FINAL THOUGHTS
Before I rant a little bit I want to say that I actually enjoyed both Gimmick Matches tonight, BUT it was just too much. We had a Ladder Match this week and now this week an Ultimate X Match AND a Steel Cage Match? Not only that but we just had an Ultimate X less than a month ago. That's just too much. You make gimmick matches like that pointless by just doing random ones. Now with that said, I'll move onto the show.
The opening segment with Angle and Hogan was okay but it kind of confirmed all of our fears (that most have had since Lockdown) that we're heading to an eventual Singles Match with Hogan and Sting. The fact that it would be painful to watch is one thing, but the fact that it could potentially cripple Hogan if anything goes wrong is the biggest thing. Hogan needs to stay away from the ring.
I enjoyed Sting in his "exec" role and the reveal that he was just messing with Immortal was pretty cool too. That is a role that I think would be great for Sting in the future (I still hold out hope that he will retire from the ring at BFG). Sting as Spike's appointed authority figure could be very good.
RVD-Gunner was a solid matchup with both guys working well and Gunner looking great in the match. I'm starting to think more and more that RVD is going to win this tournament and turn heel, which will be awful. He should be putting guys over at this point.
The X-Division promo was EXCELLENT (well Aries and Shelley were excellent) and that 3-Way at the PPV should be a show stealer. We actually got a promo for the X-Division and it worked well. Give us more!
The Ultimate X was really good as well, told a great story between Kendrick & Abyss, and I LOVED the finish. That was really creative.
Crimson-Bully Ray was going pretty well when it abruptly ended. That was weird.
Winter-Tara was a nice back and forth match with an overbooked finish.
The Knockouts promo was AWFUL. Absolutely terrible.
Angle-Anderson was a really good TV Main Event, good match with an overbooked finish. I have no idea where they're going with the Bully Ray-Anderson tension unless they're going towards Anderson being too much of an "asshole" to be able to even get along with other "assholes" and becomes a loner again.
Overall a lot better show this week then the last couple of weeks.
–Promo/Segment of the Week: X-Division
–Match of the Night: Steel Cage (***)
–Overall Grade: B
Scheduled for Next Week:
– BFG Series: Devon vs. AJ Styles
– BFG Series: Samoa Joe vs. The Pope
– BFG Series: Scott Steiner & Gunner vs. RVD & Crimson
– Alex Shelley vs. Austin Aries
– Ms. Tessmacher vs. Madison Rayne
– Street Fight: Hernandez vs. James Storm
– Official Contract Signing between Sting & Kurt Angle
Hardcore Justice Lineup:
– TNA World Title: Sting (c) vs. Kurt Angle
– TNA Tag Team Titles: Beer Money (c) vs. Mexican America
– TNA Knockouts Title: Mickie James (c) vs. Winter
– TNA X-Division Title 3-Way Dance: Brian Kendrick (c) vs. Austin Aries vs. Alex Shelley
– 6-Man Tag Team Match: Fortune (AJ Styles, Kazarian, & Christopher Daniels) vs. Immortal (Abyss, Gunner, & Scott Steiner)
BFG Series Standings
1) Crimson: 38 points
2) Gunner: 35 points
3) Rob Van Dam: 28 points
4) Devon: 21 points
James Storm: 21 points
Bobby Roode: 21 points
Bully Ray: 21 points
5) AJ Styles: 14 points
Scott Steiner: 14 points
6) The Pope: 0 points
Samoa Joe: 0 points
*Matt Morgan has been eliminated due to injury.
