Austin Aries is the *NEW* TNA World Heavyweight Champion!

[Manof1,004Holds]

I'm so happy for Austin.

The guy deserves it, he's a great talent. Who would have thought that last year when he came back at Destination X, that he would win the ultimate in TNA a year after. I agree with him that winning the TNA World Championship is the highlight of his career.

 

[The Eighties]

Initially I thought Roode would win as I expected him to hold the belt until BFG and drop it to Storm, but as the PPV got closer it became clear that Aries had to win.

The whole show was about trying to re-establish the X Division and at the root of that was the concept of the current X Division champion having the opportunity at the Destination X PPV every year to cash the title in for a World title shot, Imagine if the first MITB winner Edge had failed with his cash in? the concept would have been stillborn.

It was a good match that felt big and had a good finish. I am not sure how long Aries will be champion but TNA have to book this well as he is very over and has the talent and charisma to run with the ball if they let him IMO.

 

[Pera]

That's an awesome interview. Very happy for the guy after a long climb up the mountain. I'm sure his family would be very proud of him and hopefully this takes TNA to bigger and better things.

I have said it in other threads, he'll probably hold the title for a couple of months before losing it to Roode a month before the BFG event. James Storm will then challenge him for the World Title after winning the series and we all still get the blowoff to a great feud. Loving TNA right now.

 

[waylon p]

My only problem with A-dub taking the strap is the same reason I thought it would not happen. I expect him to make a lousy face champ. As a heel. This guy is the best thing going. Even in ROH, where the line is blurry, and noone minds a face pulling a heel tactic from time to time, aries was not credible as a face.

If they find a good way to turn him heel, I predict a long and illustrious title reign. If they keep him as a face, more like a month or two with great matches and lackluster storylines and promos. I would genuinely like being wrong here, but doubt that I am.

 

[braveh]

Just from a business perspective I would advise against Austin as the world champ for 2 reasons

1. He has the potential to rebuild the X-Division and make it popular again. The X-division was TNA's edge over the WWE back in the day. That Bully ray vs Auries at Sacrifice, that was a 5 star match as far as I'm concerned.
2. Occasionally he is an awful promo and he doesn't have a solid gimmick. He is not good/talented enough for the top spot. Or put it this way, he is not ready yet.

 

[braveh]

.....and from a booking perspective they ended Roode's streak in WCW fashion. On a B-show with not resolution to the Storm feud or his tie against AJ Styles. That's not how you do it right?

 

[Alex]

Just from a business perspective I would advise against Austin as the world champ for 2 reasons

1. He has the potential to rebuild the X-Division and make it popular again. The X-division was TNA's edge over the WWE back in the day. That Bully ray vs Auries at Sacrifice, that was a 5 star match as far as I'm concerned.
2. Occasionally he is an awful promo and he doesn't have a solid gimmick. He is not good/talented enough for the top spot. Or put it this way, he is not ready yet.

Stop being a moron. He's already brought prestige to the X-Division title and division (pretty much on his own) for him to stick around would be pointless as he'd already be doing stuff he's already done (longest reigning X-Divsion champ. Check. 5 star matches. Check. Getting people interested in the division again. Check)

He cuts an awful promo occasionally??? Personally I don't see it, but that's not a big deal people do it all the time. His good promos far outweigh his bad.

.....and from a booking perspective they ended Roode's streak in WCW fashion. On a B-show with not resolution to the Storm feud or his tie against AJ Styles. That's not how you do it right?

Roode's fued was hardly about the title, it was someone turning on his friend, the title played a part but that wasn't the main focus. What tie in with AJ are you going on about, Styles has been preoccupied with Daniels and that Claire lady. And the idea of winning on a so called B-Show is stupid. Are you telling me CM Punk shouldn't have won the WWE Championship at Money In The Bank because it was a B-Show???

 

[braveh]

Stop being a moron. He's already brought prestige to the X-Division title and division (pretty much on his own) for him to stick around would be pointless as he'd already be doing stuff he's already done (longest reigning X-Divsion champ. Check. 5 star matches. Check. Getting people interested in the division again. Check)

Prestige? Who cares. I'm talking about popularity and reputation. In 2005-06 the X-Division was actually talked about. If they want to achieve that again the first step is to have amazing talent in the division. So yea let him stay in the X-division.

He cuts an awful promo occasionally??? Personally I don't see it, but that's not a big deal people do it all the time. His good promos far outweigh his bad.

