Against All Odds 2008
Date: February 10, 2008
Location: Bi-Lo Center, Greenville, South Carolina
Attendance: 3,500
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

 

I’ve actually done the show after this which is a rarity for me in these reviews since I more or less do random shows more often than not. Anyway this is one of the shows that wasn’t in the Impact Zone which is always kind of interesting to see. The main event is Angle vs. Christian with Angle defending the title and Joe as guest referee. Other than that the card looks as dull as ever. Let’s get to it.

 

We actually get the Star Spangled Banner with a big military thing. BG James and his dad Bob Armstrong (why do they have different last names?) are in the group of marines.

 

The opening video is about war or something like that. We see clips of presidents saying things that have nothing to do with war at times. Uh there’s something about barbed wire and the Hallelujah Chorus. This was in a word, odd.

 

Tag Titles: Bob Armstrong/BG James vs. AJ Styles/Tomko

 

James (Road Dogg) won the Feast or Fired tag title shot and picked his 67 year old dad instead of Kip James (Billy Gunn, you know, his partner in one of the most successful teams of all time) because TNA thinks we know who Bullet Bob Armstrong is or even stupider, that we care who he is. Members of the National Guard are at ringside. I’m trying to remember why there would be a very patriotic theme to this show and nothing is coming to me.

 

AJ is the Prince of Phenomenal and a clueless putz at this point. Aj wants an explanation from Tomko about why he hasn’t called AJ this week and has been hanging out with Christian so much. I’ll spare you all a lot of jokes here. Tomko says worry about the tag match, not anything. Armstrong looks like he’s waiting in line at a soup kitchen or something.

 

James vs. AJ to start. Very basic stuff to start as AJ acts like an idiot and James drills him. Oh dear it’s Armstrong time. Armstrong slaps AJ down and it’s off to Tomko. More slaps abound and we thankfully get someone in there that isn’t on Social Security. And yes I get that Armstrong probably used to be very good. That being said, he’s pushing 70 here. I get that he may want to do this and may be in great shape, but the problems here are numerous.

 

First off, he’s 67 years old. Do you think it’s safe for a man born in the 30s to be in there against men that are much stronger and faster and in better condition? I don’t care how well trained he is or how great shape he’s in. It’s too much of a safety risk for my taste.

 

Second, this is taking up ring time from ANYONE else that could use it. Having it be his dad is nice and sweet but no one knows who he is, this is a one off appearance, no one cares it’s just pointless all around.

 

Third, it makes AJ and Tomko look bad because every spot with Armstrong in there they have to sell like crazy for him. Also they have to slow things WAY down for him to keep up with them. Again, if you want him there as manager or support etc, fine but let someone that isn’t more trouble than they’re worth be out there. I’ve never been a fan of matches like these in the slightest. Point being here, where Tomko, the enforcer for the top heel in the company, is having to sell for a man that hasn’t been a regular competitor in years.

 

It takes AJ interfering to let Tomko take over. Kurt and Karen are watching. AJ gets two on Armstrong. Now we get to see the monster known as Tomko hammer on a man older than Pearl Harbor. Off to James and AJ now and there are the punches. AJ misses a springboard forearm and it hits Tomko. Pumphandle for two on AJ. Styles manages to get a dropkick to the knee though and the champions’ finisher, the Tornado Plex (Combination spinning neckbreaker/side suplex) ends James.

 

Rating: D. This is a glorified handicap match and a bad one at that. Road Dogg is a guy that I liked in the ring despite him not being focused on as far as his wrestling went. However he was in way over his head here as he had to carry his dad the entire time. I’m sorry but I do not see the point of this at all and I don’t know anyone that doesn’t work for TNA that does either.

 

Karen is panicking and she screeches a lot. She wants to know when’s the last time Kurt did something special for her. Kurt says whenever she’s in his presence it’s special. It’s so weird to think they would be divorced later in the year.

 

We run down the card.

 

We recap Traci Brooks vs. Payton Banks, both of whom worked for Robert Roode. Allegedly he hit Traci so she left him. This is the required grudge match.

 

Payton Banks vs. Traci Brooks

 

Banks is awful and Brooks is only good at coming out to a knockoff of Rag Doll by Aerosmith. Traci slaps her and takes her into the corner to start us off. Total brawl to start so far as it’s mainly just pounding and choking. We hit the floor for awhile which gives us more brawling. All Traci so far. How exactly do you hit someone with authority?

 

Payton takes over and we go back into the ring. Backcracker gets two. Crowd is totally behind Traci here. She gets a bad running kick to take over. Traci goes up but Banks knocks her off and continues her punching. Ah never mind as Traci grabs a quick schoolgirl for the pin after nothing of note at all.

 

Rating: D+. Well they were clearly trying. They had some aggression out there but at the same time the lack of skill kind of hurt them. Again, Traci is one of those chicks that needs to just stick to wearing tight or non-existent clothing. This wasn’t the worst match ever, but it’s nothing good at all.

 

We recap Steiner vs. Petey Williams. They both had Feast or Fired cases and Steiner elected to trade his out of fear. Naturally he had the world title shot and now wanted it back. Williams is Maple Leaf Muscle at this point. The winner gets both cases.

 

Scott Hudson of all people talks to both guys. Apparently the other case was the X-Division Title shot. Petey lists off why he’s awesome and Steiner says he’s had more matches defending his matches with his world title than Williams has had matches. And yes that’s how he said it.

 

Petey Williams vs. Scott Steiner

 

Petey likes to copy Scott which he was told not to do pre-match. They pose for a bit which is a bit more disturbing than it should be. Steiner easily overpowers him of course so Petey tries to speed things up a bit which doesn’t work either. Some strikes work a bit for Petey but it’s hard to fight against a big overhead belly to belly. Elbow and pushups follow.

 

Another belly to belly off the top gets two but Steiner pulls him up. Steiner gets an Angle Slam off the top but again pulls Williams up. He goes to the floor and gets the two cases, wedging them between the ropes as you often see done with chairs. The referee stops him but Williams manages to shove Steiner into the case. Rana takes Steiner down for two. Canadian Destroyer is countered into an Alabama Slam for a long two.

 

Steiner Recliner can’t get on though as Williams rolls him up instead for two. Williams hits a dropkick and a slingshot Codebreaker to set up a top rope crossbody for two. Williams puts on the Steiner Recliner which is as miserable of a chinlock as I’ve ever seen. Tornado DDT gets two for Williams. Steiner gets sent into the other case and a missile dropkick puts down Steiner. Rhaka Khan debuts and distracts Petey so that a Last Ride can end Petey.

 

Rating: C-. Better match than you would expect but Steiner was never in any real danger here. I never got the appeal of mini Steiner in the form of Williams. Steiner never really went anywhere until the Mafia came up. This was watchable but at the same time it wasn’t anything great at all.

 

Kurt is ticked about Karen leaving him earlier. Jeremy has a book coming out apparently and is going to give Kurt tips. JB plays Kurt and Kurt plays Karen. Is this supposed to be funny? Kurt slaps him and says he needs something bigger. Thursday is Valentine’s Day and JB suggests they renew their vows on Impact. This is getting downright creepy. Naturally AJ comes in and it’s not funny.

 

We get a video about the Drinking Championship and Eric “training” for it at bars. This is of course, stupid.

 

World Beer Drinking Championship: James Storm vs. Eric Young

 

One very awesome thing is that you can tell that Storm and Roode’s songs were merged together to make Beer Money’s music today. That’s very awesome. Yes this is an official championship match. The belt has a beer bottle attached to it. I hate to admit it but the pyro fear thing makes me smile. Storm jumps Young as he high fives fans and we need a bell. Hey there’s a bell!

 

Young gets a Thesz Press out of nowhere to get some punches in. A clotheslines sends Storm to the floor so Young can hit a top rope cross body to really take over. Jackie is out there too and being her usual irritating self. Back in and Storm is able to spit beer in his face thanks to Jackie’s interference.

 

Storm gets an enziguri to the head and it sends Eric to the floor. Hiptoss to Young on the exposed concrete gets two back in the ring. We head to the floor again and Young gets a suplex onto the concrete. Storm gets an Orton DDT back in the ring for two. Apparently the barbed wire massacre match is going to be in the Impact Zone due the athletic commission in this state, meaning it’ll be taped.

 

Storm in control here until he misses a charge in the corner and here comes Eric one more time. Belly to belly by Eric gets two. This is a better match than it probably should be. What it has to do with drinking is beyond me but whatever. A front flip from the top misses by Storm but Eric’s moonsault hits for two.

 

I hate when that happens: big spots like those should end matches. Jackie comes in, her head goes into Roode’s balls and a Death Valley Driver to both at once gets two. See what I mean? Jackie tries to interfere and Rhyno pops up, returning from his relapse with alcohol I believe, and Gores Storm so Young can get the pin to retain.

 

Rating: D+. This was good until the ending when it got stupid with the kicking out every five seconds. Rhyno returning set up more of him vs. Storm which is a stupid feud over a stupid concept. Either way this was just ok but the big spots being kicked out of every time got annoying.

 

Rhyno says he’ll explain things on Thursday.

 

A chick is with Jim Cornette at the Impact Zone. Apparently this was taped almost three weeks prior. He shows us how sharp the barbed wire is.

 

We recap ODB vs. Awesome Kong. Kong is the new champion and ODB is the one chick she hasn’t beaten. End of storylines.

 

Knockouts Title: ODB vs. Awesome Kong

 

They pull each others’ hair and ODB tries a slam which fails completely. ODB hits the floor and Raisha Saed, Kong’s mouthpiece, gets in her face. Back in and ODB is sent into the corner and a splash crushes her. Out to the floor again with Kong in control but her knee is hurting. ODB grabs her chest which is enough to wake her up somehow.

 

This is dull if you didn’t get that. Kong tries the powerbomb but ODB fights her off and sits on the top rope. Kong hits the spinning backfist to the head and we’re back on the mat again. Thesz Press is caught so ODB, who isn’t a small girl by any means, tries a dropkick. The Thesz Press from the middle rope gets her down though but she still can’t slam Kong. Implant Buster gets two.

 

ODB nips up to avoid a middle rope splash and slams Kong for two. Gee maybe if it was bigger than a slam it would have worked. She gets a shot from her flask to wake her up. ODB can’t put Kong down still though. She hits Saed though and there’s the spinning backfist and the Awesome Bomb from Kong to retain.

 

Rating: D-. This was sloppy, dull, not interesting and just weak overall. They tried but the similarity of styles hurt it too much. You need power vs. speed rather than power vs. power. It took the Beautiful People to stop Kong and they were a breath of air into the division. This was pretty weak though.

 

James Mitchell says he’s going to send Mesias in and Abyss is going to be in pain. This feud went on so far too long that it’s unreal. Mitchell could certainly talk though.

 

We recap this part of the feud. There was something about Abyss shooting his father who was James Mitchell and he and Mesias are brothers or something. It’s a huge mess if you didn’t get that part.

 

Judas Mesias vs. Abyss

 

This was taped three weeks ago and is in the Impact Zone down in Orlando. There aren’t any ropes but rather barbed wire. Abyss pushes over a cameraman on the way to the ring. For some reason that made me chuckle. The fans are behind Abyss here. Well that’s good since he’s the face. The lack of ropes makes things look really weird here.

 

Abyss does the arm pose and Mesias looks at him. It’s weird seeing the face tower over the heel like he does here. They fight to try to push the other into the wire but neither has any luck. Mesias hits a dropkick and Abyss hits wire, cutting his arm a bit. Mesias goes in also, but in his case it’s side first. Drop toehold sends Abyss into the wire. This is going to be one of those matches where all we’re doing is sending people into the wire isn’t it?

 

Abyss slides under the wire as the fans chant who’s your daddy. He finds a chair wrapped in barbed wire and the fans want blood apparently. Abyss puts the chair on the chest of Mesias but it goes into Abyss’ crotch. That has to hurt a bit no? Barbed wire chair to Abyss’ head. BIG cut over the eye of Abyss.

 

Mesias brings in a barbed wire board with a slight bit of help from Mitchell. They’re on the floor now with Mesias in control. Abyss finds another board and Mesias is bleeding from the side. The new board is set up between the railing and the table like a platform. Abyss tries to chokeslam Mitchell through it but gets blocked by Mesias and it’s back into the ring. Chokeslam onto the barbed wire is blocked but a gorilla press drop isn’t and Mesias is all cut up.

 

Abyss’ arms are a mess. There’s ANOTHER barbed wire board being brought in by Abyss. Mesias gets up on the apron so Abyss chokeslams him down onto the board that was set up like a platform. Time for Abyss to go after Mitchell now and it’s a Black Hole Slam for the manager. Mesias pops up somehow and it’s a Black Hole Slam for him too.

 

Abyss gets hit low to shift the momentum again. Mesias more or less tackles Abyss into the boards for Abyss’ first major bump of the match. They slug it out and Mesias thinks it’s smart to charge at a guy whose finisher is a swinging slam. It connects onto one of the boards and this is over.

 

Rating: C+. Well they got the violence stuff pretty well I guess. All things considered this was pretty good. Thankfully this feud was OVER after this as I couldn’t take much more from it. Tenay saying that Abyss could be added to the list of hardcore legends like Funk, Brody, Cactus Jack and the Sheik is a big nauseating but you get the idea. Better than you would expect but just what you would expect if that makes sense.

 

Robert Roode blames Booker for Sharmell’s injury. Also she looks like a horse. Not a bad promo as it was simple but effective.

 

We recap the feud which more or less is Roode accidentally hit Sharmell at the PPV last month. This feud went on forever and it never got particularly interesting, mainly due to the girls in it being non-wrestlers. Roode said it wasn’t his fault and he said that Booker should be thankful.

 

Booker says nothing of note.

 

Robert Roode vs. Booker T

 

Sharmell isn’t here due to the injuries. Booker goes straight for Roode as it’s a brawl to start. A brawl in TNA? NO WAY!!! Side slam by Booker is one of the first break in a lot of punches. Roode has had virtually no offense in nearly two minutes. He’s thrown to the floor where Payton Banks tries to tend to him. Back in the ring and Roode FINALLY gets some offense in.

 

Nothing special but at least it’s a change in the pace here. And never mind as Booker reverses and kicks his head off after being on defense for about 30 seconds. Banks gets in the ring for no apparent reason and Booker almost does what Roode did to Sharmell the previous month. The distraction lets Roode take over though and he has his first real advantage all match.

 

Knee to the ribs puts Booker down for two. A clothesline is almost countered into a Book End but Roode reverses. Dropkick gets two on Booker and we hit the chinlock. Booker fights up and gets a superkick and a spin kick to put Roode down again. Spinebuster sets up the Spinarooni. Dang he’s so angry he almost forgot to break dance.

 

Booker kicks Roode in the leg for no apparent reason and Roode rakes the eyes so they can slug it out for a few seconds. Scissors Kick misses but Roode is backdropped to the floor. The brawl is on the floor until Roode is thrown back in. And never mind as he goes through the other side and they head up the ramp. Yep it’s a double countout. Screw me running.

 

Rating: D. The match was just ok but the ending cripples this. It was nothing great anyway until then and all this means is it sets up a mixed tag later to end this feud that I think went on even longer afterwards. This was a feud I never got into and didn’t really care at all. Weak match, awful ending.

 

They fight more in the back as Roode tries to get away. Roode throws Banks out of the driver seat of a car and speeds away in it.

 

We get a video on the main event which is completely pointless.

 

Kurt tells AJ and Karen about the renewal of their vows. This would result in AJ accidentally marrying Karen. Just go with it. Karen leaves and Kurt talks to Christian and says this is his last shot and that once Kurt wins he’s in charge. Oh and Joe better stay out of Kurt’s way.

 

We recap Team 3D vs. the X-Division. Team 3D has Johnny Devine, the X-Division traitor and its champion with them. The deal is it’s a street fight and if Team 3D/Devine win then the X-Division is gone. If the X guys win then Team 3D can’t wrestle until they’re under 275lbs each. Oh and if an X guy gets the win they get the title. Not sure if they have to pin Devine or not.

 

Bubba says that Lethal has heart but the Guns don’t. This is supposed to be a very serious promo but it doesn’t come off as one for some reason.

 

Jay Lethal/Motor City Machineguns vs. Team 3D/Johnny Devine

 

This is a hardcore street fight and Lethal had been rapidly rising through the ranks recently. I’d expect a showcase match for him here. It seems that any X guy can pin any evildoer to win the title because that’s how wrestling titles are supposed to be right? As expected it starts in the aisle. It’s Lethal vs. Ray on the table. Now those two are in the ring. The other four are off fighting…somewhere.

 

Lethal in control as the Guns are in the ring now. There’s a sign that says USE MY SIGN. Lethal takes it and it’s a Dead End street sign underneath the paper. Triple plancha by the X guys to take out the heels on the floor in a cool spot. Everyone in the ring now as the X guys have controlled the whole time. Triple Tornado DDT get 2’s all around. Someone brings in the weapons including an inflatable woman. Oh dear.

 

The kitchen sink is brought in of course because that’s been funny the last 19 times it’s been done right? Another triple cover gets two. The Dudleys get a double suplex on Lethal. The heels take over and the fans want tables. The X Guys take over again for a bit. This is one of those messes of a match which has no flow at all and is just a big fight that goes back and forth.

 

3D to Sabin and one for Shelley as well. Lethal takes D-Von down but Ray kills him with a clothesline. The fans still want tables. So Cal Val is crying over Lethal. This is before she turned on him I guess. Lethal flips off Ray as Val tries to intervene. Ray grabs her by the hair and whips out a cheese grater. He licks her face for no apparent reason until Lethal can make the save.

 

Big chair shot to the head of Ray by Lethal but D-Von pulls the referee out just in time. Remember what I said about Lethal doing this on his own? It’s literally 3-1 at this point and Lethal is getting near falls out there. Lethal Combination gets two on Devine and then he gets two on D-Von. He walks into a Bubba Bomb though which somehow only gets two. Dude the Guns have been down what, five minutes now on those 3Ds?

 

D-Von sets up the tables and the Dudleys are suddenly faces. Lethal fights off the Dudleys again but here’s Devine with that street sign. Jay gets it and pops Devine over the head with it, sending him to the table. Top rope elbow through the table and through Devine saves the X-Division. This match ran twelve and a half minutes and I kid you not it was 3-1 for at least four of those.

 

Rating: C+. Lethal dominance aside this was ok. The ending is completely absurd and Lethal looks way too good here, but the main issue is that this went on too long. The match was too wild and the first half is very hard to follow. Still though, not bad although I wasn’t bored at all with it. Exciting but not good for the most part, but I think that was the point so I’ll let it slide.

 

Sonjay Dutt comes out to celebrate with Lethal.

 

We get the same main event recap from earlier.

 

Christian says he knows more than everyone else. Oh and no one knows who Hudson is still which is kind of funny. Christian says Joe deserves a title shot but not tonight because this is Christian’s night.

 

TNA World Title: Kurt Angle vs. Christian Cage

 

Samoa Joe is the Special Enforcer which he’ll get a title shot in exchange for being. After the Big Match Intros it’s time to go. Karen is at ringside as is Joe. They slap it out a bit in the ring and it’s a long feeling out process. Kurt controls with a headlock on the mat as we’re waiting on something to actually happen. Angle takes Christian down with a shoulder and it’s back to the headlock, but time by Christian though.

 

Belly to back gets two but Christian moves out of it and back to the headlock. Joe is on the floor and looks rather bored. Somebody get that boy a Twinkie before he passes out. On another note, more headlock. Kurt is sent into the post and Christian dives off the top to crush Kurt on the floor. Back in the ring now with Christian taking too much time and getting dropped on his shoulder from the middle rope.

 

Joe gets out of his chair and gets on the apron a bit which disrupts Kurt’s mojo a bit and it’s back to Christian. And never mind as he gets suplexed up and over the top rope. Kurt tries to get a weapon but Joe knocks it out of his hand and shoves Kurt down. Christian takes over again but Kurt grabs an Angle Slam out of nowhere and drops him on the apron with it. Sick bump there.

 

Back in and Angle gets a buckle bomb for two. Off to a body scissors by Kurt now as we need a breather I guess. I can live with that as they’ve been going for about ten minutes now. Rolling Germans by Kurt has Christian reeling. He manages to reverse the third one though and Kurt is flipped over his head and lands on his face in a nice bump. They hit the ropes a lot and Kurt runs into a flapjack. Edge-o-Matic gets two.

