WCW Thunder 05/02/1998

La Parka vs Hugh Morrus

This starts off with Parka doing some hilarious posturing, sadly getting cut off by Morrus levelling him with a big clothesline. This is mainly Parka bumping around for Morrus, who at least unleashes some decent offence. Morrus decks Parka with a shoulderblock and a big chop, and hits a decent back elbow from the corner. No Laughing Matter gets the win.

Jim Powers vs Goldberg

Hilariously short. Goldberg dominates from the off, working Powers down to the mat with a leglock. Powers hits a knee lift, but gets planted with a spear and the Jackhammer gives Goldberg victory.

Kidman vs Juventud Guerrera

These guys would have better matches later on, but this wasn’t great. A few too many awkward moments with Kidman looking lost. Guerrera looks good though, moving really quickly and with a flying headscissors looking really fluid. Great spot as Juvi ranas Kidman off the apron into Lodi. Running Juvi Driver looks great, before a Lodi distraction allows Kidman to hit a bulldog and the SSP for the win.

Silver King, Villano IV & Villano V vs Super Calo, Chavo Guerrero & Lizmark Jr

Unsurprisingly, this is a fun little sprint. Lots to take in here, they pack a good lot of offence into a short bout. Loved Lizmark blocking a monkey flip, allowing Calo to come in with a big high clothesline. Chavo landing on his feet from a Silver King monkey flip was impressive, he was never a guy I associated with that level of agility. Lizmark hits a big dive to the floor, and Chavo hits a great tornado DDT on Silver King, only for Psychosis to run in behind the refs back and hit a guillotine legdrop to give King the pin.

The Steiner Brothers vs Konnan & Buff Bagwell

The NWO team tries to jump the Steiners pre-match, an advantage that doesn’t last long as both eat belly-to-belly suplexes. The build up to the Steiner split has seen their matches run pretty short, and this is no exception. Lovely moment as Ted DiBiase takes out Vincent outside, but the NWO get involved and Scott Hall pushes Rick off the top onto Scott for the DQ. Appreciate the effort to forward the Steiner split, but this isn’t much of a match.

Raven vs Marty Jannetty

Not as good as their previous match, but still pretty decent. They fight in the aisle, and I loved Jannetty wisely taking Lodi out early with two superkicks. Raven hits a crappy looking elbow from the apron, but a bulldog on the chair looks good. Marty gets a little run off offence, hurling Raven into the ringpost, but a Rocker Dropper gets reversed into the Evenflow in a really great looking spot for three.

Disco Inferno vs Saturn

This gets plenty of time, and improves as it goes along. In the early stages, they don’t seem to be on the same page, a few awkward moments as they both miss opening or try things that don’t seem to work. Saturn hits a few big overhead belly-to-belly suplexes as things start to improve. Disco gets in more offence than you’d expect, even hitting the Chartbuster after Saturn misses a top rope legdrop, only for Kidman to save. Disco lands on top on a back suplex for a really close two count. Sadly, the end goes back to being odd again, as Kidman pushes a groggy Saturn onto a downed Disco. The ref starts to count, but Disco is on his stomach, so the ref realises this isn’t a good idea. A few seconds pass and Saturn locks in the Rings of Saturn for the win.

Louie Spicolli vs Jim Neidhart

Man, the Anvil looks to be in great shape. This goes barely two minutes, as Neidhart batters Spicolli, knocks Scott Hall off the apron and goes for the win before Hall comes in for the DQ. Bit of a waste.

Diamond Dallas Page vs Chris Benoit

This is a US title match, and they give this a real big match feel. They stand off, facing each other from opposite corners, and this runs through the commercials. Sadly, we can see less than 7 minutes remain on the Network’s timer, so this won’t live up to the hype. What we go get is really good, DDP hits a huge tilt-a-whirl slam, Benoit hits some nasty kidney shots to DDP’s taped ribs to set up a back suplex and there’s some real intensity to the punch exchanges. Sadly, the Flock predictably hit the ring, ending the bout in it’s prime. Good stuff for what we get. 

WCW Thunder 22/01/1998

Scott Steiner vs Konnan

Only a brief taster of a match, with Steiner basically running over Konnan for two minutes before the NWO run in. Still, it’s fun to watch Steiner hurl Konnan about with a t-bone suplex and a big press slam before the hubbub.

Chavo Guerrero Jr & Super Calo vs Silver King & La Parka

This was a blast, as much fun as you’d expect from these guys given 5 minutes. La Parka sets the tone early when he bumps onto his head when he gets legswept into the ropes. Calo gets briefly worked over, with Silver King draping him off the apron to allow Parka to hit a pescado stomp in a nutty spot. Silver King drops him with a big Eye of the Storm. Calo makes the tag after an awkward double enzuigiri spot where Calo has boots from both Parka and King, they both try an enzuigiri and you can’t tell who is supposed to have been hit. I assume that Calo is supposed to have ducked as he brings Chavo in, who looks great. He moves so well, culminating with him taking out Parka with a suicide dive and Calo pins King after a top rope flying headscissors.

