Dare I watch every TNA PPV ever?

  • Welcome to "The New" Wrestling Smarks Forum!

    I see that you are not currently registered on our forum. It only takes a second, and you can even login with your Facebook! If you would like to register now, pease click here: Register

    Once registered please introduce yourself in our introduction thread which can be found here: Introduction Board


Chris

Dreams are Endless
Joined
Dec 23, 2011
Messages
355,633
Reaction score
137,695
Points
128
Age
27
Location
Texas
Favorite Wrestler
tLCb5kv
Favorite Wrestler
OEndG4L
Favorite Wrestler
ArsUxsj
Favorite Wrestler
mrperfect2
Favorite Wrestler
eelOIL6
Favorite Wrestler
BryanDanielson1
Favorite Sports Team
sfa
Favorite Sports Team
dallascowboys
Favorite Sports Team
sanantoniospurs
Favorite Sports Team
texasrangers
hopefully you make it to TNA 2010 so we can compare notes. Nice read

The title says "EVERY" TNA PPV Ever but he skipped the weeklies so I wouldn't get my hopes up on him sticking to his word :side:
 

Sky

TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION
Joined
Apr 17, 2019
Messages
71,600
Reaction score
18,756
Points
113
Location
The Impact Zone, Scotland
Favorite Wrestler
velvetsky
The title says "EVERY" TNA PPV Ever but he skipped the weeklies so I wouldn't get my hopes up on him sticking to his word :side:
I can forgive him for that, honestly, because he'd lose the plot at the sight of TNA's early weekly programming. Masturbating murderous midgets and guys in penis suits.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chris

Hoss

HELL IS NOT A MYTH
Joined
Aug 3, 2011
Messages
80,817
Reaction score
28,702
Points
138
Location
Texas
Favorite Wrestler
sting
Favorite Wrestler
stonecold
Favorite Wrestler
chrisjericho
Favorite Wrestler
danielbryan3
The title says "EVERY" TNA PPV Ever but he skipped the weeklies so I wouldn't get my hopes up on him sticking to his word :side:
Refer to the thread title and then refer to the first line of the first post.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chris

Apoho Creed

I'm the Doctor
Joined
May 14, 2013
Messages
29,614
Reaction score
18,059
Points
118
Age
36
Location
Planet Gallifrey
Favorite Wrestler
OZO8olA
Favorite Wrestler
Y2tTaaf
Favorite Wrestler
q9gbHdQ
Favorite Wrestler
zPa7dqi
Favorite Wrestler
m4aw1gh
Favorite Wrestler
oLvrzSU
Favorite Sports Team
hPPsgSL
Favorite Sports Team
hlbgCD9
Favorite Sports Team
guuKKYL
Favorite Sports Team
Um6oxIS
Yeah I love the Ultimate X Match between Styles/Sabin/Petey to pieces. I still don't how in the hell did AJ land and not break his Neck when Sabin did that Dropkick. A moment too late AJ might of been seriously injured.
 

Hoss

HELL IS NOT A MYTH
Joined
Aug 3, 2011
Messages
80,817
Reaction score
28,702
Points
138
Location
Texas
Favorite Wrestler
sting
Favorite Wrestler
stonecold
Favorite Wrestler
chrisjericho
Favorite Wrestler
danielbryan3
o44Akbb.jpg


AGAINST ALL ODDS 2005!

Against All Odds is here and this thing looks like a real mixed bag on the surface. The opening video package advertises AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels in a 30-minute Iron Man Match, Jeff Hardy vs. Abyss in Full Metal Mayhem and Jeff Jarrett vs. Kevin Nash for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. You see what I’m saying? Sounds like a hell of a ride. Let’s get into it.

The show begins with Shane Douglas outside of Jarrett’s locker room and he tells us that there are lawyers and representatives for the NWA in there going back and forth, presumably because Jarrett either doesn’t want to have this match or because he’s fighting the stipulation that if he uses a guitar, he’ll lose the match. He then shoots it over to Scott Hudson who is outside of Nash’s locker room, allegedly to try to get a word with Nash, but Hudson actually makes no effort to talk to Nash, he just says Nash is locked in and focused on the main event tonight.

The opener is Elix Skipper vs. Petey Williams.Two proud Canadians eh? Petey Williams and Scott D’Amore are up to their usual tricks throughout this match, using every dirty tactic in the book. Petey Williams goes for the Canadian Destroyer, but Skipper blocks it and hits Williams with an Air Raid Crash, which apparently he calls The Sudden Death. It’s his “new move” and his answer to the Canadian Destroyer. It works, and Skipper wins via pinfall. Good opener but they didn’t seem to have the best chemistry at times.

Oh good, a NASCAR driver (or maybe just a crew chief even) I never heard of is wrestling in the next match. For me to be from the south and have never heard of this guy… clearly he isn’t that big of a name. It will be Jeff Hammond and BG James taking on Michael Shane and Kazarian. I’m not feeling good about the young upstarts’ odds. But, I noticed BG James shouted out NASCAR on Fox Sports in his pre-match promo, so given how Impact has just recently made its way to that channel, I can sort of understand the crossover. Hammond is involved in the usual capacity you expect from a celebrity (using that term loosely). The end comes when he ducks a superkick from Michael Shane, which takes out Kazarian. He hits The Pit Stop which is just an elbow drop with car driving theatrics. Kaz had to lay down to that? Well, he would be off to WWE not long after this, thankfully for him.

Up next is Raven vs. Dustin Rhodes in a pretty standard grudge match. Raven has had a tough time so far in these first three months that I’ve been watching. I know he isn’t a long way off of winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship so is tonight the night he gets things back on track? The match is fairly basic and there isn’t much heat there. The fans are into Dustin for the most part, but I don’t think they really hate Raven enough to care that much. In fact, it seems like some of the fans are even in Raven’s corner. Raven wins by putting his feet on the rope during the pin. Not a very good match at all honestly.

Afterwards Raven puts Rhodes in a straightjacket and bashes him with a trash can. He ties him up in the corner, but Cassidy Riley runs out for the save. He ends up eating a DDT. Raven then whips Rhodes with a strap and leaves. Sure feels like that should have been a bigger deal than it was.

We get a video package hyping Trytan coming to Impact this week. The video package is cool and all but I’m certain this guy only lasts a couple of months at best.

The first of three championship matches is next as Lance Hoyt and Kid Kash will challenge America’s Most Wanted for the NWA Tag Team Championship! It’s redneck on redneck violence here. This match had the right idea and all but it lacked the flow and drama that AMW’s previous encounters with Team Canada and Triple X had. Lance Hoyt is super limited at this phase in his career, so that doesn’t help matters. The finish is nice and full of false finishes, but again, it’s the transitioning between spots that really hurts it for me. And for some reason beyond my comprehension, the referee lets Chris Harris handcuff Kid Kash to the corner, so stuff like that is always going to be a negative for me. Harris and Storm hit Hoyt with The Sentence to defend their titles in a bit of a below average match for me.

A limo pulls up in the back and Shane Douglas wants to know who’s in it, but TNA security isn’t letting him get a peak. He tells the security guard he isn’t leaving until he figures out who’s in the limo, and then he proceeds to leave… Aight.

Abyss vs. Jeff Hardy in a Tables, Ladders, Ch- I mean... Full Metal Mayhem match is next. And right off the bat, TNA is already being annoying because of course they have to throw in their own unnecessary twist. There are two envelopes hanging over the ring. One contains a contract for a future title shot on Impact, and one is empty. Just why? It’s a pretty basic, fairly sloppy brawl like you would expect. The big spot is when Jeff does a flip off the stage through Abyss on the table. It’s cool and all but in terms of the height of the bump, it really has nothing on what he’s done already in WWE. Jeff climbs and gets an envelope, only to see it’s the empty one. Sucks for him. Abyss tosses him out of the ring through some tables and pulls down the envelope with the title shot in it. Not going to be rushing back to rewatch this one any time soon.

This one has some potential. Monty Brown and DDP against Team Canada. Two of the best pure baby faces this company has taking on the always hateable Canadians. Despite that, the crowd isn’t really into this by TNA standards. Even when the faces get hot tags or clean house, the fans are pretty subdued. Not sure if they’ve just checked out at this point due to the overall mediocrity of the show so far, or if they’re kind of over both of these guys due to their recent booking not being ideal. Monty hits The Pouce on Roode and DDP hits the Diamond Cutter on Eric Young and the good guys win.

30 minute Iron Man for the X Division Championship is next. It’s Styles and Daniels, aka the two first guys that will come to most people’s mind when you talk about the X Division. This match is quite scientific at the beginning. Classic tit for tat stuff here as both men have counters for each other. Daniels focuses mainly on Styles’ midsection, while Daniels is selling an elbow injury. Daniels takes the lead about 13 minutes in by getting his knees up on a 450 splash and then hitting The Angel’s Wings. Daniels stays hungry for that second fall and continues to attack the abdomen of Styles. After some amazing back and forth action, Don West proclaims “if you’re not impressed by both of these athletes… YOU DON’T HAVE A SOUL!!!” :lmao Styles hits Daniels with his own signature move, The Angel’s Wings, but Daniel just barely kicks out. West can’t believe this shit. AJ Styles is able to get a surprise roll up on Daniels to even the score shortly after. Daniels flips his lid and throws Styles into the ring post and then starts bashing him with punches and headbutts until Styles is bleeding out everywhere. Styles has been selling his ass off all match long. Daniels wants to hit Styles with The Angel’s Wings but Styles is so beaten, he can’t even get up. When the clock goes down to one minute remaining, Styles suddenly unloads with a fiery comeback but Daniels cuts him short with an STO, transitioned into a Koji Clutch. Styles is dying in the clutch WrestleMania 13 style, blood and all. Styles definitely passes out before time expires, but the referee doesn’t call it and the match ends tied up 1-1. Daniels isn’t having that and he demands sudden death overtime, which Dusty Rhodes grants him. Well Daniels surely has this one in the bag right? Not so fast. Styles counters out of a top rope frankensteiner and hits a flying hurricanrana on Daniels, rolls through and lifts Daniels up to deliver a Styles Clash. He rolls Daniels over for the pin and he gets the 1-2-3 to win it in overtime! Wouldn’t go as far as to call it an instant classic, but it’s definitely worthy of a lot of praise. I love watching both of these guys at this point in their careers.



And the main event has rolled around. Jeff Jarrett may be taking a lot of liberties with his booking, trying to make himself look like the be-all end-all of pro wrestling, but he certainly isn’t doing himself any favors putting his matches on after these amazing tag team and X-Division bouts like he has been. Jarrett leaves his locker room and asks his lawyer if he was able to get Dusty to waive the no guitar rule, but the lawyer informs him he wasn’t able to. Well, that’s alright, Jarrett will get the job done by any means necessary he says.

The interesting thing about the feud and hype package they play before the match is that Kevin Nash is not really painted as a face. Really, there are parts of both guys that could kind of go either way. They say Nash’s primary motivation for winning the championship means he gets paid more money. Meanwhile Jarrett is obsessed with holding on to the title because his entire legacy hinges on being the NWA World Champion. When you consider their motives, Jarrett seems like the guy you’d rather cheer. Of course once you consider how Jarrett goes about defending this title, he’s clearly not someone worth admiration. But just given what’s led up to this, I don’t think Nash comes across as being much better. Maybe that was the idea. I don’t know.

I will give them a bit of credit to start off, because they do sell the hatred between these two men in the beginning. There’s a lot of posturing and aggression before the bell rings. And the hatred proves to be the one big positive the actual match has going for it too. Nash is slow as hell so the match is a straight up brawl. It isn’t exciting but at least Jarrett bleeds and bumps around as much as he can to try to salvage things. Since Jarrett can’t use a guitar, he pulls out a fucking cello to use instead. I like the idea in spirit, but the cello breaks in Jarrett’s hand before he can even use it. That’s never good. Late in the match, this thing devolves into straight garbage booking. Jarrett brings in the cello to hit Nash, but Nash stops him and grabs the cello himself. For some reason the referee stops Nash from using the cello even though this match is clearly No DQ based on what we’ve seen so far. And again, despite the fact that this match is obviously No DQ, the referee takes a fucking bump, during which time a debuting Billy Gunn runs out and attacks Nash. As the referee is trying to remove Gunn from the area, a returning(?) X-Pac runs out and attacks Jarrett. So Billy Gunn comes back down and is measuring up Nash to hit him with the championship belt, but BG James comes down and intervenes. Finally everyone is cleared out, and Jeff Jarrett uses another referee distraction to hit Nash with the title and then hit The Stroke. Nash kicks out. Good God almighty just stay down so we can all go home! Jarrett heads up top but Nash catches him in a choke as he comes down. Jarrett pushes the referee and lands a low blow on Nash, plus another Stroke, and finally covers and wins. What an irredeemable and uninteresting clusterfuck this was. I give this match no stars. :lol

Talk about ending on a sour note. Your main event isn’t always going to be the best match, but it should never be the worst match. I guess that’s what makes TNA the NEW face of wrestling!

Seriously though, this show was quite the step down from Final Resolution. One thing I noticed throughout the show is that the fire wasn’t really there from the audience, even from the beginning. That probably sucked some of the life out of the show already, but it certainly didn’t help matters that you have matches like Raven vs. Dustin Rhodes where neither guy seems to care, or Monty Brown and DDP vs. Team Canada where there’s nothing at stake and all participants could be put to better use, or the main event where it was basically doomed from the start and really needed the debut of Billy Gunn and X-Pac to go over well to have any chance of succeeding, and that simply didn’t happen. Props to Styles and Daniels for putting on a hell of a match because otherwise this thing would have been a real painful watch.
 

