411 PPV Preview: TNA Slammiversary 2008

Posted by Seth Roy on 06.06.2008

On TNA's anniversary, and first show in Memphis, Karen Angle and Kevin Nash are the most important people that will affect the quality of the pay-per-view. And, Jay Lethal is getting married. Whoo!

Hello. Welcome to my second TNA Pay-per-view preview, for this Sunday's Slammiversary! If you like good sitcoms/TV in general, read my Just Another Day at the Office reviews in the movies section, posted every Friday.

Enough self-pimping. Onto the PPV, which could either be very good, or average to bad, depending on what happens.

JAY LETHAL AND SOCAL VAL GET MARRIED
See them walk the aisle live on Pay-Per-View - also featuring American Idol star Ace Young and wrestling legends George "The Animal" Steel, Kamala, Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Koko B. Ware!
Background: Jay Lethal has had the hots for Val for a while, then dated her and proposed after a while. Sonjay Dutt, Lethals "best friend," also has the hots for Val, unbeknownst to Jay (and maybe Val). But Sonjay is also the best man. Hmmmm…

Prediction: I'm guessing that we get the Sonjay Dutt heel turn, finally, and that sets up a match for next month's PPV.

KNOCKOUTS TAG TEAM MATCH
Gail Kim, ODB & Roxxi vs. The Beautiful People
Background: This one's been brewing for a while. The Beautiful People pretty much don't like anyone. At Sacrifice, knowing that Gail Kim had immunity from having her head shaved, Velvet Sky (I think) interfered so that Gail got the win and Roxxi got shaved. Since then, Gail, ODB and Roxxi have fought with the Beautiful People one-on-one and in tag matches. On Thursday's Impact, a new special enforcer entered the scene, giving the Beautiful People the supposed advantage.

Match: The women's matches have, obviously, been very good in TNA so far, and this should be decent, too. The teams match up pretty well, actually, with ODB and the new enforcer woman sort of offsetting each other. Expect a relatively fast-paced match, that, hopefully, makes Roxxi look good.

Will win: Roxxi, by pinning Angelina Love. TNA will continue its quest to make Roxxi look like the real deal.

Should Win: Roxxi. I really hope they don't have the Beautiful People's new muscle pin Roxxi, as I could see happening. If Roxxi gets the win here, she should be in good shape to go after the belt. Also, it would be her revenge.

AWESOME KONG'S OPEN CHALLENGE
Can anyone beat the Women's Champion for $25,000?
Background: Awesome Kong started this challenge three weeks ago, and has obliterated all comers. She will pay $25,000 to any woman in the building who can beat her.

Prediction: This hasn't been going on quite long enough for Kong to lose yet. And I doubt whoever gets the shot here will fare any better than the previous women.

TNA X DIVISION TITLE MATCH
"Maple Leaf Muscle" Petey WIlliams (c) vs. Kaz
Background: Petey Williams won the title from Jay Lethal after using his briefcase on an episode of Impact. Kaz won last month's TerrorDome match for a shot at the title at Slammiversary. The two guys have largely been kept apart on the show, and Kaz has some momentum coming off of his X-Division King of the Mountain win on Thursday, which gives him a shot at the heavyweight title.

Match: This should be a pretty good match, especially if Petey can go full-tilt after breaking his orbital bone more than a month ago. Kaz has been on a roll lately, though he hasn't been able to win the big matches. (Losing a couple heavyweight title shots, and losing the tag titles because his partner had a split personality). As long as Kaz can concentrate on the match, and Scott Steiner or Rhaka Khan don't interfere, Kaz should certainly have the upper hand.

Will win: Kaz. I think TNA knows that Petey just isn't cutting it as champ, and Kaz could use the big singles title win. He's also on much more of a roll, and I don't think he'll lose both the X Title match Sunday and the World title match next week.

Should win: Kaz. He's the star of the X Division, and is really ready to break through into the heavyweight title division. A nice, long run with the X Title should set Kaz up nicely to break through.

TNA TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
The Latin American Xchange vs. Team 3D
Background: LAX won the belts last month in the tag team tournament, beating Team 3D in the last match. 3D decided they deserved another shot, and attacked LAX's manager, Hector Guerrero, on an episode of Impact. The two teams have been kept relatively apart, except for when LAX ran in at the end of Thursday's Impact when 3D was attacking AJ Styles, and the other faces. Why LAX didn't man up earlier, I don't know.

Match: We saw this match last month. Hopefully 3D is motivated, and they get a good 15 minutes. Expect a pretty physical match, with 3D going all out to try to get the titles. Also, expect Hernandez to do his Superman jump over the ropes.

Will win: LAX. They've only had the belts for a month, and they should be in line for a nice, long run.

Should win: LAX.

