Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2013 1:34:41 GMT -5
Total Nonstop Action vs. Ring of Honor
I’m not going to tell you where I got my money from. Let’s just say I was lucky from birth and made some smart investments. Suffice to say that I had enough money to live comfortably for the rest of my life. And when you have financial security, life gets boring quickly. I wanted to do something with what I had, and use my business acumen to its fullest ability. It was then that I turned my eye to wrestling. I’d always been a fan, albeit rather casually, but what really attracted me to it was what I saw as a great deal of potential. The WWE had dominated the market for years now, but Vince McMahon did not realise that the wrestling industry was about the last place you could hope to set up a monopoly. It thrived on competition. There was an obvious gap in the market, and I wanted to exploit it – to the tune of millions of dollars.
I sought out the largest possible competitor to WWE in North America, TNA. TNA had been making great progress trying to catch up with WWE, but were still far behind when I contacted them, as well as struggling financially. After a great deal of negotiation between myself, the Jarretts and Dixie Carter, I was able to secure myself a sizable chunk of the company and give it a much-needed cash boost. But I was ambitious – I wasn’t willing to sit back and let the company be run by itself. I lobbied to be allowed a role in the creative side of the company. I spoke with the Jarretts, and after pitching a couple of ideas I was able to convince them that I could help with the booking. Of course, I still had to answer to them as well as other members of the booking committee, like Scott D’Amore and Mike Tenay. But even so, it was where I wanted to be. We worked together, and soon I was an indispensable part of the company.
Bolstered by the added financing, we grew in strength and influence over the next few months. Our first house show in Detroit went well, and we continued to expand, although not as quickly as we had hoped we would. Impact’s debut on primetime was a success, and our ratings were steadily increasing with SpikeTV’s support. WWE was starting to show signs of weakness, too, with fans becoming increasingly disenfranchised with the product and locker room morale dropping, allowing us to bring in a couple of their guys who they had released. We opened a developmental territory, NWA Tennessee (in order to take advantage of our residual popularity in Nashville and to strengthen our ties with the NWA), and improved the Gut Check Academy. We were introducing new title belts to take advantage of the growing roster and extra TV time. The success of Christian Cage as our champion was enough to convince Chris Jericho to make good on his previous rumor-mongering and sign with TNA, a huge coup for us.
And all the time I was learning more and more about the business and applying my own knowledge to it. I improved our production and marketing, I increased our scope in terms of house show markets and allowed us the potential to travel outside Universal Studios for our shows. We still weren’t quite ready to start touring with Impact, or even air live – you can’t jump too far ahead of yourself in this industry, especially when you can’t afford to take heavy losses (and make no mistake, we couldn’t) – but we were making big progress. Some internet fans had started to refer to me as the ‘Saviour of TNA’. Others considered me nothing more than a businessman who didn’t know what he was doing and reviled my guts. I didn’t much care either way. I wasn’t doing this for them. I was doing it for the money that I would get out of it, and the kick I would get out of dethroning Mr. McMahon himself.
But, I realised, the company really needed a kick start in order to really put it over the top and start to mount a serious challenge to WWE. I racked my brains trying to think of what we could do to get to the next level. I remembered WCW getting their boost with the debut of Nitro and the formation of the New World Order. Certainly Impact’s move to primetime had been an important event for us, one that had greatly helped us, but had not had the same effect as the first Nitro: we had booked a great show with excellent matches and surprise angles, but we still weren’t live, and we had nowhere near enough resources to pull off something as big as Lex Luger’s debut had been in WCW. I considered an invasion angle similar to the nWo concept, since the figures and statistics to show the way it had allowed WCW to take off were readily available, but rejected it initially because it was ridiculous to hope that trying something identical would produce the exact same effect; the fans had seen it before. Besides, we couldn’t get stars like that, and the ones we already had who fit the bill (Jericho, Christian, Sting) were doing too well in their current roles to suddenly switch direction like that.
It was only a few days later that I realised that I was looking at it all wrong. Instead of focusing on the past, TNA needed to look to the future. We needed to do something like what had worked for other companies, but in a way that was unique. We needed to do something that allowed us to stand out as something new and different, while still preserving the old school values. We needed something that showed we were serious about presenting the best quality matches and most exciting action, rather than the stale product WWE were putting out. In particular, we needed something that would help us break the deadlock we had been meeting in the Northeast and allow us to really branch out to other parts of the country. We needed something that would help elevate not only the company as a whole, but also many of the individual stars in it.
In short, we needed Ring of Honor.
