So, here’s part two of the DEJ's (well just Jeremy’s) ongoing coverage of TNA’s Against All Odds PPV from Greenville, South Carolina. Previously it was discussed that TNA has done a miserable job of promoting the PPV in the upstate area. For those who do not know, the Upstate of South Carolina consists of the counties Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson and some other cities. It literally is the top portion of South Carolina, so it is clever.
Anyway, after yesterday’s blog, news came out that TNA has sent some wrestlers in to the area on Saturday, February 10th for a free meet and greet. It takes place Saturday at the White Horse Flea Market from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. It is open to the public, which since it is free I guess it is safe to assume it would be open to the public. Scheduled to attend are James Storm, Eric Young, Traci Brooks and TV announcer Crystal Louthan. They will be signing autographs in between exchanges of currency for crushed velvet pillows and slender, but long water pipes…oh and bootleg DVD’s.
I am going to try and attend but I also have a funeral to attend so I kind of have to weigh my priorities. If I can make it there will be an update, if not, well there won’t.
In the meantime, it is time to go over the card for Against All Odds, TNA’s first official visit to Greenville, SC. On paper the card resembles nothing more than an edition of Impact but thankfully with much less Shark Boy. TNA really hasn’t presented a strong card for this show. They may have been a tad more motivated if ticket sales had been stronger or if their writing was logical. Sorry, never mind. Let’s get in to the card.
TNA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH w/Special Enforcer Samoa Joe: Champion Kurt Angle vs. "The Instant Classic" Christian Cage
This match actually has a decent amount of logic behind it. At the last PPV AJ Styles cost Christian the TNA Heavyweight title. Christian then won a gauntlet match to become the number one contender, wait that was before his title loss. So now Christian gets another shot as a man who stands on his own as both of his friends have left him. AJ Styles has joined up with Kurt Angle even though he still wants to be friends, or something. I don’t know it is all so confusing. Christian, though, has seemed more enamored with his former muscled friend Tomko instead of the title but Tomko just wants to be Tomko, whatever that means. Tomko sure is a funny name for a high level wrestler. I mean Val Venis never cut off the Val part and expected to headline as Venis, so why drop the Tyson part from Tomko? Sorry, lost my train of thought.
So now it comes down to Christian getting yet another shot that he rightfully won in a match, oh forget it. Much of the hype has been around the extraneous goings on within the personalities in this match. Nothing centered on the Heavyweight title until last night's Impact where someone must have realized they forgot to talk about the title.
Samoa Joe has been added to the mix and it further removes the lack of focus on the title. Joe’s running storyline is that he wants more money, more money and more money. Cornette is suddenly spineless and has cowered to his demands instead of telling him he has a contract and to shut it or don’t get paid period. Instead of having one of their “homegrown” wrestlers actually wrestle in a new market, they saddle him with a special guest enforcer tag, whatever that is, and have him walk around the ring enforcing. By enforcing, he has been relegated to a smaller role outside of the match instead of in a match with actual consequence. That is reason enough to buy a ticket.
BARBWIRE MASSACRE 2: Abyss vs. Judas Mesias w/ James Mitchell
Well here is a special match. See TNA didn’t get clearance for some reason. Oh, I know why, it’s because both wrestlers are no longer over and have to lean on easy gimmick crutches to maintain their spot on a card. Ok, that’s not fair. Judas was never over. He did manage to kill the credibility of the match by “chewing” on barbwire during a close up shot on Impact. It killed the credibility because he never bled. He was clearly shown snagging the barb on his lip but it never cut him. Way to sell the drama and consequences of the match. In his defense it should have never made the air. Impact is taped weeks in advance for some episodes and this bit had no business airing. Thanks Keith Mitchell.
Outside of that small problem stands the fact that the match will not be live. It has already been taped. So the audience will have to sit there and watch televisions in the arena. Over a thousand people have to sit there like as*****s and watch television when they could have done so at home and recorded the show for the same price as a ticket. This is hilariously ridiculous. Top-notch effort on TNA’s part for this. They couldn’t come up with anything else to get out of this problem by changing the stipulations? I guess that is the problem with taping three weeks of television in one week.
TNA KNOCKOUT WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Champion Awesome Kong vs. ODB
The TNA Knockout division is the smartest booked division in TNA. Kong is the unstoppable champion and ODB has become the crowd favorite. Smart booking on TNA’s part to strike while the iron is hot with two over acts. Of course it still remains to be seen how ODB will be treated outside of Orlando but she is goofy enough and has endeared herself with me and I judge harshly. That’s about it. Pretty smart booking actually and it could lead to a decent competitive match. What? No I have no snarky comments…………………..ok just one, If they give this match ten minutes it could be very good. But they won’t so…Ok, I’ll stop.
TNA WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Champions AJ Styles & Tomko vs. BG James & "Bullet" Bob Armstrong
Jesus Christ. A TNA Tag-team championship match with Bob Armstrong in it. This is Impact fodder not PPV worthy. Bob is roughly 160 years old and has no business on the screen any longer. You can argue it was a cute reveal that he would be BJ’s partner but in the long run it should have just been Kip and he could have turned during a match he took part in instead of a gazing soul on the outside watching a geriatric take his spot on the card.
