In the ideal world of Impact Wrestling, Bobby Roode would have won his match against Kurt Angle at Bound for Glory after working so hard to win the Bound for Glory series from his little deficit and arm injury. It would have been a great story to tell of hard work and persistence paying off against all odds (pun not intended) and it would have been the first definitive step in helping Roode establish himself as not only a talented wrestler, but a legit champion, and even, dare I say… the face of the company.
However, we live in the real world. In this real world where Impact Wrestling isn’t nearly as perfect as it could be, we have Kurt Angle screwing Bobby Roode out of the title, even though he didn’t need to screw him on the account that Roode didn’t try to break the pin and the ref didn’t see Roode’s foot under the ropes, and on the account that it’s Kurt frikin’ Angle and there’s no reason why Angle couldn’t have scored a clean pin on Roode despite being heel. Kurt Angle then turns around and loses the title against James Storm in less time than it takes an intoxicated Jeff Hardy to lose. (I know this is an old joke, and it’s partially useless now because Jeff Hardy is definitely back where he needs to be… there was definitely a difference between when Jeff Hardy first showed up in TNA last year and Jeff Hardy’s recent stint thus far.) James Storm then turns around and loses the title to Roode, who decided to smash the beer bottle over his head for the heel turn. When I was watching that match, I had a feeling that someone had to go heel, and I was hoping that I was wrong, because… well, I’m going to get into all of that shortly.
But yeah… I just don’t understand the logic in turning Roode heel on three counts.
First, I’m going to get Fourtune out the way. The Daniels vs. Styles stuff had already put a hole in Fourtune, which was a stable that was already losing steam once they stopped feuding with Immortal directly. Daniels is clearly still being a dillusional bad guy (a character that I’m not even sure I like for Daniels), and with this riff between Roode and Storm, Beer Money’s finished (which I think is really bad for Impact’s currently lacking tag team division), and I think Fourtune is officially finished because now they got three guys. Which is less than Four.
Maybe they should make AJ and Kaz a tag team and use them to rebuild the tag team division…
Moving on, now for the important stuff, like how this (il)logic directly effects the Bobby Roode character. You see, all that build up from the Bound for Glory series… From the injured arm to the rise to the top. From all the promos that promoted Roode as a blue collar worker. From all the fans that believed in him. All of that… that goes down the drain. Don’t get me wrong, knowing how Impact Wrestling booking works, it’s possible that Roode might be a face in a matter of months. Still, Roode is the homegrown talent that they put all this build on towards making him a champion (I know I’m repeating myself), and it was all suppose to pay off big time. Instead, not only did we not get any pay off at Bound for Glory (Impact Wrestling’s biggest PPV of the year, by the way… you know, the kind of PPV where a star can be born), but we don’t even get to see Roode further develop into what Impact Wrestling initially had planned for him.
Like I mentioned earlier, I had the feeling that one of them had to go heel, and I was hoping that I was wrong. I saw no reason that Roode couldn’t win the championship in a nice, feel good championship match, especially with Samoa Joe at the heels of that random #1 contender match. No reason in somehow catapulting Samoa Joe or some other threat into the title picture (it’s not like Impact hasn’t done it before… read: James Storm) while giving Roode his payoff, even if it’s a few weeks too late.
But if they really had to make someone go heel, why not make James Storm the heel, and have him retain? Just like that, Roode’s chase for the championship can continue, as the man who worked so hard in the Bound for Glory to get to the top gets screwed not only by Angle, but now, his best buddy. They can still play off the build up, make it really seem like he just might not get this title, extend Roode’s story, and truly establish Roode and a star and… dare I say, the face of the company, in an epic feud against James Storm.
But of course, those are just ideas. And we, unfortunately, live in reality.
i agree..TNA screwed that up big time as usual..im watching it less & less cause none of the stuff there doing makes sense AT ALL..still pissed over Storm getting screwed out of the belt so quick
I’m a big defender of iMPACT Wrestling and their various storylines, but I still haven’t been able to find a way to defend the decision to not have Bobby Roode go over at Bound for Glory. Having Kurt Angle win didn’t fit with the huge build-up that the promotion put into Roode prior to the pay-per-view.
