411's PPV Round Table Preview: TNA Sacrifice '08
Posted by Chris Lansdell on 05.10.2008
A pay per view headlined by Samoa Joe defending against Kurt Angle and Scott Steiner should be great, right? RIGHT? See what the 411mania staff has to say!
Introduction:
Greetings, humanity! Welcome back to another 411 Round Table Preview. I am your host, Chris Lansdell, host of the all-new Sunday morning news report that will be coming to you tomorrow morning, and this is the Sacrifice edition of the always-popular PPV Round Table. The card promises to be different, if nothing else, featuring the debut of the TERRORDOME!!1!!!eleventy!, the Knockout Makeover match, and The Deuces Wild tournament. Oh, and the triple threat for the title.
Who's going to do what to whom? Let's see what the 411 Illuminati have to say!
And, of course, the Lansdellicious One himself, Chris Lansdell!
TNA'S OFFICIAL VIDEO PREVIEW
TNA Sacrifice 2008
THE CARD:
TNA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH: Champion Samoa Joe vs. "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner vs. Kurt Angle
Jeremy Thomas: This should be a no-brainer. For TNA to shoot Joe in the foot by making him drop the title would beat out most of the retardation they've given us over the years. The match would be amazing if Steiner wasn't in it; instead, it's just gonna be good. I see Joe winning here, and Steiner taking the fall, because I don't think they feel they've gotten everything they can out of Angle/Joe.
Winner: Samoa Joe (Still TNA World Heavyweight Champion; Steiner takes the fall)
Bayani Domingo: My guess is they inserted Steiner to be the "pin taker" and Joe will be able to retain his title while Angle is able to "save face" and lose his rematch at the same time. they can they keep Angle away from Joe for a while and then feud them again down the road with Angle claiming he never "lost" his rematch. Then again this is all too logical for Russo to comprehend so maybe Karen will run in and distract Joe and side with Steiner, then peeling off her mask to reveal she is secretly Midajah.
Winner: Samoa Joe
Michael Weyer: Okay, Joe just got the belt and even TNA can't be dumb enough to get it off him so fast. This should be a nice threeway battle with good power moves and all with Joe pinning Steiner to win it.
WINNER and still TNA World Champion: Samoa Joe with Steiner pinned.
Andy Clark: Conventional booking would indicate that Joe retains here. Guess what? TNA doesn't operate on conventional booking and they're going to want to go with Joe chasing the title again. And a swerve.
Winner and NEW TNA World Hevayweight Champion: Scott Steiner (Kevin Nash turns on Joe and Steiner gets the pinfall)
Jarrod Westerfeld: I actually want this to go back to just being Joe and Steiner. Not because I'm tired of Angle or anything, but rather this would make this the only non-gimmicked/stipulated match! A triple threat match is a gimmicky stipulation that comes with all sets of rules that can be enforced or ignored. So far, we're seeing gimmicks out the ass for this event, and I'd love to end it all with something normal and safe – unfortunately that can't happen here. So we'll make do with what we're given. Joe is retaining one way or another, unless TNA really loves to fuck with us.
Winner: Samoa Joe RETAINS TNA World Championship (Scott Steiner eats a pin and quickly losses his math degree in the process)
Dan Torkel: Samoa Joe DOES NOT lose the belt after one month. Part of me thinks they added Angle to this just so they would't have to kill Steiner's push. With a KOTM match coming in June both challengers should stay sort of strong but no one can stop Joe.
Winner and STILL TNA World Champion: Samoa Joe (Musclebuster on Angle)
Daniel Wilcox: Conventional wisdom has Samoa Joe retaining here, and rest assured if he doesn't, there's going to be a hell of a lot of bitching. However, conventional wisdom rarely comes into TNA's booking strategy. However, I think it is save to say that Kurt Angle won't be getting the title back so quickly, so the only question here is how big a push is Scott Steiner getting? If justice prevails, it won't be a push big enough to end the reign of Samoa Joe. Look for this to be an average match considering Angle's head injury earned in Korea and Steiner's limited ability. Angle will likely take the fall to set up Steiner/Joe at Victory Road.
Winner: And STILL TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Samoa (Joe pins Steiner)
Jeff Small: No sense for Samoa Joe to lose the title here unless TNA really wants to cut him off by the balls. Angle is currently injured (he's missing house shows) while Steiner is nothing more than a roided old man. Hopefully, as WWE triple threats have shown, this match can be good by playing to the strengths of the participants. Joe should pick up the win (pinning Steiner)and I wonder which monster will be thrown his way next.
Winner: Samoa Joe
T.G. Corke: Until last week's Smackdown, I'd have said Joe was a lock to keep hold of the title until at least Bound For Glory and be a dominant champion. I still think that's likely. However, as WWE proved with the Undertaker, the quantity of reigns is more important than their quality *rolls eyes*. Therefore, I wouldn't be surprised to see Steiner win it and Joe regain the belt at Slammiversary. That said, I still expect Joe to retain.
