This past Thursday night, TNA Wrestling presented their fallout episode of IMPACT after the Against All Odds PPV last Sunday. What went down when the new number one contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, “The Pope”, confronted his opponent at Lockdown, AJ Styles? Did Kurt Angle get his revenge on Mr. Anderson? What went on as the Hogan/Bischoff era continued after the announcement that TNA will be switching to Monday Nights next month? Let’s get to the review and find out!

To open up the show, the new number one contender for the world title, “The Pope”, came out to the ring and claimed that he will be the next champion after he defeated AJ at Lockdown. AJ and flair soon interrupt, and Flair and Pope argue back and forth, and later AJ intervenes and he and Pope argue back and forth about who truly is the better wrestler and who will be the champ come Lockdown. Eventually, after what was a really good promo between these three, Pope jaw jacked AJ and the fight was on! Soon the number game caught up with Pope and Flair and AJ began to beat him down. Eventually, they stomped on his ankle which was caught in the middle of a steel chair, and then the segment ended with AJ applying the Figure Four Leg Lock. Overall, this was a great segment which did an ideal job of setting the foundation for the big title match at Lockdown!

Tara (C) Defeated Daffney In A Non-Title Match

Pretty formulaic stuff here. Glad to see Daffney back in the ring. I love her gimmick. Very unique for a Knockout. After about 5 minutes of standard action, Daffney blew up and hit Tara with a toolbox, getting herself disqualified. She then pinned Tara down with the guardrail and smashed her viciously with a steel chair until she was successfully restrained by Dr. Stevie. This potential Tara/Daffney feud seems interesting and fresh, and could potential make for some pretty entertaining hardcore Knockout matches.

Orlando Jordan Defeated Samoa Joe

Jordan came out to the ring with a woman and a (gay) man. Is he going to start using a bisexual gimmick? Very odd, and gross! Before the match began, Bischoff confronted Joe backstage and told him that he was disappointed in him for not getting the job done at Against All Odds. He dared Joe to impress him. In the early going of this match, Joe was very intense in his on-slot of Jordan. Within a few minutes though, Bischoff made his way to ringside to watch on. Joe’s mind seemed to be somewhere else and Jordan capitalized on this, pinning Joe with an elevated back stabber. Looks like a new storyline is in the works involving Joe and an upcoming loosing streak. Hey, at least TNA’s using him on TV now!

Kazarian, Generation Me, And Amazing Red Defeated The Motor City Machine Guns, Doug Williams (C), and Brian Kendrick

Kaz is back, and he’s not wearing a mask and jumpsuit! As I have said before, Kaz playing Suicide will only get him as far as it has, and that’s not very far! I am a huge Kaz fan, and really hope TNA utilizes him to his full potential. By the way, this was a super entertaining match here, but only went about 5 minutes or so. This featured tons of faced paced action though, as well as plenty of dives to the floor! Kaz ended up pinning the X Division Champion Doug Williams with a slingshot DDT. Great way to set the tone for Destination X here. Could Kaz be the new TNA X Division Champion in the very near future? Let’s hope so!

Jeff Jarrett VS. Abyss Ended In No Contest

This match was being hyped all night long. Bischoff sent Foley away from the IMPACT Zone on a shopping spree, and Bischoff promised to unmask Abyss! Bischoff demanded to Jarrett earlier, that he must use the barbed wire baseball bat on Abyss. In an attempt to keep his job, Jarrett complied. This match was a bit on the slow side, however it did tell a good story. It was very intense throughout the entire duration, in anticipation for Abyss to be unmasked. After about 10 minutes, Bischoff came down to ringside and demanded that Jarrett use the bat. Jarrett though about it, and then surprisingly dropped it and refused to use it, to Bischoff’s dismay. At this point, Bischoff sent a handful of heels into the ring to attack both men. They held Abyss down and as Bischoff was about to unmask him, Hulk Hogan’s music hit, and he told Abyss to go to his office immediately. He ignored a bewildered Bischoff and walked away. Nice stuff here! Pretty interesting. We’re now starting to see more and more friction between Bischoff and Hogan. Later in the evening, Hogan gave Abyss a pep-talk of sorts in his office, claiming that he’s tired of looking at Abyss being afraid of his own shadow. He gives Abyss his Hall Of Fame ring, and tells Abyss that this ring will empower him to be 10 times the entity that Hulk Hogan ever was! Great, great pep-talk with should do wonders for Abyss. No more of the mentally ill, childish Abyss, it looks like we just may get back “The Monster”!

Beer Money Defeated Big Rob Terry(C) and Brutus Magnus

Nice, short, and to the point here with Beer money dominating and getting the pin of Magnus with the DUI in about 3 to 4 minutes. Nice way to reestablish Beer Money as worthy members of the TNA roster, I’m just waiting for them to receive their well deserved singles push. After the match, Magnus verbally belittled Terry and preceded in slapping him in his face. At this, Terry snapped, took Magnus’ head off with a running lariat, and walked out. As I’ve said before, this was an inevitable feud that I am not looking forward to in the very least. I honestly don’t believe it will ever amount to much more than an undercard matchup on the next few PPVs or so.

