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Coming off Slammiversary, with TNA appearing at first glance to have the most momentum it has had in some time, the
question becomes: In 2012, when wrestling interest overall is at a low point, what is the ceiling for a distant No. 2 promotion?
It’s a hard question to answer. For all the talk of TNA suddenly having the most entertaining pro wrestling product out there,
almost a 180 from a few months back, that still isn’t hitting the average fan, because they still aren’t watching. There is a
question that in 2012, just by being TNA, not just with its history, but being pro wrestling that isn’tWWE in an era where the
brand and not the match or the individual that is the key, how much can it move? Historywill tell you. There are huge swings
possible when you get hot. But local territories were monopolies.WCWwas a distant No. 2 in the 90s, when the business was
in far worse shape than it is today and you can point that out, but that’s another era. WCW always had a base audience and
history and the industry had a ridiculous number of stars that were known to almost all fans compared to now. Even in down
times,WCW’s flagship weekend show did in the 2s and prime time specials of big shows did in the 3s.WCWdid explode in
popularity and revenue for a few years in the late 90s. But you only have to look at the MondayNightWars, how well WCW
competed when it moved against Raw in 1995, and how TNA did when it moved against Raw in 2010, to see thatWCW
analogies and what happened then don’t correlate to today.
TNA is now producing better television, and the last two PPV shows have been the best ones they’ve done in a long time.
Among our readership, Slammiversary seemed to have had more interest than any TNA show in a long time. But that’s not
necessarily indicative of the public at large. In theory, if there is a turnaround, it would be quicker among the readership
because they are more apt to watch everything, watch it closer, and more open minded to secondary products. Still, whatever
their ceiling may be, it is always better to produce a good product than a bad one.
Historically, house show attendance has been the first place where you see the changes, as well as PPV numbers. Ratings lag
behind in moving up, as well as lag behind in moving down. A downturn in ratings in a creature of habit viewing entertainment
form is usually a sign of things that actually started to go badly some time back.
When it comes to house shows, TNA has been running so few that nothing is evident. Slammiversary in Arlington was as
successful in selling tickets as anymajor TNA show in years, so that’s a good sign, but that’s just one show. It’ll be a few
weeks to get a real PPV indication.
I didn’t necessarily think Slammiversarywas a better wrestling show than Sacrifice last month, but it was a better show for
building momentum. Theywere both two of the better PPV shows this year. Slammiversarywas stronger because of the better
setting and hotter crowd, and storylines having a few more weeks to click. Sacrifice had more good matches. But no doubt
more people saw Slammiversary, as it was pushed far better. In delivering a very strong show to a larger audience, it probably
did the companymore good going forward in the PPV department, although it takes a lot more than two top level shows in a row
to get people who had given up years ago and make them willing in a challenging economy to add that to their monthly bill. A
couple of more shows like this and perhaps there will be a word of mouth that TNA PPV shows are worth getting. They had that
years ago, when PPV numbers were significantly larger than they have been even though they had far less exposure and less
major star power.
The 6/10 show at the new College Park Center in Arlington, TX, drew 5,000 fans, a near sellout. There were 4,000 tickets sold in
advance, so that indicates little papering. There were only a few hundred empty seats total, and to TNA’s credit, their production
team is good at making crowds seem bigger than they are. They actually had less than 5,500 in London at the January TV
taping, but watching on TV, you’d have thought they packed a 13,000-seat arena. Carter in the ring said it was the company’s
largest crowd ever in the United States. There have been a few crowds that those in the company had stated were more than
5,000 in the past, but not many. Mike Tenay, seemingly talking carefully, said that it was TNA’s largest crowd ever for a TV taping
or PPVwithin the United States.
When it was over, it was really all about two great matches, a Kurt Angle & A.J. Styles tag team title win over Christopher Daniels
& Kazarian, and the opener, where XDivision champion Austin Aries retained his title beating Samoa Joe. And yes, there is
supposed to be a 225 pound limit on the XDivision.
