Some people are calling it TNA’s final nail in the coffin.
Some people say it’s a well thought out work.
Some people say it was a matter of time before it would have happened anyway.
All I know is that I wanted to riot.
It’s doesn’t help that Victory Road was stationed back at the stale energy of the Impact Zone. It doesn’t help that the match before it was a number one contender’s match that ended in a no contest. Even if every situation was ideal, Victory Road’s main event last night was a disaster.
If you don’t know by now, the main event was Jeff Hardy vs. Sting for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Hardy came out, Sting came out, match announcements were made, Bischoff changed the match stipuation to a no DQ match, Sting thrashed Bischoff, the match started, Hardy teased the crowd with a t-shirt, Sting initiated the match, threw some punches, hit a Scorpion Death Drop, and got the pin (stiffing it to keep Jeff from breaking out). Clearly he wanted to end the match before the no DQ stipulation could take hold. It was like… like Sting “reinvented himself.”
Reinvented himself into what, Super Cena?
No. Something went wrong last night. It disappointed TNA fans around the world, while WWE marks triumphantly declared the defeat of TNA. A second look at the match did lead me to believe that, as much as everyone jokes about it, Hardy was actually not in his right mind last night. He stumbled on a few steps on his way to the ring, seemed to try and take a flag or something from a member of the audience, had a look in his eyes that was so stoned it was solid, and when he went to lock up with Sting, he hardly had any kind of defense up.
So maybe this is a work. It’s still not acceptable as a Pay-Per-View main event. This isn’t boxing and this isn’t MMA, where the wrong move can end a match in one minute 28 seconds. This is pro wrestling, where people come to see a performance between two or more professional wrestlers in the ring.
Maybe this is not a work. Maybe they really allowed Hardy in the ring in the condition that he was in, and it wasn’t until he was out there that they realized he was not fit for competition. Maybe they couldn’t figure out a back up plan. Oh, I have one. Remember that number one contender’s match that ended in a no contest five minutes ago? Put them in the title shot. Sure, Anderson and RVD had a pretty physical matchup, but I’m positive that they were in better shape to work the main event than Hardy was last night.
And it’s not like no contests in number one contender matches haven’t resulted in both wrestlers vying for the championship before. Remember Angle vs. Hardy?
So what does TNA need to do? I think that TNA needs to apologize. They need to apologize to the fans for not being able to produce a main event at all. Whether this is a work or not, fans are upset at how this turned out. It needs to be addressed head on, with no sugarcoating and no working it into some last minute storyline, and it needs to not be completely dismissed.
They also need to apologize to Sting. He came in and he looked ready to go, not taking his spot in the main event for granted. He was visibly upset at the outcome of the match. There are plenty of people upset for him, stating things such as he should leave for WWE. While I hope he doesn’t make a rash decision like that, I do feel like Sting really got screwed over, and TNA needs to publicly apologize to him as much as they need to the fans.
Another thing that they need to do is make sure that the next edition of TNA Impact (which I think is being taped today) is the best edition of Impact that they could possibly put out. A ratings spike seems inevitable, as everyone is going to want to know what’s going to happen with Hardy, Sting, and, if they somehow make it interesting enough, the World Heavyweight Title. If they can put on one hell of a show for Thursday night, this could be the blessing in disguise that they were looking for.
I don’t want to take a shot at WWE or its fans, but TNA’s fans, as passionate for TNA as we are, do not believe in Santa Claus and John Cena. We know that wrestling is scripted, and we know that something isn’t right. TNA really needs to not pretend that this a part of some storyline, and address the fans with what went wrong and an apology on not being able to produce a main event and handle the situation accordingly.
Well, written! I couldn’t have said it better!
Thus far, your commentary on last night is the best that I’ve read on the internet. From my perspective, I think that TNA needs to offer a high-end PPV-quality main event on Thursday night featuring Sting defending the World Heavyweight Championship in a blockbuster of a match.
Too true think it was completely unfair on the fans and Sting. I used to rate Jeff very highly as a performer. It was upsetting and dissapointing to see that happen.
Great column Mark.
I am a huge TNA fan but as you say, this is unacceptable. This is one of the few PPV’s I did not purchase, had I bought it I would have been extremely pissed off.
If it is a work, why could they have not written this in a way that there was a replacement opponent. They could have still played up the intoxicated Hardy angle.
If it wasn’t a work, there is no reason they couldn’t have written a workaround on the fly. Bischoff, Russo and Jarrett have been around long enough to book a main event match on the fly. RVD, Anderson, anyone would have done over this. It’s inexcusable to treat a paying fan this way.
seeing how things went out with VR’s main event make’s me wonder how unacceptable it would be for TNA fans, Me? well I’m pissed too…big time. I intend to believe it isn’t a work in the making but just a blunder waiting to happen, unfortunately back up plan wasn’t in place and is not implemented or maybe there’s none at all. Sting as pro as ever came out prepared while the same cannot be said with his opponent on that night. Judging from his behavior and the way he made his way through the ring one could really see that he’s indeed not in shape to go out there and have a match. While I may disagree that it’s the final nail in the coffin to end the company, it is one of those snowballs on the roof that would accumulate and put on some weight that if not remedied on the right time would surely made its toll on it’s own destruction. Well as mentioned here already, it would be wise to used that controversy into a positive one by making sure that the upcoming Impact would be as interesting as ever. I wouldn’t bet that a public apology is possible, but at least give your loyal followers the kind of show that they really want and less of those in excusable bs.
No matter what the show looked like, it is a one time deal and it cannot make a loyal fan such as yours truly to stop watching impact or buying PPVs. Hulk Hogan, Sting, Anderson, RVD, Pope, Kurt Angle, Jeff Jerret, Jeff Hardy are more of a star than John Cena, Triple H, Miz, Sheamus, or Del-rio could ever get.
p.s. plz stop being so concerned about ratings, try taking impact out of the stifling impact zone first and believe me ratings will follow.