Project Rewatch: TNA - The Good Shit

[El-P]

Destination X 2006

X-Division Title - Ultimate X Match

Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels

 

I wasn't sure how Joe would fit in the Ultimate X match, and yet he did. Another great one. This has to be one of the best series of matches ever in the US (or elsewhere). I wasn't aware of Joe's condition and it didn't show, he was as good as ever. The double muscle buster was a perfect payback spot, and the finish was exactly what it needed to be, with the right guy winning. And yet, Joe is still protected thanks to the gimmick. Great match, great booking.

[El-P]

 

Impact - April 13, 2006

X-Division Title Match

Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe

This might very well be the best match in Impact history, with only one match I can think of in 2010 to be on the same level. The heat in this was just off the charts, the transitions were amazing, selling was tremendous as were the hope spots from Daniels, and Daniels showed so much heart wearing that crimson mask. I'll be shocked if another match for TNA in 2006 tops this. ****1/2

 

JIP. Well, that's a blast from the past, when you could only guess what happened before and get thrown immediately into the action. And what action it is. MOTYC on TV, which probably wasn't happening very often (WWE in 2006, yuck). The only questionnable thing is putting back the X-div title on Joe so soon after figuring a way to take it from him without having to beat him in the Ultimate X. On the other hand, it makes for a dramatic and exciting moment to open the new iMPACT programming, so it was good from that perspective. What can you say about the match ? Joe & Daniels are world class workers at this point and they just deliver a classic match here. Again.

[iamthedoctor]

Has TNA released any of their dark matches on DVD?

 

Reason I ask is I found this

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpWiYE2DzP4

 

It even shows the date so im guessing it must have been a extra on one of the DVds but no idea which one.

[El-P]

 

Lockdown 2006

NWA-TNA Title - Cage Match

Christian Cage vs. Abyss

Very good hardcore match here. They start with a brawl during Christian's entrance, which is very good stuff. Once they get in the ring it's really good too with Abyss dominating thanks to a ref bump, but it doesn't get super interesting until he introduces thumb-tacks. What does stand out is something we should see more frequently from babyfaces, as Christian made an effort not just to dodge a running charge from Abyss, but moved the ref out of the way too. What a crazy concept, showing that babyfaces can go the extra mile with integrity.

Abyss would take a modified sunset powerbomb onto the tacks, with Christian coming off the top of the cage after smashing the face of Abyss into it. This dazed Abyss so that Christian had the momentum when landing on the mat with his feet to then plant Abyss onto the tacks. That would be a great nearfall, and the challenger's manager Jim Mitchell would throw some more weapons in the ring, including his walking cane.

Abyss would add more tacks on the mat, only to get struck with the cane which broke upon impact. He then took an Unprettier on the expanded tacks portion of the canvas, bringing this show-stealer to a close. Post-match, Abyss attacks Christian when Mitchell is about to be attacked, and the slain challenger leaves with the belt. ***3/4

 

Christian is not the most spectacular worker there is, but he's clearly what had been lost in the 00's, a really solid babyface working as underdog without doing a zillion spots. He is gonna deliver the huge spot form the top of the cage, but with the right timing and a sense of purpose, as opposed to "stunt !!!!". Abyss is looking excellent in a big match again. I'm really eating my words about this guy. In a matter of two years, he murders guys like Kane over their entire career (easy, but I made an unfortunate comparison before). The use of the thumbtacks is now a staple of Abyss, but why not after all. In context, it doesn't look like systematic overkill, it just looks like it's his gimmick weapon. It sure beats a fucking sledgehammer and they work around it quite well again. I felt the post-match was a bit flat though, with Abyss getting his heat back immediately. Plus the idea that a cage match with thumbtacks not being the feud closer is typical post-Attitude era booking (complete with the idiotic gimmick themed PPV, which wasn't too bad actually here, with mostly good matches worked in different ways), but with Abyss they can do a lot of different stuff, so maybe a chain-match can be the real bloodletting this match wasn't, as they kept it rather minimalistic (not a complaint) until the gimmicks.

