Packin’ Heat #8: Styles’ Swerve and the Riders

   What‘s up once again, TUPeeps? My last couple of Packin’ Heat editions were related to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, specifically the problems that the Main Event Mafia storyline pose for TNA and one of the ways that A.J. Styles specifically could be used to solve said problem. (Yes, I realize the pun there now that I type it.) However, now that the Main Event Mafia has been all but thoroughly destroyed, and Hulk Hogan has come to TNA, major changes have come to pass. Many of them haven’t found approval within the internet wrestling community, the Unprettier Wrestling Forum, or my championship self. However, quite frankly, one certain change which occurred at TNA’s Genesis 2010 pay-per-view found the company striking a potential brilliant gold mine. Originally I had planned to bring Packin’ Heat #8 into the boards in order to talk about Jeff Hardy and how I felt his Hardy Party fan base was adversely affecting anybody else’s feelings towards him or sympathy for his situation, but quite frankly that never inspired as many words as would be necessary for this to work from me.

Therefore, I will be discussing the swerve of the year and one storyline that it could mean for the men responsible for creating said swerve. I originally had a spoiler warning notice right after this in case anybody hadn’t seen or heard about Genesis by now, but come on. It’s been five days. It’s pretty pointless now. Anyway, peoples, let’s roll.

Packin’ Heat #8: A.J. Styles’s Swerve of the Year and the Maverick Riders…

One of my most favorite aspects of professional wrestling is the swerve play. When people pull off a face or heel turn that one absolutely never could’ve seen coming, or when somebody come up with a shocking strategic play to win a match that came completely out of nowhere and in any way reinvented or reshaped a character. When done correctly, those plays turn out to become the launching point for what at times has turned out to rank among the biggest phases in the career of a reputed name in WWE history. Easy examples listed down include the night Stone Cold Steve Austin turned against the fans in favor of Vince McMahon at WrestleMania X-Seven to retain the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against the Rock, or the night Stephanie McMahon turned on her father in favor of Triple H at Armageddon 1999… wait, actually, I don’t really know if I can tell how much of a swerve that really was. Or how about some real-life events, such as the infamous Montreal Screwjob of Bret Hart at the hands of Michaels and McMahon in 1997, or the heel turn of Lita to Edge’s side in 2005 against Kane spawned from the real-life bad romance novel starring them and Matt Hardy which, regardless of who you look down upon today or when it happened, cost V1 three months of his job and permanently dented Lita’s fan base? Or how about Bash at the Beach 1996, the night that the great American Hero Hulk Hogan did the absolutely unconscionable by joining forces with the invading Outsiders from the Kliq and creating the nWo?

All of these swerves had one thing in common. They provided the launching point for a pivotal phase in somebody’s career and in the wrestling business. Austin’s turn to the side of McMahon created the Power Trip and led in great part to the Austin character that would defect to the WCW/ECW Alliance in the Invasion storyline, becoming its leader and giving the storyline some shred of credibility as well as creating a couple Austin memes along the way. Stephanie turning on Vince, though its level of swerve is totally debatable, resulted in the McMahon-Helmsley Fac-gime which many with a good point believe ultimately shaped and continues to shape the direction of the now-rechristened WWE to this very day. The Montreal Screwjob was a swerve in multiple ways, because Bret Hart the performer certainly never saw it coming any more than Bret Hart the character did, and it was WWF, not WCW, that was able to capitalize on the stormy aftermath of Hart’s bad departure from WWF. And while all the Edge & Lita pairing resulted in for Kane was another angle to go crazy in, while as aforementioned Hardy lost three months of work and Lita lost her fan base, Edge’s persona as the Rated-R Superstar and the Ultimate Opportunist was ultimately finalized in shape by that year’s events, leading to yet another beautiful swerve - his application of the Money in the Bank briefcase, one of the most brilliant “duh point” swerves wrestling has ever seen. And of course, there was the nWo. They took WCW to the moon, then arguably killed it.

Ladies and gentlemen, in one of the few potential bright spots of Hulk Hogan’s TNA, a new super swerve has been added to the family of super swerves. And what this article is here for is to discuss exactly what road led to that super swerve, and what road could come from it as a result.
The new Phenomenal champion’s turn-tastic fallouts
A few months ago, A.J. Styles was placed in the middle of a TNA World Heavyweight Championship match against defending champion and Main Event Mafia Godfather Kurt Angle, Matt Morgan, and Sting. This match took place at No Surrender and came without much inkling that Angle would be dropping the strap anytime soon after the dominance of the Mafia since Samoa Joe’s shocking turn to their side at Slammiversary. Then, while Kurt had an Ankle Lock locked in on A.J., Morgan issues a Carbon Footprint to Angle since working together was no longer convenient for them. Sting cleared Morgan from the ring. Sting and Styles exchanged a gaze, and Sting left the ring and cleared Morgan, allowing Styles to hit Angle with a Superman splash and cover the pin and take the championship in a moment that left the TNA world shaking with joy. The following month saw Styles extend a championship title shot to Sting in gratitude for his help and to prove who was really the best. Sting headed into Bound for Glory with a streak of consecutive World Heavyweight Championship match victories at the flagship event of TNA’s year, however this time didn’t seem to care as much about winning without a cause against the champion and was possibly on the verge of retirement, at least according to the angle. Despite convincing Sting to give him all that he’s got, A.J. was able to overcome the Icon.

The next few months after this point have a large part to do with what makes this whole event extremely shocking, because they’ve been largely spent essentially dealing with friends turning heel on the Phenomenal One. Specifically, these friends would be Christopher Daniels and Tomko. Following his title defense against Sting at Bound for Glory, A.J. was placed into a triple threat match against Samoa Joe and Daniels for the following month at Turning Point, as a rematch of several encounters over the X-Division Championship in 2005 (specifically the contest at Unbreakable, which was heralded as the greatest match in company history). Knowing that Daniels and A.J. were as tight knit a unit of buddies as there is in TNA, Joe set out to cure the disadvantage, by finding some avenue to cause dissension within the ranks of the two guys. At the same time, there was a mysterious dark-clad assailant coming after A.J. Styles over the weeks leading up to Turning Point. Joe used this to immediately stir the pot between Styles and Daniels, working his magic to perfection. However, at the pay-per-view, Joe would come up short, when Daniels hit the Best Moonsault Ever on Joe, then Styles hit his springboard 450 splash onto both men and covered Joe for the pin.

That virtually stolen championship victory later, Daniels and Styles had completely fallen out, Daniels becoming bitter and jealous at A.J.'s success while accusing him of arrogance. In the processs, Daniels was able to ask for a TNA World Championship title shot at the final pay-per-view of the year, Final Resolution 2009, which Styles granted him. At the same time, the now masked assailant was still making his hits at A.J. on occasion, which Daniels would actually once use to his advantage. The bitter eyelined egotist Daniels ended up losing at the pay-per-view and, like Joe a month before him, sliding into inferior storylines. This while Kurt Angle finally was able to score a shot at Styles for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on the January 4th Biggest Impact Ever.