Chris

Dreams are Endless
Joined
Dec 23, 2011
Messages
355,633
Reaction score
137,695
Points
128
Age
27
Location
Texas
Favorite Wrestler
tLCb5kv
Favorite Wrestler
OEndG4L
Favorite Wrestler
ArsUxsj
Favorite Wrestler
mrperfect2
Favorite Wrestler
eelOIL6
Favorite Wrestler
BryanDanielson1
Favorite Sports Team
sfa
Favorite Sports Team
dallascowboys
Favorite Sports Team
sanantoniospurs
Favorite Sports Team
texasrangers
I died at "West can't believe this shit." in the middle of the Iron Man write-up :lmao
 

Hoss

HELL IS NOT A MYTH
Joined
Aug 3, 2011
Messages
80,817
Reaction score
28,702
Points
138
Location
Texas
Favorite Wrestler
sting
Favorite Wrestler
stonecold
Favorite Wrestler
chrisjericho
Favorite Wrestler
danielbryan3
a232UzB.jpg


DESTINATION X 2005!

Destination X begins in a way that is unusual for TNA. The opening video package has low music, more dramatic clips of wrestlers and instead of a voiceover, it’s all text. For a moment I thought this was going to be the first PPV package without that melodramatic narrator but that turns out to be a SWERVE BRO because there’s a SECOND video package and sure enough, it’s the melodramatic narrator. I probably would have been a bit let down if he wasn’t involved actually, so I can’t complain.



The show begins and for some reason, the feeling tonight is different from the past PPVs. Maybe it’s just the pyro not being as exciting, maybe Tenay and West aren’t quite as into it as usual… I don’t know. The vibe is just a little off. Maybe they’re in a different sound stage even? If I remember correctly, “The Impact Zone” was any number of different sound stages at Universal Studios, so maybe they’re in a different one for this event? Fuck if I know.

Opening match is Team Canada vs. BG James, Konnan and AMW. Sounds like a solid way to open the show. Let 3LK do their little crowd interaction. Let AMW and Team Canada work a good match. Sound logic. And it works out for the most part. They have a pretty fun match, with Team Canada dominating for the most part. They’re really trying to hype up Alistair Ralphs as the new powerhouse of Team Canada. Konnan is kind of the star for the other side. He gets the hot tag in from Harris and hits all his signature moves on Team Canada. Things hit the fan and the ring clears out, all except for Konnan and Roode. Scott D’Amore goes to the top but Konnan grabs him and D’Amore takes the Flair bump. This distraction allows Roode to hit Konnan with the Northern Lariat for the win (which frankly surprised me a bit).

Next we go backstage and Johnny Fairplay is back to try to prove himself to Dusty Rhodes and become the assistant to the Director of Authority. The sooner they stop doing this shit, the better.

Chase Stevens faces Chris Sabin next. Really feels like this isn’t something that you should have on a monthly PPV but, hey, it’s Chris Sabin. I’m never gonna complain about him being on the card. Chase Stevens, Andy Douglas and Chris Candido keep cheating, but Sabin ultimately wins with a bridge. Suddenly someone runs in wearing a jacket and mask and just clears out Candido and The Naturals with a bunch of kicks and a plancha. He gets back in the ring and removes his mask to reveal his identity. It’s SHOCKER~! Tenay dramatically oversells the reveal, and they mention that he’s in a McDonalds commercial. Well alright. I was not able to find this commercial unfortunately, but regardless, it seems like an overreaction from Tenay and West here.

Uh oh. Raven and Dustin Rhodes are having a bullrope match next. Their match last month sucked, and Raven in general has done nothing positive thus far on these monthly PPVs to be honest. And yeah, this continues that tradition. There isn’t nearly enough heat to this feud to require a bullrope match. This one is just as lethargic as their match last month and ends when Dustin abruptly hits Raven with a bulldog on a chair. Was this match a jazz-funk instrumental music group from Toronto? Because it was BADBADNOTGOOD.

Fuck sake, the next match is Phi Delta Slam vs. The Disciples of Destruction, aka The Harris Twins. Yeah, fans generally like hoss battles, but the big guys also need to have a shred of talent and these guys… don’t. I would give this match negative stars if I were to rate it. This was awful.

Trytan has arrived in TNA, and I must say, I like his look and video packages. But, there’s a reason he’s forgotten. He wasn’t actually good and he didn’t last long. He’s almost like a TNA version of Glacier. They put in the work to build him up, gave him all the bells and whistles to make him feel important, and he’s even a ripoff of a pop culture character (Terminator, in this case). But… it all meant nothing in the end.

He’s facing Monty Brown here tonight. On one hand - fuck, Brown should be NWA World Champion now. But on the other - he’s facing a guy who TNA obviously thought was going to be a big deal for them. So, it’s not exactly like a big demotion for Brown, but it’s not ideal either. Trytan is dominant in the early going but he’s clearly very green. That or he’s just flat out untalented. The fans are ripping him apart because he can barely do anything right and he seems lost between spots. Monty fights back and gets Trytan on the ropes before attempting The Pounce but just then, the lights go out in the arena. When they come back up there’s a big dude dressed in black, wearing a mask. It’s not Trytan. But, Brown still hits him with The Pounce and pins him to… win the… match?

9Ct2XNM.gif


Alright. So what is it with WCW and TNA writers that they have to constantly invent new kinds of fuckery? Why can’t there be one fucking pay-per-view where every match ends in a pinfall or submission, or even count out or DQ, and there’s no extra hijinks?

I get that you want to keep Trytan and Brown strong in this scenario. The lights going out and Trytan disappearing is a fair compromise. Hell, if you want to have that masked dude pop up in his place as well, that’s fine. I can live with that. But how does it make sense to have Brown hit this guy with The Pounce and then pin him and then be declared the winner of the match? Once Trytan has vanished… there is no more match. That guy is not Trytan. He is not a contestant in any match here. There is no pinfall to be made. Simply having Brown Pounce the dude would be perfectly sufficient. And then there’s the fact that Brown Pounces and pins this guy but doesn’t even bother to unmask him. That is just terribly stupid.

Who are finishes like this for? Is there a portion of wrestling fans who actually like stuff like this? I can’t imagine there is. And it seems like 9 times out of 10 that a company pulls something to this effect, it’s universally panned. And yet it continues to happen. I just don’t understand.

Anyways. Jeff Hardy and Abyss are having a rematch next, and this time it’s Falls Count Anywhere. Fine.

This match wasn’t too bad, especially after what I witnessed before it. Hardy hitting the Swanton off those beams was a cool spot. There was at least enough stuff to keep the crowd popping. I’d say it was an upgrade over the Full Metal Mayhem match but it’s not something I’m gonna watch again.

