TNA Joker's Wild Tag Team Tournament 2013

So, these new monthly One Night Only PPV's are free to us here in the UK and with the latest Joker's Wild show bringing back happy memories of WCW's Lethal Lottery, I thought I'd check it out. Overall? Not a bad show for free, and I suspect I'd feel the same if I'd paid $15. The show sees randomly drawn tag-teams compete, with the winning team entering a 12-man gauntlet for a $100,000 cheque.

James Storm & Christian York vs Gunner & Crimson

This was a pretty standard tag team match, though I do think the team of Gunner and Crimson have potential together. They looked pretty cohesive, with Gunner splashing York in the corner leading straight to a Crimson t-bone suplex being particularly choice. The commentary from Taz and Tenay worked well at putting over Storm in this environment, highlighting how he’d won the TNA tag titles 11 times, as well as noting that it was Storm who ended Crimson’s undefeated streak. Yorks offence looks a little convoluted at times, especially when Gunner has to assist him in hitting the rolling kick he hits for the hot tag. Storm is a really good hot tag wrestler, as he’s got offense that is suitably flashy but also looks like it might hurt. I really liked him holding Gunner after hitting a codebreaker, in order for York to add a top rope stomp on Gunner’s prone body. A Storm superkick on Gunner ends this.

Jessie Godderz & Mr Anderson vs Douglas Williams & Kid Kash

Godderz’s character work here is excellent. His egotistical, overenthusiastic goof act works really well as he’s desperate to tag in, using one arm ringer, then tagging straight out again. However, his enthusiasm gets the best of him, leading to the veteran team to really take him to town. Kash especially takes great pleasure in beating Godderz down. I loved the spot where Jessie could have made the hot tag, but instead woozily tells Anderson “I got it” before getting battered again. Kash and Williams get insane elevation on a back bodydrop. Kash’s springboard moonsault on Jessie is just beautiful, but only gets two. The hot tag comes when Jessie just kind of falls into Anderson, who tags in and cleans house, but Jessie stops him as he attempts a fireman’s carry roll on Kash. Anderson, fed up with his goofy partner, nails a Mic Check on Jessie, then reverses a Kash roll up to win for his team. Loved the dynamic of the exasperated Anderson, the goofy Godderz and the no-nonsense veterans here, surprisingly entertaining.

Samoa Joe & Christopher Daniels vs Chavo Guerrero & Rob Van Dam

Daniels is overjoyed to have Joe as his partner. Daniels works good early segments with both Chavo and RVD, with RVD’s leg submission/pin combo looking good. The RVD/Guerrero team dominate both Joe and Daniels early on, until Daniels nails Chavo from the outside. Despite Joe being a face, he has a similar attitude to Daniels and doesn’t seem offended by his partner’s blatant cheating. They work well together. They work a decent, lengthy heat section on Chavo, until Daniels ego costs them, as he stops Joe hitting a musclebuster, allowing Chavo time to recover and make the tag to RVD. RVD attempts the 5* on Joe, but interference from Chavo and Daniels gives Joe time to recover, and he plays possum, suddenly leaping up to hit the musclebuster on RVD for the win. Perfectly watchable, but a little flat in places.

Robbie E & Zema Ion vs Bobby Roode & Joseph Park

The team of Robbie and Ion seem perfectly suited together. The team of Roode and Park less so. Park pulls the best “sad face” when Roode lambasts him. I love the initial stages of the match where Roode dominates and pretends he’ll tag Park in, before refusing to do so. Eventually, he does tag in Park, but soon starts to regret his decision (Roode yelling “Tag me back in, you moron” got a legit laugh from me). E and Ion work over Park after an Ion distraction leads to a Robbie attack on Park’s leg, and look pretty good doing it. An Ion 450 hits Park’s back as he tries to move, in an awkward looking spot, but Ion hitting Poetry In Motion on Park only busts him open and puts him in a rage-trance. Park destroys his opponents, hitting a Black Hole Slam on Robbie, before coming out of his trance. I love Roode blind tagging in to cover Robbie and claim the glory for himself. Not a great match, but plenty of fun.

Hernandez & Alex Silva vs DOC & Devon

Taz on commentary implies that Ace’s & 8’s rigged the draw for this one. I actually thought Silva looked pretty impressive here, taking offence well and hitting some nice underdog offence. I liked Hernandez elevating him into Devon in the corner too. Soon, Silva gets isolated, and DOC gets great height on a legdrop, which looks awesome. This is a basic tag formula match, complete with heat section and a false tag, but it’s done well enough. Silva lands on his feet on a suplex and tags Hernandez, who blitzes his opponents with some power moves. Silva blind tags himself back in again before Hernandez leaps from the ring onto Devon with a swank tope. This leaves Silva with DOC, and again Silva has a nice period of underdog offence, before DOC wipes him out with a big boot and a chokeslam. Thought Silva looked plenty promising here.

