Total BS: Braxton Fights for Love

For nearly the entire year of 2016, Maria Kanellis-Bennett did everything in her power to earn complete control of what was then known as TNA Wrestling. She actively engaged in a power struggle with Dixie Carter, she attempted to use her talent and assets to win over Billy Corgan and get him to do her bidding, and she even cheated at every opportunity in order to win control of the Knockouts Division.

In October, when it became apparent that her desire for control was more of a desire to ruin the career of Gail Kim, the match was made between Kim and Maria for the Knockouts Championship. The caveat: if Maria were to lose, she would lose control of the Knockouts Division as well. Kim would end up winning the match, and Maria would lose her power. Freaking out, Maria would ramp up her mental abuse of Allie. This would lead to Allie being placed in matches against the likes of Sienna and Laurel Van Ness.

This didn’t sit well with Braxton Sutter. As we know, if there’s anything he doesn’t put up with, it’s BS. And what he saw Maria doing to Allie struck him as the highest level of BS. Unable to deal with it, Braxton would approach Allie, and offer to help her out in the ring. Allie, of course, accepted the nice offer.

At this point, I was admittedly a little confused as to why the new guy – one who had shown a complete lack of knowledge as to how the company works, interrupting interviews and such – was the one who was going to teach Allie. But at the end of the day, no matter how good Sutter may or may not be, he’s still better than Allie, and thus, a fine teacher indeed.

After a couple of months working together, including those couple of weeks off towards the end of 2016, the friendship between Braxton and Allie was really starting to help Allie. She was bold, unafraid of Maria, willing to stand up for herself. The two even had a budding relationship in the cards. It was all nice, seeing it come together for Allie, who had only done everything demanded of her from the very start. She was someone for whom you could easily feel sympathy.

Maria, of course, knew this. Realizing that she was losing the last bit of power she to which she was clinging, she would approach Braxton Sutter, and force him to end everything with Allie, both professional and romantic. Sutter, a 220 pound grown ass man, seemed to be really distraught by whatever it was that Maria whispered in his ear to get him to agree to her demands. In fact, it looked like the face of a guy who couldn’t believe how much BS was being scooped onto his plate!

For some reason, Maria would decide that Braxton wasn’t meant to be with someone like Allie. Instead, Laurel Van Ness was the one that she felt was perfect for Sutter! Laurel had flirted with him a few times already, and wanted to take what Allie had. Braxton, clearly not happy about the situation, would still follow along with Maria’s plans, and take Van Ness on a date. He’d dress up in his very best knit cap and cut-collar long sleeve shirt, showing the passion for Van Ness was basically boiling at the surface, ready to erupt.

He tried. Damn it, he tired. Not blind, Sutter was obviously aware that he was on a date with a beautiful woman. And while Maria’s intentions are hardly pure, it at least appeared that Laurel was actually into him. Still, with every grimacing wince, with every clenching of the teeth, and with every burying of his face in his hands, we could see that Sutter was not okay with this. It was nothing against Laurel; she just wasn’t the woman he wanted.

Unfortunately, Maria wasn’t backing off from her edict. More unfortunately, no one in management – either from the Dixie Carter TNA era, or the new guys representing the Anthem Impact Wrestling era – were interested in letting Maria know that she had absolutely no right in trying to force a superstar into a relationship with anyone, regardless of the reasoning.

But Maria was clear in what she wanted, Sutter wasn’t able to get free, and no one was standing up for Allie anymore. Sutter would try to find the silver lining in this, just to keep his sanity. He could still talk to Allie, even if he couldn’t be with her anymore. And, hey, at least Maria was forcing him to be with Laurel, and not, say, Rosemary. All that mist would make kissing pretty difficult. So Braxton did his best these past few weeks, to just make it work, because he didn’t want to see Allie suffer. And Maria had made it clear that if anyone was going to pay for Braxton not doing what she said, it would definitely be Allie.

Things took a drastic turn, however. With Laurel and Maria intent on ruining Allie, Braxton would find himself faced with another edict: marry Laurel.

Unsure of what to do, Braxton would reach out to the only man on the roster he felt like he could trust: Mike Bennett, Impact’s resident Miracle.

While Bennett would paint a picture of Maria as a caring friend, one willing to do anything to make her circle of people happy, Sutter didn’t seem to buy into it. In fact, if I can speak candidly, it appeared to strike him as a huge crock of BS. Which, if we recall, is something that he doesn’t like. When Bennett told him to “do the right thing,” a light bulb appeared to go off in his head. No longer despondent, he seemed like he finally knew how to get out of his tough situation.

The only question was what he was going to do. Would he just break up with Laurel? Because frankly, if that was his plan, why not just do that from the start? It seemed like Maria had already covered this avenue, and had made it clear that it wasn’t an option.

But if it wasn’t simply breaking up with Laurel, then what? A confrontation with Maria where he tries to intimidate her? Even if it worked, he couldn’t look at himself in the mirror knowing that he had fallen to such lows. What about a match with Mike Bennett? Maybe he could set it up so that if he won, he was a free man, but if he lost, then he’d go along with Maria’s wishes and get hitched to Miss Van Ness.

What if he tried for a mixed tag? He and Allie taking on Maria and Mike? He had so many options, but none of them seemed to be like the obvious choice.

So, of course he decided to approach Laurel and appeal to her sensitivities. Which was definitely, if we’re being honest, not the best idea. On top of that, he just had to carry along his completely full water bottle, to really hammer home the importance of the moment. And so, when he dropped his bottle mid-speech to Laurel, and dropped to a knee to pick it up, Laurel mistook it for a marriage proposal and immediately accepted.

There weren’t enough grimaces in the world to properly describe Sutter’s face. As the first man to ever get engaged against his will and without actually delivering a real proposal, he was feeling pretty damn stupid, and rightfully so. Plus, you know, there’s the whole thing with him wanting to be with Allie, and Allie wanting to be with him.

Not for nothing, but I think those two would make a nice couple. Braxton and Allie, that is. I could see it working out for them in the long run. Just cute together, really.

But for now, Sutter has to figure out his plan of action. Appealing to reason with Maria or Allie isn’t going to work. A bro-sesh with Mike Bennett backfired. No one in Impact Wrestling’s management wants to step in and tell Maria that she has no actual power to do what she’s doing. Allie is powerless to fight back.

Braxton has to be the hero he’s half-heartedly tried to be all along. He needs to stand up to Maria. He needs to tell her that he’s not marrying Van Ness, and that he is going to reignite the passion with Allie, and he doesn’t care what kind of retribution Maria has planned.

Sutter needs to remember why he’s here. He needs to remember that he’s a professional wrestler. He needs to remember that Mike Bennett himself once kept Sutter from an X Division Championship. He needs to remember that he’s not here to shake hands and be nice. He’s here to achieve. He’s here for the glory. He’s here to be his own man.

He needs to really bring the pepper if he wants to spice it up. He needs to stand up to the one lady that basically no one in the company has had the guts to meet head on. Otherwise, he’s going to remain that chucklehead newcomer that was just happy to be there. He’s also going to lose out on all that he wants. The glory. The gold. Most of all, the girl.

Be a man, Braxton. Stand up for yourself, and go win Allie’s heart once and for all.

Or continue to be the whipping boy for everyone else willing to do all that you’re not.

Now, about Aron Rex…

It’s All Wrestling. It’s All Silly. We All Love It.