Final Resolution 2006 Results
Team Canada def. Lance Hoyt, Jay Lethal & Kenny King
The Latin American Exchange def. The Naturals
Alex Shelley, Austin Aries & Roderick Strong def. Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt & Matt Bentley
The James Gang def. Diamonds in the Rough
AJ Styles def. Hiroshi Tanahashi in an International X Showcase Match
Sean Waltman def. Raven in a Raven’s Rules Match
Bobby Roode def. Ron Killings
Abyss def. Rhino
NWA Tag Team Champions America’s Most Wanted def. Team 3-D
TNA X Division Champion Samoa Joe def. Christopher Daniels
Sting & Christian Cage def. NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett & Monty Brown
Against All Odds 2006 Results
Ron Killings def. A-1
Lance Hoyt, Cassidy Riley & Shark Boy def. Shannon Moore, Elix Skipper & David Young
The Naturals def. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong
Jay Lethal def. Petey Williams, Matt Bentley and Alex Shelley
The James Gang def. The Latin American Exchange
NWA Tag Team Champions America’s Most Wanted def. Chris Sabin & Sonjay Dutt
Rhino def. Abyss in a Falls Count Anywhere Match
TNA X Division Champion Samoa Joe def. AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels
Team 3-D def. Team Canada
Christian Cage def. Jeff Jarrett to win the NWA World Championship
Destination X 2006 Results
Diamonds in the Rough def. Shark Boy & Cassidy Riley
Shannon Moore def. Matt Bentley
Petey Williams def. Jay Lethal
Chris Sabin & Sonjay Dutt def. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong
Alex Shelley def. Lance Hoyt
The Naturals def. Team Canada
The Latin American Exchange def. The James Gang
TNA X Division Champion Samoa Joe def. AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels in an Ultimate X Match
Team 3-D, Ron Killings & Rhino def. America’s Most Wanted, Abyss & Jeff Jarrett when Sting returned
NWA World Champion Christian Cage def. Monty Brown
Lockdown 2006 Results
Shannon Moore def. Sonjay Dutt
Roderick Strong def. Lance Hoyt
Team Canada def. The Naturals
The James Gang def. The Latin American Exchange
Ron Killings def. Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal and Petey Williams
AJ Styles def. Monty Brown
Rhino def. Abyss
TNA X Division Champion Samoa Joe def. Christopher Daniels
Team 3-D def. America’s Most Wanted to win the NWA Tag Team Championships
NWA World Champion Christian Cage def. Jeff Jarrett
Sacrifice 2006 Results
Diamonds in the Rough def. Lance Hoyt, Cassidy Riley & Shark Boy
Christopher Daniels def. Roderick Strong
Shannon Moore def. Jay Lethal, Austin Aries and Matt Bentley
Team Canada def. The Naturals, Chris Sabin & Sonjay Dutt
The Latin American Exchange def. The James Gang
NWA Tag Team Champions Team 3-D def. America’s Most Wanted in an Anything Goes Match
Sabu def. Monty Brown
TNA X Division Champion Samoa Joe def. Ron Killings
Raven def. Alex Shelley
Sting & AJ Styles def. Jeff Jarrett & Abyss
NWA World Champion Christian Cage def. Rhino
Slammiversary 2006 Results
Lance Hoyt & Cassidy Riley def. Diamonds in the Rough
Shannon Moore & Shane Helms def. The Naturals
Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, Petey Williams & Eric Young def. Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal, Matt Bentley & Shark Boy
The James Gang def. America’s Most Wanted
Raven def. Bobby Roode
NWA Tag Team Champions Team 3-D def. Latin American Exchange
Rhino def. Sabu, Monty Brown and Ron Killings
TNA X Division Champion Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels fought to a time limit draw
Jeff Jarrett def. Sting when Abyss interfered
NWA World Champion Christian Cage def. AJ Styles
Victory Road 2006 Results
Sonjay Dutt def. Cassidy Riley, Matt Bentley and Jay Lethal
Alex Shelley, Austin Aries & Roderick Strong def. Diamonds in the Rough
Jeff Hardy def. Chris Sabin
America’s Most Wanted def. Latin American Exchange, The Naturals and Shannon Moore & Shane Helms
Monty Brown def. Ron Killings
NWA Tag Team Champions Team 3-D def. The James Gang
Raven def. Petey Williams
TNA X Division Champion Samoa Joe def. Christopher Daniels in a Submission Match
Abyss def. Sting
NWA World Champion Christian Cage def. Jeff Jarrett, Rhino, AJ Styles and Chris Jericho in a King of the Mountain Match
Hard Justice 2006 Results
Lance Hoyt def. David Young
Austin Aries & Roderick Strong def. Chris Sabin & Sonjay Dutt
The James Gang def. Team Canada
Shannon Moore & Shane Helms def. The Latin American Exchange
Jay Lethal def. Alex Shelley, Shark Boy and Matt Bentley
Christopher Daniels def. Ron Killings
America’s Most Wanted def. Team 3-D to win the NWA Tag Team Championships
TNA X Division Champion Samoa Joe def. Jeff Hardy
Raven def. Monty Brown, Rhino and Sabu in a Hardcore Rules Match
Chris Jericho def. AJ Styles and Jeff Jarrett
NWA World Champion Christian Cage def. Abyss
No Surrender 2006 Results
Cassidy Riley def. Shark Boy
Lance Hoyt def. Matt Bentley
Latin American Exchange def. The Naturals
Chris Sabin & Sonjay Dutt def. Diamonds in the Rough
Jay Lethal def. Alex Shelley
Austin Aries & Roderick Strong def. Team Canada, James Gang and Moore & Helms
Sabu def. Raven, Rhino, Jeff Hardy, Abyss and Monty Brown in Monster’s Ball III to win the TNA Hardcore Championship (Sting attacks Abyss)
Jeff Jarrett & America’s Most Wanted def. Ron Killings & Team 3-D
AJ Styles def. Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe to win the TNA X Division Championship
NWA World Champion Christian Cage def. Chris Jericho
Bound For Glory 2006 Results
Eric Young def. Cassidy Riley
James Gibson won a 20-man X Division Gauntlet: The other participants were Andy Douglas, Cassidy Riley, Chase Stevens, Chris Sabin, David Young, Delirious, Elix Skipper, Eric Young, Jeff Hardy, Jerrelle Clark, Jimmy Yang, Matt Bentley, Matt Sydal, Petey Williams, Roderick Strong, Shane Helms, Shannon Moore, Shark Boy and Sonjay Dutt
A good old fashioned X Division showcase match. Both James Gibson and Shane Helms had left the WWE after it was becoming clear that neither of them was going to be used effectively; Helms was given the Cruiserweight Title and then booked in mess after mess, while Gibson had been kept out of the title scene altogether and left stuck on Velocity. Eventually, after much wrangling, they got their releases and we brought them in. This was Gibson’s debut match, one of a couple of surprise entrants along with Jimmy Yang, Matt Sydal and Delirious.
