Csonka’s TNA One Night Only Gut Check Review

TNA One Night Only Gut Check 2015

OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Martin Stone defeated Jessie Godderz @ 8:25 via pin [**½]
– MVP defeated Jon Davis @ 7:20 via pin [*]
– The Revolution defeated The Von Erichs @ 8:10 via pin [**]
– Shaun Ricker defeated Crazzy Steve @ 5:40 via pin [½*]
– Davey Richards defeated Tony Kozina @ 7:45 via pin [THE DIRT FUCKING WORST]
– Crimson defeated Samuel Shaw @ 6:10 via pin [**]
– Tevita Fifita defeated Ethan Carter III @ 5:16 via DQ [**]
– Dalton Castle defeated DJ Z @ 7:04 via pin [***]
– Drew Galloway defeated Pepper Parks @ 6:48 via pin [**¾]
– Elimination Match: Tevita Fifita defeated Shaun Ricker, Martin Stone, Dalton Castle and Crimson @ 14:15 [**¾]

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* This was taped back on February 16th.

* Borash and Mathews are on commentary.

* The gimmick is that we have a series of matches featuring 10 Gut Check participants competing in singles matches and tag match against 10 members of the active roster. If a Gut Check participant wins their match, they move onto compete in the main event match where the winner of that match earns an appearance on Impact Wrestling.

* We have Borash and Hemme in the ring to kick off the show. This is where we meet the participants, and we kill a lot of valuable PPV time instead of shooting some short intro videos for these guys. Oh joy, Robbie E is out to complain about guys “taking his spot” and tried to cancel the show. Al Snow then came to the ring; I shit you not, to save the day. They made some gay jokes (seriously) and then introduced the talent. I use the term “introduce” lightly, because most of the time it was Snow and Robbie sniping at each other and telling poorly done jokes. When the Gut Check people got to cut promos, they were mostly poor. Dalton Castle is a charismatic milkshake though, so at least he was good. This whole thing was pretty shit, and honestly Snow’s constant gay jokes at Robbie were quite pathetic. And when he wasn’t doing that, Snow was stumbling over his promo just as bad as the Gut Check people. This took up the first 20-minutes of the show.

Martin Stone defeated Jessie Godderz w/Angelina Love: Stone spent some time in WWE developmental, appeared on TNA British Boot Camp and works FIP and Evolve. He cut a pretty good pre-match promo, good passion, but it was the “I was held back for years” shit in regards to his time in WWE. Stone is the no nonsense British brawler/grappler, so when Godderz would pose and show off his ribs, Stone would attack that area with say, an abdominal stretch. They had a nice dynamic between the characters. The match was a bit slow, but was a rock solid opening match; unfortunately the crowd wasn’t into it much at all. The only real issue is Godderz doing his dangerous and sloppy powerbomb, where he doesn’t quite get the guy up high enough. Stone won with the roll up, as Godderz went for the pin with one foot. I liked that the Gut Check guy won the first match.

* They go back to fill time and show Chris Lewie’s Gut Check match against Gunner from when they did the monthly Gut Check in 2012. I have no idea why you would run this; it was a BAD match and has nothing to do with this PPV. It’s only to fill time, because the promotion is incapable of actually filling the three hours. This was 2-minutes and 30-seconds of shit. They also show Lewie failing to get a contract.

MVP defeated Jon Davis: Jon Davis used to be part of the Dark City Fight Club, and did a lot of work with FIP, DGUSA and Evolve before basically disappearing. MVP cut a heel promo, calling Davis’ mother a crack whore from an alley. He then slapped Davis around, which led to Davis attacking. Basic brawl, they went to the floor and MVP took control. Even though MVP is “a star” and Davis worked a lot in Florida, the crowd reaction was basically shit for this. This really had no flow to it, they had a heatless striking exchange followed by another, and the strikes didn’t exactly look great. It felt as if they were working at half speed at times, this really felt as if they were going through the motions and then MVP hit a kick and got the win. This was not good at all. MVP attacked post match, but Davis hit a sloppy around the world powerbomb to stand tall. Ok.

