TNABaddboi

I actually like a few of TNA's themes. AJ's has always been a favorite of mine, and Jarrett's has too for some reason. I also like Christian's, Joe's and Nash's (new) themes and I was a fan of Matt Bentley's old music.

Meltz is reporting that TNA will be running a tournament the next few weeks on Impact to determine who faces Sting for the title at the next PPV. Coming off his strong win over Rhino, I guess Christian gets fed some names on the way to the title shot. Unless they do a heel-heel match or watch another match with Joe on TV, I can't even think of who they match him up with to make it not look like a cakewalk to the title shot.

It'll be interesting to see how the ratings are now that the belts off Sting. TNA was topping 1.0 regularly toward the end of Christian's reign, all the way through the show where they resolved the held-up title by recognizing Jarrett as champ. The next week, i think they dropped to a .8 or a .9. Maybe we've found the measure of the percentage of fanbase that's turned off by Jarret, if they go back up that is.

Preview: Discuss...

Are the Naturals gonna get killed or what? They eat 3D at the PPV and then the next show, you know they're taking the Gringo Killa and/or Border Toss. I gotta say though, I thought they'd save that match for the primetime debut. When Tenay said during the intros for the 4way that the Naturals title shot was "imminent," I immediately thought that it wasn't a PPV level match, since LAX is clearly going heel on heel with AMW, but it would be a good excuse to have a title match on the big TV show. Guess I was wrong... BTW, here's Mike Johnson's take on the show, most of which I agree with:

Ok, so now that BFGII is in the books, when (and where?) do you guys think TNA goes back out on the road. I'm thinking they'll use traveling as a way to distinguish their big shows of the year for awhile, so my guess is LockDown is the next non-Orlando PPV. I remember awhile ago reading that the Richmond show was a PPV test, but it didn't draw that well (nowhere near what Detroit did in March). They drew well in Philly, but they can't run a PPV at the ECW Arena. I'm gonna guess Vegas, just because they've had a hard-on for doing a show there since Hogan was coming in.

Not only all that, but also Christian gave Rhino PLENTY of offense. Just about all the match's big spots were Rhino killing Christian (the Zamboni and the piledriver through the table came to mind). Rhino also kicked out of Christian's finisher twice. The finish plays into the storyline of Rhino being tougher than smart, since Christian only beat him by taking advantage of an injury that "should have kept him out of the match" in storyline terms. The way they did it set Christian up to challenge Sting for the title next month and Cornette can force Rhino to take some time off to heal up. Then, either he beats Christian on the primetime debut (which I wouldn't do) or he shows up during the Christian/Sting match and stops Christian from cheating to win the belt (which I would do). After that, on the next PPV, when Rhino's "fully healed" from the concussion Christian gave him, Christian eats a Gore. IMO, the booking makes perfect sense and doesn't damage Rhino at all. I think if you guys look past "OMG, Rhino lost in DETROIT." you'll remember they have a PPV next month with a main event feud that's been on the back burner for two months. Christian NEEDS to be strong going into that match or the feud doesn't work, despite the Hard Justice back-story.

Here are some pics of the arena from another board for those of you that wanted to see the set-up but didn't order the show.

Interesting article from the Torch: thoughts?

I'm ordering. This will be the first TNA PPV I've purposed since Turning Point 05 and the first one I've watched live since Victory Road. Although, to be fair, that was more because I didn't have PPV access than anything else. I would have probably ordered anyway, since I'm a sucker for history making nights like the first road PPV, but the line-up is pretty stacked. I'm most drawn to LAX/AJ & Daniels, but the isn't a match i outright don't wanna see (Eric Young and Larry Z comes close, but I mark for EY, so I'll tolerate it).

That's seems kinda contradictory to me...how can he be another generic indy guy, but then also have a gimmick that would overshadow the rest of the division. I think Shelley's the guy precisely because he has a gimmick that people are drawn too, whereas no one else in the division even has a real gimmick (except the Jackasses, I guess). Shelley could keep the division afloat until they build someone up to shut him up.