Marty Jannetty vs Dean Malenko

So this was an unexpected little gem. I mean, both guys are capable of great things, but it’s as if the stars aligned to catch them both at their best. You’d probably not think of Marty Jannetty as a great matworker, but here he is keeping up with Malenko in a competitive opening section. Neither gets a sustained run of control, as there’s always a stiff punch or a well-timed kick to break things up. Loved Malenko hitting a series of shoulder barges in the corner, only for Marty to lift a big knee to smack Malenko in the face. Malenko hits a neat low angle crossbody and Marty gets a nearfall with a victory roll, before Malenko is able to escape a Rocker Dropper, hit a double underhook powerbomb and lock in the Texas Cloverleaf for the win. Great stuff.

Goldberg vs Kendall Windham

Fun squash, with Goldberg surprising Windham from the bell by snatching a leg and locking in a rolling leglock. Windham hits a lovely big punch and a clothesline, but Goldberg hits the spear and the Jackhammer to win.

Rey Mysterio Jr vs Eddie Guerrero

Only brief, but you give these guys a few minutes and they’ll still give you gold. They cut a quick pace from the start, Rey sending Eddie to the floor with a tilt-a-whirl armdrag. Rey is wearing a kneebrace, so Eddie trips him from the floor and hits a slingshot senton onto the knee. Eddie keeps focus on the knee to wear Rey down, before hitting a big brainbuster. Rey sends him to the floor and hits a big tope con hilo, but Chris Jericho comes out to attack for the DQ…

Chris Jericho vs Chris Benoit

In a nice little block of TV, Jericho and Eddie beat down Rey, drawing out Benoit who was due to face Jericho later on in the show. Eddie sees him and swiftly leaves, leaving Jericho to turn around face to face with an angry Benoit who attacks to start the match. Jericho plays a cat and mouse game, constantly fleeing the ring to try and lure out Benoit. Eventually, he fakes a knee injury, allowing him to pull Benoit into the corner, hitting his head on a turnbuckle. Jericho hits the Lionsault (no cover), a surprisingly nice forearm and a top rope superplex, but Benoit lands on his feet on a back suplex and gets a surprise German. Dig Benoit, while still recovering, using Jericho’s momentum against him, avoiding a charge and letting Jericho essentially stungun himself. Benoit ducks a clothesline, and locks in the crossface, with Jericho tapping before the hold is even applied. A glorious piece of cowardice, with his cruiserweight title match in two days.

Rick Martel vs Saturn

This was set up by Saturn throwing Martel through a plate glass window earlier in the night, so Martel is fired up from the start, rushing the ring, sending Saturn to the floor and hurling him into the steps. Martel is such a good fired up face, it makes you wonder why his most well-known WWF run saw him primarily as a heel. Saturn needs a Flock distraction to get back into it and, when Martel jars his shoulder on a corner charge, Saturn goes right into a Fujiwara armbar. Really liked Saturn’s focus on the injured shoulder, locking in a cross-armbreaker. Also liked Martel reversing it into a Regal Stretch, but not being able to properly hold a crossface due to his arm hurting. Saturn goes for some quick pins, including a nice Rings of Saturn into a pinning combination, but Martel rolls through a sunset flip and locks in the Quebec Crab to win.

Scott Hall vs The Giant

It’ll come as no surprise to learn this ends with outside interference. What we do get is pretty good, and it’s an unselfish performance by Hall to let Giant look so good. He gets hurled from the start after cockily getting in Giant’s face, he gets picked up and placed on the top rope after trying a front facelock, and his attempt at a top rope move sees him caught in a big bearhug. We’ve seen Big Show for years, and by now have a good idea how big he is, but it’s still impressive to see him ragdoll a guy the size of Hall. We get the inevitable melee of faces, with Hogan, Nash, Luger and Savage all getting involved, but the ref doesn’t throw the match out until Giant chokeslams Hall and Nash breaks the count, drawing a DQ. Hall basically let Giant destroy him here.

Smash Super Showdown IV 21/08/2016

The Muscle vs Sebastian Suave

Perfectly functional opener. The commentary suggests this is Muscle’s first singles match, and it’s fair to say he looks competent, if a little awkward at times. Just a few moments of timing that look off, but if he really is as early in his career as suggested, then it’s stuff that’ll get worked out. Suave spends most of the match on defence, but his Arn Anderson spinebuster is pretty good. The Muscle’s tag partner Big Tank causes a distraction to allow Muscle to hit a TKO for the win.

Scotty O’Shea vs Brent Banks

Wasn’t too taken with this one. Opening sequence seemed a bit overly choreographed, though Banks ends it by taking a big bump to the floor. Both guys seem to do some good things and some egregiously bad things. Banks is very agile, but he does things like these weak looking rolling chops that don’t impress to much. O’Shea seems to have better offence – liked his double-footstomp to the back of a standing Banks, and he followed it with a draped spinning neckbreaker from the top rope. Sadly, he needs to drop all his kicks, as his enzuigiris looked bad and he hit too many light flipping kicks. They both hit some big bombs that looked good, but maybe shouldn’t have been kicked out of: a top rope Sliced Bread by Banks and a top rope cutter by O’Shea. Banks gets the win with a cannonball.

