My TNA Monthly Catch-up, Nov - Dec 07

Once again it's that time of month where I review the previous months Impacts & PPV.
I call it how I see it, I only talk about stuff I feel is relevant to the advancement of TNA as a brand and if its s**t I'll say so. I don't apologise for my use of bad or colourful language, I'm a real person - That's how we speak.

If you don't like my views then don't read them. If you do like my views or want to comment on anything I've said then feel free to feedback. I generally respond to people who feedback on my posts. Onto the review.

Impact 15th Nov 07 - Jim Cornett tells West & Tenay they can't mention 2 of the participants from the last PPV. I assumed he meant Booker T & Scott Hall.

Show opens with Kurt Angle coming out to bore us on the mic. Nash interupts him & they fight, Nash getting beaten down by Kurt's cronies. The X-Division make the save.

Tag Match - Lance Hoyt & Jimmy Rave vs LAX. This was a pretty decent match. I still want to see Jimmy Rave with a better partner than Hoyt (someone like James Storm, Chris Harris or Petey Williams). Rave gets the win from the roll-up.

More from Team 3d in their heel turn which is getting old.

Mixed Tag Match - Robert Roode & Miss Brooks vs Gail Kim & Chris Harris. Roode took the win from a chair shot & hopefully Miss Brooks is now a solo wrestler.

A bit more b**ls**t storyline with Team 3d & it seems Havok is now no longer part of Seratonin (when was he part of the X-Divsion ever?).

Hall & Nash come out to the ring for a chat to us.

3 way match - Rellik vs Black Reign vs Abyss. This was more of a 2 on 1 with Rellik & Reign working together. Abyss got the win off Rellik with the Black Hole Slam. Unsurprisingly with Rhyno making the save this looked like a set-up for a future PPV tag match.

Womens match - Awesome Kong vs Alexa Jade. Another squash match where another girl jobs to Kong, this gets neither woman over. Kong won off the sit-out powerbomb. Why are they bothering with Kong, not even ODB is big enough to be an even matchup for her. The post match run in from Gail Kim definately put her over big time.

Cornette's 2 new signings are announced as Booker T & Sharmell. Booker looked very happy coming down to the ring.

TNA World Heavyweight Title - Kaz vs Kurt Angle. Kaz was never likely to win this as the odds of Angle dropping the belt at a house show are very low indeed. Kaz worked well as he pretty much always does & Angle put him over very well too. Angle took the predictable win.

Samoa Joe is revealed as Hall & Nash's partner.

Impact 22nd Nov 07 - TNA Turkey Bowl, 3 way Match which is basically a guy from the Heavyweight division, a guy from the Tag division and a guy from the X-Division all competing in a knockout match with the eventual winner getting $25,000 and the loser has to wear a turkey suit (Ala The Gobbledy Gooker, didn't TNA Spanish Announcer Hector Guerrero once wear that suit?).

1st Semi final - Brother Devon vs Abyss vs Chris Sabin. Devon jumped Sabin before Abyss ever made it to the ring Devon got the best of this match at the start but all 3 guys worked well & looked ok. Rellik & Black Reign distracted Abyss who was saved by Rhyno, leaving Sabin & Devon to finish the match. Sabin got a great win after a failed run-in from Brother Ray.

TNA Turkey Bowl 2nd Semi final - Johnny Devine (dropping the "Havok" name after his run with Team 3d last week) vs Kip James vs Samoa Joe. Joe sold well for Kip & Devine at the start & Joe took the win from the Muscle Buster off Devine.

TNA Turkey Bowl 3rd Semi final - AJ Styles vs Jay Lethal (still running TNA's worst gimmick ever) vs Christian Cage. Cage was a no-show by the bell so AJ & Lethal went 1 on 1. Both guys are good workers & made a decent match before Cage decided to join them. During another badly timed commercial break Styles was run out of the ring by Cage. Lethal worked Cage well enough but it was a pretty scrappy match by Cage. AJ Styles got a win that I actually predicted when I saw the previous winners as we already had an X Division guy & a Heavyweight guy so obviously the Tag guy was going to win.

3 way Womens match - Velvet Sky vs Angelina Love vs ODB. It's clear from this bit of booking that TNA management still don't trust the women or take them seriously enough. ODB's main role was to put the other 2 girls over & let them show their talents. Both Love & Sky worked really well & looked stunning too. I did hope this wasn't going to be a squash match but sadly it was with a predictable win for ODB but the other 2 girls gave a great match.

TNA Turkey Bowl final - Chris Sabin vs Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles. On the face of it this sounded like an AWESOME match but with the way their running AJ's character I predicted Sabin to win & AJ to get the Turkey suit. As a 3 way match I did wonder how they were going to decide who "lost" this, My assumption was whoever got pinned was "the loser". All 3 of these guys are excellent workers & made for a very good fast paced match. Samoa Joe got the win from AJ so I at least did pick the correct loser.

Impact 29th Nov 07 - Show opens with new signings Booker T & Sharmell coming down to bore us on the mic.

