TNA Destination X 2012 Review

Destination X 2012 Review By Phil Allely Destination X is TNA’s annual homage to the sometimes overlooked, but exhilarating X Division. During the companies humble beginnings it was the high-flying roster members of this division who lit up arenas and made TNA a viable number two promotion in the US. This years event offered forth a great looking main event, an undercard focusing mainly on the X Division grapplers and a few surprises along the way. However the lack of big name draws and numerous little known wrestlers did mean some matches played to poor reception. Austin Aries vacated his X title to face World Champion Bobby Roode in the main event of the show and what a blistering encounter they put forth. Given Aries had already shown his mettle against larger foes such as Bully Ray, his tackling of the top company heel in Roode was a match to look forward to. Both men traded near falls and the advantage throughout, offering up a believable scrap where the finish could not be predicted. The end came as Roode pulled every dirty trick out of his bag (including a belt shot and referee bump), Aries nailed a nice ‘brain buster’ to score the shock win for his first TNA World Heavyweight Title. Elsewhere the show kicked off with the ‘X Division Tournament Last Chance Qualifier‘. Here Rubix, Mason Andrews, Lars Only and Dakota Darsow squared off for a spot in the next match and possible shot . at the vacant X gold later on the show. The spot-fest was quick and crowd-warming at best, which Andrews won after some reasonable exchanges. Kid Kash versus Andrews followed directly and built momentum up in the arena. Veteran Kash was on fine form, but fell to a roll-up. UK star Doug Williams fell to up and comer Kenny King in a reasonable match next. Former TNA wrestler Sonjay Dutt received a decent pop from fans as he beat Rashad Cameron. Dutt showed no signs of ring rust in this encounter. Zema Ion bested Flip Casanova in a far too quick match that did not highlight either mans skills. The Bound For Glory Series match between Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe was a welcome addition to the card. The back and forth action livened up things nicely and worked well amongst their highflying peers matches. The finish came when Joe applied the ‘rear naked choke’ and Kurt passed, netting Joe 10 points for the win. Former buddies AJ Styles and Daniels’ ‘Last Man Standing’ encounter was a blinder, both men risking life and limb in and out of the ring. Interference by Kazarian couldn’t help his fellow tag Team Champion Daniels though as AJ hit a ‘Clash’ through a table to win. Ultimate X was, as expected, a flurry of high-risk moves, tope rope spots and much more as the steel structure ‘X ropes’ came into play. Zema Ion overcame Dutt (via hairspray assist) to grab the title belt. The main event bout between Roode and Aries rounded this hit and miss PPV off in style. Destination X was yet another event where the company showed its support for its younger roster members. The crowing of Austin Aries as champ will shake up the title picture, and the emphasis on the once winning formula of X Division performers worked very well indeed. With no sign of Hogan and many others, this was a night that belonged to the often neglected and yet so refreshing high-flying TNA stars. We all knew Slammiversary would be a hard act to follow and that an X Division heavy event would be a hot and cold affair. That said this was a decent offering from the always improving Impact Wrestling crew.

interview highlights AJ Styles

Busted Open Interview: A.J. Styles




Hosts: Dave Lagreca and Doug Mortman



Busted Open can be heard Monday, Wednesday and Friday on Sirius 94 XM 208



Styles on Hulk Hogan: "If you want to see my take my hair and dye it all blonde, slick it back, and hang out with girls all the time, and you know, do that whole thing, and just totally just not be AJ at all, then you would’ve went with Hogan’s idea. To me, that was the same thing they did in WCW with the referee. I don’t know if you guys remember that, but that’s exactly what popped in my mind.



"I was like, 'I’m not that guy, and I am AJ Styles. I’m not Ric Flair. I am who I am.' I mean, just because he hasn’t been watching, doesn’t mean that a lot of people haven’t. They know who AJ Styles. I got to be honest man; I don’t think that I need to ride Ric Flair’s coat-tails to be the next great thing in wrestling. I mean, you gotta’ have storylines.



