Destination X Review

Hello! It's another Impact Review, and it's Destination X- what a treat. I said last week that I didn't really mind last weeks Impact effectively being the Pre-Show for Destination X as long as Destination X delivered, so this was of course judgement day. The card promised much and I had reasonably high hopes for the episode so the only real question to answer now is- did it deliver?

Kurt Angle v Rockstar Spud- TNA WHC Match (1)
Firstly, we had EC3 coming with the intent of causing Trouble, Trouble, Trouble. Anything involving EC3 is good by me- EC3 staging a sit-in was quite funny, I just wish they'd have done more with it although given how much they had to pack into the night it's understandable. Until EC3 get's what he want's he's just going to sit here and make Snow Angels. Then EC3 realised that Angle is a Sexy Kurt who'll make his Ankle Hurt and tactically retreated. Trouble, Trouble, Trouble averted.

I really liked this match, the outcome was obvious even more so than the match later on in the night but as long as they tell a good story I don't really mind that fact- and they really did with this. It's the classic underdog story, which worked really well given the dynamic of Angle & Spud- and the one thing you have to say for Angle is he sold really well for Spud, and that added to the match to no end. I think this match was about the Title and telling a story for Angle, but predominantly it was about how much true value to the company Spud has, not to take away from Spud's feud with EC3 because it's arguably feud of the year so far- but anyone would get cheered next to EC3 because- well he's EC3. So them gauging how the crowd responded to Spud when he was up against Angle is a good barometer for them to go off of and all in all it was a good showing for Spud. I'm not sure where he'll go now- I just hope he doesn't "hit the wall". The one massive negative from this match was Josh Matthews' Commentary- it was so schizophrenic and just bad that in my opinion it took away from the match. One minute he was calling Spud a Kid and telling him to Tap-Out- and the next he was telling Spud to fight through the Pain. Logic.

The Dollhouse Promo
I still can't quite get over them having to do the Music Credit for "Doll Parts" when The Dollhouse comes out. The Knockouts used to be the pillar of Womens Wrestling- now we've got Knockouts Body-Shaming other Knockouts. I get that Taryn is a Heel, but in today's climate with all the negatives attached to that issue it's something they should have steered way clear of in my opinion. It's not that I want to see Kong in Lingerie- but there may well have been a Plus Sized Woman watching who sees them Body-Shaming Kong and gets turned off to the Product because of that fact.

Low Ki v Crazzy Steve v Manik- X Division Qualifier
Every time Option C comes around it means we see a load of Wrestlers we haven't seen in forever randomly showing up to fill out the card. That's not to say the guys that do show up aren't capable workers- if you take off the Gimp Suit Manik/TJ Perkins is in my opinion one of the best workers TNA has, but the winner of this match was never not going to be Low Ki. The match was pretty standard X Division fare- with the only thing of note being Ki's Warriors Way looking like it took the head off of Manik.

Grado makes the Weight (Part 1)
Somewhere JoMo was looking at this segment from beyond the grave thinking "That's my Boy". #RIPJoMo.

We then got a Recap of arguably the stupidest angle of all-time in TNA- and that's saying something. It's made even worse when you see why the booked the angle was because Mickie had booked signings that clashed with their TV Taping dates. How much of a mess does a company have to be in that they let their contracted talent book Autograph Signings that clash with their dates.

Tigre Uno v DJ Z v Mark Andrews- I refuse to call him Mandrews
This was once again pretty standard X Division stuff- it might have been because of the time constraints but I never really got into any of the X Division matches last night and there wasn't enough focus put on the X Division and the matches, which considering it was Destination X is criminal.

The Jessie Godderz attack was a bit "meh". Presumably this is being built to a Bro-Mans Triple Threat at Slammiversary where if they're smart they'll have Jessie go over.

Grado makes the Weight (Part 2)
I wish when Grado asked Tigre for Advice he said "Life is a Mystery, Everyone must stand alone".

