What I would have done with the TNA Title Tournament & After

[Big Red Machine]

I did this for the ROH World Title Tournament over the summer and I thought it went well, so I figured I’d do it with TNA, too. Unlike with ROH, where the finishing date for the tournament was announced right at the beginning so there was only a certain amount of rounds you could conceivably fit into the tournament, TNA has done no such thing, so rather than the eight man tournament they did, I am going to make this a sixteen man tournament.
I would have the finals of the tournament be at Genesis, but because they haven’t quite announced when Genesis will be (or even if it will be, though it seems fairly certain that it will be), I can’t set the pacing quite as exactly as I did with the ROH tournament. Assuming that the tournament starts tonight, on the 11/7/2013 Impact, I would have two first-round matches a week each week in November, one second-round match a week each week in December, and then, depending on when Genesis is, you can do the semifinals either on Impact or (if need be) at Genesis as well.
Also, unlike my ROH World Title Tournament fantasy booking, I am going to go a lot less in depth on the reasoning for the placement matches here (mostly because that sort of thing isn't as interesting when the main focus of your product is a two-hour weekly TV show), but I will go into more depth on where I would go afterwards.

So here we go:


THE BRACKET:
Bobby Roode
vs.
Ken Anderson

Jeff Hardy
vs.
Hernandez

Samoa Joe
vs.
Kurt Angle

Chris Sabin
vs.
Manik

Austin Aries
vs.
Kazarian

Bully Ray
vs.
Joseph Park

James Storm
vs.
Christopher Daniels

EC III
vs.
Magnus


Week One
1. Bobby Roode def. Ken Anderson
Bully interferes, screwing Anderson over

2. Jeff Hardy def. Hernandez
Jeff wins clean

Also this week, I would have Bad Influence throw some sort of party because AJ is finally gone from TNA forever. AJ's longtime friends Samoa Joe and James Storm would crash the party.

We also get some vignettes and promos of Joseph training for his match.

Week Two
3. Joseph Park def. Bully Ray
Anderson returns the favor, screwing over Bully.

4. Manik def. Chris Sabin
Manik wins clean

Also this week, Joe & Storm beat Bad Influence clean.

Week Three
5. Austin Aries def. Kaz

6. Kurt Angle def. Samoa Joe
This match is built up as Kurt's big return to the ring after BFG, and we get a lot segments in earlier weeks talking about Kurt's condition and the finish of his match against Roode from BFG. We get the same sort of finish here, with Kurt hitting a big move and then just collapsing... except this time it happens during a ref bump, allowing Bad Influence to take Joe out. They drape Kurt's unconscious body on top of Joe and when the ref comes to, he counts the pin for Kurt.

Week Four
7. EC III def. Magnus
There seem to be some dirty refereeing shenanigans on the pinfall here. Something like the ref both obviously missing EC III using the ropes for illegal leverage and a borderline fast count. Maybe earlier on do a spot where EC III hits a big move and goes for a pin by the ropes, but Magnus gets his foot on the ropes after one, but the referee "doesn't notice" it, and Magnus has to kick out for real.

8. James Storm def. Christopher Daniels
Kaz and Roode try to interfere, but the combination of Storm and Joe is able to thwart their interference and Storm wins clean.

SECOND ROUND MATCHES:
Before this round starts, it is announced that Dixie has decided to randomly reshuffle the brackets, "just to shake things up."
As a result, the bracket now looks like this:

Bobby Roode
vs.
James Storm

Austin Aries
vs.
Manik

Joseph Park
vs.
Jeff Hardy

EC III
vs.
Kurt Angle

Week Five
1. Austin Aries def. Manik
Sabin is on commentary for this match. He doesn't interfere in any way, but he trash-talks Manik the whole time.

Also on this show, we get more segments about Kurt's health, as well as video packages that start off by lauding Magnus as "the man who beat Sting," but then proceed to start promoting EC III as "the man who beat the man who beat Sting."

Week Six
2. Bobby Roode def. James Storm
More interference from Bad Influence leads to Roode winning. This time they jump Joe backstage before the match so he can't help Storm.

Also, Manik challenges Sabin to an X-Division Title match next week.

We get some more segments about Kurt's medical heath, but this time they are promising. The doctors think that Kurt will be able to go next week.

