TNA Impact: Rob Van Dam vs. Abyss set for Bound For Glory

TNA Impact was an overall solid show that kept storylines steady going towards Bound For Glory.

The show was built around Rob Van Dam returning to challenge Abyss to a match at BFG after he put Van Dam on the shelf over a month ago.

At the beginning of the show, Abyss lost by disqualification to Rob Terry then after Van Dam came out and tried to get revenge only for security to intervene between the two.

The Abyss/Terry match was decent, eventhough Terry as a wrester is not, but I don't get TNA's booking of Abyss. Two weeks ago, he lost to Stevie Richards and now he loses to Terry, who hasn't been on TV in awhile. He is supposed to be built as this indestructible monster who can't be stop, yet he has lost matches in a span of 3 weeks.

I liked Van Dam's promo at Abyss. He came off angry and as someone who wanted revenge and will stop at nothing to get it. It was better than his promo last week where he just came off laid back like what happened to him wasn't no big deal.

Other thoughts on Thursday's show

Abyss gave a beatdown to Jeff Hardy backstage after "The Charismatic Enigma" was conversating Van Dam. He dragged him to the ring, and while Abyss was cutting his promo about his match with Van Dam at BFG, Hardy was laid out unconscious, but it looked more like he was taking a nap while on company time. Unintentionally funny.

The ladder match between AJ Styles and Sabu was good but was marked with all sorts of interference by Fourtune and EV2. I am looking forward to their Lethal Lockdown match at BFG, in which I hope is the blowoff to the feud.

By the way, how can Fourtune be taken seriously as heels when they are backstage getting Ric Flair to chug Smirnoff Ice. And can anybody tell me the significance of chugging it?

Pope continued to tease that he was going heel. He confronted Eric Bischoff about why Hardy and Kurt Angle both get a shot at the TNA World Heavyweight Championship eventhough they didn't win their match. I understand the logic that Pope did lose his semi-final match while Angle and Hardy didn't, but they didn't win either so he has a point.

The Pope-Samoa Joe match was good.

The Angle-Mr. Anderson promo in the ring was good. I liked Anderson playing up his a**hole character by raising Angle's arm and telling himt that it would be the last time is hand is raised. Eventhough it could be Angle's last match, at least Anderson was honest in saying he would do everything he can to win the TNA World Title even if it comes at the expense of Angle's career.

The Chris Sabin-Jeremy Buck match was good for the short time that it was allotted. I like that Buck worked on Sabin's neck throughout the match, and it wasn't your typical X-Division spotfest.

The TNA Knockouts Tag Team Title match between Hamada/Taylor Wilde and Velvet Sky/Lacey Von-Erich was bad because you guessed it: Von-Erich. Why TNA continues to put her in the ring where she can potentially hurt someone because of her inexperience his mind-boggling. But hey I didn't say she wasn't that bad to look at.

Dixie Carter announced that the TNA Impact live special on October 1 titled "Before The Glory" will have a $100,000 battle royal will feature every wrestler that will be competing at Bound For Glory.

Raw: Hell in a Cell is shaping up nicely

WWE showed a sense of urgency promoting Hell in a Cell since it is a week and a half away.

They did a great job in setting up the key matches for the ppv of John Cena vs Wade Barrett and Randy Orton vs Sheamus for the WWE Championship in a Hell in a Cell match.

In the main event, it was supposed to be Cena vs Barrett, but the Nexus leader instead had the other Nexus members face Cena in a Gauntlet match with the stipulation that if Cena won, he would face Barrett after.

Cena defeated Heath Slater, David Otunga, and Michael Tarver before battling Justin Gabriel and winning by disqualification due to Nexus' interference.

Barrett challenged Cena to a match at Hell in a Cell with the stipulation that if Cena lost, he would be forced to join the Nexus. However, Cena proposed that if Barrett lost, Nexus would disband.

I hope WWE creative does there job, that is think "creatively", and realize the possibilities of Cena joining the Nexus. It could lead to a Cena heel turn, which everyone has been clamoring for, and the turn could rejuvenate not just his career, but WWE as "must watch tv" again. But i'm afraid that Cena will win and Nexus will be done after HIAC.

