Makes sense……BROTHER.Nah just messing with you.  It’s Kurt Angle.

Why on earth TNA would use one of their four PPVs a year as a filler show is beyond me, but that’s exactly what we’re getting here.  Let’s get to it.The main story here is of course Sting vs. Bully Ray as part of the now year long feud between TNA and Aces and 8’s.  The fact that this story lost its legs months ago means nothing to TNA, so the bonus feature is is that it’s Ray’s title against Sting being able to challenge for the title ever again if he loses, as well as the match being no holds barred.  That alone should tell you everything you need to know about the ending.  That being said, this is TNA, meaning they might put the title on Sting as a swerve.  I’m going to say it’s Ray retaining, possibly with Brooke screwing Sting over “for love”, as all signs seem to point to Hulk vs. Ray at BFG.

One of the other big matches on the show is the fourway for the tag titles with Chavo/Hernandez defending against Bad Influence, Bobby Roode/Austin Aries and the new team of Gunner/James Storm.  Adding Storm and Gunner brings some fresh blood into the mix, but the story still isn’t all that interesting.  Either way, they NEED to get the titles off Chavo and Hernandez, as they’re just not interesting at all.  Aside from Storm and Gunner, these same six guys have been feuding for what feels like ever and the story is very old already.  Let these guys fight different people over something a bit more important for a change.  As for the winners, I’ll go with Storm and Gunner, which is a shame as Storm could do so much more (once he’s healthy that is).

In Styles vs. AJ, I think it goes to Styles.  Angle doesn’t need the win and what good is AJ if he loses his first big match back from his pouting?  The Storm match he won was somewhat big but facing Angle on PPV is a bigger deal.  Anyway, I’ll go with Styles for the win here in what should be the match of the night.

Jeff Hardy is back in the six man tag with Joe/Magnus vs. Bischoff/Brisco/Anderson (Anderson is replacing Doc to give Aces and 8’s something resembling a chance).  There’s no reason at all for Aces and 8’s to win here and I can’t imagine they will, as Hardy needs to start getting revenge on Aces and 8’s and there’s no better place to start than here in a meaningless six man.  TNA wins, as they should.

I’ll take Park to win the TV Title, although it’s not like it really matters as he won’t defend the stupid thing.  I don’t get why TNA does this with so many TV Champions.  Joe defended it quite often and it made the belt seem valuable for a little while.  Anyway, Park wins, which will at least remind people that the belt exists.

Then there’s the X-Division Title match in an Ultimate X match with Kenny King defending against Chris Sabin and Suicide.  This is where the X-Division rules get on my nerves.  Sabin and King have a feud going, but we have to add Suicide to it to fulfill some requirement.  Suicide adds nothing to the match at all and is there just to fill in a spot.  I mean, was anyone begging for Suicide to come back?  The match would be fine as Sabin vs. King with Sabin being able to show that he isn’t frail and can still hang with anyone in the world.  Sabin should win the title and I think he will, although watch out for a surprise Suicide win.

Last Knockout standing between Gail Kim and Taryn Terrell: it makes sense for Taryn to win and set up the showdown with Mickie at BFG for the title so we’ll go with stupidity and logic by saying Taryn wins, but it’s really hard to care about this match for me.  I will however give them this: they’re doing a better job with building stories in the Knockouts division as it’s clear how we got here and it doesn’t feel like something we’ve seen a dozen times before.

Finally we have Sam Shaw vs. Jay Bradley in the BFG Gut Check Tournament final.  I’ll go with Bradley as he’s a better prospect and leave it at that, as this is just a match to determine who gets to be the jobber in the tournament while geting a single fluke win.

Overall Slammiversary should be ok as a show, but the buildup to it has done nothing for me.  The show feels like a filler PPV, which makes no sense for TNA given that they only have four shows a year.  Sting vs. Ray with Sting’s future title chances on the line again make it about Sting and not the title/champion, which is the way of life in TNA.  The whole Aces and 8’s story has taken so long to go anywhere (it began the show after last year’s Slammiversary) that it’s really hard to care at this point.  At the end of the day, it’s Sting/Hogan vs. the Dudley Boys and Anderson.  Other than that, there isn’t anyone in Aces and 8’s worth a thing and they’re fighting two of the biggest names ever.  TNA is rather dull right now because it takes forever to get anywhere with this lack of PPV, and now they use one on a Sting story.

Also I’ll take Jarrett or Angle for the Hall of Fame.

Impact Wrestling
Date: May 30, 2013
Location: USF SunDome, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz, Todd Keneley

We’re finally at the go home show for Slammiversary but there are actually a few things to get through tonight. We have a six man tag between Sting and Joseph Park partners vs. Aces and 8’s, as well as finding out which “big” free agent TNA has signed. The problem with that is Dixie Carter has called many people a big signing over the years so it’s hard to take her at her word anymore. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of last week’s show with Bully saying he still loves Brooke and Styles still being neutral.

Bully is with Aces and 8’s, saying tonight is about AJ Styles. Ray leaves and Anderson lays out D’Lo Brown for not being angry enough I guess.

Here are the former Dudley Boys to open things up. On Sunday it’s Sting vs. Ray and Joseph Park vs. D-Von for the respective titles. Sting wanted no holds barred and that’s exactly what he got. Ray talks about the legends that Sting has beaten, such as Flair, Hogan and Angle. Oh and Sting beat Jeff Hardy but Ray has too. The difference is Ray took Hardy out of action like he’ll do to Sting at Slammiversary. However, Ray wants the tag match NOW.

Bully Ray/D-Von vs. Joseph Park/Sting

It’s a big brawl to start with Sting ramming D-Von into whatever metal objects he can find. The brawling on the floor continues for about two minutes with nothing of note happening. Ray rams Joseph’s hand into the steps before climbing into the ring. Sting looks up at him and the in ring part of the match finally begins. They throw a few punches and it’s a double clothesline to put both guys down as we go to a break.

Back with D-Von working over Park until Joseph gets in a shot and goes up. Ray crotches him to stop any momentum before coming in and dropping an elbow for two. Off to D-Von for some Hogan posing as Park lays on the mat. Back to D-Von for a jumping back elbow before Ray comes in for a pretty awesome looking dropkick. Park finally gets over for a tag and Sting starts cleaning house.

Sting loads up the Scorpion on D-Von and Park tries one on Ray, only to be kicked into Sting to break the hold. Sting takes both guys down clotheslines but misses a Stinger Splash in the corner. The reverse 3D takes Sting down and the bikers load up What’s Up, but Abyss’ music hits. The distraction lets Sting hit the Scorpion Death Drop on D-Von for the pin at 13:28.

Rating: D+. This didn’t do anything for me for the most part. I do like the idea of putting two feuds into one match though as it’s a great way to free up space for later in the night. However, the match didn’t work when neither feud is anything interesting at all, which is the case here. You can barely even say that Park and D-Von are feuding as they’ve only been interacting for a few weeks. Sting vs. Ray is the filler main event of the year, which is a bad idea when you only have four PPVs a year. Not terrible here but very pedestrian.

Kurt Angle will be watching AJ’s match very carefully.

Dixie Carter comes out to say that we’ll induct a new member into the Hall of Fame on Sunday. The fans will all be cheering for Sting in the title match….but here are Aces and 8’s to disagree. Garrett says that Sunday is going to be more like a funeral but here are Joe and Magnus for the save. Joe doesn’t know who gave Garrett a chance to speak, but instead of talking let’s fight right now.

Samoa Joe vs. Garrett Bischoff

Joe pounds away and hits the corner enziguri as we go to a break. Back with Joe being tripped up by Doc, drawing in Magnus for the save…..and the DQ when Garrett goes to the floor to beat him down. The bell rang at about 5:40 but about four minutes of that was in a commercial.

Post match Joe says that it’s a six man on Sunday with Jeff Hardy making his return.

Storm says he picked Gunner because he’s a beast who has killed people for our country.

Hulk yells at Brooke about being suckered in by what Bully said. Hulk: “When he looks at you like that, it’s permission to rape your life.” Apparently Hogan is betting everything he has on Sting on Sunday, pretty much guaranteeing Sting loses.

Austin Aries/Bobby Roode/Bad Influence vs. James Storm/Gunner/Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez

Gunner and Daniels start things off with Gunner running him over with a back elbow. A backdrop puts Daniels on the floor where Kaz has a quick consultation. Back in and it’s off to Aries who is rather tentative to face Gunner. He’s so worried about it that he tags in Bobby before making any contact. All of Roode’s partners are on the floor so he has to do this on his own, which include charging into a boot to the face before it’s off to Chavo.

Hernandez gets the tag maybe ten seconds later to hit a splash before bringing Chavo right back in. Chavo hits Three Amigos but is sent to the floor very quickly to give the heels their first control. Aries comes in with a slingshot splash to Chavo before it’s off to Kaz for a chinlock. Daniels misses a splash in the corner though, allowing for the hot tag to Hernandez.

All of the heel team tries their luck with SuperMex but he runs them all down, only to have Kaz break up the Border Toss. Aries hits a sweet running dropkick in the corner to slow Hernandez down but Austin is suplexed down to counter the brainbuster. Gunner tags himself in and no sells a discus lariat before putting Aries in the Torture Rack for the submission from Aries at 9:30.

Rating: C-. If they don’t change the titles on Sunday, just retire the things already. There’s nothing interesting about this never ending feud and it’s been boring for months. Adding Gunner and Storm to the thing just makes it more cluttered and keeps Storm from ascending up the ladder even longer. The match was ok but there’s nothing interesting here, which is the tagline for this whole feud.

AJ Styles arrives, causing Bully to go into a massive speech to the Aces. He has a job for Knux and declares war on Impact Wrestling. If there aren’t victims, any member of the team could end up like D’Lo.