The main event left the crowd flat, as BobbyRoode retained against Sting after hitting him with a beer bottle. I didn’t think it was
smart to, on television before the PPV, announce that the winner of the title match at the PPVwould defend on TV four days later
for free. The challenger was the winner of a Jeff Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Mr. Anderson three-way, which Anderson won.
The show was pushed hard around Sting. Sting was named the first member of the TNAWrestling Hall of Fame as announced
midway through the show byDixie Carter. The decision was made some time back, but kept a carefully guarded secret. The
belief is that none of the wrestlers, nor Sting, were aware of who it would be. The production people knew since they put
together the video package. Everyone on the card, plus Tara (the only person not wrestling on the show who was brought in),
Madison Rayne (who didn’t wrestle but had a storyline purpose for being there) along with Bruce Prichard, Al Snow, D-Lo Brown
and maybe others (no Eric Bischoff since he’s no longer a TV character) were brought out for the announcement.
Carter opened the segment thanking her parents, as well as Jeff & Jerry Jarrett (who started the company together in 2002 and
this was the 10th anniversary of the debut show), Spike TV and the fans. Tenay specificallymentioned Bob, Janice and Todd
Carter (Dixie’s brother) for making the last ten years possible. The mention of Jerry Jarrett was interesting if only because he’s
been on the outs with the company for years, dating back to when he went to WWE headquarters to bring them Oleg Prudius
(who became Vladmir Kozlov) without letting anyone know, and to say there was uncertainty and unrest in TNAwould be putting
it mildly. People figured since Jeff & Jerry had been together on the venture, and things were hardly solid, that Jerrywas trying to
broker a deal to get Jeff there and that TNAwas essentially dead. In fact, Jeff & Jerry haven’t spoken since then unless things
have recently changed, and Jerry didn’t even attend Jeff’s first wife’s funeral. Jeff still works for the company, although he’s not
in the creative loop at all, nor is he a performer. Some thought he was going to be the person announced. Realistically, the
most valuable people in TNA being around are Dixie Carter, Bob Carter and Kevin Kay.
Bob Carter funded the venture, selling all kinds of his personal land to fund it and keep it going when it appeared there was no
light at the end of the tunnel, as the company was $55 million in the red as of two years ago. Kay saved it in 2005 when it was
about to be closed, by putting the product on Spike TV as theywere looking to stay in wrestling after WWE left the network to
return to USA. It went from an afterthought on late Saturday nights to one of the network’s flagship shows, particularly in the last
few months when they lost the UFC franchise, plus it was felt a strong TNAwas beneficial to promote the Viacom-owned
Bellator next year. But for fans, they couldn’t name Dixie as it wouldn’t work, and people wouldn’t even know the other two
names. By that token, the only “first person” inducted could have been Jeff Jarrett, Angle, Hulk Hogan or Sting.
Sting was not only the choice, but during the show they counted down the three biggest moments in TNA history. In their minds,
No. 3 was Styles beating Jerry Lynn to become the first XDivision champion just as the company got started in 2002.While the
XDivision was a big deal and kind of the flagship of the company during the first few years in Nashville, it’s been a typical
prelim match title for years, and even then, would hardly quality as a major moment. No. 2 was the 2009 signing of Hogan. In
reality, that should have been No. 1, although you could argue that Hogan never ended up being the difference maker expected
and wasn’t worth what theywere paying. Sting’s signing in early 2006 was voted No. 1. Sting had been with the company a few
times prior to that. Angle came later in 2006 and I’d argue was the more valuable performer, but Sting, with his longer career,
was probably better asa the initial choice.
Sting was only expected to work one year, and retire at the end of 2006.We’re now six-and-a-half years into the deal, and Sting
was main-eventing the show at 53. The one thing is, Sting is not in anymajor pro wrestling Hall of Fames, so in a sense that
made him a good first choice. The crowd chanted “Thank You Sting,” loudly. Carter then said that whenever they go into foreign
countries, that’s how the crowd reacts. That was kind of a funny thing to say, since for years Sting had refused to do shows
outside the U.S. Really until this past January’s U.K. tour, Sting had done only a few shows outside the U.S., such as one major
AAA show and almost never works house shows. They announced a formal ceremonywould take place on the Bound for Glory
show in October.
