Mr. Anderson: A Matter Of Convenience?

[Jack-Hammer]

According to Dave Meltzer, the original plan for this past Thursday's iMPACT! was to have Jeff Hardy win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from Mr. Anderson.

Meltzer goes on to say that the original plan was for Hardy to regain the title after his court case ended during his hearing on January 20th. I know that Hardy's lawler asked for another continuance and it was given but I never really bothered to find out details as to why. I've heard people say that the plea bargain that'd been worked out was refused by the judge but I dunno what the story actually is. Apparently, this is why Anderson is still carrying around the custom made belt that was given to Hardy. As Hardy doesn't go back to court for several more weeks, the odds are Anderson will retain the title at the upcoming ppv.

It sounds like the original idea was for Anderson to be a transitional champion while Hardy finished up his legal matters. I think that everyone expected that Hardy's case would finally be decided at the last hearing, so the title would be put back on Hardy at the next availiable big event.

Aside from the idiotic decision to make Hardy the champ with all this legal mumbo jumbo hanging over his head, it makes me wonder a little if TNA really sees Ken Anderson as a long term main event player and champion or if he's mostly just a placeholder for Jeff Hardy at this particular time.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

I have always felt that the Mr Anderson's present reign was because of Jeff's court case. TNA would have been in all sorts of trouble if Hardy had gone to jail while he was champion. That is why Anderson who has been the biggest thorn in Hardy's flesh from day one was given the title.

However I do think that it is merely this reign of his that might have been booked as a transitional one. I do think that TNA views Mr Anderson as a long term main eventer and that can be proved from the way he has been pushed right from the day he joined TNA. He was pushed as a star right from the get go and it is one decision by TNA that I can say has worked wonders.

So while his present reign may have been a stopgap arrangement, I do not think that Mr Anderson is viewed as a temporary main eventer. The crowd has been firmly behind him and TNA was pushing him heavily even before he directly started feuding with Hardy. I do think that TNA do see him as one of their future stars.

 

[Rulk25]

If that isnt the stupidest thing ever.
So in other words Hardy screws Anderson and then "They" would have shown up and chased him away???
Instead of you know getting involved in order to I dont know prevent Hardy and Bischoff from having all the power....
Its choices like this and you go um yeah TNA will never become anything more than ECW with a budget

 

[AndarielHalo]

If that isnt the stupidest thing ever.
So in other words Hardy screws Anderson and then "They" would have shown up and chased him away???
Instead of you know getting involved in order to I dont know prevent Hardy and Bischoff from having all the power....
Its choices like this and you go um yeah TNA will never become anything more than ECW with a budget

That's an insult to ECW; they at least had coherent, steadfast storylines.



Your statement isn't any more stupid than what they did anyway; Bischoff was pushing for WEEKS that they would get the title back on February 3rd, and what do they do? Knock out the referee, then flood the ring with Immortal guys to beat up on Anderson. Great way to get Hardy disqualified if and when the referee wakes up or another one comes down, or even worse, provoking THEY to show up and beat them all up and chase Hardy away.

 

[shattered dreams]

It would not surprise me if this was true, then again neither would the opposite. I do think the conclusion is totally off base here though. Hardy beats Anderson, almost assuredly by questionable methods and then they take Anderson out of the main event scene? No, the feud goes on. Anderson has been in the main event scene a while before this whole thing anyway. The reason I would buy into this is that we all thought Hardy was going to have a lengthy reign. So instead they could give a nice payoff to the concussion storyline and then pick back up where they wanted to be before that forced storyline diversion while also avoiding Hardy being sentenced as the title holder. Then again the dirtsheets love to present a plausible idea that cannot be proven either way.

 

[Rampage Bentley]

It would not surprise me if this was true, then again neither would the opposite. I do think the conclusion is totally off base here though. Hardy beats Anderson, almost assuredly by questionable methods and then they take Anderson out of the main event scene? No, the feud goes on.

Why wouldn't they do that? That's EXACTLY what they did with Matt Morgan. Filled in cause Anderson was out and as soon as he comes back and wins, Morgan is either not booked at all or is regulated to run-ins.

Jeff is going to win the title back and then immediately move on to RVD, they're already laying the groundwork down for that.

 

[Derrtown]

I call bullshit on this one. Dixie said they were working on a new belt and EY tweeted that they shot a pretaped segment where he asks Anderson if he wanted the original belt back that never made it on iMPACT.

 

[shattered dreams]

So Morgan filling in for Anderson means that Anderson is definitely out of the main event now? What? Is Anderson filling in for himself now or how does that analogy even work? Morgan was not in the main event before that fill in. Anderson pretty much was. Anyway I think you also missed when Morgan beat Abyss w/Flair. Hardy will do a program with RVD at some point but that doesn't mean Anderson is out of the main event or will never be in consideration for the championship again. The story would be that Anderson got a taste of what he wanted but then lost it and then they can do a slow build back up to him having a real reign.

