PPV REVIEW: TNA Bound For Glory 2009

Sunday, October 18th, 2009
Irvine, California

On Sunday, October 18th, 2009, TNA wrestling presented their biggest pay per view event of the year, Bound for Glory.

As the company's equivalent of Wrestlemania, Bound for Glory 2009 saw the culmination of a number of the biggest rivalries in TNA.

(NOTE: This review was written at the time of TNA Bound for Glory's broadcast in October 2009. I found this along with other TNA reviews in my archive recently and decide to report them to RPW) 

Here's what went down.

Zack Wylde played the American National Anthem.

It's true; the Black Label Society founder opened the show with a heavy metal rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Those fans who weren't desperately trying to look sincere in their displays of patriotism simply looked around, confused.

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X-Division Championship Ultimate X Match: Amazing Red defended the X-Division Championship against Chris Sabin, Alex Shelly, Suicide, Homicide and Daniels.

Nobody wasted a second in tearing into each other in the X-Division's trademark fast and furious style.

The Motor City Machine Guns, Shelly and Sabin, were the stars in the early going, even if one or two of their spots did make that all important suspension of disbelief somewhat difficult.

The grand finale of this exciting spot-fest came when Daniels and Suicide climbed high above the ring atop the steel structure for a dramatic exchange of blows. Fans watched with bated breath as the two hung on nervously before making a sickening drop that left Christopher Daniels legitimately hurt.

In the ensuing bedlam, Amazing Red was able to capture his belt and retain the title.
Your Winner and still X-Division Champion: Amazing Red

As the ring crew worked to disassemble the Ultimate X structure, the show went to the back for a couple of interviews.

Lauren interviewed The Beautiful People

Flanked by Madison Rayne and Lacey Von Eric, Velvet Sky vowed to capture the Knockout Tag Team Titles whilst Madison insisted that the only reason The Beautiful People failed to do so last time was that they weren't ready.

JB interviewed Taylor Wilde and Sarita

Responding to The Beautiful People's comments, TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions, Taylor Wilde and Sarita promised to win their upcoming match.

TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship: Taylor Wilde and Sarita defended against Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne (with Lacey Von Eric)

Before this one could begin, Lacey Von Eric did her best to seduce the referee, hoping to get him on the side of The Beautiful People. Having none of it, Earl Hebner raced to the ring, snogged Lacey and sent her packing.

When the match finally did begin, it was a short, explosive affair in which the two teams traded the advantage until Wilde hit a German suplex on Madison to pick up the win for her team.
Your Winners and still TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions: Taylor Wilde & Sarita

Backstage, Eric Young and Kevin Nash  cut a decent promo discussing their upcoming Triple Threat match against Hernandez.

TNA Legends Championship: Kevin Nash defended against Eric Young and Hernandez

This basically evolved into a passable handicap match, with Nash and Young working together and Hernandez struggling to overcome the odds.

The twist came at the end, when Young double-crossed 'Big Sexy' by using Hernandez as a battering ram to take out the legend's champion and take his title.
Your winner and NEW TNA Legends Champion: Eric Young

Backstage, tensions were rife between The British Invasion, Beer Money and the team of Scott Steiner and Booker T. All three teams argued, until; the Brits proved to be an unlikely voice of reason and urged everyone to concentrate on taking out Team 3D.

TNA Tag Team Championship and IWGP Tag Team Championship Full Metal Mayhem match: TNA Tag Team Champions Scott Steiner and Booker T vs. IWGP tag team champions The British Invasion vs. Beer Money vs. Team 3D

Both TNA's tag team title and their New Japan Pro Wrestling equivalent where on the line in Full Metal Mayhem; TNA's answer to your usual Tables, Ladders and Chairs match.

Surprisingly, it was Scott Steiner who impressed early in this contest; destroying everyone except for Team 3D (who were taken out at the start) with a number of suplexes and even hitting a very cool top rope frankensteiner).

There was worse luck for his partner, Booker T, who injured his back and was carried out on a stretcher (don't expect to see Booker in TNA again).

The rest of the match was fairly entertaining, featuring cameos from Rhyno (who took out Team 3D), guitarist Zack Wylde (who was watching with the rest of the crowd and took out Brutus Magnus with a chair) and Rob Terry, who eventually helped Doug Williams to win a good match that could have been even better were it not for some timing issues and a lot of stalling.
Your Winners and new TNA Tag Team Champions: The British Invasion

TNA Knockouts Championship: ODB defends her title against Awesome Kong and Tara.

All three women went at it from the opening bell and before long this Knockouts championship bout had grown into a decent match.

Following several minutes of well put together action, Tara found herself in an altercation with a woman at ringside (it was Kim Couture, apparently setting up some MMA angle between the two), and then stormed off.

After leaving Awesome Kong as the sole challenger to tackle champion ODB, Tara returned after several minutes only get destroyed by Kong. Raisha Saeed arrived and insisted that Kong used a chair to pin the champion. Kong refused and it cost her, as ODB retained the gold.
Your Winner and still TNA Knockouts Champion: ODB 

In the back, The Blueprint Matt Morgan discussed his history with Kurt Angle, leading to their match later in the show.

Submission match: Samoa Joe vs. Bobby Lashley

Lashley came to the ring with his ribs heavily bandaged to take on Samoa Joe in a match billed as MMA vs. TNA.

Despite playing the babyface role, Bobby Lashley's every move was met with a loud chorus of boos as the California crowd got firmly behind Samoa Joe in a reasonably entertaining bout. It would have been all the more entertaining were the crowd not so vehemently against Bobby; effectively killing off his super hero come back and rendering the whole point of the match rather useless.
Your winner: Bobby Lashley

Backstage, Mick Foley reminded JB of all the sacrifices he'd made to make a name for himself, and insisted that if Abyss wanted to overshadow the Hardcore Legend's achievements, he would have to do it himself.

