EXTREME WARFARE REVENGE: TNA 2010 – UPDATE #1

How’s it going everybody? Thomas Robinson here once again to bring you our very first TNA EWR update, where we basically tell you were things are going in our Extreme Warfare Revenge universe and what to expect in the future.

As you will have noticed, the TNA series has returned and in full force. We returned with Bound For Glory and we’ve seen a number of posts since. We did BFG, an Impact special “Joker’s Wild”, Turning Point and Final Resolution. That’s a lot to take in so what we’re going to do is drop the links to all the parts down below…

Part 1 – Destination X

Part 2 – Lockdown

Part 3 – Sacrifice

Part 4 – Slammiversary

Part 5 – Victory Road

Part 6 – Hard Justice

Part 7 – No Surrender

Part 8 – Bound For Glory

Part 9 – Joker’s Wild Special

Part 10 – Turning Point

Part 11 – Final Resolution

Any posts you’ve missed or if you just want to go back and get yourself clued up on what’s happened in this series, there are all the links you need.

For those of you that are new to the series, TNA has changed quite a bit. Allow me to give you a bit more detail on the current storylines I’ve got running as we’ve wrapped up 2010 and are now going into 2011!

 

Plot

AJ Styles was TNA World Heavyweight Champion at the start of the series and he went through a lot of competition including the likes of Kurt Angle. He did drop the belt to Jeff Hardy but quickly won it back. After retaining at Bound For Glory, he was met with a new challenger… AND HIS NAME IS JOHN CENA!

That joke will never get old in my mind!

Seriously, Cena did win the TNA World title from Styles and goes into 2011 strong as our top guy.

Currently running the ship is Interim General Manager Kurt Angle. Hulk Hogan had been running things since the start of the game (as well as Bischoff until Bischoff retired in the game). However, Hogan was mysteriously taken out leaving Kurt Angle to be named as the head honcho of TNA for now. The heel Sting had questioned Hogan’s intentions in the past but what will the Stinger make of Kurt Angle being in charge? What impact will Sting and Angle have on TNA in 2011?

There’s been plenty of stables on the scene as well including the likes of Reckless Ambition headed by L.A. Par-K and the British Invasion. A new stable has just emerged called “Global Supremacy” (led by Desmond Wolfe) but the most prominent group has been Extreme Coalition. Raven and Rhino have been tearing up the TNA Tag Team division as champions but will there be more additions to the group?

There’s been a number of new signings over the year. Along with John Cena has been Rey Mysterio that’s been able to mix it up with the bright X-Division stars like Jay Lethal, Christopher Daniels and the Motor City Machine Guns.

There’s also a number of developmental stars waiting for their chance to shine and also stars like El Generico, Kevin Steen and Claudio Castagnoli hoping to break out as top talents in the company.

It’s an exciting future for this game and we’ve just actually become the top promotion in the company in terms of public image (which determines where the company’s are in terms of size). We’re still behind the WWE in PPV buys though so that’ll be something we’re hoping to surpass them in.

 

Schedule

Our last post was Final Resolution and we’ve actually done two PPVs since then which just need writing up. Both Genesis and Against All Odds have been done and graded by the game and we’re hoping to have Genesis up on the blog soon. I’m hoping to have at least one new post up by next Friday so stay tuned for that.

For the time being, I’m going to stick with just doing the TNA series. The WCW series is obviously the more developed one that has really helped the blog out but I’ve noticed that the TNA series has actually been effective in its own right. We decided that we might as well give it the chance to shine. Also, I wanted to have a break from the WCW series and it’s good to try something else! Don’t worry though WCW fans. We will be coming back to it… eventually!

 

Knockouts Division

I know the Knockouts division hasn’t really been a big deal in the series but we do have a bit of announcement regarding its status. Our champion ODB recently jumped ship to the WWE meaning that the title has been vacated. We had a look at the roster and judging by how much we’ve not used a lot of the women, we’ve put the division on halt for a bit. The title has been suspended and we’re probably not going to crown a new champion until later on in the year when a few of the developmental female stars join the main roster. Trust me, we’ll come back stronger than ever with the TNA knockouts!

However, we do have a number of other signings that have joined us in recent months. The likes of Konnan and Primo Colon have joined the Reckless Ambition stable and the Hart Dynasty has also joined us. I mentioned DH Smith was signed to the company at Final Resolution but Tyson Kidd has also came on board. I’m hoping to do a lot with them.

There’s been a few signings but other than Cena and Mysterio, no major ones that will be a big part of the PPVs. I’ve signed independent stars like Joey Ryan but he’s not really been over enough to be featured on the main shows. Also, AAA snapped up Ryan on a written contract from under my nose just recently! -.-

I can reveal though that TWO new big signings will be revealed soon so stay tuned for that. I’ll actually give you two clues for each of the new signings.

1. The first new signing has been a huge star in Mexico and has actually had a rare five star rated match from Dave Meltzer at Wrestling Observer.
2. The second signing is former multi-time world champion for WWE AND has appeared in the last ten Wrestlemania events.

So there you go. There are your clues. They’ll both be revealed in due time.

That’ll wrap things up for this update. Again, be sure to follow @ArmbarExpress on Twitter for news on when Genesis and Against All Odds are up!

 

 

 

EXTREME WARFARE REVENGE: TNA 2010 PART 11 – FINAL RESOLUTION

Previously on TNA EWR…

We crowned a new TNA World Heavyweight Champion in John Cena, who defeated AJ Styles to win the championship on the first time of asking. At Final Resolution, AJ will get his rematch for the title in a steel cage match.

TNA’s newest signing Rey Mysterio was revealed at Turning Point, as he signed Hulk Hogan’s contract. Alex Shelley from the Motor City Machine Guns was the first to call out Mysterio as he and Chris Sabin jumped the luchador on Impact. It was announced that Rey’s first match in the promotion would be with Shelley at Final Resolution. Could Shelley make a name for himself by knocking off Mysterio?

On the Impact before Final Resolution, General Manager Hulk Hogan was mysteriously attacked in the back by an unknown assailant. TNA Owner Jeff Jarrett was scheduled to appear at Final Resolution to give a statement about the attack and what it means for TNA.

Pre-show – Interview with Samoa Joe

Samoa Joe is on the pre-show. He cuts a promo about beating Matt Morgan and moving forward with his career. He feels now is the right time for him to reclaim the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. He decides to challenge whoever wins the main event to a title match for Genesis. Joe vowed to win the title and didn’t matter if it was AJ Styles or John Cena. He would be the next TNA World Champion.

 

Match 1 – Bobby Roode, James Storm and Kaz def. “Global Supremacy” Desmond Wolfe, TAKA Michinoku and David Hart Smith

Beer Money and Kaz vs the newest stable in TNA called the Global Supremacy. After I hired David Hart Smith, I decided to give Desmond Wolfe another group to run which would include himself, TAKA, David Hart Smith and Claudio Castagnoli who I’ve wanted to push for a while. Desmond’s continued to target Beer Money so Storm and Roode brought in Kaz to even the odds. The good guys won. I’d hate to have Global Supremacy lose their first PPV match as a group but they dominated the Impact shows very emphatically as of late so I had to give the good guys something.

