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Way back in January, Angelina Love came back to TNA.  At that time, she was no longer a part of The Beautiful People, and actually began a feud with them for having the audacity to replace her.  Back then, ( 7 months ago to be exact)  I predicted that the feud wouldn’t last long, and that the original B.P. would reunite.  I guess I was half right.  As we saw on this past edition of Impact, Angelina and Velvet have made up, and now we have the original bad girl duo back together.  It just took a lot longer than I thought.

     So why did they get back together after all these months?  Of course from a storyline perspective it just makes sense.  The original leader comes back, feuds with the new girls for a while, then eventually the replacement leader (Madison Rayne) gets too full of herself, so the original duo get back together, and team up to destroy the monster that they originally created. 

     But then there is the other part of the equation.  The whole time Angelina has been going solo, and fighting it out with her former teammates, there has been another duo that has been copying them over in WWE.  The twosome known as LayCool.  I know I am not alone in the opinion that Michelle McCool, and Layla  are a blatant rip off of The Beautiful People, and not a very good one at that.  As some people would say, they only generate “go away” heat.  In that, they are just annoying.

     This is something that did not go un-noticed in TNA.  Angelina Love herself made a comment on Facebook, making reference to them, in a round about way.  So even though it took  a very long time to do it, the powers that be eventually decided to listen to the fans, and bring back the original Beautiful People.  And I’m sure this won’t hurt them in the ratings either, as it was noted quite often before the Hogan/Bischoff era, that B.P. segments brought in some of their best numbers.

     But for whatever the reason, its just good to see these two back together.  And with this, I certainly hope they decide to start re-building the Knockout Division.

Here is a link from back in June to a short blurb about Angelina Love’s comments about LayCool

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2010/0621/529398/angelina-love/

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The TNA X-Division Title.  Once upon a time it was the very cornerstone of the company itself.  This was what set TNA apart from the WWE.  They even went as far as using a six sided ring to give their high flyer’s more ways to  pull off new and exciting moves.  But that was then, and this is now. 

    Back then, you had some of the biggest names in TNA making the X-Division the thing to watch.  A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe, Petey Williams, and Low-Ki (now Kaval in WWE)  just to name a few.  It wasn’t unusual for an X-Division match to steal the show at a pay per view, and be more exciting than the main event.

     So what happened?  Three little words.  Hogan and Bischoff.  Despite the last few weeks being better than average, and the recent improvements on Impact, the X-Division is still on the back burner.  Since the Hogan/Bischoff regime has taken over the focus has been all on the World Title, and the pushing of the heavyweights.  Now I do understand the importance of having a strong World Champion, and the building of new stars to challenge for that Title, but you should not kill the very thing that got the company noticed in the first place.  Especially since its those fans, the ones that started watching TNA because it was so different, that are starting to turn their backs on the show they once loved.   Why bother watching something that is now just like the WWE, but not as good, when you can just watch RAW or Smackdown?

     So what can be done to fix this?   Well that answer is very simple.  Just allow the X-Division to do what it does best, and that is to have exciting matches.  There should always be at least one match on Impact, and a Title defence on every pay per view.   But how can this renewed focus begin?  Well for starters, they can bring back/start using the current talent that has been for the most part sitting the bench.  Homicide has already quit the company, so they should act fast before his actions trigger a domino effect among the others who are not being used.  People such as Eric Young,  Kiyoshi, Suicide (put somebody new under the mask), Amazing Red,  and Generation Me.  It would also be a great idea if they brought back something like the World X-Cup tournament.  Seeing talent from around the World compete, even if for a short time, in the X-Division is exactly the kind thing that would bring in some new fans, and remind the older ones why they started watching TNA in the first place.  It would also be a good excuse to bring back Petey Williams, but that’s just my opinion. ( I miss seeing my home town boy)

    But one of the very first things that should happen, is to end this boring, tired, going nowhere angle of Doug Williams “schooling” the X-Division guys while sucking all the fun out of his matches.  Take the Title off of him, and lets get back to some real action.

By Bruce Shearon

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The Hogan and Eric Bischoff era is here.    It was with a lot of fanfare that these two men arrived in TNA, with promises of taking the company all the way to the top.  They wanted to move  Impact to Monday nights and challenge RAW.  They did, and they failed.  They also made a lot of other moves that didn’t please the fans, such as bringing in their running buddies.  Scott Hall, Sean Waltman, Sean Morely, and the Nasty Boys.  These men  took up space that was better suited for younger, up and coming talent.  Another thing that seemed to happen was the X-Division, the Womens Division, and even the Tag Team Division, seemed to be put on the back burner.