It was a deflating experience the build was so huge. I really have to wonder if Angle had a personal beef with Roode. A lot of times in the past if a champ put up a huge fight not to drop the belt to a certain guy, he would pick a guy he didn’t mind dropping the belt to and he would be a transitional champ to get the belt to the guy the company wanted.
This is rare in major promotions nowadays but Angle does have significant pull and it’s the only explanation I can think of.
If that were the case, they could have at the very least “injured” Roode prior to the PPV and had Storm designated his replacement, after Storm wins he gives Roode a match at the next Impact and Roode turns on him for getting his shot. Still awful but better than the PPV ending.
Since it seems nobody here can defend Impact Wrestling’s decision on not giving the strap to Roode at BFG, allow me to intervene on this one.
Roode was seen as a bad ass heel. Not this goody two shoes act where if Roode would have won the title back at BFG, he would have come out the next time on Impact Wrestling and he would have said “I would like to thank the crowd and the boys so much for making this happen. I’m going to defend this title every night because I am a fighting champion. I respect you so much Angle, even if at times you did kick my f*cking head in and try to rape me of my dream championship win by trying to weaken me in the weeks before Bound For Glory. Nonetheless, I still respect you, friend.”
To put it mildly, this would have been dull. Seen it before. Moving on, etc etc. Where would Roode have gone with this? Would he have become some sort of cookie cutter champion? Probably. Could he have become selfish later down the line and attacked Storm in a match to keep his title? Maybe. But that last theory wouldn’t have made him such an impactful heel champion. The way he did it to win the belt off Storm, however, was. It really displayed his desire to become champion. If it meant turning his back on Storm to get it, then hell yes he’s all for it.
We all saw how motivated to winning the title he was. He was obsessed. He said it himself in those interviews before BFG. It was his life long DREAM, and he would do anything to get that gold around his waist. He HAS to get it. Nothing will stop him. He’s worked his ass off for thirteen years for this moment, and then it was taken from him. Then, to add insult to injury, his own partner wins it less than a week later in about a minute. This is the point where Roode thinks “You know what? F*ck it. I’ve waited over a decade to get that belt. I’m just gonna take it!” So when he lost at BFG, he really meant it. I’ll admit, I felt pissed off when he lost at BFG, but once he won it last week, it all started to make sense to me. There are now so many roads they can take with Roode and Storm, with Roode now getting the heel aura about him riding off the way he won it. He screwed his partner, and he did it for himself. Afterall, it Pays to be Roode. That’s been his motto for a while now.
This also elevated Storm to new heights by allowing him to win the title from Angle after BFG. They’ve killed two birds with one stone here. Storm gained a lot of momentum out of this. Had Roode won the title at BFG and later on Roode turned his back on Storm for example, Storm wouldn’t have nearly as much momentum as he has now. He is now an ex-world champion. Roode is now the world champion. Both are main eventing the show (atleast, when Storm returns from an alleged concussion), and both have that ability now to grab the audience’s attention on their story.
I understand why Roode as a heel is stronger and elevating Storm. If that is the direction they wanted to go I still think the PPV and the heel turn would have been stronger if Storm received Rood’s BFG shot and Roode turned on him to win the belt on the following Impact.
@William B.
The problem with that, however, is that it is the typical jealousy storyline that we have all seen before. Everybody has done it. However, we haven’t seen a lot of the way this storyline has played out with Roode and Storm. With TNA, we expect the unexpected. They’re doing things differently than the bog standard ways that have been used before.
In my opinion, its new and its fresh. Its a break from the stuff we see over and over again with tag teams.
My major gripe with the whole BFG/Angle/Roode/Storm thing is that the pro-Roode build-up to Bound for Glory was epic. It reminded me of the pro-Michaels build-up before WrestleMania XII where Shawn Michaels “achieved his boyhood dream.” The difference a few weeks ago, though, was that Roode didn’t achieve his dream and the fans had to wait a few weeks to get a different form of the same payoff.
I understand the storyline logic now, but it still seemed rushed and last minute to me.
@Joe
I get where you’re coming from, but as I said in my previous comment, we must expect the unexpected. In future, we cannot think to ourselves “This guy will win because it makes so much sense and its obvious now” because that’s exactly what Impact Wrestling want us to think.
They swerved us all, and me, for the better. I commend them for doing that. Even if they are probably laughing at us all for it now. Smart-ass’s, lol.