Ratings:
Rob Van Dam vs. Zema Ion (X-Division Title): **1/4
Samoa Joe vs. Magnus (TV Title): ***1/4
James Storm vs. Bobby Roode (Street Fight): ****
Joey Ryan vs. Al Snow: **
Hernandez & Chavo Guerrero vs. Christopher Daniels & Kazarian vs. AJ Styles & Kurt Angle (Tag Team Titles): ***3/4
Tara vs. Miss Tessmacher (Knockouts Title): *1/4
Aces & Eights vs. Sting & Bully Ray (No DQ): **
Jeff Hardy vs. Austin Aries (World Title): ****1/4
_______________
Reviews/Thoughts:
It's TNA's biggest PPV of the year, live from Phoenix! Tenay and Taz are seated at ringside. TNA's got the elevated ramp going again, instead of a true entrance ramp.
Appropriate to start with the X-Division Title. RVD faces Zema Ion. Crowd is red hot for RVD. Ion mocks RVD at the start, not a smart move. Nice counters by both guys here. RVD sells so well and isn't afraid to take legit shots to the face or head. RVD hit the five-star frog splash for the win. Just seemed a bit rushed here. Kinda wish they had a bit more time to book Zema a tiny bit stronger (as in make it appear Zema would truly retain with a finishing move). But hey, new champ. Title change probably also done to make RVD happy and give him incentive to stick around longer.
TV Title match next between Joe and Magnus. Former tag champ partners square off. Good mat wrestling to start. Pretty clear they developed quite the chemistry when working together. Crowd solid on this one. Nice STF and Rings of Saturn from Joe. Magnus goes for the figure four, but Joe catches him in the rear naked choke for the tapout. Awesome.
Time for the Storm/Roode street fight. Feud's lasted about a year. King Mo is the special outside enforcer and barely gets a pop. Hell, why do they even need a real ref? Just have King Mo wear the earpiece. Heck, he really just needs to count the fall or ask for the tapout anyway. Storm and Roode start in the ring for a bit, then it really spills to the outside. Storm into the steel post and blades. Storm puts the trash can on Roode's groin and smacks the can with the kendo stick. Nutshot! Hangman's DDT to Roode on the entrance ramp as Storm's face is a crimson mass. Tons of trash can lids and even a fan's crutch on the ramp. Spear from announce table and cracks the adjacent wooden table. Announce table has a glass top, by the way. They get back in the ring eventually, and Storm gets a comeback in. Last Call hits, but just two! No cheap win for Roode tonight. YES TACKS! Roode tossed into the tacks! Storm with elbow on Roode on the tacks! TWO! Tacks sticking out of Roode everywhere. Nutshot to Storm, hope there weren't any tacks on the forearm. Six pack of beer comes in. Nutshot to Roode. Storm takes the beer bottle and smashes it over Roode. Crowd wants one more. Storm picks Roode up and Last Calls him onto the tacks for three. Nice way to end this one. But why the hell was King Mo even needed? Just for PPV buys, I guess? He just stood around all that time.
Next up is Joey Ryan and Al Snow. Joey wins, he gets a roster spot. I wish Al Snow really brought his mannequin head to the ring. Al with the mind games at the start, showing his experience over Joey. Al shows he's still got it. Al found Head underneath the ring! Joey pushes Al into the ref. Aw, a kiss for Head by Joey. Matt Morgan through the crowd and decks Al with the Carbon Footprint. Al's out cold, and Joey gets three and a contract. Morgan and Joey shake hands, so there's a nice partnership there.
Morgan probably wanted to go to TNA but that whole WWE/TNA lawsuit thing really threw a wrench in that. So I guess it's a heel return for Morgan in TNA.
Triple threat tag title match next. Only two guys in the ring at the same time, other teams can tag in if they can. First pin or submission wins. Chavo's right shoulder has tape on it. Great sequence between Angle and Kaz/Daniels. Now that's wrestling. All hell broke loose from there. Sick hurricanrana from Kaz on Hernandez. Thought he busted his shoulder badly there. AJ with the springboard senton onto three guys after that. Spotfest! TKO (Kaz) and BME (Daniels) only TWO on AJ! Blind tag gets Hernandez in. Border Toss and Frog Splash, and we got new tag champs. Finally. Awesome match. Damn awesome.