Sting, since he wasn’t aware, wasn’t prepared, and just thanked Carter, the wrestlers and chanted “Thank you” a few times
back to the fans. It did come across like a real moment.
There were two other surprises at the show. James Storm returned answering Crimson’s open challenge, and pinned him
quicklywith a superkick to end the undefeated streak. The streak had run its course and on paper, Storm coming back as a
surprise looked like a winner. The response when his music played and he came out wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t like you would
expect for a surprise of the person groomed to be the company’s top face. Part of the problem is that on TV, when Crimson
mentioned Bill Goldberg, you could see people expecting Goldberg, and there were “Goldberg” chants when Crimson came out
and you could tell those fans felt disappointed. Goldberg is getting more chants of late than almost anywrestler in the world,
and in both TNA and WWE. After Storm won and drank beer, the crowd was pretty hot, but they didn’t really care about the match
when it started. But no paper, I’d say it was perfect to have him on the show as a surprise, and start his momentum, since he
prettymuch has to beat Roode when they next meet.
The final surprise was Christian, billed as Christian Cage, the name he used while in TNA from 2005-2008, doing a one-time
appearance that didn’t seem to serve much of a purpose and left more questions than answers. This was the deal they
negotiated in March to allow Ric Flair to attend the Hall of Fame ceremony, and with the lawsuit going on, there was no way
WWE could have pulled him from an pre-existing deal. But while he was nice to everyone backstage, when he came out, you
could tell he was scared to say boo to a goose and from his body language, seemed like he didn’t want to be there. Back in
March, he was first told that he would be going back for one daywhere he’d do interviews as a talking head for a series of TNA
DVD releases. Those in WWE said that he made it clear he didn’t want to do it. HHH insisted he do so, saying that he wasn’t
going to negotiate this far and let anyone screw up the deal to get Flair.
What was weird about it was that instead of advertising Christian appearing on the show on TV, they revealed it a few hours
after Impact ended, on Dixie Carter’s Twitter. They have this mentality that you have to announce something at the last minute
on Twitter. This also created a kind of embarrassing moment on the broadcast, since Taz, who announced the live show, talked
about what a big surprise it was, since he did the TV and since he didn’t know ahead of time, figured fans must not have
known, not being told the company had released the info itself a few days earlier. Taz several minutes later addressed that he
doesn’t read Carter’s Twitter, maybe he should, and that he didn’t know something that a lot of fans did. Christian also didn’t
get a monster pop, but he did get a good one. There were light “Welcome back” chants from fans who didn’t realize it was a one
time thing. There were also “Please come back” chants from what sounded to be maybe ten people. Christian said nothing,
just praised the fans and made a remark about the ring only having four sides that went over the head of 90% of the fans there
live. He introduced the biggest moment in TNA history as when Sting showed up on Impact for the first time, after he signed that
first one-year contract, in 2006. And then he was gone.
As far as where things go from here, not a lot has been made clear.With no tapings right after the PPV, the major direction
hasn’t even been hinted at. The next PPV is Destination X on 7/8, which will be hurt coming the day after UFC’s biggest event of
the year. Austin Aries did an interview at Slammiversarywhere he didn’t quite challenge Roode by name, but did say that he
wanted a chance to be in the main event and be the man. Roode vs. Aries doesn’t sound like a PPVmain event in the sense
Aries has never been positioned close to that level. They have booked him strong, with wins over Ray and Joe. His interaction
with Roode in a tag match on Impact a few weeks back was excellent. The positive is if the momentum is legit, and the
numbers for Slammiversarywill give an indication, maybe people will buy just because they like the brand. Usually that doesn’t
work when it comes to PPV numbers, nor does the idea that on paper the main event could be one of TNA’s best potential
matches, since reallyRoode, Aries, Styles and Angle (at least on PPV shows) are the company’s big four inside the ring. It’s
fresh, should be excellent, and Aries is a guywho can be elevated in the fans’ eyes just having a main event world title match
and losing in a great one. The only thing for Impact is the Roode vs. Anderson TVmatch, and the announcement of the Bound
for Glory series. The problem with the series is that last year’s was such a complete joke of a tournament. Hopefully they won’t
win and get the shot, but it’s so obvious Storm should win, that you have to combat the mentality of that we can’t let people
figure out where we are going.
