Amazing Red vs. Chris Sabin vs. Alex Shelley vs. Suicide vs. Homicide vs. Daniels (Ultimate X; X-Division Title): ****1/4
Taylor Wilde & Sarita vs. Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne (Knockouts Tag Team Titles): *3/4
Eric Young vs. Kevin Nash vs. Hernandez (Legends Title): **1/2
Brother Ray & Brother Devon vs. Brutus Magnus & Doug Williams vs. James Storm & Robert Roode vs. Booker T & Scott Steiner (Full Metal Mayhem; TNA Tag Team Titles and IWGP Tag Team Titles): ****
ODB vs. Awesome Kong vs. Tara (Knockouts Title): **3/4
Bobby Lashley vs. Samoa Joe (Submission): **1/2
Abyss vs. Mick Foley (Monster's Ball): ***1/2
Kurt Angle vs. Matt Morgan: ***3/4
AJ Styles vs. Sting (World Title): **3/4
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Match of the Night: Ultimate X. Damn.
Trash of the Night: I honestly thought there was no trash tonight. If anything, I felt the Knockouts Tag Title match was too short and the ending to AJ/Sting was a little abrupt with the way they were going, but I can overlook those.
Three Stars: (1) All Ultimate X participants (especially Daniels because he landed in a sickly manner at the end and thought he was dead); (2) Kurt Angle; (3) Matt Morgan
Honorable mention to Daffney for another sick bump.
Analysis: The card, on paper, looked great. I was just concerned that, with the high number of matches for a 3-hour PPV (nine), I felt the quality would suffer.
First of all...HOLY CRAP the crowd is loud.
Ultimate X...wow. That's all I can really say. Amazing stuff.
The Knockouts Tag Title match was good for what it was. Entertaining and kept relatively short. I would have liked more time for it, but whatever.
The Legends Title match was better than I thought. Good stuff by Eric Young to steal the title.
Full Metal Mayhem was another winner. Everyone got involved and carnage ensued. Oh, and no one died. Kudos to Scott Steiner for all that offense.
The Knockouts triple threat was another match I did not have high expectations for. However, the match was very good. Awkward moment with Tara seemingly occupied with a fan and security (which stopped the match for a bit), but overall a fine match. ODB showed some awesome strength on Kong. Finish was awesome too. The Kong/Saeed split continues.
The Joe/Lashley match was also better than I thought. Great use of submission moves and counters.
Monster's Ball was a sick spotfest. We knew we'd get the blood, and Abyss got lacerated pretty good. Daffney took yet another sick spot (through the barbed wire bed), and Dr. Stevie got the tacks in a very entertaining match.
Angle/Morgan was one of my favorites. While Angle did prevail, Morgan was booked extremely strong.
AJ/Sting was a bit of a letdown (pointing to the finish), but the match delivered because it was Sting's home state and everyone was buzzing about whether Sting would hang them up.
So this means AJ/Angle is next? Woohoo!
Overall this PPV was the best TNA has put on this year, and definitely in my top five of the year. The crowd was red hot all night. The worst match was still very much watchable, and TNA's booking staff did an excellent job in giving matches the perfect amount of time. We had two four-star matches, two matches over three stars, and everything else was still consistently good. Hats off to TNA for a great PPV.
Overall Rating: ****
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