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

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

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

Abyss vs. Sabu

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jarrett and AMW got here earlier today.

Rhyno arrives too.

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

Abyss gets checked out.

Now we talk about the card again.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Raven vs. ???

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

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

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

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

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

Team Canada vs. 4 Live Kru

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Christian Cage vs. Monty Brown

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Team 3D vs. America’s Most Wanted

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

X-Division Title: Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NWA World Title: Jeff Jarrett vs. Rhyno

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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It’s the month after Bound For Glory and there are two things of note: there’s a major debut tonight, and Eddie Guerrero died earlier in the day. The main event tonight is a six man tag with Rhyno/Team 3D vs. Jarrett/AMW with no stipulations on it, which means I have no reason to care about it. I can’t stand matches like that but they tend to happen once in awhile. If this is half as good as BFG was I’ll be a little surprised. Let’s get to it.

The show is dedicated to Eddie Guerrero. Nothing wrong with that.

The opening video is about starting a new voyage and a new day and all over beginning things like that. There’s a lot of Clinton and Kennedy clips in there too. The main matches get some time too.

Raven vs. ???

This is more of Raven vs. Larry Z in a feud that no one cared about. Larry is in the ring and offers him a release again, which Raven can sign or face the opponent. Bird Boy gives him a double bird. Again we hear about some girl that might be controlling Raven, which I think would wind up being Daffney. The mystery opponent is P.J. Polaco, more commonly known as Justin Credible.

They have to call him the former Justin Credible because of legal issues. You get that a lot in TNA. Justin takes him into the corner to start and hits some forearms. Raven gets him down and pounds him down as we hear about Raven holding Justin down or something. I guess they mean in ECW, where Justin was pushed as a huge deal for YEARS. Justin (screw this PJ nonsense) comes back with a knee to the ribs and another one to take Raven down. He stomps on Raven in the ribs as Mike tries to tell us about a rivalry these two had for the Hardcore Title.

A baseball slide dropkick gets two for Credible. Out to the floor and Raven goes into the barricade. Off to a chinlock back in the ring as we hear about Raven’s history of having people fall under his control. Now it’s a dragon sleeper. A knee sends Raven to the floor and Justin finds a kendo stick. Cassidy Riley, a Raven follower/tribute guy, comes out but gets caned for his efforts. Raven takes over in the ring and catches a superkick into an ankle lock. Justin escapes and hits a bad DDT for two but walks into the Raven Effect for the pin.

Rating: D. Not much here but I’m no fan of Justin. Raven was hot in 2005 but man this Larry feud pulled him down through the floor. At the end of the day, it’s Larry Zbyszko, the man who can suck the life out of a crypt. Also, Justin and Raven really just worked together in ECW and had a brief feud in late 1999/early 2000 that not many people likely remember. Not the best opener to say the least.

We recap the Kru vs. Team Canada which mostly covers last month’s events. Kip is the guest referee in their hockey stick fight tonight. Konnan still doesn’t trust him.

The Kru talks about the surprise debut tonight (who isn’t mentioned by name here) and says that the rats are leaving the ship, meaning WWE. BG thinks Kip is cool but Konnan disagrees.

Team Canada vs. 3 Live Kru

It’s a hockey stick figdht, which means hockey stick on a pole but you have to be legal to grab it. So it’s a hockey stick on a pole match. Got it. This is A-1, Roode and Young. There are six total hockey sticks, one for each post. Sweet merciful corn on the cob can someone get Vince Russo some decaf? Kip James is guest referee. Team Canada tries to go and get the sticks before the match starts because no one is legal then, so we start with a brawl.

Kip tells Konnan to go to the corner and we get BG vs. Roode. Less than 30 seconds after we get settled, Eric (in headgear for some reason) climbs up and gets a stick. Kip takes it and breaks it over his knee then takes the headgear away. Ok then. Roode sends BG into the buckle and I can’t believe we’ve only had one stick grabbed in the first minute. BG comes back with the dancing punches and the shaky knee drop for two.

BG starts going up for a hockey stick but has a small nose bleed. There are SO many jokes. Tag to Truth who goes up but Roode saves the stick. Never mind as it comes down anyway and lands in the Kru’s corner. Leg lariat gets two on Roode. Off to Young who has about the same luck. Konnan comes in and puts his shoe on the end of the hockey stick. Egads this match gets stupider and stupider.

BG goes up for another stick but after he gets it, Roode electric chairs him down. A-1 comes in for some two counts. Kip has been neutral so far. Back to Young who gets two off a backbreaker. He goes to get a stick but BG knocks it out of Young’s hands and to the floor. Back to Young for a slug out but BG gets caught in a full nelson slam. Roode gets the fallen hockey stick but Truth disarms him.

Tag off to Truth and everything breaks down. Ax kick to A-1 but Roode hits the DVD and Young drops the elbow. Now it’s Konnan’s turn to clean house and he puts the Sunrise on Young but Roode saves. Another stick is brought down and it’s sword fighting time. The Kru takes over and it’s a double What’s Up onto two hockey sticks onto Young’s balls for the pin.

Rating: D. WOW this was overbooked. Seriously, six hockey sticks and a guest referee? Nothing to see here either as this feud would finally end the next month at Turning Point. The wrestling was pretty basic and Kip offered nothing at all to this. The point is that he can be trusted, but any referee could have done what he did here.

Kip gets to pound fists with Konnan as apparently they’re all cool.

Abyss and Mitchell are ready for that new talent acquisition. As for Sabu, the No DQ rule won’t bother Abyss and the barbed wire won’t bother him either. It’s opening Pandora’s Box and they crush an egg. This takes awhile to get through.

Tenay and West talk about the acquisition but don’t say who it is. The guy isn’t here yet.

We run down the rest of the card, 35 minutes into the show.

The Acquisition arrives and he’s coming to the arena. A countdown starts and it’s Christian Cage making his debut. Christian says the rumors are true but stops for Christian Cage chant. Jarrett and company are watching in the back and don’t like what they see. Christian says he’s not going to say the same thing every week and that he’s not here because he got fired. He made the jump on his own choice. WWE offered him a very large contract but he’s here because he loves wrestling.

He’s known to crack a joke or two, but he’s the best in the world today and that’s not a joke. He’s tired of politics and he wants to see wrestling reinvented. Last night he was watching Impact and it reminded him of when he showed up 8 years ago. Today there are still two companies, and just like back then, one is old and boring but now the young and hot one is TNA. He’s here to win the world title because that’s how he rolls.

Cue Scott D’Amore, the Team Canada coach. Roode comes out with him and D’Amore is very happy. He talks about some old times that Christian, himself, Adam, Jericho and Lance had when they went to Bret and Stu’s house. D’Amore says that if they unite with Jarrett’s team, they could rule this place. Christian has a question but Roode cuts him off and says Christian needs to realize the opportunity before him. Roode says we want an answer now but D’Amore tells him to chill. He throws Christian a Team Canada shirt and asks for an answer by the end of the night. Christian says he’ll think about it.

We recap the #1 contender’s match between Monty Brown and Jeff Hardy. Both are top guys and want a title shot. Brown issued an open challenge and Hardy took him up on it.

Monty Brown says that he’s not worried about Christian and calls him out to the Serengeti. Jeff Hardy can bring it too. They’ll both be Pounced.

Jeff Hardy vs. Monty Brown

Winner gets Jarrett at some point in the future. The fans are almost universally behind Hardy. Jawbreaker slows Brown down….then Hardy sticks his hands out and shouts before crawling on the ground. Brown grabs him into a fallaway slam to take over. Jeff avoids a charge and Monty goes to the floor, but Hardy’s baseball slide misses and he hits the steel. Brown throws him into the crowd and Jeff is in trouble.

Jeff walks on a barricade and dives onto Brown who was nice enough to stand there and let him. At least he’s polite. Back in and Jeff is almost immediately thrown back to the floor over the top. The fans are split but the fans are more in Hardy’s corner. Whisper in the Wind misses and Hardy is in trouble. A double clothesline hits and both guys go down. Now Whisper in the Wind works and Jeff starts his comeback. Legdrop between the legs makes Monty’s eyes bug out.

The Twist of Fate is countered into an Alpha Bomb attempt but Jeff counters into the reverse Twist of Fate, which of course West calls the same thing. Either way it only gets two. Jeff goes up for the Swanton but it only hits mat. Monty gets up and CRUSHES Jeff with the Pounce for the pin. Apparently this just moves Monty up in the rankings instead of giving him a title match. You know, because that’s SO much different than any regular match right?

Rating: D+. This wasn’t much for the most part. Jeff’s selling was great of course but Monty was pretty much just another power guy. He wasn’t bad or anything but not much aside from his finisher made him stand out or anything. Not a bad match or anything but it’s really just kind of there.

We recap the Elimination X match which is an X Division Survivor Series match. Daniels is a captain and calls his team the Ministry. The other team is called…..uh…..Not The Ministry I guess. Joe thinks he should be captain instead of Daniels.

The Ministry minus Joe wants to know where Joe is but Daniels says don’t worry about it.

Samoa Joe/Christopher Daniels/Alex Shelley/Roderick Strong vs. Chris Sabin/Austin Aries/Sonjay Dutt/Matt Bentley

The Ministry is pretty packed. Bentley has Traci with him. Aries looks really different minus the mustache. Strong vs. Bentley to start us off. This is standard Survivor Series rules. Strong controls with a quick headlock so Bentley does exactly the same thing. Off to Sonjay who flies around a lot in some standard spinny flips. Off to Shelley who looks way different as well. They go VERY fast, resulting in an STF by Shelley. It doesn’t get him anywhere but it looked good.

Shelley gets him into the corner and tags in Joe to a BIG reaction. Joe hits a bunch of Facewashes and a running one to take his head off. Dutt gets to the corner for a moonsault press but Joe walks away. Dutt faked him out though and hits the press for two. Joe responds by kicking his head off and hitting the backsplash. The crowd is eating Joe up and there’s a lot to eat there.

