By Kyle Hodgdon, PWTorch Specialist

MAIN EVENT PREDICTION

TNA Championship Picture: Well, Sting is the TNA Champion again and I hit a big miss on one of my predictions from last week. When I was writing it, I was all but 100% sure I would be correct. I think I have been giving TNA too much credit that they will turn things around and give the right guy the push. So from now on I think I need to just accept that already once established guys on the TNA roster will always come out on top and newer faces will always be on the bottom of the pile. There is a reason that with this new guys versus old guys feud the only two young guys anyone can ever name is Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles. They are the only TNA stars that were not built up elsewhere.

Therefore, since there cannot be a Joe-Sting rematch, it looks like at Turning Point the only other credible young guy, A.J. Styles, will be up to bat for the TNA Title while Joe takes on Benedict Nash.

The only consolation I see with this set of matches is that Styles has something meaningful to do once again and is not going to be thrown in a random situation with no real purpose. I would love to see A.J. as the top dog in TNA once again, but now is not his time. As unfortunate as it is, we are not long off the heels of a time when AJ had some schoolboy crush on Karen Angle. And before that, he wore a ridiculous prince crown, and before that was nothing more than a lackey to Christian and then to Kurt Angle. AJ has only recently become a serious character again and has to be built up to be a serious contender to TNA’s top prize. He’s been rushed to the top because TNA has done such a poor job building anyone else who can claim to be an up-and-comer, and also a main-eventer.

MID-CARD PRDICTION

ECW Title Match at Cyber Sunday: WWE’s most interactive pay-per-view of the year is upon us once again, and just like every other year prior, voting will make little to no difference in any of the matches. I mean, what is the big difference between a Falls Count Anywhere Match and a No Holds Barred Match? Or a Knockout Match and a Last Man Standing Match?

At least on the ECW side, there is a little bit of a difference between the options one would vote for, even though it seems pretty set in stone who the winner of the pole will be.

Needless to say, the fan favorite will win the pole, in this case: Evan Bourne. I think it will be cool to see Bourne in a pay-per-view match. I, like many others, am a big fan and am continually impressed by what he can do in the ring. As I have stated before, I am not too high on the Matt Hardy bandwagon, but I think that these two could put on a pretty decent match…while it lasts that is.

As much of a given that it is that Bourne will win the pole, I think it is also a given that Mark Henry will make his presence felt for a No Contest outcome. WWE is not ready to push Bourne past Mark Henry. Henry will be right back in the ECW title picture after next Sunday’s PPV.

And like Chris Newth stated in the ECW Storylines and Feuds column, another route that WWE could go is to have Henry lay out Borne and Finlay prior to the match to make voting null and void and to give us yet another classic Hardy versus Henry match-up. Personally, I think (and, especially, hope) WWE will not go with that scenario and give us at least a one-month break from a Hardy/Henry pay-per-view outing.

FINGERS CROSSED PREDICTION

MVP’s Losing Streak: As many people have recently noticed, MVP has been on quite the losing streak as of late. With the most recent loss to R-Truth this past Friday night, he is up to eight consecutive losses. Not only has he been losing for two months straight, but he also has no direction. Since losing the US Title and his program with Matt Hardy, MVP has really been trying to find his niche on Friday nights—and quite unsuccessfully, I must say.

He has had a long string of matches with Jeff Hardy, all of which have resulted in clean losses for Porter. Since Jeff Hardy is an established top-tier guy, that has been excusable. Now with the recent loss to R-Truth, MVP is sinking lower and lower on the Smackdown totem pole. I am not knocking R-Truth as an up-and-comer to the Smackdown brand—he should be getting wins this early in his career, but at this point, wins should not jeopardize mid-card superstars the likes to MVP.

With that, I have my fingers crossed that MVP gets back on track with his winning ways. He should be placed in a meaningful feud with a face who is at about his level. The problem with Smackdown is that there are too many mid-card heels and not enough mid-card faces. R-Truth is really the only current guy on the roster who fits the bill, and he currently has a program going with Shelton Benjamin. As I can see it, the only guy who can pull MVP out of the tank and make for an interesting feud would be Mr. Kennedy.

I am not sure where Kennedy is on his road to recovery, but if he is nearing the end of it he would be able to have a nice comeback feud with Porter. Both Kennedy and MVP are superb on the mic, and both are very skilled in the ring. Kennedy could do something like shoot a promo telling the fans that he is back and ready to rise to the top. MVP could then interrupt and say that nobody cares about Kennedy anymore, thus rising to an altercation and then rivalry.

I think that MVP and Kennedy would be able to put together a good two or three month program with Porter picking up the first win or two to re-establish him as a winner rather than the loser he has been as of late. Whatever happens, MVP deserves to start picking up wins once again before he is buried. Either that or he could start picking up losses to Kung Fu Naki.

PLEASE NOT THAT PREDICTION

Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass Crew: Last summer it appeared that the guys from Jackass were going to be featured at Summerslam. After an embarrassing interaction between Steve-O and Umaga, WWE decided not to go through with the angle.

Now here we are a little over a year later and they are giving the Jackass angle another crack, this time with the leader of the group, Johnny Knoxville. I just want to know one thing: is there anyone watching this who cares?

Jackass was at the top of its game, what, six or seven years ago? I didn’t even know they were still doing anything. I did enjoy some of their stunts, but I never desired some crossover act with WWE. And that goes for practically any other Hollywood celebrity; it is almost always a bad idea.

Knoxville’s place on the show was just completely random. We knew he was going to do a segment with Kalhi, but why were the likes of Santino, Beth Phoenix, Hornswoggle, Dick Johnson, and the Boogeyman all featured as well? And not only did this segment feature a band of WWE rejects (Glamarella excluded), but they all performed their parts very poorly.

So what is to come of this Jackass involvement? I am hoping that this was just a one-night-only appearance. It’s bad enough that we will even have to see a replay of this debocle this Monday night. I can only hope that WWE also realized how bad it was and if they did have any long-term plans in the works they have now reconsidered.

On a side note, I think WWE was lucky that the Jackass guys went along with the angles as well as they did, on both this outing, and last year’s involving Steve-O. I could definitely see them striving for things on a scripted show to turn out not as they were planned. If I were part of WWE Creative, I would learn a lesson and move on without Knoxville in toe.

ONE LAST PREDICTION

The Great Khali will be accepted as a face and start dating Maria. Fans would accept that, right?

"Fast Forward" will appear exclusively on pwtorch.com each week. Email kylehodgdon@hotmail.com with any questions, comments, or personal predictions. Hodgdon urges you to read Marvel Comic's "Civil War" if you want to see a "split down the middle" storyline done right.

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