Matt Morgan & Robbie T vs Al Snow & Joey Ryan

The underlying story here is that Snow and Ryan still hate each other from Gut Check, and that Morgan and Ryan don’t want to fight. This leaves Snow to work the bulk of the match, and he’s really off the pace here. He works a section with Robbie T that is really clumsy looking. I was initially inclined to blame Robbie for this, but his later section with Ryan is alright, so I feel Snow is more at fault. Also, as veteran, he should really have advised T to do something more exciting during a painful 5 minute chinlock. Snow should surely know better. This does pick up towards the end, where Snow and Terry conspire to leave Ryan and Morgan in the ring, as the two friends don’t want to fight. This leads to Ryan, hilariously, raining down on Morgan with futile blows, only for a Carbon Footprint to give the win to Morgan and Terry. Not very good, and I can’t help but blame Snow for that.

12 Man Gauntlet for $100,000 (James Storm, Christian York, Mr Anderson, Jessie Godderz, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Bobby Roode, Joseph Park, DOC, Devon, Matt Morgan & Robbie T)

The gauntlet starts with Storm and Roode, which gives some reliably solid action. The next two entrants are Devon and DOC, which means that the ex-Beer Money members set aside their differences to eliminate DOC. There are a few entries that come with little consequence, as Godderz, York and Park all enter. I do love the fact that Storm and Roode fight each other just to get the chance to strike Godderz in the corner. Anderson comes in and nails Godderz, allowing Park to eliminate him. Daniels and Joe enter, but no eliminations take place until Robbie T comes in, eliminating York, Daniels and Anderson in quick succession. Morgan is the last entrant, and he too goes on a spree, throwing Park, Joe and Robbie out. This leaves a final four of Morgan, Devon, Storm and Roode, which soon becomes three as Morgan misses the Carbon Footprint on Storm, who bundles him out. Knux comes to the ring and pulls Roode outside under the middle rope, but his interference on Storm backfires as Devon gets eliminated. Roode sneaks back in and thinks he’s won as he throws Storm over the top, but Storm skins the cat, and nails a codebreaker and a superkick for the win. Not much to enjoy here, as the eliminations were pretty much grouped together, though the ending was fun. Pretty enjoyable show on the whole though, hopefully this becomes an annual thing.

Triple X Wrestling XXXtravaganza

Despite living in Nottingham, I'm a Coventrian and it warms the very cockles of my heart that there is a promotion putting on shows regularly there. Triple X isn't your average wrestling company, putting on a product that doesn't take itself too seriously (wrestling zombies!) but does put on some great matches. The last show, Clusterfuck 2, was great, so I decided to go to this pre-Wrestlemania show. With the ever excellent Omer Ibrahim as host, this was a really enjoyable show

Scott Grimm vs Local Jobber 2

At Clusterfuck II, Grimm took on Local Jobber and pretty much destroyed him in minutes. Local Jobber#2 tries to learn from this and attacks Grimm from the bell and gets caught in a Black Hole Slam. A quick splash finishes it for Grimm. Not a good night for the local lad

 

Scott Grimm vs Dave Mastiff

Mastiff was due to face Wild Boar on the show, but injury put paid to that.  Instead, Mastiff decides he wants a piece of Grimm. This match is just two massive dudes whaling away on each other, with a few choice power moves for good measure. Loved Mastiff getting Grimm up for a rolling fireman’s carry, whilst Grimm’s belly-to-belly suplex on Mastiff was also impressive. After trading nearfalls, they managed to both get disqualified as the referee lost control. The pair had to be separated at the end (including the help of Local Jobber #2, still selling injuries)

 

Terry Seddon vs Sebastian Radclaw

Seddon is Triple X’s resident zombie slayer, primarily due to his physical resemblance to Simon Pegg. Here, he took a break from the undead to take on Radclaw, an interesting character who seemed to be talking to voices in his head. Radclaw looked good, I’d never seen him before, but he was a lot of fun and should fit in well in the Triple X universe. He even managed to get a chant going for his late Uncle Eggbert (who apparently told him to never lose a fight to a ginger man). Midway through, Professot Lex emerged with a zombie for Seddon to fight with, before Radclaw flew over the top rope to take out all three men. Back inside, Seddon finished Radclaw with a big boot and legdrop. Goofy fun

 

Zack Sabre Jr vs Mark Andrews

This match was awesome. ZSJ was positioned as the more experienced, dominant wrestler here, totally schooling Mandrews on the mat and kicking the shit out of him to prevent any kind of comeback. Andrews was great in the underdog role, and used his speed and ariel skills to get some nearfalls on Zack. Everything ZSJ looked great, with his matwork looking like it was killing Andrews, tying him up in knots. I also liked the focus on wanting Andrews to tap-out, following a killer looking cradle Tombstone with another submission focused on the neck. Eventually, Sabre does get the tapout after Andrews misses a 450 splash, but both guys looked immense here.

 

The Henchmen (Benton Destruction & Jim Diehard) vs Slap Dash Tag Team (Chris Brookes & Tyler Bate)

The Henchmen are fucking brilliant. The “80’s legends” are massive, massive men and totally outweighed the Slap Dash Tag Team. Bate in particular was tiny compared to the man mountains. This was a well-worked tag match, where the in-ring action was as successful as the comedy. Brookes and Bate used their speed to initially worked over Destruction, but Bate was soon isolated and worked over as face-in-peril. The Henchmen cut off the ring nicely, and a hot tag was denied by the ref, who didn’t see it following a distraction by Destruction (who literally stood on the apron yelling “I’m causing a distraction”).The Henchmen can move for big guys and looked awesome in domination. The hot tag saw Brookes on fire, until he got caught outside by Destruction, who threw powder into his eyes. In the ring, a recovered Bate hit an amazing deadlift German suplex on Diehard, but was soon outmanned and nailed with the Five Moves of Doom for the Hench win. A victory that was soon to turn sour when Diehard found out about the powder in the eyes, which was the “payoff from Tijuana”. Really fun tag match.

