#UNcancelHEELS; Matt Riddle in TNA; TNA Turning Point Thoughts
Salutations and a belated Happy Thanksgiving! I hope this column finds you all in good health, full stomachs, and the right amount of milligrams of ibuprofen to ease the headaches of those of you who made the fatal mistake of bringing up politics at the dinner table. We are coming off the heels of TNA Turning Point that took place as part of the annual Wrestlecade Weekend event in Winston-Salem, NC.
Speaking of “Heels”…
I NEED ANOTHER SEASON OF HEELS.
As a Stephen Amell fan, I was thrilled to see him take part in a scripted series based on the wild world of wrestling (given his fandom and his standout performance at SummerSlam one year). You just knew that the man who brought Green Arrow to the small screen would do wrestling justice. There was just one major roadblock in me enjoying this program: I was NOT about to pay EXTRA for Starz. I became a chord-cutter years back to save money by dumping cable and being stream-sclusive. But these streaming platforms want you to pay for all of these add-ons and whatnot (eyeroll). It sucked not being able to catch this show, but Starz didn’t offer me anything else that would justify me increasing my Hulu bill. I wrestled back-and-forth with trying it out for 7 days free and binging the show, but I wasn’t certain I’d be able to get through it all during the free-trial period. Then, sadly, news of the show’s cancelation hit the internet, despite the show’s critical acclaim.
Enter Netflix.
Both seasons (eight 50-ish-minute episodes apiece) hit the Blockbuster-killing streamer, and I immediately hit that little plus sign so that I could come back to it when I had time. And boy, let me tell ya… this show in and of itself would have definitely been worth the Starz add-on (still don’t regret paying extra for it, and I likely would’ve canceled after I finished the show if I did). Here’s a spoiler-free synopsis:
The story follows the Spade brothers in the fictional town of Duffy, Georgia who followed in the foot-steps of their late wrestler/promoter father and are trying to keep their family’s dying indie promotion afloat. Eldest brother Jack (Amell) is juggling the promotion, family life (a beautiful songbird wife and an 8-year-old son), an annoying 9-5 as a lawmower salesman, non-kayfabe tension with his younger, more handsome and athletically gifted, but immature brother Ace, and the aftermath of the sudden death of his local legend father. The Duffy Wrestling League (DWL) features a ragtag group of talented and dedicated performers led by the Spade brothers and a hardened former valet-turned-business partner. This show is not for kids (sex, nudity, smoking, cussing, drugs, suicide), tells gripping and heartfelt stories, and pays the utmost respect to the business of wrestling. Wrestling stars such as CM Punk and April “AJ Lee” Brooks appear in several episodes (and they can actually act!). You’ll also see some non-speaking cameos from some other popular wrestlers.
Seriously, if you haven’t watched it (or even if you have)- check it out and run the viewership numbers up. It’s my understanding that the stars of the series found other work after the series’ cancelation, but it’s not foreign for a show to make a comeback after the original network pulled the plug. Who knows? The views on Netflix might send a message to the streaming giant that fans want more. I just need at least one more season to tie up loose ends and give the story the closure it deserves. These TV execs don’t realize how traumatizing it can be to get invested in a show that ends on an unresolved cliffhanger.
Thoughts on TNA Turning Point
I was going to do my standard event review, but I honestly was not particularly pumped about this event going in. These “One Night Onlys”/Premium Live Events/So Totally Not PPVs but you still have to pay extra to see them/whatever you want to call them events typically don’t feature much in the way of storyline progression, and the matches are pretty random. On the plus side, these things used to be recorded in advance, throwing the storyline logic completely up against the wall. So with the existence of the TNA+ service, these events are live and they try to follow some sort of storyline flow.
The kick-off show opened with Joe Hendry coming out to warm up the crowd- a move that I found questionable (I’ll get more into that in another column). There was a triple-threat match between Rosemary, Savannah Evans, and Xia Brookside that saw a strong effort put on by all 3 women, but was tough to get into as one wondered: “why are these ladies fighting each other?” Odd choice giving Evans a loss this early into her return, and we just don’t seem to have anything for Brookside.
