TNA Slammiversary 2013 Review

Slammiversary was strong pay-per-view outing for TNA, with a number of solid, entertaining contests, including a surprisingly brutal contest between Gail Kim and Taryn Terrell, which was unfortunately let down by the shambolic ending to the main event contest.

World Heavyweight Championship No Holds Barred Match:  Bully Ray © vs. Sting

     I wasn’t expecting this match to be a technical master class and neither was I expecting it to go for particularly long, however what was presented was such a mess of a match it was difficult to find many positives, apart from the result. From the opening of the contest Sting looked obviously tired and seemed to struggle his way to the end of the match, at one point even having difficulty to get into the ring. However, the No Disqualification match type could have been used to lead these two to a decent match, if it weren’t for a number of booking errors throughout the contest.

With the opening seeing a combination of offence from both men, with Bully Ray doing most of the running for The Icon. Sting’s use of the World Championship belt and the announce table gave the bout the early edge that it needed and with Bully Ray’s thunderous clothesline as Sting prepared for a Stinger Splash on the guard rail, it seemed like this bout was heading in the right direction. However, once the pair headed towards the entrance ramp the match went progressively downhill. For some reason Bully Ray had to head backstage to collect a steel chair, which Sting quickly gained control of, before Brooke Hogan had to come out to protect Bully Ray. This made Bully look incredibly weak, which became a theme for the remainder of the match.

With Brooke Hogan sent packing by Sting, the Aces and Eights president hit a low blow which unleashed an avalanche of offence from Bully Ray. We now saw Sting, who for the majority of the contest looked like a tired, frail old man, transform into Superman. As after a number of chairs shots, including a massive big boot through the chair, Ray hit a pile driver (which had been built up in an earlier interview with JB) only for Sting to kick out. This trend continued with Sting being power bombed threw a table, only to kick out once more then. Then we entered the ridiculous, with Bully Ray dismantled the ring with a small knife, removing the mat to reveal the wood board beneath and deliver a second pile driver, only for Sting to kick out. This move was incredibly dangerous and should have been the end of the match, by this point any air of believability had been completely removed and it was difficult to get behind Sting.

Just as I thought it couldn’t get much worse, Aces and Eight invaded the ring, only for Sting to dispatch Garett Bischoff, Wes Brisco, DOC & Knox with his trusty baseball bat. It’s frustrating how weak Aces and Eight are made to look at every turn, as it removes their threat in any situation if we believe the face can easily get rid of them, as Sting did here. There was further interference from Devon, who pulled out the referee to stop the count for Sting, who went out to combat Aces and Eights again. With The Icon distracted Mr. Anderson slid Bully Ray, the hammer we’ve seen all too often, and with Sting diving from the top rope, the Bully smashed him on the head to finally get his victory. For me, this ending has removed a lot of momentum TNA had going forward with the World Heavyweight Championship,  as it took the entire of Aces and Eights to defeat a 54 year old man. Maybe if some of TNA’s competitors had made an appearance to combat the threat from Aces and Eight’s with Anderson eventually slipping in the hammer this might have been a more satisfying ending.

AJ Styles vs. Kurt Angle

Before this match, Kurt Angle was announced by Dixie Carter as the second inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame. Personally, I think this is a good decision by TNA, as Kurt has done a lot for the company since jumping ship in 2006, and has put in a numerous great performance for the company both in the ring and out. Many were disappointed about the exclusion of Jeff Jarrett, however with Jarrett still in hot water with Dixie Carter and TNA around his affair with Angle’s ex-wife, it would appear Jarrett will have to wait at least until next year.

Angle and Styles have had numerous contests over the last six or seven years, with a lot of history between the two, and I can’t remember every being disappointed by one of their contests. Of course, nothing changed with this outing, as the two put on another great match, with a mixture of high flying, technical and submission wrestling.

The Lone Wolf’s new submission hold “The Calf Killer” bringing a new element to match, as AJ focused on Kurt Angle’s injured knee for the majority of the match up. With AJ finding a number of interesting ways to get the hold in, Angle sold like his life depended on it and truly made the hold look like a devastating manoeuvre. The two also traded a number of holds throughout with a number of great suplexes from Angle, with Style’s struggle to reach the ropes really selling the trifecta of German Suplexes that Angle unleashed afterwards. The highlight of the match however, saw the well-known top rope exploder German suplex from Angle, countered by Styles into a beautiful flip only for Angle to hit a Release Belly to Belly suplex, which was a true “This is awesome” moment.