 

Oh, and TNA cage has a hole. For the camera. So you can snuck in any weapon easily. Yeah. TNA still being TNA even at its peak (which has been really really good. Russo is showing up back in a matter of a few months though, so the honeymoon is coming to a close soon enough)

[El-P]

Sacrifice 2006: The Good Shit

Tag Titles Match

America's Most Wanted vs. AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels

These four worked very hard, with a phenomenal pace that resulted in red-hot near-falls from the live crowd's perspective. But this was also littered with piss-poor tag legality officiating. The ref never remembered who was legal, and counted every single pin-fall attempt in the finishing stretch. All of this stupidity kept this from being the great match that this was destined to be. ***

 

Caring about the legal guy in the ring in 2006 is looking for trouble when there's none, especially since the whole ending stretch was all about blasting out big spots and kick outs anyway. Yeah, Rudy Charles is a piss poor referee, but it didn't keep the match from being excellent because the work was. Granted, with a stricter dynamic it could have been great, but these four delivered as far as putting together a hot match from the get-go. Gotta like teh matching outfits from Styles & Daniels, always loved that attention to detail. When it's said and done AMW is easily one of the most underrated US tag-team ever, as the exact body of work in the WWE would have them pimped as a great one.

 

NWA-TNA Title - Full Metal Mayhem Match

Christian Cage vs. Abyss

Another match where they worked hard, but in this case didn't have the pacing and intensity of their cage match a few weeks earlier. Christian took MANY stupid bumps in this one, and it's a great example to pull out for anyone wondering why his body has broken down and caused WWE to be gunshy on utilizing him in 2014. Christian got the eventual last laugh, slamming James Mitchell on thumb tacks, taking the risk of jumping off the ladder onto Abyss through a table, and climbing up the ladder to retain the title. ***

 

 

Not as good as the cage match but still a really good garbage match. As he's working babyface underdog champ, Christian did take a lot of hard bumps on the ladder and table, but everything built well. I take than over the WWE stunt-fest he's been famous for any day. Nice payback spot on Mitchell, who's doing an understated manager role in these godforsaken 00's. Christian doesn't do great matches like AJ Styles, Daniels & Joe would earlier in the year, but he totally refreshed the World Title scene and proved he could work at this level. Shame WWE would rather push his taller, goofier, nowhere near as good tag team partner. Good job by TNA, who's on a roll still at this point.

 

The tag match between Jarrett & Steiner vs Joe & Sting was also very good, with a nice piece of booking in the post-match and a shocking clean job by Jarrett to Joe. They were onto something with Joe, he could, he should have been their big star alongside AJ. But we know what's coming that will prevent that...

[El-P]

 

Hardcore War 2006

X-Division Title Match

Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels

A bit better than Joe's threeway the following weekend with KENTA and Bryan Danielson since nobody got knocked the fuck out in this one. All these years later, this is honestly on par with the rest of their threeway series. Joe took an early powder but somehow managed to get an advantage on the outside on both challengers (I should note they were tag partners at this time, their issues now behind them.) Styles would find ways to hit explosive spots to keep this competitive, as would Daniels but not quite as explosively. The easy highlight of this was Joe blocking a kick from Styles, springboarding him into a backflip, Styles lands in position to drop Daniels with an inverted DDT, kicks an approaching Joe, and then simultaneously drops Joe with a traditional DDT. Joe went on to retain in what I would consider to be a classic match thanks to the awesome Philly crowd. ****

 

This whole ECW Arena show, as a counter product to the brand new WWECW, was quite the fun deal from top to bottom. Of course, this was the killer match. Not a MOTYC quality match, but still a great three-way, which is always an accomplishment. You get the feel these three could work a great match together in their sleep. Gotta love the ECW Arena atmopshere too, although I wonder how much of it was the old ECW crowd and how much was just posturing. Still, a refreshing bit of revivalism, much better than any of the WWE produced stuff and certainly better than most revival show with tons of sad, way over the hill guys showing up pretending it's 1996 again.

