Last week a bearded man won two matches in one night to overcome the odds and become new World Heavyweight champion. Daniel who? I'm talking about Eric Young!
Whether of not TNA are blatantly saying "fuck this, lets just copy our favorite TV Show" (which isn't GoT), giving the title to someone who has been working hard for the company since his first appearance in 2004 is always a good strategy to keep your company alive. Granted, they hot potatoing the title off to Chris Sabin last summer (another deserving TNA veteran), I doubt that the good folks behind TNA will make the mistake of making Young a transitional Champion. Especially not one that will lose it to the leader of the next "rogue team looking to take over Impact Wrestling".
Then again, We will just have to wait and see how Daniel Bryan fairs with the Authority. Until then, here's to TNA doing something right!
Abyss vs. AJ Styles - TNA Heavyweight Championship match - TNA Destination X (2010)
While there have been good encounters between Abyss and AJ Styles ( i.e. Lockdown '05), this is not one of those encounters. No, this encounter is in the thick of Hulk Hogan's takeover of TNA in 2010 starring heel AJ Styles taking on face Abyss. During this glorious downward spiral of TNA, "the future of TNA" AJ Styles was put under the wing of wheelchaired Ric Flair, while Abyss, you know - "The Monster" Abyss - was given the powers of Hulkamania by Hulk Hogan in order to dethrone Styles of Fortune (TNA's try at the Four Horsemen, I guess) and eventually become champion. Abyss's Hulkster power-up included a new Real American mash-up theme, a few bits of ketchup and mustard on his attire, and Hulk Hogan's Hall of Fame ring. Yep, Hogan gave his ring to Abyss rather than pawning it for some quick cash. Silly Hogan... it's not like he can get another one. Oh, just you wait.
Abyss and AJ have a pretty alright match that could have just been done and forgotten about. Instead, Abyss with his new found Hulkamania powers takes a page out of The Big Show (who also once pretended to be Hogan) and Undertaker's book and chokeslams AJ Styles through the ring. Technically, AJ's body just collapses the ring, but as the camera mistakenly looks down at AJ in the hole we see that he is being cut through the mat by some mysterious scissor people that reside under the ring.
So that's it, right? Abyss chokeslams AJ through the ring and wins the belt for the sake of Hulkamania? Actually no; since AJ is sucked down into the abyss, hah, and was unable to return, the match was thrown out just like when a champion walks out of the match in a last ditch effort to retain their title. Abyss wins the battle and AJ Styles retains his title, but the nonsense doesn't end there. As Hogan himself comes out to celebrate with Abyss, Ric Flair gets wheeled back out to confront Hogan who had kicked him out earlier in the match. The wheelchair bound Flair is then dragged into the ring by Hogan's monster, gets sprayed by some pepper spray, and flops around on the mat for a while until Desmond Wolfe comes out to save him. Wolfe does not save Flair, instead he gets beat down by Hogan and Abyss, pepper sprayed, and finally, trips over the selling-like-it's-gonna-win-him-another-Hall of Fame-ring, Ric Flair into the hole in the middle of the ring. In one final act of total nonstop acting, Flair does his best Shawn Michaels impression from Summerslam '05 and overly sells a fall into the hole with the already buried Desmond Wolfe and AJ Styles.
Theme results
Ring Destructions: Abyss hulks up and chokelsams AJ "through" the ring.
In 2005, "The Alpha Man" Monty Brown was being stalked by an unknown man who may or may not have possessed supernatural powers. This mystery man was eventually revealed as "Trytan", a man who may or may not have had supernatural powers. So, as all storylines should go, this stalking of sorts by Trytan led to him getting a match with Monty Brown at Destination X.
