Sacrifice 2006
Date: May 14, 2006
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 900
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

Another show here in Orlando with Christian as the world champion. Tonight he defends against Abyss in a Full Metal Mayhem match, which is the TNA version of a TLC match. Abyss took the belt itself at Lockdown even though Christian is still champion. Other than that it’s another chapter in the Sting vs. Jarrett saga, in this case Sting/Joe vs. Jarrett/Steiner. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about how everyone has troubles in their lives and how everyone has to make sacrifices.

We open up with a scoreboard update for the World X Cup. This is one of those things that I never quite got into but a lot of people loved. The idea is that you have four teams of four X guys competing in a round robin style tournament for national supremacy. America has five points, Mexico has two points and Japan and Canada have zero each. This is the last match of the second round and I guess it’s for one point.

World X Cup Second Round: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Petey Williams

Actually this is worth three points. Petey takes him to the mat and the fans are all over him. To be fair he’s fighting a legend so it’s understandable. I think they botch an elbow drop spot as Liger dropped the elbow but Williams took over anyway. A headscissors puts Liger to the apron but he low bridges Williams to the floor. Liger adds a huge dive to take over again.

Team Japan acts all evil and pounds on Petey on the floor. Back into the ring and Liger hooks the surfboard which is one of his signature holds. He drops Petey down into a dragon sleeper and now the annoying fans have to do the dueling chants. A frog splash by Liger hits knees and Petey hits a spinwheel kick to put Liger down again.

Liger tries a palm thrust but walks into an enziguri and tornado DDT for two. Petey loads up the Destroyer but Jushin comes back with a palm thrust and the Liger Bomb for two. A member of Team Japan interferes with a low blow. Liger follows with the Crash Thunder Buster (wheelbarrow facejam) for the pin.

Rating: C+. This was pretty good and a solid choice for an opener. Liger is one of the few guys from Japan that people actually know a bit here in America so his appearances are actually worth something. Having people go out there and just saying they’re from Japan or Mexico or wherever doesn’t really mean anything. Liger could still go in his late 30s or early 40s so this worked pretty well.

The PPV froze at the end of the match. Such is life in TNA.

Updated World X Cup Standings:

America – 5

Japan – 3

Mexico – 2

Canada – 0

We’ll be back to this later on.

We run down the card for the rest of the show.

AMW with Jackie (Gayda) and Gail say they’re not worried about tonight. Jackie is here against her will. Storm threatens Jackie to not cost them anything tonight. The girls are barred from ringside. Jackie says she’s pregnant and Gail fires her.

We recap AMW vs. Styles/Daniels. The idea is that AMW is the undefeatable team so a dream team has been put together to fight them. They already had one match but Gail cheated to keep the belts on AMW.

Tag Titles: America’s Most Wanted vs. Christopher Daniels/AJ Styles

Styles and Daniels jump the champions to start and Daniels/Harris go to the floor so AJ can hit the dropdown dropkick on the Cowboy. Daniels comes in and we’re ready to go. He takes Storm down and cranks on the arm but it’s off to Harris who runs Daniels over. The challengers double team Storm and Harris’ full nelson slam is countered into a bridging Indian Deathlock with a chinlock but the Cowboy makes the save.

Styles comes in legally now and the challengers tag in and out quickly to work on the arm. AMW finally starts cheating and get Daniels into the corner to take over. The champs cheat like true heel champions would do with choking and face pulling before Harris hooks a chinlock. A back elbow gets two on the Fallen Angel. Daniels counters an Irish whip to send Storm’s shoulder into the post and it’s hot tag to AJ.

AJ speeds things way up with his headscissors but Storm makes the save. Daniels gets tagged back in for some reason and we get a Tower of Doom with Daniels on top. Oh scratch that as he shoves the Tower down and hits a top rope cross body for two on Harris. I wish AMW would have their names on their trunks because when their backs are to the camera it’s very hard to tell them apart.

Daniels throws Harris into the crowd and AJ dives from the top rope over the barrier and onto Harris. The match kind of breaks down a bit and everyone is on the floor. A fan has a box of cereal for some reason. Back in and Daniels breaks up the Death Sentence before putting Harris into a fireman’s carry. AJ hits the Pele before the DVD hits to kill Harris dead. BME misses but the Last Call does as well. Harris hits his spear to take Daniels down for two.

It’s Storm vs. Daniels legally now but Daniels hits a double clothesline to bring in Styles. AJ goes up high with a double clothesline of his own but he charges into a boot from Storm. AJ loads up a superplex but Harris makes the save, resulting in a Doomsday Device into a reverse tornado DDT by Storm for two. That looked awesome.

Daniels comes back in for the save and the challengers hit a BME/Frog Splash combo for two on Storm. Styles tries the Clash but the Cowboy escapes with a low blow and the superkick for two. Angel’s Wings hits Storm for two as Harris makes the save. This is getting awesome. Daniels, Harris and the referee get knocked to the floor and something falls from the rafters into the ring. It’s a nightstick and Gail Kim is seen in the rafters. AJ hits the Clash on Storm but Harris blasts him in the back of the head with the nightstick for the pin to retain.

Rating: B+. This was getting awesome at the end but we had to have Gail Kim interfere to end the thing. This would set up another match at Slammiversary which wasn’t as good but it gave us the title change which we needed. Still though, this was the old school idea of putting four guys out there and giving them fifteen minutes to have a great match. As usual, it worked.

Larry Z is with A-1 and says that all of his problems are because of Raven. A-1 is going to take out Raven for him tonight. A-1 has no idea what’s going on and thinks Larry’s name is Barry. He leaves and Slick Johnson comes in and says we’re going to find out who the face of TNA management is next month. Larry has no idea who it’s going to be but Johnson says he knows. He suggests it’ll be Piper but that’s just a joke. It might be Vince Russo but that’s also a joke. The third joke is Ultimate Warrior. I think we get it by this point. Johnson still won’t tell.

We recap the Larry Z vs. Raven feud which has gone on forever. Larry was told that someone was going to be the new face of TNA management on the same day that his biggest rival, Raven, was reinstated. Team Canada offered A-1 to take Raven out for some reason.

Raven vs. A-1

Larry sits in a chair in the ring before the match starts. Larry gets in his face so A-1 hits Raven with said chair to get an early advantage. A-1 rams him into the corner a bunch of times as Larry sits in on commentary. They head to the floor and A-1 rams him into the post a few times to stay on the back. Raven’s back goes into the barricade as the beating on that thing continues.

Back into the ring and A-1 fires off shoulders in the corner. A corner splash/forearm puts Raven down again as we’re still waiting on Bird Boy’s first offense. A-1 kicks him down but Raven FINALLY gets in some right hands in the corner. A clothesline out of the corner buts A-1 down and he fires off some kicks. An Edge-O-Matic puts Raven down but Larry’s distraction lets A-1 get in a cheap shot. A charge misses and the Raven Effect gets the pin.

Rating: D. This was a really dull match, but that could be said about almost any match in this Raven vs. Larry feud. It just kept going on and on with nothing ever really being accomplished. We got matches like Raven vs. Kanyon out of it which didn’t make anyone interested in the match or anything like that, but who cares about stuff like that?

Larry calls Raven back to the ring and they have a weak brawl.

Jarrett and Steiner say Sting hasn’t one-uped them but rather the opposite. Jarrett says that Sting is desperate for picking Joe as his partner when Joe isn’t trustworthy. Steiner says that Sting’s mistake will result in pain.

We recap Rhyno vs. Roode. Team Canada cost Rhyno a match with Abyss for some reason that isn’t quite explained here. Rhyno has vowed to go through all of the Canadians to get to Coach D’Amore.

Bobby Roode vs. Rhyno

The is power vs. power and they fight over a lockup to start. A shoulder block puts Roode on the floor but Rhyno doesn’t follow up. Roode comes back in and slaps Rhyno in the face, which gets him punched and backdropped for his troubles. They go to the floor for a slugout which goes to Roode. Back in and Rhyno goes to the middle rope but a disitraction by the Coach lets Roode knock Rhyno to the floor.

Back in and Bobby pounds away at the Man Beast’s head before choking away a bit. Neckbreaker gets two. There’s the Hennig neck snap for the same result and it’s off to a neck crank. The jingoistic fans chant USA so Roode hits a belly to back suplex and a middle rope kneedrop for two. Off to a chinlock which stays on the neck. Like any good stupid heel, Roode slaps Rhyno in the face a few times which fires Rhyno up.

Roode takes him right back down by sending him into the corner and it’s back to the chinlock. Rhyno fights out of it and speeds things up, running over Roode with clotheslines and elbows to the face. A spinebuster gets two for Rhyno and Roode goes to the apron. He goes up top but gets superplexed back down for a close two.

Roode comes back with a spinebuster of his own and it’s hockey stick time. Since that gets taken away, Roode has to settle for getting two boots into the face of a charging Rhyno. The Northern Lariat is countered into a belly to belly but D’Amore gets in a hockey stick shot so that the Lariat can hit for the pin.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t bad but it was pretty boring. I never quite got the point of the feud between Rhyno and the Canadians but it didn’t last long. It was more like a way to bridge the gap from Rhyno being world champion to his next big feud, which would wind up being Christian Cage. Still though, nothing great here but Roode would get much better over time.

Team 3D talks about how you always remember where you were when big things happen (this leads to an argument about OJ Simpson but we’ll skip that). Ray remembers being in Hartford, Connecticut in 2000 and winning their first WWE Tag Titles after beating the New Age Outlaws. Tonight it happens again.

We recap Team 3D vs. the James Gang. The argument is that the match six years ago ended with a pipe shot and also about the Dudleys getting big in a bingo hall while the Outlaws were headlining MSG.

Team 3D vs. James Gang

Roadie says that he isn’t a mark so he doesn’t remember his wins and losses. Ok then. Kip and D-Von start us off with D-Von hitting a jumping clothesline for two. With nothing of note in the first minute and a half, it’s off to Ray vs. BG. They trade armdrags and no one can really get a distinct advantage. BG fires off an armdrag and dropkick to send Ray into the corner. He yells at Ray about being fat so Ray hits a dropkick of his own to shock BG.

They trade the dancing punches and both hit their big punches at the same time. If this is supposed to be some big and epic clash of legends it really isn’t working. D-Von pulls BG out to the floor and crotches him on the post before coming in legally. D-Von beats on BG for a bit before it’s back to Bubba for a neckbreaker, getting two. Off to a chinlock as BG is in some serious trouble. Ray misses a charge in the corner and BG clotheslines D-Von down.

Hot (I guess?) tag brings in Kip who cleans house. He hits a Stinger Splash on Bubba and everything breaks down. The James Gang is in control but Bubba throws Kip over the top and out to the floor. Doomsday Device gets two on BG and the double neckbreaker gets the same on Kip. Fameasser to D-Von misses but BG brings in a pipe like the one mentioned in the match in 2000. A shot to the back of D-Von is enough to end this.

Rating: D+. Was this supposed to be some big battle? It was ok I guess but it felt like they were going on pure reputation rather than actually having a good match. It wasn’t a bad match or anything but I don’t get if this was supposed to be a big and great match or a revenge match or what. Either way, it was just ok at best.

Mitchell says Christian has nothing to live for other than the world title, and tonight Abyss is taking that from him too. Abyss is going to take the title in the match that Christian is best known for. Mitchell will make sure to come visit Christian in the morgue.

We see the ending of the Liger vs. Petey match because the feed went out earlier. That’s nice of them.

The newest Knockout, Christy Hemme, comes out to present the World X Cup to the winning team.

World X Cup Final Round: Gauntlet Match

All sixteen participants in the match are in this. It’s a two minute starting period followed by one minute intervals after that. It’s over the top rope eliminations until we get down to one on one when it becomes a singles match. The teams that make it to the final match receive two points apiece and the winner of the match gets an extra three. If the two finalists are from the same team, their team receives seven points and automatically wins the tournament. In the event of a tie, the captains will face each other in a singles match….on Impact.

We start with Minoru Tanaka (Japan) and Puma (Mexico). Tanaka offers a handshake to start but as Puma shakes it, Tanaka Mists him to take over. A springboard missile dropkick puts Tanaka down and an enziguri staggers him. Tanaka gets in a suplex but covers out of instinct. #3 is Petey Williams (Canada) and he joins forces with Minoru to double team Puma. That lasts a good 20 seconds before Petey turns on Puma.

#4 is Chris Sabin (USA) and things speed up again. Sabin whips all three guys into the corner but only hits Tanaka with a forearm. A double clothesline takes the other two down and Hiroki Goto (Japan) is #5. He hits a spin kick to take down Sabin and teams up with his teammate to clean house. #6 is Incognito (Mexico) who seems to wrestle in slow motion. He knocks Petey to the floor and hits a suicide dive but neither guy went over the top so everyone is still in. Before I forget, Incognito is currently known as Hunico in WWE.

#7 is Johnny Devine (Canada) and he puts Incognito down in the corner for some running knees. #8 is Sonjay Dutt (USA) to continue the pattern the entries have taken. All eight are still in at the moment. The Americans double team Williams but Devine makes the save. And never mind as Dutt snaps off an inverted rana to send him flying. In at #9 is Black Tiger (Japan) and he runs over Dutt very quickly.

Tiger hooks an ankle lock on Williams but Devine makes the save. Magno is #10 (Mexico) and he comes in with some springboard flips. It’s impossible to tell what’s going on as there are too many people in the ring at the moment. Eric Young (Canada) is #11 as two people go through the ropes, as in not being eliminated. We get a LOUD Eric chant as we’re told that Incognito and Dutt are both out with Dutt having an injured ankle.

#12 is Alex Shelley (USA) and house is cleaned. He hits a complicated double team move on the Canadians and a spin kick Devine. Sabin and Devine go out in a big rush of offense as Liger (Japan) is #13 and the final member of Team Japan. Magno charges into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker from Liger and they go to the top rope. Liger gets superplexed down and Shocker (Mexico) is #14. Magno charges at someone and is backdropped out.

Black Tiger goes up top but gets powerbombed down and eliminated as we see Tyson Dux (Canada) in at #15. Dux sends Puma to the apron but he gets back in. Shelley throws out Goto and Jay Lethal (USA) is #16 and the final entrant. By my count we have eight people left: Young, Minoru, Shelley, Lethal, Puma, Dux, Liger, Shocker and Williams. Lethal dropkicks Minoru out. That leaves Japan with just Liger.

Shocker charges at Dux and gets monkey flipped to the floor. Dux and Young go at Liger and get palm strikes to the chest for their efforts. They combine to eliminate Liger, eliminating Japan entirely from the gauntlet and the competition. Lethal immediately puts Young out and we’re down to five: Dux, Lethal, Shelley, Williams and Puma. There goes Dux and we’re down to four. The Americans double team Williams but Shelley misses a charging knee to eliminate himself. Lethal goes to the apron but jumps back in, right into a spin kick from Puma to get us down to two.

Puma hits a fast brainbuster and remember that it’s now a regular one on one match. The Canadian Destroyer hits out of NOWHERE and the Canadians in the form of Williams wins, meaning it’s Williams vs. Sabin for the Cup on Impact (Sabin would win the match and the Cup).

Rating: B-. That’s as high as I can possibly go with this. The match wasn’t bad at all but it’s the walking definition of throw A LOT of stuff out there and have them do flips and dives with the hope that the crowd likes it. I don’t really know what else there is to say about this. I don’t see the need in having it go over to Impact and not ending it here, but I guess it gave them something else to do on Thursday. Not a bad match, but it was only going to be able to be so good if that makes sense.

Post match Kevin Nash comes out and Jackknifes Puma to show what he’s going to do to the X-Division. He brags about how Puma got in no offense on him and says a medium big man can beat an X-Division guy any day. Size does matter you see.

Samoa Joe says he doesn’t need to be Sting’s friend to beat up Steiner and Jarrett.

We recap the tag match. Basically Steiner is Jarrett’s top flunkie and they offered Sting a tag match. There was this stupid game show thing with guys like Rick Steiner, Lex Luger and I think Buff Bagwell being partners that Jarrett/Steiner turned down. It wound up being Samoa Joe. See, THIS is how you push someone: put them in the main event or tip feuds and have them seem like they belong there.

Scott Steiner/Jeff Jarrett vs. Sting/Samoa Joe

Jarrett and Sting get us going after some stalling. Sting takes him to the mat and rams his head into the mat in a simple yet effective move. Steiner comes in and charges into a big boot and a Vader Bomb of all things. Sting moves to send a cheating Jarrett into Steiner before taking them both down with a double clothesline off the top. Off to Joe for the showdown with Steiner.

They stare each other down and Joe pie faces him. Joe pounds him into the corner but gets suplexed down which seems to shock him. They slug it out in the corner but Steiner takes his head off with a clothesline. The elbow sets up the pushups which ticks Joe off enough that he fires off forearms and an enziguri to slow Steiner down. Jarrett hits a knee to the Samoan’s back and Joe is in trouble.

Jeff comes in legally and struts a lot but he charges into the release Rock Bottom. Off to Sting who cleans house and powerbombs Jarrett down for two. He loads up the Death Drop but has to put Jarrett in an STO of all things. The Scorpion on Steiner is broken up as is one on Steiner. Jarrett DDTs him down and Steiner hits a belly to belly for two. Jarrett comes back in and uses a Garvin Stomp followed by a front facelock. Riveting stuff from Double J there.

