A word on Jeff Hardy and Victory Road

The general thought amongst the 1/8th Nelson is that we, the very non-Catholic writers, have decided to give up TNA for Lent, with the hopes that come Easter, the company will have either gotten better or I will have gotten my hate-filled spite out of my system enough to resume my weekly heckling.  I have not watched last week’s Impact or, for the most part, Sunday’s Victory Road.  Hell, I wasn’t even aware that the PPV was on Sunday.  It’s been a good week for me.

But upon hearing about what happened in the main event title match between newly crowned champion Sting and his predecessor Jeff Hardy, I feel like even religious fasting can’t really justify not touching upon this one.  Four Hail Marys for me, I suppose.

For those of you who haven’t heard it yet, the title match between Sting and Hardy wasn’t exactly one for the ages.  In fact, it’s actually really hard to classify it as a match.  The match barely went a minute and a half before Sting landed the match’s only wrestling move, the Scorpion Death Drop, and pinned Hardy in front of a shocked crowd.  Actually, shocked wasn’t really the word I’d use here.  Pissed off is more like it.  But at least since it was at the Impact Zone they didn’t get charged admission to get in.  Not like those saps that shilled out $35 to see the thing on PPV.

Hardy regains his face: TNA Against All Odds 2011

With TNA delaying its “big, must-watch night” until March 3rd, it was hard to get into the February PPV Against All Odds.  The show was meant to be built upon the big reveal of February 3rd, but with the plan falling through and the quick re-write shuffling things around, emphasis was definitely missing from the show.

The big match of the night would be Jeff Hardy seeking once again to reclaim his face TNA Championship belt which he lost to Mr. Anderson last month at Genesis.  Hardy lost his rematch two weeks ago, but with Immortal still in control of the company, he was granted another rematch and even given his specialty match, the ladder match to stack the odds in his favor.

Long story short – Jeff Hardy won and he won clean.  It was nearly the only good thing Immortal had for the night, making it a reverse from Genesis.  Well, ignoring that all of the winners from Genesis (who haven’t since been murdered) were working against Immortal the entire time.  Best not to think about it.

Rest of the show after the jump.

Mission Accomplished…almost: TNA Genesis 2011

Photo from Slam! Sports

Immortal had one goal in mind going into Genesis – get all of the titles in TNA to serve as a bargaining chip once Dixie Carter returns to her company.  For most of the show, the plan went off without a hitch, with each member of Immortal – Kazarian, Beer Money and Abyss (subbing for an injured A.J. Styles) – winning their title matches and claiming the gold.  But it was Eric Bischoff’s plan to close the show that actually cost the stable its crown jewel, Jeff Hardy’s TNA Championship.

After Mr. Anderson pulled off what could be seen as an upset win over Matt Morgan to claim the #1 contender spot, Eric Bischoff announced that the title match would take place immediately, assuming that Anderson would be far too exhausted from his 15 minute match against Morgan to put up any kind of a challenge for Hardy.  Unfortunately, Anderson would not stay down, and as Immortal’s panic over their situation grew, all of the factors they themselves had put into place began blowing up on them.

Matt Morgan, still at ringside, got a hit in on Hardy for good measure, then as Jeff went for another chairshot which caused Anderson’s problems to begin with, Mick Foley ran down and took the steel.  As Foley argued with Ric Flair over the matter, Jeff called his brother Matt (who debuted earlier in the night) out for the assist, but he was cut off by Rob Van Dam, whom he had cheated out of a win during their match.  Now desperate to stop Anderson’s momentum, Eric Bischoff himself tried to stop him with a chair, only to receive a Mic Check for his efforts.  One more Mic Check to Hardy, and Mr. Anderson was the new TNA Champion, which he was more than happy to announce to the crowd via his drop mic.

Rest of the show after the jump.

PPV Preview: TNA Genesis 2011

TNA’s Genesis kicks off the PPV year for US wrestling since TNA’s scheduling puts it at the beginning of the month.  A year ago, that mean a hastily-thrown together mess due to the massive changes going on with the arrival of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff.  If you recall, Genesis was the show that removed the six-sided ring from the show, though the matching ramp has since vanished.  Though certainly not as important as WWE’s Royal Rumble, Genesis does tend to have important things happen in it.

