Well, its the 1st PPV using the recently revamped Impact Zone.
X Division Ranking Match - Consequences Creed vs Sonjay Dutt vs Petey Williams vs Jimmy Rave vs Volador vs Eric Young vs Doug Williams vs Tanahashi vs Homicide vs Jay Lethal. It's nice to see Doug Williams finally getting another match at long last, I was worried he'd left TNA as it'd been a while since we've last seen him. Volador & Tanahashi again getting lucky in just their 3rd match in TNA and getting their 2nd possible shot at a title. It looks like the rumours are true with Homicide appearing alone here, is this the start of the break-up of LAX? I'm not exactly sure WHY TNA felt they needed to rank the X Division guys because really this is a match to become #1 contender so it's a very badly named match indeed. West & Tenay said this was being done under Lucha Libre tag rules so anyone leaving the ring can be replaced by anyone else on the apron with them having to get tagged in.
Creed & Rave kicked things off here and had a nice if somewhat short run with Creed eventually rolling out to the floor. Dutt came in and made a stunning series of headscissors on Rave who left the ring pretty sharpish. Lethal came in and Dutt bailed so Lethal followed him to the floor with a suicide dive. Tanahashi & Homicide replaced them and also had a nice but again very short run.
Doug & Petey Williams were in next (just to make things confusing for the commentary I guess), the highlight of their equally short run was Petey's Hurricanrana on Doug from the ring to the floor. Volador & Eric Young were in next but Young was out just as quickly as he entered. When Lethal came in next things got much better and they were seriously working each other well, lots of fluid moves, they were looking really good together. Dutt came in after a cheapshot on Lethal and also had a good run against Volador doing another of his spinning headscissors on him.
Doug & Petey Williams were in next (just to make things confusing for the commentary I guess), the highlight of their equally short run was Petey's Hurricanrana on Doug from the ring to the floor. Volador & Eric Young were in next but Young was out just as quickly as he entered. When Lethal came in next things got much better and they were seriously working each other well, lots of fluid moves, they were looking really good together. Dutt came in after a cheapshot on Lethal and also had a good run against Volador doing another of his spinning headscissors on him.
Voladors Superhurricanrana on Dutt was awesome leading to Volador pinning & eliminating Dutt who is now ranked 10th in the X Division rankings. Rave came in next and after they both left the ring but returned Rave got the pin off the Rock The World eliminating Volador who gets ranked in 9th position. Doug Williams came in next and got a pretty fast face full of very stiff looking clothesline from Rave (unless it was a REALLY good sell from Williams). Williams eventually got back on top turning a roll-up into a suplex to pin & eliminate Rave who earns himself 8th postion. Eric Young was in next and straight out to the floor over the top rope with help from Doug Williams which brought Creed in and straight out through the ropes.
Petey Williams dived in then mayhem ensued eventually leading to Homicide hitting Doug with the Gringo Cutter, he dived into Young & Creed but missed it badly and bounced off the guardrail hitting his back but was also grabbing his head (obviously a very real and serious enough injury for 2 referees to go into the crowd to check on him). Ref Andrew Thomas deemed him too injured to continue so Homicide was eliminated (earning himself 7th position) as Hernandez came out to check on his tag partner.
Petey Williams dived in then mayhem ensued eventually leading to Homicide hitting Doug with the Gringo Cutter, he dived into Young & Creed but missed it badly and bounced off the guardrail hitting his back but was also grabbing his head (obviously a very real and serious enough injury for 2 referees to go into the crowd to check on him). Ref Andrew Thomas deemed him too injured to continue so Homicide was eliminated (earning himself 7th position) as Hernandez came out to check on his tag partner.
Doug Williams kicked out from Creed's pin attempt after Young hit him with a scrappily landed Swanton. After lots more swaps Creed & Petey Williamns duked it out for a bit before Petey hit The Canadian Destroyer to eliminate Creed which earned him 6th position. Doug Williams & Tanahashi worked Petey together for a bit before Tanahashi eliminated Petey with a very unusual turning frogsplash (giving Petey Williams 5th in the rankings). Doug Williams & Tanahashi then worked Jay Lethal with Tanahashi hitting a lovely spinning legdrop on Lethal. Lethal managed to eliminate Tanahashi with a fast small package (earning Tanahashi 4th place in the current rankings, not bad for his 3rd match). Williams then turned Lethal over with a real stiff clothesline.