Hulk Hogan opened the show and announced theywere going old school, and that the Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe match
would be for the XDivision title. Mike Tenay then explained that no, Joe didn’t make the 225 pound weight limit (not by a mile),
but theywere going old school. If Eric Young can hold the woman’s title, then why can’t Joe be a junior heavyweight? They had a
great match, but making it a title match at the last minute without advertising it meant theymade the whole weight class thing a
joke for no business purpose. Apparently it was that theywanted to open the show with Hogan, and then with the match, and
wanted Hogan to have something to say about the match, so that was the idea they came up with.
1. Austin Aries pinned Samoa Joe in 11:45 to keep the X title. Joe did look like he dropped a little weight and was at his best
here. Crowd very hot for this match. Joe worked as the heel without any real turn, but why not, since his babyface tag team run
with Magnus was also without a turn. Aries teased his tope early but as he came through the ropes, Joe nailed him with a kick
to the head. Joe’s chest was already all red from hard chops 2:00 in. Joe hit an enzuigiri, but missed a senton when Aries got
his knees up. Joe was running for a tope but Aries jumped in the ring while Joe flew out of the ring. Aries followed with his low
tope. Joe used an Emerald Frosien for a near fall. He blocked a huracanrana attempt and hit a power bomb for a near fall. He
then moved from a Boston crab to an STF to a ground abdominal stretch and finally to a lateral guillotine for a near fall. Joe hit
about seven head-butts to Aries and set up a muscle buster, but Aries escaped. Joe was up for a superplex but Aries fought
back hard, with head-buts to the back and boxing Joe’s ears. Aries hit the 450 for a near fall, playing off the match Aries beat
Joe in that ended Joe’s two year reign as ROH champion. Of course, nobodywould know that significance unless they had
seen that match. Aries came back to win with a running dropkick into the corner and a brainbuster. ***3/4
2. Hernandez pinned Kid Kash in 5:50. Hernandezwas announced as half of Mexican America, even though his partner,
Anarquia, was fired. Hernandezwas also a babyface here, even though he had been a heel for years and never bothered to
turn. Hernandez dropped weight and is leaner and more cut than before. Fast paced with stiff work. There were some messed
up spots, the key being Kash coming off the ropes, and Hernandez hit Kash with a clothesline. Kash evidentlywasn’t expecting
it so he totally no sold it. Then Kash messed up the next spot. Hernandez did his running dive over the top and landed mostly to
the right of Kash, hitting his right shoulder hard on hitting the floor. Kash got out of the border toss and hit a dropkick to
Hernandez’s back, but Hernandez came back with a beautiful splash off the top for the pin. For two guys who haven’t been on
TV, neither of which had anymeaningful singles push in years, the crowd was hotter for this than most matches on the show.
**½
3. Devon & Garett Bischoff beat Robbie E & Robbie T in 5:55. The early period wasn’t good with Bischoff vs. T. T wasn’t selling
Bischoff’s offense. Madison Rayne came out all dressed up.We’re down to five people who she’s got the hots for, which are
these four and referee Earl Hebner. I’m establishing Hebner as the favorite, just because everyone probably at this point
wouldn’t be thinking it was him. Hot tag to Devon and the last 90 seconds were good and the crowd was into every single move.
Devon used a Thesz press, a diving head-butt, a uranage and more, bringing “ECW” chants. Bischoff pulled down the rope and
T was supposed to take a bump over the top. But he hesitated and then had a hard time getting the necessarymomentum at
first. Once he did flip out of the ring, Bischoff did a crossbody off the apron on him. Devon then hit E with a spinebuster and
pinned him. *3/4
4. Mr. Anderson won a three-way for the next world title shot over Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy in 11:23. Anderson changed his
hair color and hair style again. Match was better than most expected out of it. Immediate dueling chants for a match with three
babyfaces. They did a tower of doom spot. Anderson did a top rope superplex on Hardy. Van Dam then missed a frog splash on
both as theywere on the mat selling. Van Dam did come back with a spin kick by Anderson and a scissors takedown on Hardy.