I think they gave the belt to Senshi too quickly. They were just introducing him to the audience and if they had gave him a sustained push and an extended program with Joe, maybe where he finally beats him after one or two tries, i think he'd have been viewed on the Styles-Daniels-Joe level. But instead, they hotshotted the belt to him and they all but forgot about his push and this is what you get. To rebuild the division, they're going to have to take the belt off him, but the problem is that he's programmed with Sabin, who would make the problem worse. Since they've got Nash back, what I'd like to see them do is having him resume his Coach role and lead Shelley to the title, though it'd be through his whole work smart/not hard deal. I think Shelley has the personality and the ability to make the division seem like a big deal and would benefit greatly from an extended run with the belt. That said, what they're going to do is put the belt on Sabin in his hometown and let him and the Jackasses play before silent crowds for awhile.

Every week they're running videos "sent by Sting" to Jarrett and wondering what kind of message he's trying to send. They've also had Sting's "closest friends" talking up how hard he's trying and how focused he is on the match. Although I could do without ever seeing Luger or Bagwell on my TV again, the fact remains that they are keeping the issue fresh in people's minds. I agree with RedJed on this.....they don't have to be strangling each other to close the show every week to get people ready for the match, especially when that's all they've been doing all year. I mean, Sting and Hogan barely touched each other for a year before their big match and people were dying to see it. I think that's the route TNA is trying to go here.

It's been building since Sting first set foot in the Impact Zone in January. He and Jarrett have been feuding ever since, and he's been talking about removing the "cancer" from TNA and Jarrett's been talking about how TNA isn't big enough for the both of them. The build up may not have been the most enjoyable part of the show (and has certainly been overshadowed lately by the GREAT AJ/Daniels-LAX feud), but to say they haven't built it up is a bit of a stretch. Feuding with Jarrett is literally all Sting has done since he came in, which everyone has been bitching about for quite some time. I think that's all everyone's trying to say.

From PWI: Wouldn't it make more sense to leave the replay where it is so the special can follow it?

Here's Keller's take: I loved the Nash/Shelley combo (and thought Devine was in the way, basically leeching off the heat), but I'd love to see Nash coach Shelley to the X-Title (or even him and Devine to the tag titles). Either way, let the Peanut Butter Shelley push continue!

I noticed that too. I'm totally diggin' Christian's heel character btw. This is the most consistently entertaining he's been since he was chasing the title. Maybe there's something about him ripping on Jarrett that just works. They have to be careful though, because that's what got him over as a face in the first place. He got a pretty big pop when he laid out Jarrett and took the belt. He's almost gotta walk that Rock line of being of being the cool heel, but not TOO cool. Anyway, other than LAX/AJ&Daniels, the Christian-Rhino is the one I'm looking forward to most for B4G.

I hope they at least have them not trust each other, like WWE did when they first teamed up Austin and The Rock after Rocky turned face for good.

TNA is doing a show in Vince's backyard. From Mike Johnson:

Here's what he reported: I really like this move....I'd feel a lil' better about this if ICP was promoting it instead of Sadler, since the ICP show drew way better, but still, running that market on that weekend is a bold move for TNA and I fully support it. I wonder what the top matches will be....

There's absolutely no chance there's a clean finish there. I'm sure Runt, Abyss and Jarrett all make appearances. This is the first time, I believe, that they've given BFG the roman numeral treatment. That should help set it off from the other PPVs a bit, IMO.

Like I said earlier, I think there's a strong chance we might see a three-way. While I'd prefer just a one-on-one build to Joe winning the title, TNA could use this to set themselves for next year's BFG. If they were to do the three-way, I'd have Joe pin Jarrett and then have Sting go for the respect deal, and have Joe choke him out (to keep him firmly established as a loner). Then, do the staredown with Angle, who's at ringside for all of this, but doesn't help Sting out. They can then spend the next year keeping Joe and Angle completely separate, both running through people and only occasionally crossing paths or referencing each other, and then at BFGIII, you have the irresistable force vs the immovable object as your main draw. That's how I'd do it anyway... They have to be careful though, IMO. The should not put Joe in the match if they aren't going to pull the switch, or else they'll run the risk of Monty-ing him and having him appear to be unable to win the big one.

It looks like they have set themselves up to put Joe in the title match or have him face Abyss, which I guess would be third from the top (behind JJ/Sting and Christian/Rhino). I'd rather see the main become a three-way, but I think I could dig a Joe/Abyss match.

If they don't tape an LAX angle for Impact in front of that audience, they're NUTS!

From Da Meltz: