Wrestling’s 4R’s PPV Edition 1.08.08: TNA Final Resolution 2008

Posted by Larry Csonka on 01.08.2008

TNA kicks off the PPV year by showcasing the very best and worst of the company.

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 FINAL RESOLUTION 2008~!:

The Matches:

LAX defeated the Rock ‘N Rave Infection @ 6:51 via pin **½

Kaz defeated Black Reign @ 7:30 via pin **

Women's Title NO DQ Match: Gail Kim defeated Awesome Kong @ 12:50 via pin ***¾

Judas Mesias defeated Abyss @ 11:09 via pin **

Booker and Sharmell T defeated Robert Roode and Ms. Brooks @ 11:05 via pin **

Ultimate X Match: Team 3D and Johnny Devine defeated The Motor City Machine Guns and Black Machismo @ 12:15 ** TRASH of the Night!

TNA Tag Team Title Match: Tomko and AJ defeated Samoa Joe and Kevin Nash @ 11:56 via pin ***

TNA World Title Match: Kurt Angle defeated Christian Cage @ 18:45 via pin **** MATCH of the Night!

The Right:

LAX vs. the Rock ‘N Rave Infection: I thought this match was a good way to kick off the card, for a few reasons. First of all they put out people that have a feud going, the fans know and have the ability to excite the crowd. LAX is massively over still, so it was an easy call. Secondly, the opener shouldn't steal the show. It should get people hot, get them into the show while being a good match. That was accomplished here. These teams had a beef heading into the show. The Rock ‘N Rave Infection beat LAX on TV, and also eliminated them from the gauntlet this past week. Also, they have been running the angle of THE MYSTERY LATINO attacking Hemme. It all came together tonight as LAX gets revenge with the win and they payoff the angle, revealing Shelley Martinez as THE MYSTERY LATINO. The crowd popped for the win, popped for the reveal and it all worked. This was a fine way to open the show I felt. I figure we'll see a rematch next month with the ladies involved to make it a 6-person match.

Booker and Sharmell T vs. Robert Roode and Ms. Brooks: I will be the first to admit that this was far from a great wrestling match. The wrestling was perfectly acceptable, but what really shined here was the storytelling they did in the match. First of all they continued to play up the Brooks/Roode eventual split, which I think they will finally move with that judging from the match. Brooks refused to help Roode for a while, but eventually did help because she feared for her job. But finally she would refuse and ended up tagging in, and in the end miscommunication allowed Sharmell to get the roll up. The wrestling was fine, but after the match is where it got good. Roode went into a verbal attack of Brooks. Officials would try to break it up and Roode would dispose of them. Sharmell was offended and would rush in, and then Roode laid her out, thinking that she was an official. This of course enraged Booker who chased off Roode to check on Sharmell. Tenay was great putting over that this is NOT what TNA was all about, and Don West was actually silent. The crowd for the first time HATED Roode, they HATED him to an insane degree and were concerned for Sharmell, who sold this like a CHAMP! The crowd cheered for Sharmell when she finally got up and TNA actually FOLOWED UP and provided updates later in the show, speculating that she suffered an injury to the jaw. Roode and Booker should rematch next month and hopefully the MYSTERY WOMAN will come into play.

Women's Title NO DQ Match: Last month I had this to say about the ladies match: The ref tried to stop her, and she would shove him down, drawing the DQ. But then it got better, because Kong killed the ref with a powerbomb. She killed the porn stars, and then she destroyed Gail. Awesome Kong is INDEED Awesome and is the #1 heel in the company. Well, this was once again AWESOME and even better than last month. King attacked right away and they brawled on the floor and into the crowd. I saved my "TNA Main Event Style" joke, because this made sense for this match and the feud. They just played variations on the monster vs. resilient face formula, and I loved it. They would make it back to the ring, Kong was dominant and got a flapjack variation on Kim, but only for two. King once again snapped and KONG BOMBED Slick Johnson's shorts. She would then get a chair and nail him with it. Kim would get the chair, lay into Kong three times to finally get her down and land the big top rope splash, another ref would run out, but she could only cover for 2. After a chokeslam, Kong only got a 2-count again and went to KONG BOMB the official, but Kim would roll her up for the win. THIS WAS EXCELLENT. Best women's PPV match in years, easily. Some people have complained that this was bad booking, but I disagree. First of all, the match was great and the finish made sense due to the way Kong has continually acted since coming to TNA. Her insane anger cost her the bout, and it all made sense. I hope for another match next month, last woman standing would rule. They need to feud forever. FOR-EV-ER! FOR-EV-ER! FOR-EV-ER! FOR-EV-ER! FOR-EV-ER! FOR-EV-ER!

