Impact! Spoilers for 1/8/09

[cd213 0]

From gerweck.net:

 

 

- Chris Sabin d. Sonjay Dutt

 

- Angelina Love d. Christy Hemme

 

- Alex Shelley d. Eric Young to advance to the X-Division Championship Tournament Final at Genesis. After the match, Sheik Abdul Bashir came to the ring to fight with Shane Sewell. Jim Cornette came to the ring with security and fired Shane for his actions, but rehired him on the spot as a wrestler and he will face Bashir at Genesis.

 

- MEM came to the ring and each cut promos on their opponents at Genesis.

 

- Awesome Kong d. Madison Green in a non-title match.

 

- Matt Morgan d. Robert Roode. Roode took a fall out of the ring and said he couldn't go on so Morgan was declared the winner. Consequences Creed and Jay Lethal then came out to cash in their briefcase. James Storm was the only one to wrestle for Beer Money and he did it in jeans. Roode got in the ring with the briefcase and tried to hit Lethal with it while the referee was distracted but Lethal got him from him and knocked him out of the ring. He then hit Storm with it and got the pin.

 

- Kurt Angle d. BG James in the main event. He made him tap out. MEM came out to do more damage but Jeff Jarrett and Mick Foley came out for the save and were followed by AJ Styles, Brother Devon, and Rhino. Jarett grabbed a mic and cut a promo on Angle after MEM left and Foley did the same about the others. This led them all back to the ring where a brawl occurred. Samoa Joe then came to the ring from the crowd (arm in a sling) with a baton and drove the MEM off.

[Scroby 0]

BG James still wrestles for TNA?

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

He's mostly an agent now. But since he's still there they'll throw him out there when they need a body. Like for Feast or Fired (where he was really one of the only people along with CurryMan who could get fired and it wouldn't be dumb) or to get taken out by Angle here.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

Also...

 

Glamour Boy Shane finally hits the ring at Genesis!!! YAY!!!!

[DangerousDamon 0]

Sabin/Shelley should be a good match, as long as it's not like one of their 5 minute matches they used to have on FSN.

How long have Creed and Lethal been teaming?

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I believe...one match. If we count this one.

[DCMaximo 0]

Lethal and Creed have tagged previously and are undefeated as a team (vs Bashir/Petey, the MCMG and Tanahashi/Sonjay) so it's not a totally random pairing. Plus, out of the existing face teams, I'd rather see them vs Beer Money than 3D or Morgan/Abyss, so it's not a total loss.

[Boner Kawanger 0]

Nothing like a face team that sneaks in through a back door, takes advantage of an injury, and proceeds to cheat their way to victory

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

I maintain that if any briefcase holder doesn't take advantage of an injured champion they are a fool. Petey Williams, Lethal and Creed, Punk and Edge x2 were all right in their choices. The idiots were the Armstrongs for taking their shot on a fresh AJ and Tomko. RVD was an idiot too...but outside interference got him through. Steiner was the biggest fool of all. He cashed in his briefcase on a fresh Joe...and the match got turned into a 3 way which he didn't win. Idiot.

[Scroby 0]

Nothing like a face team that sneaks in through a back door, takes advantage of an injury, and proceeds to cheat their way to victory

CM Punk says hi.

[Boner Kawanger 0]

Point taken, despite the argument for/against Punk's title reign. My main point is that still they had to use the briefcase as a weapon, but I guess TNA feels like they have to literally beat us over the head with the gimmick they stole.

[Scroby 0]

I realize your point, I'm just trying to point out to people who are giving TNA shit about how people are using the briefcases that WWE has been doing the same thing for years. People just tend to forget about the WWE and blame TNA for anything they possibly can.

[The Truthiness 0]

Nothing like a face team that sneaks in through a back door, takes advantage of an injury, and proceeds to cheat their way to victory

CM Punk says hi.

 

 

The concept MITB makes sense, The feast or fired concept is stupid. Killing one of your most over acts, to put over a stupid concept, is dumb.

[Scroby 0]

Nothing like a face team that sneaks in through a back door, takes advantage of an injury, and proceeds to cheat their way to victory

CM Punk says hi.

 

 

The concept MITB makes sense, The feast or fired concept is stupid. Killing one of your most over acts, to put over a stupid concept, is dumb.

It's the same fucking concept. The only differences are that one has a ladder and one doesn't and that one has multiple cases with other title shots or getting fired while the other has only one case that lets you choose which one out of the three world titles you like to get a shot at.

 

How is MITB and FoF not the same concept with some tweaks between the two?

