Bryan Staebell
Genesis recap
The impression one is left with after watching the 4 hours of TNA’s “Genesis” branded Impacts is that they probably have a broad strokes concept of where they want to go…but they are willing to sacrifice incredible opportunities to get there.
Genesis means beginning. TNA stressed this definition several times in commentary and in advertising for the shows. They were to mark the beginning of a new era in the company (meaning “hey, let’s brand the fact that we are losing all of our stars”). “Genesis”, however, was all about endings.
Two weeks after saying goodbye to the fan accepted face of the company AJ Styles (not to mention behind the scenes losing the original face of the company Jeff Jarrett), “Genesis” saw us bid adieu to the oft pushed as face of the company, Sting.
Think on this opportunity for a moment. AJ Styles, the most beloved tried and true TNA original, and Sting, the legendary Icon, both leaving your company within weeks of each other…and you just happen to have a young heel champion that you are going to rebuild around ready to absorb this once in a lifetime rub. Given this set up there is almost no way to imagine screwing it up. Of course…TNA has never lacked for imagination.
Copying the universally panned booking of the Magnus/Styles unification match, Magnus defeated Sting in a mess of a match with a thousand run ins. I can’t tell you why they keep protecting the guy who is leaving while doing nothing for the Champion who is staying…but I do have a theory. I will give them more credit than saying it’s been done because they don’t know if these guys (Styles and Sting) are truly leaving. I can buy that in Styles case. They genuinely believed they would have that situation settled by now. But they know the deal with Sting. They knew whether they are going to keep Sting or not. There was no reason for Magnus not to beat him clean in the middle, as he did at Bound For Glory. Well…I say there is no reason but of course there is a reason…just not a good one.
Some time in the last few weeks they came up with a new direction for the company. One that will involve a new investor who is the catalyst for bringing in the new talent that they need to sign (starting with Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards). The battle for the company between Team Dixie and the new group will be the major story running through the year. Therefore, it became more important to them for Dixie to be evil than for Magnus to be strong. To the point where they don’t even want to try to have both…Magnus is just going to be a coward now. The idea of a weak heel champion is fine…but only when you have a strong babyface challenger that people will tune in to see kick his ass when they eventually get their hands on him. They don’t have anything close to that. Styles is gone. Sting is gone. Angle is having surgery after the UK tour. Hardy can’t go on the UK tour so he’s been written off TV for at least TWO MONTHS. Samoa Joe has been in the midcard for a long time and needs to be built back up. Austin Aries is in the X division.
They have a star problem. And they just pissed away the best chance to make one they’re ever likely to fall into.
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Kurt Angle finally defeated Bobby Roode in an very good steel cage match. Angle did the moonsault off the top of the cage. Because he’s insane and no one can stop him from being so. Despite losing the match (by way of Angle barely escaping the cage before Roode could crawl out the door) Bobby Roode comes out of this feud looking more legitimate than he has ever looked. He took it to Angle most of this match and lost due to Angle luckily getting out seconds earlier. It was the blowoff (probably) so the hero had to win…but they did it exactly right. Roode comes out of this whole deal looking like the best wrestler in the company.
Bully Ray beat Ken Anderson in a no DQ match that got quite good by the end. They killed each other. They did the dives and throws onto a guardrail spots that they love. The finish saw Anderson tease lighting a table on fire only to eat a vicious piledriver for the loss. The piledriver has been used so sparingly for so long that it is an absolutely killer finish. They’ve been building this feud very nicely going back to Bully Ray writing Anderson off of TV with the piledriver on the stage (when Anderson’s contract was up). It sure seems like the finish they are building to will see Anderson finally putting Bully through the flaming table. That’ll be something.
EC3 “beat” Sting after a lot of shenanigans featuring both Rockstar Spud and Magnus serving as refs. Another wasted opportunity. I wouldn’t have had EC3 beating him clean (especially since Sting would be in the Main Event the next week) but they could have at least had Carter stand toe to toe with him for a few minutes. They went another way.