[El-P]

 

Slammiversary 2006: The Good Shit

Tag Titles Match

America's Most Wanted vs. AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels

Same issues as last month - zero enforcement of tag legalities. I feel like Bryan Alvarez pointing out the Briscoes' flaws from this time, but these four surely should've known better. That said, the action itself was really good and the crowd loved it. This also had the proper finish, which was the dream team winning the belts. ***1/4

Samoa Joe vs. Scott Steiner

Really good psychology here that somewhat reminded me of Joe's dream match against Kenta Kobashi. Steiner manhandled Joe in a much different way than Kobash thoughi. He cancelled out Joe's attempts at mat wrestling, showcasing his All-American background as an amateur from his days in Ann Arbor. He also managed to throw Joe around with various suplexes, a stunning sight to see. (...) The next highlight, of course bringing back memories of Joe vs. Kobashi, was Steiner lowblowing Joe during a rear naked chokehold, breaking a waistlock, and then dropping Joe headfirst with a half-nelson suplex. I'm sure that was worth it for Joe.

Unfortunately, the finish was botched as Steiner missed the ropes when Joe dropped him in Stun Gun like fashion, and then was finished off with a powerslam. Still really good storytelling and the last quality match of Steiner's career. A major pleasant surprise after Steiner's tenure in WWE prior to this. ***1/4

 

Both very good matches. The tag team match was actually excellent and what bothered me the most was the ridiculous and dated use of some random amazon-looking women to "neutralize" Gail Kim (who took a terrific bump from the top rope). I guess it was supposed to be Jackie Gayda before she left as she got pregnant, it would have at least pay off an otherwise totally useless stint (which seems to sum up Gayda's entire pro-wrestling career). Yes, they didn't respect the tag legalities at the very end but it wasn't that bad, plus the finish was exactly what it should have been with a great feel-good moment.

 

Steiner was all business and worked very well with Joe. Nice psychology and build, too bad the lead to the finishing spot was indeed blown, which made the ending kinda odd, the powerslam not being one of Joe's finisher. Still, Steiner showed he could absolutely work and deliver as late as 2006.

 

Too bad they manage to fuck up the King of Mountain match. It was already the worst of the three, not nearly as good as the other ones, as if they forgot how to make the best and most fun use of the cage gimmick. Uneventful with long, boring crowd brawling sequences and Ron Killing wassuping his way into nothingness (really, why was he booked back in the main event at this point ?). It got better toward the end with some big spots, but the "creative" booking got in the way, including a particulary annoying Earl Hebner performance and totally screwy ending with some kind of Dusty finish. Kinda sad as it probably foreshadows the arrival of Russo on booking in the following months. This is the first true fail of D'Amore's booking era, and the fact it happened within their big annual gimmick match could not have been worse timing.

[supersonic]

Lockdown 2007 – April 15, 2007

Live from St. Louis, MO

 

Lethal Lockdown
Christian Cage, Tomko, Abyss, Scott Steiner, & AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle, Rhino, Sting, Jeff Jarrett, & Samoa Joe

 

Hell of a War Games style match, taken down just a bit by an anticlimactic storyline finish. Steiner and Joe came into the match as great houses of fire; in particular, Styles was excellent making Joe look like a million bucks, whereas Steiner threw overhead belly-to-belly suplexes aplenty, then provided an early highlight by giving a Super Hurricanrana to Rhino. Abyss would bring thumbtacks into the equation courtesy James Mitchell, who would be taken out by Harley Race.

 

Those thumbtacks definitely came into play, although they couldn’t close to being as epic and meaningful as Necro Butcher’s tacks 9 months earlier at Death Before Dishonor IV. Once everyone was in the match to begin the Lethal Lockdown portion, Angle and Styles went on top of the cage structure to battle. As they engaged, Rhino speared Tomko out of the ring through the cage door, allowing the action to spill to the outside. This benefited Styles when he lost the striking battle to Angle on top, flipping off the cage in exhaustion onto a pile of his contemporaries.

 

Christian took a bump he honestly didn’t need to take, but showed what a team player he was during his 3 years in TNA, when he ate a double chokeslam onto the first bag of thumbtacks. This made the bump Abyss took at the end of the match more meaningful, as he used the second bag of thumbtacks to load Jarrett’s guitar. This backfired when Sting subdued him, and then Jarrett finished Abyss off, and allowed Sting to get the pin, earning an NWA-TNA title match against Christian next month at Sacrifice 2007. Don’t care at all about Jarrett becoming a reformed, altruistic babyface, but Hell of a spectacle. ***3/4

[supersonic]

Sacrifice 2007 – May 13, 2007

Live from Orlando, FL

 

Texas Death Match
Chris Harris vs. James Storm

 

 

Disgustingly bloody match that never reached a fever pitch type of pace. With that said, this had its fair share of highlights to make this a good, memorable match. Harris got the early advantage when they brawled outside and then took it to the crowd, with a false finish after a crossbody onto Storm into the audience. Once it got in the ring is when the match became memorable.