A terrific video package followed, detailing the story between Foley and Abyss.

Monster's Ball match: Mick Foley vs. Abyss (with Dr. Stevie as the special guest referee)

The Monster's Ball moniker may just be a way for TNA to dress up your average hardcore match, but there was certainly nothing average about the sadistic bumps the two combatants took in this match.

Foley attacked as Abyss made his entrance and the two went for an early high spot when Foley climbed to the top of the entrance set and knocked Abyss off, sending the big man crashing through the stage.

What followed was a bloody, barbed wire fuelled brawl with plenty of high impact offence. Everything was going well, with both men taking some sickening bumps into the barbed wire, until Abyss slammed Stevie onto the tacks, knocking him out.

Daffney ran to ringside and handed Foley a tazer, which he used to take out Abyss. Mick then made the cover and a second referee ran out to make the count, however Abyss forgot to kick out, and the referee was forced to count to three, then pretend like it never happened. Needless to say, the crowd, this writer, and no doubt many watching at home, were none too happy about that little mishap.

A few minutes later, Abyss sent Daffney through the barbed wire (rumours are that Daffney broke her arm in that spot), covered Foley and used the hand of an unconscious Dr. Stevie to count the three.
Your Winner: Abyss

JB interviewed Kurt Angle backstage. The Olympic Gold Medallist promised to give Matt Morgan a lesson in respect when they met in the ring.

Kurt Angle vs. Matt Morgan

The two arch-rivals fought for respect in a largely disappointing effort by Angle's usually phenomenal standards. That's not to say this wasn't a fun match, but we've seen Angle deliver some true classics.

Sadly, this wasn't one of them.

The Olympic Gold Medallist dominated the bout before winning with a roll-up.
Your Winner: Kurt Angle

And now, time for the main event.

TNA World Championship: AJ Styles defended against Sting

Home-state hero and all-round wrestling legend Sting looked to dethrone his friend and protege AJ Styles in a good main event.

Early on, Tazz summed up this writer's thoughts that this symbolic passing of the torch encounter was reminiscent of watching Sting in his early days battling Ric Flair in the NWA/WCW.

It didn't quite go long enough to be the spectacular main event it could have been, but it was nonetheless a very good way to end a very good show.
Your Winner and still TNA World Champion: AJ Styles

Afterwards, AJ handed the spotlight to Sting. The Icon thanked the fans for their support and declared that he didn't know whether he'd be back in a TNA ring.

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Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling promote Bound for Glory as their biggest show of the year, their equivalent to Wrestlemania and the event that really showcases what TNA is really all about. In that respect, BFG 2009 was an enormous success. With not one bad match on the card, and most ranging from good to great, the in-ring action was mostly a joy to watch.

Match of the night honours go to the Full Metal Mayhem bout, which had a similar vibe as the opening Ultimate X contest but managed to deliver a multi-man spot-fest encounter in a much more believable fashion.

If TNA could just continue to deliver amazing cards like this, I'm sure they'd attract many more new fans.

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I'm slowly working my way through re-publishing all of my old TNA reviews from 2008 - 2009. For now, you can also read:

PPVS: 

• TNA Turning Point 2008 
• TNA Final Resolution 2008 
• TNA Genesis 2009 
• TNA Destination-X 2009 
• TNA Slammiversary 7 
• TNA Hard Justice 2009 
• TNA No Surrender 2009 

TNA Impact: 

• TNA Impact: January 15th, 2009 
• TNA Impact: January 22nd, 2009 
• TNA Impact: January 29th, 2009 

For more TNA, WCW, and WWE/WWF reviews follow Retro Pro Wrestling on Twitter or hit 'like' on the brand new Facebook page.

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PPV REVIEW: TNA No Surrender 2009

Sunday, September 20th 2009,
Orlando, Florida

With backstage issues surrounding Kurt Angle's real-life drama with Jeff Jarrett, Angelina Love's visa issues, and even Christopher Daniels' recent arrest, all threatening to overshadow their in-ring efforts, Total NonStop Action wrestling recently returned home to the Impact Zone for their latest pay per view offering, No Surrender.

(NOTE: This review was written at the time of TNA No Surrender's broadcast in September 2009. I found this along with other TNA reviews in my archive recently and decide to report them to RPW) 

Titles were defended, new champions were crowned, and bums were flashed, but here's what else went down.

TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship - Tournament final to Determine new champions: The Beautiful People (Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne) vs. Taylor Wilde and Sarita. 

This is what happens when you don't watch TNA Impact every week and rely on the Internet instead; you end up watching a pay per view without any idea what's going on.

Of course, your reporter is well aware that Angelina Love is no longer with the company due to issues with her work visa (it was the biggest story in the Internet Wrestling Community recently), but what doesn't make any sense is why Madison Rayne is now suddenly in Love's place. The last time I say Impact, Velvet Sky and her erstwhile partner were beating up Rayne every which way, so how they've ended up as best chums again is anyone's guess.

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Confusing partnerships aside, the four ladies turned out a short and sweet opening contest that was too short to really be either good or bad. Velvet Sky looked stronger than she ever has done, but sadly it wasn't enough to help her capture the gold as Madison Rayne lost the bout for her team after getting caught in a bridging German suplex by Wilde and drop kicked by Sarita.
Your Winners and new TNA Knockout Tag Team Champions: Taylor Wilde and Sarita

After the bout, the new champions were interviewed by Lauren and vowed to hold on to the belts for a very long time in a very awkward looking promo.