 

Damian Dunne vs Lee Hunter

Clusterfuck saw the Hunters lose to Damian and his brother Pete. With Pete in Japan, we got this singles encounter this month. The main story of the match saw the Hunters constantly swapping place in the ring, swapping a hoodie to indicate to the referee which Hunter should be in the match. The Hunters played up to this brilliantly, highlighted by one Hunter stalking around the ring, hoodie on inside out, crowing “This is too easy”. Though good faces, the Hunters are way better as heels. The match itself was really good, with Damian timing his comebacks nicely. Eventually, Damian got hold of the hoodie and put it on outside the ring, prompting the unsuspecting in-ring Hunter to to try an enlist his help, only to get a pummelling instead. Dunne eventually won a fine match with a springboard Codebreaker

 

Eddie Dennis vs Majik

This was for Majik’s XXX title. Dennis really impressed in an nXXXt match (you cna guess what this is) at the last show and he looked good again here. He’s blessed with a quick wit which allows him to keep up with the comments from the crowd, which was useful to win them over in only his second match in front of this audience. In particular, I liked him joining forces with the crowd to highlight that Majik can’t spell his own name (with Majik stooging magnificently by covering the name on his tights). This was a good main event, with both guys brawling all over the SQ Club and into the crowd. Majik gave Dennis a lot here, only surviving a powerbomb when manager Gabriel Grey stuck his foot on the rope. At one point, Majik threw Dennis into his rival Devilman, who was selling merch outside the ring. The end saw Dennis try another powerbomb, but get distracted by Grey, leading to a Majik lowblow and a roll up to maintain. A Majik post-match assault was thwarted by Devilman making the save. All in all, a terrific night of wrestling

The History of TNA: Year One

So, TNA released a DVD a few years back detailing the history of the first year of the company existance. The documentary part is ok, but not especially interesting. What is fun, however, is a collection of the best matches from that first year, which make up the bulk of the extras. These are what I will be concentrating on in this entry,,,

AJ Styles vs Jerry Lynn vs Low Ki vs Psychosis
This is a double elimination match to crown the first X Division champion. Essentially, two guys start, one gets pinned and is replaced by the next guy. When a wrestler is pinned twice, he's out. This goes long, so expect a few paragraphs.

We kick off with AJ and Psychosis. These two seem to match up nicely, but this is only a short match designed to position AJ as the underdog in the tournament. AJ survives a guillotine legdrop and nails the Styles Clash to pin Psychosis for three, but now must face Low Ki having taken some punishment.

A fresh Ki wears down AJ with some kicks and blocks Styles' attempts to outwrestle him with a kick to the head. Ki elevates AJ over the turnbuckle, with Styles hitting his head on the ringpost, then slickly rolls through to lock in a Dragon sleeper, with AJ only just making the ropes. AJ avoids a top rope move and nails a German suplex and a wheelbarrow facebuster to pin Low Ki

Jerry Lynn comes in and is able to dominate Styles quite easily. Within 20 seconds he hits the Cradle piledriver and AJ is done.

Psychosis wisely comes back and nails Lynn from behind with a dropkick. Psy sends Lynn to the floor and hits a swank tope con hilo on Lynn. However, Lynn hits a dropkick on Psychosis as he dives from the top rope and a Cradle piledriver ends Psychosis' night with two eliminations.

Lynn is now weaker for a recovered Low Ki, and Ki works over him ferociously. Lynn is forced to rely on hope spots like a pin reversal from a top rope rana. Lynn gets fired up and matches Ki's striking to send him down with an enzuigiri. Lynn tries for the Cradle, but Ki reverses into a swank standing armbar. Lynn has to lift Ki and power out to break it. I dig Ed Ferrera on commentary highlighting that Lynn's experience allows him to reverse holds easier, just before Lynn reverses a Ki Krusher into a DDT. A Cradle piledriver pins Ki to eliminate him.

We now are left with AJ on one elimination and Lynn with no defeats, but worn out by the last two matches. AJ goes for quick pins and the Styles Clash on Lynn, but Lynn is able to survive the onslaught. Lynn then nails a tornado DDT for a close two. I like that they don't just give AJ the quick pin to even them up, but that AJ has to really battle before even getting to a break even point. AJ does get the clash to pin Lynn, sending it to the final fall.

Ricky Steamboat comes in to officiate, with both men exhausted on the mat. They trade pinfalls in an attempt to win the title, before a double clothesline puts them both down again. Love Don West and Ferrera putting over how great both guys are, that and the crowd reaction makes this feel like a really big time match. Lynn gets a really close nearfall with a facebuster. Both guys are selling the exhaustion so well that every move feels like a realistic match ender. Brainbuster gets two for Lynn. Lynn gets another two from a top rope superplex, but a second attempt sees him get knocked from the top rope and AJ nails the Spiral Tap to win. Fantastic match, the tournament layout made both AJ and Lynn look great, Styles coming back with the win from being in the losing position, whilst Lynn wrestled the vast majority of the match without a break, beating two top guys on the way. The first truly great match in TNA history.

