*The* TNA Wrestling DESTINATION X thread!

[Warner2BruceTD]

Have you been watching TNA lately? Well, you should be. Awesome stuff.

After 12 years, the great Austin Aries finally headlines his first PPV, culminating a year long process that saw him almost retire, enter TNA as a non contracted X Division tryout participant, earn a contract, win the title, and then get both himself & the X Division title over during his fantastic title run. Whether he defeats Robert Roode for the TNA World Championship or not, Aries, one of the best wrestlers on the planet over the last decade or so, is the latest of the old ROH guard to break through the glass ceiling and become a genuine star.

Of course, this means we need a new TNA X Division champion, as Aries is vacating the title for his shot at Roode. Over the last two weeks on Impact Wrestling, much like TNA did last year when they gave Aries, Shima Zion, and Kid Kash to crack the roster, eight outsiders have been brought in and given a chance to earn a spot.

Sonjay Dutt (TNA/Ra Ka King)
Rubix (Jigsaw, CHIKARA/ROH/DGUSA)
Mason Andrews (Scorpio Sky, PWG)
Rashad Cameron (BLK JEEZ, CZW/Extreme Reunion)
Flip Casanova (Flip Kendrick, EVOLVE/Lucha Libre USA)
Lars Only (Johnny Yuma, PWG)
Dakota Darsow (FUW/FCW)
Kenny King (ROH)

Dutt, Cameron, Casanova, and King won their qualifying matches on IMPACT and will move on to the 8-man tournament with native TNA wrestlers Zima Ion, Doug Williams, and Kid Kash. The final spot, which was earmarked for Mark Haskins, will now go to the winner of a "last chance four way" match between Rubix, Andrews, Only, and Darsow.

The winners of the four tournament matches move on to 'Ultimate X', and the winner becomes the new X Division champion.

TNA Destination X​

LAST CHANCE FOURWAY
Dakota Darsow vs. Rubix vs. Lars Only vs. Mason Andrews

X DIVISION TOURNAMENT
Douglas Williams
Kid Kash
Zema Ion
Flip Cassanova
Kenny King
Rashad Cameron
Sonjay Dutt
(Winner from Last Chance Fourway)

THE ULTIMATE X MATCH
To Crown A New X Division Champion

BOUND FOR GLORY SERIES
Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe

LAST MAN STANDING
AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels

WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Austin Aries vs. Bobby Roode (c)​

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Bound For Glory Series Standings

RANK / WRESTLE NAME / POINTS / RECORD
1) James Storm 36 points (2-0-1) 3 MATCHES
2) Samoa Joe 27 points (3-1-0) 4 MATCHES
3) Jeff Hardy 14 points (2-0) 2 MATCHES
Magnus 14 points (2-0) 2 MATCHES
5) Kurt Angle 10 points (1-1-0) 2 MATCHES
6) Mr. Anderson 9 points (1-2-1) 4 MATCHES
7) The Pope 7 points (1-1) 2 MATCHES
Rob Van Dam 7 points (1-1) 2 MATCHES
9) Daniels 5 points (1-1) 2 MATCHES
10) Bully Ray 0 points (0-2) 2 MATCHES
Robbie E 0 points (0-3) 3 MATCHES
AJ Styles 0 points (0-1) 1 MATCH

6/14 IMPACT- GAUNTLET MATCH
James Storm wins 11-Man Gauntlet Match (Storm- 20 points)

6/21 IMPACT- OPEN FIGHT NIGHT
Mr. Anderson pinned Christopher Daniels for 7 points (Anderson- 7 points)
Kurt Angle forced Robbie E to submit for 10 points (Angle- 10 points)
Magnus pinned AJ Styles for 7 points (Magnus- 7 points)
James Storm pinned Samoa Joe for 7 points (Storm- 27 points)
The Pope pinned Bully Ray for 7 points (The Pope- 7 points)
Jeff Hardy pinned Rob Van Dam for 7 points (Jeff Hardy- 7 points)

6/22 LIVE EVENT IN BUFFALO, NEW YORK
James Storm pinned Robbie E for 7 points (Storm- 34 points)
Samoa Joe pinned Mr. Anderson for 7 points (Joe- 7 points)

6/23 LIVE EVENT IN OSHAWA, CANDA
Samoa Joe forced Robbie E to submit for 10 points (Joe- 17 points)
Christopher Daniels beat Kurt Angle by countout for 5 points (Daniels- 5 points)

6/24 LIVE EVENT IN HAMILTON, CANADA
Mr. Anderson battled James Storm to a 10 minute time limit draw for 2 points each (Storm- 36 points, Anderson- 9 points)

6/28 IMPACT
Rob Van Dam pinned Mr. Anderson for 7 points (RVD- 7 points)
Samoa Joe forced Bully Ray to submit for 10 points (Joe- 27 points)

7/4 XPLOSION
Magnus pinned The Pope for 7 points (Magnus- 14 points)

7/5 IMPACT
Jeff Hardy pinned James Storm for 7 points (Hardy- 14 points)

The 12 Competitors
Samoa Joe, Bully Ray, Mr. Anderson, Robbie E, Magnus, Kurt Angle, AJ Styles, Rob Van Dam, D'Angelo Dinero, Jeff Hardy, Daniels and "Cowboy" James Storm

How to Get Points
Points are determined by wins and losses – how you win is equally as important!
Submission Victory – 10 points
Pinfall Victory – 7 points
Countout Victory – 5 points
Disqualification Victory – 3 points
Draw (Time Limit/Double Countout/Double Disqualification) – Two points
Disqualification Lose – you LOSE 10 points

Each wrestler will battle each other ONCE in the series! These matches will take place over IMPACT WRESTLING on Spike TV and on TNA’s live event tours across the country, with the point structure outlined above.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

God damn, Warner2BruceTD is fucking HYPE for Destination X. He put more time typing in this thread then he did for months in his Top 100 Wrestlers thread.

