This month marks TNA’s tenth anniversary and whatever you want to say about the promotion – and I’ve said quite a bit particularly these past couple years – the fact that it’s still around is worthy of celebration. So here are some quick notes that I’ve gathered and believe it or not, I actually have nice things to say about this show.
Yes, I’m going to be complimentary towards a TNA PPV.
X-Division Champion Austin Aries defeated Samoa Joe to retain the title. Great opening match, with Joe being the monster ass-kicker of the ol’ days with Aries being the crafty champion overcoming the monster. If you wanted to start this celebration off on a high note, this was the way to do it. Good start.
Hernandez defeated Kid Kash in a largely bad match. Patterson and Brisco in an evening gown match from that one WWF PPV was better than this and I don’t say that lightly… well, so much for that.
Brother D-Von and Garrett Bischoff (yes, that is Eric’s actual kid in there) defeated Robbies E and T… ooh. Ooooh… I may have spoken too soon about having nice things to say about this PPV… but yeah, to be fair, this wasn’t very good either and I’ve no reason to care about Eric’s kid trying to be a wrestler. He’s like the modern-day Greg Gagne or Erik Watts… on that note, I’d like to apologize to Mr. Gagne and Mr. Watts for that undeserved comparison.
Mr. Anderson……… Anderson defeated Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam via countering RVD’s Rolling Thunder into a Mic Check for the win to earn a World title match on Impact. Of the three men featured in this match, Mr. Anderson was the one person I WASN’T expecting to win this one. Not complaining, though; this really could have gone either way, but I figured either Hardy or RVD would’ve been more likely. Pretty good match. I liked this one.
James Storm – a mystery opponent – ends the undefeated streak of Crimson… so now nobody is going to know who Crimson is because the match was over in less than three minutes. Bah gawd! Where’s Three Minute Warning when you need them?!
Oh yeah… right… um, never mind.
Miss Tessmacher defeated Knockouts Champion Gail Kim via a fluke pin after getting dominated for the whole match and capitalizing on Kim’s one moment of distraction to win the title… Yeah, this is definitely a TNA show.
Joseph Park defeated Bully Ray in the obligatory comedy match… yeah, so for those who don’t know, Joseph Park is Abyss pretending to be Abyss’ brother who’s looking for Abyss. Unlike Abyss, Joseph dresses nice and is a timid and fearful… but then he just does the Abyss thing like usual. Listen, this Joe Park thing is not my cup of tea… I’m sure there’s a better use for him down the line that might sell me on the gimmick, but for what this was, I can’t say this was bad. This was for the lulz and I certainly got that. Had this been a year or two ago, I probably would’ve hated it, but now… eh, I’ve seen worse.
So every so often, they would air these clips of great TNA moments through history. Also, they mention Sting being the first inductee into the new TNA Hall Of Fame… whatever that means. So Hogan comes out and introduces Christian Cage – on loan from WWE in exchange for allowing Ric Flair to get another Hall Of Fame ring that year. Christian cuts a rather uninspired promo, looks to rather be anywhere else, and then introduces a Sting video package. So, you bring back Christian Cage – former NWA World Champion and one of the first major signings to turn the tide for TNA, opening the door for others like Kurt Angle to make the jump – and you use him for a nothing segment. Oh yeah, this is definitely a TNA show.
Kurt Angle and AJ Styles defeated TNA Tag Champs Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian in a great tag match built around a stupid angle (is AJ sleeping with Dixie Carter or not? And if so… is this really the best Dixie could do for AJ? Not a World title match or anything like that…) to win the tag titles. Yes, this is a TNA show. Yes, they shitcanned Russo earlier this year. You’d figured that they’d shitcan the stupid stories that nobody gives two shits about, but alas… we’re still here. Oh well, at least the match was good. But we’re still doing this indecent proposal story, aren’t we? Fuck.
TNA World Champion Robert Roode defeated STING to retain the title in what I’d call a perfectly acceptable wrestling match. Not quite a great main event for an anniversary show, but a fine match regardless.
Slammiversary was not a worthwhile celebration of TNA’s 10-year history; it’s just a really solid wrestling show with a bunch of good matches, lively crowd, brief flashbacks, and some cool moments, such as James Storm ending Crimson’s streak and Bobby Roode actually retaining the title without dropping it back to Sting. A really well-rounded wrestling show all-around, but not quite a celebration of ten years. Quite frankly, that’s just fine.
TNA made one good decision when they turfed Russo this year; the end result is a product that is entertaining to watch and really well done as well… despite the inclusion of Hulk Hogan’s she-male of a daughter and Uncle Eric’s pride and joy.
Still looking for that first ever PPV.
dtm666 