Kevin Bennett vs Tyson Dux

Bennett is accompanied by an entourage of The Muscle and Big Tank, and are known as the Kevin Bennett Experience. This doesn’t do anything to distract from the fact that Bennett feels very early-Miz. Smug, arsehole heel with not much offence. Dux gets beaten 3-1 before the bell, but soon gets the upper hand after Bennett hits an Asai moonsault that only takes out his entourage. Dux is fun here, nothing fancy but all his execution is good. His forearms looks especially meaty. Dux hits a great looking sliding elbow after rolling through a sunset flip attempt. Dux looks great in control, hitting a deadlift superplex and rolling Bennett to the floor to hit a suplex out there. However, the recovered Experience interfere to turn the tide and Bennett hits a swinging neckbreaker for two and a top rope version for the win.

Rosemary vs Allie

This is no-DQ, and to be fair they make the most of the stipulation. Lots of big spots here, even if they don’t really do a good job of filling the space. I hadn’t seen Allie work heel before, and she’s very good, really coming across as someone obnoxious slowly realising they’re out of their depth. Both women take big bumps, as Allie gets thrown through a few rows of chairs whilst Rosemary takes a big ladder dropkicked to the face. They introduce some tacks, and I like that they build up to the tack bump, with Allie really selling her fear of them. They both tease getting bumped into them with both fighting to escape, before Rosemary takes a big superplex into the tacks. Like the fact it only gets two because Allie’s fear of touching the tacks means she only goes for a light, barely touching cover. Allie also hits a chair-assisted codebreaker, but the landing causes her to land on some tacks, which again delays the cover. Really dug Allie trying a stomp into the tacks, missing, but realising this gave her a boot coated in tacks to hit a superkick with. She tries another, but gets misted and Rosemary spears her through a table to win. First half dragged a bit, but it picked up when the tacks were introduced.

John Greed vs Jesse Amato

Two big ugly lads here. Amato is portrayed as the underdog here, and Greed seems to spend the match taking him lightly, even though Amato injures his arm early with a ringpost bump. Greed has a nice big elbow drop, but he’s soon downed into a crossface by Amato. He escapes, but Amato hits a Diamond Dust and locks in another crossface for the tapout. Not much to write home about.

The Fraternity (Channing Decker & Trent Gibson) vs Well Oiled Machines (Braxton Sutter & Mike Rollins) vs Chavo Guerrero & Gabriel Fuerza

Really enjoyed this, thought everyone came out of this looking good. Guerrero definitely came to work here, keeping up with everyone (his sequence with Sutter was especially smooth) and also enhancing his partner in the process. Really liked Decker from the Fraternity, seemed to have a good look and worked a really fast fluid sequence with an impressive Fuerza. Fuerza was really good as breaking down the larger Rollins in order to take him down with a rana. The Fraternity take out the Well Oiled Machines with a nice stereo dive and we end up with a goofy, but fun Fraternity Paddle vs Pepe the horse stand-off. Chavo does the old Guerrero trick of feigning being hurt from a weapon shot in order to gets a sneaky roll-up on Decker for two. Fuerza hits a diving moonsault to the Fraternity outside the ring, and inside Chavo takes out both WOM members with the Three Amigos. Chavo and Fuerza hit stereo frog splashes for the win. Good, fast-paced fun

Mark Haskins vs TARIK

This is for Haskins’ Smash title, which he’d won the previous month at a Progress show. Loved Haskins gameplan here, working quickly to try and grab TARIK’s arm, managing to control him on the mat on a few occasions. Loved him grabbing TARIK’s arm on a sunset flip attempt, and stamping it to the mat. Haskins suffers a big spill to the floor to give TARIK control and he’s decent on offence. Really liked his diving elbow from the second rope, with Haskins draped backward on the rope. Some of his blows look a bit loose, but he’s fine. Haskins times his comeback nicely, deliberately taking his time to get to his feet and, having been on the floor for a while, it made sense that he’d be suitably recovered to explode from the corner with a dropkick. Rolling through to pick TARIK off the canvas and hit Made In Japan looked really slick. The end sees them both hit some big moves, albeit ones that you’d buy them being able to kick out of. Haskins is able to hit a few bigger moves in a row and rolls through a flying headscissors to lock in the bridging armbar to win. Good main event, went 20 minutes without ever dragging.

TNA Slammiversary 2013

Kenny King vs Chris Sabin vs Suicide

This is an Ultimate X match for King’s X Division title. This is essentially a spotfest to warm up the crowd, but it’s a pretty good one. A couple of spots look a bit too contrived and require a bit too much co-operation, but everything was crisply executed. I liked a few of the details in the match too, such as how early on Suicide sent both opponents to the floor as if to set up for a dive, but instead ran for the corner to try and climb the structure. Similarly, I enjoyed Sabin realising both men were down, thinking about going for the belt, then suplexing Suicide onto King to make sure both men were incapacitated. This was the first time I’d seen TJ Perkins as Suicide, and he was great, with his series of feints and fakes before hitting a top rope dropkick to the floor being exceptionally good. No-one manages to make it to the cables in the first 5 minutes of the match, which allowed the tension of the match to build up. This had a rather abrupt ending, with King going for Suicide’s mask to stop him getting the title, before Sabin appeared from nowhere to down him and grab the title himself, but this was a fine opener,

