wrestling / TV Reports

The TNA Sacrifice 2007 Breakdown

May 19, 2007 | Posted by J.D. Dunn

TNA Sacrifice 2007
by J.D. Dunn

  • May 13, 2007
  • Live from Orlando, Fla.
  • Your hosts are Mike Tenay and Don West.

  • Opening Match, X-Division Title: Chris Sabin vs. Black Machismo vs. Sonjay Dutt.
    Sabin lays down, trying to stir things up between Dutt and Lethal. It doesn’t work, and Sabin gets doubleteamed. Dutt and Lethal work well enough together when attacking Sabin, but when it comes to the pin, they have friction. Sabin gets tossed so the faces can work in a quick blowjob sequence that looks cool but amounts to nothing. Back in, Lethal jabs at Sabin but gets tripped. Sabin gets tripped by a 619 from Sonjay, and they all wind up on the outside. Sonjay hits an Asai Moonsault . Back in, Sonjay “accidentally” hits Lethal with a missile dropkick. Sabin busts out the Garvin Stomp. These guys watch way too much 80’s stuff. Sonjay hits Lethal with a corner charge, so Sabin follows him in and squashes them both. He hangs Sabin on Lethal and hits both of them with dropkicks. Cool spot. Lethal hits the Flatliner on Sabin, but Sonjay breaks it up with the 450-splash. He gets two on Lethal and then two more on Sabin. Lethal and Dutt get into a shoving match, allowing Sabin to shove Dutt into Lethal and roll Sonjay up for the win at 13:01. After the match, Dutt and Lethal have a hockey fight, prompting Kevin Nash to come in and break it up. Sonjay sneak attacks Nash and then runs away. Bad ending after such hot action down the stretch, but it makes sense given Sabin’s personality. Not sure why they wouldn’t just give the title to Lethal here because Sabin has the tag team with Alex Shelley to move on to, and Lethal and Sonjay are getting ready to feud. I guess that would be too much like right. ***

  • Robert Roode says a win over Jeff Jarrett will mean so much to his career. Let’s see. There was a huge build to the mystery partner in the Lockdown main event, and it was Jeff Jarrett. There was a huge mystery over who Eric Young’s friend was, and it was Jeff Jarrett. Now we have Roode saying his whole career could be made with a win over Jeff Jarrett. Hmm. And when Poochie isn’t on screen, everyone should be saying, “Where’s Poochie?”
  • Jeff Jarrett vs. Robert Roode (w/Ms. Brooks).
    Roode attacks during Jarrett’s intro and tries to piledrive him on the floor, but Jarrett backdrops him over. Jarrett splashes Roode against the ropes and hits an uppercut, but Tracy grabs his leg. Jarrett goes after her, allowing Roode to jump him from behind. Roode goes on offense, and I kind of tune out. Funny how those two always seem to coincide. Jarrett comes back with a snap powerslam á la Samoa Joe. Double J works in his sleeper reversal spot, but Roode works in a figure-four. Don West is selling Jarrett as a god here, but the fans are chanting, “We want Eric,” which is probably something they should take notice of. Jarrett makes the ropes and counters a second try with a small package. Jarrett goes low and applies the figure-four (with a polite assist from Roode himself). Tracy distracts the ref as Roode taps (and you know he was in pain because he was tapping with BOTH hands). The silly thing about that spot is that all Jarrett had to do was hold on until the ref turned around, but he lets the hold go to go after her. Roode grabs a chair, but the ref tries to grab it from him, leading to Roode smashing himself in the head with it. Tracy yanks the ref out in the middle of a count, so he tosses her. Oh, but inside, Roode was walloping Jeff with brass knuckles. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Roode, you ignorant slut. You should have known punching him directly in the face with a deadly weapon wouldn’t be enough. They exchange counters, and Roode winds up tossing Jarrett’s face into the exposed turnbuckle to pick up the win 11:22. After the match, Jarrett saves himself from a guitar shot and puts Roode in the figure-four again. Tracy runs back down and…gets ready…for a…guitar shot. Waiting. Waiting. Eric Young runs down to tack Tracy and put her in the figure-four. The match was fun and inoffensive, but it might not be so funny when Jarrett’s Poochieism gets out of control. **