“The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, who shockingly (at least according to the vibe) appeared in the building that night, found his way into the locker room of A.J. Styles prior to the match. In the middle of the match, the attacker made yet another round against Styles, though Angle was able to fend him off before he could cause a disqualification. After an absolutely amazing classic, during which Flair would come out to look on at the action, Styles would win the match off a Styles Clash, then Hulk Hogan would endorse them as the greatest wrestlers in the world and order a Last Chance rematch at Genesis 2010, the first pay-per-view event of the new Hogan TNA.

On the following Impact, the only one left before Genesis, in fact, Kurt and A.J. would express mutual respect, as well as confidence in their own ability to win that night. However, after Angle left the ring, Styles went to do so as well when the attacker suddenly beat him up once again, this time taking him into the ring and unmasking himself as none other than Tomko, who had actually appeared as an ally to Styles in a tag team match a few weeks ago. A.J. went into Hogan and Eric Bischoff’s office and, finding Bischoff there, demanded to face Tomko in the ring, even accepting Bischoff’s condition of making it a main event title match. Styles would defeat Tomko, then receive some help from Kurt Angle in fending off his post-match attack, all with Ric Flair looking on from the announcer’s table and expressing his respect for the tools of both Styles and Tomko. However… Styles… wouldn’t accept Angle’s handshake… and Ric Flair was found looking awed somewhat.

Finally, however, in the middle of the championship match at Genesis, the same classic that always ensued between Styles and Angle would repeat itself, this time with Styles tapping out to the Ankle Lock… except Ric Flair pulled Earl Hebner out of the ring right before the tap, meaning the referee couldn’t see it to rule the submission. Kurt Angle looked at Flair super-pissed for a few seconds, then chased the Dirtiest Player in the Business around the ring, until finally running right into an A.J. Styles discus clothesline. Flair then found the TNA World Championship title belt and slid it in to Styles, who looked down at it for awhile, then suddenly picked it up and drove it right into Angle’s head, knocking him out and covering him as Flair revived the referee and counted the 1, 2, 3.

The scene of both men pointing everybody in the direction of the Phenomenal One pretty much cemented the shocking truth. Though the champion retained his title, things were drastically changed now. TNA Wrestling officially has a super swerve in the family.

Both A.J. Styles and Ric Flair had suddenly turned heel together.

This was followed up by an Impact which, of course, featured Ric Flair and a new Ric Flair-styled A.J. Styles, complete with suit and valet and everything, coming out and talking about their greatness, then Hulk Hogan and Kurt Angle talking in the ring and Hogan offering Angle yet another rematch, rescinding his Last Chance agreement “because he can”. The match would turn out to be a complete rehash of the Montreal Screwjob, featuring Earl Hebner as himself (crooked referee making bad submission call), Hogan as McMahon (the boss sitting at ringside to get spat on in the end), Angle as Bret Hart (guy getting screwed by bad submission call and storming the hell out), A.J. Styles as Shawn Michaels (guy getting benefits of bad submission call and gettin’ the hell outta dodge), and Ric as HHH/Patterson/Brisco/whoever the hell got HBK out of the ring that night.
Setting the stage for the dance revelation
Orlando Rehash of Screwjob aside, there are several obvious directions that Styles and Flair’s sudden heel turn leads to, in terms of potential challengers such as Samoa Joe, D’Angelo Dinero, Bobby Lashley, and even potentially Angle again now that Hogan’s made it clear the Last Chance edict amounts to jack shit. However, in trying to discuss what opponents A.J. Styles can have, what would be one of the most forgotten aspects of this whole deal if I didn’t specifically set out to mention it, is that Daniels and Tomko, the friends that had been turning on Styles since virtually the real start of his title reign, are now joined in the turn-heel-on-A.J.-Styles’-title-reign department… by A.J. Styles himself, along with Ric Flair.

Flair, being the revolutionary genius in character that he is, undoubtedly would be thought of to have been the man behind A.J.’s sudden turn towards the antagonist side of questionable tactics. However, what if that wasn’t just because Hogan came around? What if the story talks and reveals that the whole thing had been in place since after A.J.’s victory at Bound for Glory? How would something so grand be revealed, and on what time scale would it come?

Well, to answer that question, let’s begin with the very next Impact. One obvious explanation could be that Styles has been hearing ever since he became champion about how he’s a fluke or a cheap titleholder who didn’t deserve his glory. But then that wouldn’t allow for anything on a grand enough scale. Therefore, what should happen is for Flair and Styles to come out and talk about the history of A.J. in TNA, hyping A.J. up as the greatest wrestler in company history and the man that makes TNA tick, as well as stating that something great was happening in TNA, never once getting to what reasons Styles may have for accepting this new direction in his life and career. Hogan would confront the two men and demand they get to the point and explain themselves as well as who ordered the Screwjob last week, confirming that it wasn’t him behind any of it. However, they would insist that they owe no one any such thing, and that Kurt lost three straight title matches to A.J., so he is no longer in championship contention. Hogan would concede that they were right about that, but also contend that if Angle is still eligible to face A.J. in non-title matches, and if he’s willing to work to help Hulk set things right, he would get one tonight.

That night, before the match, Ric Flair would actually meet and talk in the back with none other than Daniels, who earlier would’ve assaulted Sean Morley after Morley scored a win over, let‘s say, Kiyoshi, and Jeff Jarrett would’ve come into the ring with attorneys and declared that he, was the one who’d ordered the Screwjob, explaining that thanks to Scott Steiner’s harassment of Kristal Lashley not going unpunished by Dixie Carter and TNA management, state courts in both Florida and Tennessee were able to see things exactly as he did: TNA’s attempt to punish Jarrett over Angle whining about his ex-wife not living under a rock since their divorce and their subsequent dismissal of him and everything he’s done for TNA in favor of the Hogan-Bischoff regime was inconsistent with the company’s own standards and practices, therefore any transfer of power away from Jarrett was unjustified and thus invalidated. Meaning - this was his show just as much as it was Hogan’s, and if he had his way, it won’t be Hogan’s much longer.

Anyway, Kurt would appear for his match, in which that referee would be “accidentally” KO’d by a “badly-directed” Pélé kick, following which Flair would try to interfere only to get punched down and Styles to lead Angle into a chase around the ring. Tomko, in the same getup he’s been attacking A.J. in for weeks, would suddenly intercept Styles, grabbing him by the throat and seemingly readying for a double barrel choke slam. However, he would never pull the trigger, instead waiting for Angle to get close enough, throwing A.J. aside, and attacking the Olympic Gold Medalist, beginning a three-on-one mauling of Angle following which Styles, Tomko, and Flair would stand tall together to end the show.

The following week, Angle would come out and demand Flair, Styles, and Tomko come out to explain themselves again, this time receiving absolutely no response whatsoever - except a worker coming in and telling him that the three men weren’t even here yet. Desmond Wolfe would come out to the ring and try to pick a fight with Angle, leading to yet another match between the two taking place that night. Later on, as Daniels defeated Jay Lethal in the ring, Morley would come out and try to take Daniels out in revenge, but instead, the black-clad Tomko would come out of the crowd and assist Daniels as the two men issued a double team beat down on the Director Formerly Known as Val. Styles and Ric, however, would have yet to arrive at the arena, leading Hogan to come out midway through the show and declare that if Styles no-showed tonight then he would be stripped of the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, and Jarrett to appear in response and state that threats were unnecessary, because he’d been assured over the phone that A.J. would be here.