Jerry Lynn vs AJ Styles vs Low Ki
This is a triple threat ladder match for Ki's X Division title. Styles has the right idea early on, grabbing a ladder while the other two fight, but Lynn and Ki cut him off. Ki's kicking gives him an early advantage as he cuts the other two down to size. You'd think this match would be all insane stunts, but they build to the ladder spots, with the opening minutes be all based in the ring with no ladders after Styles' initial attempt. Instead they appear to be trying to incapacitate their opponents before attempting to climb. Love Low Ki hoisting AJ onto his shoulders to charge at Lynn in the corner, with AJ as a battering ram, thus taking out both opponents. This allows Ki to go for a ladder but AJ stops him, and suddenly all three are battling outside. Lynn knocks the other two out on a ladder, and becomes the first to manage to get a ladder into the ring. There is a great bit where Styles just unloads on Ki with a barrage of punches and knees, as if to tell him that AJ is more dangerous to him than the ladder will be. Minutes later, Lynn and AJ knock Ki out on a ladder, so that may not be true. Insane spot, as Ki reverses a Lynn running powerbomb into a hurricanrana onto a ladder. AJ gets stuck upside down, hanging feetfirst from the ladder after Ki blocks his attempts to climb, and Ki choses to kick away at AJ, rather than going for the title, which makes him look foolish. By the time he does climb up, Lynn has recovered and slams him from the ladder. I like the way that, as Lynn is the largest competitor, he uses a few more strength moves, catching Ki in midair and planting him with a powerbomb. Three ladders get set up and Ki makes ANOTHER mistake, locking a Dragon Sleeper on a downed AJ on top of the ladders rather than grabbing the belt. We end up with all three guys climbing separate ladders. Lynn tries to topple the other two, and manages to send AJ's flying, sending AJ to the floor, but Ki manages to bounce his ladder off the top rope and reset his ladder. Lynn instead responds by hitting a piledriver from the ladder to the mat in an insane spot. This leaves Lynn free to grab the title, with the match being tremendous, a really well-built ladder match.

America's Most Wanted vs The New Church
The New Church are represented by Slash and Brian Lee here. The match breaks down into a brawl early, with the New Church getting the advantage outside the ring. Slash decimates James Storm, suplexing him onto concrete and choking him with cables. The Church bring Storm back into the ring, and I like how they try to stop Harris even getting back on the apron. I like Brian Lee wearing Storm out with repeated running elbows, as AMW haven't gotten into the match in the first 5-10 minutes. Storm finally gets the hot tag after an enzuigiri on Slash, but Slash falls into the referee, preventing him from seeing the tag. The crowd is terrible here, as they made no noise for the false tag at all. As Harris remonstrates with the ref, Lee nails Storm with a title belt. Storm manages to nail both New Church members with a double DDT, which means they can't stop him making the tag to Harris. Harris' onslaught is the first period of real offence for AMW. Slash has a handful of powder, but, in classic pro-wrestling fashion, it ends up in Lee's face before Harris spears him for a close two count. Storm locks up Slash in a sharpshooter, but Belladonna distracts the ref. This means that Slash tapping out is missed, and that James Mitchell can run in and level Storm with a spike, which only gets a two count. Lee reverses a Storm flying headscissors into a tombstone in a lovely fluid motion, before trying the same with Harris, who just about reverses the tombstone to one of his own for two. The crowd is finally coming to life. AWM finally pick up the win with the Death Sentance on Slash onto a chair. The overbooking really helped it at the end, with all the nearfalls being convincing, and AMW looked great in battling from behind.

Jeff Jarrett vs Raven
This was the bigest match in TNA history at the time. Raven goes for a pin from a shoulderblock right away, which is the kind of thing I love: just trying an unexpected lucky pin to win the title. Raven initially outwrestles Jarrett, so JJ sends him from the ring with a flurry of punches, a nice reversal of their wrestling styles. Jarrett wins the brawl outside the ring, so Alexis Laree distracts the ref to allow Julio Deniro the chance to interfere. This backfires, as he nails Raven with a chair by accident. Jarrett hits a pescado to eliminate Alexis and Julio, but this gives Raven time to recover and hit one on Jarrett. They fight in the ring as both men are busted open, and Raven manages to retain control, using a sleeper to try and take advantage of JJ's bloodloss. Jarrett manages to break and hit a desperation cutter and both get up in time for a flurry of moves in the ring. Raven nails JJ with a flash superkick for two. Raven manages to kick out of the Stroke at 2. Jarrett does the same following the Evenflow. They roll to the floor, where Jarrett is able to nail an elbow through a table. Back in the ring, we get a ref bump as both men low-blow each other. Suddenly all Hell breaks loose, as the New Church start fighting the Harris Brother outside the ring, and a squadron of ECW guys (Sandman, New Jack, Credible, Saturn) enter the ring to destroy JJ, handcuffing him and superkicking two chairs into his head with a conchairto. The lights go out, leading to Sabu being in the ring, nailing Raven with a chair and taking out all the ECW guys with a plancha. Raven manages to knock himself out by hitting the chair on the top rope when Jarrett moves, leading to a hopeful two count for JJ. Raven undoes the handcuffs and hits the Evenflow for two, but Jarrett reverses another to hit the Stroke for the win. Overbooked, but incredibly fun. It built up nicely to a chaotic conclusion, and Jarrett looked great as the face overcoming the odds.

