My TNA Catch-up, Victory Road PPV 2011

Its unfair to judge an entire PPV on one match so heres a quicky review of what TNA put on offer this weekend.

Bully Ray vs Tommy Dreamer - Ray made it no DQ, shades of classic EC Dub during the match. Tommy won off the 3D with an assist from Devon after Devons sons provided a distraction from the ramp.

Knockout Tag Championship, Angelina Love & Winter vs Sarita & Rosita - Its my 1st time seeing Rosita (imported from CMLL so a good background there) & Winter (former WWE worker Katy Leah) work in TNA as I don't watch Impact any more (because its shit). Not a bad match but it could have done without the gimmick finish. Sarita & Rosita win after failed interference from Velvet Sky as Sarita turned over a small package. Apart from the crappy finish this was a pretty decent match.

First Blood Match, Hernandez vs Matt Morgan - With Morgans reputation for not bumping & hating putting others over I felt this was always going one way only. Someone should tell Taz that a ref wouldn't kick a paying member of the audience (not unless he wanted to end TNA with a lawsuit) so whoever dived into the ring was an obvious plant, the fact it set up Hernandez to use the chain made it even more of an obvious work. If Hernandez was doing a blade job when he was face down in his own corner it looked VERY sloppy, the whole "squirting fake blood" was a stupid idea as was Brian Hebner getting bumped off camera. Hernandez got the win after 2nd Ref Jackson James saw the fake blood on Morgan. Piss poor gimmick finish.

X Division Championship Ultimate X Match, Kazarian vs Robbie E vs Max Buck vs Jeremy Buck - Not a bad match, not exactly spot heavy but some good aerials. Kazarian retained his title. Possibly setting up for Generation Me to feud and split up too at the end.

Tag Team Championship, Ink Inc vs Beer Money - Pretty dull spot free match where Beer Money retained their titles. Also seemed to be another set-up for Ink Inc to split as well.

AJ Styles vs Matt Hardy - Hardy looked a bit weird around the eyes in his pre-match interview, kinda drunk or drugged out. Whatever made him squint like that, it didn't look good for Matt. Exactly what is this issue with Matt Hardy & his weight? Last PPV he looked slim(ish) & pretty ripped, now he looks flabby around the edges again like he hasn't been training. Matt was a passenger for most of this match with 90% of the spots & bumps taken by Styles, AJ took the win off a Pele into a Spiral Tap. Despite recently coming back from an injury Styles gave an excellent account of himself.

#1 Contenders Match, RVD vs Mr Anderson - Not a great match that ended in a double count out after Anderson took a nasty fall & hit his head on the concrete after missing the ring mats.

World Heavyweight Championship, Jeff Hardy vs Sting - Well this is the match everyone is talking about and for all the wrong reasons. Jeff took a long time to finally come out to his music & stumbled & staggered his way to the ring. During Stings entrance Ref Brian Hebner said something to SoCal Val, Jeremy Borash really ran out the introductions as long as he could which allowed Eric Bischoff time to invent something then get himself to the ring.

Ignore what he's saying on the mic about "The Network", that was just the cover to pass whatever message to Jeff to take a fast dive.

Again ignore Bischoff asking Sting to shake his hand, yet another smokescreen to pass a similar message to Sting to put Jeff down as fast as he can. No clue if the punch & stamp on Bischoff were kayfabe or not but he looked in genuine pain. Here's Stings entire offence from start to finish - Headlock, kick, axehandle, punch, Scorpion Deathdrop.

Ring the bell, Sting is still champ. Yes, Jeff did ask about him kicking out. Yes Brian did say nope, never gonna happen. By the way, exactly what are the 2 blood marks that look like a vampire bite on the right side of Stings neck as he leaves? And if you are curious why Sting says "I agree" the fans were chanting "This is bullshit".

With 5 full minutes of airtime to fill the colour desk had to review the whole PPV to fill the dead air.

If this isn't what kills TNA then they can't be killed. Its going to take a lot to get TNA out of this hole, I recommend they all drop their spades.

WWE Royal Rumble 2011 reviewed

Well I heard Kevin Nash & Booker T were coming back to WWE and I fancied a good laugh so I decided to see what kind of show the 'dub are capable of these days. Couple of useless facts first, its the 24th Rumble and there are 40 guys taking part instead of the usual 30. Caveat:- I haven't watched ANY WWE programming in forever so I have no idea who works where, whose friends and who isnt and I do like a swear here and there so expect langauge you might not like.

World Heavyweight Championship match, Edge vs Dolph Ziggler - Ah, the shitty old WCW title belt WWE seems to have a MASSIVE hard-on for. Dolph, 'roid much dude? I guess WWE must have been reading my old reviews as Ziggler has finally stopped wearing Psycho Sid's old jacket to the ring.

Anyway Edge can't use the Spear or he loses his title because Vicky says so. So what was with the colour desk not calling the Sharpshooter/Figure 4 Leglock? Did they not know what it was called, because none of them mentioned it? Edge won this match off a DQ on outside interference (As soon as Vicky pulled the ref the bell should have been rung there and then, Edge had already won) and pretty much ANYTHING that happened after that can be ignored but for some reason this ref didnt know his job and allowed this farce to continue.

After a crappy ref bump & Vicky out after being attacked by Kelly Kelly who ran out to stop her hitting Edge, Edge took the eventual win off Christians finisher The Unprettier or whatever WWE are calling it. Piss poor match, even worse finish for a belt WWE really need to stop competing over.

WWE Championship match, Randy Orton vs The Miz (with Alex Riley, whoever the fuck he is) - Frankly, I am surprised The Miz is holding any kind of title let alone WWE's main belt as he is the biggest waste of oxygen on the whole roster. He is basically a slightly more annoying version of Crash Holly with less talent & even less charisma. As expected Riley interfered every chance he got but after an amble down by The New Nexus, inteference from Alex Riley which earnt him flying lessons and the GTS from CM Punk on Orton Miz retained his title in yet another piss poor finish to another piss poor match.

Divas Championship 2 on 1 Handcap match, Layla & Michelle McCool vs Natalya - Never happened. Some email bullshit from someone not there and this became another match.

Divas Championship Fatal 4 Way, Layla vs Michelle McCool vs Natalya vs Eve - I have to question Layla's skill set as she wasn't even able to sell a simple clothesline from Natalya. Very weird finish with Eve taking the win to become new the Diva's Champion despite the fact Michelle McCool had Natalya pinned behind the refs back at the exact same time. Chalk that up to be the next match for Eve.

Backstage segment - Gail Kim, how have the mighty fallen? From TNA Knockout Champion to eye candy & valet brawling in a shitty backstage segment. Was that MASSIVE payment Vince gave you REALLY worth it?

Royal Rumble - Rule recap:- 2 men start, a new person enters every 90 seconds & you can only be eliminated by going over the top rope and both your feet touching the floor with the winner going on to a championship match at Wrestlemania. By clearly stating these were the only rules allowed a LOT of fucking bullshit to take place rendering the match a total waste of time.

In at #1 was CM Punk we had a TON of bullshit, more email bullshit then #2 was finally revealed to be Daniel Bryan. Not much action before #3 Justin Gabriel entered only to be eliminated by Bryan minutes later. # 4 was Zack Ryder STILL running Grand Master Sexay's gimmick? Anyway he was also gone moments later thanks to a hiptoss from Bryan. #5 was William Regal and boy is he FAT! #6 was Ted DiBiase Jr with John Morrison coming in at #7.

Morrison was flubbing from the word go, not only screwing up his ring entrance but pretty much every encounter he had in his opening 90 seconds, Regal went out thanks to DiBiase & Morrison was stuck holding on to the crowd barrier where he had to jump onto the ring steps to get back in. #8 was Yoshi Tatsu & #9 was Husky Harris (son of Mike Rotunda aka IRS) & #10 was Chavo Guerrero. Coming at #11 was Mark Henry (and I note colour are STILL pulling that "Worlds Strongest Man" bullshit? Dude, he won ONE Arnold Classic in 2002 & it wasn't even WSM affiliated so get the fuck over it?) who dumped out Chavo in seconds & Yoshi Tatsu shortly after that.

In at #12 was JTG (wasn't he the shit half of Cryme Tyme?) followed by #13 Michael McGillicutty (son of Curt Hennig aka Mr Perfect) who eliminated JTG pretty quickly & assisted Husky Harris to oust DiBiase shortly after that. Next in at #14 was Chris Masters, #15 was David Otunga, Bryan was eliminated by Punk seconds after his entrance closely followed by Masters also tossed by Punk. Morrison went next thanks to all of The New Nexus as did Henry mere moments later.

In at #16 was Tyler Reks who was thrown out by Punk seconds after his arrival, #17 was Vladimir Kozlov also slung out by Punk shortly after his entry. Unfortunate #18 was R-Truth (he got better already after that thing on the plane?) likewise tossed out by Punk, #19 was The Great Khali and from that second it was pretty sure business was about to pick up & Punks party was about to get pissed on. Harris went out next thanks to Khali and in at #20 was Mason Ryan who tossed Khali putting The New Nexus back on track.

Coming in at #21 was TNA reject Booker T who got a little bit of offence in doing the Axe Kick, a Bookend and a Spinaroonie before being slung out by Ryan. In at #22 was John Cena who put out Ryan easily closely followed by McGillicutty & Otanga together from a duel clothesline. #23 was Hornswoggle and Cena finally eliminated Punk, #24 was Tyson Kidd who took the dive curtesy of Cena.

#25 was Heath Slater, I'm not sure why the camera truck decided not to show the Tadpole Splash 1st time but Slater took his flying lesson next thanks to Cena. #26 was Kofi Kingston. #27 was Jack Swagger still looking like Owen Harts love child, #28 was Sheamus the ginger ball gobbler & licker of HHH's arse who eliminated Hornswoggle who seriously looked like he didnt want to take that bump. In at #29 was Rey Mysterio Junior who eventually eliminated Swagger, #30 was Wade Barrett in what would normally be last man position in a normal Rumble but this year we have another ten guys left to enter.

#31 was Dolph Ziggler (in his 2nd match of the night too!) and from here on in its all uncharted territory (I'd like to say for the record I typed that before the colour guy said it). #32 was TNA reject Kevin Nash running his old Diesel gimmick so that explains why he had dyed his hair & beard brown, #33 was Drew McIntyre - yet another of HHH's bootlickers. #34 was Alex Riley as Barrett eliminated Diesel & Nash got to take a nice little pile of money home for doing pretty much fuck all.