Winner: Samoa Joe
Larry Csonka: And here we go with the main event of the show. Part of me hates that they went to a triple threat match here, as I would have liked to see Angle out of the title picture for a month or so. They could have let him rest, shoot some videos of him training and shit, but they decided to go for the triple threat and while I may not like it, the possibility of a better match is there. Joe and Steiner had a good match before, Joe and Angle work well together, but when Angle and Steiner had a singles bout, it went from awesome to shit in like 2 seconds. I just hope that they don't run the screw job finish to head into the King of the Mountain. I don't trust that Kenny Rogers guy that Joe hangs out with.
Winner: Samoa Joe
John Gregory: Even TNA isn't that stupid. Well....Nah, they wouldn't.
WINNER and still TNA World Champion: Samoa Joe
Chris Lansdell: In any other promotion in the world, this is an easy call. Joe, who has been screwed around, over and up so many times he makes Missy Hyatt look like Mother Teresa, gets the convincing win over two established, big-name veterans to establish his title run as legit and regain some lost face. This is TNA though, and worse it's Russo-booked TNA. If memory serves, the TNA title was vacated before the last 2, possibly 3 Slammiversary events to make the King of the Mountain match that much more important. I see the trend continuing.
Winner: Nobody, either a double pin or a controversial victory reversed by Cornette on Impact.
TNA KNOCKOUTS MAKEOVER BATTLE ROYAL: Gail Kim vs. ODB vs. Traci Brooks vs. Velvet Sky vs. Angelina Love vs. Jacqueline vs. Christy Hemme vs. Roxxi Laveaux vs. Rhaka Khan vs. Salinas
Jeremy Thomas: Well, let's see. Gail's got hair-shaving immunity, so we know she's not going place second. I can absolutely see her making it into the ladder part of the match, though, in order to "build the suspense." Most of these women, I wouldn't want to condemn to placing second and losing their hair. Traci isn't gonna lose her hair, nor will Jacqueline. I could see them doing it to Hemme, since they've destroyed all her credibility anyway. I think, though, that the big loser will be Rhaka. It would probably be a fitting punishment, in Russo's mind, for her scandalous little autograph behavior.
Winner: Gail Kim
Hairless Loser: Rhaka Khan
Bayani Domingo: I have no idea what the hell they are doing here. None of these bitches is going to look good bald. My guess is this sets up Gail taking the loss here, but since she has "immunity" she will avoid getting her head shaved but then some of the heels will sneak up and cut off a good 6 or 7 inches and leave her "humiliated", but with a sassy summer ‘do that really elongates her neck and highlights her cheek bones.
Winner: Roxxi Laveaux (Gail as the runner-up)
Michael Weyer: The Knockouts have been going so well, how can they mess it up with such a clusterfrack like this? Still a lot of talent about and they have been pushing Roxxi well but Gail's clearly the star. As for the loser, Rhaka fits best since she can just wear one of Scott's chain veils afterward.
WINNER: Gail Kim over Rhaka Khan
Andy Clark: Stupid, stupid, stupid. Seeing as how TNA never actually gives No. 1 Contenders their title shots I wouldn't take my chances in this match. It'll come down to Gail Kim and Rhaka Khan with Khan getting the shave as both punishment and to join in on the Steiner head shaving club.
Winner: Gail Kim (Baldy: Rhaka Khan)
Jarrod Westerfeld: There was a reason they had an immunity on a pole match, and there was a reason Kim won it – she's eating the loss in this cluster fucked battle of slushed together gimmick/stipulation matches. The only thing I can't figure is who they're going to have go over here – I guess Roxxi because of the success of her match with Kong a few weeks ago on Impact, but odds are they'll do something screwy just for the sake of SWERVE~ing us all. Oh well, I'll bank against the swerve, though my judgment says go with it – but this tie breaker can't be resolved with a single coin flip…unless it's really a dice in disguise.
Winner: Roxxi Laveaux (Gail Kim as runner-up: also what Bayani said, because he's right)
Dan Torkel: I just keep thinking of who the baldness stipulation would actually help and I can't see anyone else pulling it off but ODB. I think Gail takes it and gets one last PPV crack at Kong.
Winner: Gail Kim
Runner up: ODB (gets head shaved)
Daniel Wilcox: Unlike most people, I'm really looking forward to this match and only hope that they give the ladder portion of it a lot of time because I'm intrigued to know what some of these girls can do in that kind of environment. You would think that TNA will look to set up a new challenger for Kong, but that leaves Traci Brooks and Salinas as the only two faces who haven't lost to Kong before, so it looks like we'll be getting more of Gail, ODB or Roxxi vs. Kong. In what would be a rare swerve from TNA that I'd actually like to see, they could throw Cheerleader Melissa in there to win it considering she was really over with the crowd last week despite the fact that she was meant to be the heel in that match. But alas, I doubt that this will be the case. What's even more upsetting is the fact that one of The Beautiful People may be losing their hair.
Winner: Gail Kim (with Rhaka Khan losing her hair)
Jeff Small: Somebody will get their head shaved, I'm certain of that. While I haven't followed everyone's beef close enough that it really matters, I'm not sure if that's even going to matter. As much as I would love to watch ODB in a ladder match, sadly, I don't think she's going to make it that far. The beautiful people vs. Roxxi could clearly be finished here with Roxxi taking the victory and one of the People to go bald.
