Wrestling’s 4R’s PPV Edition 10.16.07: TNA Bound for Glory 2007
Posted by Larry Csonka on 10.16.2007
TNA offers up their best PPV of the year! But how does it stack up against the year’s best shows thus far?
TNA BOUND FOR GLORY PODCAST~!
We are back for another podcast adventure! This time it was the TNA Bound for Glory show, their biggest show of the year. We'll discuss the new tag team champions, the first ever Women's Champion, the new TNA World Champion and some damn fine matches, including Joe vs. Cage. We'll also touch on the usually stupidity with run ins and why TNA gives Kevin Nash so many chances. Also the fact that we saw more of Kong than anyone ever anticipated! From their we'll move onto DEAR CHIRSTI as well as stories of myself scoring the phone numbers of bridesmaids at a wedding this weekend! An hour of fun just for you!
If that doesn't work, copy and paste the following link into your browser and you'll be fine: http://www.sendspace.com/file/cfg3eo
How the 4R's of wRestling Work!
Here is a quick explanation of the 4R's. I will take the 4 main shows (5 if I go RetRo) of the week: TNA Impact, WWE Raw, ECW on Sci-Fi and WWE Smackdown. If we have a PPV, that show will get a special PPV edition of the R's all to its own. I then group my feelings on the shows in various categories: The Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right is stuff that worked very well: a great promo, a great match and so on. PuRgatoRy is a section between the right and wrong. It shows equal traits from both sides that cannot be ignored and need discussed. It is not a bad place per say, as things can get remedied or go the wrong way the very next week. The wRong is what it sounds like: bad matches, bad or boring promos and so on. The Ridiculous is stuff that had no right on TV: Stupid angles, Diva searches and so on. And there is always a possibility of a 5th R, which is as bad as they come, unless you are TNA. They have a special R all of their own, the 6th R; the Russo-FN-Riffic~! This column is supposed to be analytical, and at the right time very critical of the shows, it was the whole reason it was created. This is not a "mark" column, nor a "smark" column, my goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad. There are also occasions where I will bring out a 5th or even a 6th R to the column, so beware of those~! I will not apologize for my opinions, they are as they are, whether very positive or negative.
TNA BOUND FOR GLORY 2007~!:
The Matches:
ULTIMATE X: LAX defeated XXX @ 12:00 ***½
FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT: Eric Young defeated Robert Roode @ 11:55 via pin **
TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: AJ and Tomko defeated Team Pacman to become the NEW CHAMPIONS @ 9:00 via pin **½
TNA X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Black Machismo Jay Lethal defeated Christopher Daniels @ 11:05 via pin ***
TABLES MATCH: The Steiner Brothers defeated Team 3D @ 12:45 via table *½ TRASH OF THE NIGHT~!
KNOCKOUTS GAUNTLET: Gail Kim defeated Roxxi to become the FIRST WOMEN'S CHAMPION @ 12:25 via pin *½
Samoa Joe defeated Christian Cage @ 15:45 via submission ****MATCH OF THE NIGHT~!
MONSTER'S BALL: Abyss defeated Raven, Black Reign and Rhino @ 9:30 via pin **
TNA WORLD TITLE MATCH: STING defeated Kurt Angle to become the NEW TNA WORLD CHAMPION @ 18:35 via pin ***½
The Right:
ULTIMATE X - The show opened in huge fashion with TNA's innovative Ultimate X match. While the build was suspect, they took two historically over teams, that were former tag team champions and put them against each other to crown #1 contenders for the tag team titles. At times I question TNA's use of gimmick matches, but when it comes to the biggest show of the year you need to pull out all of the stops in order to try and deliver the goods. And deliver they did. While Ultimate X is traditionally an "X-Division" match, Hernandez has done and continues to do well in the match. He put in another stellar performance, and while I am not calling for a singles run for him anytime soon, the man should be appreciated for his efforts. They went balls to the wall for 12-minutes and this was one hell of an opener. The ATL crowd responded perfectly, and for a new audience were into it as if they were the Impact Zone crowd, making it all the better. Everyone delivered big time, and while not the best Ultimate X match ever it got the crowd on their feet and excited for the entire show. I have no complaints here and seeing LAX back into the tag title mix makes me a happy lad.