Whether or not this Trytan guy had special powers or was some Terminator reject, one thing was more unclear than the rest, and that was: could this guy even wrestle? Well, as it turned out, he could - just not very well. Monty Brown carried the match until it came time to deliver his signature move, a move I'll forever miss, the POUNCE! Unfortunately, as Monty Brown is running the ropes to set up his explosive shoulder block, the lights go out and when they turn back on a man dressed from head to toe in black is in the place of Trytan. Monty Brown then takes this masked person and Pounces him and even gets the pinfall when it clearly wasn't Trytan. As Monty Brown is getting his hand raised in victory for defeating a man that wasn't even his opponent, Trytan appears and then disappears into some smoke back to the locker room.
Despite Monty Brown getting the win but not a victory over Trytan, the storyline, just like Trytan throw the tunnel at the end of this match, disappeared into obscurity. Later that night, Monty Brown would turn heel and aligned himself with Jeff Jarrett after helping Jarrett in his match against DDP, thus giving Brown something to do other than chase around a walking disappearance act.
Trytan apparently stayed with the company for some time after this match but never really did anything worth noting. As for the masked man, well, he was never seen again. At least we know who played him, and that was Dennis Knight - better known as Phineas I. Godwinn, Mideon, or "Naked" Mideon .
Low Ki vs. Jerry Lynn vs. AJ Styles - Triangle Ladder match for the X Division title - TNA PPV (2002)
Two up and coming indie sensations and a wily vet still kicking it look to take the world by storm. In the young, Wednesday night PPV from Nashville days of Total Nonstop Action, the name of the game was the X Division. While the main event scene had mostly all established stars, the X Division was in beginning to flourish with great young talent like AJ Styles, Low Ki, Amazing Red, Chris Sabin, Michael Shane, and Sonny Siaki just to name a few. It was new, it was exciting, and it was actually good.
While Low Ki and AJ Styles came into this match already current/former X champs, Jerry Lynn had yet to hold the title. Even though he could go the length with the young guns, he still needed that X Division glory that only Low Ki and Styles had up to this point.
Also, this was the time in TNA where Mike Tenay and Don West would get really excited about everything. I understand the need to sell the product, but come on, this match is good, if not better, without constant marking out by the commentary team. It isn't Matt Striker commentary bad to listen to, but it still gets a little redundant. Especially when every match was called the greatest TNA match of all time and this was only their first year.
Ron "The Truth" Killings & Rasheed Lucius "Consequences" Creed (w/Pacman Jones) vs. AJ Styles & Tomko - TNA Tag Team titles match - TNA Bound For Glory (2007)
If there's one year of TNA that I actually watched and forgot about, it's 2007. I guess that's why I thought it was mighty odd that people were saying that Consequences Creed, now Xavier Woods, had already teamed up with R-Truth before the debut of Woods on Raw tonight. As it turns out, before Lethal Consequences (Creed's tag team with Jay Lethal that I do remember), Consequences Creed was the guy added to the team of Ron Killings and... yep, you guessed it, Adam "Pacman" Jones of American football shenanigans fame in TNA in 2007. Since Pacman Jones was technically still under contract with the NFL (he just happened to be suspended at this time), Pacman was not actually allowed to wrestle, which doesn't sound that bad except for the important and incredibly inane fact that he was one half of the TNA tag champions. I'm not going to say this was a poor decision by TNA; putting the title on someone who has never wrestled and happened to be the bad boy of football that week is nothing new. Titles with more prestige have been put on worse nobodies, but here Pacman wasn't even allowed to wrestle. That's where Consequences Creed came in, however, and thanks to Pacman in a way, Creed made a big enough impact in this match to be called back and eventually had a pretty solid run in TNA until 2010.
So here's to the silver-lining of Team Pacman in TNA circa 2007. Here's to Xavier Woods hopefully getting to stay on the main roster for good.
I should also point out that Pacman returned to TNA two weeks ago. Maybe WWE saw this and remembered Team Pacman for the first time since 2007 as well, and remembered that they have the better halves.
AJ Styles, Jerry Lynn, & Low Ki vs. The Flying Elvises (Jorge Estrada, Sonny Siaki, & Jimmy Yang) - first TNA match on the very first TNA show - NWA: TNA PPV (2002)
While technically this is everyone involved's debut match in TNA, since it was TNA's first match seen on the very first TNA show via Pay Per View, AJ Styles won the TNA world title last night and therefore gets the recognition above as part of new champ Debut Monday tradition.