Eric Young vs. Hernandez

Prior to this contest Eric Young, dressed in a suit and flanked by members of his World Elite faction, announced that he would not fight Hernandez. Instead, he was holding out hope that Super Mex would join him in the 'Elite team.

Hernandez however, had other plans, and quickly disposed of his Canadian rival. Several clotheslines and a Border Toss were all it took for the big man to win a very confusing match; why should anyone cheer for Hernandez when all he did was beat up someone who refused to fight back?
Your Winner: Hernandez

Heading to the back, Jeremy Borash interviewed Matt Morgan. The 'DNA of TNA' cut one of his finest promos to date, declaring that the main event would be all about him and Kurt Angle. He says that 'the future is now', and the future, not surprisingly, is Matt Morgan.

TNA X-Division Championship Match: Samoa Joe defends against Daniels

Daniels and Samoa Joe have had many incredible matches during their history together, and whilst their No Surrender effort didn't quite live up to any of those, it was still nonetheless a good, enjoyable match.

The two former friends turned bitter rivals battled back and forth in an early contender for match of the night which was only let down by the knowledge that they could have done even better. Following a hard-fought contest, 'The Fallen Angel' finally succumbed to the Kokina Clutch, allowing Joe to retain.
Your Winner and Still TNA X-Division Champion: Samoa Joe.

Heading to the back once more, cameras caught up with Jeremy Borash and Mick Foley.
The 'Hardcore Legend' was furious that somebody had ripped up a caricature painting of himself and Borash.

Apparently he was very serious, but it came across as little more than a joke. Heading back to the arena, Tazz summed up what most of us were probably thinking about the whole thing, "it's just a cartoon."

Next, D’Angelo Dinero was interviewed by Lauren. After cutting an entertaining promo, 'The Pope' was interrupted by Suicide and their 'Falls Count Anywhere Match', a bonus addition to the pay per view, was underway.

Falls Count Anywhere Match: 'The Pope' D'Angelo Dinero vs. Suicide

The two battled backstage and strung together a series of interesting spots with some good brawling. Part way through the match, Suicide pulled down his opponent's trunks, leaving Dinero to wrestle half the match with his backside showing.

It was a decent match between the two which was only ruined by Mike Tenay and Tazz using the time to joke amongst themselves rather than calling the action. That aside, this was pretty fun to watch until Suicide fell through a table and killed himself, allowing Dinero to pick up the pinfall.
Your Winner: D'Angelo Dinero 

Following a quick video package to hype it, we moved on to the battle of the sexes.

TNA Knockouts Championship Match: Cody Deaner vs. ODB for the vacant title

Heading into this pay per view, your writer was all ready to slate this as a terrible match, but it was surprisingly a lot of fun.

Played mostly for comic effect, with referee Andrew Thomas even getting involved and siding with ODB, this was the best match you could have hoped for between the two. Before too long, ODB got the better of the self-proclaimed 'King of the Knockouts' and captured the vacant title thanks to a fireman's carry cutter.
Your Winner and NEW TNA Women's Knockout Championship: ODB 

After the match, ODB celebrated her win during a quick interview with Lauren in which she gave thanks to 'All [her] fans in prison'.

Cameras then moved to Jeremy Borash standing by with Kurt Angle.

The TNA World Heavyweight Champion told Borash that Matt Morgan would never live up to his potential and that AJ Styles' fairytale ending would not take place tonight.

$50,000 Bounty / TNA Legend Championship Match: Kevin Nash defends against Abyss

With Mick Foley joining Tazz and Tenay on commentary, 'The Monster' Abyss looked to capture the TNA Legends championship whilst Nash hoped to claim the $50,000 bounty placed on the head of his opponent by Dr Stevie.

The result was a good, hard-hitting brawl between the two behemoths that got off to a slow start before rattling towards an exciting finale which saw Stevie, Dafney and a taser getting involved. To wrap things up, Nash zapped Abyss in the goolies with the taser to win the match.
Your Winner and still TNA Legends Champion: Kevin Nash 

Afterwards, Dr. Stevie climbed into the ring to get his bag of cash back. Not surprisingly, Nash was none too thrilled about this and delivered a powerbomb before leaving with the money.

Lethal Lockdown Match: Beer Money (Robert Roode & James Storm) vs. The British Invasion (Brutus Magnus & Doug Williams) vs. Team 3D vs. Scott Steiner & Booker T

Before this match, Jeremy Borash interviewed Booker T and Scott Steiner.

In the biggest display of hypocrisy ever displayed on a wrestling show, Scott Steiner cut a barely coherent promo on the British Invasion, even going so far as to say "If you don't speak our language, get the hell out of our country." Whether or not that was supposed to be so hilarious was never quite made clear.

Yet what Steiner and Booker T lacked in delivering a sensible promo, they more than made up for in the ring as the Lethal Lockdown contest barely scraped past the earlier X-Division bout to claim match of the night honours.

Everyone worked hard to deliver a great match, but it was Beer Money who were particularly outstanding and rightfully earned their victory following a tremendous showing.
Your Winners: Beer Money 

Going backstage, Lauren interviewed a seriously angry Rhino. 'The War Machine' gave a strong, intense performance on the microphone and promised to destroy MMA 'star' Bobby Lashley in their upcoming match.

Rhino vs. Bobby Lashley 

Despite their best efforts, this came across as one of the weakest matches on the card. Both men tried hard, but with no real story behind them, it was hard for anyone to care.

After Rhino hit a gore and the ref took a bump, Lashley ripped off Big Show's Big Fist of Doom to win the match. Now, if Lashley was just going to use that as his finisher, why didn't he just come straight out and punch Rhino right off the opening bell instead of mucking about first? It's the same criticism your writer has of The Big Show; having a punch as a finishing move is just silly.
Your Winner: Bobby Lashley

Backstage once more, Jeremy Borash interviewed AJ Styles and Sting about their role in tonight's main event.