TNA World Title Match: I will state right here that while the run in took away from things, I am not punishing the match for it. When advertising the PPV they hyped the question, "WHO WOULD AJ CHOSE?" They may as well have said that AJ Styles was going to do a run in, and he did. It was predictable, and if you got upset by it then in a way you're a fool, they told you it would happen. Now with that out of the way, these guys picked up where they left off in 2007 by kicking off 2008 with a great match. Kong vs. Kim was great, but they needed the main event to deliver so that the PPV would go from very average to a pretty good overall show, and it did. They just worked a great match, including a hot ending with the reversals, which can be cliché, but they worked it well and it came off very well. When they are given the chance, they usually deliver and this was no different. I figure they will do Angle and AJ vs. Cage and Tomko with the tag and world title on the line. WHY, WHO, WHAT, WHERE, HOW? THIS IS TNA! Great match though.

Purgatory:

TNA Tag Team Title Match: You had to know that something was going down going into the match, but when Joe cut his promo, which was a good promo, and said, "Kevin and I have trained together, and I have learned some things about him, and from him. Mind games for example, thanks for that by the way. Maybe, maybe the old guard and the new guard can make history." I have to say that this was a damn fine little match here, despite Kevin Nash. He worked an early portion of the match, selling the knee but even before the knee attack it was horrendous watching him try to get to his feet. But after he tagged out Joe, Tomko and AJ all worked great together. The champs would get the heat of Joe and it was wonderful. I was digging this match, Joe hit a powerbomb on AJ and then I saw Nash cheering Joe on…and I knew the shit was coming. Nash would walk away, Joe would get pissed and run wild before falling to the tornado plex. Some great wrestling, hurt by the booking and angle laid out. The reason this doesn't get into the right is two-fold. First of all they went with the alternate Russo plan, which is if you don't do wacky tag team partners, then you do the walk out angle. They did that here and you could see it coming and it just deflated the crowd. The second part is that they are in trouble with Joe. Instead of being a rebellious baby face with crowd support they have turned on him and treat him like a crybaby. As mentioned, the match was good. Joe runs wild and comes close to winning the titles, and Tomko makes a DIVING save and the crowd POPS for it! They did not want Joe to win at all, in fact they chanted "THANK YOU TOMKO!" I would venture to guess that this would be the opposite reaction that they had hoped for. Although maybe they were thanking him from wacky tag champs that don't get along. We should get Joe vs. Nash next month, smell the buys.

Kaz vs. Black Reign: So in the effort of being truthful I was not looking forward to the match. I understand taking a step back with Kaz, and figured the plan was to get him a PPV win over a veteran, which is fine. But the Black Reign Era of TNA has not been good, at all. They had a solid match, Kaz sold well, made the big comeback and most importantly got the clean victory, which can be an endangered species in TNA at times. In the end I have to say that it was better than I thought it would be and better on a second viewing. Kaz busted his ass and Rhodes seemed motivated, more so than he has been anyway. Unfortunately, due to the post match actions it looks as if they will rematch next month. I hope that this doesn't hurt Kaz like it did Chris Harris. Harris was rolling until the Dustin feud, and then he was derailed and has not been able to comeback from it as of yet.

