Reality From Ringside #52
February 15, 2010
By: Doug Lackey of WrestleView.com
TNA Against All Odds 2010: The Hangover
For the past few weeks here in Flair Country, it’s been very weird. Snow has been in the air or on the ground in some way, shape, or form. Gas prices have been slowly decreasing. The unemployment rate has steadily dropped to a modest 11%. There’s nothing else that I could think of to compliment this bizarre period of time more than a TNA pay-per-view.
Enter the 2010 edition of ?Against All Odds?.
Just like ?Genesis? last month, ?Against All Odds? was not the prototypical TNA pay-per-view card. There was no X-division multi-man cluster.. There were no Knockouts to be found. There were only two stipulated matches (Abyss/Foley ?Hardcore?, AJ/Joe with Bischoff as referee) compared to the usual four or five.
The biggest shock of all? A Kurt Angle match with only ONE ankle lock!
Where massive piles of debris and a shocked and confused professional wrestling public lay strewn after the swirling chaos of a TNA PPV tornado? I represent FEMA to help sort through the disaster.
What’s the big difference between me and FEMA? It took me less than three days to come help sift through the wreckage.
Alright. Tighten the belts. Suck it in. It’s time to ask the big questions following TNA’s ?Against All Odds? from last night?
After the ?8-Card Stud Tournament?, what will happen to the performers who are not named D?Angelo Dinero?
There are many advantages to having an 8-man tournament like this. Senses of intrigue with the match-ups involved. Attempting to predict all seven matches correctly just so you can have bragging rights amongst your professional wrestling brethren. There is one advantage though that you usually find in a tournament that I just did not seem to observe in this one?
Tournaments, just like other multi-man matches with massive implications, should be used as the foundation for future storylines. Of the seven talents that did not win this tournament, what can we see in their programming future?
Will Mick Foley continue to walk into Eric Bischoff’s office for no reason? Does this lead to a wrestling match of some sort?
Is there now a rift between Matt Morgan and Hernandez? If the answer is ?yes?, how did it start? Is it because of their match against each other, the means Morgan had gone to capture the victory, or Morgan’s attitude in general?
Is it safe to assume that Mr. Anderson will now have a program with Dinero? What did Scott Hall and Sean Waltman (I refuse to use any of his nicknames) have to do with his finals match against Dinero?
Granted all of these questions can be reason for my detractors to say, ?But these all constitute for storylines! You now have a reason to tune in to ?Impact? on Thursday!?
Very true? but what about the others?
Desmond Wolfe’s last major storyline involved him and Dinero. Now that Dinero is in line for a TNA World Title match in April at ?Lockdown?, will he be reinserted? It seems that Wolfe has now been lost in the shuffle.
Abyss has not had a meaningful storyline since his debacle of a plot involving the seemingly invisible duo of Raven and Dr. Stevie. He has had segments involving the new Boss, Hulk Hogan, and his unknowing association with Foley and Jeremy Borash. Does this end up in a wrestling ring at some point in time? We can now assume that Abyss will be thrown into the shuffle.
What about Kurt Angle?! Is the ?Orlando Screwjob? that viable of a plot to continue? Doesn?t he have a beef with Hall and Waltman? Or was it AJ Styles? Of all the question marks swirling above TNA’s talent, his is the most daunting and unanswerable of all of them.
Who was meant to be punished from the epic failure of Team 3D vs. The Nasty Boys?
Four performers too unfit to do anything physical inside a wrestling ring. More time wasted walking around outside of the ring to regain composure and take a breather than actually spent within the ring’s confines. To cap it all off, Jimmy Hart returning from an AARP biker rally to assist his fellow card-carrying members in the win.
Watching this match, I felt like someone somewhere within the Impact Zone was being punished.
Was it Team 3D? Were The Nasty Boys they only tag team Hogan and Bischoff could think of to pair up with them in a match on a pay-per-view card that would seem mildly entertaining?
Was it the Impact Zone audience? Of all the feverish jeers we have heard from theme in regards to six-sided rings and frenetic acrobatics, was this Hogan and Bischoff’s metaphorical ?Shut the hell up, THIS is wrestling!??
If this match was meant to make a statement of any kind in regards to TNA and Hogan’s vision of it, it became painfully obvious to me. TNA has now become Hulk Hogan’s employment program? bring in people he knows are down on their luck, have nothing better to do, and help them out financially.
We really shouldn?t be surprised by this? this is what Jeff Jarrett had been doing for nearly seven years now anyway.
If there truly is a ranking system within TNA and its World Title scenario, has the pecking order been established after ?Against All Odds??
After winning the 8-man tournament, D?Angelo Dinero is slated for a World Title match in April. With nearly seven weeks until then, will this still be the case? Will we still remember that Dinero ?earned? his shot or will other contenders come into the mix to negate his efforts?
Kurt Angle has yet to have a true rematch with AJ Styles that does not involve outside interference of any kind. However, Angle lost in the tournament to Ken Anderson. So does this mean that Angle will be nowhere to be found in the rankings?
Has Samoa Joe dropped out of contention after failing to grab the title last night? If he supposedly is to be at a higher ranking, why has he only had one match since winning the ?Feast or Fired? briefcase last December?
TNA’s ranking system has only been discussed for the past handful of days but never explained. There has been no system? no records? no form or organization to determine anything in regards to a pecking order. I only hope and pray that all will be described in the coming weeks.
The bigger question I have when it comes to this new ranking system TNA will devise: Will they be able to explain it effectively and carry it out with competence?
Last Thursday, Hogan thoroughly explained how the Impact Zone was on lockdown to keep out Hall and Waltman even though he politely opened the doors for them to enter the building later on in the show.
Cohesion and continuity in TNA? Yeah? I like to dream too?
Until next time, mouth-breathers!
Annoy me with your assumptions and affronts… adore me with your adulations and acknowledgements: dougystyle79@yahoo.com.