 

The Canadian goes up top and Christian tries the running the corner suplex but Christian bites the head and hits a frog splash for two. Angle Slam is reversed into an arm drag and we hit the floor. Kurt tries to German him off the apron but Christian holds the ropes for dear life. Back in the ring there’s the ankle lock and Christian is in trouble. There’s a rope though and we’re back to Kurt being in control.

 

Straps go down but the Angle Slam is reversed into a sunset flip for two. Angle rakes the eyes and this time gets the Slam for two. Well of course it was only for two. Moonsault misses and Christian goes up. Running suplex misses but the second time he manages to get a Samoan Drop from the top for two. Angle gets in his face but Christian is able to grab an Unprettier out of nowhere for a long two.

 

The referee takes a clothesline and Christian grabs the ankle lock. Joe comes in as the replacement referee and checks for the tap. Karen tries to help but gets pulled in as well. Christian lets go of the hold and gets slapped by the chick. Kurt saves his wife and Christian gets a rollup on Kurt for two. Karen gets knocked down and a double clothesline takes down both guys.

 

Joe puts Karen in a chair at ringside and here’s AJ for the interference. Joe grabs AJ off the apron and they fight into the crowd. Kurt grabs a chair while those two fight in the audience (read as Joe massacres him). Christian gets the chair but also takes a low blow. Tomko runs in to save Christian from the chair shot and then turns on Christian, hitting a spinning neckbreaker. Angle wakes up the referee and gets the pin to retain.

 

Rating: B-. Well it was good but at the same time it was overbooked beyond belief. It was way too overdone with there being Karen, Joe, AJ and Tomko all getting involved as I guess a 20 minute match between Angle and Christian wasn’t good enough. This was pretty good but the angles in the main event at this time were pretty bad as everyone and their mother knew it was just wasting time until we got to Joe vs. Angle with Joe taking the title. Good wrestling, bad booking.

 

Ad for TNA I guess ends the show.

 

Overall Rating: D. I watched this on Wednesday and Thursday and now it’s about 11:40 on Thursday night and I don’t remember half of the card. This was not only forgettable but once I did remember it, it was bad. This didn’t work for the most part as everything was either bad or forgettable. The best match is the main event and that’s just slightly ahead of ok. It’s not much of a show but this wasn’t the best era for TNA at all. Everything was a mess and nothing was incredibly easy to care about. Anyway, there’s another TNA PPV for you all.
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Genesis 2010
Date: January 17, 2010
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

So we’re in the Hogan Era on PPV, three months after he was announced. We’ve been over the stupidity of that so I’ll ignore it for now. The main event tonight is Angle vs. Styles, but we also have EPIC encounters like THE BAND vs. Beer Money.  The idiocy of this astounds me. Also, we have two matches that are straight from the last PPV or January 4th and no one has a problem with that. This is hopefully going to be a live review so this is kind of a one man LD so let’s get to it.

The video is your standard thing about everyone saying it’s their destiny to be a champion. Not sure what that has to do with a new beginning or a Genesis but whatever.

Oh and we have a four sided ring now. Nothing says being an alternative to WWE than looking even more and more like them. And my life is made complete as we have the fans with an epic WE WANT SIX SIDES chant at Hogan and Bischoff as they come out to open the show.

 

I would bet that they’ll keep it as they decide that they know more about the wrestling the fans want than the fans. Of course they mention Vince because it’s a law or whatever. This made my night though, as Hogan and Bischoff show that they don’t know everything the fans know.

 

Also, it shows me that the fans aren’t just brainwashed. Also, it amuses me that they keep saying that the ring is pro wrestling. Strange, I’ve always thought pro wrestling was what went on in the ring. You can wrestle on the floor or in the back. ECW made a company out of it. So wait. According to TNA, when a match goes outside the ring, it ceases being a match? Is it interpretive dance or something? Either way, that made me smile.

X–Division Title: Amazing Red vs. ???

There was no opponent announced and without saying it’s a mystery opponent, it’s Brian Kendrick coming out to some weird violin music. This isn’t bad, but it’s better than some other options I suppose. This should be good I guess though if they just let them go. The name helps a lot also as it’s his real name so it’s not something awful like Junior Fatu.

 

If nothing else this is the best choice for the opener as it’s almost certain to be high flying and interesting looking. It worked in WCW and it should work here. That’s the point of openers: get the crowd alive. These two should be able to do that pretty well and they are so far. And we’re in a leg lock. Why are we using psychology in a match like this? And my stream is out so the rest of this is being written on Monday other than the intro to the Knockouts match.

 

Oh there’s also a ramp leading to the ring. Think of ECW or old school WCW. Hogan’s changes are already viewable. The fans chanting WE WANT SIX SIDES truly made my night. Hogan’s daughter is here. Kendrick sticks to the knee for no apparent reason. Actually that’s not fair as there’s a point to it, but this is supposed to be a high flying match and it’s a mat based thing instead.

 

Oh and Lashley isn’t going to wrestle tonight, which is false advertising but whatever. Ah there we go. NOW we get to the air and the match picks up A LOT. For one thing the fans are into it which is the whole point of this. We get our second shot of Brooke Hogan and I still don’t care at all.

 

Well at least Kendrick is working on the knee a lot so he’s being consistent and it takes away Red’s best offense so he’s thinking which is a big way of scoring points to me. The fans are split here which is interesting. Red hits a HOKEY SMOKE move to get the win. More or less he goes for a sunset flip but jumps to the top rope so he hits a very fast and fluid sunset flip that looks awesome. I was genuinely impressed by that ending.

Rating: C+. This was designed to get the crowd going and while it could have been much better it did its job well enough, especially the ending. I’m not entirely sure on the idea of having your big surprise losing here, but at the same time it might not be a long term thing. Either way, this was certainly ok, although the leg work might not have been the best idea.

Bischoff, Hogan and the Band are in the back and the Band is told this is their only shot so make it count. Hall and Pac play Rock Paper Scissors to determine who is Nash’s partner. Hall loses and won’t wrestle, as he looks awful in tights apparently. False advertising number 2.

Sean Morely vs. Christopher Daniels

Remember, even though Morely is wearing a towel and coming out to something similar to his old music, HE ISN’T VAL VENIS! Brooke gets Morely’s towel. Three times the camera has been on her in less than 30 minutes now. Daniels is the heel here and cuts a bland heel promo before the match which doesn’t work well at all since the fans aren’t buying it. Fourth shot of Brooke.

 

Daniels in the long tights works much better. Has that thing on his shoulder ever been explained? I don’t think it has been. I’ve always liked Morely. He’s a guy you can almost guarantee a good match out of which is so rare in modern wrestling. Daniels hooks a triangle choke to appeal to the MMA fans out there.

 

Apparently Morely is a true pro. I thought they were all pros. You can wrestle in TNA as an amateur? They’ve never heard of Mass Transit have they? Morely hits a Blue Thunder Bomb which is one of my favorites in No Mercy so I’m liking this more and more every second. I’m still not sold on a match being made for no apparent reason and then having a PPV match of it 3 days later but then again I’m no professional.

 

A clothesline is called an STO. That’s expected I guess but still, that wasn’t even close. The Best Moonsault Ever misses and Sean goes for the splash. Since that’s too easy though it doesn’t work, although he hits it a few seconds later which draws Brooke Hogan shot #5.

Rating: C+. Again, not bad at all. Morely is a guy that you can certainly depend on for a good match and it worked well here. Again though, why is this on PPV? Why were they even fighting? That was never explained which is a common theme on this show I think. Also, Morely hasn’t wrestled on the main stage in years and he can beat last month’s world title challenger? That makes perfect sense right?

Now I didn’t see this, but allegedly during this match, a group of fans turned their back on the match. This is allegedly a “stable” of fans that are collectively going against this because they don’t want Val in the company. Are you kidding me? It’s one thing to boo faces and cheer heels or something, but to become the focus of a match isn’t being a fan. It’s being a selfish jerk. Get over yourselves people. That’s just pathetic as all goodness.

We recap ODB vs. Tara, which is they’ve feuded over the title so tonight they’re doing it again because they have nothing else. It’s 2/3 falls if nothing else though.

Knockouts Title: Tara vs. ODB

This is 2/3 falls which makes sense as they’ve had a match or two before and you can’t have the same match again as we had a few weeks ago and then ask people to pay for it. THAT WOULD MAKE NO SENSE! That Broken song is AWESOME. There’s not a ton going on in the first few minutes here as it’s just them going back and forth.

 

This is the problem with 2/3 falls matches: you don’t have to really pay attention until the second fall, which is starting right now as Tara hooks a small package for the first fall. Tara hooks the tarantula. Not a lot is going on here at all. We get a great shot of Tara’s back to make this match much better. Brooke shot number 6. This time she’s with Joey Fatone.

 

If TNA insists on the celebrity thing, get celebrities that have mattered this millennium. ODB uses the Tumbleweed. Are we in the mid 70s all of a sudden? She pulls something out of her cleavage to be odd before hitting a powerslam for two. This is kind of meandering along and needs to end soon.

 

ODB keeps touching herself and checking her pulse. It’s freaking stupid looking. And the Widow’s Peak ends it. The timing was pretty good if nothing else. What is up with the freaking spider???

Rating: C-. Not great here as the 2/3 falls thing felt way too much like a gimmick for the sake of having a gimmick which I can If never advocate. Tara winning the title is fine, but she didn’t need to get two straight wins to do it. That was overkill which is never a good thing.

Pope cuts a promo where I have no clue what he’s talking about. Oh it’s about Desmond Wolfe, who he already beat clean, making this match completely pointless. Christy reminds me of Lois Lane from Smallville.

Tag Titles: British Invasion vs. Hernandez/Matt Morgan

The stupidity of just putting two big names like these guys into a team astounds me but whatever. If nothing else they’re most likely getting the tag titles off of the worthless British Invasion, although putting them on two guys thrown together and called a tag team? That’s nothing WWE would ever do, nope.

 

Hernandez is wearing a shirt here so it looks like he’s wrestling in a one piece swimsuit. It’s fairly obvious that we’re getting new champions here but at least they’re giving us a bit of drama first and letting the Invasion have some credibility. The problem here is that other than Williams we have three power guys and Williams isn’t in the match much either.

 

Oh and Nick Hogan is here too. This is idiotic at this point. They make fun of the vintage joke, because no one has ever done that before. Williams gets a jumping back elbow from the top which makes this a much better match already. Morgan FINALLY hits the chokeslam that he’s been trying to get all match.

 

The problem with this match is apparent as either face is able to beat up both champions on his own. What’s the point of something like that? The bicycle kick from Morgan hits and it’s so hard that Magnus jumped before it connected. That’s very impressive.

Rating: C. This was average. The title change was more or less a given and there’s nothing at all wrong with that. Sometimes you have to have it go one way or the other and that’s what this did here. It’s not bad but it was more of a formality than anything else and it came off pretty well.

Lashley jumps Bischoff for no apparent reason and Abyss knocks him the heck out. Dress rehearsal for Strikeforce I guess. Hogan and Bischoff come in and Abyss as the childish character is something I’m not sure of yet. It’s just odd. He sucks up to Hogan which at least fits with his character as of late. Yeah he’s not channeling Foley from 98-99 at all here.

Desmond Wolfe vs. D’Angelo Dinero

Yet another match that was on Impact and we’re getting it again here, but this time we get to PAY FOR IT! WOO HOO! Wolfe has some hot chick with him that needs to be on camera more. Slick 2.0 comes out second. He’s dropping money on the crowd. Completely original there. Dang that girl is hot indeed. I have never once gotten the appeal of Elijah Burke. I just don’t get it at all.

 

Wolfe is good but I’m not sold either way on him yet. Thankfully Pope gets stretched all over the place which makes me smile quite a bit. If nothing else Pope gets a NICE STO to put him down, which Tenay screws up the call on again by calling that a clothesline. Come on Mikey. You know the history of the Villiano family yet you don’t know what a freaking clothesline is?

 

I’m digging Wolfe here as he’s showing off a lot of submission work in there which is more of a staple of TNA. The fans like Pope if nothing else, although these fans will cheer anything you ask them to. The fans say this is awesome. I would disagree but it’s been decent. Pope tries to get a big knee but Wolfe just takes his head off with a lariat. NICE.

Rating: B-. Not bad at all here. The fans were into it so I can’t ask for much more than that. Wolfe winning is definitely the right thing, although I’m not sure I get the point in having the same match on Impact and then the same match on PPV but whatever. This wasn’t terrible at all though with some nice stuff in there.

JB is thrown off of TV by Bischoff. More room for Bubba I guess. Hemme interviews Flair who says nothing important.

We recap the Band jumping Beer Money. That’s about it, and we have a tag match because of it.

Kevin Nash/Syxx–Pac vs. Beer Money

Penzer’s mic cuts up a lot during the announcement of the Band. Hall and Pac need to leave soon. They’re just not worth anything anymore, not when there are so many young guys that can do their thing just as well. THANK GOODNESS there’s no beer wagon there or whatever for Storm to ride on. I hate that thing.

 

Still not entirely sold on Beer Money but they’re not terrible at all. Pac and Storm, who looks a bit like Shane Douglas in the eyes to me, start us off. Nash comes in and thankfully he manages to not get injured yet. Pac isn’t bad, which I think is because they’re keeping him away from the bigger guys. I’ve never been able to get into him vs. a big man. It just never worked at all for me.

 

I freaking hate the Bronco Buster. Have I made that clear over the years? Hall eventually stumbles out, having lost the rock paper scissors game that they keep bringing up. And Hall randomly pulls a fan over the railing and kicks his head in. In the ring Nash gets caught by presumably a superkick although we can’t see it and Roode pins him. Thank goodness there as I really thought they would have it go the other way.

Rating: C+. Not bad at all here, but again it was nothing special. Beer Money winning was a HUGE positive here and really does relieve a lot of my worries here. The match wasn’t terrible but it’s nothing great. The whole show has just been ok from a wrestling standpoint, which isn’t good as this is supposed to be all top level matches right?

Hogan and Bischoff talk about the Band and Hogan is going to call them out on Thursday. They hint at something Hogan did but don’t say what. Where’s that ominous music when I need it?

Abyss vs. ???

This was supposed to be Lashley but they’re changing everything around as usual so we don’t know who he’s fighting here. And it’s Mr. Kennedy now called Mr. Anderson. This is a very interesting pick up to me as he’s incredibly polarizing. He’s a guy that could be a huge deal or he could stay as unimportant and boring as some see him.

 

There were a few times that I loved this guy and a few times that I wanted to change the channel as I was sick to death of him. Either way, I like the signing even though it was a bit lackluster. He starts saying Kennedy and cuts himself off to say Anderson before telling the audience to wait for it and do it again.

 

This is a good acquisition I think though, although the issue I have here is simple: they’re rapidly running out of signings to make. Also, they don’t have room for a midcard champion to be on the card, yet they’re bringing in more talent. Some guys have to go soon or they’re going to run out of room. Anderson looks great and hopefully won’t get hurt.

 

That’s the other bad side of him: can he stay healthy? If he can, then the sky could be the limit for him. The emphasis there is on could though. Anderson works on the arm but that gets him nowhere. The fans chant overrated at Anderson. The fans are vocal if nothing else.

 

Back to the arm so at least we have some flow to it. I have no idea who the faces and heels here are supposed to be but what the heck, who cares? Abyss makes a small comeback but Anderson hits a botched neckbreaker to stop that. A chokeslam gets two. I keep expecting Anderson to break.

 

Why does Taz always use the term pin cover? I’ve never heard anyone else say that. It’s chair time now. And Anderson pulls out brass knuckles to hit Abyss and knock him out for the pin. Yeah he hit the guy in the leather mask with knuckles for the pin. That would in theory not work that well but it’s TNA so there we go.

Rating: C-. This ran a bit long but it wasn’t that bad. It was a way to give Anderson credibility and nothing more which there’s nothing wrong with. This worked fine though and got a decent reaction from the crowd. Anderson is a big deal potentially so this was the only real outcome.

We recap Angle and Styles, which was more or less about them wanting to be champion and be the best in the world. This is Angle’s last shot which I don’t buy for a second but there we go.

TNA World Title: AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle

This is one of those matchups where all you have to do is just throw them out there and it’s more or less a guaranteed near classic. Flair comes down soon after we start and I’m not thrilled at all. Why do they need to have Flair get involved and likely have him interfere? These two are going to have a great match no matter what, so why mess with it?

 

To be fair though that could be the title for all of TNA at the moment so there we are. Styles has been teasing a heel turn as of late which really scares me. For one thing, the only other face is Sting, and what’s the point in that as they JUST had their feud at BFG. This is another match that’s hard to comment on as it’s very solid. They keep countering finishers and Angle finally hooks the ankle lock.

 

AJ just kicks him off. I don’t think I ever remember that before. AJ isn’t limping blast it. Angle gets a Styles Clash which never gets old. There’s a tiny A for effort chant. We’ll see about that. The Angle Slam gets two as we’re running low on time. Angle goes Olympic and puts Styles in the ankle lock with the grapevine.

 

AJ taps but Flair pulled the referee out. And of course his ankle is ok now. Flair throws the belt to AJ and he clocks Angle with it to go heel and gets the easy pin. I guess the pair of heels celebrate to take us out.

Rating: B+. This was a great match, but two things keep it from being a classic. First of all, the no selling of the ankle by AJ. He’s tapping out one minute and the next he’s perfectly fine? That doesn’t work for me, not when Angle had been working on it all match.

 

Second, the unclean ending, but that’s a way of life in all wrestling so I can let that slide a bit. This wasn’t as good as their Impact match a few weeks ago but it was still pretty solid. Easily the match of the night but they’ve had far better ones.

Overall Rating: D+. Aside from the main event and MAYBE Anderson’s debut, this felt like a long Impact. Morely vs. Daniels, Kendrick vs. Red, ODB vs. Tara, the tag title match (to a lesser degree) and Pope vs. Wolfe all could have been on any free TV show and in many cases were on free TV less than two weeks ago.

 

Also, not only did AJ and Angle have the same match on free TV, they had a BETTER match on free TV. Again I ask: why should I pay for something that may or may not be better that I could have seen for free a mere thirteen days earlier? Two of the big matches didn’t happen and while we got perfectly suitable replacements, it’s kind of a screw you to the fans that might have paid to see those matches.

 

I’m sure a lot of people paid to see the Outsiders and some paid to see Lashley, but they didn’t see either of those. To the good aspect here, among other things: every match was perfectly watchable. However, that’s just it: other than the main event, they were all just watchable.

 

There was nothing here I would go out of my way to see at all, and that’s the point of a PPV. The main event kept this from being a borderline failure. Check it out if you’re a big TNA fan, but other than that, not so much.

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Genesis 2013
Date: January 13, 2013
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Todd Keneley, Tazz, Mike Tenay

It’s the first PPV of 2013 and the first PPV of a new system for TNA. Starting this year, the company is only going to have four traditional three hour shows a year, starting with Genesis here tonight. The main event is Hardy defending against Aries and Roode in a triple threat elimination match. The second biggest match is……Sting vs. Doc I guess? This isn’t the deepest card in the world. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about a new beginning. How original guys.

Tag Titles: Matt Morgan/Joey Ryan vs. Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez

Chavo and Hernandez are defending and I’m glad to see this match get done first as it’s probably the least interesting one on the card for me. I just don’t care about either team at all. Chavo and Joey get things going with the champion taking him into the corner to start, only to get caught in a slingshot to send him into Morgan’s forearm. Off to the big man who almost immediately tags Ryan in again.

Joey dropkicks Guerrero down but like an idiot won’t cover. Chavo rolls into the corner for the tag to Hernandez who hits a BIG backdrop (Keneley can’t remember what to call it) before facing off with Hernandez. Joey blasts Hernandez in the back to allow Morgan to take over. Off to Joey for some chest rubbing and a front facelock. Morgan comes back in for a single shot and it’s back to Ryan again.

Morgan’s discus lariat keeps Hernandez down and he laughs at Hernandez for not being able to tag out. Hernandez finally avoids a charge in the corner from Ryan and makes the tag, but naturally the referee doesn’t see it. Morgan and Ryan tag in and out some more to beat on SuperMex with Matt holding Hernandez up for Ryan to pound away. Joey hooks a lame neck crank which Hernandez easily breaks and follows up with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker.

Hot tag brings in Chavo to clean house with Three Amigos on Ryan. Everything breaks down and Chavo staggers Morgan with a missile dropkick. The champs hit a double dropkick to send Morgan staggering over Ryan before Hernandez hits a SICK (and mostly botched) sitout powerbomb on Joey. The Frog Splash retains the titles at 11:30.

