TNA One Night Only – World Cup Of Wrestling II: Wake Up People!
World Cup of Wrestling II
Date: September 5, 2014
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 1,400
Commentators: Taz, Mike Tenay
Of all the One Night Only shows, the first World Cup was probably the most entertaining. They actually did something different instead of just going with the same bracketed tournament that they almost always do. Last time they had a group of wrestlers from various countries (and Aces and 8’s) and used a point system. This time it’s four captains with teams and no real affiliation but the same points idea. Let’s get to it.
The opening video shows us the captains: Kurt Angle, Bobby Roode, Eric Young (World Champion when this was taped) and Ethan Carter III. Each guy gets a quick soundbyte saying they’ll win.
The structure is really simple: each team will have two singles wrestlers, a tag team and a Knockout. The teams with the most points (assuming a point per win) advance to a tag team elimination match for the World Cup.
JB brings out the captains for the draft. Carter says his aunt made sure he was a captain and he’s appointed Rockstar Spud as his co-GM. Spud comes out in a suit that looks like the UK flag was struck by lightning. Rather than just saying “this captain picks this wrestler” over and over again, I’ll just list them all in the order they were picked.
Team Angle
Kurt Angle
Mr. Anderson
Davey Richards
Madison Rayne
Sanada
Team Roode
Bobby Roode
James Storm
Samuel Shaw
Kenny King
Beautiful People
Team Young
Eric Young
Bully Ray
Gunner
Eddie Edwards
ODB
Team Carter
Ethan Carter III
Magnus
Jesse Godderz
Gail Kim
Robbie E
There was almost nothing interesting said during the picks. Young did his “comedy” and Angle made some implied gay jokes about Carter and Spud. Why Roode is allowed to pick two Knockouts isn’t clear. Also you would think Angle would have taken the chance to get the Wolves together. The draft was a cool idea but it took almost twenty five minutes.
James Storm (Roode) vs. Eddie Edwards (Young)
The fans are entirely behind Edwards to start and Storm nails a quick shoulder to start. A hurricanrana sends Storm to the floor for a baseball slide with Eddie in full control. Back in and Storm sends him face first into the corner before driving some elbows into the chest. Storm catapults him throat first into the bottom rope but Eddie sends him back to the floor for a suicide dive.
Back in again with Eddie still in control but James grabs a quick Eye of the Storm for two. Edwards gets draped over the top rope for a reverse Stunner and two before Storm goes after his hand of all things. Storm takes too much time though and gets caught by a jumping enziguri to put him into the corner. Eddie breaks up a superplex attempt but dives into Closing Time. The Last Call is loaded up but Eddie ducks underneath it and grabs a rollup for the pin.
Rating: C. I liked this more than I thought I would and Edwards continues to look like a better prospect than Richards. The downside to this match is it shows the issues with the show as a whole: the wrestling isn’t bad but without any reason for these guys to be fighting other than points, it’s kind of hard to get into things. It can be done but it’s not easy.
Team Young – 1 (3 matches remaining)
Team Carter – 0 (4 matches remaining)
Team Angle – 0 (4 matches remaining)
Team Roode – 0 (3 matches remaining)
Team Carter sends Gail out for the team’s first match. You can hear Edwards vs. Storm as this is going on. Carter talks about how his team is like a car working on all cylinders. He dubs Robbie as Wheels and we get DJZ’s sound effects (Carter: “Can you feel that in your loins?”). Godderz is called the Butcher and Magnus is a real life captain. This came off like filler. Ethan calls the team the Handsome Man Band.
Gail Kim (Carter) vs. Madison Rayne (Angle)
The fans are totally split as the girls take each other into the corner. Naturally the announcers ignore this to talk about some match from 1962. Madison takes her down to the mat and puts on a headscissors but Gail gets up and bails to the ropes. A headlock has Gail in trouble and she gets caught in a sunset flip for two. The mat humper sends Gail out to the floor before they shove each other a lot.
Madison wins a slugout but Gail clotheslines her down to take over. Taz sounds bored out of his mind on commentary. Gail puts her on the top rope, only to get sunset flipped for another near fall. Madison gets nailed again and Gail puts on a Brock Lock while wrapping her leg around Rayne’s head. It doesn’t last long though so Kim hits the running cross body to the ribs in the corner. They head outside and Madison scores with a spear before throwing Gail back inside. Madison misses a pair of charges and walks into Eat Defeat to give Gail the pin.
Rating: C-. Same match we’ve seen between these two a million times but at least Madison looked good. Gail is about as polished as you’re going to get but she just doesn’t have the charisma to back it up. The Knockouts continue to be miles ahead of the Divas and this was a good example of why.
