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July 6, 2007

A tough act to follow: Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe

The focus on TNA Impact the past two weeks has been on wrestling and not lame comedy. That’s a good thing. However, I think over-booking and illogical story lines are hurting the show.

Trying to follow the logic in the Kurt Angle-Samoa Joe saga just gives me a headache. I’m glad that TNA finally has established Angle as a heel and Joe as a babyface, but they’ve gone back and forth from being bitter enemies, to respectful adversaries, to partners so many times and with so little explanation that I no longer care. You’d think after all those double-crosses that Angle and Joe would stop falling for the old handshake trick by now.

On last night’s show, Joe (a babyface) made the save when Angle (a heel) was being double-teamed by Team 3-D (babyfaces). Angle thanked Joe by giving him an Olympic Slam through a table, making Joe look pretty stupid for helping him. That whole sequence was just mind-boggling.

I also think the Angle and Joe vs. Team 3-D match at Victory Road on July 15 is pretty weak for a pay-per-view main event. I just don’t see Team 3-D as a main-event act, and the story line of Angle and Joe as enemies who are forced to team together just isn't compelling to me. Trying to figure out the respective motives of Angle and Joe in the match just makes my head hurt worse.

One other thought from last night: LAX is not nearly as entertaining without Konnan.

As for last week’s show, I liked the idea of doing one match – a triple-threat bout for the TNA title between Angle, Christian Cage and Rhino – that lasted the entire hour. It was a good match, but the excessive run-ins – a consistent problem in TNA – took away from it. Abyss, Tomko, A.J. Styles, Sting, Chris Harris, Samoa Joe and James Storm all interfered in the match. I understand that TNA was trying to set up other matches for Victory Road, but it needed to find a more creative way to do it than just having everyone interfere in that match.

If the constant run-ins weren’t bad enough, the booking made the babyface (Rhino) look weak and the heels (Angle, Cage) look strong and sympathetic. Angle was sneak-attacked by Samoa Joe before the match even started, yet he managed to overcome that and win in the end. Christian was attacked not once, but twice. First Abyss came after him, and then Harris cost him the title. Yet, despite both heels being unfairly blind-sided, Rhino still couldn’t win. In fact, all it took to put him down was Storm spitting some beer in his face.

I haven’t seen a top babyface booked like that since Rob Van Dam was buried by Triple H five years ago.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 5:42 AM | | Comments (1)
        

Comments

Storylines change way too often. Guys go from good guys to heels and from friends to rivals and vice versa way too often. For example, it appears that Abyss will align with Sting and I'm sure he'll turn on him within a month. I have read Jeff Jarrett had a lot to do with the storylines but with his personal tragedy, that contribution has been lacking and it shows. I agree that Team 3D as a pay -per-view headliner is tough to sell. They seem to have really hit a dead-end in need of new blood.

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About Kevin Eck
The Baltimore Sun's Kevin Eck blogs about professional wrestling. Listen to Eck Wednesdays at 3 p.m. on WNST 1570 AM.
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