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Samoa Joe as TNA World Champion: Before I really begin, I just want to point out that I decided to write my main event prediction about where the TNA championship picture was heading and I actually had to stop and think as to who the champion was! And I watch TNA every week! If that does not speak volumes about the title picture over there I don't know what does!
What happened to the Samoa Joe who came in and took the X Division and turned it upside down? Or the one who was quickly becoming the new face of TNA and had an awesome undefeated streak that lasted well over a year? Well I guess that guy no longer works there and has been replaced by some guy who just hangs out with Kevin Nash all the time.
When Samoa Joe finally knocked off Kurt Angle and became TNA Champion, I thought that the title and Joe would be the highlights of TNA, but that is not how things currently stand; not even close.
So where will they go with Joe and the TNA Championship? Joe will continue his feud with Booker until Sting and Jarrett make their respective returns. From there we will most likely see at least one month of team matches - something along the lines of Joe, Styles, and Jarrett versus Booker, Angle, and Sting.
After that is all said and done, we could be looking at a Joe versus Sting feud, but again, an Angle versus Jarrett program could very well overshadow that.
I think that Samoa Joe will hold the TNA Championship for the remainder of 2008, but I do not see him being featured in the Main Event slot unless it had a team dynamic. And the longer it takes for him to get there the less the title will mean and the more Samoa Joe's character will be buried.
MID-CARD PREDICTION
The ECW Championship: As much as people love the Hardy Boyz and as much as they would love to see Matt put the World's Strongest Champion down to capture the ECW Title, I really do not see it happening.
Henry will continue this feud with Hardy for the majority of the fall, as there is still life in Hardy and his chase. But I foresee Henry to continue to get the best of Hardy and will keep on escaping by the skin of his teeth.
I do not see Henry being ECW Champion at the start of 2009, so what does that leave for Henry in the post Hardy title picture? I predict that after his run with Hardy, Henry will start a program with the only other man who could potentially carry the title, that being Finlay.
While Henry finishes his program with Hardy, Finlay should be ending his program with Knox. I foresee Finlay being able to work better with Henry than Hardy has. He has proven that he can work well with bigger men and still look strong. He also has the ability to work the fans, whether he is a face or a heel.
Remember the fan reaction at the conclusion of the battle royal that Khali won for the World Heavyweight Championship? The final four was Khali, Kane, Batista, and Finlay. After being down and out for a while, Finlay came out of nowhere and started chopping down Khali. The fan reaction was off the charts, despite Finlay being a massive heel at the time. I think people would really respond to Finlay as the ECW Champion.
Once Finlay does beat Henry for the ECW Title, I believe that Finlay should drop Hornswoggle and become a heel once again. Honswoggle has already overstayed his welcome, a subject that I will cover on a future column. But as a heel, Hardy can once again get into the ECW Title picture in what I think would be a great rivalry with Finlay.
FINGERS-CROSSED PREDICTION
Gail Kim's Future: To the surprise of many, this past Thursday is the last time you will see Gail Kim on TNA and it looks pretty much written in stone that she will show up on WWE programming sooner than later. But what will be in store for her once the deal is finalized?
If you look at how the last two wrestlers who jumped ship from TNA to the WWE (Chris Harris and Kaz) were treated, the future might not be so glorious as you may initially think for Kim. I can definitely see the WWE throwing a bunch of money at Kim, the face of TNA's cornerstone division, just to bring her in to get humiliated and beaten down by the likes of Beth Phoenix, Katie Lea, Natalya Neidhart, and even lesser established women such as Jillian Hall and Maryse. There is really no better way to say, “we are out of your league” to TNA than to destroy their former premier knockout champion and fan favorite.
But I have my fingers crossed that WWE goes in a different direction with Kim. Gail Kim obviously knows how to work and she is an accomplished wrestler. I think it would be fun to see her in the ring with the likes of Melina, Katie Lea, and Beth Phoenix.
I see her as a better fit on the Raw brand than on Smackdown or (obviously) ECW. She will most certainly come over as a face and would work very nicely in a program with Beth. It would also give the new Women's Champion some new competition, since the feud with Mickie James has pretty much run its course.
WWE clearly had some sort of faith in Kim initially for them to give her the Women's Championship on her debut match back in 2003. It always seemed a mystery to me why they released her a little over a year later. I just hope they use her ability in a positive direction rather than a means to slap TNA in the face.
PLEASE NOT THAT PREDICTION
Championship Scrambles: The big announcements of the week were the Championship Scrambles taking place at Unforgiven. With these two matches taking place it looks quite unlikely that both C.M. Punk and Triple H will both be champions at the conclusion of the pay-per-view.
I don't think that either of them should lose their respective titles at Unforgiven. First look at Punk. As I wrote in last week's column, I think there is still a lot for Punk to do as champion. We have only just begun to see his character take shape as the WWE Champion.
With the Batista versus Cena feud taking up the main event slot on Raw, I can only hope that WWE has not lost faith in Punk and is using the scramble as a way to put the title on either Cena or Batista, all the while continuing their feud.
On the Smackdown side of things, things are almost completely opposite as they are on Raw. Instead of a fresh new champion, we have Triple H, the twelve-time champion who has spent more time in the main event scene than anyone else on the roster. Instead of all former world champions in the match, they are all newer superstars who have yet to sit atop the mountain. But even though Triple H as champion is nothing new, his role on Smackdown is. He can work programs with the likes of Edge, the Undertaker, MVP, Jeff Hardy, and the Big Show; all of which would be relatively fresh. Also, this seems like a poor match for one of the other wrestlers to achieve the goal of becoming a world champion in.
Both CM Punk and Triple H are great in their respective roles as champions and I see no need to change that quite yet with this TNA style gimmick match.
ONE LAST PREDICTION
Triple H will be a 21-time world champion after Unforgiven. Initially they weren't going to count the mid-match title changes, but since he did so well they decided to make them stick.
Fast Forward will appear every Saturday. Send questions, comments, or anything else to kylehodgdon@hotmail.com.
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