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Marc Downs.
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Rating (8.5)
Best Match: Angle/Joe Worst Match: LAX/AMW
The opening bout was just a short brawl nothing special. Ditto with the 2nd match between the Naturals & Dutt & Lethal. Lethal & Dutt I think need to be repackaged their act is stale. The X title match was a very good match. I sense a heel turn in the future for Daniels. From his arrogant comment about being God's gift to pro wrestling to the events that transpired later in the night with AJ. The next tag match was good Starr & Shelly I think are great as a tag team. Shelly has amazing potential in being a breakout star he has presence. The Christian AJ match was great and hard hitting. It amazes me seeing Christian a high flyer of sorts of sold interact with AJ a highflyer of the current era and not using any high maneuver offense to counter AJ's stunning aerial work. With that being said these two worked great together. What bothered me at this point was we are up to our fourth tag match of the night. FOURTH. The events that happened afterwards were dumb. LAX is simply over with the crowd. The roles between them and AMW need to be reversed. The crowd definitely wasn't feeling them being stripped of the titles. I think TNA should let Homicide go loose in the X Division. Hernandez is a great power man he just needs to move a bit quicker. I've said it before and I'll say it again I see James Storm being a future Heavyweight Champion. He's a big guy who moves well, is a great worker, solid on the mic and has that star presence. When he breaks out from AMW it will be in a major way.
The Sting/Abyss match was good. I was shocked to see Sting take the thumbtacks bump. I guess he saw Ric Flair do it in ECW and wanted to one up the Naitch (lol). Nice twist it saves face for Sting and puts over Abyss. The main event match was short but sweet. Every fan including myself was expecting a 4 star 40 minute classic but I say why give it all away now? They beat the tar out of each other for those 15 minutes with Angle taking some NASTY NASTY bumps. I hope this is the beginning to a great feud. Samoa Joe is ready to be the focus of the show. He looked like a superstar out with Angle and held his own. Some people might be upset that he tapped out but majority superstars in this industry have tapped to the ankle lock, including Hulk Hogan. Overall, the show had a feeling of a new era about to unfold and they accomplished just that. I will order the next PPV as of now, and in the last 4 years I have never done that so good job TNA.
Chris Glavin
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I am trying very hard to watch TNA. I want to enjoy the alternative but they just keep going back to the over written well time and time again. How do you have 2 title changes without any champions being pinned???
Where's David Arquette when you need him?
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Genesis was a mixed bag for me. It had GREAT matches with odd storylines (I'm looking at you Mr. I killed WCW but forgive me because, as Dave would say, He's good now!)
-We start with Booby Roode vs Eric Young in the pre-game, so of course we had 2 Dusty finishes, odd way to start things off.
-Voodoo Kin Mafia declares war. Let's use real names since this is a shoot.. Ohhh.
Yes, this is very edgy and will draw millions just like Russo thinks......not.
Raven coming out in Mortal Kombat attire to cane a member of his Flock? Umm, strange.
-Dutt and Lethal really shined in their match vs the Naturals, great overall work and obvious finish. More than 10 seconds.
-Sabin vs Daniels was out of this world. I liked the involvement of Jerry Lynn and the respect theme. Daniels retains in great fashion.
-Nothing really to say about the Paparrazzi vs Killings and Hoyt except Killings is very underused. Decent jokes by Nash, but he needs Hall to be effective.
-Christian vs Styles. Great match with the odd Styles heel turn in the end...I hope Russo isn't gonna manage him again.
-More controversy as at the end of the LAX vs AMW match, Cornette strips them of the titles and crowd chants bulls***. I felt the same way.
-Main event time...I wanna say first that Sting worked his butt off. LOTS of odd booking in this match. The ref threatened DQ the whole time, yet we saw tacks, bats, a hanging and chairs, fighting in the stands, but Sting gets DQed for hitting the ref?? I thought this way no DQ the way the whole match was. Very confusing, and now we have a title change on a DQ. people attend each and every show, which leads to crowd favorites that do not match the rest of the audience. I know if Sting came to the North East, we would cheer every move he made...the crowd for Genesis seemed dead for this and favored Abyss.