Daniels comes in but so does Aries, who takes him down with a flying body attack. With Daniels’ arm firmly controlled, it’s time for Sabin. I think he’s his team’s captain too. Captain or not, he hits some WICKED headscissors to have Daniels all spun around. Joe knees him in the back though and an STO puts Sabin down to take over for the Ministry. Off to a chinlock but Sabin fights up and kicks Daniels down.

Off to Aries who cleans house on Daniels and Strong. Strong counters the brainbuster and hits a Nightmare on Helm Street. Everything breaks down and Strong hits a rack into a backbreaker on Sabin. Bentley and Daniels head to the floor and the other six are all in now. Joe gets triple teamed and knocked to the floor and everyone on Bentley’s team other than Bentley hit stereo dives. Aries and Strong go back in and Aries hits the brainbuster followed by the 450 to eliminate Strong. Daniels comes in immediately and rolls up Aries with tights to tie it up. There weren’t ten full seconds between pins.

Dutt vs. Daniels now as it’s 3-3. Sonjay takes him down and drops a leg for two. Off to Bentley who doesn’t do as well, getting slowed down by a knee and allowing a tag to Shelley. Sabin comes in as well and hits a seated dropkick to the back of Shelley’s head for two. Sonjay comes back in and cleans house, knocking Joe and Daniels to the floor (with Joe leaving a HUGE sweat stain). Dutt cleans some more rooms of the house but Shelley hits what we would call White Noise and hooks a modified crossface for the tap out.

Shelley walks into a superkick from Bentley for a quick pin, leaving it as Daniels/Joe vs. Bentley/Sabin. Bentley suplexes Daniels down and brings in Sabin. Daniels gets put in the Tree of Woe and Sabin hits the hesitation dropkick for two. Off to Joe who gets dropkicked down but he pulls out a powerslam for two on Bentley. Joe misses a running knee smash in the corner and it’s off to Bentley and Daniels. Release Rock Bottom and the BME get two.

Daniels goes up again but Sabin comes in as well for a double superplex, but Joe makes it a Tower of Doom which really just hurts Daniels even more. Joe knocks Bentley into the corner and fires off some Facewashes. Bentley pops up out of nowhere and superkicks Joe down for two. He gets on Daniels’ shoulders but Joe pops him in the face, hits the MuscleBuster and the Clutch gets it down to two on one. Sabin has to fight off both of them so he hits a tornado DDT on Daniels and an enziguri on Joe at the same time. Sabin takes Joe down again but can’t Cradle Shock him. He escapes the MuscleBuster but Angel’s Wings end this.

Rating: B. I don’t get why they never did another one of these. It’s a perfect kind of match for a PPV as it ate up almost 25 minutes and we got some great action out of it. It’s no classic or anything, but it got the signature stuff out there on PPV. The teams were a little lopsided though and that hurt things a lot. Still quite good though.

Joe is mad at Daniels for getting the winning fall and kicks him down. He goes to the floor and CRACKS daniels with a chair and hits a MuscleBuster on him, followed by a second on the chair. This would basically be what turned Daniels face. He gets stretchered out and AJ watches, looking distraught.

Jarrett and AMW say they’re ready for anyone that TNA throws at them.

We recap Abyss vs. Sabu. The idea is that Sabu can’t beat him one on one but Abyss is terrified of barbed wire, so Sabu has a weapon to use.

Abyss vs. Sabu

No DQ. Abyss has a chair and his chain. Sabu of course has….nothing. He had his arm covered but when he pulled the towel off there was no barbed wire (there had been at an earlier show). Abyss bails to the floor and Sabu dives on him to take over early. Sabu sets up a table but Abyss takes over and sends him back in. Abyss beats on him VERY slowly as I’m assuming they have a lot of time here.

Sabu is bleeding from the nose. For some reason Abyss goes up, only to be ranaed down. Sabu sets up a chair but it goes upside his head for his efforts. Abyss wedges the chair between the ropes but due to the law of wrestling, he goes head first into it. Triple Jump Moonsault almost totally misses and it’s out to the floor (complete with an F Bomb from Sabu) where Abyss is driven through the table with a slingshot flipping legdrop.

Abyss gets up first and picks up his bag of tacks. As he’s laying them out though, Sabu pulls out a barbed wire chair. Mitchell pulls it away, but Sabu hits some clotheslines in an attempt to put Abyss into the tacks. Abyss is like screw that and chokeslams Sabu into the tacks but it only gets two. He loads up a Frog Splash but lands on tacks, which gets two for Sabu. Camel clutch goes on but Abyss makes a rope. Sabu gets the chair but Abyss knocks him down. Powerbomb onto the chair is countered by a Black Hole Slam onto the chair (FREAKING OW MAN!) gets the pin. Abyss wasn’t scared of it at all.

Rating: C-. It was very violent and the ending was sick, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen a million times before. Abyss being scared of the barbed wire went nowhere at all which didn’t help anything here. The match wasn’t that bad but it’s just another hardcore brawl with some sharp stuff involved.

We recap the X Title match which came about from Williams “winning” Ultimate X at the last PPV and then winning another one on Impact to make up for the botched ending last month.

AJ says he’s never seen eye to eye with Daniels but he respects him. Joe broke the unwritten X Division Code and AJ will deal with him. Oh and he’ll beat Petey.

X-Division Title: AJ Styles vs. Petey Williams

Feeling out process to start with AJ hooking a weird leg lock rollup for two. Styles does the drop down into the dropkick spot which is always good. A pair of kneedrops gets no cover. Petey countered the Clash attempt and gets to the apron. AJ knocks him off and hits a flip dive but lands on the barricade and bounces into the crowd. A-1 comes out and offers a distraction which goes nowhere.

Back to the apron and Petey tries a German off the apron but AJ hangs on to avoid a nasty case of death. And never mind as it actually works and AJ’s back goes into the barricade. FERAKING OW MAN!!! A-1 gets thrown out. Back in the ring a regular suplex gets two and it’s off to a bodyscissors. Styles fights out of that pretty quickly so Williams fires off some kicks to the ribs.

Petey misses a shoulder in the corner but as AJ tries a springboard, Petey drops him onto the ropes. A SWEET rana to the floor works on the back even more. Back inside now and it’s the Tree of Woe and O Canada. We reach a point that is so boring that we get a replay from the German off the apron from earlier in the match. Back to live action and AJ hits the Pele. He goes after the ribs with a series of gutbusters and now it’s Petey in trouble.

AJ’s flurry results in a Styles Clash attempt but Petey escapes and rolls him up for two. Styles comes back with a neckbreaker for the same. They trade rollups and chops and the Clash is countered again, this time into a DDT for two. The Destroyer is countered and it’s off to the Sharpshooter instead. As Styles goes for the rope, Petey hooks his arm to block the rope break. That was creative.

AJ gets there anyway and heads to the apron for the springboard forearm. Petey gets up first and heads to the corner but AJ enziguris him down. Petey tries a super Destroyer but AJ knocks him down. Styles sees Joe with a towel with Daniels’ blood on it and Williams crotches him. That gets him nowhere though as AJ hits the Clash from the middle rope for the pin to retain.

Rating: B-. Pretty good match here but it’s not AJ’s best stuff. It was very clear that AJ was going after Joe next so it was hard to believe that Petey was much of a threat to the belt here. Still though, this was good and the idea of who could hit their finisher first was a nice story for it. Good match but not great.

We recap the main event. Basically it’s Planet Jarrett vs. the top face tag team and the top face heavyweight. All I can say is thank goodness this was Rhyno instead of Nash. I don’t get why they had to take the title off of him so fast though. Let him keep it for a few months. Jarrett would beat him in a singles match at Turning Point anyway. This gets the music video treatment which isn’t bad.

The Dudleys and Rhyno say they’re ready. Why does that take a few minutes to get through?

Team 3D/Rhyno vs. America’s Most Wanted/Jeff Jarrett

Nothing on the line here, which is the kind of main event that I can’t stand. Team 3D comes out last instead of the guy that was world champion two weeks ago. Jarrett and AMW run into the crowd in different spots, apparently wanting to start out there. The Dudleys say cool and the bell rings as the ECW guys head into the crowd. It’s one of those brawls where you can’t see a thing.

Rhyno is beating on Jarrett near some empty seats and Ray throws Tenay’s chair at I think Storm. D-Von rams Harris into the Spanish Announce Table as Jarrett and Rhyno go WAY up high. A low blow knocks Rhyno down some stairs and Ray misses a chair shot which hits the post instead. We’re over six minutes into a fifteen minute match and they haven’t been in the ring together yet.

Storm misses a beer bottle shot and we’re FINALLY getting back to ringside together. D-Von hits Harris with the bell and Ray uses a cheese grater on Storm IN THE RING. Harris is busted now. Here’s a table but Harris moves it to keep Storm from going through it. The referee is totally cool with all this stuff. Ray takes a cheese grater to the balls. Rhyno is on the stage and hits Jarrett with a garbage can.

The table gets moved again to keep Harris safe and there’s a LOUD chair shot that we only hear. Rhyno drags a table up to the stage as we’re ten minutes into this match. Rhyno throws the table upside down and then piledrives Jarrett on the stage rather than on the table. The table gets set up in front of the tunnel and after he hits Storm, he charges….right into the superkick from Storm.

I think we have a normal match now with Storm vs. D-Von. It only took them 12 minutes. Catatonic is countered into a reverse inverted DDT for two. Storm comes in (no tag, the villain) for a reverse tornado DDT. Bubba Bomb gets two on Storm but the one to Jarrett is blocked with a low blow. Stroke gets two. Rhyno comes in from nowhere to Gore Jarrett but Harris pulls the referee out. AMW crotches Rhyno on the post and hits a double spinebuster on Ray. Hart Attack gets two on D-Von. Ray breaks up a Death Sentence through the table and a 3D pins Storm.

Rating: C. I have no idea what to call this. They were in the ring about 2 minutes out of nearly 16 so you can barely call this a match. As a fight it wasn’t bad, but at the end of the day, what does this mean? Team 3D wouldn’t get the titles until April of 2007 so it didn’t mean much for them. This was a throwaway main event but it certainly wasn’t boring.