Alex Shelley def. Jay Lethal in a tournament final to win the NWA World Television Championship
We’d acquired the NWA World Television title to go with the World and Tag titles as part of our continued good relations with the NWA. I was sure that we should strengthen our relations with them even if we weren’t a member, since they could provide us with newer talent if we needed, and looking long term, eventually our lease on those belts was going to run out, and we didn’t want to be in a position where they didn’t want to let us keep them. A tournament had been quickly organised with the final taking place at Bound For Glory. Shelley and Lethal had been engaged in a mini-feud for a couple of months, so they made natural choices for the final, with Shelley coming out on top.
Monty Brown def. Austin Aries
Austin Aries was another guy who I saw great potential in as a singles star, although he’d been kept primarily in the tag ranks up to this point. This was his first major singles match in TNA since his debut match against Christopher Daniels. Monty Brown was somewhat lacking direction, having been programmed primarily in the World and Hardcore title scenes without much success. Monty won this one, as he really had to, but Aries’ performance was enough to show that he had potential as a singles wrestler as well as in the tag ranks.
The James Gang & Ron Killings def. The Latin American Exchange
For a while now, we had been discussing the possibility of the James Gang being used in more of a backstage capacity as road agents. With injuries catching up with them, they readily agreed, and this match was billed as their last appearance. It made sense to let them go out on a high note, so they won and basked in the crowd’s cheers before leaving. Konnan also headed back to Mexico after this, leaving the LAX (by this point consisting of Homicide and Low-Ki) without a manager. Convenient, that.
TNA Hardcore Champion Sabu def. Rhino
In order to capitalise on the popularity of the various kinds of hardcore match we had been running, like Monster’s Ball, we introduced a new Hardcore championship to give that section of our shows its own division and allow us to put on those kinds of matches on a more regular basis. Sabu was a logical choice based on his association with hardcore wrestling and the fact that he had made it clear to use that he wanted to continue with it as long as he was physically able. There was no sense in taking the title off Sabu so soon, although Rhino really needed to pick up some wins, as we weren’t capitalising on his popularity as we should.
NWA Tag Team Champions America’s Most Wanted def. Team 3-D
Team 3-D had been given a decent run as Tag champions during the middle of the year, but soon the decision was made to switch the titles back. Some people on the writing team had real faith in America’s Most Wanted. AMW finished off Brother Ray cleanly with the Death Sentence in a fairly good match.
Chris Jericho def. Raven
The first of our four billed main events. Jericho had made his big debut at the Slammiversary, attacking AJ Styles and teasing an alliance with Christian Cage before attacking him too. Then when Jeff Jarrett and Scott D’Amore came out to accept him as a member of Team Canada, he attacked them also, with Jericho and Christian brawling as the show went off the air. Building on his usual egomaniac character, we had him explain on Impact that he was only out for himself and wouldn’t ally with anyone, and that he only wanted the NWA World title. Raven had been reinstated in a storyline too complex to attempt explaining (I think it was D’Amore’s idea) and had been systematically going through Jarrett’s allies. After a short detour to bolster the fledgling hardcore division, we brought him back to the main event with this match, built by Jericho taking verbal shots at Raven for taking his time defeating guys like Alex Shelley and Bobby Roode rather than jumping straight back into the main event. Jericho won after an excellent match.
TNA X Division Champion AJ Styles def. Samoa Joe
After Christopher Daniels spending most of the year trying to take the X Division title from Samoa Joe (including fighting to a 30-minute time limit draw in a fantastic match at Slammiversary), it was AJ Styles who won the title the month before this is another triple threat rematch. Since Styles pinned Daniels and not Joe, a rematch was signed for Bound For Glory, but on the night, it was announced that Daniels had failed to show up for the match and that it would continue as a singles match. Styles finally handed Joe his first singles loss in TNA, with Joe and AJ shaking hands in the ring to a huge pop. But the real question was, where was Daniels?
Abyss def. Sting
Sting and Jeff Jarrett had been feuding for most of the year, mainly to keep them in the main event scene without disrupting Christian’s title reign. Jarrett had brought in Abyss to help him defeat Sting at Slammiversary, setting up a feud between the two. Abyss had defeated Sting at Victory Road and ‘put him out of action’, leading to Sting returning the next month to cost him the NWA World title and later the Hardcore title as well. Thanks to interference from Father James Mitchell Abyss picked up the victory again here, but the crowd gave Sting a huge ovation after the match.
NWA World Champion Christian Cage def. Jeff Jarrett
The natural choice for main event. I had been pushing for the belt to be kept on Cage ever since he had won it, with the reasoning being that WWE had never made him the true main event player we wanted him to be, and so it was on us to do that. Christian was having a great run as champion with fantastic matches all across the year. Jarrett had mostly been kept in his feud with Sting and other enemies of ‘Jarrett’s Army’, as even Jeff himself was realising that the crowd was tired of having him constantly in the main events as champion and some time away from the title scene would help his overness. We relented and let him have another shot at the belt here, with Christian again getting the win in fairly convincing fashion. As he celebrated, though, a familiar voice rang out through the arena.
