Impact Wrestling
Date: October 18, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz

We’re in a new era now as BFG 2012 is officially over and we now have a member of Aces and 8’s known in the form of D-Von. On top of that, they have full access to the Impact Zone, which is completely different from the last few months when they came and went as they pleased because…..well because that’s what the stipulations say. Oh and Hardy is now world champion. Let’s get to it.

After a highlight package from BFG we’re ready to go.

Aces and 8’s arrive to open the show. They point to the monitor and the boss and company are toasting themselves in the back. D-Von is officially the newest member apparently and not the leader. That doesn’t exactly make things better but it’s a thing at least. Here’s D-Von to the arena as well to celebrate with the group of Aces and 8’s in the ring. The fans chant that D-Von sold out.

D-Von says that the Aces and 8’s are the ones that always had his back and the people in the Impact Zone are inbred pieces of crap. He joined Aces and 8’s because he can. He thanks the guy that brought him into the group because….and he trails off. Regarding Bubba, this is payback for two years ago when Bubba turned on him and put his son through a table. You know, because everyone was waiting on resolution to THAT.

Cue Sting, Ray, and about half the roster. It’s a big brawl almost immediately and here comes Hogan……and we take a break. Yep we take a break nine minutes into the show with a brawl going on and with nothing explained. Back with Aces and 8’s out of the ring with TNA standing tall. They charge the ring again but then stop. Hogan says with full access comes the requirement to fight. Sting wants to fight D-Von tonight and Hogan says that fight is on or D-Von is gone. D-Von says ok. This story is so freaking dull.

We recap the world title match from the PPV. Hardy gets a celebration tonight. Aries says he’ll attend and bring cookies.

Back with Hogan in the back talking about how Jeff Hardy is defending next week. It’ll be against one of four challengers: Storm, Anderson, the winner of a triple threat, and someone else to be named. Park comes in and Hogan praises Park. Hogan sends the cameras out so they can chat.

TV Title: Samoa Joe vs. Robbie E

Joe pounds away to start and drops a knee for two. Robbie T blocks the MuscleBuster and Joe no sells chops. Joe dives onto T with a suicide elbow and kicks E out of the air. Back in and the MuscleBuster sets up the Clutch for the submission at 2:38.

Robbie T gets choked out too.

Jesse Godderz is pressing tara in the back. They make out a bit and drop celebrity names.

Tara vs. ODB

Non-title and ODB yells at Eric on the phone for not being here. She’s still on the phone during her entrance. ODB grabs Tara and pounds away to start. Apparently Tessmacher gets a rematch next week. ODB puts her ring in her picket which can’t be a good thing. She slams Tara down and talks to Eric on the phone some more. Jesse gets his face shoved in ODB’s chest and it’s back to the phone. Tara keeps pulling ODB’s hair and let’s stop for more kissing. ODB takes a shot from the flak, spits it at Jesse, and hits the Bam for the pin at 3:14.

Rating: D. I hated this. I hate reality TV, I hate alcohol, I thought the phone thing was stupid, and I hate the booking of having the new champion lose four days after the title change. Oh and I hate women’s wrestling in general. Nothing to see here and I don’t care about anything that just happened.

AJ talks to Angle and says it’s every man for himself in the three way tonight.

Kid Kash/Gunner vs. Hernandez/Chavo Guerrero

Non-title again. SuperMex throws both guys around and gorilla presses Kash down. An overhead belly to belly sends the 40+ year old Kid flying. Off to Gunner who gets caught by a slingshot hilo for two. Heel double teaming gives the challengers the advantage. The beating goes on for awhile but Chavo fights back with a European uppercut. Hot tag brings in SuperMex who cleans house, sends Kash flying, and a Chavo top rope rope cross body gets the pin at 5:04.

Rating: D+. This was just an extended workout for the champions here in a match that wasn’t interesting. Kash and Gunner are just there as a jobbing team and when you only have like five teams, having one of them job all the time is pretty pointless. Nothing to see here, exactly like the rest of the show.

Park wants to fight Aces and 8’s. Ray wants to talk to Hogan alone but Hogan says it’s ok to have Park there. Ray thanks Sting for letting him fight with him. He wants to be in the match with D-Von, but Hogan puts him in as one of the four guys next week instead. This ticks Ray off and Sting has to play peacemaker.

Here’s Hardy for the championship celebration…..and he has a custom belt with the face on it. WHY DOES HE KEEP DOING THAT??? He gets pyro and confetti and all the jazz you would expect him to. Jeff thanks the fans for being with him through everything and is excited for his first defense next week.

Cue Aries with balloons and cookies. The fans want cookies. Aries congratulates Jeff on beating him on a PPV which no one else could do. Aries loses the balloons and Hardy knocks the cookies away. Austin isn’t sure where his world title went but that’s not it on Jeff’s shoulder. He can cash in his rematch clause anywhere but he’s going to wait for Hardy to crumble under the pressure. Aries makes fun of the new belt and spits on it. Jeff tries a Twist but Aries bails. This was the first good segment of the night.

AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Kurt Angle

No Kaz in sight and the winner gets to be in the Championship competition next week with Anderson, Ray and Storm. Daniels gets shoved down to start and the other guys go at it. AJ takes over with the drop down/kick but Daniels gets back up and jumps Styles. Angle goes all nuts and suplexes both guys silly to take over. AJ immediately comes back with an enziguri but the Clash is countered into the ankle lock.

Angle is rammed into the post by Daniels as is his custom, leaving us with the life partners of Daniels and Styles. AJ hits the springboard forearm on Angle, Daniels hits a Blue Thunder Bomb on AJ, AJ Pele’s Angle down before moonsaulting Daniels on the floor. AJ is holding his knee and limping now. Back in and Angle hits an Angle Slam out of nowhere for the pin on Daniels at 6:55.

Rating: C+. Not terrible here but it felt like this ended quickly. Maybe AJ’s knee really is hurt but it’s hard to say. Either way, this was fine while it lasted but it could have been a lot better. Angle winning is a ncie idea though as he hasn’t been in the world title picture in awhile. That’s the perk of him: you can thrown him in there anytime and it works fine.

AJ won’t shake Angle’s hand post match.

Joey Ryan and Matt Morgan run into Hogan in the back. Hogan welcomes Ryan and yells at Morgan for interfering last Sunday. Morgan calls Hogan Terry and is mad about Hogan not making Morgan a big name. Hogan says he defended Morgan in creative meetings for years. Morgan is mad and slams Hogan against the wall and leaves. Hogan chuckles.

After a recap of Storm vs. Roode, here’s the Cowboy for a chat. Storm says what goes around comes away, and a year ago this whole thing started with Bobby Roode. It was on his bucket list of things to do. Now he wants the world title back. This brings out Roode who talks about the two of them promising to leave it all in the ring. Storm asks for a chair so Roode can have a seat while he kisses up to Roode. Bobby says Storm should be kissing up to Roode for launching his career. Storm apparently owes Roode for getting his first title and declares himself the better man. Last Call knocks Roode out cold.

Sting vs. D-Von

Now THERE is a main even! D-Von jumps him to start but gets caught in a release flapjack. Sting kicks a the legs but misses the Stinger Splash. Sting pounds away on D-Von and we head to the floor as we take a break. Back with D-Von taking over in a slugout and choking Sting a bit. D-Von fires off some elbows to the chest and is in total control.

A diving headbutt gets two as the fans are split on this one. Off to the chinlock followed by a jumping back elbow to take Sting down again. D-Von misses a middle rope headbutt and Sting makes his comeback. Splash, Death Drop, Deathlock, but here are Aces and 8’s for the DQ at 10:57.

Rating: D. It’s freaking 1997 all over again. At the end of the day, D-Von is a career tag team guy who won the lower midcard title in TNA for his only career singles success. On top of that, you had Sting beating him at the end which is the last thing you want to do for a guy who is supposed to be a big deal now. Nothing to see here.

It’s a big brawl to end the show until Ray runs out with a bat to clear the ring to end the show. IT REALLY IS 1997 ALL OVER AGAIN!

Overall Rating: D. That’s being about as generous as I can be here. This show bored me half to death with D-Von doing nothing at all to energize it. On top of that, it’s like nothing has momentum and there’s no sign of anything building any for the time being. I don’t buy D-Von in the main event scene but he’s there now and that’s all there is to say. The main stories aren’t grabbing me right now and that’s a bad thing.

Results

Samoa Joe b. Robbie E – Koquina Clutch

ODB b. Tara – The Bam

Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez b. Kid Kash/Gunner – Cross body to Kash

Kurt Angle b. AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels – Angle Slam to Daniels

Sting b. D-Von via DQ when Aces and 8’s interfered

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TV Title: Samoa Joe vs. Magnus

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

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

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

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

Roode says it ends tonight with Storm.

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

James Storm vs. Bobby Roode

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Al Snow vs. Joey Ryan

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

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

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

Ryan and Morgan shake hands.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chavo says that was for the fans and for Eddie.

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

Knockouts Title: Miss Tessmacher vs. Tara

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

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

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

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

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

Aces and 8’s vs. Sting/Ray is No DQ.

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

Aces and 8’s vs. Sting/Bully Ray

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TNA World Title: Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hardy celebrates to end the show.

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

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

Results

Rob Van Dam b. Zema Ion – Frog Splash

Samoa Joe b. Magnus – Koquina Clutch

James Storm b. Bobby Roode – Last Call

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

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

Tara b. Miss Tessmacher – Widow’s Peak

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

Jeff Hardy b. Austin Aries – Swanton Bomb

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

I’m dead serious.  That just happened.

It’s that time of year again as TNA has their Wrestlemania tomorrow night.  Let’s get to it.We’ll start with the big matches.

Aces and 8’s going over Sting and Ray is pretty obvious.  What is not obvious is how this is going to happen.  The smart money is on Bubba turning on Sting and being a member of the gang, and I think that’s what they’re going to go with.  I’ve heard talk of Ray not turning being the swerve, which would be pretty creative, but I don’t think they’d go with it.

As for the leader, assuming he’s revealed tomorrow, my money would be on Jarrett.  I’ll talk about this more later on.

For the second biggest match on the show, I’ll take Hardy to win and send the fans home happy.  They have to give the winner of the BFG Series the title because if they don’t, the Series starts to look pointless as the winner would be 0-2 at BFG.  Hardy has been good since the debacle of Victory Road 18 months ago, so hopefully he can be good again.  Also it would set up Ray as the challenger for the title down the road, which I can’t believe I’m saying, but he deserves.

I think Chavo and Hernandez get the belts here.  I can’t picture Daniels and Kaz keeping them, but they can cry shenanigans and stay together which is good for everyone.  I don’t see AJ and Angle geting them, which will likely lead to another feud between them.  That leaves Chavo and SuperMex to pick up the belts in the meantime.  I’m not wild on that but I won’t hate it either.  It’s not like the division exists anymore.

Storm has to go over Roode.  He has to.  Storm was looking like the biggest star on the planet back in April (Ok that’s not true but he was the hottest thing in TNA) and they stopped it dead at Lockdown.  Then he loses the BFG Series and both were because of Roode.  This is the blowoff to the feud, but I wish it wasn’t happening.  Storm should have gotten the title at Lockdown and then go from there, because I think Storm would have been better on top than Aries.  Maybe not, but I would have liked to see it.  King Mo can go fall in a hole.  He adds nothing but a distraction to this match and isn’t needed here.

Now on to the stuff that fills in the card.

Ryan over Snow.  No reason for anything else to happen at all.

Tara gets the title.  As for the identity of the boyfriend, the only name I’ve heard that makes sense is Jessie Godderz.  Who is that you ask?  He’s from Big Brother, which is all you need to do to be a celebrity in this world anymore.  He signed with TNA last year and has been in OVW since then.  Godderz is mainly a tag team guy and not a great one at that, but he’s been on mainstream TV before so he’s clearly better suited here than a guy who is talented in the ring right?

Joe keeps the title, even though Magnus had a good promo Thursday.

Give me Ion to keep the title, because I want to see how far he can bring the title down with him.

Overall, this show doesn’t feel nearly as big as 2010 and not as big as last year’s either.  Aces and 8’s has bogged the company way down over the last few months and the world title comes off as a complete afterthought.  They’re running the risk of Wrestlemania 18, which si basically what happened last year also.  The problem with this show is that it doesn’t feel big at all.  It feels like a somewhat big show with a big match on it, and I don’t mean the world title.  The other problem with the tag match is that it feels like another point in the story, not a big conclusion or anything like that.

This brings me back to the leader reveal, which we’re assuming is happening tomorrow.  The problem that I see happening with this is there has been about a dozen people suggested as the leader.  We’ve heard Hogan, Brooke (good lord help us all), Sting, Abyss, Ray, Bischoff, Garrett (give us Brooke please), Jarrett, John Morrison (why?  Good guy to bring in but not in this role), Matt Morgan and others that I’m likely forgetting.  The problem is EVERYONE who could be the leader, barring a big surprise, has been suggested and it’ll likely be someone we’ve heard of.  If it is, that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing, but that’s how people will perceive it, which is bad.  Just because something was guessed doesn’t mean it’s bad.

Overall, it should be a fun show but I’m not expecting to be blown away.

Predictions/thoughts?

