Before I get to the matches themselves, there are some angles that need to be furthered in the weeks to come, so I might as well go ahead and mention them:
- Bram vs. Decay: Eventually this very personal war should lead to Bram getting a partner and challenging for the tag team titles. First Bram needs to take some beatdowns, though, to get heat on the champions. Bram should be willing to take both men on, but ultimately the numbers game and brutality of the Decay should set him up at a disadvantage. Enter another person with a grudge against the Decay: James Storm.
For this to work as it should, Storm and Bram shouldn't be buddy-buddy right out of the gate. It's more of a case of two people with a common goal working together. They keep separate entrances and mostly there's some distance between them. No cutesy double-teams or anything; just two warriors on a mission.
- Grado/Shera vs. Tribunal: Depending on when Davey Richards is 100%, Grado and Shera might be needed to feud with Decay. I'm scared at the thought of them being potential future champs, too. The goal of this feud should be improving the ring games of the faces so they're more ready for bigger things without having to be carried. Eventually they can dig down deep and win the feud.
- No. 1 Contendership for X Title: This is the ideal place to debut Marshe Rockett and/or Caleb Konley as the new No. 1 contender. The X-Division needs a reboot badly. I almost want Helms as champion making the young guys earn title shots and in the process giving them some less generic backgrounds and motivations. I personally think the flippy X-Division style has reached its limit and needs to be merged with the KOTM "division" given TNA's small roster. That way we can see feuds that aren't just between smaller high-flyers. I know the division is the sacred cow to TNA diehards, though, so there's probably no dropping it.
- Lashley vs. Edwards: I only see two outcomes of Lashley winning the X Title: steamrolling everyone in the division or losing in cheap fashion to some geek half his size. Edwards as World Champion is a frightening idea. He's just too generic. As much as I'd personally be entertained by Lashley destroying everyone in the X-Division, winning two or three on one, I don't think it's the right long-term move for TNA. So, we get the lame ending of Mike Bennett running in and Galloway evening the odds. Neither man loses their title. Edwards spends some more time as the "golly gee I sure do love wrestling" babyface champion while his fellow robot Davey continues to undergo repairs. Alternately they could sign the other Wrestlebot 3000 Roderick Strong and have him as the other Wolf.
- Grado/Shera vs. Tribunal: Depending on when Davey Richards is 100%, Grado and Shera might be needed to feud with Decay. I'm scared at the thought of them being potential future champs, too. The goal of this feud should be improving the ring games of the faces so they're more ready for bigger things without having to be carried. Eventually they can dig down deep and win the feud.
- How about Jeff Hardy's return on the Thursday Impact being interrupted by Eli Drake?
As for booking what's already been announced:
- Matt Hardy celebrates finishing off his brother only to be interrupted by TNA's newest signing, Moose! That debuts Moose in a big role and gives him a veteran to work with. It also moves everyone on from the Hardys feud.
As for booking what's already been announced:
- Matt Hardy celebrates finishing off his brother only to be interrupted by TNA's newest signing, Moose! That debuts Moose in a big role and gives him a veteran to work with. It also moves everyone on from the Hardys feud.
- No. 1 Contendership for X Title: This is the ideal place to debut Marshe Rockett and/or Caleb Konley as the new No. 1 contender. The X-Division needs a reboot badly. I almost want Helms as champion making the young guys earn title shots and in the process giving them some less generic backgrounds and motivations. I personally think the flippy X-Division style has reached its limit and needs to be merged with the KOTM "division" given TNA's small roster. That way we can see feuds that aren't just between smaller high-flyers. I know the division is the sacred cow to TNA diehards, though, so there's probably no dropping it.
To be clear, I'm not saying to totally drop X-Division style wrestlers. I just want them to be in new environments and have more to do beyond being the flippy sideshow. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe was the X-Division done right: two defined characters with distinctive motivations and in-ring styles coming to a head in a feud that meant something.
- Knockouts Title: This is another division that doesn't mean much anymore because there's no build to important feuds outside of Gail vs. Maria. Things move too quickly for anything to be big enough to matter, and there aren't enough people in the division for it to shine because everyone's either already feuded with everyone else or the remaining feuds aren't interesting.
So here's my attempt at a remedy: In this match, Jade takes out Marti, but Allie pulls her out of the ring. Sienna steals the cover to retain. Sienna says Jade blew her shot to win the title match, and keeps setting up roadblocks for her to get a rematch. Jade has to go through Allie, Madison, Marti, Rebel, Gail, Chelsea, Deonna Purrazzo, Raquel, and anyone else Sienna can find to throw in her path so when they FINALLY face off, it means something and Jade truly earned the Knockouts Title. Then, they feud until building to an important gimmick match that finally settles the score, presumably at BFG. Jade can then take on all comers in rematches from her rise to the top, with the idea they've been waiting for revenge and studying her weaknesses and so on.
- Drew vs. EC3: EC3 vs. Lashley is a pretty natural next step. EC3 wins and Drew congratulates him. I don't think it's time to turn Drew yet, although there aren't many credible heels at the moment. Drew talks up wanting to see EC3 vs. Lashley. EC3 brings up how former ROH Champion Edwards just might do it, and they both fall over laughing. Drew says they'd have to move TNA up an hour so people would be less likely to fall asleep. Just kidding. Drew just holds EC3's hand up and all that.
- Lashley vs. Edwards: I only see two outcomes of Lashley winning the X Title: steamrolling everyone in the division or losing in cheap fashion to some geek half his size. Edwards as World Champion is a frightening idea. He's just too generic. As much as I'd personally be entertained by Lashley destroying everyone in the X-Division, winning two or three on one, I don't think it's the right long-term move for TNA. So, we get the lame ending of Mike Bennett running in and Galloway evening the odds. Neither man loses their title. Edwards spends some more time as the "golly gee I sure do love wrestling" babyface champion while his fellow robot Davey continues to undergo repairs. Alternately they could sign the other Wrestlebot 3000 Roderick Strong and have him as the other Wolf.
More wrestling coming up.
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