Jarrett hits Rhyno with a guitar post match so the Dudleys set up a table. After getting a fresh one, Gail tries to hit Bubba low. Bubba blocks that and sets to powerbomb Gail through Jarrett through the table. Team Canada comes in for the save and puts D-Von on the table. Jarrett goes up top but Christian comes in with a chair.

He unzips his jacket to reveal a Team Canada shirt. D’Amore hugs him and gets pulled into an Unprettier. Jarrett gets slammed off the top and takes a 3D through the table (with the Dudleys doing a double flapjack and Christian doing the cutter for some reason). Christian reveals a TNA shirt to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This wasn’t a bad show at all but it wasn’t that memorable. Christian debuting is by far and away the biggest thing here, but other than that, nothing really happens here. No titles changed hands, partially because only one was defended. The main event should have just been Jarrett vs. Rhyno II and let Jeff get the belt back here. It’s not a bad show, but it’s not one that you would ever need to see again.

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It’s the first show after Sacrifice and Roode is still champion, which isn’t something that should surprise you. Other than that, not a lot changed at the PPV. The only real change is that we have new tag team champions in the form of Daniels and Kazarian. We should begin building up for Slammiversary too. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Roode to open the show. Gee I wonder what he’s going to be saying. It’s the same promo you’ve always heard from him with him talking about how he’s the best and no one can stop him. Next week he’s going to have The It Factor’s Celebration Of Domination, which is a party of some kind. First of all though, he needs Hogan out here. Cue the guy who is somehow still the NEW GM, about six weeks after getting the job.

Roode has demands for Hogan for next week. He wants a redecorated dressing room and five bottles of chilled champagne plus only green M and M’s. Also he wants gold confetti flown in from Canada. Hogan takes the list and talks about some great champions. He talks about how Roode brought stability to the show, but he hasn’t broken the record yet. Next week is Open Fight Night, and the world title will be on the line.

Hogan talks about taking a poll in the back of people that might want a shot next week. The locker room empties out and apparently they all want a shot next week. Hogan says we need to get this down to four men, so tonight there will be four singles matches. The winners will advance to some kind of competition next week and the winner will get a title match later next week. The matches are Ray vs. RVD, Hardy vs. Anderson (nice job on screwing the PPV fans again guys), Angle vs. Joe, and a battle royal.

We get a clip of Abyss saying Joseph is getting too close to the fire.

Rob Van Dam vs. Bully Ray

Rob is very banged up from the ladder match and Ray goes after the bad arm. Van Dam kicks his way out of it as usual and Rolling Thunder gets two. Ray goes after the knee but Rob kicks away again. He goes up top and tries the top rope kick, but hurts his knee in the process. Bubba Cutter (called a 3D by Tenay) gets the pin at 3:22.

Rating: C-. This was a short match and it felt even shorter. That being said it wasn’t really that bad as the leg injury from the PPV played in here, which is a good thing. Ray moving on is a good thing as I find him more interesting than Rob, who is more or less just there because of his past work. Ray using the Cutter is a good thing.

Post break Bully Ray rants about……the Kardashians? Apparently they’re about anti-bullying now and he wants to fight them. Joseph Park comes in and apologizes for interfering on Sunday. He thinks Ray is the fire that Abyss was talking about. Ray says stay away.

We see a segment from MMA Uncensored of King Mo, an MMA fighter, announcing that he’s signing with TNA and fighting for Bellator at the same time. There’s some MMA analyst and Dixie Carter there too. Not much is said.

Gail rants to Madison about having to be in a triple threat match tonight. Madison says there’s no guy she likes, even though she admitted to there being one recently. Brooke and Velvet come up after Madison leaves to fix her hair. They make fun of Gail for cheating and say one of them will win the title.

Battle Royal

This is a qualifying match as well. Aries gets an entrance pre-break. After a break AJ, ODB and Eric Young get entrances as well. Also in there are guys like Magnus, D-Von, Crimson, Garrett Bischoff and others. ODB and Eric hit a double clothesline on Crimson and all three go out. The Rob’s and Gunner are in there too. I think that’s everyone. There are eight more I think. Magnus goes to the apron and Aries dropkicks him out. Madison is watching from the apron and is all smiley but we’re not sure at whom.

After a few minutes of nothing going on, Robbie E puts out Robbie T. T is annoyed but D-Von puts out E anyway. So it’s Gunner, Garrett, D-Von, AJ and Aries as we take a break. Back with all five still in. AJ and Aries work together on Gunner and D-Von kills Garrett with a shoulder. Garrett low bridges D-Von to eliminate him, probably getting a title match later.

AJ Peles the tar out of Garrett and eliminates him. Gunner gets dropkicked down (not eliminated) and it’s AJ vs. Aries in a showdown. Aries hits a spinning forearm and it’s time for counters. A Superman forearm staggers Aries and AJ goes to the apron, but Aries charges. That lets Gunner knock Aries to the floor but AJ dumps Gunner to advance at 10:56.

Rating: C+. Fun stuff here and AJ is the perfect placeholder or even a potential winner for next week’s fourway. The Garrett push is likely to continue with a TV Title shot next week. The stuff at the end was good too as they treated AJ vs. Aries as a big deal, which to be fair it kind of is. Aries still needs to drop the title soon though.

We recap the AJ/Dixie photos stuff from the last few weeks.

Back with AJ in the ring. He says he’ll win the title next week but now it’s time to discuss the pictures. Nothing happened and they’re just business partners. They’re both married but it’s not like that. Things aren’t as they seem, but here are Daniels and Kaz. They imply that AJ has slept his way to the top and have video to prove it. They pull out an iPad and show AJ and Dixie going into a hotel room together.

We get a video from Genesis 2006 and Joe’s first loss, which was to Angle.

Joe comes up to Angle and they talk about the past. Angle slaps Joe and it’s on in the back with Angle getting a beating. Other wrestlers break it up.

Anderson looks at a video and thinks Jeff kicked out.

Moment #7 in TNA history is the Unbreakable triple threat.

Mr. Anderson vs. Jeff Hardy

Slow feeling out process to start until Jeff sends him to the floor. Jeff tries a dive of some kind but Anderson grabs the feet and slams him into the mat. Jeff comes back with a slingshot clothesline for two. Anderson hits his neckbreaker for the same. Anderson tries a kick to the head but Jeff chop blocks him to slow things down. A rollup by Jeff is countered into one by Anderson for two. Whisper in the Wind gets two. Anderson hits the Regal Roll but Jeff rolls back on him for the pin at 6:04.

Rating: C-. Not a terrible match here but these two just aren’t interesting at all together. Anderson is possibly moving towards a heel turn but it’s still nothing that’s going to make me care about him. This was better than their PPV match, but the chemistry was still severely lacking.

Video on Joe winning the world title from Angle at Lockdown 08.

Knockouts Title: Gail Kim vs. Brooke Tessmacher vs. Velvet Sky

Gail keeps trying to escape but gets double teamed and sent to the floor. The good girls trade small packages and that’s about it. Gail comes back in for a Boston Crab on Brooke but Velvet hooks a dragon sleeper at the same time on Gail. Gail tries an Octopus hold on Brooke but Velvet rolls her up for two. Kim doesn’t let go and rolls Brooke up for two. A top rope missile dropkick by the champ puts all three girls down. In Yo Face to Brooke but Gail throws Velvet to the floor and pins Brooke with a rollup at 4:42.

Rating: C. They tried some new stuff here and for the most part it worked, but at the end of the day it’s still the same girls that are only ok in the ring and Gail is still boring as champion. This was entertaining enough though and that’s the whole point. And they’re still better than the Divas.

Slammiversary video.

Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe

Joe knocks him to the floor but Angle double legs him down easily. Joe speeds things up and hits his usual strikes and drops his knee for two. The Facewash keeps Angle down in the corner as Roode comes out to do commentary. We take a break and come back with Angle in control. He knocks Joe down for two and hooks a chinlock.

Joe comes back with the powerslam but walks into the Germans to give Kurt control again. The Slam is countered into the Clutch which is countered into the ankle lock which is countered by Joe sending Angle into the corner. Angle hits the Slam for two, which really shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point. There’s the ankle lock again but Joe sends him into the corner. They go to the corner and Angle headbutts him away. A sunset flip into a rollup off the top gets the pin for Angle at 12:26.

Rating: B-. Good match but not quite as good as most of their matches. By not quite, I mean not even close. Joe is a guy you can throw into a place like this and it’s good to see him getting wins and being in big spots again, but he’s still nothing compared to what he used to be. Still though, this was built up as a big match and it mostly delivered.

The four challengers surround Roode to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. Pretty good show here tonight but they’re using the single angle idea again here, which isn’t something I’m usually a fan of. In other words, this was almost all about next week and if that’s not your thing, too bad because this wasn’t a show for you. Still though the wrestling here worked and that’s all that matters for the most part. We have a big match set for next week’s Open Fight Night, which hopefully is better than the first. Good show.

Results
Bully Ray b. Rob Van Dam – Bully Cutter
AJ Styles won a battle royal last eliminating Gunner
Jeff Hardy b. Mr. Anderson – Crucifix
Gail Kim b. Brooke Tessmacher and Velvet Sky – Rollup to Tessmacher
Kurt Angle b. Samoa Joe – Rollup

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Time for another filler PPV from the boys in Orlando. The card here is better than the Victory Road show but it’s definitely a B show at best. The main event is Roode vs. RVD for the title and we’ll likely get more developments in the return of Abyss story as well. To be fair though, that’s one of the most interesting stories they’ve had in awihle. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about how Roode is angry about recent events.

Tag Titles: Samoa Joe/Magnus vs. Kazarian/Christopher Daniels

The announcers talk about how awesome Magnus is. He and Daniels start with the British guy in control. Daniels gets in an elbow in the corner but a cross body is countered into a suplex in a cool power display. Off to Joe and Daniels runs away, bringing in Kaz. A big elbow puts Kaz down and it’s off to Magnus. The champions use some good teamwork to beat on Kaz but Daniels trips up Magnus to shift control.

