So, this is the latest in TNA's One Night Only PPV series, which airs free in the international markets. Markets like the UK, so this was a free show on Challenge. I enjoyed the TNA Knocked Out DVD I reviewed last year, so I went into this with some, admittedly minor, hopes that it might be good.
Gail Kim vs Alissa Flash
Gail is a a bit cocky early on, at least until she gets planted by a Flash German suplex. Flash tries a giant swing into the safety rail, but Kim grabs the rail to stop it, and instead rams Flash into it to take control. Gail retains control with some fun offence including the slick corner cross body. They also show Kim's smarts, as she grabs the ropes to break a deathlock variation, then delivers a quick kick to the head before Flash can react to regain control. Flash comes back with some nice aggression, culminating with curb stomp for 2. Ultimately, Kim is victorious, as she avoids a corner charge, before hitting Eat Defeat for 3. Fun match to open up.
Lei'D Tapa vs Ivelise
Tapa is substantially bigger than Ivelise. Because of this, Ivelise has to fight from below, using a quick flurry of kicks to try and take control. Tapa is not at all graceful, but her size means moves have a bit more oomph than they would otherwise. Tapa hits a really sloppy press slam, bearly getting Ivelise up. Tapa hasn't got much offence so keeps using clothelines to stop Ivelise comebacks. An Ivelise comeback rana looks awkward as Tapa struggled to bump for it. Ivelise locks in a guillotine and bizarrely what I thought was an Ivelise DDT turns out to have been a shonky looking Tapa slam for 3. This wasn't great, but Ivelise looked really good
Tara vs Mia Yim
Tara uses her relative strength early on to dominate, but spends a lot of time flirting with Jesse Godderz at ringside, which allows Yim back into the match. Some Godderz interference gives Tara the advantage, and I like how Tara shows a bit more aggression, as if Yim has embarrassed her by getting in some offence. We do get one odd blown spot, where Yim runs the ropes and barely touches Tara, before getting back on track with Yim getting her knees up on a standing Tara moonsault. Yim hits a nice Asai and a German suplex for two. Some more Godderz interference causes Yim to miss a corkscrew moonsault and Tara hits the Widow's Peak for the win.
Miss Techmacher vs Santana
Santana dominates and takes Tessmacher to the mat early. This is the first match where the outside talent has dominated a good chunk of the match, as Santana works over Tessmacher's arm and . Tessmacher has to fight back to get back in and, even after hitting a running corner charge, she goes back on defence as Santana quickly regains control. A missed handstand moonsault by Santana gives Tessmacher the chance to hit a facebuster to win, but Santana really was in control for most of this and looked good doing so. Fun match.
ODB vs Trinity
First time Trinity has been in TNA for years. Some early ODB advantage sees Trinity leave the ring, but ODB chases her out there to dish out a bit more. A missed splash by ODB gives Trinity the advantage, though nothing much really happens. It's pretty unexciting until ODB comes back with a meaty looking clothesline. ODB gets pissed up from her hipflask, and hits a corner splash, a bronco buster and a TKO for an easy win. Pretty much a squash.
Taryn Terrell vs Jackie Moore
The announcers hype up how tough Jackie is, and she in in charge early to prove this, just throwing Taryn around the ring. A lot of Jackie chinlocks do nothing to help make this match exciting. Taryn gets back on offence and, though not everything looks too crisp, she always looks suitably fired up which covers up a lot of flaws. Spear gets two for Taryn. Taryn misses a bulldog and Jackie dropkicks her in the face for three. Pretty brief and not too good whilst it lasted, though I liked Taryn's energy.
Sojo Bolt vs Taeler Hendrix vs Hannah Blossom
Sojo and Taeler look to be teaming up early, and fool Hannah into joining a three way lock up, only to double team her. A double team submission on Blossom looks particularly nasty. However, their partnership breaks apart as they clearly hadn't planned ahead to realise only one of them could win, and they too start to fight. This allows Blossom to fire back on Hendrix, though her offensive flurry doesn't last long. More miscommunication between the heels allows Hannah to nail a big boot to Hendrix for the win. This was ok, played mainly for comedy, but perfectly fine.