THE TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH - While some will cry bait and switch, I for one am glad that TNA got a substitute for Pacman. On the biggest show of the year you don't need a guy in there that cannot wrestle in the match, especially a match for the titles. Team Pacman debuted new member "Consequences" Creed who is a fantastic man. He came out dressed like Apollo Creed in Rocky IV and played the part well. If that wasn't enough, the man delivered. He is an unknown as no one seems to have a clue who he is, but he stepped onto PPV, on TNA's biggest sow of the year and was not phased one bit. He hung with AJ Styles like he had worked with him before and added to the match. I would have no problem with them keeping him around after this to tag with Killings and for an eventual X-Division run. The match was good and the crowd was into it big time. I hated them doing the "making it rain" spot again, because really, do you want to glorify an action that led to a man being shot and paralyzed for life? The good news is that the titles are on people that should have them and now we can hopefully move on from the Pacman abortion. AJ and Tomko are fun as hell together and them facing off with LAX will be fun as hell.
EDIT: I have been informed that "Consequences" Creed is none other than Austin Creed. He works for NWA Anarchy in Georgia.
THE X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH - Going into the match I feel that Jay Lethal was booked poorly. He got the huge win over Angle, was made to look a goof later that same night and then lost clean to Daniels the very next night at the tapings. So they had a lot to overcome here. Again the crowd was very into the match and both guys worked very, very hard. They didn't do the plain formula and both guys ended up looking great by the work that they did. In the end Jay finally got the win he needed. He didn't get a fluky win, he looked great and the Lethal Combo off the 2nd rope was great and led more importantly to a clean win for Jay. He looked great, it was a very good match and I have no complaints here. This went a long way to repair a lot of the damage that has been done to Jay and the big face win on the big show is always gratifying to the fans that pay to see that. While this is not a classic match, or one you'll vividly remember a week from now, it was just what the doctor ordered for young Jay, and losing doesn't hurt Daniels at all. This was good stuff.
JOE vs. CAGE - Joe vs. Cage have had very good matches in the past, so that part I wasn't worried about. What I think about everyone was worried about was the crap ending and or SWERVE by Morgan. And with TNA's booking past you cannot blame people for being worried about that. Also you have the fact that every time Joe is on the cusp of the next big step, they find a way to stop that. But with all of that said I am happy to say TNA went in the right direction here. First of all they had a great match. Cage and Joe have tremendous chemistry together and Cage ups him game in there with Joe, he goes to another level that a lot of people don't think he can get to, but he does. They worked hard, the match was smooth and told a good story and Joe came away with the big win, a CLEAN win. The best part was that Morgan had no actual part in the match. Tomko and AJ got involved and Morgan chased them away and kept them from getting involved. He did his job and they didn't pull a swerve for the sake of swerving us, especially since we all would have seen that coming. Sometimes the real swerve is not swerving at all. In the end Joe made the comeback, got the muscle buster and the choke and cog the clean win over Cage; thus ending his streak of not getting pinned or submitted. I feel they should have made a bigger deal about it, but that's TNA for you with their 9-matches and Nash/Angle Family Drama. This was another damn fine match between these two guys, as they always deliver. Good show gentlemen.