Kurt Angle Defeated Daniels

Angle literally made Daniels tap out here in less than one minute with an ankle lock. Seriously??? Why do this to Daniels. Why not do it to someone like Sean Morley or someone off less potential and prestige? I mean come on… Didn’t Daniels nearly beat AJ for the world title a few months ago at Final Resolution??? WOW! Anyway, after the match, Angle did literally cut one of the best, most emotional promos I have witnessed in quite some time, as he talked about how a soldier in Iraq gave him that dog tag that ANderson busted him open with at Against All Odds. Very, very emotional. He talked about how when Anderson spit on the tag, he wasn’t spitting on him, but the USA! Anderson soon interrupted, and mocked Angle. Soon Angle had heard enough and run up the ramp way only to be knockout by Anderson with a microphone shot to the injured head of Angle. Awesome segment here full of emotion! Can’t wait to see these two get their hands on one another, probably come Lockdown! What a grudge match this promises to be!

With only 5 minutes left in the show, getting real sick of these 5 minute segments to end the show, Kevin Nash comes out to the ring with Eric Young and calls out Nash and Waltman, because of their attack on Nash 2 seeks ago. The came out, Young pounced on Waltman, and before Nash and Hall could go at it, security separated them, as Hogan watched on. These old veterans should by no means be ending the show. That’s my major problem with their involvement. Don’t see much of a payoff here either unless this some how elevated Eric Young.

Overall, this was a good show, but too much veteran involvement at the end, which should be considered the most important point in the show. Fair amount of action in the ring on this night, but still not enough to completely satisfy me. We did see a few great segments though. One being Pope and AJ and the other being Angle and Anderson. Could have gone for a quality main event. Overall, this show gets a B+.

Be sure to join me on my very own radio show tomorrow from 3-5 PM/EST for The Sports Opinions Show on Blog Talk Radio! We will first discuss the world of sports then pro wrestling for an hour and a half. We will also be giving away a very special ECW DVD! Don’t miss out! http//:www.blogtalkradio.com/thesportsopinionsshow.

Todd Frizzell is from Columbus Ohio, and has been a huge professional wrestling fanatic for the last ten years. Todd is very interested in all aspects of pro wrestling, including what goes on when the cameras aren’t rolling. Todd is very excited to write about his passion, and will try his best to entertain and provoke the wrestling fans.

Order TNA: Kurt Angle: Champion on DVD by clicking here.

Order the WWE Hulk Hogan’s Unreleased Collector’s Series DVD collection by clicking here.

Order Hulk Hogan’s autobiography, My Life Outside the Ring by clicking here.

This past Sunday night, 1-14-10, TNA Wrestling presented their second PPV under the Hogan/Bischoff era, featuring an eight man tournament to determine the number one contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship! Who will make up one half of the world title main event matchup at Lockdown? Who will be the champ heading into Lockdown? Let’s get to the review and find out!

Eight Card Stud Quarter Final Match: “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero Defeated Desmond Wolfe

TNA decided to open thing up with the first of four quarter final matches in the Eight Card Stud tournament, and I must say, this was a great way to open up the evening! These two had a great matchup last month at Genesis, but this topped that! Both men had their supporters, but Pope was super over! Nice back and forth action between both men featuring a very intriguing clash of styles, with Wolfe’s technical excellence topped off by Pope’s fast paced, aerial assault! Early in the match, Wolfe planted Pope with a sick, and I mean sick DDT! Many near falls starting about half way through the bout, climaxing with a beautiful superplex from the tip tip turnbuckle! After about 15 minutes of excitement, Pope hit a neckbreaker on Wolfe from the second rope, and then hit the DDE for the 1…2…3! Again, great match to open up the show! (***1/2)

Eight Card Stud Quarter Final Match: “The Blueprint” Matt Morgan (C) Defeated Hernandez (C)

Interesting contest here, featuring the current TNA World Tag Team Champions going one on one with one another. Typical big man vs. big man action in the early going which was a bit slow for my liking, with both men trying to overpower the other, but things really picked up in the final few minutes or so when Hernandez elevated Morgan up for a suplex, holding him up for a good 30 seconds before plating him down onto the canvas! Man this guy’s strong! After this, Hernandez hit his patented suicide dive over the top taking Morgan out on the ramp! Hernandez then sold a shoulder injury, which Morgan capitalized on by thrusting him shoulder first into the turnbuckle and rolling him up (using the tights) for the win. After the match, Hernandez walked out on him. Expect a possible feud between these two, which wouldn’t be too bad as long as the memorable spots they pull off outlast, or at least, override the methodical action. (***)

Eight Card Stud Quarter Final Match: Mr. Anderson Defeated “The Olympic Gold Medalist” Kurt Angle

Although I had expected this to have been a good bout, this completely surpassed my expectations! Great matchup here, which not only featured great wrestling action, but told a great in ring story as well with great ring psychology! Perfect balance here. Anderson busted Angle wide open early in the match after digging Angle’s dog tag into his forehead, and believe it or not the EMTs didn’t dive into the ring and clean him up! After this point, most of the match featured Anderson beating on an injured Angle, until Angle came back with momentum, hitting 3 German suplexes in a row! The match went about 20 minutes or so, and featured plenty of back and forth action at this point in time. Earlier in the match, Anderson had attempted to undo the turnbuckle pad, but the ref caught him. As the ref put it back on, Anderson undid the opposite one! Crafty heel work at its finest! After a very intense false finish, featuring Anderson kicking out of the Angle Slam, Angle charged at him, but Anderson sidestepped him sending him face first into the exposed turnbuckle! He hit the Mic Check for the win. Kind of disappointed that Anderson went over, but I guess it wasn’t exactly what you’d consider a clean victory. After the match, Anderson laid Angle’s dog tag on his chest, and then spit on it before leaving the ring! Looks like this feud will continue and rightfully so! IO can’t wait to see the intense promos and even matches that this will bring in the future! (***3/4)