After Van Dam landed a Rider kick (not named after Zack) on Hardy, we got the “This is wrestling” chants. Van Dam did a split
legged moonsault on Anderson but Hardy saved. He also monkey flipped Anderson onto Hardy. Anderson hit the Lambeau
plunge on Hardy for a near fall. Van Dam and Anderson were both fighting on the floor when Hardy came off the top rope
outside with a Santo-style plancha. Hardywhipped Anderson’s shoulder into the steps and did the whisper in the wind for a
near fall on Van Dam. Hardywith a twist of fate on Van Dam followed by a swanton. Van Dam kicked out, evidently not knowing if
Anderson was going to be there for the save on time. Anderson’s save was pulling ref Brian Hebner out of the ring. Anderson
threw hardy out of the ring. Van Dam made a comeback, but his attempt at his rolling thunder was countered into a mic check
and Anderson got the clean pin. ***
5. James Storm pinned Crimson to end the 16 month winning streak at 2:10. Crimson issued the open challenge, ripped on
the locals and asked if there were anyMavericks willing to fight him, anyRangers willing to fight him (which got a big reaction,
showing this was a strong local audience of sports fans–and the Rangers ballpark was only a few miles away), and then
asked if there were anyCowboys willing to face him. I really liked how this was done. There was a loud “Goldberg” chant
stemming from Crimson mentioning his name on TV. Storm came out and won quickly. He first used the codebreaker, and
then started working the crowd before hitting the superkick. It was booked exactly as it should have been. *
Next was the Hall of Fame ceremony.
6. Miss Tessmacher pinned Gail Kim to win the Knockouts title in 7:00. The crowd was dead, as they had a hard time following
Sting’s Hall of Fame induction. The match also was nowhere close to as good as last month. During the match Mike Tenay
made mention of Bob Ryder and Keith Mitchell, who had been with the company since day one. There was one messed up
spot. The storywas that Kim had the match won, could have done her eat defeat, but wanted to embarrass Tessmacher by
using Tessmacher’s finish, which is a back suplex into a face plant, on her to win. Tessmacher reversed into a cradle for the
pin. *1/4
7. Joe Abyss Park pinned BullyRay in 10:21. This was a very different match. The story is Joe Park isn’t a wrestler, so he
worked like a guywho didn’t know what he was doing in the ring, wearing a track suit that a guywould wear who was a nonathlete
buying clothes for his first day in the gym at the age of 35. This wasn’t a good match, and by normal match standards, it
was real bad, but for telling the story they needed to, it was fine. The crowd was a lot less into Park early than I expected. But
Ray got so much heat and the crowd was more into chanting “Let’s Go Rangers” and “Yankees suck.” Ray slapped him around
and just played Bully. At one point Ray had a chair and Park got it from him, but held it upside down from how a wrestler would
do it. Ray begged off, then took the chair and hit Park to the back. He was mauling him until missing a senton. Park came back
throwing terrible punches. I mean theywere perfectly terrible as in he threw them like a guywho had never thrown a punch in
his life, and then he acted like he was all blown up. There was a horrible collision spot where Raywent down. Actually that one
didn’t work as the crowd didn’t go for it. Ray pulled out a table. He also got a kendo stick, but Joe took it away from Ray and
nailed him with the kendo stick. Joe rolled under the ring. Out came a guy dressed as Abyss. This wasn’t Joe, but a big guy
from the 3-D wrestling school whose name we don’t know. Theywere very careful to shoot him from behind and he choke
slammed Ray through the table. He went under the ring. Joe came from under the ring and got the pin. The winning pop was
not that big. It was very clear from how quick Joe went under and Abyss came out that he couldn’t be Abyss, but at some point it
all makes sense whenever the real happens. *1/2
Next was the segment with Christian.