THE WORLD TITLE MATCH - While the build to Sting vs. Angle wasn't the way a lot of us would have done it, the basis of the match: Icon Sting vs. Olympian Angle in the city they both became stars was a good hook. Some people thought Sting was a mistake for TNA, but for two years he has worked hard and as I have mentioned on several occasions he has morphed into a Terry Funk in ECW type role with TNA. When it came to the match, the first 15-minutes were absolutely tremendous. Sting for a man near 49 was working probably harder than at anytime in his TNA run and Angle was in Angle mode, and it worked. Clean wrestling, constantly building the drama and it all made sense. Of course TNA could not help themselves as they had Karen run out to be taken out, two ref bumps and Kevin FN Nash get involved, who looked like and moved about as well as Kenny Rogers. During this all Angle tried a 450 SPLASH, yes you read that right. He looked unsure up top and then hit the move, KINDA. He rotated well, but it was more of a 450 KNEE DROP than a 450 SPLASH. Dude, I appreciate you trying to do different things and all, but you about Brock Lesnar'd yourself. Stick with what works and don't hurt the guys your in the ring with. I mean, you were all off balance and looked like an Indy goof. See for yourself:
Finally Angle got the bat and went to nail Sting and he did because he swung before Sting was ready to catch it. This busted Sting open, but I will say played into the Superman ending well as a bloodied Sting nailed Angle and Nash, got the death drop and the pin to a big pop. A lot of the time I trash endings like this, especially in TNA. There are times when this stuff can work and this time I think it did. Don't get me wrong, they DID NOT NEED TO DO IT. But what was different here is that the face actually overcame the odds and took the win. That is why this works here, in the past TNA would do all of this shit and the heel would still retain and we were to think that it was ok because the face got screwed. But then the face would never get revenge, just ask Monty Brown. But Sting overcame the odds and on the biggest show of the year the fans went home happy with the big baby face win. And really, that's the way it should be. But this kind of thing works ONCE. When you go back to using it every month, prepared to be trashes.
Purgatory:
KNOCKOUTS GAUNTLET - We had the first ever TNA women's champion crowned at Bound for Glory, and while I am all for crowning the champion here, I wish that we wouldn't have had the gauntlet to do it. But what can you do? The Gauntlet was actually booked pretty well, but seemed very rushed. They did the right things and made the right people look good. Kong was a force and showed why she gets so much hype. Having her eliminated by 5 women was the way to get rid of her and we saw way too much of her that's for sure after that. We got down to Roxxi and Kim, which was expected after Kong was gone and they worked hard and had a fun, but short encounter. Gail wins with the Kryptonite Krunch and we got the huge baby face win for the first champion, which I approve of. I have to say that besides Kong and Gail, ODB actually stood out rather well in the match. She looked strong and if they decide to keep her I feel she could be a string addition to the roster of ladies. The main problem they had was that it was the second gauntlet like match on the show. They never should have had the FFTR deal on this show, because building a TV Tournament on PPV is beyond ridiculous. Too much repetitive booking can really hurt a show. They need to stop doing things like that, because people notice. Christi noticed, especially when they did the Andre spot with Fatu and Kong, and we saw much more of her than we needed too. They need to stop the repetition, because if they didn't do the FFTR deal, this one may have come off more important. Also, I hate when they get to the final 2 and refuse to do more than 2-minuites or so of a match. Add to this that production misses 3-4 eliminations and that is why it is here. Finally, while Gail got SOME time to celebrate with the new title, I feel they could have made it a bigger deal and SHOULD have due to her being the first ever TNA Women's Champion. Over all not bad, just some logistical issues that bugged me. If you haven't noticed, Christi disagrees with me.
MONSTERS BALL - The Monster's Ball has become a TNA tradition at Bound for Glory, and I am all about them establishing traditions at their shows. This time around we had Rhino, Abyss, Raven and Black Reign in this match. Well, these are the perfect men to use in this kind of plunder filled match. Abyss is willing to sacrifice his body for the company, which is sad when you think about it and the push he hasn't gotten. Rhino is in flux right now, so this works, Reign sucks and needs gimmicks to cover that up and Raven a true wildcard these days. They had a fine outing, not up to the standard of past Monster's Ball matches, but not bad either. Raven earned my respect and apologies in this match and if you listen to the podcast you will hear my apology to Raven. He looked good and was the MVP of this particular match, including the bump into the tacks and glass SANS SHIRT. Good show dude, I am very glad to be wrong this time. It was what it was thought. It was a hardcore plunder match. It was also hurt because they basically gave the match away on Impact, so why did I need to pay to see virtually the same match with a dive spot added? TNA is their own worst enemy, because the guys do what they are asked and work hard but are usually hurt by the poor booking of the shows. But they worked hard, the crowd seemed to like it and stayed involved and that is always good. But with it basically given away Thursday it seemed like nothing more than filler, and the biggest show of the year shouldn't need filler.