TNA World Heavyweight Championship: Kurt Angle defends against Matt Morgan, Sting, AJ Styles and Hernandez

As the four advertised competitors (Angle, Morgan, Sting and AJ Styles) were being introduced by Borash, Hernandez' music hit and he made his way to the ring looking to cash in his Feast or Fired briefcase.

Thus, the four-way battle for the biggest prize in the company turned into a five way, though Super Mex really seemed surplus to requirements and was quickly taken out by Eric Young.

That left the original four to carry the bulk of this good main event. The tensions between Angle and Morgan finally exploded whilst Sting and Styles played up their current storyline and finally got the better of the other two combatants.

The end came when Styles and Sting stood over a prone Kurt Angle in the middle of the ring. Sting left to take care of Morgan on the outside, allowing AJ to hit an impressive 450 splash from the middle of the ropes, landing squarely on Angle and pinning him for the one, two, three.
Your Winner and NEW TNA World Heavyweight Champion: AJ Styles

As confetti flooded the Impact Zone, fans flocked to the ring to celebrate with the new champion and his old friend, Christopher Daniels.

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From an in-ring standpoint, TNA Wrestling's No Surrender pay per view was a good show. Even though not every match was first class, none were particularly dreadful and certainly made for an enjoyable event. Yet what really hampered this from being anything more than 'good' were the usual strange and illogical plot points and strange booking decisions.

AJ Styles as the new champion was the right move in this writer's mind and should go a long way to appeasing those fans who complain that the company never gives the younger stars a chance to shine. Hopefully, 'The Phenomenal' one will keep hold of the belt for some time, possibly even bringing the Main Event Mafia to an end during that time.

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I'm slowly working my way through re-publishing all of my old TNA reviews from 2008 - 2009. For now, you can also read:

PPVS: 

• TNA Turning Point 2008 
• TNA Final Resolution 2008 
• TNA Genesis 2009 
• TNA Destination-X 2009 
• TNA Slammiversary 7 
• TNA Hard Justice 2009 

TNA Impact: 

• TNA Impact: January 15th, 2009 
• TNA Impact: January 22nd, 2009 
• TNA Impact: January 29th, 2009 

For more TNA, WCW, and WWE/WWF reviews follow Retro Pro Wrestling on Twitter or hit 'like' on the brand new Facebook page.

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PPV REVIEW: TNA Hard Justice 2009

Sunday, August 16th, 2009
Orlando, Florida

With the Main Event Mafia’s stranglehold on the company still as strong as ever, Eric Young’s World Elite faction adding further dissension amongst the roster and The Blueprint Matt Morgan heading to the main event, the stars of TNA look to settle scores and end wars as Hard Justice comes live from the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida.

(NOTE: This review was originally written at the time that TNA: Hard Justice originally aired in August, 2009. I found a bunch of my old TNA reviews in my archives recently and wanted to share them on RPW, so here we are.) 

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Here’s how this one went down:

X-Division #1 Contender's Steel Asylum Match: Suicide vs. Chris Sabin vs. Amazing Red vs. Alex Shelley vs. Jay Lethal vs. Daniels vs. Consequences Creed vs. Dinero

The good thing about these multi-man X-Division matches is that you always know more or less what to expect; a bunch of crazy spots strung together some exciting aerial action all set to the usual soundtrack of ‘This is Awesome!’ chants.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that; there are very few better ways to get a crowd pumped up and ready for the show by throwing together your most innovative-yet-underutilized wrestlers into a thrilling spotfest.

And that’s exactly what this is; a fun and exciting spotfest which comes to a close when Daniels escapes the confines of the cage to win the contest.

Oh, and for those of you paying attention at home, Dinero is none other than former WWE could-have-been, Elijah Burke.
Your Winner: Daniels

In the post-match, Daniels gives a strong performance on the microphone as he makes his intentions clear; he’s coming after that X belt.

Cameras then head backstage, where Matt Morgan vows to capture the TNA World Heavyweight Title in his triple threat match against Sting and reigning champion Kurt Angle.

Bounty Match: Jethro Holiday vs. Abyss

Jethro ‘Remember when I used to be called Trevor Murdoch in WWE’ Holiday looks to claim the big reward offered by Dr. Stevie for the total annihilation of The Monster Abyss in a mediocre match.

Not surprisingly, he fails.

After several minutes of average action which really struggles to really crank it up a gear, Abyss lands the Black Hole Slam for the one, two and three.
Your Winner: Abyss

After the match, Holiday receives a telling off from Dr. Stevie, and responds in kind by decking him.

Battle for the Feast or Fired Brief Case: Rob Terry vs. Hernandez

Britain’s own Rob Terry puts the Feast or Fired briefcase containing a World Heavyweight Title shot on the line against crowd favourite Hernandez in a short and sweet squash match.

Prior to the opening bell, Hernandez takes to the mic to remind everyone of his Latin American heritage. Then, he takes out Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams and pins Big Rob in about two seconds.
Your Winner: Hernandez

Backstage, Lauren interviews Beer Money Inc. James Storm and Bobby Roode promise to halt the British Invasion.

IWGP Tag Team Championship Match: Beer Money Inc. vs. British Invasion (champions)

It’s always a pleasure to watch Robert Roode and James Storm compete, and tonight is no different as they challenge the team of Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams for New Japan Pro Wrestling’s version of the tag team titles.