Magnus, Samoa Joe & Jeff Hardy vs Mr Anderson, Garrett Bischoff & Wes Brisco

With all due respect, there isn’t a great array of talent on the heel side here, so it’s impressive that this is a perfectly decent 6-man tag. For example, there is no greater mismatch in this bout than Joe against Bischoff, but that segment was plenty of fun, due to both Joe’s onslaught and Bischoff’s surprisingly good selling. Magnus and Joe show their chemistry with some double-teaming on Anderson, but Magnus soon becomes face-in-peril after Anderson yanks his arm over the top rope. The heels wisely stick to an easy formula by using quick tags and focusing on the injured arm of Magnus, so this is all fun. The hot tag to Hardy comes a bit prematurely, but we at least get a hot finishing sequence, as Joe chokes out Anderson on the ramp, a distraction that leads to Brisco low-blowing Magnus and rolling him up, only for Hardy to strike with a Swanton during the pinfall. This gets three for the faces. Of note: Jeff Hardy looks surprisingly good with a beard.

 
Jay Bradley vs Sam Shaw

This really didn’t belong on PPV and did neither guy any favours as the crowd was dead for them, though they did rally a bit behind Shaw at the end. Shaw seemed to work like a poor man’s RVD, with some generic flippy offence, but I did quite like Bradley, whose offence at least looked like it hurt, as he slowed down proceedings with some measured blows. The Boom Stick lariat won the match for Bradley.

Devon vs Abyss

This was supposed to be Devon vs Joseph Park, but Devon and Knux destroyed him in the back, leading to Abyss coming out in his stead. Oddly, the majority of the match is spent with Devon dominating Abyss, until he misses a diving headbutt. Abyss wins with a chokeslam and a Black Hole Slam, but this feels like it should have been a 30 second squash. Having Abyss selling almost all match takes away any monster aura he may have.

Bad Influence vs Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez vs Bobby Roode  & Austin Aries vs James Storm & Gunner

I’ve long felt that Gunner is underrated (check the No Surrender 2011 review if you need proof), so I’m glad to see him getting a bit of a push at last. There was some nice continuity early on, with Roode wanting no piece of Storm and goading him about his choice of partner, yelling “He’s no Bobby Roode”, but cowering away when Gunner gets in. This broke down quickly, with team taking it in turn to clear the ring of each other. I did love Guerrero and Hernandez sprinting down the ramp to nail Bad Influence with flying shoulderblocks. Curiously, the only wrestler to really play face-in-peril is Hernandez, the largest guy in the match, as Roode, Aries, Kazarian and Daniels take over on him. Bad Influence are the first team eliminated, as Roode turns the ref round so he catches Daniels hitting Chavo with a belt for the DQ. Brilliantly, Aries swiftly pins Chavo seconds afterwards. This leaves Aries/Roode vs Storm/Gunner. The Storm/Roode segments are as good as you’d expect. Gunner gets isolated by the heels, who blitz him with a corner dropkick, spinebuster and 450 in quick succession, but he kicks out. This is played up huge, rather than just a finisher no-sell, which makes Gunner look great. Storm superkicks Aries into the Gun Rack, and Austin taps to give Storm & Gunner the titles. Decent little match, I suspect there’s a great match between the final two teams in the coming months.

Taryn Terrell vs Gail Kim

During the opening minutes of this match, where Terrell was throwing some terrible looking forearms, I feared for the worst. Well, that soon went out of the window as these two just went Hell for leather. It started with Terrell hitting a crossbody from the top onto Gail, who was holding a steel chair. It continued when Kim went hurtling across the ring into a chair propped up in the corner, sending her flying from the ring. Terrell added to the insane bumps with a missed dive sending her onto the entrance ramp. Finally, they decided to share the honours for brazen madness by both leaping from the ramp to oblivion (as it looked from the camera angle) as Taryn hit an Ace Crusher on Kim for the win. Just an absolute spectacle, and both wrestler deserve a load of credit for what they were willing to do. For Terrell to enter the match to a minimal reaction and to leave to “This is awesome” chants shows they were doing something right.

AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle

I’d not seen much of the “new” AJ before this match, and I was quite impressed. He seemed to be laying in his blows a lot more stiffly than before, and his kicks in particular looked good. I also liked the initial story work, with AJ targeting the injured leg of Angle, with his springboard dropkick to the leg looking great. At first, Angle sells the leg well, taking his time getting up again after levelling Styles with a clothesline. Soon, however, Kurt stops selling the leg all together, and just goes through a usual Angle match, which I’d have quite enjoyed if they’d just gone for that instead of focussing AJ working the leg early on. By the time Kurt nails AJ with 3 German suplexes, you’d forget he even had a leg injury. Even more bizarrely, they kill off AJ’s new Calf Killer submission by having Angle escape it, despite his “injured leg”. The end comes when AJ misses a springboard 450 and Angle downs him with a double-leg for the pin. The action was fine, but the decision to work an opening around a body part then totally ignoring it seems ridiculous.