[haws bah gawd 0]

I've got no problem with how wrestlers, face or heel, cash in title shots. WWE has given me something to look forward to every year, wondering when the MitB winner will cash in his shot. Like this year, when Batista came out and beat down Edge, I didn't really think about CM Punk potentially cashing in his shot. I was just thinking it was another way of helping Big Dave get his heat back. Then low and behold, Killswitch Engage hits, and here comes Punk, briefcase and referee in tow. Like I said in the WWE folder, it's been probably since Benoit won the gold, that I've actually stood up and cheered a title change, not worrying about looking like an ass in front of anyone, for cheering a predetermined pro rasslin' angle.

 

Similary, TNA has given us FoF, with the twist of handing out shots at all their major titles. I marked last year for Petey Williams "Edging" his shot against Lethal, and I'll tune in this year for Creed and Lethal doing the same for the tag titles.

[The Truthiness 0]

Nothing like a face team that sneaks in through a back door, takes advantage of an injury, and proceeds to cheat their way to victory

CM Punk says hi.

 

 

The concept MITB makes sense, The feast or fired concept is stupid. Killing one of your most over acts, to put over a stupid concept, is dumb.

It's the same fucking concept. The only differences are that one has a ladder and one doesn't and that one has multiple cases with other title shots or getting fired while the other has only one case that lets you choose which one out of the three world titles you like to get a shot at.

 

How is MITB and FoF not the same concept with some tweaks between the two?

 

 

 

Because the MITB is 8 men fighting for a chance to get a title shot, at the biggest show of the year. 8 men fighting for one big prize means more to me, then 12 guys fighting for 3 title shots and a chance to get fired. The MITB puts over the match and the importance of the 2 biggest titles in the companies. The FOF is basically a cheap rip off of the MITB, without the importance. When Punk won the WHC title it was a special moment, because it had some suspense too it, nobody knew when he would cash in his briefcase, however they did know that when he did finally pull the trigger it would be a big deal. Had Jesse/Festus done the same thing a month before and won the tag title, then Santino did the same thing 2 months before and won the IC title, Punk cashing his in and winning the World title wouldn't have meant much.

 

TNA basically ripped off a concept and overbooked it to hell, like they always do, whereas they could've ripped off the concept and did the same thing WWE did with....which is make stars.

[Scroby 0]

Nothing like a face team that sneaks in through a back door, takes advantage of an injury, and proceeds to cheat their way to victory

CM Punk says hi.

 

 

The concept MITB makes sense, The feast or fired concept is stupid. Killing one of your most over acts, to put over a stupid concept, is dumb.

It's the same fucking concept. The only differences are that one has a ladder and one doesn't and that one has multiple cases with other title shots or getting fired while the other has only one case that lets you choose which one out of the three world titles you like to get a shot at.

 

How is MITB and FoF not the same concept with some tweaks between the two?

 

 

 

Because the MITB is 8 men fighting for a chance to get a title shot, at the biggest show of the year. 8 men fighting for one big prize means more to me, then 12 guys fighting for 3 title shots and a chance to get fired. The MITB puts over the match and the importance of the 2 biggest titles in the companies. The FOF is basically a cheap rip off of the MITB, without the importance. When Punk won the WHC title it was a special moment, because it had some suspense too it, nobody knew when he would cash in his briefcase, however they did know that when he did finally pull the trigger it would be a big deal. Had Jesse/Festus done the same thing a month before and won the tag title, then Santino did the same thing 2 months before and won the IC title, Punk cashing his in and winning the World title wouldn't have meant much.

 

TNA basically ripped off a concept and overbooked it to hell, like they always do, whereas they could've ripped off the concept and did the same thing WWE did with....which is make stars.

TNA booked it almost the same way, the only difference is that the briefcase was used to help Lethal and Creed win the titles. How is that over booking it?

 

WWE: Batista beats up Edge and leaves him as a limp fish.

 

TNA: Roode gets hurt during his match and can't continue the match.

 

WWE; CM Punk cashes in his money in the bank as Edge is down and hurt forcing a hurt Edge to wrestle.

 

TNA: Jay Lethal and Creed cash in their briefcase to take advantage of a hurt and unexpected tag team, forcing them to wrestle.

 

WWE: Punk beats Edge clean using the GTS

 

TNA: Lethal and Creed beat Beer Money Inc. when Lethal takes the briefcase away from Roode (who was going to use it in the first place.) and uses it on both Roode and Storm.

 

It's the same thing with a tweak. The only thing that's really different is the finish of the match.

 

Am I really going to have to break down the entire thing? Cause I will if you really don't get that both MITB and Feast or fired are the same matches with some slight tweaks.

[The Truthiness 0]

What I'm saying Scroby is, the whole thing is just stupid. Like bps21 said, everybody should be pulling an Edge and stealing titles, but if everybody does do that it doesn't make much of an impact.

