Wrestling’s 4R’s PPV Edition 7.15.08: TNA VICTORY ROAD (2008)

Posted by Larry Csonka on 07.15.2008

The best of TNA was on display as the World X-Cup and Full Metal Mayhem delivered in the ring and Booker delivered outside the ring! Unfortunately when all was said and done the worst of TNA was the last thing people will remember.


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.

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~TNA VICTORY ROAD 2008~


The Matches:

TEAM TNA won a World X-Cup Elimination Tag Match @ 24:25 via pin ****½

Gail Kim defeated Angelina Love @ 6:19 via pin **

Sonjay Dutt defeated Jay Lethal in a Grudge Match @ 9:00 via pin *¾

LAX defeated Beer Money in a Fan's Revenge Match @ 10:10 via pin *½

TNA KNOCKOUTS TITLE MATCH: Taylor Wilde defeated Awesome Kong @ 4:55 via pin *

Voloador Jr. won ULTIMATE X @ 11:05: TEAM MEXICO WINS THE WORLD X-CUP **¾

FULL METAL MAYHEM: Kurt Angle & Team 3D defeated AJ Styles, Christian Cage and Rhino @ 16:00 via pin ***¾

TNA WORLD TITLE MATCH: Samoa Joe and Booker T went to a no contest @ 17:45 **½

THE RIGHT:

World X Cup Semifinal Elimination Tag Match: Curry Man, Alex Shelly and Chris Sabin vs. Puma, Yoshino and Milano Collection AT vs. Rey Bucanero, Averno and Ultimo Guerrero vs. Williams, Dux and Kozlov: I have to say that the opener of Victory Road gives me the chance to use one of my favorite words, that being scintillating. While some will question opening the show with the match, due to setting such high standards, this is also exactly what TNA NEEDS to showcase. It was different, fresh and just fucking awesome. I thought they would do a gauntlet, but they did single elimination rules here, which I liked. In theory if your whole team survived, you would win all the points and lock up the entire thing. That's a cool dynamic. After a little roughness early, due to all the guys in there, things picked up and the match was total non-stop action and completely awesome. I was worried that they may have trouble keeping the crowd, due to fans not knowing a lot of the guys, but they pulled the people in and made them care, made them chant and kept them the entire time. The main story was that Team Japan members Milano Collection AT and Puma got eliminated early in the bout and Yoshino had to survive on his own, and he did making it to the final two men. He and Alex Shelley had a great segment and in the end Shelley got the big win, and Yoshino was treated like a star. The match was just awesome and a ton of fun. I also have to mention that Averno, Bucanero and Guerrero all were great, and they need to come back and work the Guns for an extended time. And that is a possibility with the working relationship CMLL and TNA are working on.

World X-Cup Finals - Ultimate X Match: Kaz vs. Naruki Doi vs. Voloador Jr vs. Davari: With the opener being so awesome, I don't think that there was anyway that the Ultimate X match could live up to it. Add in that Doi, Voloador and Davari have never worked the gimmick and in theory that is a recipe for disaster. Now this wasn't a disaster, it didn't suck, but this was on the low end of the Ultimate X spectrum in my opinion. Doi, Voloador and Davari looked lost at times and Kaz looked to be doing his best to direct traffic in there. Add in the fact that the opener was so good that the crowd wanted to see someone jump from the top of the building at this point. They pulled it together, it was fun, Kaz and Davari pulled off the big spot people wanted at the end and this allowed Voloador to get the win for Team Mexico. Team Mexico is no stranger to winning a TNA event like this as they had done so back in the weekly PPV days. I loved that going into the match that anyone could win, there was actually intrigue. Having Team Mexico win is a good move since they are working on a better working relationship with the bigger stars involved. Also, if TNA would always win, then no one would care. It is a special event, everyone looked good and we got entertained so it worked.

Full Metal Mayhem – Six-Man War Match: AJ Styles, Christian Cage & Rhino vs. Kurt Angle & Team 3D: I really liked the set up to the match, with Team 3D running wild on Cage and Rhino for weeks, and it all working together for this match. It keeps the fires burning for the feuds, while not giving away another Angle vs. AJ singles match or 3D vs. Cage and Rhino. The match was some good stuff, they kept the ladder spots to a minimum, did a lot of tables, which the people have been wanting, some cool dive spots including Cage diving from the top of the truss onto all the heels and the crowd was back into things and rocking with this match. Angle played it smart, avoiding dumb spots and staying safe while still getting the job done. Unfortunately Devon suffered an ankle injury off of the Dudleyville device, but I give him much credit as he gutted out the rest of the match. A PROFESSIONAL. But seriously, I hope it isn't that serious and that he didn't injure himself more by doing that. AJ was making a comeback as we headed towards the finish, fought off Johnny Devine who ran in, had Angle laid out on a table and as he climbed the ladder Frank Trigg hit him with the kendo stick. This allowed Angle to get the slam off of the ladder through the table for the finish. AJ is protected here because he got fucked, and it works. In the end this was a completely wild match as it needed to be with the stipulation. They did good work of delivering there, as well as setting up 3D vs. Cage and Rhino (if Devon is ok) as well as continuing Angle vs. AJ, as well as the Trigg factor. Tons to enjoy here, especially if you are a fan of the gimmick.

