Monday, January 9, 2012

1/8/12 Genesis

Ratings:
Austin Aries vs. Kid Kash vs. Zema Ion vs. Jesse Sorensen (Four Corners Elimination; X-Division Title): ***1/2

Devon vs. D'Angelo Dinero: *1/2

Gunner vs. Rob Van Dam: *1/2

Gail Kim vs. Mickie James (Knockouts Title): **

Abyss vs. Bully Ray (Monster's Ball): ****

Matt Morgan & Crimson vs. Samoa Joe & Magnus(Tag Team Titles): **1/4

Kurt Angle vs. James Storm: ***1/2

Jeff Hardy vs. Bobby Roode (World Title): ***1/4
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Reviews/Thoughts:
As expected, the X-Division match started the night off. The two young guys (Sorensen and Ion) squared off first, with some impressive stuff. Kash and Aries did the sneaky veteran tactics with rollups. Nice tower of doom in the corner. Sorensen with a nice springboard helo on all three guys. Ion pinned Kash with the 450 for the first elimination. Loved it when Aries did a 450 on Sorensen, to Ion's shock. Only two, though, so Ion got a good laugh in. I guess Kash got out first because the other three have a more high-flying moveset to wow the crowd. Interesting spot where Ion kept complaining and distracting the ref while Aries and Sorensen coulda gotten pins on one another. Ion interfered and likely cost Sorensen the win. Awesome super brainbuster to end it. A very fun match here.

Devon's sons are in pimpin' Pope gear now for this storyline. Devon comes out in a rage for this one with Pope.  Have to admit, Devon's lost a bunch of weight since his absolutely jacked look (or was it also a bunch of fat?) from a while back. Pope beat down on Devon as Devon's sons look on in a torn state. Pope got them in the ring. The sons checked on their dad instead, so Pope got some shots in on them. Devon did the vintage Warrior rope shake...it's on now! Pope missed the DDE, Devon with a reverse suplex slam for three. So wait, this is how the storyline likely ends? Just a ridiculously short conclusion, if so. They couldn't have drawn this out a bit more? That's TNA booking.

Velvet Sky made her case to Sting to be VP of the Knockouts. The "Velvet Touch" debuts. Hmm.

Looks like RVD's last hurrah in TNA was at Genesis. Not a bad match here, since RVD got to do his high-flying stuff. Flair distracted the ref, and Gunner nailed a DDT on Van Dam. The whole "wheeled out on a stretcher" angle was done. Gunner gets another notch on his victim list, while RVD likely jumps to WWE for one more run.

I'm pleased that Mickie and Gail are going at it for the title. Two of the better female workers in TNA. Mickie with the silver-colored boots tonight. Velvet's Touch was basically a shark cage with colorful bars. Yup, the cage was obviously for Madison. Velvet tossed Madison in the cage and up it went! Good physical match, and the crowd was into it. Unfortunately, the finish was horrible. The crowd wasn't shy with their unfavorable opinion.

Monster's Ball fittingly started with dueling chairs. Oh, we got a cheese grater in there! Predictably, this one went to the back. Oh man, Janice (Abyss' favorite weapon) returned! Beds of barbed wire! Abyss' arm into the barbed wire...and he's bleeding (duh). The mesh bags! Tacks and glass! Oh but first the cheese grater! OW, right to Bully's nether region! The look on his face is absolutely priceless. Chokeslam through the table only got two! WTF, a Rock Bottom from Bully on the bed of barbed wire! OW, senton splash sandwiching Abyss between barbed wire boards! It got two and that was nuts. Chokeslam on the tacks!!!! Holy crap...and it only got TWO. WTF. This is damn good. Abyss arms are lacerated. Kendo stick shots from Bully...many of them. Black Hole Slam on the barbed wire board for three! Wow. That was plain awesome. Finally, Monster's Ball lives up to its name.

During the tag title match, Bully Ray beat Abyss up in the back. Good stuff to the end when Morgan got the hot tag. Hellevator from Morgan...hadn't seen that in a while. Suicide dive from Joe onto Crimson! Nice finish with the signature double chokeslam tag finisher. Pretty good here.

Angle/Storm next. Good buildup on this storyline. Crowd was into this one as well. Lots of back-and-forth action, great flow to this one (would you expect anything else in an Angle match?). Did Storm just use an RKO/Diamond Cutter move?! It only got two, damn. See, this apparently is what happens when Angle doesn't like people stealing moves from active pro wrestlers. Similar moves HBK would use...the top-rope elbow from Storm, then the superkick. Angle with the dirty tactics. Ref pulled in front, low blow, and Angle's version of a superkick for three. Great stuff here, but just misses the four-star mark for me.

World title match was the main event. Roode, of course, slowed things down when he was in control. Roode tried to escape and get counted out, to no avail. Cheating and hitting a fisherman's suplex didn't work. Hardy hit what looked more like a stunner than a Twist of Fate. Whisper in the Wind for two! Again Roode tried to escape. Hardy chucked him back in the ring. Roode missed the belt shot in front of the ref, Hardy went for a Twist of Fate but the ref got involved because he didn't want Roode's face planted on the title. Ref moved the belt away, Roode tried to cheat to win again but the ref caught Bobby. Roode kicks the ref in the nuts to save his title. Good for heel heat, but seriously? Think of the viewers as well, TNA. Who'd want to pay to see the next PPV if we get that type of a finish?

Hardy looked real good in the world title match. Looks like things are going well in his latest comeback. He was flying around, hitting his usual high-risk moves and playing to the crowd. Hoping that brother Matt conquers his own demons so I can see both Hardys on TV again. They were both cool when I took a photo with them last year at a TNA event in Salem.

This was a solid PPV, more so than others I've seen in recent times. ***1/2

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