Velvet Sky vs Jillian Hall
Jillian treats us to some pre-match singing. Even early on, this is pretty poor as Velvet's offence is paperthin. They clumsily tumble to the outside, where Jillian throws Velvet into the steps in a tough looking bump. Jillian retains control, which is probably for the best, as at least her offence is better. I love Taz telling Velvet off for kicking out of a pin, when grabbing the rope would've used less energy. A terrible suplex-facebuster gives Velvet an opening, but Jillian hits one of the shittiest victory rolls in history for a two. Velvet gets In Yo Face for three. This was really bad.
Serena Deeb vs Mickie James
Nice hug to start, which sort of previews the story of the match. The opening sees both girls battling for position, trying to get control of the match. They shake hands again, and the second stage features a bit more aggression and a higher pace, highlighted by a few Serena elbows to the face. The third handshake is more of a hand-slap as a bit more edge comes into their exchanges. Things start getting really good, with a nice knucklock exchange before Mickie sends Serena out of the ring. I love Serena subtly showing how the Mickie chants are getting to her with her facial expressions, and she grabs a headlock instead of accepting the next handshake. Having sent Mickie to the floor, she kicks Mickie as she climbs back in the ring, before unleashing a flurry of blows. This aggression goes against her though, as she misses a corner charge at full speed and Mickie hits a desperation neckbreaker. James hits the top rope Thesz press and the DDT to win. Easily match of the night.
Queen of the Knockouts Gauntlet
As with usual TNA rules, it's through the rope elimination to start, before the final two face off in a normal match. Hannah Blossom and Gail Kim are the first two. Gail blitzes her from the get go and, despite a small flurry of offence, Hannah is swiftly eliminated. Tapa is next in, and provides more of a test to Gail, though it's more a case of dominating her with size than offence, as Gail doesn't seem to be in trouble. Tara's entry provides a break for Gail, as Tara and Tapa face off, though Tara can't life Tapa up due to her size. By the time Mickie comes in, Tapa is dominating both. Mickie takes over on Tapa with a bit more success, though soon Tapa is dominating all three. Her offense isn't great, but she's got a great look. That said, she's soon eliminated as all three team up on her. Tessmacher comes in, as Tara and Kim start to team up on Mickie. Tessmacher goes straight for her ex-tag partner Tara in a nice bit of continuity. Jackie Moore is next up, and the heels start to work over Tessmacher and James. Not much is really happening, and ODB is in, which at least livens things up. Jackie is removed at roughly the same time as Velvet Sky enters. Velvet and ODB end up fighting on the apron, leading to Velvet outchopping ODB to eliminate her, before Gail and Tara swiftly eliminate Velvet and Tessmacher, leaving Mickie 2-on-1. Mickie manages to eliminate Tara with a kick to the midsection, and we end up with the pinfall section of the match between Gail and Mickie. Top rope Thesz press gets two for Mickie, but Gail feigns ankle injury after falling from the ropes. Mickie, clearly not having watched any wrestling in the last 30 years, falls for this and Gail rolls her up from behind to win. This was so boring, if they'd gone through the eliminations quicker and given us a longer Mickie/Gail match, this would've been so much better. The only effective bit of the battle royal was the early bit to make Tapa look like a monster, the rest was average at best.
Saturday, 14 September 2013
Sunday, 8 September 2013
3PW A Night For The Flyboy
Readers of this blog will notice that I'm generally quite positive about pro-wrestling, and am more likely to give a good review than a bad. The reason for this is simple: I love wrestling, to the extent that even stuff that isn't great per se will still have some merit to me. With this in mind, it's very rare I'm hyper critical of a show, but last October's review of 3PW's Three Men & A Bodybag show was one of those times, just a meandering mess of bad wrestling, terrible booking and nonsensical turns. However, my Lovefilm account means that I don't really have to pay for these shows, and I'm going to continue to watch them in the belief that some gold might shine out amongst the shit. This show, a tribute to Ted "Rocco Rock" Petty, has Syxx-Pac vs Ron Killings AND Curt Hennig vs Jerry Lawler, so there must be something good here....right?