With a match built around submissions, it was surprising to see this one end with a Pinfall victory for Angle. With Style’s reversing the Angle Slam into a Sunset flip, Angle quickly reversed into a nice double leg takedown for the victory. Whilst, this match felt like it could have gone a lot longer and with another fifteen minutes truly could have become a great contest, it was nice to left asking for more and hopefully we’ll see these two lock up at least one more time in the future. It’s clear that the AJ Styles storyline of the past year or so is far from over and it will be interesting to see where TNA decide to go with it from here as I really can’t work out what is coming next.

Tag Team Championship Four Way Elimination Match: Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez © Vs. Bad Influence Vs. The Dirty Heels vs. James Storm & Gunner

This was a fairly well worked contest, albeit with a few floors in logic which dented it’s enjoyability. A nice start with the two big men in the match, Gunner and Hernandez squaring off, only to get kicked in the back when bouncing of the ropes by members of Bad Influence and The Dirty Heels. It was here the classic multi man break down occurred as the match plunge into a long period of chaos, with each team getting at least one offensive move on another.

The match calmed down for a while, allowing Chavo Guerrero to remind us why TNA signed him, because he is supreme in-ring talent, yes WWE enjoyed putting him in matches with Hornswoggle, but he is an asset to the company and probably one of the best ex-WWE signing they have made. After this we got another break down, did we really need two? Yes they can be exciting, but two is a bit of an overkill.

With Hernandez fighting of Kazarian’s attack and following up with an impressive Border Toss, Chavo jumped to the top rope for a Frog Splash. This is wear things got confusing. With Chavo seemingly having pinned Kaz, Bobby Roode (from another team) stopped the ref’s count, only to point out Christopher Daniels hitting Chavo with the Tag Title belt. Roode would go on to pin Chavo with Hernandez somehow missing it all. This section of the match didn’t quite come off as clever as I’m sure it was supposed as both the Boston crowd and the audience at home tried to figure out why Bobby Roode didn’t just let Chavo pin Kazarian and hit a surprise attack straight after.

With just The Dirty Heels and the newly formed Storm and Gunner left, the match settled down into a much more comfortable pace. Gunner more than held his own amongst much more experienced competitors. Having to take a lot of offence from Roode & Aries, including a 450 splash from Aries which seemed to end the contest, only for a last minute kick out. After this we headed to a satisfying ending with an Aries taking a Last Call Super kick from Storm and falling into Gunner’s torture rack, newly christened the Gun Wreck for the submission victory. The new team work well throughout and really looked the part, with hopefully Gunner being able to benefit from the association with Storm not only through crowd reaction but also in terms of in ring psychology and technique which the big man could still do with building upon.

Best of the Rest

There was also a fantastic Last Knockout Standing Match, between Gail Kim and Taryn Terrell. Yes, I did say I wasn’t looking forward to this match for a number of reasons, and even criticised Terrell’s in ring ability on a number of occasions and I’d like to take this opportunity to apologise to both competitor’s especially Terrell.

It was a vicious looking contest, with both taking a number of bumps on what looks like an unforgiving entrance ramp, including a head first dive from Terrell which looked extremely painful. Not only was the bout brutal, there was also some nice psychology paying off here, based around the figure four leg lock, which both competitors used wrapped around the ring post, especially satisfying for Terrell who was injured by the move only a few weeks ago. The finish saw a spot that the majority of most male wrestlers probably wouldn’t try, with Terrell hitting a variety of a cutter on Kim off of the ramp and onto the floor below. With Terrell just making the ten count for the victory. Although, I still feel ODB deserves better than Knockout’s Referee, this match saw Terrell earn my respect and she know fully deserves her place on the Knockout’s roster and the expected singles feud with Mickie James.

