Six contestants, and
only three places in the final up for grabs. To help decide their fate, Al Snow
and Angelina Love stepped into the ring with the hopefuls to compete in a mixed
eight-person tag team match, which was a final chance to show what they had to
offer.
As the old adage goes, you never know what you’ve got until
it’s gone.
For the last few weeks I’ve been sure there was a conspiracy
to keep Grado in the competition, but as he angrily shuffled off towards the
end after being unceremoniously dumped out by Al Snow, I felt nothing but
sadness.
Sure, it might’ve been a worked shoot, but Grado, (and to a
lesser extent Dave Mastiff) have been my personal highlights of the series.
With both sent home along with Noam Dar, I’m not sure if they made the right
choice. Then again, I’m not the one handing out a professional contract.
Instead, I’ll just repeat some of the questions and issues
that arose (solely in my mind) when I found out the final three of Rampage
Brown, Kay Lee Ray and Mark Andrews.
1.
They
picked Mark Andrews over Noam? Seriously? Did they actually watch the
(painfully boring) eight man match? Yes, he can do backflips, but he oversells
every single time. He wasn’t up against Brock Lesnar.
2.
Rampage
Brown doesn’t seem to have a single defining feature.
3.
Dave Mastiff was probably always fighting a
losing battle to prove himself.
4.
Kay Lee has a really good chance to win this,
she’s the real deal.
5.
When all is said and done, Grado will be the one
I remember.
The match itself seems inconsequential in hindsight
considering the shock of the eliminations, but it still ended strongly
following a powerbomb/sitdown powerbomb combo by Rampage on Andrews that was
pretty explosive. Other than that, referee Earl Hebner danced with Grado. It
wasn’t a highlight.
(Andrews also pulled off another crazy flip to perfection
during the match, so perhaps he can work on his timing, hand placement and
selling if he does win the contract. He does have great potential.)
Rampage and Andrews are obviously great athletes, but I
wonder if their characters are as well defined as Mastiff and Grado. I can see
why they were picked, and either would be a deserving winner, but are they
really so different to what TNA already has to offer?
As for Kay Lee, she has a great chance, and she does stand
out from the crowd. This time next week, she could be the first female to win
TNA’s British Boot Camp. For now, it’s too close to call.
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