Josh Daniels vs Joey Matthews
Matthews heels it up to start, stalling and slapping Daniels in the face. Daniels is a bit lacking in charisma, and is a bit of a Benoit clone. They blow a leapfrog out of the corner, which even on a tribute show earns a "You fucked up" chant. Really lovely top rope clothesline by Matthews. Daniels misses a corner charge, hitting his shoulder in the corner, but is back on offence seconds later, hitting a delayed vertical suplex on Matthews with no notice paid to his arm. Daniels doesn't bother selling the shoulder at all, and seems to be trying to cut off all Matthews' offensive flurries. The match ends with Matthews hitting a reverse DDT following a missed top rope legdrop by Daniels
Rob Eckos vs White Lotus
Eckos is the future Robbie E, whilst Lotus is a balding white guy who claims to be Japanese. Some early comedy sees Eckos trucks pulled down, with a white dildo in his backside. Lovely. Neither guy has convincing looking offence, but Eckos shows some character and moves around the ring nicely. Decent hiptoss into a DDT by Eckos. Conversely, Lotus does a chain of three rolling suplexes but goes from most impressive to least, starting with a T-bone and ending with a normal vertical suplex, not understanding the idea of escalating the impressiveness of the moves. Eckos wins a quick match with a handful of ropes. Neither guy looked great, but if you were asked which one would have a role in a national promotion 10 years later, you'd have correctly picked Eckos from this bout.
Jason vs Del Tsunami
Jason looks in good nick here. Jason pretty much dominates, hitting a few nice suplexes. Tsunami gets very little in terms of offence in, but sells well enough, before Jason finishes with a submission, gravevining the legs with his arms whilst holding Tsunami's body in a leg scissors. Decent enough squash.
Roadkill vs Christian York
York looks a lot less pumped than in his TNA run, very much in part-time wrestler shape. The opening parts to the match are perfectly fine, and I loved Roadkill hitting a dropkick during a York skin-the-cat attempt to send him to the floor. They try some brawling outside the ring, which would look better if York wasn't so unconvincing at it. He looks a lot less slick than he does 10 years later, manging to botch throwing Roadkill out of the ring. His offence just looks a bit soft, which is disappointing, as I remember quite enjoying him in ECW. A few chinlocks throughout the match dont help to build excitement either. Roadkill has looked perfectly fine here, bar one moment where he's getting beaten by York in the corner and casually positions himself on the second rope for no reason other than for York to hit a rana. Roadkill at least comes back with some energy to liven things up. Throughout the match, the commentators have highlighted that Danny Doring isn't in the building whilst Joey Matthews is, so you know that we'll be seeing some interference, and low and behold, Matthews soon comes out. He's soon removed by Roadkill, but we get a blown finish where York superkicks a chair into Roadkill's face for 2, but the bell rings. Roadkill takes it upon himself to save matters by powerbombing Matthews onto York, then nailing a top rope splash for the win. This was inoffensive.
Ron Killings vs Syxx-Pac
Some stalling from current NWA champion Killings starts us off, as he decides to give the crowd a piece of his mind. This isn't too long after Syxx-Pac left the WWE and he looks sharp. I'm convinced fired-up face Waltman is his best incarnation, certainly more endearing than his DX persona. I loved Killings keeping up his war with the crowd, jawing at them whilst choking Pac over the ropes. A nice bump follows, as Killings hiptosses Syxx-Pac over the top rope to the floor. Killings cuts off a comeback as he catches Pac with a dropkick leaping from the top rope but misses a rare 450 as neither man can get a real advantage. This is a pretty short sprint of a match, so the back and forth nature feels fine here. I did fear a shitty ending after Pac hits an X-Factor, as he lies covering Killings, waiting for a count like moron despite having seen Sabu pull the ref from the ring. Luckily, he moves when Sabu tries an Arabian facebuster from the top rope, having set it up so that Killings gets hit, which means the spot makes sense. Syxx-Pac removes Sabu, and picks up an academic 3 count. I enjoyed this a lot, both guys looked really crisp.