Bully Ray vs Sting

Before the match, Bully threatened to hit Sting with a piledriver, which they hyped up as the deadliest move in wrestling. I loved Sting taking the fight to Bully right off, nailing the Stinger Splash at the bell. I also loved Sting whipping Bully with the title belt, which looked nasty. Tazz does a great job of putting over the danger of the piledriver, talking about how it affected his own career. Sting is busy wasting Ray with a chair, when an odd Brooke Hogan appearance distracted him and gave Bully the advantage. Bully hits the piledriver as threatened, which gets 2. A powerbomb through a table also gets 2. Bully then removes the canvas to leave only bare boards in the ring for a second piledriver, but Sting just kicks out. Bully is great at selling the shock here, and this really showed Sting’s desire to win. Sting suddenly hits the Scorpion Death Drop on the boards, but Aces & 8’s attack to stop him winning. Sting tries to fight them off (with Garrett Bischoff taking a huge bump to the entrance ramp), but Bully nails him in the head with a hammer as he dives from the top rope to win. Really fun match, even with the ending, as it really highlighted how dangerous Aces & 8’s are as a faction. I would have had an issue with no TNA wrestlers coming to help, but they seem to be making that part of an angle, so at least they acknowledge how odd it seems. Pretty darn fine PPV on the whole.

TNA Road To Lockdown, Nottingham, 24/01/13

For my birthday last year, my ex-housemate bought me tickets for this TNA tour. Despite not being a huge wrestling fan himself, he joined me for the show, which featured a steel cage match in the main event. Taking our seats, we settled in to enjoy the show...
 
Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez vs Bad Influence
Pretty solid choice for an opener. Chavo and Hernandez were pretty over in Nottingham, which surprised me as UK fans often seem to side with entertaining heels, which the Bad Influence boys certainly are. We kicked off with some comedy early on, as a mix-up led to Kazarian accidentally working over the arm of his tag partner on the apron, as well as a spot where Hernandez held Kazarian up for a vertical suplex, whilst his partner rammed Daniels' head into every corner of the ring, before Hernandez finished the move. Chavo eventually got isolated, and Bad Influence worked the crowd terrifically to build up to the hot tag. This was the best possible use of Hernandez, who looked like a tank in taking out Daniels and Kazarian. Eventually, Chavo hit a frog splash on Daniels for the win.

Marty Scurll vs Rockstar Spud
Two of the stars of British Bootcamp paired up here. Spud, despite being absolutely tiny, is great at projecting himself to a big crowd. The Rockstar gimmick has probably added years to his career, both by making him more interesting as a character, but also by limiting the insane stunts which he went for early on in his career (as my friend put it tonight, "Spud appears to have more poses than moves"). Which doesn't mean Spud wasn't impressive here, as he hit a swank tope and a nice Code Red that got a 2 on Scurll. Marty also looked great here, schooling Spud on the mat early doors and looking great in the process, as well as nailing the Rockstar with a perfect tornado DDT. Marty went for his backbreaker finisher a few times, but Spud slipped out and rolled Scurll up for three. Great showcase for both of them.

The Blossom Twins vs Tara & Gail Kim
I missed the last episode of British Bootcamp, so I'd never seen the Blossoms wrestle until tonight, and I was pretty impressed. They looked comfortable in the ring with two relative veterans, and you never got the impression they were being carried. The heel team were having some communication problems throughout, but managed to isolate Holly Blossom and worked her over. The Blossoms look too sweet to be wrestlers, so they were able to illicit sympathy pretty easily, and they achieved a decent pop for the hot tag. Kim managed to hit Eat Defeat on a Blossom, but was pulled off from making the cover by her own partner. Tara then tried to take control, but again the heel bickered. This allowed the Blossoms to switch places in the ring, and roll up an unsuspecting Tara for three. After the match, the heels attacked the Blossoms, but Velvet made the save, managing to have the worst looking offence of the match in her minute long save section. The Blossoms look like they'd be a good addition to the TNA roster.

Rob Van Dam vs Zema Ion
This was better than I was expecting. RVD seems to go through the motions a lot in TNA and, while he didn't set the world on fire here, at least he seemed to be having fun. Ion did a fair bit of schtick work early on, reapplying his hairspray after every RVD attack, until Van Dam stole it, spraying the head of a bald chap at ringside. The match was exactly what you'd expect, though Ion looked pretty good on offence here, with a sweet looking tornado DDT. RVD won a short match with the Five Star.

Magnus & James Storm vs Austin Aries & Bobby Roode
Apparently, the previous night had seen a triple threat match between Storm, Roode and Aries that Storm claimed had ended up more like a handicap match. To combat this, he brought out his tag partner Magnus, who got a huge reception. This match was really good, as you'd expect with workers of this standard, especially with Storm and Roode being so well versed as tag workers. Roode and Aries stooged nicely in the early going, allowing themselves to look foolish to show their opponents superiority. After working through the heat period, we ended up with all four guys in the ring. Aries tried to spit some beer in the face of Storm, but ended up getting Roode instead. Storm hit Roode with the superkick and Magnus followed that with a top rope elbow for three.

The main event was held in a steel cage, so Jeremy Borash had to work the crowd for the ten minutes that the cage was being assembled. All in all, he did a good job, though his attempts to find a Notts Forest fan in the crowd didn't go as well as he hoped. Still, he did a tricky task well.