“Great win, champ, but don’t think it’s over yet!”
Jim Cornette walked out onto the entrance ramp to a great reaction from the crowd! Christian and Jarrett both stared at him in confusion as Cornette continued.
“You see, you may have won this match against a great competitor like Jeff Jarrett, and it was certainly a great match that all these people paid to see. But there is one man that I’d like to introduce you to. A man who you have never beaten, a man who holds a belt that makes him the real world champion, a man who I pulled off this show tonight in order to make a bigger impact right here, right now. Ladies and gentleman, allow me to introduce to you… ‘The Fallen Angel’, Christopher Daniels!”
The crowd reacts with confusion to this news, a confusion that is only increased when Daniels walks out… with the ROH World title over his shoulder! Tenay explains about Daniels winning the belt from Bryan Danielson at ROH’s last show Glory By Honor V while Don West goes nuts.
“For those of you who don’t know,” Cornette continues, “until about a month ago, I was the commissioner of a promotion called Ring of Honor. A promotion that was run out of business by guys like you! Christian Cage, as good as a wrestler as you are, you are not the true World Heavyweight Champion. Anyone who saw the match where this man won the ROH World title knows that there is no man in the wrestling industry who can beat the Fallen Angel. And as for you, Jeff Jarrett, there’s a lot of things that me and every true wrestling fan would like to say to you, but for now there’s only two words I have: turn around!”
Jarrett does so, and gets levelled by CM Punk! Punk had left WWE a few months ago after a very public blow-up with management, and so received a fairly huge reaction. Christian attacked Punk, so Daniels ran down to the ring and took out Christian with a blow from the ROH title belt! Daniels and Punk were beating down Christian and Jarrett when the locker room started to empty, with Styles, Rhino, Killings and Raven rushing the ring. They were quickly followed by Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, Homicide, Low-Ki, Austin Aries, Alex Shelley and Roderick Strong, all wearing ROH shirts, who attacked the TNA guys. Everyone was brawling as the PPV went off the air.
It was an unexpected, chaotic situation that had everyone buzzing. That was exactly the atmosphere I had been hoping for. Now we needed to keep up that momentum with the next month of programming. It was time to see if we could really pull this off.
I’m not going to tell you where I got my money from. Let’s just say I was lucky from birth and made some smart investments. Suffice to say that I had enough money to live comfortably for the rest of my life. And when you have financial security, life gets boring quickly. I wanted to do something with what I had, and use my business acumen to its fullest ability. It was then that I turned my eye to wrestling. I’d always been a fan, albeit rather casually, but what really attracted me to it was what I saw as a great deal of potential. The WWE had dominated the market for years now, but Vince McMahon did not realise that the wrestling industry was about the last place you could hope to set up a monopoly. It thrived on competition. There was an obvious gap in the market, and I wanted to exploit it – to the tune of millions of dollars.
I sought out the largest possible competitor to WWE in North America, TNA. TNA had been making great progress trying to catch up with WWE, but were still far behind when I contacted them, as well as struggling financially. After a great deal of negotiation between myself, the Jarretts and Dixie Carter, I was able to secure myself a sizable chunk of the company and give it a much-needed cash boost. But I was ambitious – I wasn’t willing to sit back and let the company be run by itself. I lobbied to be allowed a role in the creative side of the company. I spoke with the Jarretts, and after pitching a couple of ideas I was able to convince them that I could help with the booking. Of course, I still had to answer to them as well as other members of the booking committee, like Scott D’Amore and Mike Tenay. But even so, it was where I wanted to be. We worked together, and soon I was an indispensable part of the company.
Bolstered by the added financing, we grew in strength and influence over the next few months. Our first house show in Detroit went well, and we continued to expand, although not as quickly as we had hoped we would. Impact’s debut on primetime was a success, and our ratings were steadily increasing with SpikeTV’s support. WWE was starting to show signs of weakness, too, with fans becoming increasingly disenfranchised with the product and locker room morale dropping, allowing us to bring in a couple of their guys who they had released. We opened a developmental territory, NWA Tennessee (in order to take advantage of our residual popularity in Nashville and to strengthen our ties with the NWA), and improved the Gut Check Academy. We were introducing new title belts to take advantage of the growing roster and extra TV time. The success of Christian Cage as our champion was enough to convince Chris Jericho to make good on his previous rumor-mongering and sign with TNA, a huge coup for us.
And all the time I was learning more and more about the business and applying my own knowledge to it. I improved our production and marketing, I increased our scope in terms of house show markets and allowed us the potential to travel outside Universal Studios for our shows. We still weren’t quite ready to start touring with Impact, or even air live – you can’t jump too far ahead of yourself in this industry, especially when you can’t afford to take heavy losses (and make no mistake, we couldn’t) – but we were making big progress. Some internet fans had started to refer to me as the ‘Saviour of TNA’. Others considered me nothing more than a businessman who didn’t know what he was doing and reviled my guts. I didn’t much care either way. I wasn’t doing this for them. I was doing it for the money that I would get out of it, and the kick I would get out of dethroning Mr. McMahon himself.