When he is bad it's really bad. I'm not talking about you know Cena bad or HHH bad. When Austin is bad it's atrocious. You can't have that kind of thing associated with your belt. The perfect example was his promo on Slammiversary.

And the gimmick? What is his gimmick? A great champ has the whole package.

Roode's fued was hardly about the title, it was someone turning on his friend, the title played a part but that wasn't the main focus. What tie in with AJ are you going on about, Styles has been preoccupied with Daniels and that Claire lady. And the idea of winning on a so called B-Show is stupid. Are you telling me CM Punk shouldn't have won the WWE Championship at Money In The Bank because it was a B-Show???

You can't compare Punk in Chicago to Austin in the Impact Zone come on.

Final resolution last year, Roode - AJ ended in a draw.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

.....and from a booking perspective they ended Roode's streak in WCW fashion. On a B-show with not resolution to the Storm feud or his tie against AJ Styles. That's not how you do it right?

A "B-show"? It was a PPV, may not have been BFG but so what? Storm vs Roode will be resolved I can guarantee you that.

He tied with AJ at Final Resolution yes, but then he beat AJ on the next Impact and made him tap so that pretty much settled it. He then beat AJ again on June's OFN.

 

[.]

The Roode/Aries match highlighted everything that TNA does right about it's main event that nearly no other company is doing right now: Both men came into the match as winners.

Aries came into the match with some people wanting him to win but easily he could win. This was a man who gave up another title for a world title shot, a move which made both belts look like a million bucks. It's smart to play up the "It's all about the World Title" card. It's tough to have other belts on the show and attempt to portray them as equally prestigious; most attempts at doing that in US companies come off half-hearted, at best. TNA did this though. Some people saw this match as a way to give Roode just another win and possibly even his first clean win while Aries was also built equally well.

I'm very happy to Aries win the title. He's a workhorse and has tonnes of charisma and personality which is uncommon for someone who comes from ROH(Look at everyone in ROH right now not named "Kevin Steen" for justification of that). This is a very feel good story when you consider that before he was contacted by TNA he was considering retiring from Wrestling after being left off of Tough Enough.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

I was completely shell shocked when A Double won... but, I really shouldn't have been for two reasons:

Firstly, as mentioned already, this has set a precedent that the X-Division Champion can become World Champion because of 'Option C'.

Secondly and I'm more than slightly surprised that this hasn't been mentioned yet but a heel faction is about to invade the Impact Zone and them going after a heel World Champion just wouldn't garner the same response from the audience.

BFG is a good distance off and the 'Aces & Eights' are going to make their motives known well before then. Taking it that the BFG Series competitors have bigger fish to fry (winning the tournament), this leaves Sting, A Double and, possibly, Abyss as the big name faces to fight the good fight. Also, as the 'Leader of the Selfish Generation', guess who is likely to gain from an association with the interlopers and will probably regain his belt at some point before BFG.

Bobby winning last Sunday night would have only left him a returning Sting (who'd have his hands full with the A&Es), Abyss and possibly A Double to keep him busy and I think the audience would have ruled out any possibilities of him losing this side of BFG.

DX's events and the potential ramifications of an invasion shuffle the deck nicely.

One point I'd like to address:
While Bobby Roode did win several matches by nefarious methods, he still defeated luminaries like Mr Anderson, RVD (in a ladder match, no less), Sting and AJ without resorting to cheating.

 

[IT Factor]

I said this in another topic, but it was moved; Austin Aries has been my choice to take the TNA World Title off of Roode for weeks now. I am quite surprized TNA decided to make him champion, because I figured he'd be another name that lost to Roode. I am pleasantly surprized with this and hope TNA will maximize what Aries can be as TNA World Champ.

The feud possibilities are endless and I just hope that TNA don't do anything idiotic like making Aries a short term champion. Knowing how scatterbrained TNA are at times, they'll have Roode invoke his rematch clause on Impact and Aries will lose. I hope that does NOT happen. I am a big fan of Roode and what he's done to make that TNA World Title more prestiegious, but, it is simply Aries' time. He should be out there tearing it up and showing the world what so-called "X-division guys" or "cruiserweights" can do when given the opportunity to shine.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

I don't think that there'll be any rematch invoked on Thursday night, there are three matches listed:

Miss Tessmacher vs Gail Kim for the KO Belt
Kurt Angle vs Mr Anderson in the BFG Series
Chris Parkes vs Bully Ray

On top of this, we're meant to be getting some sort of reveal on the Aces & Eights plot. Zema Ion is being described as "will feature" so a bout could be on here. I take it Devon will face someone as they have tried to maintain the weekly defenses as far as possible. Given it's profile, a second BFG match up featuring some of the lower profile names like the Pope and Magnus is also highly likely. Is the AJ vs Kaz & Daniels angle concluded - seems to me that the Phenomenal One still has some payback to get on Frankie boy.

