WRestling’s 3R’s Special Edition 07.24.06: TNA Victory Road 2006
Posted by Larry Csonka on 07.24.2006
The Road to Victory comes at a high price for Sting!
Introduction!
Hello kids, and welcome to another special edition of Wrestling's 3R's! Even though the cable company tried to stop my plans, I was able to get a replay of the Victory Road PPV and that mean's, 3R's Special bitches! That is right, I got the replay, I watched the replay, I put the replay in my mouth to see how it tasted and then swallowed, digested and now will regurgitate my thoughts on it. Damn, that sounds pretty damn sick doesn't it? Anyway, as always is the case, this is the special edition for the PPV, and there will be another on Friday for WWE's Great American Bash! Sit back, relax and enjoy kids. As always, hit me back with some feedback if you wish; I love feedback, I crave it actually.
TNA VICTORY ROAD!:
TNA Victory Road: 07.16.06:
The Matches:
The Naturals defeated The Diamonds in the Rough via pin *¾
Rhino vs. Monty Brown went to a No-Contest **½
The LAX defeated Sonjay Dutt and Ron Killings ***½ (Match of The Night)
Road to Victory #1 Contender's Match: Sting defeated Scott Steiner, Christian Cage and Samoa Joe ***
The Right:
The Newly Franchised Naturals w/"The Franchise" Shane Douglas - I was going to lump this in with the tag team madness below, but since they have invested so much time into this, I figured that I could do the same. I am a big fan of this storyline, as I am apparently one of the only fans the Naturals have. They were obviously floundering, and many months ago I stated that they not only needed to be used better, but SHOULD be used better as they were a great part of the TNA tag division. They opted for a losing streak angle, and Shane Douglas was going to come to the rescue. He told them that under Chris Candido that they were champions, but since his passing, they became a joke. He promised to bring them back to the top, for his "little brother" Candido, and to make them stars again. He took them off of TV, and for a few weeks we got training vignette's featuring Shane Douglas almost killing them and tearing them down to build them back up.
He then said that they would re-debut at the Victory Road PPV to avenge their loss to the DITR, and to get back onto the right track. The DITR came to the ring (Simon Diamond looked so much better in a suit by the way, more of a James J. Dillon look) and then Shane Douglas followed. First I will say that the "ECW/Dick Flair" remarks by Douglas were totally unneeded, and it added nothing to his promo and in all reality had nothing to do with it, so there was the one thing I hated. That being said, he came out and put over the team, the training and then unveiled "The Newly Franchised Naturals." They dropped the old music and had a new theme, which begins with the opening riff of "Perfect Strangers," the longtime theme of Douglas. They switched to the short box tights again, with the Franchise logo on them and slightly shorter hair. They had a solid match, nothing special, but they looked good and even debuted a new finisher (the powerbomb/missile dropkick combo.) I loved the end, as The Newly Franchised Naturals were all happy with their win and looked for approval from The Franchise, who had nothing but a verbal beating for them; explaining that one win isn't anything and they still had a lot of work to do. This angle is great, and I am totally into it.
Promo Time: Christian, Steiner, Kevin Nash - One thing TNA does seem to do on PPV, is when they do let guys have promo time, it is usually good stuff and this month was no different. Besides Shane Douglas' short promo I discussed above, three men really stuck out to me on the show.
First out of the gates was Christian Cage. He said that "the old Christian" might have been lost but that he was back. He said Steiner had no heart, which is why he relied on the tattoo on his chest. He got a fat joke on Joe, saying that he always wanted to finish your fries. And finally he got the dig in on Sting, that he looks good and all of that, but in the end he was like expired milk; way past it's expiration date. This was a really good promo and added to the dram and build for the #1 contender's match later in the night.