Steve Maclin finally overcame his long-time foe Josh Alexander (sans Sinner and Saint, who were banned from the building). However, one thing Maclin still struggles to overcome is crowd apathy. He gets a few cheers here and there, and people always pop for big spots (especially when they involve tables), but I’m not seeing people get behind this new babyface persona, despite how strong Alexander is as a heel. In fact, I was at the Impact taping in Fayetteville, NC and I saw when Maclin came out to address the crowd. For those that don’t know, Fayetteville is close to Fort Bragg, which is an army base. Maclin of course is a former Marine. The crowd couldn’t care less, and many started leaving to beat the traffic. This match (which was rightfully a No DQ match) was a fine match. The stipulation and the result were warranted.
Moose retained the X-Division title against Laredo Kid to the surprise of no one. It wasn’t a bad match at all, as we’ve discussed how Moose can have a good match against anyone. But Laredo always loses, and the result was never in question.
Brian Myers lost the “loser wears the turkey outfit” match. I don’t think anyone would miss it if they quietly retired that match. Hendry got the pin, so there’s that.
Mike Santana continues to look strong in his quest for the world title, as he bested the Call Your Shot Gauntlet winner Frankie Kazarian. Though there wasn’t any pre-existing beef between these two, I wasn’t bothered by this match being on the card. Both guys need to stay in the sights of the fans as they are both key players. Kaz losing made sense, and he lost nothing by getting beat because he’s the biggest non-System heel in the company. Sure would’ve been nice if he cashed in his title shot later that night. Guess we’ll have to wait.
The six-man tag match between Ace Austin and the Hardys vs. Zachary Wentz, Kushida, and Matt Riddle (who replaced Trey Miguel due to travel issues) was the biggest head-scratcher of a booking. I think there were better ways to get the home state pop for the Hardys, a better way to use the babyfaces on the opposing team, and a better way to introduce Riddle to TNA fans.
Is Turning Point worth checking out? Well, if you are already a subscriber, you may as well get your money’s worth out of your subscription. Was it enough to convince someone to become a new subscriber? Not sure. If you are a diehard Hardys fan, and you are eager to see how Matt Riddle is looking these days, then it’ll be worth it to you. Jordynne Grace and Masha Slamovich had an excellent 2 out of 3 falls match, the aforementioned Riddle did look good, and Nic Nemeth and Eddie Edwards put on a banger of a main event, despite the result being too predictable and nothing newsworthy happening afterwards. I want for people to support TNA and pump as much capital into the promotion to make it successful, and I hope the revenue and the subscriber count goes up. But this entire event very well could’ve been spread out over a couple of episodes of Impact.
Matt Riddle seems to have been showing the wrestling world that he’s passionate about the business, taking advantage of whatever opportunities given to him through New Japan, MLW, the indies, and now TNA. He was poised to be a solid uppercard hand in WWE before his poor choices caught up with him. I have not been following his post-WWE career too closely, but I haven’t been seeing any reports of him no-showing, failing drug tests (do they even do those anywhere else?), lawsuits, problems with prostitutes or porn stars, or anything else negative. Nothing outside of the usual marijuana jokes on commentary, and thankfully no computer-generated wildlife on the screen when he kicked his flip flops off. Still in great shape and hitting all of his signature moves, with his debut match hampered only by the lack of reason for the match he was involved even happening, and the face-vs-face dynamic of the match (which again- if there’s no storyline purpose for it- the fans won’t know how to react).
If I’m honest, TNA seems to be in a creative lull lately, and that could be the result of many factors which I won’t get into now. Some things just feel a little out of place, and it doesn’t feel like TNA is fully capitalizing on the exposure that their collaboration with NXT gave them. I hope that all of this changes within the next few weeks, and that they put this amazing talent roster to better use.
But that’s just me. Maybe you feel different, and I’d love to hear your perspective. How do you feel about the Hardys re-signing? Should Matt Riddle be offered a contract? What are your thoughts on Turning Point and the overall TNA product? Sound off below, and I’ll catch you on the next go-round.
Get well soon, Chris Bey.
Peace.