At Home with Booker T: I have to admit, I completely loved the Booker T segments on the PPV. I have been a fan of the locker room segments on Impact, and here on the PPV they were just as great. The segments showed Booker at his kick ass house, all of the stuff he was proud of, his wrestling school with his students putting him over to an insane degree, an eatery he owns including him telling the staff to water down the drinks, as well as him golfing with a guy saying he was better than Tiger Woods. Completely over the top and entertaining, and fitting with the direction his character has been taking. Very fun.

PURGATORY:

Gail Kim vs. Angelina Love w/Velvet Sky: Gail Kim vs. Angelina Love had a good TV build, in a different way through the video packages that highlighted their history together from training to TNA. So they faced off here at Victory Road and they had a match I would classify as "fine." They got a bit over 6-minutes, the work was sound, the plan was good and as I said it was fine. I expected the Sky interference, which worked, but I did feel that Love needed to either win or that they really needed to leave Gail laying in the ring to make this work. Well, Gail won and then escaped being laid out, which I didn't like all that much. Love almost lost her top, which is both a good and bad thing, but for our purposes it is a bad thing as she kept grabbing at it. And finally, I think Love is a better wrestler than most do, but it was really clear right here that she is a level below Kim as she had trouble keeping up at times.

TNA Knockout's Title Match: Taylor Wilde © vs. Awesome Kong w/Raisha Saeed: We had a rematch for the Knockouts title as young Taylor Wilde defended her newly won title against former champion Awesome Kong. I am very torn on the title change on TV, but they did it and we got the rematch here. What they did was fun, Kong killed, Wilde was the resilient face, and while Kong was focused on killing, Wilde got another roll up for the win. On one hand TNA has done a great job in creating a new star in the ladies division, which is always a great thing. But on the other hand Kong has been a dominant monster for the last 6-months and now has lost 2-times in short matches to what look like fluke style roll ups. Some even said they hated it because it just felt like a replay of the Impact match, which I cannot argue with. While Wilde's star is rising, I feel that a lot of the work that was done to build Kong could have been undone, the follow up will be VERY important here. The after match beat down was pretty good though, Saeed killed Wilde with a great tackle and then tossed her to Kong for killing. They went to use a chair, Abyss them came down to continue his, "saving the helpless" gimmick. Saeed got Kong to back off, but then slapped Abyss and ate a black hole slam. He then carried young Taylor to the back and the world was happy I suppose.

THE WRONG:

Grudge Match: "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal w/SoCal Val vs. "The Guru" Sonjay Dutt: Oh yes, the big grudge match. It even looked like Hogan and Savage as Dutt was sporting the bandana. The work wasn't bad here, but it also wasn't great. Dutt did some really good heel things, Lethal at times looked like he wanted to kill him and they had the makings of good things. One thing I hates was the overdone camera work. So many cuts to Val for her awfully acted reaction took away from the match, you know, the thing we're trying to watch. Dutt had given a card and rose to Val before the bout, and as Lethal was beating the hell out of Dutt, Dutt was begging Val to stop it. Eventually she took pity on him, and tried to get Lethal to stop, which led to the roll up win for Dutt. He kissed the hand of Val and ran away a proud heel! That was good as he is doing well as a heel, unfortunately due to the way the wedding was done and the piss poor follow up, they had next to no heat, nobody cared. They'll have to work very hard to recover the angle, Dutt as a heel is good, but the booking has to back then up now.