  • In the back, Team Christian has a victory party, and none of them have even wrestled yet.
  • Christopher Daniels vs. Rhino.
    Rhino overpowers him early and sets up for the gore, but Daniels ducks to the floor. They brawl on the floor, and Daniels tosses him into the ringpost. Back in, Daniels goes right after Rhino’s shoulder. Rhino comes back with a backbreaker, a shoulderblock, and a powerslam. Daniels goes after the shoulder to take back the advantage and locks in a cross armlock. Rhino makes the ropes and hits a gore, but Daniels gets his hand on the ropes. Daniels slips to the outside and hits Rhino in the head with the baseball bat to pick up the win at 9:56. Good strategy from Daniels. Looks like they’re actually intent on pushing Daniels, but it would be nice if we could figure out what in the hell is going on with him. Rhino chases Daniels down and drags him back to the ring for a Rhinodriver through some chairs, but security breaks it up over the objections of Don West. **1/4

  • Handicap Match: Kip James vs. Damaja & Basham (w/Christy Hemme).
    BG is either injured or not in town, depending on who you listen to. The pre-match video package shows Christy being so offended at being called a whore that she…dressed up like a whore. Kip holds his own for a while, but the former Bashams take over by force of numbers. Kip avoids a charge, and Damaja collides with Basham. Damaja hits Brain Damage (the two-fisted chokeslam), and Basham finishes with a diving headbutt at 4:27. West and Tenay speculate that Christy was just lulling everyone into a false sense of security with crappy teams the past few months. Lance Hoyt saves Kip from a beatdown. 1/2*

  • Texas Death Match: Chris Harris vs. James Storm (w/Jackie Moore).
    I was not looking forward to this one after that horribly blindfold match at Lockdown, but much like Blade II, it wound up being better than the original. They brawl in the aisle and into the crowd. The fracas work its way up through the crowd where Storm tosses a drink in Harris’ face. Harris walks down to the ring and takes out Storm and security with a crossbody off the top for the pin at around four minutes in. Storm makes it to his feet at eight. Back in, Storm tosses a chair into Harris’ face, knocking Harris into the tree-of-woe. Storm smashes the chair right into Harris’ head! Harris is busted open and bleeding. Storm sets up a table and tries to rana Harris through it, but Harris blocks. Harris catapults Storm’s face into the table, ripping open his face. BRUTAL! Harris can’t suplex him through the table so, Storm hits him with the EYE OF THE STORM THROUGH THE TABLE! That’s enough for a pinfall. Harris staggers up at nine. Storm tries to toss Harris through a table on the floor, but Harris blocks. Storm has to settle for a rope-assisted DDT. Storm tosses a bunch of plunder into the ring, but Harris was just waiting for him to get in the right position and SPEARS HIM OFF THE APRON THROUGH THE TABLE! Back in, Harris misses a chair swing and takes the SUPERKICK! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! They each grab a garbage can lid and start swinging for the forehead. SMASH! SMASH! SMASH! Both guys are bloody messes. Harris blocks a swing and hits him with Catatonic on top of a garbage can. Jackie tries to interfere, but Gail Kim runs down and drags her to the back. Storm grabs a beer bottle, but Harris has one two. WHAM! Harris hits first, smashing the bottle upside Storm’s head. Harris gets the pin at 17:11. Great friggin’ match! Everything was just as it should be without a lot of unnecessary pinfalls clogging things up. ****

  • Senshi vs. Alex Shelley vs. Tiger Mask IV vs. Jerry Lynn.
    Lynn gets a spinning Gory Special on Senshi, but Senshi no-sells and flips out of it. Shelley and Lynn exchange counters for a bit. Shelley calls out Tiger Mask and then tags in Senshi before any contact can occur. Senshi and Tiger Mask do a brisk little sequence before Shelley tags himself back in. He hits Tiger Mask with an Ace Crusher, but Tiger Mask hits a moonsault for two. Shelley comes back with a jawbreaker but takes a Butterfly Superplex for two. Senshi tags in and hits a springboard kick. Tiger Mask goes for a Tombstone Piledriver, but Lynn counters to a TKO. Lynn goes up, but Senshi handsprings in with a flying kick. Tiger Mask knocks Senshi to the floor and goes up for a Butterfly Superplex, but Shelley shoves him to the floor and hits a thrust kick. He hits a huracanrana, but Lynn rolls through to a sunset flip at 10:44. After the match, Chris Sabin comes down, and Sabin and Shelley put the boots to Lynn. Bob Backlund makes the save, presumably setting up a tag match between the Motor City Machine Guns and the Minnesota Kvetching Crew. **3/4