Austin Aries won the X title, again, from Chris Sabin, again. The deal here was Velvet was put into a cage at ringside so Sabin couldn’t make her interfere on his behalf. He tried to slip her a foreign object in the guise of a gift for her…but when he went to retrieve it he came up with a stuffed bear instead of a pipe. Yes…this is how they’re booking two of the better workers in the company. Aries being stuck in the X division is a disastrous waste of talent.
Gunner beat James Storm to keep the TNA title shot briefcase. It was a pole match. Rumor from PWInsider is that Vince Russo is back in the creative circle. There was a POLE MATCH. Rumor confirmed.
Madison Rayne beat Gail Kim to win the Knockouts title. There was nothing wrong with the match but they treated it, and the title change, like it was a big nothing.
Samoa Joe killed Rockstar Spud. This is probably the start of a Joe push to title challenger. They have no one else.
The whole “Genesis” show(s) started with almost 30 minutes of talking. It eventually set up a fun 12 person tag match. Samoa Joe, Eric Young, Joseph Park, James Storm, Gunner and ODB defeated Bro Mans, Zema Ion, Bad Influence and Lei’D Tapa. Pretty good stuff. Joe made Daniels tap to the choke. So they put him over strong twice at this taping.
The big story is the new investor storyline. Someone has bought up shares of TNA (I assume they mean someone bought Jarrett’s percentage. Which…btw…wouldn’t be enough to have any influence since the Carters own more than half) and is bringing in new talent. The first people introduced were Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards. They’ll be called “The Wolves” in TNA. The segment they debuted in was a classic case of TNA not knowing their audience. Dixie met with them and said she looked forward to giving them a tryout match. They informed her they already signed their contracts. The point here was supposed to be that Dixie is an idiot to not know how good the Wolves are. But the audience is well over a million people…many or most of whom…don’t know who the Wolves are. So it came off like they were two nobodies when the intention was probably the opposite.
The shows had their moments (Angle/Roode, Bully/Anderson, the 12 person match, some of the talking, everything Rockstar Spud does)…but you were left with the overwhelming feeling of missed opportunities and general incompetence.
Impact Preview for 1/30
The mystery investor will be revealed this week. MVP is going to be coming into the company on that show. One would guess this would be his role. There’s something inherently funny about a former WWE midcarder buying TNA. At least when Mick Foley did it he had been a World Champion. If it is MVP’s role I can see him doing just fine in it. The job is bringing in new talent and handling a lot of talking to counteract Dixie…both of which he can do fine. I’m sure he’ll be wrestling as well…and it’s been long enough since we’ve seen him that it will seem fresh. But…he’s 40. One would immediately question why they wouldn’t take the money they’re going to pay him and use it to make up the difference in the contract talks with AJ Styles. But they don’t ask me. He actually worked at least one dark match for TNA back in the Asylum years. Ken Anderson did too for that matter. TNA has been around long enough for those guys to go off and have pretty lengthy runs in WWE and then come back. I bet no one would have predicted that 12 years ago.
The only match announced for Impact so far is Bro Mans defending against Eric Young and Abyss.
The Wolves will be on the tour and are expected, at some point (they’re over there for 6 tapings) to face off with Bad Influence.
The interesting thing about the tour is that TNA’s big heel faction is led by Magnus…who will return to his home country as Champion and be wildly cheered. They have to be careful who they program with him on the tour. Whoever it is will be booed heavily. They seem to be setting up Joe as a challenger so they could do that here. Since Angle is working the tour but then taking time off for knee surgery (he’ll miss Lockdown) it would make more sense for Magnus to beat him, do an injury angle and save Joe for Lockdown. They should spend the next several weeks making Joe back into a monster. Or…they’ll just do a match with no build and have a million run ins. Have I mentioned Russo might be back?