Sting fights up and gets the tag but Steiner has the referee. The classics always work. Speaking of the classics, the guys collide and Sting’s head falls onto Steiner’s balls. Double tag brings in Joe and Jarrett and the snap powerslam gets two on Jeff very quickly. Joe cleans house on Scott and hits the backsplash for two. He runs over both guys at once with a double clothesline and everything breaks down.

Joe throws both guys into the same corner followed by Joe hitting a leg lariat to take them both out. The Stinger Splash hits but the second sends Sting over the top to the floor. The Stroke hits Joe but he takes too long to cover, only getting two. Sting beats up Steiner on the floor as Jarrett tries the middle rope Stroke. Joe punches out of it and the MuscleBuster gets the pin.

Rating: C+. This was your usual main event tag match and it wasn’t half bad. Joe getting the win was fine but at the same time he never got near the world title picture this year, which made little sense after he beat Jarrett again on PPV when Jarrett was world champion. This would be the main event feud that ran all summer and it was pretty decent, although I still didn’t like the way it ended.

Joe finally shakes Sting’s hand post match.

Joe leaves and Steiner blasts Sting with a chair. Joe doesn’t see it but he should have been able to hear it, although he doesn’t turn around. Instead he keeps walking and lets Sting get beaten down. Sting takes a guitar shot which Joe hears. He turns around and looks at Steiner and Jarrett standing tall, then walks away. A bunch of guys run out for the save, including the James Gang and Daniels plus others.

We recap the world title match, which is Full Metal Mayhem. Nothing is said here so I guess there’s no point in recapping it.

Christian says simply stealing a title belt doesn’t make you a champion.

NWA World Title: Abyss vs. Christian

This is basically a TLC match and Christian is defending. Christian immediately takes him down but can’t overcome the power soon afterwords. Abyss goes for a ladder but Christian dropkicks it back into his face. Back into the ring and Abyss throws him to the apron, only to have the ladder see-sawed into his face. They head to the floor with Christian pounding away on Abyss’ head.

Out into the crowd and they go to that wall that the people in every big TNA brawl fight to. They head back into the ring and the ladder is set up in the corner. Abyss misses a splash onto said ladder so Christian puts it up in front of the challenger. He tries a charge at the ladder but Abyss throws it back at him, knocking Christian down. Abyss wedges a chair between the ropes, and due to the law of wrestling #1, goes crashing into it for his trouble.

Christian goes up and gets his hand on the belt but Abyss makes a pretty easy save. They fight over a German onto the ladder but after neither can get it to go, it’s Christian that is sent crashing into the ladder. Abyss goes outside and sets up a pair of tables next to the ring. Now there’s a table set up in the ring as well but Christian gets in a boot to the ribs to break things up.

Abyss puts him on the ladder but misses a cross body kind of move onto the climbing instrument. A frog splash onto the ladder misses but so does a chain shot against the post. Christian chokes him with the chain but gets flipped through one of the tables at ringside. Abyss goes up but Christian makes the save with a chair. They both fall off the ladder with Christian hitting the top rope. Abyss lays out the tacks but walks into an Unprettier onto the ladder. Mitchell takes a Rock Bottom into the tacks and Abyss is put on the table. He has a chance to go for the belt but drops a frog splash through Abyss, then grabs the title.

Rating: B-. This was ok but it never hit the level that a lot of these matches hit. This felt like something you would see on a TV show, meaning that while it was good there was nothing above the usual level of violence or carnage. For a B level main event it was fine, but it’s absolutely nothing you’d ever want to see a second time unless you were completely obsessed with Christian or something.

Overall Rating: C-. This show was really nothing that great. If I was watching it live I likely would have said it wasn’t bad but I would have been a bit disappointed. By no means is it a bad show but there’s nothing on it worth going out of your way to see. This was before TNA really hit its stride so for the time, this was a pretty good show. It hasn’t really aged that well, but in just over six years it can only age so much anyway. Overall not bad, but it’s just ok at best.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Final Resolution 2006
Date: January 15, 2006
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 900
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

This is another of those shows where not a ton happens but it’s supposed to be a big deal. Sting is back tonight and it’s in the form of a tag match. This didn’t work when Rock came back at Survivor Series and it’s not likely to work for me here. Other than that there isn’t much here because the main event guys are all in the main event. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about how Sting is coming. Jarrett and Brown say it’s 2006 so it doesn’t mean as much as it used to. There had been signs that he was coming back and he finally did at the beginning of the year. The main event is Sting/Christian vs. Jarrett/Brown.

Alex Shelley/Austin Aries/Roderick Strong vs. Chris Sabin/Sonjay Dutt/Matt Bentley

Recipe for this match: take six fast paced guys and give them ten minutes to pop the crowd. Sabin and Shelley get things going. Chris is freshly blonde here and things speed up to start. Sabin takes him to the mat and hits a pair of kicks to the back. Dutt comes in and Sabin powerbombs him down onto Alex for two. Shelley bites Dutt’s thumb to escape and it’s off to Strong.

I’ve always been a fan of Strong but the more I see of him the less interesting he comes off as. That’s saying a lot as he never was anything of note in the first place, but there’s just NOTHING there. Dutt spins around a lot and it’s off to Bentley to work on the arm. Traci is looking very bouncy tonight which is never a bad thing. Aries comes in and gets suplexed right down for two.

Dutt tries his rope walk but Aries crotches him as the heels take over. The heels hit a sick triple team top rope double stomp (only Shelley stomped) on Dutt as Dave Hebner is here watching things. Aries comes in and hits a springboard knee to the back for two. Dutt is sent to the floor as Jerry Lynn is also here watching. He’s an agent at this point but he inspired a lot of these guys.

Shelley comes in and hooks a Rings of Saturn with a leg trap. That’s not normal human bending by Dutt. Back to Strong who slugs Dutt down but Sonjay hooks a tornado DDT for the tag to Sabin. A standing rana takes down the freshly tagged in Shelley. We go to the Tree of Woe and Sabin hits a pair of dropkicks. Sabin takes down all three guys at once but Shelley escapes Cradle Shock.

Bentley drops a top rope elbow on Alex as everything breaks down. Strong hits an Irish Curse on Bentley but Sonjay takes him down. Aries breaks up the Hindu Press but he goes to the floor where Sabin dives onto him. Strong breaks up Bentley’s superkick and Traci gets on the apron. Bentley superkicks Strong down but it allows Shelley to roll Matt up for the pin.

Rating: C. This wasn’t their best match but it was fine with the dives and such. There was nothing of note here though as we had seen most of this stuff before. All six guys were moving well out there and the dives were good, but the ending was pretty weak with no big move or spot for it. Still though, nothing wrong with this and it was fine for what they were going for.

We recap the split of 4 Live Kru and the fallout after that. Konnan is the one that went insane because of Kip James having to force his way in because Kip has nothing to do without BG James. It’s almost like he’s a guy that got over in a tag team but had no ability to get over on his own. Konnan beat up BG’s dad because he’s a bit nuts.

Diamonds in the Rough vs. James Gang

It’s Elix Skipper/David Young and this is the return match for the James Gang. BG and Skipper start things off. Skipper shoves him down and it’s a very slow start. Skipper suplexes BG over and works on the arm for a second. BG comes back with the dancing punches and shaking knee drop for two. David and Kip come in for a few collisions that go nowhere.

The Diamonds try some double teaming but get caught in a double Japanese armdrag by Kip. They get sent to the floor and the Gang beats on them on the floor. The fans chant for the Outlaws but BG walks into a spinebuster from Young for no cover. There’s a reason the guy lost like 86 matches in a row. Skipper pounds on BG for a bit before it’s back to Young who covers, only to have Kip distract the referee. David misses a moonsault and it’s hot tag to Kip. Skipper clotheslines him down and everything breaks down. Young breaks up the pumphandle slam but Kip hits the cobra clutch slam for the pin on Elix.

Rating: D. You know there’s a running theme with these New Age Outlaws matches: they’re not that good. These guys were never known for their in ring work and it’s pretty clear why. The matches just aren’t any good with the action being generic the whole way through. There was nothing to this and it was a horrible return for the James Gang or whatever they’re called this month.

Daniels says Joe hasn’t gotten to him yet and tonight it’s about what they both believe in. Joe believes no one in the X-Division can stand up to him. Daniels believes there’s a big difference between unbeatable and unbeaten.

AJ Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

This is a match for the sake of a match. Tanahashi is basically the superman of NJPW at the moment (2012) and he’s a rising star at this point (2006). AJ is Mr. TNA for 2005. Remember that as it’ll come into play later. Feeling out process to start as they head to the mat. That goes nowhere so the fans chant for both guys. AJ gets armdragged down as Tenay talks about the history of Japanese guys in America.

They trade armdrags and Tanahashi takes over with an armbar. AJ is like screw that and dropkicks him to the floor. He sets for a dive but Tanahashi moves. AJ catches himself on the apron and we stop for some staring. Back in and Styles drops a knee for two. Tanahashi hits a release German for the same. Off to an abdominal stretch so Tenay can list off Tanahashi’s wins so we can have a reason to think something of him.

Styles gets caught in a sleeper and then its dragon cousin. A dragon sleeper swing gets two. That looked awesome. A middle rope elbow misses and Styles hits an enziguri to put both guys down. Tanahashi escapes a brainbuster but for some reason he puts AJ on the apron. There’s the springboard forearm for two. Hiroshi gets a knee up in the corner and hits a full nelson slam for two.

AJ misses a spin kick and Tanahashi takes him down with an enziguri. Tanahashi tries a belly to back superplex but AJ counters into a crossbody while in mid-air. Shannon Moore runs in with AJ’s plaque but it hits Tanahashi by mistake. AJ Pele’s him down and hits the Styles Clash on Tanahashi for the pin.

Rating: B-. Good match here but the ending holds it down a lot. Moore was doing his punk thing at this point and they put him with Styles for a few weeks until everyone realized that no one cared about Shannon Moore. The match was going really well as Tanahashi really is good, but again there’s no story to the match so it’s hard to care about it at all.

Moore steals the plaque again.

We recap Raven vs. Larry Z which went on forever. Raven won the world title but then he got screwed out of the title at a house show in Canada. Larry refused to grant him a rematch so Larry kept trying to make Raven retire. Raven has a mystery opponent tonight.

Raven says that Larry is an idiot and says he wants the title back. Someone is getting hurt tonight and Larry better pray that it’s Raven.

Sean Waltman vs. Raven

This is Raven’s Rules and if Raven loses he’s fired, but if he wins he gets a title match. Raven shoves his shopping cart into Waltman’s ribs and chases after Larry. They head into the ring and Waltman gets in a kendo stick shot as Larry watches from the floor. They hit each other with trashcan parts at the same time to put both guys down. Raven is busted open but goes after Larry again. Larry’s security holds Bird Boy back so Waltman can dive on him to take over again.

Sean rams the cart into Raven a few times and they go up the ramp. Raven grabs a trashcan lid to blast Waltman in the head to take over. Waltman gets put in the shopping cart and shoved off the stage in a big crash. Back to ringside and Raven pulls out a table. There’s a ladder in there too but the referee goes down. Raven hits the DDT but there’s no referee to count the pin. Larry comes in for a very slow two.

Waltman gets a belt from somewhere and pops Raven with it to take over. Bronco Buster on the ladder misses and Raven gets two. Raven sets up the table and the ladder for a DDT off the ladder. Well at least that’s what he was planning but Larry grabs his foot. Pac hits an X-Factor off the ladder through the table for the pin. Raven had his foot on the rope but Larry counted anyway despite seeing it.

Rating: C. Nothing to see here but it had some fun brawling spots. The ending looked good and it got Raven off of TV, which I believe was due to a legit medical condition he had. The shopping cart stuff was good and Raven sold like a madman as usual, so I can’t complain much here. Just like the six man though, there’s nothing new here which is what holds it back.

Larry gloats post match. Raven leaves very sadly.

Ron Killings says he has two of the fastest wins ever over Bobby Roode and he’s going to do it again tonight. Konnan comes up and wants to know why Killings won’t call him back. Killings isn’t happy with him but Konnan says think about it.

Raven leaves the building and Larry gives him his bag. Jackie Gayda comes up and SWEET GOODNESS those things are huge. She implies Larry screwed her over too but won’t say over what.

Bobby Roode vs. Ron Killings

Killings beat Roode twice in about 40 seconds so Roode jumped him and won the third match. This is the fourth in the series. Truth grabs a very fast rollup for two which scares Roode to death. He tries it again and gets another two so Roode heads to the floor. Back in and Roode hooks a hammerlock which is quickly broken up. Roode bridges into a backslide for one followed by a pinfall reversal sequence which results in a standoff.

Roode goes to the floor again so Truth dives on him to speed things up a bit. Truth goes after D’Amore and gets rammed into the post for his troubles. Back into the ring and there’s an abdominal stretch by the Canadian. D’Amore does what any good manager would do and offers a hockey stick to help with the hold. The hold is broken so Killings grabs another rollup for two. Roode hits a running knee lift and then a reverse bearhug on the mat. Killings escapes and hits a top rope missile dropkick to put both guys down.

Truth comes back again with his dancing punches and a spinning forearm for two. The splits into the side kick gets another two. Roode breaks up a superplex and hits a top rope cross body for two. Killings may have a bad arm. Konnan comes out for no apparent reason and the distraction lets Roode hit the Northern Lariat for the pin.

Rating: D+. When your whole match is based around the idea that one of the guys might get a rollup for a pin and that’s the majority of his offense, you’re going to have to pull off something special to have a good match. This didn’t do that at all really and it felt like something that belonged on Impact. That was one of the major issues with TNA back in the day: they weren’t quite ready to have full three hour PPVs due to only having an hour a week of TV, so a lot of the matches on the PPVs didn’t have a ton of story to them, such as this one.

Konnan (in a Boston Bruins jersey for some reason) says to listen to him instead of the people. Cue BG James but Homicide runs in to help Konnan beat him down. Killings walks away. Kip comes out to clear the ring before he can do their hair.

Mitchell says Sting arriving means that the war begins tonight. Rhyno will be going into battle with Abyss but he’s too distracted to beat the monster. There was something going on with Rhyno’s daughter at this point but it isn’t really made clear here.

We recap Rhyno vs. Abyss. Basically Rhyno was feuding with Team Canada when D’Amore made a deal with Mitchell for Abyss’ protection. I’d assume it was in exchange for money but it was never specifically said.

Rhyno vs. Abyss

Rhyno goes right after him on the floor and the fight starts fast. They head inside, only for Abyss to get clotheslined back to the floor. Rhyno slingshots out onto Abyss but Abyss shrugs it off and pounds him down. Abyss hits him with a chair a few times and wedges the chair in the ropes back inside. To my great shock, Abyss doesn’t wind up going into it, thus violating a wrestling law. A quick neck crank gets Abyss nowhere but a big boot gets him two. So the big boot is better than a neck crank. Got it.

Back to the crank as the match slows WAY down. Rhyno fights out of it and hits a bad TKO to escape. A few chair shots to the head stagger Abyss and another one puts him down. Mitchell hooks the leg to avoid the Gore and Abyss clocks Rhyno with the chain for two. Black Hole Slam is countered into a spinebuster for two. Rhyno tries the Rhyno Driver (middle rope piledriver) but Mitchell interferes again. A chokeslam is broken up but the Black Hole Slam onto the chair gets the pin.

Rating: D+. Not much here as this felt like it was about five minutes instead of the nearly ten that it got. This wasn’t a No DQ match or anything like that, but for some reason the referee didn’t seem to mind. Rhyno had absolutely nothing to do after he got out of the title picture so let’s just let him do hardcore stuff I guess.

Shane talks about how the Dudleys went through the fires of various companies, in case you forgot they were there. Bubba lists off various teams that are great, all of whom have held the NWA tag titles I believe. D-Von says don’t screw with us.

We recap AMW vs. Team 3D. In short, the Dudleys have held all tag titles but the NWA versions, so they’re here to get them. AMW gave Team 3D a huge beatdown a few weeks ago so this is also about revenge.

Tag Titles: America’s Most Wanted vs. Team 3D

We get big match intros and we’re ready to go. D-Von and Storm get things going in what would be a very different match today. Storm takes him down to the mat with a headlock but gets hiptossed and dropkicked down. Harris jumps D-Von from behind and the champs take over. Scratch that as D-Von hits a double clothesline to take over again. Off to Ray as things speed up. One thing you can never say about Ray is that he’s dull. The guy knows how to keep people fired up.

Harris clotheslines Ray down for two and it’s a standoff. They go to the corner and Ray fires off his chops. The middle rope backsplash misses (duh) and it’s back to Storm. Ray is like screw that and cleans house before bringing D-Von back in. A spinebuster gets two on Storm, and What’s Up Cowboy? The Dudleys go for a table because disqualifications mean jack in this company, but AMW dropkicks it into their faces.

Harris takes D-Von down with some tape to the throat and it’s off to Storm for a chinlock. Back to Harris but he gets sent into the post shoulder first. Hot tag brings in Ray and house is cleaned. Side slam gets two on Harris and heel miscommunication lets Ray hit a DDT for two on Wildcat. Everything breaks down and AMW hits a modified Hart Attack for two o Ray. They loads up the Death Sentence but D-Von makes the save.