"You gotta’ have em’ or you can’t build up for the next big match. So, we all agree that you gotta’ have those storylines, but you gotta’ pick and choose which ones you’re gonna’ go after because people still want to see that wrestling. I know in Canada, they cut out most of the talking because they only have, I think they only have an hour of TV? I’m not sure exactly on that, but I know they cut out on a lot of the promos, but they’re watching all wrestling. You know, the Canadian fans are some of the hottest fans that we’ve got. So, we must be doing something right in that ring.



"I think that our guys are more than capable of telling great stories in that right; more than capable if given the opportunity, and the time in the ring. That’s what some guys think, that championship titles are props; that the ring is just a prop. I know that I enjoy personally the wrestling part, I really do. I love the physical atmosphere of what’s going on in a wrestling ring. I always say to people, "If you haven’t seen it live, see it live, and you can see how hard-hitting this really can be, and I take pride in that ring."



Styles on Jeff Hardy: "Listen, I hope Jeff really comes back strong. I think that so far, so good. I think he’s doing great. He looks better. I mean, he just looks physically better. I think maybe having a baby girl has changed some things for him. I think the time that he had off was a good time to be off, but he’s still got a lot to prove in some fans’ eyes, and I think he’s more than capable of doing that, but time will tell. You know I said times have changed before, and they really have. I mean, we’re not the same kind of guys that were working in the '80s; in the '90s even."



Styles on doing minimal interviews: "You know what, man? That’s not even a question for me (Laughs). That’s a question for Impact Wrestling. I don’t know why that is. I busted my butt for how many years now, but I’m not going to be a guy that’s gonna’ complain about every little thing. Yeah, sure, you know, there’s some stuff that I could say and mention, but that’s not who I am. That’s not what I do. I support my company, and whatever they think is best is…well, what we’ll do. I’m behind em’."



Styles on the direction of TNA: "Don’t get me wrong,, we’re growing. There’s no doubt about that. We are growing, but…we want to grow more. I want us to have household names. I want us to be a household company that people say, 'Oh, yeah, Impact Wrestling! I know exactly what that is.' You know, not when we go through …security at the airport or immigration or whatnot where you hear, 'Oh, oh like WWE?' I don’t want to hear that. I want them to know exactly who we are. And the thing about us is we have our core crowd. It’s how do we get …our core crowd, our core fans…giving them something to talk about. That’s what we’ve got to give em’ like, 'You’ve got to see this!'



"You know, that’s what we need. We’ll then get …more fans.. It’s not gonna’ work that way. We just need to make something more interesting to watch. It’s night and day. It’s great you know, going to The Impact Zone, but it’s phenomenal going outside of that, man, and really seeing what the crowd really thinks about you because that’s how you tell. I mean we’ve got a lot of fans that come, but we got a lotta’ tourists that come to The Impact Zone too where they really haven’t followed the story; they really don’t know what’s going on.



"They just know that there’s wrestling, but when you get out of that Impact Zone, you really get to see these fans who’ve watched weekly. …they will tell you what they wanna’ see. They’ll tell you who they wanna’ see, … They’ll tell you who they want them to be. You know what I’m sayin’? That’s what it’s all about! That’s who we have to listen to!"

AJ Styles Interview

Friends can knock each other out I guess?


AJ Styles Interview

By Phil Allely

TNA wrestler AJ Styles has done it all in the company and been one of its most well respected performers on what is at its heart a truly talented roster. As an exemplary star of the one-time hugely popular X Division current Fortune front man AJ was given the chance to headline the recent all X Division PPV Destination X.

In an exclusive interview with Phil Allely, Styles discussed that event and many more aspects of his career and working for TNA.

‘Destination X was probably one of best events of the year so far. There’s no doubt about it. Daniels and I had a great match. It was also one of our longest as well (almost 30 minutes). The only thing was I think he got knocked out during it. But maybe that’s what friends are for eh? They knock each other out (laughs). It was a great pay-per-view and one that I particularly enjoyed being a part of. The whole event worked well’. Said a clearly excited and enthused Styles.

