Victory Road 08 Thoughts

[Jingus 0]

This is why you don't schedule the heel's big shot at the babyface champion in the heel's hometown. TNA must've only realized that like a month ahead of time, and had no idea how to get out of it without either making Joe look weak(er) or pulling a WWE and making a guy lose in front of his hometown fans. So they just piss off everyone with this crap instead. Christ. For all the millions of complaints I can make about the WWE, at least these days they realize that their PPV main event title matches need to have mostly clean finishes.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I don't really know what to say about the main event. The thing that ticked me off is why in the world was everyone coming out to tell Joe to stop...when the match was never ended?

 

Shouldn't the ref have been calling for a bell if Booker couldn't continue instead of trying to get Joe to stop in a match that is still ongoing?

 

As far as I understand the way wrestling works...Joe did everything right there and then got attacked by a woman, refs told him to quit in a match he was winning, security ran in, and then KO'd by Sting and a bat.

 

The announcers played it up like Sting was in the wrong...which I at least agree with.

[fazzle 0]

So uhm, anyone care to actually list the results?

[garfieldsnose 0]

There is a million web sites out there you can go to. So no.

[fazzle 0]

And I'm at work, and 90% of them are blocked.

[bob_barron 0]

TNAWrestling.com-

 

COMPLETE RESULTS AND REPLAY TIMES FOR THE VICTORY ROAD PAY-PER-VIEW EVENT

Controversy in the TNA World Heavyweight Championship match involving Sting!

 

Read the results below...

 

Missed Victory Road? Catch the replay all week long! As always, check your programming guide or call your local cable or satellite provider for details!

 

INDEMAND: Select replay times from July 14-22

DIRECTV: All Day Replays On July 14 and 18

DISH NETWORK: All Day Replays On July 15 and 16

VIEWER'S CHOICE CANADA: Check your listings

TVN: Check your listings

 

- In the opening 12 Man World X Cup Elimination Match, it was Alex Shelley of The Motor City Machineguns winning it, beating Yoshino of Team Japan to put Team TNA in the lead going into the final Ultimate X Match later in the broadcast.

 

- A series of videos aired featuring Booker T at home in Houston, Texas, showing off his regal estate.

 

- In a Knockouts match, Gail Kim defeated Angelina Love, despite interference by Velvet Sky. After the bout, Velvet and Angelina double-teamed Gail and tried to paper-bag her, but Gail escaped the ring.

 

- Backstage, BG James and Lauren were with the fans that would participate in the Fans Revenge Match later on

 

- In a Grudge Match, "The Guru" Sonjay Dutt got the win over "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal after a quick roll-up. Dutt kept telling Val he loved her during the bout, and at one point Val asked Lethal to stop punishing Dutt. However, that gave Dutt the opening to beat Lethal.

 

- In the Fan's Revenge match for the TNA World Tag Team Championship, The Latin American Xchange defeated Beer Money. In the end, Robert Roode got dumped to the outside, where the fans lashed at him with the leather straps. Back inside, LAX double-teamed Roode with Homicide getting the pin to retain the gold.

 

- TNA newcomer Taylor Wilde surprised Awesome Kong by defeating her AGAIN to retain the TNA Knockout Women's Championship after Taylor used Kong's own weight to get the roll-up pin. After the bout, Raisha Saeed attacked Taylor and threw her back in the ring for Kong, who annihilated the Women's Champion with a piledriver. When Kong attempted a second pildriver on a steel chair, Abyss hit the ring to save Taylor! Abyss ended up nailing the Black Hole Slam on Saeed and then carried off Taylor.

 

- In the Ultimate X Match, Volodor Jr won the bout to give Team Mexico the win and the World X Cup. Kaz pulled off one of the most amazing moves in TNA history when he hit a legdro from the top of the structure on Daivari. However, by doing that Kaz cost himself the bout, allowing Volodor to pull down the red X! After the bout, Mike Tenay and TNA spanish broadcast Willie Urbina interviewed Team Mexico while a visibly upset Kaz watched on.