#35 was The Big Show who tossed Ziggler, Cena & Kingston eliminated Riley in the background as this was happening but they were that busy talking to The Miz no-one called it - likewise no-one called the elimination of McIntyre by Big Show (which is INSANE considering it happened right in front of the fucking colour desk!) as the entry of #36 Ezekiel Jackson was completely ignored but he eliminated Big Show by himself. What was hysterical was The Miz was bigging up Alex Riley and no-one had even noticed he'd already been eliminated, way to pay attention colour desk!

#37 was Santino Marella (possibly one of the worst workers in WWE ever in my opinion with a god awful gimmick) who was sent out under the bottom rope, #38 was Alberto Del Rio who we spent about 57 years watching on his over rated stupidly expensive entrance. At this point I'd like to point out to the guys in the WWE camera truck that the action is in the ring, NOT THE FUCKING ENTRY RAMP!

#39 was Randy Orton (meaning technically Del Rio should be eliminated as you have to actually enter the ring in the 90 seconds otherwise you get DQ'd, it also means Santino should also be DQ'd for being out of the ring for too long) and he eliminated Kingston (Santino was still lying by the ring at this point having been out of the ring almost 3 minutes so he should have been well and truly DQ'd by this point), closely followed by Sheamus.

Lucky #40 was Kane who sent out Jackson, Kane was eliminated next by Mysterio, Barrett eliminated Mysterio seconds later. Cena was ejected illegally, Alex Riley lured him to the apron and The Miz threw him out. As Riley had already been eliminated and Miz wasn't even in the match there is no possible way in hell even with kayfabe that this elimination could count, all those referee's and not one of them saw it? For some reason the refs let the elimination stand.

Orton put out Barrett and Del Rio took advantage putting out Orton as his back was turned & Del Rio was declared winner until it was pointed out Santino had never been eliminated despite having been outside the ring for almost 12 minutes (having checked Santino was outside the ring exactly 11 minutes & 59 seconds) but Del Rio tossed Santino and was finally declared the winner.

After the farce that was this years Royal Rumble it is WAY past time all the loopholes in the rules were removed. In the late 80's a rule was introduced that if you had not entered by the time the next participant after you entered it was an automatic DQ. I think it was an event where The Macho Man did not take his place and got DQ'd for it.

Clearly this rule is now gone as Del Rio would have been out under it. No participant should be allowed to remain outside the ring (if they left under the ropes) for longer than a 10 count which should also result in a DQ. No participant should be able to be eliminated by either someone already eliminated or a non participant, this would still have left Cena in the Rumble.

An event like this does nothing for the prestige that used to be The Royal Rumble.Also FAR too much time was spent by the colour desk sucking The Miz's cock to the point that several eliminations were missed due to it.
Apparently WWE need to hire new directors as the ones employed for this particular PPV were epically failing to use the right camera's to catch eliminations instead chosing to watch either the entrance ramp or the colour desk.

This shambles of a PPV wont be any kind of incentive to watch another WWE PPV any time in the near future.

My TNA Catch-Up, HardCORE Justice PPV 2010

As this PPV has nothing to do with either Eric Bischoff or Hulk Hogan I feel I am justified in writing a short review that doesn't violate my principles or previous feelings stated about those 2 individuals.

Your ring announcer for this evening is Steven DiAngeles, I don't recall him from ECW at all but I didn't watch a whole lot of the product.

6 Man Tag Match. The Full Blooded Italians (Nunzio, Tony Luke & Tracy Smothers) vs Kid Kash, Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger - Its not Kash's 1st bite at the TNA apple & Diamond is probably better known to most TNA viewers as Pat Kenney, Swinger was also around for the early Asylum days. You had to mark out for Kash's flipdive off the refs back. Not much of a match, Guido took the win off Diamond.

Video messages from Todd Gordon, Pitbull Gary Wolfe & The Blue Meanie in a "Where are they now" segment.

CW Anderson vs Too Cold Scorpio - Nice match from Scorpio, great to see he can STILL cut it. Scorpio nailed some great high spots & took the win.

P.J. Polaco vs Stevie Richards with Nova & Blue Tillie - For those wondering why Polaco isn't going under the Justin Credible name tonight he no longer owns the copyright for it, he's worked under the Polaco name in TNA before though. A bit of checking found Blue Tillie is actually Big Rocco formerly of MEM Security & Phi Delta Slam. Not a great match, Richards took the win off a Super Kick.

Video message from Francine in a "Where are they now" segment. Tribute to the fallen of ECW.

3 Way Elimination Match, Brother Runt vs Al Snow vs Rhino - The last time Rhino had an actual match was the Final Resolution PPV in December 2009 so he's been out of the ring for quite a while, Runts last TNA appearance was on Impact 16th April 2009 with Balls Mahoney. Runt & Snow had great matches with Snow making a lovely Reverse Moonsault & Runt nailing a wicked Headscissors on Rhino. Runt eliminated Snow off the Acid Drop but Rhino took the win off the Gore.

Open Challenge Axl Rotten & Kahoneys vs Team 3D (with Joel Gertner) - I assume Kahoneys no longer owns the copyright to his Balls Mahoney moniker, this was never going to be pretty but its pretty clear Axl has forgotten a lot as Ray had to help him on a Front Face Slam & Devon had to help him sell as well. This one finished with 3D taking the win after powerbombing Kahoneys through a Fire Table.

After proclaiming themselves to be the most hardcore team The Gangstas (New Jack & Mustapha) came out, Team 3D sold for them (and a couple of times gave some rather over obvious in ring directions as to what to do next so this clearly wasn't rehearsed), Gertner sold a wicked guitar shot off New Jack as well. New Jack hasn't been in a TNA ring since the very early Asylum days.

Video message from the ECW guys bigging up Joey Styles.

Raven vs Tommy Dreamer - With Mick Foley as special referee. Another one that was never gonna be pretty with both Raven & Dreamer bleeding this was almost over with Raven about to tap out when Nova & Blue Tillie did a run-in to jump Foley (JUST as Raven started tapping out with barbed wire wrapped around his face by Dreamer), No clue who the guy Foley hit the Barbed Wire Mandible Claw on was but Beulah did a run in. Had to mark out for Dreamer nailing a DDT on Raven whilst handcuffed behind his back but Raven took the eventual win off a DDT of his own.

RVD (with Bill Alphonso) vs Sabu - This was originally slated to be against Jerry Lynn but he injured his back during the week. Sabu has been in TNA at least twice that I can personally recall & has always delivered the goods. Quite frankly this match was just too good to call properly but its the type of match you should be showing to the young men & women wanting to get into the business or to improve their ring craft. You can see how the techniques of both these guys inspired AJ Styles, Samoa Joe & Hamada. RVD took the eventual win a 5 Star Frogsplash, I'm pretty sure Sabu bashed his ribs up pretty badly at some point though.

You clearly heard Dixie Carter saying "Dont chant that" when the fans were chanting "F**k you Vince". I was pretty happy with how most of the nights matches went, I was pretty annoyed that Sandman didn't get a proper match & I've no idea why he didn't work as he was there and clearly fit. I think Paul Heyman lost out by not coming and being part of the whole thing, I understand the reasons behind Joey Styles not being there though.

WWE Extreme Rules 18th Apr 10 reviewed

Caveat:- I do NOT watch WWE programming, I am unaware of any current storyline or who are faces or heels. This review does contain swearing, if that might offend you then stop reading now or you've no-one to blame except yourself.

Street Fight (No Count outs or DQ, win by pin or submission only), HHH vs Sheamus - Trips had his intro then failed to show & we cut to him & Sheamus already going at it backstage, Trips took a couple of steel pipe shots before Teddy Long finally got him away. No finish as the match never started so no result either.

Miz & The Big Show come out & shoot their mouths until Teddy Long cuts them off by booking them against a team of his choosing for a future shot at the Unified Tag titles. For continuing to run his (The Miz) mouth Long books them against 3 teams there and then.

Miz & The Big Show vs R-Truth & John Morrison - Big Show & The Miz are calling themselves ShowMiz, P**s poor bout with an even worse call, Morrison had Big Show in a Headscissors & Show was waving like he was tapping out yet for some bulls**t kayfabe reason the ref awarded the match to ShowMiz on a DQ for no reason that was explained.

Miz & The Big Show vs MVP & Mark Henry - Another piss poor match, MVP had it won off the Playmaker when Big Show hit him allowing The Miz to take the pin for an easy win.

Miz & The Big Show vs The Hart Dynasty (with Natalya & Brett Hart) - Over in seconds after Smith got a pin following the Hart Attack (better known as The Doomsday Device) meaning The Hart Dynasty earn themselves a shot at the Unified Tag Titles.

CM Punk (with Serena & Luke Gallows) vs Rey Mysterio - If Punk loses he gets his head shaved. Another p**s poor match that was mostly Mysterio, Serena & Gallows were sent back to the locker room after interfering but someone under the ring distracted the ref by throwing a chair into the ring long enough to hit a Reverse Powerbomb on Mysterio allowing Punk to take the easy win off the Go To Sleep.

Strap Match (actually a 4 Corners match), Shad Gaspard vs JTG - Won by JTG, completely shit.

World Heavyweight Championship Match, Jack Swagger vs Randy Orton - No Count outs or DQ, win by pin or submission only. Frankly its f**king hysterical how much of a big deal WWE make about holding this title considering it was once the most reviled belt in WWF history as the former WCW world heavyweight title. The only nods to extreme in the match were the use of a garbage can, Swagger taking a bump on the ring steps & Orton taking a bump onto a chair which bent it. Swagger took the win off a Gut Wrench Power Bomb to retain his title.

Street Fight (No Count outs or DQ, win by pin or submission only), HHH vs Sheamus - This time Sheamus came out 1st insisting the ref raise his hand if Trips was unable to show but obviously he came out anyway. Trips took this to the floor early hoping to beat Sheamus down, this was pretty s*t to be honest even though Trips worked "injured" and sold that pretty well, I'm not sure if him fucking up the DDT was kayfabe or deliberate it was hard to tell. Sheamus wasn't fully willing to sell the Drop Toe Hold into the ring steps (blame the badly positioned cameraman for that s**tty no-sell there) but he did sell the Kendo Stick shot, Sheamus took the eventual win.

