9 matches…3 hours…TNA booking…The Nasty Boys…what more could you ask for?
Ric Flair is shown walking into the building. The man is upset about Eric Bischoff’s decision to make himself the special referee for the world title match tonight. Flair says that he is a god around here and goes off to find Bischoff.
Opening Match: 8-Card Stud Quarterfinal: Desmond Wolfe vs. D’Angelo Dinero
Wolfe isn’t interested in clean breaks. They trade control of a japanese strangle hold and Dinero connects with some bionic elbows. Wolfe sends him to the floor. Dinero escapes a Tower of London but is swept into the ropes. Wolfe starts working over the left shoulder, hitting a nice DDT in the process. Dinero comes back with a flurry and takes Wolfe out with the Coronation. He follows with a flying crossbody but Wolfe catches him with a superplex. Dinero avoids a charge and hits a neckbreaker. Wolfe is in the corner, so Dinero hits the DDE for the win at 7:39. A fine opener, but I know these two can do better with more time. This presents the first problem of trying to present nine matches on a three-hour pay per view. Wolfe wrestles such a unique style that it’s hard not to enjoy watching him work. Dinero is over huge and was the rightful winner here. **¼
Ric Flair walks into Eric Bischoff’s office. Flair is god, not Bischoff. Bischoff says that Flair is angry because he is going to be a referee that can’t be bought out. The world title match will be called right down the middle. Flair is advised to keep his distance.
Match #2: 8-Card Stud Quarterfinal: Hernandez vs. Matt Morgan
They show respect for each other with clean breaks. Morgan connects with a couple of shoulder blocks but Hernandez returns the favor in a big way. They tease finishers and Morgan hits his rapid fire elbows in the corner. Morgan tries to catch Hernandez coming off the top but fails to do so. He recovers with a roaring clothesline along with a side slam. Mike Tenay and Taz have a little too much fun on commentary as Morgan hits a guillotine leg drop and maintains control. Hernandez hits a slingshot shoulder tackle followed by a spinebuster. He holds Morgan up for a delayed vertical suplex. Morgan retreats to the ramp where Hernandez lands a dive. Hernandez seems to have hurt his shoulder with that dive. Morgan welcomes him back into the ring and them rams his hurt shoulder into the turnbuckles. Morgan covers Hernandez while grabbing tights for the victory at 8:59. They were decent at exchanging power moves but the finish leaves a bad taste. Here is a team that just won the tag team titles last month and there is already some distrust. At least the “tag team partners that can’t trust each other” angle hasn’t been done a lot in TNA. Yes, that is sarcasm. **
Match #3: 8-Card Stud Quarterfinal: Mr. Anderson vs. Kurt Angle
Angle controls on the mat early on. He hits a suplex and lands punches in the corner. Anderson avoids a charge and uses Angle’s dog tags to bust him open. Anderson hits a DDT and takes control of the match. Angle comes back with some clotheslines and a belly to belly suplex. He follows with rolling german suplexes. Anderson escapes the Angle Slam and hits a finlay roll. He tries to loosen a turnbuckle but the referee stops him. Anderson simply loosens another turnbuckle while the referee is fixing the previous one. Angle hits the Angle Slam for a nearfall. He synchs in an ankle lock but Anderson powers out. Angle misses a charge and collides with the exposed turnbuckle. Anderson hits the Mic Check for the win at 9:46. This was a great twenty-minute match condensed into ten minutes. That is the best way that I can describe it. The good news is that Anderson looks like a killer coming out of this contest simply because he utilized his most glaring advantage (his treacherous attitude) to get the win. **½
Eric Bischoff is with Mick Foley and Abyss. He tells them that they better go all out in their match tonight. Any form of gamesmanship will result in the removal of Abyss’ mask. Foley wants to know some guidelines. Bischoff makes the match No Disqualification and wants a barbed wire bat to be used.
Match #4: 8-Card Stud Quarterfinal: No Disqualification: Mick Foley vs. Abyss
Abyss utilizes a headlock and refuses to use the barbed wire bat. Foley slaps him and the action goes to the floor. Foley connects with a chair shot and attempts to use the barbed wire bat back in the ring to no avail. He hits a neckbreaker and lays out some thumbtacks. Abyss chokeslams Foley, but not on the thumbtacks. Abyss takes Foley’s sock while Foley steals the referee’s sock. Stereo mandible claws ensue. Foley wins out and almost gets a submission win. He goes to use the barbed wire bat but Abyss hits the Black Hole Slam into the thumbtacks for the victory at 7:44. This match was purely storyline driven with little in the way of worthwhile hardcore wrestling. I guess the booking was fine, but I miss the vicious Abyss that would infiltrate Christian Cage’s home if James Mitchell gave the command. Heck, I just miss James Mitchell promos. *½
Match #5: Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags vs. Brother Ray and Brother Devon
I could say something sarcastic here like “I guess Christmas came early this year”, but I won’t. The Nasty Boys gain an early advantage. Team 3D connect with a double team clothesline on Sags and the Nasty Boys take some time to regroup. Taz likes that strategy. Then again, he didn’t pay $34.99 for this crap. Ray hits a saito suplex on Sags and the Nasty Boys need to regroup again. They find an opening and work over Devon until he avoids a charge and makes the hot tag. Ray cleans house, hitting suplexes on both Nasty Boys. He botches a uranagi on Sags and Team 3D hit the What’s Up on Knobbs. They follow with a 3D on Sags but the referee is distracted. Knobbs hits Ray with a foreign object and Sags covers for the win at 10:41. Jimmy Hart also appeared at the finish in support of the Nasty Boys. This was about as horrible as you would expect. I understand that there is a feud here, but the age of these two teams did not warrant over ten minutes of pay per view time. The camera work made the finish very confusing as well. Unfortunately, the appearance of Jimmy Hart most likely means that this feud will continue. ½*
Samoa Joe and Eric Bischoff are backstage. Bischoff talks about his history with Ric Flair and vows to call the match right down the middle. Joe will take care of Styles and Bischoff will take care of Flair. Bischoff warns Joe about allowing his Samoan temper to get the better of him.
