TNA – Final Resolution ’06 DVD Review

Final Resolution Countdown Pre-Show Broadcast

This is TNA: The New Face of Professional Wrestling!

The Countdown show starts off with the PPV hype video, talking about Sting’s return to the ring, but it doesn’t mention his partner or his opponents.

Jeremy Borash welcomes us and hypes Rhino versus Abyss, Team 3D versus America’s Most Wanted, Samoa Joe versus Christopher Daniels, and the main event of Christian Cage & Sting taking on Jeff Jarrett & Monty Brown.

Shane Douglas is backstage with Christian Cage. He cuts a promo about how he and Sting are going to beat Jarrett and the Alpha Male, because that’s…how he rolls. Douglas promises to get the first words from Sting tonight.

PRE-SHOW MATCH A: Team Canada vs. Lance Hoyt, Jay Lethal & Kenny King

Lethal and Petey start it out and they do some little guy stuff. A1 and Hoyt get tagged in and they do some big guy stuff. Kenny King gets tagged in and A1 quickly overpowers him. King comes back with a drop toehold and locks on a headlock. Kenny hits a nice spin kick on Eric Young. The Canadians soon take advantage on King, but Hoyt gets the hot tag and cleans house. Lethal goes for a big dive off the top rope but it misses, so Petey capitalizes by hitting the Canadian Destroyer and the pin at 5:54. That was nothing much, but I like that the Pre-Show matches give more guys a chance to be on the show.
Rating: *½

Next we get a video package for the NWA Tag Team Title match, featuring America’s Most Wanted defending those belts against Team 3D. Borash and Douglas come back by talking about Sting, and Douglas says he’s going to go get a word with the man himself.

Tenay and West hype the card, focusing on Sting of course. This looks like a pretty strong card on paper; there are even a few matches they haven’t mentioned (AJ Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, X-Division six-man tag team match) that should be real good.

PRE-SHOW MATCH B: The Latin American Exchange vs. The Naturals

Konnan makes a plea to Ron Killings to join his group, named the Latin American Exchange. That would kind of make the name of the group null and void if you ask me. The Naturals attack right away, trying to avenge an earlier attack from the LAX. Konnan and Homicide dominate Douglas in the early going. The Naturals recover and go for the Natural Disaster, but Konnan clonks Stevens in the back of the head with the blackjack and rolls Homicide on top to get the win at 3:50. That was as good as it was going to be for a sub-four minute tag.
Rating: *¾

Shane Douglas is trying to get a word with Sting, but Team Canada is in his dressing room and enjoying the spread Sting has been provided by TNA. Petey is upset that no one in Team Canada ever had it this good. Eric Young is worried that Sting is there, so Scott D’Amore turns the lights off and Young goes nuts.

We get a hype video for the return of Sting, followed by Don West’s hard sell.

TNA – Final Resolution – Impact Zone – Orlando, Florida – January 15, 2006

The opening video package focuses mainly on the return of Sting, and his main event tag team match tonight. Monty and Jarrett don’t seem too concerned. Mike and Don welcome us to the show and the opening match starts almost right away.

MATCH #1: Alex Shelley, Austin Aries & Roderick Strong vs. Matt Bentley, Chris Sabin & Sonjay Dutt

The Bentley Bounce may be the lamest thing of all time. Sonjay Dutt doing the sprinkler is fairly lame too. Sabin has a new look, with short blonde hair. Shelley also has new hair, with a gold streak down the middle. Shelley and Sabin start off and Shelley does some interesting things to him. Strong and Dutt come in and trade moves. Aries and Bentley go next. Those two were a tag team at the pay-per-view the month before this. The heels take over on Dutt and he’s your face-in-peril. Jerry Lynn is standing in the aisle watching. Sabin finally takes the hot tag and he cleans house on Shelley. It all breaks down and somewhere in there Shelley pins Bentley to get the win at 10:31. That was an energetic little match that had some great double and triple teaming from the Generation Next team.
Rating: ***¼

Mike and Don are at ringside to hype some of the later matches in the evening. They spend a lot of time doing that, and we’ve already bought the show. We get a video package detailing the dissolution of the 4Live Kru and the subsequent feud. This is to lead into the next match, which really has nothing to do with this feud.