GWF Battle of the Champions

So, today is the 10yr anniversary of the demise of the GWF, a British indy that ran one show (which you're about to read below) and had their second cancelled on the day by the ring never turning up on 02/02/03. This infamous episode in British Wrestling is captured nicely in Greg Lambert's excellent book "Holy Grail", but I felt like today was the perfect day to revisit their only show. The focus of it is an 8 man title tournament, with four Brit wrestlers (Jonny Storm, Jody Fleisch, Paul Sloane and James Tighe) and four international talents (Little Guido, Trent Acid, Justin Richards and Michael Kovac) battling for the GWF title.

Graham Hughes vs Mark Sloan
Christ, these two rattle through a meaningless selections of highspots like there is no tomorrow. Hughes takes a rana and busts out a moonsault in the first 30 seconds. Within two minutes Sloan has nailed him with a sunset flip powerbomb for two. Sloan then hits Angels Wings for two. We do get a nice jumping kick by Sloan, but this is totally lacking in storytelling. The match is interrupted by heel manager Ross "The Boss" Gordon dancing at ringside, and all the international talent booked for the show jumps in for a double DQ. Not a great loss to have this cut short.

Justin Richards vs James Tighe
This is the first match of the tournament. They run through a nice little series of holds and counters to start. Richards soon starts heeling it up by yelling at the ref before grinding Tighe's eyes on the top rope. Richards maintains control by cutting off Tighe's offence with an eyepoke. They keep the moves simple compared to the first match, but tell a straightforward story where the face/heel divide is easy to follow. Tighe gets two on a roll-up, which I suspect was supposed to end it as he follows win a small package for 3 right away.

Little Guido vs Jody Fleisch
We get a nice little opening sequence, which sees both men try to out-do one another. Jody is more of a risktaker than Guido, so despite a successful flurry of high-risk offence, he crashes and burns on a springboard dropkick to give Guido the advantage. Guido keeps it to the mat, playing a safer game. Guido shoves Fleisch to the floor on an attempted springboard, sending him flying into the railings. Jody manages to get two from a bridged pin, which obviously worries Guido's manager Jake Roberts enough to throw Guido a foreign object for the cheap win. Too short, and lacking decent structure. Twice Guido locked in a cross-armbreaker, with no build up or aftermath.

Robbie Brookside vs Jack Xavier vs the Zebra Kid
One of the things I like in the opening sections is that the wrestlers would tactically just stop and let the other two fight, rather than have a load of convoluted 3-way spots. Zebra dives off the top to the outside, but the camera is static and thus totally misses it. This is followed by Zebra hitting a cannonball from the apron on the opposite side of the ring to the camera, so not a good day for his highspots. Zebra and Brookside both seem to be focusing their assault on Xavier, taking each other out so they can concentrate on Jack. Zebra nails a sick looking piledriver on Xavier, before yet ANOTHER Zebra dive is missed, so all you see is him leaping off the screen. The ringwork is mostly crisp, though they aren't helped by the ref telegraphing a false finish by dramatically slowing his count before Zebra makes the save. A top rope elbow on Xavier gets the win for Zebra Kid. This wasn't bad, but I hoped for a bit more structure, rather than just guys taking it in turn to hit moves.

Michael Kovac vs Paul Sloane
Kovac, I believe, is a German wrestler. Sloane is the guy I know least about in this tournament, but his first in ring act is to hit a spear followed by some of the worst forearms this side of the Divas division. Kovac seems to be the more experienced of the two, as he carries himself nicely in the ring and busts out some nice offence including a swank torture rack dropped into a facefirst slam. This gets three, total squash. I'm looking forward to seeing more Kovac in this tournament.

Trent Acid vs Jonny Storm
CZW was pretty popular in the UK in 2002, so Trent gets a decent reaction here. Ross Gordon returns and cuts a promo that I can't hear very well. Acid stalls like Hell to start. The highlight of an overly-flippy opening segment is Acid smoothly reversing a hiptoss into an abdominal stretch. Acid really has his character work nailed on here, waiting until Jonny turns around before hiding behind him, then following him in a hilarious, OTT manner. They brawl into the unlit crowd, with something impossible to see earning a "Holy Shit" chant. Acid feigns a leg injury in the corner, then suddenly strikes to attack Storm in a classic heel spot. Acid's mannerisms are great in his control spot, and I like the way that, for a guy who often did too many choreographed looking moves in his matches, he works simply here, drapping a leg over Storm's throat whilst posing to soak up the boos. I also like him following up a backbreaker with a full Nelson camel clutch to focus on Storm's back. Storm's offence at this point was mainly high-risk and flashy, so he was perfect for comebacks that pop the crowd, with a top rope leg-lariat looking great. A triple jump rana gets two for Storm. They work a pin reversals sequence before an Acid Yakuza kick gets two. A second attempt misses and Storm hits a rana for the win. It broke down in places, but overall this was damn good.

