings. Daniels couldn't hit it though as Traci grabbed his leg causing him to be distracted long enough for Roode to hit Daniels with the Pay-Off for the win.
Winner: Robert Roode
Star Wrestler: Christopher Daniels
Mediocre match here. There was a lot of shitty stuff like Roode looking like a goof waiting for the STO, but overall, it wasn't much to make it unbearable. Like Killings-Hoyt, there was no doubt who would be and who actually was the star wrestler. Roode winning though has me scared. Robert Roode Vs. Ron Killings Vs. AJ Styles? God himself couldn't have created a worse semi-final match in a tournament for a title shot. Well, that's why God gave us Vince Russo I guess.
After the match, Styles ran in with his new belt to chase off Roode & Traci. He then helped Daniels up, but Daniels looked a little pissed off since Styles didn't have his back (and where was Daniels in the opening match?). He motioned at the belt and continued to mouth off to the new champion while Styles tried to console his best friend. After that, it was the obligatory Christy Hemme shot with her telling us basically the same thing she told us three times already.
Commercial break number four leaves me thoroughly excited for next week's triple threat and thoroughly disappointed in the three to five people out there who think I'm serious.
Just when you thought one epic voice-over was enough in a one-hour show, a Rhino-Christian package came on hyping up their match on the primetime debut. This one was miles better than the Sting one, but still...if I hear that voice one more time trying to make this seem like we will look back on it one day as a legendary battle that will shake the world, I may just kill myself. Didn't we just have a cage match in TNA too?
Weapons On A Pole Match
Christian Vs. Rhino
I love how it took less than a month for Russo to get a pole match booked. Anyway, the gimmick here is that whatever weapons a guy grabs, he can use in the upcoming match. I actually don't get the point of doing this match at all. Why not a tag match or something with them against different opponents? Why have them in a match when they're just going to face off again soon? Why should I watch something I've basically seen three times already and while it will be barbed wire, it's not necessarily going to be anywhere near what Sabu & Abyss did last year. Ranting aside, the match started off with a good spot as Christian was coming out and Rhino came out from behind him with a double axe handle sending Christian sliding motionless down the ramp. Sadly, it was all downhill from there. Christian tried to get up, but Rhino pulled the hood over him and threw him into the steel barricades. They made their way all over the ramps and outside before Rhino tore off Christian's hoodie and threw him in the ring. From there, he tore off his pants, tried to choke him with them, and then actually clotheslined Christian with the damn pants because apparently his arm isn't strong enough. Rhino then tied Christian up in the ropes before whipping him into the opposite corner hard. He hit a shoulder tackle and then started to slam him into the turnbuckle before realizing, "Hey, there's a steel cage above me." With that epiphany, Rhino climbed up to reach and because it's so obviously out of his reach, he had to crawl all the way to the top, which gave Christian ample time to recover and slightly tug on his leg enough to drag Rhino down. You would think that if someone of Rhino's strength was pulling the chair and someone of Christian's strength was pulling Rhino back, the chair would come off, but no; Rhino forgot the chair and decided his arms were stronger. Not as strong as those pants of course.
Rhino delivered a right hand after that bullshit and then led him into the middle for a whip, but he telegraphed the back body drop and Christian just kind of ran into him and then realized he should hit the guy so he did. They go back and forth until Rhino finally does hit the back body drop and then Rhino locks in a reverse chin lock. I guess you can't win that way because Rhino just let go and whipped him again and went for the same damn back body drop, but this time, Christian actually kicked Rhino instead of just colliding. "If at first you don't succeed," I guess. Rhino then clotheslined him and Christian backpedaled to the corner before poking Rhino's eye. He then went up for a key on the pole. Let me spell this out. In a Weapons On A Pole match, there is a key used to get out of the cage. The whole concept of barbed wire on top of the cage is to keep your opponent in the care so you can inflict as much damage as possible and they are giving them the key to get out of the damn thing. This is hitting a record low in human intelligence. Rhino then climbed up to meet Christian and they exchanged blows over the key until Rhino pushed Christian to the barricade below and grabbed the key. So the face has the key out of all of this? Yeah, that makes even more sense. Good God, this may be one of the worst things ever.
Commercial break numb...a freakin' key? A key? What's sad is I don't even think that was Russo's idea.
