Tonight is basically an 8 woman tournament to decide #1 contender for the Knockout title and the best 3 matches of 2009 as voted for by the fans, if the reviews for those 3 matches look familar its because I couldn't be bothered to watch any of the 3 matches so I copied my original write-ups on them.
New Years Knockout Eve Tournament 1st Round, Madison Rayne vs Hamada - Rayne has improved immensely as she gave a good performance against the vastly more experienced Hamada who was selling for Rayne big time but Hamada took the eventual win off the Hamada Driver.
New Years Knockout Eve Tournament 1st Round, Traci vs ODB - In reality ODB shouldn't even have to have any matches because as previous champion she should automatically be #1 contender, after getting a facefull of liquid from ODB Traci was on the wrong end of an ass kicking. Traci's best offence was an excellent Spear that winded ODB & it seems that Taz has finally decided to stop saying "pectorial", I'm not exactly sure why Traci tore her shirt off to reveal her bra but ODB got the win off a TKO.
New Years Knockout Eve Tournament 1st Round, Roxxi vs Velvet Sky - I'd read that Roxxi broke her ankle during this tournament so I'm going to keep my eyes peeled to see if I can see where it happened, during Velvets intro Mike Tenay was trying to bulls**t us that The Beautiful People had got Lauren fired, I guess they decided as Lauren had left they could write any kayfabe storyline they liked? Roxxi started this one out by selling big time for Sky who seriously needs to learn to scream less when shes working, Roxxi's ankle seemed to go after the roll-up off Skys Octopus Hold as she appeared to just completely lose the use of her left foot. Roxxi took the eventual win off the Voodoo Drop but she seemed to work the rest of the match ok on her ankle.
Turning Point PPV Nov 09, Grudge Match, Desmond Wolfe vs Kurt Angle - This was too slow & far too boring, sadly all complaints I'd made about Nigel McGuiness in his past in ROH which he doesn't seem to have learnt from. All this slow mat c**p & technical wrestling might be over with the Japs but it has no place in modern sports entertainment, Kurt Angle took the eventual win off a submission when Wolfe tapped out. Now THAT is a s**t finish, I wouldn't have given this away for free on Youtube, let alone Impact or a PPV.
New Years Knockout Eve Tournament 1st Round, Daffney vs Awesome Kong - Kong was on top for most of this but she initially struggled to grab Daffneys foot for the Torture Rack (a move that had previously injured Christy Hemme in the past) but Kong took the eventual win off the Implant Buster.
Non-title Womens Tag Match, Lorelei & April Hunter vs Sarita & Taylor Wilde - Taz & Tenay were joined by Brutus Magnus & Doug Williams on the colour desk. Hunter has a decent wrestling pedigree having worked pretty much everywhere a woman can apart from WWE, Lorelei is better known from SHIMMER & also worked as Tyler Texas in Jimmy Harts Wrestlicious which is yet to air on tv. So you can tell who was who Hunter had the long ginger hair. Sarita kicked this off against Lorelei who worked some nice groundbased technical moves but also sold very well for Sarita & Wilde, Hunter had a nice run against Wilde especially her Single Arm Slam. Both teams had an excellent match (that could have done with being a little longer if I'm honest) & Wilde took the win off Lorelei.
Turning Point PPV Nov 09, 3 Way World Heavyweight Championship, Daniels Vs Samoa Joe vs AJ Styles - Extremely boring until about the last 10 minutes, Styles took the win off the Springboard 450 Splash on Joe to retain his title.
New Years Knockout Eve Tournament Semi Final, Roxxi vs Hamada - Roxxi's ribs were taped up due to the post match beatdown she had received from Lacey Von Erich. After Hamada's Drop Toe Hold & Ankle Lock Roxxi was trying shake off her foot so she was clearly in some discomfort, Hamada stuck with the attacks on Roxxi's ankles & Roxxi had to use a submission hold where Hamada was forced onto the ropes to get it broken. Roxxi may have hurt the ankle when they both did a double drop kick on each other as she did grab her lower leg & Referee Earl Hebner spoke to her & Hamada asked him something & Hebner gave her a sign.
Hamada hit a lovely Abdominal Stretch on Roxxi before jumping off the top turnbuckle hitting Roxxi in the back with both feet, Hamada made a wicked Hurricanrana off the top rope when Roxxi was sitting on the top turnbuckle. Amazingly Hamada kicked out of the Voodoo Drop but when Hamada wiggled out of a 2nd attempted Voodoo Drop & she took the win by making a Roll-Through. If Roxxi did break one of her ankles in 2 places I can't positively identify where or when it happened.
New Years Knockout Eve Tournament Semi Final, ODB vs Awesome Kong - ODB took it to Kong out on the entrance ramp before the bell went so the ref was forced to start this before either woman reached the ring. This was pretty even but ODB was on top as they entered a commercial break & was still in charge when they came back having jumped on Kongs back to apply a Sleeper Hold which Kong stopped by smashing ODB into the turnbuckles. ODB failed to drop Kong with a couple of Shoulder Charges but she certainly winded her with a Splash into the corner, ODB was stupid enough to go for a Scoop Slam but Kongs sheer weight dropped onto her for a near fall. We had a c***py predictable ref bump & ODB picked up the bottle we'd seen her drinking out of earlier & as Kong took ODB up for an attempt on the Implant Buster ODB smashed the bottle over Kongs head covering her for the pin as Kong fell.