Little Guido vs James Tighe
We're now in semi-final territory in the tournament. Tighe is slightly bigger than Guido, so I liked him using a few shoulderblocks to establish his strength advantage. Tighe hits a poor looking bridging German suplex, but makes up for it with a swank looking 2nd rope moonsault. However a distraction from Jake Roberts allows Gordon to come back and nail Tighe with a weapon, gifting the win to Guido. Short match, but it puts more heat on Guido getting an easy route to the final.

Michael Kovac vs Jonny Storm
Storm is still selling his injuries from the Acid match, and Kovac is much larger, so the story should write itself here. Storm goes for broke early, nailing a dive on Kovac (which the camera caught!) but as soon as Kovac takes control, he slows the pace down to his comfort zone and starts to tie Storm up to work over the back. Kovac uses a camel clutch here, which plays back to the Acid match in a nice touch. Storm gets a few hope spots, but Kovac is great at turning them to his advantage, reversing a sunset flip into a belly-to-back piledriver. He hits the torture rack facebuster, but Storm turns his cocky pin into a crucifix to win. Normally I hate that finish, but it worked here as Kovac had essentially killed Storm, so it shows Storm's desire to win, whilst keeping Kovac looking like a monster. Kovac is really someone I'd like to see more of.

Shak Khan vs Lee Butler
This is a hardcore match to kill time before the final. It's probably fair to say these two are a bit bulkier than the contestants in the tournament, so this should be a change of pace if nothing else. Brilliantly, within 2 minutes they're brawling in the unlit crowd away from the hard camera. No idea what is happening. This is probably for the best, because this is total shit when it gets in the ring. No weapons get involved, just some slow, plodding action as neither guy looks particularly bothered. Butler misses a moonsault and Khan rolls him up in the ropes, which the ref somehow counts for 3. Seriously, Butler's shoulders were pretty much on the ring apron when he was pinned, with the refs hand hitting the bottom rope everytime he lifted his arm to count. Nonsense.

Little Guido vs Jonny Storm
Storm is still selling his battering in the two previous matches. They start off, making as if to run through a quick exchange of moves, but Guido abruptly drops a low elbow on Storm to give himself an advantage. Guido dominates, but does allow Storm a few hope spots, with Storm getting two from a moonsault. Guido holds Storm to allow Ross Gordon to attack him, but Jonny ducks and Guido gets nailed instead. Storm rolls him up and...wins? Christ, that was abrupt. Really feel like all of Guido's matches were way too short, though at least Storm gave a great accounting of himself throughout the event. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the entire output of the GWF

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 World X Cup 2008

With the announcement that TNA are running special stand alone PPV's, including a World Cup tournament, what better time to revisit the 2008 X Cup, which saw wrestlers from Dragon Gate, CMLL and NJPW join TNA for a one month tournament. There is a points system, but essentially the winners of the final Ultimate X match win the whole thing. It's the first blog review of the year and there are two contenders for the year end top 10 already. It's going to be a great year...

Tyson Dux & Daivari vs the Motor City Machine Guns
The initial Dux/Alex Shelley segment is really smooth, and the larger Dux keeps up with Shelley throughout, though he does massively telegraph a top rope Sabin armdrag by standing there with his arm out. Team International are slightly bigger than the Guns, so try to overpower them, but the Guns use some quick tags and a slight speed advantage to control. The heat section on Shelley is really brief and I did briefly think that the match was going to be a glorified squash, but Daivari grabs Sabin on the outside as he tries to springboard in to gain some advantage. Again, the heat section doesn't last too long as Team International, whether accidentally or on purpose, sort of get in each others way, allowing Sabin to come back. Shelley blitzes Daivari, and gets two on a top rope splash. Daivari always struck me as a small guy who didn't do much high-flying, so I was pretty impressed with the top rope rana he hit. Dux is certainly smoother than Daivari in the ring, and I wonder why he never appeared in TNA after the X Cup. The end sees Dux caught in a tree of woe, and Shelley hits Sliced Bread on Daivari to hit the three. Team International are the only team not representing a promotion, so don't expect many wins.

Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino vs Rey Buccanero & Ultimo Guerrero
Team Mexico are a lot bigger than their Japanese opponents. Yoshino & Doi uses their speed to control Buccanero early, as well as some superior double-teaming. The size difference is so great that Guerrero doesn't need a partner to hit a double spinebuster on both of his opponents. Guerrero and Buccanero also use some swank double-teams which pop the crowd. The match is super fast paced, and I loved the spot where Yoshino hit a missile dropkick on Guerrero whilst also landing on Buccanero with a senton. Similarly, I loved Guerrero knocking Yoshino from the ring, and Buccanero sliding out of the ring straight into a splash on him. With Yoshino out, Guerrero drapes Doi over his knees, and Buccanero comes off the top with a corkscrew senton, which is enough for three. Good, high-paced TV match.

Alex Koslov vs Rey Buccanero
As far as I know, Koslov has some lucha experience, so he should work well with Buccanero here. A quick opening section leads to an insane Koslov plancha. Standing enzuigiri gets two and Koslov looks really slick here. Buccanero comes back with a Cradle Driver that lands Koslov directly on his head. Twisting senton gets three. Felt like a good match cut off 3 minutes in.