Impact Wrestling
Date: October 11, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz

It’s the final show before BFG and I can’t say I’m chomping at the bit to see the show on Sunday. Bound For Glory is mainly focused on Sting/Ray vs. Aces and 8’s, whoever they are. The world title match is mixed in there somewhere but it’s way beneath the tag match as far as importance. As for tonight, I wouldn’t expect a lot of matches as the focus will likely be on building up what’s already there through a lot of promos. Hopefully there’s less King Mo tonight too. Let’s get to it.

After the recaps, we’re told that it’s Storm vs. Aries and Roode vs. Hardy. Those should be good.

James Storm vs. Austin Aries

We don’t have to wait long to see if they’re good I guess. Non-title here of course. Feeling out process to start and Storm armdrags Aries to the floor. Back in and Storm pounds away before he skins the cat. Aries tries to slide beneath the Cowboy as he pulls himself back in, but Storm dives at the champ. Aries slides back in and hits the suicide dive to take over in a sweet sequence.

After a quick chinlock from the champ, they chop it out in the corner. A dropkick from the middle rope to the back of a seated Storm gets two. James is all fired up now and he pounds away in the corner. Another ten punches hit Aries in the other corner but he comes back with five punches of his own. Storm shoves him off but the Eye of the Storm is escaped and Storm gets guillotined on the top rope.

The champ misses a missile dropkick but the Codebreaker is escaped. Brainbuster doesn’t work for Aries and they roll through an O’Connor Roll. Aries flips him over and they hit head to head. Roode runs out and posts Storm which I’m not sure Aries saw. The brainbuster finishes Storm at 7:20.

Rating: B. This was a fast paced opener and it worked really well. Storm has grown up so much in the last year it’s unreal. I really hope they haven’t screwed him up to the point where he can’t get near the world title again. This match could set up a post BFG feud if Aries retains, but if Hardy wins then it’s Bully Ray getting the first feud I’d assume. Still though, very good opener.

Wes Brisco asks Angle if he can go to Phoenix. Angle says ok and that can’t end well. AJ comes in and says Angle needs to get his head in the game and leaves.

Sting’s 4^th or so BFG Moment is the Hogan face turn from last year.

Here are Sting and Hogan to the arena. Hogan and Sting don’t like having to play by Aces and 8’s rules and Hulk says it feels like they made a deal with the devil. This brings out Daniels and Kaz, saying that they’re the angels that can fix this problem. Hogan made the wrong move by picking Ray, because instead of Sting/Ray, it should be the two of them fighting Aces and 8’s.

Kaz: “Listen Thunderlips…” Ok Kaz is awesome. Kaz tries to get out of the title match and suggests that Angle is put in Ray’s place in the tag match. Here’s Ray who says Angle is a great choice for a wrestling match, but this is going to be a fight. Ray says he doesn’t have to be Sting’s friend because he has a unified goal in getting rid of Aces and 8’s. Hogan isn’t convinced and makes the tag champs vs. Ray/Sting. The champs PANIC.

Hernandez vs. AJ Styles

AJ takes him down to start and escapes a choke hold with a Pele. Styles keeps yelling at Chavo instead of following it up, which allows SuperMex to avoid a charge in the corner. Off to a bearhug for a few moments before AJ escapes and speeds things up. The drop down/kick sets up another dropkick to send Hernandez to the floor. Styles yells at Chavo AGAIN and Hernandez gets up again. Back in and Hernandez hits something like a Monty Brown Pounce for the pin at 3:53.

Rating: C. This wasn’t great but they were telling a good story with AJ being distracted by the numbers game but without Angle out there to even the numbers, AJ lost in an upset. They’ve built up the title match very well and I’m really not sure who is going to win, which is the right idea for a match. It should be awesome too.

Aces and 8’s feed Joseph Park and imply that tonight they’ll determine if they’ve been locked out or if everyone else is locked in.

Here’s Zema Ion who complains about not having a title match on Sunday because he’s injured everyone in the division. This brings out…..Rob Van Dam? He says Hogan has told him he can fight anybody he wants at BFG, and instead of picking Aries and Hardy in the world title match, he picks Ion. Rob kicks Zema to the floor and that’s the match setup.

Ray comes in and asks Sting if he’s ready but Hogan isn’t pleased. Ray asks why Hogan doesn’t trust him and they get in an argument. Sting snaps and says Ray can be trusted. If there is anyone you want to trust the instincts of, it’s Sting.

Brooke and Teryn are talking when Tara comes up with a list of stuff she has to do once she’s champion. Brooke rips it up and says no green room for the boyfriend on Sunday.

Christopher Daniels/Kazarian vs. Sting/Bully Ray

Ray and Daniels start with Ray hitting a BIG chop in the corner. Another one has Daniels screaming and Kaz gets scared off the apron. Sting takes over on both champions and it’s off to Ray vs. Kaz. Ray gets two off a belly to back suplex and it’s off to Sting. Off to Ray for another suplex as Sting and Ray are tagging very fast. Sting hits the first splash in the corner but Daniels pulls Kaz away from the second one.

Sting gets crotched on the post and sent into the barricade as the champions take over. Ray chases Daniels off with a chair and it’s off to Kaz for a chinlock on Sting. Back to Daniels who pounds away some more but they clothesline each other, allowing for the double tag to bring in Ray and Kaz.

Bully cleans house and everything breaks down. Daniels tries to hit Sting with a belt but Ray kicks him down. Sting saves Ray from a top rope double ax from Kaz and the unlikely partners shake hands. Sting says Bully Get The Tables. Great way to stop the D-Von chants there guys. Ray powerbombs Daniels throug a table for the DQ at 10:09.

Rating: C. So the tag team champions just got slaughtered by a makeshift team that is likely going to split up due to Ray being himself on Sunday. That’s TNA logic for you, and if a team going into the third biggest match on the card has to be sacrificed along the way so be it. At least it wasn’t a pin.

Video on Aries vs. Hardy with Aries still being jealous of Jeff.

We get a video recapping Aces and 8’s.

Video recapping Snow vs. Ryan.

Joe and Magnus get in an argument in the back about the match on Sunday. Magnus says he’s a businessman and Joe hides behind politics. As Magnus is leaving he says “Bound For Glory….or at least I am.” Good line.

Gail Kim vs. Miss Tessmacher

Non-title of course. Tessmacher takes over to start but Gail avoids the Stinkface. Gail takes over with a guillotine on the top rope and starts choking away before hitting a backbreaker for two. Tessmacher comes back with a slingshot and some shots in the corner followed by that sitout legsweep of hers. Tessmacher goes up and gets crotched before countering a fireman’s carry into a sloppy rollup. Gail counters a rana into a powerbomb for two and Tessmacher hits a bad looking release mat slam which I can’t remember the name of for the pin at 5:31.

Rating: D. This was another uninteresting and pretty sloppy Knockouts match. The move is called the Tesshocker apparently. Good to know. Tessmacher is doing nothing for me as champion as she’s the exact same person she was months ago and that’s not a good sign. Tara is someone that can help her but the whole division is just there anymore.

Tara comes out for a beatdown but Tessmacher beats her down and hits the Tesshocker.

Roode is talking in the back when Storm comes in and says he knows it was Roode that attacked him earlier. Storm chokes Roode and a fight starts before King Mo, the real star of the match Sunday, breaks it up and says save it for Sunday.

Sting’s Hall of Fame video.

We run down the BFG card.

Bobby Roode vs. Jeff Hardy

Roode jumps Hardy as Jeff is slapping hands at ringside. They head inside for the opening bell with Roode in full control. Hardy makes a brief comeback with his seated dropkick and they slug it out in the corner. A clothesline puts Roode on the floor and Hardy hits a big old plancha to take Roode out. Back in and Roode clotheslines him down and we head back to the floor. Hardy hits a suplex on the outside and we take a break.

Back with Roode holding Hardy in a front facelock and keeping control. Hardy fights up but gets put in a sleeper for his efforts. That gets two arm drops but Hardy finally breaks the hold. Hardy rams him into the buckle and hits Whisper in the Wind for no cover as he’s too far down. Hardy fires off right hands and hits a middle rope splash for two.

Roode comes back with a spinebuster for a near fall of his own and Jeff goes up, only to get caught in a superplex attempt. Hardy knocks him off but misses the Swanton. A spear puts Jeff down for two and the fisherman’s suplex is countered into a Twisting Stunner. Another Twist is loaded up but Roode this Hardy low for the DQ at 16:18.

Rating: C. Not bad here but it wasn’t ever going to hit an epic level given the ending they had to do. Hardy is likely going to win the title on Sunday but that doesn’t really make it a huge moment. The title match’s build is only so good at best and it doesn’t really make me care about it or the PPV as a whole. The match will be good but they’re approaching WM 18 area with the Aces and 8’s match as related to the world title. Gee and it’s Hogan again. Shocking.

Anyway post match Hardy runs Roode off and here’s Aries. Aries is tired of being told to the fans and it’s not true that he’s jealous of Hardy. He’s not jealous of the rap sheet Hardy has or of Hardy being so crippled he can barely play with his little girl. He’s tired of Hardy getting special treatment while he can’t even get the new music and the new entrance he wants. Aries says he does his best when it’s him against the world.

The only failure at BFG is Hardy because until Hardy beats Aries, he’s still a failure. Hardy is a lot taller than Aries. Jeff’s response: “Austin, my nuts hurt.” He says he’ll win on Sunday and Aries asks Jeff to leave so he can bask in the fans’ glory. Hardy goes to leave but Aries kicks him low and loads up the brainbuster which lays Hardy out. No Aces and 8’s tonight.

Overall Rating: C-. This didn’t do much for me, but the point of the show wasn’t to blow the doors off the place. The idea of this show was to set up the PPV and they did that for the most part. Adding RVD and the X Title to the card was a good idea as both should be on the biggest show of the year. This wasn’t a thrilling show but they have the PPV ready to go, although I’m not wild on where they’re going with it.

Results

Austin Aries b. James Storm – Brainbuster

Hernandez b. AJ Styles – Running Body Attack

Christopher Daniels/Kazarian b. Sting/Bully Ray via DQ when Ray powerbombed Daniels through a table

Miss Tessmacher b. Gail Kim – Tesshocker

Jeff Hardy b. Bobby Roode via DQ when Roode hit Hardy low

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Bound For Glory 2007
Date: October 14, 2007
Location: Gwinnett Center, Duluth, Georgia
Attendance: 4,000
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

Well doing more BFG isn’t intentional but it’s better than no show. TNA shows are rather hard to find so this is all I’ve got at the moment. Again it’s the biggest show of the year and in this case the main event is Sting vs. Angle. Anyone else noticing a pattern of these shows? There’s a weak Monster’s Ball match and the rest looks completely unspectacular if there has ever been an unspectacular major show. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is just a generic thing about being the next immortal icon and they use Hogan’s name. I give up. Angle is defending tonight if I forgot to mention that. I know I did but it sounds a bit better than I didn’t feel like typing it. I’m filling in space here if you didn’t get that.

Triple X vs. LAX

Senshi (Low Ki/Kaval) and Elix Skipper representing Triple X here. This is Ultimate X and for the #1 contender spot. Think that’s enough Xs in this match? XXX goes for the X almost immediately but LAX (see what I mean?) makes the save and it’s a big brawl to start. These matches are hard to call for the most part as they’re pretty all over the place. With just four guys though it’s far easier to do.

It’s so weird seeing Kaval out there over three years ago like this. Homicide gets a chance to make a run but Senshi makes the save. Both teams are pretty much just beating each other up here to wear them down (wouldn’t that cancel the beating up part?) so they can go up (I guess that gives up the advantage again) and pull the X down (are you getting my boredom here?)

Homicide gets his signature tope con hilo to take out Senshi. Hernandez goes up and JUMPS halfway across the cables and almost gets there that way. That guy is freaking scary. A lot of near grabs for both teams here but LAX is clearly the more dominant team here. Skipper goes all the way up to the top of the structure and hits a MASSIVE cross body to Homicide in the ring.

In a cool looking spot, Skipper and Homicide both do the look up at the ceiling crawl and hit a double neckbreaker to bring the other guy down. That was a new one. I’m not a fan of that overhead shot. Granted that might be the constant camera cuts that TNA is obsessed with. In a painful and STUPID looking spot, Homicide is put in the Tree of Woe as Senshi does the Warrior’s Way onto him.

If you’re Homicide, WHY WOULD YOU SIT UP? You know his finisher is the freaking double stomp so why would you give him the right positioning for it? Mike Tenay says we’re in the ATL. My head hurts again. Skipper stops Hernandez from diving over the ropes which would have been cool to see. Border Toss by Hernandez to send Skipper flying to the other two guys on the floor. Hernandez gets the X with ease just afterwards.

Rating: B-. Bunch of big spots in there which were nice and the match worked pretty well. Hernandez is shown off as the mega star of the team which makes sense as he’s by far the bigger deal. This was a pretty good match but as usual with these matches it would help to have them be for the titles rather than a shot at a later date at said titles. But Pacman Jones is a tag champion at this point so we can’t have that match. Such is TNA.

We see Angle and Karen getting here earlier separately and at different times. Nash gets here too.

Running down of the card wastes some time.

Christian cuts off Tomko and AJ to talk about not being in the Fight for the Right Tournament. He should be in it and due to Joe he isn’t. AJ is happy to be home. He’s an idiot here. Tomko is actually serious.

Fight For the Right Tournament Stage One: Reverse Battle Royal

Dang it. Ok so this one might just hold the record for most ridiculous TNA concept. This is the beginning of a HUGE #1 contenders tournament. The winner of this match is the #1 seed in said tournament, which he would wind up losing anyway, making this COMPLETELY POINTLESS.