 

Match 2 – Matt Morgan def. Hernandez

Morgan vs Hernandez. 86% is an all rating for these two. Hernandez is still really over so I decided to put him with Morgan. Morgan got the win clean and then El Mesias from Reckless Ambition attacked Morgan helped out his fellow stable member Hernandez. Not bad for this feud so far.
Angle 1 – Chris Sabin attacks Jeff Jarrett

Jeff Jarrett cut a promo about being the founder of TNA. Jarrett talks about the issues between Sting and Hogan and addresses the attack on Hogan. He calls it gutless and vowed to bring the assailant to justice. He initially stated that his prime suspect was Sting but has not been able to track him down. He declared that a new interim general manager would take over on Impact. He gave those in the back a chance to reveal themselves if any of them were the attacker(s) but out came Chris Sabin. Sabin denied attack Hogan but came out to address Jeff. Chris said he’s been with TNA almost since it began and talks about being inspired by Jeff to work hard to achieve dreams. However, he now believes that Jeff’s message of hard work is BS as Sabin was the best worker last year and has been left off the card for the final PPV of 2010. He asks Jeff Jarrett for a match at the first PPV of 2011, Genesis, but Jeff refuses. Sabin attacks Jarrett and performs a conchairto to leave the man hurt.

 
Match 3 – Jeff Hardy and Brother Devon def. Abyss and Bobby Lashley in a hardcore tag team match

At Turning Point, Abyss won Lashley’s TNA Global Title obviously causing dissension between the two. However, they decided to put their differences aside to finish off Jeff Hardy and Brother Devon. However, an opponent miscommunication caused Hardy and Devon to pick up the win. Abyss and Lashley argued afterwards. 85% which is fine I guess.

 

Match 4 – Mr Anderson def. Christopher Daniels

These two have been arguing about who is more worthy of a TNA World title shot as of late. They decided to settle it with a match at Final Resolution which Anderson won by cheating. With an overall rating of 89%, this was the start to a very solid ending to the show. Happy with this and I do want to keep it going into Genesis.

 

Match 5 – Jay Lethal and Kurt Angle def. “Deadly Sin” Raven and Rhino in a non-title match. If Jay Lethal and Kurt Angle lost, Jay Lethal would leave TNA.

Raven and Rhino have been mocking Jay Lethal for not being able to beat them for the Tag Titles. Angle came to Lethal’s aid as Lethal stated that it’s not about winning the tag titles, it’s about him proving that he was one of the best in the business. Lethal challenged Deadly Sin to one more tag team match at Final Resolution. Deadly Sin agreed as long as Lethal was the one that put something on the line this time. If Lethal’s team lost, Lethal would be forced to leave TNA for good. Lethal agreed and Lethal actually got the pin as he and Angle won. This is a big win for him as he had been losing quite a bit in the last few months. I felt he had to win this and Lethal is exceptionally over now. With the 95% rating, I think this went really well!

 

Match 6 – Rey Mysterio def. Alex Shelley

96% rating! Love it! Alex Shelley getting over big time with this feud and the in-ring work was exceptional. This is only the beginning of things with Mysterio and Shelley.

 

Match 7 – John Cena (c) def. AJ Styles in a steel cage match to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Cena stands tall as champion with this 89% rating. Cena was the most over and I want to continue his reign as champion. Cena was attacked after the match by Samoa Joe setting up our next TNA World title feud between Cena and Joe. I’m actually looking forward to this one as Cena vs Joe was a match I always thought would be cool if it ever happened. They’ve got similar power styles with Joe obviously being more of a high-flyer. I feel there’s a lot of potential with this one.

 

So that was Final Resolution. I hope you all enjoyed it. Next up is Genesis, which has already been done. I will reveal one important detail going into that event about the angle with Hulk Hogan taking out.

For the moment, Hogan’s duties as GM will be handled by Kurt Angle. Kurt Angle has just become a non-wrestler in my game so I’ve decided to make him an Authority figure as well. I think the control of the company angle has a lot of potential considering the people involved. We’ve got Hulk Hogan and Kurt Angle as the bosses for the people and we’ve got Sting, who is wanting to get Hogan from out of power because of what he’s done to WCW in the past. There’s all the ingredients for a fine little storyline.

 

WWE Survivor Series 2015 Predictions

How’s it going everybody? Thomas Robinson here with a very brief prediction piece on the Survivor Series show where a new WWE World Heavyweight Champion will be crowned. It seems that the event will go on as planned, despite the ISIS terror threat. That’s good to hear as cowardly threats from ISIS really shouldn’t get in the way of a great WWE product.

Let’s get cracking. This won’t be like the huge prediction pieces from the past but I’ll just throw my predictions out there for all the matches. We’ll start with the traditional Survivor Series match between an unannounced team and another unannounced team and I believe it’s a safe bet that an unannounced team will win! Very upset that they didn’t come up with an advertised elimination match for this year’s show. It would be nice to know who will actually compete in it! However, this is a great opportunity for somebody to make a name for themselves. Do check out my top five Survivor Series elimination matches piece for SLTD Wrestling at this link as part of a lot of great content in time for Survivor Series.

Charlotte vs Paige. I personally don’t think either of these women should be the Divas Champion right now, especially not Charlotte. I have a piece lined up for SLTD about Charlotte, where I talk about why Charlotte’s Divas Title Reign has not worked. I don’t think she should retain the title and I really feel that they have to take the belt off her at this point. I think I’m going to stand by my pick of Paige to win but I can totally see Charlotte also winning as well.

Dolph Ziggler vs Tyler Breeze. Tyler Breeze has to win in this match surely? I wouldn’t put it past them to beat Breeze in his first WWE PPV match but surely Breeze has to get the win as they’ve just brought him up to the main roster unless they’re purposely setting him up to fail. There’s no real evidence that they’re planning on doing that YET and to have Ziggler beat him here would be absurd. It’s not going to be a huge win for Breeze but it does get him on the right tracks.

Undertaker and Kane vs The Wyatts. I believe it’s Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman that’ll be representing the family. I highly doubt that WWE will have the Wyatts beat Taker and Kane. They have the Wyatts’ biggest guns out there but it’d be odd to hype Undertaker’s 25th anniversary this intensely to just beat him. I’ve seen a lot of people talking about Braun making the Undertaker pass out which I think would be one of the smarter ways to go but I’m not sure. I mentioned this for SLTD. The Wyatts should be the one that goes over if they want to promote new stars. However, this whole pay-per-view’s promotion beforehand was to promote one of their older stars. It seems very unlikely that Taker and Kane are losing.