Extreme Makeover Match for the Womens Championship, Michelle McCool (with Vicky Guererro & Layla) vs Beth Phoenix - McCool used hairspray & an ironing board, I assume the flub with the Iron was on purpose & I'd love the thank the replay team for totally no-selling the colour desk telling us McCools head hit the table when it clearly doesnt in the replay. Phoenix took a nice top rope bump onto 2 ironing boards & took the win off the Glam Slam to win the title.

Steel Cage Match, Edge vs Chris Jericho - Note the stipulations "Victory can be achieved by pinfall, submission or escaping the cage". Jericho clearly WINS the match by escaping the cage @9.26 & to the colour guy stating "he's gotta get down to the floor" I'm afraid thats sheer kayfabe bulls**t on your part mate, no such rule was stated at the start. Edge is declared the winner off The Spear 11 minutes later. F**K OFF.

Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship, Batista vs John Cena - Stipulations were announced as follows but after the last match its not like anyone is going to believe them for a f**king second:- No Countout, No DQ, No pinfalls or submissions, your opponant MUST stay down for a full 10 count for you to win. Erm, did one of the colour guys use Batistas real name? No Kayfabe? "Not only does it injure Dave" WHOOPS! You meant Batista you f**king rookie retard. Seems the ref didnt know how to do his job either by leaving the ring to count Batista, dont the rules say you have a 10 count to make it back INTO the ring or did this c**t get his refs shirt as a prize in a box of f**king cereal? Cena gets a truly awful win after taping Batistas feet together around a ring post with Duct Tape to retain his title.

If this excuse of a PPV is what passes for Extreme these days then WWE are not long for this world. Quite frankly I've had more extreme s**ts than this. Way to s**t on all your loyal fans WWE.

My TNA Catch-Up, Genesis PPV 2010

Ladies & gentleman, presenting my FINAL original TNA Catch-Up. I very clearly stated a few days ago if the 6 sided ring went so did I. It was no idle threat. This will the last TNA new show I review. Anything appearing after this point will be reviews of old shows in order to fill the gap of shows I never reviewed when I started watching TNA.

Show opens with the lights being kept right down as Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff come out to reveal what most fans had already guessed & speculated about - the ring is now changed to a standard 4 sided ring. The Impact Zone redesign now also features only 1 entrance tunnel. Hogans welcome to "the brand new Impact Zone" got a massive boo and a "We want 6 sides" chant & Hogan told us we're stuck with it whether we like it or not. Taz marked for the 4 sided ring & Mike Tenay avoided commenting at all.

X Division Championship Match, Amazing Red vs An Unknown Challenger - Who turned out to be Brian Kendrick, how the f**k is he worthy of a title shot coming into the company from nowhere to get a title shot on a PPV too! Kendrick had an ok match but Red got hurt at least twice (his Cross Body off the top rope onto Kendrick on the floor also hitting the guard rail & his Head Scissors where he hurt his leg) but Amazing Red took the win to retain his title off The Code Red.

Backstage segment of Hogan & Bischoff lecturing Waltman, Hall & Nash to win.

Sean Morley vs Daniels - Morley is pretty lucky to be getting a PPV match as his very 1st match in TNA, I dont recall ever seeing Morley wrestle against anyone who wasn't jobbing to him as Val Venis in the WWE so I have no idea if the guy can even work or not. I found it hard to believe Daniels was going to job here but he kept the match on the ground & fairly slow so Morley didn't look like a complete cunt at least, Daniels did sell hurt as Morley was hitting a few power moves (what were the fans chanting when Daniels had the Koji Clutch on? It must have been funny because others were laughing & smiling at it). I think Daniels hurt either his right knee or ankle landing the missed BME but Morley took the underserved win off a Big Splash they were calling The Money Shot which he managed to f**k up on his 1st attempt.

Knockout Championship Match, Tara vs ODB - The stipulation (that I missed by fast forwarding through the introduction) was its best 2 out of 3 falls. After the mini brawl opening Tara had a great start nailing the Standing Moonsault & later hitting ODB with a lovely kick to the head that was very well sold, Taras Slingshot Legdrop only got a nearfall though. ODB hit a Fall Away Slam but Tara capitalized with a fast Small Package to take the 1st fall.

ODB started the 2nd segment off trying to use sheer power but Tara sidestepped a Splash answering with an elbow to ODB then Tara hit the Tarantula to stretch & wear out ODB, the Body Scissors weardown on Tara was a slow move at the wrong time so both women had clearly gassed & were taking time to rest. Tara managed to kick out after ODB hit a lovely Running Powerslam & after ODB checked her pulse for about the 15th time during the match Tara took the win after hitting The Widows Peak.

World Tag Team Championship, Hernandez & Matt Morgan vs The British Invasion - Has SoCal Val been sacked? Because there appears to be a new ring valet. Very poor match, Morgan took the win off The Carbon Footprint & we have new Tag Team Champions.

Backstage segement Abyss visiting Eric Bischoff, Bobby Lashley jumped Abyss who knocked him out. Hogan gets upset but tells Abyss he'll get a better match after having knocked out his slated opponant.

Desmond Wolfe (and unknown lady friend) vs D'Angelo Dinero - Wolfe has changed his ring gear and was wearing silver leggings with a purple wolf logo on them instead of his standard dark blue trunks. I assume Dinero hurt his knee doing the Slide Over through the ropes mid match? This match was too slow, too long, dull as hell & Wolfe took the eventual win off the Lariat Clothesline.

Backstage Segment, Bischoff tells Jeremy Borash he's being taken off tv until further notice. Christy Hemme interviews Ric Flair.

Tag Match, Kevin Nash & Scott Hall vs Beer Money - Or so we thought until Sean Waltman (who they are calling Syxx-Pac) came out with Nash so it appears Hall no-showed for a TNA match yet again, this match was going nowhere with Beer Money on top until Scott Hall came out as a distraction then Hall dragged a "fan" (clearly a plant as Waltman was getting himself into position on the apron to run & "stop" Hall) out of the front row & started beating him up which distracted Waltman to stop it so James Storm nailed Nash with a Super Kick & Robert Roode took the win off a Bridging Suplex. Nash looked very pissed off after the match. Dear Eric Bischoff, cheap heat is S**T heat!

Abyss vs Mr Anderson - Anderson was better known as Ken Kennedy in WWE where he was released for various violations of their drug programme as well as being accused of being too stiff by WWE workers. This match was too long, very dull & Anderson took the win after using Brass Knucks on Abyss.

World Heavyweight Championship, Kurt Angle vs AJ Styles - Billed as having a 60 minute time limit, its a shame there was only 33 minutes left of airtime when the opening bell actually rang. The match had been going nowhere for about 15 minutes when Ric Flair came down to ringside to watch, business did pick up for about 2 minutes then slowed right back down to a snails pace again. Angle actually hit the Styles Clash on AJ (which I'll admit was pretty cool) who returned the favour a few minutes later by hitting Angle with the Angle Slam, this thing looked over with about 6 minutes to spare when Angle put AJ into the Ankle Lock on the verge of tapping out & about 2 seconds before Styles started to tap out Flair yanked Ref Earl Hebner out of the ring to the floor so he didn't see Styles tap out leaving Angle giving Flair angry eyes. Flair suckered Angle into the ring & Styles hit a nice Flying Clothesline then threw Styles the belt who then nailed Angle in the head with it. Flair threw Hebner back in to make the worlds slowest 3 count and AJ Styles retains his title to become a heel with Ric Flair.

Again I must repeat this is the final new TNA show I will be reviewing. I have been reviewing the show every month, fortnight then weekly since 2007 and I did not like the idea of Hogan & Bischoff taking over as I feared his ego & cronies would destroy the show. By aquiring talent like Anderson & Morley as well as getting rid of TNA's iconic 6 sided ring has left me with nothing but hatred towards the company I used to be very passionate about. TNA has lost possibly one its most prolific free reviewers (I doubt there are many who have reviewed as many shows as me who dont get paid for it) and it upsets me that under Hogan the company will most likely crash & burn. It has been my pleasure to write these reviews and I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I did writing them.

Peace out - Ray Daley.

My TNA Catch-up, Final Resolution PPV Dec 09

Tag Team Championship, The Motor City Machine Guns vs The British Invasion - Absolutely nothing happened in the 1st 10 minutes but it picked up for the next 5 or so minutes with a ton of missed pin attempts by the Guns but Brutus Magnus eventually took the win off Chris Sabin.

Knockout Championship, Tara vs ODB - ODB tried to get into Taras head by delaying the start of this match then trying to jump her at the bell but Tara was having none of it nailing an early Tarantula hold then a Slingshot Legdrop on ODB who then got out of the Powerbomb attempt by Tara, this thing went back & forth with Tara making a very sloppy Single Leg Takedown but the Snap Suplex was very nice indeed & she only just missed the pin off the Standing Moonsault. ODB had Tara up on her shoulders but Tara wriggled out turning it from a Victory Roll to a Small Package to take the win & Tara is the new TNA Knockout Champion.

Feast Or Fired, Jay Lethal vs Consequences Creed vs Cody Deaner vs Robert Roode vs James Storm vs Eric Young vs Kiyoshi vs Sheik Abdul Bashir vs Homicide vs Big Rob vs Kevin Nash (with the Big Sexy World Tour winner Britney) vs Samoa Joe - We've had FOF before so you should be familiar with the rules but if you've been in a cave the last 3 years heres how it works.

Its a Russo inspired idea of 4 briefcases on poles, 1 has a Heavyweight title shot, 1 has a Tag title shot, 1 has an X Division title shot & the final case has a pink slip so if you get that case you get fired although the rules have been tweaked slightly because it used to be you took the case down but it wasn't yours until you left the ring & your feet hit the ground but now its been changed so as soon as you get the case its yours. I'd already been reading some TNA headlines before this so I already knew who'd be getting the Fired case ahead of time.

The 1st case to come down was Case #2 eventually claimed by Sheik Abdul Bashir (I can reveal that contained the pink slip as this was Bashirs last match in TNA, reports disagree as to if he left or was let go), moments later the 2nd case to come down was #4 claimed by Big Rob (my guess is that will be a shot at the Tag title), Roode & Storm made some nice moves on World Elite (Storms DDT was excellent!) but the 3rd case to come down was Case #1 claimed by Kevin Nash (guessing that'll be a Heavyweight title shot which he'll give to Hogan) leaving Case #3 left which everyone was fighting over. Homicide hurt himself making a Gringo Cutter on Lethal, Joe kicked Deaner off the ropes and claimed Case #3 (which is most likely to be an X Division title shot).