Rating: C. The match was fine aside from Ryan nearly having his neck broken. Ryan and Morgan have no reason to be together and I’m hoping the team gets split up after tonight. Morgan has the potential to be a big star in Aces and 8’s but instead, they’re just wasting him on a guy who is basically a comedy act. Nothing to see here and not a great choice for an opener.

Morgan glares at Ryan post match.

Apparently Joe has challenged Anderson for a match tonight. Anderson is tired of being accused so tonight he’ll have the match. Nice job of advertising this beforehand guys.

Mr. Anderson vs. Samoa Joe

They talk a lot of trash to start with Anderson throwing his shirt in Joe’s face. This goes badly for Mr. as Joe pounds away in the corner. Joe takes him down to the mat and drops a knee for two. We head to the floor with Anderson getting in a few shots to take over. Anderson kicks at the knee and rams the back into the apron before we head inside again. A clothesline gets two as does a swinging neckbreaker so it’s back to Joe’s knee instead.

Anderson hits a dropkick to the knee for two but seems hesitant to go for a submission hold, which makes sense given who he’s fighting. Instead he cannonballs down onto the leg a few times before getting kicked out to the floor. The elbow suicida takes Anderson out but he hurts his knee again in the same move. Back in and Joe takes over with a backsplash and the snap powerslam for two. We get dueling chants about Anderson as he counters the Clutch, only to charge into a Rock Bottom out of the corner. Joe loads up the MuscleBuster but here’s Knox for the distraction, allowing Anderson to hit the Mic Check for the pin at 10:55.

Rating: C-. These two just don’t work all that well together. This was better than their TV Title match from a few months ago but it still didn’t work all that well. The biker interfering was more annoying than anything else because we’ve been through the “which side is he on” stuff with Anderson before. The match didn’t do anything for me, much like Aces and 8’s in general.

Kenny King is ready for York tonight but he’s more ready for RVD. RVD has gone soft according to King, as he’s not the same one who kicked Sabu and Jerry Lynn in the face. Good promo here.

Christian York vs. Kenny King

Winner gets RVD later in the night. Apparently that means immediately after this match. Oddly enough we get a LOUD Christian chant. Feeling out process to start with York grabbing a quick headlock. They both try dropkicks at the same time and we’ve got a standoff. King slaps him in the face and they run the ropes a bit, only to have Christian hold the ropes and slap King in the face. Nice touch there.

York hits a leg lariat and a knee to the face for two but gets sent to the floor. King misses a corkscrew plancha attempt though and gets caught in a headscissors to take him down. Back in and York tries a tornado DDT but gets sent out to the floor instead. Back in and King shows off a bit before hooking a chinlock. A spin kick is caught in a kind of suplex by York and both guys are down. York grabs a cravate and hooks a Russian legsweep for no cover but a running kick to the face gets two.

They fight to the apron and York hits a cartwheel kick to knock Kenny to the floor. York hits a top rope double stomp to the back for two but walks into a jumping spinning side kick followed by a spinning Rock Bottom for two. Christian goes up for a cross body but Kenny rolls through into a cover. His cheating is caught and York suplexes him down again. A running roll into the corner misses King and a pair of knees to the ribs gets two. King pulls the hair again to take over and tries la majistral, but York lays down on him for the pin at 10:15.

Rating: B. I was getting into this at the end with all of the counters and wondering what it was going to take either guy down. The simplicity of the ending was a very nice touch as York didn’t flip or spin around but rather just laid down on King for the pin out of nowhere. I’m not sure I wouldn’t have had King win instead but it was a good match so I can live with it.

King lays out York with a reverse AA as Van Dam comes out.

X-Division Title: Rob Van Dam vs. Christian York

York is all banged up and can barely move but as Van Dam checks on him, Christian blasts him in the face. Van Dam blasts him down and hits a reluctant Rolling Thunder for two. Off to a surfboard followed by a triangle choke by the champion. With York’s head on the apron, Van Dam hits a legdrop to the floor followed by a jackknife cover for two. York gets up a shot in the corner and a SICK knee to the face off the middle rope to put the champ down.

They tussle back and forth until Van Dam hits a springboard kick from the middle rope for two. York gets two off a surprise rollup but gets kicked in the face again. The Five Star misses and another rollup gets two. Rob puts him on the top rope for a jumping kick to the face followed by the Five Star for the pin at 5:33.

Rating: C-. Not much here other than an odd booking choice. What did this accomplish exactly? York looks tough but at the end of the day he comes out as a loser and Rob won a match he was supposed to win. It wasn’t bad or anything but it doesn’t help either guy and it makes King look less important than he should. I don’t get this one.

Van Dam applauds York post match.

Park thanks the well wishers for their well wishes and is ready for his match tonight. He doesn’t mean to K-Fab us (“That’s an insider term JB. I don’t expect you to know what it means.”) but he’s going to use his OVW training to beat D-Von tonight.

We get a compilation of Park’s training videos from OVW. Danny Davis continues to crack me up with lines like “Do you know why it hurt? BECAUSE YOU’RE STUPID!”.

D-Von vs. Joseph Park

Non-title here. The fans are all behind Joseph of course…and then they split into dueling chants because the Impact Zone is annoying. D-Von yells at Park for messing up basic stuff and then goes behind Joe to mess with his hair. In something I never thought I would say, D-Von uses chain wrestling to take over and takes Park down to embarrass him. D-Von gets down in an amateur position but Park does some of the same chain stuff that D-Von did earlier and slaps D-Von in the back of the head. Funny stuff.

After D-Von rants on the floor for a bit, he charges into a hip toss, an armdrag and a one armed slam. D-Von knocks him to the floor in retaliation and rams Park into the steps. Back in and the buckle gets ripped off as Park is in trouble. Park blocks a shot into the buckle and pounds away, only to walk into a jumping back elbow. A clothesline puts D-Von down and Park hooks a double leg takedown and pounds away before going to the corner. Oh this isn’t going to end well.

Joseph goes to the second rope and hits a splash for two but D-Von sends him into the exposed buckle. It busts Park open and it’s Abyss time. A Black Hole Slam out of nowhere puts D-Von down and he loads up a chokeslam before snapping back into reality. D-Von grabs a rollup with a handful of tights for the pin at 11:40.

Rating: C+. The character is still funny, but they’ve been doing this same thing for months now and while the wrestling training is a step in the right direction, they need to something substantial with him before the charm wears off. It’s clear they’re building to a huge Abyss return, but I’m not sure when it’s actually going to happen. Fun stuff here though.

D-Von blasts Park with the belt post match.

Austin Aries says he’ll win.

Knockouts Gauntlet Match

Winner gets a title shot at some point in the future. We start with Gail Kim vs. Tessmacher and they trade rollups to start. Tessmacher can’t hit her Stinkface and Kim clotheslines her down for two. Gail goes up but gets crotched, allowing Tessmacher to hit an X-Factor out of the corner for two. That means nothing though as Gail makes her Eat Defeat for the first elimination.

Next in is ODB who stops a charging Gail on the ramp. Back in and Kim gets spanked because that’s what happens in women’s wrestling. A splash crushes Gail and there’s a bronco buster to hammer in the point. They trade rollups and Gail avoids having her face rammed into ODB’s crotch before rolling her up with tights for the pin.

Mickie James is in next and she takes Gail down quickly, only to get caught by a running shoulder in the corner. A neckbreaker puts Gail down as do an enziguri and a flapjack. We head to the floor for a headscissors from James before heading inside where Gail molests the referee. A rollup on Mickie with another handful of tights gets another pin.

Velvet Sky is the last chick in this so she can beat a weakened Gail which is supposed to make us care I guess. I can live with Velvet in a catsuit though. Gail sends her into the barricade but poses on the ropes instead of covering. A cradle gets two for Gail but she gets caught holding the ropes. Sky hits her sitout Pedigree for the pin at 12:00. Gail had her foot under the ropes so I’m sure a triple threat is coming.

Rating: D. I can’t stand gauntlet matches for one reason: they’re nothing but a collection of short matches that don’t have time to develop at all and usually result in a bunch of stupid finishes. On top of that, this was your usual worthless female wrestling with stupid moves that are supposed to be sexy but come off looking completely stupid. I’m sure a triple threat match is coming because that’s how wrestling works.

Daniels and Kaz make fun of James Storm and drink an appletini. Storm apparently has permission to worship them now.

James Storm vs. Christopher Daniels

The winner gets a title shot at the 1/24 Impact. Kazarian apparently has an official manager’s license and gets to stay at ringside. Storm takes him down to the mat with a headlock for a good while before Daniels is sent to the outside. Storm immediately follows and pounds away before sending him back inside to pound away some more. Kaz interferes as you would expect him to, allowing Daniels to drop Storm’s arm across the ropes to take over.

The arm gets sent into the buckle and Daniels gyrates his pelvis a bit. Daniels pounds away on the arm but Storm punches back with his good arm. More cranking on the arm slows James right down again and Daniels grabs an armbar. By that I mean he holds the thing for like two minutes before Storm fights up and hooks a Russian legsweep. A backdrop puts Daniels down again and a top rope elbow gets two for the Cowboy.

Closing Time is countered by another shot to the arm but Storm comes back with the Eye of the Storm for two. The second try at Closing Time staggers Daniels but the Last Call is countered into the Angel’s Wings for two. BME misses and Storm pounds away but has to superkick Kaz down, allowing Daniels to hit I think an STO for the pin at 13:35.

Rating: B-. Decent stuff here but I’m getting annoyed at the rollups with some kind of cheating for the pin tonight. I’m digging the idea here of Daniels vs. Hardy as Daniels deserves a title shot given how funny he’s been lately. On the other hand though, Storm loses AGAIN. Who did he tick off to deserve this kind of a depush?

We recap the proposal from Impact because you knew we were going to get to this at some point tonight.

Here are Bully and Brooke, even though it’s 10pm and we’ve got two matches to go, one of which is an elimination match. Bully says Brooke looks hot tonight and talks about the guest list for the wedding. He pulls out his Twitter machine and takes a video of the crowd who is coming to the wedding. And that’s it. No seriously, that’s it. So glad we wasted PPV time on this.

We recap Doc vs. Sting, which is the result of a beatdown on Sting from a few weeks ago.

Sting vs. Doc

Sting fights off an attack in the aisle and beats Doc into the crowd before the bell as is his custom. We finally get back to the ring for the bell with Sting taking over. Immediately it heads to the outside with Doc kicking Sting in the ribs and sending him into the steps. Doc poses so Sting kicks him in the ribs as we head back inside. A big right hand drops Sting and it’s chinlock time.

Sting quickly fights up but gets splashed for two. They head to the ropes and Doc gets caught in them, allowing a Scorpion Death Drop to get two. The reaction to the kickout is a bit less than optimal I’d assume. Doc misses a charge into the corner and it’s Stinger Splash and Death Drop for the pin at 5:52.

Rating: D+. Sting’s matches on PPV tend to be far closer to brawls than matches but when you’re a legend like he is, you can get away with that I guess. Aces and 8’s continue to look like jokes but we’re WAY past the point of that surprising anyone anymore. This was about exactly what I was expecting to see, which is to say not much.

Post match Ray runs out to save Sting from the bikers who surround the ring.

Roode says he and Aries are going to work together to eliminate Hardy and the spotlight can shine where it should.

We recap the world title match. Hardy is against the odds, you can’t predict triple threats, you know the drill.

TNA World Title: Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries vs. Bobby Roode

We get some big match intros and this is an elimination match with Hardy defending. Feeling out process to start with Hardy taking over. Roode finally gets a shot in to Jeff’s back and the champ goes down. Hardy sends both challengers to the floor and hits a shot off the apron to take Roode down again. Back in and the spinebuster gets two on Hardy and as the champion goes up, Aries takes his leg out for two.

An elbow to Hardy’s face in the corner gets two as it continues to basically be a handicap match. Roode crawls back in and Jeff uses him for some Poetry in Motion on Aries. Jeff loads up a double Swanton but gets crotched by Roode instead. There’s a superplex to Hardy from Roode but it only gets two. Aries and Roode try a double team belly to back superplex but Jeff comes back to take them both out with the Whisper in the Wind.

Roode gets sent to the floor and kicked into the railing by Hardy but Austin kicks Jeff to the outside as well. Aries accidentally (I think?) crushes Roode against the barricade with the suicide dive before Hardy hits the Poetry in Motion to Aries against the barricade. The crowd is finally waking up here. Jeff loads up the Swanton on Roode but Aries breaks it up, only to get suplexed from the apron back inside onto Roode. A splash gets two on Bobby and Aries escapes the Twist.

Hardy tries to stack them up in the corner but walks into a spear from Roode for two. A discus forearm gets two for Austin and a Vader Bomb gets the same for Roode. Jeff is getting destroyed here. The running dropkick in the corner hits Hardy but the brainbuster only gets two. Roode tells Aries to hit the 450 but Roode shoves Hardy out of the way and gets two on Aries after the Payoff. Aries gets two on Bobby off another discus forearm and Roode’s spear is countered into the Last Chancery.

Bobby goes to the eyes to escape and there’s the Crossface to Austin. Roode counters a charging elbow by putting Aries on the top, only to get knocked down and caught with a missile dropkick. A running dropkick hits Roode in the corner but Bobby counters the brainbuster into a rollup. Aries backslides Roode and Hardy comes in to hold Bobby’s shoulders down for the first elimination.

So it’s Aries vs. Hardy here but Jeff is spent. The referee says Jeff got the pin which ticks Aries off. The Twist is countered but Jeff is sent to the apron and hits the Twist from there. The Swanton hits and Hardy retains the title at 20:29. Aries vs. Hardy was maybe a minute long at most.

Rating: B. Aries vs. Hardy was barely in existence and at the end of the day the elimination stuff wound up meaning nothing, but it allowed for a good story to start. Hardy surviving in the middle there was kind of overdone but thankfully he only cashed in on the work of others for the elimination on Roode which isn’t that over the top. Good main event here that was better than I expected.

Overall Rating: C. The main event helps this A LOT, as other than that we just had some ok stuff and a lot of boring stuff. TNA’s major problem at this point is the weakness of their midcard. The main event is solid but their midcard is completely uninteresting, mainly because of Aces and 8’s. There’s nothing there and the matches are treated as afterthoughts instead of a place to build guys up. WAY better show than last month but still nothing excellent.

Results

Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez b. Matt Morgan/Joey Ryan – Frog Splash to Ryan

Mr. Anderson b. Samoa Joe – Mic Check

Christian York b. Kenny King – Cradle

Rob Van Dam b. Christian York – Five Star Frog Splash

D-Von b. Joseph Park – Rollup

Velvet Sky b. Gail Kim, Mickie James, ODB and Miss Tessmacher – In Yo Face to Kim

Christopher Daniels b. James Storm – STO

Sting b. Doc – Scorpion Death Drop

Jeff Hardy b. Austin Aries and Bobby Roode – Swanton to Aries

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Final Resolution 2008 (January)
Date: January 6, 2008
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 900
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

 

This is the last 2008 show I have before I plow into 2007 in a few weeks. The main event is Angle defending against Christian and that’s about it. There’s also what was supposed to be the midcard title in TNA as the World Beer Drinking Championship is defended by Eric Young against Eric Young. This is the January edition of Final Resolution 2008 as somehow TNA managed to have the same PPV twice in a year with one being called Final on the 6^th day of the year. Let’s get to it.

 

The opening video is about how the show called FINAL is about how everything is new. This is set to Ride of the Valkyries. The video talks about the major matches such as Christian vs. Angle and Gail vs. Kong.

 

LAX vs. Rock and Rave Infection

 

There’s some masked chick beating up Christy (Infection’s manager) recently and she’s part of LAX. I guess that’s the main reason this is happening? Rave vs. Homicide starts us off. They fly around the ring a bit and Rave gets two off La Majistral. Homicide gets caught in the corner and Rock (Lance Rock and Jimmy Rave) throws him around with a fallaway slam. Hernandez comes in for the power match and in short, SuperMex wins.

 

Rave stops Homicide on the apron and hits an STO but almost as fast as he hits the floor, SuperMex dives over the top to take out both members of the Infection. This is going REALLY fast. Rave gets beaten down with double teaming but Rock gets in to break up a Doomsday Device style move. SuperMex is sent to the floor so now the Infection gets to double team. Dig that mirroring of each other.

 

Hernandez comes back in and hits the Crackerjack (their name not mine) which is a belly to belly over head choke throw. Hoyt, who is like 6’7, goes up for a moonsault press on Hernandez. Homicide gets back up and hits the tope con hilo to Rock. Hernandez sets for the Border Toss to Rave but Christy makes the save. Rave tries something off the top but gets crotched and Hernandez hits a middle rope Border Toss to kill Rave dead for the pin.

 

Rating: C-. It was fast paced and kind of exciting but it was so totally incoherent that it was hard to keep up with and it had no flow at all. I’ve seen worse to be sure but this was nothing interesting and nothing we haven’t see a million times. The Infection was worthless other than Christy looking great as the good looking rock chick.

 

The masked chick appears again and it’s Salinas, more famous as Shelly Martinez.

 

Here’s part one of the Drinking Championship Series. They’re playing Never Have I Ever. Storm lies about everything with Storm claiming to having killed a lion with his bare hands, caused the Detroit riots of 1967 (he was born in June of 77) and to have been to the moon.

 

AJ says he’s going to pick the Angle Alliance or the Christian Coalition tonight. AJ was portrayed as a total moron at this point where both guys were trying to lure him to their teams. He and Tomko are tag champions and Tomko says AJ is out of time.

 

We recap Kaz vs. Black Reign. Basically Reign is the alter ego of Dustin Rhodes and Dustin says he has no idea he’s going it. The fact that the guy looked just like Goldust made this even stupider.

 

Kaz vs. Black Reign

 

Kaz hits a jumping back elbow off the middle rope and then a clothesline off the apron to the floor. Reign misses a charge and Kaz kicks him to the entrance ramp. Reign looks exactly like Goldust but with black and gray instead of black and gold. Oh and he’s a lot fatter now. He kicks Kaz off the ramp and takes over with his usual slow and boring offense.

 

Basically Reign has taken the look of Goldust and taken out the interest and workrate and added in the offense of Dustin Rhodes. Off to the chinlock to keep things riveting. A diamond stunner gets two for Reign. This is one of those matches that started out interesting and has shifted into one where I could show it to Alex DeLarge while his eyes were held open.

 

They both try cross bodies but collide to put them both down. Kaz fires off some rapid kicks which help a bit. Gee what a shock: a young non-Texas cowboy gets on offense and the match instantly gets better. He does that in the corner but dives out to the apron for a slingshot DDT for two. Spinning legdrop misses but whatever the Curtain Call is known as is reversed into a spinning downward spiral for the pin.

 

Rating: D. With Kaz on offense it’s watchable but Dustin is just so boring when he’s in control and it cripples the rest of the match whenever it’s happening. This was boring almost the whole way through and it didn’t work at all. Reign would become a monster along with Rellik soon, resulting in one of the stupidest angles I’ve ever seen.

 

Kaz steals Reign’s rat post match.

 

JB is with Angle and Karen and he (JB) is freaking out about AJ. Angle says chill and reminds JB he’s an interviewer. Karen says chill because it’s all cool. JB answers to Karen saying honey. She has a plan to take care of AJ and leaves. Kurt sends JB after him.

 

We recap Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong. She beat Kong for the first championship and Kong has been hunting for her since. Tonight it’s No DQ for the title.

 

Knockout Title: Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong

 

We’re on the floor almost immediately and Kong is all crazy and strong. She tries to Awesome Bomb Gail through the table but Gail fights out of it. Back inside and Kong chokes away with the boot. Off to a sleeper and Kong spins her around while still having the hold on. Gail gets up on the top but is caught by a spinning backfist and she’s almost out cold. Total massacre so far.

 

Gail is holding her knee after falling. I’m sorry for the play by play but there’s nothing to say here as it’s more or less a squash so far. They go into the crowd and Gail fires off some right hands but that gets her tossed around. Kim fires off more shots but can’t hurt Kong. She manages to find a weapon though. Gail gets her hands on the most lethal thing she can: an empty plastic Coke bottle. She whacks Kong a few times with it and Kong sells for some reason.

 

Gail makes Kong miss and the big chick crashes into a wall. Kong’s arm is sent into the post and a chair is kicked into her face. This is almost like Vader vs. Flair at Starrcade 93 as Gail absorbed the beating to open the match and had to keep hammering away until she got in a shot somehow to break the momentum. Back inside the spinning backfist takes Kim down and all that work Gail did seems to be forgotten.