Ray returns the favor by breaking up a superplex and the Doomsday Device gets two as well. Harris makes the save and gets two on Ray off a big boot. Storm grabs a chair but accidentally clocks Harris into the reverse 3D for two. Bubba shoves Storm off the top through a table and a rollup gets a VERY close two on Harris. Gail hands (not slips, hands while in the ring) Harris powder but Ray knocks it into the referee’s eyes. 3D gets the pin and the titles, but remember that the referee is blind.

Rating: B. This was getting good at the end, but that powder looks like Instant Dusty to me. TNA did a good job at pushing its tag teams at this point and making them seem to be like something that actually mattered. This was a good example of that as the fans were wanting to see the title change here, and that’s what they got.

Oh of course it isn’t, as the Canadians come in, beat up the Dudleys and put Harris on top of Ray as the referee gets his vision back, calling the win for AMW. I’m sure ALL FOUR CANADIANS DESTROYING THE DUDLEYS didn’t shake the ring or anything at all either right? Dusty Finish as you likely saw coming.

Jarrett and Brown say that they’ll win tonight because Christian and Sting both think they’re going to be the savior of TNA. Brown says the time is up on Sting and he has to come to the Serengeti. Brown was way more engaging here.

We recap Daniels vs. Joe. Joe came in and took over the X-Division and destroyed Daniels, badly injuring him. Tonight Daniels wants respect, revenge and the title. See how easy it can be?

X-Division Title: Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels

Joe is champion if that doesn’t come through some how. Daniels has to use speed here and Joe misses a charge. He flies around as fast as he can and takes Joe down with a pair of ranas. A dropkick misses though and Joe gets him in the corner. Daniels tries a side roll but Joe hooks a freaky Rings of Saturn kind of hold on Daniels. Christopher makes the rope but Joe walks out of the way of a Lionsault press. I’ve always loved when Joe did that.

Joe drops a knee for two which is a lot more when you’re his size. Daniels gets an elbow up in the corner but walks into a powerslam to put him right back down. A Codebreaker out of nowhere puts Joe down, followed by an STO and the slingshot moonsault for two. A Death Valley Driver (good one too) out of the corner gets two. Joe powerbombs him half to death for two, followed by a triangle choke into an STF.

Daniels escapes so Joe pounds him on the head in the corner. Daniels tries to powerbomb him out but Joe ranas him and kills Daniels with a clothesline for two. Joe is getting frustrated and charges into a release Rock Bottom and the BME for two. Joe goes to the floor and Daniels BLASTS him in the face with a kick. A slingshot elbow to the floor hits Joe but it hurts Daniels too. Daniels throws Joe back in but gets kicked right back out.

The champ sets up a chair on the floor and it’s the Ole Kick. Remember that Daniels had a bad concussion a few weeks before that. Daniels is busted open now and Joe stomps away at the bad head. Here’s AJ to play cheerleader but it just makes Joe hammer away even more in the corner. Daniels comes back with palm shots and forearms but Daniels can’t stay on his feet.

A running enziguri gives Joe control again and he follows it up with a Punk knee in the corner. There’s the MuscleBuster and the Clutch but Daniels gets his foot on the rope to stun Joe. Joe brings in the chair and hits another MuscleBuster on the chair. The fans want him to do it again, because they’re evil people. Joe hits two punt style kicks to the head and then drives in knees. AJ finally throws in a towel to end this.

Rating: B+. This was more about story than the match but the match itself was good too. There was a poster for Summerslam 1993 with a picture of Yokozuna and the tagline: “Somebody has to stop him.” That’s what TNA had here with Joe as no one could beat him and the question became who was going to finally be able to beat him. That wouldn’t be for nearly another year but dang it was awesome at the time. Good stuff here as I was getting into the beating at the end.

We recap the main event. The idea is that Jarrett is evil and Sting/Christian want to stop him. This would go on for like 10 months so tonight is the first step.

Christian says he’s someone you can trust and you can call his brother or Chris Jericho and ask them if you don’t believe him. “On second thought, that’s a bad idea.” He says he’ll win the world title soon, which is true.

Monty Brown/Jeff Jarrett vs. Sting/Christian Cage

Sting has different music here and it’s not working nearly as well. Brown and Christian start things out as the fans chant for….Christian instead of Sting. Ok then. A quick rollup gets two for the Canadian and it’s quickly off to Jarrett. Christian makes fun of the strut and Jarrett makes sure to block a tag. Christian gets one anyway and Jarrett stalls. They lock up and do some very basic stuff before Sting dropkicks him to the floor.

Back in and Sting blocks a ram into the buckle and bulldogs Jarrett down. Brown gets one of his own and Christian tags himself in. A Gail distraction lets Jarrett hit Christian low and toss him to the floor. Gail adds a rana on the floor so that Monty can drop Christian on the rail. Back in and Christian is in trouble as we get to the main part of the match. Jarrett and Brown take turns on him for a bit until Jarrett puts on a front facelock.

We get the classic “referee misses the tag” and it’s back to Brown for some two counts. Brown sends him to the apron but Christian bites his way out of a superplex. There’s the frog splash but Christian can’t cover immediately so it only gets two. Jarrett breaks up the tag and Sting has to chase him away. The heels bring in chairs but their Conchairto misses and Christian hits a double DDT to take them both down.

There’s the hot tag to Sting and he cleans house. Stinger Splash hits Jarrett but Brown takes out the referee with a missed clothesline. The Deathlock goes on Jarrett and he taps but there’s no referee. In a cool counter, Brown hits a fallaway slam on Christian into Sting to break it up.

Sting and Christian almost get in a fight due to the title belt but they make up in about 8 seconds and clean house. Team Canada runs in but Sting and Christian hit Death Drops to take them out. Christian jumps Brown as Jarrett hits a belt shot on Sting for two. Sting Hulks Up but both he and Christian miss Stinger Splashes. Sting crushes the guitar with the bat and the Death Drop pins Jarrett.

Rating: C+. Not bad here but the ending was a little more overdone than it needed to be. It did need to be overbooked but not that much I wouldn’t think. This would be the start of a VERY long story with Sting leaving immediately after this until he came back as Steve Borden for one night and then back as Sting on a full time basis. He would go after Jarrett and things would go from there until Angle arrived. This was fine for what it was though.

Christian leaves Sting alone in the ring with the bat so he can have the spotlight to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. This wasn’t one of their best shows ever. For some reason the main event and Sting returning was the #1 moment in TNA’s first ten years which is baffling. At the end of the day, it’s just nothing that great. I get that Sting coming back to wrestling is a big deal…..but he had been in TNA before. He had four matches in 2003, so this wasn’t all that big of a deal. As for the rest of the show, it’s just ok. It’s not bad, it’s not great, but it was ok so we’ll go with right in the middle.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Against All Odds 2006
Date: February 12, 2006
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 775
Commentators: Don West, Mike Tenay

We’re back to Orlando as we finish off this company’s PPV series with this set of three shows. The main event here is Christian getting his first world title match against Jarrett, which is probably the best option they had at the moment. We also have Daniels vs. AJ vs. Joe because this is TNA and that’s how we roll around here. Other than that the card looks pretty interesting, so let’s get to it.

Christian arrived earlier.

Coach D’Amore and Eric Young were there waiting when Jeff got there. They have a tape about Jackie Gayda, the contents of which were never revealed. Eric Young doesn’t think Sting is really gone. The Coach yells at him.

The opening video is about Christian coming here to be in on the new thing. Tonight is his shot. Jarrett doesn’t think Christian deserves a shot and that he’s a midcarder getting this show because Sting bailed on TNA.

Austin Aries/Roderick Strong vs. The Naturals

Good choice for an opener. This is a rematch from Impact where the artificials (as in not naturals) cheated to win. It’s a brawl to start but the Naturals hit stereo atomic drops and clotheslines to take over. Let’s see if I can remember which Natural is which for once. Aries and I think Douglas start until it’s off to Stevens. It’s so strange to see Aries getting destroyed like this. The fans chant for him but he gets double teamed down for two.

Dang it Tenay say which Natural is which already! Stevens (I think) hits a Downward Spiral for two and it’s off to Douglas. Douglas throws Aries into Strong which sends them both to the floor. Stevens hits a Shooting Star off the top to take everyone out. That was awesome looking but the fans don’t seem to care for some reason. I think Aries hurt his knee on that. Stevens goes back in, only to slide to the floor and take out Strong. That allows Aries to hit the suicide dive and yeah he’s limping.

Back in and Stevens gets double teamed with some punches. Strong stays in and it’s time for a backbreaker. Strong is called the Messiah of the Backbreaker so that might explain why I thought you needed to know that move. Back to Aries who keeps Steven on the mat in a nice move. Chase (Stevens. The other is Andy Douglas) hits a jawbreaker on Strong but can’t get to Douglas. Aries hits the dropkick in the corner for two and the knee seems fine.

A bottom rope elbow gets the same and it’s off to Strong. Aries comes in quickly but he goes up (with the knee looking shaky again) and gets crotched. There’s the hot tag to Douglas who hits a jumping high knee to Strong. A rana out of the corner gets two on Aries. Douglas holds Austin up for a powerbomb forever, allowing Strong to chop block him to break it up.

Aries and Strong hit a clothesline/German combo for two on Douglas. A dropkick from Aries gets the same as everything breaks down. The Naturals load up the Natural Disaster but Strong makes the save. Aries tries the rollup with the rope grab that won them the first match but the referee breaks it up. Natural Disaster (elevated Stunner) gets the pin on Aries.

Rating: B-. This was perfectly fine for an opener. It was fast paced with some nice high spots and a good finish that tied back into the match that set it up. I don’t get why the fans didn’t care, but I guess it was because the teams don’t matter much. That being said, screw them because this was a solid opener and I was getting into it at the end.

We run down the rest of the card as is the custom for TNA.

Larry insists that the best man will win the main event tonight.

AMW says they’ll keep the titles over Sabin/Dutt. Team Canada is there too and Gail is forced to apologize to Coach D’Amore for saying Coach couldn’t get the Jackie tape. Larry is there too for some reason and says that if “anyone interferes in the main event, they’re fired.” Remember that line.

Alex Shelley vs. Matt Bentley vs. Jay Lethal vs. Petey Williams

One fall to a finish here. Bentley has Traci with him and we get the eternally stupid Bentley Bounce. Can we just watch Traci bounce instead? Bentley and Williams start things off as the fans chant for Lethal. It’s a feeling out process to start with Williams taking over. He goes to do the O Canada deal but Traci offers a curvy distraction. Lethal and Shelley come in and the fans get loud for the first time tonight.

We get a gymnastics routine resulting in them both trying dropkicks at the same time. They chop it out and Lethal hits a dropkick to the back of the head for two. A modified northern lights suplex gets the same for Jay as Shelley tags out with his foot. I guess that doesn’t count so Alex hooks a modified Koji Clutch on jay to take over. Shelley hits a slingshot hilo for two on Jay but Williams tags himself in to face Lethal.

Petey hits a dropkick to the back and slams Jay down. Off to a camel clutch but Shelley comes in to argue about Williams getting the win. That allows Jay to tag in Bentley as this is coming off more like a tag match than a fourway. Bentley cleans house but gets crotched by Petey. A Tower of Doom is broken up and Lethal grabs a bridging German for two on Shelley, but Bentley drops a top rope elbow to break it up. Williams counters a suplex and hits a rolling neckbreaker for two on Bentley.

Lethal comes back in and goes off on Shelley but Alex gets a drop toehold to break it up. Bentley comes back in and things speed WAY up as he and Shelley do a too fast to call sequence. Jackie Gayda comes out and goes after Shelley (Shelley filmed the tape that has been brought up multiple times tonight). She beats him up in the aisle as Bentley backdrops out of the Canadian Destroyer. Lethal dives on Bentley and steals the pin while he’s still down.

Rating: C+. This was fine but after we already saw one match similar to this, there wasn’t as much interest in seeing another one. Still though it was fine and a good use of about ten minutes. Also the fans were into Lethal which is more than can be said for anyone in the opener, save for Aries when he did the suicide dive. Decent match here but nothing that I’ll remember in about ten minutes.

Rhyno says he grew up in Detroit, the murder capital of the world. If he can survive that, he can survive Mitchell and Abyss. Larry comes up and says don’t interfere in the main event. Rhyno says spread your word yourself.

We get a video narrated by Truth who says mistrust led to the split of the Kru. Konnan wants him to join LAX despite not being Latino. LAX beat up BG James’ papa and tonight there’s a tag match for revenge. This gets a music video treatment for some reason.

James Gang vs. LAX

This is Homicide and Machete, a mostly indy wrestler who is most famous for being on this team and wrestling in Puerto Rico. Konnan says he beat up Bob Armstrong because BG did something wrong. The James Gang is of course the New Age Outlaws. LAX including Konnan jumps the James Gang before Kip can do his thing. BG and Kip (seriously, WHO PICKED THE NAME KIP?) send them to the floor and LAX caucuses.

Tenay tries to explain the name changes (although we were never told how Bob Armstrong’s son is named BG James) as Homicide starts with Kip. They stare each other down and then botch a tilt-a-whirl slam from Kip. I think Homicide was distracted by the ponytails. Off to BG for some dancing punches on the tagged in Machete, getting two. Kip comes back in and gets chopped back as well as having his Cobra Clutch slam broken up by Homicide.

Kip gets sent to the floor and Konnan sends him into the barricade to give LAX control. Back in and Homicide charges into a boot but Konnan cheats again to keep the advantage with LAX. Kip gets a clothesline and there’s the tag to BG with zero reaction at all. Everything breaks down and BG hits the pumphandle slam on Homicide out of nowhere for the pin. This wasn’t even six minutes total.

Rating: D. I’m not sure what the point of this was. The match was short and not that good, and it didn’t really accomplish anything. The ending had no build and the match had no heat at all, so I’m not sure what it accomplished. The James Gang just didn’t work at all in TNA as they were basically trying to be the Outlaws, but they were older and it didn’t work anymore.

LAX beats up the James Gang until 66 year old Bob Armstrong comes in for the save.

Slick Johnson goes to see Larry (who has Dave Hebner with him). They argue about who should be referee.

Tag Titles: America’s Most Wanted vs. Sonjay Dutt/Chris Sabin

Sabin and Dutt won some tournament to win this shot. Sabin might have an ankle injury coming into this. Dutt and Storm start and the fans want the Cowboy killed. Dutt starts with his usual flipping offense and a cross body for two. Sabin comes in with some of the same double team offense that he and Shelley would use as the Guns. Sabin gets in a kick to the ribs of Storm but Harris trips him up and wraps the bad ankle/leg around the post.

AMW starts in on the leg and it’s off to Harris. He takes off the knee wrap and puts on a leg lock. Sabin gets up and tries to fight out of the champions’ corner, only to be taken right back down by the leg. Storm comes back in with a chinlock and a Backstabber for two. Back to Harris as the leg work continues. The referee checks on Sabin’s knee but Storm jumps him anyway.

Sabin misses an enziguri and kicks Storm off so he can make the hot tag. Off to Sonjay who speeds things way up. A rana and low dropkick get two on Storm. A springboard double dropkick puts the champs down as does a springboard moonsault press for no cover. Sabin saves Sonjay from a Hart Attack and Dutt counters the Catatonic into a sloppy rollup for two. The champs bring in a chair and Sabin hits a tornado DDT on Harris onto said chair. A springboard splash by Dutt gets two on Harris but Storm puts the knee into the barricade. Hindu Press misses and the Last Call sets up the Death Sentence to retain.

Rating: C. This was pure formula and there’s nothing wrong with that at all. The division was kind of weak at this point as Team 3D was busy fighting some incarnation of Team Canada so AMW needed some opponents tonight. Sabin was the guy you called when you needed a filler for a match on the card and he filled that role very well.

Post match AMW cuffs Dutt to the ropes but Sabin makes the save with a chair.

Jarrett says the pressure is on Christian, not him. Monty Brown comes up and gets cut off by the champ. Jarrett demands respect because Brown is going to say the same thing he always says. They shake hands and say they have a deal.

We recap Rhyno vs. Abyss. This is falls count anywhere and they’re fighting because that’s what these guys did around that time. There never was a real reason for these matches other than proving who the toughest was. The video basically says they’re here to fight and that they’ll both win.

Rhyno vs. Abyss

Rhyno charges into the ring and we’re ready to go. They head to the floor quickly due to a Rhyno clothesline and it’s time to hit the crowd. In a funny bit, Rhyno tries to dive off the apron over the railing and onto Abyss but he realizes that would be a good chance of dying so he dives off the barricade instead. Abyss takes over and throws him into that wooden wall that is always used in brawls.

They head back to ringside and Rhyno grabs a trashcan full of your usual weapons. Abyss gets in a series of Singapore cane shots as the fans do that stupid OH ABYSS chant from this period. Rhyno is busted open but comes back with some trashcan lid shots. He finds a trophy and baseball bat, but instead of crushing Abyss’ skull, he puts the trophy between Abyss’ legs and hits the trophy with the bat.

