The spotlight of the pro wrestling world shifts to TNA and Impact Wrestling tonight for the company's Destination X pay per view live from the Impact Zone in Orlando.
On paper, this could be one of the best wrestling shows of the year. The promotion is bringing back the six-sided ring it introduced a couple years ago, but more importantly, showcasing some of the most athletic, talented and innovative wrestlers in the profession today.
Although there are a lot of talented performers on the card, some are established stars and others are guys who would be far from household names to the casual fan. They are recognized by hardcore fans for their considerable accomplishments on the independent scene and are certainly veterans of the mat world despite their youthful appearance and lack of mainstream name recognition.
Jack Evans, who worked in ROH and most recently in Mexico, brings his high flying, acrobatic style to TNA after a sensational victory with his infamous 630 Splash on Impact this past Thursday night that qualified him for a four-way at tonight's pay per view.
The bout will be for a contract with TNA and will include other former ROH stars Austin Aries, and Low Ki, fresh off a stint in WWE as Kaval, and Xema Ion, who has worked for several indy promotions, but never for WWE, ECW or WCW.
There will be an Ultimate X high wire bout to determine the number one contender for that title with Robbie E, Shannon Moore, Amazing Red and Alex Shelley. These bouts are virtually guaranteed to be sensational because of the apparatus the guys are working on and the risk-taking nature of the participants.
Former X-Division champs Samoa Joe and Kazarian will face off in another potentially excellent one-on-one matchup. Ditto for the A.J. Styles-Christopher Daniels confrontation. Back in their ECW days, Jerry Lynn and Rob Van Dam had an extraordinary series of matches, and although they are a few years older, they also have plenty of pride and would love to try to go out and steal this show.
Current TNA heavyweight champ Mr. Anderson, who is still feuding with former kingpin Sting, joined the Immortal faction on Impact this past Thursday night. Sting seems more focused on feuding with Hulk Hogan, although Hogan's back would not seem to be well-suited to ever permit him to try to do an actual match again, but it would not be the first time a wrestler's ego overrode medical warnings or common sense, so maybe they are leading to an eventual Hogan-Sting confrontation down the line.
WWE is still riding the crest of controversy over the C.M. Punk promo a little while back. The company was on a foreign tour this past week and used a taped show for this past Monday's Raw. The rating was way down, but it undoubtedly had nothing to do with the fact that it wasn't live and everything to do with the fact that it was July 4 and many people were doing things other than watching television. Watching fireworks, perhaps?
On the taped Raw, Vince came out to say Punk was suspended and not getting his title shot at the pay per view due to his much-talked about rant the previous week and the fear that if he managed to defeat Cena, Vince couldn't trust what he might do to embarass his company by leaving with the title.
Cena goaded McMahon into reinstating Punk and allowing him to challenge for the championship at next Sunday's Money in the Bank PPV by questioning the value of the championship if the legendary gutsy gambler McMahon was uncharacteristically "afraid" of taking a chance on Cena, who reminded Vince about how he has busted his glutes for the company for these many years.
It was a pretty good promo followup to Punk's tirade, and a lot of intrigue will make for an interesting dynamic going into the big event slated for Chicago, ironically Punk's hometown.
Current wrestling free agent, Mick Foley was scheduled to be in the area last night with a special appearance to throw out the first pitch at the Williamsport Crosscutters minor league baseball game. He was also supposed to sign autographs in return for a Crosscutter donation to one of Foley's favorite charity groups that works with victims of sexual aasault according to the Wrestling Observer website.
(Shamokin's Bill Gilger "arranges" the interview each week with The Insider.)