After a Christy Hemme interview with AJ Styles & Kurt Angle (more details at the end of the review about why) they return to open the FOF cases which is unusual as they normally drag out the results of who got what. Nash opened Case #1 first to reveal a Tag Title shot (well I wasn't expecting that but I can guess who his partner will be - Hogan), Joe then opened Case #3 to reveal the Heavyweight Title shot (so all my predictions were completely wrong this year), Rob & Bashir opened their cases together Robs Case #4 contained the X Division title shot & Bashirs Case #2 had the pink slip.

8 Man Tag Elimination Match, Team 3D, Rhino & Jesse Neal vs Hernandez, Matt Morgan, D'Angelo Dinero & Suicide - As a result of losing a match recently Hernandez started this match alone for the first 5 minutes, as expected Hernandez spent those 5 minutes jobbing & was almost pinned after Rhino hit the Gore but he dodged a 2nd Gore turning it into a Roll-up pinning & eliminating Rhino with just over a minute left on his own. Hernandez was then left on the wrong side of a beatdown with Jesse Neal about to whale on him with a chair when the 5 minutes expired & Morgan, Dinero & Suicide were finally able to run in & all hell broke loose.

Suicide worked Neal until Neal used a chair which bought Hernandez in to use the same chair on Neal which for some reason got him DQ'd (but Neal didn't get DQ'd for doing the EXACT same thing, wheres the logic there Ref Slick Johnson?), Neal was rolled to the apron & Suicide was eliminated by Devon making a pin after Team 3D hit the 3D (later as Ray was working Dinero Taz announced Jesse Neal had also been DQ'd), Dinero had been owning Team 3D for a few moments when Slick Johnson made his 2nd obviously bad call about Dinero not having pinned Ray (actually he had, as had he on the previous pin attempt too) when Devon pinned Dinero off a 3D out of nowhere leaving just Matt Morgan on his own.

Ref Slick Johnson gave Team 3D a HUGE amount of leeway considering how illegally they were double teaming Morgan who came back but was quickly stopped by Devon taking out one of his legs from behind, Morgan was down but not out eliminating Devon with The Carbon Footprint leaving just him & Brother Ray. Morgan was about to be on the wrong end of a chairshot when he hit Ray with The Carbon Footprint smashing the chair into Ray & Morgan took the win. Not a very good match at all to be honest.

Last Man Standing, Scott Steiner vs Bobby Lashley - I didnt watch this at all apart from the finish, I had that little interest in it. Bobby Lashley took the win after Kristal threw him Steiners lead pipe which he used to nail Steiner who failed to answer the 10 count leaving Lashley as the winner. Its a s**t angle & no-one cares, ok TNA?

Foleys Funhouse Rules Match, Raven & Dr Stevie vs Abyss & Mick Foley - Raven brought a kendo stick & Stevie had a chair so Foley made it anything goes & weapons legal, not a great match by any means but Foleys Elbow Drop off the ramp onto Stevie wrapped in barbed wire through a table was pretty impressive but Abyss took the eventual win off the Black Hole Slam on Raven. I'm pretty sure Foley hurt his wrist or elbow when he made that table jump though.

Two of of Three Falls 3 Degrees Of Pain Match, Desmond Wolfe vs Kurt Angle - To add an extra twist this was being held in a steel cage as well, it was always going to be a slow dull match mostly on the mat but the rules were as follows:-1st fall must come off a pin, 2nd fall must come off a submission & if it goes to the 3rd fall its 1st man to escape the cage. Wolfe took the 1st fall off theTower Of London, Taz was squeeing like a fanboi & if your curious the fans were chanting "this is wrestling" (I'm stunned they weren't as bored as I was by it all) as Angle took the 2nd fall when Wolfe tapped out of the Ankle Lock. Wolfe made a decent Superplex (possibly the 1st proper "wrestling" move I've ever seen him do) & was busted open hitting the cage but Angle took the win by escaping the cage by climbing over the top beating Wolfe to the floor. Extremely boring match that was FAR too long.

Heavyweight Championship, Daniels vs AJ Styles - We had around 23 minutes of air time left by the opening bell of this one so it wasn't really going to be an out & out slog but surprisingly both guys decided to take it slow keeping it on the floor with hold & counterhold, YAWN. Things did eventually pick up with some aerials & Daniels made a nice Headscissors takedown from the canvas on Styles who sold it very well indeed. This slowed down again & if I am honest neither guy was really trying at all in this match, both men are capable of far much more than they showed here. You'd think in the main event of a PPV where the companies main title is on the line both guys would be going balls out to win & impress the fans but that just was not the case here.

Clearly both guys were well aware of the time limit as things picked up a great deal in the last 5 minutes but working hard for 5 minutes in a 23 minute long match just doesn't cut it I am afraid, Daniels had Styles on the top turnbuckle & was about to hit a Hurricanrana (Tenay said Frankensteiner for some reason?) but Styles blocked it halfway & took the win off the Styles Clash off the bottom rope to retain his title. P**s poor match from 2 guys I thought had a lot of talent but failed to show it here.

Again mentioned during the Knockouts title match was that there will be NO Impact on Dec 24th, instead they will return on Dec 31st calling it their "New Years Knockout Eve" with a mini tournament between the 8 best Knockouts of 2009. In further news interviewer Lauren is leaving TNA, Christy Hemme has now officially retired as a wrestler & will be replacing her as an interviewer which I guess answers a lot of my recent questions about Hemme. Apparently in the new year there will be a new Impact set which is being built by contractors working for Eric Bischoff & there are also rumours the 6 sided ring may be being phased out.

Until New Years Eve this is me wishing you & yours a Merry Xmas.

My TNA Catch-up, Turning Point PPV Nov 09

X Division Championship, Homicide vs Amazing Red - This was an excellent match where both guys had a decent amount of time on top, I think Red winded Homicide when he landed the Standing Shooting Star Press. Red really sold well when he did the Reverse Moonsault that Homicide turned into a Gringo Cutter but Amazing Red took the win off the Code Red to retain his title.

6 Woman Tag Match, The Beautiful People vs Sarita, Taylor Wilde & ODB - All the TNA womens belts are on the line in this match, if ODB gets pinned she loses the Knockout title & if either Taylor or Sarita get pinned they lose the Knockout Tag titles. Fans certainly hate Lacey Von Erich as they were giving her a "you can't wrestle" chant on her 1st legal entry to the match, obviously the match broke down with everyone in the ring but ODB used her power to make the pin off Madison Rayne so all the faces retain their titles.

Tag Team Championship Match, Beer Money vs The Motor City Machine Guns vs The British Invasion - Quite frankly this match had zero spots & was going nowhere fast hence Russo sending Eric Young out to interfere which didn't really help the match in any way but Brutus Magnus took the win off Robert Roode to retain the title for his team.

6 Sides Of Steel Grudge Match, Tara vs Awesome Kong - This match always looked like it was just going to be a scrap, it went back & forth but Tara made a nice Powerbomb then climbed the top of the cage and hit the Thesz Press (which Tenay miscalled as a Crossbody Block) to take the eventual win.

6 Man Tag Match, Rhino & Team 3D vs D'Angelo Dinero, Hernandez & Matt Morgan - In case you all missed the "tell" yet again, Dinero came out of the heel entrance which was further reinforced by him distracting Hernandez in the opening minute. This was always the case of when Dinero was going to betray or turn on his own team, this one also broke down into everyone in the ring as well but Dinero was noticable in his absence for the face team just to prove my point of prediction even further. Morgan took a bad landing when Rhino tossed him over the top rope hurting his knee, Ray distracted the ref allowing Devon to nail Hernandez with the chair so Rhino could take the easy win off a Gore. It seems Dineros betrayal was clearly too predictable so they decided against it?

Falls Count Anywhere No DQ Match, Scott Steiner vs Bobby Lashley - P**s poor quality match where Steiner took all the knocks and got busted open but took the win after nailing Lashley with a steel pipe he took from the stand behind the Spanish announce desk.

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.

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.

My TNA Catch-up, Bound For Glory V PPV Oct 09

Bound For Glory Preshow:- Tag Match, The Motor City Machine Guns vs Lethal Consequences - Introduced as having a 15 minute time limit (possibly taking up half the preshow then) & that the winners get to take part in the Ultimate X match on the PPV. Consequences Creed & Alex Shelley kicked this off quite well but I have to say Creed has got to start being less obvious about his thigh slaps that ape impact shots as we blatantly saw him do it twice in the space of a few seconds & neither time did he attempt to hide the fact he was slapping his thigh rather than kicking his opponant. This had a fairly dull middle but the last few minutes were pretty decent with Shelley nailing a great Springboard Tornado DDT on Lethal but the eventual win came when Shelley hit a Flying Cross Body Block off the top turnbuckle on Creed so Sabin & Shelley qualify for the Ultimate X match later tonight.

Bound For Glory V PPV

Ultimate X Match for the X Division Championship, Chris Sabin vs Alex Shelley vs Suicide vs Homicide vs Daniels vs Amazing Red - D'Angelo Dinero had travelled to the PPV & was due to appear in this match but had "family problems" which meant TNA did Creative on the fly turning the preshow tag match into a qualifying match for this bout to replace Dinero and then some.

This was a good match, Red hit a Hurricanrana on Daniels off the top turnbuckle taking him to the ground. I'm pretty sure Suicide hurt himself taking Homicide off the ropes as he took a hard nasty looking landing, Red was a bit too obvious in his signals to both Suicide & Daniels to get them to come to him to perform spots though. It was also pretty obvious when Daniels checked Sabin was ready before nailing him with the BME, both Daniels & Suicide took a long fall that sent one of the refs in to check on them before Amazing Red unhooked the belt to retain his X Division Title.

Knockout Tagteam Championship, The Beautiful People (with Lacey Von Erich) vs Taylor Wilde & Sarita - Von Erich kissed the ref to bribe him to let her stay ringside which brought out Senior Offical Earl Hebner, Von Erich tried the same trick on him but he still sent her back to the locker room. To be honest this was quick (a bit TOO quick) with almost no spots to speak of with Sarita nailing the Dropkick on Rayne allowing Wilde to hit the Bridging Suplex to take the win & retain their titles. I get the feeling Rayne may have bashed Wilde in the nose with the back of her head as Wilde was holding her nose after the match.

