TNA Hardcore Justice preview

TNA's got another PPV on tonight, so it's time for another fantasy booking post. There are nine matches scheduled for the show as of this writing, and I'm going on the information already provided, so if there's any last-minute lineup changes, they won't appear here. Read on for how I'd book the show featuring a number of title matches.

Note that these aren't necessarily in the order I'd put them on the card, but just a general idea of what I'd do with each match:

Tara and Miss Tessmacher retain the titles over Sarita and Rosita. Not much to say here other than it attributes to the unhappiness of the Latinas. They have potential for a new edge now with Sarita's mask gimmick. I think TNA might well have something with Mexican America.

Winter defeats Mickie James to win the Knockouts Title via Angelina's assistance. I think there's a lot more potential storyline-wise with Winter and Angelina at the top of the division. Mickie gets a rematch on a future edition of Impact Wrestling, where Angelina isn't allowed at ringside (as per the Network's orders). Winter retains. However, she's not content with just being Knockouts Champion. TNA focuses more on Miss Tessmacher and her "assets" and Hooters contests and the like, and Winter doesn't care for her getting all the attention. So, she and Angelina quest for the Knockouts Tag Team Titles as the power-hungry Winter looks to become the sole ruler of the division. That proposed storyline would likely lead to Winter unifying all three title belts, and TNA only using the singles title going forward. Mickie, after her loss, feuds with Sarita and Rosita after they think she's "eyeballing" them backstage with Sarita having to wear the mask.

Kendrick and Shelley work together for most of the X-Division match, eliminating Aries and his cheating ways from getting near the title. It's basically a handicap match until they feel that he's been taken out of the picture. Then they compete as athletes with honor or whatever and Kendrick retains fair and square. Aries obviously isn't happy with this, and as his opponents talk up the match on Impact Wrestling, he challenges them to continue the feud. Except now, instead of just him involved, he brings in his "mentor" in the art of X-Division cheating, recent TNA signee Kid Kash.

Mexican America takes advantage of Storm's bad back and Roode's bad arm to win the tag team titles. They seriously beat them down in this one due to said injuries. Beer Money eventually (amicably) splits up. There's no rule against reuniting them down the road, but now's a good time to branch them out as singles stars to keep things fresh.

Immortal gets the win over Fortune in the 6-man grudge match. Styles and Daniels start arguing on the apron about who should tag in to Kazarian when he's at a big disadvantage. Steiner and Abyss take advantage of this, pulling them down and thrashing them. Kazarian, who's taken a good amount of damage in the match because of his partners' disagreement, falls to Gunner's F5 (or whatever he calls it). This all leads to Styles vs. Daniels "the final chapter" at Bound For Glory, where the feud's finally settled (in AJ's favor).

The Pope continues his role as snake in the grass in his BFG Series match against Devon. He tries to pull a couple of things over on Devon in the match (grabbing his tights and the like) to "keep him on his toes". Devon gets increasingly frustrated at this. Pope bails out of the ring and goes over to Devon's family, who encourage him/cheer him on. Devon's had enough of Pope's games, and wails into him. Pope "oversells" the effects to get sympathy from Devon's family, who want Devon to apologize. Devon, however, hears the referee's count, and rolls into the ring to get the countout victory and subsequent points. This doesn't earn him any points with the family, who continues to be swayed towards Dinero.

RVD and Crimson have as much of a "star-making performance" as they can, with Crimson getting the win and earning RVD's respect.

Bully Ray and Mr. Anderson have a brawl. No fancy technical displays, no trying to get a win via roll-up, just a straight-up fight. Both men get bloodied in the ruckus, and Anderson eventually gets the win using Bully Ray's chain behind the referee's back. It's not a no-DQ match, but they stretch the limits with the ringposts and steps and such. This is portrayed to some degree as Anderson earning his stripes with Bully Ray and showing him how tough he can be, etc..

Angle and Sting bring the best out of each other, with Angle trying to get that clean win that's eluded him. It looks like that just might happen when he has the champion in the ankle lock in the center of the ring, but Hulk Hogan and Immortal run in to make the match a no-contest (Sting keeps the title). They're already pretty much building to Hogan vs. Sting, so they might as well get the most out of it. Remember that Styles, Daniels, and Kazarian took a beatdown in their match, and so did Beer Money, so Steiner, Abyss, Hogan, and Gunner (and maybe Ric Flair if he's able to work) pretty much get free reign. Bully Ray and Anderson are being checked by the doctors, so they're not involved.

That leads to a 4-way for the gold next month between Sting, Angle, Anderson, and Bully Ray. Flair will face Angle and Sting in singles matches when Impact Wrestling goes on the road (on 2 different editions of the show in case you thought I wanted to do both of those the same night).

And that's pretty much where things would go under the Walker regime. I'll be back later tonight to cover what actually goes down. Thanks for reading!