Week Seven
3. EC III def. Kurt Angle
Hardy vs. Park was supposed to be this week, but Dixie announces that "TNA Management" changed the schedule "so that the great fans of wherever the show takes place will get to see EC III compete live. And really. Who wants to see a goofball like Joseph Park wrestle a guy like Jeff Hardy, anyway?"

About thirty minutes into the show, Dixie gets a message from the company doctor with a last-minute change... Kurt Angle is not medically cleared to compete tonight, so EC III wins by forfeit

Sabin def. Manik via cheating to retain the X-Division Title

The very next day, the TNA website announces that Kurt Angle is fully medically cleared to compete at this week's house shows.

Week Eight
4. Joseph Park def. Jeff Hardy
Park wins as the result of a referee screw-up. Maybe Jeff's foot is on the ropes and the referee (the same one as in the EC III vs. Magnus match,, of course) doesn't see it.


Manik cuts a promo about how much Sabin has changed in the past few months. He used to be a nice guy. He was the most welcoming guy when Manik was new to the locker room... but now he is just a jerk. The old Chris Sabin would never cheat to retain a title.



SEMIFINAL MATCHES:
The build-up is mostly centered around EC III vs. Joseph, building Joseph up as a tremendous underdog. EC III points out that Joseph hasn't won a single match cleanly yet (while, like a good heel, ignoring that the same is true for himself).

1. Joseph Park def. EC III
Joseph overcomes some clearly biased refereeing. The finish comes when EC III goes to get a chair and the ref conveniently realizes that his shoe is loose, so he picks this moment to bend down and re-tie it. EC III bashes Joseph right in the head with the chair, and Joseph goes down, clutching his face. EC III throws the chair away and all of a sudden, the ref is right back up on his feet, having just missed the weapon-shot. EC III rolls Joseph over to pin him and the ref goes for the world's quickest fast-count, but even with the ultra-quick count, Joseph powers EC III off of him before the ref can even get to two (should be the equivalent of kicking out before one on a regular count). We now see that Joseph is bleeding from the forehead, and is in full Abyss mode. He destroys EC III with multiple Black Hole Slams. He goes back into Joseph-mode, sees EC III lying limp on the canvass and covers him for the pin. The ref counts as slowly as possible, but EC III is just out, and the ref has no choice but to count the pin.

2. Austin Aries def. Bobby Roode

FINALS (at Genesis):
Aries has been winning clean throughout the tournament, but has still been his standard heel jerk persona, and pokes fun at Joseph's weight and lack of experience. Joseph is built up as an underdog and a Cinderella story.

EC III is obviously angry at his loss to Joseph, and Dixie is angry at Joseph for this as well.

Austin Aries def. Joseph Park
Aries is winning (and being a cocky prick while doing so) until Joseph goes into Abyss-mode. This causes a ref-bump, and EC III attacks Joseph. Joseph takes EC III out, but when he turns back to Aries, he snaps back into Joseph-mode, and Aries eventually gets the win.

Genesis would also feature the Anderson vs. Bully blow-off in some sort of hardcore match, and a Triple Threat X-Division Title match between Sabin, Manik, and Hardy. The build to this is that after Jeff's suspect loss in the title tournament, he and Magnus both go complain to Dixie (though Magnus has already done this at least once since his loss as well). Dixie tells them that they are just seeing conspiracies everywhere. She suggests to Jeff that he go after the X-Division Title instead of the World Heavyweight Title. "You're good at all that fancy, X-Division stuff, right?"
Dixie gives Jeff an X-Division Title shot, which creates friction between Jeff and Manik, and after Sabin cheats to beat Jeff, too, we wind up with a three-way at the PPV.
During the tournament (and especially after his loss in it) Bobby Roode starts to buddy-up to Dixie and EC III, finding common ground with them because they are both filthy rich. To cement his status as one of Dixie's favorites, he volunteers to face Magnus at Genesis to shut Magnus up about his allegations of biased refereeing (and other authority-related shenanigans, like the shuffling of the brackets and Kurt being changed to not being medically cleared at the last minute) to favor EC III.

Roode beats Magnus at Genesis, via cheating.