MATCH #2: The James Gang vs. The Diamonds in the Rough

The former New Age Outlaws are teaming together for the first time in six years. Skipper and BG start if off, as the Diamonds have something to prove, according to Tenay. I’m not sure why this match is happening on PPV, it’s really more of an Impact match. James Gang is feuding with the LAX, which consisted of Konnan, Homicide, and Apolo at this time. Kip and David Young come in and Kip has this ridiculous hairstyle. What a nice guy he is though, one of my favorite guys I’ve ever refereed for. They do some stuff and David Young hits the spinebuster on BG but doesn’t go for a cover. Kip comes in and cleans house on everyone. He uses the Stinger Splash on the night that Sting is making his big return. Skipper goes for the Play of the Day, but Kip reverses and hits the One and Only to get the win at 7:47. That was a standard tag team match.
Rating: **

Shane Douglas is backstage with Christopher Daniels. He heard that Daniels may have come back from his concussion too soon. Daniels goes through all of the things Joe has said and how false they are. Daniels’s promos are starting to wear on me.

MATCH #3: International X Showcase Match – AJ Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi

I admit that I have never seen a Tanahashi match before this one. The crowd is behind both guys, even chanting Tanahashi’s name. Tenay goes on a rant about The Great Muta as they do some chain wrestling. AJ hits his nasty dropkick. They trade chops and forearms in the center of the ring. They continue to do chain wrestling and other assorted stuff and I can’t believe how slowly this is going. AJ comes back and hits some clotheslines and the springboard forearm. Neckbreaker by AJ puts Tanahashi down for a two-count. AJ badly whiffs a spin kick and Tanahashi hits a power clothesline for two. If this is one of the best wrestlers NJPW has, I’m kinda glad I’m not watching NJPW right now. He goes for a super back suplex but AJ reverses it to a body press. Shannon Moore runs out and tries to clock AJ with the Mr. TNA plaque that he stole on Impact last night, but he hits Tanahashi instead and then eats the Pele. This leads to AJ getting a modified Styles Clash and that’s enough to get the pin at 11:03. That was colossally disappointing. Why would TNA bring in a guy for one shot like this? It did no good for anyone, including the audience. Moore steals the plaque back once again.
Rating: **¾

MATCH #4: Raven vs. Sean Waltman

The video package for this match chronicles Raven’s entire run in TNA, in short form of course. Raven is still irritated that he hasn’t gotten his rematch for the NWA World Title. I would be irritated too; I would think that former champions get an automatic rematch. Raven’s career is on the line tonight, and he is hanging out backstage with Shane Douglas and candles. Raven uses a lot of big words in his promo, to prove something to himself, if anyone. Zbyszko is in the ring to introduce the opponent for tonight. I hope this doesn’t signify a return to the company for Waltman. This is a no-DQ match, so all weapons are legal. They hit each other with stuff for a while. They fight up the ramp with the shopping cart. Raven tries to run Waltman off the ramp in the shopping cart, but Waltman falls out before it can fall off the ramp, and I laugh out loud. The referee goes down and Raven hits the Raven Effect. Raven goes for another cover and Zbyszko plays referee, giving Raven a bit of a slow count. Waltman comes back and hits the X-Factor, and Zbyszko gives a nice fair two-count. Waltman starts whipping Raven with a weight-lifting belt and he sets him up on the ladder and goes for a Bronco Buster but Raven moves. Zbyszko gives an incredibly slow two-count. Raven opens up the ladder and they fight on top of it. Larry tries to stop Raven, giving Waltman the opportunity to hit the X-Factor off the ladder through a table. Raven gets his foot on the ropes, but Zbyszko counts three anyway and Waltman wins the match at 8:06. That was a pretty tepid brawl to send Raven out (for a while, anyway). I just noticed that Larry is wearing the funniest shirt ever, with dogs riding motorcycles. Cassidy Riley comes out to protest the decision.
Rating: *¼

Shane Douglas is backstage with Ron Killings, who scored two quick victories over Roode on Impact a few weeks ago, but Roode left with the upper hand. Konnan interrupts and tries to reconcile with Truth, but he’s happy to be on his own. Konnan offers Truth his backup against Team Canada tonight, but Truth refuses.

Tenay and West are still uppity about what happened with Raven earlier tonight. Zbyszko tells Raven not to forget his bags. Jackie Gayda appears for some reason and starts spouting off some conspiracy theory or something.