Magnus plays Ricky Morton with a British accent. Both challengers work on him a little bit at a time until it’s chinlock time from Daniels. Joseph Park is in the audience. Kaz hooks a double chickenwing but Magnus fights up and hits a shoulder block to escape. There’s the tag to Joe who cleans house and creates heel miscommunication. Release Rock Bottom puts Daniels down out of the corner.

Daniels breaks up the champions’ finishing move with a boot to Joe’s face. A DDT gets two on Joe as does the STO. Magnus gets in a shot to allow the champions to hit the finishing sequence on Daniels but Kaz pulls Magnus to the floor. Joe goes for the save and Magnus goes back in, but the challengers hit a Total Elimination on Magnus for the surprise pin and the titles at 10:54.

Rating: C. Pretty good opening but the ending was pretty surprising. I guess there’s a reason to give the titles to Daniels/Kaz, but the division is still pretty weak given the roster of tag teams at this point. Joe and Magnus were getting good together and I’m sure they’ll get a title shot again but odds are on AJ finding a partner and going after them.

Tenay and Taz plug their social media stuff.

We recap Brooke vs. Gail. In short: Gail is a wrestler, Brooke is a model who looks good in a bikini but she wants to prove she can fight. Brooke has three wins in a row over Gail coming into this.

Knockouts Title: Brooke Tessmacher vs. Gail Kim

Gail jumps Brooke to start but Tessmacher tries Eat Defeat twice to send Gail running to the floor. Gail gets in a kick to the ribs to take over and follows with a shoulder block to the ribs. The champion hits a backbreaker and bends Brooke over the knee in a submission hold out of the same position.

It’s about 99% Kim until Brooke gets a flying forearm to get herself a breather. A facejam out of the corner puts Gail down and a top rope elbow gets two. The champion tries a quick Eat Defeat but Brooke hits one of her own which knocks Gail to the floor. Back inside that gets two. And then Gail rolls her up with feet on the ropes to retain at 6:50.

Rating: C-. Not bad here but Tessmacher continues to be just barely better than your normal terrible women’s wrestler. Anyone that believes she’s out there because of anything other than how she looks in her wrestling outfits is delusional. Still though, I’d have switched the title due to how long Gail has had the title and how stale her title reign has gotten.

Kaz and Daniels say that AJ got where he is by whistling Dixie. Kaz and Daniels are where they are because they beat people up. Daniels says his championship is proof. This is just beginning with AJ and you may now worship them.

TV Title: D-Von vs. Robbie E vs. Robbie T

Officially it’s a triple threat. D-Von punches T to the floor and then punches E down. A Rock Bottom gets two on E but T pulls the champion to the floor. E gets back up and tells T to stand down because he’s got this. Powerslam gets two for E. D-Von comes back and knocks E to the floor but T catches him with a shot to the back. Powerslam gets two as E makes the save. Extra and Terrestrial get in a shoving match, allowing D-Von to roll up T to retain at 5:40.

Rating: D+. This feud MUST be over now right? It’s been going on for like four months now and for the life of me I don’t get why it’s continued this long. Are there really no other people that can get in on the TV Title hunt? Nothing to see here but hopefully it ends this feud once and for all.

T teases attacking E post match but they’re ok.

We recap Anderson vs. Hardy. Basically they both wanted to be #1 contender but got in a fight instead. RVD got the shot so these two need something to do.

Mr. Anderson vs. Jeff Hardy

Feeling out process to start resulting in some armdrags by Hardy into an armbar. They head to the floor with Jeff in control and Anderson going into various metal objects. Jeff tries a running attack off the steps but Anderson moves. Jeff blocks the contact into the railing though and therefore doesn’t lose control. Back in Anderson kicks him down but gets caught by a jawbreaker from Jeff.

Jeff tries the slingshot dropkick in the corner but Anderson gets his own feet up to block it. Clothesline gets two as does a flying armbar. Hardy rolls to the apron and tries to fight back but gets caught by a neckbreaker through the ropes for two. Anderson hooks the arm again but Jeff fights to his feet. Another neckbreaker is countered and Jeff hits a Mic Check to put both guys down.

Anderson is up first but Jeff meets him with right hands. Hardy loads up Whisper in the Wind but Anderson moves forward to send Hardy crashing down. Twist of Fate from Anderson gets two but the Kenton Bomb misses. The Swanton connects but only for two. In a really strange ending, Hardy tries his legdrop between Anderson’s legs but Anderson shoves Hardy’s legs back and rolls him up for the pin, but I was almost sure Hardy kicked out. Either way it gets the pin at 11:40.

Rating: C-. This was supposed to be a big main event style match but it didn’t work at all for me. Anderson is just so uninteresting in the ring and for the life of me I don’t get why he went over Hardy here. I guess the ending is going to be a selling point later on as Hardy pretty clearly kicked out and he protested after the match, but we’ll have to wait for Impact for that.

Aries says he isn’t worried about Ray tonight. He thinks better is better than bigger, and that the bullying stops tonight.

We get a video from the end of Impact where Abyss returned.

Joseph Park is in the crowd and is having a great time. He says he didn’t see Abyss return on Thursday because he was recovering from Ray attacking him. Abyss might appear tonight too.

Crimson comes out to brag about beating Morgan on Thursday. He issues an open challenge and here’s who he gets.

Crimson vs. Eric Young

I didn’t hear a bell and it’s time for COMEDY! Eric locks up with the referee and does Ultimo Dragon’s handstand in the corner. A clothesline puts Crimson on the floor, although I never heard a bell. Crimson throws him to the floor to take over and a suplex gets two. There’s the cravate and Eric gets shoved down. ODB gets in and gets shoved down which ticks Eric off. And there go his pants. He slams Crimson down and drops a top rope elbow for no cover. Eric goes to check on ODB but Crimson shoves him into the wife and Red Sky gets the pin at 4:00.

Rating: D. What does anyone see in either of these guys? Eric IS NOT FUNNY. He does the same stuff every single week and it just isn’t funny. Hey look: he can take his pants off and lock up with a referree. COMEDY! Crimson is the most uninteresting undefeated name this side of Tatanka as it’s clear they have no idea what they’re doing with him.

Ray says that he doesn’t do Twitter and plugs his MySpace page. He’s too big for Aries to beat too.

We recap Aries vs. Ray, which is victim vs. Bully with the victim fighting back.

Bully Ray vs. Austin Aries

Ray goes into a nearly Memphis level of stalling until Aries jumps him. Taz uses the time to actually offer some veteran analysis, talking about how it’s possible for a smaller guy to use leverage moves against bigger guys like Ray. Aries pounds away on him but gets shoved down. Ray tries to stomp him but Aries bites the calf to escape. Aries goes up but a big boot knocks him into the barricade in a cool looking bump.

Oh man Aries has some bad looking bruises on his back which Tazz calls busted blood vessels. Ray slams him down and puts on a bearhug before hitting a HARD chop to the chest. Aries pops up and says hit me again which Ray does. Aries tries to come back but gets chopped down again. Ray says stay down but Aries comes back with chops. A running elbow in the corner hits Ray but he comes back with a modified powerbomb for two. Ray sends him into the ropes and hits a wicked one man 3D but it only gets two.

Here comes Joseph Park to the front row and Ray comes out to get in his face. He pulls Park over the railing and into ringside but Aries takes Ray down with a suicide dive. Back in the ring a missile dropkick sends Ray into the corner and Aries somehow pulls off the brainbuster for two. Ray tries a superbomb out of the corner but falls on his face, allowing Aries to throw on the Last Chancery for the tap at 13:17.

Rating: B. Good match here and it’s good that they gave Aries the win. There was no need to have Ray get a win here and for awhile I was thinking they were going to go with him. On a side note, that one man 3D is a great finisher for Ray as it looks devastating. Anyway, good win for Aries here but he needs to get rid of that belt soon. It’s not helping him anymore and it kills the division a little more every day he has it.

We recap the pictures being revealed on Monday.

AJ says he isn’t here to talk about pictures.

We recap Angle vs. Styles. Angle beat Styles because AJ was distracted by Daniels and the photos he had and Angle didn’t want to win that way. This is his rematch.

AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle

Angle is pretty much a tweener now as he doesn’t really have an allegiance to either side of the spectrum. AJ takes it to the mat which goes to a standoff. Now Angle takes it to the mat and AJ bails. Angle has lowered his kneepad and tells AJ to shoot for the leg. AJ outsmarts him though and kicks Angle in the face as Angle drops down into defense. Angle hooks a bearhug and tries a suplex but Styles counters into a Styles Clash attempt which is countered into an ankle lock attempt which doesn’t work.

Angle takes over with a headlock which lasts for awhile. Styles comes out of it and drops a knee. Styles Clash is broken up again and they head to the floor. AJ counters a suplex by landing on his feet and takes Angle down with a clothesline. In the ring AJ misses a jumping attack in the corner and Kurt suplexes him down. AJ fights out of a body vice but runs into a backbreaker for two.

Off to a chinlock as this match slows way down. AJ gets up and both guys try cross bodies. Styles speeds things up and hits an AA into a backbreaker for two. Springboard forearm gets two. Angle blocks the Clash but gets sent to the floor. AJ hits the springboard forearm to the floor and both guys are down. Kurt suplexes him from the apron into the ring for two.

A belly to belly superplex is countered but Angle runs the ropes and hits the superplex for two. Angle Slam is countered with the Pele and the Styles Clash gets two. Kurt reverses a German into a release one of his own to put both guys down. Styles gets a spinning rollup for two but Kurt pulls off an Angle Slam. That gets two and Kurt is frustrated. Kurt pushes A+B at the same time and gets two off a Styles Clash. The moonsault misses and AJ hits his springboard 450 for two. AJ sets for something else and here are Kaz and Daniels for the interference, allowing Angle to hit another Slam for two. Ankle and grapvine end this at 20:45.