Finally the WWE Title Tournament. I think it’s safe to say that the final is going to be Roman Reigns vs Dean Ambrose. I don’t see Alberto Del Rio beating Roman Reigns. I don’t think they’ll take a chance on Kevin Owens, although I think he’s got more of a chance of winning than Del Rio. Reports are suggesting that Reigns and Ambrose were the two most lobbied names backstage. I would be surprised if one of them didn’t turn heel. All signs from RAW indicate that it’s going to be Ambrose but I’d prefer Reigns. It’s a toss-up really about who is going over. I see Roman as being more likely to win the WWE World title but I see Dean more likely to turn heel. It would be a pretty lame for them to turn him heel after losing to Roman. It’d make sense but it’d make more sense for him to win the title by selling out to the Authority. I’m going to stand with Roman Reigns but it’s very hard to guess which of the two will win the belt.

 

EXTREME WARFARE REVENGE: TNA 2010 PART 10 – TURNING POINT

Previously on TNA EWR….

We held a Joker’s Wild competition to determine the number one contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, held by AJ Styles. In the end, John Cena overcame the odds to win the whole thing becoming the challenger to AJ’s belt. Can TNA’s newest star win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship right off the bat?

Can Kurt Angle finally close the book on his feud with Mr Anderson by beating him in a submission match? Anderson vowed to make Kurt Angle tap out to his own hold but can he deliver on his promise?

Bobby Lashley is also defending the TNA Global Championship in a fatal four way with team mate Abyss, Jeff Hardy and Brother Devon. Can Lashley keep the gold firmly in his grasps?

To put the cherry on top of the whole deal, Sting has made a deal with General Manager Hulk Hogan. If Cena doesn’t win, Hogan’s vowed to step down from his position.

A lot of scores and a few championships will be decided at Turning Point…

Pre-Show – Rey Mysterio Debuts As Hulk Hogan’s Newest Signing

Another tremendous signing for TNA as Rey Mysterio comes on board. People are really going to start thinking that I messed with the system somehow but trust me, I DIDN’T! On this game, Rey was also released like Cena was. I’m starting to think the game is corrupted somehow because they’ve gotten rid of a lot of wrestlers in recent months of the game! Either they’re losing a lot of money in the game or the game is screwy. The first one is actually possible as they’ve been losing public image a lot as we’re catching up to them. However, Rey is actually a really great signing for us. He can have some tremendous matches with the X-Division Stars and really elevate our star power. Excited about this.

 

Match 1 – Christopher Daniels and Jerry Lynn def. “Motor City Machine Guns” Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley with TAKA Michinoku as the special guest referee

This was the best match on the entire show in terms of ratings but this was not a great PPV for ratings! I think a lot of the matches were harshly judged but I’m happy with this one. TAKA is the X-Division Champion and was put in by Hulk Hogan to get a closer look at the competition. Daniels took a sip of his Martini and went to spit it at Sabin but actually got TAKA. TAKA got it in his eyes as Daniels then hit the Angel’s Wings. TAKA is temporarily blinded and performs the fast count on Sabin, believing that he screwed Daniels. When he repairs his vision, he realises he actually screwed over the Motor City Machine Guns! The Guns get pissed and attack TAKA.

 

Match 2 – Kaz def. Hernandez in a falls count anywhere match

Oh boy, did this not work. Other than getting Hernandez really over, this feud accomplished nothing worthwhile. Kaz was in the TNA World title contention a few months ago and even despite winning this feud, has lost a fair amount of overness. Apparently he made Hernandez look like a star, because Super Mex was the only one that got overness from this feud. The 68% really did bomb the show and really didn’t do a great job. Sorry Kaz. I guess it’s not quite the time for you…

 

Match 3 – Samoa Joe def. Matt Morgan in a steel cage match

Surprised at how badly this match plummeted considering it got a rating in the high 80s at Bound For Glory. I really needed to give Joe the win as Morgan had dominated this feud. Morgan still locked strong coming off it so a success, despite the rating for their final match.

 

Match 4 – “Beer Money Inc.” Bobby Roode and James Storm def. Desmond Wolfe and Monty Brown in a hardcore tag team match

This was better than Joe vs Morgan but that’s not saying much considering that it was only one percent better and this match involved Beer Money! Monty Brown was revealed as Bobby Roode’s attacker from Joker’s Wild and Desmond Wolfe decided to team with him to take on Beer Money at Turning Point. He neglected his own stable the British Invasion to go with Monty Brown and there’s a good reason for that.

I fired the unhappy Doug Williams and Brutus Magnus following the PPV, which really just ended the stable. Anyway, Desmond’s going to have a new group to lead following this and I can’t wait to unveil it to you at Final Resolution!

 

Match 5 – “Deadly Sin” Raven (c) and Rhino (c) def. Jay Lethal and Jeff Jarrett in a tables match to retain the TNA World Tag Team Championship

Again, this probably would have been better if it were not for a real Negative Nancy reviewing my show! Everyone’s at 100% overness except Jeff coming off of this so it did a great job. Jay and Jeff as the tag team champions just doesn’t seem right so Deadly Sin retain. I do have a big match for Lethal at the next PPV so stay tuned.

 

Match 6 – Abyss def. Bobby Lashley (c), Jeff Hardy and Brother Devon in a fatal four way match to win the TNA Global Championship

The TNA Global title has been on Lashley for a few months but I never really had a storyline to work it into so I decided to throw it into one with his tag team partner Abyss. Abyss picked up the win after pinning Devon and becoming the champion, of course causing dissension within the team. I think this has the ingredients for something special. However, this rating does not really help things…

 

Match 7 – Kurt Angle def. Mr Anderson in a submission match

Kurt got the win in a submission match, making Anderson tap out in the Ankle lock. This finally wraps up the feud. I have a nice feud lined up for Anderson next month and Kurt’s got a big match too so I’m looking forward to giving these two new content to work with.

 

Match 8 – John Cena def. AJ Styles (c) to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. If Hulk Hogan loses, he will quit as TNA’s General Manager.

I feel that this one will not be welcomed so well by the internet however it had to be done. Cena is probably the biggest signing I’ll ever get for TNA in this game so I want to set up him up accordingly. I probably should have had Cena chase for the title for a bit but I was impatient. John Cena is John Cena and if you have someone like him on your roster with his popularity, you make him the top guy as soon as possible. Cena is not going to be my champion forever but he does need a run with the belt and I figured why not sooner rather than later…

 

So that was Turning Point. Hopefully this will not be a turning point for the worst and we can turn things around with the ratings! I think we just caught the reviewer on a really bad mood as the TV ratings have been exceptional most of the time. We’ll see you all at Final Resolution!

Wrestling Flashback – The Aces And Eights

“When you ride with Aces and Eights, you never walk alone!”

Many groups have came and gone in TNA but none of them were as consistently utilised and pushed for than the group of motorcyclists known as the Aces And Eights.

The group first made their way to TNA when they attacked Sting on Impact following his match with Bobby Roode at Slammiversary 2012. This was their way of asserting themselves in TNA by taking out the biggest dog in the yard and putting the rest of TNA on notice.

These attacks would continue on TNA talent as the TNA World Champion Austin Aries and General Manager Hulk Hogan were also targeted in these attacks. The big question was who was behind the attacks from these thugs and the first suspect that was mentioned was James Storm. The Aces and Eights started a pattern of attacking every member of the TNA locker room with one notable exception. Storm denied his involvement with the group and the group basically confirmed Storm’s innocence by attacking him on Impact.

