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This month's card looks somewhat lackluster, but TNA has been known to pull out all the stops in the ring to make up for a weak card. Bafflingly absent in a card that found room for Black Reign: Rhino, Raven, LAX, Senshi, Christopher Daniels, Chris Harris, James Storm, and Eric Young. As with last month, I included my wife's picks.

Daniel's YTD: 10/17 = .588

Rachael's YTD: 3/8 = .375

Kurt Angle (c) & Kevin Nash vs. Sting & ??? (AKA Booker T?)
Tag Match for the World Heavyweight Championship

Why do they call it the Heavyweight Championship when there are no other weight classes? The first pinfall here wins the belt.

Where We've Been:
Angle dropped the belt to Sting, who for the second year running won the title at Bound for Glory only to drop it in his very first defense. Nash got seriously physical for the first time in over a year in an attempt to help Kurt at BFG, and Kurt became his usual jerky self in response to their failure. So the two of them blew up, only to tentatively come back together when Angle regained the title eleven days later. Cornette, in order to punish Angle for regaining his title under dubious (read: not actually dubious) circumstances, booked him in a tag match with three men wanting to take him out. Sting announced that he would pick his own partner, which for some reason Cornette felt was perfectly reasonable. So far Sting has claimed that his partner was a World Champion in WCW and WWE, and is someone who Angle rubs the wrong way. This points fairly squarely to Booker T being the mystery partner, though there are one or two other theoretical possibilities. (The dream scenario of course is that Jericho has cleverly leaked that he's signed with WWE when he's been planning to come to TNA all along. I wouldn't hold your breath on that one though.) While Kurt was on the hunt for Sting's mystery partner, Scott Hall swung by for no obvious reason.

Where We're Going:
I would actually be very pleased with the NWO taking control of the title, but I don't think the fans in the Impact Zone would get behind that plan (also, it would require putting faith in Scott Hall to stay in working condition). I don't know who Sting's partner will be, but if it's anyone less than Jericho (and I most certainly count Booker T as less than Jericho) it would be an insult to TNA's hardworking roster to have them get the belt. Moreover, I expect whomever it is to turn on Sting, as that just seems to be the way Sting's luck runs. It is worth noting that none of this logic applies if Sting's partner is Jeff Jarrett, but that would require fudging a bit on which titles in WWE count as "World" titles. So that leaves Angle and Sting, and here's where things get a bit tricky. The most logical feud for next month would be Sting-Christian, but if that's where they're going I don't know why they would have taken the strap of Sting in the first place. Angle could probably feud with Christian for a bit, as the latter has enough of a following that they wouldn't have the usual problems of a heel-heel feud. Moreover, they could just give Kaz a throwaway title shot and then get back to Angle defending against Sting or Joe or Nash.

My Prediction: Angle - when in doubt, always bet on the champ retaining.

Rachael's Prediction: Kevin Nash - "because he's pretty." Something tells me that she is not particularly enthralled by the present title picture.

ADDENDUM: On the latest ads for the PPV, they have changed the claim to say that Sting's mystery partner "has held championships in every organization he's been in," which opens the door to Jeff Jarrett (and, for that matter, RVD). On the other hand they also show video of a fiery entrance reminiscent of Booker T's, so he's still the most likely pick.

Tomko & Styles vs. The Steiner Bros.
Tag Team Title Match

Where We've Been:
We haven't really been much of anywhere here. The heel champs won the titles last month, and the Steiners are (for the moment) fairly over in the Impact Zone, and so we have ourselves a match. Technically, I think this feud began when The Steiners saved LAX from a post-match beat down, but it wasn't really clear why they did that.

Where We're Going:
If the Steiners win, pretty much the only heel tag team they have to feud with is Team 3D. They had a pretty good match together last month, but if I were TNA I wouldn't want to go to that well too often, and 3D has their own things going on right now anyway. Tomko & Styles would have plenty of possibilities, including LAX, XXX, MCMG, and various other acronyms.

My Prediction: Tomko & Styles. While the Steiners have been doing very good work lately, they just can't have the same type of TNA style matches as Styles & Tomko.

Rachael's Prediction: Tomko & Styles.

Gail Kim vs. ODB vs. Angel Williams vs. Roxxi Leaveaux
Women's Championship Match

WWB:
The build-up to this match is that Awesome Kong has been dominating the women's division and gunning for Gail Kim. I'm serious. If you can figure out how we got from that build-up to this match, you should totally have my job. The first time we even saw these women interact was on this past week's Impact, when TNA had Gail Kim win a random brawl. The only even potentially relevant fact about any of these challengers is that VKM have made it clear that they intend for Roxxi to win, so we can expect some shenanigans there.

WWG:
Presumably, we're moving toward Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong. That's really about it.

My Prediction: Gail Kim.

Rachael's Prediction: Gail Kim.

"Black Machismo" Jay Lethal vs. "The Guru" Sonjay Dutt
X Division Title

WWB:
Several months ago, Kevin Nash decided to make over Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal because they lacked any discernible personality. Lethal turned out to be able to do a pretty good Randy Savage impression, and so "Black Machismo" was born. The character took off, leaving Dutt bitter at his relative failure as a performer. Eventually Dutt found his calling as "The Guru", where as a loving yogi he came to once again love and support his old friend. Now they are finally going head to head in a contest that would no doubt be thrilling if TNA had bothered to incorporate any of the stuff I just said. Instead, this match came about on Impact when Matt Morgan handed Tenay a note that said this match was taking place. Dutt was nowhere to be seen, and Black Machismo was getting beaten up by Team 3D. I'm usually a mark for TNA, but this was really just inexcusable lazy, especially since there was already an available back-story between these two. This should be a killer contest, however.