Anyway there are 16 people in this and you start on the floor. The first eight to get into the ring make it to part two. When those eight are in there’s a battle royal. When there are two left in the ring, they have a one on one match and the winner is the #1 seed. The other seeds are determined in the order you were eliminated.

Somehow this is slightly less complicated than the previous year’s tournament where the winner of the battle royal advanced to the finals and 6 other guys had qualifying matches to set up a triple threat where the winner met the battle royal winner to get a title shot. And people wonder why this company is loathed by so many people.

ANYWAY, the 16 people are Jimmy Rave, Lance Hoyt (Vance Archer), Havok (Johnny Devine), Shark Boy, Petey Williams, Kaz, Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt, Kip James, BG James, James Storm, Eric Young, Robert Roode, Chris Harris and Junior Fatu (Rikishi, who was there like a week).

Fatu gets in first. This is so stupid. I know there are issues with getting ring time in this company but this is ridiculous. Kaz and Roode are in. Shelley is in fourth. Hoyt accidentally drops Young in and there’s Sabin. Hoyt goes in seventh and Storm just beats Harris in to give us the 8th guy. Let’s get this over with. Young puts Storm out seconds in, making him the #8 seed in the tournament. Naturally he would win his first round match as he had to do the least wrestling, making it easier on him. See what I mean by flaws in the system?

Young goes after Rikishi who was supposed to be a huge deal I guess. He chokeslams Roode and stacks up four people in the corner for the splash. Stinkface to Hoyt as this is boring. The Andre treatment takes care of him though. He would make the semi-finals of the tournament and then leave the company.

The Guns go nuts with an insane double submission on Roode and Young. They move Young’s legs so he has an Indian Deathlock on Roode before putting a crossface on Roode and an abdominal stretch on Young. It doesn’t accomplish anything but it looks awesome. Think of it as a Divas match.

Shelley is gone. Kaz hits his slingshot DDT on Sabin and then dumps him too. We’re down to Hoyt, Kaz, Roode and Young. Kaz is out as well. Hoyt like an idiot goes for a moonsault and gets thrown out because he’s a freaking idiot. The final two….ok make that three as Sabin is still in there I guess, are Sabin, Roode and Young. And scratch Sabin….who apparently is Sabin as they apparently misspoke earlier. I give up. Roode vs. Young is the final.

Roode is a power guy still here and isn’t in a tag team. The tournament sets up Sabin vs. Shelley which is of course good but means nothing compared to them in the X Title final years later. These two had been feuding and were stablemates years ago. And then Young rolls up Roode in a small package to end it. Young would lose to Storm in the first round and Kaz would beat Christian to win the tournament.

Rating: F+. This was perhaps the most overdone match in history. Seriously, is it that hard to have a battle royal to determine who the #1 contender is? Couldn’t they just have a tournament with a random draw? Apparently not as they decided to just combine them and throw in a one on one match too. This is what we mean by overbooking. You don’t have to do a big complicated thing when a simple thing would work fine and in this case much better. Stupid match and VERY stupid concept.

We recap AJ/Tomko vs. Team Pacman. In other words, a man that was banned from the NFL for being involved in a shooting that paralyzed a man is a tag team champion in TNA. To his credit he bought 1500 tickets to the show and gave them away as prizes to kids in Atlanta schools who got good grades and had good conduct.

Ron Killings, as in R-Truth, says that the NFL has stopped Pacman from wrestling so they have a replacement named Consequences Creed. Pacman talks like an idiot about going for a ride or something.

Karen and Kurt argue even more.

Tag Titles: Team Pacman vs. AJ Styles/Tomko

Keep in mind Team Pacman doesn’t actually have Pacman in this. Creed is the guy that dressed like Apollo Creed and is named for Truth and Consequences. AJ and Creed start us off here. Creed hits a forearm in the corner and that’s about all he’s got as far as interesting stuff goes. He’s cool to watch to a degree but at the end of the day he’s a guy dressed up like a fictional character with a stupid name.

Truth vs. Tomko now. Tomko is an IWGP tag champion at this point. Thanks for again informing us about things that have zero to do with TNA. Truth is doing the exact same stuff he does today in WWE. This is a rather boring match as it’s pretty clear that Pacman is losing here as he can’t wrestle so the appeal is gone. Granted that would imply it was there in the first place so take that for what it’s worth.

Everything breaks down and we get a big melee. AJ gets thrown into the corner and is down. Truth vs. Tomko at the moment. Pacman tries to get involved and is just annoying. Creed takes Tomko out but AJ hits a BIG shooting star to the floor and wipes out all the non whites in this thing. Pacman pulls out a bunch of money and throws it in the air so what when Truth gets a rollup Hebner picks up the money instead of counting. AJ and Tomko hit their double team finisher for the titles on Truth.

Rating: D. Just boring here with zero drama. Thankfully Pacman was gone after this as no one liked him and he made TNA look freaking stupid. This was just idiotic and such a waste of talent like AJ and even Truth just wasting him like this. Pacman was a waste of money and a total eye rolling moment who didn’t ever get to wrestle due to the NFL. At least this was the end of him for the most part.

Karen whines even more and says Angle keeps the title tonight because it’s the money. She goes up to Kevin who is hitting on some blonde. She tries to get Nash to talk to Kurt which doesn’t work. Oh and there’s the required Scott Hall reference.

We recap Daniels vs. Lethal where Lethal is defending. He’s Black Machismo here too.

X-Division Title: Jay Lethal vs. Christopher Daniels

Lethal won the title beating Angle who had all three titles including both tag belts and had three title matches at one PPV. You know, because he wanted to help the young guys. And now we talk about the Angles and Sting for later tonight. Nice slingshot rana by Lethal and a WEAK suicide dive hits Daniels on the floor. Their hands touched and that’s about it.

They’re having some weird issues with making contact with each other. They’re doing this very odd style here and not much is going on here. Lethal gets a crucifix for two. They’re just kind of doing moves out there with nothing special going on at all. Daniels can’t beat him and starts to snap which is an old standard for wrestling but it usually works and is here kind of.

Top rope rana by Daniels is shoved off. The big elbow misses too though and Daniels gets two off of the miss. They’re clearly almost at the end here and the fans think it’s awesome. No, it really isn’t. Lethal gets the Lethal Combination (backbreaker and Downward Spiral) off the top for the pin to retain. Cool ending to a weak match.

Rating: C-. This just didn’t do it for me at all. It was ok at best but it just came off as uneventful. I have never gotten the appeal of Daniels or his style whatsoever. They had this weird non chemistry going and it wasn’t working for me. Not a horrible match but at the same time it didn’t do much.

The Steiners talk about Team 3D. They’re actually doing this. Rick looks AWFUL.

The recap talks about how Scott got very sick and was literally on his deathbed in Puerto Rico but came back as a face. He can’t have a wrestling match so we get a 2/3 tables match.

Steiner Brothers vs. Team 3D

They point out that the Steiners now reside in Atlanta to HAMMER in the face push. Big brawl to start as you have to get two table put throughs out of three to win this. Well it’s better than a regular table match. I’m not sure how but it prevents winning on a fluke I guess. Rick thankfully is in a shirt as we get the Steiner pose. The Dudleys try to leave and that goes nowhere.

Beer to the face of D-Von as they’re in the crowd. Granted this isn’t so much a waste of time as you can go through a table anywhere. Big brawl in the stands where not a lot is going on as there are no tables in sight. Scott and Bubba are brawling as are the other pair. There’s the first table brought in but it’s not set up yet. We’re back around the ring now.

In the ring now and Rick goes through one on a 3D. Scott is on the floor and there aren’t any eliminations it seems which I like better. Scott fights out of a super bomb and hits a Frankensteiner where he does nothing and Bubba has to jump for the flip, hitting the back of his head on the edge, more or less breaking through the table with his neck. FREAKING OW MAN.

It’s tied up at one here as D-Von misses a splash. How was Steiner a world champion in WCW? I think you can count him as another example of a guy making money and getting as far as he did because WCW was in the place it was rather than his talent. Bubba whips Scott with a big leather belt as Rick has apparently disappeared.

Scott is put on a table and it just kind of collapses which doesn’t count as it’s not a guy being put through it which makes sense. Scott has his beard braided which looks stupid. The Dudleys put him on another table and go for his injured throat. The Guns run down for the save. D-Von misses a chair shot and the Steiner Bulldog ends it.

Rating: D+. Well they were trying out there but it didn’t work that well. The two old teams going at it were supposed to comprise a dream match but it didn’t work. Why should I want to see either of these teams rather than the Guns who had a run in here? It’s more old guys that aren’t worth much doing their thing. That’s rarely a good thing and this was no exception. Having the 2/3 thing was a nice little twist though and it helped it a good deal.

We talk to the new Knockouts who were brought in for the first Knockouts Title match. There were five total: ODB, Talia Madison, Shelly Martinez and Angel Williams. Angel later added ina to her first name and Talia changed her name to Velvet Skye. The girls run away as Kong is behind JB and makes a scary face.

We get a weak recap which more or less is just a slideshow of the girls in the match.

Knockouts Title: Gauntlet Match

This is a ten girl match where you have a regular gauntlet but it’s over the top until we get to the final two. Yep we’re having two battle royals. Kong debuted at Impact so she’s brand new here. We start with Ms. Brooks and Jackie. Good night WHY DOES SHE ALWAYS STAY AROUND? No one cares about her at all and she was always there. Quit shaking your chest because NO ONE WANTS TO SEE THEM.

Brooks gets a big boot to the side of the head of the annoying one but gets caught in a German suplex. Shelly Martinez is in third. Oh…these girls can’t do much. Kong comes in fourth and it’s on. Kong takes like 40 seconds to get to the ring out of a minute.

ODB comes in fifth as Jackie puts out Brooks but Kong just goes off, getting rid of Jackie (GO KONG!) and Martinez. Angelina Love (Angel Williams at this point) has the music, the looks and the stage pose already as she’s 6th. Christy comes in and is still amazing looking Kong beats the tar out of her with a rack where Christy’s feet almost hit her head. A Batista Bomb hits as Gail Kim is eighth.

Everyone gangs up on Kong as the medics take out Christy to eliminate her for the most part. The three in the ring get rid of Kong whose shirt flies up and Talia Madison (Velvet Skye) is ninth. Roxxi who is a voodoo chick with hair at this point is last. Love apparently went out off camera so we have four left: Roxxi, ODB, Gail and Velvet.

Gail puts out Velvet as we get a GREAT back shot of her. ODB is out also and we have our one on one match. Gail gets an insane looking submission hold on Roxxi which was like a sideways Octopus Hold. Gail looks sexy in those shorts to put it mildly. They really make her figure look good. Roxxi botches a jackknife pin for two. Gail hits Finlay’s Celtic Cross to end it and win the title.

Rating: C-. Again, is there a reason to mix things up like they did here that I’m just not getting? Why not have an actual tournament rather than this weird hybrid thing? It wasn’t bad I guess but at the same time this just didn’t work like they wanted it to. This could have been a lot better as a simple one on one match but this just didn’t do it for me like they wanted it to. Not horrible though.

Nash tries to talk to Angle who is just getting ready with about 45 minutes before the match starts. Great to see him preparing like that. Nash can’t get him to drop the match and he won’t have his back tonight. Again more old guys talking about stuff that doesn’t make sense.

We recap Joe vs. Christian which is about respect apparently. And naturally we have something thrown in there as Matt Morgan is the guest referee.

Christian Cage vs. Samoa Joe

Morgan is the bodyguard of Cornette so that’s why he’s here. Not sure if that makes sense but whatever. Christian is a heel here if you’re wondering and has never been pinned or tapped in the company. Joe gets the big Samoan entrance with the fire dancing as he had on occasion. Long feeling out process to start us off as Christian plays the cowardly heel perfectly.

Finally Joe gets his in the corner and gets a lot of Face Washes but misses the running boot. He hits what we would call the Rough Ryder off the middle rope for two. All Joe so far. Joe chops him on the back which is something you don’t often see. Christian appears to be out cold on the apron. Joe is like screw  it and hits a big old suicide dive to almost end Christian. ALL Joe for the first five minutes.

Morgan of course has had nothing to say so far. Joe kicks Christian into the barrier which more or less explodes as Christian FINALLY gets a counter to hit a DDT onto the floor and Joe is in trouble. He fights out of everything but still winds up on his back. Christian misses the splash and they slug it out. I think they’re going for the epic encounter here but it’s really not clicking like they want it to.

Morgan won’t let Christian leave so Joe again is like  forget this and hits the flying fat man spinning corkscrew plancha to crush Christian. THIS is the Joe that was the hottest thing in the world when Kurt showed up to challenge him. Clutch and Unprettier are both reversed and Joe gets a Buckle Bomb. Christian gets a powerbomb out of the corner with feet on the ropes for two. This is rapidly getting awesome.

Clutch is countered again and we head up to the corner. A headbutt sends Christian to the floor and Joe is down in the ring. And here’s Tomko because we have to overbook this. Tomko goes at it with Morgan so AJ can sneak down. He goes for the forearm but Morgan makes the save. Morgan chases both of them off with a chair but Christian gets a low blow and the Unprettier for two.

Christian hooks on the Clutch but it only gets two arm drops and here comes the fat man. Muscle Buster hits and there’s the Clutch from the master of it and Christian taps for his first clean loss in the company.