  • NWA Tag Team Titles: Team 3D vs. S. Steiner & Tomko vs. LAX (w/Konnan).
    Steiner and Tomko are one of those wacky combinations of tag partners who can’t stand each other. Not that any one of the TNA bookers is famous for that motif. *Ahem* Homicide winds up taking the worst of the offense from Steiner and Brother Ray. Ray and Steiner exchange suplexes, so Homicide runs in and dropkicks both guys. He makes a pact with Steiner as the rules seem to morph to allow three guys in there at once. The morph right back as Homicide gets sent outside and it’s a one-on-one the rest of the way. Hernandez slingshots himself in and hits Tomko with a shoulderblock. Tomko and Steiner crotch D-Von on the post, and all four heels isolate D-Von for a while. Hernandez splashes D-Von, but Tomko makes the save. D-Von hits a DDT, but LAX cuts off his tag. D-Von rolls into the hot tag anyway, and Ray cleans house. IT’S BREAKIN’ LOOSE! Team 3D hits the “What’s in your wallet?” drop and go for the tables. Hernandez takes D-Von out with the tope suicida but stops to talk to the camera and gets jumped by Ray. Steiner and Tomko set up for the Steiner bulldog, but Homicide rolls through into a pin on Steiner. Steiner and Tomko get into an argument over it until Ray comes in, giving them something to focus on. They try another doubleteam, but Tomko accidentally boots Steiner in the face. Tomko turns around right into the 3D at 12:40. After the match, Tomko and Steiner get into it, so Rick Steiner runs down and chases Tomko away. Well, the Steiners were over-the-hill about nine years ago, but if they can bring in Giant Bernard, they’d have a great tag team contest on paper. **3/4

  • Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles.
    The last time these guys met, it was a MOTYC, but that was with the heel/face roles reversed. AJ impetuously tries to charge in, but Joe repeatedly brushes him off. Joe sweeps the leg, sending AJ through the ropes and then follows him out with an elbow suicida. AJ tries a springboard, but Joe tosses him into the apron. It’s interesting because they’re wrestling the same basic match as they usually do, but this time Joe’s offense is cathartic because we enjoy seeing chickenshit heel AJ get his ass handed to him. AJ “injures” his shoulder, but Joe is like, “Screw that!” and goes for the Olé Kick. AJ blocks and takes over with that pop-up dropkick that he does. They exchange forearms, and AJ goes back to the eyes. Joe hits the atomic drop and tries that flying kick, but AJ ducks for a second time. Joe gets two off the snap powerslam. AJ ducks a swing and hits the Pélé! OH, IT JUST COMES OUT OF NOWHERE! The Quebrada DDT gets two. Joe blocks the Styles Clash and hits a DVD. He charges, but Styles avoids and sends him to the floor. Joe appears to hurt his knee and begs for mercy. Don West seems to be the only one in the world who buys it…well, besides AJ, and AJ is the only one who matters. AJ misses the Spiral Tap, and Joe finishes with the Millennium Suplex at 12:44. These guys just can’t have a bad match. ***1/2

  • NWA Heavyweight Title: Christian Cage vs. Sting vs. Kurt Angle.
    Christian just backs off and lets Sting and Angle argue. Of course, they quickly turn on him and toss him to the floor. He gets back and gets tossed again. Funny stuff. Sting gets sent to the floor, and Christian and Angle do a nice, quick little sequence. Christian tosses Angle into the post and offers Sting a truce, but Stinger isn’t buying it. I bet if Christian were Luger, he’d buy it! Angle yanks Sting to the floor and Angleslams him on the ramp. Christian slaps Angle around but pays for it with ROLLING GERMANS! Ten! Ten rolling Germans! Sting makes the save and tosses Angle. Sting sets up for a superplex, but Angle runs back in and hits turns it into a Tower of Doom spot. Angle gets two on Sting and then two on Christian. Christian goes up, but Sting tosses Angle into him and Stinger Splashes them both. He hits Angle with the Scorpion Deathdrop, but Christian pulls the ref out. Back in, Angle locks in the Anklelock on BOTH Christian and Sting, but they combine their forces and send him to the floor. Sting tosses the ref back in and schoolboys Christian, but Angle comes back in and applies the anklelock to Sting as a second ref slides in. Oh, dear God! Not this ending. Yep. The first ref counts three at the exact same time that Sting taps out at 10:44. Angle is announced as the winner as the PPV cuts off. The match was rushed as a result of poor time management, which is silly because they could have just as easily dropped the VKM/Bashams match and added another five minutes. The clichéd ending sucked too. There has to be a better way to hold up a title. I can only assume the real plan was to announce Angle as the champ and reverse it to Sting before declaring that it would have to be cleared up on Impact!, but they ran out of time. Good, but way too short for a main event. **1/2

    The 411: The first hour is boring, but once you get to the Death Match, this one really hits its stride. Despite some boneheaded moves in the booking, and a tendency to overload the PPV with matches because they don’t trust any one match to be a real draw, Sacrifice really delivers and is a marked improvement over Lockdown

    Thumbs up for Sacrifice 2007.

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