But, I realised, the company really needed a kick start in order to really put it over the top and start to mount a serious challenge to WWE. I racked my brains trying to think of what we could do to get to the next level. I remembered WCW getting their boost with the debut of Nitro and the formation of the New World Order. Certainly Impact’s move to primetime had been an important event for us, one that had greatly helped us, but had not had the same effect as the first Nitro: we had booked a great show with excellent matches and surprise angles, but we still weren’t live, and we had nowhere near enough resources to pull off something as big as Lex Luger’s debut had been in WCW. I considered an invasion angle similar to the nWo concept, since the figures and statistics to show the way it had allowed WCW to take off were readily available, but rejected it initially because it was ridiculous to hope that trying something identical would produce the exact same effect; the fans had seen it before. Besides, we couldn’t get stars like that, and the ones we already had who fit the bill (Jericho, Christian, Sting) were doing too well in their current roles to suddenly switch direction like that.
It was only a few days later that I realised that I was looking at it all wrong. Instead of focusing on the past, TNA needed to look to the future. We needed to do something like what had worked for other companies, but in a way that was unique. We needed to do something that allowed us to stand out as something new and different, while still preserving the old school values. We needed something that showed we were serious about presenting the best quality matches and most exciting action, rather than the stale product WWE were putting out. In particular, we needed something that would help us break the deadlock we had been meeting in the Northeast and allow us to really branch out to other parts of the country. We needed something that would help elevate not only the company as a whole, but also many of the individual stars in it.
In short, we needed Ring of Honor.
ROH had been having some tough times in the last few months. It all started at their show ‘Unscripted II’ in February, when TNA’s influence caused havoc as several wrestlers were forced to cancel in order to fly to Orlando earlier, at our insistence. It made be realise just how much control we had over them, that just a well hyped show for ROH could have a generally disappointed reaction from the fans due to our influence. I realised that ROH was only surviving in the wrestling world because we allowed them to do so, and the way that things were changing for both us and them, it wasn’t necessarily in our best interests to do so anymore. If we were to have solidarity in our ranks, if we were to mount a serious challenge to WWE, we needed Ring of Honor. In my mind ROH represented everything we needed to be, exciting wrestling action that fans could easily keep watching regardless of whether or not the storylines were compelling enough. And if they were compelling enough, then so much the better.I pushed hard for us to disrupt ROH’s schedule wherever we could, always in fairly minor ways but just enough to make a difference. I knew from the past situations with AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels that we could convince important guys to stick with us instead of ROH. Pretty soon the company was in trouble, and after a while, we stepped in. I dug deep into my bank accounts and bought the company, hiring most of the wrestlers and gaining their titles. I brought in most of their staff too, and added Gabe Sapolsky to our booking team. We even acquired the trademarks. ROH was effectively ours.
In my eyes, ROH represented everything we needed to bring in. Wrestling was hitting a downturn because of the public perception that it was boring or sleazy or uncool or whatever the hell it was that non-fans thought of wrestling. I wanted to be the one to bring wrestling out of the gutter and back into the mainstream like it had been during the Monday Night Wars, and in doing so propel TNA to the top of the wrestling world. Eric Bischoff had taken on the WWE with big name stars and high profile matches, but he had had Ted Turner’s billions supporting him. We couldn’t afford to work that way. But I was convinced that people didn’t necessarily want to see that anymore, especially as a regular thing; I had pushed hard throughout the year for Sting’s appearances to be kept to a minimum, in order not to burn out his drawing power too quickly and to make his appearances more special. It had worked to a certain extent, but like I said, we couldn’t afford to keep bringing in guys like Sting.
I was certain that people wanted to see a more athletic, exciting brand of in-ring action with the best young talents in the business, which were in the most plentiful supply in ROH. If we couldn’t afford to bring in old stars, we would just have to make new ones. By providing a higher quality of wrestling I was certain we could keep drawing in new fans. WWE had been looking at things the wrong way around, they seemed to think that fans were watching for the storylines and characters, and focusing their attention on that. There was no doubt in my mind that those were important, but the wrestling always came first. This was, after all, a wrestling promotion.
Of course, one certain side effect to my actions was the backlash of the hardcore internet fans. They reacted in the usual childish way they did, creating an uproar, threatening to boycott our shows. They say I killed ROH. I say, so what? The only thing that matters is doing whatever is necessary to defeat Vince McMahon and the WWE. Everything else is secondary, especially the opinions of a bunch of Internet geeks. I only tolerate them because I know that many of them loyally buy our shows, and besides, Internet opinion doesn’t mean squat: anyone who raises an opinion has a thousand people who disagree with him. The Internet was the least of my worries, despite what they might have thought.
Because what those fans didn’t yet realise was what I planned to do with ROH. I planned to turn it into the biggest angle TNA had ever seen. Our own little promotion war, and this time, I was determined to do it right. I studied successful invasion angles to see what they did right, unsuccessful ones to see what went wrong, and I was sure that, with the help of the rest of the booking committee, I could pull it off. It all went down at Bound For Glory 2006, about a month after ROH shut down.