They head to the floor and Abyss counters a suplex into one of his own on the ramp. Abyss sets up some tables next to the stage so you can guess what the finish to this is going to be. Abyss pokes him with a pipe or something to keep Rhyno down and sets up the third of four tables. He loads up a powerbomb but Rhyno escapes. Rhyno sets for the Gore but Abyss big boots him to the floor.

They head into the back and find a parade float and a car. Abyss finds a ball bat but Rhyno knocks it away and takes it back into the arena. Back at ringside and Rhyno throws a table into the ring. Mitchell hands Abyss a staple gun and it gets fired into Rhyno’s head. Abyss brings in ANOTHER table to go along with the one Rhyno set up in the corner. This one is set up regularly in the ring, but Rhyno comes back with a belly to belly.

Rhyno tries the Gore but charges into a chokeslam through the table for two. Mitchell hands in a bag of tacks but Rhyno gores him into the corner for another two count. With no more weapons to use in the ring they head up into the audience again and get to the end of the bleachers. Abyss throws Rhyno through the wall and kicks his way through the rest of it. Rhyno goes low to break up a chokeslam off the bleachers and hits the Gore through the previously set up stack of tables. Abyss is left somewhere in the carnage and Rhyno gets the academic pin.

Rating: B. There was nothing new here, but sometimes there’s nothing wrong with having two big guys break a lot of stuff. That’s what they did here and it worked well. This is Abyss’ bread and butter and Rhyno isn’t too shabby at it either. Good stuff here with the ending being a nice big spot. Can’t ask for much more than that.

Joe says he may not adhere to the Code of the X-Division or whatever but it doesn’t matter. Daniels and AJ aren’t fighting for friends and family tonight, but rather against him, which is much worse.

Rhyno and Abyss are helped up.

We recap the X Title match. The idea is that AJ and Daniels are the old guard when Joe came in and ran through everyone to take the title. He destroyed Daniels and left him bloodied, so tonight it’s a threeway. Daniels didn’t like being saved by AJ so they’re at odds. Joe says it’s all about the title and not being friends or anything like that.

X-Division Title: Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels

Joe is defending and brings out two towels: one with Daniels’ blood on it and a clean one for AJ’s. Nice touch. Daniels and AJ jump Joe but Daniels jumps AJ to take over. Joe runs over the Fallen Angel and hits a knee drop but he walks into a slam from Styles. This is very fast paced so far. AJ dropkicks them both but can’t suplex Joe. Instead the champ hits a SICK release Gordbuster to Styles to take over again.

Daniels comes back in and monkey flips AJ into a rana position on Joe, but Joe counters into a Boston Crab. AJ and Joe go to the floor but Joe slaps a charging Daniels to break up his dive. AJ sends Joe into the barricade and hooks the bridging Indian Deathlock on Daniels back inside. Joe finally breaks it up and hooks the STF on Styles. Daniels grabs a Koji Clutch on Joe at the same time but everyone breaks it a few seconds later.

Daniels’ slingshot elbow gets two on Styles but Joe runs Daniels over and hits the Facewash. This is VERY fast paced so far. AJ charges at the champ but gets caught in the release Rock Bottom. While Joe is busy with Daniels on the apron, AJ charges at Joe but hits Daniels instead. Joe dives onto both of them to keep control and we head back inside. AJ sweeps the champ’s legs and Daniels hits a knee to send Joe to the floor.

A quick rollup gets two for AJ and Joe is back in. Daniels gets suplexed down and Joe hits a leg lariat for two on Styles. A running boot to Daniels’ face and a backsplash get two for Joe. Snap powerslam gets the same results with the same people. A cross armbreaker is quickly broken up by Daniels getting to the ropes so Joe tries the MuscleBuster instead. Styles kicks Joe in the head to break it up but he walks into a Downward Spiral by Daniels.

Daniels hits a release German out of nowhere on Joe followed by a release Rock Bottom. The BME only gets two and Joe was out closer to two than three. Daniels tries Angel’s Wings but AJ dives over him and tries the Clash but Daniels blocks it. Joe clotheslines Daniels down for two but Styles escapes the Buster.

It’s clotheslines all around from Styles and one of them gets two on Daniels. A spinning torture rack powerbomb gets two on Chris and the backflip DDT gets the same on Joe. Daniels breaks up a Clash attempt on Joe before hitting a DVD on Joe of his own. Styles goes up but Daniels distracts him. Joe nails Daniels and hits the Buster to retain and stay undefeated.

Rating: B+. Not as good as Unbreakable but that’s an unfair standard to hold them too in a rematch. Still though, very good stuff here with all three guys nailing it and working hard and fast. This is one of those combinations that almost always works, but this was back when it was still pretty fresh, making it much more interesting.

We recap Team 3D vs. Team Canada. Team 3D has been destroyed by almost all of the heels so far, but Team Canada cost them the titles last month. The fans got to vote for who they wanted Team 3D to face so here’s the obvious match.

Team 3D says they’re mad and if ticking them off was an Olympic sport, Team Canada would have a gold medal. Ray talks about how all of the fans want Team Canada’s blood all over the arena and various places the Canadian flag can go.

Team 3D vs. Team Canada

It’s Roode/Young. Team 3D run in from behind to get an early advantage. It’s a brawl on the floor to start with the Dudleys in full control. Ray backdrops Roode onto the ramp and dents it in the process. Young gets chopped from the floor up to the apron by Ray. We get down to Ray vs. Roode in the ring and they’re the official starters. Ray hits a wicked release German suplex on Roode and it’s off to Eric and D-Von.

A side slam/legdrop combo gets two on Young but Roode low bridges D-Von to give the Canadians control. The cut that D-Von had on his head coming in is busted open again and the Canadians hammer away on it. There’s blood on the Tag Team of the Year plaque that the Dudleys won last night. Off to a chinlock as Roode shouts ASK HIM. Is that a Canadian thing?

Eric hooks a camel clutch, followed by a top rope knee from Roode, followed by a top rope elbow from Young, all for two. Back to the camel clutch, this time from Roode and now from Young. The Canadians are tagging in and out very fast. We get the Arn Anderson drop down onto the knees to give D-Von a breather and the hot tag to Ray.

Ray comes in with a cross body off the top (!) to take out both Canadians. House is cleaned and a side slam gets two on Young. A flapjack gets two on Ray and Roode misses a hockey stick shot. A low blow hits though and there’s the stick shot. Eric only gets two off that and then walks into the Lariat from Roode as Ray ducks. 3D pins Young.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see here as from what I can tell the blood part of the angle was set up last night. Good enough to pass I guess but for the life of me I have no idea why the Dudleys didn’t get their titles for so long. The match was decent enough I guess but there was nothing that was required viewing at all.

AMW comes in to beat down the Dudleys and they almost put Ray through a table, but Ron Killings comes in for the save and puts Young through the table instead.

After a recap of the show so far, Christian asks everyone how they’re feeling tonight. He’s nervous tonight because the culmination of a 12 year career is tonight. Tonight everything is answered: was it smart to leave WWE? Is Christian just a midcarder? Has Jarrett passed his white jeans phase? After all the cliches are over, Christian will leave as world champion because that’s how he rolls. Really good promo here from Christian.

We recap the world title match, which is pretty much summed up by Christian’s promo.

NWA World Title: Jeff Jarrett vs. Christian Cage

Zbyszko and Hebner are here. That would be Dave Hebner as Earl will be refereeing. Total references to Montreal in the first minute: 4. Jarrett is defending of course. Gail is looking good too. Feeling out process to start with Christian getting a pair of twos off a pair of shoulders. Jarrett takes him to the mat and slaps him in the back of the head to get on the challenger’s nerves.

A sunset flip out of the corner gets two for Christian so Jeff heads to the apron. They both wind up out there and Christian hits a reverse DDT onto the apron to take over. Christian tries a big dive but lands on the barricade. Jeff slams him into the barricade and Christian is in big trouble. They head over to the announce table and the beating continues, followed by a slingshot into the table. This has all of the old TNA brawling favorites in it.

Back into the ring and Jarrett hooks a chinlock but Christian breaks it in seconds. And never mind as Jeff hot shots him onto the top rope. Hebner gets involved because he’s Earl Hebner and since he did something eight and a half years ago, he has to do something here. To be fair he did stuff like that before Montreal but get over it already. Gail snakes in for a rana that gets two for Jarrett.

Christian comes back with a powerbomb out of nowhere and hooks a figure four. Jarrett makes the rope so Christian yells at Hebner some more, allowing Jarrett to hit an enziguri. Jeff hooks a Sharpshooter and my head begins to hurt. Christian breaks the awful looking Sharpshooter and puts on one of his own (again with the freaking Montreal stuff!) but Jeff breaks it pretty quickly. Christian gets sent into the corner on the counter and both guys are down.

The challenger wins a slugout and runs Jarrett over a few times. Tornado DDT gets two. Jarrett slides through Christian’s legs and hits Earl’s ankle to take him down. Gail interferes again (wasn’t there some rule about anyone that interferes is FIRED?) and Jeff hits a top rope Stroke, but there’s no referee. Jarrett pounds away but walks into the Unprettier. Slick Johnson slides in to count two as everything starts going nuts as it is known to do in TNA main events.

Johnson (thankfully in full pants here) tells Gail to get down as Earl is unconscious despite being hit in the ankle and not in the, you know, head. Jeff hits Christian low so Jeff hits the referee before there can be a DQ. Why would you do that? Gail throws in a chair but Christian dropkicks it into Jarrett’s face. No referee so Christian chases Gail a bit. That gets him a guitar shot to the head which gets two. Another Gail rana attempt is countered into a powerbomb and the Stroke is countered into the Unprettier to give Christian the pin and the title.

Rating: C. You know usually I would list off the things that we had to sit through to get to the title change, but SWEET GOODNESS MAN there were too many things to remember here. This was a total mess which somehow had plot holes in it. On top of everything, WHERE WAS LARRY? He was there to open the show but he was gone for this. That makes no sense. Anyway, WAY overbooked and not even that good in the first place.

Fans fill the ring to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. This was a solid show with almost nothing being truly bad. The James Gang match was bad but it wasn’t even six minutes long. This was somewhere between a major show and a B level show but it was still good stuff overall. TNA was on a roll at this point and Christian coming over and becoming world champion was a part of that. Good show here.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Turning Point 2005
Date: December 11, 2005
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 900
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

It’s the final 2005 PPV and we go out with what should have been the main event last month: Jarrett vs. Rhyno for the title. Other than that we’ve got AJ vs. Joe and Christian vs. Monty in a #1 contender’s match. This is looking like a better card than Genesis, but to be fair that doesn’t really seem like it would take much effort. Let’s get to it.

Jeff Hardy no showed the pre-show, which would be the final straw for him. He wouldn’t appear on TNA TV for over four years.

The opening video is about barbed wire. Why they’re talking about an opening match in the opening video I’m not sure but whatever.

Abyss vs. Sabu

This is barbed wire massacre, which means the ropes are replaced by barbed wire, which Abyss is terrified of. Abyss stomps on the chair that Sabu tries to bring in with him, so Sabu gets a barbed wire ball bat to scare Abyss away. Sabu tries to drive him into the wire but settles for a chair shot instead. Another doesn’t put Abyss down so he launches himself off the chair into a powerbomb position.

That gets Abyss down but he launches Sabu into the wire which draws a big gasp from the crowd. Sabu comes back with some punches but his cross body is caught and Abyss drops him throat first onto the wire. Sabu has a spike of some sort which he jabs into the shoulder of the monster, drawing blood. He tries another move off the chair but launches himself into the wire AGAIN. Dude, IT ISN’T WORKING FOR YOU!

With Sabu still tied up in the wire, Abyss charges but gets caught in a drop toehold into the wire. A chair shot gets two for Sabu. Abyss shrugs that off and chokeslams him onto a chair for two. Mitchell throws in a barbed wire covered chair and for SOME REASON, he tries an Earthquake onto it. The wire goes into Abyss’ crotch and I cringe a bit. That chair goes onto Abyss’ head twice and down he goes.

Abyss rolls to the floor so Sabu hits a huge flip dive over the wire to take Abyss out. Sabu throws a barbed wire board into the ring but gets draped over the wire stomach first. Back inside now and Abyss sets for a chokeslam onto the board, but Sabu bites the fingers to escape. Sabu winds up being launched into the air and landing stomach first on the wire. Abyss brings in another wire covered board and puts it in the corner. Due to the laws of wrestling, his charge misses and he gets all stuck in the wire. Sabu kicks Abyss down onto the other board into a sandwich, then drops a leg onto the top board for the pin.

Rating: C-. I’m not sure what to call this. For the violence and shock value it was fine, but as far as wrestling goes there was nothing here. Thankfully this was the ending to this feud which went on for months on end. The ending spot was pretty awesome but most of this was just a total freak show. They had to do this first too because of the ropes, which is annoying but there was no way around that.

We run down the remaining card to fill in some time while the ropes are replaced.

Jarrett and AMW got here earlier today.

Rhyno arrives too.

The 4 (yes 4) Live Kru says they’re going to violate Team Canada tonight.

Abyss gets checked out.

Now we talk about the card again.

Alex Shelley/Roderick Strong vs. Matt Bentley/Austin Aries

Holy Generation Next. Aries and Shelley gets us going here. Aries takes him down with some headlocks and then runs up the corners twice, resulting in a back elbow. Back to the headlock now as the fans like Austin a bit more it seems. The brainbuster is countered by a bite to the hand and it’s off to Strong. Aries takes him down almost immediately and works on the arm. Bentley comes in to a surprisingly good reaction.

The heels get him down into the corner and work him over though, resulting in Traci slapping the mat. Bentley ranas his way out of trouble and gets two at the same time. Aries comes in with his corkscrew splash for two. Off to Shelley who takes Aries down and hits a Lionsault for two. The referee misses a tag to Bentley, allowing the heels to hit a double team neckbreaker for two.

Strong stays on Aries and loads up a belly to back superplex, only to get punched down. Another double team, this time with Strong holding him up for a missile dropkick, gets two on Aries. Aries counters the third double team and makes the tag this time. House is cleaned and Bentley gets two off a top rope elbow. Shelley gets in a kick but his tornado DDT is countered. Bentley hits a top rope senton backsplash for two on Shelley. Shelley gets sent to the floor in front of his camera, letting Bentley superkick Strong for the pin.

Rating: C+. Just another X Division tag match here. Strong would never really do anything in TNA, whereas Shelley would become a big tag team star and Aries would become a big X Division star, albeit about five years later. Bentley never really did much of note but he had a hot chick in Traci. The match was fine for a time filling match that meant nothing.

Monty Brown is talking to a doll that he calls Christian Cage. Shane Douglas interrupts him and says Christian is trying to leapfrog Monty for his spot. Monty says that won’t happen and Christian will feel the Pounce. Jarrett comes up and says that the win won’t mean anything so Monty should join him. This really doesn’t seem to go anywhere.

Raven vs. ???

Same deal as last month. Larry is in the ring again and says his schtick about the release or whatever. Raven says Larry is the answer to a trivia question that has never been asked. That’s pretty true. The opponent is Chris K, meaning Kanyon. Kanyon immediately gets in and takes Raven down and the brawl is on fast. He takes over to put Raven in early trouble, dropping a leg on Raven as his head is in the ropes.

Out to the floor but Kanyon’s dive hits barricade by accident and Raven gets back in first. Back in, Kanyon rides Raven down with a middle rope Fameasser for two, but the moonsault misses. Raven hooks an ankle lock which is broken pretty quickly. Two clotheslines put Kanyon down and a flying knee puts him on the floor. He tries to escape but Raven hiptosses him back down the steel. Raven is bleeding from the mouth. Back in and there’s a chair now for some reason. Bird Boy tries to punch it into Kanyon’s face but it just hurts his hand. Kanyon tries a rana but gets powerbombed onto the chair. Raven Effect and it’s over.

Rating: D. Nothing to see here for the most part as it was all about an angle rather than a match. I don’t get why they kept going with this as it was the same story for a few months in a row. Why Larry wanted Raven to leave isn’t really mentioned on these PPVs, but I’m sure it was explained on Impact somewhere which I can live with. Not a terrible match but it was short.

Raven and Larry get in a pull apart brawl post match.

Team Canada is worried about the lack of Roode. Petey tells Young to chill and hits him. D’Amore says chill, and then hits Eric himself. That was great. Jarrett comes up and says he’s worried about what management means by the face of TNA changing. D’Amore doesn’t know either but says they’ll get to the bottom of it by the end of the night. Roode (weren’t they worried about him not being there??) pops up, apparently just being out of frame, and says it’s ok.

Team Canada vs. 4 Live Kru

This is the FINAL blowoff match between these guys, thank goodness. Eric and Kip get us going but Eric needs to stall a bit first. Ok so it’s Roode starting for the Canadians. After about a minute we’re finally hooking up. We get about a minute of the most basic wrestling you’ll ever see. Arm drags, wristlocks and a slam. It’s fine and all but very basic. Off to Petey who is launched in and Konnan hits him with a shoe. What’s Up Petey.

Truth comes in now and speeds things up, taking Young down with a sidekick. Off to BG for all of the exact same moves they’ve done in the previous two matches between these teams. The dancing punches and shaky kneedrop get two. BG gets thrown into the corner and taken down by some apron interference. Roode puts him in the Tree of Woe and it’s O Canada time from Petey. James hits a double clothesline on Roode and Williams, allowing the tag to Gunn. Everything breaks down and Kip hits the Fameasser on Roode. A chair comes in and Konnan kills Kip with it so Roode can pin him.