And now, we have The Outlaw against Kevin Nash in a First Blood Match. Fucking Billy Gunn just debuted last month and has no significant history with Nash, there’s no reason these two should be in a First Blood Match this quickly. And would you believe me if I told you there’s a ref bump? Well there is. The ref goes down and Nash draws blood by hitting Snake Eyes on The Outlaw on the exposed turnbuckle. Nash goes out to try to revive the referee, but Jarrett runs out and blasts Nash with a championship. Jarrett’s crooked doctor comes out and fixes The Outlaw’s wound (that’s a new one) and the referee wakes up and finds Nash busted open on the floor and gives the win to The Outlaw. The good times really don’t last long on this show. After the match, Nash recovers and hits The Outlaw with the Jackknife Powerbomb. Personally, I feel like if you’re going to bring in Gunn and put him in this high(ish) profile situation, the least you could do is give him a fair shot at looking good. He gets the win in this one but it’s as tainted as it could possibly be AND he ends up laid out after the match. With the exception of Abyss, the entire heel roster is just a bunch of chickenshits who need heavy interference to even stand a chance of winning a match. I’m not really fond of that strategy.

Finally, the Ultimate X match. I don’t know if there’s ever been a BAD Ultimate X match so this is a Godsend. Of course, TNA gonna TNA, so instead of being a fatal fourway Ultimate X match, it’s an elimination tag team match instead where once someone gets eliminated, it’ll become a triple threat match, and when one of them gets eliminated the final two participants will wrestle the Ultimate X match. It reminds me of last month’s Full Metal Mayhem match where there was two envelopes hanging over the ring and one of them was empty. It’s just an unnecessary addition to the match. Anyways, It’s Killings and Daniels vs. Styles and Skipper. Styles is the defending champion. Killings gets eliminated first by Elix Skipper’s Air Raid Crash (I guess I was wrong in thinking 3LK was semi-protected) and it becomes a triple threat match. Daniels climbs the cables and positions himself in a seated position on top of the cables and then backflips off of it onto Styles and Skipper. It was pretty nice. AJ does a similar thing, hitting a shooting star press of sorts by swinging off the cables, but it doesn’t look quite as nice. Daniels sneaks in and gets a pin on Skipper after Skipper had hit AJ with the Air Raid Crash. Styles is in pretty rough shape but he keeps on fighting. They have a good match but the ref ends up taking a bump. IMAGINE THAT! AJ is able to finally pull the title down after numerous attempts, but the referee is knocked out. Daniels hits Styles with The Angel’s Wings and grabs the belt. The referee recovers and sees Daniels with the belt and that’s good enough for him. Daniels is the new X-Division Champion. The match itself was very good but the ending really left a bad taste in my mouth. Especially since that’s the same exact ending that the previous match had.

And the main event. It’ll be DDP vs. Jarrett in a Ringside Revenge match. They really went HAM with the gimmick matches tonight. The concept is that Jarrett’s past rivals will be around ringside to prevent Jarrett from cheating but it’s different from a Lumberjack Match because the people around the ring can’t beat Jarrett up if he falls out of the ring, only if he tries some illegal shit. Jarrett’s attorney helped him swing it so that he could have a few mercenaries at ringside too though, and that backup will be Chris Candido and The Naturals interestingly enough. So basically, it’s a Lumberjack Match, but worse. Got it, TNA.

I don’t know what the consensus was on this feud at the time, but me personally, I’d probably rather see Jarrett stay champion than have DDP win it at this stage of his career. The fans seem behind Page though, so I got to give TNA a pass. They actually work a pretty good pace in this match. They brawl all over the arena and there’s lots of weapon use even though they never mention that this match is No DQ. Guess we’re working under the assumption that all World Title matches have “relaxed rules”. Fine, I can buy that. But towards the end of the match, The Naturals interfere, grabbing DDP and allowing Jarrett to hit The Stroke. DDP kicks out though and the rest of Jarrett’s rivals take out The Naturals. Jarrett gets a guitar out, but BG James and Konnan step in to put an end to that. Konnan even trips Jarrett and crotches him on the ring post. All in front of the referee mind you. James goes to crack Jarrett with the guitar but he misses and gets Konnan instead. Was it intentional though? Killings seems to think it might have been. DDP keeps fighting and eventually The Natural and Candido come in the ring and attack him but they all get Diamond Cutters. Again, are there rules to this match or not? Anyways, Jarrett’s lawyer threatens to get involved but luckily Monty Brown is there to stop him. But not so fast! Because it’s a SWERVE BRO! Brown hits the ropes and comes back and hits DDP with The Pounce, before dragging Jarrett on top of DDP, allowing Jarrett to get the win and retain his title. After the match Jarrett and Brown hug while West and Tenay have a meltdown. The fans really don’t seem to care that much. They should. But it’s kind of just the same old shit with Jarrett here and I imagine they’re very put off by Brown turning heel because he should be the reigning face champion right now if there was any justice.

And that’s how it ends. A fitting end to one of the worst PPVs I’ve watched in quite some time. If this show happened last year, I almost definitely would have voted for it as the worst supercard of the year. There’s close to no redeeming qualities to this show. The one match that is worth anyone’s time is the Ultimate X match and even that was just above average and had a poor ending. I’m ready to put this one in the rearview but I also can’t be bothered to watch the next PPV right now so I think I’ll probably watch It’s Always Sunny to cleanse my palate.
 

Hoss

HELL IS NOT A MYTH
Joined
Aug 3, 2011
Messages
80,817
Reaction score
28,702
Points
138
Location
Texas
Favorite Wrestler
sting
Favorite Wrestler
stonecold
Favorite Wrestler
chrisjericho
Favorite Wrestler
danielbryan3
O7zydNu.jpg


LOCKDOWN 2005!

Now that I’ve had time to live down that Destination X fuckery, let’s get back in the saddle with Lockdown 2005!

Lockdown is such a Dusty Rhodes type concept, I can only imagine he was the one who hatched the idea for this PPV. Of course, Lethal Lockdown is just a thinly veiled copy of War Games, so there’s that.

The opening video package for this PPV is way darker than previous PPVs. They’re trying to put over the horror of wrestling inside the cage. I don’t know. Every wrestling company pushes matches involving cages as being particularly brutal and career shortening but it’s pretty 50/50 on if they live up to that hype. Something like Undertaker vs. Mankind is about as brutal as it gets, but for every one of those, there’s at least five cage, cell and chamber matches that aren’t particularly brutal. I think I’d take wrestling in a cage over wrestling a ladder match or something like that personally.

Anyways, I feel like on the previous PPV when they mentioned Lockdown, they said there would be two cage matches on this show. Which I thought was odd. Obviously I misheard them or they changed their minds because, as I figured it would be, all matches are going to be inside the six sides of steel.

The opener is Chris Candido and Lance Hoyt against Apolo and Sonny Siaki. I mentioned how a lot of wrestlers had cover themes a few shows back and I think I hear another one here as Apolo and Sonny Siaki enter to what sounds like a remix of “Smooth” by Rob Thomas and Santana.



I don’t really know why Hoyt and Candido are teaming, but Tenay does mention Hoyt recruiting Candido. That’s good enough for me. Literally three moves into the match, a dropkick by Siaki goes wrong that breaks Candido’s leg. So, Candido has to be removed from the match. This injury would require surgery which would lead to him getting pneumonia and dying at the age of 33. That shit is so tragic. As Candido is being taken out, West tries to use that as an example of how brutal the cage can be. Wut? This injury was a freak accident that had nothing to do with the cage. Anyways, the match had to be changed on the fly. It was fairly short and unimpressive, but you can’t really blame them for that. Siaki and Apolo win and The Naturals (Candido’s boys) come out to belittle and attack Hoyt for the loss.