 

Both would wear crimson masks, although neither man honestly took the kinds of shots heavy enough to make the gushing faucets on their faces seem realistic, not after the past year in the business that included classics like Cage of Death, John Cena vs. Umaga, and Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer. Storm’s blood would drip on the floor deep in the match, eventually causing his valet Jacqueline to try bailing him out. Gail Kim would arrive to even the odds for Harris.

 

The Eye of the Storm through the table wasn’t enough to keep Harris down, so the finish had to be memorable, which it admittedly was. Both men grabbed beer bottles for their final shots, with Harris beating Storm to the punch for the winning pin fall in a match that nobody in attendance will ever forget. ***1/2

 

Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles

 

Another good addition to their on-again, off-again rivalry, with about the same length as their Time to Man Up main event. This had about the same pacing behind it, with it being a game of having each other well scouted and using psychology to get ahead. Styles would fake an injury and then deliver an eye poke, so in the end of the match after some quality back-and-forth action, Joe gave him a receipt by feigning a knee injury and finishing off the future Hall of Famer with a Coquina Clutch Suplex. ***1/4

[El-P]

Hard Justice 2006

Tag Titles Match

AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels vs. LAX

 

The fact it was rough around the edge only made it better to me. Who care about tag legalities in 2006 ? Yeah, it was a bit messy at times and yes Hernandez is still green, but it came off as a true struggle with two teams really hating each others. Spotty ? Yes. But damn good at being spotty. Excellent match.

 

On the same show, Rhyno vs Samoa Joe vs Monty Brown in a Falls Count Anywhere match was quite the amazing brawl too.

[supersonic]

Ask the Revival, Kobashi, Horsemen, Cornette, Steamboat, etc. if tag legalities matter for coherent psychology.

[El-P]

Thanks for the lecture. I wouldn't thought about this, really.

Except, really, TNA 2006 was still was closer to what ECW was in term of letting the rules fly, for better or worse. When this shit turns basically into a texas tornado match, you go with the flow. Makes much sense ? Nope. But does it work in context ? Sure.

 

Oh, anyway...

[supersonic]

It'd work in context if the wrestlers treated it as seriously as athletes who get violated in closing minutes do and question the referees. It's referee incompetence to let themselves be indoctrinated by the athletes, rather than the other way around. It takes zero effort for someone to say "pin him, you're the legal one. I'll keep the other illegal guy at bay for ya." I've seen this in 3 straight Briscoes 2007 matches.

[El-P]

Most TNA referees did suck, I'll give you that. (and Hebner did not help from the matches he's been involved in thus far)

[El-P]

Impact - August 24, 2006

Tag Titles - Hardcore Match

AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels vs. LAX

They just brutalized each other, with Styles and Homicide brawling at ringside, while Daniels, who has a bandaged cut on his forehead, went right after the powerful Hernandez. But Styles got busted open too and was taken out by Hernandez, leaving Homicide to go to work on Daniels. Konnan got involved and attacked Daniels, allowing Homicide to hit an Ace Crusher through a table to crown new champions. No complaints here this time as this was definitely a hot direction at the time. This was short and to the point, similar to Carnage Crew vs. Natural Born Sinners at ROH's Crowning a Champion. ***

 

Felt rushed a little bit and I wasn't a fan of Daniels business outfit. Not fitting, pu intended, to brawl all over the place. However, since it was a TV match with a hot title change, it pretty much worked perfectly for what it had to accomplish, especially since LAX are supposed to be street thugs at heart, so they win *their* match, with Konnan's cheating to boot. Konnan's two best roles ever are this and his Lucha Underground mentor stuff. Such a crappy wrestler, but as a manager when actual hot topics and feuds, he was excellent both as a face and a heel. Gotta love the fact minorities still are portrayed as heels, too... (thankfully, Konnan was also acting like a dick and a two-face bastard, so he was indeed heeling it up, despite promos that actually made sense and that Ventura would have defended by using logic). Loving this LAX stuff so far, and it's much better than anything WWE ever did as far as using latino characters (I mean, the Mexicools...).