Destination X saw the return of the six-sided ring to TNA. The decision to ditch that unique ring was one that many thought would hamper TNA’s attempts to take the fight to its nearest rival the WWE and perhaps even turn fans away from their product. However as live audiences and pay=per-view numbers/TV viewing figures grow, perhaps the ring wasn’t an issue after all.

Styles for one, was sorry to see the structure removed. ‘I hated to see it leave, I was excited to see it return though. I have I guess got kind of used to the four sided ring now and then here it was back again, I’d forgot how hard it was to perform in the six-sided one. The top rope stuff was harder, the ropes are thicker and to be honest it threw me off a bit. But you see that (the six-sided ring) is what made TNA and it was all about the six sided ring. It may have only been back for one event, but we showed how special it is’.

The six-sided ring was replaced by the more traditional four-sided one during the formative months of the Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff regime. With fewer current roster wrestlers being familiar with that ring these days, was the choice of Daniels as his opponent a welcome one?

‘Of course it was the perfect scenario really, Daniels and I have had some great matches in the past and having a good friend like him to work with helped me greatly. We’ve both had plenty of experience in the old-style ring. This match came together wonderfully because of our history and knowledge’.

The X Division was once one of TNA’s biggest draws and one that AJ himself was a major part of. Recently the emphasis on TNA programming has been less on the always exciting high flyers and more on the more established big men, or in some cases old pals of company big names.

‘The X Division is one of the best things we do. They do deserve TV time and unfortunately they don’t always get it. It’s been a case of guys like Hogan and Sting needing TV airtime and the X guys getting lost in the shuffle. My hope is that Destination X is the wake-up call they need to give them the shot they deserve. I’d like to see those matches return to form and being the reason that people tune in to see us doing this stuff once again’.



Having already netted himself every piece of gold available in TNA AJ still has dreams of holding more. ‘I’d like to win more titles, I don’t want to be after just one thing but. If I have an opportunity I’ll take it, as I’ve proved before that’s what I do best. I’ll take on anybody anywhere for the belts, no matter which one or who it is. The only good thing at present is that a lot of the X Division guys have moved up to other places on the roster, so at least you can still see them. So whilst I miss the push on that division a lot of us are still here doing our thing.’

The Fortune group which Styles heads up have been in some decent outings as of late, becoming a good sized thorn in the sides of Hulk Hogan’s Immortal collective.

‘Fortune still have some unfinished business with them (Immortal). My recent match with Bully Ray was awesome. I took him to a good match (maybe one of his best) and don’t for a minute think we’re done yet. You never know what’s around the corner. Fortune are getting stronger too, If you want to liken us to factions like The Four Horsemen I’ll agree. I mean how cool would it be to take control of all of the TNA gold and be running things here?’.

With his headline match at Destination X going down extremely well with fans and management alike, what does a guy like AJ look forward to now in TNA?

‘Well my sights are on the Bound For Glory series of matches on Impact Wrestling. I have no issues in saying that I want that title shot and I’m gonna work my hardest in these matches to get there. ‘

With the company adoption a new logo and new motto we just had to discuss Why wrestling Matters to a guy like AJ Styles.

Why wrestling matters to me is simple really, It’s what I know and what I do, it should matter to me because that’s exactly who AJ Styles is, I am a wrestler and wrestling matters to a wrestler.’

The UK fan base is ever growing and TNA yearly jaunts to these shores for tours are met with sell-out crowds. Styles has participated in previous tours, but missed out on the 2011 dates due to an injury.

‘Yeah being injured meant I missed the tour. I heard it was awesome too, so it was gutting to miss it. I am geared up for this one though. It was the right decision to not go last time though, health wise I just had to take a break to heal up. But I do still feel bad that I missed out on it all. Maximum Impact IV will see AJ Styles at full power and you can all expect me wrestling at 100%. Fans will get everything you expect form me for your hard earned money.’

Prior to our interview news had just broke that TNA roster members Orlando Jordan and generation Me had been released from their contracts. The question on everyone’s lips at times like this is how do their friedns, work makes and peers feel about these company decisions?