Winner: Roxxi
Bald ho: Velvet Sky (poor Gregory Helms)
T.G. Corke: You know what would be funny? If Gail Kim loses the ladder match but because she's immune they have to shave whoever was last eliminated in the battle royal...and it's a tie. And then Vince Russo power-walks into the ring and blows both quads, but instead of masking his pain and staying in character like Vince McMahon did he starts crying and shouts "Help! I need assistance!" Even better than that would be if this was just a multi-person ladder match, and the winner got to CHOOSE who was shaved. Oh well. I think this may be the night that Roxxi's luck runs out.
Winner: ODB via unwanted Angelina-ference (no heel turn)
Runner-up: Roxxi Who's-its
Larry Csonka: I actually do not believe that Rhaka Khan is in the match, since she wasn't in the immunity battle. Which really kills me thinking she would take the head shaving and go with the whole "Grace Jones" thing. I figure that Gail wins, I do want more Kim vs. Kong matches, they rock, but part of me also wants to see a Roxxi push. The division is looking good these days. I will say that Angelina Love gets the haircut and rocks the Joan of Arc. She deserves it; she's been a total cunt lately.
Winner: Gail Kim
John Gregory: You know what's a good way to use a women's division that could run circles around the Divas? Treat them like they ARE the divas. Eureka
WINNER: Gail Kim
Chris Lansdell: OK, it's another gimmick match, but it's not all that complicated, and the novelty of a women's ladder match at the end makes me actually want to see this. As much as I liked Gail Kim in WWE, she doesn't look half as good when surrounded by real women wrestlers. I'd like to see Roxxi's push continue here. As for baldness? I'll go with the flow.
Winner: Gail Kim
Loser: Rhaka Khan (She feels for you...)
DEUCES WILD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT: With Team 3D, The Latin American Xchange, AJ Styles & Super Eric, Christian Cage & Rhino
Egotistical Eight: Sting, Robert Roode, Matt Morgan, BG James, Booker T, Awesome Kong, James Storm, Kip James
Jeremy Thomas: Um. Wow. Okay, let's see. Get in Russo's mindset, Jeremy...wait a minute...
*Rams head repeatedly into hard surface*
Okay! I think I'm good. The Russo formula of either wacky, non-sensical tag team partners or tag team partners hating each other applies, so here we go! I see the single-formed tag teams breaking down as follows:
Sting and James Storm
Booker T and Robert Roode
Matt Morgan and Kip James
BG James and Awesome Kong
Wow, this just a clusterfuck of epic proportions, isn't it? Yeah, sounds like TNA Booking. Anyway, some of the matches will be great. Some of the matches will suck. AJ Styles and "Super" Eric "Young" will be wackiness. And in the end, if LAX doesn't win this one, I'll go after Russo with a chainsaw, hydrochloric acid, and pruning shears. Anyone wanna give me an alibi?
Bayani Domingo: I don't even want to comment here on who might win and who might not because if LAX doesn't take the "duke" then I'll be horribly depressed. Let's just skip to the winner.
Winner: LAX
Michael Weyer: I...wow, this is gonna be a mess. Okay, deep breath keeping in mind that a decade later Russo is STILL doing the "whacky tag partners who can't stand each other" thing. So..
Sting and James Storm
BG James and Kip James
Booker T and Robert Roode
Matt Morgan and Awesome Kong
As for the tournament...oh, Lord only knows with this stuff and Russo's thinking. He might even give it to AJ & Super Eric for whoever knows what reason. Let's only hope clear thinking comes through and a real tag team gets it.
WINNER: LAX over Sting and Booker
Andy Clark: OK, so our two confirmed egotistical eight teams are Sting & James Storm and Matt Morgan & Kip James, both of which are lame as hell. I guess we'll go with Booker T & Awesome Kong and Robert Roode & BG James as the other two. TNA Mobile confirmed Team 3D vs. Sting & Storm, and I'm guessing the impending Team 3D breakup costs them a first round match. Christian Cage & Rhino will beat Roode & BG, LAX beat Morgan & Kip James when Morgan leaves Kip, and Booker & Kong beat AJ & Super Eric. That sets up Sting & Storm vs. Booker & Kong with Sting and Storm finally fighting each other to cost them the match, and Cage & Rhino over LAX. In the finals it's Cage & Rhino over Booker & Kong, with Kong getting pissed and DESTROYING Sharmell.