         There were of course a couple of other minor changes.  Getting rid of the 6 sided ring, in favour of a traditional 4 sided one.  This initially got a negative reaction, but that faded fast.  And of course there is the ramp that goes all the way up to the ring.  That disappeared for the Hardcore Justice Pay Per View, and was still missing during the “Whole F’n’ Show” on Thursday.  We can only hope that those in charge decide to be rid of it for good, as it gives the high flyers much more room to do their thing.

     And that brings us to what is going on in TNA right now.  It seems that somebody in the head office is actually starting to listen to the fans, or at the very least has a better grasp on what we want to see.  Lately we have seen the tag team action heat up, with the best of 5 series between the Motor City Machine Guns, and Beer Money Inc.  Hopefully they can keep that momentum going and start building the sort of division that used to  boast some of the best tag teams around. 

     The Ev2.0 angle looks like it will continue into a feud between that group and Ric Flairs, Fortune.  Not a bad Idea at all considering the popularity of the former ECW wrestlers.

     The removal of the dead weight, i.e. Hall, Waltman, etc…. and the focus being put back on the people that can deliver, such as Jay Lethal, Mr Anderson, Jeff Hardy and A.J. Styles.

    The return of Abys, as “The Monster”  Face it, not one person liked this guy as the ultimate Hulkamaniac.

    But what else can TNA do to continue this forward momentum?   For starters, they need to get the X-Division back in action like they did with the tag team.  Get that Title off of Doug Williams, and put it on somebody that can excite the crowd.  They learned this lesson with Rob Terry, the former “Global Champion”  Now they need to do it with Williams.

     They also need to go on a hiring blitz, and re-boot the Knockouts Division as well.   Getting Awesome Kong back would be a good start, but overall they are very thin in the talent department.  Adding 6 more Knockouts would certainly shake things up.  Either familiar faces such as Micky James, if they could get her, or Maria Kanellis, or even some women from the indies.  Either way, they need to inject some new blood into the mix.

     For now though, I am happy to see that TNA is actually starting to improve.  Slowly but surely they are getting their swagger back, and its a good thing for all us fans.  We can only hope that this trend continues.

By Bruce Shearon

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For months now we have had to suffer through watching “The Freak” Rob terry, carry the TNA Global Championship.  And as we all know, a Championship is only as valuable as its Champion, so in this case it was utterly worthless.  But not any more.

     A.J. Styles is your new Global Champion.  This of course is the second time that Styles has held this Belt.  The last time was when it was still referred to as the “Legends Title”  Call it whatever you like, the fact of the matter is, now this Championship has a chance at being something truly worthwhile.  This is also the first bit of Gold for Ric Flair’s new stable, that he refers to as “Fortune”  Styles, along with Kazarian were named as the first two members of the group, and as we all saw on this past weeks Impact, they now seem committed to working together.  It was Kazarians interference that helped A.J. to win the Global Title after all. 

     Now the question will be, who else is going to be in Flairs group?   Beer Money have been running buddies, and guns for hire, for Flair in the past.  Desmond Wolfe seems desperate to prove that he belongs.  And there is the big man Matt Morgan, who could really use somebody like “Slick Ric” to keep him focused.  And lets not forget the Knockouts.  Flair likes Gold, and he loves women.  So it would seem fitting that he would want to add one of the Knockouts to his stable, and bring along another Championship.  Maybe Madison Rayne would be a good pick.

     But speculation aside, what we know right now is that “Fortune” has its first Champion, and that man is A.J. Styles.  And we the fans now have a Global Champion with some real credentials, and incredible skill.  Lets hope that he can elevate this Title to where it deserves to be (second only to the World Heavyweight Title)  and that we can witness some excellent matches along the way.

Since this post was written, there has been a change.  Once again, somebody is listening to the fans, as The Global Championship is no more.  It always struck me as being somewhat redundant to have a World Champion, and a Global Champion.  But not any more.  As of now it will be known as the TNA, Television Championship.  I for one am very happy to hear this, as T.V. Titles have been around for a very long time, so there is at least a little bit of tradition that can go along with the newly named Title.