Sting & Kurt Angle vs Devon & Doc
We actually ended up getting a handicap match for most of this, as Mike Knox attacked Angle before he got in the cage, leading to Sting having to take on both Aces & 8's members alone. The drama of the match came from this, as Angle made repeated attempts to get into the cage only for Knox to keep beating him down everytime he got close, whilst Sting took a battering in the ring. Eventually, Angle hit a low blow on Knox and was able to enter the cage, cleaning house in the process. However, as he had Doc in the ankle lock, a fourth Aces member came in and nailed him in the head with a hammer. Suprisingly, this didn't kill Kurt instantly, as he kicked out at two. A table got set up in the ring, which cued Bully Ray to come to the rescue. He joined up with Sting to hit a Wassup Drop on Doc, before Devon got double chokeslammed through the table for the winning three count.

All in all then, a pretty good night of entertainment. None of the matches were jaw-dropping, but none of them were less than decent either. All the wrestler seemed to be having fun, and the time seemed to fly by. Can't complain too much about that.

TNA Bound For Glory 2012

Rob Van Dam vs Zema Ion
How good this match is will largely depend on how motivated RVD is. Too many of his TNA matches have been by the numbers. Both guys look good out of the blocks, with an Ion twisting kick from the top being an early high. I really like some of Ion's offence here, with a tornado DDT from inside the middle ropes being really nice, followed by an insane plancha. Nice bit of work sees RVD selling the head injuries from the aforementioned DDT leading to him failing to hit a monkey flip, instead getting dropped headfirst on the top turnbuckle. The match seems to be building nicely, until RVD reverses an Irish whip into a knee to the face before nailing Rolling Thunder and the 5 Star out of nowhere to win.

Samoa Joe vs Magnus
It's heartening to see just how much Magnus has improved since joining TNA. He gets to show some nice agilty and speed early on, surprising Joe with a clothesline from nowhere before leapfrogging him and nailing a high knee. I was also impressed by Magnus catching Joe coming off the ropes with a Michinoku Driver. Both guys throw some big bombs at each other, drawing a (possiblt premature) "This Is Awesome" chant. I like the way that both guys are are to counter each other, thanks to knowing each other as tag partners. Hence Joe avoiding a Magnus clothesline for the Kokina Clutch, only for Magnus to reverse that with the Bret/Piper pin for two. The end was pretty nice too. Magnus tried a figure-four on Joe, only for Joe to grab him on the turnaround for the Clutch to gain the win. Good ten minute bout.

James Storm vs Bobby Roode
MMA fighter King Mo is the outside enforcer. Loved Storm hitting Roode with an early punch so hard that he needed to check his hand. The thing I always find odd with Storm is that he's got a gimmick that implies grizzled brawler, but he uses moves like Codebreakers, which don't really fit. Here, he shows that he really is a good brawler, with a nasty legsweep directly into the railings. Storm blades nastily following a slingshot into the post, and Roode hammers the cut. Storm's selljob of the blood-loss is top draw, even when on offence, and it's this that allows Roode to gain momentum. What is also great is how King Mo doesn't really get involved, but instead helps sell the match by reacting in horror at the carnage as both guys trade weapons shots. Cowboy is so bloodied he borrows a beer to try and wash some plasma off his face. Roode gets two after spearing Storm through a table. Last Call gets a totally convincing nearfall for Storm. Roode makes a big mistake by bringing tacks into the ring, as he tries to superplex Storm onto them, only to get knocked from the top onto the tacks himself. Storm insanely follows with a top rope elbow for two. Not learning from this, Roode brings a bottle of beer into the ring, and again it backfires as Storm smashes it over his head. Storm Last Call's Roode back onto the tacks and picks up the win. Bloody, brutal, fantastic match.

Joey Ryan vs Al Snow
Like the last match, this is another example of TNA actually building a storyline longterm with 5 months of buildup to this match. Snow still looks in good shape. The early parts show the veteran Snow dominating by out-thinking Ryan. Ryan takes control, but keeps stopping to pose, which gives Al advantage again. Ryan kicks out at two following a SnowPlow. Al goes under the ring to fetch Head, but the ref prevents him using it, leading to Ryan barging Snow into the ref. Ryan tries a baseball slide, but Snow outsmarts him again by trapping him in the ring apron. Snow goes to get Head again, but Matt Morgan appears from nowhere to hit the Carbon Footprint on Snow to gift the win. Decent enough for what it was.

Kazarian & Christopher Daniels vs AJ Styles & Kurt Angle vs Chavo Guerrero Jr & Hernandez
The World Tag Team Champions of the World decide to let the two challenging teams go at it, until Angle takes control on Guerrero. Then Daniels blindtags himself in, only for an annoyed Angle to boot him and drag him to AJ for a return blind tag. The teamwork between Guerrero and Hernandez is pretty solid considering how recently they joined together. TNA have also done a good job of presenting them as being on the same level as Styles and Angle. Kaz and Daniels regain dominace by attacking AJ behind the refs back, and isolate him in their part of the ring. Nice little heat sequence, which you don't normally get in triple threats. In fact, you get the added bonus of AJ also having to avoid the Mexican corner. Finally, he tags in Angle, who races through everyone. We predictably head into non-stop spotfest territory, the highlight being a huge dive from the ring to the floor by Hernandez. Until, of course, seconds later AJ nails a double-jump springboard plancha to the floor. Insane. It suddenly feels like a different match to the first half. It all ends when Hernandez blind tags AJ as he falls from the ring, and a Border Toss/ Frog Splash combo win it for him and Guerrero. As I said, felt like two different matches, but the ending was undoubtedly exciting.