 

- In the Full Metal Mayhem match (as voted for by the fans on our website), the team of Kurt Angle and Team 3D beat AJ Styles, Christian Cage and Rhino after interference by Frank Trigg. AJ Styles had climbed a ladder to come down on Kurt Angle (who was across a table), but Trigg nailed AJ with a kendo stick. Angle hit Styles with an Olympic Slam through the table to get the win.

 

- In the back, Jeremy Borash interviewed Samoa Joe about the World Title match. Kevin Nash came in to wish Joe luck. Joe asked Nash to stay in the back for the title match.

 

- In the main event, it was an all-out brawl as Samoa Joe and Booker T went to hell and back. Joe and Booker both got busted open during the bout and were bleeding. Watching on, Booker T's wife Sharmell couldn't stand it anymore and begged for Joe to stop, then slapped him! In response, Joe smashed Sharmell's personal security. In addition, all of the TNA referees (minus Earl Hebner who was injured earlier) got annihilated by Joe, as the match got out of control. Security came in and couldn't stop Joe. Sharmell eventually got in the ring and screamed for someone to help as Joe choked the life out of Booker.

 

Just then, the lights went out and Sting's music hit! Sting tried to talk sense into Joe, but Joe gave Sting the finger! As a result, Sting smashed Joe with the baseball bat and stood there as Booker T covered Joe and Sharmell made the three count! Sharmell took the World Title from ringside and put it over Booker's shoulder as they left the arena! Joe was out cold in the ring as Sting left as well!

 

Is Booker T the new TNA World Champion? What will happen between Sting and Samoa Joe? Tune in Thursday on "iMPACT!" to find out!

[cabbageboy 0]

Oh god, please tell me TNA isn't still doing the whole "Titles change on DQ" bullshit. That is the single most idiotic way to devalue a belt short of putting one on David Arquette. For whatever reason I wasn't feeling this main event going in, and the booking more than justifies it. But seriously, any time I think TNA has simply dropped that idiotic stipulation they drag it out of mothballs as a booking deus ex machina when they want to change a title without jobbing anyone.

 

I jokingly put a bit about So Cal Val turning on Lethal in my avatar, but doing that hokey and obvious piece of Russo booking would have been better than whatever bizarre crap happened tonight. This sounds more like the HHH/Angle/Steph booking where no one did anything conclusive.

 

Is anyone else scratching their heads over the booking on this show? They haven't really convinced me that this Taylor chick is so special that she should be beating Kong on a regular basis. I'm not sure what the endgame is in this Angle/Styles feud since 1. AJ insists that he isn't banging Karen and 2. Angle doesn't seem to want his wife back anyway. Gotta love TNA running nearly the same angle as a main event storyline with Angle and Styles fighting over Karen and also as an undercard angle with Lethal and Dutt feuding over So Cal Val.

[BorneAgain 0]

This seems like one of the more blatant set-ups for a triple threat I've seen. Booker/Sting/Joe, presumably to spin off the latter two for another match at No Surrender or Bound for Glory.

 

I just hope they don't strip Joe of the title and make the three way one to crown someone and fill the vacancy.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Team Japan finished tied for last place in the X Cup.

 

...

 

That makes all 3 World X Cups they finished at the bottom. Damn it Team Japan...get your shit together for 2010.

[Jingus 0]

What the hell was Puma doing in there, anyway? Didn't they have enough actual Japanese guys? Why sub in a white guy under a mask?

[Broward83 0]

So, just got back from the show. (Went to IHOP after..waited too fuckin long for service and left then went to Denny's)

 

The event was great. I had a blast seeing TNA live for the first time and the opening match was fucking sick. We we're all going crazy for the shit happening in the ring and felt that it definitely could've been MOTN.

 

Main event..it was well..we had no clue what the fuck was going on, really.