Aries’ arm was attacked by the group and Aries wanted revenge. After taking an Aces and Eights member hostage (Yeah, this actually happened) Aries and Hogan tortured the poor fella for answers about who was running the deal. A deal was eventually made with TNA and Aces And Eights agreeing to a fight at No Surrender between Austin Aries and the “Arm Breaker” of Aces and Eights. Aries won the fight but the group made their mark that night by taking out Jeff Hardy. This led to Hogan locking out the Aces and Eights to prevent these attacks once and for all.

However, this didn’t stop the group of bikers. They captured Joseph Park and eventually Hogan and Sting too, bringing them to their clubhouse. The leader of the group then began negotiations with Hogan and Sting for Joseph Park. The leader proposed a two on two match at Bound For Glory with two Aces and Eights members going up against Sting and a partner of his choosing. If the Aces and Eights won, they earned access to the Impact Zone. If they lost, they’d be gone for good. After the match, Park would be let go. Hogan agreed to the stipulation and the match was set.

What’s funny about this segment is that the leader’s voice was messed with by an audio mixer to prevent his identity from being revealed to the viewers. However, someone on YouTube actually messed with the audio of the segment to work out who was actually playing the leader in that segment. In this audio clip, it appeared that Eric Bischoff was actually playing the leader in this segment. However, a segment just a few months later would “reveal” Devon as the one that was taking to Hogan and Sting. It’s funny. Were TNA considering revealing Bischoff as the leader? I believe he was still signed to the company at the plan and it would have made sense because Hulk Hogan and Sting were the reasons why Bischoff was away from TNA in the storyline. I guess we’ll never know.

Bully Ray volunteered himself to be Sting’s partner at Bound for Glory but Hogan was very sceptical. He didn’t trust Bully but Sting was all for Bully taking part. Hogan agreed to have Bully team with Sting, telling him that he was fighting for TNA. The tag team match saw Park break free and fight the Aces and Eights alongside Bully and Sting. Another member of the group put Bully through a table, giving the group the important win. An angry Hogan helped Sting and Bully take down and unmask the member that took out Bully. However, it was quite the shocker. The man was revealed to be Bully’s long time former tag team partner Devon.

It was a genuine shocker as Devon “revealed” on Twitter that he had left the company and he even vacated the TNA Television title. To see Devon was quite a stunner but it was a interesting plot twist considering Bully’s involvement in the fight against the group.

With full access, the group fought with the Impact roster more frequently and more members would soon be unmasked. D.O.C. (a.k.a. Luke Gallows) was the second man unmasked from Aces and Eights and took out Sting with a hammer to save his position within the club. Knux (a.k.a. Knux) was also revealed when Sting returned following the attack from D.O.C. Mr Anderson was also recruited to the club after they pointed out TNA’s negligence towards Anderson when the group took him out. Tazz was revealed as a member of the group during Bully Ray and Brooke Hogan’s wedding. Wes Brisco and Garrett Bischoff, two men that had been mentored by Kurt Angle, were also revealed to be associated with the group when they took out Kurt in a steel cage. The vice president of the Aces and Eights was revealed to be D-Lo Brown after he kicked Kurt Angle in the nuts. This left one member of the Aces and Eights still unmasked and one question left unanswered… just who was the leader? At Lockdown 2013, we got an answer.

During Bully Ray’s TNA World title match against the champion Jeff Hardy, Aces and Eights found their way into the steel cage. Devon was armed with a hammer which he simply tossed to Bully. When Jeff’s back was turned, Bully smacked Jeff in the head with it. Bully pinned Jeff to become the TNA World Heavyweight Champion and he revealed himself as the president of Aces and Eights.

This was the culmination of a nine-month plan by Bully to become the TNA World Champion and it was actually one of the rare instances where TNA followed through with their long term planning. The reveals of each member was clearly well thought of by the writers with the big end game being Bully Ray winning the TNA World title. They had a plan and they stuck with it. A lot of the Aces and Eights stuff leading up to Lockdown was hard to deal with, I must admit. However, there weren’t a lot of plot holes with the story. Bully Ray addressed a lot of the plot holes fans might have pointed out over the course of the storyline in a great segment on Impact a few weeks later, when Bully revealed the whole plan.

One of the biggest plot holes I can remember up until Lockdown was Kurt unmasking the vice president in a backstage segment (in a camera angle where the viewers couldn’t see who Kurt unmasked) and not saying a word about it until the next week when he did his segment with D-Lo. Right, because Kurt just kept this important information to himself for a week? It could have possibly been covered up with Kurt giving D-Lo a chance to reveal himself but this was never mentioned by any of the commentators.

The Aces and Eights were riding high with Bully being the TNA World champion, Devon being the TV champion again and the rest of the group working their way through the roster. Bully ended up retaining against Jeff in a Full Metal Mayhem match and a No Holds Barred match with Sting, with the latter never getting another TNA title shot if he lost. D-Lo was also kicked out of the group during this time for losing a I Quit match to Kurt and a number of other botches which cost the group as well.

There was more dissension within the group as D.O.C. and Mr Anderson argued over who should replace D-Lo as the Vice President. This led to an all Aces and Eights battle royal which saw D.O.C. refuse to go over the top rope and let Mr Anderson win. Anderson was also elected Vice President but the storyline was never really followed up on, as D.O.C. was eventually released from the company.

Bully feuded with Chris Sabin, who had cashed in his X-Division title for a shot at the TNA World title. Sabin beat Bully for the TNA World title at Destination X but would drop the belt back to Bully in a cage match due to interference from the newest member of the group… Tito Ortiz.

Yes, the MMA legend Tito Ortiz became a member of the group as part of TNA’s working relationship with Bellator MMA. It was really a cheap version of Mike Tyson joining DX which really put a sour taste in a lot of TNA fans’ mouths. Miss Tessmacher also became a member of the group as Bully’s new squeeze. These two new additions to the group was questioned by Anderson, but Bully just told Anderson off for doing so. In order to cause further dissension in the group, Hulk Hogan claimed that one of the members of Aces and Eights would get the title shot. Anderson was revealed as the number one contender and effectively left the group by costing Bully a match with Sting. However, Anderson was unable to capture the gold and Bully rolled onto Bound For Glory and a title defence against AJ Styles.

In case you were wondering, the whole Tito Ortiz/Aces and Eights deal came to close in just a few weeks when Bellator told TNA that they didn’t want MMA fighters appearing in TNA segments any more. Wes was also kicked out of the group by Bully Ray for losing a match and Devon was exiled from TNA after getting pinned in a five on five tag team match against the Main Event Mafia. It seemed that with a lot of the members leaving, the group was going to be finished real soon.

After Bully lost the title, Anderson returned for revenge on Bully for taking him out. Anderson also tried to cause further dissension from within the group but the group stayed united. In the end, Anderson beat Bully on November 21st 2013 to officially put an end to the group and this storyline.