Next we’re getting Bobby Roode vs. Dustin Rhodes. The basis of this feud is very basic. It’s pretty much just a matter of Rhodes being fed up with Team Canada and the two of them fighting for respect. I like the sound of this match until they bring up it’s a 2 out of 3 Falls “Prince of Darkness Deathmatch”. Somebody should fire Dusty already. Or Vince Russo. Or both. Please. The stipulation in this match is that if it goes to a third fall, it becomes a blindfold match. Maybe I should see how it plays out before burying it.

The interesting thing is that they still call Roode the muscle of Team Canada despite the fact they now have the bigger and more muscular Alistair Ralphs on the squad. But I take it that him getting this singles match here is a sign that he is being groomed to be the breakout singles star of the group. Anywho. Roode gets the first fall about one minute in, using the ropes for leverage. The second fall feels like it drags a bit. Roode is definitely being put over though, as he is mostly dominating Dustin. Rhodes gets the second fall by hitting a bulldog off the top rope. They bring out some hoods to cover the competitors’ heads as Tenay explains: “It’s called a Prince of Darkness match because there’s no way that you can see out of them”. Well, thank you for making that perfectly clear. The name still doesn’t make any actual sense. But anyways. They feign blindness. Dustin decks referee Rudy Charles on accident. Scott D’Amore throws a chair into the ring, and then comes into the cage himself. Roode grabs the chair and swings, but he thwacks D’Amore in the back. Roode drops the chair because he thinks he got Rhodes, but Rhodes picks up the chair and nails Roode in the head. He pins Roode as Cassidy Riley runs down to wake up the referee in time for him to make the count and give Rhodes the W. I hate that I have to constantly question this shit, but what is with the ref bump in a match that is called the “Prince of Darkness DEATHMATCH”? It’s just needlessly overcomplicated.

Next is the X-Division Xscape Match with Matt Bentley, Sonjay Dutt, Shocker and Chris Sabin. This is an elimination style match where the first two competitors have to be taken out by pin or submission, at which point the final two fight it out and the only way to win is by escaping the cage. Ok, I can manage that. TNA clearly thought they had something with Shocker. I don’t know if they ever saw him as a major long term star or just thought maybe he’d be their key to breaking into the Meixcan market, but the way they debuted him last month and they way Tenay is putting him over here, they are definitely trying to make him out to be a big(ger) deal (than he actually was). I love when they’re talking about Shocker’s alleged worldwide popularity and Tenay mentions his spot in the McDonald’s commercial and West goes “how big does it get!?”. That’s as big as it gets, Don. Tom Cruise only WISHES he could land a McDonald’s gig. And I’m sure Shocker was feeling pretty good about himself too because he had been featured in a McDonald’s commercial, joined TNA, and also jumped from CMLL to AAA all in a pretty short window. I certainly respect the hustle.

This match is pretty much the definition of flippy shit. Michael Shane is the only guy whose offense is very fundamental and I don’t think it’s because he’s a purist, I just don’t think he’s as athletic or flashy as the others. Sonjay goes out first at the hands of Shocker. The match proceeds on and with really nothing to prompt it, Trinity (who is Shane’s valet now apparently) climbs the cage. Traci runs out (remember she’s feuding with Trinity over Dusty (Christ)) and tries to stop her but Trinity kicks her off. Then Trinity gets on top of the cell and does a fucking moonsault off of it onto all three men. I… did not see that coming. Props to Trinity because I assumed she was pretty much useless physically. Traci gets in the cage and there’s a whole scuffle. In the commotion, Shane gets eliminated. That leaves just Shocker and Sabin who fight over the top of the cage and have a “photo finish” fall to the floor. Shocker hits first and he’s the winner. Eh.

My main takeaways from this are that Trinity is more of a badass than I thought and Shocker’s theme is a cover of “Whatever” by Godsmack.





Moving on, and it’s gonna be Raven vs. Jeff Hardy in a Tables Match. Somewhere, at some point in time, I would have said this is a good match-up. But at this particular point in time, Raven has been stinking up the joint and Jeff Hardy is not exactly capturing my imagination either. This match has plenty of painful looking shit but there’s no psychology whatsoever. Both guys put themselves through a table at some point in this match but it doesn’t count because your opponent has to put you through (which is the only logical way to do a tables match imo). At one point Jeff climbs up the cage for literally no reason other than to do some high risk shit and Raven knocks him down where he racks his crotch on the cage door. There’s some more brawling and then Raven starts stacking tables up. He gets four tables set up… two tables wide and two tables tall. A configuration that Don describes as a pyramid. Raven tries to super back suplex Hardy through them but Hardy counters and knocks Raven down onto them and then hits a leg drop off the top of the cage to get the win. What I can’t figure is how Raven is about to become champ in a couple of months after his recent PPV performances which have been shitty and mostly losses.

Now building on the Team Canada vs. rednecks angle, the next match is AMW vs. Eric Young and Petey Williams inside the six sides of steel (although the match graphic showed Eric Young and Alistair Ralphs). AMW and Team Canada have had some bangers, but it’s never been this combination for Team Canada, so I’m interested to see how it goes. Right off the bat they explain that AMW campaigned to make this a strap match because evidently no one is content to just have a regular fucking cage match even though the cage is allegedly the most brutal structure imaginable. Chris Harris spends a good deal of this match outside the cage, trying to fight off A1 while James Storm just gets murdered by Petey and EY. Eventually he does so, and he comes in like a house of fire. There are lots of false finishes, which is kind of typical for a TNA Tag Team Championship match. Team Canada continues to “cheat” by using the hockey stick and trying to use the powder to blind AMW, which is definitely typical of Team Canada. I put the quotes because it’s a fucking strap match inside a cage, how can you cheat really? Anyways, the powder backfires and Petey gets it in his own eyes. Since he can’t see he accidentally hits EY with the Canadian Destroyer. AMW then hit Petey with The Death Sentence to win and retain their titles. A decent match, but it could have been better without the overbooking. And to be clear, the overbooking has actually helped these matches in the past. But here, it was just a bit too much considering the circumstances.

Finally a more scientific battle as Christopher Daniels defends the X-Division Championship against his old Triple X running buddy Elix Skipper. After all the over the top shit this show has had so far, Daniels’ methodic style of offense is very welcome. We get a lot of aerial shots throughout this match which shows the canvas of the ring in dire shape. There’s blood, body paint, power… That thing is ruined. These guys go back and forth for a good while before Daniels hits The Angel’s Wings to pick up the win. Match of the night so far for me.

Now it’s time for the first ever Lethal Lockdown match. For those unfamiliar, this is a pseudo-War Games match where two teams enter at timed intervals. Only when all the participants enter can a pin or submission be made. Wrestlers bring the weapons. That’s pretty much it. Earlier in the night we learned Nash would be unable to compete due to staph infection. So it’ll be Diamond Dallas Page, Sean Waltman and a mystery partner (if they have one) against Jeff Jarrett, Monty Brown and The Outlaw. We also learned during some earlier segments that Jarrett and Waltman were gonna start things out and The Outlaw would be the third man out, giving Team Jarrett the advantage because that’s how Lethal Lockdown/War Games tends to go.

