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Anyways, I have no comments on the pre show because I never get to see it. I don’t know why Viewers Choice in Canada refuses to show it, but I'm over it!
So on to the show… PS… I don’t really remember the exact order, so give me some slack!
The Paparazzi Championship Series match was good for what it was, but unfortunately the generally good match had to be overshadowed by the Alex Shelley/Austin Starr feud which to be honest seems to be going nowhere. I would personally rather see matches based on good storylines, not this Kevin Nash crap… but that’s just my opinion. At least the matches are good right? There just seems to be no purpose!
The next segment was the one that made me ashamed to have paid for the show. Of course this was the bikini contest. I knew it would suck before I even purchased the event… but in the end I just wish they didn’t do it… oh well… gave me time to make dinner!
After these two things the show picked up huge. I loved the Sabin/Daniels match for the X Title. I would love to see these guys work together again. My confusion for this match came from the post match events with Jerry Lynn slapping Daniels. I thought they were working towards Lynn coming back to face Sabin, but now I am confused. First, why would Daniels refuse to shake Sabin’s hand? He is supposed to be the face! Second, why would Lynn slap him for that? Yea, I was definitely confused! Oh well though, I hope a Lynn/Daniels match does happen because I am quite sure that would be amazing.
The baseball segment? I don’t know… If it brings in more fans I will be happy. Personally I don’t care, but if it works go ahead!
I thought the Flag match was really good too. I am a big fan of LAX (although not always the stories they are involved in) so I expected a good match. Thankfully I got it. I liked the involvement by Gail Kim too. Finally there was an equalizer for Konnan. The end with the bottle worked for me as well because they have been leading up to an AMW breakup for so long it looks like they are finally going to deliver. Not that it will be such a great thing to lose AMW, but I bet these two will have some great matches against each other so I don’t mind. On another note, the bottle shot on Homicide looked brutal. I liked it.
Now, the VKM segment. Okay, I found some of it funny… the Big Dick Johnson thing was funny… the Spirit Squad part was funny… and VKM dressing up as HBK and HHH was funny… even the “cock†with “Vince†backstage was funny. Maybe I’m in the minority but I enjoy these parodies.. Now putting it on PPV confused me, I see it more as a television thing, but oh well. What I hated was the challenge. I see no point. We all know that it is going nowhere. Parodies are one thing, but the challenges are different. They need to stop that.
AJ Styles against Rhyno was great. I loved the beginning, I loved the match itself and I loved the swerve at the end. I actually thought AJ was injured. Very well done. I think this feud will be awesome and can be dragged out quite a while and still be interesting.
Lastly is Samoa Joe against Kurt Angle. This was the match I was hoping for last month. It was one of the best matches I have seen this year. I also like that Kurt is saying that he won’t fight Joe again no matter what. I think that can give them a few months to build up to a rubber match between the two. I definitely loved this match… and am waiting for more!
Anyways, in the end I loved this event… but of course I have criticisms. But what true wrestling fan doesn’t come up with criticisms? TNA puts on the best PPVs these days, and if you haven’t checked one out yet I strongly suggest doing so. Skip a WWE event one month… trust me, you will not be missing much!
Colin Le Fevre
**********
TNA stacked their final show of the year with a card that on paper looked like it would be one of their best offerings all year. The pre show was a good show to convince viewers on the fence to order. I really hope that they keep J.B as backstage announcer, as he's really good at it. The Preshow match was good. I just think it was wrong that these guys got advertised for the main show and then got reduced to the Pregame. But due to the match quality, maybe it was a good decision to do that.
I like how they started the show with the PCS X-Division match. It started off slower that I thought it would. The interplay between Shelly and Starr was good. It was also a smart move to have Senshi win the match as he is that man in my opinion that could put the X-Division back on the map. The bikini contest of Young and Brooks was just filler to me. Although I do think that Eric Young is great and funny at his role. I love to laugh , but I'm not looking forward to the Dumb to the Xtreme segment coming up.
I noticed in the first match and the Daniels-Sabin match, that the X-Division is now doing a slower paced and ground type matches, not the fast paced, spot fest that it was at one point (Which is a good thing). The story of the match was for the most part, Sabin focusing on Daniels neck, which was interesting considering Daniels' past neck issues. The elbow spot was sick. I was surprised that Daniels won with the BME, I actually thought that Sabin would take the strap in this one. I am looking forward to seeing Daniels facing Lynn in the future. I didn't like paying 30 bucks for the baseball segment, unless the Yankees are there.
A.J attacking Rhyno, gave a real feel to the show. Styles landed horrible on the floor on more than one occasion. The match was the best thus far of the night. Even though I saw the heel move at the ending coming, it was still cool and a throwback to a finish that I haven't seen in many years. I like Styles as a heel, it gives more depth to his character. Up next was my favorites the L.A.X. Konnan's promo said a lot of truth, the Latinos are getting more stronger and there are more of us now in the United States. This was another great showing by L.A.X. They have easily become top stars for this company. I really don't understand Petey in all of this because I don't think Konnan is going to be wrestling anytime soon and once again they're teasing the AMW break up.
WOW I didn't imagine that I would be so bored like I was with the WWE imitations, it wasn't even funny. I think that they should Stop It Now. As for the challenge, I think Triple H could take them in a real fight. But we all know, Vince isn't going to accept. Out of the 3 competitors in the main event, Cage deserves the Title the most. At 10:08 I realized that while the World title match was still going on, it meant that Angle, Joe would get the same amount of time as last month. The World title match was well..... it was decent at best. The thumbtacks are played out already and I would have liked to see Cage as champ again. Abyss wins in a botched finish.
Angle/Joe 2 is next. The match was good. Was it as good as the 1st bout? NO. Did it live up to the hype? NO. Was it the best match on the card? NO. This was a good main event to end a great TNA show. The last half of the match made it better than it was. By far the best matches on the show in this order were= Styles/Rhyno, LAX/AMW, Joe/Angle, and the PCS X-division match.
Alexander Tejeda
Brooklyn, NY
**********
Okay, there was only a couple of things that kept this show from being perfect. Those were the bikini contest, and the VKM segment (but I will give credit for a good promo. The stuff leading to it was crap).
Overall, the show had a lot of great wrestling and brawling, and despite the run-ins galore in the NWA World Title match, I feel the right man won. As for Angle vs. Joe II, that’s the kind of match we should have seen last month. If TNA wanted to really build to Joe vs. Angle III, they’d skip a month, have it in February, and build to either an ultimate submissions or an iron man match. But that’s just my opinion.
Overall, 8.9/10. Light years upon light years better than anything WWE could ever put out.
Thank you TNA for making me glad I spent $30 (plus taxes) to see a great PPV.
Bryan Willett
New Brunswick, Canada
Elite Member