The main story through the show is Immortal’s mission.  Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff’s plan to swindle Dixie Carter out of ownership of TNA is falling apart around them since, as it turns out, it was illegal.  So with Hogan gone from the picture and Bischoff facing the inevitability of Carter’s return, he has decided that Immortal can keep themselves in some semblence of power should they obtain all of the title belts in TNA.  Well, more like 2/3rds of the title belts, since they lack any women in the stable and are thus not eligible for the Knockouts or Knockouts tag titles.  How this logic works escapes me, but TNA is really selling it, so I’ll go along with it.  Let’s take a look at the card.

TNA Championship #1 Contendership Match
Matt Morgan vs. Mr. Anderson
You may recall that a few months ago, Mr. Anderson took a chair shot to the back of the head from Jeff Hardy and suffered a concussion.  If you don’t, you haven’t been watching Impact, because they say it about 12 times each hour.  In Anderson’s defense, Matt Morgan left his spot in Immortal and has come up short in several title matches against Jeff Hardy.  With Anderson back, Eric Bischoff cleverly prevented them from forming a team by putting them against each other for the #1 contender spot.

But that’s not really important here.  Neither Morgan nor Anderson seem to really care about Hardy’s title.  Instead, Morgan has been trying to get Anderson to take more time off, not believing that he is actually cleared to wrestle, while Anderson has become more and more frustrated each time it’s said to him.  By this point, Morgan is no longer concerned for Anderson’s health and Anderson is no longer grateful for Morgan standing up for him.  Instead, thanks to some mind games from Jeff Hardy, Morgan is thinking that Anderson’s pulling a con and Anderson suspects that Morgan is still in league with Immortal.

Personally, I’m more inclined to go with the latter.  All the not-so-subtle hints have gone towards Anderson being the one to eventually betray Morgan, so much so that I think Morgan’s going to pull the switch.  The reasoning?  To keep the title belt on Jeff Hardy by “almost” winning at Turning Point and Final Resolution, and then tying up the #1 contender spot again, preventing anyone else from going after the title.  So yeah, I’m thinking Morgan pulls this one off, then continues the feud with Anderson while Rob Van Dam slides into the Hardy picture.

Technical Difficulties: TNA Final Resolution 2010

If there was one word to define the last PPV of the TNA 2010 calendar, it was “problematic”. From pre-show problems with champion Jeff Hardy (see below) to video problems with the broadcast itself throughout, nothing seemed to be going right. But eventually everything came together and the show went on. No one would ruin a TNA broadcast unless it was TNA themselves.

Things looked bleak for TNA Champion Jeff Hardy going into the night.  He had beaten Matt Morgan at Turning Point through sheer luck and now had the deck stacked against him with Mr. Anderson as the special guest referee.  But of course, he need not have worried, as Eric Bischoff came down late in the match with star rookie referee Jackson James in tow.  Bischoff pushed Anderson in to the steel ring post, busting him open, then shoved James into the ring to officiate in Anderson’s place.  One would have assumed a screwjob, but it wasn’t in the cards.  Instead, Morgan was suprised by a sudden Twist of Hate from Hardy onto a steel chair (the match had been made no DQ earlier in the night) and James counted the pinfall.

The rest of us were left scratching our heads as to why Bischoff had bothered to switch referees as Hardy was perfectly capable of winning the match himself.  I suppose at least it got both Bischoff and his son into the finish of the main event, right?

Rest of the show after the jump.

Bad Show: TNA Turning Point 2010

Once upon a time, I convinced my friends that a TNA PPV actually seemed interesting enough to pay for.  So we sat down and watched what we thought would be an entertaining show.  Being that we fans had to pay for it, it was safe to assume that TNA’s best stuff would be on display.  Right?

Since that fateful night, none of us at the 1/8th Nelson have ever again been tricked into paying for a TNA show.  So for PPV coverages I either stream the show or read recaps.  Being that the crossed out option is illegal, that certainly never happens, so for Turning Point, I turned to various websites for reviews.  And none of them were good.  As it turns out, along with bad writing and booking which is the one consistent part of TNA, Turning Point was also plagued with bad wrestling.  And all of the reviews have agreed – Turning Point was certainly a low for TNA.  Which is something for a company that is pretty much defined on its lows.