Daniels would find himself confronted in the back by Angle about being in cahoots with Tomko, Styles, and Flair, only for Desmond Wolfe to come and remind him that he’s gotta worry about the Moonlight McGuinness ending his career tonight, allowing Daniels to simply leave the scene. However, during the conclusion of yet another brilliant encounter between Angle and Wolfe, Daniels would come out to the ring and jump Angle before he could pick up the win. With Daniels signaling towards the entrance ramp, Tomko would quickly follow suit and assist in the whooping. Meanwhile, a limousine would pull up in the Impact Zone, Styles and Flair finally coming out and deciding to show up. Tomko, would issue his Argentine neck breaker to Angle, followed by the Best Moonsault Ever from Daniels to the Olympic Gold Medalist. Finally, Styles would hit the ring, go up top, and hit his Spiral Tap on Angle, before getting into a group hug with both Daniels and Tomko, signifying that all the turns against A.J. were little more than a sham. The three men would celebrate together, with Flair merely standing outside the ring and clapping in approval, content to stay in the background and give the active wrestlers their spotlight.
The rebirth of a legacy
The following week, it would be the last show before Against All Odds, and A.J. Styles would not have a championship opponent set because of Jeff Jarrett blocking Hogan from ruling anything for anybody, especially Angle, to buy time for this drama to unfold. Hogan would set up a triple threat match between Abyss, Mr. Anderson, and the almost long-forgotten Rhino to determine a #1 contender, but just as Abyss was about to win, Bobby Lashley, who by this point would’ve been vocally endorsed by Jarrett (because unlike Angle, at least his wife hadn’t divorced him yet, still wanted him, and was being legitimately harassed), beat the crap out of everybody to break the deal, leading Jeff to sit smug as Hogan had no choice but to admit there would be no challenge for A.J.’s title at Against All Odds and to book a tag team match of Angle and Joe against Styles and Tomko (in addition to the Daniels-Morley rematch booked earlier) for the pay-per-view.

Anyway, the four guys would come out together to a new remix version of Evanescence’s “My Last Breath” with a bit of a Four Horsemen twist to it, slightly but clearly different from the “Take Over” renditions used by Christian Cage, indicating this as their new faction theme. They would go on to finally offer the explanation of why everything was done the way that it was. And what they would reveal… were discussions, that immediately followed Bound for Glory. Flair could state that he was watching TNA for the better part of the past year, and bearing witness to A.J. Styles, a guy with high flying athletic ability, an understanding of wrestling, and a kind of subtle charisma and passion for the business that made him, quite frankly, at this stage in the game, the greatest wrestler in the world. Yet this man’s potential was being so subjugated by the dominance of Kurt Angle and his Main Event Mafia that at some point it actually took a pep talk from Sting in order for A.J. to step up and show the initiative required to take his rightful place at the top of TNA. And even when Styles was the champion, all the talk surrounding his title win was about how Sting handed the belt to him or Sting passed the torch. Even after A.J. defeated Sting cleanly, fair and square, 1, 2, 3, in the middle of the ring, all the talk in TNA was about Sting passing the torch and whether or not Sting was gonna retire. So Flair, a man with many connections, was able to reach A.J. Styles following Bound for Glory. He convinced A.J. that he had so much potential that he had yet to fulfill because in spite of giving his heart out to these TNA fans, he was being hidden behind the so-called “legends” of this business that didn’t know when to give it up yet were still being loved by everybody anyway over guys like him that come out and bust their ass day after day, week after week, to succeed in this ring.

He’d convinced A.J. that he knew the way to get to the top, and to take some friends with him, so that they would all finally get the respect that he deserved. There was Daniels - “no, not just Daniels, but ‘the Fallen Angel’ Christopher Daniels!” (fully reestablishing the entire ring name) - who was suppressed under the thumb of the Main Event Mafia, as well as once unfairly fired for winning a match, and there was Tomko, whose career was absolutely ruined by his badly misguided decision to serve under Kurt Angle. So, he’d personally devised something to systematically turn A.J. Styles and his friends towards “the right way to do things and to forcibly take respect by the horns”. After discussing the plan back and forth with A.J. and finally coming out comfortably, he was the one that convinced Dixie Carter to make “the rematch of that battle he’d heard so much about from that 2005 show called Unbreakable”. He would then ask A.J. to tell ’em the plot.

Styles would explain that he then called Tomko, whose number he still had much to both men’s surprise, and forgave him for his betrayal in 2008, then offered a way to get back at Angle for turning him into the “hate monger” who did that. Styles then talked to his best friend Christopher Daniels and explained that it was time for them to take over TNA. The details of the plan were explained, made clear, and soon to be executed. And the first step had been Flair booking the main event for Turning Point. They knew all along that the first thing Joe would think to do would be to try and disband their friendship. So they gave him the ammunition he needed for it to work, by allowing themselves to use “bad strategy” and throw the tag team match against Samoa Joe and Kevin Nash, then having Tomko begin his series of masked attacks by jumping A.J. in the parking lot, with his car parked conveniently in the right place for a quick hit-and-walk getaway that would allow TNA cameras to see the back of his bald head, leading to a series of more masked attacks. Of course, Joe fell into the trap hook, line, and sinker, and it was too easy to let him believe that he had broken up the team.

This was finalized, A.J. would go on, by the ending of the match at Final Resolution, where Daniels intentionally gave enough time before hitting Joe with the Best Moonsault Ever that A.J. would be able to steal the match from them. They then worked the entire fan base and the TNA world title picture the following month for Final Resolution, where they decided A.J. would win as the meal ticket, but Daniels would have to provide a good fight. The whole thing was orchestrated to stall Kurt Angle from receiving his rematch until the biggest stage possible - the big night of Hulk Hogan’s debut in TNA. That night, after a pep talk from Flair, the masked assailant’s moment of chaos aside, Styles defeated Angle completely without help, thus proving that he was the better man once and for all - only for Hogan to turn around and give Angle another rematch. That’s when they knew the time was near to reveal their hand to the world. There was only one Impact between that and Genesis. And everything that night was done for the sole purpose of unveiling Tomko, who was safely in now that he’d finally had a match under his belt in TNA last month, and for showing Kurt what he still really thought of him at the end of the night. And from there, everybody knew what happened at Genesis, and if anybody needed any further explanation then they were idiots.

Daniels could then take the mike and get on the case of TNA management, calling out Dixie Carter specifically. Have him reveal that she was the one who authorized the whole Feast or Fired concept after management figures came up with it, which essentially left him fired for winning a match. She also refused to allow Daniels back into TNA in spite of both his and A.J.’s calls. Furthermore, he could go one step further and blame her for cutting his name into a fraction of itself in TNA almost right after Jeff Jarrett brought him back, and proudly proclaim as Flair did that his name is NOT just Daniels, but “the Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels. Then Tomko could briefly take it up and state that he never forgave Kurt Angle for the way that he’d allowed his career to become nothing without a thought while he served under him in 2008 even at the expense of his own friendships, and briefly expose Dixie Carter’s practical gaga worship over Angle and big-name guys like him into storylines, citing the very reason Jeff Jarrett’s removal from power was invalidated by the courts and then asking Dixie what made her think he wouldn’t be able to rightfully get his stroke back after that.

