Csonka Ranks The 2017 TNA PPV Matches (So Far)

Welcome one and all, it’s column time with Larry. In another effort to follow and track the matches of 2017 better than I have in years past, I will be doing some columns, following the PPV matches of companies like WWE, TNA and Evolve. Hopefully along with the matches of the month columns and matches I missed columns, this will help you decide on things you want to see or catch up on. Today we’ll look at the TNA PPV matches, so far, in 2017…

From TNA One Night Only LIVE! January – Mahabali Shera defeated Marshe Rockett @ 6:00 via pin [*]: This was easily the worst thing on the show; it has no flow, no energy and felt twice as long as it actually was. It was more bland and boring than bad to be honest with you. The TNA schedule, inability to book Shera outside the company, and their unfair expectations, do Shera no favors. TNA is slowly ruining any chance he has to beome a compotent wrestler and are destroying his confidense.

From TNA One Night Only Joker’s Wild – DJZ & Jeff Hardy defeated Eli Drake & Paredyse @ 10:57 via pin [*½]: This match was not good in anyway, I appreciate TNA giving new guys a shot, but Paredyse was simply not ready for TV/PPV, and was a bargain basement Dalton Castle; the worstpart is that he wasn’t even good at the gimmick. He felt lost a lot of the time, and was completely out of place at times, and also made both Jeff Hardy & DZJ boring. It also felt as if it lasted an hour long.

From TNA One Night Only Joker’s Wild – Gauntlet Match: Moose won @ 31:11 [**]: There was a time when TNA did these gauntlet/Rumble matches very well, but that hasn’t been the case for some time. It started out well and had a great energy. But then it slowed down, they lost the crowd and that was due to an overall poor layout that didn’t maximize the participants and existing feuds. This was a long match that felt longer than it was, it lacked energy down the stretch and was completely devoid of drama down the stretch. This came off as a very disappointing match when all was said and done.

From TNA One Night Only Joker’s Wild – Aron Rex & Spud defeated Bad Bones & Jesse Godderz @ 10:00 via pin [**]: This was a pretty good, clean and basic tag match. Everyone got some time to shine, the crowd was into Moose and Matt and the pacing was solid throughout. No real big complaints with this match, other than the homestretch lacked some drama. Bad Bones looked good here, and I still say that not only has Jesse Godderz improved, but also that if he got to work more, he would be worlds better by now. He only worked 40 matches in 2016; he has other projects outside of wrestling, which is why he doesn’t take a ton of bookings. If he’s happy that’s all that matters, but I truely believe he’d be a top guy for TNA if he worked more and was 100% dedicated to wrestling.

From TNA One Night Only Joker’s Wild – The DCC (Kingston & Bram) defeated Robbie E & Shera @ 6:55 via pin [**]: This was merely another ok, but lacking match. Shera was perfectly solid here, and Robbie had great fire, but Bram & Kingston came off as just two guys; there is no real intensity, nothing that makes me buy them as badasses; they feel like two guys playing bully, and doing so poorly. For as much shit as I give Shera, and he has had some horrendous matches, he was fine here. He’s another guy that is hurt with the TNA business model, they run no live events for him to work on, and no one is knocking down the doors to give him indie bookings. He’s only worked something like 76 matches (total), he’s a guy that desperately needs to accumulate in ring time, working with veterans as much as possible.

From TNA One Night Only Joker’s Wild – Sienna & Jade defeated Laurel Van Ness & Allie @ 8:10 via pin [**¼]: This was another match that was just ok, but came off a bit better than some of the others, because the crowd was into it more, due toothier love of Allie. They played off of the Allie dynamic well here, giving her more offense, and her selling surprise excellently as she was hitting more offense than ever before.

From TNA One Night Only LIVE! January – Tag Team Title Match: Champions The Broken Hardys defeated Eli Drake and Tyrus @ 12:35 via pin [**½]: The Hardys and Drake were good, Tyrus not so much. This was a solid match overall. The Hardys are 90% gimmick these days, and that’s not a bad thing but they need some one like the Wolves to really bring out a fun, in ring effort, like we got on Impact (January 12th edition).

From TNA One Night Only Joker’s Wild – Mike Bennett & Braxton Sutter vs. Tyrus & Crazy Steve @ 9:40 via pin [**½]: This was another really solid match, Maria’s interaction was limited, and the conflict between Bennett & Sutter played well and made perfect sense. Unfortunately, the match had very little in the way of fire or crowd interest; it’s not exclusively the fault of these four, it’s been a problem most of the show.