With World Elite leader, Eric Young, on commentary and a brilliant chant from the crowd aimed at the Brits (which sadly can’t be printed!), the four men enter into a spirited performance before Young assists his stablemates in picking up the win.
Your Winners and Still IWGP Tag Team Champions: British Invasion

Feeling somewhat annoyed by all this, Beer Money beat everyone up in the post-match.

Backstage, Cody Deaner and ODB hype the next contest with a forgettable turn on the microphone.

TNA Knockouts Championship: ODB w/ Cody Deaner vs. Angelina Love (champion) w/ Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne

There probably isn’t a wrestling fan in the world who doesn’t enjoy watching the TNA Knockouts going at it in the six-sided ring.

Since the formation of the division, the likes of ODB, Awesome Kong and, of course, The Beautiful People have proven to be a breath of fresh air when it comes to women’s wrestling in the states; providing a viable alternative to the ‘smart, sexy and powerful’ (similarly, there probably isn’t a wrestling fan in the world who thinks that is a good strap-line) Divas of World Wrestling Entertainment.

Yet your writer is fairly confident that people would like them even more if they were just allowed to go at it in straight, no-nonsense wrestling matches without any complications or confusions.

As it is, this match is full of both, and it really detracts from an otherwise enjoyable spot of wrestling.

Perhaps it’s because I haven’t been paying much attention to Impact lately and have lost some of the story along the way, but it never seems to be made clear whether this is actually supposed to be a tag match, or whether it just happens to descend into one by way default.

Either way, some bodged interference from Madison Rayne allows Cody Deaner to get the roll up on Velvet Sky and we have a new Knockouts champion. Is it Deaner? Is it ODB? I honestly couldn’t tell you.

Your Winner and New TNA Knockouts Champion: Either Cody Deaner or ODB

Afterwards, the Beautiful People argue about who’s to blame for the loss. Love and Sky apparently decide it’s all Rayne’s fault.

X-Division Championship Match: Samoa Joe vs. Homicide (champion) 

These two have had some tremendous battles back in their Ring of Honor days, and not surprisingly they put on one of the best matches of the card thus far.

That’s not to say this a classic by any means, but it’s certainly an engrossing contest in which the smaller champion does his best to avoid being destroyed by his much larger challenger.

He doesn’t succeed, however, and Samoa Joe leaves the Impact Zone as your new TNA X-Division Champion.

Your Winner and New X-Division Champion: Samoa Joe.

Backstage, Kurt Angle invites himself into Matt Morgan’s dressing room. The Blueprint is less than thrilled about this, though when Angle promises him a spot in the Main Event Mafia on the provision that one of the two of them leaves with the strap, he seems happy enough.

TNA Tag Team Championship Falls Count Anywhere Match: Team 3D vs. Scott Steiner & Booker T

On paper, this match has everything you could ask for; four of the most celebrated tag team wrestlers going at it in a wild, arena-wild brawl for the gold.

In practice, however, it sadly fails to live up to expectations.

Sure, things start off strong, and it looks to be an exciting contest, but it just seems as though they were given too much time to kill and, as such, it’s very easy to lose interest about halfway through.

Things pick up towards the finish though, and following a double-pin, a look the video footage gives the nod to the Main Event Mafia boys.

Your Winners and Still TNA Tag Team Champions: Scott Steiner and Booker T. 

Backstage, TNA Legends Champion, Mick Foley, runs down the differences between himself and challenger, Kevin Nash.

TNA Legends Championship: Kevin Nash vs. Mick Foley (champion)

Given the advancing years of a champion and challenger who are both more or less past their prime, it’s surprising that this hard-hitting contest is much better than expected.

In a brutal bout with blood, barbed wire and chair-bashing galore, the two veterans battle back and forth before interference from Main Event Mafia girl, Traci Brooks helps Kevin Nash regain the gold.

Your Winner and New TNA Legends Champion: Kevin Nash 

In the post-match, the new champion continues his assault on Foley until, in a bizarre twist, Abyss runs out for the save.

Afterwards, in the back, Lauren interviews Sting, who hypes tonight’s main event.

TNA World Heavyweight Championship Triple Threat Match: Matt Morgan vs. Sting vs. Kurt Angle

It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the main event of the evening as young up-and-comer, Matt Morgan tries to overthrow the two veterans en route to being crowned new TNA World Heavyweight Champion.

Yet after battling his way through a good, but not great, match and working hard to prove that he deserves to be on the same level as Angle and Sting, The Blueprint, unfortunately, comes a cropper on the wrong side of a Kurt Angle chair shot and takes the pin from the Olympic Gold Medallist.

Your Winner and Still TNA World Heavyweight Champion:  Kurt Angle

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Despite all the criticisms levelled at TNA’s product, you have to give the group credit for knowing how to present a pay per view. 

A stacked card with a solid match-promo-match structure helps TNA’s PPV offerings to come across as big events which are above and beyond merely an extended edition of their Impact TV show. 

Yet all the wonderful presentation in the world can’t distract from the fairly lacklustre action.

None of the matches on tonight’s show were particularly bad, and even the confuddling Knockouts Championship match was saved by the fact that, well, it’s the Knockouts (seriously, devote the first hour of Impact to the Beautiful People playing chess, and your reporter would be just as happy), but almost all of them seemed to be lacking that certain special something you’d expect from a pay per view event. 

Which is a shame, because TNA really are not quite as bad as everyone makes out. Then again, they could be so much better. 

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I'm slowly working my way through re-publishing all of my old TNA reviews from 2008 - 2009. For now, you can also read:

• TNA Turning Point 2008 
• TNA Final Resolution 2008 
• TNA Genesis 2009 
• TNA Destination-X 2009 
• TNA Slammiversary 7 

For more TNA, WCW, and WWE/WWF reviews follow Retro Pro Wrestling on Twitter or hit 'like' on the brand new Facebook page.