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Isn’t it always the case.  A Wrestler just starts to get rolling, and just before he makes it big, he gets struck down with an injury.  Such was the case a couple of months ago with “The Pope”

     But now D’Angelo Dinero is back, and his congregation couldn’t be happier.  That was the good news.  The bad news is this.  Because of his absence from the ring,  The Pope sits at number 8 in the top ten rankings.  To make matters worse, Kurt Angle is on a mission to defeat every person in that top ten, on his way to the number 1 spot.  That means that he has to go through The Pope next.   Not exactly what you would call an ideal situation for The Pope.  Coming back from an injury, and having to face a very motivated Angle, who has stated that should he lose, this would most likely be his last match.

     But its not all bad news.  The fact of the matter is that The Pope has no beef with Angle, and win or lose, it won’t matter.  Should Dinero drop to number 9 or even 10, it wouldn’t take him long to get the ball rolling again, and move right back up in the ratings.  And after his match with Kurt, he will definitely have his eyes set on the man who put him out in the first place.  Mr Anderson.

     But isn’t Anderson a changed man now?   who really knows for sure.  One thing that is certain though, is that Dinero isn’t buying it, and you can bet that he will be looking for a measure of revenge against TNA’s self proclaimed A-Hole. 

     Just a personal thought.  After The Pope deals with all of this,  I would love to see him focus his attention on getting some Gold.   It would be a very good thing if The Pope were to take that useless Global Championship  off of Rob Terry, so that it might actually have a little prestige.  And naturally, It would just be a little more jewelry for Dinero to wear to the ring.  Because we all know, that The Pope……Is……….Pimpin !

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What do the following people have in common?  RVD, Team 3D, Stevie Richards, Raven, Rhino, Taz, and Tommy Dreamer.  Yep,  you guessed it, they all work for TNA.  But I’m sure that wasn’t the first thing that popped into your head.  Naturally, like you I think of the fact that they were all once a part of another small promotion that was very popular, called ECW.

     Now comes the big question though.  Just what did Dixie Carter really mean when she said there was a big surprise coming at Slammiversary.  The only thing that actually happened was Tommy Dreamer showing up in the crowd, causing enough of a distraction to Brother Ray, that Jesse Neal stole a victory from him.   But what if this was just the fist part in something that is brewing?  Something much bigger, that the fans will actually love.

     The second big hint has been from Abyss.  The Monster has stated that “They” are coming, and that nobody, not even Hogan and Bischoff are safe.  And perhaps this is a bit of a stretch, but I think a third hint might be from none other than Sting.  He has been throwing around the word Deception lately, and has shown a side of himself that we rarely ever see.

     Now, add all this up, and factor in the way that Dreamer, Richards, and Raven have shown up in the Impact Zone, to simply “watch” the action, and you get a sense that the internet rumours of an ECW faction starting up in TNA might just be happening.  Now comes the biggest rumour of all.   Paul Heyman.  It’s no secret that TNA has tried to sign him, and have talked to him on more than one occasion.   Jim Cornette has gone on record as saying that he doesn’t think that Heyman would ever join because he would want no part of the politics, and would never get the kind of creative control that he would require to make things work.  Of course Cornette also said that Heyman could walk into a Taco Bell, and half an hour later, crap out a better product than Vince Russo could ever hope to write.  Which is true, and the main reason why I hope that Dixie and Company have somehow persuaded Heyman to join up.

   However, I did leave out one person on my list of former ECW employees that now work for TNA.  Like Abyss has been saying, “They” are coming.  Now that implies that there is more than one person on his way in.  So if I were to speculate I would be inclined to think that none other than Mick Foley will be the other person joining Heyman.  It makes sense from a storyline perspective, as Foley was the man running things before Hogan and Bischoff came in and got rid of him.  Jarrett being the founder of the company feuded with Bischoff just so he could have a spot in TNA.  And of course Dixie Carter being the one who brings the talent in, would be the person to Hire both Heyman and Foley.  This could be the knowledge that Sting has.  The reason for his turning on both Dixie and Jarrett recently. 

     Of course this is all speculation.  At this point, all we know is that 3 former ECW Wrestlers have been hanging around for the last couple of weeks, and that somebody is coming into the company, and it will change things.   Personally I hope that it is Paul Heyman, and that an ECW type invasion is about to start.  But I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

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The votes have been counted,  and the brain trust at the top of TNA have sat down and looked over their roster, and have come up with a new top ten ranking for the month of June.   I had a few issues with the first top ten that was announced, and this one is no different.  But this time around, they did a much better job, and the problem I have with the top ten has more to do with one of their “Champions”  So here is the current listing.