From TNA One Night Only LIVE! January – Bram defeated Robbie E @ 7:57 via pin [**½]: This was a perfectly solid professional wrestling match. I’d care more about the new and serious Robbie E if I hadn’t watched it during the Bound for Glory Playoffs, where it was quickly dropped after Robbie E had his best TNA singles matches. Robbie E is way better than given credit for. Every Bram singes match feels exactly the same.

From TNA One Night Only LIVE! January – James Storm defeated Jessie Godderz @ 10:20 via pin [**½]: Much like the previous match, this was a perfectly solid professional wrestling match, where it fails is the constant interference. The goal of that is to piss off the crowd, elicit a reaction and to create sympathy and emotion for the face. That never really happened here. The in ring work was technically sound, i just hopedfor more.

From TNA One Night Only Joker’s Wild – Davey Richards & Moose vs. Broken Matt & Trevor Lee @ 10:20 via pin [**¾]: This was a pretty good, clean and basic tag match. Everyone got some time to shine, the crowd was into Moose and Matt and the pacing was solid throughout. No real big complaints with this match, other than the homestretch lacked some drama; this meant that down the homestretch, there wee no really good near falls tat pulled you into the action, it just sort of ended.

From TNA One Night Only LIVE! January – Knockouts Title Match: Champion Rosemary defeated Sienna @ 8:56 via pin [***]: They had some difficulty capturing the crowd early, due to the heel vs. heel dynamic. But they were too good to let it distract them and thankfully worked a smart match, with good work that made sense and overall this turned into a good outing. I just wish that TNA put some efforts into the women, and not just Maria.

From TNA One Night Only Joker’s Wild – Caleb Konley & Eddie Edwards defeated Andrew Everett & Marshe Rockett @ via pin [***]: Seven matches into the Joker’s Wild PPV (there were only eight matches), this was the best match on the show. It had a nice and brisk pacing; they got right to work and never messed around. Everyone got some time to shine, especially Konley and Rockett, who rarely if ever get time on Impact. I wish that they would use these shows to focus more on the guys like that, build them up and then show the footage on Impact. Anyway this was good and more importantly fun!

From TNA One Night Only LIVE! January – X-Division Title Elimination Match: Champion DJ Z defeated Braxton Sutter, Trevor Lee and Andrew Everett @ 12:22 via pin [***]: Good match, but I am completely over the random cluster matches with no real feuds. They have the talent in the division, but they just need the booking behind to allow them to thrive. Honestly, there is too much talent to waste them in these multi-man matches all year long, again.

From TNA One Night Only LIVE! January – World Title Match: Champion Eddie Edwards defeated EC3 @ 15:45 via pin [***]: The match was good, and picked up well down the stretch. Unfortunately, the extra curricular activities took away from it for me. This, in theory, should also lead to EC3 turning as he keeps coming close, but losing the big one. It will only work if it, on top of Richards’ frustration leads to his heel turn. I love Edwards as the fighting champion, but I wish his wins came off as a bit more definitive. You can sell Edwards as “scrappy,” but also a formidable athlete, due to his diverse style to make him feel more legit. That’s where his title run failed for me.

From TNA One Night Only LIVE! January – Lashley defeated Davey Richards @ 14:40 via pin [***¾]: This was a very good match which kicked off this particular show very well, filled with some great stuff from both as they worked very well together; Lashley is such a great destroyer, but gave Richards a lot in his return match. He’s learned the fine line of not totally destroying smaller guys and feeding their comebacks in a completely believable way. I’d be down to see these two feud; this was a lot of fun with a good energy and intensity.

Cutter through the table by @RealMikeBennett! #TNA pic.twitter.com/QOuOlCOuHt

— Garrett Kidney (@garrettkidney) January 7, 2017

From TNA One Night Only LIVE! January – No Holds Barred Non-Title Match: Impact Grand Champion Moose defeated Mike Bennett @ 18:00 via pin [****]: This was world’s better than their Impact match from the same week as well as their PPV match earlier in the year, partly because of all of the smoke and mirrors, but also because both guys actually felt as if they were working with a sense of urgency and real aggression. This was Moose and Bennett’s best match together and also the best outings they have had in TNA, period. Considering I feel both guys have been disappointments in the ring during their TNA runs, I felt that they delivered big time here and that this was excellent.

– End scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”