While You Weren’t Watching for 4/13

The purpose of this column is to examine through opinion pieces, TV and PPV recaps and upcoming show previews what is happening in the world of TNA Impact Wrestling…which, let’s be honest, you probably didn’t watch this week.

 

The rise of Bully Ray

In May 2002 Bubba Ray Dudley embarked on a singles career for the newly split Raw brand in WWE. His longtime tag team partner D-Von had been drafted to Smackdown and given a new heel preacher gimmick (and future Superstar Batista as his lackey) with the intention of both become solid midcard hands. Bubba was a babyface and wasn’t given any new character direction other than now trying to prove himself amongst the singles stars on the Raw half of the roster. They even quickly put him in a TV program with World Champion Triple H. He struggled to connect with fans and with D-Von’s character being a complete bust on Smackdown, the Dudley Boyz were reunited in November of that same year. Any aspirations of a solo career were, by all appearances, dead in the water.

By October 2010 the Dudley Boyz (now known as Team 3-D for copyright reasons) had forged a legitimate claim to being the most decorated tag team in the history of pro wrestling. Their resume included 8 ECW tag titles, 8 WWE World tag titles, 1 WWE tag title, 1 WCW tag title (as booked by WWE), 2 IWGP tag titles, the 2005 All Japan All World Tag League Champion, 1 NWA tag title and 2 TNA World tag titles. When the duo announced their retirement at Bound For Glory that year no one could have argued that they simply had nothing left to accomplish as a team. After losing their retirement match to the Motor City Machine Guns the next month, Brother Ray (again…copyrights) turned on Devon (it’s his actual name pronounced the other way but there wasn’t much WWE could do about it). Bully Ray, along with one last chance to prove himself as a singles star, was born.

It was here, in his 20th year in the business, rounding the corner to 40 years old and in the best shape of his career, that everything started to come together. The Bully Ray character was brash, in your face and very old school in its heel approach. This wasn’t the post NWO “all heels have to be cool heels” blueprint. This was a guy who would spit in your face to get you to fight, then back off until you turned around so he could knock you out with a chain. It was aggressive promos and a brutal offense of chops and power moves. A harsh throwback in a watered down era.

Opportunity knocked early in Bully Ray’s solo run. Jeff Hardy had a very public relapse and was removed from TV for the better part of a year in early 2011. Hardy’s heel faction, Immortal, needed someone to step in as a top guy and Bully Ray got the call. This forced an early end to his blood feud with Devon, which had done a great job setting the character of Bully Ray up, but it was undoubtedly a step up the card. His match with AJ Styles at Slammiversary that June stole the show and kept his momentum rolling. It was a match that made people start looking at Bully Ray as more than a solid midcard hand and as a guy that was beginning to look the part of a top heel.

The Bound For Glory series that followed furthered Bully’s march to the top of the card. He finished the series tied for the lead with Bobby Roode before losing the playoff. Feuds with Abyss, James Storm and Austin Aries would follow. During this time period Bully Ray found himself in many #1 contender matches and even the occasional TNA title match. His trajectory was pointing straight at his first World title win. All he needed was the angle.

The storyline began on the Impact after Slammiverary 2012. A gang of masked bikers calling themselves Aces and 8’s beat down Sting. In the coming weeks they would target Hulk Hogan, Kurt Angle and pretty much anyone who they came across. At the same time Bully Ray was competing in that years’ Bound For Glory series. An Aces and 8’s attack at the Hardcore Justice pay per view “inadvertently” gave Bully Ray the 20 point win he needed to advance to the final four of the series. For his part Bully appeared to be siding against the gang running them off on several occasions. His opponent in the BFG series finals, Jeff Hardy, was attacked before their match leaving Bully with what should have been an easy win and a place in the main event TNA title match at Bound For Glory. When Hardy pulled an upset…the plan had to change.

Bully Ray realized that the easiest way to get himself the title match he so desperately wanted would be to get GM Hulk Hogan on his side. To do this he targeted the most notoriously easy mark in the history of wrestling: Sting. Knowing that Sting and Hogan were looking to strike back at the Aces and 8’s group…Bully offered his services in eradicating the gang. Hogan was skeptical, but as always Sting trusts everyone. When Hogan needed to pick a partner for Sting to team with at Bound For Glory against the Aces and 8’s, Sting lobbied him to pick Bully Ray. Not trusting him, Hogan chose Mr. Anderson. Before he could even get the words out the Aces and 8’s attacked Anderson leaving him injured and unable to complete in the tag match. Left with no choice, Bully Ray got the spot.

It seemed inevitable that Bully would turn on Sting. The catch here was that Sting wasn’t the fish they were trying to hook…it was Hogan. As long as Hogan refused to trust Bully Ray and put him in the mix for the TNA title…Bully had to keep playing the game and go further and further to prove himself. They would lose the Bound For Glory match but Bully Ray had proven a kind of false loyalty to Hogan and Sting while still manipulating the result he wanted in the first place (as a result of the win the Aces and 8’s were allowed full access to TNA).

