Kurt Angle is out with the new title -- Tenay mentions that Cornette has decided that with TNA's "worldwide expansion" that they need their own belt -- NWA is not mentioned.
Angle is happy with his title (there's a chunk of the crowd that is chanting "We Want Christian" -- huh) but then Sting comes out to suggest that perhaps he should have the title. Then Christian Cage comes out and points out that the TNA rulebook specifically states that if there is no clear winner in a title match, the title remains with the champion. (Don West: "I didn't know that.")
Now Jim Cornette is out to lay down the law: Nobody gets to be champion! Tonight, and over the next five weeks, there will be five one-on-one matches. The winner of those five matches will participate in a King of the Mountain match at Slammiversary (June 17!), and the winner of that match will be the new champion!
There is a giant -- uh, kangaroo? Rat? Marmot? -- running around. It's TNA's lovable new mascot, "Stomper"! Awwwwwww! Ten bucks says Stomper is X Division champion by the end of the year.
Jeremy Borash talks to Christopher Daniels in back -- what is up with him? Daniels says Sting understands.
Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin vs. Jerry Lynn & Tiger Mask: S&S rule. They need a tag name. That's a nice dropkick/flatliner combo right there. Tiger Mask continues to totally not impress me. He gets kicked in the head by Sabin and Shelley at the same time, and then Shelley does some sort of weird STO, with his arm behind his back, for the pin.
After the match, S&S gang up on Jerry Lynn -- Bob Backlund comes out for the save. S&S get the advantage over Backlund as well -- so here comes Lethal -- he's got a new "OOOOOH YEAH" t-shirt. What is this leading up to -- Backlund and Lethal vs. S&S? That would be...yeah, I don't know what that would be. I dunno, we keep assuming that Backlund's going to wrestle somebody.
Jim Mitchell says he's going to take over with his NEW MONSTER. I'm still assuming it'll be Ricky Banderas, but I've heard rumors that they're trying to hire Albert. Hmmm...maybe it'll be Rob Conway!
JB with Kevin Nash -- Sonjay Dutt shows up and apologizes for being a dick, and offers his hand. Nash takes it, says he won't be so forgiving next time, and casually pushes Dutt off-screen. I don't know where this could possibly go, especially now that Lethal seems to be moving into something else.
Christopher Daniels vs. Raven: This is Daniels' "First Blood Invitational" -- our announcers question Daniels' common sense, since he still sports a bandage from being busted open by Rhino last Sunday. Raven has Serotonin with him.
I really liked the way Raven had clearly thought about "First Blood" tactics before hand -- he almost immediately pulls a screwdriver out of his kneepad and goes after Daniels, but Daniels dodges and Raven gets the screwdriver stuck in the turnbuckle pad, where it sticks out for the rest of the match. Later, Raven breaks a kendo stick in two and goes after Daniels with the jagged ends. Daniels low-blows him, grabs some scraps of the kendo stick, and jams them into Raven's forehead for the win.
After the match Daniels pulls off his bandage and headbutts Raven multiple times, busting himself open again. After Daniels leaves, Serotonin confront Raven -- Kaz wants Raven to accept a beating! Raven kneels down, but Martyr and Havoc intervene -- Kaz mocks Raven and leaves.
You know, maybe this whole Serotonin thing is designed as a slow singles push for Kaz. Kaz realizes that, for all of Raven's talk and all of Raven's "motivational techniques," Serotonin still can't buy a win -- why are they putting up with it? Kaz turns against them, defeating Havoc, then Martyr, and finally Raven himself. I doubt they had this in mind since Serotonin formed -- what, six months ago? But it makes the most sense now: if there's any guy from Serotonin that deserves a singles push, it's Kaz (and only Kaz). Then Serotonin can keep jobbing or whatever, but it'll only drag down two guys instead of three.
JB is with Sting -- Daniels rushes in to tell Sting that he's "following the path." Sting doesn't know what he's talking about. Daniels says that maybe it's Sting who has lost the way.