Bound For Glory is in San Diego.

Here’s Mickie James to celebrate her title win. She brags about winning and thanks her fans for standing by her, but there are some people doubting the way she won the title. Mickie calls out Velvet to clear the air because they’re friends. Mickie talks about how tough Velvet is and how much she loves her for giving Mickie the shot when she wasn’t 100%. Velvet wants her rematch which Mickie is cool with, but Velvet wants the match at Slammiversary. Mickie says no because there’s already a Knockouts match at Slammiversary.

This brings out Gail to yell at Mickie, claiming that Mickie wouldn’t have won the title without Gail hurting Velvet’s knee weeks ago. Gail has been hurting anyone in her path lately because of how frustrated she’s been. She says she gets the first shot but Velvet gets in her face and says no. Gail goes after the bad leg but Taryn makes the save as Mickie stands around.

Kenny King/Gail Kim vs. Taryn Terrell/Chris Sabin

Taryn goes nuts on Gail to start and hits a quick neckbreaker to take her down. A high cross body takes Gail down for two before it’s off to the guys. Sabin takes King down and cranks on the arm, only to be clotheslined in the back of the head to give the X Champion (King) control. King misses a slingshot legdrop and gets caught in a spinning DDT for two but everything breaks down. Taryn spears Gail down and Sabin hits whatever his driver is called for the pin on King at 5:00.

Post match Sabin says he’ll win on Sunday but King lays him out. Suicide comes in to clear out both guys and hold up the belt.

Sting talks about all of his title wins over the years.

We run down the Slammiversary card.

Mr. Anderson vs. AJ Styles

Anderson jumps AJ as he comes into the ring but AJ fires off some right hands to come back. Mr. runs him over but gets tripped down and hit with a quick suplex for one. AJ snaps Anderson’s neck on the top rope but keeps looking around for the bikers to run in. Anderson is sent to the floor for a baseball slide as we take a break. Back with AJ not being able to suplex Anderson back in so we head to the floor with AJ being sent into various objects.

Back in and Anderson takes it to the mat with a body scissors and arm lock. AJ fights up and takes Anderson down to shift momentum again. A knee drop gets two but Anderson comes back with the fireman’s carry roll for two. AJ loads up a superplex in the corner but here’s Kurt Angle for the DQ at 13:58.

Rating: C. This was fine but it was too late to save this show. I do like that AJ is wrestling while in this Sting from 1997 period as it keeps him fresh and crisp in the ring. The ending makes sense, but it doesn’t do much for the rest of the show. At the end of the day, it would be ok to have Anderson lose here. Not much of a match but not terrible.

Post match here are the bikers and all of their opponents on Sunday other than Jeff Hardy. Everyone but Sting and Ray clear out and the champ is put in the Scorpion, only to have D-Von make the save and hit 3D on Sting to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. If you don’t like Aces and 8’s, do not watch this show. Literally over half of the TV time this week was dedicated to that single storyline, making for a very tiring episode. The ONLY other stories going on are the three other title matches and none of them have what I would call a strong buildup. This show has become so hard to sit through as the Aces and 8’s story continues to drag on and on. Slammiversary looks good on paper, but the main event feels like nothing but filler, which is very stupid with just four PPVs a year. This show built up the PPV well enough, but man alive stay clear if you don’t like Aces and 8’s.

Results

Sting/Joseph Park b. D-Von/Bully Ray – Scorpion Death Drop to D-Von

Samoa Joe vs. Garrett Bischoff went to a no contest

Chavo Guerrero/Hernandez/Gunner/James Storm b. Bad Influence/Bobby Roode/Austin Aries – Torture Rack to Aries

AJ Styles b. Mr. Anderson via DQ when Kurt Angle interfered

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

And I mean that in a good way.I just finished watching Starrcade 1999 and my freaking goodness it was a mess.  There were thirteen matches on a two and a half hour show, meaning that only three matches broke 8 minutes.  There were stupid angles, there were gimmick matches all over the place, and the ending was a Montreal Screwjob.

People that say TNA is the same as WCW was in its dying days have no idea what they’re talking about.  TNA still makes (mostly) coherent sense and has some spots of awesome mixed in with all the Hogan and Sting dullness.  Right now, TNA isn’t that interesting, but it’s certainly not horrendous.  There’s a very big difference between the two and it’s something people often forget about.

I saw someone mention this and it makes a lot of sense.It’s clear that TNA is doing the Sting from 1997 storyline with AJ.  That would be fine but the motivation doesn’t work.  Sting had been WCW’s flagship for years and then they decided they didn’t trust him when the NWO lied about him.  AJ is like this because he lost a match to Christopher Daniels.  Yeah there was all the stuff before that with Claire, but once AJ was exonerated of that he was fine.

In other words, AJ is just whining and we’re supposed to be all upset because he can’t get over a loss to a guy he’s fought (and lost to before) like a thousand times?  That’s kind of hard to buy into.

Impact Wrestling
Date: May 23, 2013
Location; USF SunDome, Tampa, Florida|
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Tazz

We’re in Hogan’s hometown tonight with another live episode. The main stories tonight are Aces and 8’s patching in AJ Styles and potentially finding out who James Storm’s partner will be in the four way tag. That match is up in the air though as Storm has an abdominal injury and is supposed to be out of action for several weeks. Granted in a tag match he can stand on the apron and do little more. Let’s get to it.

We open with a graphic wishing condolences to those affected by the storm in Oklahoma, as well as a number donate to the Red Cross. In case you’re interested, the number is 90999. Text REDCROSS to that number and a $10 charge will appear on your phone bill.

We recap the events of last week with Sting agreeing to put any future title shots on the line as well as Joseph Park earning a future TV Title shot.

Here’s Hogan to open the show. He immediately plugs his beach shop and says that he was drinking with Shark Boy last night. That’s a random name drop. He also has his TNA family here but a member of the team is going to join Aces and 8’s. If that’s what AJ wants to do then so be it, because Hogan has someone who is always going to be loyal to him, which brings Sting out to the ring.

Sting says he doesn’t want Hogan to change anything about the title match at Slammiversary because he needs to take Bully’s power from him. Sting flubs his lines a bit and eventually says that he wants to take Ray’s pride from him. Hogan again offers to take the stipulation away, but here’s Brooke Hogan because we haven’t seen her in the ring lately.

She talks about driving wedges between everyone and says she was the catalyst for everything going up in smoke. Brook says she has to take responsibility and is so proud of the Knockouts, so she’s going to resign as the head of the Knockouts division. Hulk says no but before we can get a rebuttal, here’s Ray for more talking.

Ray says it’s none of their faults, but rather his own fault for Hulk not knowing how to run the company. It’s Ray’s fault for stabbing the Hogans in the back and turning everything upside down. However, there’s one person in the ring that Ray does blame and that’s Brooke. He loves Brooke very much and will never take his ring off….and that’s it.

Suicide is back next.

Suicide vs. Petey Williams vs. Joey Ryan

Kenny King is on commentary as I believe the winner of this joins Sabin and King in the Ultimate X Title match at Slammiversary. Suicide hooks a quick Black Widow on Petey but gets sent to the floor by Ryan. Joey hooks a quick suplex on Petey but stops to rub oil on his chest. Suicide hooks a sweet hurricanrana off the top to take him down before putting Joey in an Indian Deathlock and an abdominal stretch on Petey at the same time.

Petey gets out and tries the Destroyer, only to have Suicide backdrop out of it and send Joey to the floor as well. A flip dive takes both non masked men down but Joey takes Suicide down back in the ring. A boot to the face from Joey breaks up the Destroyer again but Suicide takes him down with a kick to the head. Suicide picks up Ryan like a tiger suplex but pushes him forward and hits a Codebreaker to the chest for the pin on Ryan at 4:03.

Rating: C. Was anyone begging for Suicide to be back? He wasn’t really anything significant back in the day but now he’s big enough to get video packages about his return? Suicide looked fine out there but at the end of the day, there’s already a story between Sabin and King so why do we need to see Suicide thrown in?

Chris Sabin offers to be Storm’s partner but James thankfully declines. Apparently the X Champion can still cash in the title for a world title shot.

Brooke comes up to Bully in the back so he can say he still loves her.

Velvet and Mickie are in the back and Velvet’s knee is still hurt. Mickie offers to postpone their match but Velvet says no because they’re best friends or some jazz like that.

Bound For Glory Series Qualifying Tournament Semi-Finals: Sam Shaw vs. Alex Silva

The winner of this faces Jay Bradley at Slammiversary for the spot in the Series. Before Silva comes to the ring though, here are Aces and 8’s to say that Shaw has advanced. Wes Brisco says that he’s taken Silva out in the parking lot because he should be in the tournament instead. Shaw gets beaten down by Doc, Brisco and Bischoff, meaning no match of course. Magnus comes out and runs off all three guys, who of course are afriad of one guy they’ve beaten down time after time.

Magnus says that Shaw is his friend from wrestling camp so this is personal. Apparently it’s Magnus vs. Brisco right now.

Wes Brisco vs. Magnus

Magnus hits a quick gutwrench suplex and pounds away, sending Brisco to the floor as we take a break. Back with Brisco ramming Magnus into some buckles and putting on a quick chinlock. A forearm to the back keeps Magnus down and Brisco pounds away in the corner. Magnus fights up again but the Aces and 8’s come in for the DQ at 7:56.

Rating: D. What was the point of that? We hear a lot of talk about how Magnus is the future of TNA and all that jazz, so make sure to have him only win via DQ against Wes Brisco? This didn’t accomplish anything and was a waste of time on top of that. I like Magnus but for the life of me I don’t get how they’re booking him. The Aces and 8’s booking is looking more and more like the NWO every day.

