Best show in a long time. I am distracted today and a day removed from watching the show, so...
Kaz looked GREAT. If they can just follow through...
Gail Kim vs. Alexa Jade was fine -- somehow "women jobbers" seems like a weird concept to me. I liked it when the challengers came out and hit finishers.
Abyss and Black Machismo vs. Team 3D was also fine -- 3D killed Lethal, but only after he held them off 2-on-1 for a while (Abyss was distracted by Black Reign).
(Here's the thing about Genesis -- I think Christian will beat Kaz, but I think Kaz will come out of it looking really good. Conversely, I think the Motorcity Machine guns will beat 3D, but I think MMG will come out of it looking pretty crappy.)
Kurt Angle, James Storm, & Robert Roode vs. Eric Young and Samoa Joe, and Sting was, again, a pretty fun match.
The Kevin Nash and Scott Hall meeting was a thoughtful, mature meditation on the aging process and the changing nature of friendship. Oh, also, Scott Hall is not the mystery partner.
So yeah. Oh, and Kurt Angle was ALL OVER THE SHOW -- but this week, at least, there was a lot of time devoted to actually pretty good wrestling matches, so I cannot complain.
You?
--K
Last 5 movies seen: Talk to Me **** - Lights in the Dusk ***1/2 - Days of Heaven ***1/2 - The Hoax ***1/2 - Monster House ***
This is why I was all for Kaz/Christian and Joe/Roode from the beginning. Kaz and Roode have both looked good and even in losses I think they're going to come out great in their feuds. It might not be the two guys that TNA fans wanted to be pushed but at least they pushed somebody new.
I'm not sure why they used Alexa Jade. I guess they don't want any of their new women to be jobbing so soon but they have like 10 women now, can't one of them that isn't in the title feud be a temporary "jobber" until it's their turn to go after the title?
The X Division has pretty much been completely ignored the past month but I'm pretty excited that Sonjay got the title match. It's a somewhat new match since they are usually tagging together not wrestling each other.
I'm kind of worried they are heading for a Tomko turn, which i think would be awful because Tomko should always be Christian's bodyguard. Plus, when the Coalition breaks up it should be AJ that turns face and wrestles Christian.
I'd say A.J.'s still the more likely to turn. Being made team captain might make him too big for his britches, and Christian won't be having any of that. In truth, I hope they don't break up for a long, long time. Christian's Coalition remains one of my very favorite things on the show and has finally made me care about A.J. outside of the ring rather than just wanting him to shut up and do the pretty moves.
I thought the show was quite good this week, on the whole. All the matches were solid. They actually made it seem like the women's title mattered and made all the contenders look like actual threats. I'm still not sure how you justify Kong not getting a title shot yet, but I suppose they want to give Gail some credibility before she's crushed like a bug. Am I the only one who wants to see an Awesome Kong vs. Beth Phoenix match?
I like Kaz as a wrestler well enough, but he's definitely not ready for the main event yet. I can see him winning the match, to make a "no glass ceiling" point, but he's not getting anywhere near the title for a while.
Only feud I don't really care about is Roode v. Joe. I've never been quite as big on Joe as others have been, and Roode is a snoozefest as far as I'm concerned.
While it didn't deserve to be anything like the climax of the show, the Hall/Nash interaction was interesting and fun and showed off their personalities and why those guys used to be such popular characters. Hopefully, it will lead to some fun Outsiders stuff later, once Genesis is over.
I'm not sure they wouldn't have been better off revealing the mystery partner rather than holding it secret. TNA doesn't have the world's greatest history with paying off those sorts of things, and it might be easier to get people to plunk down for the PPV if they knew what they were getting than just hoping that TNA delivers. But, we'll see.
"Never piss off a hawk with a blowgun" - Conan O'Brien
Originally posted by GodEatGodI'd say A.J.'s still the more likely to turn. Being made team captain might make him too big for his britches, and Christian won't be having any of that. In truth, I hope they don't break up for a long, long time.
I tend to agree with all of this. Don and/or Mike mentioned something about how AJ was "much more confident" when Cage wasn't around. Subtle portent, or random blather?
Oh, also:
BEST LINE OF THE NIGHT: Matt Morgan: "D-d-d-did I stutter?"
WORST LINE OF THE NIGHT: (After Scott Hall says "Hey Yo") Mike Tenay: "THAT'S HOW SCOTT HALL SAYS HELLO! WE ALL KNOW THAT! INSTEAD OF SAYING 'HELLO,' SCOTT HALL SAYS 'HEY YO!'" (I paraphrase)
--K
P.S. I guess I may have answered my own question -- "random blather" it is.
Last 5 movies seen: Talk to Me **** - Lights in the Dusk ***1/2 - Days of Heaven ***1/2 - The Hoax ***1/2 - Monster House ***
I've only watched TNA in bits and pieces the last few months, and I've been wondering this for a couple weeks now: When did AJ Styles become so dumb? And why is arguably the best wrestler in the promotion playing a comedy lackey to Christian?
My Cyber Sunday Hangout Report and More!: Experience It
It kind of started when he turned heel after he lost to Christian at Genesis a year ago and started feuding with Rhino. And when he joined the Christian Coalition with then Steiner, Christian, and Tomko, he dialed the goofy persona up to 11.
A lot of people do like it, and for years many critics stated that AJ Styles was nothing but a bland, spot monkey that couldn't cut a promo to save his life. I wish he was treated more as a legit threat more than a goofball, comedy heel, but he still looks like absolute dynamite in the ring. And I think he and Tomko do make a good tag team. AJ could easily be a top main event heel now if they wanted him to.
I don't think Tenay and West even mentioned that he was originally in the group with Styles.
Don't make the Professor angry. You wouldn't like him, when he's angry.
Originally posted by GodEatGodTNA doesn't have the world's greatest history with paying off those sorts of things, and it might be easier to get people to plunk down for the PPV if they knew what they were getting than just hoping that TNA delivers. But, we'll see.
I think TNA's track record is pretty good with these things. Christian at Genesis 05, and the announcement of Kurt Angle joinging TNA last year was pretty significant.