That would make for a pretty busy schedule without having to throw in a Roode / Aries rematch and given that they're only talking about A Double "being there" we'll probably just see him and Bobby trash talking with (hopefully) a match being set for Hardcore Justice by the GM.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

As much as I am a huge Bobby Roode fan and would like to have seen him remain as Champion, I have to say I am really pleased that Aries won the title.

A Double has come on so far in the last year in TNA, he is definitely one of the bst in the world right now. This is such a great feel-good moment for TNA and was even better because it was so unexpected. I definitely did not expect Aries to with the title at Destination X, it all looked set for a Roode v Storm watch at BFG with the Cowboy finally defeating his former partner.

Storm taking the title at BFG could still happen, I suppose it depends on how well Aries carries the belt until then? I wouldn't be surprised to see Storm win the BFG tournament and Roode also cash in his rematch clause for the title, giving us a 3 way for the belt at the premier event of the year.

All in all though, I am really pleased for Aries. He is a really, really good performer and deserves this victory. There are a vast number of potential feuds for him, not even including Roode or Storm. Hardy, Styles, Angle and Joe would all be great opponents for him, I personally would love an AA v AJ title match. That would be awesome.

 

[Trance Metaphor]

I never in a million years thought that Austin Aries would become the TNA World Heavyweight Champion. I still vividly remember his first run with the company as Austin Starr and didn't think he'd win anything in TNA besides a few matches. I'm quite familiar with his work in ROH though and have enjoyed him there. With his sudden return, I once again felt that he was just passing through on a whimsical contract due to his failure to enter the WWE. Then he becomes the X Division Champion and the longest-reigning in TNA history. And now this. I think it's awesome. The only 2-Time ROH World Champion is now the current TNA World Champion. That's an indie wrestling fan's praise. I hope to hell that Aries successfully defends the title against the rest of TNA's top contenders. He probably won't get a reign like Bobby Roode's, but he should at least get two to five solid worthwhile months.

 

[New Hot Fed]

I'm not surprised by the change and I think it was the right move. I'm not surprised because Aries is that hot right now. It was the right move because as much as everything is set for Roode-Strom at BFG, iI think TNA had nowhere to go till BFG and I think there would have been Roode fatigue by then. (who do you have him feud with, AJ Styles again?) Also what it does is it makes things less predictable than the predicted Roode-Storm for BFG.

Now that the switch is made I think people will think "well Aries will keep the strap until a PPV where Roode will win it back just in time for BFG with Storm winning the BFG series". But why not go into another direction completly? The best i've heard so far was 1. Storm cost Aries the title because he wants to face Roode as champ. 2. Aries cost Storm the BFG series as revenge. 3. someone like Joe(or someone else) win the BFG series. And then you have a big four-way match at BFG with Roode, Joe(or another guy), Aries and Storm.

 

[IT Factor]

I don't think that there'll be any rematch invoked on Thursday night, there are three matches listed:

Miss Tessmacher vs Gail Kim for the KO Belt
Kurt Angle vs Mr Anderson in the BFG Series
Chris Parkes vs Bully Ray

My guess is that Roode would invoke his rematch clause as he's been teasing a "big announcement" on Twitter. It could be totally unrelated, but, usually TNA does alot of scatterbrained back-and-forth booking[with Roode's title reign being the exception to that rule]. As I said, I'm a big Roode fan but I don't believe putting the title back on him benefits Impact Wrestling. Austin Aries is a totally new face in the title picture and I believe fans will respond to that. I know I'd rather see a totally new champion than the same 2 or 3 guys always being the contenders. Everyone was expecting Roode vs. Storm @ BFG this year. Making Aries the champion wasn't expected and threw a curve into the title scene. I hope I'm wrong, but, I'm fully expecting Roode to get that title back.

On top of this, we're meant to be getting some sort of reveal on the Aces & Eights plot. Zema Ion is being described as "will feature" so a bout could be on here. I take it Devon will face someone as they have tried to maintain the weekly defenses as far as possible. Given it's profile, a second BFG match up featuring some of the lower profile names like the Pope and Magnus is also highly likely. Is the AJ vs Kaz & Daniels angle concluded - seems to me that the Phenomenal One still has some payback to get on Frankie boy.