Bound For Glory V PPV Oct 09, World Heavyweight Championship, Sting vs AJ Styles - Before this match rumours had abounded that this would be Stings final match for TNA as he was retiring, by the time the bell went this was only ever going to be a maximum of 20 minutes long. After several spots it became pretty obvious that both Sting & Styles were really enjoying this match as they both kept grinning wildy at each other, Sting was even polite enough to hold open the ropes for Styles after he was sent to the floor.
Styles nailed a lovely Enzuigiri on Sting leading to a near fall but Sting came back with a couple of nice Bulldogs, Styles sold a really high looking Backdrop off Sting like crazy before hitting a great Dropkick. Both guys got a taste of guard rail missing Splashes on each other with Styles interupting Earl Hebners count to allow Sting time to get back into the ring, Sting got a near fall himself off a Piledriver but by this time the match was backwards & forwards between both guys as to who was on top and closest to victory.
Styles took 2 successive Scorpion Death Drops kicking out of a pin but Sting went for the Scorpion Deathlock which Styles managed to get out of but he came VERY close to tapping out, Styles then really sold a Clothesline for all he was worth only just kicking out of the pin that followed it. After nailing Sting with a Headbutt Styles took a nasty tumble off the top turnbuckle before connecting with The Pele off the apron which Sting certainly wasn't expecting but Styles made a Springboard Splash to take the win to retain his title.
New Years Knockout Eve Tournament Final, Hamada vs ODB - This had a great start with Hamada's Headscissors Hurricanrana following up with an excellent Tornado DDT leading to a near fall, ODB bailed to the floor and was out there far too long (frankly she should have been counted out at least 3 times). Hamada made a couple of nice rolling submission pins before getting hung up in the Tree Of Woe after she went for a Moonsault that ODB cut her off from, coming back from another commercial break ODB was in charge & nailed the Fall Away Slam but missed the pin.
ODB made a Bearhug which Hamada sold really well, Hamada went for a kick that ODB caught but Hamada reacted instinctively nailing a lovely Enzuigiri that ODB made a great sell on. After an exchange of Forearm Shots Hamada went for a series of Headbutts & Chops missing a pin off a Cross Body Block, the crowd were seriously marking out for Hamada but ODB stopped her with a Jawbreaker. Some idiot backstage decided it'd be a good idea for Awesome Kong to do a run-in carrying a table which Ref Slick Johnson failed to stop her setting up but 3 or 4 more referees managed to get her to go backstage. Hamada sent ODB to the floor under the bottom rope with a Spinkick then took out ODB on the floor with a Flip Dive off the apron, Hamada repositioned the table by the ring then went up to the top turnbuckle to hit the Reverse Moonsault but ODB had already moved off the table. After rolling Hamada back into the ring ODB took the win off the TKO to become #1 contender which she was or should have been anyway showing this tournament was a complete waste of everyones time.
ODB wasn't a very popular winner judging by the boos during JB's interview.
This year in TNA:-
Debuts:- Madison Rayne, Mick Foley, Brutus Magnus, Dr Stevie, Kiyoshi & No Limit, Big Rocco & Sally Boy, Jesse Neal, Cody Deaner, Daffney, Suicide (both as Chris Daniels & Frankie Kazarian), Jenna Morasca, Jethro Holliday, Big Rob Terry, Tara, Alissa Flash, Sarita, Taz, Bobby Lashley, D'Angelo Dinero, Hamada, Lacey Von Erich, Desmond Wolf. So this year saw the arrival of 25 new people.
Departures:- Petey Williams, Lance Hoyt, Shane Sewell, Don West (sideways to sales), Sojourner Bolt, Jimmy Rave, Sonjay Dutt, Sheik Abdul Bashir, Lauren the announcer, Cody Deaner, Roxxi, Rhaka Khan, Angelina Love, Booker T, Sharmell, Jim Cornette, BG James. I assume Big Rocco & Sally Boy were also released when the MEM team disbanded, Jenna Morasca left after she'd finished promoting Kurt Angles new movie. I'm not sure if Shark Boy is still working for TNA either as its been a very long time since we saw him jobbing on Jethro Hollidays debut. So we definately lost at least 15 employees this year.
Returns of:- Traci Brooks, Christopher Daniels, Amazing Red, Doug Williams, Raven, Shane Douglas, Christy Hemme, Roxxi, Tomko, Giant Bernard, Jeff Jarrett.
In TNA news Cody Deaner has now been officially released & is already working the indy circuit (If it'd been me writing the Feast Or Fired scripts I'd have had Deaner & Bashir both claim the fired case with neither backing down about who won it then have Foley say they could both have the contents of the case resulting in them both getting fired) & there are rumours of Scott Hall & Angelina Love returning on the Hogan debut show as well as Sid Vicious, Rob Van Dam & Ric Flair who are all rumoured to be appearing on this Mondays live 3 hour Impact special.
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