Angle would then make his way to ringside with a mike and explain that just because “Jeff Jarrett and the horseshit band in the ring” had screwed him out of the TNA Championship picture didn’t mean that they’d gotten him out of their crosshairs by any stretch of the imagination whatsoever. Styles would demand to know how that was the case, asking what army he could’ve possibly amassed that could fight this wave off. Angle would then turn around and tell some guys to come on out, and Samoa Joe’s music would hit, leading to Joe and Morley making their way to the ring with Angle and starting a fight. Angle and his company would take the upper hand as Flair dipped to the outside, only for Wolfe to suddenly hit the ring and provide the numbers edge that A.J. and friends needed to take them all out at once. D’Angelo Dinero would come out, start to try and clean house, but then Flair would come in with a thumb to the eye and the group would commence to pouncing on him too.

Wolfe would take the microphone and essentially reveal to Kurt in who-do-you-think fashion that the only man who could’ve scouted the world, found TNA its absolute greatest international export in the history of professional wrestling, and told him to “take the great Angle and leave him mangled” with the utmost confidence that he would either get the job done or buy mountains of time trying was the Nature Boy himself, meaning he was in on this whole conspiracy as well the entire time. Flair would take back the machine and officially proclaim that the team standing before everyone right now was a group of hungry champions who weren’t afraid to take a stand for what they believe in and for their rightful place at the top of this beautiful industry they call professional wrestling. This was the team really destined to lead TNA into the promised land. And these were the men Ric Flair was proud to endorse as the very future of this business and of the legacy of a unit he once led back in the day called the Four Horsemen.

We’ve got A.J. Styles, the pure superstar of the group and the face of the company. We’ve got Christopher Daniels, a man slick and sound in the way he walks, in the way he talks, and in the way that he wrestles. We’ve got Tomko, a big man whose raw force has been refined through traveling the world and who is ready to show the world what he’s got. And we’ve got Desmond Wolfe, the man who will show everyone that he is the greatest Brit to ever step foot in the ring - better than a man named Regal, better than the Bulldogs, and certainly way better than the British Invasion. Ladies and gentlemen, behold: you can’t call ’em Horsemen, because we are looking at the NEXT stage in that legacy, so the Naitch gives to you the Maverick Riders! A hand-raising celebration with the new “My Last Breath”, which would probably be called “Breathless” or “Last” or “Dark Horse” or something along those lines, the stage was set for the Riders era to begin.
Immediate feuds and ramapercussions
Before I continue, I should probably make notice of the fact that Wolfe and Dinero would’ve been booked into a Genesis rematch as well at Against All Odds.

Now. You have these immediate individual feuds set up for the Maverick Riders, and the fact that Angle, Joe, Dinero, and Morley took a beating together at their hands would immediately set up for that group to form some sort of a united front from time to time to counter what they’ve got going on. The results of Against All Odds, I’d venture to say should best be done with Daniels and Dinero avenging their losses to Morley and Wolfe respectively, and Angle pinning Tomko because any other outcome would suddenly justify Joe getting a title shot apart from the briefcase deal.

After this point I’d give A.J. another challenger apart from the Riders’ would-be current enemies for Destination X through a #1 contender’s match, presumably Abyss or, if we wanna go the route of turning the Coalition into tweeners, Lashley. Reason I suggested a potential tweener route is because even with this unit in tow, Flair and Styles would probably be too well-respected to play as outright heels. The way to execute turning Coalition Four tweener doesn’t just lie in giving A.J. Bobby Lashley as an opponent, though.

See, in other threads where this idea was lightly discussed, peeps have pointed out that Daniels and Tomko could form a great tag team. That’s true, as a matter of fact, and even better is, they’d kinda know the role to play, as both have been tag champions with Styles, but never with each other. I would suggest Daniels and Tomko win a multi-team match by pinning another heel team like the British Invasion, Raven and Dr. Stevie, or the god-awful Nasty Boys, to become #1 contenders for Matt Morgan and Hernandez at Destination X. Also, Wolfe being a member of Ric Flair‘s newest incarnation of the Horsemen legacy is all fine and good, but he needs to keep some of the same qualities which have made him Desmond Wolfe, such as being able to kick ass or make deals on his own when necessary. He could make a proposition to both administration sides (Hogan-Bischoff and Jarrett-Foley) prior to Against All Odds that if he is allowed a challenge against Young for the Global Championship, he will remove that stipulation Young has about never defending it against an American wrestler or on American soil, pointing out the cowardice in how said edict allows him to never have to worry about defending the title because TNA has only ever booked three major televised programs outside the US. The pitch would be accepted, but Hogan would make him earn the right to be the man to carry it out by beating Pope or Morley again, which he would of course be able to do.

At which point the Riders should win all four titles at Destination X. And not just because they’re a hot new faction that I would’ve endorsed, but because Matt Morgan and Hernandez need to be singles stars and let teams like Beer Money Inc. or the Motor City Machineguns challenge for the tag titles, and because that rule of EY’s which effectively turns the Global title into an indefensible arm prop is something that needed to go since last month. Oh, and because helping them win those matches is the perfect way to turn Christy Hemme into the group’s regular valet, making way for the Beautiful People to boot Lacey Von Erich out and into that position in favor of Angelina Love, or for Lacey to become the regular valet and in fact give her position in TBP back to Angelina. What to do with Angle and Joe? Simple. Have Joe beat Angle to keep the briefcase. But make sure he does it clean, so they can have a respect handshake and then team together with Morley and Pope for Lethal Lockdown.

Now the table is essentially set, because you’ve got all four champions, a legendary manager/mentor/mouthpiece, a multi-month swerve plot to set all this up, a recognizable hottie playing valet, a tie-in to the Hogan/Jarrett power struggle with Jarrett backing them up, a force to battle them at Lethal Lockdown, and multiple strings of other faces (and even some heels, resulting in a slightly tweenerish bent) for Hogan to throw at them after the fact. The Maverick Riders, a.k.a. the future stage in the Four Horsemen legacy, could easily be a success if TNA were to ever form the team. Ric Flair would not need to wrestle again. Unlike the Nasty Boys or the Band, his attention would be solely devoted towards promoting and elevating younger talent. And if nothing else, the level of wool-pulled-over-everyone’s-eyes involved in this storyline would prove that given the right story behind it, virtually anyone with any worth at the top can be sold as a villain. Even a legend like the Nature Boy. And even the Evolution of TNA, A.J. Styles.

