Pro Wrestling Chronicle

Thirteen hours after it has gone off the air I’m still trying to wrap my head around this show, and the promotion as a whole. How could the booking crew behind Destination X, a horribly below-average show, be behind such a great hour of television last night? Maybe they heard the complaints from consumers and listened- for a change.

This was about as focused a program as TNA has produced in its time on Spike TV. They built towards Lockdown, and they found enough time to advance the underlying issues with some mid-card feuds.

The announcement of the 10 man War Games style match for Lockdown was very well done. However the Orlando crowd didn’t pop huge for the announcement. I would assume this is because they have become spoiled with the amount of free wrestling they get to see live. It’s all the more reason TNA needs to start traveling out of Orlando more often. Essentially Kurt Angle and Christian are captaining teams and need to select four partners for the main event in St. Louis.

After the opening A.J. Styles then came down to the ring selling injuries from the scaffold match. He called for Rhyno to come out so they could put an end to the feud. Rhyno agreed but then Styles jumped him from behind and together with Christian beat up Rhyno. Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe made the save, so you can probably pencil Angle, Joe, and Rhyno together for now. It was the perfect wrestling angle. It’s the kind of thing they need to do more of. Resorting to old- school booking and giving it some new-school twists will always work.

What also made the segment was the mic work between Christian and Styles afterwards. These two have a great chemistry together and Styles has made this goofy heel turn work with some excellent mannerisms. Styles, I still say, has the ability to be a huge draw in this business and TNA at least seems to know what they have in him at this point.

The stuff with Jay Lethal being turned into a Macho Man imitation is amusing if nothing else. It could be the thing that finally gives him that little bit of character he needs to push him over the hump. Ultimately the interaction with Nash could work out, but as of now a lot fo the X Division guys still seem stuck in the mud.

Also, they found a new way to breathe life into the stale LAX/Team 3D angle. Konnan cut a great promo before the match, and then sat in with the broadcast team which rendered West almost non-exsistant. TNA featured a solid ten minute main event with LAX & Alex Shelley defeating Team 3D & Brother Runt. Shelley is being put into a program, and is being slotted with a hot act. This can only help him in the long run as well.

In the last slot Christian tried to announce Abyss as his second partner but Sting interrupted and said Abyss is his own man now. Cornette ended the show by announcing Sting & Abyss vs Christian & Styles next week as the main event. The show ended with all 4 guys brawling in the ring. It was a good angle and they are incorporating 2 or 3 different programs into one match for next month which is a solid move.

This week TNA found the right mix of hype and action to prop up their show. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come, because this showed what TNA can do as a promotion. They need to be less concerned about competing with WWE right now and more concerned with cementing their foundation to build off of.