TNA's X-Division Workers Fail Their Destination X PPV Test

A few weeks ago, my Cageside Seats colleague S.Bruce hypothesised that TNA's Destination X PPV was a poisoned chalice for their long abused and consequently disgruntled X-Division wrestlers:

One TNA wrestler told me that this current PPV, rather than being a reward or a show of good faith, is actually a test.  And a chance for the 90s nostalgia crew to prove once and for all these younger guys with all the fancy moves can't draw, and TNA are better sticking with the relics and woefully untalented bodybuilders like Crimson.  They noted: "The anti-X-Division proponents in the company are looking to prove the X Division can't draw interest, money or buyrates, and if Destination X performs at the same level or worse than any other PPV, I think it will seriously hurt the future of the division."

As expected, the show largely delivered in the ring, the only black spots being when the booking got in the way of the action.  Mark Haskins was a terrible choice to be Doug Williams' unannounced mystery opponent and Brian Kendrick needing the whole of the X-Division's help to vanquish Abyss was such a joke that you'd hope it was intentional sabotage rather than utter incompetence.  Despite these annoyances, the card was still the most well received TNA pay-per-view in quite some time thanks to dynamic performances from the fresh Austin Aries, Zema Ion, Low Ki and Jack Evans, and the more established TNA stars like Rob Van Dam, A.J. Styles, Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels all having their working shoes on, as they all had something to prove.

Unfortunately, it turns out that the X-Division workers failed their Destination X PPV buyrate test.  As Dave Meltzer reported in his subscriber only August 1st Wrestling Observer Newsletter, early indications are that Destination X drew only 8,000 buys, 500 buys less than the Slammiversary PPV in June.  I bet the whispering campaign against the X-Division has already started.  "You know, Dixie, we gave it our best shot, but these vanilla midgets just can't draw with the masses."  Of course, they really didn't give it their best shot, as most of the focus of the TV shows in the run up to the PPV was still on the "real" stars of the show like Hulk Hogan, Sting, Kurt Angle and Mr. Anderson.  Indeed, they did more on the Destination X go home show to hype next week's Impact main event of Sting vs. Anderson than to hype the PPV main event between Styles and Daniels.

Personally I think it's more of an indiction on the current booking regime and their direction that a poorly hyped X-Divison PPV, to the extent it may have been intentionally sabotaged, still does similar business to their usual PPVs that use all their big names and they aren't trying to sabotage.