[El-P]

 

No Surrender 2006 – September 24, 2006

Live from Orlando, FL

Tag Titles – Ultimate X Match

LAX vs. AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels

Hell of a spoffest here.

(...)

Styles would take out Homicide via a Styles Clash through that outside table from the apron, and then Konnan attacked him with a flapjack. Konnan failed to hit Daniels in the ring with it after the Fallen Angel shoved Hernandez off. Instead, a company highlight occurred as he climbed the top of a corner structure of the X and then jumped to the center, landing safely to hang on (both in reality and from the kayfabe bad intentions of Konnan), bringing down the belt to reclaim the titles. At the time a decade ago, there was some uproar (mostly from Bryan Alvarez) about how dangerous this move was for Daniels. While it certainly wasn’t the safest, perhaps from being desensitized by far more insane stunts over the years, it didn’t look to be quite so risky under 2016 lenses. Definitely a memorable finish. ***3/4

 

Terrific Ultimate X match. This gimmick delivers almost every time. Nice twist with the tag team dynamic, although it was indeed a bomb throwing fest. Great chaotic feel like in every LAX match. The final bump was insane and Daniels deserves so much props for attempting it. It should be noted that it was a spot that *made sense* too, unlike 99% of the stupid stunts from most gimmick matches since the awful Hardy's "classic" matches. It was not a regular X either of course, as this time the crossing of the ropes was attached solidly to the roof. Excellent match with an all-time memorable finish.

[El-P]

Bound For Glory 2006 October 22, 2006

Taped from Detroit, MI

 

X-Division Title Match

Low Ki vs. Chris Sabin

 

The finish was a bit anticlimactic, as instead of going on to end with the teased Super Cradle Shock, which wouldve gone a long way in cementing this event as the companys Super Bowl AND Kis status in replacing Joes role as the divisions bad-ass juggernaut, Sabin won with a surprise small package. So instead of being a terrific match, one that couldve defined this event both on its own and its long-term branding, and one that couldve defined the division and company too, this settled on being just a very good one. The crowd was quite enthusiastically on board with taking this one over the top, its just a shame a fitting finish wasn't utilized to maximize it. ***3/4

 

Sabin still does nothing for me. He's all spots, works too fast, isn't a good seller. This is typically the kind of X div match I don't care about. Spot spot spot spot spot. Ki does manage to drag me into the match for the last stretch and I did enjoy the finish which was a nice touch instead of just keeping on overdrive and overkill, but Sabin as champ feels like such a setback after those great AJ vs Daniels vs Joe matches the previous year.

 

 

Hardcore Match

Rhino vs. Christian Cage

 

This could be viewed as tasteless in a world after Chris Benoit, as this storyline was based on Christian causing Rhino to suffer a number of concussions. Its ironic that it wasnt the other way around considering where both men stand a decade later. The Detroit crowd didnt seem to care about Rhino as a hometown guy, instead rooting for Christian to have underhanded advantages, including one involving a straightjacket.

 

(...)

The finish came when Rhino was down and Christian stacked a bunch of plunder on top of Rhino, then channeled Austin at WrestleMania X-Seven, just delivering numerous blows with a chair as Mike Tenay screamed about concussions on commentary. Based on what I could see, I dont believe this particular finish actually delivered any blows to Rhinos head actually. This was definitely the right finish to establish Christian as a ruthless motherfucker, and he obviously had far more upside to eventually get reinserted back into the top mix. ***

 

 

The concussion angle was stupid especially when Rhino kicked out of Christian's finisher on their last match. Concussion = nothing. Really a tedious match too, as Rhino isn't someone you want for long control segments, in or out of the ring. He had such a terrific out of control brawling match with Monty & Samoe Joe before, this was just going nowhere with boring crowd brawling, useless vehicule use and such. Christian has worked much better as an underdog solid babyface than vicious heel. Plunder match felt like nothing after the crazy (and stupid) garbage brawl earlier on with Abyss, Raven, Joe and some human dart. Finish was idiotic (always hated those "stack a bunch of stuff on a body then hit them with a chair, it hurts less than a simple chair shotso why would you do that ?). A few spots here and there, but really a nothing match. Jarrett & Sting had a more satisfying one despite the flat work.