The Blue Meanie & Jasmin St Claire vs The Rockin' Rebel & Missy Hyatt
When you've got a tag match and Rebel is the best guy in there, you're in for a painful ordeal. Watching this atrocity, I'm not convinced Jasmin isn't second best. You can clearly see Meanie guiding her through everything, but her offence on the Rebel still manages to look more convincing than that of her partner. Poor Rebel gets double teamed in the early going, as Hyatt just stands on the apron. Rebel is one of those guys you know is a bit shit, but for some reason, I've got a soft spot for the guy, possibly because he'll happily let himself look like a berk in a throwaway comedy match like this. Here, he takes all the token comedy spots - a headbutt to the crotch from a dazed Meanie, then falling into the doggystyle position with Hyatt after they get splashed in the corner (which Missy initially manages to blow by falling out of the corner too early). This match even ends like a crock of shit, Meanie shoving Rebel over a crouching Jasmin, who rolls him up for the win, despite Rebel's foot being clearly in the ropes. Just utter shite. Postmatch, we get an angle, as Tod Gordon turns up with some massive bloke who chokeslams Meanie, allowing Jasmin to turn on him. Aside from the fact that the company owners still have to get their win in before the turn, the angle feels out-of-place on a tribute show.
Curt Hennig vs Jerry Lawler
This should be fun. We get off to a good start as both guys try to one up each other, trading slams before Hennig hits a backdrop and Lawler reverses a second attempt. Neither guy manages to get a clear avantage. Hennig takes a trademark bump as he's punched over the top rope onto table. Lawler plays face here, which is odd given his anti-ECW past. Hennig concentrates on wearing down Lawler, locking in a sleeper then stomping away at him. Lawler comes back with a stunner for two, complete with double middle fingers. Hennig retaliates with a piledriver, but only gets two with a cocky pin. Neither guy is doing anything special, but the execution is noticably better than previous matches on the show. A Lawler second rope fistdrop only gets 2, before Hennig wins in the corner with his feet on the ropes. Breaking all wrestling conventions, without any proof as to the cheating the ref restarts the match. Hennig rightly decks ref, only for Lawler to roll him up, winning with a quick count from the ref. Despite the rubbish ending, this was plenty of fun. Maybe not great, as they never really left first gear, but proof that you can do more with less.
Sabu vs Gary Wolfe
Wolfe gets beaten down pre-match by Tod Gordon and his massive henchman, apparently called Annihilation. Despite this, Wolfe dominates early, though is well out of position for Sabu's rebound clothesline. They brawl outside, with Wolfe throwing some pissweak forearms. More weak brawling follows, before Sabu livens things up with a triple jump dive into the crowd. They wander around the arena a bit more, where Wolfe DDT's Sabu through a table on the stage. We get more tedious wander-wander-punch-wander fighting, before they get back to the ring. Wolfe rolls Sabu into the ring, then immediately throws him back out again, as he's clearly got no ideas on what to do in the match. Gordon and co hits some crap cheap shots outside the ring, which Wolfe totally no-sells. Sabu hits the triple jump moonsault for two. A second attempt is met with a chair, before Wolfe powerbombs Sabu through a table to the floor. This obvious finisher gets two. Inside, a burning hammer also gets two, and this match is really dragging. Having killed two finishers, they try to fill up time with bland offence that exists only to drag this match to "epic", but it's failing miserably. Worst DDT ever is hit by Sabu. It's totally fair to say that a ten-years older Sabu had better matches with Wild Boar and Jimmy Havoc in the UK last month than this, and it's all because those matches, whilst different, had actual structure to them. This is just overlong, drawn out nonsense. Eventually, Sabu sets up Wolfe on a table, which promptly falls over. Bonus points go to the commentators for covering this up by claiming Wolfe saved himself. Bonus points lost by following a trademark Arabian facebuster through the table by saying they'd never seen that before from Sabu. Started badly, and kept on (and on and on...) getting worse.