Samoa Joe returns to make the save for Magnus.

There will be another inductee into the Hall of Fame at Slammiversary.

Ray congratulates the bikers on helping Wes out there. AJ will be here later.

We look at Kurt Angle in New York in an attempt to save Olympic wrestling. There was an international exhibition at Grand Central Station.

Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson

Before the bell, we see AJ arriving in the back on a motorcycle. Feeling out process to start with Angle taking Anderson down and kicking him in the head. Anderson is stomped down into the corner before Angle suplexes him down for two. Kurt speeds things up but misses a charge into the corner, slamming his shoulder into the post. Anderson goes after the arm with a hammerlock and a slam out of said hammerlock for two. Off to an armbar but Kurt fights out of it with an armdrag and a middle rope dropkick.

Kurt can’t immediately follow up because of the arm, but he manages to snap off a belly to belly for two. The Angle Slam is countered into a fireman’s carry roll for two by Anderson, but Kurt comes back with the rolling Germans. Anderson pops up with a Mic Check for two, but he takes WAY too long on the top, allowing Angle to run the ropes and belly to belly him down. Before Angle can finish him off though, here’s AJ at ringside. He hugs Tazz, allowing Anderson to hit Angle low for the pin at 8:38.

Rating: C+. As usual these two have good chemistry together, but the story here was about Angle and Styles rather than the match at hand. That’s all fine and good, but my gut says this isn’t as easy as having AJ join the bikers that fast. It all seems too simple, especially for a company that LOVES swerves like TNA. Good match though and Angle vs. AJ will be the same.

Gail Kim says she should be getting the title shot tonight, not Mickie James. Taryn comes in and destroys her.

Video on James Storm being such a great tag team wrestler. We also talk about Storm being put in the four way tag title match at Slammiversary.

Here’s Storm to make his announcement with and Hernandez on commentary. Storm talks about how awesome tag wrestling is but here are Roode and Aries to interrupt. Roode talks about how he carried Storm and then beat him for the world title. Before Storm can announce again, here’s Bad Influence with another interruption. Kaz and Daniels say it doesn’t make a difference who Storm picks so Storm says shut up so he can talk.

Cue Shark Boy of all people to say that he’s here because Storm needs a partner. They both like fishing, drinking beer and kicking some bass. Before Storm can say anything, here’s Robbie E to say he can make Storm a champion at Slammiversary. He even has tag names for them: Beer Bro, America’s Most Bro or Gym Tan Beer Bro. Shark Boy and Robbie argue until Gunner returns and lays out both guys with a Rock Bottom backbreaker to Sharky and a torture rack to Robbie. Storm shakes Gunner’s hand and says he’ll see him at Slammiversary.

Joseph Park is worried about getting a strap at Slammiversary but Sting says it’s ok. With that out of the way, Park talks about Sting beating Bully Ray. Apparently next week it’s Sting/a partner of his choice vs. Team 3D. Sting wants Park to talk to Abyss about being the partner but Park can’t do it for some reason. Sting says justice has to be served and that’s enough to inspire Park to get his brother to help.

We run down the Slammiversary card.

Knockouts Title: Mickie James vs. Velvet Sky

Velvet is defending and has a bad knee coming in. Mickie takes it down to the mat to start and cranks on the arm, only to have Velvet hit a fast dropkick for two. They slug it out until Mickie hits something like a swinging Bubba Bomb before hooking a full nelson as we take a break. Back with Velvet down and being put in a chinlock, only to fight up with an armdrag. Velvet fires off some clotheslines but her knee is giving out again. A headscissors gets the champion nowhere and I think they screw up a sequence setting up a Russian legsweep.

The second attempt works a bit better but Velvet is sent into the corner for a kick to the ribs. Now the headscissors works for Sky but her knee gives out after Mickie is down. A hard chop block takes Velvet down and Mickie has that evil look on her face for the first time in way too long. The MickieDT is enough for the pin and the title at 8:47.

Rating: D+. Mickie and Velvet both looked GREAT out there in their outfits, but the match was so sloppy that it was dragging things down. Velvet continues to look just a step above lost in the ring and Mickie can only do so much with her. Mickie seemingly turning heel here is a good thing though as she can play the psycho villain very well. The match wasn’t much though.

Video on AJ Styles turning his back on TNA.

Aces and 8’s drink a toast to Mr. Anderson and AJ Styles.

Here are the bikers to patch in AJ. Ray talks about D’Lo dropping the ball but praises Anderson for stepping up. This brings out AJ so Ray can suck up to him a bit. They give AJ his first beer and amazingly enough Styles drinks it down. Didn’t he drink with Storm before? Cue Angle to whine about AJ selling out but Styles puts on his cut. Angle charges in like an idiot and gets beaten down as Ray hands AJ a hammer. Styles hits Angle in the knee with said hammer, only to hit the rest of the bikers with it as well. AJ bails to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. Not the worst show in the world but there wasn’t much in the way in in ring action. A lot off the segments, mainly the tag team stuff, went on WAY too long. The ending was what it was but it’s going to be part of a much longer story of course, as it always is in TNA. This was better than last week’s show but that’s not saying much.

Results

Suicide b. Joey Ryan and Petey Williams – Gutbuster to Ryan

Magnus b. Wes Brisco via DQ when Aces and 8’s interfered

Mr. Anderson b. Kurt Angle – Low Blow

Mickie James b. Velvet Sky – MickieDT

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my book on the History of the WWE Championship from Amazon for just $5 at:

Due to an abdominal injury, according to his Twitter.

You know, it’s almost like TNA knew this was a possibility and booked him into a tag title match anyway.  Now some people would call that short sighted and stupid.  I’m sure the response to that would be “give TNA more time” or “WWE does stupid stuff too!”

To be fair though it’s not like TNA is doing anything of note with Storm anyway.

Impact Wrestling
Date: May 16, 2013
Location: BancorpSouth Arena, Tupelo, Mississippi
Commentators: Todd Keneley, Tazz, Mike Tenay

We’re still in Mississippi tonight and the majority of the show is likely going to be dealing with the return of Abyss. The monster returned last week and cleaned house of Aces and 8’s, meaning that tonight Abyss is likely going to be the new hope for TNA in their lackluster war with the bikers. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Abyss returning last week.

Here’s Hogan to open things up. He says that the fans are crazy here in Tupelo but now wants to talk about AJ Styles. If AJ wants to run from Angle and Sting like he did last week, go ahead and join Aces and 8’s brother. It’s Angle vs. Styles at the PPV and the contract signing for Sting vs. Ray is tonight. Right now though, Hogan wants to talk to Abyss. Abyss has new music….but here’s Joseph Park instead.

Park talks about sitting on his couch last week and being amazed that Abyss was back. Hogan says that he needs to talk to Abyss right now and if anyone knows where he is, it’s Park. Instead though here are D-Von and D’Lo to interrupt the festivities. D-Von says that Abyss is meddling in club business and that he wasn’t even the legal man for the pin last week.

Park wants to know who D-Von thinks who he is because Aces and 8’s are starting to tick him off. He challenges D-Von to a match right now but Brown offers to fight Park instead. Hogan says it’s on and D-Von says that he’s coming for Abyss. Also if Park wins, he gets a match with D-Von in the future.

James Storm says just watch what he does tonight about what happened in the tag match last week.

Christian York talks about wanting to get into the Bound For Glory Series.

Bobby Roode vs. Chavo Guerrero

Chavo hipblocks out of an armbar to start before hiptossing him down again. Off to a quick headlock as Roode is getting frustrated early. A headscissors puts Roode on the floor but he pulls Chavo face first into the apron to take over. Back in and Roode chokes away before hitting a Hennig neck snap for no cover. Another headscissors sends Roode staggering and it’s off to Three Amigos. Roode pops up and crotches Chavo to break up the frog splash as James Storm comes to the ring and spits beer in Roode’s face for the DQ at 3:32.

Rating: C-. This didn’t have time to go anywhere but dear goodness are we really doing Storm vs. Roode again? Is there nothing new for Storm to do at all? These two had their definitive blowoff match year but since TNA’s writers can’t bring Storm up for some reason, let’s just do the same (good) feud all over again.

We look at Angle telling Styles that he’s either with TNA or against them, leading to a brawl between the two of them.

Here’s Angle with something to say. He says that he never backs down from a fight, and last week he took the fight to AJ. At Slammiversary, they’re going to face each other one more time, but Angle doesn’t want to wait until then. Instead of AJ though, here’s Anderson of Aces and 8’s. Anderson says Angle sounds like a woman because AJ isn’t Kurt’s boy. Next Thursday everyone is going to witness AJ being patched into the club. Angle decks Anderson but here’s AJ. Anderson bails and Styles slides in, only to get caught in a staredown with Angle. Kurt runs his mouth and gets caught by an enziguri to lay him down.

Jay Bradley talks about what wrestling means to him.

Bound For Glory Series Tournament Semi-Finals: Christian York vs. Jay Bradley

The tournament will conclude at Slammiversary with the winner going on to the BFG Series. They shove each other around to start with Bradley taking over via a right hand and a big boot to the face. Off to a quick chinlock on York but Christian rolls away from Bradley’s Boom Stick lariat. A headscissors puts Bradley face first intot he middle buckle, allowing York to hit his rolling cannonball into the corner. The Mood Swing neckbreaker is escaped as well and they slug it out. Bradley puts him on top, only to avoid a top rope ax handle. The Boom Stick ends York at 3:57.

Rating: C-. Again not much to see here as neither guy is really a name in TNA. York has been around for awhile in TNA and has done nothing at all of note. Why I’m supposed to be impressed by Bradley beating him I’m not sure, but at least Bradley looked pretty good out there. He won’t win the world title or anything, but he wasn’t bad at all.