You may recall that last month, the whole THEY plan came together when THEY were revealed to be Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff (to the surprise of absolutely no one) whose overly elaborate plot was to get the title on newly turned heel champion Jeff Hardy.  You might also recall that nothing has really happened since that point since the people fighting against the bad guys either quit or were injured, so we had a quickly turned bad guy be the good guy for this show.  That was Matt Morgan, who had absolutely zero interaction with the champion leading into the PPV.  In fact, the official match wasn’t even signed until after the end of the final episode of Impact.

Well, he lost the match.

Rest of the show after the jump.

Preview: TNA Turning Point 2010

It’s hard to believe, but we’re now past the one-year point since TNA first announced that Hulk Hogan had been signed with the company.  And what a year it’s been.  The company is nearly unrecognizable compared to what it was at this time last year, and most of the characters on the show have gone through so many storylines and shifts that it’s almost hard to keep up with it all anymore.  Yet, despite all that, TNA is pretty much exactly where it was a year ago.  It just has fewer talent and probably a lot less money.

Anyway, Turning Point is the annual November PPV, named as the transition point after Bound for Glory but before the turn of the new year.  Don’t get it confused with Genesis in January, which could technically be identified as the same thing.  There’s no real identity to this PPV beyond its name, so I’m not going to dwell on it.  It’s been a rough month for TNA since Bound for Glory, with injuries changing up the top of the card, and commonplace bad booking effecting the rest of the show.  Let’s run down the card.

TNA Championship Match
Jeff Hardy(c) vs. Matt Morgan
Two weeks ago, Matt Morgan was a member of the villanous stable Fortune and was one of the main contributors in blocking the intended opponent in this match, Mr. Anderson, from getting a title shot.  Then Jeff Hardy accidentally caught Anderson in the back of the head with a chair shot and put him on the shelf with a concussion.  Plans were quickly shuffled, and suddenly Matt Morgan was championing concussion prevention and safety, despite himself having put out his former tag partner Hernandez with one months ago.  This defense led to Morgan getting thrown out of Fortune, but he managed to get himself into this match by pinning Eric Bischoff in a match he wasn’t scheduled in and signing the contract.

Jeff Hardy has not appeared on Impact since putting Anderson on the shelf and has had zero interaction with Matt Morgan.  Instead, he’s been speaking nonsense in taped promos, referring to himself as the anti-christ of professional wrestling.  Likewise, Morgan has basically zero interest in Hardy.  Unlike Anderson, Kurt Angle or Rob Van Dam, Matt Morgan was not affected in Jeff Hardy’s betrayal at Bound for Glory.  In fact, he was in on the plan.  Morgan is instead sticking it to Eric Bischoff and Ric Flair for insulting him.

This is nothing more than filler until Anderson can return to action or Kurt Angle heals up enough to show back up.  There’s no way Matt Morgan will be the one to knock the newly christened heel Jeff Hardy off his perch just a month after his turn.  The match will be decent – both Hardy and Morgan are good workers – but don’t look for anything of consequence here.

THEY will be Running Wild!: TNA Bound for Glory 2010

We’ve been told for months now that THEY were coming.  THEY had a plan.  THEY would be taking over TNA.  And as of 10/10/10, THEY took care of business.  In the main event between Jeff Hardy, Mr. Anderson and Kurt Angle, a referee bump brought a chair-wielding Eric Bischoff to the ring.  Bischoff had been acting shady for months now, and it looked like he was going to make his move.  But Hulk Hogan wouldn’t have that, despite his numerous back surgeries.  Aided by crutches, Hogan slowly made his way to the ring, apparently moving to stop Bischoff.

But then something strange happened.  Hogan handed his crutch to Jeff Hardy, who then blasted both Angle and Anderson, then pinned Anderson.  Bischoff pulled referee Brian Hebner back into the ring to count the fall, and the match was over.  Hardy had used shady dealings to secure the TNA Championship, much to Dixie Carter’s chagrin.  Jeff Jarrett and Abyss both entered the ring to celebrate the win, apparently in on the dealing.  Rob Van Dam entered to confront Hardy, but Jeff decked his former friend to close out the show.