The Revolution (James Storm and Manik) w/Khoya defeated The Von Erichs (Marshall Von Erich and Ross Von Erich): We got a pre-tape interview from the Von Erichs prior to the match. They are not good at talking, at all. Thankfully the Revolution is Storm and Manik, which means that there is a chance that they carry the Von Erichs to something decent. The Von Erichs are good athletes and have a good look, but overall really haven’t evolved as performers; they feel very basic still. Manik bumped around well for hem early, and then Storm cheated to get the heat. Storm did a lot of basic heel stuff, fake tag by clapping, tape to choke out the face, and it worked well enough to get the crowd into the match more than the other stuff we’ve seen tonight. Ross’ selling leaves a lot to be desired, as he sort of just lays there and lets the heel work and does nothing to make you connect with him. Marshall made a good comeback on the hot tag, including a nice moonsault. Khoya got involved, Manik distracted Marshall and Storm laid him out with the superkick for the win. This was ok, Storm and Manik tried to make them look good, but I hated the TV distraction finish that we see all too often. It was a match you could see on NXT or any TV show any week, the Von Erichs look good, but don’t do anything to impress as far as their in ring performance.

Shaun Ricker (Eli Drake) defeated Crazzy Steve: Ricker cut a pre-match promo, noting that he has the body, in ring skills and mic skills to succeed in TNA. He also stole his ring jacket from the yellow Power Ranger. The early portion of the match was based on them stealing each other’s ring jackets and doing stupid shit with them. Steve then did the matador spot with the jacket, and then did spots involving the jacket, because he CRAZZY YOU SEE. They had some uninspired back and forth, Ricker stole the monkey, which led to a low blow and a victory for Ricker. Ricker worked hard after the shenanigans with the jacket, but this sucked like pretty much every Crazzy Steve match on these shows. The crowd did not care about this either. You’d think if you’re running a PPV, where your basically trying out new guys, you’d want some quality opponents for then, not Crazzy Steve. But there you go.

Davey Richards defeated Tony Kozina: Kozina cut a promo, about this being his destiny. Josh Mathews actually said, “Tony Kozina wrestles better than Kurt Angle.” Go home Josh, you’re drunk. Kozina has been around forever, and made headlines in 2012 when he, Richards and O’Reilly reportedly threatened a promoter, took money and Kozina also “forcefully choked out a 16-year old opponent”. They did some basic wrestling to begin, and then Richards got the advantage when he used his flashier offense. They then did a comedy spot where Kozina got tripped up on a drop down by Richards, and he then fell to the floor in comical fashion as Richards and the ref laughed at him. Mathews was annoying here, trying to put over Kozina as an independent legend as they worked comedy goof spots that made Kozina look stupid. I get that he’s trying to be over the top/tongue and cheek, but this did nothing for me. It felt as if he was just amusing himself. Kozina then went up top for a moonsault, but slipped off and Richards got the roll up for the win. This was completely stupid, I like comedy wrestling when it’s done well, but this was just stupid. The company says they are bringing in “the best” for a chance at a shot with the company, and then they have this guy go out there and be a complete fucking goof. This was absolutely horrible in every way. I am sure when they came up with this that they thought it would be hilarious, instead it was a waste of eight minutes. Also, why does Richards need to win on the slip on a banana peel finish against a 44 year old guy that was portrayed a total loser and goof? Seriously, at the very least Richards should have won with his finish.

* Mathews then says he had the wrong guy in the last match and thought he was discussing something else to cover his poor commentary work, which was not funny at all.

Crimson defeated Samuel Shaw: Josh tried to play into the story that Shaw only got the tattoos on his arms to be like Gunner, as they apparently did not tell him that they were showing a video of past Gut Check appearances. Including the one Shaw won, where he already had a bunch of tattoos. They went back and forth, Shaw got a short heat segment and then missed a top rope leg drop. Crimson ran wild to little crowd reaction, doing basic big man stuff. He was able to fight out of the choke by Shaw and then hit the end of days for the win. This was nothing special, but was perfectly acceptable and worlds better than the previous match.