 

The whole "street team winner" shit.. well yeah, that part sucked. We were told to get there at 3:45 to 4pm. We get there a tad bit earlier than that and the guy basically tells us that the meet n greet would be at 5:30 and to just walk to the left when we entered. No VIP passes..no upgraded tickets. We got voucher's for "best available" seats which were I think the cheapest seats available and behind the boom cam (so a decent amount of the pictures I took have the boom cam in them)..

 

After calling the contact with TNA, the guy who was there "Dan", came to us and asked us if we'd like to be in the LAX / Beer Money Inc match. (I assume because I called)

 

We were all given LAX shirts and met with BG where he told us to beat the ever-loving shit out of Roode and Storm. We were taken backstage and met LAX and took a few photos with them and I was able to get Homicide's autograph as well as Booker T who was downing one of those five hour energy shot drinks. After that we met with Russo who had us do the promo with us beating on the manequins.

 

After that, I saw Storm off to the side. Politely and calmly I walked over to him to tell him good luck tonight and to thank him for comin out to Houston. His reply: "You had better not hit me in the fucking head..I swear to god if you do I'll beat the fucking shit of you, hear me?"

 

After that, we took our seats for the show.

 

Overall, it was a mixed experience. I doubt I'll ever do any type of street team work for TNA again after this whole mess..

[Jingus 0]

After that, I saw Storm off to the side. Politely and calmly I walked over to him to tell him good luck tonight and to thank him for comin out to Houston. His reply: "You had better not hit me in the fucking head..I swear to god if you do I'll beat the fucking shit of you, hear me?"

Nice to know he hasn't changed. His only instructions to me when I managed his opponent in a match a long time ago were "And whatever you do, don't slap me in the fucking ear... I swear to god if you do I'll beat the fucking shit out of you, hear me?"

 

Well, that weren't really his only instructions, since they meticulously planned every single step of a long-ass match in which I had at least half a dozen specific cues of "when this happens, then do this", but the story goes better if I say that's all he said.

[luke-o 0]

After that, I saw Storm off to the side. Politely and calmly I walked over to him to tell him good luck tonight and to thank him for comin out to Houston. His reply: "You had better not hit me in the fucking head..I swear to god if you do I'll beat the fucking shit of you, hear me?"

 

God that made me laugh a lot.

[TNABaddboi 0]

Ok, after sleeping on it, I really feel like I should have hated the main event non-finish, but strangely, I didn't. I usually only order the "big" ppvs (LD, Slammy, BFG), and only get the others when they book a good card. I completely ordered this because I was digging the Joe/Booker build (Full Methal Mayhem helped a lil' too), so I should be all up in arms about them not giving me a finish for my $30. But strangely, I'm not, precisely because I'm digging the Joe/Booker feud. The match felt like a big deal, and for the first time since Angle/Joe in cage, the crowd clearly came to see the main event. They popped in spots all night, but mostly for spots. But when Joe and Booker were out there, they came alive. The reverse reactions gave me a vibe of the old Hart Foundation/USA feuds in the WWE when the Harts would be booed out of the building everywhere they went but Canada, where they'd get heroes' welcomes. It's not something that would work all the time, but here, I think it did. It actually made me want to see Joe kick Booker's ass even more, each time the fans booed him. Even as the beat down got going, I wasn't thinking heel turn, I was thinking good for Joe. They set it up pretty good with everybody doubting him, the people he wanted to be champion of turning on him, etc., etc.

 

I really don't remember the last time the title picture was this interesting, and I can't believe I'm saying about anything involving Kevin Nash. So instead of being upset about the ending, I tried to figure out where they are going next. I wonder if it's gonna be a three-way next month, Joe/Booker with Sting as enforcer (which is what I would do), a tag match or four-way with Nash. IMO, TNA gave themselves a ton of possibilities for a compelling title picture between now and BFG. Clearly, the Joe/Booker program has legs. Usually, a new champions first challenger is one and done (see Abyss and ever other face champion they've ever had), but that's not the case here.

