All X-Division PPV: “Tha X Factor?”

Looking at the history of TNA / Impact Wrestling as a whole, it’s a very popular sentiment among fans that their greatest achievement is the X-Division style where “It’s not about weight limits, it’s about no limits.” Initially featuring talent such as AJ Styles, Jerry Lynn, Low Ki, Amazing Red and most importantly the Flying Elvises; the X-Division would go on to do more for the business today than most people would think. The X-Division would go on over the years to show new workers to the world that embraced the fast paced aerial and technical side of wrestling, a division where it was all about performance and not necessarily high spots.

Competitions such as the Super X-Cup would bring in international talent from AAA/CMLL in Mexico, Dragon Gate/New Japan in Japan and talent from several Canadian promotions, mainly Border City Wrestling. Doing very similar to what WCW did when bringing in the lesser known cruiserweights. It took a style of wrestling that had a niche audience to bringing it more mainstream presence.

So now Impact Wrestling is rumoured to be having an all X-Division PPV next month titled Destination X. An interesting idea since the X-Division is insanely popular however looking at them having their own PPV also hits the nail on the head when asking “Can these guys and this concept draw for a PPV on their own?”

Featuring current X-Division wrestlers aswell as bringing in former X-Division talent that will promises to feature an X-Division Title match aswell as an Ultimate X Match. So it’s time to really ask yourselves…”Will this draw?”

Let’s look at why this may draw…

Fans often criticize TNA… sorry Impact Wrestling…for their lack of in-ring performance featured on their shows but now that “Wrestling Matters” this already tells the fans that this PPV will be very heavy on work rate and talent that the viewers believe to be good workers. You can debate the merits of the X-Division being classified as wrestling but the fact is the majority of fans believe that to be the case.

This next point is kind of my own personal theory, but with all of the promotions that embrace the Junior Heavyweight style across the world, like DDT in Japan which is one of the only promotion where attendance is growing, Dragon Gate USA and EVOLVE in North America ran by Gabe Sapolsky that’s gaining a larger fan base over time, it seems like the style is the new hottest thing in wrestling. The biggest factor why they aren’t bigger than what they are now is because it isn’t being exposed to a large enough audience. If Impact Wrestling can promote this PPV heavily like they did with Hardcore Justice, it could be a great way to expose to this intriguing style to a wider audience.

Now why it may not draw…

Maybe the X-Division fans is still considered a niche audience. When marks like I spend more time on the internet discussing pro wrestling, perhaps my vision of what the majority of the fans want is skewed. Not saying a lot of the fans do not enjoy the X-Division style but maybe a lot of them haven’t known what the style was when it was more prominent on the cards.

The X-Division has always been considered its own entity on PPV or even TV tapings. When you listen to Tha O Show and hear Donnie talking about the psychology of a show, the X-Division has always been used to fire up the crowd, but what happens when every match on this PPV will be fast-paced action and the crowd gets burnt out early? It may turn fans way from this extreme style of wrestling.

Personally I believe it’ll draw sufficiently well based on the fact that it’s different. Even with the company playing up the “Wrestling Matters” campaign, this could have plenty of people believing that this will be the turning point for Impact Wrestling. Slammiversary was a step up from their latest PPV’s in my eyes and I see the company doing better.

Now one thing I wanted to address which is Abyss as X-Division Champion. Most people are shitting on the idea and I’m not too keen on Abyss as champ either, but if the pay-off is to have an X-Division guy take the title away from Abyss like Kendrick and signify the rebirth of the X-Division, I think it’s one of the best things booked in not only TNA Wrestling but in all of pro wrestling in general.

So O-Sters, if you love the X-Division style and support work rate in general then order the PPV. I’m the kind of person that’ll stream a PPV if I’m not sure whether it’ll be good or not however if you really want it to succeed…pay for it. Grab some of your buddies, split the cost at someone’s place and enjoy it.

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