-Joe vs Angle...great match, did it live up to the hype? maybe...GREAT series of reversals towards the end. Angle looked to be having fun and in great shape. We get a clean tap by Joe for the finish and then the post match promise of this not being over.
Overall, I was satisfied with the matches, not the booking.
8/10
Steve, NJ
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What a confusing, frustrating PPV.
Satisfying work in the matches? Yes.
Poor endings for most matches? Yes.
Storyline advancement and creation? Yes.
Vince Russo's fault? Maybe, although I think he is good for the company in some ways.
A missed opportunity to convert WWE fans who watching were watching their TNA PPV? Absolutely.
If you go through every match, all I can see are missed opportunities.
- VKM - whatever. They already declared war on WCW, and that got boring even when it was a fresh idea.
- Raven and "The Movement"...nice to see Raven get a new group of Midcarders, but I'd rather he spend his time getting in shape.
- Naturals - NICE MISSED SPOT! Damn! That was ugly.
- Is 3-D really on another Japanese Tour?
- Sabin vs. Daniels, second best match of the night...but did it have to end with a roll up. By the way, was that the theme of the night? Forget finishing moves, let's have each match end with a roll up. Now, it's partly refreshing because finishers get boring. But TNA has some of the more interesting finishing moves/original moves. WWE fans watching for the first time would have been impressed with the impact of Angels Wings, or Cradle Shock. Plus every X-Division Title match has ended with a Roll Up since Bound for Glory.
- Nash's Boys - WILL THEY EVER LET AUSTIN ARIES DO THE 450 SPLASH????? PLEASE!!!! Another Roll up.
- AJ vs. Christian - Very frustrating. I like some brawling, but I feel like they are both so talented and great at selling moves, that this match would have been more exciting. Perhaps even some hardcore spots. Could you imagine how excited the TNA first-timers would've been if AJ did something like a Styles Clash through a Table as he did to Homicide at Sacrifice? I swear, those fans would never watch WWE again. Weird ending. I found it hard to believe that Christian would have enough leverage or momentum to pin AJ that way. AJ should've done a spiral tap or a fosbury flop (unless he really did mess up his leg, which I doubt). Christian should've done that weird vertical cross body from the ropes to the outside that he did while he was a face in early 2006.
- AJ "Heel Turn" - Since crowd never bought Daniels as a Heel, and AJ has had some success as a Heel, its a good thing. The X-Division's problem has always been everyone is a face, a nothing or unconvincing heel. If AJ and Sabin are both heelish...at least they could have some storylines.
- I missed Senshi. Is he back in Japan for a few months?
- LAX vs AMW - Did anyone else think it was extremely Sloppy? Hernandez was AWESOME in the Styles/Daniels matches. I didn't even notice him tonight. Homicide is incredible, but he just seemed like he was kind of just hanging out. AMW, they are a great tag team, but it just seemed like something was missing.
- Petey Williams - WHAT A MISSED OPPORTUNITY? They should've had him come out mid to late match and hit Konnan with a Canadian Destroyer outside the ring. One, he would've helped AMW and the match could continue without the threat of Konnan. Two, maybe LAX wins clean or cleaner, increasing their appeal as the best team in TNA no matter how much they want you to hate them (which might be counteractive, but they do enough other things to gain some heel heat). Three, all those first time viewers, get to see move that Cena couldn't even explain, and understand why TNA is an incredible product with great talent. Could you imagine what WWE fans would think? OMG, that was incredible. This promotion is talented and deep enough to have the dude with that incredible move, ONLY do a run-in? WOW.
- Stripping the belts - I just hope they figure out a way not to.
- Sting vs Abyss - I have many thoughts that keep changing.
1. I'm happy for Abyss (although what a lame way to win a belt). He has been the TNA MVP for the past year. He has sacrificed his body so much, and is the best big man in the business. I'm glad he is getting recognition, even if he only keeps the belt for a week.
2. Interesting storyline development for Sting. Battling the darkside. It's very Moby Dick. But couldn't the storyline continued to develop without losing the belt via DQ. How bout he leaves Abyss unconscious after the barbed wire spot, wins by count-out and then while staring at the belt, you see him wondering "What have I done? Who am I? What has this belt turned me into?"