Eight Card Stud Quarter Final Match: Abyss Defeated Mick Foley In A No DQ Match

Before this match began, Eric Bischoff told both Abyss and Foley that if they didn’t use the barbed wire baseball on one another, Abyss would be unmasked on IMPACT! Semi intriguing, much like it was when Abyss spoke for the first time. Throughout the match here itself, Abyss seemed very hesitant in doing any sort of physical maneuver to Foley because of their friendship. Foley tried his best to fire the monster up. Overall, this match was nothing like their Monster’s Ball matchup at Bound For Glory. This only featured a single chair shot and the ending, where Abyss won with the Black Hole Slam by planting Foley into a pile of tacks. The match did tell a good story though, and everything done made perfect sense storyline wise. After the match, Abyss picked the tacks out of the body of Foley. By the way, no one succeeded in using the barbed wire baseball bat! This does create intrigue for IMPACT this Thursday night. Will Abyss be unmasked? (**)

The Nasty Boys Defeated Team 3D

I’m not going to lie, this match pretty much sucked bad! Can’t believe their weren’t any sort of hardcore stipulations here, for that’s the only way this match could have been watchable whatsoever. The Nasty Boys were very sloppy in the ring (timing, speed, bumps, and all) and you could really tell that Team 3D was pretty frustrated with this. After waking up from a 10 minute nap, I couldn’t believe my eyes! Guess who threw in a helmet allowing Sags to use it and get the pin? “The Mouth Of The South” Jimmy Hart! I personally have no problems with him being involved in TNA, but why manage The Nasty Boys? How’s that going to help elevate any younger talent, which should be the purpose of legends nowadays? It isn’t! (*1/2)

Eight Card Stud Semi Final Match: “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero Defeated “The Blueprint” Matt Morgan

Another interesting clash of styles here, this time featuring the high flying ability of Pope mixed with the power game of “The Blueprint”. Slower match here in the early (these two already wrestled once mind you) but again really picked up in the final few minutes, featuring a vicious lariat from Morgan taking Pope’s head off as he went for the DDE! Very close count here! Then, Morgan went for the Carbon Footprint, but Pope sidestepped him causing him to ge entangled in the ropes. Pope hit a beautiful DDE for the win! (***)

Eight Card Stud Semi Final Match: Mr. Anderson Defeated “The Monster” Abyss

Quite ironic that these two also faced one another last month at Genesis. Although this was better than that match, there was really nothing memorable whatsoever that went on. Nice ring psychology on the part of Anderson though, who worked on the knee of Abyss throughout the entire matchup, bringing him down in size. After some fairly formulaic stuff, Anderson blinded Abyss with the mask, kicked him in the injured knee, hit the Mic Check, which consequently earned him the victory. (**1/2)

“The Phenomenal” AJ Styles (C) With Ric Flair Defeated “The Samoan Submission Machine” Samoa Joe To Retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship With Eric Bischoff As The Special Ref

Pretty damn shocked this wasn’t the main event, but I guess Pope and Anderson needed some time to recuperate. Overall, I wouldn’t say that I was disappointed with this matchup, but it defiantly wasn’t on caliber with the matches these two have had in the past. This seemed to be a bit more tones down, with a lot more focus on ring psychology and telling a story, which comes with the new found territory I guess. I really did appreciate the balance though. Nice heel work on the part of AJ as well as intensity on the part of Joe. Both men went back and forth exchanging offense in the early going, with Joe eventually picking up momentum with a suicide dive onto AJ on the outside, sending him crashing hard into the guardrail! Soon after, AJ began to work on Joe’s knee, after Flair rammed it into the ring post behind Bischoff’s back. This is where AJ presented excellent ring psychology, with the assistance of Flair at ringside. Later Joe came back with momentum, and the two fought back and forth offensively once again. Finally, Joe got AJ up for the Muscle Buster and connected, but Flair pulled Bischoff to the outside. Bischoff preceded in punching Flair right in the nose! The distracted Joe though who grabbed Bischoff in frustration. Aj hit the Pele and the Styles Clash, forcing Bischoff to make the three count. Bischoff was very, very hesitant. Again, not as epic wrestling wise as these two have done in the past, but this was a great match nevertheless which told a great story. Again, perfect balance in my opinion. (****)

Eight Card Finals: “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero Defeated Mr. Anderson To Become The Number One Contender For The TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Before the match began, Pope was attacked by Hall and Waltman backstage. They said they’re coming for Hogan next. Nice way to incorporate them into the PPV without having them become too heavily involved. Anderson beat on Pope for the majority on this main event, being that Pope was injured at the hands of “The band”. pope was certainly fighting Against All Odds! Pun Intended! Slow 25 minute match, but told a great story. Last few minutes were Very intense with Anderson kicking out of the DDE and Pope kicking out of the Mic Check! Finally, Pope hit another DDE for the victory! Pope wins! He will now face AJ for the title at Lockdown! Should be awesome! (***3/4)

Overall, I felt that this wasn’t a great PPV, but defiantly a very good one! The major matches seemed a bit toned down and told more of a story, but there was still plenty of action so no problem. Although it’s still fat too early to comment on how exactly the Hogan/Bischoff era will effect TNA, if this is any indication of that, I’m happy! Very good balance between wrestling and psychology. Very good PPV overall! (7.5/10)

Todd Frizzell is from Columbus Ohio, and has been a huge professional wrestling fanatic for the last ten years. Todd is very interested in all aspects of pro wrestling, including what goes on when the cameras aren’t rolling. Todd is very excited to write about his passion, and will try his best to entertain and provoke the wrestling fans.

