Against All Odds Predictions/Results

*UPDATED!* Here are some rapid-fire predictions with a little over an hour before the show is set to go live at 8 pm Eastern time:

A.J. Styles w/ Ric Flair vs. Samoa Joe - TNA Heavyweight Championship
Special Referee: Eric Bischoff

This should be the match of the night, but there's no way Joe's winning the belt. My guess is the Hogan-Bischoff regime is trying to get the World Title briefcase out of the way as quickly as possible; then they can at least tell Dixie Carter they "tried" to give Joe a main event shot.

As to why Bischoff is the referee . . . I don't think he's there to screw anybody. I think he was added in an attempt to increase intrigue in a match that Hogan probably doesn't think will sell many PPVs. I'm not trying to be anti-Joe (I like him), but I expect Hogan doesn't envision big things in the future for the Samoan Submission Machine.

However, I have enjoyed the promos from Joe, Styles and Flair leading up to this match. Styles, in particular, did a good job in the first 40 seconds of this one), Styles looks like a really bad Flair rip-off.

Nasty Boys vs. Team 3D

This is going to be an ugly, dangerous, weapons-filled brawl.

As with the Joe-Styles feud, the promos leading up to this match were good too (they always are when Bubba's involved), and I really want to see these two teams beat the snot out of each other.

And then I don't want to see the Nasty Boys on my TV ever again.

8-Man Stud Tournament

I'm predicting a Mr. Anderson-Matt Morgan final, with Morgan going over. Here's a match-by-match breakdown:

Quarter-Finals

The Pope vs. Desmond Wolfe

The Pope is super-over in the "iMPACT! Zone" and he should pick up the win here.

Hernandez vs. Matt Morgan

The sooner the tag titles come off these two the better. Like Styles, Hernandez is being overshadowed by his partner, and that's not fair. Hernandez is over, and deserves a singles run.

Morgan will win, and perhaps we'll see the beginnings of the break-up of the tag team champions.

Kurt Angle vs. Mr Anderson

This is a tough match to call, but Mr. Anderson has been pushed harder than anybody else in the last month in TNA.

Mick Foley vs. Abyss

I'm picking Abyss, to set up a rematch with Anderson from Genesis.

Semi-Finals

The Pope vs. Matt Morgan

Size matters -- Morgan wins.

Mr. Anderson vs. Abyss

Anderson pins Abyss again. Poor Abyss . . . bring back James Mitchell already!!

Finals

Matt Morgan vs. Mr. Anderson

I'm picking Morgan only because I expect Styles to still be the champ at LockDown. (Side note: is there no March PPV?) I think Hogan has big plans for Anderson too.

**Also: The Wrestling Observer is reporting that Monday afternoon, Hogan and Dixie Carter will announce that starting March 8th, "iMPACT!" will be going head-to-head with "Raw", from 9-11, on Spike TV. "iMPACT!" will be live every other week. I think 8-10 would have been a safer choice, but I'm still excited for Monday Night Wars, Part II.

Against All Odds Results:

Quarter-Finals

The Pope vs. Desmond Wolfe

Pope won a good, fast-paced opening match.

Matt Morgan vs. Hernandez

Morgan won after driving Super Mex's "injured" shoulder into the turnbuckle. Morgan refused to let the match end in a countout.

Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson

Anderson busted Angle open with Angle's dog tags. Anderson won with the Mic Check after Angle went head first into the exposed top turnbuckle.

Mick Foley vs. Abyss

Before the match, Bischoff said that one of the two needed to use a barbed wire bat in the match (in order to show the match was on the up-and-up), or Abyss would be de-masked Thursday on "iMPACT!". Neither wrestler used it, but the announcers didn't mention anything about the mask.

Abyss won with a Black Hole Slam onto thumbtacks, after refusing to use weapons throughout the match. Perhaps TNA is reasoning that because Abyss used the thumbtacks, he didn't need to use the bat. But that's not what Bischoff said.

Either way, it was confusing, and the fans weren't into the match (other than chanting "Use the bat!" . . . which was never used).

Nasty Boys vs. Team 3D

Knobbs and Saggs were pathetic. They wisely took breathers on the outside of the ring at several spots in the match. But after about 5 minutes in, the Nastys were so gassed that their offense looked very weak, and they sandbagged 3D a bunch of times. Saggs refused to bump for Bubba at one point.

The Nasty Boys actually won after a debuting Jimmy Hart lent his helmet (no megaphone?) to the Nastys.

This was not the weapons-filled, arena-wide brawl I was hoping for.

Semi-Finals

The Pope vs. Matt Morgan

The Pope won in an upset -- after Morgan missed the Carbon Blueprint -- pinning Morgan with a splash from the middle rope.

Mr. Anderson vs. Abyss

Anderson won with the Mic Check again.

TNA Heavyweight Championship: A.J. Styles vs. Samoa Joe

Before the match, Hogan made Bischoff promise that he'd call it right down the middle. Hogan said they needed the boys to know they weren't trying to screw them. Bischoff promised . . . then, when Hogan was out of view, he said "dammit."

A.J. Styles came out to the ring in a very Flair-esque robe.

The finish saw Flair distracting Bischoff, leading Bischoff outside the ring to punch Flair. This gave Styles enough time to recover and hit Joe with a Pele kick and Styles Clash.

Finals

The Pope vs. Mr. Anderson

Before the match, Hall and 6-Pac attacked The Pope after he was interviewed by Jeremy Borash.

As a result, The Pope barely made it out to the ring before the ref counted him out. This made it seem as if Anderson was going to win -- which led to a nice pop when Pope won with the DDE.

The right man won, and this show was a great showcase for The Pope. I'm interested in seeing how Pope's first main event run is handled.

Without a doubt, Pope and Anderson are the two rising stars under the Hogan-Bischoff regime.

*Dixie Carter's and Hulk Hogan's special announcement can be viewed at TNAWrestlingLive.com Monday afternoon at 2:30 pm Eastern time. As mentioned above, it's expected to be announced that TNA "iMPACT!" will be moving to Monday nights permanently, going head-to-head with "Raw."

After beating up The Pope backstage, Hall and 6-Pac said that they "heard Hogan's a having a party . . . and don't turn your back on the Wolfpack."

Could the Wolfpack be invading the Press Conference tomorrow?

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