So to recap-
Sting & James Storm over Team 3D
Booker T & Awesome Kong over AJ Styles & Super Eric
LAX over Matt Morgan & Kip James
Christian Cage & Rhino over Robert Roode & BG James
Booker T & Awesome Kong over Sting & James Storm
Christian Cage & Rhino over LAX
Winners and NEW TNA World Tag Team Champions: Christian Cage & Rhino (defeating Booker T & Awesome Kong, followed by Kong killing Sharmell dead)
Jarrod Westerfeld: This will take up almost the entire show, and we already know everyone that was claiming this thing to come down to LAX and MMG (MCMG) was wrong – much in the way everyone said that Petey would be in X-Scape Match at last month's Lockdown. We already know that Sting and Storm are teaming up, as well as Morgan and Kip. That leaves the combinations of Roode, James, Booker and Kong. I think I'll go with those as the remaining teams, because it makes the least amount of sense. One question to those booking this – why didn't you go with Roode and Storm as a tandem!? Whatever, here's the breakdown:
Styles & Super Eric over Booker T & Awesome Kong
LAX over Morgan & Kip
Cage & Rhino over Sting & Storm
Team 3D over James & Roode
Cage & Rhino over Styles & Super Eric
Team 3D over LAX
Dan Torkel: We know Storm/Sting are opening the PPV against Team 3D, and we know Kip and Morgan are a team. Does Russo put Roode with Booker after their feud or with Kong due to his problems with women. I'll go with option one. I think Storm should be getting a push so does that correlate to a Tag Team run with Sting or a feud with Sting. I say he and Sting beat 3D, LAX over Morgan/Kip, Rhino/Cage over BG/Kong, Booker/Roode over AJ/Super Eric in Round 1. LAX over Sting/Storm and Rhino/Cage over Booker/Roode and thus the Finals: LAX against Rhino/Cage. The Tag belts return to LAX in what could be a great final.
Winners and NEW TNA Tag Team Champions - LAX (over Rhino and Christian)
Daniel Wilcox: Wow. Where do I start? First of all, how the guy who really got screwed out of the tag titles (Kaz) is not in the tournament, and more to the point how come he's not even bothered that he isn't? OK so Storm and Sting have already been confirmed as partners, and I believe BG James and Robert Roode have to. So we'll team Kip and Morgan up for the simple reason that they do not get along and ergo, they must be tag partners. So Kong and Booker the Burrier make up our final team. Would I be right in thinking that it's an established team vs. an Egotistical Eight team in each quarter final? If so, the brackets will go something like this...
Team 3D over Kip James and Matt Morgan
LAX over Robert Roode and BG James
Kong and Booker over Cage and Rhino
Storm and Sting over AJ and Eric
And from there, I have absoultely no idea where it goes, so as for the pick, we'll go with what I'd like to see happen.
Winners: And NEW TNA Tag Team Champions, LAX.
From here, I put over Cage and Rhino, because we should all know that if TNA wanted to really put the titles on LAX they wouldn't have booked them in that triple threat tag bout in the manner they were booked – which was basically to be just there for the sake of showing they remembered they were the number one contenders to the title. They're doing something with Cage and Rhino here that'll further lead to them feuding with Team 3D. I don't know why, and I don't care why – I just expect this to be the plan, because in TNA this makes sense.
Winner: Christian Cage & Rhino
Jeff Small: Time for some fantasy booking. We know that the PPV will open with Team 3D vs. Sting and Storm but after that it's a mystery... or is it?
First Round:
Team 3D vs. Sting & Storm
Kip James & Matt Morgan vs. AJ Styles & Super Eric
LAX vs. Cage & Rhino
Kong & BG James vs. Roode & Booker
Semi's:
Team 3D vs. AJ Styles & Super Eric
LAX vs. Roode & Booker
Finals:
Styles & Super Eric vs. LAX
Winners: LAX via Tomko interference (this hurt my head)
T.G. Corke: We already know Sting and James Storm are a team, as are Kip and Matt Morgan. I think most are expecting Roode and Kong to team up, since Roode has the woman-beater gimmick. The only thing is, does Booker T/Road Dogg really come across as a team that can have legitimate heat? Mind you, I have a feeling AJ's going to be pinning Booker to make up for the 'berrial' on Impact, so I guess BG isn't a huge casualty. Oh, but Roode and Booker as a team would make so much more sense...but why would Kong and BG work? Ok, sod it, here's my final line-up:
Sting/Storm
Kip/Morgan
Booker/Kong
BG/Roode
Just because the last two teams barely make any sense, so it would be a huge swerve~! for it to happen.
Winner: Team 3D (beat AJ and Super Eric in the final...and LAX, due to some Dusty finish earlier in the night)
Larry Csonka: So here we go…eight teams will compete in tournament bouts on Impact to qualify for the Sacrifice tournament. All right, that makes sense to begin with. The four winning teams will make it to the PPV. Again that would make sense, if it ended there. But then at the PPV, FOUR more teams that aren't teams because they are made up of singles performers will be put together randomly to face the four teams that qualified on the PPV. So basically the REAL teams are being punished. Right. They are using the Lethal Lottery deal, which is am sorry to say kids is NOT new. On top of that not only do tournaments do poor PPV numbers (which is why they dropped KOTR from PPV, they got low buys because people didn't know what they were paying for) but also the Lethal Lottery never did good PPV numbers because of the same reason. Now, if that wasn't bad enough, this means that this tournament will take place on the PPV, which means SEVEN MATCHES of tournament on the PPV. Now if we just had the world title match as well that would be ok because it would be eight matches total. But then you have to add in the women's battle royal/ladder match/hair match as well as the TERROR DOME, which makes TEN PPV MATCHES. Nothing will get any time, everything will be rushed and Sacrifice is slowly looking like a Russo-Riffic Cluster-Fuck of Epic Proportions. And then two of the pairings were pretty obvious, Sting/Storm and James/Morgan. All they have to do is get Roode and Booker together and they will have killed the gimmick even more. Do you see where I am going here?