Tevita Fifita (Micah) defeated Ethan Carter III w/Tyrus via disqualification: Fifita made sure to take a shot at the Camacho character in his pre-match promo, and name-dropped his father Haku. Carter was fun in his pre-match promo, telling Fifita, “you look familiar, do I know you?” Carter then ranted on nepotism in wrestling, and says that even though his aunt owns TNA he doesn’t walk around like he owns the place. As you would expect, that was fun work from EC3 on the mic. Fifita controlled early, until Tyrus got involved, and Carter got the heat. Fifita was making a good comeback and hit a top rope head butt, but Tyrus pulled out the ref for the DQ. Carter and Tyrus worked over Fifita, and then HAKU IN KHAKIS AND A DRESS SHIRT MADE THE SAVE! He gave Tyrus the Tongan death grip and he and Fifita cleared the ring. Fifita and Carter were working well together and then we got the DQ. I obviously get why Carter couldn’t lose clean, so I was fine with it.

Dalton Castle defeated DJ Z: Dalton Castle cut a very Dalton Castle promo before the match. TNA, not understanding the character, got women to be his valets. It’s not the same without the boys. DJ Z had his laptop with him, so he could occasionally go to the floor and play his horn sound to mess with Castle. They did the usual silliness that you’d expect, including Castle playing Peacock sounds on DJZ’s laptop. The thing here is as opposed to Kozina vs. Richards is that the comedy works with the guys and their gimmicks, plus the work was fun. They worked well together, both in mixing the comedy as well as the in ring work; it was different and fun overall. DJZ missed a 450, and Castle hit the delayed bridging German to move onto the main event. This was a good match, exactly what it needed to be in terms of working the gimmick of both guys into the match. It was the best thing on the show so far.

Drew Galloway defeated Pepper Parks (w/Laura Dennis aka Cherry Bomb): Dennis cut a generic heel promo and praised her husband. Parks failed at his sneak attack, allowing Galloway to beat his ass around the ring while still wearing his ring jacket. Galloway controlled the opening minutes, until Parks rakes the eyes and then hit Galloway with one of Dennis’ shoes. Mathews and Borash ignored Parks’ heat segment and made “Pepper” jokes. Like, “If Parks went to medical school, he’d be Dr. Pepper”. I shit you not. Parks got a lot here, and looked good in doing so. Dennis districted Galloway, which led to Parks almost charging into her. Galloway then hit the running boot and future shock and that was that. That felt like a Reader’s Digest version of a really fun match. It was a bit rushed, and the finish didn’t mean as much because we’ve seen it already this evening along with a DQ finish. Diminishing returns.

* Al Snow and Robbie E came back out to kill time. It ended with Snow punching out Robbie.

Elimination Match: Tevita Fifita (Micah) defeated Shaun Ricker (Eli Drake), Martin Stone, Dalton Castle and Crimson: Castle got a lot of shine early, including showing off his strength and wrestling but using some people around. So he of course got pinned by Crimson after a chokeslam. Shortly after that Ricker eliminated Stone, and then ate rights from both Fifita and Crimson. Ricker then rakes Crimson’s eyes and gets a roll up with feet on the ropes. So Ricker and Fifita got some time to go one on one, and it was fine but had no buzz to it. The layout of the match was lacking, and they didn’t really do anything to make me care about this match. They fought up top, Ricker was calling spots loudly and then hit a run up overhead suplex for a near fall. Fifita hit a Samoan drop and top rope head butt and scored the win. Fifita and Ricker would both make the Impact roster, Fifita worked as Micah from April through July and has disappeared. This was a perfectly average match, with solid work but no real story, peaks or valleys on the storytelling. They did stuff, they eliminated guys and Fifita won. This was a very lackluster way to end the show, whoever laid out the match did a piss poor job and did these guys no real favors. Order of elimination: Castle (6:30), Stone (7:35), Crimson (8:50) and Ricker (14:15).

* Al Snow congratulated Fifita, and the show ended.

* The PPV was 2-hours and 41-minutes long, ending early as usual.

* End scene.

* Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”

4.5

The final score: review Poor

The 411

Not a good show. They did the usual kill time to start the show, and I say kill time because all of the bullshit did nothing to help introduce the new people, which hurt crowd reactions later in the show. The first half of the show was horrendous, so bad that if I had not paid for it and didn’t have to review it I would have turned it off. It rebounded with some solid, but largely average stuff for the second half, but it wasn’t nearly enough to save the show. The One Night Only PPV are interesting in theory (the gimmicks are fun and COULD WORK), but the execution continues to kill these shows. The only thing worse is Borash and Mathews on commentary, clearly not caring and joking around to amuse themselves.