Rating: B. First and foremost, AJ and Angle had a good match. No one paying attention should be surprised at this at all. That being said, I do not want to ever see Christoper Daniels vs. AJ Styles again. I don’t care what the angle is, I don’t care what new twist they put on it, I don’t care how it turns out. I’m tired of seeing it and there’s no reason to put them together anymore. They’ve feuded on and off for over seven years now and I’m not interested in seeing it anymore.

Angle saves Styles from the double beatdown. There’s Slammiversary I’d assume.

Angle’s moonsault at Lockdown against Anderson is the #8 moment in TNA history.

Roode doesn’t feel right because he doesn’t have his belt with him. It’s above the ring and he doesn’t like it.

We recap Roode vs. RVD. RVD won a match to get the title match then won another one to make it a ladder match. That’s about it.

TNA World Title: Rob Van Dam vs. Bobby Roode

Ladder match. The belt looks higher up than it usually is. Van Dam knocks him to the floor to start and goes for the ladder, but Roode breaks it up. Van Dam comes back and hits the spinning kick to the back of Roode on the barricade. Van Dam goes for the ladder again but gets caught in a DDT for Roode to take over. Rob comes back with a flip dive to the floor to put Roode down. This is pretty slow paced to start but it’s not bad.

The ladder gets set up in the corner and Roode goes face first into it. Now it gets placed on the middle rope and Roode slingshots RVD’s face into it. Roode’s suplex onto the ladder is blocked and Van Dam suplexes Roode onto the ladder instead. A Lionsault onto Roode onto the ladder puts both guys down. Van Dam sends him back first into the ladder and puts him in Van Terminator position.

Instead he surfboards the chair into the ladder into Roode which puts Van Dam down as well for some reason. Van Dam gets another ladder and goes up but Roode knocks him off. Rob bumps into the ladder to knock Roode off and the ladder hits Roode in the head. I think he’s ok though as he clotheslines Van Dam down and hits the spinebuster onto the ladder. Van Dam comes out of nowhere with a monkey flip to send Roode into the ladder in the corner, followed by Rolling Thunder.

The challenger has a nasty cut and lump on his elbow. Bad elbow and all he kicks Roode onto a ladder but the Five Star misses Roode and hits the ladder. Roode goes up and Van Dam tries to pull a Shelton Benjamin and jump onto the ladder but he misses and ties his leg up in it. Somehow he manages to climb up to chase Roode, only to get shoved off and hit his head on the chair from earlier. Roode retains at 15:28.

Rating: C+. This was fine but it was nothing great at all. I don’t think most people expected RVD to take the title here, as he was the veteran in this kind of match coming into his own match so of course he had no chance. The match was entertaining enough for a B-Show main event, but Van Dam was nothing but a placeholder to be another guy for Roode to beat.

Overall Rating: B-. This was pretty much what I was expecting: a decent show where nothing significant happens at all (on paper at least). That’s what plagued Lockdown (among other things): nothing changed. TNA has been in the same place for awhile now and that’s not a good thing. They need to shake things up a little bit, and I think that’ll happen at Slammiversary. It was an entertaining show but it’s nothing I’ll remember three days from now.

Results
Kazarian/Christopher Daniels b. Samoa Joe/Magnus – Total Elimination to Magnus
Gail Kim b. Brooke Tessmacher – Rollup with feet on the ropes
D-Von b. Robbie E and Robbie T – Rollup to Robbie T
Mr. Anderson b. Jeff Hardy – Rollup
Crimson b. Eric Young – Red Sky
Austin Aries b. Bully Ray – Last Chancery
Kurt Angle b. AJ Styles – Ankle Lock
Bobby Roode b. Rob Van Dam – Roode pulled down the title

Remember to like this on Facebook and follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

It’s the go home show for Sacrifice and I don’t think much has been announced for the show. It’ll probably be more about RVD vs. Roode which hasn’t been built up all that well for the most part. I mean the material is there but it hasn’t really grabbed me yet. Either way the match is set for Sunday and it should be entertaining enough. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Roode to open the show and say his usual stuff. I’m sure you know this speech by now. He took out Anderson, Hardy and RVD last week because he’s the champion and that’s what he does. He’ll be the longest reigning champion in 14 days and no one can stop him, especially not RVD on Sunday.

Cue RVD for a brawl with Roode going to the floor. RVD holds up the belt and Anderson comes out to beat up Roode too. Hardy comes in and it’s a 3-1 beatdown. Hardy and Anderson get in a fight because that’s what they do. Cue Hogan who has an idea for a fatal fourway tonight with everyone in the brawl in it. If Anderson or Hardy win, they get the RVD’s title match. If Roode wins, he can pick which of the three he wants to face. If RVD wins, he gets to pick the stipulation. RVD says cool let’s do it. Well at least it plays up to the Sacrifice name. Too bad this is IMPACT and not Sacrifice.

Ray isn’t worried about the tiny man known as Austin Aries. He says he’s going to take care of Aries tonight so stay tuned.

Gail is panicking about her match with Brook while Madison gets ready. Madison wants to look perfect for some guy but won’t say who.

Velvet Sky vs. Brooke Tessmacher

Velvet sends her to the corner and shakes her hips. Brooke sends her to the corner and shakes her hips. Ok then. They do some basic stuff until Brooke knocks her into the corner and uses her hips to ram Velvet’s face. Velvet comes back and hits a basement dropkick but In Yo Face is countered. Brooke hits a drop toehold to send her into the buckle and that belly to back mat slam for the pin at 3:42.

Rating: D-. This was REALLY bad with both girls missing a lot of stuff. It looked like their stuff was missing too, which is what can usually be covered up by people with more talent than this. Also I get tired of the hip stuff quickly. We get it: you know how to shake your hips. Now do something else.

Gail comes out and Brook Eats Defeat.

AJ has no comment on the secret thing and is focused on Angle this Sunday.

Hardy is ready for the main event.

Matt Morgan vs. Crimson

Bully Ray jumps Morgan with the chain before Morgan can get into the ring. He adds in a chair shot to the head and says that’ll be Aries in a stoic voice. No match as Morgan is taken out on a stretcher.

Post break and Morgan is still being taken out. Crimson gets on the mic and says that week after week Morgan claims to be the man to break the streak. He makes the referee ring the bell and count to ten.

Crimson vs. Matt Morgan

Ten count, 39 seconds.

RVD talks about Greek mythology and choosing the life of the hero instead of the long peaceful one.

X-Division Title: Zema Ion vs. Austin Aries

Aries takes over to start with a seated dropkick and it’s out to the floor. Aries misses a double ax off the top rope and hits the barricade. Ion hits a big flip dive which gets two back in the ring. Backbreaker gets two. A middle rope moonsault gets knees so Aries clotheslines him to the floor. Suicide dive takes Ion out and back in, a Tajiri handspring leads to a back elbow on the mat for two. A pair of dropkicks sets up the brainbuster to retain at 4:16.

Rating: C. The match was fine but it was basically a squash. Aries has zero competition and hasn’t for months, which makes these matches pretty dull as there’s no drama at all. It’s good that he’s moving up to the regular midcard but they need to get the title off of him. It’s not that hard to do it either but for some reason they keep waiting on it.

Kaz is worried about revealing the secret but Daniels says it’s ok.

RVD is ready for the win tonight and he’ll win the title on Sunday.

Quick recap on the latest incarnation of Daniels vs. AJ.

Daniels and Kaz are in the ring and Daniels invites AJ out to set the record straight. Cue AJ who says that this is a mistake but Kaz cuts him off. Kaz says that he protected AJ and then saw what was in the envelope and he stopped realizing why he was protecting AJ. Kaz opens the envelope and it’s a photo of AJ and Dixie Carter holding hands. AJ says so what so we get another of AJ with his hands on her face. The third is of them kissing. Daniels drops the pictures and leaves AJ stunned.

TV Title: Robbie E vs. D-Von

D-Von clears the ring of Big Robbie to start and hits a Thesz Press with punches. Headbutt keeps E down but T pulls D-Von to the floor. That goes badly for the big guy and E gets clotheslined as he tries to jump D-Von. Spinebuster ends this in 1:13.

Robbie T powerslams D-Von post match to keep this feud going another week.

We go to Tennessee to hear from Storm about how he has no excuse to lose. He’s put a lot of work into everything on his farm and in wrestling and he’s never second guessed himself until now. He didn’t get the job done at Lockdown and it kills him.

If RVD wins, it’s a ladder match. Apparently this was revealed earlier.

Joseph Park needs help finding the ring.

D-Von challenges the Rob’s to a handicap match at Sacrifice.

We recap the Abyss Is Missing story and how Joseph is looking for him.

Here’s Joseph in the arena and he has issues getting in the ring. He says everyone here knows who he is and what he’s doing. Every lead he’s had has said find Bully Ray so he’s not going away. Joseph says that he might buy a ticket and come to Sacrifice on Sunday to watch the show. Why bother? You’ve walked into every show here for months now.

Ray comes out and yells, saying this isn’t a court room and that Joseph needs to get out. Joseph says that Ray lost to Abyss in Abyss’ last appearance, plus he lost to D-Von two weeks ago. Then last week a guy half of Ray’s size named Austin Aries beat Ray down. How is that bully thing working out for you Ray? Ray shoves Joseph down and leaves as Park smiles.

Anderson is looking forward to not having his match on Sunday.

We get a great moment in TNA history which is Hogan arriving and throwing The Band out.

Angle is ready for AJ.

We run down the Sacrifice card.

RVD is ready for Sacrifice.

Rob Van Dam vs. Bobby Roode vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson

If Rob wins, Roode vs. Van Dam is a ladder match. If Roode wins, he gets to pick his opponent on Sunday. If Hardy or Anderson win, they get RVD’s spot. Everyone jumps Roode to start but Anderson shoves Hardy off. They fight to the floor so it’s RVD vs. Roode with the champ hitting a suplex as we take a break.

Back with Roode getting two off another suplex. Anderson comes back in and gets his spinning neckbreaker for two on RVD. Van Dam comes back with the split legged moonsault for the same result. He loads up the Rolling Thunder but Roode catches him in the spinebuster for two in a nice counter. Rob superkicks Roode into the corner but his monkey flip to Jeff is countered. Whisper in the Wind gets two on RVD. Rolling Thunder hits Hardy but Roode throws Van Dam to the floor. Twist of Fate and Mic Check to Roode followed by Anderson spearing Hardy to the floor. Five Star pins Roode at 8:30.