3 Way Match for the Legends Championship, Hernandez vs Eric Young vs Kevin Nash - To be honest all we figured this match was going to focus on was the bad blood between Super Mex & Young, as Young had offered Nash money it looked like they were going to try & double team Hernandez but he managed to floor Nash & sent Young to the ground. Nash was sent into a ringpost putting him out but not for long, Hernandez spent a large amount of this match on the receiving end of a beatdown but I wondered how long it would be before Young tried to screw Nash over.

Predictably enough Young called for Nash to hit the Jack Knife Powerbomb but once Hernandez was in position Young used him as a battering ram to floor Nash then hooked his leg to take the win & Eric Young is the new Legends Champion. I did wonder where the blood on the canvas had come from but it turned out it was from Hernandez as it was all over his cheek & lips.

Full Metal Mayhem Tag Team Championship, Booker T & Scott Steiner vs Brutus Magnus & Doug Williams vs Beer Money vs Team 3D - Both TNA Tag titles & the IWGP belts were on the line but the stipulation stated the winners can only win 1 set of titles, which ever belt the winner grabs is the title they will win. Tables, ladders & chairs are all legal and this kicked off with The British Invasion & Storm jumping Devon as the MEM & Roode jumped Ray.

In the last few weeks rumours have circulated that Booker is allowing his contract to expire so he can return to WWE so this may be his final TNA PPV appearance, it was also rumoured that the IWGP bigwigs had been unhappy when The British Invasion had won their titles in a match that was unsanctioned by them so the prediction here was that Team 3D were going to win the IWGP titles back again. Taz was quite right to call out Booker on a badly executed Spinebuster on Storm so it looked like Booker was pretty much going to phone this match in as far as he was concerned but it was clear the camera van had been told to take no shit so they cut away when Booker did the Spinaroonie to focus on Steiner choking Devon with an electrical cable.

I'm not sure if Beer Money were shooting when they nailed Booker with the DWI but he spent a while outside the ring as Steiner hit an excellent Frankensteiner on Doug Williams who totally sold it, it could have been a work as Sharmell came out to check on him & a couple of refs were milling around him on the ground & EMS took him off on a gurney. Team 3D came in to cover the gaps levelling pretty much everyone as Devon put Williams through a table, 3 more tables were put up & Team 3D hit stereo Chokeslams driving both of Beer Money through a table each.

Steiner levelled Ray & Devon with a chairshot each then again with a ladder but he was sent into the 3rd table with an assist from Team 3D, Devon went up the ladder to grab the IWGP belt as Rhino ran in to nail Ray with a chair then knocked Devon off the ladder but not before Devon had got the IWGP belt so Team 3D are new IWGP Heavyweight Tag Champions again.

I'm not exactly sure why the match didn't end there (the introductions should have made it MUCH clearer that both titles HAD to be won) but Beer Money were left fighting with The British Invasion & they double Suplexed Doug Williams off the top of 2 ladders, Storm spat beer into the face of Magnus before hitting him with a Hurricanrana taking Magnus off the ladder the hard way. Storm had floored Williams again when Big Rob ran in before throwing Roode out of the ring through a table (which he totally overshot with a VERY bad very hard landing causing the ref to go check on him right away) which allowed Doug Williams to grab the last belt & The British Invasion are the new TNA Tag Champions. I'm pretty sure Robert Roode will be pretty badly injured from his fall and it looked like Doug Williams was also injured as he was barely able to stand without support, possibly with a concussion.

3 Way Match for the Knockouts Championship, Awesome Kong vs Tara vs ODB - It was clear from the get go this wasn't going to be pretty with Kong jumping Tara then ODB right at the bell but Tara & ODB had a quick double team that was soon halted by Kong. Kong tried a Splash on them both but catching nothing but canvas so Tara & ODB teamed up again hitting a double Shoulder Charge followed by a Double Suplex which I was amazed to see Kong actually selling.

Obviously neither Tara or ODB were going to let each other cover Kong so they traded blows before Tara tried a Cross Body Block that ODB caught turning it into a rather sloppy looking Fall Away Slam, Tara made a nice Tarantula Stretch but Kong broke it up. Tara made a decent Reverse Moonsault into Kong & ODB for a near fall then was sent to the floor by Kong for her trouble (who the hell was that woman Tara was facing off with by the guard rail in the crowd? It clearly wasn't a work as the match actually stopped for a moment as ODB, Kong & the ref were checking out what was going on - A quick Google says it was MMA fighter Kim Couture, apparently they claimed the spot WAS a work made to look like a shoot but its funny how no-one in the ring knew anything about it nor did the colour guys so I call BULLS**T on it being a work).

Tara had bailed on the match and ODB kept trying to lift Kong which she did manage eventually, Tara did return barely breaking a 3 count after ODB was nailed with a Splash. ODB took an Implant Buster then Raisha Saeed came out & threw a chair into the ring which Kong kicked away twice, ODB had been taken up for another Implant Buster which she reversed into a DDT as Saeed had pushed the chair back so Kong landed on the chair allowing ODB to hook the leg and retain her title. I guess this is the start of Saeed & Kong breaking up then so we can finally see more of Alissa Flash with the hopeful "departure" of Saeed?

Submission Match, Samoa Joe vs Bobby Lashley - With a 15 minute time limit so we don't get bored? This was too slow & VERY dull Lashley made a Legsweep to take Joe down & had him in a Side Headlock when Earl Hebner called for the bell awarding the win to Lashley (and it was unclear why as Joe hadn't visibly tapped out), I assume Hebner had decided Joe wasn't concious (his eyes were rolling like crazy post match) hence Lashley getting the win.

Monsters Ball Match, Abyss vs Mick Foley - With Special Guest Referee Dr. Stevie, the stipulations were CLEARLY announced as "No DQ & ANYTHING goes" despite the fact that Foley had banned Abyss from using thumbtacks so clearly someone hadn't told the ring announcer making TNA look like complete c**ts. Foley jumped Abyss on the ramp with his barbed wire baseball bat so he was never introduced.

Abyss had bladed (after Foley used the barbed wire baseball bat on his head) & it was pretty clear from the barbed wire boards around the ring that Abyss has been watching Foleys King Of Deathmatch tape because Abyss wound up taking a Double Underhook DDT into one of the barbed wire boards, Foley was Slingshotted into another board by Abyss who ended up in a barbed wire board sandwich after Foley sidestepped an attempted Splash.

Foley made a nice Elbow Drop as Abyss was still covered by both boards but Abyss kicked out of the pin attempt with several clear cuts on his arm which was also bleeding, Foley poured out the thumbtacks & Stevie had to remind Abyss he couldn't use them or face DQ so Abyss hit Stevie with Shock Treatment as Daffney ran out to pass Foley the tazer which Foley used on Abyss.

Foley called down another ref who made possibly the worst 2 count I have ever seen (it actually WAS a 3 count & Abyss totally kicked out too late hence the massive boos from the crowd) which the colour desk did their utmost to try & cover but failed miserably, Foley was going for a barbed wire Socko Claw (have TNA not reminded him several times he can't use that name?) but Abyss hit a Drop Toe Hold taking Foley down onto a barbed wire board. The replacement ref made a 2 count before Stevie pulled him out and floored him with a punch.

This had distracted Abyss & Daffney climbed up onto the 2nd rope but Abyss Chokeslammed her through another of the barbed wire boards that had been set up between the ring & guardrail (incidently TNA might want to fire the director who was on the wrong camera so we didn't even SEE Daffney go through the barbed wire board so she took a nasty bump for no reason), Stevie came in & starting whaling on Abyss & took off the ref shirt only to get a Black Hole Slam onto the thumbtacks for his trouble.

Foley was Chokeslammed into a barbed wire board in the ring then Abyss dragged Stevie over & used his arm to make the count and take the win. (Are they REALLY going to let THAT count as a win?) Fortunately as they were showing the highlights we DID get to see Daffney take the Chokeslam through the barbed wire board.

Matt Morgan vs Kurt Angle - Another match with a 15 minute time limit, I didn't expect much in the way of action as I don't rate either guy as a wrestler. This was pretty dead until the last 5 minutes with both guys using most of their moves then, Morgan was stunned after Angle kicked out after The Hellavator & a hard Clothesline (by this point I assumed they were going to the time limit & calling this a draw) but Angle took the win off a Victory Roll within seconds of the time limit.

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.

It took 3 different microphones before Styles was able to talk to Sting postmatch, it had been mooted that if Sting lost he was going to retire. Sting did a pretty decent job of putting Styles over and passing the torch with the fans chanting "please don't go" and "1 more year" but he was pretty cryptic about if he's retired or not. I guess we will have to wait until this weeks Impact to find out if Booker T actually is going or not, likewise for Sting.

My TNA Catch-up, No Surrender PPV 09

Final Match TNA Knockout Tagteam Title Tournament, Sarita & Taylor Wilde vs The Beautiful People - Well they did explain Angelina Love had left TNA getting "Future endeavored" which allowed Madison Rayne to fill her spot here. We had controversy before this even started with Earl Hebner sending Slick Johnson back to the locker room as he had been implicated in getting Rayne & Sky wins they didn't earn in the past.

Sarita Dropkicked Rayne out of the ring within seconds of the bell and Sarita was owning Sky with about 5 pin attempts in the 1st few minutes of the match where Rayne had to make a save to stop the closest of those. Rayne turned things around & Sky came back in but Sarita was having to oversell a few moves (that hairpull flip was the worst offender) to put Sky over as on top, however Saritas Floatover DDT was poorly executed & very poorly sold by Sky. The finish to this was excellent though with Sarita nailing a Dropkick on Rayne as Wilde hit an awesome Bridging Suplex to take the win and become the 1st TNA Knockout Tagteam Champions as the best team got the gold.

Special Grudge Match, Eric Young vs Hernandez - Young actually came out in his suit so this was never going to be any kind of match with Young having said he wouldn't fight at all, Hernandez took the VERY quick win off The Border Toss. I have no clue why they bothered to put this on the PPV, I wouldn't have even given it away for free on the web.

X Division Championship Match, Daniels vs Samoa Joe - To be honest this was pretty dull considering the ability level of these 2 guys, Daniels was on top until Joe targeted his leg and it was all downhill from there really. Samoa Joe took the win off The Rear Naked Chokehold, VERY poor match that was way too long as well.

