TNA - AJ Styles Returns!

[Diablox]

Hi folks, this is my first attempt at a Dynasty & I’m sure it won’t look great until I’ve settled into it, but here we go.

I’ve previously played WWE in Real World mods (TEW2016) & a bit of NWA (TEW2020), but fancied trying TNA for the new game & after AJ Styles said ‘I Quit’ at Clash of the Castle, in my alter-verse he said goodbye to WWE & went back to the company that I watched when he was in his final days there.

I can’t say I’m on top of recent TNA shows / storylines, etc. so I’m pressing the reset button for this reason & beginning with AJ’s return & the change this brings. This is how it went down.

 

AJ Styles’ music plays & the TNA crowd now know the rumours to be true, he’s back! But before they can enjoy the prospect of his return he launches into a tirade of abuse at what TNA has become since he left, dismissing the jeers that he left when the company needed him the most.

Nic Nemeth, recently crowned new TNA World Champion, interrupts matters & says the abuse AJ is throwing is undeserved & this TNA is far different to the one Styles left behind, for one he’s at the top now.

Styles laughs & tells Nemeth that not only has he returned but he’s also the new owner of TNA so that new title reign can be cut short whenever AJ decides, in fact, Nemeth can defend it in tonight’s main event against The System’s Brian Myers!

So begins the first Impact show in his return to TNA. This show happened on the first day of the mod, 1st August, so there had been no chance to sign anyone or make any huge changes, except of course to transfer AJ over himself as my player character. I also edited him to a 60 Booking Skill as I wanted him to be decent in the role (but not brilliant). Joining him on the booking team is Tommy Dreamer & Sami Callahan, both also 60 booking skill, although i erroneously gave Callihan the night off so only gained a meagre amount of creative points, which I spent on ensuring Styles’ Phenomenal One gimmick gets a Great rating from the off.

I decided to make Gail Kim & Lance Storm head trainers for their genders respectively & I wasn’t planning on spamming better skilled Road Agents to usurp them, even though some would be around. I left the other roles empty for now as I wanted to get some signings in to influence my roles, rather than jumping on TNA’s current roster.

Speaking of which, this isn’t going to be a game where I religiously say ‘I’m not hiring ex-WWE’ or ‘I’m keeping the current roster’ etc. I’ll just see where I go & there’s some very interesting free agents about that I’m sure a lot of real world mods starting now will also involve.

But this is the AJ Styles show & in the rest of the first Impact:

- Lio Rush defeats Frankie Kazarian (46).

- PCO promo joining Decay (Crazzy Steve, Havok & Rosemary) (27).

- Josh Alexander defeats Joe Hendry & Steve Maclin in an X-Division 3-way match (43).

- Moose walks in on AJ Styles speaking with the members of ‘his’ stable The System (35).

- Ash (Ash by Elegance name change) defeats Gisele Shaw (35).

- Nic Nemeth Interview on his thoughts about AJ’s takeover (58).

- Jordynne Grace promo about being TNA Knockouts Champion (37).

- Mike Bailey & Trent Seven defeat The Good Hands (Jason Hotch & John Skyler) (47).

- Nic Nemeth defeats Brian Myers to retain the TNA World Title (42).

Show Rating (49) (likely pulled up by the 63-rated AJ Styles & Nic Nemeth angle at the start. There were pre-show matches too, but I’ll likely only mention them when something interesting goes on.

Let me know any thoughts you have as we go - thanks for reading.

[Diablox]

Not long after the first Impact show I had two recordings of B show Xplosion to run. I’d already changed Impact to only do one show per recording because I’ve never really liked otherwise & have a massive fear of the burnt out crowd penalty, but if finance becomes an issue I’ll re-assess this.

I had a few signings come in before Xplosion & I won’t report on them until they make their debuts, which probably wouldn’t occur so much on the B shows, although one thing I did do was add Matt Hardy to the Booking Team, as he also had 60 Booking Skill & I’d now realised how much I’d want creative ideas to ensure debuting gimmicks went down well.

I also gave a Locker Room Leader slot to Nic Nemeth, Frankie Kazarian & Eddie Edwards, leaving 2 slots empty for more suitable new recruits & I placed Tommy Dreamer & Matt Hardy as Chief Enforcers with 1 slot spare. Gail Kim became my Senior Road Agent & I made Eric Young my Morale Officer as this seemed fitting & his personality suited. One of my signings, which I made Senior Referee was Drake Younger too.