Rating: C-. That’s the longest match of the night and it ran less than nine minutes, about four of which were spent in a commercial. I don’t think anyone thought anybody but Van Dam was going to win here which is ok, but they should have set up the stipulation way earlier than this instead of waiting for three days to go before the PPV.

Post match RVD puts up a ladder and here’s Abyss on the stage. He whispers to the camera and says Joseph is getting too close to the fire and to back off before he gets burned.

Overall Rating: D+. This show didn’t work for me for the most part. There was WAY too much talking and a lot of this felt like they were getting ready for TV later instead of the PPV on Sunday. That’s a major problem this company has: they book for TV instead of their major shows which doesn’t make much sense.

Why would anyone want to pay money (which is what TNA”s goal is: to make money) if the focus is on TV instead of the PPVs? Some of the matches got built somewhat ok, but adding a ladder stipulation to the title match three days early is a bad idea as you had a month you could have built that up with. Either way, not a good show heading into a filler PPV.

Results
Brooke Tessmacher b. Velvet Sky – Belly to Back Mat Slam
Crimson b. Matt Morgan via countout
Austin Aries b. Zema Ion – Brainbuster
D-Von b. Robbie E – Spinebuster
Rob Van Dam b. Jeff Hardy, Bobby Roode and Mr. Anderson – Five Star Frog Splash to Roode

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

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

Eric Young vs. Johnny Devine

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

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

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

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

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

We run down the rest of the card.

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

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

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

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

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

Here’s the same Sting video that just aired.

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

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

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

Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Abyss vs. Brother Runt

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

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

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

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

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

Samoa Joe vs. Monty Brown vs. Rhyno

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sirelda vs. Gail Kim

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

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

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

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

Senshi vs. Jay Lethal vs. Petey Williams

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tag Titles: LAX vs. Christopher Daniels/AJ Styles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NWA World Title: Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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This is the anniversary show and with this show it would be three years since the company started up. The main event tonight is the King of the Mountain match with AJ defending. The lineup for the match is kind of up in the air though as we have a wildcard entrant as well as someone announced that will be replaced. This is one of those matches that got TNA noticed in a way, even though they lost their TV deal for awhile soon after this. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is a baby, with the obvious theme of the company growing up. This also gets the usual video package of the company’s highlights up to this point. Standard but it works.

We get a clip from before the show of Jarrett attacking a fan and getting arrested for it, meaning he’s out of the King of the Mountain match. Raven is his replacement.

Zach Gowen vs. Shark Boy vs. Amazing Red vs. Delirious vs. Jerelle Clark vs. Elix Skipper

One fall to a finish here. Delirious goes all crazy to start and gets going with Skipper. Tenay talks about a real lawsuit between Shark Boy and the movie Shark Boy and Lava Girl. Off to Red to face Skipper and it’s time for flips! Skipper tags in Clark who is no one of note. He tries a moonsault but gets caught by a dropkick by Red instead. Spin kick puts Clark down but Gowen tags himself in.

A guillotine legdrop misses for Gowen and Shark Boy comes in and drops Zach with a neckbreaker. Gowen comes back with a reverse DDT to counter a suplex. This match is going WAY too fast to keep up with. Gowen busts out a huge springboard moonsault to land on Sharky and Skipper. Gowen’s dive is broken up so Red dives on all three of them. Back in the ring everyone but Gowen hits a Tower of Doom. Gowen tries to steal the win with a moonsault but Shark Boy breaks it up. Everybody hits their finisher but everybody’s cover is broken up. Shark Boy gets the last cover and the pin on Delirious with the Dead Sea Drop.

Rating: B-. It’s fun but this is the definition of a spot fest. For an opening match though you can’t complain about it at all. Fun stuff with everyone jumping all over the place and flying all over the place and that’s all you need a lot of the time with something like this. Good stuff and with less than seven minutes, that’s all you can do.

Abyss punches through a mirror in the back.

Shocker, a big star from Mexico, is here and is ready for Alex Shelley tonight. Shelley comes up and says he’s not a hybrid wrestler like Shelley is, so Shocker is losing tonight. Shocker goes on a rant in Spanish that I can only understand pieces of.

Alex Shelley vs. Shocker

They go to the mat to start and Shelley controls the arm. Shocker counters but Shelley hooks the foot instead. It turns into a standoff so they go to the mat for some technical stuff. Shocker takes over and Shelley bails to the floor. Back in and Shelly keeps taking him to the mat but gets rolled up for two. Now Shelley wants a handshake and gets on his knees to kiss Shocker’s foot. Odd choice.

Naturally he’s luring Shocker in but it doesn’t work, as Shocker hits a dropkick to the side of the head to take over. Headscissors takes Shelley down but Alex sends Shocker to the floor. A dive misses for Shelley but Shocker’s connects and the Mexican star is in control. A moonsault eats knees though and Shelley takes over again. Shelley tries a rolling cradle but it’s really just a setup for a freaky neck/arm lock.

Shelley slams him down and goes up but he jumps into a dropkick from Shocker. Alex rolls to the floor but gets caught by a suicide dive and both guys are down. Back in Shocker hooks the twisting sunset flip out of the corner (think Booker T) for two. A big kick from Alex gets two. They both try some slick rollups but Shelley comes out on top with what is apparently a European cradle for two. Shocker is like screw this and drolls Shelley with a right hand. Shelley takes him into the corner but Shocker comes out with a combination head scissors/small package for the pin.

Rating: B-. This was all over the place but in a good way. Both guys were moving incredibly fast out there and it never got sloppy at all. Why did Shocker go back to Mexico? He was pretty awesome and I always liked him for the most part. Good and fun match here as this PPV is starting off well.

We’ll be counting down the top five moments in TNA history. Number 5 is AJ winning his first world title. Someday I need to go back and do all of the old 2 hour PPVs.

Konnan wants to know where BG James’ (Road Dogg) loyalty lies. He says it’s to the 3 Live Kru.

We recap Killings vs. Outlaw, which is R-Truth vs. Billy Gunn. The idea is that Billy is trying to lure BG away from the Kru. BG says there’s nothing to it so everyone has beaten up Outlaw in the process. This results in a rap video from the Kru.

Ron Killings vs. Outlaw

Outlaw starts with a headlock and runs him over with a shoulder block. He takes Truth down again but stops to argue with the referee which allows Killings to come off the top with a missile dropkick. Outlaw hits him low to take over again but the Stinger Splash in the corner misses. Truth goes up again but gets crotched, which lets Outlaw take a water break.

Back in and things slow down as we get to the heel control part of the match. Out to the floor and Truth is rammed into a few metal objects. A quick reversal doesn’t get Killings anywhere so let’s hit that chinlock. Outlaw goes to the middle rope and dances a bit but jumps into a boot in that spot that I hate. Truth makes his comeback and hits the jumping forearm but the ax kick misses. Fameasser hits but Outlaw won’t cover. Cobra clutch slam is countered into a rollup which gets the pin for Truth.

Rating: D+. Just a TV match here and there was nothing significant to it at all. This feud went on for awhile until BG joined Outlaw and formed the James Gang. There wasn’t much here as Truth probably should have lost. He was a bigger deal though so it’s not the worst deal in the world.

Post match Outlaw beats up Truth and gets a chair but BG comes out for the save. Outlaw turns his back to BG and asks to be hit but BG won’t do it. Konnan comes out and tries to use the chair but Outlaw runs.

Moment #4 is Raven debuting in January of 2003. I’m going to have to do some of these old PPVs I think, as in the 2 hour ones.

Team Canada says they’ll win their matches tonight. Scott D’Amore quotes Rocky III by saying that the Naturals fight great but Team Canada are great fighters. The Naturals have a new adviser who isn’t known yet. It would wind up being the interviewer, Shane Douglas.

We recap the tag title match which is basically Canada saying they’re great and wanting their tag titles back. The Canadians jumped the Naturals after a title match to further set this up.

Tag Titles: Team Canada vs. The Naturals

It’s Eric Young/Petey Williams vs. Chase Stevens/Andy Douglas respectively. The Naturals are defending and I still don’t remember which is which. Eric and I think Stevens start things off. Ok so Stevens is the blonde one. Got it. Eric works on the arm to start which goes nowhere. They slap/slug it out and Young goes down. Double tag brings in Douglas and Williams. Williams tries a handstand but Douglas grabs his feet and puts on a modified leglock while Petey is still holding himself up. It’s different if nothing else.

Back to the starters with the champions in firm control. Young might have hurt his knee on a leapfrog attempt. When Williams comes in and gets Stevens’ attention, Young pops up and sends him to the floor so that A-1, Canada’s muscle guy, can get in some shots. It’s still Eric vs. Chase but with Stevens in the Tree of Woe, Petey comes in to stand on his crotch and sing O Canada.

Young comes in off the top with a guillotine legdrop for two. Time for the chinlock and Douglas is freaking out waiting for a tag. Petey lures him in and the Canadians get in some double teaming. Some choking and a regular legdrop get two. Eric sends him to the floor so it’s time to talk about Jarrett possibly making bail to make the title match tonight. D’Amore and A-1 work over Stevens more on the outside.

The announcers think the Naturals should consider throwing in the towel. Dang those guys quit pretty easily. The match has only been going on for about ten minutes. Stevens gets in some punches but A-1 stops the comeback. Douglas comes around to break that up but there’s no one for Stevens to tag. Can I get some wah wah wah music? There’s the hot tag a few seconds later and a full nelson backbreaker gets two.

Everything breaks down and Williams puts Douglas in a Sharpshooter. Stevens tries a powerbomb but gets caught in a DDT. Douglas knocks Young to the floor as Stevens and Williams slug it out. Williams gets caught on Douglas’ shoulders and a modified (and bad) Doomsday Device gets two. Natural Disaster (elevated Stunner) gets two on Young. Russian legsweep to Stevens but the Destroyer is countered. D’Amore gets in a hockey stick shot, but JIMMY HART pops in from out of nowhere with the Megaphone. Stevens pops Williams with it and gets the easy pin.