Backstage segment, Mick Foley discovers someone has destroyed the drawn picture of him & JB he was presented with a few weeks ago and vows to deal with them. Lauren was interviewing D'Angelo Dinero when Suicide jumped him. They then switched to the ring where the ref rang the bell to start this match.

Falls Count Anywhere, D'Angelo Dinero vs Suicide - The ref had to run up the ramp & down the heel tunnel entrance to the backstage area where Suicide & Dinero had managed to get outside the studio, Dinero definately hurt himself doing the Elbow Drop off the transportation cases. The match got a little surreal after the dumpster & golf cart then became X-rated after Dinero had a wardrobe malfunction getting his trunks pulled down showing his ass, Taz joked it was lucky it wasn't a Ric Flair match (actually Taz I have already SEEN Ric Flairs ass in a match in the 80's against The Undertaker in Birmingham, England - it wasn't pretty).

Dinero adjusted his trunks after kicking Suicide in the gut & finally made it into the ring where Suicide hit a nice Springboard Dropkick, they may have bumped heads when Suicide did the Slingshot Splash over the ropes. Suicide went for a table but Dinero attempted a Baseball Slide that didn't quite work but did stop Suicide allowing Dinero to set up the table by the side of the entrance ramp, Dinero may have hit his head again when he Suplexed Suicide on the ramp.

Dinero also took a pretty nasty bump off Suicides Flip Dive but that was nothing compared to Suicide missing his Leg Drop off the top of the heels entrance tunnel through a table after Dinero rolled out of the way, Dinero had the good sense to cover Suicide after that to take the win here where I think both guys were very winded but Dinero definately hurt his elbow after a fall on Kurt Angles entrance lift.

TNA Knockouts Championship Match, Cody Deaner vs ODB - For those wondering why the lights were off because they were still clearing the debris away from the tunnels after the previous match. Deaner gave no offence at all to speak of so this was mainly him selling for ODB & putting her over until he took her off the top turnbuckle.

ODB sold the Powerslam off Deaner but caught him in the crotch & hit a nice Hip Toss following up with a Splash into the turnbuckles, ODB hit the Thesz Press but Deaner tried to get the win off a pin with his legs on the middle rope which the ref spotted & argued with Deaner about. ODB nearly got the win a couple of times off referee assistance (when Deaner was pushed into a Schoolboy Roll-up & when Deaners arms were kicked off the top rope into a Small Package).

ODB caught Deaner trying a Floatover & was going for the Running Powerslam but Deaner had it scouted & wriggled out of it to floor ODB with a big right hand that she bearly kicked out off (aren't closed fist punches supposed to be a big no-no even under kayfabe?), Deaner went high risk missing a Frogsplash only for ODB to hit what Tenay called a Dropdown TKO to take the win and is crowned the new Knockout Champion.

Mick Foley comes down to join the announce team carrying a barbed wire baseball bat.

Legends Championship, Abyss v Kevin Nash - If Abyss wins he gets the title, if Nash wins he gets Dr Stevies $50,000 bounty as well as retaining the belt. With the "heat" already between Foley & Abyss. Well this match was awful & got even worse when the camera showed us Dr. Stevie sitting in a chair at the top of the entrance ramp (almost certainly a Russo inspired idea) which distracted Abyss allowing Nash to get the upper hand. Abyss did get back into the game a little with a nice Sideslam but Stevie decided to come down the ramp causing the ref to come out to stop him which allowed Daffney to enter the ring with a "taser" only to run into a Black Hole Slam.

Abyss was about to use the taser when Dr Stevie ran in to steal it distracting the ref up the ramp which allowed Nash to nail Abyss with a chair but he barely kicked out of the pin, Abyss hit a very poor Chokeslam on Nash (I think it was Nash not willing to sell the fall properly that f**ked that move up) as Abyss called for the bat off Foley, the ref tried to stop him but Abyss grabbed the barbed wire & dropped it as Nash tasered Abyss in the balls hooking the leg to make the win & retain his title.

The ref had awarded Nash the $50k but Dr. Stevie came in & took it away only to get a Jack Knife Powerbomb for his troubles. Backstage interview, Scott Steiner makes it clear he doesn't like The British Invasion or anyone else come to that, he's an equal opportunities xenophobe.

Lethal Lockdown Match - Basically its the old WCW Wargames match with only 1 cage that Dusty Rhodes invented & brought this modified version to TNA when he was Director Of Authority, you have 2 teams & the match starts with 1 guy from each team then after 5 minutes another guy comes out from alternate teams with a new guy coming down every 2 minutes after that so the 1st team always have an advantage. After everyone is inside the cage they lock down the roof and weapons are legal, 1st team to make a pin or submission wins.

Doug Williams is 1st in for the MEM/World Elite Team with James Storm coming out 1st for the Beer Money/Team 3D combo. This kicked off on the ramp with Williams trying to pre-empt Storm only to get punched then recieve a facefull of beer for his trouble, Williams took a Hip Toss on the ramp then got smashed head first into the guard rail & ring steps then Storm finally threw Williams into the ring.

Williams was on top initially but Storm came back having more time in charge, it wasn't a great opening section though. Next in for the heels was Brutus Magnus who got a facefull of cage door after Storm nailed a wicked Baseball Slide only for Williams to Slingshot Storm into the door as Magnus slammed it shut in Storms face to return the favour. Magnus finally got in the cage & Storm was on the wrong end of their double team as we saw he'd been cut on his forehead.

As the countdown expired the next guy in for the face team was Robert Roode so it was tagteam versus tagteam & there is no shortage of heat between these 4 guys. Roode evened the playing field pretty quickly taking out Magnus & Williams on his own as Roode Sling Shotted Williams into a nice DDT from Storm, next out for the heels was Scott Steiner.

Roode got himself a Frankensteiner off the top turnbuckle (that Roode had to provide a LOT of help on as Steiner wasn't able to put his feet behind Roode and had to grip Roode with his knees), Roode & Storm were soon worn down after Steiner & the Brits smashed both men into the cage like a battering ram. Next out for the face team was Brother Devon (pretty predictable to be honest as MEM had already sent out their power guy so Team 3D were always going to do the same thing) who levelled things out again.

Last guy down for the heels was Booker T who took his sweet time strolling down to the ring as slowly as he possibly could. Last guy down for the faces was Brother Ray who was also the final entrant, as Ray was at the bottom of the ramp Big Rob came out of nowhere & blindsided Ray over the guardrail into the crowd then nailing him with a chair, Rob also forced the guy controlling the cage roof to bring it down (which incidently should have been an instant DQ on outside interference & the win going to Team 3D & Beer Money).

Once the weapons came into play Beer Money & Devon were getting the ever holy c**pola beaten out of them, Brother Ray managed to sidestep a chairshot from Big Rob outside the ring only to nail Rob with the same chair that finally allowed Brother Ray to enter the match legally and was a 1 man levelling machine beating on the MEM & British Invasion.

Magnus managed to climb up & out onto the roof of the cage where he was fighting with Storm trying to stomp him off the edge of the cage only for Roode to start whaling on him with a steel crutch, Magnus also took a nasty looking bump off a Double Suplex from Beer Money on the top of the cage. Steiner got hit with a 3D but Booker levelled Ray with a garbage can & Williams nailed Devon with a chair, Booker got a near fall from a Bookend on Ray but Williams took a garbage can shot to the head from Booker after a slight miscommunication. Storm & Roode hit the DWI on Doug Williams as Brother Ray stood guard for the faces to take the win in a match where the crowd were chanting "This is awesome".

Rhino vs Bobby Lashley - I don't think anyone expected anything less than a complete victory for Lashley here who I like to think of as a black Brock Lesnar. I was quite surprised to see Rhino getting some time on top as I fully expected him to be jobbing wholesale to Lashley here after Dixie Carters recent comments that made it sound like everyone working him would be expected to be Lashleys bitch.

Lashley did sell quite a lot so Rhino wasn't left looking like a complete c**t thankfully but once Lashley was on top he was always staying there, I didn't see how Rhino was busted open (probably after Lashley hit the Back Elbow) but the ref was taken out when Rhino pushed him into Lashley going for the Spear. As Lashley was checking on the ref Rhino hit The Gore which was a near fall, Rhino went for a 2nd Gore but Lashley hit him with a big right hand (yet another closed fist winning a match?) to take the predicted win here.

TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match, AJ Styles vs Matt Morgan vs Sting vs Kurt Angle - Really this is a handicap match for Angle as no-one likes him here & he has no friends or allies. After everyone had been introduced Hernandez came out and cashed in his Feast Or Fired title shot (I guess his s***ty short match makes slightly more sense now) and is now the 5th man in what previously had been a 4 way match.

Angle tried to argue with the colour guys but I don't know why as they have no booking control, when Angle came back into the ring he was arguing with Hernandez then clocked him on the chin which was a very bad move that earnt him a stiff Clothesline off Supermex who just started beating the s**t out of Angle and the bell hadn't even rung yet. Hernandez held Angle for 33 seconds (I counted!) before nailing the Suplex then Clotheslining Angle over the top rope to the floor where Hernandez followed him & that waste of f**king oxygen Earl Hebner FINALLY had them ring the bell to start this match about 2 minutes too late by my count the utterly useless c**t that he is.

Both Styles & Sting went for quick pins on Morgan with Hernandez fighting with Angle on the ramp, Angle was taken up for The Border Toss but Eric Young ran out to make the save before hitting a Piledriver on Hernandez at the top of the ramp. Morgan was doubleteamed by Sting & Styles until he was sent out of the ring leaving Sting & Styles to go 1 on 1. As the trainer was checking on Hernandez Sting & Styles worked a nice program with Styles going over the top into Morgan & Angle who took more of the shot. Angle & Morgan decided to team up after that with Styles working a great sequence with Angle although after a Hurricanrana from the apron by Styles on Angle it was left to Morgan & Sting who had to take it into the ring to allow recovery time for Angle & Styles.