Waltman comes out and as Jarrett is making his way down, Waltman jumps him on the ramp to start the match. So this thing starts with a brawl in the crowd. They finally get in the ring with 2 minutes to go until The Outlaw shows up. I want to highlight what Waltman is wearing. Everyone is in street clothes, but Waltman in particular looks goofy because he’s dressed like he’s going to the club, only he’s wearing these plastic knee pads like a carpenter would. He’s also wrestling as sloppy as anyone I’ve ever seen. Everyone makes their way out. The Outlaw, then DDP, then Monty Brown. The clock keeps counting as the commentators speculate if there is a third man. And yes, there is. It’s BG James who comes in so hot he ends up taking out a cameraman and referee Rudy Charles! There’s a point where BG has the chance to take out The Outlaw but he hesitates due to their history. Monty Brown dominates a lot of the action from here on out but actually ends up being the guy to take the pin. Waltman beats him with a victory roll. Boy if that ain’t an unspectacular way to end the match… All in all, a decent match. Not bad, not really good. Just decent. I think it’s bullshit that Brown took the pin here though. Before last month’s completely uncalled for and tonedeaf heel turn, he had more momentum than any of these guys. I know you want to keep The Outlaw somewhat protected due to him being newly debuted and heading for what they seem to think is a big time storyline with BG and the 3 Live Kru, and of course Jarrett is your champ, but you could have had either guy take the loss here and used it as ammo for their next storylines. Ah well. The Alpha Male was nice while he lasted.

We’ve made it to the main event. It’ll be AJ Styles vs. Abyss to determine a number one contender for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. A little bit odd to me to put this match in the main event over Lethal Lockdown, just considering the stakes and the competitors of the two matches. But when you consider the match quality, you certainly can’t argue with it. This one is full throttle from the start. AJ Styles has brought his bumping boots to the show tonight. He’s just flying all over the place as they begin the match brawling around ringside and into the crowd. Styles gets busted open, as Abyss savagely slams the cage door into his face multiple times. Inside the ring, Styles is looking like death as Abyss just beats him from pillar to post. And I mean that pretty literally. AJ counters a military press into a DDT on a chain, but he still hasn’t slowed “The Monster” down enough. He hits an enziguri and tilt-a-whirl headscissors to follow up. He goes for, I believe, that moonsault into the reverse DDT move, but he’s off target and he just kind of bounces off Abyss so they move on to the next spot. Abyss charges Styles in the corner, but Styles dodges it and Abyss rams head first into a steel chair wedged in the corner. Styles then grabs Abyss and hits an unbelievable German suplex. I think he intends to do a bridging pin, but he can’t quite do that so he just does a regular cover for two. Styles appears to go for the Styles Clash but Abyss escapes and he hits Styles with a Black Hole Slam. Styles kicks out which is pretty surprising in all honesty. Abyss says enough of this shit and pours the trusty thumbtacks out. Abyss tries a Black Hole Slam onto the tacks, but Styles avoids it. He manages to fight Abyss and get the big man up for a Styles Clash (or at least as close as he could manage) onto the tacks! The fans eat that up and there are some great reaction shots around the Impact Zone. Styles tries to cover but Abyss kicks out. Styles heads to the top of the cage, so Abyss gets creative and lobs the referee into the cage, causing Styles to fall abdomen-first on the top of the cage. Abyss grabs his chain and scales the cage. He wraps the cage around Styles’ neck and hangs him with it a bit. Styles fights through it and dives over the top, hitting a sunset flip powerbomb on Abyss, who hits the tacks with a major impact. If this was 2020, there would be a “HOLY SHIT!” chant here for sure. Styles makes the cover and picks up the win on “The Monster”. Wow!

Hell of a showing from AJ Styles and major props to Abyss as well for playing his role perfectly and taking two devastating plunges onto the thumbtacks. This is easily a top three match out of all the PPVs I’ve watched so far. It is without question the best singles match because the only other matches I would potentially rank over it would be the AMW vs. Triple X Six Sides of Steel from Turning Point and AMW vs. Team Canada from Final Resolution. And it might top those really. In fact, I’ll go ahead and say this is the best match so far on these PPVs.

To wrap things up here, I would say Lockdown was a complete success. I felt that the added gimmicks throughout the night got old fast, but aside from that, there isn’t a whole lot I can complain about from an action standpoint. Booking? Questionable. But I never got bored while watching the show. Most of the matches either had enough nonsense going on that it kept my attention, or were actually physical enough to be strong matches. I wouldn’t rewatch a lot of this show, but even so, matches like the Xscape Match, AMW vs. Team Canada and Daniels vs. Skipper were plenty entertaining enough to sustain me before we got to the amazing main event. This show was a dramatic improvement over Destination X. DRAMATIC. Not that I ever had much doubt but this show just goes to prove that TNA at this stage is at its best when the spotlight is on their homegrown talent. The more heavily featured that guys like Styles, Daniels, Abyss, Brown, AMW, Team Canada and the X Division are… the better your show is going to be. Conversely, if there’s too much Jarrett, Nash, Hall, Page, 3LK and Waltman… you’re in for a long night.

P.S. you can watch this whole show on YouTube.



Top 5 TNA PPV matches


1. AJ Styles vs. Abyss - Lockdown 2005
2. America’s Most Wanted vs. Triple X - Turning Point 2004
3. America’s Most Wanted vs. Team Canada - Final Resolution 2005
4. Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles - Against All Odds 2005
5. Chris Sabin vs. AJ Styles vs. Petey Williams - Final Resolution 2005
 

Chris

Dreams are Endless
Joined
Dec 23, 2011
Messages
355,633
Reaction score
137,695
Points
128
Age
27
Location
Texas
Favorite Wrestler
tLCb5kv
Favorite Wrestler
OEndG4L
Favorite Wrestler
ArsUxsj
Favorite Wrestler
mrperfect2
Favorite Wrestler
eelOIL6
Favorite Wrestler
BryanDanielson1
Favorite Sports Team
sfa
Favorite Sports Team
dallascowboys
Favorite Sports Team
sanantoniospurs
Favorite Sports Team
texasrangers
You just watched Abyss's best match of his career it doesn't get any better for him from that point on just so you know
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hoss

Hoss

HELL IS NOT A MYTH
Joined
Aug 3, 2011
Messages
80,817
Reaction score
28,702
Points
138
Location
Texas
Favorite Wrestler
sting
Favorite Wrestler
stonecold
Favorite Wrestler
chrisjericho
Favorite Wrestler
danielbryan3
kk1bxe4.jpg


HARD JUSTICE 2005!

Hard Justice is here. I’ve always thought TNA had great names for PPVs. Hard Justice is one of my favorites.

