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The war between young and old that has been brewing for about a year has finally reached full throttle. The timing is a bit odd, as you'd think TNA would have wanted it to kick into gear before or during BFG; I guess the turn and return of Kevin Nash was supposed to be the real kick-off? In any event, Samoa Joe's no-rematch clause from BFG has made AJ Styles the de factor leader of the Young Lions, or the TNA Originals, or something else they named them this past Thursday that I've already forgotten. Joe is having the match with Nash that he never got last December, and everybody else is pretty much left to deal with what scraps are left over from those two main events. I really like how this card looks on paper, so maybe there's some hope for a decent show.

Daniel YTD = 62/98 = .633
Rachael's YTD = 43/75 = .573

Sting (c) vs. AJ Styles
TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match

Where We've Been:
A few months ago, when a black baseball bat started mysteriously showing up in the hands of Booker T, AJ Styles was the last man to believe Sting had nothing to do with it. Of course that made perfect sense, as there is no shortage of black baseball bats in the world; this one though must have been autographed or something, since it turned out to be the Stinger's after all. After vanquishing Samoa Joe, Sting called out AJ, hoping to beat respect into the young'uns one by one. This past Thursday things got somewhat more personal, when Sting taunted AJ regarding his strained familial relationships.

Where We're Going:
It's not clear who can challenge Sting after AJ, so this one probably has to go on at least another month. That could happen through either a title change or a sketchy retention by Sting, and, knowing TNA's booking preferences, I'd be inclined to suspect the latter. I would actually like to see AJ have another brief run with the strap, but at least it will be nice to finally see a title reign started at Bound for Glory (as opposed to a title brief outing). The contest should be a show-stealer, if their styles mesh at all and if TNA lets it reach an even remotely satisfying conclusion.

My Prediction: Sting.
Rachael's Prediction: AJ Styles.

Samoa Joe vs. Kevin Nash
Where We've Been:
Last December, Scott Hall no-showed a PPV main event, leaving Samoa Joe to pacify the audience with a shoot promo about how much all the veterans suck. Kevin Nash, who Joe called out by name, was none too happy with how he was treated. However, after being forced together by Jim Cornette, Nash took Joe under his wing to try to teach him the mental side of the business. Initially skeptical, Joe eventually came to trust Nash after several months of not being stabbed in the back (though, in retrospect, not being helped particularly either). That changed last month at Bound for Glory, when Kevin Nash interfered to cost Joe his title. Big Sexy had been biding his time, and, in addition, saw some truth in Sting's tirades about today's disrespectful youth. Since he's contractually forbidden from taking on Sting, Joe has had plenty of time to set his sights on Kevin Nash.

Where We're Going:
This feud has been brewing a while, and I doubt TNA will let it go very quickly. Nash has limited capacities in the ring, but hopefully both he and Joe know that and will work hard to cover his weaknesses. To that end, expect some slow brawling through the crowd and lots of outside interference.

My Pick: Samoa Joe.
Rachael's Pick: Kevin Nash.

Booker T (c) vs. Christian Cage
Legends' Championship Match

Where We've Been:
When the roster divided up between old ringers and young homegrown talent, the one young ringer, Christian Cage, was left without a clear allegiance. He's been acting as a friend to the younger crowd, but has remained steadfastly non-committal. Meanwhile, Booker T has gone crazy, deciding that he's from Africa (despite still being listed as being from Houston), and carrying around a mysterious briefcase. The briefcase turned out to have a new championship belt, suitable only for a legend. Cage pointed out that one generally has to beat someone for a belt, and so challenged Booker to defend it. Booker accepted, on condition that, if Cage loses, he will join the heel faction—The Main Event Mafia.

Where We're Going:
Cage has remained non-committal so long there's no real reason to tie him down now. TNA has done the "reluctant faction member" angle before, when Jackie Gayda was blackmailed into joining Jeff Jarrett. It never really made sense, and it won't now. What does it mean to be forced to be in a faction? Do you have to just stand near them? Wouldn't it be very easy to cost them matches from the inside? Hopefully TNA will avoid this mess, but probably they won't.
Both Picks: Christian Cage. The alternative makes no sense, on several levels.