The wRong:
TABLES MATCH - It's funny, some people have stated that they feel I have been too hard on this match. And while I gave this the trash of the night, in no way was this horrible, but when compared to other things I just wasn't feeling the match. I must say again that I am amazed at what Rick and Scott are able to do at their ages. They are producing and the feud as a whole has been great with passable matches and great mic work and angle beat downs. The match was a TNA formula as they began brawling in the crowds for what seemed like a long time. They did some fun stuff like Scott taking beers from fans and spitting it on Ray and such. They worked hard and took the bumps, but it just wasn't that good. The ATL crowd was hot for it though and were very forgiving of everything since Rick and Scott are Gods to them. The MCMG's coming out seemed out of place, although t since 3D beat them down before it did make sense. Add that they are from Michigan and would IDOLIZE Rick and Scott and you could see why they would offer to help. The table bumps were good, they did work hard but in comparison to the tag title match and later Monster's Ball where there was more plunder, this match falls in the middle of those previously mentioned ones. Again nothing horrible, but in comparison the worst of the night.
The Ridiculous:
NASH - And now this is where I bitch about Kevin Nash and how stupid TNA is. For months we have seen him play the therapist role for Kurt Angle. Sitting around and collecting $5000 a taping being a total goof. We get endless segments with he and Angle, which sure can be funny but in no way are making people watch the shows or order the PPV's. He gets so much more air time as opposed to people that need it and that is a sad, sad thing when you think about it. Now add onto it all that they have been foreshadowing the return to the ring for Nash and it is beyond stupid. This is a man in his 40's that has had over a dozen operations PER KNEE and is barely mobile. This is a man that REPEATEDLY bowed out of matches, big matches when he was to do the J-O-B; whether it was a mystery heart attack or a big box of toys took him by surprise. He continually fucks this company in the ass and they are stupid enough to continually use him and will again put him in the main event scene. The only thing an in ring return of Kevin Nash will accomplish is…
FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT - We had the return of the fight for the right battle royal deal at Bound for Glory. First of all a match like this has no business on the biggest show of the year, it is just there to get people on the show and that is bullshit. So they have the match and the beginning of this match is beyond idiotic as they fight to get into the ring, and half of them stand around looking like a goof. But out of the 16, 8 will make it into the ring to be the finalists of this clusterfuck of a tournament. So they look like goofs, and ten they fight to get in and it comes down to Harris and Storm to be the 8th man, and Harris doesn't get in and stands there looking like a complete jobber, like Sharkboy's retarded cowboy friend. Great booking of a guy that had one of TNA's best matches of the year. So we now get to the eight guys, and the deal here is that as you get eliminated you get seeded for four tournament matches. In the end Eric Young wins this match, and what does he win? #1 seed! For what? A TV TOURNAMENT! Word of advice, you do NOT use PPV to SELL TV! Jesus and people wonder why you don't make money! My question is, when you get to the final eight, why wouldn't you just bail out? You already are in the tournament, no need to bust your ass. Eric Young's win was a fun baby face win, he will lose to Storm because he beat him in the mini-gauntlet on Impact and won this, so that will happen. I will also say that this was not NEARLY as bad as the first incarnation of this match. But come on, using the BIGGEST SHOW OF THE YEAR to hype a TV tournament? That will only accomplish one thing…
Closing Thoughts:
TNA's TV product has been beyond frustrating this past year. The PPV has toned down a lot from mush see shows to pretty good shows with the guys busting their asses and poor booking holding them back. This show was a pleasant turn around over all I thought. The opener was hot, while the booking getting there is suspect the guys delivered. The FFTR deal is what it was, bad, the tag titles needed to change hands and did in a good match and Creed had one hell of a first showing. Jay Lethal, who had been subject to horrible booking got to look like a champion tonight in a good match with Daniels, while the tables match was what it was, with the "hot-lanta" crowd being very forgiving. Gail Kim becomes the first TNA Women's Champion in a good baby face moment for the show, ala Lethal winning as well and people like that stuff. Samoa Joe finally got the big win over Cage in what was an excellent match, those men have clicked and they deliver. There was no "enforcer turn on the face" deal, he just did his job for once and that was good. The Monster's Ball is what it is, not that this is a bad thing because there is an audience for it. Sting and Angle delivered a great main event match and if you can get past all of the bullshit at the end, Sting stood tall and they ended the big show with the happy face moment.