Miss Tessmacher vs Tara
I often find Tessmacher looks a bit hesitant on offence, but the opening moments here look pretty smooth. I guess because these two are real life friends. Tara takes control early, which makes sense as Tessmacher is a better seller than on offence. This isn't a great match, but at least they aren't afraid to lay in the blows on each other. Tessmacher's top rope flying headscissors was pretty good. A missed top rope elbow from Tessmacher leads to Widow's Peak for a clean Tara win. After this, Tara introduces her Hollywood boyfriend, who is some guy called Jesse from Big Brother.

Aces & Eights vs Sting & Bully Ray
Not sure how a man so awesome as a heel as Ray still works as a face, but he does. Aces appears to be Mike Knoxx and Luke Gallows. Sting and Ray attack them outside the ring as they cuff Joseph Park to the railings. Bully and Sting have control, until one Ace moves his partner out of the way of a Stinger Splash on the rails. The Aces wrestle in line with the gimmick, just big nasty guys hitting big meaty offence, so Aces vs Bully is just great. Ray's diving shoulder block from the 2nd rope looks killer. Another Ace runs in as Bully has control and downs him, before spitting at Park. This outrages Park so much he breaks his cuffs and downs the rogue Ace member to a huge pop. Bully and Sting nail a Doomsday Device on one Ace to another huge pop. Sting yells to Bully to get the table. A fourth Ace runs in though, and spinebusters Bully through the table for the Aces win. Afterwards Hulk Hogan comes to the ring to demolish the Aces members, and the faces unmask the interferring Ace as Devon.

Austin Aries vs Jeff Hardy
Aries seems more over here than Jeff. Jeff seems to be wrestling with a bit of an edge here, slapping Aries out of the ring. In fact, Jeff's offence looks more snug than usual, as he stomps Aries viciously in the corner. Aries takes over with a dropkick to the face, then takes a victory lap. Terrific. This might be the best Hardy has looked since joining TNA, using the ringsteps to hit Poetry In Motion on Aries into the railings. Back in the ring, Aries does a good job of keeping Hardy on the mat, as the crowd really is coming to life. I like the way that the few times Aries does go high-risk, it always looks painful for Hardy, like a dropkick to the back of his head. He also does so many subtle things, like drapping Hardy's legs over the ropes to hold him in place before slingshotting in with a twisting elbow. Hardy fires back with aplomb, hoisting Aries over his head with velocity. I also like the way he dazes Aries by ramming him into the turnbuckles before hitting the Whisper In The Wind, so it looks natural rather than contrived. This is absolutely the best Hardy match I've seen in ages, and it really feels like Hardy has upped his game to keep up with Aries. Austin really starts working Hardy over, including a sick looking DDT on the lip of the ramp. The ending stretch is super-heated, with both the Twist of Fate and the brainbuster getting kicked out of, before Hardy wins with the Swanton. Great match, but it feels like the wrong time to take the title off Aries.

No Mercy 2006

Gregory Helms vs Matt Hardy
Both guys fail to get an advantage early on, which backs up JBL's claim that they are like carbon copies of each other. Thus Helms has to use aggressive tactics to take over, with a vicious kick to back. Hardy fires back, and nails a pescado to the outside. Helms comes backwith a 2nd rope legsweep. I really like the palpable send of hate here, as inbetween moves both guys are happy to lay in a nasty blow, like Helms punching Hardy in the back following a failed pin attempt. A nice meaty mid-ring slugfest even has JBL going "Wow" as Hardy floors Helms with a big right. Hardy gots for the Twist of Fate, but Helms reverses to hit a neckbreaker. He nails the same moves two more times, but is caught going up top with a Side Effect. Hardy then copies Helms by hitting 2 more Side Effects, but also like Helms makes the mistake of going up top and meets knees on a moonsault. Carbon copies, see? I really like the way this is so back and forth, rather than one man maintaining an advantage, as it again backs up how even they are. Helms nails a top rope Shining Wizard, but Hardy gets a foot on rope. The ending is pretty choice too as it plays back to the Smackdown matches that had lead here. In those, both had picked up wins via low blows when the ref was distracted. Here, the referee moves out of the way as Hardy is pushed towards him, but Matt blocks the low blow attempt from Helms, and nails the Twist of Fate to win. Really hot opener.

Brian Kendrick & Paul London vs KC James & Idol Stevens
Both teams have females management: Ashley with Kendrick and London, and Michelle McCool with James & Stevens. Interesting that Stevens is the only one of the 6 still on WWE TV. Londrick dominate proceedings early, whilst JBL heavily puts them over on commentary. Stereo dives pop the crowd. However, London takes a nasty bump getting pushed off the top by James to give the heels advantage. Stevens and James take it in turns to lock holds on London on the mat, building up some crowd sympathy. They also work a proper heat section on London, holding him by the leg in their corner to stop him getting the tag to Kendrick then, when London looks like getting the tag, knocking Kendrick off the apron. I love it, and so does JBL. Kendrick gets the hot tag eventually, but his Sliced Bread attempt is blocked by Stevens shaking the rope as he tries it. London takes Stevens out in turn with an insane suicide dive. These two teams just have terrific chemistry together, and you wonder why Stevens and James didn't last on the main roster. Londrick get the win after a frantic final few minutes, hitting Sliced Bread on James, followed by a London shooting star from Kendrick's back for the win. Great match.