Rating: B+. I really liked this as it was a rather competitive match. Both guys were out there working hard and this looked like a match that belonged on the biggest show of the year. I really liked the lack of actual interference as it tends to taint a match like this. This came off very well and it came off like a major match should. Good match.

And now let’s make sure to forget about the two guys that just had the match of the night to talk about Nash and Sting more. Why is Nash getting like four segments here when he’s not even wrestling tonight? He talks to Sting whose son Angle pushed or something. Nash says Angle is all he has and that’s all he can do to get back to the spotlight as he’s too banged up. This is idiotic.

We have to have the Monster’s Ball recap now because it’s a tradition here. I’m REALLY not a fan of having this here now as it’s such a letdown after seeing a very good match like we just did. Don’t believe me that it’ll be weak? Look at the lineup.

Raven vs. Rhyno vs. Black Reign vs. Abyss

Yeah it’s just a bit hardcore match in between the two big wrestling matches. Don’t you love the way this company books things? It just sounds like a stupid match. We get going before Abyss is here and scratch that as he’s here now. Raven takes down Abyss and here come more of the weapons. Rhyno puts a trash can between Reign’s legs and hits it with a golf club.

This match really is taking me out of the show as all of a sudden the match comes off as uninteresting and totally unimportant. Granted it might feel like that because that’s the situation. Rhyno misses a Gore and goes through some kind of wall and Rhyno is in trouble. Raven is busted open and drops a big elbow off the balcony onto Abyss to put him through a table.

Basically it’s down to Reign and Abyss who is more or less dead. Ok scratch that as Raven is back. Shattered Dreams to Raven and they cut away from the impact. Abyss brings in the tacks/glass but Goldie blocks him. Rhyno is back in now as almost everyone is busted open. Gore to Reign but Raven knocks out everyone with weapon shots.

Raven busts out the bag of stuff and here’s James Mitchell to yell at Raven. There are the glass and the tacks and of course since Raven laid them out he winds up going into them, this time through the means of the Black Hole Slam. And now the match is over. I still don’t care at all.

Rating: D. It came, it happened, you know what to expect here, Abyss gains nothing and the other three still mean nothing. Take us to the main event to get me back into this show now.

We talk about how both have history in Atlanta. Sting it’s more from a company based in Atlanta but whatever. This is nothing special but it gives a theme to stuff though. No mention of the son though.

TNA World Title: Sting vs. Kurt Angle

I guess Nash couldn’t make it to the match. What do you mean he was never in this? He’s gotten more camera time than anyone else tonight so how can he not be in the match? Angle is defending remember. Not that it means anything for the most part but figured it needed to be pointed out. Bit match intros are still fun no matter how many times we’ve heard them.

Big heat on Angle so he’s got that going for him at least. They feel each other out to start. One time they need to feel each other up to start just for a change of pace. They trade arm work and Sting keeps offering clean breaks. Sting outwrestles him a bit and Angle hits the floor to clear his head. His hip might be a bit hurt. Lot of feeling out process here so far with no one really getting an advantage at all.

They hit the floor and Angle’s bald head hits the table. Angle’s shoulder hits the post but he manages to get a German to get out of the Death Drop. Another belly to belly puts Sting down. Double clothesline puts both guys down though and we wait for Nash. Sting wins a striking contest as they crank it up again. Sting hits a spinebuster (???) for two.

A pair of splashes hit and a bulldog puts Angle down. Sting, ever the idiot, doesn’t go for a finisher but rather goes up top against Kurt Angle. After he comes crashing down Angle gets the Slam countered and we hit the Rolling Germans for two. Ankle lock goes on but Sting gets a Bret Hart caliber counter to hook the Scorpion. That was AWESOME looking.

And here’s Karen to screw things up because we have to have more people in the main event than usual. Nash comes in and lays out Sting as Karen is taken out. Angle Slam hits for two as the Nash/Karen thing proves to be relatively pointless. A top rope Sting splash misses as Angle gets the knees up for two.

Kurt goes up and busts out a 450! He completely misses Sting as in his toes didn’t even hit Sting but who cares about that as it looked COOL! Ankle Lock goes on but Sting rolls him into Nash. And down goes the referee as Sting hits the Death Drop. Why do they have to overbook it???

Another referee comes out and Nash breaks it up again. Blast it go away! He comes in and beats up Sting so Sting beats up both of those two. Angle gets the bat but Sting hits him with it instead and crotches Nash. Death Drop FINALLY ends this. And then he lost the title back to Angle TWO DAYS later and Angle held it until April when Joe won it. Yep that’s TNA for you.

Rating: C+. This was good but definitely not great. The Nash and Karen stuff was just a waste of time. What did Nash add to this match at all? The overbooking hurt what was otherwise a good match. Sting winning to end Angle’s very long reign was the right choice, although having him lose it the Impact after the followup show was stupid. Although then again this is TNA. Decent match though but not great at all.

Overall Rating: D+. Well it’s not horrible. That’s about as high as I can give it though as there were parts on here that were just bad. The biggest issue I have here: there were FIVE gimmick matches out of nine total and you could argue that Joe vs. Christian was one as well given the enforcer. That’s just WAY too high and is bordering on a WWE gimmick PPV. There were good moments here but they’re outweighed by the bad which drags this down. Not the worst show ever but not a great one at all.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Impact Wrestling
Date: October 4, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz

We’re closing in on Bound For Glory with this show and then one more next week before the biggest show of the year. Last week Hogan and Sting agreed to a tag team match against two Aces and 8’s guys at the PPV and it’ll be Sting and someone else, possibly RVD, to face the bikers. However, the deal is nothing else happens from Aces and 8’s until the PPV, so it’s not likely that’s what we’re going to be discussing tonight. Let’s get to it.

Normal recaps open things up.

Hogan and Sting are in Hogan’s office but Hogan can’t be with Sting at the PPV. Sting is going to watch every match tonight to determine who his partner is going to be at BFG.

Mr. Anderson vs. Gunner

Anderson says he wants to be Sting’s partner and to watch him do his thing here. Gunner immediately jumps Anderson to take over. Anderson knocks him to the floor but Gunner takes over back inside. A quick chinlock doesn’t really get Gunner anywhere so he whips Anderson into the corner only to miss a charge. Mic Check gets the pin at 2:28.

Post match Kid Kash comes in to beat on Anderson but gets Mic Checked as well.

Tara is on the phone with her boyfriend when Gail comes up. They have a tag match later and Tara insults Gail’s cable TV star husband, who is a TV chef I think.

Gail Kim/Tara vs. Miss Tessmacher/ODB

ODB and Gail start things off with the bigger chick throwing Gail into the corner. The beating continues with ODB in complete control. Off to Tess for a Stink Face because that’s what she’s good for. ODB comes back in and misses the Bronco Buster but saves herself before pain hits her crotch. Off to Tara who can’t get out of the way of the Bronco Buster but a Gail distraction allows the heels to take over.

Tara and Gail keep having issues as Tara wants to come in and get the glory after Gail does the work. Tara’s standing moonsault hits ODB’s knee and it’s off to Tessmacher to very little reaction. A headscissors takes Tara down as does a faceplant out of the corner. ODB gets a shot from the flask and spears Gail down but Gail comes back in and is shoved by Tara into Tessmacher. The Widow’s Peak pins Tessmacher at 4:44.

Rating: C. The Knockouts are a shell of what they used to be but there’s an angle here which is tried and true over time (teacher vs. student) and it’s hard to screw up. On top of that we have the mystery of Tara’s boyfriend which could wind up being something interesting. Either that or it’s Jason Hervey which would just be stupid.

Bruce Pritchard is showing Al Snow something on a contract and Snow says he’ll get it done.

We recap Al Snow vs. Joey Ryan over the months.

Here’s Snow and he brings out Joey Ryan with something to say to him. Snow says that several months ago he did something he shouldn’t have and put himself and TNA in a bad position. He offers an apology to Ryan but that’s not good enough for Joey, who wants it more personalized. Ryan says tonight he’s in control and wants to hear about the other legal agreement they’ve come to. Snow pulls out a contract for Ryan but Joey wants to sign it on Snow’s back. There’s a catch though: Ryan has a match with Snow for BFG and it’s win and get a full time contract.

Angle wants to pull a double at BFG but Sting will only think about it. Kaz and Daniels are seen in the back hoping that Sting says yes. Angle leaves but Ray steps in and says he should be in the world title match, but he’ll take a spot on Sting’s team instead. Sting says go be a bully and prove your worth.

TV Title: Samoa Joe vs. Rob Van Dam

Joe won the title last week and it’s his first defense. That’s a different belt than the one he held last week too. Joe takes him down to start but Van Dam comes back with a few forearms. Those get him nowhere as Joe clotheslines him down and hits an enziguri in the corner. Van Dam tries his rolling roll up but Joe catches the leg and puts on an STF. They head to the floor and Van Dam dropkicks the leg out before trying to drape the wide load over the barricade.

That fails due to the laws of gravity and RVD gets rammed into the steps for his efforts. Back inside and Van Dam hits a middle rope cross body to put Joe down but he goes up top WAY too fast. Joe pulls him off the top and the MuscleBuster is enough to retain the title at 4:27. I miss that move.

Rating: C+. This didn’t have any time to get going but it worked while it lasted. Joe being all dominant and tough again is a good thing as he’s one of the guys that is hard to screw up when he’s booked right. RVD continues to be kind of there in TNA. He doesn’t really do anything but he’s a big enough deal that he can be thrown into whatever story and fit. Match was short but it was decent while it lasted.

Everyone in the tag team triple threat but Angle gets in an argument about last week and Chavo losing the match because of interference.

Dixie talks about her BFG memories.

Aries talked to Hardy earlier today about their tag match last week where Hardy stole the pin after Aries did the work. Ray comes up and says he’s not going to punch either of them right now, but he’ll punch one of them later. It’s to prove himself to Sting by beating Hardy. Aries takes offense to this and wants to fight Ray instead. They argue so Hardy suggests a triple threat. Ray is cool with that.

Chavo Guerrero vs. Kurt Angle

No Kazarian? I would have thought it would be another triple threat like last week but this is a nice surprise. Feeling out process to start with Chavo hooking a headlock that can’t be broken by an Angle suplex. That’s quite the headlock. Angle takes him into the corner and stomps away but Chavo comes back with some uppercuts. Angle finally gets Chavo on the mat with a go behind grip and a kind of slam gets two.

Back up and Chavo dropkicks Kurt down and literally rolls onto him for two. A release belly to belly puts Chavo down but he escapes the Angle Slam and hits a quick rana for two. It’s time for Three Amigos but Angle blocks the third and rolls some Germans. The ankle lock is countered and there are the Three Amigos in full. The Frog Splash misses and there’s the Angle Slam. Hernandez looks at Angle and the distraction is enough for Chavo to roll up Kurt for the pin at 6:42.

Rating: B-. Another pretty good but short match here. I don’t know what the deal is with that unless Angle is still hurt and can’t go at full speed yet. His thigh is taped up so maybe there’s something not quite healed yet. They’ve done a good job with the three way feud and I’m digging the idea of the match at the PPV. Pretty good stuff here.

Hernandez and AJ get in for a staredown as the tag champs stand on the stage.

X-Division Title: Douglas Williams vs. Zema Ion

Williams starts out fast and clotheslines Ion to the floor. Ion is defending in case you had forgotten this title existed. Back in and Ion cranks on the arm with a hold and Williams taps almost immediately at 1:19.

Ion won’t let go and the decision is reversed. He says he’s on the top of Sting’s list but he wants off it, because his looks aren’t worth the risk.

We look at King Mo, an MMA guy who is coming to TNA and will be guest referee for Storm vs. Roode because that match needs a guest referee for some reason.

Pritchard and Brown are looking at a video of Matt Morgan running in at a house show and beating up a referee. Pritchard yells at Brown for letting this happen.

Here’s Storm to talk about the match with Roode a bit more. Ten days from now this war with Roode started and at BFG, it’s not about proving that Storm is a better fighter or a better wrestler. It’s about being a better man. Hogan doesn’t like the referees being pushed around so he’s brought in King Mo to be the guest referee. Cue Roode for the interruption.

Roode accuses Storm of riding his coattails and being jealous of Roode for years. Bobby promises that this isn’t just a match, but it’s going to be a fight. He’s not going to stop at BFG until he knows Storm’s career is over. It’s going to be a bloodbath and Roode doesn’t care about King Mo, because no one is going to stop him at the PPV. If Mo were here, Roode would say it to his face. Mo comes out in a glittery silver robe, MMA gloves, a big freaking medallion and a crown and shoves Roode down. Mo gets in the ring in Storm’s face and they share a beer.

Hogan has picked his guy and has it written down, because he can’t say it to Sting who is right next to him. Sting likes the idea but wants to see Bully first.

Aces and 8’s tortures Joseph Park a bit more. He’s been kidnapped for three weeks now. WHY HAS NO ONE CALLED THE COPS??? They tear Park’s shirt off and apparently are going to attack car battery clamps to his nipples. We’re going to find out who their two guys are tonight to face Sting and whoever it is.

Joe vs. Magnus at BFG. That was obvious and that’s the right call for sure.