Bradley says he’s a step closer to the world title.

Storm apparently was reprimanded for what he did but he’s not done tonight.

Anderson is excited about patching AJ in next week. Brown has to win tonight or he’s off the team.

Velvet Sky vs. Gail Kim

Non-title match here and Velvet is wearing a different outfit than she was shown wearing on her way to the ring. Velvet stomps away to start and hits a headscissors but gets caught with a shot to her bad knee. Gail stays on the knee with kicks to the back of the leg and bending it around the ropes. Off to a half Texas Cloverleaf half Sharpshooter by Gail but Velvet makes the rope.

Gail bends Velvet’s knee around her neck but again Sky gets to the ropes. Kim goes up top, only to be slammed off the top. Velvet, ever the smart one, fires off some kicks with the bad leg and injures herself again. Gail goes for the Figure Four around the post but Velvet kicks her into the corner and gets a quick rollup for the pin at 6:17.

Rating: D+. Gail was trying but no one can carry Velvet to a good match at this point. The leg stuff is better than no story at all, but at the end of the day we’ve seen these same five or so girls having the same matches for years now and it’s really hard to care at all. Taryn helps a bit but 90% of her appeal is how she looks in those shorts. The whole division is pretty worthless at this point and it’s not getting any better.

Petey Williams, Kenny King and Chris Sabin all talk trash about the X Title match tonight.

X-Division Title: Petey Williams vs. Kenny King vs. Chris Sabin

King is defending, Sabin is back from an injury and Williams is here because of the stupid three way X-Division Title rules. King bails to the floor to start but after Sabin is taken down, Petey is pulled to the floor by the champion. Sabin vs. King in the ring now with Chris firing off some hard chops to take over. A kick to Sabin’s face takes him right back down though and here’s Petey again with his slingshot Codebreaker for no cover.

Williams kicks Sabin to the floor, allowing King to get back up and take over on Petey. We hit a chinlock for a bit until Sabin comes back in and fires off forearms and a belly to back suplex for two on the champ. Back to Petey in control now with the Russian legsweep and a lifting downward spiral for two each on King.

Everyone is back in now but Sabin can’t hit a tornado DDT on King. A spinwheel kick gets two on Petey but Sabin puts King in the Tree of Woe. Sabin hits a Death Valley Driver on Petey into King followed by a running kick to Petey’s jaw. King comes back with a running knee to Sabin and the Royal Flush on Petey retains the title at 7:16.

Rating: C. Next. Seriously, get the next segment on now. There was nothing here that we haven’t seen before as these title matches are now all one in the same. Petey had no purpose being here other than he won some qualifying match months ago. Now he’s out and we’ll get Sabin vs. King vs. some other guy that doesn’t need to be there because of this stupid one size fits all idea for the X-Division. Nothing of note here at all.

Bad Influence talks strategy for Daniels vs. Hernandez tonight.

Anderson says he stopped Ray from hitting Brown in the head last week to save the club. Apparently Brown buried Bischoff and Brisco and he’s sorry.

Christopher Daniels vs. Hernandez

Daniels goes straight for SuperMex in the corner and pounds away, only to completely fail at a suplex attempt. Hernandez hits the delayed vertical suplex and the over the shoulder backbreaker for good measure. The big man walks down the ramp for his big jumping shoulder over the ropes to take Daniels down.

Kaz finally interferes to give Daniels control and a neckbreaker gets two on Hernandez. SuperMex comes right back with a slingshot shoulder and some clotheslines to take over again but a charge misses Daniels in the corner. Daniels loads up Angel’s Wings but here’s Storm again. The distraction lets Hernandez run Daniels over with a shoulder block for the pin at 4:30.

Rating: C-. Yet ANOTHER just ok match here which sets up stuff that we’ve seen before. The same three teams plus Storm and a mystery partner does nothing at all for the division as whoever wins will be defending against the same teams over and over again. Storm is continued to be wasted in these meaningless feuds and it’s a shame to see after he got so hot in 2011.

Joseph Park vs. D’Lo Brown

Great, I’ve sat through all that to get a D’LO BROWN match. Brown slams Park down to start but Park comes back with some rights and lefts. D’Lo comes back with more shots of his own followed by a leg lariat in the corner. A clothesline has Park in trouble and Brown pounds away in the corner, drawing blood from Park’s head. It’s time for Park to snap again and some clothesline set up the Black Hole Slam for the pin at 4:42.

Rating: D. Why on earth is D’Lo Brown getting this spot in 2013? Thankfully it looks like he isn’t long for the club and I can’t say I’m complaining at all. He adds nothing at all to the team and is nothing more than a distraction at this point. Park snapping is becoming a trend for him and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This whole dual personalities thing could be interesting.

Here’s Ray for the contract signing. He shoves JB over and is already talking trash about beating Jeff Hardy and about how he’s going to beat Sting at Slammiversary. Ray knows that Sting has some stipulations for the title match so get out here right now and tell them. Sting comes out but Ray wants to see Sting’s life partner too, so here’s Hulk. Ray talks about screwing over Sting, Hulk and especially Brooke. This is the first time he and Sting have been face to face since Bully screwed Sting over.

Sting doesn’t care about what Ray did to him in the past. In Boston though, Ray should break Sting’s arm, rip his kneecap off, gouge his eyes out and make Sting bleed. Ray wants to know why Sting would say to do all those things. Sting says if Ray doesn’t do those things to him, he’ll do them to Ray. He doesn’t care if it’s in the parking lot, the ring, or the concession stand, because Sting wants it to be no holds barred. Ray says ok, but only if Sting agrees to never challenge for the world title again if he loses. Sting accepts and they brawl to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This did next to nothing for me at all. The stuff at the beginning and end of the show were well focused but EVERYTHING in between there feels like warmed over stuff. We’ve got the same match happening over and over for the X title, the same match with the same girls we’ve seen for years in the Knockouts division and the same feuds we’ve seen for months if not years in the tag team scene. That’s TNA’s major issue: they have NO focus on anything but the Aces and 8’s stuff and it’s clear there’s no effort put into anything but that one story. When that one story is dull like the bikers, that’s a big problem.

Results

Bobby Roode b. Chavo Guerrero via DQ when James Storm interfered

Jay Bradley b. Christian York – Boom Stick

Velvet Sky b. Gail Kim – Rollup

Kenny King b. Chris Sabin and Petey Williams – Royal Flush to Williams

Hernandez b. Christopher Daniels – Running shoulder block

Joseph Park b. D’Lo Brown – Black Hole Slam

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my book on the History of the WWE Championship from Amazon for just $5 at:

Hard Justice 2005
Date: May 15, 2005
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 775
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

Final PPV in this three show set as we have AJ in the main event as he should have been most of this year. We also have a celebrity guest referee for that main event in the form of MMA legend Tito Ortiz. I can live with celebrities if they’re, you know, actual celebrities. Also on this card we have a twenty man Gauntlet For The Gold for the #1 contendership which should be dull. Let’s get to it.

We open the show with a ten bell salute to Chris Candido who died following a freak accent at the previous PPV. He broke his leg and somehow it messed up the blood flow. I don’t remember it exactly.

The opening video is about how war is human nature.

Team Canada vs. Apollo/Sonny Siaki

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

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

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

Ortiz, AJ and Jarrett all arrived earlier today.

Matt Bentley/Trinity vs. Chris Sabin/Traci

Tenay calls a mixed tag a very unique match in professional wrestling. Has he never watched Wrestlemania 6? These are two rivalries that were joined into one match. Michael Shane has changed his name back to Matt Bentley again too. The genders can mix here but we start with the girls. Trinity slaps her and it’s time for a chase scene. I think Traci is on the good guys’ team but I really don’t know.

They exchange small packages for about 15 seconds until Traci gets the advantage. Monkey flip puts Trinity down for two. Off to the guys even though I don’t think Sabin was tagged in. Cradle Shock is countered as is Bentley’s superkick. Trinity interferes and Shane suplexes him off the top. Trinity trips Sabin again as we’re waiting on the hot tag to Traci. This might not be the best formulated plan.

Sabin fires off some elbows but Bentley pulls him back down by the hair. After a chinlock by Bentley, Sabin comes back with an elbow and tries a tornado DDT. Bentley escapes that but a BIG enziguri puts Bentley down. Double tags bring in the girls and Traci cleans house. She tries something off the top but Trinity shoves her to the floor. They fight up the ramp and Trinity slams her. The guys have been forgotten it appears. Oh here’s Sabin to clothesline Bentley. Trinity hits a top rope rana on Sabin, drawing a Lita chant. Traci low blows Sabin and Bentley superkicks Trinity. Another one to Sabin gets the pin.

Rating: C-. Not great here and while the ending was surprising, that doesn’t mean I really care about it. Traci and trinity feuded for the better part of eternity and it never really had a definitive conclusion that I remember. This wasn’t bad but it pretty much came and went with whatever the new development was in the story.

Ad for Slammiversary.

Team Canada says they’re back. D’Amore gets in a great jab at the Orlando fans: “You’ve got a Samoan and a Puerto Rican in there against two Canadians and the idiots chant USA.” They plug their chances in the Gauntlet for the Gold tonight. Roode is the first entrant. They see the name of the second entrant and say it’s like sending a one legged man into a butt kicking contest.

Dusty meets with Tito Ortiz and tells him to call things down the line but if he needs to take matters into his own hands, don’t hesitate.

Jeff Hardy isn’t here (legit no show, he was suspended soon after) so Raven says he doesn’t care who his replacement is. He wants to maim someone. Raven knows his opponent but they keep censoring his name.

Raven vs. ???

This is a Clockwork Orange House of Fun match, which means there are a bunch of weapons and one side of a cage. West says the opponent is Sean Waltman before the entrances. So why censor it a few seconds ago? Waltman comes from the other side of the arena to jump Raven from behind. He pulls down a trashcan and knocks Raven to the outside with it. Raven is busted open early.