Order TNA: Kurt Angle: Champion on DVD by clicking here.

Order the WWE Hulk Hogan’s Unreleased Collector’s Series DVD collection by clicking here.

Order Hulk Hogan’s autobiography, My Life Outside the Ring by clicking here.

The wrestling world is a buzz as TNA has announced that on Monday night March 8th the Monday Night Wars will return. TNA and Spike TV have been working on getting a deal in place for TNA to air their flagship show “Impact” on Monday nights from 9pm to 11pm along side WWE’s Monday Night RAW. Once again we will see Hogan & Bischoff vs. The McMahons.

As a wrestling fan I couldn’t be happier because now it is forcing both companies to go all out for their fan base to make sure their fans tune in on Monday night. The initial TNA vs. WWE war on Monday night January 4th brought us Bret Hart back to the WWE, Hogan/Hardy/Flair/Hall/Waltman debuting or re-debuting in TNA. In just one night of wrestling action!

No question now that it has become official will we see the landscape of wrestling change as we enter into the new decade. I am not a fan of the TNA product, never truly have been even after some of my favorite Ring of Honor wrestlers debuted (Samoa Joe, Nigel McGuiness aka Desmond Wolfe, etc.). To me it reminds of a lesser WCW product now with Hogan and Bischoff at the helm.

I mean lets be honest The Nasty Boys were booked on the Against All Odds PPV this past Sunday night. Who wants to se the Nasty Boys and Jimmy Hart together or even wrestle again? I guess it’s nice to have friends in higher places. But I digress.

What this Monday Night War will do is force WWE and TNA to promote newer/younger talent. If you remember thanks to newer/younger talent like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H and Mankind the WWE would regain & control the first Monday Night War with WCW. WCW at the time was still promoting Hogan, Savage, Nash and only one new talent…Goldberg. WCW is now a show on WWE On-Demand.

This will hopefully force WWE to strap the rocket ship to guys like Kofi Kingston, John Morrison, The Miz and Drew McIntyre; whom are all bound for super stardom in this decade. TNA already has the edge in the pushing younger talent department but no telling how long that could last under a Hogan/Bischoff regime. It’s almost as if they are pushing the younger guys right now in spite of everyone giving them hell for their past practices.

TNA has Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Desmond Wolfe and the guy WWE missed the boat with “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero (Elijah Burke in WWE). The next pay per view will be headlined by a Styles/Dinero main event for TNA which I think was a great move but may have been too quick for a guy who was sparingly used on WWE’s 3rd brand in ECW.

This new Monday Night War will not only push WWE & TNA creative to give us the best wrestling we can get it will also push the wrestlers to the next level. That’s what helped WWE win the first go around as the hard work of the Austin’s, Rock’s, Triple H’s and Foley’s of the WWE landscape helped them defeat WCW. It will be interesting to note who takes the ball and runs with it.

I’m excited for March 8th; I will be watching both shows and keeping an eye on what the wrestling landscape will look like in its first few months. I’m leaning towards WWE in this one because I’m just not a fan of the Hogan/Bischoff regime for TNA but I hope they can change my viewpoint. Time will obviously tell whether or not who will win the second Monday Night Wars.

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This past Thursday evening, 2-11-10, TNA Wrestling presented their go home show until this Sunday’s Against All Odds PPV! Who advanced into the Eight Card Stud tournament? Did Scott Hall and Sean Waltman squeeze their way into the IMPACT Zone once again? Let’s get to the review and find out!

To open up the evening, Hulk Hogan made his way down to the ring, and he preceded to cut his typical TNA promo, putting the promotion over as the future of professional wrestling. Soon, he was surprisingly interrupted by Eric Young, who came down to the ring and vowed that he would get revenge on Hall and Waltman after what they did to, his fellow World Elite partner, Kevin Nash last week. Looks like Young’s going to be a face now. Notable “underrated” chant targeted toward Young from the front row. I can’t help but to agree. Young is really a great wrestler, and very solid on the mic as well. Hogan ends up accepting Young’s statements. He tells him to do what he’s got to do, but not on his turf. He tells him to “bust them up real bad”. Nice segment to set up some sort of story line to be carried out throughout the show here.

Eight Card Stud Qualifying Match: “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero Defeated Orlando Jordan

The last time these two faced one another, Jordan picked up the victory after capitalizing on the injured knee of “The Pope”. This was about the same quality of their last matchup, decent but nothing really memorable. After some fairly formulaic action, “The Pope” ended up advancing to the tournament after pinning Jordan following the Express. After getting the win against the world champ AJ Styles last week, I defiantly see “The Pope” winning the tournament at Against All Odds, and rightfully so. He’s a great performer, had plenty of charisma, has the look, and is super over!

Backstage, Jeff Jarrett entered Eric Bischoff’s office and asked to have a chance of being in the Eight Card Stud tournament at Against All Odds. Bischoff refused Jeff’s proposal. Jeff kept himself calm, and acceptingly walked out. Bischoff laughed to himself as Jeff walked away. This will defiantly turn into some sort of a power struggle story line.

