Hello everyone, my name is Michael King and I would like to
introduce you to the Wrestling Is STILL Fun blog. For those of you who do not know me, I have been a fan for
20 years now ever since my dad brought home a tape of the 1992 Royal Rumble and
I saw The New Foundation take on The Orient Express as well as WWF
Intercontinental match between The Mountie and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. Though I
wasn’t exactly hooked until seeing WrestleMania VIII when I saw matches such as
Shawn Michaels vs. “El Matador” Tito Santana, The Undertaker vs. Jake “The
Snake” Roberts, Bret “Hitman” Hart vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper for the WWF
Intercontinental title and “The Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. “The Nature Boy” Ric
Flair for the WWF World Heavyweight title that I became hooked. Over time I
have lost interest every once in a while but there would always be something to
suck me back in.
I will say that I was born and raised as a WWF fan seeing
only WWF shows besides four independent promotions. Now if you are wondering
why I am saying what is WWF, it is the WWE under its name that I knew from when
I first started watching until 2002 when the World Wrestling Federation changed
its name to World Wrestling Entertainment and now to the acronym WWE. The new
WWE’s bumper that you see before any WWE show is true, WWE has been here then,
now and always. Have they been the best, no but they are always there. I
enjoyed the WWF product until 1996 and then from 1998 until now. I am not just
a WWE fan, I like WCW, ECW, TNA and ROH up til 2007.
I have been a fan during good times and bad. My first WWF show was seeing Bret Hart defend his newly won WWF World Title against Nailz in October 1992 at the Nassau Coliseum. If you ask me, my fandom was capped when I saw Bret Hart 18 years later have his first WWE match since November 1997 at WrestleMania XXVI at University of Phoenix Stadium.
The mission of this blog is to talk about wrestling in a
positive light even though sometimes it maybe hard to see a brighter side. I
plan to write just about daily which means after I see shows either live or on
DVR or on days when there are no shows, when I feel like it. Topics include
fantasy booking, top 10 lists and walk-thrus of classic pay-per views. Before I
start with my first post, please visit a few friends of this blog, Dan’s Video
Den a version of this blog but dealing with movies and Twister Rat a podcast
between friends in the Bible Belt and Tornado Alley.
Fantasy Booking #1: TNA X-Division From Destination X 2012-Slamiversary 2013
Today I will start with my first Fantasy Booking blog. Now
for those of you who do not know, fantasy booking is looking at a time period
in a wrestling and booking it how you would in your opinion. My first attempt
is redoing one I did a while back, the TNA X-Division after Austin Aries handed
over the X Title so he could challenge for the TNA World Title at Destination X
2012. The X-Division was a division founded in 2002 based on the cruiserweight style
though they were originally not set by a weight-limit. This is a reason the 280
pound Samoa Joe won the title several times through out his career.
Now first let me introduce the current TNA talent. Zema Ion,
a Pilipino-American wrestler who has been in TNA for a year and injured fellow
X-Division talent Jessy Sorrensen. Douglas Williams, a British wrestler who
unlike the other guys is more mat-based. Mark Haskins, another British wrestler
though he is a high-flyer unlike Williams. Jessy Sorensen, an American wrestler
but out with a neck injury due to a moonsault plancha by Ion gone wrong. Kid
Kash, an American wrestler known from his days in ECW, TNA where he was a
former X-Division Champion and a short stint in WWE
I know four wrestlers does not a division make. (For those
of you that cannot speak Yoda, it means four wrestlers do not make a division.)
Now like TNA did, I would bring in new talent. Dakota Darsow, the son of Berry
Darsow who has been known as Krusher Krushev, Demolition Smash, Repo Man,
Blacktop Bully and Mr. Hole In One. Flip Casanova, a high-flying American
wrestler. Federico Palacios, the Argentinean wrestler known as Azrieal. Jimmy
Yang, the former Jung Dragon, Asian Flyin’ Elvis, Akio and Jimmy Wang Yang from
fame in WCW and WWE. Jimmy Rave, the former X-Division wrestler who had the
gimmick of a rock star. Kenny King, an American wrestler known from Ring of Honor
as a tag team wrestler. Mason Andrews, an American wrestler known from his days
in Wrestling Society X as Scorpio Sky. Rashad Cameron, an American wrestler
known as Sabian and Blk Jeez in Combat Zone Wrestling. Sonjay Dutt, an
Indian-American wrestler long-standing TNA X-Division member though he never
actually held the title.
Instantly I would have done the tournament to decide the
title similar to the real tournament. It would start with 4 qualifying matches
to determine the four new wrestlers who will be in the tournament. The four
losers will be in a last-chance qualifier and wrestle Kid Kash right after the
match. Three other matches would go on in the first round with Douglas Williams
and Zema Ion facing two of the 4 qualified wrestlers and the other two
qualified new wrestlers facing off. Do you got that so far?
Good because it only gets better from here…
Then from there the winner of the match with Kid Kash after
the last-chance and the winner of the three other winners would face off in an
Ultimate X match. Ultimate X is basically a ladder match but instead of
climbing a ladder, wrestlers climb a truss at one of the four corners of the
ring to get the cable that you would hand over hand to where the cables cross.
The title hangs at the crossing and just like a ladder match, the first person
to remove the title wins. I would have the four men who ended up in the match
stay in the match, Kenny King, Mason Andrews, Sonjay Dutt and Zema Ion. Unlike
the real match, Sonjay would win the match and become the champion for the
first time.