Read More

PPV REVIEW: TNA Destination-X 2009

Sunday March 15th, 2009
Orlando, Florida.

This TNA review is from my archives. I'd found a bunch of old posts recently and decided to share them here on Retro Pro wrestling. 

By 2009, I had largely abandoned writing about TNA because their weekly Impact shows were becoming so infuriatingly awful.

Yet where the company did usually come into their own was on PPV. As such, I decided to give them one more shot with Destination-X.

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Man, was that ever a mistake.

Here’s what happened.

Six Woman Tag Match: Madison Rayne, Angelina Love & Velvet Sky vs. Roxxi, Taylor Wilde and The Governor.

The girls go at it in your straightforward women’s match which doesn’t take too long to get started, nor to finish.

Before your writer has time to stop wondering if there could possibly be a worse name for a female wrestler than The Governor, Taylor Wilde has a bridging German suplex on Madison Rayne and ultimately gets the win.
Your Winners: Roxxi, Taylor Wilde & The Governor.

There may be a lot wrong with TNA’s Knockouts division right now but, thankfully, that match isn’t one of them.

There is, however, a lot wrong with this next unsanctioned match.

Brutus Magnus vs. Eric Young

Young answers and does his best to save a pretty sloppy match against that bloke off Gladiators.

Unfortunately for all of us, EY ain’t no miracle worker, and despite his best efforts, he still can’t help Magnus looking as though he’s completely lost out there.

In the end, Bruti hits Tormentum (which is still the worst-looking finisher in all of pro wrestling in this writer’s opinion!) for the three count.
Your Winner: Brutus Magnus

As we set up for the upcoming Match of 10,000 tags, Sheik Abdul Bashir comes out to provide a bit of a distraction.

To wrap up a segment which achieves absolute zilch, Jim Cornette appears, tells Bashir that nobody likes him and we’re done.

Match of 10,000 Tacks: ‘The Monster’ Abyss vs. ‘The Blueprint’ Matt Morgan

Despite the terrible moniker, this could have been a very good, brutal and bloody brawl. Instead, it was a standard big-man bout with the added ‘on a pole’ stipulation and some drawing pins.

Not surprisingly, Abyss absorbs the inevitable tack-bump and thus loses the bout.
Your Winner: ‘The Blueprint’ Matt Morgan

As a fan, no matter how much you defend pro wrestling, you’ll always have moments when pro wrestling will repay you by providing something so bad that you’re embarrassed to sit and watch it. And if you haven’t had one yet, you sure will if you watch this next segment.

One night With ODB Finals

It’s hard to explain this one properly without an abundance of cursing, but let’s try. Basically, ODB has been holding a contest in which one lucky-fan gets to spend the night with her.

The three finalists are TNA wrestler, Shark Boy (and yes, watching somebody called Shark Boy is usually embarrassing enough!), some old bloke and Cody Deaner, who’s actually signed a contract with TNA, so you know who’s won this one.

Jeremy Borash hams it up as a host of a ‘Blind Date’ like segment. In the end, the whole thing is decided by the most cringe-worthy dance contest ever. Deaner wins. End of.

And yeah, that was bad, but things don’t get any better just yet.

TNA Knockouts Championship Match: Awesome Kong (champion) vs. Sojourner Bolt.

This is a disaster. OK, there have been worse matches, but it’s still pretty bad. Sojo comes across like she hasn’t a clue what she’s supposed to be doing when going on the offence, and even Kong isn’t all that on form.

Kong kills Sojo. Kong wins.
Your Winner and Still TNA Knockouts Champion: Awesome Kong. 

Hopefully, the in-ring return of Samoa Joe can pick things up a bit next.

Samoa Joe vs. Scott Steiner

Nope, it can’t.

Good Lord, Joe looks like some fat extra from a cruddy straight-to-DVD film about cannibals.

 It’s a far cry from the days when Joe was going to Kill you. Though, to be fair, in his new ‘look at me, I’m crazy violent’ gimmick, he is actually more likely to, you know, literally kill you.

For all intents and purposes, Scott Steiner is pretty much an after-thought in this match. He gets busted open in the early going then cracked with a lead pipe to win via disqualification.
Your Winner by disqualification: Scott Steiner.

In the post-match, Samoa Joe beats on Scott Steiner some more as they go into the crowd to finish a pretty naff match.

Then, after a quick promo from ‘The Phenomenal’ AJ Styles, it’s on with his match.

TNA Legends Championship: Booker T (champion) vs. AJ Styles

Hurrah! Finally, we get a quality match! Booker T stops being a lazy so-and-so and actually puts some effort in here, though it’s still AJ Styles who really makes this one stand out.

After all the pap on this card, Styles and Booker deliver the goods, and this one wraps up with a great finish culminating in AJ hitting the Styles Clash for the pin.
Your Winner and new TNA Legends Champion: AJ Styles

Before we get to the next match, we get the most ridiculous thing ever.

Backstage, Samoa Joe has gone banana. He’s got his big knife, and it’s got Scott Steiner’s blood on it. Next, he says, he’s going to go slice and dice the rest of the Main Event Mafia.

There’s so many things wrong with this that it would take an age to talk about, so let’s just shake our heads in disapproval and move on, shall we?

TNA Tag Team Title Off The Wagon Challenge Match: Beer Money Inc. (champions) vs. Team 3D

This could be a very good match were it not for the silly ‘Off the Wagon’ stipulation (which essentially means that should the challengers lose cleanly, they’re out of a job) and pointless, over-complicated booking.

All four men do what they do and do it well. The cowardly James Storm gets his team disqualified but Jim Cornette re-starts it, only for Beer Money Inc. to then get counted out.

