Coming from Trenton, New Jersey.
X Division Championship, Consequences Creed vs Petey Williams. As this match progressed I got the feeling both guys had been told to drag this one out due to something else being taken off the card. They were working really slowly & this was a really bad way to start the PPV & an even worse way to decide the X Division Title. This match didn't really get started until it'd been going for almost 20 minutes. I assume they sent Sheik Bashir out because they had no clue how to finish the match. Bashir nailed Creed in the back with a chair allowing Williams to hit The Canadian Destroyer & win the match. Despite the fact he'd actually lost the match the second Rhaka Khan climbed in the ring. That should have been an instant DQ on outside interference, ditto on Bashir.
My thoughts:- In hindsight I'd have cut this match to half it's time & had either guy win in a clean finish. Awful match!
Knockouts 6 Woman Tag Match. Guest Ref is Traci Brooks (has she quit as a wrestler then?). The Beautiful People & Awesome King vs ODB, Gail Kim & Taylor Wilde. ODB & Angelina Love kicked this one off. I didn't think this was a very good match at all. It was very substandard as far as women's matches have gone in recent weeks, there was pretty much nothing to speak of about this match until the last few minutes. Taylor Wilde took the win off a good roll-up. Very poor match indeed.
My thoughts:- The women can work much better than this, there just wasn't much indication of that tonight though.
Tag Team Title Match, Beer Money vs LAX. A slightly better match. LAX were on top & there for a good long time. I wasn't impressed with Beer Money's performance, it was just them being themselves. Nothing special, nothing extra. Homicide was always going to be the weak link for his team after the "glass injury" of the last match & Beer Money were always going to exploit that. Craziest move of the match had to be Hernandez Border Tossing Homicide out of the ring onto Storm & Roode. Beer Money took the win after Storm hit Homicide in the head with the beer bottle for Roode to take an easy pin & we have new champions in Beer Money Inc. Weak match.
Black Tie Brawl & Chain Match, Sonjay Dutt vs Jay Lethal. Hopefully this storyline will finally be fully played out after this match, it's been s**t with both guys jobbing to their gimmicks. Ok, to explain the rules. Both guys are linked by a length of chain which each man has strapped to 1 wrist, you win by either pinfall or stripping the other guy of his tuxedo. As the ref was linking Dutt to the chain, Lethal attached his chain to the top rope before jumping Dutt to get some free shots in. And that should have been DQ & match over right there but sadly you can't call a DQ when the bell hasn't even rung yet. Once it did start Dutt crotched Lethal on the chain & ripped the sleeve off his jacket. Both guys went for the ripping clothes off to win, Val abandoned Lethal part way through the match & then the fans started showing what they really thought of this match with a VERY loud "BORING" chant which I totally agreed with. When Lethal went for a pin Slick Johnson was very badly out of place resulting in a 2 count only. Lethal won off a very badly executed flying elbow off the top turnbuckle. Piss poor match, even the fans thought so.
Jersey Street Fight, Team 3D vs Rhino & Christian. The rules, falls count anywhere & weapons are legal. The "Christian, Use My Sign" sign was actually mounted on a red no entry sign & it was very funny to see him using it. Team 3D were very much over with the fans in this match, it looks like you can kiss their heel status goodbye at long last. I've no clue if Devon was injured or just plain lazy as Ray was the much busier member of Team 3D with Devon not featuring much at all when they finally got back into the ring. Ray's powerbomb on Cage off the top turnbuckle was probably the 2nd best move of the match behind Cage's frogsplash off the top of the ladder on Brother Ray. Rhino hit the gore putting Ray through the table & took the pin for the good win. EXCELLENT MATCH! Best of the night so far. Having Johnny Devine help in a postmatch beatdown completely destroyed all the credibility that hard match had just built up, it was almost as though Russo had been watching the whole match then suddenly remembered 3D are supposed to be heels & sent Devine out to reinforce that idea despite 3D getting over with the fans. Abyss made the eventual save of Cage & Rhino.
My thoughts:- In hindsight I'd have not gone with the postmatch beatdown, this was an ideal time for Team 3D to regain their face status as the fans watching this match very clearly indicated.
Last man Standing Match, Kurt Angle vs AJ Styles. Angle didn't seem willing to start this & the crowd showed their feelings with a VERY LOUD boo as he jumped out of the ring for the 3rd time. I assume with only the main event to come they'd been given at least 30 minutes of time to fill hence Angle slowing the match down with all the headlocks & mat work. Angle has clearly raised his game for TNA as he did a front somersault into a backsplash on Styles off part of the stage. I liked that Angle tried to hit the Styles Clash on AJ & that AJ got his 1st pin on Angle off the Ankle lock. Why did the ref not DQ Angle for the lowblow, he actually saw him do it as well! The camera was very badly placed & revealed exactly how little contact Styles actually made with the Pele. Styles looked like he was going for the BME but Angle threw him clean across the ring for a pin but no 10 count only to hit Styles with the Olympic slam as soon as he got up for a 2nd pin. Angle stood ready to hit another Olympic Slam but AJ hit him with the Styles Clash out of nowhere! Angle got up after 9 (for the 2nd time) & Styles looked like he might have been going for a hurricanrana but instead DDT'd Angle off the top turnbuckle (which Angle sold like crazy!) & took another pin. Styles managed to get up after the count of 9 but Angle stayed down & Styles took the win. The 2nd half of this match was certainly a lot better than the 1st but it wasn't a brilliant match. The EMT's were seeing to Angle when Styles returned to the ring to work Angle over again, as Styles walked back up the ramp the lights went out & when they came back on Sting hit the Scorpion Death Drop on Styles on the ramp so I guess rumours of Sting's heel turn are true.
My thoughts:- In hindsight I would have cut the duration of this match by at least 10 minutes, if they'd just wrestled the final half of this match it would have been perfect.
6 Sides Of Steel With Weapons Heavyweight Title Match, Booker T vs Samoa Joe. By the time all the introductions had been done the show only had 13 minutes left to run so this match was only going to be that long at best, pretty poor length for a main event. When they finally did decide to get going this was all Joe from the bell, denying Booker the use of any weapons and making a nice Senton onto Booker, crushing a trashcan onto him. It wasn't all 1 way though, Booker got plenty of offensive shots on Joe, cutting his head with a chair. The middle of the match was pretty even with both guys taking as much as they were dishing out. Possibly the best move of this match (and probably of the whole night) was Joe kicking Booker in the head when they were both stood on the top rope. Joe had Booker set up for the Muscle Buster into 2 chairs but he fought out of it to slam Joe into the chair then hit the Bookend, Booker hit Joe with the axe kick & the lights went out. When they came back on Joe had a guitar (I guess their setting up for the return of Jeff Jarrett at long last then?) and got the pin to retain his title.
My thoughts, a summary:- This was a very poor PPV, the 1st 3 matches ranged from f**king awful to bad. The one match that was any good (the street fight) was ruined by the run-in & beatdown afterwards so TNA Creative really truly f**ked up what had been a really popular match with the fans. Quite frankly the main event was a joke, especially in terms of running time. Joe's ability was the 1 thing that saved it from being atrocious. TNA will have to work very hard in the coming month to make up for this very weak and exceptionally poor PPV.
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