Fan's Revenge TNA Tag Team Title Match: The Latin American Xchange © w/Salinas and Hector Guerrero vs. Beer Money Inc. (Robert Roode & James Storm): This was a prime example of the stipulation getting in the way of talented workers. While Beer Money has been thrown together, they are both great and are making it work. LAX is great, so together we will get some magic I feel. The strapping to begin the angle was fine, and I think that they really screwed things up by jumping to the fan's revenge. I would have had LAX retain here on PPV in a straight match and take another whipping. Then Beer Money takes the titles on Impact or the next PPV, AND they whip LAX again. You then go to a regular, no fans involved, non-title strap match where the faces can get a win and some revenge, but not the titles. From there you move on to Beer Money working to keep the titles by any means, Bound for Glory comes and LAX takes the titles back and it is simple. Unfortunately TNA was too concerned with beating Beer Money twice on one show and then doing this gimmick with doesn't always work, and handcuffs the guys. And that is really what happened here. They tried, but the gimmick had to be fulfilled and they did it to a point, but it just had no flow to me. Although the double suplex spot where Beer Money suplexed Cide, jumped up and yelled Beer Money was gold. And I am not saying that the match was atrocious, it wasn't, but it didn't click for me. It could have been done better and the booking shouldn't handcuff the talent. I hope that they simplify and move on from here in a better direction.

THE RIDICULOUS:

The Main Event: And now we come to the main event. I actually sat back and thought on this a lot, trying to see the good of it and all of that jazz, but after contemplating the whole deal, I have to go ridiculous. First of all the match wasn't bad, but as a fan of both guys, I found it incredibly average and hard for me to get involved in. I can't put my finger on it, but it just didn't jive with me. So they had the match, and they cut to Sharmell right around 800 times. It was an obvious tip off that she would be involved. It was wild in that Joe was the heel the whole time and that they looked to pull the turn here, which isn't a bad idea. They knew he would be treated as a heel, and in theory turning him heel with that reaction would make sense. But then again you just ran four video's showing how much of an egotistical asshole Booker is. So maybe they were just going for bad ass tweener Joe, which again is a fine thing. But the way it ended with Sting laying out Joe, and Booker leaving with the title is BAD. Joe looked bad ass by killing Booker, and laying out 56 security guys. Sting comes out, Joe blows him off and that's cool. But then, if things aren't odd enough Sting comes back and then knocks out Joe with the bat, since Joe wouldn't listen to him. So now you have Joe with heel heat, Sting with heel heat and Booker getting the face pop. BUT THEN it gets MORE fucked up. Booker covers Joe, and Sharmell counts the pin. She gives him the title belt and they leave. And the fans SHIT on it. So now you have Joe with heel heat, Sting with heel heat and Booker with heel heat and EVERYONE IS CONFUSED because TNA had to create a fuck finish just for the sake of creating a fuck finish. So they are going to run the stolen belt AGAIN. They are using PPV to hype Impact, AGAIN, and TNA is back to having bullshit main events. This came off confusing and I very much dislike ending a PPV main event without a finish, especially a title match. They could have done this way better, but they didn't. I think that it was a HUGE mistake ending the show with the "bad ass champion" laid out in the ring. They could have easily had Sting get one shot to the back and run off Joe, leaving Sting standing tall. Instead bullshit prevailed. Vinnie Ru, is that you? And what are the chances that they remember that Joe walked out on Sting forever ago and let him get beat down by heels after they tagged together?

Closing Thoughts:
Outside of the main event, there was a lot to like on this PPV for the simple fact that there wasn't a ton of stupid or bad shit. The matches that made the wrong were due to booking issues more than the guys work in the ring. The World X-Cup opener was just tremendous stuff, the Booker videos were great, the Full Metal Mayhem was really good stuff and while not as good as other incarnations of the match, Ultimate X was a good match as well. If the booking would have helped some of the guys and the main event different, this PPV had the chance to be up there for PPV of the year. Instead it is merely a good PPV, not that good is bad. Overall I will go with a 7.9 out of 10 and give a solid recommendation for the show, but you HAVE to see the opening match, it was greatness.

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2008 PPV Rankings:
-WWE WRESTLEMANIA {8.7}
-ROH RISING ABOVE {8.6}
-ROH UNDENIABLE {8.5}
-TNA LOCKDOWN {8.2}
-WWE NO WAY OUT {8.1}
-ROH TAKE NO PRISONERS {8.0}
-WWE ROYAL RUMBLE {8.0}
-TNA VICTORY ROAD {7.9}
-TNA SLAMMIVERSARY {7.7}
-TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS {7.5}
-TNA DESTINATION X {7.25}
-WWE BACKLASH {7.0}
-WWE ONE NIGHT STAND IV {6.8}
-TNA FINAL RESOLUTION {6.75}
-WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS {6.7}
-WWE JUDGMENT DAY {6.0}
-TNA SACRIFICE {6.0}