Why bother?
Your Winners by Count-Out: Team 3D (Beer Money retain the titles)

If you were thinking of tuning out and this point and doing something productive instead, nobody could blame you.

That said, you would be missing out on one cracking match that comes next.

TNA X-Division Ultimate X Match: Alex Shelley (champion) vs. Chris Sabin vs. Suicide vs. Jay Lethal vs. Consequences Creed

Now, this is what it’s all about! This is by far the best match of the night; a supreme spot-fest of the finest calibre.

It matches like these for which the chant That was Awesome! was coined.

If you want to see a match steeped in storytelling and that all-important ring psychology, there are better matches out there for you, but if you want to see a bunch of talented chaps doing some pretty cool stuff, check this one out.

This isn’t the best X-Division match ever, and there’s certainly room for improvement, but after such a shoddy show so far, it’s a much welcome relief.

In the end, Suicide performs a mad leap off the scaffold, grabs the X belt and is your new champ’.
Your Winner and New X-Division Champion: Suicide

That match was a lot of fun. Shame it resulted in a guy who looks like a wanker bagging the X strap.

TNA World Heavyweight Championship: Sting (champion) vs. Kurt Angle

This being TNA, we, of course, can’t have a straightforward singles match. Instead, we’ve got Jeff Jarrett as your Special Guest Referee and Mick Foley assuming his usual Special Guest Enforcer role (which means he’ll basically hang around until the ref’ gets taken out then make the final three count).

All the same, this transpires into a decent, if not superb, match with the usual shenanigans in the finish leading to Sting retaining.
Your Winner and Still TNA World Heavyweight Champion: Sting

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No! No! No! Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling’s 2009 Destination X pay per view was bad. It was wrong, it was rubbish and, if I dare say it, it was crap.

The bulk of the undercard was littered with subpar performances made all the more unwatchable thanks to illogical booking and nonsensical gimmicks. When you’ve got a guy running around with a knife and expect people to cheer for him, you know you’ve got problems.

And trust me, TNA have got a lot of problems.

---

I'm slowly working my way through re-publishing all of my old TNA reviews from 2008 - 2009. For now, you can also read:

• TNA Turning Point 2008 
• TNA Final Resolution 2008 
• TNA Genesis 2009 

For more TNA, WCW, and WWE/WWF reviews follow Retro Pro Wrestling on Twitter or hit 'like' on the brand new Facebook page.

Thanks for reading.

Read More

TV REVIEW: TNA Impact - January 22nd, 2009

Orlando, Florida

The journey between Genesis and Against All Odds got much more interesting on this week's edition of TNA Impact.

(NOTE: This review was originally written when the January 15th, 2009 episode of TNA Impact actually aired. I discovered a number of my old TNA posts in my archives recently and wanted to share them on RPW, so here we are.)

Here's what went down:

4-Way X-Division Championship Match: Alex Shelley (champion) vs. Chris Sabin vs. Sheik Abdul Bashir vs. Sonjay Dutt (with So Cal Val) 

You can always count on the X-Division to give you a good opening contest, and these four don't disappoint here.

As the match starts, Mike Tenay ponders whether Bashir and Dutt will work together to take out the Motor City Machine Guns and, to an extent, they do. But this is more than just a thinly-disguised tag match, with the 'Guns working up the crowd with some smooth chain-wrestling in the early going.

After a good match, Shelley retains his title with a nifty roll-up.
Your Winner and still TNA X-Division Champion: Alex Shelley

In the post-match, referee Shane Sewell is confronted by Sharmell. Apparently, Booker T wants to see Sewell and his naff beard in his locker room.

We then get a shot of three members of the Main Event Mafia making their way to the ring before cutting to the first of a hundred pointless promo videos.

Sewell Answers his Summons

Backstage in Booker T's extravagant dressing room, referee Shane Sewell is asked by the TNA Legends Champion to get behind the Main Event Mafia in tonight's Booker/Steiner vs. Young/Williams bout.

Shane remains non-committal; walking off without telling Booker whether he'll help or not.

A Death in the Family?

The Main Event Mafia come to the ring. Well, at least Kurt Angle, Scott Steiner and TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Sting do.

Once again, Angle gets on the microphone to talk about how good the 'Mafia are and how much they're like a family.

He then quashes Team 3D's hopes that we'll have Angle/Devon and Sting/Ray at Against All Odds. Though apparently, this upsets Sting.

 'The Icon' gives Kurt a telling off and tells him that nobody but Sting gets to decide who he does and doesn't wrestle.

With tension stinking up the air, TNA Management's Jim Cornette comes onto the stage and says that Angle is right; we won't have Angle/Devon and Sting/Ray at Against All Odds.

Oh no, instead we'll have a four-way match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. At the next pay per view, we'll see Brother Ray vs. Kurt Angle vs. Brother Devon vs. Sting for the belt.

Before leaving, Cornette wonders aloud whether Angle and Sting will be able to co-exist in that match. Hmm, I smell a break up for the Main Event Mafia.

Petey Gets Pumped

Backstage, Lauren is with 'Maple Leaf Muscle' Petey Williams.

Petey gives the usual spiel about how he's going to fight Scott Steiner. It's not a bad interview, but what really gets this writer is why, if Petey Williams now hates Scott Steiner, why on earth is he still dressing like him.

Live via Satellite.

Team 3D have been wrestling in Japan, where they've just captured New Japan Pro Wrestling's IWGP tag team titles. Mike Tenay congratulates the former Dudley Boys, before Don 'Oh My God Everything is So Exciting' West lets them know about their match at Against All Odds.

The Duds are fine with it. Either way, they get to put the hurt on the Mafia boys, and that's all that matters.

