Evolution Schematic 01.03.06: TNA X Division Title (Part 1)
Posted by Mathew Sforcina on 01.03.2006
Let's Put The 'X' In 'Extremely Good Wrestling'!
Writer's Notes
If you can read this then I've understood the new system correctly. If you can't, then it doesn't matter what I say, huh? Anyway, straight into Not The Most Positive Column On The Net (since I want to get away from that group before any Spirit Squad references are made).
Overview
No belt currently active causes more contention that TNA's X Division Title. Some view it as nothing more than a plaything for those wrestlers who can't cut it, can only do flashy moves but can't really fight. For others, it's the current Pinnacle of the industry; it's the belt that if you hold, you can truly call yourself the best. For some, it's something to desire, to claim, to hold. For others, it's not about holding it, but more getting it off the monster whose current grip is strong. It's about completing a crown, pleasing the fans, defending your country or a place in the record books.
Or it's just a way to choke high class bitches out on a regular basis.
But above all, it's about excitement. And that it has delivered for the past 3 and a half years.
Premise- Are you good? Then you can fight.
The X Division has no set rules in place as to who can compete, officially. It's designed for wrestlers of a style. It's for high flying, high impact, stunning wrestling. The modern day technical geniuses, who can fly around the ring or tie you up in knots. Until recently, it had been exclusively fought over by those men who in other companies would be called "Cruiserweights" or some such, the smaller fighters. The fact that they tend to be the ones who fight in the X Division style is a by product. But the belt does not have a weight limitation, as it's current, big bad Samoan champion can attest to. If you can hang, no matter what size you are, you can fight for it.
Origins- Juniors, Cruiserweights and Light Heavyweights, Oh My.
The X Division belt has two different styles of championships in its parentage.
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The more obvious one, when one views an X Division title match, is the Cruiserweight and Light Heavyweight divisions of WCW, WWF and WWE, and to a lesser extent the Junior divisions of Japanese companies. These belts and divisions tended to feature similar wrestlers, who would fight in similar ways. This is an obvious successor.
But it is also a successor for a slightly different belt, one not immediately obvious. The WWE Hardcore Title, the short lived WCW Hardcore title and the many Hardcore Titles that have existed rarely wrestle like the X Division, but the concept is closer. Hardcore belts, via strict rules, showcase a particular style of wrestling, the brawling, weapon filled variety. If you want to see weapons and blood, you view the HC belt. In a similar ideal, if you want great wrestling, you view the X Division belt. The X Belt (as I will refer to it as to same time) owes a great deal to the HC belts, since they showed you could have a belt for a style of wrestling, not just a weight limit.
Debut- So they lie. Big deal.
The X Division Title Belt debuted, not at the first TNA PPV, but the second. The first was taken up by the NWA World Heavyweight Title Tournament, whereas the X Division belt was debuted on the second show. And whereas every man and his dog entered the World Title match to crown a new champ with the vacated belt, the X Division's first ever match to crown its first ever champion was more selective. 4 Men were chosen.
Low-Ki, an Independent legend, well known for being small but deadly.
Psicosis, a Mexican Superstar, a veteran of the WCW Cruiserweight Division and the Lucha world.
Jerry Lynn, the ECW stalwart, whose matches with RVD were the stuff of sagas, and proof that this wasn't just about size, despite his being small.
And finally, AJ Styles, a fresh-faced young man with some experience under his belt but not much of a name, outside of the industry who knew of his past.
The 4 wrestlers would fight in a double elimination match. The match worked by having 2 men in the ring at any one time. When a man was pinned, he was replaced by another. If it was his first fall, he went to his corner. If it was his second fall, he went to the back, as he had been eliminated from the match.
The match began with Styles and Psicosis, which ended quickly when Styles debuted the Styles Clash in TNA to get the first fall on Psicosis. AJ then showed his dominance by pinning Low Ki soon after. However Jerry Lynn then proved to be more of a challenge, nailing the cradle piledriver on Styles to hand him his first loss. Lynn then went on a rampage of his own, pinning Psicosis to eliminate him from the match, then doing the same to Low Ki, thus leaving it AJ vs. Lynn. Ricky Steamboat, there as a representative of the NWA, then entered the ring to referee the important last fall. Lynn and Styles went at it full bore, and wowed the crowd with their skill. But in the end, Styles nailed the Spiral Tap on Lynn to win the fall, the match and the title. Steamboat handed him the title as the confetti guns went off, in the image TNA uses. As well they should.
Phase 1b- The X-Styles.