Hogan still didn’t trust him so Bully had to go farther. He began a relationship with Hogan’s daughter Brooke with the intention of proving to Hulk that he was a trustworthy guy. When Hogan pushed even harder against Bully and suspended him as a result of the relationship Bully played the only card he had left. He proposed to Brooke. After being pressured by Brooke and Sting to accept Bully Ray, Hogan relented and gave his blessing. He reinstated Bully who spent the following weeks saving Hulk and Brooke from Aces and 8’s attacks.

With Hulk finally on his side, Brooke did the rest. She lobbied her father to give Bully Ray a TNA title shot since he’d proven himself and was now family. After nine months, multiple beatdowns and one marriage, Bully Ray finally got what he was after all along at Lockdown 2013. He revealed his place as the leader of the Aces and 8’s and defeated Jeff Hardy for the TNA title.

You could see the whole thing coming if you wanted to. If you didn’t, what you were seeing was Bully Ray transforming into a pretty lame babyface fighting off a very pathetic group of heels. If you watched believing the whole time that Bully would inevitably be behind it…what was eye rolling suddenly became fascinating. What looked like weakness became well planned strategy. What could be seen as standard babyface stupidity was in reality a modern masterpiece of heel work. An unheralded group that couldn’t buy a win turned overnight into an ugly rogues gallery who it turned out were actually doing whatever it took to truly win.

This wasn’t a standard “wrestler turns back and forth” story. There never was a “good guy” Bully Ray. They played with conventions and expectations the whole way through…all to get the TNA title. This was the 1998 Survivor Series slow played over the course of nine months. What you were seeing…and what was actually happening couldn’t have been more different. This was the good kind of predictable booking. They didn’t care if you figured out from the beginning that Bully Ray was behind everything because if you had…the segments were all the more entertaining. If you hadn’t…it was all going to make sense in the end anyway.

Where it goes from here may be even more obvious. A true heel on top means a top babyface will be made when they knock him off, likely at their biggest show of the year. To see where they’re going you likely don’t need to look further than the other long term storyline they have playing out right now: The AJ Styles saga. From actual bad year (not a John Cena bad year) to conquering hero. Predictable? Sure. But if the rise of Bully Ray has taught us anything…when it’s done right…that can be half the fun.

 

Impact recap 4/11

This week, Impact was live from Corpus Christi, Texas and featured a strong build to the Full Metal Mayhem TNA title rematch between Bully Ray and Jeff Hardy. They delivered a memorable, violent, very good title match. The show then delivered its lowest rating in months. Welcome to TNA.

The show opened with a fine tag team title match that saw Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez regain the TNA tag titles from Bobby Roode and Austin Aries. It was a 2/3 falls match but the first two falls happened so quickly I don’t know why they bothered. The final fall was good but I don’t see the point of putting the titles back on Chavo and Hernandez. They are barely over in their home state and are not at all over anywhere else. At this point the only other tag team in the company is Bad Influence (Daniels and Kazarian) and I don’t think anyone wants another round of this three team feud. Best case scenario would be that we finally get a Roode and Aries vs. Daniels and Kaz #1 contenders match out of this…but Chavo and Hernandez are so uninteresting that the ultimate pay off would be underwhelming.

The next hour of the show was pretty uninspiring. The crowd was easily the worst of their run on the road thus far…but they weren’t really helping them by booking a Joey Ryan vs. Rob Terry match. Joseph Park wasn’t very over for his promo either and I suspect that gimmick is going to struggle while they are on the road more than anyone else will. Taryn Terrell vs. Gail Kim was fine for what it was.

They also ran into a problem during the AJ Styles segment. The crowd was clearly there just to see Hulk Hogan, which frankly is a risk they should be more aware of. Anything they tried to do…the crowd didn’t care. They, like most crowds TNA will run into now that they are on the road, hadn’t seen Hulk Hogan live and in person for years and when that’s the set up the payoff will almost always be “Hey! That’s Hulk Hogan!”. They may have to find a way for him to do his in ring segments away from the talent that’s supposed to be getting over. Hogan stopped overshadowing people in the Impact Zone some time ago due to them seeing him every week…but that problem is back in full force now. Christopher Daniels was the star of this segment, somehow turning every bad thing he had done to AJ Styles into a reason that Styles should side with him. Not that the crowd noticed.

I’ll reserve my comments on the Gut Check for a future opinion column.

