Genesis Recap

From TNA

I didn't have a chance to watch TNA's Genesis last night.  But my friend and tag team partner Chad did.  Here's his recap.

I asked Kevin for this space so I could write an open letter to TNA. If you’ve watched the videos we shot recently on My 1-2-3 Cents on YouTube then you’ve heard a few of my thoughts on TNA.  After last night’s Genesis Pay Per View, I have come to a point where I feel I need TNA and I need a trial separation. Before I get to the open letter, let me run down the events of the Genesis to get you up to
speed on the happenings in TNA land and throw in some commentary hinting at my frustration with TNA.

The show started with an X division title match where Jay Lethal lost the title to Fortune/Immortal member Kazarian.  From a wrestling viewpoint, this was a good match and a logical choice to open the show as it served to offer up Total Nonstop Action working the crowd into a frenzy.   In typical TNA title match fashion, the referee got knocked down allowing KAZ to hit an illegal move which lead to him capturing the X Division title.  Beyond the unnecessary ref bump, Jay Lethal won the X division
title about 3 weeks ago after losing it to Robbie E about 3-4 weeks prior. The ping ponging of titles prevents them from mattering because no champion gets to establish themselves as champ.  The title change also served as the first chapter in Immortal’s goal to capture all the titles.

After the match they showed Ric Flair and AJ Styles in Eric Bischoff’s office. Flair is explaining AJ being injured and thus not able to compete in his TV title match later in the show.  Bischoff scolds AJ for getting injured and says Hulk Hogan had sacrificed so much over the past year it led to him having a ten hour back surgery. One of the points Kevin and I made in our video was how AJ, who should be the cornerstone of the company, is constantly made to look like a nobody. That continued tonight as he was made to look inferior to a 56 year old broken down ex-superstar.

Mickie James failed to capture the Knockouts title from Madison Rayne. Have to give TNA credit as Mickie has been in the company for four months and hasn’t been given a title yet. Of course the match had the TNA patented Championship Match Run In as Tara tried to interfere, distracting the ref long enough for Madison to hit Mickie with a loaded glove for the KO pin.

The next backstage interview saw Christie Hemme interviewing Fortune/Immortal members, KAZ, Beer Money, Flair and Bischoff. I tried to understand why they are members of both Fortune/Immortal, but couldn’t come up with a good reason. Beer Money says they’re taking back the tag titles. Bischoff says Rob Van Dam’s opponent will remain a mystery until the match.

Beer Money made good on their promise to win back the Tag Titles from the Motor City Machine Guns.  This was as good of a match as would be expected from the two teams. However it suffered from two major flaws. One, the Guns have not been built up as dominant champs compared to Beer Money. Instead, they come off as temporary champions who were only holding the belts until it was time for Beer Money to take them back.  Two, with the storyline of Fortune going for all the belts, it was a pretty foregone conclusion Beer Money would win.

The former Dudley Boys, now Team 3D fought each other. I went to do laundry instead of watching two guys who’s act grew stale eight years ago.

Douglas Williams defended the TV title against Abyss, subbing for AJ Styles. Much like the Tag Title match, the Fortune title hunt storyline killed any suspense to the match. Abyss wins after AJ ran in and hit Douglas with the title behind the ref’s back.

Backstage RVD confronts Bischoff about his mystery opponent. RVD says the only person he wants in the ring is Hardy.  Not Jeff Hardy, just Hardy.  Bischoff says if he wants Hardy, he’ll get Hardy. 

RVD goes to the ring for his match expecting Jeff Hardy, but instead he gets the debuting Matt Hardy. The match wasn’t terrible for Matt still looking out of shape and having not wrestled in four months. Matt scores the win after pinning RVD while RVD’s leg was under the rope and the ref didn’t see it.

Jeff Jarrett and Kurt Angle had an MMA exhibition match. When I ordered the show, I thought I was ordering a wrestling show, not an MMA show. Yes, I know the match was promoted for the last month and I knew it’d be on the show. My point is, I’m watching a wrestling show because I want to watch wrestling. If I want to see MMA I’ll watch UFC.

Jeff Hardy gave his thoughts on the upcoming #1 contenders match between Matt Morgan and Mr. Anderson. You’d think at some point either Jeff would mention, or Christy would bring up Matt Hardy being in TNA. You’d think that, but you’d be wrong.