Overall I will go with a 7.75 out of 10 and a very strong recommendation to order the show. While there were some moments that TNA just could not resist, the overall is very good and it makes this show TNA's best of the year. It was almost as if they wanted to apologize for Hard Justice and the shitty TV shows. If they would have dropped the reverse battle royal shit, the Nash stuff and extended a few matches and celebration times this would have been an 8.0 or above easily.
2007 PPV Rankings:
-ROH Driven 9.25
-WWE Backlash 8.5
-ROH Respect is Earned 8.25
-WWE WM XXIII 8.0
-WWE Royal Rumble 8.0
-TNA Bound for Glory 7.75
-TNA Slammiversary 7.5
-TNA Victory Road 7.4
-TNA No Surrender 7.3
-TNA Sacrifice 7.25
-TNA Final Resolution 7.0
-TNA Lockdown 7.0
-WWE One Night Stand III 6.5
-WWE New Year's Revolution (RAW) 6.0
-WWE Great American Bash 6.0
-TNA Against All Odds 6.0
-TNA Destination X 5.5
-WWE Judgment Day 5.5
-WWE Vengeance 5.0
-WWE No Mercy 4.5
-WWE No Way Out (SD) 4.0
-WWE Unforgiven 4.0
-WWE Summerslam 4.0
-TNA Hard Justice 4.0
2007 TOP PPV Match Rankings:
-(ROH Driven) #1 CONTENDER'S MATCH: Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness ****¾
- (WWE Royal Rumble) LAST MAN STANDING WWE TITLE MATCH: Cena vs. Umaga ****¼
- (WWE Backlash) LAST MAN STANDING WORLD TITLE MATCH: Batista vs. The Undertaker ****¼
- (WWE Backlash) WWE TITLE MATCH: John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Randy Orton vs. Edge ****¼
- (TNA Sacrifice) TEXAS DEATH MATCH: Chris Harris vs. James Storm ****¼
-(ROH Respect is Earned) ROH TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Mark and Jay Briscoe vs. Matt Sydal and Claudio Castagnoli ****¼
-(ROH Driven) ROH TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico ****
- (WWE No Mercy) LAST MAN STANDING WWE TITLE MATCH: HHH vs. Randy Orton ****
- (WWE Royal Rumble) The Royal Rumble Match ****
- (WWE WM XXIII) WWE TITLE MATCH: John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels ****
- (WWE ONS III) LADDER MATCH: The Hardy's vs. TWGTT ****
- (TNA Slammiversary) KING OF THE MOUNTAIN MATCH: Angle vs. Harris vs. Cage vs. Joe vs. AJ ****
- (TNA Destination X) NWA TITLE MATCH: Christian Cage vs. Samoa Joe ****
- (TNA Bound for Glory) Christian Cage vs. Samoa Joe ****
- (TNA Lockdown) LETHAL LOCKDOWN MATCH (Team Cage vs. Team Angle) ****
- (WWE WM XXIII) MONEY IN THE BANK III ***¾
- (WWE Summerslam) WWE TITLE MATCH: John Cena vs. Randy Orton ***¾
- (TNA Final Resolution) 30-MINUTE IRON MAN MATCH: Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe ***¾
- (TNA Victory Road) MATCH OF CHAMPIONS: Joe and Angle vs. Team 3D ***¾
- (TNA Victory Road) Ultimate X ***¾
-(ROH Respect is Earned) Bryan Danielson and Takeshi Morishima vs. KENTA and Nigel McGuinness ***¾
-(ROH Driven) Roderick Strong, Davey Richards & Rocky Romero vs. Delirious, Erick Stevens & Matt Cross ***¾
2007 PPV MVP AWARDS: This is a little added deal here, as I feel that there are some other things that should be mentioned from the PPV's. Not every PPV will have one, it just depends on who I think steps up and deserves some extra recognition.
-Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker: A Rumble to Remember – WWE Royal Rumble
-JBL: Solo Commentating – WWE No Way Out
-AJ Styles and Rhino: Elevation X – TNA Destination X
-Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker: "They still got it!" – WWE WrestleMania XXIII
-AJ Styles: Almost Dies for his Craft – TNA Lockdown
-The Main Events: "We can step up." – WWE Backlash
-Harris and Storm: Redemption – TNA Sacrifice
-Matt, Jeff, Shelton and Charlie: "Taking a Risk." – WWE ONS III
-Jeff Jarrett: "Thank you Jill" – TNA Slammiversary
-Christopher Daniels: The Ultimate X reunites XXX – TNA Victory Road
-Ring of Honor Makes Major PPV Impact - ROH Respect is Earned
-Kurt Angle: The Angle Triathlon – TNA No Surrender
-Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness – ROH Driven
-HHH: Three Matches on Two Torn Quads – WWE No Mercy
-Sting: I'm 48 and Ripping Shit Up –FTW~! – TNA Bound for Glory
READER FEEDBACK~!
From WCWFJOJO -
This show as a 10. Fuck the rest the haters out there. This show was a blast. It had a big night feel to it and everything was awesome. The worst match (the reverse battle royal) was still quite fun and a pleasant surprise to see Eric Young win. Then fans got what they wanted ALL night and that's a real treat. That's how wrestling companies should run a big show.
Unlike that crapfest that was No Mercy last month. Anyone who didn't love this show is an idiot and far too jaded as a wrestling fan. Was the show perfect? No. But it was a damn fine show and a fun ride and for $30 that's all it needed to be.
From Dan -
As a whole, I rank the PPV at a 5 1/3; thus placing it at average on a scale of 1 - 10.
Trash of the night had to be the tables match. It was never advertised that you have to put both members of the opposing team thru tables. Otherwise it like someone screwed up and drove Steiner thru a table when they weren't suppose to.
Match of the night is a tough one though. Could have been Cage/Joe or Angle/Sting. Both had good build up and both regretfully had run-ins. Over all, I have to go with Angle/Sting because they are building to a eventual Kevin Nash return against Angle.
From Nathan -
-Ultimate X Match
Triple X vs. LAX
(****)
- Fight for Your Right Reverse Battle Royal -
*insert zero buys picture here*
(*) FTS
- World Tag Team Championship Match
Team Pacman (champions) vs. AJ Styles and Tyson Tomko
(**1/4)
- TNA X Division Championship Match
AJ Styles vs. Jay "Black Machismo" Lethal
(***1/2)
- Two out of Three Falls Tables Match
Team 3D vs. The Steiner Brothers
- YOU CANT HAVE PINFALLS IN A TABLES MATCH!!!
(**1/2)
-Women's Championship Gauntlet Match
-So I guess quickly cutting to a lame Kurt Angle segment is more important than the celebration of your companies FIRST Women's Champion
(**)
-THERE MUST BE A WINNER DUN DUN DUNNNNN!!!!