Angle & Morgan cooked up a plan to doubleteam Sting which worked fine until Styles made a Springboard back into the ring to take out Angle then started to whale on Morgan whose strength soon put a stop to that sending Styles off with a Fallaway Slam. Styles was getting worked over by Morgan & Angle until he sidestepped a Spear which put Angle shoulder 1st into a ringpost but Morgan Dropkicked Styles stopping him getting any impetus, Morgan was on top until he missed a big boot getting himself hung up over the top rope allowing Styles to connect with a Pele out of nowhere. Angle recovered to hit Styles with a Suplex only to get a facefull of Missile Dropkick from Sting (I think Sting hurt his shoulder on the landing as he was holding it when he was on the floor as all the moves he did from that point on were mainly using his other arm) and Sting walked into a Suplex from Angle.

Styles managed to stop a pin but missed one himself off The Styles Clash as Morgan stopped that pin attempt, Morgan missed his own pin off The Hellavator (the worst I have ever seen it done to date, its not like Morgan isn't strong enough to lift Styles or Styles isn't brave enough to sell the move either so I have no clue who was to blame) as Sting stopped the count there. Sting was hooked up in the Ankle Lock until Morgan floored Angle with The Carbon Footprint but Sting sent Morgan over the top rope to the floor (with Morgan grabbing his leg either working being hurt or having taken a bad bump).

Sting & Styles had a quick stare off then for some bizarre reason Sting launched himself off the apron into Morgan taking him out of the equation leaving the finish down to Angle & Styles, Styles nailed a Springboard 450 Splash hooking Angles leg to take the win and AJ Styles is the new TNA Heavyweight Champion so I guess that was Sting passing the torch & it seems rumours aren't true that he will be holding the belt until his departure from both TNA and wrestling which are due very soon if sources are to be believed.

The crowd pop for Styles announced as champ was huge & it was only right that his best friend Daniels was 1st down to the ring to celebrate with him followed by a ring invasion from the crowd (clearly none of them have ever seen what happens when crowds storm a ring, do they not remember the infamous ECW Hardcore Heaven '95 PPV Public Enemy vs The Gangstas match where the ring collapsed?), Taz even commented on having seen a ring break before.

Jeremy Borash came into the ring and was stupid enough to try an interview (a completely insane notion due to the noise of the fans coupled with the fact that they were still playing Styles' entrance music as well) but I think there were safety concerns about the amount of people in-ring as they eventually cut away to a promo of next months PPV.

My TNA Catch-up, Hard Justice PPV 09

Steel Asylum Match, Alex Shelley vs Chris Sabin vs Amazing Red vs Daniels vs Jay Lethal vs Consequences Creed vs Suicide vs D'Angelo Dinero (aka The Pope otherwise known as former WWE star Elijah Burke who is doing really well to get into a potential title shot match & get a PPV spot for his very 1st match in TNA) - The winner of this becomes #1 contender for the X Division title and the rules are simple, you win by escaping through the hole in the top of the cage. Way too much action to call but highlights were Suicides Tower Of Doom Powerbomb, Lethals Faceplant on Shelley, Sabins Tornado DDT on Lethal, Reds Inverted DDT but Daniels took the eventual win by escaping the cage.

$50,000 Bounty Challenge, Jethro Holliday (with Dr Stevie) vs Abyss - Weapons are legal, very poor match. Holliday went to use some brass knucks but Abyss hit the Black Hole Slam to take the easy and very boring win.

Feast Or Fired Briefcase Match, Big Rob (with Brutus Magnus & Doug Williams) vs Hernandez - I guess the only point of this match is to further Hernandez as a solo wrestler and to move him towards a title shot. Hernandez had a waffle on the mic, challenging Rob, Magnus & Williams. Hernandez took the extremely quick win off a Shoulder Block.

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Championship, Beer Money vs The British Invasion - I guessed titles were going to change hands here as New Japan had clearly said Team 3D losing these belts was an unsanctioned match. This match was VERY boring with no action at all, Beer Money were on top and close to a pin when Eric Young threw in one of the belts and distracted the ref long enough for Magnus to take out Roodes legs and for Williams to make a Small Package to take the surprise win.

Womens Knockout Championship, ODB & Cody Deaner vs Angelina Love & Velvet Sky (with Madison Rayne) - Rules weren't explained at all, no-one mentioned if its possible for Deaner to take the womens title if he were to pin Love or Sky. Deaner only ever entered the match twice, his 1st time was just for comedy and pure fetish value spanking Love on the turnbuckle and the seconds time consisted of kissing all the Beautiful People earning him a mule kick off Sky who set him up for the "hairspray" in the face off Rayne who missed and hit Sky with a Schoolboy Roll-up to take the win and ODB is the new TNA Womens Knockout Champion and about time too quite frankly! No doubt Love will say she wasn't pinned or a women didn't win the match so the title can't change hands for one or both of those reasons.

X Division Championship, Samoa Joe (with Taz) vs Homicide - Very poor match with almost no action where Joe took the win off the Rear Naked Choke Hold.

Tag Team Championship, Team 3D vs Scott Steiner & Booker T - Not a match I expected anything from and it didn't disappoint me. TNA STILL haven't learnt their lesson on that stupid TINY split screen action thing (read these reviews, you can't see whats happening and its REALLY annoying to be missing BOTH sets of action). If anyone explained exactly why there were 2 referees calling this match and why it seemed to not be a proper tag match with all 4 guys going at each other though they seemed to make up the "falls count anywhere" stipulation once the match was well underway which then went towards explaining both of the referees.

With 2 referees it was pretty obvious there was going to be some kind of swerve involving a double count and a difference of opinions over the winner. Both refs went off to review the video footage and The MEM retained their title, what really should have happen was the match should have continued until there was a clear winner. Poor match, super weak finish.

TNA Legends Championship, Kevin Nash vs Mick Foley - Another match I didn't expect much from, Foley bladed fairly late into the game with the ref selling the injury way more than Foley was. Foley was seriously blooded and fought that way for a good 10 minutes before finally blading Nash who looked in a fairly bad state too. The ref took a bump and Foley grabbed the barbed wire baseball bat from under the ring which caused Russo to send Traci to do a run in which allowed Nash enough time to get back up and thumb Foley in his "good" eye before landing a big boot, the effect of which bumped Traci off the apron into a "cameraman" (I assume he was some jobber?) but the idiots in the control room focused too much on her bump and totally missed how Nash decked Foley to take the win and Kevin Nash is the new Legends Champion. Nash did try and beat on Foley with the barbed wire bat but Abyss came down with a barbed wire bat of his own and made the save so it looks like we might be getting a hardcore tag team in the near future?

World Heavyweight Championship, Matt Morgan vs Sting vs Kurt Angle - It wasn't really worth me watching this match because I already knew the outcome after reading it in a newsgroup. With the extremely drawn out introductions by Borash and the video package of each guy before his entrance I assume they wanted to get this over and done to get Angle away to his lawyers after the incident this weekend before the PPV.

This one spilled out of the ring and Morgan really showed how much of a 1 trick pony he is with his extremely minimal skillset. After hitting the Carbon Footprint on Angle outside the ring I have zero clue why Earl Hebner felt he needed to check on Angle or involved the crew member as Sting was in the ring and Morgan was on his way back there, Morgan had Sting pinned. Hebner had no business looking over Angle as the match was still in progress & I assume the injury was a gimmick to kill time, Sting hit the Scorpion Death Drop & easily had the 3 count because Hebner wasn't even in the ring for the 1st few seconds Morgan was pinned.

Morgan hit the Carbon Footprint (which the camera was totally out of position for and totally no-sold the move showing how much it missed Sting by) & Hebner was WAY out of position outside the ring again about to make a 3 count when Angle miraculously recovered enough to get up, drag Hebner off his count to the floor and grabbed a chair. Sting ducked the chairshot to hit Morgan, Hebner flubbed his climb into the ring but made it in on his 2nd try to count out Morgan and Kurt Angle retains his Heavyweight title but he'll have to lose it soon with his current legal problems.

My TNA Catch-up, Victory Road PPV 09

Knockout Championship, Angelina Love (with Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne) vs Tara - Tara was on top from the start making a nice Taratula on Love but getting distracted by Sky & Rayne allowing Love to make a fairly extended comeback, Sky accidently sprayed Love with the "hairspray" and Tara had the cover off a schoolboy roll-up until that f**kwitted retard Slick Johnson decided it was more important to send Sky & Rayne backstage allowing Love the time to kick out. Tara made a nice rotating sideslam but missed a reverse moonsault allowing Love to make the pin but Slick Johnson didn't see Taras foot on the rope but Angelina Love is the new Knockout Champion and Slick Johnson deserved everything he got.

Matt Morgan vs Daniels - I'm not exactly sure what bookers were thinking when they made this match, the only heat these 2 guys have was created in a really crap way so no-one really wants to see this match. Control switched between both guys numerous times, they were in and out of the ring but Morgan took the rather predictable win off the Hellavator in a match that was at least 10 minutes too long.

No DQ Match, Dr. Stevie vs Abyss - As a no DQ match it was fair to assume there would be a run in by Daffney or some form of interference from someone else. The "new ring gear" Abyss was wearing was just a jacket over his old ring gear he used wear when James Mitchell was his manager. This match was basically just Abyss beating the c**p out of Stevie who bladed at some point (I didn't notice exactly when) but Abyss hit the shock treatment and only held his pin for a 2 count which made Daffney run in with tazer which brought backstage announcer and "girlfriend" of Abyss Lauren come out to stop her.

Stevie went to use the tazer and Abyss hit the Black Hole Slam, used the tazer on Stevie and made the easy pin to take the win. Why this was a PPV match God himself only knows as I wouldn't have given it away for free on Impact. To anyone wondering about the holes on the back of the top Abyss was wearing should also look at the scars across the tattoo on his arm, all of which were sustained in a barbed wire match against Sabu in TNA several years ago.

IWGP Heavyweight Tag Championship, The British Invasion (with Rob Terry) vs Team 3D - As soon as Slick Johnson (having made a f**king miraculous recovery from Taras dropkick on him earlier) failed to send Rob Terry back to the locker room it was pretty certain he'd be interfering at some point during this match which he did but Team 3D took the eventual win off the 3D on Doug Williams. VERY boring match which was far too long. The run in and beatdown from Kiyoshi & Sheik Abdul Bashir was more entertaining however Kiyoshi exited over the top rope thanks to Brother Ray and Bashir took a Super Bubba Bomb through a table.

Special Challenge Match, Sharmell (with Sojo Bolt) vs Jenna Morasca (with Awesome Kong) - The introductions of this match were VERY poor indeed and you really couldn't tell who was going to be wrestling especially with Sharmell having come to the ring in ang evening gown and both Kong & Bolt came dressed to rumble, Kong came without Raisha Saeed which I think is yet another teaser towards the fact her character is on the way out and we will be seeing more of either Cheerleader Melissa or Alissa Flash.