Taryn Terrell v Awesome Kong
I suppose if you wanted rationalise why Taryn freaked out when Brooke ripped off her robe you could say she knew Kong would Bottle it and not follow through meaning she was always safe from disrobing. But her actual wrestling gear is if anything more revealing- maybe it was because the Colours didn't match. It's not that I'm against Brooke- because she has improved to no end, but she's beaten one Dollhouse Member after unless I'm mistaken not doing anything since her thing with Robbie E and now all of a sudden she's in the Knockouts Title hunt, Logic. The worst part is with the way they're seemingly building this feud it'll be a TnA feud- and I don't mean Total Nonstop Action, which some people might be fine with- but I'd rather see actual Womens Wrestling. If you want TnA with Brooke & Taryn google it- they've both shown a lot more than you can see on a TV Network.

Grado makes the Weight (Part 3)
This was quite funny just because of the "So I'm not too fat for the X Division?". "... Technically No".

Grado v Cruz v Kenny King
Ok, I love Grado- being UK based I think it's fairly safe to assume I've been following him longer than most Americans- and I love his work and general character. Even I know that giving him the X Division Title is a bad idea. I think it's fairly safe to assume TNA will be shopping themselves around in a few months if they aren't already doing so- and to have a Chubby Wee Scot as one of their Champions isn't exactly going to help their cause. Not only that- they had a built in feud from this match if Kenny King won and ended up in the match with Low Ki- and then they'd both do each other in and Tigre Uno would win before we get the dissolution of the BDC which is seemingly what's going to happen now they've lost clean to The Rising and don't really have anywhere to go.

Bram v Crimson
At least he didn't Blade the Camera Man Abdullah the Butcher style- let's be honest the number of times he's Bled in TNA he must have caught something. Watch out Charlotte. Anyway, Crimson came out and the crowd went mild- I think the reason they brought in Crimson for this is to get his TNA record the point where everyone forgets about Crimson's Streak. This is presumably going to be a Reverse of the Heath Slater storyline headed into RAW 1000- and given when this was taped I'd tentatively say they wanted the pay off of the Angle to be AJ Styles coming in at Slammiversary and going over Bram for the Pop. Now that's seemingly off the Table I'm not entirely sure where they're going to go with this- but I suppose we can only wait and see.

Kurt Angle v Austin Aries- TNA WHC Match (2)
I really, really liked this match- but it was Kurt Angle against Austin Aries with a pretty long time period- if it wasn't being spoken about as a Match of the Year contender I think that would be more surprising. They told a great story in this match- and although Angle won he didn't exactly Superman his way through the matches and with the way they built to the crescendo it was Aries doing himself in as much as it was Angle with the Suicide Dive spot, which did it's best to protect Aries while giving us the inevitable outcome. The show ending with EC3 standing tall was good- and it's something I've been going on about for a while in regard to WWE and how sometimes they do after match beatdowns and they let the Babyface get in some offence- which doesn't make the guy the Babyface has faced look good or the guy who's doing the run-in so it was satisfying from that perspective. EC3 is where I draw the line with regard to Angle's Title Run and the way he's gone through everyone because if TNA has any sort of future which is incredibly doubtful EC3 is the one to spearhead it- after all he is very good.

Thanks for reading as always, all in all I'd say Destination X delivered- I just wanted to see more of the "X" in Destination X. Anyway if all things go to plan there'll be a Booking Post out tomorrow which'll be focused on Finn Balor, which'll be a different sort of Booking Blog in that Balor is successful but I'm expanding somewhat on the Demon Persona- I doubt it'll be a thing, but if it were to be a thing it'd either be the stupidest thing ever or the coolest thing ever so I'll be interested to see how it's received. So Stay Tuned for that- and then of course the Money in the Bank Predictions/Review which are coming up soon and then all of the Posts beyond that. Thanks again for reading and remember- Life is a Mystery... Everyone must Stand Alone.