On top of this AJ and Tomko have their own issues to work out and this match is ripe with strife. This could have been a better match with LAX or an athletic team with something to bring to the table. VKM has run their course so the inevitable breakup on the show will be the story. It also stands to reason AJ and Tomko lose the belts due to Christian or Kurt’s interference and open the door for reciprocation later. Ugh, can we just get a clean match with two over teams. VKM is an old stale act. It isn’t a good show to showcase them in a new market.
HARDCORE STREET FIGHT: The Motor City Machineguns & "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal vs. Team 3D & X Division Champion Johnny Devine
So this is the match where we can possibly see the end of the X-Division or weight limits applied to the x-Division. It also means if team 3-D and Johnny Devine lose then Devine loses the X-Division championship. All of this will be settled in a street fight. Team 3D has done nothing for the Machineguns and Lethal. Basically bubba runs his mouth about how small and boring the X-Division wrestlers are and then goes out and beats all of them down. There have been small battles won but generally the smaller wrestlers have been made to look foolish in this. Jay Lethal especially.
Lethal had his X-Division taken from him. Instead of going and getting it back Devine was shown in the same area, stage, ring with the belt and Lethal did nothing. Finally the two have a championship match for no good reason and Lethal loses the title. So not only did he look spineless he looked weak as well. Alex Shelley has given some very good mic work but that is about it. Team 3D has not given at all in this feud and this is their chance. I am in the minority that think there still are some legs under Team 3D. A clean loss after a brutal back and forth match would do both teams well. It doesn’t need to be the passing of a torch but it doesn’t need to be a star making performance.
GRUDGE MATCH: Booker T vs. Robert Roode
Roode isn’t over so they had him fake punch Sharmelle in the jaw. Ok so it was an accident and Booker clearly wanted revenge. This is a totally relatable angle and they could have left it at that but they decided to ramp it up a bit and have Robert Roode heel out and claim it was Booker's fault. Then he claimed it was good for Booker. Pretty standard heel fare. This is also mixed in with the break up of Traci and Robert and the new tam of Payton and Robert. Instead of the Traci/Payton match this could have been a mixed tag and really drawn out the feud for a final blow off at the next PPV. It’s hard to imagine this is what Booker had in mind prior to his start with the company but he has been paid for barely working. It’s a win for him at least.
BATTLE OF THE TITLE SHOTS: "Maple Leaf Muscle" Petey Williams vs. "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner
One dumb gimmick takes on an aging legit star. Better yet, here’s the way to sell this, the younger star-crossed wrestler taking on his idol in a match for a championship shot of their choosing. This is a decent filler match. Petey finally has a character but he hasn’t been displaying too much else. Scott is just plain weird and aloof so it makes for a decent mesh of personalities. If this would have been promoted properly as young versus old it may have gotten over.
WOMEN'S MATCH: Traci Brooks vs. Payton Banks
This is another Impact fodder match. Sure they have tried to build up Traci as a sympathetic babyface but really, who cares? They haven’t gotten in to any issues between the two women other than Payton took her place and smacked her. Big deal. If they wanted a women’s wrestling match then fine go for it. But it has little build and less fan interest. They could have used a tag match to showcase the rest of the women’s division in person and mixed in this feud. A show needs its filler and this filler could have been used more constructively.
DRINKING CHAMPIONSHIP: Eric Young vs. "Cowboy" James Storm
What the hell is this and why should a wrestling audience care? It involves Eric Young, the DDP of TNA. He isn’t over outside of Orlando and even that crowd seems to have grown tired of him. Pretty sure this will be a series of unfunny skits in between matches, if so, that is acceptable. Something needs to act like a buffer in between matches when they are not focusing on Karen Angle playfully insinuating AJ Styles can f**k her someday. James Storm deserves better.
Jeremy Maes is the "J" in the DEJ Audio Experience, found at PWTorch.com. He has been doing this for some time now, long enough that he can’t remember the start date. His famous words for all listeners have never changed “Don’t follow my path son. Don’t follow my path.” Find him on the PWTorch.com VIP Message Board, or shoot him an e-mail at theaudioexperience@gmail.com
LATEST PRO WRESTLING TORCH NEWSLETTER #1039 (17 PAGES)
This issue begins with a cover story by Wade Keller who attended Brock Lesnar's first UFC victory on Saturday night in the semi-main event in front of a record-setting crowd in his hometown. Keller's BBL looks at Lesnar's place in MMA and in what ways he seems more comfortable than ever... Bruce Mitchell's Memo examines the dilemma of Chris Benoit and the Hall of Fame... Sean Radican reviews the two latest TNA DVD releases... In-depth coverage of the TNA Hard Justice PPV including Keller's match report with star ratings and the newsletter-exclusive Roundtable Reviews... Jason Powell's "Page 2 Buzz" with scoops and insider analysis... WWE Newswire, TNA Newswire, and ROH Newswire with insider news, big story analysis, and notebook tidbits... Plus Keller's reports on Raw, Smackdown, and Impact, the Top 5 Stories of the Week, and more....