Those are all great additions to an already stacked show. I'm intrigued to see who these "aces & eights" are. I'd like to see it lead to a new stable.

That would make for a pretty busy schedule without having to throw in a Roode / Aries rematch and given that they're only talking about A Double "being there" we'll probably just see him and Bobby trash talking with (hopefully) a match being set for Hardcore Justice by the GM.

Unfortunately, there's no big main event that is currently set for Impact. Unless Angle/Mr. Anderson is the main event, which I'm doubting. All my instincts are telling me Impact will try another swerve by having Roode win the TNA World Title back. That would be a shame indeed, because it cuts short what Aries can do to help freshen up the main events.

 

[Jessie Lynn DivaGirl]

YAYYYYYYY!!! :applause:

First off, tonight when iMPACT! goes on air, can we show that match with the full version of "Invincible" (MGK) playing in the backround? THAT'D BE PERFECT!!!

Second; Aries completely earned this! We've been watching this guy get better and better. Like I said in a thread a few weeks ago, this guy is the perfect tweener! Everyone loves listening to him cut a promo, he's amazing in the ring and he has great matches. I'm so happy he got the title. I was getting tired of Roode anyways.

 

[JAK]

Because I have to wait 3 days longer to watch TNA PPV's I had the misfortune of the main event result being spoilt for me, despite my best attempts not to see any spoilers.

I'm delighted with Austin Aries winning the world title, however I confess that I was underwhelmed by the match he won it in. To me it felt like Aries wasn't allowed to go full out in the match like he did in the previous two PPV's against heavyweight wrestlers. I also felt that Robert Roode was wrestling like he did when he'd first won the title, underwhelmingly.

But that match is now history, the future is potentially here. My gut instinct is that Aries will hold the belt until No surrender when he'll drop it back to Roode so that the BFG pay off of Roode vs Storm can finally happen, 6 months after it should have happened had Storm not been in need of some time off.

However I'd be lieing if I didn't say I was worried Aries will be nothing more than a caretaker for the belt, dropping it back to Roode on Impact Wrestling either tonight or before Hardcore Justice.

In my dreams TNA will scrap the Roode/Storm BFG main event and go with another option. I'd be delighted with a repeat of the incredible Bully Ray vs Austin Aries match from Sacrifce, and I would be really happy with a rejuvinated Samoa Joe vs Austin Aries. However this years BFG series has a lot of top notch wrestlers and very little chaff, so other potential main events could be Aries vs Angle or Aries vs Daniels or take your pick.

This time in TNA could be very exciting. A Double has made the step from the stagnant and bland X Division (he was the only shining light) to the packed heavyweight devision. If TNA has the guts to run with him, let him wrestle as he has done against Ray/Joe and th current heavyweights have the ability to hang with him then fans have a veritable treat in store for them.

 

[IT Factor]

I'm actually happy that TNA didn't have Roode win the title back on Impact. I was totally expecting that and I was happy when they instead just had a segment with Aries and Roode. Like I said before, I believe Aries can do wonders for freshening up TNA's main event scene. Imagine AJ Styles turning heel with this whole Claire storyline and then having AJ Styles vs. Austin Aries. Christopher Daniels vs. Austin Aries. Samoa Joe vs. Austin Aries. Kurt Angle vs. Austin Aries. The possibilities are endless and I hope A Double gets a decent first reign[at least 2 or 3 months]. Although it wouldn't surprize me if Roode won @ Hardcore Justice and the inevitable Roode vs. Storm BFG match happened.

 

[Superstar77]

It was great to see Austin Aries win the world title. So kudos to TNA for actually pulling trigger when someone had the momentum that he had.

Being a Bobby Roode fan I'm kind of bumed he lost the title because I thought he was a good champion and was entertaining. But I'm glad he was able to be champion for as long as he held it.

 

[BigPoppaPunk]

Again, I must applaud TNA for thinking outside of the box and shocking everyone by making Aries their World Champion. It's that kind of shock value TNA needs every week in order to compete with WWE eventually. While I know TNA has a long way to go before they can be on WWE's level, this is a huge step forward for them IMO. I personally never believed they'd make Aries the champion, but it was a great way to promote the "Option C" angle every year going forward. Who knows??? Maybe this will finally shift the focus of the World Title from WWE rejects to TNA establishing their own unique talent and identity. Which making Aries the champion is definately the right call for them to me.