My TNA Monthly Catch-up, Feb - Mar 07

Yep, it's catch up time again. This is my review of the TNA Impact shows and this months PPV. I call it how I see it, the only bias is mine. My reviews vary from everyone else's, I won't go into the minutae of the show and If I think something is b**ls**t I won't even mention it, hence some reviews are shorter than others.

Impact 15th Feb 07 - The show opens with Scott Steiner boring us on the mic. Kurt Angle gives us a few words too. Angle puts the hurt on Steiner, Cage & Tomko but is outnumbered. He's saved from a beatdown by Samoa Joe & the rest of the locker room.

LAX vs Sharkboy & Norman Smiley. You knew where this was going before the bell rang. Predictable win for LAX.

Armwrestling match - Gail Kim vs Jackie Moore. Kim wins (surprisingly) and the post match cat fight is much better entertainment. Petey Williams saves Kim from a double team and Chris Harris saves him.

14 man gauntlet match. Sting & AJ Styles start it off. Rhyno joins them a minute later. During the break James Storm, Chris Sabin & Kip James entered the match (yes, they had a commercial break during a match, stupid, isn't it?) with Abyss next in and he eliminates Sabin. Kurt Angle is next in and he eliminates James Storm. Tomko is next in and he eliminates Styles & Rhyno. Samoa Joe is next in and he eliminates Kip James. During another break Robert Roode, BG James and Eric Young joined the match, last man in is Scott Steiner who eliminates BG James. Samoa Joe eliminates Abyss. Steiner eliminates Angle, Sting throws out Roode and is thrown out himself by Steiner. Tomko exits Eric Young. Joe hip tosses Steiner out from the apron and Joe takes the win from Tomko with the Muscle Buster.

Impact 22nd Feb 07 - AJ Styles comes out to bore us on the mic. LAX vs Team 3d (with big cousin Steve) in some sort of leather strap lumberjack style match., Team 3d get the win off Hernandez with the 3d.

Robert Roode, Eric Young & James Storm vs BG James, Kip James & Lance Hoyt in a 6 man tag match. Storm gets the win off Hoyt for his team.

5 way ladder match to find the X division Number 1 contender, Jay Lethal, Senshi, Jerry Lyn, Sonjay Dutt & Austin Starr. Jerry Lynn gets a decent win.

Impact 1st Mar 07 - Chris Sabin, Austin Starr & Alex Shelley vs Jerry Lynn, Senshi & Jay Lethal. Nice action filled match with lots of good moves. Senshi eventually took the win off Austin Starr for his team with a little aid from Bob Backlund.

Scott Steiner vs Chase Stevens. Stevens jobbed in a VERY short 1 move match.

Alex Shelley comes out to bore us on the mic.

Tomko vs Samoa Joe. Tomko gets the win with help from Cage.

Impact 8th Mar 07 - Kurt Angle starts the show by boring us on the mic.

The VKM with Lance Hoyt vs Seratonin. Hoyt gets the win for his team.

TNA welcomes Hector Guerrerro who will now be part of the Spanish Announcement Team.

Robert Roode, Eric Young & James Storm vs Petey Williams, Jay Lethal & Sonjay Dutt. Storm gets the win for his team.

Scott Steiner, Christian Cage & Tomko vs Samoa Joe, Kurt Angle & their mystery partner who turned out to be Rhyno. This ended up being a no-contest after a run in from Abyss.

Destination X PPV 07 - Non-title Ghetto Brawl, LAX vs Team 3d with Johnny Rodz. The win finally came for LAX after help from Alex Shelley and The Latino Nation, It was great to see Johnny Rodz back in action again.

Double Texas Bullrope match - James Storm & Jackie Moore vs Petey Williams & Gail Kim. My main issue with this match was they weren't proper bullropes as there were no cowbells in the middle. Jackie helps Storm to the win off Williams with a low blow in a pretty good match.

Cross Face Chicken Wing Submission Match - Austin Starr vs Senshi. Basically this was an X Division match with only 1 way to win. Both these guys impressed me throughout this match, I hope RVD does come to TNA as him vs Senshi would be excellent. Senshi gets the win after a nice roll-up into the middle of the ring.

Tag Team Match - Kip and BG James vs Christy Hemme's mystery team The Heartbreakers Antonio Thomas and Romeo Rozelli. The new guys gave a good account of themselves against VKM. BG makes the win for his team after a decent match and a bit of help from Lance Hoyt.

X Division Title Match, Best 2 out of 3 falls - Chris Sabin vs Jerry Lynn. Lynn won fall 1 off a Tornado DDT. Sabin won fall 2 with help from the ropes and super blind ref Earl Hebner. Sabin got fall 3 and the win with help from Chris Daniels in a Sting mask.

Elevation X match - Rhyno vs AJ Styles. Styles was 1st up to the catwalk and Rhyno took his time climbing up. Rhyno got the win after Styles spent most of the match hiding under the scaffold and taking his own ring chalk in his face, Rhyno then gored him and Styles was sent to the canvas.

Scott Steiner vs Kurt Angle - This match reminded why I don't like the modern Steiner. He doesn't wrestle much, he just relies on power. I would have liked to have seen more classic mat work from Steiner. Neither Steiner or Angle wanted to sell the final sunset flip but Angle got the win.

Last Rites Match - Sting vs Abyss. This was a slightly reworked angle on the casket/coffin match to close the opponent in a "death bed". Sting was truly busted open with a candle stand. I loved the "Fire Russo" chants from the crowd which went unremarked on by West & Tenay who obviously value their jobs but not their impartiality. I wasn't too sure why the crowd were chanting "Boring" during the match? I was amazed Hebner didn't try and end this one early as Sting was bleeding a lot. Sting took the win after smashing Abyss in the head with another candle stand and supplexing Abyss through a tombstone.

NWA Heavyweight Championship - Samoa Joe vs Christian Cage. With no Tomko to interfere and Scott Steiner leaving Cage to his own devices could the title stay around Cage's waist? TNA's creative department showed their uselessness again with having no clue what to do with a huge star like The Great Muta. At least this month the main event actually was the main title belt on the line unlike that previous 2 months PPV's. For a main event this was a truly weak match with neither man giving their all considering this was for the big prize. Joe was the crowd favourite, and they were enjoying the action even if I didn't, they weren't doing very much.

Where was Rudy Charles when Joe had Cage on his back for a 5 count? Did Cage step on Rudy Charles left ankle on purpose when he was "knocked out"? Cage took the win with the aid of the ropes, this was a very weak main event and TNA now need to raise their game.