Poll Question: Who would a TNA Four Horsemen stable featuring A.J. benefit the most?
Poll Choice	Votes	Poll Statistics
Ric Flair	0	[0.00%]
A.J. Styles	1	[33.33%]
The other members	0	[0.00%]
Everybody	0	[0.00%]
Nobody	0	[0.00%]
TNA	2	[66.67%]
You can not vote in this poll

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Pac-Man Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Moderator Group 2008 Hall Of Fame Member "The Champ" Joined: 06/March/2006 Location: This Town. Online Status: Offline Posts: 6413	Post Options Post Reply Quote Pac-Man Report Post Quote Reply Topic: Packin’ Heat #8: Styles’ Swerve and the Riders Posted: 23/January/2010 at 06:34
	What‘s up once again, TUPeeps? My last couple of Packin’ Heat editions were related to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, specifically the problems that the Main Event Mafia storyline pose for TNA and one of the ways that A.J. Styles specifically could be used to solve said problem. (Yes, I realize the pun there now that I type it.) However, now that the Main Event Mafia has been all but thoroughly destroyed, and Hulk Hogan has come to TNA, major changes have come to pass. Many of them haven’t found approval within the internet wrestling community, the Unprettier Wrestling Forum, or my championship self. However, quite frankly, one certain change which occurred at TNA’s Genesis 2010 pay-per-view found the company striking a potential brilliant gold mine. Originally I had planned to bring Packin’ Heat #8 into the boards in order to talk about Jeff Hardy and how I felt his Hardy Party fan base was adversely affecting anybody else’s feelings towards him or sympathy for his situation, but quite frankly that never inspired as many words as would be necessary for this to work from me. Therefore, I will be discussing the swerve of the year and one storyline that it could mean for the men responsible for creating said swerve. I originally had a spoiler warning notice right after this in case anybody hadn’t seen or heard about Genesis by now, but come on. It’s been five days. It’s pretty pointless now. Anyway, peoples, let’s roll. Packin’ Heat #8: A.J. Styles’s Swerve of the Year and the Maverick Riders… One of my most favorite aspects of professional wrestling is the swerve play. When people pull off a face or heel turn that one absolutely never could’ve seen coming, or when somebody come up with a shocking strategic play to win a match that came completely out of nowhere and in any way reinvented or reshaped a character. When done correctly, those plays turn out to become the launching point for what at times has turned out to rank among the biggest phases in the career of a reputed name in WWE history. Easy examples listed down include the night Stone Cold Steve Austin turned against the fans in favor of Vince McMahon at WrestleMania X-Seven to retain the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against the Rock, or the night Stephanie McMahon turned on her father in favor of Triple H at Armageddon 1999… wait, actually, I don’t really know if I can tell how much of a swerve that really was. Or how about some real-life events, such as the infamous Montreal Screwjob of Bret Hart at the hands of Michaels and McMahon in 1997, or the heel turn of Lita to Edge’s side in 2005 against Kane spawned from the real-life bad romance novel starring them and Matt Hardy which, regardless of who you look down upon today or when it happened, cost V1 three months of his job and permanently dented Lita’s fan base? Or how about Bash at the Beach 1996, the night that the great American Hero Hulk Hogan did the absolutely unconscionable by joining forces with the invading Outsiders from the Kliq and creating the nWo? All of these swerves had one thing in common. They provided the launching point for a pivotal phase in somebody’s career and in the wrestling business. Austin’s turn to the side of McMahon created the Power Trip and led in great part to the Austin character that would defect to the WCW/ECW Alliance in the Invasion storyline, becoming its leader and giving the storyline some shred of credibility as well as creating a couple Austin memes along the way. Stephanie turning on Vince, though its level of swerve is totally debatable, resulted in the McMahon-Helmsley Fac-gime which many with a good point believe ultimately shaped and continues to shape the direction of the now-rechristened WWE to this very day. The Montreal Screwjob was a swerve in multiple ways, because Bret Hart the performer certainly never saw it coming any more than Bret Hart the character did, and it was WWF, not WCW, that was able to capitalize on the stormy aftermath of Hart’s bad departure from WWF. And while all the Edge & Lita pairing resulted in for Kane was another angle to go crazy in, while as aforementioned Hardy lost three months of work and Lita lost her fan base, Edge’s persona as the Rated-R Superstar and the Ultimate Opportunist was ultimately finalized in shape by that year’s events, leading to yet another beautiful swerve - his application of the Money in the Bank briefcase, one of the most brilliant “duh point” swerves wrestling has ever seen. And of course, there was the nWo. They took WCW to the moon, then arguably killed it. Ladies and gentlemen, in one of the few potential bright spots of Hulk Hogan’s TNA, a new super swerve has been added to the family of super swerves. And what this article is here for is to discuss exactly what road led to that super swerve, and what road could come from it as a result. The new Phenomenal champion’s turn-tastic fallouts A few months ago, A.J. Styles was placed in the middle of a TNA World Heavyweight Championship match against defending champion and Main Event Mafia Godfather Kurt Angle, Matt Morgan, and Sting. This match took place at No Surrender and came without much inkling that Angle would be dropping the strap anytime soon after the dominance of the Mafia since Samoa Joe’s shocking turn to their side at Slammiversary. Then, while Kurt had an Ankle Lock locked in on A.J., Morgan issues a Carbon Footprint to Angle since working together was no longer convenient for them. Sting cleared Morgan from the ring. Sting and Styles exchanged a gaze, and Sting left the ring and cleared Morgan, allowing Styles to hit Angle with a Superman splash and cover the pin and take the championship in a moment that left the TNA world shaking with joy. The following month saw Styles extend a championship title shot to Sting in gratitude for his help and to prove who was really the best. Sting headed into Bound for Glory with a streak of consecutive World Heavyweight Championship match victories at the flagship event of TNA’s year, however this time didn’t seem to care as much about winning without a cause against the champion and was possibly on the verge of retirement, at least according to the angle. Despite convincing Sting to give him all that he’s got, A.J. was able to overcome the Icon. The next few months after this point have a large part to do with what makes this whole event extremely shocking, because they’ve been largely spent essentially dealing with friends turning heel on the Phenomenal One. Specifically, these friends would be Christopher Daniels and Tomko. Following his title defense against Sting at Bound for Glory, A.J. was placed into a triple threat match against Samoa Joe and Daniels for the following month at Turning Point, as a rematch of several encounters over the X-Division Championship in 2005 (specifically the contest at Unbreakable, which was heralded as the greatest match in company history). Knowing that Daniels and A.J. were as tight knit a unit of buddies as there is in TNA, Joe set out to cure the disadvantage, by finding some avenue to cause dissension within the ranks of the two guys. At the same time, there was a mysterious dark-clad assailant coming after A.J. Styles over the weeks leading up to Turning Point. Joe used this to immediately stir the pot between Styles and Daniels, working his magic to perfection. However, at the pay-per-view, Joe would come up short, when Daniels hit the Best Moonsault Ever on Joe, then Styles hit his springboard 450 splash onto both men and covered Joe for the pin. That virtually stolen championship victory later, Daniels and Styles had completely fallen out, Daniels becoming bitter and jealous at A.J.'s success while accusing him of arrogance. In the processs, Daniels was able to ask for a TNA World Championship title shot at the final pay-per-view of the year, Final Resolution 2009, which Styles granted him. At the same time, the now masked assailant was still making his hits at A.J. on occasion, which Daniels would actually once use to his advantage. The bitter eyelined egotist Daniels ended up losing at the pay-per-view and, like Joe a month before him, sliding into inferior storylines. This while Kurt