Eight Card Stud Qualifying Match: “The Blueprint” Matt Morgan Defeated Suicide

Not sure why Suicide was even given the opportunity of being in a qualifying match here. When was the last time we even saw him on television? This was your basic match where Morgan got the pin with the Carbon Footprint in only a few minutes with minimal effort. Makes sense for Morgan to be apart of the tournament. As far as Suicide goes, he’ll never be recognized as a legitimate challenge for the world championship unless he takes his mask off and goes back to being Kaz. I still think Kaz was one of the most underrated wrestlers on the TNA roster for many years. I still remember to this very day that awesome ladder match he had with Christian Cage. That guy had potential! Just never really clicked with the fans.

Yet another backstage segment featured Mick Foley entering the office of Eric Bischoff. Foley was more or less a kiss ass here, for the fates of both JB and Abyss are currently in Bischoff’s hands. Bischoff gives Foley a buy into the Eight Card Stud tournament, and announces that his opponent will be Abyss. Should be interesting from a story line standpoint, and could be fun to watch too if given some sort of hardcore stipulation.

X Division Championship Rematch: Doug Williams (C) Defeated Amazing Red

After recently loosing his X Division Championship to Williams, this was Red’s chance at redemption, for both men were fresh. Nice faced paced, aerial action here, with some nice technical wrestling holds implemented by Williams. Match pretty much went back and forth with both men getting in plenty of offense. At one point, Red hit his amazing corkscrew splash over the top to the outside taking Williams out! After about 5 minutes or so, Williams threw Red’s shoulder into the ring post, hit his sweet rolling German suplex into a bridge for the three. Nice showing for both men here, as well as legitimizing Williams as the new, worthy X Division Champion. Maybe we’ll see a Brian Kendrick/Doug Williams feud next, although both men are heels. Maybe Williams will make a face turn.

The Beautiful People (Lacey Von Erich, Velvet Sky, And Madison Rayne) Defeated Tara (C) and Angelina Love In A Knockout Handicap Match

Another match between these ladies here, continuing their ongoing feud. This match was actually pretty decent, and lasted a lot longer than your average Knockout matchup. It ended up going for a good 20 minutes or so. To my surprise, Lacey Vin Erich looked much better than usual here, actually hitting a moonsault from the middle rope into a standing elbow drop! Otherwise, this is what has come to be expected from the Knockouts. Better than the WWE Divas, but still plenty of room for improvement. Where’s Sarita, Hamada, Taylor Wilde, Kong (well, we know where Kong is)? In my opinion, there are the most talented Knockouts on the TNA roster. So there not eye candy… who really gives a damn? Anyway, back to the match at hand. In the end, Lacey used the ugly stick behind the referees back for the pin. The Beautiful People stood tall after the match. This feud is decent, but kind of getting old. Seems pretty repetitive.

Kurt Angle And Mr. Anderson Defeated Hernandez And Desmond Wolfe

Nice way to incorporate four men, all in which will be apart of the Eight Card Stud tournament, here. Interesting concept to book Angle and Anderson, opponents for Against All Odds, as a team here. Being that Hernandez and Wolfe aren’t opponents at Against All Odds, it probably would have been better to have booked another pair as a team, although there were still qualifying matches going on previously on this same night, although Wolfe and Hernandez could potentially end up facing one another in the second round or finals. Anyway, nice tag match here, with plenty of action throughout. Did a nice job of giving us a sampling of what’s in store for us at Against All Odds. Both Angle and Anderson, opponents for Against All Odds, ended up physically assaulting one another. After about 7 or 8 minutes, Angle hit the Angle Slam on Wolfe, but Anderson gave Angle a low blow, threw him to the outside, and took the pin for himself! Nice way to throw a little bit of a story line or feud into the tournament matchup between these two at Against All Adds.

Up next, Samoa Joe came out to the ring and was soon interrupted by his opponent for the world title at Against All Odds, AJ Styles (accompanied by Ric Flair). The two cut another really good promo, which was very similar to the promo between the two last week, with Joe expressing his disgust in AJ. By the way, once again, AJ showed that he is more than capable of cutting great promos. He has improved a lot in that subject area as of late. He is really a much better talker as a heel than as a face if I do say so myself. Once things got super heated here, AJ decided to charge down to the ring and he and Joe began to unleash on one another! Joe soon was in the driver’s seat, unleashing all of his frustrations out on the champ! As Joe hoisted AJ up for the Muscle Buster, Flair hit a low blow on him, and him and AJ beat him down to end this segment. Great way to gets things even more personal and heated for Sunday! Soon after, Eric Bischoff announced that he will be the special ref for this Sunday’s title match. I say he’ll screw Joe out of the title. Bischoff is incapable of being a face, seriously!

Earlier in the evening, Angle told Young that he would take care of Hall, Waltman, and even Hogan himself. He now came into the ring, and called them out. Hall and Waltman soon ran to the ring, if you could call what Hall was doing running, and Angle began the brawl. Soon the numbers game picked up on him, being knockout by a shot with brass knuckles. Hogan now came out and appeared to be on the side of Hall and Waltman. He out on the knuckles, and was about to clean Angle’s clock, when he double crossed “The Band” and knocked them both out with fists of brass of the face! The show ended with Angle sporting a confused look on his face. Decent segment. Thankfully it doesn’t look like we’re going to see a full fledged NWO reunion! In nothing else, I’m glad that Angle is involved with this major story line here. He deserves to be. These guys will obviously get involved at Against All Odds somehow, the question is how???