 

Now if TNA did this every month, I wouldn't have been so understanding, but they've had finishes to their main events for months now. If this was one of those deals were there was a screwy finish to every match on the card, I'd call overbooking. But that wasn't the case here either. The only real interference on the card was Frank Trigg, but even that made sense within the context of the story, so no biggie. Going back to my WWE analogy, this reminded me of the Austin/Foley feud right after he won the title for the first time. The first match, they had ended in DQ, which I'm sure people groaned about, and then the next month they had a killer No DQ rematch.

 

But yeah, I ordered the PPV and I haven't ordered Victory Road since the first one, and I don't feel like the ending made the purchase less worthwhile. They are telling an interesting story and I want to see where it goes before I start screaming. But if they hold up the title on Thursday like they always do, then I'll join the chorus. That's my 2 cents on the finish...

[Zack Malibu 0]

I'm also in the minority of people who didn't mind the finish. While it seemed like a rushjob/clusterfuck, it did tell a good story about the title picture...

 

1)Joe was doubted, and was out to prove a point. In doing so, he revealed the mean streak/killer instinct that he left behind long ago.

 

2)While I don't believe they'll be counting Sharmell's counting of the pin as a title change, it proved that Booker did have Joe down for a three count. Since Booker's chase leading up to this had to do with the fact that he had Joe beat in King of the Mountain until Nash helped him, he now has a leg to stand on that he beat Joe...but now Joe has a leg to stand on too, due to the Sting interference.

 

3)Last month, Nash helped Joe and Joe retained. This month, Nash didn't help Joe and he got attacked by Sting and pinned, more or less, by Booker. So now you have the story of Nash proving his worth to Joe, or at least proving that Joe's head isn't on straight.

 

4)Sting is the X-factor in all of this, but it seems as if he's doing the "respect the veterans" type of deal with the way he spoke to Joe last night. I could see them doing something where he tells Joe he should be leading by example, not doing what he did to keep the title. Simple story that builds the tension and culminates in a match, I'm guessing, at Bound For Glory.

 

You've got a few different directions you can go here now...a Booker/Joe rematch seems the most obvious. Sting and Joe is obviously coming. You could even have Nash and Sting get into a fight over how Nash opted to stay out of things, even when they were at their worst, so what gave Sting the right to? As much as Nash is crap in the ring and Sting is on his way towards retirement, it's building a good story and Joe is getting a huge rub from being in the mix (and the main source of the story) with three major stars.

[TNABaddboi 0]

Interesting take on the finish from the Torch:

 

The majority of people that saw the finish of the Samoa Joe-Booker T were angry last night with the finish of the match, but let me give you, the Torch reader, some perspective here.

 

I really didn’t like the finish at first, but I went back and re-watched the final minutes of the match. Admittedly, Booker clotheslining the ref accidentally looked horrible, but West did a good job of taking us inside the mind of Samoa Joe and telling us that he’s going to keep attacking Booker because everyone has told him he can’t get the job done in this match. Joe continues to attack Booker on the outside and Sharmell slaps him in the face, infuriating Joe even more. He takes out the men surrounding Sharmell and goes back on the attack and Booker comes up busted open.

 

Another ref comes down. We’ve seen this dozens of times in TNA. Joe is legally attacking Booker in the ring. We haven’t been informed there’s a DQ, nor should there be as the first ref bump was accidental, so why does the second ref try to stop Joe from attacking Booker?

 

The second ref calls for help. Another ref runs down and when he arrives, Joe attacks both refs. Joe goes back on the attack on Booker as West claims that Joe is beating up Booker. Security runs out and Joe takes care of them in short order. The crowd doesn’t no how to react. We hear some mixed boos and cheers as Joe continues to attack Booker. Sharmell gets in the ring and begs for help.