Knockouts Title now. I like the mentor-student storylines because Tessmacher will get more comfortable working matches. Tessmacher barely gets a pop coming out; Tara got more of a reaction overall. Local radio personality got to ring the bell, woohoo. Tara with heel tactics to gain the upper hand. Top-rope leap into hurricanrana by Tessmacher. Not easy for the ladies to do on each other with all the force coming down on the shoulders. Tessmacher misses the elbow and Tara hits the Widow's Peak for three. Basically the teacher taking advantage of a rookie mistake. Nothing too special, but it was a passable match.
Tara teases the "Hollywood boyfriend" stuff on social media, how he's a big name. Oh, good grief. It's Jessie Godderz from Big Brother. All-natural pro bodybuilder. Well, at least he has the look to be a star. Now get those two a room.
Highlights played from the previous night's Hall of Fame Ceremony, where Sting became the first inductee. Lex Luger even made a cameo, which was awesome.
I about fell out of my chair seeing Bully Ray in face paint. Kinda looks like Road Warrior face paint material. Two guys bring a beaten down Joseph Park through the crowd and cuff him to the guardrail. No DQ, so all hell breaks loose. Not meant to be a wrestling match. The Spanish table is nuked some more. A&E gets the upper hand when Sting misses the Stinger Splash and eats the guardrail. Bully gets the hot tag and goes to town. Third A&E member low blows Bully and spits at Park. Park breaks free from the cuffs and nukes that third guy. Doomsday Device from Sting and Bully! Crowd going nuts as Sting calls for tables. A fourth A&E guy comes through the crowd and spinebusters Bully through the table for three. Flat ending, to be honest. Too deflating an ending for me.
Gang beatdown on Sting after the match. Hulk comes down to fight. They unmask the last A&E guy in the ring that cost Bully and Sting the match.
DEVON! So he reportedly was in on this "the entire time." Wow. Another guy likely given a new TNA role probably because he, like Morgan, also couldn't jump to WWE. I thought that had pretty good shock value. I think it's a good move as well for Devon because his face run was getting pretty bad. Too generic. Bully freshened his act as a singles star and got a nice push. Now it's time for Devon hopefully to do the same. Take advantage of the excellent mic skills Devon has so he can now be the voice/leader of a faction. Crowd with the "you sold out" chants.
World Title match gets the most time. Main event intros for Aries and Hardy. I like Aries as that cocky heel, although the crowd is actually behind Aries for the intros. Nice mat wrestling at the start. Hardy takes risks on the outside to dish out more punishment. When Aries got the upper hand, the crowd responded with LOUD split chants. I love that suicide dive from Aries. And we got a second one! Only two, though. Aries with a small cut (at least when compared to Storm's blade job). Last Chancery on Hardy, but Jeff to the ropes. Aries with a hangman's neckbreaker and Hardy's head flat out nails the edge of that ramp. Sick, sick bump there. Would be amazing if he had no concussion. Twist of Fate, but only two! Swanton countered. Aries with top-rope superhurricanrana! YES! Dropkick in corner, Brainbuster by Aries, ONLY TWO! WTF. Crowd loves it. Aries misses double foot-stomp in corner, Hardy counters into a stunner. Hardy with Twist of Fate and Swanton for three. New champ! Again, gotta make Hardy want to stay. Aries had a nice run, but I think now it's a good spot to really break back into the heel act.
_______________
TNA touts this as their biggest PPV of the year, and I thought they came through with flying colors. A lot of solid matches throughout the card. A lot of storylines culminated or got new twists in an attempt to generate more interest.
Yeah, it was clear Aces & Eights was winning, but I personally loved the Devon swerve as the man seemingly behind it all. He wasn't the talker from the start, but now that Aces & Eights has a recognizable face to serve as a reminder to the fans, this should get good. ***3/4
No comments:
Post a Comment