Pre-ShowMadre De Dios! El commonterio es in Espaniol!
Team Jarrett comes out and issues a proclamation that they are going to find Sting before he finds them, and end Steve Borden’s career.
We than see a build up video for tonight’s main event. Great. Christian has to work the “injured babyface” angle.
“Prince of Punk” Shannon Moore VS Cassidy RileyIf Moore is the “Prince of Punk”, why is he coming out to a ICP song?!?
It takes a while, but they finally get the commentary audio right.
Bleh match, with Moore winning with La Parka’s old “no impact” corckscrew finisher.
Match Rating: -*And to answer Mike Tenay’s question, I think the Undertaker has been playing mind games longer and better than anyone, even Sting.
Build up video for the Ultimate-X match. This is obviously the “true” main event of the show.
Simon Diamond comes out with Diamonds in the Rough and start ripping on baseball players.
Diamonds in the Rough (Elix Skipper & David Young) VS Shark Boy & Norman SmileyHUGE support for Smiley making his long awaited return to PPV. Crowd popped for everything Smiley did, and we got a Big Wiggle! Not a whole lot else here other than Simon clocking Smiley from behind, leading to Skipper & Young hitting a double STO for the win.
Match Rating: -1/2*DESTINATION X PPVI like the intro video of the PPV with the black and white vid with the guy in the Sting mask, who in the end turns out to be Jarrett himself. Great production here.
Alex Shelley VS Jay LethalROH probably made a big mistake in firing Lethal, cause now he can perform on INTERNATIONAL LIVE PPV without any worries of having to rush back for “taped” ROH shows.
I like the bizarre spot they did at the beginning where both guys were standing on their heads with their legs locked together and throwing slaps at each other. Big support for Lethal here as he battles a really good back and forth match with Shelley. Great fast paced match won by Shelley with a Shiranui, or Sliced Bread #2.
Easily, these two guys could be elevated to challenge the likes of Styles & Daniels to put on some great matches.
Match Rating: **1/2Interview with Team Canada commenting on their match with the Naturals, as well as the World X-Cup and Williams being in the International 4-Way tonight.
“Maverick” Matt Bentley with Traci VS Lance HoytSeeing Traci = smile on my face.
If TNA is in need of a monster face (not Rhino), Hoyt is definitely the man for the job.
Anyways, it was a good openweight match, but with a corny ending as we jump up to the rafters where Jeremy Borash is with Eric Young and Alex Shelley, who rain “Have You Seen Steve Borden” flyers down on the arena. For no reason, Traci grabs one and distracts Bentley by showing it to him, leaving him open for Hoyt to hit the running boot for the win.
Match Rating: *Team Canada (Eric Young & Bobby Roode) with Scott D’Amore & A1 VS The NaturalsThis one turned out better than expected even if it did go a little long. I’ve always liked Eric Young for some reason. He’s an entertaining guy with more personality than the whole Team Canada put together. And he’s a bump machine too. Strong match overall. Highlight being the 4-man crash where Chase Stevens backdropped both Team Canada members off the top while they superplexed Andy Douglas off the top. If I got the names of the Naturals mixed up, MEH.
Match Rating: **The Latin American Exchange (Konnan, Homicide & Machete) VS The James Gang (BG James, Kip James & Bullet Bob Armstrong)I thought this was pretty forgettable. At least Bullet Bob didn’t get to do much other than a few rather weak looking punches on Konnan, who sold them like a pro.
Match Rating: *Backstage with Eric Young & Alex Shelley on the hunt for Sting, who run into AJ Styles in the bathroom instead.
4-Way International X Match: Petey Williams (Canada) with A1 VS Puma (Japan) VS Sonjay Dutt (India) VS Chris Sabin (USA)Puma gets booed, and rightfully so since he’s actually a masked American, but hey, the match needs a fallboy. The good news for him is the fans actually get into him after a while. Either that, or they were cheering everyone in the match except Petey Williams.
Fans may have hated Williams, but they still sang along to “Oh Canada” when he did the foot to the groin of Sabin while he had him in the Tree of Woe.
But damn! This match ended up really, REALLY strong in the final sprint with all 4 men hitting an all out spot fest, winning a much deserved “That was Awesome” chant from the crowd. Looks like we might have a dark horse candidate for Match of the Night right here.
Match Rating: ****8-Man War: America’s Most Wanted with Jackie Gayda, Abyss with Father James Mitchell & Jeff Jarrett with Gail Kim VS “The War Machine” Rhino, Ron “The Truth” Killings & Team-3DRhino did a friggin’ plancha during the opening brawl! This is actually living up to the 8-Man War moniker as all 8-men brawl all over the arena that even the camera crews can’t keep up with everything.
They eventually get back in the ring and put on a strong back and forth match. Funny seeing AMW get Brokeback Mountain chants! Someone tell me why Truth still isn’t in the world title picture? He remains one of the most overlooked guys in the heavyweight division who the fans are solidly behind.
The only thing I didn’t like about the match was the rather weak ending after all the carnage, where Jarrett hits the stroke on Killings for the win. But I guess it makes sense considering what they did after the match.
Match Rating: ***1/2Everyone goes to the back and Jarrett calls out Sting. Sting doesn’t show up, and Jarrett proclaims he won the war and Steve Borden is a coward. Meh.
X-Division Title Ultimate X Match: “Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels VS “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles VS “The Samoan Submission Machine” Samoa Joe (C)Definitely did not disappoint as far as the action and innovation was concerned. HOWEVER, I’d have to say the International 4-way was better than this, and they didn’t need the Ultimate X gimmick. I also thought the finish of this match felt really anti-climatic.
Match Rating: ***1/2NWA World Heavyweight Title Match: “The Alpha Male” Monty Brown VS “Captain Charisma” Christian Cage (C)A lot of back and forth action, and as expected, Monty Brown attacked Christian’s bad ribs. But I thought this one was rather boring, even if Brown did do an F5 in the match. The problem was probably that the match just went too long for my liking.
Match Rating: **Jeff Jarrett comes out and demands his NWA World Title rematch. Christian offers him an ass kicking instead and they go at it, leading to team Jarrett coming in and beating down Christian, handcuffing him to the ropes and whipping him with a belt. Suddenly Steve Borden runs in and makes the save, running off Jarrett’s cronies and whipping Jarrett with the belt before locking him in the Scorpion Death Lock.
BIG POPPA PUMP SCOTT STEINER runs in and saves Jarrett! The rest of Team Jarrett find their balls and get back in the ring, joining the beat down. Steiner suplexes Borden several times before locking on the Steiner Recliner, and Jarrett gets in a guitar shot to close out the show.
Flavor of the week people.
Overall: Two good matches and a big surprise at the end of the show. Definitely worth watching for the most part.
Word of advice to TNA though, you guys need to get a new ring mat for your PPVs. Nothing screams indy more than a dirty ring mat, especially on a big show like this. It also doesn’t help that it could lead to your wrestlers getting infections, like what Samoa Joe recently suffered.
Labels: TNA