Styles quickly established that he wanted to be a fighting champion. The very next week after winning the belt, he defended it against David Young, successfully, despite then being involved in the NWA Tag Title tournament, which he and Jerry Lynn, despite not getting along managed to win (thanks to the as yet unnamed America's Most Wanted being attacked backstage), thus making AJ a dual champion 3 weeks in. AJ then wanted to be a fighting champion with both his belts, but Lynn attacked him a week later, accusing him of being a glory hog. Lynn then explained the following week that he didn't think Styles respected him or the business. After all, he'd only been wrestling for 3 and a half years, Lynn for 14. Lynn asked Styles if he understood, if he respected Lynn. Styles said he did, then attacked him, proving that he did respect Lynn, as a threat. Lynn recovered, attacking Styles after AJ retained the X Division belt against Low Ki later that night.
Thus, the X Division and Tag Title belts became the property the two men fought over. Both wanted both belts, but while they could work together well enough to defend the tag titles (the week after the 2 sneak attacks they retained the tag titles over the Flying Elvises), but the X Division belt was the bone of contention. But after a week, they seemed to patch things up, Lynn claiming things were cool, despite the whole piledrivers on ladders and stuff, and Lynn seconded Styles for his X Division defense against Elix Skipper. Styles then seconded Lynn in his match against Low Ki, important for rankings. But unlike Lynn, after Lynn won the match, Styles once again attacked him, at least until Low Ki kicked him out of the ring. Styles didn't like Lynn, and it was HIS X Division title, thank you.
At least, it was until the next week, when in a triple threat match, Styles lost the belt when Low Ki pinned Lynn after a Spiral Tap to Lynn from Styles.
Phase 2- Low Kicks, High Kicks, Middle Kicks, Kicks For All!
Low Ki then had a heck of a challenge the following week, when he had to fight all 3 Flying Elvises, Sonny Siaki, Yang AND Jose Estrada in a fatal four way elimination match. But, luckily for him, there was dissention in the ranks, and they all wanted the belt. Thus, Yang eliminated Jose with a Boston Crab, then Siaki pushed Yang off the top into a Ki Krusher, and then finally Yang retaliated, nailing Siaki, letting Low Ki retain.
The following week was no better, as he had to fight in another fatal four way match, this time against The Amazing Red and both members of The SAT, Jose & Joel Maximo. But he survived, his belt in tact. But the following week, he had to fight both AJ Styles and Jerry Lynn again, the 2 out of 3 matches situation the night of Low Ki's win over The SAT's and Red ending in a draw., thus both men got the shot.
Oh, and it was a ladder match.
A by now typical X Division match took place, in that it was a fast paced beautiful technical battle. But this time round, Lynn was the man who grabbed the brass ring. Or rather, the belt, as he grabbed the belt in the Ladder Match and thus won the title.
Phase 3- RESPECT ME!
Lynn suffered some bad timing, as TNA took a break for a week (showing highlights of him, and others, in a Best Of X Division special) and then the next week being September 11th 2002, and out of respect TNA did not run a show that night.
He then had a double blow, as the tag titles were taken off him and Styles since they couldn't get along. And then, in his NWA World Title shot against Ron Killings, while most of the X Division wrestlers cheered him on, Sonny Siaki cost him the match, despite saying he supported Lynn earlier on. Thus Lynn's blood was for naught.
The following week was better, as despite a brawl with Siaki, Lynn retained the X Division title against Killings in a Lumberjack match (although having only 4 lumberjacks stretches the term somewhat). He was feeling good, and didn't mind that next week, he'd have to fight AJ again with the belt on the line in a ladder match.
He was feeling a little less good after Styles and Siaki beat him down before the match.
He certainly felt less good after, thanks to Siaki, Styles won the match.
But, ‘Bullet' Bob Armstrong, an NWA Rep, canceled the match due to Siaki's interference, so Lynn was still the champ, and thus he once again felt good. Even if there was the rematch the next week.
But then, on October 9th, the following week, Lynn's reign came to an abrupt halt when in a brawl with Siaki he injured his ankle. Thus, the ladder rematch became a free for all, with all X Division wrestlers, when attempts to find a single replacement went badly. Tony Mamaluke, Jose & Joel Maximo, Kid Kash, Ace Steel, and of course AJ Styles all competed, in a massive all out brawl. But the man who won the belt did not start out in it. After a complex series of moves, AJ was the last man standing, and he began to climb the ladder. When from the back came Syxx-Pac, who ran down, knocked AJ off the ladder then got the belt for himself, neatly outsmarting the entire Division.
Phase 4- Never quite cliqued.
Of course, when Syxx-Pac reflected, he realised that this was perhaps not the best way to win the belt, given how much he respected the title, and what had been accomplished in its name thus far. But then he wasn't about to give the belt up, especially given that he had to defend it the week after winning it against AJ Styles, who was not exactly Mr. Nice Guy at this point.
And thus Syxx-Pac defended the belt against AJ, who had Mortimer Plumtree in his corner, constantly interfering. In the end though, Syxx-Pac's temper got the better of him, and he shoved the ref, causing a DQ but keeping his belt.