Sting Tells Off JB

We're back in the Main Event Mafia dressing room, where Sting tells Jeremy Borash that the 'Mafia are fine. It's a great piece of microphone work from Sting, which is only ruined by Scott Steiner giving a god awful promo against Petey Williams.

Knockouts Match: Sojourner Bolt vs. ODB

A pretty decent women's match that finally gets this ODB/Awesome Kong feud properly under way. ODB comes across as hugely popular, and her work here is a shining example as to why she deserves to be at the top of the Knockouts pecking order.

The end comes when TNA Women's Knockout Champion, Awesome Kong, followed by the Kongtourage run in and beat her up.
Your Winner by, presumably, disqualification: ODB

In the post-match, Roxxi and Taylor Wilde run down with weapons and save the day.

The Beautiful People's Revenge

Backstage, Lauren is with the fake 'Sarah Palin', who admits how much fun she had making fools of Angelina Love and Velvet Sky. That's when The Beautiful People absolutely beat the life out of her. And they probably would've done so quite literally had Cute Kip not beat up all the security guards who'd come to 'Palin's' aid, before making the girls stop.

Tag Team Elimination Match: The Main Event Mafia (Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner and Booker T, with Sharmell) vs. Show Time Eric Young and Maple Leaf Muscle Petey Williams.

This match is so one-sided it's so hard to know what it was supposed to achieve. In the early going, Steiner and Booker cut Eric Young off from his partner and beat him up until he's eliminated. Then, despite a fiery effort from Maple Leaf Muscle, the 'Mafia boys do the same to him and get the win in what can only be described as a squash match.
Your Winners: Scott Steiner and Booker T

After the match, Steiner and Booker get in the face of referee Shane Sewell. As you might have guessed, this causes ol' Naff Beard to do his 'God God, I'm Freaking Out!' routine and try to attack the Mafia. Of course, this backfires and he gets his backside handed to him by the 'Mafia.

I'm Sorry, Abby

After coming to blows with his 'best friend' last week, The Blue Print Matt Morgan comes to the ring to apologise to his partner, The Monster Abyss.

Abby (apparently that's Morgan's pet name for The Monster) accepts the apology and gets all excited, throwing his 'girlfriend' Lauren around with joy. With the two now back on the same page, it's time for them to rumble with Beer Money Inc. in a First Blood Match.

First Blood Match: The Blue Print Matt Morgan & The Monster Abyss vs. Beer Money Inc. (James Storm & Robert Roode with Jacqueline).

Of course, you know that any time you get Roode and Storm in the ring together, they're going to whip a storm no matter who their opponents. This match is no different, and even though I'm not convinced that a First Blood match is really necessary on free tv, it's still a good bout all the same.

The end comes when Matt Morgan reveals his earlier apology to be a rouse, busting Abyss wide open with a nasty chair-shot to give Beer Money the win and the Morgan/Abyss team the final kiss of death.
Your Winners: Beer Money Inc.

Afterwards, Morgan continues to beat the life out of Abyss, security guards, and anyone else who happened to get involved. It's a sick looking assault that leaves blood absolutely pouring out of the monster's head.

Abyss Freaks Out

After the break, we see security try to help Abyss. Instead, The Monster freaks out and destroys everything in his path.

JB Talks to Kurt Angle

This is the usual pre-match fight talk, with Kurt Angle telling Jeremy Borash that he's going to end AJ Styles' career tonight.

Tables Match: Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles

This revamped match comes in place of the scheduled Angle/Styles bout which was postponed last week and, as you've probably guessed, this is a sweet match. Despite the hardcore nature of a tables match, Styles and Angle get off to a pretty good wrestling match in the early going before building into a vicious brawl.

In the end, Styles misses a flying forearm and gets put through the table thanks to an Angle Slam.
Your Winner: Kurt Angle

In the aftermath, the Olympic Gold Medallist destroys the Phenomenal One's ankle before confronting the announce team, grabbing a microphone and says that tonight is the beginning of the end of TNA.

The Main Event Mafia are taking everybody out, one by one, starting from next week. It's a great segment to close the show with.

This week's TNA Impact was actually a really solid show. 
Even if the group do persist in cramming more pointless promo videos than actual wrestling into their show, when they do take it to the ring, they at least deliver the goods. 

As always, Angle and Styles stole the show, but there was good wrestling all-round tonight and things look as if they're going to get a lot more interesting in the war between the Main Event Mafia and TNA's unlucky Front Line, who so far have been booked to look like plebs.

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I'm slowly working my way through re-publishing all of my old TNA reviews from 2008 - 2009. For now, you can also read:

PPVS: 

• TNA Turning Point 2008 
• TNA Final Resolution 2008 
• TNA Genesis 2009 
• TNA Destination-X 2009 
• TNA Slammiversary 7 
• TNA Hard Justice 2009 

TNA Impact: 

• TNA Impact: January 15th, 2009 

For more TNA, WCW, and WWE/WWF reviews follow Retro Pro Wrestling on Twitter or hit 'like' on the brand new Facebook page.

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Thanks for reading.

Read More

PPV REVIEW: TNA Genesis 2009

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.

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.

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).

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

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

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

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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.

---

I'm slowly working my way through re-publishing all of my old TNA reviews from 2008 - 2009. For now, you can also read:

• TNA Turning Point 2008 
• TNA Final Resolution 2008 

For more TNA, WCW, and WWE/WWF reviews follow Retro Pro Wrestling on Twitter or hit 'like' on the brand new Facebook page.

Thanks for reading.

Read More

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 

For more TNA, WCW, and WWE/WWF reviews, follow Retro Pro Wrestling on Twitter or hit 'like' on the brand new Facebook page.

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