As for Xplosion, I quickly found out that B shows don’t generate creative points which was disappointing & it immediately made me think about making Xplosion a second A show, but I’d have to mull that over first.

Xplosion 1

Brian Myers defeats Crazzy Steve (43)

Video package announces Mike Santana is coming (23).

Rosemary Promo (48).

Subculture (Mark Andrews & Morgan Webster) defeated AJ Francis & Shogun (34)

Crazzy Steve Promo (35).

Zack Gibson Promo (41).

Rich Swann defeats Zack Gibson (50).

Other than the poor ‘video package’ for Mike Santana this show did alright as a B show, getting a 47 overall. The lack of any popularity for Subculture in the USA surprised me & considering their travel costs from the British Isles are high I may have to drop them, but there’s no rush as I’ll likely have a big roster & give a lot of night’s off.

I had in my mind the idea of Zack Gibson being the disgruntled heel on the B show but as I’m not sure what the future of Xplosion will be yet it’s early days. Rosemary’s promo was also very good so I’ll look to make the best out of her part of Decay, as it’s always a faction that I think could do better.

[Diablox]

Straight away I was into my second Xplosion show on the same night as the above & I went with a similar setup except:

Xplosion opens with new TNA owner AJ Styles coming to the ring. He says that Xplosion sucks & for too long having this B show means that people on the roster take a free ride & don’t put in the effort to push for places on the main show. So this is the last Xplosion to go on air, everyone on it better think about stepping up if they want to stay on the roster!

It’s a bit of a snap decision to end Xplosion before I’ve really done anything but I’m a bit concerned about the longevity of my game having to do two-weekly shows, especially if it loses TNA money & doesn’t contribute to Creative Energy or do much for popularity.

I originally planned to turn it into a second A Show but no decent Broadcaster wants to pick it up thinking TNA is too small to run two weekly shows & I don’t particularly disagree! So, I decided to cut it off, paying a heavy $275k fine to end the pathetic broadcasting deal it was on & pretending TNA started with $725k rather than $1million.

I have to really hope I make money & don’t regret throwing that fine money away so quickly & easily.

Anyway, the rest of the last Xplosion for now had (after AJ’s angle getting a 64):

Mike Santana & Zachary Wentz defeat AJ Francis & Jai Vidal (40).

Rosemary Promo (33).

Rosemary defeats Gisele Shaw (39).

Zack Gibson promo is interrupted by his opponent Dirty Dango (32).

Zack Gibson defeats Dirty Dango (46).

The show came out with another 47, which isn’t terrible, but I’d rather put on a full hour pre-show before Impact than lose money without gaining Creative Energy on a B show.

I have one more Impact before TNA Unbreakable, when I find out if throwing away $275k will really cost me!

[Diablox]

The next Impact began with AJ Styles coming to the ring to open the show & he invites The System’s Brian Myers to join him there, saying that last week he handed Myers a huge opportunity to win the TNA World Title from Nic Nemeth & he failed. The new TNA under his ownership does not tolerate failure so Brian Myers is fired! Myers looks in shock but AJ tells him to get out of his building & Myers is forced to go, the fans more mocking than sympathetic.

AJ moves on quickly saying that Nemeth may have defended his title this week & that’s fine but at TNA Unbreakable at the weekend there’s going to be a show of power to make sure Nemeth stays grounded & for this he’s going to need to step into the ring himself, to join Eddie Edwards in a Tag Team match against Nemeth & a partner. But if the champ thinks he has a few days to find someone to join him then think again because in tonight’s main event it’ll be Nemeth’s partner against Eddie Edwards one on one. AJ says he hopes that Nemeth can find a friend quickly! (63)

Following this Steve Maclin defeated Jeff Hardy (42), & after the bell Jeff Hardy applauded his opponent only for Maclin to ignore the praise & walk off (42).

I originally thought about this being a feud but these two turned out to have terrible chemistry & Maclin is declining physically (whereas the older Jeff Hardy, whilst banged up, is not declining), so this will drift away from a feud for them into something else.

Backstage Lio Rush says he’ll be winning the Digital Media title from PCO at Unbreakable & he’s joined by new signing Brooke Adams (40).

Adams, as Brooke Tessmacher I believe, was in TNA when I watched it so I threw her in & found out on the pre-show that she has great chemistry with Lio Rush in her corner so I put them together in this promo & would find out at Unbreakable if Adams gave the same effect when in Rush’s corner as his manager (40).