Syxx knew that sucked, so in the rematch the following week, he declared the match to be a No DQ one. This ended up backfiring on him, as thanks to Brian Lawler and a can of soda (not red Kool-Aid, which would have been much cooler, if a lot more disgusting), Syxx lost the match, and AJ Styles became the first 2 time X Division Champion in history.
Phase 5- My Belt! My Glorious, Glorious Belt!
AJ, now using Plumtree as his manager, quickly got back to what he did best, defending his X Division title (his options now limited as any champion getting himself intentionally counted out or DQed would lose their belt). The week after winning it he defends it beautifully against the #1 Contender, Amazing Red.
The next week, after watching as Kid Kash earned a title shot for the following week, AJ walked to ringside to fight his old enemy, Jerry Lynn. And thanks to Sonny Siaki, Plumtree, a steel chair and some beautiful reversals, AJ…lost the belt?
Phase 6- My Belt! My Glorious, Glorious, Glorious Belt!
Jerry Lynn became the second two time X Division Champion. This kinda annoyed Styles, who ‘petitioned' (read: whined) until they added him into Kid Kash's shot, making it a three way. But then Lynn went and tossed Styles onto Plumtree, wiping both out, then nailing the Cradle Piledriver on Kash to retain.
Lynn then, seemingly moved on, much to AJ's annoyance. Lynn defended the belt against Amazing Red the following week, while AJ was forced to fight a couple of nobodies (actually Crimson Dragon & Jorge Estrada, but Styles didn't care). Both men won.
Thus, the NWA reps had to give Styles his rematch the following week. And they did so, and watched on in glee as Plumtree, after busting Lynn open with them, tossed some brass knuckles into the ring, only for Lynn to grab them and knock Styles' block off to retain the belt.
But the force at which he did so slightly tore his pectoral muscle, although at first he had feared it was a more serious rotator cuff tear. But despite missing this week (he said on the 4th of December), he'd be back next week to fight Sonny Siaki, who had demanded a shot. This was before The Harris Twins H-Bombed him through a table (and Bill Behrens), though. But, to his word, Lynn turned up the following week, and fought Siaki.
He just failed to win, thanks to (Every Man's) Desire debuting to help Siaki win.
Phase 7- IF YOU SMELLLLLL… oh sorry, my mistake.
Siaki then proved that he and the girl were no fluke by beating both Lynn and newer arrival EZ Money the following week, thanks to Desire's distraction of Lynn allowing Siaki to pin EZ. Afterwards, Russo officially welcomed Siaki and EMD into his new group, Sports Entertainment Xtreme, or S.E.X. Lynn didn't take kindly to this, but was beaten down for his troubles.
The following week, Siaki was used as a pawn in the TNA/SEX war, when in the first TNA Title match of 2003, Siaki pinned Jason Cross after Miss Desire (as she now referred to herself as) interfered. Bob Armstrong came out, and went to restart the match, when Styles stopped him. This then led to a brawl. But Siaki didn't mind, he was still champ after all.
Just like the next week, when it wasn't a title match, he was happy. He still won the match over Kid Kash, of course, despite Kash having Trinity to counter Desire, when Desire still got involved. Siaki was on top of the world.
The fact that Russo got him a gimme match the next week, a triple threat against a rookie by the name of Chris Vaughn and a woman in Athena (obviously a stab at Tenay, who had gotten in Russo's face earlier on about Medusa and Daffney fighting over the WCW Cruiserweight belt). Siaki made short work of Chris, after Desire got into a cat fight with Athena.
The following week didn't go so well, as Siaki and the X Division title took back seat to the ongoing SEX vs. TNA issue and the Bitch Wars. This time, Siaki and Desire lost a mixed tag match to Kid Kash and Trinity, thanks to ring attendant Athena slapping Desire into a Trinity roll up. This then led to Tony Schiavone, bitter and angry at Tenay, entering the ring to interview Siaki and Desire as a SEX member, only for Siaki to get attacked by Konnan, who had been attacking lots of people at this point.
But the following week was better, as Siaki got back to defending his X Division title, beating Amazing Red to retain the belt, with, of course, Desire's help. Ok, so Kash and Trinity stopped them from beating down Red any more, but they WON, and that's all that matters.
Well, Siaki won, that's all that matters, since Desire lost to Trinity later on in the night, despite Siaki's constant interference.
But then, the following week, it all went wrong for SEX, as Kid Kash finally got Siaki in a one on one match, and pinned him to take the X Division title, thanks to Trinity countering Desire. But much more shocking things were around the corner for the belt…
Writer's Notes
This should only be a 2 parter, hopefully.
New layout looks cool, don't you think? Even if it is a bitch to use without knowing what you're doing.
Eh, I got nothing. And neither does John this week, but he might just be confused by the new layout, I dunno.