Team Young – 1 (3 matches remaining)
Team Carter – 1 (3 matches remaining)
Team Angle – 0 (3 matches remaining)
Team Roode – 0 (3 matches remaining)
Bobby Roode brags about his team but isn’t sure why he picked Storm. He promises to lead his team to a win here tonight.
BroMans (Team Carter) vs. Mr. Anderson/Sanada (Angle)
Sanada actually cuts off Anderson’s mic drop and says the last name a few times. Robbie and Anderson get things going with Robbie doing some weird dance. Anderson sends him into the corner for some buckle rams before the good guys start working on the arm. Both of them take turns with top rope ax handles but Robbie rolls over to the corner for the tag off to Jesse.
Sanada slams him down and it’s quickly off to Anderson for a slam of his own. They alternate slams again before Robbie comes in and both BroMans get slammed. DJZ comes in but gets pulled out to safety. The regular team tries to to walk out but Anderson threatens the laptop to make them come back. Anderson puts the laptop down but realizes he doesn’t know how to work it. He does manage to play some music and Sanada busts some moves.
After the fans aren’t all that thrilled, Sanada fixes it up a bit with a slingshot plancha onto the BroMans. Robbie finally takes him down and puts on a chinlock. That goes nowhere as Sanada gets up and brings in Anderson for some elbows to the jaw. The rolling fireman’s carry drops both BroMans and DJZ takes one on top of both of them. Sanada hurricanrans Jesse to the floor but DJZ comes in with the laptop to Anderson’s back, giving Jesse the pin.
Rating: D+. This was your standard comedy match with a surprise ending. The BroMans winning makes the most sense but it would have been nice to see them get in a little bit more offense. I’ll give them this though: they’re at least mixing the matches up tonight so we don’t have to sit through the same stuff over and over again.
Team Carter – 2 (2 matches remaining)
Team Young – 1 (3 matches remaining)
Team Roode – 0 (3 matches remaining)
Team Angle – 0 (2 matches remaining)
Eric Young coins the term Dream Team and says he’s ready.
Eric Young (Young) vs. Bobby Roode (Roode)
Feeling out process to start with Eric taking him down to the mat before a shoulder knocks Roode out to the floor. Back in and Eric cranks on the arm as the announcers make fun of Mike Adamle. A right hand drops Roode in the corner but he sends Young out to the floor and into the barricade. Roode drops an elbow back inside before a neckbreaker gets two.
We hit the chinlock for a bit before the Blockbuster gets two on Eric. The fans get Young back into it to escape a sleeper but he gets sent to the apron for the strut. A belly to belly plants Roode and a missile dropkick gets two. Roode escapes the piledriver and gets two of his own off the spinebuster.
The Roode Bomb is countered into the wheelbarrow suplex into a neckbreaker for two. Eric goes up and blocks a superplex attempt before dropping the top rope elbow for a VERY near fall. Roode gets an elbow up in the corner but dives at Young and right into the piledriver for the pin.
Rating: B-. This was by far the best match of the night but the fans were almost silent. There’s something to be said for this theory that Impact Zone crowds bring the show down and this is a good example. I mean they just did not care about two World Champions going back and forth for thirteen minutes. That’s the kind of thing you can’t blame on the wrestlers but it really needs to be fixed, assuming it’s financially possible.
Team Carter – 2 (2 matches remaining)
Team Young – 2 (2 matches remaining)
Team Roode – 0 (2 matches remaining)
Team Angle – 0 (2 matches remaining)
Angle promises to show Carter why he’s a TNA Hall of Famer.
Video on Kurt Angle’s career in the Olympics and time in TNA.
Kurt Angle (Angle) vs. Ethan Carter III (Carter)
Ethan says he’s concerned for Angle’s well being because Kurt might try to maim him (Carter: “WHAT?”), hurt him (“WHAT?”) or injure him (“WHAT?”), so there’s going to be a change.
Kurt Angle (Angle) vs. Magnus (Carter)
They circle each other for a good while before Angle grabs a hammerlock, sending Magnus running into the ropes. The Brit puts on a headlock and even a suplex can’t break it up. Angle escapes and hammers away in the corner, only to take a knee to the ribs. We hit the sleeper on Angle but Kurt escapes with some rolling Germans.
The Angle Slam is countered into a kind of Rock Bottom around the ribs. He loads up the top rope elbow but Angle runs the corner for the belly to belly superplex and two. The ankle lock goes on until Magnus quickly kicks away and nails a running clothesline. Now the top rope elbow connects for two but Magnus charges into the corner for some reason, allowing Angle to step to the side and nail the Slam for the pin.