The main event Full Metal Mayhem match for the TNA title was very good. Jeff Hardy took about 6 sick bumps, the worst of which was a high backdrop out of the ring and on to the steel ramp which has no give. Bully Ray, being the great heel he is, told the Aces and 8’s to stay away so he could show everyone that he was better than Hardy…and then got a hammer from Taz to KO Hardy and retrieve the belt. They did a bunch of big spots including a scary suplex off the ladder, Bully Ray front suplexing Hardy into the hinges of an upside down ladder, a Swanton off the top rope through a table on the outside and Hardy falling back through a table after eating a hammer on the top of the ladder. You really couldn’t ask for more from Hardy then he gave you here, or more from Bully Ray as a character for that matter. They did a stretcher and ambulance angle with Hardy after the show went off the air. I assume we’ll get that footage next week.

 

Impact Preview 4/18

Next week’s Impact is already taped so this is just a spoiler free look at the lineup.

AJ Styles finally returns to the ring (on TV anyway) against James Storm.

Someone remembered that Mickie James works for TNA and she faces Brooke Tessmacher in a #1 contender match for the Knockouts title.

Kurt Angle has a handicap match against Garrett Bischoff and Wes Brisco.

Kenny King defends his X division title against Zema Ion and Petey Williams.

Finally there are a couple of Aces and 8’s related matches including Sting competing in the main event.

 

One Night Only X-Division X-Travaganza recap

If you want to watch a show to remind yourself how good it is that they got out of the Impact Zone…this show is for you. This crowd SUCKED. Not that everything on the show was great, far from it…but this crowd legit takes everything down a full star per match. Then Taz and Tenay bickered about nonsense so much on commentary that they lowered it another one.

The opener is all the Gut Check winners (Christian York, Sam Shaw, Alex Silva) and a Z list of X guys (Matt Bentley, Jimmy Rave, Puma (well…he’s actually good), and something called Lince Dorado) in an XScape match. The point is to eliminate everyone until 2 guys are left and then whoever climbs out of the steel cage wins. A complete mess. Only Sam Shaw looked good and he didn’t last long. Anyway York won.

The next match I did enjoy. Kid Kash and Doug Williams defeated Tony Nese and Rashad Cameron in a pretty long match that saw Williams and Kash just beat the piss out of their opponents in such a gleeful manner that I came out of it wanting to see them be a regular tag team. Of course by the time it aired Kash had left the company and Williams was a trainer in OVW.

Robbie E lost to Chavo. The fans were right not to care.

Next we had the return of the Ultimate X featuring Kenny King, Mason Andrews (Harold from the Kane/Daniel Bryan sketches), Rubix and Zema Ion. King won a good match that for a second almost made the crowd realize they were at a wrestling show.

Bad Influence then beat Petey Williams and Sonjay Dutt in a fine match that the crowd and commentary made into a chore to watch. Given the talent in the ring…that’s really quite the accomplishment.

In the co-main event we got the last ever RVD vs. Jerry Lynn match. Lynn would be officially retired before this show aired and this was a part of his retirement tour. The match takes a little bit to get going…and the crowd doesn’t give a crap about Lynn…but it does eventually reach a nice nostalgia feeling with the same ridiculous RVD/Lynn spots that we all know and (some) love. I thought this was pretty good all things considered. On another night, in a different city with a different crowd maybe ever better than that. The locker room came out to pay respect to Lynn, who lost of course, after the match was over.

The main event was Austin Aries vs. Samoa Joe. This was the only match that Tenay and Taz even tried to do a good job calling and Tenay in particular was bringing up all kinds of history between the two, including Aries being the guy to end Joe’s long Ring of Honor title reign. They had a good match. Again…under different circumstances maybe even a very good one. Aries won. You missed nothing.

It’s hard to believe that I can’t recommend a show that costs 15 dollars that is all in ring action…but here we are. If you want to experience this show put a good wrestling show on in the living room, then go to your bedroom and sit in complete silence. Now you’ve had the same experience and still have that 15 dollars.

 

Random News

Chris Sabin will be returning to the ring within the month. He’s basically been injured for two straight years so this is a long time coming. He celebrates his 10 year anniversary of joining TNA this month as well.

The list of upcoming TV/PPV tapings is as follows:
4/25- Indiana, PA (the live 4/25 show and the taped 5/2 show)
5/9- Tupelo, MS (the live 5/9 show and the taped 5/16 show)
5/23- Tampa, FL (the live 5/23 show and the taped 5/30 show)
6/2- Boston, MA – Slammiversary XI
6/6- Duluth, GA – (the live 6/6 show and the taped 6/13 show)
6/20- Peoria, IL (the live 6/20 show and the taped 6/27 show)
6/29- Las Vegas, NV (taped to avoid July 4th, the 7/4 show and the 7/11 show)
7/18- Louisville, KY (the live 7/18 show and the taped 7/25 show)
8/1- Wichita Falls, TX (the live 8/1 show and the taped 8/8 show)
8/15- Norfolk, VA (the live 8/15 show and the taped 8/22 show)
8/29- Cleveland, OH (the live 8/29 show and the taped 9/5 show)