At the end of this past weeks episode to TNA Impact, the main event was once again AJ Styles against Kurt Angle. The match ended with an exact reenactment of the original Montreal screw job of 1997. Angle applied his finishing submission, Styles reversing it and applying the same ankle lock on Kurt and referee Earl Hebner calls for the bell. Ric flair comes out to rush with Styles to the back, Hogan comes out and gets spit on by Angle and finally Kurt destroys some of the announcers set.
You are trying to be a serious competitor and you do a total spoof off of something that got made famous by the competition over a decade ago. In the past WWE has done spin offs of the finish as part of storylines. It looked dumb when WWE would reenact it and it looks ever dumber when TNA does it.
Maybe they thought its a humorous jab at the WWE and Bret Hart. Well what does it say about you when you waste an entire final 10 minutes of your show that is suppose to be going straight to the top by copying something that has been copied way too many times for a match that TNA has uses as a main event for the past couple shows.
I watched all of Impact and overall I thought it was a decent show up until the end. If the actions of Angle and the whole finish was original and didn’t mirror the original screw job, it could have been exciting and believable.
Everybody who is fans of the fake sport which is professional wrestling, embraces the characters and story. So on the rare times that real life seeps out from behind the curtain, mixes with the characters and takes major action in the ring unexpectedly like in November of 1997, its significant. The significance is obvious by the fact that its 2010 and we are still talking about that one night over 12 years ago.
To try and mock/duplicate or whatever the attempt was by TNA is shallow. I say shallow because you either can script a solid finish to Angle and Styles and let the good workers that they are execute it or you openly are try to replicate the 1997 screw job and look minor league.
If you stop and think about all of the screw job talk that always gets modeled off of or referenced to the Montreal incident, Earl Hebner has to be loving it. What other referee in the business does everyone and I mean everyone know by name and can remember an exact match he was the ref for? Thousands of fans all across the world echo a reminder that they associate Earl Hebner with one thing and that is “you screwed Bret.” Hebner and his legend is the ultimate royalty collector in all of these screw job rip offs and sequels.
When deciding on a finish to a match that makes the promotion look second rate, the talent look ridiculous for having to act it out and the referee continues to gain the most fame…..It must all be included in “Easy E” and Hogan making everyone get in line and prove themselves!
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