Milano Collection AT vs Curry Man
Again, Daniels has wrestled in Japan plenty of times, so this is a sensible pairing. Milano does that "roll the opponent 360 degrees round the ring whilst pinning him" spot I always like, leading to an awesome "dizzy" sell by Curry Man. Milano has great flexibility here, bridging out of a Curry Man pin, doing the splits to avoid a top rope dive and generally looking pretty impressive. Curry Man is super-over here, so he keeps the offence simple, knowing everything will get a reaction. It also allows AT an opportunity to shine. Milano hits a sneaky low blow followed by a twisting quebrada to win.

Masato Yoshino vs Doug Williams
You'd think this would be a bit of a styles clash, but this works pretty well. Both play to their strengths: Doug uses his size advantage to make his strikes look really nasty, whilst Yoshino outpaces him and takes control with his flying ability. The layout of the Impact Zone was really good at this time, as it gave a nice, big area for dives. Yoshino takes full advantage of this with a huge tope. I like the comments from Don West, saying Yoshino is so fast that it's harder for him to stop when Doug strikes him. They sort of flub a flying headscissors, but Yoshino wins my heart by putting in an extra burst of effort, as if he realised Williams was blocking it and knew he had to put in a little more to complete the move. Nice top rope buttlerfly suplex by Williams. Nice ending sequence sees Doug hit the Chaos Theory for the win.

Kaz vs Ultimo Guerrero
Of all the matches so far, this one feels the most awkward in the early goings, as you can see both guys aren't quite clicking yet. Love Guerrero hitting a handstand in the corner and holding it to give added momentum when he lets gravity send him into a prone Kaz. Feels like a spot Ziggler should steal. Guerrero dominates a fair bit here, nailing a nice top rope reverse suplex for two. The storyline here is that, as Team TNA captain, Kaz is feeling a lot of pressure to win, which plays into him fluffing (deliberately) a springboard to give Guerrero more advantage as Kaz sells a knee injury. Tenay mentions the looks of concern on the faces of all Team TNA, which is odd as Curry Man is fully masked. Guerrero blocks a top rope rana with a nice powerbomb. Kaz avoids a moonsault and nails the Wave of the Future to win the match. Decent enough, though I thought the knee injury would play a bigger part in the ending.

Masato Yoshino, Puma & Milano Collection AT vs Ultimo Guerrero, Rey Buccanero & Averno vs Doug Williams, Tyson Dux & Alex Koslov vs the Motor City Machineguns & Curry Man
This is an elimination match, and I can only imagine it's going to be nuts.To start, Curry Man challenges Yoshino to a race having seen his speed, but just trips him up instead. Dux and Williams come in to double team Sabin, and they look super slick as a team, with just nice, quick double teams. Even odder when you consider they aren't a tag team. Team Mexico come in, triple team Williams and Dux, and swiftly eliminate Dux with a Buccanero Cradle Driver. Puma and AT come in to attack Buccanero, but Averno is swiftly tagged in and takes care of both guys, eliminating Puma with a spinning facebuster. Thing is, this is a total spotfest, but it's so quick, fluid and crisp that it's really fun to watch.

Both Machine Guns end up in the ring with Milano, who evades both of them and rolls them both up in a double single leg crab. Awesome. After the escape, Milano shoves the ref, then grabs Sabin's leg between his own legs to pretend he's taken a low-blow, but the ref outside the ring prevents the DQ. Sabin gets the Cradle Shock to pin AT for 3. Milano has undoubtedly been the star of the match so far. Yoshino is the last member of Team Japan left and the Guns smell blood, blitzing Yoshino to try and eliminate him. Averno comes in and continues to hammer Yoshino. However, Yoshino comes out of nowhere with a high-speed roll up to eliminate Averno. Team TNA and Team International ignore the knackered Yoshino and start going for each other, with frantic results, so Guerrero and Buccanero dive off the top to take out Curry Man and Williams. A top rope powerbomb eliminates Curry Man mere seconds after West highlights that all of Team TNA are left in the match. Williams is swiftly pinned too after a twisting senton from Buccanero.

After the Machine Guns wipe out on a missed pescado attempt, Guerrero and Koslov wind up in the ring together, with Koslov hitting a low blow on Guerrero, followed by an Anaconda Vice variation for the tapout. Sabin swiftly focusses on Buccanero , nailing a top rope hurancanrana and a kick to the face to fully eliminate Team Mexico. The Guns double team the two remaining opponents, Koslov and Yoshino, but somehow Yoshino keeps surviving. He's like the Conquistadors from the second Survivior Series. Koslov manages to survive long enough to pin Sabin for three with his feet on the ropes to leave a final three of Yoshino, Koslov and Shelley. After Koslov nails Shelley with an insane plancha, Yoshino ties up Koslov in a ridiculously complex submission hold for the tapout. Yoshino, the ultimate survivor, tries his best to eliminate Shelley, but gets caught with the Sliced Bread...which only gets 2! A swank Shelley Tiger Suplex only gets two. Eventually, a Kryptonite Krunch gets the three. Absolutely unreal spotfest, and they made Yoshino look awesome in defeat.