Anyways, here's the genesis of the X division showing what they got to the Nashville crowd and the NWA legends in the back... and whomever heard about TNA and bought the PPV in 2002.
Over 10 years later and AJ Styles is still the future of the company. At least he's the top face again, for now.
Also, The Flying Elvises, the team of Sonny Siaki, Jorge Estrada, and Jimmy Yang (Later known as Akio or Jimmy Wayne Yang in WWE) are not to confused with the skydiving Elvis look-a-likes who jumped out of the airplane with Nic Cage in Honeymoon in Vegas. Being that early TNA had a lot of leftover WCW talent that didn't get picked up by Vinnie Mac, it's no surprise that they would have a Nic Cage gimmick on their program!
Team 3D vs. Shark Boy & Curry Man - Fish Market Street Fight - TNA Destination X (2008)
Part 1
Here we go: Team 3D take on the colorful team of "Stone Cold" Shark Boy and Curry Man in a unique street fight that was right up Shark Boy's alley. But, before they could compete in the match itself, Brother Devon and Brother Ray first had to weigh-in as they had previously lost to Shelley/Sabin with the stipulation that if Team 3D lost they must be weighed before every match. If the brothers from another mother over-exceeded the weight limit of 275 lb, they'd be DQ'd. I want to say the weight limit gimmick came about due to the new X division weight limit but it was probably just TNA being TNA.
Part 2
Anyways, Team 3D (much bigger than they are today) ended up miraculously meeting the weigh-in and got the opportunity to be in TNA's very first Fish Market Street Fight! Real dead fish and all. I'll try not to go too far into detail, but let's just say there were enough antics with fish, fish nets, fishing rods, and more fish by way of crotch shots to make you say holy mackerel. Stuff like that.
Brother Ray even Frenches a big ol' bass.
Part 3
"The fish are flying at Destination X" - Mike Tenay, 2009.
The only part of this match that really disappoints, and it's definitely not the use of fish/fish puns/fish equipment, is the ending. After countless kick-outs by Team 3D, Brother Devine (remember Johnny Devine?) came in to throw some powder in someone's face and it ends up in Brother Ray's eyes instead. Powder, really? I get that that is a good heel lackey thing to do, but this was a Fish Market Street Fight; couldn't Devine at least have thrown salt water at Ray instead? But nope. Ray then blindly walks in to position for a 3D on his own partner, Devon. Oh, and Curry Man and Shark Boy win!
Theme results
Food: fish, ding dongs, clam juice.
For more laughs, I highly recommend reading the Wrestlecrap induction of this match!
Alex Shelley vs. Roderick Strong vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Austin Aries - TNA Bound For Glory (pre-show) (2005)
Since TNA's Bound For Glory PPV in 2005 was so jam-packed with total non-stop action, hah, the X Division showcase of future/present indy mega stars had to open the free BOG pre-show. The 4-way match includes two soon-to-be World X Cup winners (Dutt and Shelley from Team USA), a very successful X Division and tag team champion around the world (Shelley), Two eventual winners of the ROH world title (Strong and Aries), a TNA champion (Aries), and an athlete who still deserves a lot more (Dutt).
Abyss vs. Desmond Wolfe - Monster's Ball match - Slammiversary VIII (2010)
Part 1:
In the midst of the the new championship ranking system and Hulk Hogan giving the Monster Abyss his Hall of Fame ring and some Hulkster music/attire, the TNA audience was treated to the small and forgettable (I forgot about it at least) feud between Desmond Wolfe and the Abyster.
The feud all began when Abyss beat Desmond Wolfe (better known as Nigel McGuinness from ROH) and got the services of Wolfe's valet, Chelsea for 30 days.
