Maybe they do get it!

Hello all

So as I was writing the blog last week, I was under the impression, as were a lot of people, that Bobby Roode was going to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship last week at the “Bound for Glory” pay per view. But that is not exactly what happened. Last week Kurt Angle defeated Roode and retained the championship. This confused lot of people, even me; but this may not be the worst thing in the world.

As time was approaching for this match to take place, I realized that now may not be the time for Roode.

First off, there was no lead up to this match at all. Up to this point in his career, Roode was a tag team wrestler. In TNA he has not held a singles title. Although besides the world championship, there are not too many singles titles. Even throughout the Bound for Glory tournament, there were matches that Roode would have with his tag team partner James Storm. So there was no time to make Roode look like a viable contender to the title.

Second, back to something I said in the last paragraph, we don’t know if Roode is a great singles wrestler. We know him as a 6 time tag team champion, but not as a singles competitor. Everyone is not Shawn Michaels, everyone is not Brett Hart, and on a much smaller tag team scale (but he is a once tag champion), everyone is not Stone Cold Steve Austin. Everyone cannot go from being a great tag team wrestler to being a world champion. Look at Bully Ray. As much as I love his new gimmick, he is not Heavyweight Champion material. What if Roode is the same? The World Championship at this point is too important to TNA to have it put on someone whom we don’t know if he is a great singles competitor or not.

Third, this is one of the smartest things that TNA could do. This is what used to happen back in the golden ages of pro wrestling. You had an up and coming contender fight his way up the ladder, till he gets a shot at the title. Back in the old NWA days when Ric Flair was the champion, this was how guys were built up to be the champion. David Von Erich wrestled Flair for months, and would have won the title, but sadly he passed months before he was supposed to win it. Dusty Rhodes and Flair wrestled all over the country with Flair narrowly escaping with the title, before Rhodes won it. And the classic confrontation between Flair and Ricky Steamboat encompassed an entire year, with both man having legendary match, after legendary match, and with both men holding the world title. With this past defeat TNA could be setting up for this same kind of back and forth that will not only make Roode look good, but will make the TNA world title seem very prestigious, and hard to get.

With all of this being said, I don’t think it’s a bad idea for TNA to keep the title on Angle. It seems like Roode will eventually be the World Champ, and rightfully so, but Roode needs to work his way up to the championship. I believe this is the first time Roode has challenged for the world title. Again this is a very important time for the TNA world title. This is a make or break time for that title. They can either do this the right way, and come out smelling like a rose, or they can put the title on him too soon, and have Roode not ready to hold the belt. Then the TNA title will have to be put back on Kurt Angle, or worse, one of the 50 year olds (like Sting). TNA’s title can’t afford for that to happen. They have to have a fresh new champion, and doing it this way, will make for a very deserving world champion.