Second was Scott Steiner. Scott Steiner is a GAWD among men I tell you. He shit on Joe is so brutal, and so damn hilarious. He said that Joe should hate his parents for "giving him the fat cell along with their X and Y chromosomes." He then said he had a plan to defeat Joe, a trail of donuts, because Joe can't resist a "Creamy Crust" donut. GLORIOUS, THIS MAN RULES! He then called Christian "Stick man," told him to eat a steak and then to go back to Canada, or "Mexico North" as he calls it. Steiner has been awesome on the mic since his return to TNA, and I am so glad I didn't give up right away, yet gave him a chance. He has been tremendous.
Finally there was the greatness of Kevin Nash doing promos. He mocked Hogan, proclaimed his greatness in beating Bob Backlund in 8-seconds and was just Kevin Nash, which is hilarious. The only bad thing about all of this, he ISN'T A HEEL HERE and the opponents get the heat, not him.
LAX vs. Dutt and Killings - This right here was your match of the night kids. They opened up hot doing some crazy dives, including Killings almost pulling off a great looking Sasuke special. The LAX had to step it up here, because there is so much potential, but thus far haven't done anything of note. They stepped it up, both men, and looked great. Homicide finally got to be unleashed and looked great, and Hernandez held up his part too. The finish was so impressive, as he has Dutt up for a Razor's Edge, and just TOSSED him across the ring, killing young Sonjay. Just a great tag team match, and the only complaint I have is I would have loved to see them get 2 more minutes or so, but the match was great and this was the definition of total nonstop action.
Tag Team Madness! - I cannot stress enough how on fire the TNA tag division is becoming yet again. This show was a perfect example of this, as the show could have easily been named "Tag Team Madness." Five of the nine matches were tag team matches, and they were good ones at that. If you have been reading my columns you would know that I am a big lover of tag team wrestling, going back to the old NWA days. I just felt that I should once again praise the TNA tag division, and once again, let's look at the teams that we have.
Damn that is hot, 10-teams! You have the known teams of James Gang and 3D, the TNA born teams, work rate teams, mixed teams. You really have something for everyone, and that is a very important thing to have.
Sting's Road to Victory - They went old school with this match, as early on, a "Cameraman" sprayed Sting in the eyes with "gasoline." This man was actually JJ, trying to screw Sting out of his title shot, why? Because he is a chicken shit heel, that's why. So with Sting gone, we got a 3-way match. The three guys worked really good together, and they even did a spot where Steiner jumped off the apron and put Joe through a table with an elbow drop, bringing some blood from Joe. As they continued to brawl, THE MUMMY (~!) aka Sting all wrapped up on the head returned and started back into the match. In the end, Steiner tossed Joe and Cage, and that allowed Sting to get the death drop and the pin; along with the title shot next month. The best part was that Steiner took the fall. This is fine because Steiner didn't lose one on one, and it secures a match up there. Sting also didn't beat Cage or Joe, and when Cage turns, there is a singles match there, as well as one with Joe down the line. This is good for the long term, and builds to the big JJ vs. Sting singles match they have wanted all along. I also need to compliment Scott Steiner once again, who has been nothing but great in his TNA run thus far, and who has done the job with no complaints. Great job Scott, and I am glad to see you back.
puRgatoRy:
Rhino vs. Monty Brown - Now I know that I said in the round table that I could understand then booking a no-finish in the match here. They are pushing both men as monsters, and are probably pushing both of them in the coming months. But, the fact of the matter is that you shouldn't book yourself into a corner like that. That is once again TNA's problem that they have with parity booking. On the bright side, the brawl was great and was very heated, the crowd loved it and it was executed very well. But, I still feel the need to have it here in puRgatoRy.
Kazarian returns - I for one am so glad that Kazarian is back with TNA. I was a big fan of his and think that he brings a lot to the table, whether in the X-Division or Tag Team Division. He has worked with most of the X-Guys, and had a nice run with Bentley as a tag team, which melded really well but were underutilized in mine and many others opinion. Having him back strengthens the roster, and that is nothing but a good thing. They also held him a secret; many guessed it would be him but it wasn't confirmed until the day of the show that it was him returning. He looked great in his return as he and Senshi had a very good athletic contest as is expected. That was the good news.