Eric Young elminated Doug Williams (I don't even want to guess what that move was but it looked good!) earning Doug a highly respectable 3rd in the X Division rankings. It came down to Eric Young & Jay Lethal as the final 2. Both guys are quick and fast, both guys can counter and reverse. Young may have the edge on power but Lethal probably has the edge on speed. Young eventually turned a suplex into a bridging pin to get the win and earn the #1 contender spot and the future match for the X Division title, Lethal eanred himself the #2 ranking. This was a really good match, everyone worked hard and it was a shame Homicide was eliminated due to injury. Was Young shooting on WWE with that entertainers comment during his promo?
Eric Young elminated Doug Williams (I don't even want to guess what that move was but it looked good!) earning Doug a highly respectable 3rd in the X Division rankings. It came down to Eric Young & Jay Lethal as the final 2. Both guys are quick and fast, both guys can counter and reverse. Young may have the edge on power but Lethal probably has the edge on speed. Young eventually turned a suplex into a bridging pin to get the win and earn the #1 contender spot and the future match for the X Division title, Lethal eanred himself the #2 ranking. This was a really good match, everyone worked hard and it was a shame Homicide was eliminated due to injury. Was Young shooting on WWE with that entertainers comment during his promo?
Knockout Tag Match - Awesome Kong & Raisha Saeed (with Rhaka Khan) vs Roxxi & Taylor Wilde. Has anyone told the people who create the intro graphics for each wrestler that Taylor Wilde IS actually Canadian because since day 1 her name graphic on the big screen has always had American Stars & Stripes on it. Wilde & Roxxi were working well making fast tags to keep the upper hand as they worked Saeed. Saeed sold most of what she was given apart from a fairly blatent no-sell on Wilde's Hurricanrana (either that or she didn't feel able to sell it well enough as it looked very scrappy indeed from Saeed).
After some interference from Rhaka Khan, Kong soon managed to take the upper hand with Roxxi. Roxxi sold a seriously long beatdown from Kong & Saeed with Saeed seriously f**king up an assisted launch moonsault so Kong had to cover for her as the colour guys tried to make like it didnt happen and was accidental. Wilde did get tagged in and took control but it took Roxxi putting Kong over the top rope and hitting her with a cross body block from the top turnbuckle to the floor to allow Wilde to hit Saeed with the roll-up into the bridging suplex (that we're seeing used so much recently by lots of TNA wrestlers) to get the win for her team.
After some interference from Rhaka Khan, Kong soon managed to take the upper hand with Roxxi. Roxxi sold a seriously long beatdown from Kong & Saeed with Saeed seriously f**king up an assisted launch moonsault so Kong had to cover for her as the colour guys tried to make like it didnt happen and was accidental. Wilde did get tagged in and took control but it took Roxxi putting Kong over the top rope and hitting her with a cross body block from the top turnbuckle to the floor to allow Wilde to hit Saeed with the roll-up into the bridging suplex (that we're seeing used so much recently by lots of TNA wrestlers) to get the win for her team.
Non-title Grudge Match - Sheik Abdul Bashir vs Rhino. Whats the point of a meaningless grudge match when we could be seeing the X Division title get contested? It's more proof that Bashir is as s**t as I say he is because he's not up to defending his belt on a PPV. This was a pretty dull match, even TNA knew that hence them sending guests The Insane Clown Posse (with Scott Hall of all people) to go and stand by the guard rail to work some heat with Bashir. It's pretty silly when a match is so c**p they have to involve arena guests on the fly to try and improve things. West & Tenay totally failed to mention ICP or Hall, was that Corey Feldman that Bashir pushed with ICP?
Clearly the directors & producers were telling West & Tenay to not name check ICP or Hall when they made the comment of "familiar faces" as if they'd been free to mention them they surely would have. Rhino took the eventual win off the gore, AWFUL match and stupid of TNA to not take advantage of having ICP & Hall in plain view.
Clearly the directors & producers were telling West & Tenay to not name check ICP or Hall when they made the comment of "familiar faces" as if they'd been free to mention them they surely would have. Rhino took the eventual win off the gore, AWFUL match and stupid of TNA to not take advantage of having ICP & Hall in plain view.
Tag Team Championship - Beer Money (with Jaqueline) vs The Motor City Machineguns. I think they are trying push Jackie in a more managerial role now The Main Event Mafia storyline is going and Obama got the White House. ICP & Scott Hall were still in the front row behind the guard rail for this match as well. Storm & Sabin started this match and it was more about The Guns, even so Beer Money had a decent enough match.