Rating: C+. This was formula down to the core and there’s nothing wrong with that. All four guys were moving pretty quickly out there and the Canadians did their usual stuff. The Naturals were pretty decent in the ring but they had NOTHING to make you care about them at all which wound up being their downfall.

Moment #3 is Lockdown 2005.

Sean Waltman is the wild card in the King of the Mountain match.

Sonjay Dutt vs. Samoa Joe

This is Joe’s in ring debut. We hear about Ring of Honor which is a name you don’t often hear in this company. Joe is still relatively fit here. He goes off on Sonjay in the corner and shrugs off a clothesline. Sonjay runs into the release Rock Bottom in the corner with a SICK landing. We get the Facewash in the corner and the running boot. All Joe so far.

A legsweep sets up the backsplash for two. Dutt finally gets out of the way and sends Joe to the floor. There’s a big flip dive to take the Samoan out and back in a springboard dropkick gets two. 450 gets the same. A second attempt misses and Joe hits the powerslam to set up the MuscleBuster and the Clutch for the tap.

Rating: C. This was a total squash, which would be the first of many. Joe wouldn’t lose until December of 2006 when they had to bring in Kurt Angle to give him a real challenge. The fans were into him as no one of that size could move as fast as he could and no one quite has since. Pretty effective debut.

Raven, the surprise addition to the main event, talks about how this is his fate, which he’s been talking about for over two years. I wonder if he’s Del Rio’s American cousin. After the match if there were to be an autopsy, it would say that everyone else died due to the sheer force of Raven’s will. Tonight he fulfills his destiny.

Bobby Roode vs. Lance Hoyt

Apparently Hoyt has been adopted by the Impact Zone. Ok then. Apparently this is payback from a beating that Hoyt got on Impact. Roode gets in his face and is easily shoved away. A big clothesline puts Roode on the floor but Hoyt goes after D’Amore and gets sent into the barricade. D’Amore beats on him for a few minutes which somehow isn’t seen at all.

Back in the ring and Hoyt comes back with some right hands. Roode stops him dead with a knee to the ribs though and a belly to back suplex puts Lance down. Roode hooks a bearhug which is pretty quickly broken, but Hoyt is taken down almost immediately. Bobby goes up but gets slammed off and Hoyt starts his comeback.

There are ten punches in the corner followed by a chokeslam. Lance has to go after D’Amore though so the moonsault is broken up. Roode powerbombs him off the top for two which I thought would be the finish. A hockey stick is brought in but the referee takes it away. Another chokeslam looks to set up a big boot but D’Amore interferes AGAIN. That allows Roode to hit the Northern Lariat for the pin.

Rating: D+. Team Canada was a fine idea but doing the same exact thing over and over again got pretty boring pretty quickly. The match, just like the Killings vs. Outlaw match, was pretty much just a TV match and not a very good one at that. These filler matches were a pretty normal occurrence on these old PPVs.

Hoyt gets beaten down post match as D’Amore runs his mouth. D’Amore tries a moonsault but Hoyt moves and kicks Roode’s head off. A chokeslam and moonsault leave D’Amore laying. He’s taken out on a stretcher after the Canadians make the save.

Moment #2: Jeff Hardy debuts.

AJ, the world champion, says tonight he might as well be a challenger. It’s a huge opportunity for him.

We recap AMW vs. 3 Live Kru. AMW is having problems and it cost them a match to the Kru already. This also leads to a 3 Live Kru music video.

America’s Most Wanted vs. 3 Live Kru

It’s Konnan/BG here. Konnan and Harris get things going and Storm misses a potential tag. Konnan speeds things up and hits the rolling clothesline. For some reason he takes his shoe off and throws it at Harris. Weird guy man. Storm gets in a kick and that allows Harris to tag him in legally. AMW takes over on Konnan with Harris hitting a top rope double ax for two. Storm comes in but jumps into a boot followed by a facejam. Tag to BG and things speed up a bit.

Superkick puts the Dogg down but the cover is delayed meaning it’s only good for two. AMW double teams again but they’re still not clicking that well for the most part. It’s Harris in there at the moment and a jumping clothesline puts BG down. Off to Storm again and the reverse tornado DDT gets two. Back to Harris who jumps into a punch and here are the punches from James. AMW gets rammed together but it only gets two on Harris. Here’s the Outlaw to fight with Konnan while a Hart Attack pins James.

Rating: D+. This was more about an angle than a match. Actually it was more about two angles than a single match. Not bad or anything but a lot of this stuff feels like it belongs on a TV show rather than on a thirty dollar PPV. The fans wanted the Outlaws back together again but it would be a few months before that happened.

BG doesn’t leave with either guy.

The #1 moment ever is the cage walk at Turning Point. I’m fine with that. I’d love to see this list again today.

We recap the X-Title match which is Daniels defending against Sabin and Michael Shane. Trinity and Traci were managing the two challengers but the girls switched guys. It wound up being Trinity and Sabin against Traci and Shane. These were pretty much the only girls they had at this point.

X-Division Title: Michael Shane vs. Chris Sabin vs. Christopher Daniels

Daniels is champion and this is elimination rules. Daniels jumps Sabin and starts a quick team up with Shane. That lasts all of eight seconds as the challengers team up. That lasts even less time as this is a free for all. Sabin snaps off a rana on the champ and the challenges go at it for awhile. Shane goes down so we get Sabin vs. Daniels for awhile. The champ takes him down and hooks the Koji Clutch but Shane makes the save. Shane hits a powerslam on Daniels for two.

Michael launches Daniels over his head into a sitout powerbomb by Sabin which gets two. Daniels ducks low and sends Sabin throat first into the middle rope. This is another match that’s moving so fast that I can’t type all of it. Daniels puts them both on the floor and hits a split legged moonsault over the top and down onto Sabin. Shane avoided the contact so he takes over in the ring.

Daniels and Shane team up again and Daniels dropkicks Sabin down. Shane of course turns on him after about 20 seconds and sends him to the floor. Sabin is right back up of course but Shane takes him back down and hits a slingshot legdrop for two. Daniels backdrops Michael to the floor and follows him out. Sabin tries a slingshot dive but Daniels is waiting on him, sending Sabin into his knee for a gutbuster kind of move.

Sabin escapes a double team and hits a tornado DDT on Shane at the same time as an enziguri on Daniels. Cool. Sabin dropkicks both guys down and loads up Cradle Shock on Shane but gets shoved off. That’s cool with him as he ducks a clothesline and dives onto Daniels on the floor. A springboard missile dropkick gets two on Shane. Traci trips Sabin so Trinity (in a body that can only be described as spider-web themed) trips Shane. It’s catfight time and in the distraction, Sabin eliminates Shane with the Cradle Shock.

Daniels gives Trinity the Angel’s Wings because he’s that evil. So it’s Sabin vs. Daniels for the title now. Sabin pounds away with forearms but walks into a Death Valley Driver for two. Off to a modified chinlock by the champ but Sabin counters into a rollup for two. A bulldog by Sabin puts Daniels down but he can’t follow up. Daniels comes back with an STO for two. Here comes the BME but it only gets two. Sabin misses an enziguri but the second attempt connects. Springboard DDT gets two. Sabin tries a springboard but Daniels kicks the ropes and Angel’s Wings retain the title.

Rating: B. Another fast paced and fun match here with Daniels continuing to be interesting when you have him away from Styles. Sabin was on fire back in the day and it was very nice to look at Traci and Trinity, but there’s not much to be said about Shane. The guy is just not interesting at all and he didn’t add anything here.

Monty Brown says that nothing has changed with Raven in the mix now.

We recap the King of the Mountain match. AJ is champion and he’s got four challengers. I’m not sure what else there is to say about it really.

NWA World Title: AJ Styles vs. Raven vs. Abyss vs. Monty Brown vs. Sean Waltman

The idea here is you have to hang the belt above the ring, sort of like a reverse ladder match. However before you can do that, you have to qualify by getting a fall on someone else. Whoever is pinned/submits goes to the penalty box for two minutes. Waltman dives off the box onto Raven while Styles dives off a ladder onto Brown. Brown shrugs him off and goes inside where he Pounces Raven and pins him to qualify. Raven has to go to the box.

AJ hits a huge dive to take out Waltman and Abyss so it’s Brown/Waltman in the ring. AJ sets for the springboard forearm but Abyss breaks it up. A spinwheel kick puts Abyss down but Brown breaks up the Bronco Buster. Raven is let out ten seconds early for some reason. Alpha Bomb pins Waltman which doesn’t change anything for Brown but Waltman goes to the box. Raven has a table set up at ringside.

AJ dives off the cage to take out Abyss. The camera work is lacking a bit here as we keep missing stuff. Brown hits the Pounce on AJ but Raven pulls him to the floor for the pin to become eligible. Abyss loads up Shock Treatment on Brown but Raven beats them both up with a trashcan. Styles and Waltman are forming an alliance in the box. Waltman is now out and he grabs another trashcan to take Brown down with.

The clock ends for AJ as Abyss hits the Black Hole Slam to pin Brown. AJ and Waltman aren’t eligible yet. As I say that AJ hits the Clash on Raven but Abyss makes the save. Pele puts Abyss down and Waltman cracks the masked man with a chair. No one has used a ladder yet. Waltman puts Abyss on the table and AJ hits Spiral Tap, which is good for a pin for AJ.

Brown is released and here’s the first ladder. Raven throws Brown into the barricade and AJ is going up the ladder. He drops the title, but Waltman hands it to him. Naturally that’s a swerve and Waltman hits the X Factor off the ladder, good for a pin. There’s a table in the corner now too. Raven staples Waltman’s head and Abyss is free. Abyss and Raven both get staples between their legs but Waltman gets taken down as well.

Waltman gets up first and chokes Abyss. Does anyone know where the belt is? Waltman sets up a ladder as Styles is released. They both go up and fight on top of the ladder but Abyss shoves it over. A Pounce puts Abyss through the table but Raven DDTs Brown. He goes up the ladder and Abyss can’t stop him, giving Raven the win and the title.

