Powell's TNA Destination X preview and predictions: A.J. Styles vs. Abyss for the TNA Title, Ultimate X tag match, Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson, Matt Morgan and Hernandez vs. Beer Money for the TNA Tag Titles


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Powell's TNA Destination X preview and predictions: A.J. Styles vs. Abyss for the TNA Title, Ultimate X tag match, Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson, Matt Morgan and Hernandez vs. Beer Money for the TNA Tag Titles
Mar 20, 2010 - 05:30 PM


The following are my predictions for the TNA Destination X pay-per-view event, which takes place on Sunday in Orlando, Fla. These picks are based on no inside information. In other words, don't be an idiot and try to pass off these predictions as potential spoilers if you work for another website (yes, it's actually happened in the past). Rich Twilling will be by on Sunday with his preview and predictions article. As always, we'll have live coverage of the show on Sunday night beginning at 7:00 p.m CT.

A.J. Styles vs. Abyss for the TNA Title: It's hard to take this match seriously when TNA has been advertising Styles vs. The Pope for Lockdown for over a month now. That said, these two worked extremely well together and should deliver a strong pay-per-view main event. Styles and Abyss had a gem of a match way back when on the old Wednesday night weekly TNA pay-per-views. If this match is on par, it will surprise viewers with modest expectations.

My concern is that Vince Russo and company will take this into consideration and opt to swerve us all by having Abyss win the title and then lose it on Monday's live edition of Impact, but I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and pick Styles to retain with help from Ric Flair.

With the official prediction out of the way, we now interrupt this preview with a fantasy booking moment. Here's hoping they do something during this match to plant the seeds for a new heel faction involving Styles, Flair, Beer Money, and an enforcer. I initially pegged Matt Morgan as the enforcer for such a faction, but it looks like Desmond Wolfe is aligned with Styles and Flair in the real storylines.

Matt Morgan and Hernandez vs. Beer Money for the TNA Tag Titles: The breakup of Morgan and Hernandez has been entertaining. The Morgan character's head is swelling and I've gotten a kick out of the way he talks down to Hernandez. Here's hoping the plan is to move a heel Morgan back into the singles picture, and eventually reunite Hernandez with Homicide.

I like Hernandez, but he's one dimensional on the mic and just isn't ready for the big singles push. Plus, I always enjoyed the LAX tag team. Well, at least I did when they had an edge (you know, before Hector Guerrero became their mouthpiece). Meanwhile, it appears Russo and company are finally getting the Beer Money tag team back on track. They're the best in the biz and should be showcased as the top team in the TNA storylines. Thus, I'm taking Beer Money to capture the TNA Tag Titles.

Generation Me vs. The Motor City Machine Guns in an Ultimate X match: Finally, they're turning these teams loose. This should be the show stealer that people who order the show are buzzing about on Monday morning. The Machine Guns are long overdue for a push, but they might have to wait a little longer since the kids are likely to win this match and challenge Beer Money.

Rob Terry vs. Magnus for the Little Red Toy Belt That No One Cares About: Did Magnus lose his first name just like Daniels did? I'm not sure, but he's listed simply as "Magnus" in the official TNA online preview. Yeah, I'm just filling space here, just as I'm guessing TNA is just killing time with this match since it didn't receive any hype on Impact. I'll go with Terry to retain in a short match even though I think Magnus might be good enough on the mic to make people want to see him get beat for the title.

Doug Williams vs. Shannon Moore for the X Division Title: Williams did his best TNA mic work on the March 8 show. Unfortunately, there's still a lot of work to be done when it comes to making the X Division Title feel prestigious again. Moore's punk character bombed in TNA, then bombed in WWE, so maybe he thinks the third time will be the charm. Ugh. As much as I haven't cared for Moore's look, he can go in the ring. The question I have is whether he's worked consistently enough to deliver a memorable performance in this match. I'll take Williams to retain in a match I wish I card more about.

Mr. Anderson vs. Kurt Angle: I see this as one of the biggest matches on the show. However, it's buried way down on the card in the official TNA preview. The booking of this feud has been frustrating. They put heat on Anderson one week and then have him lose it the next. I feel like I already watched the blowoff when Angle and half the U.S. Army beat up Anderson on Impact.

The creative team tried to give Anderson his heat back the next week by having him slice Angle open in a repeat of the angle that actually started this in the first place, but it wasn't as effective the second time around. I also had a hard time caring about Angle bleeding because Ric Flair bleeds more than the entire cast of a "Saw" movie on a weekly basis, which essentially makes Angle's cut look like a sissy scratch in comparison. Tone it down, Naitch.

The good news is that both wrestlers seem really motivated. Angle delivered the best mic work of his career when he explained the origins of the tags Anderson used to slice him open. Meanwhile, Anderson has been either really good or really bad (see the Angle spoof skit for an example of the latter). The bad news is that Angle is struggling physically more than usual. Kurt always rises to the occasion, so I'm expecting a strong match. I'll take Anderson to win simply because it's too soon for the blowoff match in what I expect to be a long feud.

Tara vs. Daffney for the TNA Knockouts Title: This won't be Awesome Kong vs. Gail Kim, but I am intrigued. I've always enjoyed the Daffney character, and this is her chance to shine in the ring with a respected veteran. Can Daffney deliver? Tara has zero momentum right now and her title reigns have been poorly booked and disappointing. I'm officially picking Tara, but I have a strange feeling that a weird skit with Daffney celebrating her title win might be too tempting for creative to pass up.

Eric Young and Kevin Nash vs. Scott Hall and Sean Waltman: The stipulation is that Hall and Waltman earn contracts if they win or will leave the company forever if they lose. As I've mentioned before, the stipulation seems pretty pointless. Hall and Waltman don't have contracts now, yet they're on television every week, so what's stopping them from continuing to show up?

If Hall and Waltman are sticking around, let's hope they put The Band back together again. It would be really clunky for Nash to turn on Grease Lightning if the explanation is that he was trying to help his buddies get contracts, but I'll take it. Nash, Hall, and Waltman are at their best as a unit, and they just don't have the same spark when they're broken up. If Nash turns on The Fonz, I have a bad feeling that Fonzie becomes the new Dallas Page in what will be TNA's most recent attempt to shove the Young character down our throats.

Kazarian vs. Daniels vs. Amazing Red vs. Brian Kendrick: Kendrick better keep hire security to guard his first name since two of the wrestlers in this match have had their first names stolen by TNA. Kendrick has the most charisma of anyone in the X Division. He's the heel champion the babyfaces should chase while the company hopes that one of the babyface can finally step up and deliver on the mic. If not, Kendrick is good enough on the mic that he can get Red over simply by heeling on the promo impaired high flyer.

The problem is that I don't see a good storyline way for TNA to get the title on Kendrick unless they have one of those X Division specials with 10 guys fighting inside some "only in TNA" gimmick match. The winner of this match gets a title shot against the X Champion. Since I picked Williams to retain the X Title, then I suppose a babyface will win this match, which eliminates Kendrick and Daniels. Kaz was supposed to have the title shot on this show before they gave it away on Impact. My guess is that they'll go back to Kaz getting the next shot, so I'll take him to win here, even though I'd rather see Red vs. Williams.

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