So what does this mean?  Let’s ignore all the crap that led to this point and try to make some sense of it.  Basically, Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan wanted to take the ownership of TNA away from Dixie Carter, so they faked Abyss’s turn and set the whole “THEY” thing into motion.  I’m betting the kicker was the introduction of E.V.2.0, a Dixie Carter move, which led Bischoff and Hogan to decide that Carter needed to be removed.  Jeff Hardy went on board with the plan and decided that the EV2-allied RVD should be removed as champion.  And here we are.

Does the whole thing make sense?  Not at all.  But at least we’re here and it’s done.  We can move on with the story.  Thank god.

Rest of the show after the jump.

Preview: TNA Bound for Glory 2010

In theory, Bound for Glory is TNA’s biggest show of the year.  I know, I thought it was Slammiversary too, but apparently it’s this one.  TNA would have you believe that it’s the equivalent to WrestleMania, but I would argue that comparing anything TNA does to WrestleMania is worthy of a flogging.  This show was announced back in mid-summer, touting that it’s happening on 10/10/10.  With that long of a buildup, you’d think it would a well-developed, well thought out show.

Yeah.  You’d think that.

Let’s run down the card.

Triple Threat Match for the Vacant TNA Championship
Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Kennedy
The night after August’s ECW reunion PPV, TNA champ Rob Van Dam was demolished backstage by Abyss, forcing Eric Bischoff to vacate the title due to injury.  That was two months ago – the title has been vacant ever since.  Rob Van Dam has since returned to action, making it apparent that one can recover from nail-given puncture wounds faster than TNA can pick a new champion.

Anyway, an eight man tournament was started with the semi-finals being held last month at No Surrender.  Mr. Anderson defeated D’Angelo Dinero fairly to get his spot, but the Kurt Angle/Jeff Hardy match hit a series of snafus when they hit two unannounced time limits and then ended the match in a no contest when Kurt Angle couldn’t continue to a cut.  The next week on Impact they had a rematch that saw both men somehow manage to pin each other with ankle locks, and this triple threat was announced.  The less you think about that the better.

None of the three seem particularly interested in winning the title, as each have instead spent much of the month dipping into Abyss’s feud against Rob Van Dam.  The other much-touted aspect is that Kurt Angle has promised himself that he will retire if he loses.  Winning the title itself?  Not so big of a deal.  I definitely see Kurt Angle taking home the gold (as it’s been almost a year since he last held it), and if someone else does, having him say it impressed him so much that he has decided against retiring.  Well, actually, I have another crazy theory, but that will be shared at the bottom of the previews.

Rest of the show after the jump.

Eric Bischoff on Bound for Glory shows TNA’s direction – more of the same

Eric Bischoff pops up on the internet reports once in a while, usually towing the company line of “we have big, exciting things in store”.  Since nothing is ever actually delivered which could be considered big nor exciting on any of TNA’s actual programming, Bischoff’s interviews are normally ignored by this blogger.

That is, until I came across this nugget about the X-Division’s lack of presence at Bound for Glory this year.  And I quote:

What it really comes down to is we only have so much television time. We have a lot of things we have to serve. A lot of storylines, a lot of characters, and things have to be prioritized in a certain way. While the X-Division is a very vital and unique part of TNA’s profile, right now it’s not a priority for this particular Pay-Per-View (Bound For Glory). It may be the #1 priority for the next Pay-Per-View, but you can’t promote all things, all the time, all at 100 percent. Sometimes you have to cycle storylines, characters, and in this case, a division, because we have to put the emphasis on the key story. If we had a three-hour show every week, we might possibly keep everything at a higher profile, but unfortunately that’s not the case.

This is not a throwaway match between Suicide and Shark Boy Bischoff is talking about.  This is the ENTIRE X-DIVISION.  Anyone who is familiar with TNA’s history knows that the X-Division is what TNA built itself upon in the early days (no matter how much Jeff Jarrett wants to tell you it was him).  But there’s simply no room for them at Bound for Glory – the premier show of the company’s year.  Well, I have something to say about that, and I’m afraid I’ll be bringing in the direction of TNA in the process.  I’ll try to contain myself a bit.