That all being said, there is the chance for some goodness match wise, and I'd like to see a finals of LAX vs. Cage and Rhino.
Winners: LAX
John Gregory: This to me is a bunch of reasons not to order this PPV. Hopefully they at least build LAX out of this and not the outsider main eventers so were over enough to begin with
WINNER: LAX over Sting and Morgan
Chris Lansdell: Oh, what a Russo-rific mess. Tag teams that don't get along, an "established team" who have had one tag team match in the past 3 years, another one who NEVER TAGGED before they qualified...sure, we could get some good matches out of this, and it will advance numerous storylines, but was this really necessary? Sting and Storm, Booker and Roode, Kong and BG and Kip and Matt Lesnar, I mean Morgan, will be the teams. If Joel Anderson wasn't going to be in New York at the time, I'd say he'll cost 3D a match. As it is, I'm going to go with the only right answer.
Winners: LAX, over Storm and Sting
THE TNA WRESTLING DEBUT OF THE TERRORDOME MATCH: Black Machismo vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Jimmy Rave vs. Curry Man vs. Johnny Devine vs. Shark Boy vs. Consequences Creed vs. Kaz vs. Chris Sabin vs. Alex Shelley
Jeremy Thomas: Yay, it's a new match! Yay, it's yet ANOTHER gimmick match from TNA. Not to mention an unoriginal one, that'll probably be booked like the Chamber of Horrors somehow. You know, since Terrodome sounds kinda like it. Damn you to hell, TNA. I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say that Sonjay Dutt wins at Jay Lethal's expense, to hopefully kick that feud into high gear.
Winner: "The Guru" Sonjay Dutt
Bayani Domingo: What the f*ck?
Winner: Curry Man….why not?
Michael Weyer: How...I mean...we don't know what type of match it is...we don't know who's in it...no idea of the stakes...Oh, Lord, it really IS WCW circa 2000! Okay, wait, they have posted competitors now but no idea of stakes or stips which makes it slightly harder to predict what's coming. In other words, perfect for Russo.
WINNER: The frack if I know. (Rummages through names in a hat) Jay Lethal.
Andy Clark: Should be fun, but it would have been much cooler had they actually promoted the damn thing and not put it on a show with NINE other matches.
Winner: Kaz, why not?
Jarrod Westerfeld: Oh goodie, that time again to act like I care about the current goings on within the TNA negaverse. So from what I understand, this Terrordome is a copy of AAA's structure of the same name (only in Spanish) and hold the same rules – escapee wins. The only reason I'd look forward to this is to see if the crowd is smart enough to start up a "two men enter, one man leave" chant. If that fails, I lose all hope in humanity and possibly suck on the end of a dick that cums bullets. As per who'll be in this match, and for what, and who'll win? Well, I heard from several people this is supposed to be a X-Title match, but Petey is far too hurt to do this unless they get him an ultra cool face mask. As for who else will be in it? Uhm…no clue. But they said this thing can hold a shark, so that has to be an indication, though I'm personally hoping for Mad Max and Tina Turner.
Winner: Shark Boy via escaping the cage that can hold a shark…irony?
Dan Torkel: This has the potential to be either great or make you want to kill yourself. To me there are 3 legit picks. A) Lethal wins, goes after Little Petey Pump and builds to the rematch for the title. B) Kaz wins and gets a push to the X-Title which he hasnt held in years. Kaz won the titles with Eric before they were stripped so he is obviously a title contender. C) Curry Man wins and reveals he is the Fallen Angel and cements his return to the X-Division. I go with option...B
Winner: Kaz
Daniel Wilcox: This could be fun, but I'm almost certain it'll suffer from having way too many guys in there. 10 people in a ring is just too many for my liking; 4-6 would have been ideal. I think we can eliminate the guys in tag teams, so Shelley, Sabin, Rave, Curry Man and Shark Boy are out of the equation. Consequences Creed is still to fresh to get the win here, though expect a good showing. Devine is still pretty much Lethal's bitch, so that' not happening. Dutt could use a big win but I doubt he'll get it here. That leaves us with Lethal and Kaz - the two guys TNA apparently has ADD over when it comes to pushing these guys. Let's go with a Kaz win to make up for the fact that he's been lumbered with Not-So-Super Eric Young for the past few months.
Winner: Kaz
Jeff Small: Thank God I waited long enough for the participants to be named. Looking over the list of names, there's only two that could possibly win this match: Kaz or Curry Man. Unfortunately, I don't think it's time for the rise of the Curry.
Winner: Kaz
T.G. Corke: Is this a title match? I guess it is. Well, I doubt they spent so long building Petey as Steiner's buddy for so long to have him lose his newly-won title off the bat. Then again Edge did, so who knows? But he'll probably retain, since Steiner's likely losing later in the night. One thing's for sure, this match should be the best thing on the show by a country mile if it gets time. Oh, wait...shit.
Winner: Petey Williams
Larry Csonka: This is the time for the X-Division to shine, because they sure haven't had the chance to do so over the last 4-weeks. I just hope that this new cage gets more than 10-minutes, or it will really be a waste of time. I'd love to see Kaz take the win here, because he needs momentum back, but I think that they want to continue with the Black Machismo/Petey Williams deal, while forgetting about the Dutt heel turn they have been considering for a year.