Rating: C. This picked up a bit at the end but there was barely anything in the first five minutes. Again the fans were dead and that’s very annoying but it’s a fact of life in TNA. Angle just didn’t have much in the tank at this point and the injuries were really mounting up. I’m almost hoping he doesn’t come back because he could hurt himself very, very badly if he keeps going.
Team Carter – 2 (1 match remaining)
Team Young – 2 (2 matches remaining)
Team Angle – 1 (1 match remaining)
Team Roode – 0 (2 matches remaining)
The Beautiful People say Roode picked them because they’re hot. Everyone needs a paper bag with their face on it and they start beautifying TNA tonight.
Angelina Love (Roode) vs. ODB (Young)
Velvet immediately trips up ODB and Angelina stomps away. They stop for a chest bump though and ODB comes back with running shoulders to send Angeling running to the floor. We get a slow chase scene and Earl Hebner gets caught as we’re in comedy territory. Back in and Earl yells at ODB, earning him a chest shake. Hebner falls to the mat and holds his chest as the Beautiful People come in to jump ODB.
Angelina puts on a chinlock and even jumps on ODB’s back, only to be rammed into the buckle. There’s the fall away slam and a Bronco Buster to Love but the Bam is countered with a rake of the eyes. Sky throws in hairspray but gets her face shoved into ODB’s chest (with the camera cutting away). Love comes back with the Botox Injection for the pin.
Rating: D-. ODB is not funny. I don’t know any other way to put it. She’s done the same “I’M NOT A LADY” stuff for years now and it was old years ago. The same can be said of the Beautiful People. They’ve done the same schtick for a very long time and I just do not care anymore. The comedy didn’t help things either and the whole match was a mess.
Team Carter – 2 (1 match remaining)
Team Young – 2 (1 match remaining)
Team Angle – 1 (1 match remaining)
Team Roode – 1 (1 match remaining)
ODB escapes the makeover post match and shoves Angelina’s face into her chest. Earl wants some but gets kissed and passed out.
Ethan Carter III (Carter) vs. Davey Richards (Angle)
Ethan quickly shoulders him out to the floor before knocking him into the ropes back inside. Back up and a flying tackle drops Carter to the floor where Davey can fire off kicks. Carter takes him down back inside and stomps away before driving in some shoulders in the corner. Davey gets taken down into a gutwrench before a knee to his ribs gets two.
Off to an abdominal stretch and the fans are actually into this one for a change. Spud offers some assistance until Richards flips Carter over to escape. Carter gets taken down by a sunset flip but Richards pops up for a double stomp and two. Ethan bails to the floor and gets caught by a suicide dive. Back in and a missile dropkick gets two for Richards and it’s time for the chest kicks. The big one misses though and Ethan nails a Batista Bomb for two.
Davey blocks the 1%er and nails the kick to the head. He puts on an ankle lock instead of covering but lets it go to try a top rope double stomp. Carter rolls away and nails a running clothesline for two. They head to the corner for a superplex but Davey headbutts Ethan down and gets two off a sunset bomb. The big kick to the head gets two more but Spud trips Davey, allowing the 1%er to send Team Carter to the finals.
Rating: C+. Another nice match here which probably has something to do with the extra time it was given. Spud and Carter work so well together and Carter is actually nailing the serious part of his character. Richards didn’t do much here and all the kicks were getting on my nerves.
Team Carter – 3 (0 matches remaining)
Team Young – 2 (1 match remaining)
Team Angle – 1 (0 matches remaining)
Team Roode – 1 (1 match remaining)
Gunner and Bully Ray are ready for their match. Ray brags about their legs and calves respectfully and Gunner says it’s all about making the finals. Tonight, Kenny King and Samuel Shaw will experience war. Ray: “OH WHAT A RUSH!” Gunner: “That’ll never get over.”
Bully Ray/Gunner (Young) vs. Kenny King/Samuel Shaw (Roode)
Shaw stares at Ray to start so Bully shoves him into the corner for the tag to King. Ray easily shoves him down too so it’s back to Shaw. Samuel gets taken into the corner and has his shirt raised for some skin breaking chops. The shirt stays over Shaw’s head and Ray starts a Gunner chant before bringing him in for a running clothesline. The Al Snow trapping headbutts rock Shaw and a falling headbutt gets two.
It’s off to King who scores with some kicks to Gunner’s face but it’s quickly back to Ray. Bully calls his spots as loudly as possible in a kind of funny bit until Shaw trips him down and crotches him against the post. Shaw comes in and screams a lot while choking. Back to King for more choking in the corner but Ray rolls underneath a double clothesline and tags in Gunner.