MATCH #5: Ron Killings vs. Bobby Roode

They start off slowly, but soon it escalates to slaps to the face. Truth gets a quick rollup for two and Roode is flustered. Both men go for pinning combinations, including the fish out of water sequence for a series of two-counts. Outside the ring Truth hits a big dive but Roode recovers and throws him into the ringpost. D’Amore takes some cheap shots and throws Truth back in the ring for a two-count. Truth gets a quick cover for two but Roode comes right back with a clothesline. Truth recovers and hits a missile dropkick and both men are down. Truth sets up for a superplex but Roode reverses it and drops him on his face. Truth is favoring his right arm. Roode hits a body pres off the top rope but it’s rolled through for a near-fall. Konnan comes down and distracts Truth, allowing Roode to hit the Northern Lariat to get the win at 9:49. That was a fine match, but I would love to see Roode get a win with no shenanigans. Konnan tries to apologize, but Truth is pretty angry. BG comes out to go after Konnan, and Truth tries to stop him, but Homicide comes out and Truth just leaves BG to the wolves. Kip James comes out and clobbers Homicide with a chair.
Rating: **½

MATCH #6: Rhino vs. Abyss

Shane Douglas is backstage with James Mitchell and Abyss. Douglas wants to know what they think about Sting coming in to TNA tonight. I don’t see why he would ask them that. Mitchell quickly ignores Sting and cuts a pretty good promo on Rhino. This feud started when Rhino was starting his feud with Team Canada, as Scott D’Amore hired Mitchell and Abyss to take Rhino out. Rhino runs to the ring and the fight is on. Rhino hits a sort of dive on Abyss outside the ring. Back in the ring they exchange power moves and Abyss goes for a chair. He sets it up in the turnbuckle and tosses Rhino into it. Abyss dominates for a while, but Rhino comes back with a fireman’s carry into an Ace Crusher. Rhino levels Abyss with two chair shots. I guess this is a no-disqualification match. Mitchell distracts the referee so that Abyss can hit Rhino with the steel chain. I don’t see why the ref had to be distracted, since he just allowed the use of a steel chair in plain view. Mitchell sets off the Doomsday Detonator, which may be one of the worst gimmicks in wrestling. Rhino counters it with a spinebuster for two. He sets up for the Rhino Driver, but Mitchell holds onto Abyss, drawing Rhino’s ire. Abyss sets up for a chokeslam but Rhino hits a low blow. He charges at Abyss, but he gets caught with a Black Hole Slam onto a chair and Abyss gets the victory at 9:18. That was pretty pedestrian stuff.
Rating: **¼

MATCH #7: NWA World Tag Team Title Match – America’s Most Wanted vs. Team 3D

Shane Douglas is backstage with Team 3D, and he goes off on some weird tangent about his father and fires. Brother Ray actually cuts a pretty good promo about the history and lineage of the NWA Tag Team Titles. You know, I think these guys in real life actually believe that they’re the greatest tag team ever. I just get that vibe from them. All the same, I think now is the time to put the titles on them. Devon gets the better of Storm in the beginning, but AMW uses classic heel tactics to take over. Ray comes in and overpowers Harris. He goes for the senton off the ropes, but Harris rolls out of the way and tags Storm. Team 3D comes back and informs me that this match has no flow or structure to speak of. A table comes into play and Harris dropkicks it back into Team 3D’s faces. Harris uses his wrist tape to work over Devon. Stuff happens and the champions set up for the Death Sentence, but Devon breaks it up. Doomsday Device for the challengers gets two and gets Tenay all hot and bothered. Storm stupidly hits his own partner with a steel chair and 3D hits their dual neckbreaker but it still gets two. Storm goes to the top but gets pushed off the top rope through a table conveniently set up at ringside. Ray rolls up Harris for a quick two-count. Gail Kim gets in the ring and gives Harris powder, which he throws in Rudy Charles’s eyes. The 3D follows and Team 3D are your new NWA Tag Team Champions at 12:43. Team Canada comes out after the match and beats up the new champions and puts Harris on top of Storm so that when the ref regains his sight he proclaims AMW the winners. That’s minus several million for booking there. Not only did the wrong team go over, but it was one of the lamest, most contrived endings ever. The match was pretty bad leading up to that too.
Rating: **

Shane Douglas is backstage with NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett and Monty Brown. Jarrett cuts his usual promo about the lack of cohesion between his opponents tonight. Monty follows it up with a much better promo, and it makes me angry that Jarrett has the title and hot him.