 

FOF is counterproductive, whereas the MITB actually elevates a guy. Nobody can be elevated with FOF, because even though it gives away 3 different title shots, it makes all 3 title shots look worthless. I'm not saying Lethal/Creed didn't do what they were supposed to do; I'm saying it was stupid to put the titles on them all together, because the FOF is a stupid concept all together. Now all the heat BMI had built will probably be killed, to put over a tag team that has been together a month, because the company has to find away to make sense of a match that shouldn't even exist...Because it's stupid.

 

So now what? Homicide, comes out and kills the winner of the X divsions finals, and wins the title?

[Boner Kawanger 0]

My point (and the key difference) is that CM Punk cashing in on Edge was someone finally out-ultimate-opportunist-ing the Ultimate Opportunist, which I don't think anyone with WWE ever pointed out. Creed and Lethal doing it is just doing it. It just feels empty to me, I guess.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

My point is really that, for better or worse, we now have 5 briefcases in play a year between the 2 companies.

 

And anyone who isn't fired who doesn't win a title is a fucking idiot. We've all seen how to win titles using this gimmick. No WWE guy has lost it for Petesake.

 

I just want to point out the fucking retards who couldn't win titles that were handed to them. The James's, Steiner, and odds are completely on Hernandez...

 

You look like damned fools for not being able to seal a deal that even CM Punk could figure out.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

People comparing CM Punk's title win to Petey's and Creed/Lethal is so stupid.

 

The difference between the MITB and the FOF is that WWE actually builds up the MITB. The first year Edge won it and then cashed it in on Cena AFTER Cena won an Elimination Chamber...brilliant, original and made a star out of Edge.

 

The next year, Kennedy won it and was on Raw and getting over huge at the time. Then Taker got hurt leading into the cage match with Batista on Smackdown. Were they going to put the title on Batista or have Kennedy come over and steal the title? Then Kennedy got hurt. So were they going to have Batista win the title? No, instead Edge pisses Kennedy off so much that Kennedy puts his MITB on the line in a match against Edge...where Edge destroys him and leaves him a bloody mess BEFORE the match even starts. The match lasted all of 10 seconds as Edge hit a spear and pinned Kennedy, taking him out of action and stealing the MITB. If you remember, that segment was HUGE and had a lot of heat on both guys. So the next night at the Smackdown tapings, Taker beats Batista in a super close cage match where they both hit the ground only seconds apart, but Taker retains the title...then Mark Henry comes out and absolutely destroys Taker, leaving him a bloody mess. Then BAM, Edge's music goes off and he comes running out with the briefcase AGAIN...only 24 hours after winning it. Taker barely sits up, Edge hits the spear and steals ANOTHER World Title. Brilliant with a lot of heat on everyone involved on both shows, played up Edge's history and made him an even BIGGER star than when he first beat Cena.

 

CM Punk's title win was just an ending to Edge's story. Edge came out on Raw, for no reason other than to gloat about how Raw had no World Champion. Batista shows up, still pissed about the night before and destroys Edge with a Batista Bomb...only for CM Punk to come running out, cashing in his MITB and hitting a G2S to win his first World Title and to send Edge back to Smackdown with nothing. Edge couldn't even get a rematch since he was on the other show. While they didn't make Punk a huge star out of the deal, his stock went up. The whole segment was huge and in the end, Edge got hit with Karma.

 

 

Now lets look at TNA.

 

Petey Williams wins an X-Division title shot and shows up and destroys Jay Lethal with the briefcase for a good few minutes before hitting a Canadian Destroyer and winning the X-Title. Not a bad way to get Petey over and it served its purpose. The thing that hurt this the most was Petey's horrible title reign, considering he got injured right after this and was barely seen on TV, yet held the title for a few months.

 

And now Lethal and Creed, two X-Division guys with no direction and were getting destroyed by the MEM 2 weeks ago, cash in their title shots to get a handicap match against the popular heel tag team champions...and then cheat to win the titles. In theory, I understand cashing it in at that moment to get a handicap match...but cheating to win?

 

But the difference between TNA doing this and the way WWE did it is that you actually cared about Cena winning the EC and then Edge stealing the title. Or you cared about Kennedy's Road to Wrestlemania or Taker's title match against Batista, only for Edge to steal it again. Or CM Punk's first big title win and karma biting Edge in the ass.

 

They never built up Petey, Lethal or Creed. It's like the writing team said "Well, WWE did this so we'll do it!" but without looking at the big picture.

[Boner Kawanger 0]

Bingo bango bongo, Spike. That's a better job summing it up than I could muster.

[Boner Kawanger 0]

Bingo bango bongo, Spike. That's a better job summing it up than I could muster.