     10)   Kurt Angle.   9)  Desmond Wolfe.   8)   The Pope.   7)   Jay Lethal.   6)   Samoa Joe.   5)   Sting.   4)   A.J. Styles.   3-2-1)   Three way tie.  Jeff Hardy, Abyss, and Mr Anderson.

     So lets take a quick look at the bottom five first.   Kurt Angle at number ten knocks Kaz out of the bottom spot, and this is Angles first step on his quest to defeat everybody in the top ten.  Desmond Wolfe drops from 6 to 9, and this isn’t much of a surprise since he hasn’t been doing well in his feud with Abyss, but he should still be ranked higher than the person ahead of him in the number 8 spot.  The Pope is out with an injury.  That he is still in the top ten is a bit of a stretch, and that he’s ranked higher than Wolfe just isn’t right.  Number 7 goes to Jay Lethal, who wasn’t even in the top ten last month.  This is a great start, and it looks like he will keep moving up as they begin to push this young star, and get him ready for the main event.  At number 6 we have Samoa Joe.  Last month I was shocked to see him stuck in the number 9 position, and predicted he would rise fast, and he has.  He still has to get back into the World Title mix a bit more, but I think by the time next months ratings roll around, he will be up near the top.  Finally, at number 5 is Sting.   This is right about where The Stinger should have actually been last month, but they wanted him in the main event for Slammiversary, so he got the top ranking.    I expect he will sink lower, as his feud with Jeff Jarret heats up, and the younger stars at the bottom start to move up.

     Now for the top 5.  This one is a lot easier, since they did the three way tie for the top spot.  But at number 4 is A.J. Styles.  Styles has fallen two spots since last month, and this is pretty much what you would expect with all the chaos going on with him and Ric Flair, and the whole Stable that he is putting together.   As for the top 3.  Yep, we have a tie.  Jeff Hardy and Mr Anderson move up from 3 and 4, to being in the top spot, and Abyss jumps into the top 3, from his spot at number 5 last month.  I don’t have any problem with any of this, since Abyss was rated a bit low in my opinion last month, and the other two really didn’t change.  This is just a nice little way of setting up the 4 way match at the next Pay Per View.  Not having to commit to a top contender this month also buys them a little bit of time to see how things pan out with Hardy and his legal battles,  Mr Anderson being a good guy now, and Abyss going crazy again.

     Now, as for my gripes with this months list.  Aside from what I said during my breakdown of the top ten itself, I really only have one.  And it is this.   Rob Terry, the TNA Global Champion, is not on the list.   That’s right, the person who supposedly holds a Singles Championship that seems to be secondary only to the World Title, is not in your top ten.   Don’t get me wrong, I think that Terry can’t wrestle any better than I can perform Brain Surgery, but he is still a Champion.  The Pope is sitting out with an injury, and he’s at number 8 ?    This speaks volumes as to how valuable that Championship really is.  

     Now to wait and see what happens next month.

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In a move that I can only call confusing, TNA has apparently signed The Nature Boys son, Reid Flair to a contract.  This was confirmed by Ric himself during an interview promoting the companies tour of the U.K.

     Now for those of you who don’t know too much about Reid (there isn’t much to tell) let me fill you in on a couple of highlights.  His career as a wrestler has been on hold recently because of a few run ins with the law.  An arrest in March 2009 for driving while impaired in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, where he was released after posting $1000 dollars bail.  And a second arrest in April 2009 for crashing his car, where police found black tar heroin inside, resulting in felony charges. He was also charged with driving while impaired, driving with a revoked licence, and possession of drug paraphernalia.  This time he was released after posting $15,000 dollars bail.

     Now I am not making a judgement on Reid as a person because of these things.  It’s just that this is the only news we have about him.  Meaning, he not done anything noteworthy yet, as a Wrestler.  I know he has wrestled on the independent circuit before, and news of his skills are not encouraging at all.  The word is, that he does have potential, and natural skill, but he is definitely not ready for TNA.  Perhaps some time in Team 3D’s training camp would do him some good first.

     Of course we know that this is the work of Ric Flair.  Daddy pulled some strings and is getting his boy a spot in the company.  But with so many other talents waiting in the wings to be brought in, it seems that in this circumstance that TNA is wasting their money.  Do they really think that Reid is going to bring in the ratings?  I guess we will just have to wait and see how Nature Boy Jr works out, but I for one am not excited.