Rating: B-. This was a fun match but as always with these matches, they’re wild brawls that no one can keep up with. Well ok maybe that’s a stretch but they’re still chaotic. It’s probably a little too complicated but this is TNA’s signature mess and that’s ok for the most part. Raven winning should have won the title a year or so earlier but still, this worked well and he would have a good reign.

Raven poses to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This was a show that was going to be decided by the main event. Since that match was good I’ll give this show the benefit of the doubt. The main problem with this show is that there’s a lot of stuff that didn’t belong on a PPV but they had to fill in the three hours. Not bad though and it worked pretty well over all. Good enough show.

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It’s time for another TNA show but it’s hard to say where things go from here. We had Open Fight Night last week which was nothing special at all in my eyes. The end of the show was Eric Bischoff being covered in human waste and since he’s gone FOREVER, it doesn’t really give any indication of where things are going next. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the end of last week’s show.

Flair is in the ring complaining about Hogan and how Hulk ran Eric Bischoff out of the building. You spell his name R-i-c G-o-d F-l-a-i-r. That’s an awesome line. He calls out Hogan and eventually here’s Hulk. Flair says this is good vs. evil and Hogan is good, while Flair is the “most evil man in the planet.” Flair says he’ll get power back. Hogan says he isn’t here to fight him, but he’s here to step the game up. The real evil one is Eric though because he did everything. Hogan says he hung up his boots when the GM position came open and he’s here to make this the longest running company.

Hogan says he’s Flair’s boss and offers Flair a spot as a judge on the Gut Check stuff. So wait they had a guy come in and compete without having the judges already picked? Flair can teach anyone more than they could ever learn and he’d love Flair to head up the judging. Flair actually says he’ll do it.

Roode and RVD pick each others’ opponents tonight.

Velvet thinks Gail is a cheater. Tessmacher says she never got a shot.

Brooke Tessmacher/Velvet Sky vs. Madison Rayne/Gail Kim

Gail and Velvet start with Brooke being knocked to the floor. The May 31 time slot change is confirmed and there’s going to be a huge surprise on that show. Velvet gets double teamed and it’s Madison in now, humping the mat as usual. Back to Gail who hammers her down for two. A top rope rana is countered and Velvet comes off the middle rope with a bulldog kind of move to set up the tag. The ring gets cleared out and Brooke winds up hitting Eat Defeat on Gail for the pin at 4:45.

Rating: D+. How in the world was this almost five minutes? It felt like it came and went inside of thirty seconds, which doesn’t really surprise me as these matches are usually pretty forgettable. It’s been a very steady and basic build for Brooke vs. Gail and Gail needs to lose the title already anyway. The looks of the four girls are the highlights here again as usual.

Since we’re coming up on the ten year anniversary of the company, we get some clips of the previous ten years, including sabu showing up and costing Raven a title match against Jarrett which was a big deal at the time.

Here’s RVD to face whoever Roode picks for him. RVD says that he’s one of a kind and he’ll win the title from Roode. Cue Roode who says RVD always has his head in the clouds and was on a HIGHatus, and at Sacrifice RVD will be added to the list of everyone that Roode has beaten. Roode says RVD can announce Roode’s opponent first. RVD implies Storm for a bit but it’s Mr. Anderson. Roode picks Jeff Hardy.

TV Title: D-Von vs. Robbie T

This is fallout from Lockdown. Robbie jumps him in the corner and takes over quickly. He slams D-Von down for two but runs into a boot in the corner. D-Von comes back with his usual stuff like shoulders and punches. Swan Dive headbutt gets two. Robbie E is brought in and does nothing so D-Von spears T down. E hits him in the head with The List for the DQ at 2:45.

Snow and Flair meet in the back and the third judge is the Senior Vice President of Talent Relations: Bruce Pritchard (Brother Love).

After a quick recap of Silva’s performance last week, the judges talk with overly dramatic music playing. Pritchard and Flair aren’t thrilled but Snow pleads his case. Flair says he isn’t big enough so Snow suggests the X-Division. Flair still isn’t sold and Pritchard seems to have no idea what side he’s on. We’ll get the decision later I guess. So they sat there talking for four minutes for nothing?

Hogan tells Anderson his match tonight is No DQ and no countout.

Jeff Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam

They fight over a wristlock to start and RVD takes him into a rollup for two. Jeff sends him to the floor and hits a clothesline off the apron which gets two back in. Whisper in the Wind gets two. Van Dam takes out the knee and hits Rolling Thunder for two. Cue Roode with the belt but the referee sees him coming. Jeff gets sent into the ropes and Roode hits him in the back with the belt, allowing Rob to superkick Jeff down for the pin at 3:40.

Rating: D+. Bad match but it’s mainly because of how short the match was. With less than four minutes and a piece of that being spent on the referee yelling at Roode, they can only make it so interesting. Nothing to see here and I really don’t get the ending unless Roode hit Jeff by mistake.

Ray is walking through the back and runs into Joseph Park who says he’ll prove that Ray had something to do with Abyss’ disappearance. Ray shoves him away and threatens Park if he doesn’t back off.

JB says that he did what he did to Bischoff last week because of the last two and a half years of stuff he’s had to put up with. Bully Ray shows up and drags JB to the ring, saying they’ll talk about it out there. Out in the ring, Ray says that he’s tired of this anti-bullying nonsense and goes off on JB (never hitting him) about how JB is the kind of guy that guys like Bully pick on.

Cue Austin Aries who goes off on Ray, saying that Ray has picked on him for his size like everyone else has. Aries says that Ray was fat for most of his career and now he’s in shape and….Ray knocks the mic out of his hand and yells at Aries until Aries blasts him in the head. Aries beats him into the corner and beats him down in the corner. Security comes out to stop Aries and Ray kicks him low to end this.

Kaz and Daniels talk about getting the tag titles until Angle yells at them. They’re in a six man tonight. Angle isn’t thrilled about being their partner.

Roode isn’t worried about facing Mr. Anderson.

Kurt Angle/Christopher Daniels/Kazarian vs. Samoa Joe/Magnus/AJ Styles

AJ has those stupid black gloves again. The champs hit the ring and the brawl is on. Those four head to the floor so it’s AJ vs. Angle in the ring. This certainly works. AJ does the dropdown into a dropkick sequence but Daniels comes in to jump him. Angle doesn’t like it so he shoves Daniels into the corner. Joe comes in and pounds Angle down before tagging Magnus back in.

Kurt takes him down and we hit the chinlock. Magnus fights up and hits a clothesline for the tag to AJ. Styles cleans house and loads up the Clash but Daniels breaks it up with an enziguri. Everything breaks down and Magnus makes a blind tag. Daniels is sent to the floor with Magnus following him. Suicide elbow takes Daniels out. AJ sets for a dive but Angle picks the ankle and hooks the lock but Kaz tags himself in while the hold is on. Joe runs Angle into Daniels and Magnus breaks up Fade to Black, allowing Styles to hit the Clash on Kaz for the pin at 4:30.

Rating: C+. This was the best match on the show by about a mile so far. They were moving out there and while you had a bunch of angles going on in one match it was still entertaining. It’s going to continue Daniels vs. AJ which needs to end forever already but it also continues Styles vs. Angle which is good.

Daniels says next week, AJ needs to reveal the secret or he’ll do it himself.

Time for the Gut Check deal. Snow introduces the three judges (himself, Pritchard and Flair). This is straight out of a reality show as Silva stands there in a spotlight while the guys talk about him. Flair says no, Snow says yes, Pritchard says….something, and Silva gets thirty seconds to talk.

He’s from Quebec so he has a thick accent. This is his dream and he gets cut off with Flair saying to talk to them, not the marks. Silva says that he stands up for himself every single night and that he’s here for his contract. Flair says ok you’re in. Shouldn’t that do it? Pritchard says that sways him so it’s all three now and he gets a contract.

We run down the card for Sacrifice.

Mr. Anderson vs. Bobby Roode

This is No DQ. They start on the floor with Roode in control but Anderson sends him into the post. The Regal Roll puts Bobby down and we take a break. Back with Roode pulling the referee in front of him as a shield and then hitting a low blow to take over. Out to the floor again and Roode knocks Anderson around. Roode gets a chair and slides it in where it gets wedged between the top and middle rope.

Since this is a wrestling match, Anderson sends Roode into it instead. Anderson makes the comeback and hits the high kick for two. Mic Check is broken up and Anderson charges into a boot. Roode counters another Regal Roll into a spinebuster for two. Here’s Hardy out of nowhere to beat up Roode but as he goes to get Anderson up he takes the Mic Check. There’s another Sacrifice match I guess. Roode hits Anderson with the chair and this the fisherman’s for the pin at 11:10, a lot of which was in a commercial.

Rating: C. Not bad here but it was more to set up Anderson vs. Hardy than to do anything about Van Dam vs. Roode. At least it broke ten minutes which helps a bit but the match was nothing great at all. Roode needs time to make his matches better and since he didn’t have that here, the match suffered.

Roode lays them both out with the chair until Van Dam comes in for the save. Roode leaves but comes back to beat down RVD, hitting a DDT onto the chair to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. This one missed for me. It wasn’t that the show was bad but much more that it was boring. I didn’t like the Silva stuff for the most part and that was pretty much the main focus of the show. There was less Hogan tonight which helped and while it wasn’t annoying like last week, I just kept wanting the show to move along. The really short matches other than the main event didn’t help things either. Not a horrible show but it didn’t work that well for me.

Results
Brooke Tessmacher/Velvet Sky b. Gail Kim/Madison Rayne – Eat Defeat to Kim
D-Von b. Robbie T via DQ when Robbie E interfered
Rob Van Dam b. Jeff hardy – Superkick
AJ Styles/Samoa Joe/Magnus b. Christopher Daniels/Kazarian/Kurt Angle – Styles Clash to Kazarian
Bobby Roode b. Mr. Anderson – Fisherman’s Suplex

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