Taking a month off television - directly following your biggest Pay-Per-View of the year - does not require much of an explanation in terms of why this is a bad business decision, yet that was exactly what Paul Heyman’s very first order of business was, having taken creative control of the company the night after Bound for Glory. Spike TV representatives were understandably annoyed by the decision but they were placated by the promise of an improved overall product, the rights to air Bound for Glory during the down month, a championship in their namesake, and bi-monthly specials that would ping a higher rating. That might seem a lot to unpack, but Heyman’s promises to the network were - in his mind at least - easily deliverable, and if it gave him the time needed to put together his team and get across his philosophy and ideas at large to the roster, it was a small price to pay.
If you asked the woman herself, Dixie Carter would likely say something to the effect of Paul Heyman jumping at the chance to take charge of TNA Wrestling, but the reality of it is that Heyman had a number of stipulations that he wanted met before signing on the line. Chiefly, that while he respected Dixie as the majority owner and main financial backer of the company, he wanted complete creative control over wrestling proceedings. This was included but not limited to: iMPACT’s touring schedule, their PPV schedule, signing and firings of on-air talent, and of course, the creative direction of the company. With the last minute fallthrough of the Hulk Hogan/Eric Bischoff deal, Dixie readily complied with the stipulations and granted Heyman permission to run wrestling operations as he saw fit. Heyman was quick to assemble his creative team of long-standing employee and backstage interviewer Jeremy Borash, old friend and commentator Taz, WCW legend Kevin Nash, and perhaps TNA’s biggest name in Sting. Borash and Taz maintained their current on-screen roles and Nash and Sting were to remain as active competitors on the TNA roster - for now - in addition to their new duties as part of the creative team.
Though uneager to blackout iMPACT for the month following Bound For Glory, it had quickly been decided that the new team needed a few weeks to revamp in their vision, and it was a small short-term hit in lieu of the greater good. In total, four weeks worth of television were “missed” before iMPACT returned live on Spike TV on November 18th; but that wasn’t to say there was nothing being aired during this period. A Bound for Glory repeat took up two weeks worth of programming, a “Best of TNA on Spike TV” took up the third, and a special broadcast took up the fourth week. This special broadcast featured Heyman, Borash, and Taz being interviewed and chatting about the future direction of the company. They spoke at length about their aim being for the TNA roster to be a young, vibrant, multicultural mix of dynamic stars from across the globe and announced a working affiliation with numerous North American and European independent promotions as well as strengthening their working relationship with Mexico’s AAA and Japan’s NJPW. Heyman had promised a raft of new signings over the coming months to improve their roster but actually announced five new roster members during the broadcast as a direct result of their new and existing partnerships; the team of Bad Intentions (Karl Anderson and Giant Bernard) and junior heavyweight Prince Devitt from NJPW and Marco Corleone from AAA would now appear in both TNA and their home promotions while highly-rated UK export Nigel McGuinness would be signing a full-time contract with TNA. The latter three names would all compete in a 16-man tournament to crown the first ever Spike TV Television Champion while Bad Intentions were set to debut on New Year’s Eve: Impact - the first of TNA’s live three-hour television specials.
The concept of live, three-hour television specials was a brainstorm of Jeremy Borash, who had suggested to Paul Heyman that while delivering 12 PPVs a year was feasible, they were really struggling to make the majority of their PPV’s stand out and attract the attention and buy-rates that they wanted. He suggested running bi-monthly PPVs in addition to bi-monthly “TV Specials” as a way to be able to focus on heavily promoting their bigger PPVs whilst still having the “TV Specials” to be able to host big matches, championship matches and feud deciders in the - what can be rather long - eight week or so gap between PPVs. It had the added benefit of being likely to pop a rating for Spike TV and the potential to bleed into the next few weeks worth of iMPACTs as well. Heyman preferred the new model than running the same old monthly PPVs and believed that the longer time between them would allow him to build up bigger feuds, matches, and stars. It was Kevin Nash that pinpointed the December 31st edition of iMPACT as the ideal time to run their first special: New Year’s Eve: Impact.
A significant point of concern for the new TNA Creative Team was the contract status of an indisputable legend in Mick Foley. Though some of the older “stars” contracts had been retained, Heyman and co. were not afforded the same opportunity when it came to Mick Foley. Foley’s contract was set to expire on New Years Eve of the current year and it seemed that Foley had no intention of resigning with the company - in either an in-ring or backstage capacity. Heyman considered Foley to still have some draw power and massive potential upside in a creative/training role but Foley was content to become a free agent and not be tied down to a contract. Rather than just allow Foley to sit on the sideline and run down his contract, Heyman decided to put him to use in the little time that he was guaranteed to have his services.