Bully Ray vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries

Non-title here. This is joined in progress after a break with Ray knocking down Hardy in the ring. Aries is on the floor I presume but he pops back in as Hardy is sent to the floor. Aries and Hardy start working together with some Poetry in Motion with Aries playing Matt. The legdrop between the legs and a low dropkick set up a Twisting Stunner to Ray and Jeff goes up. There’s the Swanton but Aries makes the save. Aries hooks the Last Chancery but Hardy makes the save this time.

Hardy is sent to the floor and Ray backdrops Aries onto Jeff in a good looking crash. Back in and Aries says he doesn’t need anyone, which is pretty solidly heel of him. He hits the running dropkick to Ray but Bully blocks the brainbuster. He goes to look for his chain but settles for the title belt instead. Hardy back in now and Ray sends Jeff into the champ. Bubba Bomb to Hardy gets the pin at 4:10 shown. Yeah less than five minutes.

Rating: C. This is the night of the short matches. Ray winning is one way they could have gone although I’m not sure it’s the right one. It’s also not the wrong move but they put themselves in an awkward place here. Ray winning is probably the best possible outcome they could have gone with, but this likely wasn’t the best match for them to pick.

Here are Hogan and Sting to announce Sting’s partner for the match. Hogan talks about how Aces and 8’s are running wild around here and now it’s getting personal. Really? Just NOW it’s getting personal? Hogan says he needs a real partner for Sting and it’s going to be….Anderson. Yes, apparently beating Gunner is more impressive than beating the world champion and the number 1 contender. And never mind as Anderson is beaten down by Aces and 8’s in the back.

Ray runs out and says it should be him now for sure. He gives a great speech about going to war (ruined by the fans chanting for D-Von) and sticks his hand out to Hogan. Sting likes the idea and Hogan waits before shaking his hands. The fans boo of course because nothing makes these people happy. Ray is ready to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This show was…..understandable. It certainly isn’t a good show but they built up the PPV. This is the funky period before a major PPV where the card is mostly set and now you’re filling in the stories before you get there. It happens every year before Wrestlemania and it happens every year before BFG. It’s not fun but it has to happen. Nothing on here was terrible, but nothing on it was great either. They’re not even trying to hide that Aces and 8’s is the real main event and I’m actually hoping it goes on last so we don’t get the same thing Roode and Angle got last year where no one cared. Slow, but not awful show.

Results

Mr. Anderson b. Gunner – Mic Check

Gail Kim/Tara b. ODB/Miss Tessmacher – Widow’s Peak to Tessmacher

Samoa Joe b. Rob Van Dam – MuscleBuster

Chavo Guerrero b. Kurt Angle – Rollup

Douglas Williams b. Zema Ion via DQ when Ion wouldn’t release his hold

Bully Ray b. Jeff Hardy and Austin Aries – Bully Bomb to Hardy

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Wrestle War 1992
Date: May 17, 1992
Location: Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum, Jacksonville, Florida
Attendance: 6,000
Commentators: Jim Ross, Jesse Ventura

This show is about one thing and one thing only: War Games. Sting’s Squadron vs. The Dangerous Alliance in the ultimate blowoff match which is widely considered the best match in WCW in the 1990s. Other than that, everything is bonus as this is worth the price of admission on its own. I’ll likely be shifting towards more stuff I want to do after I finish ECW and SNME so this is kind of a preview of that. Let’s get to it.

The opening video doesn’t talk about anything but the War Games. This is the original version so a bunch of the matches are NOT missing like the home video version. Tony and Eric welcome us to the show and are the hosts I guess. This is going to be Sting’s first match in about a month.

Jesse calls the show War Games. At least he’s realistic about it.

US Tag Titles: Greg Valentine/Terry Taylor vs. Freebirds

It amazes me how far tag wrestling has fallen. There are midcard tag titles here. The Freebirds are faces here and for the life of me I don’t get what was seen in Valentine and Taylor as a team. There are two rings here which is always kind of strange but it’s still cool. The Freebirds both use the DDT here so they’re looking for the quick win. Fonzie from ECW is the referee here.

Taylor and Hayes start us off and the fans more or less hate Taylor. At least they’re smart. It’s just strange seeing the Freebirds as faces. Also Greg Valentine is a champion in 1992. What’s weird about this picture? A backhand chop is a judo chop according to Jim. For those of you unsure, the Freebirds are Jimmy Garvin (no one of note really) and Michael Hayes, who is currently the head writer for Smackdown.

ALL Freebirds so far but this is a long match so there’s plenty of time left. We’re about eight minutes in and the champions haven’t been on offense longer than maybe 20 seconds yet. I could watch Valentine fall on his face every day. It’s just perfectly done. The heels take over for a bit and I emphasize the bit part since Garvin takes over again to get us to even.

Hayes gets a hot tag and cleans house. The crowd is hot tonight which gives me a good feeling about the main event. Hayes gets hit in the back of the head with the Five Arm, Terry’s finisher but it only gets two. Fans are completely behind the Freebirds. Taylor gets a gutwrench powerbomb for two on Hayes which is a move I wish we saw more often. We’re nearly fifteen minutes in and Jesse says it’s too early to go for the figure four.

Valentine works on the arm which is just weird for him but whatever. This has been a good match so I can live with that. Another hot tag to Garvin and he cleans house. Everything goes insane and Garvin gets a DDT on Taylor for the pin and the titles. Solid opener and the crowd is happy so everything worked. The titles would be retired in July so it’s not like it means much.

Rating: B. Great opener here as the crowd was way into it and the title change works well to open a show. Starting a show with a good tag match is pretty much a universally good idea and this was no exception. I’m not a fan of any of these four but this was a very solid match and has me wanting to watch more of the show, which is exactly the point of an opener.

Johnny B. Badd vs. Tracy Smothers

WCW had this weird tendency to have totally random matches like this to flesh out their PPVs which are always odd. They’re not particularly bad but they’re just odd. Badd is fairly flamboyant at this point but is popular to a degree I guess. Ok given that pop he’s very popular. Imagine a gay Little Richard. That’s the only way to describe this guy. He’s very much in the mold of Rico, down to the makeup and the feathers on the clothes. Women put money in his kneepads.

Badd gets a rollup about three seconds in for two. Tracy Smothers is more commonly known as a member of the FBI. This would be a Cruiserweight match four or five years later. Jesse always had this theory that the loser of a #1 contender match (this isn’t one) wouldn’t be able to get another chance at a title shot for a year minimum. In WWF’s tag division back in the late 80s that was true but not here.

Smothers could throw some karate stuff in when he wanted to and it’s very fun. Smothers hits a top rope back elbow and I love it. I have no idea why I love that move so much but I always have. Mostly Smothers so far but nothing that bad. Sunset flip is blocked but Smothers puts his arms up and gets taken over anyway. Does no one ever watch old tapes at all?

It turns into a boxing match which makes me wonder something. Badd’s finisher is a left hook punch. Why does he not do that right after the match starts? A top rope sunset flip gets the more famous guy two and then the punch ends it.

Rating: C-. Just a wrestling match here but nothing that bad. Johnny would get a decent push soon enough but not a big one for a few years. He got very good very fast but at the moment he was just a comedy character. Smothers was in a tag team but his partner left so he was kind of stuck on his own and no one really cared. Decent enough match though.

The Freebirds talk about how awesome they are and make rock and roll song references. We hear about the NWA Tag Title Tournament which crippled the insanely hot WCW stuff in the next few months. Apparently Stairway to Heaven was a Lynard Skynard song too. I know wrestling rewrites history but dang man.

Scotty Flamingo vs. Marcus Bagwell

Raven vs. Buff Bagwell in case you’re young. Raven vs. a less talented Dolph Ziggler in case you’re REALLY young. I have no idea what Scotty Flamingo’s character was supposed to be but his pink tights and kind of afro are just a weird combination. Jesse gets on Ross for being in high school while Jesse was in Vietnam. Crowd is kind of dead for this and I can’t say I particularly blame them. Both of these guys are relatively young and not very good yet.

How exactly do you whip someone with authority? There is a grand total of nothing going on here. It’s not bad but it’s just there. After like seven minutes, Bagwell hits the Perfectplex but Scotty gets the ropes. He rolls up Bagwell and uses the ropes to get the pin.

Rating: C. Just an average match again and nothing particularly good. It was just kind of there: nothing particularly good, nothing particularly bad, but nothing I’m going to remember in about 40 minutes either way. They got better with different gimmicks later on but at this point they were pretty bad.

Ad for Beach Blast which was an AWESOME show.

Abdullah and Cactus were beating up Simmons at Superbrawl and JYD who is apparently a legend of some kind comes down and saves him.

Mr. Hughes/Cactus Jack vs. Ron Simmons/Junkyard Dog

No idea why Hughes is there instead of Abdullah but whatever. Cactus jumps JYD on the way to the ring and beats the living tar out of him. And people wonder why I love Foley. Being this insane wasn’t done back in the day so Jack was definitely a scary character back then. Simmons was a hot thing back then and would be world champion in the fall. JYD gets taken off so this more or less becomes a singles match.

Mr. Hughes vs. Ron Simmons

Officially isn’t a handicap but Jack is acting like a manager here. You could really tell they were getting the idea of how useful Foley could be around this time and it worked. Simmons beats them both up and I’m sure this had nothing to do with the racial issues going on behind the scenes at this point. I always liked him back then though as he was kind of a Rock like character as he was a beast athletically but not much on the mic at all.

We get a Bill Watts reference but I don’t think he had taken over yet. Hughes was a guy that I never got the appeal of but he did his job very well as a big monster that anyone could bring in for a quick feud with a face. This is a glorified squash for Simmons as there was no way he was going to lose here. Simmons hits a spinebuster and after Cactus comes in a shot to the knee ends it. Kind of weird.

Rating: D+. Nothing that special here but it was a way to get Simmons over which was the idea here. It was also less than six minutes long which was a good thing for them here as Hughes was never really that good. Jack vs. Simmons would turn out to be a decent little match and feud but it never went anywhere due to Watts and the NWA screwing it up.

Super Invader vs. Todd Champion

Super Invader is Hercules in a mask. Champion was half of a tag team that was completely awful but got the US Tag Titles anyway. Harley Race is Invader’s manager here which doesn’t help him that much. This isn’t much at all but it’s just filler until the main event because everyone worth anything is in that match. We go to a chinlock early on as this isn’t much of a match at all.

Something tells me they weren’t planning on this being anything resembling a classic at all as yet again it’s just there because they’re fairly competent in the ring an can fill a total of 8 minutes or so out there. Jesse mentions that he’s got a job at Beach Blast, which would wind up being the judge in the bikini contest.

Invader does the jump off the top into a boot while clearly doing nothing but going to the top to jump into the boot so the other guy can take over spot. Champion makes a very brief comeback and a powerbomb ends it.

Rating: D. This was just bad. The majority of the match is a chinlock and since Hercules was on the downside of his career and not very good even at his best, this wasn’t anything at all of note. Boring match and can we please get on to something else?

Big Josh vs. Richard Morton

Big Josh used to be Doink and now he’s a woodsman that dances with bear cubs. Morton used to be in the Rock N Roll Express and now is part of a corporate stable that was managed by Alexandra York, as in Terri Runnels. Something tells me that again this isn’t going to be an incredibly interesting match. After this though there are far less filler matches and things pick up a lot of steam, which is definitely a good thing.

Morton dressed somewhat up is a very bizarre sight. Less than a minute in and we’re at five people going to the concession stand etc. Make that six. Much like the last three matches there’s no point to this at all and is just there to cover some time. Morton rips the shirt open on Josh and he gets ticked off. I guess he’s a redneck Hogan fan or something.

Morton looks like he always has which takes away the whole heel thing here. No one ever accused him of being the smartest guy I guess though. This is a weird power vs. speed/mat based thing. It’s not bad I guess but it’s just not that interesting. Josh hits a nice belly to belly which is just pure power. You can tell the announcers are pretty bored as they’re talking about War Games instead. I can’t blame them as there isn’t much to say here. Josh just kind of beats him up a good bit and then hits his seated senton for the pin.

Rating: D+. Nothing of note here but it’s not bad I guess. The three or four filler matches in a row are FAR too many though and the show is suffering because of it. These are both good workers but with no point to the match at all, this was just there. It’s not bad but it needed a reason to care about it as the wrestling isn’t good enough to carry it on its own.

Light Heavyweight Title: Flying Brian vs. Z-Man

This should be awesome. These two used to be the US Tag Champions. Jesse wants the cheating to start before the match even begins. I love heel announcers when they’re good at what they do and he’s one of the best of them. They keep doing the same stuff because they know each other so well. That’s an old tactic but it works very well no matter what so I can’t complain.

Crowd is oddly dead here, but I think it’s because there hasn’t been much to cheer for in about an hour. Jesse does some play by play here which is very different. Him basically drooling over the idea of a punch being thrown is great. This starts off pretty slowly but it’s going with the slow build as you can tell the ending is going to be awesome. Z-Man misses a Vader Bomb so Pillman can take over again.

And now it’s half crab time for no apparent reason. Pillman would soon join up with Austin to make the Hollywood Blondes who were as awesome as you can be in a 6 month reign as a team. A figure four goes on and Z-Man has a bad knee. They’re going with a more mat based and psychology heavy match here and it’s working rather well. The crowd is hot for it which is a good thing.

Z-Man can sell the knee work very well too. Crucifix, one of Pillman’s signature moves, gets two. Jesse is BEGGING for them to cheat. Z-Man gets a cross body but goes too high with it and nearly breaks Pillman’s neck (which more or less happened at last year’s Wrestle War which we’ll get to later) but it only gets two.

