PPV REVIEW: TNA Final Resolution 2008

The Impact Zone, Florida,
December 7th, 2008

Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling’s final pay-per-view of the year was a let down of epic proportions. Whilst wrestling logic dictates that you use your TV shows to hype your big events, the ever-complicated TNA decided to flip things around and used Final Resolution as a huge plug for TNA Impact.

(NOTE: I originally wrote this review live at the time that TNA Final Resolution happened in 2008. I found a bunch of old reviews in my archives recently and decided to add them to RPW. This is one of them, hence the slightly different format from normal reviews on this site). 

Here’s what went down.

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Feast of Fired Match: LAX vs. Rock n Rave Infection vs. Motor City Machine Guns vs. Sonjay Dutt (with So Cal Val) vs. Jay Lethal vs. Curry Man vs. Consequences Creed vs. Shark Boy vs. BG James vs. Cute Kip. 

This is one of TNA’s over-complicated matches.

They call it ‘innovative’, I call it a mess.

The basic premise of this one is that four briefcases are hung from poles in the corners of the six-sided ring. Three of the four cases contain championship shots, whilst the fourth contains a nasty note telling the owner that they’re fired. The guys involved brawl around the ring, grab a case and can only lay claim to it if they land, case in hand, with both feet on the floor.

With a number of talented people involved, you’d imagine that this could potentially turn into a good match, or at least a decent spot-fest.

Instead, it’s a messy, uncoordinated affair that fails excite, or even entertain.
Your winners: Homicide, Hernandez, Curry Man, Jay Lethal

In the post match, there’s a bit of a kerfuffle as Jeremy Borash tries to congratulate the four case winners.

He’s pestered by the Motor City Machine Guns, who are annoyed that Jay Lethal got the floor with the case they pulled down. Seemingly, they thought that landing in the ring with the case was sufficient.

What’s more, Jay’s case is opened on the spot and contains a TNA World Tag Team Title shot.

As for the other three, well, we have to wait until Impact for that one! So after fans have paid their hard earned money for this event, they have to wait until a free television show to get the pay off from this match.

Ridiculous!

Backstage, Lauren is with Sharmell, The Beautiful People & Kip James.

Angelina Love and Velvet Sky cut another of their uber-annoying promos, this time made worse by the addition of Sharmell in their fold.

They go on their usual spiel about being better than everyone else, before ‘Sarah Palin’ calls Angelina and says she’ll be coming to the Impass [sic] Zone.

Knockouts Six-Woman Tag Match: Sharmell and The Beautiful People vs. ODB, Roxi and Taylor Wylde. 

As tag matches go, this one is pretty decent.

It’s hardly spectacular and certainly isn't the best match on the card, but it’s entertaining enough. Sharmell avoids any action for the most part until ODB finally gets her in the ring. The look on Booker T’s wife is priceless as she stands like a deer caught in the headlights in the middle of the ring before ODB chases her backstage.

With the action still going on in the ring, Angelina Love somehow defeats herself by nailing Taylor with a flying crossbody, only for Taylor to roll on top of her and get the win.
Your winners: ODB, Roxi and Taylor Wylde.

TNA X-Division Championship: Sheik Abdul Bashir © vs. Eric Young

Things start to get better here as Bashir and Young enter into a solid performance.

The only downside to this match is that it’s officiated by Shane Sewell, the wannabe-wrestler who has a problem with the X-Division champion.

Sadly, the announcers spent more time talking about how great the referee was for being unbiased than how good the two athletes were, and when Sewell got involved to help Eric Young win the match, not only was it not surprising, it was a bit naff as well.
Your Winner and new X-Division Champion: Eric Young

In the post-match, Bashir batters Young and Sewell with the title, then runs off with it before Jim Cornette comes out and takes it off him.

I guess Young won’t be the champ for long this time, either.

TNA Knockout Women’s Championship Match: Awesome Kong © vs. Christy Hemme.

This could’ve been a good match had it been allowed time to develop. Instead, it was cut short with a really confusing end.

For the most part,  Awesome Kong dominated her smaller foe until Christy Hemme finally made a comeback with simple DDT. For some reason, this caused enough concern for Kong’s manager, Raisha Saeed, to rush in and interfere, thus costing Kong the match by DQ but allowing her to retain her title.

What? Kong spent the best part of the match in control but as soon as she gets hit with one single move she needs help?
Your winner by Disqualification: Christy Hemme (Awesome Kong retains the title) 

We get a brief respite from the action as we go backstage where Jeremy Borash interviews Kurt Angle.