Rating: D-. The match was technically fine, but for the life of me I don’t remember a more paint by numbers/going by the pure stereotypical formula match in a VERY long time. Either way, it finally ended this way too long feud and would also bring about the end of the Kru which had outlived its usefulness anyway.

Konnan hits BG with the chair too. He would form LAX soon after this while the Outlaws would reform as well. Truth would just kind of float around.

The Diamonds in the Rough are reading the paper and say that this isn’t about baseball. A New Age Outlaws chant is heard over this, meaning the Outlaws are getting up and leaving together I guess.

We recap the baseball feud. AJ Pierzynski (for the sake of this, he’ll be called AJ. For clarification, AJ Styles is not involved in this whatsoever, so don’t get confused) showed up on Impact to give TNA some gifts in exchange for some award, when the Diamonds come out to make fun of them. Dale Torborg (Demon in WCW) was brought in too along with AJ and they argued batting averages.

Oh one more thing: AJ had a manager teaching him how to manage: BOBBY THE FREAKING BRAIN HEENAN!!! He’s doing commentary, which saddens me to a degree as it’s after his throat surgery so he doesn’t have his signature voice. His wit is still there though, and most importantly he’s still alive to do commentary so it’s really a good thing, even if it doesn’t sound like it. Heenan looks older but good for the most part. He goes over to commentary and wants $5 to do it. Classic Heenan.

Diamonds in the Rough vs. Chris Sabin/Sonjay Dutt/Dale Torborg

Need a filler in 2005? Call Chris Sabin. Brain has been teaching AJ how to manage. Tenay: “What have you taught him?” Heenan: “How to lie, cheat, get everyone to dislike you, that sort of stuff.” Tenay: “Not how to trip people and use brass knuckles?” Heenan: “No I taught that to Steinbrenner.” Sabin and Skipper start us off as Heenan talks about his love of Chicago, his hometown.

Skipper tries to reverse out of a hammerlock by flipping out of it, but he winds up falling on his head as Sabin drops him. Sabin flips back into the ring and I have very little desire to watch this match. I’d much rather just listen to Heenan say things like this: Tenay: “How rabid were those fans in Chicago?” Heenan: “There was a lot of frothing.” Tenay: “I don’t mean that kind of rabid!” Heenan: “You never met the Wachowski Sisters.” Seriously, JUST LET HIM TALK!

Sabin and Young are in there now but it’s off to Dutt quickly. Trust me: the Heenan stuff is better than the match so you’re not missing much. Top rope legdrop gets two for Sonjay. Off to Torborg who is taller than anyone else in the match. He launches Sonjay over the top onto all of the Diamonds so AJ can chase them with the bat. West calls it a bat, but Tenay corrects him by calling it a foreign object. Tenay: “We’ll teach him eventually won’t we Bobby.” Heenan: “Uh probably not.”

Young hits a spinning slam on Dutt for two and it’s off to Simon who gets two as well. Skipper comes in to kick Dutt in the back for two. West talks about some singers and musicians in attendance here, resulting in Heenan asking if we’re on American Bandstand or at a wrestling match. Skipper tries a mat slam of some kind but drops Dutt on his face again. Spinebuster by Young gets two.

Sonjay hits a slingshot rana to send Young down and it’s off to Torborg. Heenan plugs TNA and does it like a master, telling people to go tell everyone else to watch it because it’s the best wrestling today. See how easy it is? Chokeslam gets two on Skipper and everything breaks down. Young is put into the Tree of Woe for a hesitation dropkick from Sabin.

Stereo dives by Sabin and Dutt take out two Diamonds but Simon hits Torborg low. A shin protector shot to the head of Torborg gets two as AJ pulls the referee out. Heenan intercedes for him, allowing AJ to get a home plate from Johnny Damon (baseball player in the audience) which he cracks Simon with. Cradle Shock and the Hindu Press get the pin.

Rating: C+. The match was just ok but the commentary was excellent. It’s amazing how great Heenan is at just starting up again and being absolutely excellent. He was hilarious and at the same time he PUT THE TALENT OVER. He sounded legitimately happy to be there too, which is a great thing. I had a blast with that and he’s still one of the best ever.

Post match the winning team gives AJ and Torborg (who is the strength coach for the White Sox) some TNA championship rings.

Christian says he hears the Peeps chanting his name. It’s called anticipation for Christian becoming #1 contender. Christian says he does things on his own terms, so tonight he’s going to the Serengeti and going Alpha Male hunting.

We recap Christian vs. Monty Brown. Basically it’s just Christian’s first big match and it’s a #1 contender’s match.

Christian Cage vs. Monty Brown

Officially this is just a Contender’s match, but screw that and add the #1 part to it. This isn’t Christian’s in ring debut for the company as he already beat Bobby Roode on Impact, but it’s his first big match. Monty shoves him around to start as you would expect him to. Christian is like screw the power stuff and fires away with right hands. Tenay talks about how you have to earn your title shots here instead of talking your way into them. Oh the irony (Look up the May 24, 2012 Impact for why that’s funny in case you’re reading this in like three years).

They head to the floor and Christian takes over with an uppercut before sending him into the barricade. Back in the gorilla press is escaped and Brown is sent to the floor again, this time followed by a huge dive. Back in again and Brown hot shots him before gorilla pressing him over the top and onto the floor with a thud. Monty teases throwing him into the barricade but throws him back inside instead for some reason.

Brown’s suplex is countered with some elbows but Christian walks into a belly to belly for two. The fans chant Alpha Female. Christian goes into the corner and is pulled out so hard that he rips the buckle off. Brown bends Christian’s back around the post on the floor but gets sent into the barricade to give Christian a break.

Back in and Christian pounds away with a bunch of right hands to take over. Tornado DDT gets two as does a rollup with his feet on the ropes. Christian goes up and after knocking Brown off, hits a frog splash for two. Brown comes back with the Alpha Bomb for two. Brown misses a charge and hits the exposed buckle and the Unprettier gets the pin.

Rating: C-. Brown didn’t do much but punch, kick and slam but it was ok enough. Christian did his usual stuff and that’s fine as the fans were really getting into him here. I like the Frog Splash better as a finisher for Christian and thankfully he’s been using that more often in his latest WWE run. Not a bad mathc or anything but it was pretty bland.

Team 3D says they want the NWA Tag Titles, but tonight it’s about revenge.

We recap Team 3D vs. AMW. AMW beat 3D down so now they’re back for revenge. It’s a tables match tonight, but it’s not for the titles for no apparent reason.

Team 3D vs. America’s Most Wanted

Both guys have to go through the table. Team 3D jumps them while the pyro is still going off and the fight starts fast. I don’t think there was a bell but who cares. It’s Storm vs. Ray on the stage and the other two at ringside. Harris and D-Von get in the ring and a delayed suplex puts D-Von down. Harris covers but it doesn’t count here of course. Storm comes in and walks into a double clothesline from D-Von who covers as well.

Ray pulls Harris to the floor and What’s Up Storm. Here’s the table but Harris breaks up the 3D. AMW tries to put D-Von through one but Ray makes the save this time. Storm and Ray go to the floor for some chopping as Harris puts D-Von on the table. He goes up but Ray makes the save. Ray loads up a superplex but Storm moves the table. Instead of, you know, not letting his partner get suplexed. No wonder they split up.

There’s a table next to the ring on the floor now. Storm gets launched to the floor but Ray throws him too far, missing the table completely. I think that was intentional. The table is set up in the ring again but Ray goes to the floor instead. Storm and Ray go into the ring but Ray gets hit low to break up whatever he was trying from the ropes. D-Von moves the table but Ray has to take the rana anyway. No wonder they split up.

Superkick puts D-Von down and AMW is in full control. The Dudleys come back very quickly and and put Storm through the table with AMW’s own move, the Death Sentence. Harris comes in with a chair and beats down both of them before heading out to the floor with D-Von. There’s a table up by the entrance too, and here’s Bubba. 3D through the table ends it clean.

Rating: D+. This was ok and there wasn’t anything all that great about it. It’s just a tables match which you’ve seen the Dudleys have about a thousand times. At the end of the day, they’re probably 50/50 in them so it’s not like this really means anything anymore. AMW wouldn’t lose the titles for months and it wasn’t to Team 3D, so this really didn’t do much other than set up a title match later.

We recap Styles vs. Joe. Joe turned on Daniels last month and annihilated him, hitting him with a MuscleBuster on a chair. AJ (Styles) took issue with this and said it was against the X-Division Code. Joe beat him up in the back and tonight, it’s revenge vs. title.

James Storm is helped to the back due to a possible neck injury. This might be legit. He’s sitting up though. He has to be helped out but he’s on his feet at least.

X-Division Title: Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles

AJ is defending and Joe is undefeated. They’ve fought before, I believe at Sacrifice. Joe has the bloody towel which is still awesome. AJ goes right at Joe as soon as the bell rings, knocking him into the corner where Joe is just covering up. AJ ducks his head though and Joe gets in a kick to the chest. The drop down dropkick knocks Joe silly though and the champ takes over again.

Joe misses a charge and for some reason they have a stalemate. AJ has that fire in his eyes here and that means this is going to be awesome. They chop it out and Joe fires of HARD kicks to take over. A running kick sends Styles to the floor and the fire is gone all of a sudden. AJ comes in first but can’t suplex Joe over the top. Instead he guillotines him on the top rope, sending Joe to the floor.

Joe pulls the feet out and spins him around in a powerbomb position to send Styles into the barricade. SICK impact. Styles gets sent into the barricade and a running boot sends AJ flying. Back in and AJ is knocked into the corner and a kick to the chest puts him down. Backsplash keeps Styles down and gets two. A chinlock runs through a few seconds and it’s Facewash time. AJ blocks one of them though and fires off some rights. That gets him nowhere though as Joe kicks him HARD in the face and Styles’ lights are out.

Styles is knocked to the apron but he manages a kind of enziguri but the springboard forearm is countered into a powerbomb into a Boston Crab and then a modified one with AJ’s legs in a powerbomb position. AJ kicks his way out of it and goes to the corner. Joe misses a charge and goes to the floor. The running Shooting Star dive (LOVE that move and it’s called the Fosburry Flop) takes Joe down. Springboard forearm to the back of the head gets two.

Joe’s release German is escaped into the moonsault DDT for two. Powerslam gets two for the Samoan. Joe fires off kicks and Styles says kick him harder. Joe does and AJ crumples up in the corner. AJ comes back again after some right hands and kicks Joe down. AJ’s mouth is busted but I think we’re in Rope-A-Dope land. He loads up the Clash but powerbombs Joe instead for two. That was impressive.

Styles’ eyes say “what more do I have to do” and Joe KILLS him with a clothesline. That only gets one and Joe looks stunned. A SICK double underhook powerbomb gets two for Joe and Styles screams at him. Joe hooks a standing Clutch but AJ escapes and hits the Pele for no cover. AJ takes him to the corner but has to escape a top rope MuscleBuster. Instead AJ pulls him to the mat and then hits the Clash…..for two. The champ tries an O’Connor Roll but gets caught in the Clutch and Styles passes out to give Joe the title for the first time.

Rating: B+. Styles may not bring out the best in Joe, but Joe brings out the best in Styles. This was telling a great story with Styles wanting to hold on as long as he could and tire Joe out but in the end, Joe was just too much for him. The match was great, but when they threw in Daniels it made things excellent. Very good match here though and the fire in Styles was great.

Joe helps AJ up and then lays him out with the belt. Security goes down and Joe gets a chair. He loads up the MuscleBuster but here’s Daniels for the save. Joe beats him down too, although Daniels wasn’t completely healed up yet so it’s not as bad.

We recap Rhyno vs. Jarrett. It’s the rubber match as Rhyno won the title at BFG and Jarrett won it back on Impact. The idea here is that Rhyno is going through a lot of personal issues and this is all he has.

Rhyno says he’ll always be a champion to everyone that loves him and he’ll win tonight.

NWA World Title: Jeff Jarrett vs. Rhyno

Feeling out process to start and Jeff grabs a wristlock. That gets him nowhere as Rhyno runs him over for one. A dropkick gets the same for the champ and it’s off to a short arm scissors. The fans want Jarrett fired as Rhyno powers out of the hold and drops Jeff onto the top rope. Press slam is followed by Jarrett being draped over the top again. Out to the floor and Rhyno hits a dive out to the floor.

They head into the crowd with Rhyno in full control. He tries to suplex him off a wall but Jarrett knocks him down and onto the floor again. They head up towards the backstage and Jarrett is rammed into various metal objects, busting him open. Back to ringside and Jeff takes a chair shot to the shoulder and the back. Back to the backstage area and Rhyno loads up a table.

Rhyno takes him onto a scaffold but Jeff finds a chair to pop Rhyno with, sending him down through the table with a crash. Jeff takes him back to the ramp and goes for a suplex but Rhyno counters into one of his own. Rhyno goes to the back to get something and comes back with another table. He puts the table up against the ramp and Gores him “through” it, as I don’t think it actually broke but rather fell on top of the two of them.

With both guys down, JB gets on the mic and says both guys have until ten to get to the ring or it’s over. You know, like in a regular match. Team Canada comes out and beats down Rhyno some more and carries Jarrett back to the ring. Rhyno makes it back in anyway and is all fired up. A clothesline puts Jarrett down and the champ is reeling. The Canadians come in and are quickly dispatched.

Spinebuster gets two for the challenger. He goes up but Petey crotches him. So you can start that ten count thing but you can’t do anything about these guys? Superplex gets two for Jeff as does a TKO for Rhyno. The referee takes a shoulder block in the corner, which isn’t going to mean anything because he’s been useless. Stroke is countered and Rhyno loads up the Gore, only to have Roode come in.

He goes down as does A-1 but Roode gets up quickly and hits his Northern Lariat to Rhyno, getting two. There’s the guitar shot for two. Here comes Jackie Gayda who apparently has something on Jarrett. The distraction lets Rhyno Gore Jeff down for two. The challenger sets up two chairs and tries the Rhyno Driver through them, but D’Amore hits him with the hockey stick. A middle rope Stroke onto the chairs keeps the belt on Jeff.

Rating: B-. It was a pretty solid brawl here but the Canadians at the end got annoying quickly. Then again that’s the point, but this was the HHH formula 101 from 2003. Rhyno wasn’t going to get the title back and probably shouldn’t have, so I can’t really complain about the ending. For a B show main event title match, I can’t complain much here.

Post match the lights go out. After awhile, a Scorpion logo pops up on screen with what would become Sting’s music. A spotlight comes up and we see a chair with black boots in it, a trenchcoat around it and a bat leaning against it. Jarrett sees it and panics to end the show. Sting showed up on January 1 or whatever the first show of the year was.

Overall Rating: B-. This wasn’t bad. It’s a B level show to close out the year and there’s nothing wrong with what we got out of it. It sets up something for the new year and closes out some of the old stuff. There are some good matches here but some of the matches just fall flat. If you ever check this out, you won’t be completely disappointed, although there are much better shows to check out.

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ECW on Sci-Fi
Date: August 8, 2006
Location: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Joey Styles, Tazz

This is I think the ninth episode and thankfully for the sake of WWE, the show is out of ECW country this week. The main event is Angle vs. Sabu in a match that has some historical significance which we’ll get to at the end of this. Other than that there isn’t much to talk about but Summerslam is coming up so you know there’s going to be talk about the non-ECW matches from that show right? Let’s get to it.

After a clip from last week with the opening tag, we’re ready to go.

Mike Knox vs. Tommy Dreamer

Knox jumps Dreamer as he’s getting in and we’re going fast. He tries a backdrop but Dreamer hits a bad neckbreaker to take over. Dreamer hits a Cactus Clothesline to put both guys outside. Knox goes into the steps and let’s head back inside. Middle rope elbow gets two for Dreamer and here’s Heyman. Dreamer hits the DDT but the security guards come in and take out Tommy. Knox hits a DDT for the quick pin.

Heyman and the guards set for a double beatdown but Sandman comes in for the save and we take a break.

Back with Heyman telling Sandman that Heyman gets what’s wrong. It’s about Dreamer getting attacked right? Dreamer was going to get another match with someone (presumably the tag match from last week) but instead Sandman gets to go it alone. Oh and it’s regular rules so no cane.

Test/Mike Knox vs. Sandman

I mean, what would we do without a Test appearance right? As Dreamer is on his way to the back, Test kicks his head off in a nice heelish move. Sandman tries to use the cane anyway but misses Knox. Test beats him down and the double teaming begins. The heels beat on him for awhile until Test missses a charge in the corner. Sandman dropkicks Knox and then grabs the cane for the quick DQ. This was less than nothing.

Sandman canes them both and leaves.

Video on Sabu.

We see Sabu attacking Big Show the last two weeks, which is why Sabu is in a #1 contenders match with Angle tonight.

Sabu says he’ll win. Insert rage about Sabu talking here.

Balls Mahoney loves ECW and has cuts in his head.

There’s a full moon, which of course leads to….