Here is the bad, something that I have had to say all too often in the past weeks with TNA and will discuss in response to an email below. They bring him back, they try to make it important and he loses. He loses. Having him lose his debut in such a clean loss; it totally derails him from the get go, and that isn't a good sign. In the end, the thing is that he lost and we already have no reason to care about him already. This was just bad booking here, very WWE-like on Raw, which I complain about so it is only fair to do so here…again. Why not debut him on the pre-show? Why not shoot an angle where he cuts a promo and asks Bentley to reform the team? Instead you waste a title match with no build, and shoot him in the foot at the same time.
In the end the one thing that Tenay said helped matters, "Kazarian has been away from the X-Division for a year, and he just learned that the level of competition is much higher than it has even been." That was good because it put Senshi and the entire division over, and in my opinion really helped take away the negatives that I discussed above. Good work from the professor here, way to save a segment.
The wRong:
Raven vs. Larry - First of all let me say that Raven, from a selling a psychology standpoint is still a great worker. He sold the legwork Larry did, even after the match. Secondly, let me say that Larry Z was in great shape for his age, sold well and overall wasn't bad. He took 2 DDT's and sold then like a CHAMP I say. That all being said it was bad, very bad. Raven resembles Rikishi more than himself these days, and the more I think about it, and trust me, I know he has been sick, I just want him to retire and commentate or make more awesome shoot and Secrets of the Ring DVD's. As I watched this, I felt bad for him. I hope that he is healthy with his medication, but he must have to work or something because I can't imagine wanting to continue looking like that. He is not only still overweight, but looks like he is older than Larry Z. It was brutal folks. I did like the psychology they used and all, and the fact that they paid off on the storyline and did the hair cutting, but it didn't need to be here, not with raven in his condition; and I say that as a Raven fan. In the end I appreciate a long-term storyline, when you take into account Raven's health and Larry's age; and then ask yourself, "Did this sell any PPV buys" and you will know that this shouldn't have been on the PPV.
A little too much - While I appreciate getting my money's worth from a PPV, and with the pre-show there were 10-matches, this is an instant of TNA putting too much on one of their shows. While 10-matches sound great, #1 you burn out the fans, #2 you shorten all the matches and #3 in the end, while you are trying to give your fans something special, you really take away from what you want them to have.
There were two matches that easily could have benefited from a few more minutes in my opinion.
First of all was the opening tag match. They felt rushed, and since it was the debut of the "Newly Franchised Naturals," they wanted to impress, the DITR want to impress to climb the card; and while it was a solid match, there was just too much miscommunication. Give them 2-minutes, allow them to do the same match without the added pressure of cramming shit in, and you have a much better match.
Second was the LAX vs. Dutt and Killings match. While it was the match of the night, it is the same thing as above. There was some spots that were really rushed, and yes it was a really good match, but give them 2-minutes, allow them to do the same match without the added pressure of cramming shit in, and you have a much better match, which all things considered, would have resulted in closer to a 4* match in my opinion.
Now with those matches expanded, and cutting out one match; for our purposes we'll say the Hair vs. Hair match, the PPV becomes less rushed, match quality goes up and the show improves and everyone is still happy.