Both guys are down and more or less out. In a nice bit of psychology, Z-Man fakes a knee injury and kicks Pillman as he’s coming down in a cross body. Nice move out of Bret Hart’s book….although that might not have been written yet. Z-Man misses a missile dropkick and Pillman gets a rollup to retain. Nice ending.

Rating: B+. Another very good match here. Pillman was just awesome at this point and this was no exception. Excellent match here with two guys just going out there and having a blast. Z-Man was insane for the most part and it’s a shame because he was so good in the ring when he wasn’t ticked off. This was a great match with a mixture of a lot of styles. I can’t quite get it into the A range, but it’s well worth watching if you’re bored.

Steiner Brothers vs. Tatsumi Fujiname/Takayuki Iizuka

The winners are #1 contenders to the IWGP Tag Titles, held by a team called Big Bad and Dangerous, more commonly known as IC’s wet dream: Vader and Bam Bam Bigelow. Why the WCW Tag Champions would want to get the New Japan Tag Titles is beyond me but soon enough the NWA would screw up everything by taking everyone in WCW that meant anything and some NJPW guys and putting them in a tag title tournament which just HAD to be held at Great American Bash.

Back in the day, WCW was all that the NWA had. They just didn’t want to admit that without WCW, the NWA was dead. The WCW tag titles meant more than the NWA Titles and everyone knew it except the NWA. So of course they hijacked the PPV for their own stuff and it bombed but whatever. That’s another review for another day.

For those of you that have never heard of him, Fujinami is absolutely awesome in every sense of the word. Iizuka didn’t mean anything at this point but he would becomes a fairly big deal in tag wrestling in Japan over the 90s. Nothing huge though. Jesse goes into a small rant about Japan taking all the jobs and you can hear the politics in his voice already. Scott breaks out the Blockbuster which is even rarer than the Screwdriver. It’s a fallaway slam with a floatover. It’s very hard to hit and he mostly botches the first. Second is great though.

Iizuka is a high flier that would be decent today but back then was insane. This is the Scott Steiner that was completely awesome and everyone knew it. He’s a one man wrecking crew here and takes down Iizuka with a combination powerbomb and elbow drop with help from Rick. Ok so maybe he’s a one and a second man wrecking crew. Rick does one of my favorite spots ever as the Japanese guys have him up for a Doomsday Device but Rick pulls Fujinami out of the air while he’s going for the clothesline and lands in a belly to belly suplex. It just looks amazing every time he did it which was rare.

They I guess heels work on Rick’s leg which doesn’t work that well at all. Basically this is the Steiners getting to show off and then let the other guys beat on them for a bit. Fujinami goes WAY old school by hooking an abdominal stretch and rolling back into a pin with it for two. The xenophobic crowd chants USA. Iizuka kicks the heck out of Scott who just tackles him and beats the tar out of him for his trouble.

Ok, I had to stop the tape for a second there because that might have been the coolest spot I’ve ever seen. The Japanese guys both have top wristlocks on Scott and he lifts himself up and does a standing backflip to slingshot them into the corner and then misses a double clothesline to send them into the corner where Rick comes off with a double clothesline from the top rope. Keep in mind that Scott weighs about 270 and he did that with ease. This is getting a higher grade for that spot alone.

Dragon Sleeper (Fujinami invented it) is kind of on but Scott gets the rope. Rick gets the hot tag and everything goes crazy for a bit. Crowd is way into this. Rick gets him up on top and hits one heck of a belly to belly for the pin. Iizuka was in free fall for a little bit and it looked awesome.

Rating: A-. Better than the previous match but not by much. This had some of the coolest spots I can ever remember as Scott was just absolutely amazing at this time and he was showing off here. That backflip spot was incredible to say the least. The Steiners were gone in November when they went to the WWF, but if this is their last great match it was a freaking awesome one to say the least. Great match but never really any doubt as to the winners, which hurts it a bit.

And now, the greatest gimmick match in the history of WCW.

War Games: Sting’s Squadron vs. Dangerous Alliance

Sting, Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes, Barry Windham, Nikita Koloff
Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Larry Zbyszko, Bobby Eaton, Arn Anderson

Sweet GOODNESS there is some talent in this match.

Ok so there isn’t much of a backstory here. Back in 1992 the storyline pretty much went like this: Sting fights everybody. He feuded with about 5 people at once, most of which are in this match. At Halloween Havoc and the Clash of the Champions that came just after it, Rude showed up and stole the US Title from Sting, forming this team. Sting won the world title at SuperBrawl and the Alliance wanted it off of him, no matter who did it (it would be Vader eventually but we’ll get to that later).

Larry and Arn were a tag team and feuded with Barry and Dustin over the tag titles. Barry had also just gotten the TV Title off Austin. Ricky wanted to be US Champion, which was Rude at the moment. Anderson and Eaton had taken them from Rhodes and Windham before losing them to the Steiners two weeks before this. In short, everyone hates everyone and they don’t care who they’re fighting. Koloff is there….just because Sting needed a fifth guy more or less. He would go after Rude after this PPV.

For those of you new to War Games, the rules are pretty basic. You start with a man each and they fight for five minutes. After that five minutes we flip a coin and the winning team gets to send in their second man for a 2-1 advantage that lasts two minutes. After two minutes, the team that lost gets to even it up at 2-2 for two minutes. After that two minutes the team that won the toss sends in it’s third man for two minutes. You alternate like that until it’s 5-5, then first submission wins. No pinfalls at all. It’s a double cage over both rings and there is nothing separating the two rings, so both cages only have three walls in essence, but it’s really just one big cage.

This is the first time I’ve seen this match since I got into the IWC and since I started reviewing, so this is going to be a fresh look at it. Let’s get to it.

Everyone is at ringside for this, so I’d expect a fight out there too. There are tops on the cages too. Crowd is just insane for Sting. Good grief that face team is STACKED. In a Dangerous Alliance huddle, we hear that Austin is starting for his team. He starts against Windham and it is ON immediately. Heyman keeps running strategy and it’s cool because what he’s saying is actual strategy and makes sense.

Both guys are really stiff in there and are just pounding on each other. Austin DIVES over both ropes and hits a clothesline. For those of you that haven’t seen him before he hurt his neck and his knees became made of jelly, go find some of his stuff. He’s a totally different but still very good worker. Windham rubs Austin’s face into the cage to bust him open. There’s a minute left before the next guy comes in. Windham bites the cut to open it up more. If you can’t tell, this is a very violent match.

The Alliance wins the coin toss (check the coin) and they send their big man, Rick Rude, in to make it 2-1. Also, that’s three world champions (Rude won the Big Gold Belt which is kind of a world title) in there I believe? The heels take over and Windham is in trouble. Rude’s tights look like the Comi-Con logo. Steamboat ties it up and goes straight for Austin. Ticked off Steamboat is AWESOME. Dang  it’s nice to hear this without Tony Schiavone making bad war puns.

Windham is busted open. Steamboat and Windham are dominating here but Anderson, the best wrestler to never win a world title (arguably) comes in and cleans house. Rude and Anderson both hook a crab on Steamboat. This has been non-stop the whole time which is a major perk of it. For some reason they’re all staying in the same ring. Well with five guys it’s ok. And there goes Steamboat and Rude so scratch that theory.

Dustin Rhodes comes in to balance it out. If my math is right, he’s the least successful guy in here? That’s saying a lot. Steamboat gets Rude in a figure four, more or less making it 2-2. Zbyszko, another former world champion, is in to make it 4-3. He’s been in trouble lately for being a screw-up and Rhodes beats the tar out of him as soon as he comes in. Madusa goes up the cage and slips Arn the phone but she and Sting have a standoff on the roof.

There is blood EVERYWHERE. The mat looks like an abstract painting. Sting, who has bad ribs thanks to Vader, evens things up and press slams Rude up into the air so that his back slams into the cage five times. Sting is just cleaning house here and we have two more guys left to come in. Arn gets the cage rake again and is bleeding too. Everyone is in one ring which is kind of cluttering but there they go. At least it didn’t last long.

Eaton comes in as the last man for the Dangerous Alliance. Rhodes is bleeding a ton. Windham looks quite dead. Larry is messing with the turnbuckle. Keep that in mind as it’ll come into play later. The ropes are clearly loose thanks to Larry and Rude doing whatever they were doing. Koloff comes in to FINALLY start the match beyond. No submissions could have counted until now.

Koloff is a wild card because a year or so earlier he had nailed Sting but claimed it had been meant for Luger so no one is sure if you can trust him. He pushes Sting out of the way to let Austin and Anderson hit him in a GREAT bit of continuity since Sting pushed Luger out of the way to start their whole issue. This is just pure insanity and never stopping at all.

Sting gets the Scorpion on Anderson but Eaton makes the save. They completely get the turnbuckle unhooked so there is no top rope and the buckle is just laying in the ring. Austin is bleeding like crazy. Rhodes’ tights are polka dot now from blood on them. Larry tells Bobby to hold up Sting so he can hit him with the steel bar that came off the buckle. Sting ducks and Eaton takes it to the arm. Steamboat takes Larry out and Sting throws on an armbar for the submission and to blow the roof off the place. Heyman LOSES IT and everyone gets mad at Larry as the show ends. This broke up the Dangerous Alliance because they lost this and it kind of wound up turning Larry face but more or less he just retired.

Rating: A+. This right here is the best gimmick match blowoff to a feud ever. This match was about VIOLENCE and it worked incredibly well. The ending was great, the violence was great, most people bled, there is not a single dead spot in the nearly 25 minutes that this match ran, the crowd was white hot, and the feud ended here. This was it and everyone knew it so they left everything they had in the ring. Perfection for what it was supposed to be.

Overall Rating: B. The stuff that is good is good and the stuff that isn’t good isn’t good. I won’t call it bad because it’s not bad, but there’s some stuff here that just doesn’t need to be on PPV. However with 10 guys in the main event there’s only so much you can do without filler. I’d watch this with a remote in my hand and fast forward some of the filler stuff.

It doesn’t matter which you fast forward as they’re all about the same and none breaks seven and a half minutes so it’s not like they go on forever or anything. The main event is must see and the two matches prior to it are certainly worth watching. WCW in 1992 is a very underrated time and this plus Beach Blast are the best examples of that. And then Bill Watts came in and ruined all that but whatever. Well worth seeing overall, but make sure you watch the main event and take notes. It’s that good.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Impact Wrestling
Date: September 27, 2012
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

It’s another pretty big show tonight in that we have Hogan going to Aces and 8’s clubhouse which hopefully means we can move to something of substance instead of teasing everything anymore. Other than that we’re going to have a new TV Champion tonight in the form of either Magnus, Samoa Joe, Mr. Anderson or Garrett freaking Bischoff. Let’s get to it.

We open with the usual recaps from last week.

Aries and Hardy are teaming up tonight against opponents to be named later.

Here’s Hogan to open the show. He talks about how tonight is a turning point for the company, but first and foremost he needs to address the TV Title. Tonight there are going to be four people trying to convince him that they deserve a shot at the title and there will be a new champion tonight. As for Storm and Roode, there’s going to be a street fight at Bound For Glory and there’s going to be a special enforcer in the form of King Mo, the MMA fighter who is coming to TNA for awhile and try to do both sports at once.

That brings us to Aces and 8’s. Tonight he’s going to their clubhouse and he explains the story so far in case you missed the opening five minutes ago. He’ll go alone if he has to, and this brings out Sting. Sting says he promised to have Hogan’s back and he’s backing that up tonight.

Anderson’s BFG moment is being in the main event of BFG 2012.

Kurt Angle vs. Chavo Guerrero vs. Christopher Daniels

BFG preview here. Daniels immediately heads to the floor and tells the other guys to fight it out. That goes about as well as you would expect a diabolical plan to work, with Chavo and Angle taking over on him very easily. Angle gets sent shoulder first into the post so it’s time for Daniels to fight Chavo on his own. The referee checks on Angle for a while and Kaz trips up Chavo, leading to a fight between the face teams on the floor. All six get in the ring for a staredown as we take a break.

During the break the three non-wrestlers got ejected and we come back with Angle caught in a top wristlock from Daniels. Chavo is nowhere to be seen. Angle snaps off a German to Daniels and one to a charging Chavo. The Angle Slam is countered by Guerrero and he knocks Angle to the floor. Chavo starts speeding things up on Daniels but Angle comes back in to suplex him down very quickly.

A big German takes Daniels down but Chavo rolls Kurt up to break up the ankle lock. Chavo loads up the Three Amigos on Angle but has to settle for them on Daniels instead. Chavo goes up but Angle puts the ankle lock on Daniels, who counters and sends Angle into Chavo, crotching him. An STO out of nowhere on Chavo is enough to get the pin for Daniels at 9:06.

Rating: C+. This was the usual fast paced match that you would expect from these three. Angle is great at running three way matches and this worked like the rest of his matches with two opponents do. Daniels winning is a good way to keep the chances up that the champions could retain at the PPV, which is something they’ve been missing lately. Good match.

Time for the first round of voting from Hogan regarding the TV Title. He asks the four of them why they should get the shot. Garrett says he’s worked since day one and D-Von saw something in him, which is why he should be here. Magnus and Joe get in an argument and Anderson says he’s action and not talk. Joe says none of them deserve to be in the ring with him. Based on resumes, that’s mostly true. Magnus talks about how great he’s been all around the world and how he knows how TV works, which is what a TV Champion should do. Hogan throws Magnus out to keep Magnus and Joe apart.