Move of the match for me had to be Shelleys double DDT on Beer Money (with Roode selling it like crazy) although Sabins springboard DDT on Roode was equally impresive. The 4 man tower suplex looked impressive but Shelley was grabbing at his knee like he'd seriously twisted it up whilst he was upside down. Beer Money took the eventual win after Jaqueline distracted the ref, Storm spat beer into Sabin's face to allow Roode to make the pin and retain the titles. The Guns were a much better team here though and made for an excellent match.
Move of the match for me had to be Shelleys double DDT on Beer Money (with Roode selling it like crazy) although Sabins springboard DDT on Roode was equally impresive. The 4 man tower suplex looked impressive but Shelley was grabbing at his knee like he'd seriously twisted it up whilst he was upside down. Beer Money took the eventual win after Jaqueline distracted the ref, Storm spat beer into Sabin's face to allow Roode to make the pin and retain the titles. The Guns were a much better team here though and made for an excellent match.
Legends Championship (aka Belt I Bought) - Booker T vs Christian Cage. If Cage loses he must join the Main Event Mafia. Well Booker was always going to win this once the rumours of Cage's imminent departure from TNA was announced. The ICP & Scott Hall had either moved themselves or been moved by the time this match started. Awful match, Booker won after reversing a roll-up thanks to a handfull of tights. West and Tenay erroneously say he "retained" the belt which would be difficult as you can't retain a belt that you've never won.
Falls Count Anywhere Match - Kurt Angle vs Abyss. Angle didn't want any part of Abyss from the bell unless it was on his terms so ended up doing a lot of bailing out of the ring getting cheap heat and lots of boos. The "big shots to the head" of Angle from Abyss looked rubbish and Angle wasn't selling them very well either. Abyss hit the Shock Treatment early but Angle kicked out then fled into the crowd. Angle was gettng the holy c**p beaten out of him as they went across the bleachers and back over the guard rail before finally hitting Abyss with a nice chair shot.
Angle's forward somersault onto Abyss off the stage is something he's done before (in his match with AJ Styles at Hard Justice this year), Angle spearing Abyss through the wall of the stage looked pretty good too though. It was pretty unforgivable to cut to several repeats of that move to allow them time to get off camera only for Angle to be smashed out of a different segment of the stage from the inside by Abyss. Angle managed to kick out of a chokeslam after being smashed head first into a chair in the ropes only to miss a splash off the top rope onto Angle. Angle made a great moonsault onto Abyss with the chair across him.
It was a bit silly of Abyss to not Black Hole Slam Angle ino the chair that was only inches away so it was pretty obvious by this point Angle was going to get the eventual win. I did enjoy the scaffold segment behind the Spanish Announce table although Abyss's bump onto the table wasn't as bad as most people made it out to be. Angle pinned Abyss by the Spanish Announce position to take the win, very good match by both guys but you have to mark for Abyss taking the bumps off Angle to get him over.
Angle's forward somersault onto Abyss off the stage is something he's done before (in his match with AJ Styles at Hard Justice this year), Angle spearing Abyss through the wall of the stage looked pretty good too though. It was pretty unforgivable to cut to several repeats of that move to allow them time to get off camera only for Angle to be smashed out of a different segment of the stage from the inside by Abyss. Angle managed to kick out of a chokeslam after being smashed head first into a chair in the ropes only to miss a splash off the top rope onto Angle. Angle made a great moonsault onto Abyss with the chair across him.
It was a bit silly of Abyss to not Black Hole Slam Angle ino the chair that was only inches away so it was pretty obvious by this point Angle was going to get the eventual win. I did enjoy the scaffold segment behind the Spanish Announce table although Abyss's bump onto the table wasn't as bad as most people made it out to be. Angle pinned Abyss by the Spanish Announce position to take the win, very good match by both guys but you have to mark for Abyss taking the bumps off Angle to get him over.
Special Grudge Match - Kevin Nash vs Samoa Joe. The ICP & Scott Hall were very noticable in their abscence in the crowd during this match. I assume Hall had come backstage before the match to catch-up. Joe started off with lots of fists flying, dominating Nash pretty early. All it took was Nash to give Joe a couple of runs into the ring posts to allow him to get back on top. Nash removed the top turnbuckle cover but missed his chair shot on Joe. Joe got hit into the exposed metal but due to the cameras being on him non-stop he didn't have the time to blade himself. Nash carried on with elbowdrops only for Joe to come back up to a nice backsplash.
