To call this my most ambitious blog to date is an understatement. To sit and write about 22 wrestling superstars is nothing short of daunting. Especially when I get distracted really easily by my X-Box and twitter. And yes if you guys tweet me questions I will answer them in my blogs.
So here it is, the TNA edition of who to watch in 2010. Unfortunately for the timing of this blog some of the statements I have written about certain superstars I have had to rethink due to events that have already happened in 2010. However the 10 I initially picked are the 10 I am staying with in this blog.
#10 - Desmond Wolfe
It's like he said, it started with a handshake. I still remember what it was like when he took those sunglasses off, smiled turned around and beat the hell out of Kurt Angle. A couple of awesome matches later and ladies and gentlemen we have ourselves a boneafide main eventer. Where the British Invasion I feel come off (at times) looking like a couple of comedians, Wolfe comes off looking intense and dangerous. Which is something we've lacked in our heels in a while. Sure we have Samoa Joe who is intense ALWAYS, but Wolfe is a little bit different. He's some new blood, a breath of fresh air, in short just what we needed on the heel side of the roster. I had the pleasure of both seeing him wrestle and meeting him. Thought he was rather nice and that night in that ring I became a definite Wolfe fan. Is he the complete main event package? No. But he's not that far off either. If the end of 2010 is any indication there is nothing but big things in store for Desmond Wolfe in 2010.
#9 - Kiyoshi
You see these guys have their video packages introducing us to these new guys and where they come from and what they're all about. In these packages we learned that Homicide once wrestled with a tampon in a bullet wound so he could compete. We learned all about how Robert Roode went through in Canada to be a superstar. We even learned that Jim Cornette though Vince McMahon was an idiot on how he handled and later fired Matt Morgan. But Kiyoshi's video was a little bit different. We had the usual praise from his peers but what his video had was what the other videos seemed to lack. Star power. Kiyoshi got the rub from none other than "The Icon" Sting. STING!!! Sting put this kid over and told us all to watch him. For the early part of 2009 it was easy to do just that. But then he joined the World Elite and he's become more of a punchline than anything. So maybe I don't have the video evidence to back up anything I might have to say on the subject, but trust me. I have seen enough of this kid's matches to know that if we just stand back and let him be him, that you are going to amazed. Future X-Division Champion for certain. Future tag team champion, if they can find a partner to keep up with him. Future World Champion? Well nobody ever thought Rey Mysterio would be the heavyweight champion but he did it. All I'm saying is I'd start buying stock in Kiyoshi.
#8 - Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin)
Quick quiz hotshots, who are the most talented team in TNA today? Beer Money? Sure they're entertaining as hell and aren't afraid to kick your ass. Team 3D? Solid arguement. They've got the experience, the continuity and the staying power. That's a hard trio to top. British Invasion? Sure. To be the best you got to beat the best, and if you're holding the gold then you've beaten the best. So the tag team titles alone could be all the proof you need. But what team consistently gets the pops, even when they are not faces? What tag team manages to find a way onto TV even without having any matches? What tag team by their mere presence on screen can bring a smile to your face before a word is said? That's right. The guns. They've got that unique offense that their opponents find hard to prepare for or to counter once they're in the ring. They've got that charisma that just screams champion caliber superstars. And they're even so good on the mic that if they tell you they're going to win, 9 times out of 10 you will believe it. Have they been in numerous singles matches for titles and title shots? Yes they have. Have they been in several matches for tag titles and tag title shots? Yes they have. So why is 2010 any different? Because there comes that time in every career where something big has to happen or something big has to change. Therefore the way I see it either the guns have to win the TNA Tag Team Championship AND/OR the IWGP Tag Team Championship by year's end or it is time for them to think about breaking up the band. I think this is a solid team and could easily carry the tag division, but if we keep putting our X-Division guys in tag teams and then do nothing with them we're hurting 2 divisions at once. Please either let these guys carry the ball or let them rebuild the X-Division, and yes I believe they could do it.