3. I can't believe Sting took the thumbtack spot. Awesome! Good for him! Definitely the pop of the night.
4. How does this affect the Christian/Sting future match? Maybe they give Sting time off (again) to find himself. He is 50 and probably needs a month or two off (again). Christian wins the belt from Abyss. Christian says Sting is scared of him...blah blah blah...main event in February...or maybe at Lockdown.
- Angle vs. Joe - DID NOT DISAPPOINT! Angle is incredible. Two things would've made the match better. 1) If it went 30 minutes instead of 19. 2) Angle did a moonsault (can he still physically do that) and Joe did an Island Driver. Anyway, Joe needed to lose at sometime, and this in no way makes him look weak. He'll win the eventual rematch and get his title shot against the winner of the aforementioned Sting/Christian title match that will inevitably happen. Then Jarrett will come back and beat Joe for the title...don't you think. Then Angle will beat Jarrett. Then Angle will lose to Joe at next years Bound for Glory, and Angle will take another year off. Am I getting ahead of myself?
Anyway, long email, weird PPV, fun matches, strange endings, too much emphasis on storylines, missed opportunities to show off the talent, and many questions. TNA remains on the way up, but they should've done better with Genesis.
Andrew
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Ben from Philly
Best TNA PPV I have ever watched. Not a bad match on the PPV and Joe vs. Angle was pretty incredible.
Pre show was ok. Geez TNA sure seemed to build the Robert Roode character up when he was searching for a manager but he has turned into a joke since. Nice way to build a character by having him lose most of his matches???? The only way his character can be saved now is if he fires Brooks and blames all of his loses on her.
Best David Sahadi opening since his WWE days.
Opening match was decent and even thought the VKM were entertaining (its been about 7 years since they last were). The Raven thing at the end was weird but I see the flock is returning. To bad Mickie James is in WWE.
Naturals match was probably the worst on the PPV but besides the blown finish it was still decent.
Daniels vs. Sabin was great. Too bad the crowd fell asleep during it and they didn't even acknowledge AJ Styles at the end. Oh well still a great match and finish. Hopefully we will see Jerry Lynn's return soon.
I don't get Starr & Shelly losing to Killings & Hoyt but I am sure it fits into the storyline somewhere. The Nash thing is getting old. It is sometimes funny but it is starting to make the X division look weak. I hope the Nash X division meeting on Thursday doesn't include Lynn, Daniels, Styles or Sabin. They have what seems to be a couple of great upper echelon X division feuds starting and they really don't need to be involved in Nash's BS. If they are, the division is doomed.
Styles vs. Christian was great as was the finish. The AJ heel turn is good since it fits him better. And for the first time ever, AJ came across good on the mic! In the last month or so Christian has really started to shine. I am glad to see TNA finally using him properly.
LAX vs. AMW was good until the ending. Has anyone in TNA noticed Petey Williams is like 5'2"??? In the real world would he be able to take out a guy like Hernandez??? I think Vince Russo wrote the ending that way just so Jim Cornette would get booed out of the building. Hopefully they will clear the mess up on Thursday.
Sting vs. Abyss was good but the DQ ending was weak. I get the whole Lord of the Rings thing with the belt making Sting turn evil but why end it on a DQ? I mean they could have gotten at least a month or two going into Sting’s obsession with the belt and how it is slowly turning him. Maybe have shot a vignette where he is petting the belt and calling it precious. Anyway it was a good match but the DQ finish is what will be remembered.
Joe vs. Angle was amazing. I thought Angle actually jacked his neck up again when Joe threw him into the rail. This match is what all wrestling training schools should show students as an example of what to do. I can’t wait for Joe vs. Angle 2 which will hopefully be for the title. Lets pray that one doesn't end in a DQ.
The only bad thing about this PPV was the Impact Zone crowd. Except for the Joe vs. Angle match they were dead most of the night. I guess after being spoiled for 2+ years they have seen it all live. TNA needs to take the show on the road and at the very least have the PPVs in real arenas like the Detroit show.
Overall an excellent show and I actually anticipated watching the Joe vs. Angle match which is something I have not done in forever for a TNA PPV or even a WWE PPV for that matter. It was the first TNA match that felt like a big time match instead of the over hyped mess TNA usually promotes. A great departure from the Jarrett vs. Nash main event days and hopefully a look at the future of TNA.