 

Sting’s music plays and he walks down to ringside and gets on the apron. Joe locks eyes with him and goes back to attacking Booker. Sting yells at Joe, who momentarily convinces him he’s gone to far. Joe follows Sting down the aisle, but turns around and runs back to the ring and attacks Booker. Sting follows Joe into the ring and tells him he’s made his point. Joe flips him off and says, “F--- you” before going back to attacking Booker. That was a great moment.

 

String turns Joe around and nails him twice with his bat. West wonders why String would do such a thing, as Tenay claims somebody had to step up and put a stop to Joe’s attack on Booker. Booker, who is still groggy, rolls over and covers Joe as Sharmell counts to three. Sharmell goes over to the broadcast table and grabs the belt as Tenay and West voice their displeasure. West says, “Booker T is not the TNA Champion.” Booker is shown walking up the aisle with the belt over his shoulder as we go off the air.

 

This was actually the right finish to the match, but TNA’s reliance on non and interference-laden finishes on so many PPVs during the past year made the ending to the Joe-Booker match feel like a re-run of something I’ve seen so many times in this company in the past.

 

We’ve seen it many times before in a TNA match. The ref gets bumped and the match continues, but last night, the ref got bumped in the match ended. We’ve seen multiple refs run down to ringside, but it never signaled the end of a match in TNA before.

 

TNA only had one choice to get out of that match and that was the finish they executed last night. It wasn’t the right time for Joe to lose the belt. Also, creative couldn’t have Booker lose clean in his hometown, as they would have had a pissed off crowd.

 

The fact that Booker stole the belt gives fans that ordered the PPV or read about it to tune into Impact this Thursday. The problem with TNA doing this is that they’ve done something similar in the past so many times and that is why the finish is getting such a strong negative reaction.

 

The finish to the Booker-Joe match has gotten people talking about TNA, which is what the company wanted. Sting also showed an edge that he hadn’t shown in awhile with his attack on Joe, which might actually turn into people caring about Sting enough to pay to see him wrestle Joe on PPV in the future.

 

Where TNA goes from last night, I don’t know. Joe needs to stick with this character, as he had an edge that he’s been missing all-along. All too often, the WCW vets walked all over Joe, but last night he finally said, “F--- you” to one of TNA’s iconic figures.

 

TNA seems to be heading in the right direction with their main event picture, but unfortunately their fan base is going to see this as just another meaningless screw job finish until creative proves otherwise as the storyline unfolds in the coming months.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I totally agree with one idea there. If TNA didn't overbook EVERY main event match (with the exception of Joe/Angle at Lockdown...which is why it stands out) the ending last night would have been wild and I think people would have been really interested in where they are heading.

 

But they DO overbook every main event match...so it came off as a worse than usual ppv ending.

 

We'll see what happens next and then I'll decide how I feel. Right now I feel like I wouldn't be put off by it if someone had just rung a bell at some point.

[luke-o 0]

When I read the Observers review of the match it sounded horrible, then I saw you guys bitchin' about it and it sounded horrible.

 

But that Torch review makes it sound really good. It gives Joe back his much needed "bad ass attitude", it adds Sting into an interesting angle which he hasn't had since... well since WCW. And it gives Booker lots of ammo to fire at Joe.

 

This could get interesting.

[LuckyLopez 0]

Yeah, I think its a really mixed bag. Joe's behavior was good. He had the proper motivation to keep wailing away on Booker and to ignore Sting and the refs and this is the edge to his character that a lot of people have been complaining has been missing for awhile. Ruthless and not giving a damn.

 

Sting and the refs wanting to stop Joe from hurting Booker made sense. Even the bat shots from Sting, although one could argue that he should have stopped Booker from swiping the gold.

 

The problem seems to come with why the refs never called for the bell. Whether its Joe being DQed for the beating he was delivering, Booker being declared unfit to continue, or Booker being DQed for the interference of Sharmell or Sting. No bell made it all confusing as hell. And my guess is that's how they carry it on Impact as there's a bunch of different ways Cornette COULD interpret this but none of them would be really fair. So I'm kind of expecting the title to be held up and a rematch to happen at Hard Justice. But I don't know.

