Okay… now… AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle is the single worst booking I’ve seen in ages. I’m so frustrated right now, that this is the column on TNA Pulse gets for Friday. Ready? Let’s go.
Okay, first AJ vs. Kurt Angle is as big a match as AJ vs. Sting, but they want me to pay for the latter in 3-days. If I can get that kind of quality match free, why the hell would I pay? At least this is an opportunity to make AJ Styles look good. Maybe if he looks good enough, I’ll be more interested in Bound For Glory.
Hey, wait a second… these guys are supposed to be a big deal… why isn’t this the main event of Impact? If they can’t main event the free show, why pay for them to main event on Sunday?
AJ and Angle have a pretty good match with a solid story before it develops, like so many Angle matches, into finisher spamming. Usually, that’s not a problem, but here it’s a huge error. Why? AJ Styles had not only his main finish, the visually impressive Styles Clash killed, but also his new killer finish, the Springboard 450 escaped. Now if any of those pin Sting, that’s great, but they still weren’t enough for Angle, making it mean less.
Now, finally, the worst of it- in the end, AJ has to go over, right? The purpose of this is to make him the top guy so he can beat Angle, then Sting and really be over huge. Him looking great beating Angle makes his match with Sting mean more so more people buy the Pay Per View… but no. AJ Styles didn’t beat Angle. Angle had AJ in the Ankle lock with the grapevine in the center of the ring, with AJ ready to tap, the time ran out.
Let’s reiterate that- AJ Styles, the world champion, on the go home Pay Per View, for the biggest show of the year, finished the supposed main event ready to tap out, to his opponent, who is not the guy he’s facing at the Pay Per View. Why on earth would I pay to watch the champion who just should have lost a match face a guy who isn’t the one who just almost beat him?
And, of course, post-match Kurt Angle gets to cut a promo saying that he’s better than AJ Styles and had him beat. AJ, the top baby-face, whines that he shouldn’t have taken the match and says “he didn’t lose or win that match.” Awesome. I so want to root for him now.
As an added bonus, half the show was dedicated to getting over Mick Foley wanting to hurt Abyss for being an imitation… so the hype video for their match focuses on Mick promising a great hardcore match that they want to be “the best hardcore match ever.” I give up.
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Ok…I understand everything you said, but all of that aside, that was an amazing match. It was Angle’s best match all damn year. Each of them sold everything perfectly, nothing seemed planned, they each showed their true potential. Seemed more like a match to get us psyched for BFG showcasing two wrestlers at their best, making sure you understand that each have a chance against their opponents. I personally loved that match.
They didn’t sell anything!
I enjoyed it as a standalone wrestling match, but then it’s clear that I have a higher opinion of Angle than you do, Aaron. Finisher spamming (and I enjoyed that turn of phrase so much that I’m probably going to steal it at some point) doesn’t really bother me, and I don’t see it as a limitation on Kurt’s part but a take on WWE main event style as it was when he was at his peak.
Other than that, I totally agree with you. This should have been the go home angle, where AJ has a great match with Kurt and goes over clean as a whistle. Instead, it seems as though they’re already trying to build post-BFG angles, where Angle will likely be AJ’s next challenger and the storyline will (you’d hope) be the new champ learning from his mistakes.
This is the thing that really bothers me about TNA. On paper, Bound For Glory is a pretty strong PPV. Instead of enhancing the build, though, the booking actively detracts from it.
Crazy.
If I may indulge myself in a bit of fantasy booking, here’s a scenario in which last night’s result makes sense.
What if they decided to send Sting out on a high note? After a long, hard fought battle Sting wins the TNA title at BFG. Following the match, Sting announces his retirement and the title is vacated, pending the results of a tournament to crown a new champion, the finals of which to be held at the next PPV, the qualifying matches to be held on Impact throughout the next month. In the semi-finals, AJ beats Matt Morgan, thus avenging his most recent loss (other than Sting, of course), and Kurt beats Hernandez through nefarious means after an outstanding match that could have gone either way (thus cementing Hernandez as a serious player in the main event scene). Now, due to last night’s result, you have AJ going into the Final as an underdog, beating Kurt in an outstanding match to regain the title. You could even have AJ get locked in the ankle lock with grapevine and finding a way (either through innovative escape or through the fortitude to get to the bottom rope despite the pain) to get out of the hold, showing that he learned from last night’s encounter.
I sure am glad they’re protecting Kurt Angle, whom the promotion has been booked around for three years!
By all means lets shit all over one of the best matches we’ve seen on tv this year, where nobody by definition was buried as it was a time limit draw between two main eventers.
The time limit draw was a technicality and used in a similar situation in the NWA as a cheap way for the HEELS (not AJ, he’s a face) would just slip away with their titles. And that isn’t in my top 20 matches on television this year. It was weak.
Okay. How about top 20 matches on widely available television, as opposed to HDNet? Jeff Hardy didn’t wrestle John Morrison THAT many times.
Hardy and Morrison, Kidd and Morrison, Rey and Morrison, Ziggler and Rey, Ziggler and Morrison, Morrison and Punk at least 3-4 times, Swagger and Bourne, Bourne and Kidd, Punk and Jeff in the Cage, Bourne and Morrison… 11 off the top of my head, without any research.
Maybe 3-4 of those were on the level of the Angle/Styles match.
Right, the rest were well above it. AJ vs. Angle had no selling, no structure, no meaning. It was a fun sprint, but that’s it.
Sorry but I have to disagree, it was a great match between two of the best wrestlers currently, and most the matches you named weren’t as good as this match and it wouldn’t of even been that bad. If Angle won it could play to the storyline AJ is having doubts as a world champ, it doesn’t really matter who won what matters is they had a great match. I’m not that mad it’s a draw but TNA won’t want to make one or ther other look weak going into Bound For Glory.
Great article you got here. It would be great to read a bit more concerning that theme.
The match between AJ Styles and Kurt Angle on Oct. 15th was one of the best matches ever! Period! It was true wrestling, holds against counter holds. Strength against strength and wits vs wits. All those who did not appreciate this match and fail to realize what they saw, should go see some hardcore fight or some dumb hell in a cell gimmick. By far one of the best matches off all time! My props go to both wrestlers, true professionals!
……….. how long have you been watching wrestling?
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