Joe went for a suicide dive only to run into a face full of chair from Nash but managed to kick out of the resulting pin. Nash hit the big boot and signalled for the finish only for Joe to kick out of the Jack Knife Powerbomb. Joe got another facefull of exposed turnbuckle but this time Nash and the ref had the sense to move the cameras to allow Joe time to do the blade job this time. Joe sold a few more shots into the steel & kicked out of a 2nd Jack Knife Powerbomb. Joe had Nash in a submission armbar but the ref took a c**ppy bump and Nash hit Joe with the low blow. Nash rolled Joe up and used the ropes for leverage to take the win in a match where Joe was the much better worker and Nash should think himself lucky how much Joe put him over here.
Joe went for a suicide dive only to run into a face full of chair from Nash but managed to kick out of the resulting pin. Nash hit the big boot and signalled for the finish only for Joe to kick out of the Jack Knife Powerbomb. Joe got another facefull of exposed turnbuckle but this time Nash and the ref had the sense to move the cameras to allow Joe time to do the blade job this time. Joe sold a few more shots into the steel & kicked out of a 2nd Jack Knife Powerbomb. Joe had Nash in a submission armbar but the ref took a c**ppy bump and Nash hit Joe with the low blow. Nash rolled Joe up and used the ropes for leverage to take the win in a match where Joe was the much better worker and Nash should think himself lucky how much Joe put him over here.
TNA World Heavyweight Championship - AJ Styles vs Sting. After the bell rang there was only 19 minutes of show (including end titles) so we were going to be getting a fairly short match here. This thing started off slow and just kept getting slower with all the technical holds and reversals. Not a great way to run a main event and clearly Sting wasn't all that bothered. Styles had clearly been told to hold back on his speed & aerial abilities and he looked understandably pissed off. Styles was having to take all the heavy & hard bumps as well as selling everything for Sting.
Styles was getting the heck beaten out of him until he just kicked Sting in the side of the head right out of nowhere, Sting managed to sell the back suplex pretty well (you have to be REALLY bad if you can't sell an AJ Styles move) but the Styles comeback continued with a nice springboard flying forearm on Sting. Styles kicked out of the Scorpion Death Drop (well they did have at least another 3 minutes of air time to fill) and nailed AJ with 3 consecutive Stinger Splashes. Styles fought out of the Superplex with a powerbomb of his own then nailed Sting with The Spiral Tap.
Ref Hebner really should have DQ'ed Sting the second Booker T & Kurt Angle ran down the ramp to stop AJ's 2nd Spiral Tap all of which allowed Sting the time to recover. AJ missed the Pele and Sting made a side roll to take the pin and retain the title. Really he should have been DQ'ed for outside interference and would have still retained the title. Styles was the much better worker here and that was clearly a desperation move from Russo to send Booker & Angle out to interfer so close to the end.
Styles was getting the heck beaten out of him until he just kicked Sting in the side of the head right out of nowhere, Sting managed to sell the back suplex pretty well (you have to be REALLY bad if you can't sell an AJ Styles move) but the Styles comeback continued with a nice springboard flying forearm on Sting. Styles kicked out of the Scorpion Death Drop (well they did have at least another 3 minutes of air time to fill) and nailed AJ with 3 consecutive Stinger Splashes. Styles fought out of the Superplex with a powerbomb of his own then nailed Sting with The Spiral Tap.
Ref Hebner really should have DQ'ed Sting the second Booker T & Kurt Angle ran down the ramp to stop AJ's 2nd Spiral Tap all of which allowed Sting the time to recover. AJ missed the Pele and Sting made a side roll to take the pin and retain the title. Really he should have been DQ'ed for outside interference and would have still retained the title. Styles was the much better worker here and that was clearly a desperation move from Russo to send Booker & Angle out to interfer so close to the end.
This was a pretty decent PPV, it's a shame Cage is leaving (if in fact he does turn out to leave). TNA totally wasted the chance to use The ICP and if I'm honest The Main Event Mafia aren't any more over after this PPV than they were before it. Hopefully Homicide isn't too badly hurt and we'll see him on tv tapings soon. If LAX split it'll benefit TNA as Homicide can be a great X Division guy and Hernandez can finally get a Heavyweight title shot as he'd make an excellent champion with his power and aerial abilities.
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