This leaves the scores as:

Team TNA - 6
Team Japan - 4
Team International & Team Mexico - 3

Which means that whoever wins Ultimate X for 4 points, wins. Convenient.

Volador Jr vs Kaz vs Naruki Doi vs Daivari
I was really impressed with Volador when I saw him in the CMLL DVD I reviewed a month or so back, so looking forward to seeing him here. I like the way Kaz shows his experience edge by going for the X right from the start and goes for it any chance he gets. Volador slips slightly trying to climb the ropes, but I like his awareness as he realises Doi is about to pull him off the wire, so drops into a hurancanrana to maintain his advantage rather than take a blow. I did Daivari's gameplan of working over Kaz's injured arm to hinder his climbing ability. The 3 opponents all then zero in on Kaz's arm, which makes sense due to his experience edge. This leads to Kaz clearing them all away, but slipping off the cables, as he can't support himself with one arm. Volador takes a huge bump after Doi elevates him over the top rope, before Doi nails Kaz with a cannonball in the corner. Doi climbs, then takes a nutty bump from the supports to the floor. A really fun spot follows as Volador takes advantage of Doi fighting Kaz to go for the X, only for Kax to elevate Doi headfirst into the hanging crotch of Volador for a lowblow that sends the luchador to the mat. I like the way that on Kaz's next attempt to climb, he uses his legs to support himself on the cables, knowing his arm is still too injured. Daivari only just stops him. Volador takes Doi out of the match with a beautiful top rope moonsault to the floor. Daivari gets right up to the X, only for Kaz to leap from the top of the structure to hit a legdrop in an absolutely insane spot. However, this leaves the path totally free for Volador, who climbs to the X totally unhindered for the win. Team Mexico win the X Cup. Terrific match, a great mixture of logical storytelling, high drama and insane spots. Even in defeat, Kaz got to look great with the most memorable spot of the match

The Top Ten Blog Matches of 2012

So, for the third year running, I try to sum up the year on this blog with the 10 best matches reviewed this year. This year has seen me venture to more wrestling shows than in previous years, which is represented by the presence of several SWE matches on the list. Without further ado, here is the big 10...

10. James Storm, Sting & Hulk Hogan vs Kurt Angle, Bully Ray & Bobby Roode (TNA Maximum Impact Tour in Nottingham)
A bit of a self-indulgence here. While I accept this match isn't a mat classic, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see Hogan and Sting team up in person. The epitome of a crowd-pleasing main event.

9. Awesome Kong vs Gail Kim - No DQ (TNA Knocked Out)
The TNA Knocked Out DVD featured 3 matches from the Kim/Kong series of 2008. This No DQ encounter was my favourite of the three, a hard-hitting PPV encounter which used the stipulation to enhance the match.

8. Psychosis vs Super Crazy (XPW Fallout)
From the much-maligned XPW comes this rather terrific match. Admittedly, it doesn't take much booking smarts to put these two together and end up with a great result, as the the luchadors put on a great match to totally steal the show.

7. Kid Kash vs 2 Cold Scorpio (Hardcore Homecoming 2005)
Another card-stealing match. On a surprisingly good ECW reunion card, these two combined some slick mat-wrestling with some hard-hitting action. I also enjoyed the contrast of Scorp dominating in the ring, and Kash dominating outside.

6. Stixx vs Mark Haskins (SWE vs HOP Ill Manors)
Great last-man-standing main event in the Southside/House of Pain interpromotional show, which saw two of the best workers in the UK put on a war, where they cleverly worked around the size difference between the two to leave both men looking strong at the end.

5. Gregory Helms vs Matt Hardy (WWE No Mercy 2006)
From one of the great forgotten WWE PPV's of the 00's comes this terrific opener, where two longtime friends put on a clinic in their home state in a battle of the OMEGA veterans.

4. El Ligero vs Ego Dragon (SWE Menace II Society II)
If Stixx/Haskins was a war, then this...fucking Hell. The two men fought all around the Rushcliffe Arena, with chairs, ladders, tables and even the ring ropes being used as a weapon. A vital part of my favourite feud in wrestling in 2012.

3. James Storm vs Bobby Roode (TNA Bound For Glory)
TNA has been on fire this year, but one of the few things they've messed up has been the Storm/Roode feud, which has seen the Cowboy look like a chump far too often. That wasn't the case here though, a bloody, brutal, beautiful match. If they'd left it here, it'd have been just perfect.

2. Mikey Whipwreck vs Kidman (The Best of Mikey Whipwreck)
So, Mikey Whipwreck, ECW icon....had the best match on his "best of" tape in WCW. Here positioned as the roughneck bully of the Cruiserweight division, he dominates this match in a taster of what Mikey's WCW career SHOULD have been like. Kidman battles from beneath like a great underdog champ, and both men leave the match more over than when they came in. Tremendous.

1. The Predators vs Project Ego (SWE Menace II Society II)
A fantastic tag encounter between two of the best teams in the UK today. The Predators are one of the fastest rising duos in the country, with Joseph Connors specialising in the art of being an unlikable dickhead in the ring, whilst Malen is just vicious. Paired up with the slick, confident Ego team, we got a great battle where their two styles just meshed perfectly. A bit of comedy, a bit of classic tag-formula and some swank highflying lead to my match of the year. A great advert for UK wrestling.