Jordynne Grace defeats Tasha Steelz (40).

Jordynne Grace does a promo about being too good for anyone & her mystery opponent at TNA Unbreakable better be ready to lose (46).

Nic Nemeth does the classic on the phone promo & he looks pleased with himself at finding a partner who is ‘on their way’ (53).

ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) defeat Mustafa Ali & KUSHIDA (49).

Fishing for chemistry & giving the champs (ABC) momentum here but no luck unfortunately so they will likely have a title defence match at Unbreakable & I’ll see who steps up to face them as the TNA roster seems very short on experienced tag teams (Dyed / Grizzled Young Veterans James Drake & Zack Gibson are currently face / heels respectively so will take a while to put back together).

Jeff Hardy gives a promo backstage about Maclin showing him disrespect earlier but he has no time for people like that so he’s going after the X-Division title at TNA Unbreakable (54).

In the main event Eddie Edward’s comes out accompanied by AJ Styles & they are laughing & assuming Nemeth won’t have found a partner for Unbreakable (classic wrestling naivety acting), however, music hits & out comes One & Only, Ricochet, to make his TNA debut!

Ricochet defeats Eddie Edwards (67).

Ricochet didn’t disappoint as a (fairly obvious) first big signing reveal with comfortably the best in-ring performance I’ve seen so far & his Popularity is decent too, we’ll see how he goes, although his out of the ring entertainment skills aren’t huge.

This sets up Nic Nemeth & Ricochet vs. AJ Styles & Eddie Edwards for the main event of TNA Unbreakable & I'm interested in how Edwards fares in this very ex-WWE match. I’m happy enough with Nemeth as my TNA World champion so far so don’t feel the need to have him defend / lose his title at my first event immediately.

TNA Unbreakable coming soon.

Edited August 22 by Diablox

[Diablox]

TNA Unbreakable was right around the corner & with a Tag Team main event rather than a 1v1 Title match I was hoping I wouldn’t trigger any negative chemistry in the focus of the show.

Speaking of which I hit on good team chemistry in the pre-show between Frankie Kazarian & KUSHIDA, so with both men unlikely to feature in my main event scene too soon I planned on pushing them as a tag team going forwards.

AJ Styles came to the ring to open TNA Unbreakable & he immediately says he wished he was in front of deserving fans like it used to be in TNA & he can’t wait to show them how his absolute power will manifest (66).

Violent By Design (Angels & Jake Something) defeat Crazzy Steve & Eric Young (45).

I’d been impressed by Angel’s performances so wanted to put him in plenty of matches with fellow Violent By Design stablemates to see if there was chemistry there but no luck so far. Similarly, none between the two main members of Decay teaming together either.

Jeff Hardy gives a promo dismissing Steve Maclin & hyping the X-Division title match up next (50).

Mike Bailey defeats Jeff Hardy & Josh Alexander to retain the X-Division title (58).

I’m in no way ready to change X-Division champion yet but I am fairly set on making most of these matches classic triple threat encounters.

Brooke Adams & Gisele Shaw defeat Alisha Edwards & Masha Slamovich to win the Knockouts Tag Team titles (41).

If I’m unsure about the men’s tag division I’m even less sure about the women’s but getting the title on Brooke Adams in her Lio Rush as manager storyline keeps it relevant in my thoughts.

Mustafa Ali & Zachary Wentz defeat AJ Francis & Steve Maclin, Joe Hendry & Mike Santana, The Good Hands (Jason Hotch & John Skyler) (51).

These 2v2v2v2 always get good ratings & more chemistry fishing here but alas nothing comes up, but it at least gets plenty of my roster on the card.

Nic Nemeth promo with a non-speaking Ricochet warming up for the main event (55).

Lio Rush defeats PCO, Trent Seven & Zack Gibson to win the Digital Media Title (from PCO) (48).

Trent Seven picked up a minor injury in this but no major issue there & giving Rush the chance to feature with a title also allows me to fade out PCO & tap up his popularity to young roster members, especially as he announced his retirement shortly before this match.

Matt Hardy does a pre-taped promo about no longer being Deleted & launching the revival of Mattitude (3.0) (55).

I’d debuted Reby Hardy on the pre-show with a Creative Idea gimmick & while her gimmick went well she had no chemistry with Matt (or vice versa in his pre-show match) & so I decided not to keep her on the roster or appear in this angle.

ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) defeat James Drake & Rich Swann to retain the men’s Tag Team titles (56).