Waltman uses Raven’s drop toehold into the trashcan but the can is used to break up the Bronco Buster. Out to the floor and Raven digs into the forehead in an attempt to cut Waltman open. He rakes the head across the steel and Waltman is indeed busted. Raven gets a pair of trashcan lids and alternates with shots from both arms. Raven is cut bad. Waltman sends Raven into a can out of desperation.

Raven grabs the ankle (which is a recurring move for him it seems) but Sean escapes and hits the Bronco Buster this time. Out to the floor and it’s table time. Waltman puts him on the table and climbs up onto the post (squeezing between two of the things holding up weapons) and hits a flip dive through Raven through the table. Back in Raven hits a DDT out of nowhere for two. You know for a finisher, that move doesn’t finish all that often.

Raven runs him up the ramp and throws Waltman off of it, sending him through a table. It’s falls count anywhere apparently and Raven gets two. Back at ringside and Raven finds handcuffs, another recurring thing in this company’s early PPV days. He cuffs Waltman to the post and beats him with a kendo stick.

He wants a submission but Waltman says to hit him harder. Dusty comes back and frees Waltman and he can kick the chair that Raven had back into his face. Now he hits the alternating lid shots and beats Raven with the stick. Waltman staple guns Raven’s head but Raven manages to throw him through the cage wall and fall on top for the pin.

Rating: B-. Better brawling match than you would expect here but the big problem was the lack of a feud for this to go off of. That’s not their fault of course as Waltman was a substitute so I’m certainly not going to hold that one against them. Much better match than I was expecting as Waltman proves again that he can go with the smaller guys much better than the large one.

Tito gives AJ some instructions, as in basic rules of the match. They shake hands.

We recap the 3 Live Kru vs. Outlaw feud. Outlaw is Billy Gunn who is apparently trying to break up the Kru. Monty Brown recently turned on DDP so let’s have a tag match. This resulted in a bunch of problems in the Kru, mainly over the possibility that BG is going to bail on the Kru and reform the New Age Outlaws.

Page has a message from BG James, saying he’s not here. Truth pops up and says he’ll be Page’s partner.

Ron Killings/Diamond Dallas Page vs. Monty Brown/Kip James

Page starts with Brown and there’s not much going on in the first minute. Rollup gets one for Page. Nothing has happened in the first minute or so. Well nothing of note that is. Off to Outlaw who wants Killings. Wait is his name Outlaw or Kip James? We’ll go with Kip James. Killings knocks him around and hits a headscissors to send James to the corner. Kip comes back with a tilt-a-whirl slam and I think we have our face in peril.

Brown hits a running knee to his back and Killings is in trouble. Back to James who gets two off a running forearm. We hit the chinlock so Page plays cheerleader. Truth hits a leg lariat out of nowhere and makes a diving tag. Discus lariat takes Brown down and another does the same to James. Helicopter Bomb gets two on Brown as James makes the save. DDP and truth keep up the offense until Phi Delta Slam (big fat guys) run in for the beating on Page. DDP Diamond Cuts one and crotches the other before Cutting him off the top. Cutter for James but Brown Pounces him for the pin.

Rating: D+. HOW WAS THAT NOT A DQ??? Two more guys came in and beat up Page but there’s not a DQ in there? I’d love to be a referee just to see how messed up my mind becomes. It must be better than any other drug you could ever have. Not a great match but that’s par for the course with these filler tag matches.

The Naturals say they were shocked by Candido’s death and they owe their titles to him. They don’t want to go into specifics about their feelings though. He taught them how to be a great team and how to be winners.

Tag Titles: The Naturals vs. America’s Most Wanted

The Naturals are one of the most generic looking teams you’ll ever find so I’ll do my best to tell them apart. They’re defending here and have never lost to AMW with the titles on the line. The champs come out with Candido’s signature yellow towel. The fans chant for Candido to start. If the ending wasn’t obvious already, it better be now. Storm starts with I think Chase Stevens (the other is Andy Douglas).

La Majistral gets two for Stevens. Storm controls on the mat with an armbar and it’s off to Harris. Ok so Stevens is the blonde. Got it. Stevens gets two off a facejam on Storm. Middle rope sunset flip gets two for Storm as does a hard kick to the chest. Bulldog gets two for Harris. Harris clotheslines Douglas to the floor and everything breaks down out there. AMW seems to have the advantage.

Never mind as Storm misses a dive and lands on the railing. He manages to counter a whip to send Stevens upside own into the railing. A suplex on the ramp puts Stevens down again. Douglas takes a slingshot into the post and it’s one advantage per team at the moment. Douglas goes shoulder first into the post as does Storm. Now Harris’ shoulder goes into the post. Hopefully they get a cut of the shoulder surgery fees.

A fan holds up a chair for Storm to whip Stevens into. Did I warp back to ECW? Douglas hits Harris in the ribs with a chair but it’s still not a DQ. They haven’t been in the ring for almost five minutes. The Naturals are both in control and Harris is sent back in with Douglas. They’re not legal but who cares? Harris comes out of nowhere with a right hand and a clothesline in the corner.

The Naturals have a two on one advantage now but Storm comes back in for the Eye of the Storm on Stevens. Everyone gets up and we go to the corner for a pretty low level Tower of Doom. The idea of tagging has been completely forgotten here. Catatonic is countered into an FU by Stevens for two. Storm breaks up Natural Disaster and superkicks Stevens. They load up the Death Sentence but Harris gets shoved off the top, allowing Stevens to roll up Storm and put his feet on the ropes for the pin.

Rating: C+. The match was fun but the lack of tagging so early got kind of old. I’ve seen worst though and AMW was always worth looking at. They were starting to slip at this point though and would turn heel soon if my memory serves me right. This was nothing great though and I don’t think anyone cared about the Naturals.

Tito Ortiz beats up an annoying security guard and talks to Jeff. Everything is cool apparently.

We recap the X Title match. Shocker won an Xscape match at Lockdown and then had to win another one to get the shot against Daniels tonight. He says he’ll win the title for Mexico.

X-Division Title: Shocker vs. Christopher Daniels

Feeling out process to start with Daniels having a slight advantage. They head to the apron and Shocker hits a headscissors to take Daniels to the floor, followed by a suicide dive. Back in Daniels takes over and hooks a very quick Koji Clutch. Shocker comes back with a lot of chops and some clotheslines. Frog splash gets two.

Daniels plays possum and hits a Downward Spiral to get momentum back again. BME is overshot so he settles for a split legged moonsault which gets two. Shocker hits a low dropkick to the face of Daniels and the champ is in trouble again. Shocker goes up but Daniels nails him and tries a superplex.

That gets countered into a SICK looking gordbuster with Daniels landing straight on his head. Off to an STF but Daniels bites the hand to escape. Now Shocker tries a superplex but Daniels counters into Angel’s Wings off the top to retain. Cool ending and thankfully he didn’t kick out like the announcers implied he might.

Rating: C+. I wasn’t wild on this, again mainly due to a lack of story. This was something that WCW did a lot back in the day: bring in a foreign guy and say he’s one of the best in whatever country then have the champion beat him. It’s cool to bring in international talent but at the same time, those names are just names to people who aren’t familiar with wrestling in that country. Decent match with a cool ending though.

Video on the Gauntlet For The Gold, which is a Royal Rumble style match but in the end the final two have a singles match for the win. Abyss won the final spot (#20) on Impact.

Gauntlet For The Gold

Roode is #1 and the surprise entrant Zach Gowen is #2. Get the joke from earlier now? Roode steals the prosthetic leg. West: “Put it back!” but Gowen comes back with one footed dropkicks and a reverse DDT. Eric Young comes in at #3. The intervals are only a minute long which includes their time coming to the ring. Remember at this point it’s over the top to eliminate people.

Roode gets a pretty evil one legged giant swing on Gowen. Cassidy Riley is #4. Ok now the clock doesn’t start until he gets to the ring. He helps against the Canadians and Gowen hits a leg lariat on Roode. Here’s Skipper at #5 and the clock is under Young rules again. Skipper takes a lariat from Roode but hits a nice moonsault to take him down. The ring is getting a little full now so everyone has something to do.

Shark Boy comes in at #6 to a nice reaction. Thank goodness he’s not Stone Cold yet. He won a match on the preshow to get in. Sharky hits a neckbreaker on Young but Gowen takes him down. Shark Boy bites Gowen hard enough that Gowen goes out. So we have our first elimination. #7 is another Canadian in the form of A-1, the big power guy. He cleans house with clotheslines and stomps on Riley.

#8 is Chris Sabin. In a Matrix style move, he sets for a tornado DDT on Young but with his feet in the air, he kicks EVERYONE ELSE in the chest in a big circle before hitting the DDT. That was cool. Petey Williams is #9 to put the Canadians at full strength. He tries a Destroyer on Sharky but gets backdropped to the apron. Shark Boy goes after him and is eliminated by A-1. Eric puts out Riley to get some people out of the ring.

Sonny Siaki is #10 and he goes after the Canadians. Skipper gets REALLY stupid and tries to walk the ropes. Roode is like boy you’re stupid and clotheslines him out. Lance Hoyt is #11 and he has his own cheering section. Young is easily tossed out by Hoyt and Team Canada is down to three. Sabin can’t get Williams out and Bentley is #12. He superkicks Hoyt but is taken out by Sabin who goes out at the same time. They fight on the floor as the Canadians put out Siaki.

Here’s Jerelle Clark at #13. He’s just an X-Division guy. There are five people in at the moment: Roode, A-1, Williams, Clark and Hoyt. The Canadians help Williams on a Destroyer to put Clark out. Mikey Batts is #14 and he fires off some kicks to take down the Canadians. He’s another X-Division guy. He and Hoyt team up on Canada as The Outlaw Kip James is #15.