Orton came out to a decent pop as the new WWE Champion. As soon as he hit the ring, he was interrupted by Sheamus.

Orton's facial expressions and mannerisms are off the chart and reminiscent of Stone Cold Steve Austin. Orton deceived Sheamus by tossing him the belt and then giving him an RKO in the process.

The Viper said that he wasn't honorable man and he would RKO his grandmother to keep the WWE Championship. I like Orton's role as a babyface who will do whatever it takes to win no matter who he has to hurt in the process.

Other thoughts on Monday's show:

The Miz was fantastic in his role getting back his heat after losing the United States Championship to Daniel Bryan at Night of Champions.

Earlier, Bryan lost a good match to Edge after interference by Miz and Alex Riley. The mystery GM chimed in to reverse the decision and gave the victory to Bryan. Miz and Riley delivered a vicious beatdown to Bryan, which the crowd absoulutely booed Miz on. The beatdown on Bryan makes him a sympethetic figure that the fans will get behind to give Miz the ultimate comeuppance that he deserves. When they eventually meet for the U.S. Championship again, the crowd will be behind Bryan in a huge way.

I liked that WWE is getting Bryan over as the "anti-superstar." When I heard "Return of the Valkyries" as his new entrance music, I laughed out loud. At least it was 10 times better than the generic metal music he was coming out with before.

I loved Cole's admiration for the Miz by having him sign his copy of WWE Magazine and calling him "champ" throughout the night. Earlier in the night, Cole ragged hard on The Hart Dynasty while they were doing commentary during the tag team match between Drew McIntyre and "Dashing" Cody Rhodes vs Santino Marella and Vladamir Kozlov. Cole asked THD if they went back to the hotel to listen to Celine Dion while coping about their championship loss.

I have to say that Michael Cole has eclipsed Jim Ross not as a play by play man, but the most entertaining announcer in the wrestling business today.

The Rhodes-McIntyre/Kozlov-Marella match was decent that established the champs as viable.

The Edge backstage segment with Zack Ryder was hilarious as Ryder hasn't gotten the hint that Edge never liked him and was using him during their time on Smackdown.

Chris Jericho duped the world once again by showing up on Raw to face John Morrisson. It was reported on wrestling websites that NOC was Jericho's last night with the company. He put over Morrison once again in an excellent match. I like the company getting behind Morrison by highlighting his parkour training regimen. In 3 months, Morrison will be the number three babyface behind Cena and Orton.

Layla and Melina had a decent match. I'm sick of the whole Laycool as C0-Divas Champions. I can't wait til their inevitable breakup

It seems Ted Dibiase and Maryse are headed to a love triangle storyline. I gurantee that we won't be hearing the gravely voice of Val Venis in a PG WWE.

TNA Impact: More questions and no answers

TNA Impact was highlighted by a great rematch from No Surrender between Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy to decide who would face Mr. Anderson for the vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship at Bound For Glory.



I did not see their classic match from the pay per view, but from hearing about it in the reports, there rematch last night wasn't as classic as their bout at No Surrender.



Both competitors battled for over 20 minutes and neither failed to give in to the other that the main event overlapped into the start of TNA Reaction.



Angle had Hardy in a heel lock and Hardy grabbed Angle leg in a lock as well. With both men flat on their backs, Earl Hebner counted Jeff Hardy's shoulders down and his son Brian, who was the original referee for the match but was knocked out earlier, counted Angle's shoulders to the ground.



As conflict and confusion arose, Eric Bischoff came out and confronted TNA President Dixie Carter about the match and then went to the ring and decided, since neither man could put the other away, that the both Hardy and Angle would go to BFG and compete along with Anderson in a three way match for the championship.



Carter looked at Bischoff with disbelief, as she wanted a clear concisive winner between Angle and Hardy. At the beginning of the show, Bischoff originally made the ppv main event a three way only for Carter to override his decision.

Unless Carter pulls a last minute pitch to bring Paul Heyman in, it will be revealed that Bischoff, Hulk Hogan, and Jeff Jarret are Abyss' "They" at BFG, and Sting and Kevin Nash will be revealed as the true good guys in exposing that the aforementioned three are working together to bring Carter down.