Kurt gives a great speech about his obsession with facing Jeff Jarrett and his upcoming match against Rhino.

TNA World Tag Team Championship: Beer Money Inc  © (with Jacquelyn) vs. Abyss & Matt Morgan

This one took forever to get going, with Robert Roode and James Storm trying to get out of the match only to get chased back by Abyss and finally ordered to wrestle by the referee.

However, when it did get going, it turned into a great little match. Storm and Roode have developed themselves as a fantastic tag team, and it was largely thanks to their efforts that this match turned out so good, despite a rubbish finish in which Storm used some brass knuckles for the win.

It’s watching this match where this writer starts to think he’d pay anything to see Beer Money Inc take on his other favourite tag team, The Miz & John Morrison.
Your Winners and still TNA World Tag Team Champions: Beer Money Inc. 

After the match, the Motor City Machine Guns head to the ring.

They say they’re not going to move until Mick Foley comes out and gives them back the TNA World Tag Team Title shot that Jay Lethal ‘stole’ from them.

Instead, Jim Cornette comes out and says that Foley has more important things to worry about (which pretty much means ol’ Jim has been demoted to Foley and Jarrett’s lackey).

He then says he’s going to fetch security, which is the cue for Suicide to make his debut, swooping down from the rafters and cleaning house in a segment that would be pretty cool if it wasn’t for the fact that Suicide’s attire looks dreadful!

Backstage, Rhino is interviewed by Lauren, and talks about how he’s going to beat up Kurt Angle. That match is next.

Rhino vs. Kurt Angle (with Mick Foley as special guest enforcer)

Though hardly his best effort, Kurt Angle nonetheless delivers the goods here as he and Rhino work a good, entertaining match that builds up slowly and really gets the crowd involved.

Towards the end, the ref gets squashed in the corner, which in wrestling is always, without fail, a clear sign that something untoward is going to happen.

In this instance, Mick Foley gets in the ring to take over referee duties when he is confronted by none other than old friend, Al Snow.

Mick leans out of the ropes to tell Al that they’ll talk later as he’s in the middle of a match.

 Al then gives the Hardcore Legend the weakest looking slap of all time, distracting him just long enough to allow Angle to do something or other and make the cover whilst the announcers try to convince us that Snow travelled all the way to Florida just to slap Mick Foley after the wrestler-turned-author made a joke about Snow in one of his books several years ago.

Yeah, right!

Foley then delivers the final three count to conclude a stupid finish to an otherwise top match.
Your Winner: Kurt Angle (Kurt gets to face Jeff Jarrett at Genesis). 

Backstage, Jeremy Borash interviews the TNA Front Line.

JB asks AJ Styles if he and Samoa Joe can trust Team 3D. Styles shouts at the man with the mic and says he trusts them like brothers, and that they’ll they be bringing home the TNA World Heavyweight Championship tonight.

Let’s find out, shall we?

TNA World Heavyweight Championship 8-Man Tag Match: TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Sting, TNA Legends Champion, Booker T, Kevin Nash and Scott Steiner vs. AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Team 3D.

Only in TNA could you have something as daft as an eight man tag team match for a singles championship. Yet surprisingly, this heated battle between the Main Event Mafia and the TNA Front Line evolves into a pretty good contest.

Strangely, that isn’t the most surprising thing about this match.

No, that honour goes to the fact that the heel turn by Brother Rey and Brother Devon that this critic deemed so inevitable, never happened.

Instead, we get lots of good back and forth action, with the Main Event Mafia getting the upper-hand and Sting saving his own title with a Scorpion Death Drop on Samoa Joe for the win.
Your Winners: The Main Event Mafia (Sting retains the title)

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Though Final Resolution did get much better towards the end, with the main event, Angle v. Rhino, and a thrilling tag team title match saving the day, there was too much on this card that really bogged it down. 

With some stupid ideas, over-complicated stipulations and an abundance of stuff that served no other purpose than to promote TNA Impact, Final Resolution failed to give fans their money’s worth. 

And as the group’s final pay per view of the year, it’s a shame that this will be the lasting impression of TNA in 2008 when everybody knows they can do much better.

Let’s hope they do just that in 2009!

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I'm slowly working my way through publishing the rest of my TNA reviews from 2008. Until I get round to publishing more, you can also check out: 

• TNA Turning Point 2008 

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