Winner: Black Machismo
John Gregory: Why God why?
WINNER: Consequences Creed....so says my magic 8-ball.
Chris Lansdell: If the rumours of a stupidly high cage with added fun are true, then this match might just win Spotfest of the Year. They certainly have the right guys in the match to try something crazy. Of course, the match has been under-promoted, can't possibly get enough time on this card, and is featuring a division that has been all but invisible. Kaz is not winning, as I think they want him in the heavyweight picture. Lethal will get close, and Dutt will cost him the match. I see it coming down to Shark Boy and Curry Man, and a flip of the coin says...
Winner: Curry Man!
Don't forget to join us Sunday night for LIVE coverage starting at 8pm!
A lot of negativity, but still a fun read. Damn i just realized it 10 goddamn matchesm, TNA?!? Didn't i come on here a few weeks ago and say that the 4 matches they put on Impact made it a quality show. Four! that was all it needed. thats an average of 2 matches per hour so 6 matches for the ppv given a substantial amount of time would mean better matches. You have nearly twice that amount on this ppv. Now would be a good time to bring back the pre-show, TNA.
Posted By: bighustle (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 12:37 AM
Why must every stupid thing that happens in TNA be Russo's Idea!? What about JJ and Dutch. There have been reports to prove its not mostly Russo's Idea's.
Posted By: Stream (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 01:13 AM
The reason everyone blames Russo, because it is the cool thing to do. Not to mention he has reputation for wacky ideas. So no one gives them shadow of doubt. They just blame all TNA mistakes on him. Because he is the easist scapegoat of the company.
Posted By: Sean (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 01:42 AM
Good lord that has to be the worst looking pic of Samoa Joe i've ever seen. lol, all i'm thinking is Edge's comment about being the fattest skinny guy in wrestling. Dare I say skinny Joe looks worse than chunky Joe.
Posted By: bighustle (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 03:15 AM
Re: Stream
Simple...because the kinds of stupid gimmick matches overloading the cards and "worked shoot" storylines are the exact kinds of things he did in WCW. A leopard doesn't change it's spots.
Posted By: Jeremy Thomas (Registered) on May 10, 2008 at 03:22 AM
"...because I don't think they feel they've gotten everything they can out of Angle/Joe."
I think Jeremy Thomas just won a "Double-you tee eff" award.
Posted By: nate (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 04:59 AM
You know.... completly random idea, but what if Jeff Jarrett hired Russo just so that when he did wacky stuff we'd automatically assume it was him? Get the heat off Jarrett's back so to speak.
Posted By: Guest. (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 05:09 AM
also i think there was a news article on this site a few months back that russo is 95% in control of the booking except the womens division
Posted By: jacish23 (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 06:07 AM
This ppv is gonna be a swerve fest wih partners turning on each other and teasing tension.
Posted By: Danny P (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 07:18 AM
From what I understand Russo is just a script writer...
Posted By: Streamline (Registered) on May 10, 2008 at 07:57 AM
oh man with such an awesome card like this. i can only imagine the buyrates being roh bad.
Posted By: guy (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 10:45 AM
How do you do an intertaining spot match when it's a dome? you can't set up anything cool you just have to let go and fall to take a bump. My Money is Shark Boy because they keep saying it can cage a great white shark, and Sharky is over with his new gimmick. Him vs Petey will probably be the most devestating squash in X-Division History!
The woman's match will be a clusterfuck.
I smell a lot of betrayals and some teams getting berried so the Dueces Tournament moves quickly.
I see Joe winning.
Posted By: Davy (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 01:33 PM
Fat Joe - no screw jobs
Love wins with her sidekick gets a head shave
Dutt win the terror dome
AJ & Super Eric lose w/KAz interference to Roode/Kong
Posted By: Dr Bob Onit (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 01:54 PM
See, when you review anything TNA does just mention Vince Russo's name a lot. Then fans will think you know what you are talking about. All the cool kids on the internet are doing it!
Posted By: Max (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 02:58 PM
If Weyer isn't going to watch Impact, couldn't he at least read the reports before doing this round table thing? I mean, it's pretty weak to not know which tag teams have already been formed; he got (at least) two of them wrong! lmao
Posted By: truthsayer (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 03:05 PM
Surely the fact that Kong is in the deuces-blackjack-joker's wild-whatever tournament is a sign she's going to win. I'm picking Kong and erm... let's say Roode, for a wacky tag team win. Imagine it: He likes to beat woman but can't because she'd kick his ass. Comedic gold! Score!
Posted By: mrfish (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 03:14 PM
To this day, I still don't see why everyone is having major issues with this card!
Am I one of the few people that is actually looking forward to the card?
This TNA bashing is getting a bit ridiculous, if you ask me.
Why is there so much hate for this card?
To start off, JOE, finally TNA Champion, is at the top of the card, in a match with Angle, still one of the top workers in the world, and Steiner, who is still a serviceable worker and who seems to be motivated. The match should deliver.
To follow that, you have the TerrorDome, which should be visually impressive, as well as provide some good spots and time to showcase some of the X-division talents, and Petey's next challenger, hopefully Curryman.