Kurt Angle vs. Abyss
Falls Count Anywhere Match

Where We've Been:
Last month TNA accidentally set Abyss on fire, so he's getting a mini-push to make up for it. Theoretically, this feud started when Jim Cornette tapped Matt Morgan to stop a rampaging Kurt Angle; when Abyss came out to make the save, he ended up taking some shots to his burnt flesh. Kurt has been trying to simultaneously lure Jarrett into the ring and prevent anyone from enjoying an entire episode of Impact by periodically threatening Jarrett's children, but Jarrett doesn't want to step back into the ring. Since Angle wants a fight though, Abyss has become Jarrett's de facto proxy.

Where We're Going:
One would assume this is a stop-gap match in the Angle-Jarrett feud. It seems unlikely that Jeff will quietly fade into the night, so we'll probably have Angle earning his shot at Jarrett by plowing through a small army of upper-mid-carders. I suspect we'll see a rematch of Angle vs. Morgan next month, unless they want to move this thing along either much faster or much slower than I would have envisioned.
Daniel's Pick: Kurt Angle.
Rachael's Pick: Abyss. She doesn't actually believe that he'll win, but wants to pick against Angle in punishment for him divorcing his wife.

Beer Money Incorporated vs. The Motor City Machine Guns
TNA Tag Team Championship Match

Where We've Been:
There's been very little interaction between these two teams, and they never really said what TMCMG did to earn this shot. They did get into a bit of a scuffle with the champs when, after first doubting Joe and AJ's leadership, they decided to demonstrate their loyalties to the younger wrestlers by saving Eric Young from James Storm and Robert Roode. One might point out that Roode and Storm are both young and home-grown, but since they're heel I think we're not supposed to notice that.

Where We're Going:
Matt Morgan and Abyss are already in line to take on whoever wins this match. That indicates that the winner will be a heel, but that still tells us surprisingly little. Thankfully, TNA seems about ready to build a mini-program around The Guns, with them apparently ready to become the first traitors to the young wrestlers' cause.

Both Picks: The Motor City Machine Guns. They've certainly earned it, and Beer Money just doesn't fit into the main storyline as well.

Rhino vs. Sheik Abdul Bashir

Where We've Been: Sheik Abdul Bashir, born somewhere in the mid-west, has been exercising his freedom of speech by talking about how much he dislikes the people in this company for being prejudiced. Rhino, exercising his freedom of GORE, has threatened to deport Bashir to…somewhere?

Where We're Going:
Unless Rhino is making the leap to the X Division, there's only so far this feud can go. My real hope is for a double turn here, but I'm fairly sure the odds of that are slim to none, and slim just left town.
My Pick: Rhino.

Awesome Kong & Raesha Saeed vs. Roxxi & Taylor Wilde
Where We've Been:
Three weeks ago, Awesome Kong defeated Taylor Wilde to reclaim her women's title. Wilde, being the good sportswoman she is, responded the next week by getting Roxxi to help her ambush Kong and Saeed with a lead pipe. We were actually scheduled to get this match on the last episode of Impact, but Kong took out Roxxi backstage. Khan volunteered to fill in, but then turned heel during the match and Choke Slammed Taylor. This raises the obvious question of when Rhaka Khan turned face, but we'll let that go.

Where We're Going:
The once unstoppable women's division has been floundering lately. Between the loss of Gail Kim, the staleness of ODB, Wilde's unfortunate absence of personality, and Roxxi's reinvention as "that chick who swears a lot", there really isn't an obvious top face. It seems like maybe they're grooming Roxxi for some sort of push, but then I've thought they were doing that for a year.
Both Picks: Taylor Wilde & Roxxi

Sonjay Dutt vs. Eric Young vs. Homicide vs. Jay Lethal vs. Petey Williams vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Volador vs. Doug Williams vs. Tanahashi vs. Consequences Creed
Random X Division "Why the Hell Not?" Match

Where We've Been:
This match rather explicitly has no back-story, as it's designed to determine the "rankings" for the X Division. Sub-stories include Dutt and Lethal presumably still hating each other and Eric Young appreciating the seriousness of the factional warfare enough to overcome his fear of fireworks. There also is a potentially cool angle they could run with Petey Williams—he joined up with Joe and AJ about two hours before the return of his ally and mentor Scott Steiner, so they could have him get conflicted about which side he should really be on.

Where We're Going:
Since it's not clear whether this match means anything or not, it's hard to conclude whether we're going anywhere. I would assume the winner should be in line for an X Division title shot sometime in the near future, and it would seem like a waste not to capitalize on EY's triumph over his own pyro.
My Pick: Eric Young.
Rachael's Pick: Homicide.



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