Christian Cage vs. Samoa Joe
(****1/2)
-Monsters Ball Match
Raven vs. Abyss vs. Rhino vs. Black Reign
(***)
-TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match
Kurt Angle vs. Sting
(***3/4)
Match Of The Night - Samoa Joe vs. Christian Cage (****1/2)
Trash of The Night - FIGHT For The Right Who Gives a Flying Fuck This Match Makes No Sense Battle Royal.
Overall Score - 8.5
This was TNA PPV of the year and Probably Wrestling's PPV of the year so far. There was some FANTASTIC wrestling on this show. There wasn't anything wrestling wise that was really bad at all besides for the fight for the right crap. TNA Why haven't you been doing this all along. I give this PPV a 8.5 and a HIGH recommendation to catch a replay if you didn't see it. This is one DVD I will be buying when it comes out.
The Right
Samoa Joe vs. Christian Cage was a fantastic match
Jay Lethal and Christopher Daniels
Great wrestling, well worth the $30
Purgatory
Monsters Ball should have opened the show and Ultimate X should have been at the end.
Typical TNA Finish to the Main Event. NO MORE REF BUMPS
Monsters call was good but a pointless match. Black Reign had no business in there.
The Wrong
We already saw Jr Fatu Eliminated from the Battle Royal with the Andre The Giant approach we don't need to see it again with Amazing Kong. BERRIED (sorry I had to put it in here somewhere, I love the Berries picture)
Who the fuck is Rasheed "Consequences" Creed." Seriously wtf was this shit. This guy got no announcement prior to the PPV, no hype, no nothing, no one cares, ZERO BUYS
The God Damned Ridiculous
When you have new champions crowned TNA it is a good idea NOT to cut to a stupid pre taped segment. This was Gail Kim's time to shine, History had been made and you threw it all away for some pointless segment. The Same thing with AJ and Tomko. They win the belts, everyone cheers and then BAM cut away.
The RUSSO-FN-RIFFIC
No more fucking Fight For Your Right bullshit. This match makes no sense. If I am guaranteed a spot in the tournament for being the 8 who got in the ring, why should I give a flying fuck about competing in said Battle Royal. I don't care about seeds! At least get rid of the month long Impact Tournament shit.
From Trevor -
I thought that the PPV tonight was excellent. Maybe that was because the last ones I bought (Hard Justice and Summerslam) were duds. The matches for the most part were excellent, with the best being LAX vs. XXX, Joe vs. Cage, and Lethal vs. Daniels...all 4/5 stars. While the Sting vs. Angle match was pretty good (3/5), it was somewhat ruined by the overbooking of B-grade actor Karen Angle and the focus on Nash. Actually, the backstage promos focusing on Nash were a letdown as production was always cutting to the back for these while cutting short the in ring celebrations. All for getting someone over who shouldn't be close to a ring at this stage in his life.
I gotta agree with your past comments about TNA production...someone should be fired after tonight. There were a few instances of wild camera shots showing close-ups of the barricades, and the missing of some high spots (e.g. Cage falling off the top to the floor, some action during Ultimate X, and damnit, show Raven's back after taking that huge bump on the glass without a shirt!). The woman's match was not bad but felt rushed with the convoluted gauntlet rule, too similar to the previous Fight for the Right. And what was up with the Fight for the Right now being a qualifier for a TV tourney? Wasn't it a #1 contender match? When did the tables match become 2/3? What happened to a simple battle royal? It's these stupid little things that TNA shoots themselves in the foot with. They try to build tension with all these rules but end up coming across as bush league.
This PPV was very close to being a 9 out of 10, but, in the end, I'd give it a 7.5 out of 10. Special point to the ATL crowd: they gave an energy to the show that proves TNA needs to get out of Orlando for their PPV events. Leave Orlando for Impact tapings only.
Finally from Travis -
Great show. 8 out of 10. Match of the night: Kurt Angle vs. Sting. Trash of the night fight for the right battle royal. Most disturbing moment of the year Kong naked! She has to be the heaviest woman to ever go topless on television. Kurt Angles segments with Kevin Nash were awesome. You never know what is going to come out of Kurt's mouth. I look forward to listening to your podcast.