Then, you have the Knockout's Battle Royal/Ladder match. Winner gets a shot at the unstoppable champion, Kong, while the runner-up loses her hair. As I don't see anyone stopping Kong anytime soon, personally, I'm intrigued by what TNA is going to do with the hair stipulation. Hopefully Roxxi wins, to add another challenger to the title mix, but it still should be a fun match.
And finally, the bulk of the PPV, the Deuces Wild Tournament, for the TNA World Tag titles.
I still don't see why "the tournament is so RUSSO-RI-FIC!!!".
It's a one night, 8 team, tournament for the belts. Four of the teams are established teams, who qualified in matches on Impact. The other four teams are random teams, made up of some of the top names on the TNA roster, excluding the James Boys, and the dominant TNA Knockouts champion, Kong.
What better way to put heat on a title and it's champion, hopefully LAX, then building a whole PPV around the title?
If Deuces Wild is so convoluted and confusing, I wonder how you guys dealt with King Of The Ring, and other tournaments.
Sometimes I just don't get it.
Enjoy the show
Posted By: scipio2009 (Registered) on May 10, 2008 at 05:04 PM
It's probably just as well for TNA's sake that Angle has picked up another injury at this point. Had he been healthy I'm certain they'd have had Joe drop the belt back to him after seeing that his overdue title win failed to pop a rating. In any case unless they see a significant PPV buy-rate boost here, I'd expect Joe's days as champ to be numbered.
Posted By: Evil Doink (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 05:10 PM
The problem with the card? OK, first Deuces Wild is dominating a PPV with a big title match and possibly one of the few good gimmick matches TNA has come up with in a while in the Terrordome. Not that we know what it is yet. 2 of the established teams are not established, yet you have an established team in the Machine Guns on the sidelines. And the teams they've created for the other 4 are all classic Russo: tage teams who hate each other. The Makeover Battle Royal is just taking 3 gimmick matches and slamming them in a blender.
Posted By: Chris Lansdell (Registered) on May 10, 2008 at 08:14 PM
thought i'd chime in with an attempt at some predictions for the upcoming ppv.
Main Event - Logically Joe, with some sort of screwy finish involving Nash on Angle, Steiner takes the pin.
Dueces Wild - Winner LAX (using the "Guererro[sorry for the spelling] strategy)over Xian & Rhino in the finals.
But I have a side note for this one. Since the two remaining teams have not been announced ponder this.....
If TNA really wants to keep their personas consistant, they should have Roode/Kong. She would be the one woman he could not boss around, and it could cost him the match if he's not careful.
That leaves Booker/BG for an ultra face team for the tourney out of the random wrestlers.
So far this makes too much sense, so it prolly won't happen. I watch and enjoy TNA BTW....
Ladder/Hair Match - Winner of #1 contender: Prolly the hardest to predict, but i go with ODB to set up a PPV Match (don't recall her getting one on PPV)
Going bald - If Rhakka is in this, then her, if not then one of the "Beautiful People."
I personally don't think Kim will even be a factor in this one.
Terrordome (Hopefully for the X Title - due to injury) : Devine
For some reason, they seem to want to push this guy, i have nothing against the guy, but whatever, they have not really hyped this one too much)
Curry Man could be the dark horse in this one (he did have some good chemistry with Petey in a tag match a couple moths ago).
I guess we'll have to wait and see....
That's all i got.... and i guess it was a lot...LOL
Posted By: the casual oberver (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 08:44 PM
Just a few booking ruminations on TNA in general, and the PPV in particular. First of all, quite a few people seem to be anticipating a Nash heel turn on Joe. While that's a definite possibility, I think that a better angle, and one more in keeping with Nash's character, would have him trying to make as much money as possible out of Joe's run with the belt. He could be angling for a manager's cut, or selling Joe merchandise on his own, that sort of thing. "Don't forget the money, Joe."
For the women's match, I would book it with Cheerleader Melissa entering, and winning. Then, the big reveal would be that the Said (sp?) character was just a swerve, Melissa using it to set Kong up. Failing that, I would really like to see Roxxi win it, of the women currently entered. To be honest, I don't give a damn whose head they shave.
Like just about everyone else, I'd like to see LAX win the tag belts, then have a nice feud with Shelly/Sabin. Unfortunately, I don't believe it's going to happen. I'm afraid it's going to be one of the thrown together, hate each other tag teams. The only way that would work for me would be if it was Sting/Storm, and the angle was Sting influencing and helping to develop Storm's character, but I don't really see that happening either.
One other LAX note. I wish they'd let Hector got back to looking like himself, grey hair, pompadour, and all. I find the faux Eddie haircut/mustache/dye job creepy, and exploitative, to say the least.
Posted By: truthsayer (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 09:11 PM
We are about to witness a clusterfuck of epic proportions. Let's enjoy this while we can.
Posted By: Kevin (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 10:54 PM
Hi, I'd like to predict that Rhyno turns heel on Christian at the PPV and feuds with him thereafter. Bye.
