Man, it's been ages since I've written anything for this blog. Luckily, a few months of upheaval are now over, with the upshot being that I'm going to have more time to watch/write about pro-wrestling. Onto this show, which I started watching about 2 months ago and have only just got round to writing about...
Jesse Sorensen vs Zema Ion
Obviously, this match went short due to the unfortunate injury to Sorensen. I’ve been very vocal in my support of Jesse on this blog, his improvement has been noticeable on a month by month basis. Even in the 5 minutes here, he hits a great Northern Light suplex with real snap. Hopefully he’ll be able to return one day.
Robbie E vs Shannon Moore
Moore is in this match as a result of answering the first Robbie E Invitational. This is filler, but it’s enjoyable filler as Robbie E is one of the most entertaining guys on the roster right now. Robbie makes to leave early following some Moore offence, but Shannon brings him back into the ring. Moore takes a nasty looking bump into the railings to give Robbie the advantage. Jeremy Borash does some nice work on commentary to put over the importance of this match, talking about how he travels with Robbie E, and that he takes the TV title with him everywhere. The Fist Pump drop gets two. I love how excited E gets every time he goes for the pin. Moore hits an asai moonsault on the outside, which is interesting considering the Sorensen interview in the previous match. Moore follows this with a nice top rope rana for two, but Robbie T gets involved, punching Moore in the head as he heads towards the ropes, leading the a Robbie E leaping DDT for 3.
Gail Kim vs Tara
Knockouts title match. Madison Rayne comes to the ring with Gail, and it’s a novel touch that her being at ringside works against Kim, as the champ spends too much time distracted by Madison which allows Tara to attack at the bell. Oddly, Tara is REALLY over in the Impact Zone. Kim starts to target Tara’s knee with a Brock Lock, a move more people should really do considering the massive brace on her knee. She follows this with an Octopus Stretch, which is broken when Tara gets the ropes. Tara gets back in command with a decent powerslam. She hits a top rope moonsault, but hurts her bad knee in the process, so can only get two. Tara goes for the Widow’s Peak, but Gail reverses to a knee-breaker and gets Eat Defeat for the win. Not a bad match, but not great either. I feel like Gail should have done a bit more work on the knee before the moonsault, but that’s possibly a minor quibble.
Crimson & Matt Morgan vs Samoa Joe & Magnus
For two thrown together teams, this was actually a good match. I’m not big fan of Crimson or Morgan, but they were both better in this environment than in singles action. Magnus is a guy who has improved immensely since his TNA debut in 2009, so I’m glad to see TNA use him again. Crimson ends up as face-in-peril after some outside interference from Joe. Magnus and Joe have already developed good tag team chemistry, with some well-worked double teams. They work the heat section on Crimson well, whilst still giving him some hope spots. My favourite of which sees Joe stop a Crimson break for the corner with a crisp powerslam. Crimson does make the hot tag, and Morgan looks decent when coming in. The tag environment suits a guy like Morgan, as he can hot tag in and hit some power moves, whilst not being required to work a full match. Crimson hits an accidental spear on his partner, and Joe/Magnus hit the snapmare/elbow combo to pick up the tag titles. Better than you’d expect.
Austin Aries vs Alex Shelley
When Get Cape video stars collide. Shelley attacks Aries as he reclines in the corner to get this thing started. There is a nice spot early on where Shelley throws Aries out of the ring and prepares for a dive, only for Aries to crawl under the ring and attack him from behind. Aries starts hitting knees to the shoulders of Shelley as the commentary team wisely bring up Shelley being sidelined with a shoulder injury. Aries follows this up with a 2nd rope elbow to the back of a seated Shelley. Shelley takes over after A Double takes ages setting up the Pendullum Elbow. Aries tries to crawl under the ring again, but this time gets cut off by Shelley, who hits a suicide dive successfully. Aries takes over and this time hits the Pendullum Elbow with no build up, which Tenay highlights. Aries hits a sick Death Valley Driver on the ring apron but misses the 450 splash. Shelley hits Sliced Bread, only for Aries to get his foot on the rope. Aries rolls through a roll-up attempt and goes back to Shelley’s neck with a series of knees before the brainbuster only gets a two. Shelley gets another nearfall from a series of kicks to the head, but A Double blocks another Sliced Bread attempt and hits another brainbuster, before locking in the Last Chancery for the tapout win. Really good match, with Aries concentrating on Shelley’s injured shoulder, which also softened Alex up for the submission.
AJ Styles vs Kazarian
Kaz is accompanied by Christopher Daniels, who forces him to wrestle in a Daniels t-shirt. Styles soon rips that off him, however. Despite an early flub where AJ leaps too early on a leapfrog, this surpassed my expectations. Kazarian is a guy I can’t make up my mind about, but I do think he makes a better heel than face. To their credit, they managed to continue the storyline, whilst working a fun match. Styles keeps eyeing up Daniels throughout the match. There is a nice touch where Styles uses an Indian Deathlock on Kaz, and maintains eye-contact with Daniels throughout the move. They exchange finisher attempts a few times too, but again that fits into the story, with them being former stablemates and friends who know each other well. The ending I liked too, with AJ looking like he’s going to springboard into the ring onto Kaz, but instead hitting an insane Asai moonsault to the floor on Daniels. However, this gives Kaz time to recover so that, when AJ does try to springboard in, he gets caught in a Fade To Black for the Kaz win. Good effort.
Gunner vs Garrett Bischoff
I really think Gunner is coming into his own and it’s massively to his credit that this wasn’t utterly dreadful. This is your typical overmatched face vs overconfident heel match, and should lead to a straightforward story. However, the match goes nearly 13 minutes, and that is far too long for the story they told here. The other problem is that Garrett is neither over nor talented, so Gunner had to control the majority of the match, without beating Garrett too badly, which gets old really quickly. Gunner does hit a slingshot suplex to give the match some brownie points, but the biggest pop comes from Hogan decking Eric Bischoff outside the ring. Gunner hits a neckbreaker, calling back to their previous match where Gunner injured Garrett, but Garrett stops Hulk throwing in the towel. This doesn’t stop Gunner hitting a DDT for the win. I don’t think Garrett is unsalvageable as he does show some fire in his comebacks, but he really needs to spend a few years working as many non-televised shows as possible to learn how to put on a proper match. He’s simply not good TV yet.
Bobby Roode vs Bully Ray vs James Storm vs Jeff Hardy
I really enjoyed this match. They threw in enough clever little bits to keep me entertained as a viewer. For example, when Bully departing the ring means Hardy and Storm have Roode to themselves, they hit Poetry In Motion on him, but on a second attempt Storm quickly tries to roll Jeff up for a 2 count. I also dug the moment when Roode and Storm teamed up to suplex Ray, then teased the Beer Money celebration only for Roode to attack Storm part way through. They manage to keep the match pretty high tempo, and everything looks really smooth. One sequence involving Roode, Ray and Hardy, which ends with a Bully Bomb on Jeff is particularly good. Ray looks great throughout, everything he does looks really meaty and like it’s going to hurt. It’s nothing fancy, but he gets more out of his elbow drops than a lot of guys in TNA do with fancier moves. I enjoyed the ending too, with guys hitting their finishers all over the shop before an opponent stops them getting the win. A ref bump gives Roode the opportunity to grab his title to hit Hardy, but Sting stops him. Roode, in spectacular dick heel form, goads Sting into hitting him, only to duck and allow Sting to level Hardy instead. Roode then covers Hardy and insists Sting counts the fall, which he reluctantly does. Good main event, and the ending, though predictable, at least sets up the Sting/Roode match at Victory Road.
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