The Television Title match saw an obvious yet satisfying twist. With Aces and Eights attacking Joseph Park backstage, it was only a matter of time before his brother Abyss made an appearance. With Devon getting the referee the Countout out Park it seemed as if Devon had retained the title for another night. Oddly, this was when Abyss’ music hit and he headed down to the ring, once the fight started, for some reason the bell rang and it became an official match.

It was a short match and hopefully Abyss will get a better setting to display his talents in the near future. Although not a terrible match, it didn’t have much going for it with little excitement brought to it up until the end, with Devon flipping the double bird on Abyss only for The Monster to hit a huge Black Hole Slam for the three count. Somehow this also meant Abyss had won the Television Championship, despite Park already losing his contest via Countout. It wouldn’t have taken much to make this a title contest, but TNA continues to miss the little details on numerous occasions.

Another title change occurred in the X-Division, with Chris Sabin picking up the victory over champion Kenny King and Suicide in an Ultimate X Match. As far as Ultimate X goes this wasn’t a particularly great contest in what is usually a spot heavy gimmick match. There was a non-sensicle double submission at one point, despite the match being unable to be won in that fashion. As well as an awkward “Tower of Doom” spot which took a number of attempt and in the end wasn’t that impressive. A lot of the time the competitors didn’t quite look like they knew what was happening, this contest would have benefitted from being a regular three way. With the ending not quite living up to past outings, with King and Suicide falling from the structure leaving Sabin to pull down the belt. Although by now means a bad match and at times featuring some great athletic competition, it just couldn’t live up to previous Ultimate X matches.

For some reason Hulk Hogan decided to come out after Sabin’s victory, and say something about Destination X, despite the pay-per-view being pulled from the schedule. Hulk did nothing for Sabin in this segment and simply managed to get the crowd chanting his own name. If Hogan’s going to stick around he needs to leave the younger guys alone to create their own moments and have their own spotlight. Hogan went on to announce the opponents for Aces and Eights… despite them already being confirmed on last weeks Impact. There’s been a lot of talk about TNA’s long term booking as of late, but it appears like no one’s letting Hogan in on what’s happening on his Television show.

The six man tag match itself pitting Mr. Anderson, Garrett Bischoff & Wes Brisco against Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe & Magnus captured this pay-per-view in one individual contest, it was at time messy with the rookies in ring positioning coming into questions on a number of occasions, at time exhilarating with Samoa Joe’s burst of energy being on par with what we’ve seen from Daniel Bryan in WWE as of late and the ending really brought the match to life with the pace building towards a fascinated conclusion, with Hardy hitting a Swanton Bomb on Brisco as he attempted to pin Magnus, with Anderson locked in the Rear Naked Choke on the ramp. Was it up there with The Shield’s six man tag matches on Raw? No.

 The other match on the card saw Gutcheck Rookies Sam Shaw and Jay Bradley face of for a place in the Bound for Glory Series. It was a basic and uninspiring contest, with neither man getting much offense in for very long. The ending looked awkward as Bradley seemed to forget what was meant to come up next, which was simply his Boomstick finishing move. Both men need to work hard to develop a story within their matches as this was non-existent here. I can’t see Jay Bradley being much more than a whipping boy within the Bound for Glory Series.

Finally…

What have we learnt from this year Slammiversary?

1. If Aces and Eight are never made to look particularly strong then there eventually downfall will not feel as exciting as their over a year reign should allow.

2.  Kurt Angle can still go with the best of them, Sting can’t.

3.       Tazz continues to point out the plot holes within TNA, to hilarious consequence on commentary.

TNA Slammiversary 2013 Predictions

Well, we're less than an hour away from TNA's Slammiversary, so I better get going with these predictions!

It's been a decent build up towards this one, with Sting being a logical person to go into battle for Hulk Hogan against the Immortal One's Son-in-Law. However, I don't hold out much hope for this as a physical contest, whilst Bully has been having some of the best singles matches of his career lately, Sting looked barely capable of a Tag Team contest on Impact recently, so this could be a slow short match up, not befitting the story line or a Pay-Per-View Main event. I'd expect run-ins from numerous Aces and Eight members, both Hulk and Brooke Hogan, and probably a number of TNA Roster members, possibly even the big name signing Dixie Carter has touted on Twitter recently.