The wRong:

Judas Mesias vs. Abyss: The first thing that was right about this match was that THERE WERE NO THUMBTACKS! Hooray TNA! They actually tried, for the most part, to work a GRAPPLING BOUT! Mesias targeted the knee of Abyss and worked it, and I was shocked I say! Abyss did try to get his black bag of fun, but Mitchell would steal it. Unfortunately they would break down. That's right there are NO rules in TNA, despite this not having any gimmick and them having a NO DQ match on the PPV. They used a chair and a barbed wire wrapped chair, they just couldn't resist themselves. Mesias wins and after the match he turns into Kane as he and Mitchell try to bun Abyss alive for not revealing the secret. I hate you Vince Russo. I hate you Dutch Mantell. Security would rush the ring and STEAL the matches, so no CHRIS ABYSS BBQ. They should be heading towards the barbed wire massacre match, since it has been advertised on cable systems already.

The Ridiculous:

Ultimate X Match: All right. Let me say that they did some good storytelling during the match. First of all Sabin and Shelley sold the "injured hands" bit perfectly. We also had it emphasized that Ray and Devon were basically too big to climb the cables, and that it would be down to Devine and Machismo. Devine and Machismo worked their asses off to an insane degree, so much that Johnny Devine almost died three times. Twice landing on his head, and the third taking a table bump to the floor, which saw him bounce off of the tables, the poor bastard. Also 3D "breaking the unwritten code" of using a ladder, which is a rule but makes for a good story, was good stuff. Unfortunately that's all the praise I can put on the match. In the end I feel that they took the Ultimate X Match, the signature match of the X-Division and made it a complete joke with all of the comedy. So not only did they rush back to the stipulation, which I was hoping they would hold off on until Destination X, they did the comedy, which hurt it and it was about the weakest/worst Ultimate X match ever. This angle continues to hurt the X-Division, a division that was already in trouble before it started and is even worse off than it was. Black Machismo may be in fact the worst champion ever. This is a man that beat KURT FUCKING ANGLE for the title and they blew that right away. Now he is only champion in name because he is way too much of a pussy to get his belt back. To say I was disappointed and frustrating would be drastically underestimating my feelings. I have no clue where they will go next month. Maybe Scott Steiner will save the X-Division, although with Drug Testing on the horizon maybe not… The TNA booking team is like a monkey fucking a football at times.

The Ri-GOD-DAMN-diculous:

THE DCS: I like comedy. I like Eric Young, James Storm and Jackie Moore. That all being said, there are some things that do not belong on PPV. And much like Pizza eating contests, this one of those things. At No Mercy I was pissed that they ran a pizza-eating contest, and I don't like TNA doing something similar at GENESIS or here. Yes it was funny, I liked it, I laughed, but it SHOULD NOT have been on PPV. People do not pay $30 to see a drinking contest, just like they don't spend $40 on a pizza-eating contest. Maybe, maybe we could have had people that cut good promos, cut good promos. Maybe we didn't have to keep cutting to the back like always. Maybe we could have concentrated on the in ring a bit more. This was really stupid to have on PPV. Yes it is leading to a PPV match, but I am sorry, drinking contests don't constitute smart PPV build to me. A two-time offender always gets a stiffer sentence.

Closing Thoughts:
Well, again as with a lot of TNA PPV's this was the best and worst of TNA. The ladies and world title matches delivered BIG TIME in the ring, but the predictable stuff we all knew was coming came, and took down the show a bit. Overall I will go with a 6.75 out of 10 for the show. It was far from horrible, and on many levels was a ton of fun. We'll call this a "Luke Warm" start to the year for TNA, with hope that they can pick it up.

2008 PPV Rankings:

-TNA FINAL RESOLUTION {6.75}

2008 TOP PPV Match Rankings:

- (TNA FINAL RESOLUTION) TNA WORLD TITLE MATCH: Kurt Angle © vs. Christian Cage ****
- (TNA FINAL RESOLUTION) TNA NO-DQ WOMEN'S TITLE MATCH: Gail Kim ©vs. Awesome Kong ***¾

2008 PPV MVP AWARDS:

This is a little added deal I started last year, 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.

- TNA FINAL RESOLUTION: Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong (Making us Care about Women's Wrestling on the National Stage)