WWG:
Hopefully, we're eventually going to a point where the X Division Title will matter again, though I don't see how this helps us get there. A heel turn by Dutt would at least bring a bit of plot to the X Division, but I'm not really sure how much that will help. Most likely we'll see Lethal go on to fight a well built-up opponent next month, be it Dutt or someone else.

My Predicition: Jay Lethal. While I'm all for a Sonjay Dutt X Division Title reign, winning on a random match booked at the whim of Matt Morgan isn't the way I would go about doing it.

Rachael's Prediction: Jay Lethal.

Robert Roode vs. Samoa Joe

WWB:
Robert Roode, who was in the Fight for the Right Tournament, cost Samoa Joe his quarterfinal match against Christian Cage. The reason he gave for this was that Joe was the biggest threat in the tournament, and apparently he thought it would help his chances to have an angry Samoan out to get him. Sure enough, Joe cost Roode his match against Junior Fatu, and we had the makings of a feud. Last week the two of them had a particularly brutal pull-apart brawl.

WWG:
No matter what happens, I doubt this month will be the end of this feud. TNA tends to like to stretch out these random pairings for a few months, I assume so that by the end it feels like there's a reason behind the fighting.

My Prediction: Samoa Joe. While giving Roode the nod would be the logical way to extend the feud, Joe really needs his heat back. Joe's worth a lot more to this company, and a lot of his value is predicated on being at least relatively unbeatable.

Rachael's Predicition: Samoa Joe - Roode has no business getting a win here.

Team 3D vs. The Motor City Machine Guns

WWB:
This is probably the best built up feud outside the main event, and promises to be one of the more exciting segments at the PPV. 3D, generally grumpy at having lost their tag titles, decided that a good way to impress management would be to start decimating random X Division wrestlers (in their defense it worked, as Cornette did grant them a title shot on the basis of one such beating). Two such wrestlers were Sabin and Shelley, who responded by distracting Team 3D during their blow-off match with the Steiners at Bound For Glory. 3D responded in turn by costing them their spots in the Fight for the Right Tournament, and then proceeding to go around beating up more X Division wrestlers. Last week The Motor City Machine Guns rallied the likes of Petey Williams and Shark Boy to fight back against the bullies, and this week they prevented 3D from destroying the X Division Champion.

Where We're Going:
I doubt that 3D's war with the X Division is going away anytime soon, as it's really a good use of their hated status in the Impact Zone.

My Prediction: Motor City Machine Guns - the best way to continue the feud is for Team 3D to need revenge on their smaller counterparts, and there are enough people who might interfere that 3D can save face.

Rachael's Prediction: LAX. As discussed last month, my wife refuses to countenance 3D's being on the card by picking winners for their matches. She would like me to note that she means no disrespect to Sabin and Shelley.

Christian Cage vs. Kaz
Fight for the Right Tournament Final
Ladder Match

WWB:
As the name suggests, this match came about as the final in a tournament to become #1 Contender. Christian was not originally involved, but was able to join the tourney when Sabin and Shelley were injured by Team 3D. Since then, he has beaten Samoa Joe and Chris Harris to advance to the finals. Meanwhile, Kaz has won narrow victories over Lance Hoyt and James Storm. These two had a stellar match on Impact, but it was thrown out by acting representative of TNA Management Matt Morgan after Christian won with the help of Tomko, Styles, and a ladder. Morgan made this a ladder match since Christian has been hankering for one for a month.

Where We're Going:
Either one of these two could have great matches with anyone in the main-event, and with the possible exception of Christian-Sting there aren't any preexisting rivalries that make a particular outcome most likely. That being said, this tournament has been hyped for a month, so it would be somewhat odd to give the nod to someone with no chance of being World Champion in the immediate future.

My Prediction: Christian Cage. Contrary to conventional wison, I think this is the hardest call of the night. On the one hand, why let Kaz get this far only to have him lose? Admittedly the match will be awesome, but that would have been the case against the likes of Chris Harris or James Storm, who would have been more serious competition for Christian to get over. I'm guessing the real plan here is for Kaz to "win" by losing, and having Christian go over in an extremely hard fought match wherein Kaz earns respect as a possible main-eventer. I would be happy, and not completely shocked, to be wrong on this one.

Rachael's Prediction: Christian Cage - never bet against Christian in a ladder match.

Abyss vs. Black Reign
Shop of Horrors Match

WWB:
Please don't make me relive this. So far the buildup for this feud has involved a rat and a vise. These two were paired off after Abyss called out Reign for last month's Monsters Ball, in a match that also involved Rhino and Raven (neither of whom is on the card tonight). Also involved is James Mitchell, who has been managing Black Reign since his new monster, Judas Maseis, went on the shelf.

WWG:
If I remember correctly, Maseis was only expected to be out a few weeks. If he's coming back, I expect him to pick up his feud with Abyss. Otherwise, I expect them to drag this out for another month.

My Prediction: Abyss. While Maseis or Raven costing Abyss the match would be the most logical way to start a feud for next month, the simple fact is that Reign has no business beating Abyss, or even being in the same ring with him. I expect the interference to come into play after the match.

Rachael's Prediction: Abyss

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