Winner: Bully Ray

Now, we've seen this match a number of times throughout the years, in various different combination, but no point has it ever become a chore to watch Kurt Angle and AJ Styles create magic within the squared circle. Once again, I'd expect AJ and Kurt to pull out an absolute classic, with a brand new psychology to play with and AJ settling into a new edgier character, this will be a more than entertaining contest. Hopefully this match is given a good half an hour and there is no interference from Aces and Eights or anyone else involved in this story.

Winner: AJ Styles

Featuring seven proven talented in ring competitors and one fairly unknown entity, this should be an explosive contest. The psychology has been built well over the last few months of Impact with each team having a number of different ties to another, TNA has to make sure this psychology pays off in this contest to make it feel like a satisfying contest, a mere collection of moves will not be enough. There's a number of ways for TNA to head with this but with a number of these guys surely heading for the Bound For Glory Series after Slammiversary there seems only one logical choice.

Winners: Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez

It's been a long time since we've seen Devon defend the Television Championship, despite Hogan's decree less than a year ago that the TV title should be defended every week. So it won't feel like a massive moment if Park wins the title, which it might have if the title had been handled properly as of late. The Parks character has been handled well and is always entertaining, but it really is time for Abyss to return as it feels like the Joseph Park character can go no further in the world of wrestling. I'd expect an appearance from Abyss in this match, probably appearing from under the ring, after Parks has gone underneath.

Winner: Joseph Park

Although I believe a Kenny King vs. Chris Sabin singles contest would have been a more satisfying one in terms of storyline, this will no doubt be an entertaining spot laden match. Hopefully Sabin doesn't put himself in too much danger, as another injury would surely end his promising career. I'd prefer to see Kenny King's reign go a bit longer as he's an entertaining character and a long running rivalry with Sabin leading into Bound For Glory could light up Impact throughout the summer.

Winner: Kenny King

Would much rather have seen a rematch of Mickie James and Velvet Sky take this spot on the card, as Taryn Terrel has shown little to show she deserves tp have been promoted from Knockouts Referee, especially with ODB taking her place. It will be interesting to see how extreme this match goes, as I'm expecting little more than a cat fight. Although I'm not a huge fan of Terrel, I expect TNA to build her into a singles feud with the newly heel Mickie James in the near future.

Winner: Taryn Terrel

Wouldn't say I know too much about either of these guys, but that's mainly due to TNA not using them that much since their Gut Check challenges. Bradley would seem the more charismatic of the two, with Shaw being more of a body guy, but that's about all we know about these two rookies.

Winner: Sam Shaw

There's four extremely talent competitors in this match and then there's Wes Brisco and Garett Bischoff. Now I'm not completely down on these two Aces and Eights member, we just haven't seen enough of them in the ring to prove they have much talent. Yes, Brisco has had some decent matches with Kurt Angle, but Angle rarely has had bad match, no matter who he is facing! I was also pretty TNA announced this match to feature DOC instead of Anderson, obviously plans changed by the end of the show. With all three members of on team heading for the Bound For Glory Series, it seems their can be only one choice.

Winners: Magnus, Samoa Joe & Jeff Hardy

It's looks like it's going to be a mixed bag tonight for Slammiversary, some extremely entertaining contests on the line up, but some that might be difficult to stay awake through! Enjoy the show people!

TNA Impact Wrestling 30th May 2013 Review

This week’s edition of TNA’s Impact Wrestling was the go-home edition for this Sunday’s Slammiversary pay-per-view and as a whole the show did its job well, pushing the major storylines going into the show and providing some good in ring action.

AJ Styles vs. Mr. Anderson

In my opinion, the AJ Styles storyline (okay, let’s forget about the whole Clare Lynch saga and never mention it again) has been one of the best things about TNA and wrestling as a whole over the last year or so. It’s clear that TNA’s long term booking strategy is beginning to pay off, as I’ve genuinely been interested where the storyline has been going from week to week.

This match was set up at the start of the show, with Aces and Eights President and World Heavyweight Champion Bully Ray telling Anderson that he would have to face Styles tonight, because of Anderson being the one who failed to get Styles to join the group the previous week. A comment from outcast member D’Lo Brown, leading to vicious beat down from Anderson, seemingly removing Brown from the group for good. For me, this was fantastic decision as Brown neither fitted with the group nor brought anything to it. However I wouldn’t be surprised to see Brown appear in some fashion at Slammiversary.