Angle finally was able to score a shot at Styles for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on the January 4th Biggest Impact Ever. “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, who shockingly (at least according to the vibe) appeared in the building that night, found his way into the locker room of A.J. Styles prior to the match. In the middle of the match, the attacker made yet another round against Styles, though Angle was able to fend him off before he could cause a disqualification. After an absolutely amazing classic, during which Flair would come out to look on at the action, Styles would win the match off a Styles Clash, then Hulk Hogan would endorse them as the greatest wrestlers in the world and order a Last Chance rematch at Genesis 2010, the first pay-per-view event of the new Hogan TNA. On the following Impact, the only one left before Genesis, in fact, Kurt and A.J. would express mutual respect, as well as confidence in their own ability to win that night. However, after Angle left the ring, Styles went to do so as well when the attacker suddenly beat him up once again, this time taking him into the ring and unmasking himself as none other than Tomko, who had actually appeared as an ally to Styles in a tag team match a few weeks ago. A.J. went into Hogan and Eric Bischoff’s office and, finding Bischoff there, demanded to face Tomko in the ring, even accepting Bischoff’s condition of making it a main event title match. Styles would defeat Tomko, then receive some help from Kurt Angle in fending off his post-match attack, all with Ric Flair looking on from the announcer’s table and expressing his respect for the tools of both Styles and Tomko. However… Styles… wouldn’t accept Angle’s handshake… and Ric Flair was found looking awed somewhat. Finally, however, in the middle of the championship match at Genesis, the same classic that always ensued between Styles and Angle would repeat itself, this time with Styles tapping out to the Ankle Lock… except Ric Flair pulled Earl Hebner out of the ring right before the tap, meaning the referee couldn’t see it to rule the submission. Kurt Angle looked at Flair super-pissed for a few seconds, then chased the Dirtiest Player in the Business around the ring, until finally running right into an A.J. Styles discus clothesline. Flair then found the TNA World Championship title belt and slid it in to Styles, who looked down at it for awhile, then suddenly picked it up and drove it right into Angle’s head, knocking him out and covering him as Flair revived the referee and counted the 1, 2, 3. The scene of both men pointing everybody in the direction of the Phenomenal One pretty much cemented the shocking truth. Though the champion retained his title, things were drastically changed now. TNA Wrestling officially has a super swerve in the family. Both A.J. Styles and Ric Flair had suddenly turned heel together. This was followed up by an Impact which, of course, featured Ric Flair and a new Ric Flair-styled A.J. Styles, complete with suit and valet and everything, coming out and talking about their greatness, then Hulk Hogan and Kurt Angle talking in the ring and Hogan offering Angle yet another rematch, rescinding his Last Chance agreement “because he can”. The match would turn out to be a complete rehash of the Montreal Screwjob, featuring Earl Hebner as himself (crooked referee making bad submission call), Hogan as McMahon (the boss sitting at ringside to get spat on in the end), Angle as Bret Hart (guy getting screwed by bad submission call and storming the hell out), A.J. Styles as Shawn Michaels (guy getting benefits of bad submission call and gettin’ the hell outta dodge), and Ric as HHH/Patterson/Brisco/whoever the hell got HBK out of the ring that night. Setting the stage for the dance revelation Orlando Rehash of Screwjob aside, there are several obvious directions that Styles and Flair’s sudden heel turn leads to, in terms of potential challengers such as Samoa Joe, D’Angelo Dinero, Bobby Lashley, and even potentially Angle again now that Hogan’s made it clear the Last Chance edict amounts to jack shit. However, in trying to discuss what opponents A.J. Styles can have, what would be one of the most forgotten aspects of this whole deal if I didn’t specifically set out to mention it, is that Daniels and Tomko, the friends that had been turning on Styles since virtually the real start of his title reign, are now joined in the turn-heel-on-A.J.-Styles’-title-reign department… by A.J. Styles himself, along with Ric Flair. Flair, being the revolutionary genius in character that he is, undoubtedly would be thought of to have been the man behind A.J.’s sudden turn towards the antagonist side of questionable tactics. However, what if that wasn’t just because Hogan came around? What if the story talks and reveals that the whole thing had been in place since after A.J.’s victory at Bound for Glory? How would something so grand be revealed, and on what time scale would it come? Well, to answer that question, let’s begin with the very next Impact. One obvious explanation could be that Styles has been hearing ever since he became champion about how he’s a fluke or a cheap titleholder who didn’t deserve his glory. But then that wouldn’t allow for anything on a grand enough scale. Therefore, what should happen is for Flair and Styles to come out and talk about the history of A.J. in TNA, hyping A.J. up as the greatest wrestler in company history and the man that makes TNA tick, as well as stating that something great was happening in TNA, never once getting to what reasons Styles may have for accepting this new direction in his life and career. Hogan would confront the two men and demand they get to the point and explain themselves as well as who ordered the Screwjob last week, confirming that it wasn’t him behind any of it. However, they would insist that they owe no one any such thing, and that Kurt lost three straight title matches to A.J., so he is no longer in championship contention. Hogan would concede that they were right about that, but also contend that if Angle is still eligible to face A.J. in non-title matches, and if he’s willing to work to help Hulk set things right, he would get one tonight. That night, before the match, Ric Flair would actually meet and talk in the back with none other than Daniels, who earlier would’ve assaulted Sean Morley after Morley scored a win over, let‘s say, Kiyoshi, and Jeff Jarrett would’ve come into the ring with attorneys and declared that he, was the one who’d ordered the Screwjob, explaining that thanks to Scott Steiner’s harassment of Kristal Lashley not going unpunished by Dixie Carter and TNA management, state courts in both Florida and Tennessee were able to see things exactly as he did: TNA’s attempt to punish Jarrett over Angle whining about his ex-wife not living under a rock since their divorce and their subsequent dismissal of him and everything he’s done for TNA in favor of the Hogan-Bischoff regime was inconsistent with the company’s own standards and practices, therefore any transfer of power away from Jarrett was unjustified and thus invalidated. Meaning - this was his show just as much as it was Hogan’s, and if he had his way, it won’t be Hogan’s much longer. Anyway, Kurt would appear for his match, in which that referee would be “accidentally” KO’d by a “badly-directed” Pélé kick, following which Flair would try to interfere only to get punched down and Styles to lead Angle into a chase around the ring. Tomko, in the same getup he’s been attacking A.J. in for weeks, would suddenly intercept Styles, grabbing him by the throat and seemingly readying for a double barrel choke slam. However, he would never pull the trigger, instead waiting for Angle to get close enough, throwing A.J. aside, and attacking the Olympic Gold Medalist, beginning a three-on-one mauling of Angle following which Styles, Tomko, and Flair would stand tall together to end the show. The following week, Angle would come out and demand Flair, Styles, and Tomko come out to explain themselves again, this time receiving absolutely no response whatsoever - except a worker coming in and telling him that the three men weren’t even here yet. Desmond Wolfe would come out to the ring and try to pick a fight with Angle, leading to yet another match between the two taking place that night. Later on, as Daniels defeated Jay Lethal in the ring, Morley would come out and try to take Daniels out in revenge, but instead, the black-clad Tomko would come out of the crowd and assist Daniels as the two men issued a double team beat down on the Director Formerly Known as Val. Styles and Ric, however, would have yet to arrive at the arena, leading Hogan to come out midway through the show and declare that if Styles no-showed tonight then he would be stripped of