Such was Heyman’s transparency around the situation that on the first official iMPACT of his tenure, Foley would cut a promo surrounding his contract status and the potential of retiring from in-ring competition. On the same show a hungry, calculating, young hardcore competitor by the name of Jon Moxley made his debut. The ex-Combat Zone Wrestling star talked about his love of violence and how fighting is ingrained in him, he even name dropped Foley as his inspiration growing up and cheekily referenced the earlier Foley segment suggesting that if one dies, another is born. Before the end of the first show, Paul Heyman gave a state of address regarding him taking creative control. He informed viewers of the retirement of the TNA Legends Championship, the addition of the TNA SpikeTV Championship and the 16-man tournament to crown the inaugural champion, and ended with a personal plea to Mick Foley to discuss his future with him man to man the following week. The following week on iMPACT, Heyman asked Foley to consider giving the fans one final match so as to not end 2009 on a bum note. Foley promised nothing other than his consideration. In slightly related news, Jon Moxley was successful in his in-ring debut, overcoming Jesse Neal rather dominantly, putting him away with a double-underhook DDT. Prior to Foley and Heyman’s meeting, Foley ran into Moxley backstage where he complimented his DDT and gave him a trademark “bang bang”. Moxley followed this appearance up by felling Sheik Abdul Bashir in much the same manner, this time, he followed up the pinfall by doing his own “bang bang”. Foley was awaiting Moxley backstage, and Moxley asked him to stay on and wrestle long enough for him to climb the ranks to face him. Foley says it’s the prospect of facing guys like him that make him want to stay on but he needs to see what Heyman has planned for him and Moxley needs to focus on his own development. Foley says he knows Heyman’s not here tonight but he’ll give everyone the answer next week when he meets with Heyman in the ring.
Heyman’s TNA had seen some variety to their iMACT show openings - once had been an in-ring promo and twice a match proper opened up proceedings - but in the 4th edition of iMPACT, a new soon-to-be-regular opening was introduced: the cold opening. Jon Moxley cut a backstage promo about his hot start and wanting a step up in challenge on his way to Paul Heyman’s office, however, he found the office itself empty but gazed at what appeared to be a contract on the unoccupied desk of Paul Heyman. Heyman and Foley do a promo where Foley is propositioned for one last fight of 2009 before reconsidering his future in 2010. Heyman has a special opponent for Foley and it will main event the three-hour TV Special New Year’s Eve: Impact. After some convincing words from Heyman, Foley agrees to a big ovation. He made his way backstage with a roaming camera-man and Jeremy Borash following him, speculating as to who his opponent was going to be. Foley comes to a halt in the carpark as he sees Moxley laid out on the ground in a pool of blood to end iMPACT. We get an update that Moxley has suspected concussion as a result of the attack and after being in a comatose state for 48 hours, is showing signs of memory loss and is quite unresponsive. Paul Heyman cuts a promo wishing Moxley a speedy recovery but is interrupted by Foley who says he went to visit Moxley himself at the hospital. Foley shows some footage and in it, a bed-bound Moxley mutters something about “Abyss” before he fades out. Foley asks what’s going on and says he hasn’t seen Abyss since Bound For Glory and if he’s on the premises, Foley would know. Foley asks if Abyss is who he’s facing at New Year's Eve: Impact. Heyman swears that he would never book Foley in a singles match against Abyss … que Abyss appearing and chokeslamming Foley on the stage … but he would book him in a Monster’s Ball match against him! It’s official: Abyss vs Mick Foley in a Monster’s Ball in the main event of New Year's Eve: Impact.
In addition to the Foley/Abyss build, two other singles feuds were highlighted during November and December: cocky, arrogant newcomer Nigel McGuinness - signed from star US indy promotion RoH - ended up entangled with the hulking SuperMex, Hernandez, whilst a revitalised, freshly pushed Samoa Joe was on a collision course with ex-Main Event Mafia stablemate, Booker T. McGuinness was paraded around by Heyman and heralded as a major signing. Heyman announced that McGuinness would be making his iMPACT debut against “The Icon” Sting the following week. Hernandez conducted a backstage interview with Jeremy Borash where he pointed to his convincing victory over Jeff Jarrett the week prior, and insinuated that perhaps he should be receiving the opportunity that McGuinness is being granted. McGuinness hit back by stating in a pre-match promo that he is too big a deal to wank around in the tag team division for years (a shot at the majority of Hernandez's stint in TNA) and that his debut would live on in the memory of TNA fans for years to come. McGuinness shocked the world by cleanly beating Sting in the main event of iMPACT and then ensured their everlasting hate by locking in a submission on Sting after the match. Hernandez made the save and ran off McGuinness but McGuinness quickly returned the favour by clocking Herandez with brass knuckles during his bout with Matt Morgan the following week. McGuinness challenged Hernandez to a match on New Year’s Eve: Impact, which SuperMex was only too happy to accept. There was still time, however, for one last bit of conniving from McGuinness. After running into Hernandez backstage, McGuinness suggested that Herandez come meet him in the ring, as that’s where he conducts his business. Hernandez complied, and after McGuinness failed to come to the ring following SuperMex’s callout, Hernandez made his way backstage… where he was dutifully attacked by a waiting McGuinness.