As expected of these two top draw talents the match was an impressive television main event of arguably pay-per-view quality. It seems The Phenomenal One has changed up his in-ring style as of late becoming more of a hard hitting brawler than the highflyer we’ve come to expect over recent years, however this style suits the storyline with AJ not looking to please anyone and simply win matches. There was a nice spot on the apron with Anderson delivering a DDT, which Styles sold to perfection. With Anderson returning Styles’ blows and the match going back and forth throughout this was steadily building into an exciting contest, until Kurt Angle came to ruin the party. It was frustrating to see the match end this way, although with Slammiversary just around the corner I can see why TNA opted for the Angle run.

With Styles and Angle battling it out, it didn’t take long for Aces and Eights to make an appearance beating on both men. Their threat was countered by run ins from Samoa Joe, Magnus, Joseph Park and Sting. This allowed Angle and Styles to continue their battle up the entrance ramp, building well for Sunday’s contest. Personally, I would have preferred TNA to hold off on AJ Styles’s in ring return until Slammiversary, with his previous bout with James Storm and now this contest with Anderson somewhat taking the shine and draw of his match with Kurt Angle.

Aces & Eights (World Heavyweight Champion Bully Ray & Television Champion Devon) Vs. Sting & Joseph Park

The other big match on the show was used to hype two title matches for this Sunday and saw the return of one of the most successful tag teams of all time, Team 3D. Before the contest, Bully Ray was handed a microphone. Now anyone who’s been watching TNA over the last few years will know anytime Bully Ray has a microphone in his hand you better be listening and this promo was no different. He put over his number one contender, Sting, talking about people Sting had beaten to win World titles in the past, mentioning Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Kurt Angle and Jeff Hardy. Ray said he couldn’t wait to make sure Sting could never wrestle for the World Title ever again, before calling out Sting and Park to start the contest.

I have to be honest, I didn’t hold out much hope for this tag team contest, as I’m not particularly looking forward to either singles contests on the Pay-Per-View. However, this was a surprisingly fun tag team bout, with the opening of the match being a brawl on the outside, leading to a nice double clothesline spot from Sting and Bully once back on the inside. With Team 3D working over Park for the majority of the match, Sting was heavily protected with only a small amount of ring time after Park made the hot tag, which is worrying considering he’s in a big singles main event on Sunday.

Sting looked strong once the hot tag was in, hitting a double Stinger splash and putting Devon in the Scorpion Death Lock, only for Joseph Park’s “inexperience” to cost the team as he failed in his attempt to put Bully Ray in a similar move, leading to a silly spot with Park falling into Sting. Although Park plays the character well and it has been entertaining to watch since its debut, I’m definitely chomping at the bit to see him return to playing Abyss full time once more. It looks like my wish might be granted, as just as 3D looked to be heading for victory, Abyss’ music played distracting Bully and Devon and allowing The Stinger to hit a Scorpion Death Drop on Devon for the win. Although this match will probably not be remember for long, it did a good job of building these two matches heading into the pay-per-view.

The Bully Ray storyline continued later in the show, with a backstage segment between Hulk and Brooke Hogan as they discussed Ray’s words from last week about “still loving” Brooke. I could really do without so much Hogan on the product, I’m tuning in to watch pro wrestling, not a continuation of Hogan Knows Best. There’s definitely way too much going on in the Bully Ray-Sting match at Slammiversary, and I’d expect Hulk, Brooke, Aces and Eights and maybe even Abyss to get involved in some way, especially seeing as I can’t see Sting wrestling a full main event match. Sting and Bully Ray returned to end the show with the usual mass brawl, with both men trading blows, until Devon re-entered and Sting got flattened with a 3D. This is the strongest Aces and Eights have looked for a while, maybe TNA has taken notice of WWE’s booking of similar group The Shield.

Best of the Rest

Another big match heading into Slammiversary is the Four Way Elimination match for the World Tag Team Championships. James Storm explained why he’d chosen Gunner as his Tag Team partner in a backstage segment. Storm is usually spot on with his promos, however this one about Gunner “killing people” and how he was going to “kill people for me (Storm) too” was awkward and sat uneasy in the current climate.