8. Kurt Angle & A.J. Styles beat Christopher Daniels & Kazarian to win the tag titles in 14:27. Styles & Angle were on fire here.
Everyone knows Daniels works like a glove with Styles since they’ve got so much experience together, but nobody ever talks
about Kazarian at this level and he at no point in this match was being carried or seemed not at the league with the other three.
Styles did a springboard forearm off the guard rial. Then came the heat spot on Styles. Angle tagged in with a bunch of German
suplexes and an Olympic slam. The big spot was Angle German suplexing both men at the same time. He put Daniels in the
ankle lock but Kazarian broke it up with a high kick. Daniels set up Angel’s wings but Angle back dropped out and tagged Styles
in. Styles did all kinds of stuff, including a moonsault into a reverse DDT on Kazarian while doing a regular DDT on Daniels.
Kazarian landed the high kick on Styles and theywent back to work on him. Then came a series of moves with Daniels doing
the roll the dice on Styles, Angle doing the Olympic slam on Daniels and Kazarian coming from the apron into the ring with a
DDT on Angle. Styles then hit Kazarian with a face plant for a near fall. Angle did the belly to belly suplex on Kazarian, but
Daniels did the STO on Angle. This left Styles and Daniels trading punches doing the Frye-Takayama spot. Finish saw Daniels
go for his best moonsault ever on Styles, but he moved and Daniels landed on his feet. Angle used a flip over German suplex
on Daniels. Styles hit the Pele kick on Kazarian. Angle did a splash off the top on Kazarian, but Daniels pulled Earl Hebner out
of the ring. I hate that pulling the ref out of the ring while doing a count spot because it’s so stupid that it’s not a DQ. Styles then
hit a springboard shooting star press to the floor on Daniels. In the ring, Kazarian went for his Omori driver, but Angle reversed
into an ankle lock. Angle grapevined the leg and Kazarian was struggling for the ropes before tapping when he was just short of
the ropes. ****1/4
9. BobbyRoode pinned Sting in 10:52 to retain the TNA title. Roode came out with his Terry Taylor robe (he actually bought the
robe from Taylor). Roode did a lot of stalling early and they ended up doing a short main event. The crowd was into Sting while
Roode continued to stall. Sting used a superplex and went for the scorpion deathlock. Roode teased tapping but made the
ropes. Good spot because it played off the finish of the tag title match. Theywent outside the ring and Sting used a Stinger
splash into the guard rail, and then put Roode in the scorpion deathlock on the announcers table. Roode was tapping but it
didn’t count as Brian Hebner told Sting it only counts within the ring. As Roode was selling, he grabbed a case of beer left over
next to the table from Storm’s celebration earlier in the show. He went to hit Sting with a beer bottle, but Sting got the bottle
away. Ref Brian Hebner took the bottle from Sting and took it outside the ring.While this was going on, Roode, who still had the
case, grabbed another bottle and hit Sting over the head with it. Hebner got in the ring, and even with the broken glass, counted
the pin. Sting bladed his forehead right on camera as theywere counting the fall. Flat finish, although from a storyline
standpoint, I do like the idea he used the bottle left by Storm to beat Sting as it tells the story of a resourceful conniving
champion, and does leave things open for a TVmatch with Sting or a gimmick PPVmatch with Sting before October. They tried
to keep Sting strong with a post-match beatdown on Roode. The thing is, the Sting storyline where he quit his position to get
serious about being a wrestler specifically for Roode means at some point he has to beat Roode, but it’s not the time for a title
change. After Roode drops the title they need to build for one last high stakes match. Sting in the post-match threw Roode into
the steel lighting structure and then gave him a scorpion death drop off the ramp into what was far too obviously a crash pad.
The crowd live did a “holy shit” chant but on TV it was way too obvious it was a gimmicked spot. Sting actually landed too far out
and legit hit the back of his head off the crash pad.
_________________ Drop In wrote: I'm picturing a 12 year old Bob Loblaw bitching out a Randy Savage Wrestling Buddy for botching his finisher. Also envisioning Bob Loblaw getting bitched at for lighting the living room table on fire for said finisher.
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