Post by King Bálor (CM)™ on May 29, 2008 23:07:01 GMT -5
After all the years TNA has been around......after all the fantastic 5 star matches from its heyday.....and from all the lousy Russo emotionless/care less angles......TNA finally has one that people can and will care about. AJ Styles/Kurt Angle/Karen Angle. So far I really like how this has been playing out. I was fearful, considering how goofy AJ has been being booked over the past year. IE His schoolboy crush on Karen, etc. But, last week......we started seeing the old AJ again. The same AJ that had a great entertaining feud with Kid Kash back in the day. He stands up to Tomko, delcaring himself his own man. He goes to the ring to qualify for KOTM....is robbed by Tomko and then gets the beat down. In fantastic story telling....Karen comes to his aide. She is threatened by the bad guys.......enter Kurt Angle, her estranged husband. Face turn for Kurt? No.....THE DOUBLE CROSS!!!! Kurt is incensed. He nails AJ and blames Karen for AJ's suffering. Oh so well carried out.
Enter this week's Impact. The bad guys are gloating and AJ with the sneak attack. He gets revenge on 4 of the 5 bad guys and has a special announcement for Karen. Cue the end of Impact.......AJ is ready to tell the world his announcement and enter Kurt Angle......head evil bad guy. He attacks AJ from behind, beating the holy hell out of him backstage. Karen is horrified. AJ is down. Kurt comes to the ring and insults Karen over and over. Degrades her and makes her the villian and he the victim. This is classic storytelling and Kurt plays the jealous jaded husband. Karen finally has enough and slaps Kurt. Uh oh! Kurt is mad. Its time for some husband on wife violence. Enter OUR HERO! AJ Styles, in classic babyface style (pardon the pun), makes the save. He is getting his revenge on Kurt and saving Karen, like the good hero does. But alas our poor hero is in trouble once again. The numbers game is too much as Booker T, Dudleys and Tomko bail Kurt out and attack AJ again. Once again, we see our hero taking a beating for Karen.
But wait.......its Christian Cage. The former mentor and good buddy of AJ Styles. Like the Rhino/Christian relationship......these two are friends. Christian, better than anyone, knows about forgiveness in recent months....as the fans and Rhino have embraced him again. And he is willing to stick his neck out for AJ. But again.....the numbers. Karen shreiks in horror at the beat down AJ and Christian receive. The heels stand triumphant and the babyfaces.....beaten. Now what? Stay tuned.
Momentum. Emotion. Planning. Desire. These are the elements that TNA has been developing with this angle over the past 2 weeks. I am hard pressed this is the workings of Vince Russo. This looks more Jim Cornette or possibly Jarrett on this. Lethal/Val aint the Savage/Liz couple......its AJ/Karen. The difference here is that the fans expect AJ and Karen to be paired as a couple and thats giving everyone too much, too fast. What we need is AJ to get his announcement out after Slammiversary. Continue to have him interrupted and unable to speak until the Impact following Slammiversary. Here, AJ will reveal that he loves Karen.......like a good friend. That there is nothing going on and that AJ would do anything for his FRIEND. Karen will almost seem dissapointed, but understanding. Let this feud continue like this.......and after time, perhaps something romantic comes about. But there is time to run this story. Dont rush it.
How do I think this will play out? I think this story will continue to grow redhot. AJ/Kurt will steal the show at Slammiversary. And then....disaster. Russo will want to take over the story. He will have Karen turn on AJ, only to side with Kurt. Kurt and Karen have been scheming AJ the entire time. Kurt will dominate AJ and bury him. Kurt will then go into a feud with Samoa Joe (like we havent seen this already) and defeat Joe for the title. I pray this doesnt happen. But knowing TNA and their MO over the past few years.,......its pretty much a given. Feel free to weigh in on your opinions.
Enter this week's Impact. The bad guys are gloating and AJ with the sneak attack. He gets revenge on 4 of the 5 bad guys and has a special announcement for Karen. Cue the end of Impact.......AJ is ready to tell the world his announcement and enter Kurt Angle......head evil bad guy. He attacks AJ from behind, beating the holy hell out of him backstage. Karen is horrified. AJ is down. Kurt comes to the ring and insults Karen over and over. Degrades her and makes her the villian and he the victim. This is classic storytelling and Kurt plays the jealous jaded husband. Karen finally has enough and slaps Kurt. Uh oh! Kurt is mad. Its time for some husband on wife violence. Enter OUR HERO! AJ Styles, in classic babyface style (pardon the pun), makes the save. He is getting his revenge on Kurt and saving Karen, like the good hero does. But alas our poor hero is in trouble once again. The numbers game is too much as Booker T, Dudleys and Tomko bail Kurt out and attack AJ again. Once again, we see our hero taking a beating for Karen.
But wait.......its Christian Cage. The former mentor and good buddy of AJ Styles. Like the Rhino/Christian relationship......these two are friends. Christian, better than anyone, knows about forgiveness in recent months....as the fans and Rhino have embraced him again. And he is willing to stick his neck out for AJ. But again.....the numbers. Karen shreiks in horror at the beat down AJ and Christian receive. The heels stand triumphant and the babyfaces.....beaten. Now what? Stay tuned.
Momentum. Emotion. Planning. Desire. These are the elements that TNA has been developing with this angle over the past 2 weeks. I am hard pressed this is the workings of Vince Russo. This looks more Jim Cornette or possibly Jarrett on this. Lethal/Val aint the Savage/Liz couple......its AJ/Karen. The difference here is that the fans expect AJ and Karen to be paired as a couple and thats giving everyone too much, too fast. What we need is AJ to get his announcement out after Slammiversary. Continue to have him interrupted and unable to speak until the Impact following Slammiversary. Here, AJ will reveal that he loves Karen.......like a good friend. That there is nothing going on and that AJ would do anything for his FRIEND. Karen will almost seem dissapointed, but understanding. Let this feud continue like this.......and after time, perhaps something romantic comes about. But there is time to run this story. Dont rush it.
How do I think this will play out? I think this story will continue to grow redhot. AJ/Kurt will steal the show at Slammiversary. And then....disaster. Russo will want to take over the story. He will have Karen turn on AJ, only to side with Kurt. Kurt and Karen have been scheming AJ the entire time. Kurt will dominate AJ and bury him. Kurt will then go into a feud with Samoa Joe (like we havent seen this already) and defeat Joe for the title. I pray this doesnt happen. But knowing TNA and their MO over the past few years.,......its pretty much a given. Feel free to weigh in on your opinions.