Overall, the Aces and Eights storyline was not a bad storyline. It was at least a storyline that the TNA writers stuck with and some of the long term planning paid off after Bully Ray was revealed as the president of the club. It seemed that it all the months of planning and swerves eventually came together. Like a lot of past stables in wrestling history, the biggest issue was the last few months for the group. It just seemed that there wasn’t any particular long term plans for the finish of the program, which really hurt it in the end. The suggestion that this was one of the worst stables in wrestling history is just absurd. There were far worse stables like the Corre and the New Blood that were treat far worse than these group of bikers. In the end it made Bully Ray a main event star, featured as much of the TNA roster as possible and did put TNA on the right track in terms of its storylines after the whole deal with Immortal. Here’s to you Aces and Eights. May you ride your mopeds to the shores of Valhalla…

EXTREME WARFARE REVENGE: TNA 2010 PART 9 – JOKER’S WILD

Previously on TNA EWR…

The series returned in a big way, presenting Bound For Glory. In the main event, Christopher Daniels got one last chance at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. However, the champion AJ retained and it seemed AJ was going to be champion for a long time. That is until a new challenger emerged… AND HIS NAME IS JOHN CENA!

Jeff Hardy closed the book on his rivalry with Sting as part of the huge event but now we must look ahead to Turning Point. I decided to put together a TNA iMPACT special before that as we would determine the number one contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. It’s actually similar to what TNA has done before as we held the Joker’s Wild competition.

Twenty of the best and most over stars on the Impact roster were put into a randomiser online. Using that randomiser, these men were paired together as tag teams with partners. There would be five tag team matches and the winning tag teams will go onto a ten men battle royal at the end of the show. Winner of that battle royal will earn a title shot at Turning Point against the champion AJ Styles.

For the record, all the champions were not in this competition. The X-Division Champion TAKA Michinoku, the Global Champion Bobby Lashley and the tag team champions Raven and Rhino are all not in but there’s a lot of big names so let’s get to it!

Match 1 – Matt Morgan and Chris Sabin def. Abyss and Homicide

One half of the “Motor City Machine Guns” Chris Sabin teams with Matt Morgan to go up against “Reckless Ambition” member Homicide and his partner Abyss. Morgan’s a face and Sabin’s a heel, giving us a good dysfunctional team dynamic. Abyss and Homicide are both heels. The finish was Morgan hitting the Blue Print on Homicide and Sabin stealing the pin. A great opener to the show with the 87%. I like how this match went.

 

Angle 1 – Reckless Ambition attacks Kazarian

Kaz approached Reckless Ambition members L.A. Par-K., Homicide and Texano Jr. Kaz had been feuding with Reckless Ambition member Hernandez for a while.  He mocked Homicide for being eliminated from the Joker’s Wild and said that Hernandez would be eliminated as well. The three responded by beating up Kaz. Not a strong rating but Texano Jr got over which I’m all for. I recently signed Texano along with El Mesias to be a part of the stable and I have a few more signings lined up. Texano and Mesias need a bit of work in the overness department so it’s cool that Texano got over from the segment.

 

Match 2 – Mr Anderson and Samoa Joe def. Hernandez and Brother Devon

Mr Anderson teamed with Samoa Joe to take on Hernandez and Brother Devon. Anderson and Joe were heels while Hernandez and Devon were the dysfunctional team with Devon being a face. The finish was Kaz coming back out to cost Hernandez the match. Joe locked on the rear-naked choke on Hernandez for the win. 81% is fine as Anderson and Joe were the ones that advanced.

 

Angle 2 – Abyss attacks Brother Devon after the match

Abyss attacked Brother Devon after the match. This is part of a new tag team feud with Jeff Hardy and Devon taking on Abyss and Lashley. It got the same rating as the last tag team match so at least this segment wasn’t as bad as the ambush on Kaz.

 

Match 3 – Jeff Hardy and Jay Lethal def. James Storm and Jerry Lynn

J & J vs J& J for this tag team match as Jeff Hardy and Jay Lethal took on James Storm and Jerry Lynn. Everybody in this match was a face so I just let them go out and have a good match. Nobody needed to be screwed over 0r anything. Jay and Jeff got the win. They’re both more over than Storm and Lynn and they got onto the battle royal. 85% overall.

 

Angle 3 – The British Invasion attacks James Storm

The British Invasion came out to attack Storm after the match. I’ll explain this particular storyline which I think will work. Desmond Wolfe is the current leader of the British Invasion. I started a storyline where Wolfe started having problems with Beer Money for holding guys like him down. He therefore decided to go on this crusade against the tag team and this was a part of it.

 

Match 4 – Kurt Angle and Christopher Daniels def. Bobby Roode and Desmond Wolfe

This was the match that really caught my intention coming from the randomiser. Kurt Angle and Daniels sounds like a very interesting tag team. Of course, Beer Money and the British Invasion are feuding so it’s interesting to see Roode and Wolfe teamed together! There was miscommunication between Roode and Wolfe and Daniels got the pin. Kurt Angle and Christopher Daniels advance to the battle royal. Second best tag team match so far with a 86% rating.

 

Angle 4 – Bobby Roode found unconscious

Roode was then found unconscious backstage after the match. Sadly, this was the second worst rated segment of the show. I will reveal who the culprit/culprits were on part ten of the series which is Turning Point.

 

Match 5 – John Cena and Jeff Jarrett def. Alex Shelley and Monty Brown

More J & J action as John Cena and Jeff Jarrett defeated Alex Shelley and Monty Brown. This was the highest rated match in the show and it was just a regular faces vs heels deal. Cena and Jarrett won to get the final two spots in the battle royal.

 

Angle 5 – AJ Styles signs Hulk Hogan’s Contract for Turning Point

Hulk Hogan forces AJ Styles to sign the contract for his title defence at Turning Point.

 

Match 6 – John Cena wins 10 man battle royal to become the number one contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Entrants: Chris Sabin, Matt Morgan, Samoa Joe, Mr Anderson, Jeff Hardy, Jay Lethal, Kurt Angle, Christopher Daniels, John Cena and Jeff Jarrett.

Solid battle royal to end the show. Maybe I shouldn’t have put Cena into the title picture this early but he’s still the joint most over person on this show. Cena vs AJ sounded too appealing to hold off and I didn’t want to leave this too late. It’s John Cena vs AJ Styles for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Turning Point! Will a new champion be crowned?

Be sure to vote on the Straw Poll and give us your thoughts on who will win the big showdown between AJ Styles and John Cena… http://strawpoll.me/6061310

TNA Announces New TV Deal With Pop.TV

A bit of news regarding TNA and the future of the company. TNA’s social media accounts as well as TNA President Dixie Carter’s all went dark as a timer started on their website counting down to a big announcement of some sort. For TNA fans, it’s the announcement that they’ve been hoping for. It was announced today that TNA have managed to seal a new television deal with Pop.TV which will begin on January 5th 2016.

Down below is the full press release from TNA with more details of the news…

“POP AND IMPACT WRESTLING PARTNER TO BRING FANS RINGSIDE FOR WEEKLY EVENT BROADCAST PREMIERING ON TUESDAY, JAN. 5, 2016

LOS ANGELES, CALIF. – Nov. 19, 2015 – Get ready for #ImpactOnPop. Pop, a network that celebrates the excitement of being a fan, will soon become the exclusive U.S. television home of IMPACT WRESTLING, the hard-hitting, high-flying global sports sensation enjoyed by millions of fans around the world.