No build up for the challengers here but they weren’t going to win & also don’t work well together so won’t be getting a second chance & ABC just get more experienced.

Jordynne Grace does a promo about her mystery opponent before Beth Phoenix steps up from the announcing desk to become her challenger! (40).

Not a great promo but a creative idea gimmick for Phoenix went down okay at least.

Jordynne Grace defeats Beth Phoenix to retain the Knockouts title (50).

Phoenix does alright in this match & is not declining so this will turn into a feud rather than being a one & done.

Nic Nemeth & Ricochet defeat AJ Styles & Eddie Edwards when Ricochet pins Styles (69).

No chemistry but a great Steal The Show main event for TNA Unbreakable!

Final Show rating (64).

[Diablox]

I was pretty happy with how Unbreakable turned out. A decent overall show rating plastering over not finding much in the way of chemistry in random match ups, & there were a fair few random matches that didn’t have a lot of storyline build up, but it’s early days & I’m still testing out the original roster while bringing new people in.

I was pleased to see Eddie Edwards hold his own in the main event although I’m not kidding myself that he’ll likely head down the card as I debut exciting talents, such as Ricochet, who did fantastically well.

The most important aspect, at least in terms of survivability, was that the Event made a good profit, which makes up some of the expenses from cancelling Xplosion, as should not losing money by running that weekly B show.

I decided to add Gene Sapolsky & Joseph DeChristopher to my booking team to gather extra creative points. They are both 80 on booking skill so will easily outweigh the large booking team penalty especially when their ‘finding their feet’ deductions expire.

AJ Styles opens the Impact after Unbreakable but still within August & he introduces new signing, former TNA champion, Austin Aries who’s sitting on commentary tonight. He goes on to say that Unbreakable didn’t go the way he planned but he’s forgiven Eddie Edwards for the loss (despite taking the fall himself). He has decided that giving Nemeth the chance not to defend his title was a mistake, one that he’ll rectify by offering a shot at the title to anyone who impresses him in these next few weeks.

Zack Gibson defeats Dirty Dango (51).

Havok defeats Gisele Shaw (40).

After the match Lio Rush, accompanied by Brooke Adams, come to ring, ignoring Gisele Shaw who won the Knockouts Tag titles with Brooke Adams at Unbreakable. They gloat to the fans with their new titles & Shaw is left dejected (39).

Mustafa Ali defeats Joe Hendry & Angels (55).

All three of these guys are impressive, so I’m going to build to something for Victory Road & the X-Division.

Backstage Jordynne Grace does a respectful promo crediting Beth Phoenix for taking her to her limits in defending her title at Unbreakable. However, Phoenix attacks her from behind feeling that this is not over yet (41).

Kaz & KUSH (Frankie Kazarian & KUSHIDA) defeat Jai Vidal & Steve Maclin (53).

Nic Nemeth gives a promo saying he’s happy to defend his title against anyone Styles thinks can give him a challenge (61).

Eddie Edwards defeats Matt Hardy (50).

Matt Hardy properly debuted Mattitude v3.0 but he came up short against Edwards who blatantly cheats to get the win. After the match AJ Styles comes to the ring & says on a microphone how unimpressed he was with Hardy, but very impressed with Edwards he was, which is important heading towards Victory Road. Hardy is embarrassed & forced to leave the ring as Styles raises Edwards hand in triumph as the crowd boo the show to a close (57).

It’s a shame, but Matt Hardy’s in-ring performance was really low, & he’s heavily banged up / declining so I had to swerve the post-match promo to likely push him aside. His gimmick is okay but that won’t carry him in the ring so I’ll rethink. Featuring him in the main event also meant the show didn’t exactly hit home, but popularity continues to rise so that’s enough, although we’ve reached the max growth for a month in our home region of the South East so it’s job done there anyway.

Show Rating (54).

Edited September 1 by Diablox

[Olympia2]

I like underdog story diaries like this.     Hopefully Matt Hardy will still be able to earn his keep even if he can’t be a big main event star.   Maybe he can a young protege under his wing and work up to a tag title match (and in theory getting the young pup over with the fans and improving his skills along the way).   Extra points if they have tag team chemistry, but that’s a long shot,    If they have a nice tag team feud against a 3 man stable down the road, then Jeff can jump in for some good 6 man action,

[Diablox]

Hi @Olympia2& thanks for your comment. Apologies for taking so long to reply to it. I had a few days away & it’s alarming how quickly the real TNA moves on - I need to keep going with these updates.