The Ridiculous:
Team Canada's Good-Bye - Here is the problem with this deal here, it was a TV follow up angle, not a PPV angle. This could have been done on Impact this past week to follow up the "All or Nothing" match from the week before. But instead, they wasted precious PPV time for this deal (over 12-minutes); and that is the problem with D'Amore on the creative team that we have discussed for a while now. Hopefully now he will be just on the creative team (I doubt it) and will focus on that instead of being a TV character. Hell, I like D'Amore as a manager and a character, but he cannot do both without compromising things, so this is all for the best. And then they go through and D'Amore says his good-bye's to all of the guys, and puts them all over, except for Young. All of the guys ignored Young and then D'Amore then blamed him for the team breaking up. D'Amore then kicked him out of a team that had already been disbanded! How does that work? The good thing is that the crowd LOVES him and is on his side, and as long as they are in Orlando, he will be a HUGE baby face. They chanted, "Don't fire Eric and we will save you!" Now Eric Young is FN great, and this was great, but again, needed to be on TV. Finally, they had NINE MATCHES n this show, you did not need an over 12-minute interview segment for a group of, for now, mid-card guys! Usually TNA has a great sense of how to use their time, but this was not one of those times. Plain and simple this was poor planning folks, and people don't want huge interview segments like this on PPV, unless it is a huge debut or return of a major star, not a mid-card act at best; and this is from someone who loves D'Amore and most of the Team Canada guys.
Closing Thoughts: Overall an enjoyable PPV from TNA, which is standard really. The one thing that I will say is that while their recent PPV's have been "good" recently, they haven't had a blow away show like they were doing this time last year. Things are good, but when they had the "great PPV's" and if you missed it, you could tell your pals and I could tell you guys, "GET THE REPLAY! SO AND SO vs. SO AND SO WAS OFF THE HOOK!" But now, I can't say to order the show or you missed something. If you want a night of little bullshit and really solid and fun wrestling, order the show and have a blast. But there were no MOTY candidates or storylines that will survive the years coming from the show. I will go 6.9 out of 10. While there was nothing blow away, the card was really solid and I don't think anyone would feel ripped off of a night of solid in ring action.
Reader Feedback on TNA in General:
From Doug -
While I agree it sucks that they lost in their first match back together my question would be who the hell else could they have put the Naturals up against? I mean yeah they could have thrown together a tag team for them to face but the only tag teams they throw together are X-Division guys, and with the Naturals making a push up the ranks of the tag division they need to have matches against quality opponents to prove themselves. Hence have them go up against former champs, who we must remember no one really remembers unless they have been watching TNA before they went national.
And it's ok that Kaz and Matt lost. They had all the great offense in the match and pretty much dominated. Plus the crowd was hot for both teams giving Kaz and Matt the welcome back chant. Give those guys two or three months and they will be up there fighting for the titles. Or at least in a good feud to get there.
We have to remember TNA's only real jobber tag team is the Diamonds, which I like. To me any tag team in TNA could beat any other tag team on any given night making each tag match exciting to where you never truly know who will win most of the time. I think sometimes people forget, thanks to the "E", what having multiple tag teams that could truly be champs is like.
You said, "To me any tag team in TNA could beat any other tag team on any given night making each tag match exciting to where you never truly know who will win most of the time." While that is a good thing to a point, the fact I that TNA likes to "parity" book, or book "even Steven" too much. One team will get a win, the next month the team they beat will beat them and get their win back, and then the feud is over. No one got ahead, and if no one gets over, no one IS over and then no one will draw money. Trust me, I LOVE TNA's tag division, I hype it every chance I get, but this meant 2-weeks in a row that you debuted (re-debuted) a team and they lost right off the bat. I think it is poor booking, use enhancement guys if you have to; but you have to be careful with things like this. When someone loses their first time out, what reason do people have to care?
