411's Instant PPV Analysis 11.09.08: TNA Turning Point

Posted by Chris Lansdell on 11.09.2008

Sting defends against AJ Styles, Samoa Joe looks for revenge against Kevin Nash, Booker T tries to strengthen the Main Event Mafia by adding Christian Cage and the Motor City Machine Guns have a title shot! What happened? Was it good? Join me and find out!

Greetings, humanity! Welcome to 411's Instant Analysis for TNA Turning Point. I am your ever-present host Chris Lansdell, and we've got a running theme of veterans vs young guys to look forward to tonight. Without further ado, let's rock.

X-Division Ranking Cluster

As good as this was, I do have to wonder why you would have Volador (at 9) and Tanahashi (at 4? 5?) go out after Sonjay Dutt, who is a regular on your card. However, I got to see the Chaos Theory (it's unique, dammit) which makes up for a lot. If they're going to start using Doug Williams, this match was a great way to start with that. Eric Young getting the win was the right decision, as we've done Lethal and Creed and Petey against Bashir, and Eric needed to be put back into the limelight. Even Dutt and Volador, who got eliminated early, managed to look good here. Does Creed remind anyone else of RVD at all, with the flipping and the splits and the Flayyyyven gloyven...sorry. Eric's speech after that match was actually surprisingly good, with the shot at WWE and setting the tone for the evening of Young Lions vs MEM. Not to mention we went over 15 minutes at high speed. The lack of huge crazy spots (except Homicide being insane) while maintaining a high enjoyment level was important in my mind, as it showed that these guys can actually WRESTLE and not just hit spots.

Winner: Eric Young via pinfall (on Lethal, Northern Lights with bridge)
Rating: ***3/4 It's hard to do anything like psychology when you have so many people to work with. They even managed to work in some tension. There was just a certain something missing for me. That, and the strange order of elimination, cost the match. Still very good.

Awesome KONG~! and Raisha Saeed (w/ Rhaka Khan) vs Taylor Wilde and Roxxi

Kong kills bitches dead. Thought I'd through that in there. Anyway, the match told a story and was enjoyable. All 4 worked very hard and they are all capable of doing so. Lucha Taylor is developing that aspect of her in-ring skills and if she can add more than the arm drags it coud work. I just don't understand why Taylor got the pin. Wilde-Kong has been done to death and Roxxi getting the pin to set up the Kong match would have worked better for me. Still, it was better than most of the Knockouts matches we've had recently.

Winners: Roxxi and Taylor Wilde by pinfall (Wilde on Saeed, bridging German)
Rating: **3/4 I know Wilde is the anointed Next Face of the Knockouts, but that doesn't mean she's the only one who can get pinfalls. The match itself was good but not great.

Sheik Abdul Bashir vs Rhino

I am NOT a Rhino fan. As such this match would have had to do something special to get me into it, and it didn't. Frankly I spent far too much time wondering if Hall and the ICP were there because they bought tickets or if it was worked. The match was nothing more than a blowoff to get Rhyno on a PPV and to give Bashir something to do, and it felt like it. It also teased more tension between Shane Sewell and Bashir, which needs to blow up soon. Distinctly forgettable otherwise.

Winner: Rhino via pinfall (Gore)
Rating: ** It was just there.

Beer~! MONEY~! (C) vs Motor City Machine Guns

Wow. I said in the Round Table that these two teams had great chemistry and that this could be match of the night. MCMG showed all their great teamwork and all their speed, while Beer Money showed they could keep up and still win. I didn't mind the beer spitting as it fits with the team and it wasn't what beat the Guns. I hope we get to see these two teams again, because that was the best tag match I've seen outside of RoH in a very long time. By the way, the DWI is an awesome finisher. What is with these matches getting so much time tonight? I'm not complaining, but I do wonder if Cage/Booker might be a fingerpoke-style affair. Regardless, THESE TWO MUST FIGHT AGAIN. Fuck Team 3D.

Winners: Beer Money by pinfall (on Sabin, DWI)
Rating: **** Just great tag team wrestling. A cleaner finish and we would have been looking at an even better score. Beer Money showed tonight that they are better than anyone thought.

Booker T vs Christian Cage

Booker looked like James Earl Jones in Coming to America. The royal penis is clean your highness. Oh, and the Juggler-Os or whatever the fuck they're called have lefty ringside, how or when I don't know. Hall is gone too. The match worked pretty well, Booker rolled back the clock and was able to hang with Cage, who as usual was excellent. The thing that hurt this match was the complete and utter inevitability of the outcome. Booker was not losing the title he introduced 2 weeks ago. Now we have Cage in the MEM against his will, to serve what purpose? Is anyone going to be shocked when he "swerves" and says he was with them all along?

Winner: Booker T via pinfall (rollup reversal with a handful of tights)
Rating: *** Booker's work helped Christian a lot in this match, but it was still nothing special.

Abyss vs Kurt Angle

I was set to hate this match, especially when they went for a 5-minute walk through the crowd and did nothing throughout. Sure it told a story of Angle being scared, but he has spent the last few weeks telling us how he was going to kick Abyss' ass on the way to Jarrett. My outlook on the match changed as soon as Kurt (the fucking idiot) hit that perfect somersault plancha off the stage. It was huge, it was graceful and Abyss was in the perfect spot. Angle's still fucking crazy for trying it, but it was amazing. The match stayed on a high after that, with near falls, nice spots and nothing ridiculously dangerous. Hell, Kurt even hit a moonsault! He hits that less than Flair hits anything off the top. Even the end spot was not as high up as it looked. Jarrett may well try and throw Morgan in front of Kurt before fighting him again. With these two guys fighting in that sort of environment, it was always likely to be pulse-pounding, and it did not disappoint.

Winner: Kurt Angle via pinfall (European uppercut putting Abyss through a table from on high)
Rating: ***3/4 Just short of 4 because of the walking through the crowd and because Kurt seems to be trying to kill himself. Hey, maybe he's Suicide!

Samoa Joe vs Kevin Nash

Considering what they had to work with, they did well with this match. I wasn't expecting much out of this, but they told a good story for the time they had and I didn't hate it. Nash winning is not what I expected but it works in the context of the MEM dominating the night's proceedings. Presumably this means we'll see these two fight again, which normally I would dread but if they can go like this again it won't be so bad. Nash beating on Joe in so many ways to get the win, and Joe kicking out of 2 Jackknife powerbombs was the story, and it all worked out well.

Winner: Kevin Nash via pinfall (low blow and rope-assisted pin)
Rating: ***¼ Better than I expected, but still not great. With Nash's limitations is was as good as could be expected.

Sting (C) vs AJ Styles

In what seems to be the theme of the night, this match delivered more than expected. Good back-and-forth action combined with a MEM win despite a strong effort from the young guy. Sting was never likely to lose the title on the first defence, and the way he won sets up the possibility of a rematch without making AJ look weak. It was good to see the Spiral Tap again too.

Winner: Sting via pinfall (rollup folowing missed Pele)
Rating: ***½ Surprisingly high-paced and good fun

Match of the Night: Motor City Machine Guns-Beer Money
Everything I was expecting from it and more. Two of the best teams on TV today and well worth seeing again.
Trash of the Night: Rhino-Sheik Abdul Bashir
Could have been on Impact. Meant nothing and they both seemed to know it.
Final Rating: ***½
Another strong PPV outing for TNA. They are running hard with the MEM storyline and so far it is working well. Sure there are a few wrinkles to iron out but for the most part this is a good direction.