Pop will premiere IMPACT WRESTLING with a live two-hour, action-packed broadcast on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016, and the show will continue to air every Tuesday night at 9:00 PM, ET/PT. The show features some of the biggest stars in professional wrestling, including Jeff and Matt Hardy, EC3, Kurt Angle, Bobby Lashley, The Wolves, Eric Young, Tigre Uno and Gail Kim.

“Wrestling has been a fan-fueled staple since the ‘50s, and continues to be some of the most-watched appointment television today. The die-hard fandom and extraordinary passion surrounding IMPACT WRESTLING captures the spirit of Pop as a network that celebrates fan-driven entertainment and excitement,” said Brad Schwartz, President of Pop. “We’re committed to this new partnership and psyched to bring the show’s loyal fans a dedicated night to watch their favorite show on Pop every week.”

IMPACT WRESTLING is a strong global brand seen on networks in more than 120 countries around the world and broadcast in 17 languages. Its fans are some of the most devoted and socially active in sports, with more than 15 million aggregated social media followers and nearly 700 million video views on YouTube, making it the seventh-most-viewed sports channel, ahead of MLB®, NHL®, MLS® and FIFATV®.

“Pop’s enthusiasm for our partnership and the network’s fan focus is a perfect fit for our company,” said TNA President Dixie Carter. “Wresting has always been at the forefront of pop culture with the most passionate, loyal fan base. We’re thrilled to be in business with Pop and to bring IMPACT WRESTLING to more than 80 million homes.”

To find IMPACT WRESTLING on Pop, go to http://poptv.com.”

This is obviously such a huge boost for TNA as they’ve managed to secure a new deal with their time at Destination America coming to an end. It was wondered whether TNA could survive without the TV deal but as it turns out, they were able to get a deal together.

The new day for TNA is Tuesday which I actually think works out for the best as there’s no other wrestling on TV that day I think. On Wednesday, they had competition from ROH and NXT. At least here, they don’t have to worry about needing to counter-program. I do question the decision for TNA to be two hours long as I’m more of a fan of one hour wrestling shows than two. Three hours of RAW is an even greater struggle!

It’s good news for the wrestling industry in general as it gives wrestlers more of an incentive to stay in TNA and for more sponsors and partners to get involved. I would never wish for a wrestling company to go out of business at all and I am all for this deal going down.

A lot of people will say that it’s just prolonging the inevitable but this does give TNA a lot of opportunities to seriously go through the roster and having a serious revamp to make sure that they’re at least more prepared if a similar deal of losing a TV contract happens again. It may keep them going for a while but Dixie and the rest of those running the company cannot rest easy. It’s not all rainbows and sunshine just yet.

It’s funny that TNA’s deal was spoiled an hour before the countdown hit zero as the video was suddenly changed from “private” to “unlisted” which meant that a YouTuber was able to save the video before TNA changed it in time! Bit of a blunder but at least the deal is out there now!

I do have a problem with a lot of the criticism given to Dave Meltzer over his reporting of the whole deal as he was the first to initially report that Destination America was not renewing Impact. Eric Young came out and tweeted on previous reports about Impact not being renewed by Destination America.

https://twitter.com/TheEricYoung/status/667376709977681920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

I really don’t think this was the right route for Eric to take. As a former Multimedia Journalism student in my own right, I don’t think there was anything fishy about the report Dave wrote about TNA. Dave was actually the first to report about TNA getting the deal with Destination America and he’s an esteemed reporter with many years of experience and knowledge on wrestling.

Eric going out on Twitter, trying to rub it all in and taking shots at reporters is just not going to make the company look good in the eyes of the public. A lot of the wrestlers are taking the high road and just talking about how great the deal is and how big a breakthrough it is for TNA. Rockstar Spud actually came out in defence of Dave on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/RockstarSpud/status/667394712605691905

So big news for TNA and this I think would at least keep the company going for a bit longer and give them time to come back stronger than ever. I’m all for this and I wish that they use this new deal wisely.

Could Kalisto Be A Star In WWE?

Contrary to popular belief, wins and losses are vital to those in WWE. While those in WWE are working in a kayfabe world were wins and losses are predetermined, those predetermined wins and losses make a hell of a difference to a wrestler’s rise to or fall from stardom. One win can make you a star. One loss can be the beginning of the end. However, there was one victory recently that sparked interest from the WWE universe and myself.

There were a number of wrestlers involved in the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament which were seemingly brought in just to fill up the bracket. Nobody never believed that Titus O’Neil was going to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. There was no reason to believe that Tyler Breeze would win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship a month after debuting on the roster. There was no chance in hell that Kalisto from the Lucha Dragons would ever beat Ryback in the first round right? However, the whole idea of anything can happen in WWE can strike when you least expect it.

There’s no way that Kalisto could possibly beat Ryback right? Well as the gods of unpredictability would have it, Kalisto beat Ryback in the first round for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship Tournament. Quite the shocker to say the least, but was there a lot more to the victory than just to provide a big upset?

Someone like Tyler Breeze getting a huge upset would make sense as he’s just arrived on the main roster. Someone like Kalisto though is different. Kalisto first arrived on the main roster in March as part of the Lucha Dragons. It’s not like Kalisto was ever built up to be a singles star. It did seem that WWE was trying to promote Kalisto as the star of the team as he usually the one tagged in for the hot tags and he’s got the more flashy moves in him than Sin Cara. However, there seemed to be no real intent of pushing him to challenge for the Intercontinental Championship or anything serious like that. He was just another part of the roster.

On the other hand, Ryback had just been coming off losing his Intercontinental title and has received a number of pushes since he was repackaged as Ryback in 2012. When looking at things like that, there was no real reason for Kalisto to beat Ryback at all unless it meant that there was something  big in store for the high flyer.

What does WWE want to do with Kalisto? Do they want him to eventually be their top Mexican representative so they can build a bigger audience in that part of the world? Do want him to join a number of high flyers in WWE to build a Cruiserweight Division? What motivation could WWE have had which would have them put Kalisto over Ryback in the first round of the tournament?

On RAW, Kalisto was beaten in the quarter finals by Alberto Del Rio. As much as I love Del Rio, I had a problem with WWE ending this “Cinderella story” before it even began. The unlikely contender defying the odds was the key story going into that match but it was quickly ended by Del Rio. So it was not like Kalisto was going to make it to Survivor Series as pushing Del Rio as a main eventer is a big priority for WWE. However, there’s obviously enough intrigue for WWE to possibly do something with him. In today’s WWE, having something to do is a hell of a lot better than having nothing.