You know what I find funny...last year, TNA gave tryouts to Kid Kash, Austin Aries, and Zema Ion in their little X-Divison tournament...only for those three guys to be of the four total wrestlers that TNA has in the X-Divison (under contract, anyway).

TNA definitely needs to rebuild the X-Division a bit...Aries carried it on his back, by himself, all year long. They need to bring in some more talent. Maybe hire a few of these guys after the PPV, because they need it.

I'm all for a Kenny King and Douglas Williams final. Maybe give Williams the win and have King feud with him right off the bat for the title. I feel as though its going to be Zema Ion winning the title, but meh...

I think the most underrated match on the card is Joe v. Angle one more time.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I definitely dig the idea that the Live Event shows count in the Bound for Glory series and after the first two weeks (the battle royal and the Open Fight Night deal) they've calmed down on the volume of fights and let it be one or two during an Impact.

Also, gotta love the classic house show time limit draws.

Also, gotta love that they gave James Storm such a ridiculous lead from winning the gauntlet, that they can job him to a few guys along the way.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

You know I will hype stuff that I feel deserves it. You remember my ROH hype train back on MM, and my Dragon Gate hype machine here. I've really been digging TNA the last few weeks, and the build for this PPV was fantastic. The lineup is the best TNA or WWE PPV lineup i've seen in recent memory, and I expect the card to be a lot of fun.

I might even pay for this one because I feel like they've earned my money.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

I'm so pumped for this show that I just fired up last year's Destination X on the DVR.

 

[EmpireWF]

The lineup is the best TNA or WWE PPV lineup i've seen in recent memory.

No doubt about it. It's been the best built major wrestling show since last year's Money in the Bank card.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Last year's four "outsiders" fighting for the contract were Aries, Low Ki, Zema Ion, and Jack Evans.

The Ultimate X match was Robbie E vs Shannon Moore vs Amazing Red vs Alex Shelley

Abyss was the champ and he defended against Brian Kendrick.

What a difference a year makes. Holy shit. Most of these guys are long gone.

 

[OnlyOneBeerLeft]

I watched this week and haven't seen raw in about 6 weeks... I was really impressed I wont buy, but I do plan on watching

 

[BigBiss]

If I buy this will they give Joey ryan a job

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

If I buy this will they give Joey ryan a job

They did an angle with him during the last Gut Check segment where he crashed the segment and went nose to nose with Taz, so it looks like he ended up with a deal, and 'losing' the Gut Check was a work.

 

[Leftwich]

Will be watching tonight over shitty "Newsroom" for real though Warner do you think TNA/Impact is ready to push Aries as a champion or do you think Roode is gonna hold onto the title until Bound for Glory? Why I say Bound for Glory is that Hardcore Justice and No Surrender seem like second rate events to me.

 

[BigBiss]

im going to pull the triger on this one I really hope Jigsaw gets some play

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Will be watching tonight over shitty "Newsroom" for real though Warner do you think TNA/Impact is ready to push Aries as a champion or do you think Roode is gonna hold onto the title until Bound for Glory? Why I say Bound for Glory is that Hardcore Justice and No Surrender seem like second rate events to me.

I would be shocked is Aries wins tonight, because they are clearly setting up James Storm to win the BFG Series and then face Roode at Bound For Glory. The botched the feud the first time around in the Russo days, so I think they will get it right this time, and I think Storm will win the title at BFG.

The fact that people think Aries has a chance speaks volumes about the build, just a great job all around by TNA, Roode, Aries, Hogan, everybody getting the angle over.

The key for Aries is to get a great match out of Roode, something the Roode title run has lacked. If they have a great match and the crowd is hot for Aries, he can come out of this a legit top guy.

 

[EmpireWF]

What's left for Aries after losing, since he's not going back to the Xdivision?

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

What's left for Aries after losing, since he's not going back to the Xdivision?

In the top mix.

How the crowd treats him is going to be the key. This was really meant to be a placeholder title match until Storm was ready, but it has more momentum than they thought it would have, i think.

 

[Derrville]

I bet they have Roode take him out for a few months if he does lose. Something like Storm just did.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

I bet they have Roode take him out for a few months if he does lose. Something like Storm just did.

I hope not.

If he loses, he should come out on the opening segment on IMPACT this Thursday and talk about how he gave it his all, it just wasn't his time, his time will come, etc. The crowd will eat that up.

I think if they do an injury angle or if he goes back to the X Division, it will kill whatever momentum this has.

 

[Derrville]

Thats going to be a problem regardless. Anyone but Roode or Storm as champ in the next 5-6 months isnt going to happen. Hes gonna have to disappear for a while or go into a high profile fued but hes not in the BFG series and cant go back to the x division so theres not much for him to do.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

No injury angle, plz.

Aries is the hottest guy in mainstream North American wrestling...he needs to be on TV regularly, regardless if he wins or loses. This is a classic heel goes over, but face is made a star match...give Roode and Aries 25 minutes and let Aries go and come within an inch or two of the title.