Coming back, Rhino tossed Christian in and there's apparently a table in the ring which Rhino started to set up. They showed us Rhino press slamming Christian out of the ring during the break and grabbing a straight jacket. As if a key wasn't bad enough, there was a freakin' straight jacket on a pole here and Rhino held it up as if it was a sledgehammer he could take out Christian with. How is that a weapon? Seriously, it would take him like five minutes to even get him in the damn thing. Anyway, the table was then shown in the corner and Rhino belly-to-belly suplexed Christian right in front of it to set him up for the Gore. He waited in the corner for Christian to get up and as he charged, Christian nailed a dropkick straight to Rhino's face followed by a series of mounting punches. For the first time in the match, Christian finally got some offense here, but don't forget; Rhino still has the mighty key and the deadly straight jacket. Christian picked him up then, but Rhino tried to power out and charged at Christian in the corner. Christian ducked causing Rhino to hit the pads as Christian climbed up top and grabbed the bolt cutters. Okay, this is officially the dumbest thing ever. Will someone please tell me what is the point in booking two men in a heated feud in a Barbed Wire Steel Cage match so they will finally settle their differences, yet give them a key to escape calmly or bolt cutters to escape slowly? Just what is the point? It's a Weapons On A Pole match with the idea being things you can use on your opponent during the next match, not things you can use to escape during that match. A chair, a sledgehammer, a barbed-wire bat, and a lead pipe. Four weapons on a pole. Jesus H. Christ, how hard was that? Back to this crapfest, Christian hopped off and went to use the bolt cutters on Rhino (to give him a haircut, perchance?), but Rhino nailed a double leg takedown and laid in some punches as some punk in purple hair ran in to fight Rhino. Suddenly, people realize it's Maverick Matt and no one cares. Of all people to give purple hair to, Maverick Matt? Christian, at this moment, then grabbed the last weapon (the chair) and the bell rang. Did it ring because all the weapons were down or because of Maverick Matt? God only knows and I'm sure even Sting is afraid to ask. What the hell happened here?
Winner: No Contest?
Star Wrestler: Rhino
Seriously, if you understand the concept of this match, please inform me because it seems like they had a solid match for their primetime debut and did everything to run it into the ground. They gave us the two in the ring two weeks earlier and gave them weapons to escape the cage. What's sad is I know some people are proclaiming this the greatest thing ever! Illogical booking besides, the wrestling was pretty shitty, but you could tell they weren't trying to do anything special and save themselves for the cage. Christian was God awful in the match though so I guess I'll say Rhino was the best wrestler in the worst TV main event of the year. This was a worse match concept than the Reverse Battle Royal.
After the bell rang, Christian went to hit Rhino with the chair, but Rhino hit him with a mediocre gore. For those keeping count at home, Christian has the bolt cutters & the chairs and Rhino has the key & the straight jacket. From there, Rhino began to put the straight jacket onto Christian. What's even worse is that Christian fought for about two seconds and then just gave up. Literally, he just gave up. What the hell is this shit? As if purple-haired Maverick Matt wasn't bad enough, Green-haired Kazarian hit the ring and tried to take out Rhino and with Matt jumping back in, they actually succeeded for a moment as Christian kind of crawled to the ramp with his legs. Rhino eventually powered out and hit the Gore onto Matt and then a Fallaway Slam onto Kazarian to put him through the table that was set up when we came back from break. With all that said and done, Rhino stared down Christian who looked on in horror from the ramp while still trapped in a straight jacket I only guess he wanted to be in. After that, it was a great time for the Samoa Joe & Kurt Angle video package to play and try & salvage the show. No way in hell did it stand of chance of doing that, but it was cool. It was basically a nifty training package with shots of their intensity, dedication, and strength. No words either so nobody even tried to make it seem like it should be added to the Bible. I did find it funny that Joe was actually training by fighting with people, yet Angle was just slowly lifting weights. Gee, I wonder why they didn't trust Angle to be in the ring with another guy just yet? A video like this reminds me more of why I hate the epic video packages. TNA can, and a lot of time does, make damn good video packages to build-up something. The Steiner & Joe one was marvelous for example. But more often than not, they decide to ship it off to Sahidi to inject an aura of deep meaning over. I'm not sure I see a deep meaning behind Zybsko & Raven fighting, but obviously Sahidi does. Anyway, it was still a damn fine video package which did a good job of pumping Angle-Joe even if Angle is in no shape to be near a ring right now. To cap it all off, the Adrenaline Rush highlight video then played and this may be just be the answer to iMPACT!'s woes similar to how I use RAW AM to cut out all the bullshit of RAW if I miss it on Monday nights.
All in all, this literally was one of the worst television shows I've seen all year. It gives new standards to the words "horrible" & "Russorific." I seriously went from watching to see some minor dumb Russo happenings to seeing something that makes a train wreck seem bearable. My overall opinion of TNA aside, I don't see how anyone could watch this show and outside of Sabin-Styles and the Joe-Angle video package, be pleased...and even then, Sabin-Styles ended in one of the dumbest title changes this year. I give Dixie Carter at least three months before she realizes that Russo in your company isn't a good thing at all and until that time, I know this show is only going to get worse. God help us all, but I doubt he will even want to if they keep attaching his name to this shit.
Well, that's it. I tried to get this out before the tenth, but with all that happened in the show, I found myself just ranting and raving away. Russo logic aside, I'll be back soon with SmackDown! and maybe, just maybe, the NWA Pro show from MavTV. Haven't really decided yet. After that, typical shows including a horrible Cyber Sunday PPV, a horrible RAW, and some other shows I haven't watched yet. While there is still a lot of good wrestling out there, it's not on my television right now and that is horrible to realize. Here's hoping it gets better. 'Till next time though, this is "Squared Circle Reviews" signing off and hoping you enjoy what you watch, as long as it's not something involving keys to cages.
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