In my eyes, ROH represented everything we needed to bring in. Wrestling was hitting a downturn because of the public perception that it was boring or sleazy or uncool or whatever the hell it was that non-fans thought of wrestling. I wanted to be the one to bring wrestling out of the gutter and back into the mainstream like it had been during the Monday Night Wars, and in doing so propel TNA to the top of the wrestling world. Eric Bischoff had taken on the WWE with big name stars and high profile matches, but he had had Ted Turner’s billions supporting him. We couldn’t afford to work that way. But I was convinced that people didn’t necessarily want to see that anymore, especially as a regular thing; I had pushed hard throughout the year for Sting’s appearances to be kept to a minimum, in order not to burn out his drawing power too quickly and to make his appearances more special. It had worked to a certain extent, but like I said, we couldn’t afford to keep bringing in guys like Sting.
I was certain that people wanted to see a more athletic, exciting brand of in-ring action with the best young talents in the business, which were in the most plentiful supply in ROH. If we couldn’t afford to bring in old stars, we would just have to make new ones. By providing a higher quality of wrestling I was certain we could keep drawing in new fans. WWE had been looking at things the wrong way around, they seemed to think that fans were watching for the storylines and characters, and focusing their attention on that. There was no doubt in my mind that those were important, but the wrestling always came first. This was, after all, a wrestling promotion.
Of course, one certain side effect to my actions was the backlash of the hardcore internet fans. They reacted in the usual childish way they did, creating an uproar, threatening to boycott our shows. They say I killed ROH. I say, so what? The only thing that matters is doing whatever is necessary to defeat Vince McMahon and the WWE. Everything else is secondary, especially the opinions of a bunch of Internet geeks. I only tolerate them because I know that many of them loyally buy our shows, and besides, Internet opinion doesn’t mean squat: anyone who raises an opinion has a thousand people who disagree with him. The Internet was the least of my worries, despite what they might have thought.
Because what those fans didn’t yet realise was what I planned to do with ROH. I planned to turn it into the biggest angle TNA had ever seen. Our own little promotion war, and this time, I was determined to do it right. I studied successful invasion angles to see what they did right, unsuccessful ones to see what went wrong, and I was sure that, with the help of the rest of the booking committee, I could pull it off. It all went down at Bound For Glory 2006, about a month after ROH shut down.
Final Resolution 2006 Results
Team Canada def. Lance Hoyt, Jay Lethal & Kenny King
The Latin American Exchange def. The Naturals
Alex Shelley, Austin Aries & Roderick Strong def. Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt & Matt Bentley
The James Gang def. Diamonds in the Rough
AJ Styles def. Hiroshi Tanahashi in an International X Showcase Match
Sean Waltman def. Raven in a Raven’s Rules Match
Bobby Roode def. Ron Killings
Abyss def. Rhino
NWA Tag Team Champions America’s Most Wanted def. Team 3-D
TNA X Division Champion Samoa Joe def. Christopher Daniels
Sting & Christian Cage def. NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett & Monty Brown
Against All Odds 2006 Results
Ron Killings def. A-1
Lance Hoyt, Cassidy Riley & Shark Boy def. Shannon Moore, Elix Skipper & David Young
The Naturals def. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong
Jay Lethal def. Petey Williams, Matt Bentley and Alex Shelley
The James Gang def. The Latin American Exchange
NWA Tag Team Champions America’s Most Wanted def. Chris Sabin & Sonjay Dutt
Rhino def. Abyss in a Falls Count Anywhere Match
TNA X Division Champion Samoa Joe def. AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels
Team 3-D def. Team Canada
Christian Cage def. Jeff Jarrett to win the NWA World Championship
Destination X 2006 Results
Diamonds in the Rough def. Shark Boy & Cassidy Riley
Shannon Moore def. Matt Bentley
Petey Williams def. Jay Lethal
Chris Sabin & Sonjay Dutt def. Austin Aries & Roderick Strong
Alex Shelley def. Lance Hoyt
The Naturals def. Team Canada
The Latin American Exchange def. The James Gang
TNA X Division Champion Samoa Joe def. AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels in an Ultimate X Match
Team 3-D, Ron Killings & Rhino def. America’s Most Wanted, Abyss & Jeff Jarrett when Sting returned
NWA World Champion Christian Cage def. Monty Brown
Lockdown 2006 Results
Shannon Moore def. Sonjay Dutt
Roderick Strong def. Lance Hoyt
Team Canada def. The Naturals
The James Gang def. The Latin American Exchange
Ron Killings def. Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal and Petey Williams
AJ Styles def. Monty Brown
Rhino def. Abyss
TNA X Division Champion Samoa Joe def. Christopher Daniels
Team 3-D def. America’s Most Wanted to win the NWA Tag Team Championships
NWA World Champion Christian Cage def. Jeff Jarrett
Sacrifice 2006 Results
Diamonds in the Rough def. Lance Hoyt, Cassidy Riley & Shark Boy
Christopher Daniels def. Roderick Strong
Shannon Moore def. Jay Lethal, Austin Aries and Matt Bentley
Team Canada def. The Naturals, Chris Sabin & Sonjay Dutt
The Latin American Exchange def. The James Gang
NWA Tag Team Champions Team 3-D def. America’s Most Wanted in an Anything Goes Match
Sabu def. Monty Brown
TNA X Division Champion Samoa Joe def. Ron Killings
Raven def. Alex Shelley
Sting & AJ Styles def. Jeff Jarrett & Abyss
NWA World Champion Christian Cage def. Rhino
Slammiversary 2006 Results
Lance Hoyt & Cassidy Riley def. Diamonds in the Rough
Shannon Moore & Shane Helms def. The Naturals