I agree with your thoughts on Matt Hardy. He may not be able to go as much in the ring now but Mattitude 3.0 won’t be completely dissolved & like you say with Jeff Hardy around too there’s always storylines to be made. I’ll be looking for the first Mattitude student, etc. very soon!

Next show coming up shortly.

Edited September 11 by Diablox

[Diablox]

Impact opens with a match this time around as ABC, TNA Tag Team champions head to the ring.

Inner-City Machine Guns (Rich Swann & Ricochet) defeat ABC (Ace Austin & Chris Bey) (65).

A good showing from the Machine Guns (without chemistry) but Ricochet’s performances mean he’s unlikely to settle into the tag division despite getting the win here.

Joe Hendry is backstage & he says he thought his next match was an X-Division triple threat, but his opponents are Matt Hardy &… Dalip Singh! Hendry smiles, shrugs & heads to the ring (49).

Joe Hendry defeats Matt Hardy & Dalip Singh (31).

This was an awful match for TV standards but I wasn’t overly surprised. Dalip Singh has popularity to steal & this was a mid-card slot for Matt Hardy to see how he went - not great!

During the match, Matt Hardy is pulled out of the ring & attacked by a figure who emerges from the crowd; Raj Dhesi, formerly known as Jinder Mahal. Not only does he take Hardy away from the action but he continues laying into him until security manage to pull him away, but Matt Hardy looks a mess as Hendry picks up the easy win despite the size difference of Singh (Great Khali). After the match Hendry gives a small celebration, still laughing about this odd matchup but happy to have won it (44).

Josh Alexander & Zachary Wentz defeat Steve Maclin & Travis Williams (51).

Backstage Matt Hardy is being treated by medics as Jeff Hardy appears showing concern. Jeff tells Matt he’ll find Dhesi & make him pay, but Matt insists he doesn’t & focuses on his main event match with returning TNA superstar Austin Aries tonight. Leave Dhesi for later. Jeff reluctantly agrees (60).

Kaz & KUSH (Frankie Kazarian & KUSHIDA) defeat AJ Francis & Judas Icarus (48).

Backstage AJ Styles makes his first appearance of the night with System stablemates Eddie Edwards & Alisha Edwards (Moose still noticeably absent). Styles welcomes Austin Aries to join them & Aries says he’s looking forward to being back in action in the main event tonight & he’ll be looking to impress the boss (60).

Raj Dhesi defeats Yuya Uemura (43).

During the match we see Jeff Hardy watching on a screen backstage & narrowly holding himself back from getting involved against Dhesi, but for now he stays away & Dhesi picks up the quick win.

In the locker room ABC Ace Austin & Chris Bey are furious at the return of Inner-City Machine Guns & say they need to do something about it. They are interrupted as Kaz & KUSH appear & Kazarian says it’s not Swann & Ricochet they should be worrying about (39).

A bit disappointing this low-scoring angle. I’m not a fan generally of champions (especially tag champions without chemistry) not being able to run promos overly well, but I’ll have a think.

Ash defeats Beth Phoenix by DQ (45).

Ash gets the win after Phoenix gets herself disqualified for continuing the violence after the referee’s count to stop. After attacking TNA Knockouts champion Jordynne Grace last week, Phoenix looks revived & angry.

Rosemary promo backstage (49).

Not much to say on this Rosemary promo because I’m not sure where I’m going with it yet, but I like Decay generally & just need to keep it relevant until I figure out a direction.

Austin Aries defeats Jeff Hardy (51).

Raj Dhesi causes a distraction to Jeff as he’s about to hit a Twist of Fate giving Aries the chance to recover & get the win.

Show Rating (55).

Well… this show ended a bit like the last one with a decent score but nothing amazing. Similarly, the main event wasn’t as good as I’d have liked but it wasn’t because of a Hardy Boy this time. Aries just didn’t get a good in-ring score, which surprised me because he’s showing high on the ‘ring generals’, etc. lists in comparison to other roster members, but it’s likely he’s suffering a bit in the same way as Matt Hardy. I’ll take the same approach with Aries most likely but these are learning times & Jeff Hardy’s performance carried this main event, so not all bad.

Quick note - I’m vaguely aware of opinions on Austin Aries… very vaguely. But I had in my mind the Aries from 15 years ago, & not really considering much after that. His score here will mean he’s likely only around for a small while anyway!