There weren't as many twists and turns or physicality in getting to Joe/Booker at the same event, but it still ended up quite heated. Joe won 3 on the bounce via Coquina Clutch, and following his dismantling of Jeff Jarrett, Booker T gave a backstage interview calling Joe disrespectful and a bully. He challenges Joe to a match at New Year’s Eve: Impact but gets no further before Jeff Jarrett shows up following his loss, takes offence to the idea that he could be bullied or disrespected, and ends up facing off versus Booker T in a losing effort the following week. Joe hits the stage after the match to accept Booker’s challenge. The last show before New Year’s Eve: Impact featured a split screen interview between the two men; both showed tenacity and both hinted that a victory here would propel them towards a World Championship match.
The promise of strengthening international relations seemed to be genuine if the first few weeks of Heyman’s regime were anything to go by. Following a surprising defeat to Lethal Consequences, Team 3D were forced to watch as a still image of Bad Intentions signing TNA contracts alongside Paul Heyman was shown on the big screen to rapturous applause from the officials and fans in attendance. The following week, during Team 3D’s entrance, a Bad Intentions vignette was once again shown. Team 3D definitely had some added oomph to their presence when they took apart a local tag team and their post-match trash talk indicated that they weren’t happy about the impending arrival of Bad Intentions. For the third week in a row, a Bad Intentions hype package was being shown but it abruptly went to static before iMPACT cut backstage to see Team 3D tearing apart the production truck before being escorted out of the iMPACT Zone by security. They were fined and suspended from appearing in the iMPACT Zone the following week but that didn’t stop the most decorated tag team in wrestling phoning in via satellite, trashing Bad Intentions NJPW legacy, and challenging them to a match at New Year’s Eve: Impact. Footage courtesy of NJPW was aired on the iMPACT before NYI where Bad Intentions were taking part in a press conference following their “final match” in NJPW. They praised the company, put themselves over, and took shots at Team 3D before finally accepting their challenge for New Year’s Eve: Impact. Likewise, AAA export Marco Corleone was featured heavily as part of the SpikeTV Championship tournament, defeating Rob Terry, Prince Devitt (another NJPW export), and Kiyoshi (who’s run to the semi-final was probably the biggest shock of the beginning of the Heyman regime) to set up a final with TNA original, James Storm. The Cowboy saw off stiff competition on his own route to the final, besting Jesse Neal, tag partner Robert Roode, and Eric Young. The 16-man tournament received strong reviews from Pro Wrestling Insider* and was considered an early success story for Heyman’s TNA.
One of the perceived strengths of TNA had been their women’s division and the booking of it. The new creative team were confident that the previous output from the Knockouts division had been above what other companies offered but still felt they could strengthen it and push it in a more serious and radical manner than anyone else in the North American wrestling-sphere. Jeremy Borash and Kevin Nash were tasked with scouting potential talent to add to the ranks (with a focus on potential tag teams) and though insider reports indicated they had ear-marked a few female talents, nothing had been set in stone ala the plentiful additions to the men’s division. That didn’t detract Heyman from building to a big show-piece match for the Knockouts division. With the expected additional eyes on the three-hour New Year’s Eve: Impact TV Special, Heyman wanted to send a message to the wrestling world that the best female talent was in TNA and that they wouldn’t shy away from showcasing their women in the same way that they showcase their men. TNA Knockouts Champion ODB was perceived as a strong character in the division and Hamada was considered amongst the most technically gifted, so it was no surprise that early into Heyman’s tenure, this was the match booked for New Year’s Eve: Impact. ODB defeated Knockouts Tag Team Champion Sarita on iMPACT and the following week Hamada defeated Sarita’s partner Taylor Wilde. Both matches received around ten minutes and both champion and challengers performances were praised. Xplosion - the one hour supplemental show to iMPACT - had mostly featured SpikeTV Championship tournament matches, Amazing Red X-Division Championship defences, and the occasional men’s tag team match (to put over Homicide’s new tag team with indy recruit Eddie Kingston) since Heyman took over but a mid-cycle main event seen the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions Sarita and Taylor Wilde overcome Hamada and ODB, a result which caused the champion and challenger to erupt into a full-on brawl around the arena, culminating with ODB delivering an unprotected chair shot to the head of Hamada, drawing blood. Despite the heavy chair shot being criticised online, the segment drew eyes to the feud and upcoming match and - perhaps more importantly for the future - to the Xplosion show. Heyman capitalised on the wrestling dirt-sheet frenzy surrounding the incident to announce that the TNA Knockouts Championship match between Hamada and ODB at NYI would be contested in six sides of steel. The incident also served to firmly place the previously aligned tweener characters of ODB and Hamada as heel and face respectively.