House is cleaned and Gunner rams his own head into the buckle before getting two off the top rope headbutt. Everything breaks down and Gunner plays D-Von in What’s Up. They do GET THE TABLES and even Taz mocks the crowd for not caring. Instead Shaw is whipped into Bully’s boot and Gunner nails an F5 for the pin.
Rating: D+. This was a glorified squash and I don’t think it was ever really in doubt. At the end of the day, Samuel Shaw and Kenny King aren’t much of a match for a Hall of Famer and a guy in the upper midcard at this point. Nothing to see here but it was as easy of a way as they had of getting Team Young into the finals.
Team Young vs. Team Carter in the finals.
Ethan sends Spud off to get some coffee and then takes credit for the team doing so well. He talks about fans caring about individuals and star power instead of the team but cuts himself off when Spud comes back with the coffee. This guy continues to be gold.
Bound For Glory is coming to Tokyo. I’m surprised it’s not a One Night Only show given how little TNA seems to care about it.
World Cup of Wrestling: Team Young vs. Team Carter
Eric Young, Bully Ray, Gunner, Eddie Edwards, ODB
Ethan Carter III, Magnus, BroMans, Gail Kim
Elimination rules. DJZ’s description of the team: the Handsome Man Band and one hot Asian chick. Jesse and Edwards get things going with Eddie speeding things up and hiptossing both BroMans. Off to Young for two off a double back elbow before he cranks on Robbie’s arm. Bully comes in for the loud chop and DJZ comes in for some embarrassment of his own.
Gail gets the tag and shoves Ray before hurting her hand trying chops. She sticks out her chest to let Ray chop her but Ray reaches out both hands in a funny bit. Ray goes racial with the Karate Kid crane pose before picking Gail up. He tags in ODB to spank Gail a few times before running her over with a chest bump. A front facelock allows ODB to spank a few more times but Gail comes right back with some of her own.
Jesse gets in one as well so ODB offers the rest of the team a free shot. She counters Eat Defeat into the Bam to take out Gail and it’s 5-4. Jesse comes in and gets his face sent into ODB’s chest but Robbie makes a blind tag and grabs a rollup for the pin. Gunner is in next for some headbutts before it’s back to Edwards for rapid fire chops in the corner. Some kicks set up a Shining Wizard for two but Jesse makes the save.
Off to Magnus for a stomping as Spud coaches from the floor. Jesse gorilla presses Edwards and DJZ is back on the sound effects. Eddie clotheslines both BroMans and hurricanranas both of them at the same time but doesn’t tag. A trip from Magnus lets the BroMans hit a clothesline into a cradle for the elimination.
It’s 4-3 now and Bully is taken into the Carter corner. Jesse actually slams Bully for two but walks into a Rock Bottom for the fast pin. Robbie tries to come in but gets launched into the air. The Flip Flop and Fly drops Robbie again but Magnus nails Bully in the face, giving Robbie the upset pin. It’s down to Gunner/Young vs. Magnus/Carter/Robbie.
Gunner charges in but gets caught in the heel corner again to give Carter’s team the advantage. Off to the chinlock by Carter but he makes the mistake of ramming Gunner face first into the buckle. Robbie takes the punishment in the form of an Irish Curse before the Gun Rack makes him submit. 2-2 now and we have a pretty decent looking tag match. The Brit comes in and takes a slingshot suplex but knocks Gunner out of the air with a European uppercut. A Michinoku Driver eliminates Gunner and we’re down to a handicap match.
Young charges in and the heels continue their idea of catching their opponent in the corner. Carter slams him down and gets two off a splash before putting on a chinlock. A belly to back suplex breaks it up but it’s back to Magnus to stop Eric’s comeback. We get the standard heel miscommunication and they argue, allowing Young to hit the wheelbarrow into the neckbreaker for two. Carter makes the save but hits Young low for a DQ. It’s one on one now and a hard clothesline puts Eric down. Magnus tries a piledriver but Young reverses into one of his own for the pin and the cup. Tenay of course acts like it’s no big deal.
Rating: C. You could pretty much pencil this in almost down to the exact eliminations but that’s fine. Young pinning Magnus was still a big deal at the time as he has just done it to win the World Title that week so the win meant more back then. It’s a nice way to cap things off and they even managed to protect Carter. That guy is going to be a big deal in the near future.
A VERY quick presentation ends the show.
Overall Rating: C-. It’s nothing great but this is my favorite of all the One Night Only series concepts. They keep things moving and offer you enough of a variety that there’s enough reason to care. If you like competitions and keeping track of scores you’ll like this fine and it’s a perfectly acceptable use of three hours. Again, the HD version is $15 so how much complaining can you do if things are at least decent?
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NPPH0WI
And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:
Recent Comments