Josh Daniels vs Joey Matthews
Matthews heels it up to start, stalling and slapping Daniels in the face. Daniels is a bit lacking in charisma, and is a bit of a Benoit clone. They blow a leapfrog out of the corner, which even on a tribute show earns a "You fucked up" chant. Really lovely top rope clothesline by Matthews. Daniels misses a corner charge, hitting his shoulder in the corner, but is back on offence seconds later, hitting a delayed vertical suplex on Matthews with no notice paid to his arm. Daniels doesn't bother selling the shoulder at all, and seems to be trying to cut off all Matthews' offensive flurries. The match ends with Matthews hitting a reverse DDT following a missed top rope legdrop by Daniels
Rob Eckos vs White Lotus
Eckos is the future Robbie E, whilst Lotus is a balding white guy who claims to be Japanese. Some early comedy sees Eckos trucks pulled down, with a white dildo in his backside. Lovely. Neither guy has convincing looking offence, but Eckos shows some character and moves around the ring nicely. Decent hiptoss into a DDT by Eckos. Conversely, Lotus does a chain of three rolling suplexes but goes from most impressive to least, starting with a T-bone and ending with a normal vertical suplex, not understanding the idea of escalating the impressiveness of the moves. Eckos wins a quick match with a handful of ropes. Neither guy looked great, but if you were asked which one would have a role in a national promotion 10 years later, you'd have correctly picked Eckos from this bout.
Jason vs Del Tsunami
Jason looks in good nick here. Jason pretty much dominates, hitting a few nice suplexes. Tsunami gets very little in terms of offence in, but sells well enough, before Jason finishes with a submission, gravevining the legs with his arms whilst holding Tsunami's body in a leg scissors. Decent enough squash.
Roadkill vs Christian York
York looks a lot less pumped than in his TNA run, very much in part-time wrestler shape. The opening parts to the match are perfectly fine, and I loved Roadkill hitting a dropkick during a York skin-the-cat attempt to send him to the floor. They try some brawling outside the ring, which would look better if York wasn't so unconvincing at it. He looks a lot less slick than he does 10 years later, manging to botch throwing Roadkill out of the ring. His offence just looks a bit soft, which is disappointing, as I remember quite enjoying him in ECW. A few chinlocks throughout the match dont help to build excitement either. Roadkill has looked perfectly fine here, bar one moment where he's getting beaten by York in the corner and casually positions himself on the second rope for no reason other than for York to hit a rana. Roadkill at least comes back with some energy to liven things up. Throughout the match, the commentators have highlighted that Danny Doring isn't in the building whilst Joey Matthews is, so you know that we'll be seeing some interference, and low and behold, Matthews soon comes out. He's soon removed by Roadkill, but we get a blown finish where York superkicks a chair into Roadkill's face for 2, but the bell rings. Roadkill takes it upon himself to save matters by powerbombing Matthews onto York, then nailing a top rope splash for the win. This was inoffensive.
Ron Killings vs Syxx-Pac
Some stalling from current NWA champion Killings starts us off, as he decides to give the crowd a piece of his mind. This isn't too long after Syxx-Pac left the WWE and he looks sharp. I'm convinced fired-up face Waltman is his best incarnation, certainly more endearing than his DX persona. I loved Killings keeping up his war with the crowd, jawing at them whilst choking Pac over the ropes. A nice bump follows, as Killings hiptosses Syxx-Pac over the top rope to the floor. Killings cuts off a comeback as he catches Pac with a dropkick leaping from the top rope but misses a rare 450 as neither man can get a real advantage. This is a pretty short sprint of a match, so the back and forth nature feels fine here. I did fear a shitty ending after Pac hits an X-Factor, as he lies covering Killings, waiting for a count like moron despite having seen Sabu pull the ref from the ring. Luckily, he moves when Sabu tries an Arabian facebuster from the top rope, having set it up so that Killings gets hit, which means the spot makes sense. Syxx-Pac removes Sabu, and picks up an academic 3 count. I enjoyed this a lot, both guys looked really crisp.