With so much going on, it would be easy to forgive someone for thinking the above was the extent of the main storylines in the opening few weeks of Heyman’s TNA, but then you remember: perhaps the two most important sets of championships in the company have yet to be mentioned. That’s because the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, the TNA World Tag Team Championships, and their challengers, found themselves intertwined on iMPACT. Heyman announced just one match for his inaugural episode in charge of creative: the TNA World Heavyweight Champion in a non-title match against Bobby Lashley. The talent exchange as part of their international relations wasn’t all one way for TNA, immediately following this show, Bobby Lashley was sent to Japan on a three-month tour. With this in mind, it was no surprise that the reigning champion was booked to win after a back-and-forth match. Kurt Angle would make his presence felt at the close of the show by taking out AJ Styles with a post-match Olympic Slam and making his intentions of becoming the TNA World Heavyweight Champion known. Angle wasn’t the only roster member set on making their championship intentions clear as Lethal Consequences propositioned The British Invasion for a shot at their belts. The Tag Team Champions accept, but only on the condition that Lethal Injection can best The British Invasion in singles competition the following week. Lethal Injection did just that - with Williams and Magnus somehow managing to pin the blame on their enforcer Rob Terry - on the same show that AJ Styles and Kurt Angle agreed to a World Heavyweight Championship match. The show before the title match, AJ and Kurt had tune-up matches against Lethal Injection. The champion and the challenger both won their matches against the number one contenders to the Tag Team Championships, but not before Rob Terry - making amends for the previous week - got involved along the way. The championship match between Kurt Angle and AJ Styles was seen to be the first super big match of the Heyman tenure but the iMPACT main event barely eclipsed the ten-minute mark before getting thrown out as a brawl between The British Invasion and Lethal Consequences spilled out to the ring area. A furious AJ Styles and Kurt Angle shook their heads as iMPACT came to a close. Lethal Consequences were set to challenge The British Invasion for the Tag Team Championships on the final iMPACT before the three-hour special on New Year’s Eve, but AJ Styles and Kurt Angle extracted a measure of revenge by attacking both teams as soon as the opening bell rang. The onslaught broke into a riot which required multiple TNA security personnel to stop and with the madness somewhat subdued, Heyman announced that Lethal Injection would team with AJ Styles to face Kurt Angle and The British Invasion at New Year’s Eve: Impact.
The tone and - more importantly - the card for TNA’s first big show since Heyman’s takeover was set, and while many were pleased with the build and card itself, as well as the influx in new talent, not everybody was thrilled with Heyman’s appointment. Jethro Holliday, Cody Deaner, and Shark Boy were all granted their release with an appendix on their release statements indicating that there would be an overhaul and turnover of the roster over the coming few months.
*The PWI report covering the TNA SpikeTV Championship Tournament will be available to read prior to the next monthly update
+ Jon Moxley, Marco Corleone, Giant Bernard, Karl Anderson, Prince Devitt, Eddie Kingston, Nigel McGuinness
- Jethro Holliday, Cody Deaner, Shark Boy
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New Year’s Eve: Impact
======================================================
December 31st, 2009
live from The iMPACT Zone
Orlando, Florida
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MATCH ONE// 20 minute time limit
six-man tag match
AJ Styles & Lethal Consequences vs Kurt Angle & The British Invasion
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MATCH TWO// 20 minute time limit
singles match
Booker T vs Samoa Joe
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MATCH THREE// 20 minute time limit
tag team match
Team 3D vs Bad Intentions
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MATCH FOUR// 20 minute time limit
singles match
Hernandez vs Nigel McGuinness
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MATCH FIVE// 30 minute time limit
six sides of steel match for the TNA Knockouts Championship
ODB © vs Hamada
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MATCH SIX// 30 minute time limit
singles match for the TNA SpikeTV Championship
James Storm vs Marco Corleone
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MAIN EVENT//no time limit
monsters ball
Abyss vs Mick Foley
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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