 

Awesome Bomb is countered into a sunset flip which is countered into a missed drop. Kim goes up and does one of those moves where the whole point is to jump into a move and it looks really stupid as she lands in a chokeslam. Not happy with a count, Kong hits an Awesome Bomb on the referee and it’s the fat one. Gail gets a chair and cracks Kong three times with it to put her down. A top rope splash hits but there’s no referee. Oh wait yes there is and it gets two. Gail walks into another chokeslam for two and Kong is mad. She goes to Awesome Bomb the other referee but Kim rolls her up for the pin to retain.

 

Rating: B. See, this is the big difference between the Divas and the Knockouts. The Divas have matches that are supposed to be impressive because they involve girls. The Knockouts have matches that are like regular matches but happen to have participants who look good in tight shorts. This could have been good with men or women in it, which is a great sign.

 

Karen goes to look for AJ in the men’s room. She finds him and says she wants to relieve him of his tension. ODB walks out of a stall and kills the move. See she’s cool because she’s gross and acts like a man. It’s good right? She leaves and Karen kisses AJ on the cheek and sex is implied.

 

We recap Abyss vs. Judas Mesias which is part of the WAY too long story of Abyss vs. James Mitchell. At this point I’m not sure what we know but we would find out that Mitchell is Abyss’ father and he shot Mitchell in the head, sending him to prison. Mitchell got him out of prison and brought in his other son, Abyss’ step brother, for a war.

 

Mitchell says there’s a secret only he and Abyss know which must be that Abyss is the son.

 

Judas Mesias vs. Abyss

 

Abyss seems happy to just hit running forearms that are supposed to be clotheslines. Mesias isn’t a very big guy. We head to the floor quickly and Abyss’ leg is wrapped around the post. Psychology in an Abyss match? Now I’ve seen everything. Mesias puts on a knee bar but his finisher, Straight to Hell, misses. Abyss looks for tacks and Mitchell tiptoes away. I was wrong: I hadn’t seen a man in a purple suit tiptoe away with a bag of tacks.

 

Mesias gets up on the steps and poses before…stepping down off the steps. He jumps into a chokeslam position back in the ring. The knee is ok enough for a running splash by Abyss. Sidewalk slam gets two. A chair gets wedged between the top and middle rope. It takes a bit but Mesias’ cabeza finally goes into it and a chokeslam gets two. Mitchell is back now with a different bag than he left with.

 

Abyss finds a barbed wire chair. Remember when Punk was on commentary on Raw and said security around here sucks? Well refereeing around TNA sucks harder. The distraction from that chair lets Mesias get a regular chair shot in to Abyss’ head and a top rope splash for two. Abyss hits the Black Hole Slam but Mitchell has the referee. Mesias spryas blood into Abyss’ face and the Straight to Hell (jumping downward spiral) puts Abyss onto the barbed wire chair for the academic pin.

 

Rating: C-. Eh it’s a big brawl with weapons featuring Abyss. This happens on almost every show they have so it’s not exactly something that you can get excited about. Mesias wouldn’t be around for very long and he was only there as a piece in this feud which went on for like two years. Either way, not horrible but just another Abyss hardcore match minus the hardcore rules.

 

Post match Mitchell wants to know if Abyss wants to tell the truth and Abyss says no. Mesias pulls a gas can out of the bag and it’s barbecue time. Security breaks it up.

 

Nash says that even though he and Joe aren’t the best of friends but he’ll try to make money. He also hits on the interviewer who seems interested. Dinner is implied.

 

We recap Booker/Sharmell vs. Miss Brooks (Traci)/Robert Roode. Roode was a VERY boring DiBiase knockoff and I never got the appeal of him as a singles guy around this time. His current singles run is better but this is still the stigma he has to him. It’s a mixed tag tonight.

 

Booker and Sharmell say she’s not a wrestler but she can fight.

 

Sharmell/Booker T vs. Miss Brooks/Robert Roode

 

Peyton Banks, a currently unnamed but hot big chested blonde, is stalking Roode as his biggest fan. Roode stalls a lot after the bell and I think the genders have to match. After the frist few minutes we don’t have much going on. Everyone is waiting on the catfight and it doesn’t help that Roode wasn’t nearly as good as he would become in a few years after he and Storm tore up the tag division. Booker controls to start before Roode takes over with some basic stuff like a DDT.

 

Booker fires off a hook kick and Roode looks a little loopy. They kind of botch a leapfrog and Roode hits a bad dropkick to put Booker down. Traci won’t help Roode cheat because Roode is forcing her to do all this stuff. She finally trips Booker to get one of the girls involved after about 5 minutes. Sharmell still hasn’t done anything yet. Off to a chinlock and the fans aren’t impressed.

 

The side kick misses and Booker gets hung up on the ropes. Roode hits the Blockbuster to finally get the crowd going a bit. By a bit I mean they stop chanting boring for a few seconds. Roode wants Traci to slap Booker but almost cries when she has to do it. SHARMELL IS IN!!! Oh wait it’s just one foot. The girls have been worthless here. Roode goes over to yell at her and slaps her hand away which is deemed a tag. We get into a catfight and Roode is on the apron. Sharmell shoves her into Roode and rolls her up for the pin. The girls were in for about 45 seconds.

 

Rating: D-. Hey TNA, if the girls aren’t very good in the ring, DON’T HAVE THEM BE IN THE MATCH!!! I know Sharmell isn’t a wrestler but that’s why she’s not in the ring often. The match was boring on top of that as Roode just wasn’t an interesting guy at this point. He’s only a bit more interesting now which is why I’m skeptical about his singles push. Either way, bad match but more boring than bad.

 

Post match Roode goes off on Traci and slaps him. He gets in her face in the corner and Sharmell goes in for the save. Roode accidentally punches her and Booker FREAKS. Make that everyone freaks. This feud would go on for like 4 more months.

 

The interviewer is freaking about the punch and Christian is a great jerk, saying yeah it’s tragic now ask me some questions already. He says he doesn’t need any help tonight and says that AJ has potential. Yeah AJ at this point was treated like a bumbling idiot and a midcard guy despite being a three time world champion. Christian says Karen’s seductions aren’t going to work.

 

Time for more of the Drinking Championships which is who can hold more beer in their bladders. You figure out the rest of it. Young wins and this was a waste of about 90 seconds.

 

We recap the X Division vs. Team 3D/Johnny Devine. Lethal is the X Champion and tonight it’s an Ultimate X match for honor. Not for the title which Devine stole the possession of, but for honor.

 

Motor City Machineguns/Jay Lethal vs. Team 3D/Johnny Devine

 

I can’t get this company at times. Devine stole the belt from the champion Lethal and the title is hanging above the ring. However, this isn’t for the title. Seriously, how stupid can this company get? There’s another stupid reason that I’ll get to after the match. Just to further the idiocy, Tenay and West are all somber about Sharmell and her injury and then during 3D’s entrance video you can hear them laughing.

 

Ray talks about how they’ve been training for this and they’re in great shape. This goes on for awhile because Devine has to climb up and hang the belt. FINALLY Lethal’s music cuts him off. The guns hit the ring and we’re ready to go. Both of the Guns have hand injuries due to Team 3D thinking about something than peach cobbler for once. The heels take over quickly and it’s already table time.

 

Make that two tables for a double powerbomb but Lethal makes the save. Shelley goes for the belt but hit hands give out. Sabin takes Bubba out with a springboard clothesline but he can’t climb either. Lethal is fine and gets about halfway but Devine makes the save. Devine has some very unattractive thighs. He also gets dropped on the back of his head but the Guns as they spin him off the cables. That looked painful.

 

Team 3D tries to jump to reach the title but they have a combined six inch vertical leap. The fans chant ECW but no, ECW wasn’t this dumb. Ray goes up to a corner but Lethal gets out in front of him. Instead of TURNING AROUND AND TAKING THE FREAKING BELT, he makes fun of Ray and falls down. Good. He deserves to fall on his stupid head.

 

Ray tries a Macho Elbow (called a legdrop by West which is more accurate as the leg would have hit instead of the elbow) but he’s too fat and it takes too long. Devine gets something like a Codebreaker to Lethal and goes up but is caught in an atomic drop from the top by Shelley. A slingshot DDT by Sabin leaves the Guns in control for maybe 3 seconds. Shelley gets his hands cracked again by Ray and a kendo stick as does Sabin.

 

We get an old Superfly/Andre moment as D-Von gets on Ray’s shoulders but the real Cruiserweights make the save. D-Von, Lethal and Devine try a triple person tower spot and it looks AWFUL as Lethal lands on his head after being on top. There goes the referee because gimmick matches need ref bumps.

 

Ray uses the chance to get a ladder which is said to be against an unwritten rule by Mike. Ok so ladders are officially legal. Got it. The Guns make the save but here’s Devine with the kendo stick again. He goes up the ladder but Sabin shoves him off, onto the tables. THE TABLES DON’T BREAK and Devine bounces off of them. FREAKING OW MAN!!!

 

Sabin walks into a 3D from 3D and Lethal shows how stupid he is by springboarding into two guys holding a ladder. Guess what happens there. D-Von goes up and gets the belt but there’s no ref. The referee asks the fans if he cheated and the fans say he did but it’s good enough I guess.

 

Rating: C-. Ultimate X gets points because it’s Ultimate X but this had so many stupid moments to it that it took me out of the match. From stuff like Lethal taunting Ray when he could have won the match to the match not being for the title to the ladder deal and the match being pretty boring by comparison to other matches.

 

That other stupid reason I mentioned? Devine won the title on Impact about 11 days after this. SO WHY WOULDN’T THEY HAVE HIM WIN IT HERE??? Sweet merciful cheese this company is stupid.

 

We recap the tag title match which is Joe/Nash vs. Tomko/AJ. The idea was that at Turning Point, Hall no showed the event and Joe cut a mostly shoot promo about how the “superstars” were taking the pay and the limelight while the wrestlers weren’t out there at all because the old guys won’t let them. Nash said Joe wasn’t ready yet and this is borderline shoot in its own right. Cornette decided to make a tag title match for some reason, which was what Joe was complaining about so I’m not sure how the fat boy wins here but whatever.

 

Joe says he and Nash care cool and maybe he was wrong about Hall and Nash. He also wants it to be about wrestling and not about drama.

 

Tag Titles: Samoa Joe/Kevin Nash vs. Tomko/AJ Styles

 

AJ and Joe go to the mat quickly and it’s a stalemate. Joe grabs a leg lock but AJ makes a rope. Tag off to Nash who had some good matches with AJ so this should be interesting. AJ starts making him miss and goes for the knee. Tomko tags himself in and the knee still doesn’t work well for Nash. Off to a leg lock as I guess we’re hoping for a hot tag to Joe later. I’m not sure if Nash is the right guy to work the majority of a match but whatever.

 

Nash manages to grab a side slam on Tomko so hopefully we’ll get a tag soon. Ah good there’s fat boy against Styles so this is almost automatically good. The Samoan hits a Samoan on Tomko and Nash’s knee is suddenly fine as he can hit a big boot. AJ takes Joe down with a springboard dropkick and Tomko chokes away. AJ does his leapfrog/hit the mat/dropkick sequence.

 

Tomko back in and it’s chinlock time. I think Joe thinks it’s hot fudge sundae time. AJ comes in for a bridging Indian Deathlock but Joe breaks that quickly as AJ isn’t Samoan nor a submission machine. Tomko gets a DDT for two. It’s probably a good thing Joe is doing most of the work here as there’s not a ton you can do with a guy Nash’s size, namely because he’s just too tall.

 

AJ rakes the eyes but Joe clocks him. Styles is knocked to the apron and tries a springboard rana but Joe kills him with a powerbomb. Tomko takes Nash down and and Joe takes Tomko down with a scoop powerslam. Joe goes to tag Nash and Nash walks out. It’s one of those matches. Joe escapes the champs’ double team finisher (Tornadoplex) and has to fight for his life (say it’s his supper and he’ll REALLY fight).

 

He gets a MuscleBuster on AJ but Tomko saves, drawing a Thank You Tomko chant. Even the fans are tired of the wacky tag partners and I can’t say I’m particularly disagreeing with them. I’m not sure why Joe would want to be Nash’s partner but I guess pride or something. The numbers catch up to Joe and the Tornadoplex (side slam/neckbreaker combo) ends this.

 

Rating: D+. Boring match all around as the whole point was Joe and Nash don’t get along but they got along for about five minutes. This is a TNA/WCW standard: get to the PPV and then TUNE INTO NITRO to find out why all this happened. This is another feud that went on for months and this was just another small stop in that feud. Not much to see here but it was watchable.

 

We now get the final part of the Drinking Championship, all of which is happening yesterday/last night. They’re playing high low with cards and the loser has to take a shot, first to pass out loses. Jackie flashes Eric and Storm spikes his drink to win. This was so stupid. This means Storm gets a match of his choice at Against All Odds against Young. He picked a…..wait for it……wait for it…..A NORMAL MATCH!!!

 

JB tells Kurt about what Karen did earlier and Kurt isn’t happy. Angle says he’ll win.

 

We recap Angle vs. Christian. Ok so basically both guys are fighting over who gets Tomko and AJ and both of them are being recruited I guess. Tomko picked Angle and AJ hasn’t picked anyone yet which is the running story on this show. It’s heel vs. heel for the most part here…I think.

 

TNA World Title: Kurt Angle vs. Christian Cage

 

Angle’s eyes are weird looking here and it looks like he has eyeliner on. The fans are all over Angle here so I guess Christian is face by default. Christian tries to wrestle Kurt and that goes badly. He tries a headlock instead and manages to escape a belly to belly. Angle gets him on the mat and hooks an arm trap headlock. They have a lot of time so this slow start is fine.

 

Christian hits a flapjack for his first big move and slaps the back of Kurt’s head to tick him off. Unprettier is countered and we hit the mat again. Christian gets up and we go to the floor with Christian hitting that big dive that he’s known to do. Back in the Canadian jumps into a belly to belly which sends him over the top again in a cool visual.

 

Kurt works on the neck and gets a knee to the ribs for two. Christian is on the floor again and Karen adds in some shots of his own. Back in and Kurt hooks a rear naked choke. This slow build is very slow in this case and it’s getting a bit dull. They go up to the ropes and Kurt backdrops him off the middle rope. That was a new one. The moonsault hits for two in another rare one.

 

Christian grabs a DDT to break up the champ’s momentum. The reverse version looks to set up the frog splash and yeah I guess Christian is the face. The interview earlier would imply otherwise but since when has TNA made sense? The splash misses and the American hits some Germans on the Canadian. Angle looks at the ankle like he wants to make sweet love to it down by the pond but the Slam is countered as is the Unprettier and a pair of ankle locks, resulting in a small package for two for the Canadian.

 

He goes up but Kurt grabs the ankle while Christian is on the top. He kicks Kurt off but Kurt gets the running suplex for two and it’s back to the ankle. We’re still waiting on AJ’s interference. Christian hooks a Texas cloverleaf which Kurt escapes again. The Slam is countered again into an Edge-O-Matic for two. Christian goes up again but Karen distracts him. Ok to be fair with a rack like that it’s hard not to be distracted. Kurt tries another running suplex but Christian bites his head and shoves him down for the frog splash for two.

 

Kurt hits him low and hits the Slam for two. Is anyone really surprised that it only got two? I mean seriously? Kurt gets his 19^th ankle lock but it’s rolled through and Kurt almost hits Karen. That distraction lets Christian hit a not perfect Unprettier for two. Now Christian puts on the ankle lock and Kurt taps because he’s a heel. Karen has the referee and does again as AJ comes out. He hugs Christian but then hits him in the back, letting Kurt get the Slam to retain.

 

Rating: B-. Think Russo is booking? The whole match is about who does the run-in run-in for and then there’s a swerve with that too. It’s a good match and they were starting to get pretty good at the end but it was nothing classic. For a PPV main event though it’s perfectly fine. AJ would finally turn face a few months later but who cares about something like that?

 

A highlight package of the main event takes us out.

 

Overall Rating: C-. If I had to sum this up in one word, I’d go with forgettable. The best match of the night is either the main event or Kong vs. Gail and both of those are just pretty good. It would lead to Kurt vs. AJ and an awesome series of matches between them and Joe’s time on top which was a good period for TNA. As for this show though, there wasn’t anything great about it which is kind of the situation for the company as a whole at this point: not bad, but nothing great at all.

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Final Resolution 2012
Date: December 9, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz, Todd Keneley

This is one of those shows that is happening because it’s a Sunday in a month and therefore we need to have a PPV. The card was nearly half put together on Thursday, so how much effort do you think the company is actually putting into this show? The main event is Hardy defending against Roode, who likely has about as much of a chance as I do. The card should be decent though. Let’s get to it.

Usual highlight package opens the show.

Here’s James Storm who isn’t scheduled on the show, because he means nothing in this company anymore. He talks about not being scheduled here tonight but he’s here to make sure Roode doesn’t try to steal the title like he tried to do on Thursday. Storm calls out Roode….and gets Kaz instead. Kaz says that he’s been here for years and is tired of hearing a drunk like Storm whine. This goes on for awhile, gay jokes are made, and there’s the challenge for the obvious match. You wouldn’t think we were ten minutes into the show yet would you?

Kazarian vs. James Storm

We get a referee and it’s time to go. Storm pounds away on him to start as he is known to do. Kaz comes back with a shot to the head and a head vice of all things. Storm gets thrown to the floor as Kaz pounds away even more. Back in and Kaz hits his spinning springboard legdrop for two followed by a cravate.

Storm fights back and hits a forearm for two before walking into a slingshot DDT for two. Kaz comes out of the corner and gets caught in an Alabama Slam followed by a Codebreaker. The Last Call is loaded up but Kaz hides behind the referee. Fade to Black (Kaz’s piledriver) is escaped and the Last Call ends this at 6:08.

Rating: D+. The match was short and nothing more than an Impact match. Storm has fallen through the floor in the last eight months, which says a lot when you consider how big a match he had at BFG. Also for those of you counting, half of this card has now been made in the last 72 hours. Again, they clearly don’t care about this show at all.

We recap Hardy’s attack on Impact and see Roode and Hardy arriving earlier.

X-Division Title: Rob Van Dam vs. Kenny King

Van Dam is defending after King won a title shot on Impact in a three way. The champ puts on a headlock to start and they flip around a bit. The announcers talk about Van Dam’s title history and both guys kick each other. King kicks him to the floor but Van Dam comes back in and kicks King’s legs out a few times. Van Dam goes up top and gets shoved into the barricade, injuring his ribs. That’s a common theme in Van Dam matches over the years. Back in and King hooks an abdominal stretch which Van Dam breaks via yet another kick.

They kick it out even more and my goodness I don’t care about this match or this show. Rob gets crotched on the top rope and a backbreaker puts Van Dam down. Two knees to King’s face take him down, as does a clothesline. The Monkey Flip sets up Rolling Thunder which sets up the top rope kick which sets up the Five Star….which misses. King’s Royal Flush is countered into a rollup for the pin to retain at 9:20.

Rating: C-. This wasn’t terrible but man alive these matches being added together out of nowhere are REALLY hard to care about. The X-Division means nothing at all anymore as Van Dam’s matches are just thrown onto the card to fill in spots anymore. King appears to have screwed up his career by jumping, because he means nothing in TNA either.

We’re thirty minutes into the show so far and I don’t remember being less interested in a PPV in years.

Daniels talks about his history with AJ, which goes on for a few minutes because these two are welded at the hip.

Tag Titles: Chavo Guerrer/Hernandez vs. Matt Morgan/Joey Ryan

Chavo and Hernandez are defending. This is another of those title matches that means absolutely nothing. Morgan has Hogan’s cape still, but I’m not even sure they’re actually feuding anymore. They haven’t talked in weeks. Anyway Chavo and Ryan start things off and it’s what you would expect: Chavo wrestles, Ryan runs a lot, Chavo takes over. Hernandez comes in with a bearhug on Ryan before throwing him over in a belly to belly.

Back to Chavo to face Morgan and the champion is thrown around. Off to Hernandez for the big power showdown. Matt shoves him around a lot and the discus lariat puts Hernandez down. Back to Ryan who is immediately caught in a delayed vertical suplex for two. Hernandez beats up Joey for a bit until it’s back to Chavo, who is dropped on the buckle by the illegal Morgan. Morgan is now legal and drops Chavo with a backbreaker followed by a neck crank from Ryan.

Chavo plays Ricky Morton for awhile until sending Ryan face first into the buckle. Hot tag brings in Hernandez who is suplexed down by Morgan for two. A backbreaker puts Ryan down and a missile dropkick/clothesline combination puts Morgan on the floor. Ryan gets speared down and the Frog Splash hits…..but Morgan pulls the referee out for the DQ at 10:27. Freaking LAME!