MVP vs Marty Garner
This is MVP's debut. JBL is apoplectic. MVP's arrogant strutting is quite enjoyable, but this is obviously a squash. Garner doesn't really get any offence in before MVP nails him with a vicious lariat and the Play of the Day to win. The ranting from JBL is the most entertaining thing about this match.

The Undertaker vs Mr Kennedy
Slightly hard to find the Undertaker as intimidating as usual as his fake tan starts running down his head at the start of the match. Taker starts working over the arm of Kennedy early, with him hoisting Kennedy up in the air by the arm being particularly impressive. Kennedy manages to block Old School by armdragging Taker off the top. Kennedy's selling of the arm is remarkably consistent, though he does try punching Taker with the bad arm which leads to Taker Flatlining him. In the midst of all the arm-offence, Kennedy does manage to take a turnbuckle pad off. When he does get on offence, Kennedy is nicely vicious, but makes the mistake of trying to get his breath back, giving Taker time to regain control. You get the impression Kennedy is putting in some real effort here, knowing what an opportunity this match is. Certainly, he seems a lot less half-arsed as he has done in recent years. Problem is that when Kennedy is on offense, it's a bit dull. His offence here is mainly based around kicks and hammering Taker in the corner. It's done with intent, but doesn't exactly enthrall the audience or myself. Piledriver from Kennedy (daftly called a Tombstone by Michael Cole) gets 2, and Kennedy reacts by pounding Taker in the face in frustration. It's like he's really selling the story of the match well (cocky upstart desperate to beat legend), but his offence isn't good enough to match up. In the middle of his hottest spell of offence, he puts on a resthold and the match cools down again. Taker hits a chokeslam, but Kennedy is able to reverse the Last Ride and ram Taker's head into that exposed turnbuckle. I'd forgotten all about that, which made for a nice little surprise. Swanton Bomb gets two for Kennedy. Kennedy tries to nail Taker with the US title, but Taker blocks it and uses it on Kennedy instead, giving Kennedy the DQ win. All that for such a shitty finish. Really out of nowhere considering Taker had just done the zombie situp and looked ready to win. Story of the match was better than the work within.

Rey Mysterio vs Chavo Guerrero
This is a falls count any match. We get some brawling to start, though it really isn't either mans forte. After a nasty dual bump to the floor from the top rope, Chavo takes over on the outside, which works because he's a bit better at looking aggressive. Rey hits a rana from the ring entrance, but it's really stifling to both guys to work this kind of match. A lot of the offence on the outside involves finding different ways to hurt the opponent on the guardrails, which these two are better than. At least Chavo catching Rey in a wheelbarrow and swinging him into the barricades and chairs is fun. After some mediocre brawling in the crowd, Rey hits a 619 from a staircase and pins Chavo following a crossbody the same stairs. Not the best match from these two.

William Regal vs Chris Benoit
Regal has been involved in some backstage hijinks trying to find Finlay and getting himself in trouble, leading to Teddy Long booking him against a mystery opponent. This is Benoit's return match following an extended break. Some of the opening matwork is superb, as both guys make it look like they're really working for the holds. They exchange blows and Christ, Benoit's chops sound like gunshots. You can hear the connection when Benoit headbutts Regal, which is unnerving in hindsight. Regal is busted open from this. They continue in much the same manner as you'd expect, with battles over matwork and some nasty stiff shots. Benoit even chops Regal directly on the head wound. Benoit hits a Dragon Suplex on Regal and locks in the crossface to win. Typically good match from these two as you'd expect, but with some of the stiffness involved, quite hard to watch with the knowledge we have now.

King Booker vs Finlay vs Batista vs Bobby Lashley
This is a fatal-fourway match for the World Heavyweight title. Finlay wisely bails early to let the faces dominate Booker, though he swiftly returns to help the King isolate Batista. Predictably we soon get segments when two guys are down, from moves which normally wouldn't stun them, leaving two men to go at it. Booker vs Lashley actually works well thanks to Booker selling and making Lashley look decent. Finlay soon turns on King Booker and then takes out Batista leaving him 1-on-1 against Booker. Finlay starts to dismantle Booker, then takes over on Batista when he returns. Got to love Batista trying to break an armbar by Samoan dropping Finlay, only for Finlay to hold on to the arm and retain the hold. Even better is Lashley trying to make the save, only for Finlay to start working on his leg. Lashley still moves around the ring really awkwardly, which makes his offence look a bit weaker than it should, so it's quite funny when Hornswoggle appears from nowhere to punch him in the nuts as he prepares to hit a Spear. We get to a point where we've got Batista vs Lashley left in the ring, which gets almost no reaction until Dave spears Lashley. Clearly they don't care about Lashley. That said, their segment is quite fun, as two massive men throw bombs at each other, including a nice overhead suplex by Lashley. Big Dave soon takes everyone down with spinebusters, then Batistabomb's Finlay, but Lashley comes out of nowhere with a huge spear on Batista and Booker steals the pin. Seems like a bit of a dick move by Lashley really. None of this was dull, and some of it was even good, but none of it was memorable. Really, there was no match structure, just decent segments bolted together.