Eric Young and Stomper are here! I can't decide which is the worse idea -- Stomper or Eric Young's bizarre beard. Seriously, it's a toss up. Young tells the fans how great they are. Robert Roode and Miss Brooks are here -- Roode threatens Young's job and I can't believe this is still going on. They fight. Stomper is not revealed to be Jeff Jarrett, somewhat to my surprise. I hope they finally have a match at Slammiversary and finish this angle up.
Kurt Angle vs. Rhino: This is a qualifying match for the King of the Mountain match. Pretty good for free TNA TV -- some nice reversals of fortune until Rhino goes for a Gore, but gets kicked in the face and scooped up for an Angle Slam. Kurt Angle is in the KotM and Rhino is not.
After the match, Jim Cornette tells Leticia that next week, the KotM match will be Sting vs. Samoa Joe! (I predict Daniels costs Sting the slot, but perhaps that's wishful thinking at this point.) Crash! The Steiner Brothers are here -- they accidentally took the door off its hinges in their excitement. They want 3D next week! Jim says "I smell money -- you got it!" If Cornette smells money, why not make it a match for the PPV? As they leave, Rick Steiner leans the door against Cornette's desk: "Sorry." Heh.
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I have no problem with Steiners vs. 3D and long as it's violent, and as long as Rick Steiner goes away again right after.
I hope Basham & Damaja get to kill some jobbers next week (Sharky & Smiley?), because their debut was one of the least auspicious I've ever seen.
As far as the KotM -- Cage is the only other guy announced as participating in the qualifying matches. AJ Styles is practically a given. Who else? Tomko? Jarrett? Conway?
--K
Last 5 movies seen: Hot Fuzz **** - Zouzou **1/2 - Linda Linda Linda ***1/2 - The Painted Veil *** - Music and Lyrics ***1/2 - Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock? ***1/2
I felt the same way about this show as the PPV. It might not have been spectacular but it's simple booking and wrestling based. Definitely improvements on the recent booking.
I really liked the Daniels and Raven match. As you said Raven was clearly aware of the stipulations and took that into consideration when other people might just wrestle a regular match and then make them bleed at the end. Even though Raven isn't a great wrestler these days he could certainly teach the younger guys how to tell a story in the ring, he's always been one of the best at doing that.
Sting vs. Joe in the next qualifying match? That has me a little concerned for Joe. Surely TNA isn't stupid enough to not only not give Joe the title but not even include him as one of the five contenders. I'm hoping Daniels screws Sting out of the match or something to lead to a match between them but it would seem kind of weird for them to drop Sting out of the World Title match after all the controversy that he pinned Christian.
I hate to say it because I loved him in ECW and early TNA but Jerry Lynn is starting to look old to me. He hasn't really had any good matches since he came back and Tiger Mask wasn't very good either.
I love how the tag team division is shaping up. The Dudleys have been a little better since they won the titles. The Steiners will be ok if it's just for a feud with the Dudleys. Then after that there is LAX, Shelley/Sabin, Basham/Damaja. You have Serantonin as jobber team, Lethal and Sonjay if Sonjay doesn't turn heel and I could even see Christian and Tomko tagging whenever Christian is out of the title picture. They need another face team other than VKM though.
If the Harris-Storm feud is over maybe one or both of them will be in the qualifying matches?
Originally posted by Kei PosiskunkI too, love the team of Shelley & Sabin, though I was pretty sure they _do_ have a name? I thought they were the "Murder City Machine Guns".
Any PWG fans want to correct me on this if I'm wrong?
Well, okay, you're right, they do. ( Here is Shelley's design for their new T-shirt.)\
But it's not acknowledged yet in TNA, so it "doesn't exist" yet. (Kind of like calling Kendrick & London "Hooliganz.")
--K
(edited by Karlos the Jackal on 18.5.07 1743) Last 5 movies seen: Hot Fuzz **** - Zouzou **1/2 - Linda Linda Linda ***1/2 - The Painted Veil *** - Music and Lyrics ***1/2 - Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock? ***1/2
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