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OKC Fortunate For TNA

Posted: Sep 29th 2010 By: CMBurnham

Viewers of TNA for the past few months have witnessed the rise of Ric Flair's latest faction: Fortune. While Flair will forever be associated with the Four Horsemen, he is attempting to take many of the younger talents in TNA and bring them to the level of the Horsemen or Evolution. And all those talents, including the "Nature Boy" himself were present when TNA invaded Oklahoma City last Thursday during the State Fair.

All the matches save one featured members of Fortune, but the results were something of a mixed bag with more going against the faction than for it. The opening match saw Kazarian out first. The cocky 2-time World X Division Champion insulted the crowd and belittled their presence, but things turned around when TNA owner Jeff Jarrett came out. He announced that if he won his match against Kazarian, there would be backstage passes for many of the attendees so they could go and meet the stars of TNA. Jarrett went on to win the match with "The Stroke" and the fans excitement grew as they anticipated the opportunity to see many of their favourite stars up close.

Next up Douglas Williams took on Eric Young. Young was in full comedy mode, even bringing his iPhone to tape his ring entrance. At one point in the match, Williams, who had some verbal altercations with the referee, found himself in a headlock from said referee after Young had removed the referee's shirt and put it on himself. Williams then was Irish-whipped into the ropes by both men and received a double back-body drop from the pair before order was restored. Things weren't so funny in the end, though as Young went to the top and Williams shoved the referee into the ropes, knocking Young off. Williams then rolled Young up for the pin.

With the record of 1-1 for the night, Fortune's future then lay in the hands of TNA World Television champion A. J. Styles. While he had the security of a non-title match, he also had to face a nemesis who knew him well in Samoa Joe. Both men broke out all their signature moves. A. J. hit the Pele kick and Joe countered with the face wash. But it was the Muscle Buster that brought victory to the "Samoan Submission Machine", possibly setting him up for a Title match in the near future.

For 5 weeks, TNA fans thrilled to the competition between Beer Money, Inc. and TNA World Tag Team Champions The Motor City Machine Guns. Once again the pairs met in the ring and the match, while having no special stipulations, was for the championships. Roode & Storm were focused on taking back the tag team belts, but Sabin and Shelly pulled hidden aerial moves out of their arsenal and retained the championships, much to the crowds delight.

With 2 straight losses, there was plenty of motivation for Matt Morgan to get Fortune back on track. And it seemed that fate had smiled on him because he was facing Brian Kendrick. The previous week on TV, Kendrick had come to the aid of Tommy Dreamer after Dreamer had met Fortune in the ring and put each of them over individually. A. J. Styles then led a gang-style beatdown of Dreamer in the ring. But Kendrick ran out and challenged any member of Fortune to step up and meet him. Morgan met that challenge and didn't even bother taking off his high-end dollar clothing. That made it all the more frustrating when Kendrick beat him on national TV, although Morgan claimed that he wasn't ready and that the match shouldn't count because he was competing in his street clothes. On this night, Morgan arrived prepared. Kendrick tried as hard as he could, trying to take the knees out from under Morgan. It worked for a brief time, but there just didn't seem to be a way for Kendrick to neutralise enough of Morgan's superiority. Morgan connected with the carbon footprint and won the match, but that wasn't enough. With the humiliation of the previous week's events still in his mind, Morgan went to ringside and grabbed a chair. He brought it in the ring and prepared to slam it down on the prone body of Kendrick, but Kendrick recouperated and smashed the chair into Morgan's face and knocked him cold. Kendrick then grabbed the chair, sat down in it next to Morgan and gave him two middle-finger salutes, yelling a profanity at him before leaving the ring. Kendrick may have lost the match, but he proved to the crowd that he was extreme enough to hang with the rest of the members of EV2.0.

And then it was time for the main event. First, Ric Flair arrived in one of his trademark robes. Immediately he took the microphone and invoked some clear heat for himself as he told the fans that they don't get to touch him, just to look at him. He insulted one female fan at ringside, calling her fat and reccommending Jenny Craig to her. And he finished off by promoting Texas in the OU/Texas college football game to be happening October 2nd. Then Kurt Angle came to the ring amidst much fanfare. It was only the second time these two men had faced each other one-on-one. Flair went to the psychology, trying to intimidate the Olympic gold medalist. Angle relied on his skills against the cagey veteran. Flair locked on the figure-four leglock in the middle of the ring, but Angle reversed it. On 2 occassions Angle caught Flair in the ankle lock and during the second one, he grapevined his legs around Flair's, immobilising the former World champion and forcing him to submit.

In the end, Fortune went 2-4 for the night. But they lost no titles and remain unified. Beer Money remains a top contender for the Tag Team Titles. Williams would love to regain his X Division Title from Jay Lethal. And with the TNA World Title to be filled on October 10 at Bound For Glory, any of the remaining Fortune members (including Flair) might end up facing the eventual winner and champion. All they need to be successful is just a little fortune at the right time.

Tags: TNA, Ric Flair, A. J. Styles