#7 - "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels
I think Daniels has gotten the short end of a lot of sticks in TNA over his career. I feel like he has deserved so much better than he has been given. Not that he should be given anything, yes he should earn it as much as anyone should, but I feel he earned his a long time ago. I've watched Daniels from from the old NESN days feuding with Elix Skipper to his Spike TV earlier days feuding with Joe and Styles. Getting fired and coming back as Curry Man and jobbing out near the end of that run. Coming back again as Suicide when Kaz got hurt only to get entered into a feud with Suicide when Kaz came back and again it went nowhere. Now he lost a match to determine "the greatest wrestler ever". I thought Kurt Angle said that was him but I guess that's another story. Bottom line is this. In my own personal opinion, Daniels is better than Styles. He's quicker. He is more charisimatic. He is just overall a better performer. And he deserves a lot better than he has been given. I think TNA finally started doing something right when they let him go back to being a heel and let him do what he does best, talk some shit and be an asshole. Because he can back it up. And they continued to do right when they put him in the main event scene of a couple of pay per views. Now giving him 10 seconds of TV time on the most important night in the company, maybe that's not so smart, but maybe we can make up for it. I say let him go a few months without losing a match. Build up a nice little bit of momentum for himself. THEN you let him show you what a legitimate threat to the world title looks like. Just remember don't call it a comeback. He's been here for years.
#6 - Hamada
Okay so let's have it. The fact that Hamada is the only woman on this list must PROVE that I'm more of a TNA fan. Again I must state that I am a proud member of both the WWE Universe AND TNAtion. Superfan if you will. Ayoko Hamada impressed me the first night she arrived in TNA. A hardcore match with Daffney which ended with Hamada moonsaulting herself through a table for the win. Damn impressive. Bringing the fight to people's faces that she has a beef with ? Rare. So go ahead Chris, tell us why she's so awesome! I can't do that. Because Hamada is 100% intangible. I don't know what it is that makes her so awesome. But you watch her style, you watch her move and you know you have something very unique in this one. And yes I think she could throw down with the men too, as she has already proven. It will not take long for the world to notice this one and I am glad I got her autograph, so I can say I got it BEFORE she was a household name.
#5 - Suicide
So next to wrestling my other big love is video games. (Anyone want to come play Halo 3 with me? I've also got ODST). And it is not often that I have gotten to play a guy in a wrestling video game BEFORE I've seen him in a wrestling ring. Yes I had seen Frankie (Kaz) Kazarian several times in the ring but not Suicide. "The Dark Savior" as it were. My big complaint about Suicide? His finishing move. The Suicide Solution. In the video game it was the D.O.A., why did they change it? I hope it was a good reason because I'm sure Kaz can do the move. Personal note, I miss Kaz as himself because I always marked out for the move just because it was called The Flux Capacitor. They have done a good job of taking Suicide and turning him from a video game character into a full fledged superstar. Now in 2010 let's see how far they can take this unique individual.
#4 - Jesse Neal
Okay I won't lie to you. I'm not a Neal fan. BUT I do like him more NOW then I did when we first met him. He's more badass now. More smashmouth as they say. In wrestling one of the most important things is to always make your talent look their best. Having Jesse Neal be a little whiny bitch every week does not a superstar make. Turning him into a badass wrecking machine. MUCH BETTER. They've parterned him up with the Dudleys (Team 3D) and Rhino, and if they can keep that foursome together long enough, this kid's career is going to sky rocket.
#3 - Hernandez
I find it a little bit annoying that we split up a tag team that had become a main stay of TNA like LAX, reportedly to give both guys singles careers (that's why Salinas left, she didn't want to get lost in the shuffle), only to take one half of those guys and put them into ANOTHER tag team. It's almost a middle finger to his old partner. But these are just personal bitchings I suppose. But then again it is my blog. The entire wrestling world thought when he opened his Feast or Fired case and showed the world he had a World Title shot that it was only a matter of time before Supermex became TNA Heavyweight Champion. When he started bulldozing through people like they were nothing, it seemed like the days were counting down. And then he got his "shot" (kinda), and bam, nothing. No title win. And no title matches since. Sean Hernandez may just be one of the top three best big men in TNA. He can move, he can fly, and he can kick your ass. It's not common to see a big man who can do those things. And after all this time I still don't know what it means when he says "Tu Gusto or no". My money is on "like it or not". But nobody has corrected me so far.