A HUGE cobra clutch slam kills Batts and the fans want to see it again. #16 is Trytan but Hoyt hits a big boot before Trytan even gets in. Batts is gone. Trytan is chokeslamming everyone in sight and hits a spinebuster on Hoyt. Ron Killings is #17 and gets powerslammed very quickly. As Trytan poses, all three Canadians team up to throw him out.

Apollo is #18 and he cleans house. He and Kip chop it out but Apollo charges and is low bridged out. BG James is #19 but the Canadians break up the staredown between the Outlaws. Hoyt kicks Roode out but Roode helps A-1 to get rid of Hoyt. The Outlaws team up on Petey and A-1, tossing them both out. Abyss comes in at #20 and knocks both Outlaws out to get us down to the final two.

So it’s Truth vs. Abyss for the shot and it’s a regular one on one match, meaning over the top doesn’t mean anything anymore. Abyss throws him to the floor anyway and tries to hit him with a chair but it’s taken away by the referee. Back inside now and Abyss pounds on Killings in the corner. Truth speeds things up and hits a leg lariat and a headbutt for two. Abyss gets a big boot and brings in the chain but that gets taken away.

Instead he’ll use a chair because the referee takes forever to put the chain in the corner. Truth gets the chair and hits Abyss twice in the head for two. We actually get a ref bump in this match. Is this really needed? Truth checks on him and walks into a chokeslam onto the chair for a very delayed two. Abyss tries to Earthquake down onto the chair onto Killings but Truth crotches him on the chair instead. Not that it matters though as Killings jumps into the Black Hole Slam and it’s over.

Rating: C+. This wasn’t a horrible battle royal and the one minute intervals keep things moving fast enough. I’m not sure how much I like the one on one match at the end but it’s not a terrible idea I guess. Still though, like most non-Rumbles, this wasn’t a very interesting battle royal. Not awful though.

We recap the main event which is based around the idea of AJ being a once in a generation athlete while Jarrett is the old guard. AJ beat Abyss to get this shot. Tito Ortiz is the referee.

NWA World Title: Jeff Jarrett vs. AJ Styles

Tito Ortiz is guest referee. Jarrett has been champion almost a year at this point. As is customary in wrestling, the previous title reigns of the challenger are only brushed over. They fight over a lockup to start and Tito breaks things up when they get to the ropes. Feeling out process to start as they’re treating this like a huge match. AJ speeds things up which of course gives him the advantage.

Jarrett slides to the floor which is a good idea for him as it slows the match down a lot. Back in and Jeff throws right hands. Jeff tells Tito that they were forearms. That’s so Memphis and it’s a great way to get heat on you. AJ kicks him down and hits a knee drop for two. Jarrett goes for the knee but can’t do a lot of damage on it as Styles fights back. Jeff kicks the knee out again and hooks the Figure Four.

Tenay talks about how Jeff’s strategy is to go after the leg early. He doesn’t think there will be a submission here but it’s going to slow AJ down for later on. And THAT IS WHAT A COMMENTATOR SHOULD BE DOING!!! Not talking about pigeons, but giving us some insight. That’s not something a lot of people would pick up on so Tenay gave some analysis. Why is that never done anymore?

AJ turns it over but is skeptical about coming off the top due to the bad knee. Instead of a dive he hits a tornado DDT and hits a discus clothesline (that’s a popular move in TNA) to send Jarrett to the floor. AJ jumps to the apron but Jeff takes the knee out again. Ortiz counts but Jeff keeps breaking it up. Tito grabs Jeff by the throat and shoves him to the corner.

They head to the floor again and Jeff gets the guitar. Tito says yeah try it and AJ steals the guitar. Tito won’t let AJ use it either so Styles slams it on the ground to break it. AJ pounds away on Jeff and we go back in. There’s the springboard forearm and a spin kick, followed by the moonsault into the reverse DDT for two. AJ tries a rana but gets caught in a powerbomb for two.

They trade some counters until AJ gets two off a backslide and small package. AJ tries the Pele but can’t quite get it so it’s more like a knee to Jeff’s face. Stroke is countered so Jeff hits a Styles Clash to Styles for two. AJ fights back and tries one of his own but here’s Monty Brown. He accidentally Pounces Jeff but Tito is throwing Brown out. A second referee comes out but Tito won’t let him count. Jeff hits AJ low and loads up a superplex but Tito pulls him down for the low blow. Jeff shoves Tito and gets knocked out so that the Spiral Tap can give Styles the title.

Rating: B-. It was good but certainly not great. It’s hard not to look at this with hindsight but you kind of have to. AJ would lose the title at the next PPV and wouldn’t win it back for over four years. Jarrett would get the world title back in a few months until Christian debuted and took the title to end the year.

A big celebration ends the show.

Overall Rating: B. This was a pretty solid show with a big moment to end it. There’s nothing bad on here and it would have seemed like it set up AJ’s next challenger (that wouldn’t be Abyss) and there was nothing really bad. It’s no classic or anything, but if you’re looking for an ok TNA PPV to watch, this isn’t a bad choice.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my book on the History of the WWE Championship from Amazon for just $5 at:

Sacrifice 2007
Date: May 13, 2007
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 900
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

This is a very interesting show and it’s a pretty important show in company history. The NWA has basically thrown TNA out because the NWA is really stupid and thinks those three letters are enough to carry them. Therefore, the titles aren’t officially the NWA world/tag titles anymore and I don’t think there are physical belts. The NWA bailed because they’re stupid, so the main event is for the world title with Christian vs. Sting vs. Angle. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about how we praise wrestlers like gods even though they’re just humans. They have drive though which is why they’re better than us.

All of the title matches are in triple threat matches tonight. Just what I wanted.

X-Division Title: Chris Sabin vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Jay Lethal

Sabin is champion. Sonjay is jealous because Lethal has been getting the attention when they’re both around Nash. The fans like Lethal. Sabin immediately gets psychological on them, dropping to the mat. Dutt goes for the cover and Lethal says not so fast my friend, channeling his inner Corso. They argue for a bit and then the double teaming begins. That doesn’t last long as they keep arguing. The story here is obvious: they both want the title so they can’t work together.

The times they do work together are pretty solid though, including one instance where they throw him over the top rope to the floor, where he bounces off the concrete and into the railing. The two good guys fly around a bit without making any violent contact. Translation: it’s more like a dance recital than a match. Dutt grabs a one armed camel clutch but Sabin runs back in for a seated dropkick to Lethal’s face.

Sabin and Dutt seem to form a bond so they do the same thing that just happened, but Dutt dropkicks Sabin this time. Cute spot. Sabin takes over and makes the faces miss before hitting a headscissors/tornado DDT combo with Lethal taking the storm-themed move. Dutt is sent to the floor and Sabin hammers on Lethal a bit. Dutt breaks that up with a sweet looking reverse 619 to the leg kind of move.

Lethal goes up and hits a top rope double axe to the floor on Sabin. Dutt tops that with a big old Asai Moonsault to the floor. Back in, Sabin can’t get a top rope rana and Dutt half kills Lethal with a middle rope missile dropkick. There’s a new TNA mascot named Stomper, who I think is a crab. I wonder if he’s Mongolian. Dutt tries to take over but Lethal takes him down, only to have Lethal get knocked down by Sabin. Why am I so chatty in this review? I haven’t written this much in less than 15 minutes of a show in I don’t know how long.

Everyone is down now, presumably due to needing a chance to breathe. Dutt speeds things way up and hits a springboard seated senton (called a Thesz Press by Tenay) to Lethal for two. Sabin takes over again and puts them both in the corner with Dutt looking like he’s in a Styles Clash position from Lethal. Lethal’s hair has kind of exploded and you can see where going to the braided hair was the best thing he could have done.

The fans are split between Lethal and Sabin. What’s with the anti-Indian stance of the fans? Sue them for racism!!! Standing enziguri to Sabin, making him look like he’s having a seizure, or that he’s Elvis. Not sure which but either way a superkick puts him down. A release dragon suplex puts Dutt on the floor and the top rope elbow gets two as Dutt makes a late save (he hit Lethal in the ankle. How does that break up a pin?).

Lethal Combination gets two as Dutt dives off the top with the 450 for the save. He can’t pin either guy but he made up for the weak save a minute ago at least. This match is pretty freaking awesome if you couldn’t tell based on what I’m saying. The good guys get in another argument, allowing Sabin to roll up Dutt (I think with tights) for the pin to retain. Lethal would get the belt next month.

Rating: B. Very fun opener here. This wasn’t about being technically sound, but rather about being all over the place and incredibly entertaining, which is exactly what they did here. Dutt vs. Lethal went on for like a year and it never was all that good. Fun match here, although I have a feeling the rest of the show isn’t going to be able to top it, which isn’t good.

Lethal and Dutt brawl post match until Nash comes out for the save. Dutt kicks Nash in the leg and runs.

Roodes doesn’t want to talk about Eric Young. Instead he says Jeff Jarrett is nothing compared to him. Jarrett is going to make Roode tonight.

Nash comes up to the announce table and says he’ll take care of Sonjay on Thursday.

We run down the card to fill some time.

VKM was at a meet and greet earlier today with fans when Basham/Damaja attacked them. Roadie was injured due to getting his head slammed into the floor so tonight it’s a handicap match.