I’m going to sort of turn this into a “How I Would Book” post for a brief moment as I believe Kalisto losing to Del Rio actually sets things up nicely for if WWE were to ever try to push him. If you’ve ever watched Lucha Underground, AAA or any form of lucha libre, you’ll know that there’s a lot of pride involved. Kalisto should be portrayed as a proud warrior that seeks to be the best wrestling has to offer. Him beating Ryback and losing to Del Rio teaches him that he does have what it takes to become a star but still lacks something (possibly motivation) to truly unlock his full potential.

That’s Kalisto’s motivation as he requests more singles matches. He loses initially but then is able to pick up that one win again against someone like Kevin Owens or Cesaro. He’s starting to learn from his mistakes and looks better and better every time he’s in the ring. Kalisto then gets on a roll from this win and he and Sin Cara team up again and eventually earn a shot at the tag titles at Royal Rumble or Fast Lane. They come close but they eventually get beat. Kalisto is given an opportunity to compete for the United States Championship at Wrestlemania against the champion Del Rio, but only if he and Sin Cara split up. Cara tells him to go for it and Kalisto earns a title shot on RAW. He is finally able to beat Del Rio at Wrestlemania to capture the gold.

That was just a short idea I came up with in my head but it tells you the potential the WWE have now created with this victory that could make a star out of Kalisto.

 

TOP FIVE MOMENTS FROM WWE RAW (16/11/15)

The biggest talking point coming off of RAW was the incident involving Charlotte and Paige with the contract signing that ended the show. Out of all the things WWE could have went with as the ending segment for their go-home show before Survivor Series, I was not expecting it to be this angle and it really shouldn’t have been this angle. As I’ve mentioned before, this angle was a complete failure and you can read my thoughts about it by clicking on this link.

It’s a shame because this week’s edition of RAW was actually pretty good with the exception of the Paige/Charlotte segment and the opener with Undertaker, Kane and the Wyatts. Allow me to share with you my top five moments from a RAW that had terrible a opening and ending but a darn good middle.
1. Tyler Breeze vs R-Truth

Believe it or not, the first entry for this post is the match between Tyler Breeze and R-Truth which I thoroughly enjoyed. This was a match that actually did a good job in making Breeze look good. Breeze’s start to the main roster hasn’t been TOO bad but he still lost in the opening round of the tournament on his in-ring RAW debut to Dean Ambrose. I think this match was the RAW debut that Breeze should have had and Truth did a great job in making him look good. I’d hate to see Truth constantly in that role of putting other people over all the time but at least he’s very good at it and helped Tyler a lot out here. I also liked Summer Rae applying Lip Balm to Tyler in the middle of a match. What a move right there!

 

2. Roman Reigns vs Cesaro

To be honest, this was around the time of the show where I was starting to lose interest with the show being three hours long. With that being said, I saw a lot of great stuff with this Reigns vs Cesaro match. I thought Cesaro did a really good job with Roman and looked great in his own right, especially when he did the Cartwheel counter in the middle of the match. I think this and as well as two of the other quarter final matches tonight succeeded in giving this tournament a serious feel to it as these men were giving it their all to try and get into Survivor Series. Both men looked great here but there was not one time where I thought Cesaro was going to win, maybe except when he was about to go for the Neutraliser but even then there was a lingering thought of “Roman’s going to kick out” because the big mission for WWE is to push Roman. Him kicking out of Cesaro’s finish would have done well for him. I thought this probably should have been the main event out of everything I saw on RAW considering the post-match angle of Cesaro and Roman hugging. It would have made a lot of sense.

 

3. Neville vs Kevin Owens

Looking back, I kind of wish this match got more time because it was so good. However, at the same time it might have worked a lot better short and sweet rather than Reigns vs Cesaro which went a bit too long. Regardless, these two put on a hell of a match. This was the type of win Kevin needed and this tournament is making him look really good. He’s getting these clean wins and he’s coming out strong after every match. I’d like to see Neville vs Kevin Owens for the Intercontinental title for after Survivor Series but I guess we’ll see what they do with these two.

 

4. Dean Ambrose vs Dolph Ziggler

This was a very unique match, especially with these two styles and the fact that they are both faces. It managed to weirdly work for this 16 minute match but I think Ambrose benefited a lot more from it. I don’t think this was like Reigns vs Cesaro where Cesaro actually got a large reaction and got over despite losing. Ziggler still got beat and it was not like him and Ambrose shook hands. Ziggler got beat and then Ambrose cut his promo after the match. It was a good match. I liked Ambrose’s fired up promo afterwards when he talked about the WWE changing if he won the belt. I think this is properly the biggest indication to me that if anyone is turning heel at Survivor Series during this tournament, it’s probably Dean. There has to be some meaning for WWE to have Dean cut this promo. It’s not like Triple H did a segment with him backstage where he was asking Dean to be his “man.” I’m guessing something’s going to happen that’ll involve him at Survivor Series.

 

5. Triple H

I’d hate to bump the New Day of this list for the best parts of RAW as they usually are one of the best things on RAW every week. However, I have to give Triple H credit for some of the promos he cut backstage. What Triple H was doing was going to those competing in the tournament and trying to convince them to do what it took to “be his man.” He did it with Kevin Owens in a segment that we couldn’t actually hear, he did with Alberto Del Rio but the best one he did it with was Cesaro. He cut a really good promo on Cesaro referencing the “brass ring” and Cesaro lacking something to make it to the top. There was a lot of subliminal references to backstage feelings on Cesaro which was weird, as it came off like the WWE know full well how good Cesaro is but still don’t push him. However, Hunter did a good job so I’ll give him credit.

A really good middle to a RAW ended with controversy which is a shame as it took away from a lot of the good parts of this show. I thought the show was good but I still think they promoted Survivor Series that well especially with that last segment.

The Paige/Charlotte Contract Signing On RAW (16/11/2015)

There’s a time and a place for the use of the divas in the final segment of your flagship show. There’s a time and a place to have a contract signing. There’s a time and a place to make rivalries personal. There’s a time and a place for the use of personal tragedies in wrestling storylines. This week with the Paige and Charlotte contract signing for Survivor Series… was not one of them.

Everyone is talking about the mention of the deceased brother of Charlotte, Reid Flair, which lead to Charlotte attacking Paige to end the show. Here’s the thing about this segment… that was not even close to the biggest reason about why this segment was so bad.

Keep this in mind. Look at all the segments that WWE had to choose from to be the go-home segment going into Survivor Series. They could have had the Brothers of Destruction confronting the Wyatt Family, with Bray revealing who would face Undertaker and Kane at Survivor Series and it would have worked. They could have had one of the Quarter Final matches of the WWE World title tournament be the main event of the show, which would lead us nicely into Survivor Series. Instead, WWE decided to end the show with Paige and Charlotte promoting their match at Survivor Series for the Divas Championship.

It’s not like this match is such an important match that it required the main-event spotlight. In fact, out of all the matches that have been announced for Survivor Series, this would be the match that required the least amount of attention. The WWE World Tournament and the Undertaker and Kane vs Wyatts program have both been BY FAR more important and more promoted that Charlotte vs Paige. The idea that those two storylines were bumped from the main event to make way for Charlotte, Paige and Michael Cole is just absurd.