Also, if you can extend it long enough, you can do Joe & Storm vs. Bad Influence. Maybe have Bad Influence take the belts from Bro-Mans, then build up to a tag title match in late December where Roode interferes and screws Joe and Storm. Then you build up to a rematch at Genesis where Bad Influence will have Roode in their corner while Storm & Joe have Gunner (who had previously been taken out by E.G.O.) in their corner to prevent interferences.
During the match, I would have a big ref bump and Roode would interfere, spearing Joe, but then Gunner would take him out with a chair. Gunner would then take out Bad Influence with the chair... then turn on Storm and take him out with the chair. Gunner drags the limp body of Kaz onto the legal babyface for the pin.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?:
1. We do an Austin-McMahon-esque segment with Dixie and Aries where Dixie tries to recruit Aries, pointing out that EC III helped him win the title. Aries teases joining, but then says that he has "always had problems with authority" and declines (pretty much the "we can do this the easy or the hard way, Mr. Austin" segment).

Aries becomes a full-fledged babyface, and him turning down Dixie's offer cements Roode as the guy Dixie wants to build the company around (because he knows the burdens of having tons of money). Build to a cage match at Lockdown where some heel screwiness goes on, like outside ref won't open the door for Aries, so he has to climb over the cage if he wants to escape, leading to Roode winning the belt.
AJ comes back in about late April, claiming to be the "real TNA World Heavyweight Champion" and we build to AJ vs. Roode for Slammiversary, with Aries becoming bitter that he isn't getting a fair rematch. AJ goes over at Slammiversary. You can do whatever negotiation angles and rematches for Roode that you want during the summer, while an increasingly bitter Aries wins the BFG Series. Aries claims that because of the way that Dixie and management screwed him over at Lockdown, he is the "real TNA World Heavyweight Champion," not AJ, and that is what you build to BFG on.


EC III, Roode, and maybe some others become favorites of Dixie, and they feud with guys like Magnus and Joseph and maybe Sting.

With the tag titles, I would have Gunner reveal that the reason he turned on Storm is because Storm knew he would be healthy by Genesis, but still opted to "dump him" and team with Joe instead. I'd have Gunner ruin some matches between Bad Influence and Samoan Beer Machine, feuding with all of those guys, but especially with Storm. They have to have a cage match at Lockdown to keep Gunner from interfering, which Storm & Joe win. Gunner, meanwhile, gets a partner of his own and wins #1 contendership to the tag titles. We build to a three-way for the tag belts at Slammiversary, then wind up with Storm & Gunner in a grudge match at BFG.

[cero2k]

Samoan Beer Machines

best tag team name ever!

great read. I was wondering why you were taking Joseph so far in the tourny, but it played out well.

[Big Red Machine]

Samoan Beer Machines

best tag team name ever!

Thanks. I was quite proud when I thought of it.

great read. I was wondering why you were taking Joseph so far in the tourny, but it played out well.

It's not without some semi-major flaws, the biggest of which being whether or not fans will seriously believe that they would put the belt on Joseph, but I figure if you push him hard enough and try to develop the character best you can, it might work.

[cero2k]

It's not without some semi-major flaws, the biggest of which being whether or not fans will seriously believe that they would put the belt on Joseph, but I figure if you push him hard enough and try to develop the character best you can, it might work.

you can build him up alright, even start making the line between Parks and Abyss thinner, having him go into Abyss mode easier and you can start believing that by the time we get to the finals, Joseph will be in full abyss mode.

[Big Red Machine]

It's not without some semi-major flaws, the biggest of which being whether or not fans will seriously believe that they would put the belt on Joseph, but I figure if you push him hard enough and try to develop the character best you can, it might work.

you can build him up alright, even start making the line between Parks and Abyss thinner, having him go into Abyss mode easier and you can start believing that by the time we get to the finals, Joseph will be in full abyss mode.

Joseph can't be Abyss, though, because we have seen them at the same time before. It could be some sort of genetic thing, though, and you could explain it up that Abyss was normal once upon a time, but he saw his own blood so much that he got stuck in Abyss mode... and that every time Joseph goes into Abyss-mode, it becomes easier and easier. If you play it up that, at some point, Joseph Park could become "stuck" in Abyss mode forever, it would improve the chances of people buying him as a champ.