the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, and Jarrett to appear in response and state that threats were unnecessary, because he’d been assured over the phone that A.J. would be here. Daniels would find himself confronted in the back by Angle about being in cahoots with Tomko, Styles, and Flair, only for Desmond Wolfe to come and remind him that he’s gotta worry about the Moonlight McGuinness ending his career tonight, allowing Daniels to simply leave the scene. However, during the conclusion of yet another brilliant encounter between Angle and Wolfe, Daniels would come out to the ring and jump Angle before he could pick up the win. With Daniels signaling towards the entrance ramp, Tomko would quickly follow suit and assist in the whooping. Meanwhile, a limousine would pull up in the Impact Zone, Styles and Flair finally coming out and deciding to show up. Tomko, would issue his Argentine neck breaker to Angle, followed by the Best Moonsault Ever from Daniels to the Olympic Gold Medalist. Finally, Styles would hit the ring, go up top, and hit his Spiral Tap on Angle, before getting into a group hug with both Daniels and Tomko, signifying that all the turns against A.J. were little more than a sham. The three men would celebrate together, with Flair merely standing outside the ring and clapping in approval, content to stay in the background and give the active wrestlers their spotlight. The rebirth of a legacy The following week, it would be the last show before Against All Odds, and A.J. Styles would not have a championship opponent set because of Jeff Jarrett blocking Hogan from ruling anything for anybody, especially Angle, to buy time for this drama to unfold. Hogan would set up a triple threat match between Abyss, Mr. Anderson, and the almost long-forgotten Rhino to determine a #1 contender, but just as Abyss was about to win, Bobby Lashley, who by this point would’ve been vocally endorsed by Jarrett (because unlike Angle, at least his wife hadn’t divorced him yet, still wanted him, and was being legitimately harassed), beat the crap out of everybody to break the deal, leading Jeff to sit smug as Hogan had no choice but to admit there would be no challenge for A.J.’s title at Against All Odds and to book a tag team match of Angle and Joe against Styles and Tomko (in addition to the Daniels-Morley rematch booked earlier) for the pay-per-view. Anyway, the four guys would come out together to a new remix version of Evanescence’s “My Last Breath” with a bit of a Four Horsemen twist to it, slightly but clearly different from the “Take Over” renditions used by Christian Cage, indicating this as their new faction theme. They would go on to finally offer the explanation of why everything was done the way that it was. And what they would reveal… were discussions, that immediately followed Bound for Glory. Flair could state that he was watching TNA for the better part of the past year, and bearing witness to A.J. Styles, a guy with high flying athletic ability, an understanding of wrestling, and a kind of subtle charisma and passion for the business that made him, quite frankly, at this stage in the game, the greatest wrestler in the world. Yet this man’s potential was being so subjugated by the dominance of Kurt Angle and his Main Event Mafia that at some point it actually took a pep talk from Sting in order for A.J. to step up and show the initiative required to take his rightful place at the top of TNA. And even when Styles was the champion, all the talk surrounding his title win was about how Sting handed the belt to him or Sting passed the torch. Even after A.J. defeated Sting cleanly, fair and square, 1, 2, 3, in the middle of the ring, all the talk in TNA was about Sting passing the torch and whether or not Sting was gonna retire. So Flair, a man with many connections, was able to reach A.J. Styles following Bound for Glory. He convinced A.J. that he had so much potential that he had yet to fulfill because in spite of giving his heart out to these TNA fans, he was being hidden behind the so-called “legends” of this business that didn’t know when to give it up yet were still being loved by everybody anyway over guys like him that come out and bust their ass day after day, week after week, to succeed in this ring. He’d convinced A.J. that he knew the way to get to the top, and to take some friends with him, so that they would all finally get the respect that he deserved. There was Daniels - “no, not just Daniels, but ‘the Fallen Angel’ Christopher Daniels!” (fully reestablishing the entire ring name) - who was suppressed under the thumb of the Main Event Mafia, as well as once unfairly fired for winning a match, and there was Tomko, whose career was absolutely ruined by his badly misguided decision to serve under Kurt Angle. So, he’d personally devised something to systematically turn A.J. Styles and his friends towards “the right way to do things and to forcibly take respect by the horns”. After discussing the plan back and forth with A.J. and finally coming out comfortably, he was the one that convinced Dixie Carter to make “the rematch of that battle he’d heard so much about from that 2005 show called Unbreakable”. He would then ask A.J. to tell ’em the plot. Styles would explain that he then called Tomko, whose number he still had much to both men’s surprise, and forgave him for his betrayal in 2008, then offered a way to get back at Angle for turning him into the “hate monger” who did that. Styles then talked to his best friend Christopher Daniels and explained that it was time for them to take over TNA. The details of the plan were explained, made clear, and soon to be executed. And the first step had been Flair booking the main event for Turning Point. They knew all along that the first thing Joe would think to do would be to try and disband their friendship. So they gave him the ammunition he needed for it to work, by allowing themselves to use “bad strategy” and throw the tag team match against Samoa Joe and Kevin Nash, then having Tomko begin his series of masked attacks by jumping A.J. in the parking lot, with his car parked conveniently in the right place for a quick hit-and-walk getaway that would allow TNA cameras to see the back of his bald head, leading to a series of more masked attacks. Of course, Joe fell into the trap hook, line, and sinker, and it was too easy to let him believe that he had broken up the team. This was finalized, A.J. would go on, by the ending of the match at Final Resolution, where Daniels intentionally gave enough time before hitting Joe with the Best Moonsault Ever that A.J. would be able to steal the match from them. They then worked the entire fan base and the TNA world title picture the following month for Final Resolution, where they decided A.J. would win as the meal ticket, but Daniels would have to provide a good fight. The whole thing was orchestrated to stall Kurt Angle from receiving his rematch until the biggest stage possible - the big night of Hulk Hogan’s debut in TNA. That night, after a pep talk from Flair, the masked assailant’s moment of chaos aside, Styles defeated Angle completely without help, thus proving that he was the better man once and for all - only for Hogan to turn around and give Angle another rematch. That’s when they knew the time was near to reveal their hand to the world. There was only one Impact between that and Genesis. And everything that night was done for the sole purpose of unveiling Tomko, who was safely in now that he’d finally had a match under his belt in TNA last month, and for showing Kurt what he still really thought of him at the end of the night. And from there, everybody knew what happened at Genesis, and if anybody needed any further explanation then they were idiots. Daniels could then take the mike and get on the case of TNA management, calling out Dixie Carter specifically. Have him reveal that she was the one who authorized the whole Feast or Fired concept after management figures came up with it, which essentially left him fired for winning a match. She also refused to allow Daniels back into TNA in spite of both his and A.J.’s calls. Furthermore, he could go one step further and blame her for cutting his name into a fraction of itself in TNA almost right after Jeff Jarrett brought him back, and proudly proclaim as Flair did that his name is NOT just Daniels, but “the Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels. Then Tomko could briefly take it up and state that he never forgave Kurt Angle for the way that he’d allowed his career to become nothing without a thought while he served under him in 2008 even at the expense of his own friendships, and briefly expose Dixie Carter’s practical gaga worship over Angle and big-name guys like him into storylines, citing the very reason Jeff Jarrett’s removal from power was invalidated by the courts and then