Slammiverary: The PPV with no consequences

Impact Live just aired and it was actually a pretty good show. The past few weeks, the shows been working pretty well. Bram (who I'm a big fan of) has been calling out past TNA wrestlers, the Doll House, led by Taryn Terrell, has been putting together some good stuff, and the Wolves versus the Dirty Heels have been really entertaining in the Best of Five series. And then there's Ethan Carter, who is really building up momentum, as he's getting ready to face Kurt Angle. Plus, James Storm and Magnus has put together a story line that's become really personal. All of these angles could and should lead up to some great payoffs for the Slammiversary pay-per-view. But most of them won't.

It's weird. Why have a PPV where some of the biggest matches you could have, won't happen until the next week on TV? The first thought that comes to mind is the WCW fiasco where all they cared about was ratings, and instead of building up the Goldberg/Hulk Hogan match for the world championship at the Georgia Dome to something huge, they pack the stadium full for a big rating, not taking advantage of the pay-per-view possibilities.

The only Slammiversary match of any consequence is the Magnus/James Storm match. It could be so much bigger than they've promoted it also, but it's kind of just left on the back burner for TNA. It's a shame too, because it has gotten very personal, and could be a very emotional match. It kinda reminds me of the Stone Cold/Brian Pillman feud in the 90's.

But what about the X-Division championship? The title was just won this week on the live Impact show (a match in which Grado lost in a three-way with Low Ki and Tigre Uno. I thought TNA could have capitalized on the Grado following that's been going on, but that's a topic for another post). No type of X-Division match on the card, let alone the champion defending the title.

What about the World Title match? The number one contender, Ethan Carter is in a tag match with Tyrus versus Mr. Anderson and Lashley. Um, okay. So on TNA's first pay-per-view in eight months, they don't even have the world championship up for grabs? Kurt Angle isn't even booked on the card, unless they pull a fast one and have him in the King of the Mountain match.

And speaking of King of the Mountain match, they get Jeff Jarrett to make a surprise appearance on Impact which got everyone on the internet talking. He comes out, and half the time talks about Global Force Wrestling. Good on him, because it's his new promotion, but that can't be good for the TNA brand. But Jarrett comes out and announces he will be in the King of the Mountain match. That's kind of cool, but who else is in it? I don't know.

And what could be a great Knockouts Championship triple-threat match of Awesome Kong, Brooke and Taryn Terrell, is going to be on network television while at Slammiversary, it's Kong and Broke versus Terrell, Jade, and Marti Bell. It could be a good match, but why not defend the Knockouts title? Again, I don't know.

There are no championship matches on the line. The tag titles, knockouts title and the world championship are all going to be fought over three days AFTER the pay-per-view on television. Why? It doesn't make sense.

The only thing I can think of is that, TNA wants ratings. Again, it reminds me of WCW. Look, ratings are good for any show, wrestling or otherwise. But as far as I know, wrestling shows are different than normal tv shows. Wrestling shows build up to a big pay-off show, where the storylines come to a boil. It's what so many of us wrestling fans want! At this point, I don't have any real reason to buy the pay-per-view myself, other than to watch the King of the Mountain match. That alone is not enough for me to shell out extra money for a wrestling show. I may just wait to watch Impact Wrestling three days later on tv and get what should be a pay-per-view quality type show for free.