Posted By: MikeyCovs (Guest) on May 10, 2008 at 11:57 PM
IF only CHRISTIAN CAGE had a kid and his wife was in attendance at this show. Hear me out on this one that way RHINO could turn heel and pildrive christian's wife through a table and since it is mothers day he would yell happy mothers day you fucking bitch! thus recreating the moment at ECW HARDCORE HEAVEN 200O which was held on mothers day where he did the same thing to the Sandman's wife
Doing this would be a perfect kickstart to another RHINO VS CHRISTIAN CAGE FEUD only this time with the roles reversed
but like i said to my knowledge CHRISTIAN doesn't have a kid.
Posted By: Dalton (Guest) on May 11, 2008 at 08:32 AM
this card is WAY overbooked. outside of joe angle and steiner i just read the card and already forgot who all's on it. it would be one thing for tna to hold some huge supercard with all the talent showcased, but when you do it every ppv it just feels like a thrown together mess with no real focus on anyone specific.
Posted By: hellboysetsfire (Guest) on May 11, 2008 at 11:50 AM
-Mr. Lansdell
The Deuces Wild Tournament is dominating the card, because it is a ONE NIGHT TOURNAMENT! The same has happened with the King of the Ring and other one night tournaments, over the years, so I don't see what the big issue is.
As important as the World title is, to any company, there are nights, like with KotR and Royal Rumble, when the belts take a bit of a backseat. This is just an example of that.
The "established teams" had to qualify for the tournament on Impact. It just so happened that 2 of the four teams, whom qualified, had only been competing together for a little while, even though one of the teams, Cage/Rhino(kayfabe), have been teaming for years. So you get 3 "established teams", with one random "established team" in Styles/Super EY.
Yes, the MCMG are a talented and established team, but the fact still remains that, as reported on this site, there is some serious heat STILL on the team, so it wouldn't make sense for TNA to feature them on a PPV, when they are still being punished. As much as it seems you and the IWC don't want to see it, MCMG aren't going to get a big push anytime soon. All you have to do is look at how long it took LAX to now be getting their push.
Yes, the four teams of singles' wrestlers are "classic Russo" teams, whatever that means. But how else would you book it; if you have 8 individual personalities, who are use to following their own paths, and you then put them with a random partner, how are you not supposed to expect tension?
Honestly, why should you even expect "random teams" to, all of a sudden, find a way to get along? Another example of the unnecessary heat that Russo gets.
So what, if the Knockout Makeover match is a combination of three gimmicks; a battle royal, a ladder match and a hair vs. hair stipulation. The match, like the Terrordome, is still put in a way that makes sense.
Posted By: scipio2009 (Registered) on May 11, 2008 at 04:00 PM
let's see TNA now is looking a lot like WCW did in the 2000s...Who was in charge then, oh ya. If you have any doubt that Russo is in charge, seek help. Best answer ever to a TNA match prediction goes to Bayani Domingo, simply awesome.
Posted By: Guest#2348 (Guest) on May 11, 2008 at 07:02 PM
The real problem with TNA is that they do some good stuff that gives you hope and then they just turn face and berrie all their work. They have a great tag team match two ppvs ago with MCMG, RnR, and LAX and we get this hope they are going to start pushing all of there awesome tag teams. So you get happy. Then their is a little screwy booking and you kinda feel like oh no..but theres going to be a tag tourney!! All these great tag teams, this is going to be great! Machine Guns, Rock n' Rave, LAX, 3D, Young and Kaz, Aj and Tomko all of these teams going at it. But then we get some contrived gimmick tourney with only four really great tag teams and then eight dudes (or seven dudes and one bad ass amazon.) Okay that still four great teams in this, but now Guns and RnR aren't in even though they have great matches and are crazy over with the fans. Oh and Christian/Rhino are an established tag team now. So now your sixty/fourty on the whole thing. But that fourty perecent is that LAX will come in and get back the titles and have a long run to build them up to a legendary status. But that sixty perecent of dread is hanging out that Sting and Storm end up tag champs and the titles get berried in an angle thats been done before. That's the plight of the TNA fan. You always get excited when they bring in a new talent, or dust off an old team/stable, or have a great ppv with some top quality matches. You know it wont last, that some how it will all be FUBAR by next thursday. JJ will decide that the guns disrespected the entire industry by not wanting to blade in a match. That a legendary japanese character like curry man needs to be treated as trivial fodder. That a character doing an impression of another character is a great idea, because it worked once on a fluke. That gimmick heavy cards are what the fans really want, because they liked one TLC or once year they get excited for a money in the bank match. I love TNA, but I am always waiting for something to go wrong or just fall apart and make no sense. That's why we blame Russo, because he has been the face of so many failures in our wrestling lives. He gave us David Arrquette as a champion, he gave us the chamber of horrors, nWo 2000, the millionare's club. I am sure Dutch and JJ aren't exactly standing up and telling him no. But he will forever be the face of FAIL in the wrestling world.
Posted By: Kip (Guest) on May 11, 2008 at 07:17 PM
TNA would be stupid enough to let Samoa Joe drop the TNA World Title after winning it last month. Joe should be the TNA World Champion for a long period of time, but this is TNA & I'm thinking that Samoa Joe will have the title at least until the summer. And as far as the Deuces Wild Tournament, having Awesome Kong in there could be interesting. But when you pair up the rest of guys that don't like each other you're asking for trouble
Posted By: John (Guest) on May 11, 2008 at 09:30 PM