Well I've seen gimmick matches with men dressed as women wrestling women, I've seen announcers & General Managers wrestle and I've seen wrestlers Managers & Valets wrestle. This however reminded me of the very 1st episode of Hulk Hogans Celebrity Championship Wrestling as neither of these women really have much in the way of wrestling ability and the match itself has so little heat it didn't even belong on tv let alone get midcard status on a PPV. Quite frankly the ECW catfight days were better matches than this.

Jenna pulled some of Sharmells weave out & Bolt tried to interfere but Kong put a stop to that and played with the piece of weave. You'd think that someone who'd recently lost a large amount of hair would have demonstrated some sort of sympathy there? Anyway Kong clobbered Sharmell with her fist and allowed Jenna to take the easy win in this p**s poor excuse for a match.

Legends Championship, Kevin Nash vs AJ Styles - Very poor match that even Styles with his stunning array of moves couldn't make look good, Styles was on top for most of it but Nash took the win off a simple chokeslam to become new Legends Champion. Extremely poor match and it makes you wonder how much they paid Styles to job in such a poor fashion.

Tag Team Championship, Scott Steiner & Booker T vs Beer Money - Beer Money had this won twice but after a poor bit of "something in my eye" acting by Earl Hebner Booker hit the axe kick on Roode on the apron allowing Steiner to make a schoolboy roll-up to make the pin and the MEM are now new Tag Team Champions.

Grudge Match, Samoa Joe vs Sting - By the sounds of the interview Joe gave before this match we are FINALLY going to see Tazz. Most of the start of this was in the crowd which was just them beating the c**p out of each other without really making much of a match but it improved a bit once they got back in the ring with Joe making a rather good suicide dive.

Recently it has seemed like Joes heart hasn't been in his job mainly due to having to work really shitty matches where he's just angry and beats on people without getting any actual match or finish. Joe had been paintbrushing Sting with slaps but Sting came back and made a sideslam where both guys were left holding their heads (bad landing or over selling?), Sting was on top from here and had the Scorpion Leg Lock synched in with Joe about to tap when some music hit, the orange & black FTW graphic came up on the screen and Tazz came out in a black suit. Joe had a miracle comeback but Sting fought off the musclebuster so Joe went for the rear naked chokehold forcing Sting to tap out so Samoa Joe took the win leaving Joe to celebrate with Tazz.

It is announced Bobby Lashley HAS signed to TNA. Oh dear, what the f**k for? Theres no-one really big to work with him & I can't see him getting any kind of title shots for a few months at least so him coming to TNA is pointless just like Frank Trigg in fact. He's not going to further his wrestling career any as fans will just cite his MMA matches as to why anyone in TNA should be beating him. Do TNA really need someone of Lashleys size & background, simple answer? No.

World Heavyweight Championship, Mick Foley vs Kurt Angle - This started out slow (someone reported that Angle worked this match with a groin strain? I saw no indications of that) with mat work and just devolved into farce after Foley went for the Socko Claw only for Angle to push Foley into the ref then hit the Angle Slam which Foley kicked out of after 2 causing Angle to drop an elbow on the ref (surely an instant DQ right there?) althought when Angle went to get the chair he was limping and holding his upper thigh so maybe evidence of the groin strain there?

Foley pre-empted the chair and hit the Socko Claw (at least call the move correctly West & Tenay?) throwing Angle through the ropes to the floor before hitting a flying elbow drop from the apron onto Angle. Foley had a leg scissors hold with the Socko Claw but Angle resisted the submission, Foley resisted the ankle lock once breaking the hold by reaching the ropes but Angle hit the Ankle Lock again and Foley tapped out allowing Angle to retain his title on a night where the MEM dominated and this was a really poor PPV as far as matches, finishes and general quality went.

My TNA Catch-up, Slammiversary PPV Jun 09

X Division Championship, Jay Lethal vs Alex Shelley vs Consequences Creed vs Chris Sabin vs Suicide - This was being contested under King Of The Mountain rules where basically you have to get a pin or submission to become eligible to hang the belt to get the win and whoever you pinned or took the submission off spends 2 minutes in the penalty cage, as expected this was a beatdown on Suicide by everyone else as they'd all already promised to try and unmask him tonight (a plan which was totally forgotten in seconds it seems). First to become eligible was Suicide by pinning Lethal who was sent to the penalty box, Suicide then pinned Shelley whilst Lethal still had 25 seconds left before he was released.

It seems this year they haven't done what they used to do and have more than 1 person in the penalty cage at the same time. Lethal pinned Suicide after a Lethal Combination into a chair but Sabin & Creed dived on top also trying to claim credit for the pin, Lethal called for the belt to try and hang it & then it just turned into tag team versus tag team with Shelley & Sabin coming off the better from that feud. As Suicide was freed Creed pinned Shelley, Sabin was outside the ring "hurt" so Lethal & Creed double teamed Suicide.

Creed totally flubbed his Flip Suicide Dive onto Suicide who wasn't in the right position so Creed hit the ring mats hard (hence him screaming out "Oh my god!") but amazingly he got up and was involved in helping stop Sabins Flying Cross Body Block off the top of the penalty cage. Shelley went to set up a ladder but the ref told him he wasn't eligible yet so Sabin lay down for him & Shelley took the easy pin, Shelley was halfway up the ladder with the belt when Suicide cut him off with a nice Springboard Dropkick off the ropes.

Suicide took out both of Lethal Consequences, Creed by Suplexing him into the ladder which catapulted Lethal off the ladder into a hard fall on the canvas. Sabin became eligible after pinning Lethal with an excellent Tornado DDT, now everyone was eligible and it became a free for all. Lethals Flying Elbow onto Sabin on the ladder was pretty crazy & Lethal looked in agony after it, Shelley hitting Sliced Bread on Creed on the apron was completely mental but Suicide managed to hang the belt to take the win and retain his X Division title.

Second Chance Match, Shane Douglas vs Daniels - If Douglas wins he gets Daniels slot on the TNA Roster but if Daniels wins then Douglas leaves TNA forever! Very weak match with Daniels getting the win off the BME, apparently Douglas twisted his ankle early into the match but I never noticed it to be honest. This wasn't worthy of being on a PPV, heck I wouldn't have even put it as a curtain jerker on Impact for free.

Womens Knockout Championship, Tara vs Angelina Love (with Velvet Sky & Madison Rayne) - This was pretty below par until Tara hit her Spinning Slam which was very impressive, sadly that was the single high spot of the match as Sky interfered by spraying Tara in the face with "hairspray" allowing Love to hit the Lights Out to take an easy win to retain her title. I had the feeling this could have been a really good match if they'd given it more time and not had Sky & Rayne at ringside. Did anyone else notice the blood on Tara's right forearm just above her wrist, any ideas how that happened?

Monsters Ball Mixed Tag Match, Daffney & Raven (with Dr Stevie) vs Taylor Wilde & Abyss - The match stipulations are No DQ & weapons are legal. Both Daffney & Wilde did well in this match, Daffney taking the Press Slam from Abyss into Stevie & Raven then Wilde hitting a great Flying Cross Body Block into all of them.

Daffney also took a pretty hard fall off Abyss' shoulders after Wilde nailed her with the weapons around the head (having reviewed the highlight reel Daffney barely missed those ring steps), Wilde also made a nice Splash through a table onto Daffney. Daffney also took a great bump into the thumbtacks and it took Dr Stevie making the save to stop the 3 count but Abyss took the win after hitting the Black Hole Slam on Raven into the thumbtacks.

Matt Morgan vs Sting - If Morgan wins he joins the MEM. I think someone give the wrong info to the announcer who said if Morgan won he got Stings spot in the MEM, that'd be f**king difficult seeing as Sting is now their Godfather. A pretty boring match with Sting mainly jobbing to Morgan but Sting took the eventual win off the Scorpion Death Drop.

Tag Team Championship, Beer Money vs Team 3D - I assume they had no clue what to do in this match so they did nothing? The Amble Down (it was too slow to consider as a run-in) by The British Invasion was pointless but they distracted the ref long enough for Beer Money to win off the DWI on Devon to win the TNA Tag Team belts.

TNA Heavyweight Championship King Of The Mountain Match, AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe vs Jeff Jarrett vs Kurt Angle vs Mick Foley - just to recap King Of The Mountain rules you have to get a pin or submission to become eligible to hang the belt to get the win and whoever you pinned or took the submission off of spends 2 minutes in the penalty cage.

They were REALLY kicking the arse out of this match with the insanely long introductions (I assume they were trying to fill the time Daniels & Douglas didn't fill) & I'm not exactly sure under what grounds the 2 refs had the right to put Joe into the penalty cage or how Angle was eligible without actually having pinned anyone as the match hadn't even started yet. Were we looking at a completely new screw-job here?

Foley eventually came into the ring and allowed Jarrett to make the pin, when Foley came back Joe hit the Rear Naked Choke Hold and choked Foley out becoming eligible and sending Foley back to the penalty cage. Joe hit a great Suplex on Angle who took a good bump on the ladder when he landed but Joe took a bad hit falling from the top of the ladder hitting the bottom when Foley knocked it over.

Styles also had a bad landing after doing a Springboard which took Foley & Jarrett off the top of another ladder, Foleys move of the match had to be his Flying elbow drop off the top of the penalty cage onto Angle who he pinned to become eligible. Styles' Pele on Foley was way off target as the director was stupidly on the wrong camera revealing the miss but Styles being launched over the top rope onto Foley by Joe was totally crazy but Styles was able to make the pin on the ground (did they EVER announce this as falls count anywhere or was this another rule made up on the fly by the colour desk?) also why were they bothering to announce Foleys remaining time in the penalty cage as they hadn't done that for anyone else so I assumed this match was winding up to its finish.

The finish to this totally ruined the rest of the match that had set it up with Styles powerbombed off the ladder by Joe who climbed the ladder with Angle then gave him the belt and Angle hung the belt to become new TNA Heavyweight Champion. I guess all those secret conferences Joe had been having were with Angle then? So how the f**king hell are they going to bring Tazz in having ruined that opportunity? Or are they just not going to bother? Did anyone else think that Angle with his designer stubble looked a tad like Benoit?