Those of you who were reading this blog in it's formative days might have noticed I used to review a lot of TNA. In the days when I had minimal internet access and way before I had a load of streaming channels available, I had to basically rely on what I had available which, due to Lovefilm and Challenge TV, was mainly TNA. But until today, I'd not watched any recent TNA in a couple of years. I'd recorded this back in October, but never gotten round to watching it. However, having the house to myself for the weekend meant I worked through some of the stuff on my Skybox, and I decided to give TNA another go...
Tigre Uno vs Andrew Everett vs Manik vs DJZ
This is an Ultimate X match for Uno’s X Division title. Uno
actually looks really sloppy at the start, with an attempted tornado DDT on
Manik barely connecting. The crack TNA camera crew manage to miss a DJZ dive,
before Everett hits all four men with a springboard shooting star to the floor.
I like that it Everett who was the first up from that and going for the title,
made it look like a wise tactical move. I like that as all four guys have taken
some offence, they start going for the title believing the others might be
suitably worn down, though Uno deciding against going for the X to hit a 450 to
the floor on DJZ seems a bit dumb. The end sees Uno and Everett both at the
title and Everett taking a huge bump to the mat to let Uno retain. Nothing
spectacular, but a fun opener
Number One Contender’s Gauntlet
This seemed to be basically a “get everyone else on the card”
match, and really wasn’t up to much. Too many generic looking wrestlers in
black trunks not really doing much. It gets to the point where the arrival of
Aiden O’Shea and Robbie E boost things a whole lot, with unique looks and, in
Robbie’s case, a sudden burst of energy to the match. You also get the likes of
Tommy Dreamer and Al Snow turning up and getting better reactions than the rest
of the roster. It’s most glaring during a mid-match comedy spot where everyone does
the Sheera Shuffle and the audience simply doesn’t care. Pope entering the
match, realising that the only wrestlers not down were Abyss and Tyrus, who
were both looking at him, and immediately exiting did raise a smile. The final
two are Mr Anderson and Tyrus, which sees Tyrus basically no-sell Anderson’s
offence and hit a thumb to the throat to win. Totally skippable.
The Wolves vs Trevor Lee & Brian Myers
This started off pretty evenly, until Lee hits a swank
looking moonsault slam on Richards to take control. A large part of this match
was fought in classic tag team formula, and when Lee and Myers worked heat on
the Wolves, it was really good. Myers isn’t a particularly flashy wrestler, but
he’s good at working tag formula, be it grounding his opponent to reduce the
chance of them tagging out, or luring Richards into the ring to allow a
beatdown on Edwards, grinning over the refs shoulder at Davey. This also led to
the second hot tag of the night, as the sight of a recovering Edwards led both
Myers and Lee tried to attack Richards on the apron, who dropped down, causing
the heels to turn round to a shit looking two person rana by Edwards. I also
liked the build of Myers stopping Richards diving on Lee, before Edwards sends
Myers outside and the Wolves hit a double dive. Nice pay off. Sadly things do
break down a bit in the final minutes, with just a load of moves leading to
Richards pinning Lee with a brainbuster, but the meat of this bout was really
fun.
Bobby Lashley vs Bobby Roode
Bit of a disappointment this one. I actually thought Lashley
looked better than I remembered him, had good movement and some of his offence
looked really good. I also liked his game plan of ramming Roode’s shoulder into
the ringpost and concentrating on it
with a repeated keylock. However, it was the layout of the match that didn’t
work. After Lashley dominated (included impressively plucking Roode out of
midair and hitting a powerslam), he then hit a spear for two. Right away, Roode
gets up and hits a Roode Bomb for 2. No build, just hoists a massive guy onto
his injured shoulder and hits his finisher. From there, we get some awkward
submission trading, both guys hitting the other’s finisher then Roode hitting
another Roode Bomb for the win. Real anti-climax.
Gail Kim vs Awesome Kong
Match of the night to this point. Kong just plays brickwall
to start, with Kim bouncing off her. I liked Kim instead going to the knee of
Kong, slowing her down to give Kim time to hit a moonsault. I loved Kim locking
a leglock on Kong then, realising Kong might make the ropes, switching to a
front facelock. Really great looking nearfall as Kong blocks a top rope rana
and instead hits a 2nd rope splash. On the outside, Kim takes a
nutty bump as Kong hits the Implant Buster on some chairs. Getting her back
inside means Kong only gets a two from it, so tries for a top rope Implant
Buster, which Kim reverses to a top rope Eat Defeat for the win. Really liked
this, all logical work.
Eric Young vs Kurt Angle
This is a no DQ match, and the first few minutes of this
were really good, some nasty looking brawling on the floor. Then Young hits a
piledriver on Angle and it all goes to shit. They work an injury angle, with
one doctor telling the ref to call off the match. Instead of doing that, the
ref watches Angle get walked to the back, before Young assaults all the medical
staff and drags Angle back to the ring. For some reason, the ref decides not to
call off this match and allows Young to keep working over Angle’s severely
injured neck. Some of Young’s offence looks suitably dickish. Loved him hitting
a top rope elbow, then flipping Angle over and hitting an elbow right to the
neck. Angle’s offence seems to rely mainly on German suplexes. I did think the
end was good, with Angle managing to lock on the Ankle Lock. Young managed to
grab the bottom rope, but was told there was no DQ for Kurt holding onto the
move, and Angle dragged him back into the middle for the tapout.
EC3 vs Matt Hardy vs Drew Galloway
Main event and match of the night. Really well worked triple
threat, and thankfully contained the bare minimum of “one man lies of the floor
whilst the other two fight” spots. What it did have was a succession of great
looking bumps and big spots that paid off. EC3 started the trend by driving
himself and Hardy through the ropes to the floor to reverse a Twist of Fate,
before Galloway follows them out with a massive tope. Galloway then reversed an
attempted powerbomb through a table by EC3 to a Celtic Cross on the ring steps.
Absolutely mental spot. I didn’t like Hardy deciding to try a backslide on
Galloway, as it seemed to only happen to allow Drew to reverse to the
Futureshock DDT. Another nutty spot as EC3 suplexed Hardy from the apron to the
floor, through a table that Galloway was laying on. However, the failure of his
big spots to earn him the win would cost EC3. After a double 1%er failed to
earn him the win, he snapped, trying to provoke ref Jeff Hardy into assaulting
him with a chair. It worked, as Jeff nailed him with the chair, causing
Galloway to boot him out of the ring, only for Matt to hit the Twist of Fate to
win the title. Really fun three way, and crucially all the big spots hit.