Kevin Thorn vs. Al Snow

DANG those things on Ariel are big. She hangs upside down on the ropes during the entrance. Thankfully Joey is there to pound it into our heads that they follow Vampirism. Snow jumps him to start and gets a very quick one. Thorn catches him and hits a very bad gutbuster as he works on the ribs. Snow fights back a bit but gets caught by the elevated Stunner. Razor’s Edge ends this squash.

Video on Angle.

Angle says that Sabu will lose tonight, because it’s suicide to come into the ring with him.

Rene Dupree is coming. Oh geez.

Here’s Big Show for a chat. Show knows that he’s the best ECW Champion ever. He doesn’t represent the blood and guts that usually are associated with the title. Instead he’s bringing some class to the belt. Angle will be crushed like crackers in soup and Sabu would be suicidal if he comes after the title. No one can beat him apparently.

We get a clip from last week with Punk debuting.

Punk says he was welcomed into the ECW family and he thanks the fans for that reception. All the years of training have paid off but now it’s about the future. He’ll be in the ring again next week.

Kurt Angle vs. Sabu

Main event and #1 contender match. Sabu charges straight at him which gets him nowhere at all. Angle takes Sabu down and slaps him around a little bit. He goes after the leg but Sabu gets a rope. The idea here is that Sabu has to be careful while Angle is looking for an opening. Sabu avoids a charge and Angle’s shoulder goes into the post. Sabu sends him to the floor and we take a break. Back with Sabu in a rear chinlock. The winner gets the title match at Summerslam.

Sabu fights up and hits a springboard tornado DDT for two. Angle is in a little trouble but he snaps off an overhead belly to belly to take over. Off to the grapevined chinlock which doesn’t last long. Sabu hits a springboard leg lariat and a slingshot legdrop for two. Let lariat gets the same. The American hits rolling Germans on the Arabian and loudly calls the flip over spot on the last one.

There go the straps but Sabu counteres the Slam. Sabu hits some springboard attacks for two. Camel clutch goes on but Angle reverses into the ankle lock. Sabu rolls through and the counter sends Angle out to the floor. A flip dive almost totally misses and both guys are down on the floor. Angle AGAIN can be heard talking to Sabu. This is getting ridiculous. Back in a spinning splash off the top gets two for Sabu. Angle counters an arm hold into the ankle lock but here’s RVD for the DQ.

Rating: B-. I was getting into this as Sabu having to go crazy to hold off Angle was a nice idea. The key to Sabu is to have someone in there with him that can keep him sane and the match works WAY better. This was way better than I was expecting and it’s always nice to have a match exceed yoru expectations, especially when you’re expecting a mess with Sabu.

Rob attacks both guys and stands tall to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. I liked last week’s show better but this certainly wasn’t bad. Rob returning is a good thing because the historical significance I was talking about earlier is that Angle would never have another WWE match on TV. After this he would be gone within a week and would be in TNA in less than two months. Rob needed to come back and they would soon start changing the way ECW looked. Decent show but nothing great.

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ECW on Sci-Fi
Date: August 1, 2006
Location: Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City, New York
Commentators: Joey Styles, Tazz

Back to the land of Extreme for another episode, this one being from an old ECW stomping ground. It’s hard to say what the crowd is going to think here but you know that the fans are going to be behind the ECW originals which is so cute because they think those people still mean a thing in this new company. It’s hard to say what to really expect here other than that. Let’s get to it.

The outside challenger of the week is Batista.

Sandman/Tommy Dreamer vs. Test/Mike Knox

This is EXTREME Rules and I guess the blowoff to their month long feud. Sandman of course gets busted open on the way to the ring with the beer can. The fans get on Kelly (lucky) and it’s Dreamer vs. Test to start. It occurs to them that they don’t have to tag so everything breaks down quickly. Sandman fires off a dropkick to the shock and awe of the announcers. Knox kills Sandman with a shoulder and the non-ECW guys take over.

Test gets the Singapore Cane but Dreamer saves Sandman from a caining. The Extremists bust out the weapons in the form of some trashcans but the fans want tables. Since it’s ECW, Dreamer and Sandman bust out some barbed wire boards to pop the crowd. Knox avoids going into it and Test saves him from a double suplex through it. Dreamer is busted and the fans think that Test takes steroids. Gee what gave you THAT idea?

Test goes shoulder first into the post as Dreamer is gushing blood. Oh wait that was just one side of his head. Sandman finds his cane but Kelly shields Knox. Sandy actually thinks for once and moves her out of the way so he can cane Knox up the aisle. Dreamer leans down to kiss Kelly but spanks her instead. Heyman and his security guards come out and beat down Dreamer, putting him through the board. Test throws him through it again and gets the easy pin with a TKO.

Rating: C. Not a bad brawl here and I’m certainly not complaining about the upskirt shots of Kelly that we got, but it’s the same thing I’ve said week after week so far: the ECW guys mean nothing at all in this modern incarnation. Test wasn’t going to be able to be pushed anywhere else so this is the best that they could do. The match was ok I guess but the Heyman security guards stuff was as weak as you could get.

Hogan is at Summerslam. Can you EVER imagine Hogan in ECW?

Heyman talks to his security and runs into Nunzio. Nothing is said so Heyman keeps walking until he finds Sabu. Still no title match.

Punk tells us about discipline until the battle begins when he’ll unleash his rage.

CM Punk vs. Justin Credible

The fans LOUDLY chant for Punk who is known as an indy legend at this point. Punk takes him to the mat with ease and makes Credible look stupid for fun. They go into the corner and Punk hooks an Anaconda Vice/Tarantula hybrid. Credible gets in some offense but Punk comes back with the kicks. Justin hits some rolling suplexes for two. Off to a half crab which doesn’t last long. Springboard clothesline gets two. Corner knee, bulldog, high kick, Vice and we’re done.

Rating: C. This was your usual debuting squash. Credible got in some more offense than your usual jobber would, but that’s because he’s not your usual jobber. He’s a jobber with a stupid name. Not much to see here from the Straightedge one, but obviously he would go on to have some far better days.

Video on Batista.

Shannon Moore is on a subway.

Brooklyn Brawler is in the ring and says he’s too hardcore for Raw or Smackdown.

Brooklyn Brawler vs. Kurt Angle

Ankle lock. Do you really need another detail?

Video on Big Show.

Ariel says that Kevin Thorn will take over. Thorn says nothing of note.

ECW World Title: Big Show vs. Batista

Batista’s reaction is pretty mixed. There are definitely cheers though. The fans want RVD but they get a muscle head from the WWE isntead. Then the music stops and Batista gets on the ropes where the people just rip into him. They do the big match intros and Batista is loudly booed. Then again they’re not that thrilled with Big Show either. We get a loud YOU BOTH SUCK and it’s off. They fight over a power advantage to start as Joey and Tazz have to ignore the fans.

Batista escapes an arm hold and pounds Show down to the floor as we take a break. Back with Show in control as the fans are ranting about the match again. Show flips them all off and the announcers have to ignore them again. Chokeslam is broken up but Show clotheslines him down. There’s what sounds like a boring chant. Now it’s CHANGE THE CHANNEL. Show slams him down but his Vader Bomb is broken up by Big Dave. A superplex puts both guys down.

Big Dave avoids a charge and hits his shoulders in the corner. Some clotheslines don’t do much so he spears Show down for two. Now the chant is BORING. Chokeslam out of nowhere gets two. Show grabs the belt but walks into the spinebuster. The Bomb is countered into the Final Cut for two. And never mind as the belt shot draws the LAME DQ.

Rating: D+. The problem here is the crowd. The match itself wasn’t that bad. It was your standard main event power match and could have been a watchable match on TV or PPV with few complaints being made. Well ok everyone would complain about the bad ending but the rest of the match was fine. That being said, the fans flat out did not want to see this at all and they were very vocal about it. Not the wrestlers’ fault though.

Post match Sabu (who was thrown out earlier) comes out and beats up Show with a chair to pop the crowd. Show falls through a table and Sabu poses to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. You can clearly tell that things are changing here but the most important thing is they’re getting a formula down. The show isn’t that bad although it’s certainly not what I’d call good. It’s more or less just there at this point and considering how bad the earlier episodes were, that’s a major compliment. Not a great show or anything but for an hour of wrestling, this was fine.

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Hard Justice 2006
Date: August 13, 2006
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 900
Commentators: Don West, Mike Tenay

This is at the other end of the spectrum for TNA as the next show in 2005 was Unbreakable and that’s the last TNA show I’m going to be doing. The show looks very different now and in a good way for the most part I think. The main event here is Jarrett vs. Sting for the title (shocking) and there’s also AJ/Daniels vs. LAX which is usually good. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about how good and evil are eternal rivals which is what they’re trying to push Jarrett vs. Sting as. They’ve feuded on and off over the years but eternal rivals? No. Just no. What this has to do with justice is beyond me.

Eric Young vs. Johnny Devine

Johnny is part of Paparazzi Productions. This is when Eric is all paranoid about getting fired so he’s trying to get all the fans he can behind him, meaning he’s got a parade of people after him chanting DON’T FIRE ERIC! Devine says Eric is going to choke under the pressure. Eric knocks him back and then gives him a hug as we get going. Devine punches him down and drops a few knees to the head.

We get a pretty sweet move as Devine is sent into the corner and tries to jump over Eric off the bottom rope but instead shifts in mid air into a reverse DDT. Then things get interesting as a legitimate fire breaks out in the rafters and the ring fills up with fire extinguisher spray. You can see the flames through the fog which is a little scary.

Devine suplexes him down and misses a springboard moonsault. The idiot fans chant “You can’t see us.” Eric gets a good powerbomb as the smoke is clearing out. Top rope elbow gets two. A sunset flip by Eric is countered but he gets Devine in a wheelbarrow position and flips him into a neckbreker for the pin.

Rating: C. All things considered, this wasn’t bad. Young had become a hit with the fans at this point as the paranoid guy that everyone loved, as opposed to now when he’s done the same schtick for over a year without ever really changing anything. The fire extinguisher stuff wasn’t their fault and to their credit they kept right at it which was impressive.

Earl Hebner runs out and chokes Mark Johnson for some reason. He’s mad about being fired and says that if he’s going down, Jarrett’s going down with him. Ok then.

We run down the rest of the card.

We see Jarrett arriving earlier with his second, Scott Steiner. Sting and Christian got here earlier today too.

We recap the four way tag match which is AMW, the James Gang, the Naturals and Bentley/Kazarian which I think is a #1 contenders match. I don’t think this needs much of a recap. All of them want the titles and have been fighting over who should get it.

First though we have to replace the mat because of all of the fire extinguisher stuff on it. What’s the right word for that anyway? Foam? Spray? Anyway Don and Mike talk about the fourway to fill in time.

Now we recap Sting’s career in TNA. He came back in January of 2006, had a tag match and said he was gone. Jarrett said he didn’t think Sting was gone so he sent the Pararazzi to film Sting at home, which ticked Sting off. He came back as Steve Borden to beat up Jarrett and then a month later as Sting. Steiner came in the next month to beat up Sting so Sting brought in Joe to beat up Jarrett but for some reason they switched his friend to Christian and sent Joe to the midcard again. Jarrett got the title back at Slammiversary and this would all set up tonight.

We come back to a sign saying technical difficulties, please stand by.

Here’s the same Sting video that just aired.

Tenay and Borash are in the back and we’re told that the fire marshall has evacuated the building and are testing everything before we continue the PPV. We look at the fire breaking out in the opening match. West comes in and says the people are being allowed back in now. To be clear, this isn’t something that can be held against TNA. It was an accident and who knows whose call it was that the building had to be cleared out. That could be building policy, local or state law or maybe even something else.

Tenay and West hype up the rest of the card to fill in more time. Eric Young comes up and wants to make sure that he’s not being blamed for the fire. Monty Brown says he’s going to blaze everyone in his triple threat match. This is about as good as they’re going to get for filling time which is ok. Also points to Brown and Tenay for doing this on the fly. It drags on too long and Brown runs out of insults. The fans are coming back in as Tenay helps Brown out by saying the winner could get a possible title match. Shane Douglas comes up to complain about life in general. His team is with him and he talks about them a bit at the end.

JB is with Alex Shelley who is replacing Kevin Nash in the X-Division match tonight. Nash has a bad neck apparently. Devine wheels in Nash in a wheelchair and a neckbrace. Nash tells Shelley to go to war and takes the brace off to give Shelley his dog tags. As little sense as this whole angle would wind up making, it was pretty funny.

Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin

The winner is #1 contender to the X Title. Feeling out process to start and it’s exactly what you would expect from the Guns in a singles match against each other. Shelley charges into a boot in the corner and Sabin hits a missile dropkick for two. Sabin loads up a Jackknife and does the Wolfpac sign before hitting the powerbomb. Shelley comes back with a bulldog and a Lionsault for two.

Sabin sends him to the floor and hits a suicide dive to take both guys down. Back in the ring and Sabin goes off with the kicks, followed by a springboard guillotine legdrop for two. Sabin loads up a tornado DDT but Shelley comes back with a middle rope atomic drop. Into a modified crossface but Sabin makes the rope.

Sabin gets Shelley into the Tree of Woe and hits the hesitation dropkick followed by a freaky spinning DDT for two. Sabin loads up something in the corner but Alex rolls off the corner and rolls forward into a Backstabber off the middle rope. Cool. Shellshock gets two and Nash puts a chair in the ring. Sliced Bread onto the chair is countered and Sabin kicks it into Shelley’s face. Cradle Shock gets the pin.

Rating: B-. As you would expect, these two put on an entertaining match. It’s easy to see why these two would be put together as a team because they compliment each other so well. The Nash stuff was part of a bigger story which I’m still not sure I get all of but it was entertaining which makes it ok.

Mitchell and Abyss aren’t worried about Brother Runt and say he’s doomed. Runt has been listening to Raven apparently and Raven has been telling Runt fairy tales.

We recap Runt vs. Abyss. The Dudleys had left for awhile to heal up and told Runt to stay out of trouble. Naturally he picked a fight with Abyss because that’s the kind of thing Runt does.

In case it wasn’t mentioned earlier, the four way tag match is canceled. The announcers haven’t said that yet but I don’t have time to wait on them.

Abyss vs. Brother Runt

Runt has a mohawk and looks like Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, which Tenay and West keep calling Taxi. Runt is no Judd Hirsch. He starts fast with forearms and a headbutt to the ribs but Abyss kicks him down and throws him over the top and into about the third row. On the floor Runt comes back with a Dudley Dog onto the barricade. Raven is watching from somewhere. Runt throws in some chairs but Abyss wedges the first one between the ropes. Runt’s head goes into the chair for Abyss to take over.

Abyss splashes him in the corner as Raven is still watching, apparently from next to the stage. Abyss loads up a superplex but Runt gets in a shot with Abyss’ chain to knock him to the ring. Acid Drop (Dudley Dog, same thing) gets two. The referee goes down and Abyss gets his bag of tacks. Abyss rubs Runt’s face into the tacks and stomps on the back of Runt’s head, sending it into the tacks. Ok that’s not bad. Runt comes back but gets gorilla pressed onto the tacks. Black Hole Slam onto the tacks ends this.

Rating: D. Was there a point to this? I’ve never gotten the appeal of Runt challenging whatever monster there is but I suppose it was to set up Raven vs. Abyss later on. Abyss threw him around all match long and then beat him up with the tacks in some decent looking violence. Pretty boring match though.

Rhyno says he was looking for Joe and Brown during the confusion earlier. He’s here to destroy both of them no matter where he needs to go.

We recap Rhyno vs. Joe vs. Brown. Rhyno was offered a contract with the new ECW but he turned it down. He threw out an open contract for a fight at Hard Justice which was accepted by Joe and Brown. It’s falls count anywhere which is going to be stretched to mean hardcore.

Samoa Joe vs. Monty Brown vs. Rhyno

Big brawl to start and Brown is sent to the floor where Rhyno dives on him. Joe dives on both of them and stands tall. Brown brings in a trashcan but Joe takes it from him. In a cool sequence he hits Brown in the back with the can and with Brown bent over, Joe punts it into Brown’s face. Joe gets sent into the crowd and Rhyno follows him with a kendo stick. They go over to that wall that you always see in the Impact Zone but Brown dives onto both of them to take over.

Rhyno and Joe ram each other into the wall enough times to crack it and boards are falling off of it. Brown beats on Joe with said boards before Rhyno takes Brown up above the wall. Joe pops up with a crutch and then a chair to the back of both of them. He superkicks Brown back a bit and they stumble further into the crowd. Joe poses long enough for Rhyno to hit him in the head with a trashcan lid.

Brown comes in with one of his own but gets suplexed by Rhyno for his troubles. There’s a suplex for Joe but he blocks the Gore. A suplex gets two on Rhyno for Brown. Rhyno knocks Brown upside the head again and pulls some more weapons from under the ring. They go into the ring with Joe still down. As I say that, Joe comes back in and cleans house on Brown, hitting a backsplash for two.

Joe goes off on Rhyno but walks into a spinebuster onto a chair. They go to the corner with Rhyno looking for a superplex. Joe pulls him down with a sunset bomb onto the chair for two. Brown is back in now and takes Joe to the floor. He loads up a table but can’t suplex Joe off the ramp through the table. Instead he hits a swinging neckbreaker on Joe on the stage. Rhyno runs in with a trashcan lid shot to both of them. There’s a table set up off the stage but Rhyno misses a Gore off the stage and crashes through it. Brown goes down to pin him but walks into an STO off the ramp through the table by Joe for the pin.