We recap Jarrett vs. Roode. Jarrett hadn’t been around since losing to Sting at Bound For Glory, which was mainly due to his wife being sick, resulting in her death ten days after this show. Jarrett had come back at Lockdown and then was revealed as Eric Young’s friend who was helping Young after he was signed by Roode.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Robert Roode

Brooks is in a neck brace due to something not important enough to be explained to us. Big ovation for Jarrett. Roode runs up the aisle as the pyro is still going and jumps Jeff before the bell. A piledriver on the floor is of course countered because it would, you know, cripple Jarrett. We get the opening bell and Jeff hammers away and struts. Brooks trips Jarrett up and we head to the floor again.

Jeff is sent into the steps and we hear about how Jeff might be a bit off tonight because this is his first singles match in over six months. Backslide gets two for Jarrett but Roode stops his momentum with a lariat. Roode goes up and jumps into a boot which was an annoying trend he had during this heel run. We look at the mascot again (instead of Brooks who is, you know, not an animal) and Jeff hits a powerslam for two. Off to a sleeper which doesn’t last long.

Roode hooks a bad figure four (doesn’t even deserve to be capitalized) and Jarrett doesn’t really sell it for awhile. Roode tries it again with a Jarrett mimic in there but Jeff rolls him up for two. A double clothesline puts both guys down. Traci jumps up and down and I lose my train of thought. Jarrett wins a brief slugout and takes over with a low blow which isn’t a DQ for no apparent reason. Roode gets slammed off the top and now Jarrett hooks the Figure Four in what I guess you can call a Flair Double Shot.

Traci grabs the referee (lucky) while Roode taps. Jarrett is a good guy in this match so he lets go of the hold because he’s an idiot. Roode rips a buckle pad off but both guys block shots into the steel. Now Roode is going for the knee for some reason. Oh yeah that alleged figure four earlier. He wraps Jarrett’s leg around the post and brings in a chair. The referee tries to grab it which the referee releases to send it into Roode’s head in a HORRIBLE looking shot. Stroke gets two as Brooks saves, only to get her sent to the back.

The referee takes her to the back for some reason, allowing Roode to hit a handcuff shot to the head for a very delayed two. Roode brings in a guitar but the referee steals it. Stroke is attempted but Roode counters into a fisherman’s suplex attempt which is countered into a Figure Four attempt which is countered into a kick into the steel exposed earlier. That’s enough for the Payoff (fisherman’s) to end it.

Rating: B+. This show is DRILLING it tonight as we get our second awesome match of the night. The ending was full of some awesome back and forth counters and the ending actually played off something earlier in the match. That’s all you can ask for at times and we got a great match out of it. Good stuff again.

Roode sets for a guitar shot but gets caught in the Figure Four again. Traci bounces out to hit Jarrett with the guitar but Young comes in for the save, putting Traci in a Figure Four of his own.

Christian is having a victory party despite not wrestling for about two hours. He still has the NWA Title here. He says all of Team Cage is going to win tonight. Tomko isn’t here yet and Steiner, his partner later, isn’t happy. AJ says he’ll take care of Joe later.

Christopher Daniels vs. Rhyno

There’s no backstory here that I know of. Daniels was channeling Sting or something, complete with mask, and Rhyno is the next victim I believe. All Rhyno to start as he runs over Daniels with power move after power move. Daniels gets up top but jumps into a belly to belly but he avoids the Gore. The fans aren’t sure who they like best here. Daniels misses a baseball slide but Rhyno misses a pescado. Not often you see a horned man fly. Then again it’s not often that you see a horned man.

Daniels sends him into the post to take over even more as we enter the heel dominance portion of our selection this evening. It appears to be the shoulder that’s hurt, so Daniels sends it into the barricade. Daniels works on the arm a lot, which is so evil and satanic of him isn’t it? Rhyno grabs a backbreaker to finally get some relief for his shoulder. Powerslam gets two.

STO gets two for Daniels. Spinebuster gets the same for Rhyno. This isn’t quite as good as the rest of the matches on the show tonight if you couldn’t tell. Daniels grabs a Koji Clutch which is shifted into the smarter cross armbreaker. Rhyno manages to get to a rope before he started thinking of Del Rio and fell asleep. BME misses and Rhyno hits something like a TKO for two. Daniels hammers away on him but Rhyno snaps off a Gore, which the announcers call a shoulder for no apparent reason. It gets two due to a boot on the ropes. Daniels goes to the floor where he picks up a ball bat and whacks Rhyno with it for the pin.

Rating: C. Yeah not as good as the other stuff but still, pretty decent stuff here that could have been a solid TV match which is ok on a PPV I think. The arm work made sense because that was his Gore arm, but I’d have liked the ball bat shot to have been to the arm instead of the head, which looked ridiculous and sounded even worse. Still though, this was fine.

Just to further the eye rolling aspect of the ending, Rhyno is up about 100 seconds after being hit over the head with a baseball bat by a professional athlete. He says he’s going to take Daniels out and goes after him. After a brief chat with the announcers we see Daniels coming back down the ramp with blood covering his face. Rhyno follows a few seconds later with a chair and my goodness he must have hit him hard. There couldn’t be any other possibility like a razor blade or makeup right?

Rhyno sets for a Rhyno Driver onto two chairs but security finally comes in to break it up. Shame too because it would have been awesome looking. West wanted to see the Driver.

We recap VKM vs. Basham/Danaja. VKM wanted Christy Hemme to sleep with them to get ahead and she said no, which set off a fairly long feud, resulting in her bringing in a bunch of teams to face them. It would wind up being the Rock N Rave Infection but until them we’re stuck with the Bashams.

Kip says he’s on his own tonight and that’s cool.

Kip James vs. Basham/Damaja

Damaja starts and Kip fires away quickly, as is common in handicap matches. Fameasser misses and it’s off to Basham. The heels (I think) take over and beat Kip down as Basham hooks a cravate. Kip fights back but walks into a chokebomb (Brain Damage) and a top rope headbutt from Basham ends this.

Rating: D. I guess every show has to have one bad match. This was pretty much nothing as Road Dogg couldn’t be there. To be fair though, it’s not like the match they had the next month was any better at all. This was just a bad match and the walking definition of a popcorn break match. The best match on the show (allegedly) is up next though so I’m cool with that.

Kip gets beaten down again post match until Lance Hoyt finally gets there to make the save.

We recap Storm vs. Harris, which is due to Storm turning heel on Harris and breaking a beer bottle over his eye. The result is a Texas Death Match between a guy from Tennessee and a guy from Kentucky being held in Florida.

Harris says Storm only had to say he wanted to end the team but instead he tried to end Harris’ career with a beer bottle. This has been about revenge and payback. It’s been about revenge before but now it’s about payback.

Chris Harris vs. James Storm

This is a Texas Death Match, which is last man standing but you have to get a pin or submission before the ten count begins. Both guys are in street clothes. In a cool visual, Harris rips up an AMW shirt on his way to the ring. This feels like it’s going to be awesome which is a very good sign. They slug it out in the aisle and Harris has the trademark handcuffs.

They go into the crowd almost immediately and Storm is running away. They’re in the back row of the arena and Storm is almost thrown over the wall in the back. I wonder what’s back there. Maybe it’s where they keep Shark Boy? All Harris so far as they head to the ring. Storm throws a drink in Harris’ face to shift momentum but Storm gets thrown into a wall to changes things right back again.

Harris is in the ring alone and has a beer and a chair. Storm is still over the railing so Harris hits a HUGE dive over the railing to kill Storm dead and gets a pin. Storm is up at 8 though. Harris goes up again but Storm knocks him off and gets his leg tied up in the ropes so that he’s in a Tree of Woe but hanging outside the ropes. Storm cracks him with a chair to the head and Harris is busted.

It’s Table Time as Harris is placed on the top rope. He avoids a hurricanrana and counters a sunset flip (???) into a Sharpshooter of all things. Well it takes out the legs so that makes sense. He can’t get it on so he kicks Storm in the balls. He catapults Storm face first into the bottom of the table, cutting him open on the metal part. FREAKING OW MAN!!! Harris can’t suplex him through the table so Storm kicks him low to balance things out.

Storm hits the Eye of the Storm to put Harris through the table. That looked awesome and it gets an academic pin but only gets nine. Here’s another table brought in by the Cowboy. He falls down trying to get it in though, probably due to blood loss. The table is on the outside but Storm can’t hit another Eye over the top. Harris goes to the apron and gets caught in an Elevated DDT for no cover.

Storm brings in various basic hardcore weapons but as he’s getting in himself, Harris spears him through the ropes to put him through the table. Not exactly Foley vs. Edge but not bad. Back in, Harris picks up a chair and Storm superkicks it into his face for two. Storm is STUNNED. You can’t see Storm’s face. It’s literally a crimson mask. They trade HARD trashcan lid shots and Harris hits the Catatonic (spinning Rock Bottom) onto a trashcan for two.

Now the match gets taken down a peg because Jackie Freaking Moore has to get involved. WHY DOES SHE ALWAYS HAVE A JOB??? She isn’t attractive, she’s nothing special in the ring, she’s always getting in the way, and NO ONE FREAKING CARES ABOUT HER. And if you say you do, you’re lying. Gail Kim comes out and cuffs her so she can drag her out of here. Both guys have beer bottles and Harris gets a shot to the head of Storm for the pin and the ten count. Perfect way to end it.

Rating: A. GREAT brawl and war here which is exactly what they needed to do. Tenay and West freak out and say how great it is and for once this year, they’re right. This was a blood war and Storm’s face is absolutely scary given how much blood there was on it. Great match and absolutely worth seeing based on the level of violence here.

Sting yells at Daniels about how he doesn’t have this right. Daniels says he has it absolutely right and leaves. Sting yells about Angle and says he’ll win the title tonight.

We get a highlight package of the Death Match.

