We’ve got a 30-minute Ironman rubber match between Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle. Three matches in three months. That’s the only reason why I’m watching tolerating this show. My only hope is that it’s better than the last one.
Rhino defeated AJ Styles in a Last Man Standing match, with Rhino almost killing AJ with two mean-looking gores to get the pin… and as AJ was getting up, he realized that he’d rather not get another Gore, so he just sat down and Rhino won the match, which pissed off Rhino for… some reason. He promises to kill AJ later that night… considering AJ Styles is still with us today, it’s safe to say that he didn’t succeed. And they continue to fight their way in the back. Anyway, the match was alright. Not as crazy as their last one, but still fine.
Chris Sabin defeated Jerry Lynn and X-Division Champion Christopher Daniels via a roll-up to Lynn (with them handful of tights) to win the title. Lynn was the same age as Billy Gunn was at the time, but looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. Almost two decades later and Billy Gunn is still wrestling on TV. Go figure. This was a pretty fun match between three talented guys. No complaints. This is already a better show that the last one.
Alex Shelley defeated Austin Aries Starr to win a bowling trophy… presumably this Paparazzi championship thing that Kevin Nash was running. There’s a bunch of stuff before that that I skipped. The match ended in a ten-minute draw, there were judges that judged it draw, and 20-seconds of overtime that saw Shelley roll up Starr for the win. Well, so much for the show being better… can we just stick Kevin Nash in a restaurant somewhere and stuff him with raviolis for three hours? That would make for a better PPV than what I’ve been given last month.
Thank you.
Cowboy James Storm defeated Petey Williams via roll-up with hand on the ropes for leverage… Let’s be diplomatic and just say that this was a thing that happened. Thanks.
Another Voodoo Booboo whatever the fuck, I don’t care… So the former Outlaws “invaded” Titan Towers and nothing happened. They invaded a WWE house show and nothing happened. They declare victory over “Michael Hickenbottom and Paul Levesque” in their million dollar challenge… although they did break the kayfabe and wish Paul well on his recovery (HHH tore another quad during a match around this time, which freed up Shawn Michaels to challenge John Cena for the title and get better matches out of Cena that HHH did at Mania.) And then Christie Hemme comes out and talks about how there’s no love for Chyna… which, to be fair, TNA did try to sign Chyna to a contract in 2011 and she even got a PPV payday out of it, but she decided that she’d rather do porn than go back to wrestling and TNA broke ties. This actually happened… and that porn career was a sticking point for WWE for many, many years when it came to actually inducting her into the Hall Of Fame, which they eventually did… as part of DX… the less said, the better.
So long story short, this goes from the Old Age Outlaws feuding with WWE to feuding with Christie Hemme over womens’ rights and such… again, this is time better spent on Kevin Nash putting over ravioli for three hours and you would’ve gotten an infinitely better PPV.
NWA Tag-Team Champions LAX defeated Team 3D via DQ when Spike Dudley Brother Runt came out and top-rope splashed one of the LAX guys for the DQ. LAX retain the titles. Apparently, they’d have four more matches after this. Needless to say, I do not give a fuck.
Kurt Angle defeated Samoa Joe in a 30-Minute Iron Man match (5-4) to end their feud, but don’t worry; they’d fight a couple more times down the road. The Ironman stipulation hurt the match, I feel, because there were more submissions than I care to witness in a 30-minute period. I would’ve been perfectly fine if they did a 30-minute draw and go into sudden death overtime or, even better, just do a straight match that lasts about an hour. In fact, if you had dumped all the horseshit with the Outlaws, Christie, and whoever the fuck else, you could’ve filled time with a really awesome Joe vs. Angle match that would’ve been the best match TNA ever produced. Instead, it’s just this thing that never really hit second gear. It was fine, but I’ve seen two matches better than this and I’ll see more matches better than this. The stip really hurt the match.
Christian Cage defeated NWA World Champion Abyss and Sting in a three-way elimination match to win the title. Happy to see Christian win another World title in TNA, but good lord, this match… they had Tomko in a cage, but that didn’t stop the outside interference and bullshit run-ins. To their credit, this was a better match than their last one… Cage winning the title helps a bit, but this wasn’t a very good match. I really don’t like this match. This match blew.
Here’s the deal; compared to Turning Point, Against All Odds 2007 was a better show. But it’s less a matter of the show being more good and moreso being less bad. It has a good Joe/Angle match, but clearly third time isn’t the charm and there’s still a lot of bullshit to drag the whole thing down. Needless to say, I wasn’t a fan of this show, but it didn’t hurt my brain as much as the last one did, so… yay?
But seriously… three hours of Kevin Nash and ravioli.
You can thank me later.
dtm666 