Rating: A-. That’s probably high but DANG this was a wild brawl. They didn’t stop for over thirteen minutes and some of those weapon shots were HARD, especially the ones with the trashcan lid by Rhyno. Joe would keep running through everyone and wouldn’t lose until December to this Angle dude. He would beat Jarrett (non-title of course) next month. Brown would have one more match until he left for WWE.

Larry Z says Earl Hebner has been thrown out. He says he had nothing to do with the controversy at Slammiversary. Mark Johnson comes in and wants an explanation but Larry says it was Johnson’s fault.

We recap Gail vs. Sirelda. Sirelda is the lastest Chyna wannabe who beat up Gail on behalf of AJ and Daniels, so tonight it’s girl vs. whatever Sirelda is.

Sirelda vs. Gail Kim

Gail is looking great tonight. She jumps Sirelda to start but gets powered into a corner and slammed ala Ultimate Warrior. Sirelda loads up a chokeslam but Kim easily escapes. She guillotines Sirelda on the top rope and a knee drop gets two. The fourway tag is officially announced as canceled. There’s a Tarantula from Gail but her high cross body misses. A bad looking World’s Strongest Slam gets two and Sirelda loads up a superplex. Gail knocks her back and hits a bad Blockbuster for the pin.

Rating: D-. This was really bad but Gail looked smoking out there so I’ll give it some points for that. Sirelda wasn’t around long and given how awful she was in this match I’m not really surprised by that. Nothing to see here and I think this ended the mini feud between these two. If it didn’t then it should have.

Scott Steiner goes on a semi-famous rant, talking about how Christian is a surprise as Sting’s backup. That’s strange because Scott Steiner is from a highly educated university and has to dumb himself down for these fans.

We recap the X Title match which is Senshi defending against Williams who won a five way and Lethal who is in the match because he tried hard in a match against Jarrett.

Senshi vs. Jay Lethal vs. Petey Williams

Williams knocks Lethal to the floor and follows him out with a rana off the apron. Senshi dives out to the floor, takes out both guys and lands on his feet. It’s Lethal vs. Senshi at the moment. Williams comes back in and walks into a Liger Kick from Senshi. Lethal back up now but he misses a moonsault out of the corner. Senshi shoves Lethal into Williams and Williams kicks Lethal down.

Petey puts Lethal in the Tree of Woe and does the O Canada spot. Senshi kicks Williams down and loads up the Warrior’s Way but Lethal comes back in for the save. Lethal’s superplex is broken up and Senshi dives onto Williams. Lethal stays up there and dropkicks both guys down, drawing a Lethal chant from the crowd. Both guys are slammed by Jay and he hits stereo low dropkicks to the face.

Lethal’s slide through Senshi’s legs for a sunset flip attempt is broken up by a kick and they all try to roll each other up. Jay gutwrench suplexes Senshi down but gets caught in a Sharpshooter by Williams. Senshi breaks that up with a kick to Petey for two but gets caught in a release German for two from Lethal. Swan Dive to Petey misses and there’s the Canadian Destroyer to Lethal. Senshi kicks Williams down and pins Lethal to retain.

Rating: B-. Another good three way here as they had some great counters in there at the end. Senshi was a guy that I’ve always found uninteresting and Williams only had one move and Lethal was pretty dull without the Savage stuff, but they combined for a decent match here. I think Sabin would take the title off Senshi.

Konnan says LAX’s revolution continues tonight. Daniels and Styles are handpicked champions and LAX won’t stand for that.

We recap LAX vs. Styles/Daniels. It’s pretty much exactly what I just explained: LAX is leading the Latin revolution against TNA and they’re starting by taking the tag titles.

Tag Titles: LAX vs. Christopher Daniels/AJ Styles

Daniels and Hernandez start things off and it’s power vs. striking. Daniels escapes a suplex and hits a headscissors followed by a leg lariat to send Hernandez to the floor. Off to Styles vs. Homicide and Tenay is WAY too excited about it. They trade armdrags and slug it out with rights to the head. Homicide snaps off a rana but AJ nips up into one of his own to send Homicide out to the floor.

Hernandez tries to come in but the champs double team him out to the floor. It’s back to Styles vs. Homicide now but a Hernandez distraction allows Homicide to hit a neckbreaker for two. SuperMex comes in legally now and hooks onto AJ’s head with a neck crank. Back to Homicide for a chinlock of his own. AJ tries to set for a springboard but Hernandez breaks that up. Homicide hits a tope con hilo through the ropes to take AJ out again.

Daniels tries to come in but it just allows Konnan to get in more offense. Hernandez gets the tag and chokes a bit before it’s back to Homicide. AJ comes back with a front suplex to drape Homicide over the top rope which is good for the tag. Daniels cleans house on both challengers, hitting a combination bulldog/enziguri. Split legged moonsault gets two. Homicide goes to the floor but Daniels drops down on him as well. Hernandez dives over the top to take them both out but AJ hits a HUGE off the top rope shooting star to take everyone out.

Everyone is down until AJ gets up and throws Homicide back in. A faceplant gets two because AJ gets up to take out Hernandez. Daniels is back up and a double team cross body gets two on Homicide. LAX hits a kind of Steiner Bulldog for two on Daniels. Homicide sets for a tornado DDT but AJ blocks it until Hernandez comes over for the Tower of Doom. AJ gets up and hits the moonsault into the DDT for two on SuperMex. Everyone is down and AJ hits the Pele on Hernandez. Release Rock Bottom puts Daniels down but Konnan crotches Styles. LAX sets for double finishers but the champions escape and hit High Low to retain on Homicide.

Rating: B. These two teams had some excellent chemistry together and their future matches would get even better. This won feud of the year in TNA I think and I certainly can understand why. Daniels is always tolerable when he’s not facing AJ so this was a much more enjoyable performance from him.

Christian says he thinks Jarrett started the fire to get out of his match. He’s not going anywhere and tonight, Jarrett loses the title. As for Steiner, he can come after Christian anytime. Sting gets the title tonight to cut the cancer out of TNA.

We get a shortened version of the Sting vs. Jarrett video from earlier.

NWA World Title: Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett

Christian and Steiner are the respective seconds. We almost get in a fight with the big match intros but after them we’re ready to go. The fans chant steroids at Steiner. Feeling out process to start but Sting quickly goes for the Scorpion twice in less than a minute. Out to the floor and Jeff is thrown over the announce table. Sting hits him with a fan. As in a cooling machine, not a person.

They’re in the crowd now as is the custom for a Sting main event match. All Sting so far. Sting throws Jarrett back into the ring after an extended crowd beating but as the the referee (one of three) is with Christian, Steiner hits Sting in the knee with a chair and suplexes Christian. Jeff goes right for the knee and Sting is in trouble. There’s the Figure Four and of course it’s on the wrong leg.

Jarrett makes the eternal mistake of slapping Sting which lets Sting turn the hold over and eventually make a rope. They slug it out and Sting isn’t selling the knee. Stinger Splash misses but the Stroke is countered into the Death Drop for two as Steiner pulls the referee out. Christian goes after Roidzilla with a chair but gets ejected for trying to use it. A regular splash from Sting gets knees to put him down.

Steiner throws in the belt and distracts the referee but Christian trips him up and throws the belt to Sting. Jarrett is clocked but Steiner’s distraction lets Jarrett recover and put his foot on the ropes. They collide and Steiner hits Sting with a chair, knocking his head into Jarrett’s crotch. Christian and Steiner get in the ring for a fight but Steiner is thrown out. Wasn’t Christian ejected? Either way he hits Jarrett with the chair and is ejected again as a result.

Steiner is in the ring behind the referee but doesn’t actually do anything. Now he gets ejected as well so it’s FINALLY even. Sting and Jarrett are both getting up but Sting misses a dropkick. Jarrett hooks the Scorpion on Sting but Sting Hulks Up and powers out of it. Scorpion to Jarrett but Jeff makes the rope. Stinger Splash hits the referee and Jarrett hits the Stroke, but there’s no one to count. Cue Steiner again with a guitar but Christian comes in with the bat. He cleans house with it but turns on Sting as he comes off the top, hitting him with the guitar. Jarrett gets the easy pin to end the show.

Rating: C. WAY overbooked here as almost all Jarrett vs. Sting matches wind up being. How hard can it possibly be to have Jarrett vs. Sting? I mean….IT’S JEFF JARRETT VS. STING. Do you think they can have a good match on their own? This might as well have been a tag match and it didn’t set up Christian vs. Sting for some reason. Instead we got Joe vs. Jarrett next month and Sting vs. Jarrett again at BFG.

Overall Rating: B-. This show was a bit of a mess, but it was a fun mess. The fire messed up a lot of stuff but it happened early enough in the show that it didn’t change much (other than the promos which mentioned it all night). There were some good matches here and the main event, while overbooked beyond all need, was entertaining enough and let Christian do his obvious turn. Pretty good show but it had some holes in it.

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ECW on Sci-Fi
Date: July 25, 2006
Location: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Commentators: Joey Styles, Tazz

We’re in Detroit tonight and the challenger of the week is Kane in an Extreme Rules match. That’s an interesting idea as there’s no better way to have someone built up as a monster than by having them run through people, especially when the regular roster has nothing they could throw at him for a reasonable challenge yet. Also tonight there’s more in the Knox vs. Sandman feud which I’m sure you’re all dying for. Let’s get to it.

After a quick intro about Show vs. Kane we hit the theme song.

Knox and Sandman are in the ring to start and Knox gives us a montage of Kelly’s dances. However, Kelly can never take her clothes off again after the cane shot last week, which we see. Knox claims that he didn’t abandon Kelly but rather was in the back getting the EMTs.

Mike Knox vs. Sandman

Sandman busts himself open with a beer can on the way to the ring. Knox goes off on Sandman with right hands but Sandman comes back with the legsweep. He gets the cane and goes to swing it at Knox but Kelly gets in the way. Sandman stops himself but Test comes in for the DQ win for Sandman.

Dreamer jumps Knox and Test in the back.

Heyman is talking to Sabu (kind of) and says that Sabu won’t get the title match he wants with Show. Heyman tells Sabu to leave. He keeps walking and runs into Guido, who he yells at for doing nothing. The security guards beat him up and Heyman says Guido’s match is next.

CM Punk says he hasn’t been handed anything. He’s from the streets and he debuts next week.

The Vampire vs. Little Guido

The Vampire would later be known as Kevin Thorn. Guido is dragged to the ring by the security guards. The Vampire destroys Guido and Ariel the tarot card girl gets on the apron and sucks his fingers. A modified powerbomb puts Guido down again and an elevated Stunner (think Orton’s DDT) kills him. Razor’s Edge ends this. Guido never got his vest off.

Video on Kane.

Shannon Moore still has nothing to say.

Justin Credible vs. Balls Mahoney

Balls starts fast and pounds Justin into the corner. Off to a neck crank as Tazz and Joey talk about how insane Mahoney is. Justin tries to run but gets caught by the ears. Back in Justin drops some legs and a running release tornado DDT for two. Northern lights suplex gets two.

Off to a kindof seated abdominal stretch and then to a regular knee to the back chinlock. Balls hooks a suplex to get out of it and the punches get two. Justin tries a slide into the corner but crotches himself on the post. He whips Mahoney into the corner and dropkicks him into the referee. A reverse DDT hits but there’s no referee for Justin so he goes and gets a chair. Balls steals the chair and clocks Credible with it for the DQ.

Rating: D. This wasn’t much of anything and the ending didn’t help it. For some reason Credible was a total jobber in ECW despite being a long reigning world champion in the original incarnation. Mahoney was mainly a tag wrestler but was getting a pretty significant push in this version. He’s more interesting though so I can’t complain there.

Mahoney clocks the referee with the chair post match.

Show wants to know why he can’t fight Sabu. Heyman says don’t worry about it.

Vote in the Diva Search! If there was a mention of something like that in the original ECW, riots would break out.

Angle is back next week.

ECW Title: Kane vs. Big Show

Kane fires off some clotheslines but is thrown up and over to the floor on the third attempt. Oh and this is Extreme Rules. Kane sends him into the post and throws some weapons into the ring. Show knocks him back down and we take a break. Back with Kane down in the ring and Show stalking him. Kane gets up and hits a chair shot to take Show down. The chair is wedged between the ropes in the corner and Kane slugs away.

According to the laws of wrestling, Kane goes face first into the chair that he set up. Show goes up for a Vader Bomb but Kane hits him low and a belly to back superplex puts both guys down. They slap it out from their knees and then punch it out on their feet. Kane knocks him into the corner and hits a running clothesline. He lost his elbow pads in this somewhere.

Here comes a chokeslam but Show grabs one of his own which only gets two. Not much of a surprise on the kickout either, as in the crowd didn’t seem to care. Show gets a table and sets it up on the floor and then a second one. He sets for a suplex over the top but Kane guillotines him on the top rope. A trio of chair shots knocks Show off the apron and through the tables.

Heyman and the security come out to try to tell Show that he needs to shake it off. I think Show is busted open. Kane tries to get Show back in the ring and DANG that’s a good cut. Kane goes up but jumps into a chokeslam but Kane counters into a DDT for two. Heyman put the foot under the rope to break it up so Kane goes after the boss. That allows Show to hit Kane in the back with a chair and chokeslam him onto it to retain.

Rating: B-. WAY better than I was expecting here as it was about beating each other up which is the whole appeal of battles of monsters like this. Kane moved around in this and his power was enough to make you believe that a title change was possible. It was very unlikely but it was possible. Good match and a nice surprise.

Sabu comes in and lays out Big Show with a variety of chair shots.

Overall Rating: C. This was one of the first times where you could feel part of a running story throughout the show which is what this show has been lacking. Until now it’s come off as more like a collection of segments and then a long main event. Now we’re actually getting some stories together and the show is a lot more interesting as a result.

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ECW on Sci-Fi
Date: July 18, 2006
Location: American Bank Center, Corpus Christi, Texas
Commentators: Joey Styles, Tazz

Back to the tribe of extreme for the show that is the hardest of all of the ones I review to find. This is I think the sixth episode of the show and it’s still in the Big Show’s title reign. His opponent of the week is Undertaker, who you can’t get on Raw but you can get on ECW. It’s a strange world out there people. Oh and he has Khali on Sunday at the Great American Bash. Gee I wonder if that’ll lead anywhere. Let’s get to it.

Undertaker got in Big Show’s face on SNME.

Intro song.

We open immediately with Kelly stripping and here’s Knox to stop her of course once she gets to her underwear. He takes her to the ring because the best way to keep people from seeing her is to put her in front of an audience right? It’s Kelly’s fault that Knox got hit by the Sandman’s cane last week because she wanted people to see her take her clothes off. We get a clip of that attack and Knox says Kelly can never take her clothes off in public again. Now go get in his corner.

Mike Knox vs. Sandman

Oh and it’s Extreme Rules. Knox jumps Sandman as he’s coming in and we’re off and jogging. They head to the floor and Sandman is thrown into the table and barricade. Knox chokes Sandman with a camera cord and we go back in. Sandy gets a boot up and a bulldog before they go back to the floor. Sandman gets the cane but it hits Kelly as Knox pulls her in the way. Two low blows give Knox the pin. Hu-freaking-zah.

Knox leaves Kelly there. She’s eventually taken out on a stretcher.

Shannon Moore can look at a camera.

Kelly was taken to the back during the break.

Here’s Heyman with his two riot guards. He tells the fans that they have to all drink the Kool Aid and talks about how it’s their fault that Van Dam lost the title. He knows it must be hard to keep up with his intellect but the people can do it. Here’s Dreamer who talks about how he’s been there with Heyman for so many years and he never demanded anything for himself. Now though, he wants Heyman to explain himself to the locker room and to the fans. Heyman grabs Dreamer and kisses him and here’s Test to kick Dreamer’s head off. Heyman and the guards leave and it’s a TKO for Dreamer. Yay Test.

We get a nifty tale of the tape of Undertaker vs. Big Show.

Balls Mahoney says he likes his name. He’s had that name all his life and it’s a little nuts, just like him. He’s an ECW Original you know.

Sabu vs. Stevie Richards

This isn’t Extreme Rules. This is a rematch from SNME where there was an Extreme Rules match but here on ECW it’s a regular match. Got that? Stevie arm drags Sabu and puts him down with a shoulder block. Sabu gets a backslide for two. A leg bar is quickly broken by the ropes and the fans want tables. Richards goes heel with right hands and rams Sabu’s shoulder into the post. There’s an armbar for a few moments but Sabu comes back with right hands. Slingshot flip Fameasser gets two. Springboard tornado DDT sets up the camel clutch for the tap out.

Rating: D+. Nothing to see here for the most part as the whole point of Sabu is that he’s crazy, but I guess it makes sense to have him do regular matches right? That’s the point of ECW and the guy you’ve built up more than anyone else right? Richards was never more than a jobber in this version of ECW.

Sabu chases the referee with his spike post match.

CM Punk talks about why he’s in ECW. He lists off a bunch of martial arts he’s trained in and also talks about his discipline. Why is he a face in ECW again?

Kevin Thorne talks about the future and about how there is death coming for Big Show’s reign.