Jerry Lynn vs. Alex Shelly vs. Senshi vs. Tiger Mask IV

He’s just called Tiger Mask here so we’ll go with that. Two in the ring at a time and we start with Senshi vs. Lynn. It’s one fall to a finish also. Lynn tries a crucifix but Senshi rolls down the back and misses a foot stomp. Lynn hooks an inverted spinning Gory Special and then they hit the mat. Jerry grabs an armbar but Senshi gets into a cross armbreaker on the ropes.

Shelly tags himself in and works on Lynn’s arm to a big reaction. Lynn speeds things up again and takes over on Shelley’s arm. Here’s Tiger Mask and Shelly bails almost immediately. Senshi gets him instead and Tiger Mask takes over. Everybody keeps tagging themselves in so there’s almost no way to keep track of who is legal and what is going on. A standing moonsault gets two for Mask on Shelley.

Everything breaks down and I’m really not even going to try to keep track of it. Lynn’s cradle piledriver is broken up as is the Tiger suplex to Senshi. Lynn hits a sunset flip to something like a Tower of Doom minus the Tower aspect and most of the Doom aspect. Still though, it looked cool and got two. A TKO gets two on Mask and Shelly puts Lynn on the top rope. Senshi dives onto the corner and tries….something that looks like a brainbuster off the top Shelly makes a save. Shelly tries a top rope rana but gets countered into a sunset flip by Lynn for the three count.

Rating: C. It’s fun and flashy but it’s nothing I’m going to want to see again. This is far from what the first one earlier in the night was but they were trying. Also this is a great match to throw out there to give the fans a breather after the big bloodbath we saw with the AMW explosion. It’s not bad but it’s really not my style.

The Guns beat down Lynn post match until Backlund makes the save.

We recap the tag title match. Team 3D beat LAX for the belts and giving them more or less every tag title ever and their 20th title overall.

Tomko says he can’t go over strategy with Steiner because Steiner is nuts and Steiner has right to call him out because he has stuff to do.

Tag Titles: Team 3D vs. Scott Steiner/Tomko vs. LAX

So Tomko and Steiner don’t get along and are here….because I guess, and LAX are the guys Team 3D beat to get the titles. After almost a minute of arguing we get Homicide vs. Steiner to start us off. Power vs. speed obviously and Homicide can only run so long before he gets caught. Ray tags himself in and sneaks up on Steiner for a pretty awesome German release.

Homicide comes back in and hits half a dropkick to both Immortal members. He and Steiner team up to beat on Ray which is about as odd of a pairing as you’ll find this side of Alex Shelly and Abyss. Ray kicks Homicide’s head off and it’s off to D-Von vs. Tomko. D-Von powerslams him down and SuperMex comes in via the slingshot shoulder. A Thesz Press by D-Von gets the fans behind the champions.

And never mind as LAX double teams him right back down to take over again. Steiner comes in and drops the elbow and the push-ups. Ray breaks up the cover and does push-ups of his own in a funny bit. He and Homicide get into it as D-Von keeps getting beaten down, in this case by Hernandez. Henandez does that always cool backflip to the top rope and seemingly botches a top rope splash to D-Von for two. His leg kind of landed on D-Von’s head which has to freaking hurt.

In a smart move, Tomko breaks up the pin and pulls Hernandez, not D-Von, back to his corner so that Tomko can tag himself in and get a piece of the weakened D-Von. Man, when did Tomko get so smart? It doesn’t really work though as D-Von hits a tornado DDT to break the momentum. I see why Tomko rarely used logic. LAX comes in to stop the tag but D-Von rolls under then and tags Bubba in a nice move.

Ray throws Hernandez out and brings Homicide in. Go after the smaller guys I guess. That’s very bullyish of him. Everything breaks down as is customary in these matches. Steiner suplexes D-Von so Hernandez destroys Steiner with a backbreaker. Ray cleans house and What’s Up Homicide? The fans want tables but Hernandez dives over the top to take out D-Von. Steiner and Tomko beat up Homicide but Homicide rolls through a Doomsday Device for two. Tomko and Steiner get into it but beat up Bubba a bit. Double teaming fails though and a 3D from 3D beats Tomko.

Rating: C+. Pretty basic triple threat here but it worked well enough. The Dudleys needed a win to establish themselves (for some reason) so this did that well enough. The Steiner/Tomko issue will be made clear in a bit. Tomko I think would go on to team with AJ and hold the tag titles for about six months after this so he did well enough. Also they would be the TNA Tag Titles here before to long.

Tomko attacks Steiner post match until Rick Steiner comes out for the save. They would team together for like three PPVs in a row against the Dudleys.

Angle is in Sting’s freaky area. He says Sting goes to Wal-Mart before all of his matches to buy facepaint so he can look like Ronald McDonald. What kind of creepy McDonald’s does Angle frequent? Angle says kill the effects, because once you do that, it’s just like Sting: nothing special. He’s a wrestler but Sting is nothing but a cartoon character. When Kurt Angle is calling you a cartoon character, you must be pretty messed up.

We recap AJ vs. Joe. This is another byproduct of Angle vs. Cage, as if they needed a reason to run this match.

AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe

They’re treating this like a brand new match for some reason. I mean they’re not saying they’ve never met before, but they’re acting like this is an unheard of pairing. They exchange early control and Joe hits an enziguri in the corner to rattle Styles. Both guys try to speed things up but AJ misses a charge and goes to the floor where Joe hits the suicide elbow to send AJ into the crowd.

AJ gets knocked into the barricade and complains of a bad arm/elbow. Since AJ is a heel here he’s playing possum and pokes Joe in the eye. Why did they think this guy needed Flair again? Out to the floor again and Joe tries the Ole Kick but AJ gets out of the way. Back inside and AJ hits his drop down into the dropkick spot. That always looks so smooth, probably due to his using it in every match.

Joe grabs an atomic drop but a boot misses and AJ spin kicks him down for two. A release German buys some time for the fat Samoan. They slug it out and speed it up but Joe hits an overhead belly to belly and senton backsplash for two. AJ pulls the front of Joe’s trunks down to ram him into the corner and OH MY GOODNESS MY EYES!!!! I….I think I saw thong. What did I do to AJ to deserve that? I rate his matches well enough!

Springboard forearm looks to give AJ the advantage but the backflip into the reverse DDT fails also. The second attempt works better but it’s only good for two. He can’t hit the Clash and walks into a Death Valley Driver for two. Joe gets sent to the floor and may have messed the knee up. Back inside Joe kicks him in the face but can’t charge at Styles in the corner. AJ loads up the Spiral Tap but Joe was playing some serious possum, which AJ had been doing lately. Styles looks terrified so Joe locks in the Clutch and suplexes him over with it for the pin.

Rating: B-. Definitely one of their weaker matches but still very decent stuff. AJ just doesn’t work as a heel. It’s like trying to fight the Easter Bunny: you can try all you want, but it’s not there at the end of the day. This was very back and forth but was more like Joe getting revenge than being in any danger, which isn’t really all that great. Still though, Joe vs. AJ is always worth taking a look at.

We recap the world title match. This really spun off from Team Cage vs. Team Angle at Lockdown where Christian is kind of ducking Angle but he’s finally getting a shot tonight. Sting is here because….well because he’s Sting and he’s always in the title picture. I think he had lost it to Abyss and Christian won it from him so this is officially Sting’s rematch. Oh ok Jarrett got the fall in Lethal Lockdown and gave the title shot he won to Sting. Christian is playing them against each other.

NWA World Title; Sting vs. Christian Cage vs. Kurt Angle

Christian comes in as champion as we’ve already covered. Angle has only been here for awhile so he hasn’t been champion yet, making this a potentially huge night. The fans aren’t sure who they like but Sting seems to be solidly in third place. Christian is sent to the floor for the big showdown. I think the Canadian is the only heel in this. Angle takes over on Sting but goes to the floor. Sting beats on Christian outside and the fans seem more behind Christian than anyone else.

Angle vs. Christian in the ring now. Kurt is sent shoulder first into the post and it’s back to Sting vs. the Canadian. Sting actually hits the big elbow drop after a gorilla press. I don’t think I ever remember seeing that. A Vader Bomb of all things gets two. Angle pops back up and pulls Sting to the floor for an Angle Slam (called a suplex by Tenay) on the ramp. So now it’s Christian vs. Angle as the revolving door style of this match continues.

Sting starts getting back up so Christian hammers him right back down. That’s not very nice and I think he should send him a polite handwritten note of apology. Christian slaps Angle resulting in the American hitting a bunch of Germans on the Canadian. He’s at eight so far. Somehow that only gets two for Angle. As if that wasn’t enough for the champion, Sting puts Christian on the top and Angle runs up for a German to make a Tower of Doom, sending Christian flying.

Angle Slam and Unprettier are both countered so Christian goes up. Sting throws Angle into the ropes to crotch the champ. Christian falls forward and Angle is put in front of him for a Stinger Splash. The Death Drop gets two on Angle as Christian pulls the referee out. Scorpion is countered into the ankle lock but Christian saves.

Scratch the saving part as they’re both put in an ankle lock at the same time. They counter out and Sting hits a Rock Bottom on Christian (that’s a new one) but there’s no referee. Another referee comes out and Sting rolls Christian up. Angle grabs Sting’s ankle though and it’s a pin/tap at the same time.

Rating: B-. Good main event but it ran less than eleven minutes which really hurts it. The ending of course got thrown out for a Dusty Finish because Angle winning the world title had to be done twice right? It set up the King of the Mountain match next month which was better than this but not by much. This desperately needed about five more minutes and it would have been far better.

Overall Rating: A-. I REALLY liked this show and it’s easily one of the best that TNA has ever done. There’s a great match in the Death Match and the only really bad match is the handicap which is understandable. Good stuff although a longer main event and the show not ending in a Dusty Finish would have raised it up even higher. I liked it a lot and it’s probably the top TNA show I can think of. Great show.

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