The Blue Meanie & Jasmin St Claire vs The Rockin' Rebel & Missy Hyatt
When you've got a tag match and Rebel is the best guy in there, you're in for a painful ordeal. Watching this atrocity, I'm not convinced Jasmin isn't second best. You can clearly see Meanie guiding her through everything, but her offence on the Rebel still manages to look more convincing than that of her partner. Poor Rebel gets double teamed in the early going, as Hyatt just stands on the apron. Rebel is one of those guys you know is a bit shit, but for some reason, I've got a soft spot for the guy, possibly because he'll happily let himself look like a berk in a throwaway comedy match like this. Here, he takes all the token comedy spots - a headbutt to the crotch from a dazed Meanie, then falling into the doggystyle position with Hyatt after they get splashed in the corner (which Missy initially manages to blow by falling out of the corner too early). This match even ends like a crock of shit, Meanie shoving Rebel over a crouching Jasmin, who rolls him up for the win, despite Rebel's foot being clearly in the ropes. Just utter shite. Postmatch, we get an angle, as Tod Gordon turns up with some massive bloke who chokeslams Meanie, allowing Jasmin to turn on him. Aside from the fact that the company owners still have to get their win in before the turn, the angle feels out-of-place on a tribute show.
Curt Hennig vs Jerry Lawler
This should be fun. We get off to a good start as both guys try to one up each other, trading slams before Hennig hits a backdrop and Lawler reverses a second attempt. Neither guy manages to get a clear avantage. Hennig takes a trademark bump as he's punched over the top rope onto table. Lawler plays face here, which is odd given his anti-ECW past. Hennig concentrates on wearing down Lawler, locking in a sleeper then stomping away at him. Lawler comes back with a stunner for two, complete with double middle fingers. Hennig retaliates with a piledriver, but only gets two with a cocky pin. Neither guy is doing anything special, but the execution is noticably better than previous matches on the show. A Lawler second rope fistdrop only gets 2, before Hennig wins in the corner with his feet on the ropes. Breaking all wrestling conventions, without any proof as to the cheating the ref restarts the match. Hennig rightly decks ref, only for Lawler to roll him up, winning with a quick count from the ref. Despite the rubbish ending, this was plenty of fun. Maybe not great, as they never really left first gear, but proof that you can do more with less.
Sabu vs Gary Wolfe
Wolfe gets beaten down pre-match by Tod Gordon and his massive henchman, apparently called Annihilation. Despite this, Wolfe dominates early, though is well out of position for Sabu's rebound clothesline. They brawl outside, with Wolfe throwing some pissweak forearms. More weak brawling follows, before Sabu livens things up with a triple jump dive into the crowd. They wander around the arena a bit more, where Wolfe DDT's Sabu through a table on the stage. We get more tedious wander-wander-punch-wander fighting, before they get back to the ring. Wolfe rolls Sabu into the ring, then immediately throws him back out again, as he's clearly got no ideas on what to do in the match. Gordon and co hits some crap cheap shots outside the ring, which Wolfe totally no-sells. Sabu hits the triple jump moonsault for two. A second attempt is met with a chair, before Wolfe powerbombs Sabu through a table to the floor. This obvious finisher gets two. Inside, a burning hammer also gets two, and this match is really dragging. Having killed two finishers, they try to fill up time with bland offence that exists only to drag this match to "epic", but it's failing miserably. Worst DDT ever is hit by Sabu. It's totally fair to say that a ten-years older Sabu had better matches with Wild Boar and Jimmy Havoc in the UK last month than this, and it's all because those matches, whilst different, had actual structure to them. This is just overlong, drawn out nonsense. Eventually, Sabu sets up Wolfe on a table, which promptly falls over. Bonus points go to the commentators for covering this up by claiming Wolfe saved himself. Bonus points lost by following a trademark Arabian facebuster through the table by saying they'd never seen that before from Sabu. Started badly, and kept on (and on and on...) getting worse.
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