asking Dixie what made her think he wouldn’t be able to rightfully get his stroke back after that. Angle would then make his way to ringside with a mike and explain that just because “Jeff Jarrett and the horseshit band in the ring” had screwed him out of the TNA Championship picture didn’t mean that they’d gotten him out of their crosshairs by any stretch of the imagination whatsoever. Styles would demand to know how that was the case, asking what army he could’ve possibly amassed that could fight this wave off. Angle would then turn around and tell some guys to come on out, and Samoa Joe’s music would hit, leading to Joe and Morley making their way to the ring with Angle and starting a fight. Angle and his company would take the upper hand as Flair dipped to the outside, only for Wolfe to suddenly hit the ring and provide the numbers edge that A.J. and friends needed to take them all out at once. D’Angelo Dinero would come out, start to try and clean house, but then Flair would come in with a thumb to the eye and the group would commence to pouncing on him too. Wolfe would take the microphone and essentially reveal to Kurt in who-do-you-think fashion that the only man who could’ve scouted the world, found TNA its absolute greatest international export in the history of professional wrestling, and told him to “take the great Angle and leave him mangled” with the utmost confidence that he would either get the job done or buy mountains of time trying was the Nature Boy himself, meaning he was in on this whole conspiracy as well the entire time. Flair would take back the machine and officially proclaim that the team standing before everyone right now was a group of hungry champions who weren’t afraid to take a stand for what they believe in and for their rightful place at the top of this beautiful industry they call professional wrestling. This was the team really destined to lead TNA into the promised land. And these were the men Ric Flair was proud to endorse as the very future of this business and of the legacy of a unit he once led back in the day called the Four Horsemen. We’ve got A.J. Styles, the pure superstar of the group and the face of the company. We’ve got Christopher Daniels, a man slick and sound in the way he walks, in the way he talks, and in the way that he wrestles. We’ve got Tomko, a big man whose raw force has been refined through traveling the world and who is ready to show the world what he’s got. And we’ve got Desmond Wolfe, the man who will show everyone that he is the greatest Brit to ever step foot in the ring - better than a man named Regal, better than the Bulldogs, and certainly way better than the British Invasion. Ladies and gentlemen, behold: you can’t call ’em Horsemen, because we are looking at the NEXT stage in that legacy, so the Naitch gives to you the Maverick Riders! A hand-raising celebration with the new “My Last Breath”, which would probably be called “Breathless” or “Last” or “Dark Horse” or something along those lines, the stage was set for the Riders era to begin. Immediate feuds and ramapercussions Before I continue, I should probably make notice of the fact that Wolfe and Dinero would’ve been booked into a Genesis rematch as well at Against All Odds. Now. You have these immediate individual feuds set up for the Maverick Riders, and the fact that Angle, Joe, Dinero, and Morley took a beating together at their hands would immediately set up for that group to form some sort of a united front from time to time to counter what they’ve got going on. The results of Against All Odds, I’d venture to say should best be done with Daniels and Dinero avenging their losses to Morley and Wolfe respectively, and Angle pinning Tomko because any other outcome would suddenly justify Joe getting a title shot apart from the briefcase deal. After this point I’d give A.J. another challenger apart from the Riders’ would-be current enemies for Destination X through a #1 contender’s match, presumably Abyss or, if we wanna go the route of turning the Coalition into tweeners, Lashley. Reason I suggested a potential tweener route is because even with this unit in tow, Flair and Styles would probably be too well-respected to play as outright heels. The way to execute turning Coalition Four tweener doesn’t just lie in giving A.J. Bobby Lashley as an opponent, though. See, in other threads where this idea was lightly discussed, peeps have pointed out that Daniels and Tomko could form a great tag team. That’s true, as a matter of fact, and even better is, they’d kinda know the role to play, as both have been tag champions with Styles, but never with each other. I would suggest Daniels and Tomko win a multi-team match by pinning another heel team like the British Invasion, Raven and Dr. Stevie, or the god-awful Nasty Boys, to become #1 contenders for Matt Morgan and Hernandez at Destination X. Also, Wolfe being a member of Ric Flair‘s newest incarnation of the Horsemen legacy is all fine and good, but he needs to keep some of the same qualities which have made him Desmond Wolfe, such as being able to kick ass or make deals on his own when necessary. He could make a proposition to both administration sides (Hogan-Bischoff and Jarrett-Foley) prior to Against All Odds that if he is allowed a challenge against Young for the Global Championship, he will remove that stipulation Young has about never defending it against an American wrestler or on American soil, pointing out the cowardice in how said edict allows him to never have to worry about defending the title because TNA has only ever booked three major televised programs outside the US. The pitch would be accepted, but Hogan would make him earn the right to be the man to carry it out by beating Pope or Morley again, which he would of course be able to do. At which point the Riders should win all four titles at Destination X. And not just because they’re a hot new faction that I would’ve endorsed, but because Matt Morgan and Hernandez need to be singles stars and let teams like Beer Money Inc. or the Motor City Machineguns challenge for the tag titles, and because that rule of EY’s which effectively turns the Global title into an indefensible arm prop is something that needed to go since last month. Oh, and because helping them win those matches is the perfect way to turn Christy Hemme into the group’s regular valet, making way for the Beautiful People to boot Lacey Von Erich out and into that position in favor of Angelina Love, or for Lacey to become the regular valet and in fact give her position in TBP back to Angelina. What to do with Angle and Joe? Simple. Have Joe beat Angle to keep the briefcase. But make sure he does it clean, so they can have a respect handshake and then team together with Morley and Pope for Lethal Lockdown. Now the table is essentially set, because you’ve got all four champions, a legendary manager/mentor/mouthpiece, a multi-month swerve plot to set all this up, a recognizable hottie playing valet, a tie-in to the Hogan/Jarrett power struggle with Jarrett backing them up, a force to battle them at Lethal Lockdown, and multiple strings of other faces (and even some heels, resulting in a slightly tweenerish bent) for Hogan to throw at them after the fact. The Maverick Riders, a.k.a. the future stage in the Four Horsemen legacy, could easily be a success if TNA were to ever form the team. Ric Flair would not need to wrestle again. Unlike the Nasty Boys or the Band, his attention would be solely devoted towards promoting and elevating younger talent. And if nothing else, the level of wool-pulled-over-everyone’s-eyes involved in this storyline would prove that given the right story behind it, virtually anyone with any worth at the top can be sold as a villain. Even a legend like the Nature Boy. And even the Evolution of TNA, A.J. Styles.
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bigfloridapimp Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List PB Members Tha Don 4 One Love Joined: 19/June/2007 Location: florida Online Status: Offline Posts: 4957	Post Options Post Reply Quote bigfloridapimp Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 17/February/2010 at 06:09
	At 1st I voted all of TNA, but now IDK if it helps TNA but more AJ. From what I am seeing, AJ match at Against All Odds, his match quality is down a bit. But I think hes just taking a step back. Now hes learning to tell a story in the ring, and promos... Wow, his promo at AAO was the best he has ever cut period. His charisma has been elivated through the roof! A.J Stylin and Profylin Styles has slowly but surely started to transform into a total and complete wrestler. Probably, Flair teaming with Styles, is going to be the single biggest thing to ever happen to his career. For sure, this partnership is the elevator that puts AJ in the catagory off all time greats when all said and done.