 

Tag Titles Cage Match

AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels vs. LAX

 

Before getting into the finish, the easy highlight of the match wouldnt be a missed splash from the top of the cage by Hernandez. Instead, it would be Styles blocking Homicides Superplex attempt from the top of the cage; this caused Daniels underneath Homicide to backdrop the red-hot ROH star while Hernandez powerbombed Daniels. With Styles on top, that gave the future Hall of Famer the opportunity to surprise Hernandez with a crossbody from the top of the cage, bringing Detroit to a frenzy.

 

With Daniels eventually taken out of the equation by Konnan using the coat hanger, that left Styles prone to double-teaming, causing him to fall victim to the Kudo Driver. I was happy that was the finish, as I wouldve been so pissed off, even with this being advertised as TNA's biggest annual event, had the Kudo Driver's inevitable false finish moment not been saved for ROHs Final Battle 2006 still a couple months away.

 

While Im glad LAX won this feud to hopefully become the cornerstones of the tag division, I do wonder where this leaves Styles & Daniels individually. Theres a bit of a log jam at the top with Joe, Sting, Christian, and Kurt Angle, along with the now totally overpushed Jeff Jarrett thanks to those 4 mentioned names in the company, but the two of them are also above the current X-Division scene involving Ki, Sabin, Jay Lethal, Jerry Lynn, and Sonjay Dutt. ***1/2

 

 

Very good match. Those two spots were kinda insane. What the fuck was Hernandez thinking ? He also shows his greenness at points, but it's mostly what it should be. These guys have been carrying the promotion in the last few months, as you can feel the momentum slowly doing and the booking getting worse and worse.

 

This show really felt flat overall. It's quite fitting as it was the ending of TNA as an alternative. The first year of Spike was super easy and fun to watch until Slammiversary 96. Since that point you can see booking becoming tired. Sure, Angle was a coup and would get them their best PPV score ever, but it wouldn't last. It would be the last successful one-shot for a company that would now be booked by Vince Russo into oblivion and irrelevancy. After storylines that made sense, simple and solid booking with regular great matches, it would be time for fucked-up shit, pushing Joe, Daniels & AJ styles back from the top spots and pushing every WWE rejects ever. Then would come Bischoff and Hogan with even more stupid shit. In 2005 & for most part of 2006, TNA looked like a hot promotion still full of promises. Russo coming in was the end of the party. It never recovered, at no point. From this point on, I guess it's cherry picking only... Was fun while it lasted. D'Amore deserves credits for making it work for a while.

[kewf1988]

In 2012 they were an alternative as well... Gut Check, Open Fight Night, Aries, Roode, Storm, and Bully Ray in the main event scene, Angle stopped winning world titles, etc. This was when Prichard (a wrestling guy like D'Amore) was the booker and Russo was gone, and Impact was nominated the best TV show that year in the WON awards. At the same time WWE was having Hornswoggle as the anonymous GM, Michael Cole in the main event covered in BBQ sauce, Big Show crying, John Laurinaitis in a PPV main event over their CHAMPION, AJ Lee being the main focus of a WWE title feud, etc. TNA really felt like a wrestling promotion rather than a sports entertainment promotion that year.

 

As for Sabin winning the X Division title feeling like a huge step back? AJ, Daniels, and Joe were three of the best wrestlers in the US that year, and so far above the rest of the X Division by that time that it was a good move to have them rise up the card and face fresh opponents. Sabin and Low Ki were the two best they had in the division at that point (Lethal would also reach that level in 2007) with AJ, Joe, and Daniels officially above it, so it's fitting that they'd be in the title match at the biggest PPV of the year as none of the others were really ready to be the face of the X Division yet.

[El-P]

As for Sabin winning the X Division title feeling like a huge step back? AJ, Daniels, and Joe were three of the best wrestlers in the US that year, and so far above the rest of the X Division by that time that it was a good move to have them rise up the card and face fresh opponents. Sabin and Low Ki were the two best they had in the division at that point (Lethal would also reach that level in 2007) with AJ, Joe, and Daniels officially above it, so it's fitting that they'd be in the title match at the biggest PPV of the year as none of the others were really ready to be the face of the X Division yet.