What did they do with this main event? Charlotte and Paige got into an “intense” argument which saw Charlotte get completely lost for words early on into the segment. WWE could have given Charlotte any other time to do this segment with Paige and give her a chance to work on her mic skills. They could have even done this on SmackDown! and they could have easily edited it so Charlotte didn’t come off as bad as she did. No, what they did was put her out there live on RAW and as soon as she mentioned Reid it just went off the rail.

You could tell just by watching it that Charlotte did not want to mention Reid at all. She obviously must have agreed to it in some way beforehand and I don’t believe that she was pressured into doing it or anything. When she was out there though, I just got the feeling that she was thinking afterwards “this was a lot harder than I thought” and that was kind of the turning point which saw Charlotte really mess up.

To me, it didn’t seem that it was a line that was relevant to the plot of the story. Michael Cole explained at the start of the segment that Paige and Charlotte have been friends since NXT and that they’ve suddenly got their issues when it comes to the Divas title. Making things personal shouldn’t be needed. Scott Christ at Tape Machines Are Rolling summed it up nicely when he said:

“My problem is they basically just sprung this whole “we were best friends IRL for serious” on us at 11:02. So we went from “they have wrestling type problems” to “they have serious personal issues” to “this is a blood feud” in about 8 minutes. I also don’t think it “helps” that the crowd can barely react to this anyway. What percentage of the audience knows about what happened to Reid Fliehr? 5% at most?”

What I find to be interesting about the Reid thing is that those putting the show together didn’t seem to have no problem in Reid being used despite not many of the audience actually knowing what happened to him. There was a bit of a reaction but not nearly enough to justify it or gain Paige the proper “heel heat.” What’s interesting about it is that WWE had such a problem when Ric Flair actually mentioned his son Reid during the WWE 2K14 panel a few years ago which lead to Jim Ross actually parting ways with the company because they didn’t want that. I know when Ric mentioned Reid, it was a lot closer to when Reid actually died. However, it’s just strange that WWE are all of sudden OK with mentioning him in order to make the storyline a bit more personal.

 

There’s something about the fact that they used the line about Reid in the week after the ten year anniversary of Eddie Guerrero. If you’ll recall, WWE used Eddie’s death as the catalyst for Rey Mysterio’s push in 2006. At least then, you could sort of argue that it was to push new talent to the main event. Here, it was just used to “intensify” the storyline. The only thing was that this one seemed so obscure and unnecessary that it really didn’t add a whole lot to the storyline. It’s like when Eric Bischoff made the reference on Nitro to Sid stabbing someone in a backstage incident. Nobody at the time got it except the talent. I know a lot more people would have known about Reid Flair but it’s not like Charlotte ever mentioned him before on WWE television or NXT.

I think I’ve actually went into the Reid stuff a bit more than I intended because I mentioned earlier, this was not the biggest reason about why this segment failed. The reason this segment failed is because these two women shouldn’t have been in the main event of the show. Simple. Charlotte doesn’t have the mic skills and this storyline doesn’t have enough importance for it be even considered for a main event segment of RAW. People have begging for the women to get better treatment and I understand all of that. However, main event segments don’t result in better story-telling and better programming. If you put a tiara on a small rock, it’s still a rock. It doesn’t make things any greater.

It also failed as Paige and Charlotte were just put in a very tough position. I actually have a problem with Paige’s delivery and it has nothing to do with her controversial comments. Paige is trying to portray this rebellious “CM Punk” like character that just talks trash about the roster. The problem with that is that she’s not got the personality to pull it off. It just doesn’t suit her style and her character to spend her time bashing the other divas in a similar way to how AJ used to do it.

There’s also the issue with how Paige claimed that she had been using Charlotte which I thought didn’t make a lot of sense. Charlotte talked about how Paige inspiring her in NXT and how she wanted to be like Paige but then Paige claimed that she had been using Charlotte. Why would Paige need to use Charlotte in the first place? A lot of people could point out that it was Paige fooling Charlotte and Becky Lynch into thinking she was a team player but how did she “use” Charlotte in any of that? All she did was pretend to be a team mate before turning on the team. Paige then just won the number one contendership match on RAW to earn a shot for the title. I don’t see how she used Charlotte at all in those few months. All she did was mess with Team PCB.

There was no mention of Becky Lynch who was attacked by Paige after their match on RAW last week. She was not mentioned by either girl. This is funny because a lot of fans on Twitter have started to believe that Becky will turn on Charlotte. That really shouldn’t happen but if it does, it’s not like it was teased or anything like that. Also keep in mind, Paige beat up Becky last week so it’s not like it’d make a lot of sense either.

One last thing before I get to the finish of the show with Paige and Charlotte brawling. There’s one line I have to address from Charlotte. Charlotte said that she would not be champion forever and that she would eventually lose the title but not to the likes of Paige.

The reason I was so infuriated about this line because YOU SHOULD BE CONFIDENT THAT YOU WILL BE CHAMPION FOR THE REST OF YOUR CAREER! What champion wins a championship thinking “I’m eventually going to lose it”? I’m sure Ronda Rousey wanted to be champion and unbeaten for the rest of her life. I’m sure Floyd Mayweather wants to finish his career undefeated. What’s the point of even fighting for the title if you don’t think you’ll hold onto to it?

What’s funny is that I distinctly remember AJ Lee on commentary one time on SmackDown! mentioning that she wanted to hold onto the divas title for 28 years! When you’re a champion you want to be champion for the rest of your career. You shouldn’t be saying things like “I will eventually lose this title.” When AJ mentioned she wanted to be champion for 28 years at least her character’s goal at the time was to be champion for the rest of her career. Charlotte’s character suggests that she doesn’t care if she drops the belt as long as Paige doesn’t win it. That’s not good.

So finally, Paige and Charlotte get to this brawl. The brawl was actually not that bad with the exception of the 30 seconds where Charlotte just decided to literally lay on Paige it seems. The show ended with Charlotte not even signing her contract. Now WWE.com did post a video with Charlotte actually signing the contract and she signed this contract with the biggest smile on her face after she just beat up Paige for speaking ill about her little brother that died a few years before.

It was not like this was a sinister smile as she knows she’ll get her hands on Paige once she signed the contract. It just seemed like Charlotte was just her normal self. She wasn’t angry and it wasn’t like the officials and referees were trying to restrain her. She was just normal. If you don’t have access to the internet, you wouldn’t have even known that Charlotte signed the contract afterwards. This is an important aspect of the contract signing which WWE decided to leave after the show went off the air.

There it is. Here was my extensive review about this contract signing to end the go-home show before Survivor Series. This was not like a contract signing that was ruined by the mention of Reid Flair. This contract signing was dreadful anyway and it featured an unnecessary attempt at making things personal between Paige and Charlotte. I really don’t think I’ve seen a worse ending to a go-home show than this. I remember the go-home show where Mark Henry tried to rally USA ahead of his match with Rusev at Night Of Champions 2014. I remember that but I don’t think I remember any other go-home show as bad as this one.

I feel kind of bad for kicking this segment around this much because RAW was actually a decent show with good quarter final matches for the tournament. However, this segment was a total disaster from start to finish.