Alex Shelley, Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, Petey Williams & Eric Young def. Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal, Matt Bentley & Shark Boy
The James Gang def. America’s Most Wanted
Raven def. Bobby Roode
NWA Tag Team Champions Team 3-D def. Latin American Exchange
Rhino def. Sabu, Monty Brown and Ron Killings
TNA X Division Champion Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels fought to a time limit draw
Jeff Jarrett def. Sting when Abyss interfered
NWA World Champion Christian Cage def. AJ Styles
Victory Road 2006 Results
Sonjay Dutt def. Cassidy Riley, Matt Bentley and Jay Lethal
Alex Shelley, Austin Aries & Roderick Strong def. Diamonds in the Rough
Jeff Hardy def. Chris Sabin
America’s Most Wanted def. Latin American Exchange, The Naturals and Shannon Moore & Shane Helms
Monty Brown def. Ron Killings
NWA Tag Team Champions Team 3-D def. The James Gang
Raven def. Petey Williams
TNA X Division Champion Samoa Joe def. Christopher Daniels in a Submission Match
Abyss def. Sting
NWA World Champion Christian Cage def. Jeff Jarrett, Rhino, AJ Styles and Chris Jericho in a King of the Mountain Match
Hard Justice 2006 Results
Lance Hoyt def. David Young
Austin Aries & Roderick Strong def. Chris Sabin & Sonjay Dutt
The James Gang def. Team Canada
Shannon Moore & Shane Helms def. The Latin American Exchange
Jay Lethal def. Alex Shelley, Shark Boy and Matt Bentley
Christopher Daniels def. Ron Killings
America’s Most Wanted def. Team 3-D to win the NWA Tag Team Championships
TNA X Division Champion Samoa Joe def. Jeff Hardy
Raven def. Monty Brown, Rhino and Sabu in a Hardcore Rules Match
Chris Jericho def. AJ Styles and Jeff Jarrett
NWA World Champion Christian Cage def. Abyss
No Surrender 2006 Results
Cassidy Riley def. Shark Boy
Lance Hoyt def. Matt Bentley
Latin American Exchange def. The Naturals
Chris Sabin & Sonjay Dutt def. Diamonds in the Rough
Jay Lethal def. Alex Shelley
Austin Aries & Roderick Strong def. Team Canada, James Gang and Moore & Helms
Sabu def. Raven, Rhino, Jeff Hardy, Abyss and Monty Brown in Monster’s Ball III to win the TNA Hardcore Championship (Sting attacks Abyss)
Jeff Jarrett & America’s Most Wanted def. Ron Killings & Team 3-D
AJ Styles def. Christopher Daniels and Samoa Joe to win the TNA X Division Championship
NWA World Champion Christian Cage def. Chris Jericho
Bound For Glory 2006 Results
Eric Young def. Cassidy Riley
James Gibson won a 20-man X Division Gauntlet: The other participants were Andy Douglas, Cassidy Riley, Chase Stevens, Chris Sabin, David Young, Delirious, Elix Skipper, Eric Young, Jeff Hardy, Jerrelle Clark, Jimmy Yang, Matt Bentley, Matt Sydal, Petey Williams, Roderick Strong, Shane Helms, Shannon Moore, Shark Boy and Sonjay Dutt
A good old fashioned X Division showcase match. Both James Gibson and Shane Helms had left the WWE after it was becoming clear that neither of them was going to be used effectively; Helms was given the Cruiserweight Title and then booked in mess after mess, while Gibson had been kept out of the title scene altogether and left stuck on Velocity. Eventually, after much wrangling, they got their releases and we brought them in. This was Gibson’s debut match, one of a couple of surprise entrants along with Jimmy Yang, Matt Sydal and Delirious.
Alex Shelley def. Jay Lethal in a tournament final to win the NWA World Television Championship
We’d acquired the NWA World Television title to go with the World and Tag titles as part of our continued good relations with the NWA. I was sure that we should strengthen our relations with them even if we weren’t a member, since they could provide us with newer talent if we needed, and looking long term, eventually our lease on those belts was going to run out, and we didn’t want to be in a position where they didn’t want to let us keep them. A tournament had been quickly organised with the final taking place at Bound For Glory. Shelley and Lethal had been engaged in a mini-feud for a couple of months, so they made natural choices for the final, with Shelley coming out on top.
Monty Brown def. Austin Aries
Austin Aries was another guy who I saw great potential in as a singles star, although he’d been kept primarily in the tag ranks up to this point. This was his first major singles match in TNA since his debut match against Christopher Daniels. Monty Brown was somewhat lacking direction, having been programmed primarily in the World and Hardcore title scenes without much success. Monty won this one, as he really had to, but Aries’ performance was enough to show that he had potential as a singles wrestler as well as in the tag ranks.
The James Gang & Ron Killings def. The Latin American Exchange
For a while now, we had been discussing the possibility of the James Gang being used in more of a backstage capacity as road agents. With injuries catching up with them, they readily agreed, and this match was billed as their last appearance. It made sense to let them go out on a high note, so they won and basked in the crowd’s cheers before leaving. Konnan also headed back to Mexico after this, leaving the LAX (by this point consisting of Homicide and Low-Ki) without a manager. Convenient, that.
TNA Hardcore Champion Sabu def. Rhino
In order to capitalise on the popularity of the various kinds of hardcore match we had been running, like Monster’s Ball, we introduced a new Hardcore championship to give that section of our shows its own division and allow us to put on those kinds of matches on a more regular basis. Sabu was a logical choice based on his association with hardcore wrestling and the fact that he had made it clear to use that he wanted to continue with it as long as he was physically able. There was no sense in taking the title off Sabu so soon, although Rhino really needed to pick up some wins, as we weren’t capitalising on his popularity as we should.