Mixed Tag Match - Eric Young & Gail Kim vs Christy Hemme & Jimmy Rave. Kim & Hemme did ok to showcase themselves, Young & Rave worked pretty well too. Kim got a good win for her team.

Some storyline c**p involving Young afterwards.

An Anything Goes Big Boy Street Fight Tag Match - Sonjay Dutt & Jay Lethal vs Team 3d. 3d got the eventual win after Johnny Devine interfered.

Rellik vs Rhyno. Sorry, but never did I ever believe for even a femto second this would stay a 1 on 1 match. Rhyno got the win & my prediction came true after the win was called with a run in by Black Reign & a save by Abyss.

Special Challenge Match, Robert Roode vs Booker T - as an Impact debut Booker couldn't really expect a big name to work with but this was always going to be Booker winning before the match even started. Roode had a decent enough match & also put Booker over very well. A predictable win to Booker off the "axe kick" formerly known as the Book-end.

8 Man Tag Match - Christian Cage, Aj Styles, Tomko & Kurt Angle vs Kaz, (have they been recycling Shane Douglas' old TNA wardobe for Kaz?), Scott Steiner, Abyss & Samoa Joe. Just about everyone got to hit their finisher in this match with Joe winning off the muscle buster.

Turning Point PPV 07 - 6 man Tag Team Tables Match. Team 3d & Johnny Devine vs Chris Sabin & Alex Shelley & Black Machismo. On the face of it this seemed to be a foregone conclusion of 3d winning as the heavier team with expertise in tables matches. The X Division guys were the more cohesive unit working better together as a team. After a c**p ref knockout (all referee knockouts are c**p by the way) 3d got the win.

TNA Knockout Womens Tag Match - Roxxi Laveaux & ODB vs Velvet Sky & Angelina Love. A very well worked match with Love & Sky getting the better of it & the eventual win.

James Storm vs Eric Young. This match did NOT belong in a PPV. An overly long dull match with Young getting the win.

Feast Or Fired - Basically a classic Russo inspired "something on a pole" match with 4 cases, 1 contains an X-Division title shot, 1 contains a Heavyweight title shot, 1 contains a Tag title shot & 1 says "Your Fired" so it's also got that "Loser leaves TNA" twist as well. Triple X vs Sonjay Dutt vs Sharkboy vs Petey Williams vs Lance Hoyt & Jimmy Rave vs Chris Harris vs VKM vs LAX vs Scott Steiner. Idle gossip had already told us that Senshi was leaving so we knew who was going to get the "Your Fired" case. West & Tenay told us the contents of these cases weren't going to be announced until the following weeks Impact so WHAT WAS THE F**KING POINT OF THIS MATCH? Petey Williams got case #4 (most likely an X-Division title shot), BG James took case#1 (almost certainly the Tag title shot), Senshi got case #3 (which must have been "Your Fired") and case #2 went to Scott Steiner (almost certainly the Heavyweight title shot).

TNA Knockout Womens Championship Match - Gail Kim vs Awesome Kong. Kong had a new ring outfit & wore something under it having learnt from her previous PPV clothing failure/breast flash. This was never going to be pretty & on the face of it seemed to be yet another in Kong's serious of squash matches. Kim retained the belt after Kong pushed the ref getting herself dq'd.

Tag Match of 10,000 thumbtacks. Black Reign & Rellik vs Abyss & Raven (replacing Rhyno who was out after Rellik injured his neck in a match we obviously never saw on tv). Raven seems to have slimmed down a bit more for this match. This was never going to pretty & we weren't going to see much actual wrestling, mainly brawling harkening back to the classic days of ECW. The annoying & extremely loud woman screaming ABYSS! made this match hard to bear. Raven put Black Reign into a table of thumbtacks from the top turnbuckle (effectively ending his match) & fell through another table very hard himself leaving Rellik & Abyss to duke it out. Abyss got the win for his team after putting Rellik into thumbtacks in the ring with The Black Hole Slam.

Tag Match - Robert Roode & Christian Cage vs Booker T & Kaz. Booker getting his 2nd ppv appearance since coming to TNA. Kaz made the best of this match as well, working well as he usually does. Roode had one of his better matches & even Cage gave a decent account of himself in the ring for a change. Booker got the win for his team after Roode mistakenly hit Cage with the chair.

Samoa Joe shoots on Scott Hall's no-show.
Joe also shoots big time before the match starts, especially against Hall & Nash.

6 Man Tag Team Grudge Match - AJ Styles, Tomko & Kurt Angle vs Kevin Nash, Samoa Joe & Eric Young replacing that unreliable drunken f**k Scott Hall. I think when Joe said "fire me, I don't care" he genuinely meant it!. All the work from Joe was going to be his hardest, likewise all the work from Eric Young. This was a new side to Eric Young with him doing moves I've never seen him attempt before. Joe, Nash & Young made the 2nd half of this match with Joe getting the win with the Muscle Buster off Tomko of all people.