Over the next two months, I would have Sonjay defend the
title against former X-Division talents such as the Kash, Matt Bentley, Rave,
Suicide (I’ll get to him soon enough) and Yang at first and at the No Surrender
Pay-Per View, I would have Zema Ion win it from Sonjay after using the can of
hair spray. After winning, Ion would turn into the cheating bad guy/heel
champion beating everyone in his path whether it was a new guy or a long-standing
member of the X-Division over the next few months. Defying the odds everytime
and defending the title at Bound For Glory in October, Turning Point in
November and Final Resolution in December. After this Ion lays out an open
challenge for Genesis in January.
Jessy Sorensen would return in the open challenge laid out
by Ion. Sorensen will nearly beat Ion but Sorensen would not win the title. I
would have Ion escape with the title through a disqualification as titles do
not change hands through count outs and disqualifications. Sorensen go through
everyone in his path to challenge Ion once again for the X-Division title. This
would culminate into yet another Ultimate X match but this time just those two
combatants. This is because there is no rules in the Ultimate X match. Sorensen
wins the X Division Title in this match in a happy moment.
At this time Suicide is gaining traction because of an ally
in Joey Ryan, the man who was denied a chance in TNA after not passing his gut
check challenge and raising hell in the Impact Zone ever since. Suicide was a
masked gimmick TNA brought in for the end of 2008 to coincide with the
storyline mode in their TNA Impact video game. He would use a move called D.O.A.
which was a Yoshi Tonic to some and Code Red to others. The move is basically a
high impact sunset flip. However this new Suicide will use that more of a quick
pin that can with a match but would use classic X-Division finishers to win most
of his matches. Suicide would be built up as a contender for Sorensen’s title
and he would win but after using the Canadian Destroyer (a flip piledriver) on
Sorensen’s injured neck putting him out of action for a few weeks Victory Road.
After this Suicide would use the Canadian Destroyer more often.
At this point the rest of the X-Division starts to think
that Suicide is a former wrestler who wrestled in TNA named Petey Williams.
Petey Williams was a former X-Division champion who in 2009 left TNA after
losing a match with the stipulation that the loser of the fall is gone.
Everyone is thinking Williams is Suicide. At this point Suicide loses the title
to Kenny King who will be crowned #1 contender. Williams is debunked when
Williams appears on Impact with Suicide. The hype dies down.
Then Sorensen returns and still thinks it is Williams and
challenges him to put the mask on the line if Sorensen puts his hair on the
line. However both men also have a claim on the X-Division title due to the
rematch clause which means the former champion has a guaranteed shot at the
title so Kenny is brought into the mix. The three men will face off in a triple
threat elimination match at Lock Down inside of a steel cage. At the same time Andrews,
Cameron, Douglas Williams, Ion, Kash, Rave, Ryan, and Sonjay will face off in
an X-division escape match also at Lock Down for the future #1 contender to the
X-division champion.
The X-Division Escape match is a multi-man elimination match
held inside of a steel cage. The main thing is eliminations are by pinfall or
submissions until the last two men are in. Then it is a race out of the cage
with both feet hitting the floor first to determine the winner. The way I would
do this, is Cameron is eliminated first then Kash, Rave, Ion, Andrews and Williams,
leaving Sonjay Dutt and Joey Ryan the two remaining men for the escape part. Ryan
would then in escape the cage first despite a close race by Sonjay.
In the triple threat match Kenny would be eliminated first
meaning that there would be a new champion either way. Now it will be Suicide
being unveiled or will Sorensen will be shaven bald? I would have Sorensen win
and be the champion. Suicide will unveil himself to be Petey Williams who is
then barred from competition in TNA once again.
Coming out of Lock Down, there will be face-offs between
Joey Ryan the #1 contender and Jessy Sorensen, the X-Division champion. At
Sacrifice in May, we would have Ryan vs. Sorensen. Ryan will beat Sorensen by
cheating. Going forward Sorensen had a claim on the title while Zema Ion will
be built up as a future contender because the X-Division champion in July has
the chance to relinquish the title in order to face the TNA World Heavyweight
champion at Destination X. To settle the issue, Ryan would be set to defend the
X-Division title in June by virtue of a King of the Mountain match.
King of the Mountain is best described as a reverse ladder
match where you must hang the title from a hook by climbing a ladder. The catch
is you must pin an opponent to be eligible to hold the title in order to hang
it. Whoever is pinned is put into a penalty box for two minutes allowing the
other wrestlers to have an easier time to hang the belt and win the match. The
match will have five combatants, the current champion, Joey Ryan and former
champions Jessy Sorensen and Zema Ion. The other two will be determined by
matches as Sonjay Dutt takes on Kid Kash and Kenny King taking on Douglas
Williams. Sonjay and Williams win making it Ion, Ryan, Sonjay, Sorensen and
Williams in the King of the Mountain match. Ion and Sorensen’s feud reignite
because Sorensen said at Destination X in 2012 he would be the man to give up
the X-Division title to have a shot at the world title. Ion plans to be the man
to ruin this.
At Slammiversary, The King of the Mountain match happens and
Ryan tries to not get locked in the box and sneak a pin so he can get to hang
up the title easily. However this does not work as if you are not in the
action, there is no way to be eligible to hang up the belt. During the match,
Sorensen and Ion almost exclusively try to pin eachother to prevent the other
man from being able to climb the ladder and hang the belt. At one point they
score a double-pinfall and both men are put into the box. Sonjay and Williams
also make themselves eligible. However it is down to Sorensen and Ion who fight
up the ladder over the title and Sorensen wins out by smashing Ion in face with
the belt before hanging it up and becoming X-Division champion. From there
Sorensen makes good on his promise and goes for the World Title at Destination
X.
This was my first blog post. If you have any feedback please leave ,e feedback either publicly or e-mail me at kingmichael87@gmail.com. Thank you for reading and I hope to see you follow my blog and spread the word about it to wrestling fans who like me think wrestling is still fun.
--------
Michael King
No comments:
Post a Comment