There was a nice preview to Sunday’s tag title contest with an Eight Man Tag Team match, featuring Champions Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez teaming with Gunner and James Storm to take on Bad Influence and the poorly name Dirty Heels. With all eight men working hard throughout the previous weeks and months to build the psychology going into the big elimination match, this contest turned it up to eleven. With Austin Aries working the crowd to perfection, tagging in Bobby Roode as soon as his name got chanted. There was some nice teamwork from both heel teams with a slingshot/elbow combination from Roode & Aries amongst the highlight. Cleverly, we didn’t get to see much of Storm and Gunner as a team until the very end of the contest, when Gunner entered and destroyed the competition, eventually making Aries tap out to a torture rack. With all the elements going into the Four Way at Slammiversary it will be very interesting to see who comes out with the Tag Team Titles.

New Knockout Champion Mickie James edged closer to a heel turn, with an interesting promo both praising and criticising her fans base. Mickie went on to call out former champion Velvet Sky and praise her as well, albeit in a patronising manner. Even going as far as to back out of a rematch with Sky at Slammiversary. Mickie hasn’t quite nailed this new character change yet, however it has been a while since she played a heel character, all the way back to her debut in WWE, and it will take time for her to settle into the role. Gail Kim interrupted the pair to put herself forward for a title shot, attacking Velvet Sky and attempting to place her in the Figure Four Leg Lock around the ring post we’ve seen take out numerous opponents in recent weeks, only for Taryn Terrell to run in for the save, leading into the Mixed Tag Team contest.

Chris Sabin teamed with Terrell, whilst Kim was joined by X-Division Champion Kenny King. I would have much rather Terrell have stayed as a referee as she’s not quite as talented or entertaining as ODB who has been relegated into this role, and has done little more than catfight with Gail Kim, which doesn’t give much hope for their Last Woman Standing Match on Sunday. Sabin and King carried most of the contest with some solid high flying action, finishing with Sabin’s new finishing move, the impressive Hail Sabin. With Sabin cutting a pre-match promo about his return and the Slammiversary match, the Pretty Boy Pit-bull made the attack from behind, only for Suicide to make the save. For me, this match doesn’t really need Suicide as the story between Sabin and King should be strong enough to build a singles match around, which is one of the downfalls of the new X Division format. However, I’m sure the Three Way Ultimate X contest will be a great spectacle with this three talented individuals. Hopefully, Sabin remains fit and strong for a long time to come, as he still has a lot to offer TNA.

We also got a rare appearance from TNA President Dixie Carter, who came to ring to make announce they would reveal a new TNA Hall of Fame Inductee at Slammiversary, although she felt a bit like a Mom giving a speech at a child’s birthday party. She was interrupted by Aces and Eights members Garrett Bischoff, Wes Brisco and DOC. Bischoff cut a decent promo, helped by the fact that it’s very easy to dislike him! With Aces and Eights circling Dixie, Magnus and a returning Samoa Joe. Joe’s intensity on the mic is impressive as always as he challenged Garett to a match. With Joe dominating it didn’t take long for Aces and Eights to get involved tripping Joe, before Magnus attempted to even the odds. With three-on-one on Magnus, Aces and Eight were looking strong, until Joe hit a huge suicide dive, taking out all three members.

Joe launched into another charismatic promo, calling the group cowards and revealing a new match for Slammiversary that will pit Brisco, Bischoff & DOC against Joe, Magnus and a returning Jeff Hardy. This could be an interesting contest and will clearly get compared to similar six man tag team matches that WWE is putting on at the moment with the Shield. However despite the talent on the TNA side of the team, I don’t think Brisco and Bischoff quite have the in ring experience to pull off a match anywhere near the quality of the competition.

Finally…

What have we learnt from this weeks Impact Wrestling?

1. Don't expect Sting to wrestle for very long in Sunday's Main Event 

2. Expect at least on appearance from The Monster, Abyss 

3. Hulk Hogan appears almost as much on Impact as the WWE App does on Raw!

Announced for Slammiversary this Sunday: Aces & Eights Vs. Magnus, Samoa Joe & Jeff Hardy