Morgan and Anderson had an okay match, I guess. I was busy folding laundry. Anderson wins and then Bischoff tells Anderson he gets his title match now. Jeff Hardy takes his time getting into the ring thinking Anderson is already beat up and will be easy pickings. That’s not the case and Jeff and Anderson go on to have about a 15 minute match.  During the match, Matt Morgan kicks Jeff Hardy in the face when the ref isn’t looking.  Jeff tries to use a chair on Anderson only to have Mick
Foley come out and take the chair away leading to Ric Flair coming out and getting in Foley’s face. Then Matt Hardy comes out to help Jeff, but RVD comes out to stop Matt. And then Bischoff goes to use a chair on Anderson, but Anderson blocks it, hits his finishing move on Bischoff and then hits the move on Jeff putting him down for the three count to become new TNA champ.  A TNA title match with six people getting involved before the match is over.  That may be a new TNA record.  Fortune won all the belts they didn’t have and lost the one they did have going into the show.

During the show , I was a bit annoyed that all the title matches were happening before the #1 contender’s match. Without a World Title match on the show, it would have been a good time to present another title as being prestigious. After the show I understand why they saved the #1 contender match for last. Taking the belt off of Jeff Hardy was an interesting move given the storyline of Fortune aiming for all the titles. After the loss, it occurred to me that TNA is taping the next month of
Impacts this week and Jeff Hardy is going to court on January 20 to plead guilty on a litany of drug charges. Taking the strap off him at Genesis prevents them from a media attack of questions should he be sentenced to any serious jail time. You know what would have been a better idea?  NOT PUTTING YOUR TITLE ON A GUY WHO’S FACING MULTIPLE COUNTS OF DRUG POSSESSION!!!!  It’s not like he was arrested after becoming champion. He was busted three months prior to signing a TNA contract. 

Anyway. That’s the happenings from the Pay Per View. I’ll be back with the open letter to TNA. 
                            TO BE CONTINUED

Wrestling Under the Influence

Courtesy: TNA Wrestling

Time for me to climb up on my soapbox for this post.  Sorry if it offends you, but I think it's something that should be addressed:  Wrestling under the influence.

Several wrestling websites are reporting that TNA officials were considering stripping Jeff Hardy of the championship because of his condition backstage last night.  Some reports are that he was simply suffering from exhaustion.  Others are reporting he was "hammered."  

Reports state that the company had considered alternatives to last night's main event with Matt Morgan, but they decided to go with the show as planned.  I guess they added the no disqualification stipulation later in the night.  Hardy has done a lot of traveling lately and chalked up his condition on being exhausted.

Hardy's past as we all know is far from squeaky clean.   In fact, later this week he is scheduled to appear in court on drug charges.  I'm not here to cast judgment on Jeff, but if he is indeed still using drugs, he needs to get help now.  TNA can not just sweep this kind of behavior under the rug.

Unfortunately, we've seen far too many men and women die well before their time.  Many times it's at their own hands.  Too much partying.  Too many good times.  Wellness programs are in place, but how well do they work?  Jeff is one of the top guys in the game right now, and has a tremendous amount of talent.  I would hate to see it all pissed away on something as silly as drugs and alcohol.  I hope that it was just a simple case of exhaustion to explain last night.  And even if that's all it is, the company (and the business in general) needs to take a closer look at how ragged they run their performers.

Courtesy: sescoops.com

And I'm not just pointing a finger at TNA.  I've actually wanted to touch on the whole Alex Riley DUI in the WWE from a coupe of weeks ago for a while now.  It's bad enough that it happened.  But then for CM Punk and Riley himself to make light of it on Raw was wrong in my opinion.

Again, I'm not trying to sound like I'm on a high horse, but what Riley did was wrong.  He broke the law and he could have very easily hurt himself or some innocent family.

Would we still be chuckling if he took out a family of four on their way to grandma's for Thanksgiving? Of course not.

I have friends who have received DUI's.  It's not something we sit around and laugh and joke about.  It's a serious situation, that should have just been left out of the broadcast.

And don't get me wrong.  I don't think Riley should have been fired over the incident.  But I do think he should have some sort of "strike" against him, if the WWE is still doing the 3 strikes policy.

Whether wrestlers want to be or not they are role models for a lot of kids who have no one else significant in their lives.  My feelings are that parents, teachers, and other people in the community need to be the role models, but all too often we look to fame and fortune and strive to live like the guys we see on TV.  Little kids do that even more.

Wrestlers are entitled to their private lives and time off and fun and all that stuff.  But it comes at a price.  They're in a very high profile position and they need to consider their actions more carefully.  And the companies paying these men and women need to step in when they recognize when an employee is in danger.

Okay, ranting over.  Back to happy stuff next time.