 

[Clem]

I know it would derail any angles they had planned for Hardy, RVD and Anderson, but I think with the reveal of "They" as Fortune, AJ Styles should be right back in that title picture. He's the posterboy, the touchstone, the original, so why not let him have another go at the top.

 

[rondiesel2005]

Its hard to say if Anderson going to be champion for a long time due to the fact that Jeff hardy has to work on his court issues. No one knows how far this is going to go because TNA doesn't seem to have a long term plan out as we all know what happen in the last couple of weeks when they decided to change up storylines last minute. We just going to have to wait a couple weeks and see what happens. I won't be surpise if they put back the TNA world title back on Jeff Hardy after the whole court issue is finish

 

[Dzone]

Good that Hardy's case isn't finished, good they gave the belt to Anderson as some sort of transitional champion because it resulted in AJ being flung literally, it seems, into the main event. If that's the case it can only be good because I'd rather watch AJ than Hardy or Anderson.

 

[yoshi_doce2006]

But you all are forgetting one important aspect, When Jeff Hardy was Champion TNA IMPACT was hovering around a 1.1 and 1.15 Cable Rating. All TNA Management cares about is their rating. Since Anderson has been Champion TNA has had ratings around 1.25-1.3. While Anderson was probably ORIGINALLY suppose to be a transitional champion if the ratings keep going up with him holding the strap they may keep him as champ.

 

[triniphenom]

well edge first world title regain was transitional but he end up being one of the best so who knows, the fans already backing anderson, tna is pretty stupid sometimes at least putt he belt on AJ after anderson, or somoa joe, dont give it back to jeff, even give matt the damn belt

 

[SpecialFNK]

as mentioned, last I heard TNA was planning on making a brand new world title belt. don;t think they would do that if Anderson was not set to have the title for awhile or that Hardy was set to win it back.

how does this Meltzer know what is/was supposed to happen? is this him KNOWING something? or is this his opinion?

if TNA did have plans for Anderson to win back the title.. it would have not tied in well with THEY(Fortune) turning on Immortal, or even if TNA did plan on bringing back MEM and having them attack/do something to Immortal.

 

[IceMalenko]

I think they were going to put the belt on Anderson down the line, but Jeff's case looming caused them to do it now. Which I don't really have a problem with, I think Ken's doing great, but I would agree that they were intending for Jeff to keep the belt.

If we believe internet reports that Jeff Hardy was supposed to get the belt back and that the Main Event Mafia were supposed to be "They", then these are two rewrites that I think have worked well and I'm a big fan of.

 

[Rampage Bentley]

So Morgan filling in for Anderson means that Anderson is definitely out of the main event now? What? Is Anderson filling in for himself now or how does that analogy even work? Morgan was not in the main event before that fill in. Anderson pretty much was. Anyway I think you also missed when Morgan beat Abyss w/Flair. Hardy will do a program with RVD at some point but that doesn't mean Anderson is out of the main event or will never be in consideration for the championship again. The story would be that Anderson got a taste of what he wanted but then lost it and then they can do a slow build back up to him having a real reign.

Not that he's out of the main event now, but he'll be out of the focus.

The thing with TNA is there is no solid hierarchy. There's really not any established levels. One week Doug Williams is seemingly getting a decent push and then the next week he's getting beat by one of Gen Me.

Matt Morgan has been in the main event before, it wasn't anything new for him. He was needed and when that need ran out, he got bumped. Anderson was needed because of Hardy's legal problems, once those are settled Hardy will get his divas title back and move on to fighting RVD or (God willing) AJ Styles. Anderson will still be in the "main event" just not inn a championship feud. Pretty much where he was before he won the title.

I didn't miss Morgan/Abyss, it was a while ago. Last week he wasn't booked, week before it was a run in, before that a five second squash over Rob Terry. It's coming up on a month since that match with Abyss.

 

[Strong Style X]

Yeah, I'm sure Matt Hardy will draw in some big cash.

Anderson is over with the Impact Zone. Why not make him champion? Meth Hardy as a heel champion didn't work very well and he'll be heading to the slammer soon most likely and TNA hasn't really built up anybody that well to take the belt from Anderson yet. But then again, when has TNA cared about consistent and logical booking? Anderson may be far from technically great but he's good on the mic and seeing how half or more of Impact broadcasts seem to be talking; he's a good champion for them.

 

[Strong Style X]

Anderson gets a big reaction from the Impact Zone; Matt Hardy doesn't. Anderson is fine where he is as the champion in the company. I think TNA sees something in him merely because they don't have too many other viable options and because they really don't take the time to elevate anyone's career except a small few. Most wrestlers in TNA get a slight push then get buried after a while (See: Samoa Joe & AJ Styles). Anderson gets a good pop from the Orlando crowd but Matt doesn't really get one from what I've seen.

As far as Matt getting pops in WWE. You have to realize that when Matt was on ECW it wasn't live, pre-empted, as was SmackDown. WWE adds audience noise to those programs to make the audience sound more lively since they are taped. No; that's not a rumor either. It's a fact.