PPV REVIEW: TNA Genesis 2009

TNA Genesis 2009 - Event Poster
Bojangles Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Sunday, January 11th, 2009.

TNA Wrestling kick off the wrestling New Year with the first pay-per-view of 2009, and despite a few last-minute line-up changes to the advertised card; this was a pretty solid effort from all involved.

(NOTE: This review was written live at the time TNA Genesis aired in January 2009. I discovered a bunch of old TNA reviews in my archives and wanted to add them to RPW, so here we are.) 

Here’s what went down.

Six-Man Tag Team Elimination Match: Sonjay Dutt, Jimmy Rave and Kiyoshi vs. LAX (Homicide & Hernandez and Eric Young)

Put together at the last minute (Cute Kip, Shark Boy and Lance Hoyt had been announced to be in this match as recently as the weekend), you can’t help but feel that this throw-away match was put together simply to give these guys something to do.

Regardless as to why they’re here, the six combatants nonetheless deliver an entertaining opening match.

As the bout gets underway, Mike Tenay takes the opportunity to alleviate the lack of fan interest by announcing that Christy Hemme has been injured and won’t be able to compete, and also that Rhino hasn’t yet arrived. The first part is real, the second nothing but storyline.

Turning our attentions to the match at hand and we’re treated to a fast-paced, high energy match with everyone getting enough time in the ring, even despite the predictable multiple-suicide-dive spot TNA seems to do in every match.

The match ends when, with everyone else eliminated, Hernandez leaps onto Jimmy Rave for the three count.
Your winner: Hernandez.


We go backstage next, where Jim Cornette is hanging outside the Main Event Mafia’s locker room, looking for Rhino. Scott Steiner tells Cornette that they don’t care about Rhino, before slamming the door in his face and sending Cornette storming off.

Then, it’s back to the ring for what promises to be an exciting match.

X-Division Tournament Final: Chris Sabin vs. Alex Shelley.

TNA Genesis 2009 - Chris Sabin vs. Alex Shelley
The two tag team partners had predicted all along that they’d be facing each other in this tournament final match to crown a new X-Division champion, and as the Motor City Machine Guns lock up, it’s a good time to be reminded that Mick Foley told the two that they’d better have a good match, or else.

As such, Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley deliver the goods; working hard to put on an enjoyable match.

Things kick off with some slow and steady chain-wrestling before working their way up to a back-and-forth encounter that has the fans chanting loudly.

In the end, though, it’s Alex Shelley with a sneaky roll-up on his tag team partner for the win and his first X-Division championship.
Your Winner and new X-Division Champion: Alex Shelley.

Up next, we’ve got a match that has been building up for months.

If this were any other promotion, this would have been a well-booked feud. As it is, it involves an odd-looking referee and Abdul Bashir, and isn’t all that interesting.

Grudge Match: Shane Sewell vs. Sheik Abdul Bashir.

TNA Genesis 2009 - Sheik Abdul Bashir vs. Shane Sewell
Shane Sewell gets a good reaction from the crowd, even if he does look a bit ridiculous in a referee-striped outfit.

The former referee wastes no time in going after his rival, beating Bashir around the ring before countering a flurry of fists with a hard arm drag.

Unable to gain the advantage, the Sheik eventually takes off. Sewell follows but is beaten to the punch by Bashir, who makes it back first into the ring. Sheik then takes the advantage finally, building up to Sewell’s big comeback with a figure-four, a none-too-subtle to Charlotte legend, Ric Flair, before we get a somewhat silly ending.

With Bashir fighting back and working over Sewell with a number of blows, Hebner tries to stop him and actually slaps the Sheik in the face before getting chased around the ring.

Sewell then does that ridiculous thing of ripping off his shirt, all for the sake of a roll-up for the win.
Your Winner: Shane Sewell.

It’s time for more title action next in a triple threat tag match for the World Tag Team titles.

World Tag Team Title Match: Jay Lethal & Consequences Creed (champions) vs. Abyss & Matt Morgan vs. Beer Money Inc (Robert Roode & James Storm, with Jacqueline).

TNA Genesis 2009 - TNA Tag Titles - Jay Lethal & Consequences Creed vs. Matt Morgan & Abyss vs. Beer Money
This match was originally scheduled to be Beer Money Inc defending against Abyss & Morgan, but if you caught the last edition of Impact, you’ll know that Jay Lethal & Consequences Creed cashed in their Feast or Fired briefcase in an impromptu match, and won the belts.

As such, we’ve got a triple threat on our hands, and it’s pretty entertaining.