 

As was said, if this was a unique thing in TNA it would sit much better. But its not and it feels like more of the bad stuff we've gotten. So I just still have no idea how to react to it as I like the way it took Joe's character, appreciate Sting's involvement, and get why they wanted to make Houston fans happy. But still have no idea how I feel.

 

 

The opening match was awesome though and the whole card was a really good show. The final 10 minutes were just confusing as hell and almost made me forget that.

[RedJed 0]

Meltzer reported in a post in the member stuff of his website that Booker/Joe is scheduled at the next ppv with a stipulation (probably a gimmick match) to be announced at the tapings on Tuesday. Sting will likely be ref or something, but he won't be working the match.

 

I'll post more thoughts later on the show but I thought it was actually all around pretty good. I got into the ending like crazy for some reason, as it reminded me of that unpredictability in wrestling that you don't know what and why things are happening the way they are, but it throws out alot of intruige for the next step. And you got the ever so present in TNA "shades of grey" in that you don't know how Joe or Sting, or hell, even Booker for that matter, would be portrayed as from here. I also didn't understand no ringing of the bell, but I think the idea here was that since Cornette was not there (and it was made very clear he wasn't earlier on the show) that with the ref crew and "security" taken out, that there was nobody to actually ring the bell or make an official ruling, basically. Other than the confusion on no ring bell though, I think the Joe/Booker match was fun stuff and then when chaos ensued, it made me really not care that I was getting a non-finish because it made me want to see another match with these guys more than before after the angle was over. And now adding Sting into the mix gives this more layers as the main event scene goes, and then you have Nash and his role in all of this too. All in all, the way they have booked the characters now, you don't really know how they are going to be one week from the next. Joe's missing intensity, attitude, and general toughness that wasn't played upon well enough since he won the belt, was regained back here in this match tenfold, I thought.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

My biggest beef w/ everything storyline wise was the fact Joe was laid out two seconds after establishing himself as a badass. It'd be like Austin popping McMahon his first stunner then getting ambushed by DX before the segment ended.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I didn't really care that the one bat shot took him down...because a bat shot should...

 

He shouldn't have played it like he was out COLD though. Some writhing around in pain would have been a better sell.

 

But yes...there WAS the glimpse of the bad ass asskicking Joe that dominated the X division and everyone who got in his way when he first came in. And that is a definite positive.

[goldengreek 0]

Joe = SCSA is what they are trying to do

[DarKnight 0]

Man, TNA seems like they have no idea what they are doing lately. I think that last PPV they had really sent them downhill, because it seems like none of their workers have any direction right now(Abyss, Angle, Styles, etc.), and I think the main event of this show proves it. The end of the Booker/Joe match sounded awful and didn't make any sense.

[RedJed 0]

Man, TNA seems like they have no idea what they are doing lately. I think that last PPV they had really sent them downhill, because it seems like none of their workers have any direction right now(Abyss, Angle, Styles, etc.), and I think the main event of this show proves it. The end of the Booker/Joe match sounded awful and didn't make any sense.

 

How the fuck can Angle and Styles have no direction when they are in a long term program against each other?

 

As for Abyss, read the results, it appears he's going to be starting a program with Awesome Kong, of all workers.

 

I don't get the criticism for this past ppv much at all really, other than a few matches (tag title match would be an example of that a bit) nothing here was really bland or basic at all, nor offensively bad. In fact both X Cup matches were really damn good, the Full Metal Mayhem delivered more than expected, and say what you will about the result of that main event, but the match itself was good stuff from both guys. The differentiating viewpoints of Booker/Joe and the angle after seems to be in part of those who saw it versus those who just heard about it. And I think to take that a step further, those who hated it didn't realize what it was trying to accomplish as well. They're more than likely just simply upset because there was a non decisive finish in the main event, period.