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Recently the brain trust in WWE decided that they no longer needed Mickie James.    Now I stopped trying to figure out why they do some of the things that they do a long time ago.  But in this circumstance there appears to be a little bit of regret.  You see, not long after Mickie was let go, another popular Diva got injured.  That would be Beth Phoenix.  Normally one wouldn’t assume that this would be a problem, except for the fact that she is one of the few “babyface” Diva’s that they have, that they feel can actually wrestle.  Personally I don’t have a whole lot of use for the WWE’s women’s division right now, but it could actually be a whole lot better if only they did a few things to tweak it.  But first lets get back to the Mickie James thing.  By their own admission,  WWE has stated that they are now in the process of trying to find a new Diva to fill the void left by James.  And they don’t just want another pretty face.  They want a Wrestler.  This really is a change of pace, since they haven’t seemed to care too much about using the women they currently have on their roster that actually have some skills right now.  Gail Kim is a proven talent, The Bella Twins seem to have talent if they are allowed to use it, Eve Torres is on the path to being an exceptional wrestler that could one day even rival Trish Stratus, talent wise, and even Kelly Kelly can be entertaining at times.  And of course lets not forget Natalya.  But lets move on.  If WWE is serious about getting somebody great, they only need one person.  Awesome Kong.

     Awesome Kong may not fit the mold for what the WWE is looking for in a “Diva”  She wouldn’t be doing photoshoots in a bikini anytime soon.  But Kong is that rare type of womens wrestler that commands attention.  She was the crown jewel of TNA’s knockout division, and her matches with Gail Kim were so good that one of them was the main event of Impact.

      Now think about this for a second.  Right there is a built in feud that could kick start the WWE’s womens division all over again. Her and Gail Kim have shown that they can have incredible, Pay Per View worthy matches in the past, so what would stop them from doing so again? 

       Now, in a perfect world, this is the scenario that I personally would love to see played out.  Gail Kim could at some point hold that ridiculous Barbie Belt…aka..the Diva’s Title.   Kong would debut and destroy everything in her path, and take the Womens Title.  Then we have a showdown between these two at……..oh, lets say….Wrestlemania.  The two Titles are finally unified, and Kong walks away as the dominant force in Divaland.   Because lets face it, there really is no need for two womens champions.  One can float between shows just like the Tag Team Champions.  And with Kong holding the Title, not only would they finally bring some prestige back to that Belt, they could also sell a whole lot of merchandise.

     But thats just my two cents.

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So Carlito has been let go by the WWE.  As the man himself would say, thats not cool.

     But from the sounds of it, Carlito did this to himself.  He violated the WWE’s wellness policy.  There is still speculation on what he did, but either way it was an infraction.  But the reason he got let go apparently is becuase he refused to seek treatment.  Now this just sounds ridiculous to me.  Here you have a person who has a good amount of talent and potential, who is only on his first strike with this, and he won’t go get help?  He would only be gone for 30 days or so, then be right back into the mix.  And lets face it, they haven’t been using him much right now, so would we have even missed him?  So why would Carlito refuse to participate, and get himself fired?  Maybe, just maybe, he wanted to be let go.  As I just mentioned, he really hasn’t been used very much, and I doubt the WWE had any big plans for him coming up.  There was talk of reforming the tag team with his brother, so they could face The Hart Dynasty, but thats about it.  So, if you are under contract, and you want to be let go, perhaps this is how you do it. This would free him up to compete somewhere else.  Somewhere like TNA perhaps?

     But would TNA even want him?  Most people would think so.  Carlito is like a smaller version of Razor Ramon back in the day.  He’s cool, he has talent, and he sells merchandise.  So why wouldn’t TNA want him?  Well, Carlito is also lazy.  One of the main reasons that he hasn’t gone very far in the WWE is the fact that he got comfortable in his position, and made no effort to do better.  He lacks the kind of desire that you see in TNA’s most recent additions, Rob Van Dam, and Jeff Hardy.  Those are the kind of workers you want to bring into a company that is trying to grow. 

     But this is TNA we are talking about.  They also took chances on The Nasty Boys,  and Sean Morely.  So as much as I think that TNA would probably be better off without the dead weight that is Carlito, they will most likely sign him.  Lets just hope if he does wind up on Impact, that he can find his cool again.

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