From Rusty FN Nailz -
Team America-fuck yea! No doubt Impact was a great show. Definitely one of the best in a long time, and easily tops ANYTHING the 'E has done this year, with the exception of maybe the Edge vs. Flair episode of RAW. I don't watch WWECW, but I read the recaps, which are enough to let me know that I don't WANT to watch it. I watch SMD maybe once a month, but once again I read the reports (usually spoilers). And what can I say about RAW? The shit sucks is about all. My lil cousins watch it and love it, which makes me like it even less. It's cool that they like it, but the whole diva search shit is garbage, and they really do have unnecessary adult themes aimed at young kids. Plus, shit like dX and the Spirit Squad make me embarrassed to even watch. But with TNA, yea they fuck up sometimes, like how anybody not named Jarrett only gets to hold the World title for 3 months or less, or the constant pushing and de-pushing of Monty and Truth. With Killings, it's even worse, cuz as u said he was in the MAIN EVENT last month, then the pre-show I think this month, and hasn't been seen after getting punked by LAX. Hopefully this leads to AJ/Daniels/Truth vs. LAX, cuz even though I don't really want to see Konnan wrestle, the way they jumped Killings made him look like a lil bitch. But the tag division is really starting to catch fire-with the fresh team of AJ and Chris, LAX, the "new" Naturals, Kazarian and Matt, and the jobber team of the Diamonds. Plus, Team 3D, who thankfully are "taking some time off", and who should be a lil more fresh when they come back. Also, u got the teased break-up of AMW, and the new team of Shelley and Devine. Not to mention, any combo of Sabin, Lethal, and Dutt. And what happened to Sabin being the next X-division break out star? He definitely got lost in the shuffle, but I think he'll be fine in a semi-jobber duo with Dutt. There's just too much talent out there and guys with a lot more charisma for him to be a star right now. I also like that they're letting Roode and Young get some individual shine. Petey and A-1 could be a decent big guy/lil guy team, if they don't send A-1 back for more development, which he could use. I don't know why they just seemed to give up on the Joe-Steiner story, but Cage obviously HAS to turn on Sting now, just like everyone else. But as I said with Sabin, it's the same guys-like Monty and Abyss and Killings who ALWAYS seem to be on the verge of breaking thru, yet get held back for some reason. And what about the James Gang. The fans are already turning on them, even though I guess they're supposed to be tweeners. I stopped giving a fuck about either of these two guys when I stopped caring about X-pac. And that was before the Invasion! I say give them a brief feud with the Naturals, and give the young guys the rub, and then send them on their way. They supposedly not happy with their push anyway, so fuck 'em. Jeff Hardy's gay ass too. I could definitely see a Hardy/Kip James tag team vs. the Christopher street connection in the Indies, for the gayest team ever! Anyway man, I know my shit always is long when I write to u, but I'm really lovin TNA right now (get it?). Finally my man Homicide's getting a push, not to mention what he's doing in RoH right now. Plus, Senshi has not even scratched the surface of what he can do as X-division champ. I say, fuck it, bring back Lynn as a mystery opponent for the next PPV, and give the newer fans a history lesson. But I'm a stop right there as your prolly tired of reading this, if u did read the whole thing. But I do want to say that I agree that Team 2-D (get it?) and the Lames Gang need to shut the fuck up about ECW. The Rhyno thing I didn't really mind cuz he had a purpose and the crowd was hot for it. but as u heard Meehan and the other fans chanting "DX rejects", we all know the Lames gang is just trying to re-live past glory. At least the Dudz (hopefully) have something more to offer. O yea, and Joe kills bitches fa sho-but can he kill a Rhino?
From Keith -
I'm glad sting won the contenders match. It seemed the most logical seeing as how Jeff has the title. I don't believe they'll take the title off him so soon, which will lead to the Cage turn at the next PPV.
You were right on the positives and the negatives of Rhino but I think the positives outweigh the negatives.
From Adam -
First off, I personally think the last 5 minutes of Impact this week were better than the whole ECW show.
Now for some varied comments:
I really liked the JJ/Lethal match. JJ actually reminded me of Trips in a good way, rather than the usual belt-hogging way. Even though there wasn't too much doubt about the outcome, there were moments I thought Jay could pull it off.
As far as the Bentley/HBK comparisons comment in J. Payne's e-mail, he leaves those to the fans. At the first Impact taping I went to (March 18th show), we were heckling him with HBK chants after he lost, and you can actually hear them when the announcers are talking to Simon Diamond.
Thanks for joining me for this special edition of the 3R's, and don't forget to check out the regular edition complete with all of the other shows from the week!
