May 13, 2005
SLAM! Predictions
Bob Kapur
This is, what, the third time they've pushed Styles back to the top to feud with Jarrett? Hopefully they'll finally do the right thing and give him the strap. JJ's title reign has more than worn thin, and if he holds it much longer, the company may face a fan revolt. For the good of TNA, I'm picking Styles to win.
Winner: Styles
Jon Waldman
The x-factor here is Ortiz. I'm expecting that Ortiz will get involved and end up becoming a permanent fixture with the company, but more likely it will be post match a la Mike Tyson at WM14. Jarrett and Ortiz can have a strong feud, and putting the belt on AJ will breathe some new life into the strap.
Steve Rennie
This match boils down to TNA?s faith in Styles as champion. It?s been said before that the company realizes that they need to take the strap off of Jarrett, but the problem is that no one else is over enough to carry TNA?s torch, so to speak. I think Jarrett retains after Tito Ortiz turns on Styles, setting up a program with the former UFC star and allowing Jarrett to move on to a feud with a debuting Matt Hardy.
Corey David Lacroix
Scoff at me if you will, but this time, the belt is changing hands. It's now time for Styles to take his rightful place as the new "king of the mountain" by beating Jarrett for the belt. No doubt Jarrett will have alies lurking about, ready to interfere to save him, but destiny is on the side of the phenomenal one. Styles is the MVP of TNA and will be justly rewarded.
Greg Oliver
I'd like to see Styles as the champ again, but I'm not sure it should be at this show. Have a screwjob finish, but not too elaborate of one setting up a rematch. With a good build up, a title win by Styles will mean more.
SLAM! Predictions
Bob Kapur
Ooooh, this one should be good - a real spot-fest, with both guys taking bumps galore. Shocker is a real breath of fresh air, but I don't think that they'll put him over Daniels just yet. Look for some controversy to keep this feud alive.
Winner: Daniels
Jon Waldman
There's no question here - Shocker is fodder for Daniels, who is starting to follow the RVD formula of making the "secondary" title seem as meaningful as the top belt. Good match here.
Steve Rennie
Daniels is in the midst of a big push right now, so it makes sense for him to hand Shocker his first loss in a TNA ring. I think it?s still to soon to take the X-Division title off of Daniels and move him into the main event picture, so I?m going with "The Fallen Angel" in this one.
Corey David Lacroix
Shocker is a welcome addition to the TNA roster. He may be 1000% Guapo, but looks alone won't help against the "Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels. This will
be an interesting contest as I do not believe these two have met in the ring in a one on one contest. As good as Shocker is, it'll be Daniels keeping the gold around his waist.
Greg Oliver
Daniels is the torchbearer for the X Division, and despite Shocker's push, Daniels will walk out as the champion after the pay-per-view
SLAM! Predictions
Bob Kapur
This one reeks of desperate booking. Surely with the talent pool the company has, they could have come up with more interesting ways to use the roster instead of rehashing a bunch of feuds and then throwing everyone else into this match. Just because Dusty's on the book, I'm tempted to pick Dustin to win, but I have some faith that they're smarter than that. Elix Skipper would make a good opponent for either Styles or Jarrett, so I'll go with him.
Winner: Elix Skipper
Jon Waldman
If there was ever a time to bring in one of the WWE stars, this is it. Anything can happen here theoretically, but the best thing to do would be to have a body-suited, masked individual win and flash one of Matt Hardy's hand gestures. Hardy, of course, can't debut for another couple months, but they have a lot of time to build up the unknown winner as either being Hardy, or a tried and true MF'er.
Steve Rennie
I guess this really hinges on whether or not Styles goes over in the main event. If Styles wins, it would make sense for a rulebreaker to win the Gauntlet, maybe someone like Monty Brown. If Jarrett wins, the choices are much more limited, since he?s pretty much faced everyone in TNA at one time or another. I?ll stick with "The Alpha Male" as my pick to win.
Corey David Lacroix
Kinda hard to assess to who will take this one when we don't even have a complete list of participants. I'll say... Bobby Roode. Go Canada Go!
Greg Oliver
The booking of this one depends on who wins between Jarrett and Styles. If Jarrett wins, then I expect The Outlaw or one of 3-Live Kru to come out on top
here, i.e. somebody he can pseudo-squash next PPV or on Impact. If Styles wins, then I think it'll be Abyss as the victor to resume their feud at the championship level.
SLAM! Predictions
Bob Kapur
Haven't we seen this one before? Winner: AMW
Jon Waldman
This is the first match for the Naturals on a live TNA broadcast since Chris Candido's passing. You know who the fans will want to win.
Steve Rennie
The Naturals just won the straps at the last pay-per-view, and I think they?ll keep them for at least one more month.
Corey David Lacroix
The Naturals tenure as champs will be short, compliments of America's Most Wanted.
Greg Oliver
The Naturals should keep the gold.
SLAM! Predictions
Bob Kapur
Haven't we seen this one before? Winner: Hardy
Jon Waldman
Raven deserves better.
Steve Rennie
Hardy went over last month, so I think he?ll return the favour. Raven wins, possibly with help from a ?masked man? teased as Jeff?s older, soon-to-be-debuting brother...
Corey David Lacroix
Let's hope this match will in fact be fun to watch. Winner: Raven.