Video on how dominant Big Show is.

ECW Title: Big Show vs. Undertaker

Undertaker in ECW is just strange. Taker tries to take the leg out so Show headbutts him down. A slugout goes badly for the challenger and Taker gets knocked back into the corner via a headbutt. Taker comes back with his strikes but can’t put Show down. The champ knocks him to the floor and we take a break. Back with Taker getting laid out by a spear for two.

Out to the floor and Taker’s head goes into the steps. Taker gets in a kick to the face but Show headbutts him right back down. Undertaker grabs the leg and hooks a hold of some sort to get Show in trouble. Show pounds him down in the corner and they slug it out again. Chokeslam by Taker is broken up but a running DDT gets two. Old School is broken up and Show hits a superplex. It’s an EXTREME ring though so it doesn’t break. It only gets two and Taker sits up. Chokeslam is broken up again but Show is knocked to the floor. And here’s Khali for the no contest.

Rating: D. This picked up a little bit at the end but until that point, MAN was it boring. It was nothing but these two punching each other and the other coming back. Now repeat that for about 12 minutes. It was clear that Khali was going to be involved in the ending so until than it was really just killing time. Bad match but the superplex was cool.

Khali and Big Show put Undertaker through the table before the Bash on Sunday,

Overall Rating: D+. This one didn’t do it for me at all. This show needs a breath of air already and that’s not going to happen for a few months. The problem here is that they keep trying to throw in the original ECW stuff and it doesn’t fit at all. Once they go to the show being its own show, it’ll get a lot better.

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No Mercy 2006
Date: October 8, 2006
Location: RBC Center, Raleigh, North Carolina
Attendance: 9,000
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

It’s back to the WWE PPVs and it’s a Smackdown show with Booker defending. This is hardly an exciting looking main event with Booker defending against Finlay, Lashley and Batista. Other than that we have the debut of MVP against a jobber and Kennedy vs. Undertaker in what I’m sure is going to be a thriller. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about the main event with Booker talking about how he’s going to reign forever on Smackdown. The announcers talking about how screwed Booker is might as well be putting a big stamp on the show saying BOOKER RETAINS.

The pyro seems exceptionally better for some reason.

Matt Hardy vs. Gregory Helms

This feud went on for a long time. Both guys are from North Carolina so there really isn’t a crowd favorite. Helms is the Cruiserweight Champion so facing a heavyweight is supposed to be a big deal for him. Helms literally is the hometown boy as he’s billed from Raleigh. He won the first match via a low blow and Matt won the second one the same way. Matt uses his weight to take him down with a shoulder and they stare at each other.

Helms goes after the arm which doesn’t work but the second attempt works. A kick to the back gives Helms the advantage and by shouting THIS IS MY HOUSE, he becomes the crowd favorite. Matt comes back with a suplex and clotheslines Helms to the floor. Pescado follows up and Cole screws up by saying TLC 2 was six years ago in this build. Back in and Matt gets dropped on the top buckle and a backbreaker gets two.

Something like a Codebreaker gets the same. Off to an arm trap chinlock but Matt fights up and hits a reverse DDT for two. They slug it out and Matt clotheslines him down for two. Middle rope legdrop gets two. Twist of Fate is loaded up but Helms counters with a weird belly to belly suplex/Eye of the Hurricane combo for two. He hits the same move again and gets the same result. A third one lets him go to the top but he jumps into a punch.

Side Effect gets two. Another Side Effect hits and a release Rock Bottom sets up the moonsault but it lands on knees. Shining Wizard misses but a second attempt hits for two. This is getting really good. Hardy goes up but gets crotched, allowing Helms to hit some weird kick off the top which looked like it missed. That only gets two so Helms tries the Eye of the Hurricane but Matt counters it into the Twist of Fate and it’s finally over.

Rating: B. Good opening match here with both guys showing off for their hometown crowd. It’s amazing what happens when you give guys like these two almost fifteen minutes and let them have some fun. Matt looked good and motivated which is definitely his biggest flaw most of the time. Well that and the fact that he’s insane. Good stuff.

Sharmell tries to calm down Booker as he’s nervous about the main event. Regal comes in and Booker says his services are needed more than ever. Booker says he’s against three dragons and can’t even trust his own knight Finlay. Regal says he’s in for whatever Booker needs. Booker wants Finlay to lay down and wants Regal to talk him into it.

Smackdown Tag Titles: Brian Kendrick/Paul London vs. Teacher’s Pets

The Pets are managed by Michelle McCool and are K.C. James and Idol Stevens. Stevens is now known as Damien Sandow who is currently about to debut on Smackdown. The champs have Ashley Massaro with them. Stevens and London start things off and down goes Stevens to a rana. Off to Kendrick as they’re moving incredibly fast here with some Motor City Machineguns kind of stuff. Top rope cross body gets two.

The champions take over and it’s off to K.C. He has less success than his partner and is sent to the floor. Back to Stevens who is thrown right back to the floor. Stereo dives take the challengers out but McCool interferes to knock London off the top. Stevens misses a legdrop back in the ring so it’s back to James with a knee to the back for two. Chinlock goes on and then a modified abdominal stretch.

London fights out of that too and the heels do some pretty weak double teaming to keep him in the match. This isn’t a very interesting match as the challengers are really not that good. Case in point, London easily takes them both down but Stevens manages to break up the tag. The second time though Paul makes them look like idiots again and makes the tag to Brian.

JBL is talking about demolition derbies with Chinese acrobats for some reason. London hits a suicide dive to take out Stevens and James hits a superplex for two on Kendrick. Back in the ring more more heel miscommunication leads to Kendrick hitting a tornado DDT for two. Stevens hits Kendrick with a backbreaker after McCool offers a distraction, getting two. The girls get into a fight as London launches Kendrick into a double dropkick to take out both of them. Sliced Bread sets up a Poetry In Motion into a Shooting Star from London for the pin on Stevens.

Rating: C. It’s not a bad match but it was just kind of there. The tag division was incredibly weak at this point as you can tell with people like Stevens and James getting a title match. They weren’t ready for this spot and it was painfully obvious that it was the case. McCool would go on to be a much bigger star than either of them.

Marine trailer kills some time because the premiere is Friday.

Regal is trying to find Finlay but finds Vito in a dress. He runs off and falls into a bunch of ketchup and mustard which was there for him to fall into.

Here’s Teddy and there’s a massive birthday present in the ring, as in it comes up to Teddy’s ears. Today is the birthday of……The Miz! He’s undefeated at this point and has earned a celebration. There’s cake too. JBL is going off on Miz and it’s hilarious. Miz does the HOO RAH thing and the fans seem into it. Teddy says Miz has been hitting on Layla lately so here she is to celebrate with him. She’s in a robe which clearly has lingerie under it. This is the curly haired and therefore much hotter Layla.

His birthday wish is for her, but she stops him and says chair please. Miz: GET HER A CHAIR!!! She sits him down and he gives commentary on her blowing in his ear. She asks for some music and JBL is losing it. There goes the robe and dang she looks good. She blindfolds him and he asks for whips and chains. The present gets opened up and it’s Big Dick Johnson in a thong of course. I think they did this on ECW as well. I’m sure the people that bought the PPV are SO glad they paid for this too.

Buy the Vince DVD. No seriously, that thing is hilarious.

MVP vs. Marty Garner

This is MVP’s in ring debut and Garner is a jobber from OMEGA and some indies. He was occasionally in WWF as a jobber. JBL hates MVP and rips him apart through his short promo. The fans chant Power Ranger. MVP slaps him down before the match starts and JBL is cracking me up as he insults MVP. Garner gets in a right hand and JBL turns into a cheerleader. MVP is in blue which JBL calls blueberry bling. The Play of the Day or whatever he called his finisher gets the pin. Total squash. Again, I’m sure the people that bought the PPV are SO glad they paid for this too.

Regal gets out of the shower as does Vito. Regal drops his towel and he runs down the hall, into Teddy Long. Teddy thinks that Regal has so much time so he can have a match with Benoit. Gee, good thing they didn’t advertise two of the best technical guys ever having a match. People might have paid to see it.

We recap Kennedy vs. Undertaker. Kennedy: “You’re old, I’m new, those mind games won’t work on me, let’s fight.” That took two minutes to explain.

Mr. Kennedy vs. Undertaker

Kennedy is US Champion but that title is underneath Undertaker so this is non-title. Speed vs. power here as Undertaker throws him into the corner but Kennedy escapes. BIG boot takes Kennedy’s head off and it’s time for arm work. Out to the floor and Kennedy’s arm goes into the steps before it’s back inside the square circle. Wristlock is broken up so it’s back to the floor with Kennedy’s arm eating post again.

A boot to the shoulder keeps Kennedy in trouble and now it’s Old School time. Kennedy manages to armdrag him off the top and both guys are down. Kennedy pounds him in the corner but Taker snaps up and hits Old School for two. A running big boot in the corner misses and Taker is knocked into the barricade. Kennedy tries to dive off the apron but gets caught and rammed into the post. He hasn’t been able to get any kind of extended advantage at all for more than about 10 seconds.

Back in the ring and Kennedy pulls Taker through the ropes to get himself a breather. Kennedy drills him coming back in, getting two. The running hip attack to the guy that is on the middle rope gets two. The move Ryder calls the Broski Boot hits and Taker is in trouble. Taker fights up from his knees and knocks Kennedy to the floor. The legdrop across the apron connects.

Back in Kennedy hits a perfectly regular piledriver which Cole calls a Tombstone. It gets two and JBL says he’s speechless. WHY IS SOMEONE PILEDRIVING UNDERTAKER A BIG DEAL??? Cole freaks over it every time when ONLY Kane has had success with it. They even show replays of it. Back at Mania in 2011 they FREAKED when HHH hit one. I don’t get it.

Kennedy hooks a rear naked choke but Taker comes out of it with a Saito Suplex. Slugout is won by Taker with the flying clothesline. Snake Eyes is followed by the big boot and leg, but it only gets two brother. Chokeslam is countered and Kennedy hits a swinging neckbreaker for two. A high kick is ducked and there’s the chokeslam but no cover.

Last Ride is countered and they almost run into the referee. A buckle was exposed somewhere during this match and Kennedy rams Taker into it, followed by a clothesline to take him down. Kenton Bomb gets two so Kennedy is going to walk. Taker grabs the belt and hits him with it for the freaking LAME DQ.

Rating: B-. This was getting REALLY good at the end and then they screw it up with something like that. I mean, at least make it for the belt to make it worth something before you do something that annoying. Taker was actually feeling it tonight to the point that you might have thought Kennedy could pull off the huge upset. Good stuff here until the ending.

Taker destroys Kennedy and the referee post match. Both guys get tombstoned.

Cyber Sunday ad.

We recap Rey vs. Chavo Part 9000. Chavo cost Rey the title at the Bash because he claimed Rey was making a career off the Guerrero name. Well yeah, what’s your point? Vickie sided with Chavo too. Dominic was involved in this somehow too but he didn’t mean much.

Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero

This is falls count anywhere. The idea at the start is that Chavo is trying to win and Rey is trying to pound on Chavo. They go to the corner and it looks like Chavo is trying to powerbomb him off the top to the floor. Rey knocks him off but falls down as well. A dropkick to the side of Chavo’s head puts him down but Chavo comes back with forearms. They go up to the entrance and Chavo tries another powerbomb but Rey grabs the bottom of the set to escape.

While still holding on he hooks a rana to send Chavo into the steel for two. They fight into the empty space on the right of the stage and Rey goes into the hockey boards. Chavo sends him into the barricade in front of the fans and Rey jumps over it to give himself a breather. Chavo goes into the railing and Rey drops a leg on his back for two. Rey tries the wheelbarrow bulldog but Guerrero counters and rams him into the boards for two instead.

They fight up the steps in the crowd with Chavo in control. Rey comes back with some kicks to the ribs and Chavo goes down. He knocks Chavo over the boards and back to the floor level seats. A seated senton takes Chavo down but since he can’t follow up, Guerrero is able to clothesline him down. Rey gets thrown into some chairs and they go to a set of steps into the upper stands. Rey uses the railing for a 619 to put Chavo down and a cross body off said railing gets three.

Rating: B-. Good match here as the brawling was working with the style match they had. This feud went on for awhile longer until I think Rey had to take time off for a knee injury. I might have to be more specific on that so it was the one in 2006. I might have to be more specific than that, but you get the idea. Anyway, this match was good as it felt more like a fight, which was supposed to be the idea.

Clip from the Marine premiere at a military base.

William Regal vs. Chris Benoit

Big pop for Benoit. This is Benoit’s return from an injury. Technical stuff (duh) to start and they head to the mat. They fight over a top wristlock and Regal gets a test of strength grip and Benoit fights up to take over. Regal gets taken to the mat with one as well but he bridges off the mat and nips up. Some very technical stuff here which isn’t the most interesting stuff but it’s awesome if that’s your thing.

Benoit comes back with a HARD chop and headbutts so hard that you can hear the thud. Swan Dive misses and both guys are busted open. The Canadian tries a German on the Englishman but Regal escapes to the apron. Benoit tries another German to the floor but Regal elbows him to the floor. Regal knees him in the head back inside but Benoit picks the leg for a Sharpshooter attempt.

Regal breaks that up and fires away some more. Off to a dragon sleeper head grip while the rest of Benoit’s body is in an abdominal stretch position. That’s pretty awesome. Benoit escapes to the corner where he chops the open cut on Regal’s head. GEEZ that’s awesome for some reason. Regal suplexes him down and a knee drop gets two.

Benoit hooks a Fujiwara Armbar but Regal makes the rope and KICKS HIM IN THE FACE for two. Regal hooks a surfboard but bends Benoit back into a dragon sleeper grip. These holds are awesome. Benoit rolls out of something and goes old school with the dragon suplex (old finisher). He fights into the Crossface and Regal has to tap.

Rating: B+. You give these guys seven or eight more minutes and it’s the match of the year EASILY. This is my kind of match right here: the technical clinic with the hard brawling thrown in. I love this kind of stuff and these are probably two of the best ever at it. These two had some masterpieces, including one on freaking Velocity of all shows. They know some freaking awesome holds to put on people and make them scream and this was no exception. Great match.

JBL is already wanting Benoit to hurt MVP.

Regal comes into the back and Booker asks if he found Finlay. Regal explains his day and Booker doesn’t want to hear it. Booker breaking between his usual talk and his royal stuff is pretty awesome. Finlay pops up and says he’s here to fight and win the title, not lay down. Booker says oh yes you will and gets drilled.

We recap the world title match. Basically Booker is champion so here are three challenges to face him at once so we can validate his reign. All three challenges beat Booker up so he has NO CHANCE right? This match was made on Smackdown before the show I believe.

Lashley (no reaction) is getting taped up when Batista (POP) comes in. They imply they’ll fight if need be.

Smackdown World Title: Booker T vs. Lashley vs. Finlay vs. Batista

No tagging here. Cole talks about the numbers and JBL replies with this gem. JBL: “QUIT WITH THE MATH!!! I count money idiot!” Batista goes after Booker as Finlay throws Lashley to the floor. Finlay hooks up with Booker as Cole keeps talking about percentages. Lashley back in now and he throws Finlay to the floor. Batista is down in the corner. Spinebuster gets two on Booker.

Finlay pulls Lashley to the floor and a double teaming begins. Back in and the double team is on Batista until Finlay double crossed Booker. JBL freaking out is great but Cole is just awful at giving him stuff to play off. We’re down to Finlay vs. Booker with the pale one taking over. Lashley tries to get in but Finlay casually knocks him away. Booker is knocked to the floor so Finlay works on Big Dave’s arm.

Batista hits a Samoan Drop but Finlay hangs on. Cool. Lashley comes in but Finlay takes him down too. Cole calls Finlay Lashley because they look so much alike. Half crab to Lashley but Booker superkicks Finlay down for two. Booker takes Batista down with another sweet kick for two. Big Dave sideslams him down for two. Their one on one match is over as Lashley clotheslines Booker to the floor.

Finlay brings in a chair but Lashley kicks it away. Horny comes in to low blow Lashley and the club to the head gets two for Finlay as Booker saves. Everyone gets in for a bit and Batista hits a Jackhammer to take Finlay out so it’s face vs. face. Batista is like screw fighting and spears him down for two. Lashley comes back and somewhere (even Cole isn’t sure where) Batista gets his head busted open.

Batista gets thrown to the floor as does Finlay but Booker comes in with a Bookend for two. Just the two of them in the ring now and Bobby counters a suplex for two. Booker doesn’t know what to do here so he takes his hair down. Finlay breaks up the ax kick and gets two. Batista hits spinebusters on everyone and a Batista Bomb to Finlay. Lashley spears him for no apparent reason, allowing Booker to steal the pin on Finlay.

Rating: B-. Not bad here at all with the formula working pretty well. I like the four man matches much better than three man as you get more combinations out of it. Booker winning was obvious but it was still good enough at times. Finlay was really impressive here as he ran most of the match, which is what he’s great for.

Overall Rating: B. This was a very pleasant surprise. It’s not a great show or anything but if you had three hours to kill, you’d be pleased with this one. Nothing on it is must see or anything, but for a total throwaway PPV it wasn’t bad at all. It’s no classic or anything, but if you’ve got time and are curious, check this one out.

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