Rating: D. The ending drops this down from getting the benefit of the doubt. I mean good grief why is Matt Morgan being used in something like this? Ryan has been WORTHLESS since he showed up and the tag champions are almost at WWE levels of importance with their belts. That says quite a bit and this show is terrible so far.

Austin Aries says he’s going to stir things up around here even more and he imitates Hogan to further a feud…I guess.

We recap Aries vs. Ray which is all about Hogan, of course. Ray seems to be involved with Brooke Hogan and Hulk isn’t happy. Aries pushed buttons and we get a match as a result.

Bully Ray vs. Austin Aries

Aries hides a lot to start and then slaps Ray in the face. He earns a gutwrench suplex for his efforts, followed by a big backdrop. Ray grabs him by the throat but gets caught in the face by an elbow. Austin pounds away even more, hitting a forearm to the head and a slingshot hilo to the back of Ray. Aries does more of the Hogan imitation, complete with the big boot and legdrop for two.

Ray comes back with hard chops to the chest and a splash for two. Aries charges into some Snake Eyes in the corner, but he manages to break up the backsplash. Ray punches him down AND HITS A MIDDLE ROPE DROPKICK to kill Aries dead. Naturally there’s no cover and Ray charges into a low bridge to send him out to the floor. The suicide dive is countered by a big boot to the face for two for Ray. Aries comes back with a crucifix into a mat slam followed by the running dropkick in the corner.

Aries loads up the Brainbuster but Ray throws him into the air for a one man 3D. However since this is TNA, it only gets two. Ray goes for a table and gets kicked in the face for his efforts, busting him open a bit. Aries pounds away at the cut….and here’s Brooke Hogan of course. She checks on the cut and is dragged into the ring, but the distraction of Aries lets Ray throw him to the floor. Now here’s Hulk to glare some, but Ray tells him to get Brooke out of here. The Hogans leave and Aries hits Ray low and gets the pin off a rollup at 12:56.

Rating: B-. The match was good, but since it’s involved with the Hogans we need it to be overbooked right? Does anyone have any idea why Aries is even going after Hulk in the first place? He’s already said it was to get his world title back, so is he just trying to be a troll at this point? Anyway the match was solid stuff as Ray continues to be awesome and continues to lose as a reward.

We recap the Knockouts Title match by talking about Velvet Sky. You know, the chick that isn’t in the title match. Mickie won some battle royal to get the shot at Tara here.

Tara and Jesse don’t have much to say.

Knockouts Title: Mickie James vs. Tara

They fight over wrist/arm control to start as the announcers talk about Tara being in her city’s athletics hall of fame. This turns into a discussion of USC football as Tara wants to kiss Jesse a bit. Mickie gets a rollup and northern lights for a pair of two counts and there’s the rana to put Tara down again. Tara gets sent into Jesse but the distraction lets Tara get in a kick to the face to take over.

Back in and Tara hooks Mickie in an over the shoulder hair pull. Why she doesn’t just hit the Widow’s Peak from there is anyone’s guess. Mickie gets a rollup for two but Jesse has the referee’s attention. The spinning sidewalk slam gets two for Tara and it’s off to a body vice for the champ. Mickie makes her comeback with a lot of kicks (a running theme tonight) and gets two off an enziguri. Tara is thrown onto Jesse again, so Mickie hits a Thesz Press off the top to the floor to take Tara out again. Jesse gets kicked in the face, but the distraction lets Tara hit the Widow’s Peak to retain at 7:51.

Rating: C-. Not bad here but again, we need new blood in the division. Not blood that hasn’t been around for awhile, but new blood in general. Jesse was the focus of this match which isn’t a good thing, but Mickie vs. Tara is such a played pairing that you can only care about it so much after this many matches.

Roode says he’ll do whatever it takes to get the title back and that money talks. Usually solid stuff here.

We recap Aces and 8’s being all evil and breaking bones with the hammer. This is another thrown together match from Impact.

Kurt Angle/Samoa Joe/Garrett Bischoff/Wes Brisco vs. Aces and 8’s

It’s D-Von/Doc/two masked dudes. One masked guy is big and the other is small so we’ll call the big one Porkchop and the small one Roger for simplicity’s sake. Joe wants D-Von immediately but the bikers run away. Instead it’s D-Von vs. Kurt to start and guess who controls that one. D-Von gets beaten up but runs away when Joe comes in. Instead it’s Joe pounding on Doc in the corner and hitting the enziguri for no cover.

Garrett comes in and is immediately pounded down like he should be. Off to Porkchop who gets to sell Garrett’s horrible offense. Wes comes in and the small guys hit Poetry in Motion on Porkchop. Off to Roger who gets his arm worked over by various TNA guys. The bikers triple team Joe, pulling him to the floor and sending him into the barricade ribs first. Now D-Von will actually get in the match for some basic punches before it’s back to Doc for a suplex.

We hit the chinlock for awhile until it’s back to D-Von for more punches. Here’s Porkchop again to stay on Joe in the corner. Joe Rock Bottoms both masked guys out of the corner and there’s the hot tag to Angle. Kurt cleans house and hits the release belly to belly on Roger as everything breaks down. Everything breaks down and Doc chokeslams Angle. Various people hit various big moves on each other, including Joe hitting the suicide elbow on D-Von. There’s the ankle lock to Roger but Doc gets the hammer. Garrett takes it from him and Wes spears Porkchop to the floor. Angle Slam pins Roger at 11:12.

Rating: D+. Here’s the thing: did Kurt actually need partners here? Would anyone have really been surprised if he could beat all four Aces and 8’s at the same time? That’s the problem with Aces and 8’s: they have D-Von and Luke Gallows as their names right now. Why should I buy them as a threat? Nothing to see here, just like always with these guys anymore.

NOTHING POST MATCH??? SERIOUSLY??? Yep, that’s what kind of show we’ve got here.

AJ says that a win over Daniels would make up for his bad year.

We recap Daniels vs. Styles. The line of “this has been going on since 2003, 2004 or 2005” sums up the entire feud: they’ve been feuding so long that no one knows when it started.

Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles

This is billed as the last time so there MUST be a winner. Feeling out process and they fight over arm control to the mat. The feeling out continues for like four minutes as there’s NOTHING interesting going on here. AJ clotheslines him down to finally pick up the pace a bit and there’s the perfect dropkick. The bridging Indian Deathlock from AJ keeps Daniels in trouble as this is going nowhere so far.

Styles hits a snap suplex on the apron so Daniels comes back with a Rock Bottom onto the opposite apron. Daniels sends him into the steps a few times, including a powerslam/suplex hybrid down onto the steel. More back work follows as I try desperately to stay awake. Not that the match is bad but this show has been so freaking boring so far that it’s draining me. Daniels hits a moonsault and hooks a crossface minus the arm trap to torture AJ a bit more.

Off to a half nelson which isn’t really staying on the back so the match loses points for bad psychology. AJ fights up and they collide with AJ’s eye being busted open hardway. Daniels hits a release Rock Bottom but the BME misses, allowing AJ to hit the springboard forearm. AJ loads up the Clash but Daniels naturally escapes. A headscissors puts Christopher down but he comes bak with a sitout spinebuster for two.

A flipping slam out of the corner gets two for Daniels and he’s getting ticked off. AJ comes back with the moonsault into the reverse DDT for two and both guys are down. They head to the corner for a Daniels superplex for no cover so AJ hits the Pele to put both guys down again. Angel’s Wings is countered into a jackknife cover, but AJ backflips out of the cover into the Styles Clash for two. AJ loads up the Clash off the middle rope but Daniels counters into a rana. Now Daniels hits the Clash for the pin at 21:07.

Rating: B. Yeah it was good but so what? Daniels hasn’t won jack here, as AJ has beaten him how many times over the years? That’s the problem with this story: just winning the last match doesn’t always mean you win the war/feud. Daniels winning is the right idea from a storytelling standpoint, but this means nothing, as is the case with everything here. Oh and nice to see all the back work meaning absolutely nothing at all.

We recap Roode vs. Hardy. Hardy is champion, Roode is challenging him. Seriously, that’s it.

TNA World Title: Bobby Roode vs. Jeff Hardy

The crowd FINALLY wakes up for Hardy, possibly because he’s painted like a Christmas tree. Roode immediately goes for the ribs because we haven’t seen that in all of ten minutes. Hardy knocks him to the floor and hits the plancha to take Roode down as the fans stay hot. Back in and Hardy pounds on Roode in the corner as Mike reminds us that Hardy is injured from the Aces and 8’s attack. Tenay: “It’s hard to see his facial expressions because of the face paint.” This would be just as Hardy is wincing very badly. And this guy is the Professor right?

Roode gets in a shot to the midsection and hits a suplex and knee drop for two. We hit the chinlock for a bit, followed by the Hennig necksnap for two on Hardy. Back to the chinlock because the crowd must go back to being dormant like they were for two hours plus. When that does no good for Roode, he goes to the middle rope and jumps into Hardy’s feet, because this show hasn’t been bad enough yet so let’s have the DUMBEST SPOT IN WRESTLING.

Hardy hits a quick Russian legsweep for two but a cross body misses and Hardy crashes out to the floor. A whip into the steps gets two for Bobby and it’s back to the freaking chinlock. Jeff starts his real comeback with his usual stuff and gets two off the Whisper in the Wind. Roode counters a suplex into a rollup for two but Hardy hits his sitout gordbuster for two of his own. A non-bouncing top rope Vader Bomb gets two for Jeff and both guys are down.

The Twist is countered into the spinebuster for two. See, THAT is a move that makes sense for Roode after the offense he’s used so far. Psychology people! There’s the Twist from Hardy but Roode falls to the floor. A clothesline off the apron puts Roode down so Hardy loads up the Poetry in Motion against the barricade.

As usual it misses, but Hardy hits his hip on the barricade and he lands in the crowd. That gets two back in the ring and Roode loads up a superplex, only to get knocked off for the Swanton. Jeff can’t cover though so Roode spears him down for two. Here are Aces and 8’s but they just stand there. Roode walks into the Twist of Fate for the pin to retain at 23:00.

Rating: B. Really good main event here but the problem at the end of the day is that there was never any chance Roode was going to win the title. I don’t care how many two counts he got, there was no chance he was ever going to get the belt back here. Hardy is going to hold that thing either until his contract runs out or until his prescriptions expire. Good match here but in no way could it save the show.

The bikers destroy Hardy post match but Roode yells at them, saying he paid them already. They beat up Roode as well, because they’re CRYPTIC. Freaking screw off with this nonsense about Aces and 8’s anymore. No one cares and they haven’t for months now.

Overall Rating: D-. You remember those European house shows that were billed as PPVs where nothing ever happened? This was the American version of it, as NOTHING happened here but it was called a PPV level card anyway. Terribly boring and uninteresting show here with some good matches, but the first two hours or show just murdered this show something horrible.

Results

James Storm b. Kazarian – Last Call

Rob Van Dam b. Kenny King – Rollup

Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez b. Joey Ryan/Matt Morgan via DQ when Morgan pulled the referee out of the ring

Austin Aries b. Bully Ray – Rollup after a low blow

Tara b. Mickie James – Widow’s Peak

Kurt Angle/Samoa Joe/Garrett Bischoff/Wes Brisco b. Aces and 8’s – Angle Slam to Masked Man #2

Christopher Daniels b. AJ Styles – Styles Clash

Jeff Hardy b. Bobby Roode – Twist of Fate

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

TNA Weekly PPV #11
Date: August 28, 2002
Location: Tennessee State Fairgrounds Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

After last week’s show focusing mostly on Styles vs. Lynn, here’s another show with a lot of time spent on Styles vs. Lynn. In this case there’s also Low Ki involved in a triple threat ladder match with them for the X title though so at least they’re mixing it up a bit. Other than that we get the continuing adventures of Jarrett vs. the Armstrongs because TNA thinks that’s interesting for some idiotic reason. Let’s get to it.

Brian Lawler is in the parking lot about to reveal why he hates Jarrett when Jeff jumps him from behind. A big brawl ensues until referees break it up.

Amazing Red vs. Kid Kash

This is back when Kash could still be called Kid and it didn’t sound stupid. Feeling out process to start with neither guy being able to get an advantage going. Kash shoves him and gets slapped in the face as a result. Red takes him to the mat via a drop toehold and things speed up. They go into a sequence that belongs in a gymnastics class rather than a wrestling ring, finally coming back to wrestling with some armdrags.

Kash flips Red off so Red pounds and kicks away at him before sending Kash to the floor. There’s a BIG flip dive to take Kid out and they brawl a bit. Kash sends him into the barricade to take over and we head back inside where a flying clothesline takes Red down for two. Red gets put in something like a Liontamer which doesn’t go anywhere, so they head to the corner where Kash eats a boot. Well not literally but you get the idea.

Red goes up for I think a rana but has to come down because Kash is WAY out of position. A standing rana and a spinwheel kick get two instead and Kash is placed on the top rope. This goes badly for the placer (Red) as Kash comes back with a clothesline off the middle rope for two. A powerbomb attempt by Kash is countered into a sunset bomb and Red kicks him down again for two.

Red gets slammed off the top for two for Kash, followed by Red firing off kicks to the chest in the corner. A charge misses and Red crotches himself, allowing Kash to hit a slingshot legdrop for two more. Kash cross bodies him for two before running into an elbow to slow him down. Red goes up but Kash shoves the referee into the ropes (not a DQ for some reason) and hits a kind of MuscleBuster for the pin.

Rating: C-. I’m really not a fan of spotfests and I’m REALLY not a fan of matches where guys don’t sell almost anything. On top of that, they were missing a lot of spots in this or badly mistiming them. The crowd reacted to most of it, but the match just wasn’t that good and certainly wasn’t anything memorable. That’s most cruiserweight style matches though.

Sonny Siaki praises himself a lot.

Monty Brown vs. Sonny Siaki

Brown says he’ll take out Jarrett, despite Jarrett not doing anything to him that I can remember. Brown chops Siaki down and stomps on him a bit, as that is about the extent of his offensive abilities so far. We head to the floor but Brown misses a charge and goes face first into the barricade. Again the idea of selling doesn’t seem to exist as Brown shrugs it off and beats on Siaki some more as we head back inside.

A sideslam puts Siaki down for two and Brown keeps up the stomping. He really doesn’t wrestle like most faces do and it’s not exactly working for him here. Monty hits a splash in the corner and a pair of suplexes (butterfly and regular) get two each. More chops and punches follow before it’s off to a chinlock. It’s strange seeing a face in control for this long. After the hold is broken, Brown ducks his head like a schmuck and gets DDT’d for his efforts.

Siaki pops up and clotheslines Monty down again but Brown is like “screw this selling nonsense” and hits a fisherman’s suplex to put both guys right back down. Brown hits another butterfly suplex as it’s clear he’s running out of moves. Brown loads up the Alphabomb but here’s Jarrett for a distraction. Siaki hits Brown low and rolls him up for the cheap win.

Rating: D. Monty Brown is not very good and that’s all there is to it. At this point he’s incredibly green and can’t work a five minute match, let alone a ten minute one where he’s on offense for the majority of the time. Siaki was the heel and got beaten down for almost the entire time, which is a very strange dynamic for a match. This didn’t work at all for the most part.

Armstrong and the Bullet pop up as Brown and Lawler beat up Jarrett. What’s Brown’s issue with Jarrett again? Oh yeah no one knows. That’s right.

Slash is in the back and introduces his brother Kobain, who is OVW legend Flash. Nothing of note here.

Backseat Boyz vs. Slash/Kobain vs. Hotshots vs. James Storm/Chris Harris

Elimination rules to fill more time and the winners get to be the final team in a gauntlet match for the titles next week. The Hotshots are Cassidy O’Reilly and Chase Stevens and the Boyz are Johnny Kashmere and Trent Acid. O’Reilly chops Kashmere a bit to start but walks into a spinebuster. Cassidy slaps Johnny a bit and it’s off to Acid to face his partner. We get a kind of recital as they know each other so well, culminating in a high five and hug. Well that makes sense I guess.

Slash gets dropkicked off the apron by the Boyz as everything breaks down. Acid “hits” a Mafia Kick on Cassidy which the camera shows missing by a good bit. Eh it’s basically indy level stuff here anyway so it’s not surprising. The Boyz beat up Stevens for a bit before we get a BIG double moonsault from Acid and O’Reilly to take out everyone else. Kashmere and Stevens hit dives of their own until it settles down for Stevens vs. Acid who are somehow legal. In the melee, Stevens tags in Slash and a neckbreaker takes out Acid, eliminating the Boys.

It’s Slash vs. Stevens now with Stevens being knocked to the mat immediately. Off to Kobain for some double teaming but Harris tags himself in. Not sure why he did that but who am I to doubt Braden Walker. O’Reilly comes in sans tag for a double dropkick for two on Harris but Storm makes the save. O’Reilly and Harris trade chops with no one winning, so Cassidy hits Harris low. They’re REALLY lax about DQ’s in this company.

O’Reilly’s Lionsault hits Harris’ knees and there’s a tag off to Kobain. Before the new guy can do anything though, Storm tags himself in and goes up, only to get crotched by Cassidy. A top rope rana is countered and Storm hits a reverse tornado DDT to pin O’Reilly and get us down to two teams. We start with Slash vs. Storm with Slash hammering away and hitting the move Storm would name the Eye of the Storm for two.

Off to Kobain who sends Storm to the floor for a BIG flip dive to take out both guys. Brian Lee and Ron Harris come out to complain about not being in the match. Why are these guys still getting TV time? Since the camera was on them, we don’t see how Storm took Slash down, but who cares because Harris comes in and cleans house.

Everything breaks down and Kobain drills his own partner with an elbow. Storm superkicks Slash down for two for Harris as Kobain tries a tornado DDT, only to get superkicked down as well. Slash counters the reverse tornado DDT from Storm and hits a neckbreaker for two. Ron Harris and Lee head to the ring as Chris Harris hits the Catatonic on Slash for the pin and victory.

Rating: C. This one took a long time to get going but once we got down to the final two teams, it was a lot better. That being said, the stuff before then wasn’t so good for the most part with the Boyz and the Hotshots really just being warm bodies to fill in some spots. Either way, this finally gets AMW closer to the tag titles, which they’ve been deserving for weeks now.

Post match Lee and Ron Harris clear the ring and beat everyone down.

Jarrett wants a title shot and says he’ll beat up the surprise and then Armstrong as well.

Miss TNA: Bruce vs. April Hunter

Bruce is a guy and defending and Hunter is a fitness model. The fans tell Bruce that he’s a homosexual and he thinks all the men want him. If April wins, she wins five grand as well. April starts chopping away and hits a head scissors to send Bruce flying. Hunter gets thrown down by the hair and Bruce takes over. April comes back a bit and things speed up but Bruce hits her in the back to stop the momentum cold. A powerbomb ends Hunter pretty easily.

Rating: D. This wasn’t horrible but it’s still a waste of time and very stupid. Hunter couldn’t be around again for about four months and thankfully the Miss TNA thing would be over soon. It comes off like they’re trying to push the envelope for the sake of pushing the envelope, but it’s much more stupid than interesting or shocking.

Post match Bruce tries to take April’s top off but April’s boyfriend Sylk Wagner Brown makes the save.

Sonny Siaki takes a jab at Hulk Hogan for no apparent reason as Estrada and Yang kind of stare at him.

Flying Elvises vs. S.A.T.

That’s Estrada/Yang vs. the Maximos if you couldn’t tell. It’s Estrada and Joel to start things off and just like the opening match, the opening sequence looks like something they’ve rehearsed for house before the match. Joel takes over with a headlock and a rana but a dropkick is casually avoided by Estrada. A powerslam puts Joel down for two and everything breaks down. The Maximos are sent to the floor and the Elvises live up to their name by flying over the top to take them both out.

Back in and it’s Estrada on I think Jose with a Lionsault getting two on the Maximo. Yang comes in for a leg lariat and a bunch of punches which seem out of place in this match. Off to Estrada who is immediately kicked in both the front and back of the head. A dropkick puts Jorge down and it’s off to Jose. The Maximos, who might be the heels in this but it’s really not clear, double team Estrada a bit and Jose hits a low dropkick to take him down.

Estrada comes back and puts Jose on top for a neckbreaker (remember what I was saying about no selling?) and it’s back to Yang for that figure four necklock of his. That goes nowhere so Yang grabs Jose’s head and puts on a front facelock. Back to Jorge with a slingshot hilo and a clothesline for two each. Estrada goes up again but Jose pops up and kicks him down almost immediately. They slug it out with Estrada hitting a neckbreaker to put both guys down.