Overall, this was a pretty solid go home show for Against All Odds. TNA has had very solid go home to PPV shows lately, but need to start building for PPVs earlier. They can’t make the mistake WCW did. Story lines were also a little more cleared up on this night, which is great! I’m seeing improvements here, but not enough yet to comment on how Hogan and Bischoff have effected TNA. More will be revealed come this Sunday at Against All Odds! (B+)

Todd Frizzell is from Columbus Ohio, and has been a huge professional wrestling fanatic for the last ten years. Todd is very interested in all aspects of pro wrestling, including what goes on when the cameras aren’t rolling. Todd is very excited to write about his passion, and will try his best to entertain and provoke the wrestling fans.

Order TNA: Kurt Angle: Champion on DVD by clicking here.

Order the WWE Hulk Hogan’s Unreleased Collector’s Series DVD collection by clicking here.

Order Hulk Hogan’s autobiography, My Life Outside the Ring by clicking here.

This Sunday night TNA Wrestling will present their second PPV as far as the Hogan/Bischoff era goes. This PPV will feature a very special Eight Card Stud Tournament to determine the number one contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. In addition, the TNA World Heavyweight Championship itself will be on the line in the main event! In just under forty eight hours the road to Lockdown officially begins! Let’s run down the card…

Team 3D VS. The Nasty Boys

If nothing else, this should be a historic meeting between the legendary teams. May not be the most entertaining matchup in the world, but if given some sort of no disqualification stipulation it could be fun. These two teams have had pretty fair buildup for this match featuring a few great promos, so this match should defiantly have a lot of intensity and emotion involved. Hopefully this will become some sort of a wild street fight around the entire building. I couldn’t see it any other way.

Eight Card Stud First Round Match: “The Blueprint” Matt Morgan (C) VS. Hernandez (C)

In the first matchup of the eight card stud tournament, current tag team partners as well as TNA World Tag Team Champions may just find out who’s the backbone of their team, as these two athletic big men take center stage. I like how TNA’s putting the tag champions in a match together here, really playing off of the whole “luck of the draw” theme for Against All Odds as well as this tournament. Should be a decent match, though probably pretty forgettable.

Eight Card Stud First Round Match: “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero VS. Desmond Wolfe

Last month at Genesis, these two probably had the second best match of the night, so I expect nothing less this Sunday. In my personal opinion, these are two of the most gifted performers on the TNA roster, so I am really looking forward to seeing this rematch. Not much of a story line has been set between these two since Genesis, but because of that match they will always have beef with one another. Expect Wolfe to target Pope’s injured knee as well, being the true ring technician that he is. I defiantly see Pope going over here because, in my opinion, he’s the favorite to win the entire tournament. I see him as the next world title challenger and rightfully so.

Eight Card Stud First Round Match: Mick Foley VS. “The Monster” Abyss

Four months ago at Bound For Glory, these two had one of the most brutal matches TNA Wrestling had seen in quite some time. If given some sort of hardcore stipulation, this would be a very entertaining match for the bloodthirsty, hardcore wrestling fan. Otherwise, this match should be very intriguing on a story line standpoint. It is no secret that Mick Foley and Eric Bischoff are moral enemies, but remember, Foley must comply to Bischoff’s every demand because the fate of both Abyss and Jeremy Borash are in his hands. Expect the possibility of Bischoff getting involved here.

Eight Card Stud Qualifying Match: “The Olympic Gold Medalist” Kurt Angle VS. Mr. Anderson

Ever since his recent inception into TNA at Genesis, Mr. Anderson has really shown his true colors, through his brash, arrogant, self-centered, cocky attitude. This Sunday night, Anderson will be forced to put up or shut up and put his money where mouth is, as he faces one of the greatest wrestlers on this planet, “The Olympic Gold Medalist”, Kurt Angle! This past Thursday night on IMPACT, both Angle and Anderson were tag partners as they faced the team of Hernandez and Desmond Wolfe. Throughout the duration of the match, both men ultimately came to blows, with Anderson getting in a cheap shot on Angle, taking the pin, and heading for the hills! Angle has got to have retribution on his mind, and will have his chance this Sunday night on Pay Per View! This should turn out to be a really good match, if given enough time, and should feature phenomenal ring psychology.

AJ Styles (C) With “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair VS. “The Samoan Submission Machine” Samoa Joe For The TNA World Heavyweight Championship!

In the past, these two TNA pioneers have had some of the greatest battles in recent memory. Now, nearly 10 years after the inception of TNA, these two will go one on one once again, but this time AJ’s got “The Nature Boy” in his corner. Ever since the partnership between Flair and Styles began, AJ has transformed into Ric Flair the second, and Samoa Joe is none too happy with this! After several tremendous promos between these two over the past several weeks, this has got to be the first match between these two with this much animosity involved! Last week on IMPACT, Flair and Styles double teamed Joe, leaving his laying in the center of the ring. Joe will have revenge on his mind walking into the IMPACT Zone this Sunday night! As always, this should be an incredible main event, between two phenomenal performers, and with the recent history involved, should tell a great story as well! Sounds like the perfect balance too me, doesn’t it??? By the way, Eric Bischoff recently announced the he would be the special guest referee for this match. I’m guessing he’ll cost Joe the match, but I’m still very intrigued to tune in and find out!