Part 2:
As Abyss started to show affection for Chelsea, Chelsea also began to show some sort of sympathy for the big monster. This story does not end like King Kong here at Slammiversary in the Monster's Ball match, however. No... instead, as Abyss gives Chelsea a teddy bear covered with barbed wire that Taz dubs the "hardcore teddy bear", Chelsea (who seemed fed up with Wolfe's continuous demands) eventually helps Abyss by tossing Wolfe's brass knuckles to the masked beast. The TNA Fairy tale ending at last!
But not really... Chelsea eventually returns to Desmond Wolfe after the 30 days are up and they ride off into the sunset to find a new life and success in the Impact Zone. Well, maybe not that last part.
It has come to my attention today that New Jack has retired from wrestling. I guess there's one less liability to worry about.
Rather than posting his retirement match (against Necro Butcher at this years' PWS Super Card), I've decided to just post this match instead for no reason other than I didn't want to post his notorious scaffold match with Vic Grimes yet or any match where he tries to stab his opponent to death.
That's New Jack's thing. Stabbing people to death.
New Jack vs. Sandman - Finals for the Hard 10 championship - NWA:TNA (2003)
Back in '03, TNA decided to add a little hardcore to their menu. So what better way to do this then by making a tournament revolving around a few ECW alumni mixed in with some guys who wrestled a couple times for ECW (Devon Storm, Vampire Warrior, Wolfie D) along with Mike Sanders and Sonny Siaki from WCW's Power Plant. But here's the catch - because this is TNA remember: there's got to be a catch on top of a catch - there was a point system.
A hardcore point system!
Apparently the way to win a match in this tournament was to get 10 points by using the weapons that were strategically placed around the ringside area and held by fans. The weapons that the competitors brought to the ring themselves did not count, however. Also, using a table was 5 big ones alone. So basically this tournament was just an excuse to see wrestlers get hit with random objects for five minutes like WWF's hardcore division circa 2000.
But it had a hardcore point system!
New Jack and Sandman, the two people hardcore enough to make it to the finals, battled it out in a back and forth struggle for points using the weapons they could find just laying around. Towards the end of the match, everyone loses count of the points and New Jack and Sandman make their way to the nearest balcony for New Jack to fall off of.. I mean get pushed off of.
Classic New Jack.
All that's missing is "Natural Born Killaz" being played on repeat throughout the duration of the match.
A.J. Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels - 3-Way Dance for the X Division title - TNA Unbreakable (2005)
Some people call this TNA's best match. Some people call this the best triple threat match of all time. What ever it is, it is a whole hell of a lot of fun. That's right! TNA and fun almost in the same sentence...
It's hard to believe that all three men in this thrilling 3-way for the X Division title, a title that was heavily contested at this time and a big deal, are still employed by TNA as minor characters that aren't related to Hulk Hogan. Don't get me wrong, Chris Daniels, along with his tag team partner, Kazarian are probably the best tag team that TNA has got right now and the two blend phenomenally, but AJ and his sulking biker gimmick and all around lack of Samoa Joe in the Impact Zone is a sad comparison to what these guys were dishing out every match like they were at Unbreakable in 2005.
Rumor has that the current X Division title will soon be contested via triple threat match-ups only which means that TNA will either we introducing us to some new talent or they are just going to be having this match played at every PPV in place of the X Division title match for now on.
Honestly though, that's really not that bad of an idea at this point in TNA's life.
The Briscoe Brothers (Jay & Mark) vs. The Hot Shots (Cassidy & Chase) - NWA:TNA (2002)
Here's a little Briscoe Brother action starring 18 year old Jay and Mark Briscoe (no relation to Jack or Gerald Brisco). It also stars Cassidy Riley (or O'Reilly at the time) and Chase Stevens who would go on to work for the TNA full time.
In it we see the very fragile looking Briscoes, who had already been wrestling 2 years (I'm guessing in the backyard or *cough cough* CZW), looking to make a name for themselves in what is said to be their first taste of national TV spotlight, that is, if you can even count NWA:TNA's PPV-broadcast-ed set-up very national TV-like at the time. I know I never heard anything about TNA back in 2002.