‘You know these guys are always just trying to do what’s right and make the decisions for their families etc. These guys are trying to make the right decisions for their families etc. I know they haven’t burnt their bridges here, so anything can happen down the line. They are all talented guys and they will find work easily enough. I’ve seen many friends come and co. from here (TNA) it’s something that’s gonna happen, it’s the nature of the business, who knows when its going to happen. It may even happen to me someday.’

A question we always ask to a Wrestler is are there any grapplers they think would benefit their company and perhaps even be a dream feud for them. AJ was only too happy to respond with what would be a very interesting and popular talent to join TNA.

‘Well I’d love to see Rey Mysterio end his career here. I’d love that opportunity, he is such a superstar and I’d hope it could happen, you just never know. Maybe some of our UK fans will give me a few other ideas in response to this one. Rey’s the only guy I can think of right now.

You can catch up with AJ Styles each and every week on Impact Wrestling, shown here in the UK on Challenge every Tuesday Night at 10pm.

final card for Sunday's Victory Road pay-per-view

Coming out of last night's TNA iMPACT, here is the final card for Sunday's Victory Road pay-per-view:


TNA World Title Match

Jeff Hardy vs. Sting



Ultimate X for the X Division Title

Jeremy Buck vs. Max Buck vs. Robbie E. vs. Kazarian



TNA Tag Team Title Match

Ink Inc. vs. Beer Money



TNA Knockouts Tag Team Title Match

Rosita and Sarita vs. Angelina Love and Winter



#1 Contender's Match

Rob Van Dam vs. Mr. Anderson



First Blood Match

Matt Morgan vs. Hernandez



Matt Hardy vs. AJ Styles



Tommy Dreamer vs. Brother Ray

AJ Styles Interview Highlights

Alex Marvez of Scripps News recently spoke to TNA's AJ Styles. Here are some highlights:


Fortune splitting from Immortal:

"I knew we eventually would have to go there anyway. Fans wanted to see Fortune turn on Immortal. They never wanted to see Fortune be a part of Immortal in the first place. When we teased going against them, it created a big rumble. I think it's a blessing in disguise that those guys took jobs with WWE. We're moving forward here with something I hoped that would be done."



Being put with Ric Flair last year:

"It didn't fit my personality at all. Ric casts a big shadow. I think I've learned more about how to get out of that shadow when I was up against him rather than with him. When you're with Ric, he's going to get your attention. I definitely learned some stuff like the way to cut an (interview) and stuff like that. I respect him. Even though he's 62, he's still one of the most entertaining guys in pro wrestling."



When asked if "the torch" has been passed with the Fortune push:

"I don't know. The whole thing with Sting and I, the torch was supposedly passed, but here he is back again (as TNA world champion). I don't know if there is a torch to be passed anymore because so many people change their mind about whether they're staying or going or retiring. The biggest thing is, I want to be part of something that everybody knows about whether it's Fortune or TNA, something that's as big as WWE. I'm not saying I want to go to WWE or anything like that. I want TNA to explode."

TNA Rumours - Old Stable to Reunite?

TNA officials are currently finalizing plans to bring back The Main Event Mafia with Kurt Angle, Kevin Nash, Sting, Samoa Joe and other members. Officials would like for Booker T or Scott Steiner to return but nothing is a lock on either of them yet. AJ Styles and other stars are also being discussed to join the group.




The Mafia will be returning to feud with Immortal as the top babyface group in TNA. One of the main reasons they’re being brought back is because Spike TV requested it. The Main Event Mafia brought some of iMPACT’s highest rated segments when they were around.



With the return of the group, all signs point to Kevin Nash re-signing with the company. However, if he doesn’t re-sign, TNA officials aren’t worried about having to replace him in the group

Reason for AJ Styles being pulled from TNA Genesis

Styles was pulled from his PPV match last night due to a knee injury.
The company was aware ahead of time that the match with Williams wasn't
taking place but opted to keep the news from their audience. Styles
recently suffered a tore labrum and hip flexor during an accident
outside of wrestling. He'll be sidelined for a few week's so he misses
the upcoming UK tour as a result. He's said that if he can't rehab the
injury then surgery would put him out for around six month.
Styles will be replaced on the UK tour by Kurt Angle