Brooke Hogan goes to see Tara and Tara takes a call from her boyfriend. Make that two. Apparently she has to earn a title shot. Brooke takes the phone and leaves with it. She still isn’t interesting.

Tara vs. ODB

Winner gets the shot at Tessmacher at the PPV. Eric does his stupid schtick before the match starts. ODB pounds away to start and chases Tara around the ring for a few seconds. Eric gets on the apron like a tag partner and gets down before he does anything of note. ODB hits a splash in the corner followed by a Bronco Buster. Tara is sent to the floor and gets in an argument with Eric, allowing ODB to hit a baseball slide to keep control.

ODB hits her fallaway slam and knocks Tara out to the floor where she’s holding her knee. Tara seems to hit on Eric, who insists to his wife (yeah they’re married. Remember that?) that his pants are still up. Tara takes her knee brace off but she’s goldbricking and pins ODB with a small package at 4:44.

Rating: D. I don’t remember a less interesting or less surprising match in years. Gee, ODB and Eric do goofy stuff, Tara wins to set up the obvious title match at the PPV, and the match was nothing of note. The Knockouts have falled through the floor as of late and they’re not going to get better anytime soon it doesn’t seem. At least they look good. Well, other than ODB that is.

Gut Check is next.

Time for Gut Check and Snow is in trouble due to the Joey Ryan stuff. Now the judges talk about Markopoulous or however you spell that.

Bully Ray is on his Twitter Machine and won’t talk about who his partner is tonight against Hardy/Aries.

Joe is in the title match and Hogan has to pick between Anderson and Garrett. Garrett says he can hang with Joe. Thankfully Anderson gets picked because it’s not Joe’s time. Garrett stares down Hogan with a look that says something more is coming from him. Just what the world needs.

Roode goes in to see Aries and implies he’s going to be Ray’s partner tonight. Roode can’t stand the idea of Aries being champion because he can’t get a title shot while Aries is still champion. He tries to get into Aries’ head about Hardy, presumably to mess him up at the PPV.

TV Title: Mr. Anderson vs. Samoa Joe

Both guys try for their finishers very fast but neither can get them to work. Joe hits his back elbow and enziguri in the corner for two and he takes over. He stomps away a bit and hits a chop to the back but gets rolled up for two. A swinging neckbreaker gets two for Anderson as well and he pounds away. Anderson hits a jawbreaker and a Regal Roll but Joe rolls it through into a crucifix for two.

The Mic Check is countered but Joe counters a rollup into most of the Clutch but he doesn’t have the bodyscissors. Now the scissors is on and Joe gets the back too. He traps Anderson’s arm before Anderson can make the rope. This hold has been on for like 90 seconds now and Anderson is still conscious. Anderson passes out to give Joe the title and the Grand Slam at 5:21.

Rating: C-. This wasn’t much of a match for the TV Title if they were going for something special. The ending was pretty absurd with Anderson holding on in a choke for two minutes. Wouldn’t the guy be dead after that? Anyway, the match was dull as it pretty much just came and went, which isn’t what you want in a title match.

That wasn’t the red TV Title. It looked like the world title that was around before Jeff won the title for the first time.

Hogan and Sting are talking when a chick shows up saying there are documents that have to be signed. Before they can, the chick maces them and Aces and 8’s pop up and put hoods on Hogan and Sting’s heads before throwing them into a van which pops up out of nowhere.

Gut Check time. Taz thinks Evan has a ton of potential and says yes. Bruce says he’s too young. We go to the kickout and he talks about Snow trying to get into ECW and SMW when he was under 18. Snow says Evan is the epitome of what this is about and that he has all of the things that he needs. But he’s 18 so it’s a no.

We get a preview of TMNT’s new series. As a TMNT fan, this scares me to death.

We get a clip from the clubhouse and the big boss is on his way. Hogan looks….scared?

Douglas Williams won a tag title at BFG one year in a ladder match.

Back at the clubhouse Hogan and Sting are at the card table with presumably the big boss sitting across from them. He says his identity doesn’t matter and he has a business off for Hulk. Hulk wants to fight right now. The boss wants to be allowed to come and go from the Impact Zone. Joseph Park is brought out on a table. The boss offers a tag match at BFG and Hogan immediately says himself and Sting.

Boss: “Hulk, for the first time in your adult life, THIS ISN’T ABOUT YOU.” The Boss says that at the PPV, if Aces and 8’s win, they get full access to the Impact Zone but if they lose, Aces and 8’s go away. It can’t be Hogan and Sting in the ring though. Parks (apparently he gained an s on his name somewhere) is held until after the match.

Storm is happy with having a street fight with Roode at BFG.

Bully Ray/Bobby Roode vs. Jeff Hardy/Austin Aries

Hardy and Ray start things off with Hardy immediately speeding things up to send Ray into the corner. Off to Aries vs. Roode with Bobby looking a bit nervous. Hardy comes in sans tag and cleans house while Hardy clears the ring. We take a break and come back with Hardy getting knocked off the top to give Ray and Roode the advantage.

Ray is in so the fans of course have to chant about D-Von because THEY CAN’T SHUT UP AND ENJOY THE FREAKING MATCH FOR FIVE MINUTES. Off to Roode and Hardy grabs a Twist of Fate out of nowhere to take Roode down. Aries and Ray get tags but Roode distracts the champ and Ray knocks him to the floor. Aries gets sent into the steps and it’s off to a bearhug from Ray back in the ring.

The champ bites his way out of it but won’t tag in Hardy and it’s Ray running wild. Hardy gets kicked in the face and Aries has to fight off both guys by himself. Jeff seems content to just look up into the ring and let this happen. Aries hits the suicide dive on Roode and a missile dropkick takes Ray down. Aries talks trash to Hardy but hits the Brainbuster on Roode anyway. Hardy tags himself in and hits the Swanton for the pin on Roode at 14:00.

Rating: C. Standard main event tag match here to further the idea that the champ wants respect and admiration that Hardy has. It doesn’t look like they’re going anywhere with the idea of Ray being added to make it a threeway but to be fair that never really was mentioned on TV. The match was fine for what it was.

Hogan and Sting are returned to the Impact Zone. Sting is untied and doesn’t do anything because of a threat to Park. Aces and 8’s leave in their van and apparently Sting is going to be one half of the tag match.

Overall Rating: C. This didn’t do it for me for the most part. This show was mainly about Aces and 8’s and that story isn’t getting my interest up at all. It’s been dragging on WAY too long and it looks like the boss is going to be revealed at the PPV, which makes sense. The problem with that though is that it looks like we’re heading for a faction war, which is TNA’s bread and butter. That doesn’t do anything at all for me though and it seems like it’s going to dominate the show.

As for the rest of the show, nothing really happened other than Joe winning the TV Title which means nothing for the most part. Just nothing going on here outside of Hogan, which really fill me with confidence for the next two weeks. The tag title match is going to be fun, but the world title match is on the back burner and that’s the last place it needs to be.

Results

Christopher Daniels b. Chavo Guerrero and Kurt Angle – STO to Guerrero

Tara b. ODB – Small Package

Samoa Joe b. Mr. Anderson – Koquina Clutch

Austin Aries/Jeff Hardy b. Bobby Roode/Bully Ray – Swanton Bomb to Ray

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Lockdown 2006
Date: April 23, 2006
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 900
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

It’s all in the cage this time and the main events are about the same as they would be the next month. We have Lethal Lockdown with Sting’s Warriors vs. Jarrett’s Army as well as Abyss vs. Christian for Christian’s world title. This is one of those shows where I’m not sure how great the idea is as a lot of these matches don’t belong inside a cage, thereby overdoing the gimmick and making it a lot weaker by the end of the match. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about how viewer discretion is advised. It comes off like a movie trailer which is a unique idea for a video at least. Wrestlemania 21 was about parodies rather than a trailer for the show for those of you about to complain that I’ve forgotten about that show.

Remember that every match is in the Six Sides of Steel tonight.

Black Tiger/Hiroki Goto/Minoru Tanaka vs. Sonjay Dutt/Jay Lethal/Alex Shelley

This is a World X Cup preview match, meaning it has no bearing on the standings or anything like that. This is Team USA vs. Team Japan of course. Shelley hands So Cal Val the camera to film the match. Everyone has to tag here. It’s Shelley vs. Tanaka to start things off. Shelley takes him down quickly and hits a dropkick to the side of the head to take over. Minoru rolls forward into a dropkick to take Shelley right back down.

Off to Black Tiger as Tenay talks about Tiger Mask vs. Black Tiger, which is a very interesting idea actually. In essence, they’re rivals and they keep the character alive by changing the people portraying each. Eddie Guerrero was Black Tiger at one point. Off to Goto vs. Lethal. It’s a feeling out process to start with Lethal taking him down a few times and hitting a basement dropkick. Off to Black Tiger and Shelley again, followed by a triple team attack by Team USA.

Black Tiger gets worked over by Dutt and then Alex. Jay comes in as the Americans are flying in and out very quickly. Dutt finally stays in for awhile but gets caught by a dropkick in the corner. Team Japan triple teams him as Team Mexico is watching from the stage. A triple dropkick gets two and it’s off to Tiger Mask to continue the beating. Dutt finally rolls free and tags in Lethal.

Jay speeds things up and gets some offense in but charges into a back elbow. Back to Goto who hist a fast suplex for two. The Americans hit triple running strikes in the corner followed by a frog splash that gets two for Shelley. Goto gets superkicked into a German for two. Standing shooting star gets two for Dutt as this breaks down. Minoru grabs a cross armbreaker out of nowhere on Lethal but it’s broken up pretty quickly. Lethal and Tiger are legal now but it breaks down again. Everyone hits everyone and Shelley accidentally hits Dutt. Black Tiger hits a tiger suplex on Lethal for the pin.

Rating: B-. This is the right choice for an opener. The whole idea of the X Cup was to send out country vs. country in a big tournament which wound up being pretty entertaining, although mostly worthless at the end of the day. This was a solid match though as both teams were flying all over the place out there. Again though, the cage meant nothing at all for the most part as this could have been held in a regular match just as easily.

We run down the card.

Team 3D says they’ll win the Anthem Match later against Team Canada. Ray says this is about pride tonight and how he’d rather work in WWE than hear the Canadian National Anthem again. D-Von: “You’re kidding right?” Ray: “Yeah I was just ribbing you guys.” Team 3D leaves and Larry wants to know what the major announcement is tonight but JB doesn’t know.

Christopher Daniels vs. Senshi

Senshi seems to be a surprise opponent. Daniels isn’t sure what to do so Senshi fires off rapid fire strikes to send Daniels into the corner. Senshi keeps escaping whatever Daniels tries but a kick to the face finally puts him down. A flying knee in the corner misses and Senshi hits a flapjack to put the Fallen Angel back down. Senshi does his signature kick to the back for two and it’s off to a modified camel clutch.

A suplex gets two for Senshi as the fans are split. They chop it out with Daniels taking a small advantage. Senshi hits a double chop to send Daniels down to his knee but gets caught in a sunset flip attempt. Senshi hits a quick Warrior’s Way for two and Daniels is in trouble. Daniels gets caught in a rear waist lock but he elbows out of it. Christopher hits a kind of suplex into the cage wall followed by a running STO for two. Blue Thunder Bomb gets the same.

Senshi kicks him down HARD for two. He’s getting frustrated which shouldn’t surprise anyone. Daniels hits a Death Valley Driver out of nowhere followed by the BME but it only gets two. He puts Senshi on the top but his superplex is blocked by punches to the ribs. Daniels responds by ramming Senshi’s head into the cage. Well when all else fails, go with the simplest method. Angel’s Wings off the top is countered but the Warrior’s Way off the top misses as well. Angel’s Wings is countered again with Senshi flipping forward and putting his feet on the ropes for the pin.

Rating: B-. Another good match here as I continue to like Daniels more and more when he’s not facing AJ Styles. Senshi is a very acquired taste for me and I still don’t care for him most of the time. Here though he was using something other than kicks which is the key to him being more interesting. He wouldn’t be around for weeks after this though as they wanted to give him a stronger introduction or something like that.

The James Gang and Bullet Bob Armstrong talk about the arm wrestling match between 66 year old Bullet Bob and Konnan, with the winning team getting to give the losers (Konnan and LAX) ten lashes.

We recap LAX vs. the James Gang, which is set to a rap song. It’s about Konnan saying that Armstrong is old and the James Gang taking exception. I think this is still fallout from the 3 Live Kru breaking up.

This is just like every arm wrestling match you’ve ever seen: Konnan doesn’t want to start, then he has an early advantage, then Konnan is in trouble, then he comes back, then Armstrong comes back, then Armstrong wins. The whipping takes WAY too long.

Jarrett’s Army is told they have the advantage in Lethal Lockdown. Larry Z comes in and wants to know if they know the announcement. Jarrett tells him to get lost. AMW says they’ll set the table for Steiner at the end of the match. Steiner says he’s ready to snap.

Elix Skipper vs. Petey Williams vs. Chris Sabin vs. Chase Stevens vs. Puma vs. Shark Boy

This is an Xscape match, meaning pin/submission until there are two left, when it becomes escape only rules. Thankfully there are tags required in this. Shark Boy and Petey get us going with Shark Boy chopping away in the corner. Apparently Simon Diamond and Coach D’Amore have formed an alliance with their men in the match. Either way the Dead Sea Drop is blocked by Petey and it’s off to Puma vs. Sharky. For you ROH fans, Puma is TJ Perkins.