It’s a hot tag to Joel who beats up Yang like he owes him money. The Maximos try to double team Estrada but Yang hits a double dropkick to take the brothers down. While Yang beats up Joel, Jose sneaks up from behind and slams Jimmy down, setting up a guillotine legdrop for two. Estrada DDT’s Joel down and hits a springboard backsplash for two.

Joel comes back with a pair of suplexes for four on Estrada followed by a missile dropkick for two by Jose. Yang finally comes back in and makes the save with a leg lariat. He goes up but gets crotches as the SAT loads up the Spanish Fly (double C4 off the top) but Siaki comes out and breaks it up. Yang hits Yangtime on Joel who doesn’t even stay down for a cover so Yang hits a neckbreaker kind of thing for the pin.

Rating: C+. This is another one of those matches that was fun but not exactly good. The Maximos were your standard luchador tag team who did their high spots and not much more. The Elvises story continues to change a bit but it’s only somewhat interesting. Not much to see here and going fifteen minutes was a bad idea for a match like this one.

Here’s Goldilocks to find out what Lawler hates Jarrett for. Lawler comes out and talks about how worthless Goldilocks is and throws her out of his ring. Does Lawler know if he’s a face or a heel? I’m really not sure at this point. Lawler gives Jarrett a five count to get to the ring but at the count of five, here’s Truth to interrupt him again. Lawler backs off from Truth because of the chair shot last week and beats up the photographer taking pictures of Lawler’s girlfriend. Lawler and the girlfriend leave up the ramp. What in the world was the point to this?

Jeff Jarrett vs. The Bullet

The Bullet is a masked guy who gets jumped by Jeff almost immediately and we head to the floor. Jarrett pounds away on Bullet with chairs and sends him into the crowd for a second before going back into the ring. Back in and Bullet escapes an Irish whip and takes Jeff down. There’s a Road Dogg (Armstrong’s real life son) shaky knee drop followed by an atomic drop. A pumphandle slam (another Dogg move) is escaped and Jeff hits him low to take over. Jarrett pulls out a pair of cuffs to tie Bullet to the ropes for a DQ. I’m not even going to bother rating this as it was barely even a match.

Post match Jarrett says he’s going for the mask but Bob Armstrong comes in to jump Jarrett. Keep in mind that Bob is about 62 years old. Jeff hits Bob with the chair and goes for the Bullet, only to have security stop him from taking the mask off. Is there a point to this story at all and I’m just missing it?

Next week is an X-Division Special which should be fun.

We get some highlights of the 2/3 falls series from last week.

X-Division Title: Jerry Lynn vs. Low Ki vs. AJ Styles

This is a ladder match with Ki defending. They circle each other for a bit until Styles drops down and grabs a ladder. Both other guys slide to the floor as well with Styles hitting Jerry with the ladder, only to have Low Ki kick the ladder back into AJ. They head back inside where Low Ki kicks Lynn off the apron. A handspring kick takes Styles down as well as Jerry comes back in.

Lynn hits a sweet spinning tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to take the champ down before pounding on Styles in the corner. Low Ki gets put in a surfboard but Styles breaks it up and stomps on Low Ki a bit. Jerry suplexes AJ down and puts him in a Liontamer, only to have Low Ki fire off kicks to break it up. Lynn won’t let it go and shouts to kick him harder. Low Ki is fine with that and kicks Lynn hard enough to break up the hold.

A running kick in the corner takes Styles down again before loading him into the Ki Crusher. Instead of dropping him though, Low Ki rams him into Jerry in the corner to put both guys down. The champ goes to get the ladder but Jerry baseball slides it back into Low Ki to take over again. Styles heads to the floor as well to kick the champ in the head before dropping Lynn face first onto the apron.

With the ladder bridged between the ring and the barricade, all three guys stand on top of it and slug it out before a big headbutt sends all three guys to the ground. Lynn is up first and sends a ladder into the ring which is dropkicked into AJ’s ribs and chest on the mat. Low Ki is up again and starts setting up the ladder, only to have AJ deck him from behind. The ladder is leaning against the ropes as AJ GOES OFF on the champ, only to walk into a punch from Jerry.

Lynn and Styles launch Low Ki into the ladder in a double hiptoss and it’s one on one. AJ does a Daniel Bryan backflip off the ladder and tries a tornado DDT, only to have Lynn counter and hit a northern lights suplex to send AJ back first into the ladder. Ki is back in and kicks Jerry down but realizes he can’t pin him. A charge in the corner is caught by Lynn but he ranas Jerry into the ladder to put all three guys down again.

It’s AJ back up first to ram the champ with the ladder before he tries to climb, only to get kicked by Low Ki. AJ is hung in a Tree of Woe in the ladder where Low Ki fires off kicks to the chest. Now Low Ki climbs but Jerry makes the save and suplexes him down off the ladder to put everyone down again. AJ gets up and hits the moonsault DDT on Low Ki to pop the crowd again. Jerry pounds on Styles and catches a jumping champion in a running Liger Bomb to take over yet again.

There’s a second ladder in the ring now as Styles brings in another one. Low Ki slides out and brings in a third as this could get very messy in a hurry. The challengers stop fighting long enough to make a save of Low Ki as Styles and Low Ki fight on top. Low Ki hooks a Dragon Sleeper on top of the ladder (grab the title you dolt) but here’s Lynn again and all three are on a ladder.

In a pretty awesome move, Low Ki has his ladder shoved down but he gets his foot on the top rope and shoves himself and the ladder back to an upright position. AJ gets shoved to the floor and it’s Lynn vs. Low Ki. Jerry is like DIE YOU KICKING SPOT MONKEY and cradle piledrives him off the ladder. Lynn climbs up and wins the title to end the show.

Rating: B+. Solid, solid match here with all three guys beating the tar out of each other. It’s not on the level of one of the TLC matches, but for what we had here, this was one of the better ladder matches you’ll see in awhile. I’d have preferred just Lynn and AJ because I’m not a fan of Low Ki at all, but the shove back off the rope was good enough for me to overlook him. Solid stuff.

Overall Rating: C. The main event is very good but other than that, there’s not much going on at the moment. The big angle wouldn’t begin for a few months, so at this point we’re stuck with just Jarrett and Armstrong, which is getting NO reaction from the fans at all because no one cares about Bob Armstrong. Even in his heyday he was a territory guy at best, and Tennessee wasn’t part of that territory. Therefore, let’s make sure he and Jarrett are the focus of the show, right? Not a terrible show but they’re kind of treading water at this point.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

TNA Weekly PPV #10
Date: August 21, 2002
Location: Tennessee State Fairgrounds Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Don West, Mike Tenay

We finally hit the two number mark and it’s a two out of three falls match tonight with AJ vs. Lynn to unfortunately get us closer to the end of their feud. On top of that we’ve got Truth defending against Monty Brown and the usual stuff other than that. After the backers left after last week, it should be interesting to see where things go now. Let’s get to it.

AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn

This is the falls count anywhere match which is the first of three between the two tonight. AJ tries a baseball slide as Lynn comes in because he’s all evil at the moment. Lynn pounds on AJ and we head into the crowd which is fine here as the fall can end there. That’s what got old about ECW: the brawling was worthless because the match couldn’t end out there. After nothing in the crowd, they chop it out around ringside and Lynn crotches AJ on the railing.

We head back into the crowd but since the production values have to be lower now, we can barely see what’s going on. I guess it’s more like ECW than I thought. AJ throws him into a barricade and hits a backsplash for two. Back to ringside we go with Lynn suplexing AJ onto the floor for two and we head back inside. AJ tries the springboard moonsault but Lynn jawbreakers (is that a word?) him to counter. This isn’t going as fast paced as you would likely expect, but it’s the first of three ten minute matches they’re doing tonight.

The Cradle Piledriver is broken up by something like an X-Factor and both guys are down. AJ tries a suplex but gets countered into a neckbreaker before we head back outside where Styles gets two off a rana. An enziguri puts Lynn down and they head up the ramp. Lynn hits a spear of all things and bulldogs Styles off the stage onto a well placed platform. Back up to the stage and Lynn counters a Styles Clash into the piledriver to win the first match.

Rating: C+. Like I said, they’re doing thirty minutes in total tonight so them going a bit below their usual speed is acceptable. The ending was nothing special here but being on the stage made the piledriver look much better. AJ as a heel worked well at first, but once he turned face he was going to be a big deal and everyone knew it. Solid opener here though.

AMW is in the back (they need to be officially named already) and Harris is annoyed at Storm doing the cowboy gimmick too much. That’s the reason why they’re not on TV as much apparently. It’s so hilarious to hear Chris Harris giving James Storm career advice. Ron Harris and Brian Lee, their opponents tonight, come up and cowboy jokes are made.

Chris Harris/James Storm vs. Ron Harris/Brian Lee

You might remember Lee from ECW. He and Storm start things off with the Cowboy getting pounded down in the corner. Well it was a very different time for him so this isn’t a big surprise. Storm avoids a charge and fires off some forearms to take over. Everything breaks down for a minute before it’s off to Harris vs. Harris. Great now I can’t use that name anymore. Ron is immediately armdragged out to the floor and things reset again.

Back in and the Harris Brother (that’s Ron by the way) hits a bunch of clotheslines before being clotheslined down himself. Wildcat (Chris Harris) sends Ron to the floor via a backdrop so Storm dives on both guys in a nice spot that you occasionally see him do to this day. Back in and it’s Lee vs. Wildcat with the former hitting a Tombstone to take over. Well he was the fake Undertaker in 1995 so that’s very fitting.

We enter the formula part of the match as Harris gets beaten down through various big power man offense. This is one of those matches that is basically there to fill time, because there’s no reason to believe that AMW is going to lose given how they’ve been pushed lately. Chris comes back with a Thesz Press on Lee but gets hit low to slow him right back down.

We head to the floor for nothing of note and it’s back to Ron. After an arrogant heel cover, James hits a bulldog which is enough for the hot tag to Storm. Everything breaks down quickly and Lee is knocked to the floor. A plant gets in a fight with him as Storm rolls up Ron for the pin.

Rating: D+. Like I said, it’s hard to buy into the makeshift big man team as a threat to a pair that hasn’t lost yet I don’t believe. They’ll be named soon enough and the rest will be history after that. Anyway, not much here but that’s the case for a lot of this show as it’s basically just filling in time until we get to the stuff that actually matters.

We run down the rest of the card to fill in some time.

Jimmy Yang vs. Sonni Siaki

This is 2/3 falls and the fight starts on the stage. Yang kicks him down and sends Siaki into the barricade before dancing a bit. This is I guess the blowoff of the Flying Elvises deal. Yang dances a bit and shows off a Yang Time sign from the crowd. Yang gets two off a dropkick and hits a charging Siaki with an elbow to the face. A Figure Four necklock across the top rope has Siaki in even more trouble and a missile dropkick gets two. We hit the chinlock so Tenay can talk about some card in Japan. Siaki comes back with a quick Cutter but Yang neckbreaks him down and Yang Time (Phoenix Splash) gives him the first fall.

Yang tries that neck lock thing again but Siaki sends him to the floor. They head into the crowd where Siaki immediately suplexes Jimmy back to ringside. This is a much more physical brawl than I was expecting. Back in and a spinning neckbreaker gets two for Siaki and it’s off to a chinlock. After some chops it’s a pumphandle slam for two for Siaki and a legdrop gets the same.

Siaki hooks a surfboard and the fans are getting WAY into Yang here which is kind of surprising. Honestly I can’t even remember who the third Elvis was at this point but apparently the right two were picked for this match. The hold is broken but Siaki immediately takes him right back down with a lariat for another two count. Yang finally gets a boot up in the corner to break the momentum and a top rope spinwheel kick gets two. A suplex from Yang doesn’t work though and a neckbreaker (called the Money Clip) ties things up at a fall apiece.

Siaki immediately keeps going with a shoulderbreaker, followed by a not exactly Storm-level half crab by Yang. After some quick leg work by Jimmy, Siaki loads up a superplex which is basically no sold by Yang. A Shining Wizard puts Siaki back down as Tenay is overdoing the commentary as he also does. A pair of clotheslines get two for Yang as does a moonsault kick out of the corner.

Yang pounds away in the corner but Siaki drops him face first on the buckle in a nice counter. They head up again with Yang coming off with a top rope swinging neckbreaker for no cover. Jorge Estrada (that’s the third Elvis. I seriously didn’t remember him until now) gets on the apron, allowing Siaki to roll up Yang with the ropes for the pin. I’m not sure whose side Estrada was on there.

Rating: C-. This kind of went on forever and I really didn’t see the need for this to be two out of three falls. Siaki was a solid choice for a midcard heel but he needed to get away from the Elvises before he could really go anywhere. Yang would go on to WWE soon after this as one of Tajiri’s henchmen. Not a terrible match but not great here either as Yang’s selling was barely there.

As soon as Siaki’s music hits, here’s Jeff Jarrett. He wants to talk to Bob Armstrong right now and doesn’t care about whatever surprise Armstrong has planned. Brian Lawler jumps Jarrett and a brawl breaks out before it’s quickly broken up by security. Goldilock has Lawler about to say what his problem is with Jarret but Slash jumps Lawler from behind and we have an impromptu match.

Brian Lawler vs. Slash

Apparently this is a scheduled match for later but we’re getting it now instead. Slash knocks him to the floor and throws Lawler into the barricade before peeling back the mats. He loads up a piledriver on the floor but Lawler backdrops him down to prevent presumably death. Lawler knocks Slash down and we head up the ramp for a bulldog on the ramp by Lawler. Brian tries to get a chair from a fan but the fan won’t give it up.

Back in and Slash grabs a superplex for two, followed by what we would call the Eye of the Storm. Lawler comes back with a floatover DDT but stops to dance instead of covering. There’s an enziguri from Brian and there’s even more dancing. Both guys hit the other low (in front of the referee who is cool with this I guess) before Slash puts Lawler on top. Brian knocks him down and hits the guillotine legdrop for the pin.

Rating: D. This didn’t quite work because Lawler is really hard to care about. I have no idea if he’s a face or if he’s a heel here and the lack of clarity is really annoying after awhile. Also, the dancing thing is dead but he keeps doing it anyway because it used to work a few years ago. Slash and the Disciples of the New Church continue their free fall as well.

X-Division Title: Low Ki vs. Jose Maximo vs. Joel Maximo vs. Amazing Red

Elimination rules here and Low Ki is defending. Apparently the three men form a team called the S.A.T.’s. I think I remember hearing that before. Didn’t we basically do the same thing last week with the Elvises? They all go after Low Ki to start but he, say it with me, kicks them all down. Both of the Maximos get hard kicks in the head and apparently they have to tag.

Red and the Maximos get in a fight before it gets down to Red vs. Ki with the champ hitting a hard elbow for two. The Ki Crusher 99 is broken up and Red fires off a kick to the back to take over. Off to let’s say Jose who has a tornado DDT countered and the champ fires off some chops in the corner. The Maximos double team Low Ki a bit to take him down and Joel gets two off a clothesline.

Ki comes off the ropes with a pretty sloppy springboard rana to take Joel down and then kicks the tar out of both brothers at the same time. Red tags himself in and tries to pin Joel off a standing shooting star but only gets two. We get some overly complicated triple teaming from the SAT’s before Red turns on Jose with a rana. Joel drops Ki with something like Wasteland but he pops up (selling? What’s that?) and hits a spinning springboard kick to Red who is dropped from WAY in the air by Joel.

Ki gets sent to the floor so the three guys in the ring get to flip around a bit. Red hits a bunch of kicks to send the brothers to the outside followed by a rana to Jose off the apron to send him into Joel on the floor. Red loads up a dive onto Ki but the champ kicks him in the head on the way. Ki loads up the Crusher but instead throws Red over the top onto the brothers to take them out again. A big twisting dive takes out the Maximos and everyone is down.

Back in and Jose hits a powerbomb into a facebuster on Red for two. Joel hits a sitout Pedigree on Jose for a fast elimination and Ki rips off kicks to the face of the remaining Maximo. A springboard tornado DDT takes Joel down and the Infra-Red (spinning corkscrew “splash”) gets us down to Ki vs. Red. Ki slams Red into the corner a few times before trying a Ki Crusher out of the corner. Red escapes to avoid death but Ki hits it anyway for the pin to retain.

Rating: C+. The more I see of these kind of matches, the less I care about them at all. They’re all over the place and have a ton of botches throughout them. Also the idea of selling ANYTHING is totally foreign. As for the match itself, was there ever any doubt as to who the final two were going to be? The fans liked it but it’s just nothing of note at all other than some decent high spots.

Truth says he set the African American sports entertainers free like Lincoln did with the slaves. Brown has to kill him to take the title.

April Hunter, an adult star, has accepted Bruce’s challenge for next week. Ok then.

NWA World Title: Ron Killings vs. Monty Brown

Truth is defending if that’s not clear. Brown shoves him around and they slug it out a bit with Brown taking over. A bunch of shoulder blocks get two on the champ but Truth low bridges him to send Brown to the floor. Truth dives onto Brown on the ramp before sending him into the steps and stomping away.

The champ gets on the announce table but Brown fights back. The Alpha Bomb through the table is blocked and they keep slugging it out. Brown hits a release overhead belly to belly, sending Truch onto his head. FREAKING OW MAN. Back in and Brown pounds away but walks into a Downward Spiral for two. Truth hooks a chinlock but Brown fights up and hits a sunset flip for two.

Brown grabs a suplex and after some LOUD spot calling, a snap suplex puts both guys down. A powerslam puts Truth down and a splash gets two for Monty. Truth does his signature backflip into the splits into the side kick sequence but Brown ducks away, only to get caught by the ax kick. That gets two and Brown has the Alpha Bomb countered into….I think that’s supposed to be a sunset flip by Truth for the pin to retain.

Rating: D-. This was AWFUL with both guys looking completely not ready for this level at all. Brown would get better when they just turned him into a monster that ran through people with the Pounce. This match sucked though, with both guys botching a ton of stuff, with the ending being an especially big eyesore. Nothing good at all from this one.

Post match Jarrett runs in and beats up Brown with a chair. Truth blocks a shot and slugs it out with Jarrett until Brian Lawler comes in to beat on Jarrett again. Lawler swings the chair but Jarrett pulls Truth in the way and the champ is out. Brown is like whatever man.

Lynn is in the back with Goldy when Styles jumps him, starting the second match in the series tonight.

AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn

This is No DQ. AJ beats on Jerry to send him down to ringside and then into the ring. Lynn gets sent to the apron but grabs AJ’s neck to guillotine him on the top to take over. We already have a table set up but Lynn’s sunset bomb through said table is blocked. AJ misses a splash and Lynn grabs a chair but Styles takes him down and legdrops the chair onto Jerry’s face. This is very fast paced so far.

The chair is placed between the top and middle ropes in the corner as Lynn tries a powerbomb on AJ, only to get countered into a sunset flip for two. AJ gets sent face first into the chair (following law #1 of wrestling: if you set it up, you get hurt by it) for two before being sent to the apron. Lynn hits his rotating legdrop to the back of Styles’ head but his tornado DDT through the table is countered. Still fast paced and really good stuff so far.

Back in and AJ clotheslines Lynn down before BADLY missing a springboard splash, drawing a rare derogatory chant at Styles. They clothesline each other down and it’s Lynn getting up first. He tries a sunset flip, only to get whacked in the head by a chair by AJ. Well that’s efficient. AJ loads up another chair shot but Lynn channels his inner RVD to dropkick it back into Styles’ face. That gets two so Lynn DDTs AJ off the top for another two.

The fans want tables (again) as Jerry gets kicked away from the ropes. That gets AJ nowhere as Lynn crotches him and hits a HUGE rana to send Styles through the table on the floor. Somehow that only gets two so Jerry takes the chair and goes up. A sunset bomb by AJ doesn’t work, but he hangs on and hits the Styles Clash onto the chair to knock Jerry out cold and get the pin to tie up the series.

Rating: B. REALLY fast paced match here but unlike the fourway, this one was, you know, good. This was the feud that got the company noticed, which is something Lynn was always good for: a solid performance that got someone else, be it Van Dam or AJ, over better than they ever could on their own. Good stuff here.

The third match, a ten minute Iron Man match, begins immediately.

AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn

AJ gets two quick falls on the unconscious Lynn inside of twenty seconds. A third attempt only gets two and Lynn fights back with a neckbreaker. Styles grabs a sleeper and pulls Lynn down by the long hair. Why would you ever be a face with long hair? It’s not going to end well for you. A chinlock goes nowhere so AJ tries a rana, only to get countered into an X-Factor from Lynn to make it 2-1. Jerry tries to do what AJ did and get a second pin really fast but Styles gets up at two.