Lots of tags and counter-action takes place, with everyone getting involved and a tease at a feud between Abyss & Morgan towards the close, as a tag belt gets thrown in the ring, Abyss accidentally conks out his partner, Jacqueline makes the distraction and Roode gets the cover for a near fall.

In a second though, James Storm gives the assist to his partner, the referee turns his attentions back to the match and Beer Money Inc regain the gold.
Your Winners and new World Tag Team Champions: Beer Money Inc.

With Christy Hemme legitimately injured and thus having to pull out of her scheduled TNA Knockouts Championship match with current titleholder, Awesome Kong, it would’ve made a whole load of sense to simply find a replacement and hold a title match as planned.

Yet with Kong also reported to have suffered an injury, it made just as much sense to rebook the whole thing as six-woman tag match.

Six Knockout Tag Team Match: ODB, Roxxi and Taylor Wilde vs. Rhaka Khan, Sojourner Bolt and Raisha Saeed.

Probably the weakest match on the show, with nothing overly interesting happening, this comes as the third match on the card to be won with a simple roll-up as ODB picks up the win against Saeed.
Your Winners: ODB, Roxxi & Taylor Wilde.

With that little distraction, it’s time for one of the selling points of the Genesis pay-per-view.

Grudge Match: Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle

TNA Genesis 2009 - Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle
The last time these two got in the ring they had a fantastic match, and after some interesting booking building up to this ‘highly anticipated’ re-match, it looks like we could have another one on our hands.

Jarrett and Angle fight hard and stiff, taking out their aggression on one another and whipping up a storm in the early going.

Beating each other up in and out of the ring, the two find themselves back on the outside after an intense spot over the ropes, where Angle clocks Jarrett with the ring bell, beats him with some stiff shots and slams him into the announce table, making the founder of TNA bleed profusely.

This one has erupted into a viciously brilliant match with lots of brawling, counter holds and spots, but ends with a victory for Angle, reversing a pin attempt after taking a Jarrett chair shot to claim the 1, 2, 3.
Your winner: Kurt Angle.

Part way through that last match, we saw Rhino arrive on the scene in a foul mood. At least we know he’s here, and he’s ready to fight for the title.

TNA World Heavyweight Championship: Sting (champion) vs. Rhino

TNA Genesis 2009 - Rhino vs. Sting TNA title match
After the Angle/Jarrett scrap, Sting and Rhino have a tough act to follow.

They try anyway, and though this is a decent encounter in its own right, it’s been spoiled somewhat by having that great match on before it. In the end, after a heated contest, Sting hits the Scorpion Death Drop for the win.
Your Winner and Still TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Sting

Finally, it’s time for the main event which marks the in-ring return of Hardcore Legend, Mick Foley.

But first, there’s some news. Kevin Nash was taken to hospital earlier in the day with a staph infection in his elbow (apparently all-real), and so they have a replacement…Cute Kip!?!

Good Lord!

Kip gets on the microphone and says that people shouldn’t let the Cute Kip gimmick fool people, he’s worthy of being in that match. He’s been a tag team champion, an Intercontinental champion and a Hardcore champion (yes mate, all in WWE!), and that he deserves to be in that match.

Six Man Tag: Mick Foley, AJ Styles & Brother Devon vs. TNA Legends Champion, Booker T, Scott Steiner and Cute Kip

All six men go at it in the early going before the match finally settles into your standard six-man, with Kip and Styles finally getting things going properly.

The match goes back and forth for a while before all hell breaks loose once more and the ref counts everybody out.

This brings Jim Cornette to the ring. Cornette says things don’t go down like that in Charlotte, North Carolina, and orders the match to be re-started.

Booker T tells Cornette that he doesn’t have the authority to do that, and Mick Foley agrees. He says Cornette doesn’t have the authority (way to undermine someone!), but he does, and it’s being restarted under hardcore rules!

A steel bin full of weapons comes into play (how convenient that it just happened to be there!), and we get some good hardcore action as the match builds to its finish, with Foley planting Steiner with his famous DDT for the win.
Your winners: Mick Foley, Brother Devon & AJ Styles







And that’s your lot, folks. The first wrestling pay per view of 2009 in the can.

Despite suffering from a thrown-together collection of combatants (Cute Kip in the main event) and a lack of originality (no less than three six-man/woman tag matches, only one of which served much purpose), the TNA wrestlers did the best with what they’d be given and made it somehow work.

Match of the night honours clearly went to Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett’s epic rematch, closely followed by the Sabin/Shelley clash which should lead to an interesting story between the two on further editions of TNA Impact.



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