Overall, this has the potential to be a pretty exciting PPV. I love tournaments, so that’s a huge plus! I also really like the main event. Expect Hogan to show up with Scott Hall and Sean Waltman, considering he knocked them both out last week. Maybe even a Kevin Nash return. Remember, Sting is still looming in the rafters. Could he make his presence known Sunday night??? I recommend check out Against All Odds this Sunday. I’d say it’s worth it, but don’t take my word to the grave! Remember, this is TNA! Expect the unexpected, and throw logic out the window! TNA has been doing a better job with this lately, but that’s another story for another time. Enjoy!

Todd Frizzell is from Columbus Ohio, and has been a huge professional wrestling fanatic for the last ten years. Todd is very interested in all aspects of pro wrestling, including what goes on when the cameras aren’t rolling. Todd is very excited to write about his passion, and will try his best to entertain and provoke the wrestling fans.

Order TNA: Kurt Angle: Champion on DVD by clicking here.

Order the WWE Hulk Hogan’s Unreleased Collector’s Series DVD collection by clicking here.

Order Hulk Hogan’s autobiography, My Life Outside the Ring by clicking here.

Sunday night, TNA Wrestling presented not only their first PPV of the new year, but also the first PPV within the Hogan/Bischoff era. With the addition of these two authority figures pressing the reset button of TNA, what can we expect from the new regime? Who is the huge superstar who made his debut? Let’s get to the review, and we’ll find out!

Genesis opened with a brand new set, featuring an upgraded stage, with a ramp way which stretched all the way to the ring apron, just like the setup from several original ECW events, as well as some old WCW PPVs. For the first time in nearly 5 years, TNA sported a new 4 sided ring. Way to separate yourselves from the competition TNA! To pen the show, Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff made their way to the ring, and welcomed everyone to the “All new IMPACT Zone”, which resulted in a chorus of boos. The TNa faithful preceded in a unanimous “We want 6 sides” chant! Hogan made a comment comparing the old 6 sided ring to a “Playpen”, to a very negative reaction. How dare he! Hogan basically tried to put over TNA, without much crowd support, and left it at that. So far, Hogan’s been in TNA for just a few short weeks, and he’s already been close to being booed out of the building several times. Go figure!

Amazing Red (C) Defeated Brian Kendrick To Retain His X Division Championship

Red’s mystery opponent was revealed to be Brian Kendrick, who received a very warm welcome from Orlando. Kendrick wasn’t a face in this match, but wasn’t really a heel either. He remained pretty neutral, although I was getting the vibe that he may end up being a heel sooner than later. All in all, this was a pretty good match, and a good way to set the pace for the evening, although I think it could have gone a bit longer, as it seemed to end at the same time it started to pick up momentum. One notable spot was Red hitting a beautiful hesitated sommersault plancha from the top rope to the outside onto Kendrick. In the end, Amazing Red retained his title with Brain Damage, his victory roll flipped forward into a modified wheelbarrow face buster, as a wheel barrel body scissors finisher. (***)

Sean Morley Defeated Daniels

Before this match began, Morley did his standard mic work, to another chorus of boos. Throughout the entire duration of the match, the crowd was pretty much entirely behind Daniels. All in all, this was an alright match, but seemed to be a bit too slow paced, mainly because of Morley. After some very formulaic stuff, Morley got the win with the Money Shot, to the dismay of not only the fans, but to the dismay of myself. In my opinion, there is absolutely no reason why Morley should have gone over the much younger, more talented Daniels here. (**3/4)

Tara Defeated ODB (Former C) In A Best 2 Out Of 3 Falls Match To Win The TNA Knockout Championship

As I have said in the past, I feel that these are not the two women who would be best to represent the face of the TNA Knockout division. They have fought many times in the past, but have yet to really impress me. Last night was no exception. Although it was certainly watchable, this match seemed to be very slow paced, and seemed to drag on, however it did involve some keen ring psychology.

Winner Of Fall Number One: Tara

Tara captured the first fall fairly quickly with a roll up.

Winner Of Fall Number Two: Tara

Tara also ended up winning her second straight fall, therefore winning the match and the title. She picked up the victory with the Widow’s Peak. (**1/2)

“The Blueprint” Matt Morgan and Hernandez Defeated The British Invasion (Former C) (Doug Williams and Brutus Magnus) To Become The New TNA World Tag Team Champions

This match was about what you expect between these two teams, featuring a very sufficient amount of action. Bot teams meshed well together, and hit several impressive double team maneuvers. After a moderate length matchup, Hernandez hit magnus with his Dominator variation, followed by a picture perfect Carbon Footprint courtesy of “The Blueprint”, allowing the three count, crowning new TNA World Tag Team Champions! As I’ve said many times before, I am a big fan of the newly formed team of Hernandez and Morgan, and really look forward to seeing what they bring to the preverbal table as tag champs in the new year! (***)

Desmond Wolfe Defeated “The Pope” D’Angelo Dinero

Although this was a really good match, the crowd seemed to be fairly dead at this point, which I believe hurt this match a little. Putting the crowd reaction aside, this was a good, solid wrestling match, with plenty of innovative submission maneuvers on the part of both men, as well as several near falls. Great ring psychology was implemented beautifully on the behalf of Wolfe, who religiously worked on “The Pope’s” knee throughout the duration of the entire bout, as a way to eliminate “The Pope’s” ability to hit the D’Angelo Dinero Express. After a good 15 minutes of solid wrestling, Wolfe got the clean win after hitting an explosive lariat taking “The Pope’s” head off! Glad to see Wolfe get some redemption tonight, and I look forward to seeing more of the feud between these two future world champs! (***1/2)