2008 TOP PPV Match Rankings:
-(WWE WRESTLEMANIA 24) CAREER THREATENING MATCH: Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels *****

-(WWE WRESTLEMANIA 24) WORLD TITLE MATCH: Edge © vs. The Undertaker ****½
-(ROH TAKE NO PRISONERS) ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness © vs. Tyler Black ****½
-(ROH RISING ABOVE) ROH WORLD TITLE MATCH: Nigel McGuinness © vs. Austin Aries ****½
-(TNA LOCKDOWN) TNA WORLD TITLE MATCH: Kurt Angle © vs. Samoa Joe ****½
-(TNA VICTORY ROAD) (World X Cup Semifinal Elimination Tag Match) Curry Man, Alex Shelly and Chris Sabin vs. Puma, Yoshino and Milano Collection AT vs. Rey Bucanero, Averno and Ultimo Guerrero vs. Williams, Dux and Kozlov ****½

-(ROH TAKE NO PRISONERS) Bryan Danielson vs. Austin Aries ****¼
-(ROH UNDENIABLE) GRUDGE MATCH: Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong ****¼
-(WWE NO WAY OUT) RAW ELIMINATION CHAMBER ****¼

-(TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS) TNA WORLD TITLE MATCH: Kurt Angle © vs. Christian Cage ****
-(TNA FINAL RESOLUTION) TNA WORLD TITLE MATCH: Kurt Angle © vs. Christian Cage ****
-(WWE ROYAL RUMBLE) The Royal Rumble Match ****
-(WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS) WWE TITLE MATCH: HHH © vs. John Cena ****
-(WWE ONE NIGHT STAND) TLC: The Undertaker vs. Edge ****

-(TNA VICTORY ROAD) (Full Metal Mayhem – Six-Man War Match) AJ Styles, Christian Cage & Rhino vs. Kurt Angle & Team 3D ***¾
-(TNA SLAMMIVERSARY) TNA X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Petey Williams © vs. Kaz ***¾
-(TNA FINAL RESOLUTION) TNA NO-DQ WOMEN'S TITLE MATCH: Gail Kim ©vs. Awesome Kong ***¾
-(TNA LOCKDOWN) LETHAL LOCKDOWN: Team Cage vs. Team Tomko ***¾
-(TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS) HARDCORE STREET FIGHT: Team 3D and Brother Devine vs. Black Machismo and the Motor City Machineguns ***¾
-(ROH UNDENIABLE) ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Jay & Mark Briscoe © vs. The No Remorse Corps ***¾
-(ROH RISING ABOVE) ROH WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH - 2 of 3 Falls: Jay & Mark Briscoe © vs. The No Remorse Corps ***¾
-(WWE NO WAY OUT) SMACKDOWN ELIMINATION CHAMBER ***¾
-(WWE WRESTLEMANIA 24) WWE TITLE MATCH: Randy Orton © vs. John Cena vs. HHH ***¾
-(WWE BACKLASH) WORLD TITLE MATCH: The Undertaker © vs. Edge ***¾
-(WWE WRESTLEMANIA 24) MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH: Chris Jericho vs. MVP vs. John Morrison vs. Carlito vs. CM Punk vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. Shelton Benjamin ***¾
-(WWE JUDGMENT DAY) HBK vs. Chris Jericho ***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.

-ROH RISING ABOVE: Nigel vs. Aries (Stealing the Show)
-TNA FINAL RESOLUTION: Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong (Making us Care about Women's Wrestling on the National Stage)
-ROH UNDENIABLE: Strong vs. Aries (The Grudge is Settled)
-WWE ROYAL RUMBLE: John Cena Shocks the World (No One Saw it Coming)
-TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS: Black Machismo Saves the X-Division (He is a Superman)
-WWE NO WAY OUT: Taker Eliminates the Competition (Elimination Chamber MVP)
-TNA DESTINATION X: Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong © vs. ODB (Stepping up Again)
-WWE WRESTLEMANIA XXIV: Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels (Thank You Flair)
-TNA LOCKDOWN: Angle vs. Joe (Great Build, Great Delivery)
-TNA SACRIFICE: Roxxi gets a Haircut (And makes the ultimate Sacrifice…)
-ROH TAKE NO PRISONERS: Tyler Black (Becoming a Star at 21)
-WWE ONE NIGHT STAND: The Undertaker (You Crazy Fuck)
-TNA SLAMMIVERSARY: Kaz vs. Petey (Stealing the Show)
-WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS: HHH (Silencing the Critics)
-TNA VICTORY ROAD: Alex Shelley and Yoshino (Stealing the Show)