Other thoughts on Thursday's show.

Tommy Dreamer came out and called Fourtune to the ring to call a truce. He put every single member over like a million dollars and told AJ Styles that he was the better man and did something that no one made him do: say I quit.

After being genuinely moved by Dreamer's comments, Styles told him he didn't need compliments and Fourtune put a beat down on Dreamer.

I liked Dreamer putting Fourtune over, but in my opinion, he took away what Fourtune was about.

For example, when he talked about Kazarian, he said that if it weren't for TNA, he wouldn't have met his wife.

Well Fourtune is supposed to be a group resembling the Four Horsemen in that they win championships and get the women. Saying Kazarian is a married man takes a little bit away of what the group is about.

Brian Kendrick saved Tommy Dreamer after the beatdown by sacrificing his body as a shield over Dreamer's. When the group left, he challenged any one of them to a one-on-one match in which "Blueprint" Matt Morgan answered.

Morgan dominated Kendrick all throughout the match only for Kendrick to hit a rapid fire dropkick on him for the lucky victory. It was only a few minutes earlier that Dreamer put over Morgan as the next Undertaker or Kane and fast forward to him getting beat by Kendrick. That's TNA booking for you I guess.

The Abyss stuff in the back was creepy and stupid. After being shown dragging a guy backstage, he had one guy tied to a pole and one guy laid on his back on a flat surface, only to brand him with a flaming branding iron that read "10-10-10".

Samoa Joe and Nash had a decent matchup going on til Sting got involved and riot insued between Nash/Sting and Joe/Jarrett. All four brawled even with security trying to break them up and I liked that the hatred between all four didn't the security get in their way.

It seems that "Pope" D'Angelo Dinero is going heel after he complained to Nash and Sting about what happened in his semi-final match against Anderson at No Surrender. I kind of was leaning towards Pope going heel since it was Anderson who broke his shoulder in May. "Pope" can ask the fans why they are cheering Anderson now after he was the one that injured him months earlier.

Jay Lethal defeated Douglas Williams to regain the X-Division Title in a short but excellent match. I understand that TNA is behind Lethal, but I thought the confetti celebration was a little bit ridiculous considering that the guy has won the belt several times before.

I think I speak for everyone in saying that, eventhough Generation Me tried hard coming off as heels, they came off as 12-year-old punks who think they are bad dudes. Chris Sabin came out to get revenge for his partner Alex Shelley was injured at the hands of Gen-Me at the ppv, only to get beaten down himself. I think an Ultimate X match between the two tag teams for the TNA Tag Team Titles is imminent at BFG.

The Knockouts Tag Team Title match between Hamada-Taylor Wilde and Madison Rayne-Lacey Von Erich was ok only when Von Erich wasn't in there. She has no business being in a wrestling ring right now.

Raw: Team Cenation or Team Viper-choose your sides

The main event between John Cena and Randy Orton in a Tables match was a good main event that solidly built toward the six-pack-challenge for the WWE Championship at Night of Champions this Sunday.

The show started off with Cena and Orton standing by the Raw Roulette wheel to determine what type of match they were going to have.

When the wheel landed on a Tables match, Josh Matthews asked Cena if he had any trepidations about being in one because the last time Cena was involved in a Tables match, he lost the WWE Championship to Sheamus.

Throughout the show, the Cena-Orton main event had a big fight feel to it, as the announcers the match throughout the night. It was the first time in a year that both had faced off one one one with the dynamics changed as Orton is now a babyface.

During the main event, the Nexus interfered and tried to take out Cena and Orton, but they fended them off then Edge, Jericho, who was inserted back into the main event for the ppv, and Sheamus interfered as well. All three were thwarted in their attempts.

When it came down to Cena and Orton, Cena was positioned to deliver an Attitude Adjustment to Orton on the table, but Orton countered with an RKO to Cena through the table.

The story here is that Cena has competed in every stipulation match there has been in WWE, but when it comes to Tables matches, he has the worst luck in those.