 

Well, yes, but I just don't think Sabin was very good. Still basically a spot monkey by that point. Senshi was much more interesting (and talented). Well, all of this was pretty much rendered irrelevant anyway since two weeks after, AJ got the title back in a throwaway TV match which was also part of a tournament to eventually challenge for the world title against an heelish out of nowhere Sabin, just before AJ would himself turn heel for no reason a few weeks after. Oh, yeah. Russo just got the book and it took one week to make things all fucked up and nonsensical.

[supersonic]

Impact – June 7, 2007

Taped from Orlando, FL

 

King of the Mountain Qualifier – Hardcore Match
Chris Harris vs. James Storm

 

Hell of a TV main event that’s on par with the far-more-acclaimed Texas Death Match. Both would eventually bleed, with Harris having blood drip on his chest. The trash can lid shots to the head certainly don’t hold up in a post-Benoit world, but we were just over a couple weeks away from the 9/11 of the industry creeping up on us, so whatever.

 

Storm thought he had the match won thanks to channeling Jeff Hardy via a Swanton Bomb off a turnbuckle to Harris on an outside table, but that wasn’t enough. They’d continue brawling with Harris eventually spearing Storm through part of the entrance, resulting in the referee mandating a 10-count to get in the ring or he’d rule it a draw. Neither made it in time as Kurt Angle and Samoa Joe arrived at ringside. In obvious move to make everyone forget about the non-finish, Angle and Joe had a brawl as the broadcast went off the air. Why not just have a fucking finish? Whatever. ***1/2

[El-P]

Impact – November 16, 2006

Taped from Orlando, FL

Barbed Wire Cage Match

Rhino vs. Christian Cage

Good enough although the finish was cheap. Christian wore a crimson mask at some point and pretty much got decimated by Rhino not that he didn’t room to run away and be opportunistic. However, Christian would find ways to get the advantage, including cutting off Rhino on the top rope to deliver a Super Unprettier for a near-fall, and also using a straight jacket later on. Hearing in the storyline that Rhino ignored a doctor’s medical opinion to sit out due to concussions, and then the cheap finish of Christian winning because he was speared and his feet touched the floor from a fence breaking, makes this not age as well as it should have. This won’t be the last cage match of 2006 that has a cheap ending for me to shit on. ***

 

Good match, the best of a feud that never clicked in the ring for me. I disagree with the finish, it was totally unexpected and spectacular and the fact Christian "won" the match was irrelevant since Rhino was all about destroying him, which he did. The whole concussion stuff has been stupid since day one, with Rhino kicking out of Christian's finisher several times, so by that point it was not even a technicality. Good stuff and hot finish.

 

 

Kurt Angle wins his first-ever TNA match in the main event against Abyss, the #1 contender to the TNA Title. This is a lazy, counterproductive way to attract prime time Thursday debut ratings. There’s no excuse on the go-home show for the top title’s #1 contender to be jobbing clean, so to draw ratings and promote Angle’s dream match against Joe, and make THAT match his historic debut so people must pay their fucking money to actually see such history, have a weigh-in segment with final words and a possible white-hot brawl that surpasses all of their prior brawls.

 

 

Not only that, but the post-match was completely idiotic and made no sense. I gotta say one thing, after years of hearing Cornette blabbing about how great and classic the first Joe vs Angle build was, with them waiting until the PPV to fight, when you actually watch the thing it's another story. They fough *every fucking time* they got together. Since the very first appearance to that post-match which saw 1/Joe reversing the ankle lock 2/Joe hitting Angle with a chair 3/Joe choking out a bleeding Angle. So much for keeping all the tension for the big match. Not saying it was Mantell's fault, as the whole promotion has Russo idiotic fingers on it, and this last segment was totally Russorrific with Joe, accepted as a babyface per say by the TNA crowd for months now, *teaming up with Abyss* to beat on Angle. Still, this was far from the classic, no-touch before PPV match Corny is talking about. No idea how he handled the stupidity of Russo's booking though.

[El-P]

Thankfully, Angle vs Joe totally delivered, a true MOTYC that's better than any bloated stuff Angle did in WWE. The whole PPV, the biggest ever for TNA, was actually quite good in the ring if you disregard the awful booking of the tag team (which got a nice "bullshit" chant) and world (which got apathy because of how stupid it was) titles. Sting working an IWA Japan match was great in its absurdity though So, I guess this show was the apex of TNA while at the same time wearing the clear sign of booking death. Oh, well. Good Joe has eventually found his way onto greener pastures. He should have been the Man in TNA. Also, too bad Christopher Daniels will never get the recognition as a worker, he was up there with him and AJ...