Tonight we’ll see AJ Styles vs. Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, with Tito Ortiz as special guest enforcer. Honestly, say what you will about TNA and celebrity crossovers, but Tito Ortiz was pretty much at his peak at this point, so he hypothetically could have been a great get for them.

The show begins with a ten bell salute for Candido who died days after Lockdown last month. Then there’s an opening video package that starts out talking about justice, but then goes way off course, before finding its way back to justice at the end.

First match is Eric Young and Petey Williams of Team Canada going against Sonny Siaki and Apolo. I am a bit surprised that Siaki and Apolo are still a team, honestly. They seem completely thrown together and although they have good physical tools, there’s nothing about either guy that screams “superstar”. They’re kind of like TNA’s Mark Jindrak and Garrison Cade. Sonny Siaki is Samoan right? It’s a wonder WWE didn’t scoop him up and strap a rocket on him. Anyways, this match was a pretty poor opener. There was really nothing there to hook you. Team Canada wins with some interference from A1.

Chris Sabin and Traci take on Michael Shane and Trinity next. You know what’s weird to me is I was just thinking it’s so weird that Trinity is a heel when she’s dressing all slutty and doing moonsaults off cages… she’s very Lita-like. And then this match comes along. The match is nothing noteworthy but at the end of it, Traci low blows Sabin and Michael Shane superkicks Trinity so it’s a SWERVE BRO. Shane then superkicks Sabin and gets the win. Apparently Traci and Shane were in cahoots. Well, that’s all well and good but it seems like an inopportune time to let the cat out of the bag. I mean, if you’re going to pull a ruse like this, why not wait until there’s something actually on the line? Just for the lols? Eh. This is one of those storylines that really doesn’t amount to anything at all.

We get back to back to back promos from Team Canada, Dusty and Tito and then Raven. Nothing really comes out of these but Raven is going to take on X-Pac in a Clockwork Orange House of Fun match because Jeff Hardy, who was supposed to be his opponent, was a no-show. I kinda feel like Raven’s upcoming push really comes as a result of Jeff Hardy flaking out.

That Raven and Waltman match comes up next. Waltman sneak attacks Raven to start the match and Raven is bleeding immediately. Waltman gets to bleeding not long after. There are actually some great spots in this one. At one point Waltman takes a front flip bump off the ramp through a table. Raven cuffs him to the post and starts beating him with the kendo stick. He asks Waltman if he wants to quit, but Waltman says “give me more, you pussy!”. Waltman fights back and gets Raven with the old staple gun to the head. Waltman goes off the ropes and Raven hits him with a back body drop that sends him into a cage-side which is positioned on one side of the ring. The cage-side and Waltman both fall to the floor. Raven rolls down to the floor and pins Waltman for the win. Actually a really solid little garbage match. Definitely Raven’s best outing so far and that’s a lot better than I thought Waltman had in him.



Next we get a video package of the fairly convoluted feud going on with 3LK, The Outlaw, Monty Brown and Diamond Dallas Page. Brown and Outlaw are Jarrett’s goons, and of course DDP still has issues with that whole camp. Meanwhile, The Outlaw is also trying to drive a wedge between 3LK and no one is sure whether or not BG James can be trusted. So it’s supposed to be BG James and DDP teaming up against The Outlaw and Monty Brown tonight but BG doesn’t show up due to “travel concerns”, which of course just raises more suspicions. Luckily for DDP, Killings is there to step in for BG James, hoping to get a piece of The Outlaw.

The four of them have a fairly sports entertaining match, until Phi Delta Slam run out and get Diamond Cuttered. DDP hits The Outlaw with a Diamond Cutter too but Monty Brown hits DDP with The Pounce for the win. Not too good all things considered.

Next we are shown a sitdown interview with Mike Tenay and The Naturals. The Naturals have turned face and won the World Tag Team Championship since Candido’s death but they can’t talk worth a damn unfortunately.

So, next up, it’ll be AMW vs. The Naturals for the World Tag Team Championship. They start with a good back and forth, as both teams hit tag team maneuvers. All four guys go to the floor and for several minutes, they’re just brawling completely unimpeded on the floor. They’re flinging each other into the barricades and fighting up the ramp and the referee doesn’t even try to corral them. At one point, James Storm throws Chase Stevens into a steel chair that a fan is holding. Then Andy Douglas hits Harris with a chair. And that’s all good, I guess. I don’t agree with the lack of intervention by the referee but I’ll admit it was an exciting little brawl. They get back in the ring but there’s still no order and all four guys are just allowed to fight freely without any tags. They do a really cheesy tower of doom spot that didn’t look the least bit believable. AMW set Douglas up for The Death Sentence but Stevens pushes Harris off the top. Storm clocks Stevens, but this allows Douglas to roll up Storm and put his feet on the ropes, and gain the win.

In the back, Tito goes to talk to Jarrett but some security guard who looks like Justin Credible tries to keep him out. Tito grabs the guy by the throat, and Jarrett comes out of his locker room with Monty Brown. Jarrett and Brown were obviously discussing something, and Jarrett sends Brown on his way before welcoming Tito into his locker room.

Next up, Shocker challenges Daniels for the X-Division Championship. Apparently Shocker skipped Triplemania to be here. Interesting. Shocker just doesn’t seem like much to me. He’s a good luchador but he doesn’t strike me as someone who could transcend the lucha libre world. Plus I think he’s in his 30s here but he looks 50. This match is definitely fundamentally sound but it’s kind of a bore by 2005 X-Division standards. Daniels wins via top rope Angel’s Wings which admittedly was pretty nuts.

Gauntlet for the Gold is up next. Remember the Team Canada segment I mentioned earlier? Well, Terry Taylor let D’Amore see who the second entrant was gonna be and D’Amore said “he has about as much of a shot as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest”. Well, it turns out he was being pretty literal.

Anyways, Gowen and Roode start this thing out. Eric Young is third. Cassidy Riley is fourth. Elix Skipper is fifth. Shark Boy is sixth. Shark Boy eliminated Zach Gowen. A1 is seventh. Team Canada is pretty much dominating with numbers. Chris Sabin is eighth. Petey Williams is ninth and that means all of Team Canada is in the ring. A1 eliminates Shark Boy. Eric Young eliminates Cassidy Riley. Sonny Siaki is tenth out, meaning we’re halfway through the field and there’s been about two people in this match that really interest me. Bobby Roode eliminates Primetime. Lance Hoyt comes out eleventh and he is super over. He cleans house and eliminates Eric Young with a press slam. Michael Shane comes out twelfth. I had already forgot about his whole little double cross thing earlier. Sabin and Shane eliminate each other because they apparently hate each other that much. Siaki gets tossed by Roode and Petey. Jerelle Clark comes out thirteenth. He does some cool acrobatics. Petey hits him with an assisted Canadian Destroyer and he flies out of the ring. Mikey Batts come out fourteenth. Scraping the bottom of the barrel here, aren’t we? The Outlaw is the fifteenth man and he’s pretty much the only guy in this thing that would be a somewhat viable challenger for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. The sixteenth entrant is Trytan and he seems to have already been forgotten. The Outlaw eliminates Mikey Batts after hitting him with two cobra clutch slams. Maybe I was wrong about Trytan because he comes in and lays out everyone, including The Outlaw and Lance Hoyt. Ron Killings is the seventeenth man. He steps up to Trytan but his offensive run is short lived and he gets laid out with a gorilla press slam. Team Canada then eliminates Trytan from behind and he walks away angrily. Kind of an anticlimactic way for him to go out after all that. Apollo is the eighteenth entrant and he goes to work. He throws Outlaw over the ropes but Outlaw holds on and pulls the ropes down when Apollo charges, causing Apollo to eliminate himself. The nineteenth entrant is BG James who said he had travel issues earlier. He comes in and eyes The Outlaw but they don’t get to stare down for long. Hoyt eliminates Roode and then Roode and A1 eliminate Hoyt. BG and The Outlaw work together, but apparently they don’t even notice. Until they do… at which point they say fuck it and get rid of A1 and Petey. Abyss is the twentieth man and he clotheslines Outlaw and BG out of the ring. That’s it for them tonight. Again, kind of anticlimactic.