[TNABaddboi 0]

I don't get the criticism for this past ppv much at all really, other than a few matches (tag title match would be an example of that a bit) nothing here was really bland or basic at all, nor offensively bad.

 

I agree. I'm watching the show again and I'm enjoying much more than I enjoyed Slammiversary, which honestly, I fell asleep on. I was tired that day and had to watch the KotM after the show ended (I didn't miss much). I was tired Sunday too, but I wanted to see Booker/Joe, so I stayed up...lol. Seriously though, I think this was one of the better "throwaway" they've done in a long time.

 

The differentiating viewpoints of Booker/Joe and the angle after seems to be in part of those who saw it versus those who just heard about it. And I think to take that a step further, those who hated it didn't realize what it was trying to accomplish as well. They're more than likely just simply upset because there was a non decisive finish in the main event, period.

 

Couldn't agree more here either, Red.

[DarKnight 0]

Angle and Styles have no direction because what the fuck is this storyline's endgame? Styles gets beat down every week, and for what? He says on TV that he isn't having sex with her, so why is he willing to take so much punishment? Angle on the other hand DOESN'T want his wife back in storyline, so why would he care if AJ is with her?

 

As for Abyss, is being in a program with Awesome Kong a good thing? I mean its not possible for this to lead to anything good. Also doesn't help they keep jobbing Kong to Taylor for some weird reason. There are other people who have no direction either, such as Black Machismo/Dutt, Eric Young, Curry Man, etc. This Machismo/Dutt feud can't have anything good come out of it. I mean, you can almost feel his heat leaving the building the past few weeks.

[LuckyLopez 0]

Angle may say he doesn't want his wife back but its abundantly clear by his actions that he remains emotionally invested. He's angry and jealous and that's why he's lashing out at AJ. AJ cares about Karen and is angry at how Angle has treated her. He's also angry at how Angle and Co have treated him and wants basic revenge. I don't see why it doesn't make sense when its the basic wrestling story if a face fighting because the heels keep coming at him and have made an enemy. Just because the catalyst is a woman doesn't change that. Now the end is what's unclear because while AJ and Karen have insisted they aren't together the story the TNA announcers have clearly told us is that they have their doubts. So I don't know if its revealed that AJ and Karen are together after all. If that makes AJ a heel. If Karen turns on AJ in the end to realign with Kurt. If Kurt eventually sees the error of his ways and makes amends turning face. I have no idea. But it does appear to be going somewhere and the complaint appears to be that the end isn't predictable enough. Which strikes me as sort of funny.

 

I also don't think its terribly fair to criticize them "jobbing" Kong out Taylor. Kong's been pretty well protected with the 2 losses last week as she commanded both matches and in the process they've made a star out of Taylor. Now your acceptance of this may be based on how deserving you think Taylor is of getting this rub, but its one over character getting another over. And Kong has managed to retain much of her character and dominance in doing so.

 

I admit to not knowing what the story is with Joe/Booker/Sting but I don't think the 10 minutes it has played out proved anything, let alone that they don't know where they're going with it. It basically started a story and while I have no idea where that story is going or even what it is, it seems logical to at least give it to the opening segment of Impact to try and see if they actually have a plan or if they were just throwing stuff at the wall. The weeks of Sting build and months of Nash/Joe build would suggest that they DO have a plan.

 

Whether you like any of these directions is another matter entirely.

[DarKnight 0]

Well, I personally think fans don't accept people who just show up and win belts immediately. It comes off like they give people an obvious push, and fans just roll eyes at it. As for Booker/Joe, I know that this is leading to title matches between Joe/Nash and Joe/Sting, but it seems like there was no reason for them to book that crazy finish on that PPV. This is also about the 5,8594904th time that TNA has done this with their titles on PPVs, in which there is controversy, and they end up vacating the title. I think fans are sick of seeing this happen every month.

[Hector 0]

Video of Broward looking like tool at Victory Road 2008...

 

Video