[supersonic]

Slammiversary 2007 – June 17, 2007

Live from Nashville, TN

 

X-Division Title Match
Chris Sabin vs. Jay Lethal

 

 

Fun enough match with Kevin Nash having some amusing blurbs while on commentary. Sabin played the default heel, something he had mastered by this point as one half of the Motor City Machine Guns. In fact, with Lethal dethroning him here and Alex Shelley feuding with… Bob Backlund???, there’s no excuse not to implement MCMG in this federation and make them the faces of the tag division now.

 

Everything was mechanically good with the Nashville crowd into it, so there were no true takeaway highlights in this other than Lethal managing to avoid Sabin’s Cradle Shock. On the other hand, Sabin was unable to avoid the Lethal Combination, thus leading to this title change. ***1/4

 

TNA Title – King of the Mountain Match
Kurt Angle vs. Chris Harris vs. Samoa Joe vs. Christian Cage vs. AJ Styles

 

 

Definitely the greatest KOTM of all-time. It looked bad at first with Styles offering to play second-fiddle to Christian, but then Styles decided just to go at this alone. This had all kinds of incredible bombs and highlights, with Styles particularly on point with his offense. He was fantastic in dropkicking the ladder to prevent Harris from hanging the title belt, but then topped himself later when he went on top of the penalty box and Joe followed him. Unlike a scaffold match in which its entirety is spent with those not wanting to take a bump and it making for tedious psychology, the same psychology was applied here but because it was short-lived and had a payoff, it clicked. That payoff would be when Joe yanked Styles off the box roof Iconoclasm-style, forcing Styles to take a bump through the commentary table.

 

The match would come to Angle and Christian fighting to see who could hang the belt first, and perhaps with this being the company’s 5^th anniversary PPV and in its original hometown to boot, Angle should’ve had this struggle against someone more homegrown like Joe or Styles instead. However, Harris channeling Edge to spear Christian off the ladder was tremendously timed, allowing Angle to hang up the belt to retain in this jaw-dropping main event.

 

In the post-match, Joe offers congratulations to Angle, only to eat an Angle Slam. The company blew its load on their program already, but whatever. ****1/4

[El-P]

Not sure I would call it the best KOTM match, but it sure was a great one, redeeming the very disappointing mess of the previous year. It's also probably the very point where they should have pulled the trigger on Samoa Joe before it was too late. Angle didn't need the title (he's a guy who doesn't need a title to be at the top). He wasn't the worst choice (AJ Styles needed to be rebuilt as a top guy and Christian already was there for most of the year) but even Chris Harris would have been better as far as creating a new legit main event star. I'm not overly familiar with the chronology of the events to follow, but I do think this highlights the point where it was obvious TNA would not create any new star and would only trust WWE names at the top. It was Samoa Joe's to win there.

 

The post-match was kinda idiotic since this whole feud was already done to death by this point, and Angle's attitude was confusing, as it has never been clear if this guy should be considered a heel or a babyface.

 

This match is also one of Christian's best performance.

[TeeVenegas]

Scrolling thru this thread has inspired me to go back and check out some of the stuff from the 'golden' period of TNA. It's largely a blind spot for me as I'd imagine it is for many who chose to ignore TNA and it's history just due to the stigma the company has.

 

Anyway, started off by checking out the AJ/Daniels iron man from AAO '05. I gotta be honest, I was embracing myself for disappointment as the clock was winding down. Not that the work was bad or anything, it was actually quite good although a few things did bug me, it just wasn't anything that blew me away or anything I'd really classify as all time great stuff. Thankfully I went into it not knowing there was an overtime period so my reaction of "that was it?" quickly turned into intrigue when the match was restarted. And HOT DAMN did that overtime period put it over the top. Even though it was very brief, it tied the match together perfectly and both guys really executed that finishing narrative brilliantly.

 

I still don't know if it's something I'd say is in the discussion with the upper echelon stuff in wrestling history, but it was a great match. Gonna check out some of the Joe stuff now.