Greg Oliver
Hardy will come out on top, somehow, because a loss doesn't hurt Raven.
Countdown to TNA Hard Justice
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Hard Justice hits home this weekend, and this could be the most intriguing PPV TNA puts on this year.
There is a lot of uncertainty going into Sunday's live event, especially in the NWA Heavyweight
Title match. There's also the very open 20-man gauntlet, which has left the SLAM! writers
with a bunch of differing theories. In any case, here's what we believe will happen
at Hard Justice.
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SLAM! Predictions
This is, what, the third time they've pushed Styles back to the top to feud with Jarrett? Hopefully they'll finally do the right thing and give him the strap. JJ's title reign has more than worn thin, and if he holds it much longer, the company may face a fan revolt. For the good of TNA, I'm picking Styles to win.
Winner: Styles
The x-factor here is Ortiz. I'm expecting that Ortiz will get involved and end up becoming a permanent fixture with the company, but more likely it will be post match a la Mike Tyson at WM14. Jarrett and Ortiz can have a strong feud, and putting the belt on AJ will breathe some new life into the strap.
This match boils down to TNA?s faith in Styles as champion. It?s been said before that the company realizes that they need to take the strap off of Jarrett, but the problem is that no one else is over enough to carry TNA?s torch, so to speak. I think Jarrett retains after Tito Ortiz turns on Styles, setting up a program with the former UFC star and allowing Jarrett to move on to a feud with a debuting Matt Hardy.
Scoff at me if you will, but this time, the belt is changing hands. It's now time for Styles to take his rightful place as the new "king of the mountain" by beating Jarrett for the belt. No doubt Jarrett will have alies lurking about, ready to interfere to save him, but destiny is on the side of the phenomenal one. Styles is the MVP of TNA and will be justly rewarded.
I'd like to see Styles as the champ again, but I'm not sure it should be at this show. Have a screwjob finish, but not too elaborate of one setting up a rematch. With a good build up, a title win by Styles will mean more.
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SLAM! Predictions
Ooooh, this one should be good - a real spot-fest, with both guys taking bumps galore. Shocker is a real breath of fresh air, but I don't think that they'll put him over Daniels just yet. Look for some controversy to keep this feud alive.
Winner: Daniels
There's no question here - Shocker is fodder for Daniels, who is starting to follow the RVD formula of making the "secondary" title seem as meaningful as the top belt. Good match here.
Daniels is in the midst of a big push right now, so it makes sense for him to hand Shocker his first loss in a TNA ring. I think it?s still to soon to take the X-Division title off of Daniels and move him into the main event picture, so I?m going with "The Fallen Angel" in this one.
Shocker is a welcome addition to the TNA roster. He may be 1000% Guapo, but looks alone won't help against the "Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels. This will
be an interesting contest as I do not believe these two have met in the ring in a one on one contest. As good as Shocker is, it'll be Daniels keeping the gold around his waist.
Daniels is the torchbearer for the X Division, and despite Shocker's push, Daniels will walk out as the champion after the pay-per-view
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SLAM! Predictions
This one reeks of desperate booking. Surely with the talent pool the company has, they could have come up with more interesting ways to use the roster instead of rehashing a bunch of feuds and then throwing everyone else into this match. Just because Dusty's on the book, I'm tempted to pick Dustin to win, but I have some faith that they're smarter than that. Elix Skipper would make a good opponent for either Styles or Jarrett, so I'll go with him.
Winner: Elix Skipper
If there was ever a time to bring in one of the WWE stars, this is it. Anything can happen here theoretically, but the best thing to do would be to have a body-suited, masked individual win and flash one of Matt Hardy's hand gestures. Hardy, of course, can't debut for another couple months, but they have a lot of time to build up the unknown winner as either being Hardy, or a tried and true MF'er.
I guess this really hinges on whether or not Styles goes over in the main event. If Styles wins, it would make sense for a rulebreaker to win the Gauntlet, maybe someone like Monty Brown. If Jarrett wins, the choices are much more limited, since he?s pretty much faced everyone in TNA at one time or another. I?ll stick with "The Alpha Male" as my pick to win.
Kinda hard to assess to who will take this one when we don't even have a complete list of participants. I'll say... Bobby Roode. Go Canada Go!
The booking of this one depends on who wins between Jarrett and Styles. If Jarrett wins, then I expect The Outlaw or one of 3-Live Kru to come out on top
here, i.e. somebody he can pseudo-squash next PPV or on Impact. If Styles wins, then I think it'll be Abyss as the victor to resume their feud at the championship level.
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SLAM! Predictions
Haven't we seen this one before? Winner: AMW
This is the first match for the Naturals on a live TNA broadcast since Chris Candido's passing. You know who the fans will want to win.
The Naturals just won the straps at the last pay-per-view, and I think they?ll keep them for at least one more month.
The Naturals tenure as champs will be short, compliments of America's Most Wanted.
The Naturals should keep the gold.
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SLAM! Predictions
Haven't we seen this one before? Winner: Hardy
Raven deserves better.
Hardy went over last month, so I think he?ll return the favour. Raven wins, possibly with help from a ?masked man? teased as Jeff?s older, soon-to-be-debuting brother...
Let's hope this match will in fact be fun to watch. Winner: Raven.
Hardy will come out on top, somehow, because a loss doesn't hurt Raven.
-- compiled by Jon Waldman