Puma goes up but gets crotched and ranaed down by Shark Boy. A missile dropkick puts Puma down again and it’s off to Skipper vs. Shark Boy. Skipper tries a wheelbarrow suplex but Shark Boy climbs the cage with a bulldog for two. Elix goes up the corner again but this time jumps into a kick from Shark Boy to put both guys down. Skipper tags in to Williams and a quick Destroyer eliminates Sharky Boy.

Sabin comes in next and pounds away on the head of Williams. Petey hits a tornado DDT while climbing the cage which gets two. Off to a chinlock which is quickly broken and Sabin tags in Stevens. Chase cleans house and counters the Destroyer into an Alabama Slam. Sabin and Skipper take people down and everyone is on the mat. Stevens goes up top and waits forever for everyone to get in position for a HUGE shooting star dive to take everyone out.

Chase covers Williams and Skipper but gets caught in what we would call White Noise for a pin. We’re down to four now and everyone goes after Sabin. Williams turns on Skipper all of a sudden and sunset flips him out. D’Amore and Diamond are about to brawl but Skipper gets kicked out of the cage and onto the coaches.

Cradle Shock puts Puma out so it’s down to Sabin and Williams in escape rules. Sabin goes up but winds up getting pulled down. Back down and Sabin puts him in the Tree of Woe for the hesitation dropkick. He goes up and over but D’Amore blocks his exit until Williams catches up. Petey lands on D’Amore but his feet don’t touch so Sabin drops down and wins it.

Rating: C+. This was another good match that was only in the cage for the ending. This was yet another preview for the World X Cup with the final two competitors being the captains for their respective countries. The match was nothing great but it was fun to kill about twelve minutes with, and that’s all you need to do at times.

Mitchell says he isn’t worried about waking the monster in Christian. Christian may be the best wrestler in the world, but he’s not a champion. Would a real champion go to Toronto to make movies or leave his wife home alone or be attacked in his own home? Christian did all that, but that’s how he rolls right?

We recap Joe vs. Sabu. The idea is that Joe is extreme so here’s Sabu to challenge that aspect of his personality.

X-Division Title: Samoa Joe vs. Sabu

Sabu immediately puts on the camel clutch but Joe quickly escapes. Sabu has a broken left arm apparently. He throws the chair at Joe’s head for two. Joe comes back with a running forearm and hooks a front facelock in the corner. Sabu gets thrown into the cage to bust him open, which is one of the first uses of the cage all night. Sabu comes back with a chair shot and hits the Arabian Facebuster for no cover.

A spinning legdrop using the chair as a springboard point hits but he still doesn’t cover. Sabu is busted way open now as he pulls out his signature spike. Joe grabs the arm and puts on a cross armbreaker but Sabu blocks the pressure. The champ stays on the arm which is about as logical as you can possibly get. They both go to the top rope but Joe rams the bad arm into the cage and slams him off the top for two. Sabu gets back up and tries the Triple Jump Moonsault but Joe pelts the chair at him and hits the MuscleBuster to retain.

Rating: C-. Not much here but the idea here was more about giving Joe a win over a big name which is fine. Sabu was good at something like this as it was kept short and he didn’t have the room or the time to mess anything up. This was kind of an old school idea of bringing in someone for a one off appearance to challenge a big name, which is something cool to see for a change.

Team Canada makes fun of the Dudleys and D’Amore says the Dudleys have never beaten the Canadians or held the NWA World Tag Team Titles like they have. Larry Z comes in and wants to know about the announcement again. D’Amore rips into him.

We recap Team 3D vs. Team Canada which is your usual patriotism feud. Team Canada laid them out and put the Canadian flag over them, which ticked off Ray.

Team 3D vs. Team Canada

This is a six man so we have Runt in there also. It’s Roode, Young and A-1 for the Canadians. This is a capture the flag match and the winners get their anthem played. The Dudleys have war paint on. Runt and Eric stand on the top ropes as guards for their flags. That’s a smart idea actually. There aren’t any tags for the other guys which makes this even better. Team 3D does a little doe-see-doe to take out the Canadians but Young jumps down and takes both of them down. Spike does the same and then the goalies go back to their respective places. Young gets pulled down and Spike goes for the flag but can’t quite get to it. Roode goes for it also but gets caught.

Ray and Roode go to the top rope and they chop it out before Ray hits a Bubba Bomb off the top. D-Von makes a save of his own with a Russian Leg Sweep off the top to A-1. Runt and Young fight on the top with Young going down and taking a double stomp. Roode goes after Spike but Ray makes the save. Not that it matters that much as the spinebuster kills Runt dead. Team 3D double teams Roode down but A-1 comes in again.

That also goes badly for the Canadians as Ray chops him down. It’s almost all Dudleys so far. The referee gets crushed and Roode takes the 3D. Double flapjack puts A-1 down and What’s Up Eric? Ray goes up and gets the flag but there’s no referee to declare him the winner. The music plays prematurely and D’Amore has a steel chair. Spike keeps playing goalie but the Canadians triple team him.

Eric puts the American flag back up and D’Amore has knocked the gatekeeper out. He opens the cage and puts a table inside but Young drives himself through it by mistake. Acid Drop takes A-1 down and it’s another 3D for Roode. With the referee up this time, Runt goes and retrieves the flag for the win.

Rating: C+. This was ok but the overbooking got annoying. The good thing though was that the same team won the match in the end so it wasn’t that big of a deal. The cage played a role in the match again here so the match didn’t seem as pointless as it had been earlier. Decent match and it blew off the feud which is the right idea.

D’Amore takes a 3D but the Star Spangled Banner never plays after an anthem match. The fans are singing it as Tenay and West talk though so I guess that counts. That’s pretty rude of the announcers though.

Christy Hemme debuts as the newest Knockout. She hands Tenay a letter which has the announcement. Everyone in the front office will now be held accountable and a new face of TNA management will debut soon. The first act of this new person: Larry Zbyzsko is now on probation. You know Larry isn’t going to miss an opportunity to come out and complain. Tenay and Larry argue a bit and Tenay says that Raven is reinstated. Bird Boy comes out and chases Larry into the cage until security takes him away.

Christian has nothing to say.

We recap the world title match. Abyss and Mitchell say that Christian stole Abyss’ show (which is true) but Christian wouldn’t give him a match. Abyss attacked Christian and went to his home to terrorize him a bit more. He also stalked Christian’s wife so tonight it’s about personal revenge.

NWA World Title: Abyss vs. Christian Cage

Christian is defending of course and this is a regular pin/submission match. Abyss tries to meet him on the ramp but Christian tackles him down easily. Christian rams him into the barricade but Abyss throws him over and into the crowd. They’re all the way to the back of the arena and Christian has to fight to keep from being thrown over and down onto whatever is behind the stands.

They go over to that wall that they always go to during main event brawls. Back to ringside and Christian is still in trouble. He gets rammed into the steps as we’re still waiting to get into the cage for the first time. Cage grabs the cage door and rams it into Abyss’ arm but stops to chase Mitchell around, allowing Abyss to ram the cage door into the champ’s face. We get dueling chants and they finally get into the cage. There’s the bell so that was all pre-match stuff.

Abyss is in control and kind of dances into the corner for a splash. He sends Christian’s face into the cage for two and stops a comeback attempt dead. Unprettier is easily countered and Abyss hits a kind of flapjack for two. A few idiot fans sound like they want blood so Abyss crushes Christian’s face up against the cage. He hits the dancing splash into the champ against the cage again and Christian is in trouble.

Shock Treatment is countered but the Canadian can’t hit the German on the American. Abyss powerbombs Christian into his namesake and the champ is in trouble. Abyss takes forever to do anything, allowing Christian to come back with some chops. He avoids a splash against the cage and has to save the referee from getting crushed. The second time he isn’t so lucky though and down goes Andrew Thomas. Christian climbs the cage and comes off with a tornado DDT but there’s no referee to count.

Mitchell throws in the cane and the belt through the hole in the cage but Abyss’ belt shot misses. Unprettier hits but it only gets two. Christian goes all the way to the top of the cage and drops a frog splash on Abyss…..for two. Ok I would have bet on that being the finish and it probably should have been. Another Unprettier is reversed into Shock Treatment for no cover.

Instead Abyss pulls out the bag of tacks which of course takes forever to set up. I’ve seen this in at least one of the two TNA PPVs I’ve watched lately before this so this really doesn’t seem as impressive anymore. Christian breaks the cane over Abyss and goes up top again. Abyss picks up the referee and throws him into the cage to make Christian slip.

Christian is caught in a chokeslam position but escapes and hits a sunset powerbomb into the tacks (same spot as AJ hit on Abyss last year at this show). Slick Johnson comes in but that only gets two. Christian gets the title but walks into a Black Hole Slam for two. Abyss pours out MORE tacks and takes the Unprettier onto them for the pin so Christian can retain.

Rating: B. This was MUCH better than the Full Metal Mayhem match they would have the next month, but the match probably should have ended with one of the other big spots, like the top rope splash. Still though this wasn’t bad and it was a match that actually got violent with Christian looking like he wanted revenge, which was the whole idea behind the match in the first place.

Christian goes to leave but goes back inside to beat up Mitchell. Abyss hits him in the head with the chain, busting him open. Abyss throws him out of the cage and hangs him with the chain. Mitchell puts the title on Abyss’ shoulder and they leave.

Sting’s Warriors say they’re ready for Lethal Lockdown.

We recap the main event. Sting came back and said he wanted to get rid of Jarrett, so let’s have Lethal Lockdown.

Quick recap of the rules: the two starters go for five minutes, then Jarrett’s team gets a one man advantage. After two minutes Sting’s team sends in a man to tie it up for two minutes. They alternate every two minutes until all eight are in, when the roof comes down with weapons attached. Then it’s first fall wins.

Lethal Lockdown: Sting’s Warriors vs. Jarrett’s Army

Sting, Ron Killings, AJ Styles, Rhyno

Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, America’s Most Wanted

It’s Harris vs. Styles to get us going. Harris pounds him down and the fans chant Pussy Cat. Styles blocks being rammed into the cage but the dropdown dropkick misses. The second attempt at the dropkick hits and AJ takes over. Harris comes back quickly and rams Styles’ back into the cage twice. The third time is countered and AJ hits a knee to the back of Harris’ head. Things are going pretty slowly here but that’s to be expected in a match like this.

Both guys go to the top rope and slug it out with Styles knocking him back to the mat. Harris gets rammed into the cage a few times but Styles jumps into the Catatonic. AJ shrugs that off and hits the Clash as Storm comes in for the two minute advantage. AJ dropkicks the door into Gail’s head by mistake (I think) but Storm gets a beer spit into Styles’ face and slams the door on his head. Eye of the Storm puts Styles down and AJ is busted open from something, as is Harris.

The beating continues until Rhyno comes out to tie things up. He fights off both world tag team champions and sends Storm into the cage. Harris takes a spinebuster as AJ is starting to recover. The Gore misses and Harris takes AJ’s head off with a clothesline. AMW is in total control here but Rhyno comes back with right hands as Jarrett comes out to make it 3-2. Rhyno gets out of the cage somehow and goes to meet Jarrett in the aisle. AJ does as well with AMW still stuck in the cage. Rhyno is busted too.

Back into the ring and Jarrett’s team takes over on both guys with Styles getting suplexed into the cage. Here’s Killings to tie things up and get the momentary offensive flurry in. He does the backflip into the splits into the side kick to Harris. Suplex into a Stunner puts Storm down and AJ goes to the top of the cage for some reason. That doesn’t go well for him as it’s a six man Tower of Doom.

Steiner is in to complete Jarrett’s Army and it’s belly to bellies all around. Angle Slams off the top put everyone down again as we’re just waiting for Sting to make the big save. Harris rams Rhyno’s cut head into the cage and shouts GORE which makes me laugh for some reason. Here’s Sting to clean house, including stacking every opponent in the corner and hitting a huge Stinger Splash on all four at once, followed by a second one.

Here comes the roof stocked with weapons and the Warriors continue their advantage. AJ and Storm go up top for my yearly heart attack moment. Gail tries to climb up as well but Jackie rips Kim’s skirt off and pulls her down. The match in the ring more or less grinds to a halt as Storm sets up a table on the roof. Sting and Jarrett both get guitars but Sting drops his for a ball bat instead.

The guitar is shattered by the bat but Steiner saves Jeff with a low blow. AJ sets up a ladder on the roof above Storm who is on the table. He grabs the light structure and drops onto Storm with a splash. That always terrifies me. Truth takes a Stroke onto a chair but gets Gored down. Steiner puts Rhyno in the Recliner but Sting Death Drops him. Harris hits Sting with the handcuffs and puts Sting in the Scorpion. Sting counters into a Scorpion of his own and Harris taps to end the match.

Rating: B. That’s usually the base score for a Lethal Lockdown match and this was about the run of the mill version of one. The problem with these matches is that once the weapons drop, the match more or less completely restarts and nothing that happens before then matters at all. Still though, it’s always a fun concept and a solid main event for Lockdown every year.

Overall Rating: C+. This show is more or less the same thing every year and it’s the world title match that determines how the whole show goes. As usual the problem comes down to most of the matches not needing to be inside of a cage, but the final two matches usually do, which is what makes the whole show work. Good show overall and a solid entry in the series.

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