#2 - "The Pope" D'angelo Dinero
Now Taz and Tenay may never call him by his true name. However, this is a blog. And I'm not a wrestling insider. I'm not fucking Dave Meltzer or some shit. I say what I want, about who I want, when I want. And I am a big ELIJAH BURKE fan. I wasn't that crazy for this character when he first arrived in TNA. I was like "why can't he just be himself?" A lot of people already knew who this guy was. From his OVW days and his stint in ECW as the leader of the New Breed and his AWESOME matches with C.M. Punk. Shit did I just reference a WWE superstar in a TNA blog? Dammit. Hell even Vince McMahon named Burke the future of ECW. Guess not Vince. Maybe you shouldn't have fired him. Unfortunately if we are to believe YouTube and frankly when has the internet ever lied, Burke's best moment was when he leaped off the top rope and Batista caught him, speared him and powerbombed him in one move. Yes it was awesome but far from Burke's best moment. Now he's a street preacher. Peddling his products and being all pimp like. It's awesome. He's got a moveset unlike any other, he's got more charisma than almost anybody in the locker room, and most importantly maybe, he can connect with an audience. It won't be long until he's involved in many, many big matches. And 2010 is where that all starts.
#1 - "The Blueprint" Matt Morgan
I would like to tell you that I have seen every one of Morgan's matches. Every interview. Every fluid motion. This is not the case. I may be a wrestling dweeb but there is still only so much that I know. I first glimpsed the future Blueprint on a little show called Tough Enough. A lot of people are chuckling at that title alone. Like nothing good ever came of that show? Sure. Okay. Except for The Miz, John Morrison, Melina, and oh yeah, Matt Morgan. Did Matt win Tough Enough, the million dollars and go on to instant stardom? No. He got hurt halfway through the show and was advised against continuing on. But once he was better he was in OVW and later in WWE. One stupid stuttering gimmick later, lousy use creatively, and he is gone. Matt Hardy once said if creative can't write something good for the wrestlers they should fire the creative guys not the wrestlers. I agree. The first time I saw Morgan wrestle an actual match he was part of Team Cage at Lockdown. I was surprised that Morgan didn't get the pinfall despite his team winning. They had done so much to build him up for that match I thought he would make an immediate impact (no pun intended) by winning the match for his team. Now there aren't many things in wrestling that make me react out loud but everytime he puts his foot down the throat of an opponent with the Carbon Footprint I do. Watching him do that kick is like Beetlejuice watching The Excorist. It just keeps on getting (better) every single time I see it! Morgan is the future of this business. He can and will do for TNA what The Rock did for the WWE. He will make it must watch tv. He will become the face of the company, and the one everybody tunes in to watch. He will become a mega star someday and all of us can say that we were watching him back when. When he was the bodyguard for Jim Cornette, the tag partner of Abyss, the young buck who wanted to be in the Main Event Mafia and now as the 7 foot, fire breathing giant who wants nothing more than to be TNA Heavyweight Champion. TNA always says it tries to do right by its fans. To give them what they want. Listen to the crowd response when Morgan comes out on each and every show. It is louder than anyone else on the roster *EDIT: At least it was before Hogan showed up but c'mon that's Hogan*. Morgan legitimately loves his fans. He loves the business and his company. He even made TNA history by becoming only the 2nd guy to sign a 5 year contract. Here's hoping he serves out all 5 happily and very healthy, and then he signs 5 more if they treat him right. 2010 will be the year I finally get what I've been wishing for, for months now. Matt Morgan as the TNA Heavyweight Champion. I could think of no better time or place than Bound For Glory 2010. I want Hogan v Nash, and Morgan v ..I don't care, and Morgan wins the Heavyweight Title. You want to see intensity? You want to see domination? You want to see aggression? And you want to see pure untapped potential and someone who was just born to wrestle? Look no further than your future TNA Heavyweight Champion, "The Blueprint" Matt Morgan.
That's the way I see it. My name is Chris and I am the Wrestling Dweeb.
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