TNA GRUDGE MATCH
"The Phenomenal" AJ Styles vs. Olympic Gold Medalist Kurt Angle
Background: When AJ was part of the Christian Coalition, and tag team champ with Tomko, he joined sides with then-TNA Champ Kurt Angle, partially because Kurt and Karen manipulated Prince AJ, who had/has a crush on Karen. AJ was always a gentleman to Karen, and Kurt wasn't. During the renewing of the Angles' vows, all hell broke loose, and Karen kissed AJ. (That was on Valentine's Day.) Before Kurt's match with Joe, Kurt told Karen to stay home so he could concentrate. AJ, somewhere in there, took Karen on a date. Kurt loses the title, and still is mean to Karen. Kurt begins to suspect them of getting it on, which both deny. Three weeks ago, AJ was getting massacred by the heels, and Karen ran down to try to protect him. Eventually, Kurt ran down and cleared the ring, too, but Bubba Ray Dudley pointed at AJ and Karen hunched over AJ. Kurt took a chair and hit AJ as hard as he could, and the match was set. Then, two weeks ago, AJ wanted to tell Karen something, but never got the chance because Kurt attacked him and he got beat up again. This past Thursday, Kurt was in Hollywood "filming his newest movie," and AJ beat Tomko. AJ has been transformed from a goon to an intense person who just wants to kill Kurt.

Match: This could be the match of the night, if Kurt's neck is 100%. There's a lot of heat here, and it's the technical prowess and power of Kurt Angle against the high-flying, do anything to win style of AJ Styles. The wild card, of course, is Karen Angle. If she keeps out of the match and lets them fight, this will be good. If she interferes and they pull the swerve, and she teams up with Kurt again, this match (particularly the ending) will suck. But it would set up another great match. We'll see.

Will win: Kurt Angle. I can't shake the feeling that we'll see the swerve we all know is coming. I would love to see them just settle it between themselves, but I don't think it will happen.

Should win: Kurt Angle. Hear me out: I know AJ needs revenge, but I think the feud could have some legs. And, they could always pull the Karen-swerve before or after the match. Hey, maybe if she puts AJ down beforehand, there's the excuse for him being a bit off, eh? I'd like to see AJ and Kurt have another match next month.

KING OF THE MOUNTAIN MATCH
For The TNA World Heavyweight Championship
Samoa Joe vs. Robert Roode vs. Booker T vs. Christian Cage vs. Rhino
Special Enforcer: Kevin Nash
Background: Samoa Joe beat Kurt Angle for the title two months ago, and is attempting to become the first champion to enter and exit this match with the title. The other four guys fought qualifying matches to get here. Robert Roode beat Matt Morgan. Christian Cage beat Tomko. Rhino beat James Storm. Booker T beat AJ Styles, after shenanigans from Tomko. The thing I don't get is, why didn't Joe's picks go against Cornette's to qualify? Since they both thought they had the best competitors. Nash was added late as the Special Enforcer, and Joe wasn't happy about it, especially after Nash hit Joe (accidentally) with a chair.

Match: If you haven't seen this match, think of it as a sort of reverse Money in the Bank match. Reverse, in the sense that you have to hang the title up instead of take it down. But before someone can hang the belt up, he has to score a pinfall or submission on someone else. Also, anyone who gets pinned or submitted is sentenced to the penalty box for two minutes. Basically, expect utter chaos, and to not understand what's going on. If you saw Thursday's Impact, then you know what you're going to see here. (That was SO dumb that they had this same match. It makes it a lot less special, than if this really only happened once a year.)

Will win: Samoa Joe. They've been really pushing the fact that no champion has ever retained the title here. Joe's only had the belt for two months, and seems prepared for a lengthy reign. Becoming the first champ to retain the belt here will make him even more of a star than he already is. The only other person with a real shot is Booker T, and maybe Christian Cage.

Should win: Samoa Joe. The rub he would get for winning this would be huge. Let's cross our fingers.

Thoughts:
This should be a decent to good, and maybe great, PPV. The Knockout tag match should be good, but a bit nuts. The wedding will finally move forward the Lethal/Sonjay feud. Amazing Kong should be on the pay-per-view, but she should be defending the title, not doing her stupid challenge.

The other four matches could each be good. Kaz vs. Petey should be 3 ½ to 4 stars, and a whole lot of fun. LAX vs. 3D could be a pretty good 3 star match.

Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles is a big wild card. If Karen stays away from the match, everything should be great about this one. As the boss says, Many Buys. If Karen interferes (or if something bad happens to Kurt's neck) this match will suffer mightily, but the stage could be set for more goodness next month.

The King of the Mountain match will be fine. I really feel like they ruined its intrigue by holding the same match on Thursday. As long as Kevin Nash's involvement is minimal, this should be all right, and could reach 4 stars.

So, if everything meets expectations, we'll have a mildly entertaining wedding, a Kong domination, a decent and fun women's match, an exciting X-Division Match, a good tag title match, a classic Kurt/AJ match and a pretty good King of the Mountain match. Also, nothing should really be rushed. This could be TNA's best PPV of the year.