No, it wasn't until 2004 when TNA made it to FSN and used a very sports-like approach with the time-clock and all that that they really hit somewhat of a national TV spotlight, but The Briscoe Brothers were neither here nor there by that time. This is really only the first of maybe two other matches The Briscoes would have in TNA, and while I'm no talent scout I can guess by the size and age of this young team that they weren't ready for the major - err, semi-major - leagues just yet.
That's okay though, as dem boys did the best they could with what they had at this time and even took some of the nastiest (and loudest) chokeslams I've ever seen (and heard) via the hands of Malice (remember The Wall from WCW?) who runs in to ruin the match. After this Jay and Mark had another match against a team called Divine Storm and maybe one more before heading back to the indies where they would fine tune their craft as well as mold themselves into a much better, but still pretty ugly-looking, hard-working tag team.
Blood Gallows of Retribution Hangman's Horror Dog Collar Match
Vampiro and Raven fight out in a Hangman's Horror Dog Collar match, because there's nothing like taking a good thing i.e. Greg Valentine and Roddy Piper's classic Dog Collar match, and choking the life out of it for the amusement of no one.
The object of this match, which had three names, one being "dream blood" which Professor Mike Tenay explains to us is the words smeared on Raven's chest and that's about it, is the first person to strangle their opponent with the dog collar over the top rope wins. So yeah, dream blood.
After chaining Vampiro up with two dog collars to smack Vampiro with a trash can and then delivering him with a terrible-looking DDT onto a table, Raven would get the victory as Vampiro was unable to continue from the dog collar choke-out.
What makes the match as bad as it was though really would have to be combination of the fans on-demand chanting "let's go Raven" as if this was some kind of fun pie eating contest or was running a 200 meter dash at a high school track meet, and Mike Tenay and Don West's constant teaching of science as they continually try to explain that without oxygen going to your brain or something - you are a goner.
Another cringe-worthy part that I actually enjoy that takes place after the match is when a young CM Punk runs in to try to help Raven against James Mitchell and his sinister fireballs which causes Raven to grab a mic and explain to Punk that "this is a personal matter" and he "must take care of it himself" - except instead of Raven saying this, it sounds just like classic Johnny Polo circa 1993.
I would love to see Raven play Johnny Polo again in Chikara for King of Trios in some classic blast-from-pasters team like Team WWF. I would see that.
The Motor City Machine Guys vs. Generation Me - TNA Final Resolution (2010)
From what it looks like here, TNA almost had a real X division and tag team division as they once did in the early days of NWA:TNA. Of course, they had to take a page out of WWF's tag team division circa 2000 with the TLC match to end a somewhat decent feud and display some sweet spots to get the job done.
2010 was TNA's biggest turning point (the literal sense of the word not the PPV) as Hulk Hogan took over along with Eric Bishoff who decided to get rid of the six-sided ring and kickstart the X division again. 2010 was also the year The Young Bucks were signed to a TNA contract and went by Generation Me or Gen. Me.
Shorting after upsetting The MCMG's to win their debut match, they would than again take on Shelley and Sabin in a match at Final Resolution. Along with the chance to capture the World Tag Team titles, The Young Bucks, now named Jeremy and Max Buck, also had the chance to show everyone that TNA had actually picked up a damn good tag team. A young team that resembled another brother group that once dominated the tag team division with aerial maneuvers and ladders, The Hardy Boys.
Oh yeah, did I mention that this was a "Full Metal Mayhem match" - TNA's version of the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs oh my! match but putting much more emphasis on things made of metal? Well it was...
Despite this match/feud actually being one of TNA's better moments at this time, Gen. Me didn't stick around for much too long after this match ended and their tag team days started to look numbered. These two talented brothers didn't want to put up with the terrible storylines they would have had to go through rather than just wrestling and keeping the good name (cough cough) of TNA's tag team division and X division alive.