With Orton winning, he is being positioned as the favorite to win the championship Sunday, but I believe WWE isn't ready to pull the trigger on another Orton run just yet.

Other thoughts on Monday's show.

Jericho was inserted back into the main event at NOC after he defeated The Hart Dynasty in a steel cage handicap match by making Tyson Kidd tap out to the Walls of Jericho.

Early in the match, Kidd and David Hart Smith tried escaping the cage to get out at the same time. Smith got out but Kidd wasn't so lucky.

I didn't understand that logic as they should have beaten up Jericho inside the cage. To be blunt, there motives were pure idiocy.

Before the match, Jericho goaded the mystery GM to insert him back into the match or else he quit. After finally succumbing to his demands, Cole was about to say his usual lines about receiving the e-mail before he was cut off by Jericho and was told to just read the e-mail.

Cole then told him that if he ever interrupted him again, there would be severe repercussions.

The way Cole delivered the message to Jericho came off as if he is the mystery GM. With his performances on Raw and NXT as a psuedo-heel, I believe he would be entertaining in an authority role.

Chad Ochocinco did an adequate job as guest host of Raw. After he greeted the fans in Cincinatti, the Miz came out and berated him for the Bengals not winning a Super Bowl and saying that unlike him, the Bengals will never be champions.

The Miz totally owned that segment and owned Ochocinco.

After their face off, the roulette wheel was spun and it landed on a submission match and "Ocho" chose Miz' NOC opponent Daniel Bryan has his opponent.

I thought the match built well to the ppv on Sunday. I love Miz faking the hernia injury and sending his NXT protege Alex Riley to take his place.

After Bryan made Riley tap out, Miz recovered real fast and attacked Bryan only to be put in the LaBell Lock and tapped out in the process.

The Miz-Bryan match for the United States Championship is the match i'm most looking forward to Sunday.

The singing and dancing contest between R-Truth-Eve and Ted Dibiase-Maryse was hilarious when Dibiase sang his version of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" after Truth debuted and sang his new entrance theme.

All I have to say is finally no more of that What's Up junk anymore. Glad Truth got a new theme.

The Body Slam Challenge between Edge and Evan Bourne was ridiculous. After the Edge slammed Bourne, the mystery GM announced that because of Edge's assault on Bourne after the match, he had to compete against Mark Henry in another Body Slam Challenge. Henry subsequently slammed Edge and won the challenge.

This match nothing to build up Edge as a threat to WWE Championship on Sunday and did nothing for Evan Bourne.

It was only a couple of months ago that Bourne got the main event rub by teaming with John Cena and beating Sheamus and Edge. Now any plans of a Bourne push seem to be put off.

NXT: Last episode?

I didn't have high hopes for season 3 of WWE NXT considering that SyFy wasn't happy with the show and the last episode will air before the debut of Smackdown on the network.

And I have to say that I was right on the money.

This show was atrocious from the beginning when the divas came out to introduce themselves to the WWE Universe and let them know who they were.

The highlight of the night was the dancing competition with the six divas having to show off their moves with Michael Cole, Tony Chimel, and Josh Matthews in that order.

Cole conveniently had a black hat and red leg warmers with Josh Matthews claiming this is the ridiculous thing he'd ever seen.

I have to say the highlight of NXT hasn't been the rookies, the matches or even the competitions. The show has been Michael Cole Show, as he has been the most entertaining thing through its entirety.

And he proved it with his horrid dancing ability with rookies Naomi and Jaime. His dancing was so horrible it was a gold mine to watch.

Out of all the rookies, I believe AJ will win the competition because she has that Mickie James "girl next door" appeal that will set her apart from the other divas, but it was Naomi's night as she won both the dancing competition and the capture the flag race.

She also handled herself well on the mic, and next to AJ, she has to be the most ready to be on the WWE roster.

But this debut show was way below what the past two seasons produced.

With the show ending on SyFy in a couple of weeks, it seems WWE is just going through the motions and seeing what will stick with the audience.

With the way this show came off, I have a feeling that I won't be paying that much attention to NXT this season.