NWA Tag Team Champions America’s Most Wanted def. Team 3-D
Team 3-D had been given a decent run as Tag champions during the middle of the year, but soon the decision was made to switch the titles back. Some people on the writing team had real faith in America’s Most Wanted. AMW finished off Brother Ray cleanly with the Death Sentence in a fairly good match.
Chris Jericho def. Raven
The first of our four billed main events. Jericho had made his big debut at the Slammiversary, attacking AJ Styles and teasing an alliance with Christian Cage before attacking him too. Then when Jeff Jarrett and Scott D’Amore came out to accept him as a member of Team Canada, he attacked them also, with Jericho and Christian brawling as the show went off the air. Building on his usual egomaniac character, we had him explain on Impact that he was only out for himself and wouldn’t ally with anyone, and that he only wanted the NWA World title. Raven had been reinstated in a storyline too complex to attempt explaining (I think it was D’Amore’s idea) and had been systematically going through Jarrett’s allies. After a short detour to bolster the fledgling hardcore division, we brought him back to the main event with this match, built by Jericho taking verbal shots at Raven for taking his time defeating guys like Alex Shelley and Bobby Roode rather than jumping straight back into the main event. Jericho won after an excellent match.
TNA X Division Champion AJ Styles def. Samoa Joe
After Christopher Daniels spending most of the year trying to take the X Division title from Samoa Joe (including fighting to a 30-minute time limit draw in a fantastic match at Slammiversary), it was AJ Styles who won the title the month before this is another triple threat rematch. Since Styles pinned Daniels and not Joe, a rematch was signed for Bound For Glory, but on the night, it was announced that Daniels had failed to show up for the match and that it would continue as a singles match. Styles finally handed Joe his first singles loss in TNA, with Joe and AJ shaking hands in the ring to a huge pop. But the real question was, where was Daniels?
Abyss def. Sting
Sting and Jeff Jarrett had been feuding for most of the year, mainly to keep them in the main event scene without disrupting Christian’s title reign. Jarrett had brought in Abyss to help him defeat Sting at Slammiversary, setting up a feud between the two. Abyss had defeated Sting at Victory Road and ‘put him out of action’, leading to Sting returning the next month to cost him the NWA World title and later the Hardcore title as well. Thanks to interference from Father James Mitchell Abyss picked up the victory again here, but the crowd gave Sting a huge ovation after the match.
NWA World Champion Christian Cage def. Jeff Jarrett
The natural choice for main event. I had been pushing for the belt to be kept on Cage ever since he had won it, with the reasoning being that WWE had never made him the true main event player we wanted him to be, and so it was on us to do that. Christian was having a great run as champion with fantastic matches all across the year. Jarrett had mostly been kept in his feud with Sting and other enemies of ‘Jarrett’s Army’, as even Jeff himself was realising that the crowd was tired of having him constantly in the main events as champion and some time away from the title scene would help his overness. We relented and let him have another shot at the belt here, with Christian again getting the win in fairly convincing fashion. As he celebrated, though, a familiar voice rang out through the arena.
“Great win, champ, but don’t think it’s over yet!”
Jim Cornette walked out onto the entrance ramp to a great reaction from the crowd! Christian and Jarrett both stared at him in confusion as Cornette continued.
“You see, you may have won this match against a great competitor like Jeff Jarrett, and it was certainly a great match that all these people paid to see. But there is one man that I’d like to introduce you to. A man who you have never beaten, a man who holds a belt that makes him the real world champion, a man who I pulled off this show tonight in order to make a bigger impact right here, right now. Ladies and gentleman, allow me to introduce to you… ‘The Fallen Angel’, Christopher Daniels!”
The crowd reacts with confusion to this news, a confusion that is only increased when Daniels walks out… with the ROH World title over his shoulder! Tenay explains about Daniels winning the belt from Bryan Danielson at ROH’s last show Glory By Honor V while Don West goes nuts.
“For those of you who don’t know,” Cornette continues, “until about a month ago, I was the commissioner of a promotion called Ring of Honor. A promotion that was run out of business by guys like you! Christian Cage, as good as a wrestler as you are, you are not the true World Heavyweight Champion. Anyone who saw the match where this man won the ROH World title knows that there is no man in the wrestling industry who can beat the Fallen Angel. And as for you, Jeff Jarrett, there’s a lot of things that me and every true wrestling fan would like to say to you, but for now there’s only two words I have: turn around!”
Jarrett does so, and gets levelled by CM Punk! Punk had left WWE a few months ago after a very public blow-up with management, and so received a fairly huge reaction. Christian attacked Punk, so Daniels ran down to the ring and took out Christian with a blow from the ROH title belt! Daniels and Punk were beating down Christian and Jarrett when the locker room started to empty, with Styles, Rhino, Killings and Raven rushing the ring. They were quickly followed by Samoa Joe, Bryan Danielson, Homicide, Low-Ki, Austin Aries, Alex Shelley and Roderick Strong, all wearing ROH shirts, who attacked the TNA guys. Everyone was brawling as the PPV went off the air.
It was an unexpected, chaotic situation that had everyone buzzing. That was exactly the atmosphere I had been hoping for. Now we needed to keep up that momentum with the next month of programming. It was time to see if we could really pull this off.