Beer Money, Inc Defeated “The Band” Kevin Nash and Syxx -Pac

As most of us already know, Scott Hall is currently suffering from sort of groin injury, so to my excitement, Pac replaced him here. Overall, this was another alright match, but was really hurt by the methodical Kevin Nash, who in my opinion seriously needs to consider hang up his boots for good. Pac looked fine though. As one would expect, the crowd was unanimously behind Beer Money. After another matchup filled with pretty formulaic action, the ending came when Hall started down the ramp, and then attacked a fan at ringside, ripped him over the guardrail and everything! Not sure if this was planned or not. With the distraction, James Storm hit Nash with a superkick, allowing Rude to score the pin! I’m elated that Beer Money was given the victory, and have gained some new found respect for “The Band” for helping these younger guys go over. (**3/4)

Ken Anderson Defeated Abyss

It turns out, as expected, that the mystery superstar coming to TNA was in fact Ken Anderson, who appeared on the entrance way, doing his notorious mic segment, and no he didn’t say Mr. Kennedy…Kennedy, he said Mr. Anderson… Anderson. I have no major problems with Anderson in TNA, however I don’t think he coming to TNA is reason to hype “A huge superstar” coming to TNA for weeks on end. Now if this were RVD or Paul Heyman or something, that would be one thing, but I can assure you, Ken Anderson is no RVD! Anyway, earlier in the evening Abyss attacked, his scheduled opponent, Bobby Lashley, in the back room, supposably trying to protect Bischoff. He was now to face a replacement, Ken Anderson. Overall, Anderson received a pretty positive reaction from the fans, although he did have his share of naysayers. This wasn’t a very good match in my opinion, for I wouldn’t even expect these two to mesh well together. They have completely different styles, and have no in ring chemistry. After what I though was a lackluster 10 minute match, Anderson got the pin with a shot to Abyss’ temple with a pair of brass knuckles. Looks like we may end up seeing Anderson as a heel, and rightfully so, for I’ve always enjoyed him a lot more as a heel than as a face. (*3/4)

AJ Styles (C) Defeated Kurt Angle To Retain His TNA World Heavyweight Championship

So far in the evening, nothing had been very satisfying, so by this time I was really craving some great wrestling action. All in all, I was a bit disappointed with this match, for I expected it to top their other past bouts, or at least match them. Although a very good match, this wasn’t exactly great. It seemed to be paced a lot slower, and was a lot less exciting than their recent match of IMPACT. It seemed like both men toned down their styles a bit, in order to add more ring psychology to the contest, and attempt to tell a more vivid story. You can thank Hulk Hogan for this! I don’t know about you all, but personally, I’d rather see a stellar wrestling match between two of the greatest wrestlers in this country, than have a bedtime story told to me! I’m not six years old anymore! For crying out loud, this is professional wrestling! If I wanted to listen to a good story I’d watch Cartoon Network! Alright, I’ll admit that I may have over exaggerated a bit, well maybe a lot, just now, but there is some truth to that theory. A big part of professional wrestling is telling stories in the ring, but in my opinion, there is no need to slow down the pace, contents of a match in order to do so. Now there are exceptions like spot fests and such, but in this case, it would have been the best decision to just go ahead and let Kurt and AJ go out there and wrestle at their very best, which tells a story in its own, and make for a very happy fan base. Isn’t that what it’s all about? Pleasing your fan base? Anyway, in the end of this match, Ric Flair, who had made his way down to the ring earlier, ended up breaking up a pin attempt fro Angle, by pulling the ref to the outside! While the ref was down, Flair prompted AJ to use the title belt on Angle, and AJ obliged. He hit Angle in the skull with the belt, and got the win! Flair and AJ posed to end the show. Looks like we’re now going to see a heel partnership between Ric Flair and AJ Styles, which could really do wonders to AJ’s persona. (***3/4)

Overall, I felt that Genesis was a very plain show, with nothing terrible, but nothing great either. Most of the card, with the exception of a few matches, seemed to be very methodical or slow paced. It’s hard to tell whether this is Hogan’s doing, or if some of the guys just happened to have an off night, but if this is Hogan’s doing, I truly think he’s making a major mistake, for all that will accomplish is blending in with the competition, and making is so that TNA is no longer a unique product. I can only hope that Hogan leans from his mistakes here, although that’s pretty doubtful considering it’s still undecided as to whether or not he learned from his mistakes in WCW of not. In conclusion, it is still far to early to tell, but if Hogan doesn’t start letting these guys just go out there in wrestle, this could potentially spell disaster, if not the end of TNA.

Overall, I’d give Genesis…

(6/10) And I’m being generous at that!

Todd Frizzell is from Columbus Ohio, and has been a huge professional wrestling fanatic for the last ten years. Todd is very interested in all aspects of pro wrestling, including what goes on when the cameras aren’t rolling. Todd is very excited to write about his passion, and will try his best to entertain and provoke the wrestling fans.

Order TNA: Kurt Angle: Champion on DVD by clicking here.

Order the WWE Hulk Hogan’s Unreleased Collector’s Series DVD collection by clicking here.

Order Hulk Hogan’s autobiography, My Life Outside the Ring by clicking here.