Match #6: 8-Card Stud Semifinal: D’Angelo Dinero vs. Matt Morgan
Morgan shows his power advantage to start. Dinero connects with a dropkick but gets sent to the outside. Back in, Morgan connects with his rapid fire elbows and takes control with a cocky attitude. Dinero tries a crossbody but gets caught with a fallaway slam. Dinero finally makes his comeback with a tornado DDT. Morgan avoids the Coronation by hitting a roaring lariat. He misses a corner charge and Dinero connects with the DDE for the victory at 8:30. They just kind of ran through their offenses and meshed fairly well. However, the problem with that game plan is that we’ve seen those moves before tonight. No cohesive story turned this into an average match. **
Match #7: 8-Card Stud Semifinal: Mr. Anderson vs. Abyss
If these two didn’t have a good match last month, why pair them up on the very next pay per view? Anderson tries a crossbody but just falls off of Abyss. He then tries a test of strength but cheap shots Abyss. That causes Anderson to fall victim to a scoop slam and a big boot. Abyss clotheslines him to the floor. Back in, Anderson starts to target the left leg. Abyss hits a back body drop along with a side slam. He fights off the Mic Check and hits Shock Treatment for a two count. Anderson turns Abyss’ mask around and hits the Mic Check for the win at 8:08. They worked better here than they did at Genesis. Anderson continues to come off as an opportunist and that is exactly what his character should be. I also appreciate that they worked in Abyss’ mask with the finish. Pretty decent given only eight minutes. **½
Hulk Hogan confronts Eric Bischoff before the TNA World Title match. Hogan tells Bischoff to call the match fairly, especially with the recent happenings with Earl Hebner.
Match #8: TNA World Title: AJ Styles (c) vs. Samoa Joe
Eric Bischoff is the special guest referee. Joe shows some aggression, so Styles retreats to the floor. Styles sneaks in a cheap shot but gets taken down with a big shoulder block. Joe connects with a corner enzuigiri followed by a running knee. Styles finds an opening with a dragon screw leg whip and targets the right leg. Joe powers out of a figure four and lands a dive to the outside. Styles sold that dive like a champ. He sneaks in an eye poke and sends Joe into the ringpost. They fight over a suplex and the action goes back into the ring. Styles gains control with his signature dropkick and adds strikes in the corner. He tries for a top rope hurricanrana but Joe counters with a flying knee strike. Styles runs into the ST-Joe. He regains the advantage after some Flair interference on Joe’s leg. Styles locks in a figure four and uses Flair for leverage. Bischoff sees this and makes Styles break the hold. Joe sends Styles over the top and to the floor. Rough landing there. Back in, Joe connects with a series of clotheslines followed by a senton. Styles responds with a springboard forearm along with his moonsault inverted DDT. He goes for the Styles Clash but Joe locks in the coquina clutch and turns it into a suplex. Joe hits the Muscle Buster but Flair distracts Bischoff during the pin attempt. Bischoff punches Flair on the floor. Joe starts complaining at Bischoff, allowing Styles to hit the Styles Clash to retain his title at 21:26. The match was going along nicely until the finish. The ending not only screamed usual TNA wackiness, it also took away the hot finishing sequence we would expect from these two. It’s a shame that both TNA World Title matches on pay per view this year have ended with some screwy finish. Let’s not make that a habit. If you want to see these two put on something special, try Turning Point 2005. ***½
Before the main event, Jeremy Borash interviewed D’Angelo Dinero. During the interview, Scott Hall and Sean Waltman attacked Dinero until security broke it up.
Match #9: 8-Card Stud Finals: D’Angelo Dinero vs. Mr. Anderson
Dinero doesn’t show up for his entrance so Anderson makes the referee start counting him out. He finally does show up at the count of six. Anderson runs out to the ramp and beats him down. Dinero starts fighting back but gets whipped into the ring steps. Anderson controls the match, making Dinero work to avoid being counted out. In the ring, Dinero works in a small package but Anderson maintains his dominance. Dinero finally finds a substantial burst of offense and hits a flying shoulder block. He follows with a german suplex along with an STO. Dinero is able to hit the DDE for a nearfall. Anderson comes back with a clothesline and announces that if he hits the Mic Check, he has the match won. He does in fact hit the Mic Check, but it results in a two count. Dinero avoids a swantan and hits another DDE to win the 8-Card Stud Tournament at 15:44. I understand what TNA was going for. They wanted Dinero to make an amazing comeback, a comeback “against all odds”, and win the tournament. However, it caused for a very one-sided finale. Nothing against Anderson, but he isn’t a wrestler that can keep his offense interesting for eleven minutes straight. They had the story right but the execution left a lot to be desired. **½
Overall: I was hoping TNA learned their lesson when they presented the “Deuces Wild” tag team tournament back in 2007. You can’t pack a whole tournament like this into a single pay per view. It just doesn’t work. None of the tournament matches were truly worthwhile because of time constraints. Additionally, the booking side of things caused Styles/Joe to under-deliver and the main event to drag on. Oh, and there was the Team 3D/Nasty Boys match that got almost eleven minutes. The good news is that Dinero is hugely over and Anderson’s stock was raised significantly after this show. The bad news is that the show featured nothing worth checking out. Recommendation to avoid.