So Abyss and Ron Killings are the final two and they’ll face off in a standard singles match. Abyss brings in a chain but Charles confiscates it. Abyss grabs a chair but Killings take it from him and hits him with it while Rudy Charles is trying to get rid of the chair. That’s not enough to end Abyss though. The ref goes down which gives Killings another opening to hit Abyss with a scissors kick on the chair. But the ref is still incapacitated and can’t make the count. Abyss recovers and chokeslams Killings on the chair. He makes the cover, but Killings is able to kick out at two. Abyss goes for a cannonball splash on Killings, but Killings is able to get the chair up to nail Abyss in the crotch with it (after initially botching it). Killings goes to the second rope and dives off but Abyss catches him mid-air for the Blackhole Slam. Abyss wins and is now number one contender for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. I have to say, the battle royal portion of this match was pretty fun, but the fans really didn’t seem into the singles match portion, which is a shame. As a whole, it was a pretty decent match though.

Next up is the main event. They do a great job showing Styles’ road to this match. After two awesome performances against Daniels and Abyss, he’s ready to take on “The King of the Mountain” who is 11 months deep in his title reign.

Small note but JB introduces AJ Styles as “TNA’s only 2 time Triple Crown Champion”, and I thought that was interesting because I’ve never really heard any other company mention the number of times someone has completed the triple crown. Anyways, Tito is involved a lot in the early going, separating Jarrett and Styles when they go into the ropes. They’re obviously trying to establish him as the boss in there. Jarrett does his usual stuff, and tries to provoke Ortiz and Styles by cheating or just otherwise stretching the rules. Jarrett works Styles’ leg throughout, looking to set the stage for the figure four leglock. Jarrett does lock it in and he has Styles hooked in it for a long time. Props to Tito because he even has the wherewithal to count the pin when Styles puts his shoulders on the mat. Styles is able to reverse the move to break free. Jarrett remains mostly dominant but ultimately resorts to grabbing his guitar. Styles takes it away and ends up smashing it up, which apparently gives him some kind of huge adrenaline rush because then he starts unloading on Jarrett.They kick into forced epic mode, as Jarrett hits Styles with the Styles Clash and Styles hits Jarrett with The Stroke. Only problem is this is no Rock/Austin. It doesn’t exactly get the desired pop. Styles gets Jarrett set up for the Styles Clash but Monty Brown hits the ring and goes for The Pounce. Styles is able to move so Brown Pounces Jarrett on accident. Tito then runs Brown off while Styles makes the pin. Rudy Charles shows up to make the count but Tito pulls him out of the ring because I guess he wants to be the one to decide this thing. Jarrett hits Styles with a low blow in plain sight but I guess rules haven’t really been enforced in NWA World Title matches in months so what does it matter? Jarrett takes Styles to the top rope and I guess he says something that Tito doesn’t like so Tito pulls Jarrett down and knocks him out. Styles hits a Spiral Tap on Jarrett and gets the 1-2-3 to become NWA World Heavyweight Champion! Been a long time coming. I’m sure he’s now in for a long and fruitful title reign. He’s definitely not going to lose it to some wishy washy past their prime type, that much I know for sure!

Final thoughts on Hard Justice - I would say this one ranks in the top half of the PPVs I’ve seen so far. This one lacks a true standout match for sure, and there really isn’t anything on this show to make it memorable. Styles winning the title is a big deal, in theory, but it isn’t his first time with the belt and his reign would not go very far. My match of the night would probably be Raven vs. Sean Waltman so that really tells you how short on significant stuff this show was. But, it was consistently solid throughout. No significant dips in quality after the first two matches, which themselves didn’t suck or anything. Decent show, but nothing worth revisiting.

Top 5 TNA PPV matches

1. AJ Styles vs. Abyss - Lockdown 2005
2. America’s Most Wanted vs. Triple X - Turning Point 2004
3. America’s Most Wanted vs. Team Canada - Final Resolution 2005
4. Christopher Daniels vs. AJ Styles - Against All Odds 2005
5. Chris Sabin vs. AJ Styles vs. Petey Williams - Final Resolution 2005
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chris

Chris

Dreams are Endless
Joined
Dec 23, 2011
Messages
355,633
Reaction score
137,695
Points
128
Age
27
Location
Texas
Favorite Wrestler
tLCb5kv
Favorite Wrestler
OEndG4L
Favorite Wrestler
ArsUxsj
Favorite Wrestler
mrperfect2
Favorite Wrestler
eelOIL6
Favorite Wrestler
BryanDanielson1
Favorite Sports Team
sfa
Favorite Sports Team
dallascowboys
Favorite Sports Team
sanantoniospurs
Favorite Sports Team
texasrangers
You should make a top 5 worst list too :TI:
 

Hoss

HELL IS NOT A MYTH
Joined
Aug 3, 2011
Messages
80,817
Reaction score
28,702
Points
138
Location
Texas
Favorite Wrestler
sting
Favorite Wrestler
stonecold
Favorite Wrestler
chrisjericho
Favorite Wrestler
danielbryan3
  • Like
Reactions: Chris

Apoho Creed

I'm the Doctor
Joined
May 14, 2013
Messages
29,614
Reaction score
18,059
Points
118
Age
36
Location
Planet Gallifrey
Favorite Wrestler
OZO8olA
Favorite Wrestler
Y2tTaaf
Favorite Wrestler
q9gbHdQ
Favorite Wrestler
zPa7dqi
Favorite Wrestler
m4aw1gh
Favorite Wrestler
oLvrzSU
Favorite Sports Team
hPPsgSL
Favorite Sports Team
hlbgCD9
Favorite Sports Team
guuKKYL
Favorite Sports Team
Um6oxIS
Yeah I do remember the X-Division Xscape Match that Shocker won. Being a proud Latino you would think I would be Pro AAA and CMLL, but I was like fuck that guy with that win. You pumping these Reviews out EC is getting me wanting to do my own Watchthrough maybe Ring of Honor or ECW.