We’re about four minutes in now as AJ counters the cradle piledriver with a backrdrop before missing a corner charge. That always happens for some reason. Jerry goes up top but gets caught in a crucifix and slammed face down onto the mat to make it 3-1 AJ. A spinwheel kick puts Jerry down again as we have Low Ki standing on the stage with a ladder for no apparent reason. Two minutes to go now and Jerry grabs a tombstone out of nowhere to make it 3-2.

Lynn loads up the cradle piledriver but AJ keeps blocking it. In a nice thinking move, Jerry shifts his legs and hooks AJ in a Styles Clash of all things to tie the match up again. That’s a Russo favorite but I don’t think he was around at this point yet. A backslide gets two for AJ and they fight to a draw in a slick pinfall reversal sequence.

Rating: C+. Not as good as the No DQ match but then again this was their third match of the night. This is one of those feuds that works well, so naturally TNA’s idea is to run it into the ground by doing the same match over and over again. Still though, good stuff here, really stupid ending aside.

Post match Low Ki kicks them both and says it’s a triple threat ladder match next week for the title.

Scott Armstrong begs his dad not to fight Jeff Jarrett. Oh yeah, Jarrett is closing the show. Did you expect anything different?

Jeff comes to the ring and wants the surprise revealed to him now, so here’s The Bullet, which is Bob Armstrong’s masked persona from the 80s. Jeff pounds on him but the unmasked Bob comes out to beat up Jeff to close the show.

Overall Rating: B-. See what happens when you don’t have stupid comedy? Granted it would be better if this happened because that’s the right way to go and not because they couldn’t afford the bigger names, but I’ll take what I can get. The problem with this show is mainly in the Jarrett stuff as the Armstrongs and Brian Lawler simply are not interesting people. Then again this is Jeff Jarrett so logic doesn’t matter much to him.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Turning Point 2012
Date: November 11, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Todd Keneley, Taz

This is the usually worthless PPV after Bound For Glory where we mostly have rematches from the biggest show of the year. You know, like Backlash before Vince decided that we MUST have a big show every month. The main event here is Hardy vs. Aries II in a ladder match which should be awesome. The other match is a three way for the #1 contendership between Styles, Storm and Roode, with the loser of the fall getting no shot until BFG 13. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Taz in the ring to open the show. He talks about how glad he is to work for a company that is trying to help Hurricane Sandy, so he brings out Buckethead (a radio DJ) and Bully Ray. They’re selling those Make An Impact t-shirts with the proceeds going to the Red Cross for Hurricane Sandy relief. Also they’re trying to break a world record for most people texting on a PPV with all of them texting to a number which will donate $10 to the relief effort. At least the Buckethead guy knows how to talk so this isn’t horrible. This ate up over five minutes but it’s a charity thing so it’s really hard to complain.

Now we get the opening video which is about the two aforementioned main events.

TV Title: Samoa Joe vs. Magnus

No DQ because Magnus hit Joe with a wrench or something recently. Joe is defending in case you haven’t read all of my reviews as you should have. They fire off forearms to start with the champ taking over as we head to the floor. Magnus gets in some shots so Joe punches him in the face. After sending Magnus into the steps, Joe drops a knee for two back in the ring.

A running knee to the face gets two for the champ but Magnus hits him with a clothesline to take over. Joe is like screw that and kicks Magnus in the head in the corner, knocking him to the floor. Magnus grabs a chair (No DQ remember) and pelts it at Joe before the Samoan can charge. Back in and Joe shrugs off all the offense again and hits the snap powerslam for two. There’s an STF from Joe but Magnus makes a rope quickly.

The champ gets put in a pair of armbars but he easily escapes and hits an enziguri to take over again. Joe loads up the MuscleBuster but Magnus knocks him down and hits the top rope elbow for two. A Michinoku Driver puts Joe down and another top rope elbow gets two. I like that mentality: it’s an impact move, so why not do it again and again until it works? Back up and Magnus charges into the Rock Bottom out of the corner, knocking him out to the floor. Joe loads up a dive but this time dives over the top to avoid the chair. Back in and the MuscleBuster sets up the Clutch to retain the title at 12:29.

Rating: C+. Solid opener here with both guys looking good. At the end of the day though, it’s hard to buy Magnus as a legit threat to the title. This was a better match than BFG at least, but having it be No DQ made no real difference at all other than the chair shot, which could have been done by a few other things. Solid opener though.

Eric Young returns and says that a shark ate his phone. Apparently Aquaman got him cable on the bottom of the floor and he saw what happened. ODB says it’s cool and they kiss.

ODB/Eric Young vs. Jesse Godderz/Tara

The girls start but Tara tags out before any contact. Off to Jesse who gets rolled up and punched a few times. Off to Eric who does some basic stuff and hits a dropkick for two. Back to ODB for a Bronco Buster on Jesse, so Eric gets in the corner because he wants one of his own. Tara breaks it up and Jesse jumps Eric to take over. Jesse pounds away a bit and sweet goodness he just isn’t that good.

The heels hit a double Russian legsweep for two and it’s off to a chinlock by Jesse. Eric fights up and it’s a double clothesline to put both guys down. ODB is like screw it and pulls Eric over to his corner for the tag. Off to ODB who cleans house and hits The Bam on Tara for no cover. After a quick cheap shot from Jesse does nothing of note, ODB slams Jesse down and a top rope elbow from Eric gets the pin on 8:32.

Rating: D+. This was just a long Impact match. ODB and Eric have LONG outlived their shelf life at this point but at least they’re not on TV as much as they used to be, which helps a bit. Jesse is a guy who is a good heel because he’s annoying, but there’s NOTHING to him as far as wrestling goes.

We recap the Sting attack from Thursday.

James Storm talks about how tonight is going to be a Turning Point for someone. He’ll do anything to win.

X-Division Title: Rob Van Dam vs. Joey Ryan

For the life of me I still don’t get why Morgan is with Ryan. They actually show the video from Impact where Hogan banned Morgan from ringside. They can’t have a video about the match but we can see a clip of Hogan saying Morgan can’t be here which takes 40 seconds to get through? Ryan says Hogan is underestimating him and disrespecting him so he’s going to make the X-Division X-Rated.

Joey stalls to start as the first minute or so is a feeling out process. Van Dam takes over and hits a spin kick before putting Joey in the Tree of Woe. After a basement dropkick, it’s a monkey flip to send Ryan flying. Van Dam goes up but gets shoved off the top and out onto the barricade. A suicide dive keeps Rob down as this Keneley guy is really getting annoying. His voice isn’t serious enough and the constant chattering style doesn’t work.

A tornado DDT gets two for Joey as does the Mustache Ride (middle rope neckbreaker). Rob easily gets up and kicks Joey down to take over. Rolling Thunder and the standing moonsault get two each, as does a rollup for Joey. The stepover kick puts Ryan down and the Five Star retains the title at 7:45.

Rating: C-. Ryan is another guy that is far better on the mic and in the character department than he is in the ring. He’s got skill in the ring though and can do fine in a match like this one, which makes him a much better option than Godderz at this point. Granted it helps that he’s a wrestler and not a reality star that wrestles as well.

Morgan kicks Van Dam’s head off on the stage.

Joseph Park thanks Sting for the opportunity he’s getting a chance to fight Aces and 8’s tonight because of Sting.

We recap Park’s (or Parks if you listen to Hogan) issues with Aces and 8’s, which would be kidnapping and violent assault.

Doc vs. Joseph Park

Doc is Luke Gallows remember. Park is always amazing in this role given how inept he can make himself look. He tries single leg takedown but Doc just laughs at him. Some wild right hands miss Doc until one accidentally catches him, ticking the biker off. They head to the floor where Park does a lot of running but manages to send Doc into the steps. Back in and Doc loads up a studded belt around his fist but the referee takes it away. Then we stop, because it’s hammer time. That of course gets taken away and Park pounds away.

The next three minutes or so are just Doc beating on Park with basic stuff and there’s only so much you can say about punches. Park starts a comeback but gets hit in the head with the belt to bust him open. He goes into a rage and hits the Black Hole Slam before turning back into Park. Park grabs a chair to whack Doc in the back with for two, but that’s all he’s got as Doc chokeslams him down for the pin at 11:01.

Rating: D. This was WAY too long and that’s where it died. At the end of the day, the joke with Park has been going on for months now and the fans clearly get it. Once the fans get what’s going on, the joke stops being as funny, which means it’s probably time to pull the plug on it, or at least move things forward. The match was bad though as it should have been about five minutes shorter.

Post match Doc gets the hammer but Bully Ray makes the save.

Roode says that tonight he’ll prove that he’s the better man.

We recap the tag title match. Chavo and Hernandez won the titles in a threeway and tonight is the solo rematch.

Tag Titles: Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez vs. Kazarian/Christopher Daniels

Chavo and SuperMex are defending. Daniels vs. Chavo gets us going with a feeling out process. Guerrero hits a quick hiptoss but Kaz jumps him from behind and the challengers double team to take over. SuperMex is like SCREW THAT IN SPANISH and hits a double clothesline to take over. A backbreaker puts Daniels down but the Frog Splash from Chavo misses to give the challengers control again.

Kaz and Daniels take turns working on Chavo’s ribs with Daniels hitting a middle rope kick down onto the stomach. A dropkick sends Chavo to the floor and it’s time for whatever the gangham style dance is. I have no idea what that is, nor do I want to know. In a cool move, Chavo sunset flips Kaz with the latter making a blind tag. As Chavo has Kaz down, Kaz grabs Chavo’s head so Daniels can get in a kick to keep control. Cool sequence.

Kaz comes back in and squeezes on the ribs a bit more before sending Chavo into the corner. Why are TNA buckles so much bigger than WWE’s? Speaking of turnbuckles, Chavo climbs up a few of them for a tornado DDT and brings in SuperMex who cleans house. A splash in the corner gets two on Daniels but Kaz breaks up the Border Toss. Two shots in the corner put Hernandez down but he comes back with a double springboard clothesline. A backbreaker puts Daniels on the floor and a big shoulder sends Kaz down as well.

The big dive by Hernandez is broken up by a Daniels Kick and the High/Low gets two. Hernandez hits a double suplex and Chavo dropkicks them both down with a single dropkick. Kaz takes two of the Three Amigos and Daniels takes all three. Kaz breaks up the Frog Splash with an enziguri so Hernandez throws Kazarian to the floor. STO puts Hernandez down and Daniels loads up a superplex on Guerrero, only to have Hernandez pull him into a Doomsday Device position. Chavo hits a cross body to take out Daniels and retain the titles at 13:23.

Rating: B-. Good match here but nothing great. The problem for the tag division right now is you only have these four guys and that’s about it. Even when Angle and AJ were teaming together it wasn’t anything close to a full on division. They’re running the risk of these matches being run into the ground, which is the worst thing they could possibly do. This was still good, but it’s a step below what they’ve done before.

AJ says it’s been a rough year for him with a lot of distractions that he didn’t want or need. It’s been almost three years since he’s been world champion, which is all he needs to get past Roode and Storm.

Bobby Roode vs. James Storm vs. AJ Styles

The winner gets the shot at Final Resolution and the person who gets pinned or submits doesn’t get a shot until BFG 13 at the earliest. I love that shot of looking down on Roode from the corner. It looks awesome. AJ immediately kicks Roode in the head and it’s one on one with Styles vs. Storm. After a few moments of feeling out, Storm hooks the rope to avoid the drop down/kick, but Roode pulls James to the floor. They slug it out a bit, but here’s Styles to dive on both of them in a classic AJ move.

It’s AJ vs. Roode in the ring now with the fans chanting for Roode. A knee drop gets two for Styles as Storm makes the save. Roode sends AJ to the floor but Styles guillotines Storm from the floor to slow things down again. Back in and Roode sends Styles right back to the floor again. The announcers speculate that AJ is off his game tonight. Beer Money explodes for the first time since…..last month? The Cowboy gets two off a neckbreaker and an enziguri puts Roode down.

AJ is back in now as this is really fast paced so far. Roode rolls to the floor and AJ fires off kicks to the leg of Storm. Off to a Figure Four but Styles lets it go to knock Roode down. AJ hits a knee crusher and it’s off to the Indian Deathlock with a chinlock. That move always looks freaky. Roode gets knocked to the floor again as Storm counters the Clash into an Alabama Slam for two.

Roode comes back in and breaks up the Eye of the Storm, followed by hitting a DDT on Storm for two. Roode takes his time and beats on both guys, sending AJ to the floor and hitting the Hennig neck snap for two on Storm. On the floor, AJ gets sent HARD into the steps knee first. Back in, Storm hits a Codebreaker to break Roode’s momentum but AJ breaks up the Last Call.

Storm is knocked to the floor so AJ pounds on Roode in the corner. A tornado DDT (that’s a popular move tonight) is shoved off by Roode and Beer Money reunited for a few seconds for a double suplex on Styles. They tease the Beer Money pose but both guys jump each other with Storm taking over. Roode goes up top but AJ jumps up to rana him down. The backflip into a reverse DDT gets two on Storm and everyone is down.

A Blockbuster from Roode gets two on Storm but Styles hits the Pele to put Roode down. Storm goes to the floor as AJ misses the springboard 450. A spear by Roode gets two on Styles and there’s the Crossface by Roode. That’s easily countered and Roode hits a Rock Bottom to the shock of the announcers for two. The spinebuster looks to set up the fisherman’s suplex, but Storm comes back in and hits a Backstabber on Bobby and the Last Call on AJ for the pin and the title shot.

Rating: B-. Considering this was the second biggest match of the PPV, the stakes of the match and the talent in there, this was kind of disappointing. It came off like any other triple threat, which is the problem with TNA running them all the time, especially for title shots. The loser not getting a shot was a nice touch, but the match itself didn’t work all that well for me.

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D-Von talks about how his turning point was at Bound For Glory when he was revealed as part of Aces and 8’s, which was a group of men that care about him. Angle was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and it was just business.

We recap Angle vs. D-Von. D-Von was revealed as the first member of the team and then one night on Impact, Aces and 8’s beat up Angle as a show of power. Tonight is the revenge match.

D-Von vs. Kurt Angle

D-Von is here alone. We stall for a good while before the bell as D-Von won’t get in the ring to fight Angle, which is probably a good idea. After wasting about two minutes, D-Von gets in and uses his wide array of punches to take over. D-Von hits his shoulder block to put Kurt down but Angle suplexes D-Von in return. The momentum doesn’t really build though as Kurt misses a charge into the post and we head to the floor.

That goes nowhere so we head back in for the D-Von spinning back elbow for two. Off to a chinlock as this is exactly what you would expect so far: D-Von is using really basic stuff because that’s about all he’s good at on his own. When he’s facing Kurt Angle, that’s hard to buy as an effective offense. Taz goes into a way too long explanation of how D-Von and Doc wear the same belt but we can’t see it because D-Von’s shirt is out.

Anyway, Angle hits a missile dropkick and a flying forearm to put D-Von down followed by a belly to belly for two. The Angle Slam is escaped and D-Von clotheslines Angle down. D-Von goes up for the swan dive but Kurt runs up the ropes and hits a belly to belly superplex off the top for two. The ankle lock goes on but D-Von kicks him away and hits a Rock Bottom for two. They botch a powerbomb counter and Kurt rolls some Germans for two.

Angle goes to the corner for what would have been a moonsault that Rey Mysterio in his prime would have had issues hitting. D-Von powerbombs him out of the corner to prevent Kurt from having to try it but it only gets two. D-Von is limping around badly because of the ankle lock so at least the selling is good. The swan dive misses but the Angle Slam only gets two. Seriously? D-Von gets to kick out of the Slam? Aces and 8’s surround the ring and D-Von spears Angle down for two. Not that it matters as the ankle lock gets the submission out of nowhere.

Rating: D+. It’s D-Von vs. Kurt Angle. Seriously that should up everything you should need to know about this match. There is no way on earth you can validate D-Von as a realistic threat to Kurt Angle. D-Von does not have the skills to hang in a nearly fifteen minute match with Kurt Angle and that’s all there is to it. That makes the match very dull and shows the need for a main event level guy in Aces and 8’s.

Angle immediately bails to the floor as the bikers hit the ring. Doc yells at Kurt that he’s next.

AJ has nothing to say and leaves.

Austin Aries says tonight is the final chapter in the Jeff Hardy Saga and it ends in tragedy. Tonight Aries is going to shove the stacked deck down everyone’s throats because Jeff isn’t going to have his fans in the ring to help him tonight. Solid angry promo here.

Main event recap. Hardy won the BFG Series and beat Aries for the title last month. Aries turned heel before the match because he hated the way the crowd responded to Hardy but not him. Tonight’s rematch is a ladder match.

TNA World Title: Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries

Both Hardy’s vanity belt and the regular world title are above the ring. Jeff is listed at 234lbs in the Big Match Intros after being listed at 215 on the tale of the tape graphics. If Jeff is 234, I’ve got a chance at being Miss America this year. Aries wisely goes to the floor and reaches for a ladder but Hardy goes out to stop him. Why do that? You’ve got the high ground and you have to get a ladder anyway.

Aries pounds away in the ring and beats on Hardy in the corner before the ladder is in the ring yet. Aries gets knocked to the floor where there’s a ladder laying on the ring. Hardy dives onto Aries and might have hit his knee on the ladder on the way down. Aries gets sent into the steps and there’s Poetry in Motion against the barricade. Jeff slides in a ladder but Aries literally climbs over Jeff to stop him. Something like a Russian legsweep off the ladder by Aries puts both guys and the ladder down.

The ladder is set up like a bridge between the ring and the barricade and it’s Jeff being placed on it by the challenger. A slingshot elbow onto Jeff onto Hardy has Aries in control, as does a knee drop. Aries goes up the ladder in the ring but Jeff miraculously pops up and makes the save. Jeff stands the ladder upside down and they fight over a suplex onto the bars that hold the ladder up. That goes nowhere for either guy so Hardy tries a cross body which hits ladder. Aries slingshots down onto the ladder to crush Hardy even more.

Austin pulls in another ladder as the first one fell to the floor. Hardy falls with it so Aries hits the suicide dive to send Jeff into the barricade. In a cool spot, Aries ties Jeff in the ladder and puts the steps on top of the ladder to hold Jeff in place. As Aries goes up the ladder, Jeff crawls under the ring and gets in on the other side and climbs the ladder. Aries shoves the ladder out and Jeff lands on his head and shoulder. And people wonder why he’s a drug addict.

Naturally he’s ok enough to climb up with Aries at the same time but the ladder is too wobbly for Aries to climb. By that I mean there was no reason for him to not grab the belts so they had to improvise. Aries dropkicks Jeff into the ladder in the corner but Hardy escapes the brainbuster and armdrags Aries into the ladder. Hardy rides the ladder down out of the corner so he can splash Aries in a cool spot.

Jeff gets another ladder to climb but Aries dropkicks the ladder out again. Both guys are down now with Hardy looking a bit dead. The old ladder is on the corner so Aries dropkicks it into Jeff in the corner. There’s the brainbuster and Jeff is thrown to the floor. There’s a ladder on the corner again and Aries goes climbing. They slug it out on top of the ladder with Hardy hitting a cutter off the top in a cool spot. There’s a Swanton and Aries is out on the floor.

Hardy goes after the belts….and they rise higher into the air. Oh it’s not exactly the Higher Power but rather Aries has the controls for the belts on the floor. Jeff goes out onto the floor and pulls out like the fourth ladder. This is the big red one and it’s a double climb. They brawl on the top but they fall down onto the ladder on the corner. Both guys stand up on top of it and Jeff hits the Twist of Fate, sending Aries into the ladder and out to the floor. Hardy goes up and takes the belts down to retain. No music for some reason at first. Oh there it is.

Rating: B+. This was exactly what you would expect. I never quite bought that Aries had a chance at winning this, but sometimes that’s fine. The idea here is to have two small guys do a bunch of jumps and ladder spots and that’s what we got. It’s nice to see things like that every once in awhile, with no shock or twist. Just getting what you expect and that’s totally fine.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a bit less than I was expecting but it wasn’t bad at all. The problem with a lot of the matches here is asking “is that it?” A lot of the matches don’t really measure up with what you would expect from them, especially the three way. Still though, it’s a good enough first PPV after BFG and it was almost exactly what you would expect here. Decent enough show but nothing great aside from a solid main event.