Raw: The Viper strikes a threat

Last night's edition of Raw was a solid show that further built toward's Night of Champions and the six pack challenge main event for the WWE championship

In the main event, Randy Orton defeated Wade Barrett with an RKO after former Nexus member Darren Young returned after being outted from the group two weeks ago to distract Barrett.

Earlier in the evening, Michael Cole announced via a text message from the mystery GM that the winner of the Orton/Barrett match would face John Cena next week on Raw.

Even though we have seen Cena and Orton battle numerous times, the dynamics have changed since their fued from last year with Orton being the super hot babyface on a roll right now and Cena still the number one attraction for the company

After the match, Orton convinced Young to come back into the ring to thank him for the assist only to deliver an RKO instead for the gratification and then simultaneously delivered RKO's to Edge and WWE champion Sheamus to solidify him as the favorite to win the championship at NOC.

The Orton/Barrett match was solid and in defeat Barrett stayed strong and looked good and showed he can hang with the top dogs for years to come.

Tehe Cena/Justin Gabriel match was good as well, as Gabriel also looked strong in defeat as it took an Attitude Adjustment off the second rope to defeat him.

Next to Barrett, Gabriel has potential to be a player in WWE. Other than Evan Bourne's shooting star press, his 450 splash is the most amazing finisher in the company. If he could get more promo time and time to develop his character, the sky is the limit for him.

The biggest developing story of the night was Chris Jericho losing his spot in the six-pack challenge by losing to John Morrison.

The GM had announced that because of Jericho and Edge walking out in the 10 man elimination match last week that if either of them lost, they would lost their spot at the pay-per-view.

Jericho losing was a great swerve, and with his contract coming up real soon, it was a copout from having to honor the stipulation that if Jericho doesn't win the WWE championship he would leave.

It would obviously make sense for Morrison to take his spot in the main event, but plans could change and Jericho could be added back into the ppv.

I laughed at Morrison coming up to Jericho and saying in a deadpan way "bad night hun." To add insult, he used his "do you understand what I am sayin to you right now" line, and Jericho was gold with his facial expressions.

The Edge-Great Khali match was embarrisingly bad.

First, Edge beat Khali buy countout after goading Khali to follow him up the ramp only to kick him in the leg and run to the ring and win.

The GM then said that the win wasn't enough and had the match restarted again with the stipulation that to win someone had to go over the top.

After Khali threw Edge through the middle rope, he went over the top rope, and Cole echoed what most of the people watching were thinking when he said "Hello". The ref ignored the situation and the match continued.

Moments later Edge pulled Khali over the top rope and kept his spot at NOC.

Like everybody else, I just don't see no entertainment value in Khali whatsoever. He's slow, uncoordinated and doesn't have the charisma that other "giants" like Undertaker, Kane, and the Big Show have.

Enough is enough. Get rid of him already.

The Miz was awesome no pun intended when he unveiled the new cover of WWE Magazine with him on the cover. He proceeded to lay into everyone that doubted him and said he couldn't make it.

I have to say that when I first saw the Miz, I thought he would be released in a year. His annoying act and his baggy ring attire screamed opening card purgatory, but now, the guy is one of my favorite wrestlers on the show, and he will eventually be WWE Champion.

Daniel Bryan interrupted Miz and mockingly congragulated him on his magazine cover. He then challenged him for a United States title match at NOC.

Miz accepted and tried getting the upper had on Bryan, but rebounded and had him in his submission manuever only for Alex Riley to sneak attack from behind.

Bryan regrouped and got Riley in his submission while Miz watched from the ramp. I liked Bryan smiling while applying the submission and Miz watching his rookie tap out.

I'm really digging this rivalry right now, and next to the six pack challenge, this is the next best match on the show for me.

With Jericho and Edge trying to find out who the mystery GM is, I think we are getting closer to finding out real soon. At first I thought Jim Ross would be GM, but I think in the end it will be Michael Cole revealed as the GM with the way he was passive in saying that he didn't know what Jericho was talking about when he questioned him on who the GM is.

Next week's Raw is advertised as the season premiere with Raw Roulette being the theme.

All I have to ask is how can you have a season premiere when your show runs every week with no breaks?