**May contain SPOILERS from this weeks Impact Wrestling.
I am quite ticked off at the idiocy and outright racist comments made by wrestling fans over the outcome of last nights Impact. As usual, I go onto the TNA Facebook page, and I see hateful comments like “Niggalution”, “New Nation of Domination”, “Negrolution”, and “Oh look, TNA are copying WWE again”.
Are people really that ignorant? I am ashamed to be a wrestling fan sometimes because there are fans out there who have sawdust in their skulls.
MVP’s stables previous accomplishments:
- MVP – WWE Tag Team & US Champion. IWGP Intercontintal Champion.
- Kenny King – ROH Tag Team Champion. TNA X-Division Champion.
- Lashley – 2x ECW Champion. WWE US Champion. Many MMA accolades.
As you can see, these three guys have been wrestling for years but have never reached a main event level. Ironically, Kenny King is the only one in the stable to be a previous TNA Champion. MVP and Lashley left the WWE for different reasons.
Lashley was injured and the WWE didn’t want to wait for him to return so they both decided to part ways. MVP left because he had grown tired of being overlooked and wanted to pursue puroresu, so he decided he wanted a release and the WWE allowed it.
Evolution was a stable originally centered around Triple H, not as an authority figure, but as a heel World Champion. Flair Batista and Orton were used as protection, until Orton defeated Benoit at Summerslam for the World Championship, leading to Triple H cutting him out of the stable. The group was endorsed by Flair, and it was a clear continuation of the work Flair had put into The Four Horsemen. Flair would go on to endorse Fourtune (Fortune) in TNA as well, originally working as heels but eventually turning face.
With that said, the current Evolution stable is a group of three guys who appear equal. They decided to restart Evolution mutually, and although Triple H is the authority figure, Orton and Batista don’t answer to him, they work alongside him to eliminate a common enemy in The Shield. Evolution did not attack Daniel Bryan as World Champion at any point, so any “similarities” that people pointed out, saying that Evolution beat up Daniel Bryan on Impact, are completely bogus.
Evolution is a stable of three multiple time World Champions who are above everyone else and live in luxury. MVPs stable is a group of three wrestlers wanting to be in the main event, wanting to be in the spotlight for the first time. They want to control everything so they can finally be successful in a business that has held them down for years, not to continue to be successful like Evolution.
The racist comments are uncalled for. Just because they are black, fans point that out, make jokes about it, refer to them as The Nation of Domination. The Nation of Domination’s only success story was Rocky Maivia, they did nothing else with the stable. I guess .. because The Nation of Domination was the last known “black” stable in an American company, any other “black” stable would automatically be compared to it. The Nation of Domination disbanded 15 years ago!
What annoys me the most is not the comments made by the (so-called) fans, but the way TNA brought this storyline to light. MVP turned heel way too soon after the downfall of Magnus and Dixie Carter. We needed a little more time to enjoy a product with a babyface atmosphere before the reveal. It makes sense that TNA had this storyline in the works from the day MVP returned to TNA.
In the storyline, MVP re-signed Kenny King and Bobby Lashley. It’s likely TNA brought them back and made the plan that MVP would turn heel and have them as his bodyguards. Perhaps the Magnus/Abyss storyline ran longer than they originally intended, and with Bobby Lashley/Kenny King sitting there on the sidelines waiting to be used, they rushed the storylines so they could begin using MVP’s new stable. They needed a champion who everyone could get behind to fight this new stable, so they got the title off of Magnus and put it on Eric Young.
It has been a confusing few months in TNA. The Dixie Carter vs Bully Ray feud is still confusing and cringeworthy, but hopefully the main event scene can begin to calm down a little bit and have some consistency. The most shocking part for me was Bobby Lashley running in and attacking Eric Young. I might be wrong, I can’t remember Bobby Lashley playing a heel within a stable, he has been a solo babyface for the vast majority of his career.
Moving on from “Niggalution”, I have to say that the Bully Ray fears Dixie, Dixie fears Bully storyline is possibly the worst feud in the history of feuds. EC3 finally showed up to move it on, because there’s only so many ways you can have a big wrestler like Bully Ray squaring off with the big bad boss of Dixie Carter. Are we meant to believe that TNA have zero security at their headquarters? Are we meant to believe that Bully Ray can show up at Dixie’s house and not be arrested?
I will say something positive! Sanada is the real deal.
I remember when Russo made the comment about how Japanese/Mexican wrestlers could never get over in an American wrestling company. TNA is doing a really good job with Sanada’s vignettes, he is a true warrior, and I look forward to watching him every week. I wish TNA would put him on the show every single week, for a big tall guy he is really athletic. He needs more competition.
After a feud with Gunner, James Storm had lost so many important matches, so it was good timing for TNA to build him up again by defeating Mr. Anderson. I have to say … Mr. Anderson sounds like he hates announcing himself now, it’s almost like he has given up.
The Menagerie. What to say about The Menagerie. For one thing, the name is far too long for Taz to pronounce it. Secondly, I enjoyed what they did, they were having fun and doing crazy stuff, but the entrance music repeated over and over and over to the point I wanted it to die horribly. Rob Terry looks so good in the gimmick though, has to be his best part to date. Still don’t know what to make of Crazy Steve, even after his failed attempt at splashing some balloons. Still don’t understand what Knux is meant to do, is he the leader, or is he meant to blend in to the point you don’t notice? Knux appears so ordinary compared to the rest.
The Knockouts are good right now, they have it absolutely right. Angelina and Velvet continue to build heat in all the ways that made them famous, and Gail Kim is doing a better job as a babyface then Madison was. Velvet Sky was much better in the ring this week, she was intense, her character was on show, and like always, she looks much hotter as a bad girl. I’m all for this continuing for many weeks.
As for the Magnus storyline, I can’t make an opinion on it yet. I don’t care enough for Bram yet, and I don’t care for Willow as a babyface. Not sure what TNA is trying to accomplish with this one.
I wish to end this by making some comments about the WWE. Daniel Bryan’s promo was so heartfelt, so real, and I was legitimately sad to see the expression on his face. He didn’t want to let his fans down, he had reached the top, and then a neck injury comes along and spoils it. I do agree with the comments made about Daniel Bryan’s style, he doesn’t need to run around and do crazy spots every week. He needs to tone down some of his aerial style and perhaps add more submission holds and suplexes.
Alicia Fox showed character for the first time, I was pleasantly surprised by her. Shows just how much WWE has held her back over the years.
I am still enjoying The Shield vs Evolution. They are making stars out of The Shield. What i’m not enjoying is the likes of John Cena and The Uso’s defeating The Wyatt Family in six man tags. They continue to book Cena stronger than Superman, Batman and Spiderman rolled into one, and it disappoints me that they don’t push Bray Wyatt to the point that Cena struggles to defeat him.
This might be unpopular to some, but I am a big fan of Rusev. More of a fan of Lana, that body is television gold, but whenever Rusev comes out, I get that old school feeling .. you know? That feeling where you know someone’s going to be fed to the monster, and someone has to stop him, but you know that’s almost impossible. Using Hacksaw Jim Duggan in the Rusev segment was really good, and we look set for a Big E vs Rusev feud. I really want Big E and Rusev to work together and get a storyline going, they are in serious need of character development. Hopefully Rusev can be so hated that the fans chant for Big E.
That’s all for now. I will be returning soon with another top five list. Stay tuned.