Results

Samoa Joe b. Magnus – Koquina Clutch

Eric Young/ODB b. Jesse Godderz/Tara – Top Rope Elbow to Godderz

Rob Van Dam b. Joey Ryan – Five Star Frog Splash

Doc b. Joseph Park – Chokeslam

Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez b. Christopher Daniels/Kazarian – Top Rope Cross Body to Daniels

James Storm b. AJ Styles and Bobby Roode – Last Call to Styles

Kurt Angle b. D-Von – Ankle Lock

Jeff Hardy b. Austin Aries – Hardy pulled down both belts

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Bound For Glory 2012
Date: October 14, 2012
Location: Grand Canyon University Arena, Phoenix, Arizona
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz

It’s the biggest show of the year for TNA and honestly I’m not all that excited about it. The main event tonight is Aries vs. Hardy for the title, but the REAL main event is Aces and 8’s vs. Sting/Bully Ray. The question is much more about who is going to be the leader of the gang, or if that’s even going to be revealed. I’d look for a fun quality show tonight but nothing that jumps off the page. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about what you would expect: it talks about the history of the company and how big the show is. Most of this has been shown on Impact in the Memories Are Waiting promos.

There’s a ramp to get to the ring which is always cool.

X-Division Title: Rob Van Dam vs. Zema Ion

Ion is defending. Rob came out on Impact when Ion was running his mouth and Van Dam said Hogan said he could have any match he wanted at this show. Zema has been injuring a lot of people lately. Rob takes over to start and knocks Ion to the floor but Ion moves before Rob can dive. Back in and Ion takes out Rob’s leg followed by a corkscrew kick out of the corner for two.

The champ goes up again and gets crotched, followed by a kick to take him down again. Out of nowhere Ion hits a jumping tornado DDT for two and then two more. Rob goes up but gets shoved into the barricade like he’s had done to him a few dozen times over the years. Ion hits a flip dive to keep Van Dam down while also barely avoiding breaking a rib on the barricade.

Back in and a missile dropkick gets two for Ion. As usual with Ion, his in ring stuff isn’t bad but the promos and persona getting there don’t do him much good. Off to an abdominal stretch which is pretty quickly broken. Van Dam makes a very fast comeback, takes Ion down, hits Rolling Thunder and the Five Star and wins the title at 8:00.

Rating: C. I can’t complain about Van Dam winning the title at all as this gives the title some credibility that it hasn’t had in a new champion in awhile. Also this gives the fans something to pop for early on which is the right idea. The match itself was nothing you wouldn’t see on Impact, but the right ending helps.

Magnuis says it’s his time to shine and therefore take the title.

TV Title: Samoa Joe vs. Magnus

They used to be partners and then split. Feeling out process to start with Joe taking him into the corner for the enziguri to take over. The champ pounds away and Magnus has to hide for mercy. Magnus comes back with punches of his own as we have a strike heavy match so far. A big old clothesline takes Joe down and Magnus takes over for the first time so far. Magnus takes him down with a knee and stomps away, followed by a jumping elbow for two. This is pretty decent stuff so far.

Joe fires back with some right hands but charges into something like a Michinoku Driver (sitout slam) for two. Magnus runs into an atomic drop and Joe starts speeding things up, firing up the fans in the process. They’re in Phoenix so you wouldn’t think that would be too hard. The backsplash and snap powerslam get two for Joe. Joe gets all crafty now and counters a leapfrog into a powerbomb to kill Magnus.

In a sequence that is always cool, Joe hooks an STF but once Magnus is getting too close to the ropes, he shifts it into Rings of Saturn. After Magnus gets a foot on the ropes, Joe loads up the MuscleBuster but Magnus goes to the eyes. A kick to the face takes Joe down and Magnus hits a top rope elbow for two and Joe is all fired up. He throws on the choke but Magnus escapes by climbing the corner. A jawbreaker escapes the hold again and Magnus goes for the knee. You don’t try holds on Joe though, and the choke retains the title for Joe at 8:57.

Rating: C+. They’re going with the fast matches tonight and that’s probably a good idea with these less interesting matches. This was a better match than the first one but when you have two talented guys in there instead of one, you’re often going to have a better match. There was no reason for Joe to lose the title yet anyway so no complaints there.

Roode says it ends tonight with Storm.

Video on Roode vs. Storm. Last year Roode lost in the main event of BFG, then Storm won the world title the next week on Impact. Roode used a beer bottle to beat Storm for the title and turn heel, which led to Storm wanting both revenge and the title back. Roode lucked out at Lockdown and then cost Storm the BFG Series, leading to a street fight tonight.

James Storm vs. Bobby Roode

MMA fighter King Mo is guest outside referee for no apparent reason. Storm takes over to start and hits a fast backdrop. We head to the floor with Storm in control. He hits Roode in the back with a chair but Roode sends him into the barricade to counter. Storm leg sweeps him into the barricade as well and Roode is in trouble early. Bobby comes back and sends Storm into the post, busting him open. Well at least they’re not waiting on bringing the violence here.

We get the weapons thrown into the ring and the fans want tables, because what would a street fight be without tables? Oh man Storm’s cut is a gusher. Roode puts a chair between the top and middle ropes, allowing James to come back with some kendo stick shots to the ribs. Storm hits a trashcan into Bobby’s balls using a kendo stick like a golf club to make Roode vibrate on the mat.

They head to the ramp with Storm hitting a DDT on the I guess wood. Storm jabs Roode in the ribs with a fan’s crutch and DESTROYS him with a trashcan. Mo hasn’t been a factor yet. Roode snaps off a spinebuster onto the ramp out of nowhere to give himself a breather. Storm grabs a fan’s beer for a quick refreshment. They head to the announce table and Roode kind of spears Storm through the other table to take over. There is blood EVERYWHERE. That gets two back in the ring and Roode yells at Hebner, which gets him in trouble with Mo.

The distraction lets Storm hit the Codebreaker and Last Call….for two. I’m glad that was only two as it would have been a pretty weak ending. Another superkick is caught and Storm is sent face first into the chair Roode set up in the corner a long time ago. That gets two so Roode puts Storm on the top rope. He gets a chair for a hard shot to the head and busts out the bag of thumbtacks. See, now that it’s been awhile since we’ve done this, it means something again. Roode tries a superplex onto the tacks but gets shoved down into them in a painful looking spot.

Storm drops a top rope elbow for two but Roode hits him low to stop Storm’s comeback. Roode goes to the floor and gets a beer bottle which is what started this whole thing. Storm hits Bobby low, takes a drink of the beer, and cracks the bottle over Roode’s head. Storm stands him up, and with Roode out on his feet, a second Last Call sends Roode into the tacks for the pin at 17:27. King Mo was barely a factor here and didn’t need to be around at all.

Rating: B+. In short, the cage match was better. That’s all this boils down to: the match at Lockdown was one of the best built up matches I can remember in a long time but they extended the feud because that’s what seemed like the right idea. Now don’t get me wrong: this was a great brawl and a good bloodbath and it had the perfect ending to the feud, but the feud didn’t need to be here, or at least not with Storm losing the second match. This is like Rock beating Austin at Wrestlemania 19 with nothing on the line. It’s a very good match, but it doesn’t mean as much.

Joey Ryan talks about says he should be on the roster already. He and Snow are polar opposites and tonight, they’re on the west coast where he has the advantage. He’s bringing sleazy back tonight.

We recap Ryan vs. Snow. Ryan was on Gut Check and got a big percentage of the votes, but the judges said no. Ryan terrorized Gut Check, becoming the only interesting thing about the segment for months, and tonight he faces Snow for a contract.

Al Snow vs. Joey Ryan

Ryan hides in the corner to start and the fans want Head. Snow is in workout clothes instead of wrestling gear. Snow gets down on all fours and lets Ryan get in a free chance to start. That goes about as well as you would expect for Ryan and he hides in the corner again. This is a good choice for putting on after the big street fight that just happened. It’s a way for the fans to calm down a bit.

Ryan keeps trying basic offense and Snow stops him at every turn. A delayed slam puts Joey down and Snow takes him to the mat with a headlock. Ryan gets in a shot to the ribs and a suplex for two. Snow comes back with the trapping headbutts and grabs Joey’s chest hair. Snow takes him down again for two and the fans want Head. And that’s what they get from under the ring. Ryan shoves the referee down and steals the Head for a makeout scene. Snow ties Joey up in the ring skirt….and here’s Matt Morgaon to Carbon Footprint Snow into next week. Ryan gets the easy pin at 8:28.

Rating: D+. This was about what you would expect from Al Snow in 2012. The Morgan twist was fine and a pairing between him and Ryan could be interesting, as if nothing else Ryan could use a bodyguard. This was the ending they had to go with and there’s nothing wrong with that, especially with faces being undefeated in the first hour.

Ryan and Morgan shake hands.

Kaz and Daniels don’t care about Twitter questions and brag about how awesome they are. These two feel totally greasy and evil and they’re GREAT at it.

We recap the tag title match. Basically both challenging teams should be able to maul the champions but they can’t quite get there. AJ and Angle keep arguing and Hernandez and Chavo don’t have the experience yet.

Tag Titles: Kazarian/Christopher Daniels vs. Hernandez/Chavo Guerrero Jr vs. AJ Styles/Kurt Angle

Angle and AJ come out separately. Wes Brisco is in the front row and I’d bet we’ll see him later. Daniels and Kaz are in orange and black to start jokes from Taz. Chavo and AJ start things off and in a strange visual, Angle and Hernandez are standing on the same side of the apron. Daniels and Kaz are chilling on the floor. This starts with the usual technical goodness you would expect from these two.

Off to Angle who stomps Chavo down in the corner and Chavo has some tape on his shoulder. Angle slams Chavo down on said shoulder and Daniels blind tags Kurt to come in and….scratch that as Angle stays in. Off to AJ vs. Hernandez with the big guy throwing AJ around and getting two off a splash. Kaz tags himself in to stomp on AJ but there’s the drop down/kick and it’s back to Kurt.

Chavo comes in to face Kaz and some good basic wrestling takes Kazarian down. Hernandez drops Kaz with a backbreaker and it’s back to Chavo to dropkick the freshly tagged in Daniels. AJ comes back in because we can’t have a PPV without Daniels vs. AJ right? A clothesline puts AJ down and it’s time for some pelvic thrusting. The champs hit a double team move with Daniels hiptossing Kaz into AJ for two.

Kaz puts on a full nelson of all things on Styles but a quick Pele takes Kaz right back down. There’s the hot tag to Kurt who beats up everyone in sight. He snaps off some suplexes and counters a sunset flip into an ankle lock on Daniels. There go the straps but Angle misses a charge in the corner and hits the post. Angle shrugs that off and suplexes Kaz onto Daniels for two.

Kaz comes back in with the slingshot DDT on Angle but Hernandez comes back in and takes out Kaz. Daniels smacks AJ in the face and there’s no one in the ring. Daniels dives onto Angle from the apron and there’s the REAL big dive from Hernandez to take everyone out. Kaz tries a rana off the top to Hernandez off the apron but Hernandez goes the wrong way and Kaz basically crashes on his shoulder in a SICK looking landing.

AJ gets the attention off Kazarian by hitting a BIG dive on the champs and Hernandez. Kaz is at least sitting up now. Chavo suplexes Angle over the top and back in as he rolls some suplexes. Angle Slam out of nowhere puts Chavo down and a double suplex takes SuperMex down as well. Kaz is back in with a clothesline to take Daniels down and the BME gets a VERY close two on AJ.

Chavo sends Kaz to the floor and hits another big dive to take him out. Angel’s Wings are broken up by Styles and the moonsault into the reverse DDT takes Daniels down. Hernandez actually tags in and hits a slingshot shoulder block followed by the Border Toss. Chavo hits a Frog Splash to give Hernandez (the legal man) the pin on Daniels and the titles.

Rating: B. This was a good match from these six as you would expect, but it didn’t really get close to the other matches that the teams have had before. That has to be expected though and this was certainly entertaining. All the dives were great, but man alive someone is going to get hurt badly from one of them one day. Daniels and Kaz losing makes sense as they’ve done almost all they can with the belts at this point.

Chavo says that was for the fans and for Eddie.

We recap Tessmacher vs. Tara. Tara is the teacher, Tessmacher is the student, Tara snapped, you fill in the rest. Oh and Tara has some Hollywood boyfriend who is likely some reality TV schmuck.

Knockouts Title: Miss Tessmacher vs. Tara

Tess is defending. Tessmacher’s robe/jacket is on the ropes as we start. A quick crucifix gets no count for the champ. Teryn Terrell is referee again because…because…I have no idea why she’s still around actually. Tara gets sent to the floor and we get a chase scene. Tara hides behind the referee and we head right back to the floor where Tess gets dropped on the apron to give Tara the advantage.

Back in and the champ gets one on a sunset flip and it’s off to a chinlock by Tara. Tara whips her into the corner but charges into a boot followed by a DDT from Tessmacher to put both girls down. Tessmacher takes Tara down and nips right back up, followed by a top rope rana (decent one too) but Tara blocks the Tesshocker. Widow’s Peak and Tara gets the completely clean pin at 6:18.

Rating: D. The rana looked good and the girls looked good in their outfits, but thank goodness Tara won here. Tessmacher is just worthless as champion and hasn’t changed a bit since she won the belt the first time. Tara has had the belt before but at least she’s better than Tess, but most people would be.

Tara introduces the boyfriend: Jesse Godderz from Big Brother. To the shock of no one, there is zero reaction. He’s been training in OVW for like a year and has won five tag titles there. Tara and Jesse make out in the ring. Crowd: “WHO ARE YOU?”

We get a video from the Hall of Fame ceremony last night. Lex Luger inducted him, which is way better than Christian. Hogan dressed up in a t-shirt while everyone else was in suits. Sting talked about owning a gym in California and having Hulk Hogan working out there.

Aces and 8’s vs. Sting/Ray is No DQ.

We recap said tag match. Aces and 8’s is a motorcycle gang who has been terrorizing TNA for about four months now and tonight, there’s a match between Sting/Ray vs. two members of the team. If the masked men win, they get full access to the Impact Zone. If they lose, the whole group leaves forever. The whole mystery here is about who their leader is, but in theory we’re going to find out tonight. Anderson was going to be the partner of Sting but Aces and 8’s beat him up, resulting in Ray getting the spot instead.

Aces and 8’s vs. Sting/Bully Ray

Sting and Ray both have facepaint. Aces and 8’s have theme music now. They bring out Joseph Park who looks a bit near death. There are two members here, one in a plaid t-shirt and another in a black one. We’ll call plaid shirt #1 and black shirt #2. This is No DQ and a brawl starts on the floor. Sting fights #1 and Ray has some issues with #2. #2 seems to be the taller of the two.

Sting gets sent into the announce table as the fans chant for Bully. Sting and Ray double team #1 and the fans want tables. The Stinger Splash hits the barricade as it has all but one time that I can ever remember. #2 and Sting start in the ring with Sting in trouble. Off to #1 who hits a clothesline for two. Park is chained to the barricade at ringside. #2 hits another clothesline for another two on Sting.

A bit boot gets another two and Ray is starting to play cheerleader. Sting makes a fast comeback and tries the Scorpion but #1 breaks it up. A suplex is countered by Sting into the Death Drop but Sting doesn’t cover for some reason. Double tag brings in #2 and Ray with Ray cleaning house. A middle rope shoulder takes #2 down and the fans are way behind Ray. Ray double clotheslines them down and a splash gets two on #1.

#1 brings in a chair but Ray hits a big boot to stop the shot. A third Aces and 8’s guy, pretty clearly Wes Brisco, comes in and hits Ray low. Park gets spat on and breaks the chain off the barricade. He comes in and destroys the third guy before beating him up the ramp. The match breaks down and #2 gets caught in a Doomsday Device. Double splashes crush #2 in the corner again and it’s Table Time with Sting playing Bubba’s role. Ray gets the table but #1 pulls Sting to the floor. Another member of Aces and 8’s comes in and spinebusts Ray through the table to give #2 the pin at 10:51.

Rating: C. Not much of a match here but the point is that Aces and 8’s won. How this makes anything any different is beyond me but this story hasn’t made much sense in the entire time it’s been running. Hopefully we’ll get some more to this tonight because if this is it, then it’s going to feel flat. The match was pretty much fine.

The rest of the group comes in and beats down Sting/Ray until Hogan comes in for the save and marches through them all until only the guy that jumped Ray is left. Hogan cleans house and Sting is back up. They go for the mask….and it’s D-Von. Yes, D-VON. Fans: “This is awkward!”

Aries says Hardy needs to win this to complete his comeback. Tonight, Aries is coming in angry and that’s not good for Jeff.

We recap the world title match. Aries is jealous of Hardy, Hardy wants the title to complete his redemption.

TNA World Title: Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries

The fans are pretty much split which isn’t what they were hoping for I don’t think. We start with a long feeling out process and we have roughly half an hour for this. They head to the mat and Hardy actually keeps up with the champ (Aries is defending if I didn’t mention that) until they head to the corner for the slingshot dropkick. Aries comes back and puts Hardy on the apron for a slingshot ax handle. He takes a victory lap and then one in reverse.

Back in and Hardy gets two off a suplex. They’re still in first gear here and that’s fine. Jeff knocks Aries to the floor and mocks Aries. The fans don’t seem pleased with Jeff so he jumps off the apron with an ax handle of his own. Jeff charges at Aries but Hardy crashes into the barricade and hits Aries at the same time. Back in and Aries gets two off a top rope splash. Aries charges into a boot in the corner and the crowd is probably 80% pro Aries.

A backbreaker gets two for the champ and it’s off to an abdominal stretch on the mat. Aries takes him down again and hits a corkscrew plancha for two. Hardy blocks the Last Chancery and hits something Big Show used to call the Alley Oop. He sets for a powerbomb but throws Aries backwards instead of forwards. Show’s was a bit slower but it’s the same move. Hardy makes his comeback and hits the low dropkick for two.

Whisper in the Wind gets two and the fans have quieted down a bit. Twist of Fate is countered and Aries is knocked to the floor. Hardy misses a slingshot and there’s the suicide dive to drive Jeff into the barricade. Another dive takes Hardy out again with this one getting two in the ring. Aries is busted but nowhere near what Storm was earlier. There’s the Last Chancery but Jeff escapes quickly.

They head to the ramp and Jeff can’t hit the Twist, but rather gets clotheslined into the ropes. Aries drops him on his head, sending the back of Jeff’s head into the edge of the ramp. And people wonder why he’s a drug addict. A missile dropkick sends Jeff into the corner but he comes out with the Twist for two. Jeff loads up the Swanton but gets crotched and super ranaed down from a double standing position. That looked awesome. Corner dropkick sets up the Brainbuster for two and Aries is STUNNED. Aries puts Jeff on top but gets knocked off and the Swanton gives Jeff the title at 23:04.

Rating: B+. This was a good main event but after the Aces and 8’s stuff, this came off a bit flat. Also, TNA REALLY needs to mix up their main event styles. The kicking out of finishers and then the pin soon thereafter can only take you so far and they’ve done it for years now. Watch a few TNA PPV main events and the formulas are almost always the same. Hardy winning is the right choice but it doesn’t feel like a huge moment at all for the most part. Still though, a quite good match.

Hardy celebrates to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. Was this a great show? No. Was it their best show of the year? No. Was it good enough to be their biggest show of the year? Not really. What it was however was a quite enjoyable show, other than the big surprise which my jaw is still having issues closing over. The ending was the right call as Hardy had to win the title to send the fans home happy. There are a lot of ways they can go now, but unfortunately Impact is going to be ALL about D-Von and that pretty much freaking sucks.

I can’t get over that and if they thought the angle was going nowhere already, they’re in for a big surprise now. I don’t think he’s the leader, but man alive this is BOUND FOR GLORY, not Impact. It’s a good show overall though and it sets up a bunch of stuff for the future, but man alive I don’t know who went with D-Von as the surprise. Even as a regular member, which is what he likely is, who thought that was a good idea for BFG?

Results

Rob Van Dam b. Zema Ion – Frog Splash

Samoa Joe b. Magnus – Koquina Clutch

James Storm b. Bobby Roode – Last Call

Joey Ryan b. Al Snow – Pin after a Carbon Footprint from Matt Morgan

Hernandez/Chavo Guerrero Jr. b. AJ Styles/Kurt Angle and Christopher Daniels/Kazarian – Hernandez pinned Daniels after a Frog Splash from Guerrero

Tara b. Miss Tessmacher – Widow’s Peak

Aces and 8’s b. Sting/Bully Ray – Ray was pinned after a spinebuster through a table

Jeff Hardy b. Austin Aries – Swanton Bomb

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

I’m dead serious.  That just happened.