MATCH #8: X Division Championship Match – Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels

The setup for this match is basically that Joe murdered Daniels a few months ago, and now Daniels is back. Don West says that Daniels will have to use every brain in his head. That’d be a pretty impressive feat, to have more than one. These two are pissed at each other, so the action starts off fast. Joe goes for power-stuff, and Daniels tries to out-quick Joe. Joe of course wins the battle and dominates Daniels, who as the commentators hinted at before the match, may not be at 100% after the injuries he sustained at the hands of Joe. Joe gets up on the ropes and tries to choke Daniels, but it gets reversed to a Death Valley Driver for two. Moments later, Joe actually hits a hurricanrana out of a powerbomb and a lariat for two. Daniels hits the Best Moonsault Ever for a near fall. Daniels goes for the Arabian Press, but Joe blocks it and winds up eating a big kick to the face. Daniels hits a springboard elbow to the floor, taking a nasty bump on his hip. Joe just gets all mean on Daniels, going right for the head. AJ Styles comes down to check on Daniels, who actually fights back and goes for the Angel’s Wings, but he can’t hit it. Daniels is busted open. Joe hits a kick to the head and a big knee. The Muscle Buster follows and Joe goes for the Choke but Daniels reaches the ropes. Joe brings a chair into the ring and goes for the Muscle Buster again. He hits it on the chair, so I guess this is a no-DQ match as well. Joe says he’s going for the choke but then takes to kicking Daniels in the head a few times and driving his knees into the side of Daniels’s head. AJ gets up on the apron and finally throws in the towel for Daniels at 15:33. Joe looked like an absolute killer there, and kudos to Daniels for putting him over so strong. That match was smart and intense, and probably the best match I’ve ever seen between these two.
Rating: ****¼

MATCH #9: The Return of an Icon – Sting & Christian Cage vs. Jeff Jarrett & Monty Brown

We get the video package and a promo with Christian Cage backstage, who promises that Sting can trust him, mostly because they both hate Monty Brown and Jeff Jarrett. Sting gets a monster pop for his entrance. Christian and Monty start off and Jarrett tags in and goes to work. Crowd pops big time when Sting gets tagged in. Tenay is overselling everything, as usual. The crowd chants “you still got it” at Sting, which is clever. ROH fans would later use this chant for Lance Storm, but I doubt any of them would admit that it originated in TNA. Sometimes I can’t stand ROH fans. Gail Kim interferes and gives Cage a nice hurricanrana. Jarrett and Monty are really working Cage over. The crowd chants “Alpha Female” as Jarrett and Brown continue to pummel Cage. He makes a brief comeback but the heels soon regain control. Sting gets distracted by Gail Kim so that when Cage goes to make the tag there’s no one there. Jarrett and Monty go for the con-chair-toe, but Christian ducks and hits a combination flatliner/DDT on both adversaries. The crowd is hot for Sting to get tagged in. He comes in and cleans house. He gets the Scorpion Deathlock on Jarrett and he’s tapping, but the referee has been knocked out. Monty delivers the Fallaway slam on Cage, tossing him onto Sting to break up the Deathlock. Sting thinks Cage hit him on purpose. The belt comes in and Cage and Sting have some more miscommunication. Team Canada runs in but Sting and Cage take them out real easy. Cage gives Monty a dive outside the ring while Gail Kim distracts Sting, allowing Jarrett to waffle Sting with the belt. It gets two. All four men are back in and the good guys go for Stereo Stinger Splashes but the heels move. Jarrett goes for the guitar, but Sting’s bat is enough to combat it. A Scorpion Death Drop later and Sting gets the pin on the champion at 15:05. That was a really fun tag team match and Sting looked good considering how long he’s been out of action. Cage takes a powder to allow Sting to have the sole spotlight.
Rating: ***½

BONUS

These are just various backstage clips. I really don’t get the point, but they’re there.

– Mike and Don Entrance
– Captain Charisma Backstage
– LAX Entrance
– James Gang Reunite
– A Phenomenal Entrance
– Rhino Attacks
– Team 3D Goes To War
– Joe! Joe! Joe!

The 411: The last two matches really delivered, but the undercard left a lot to be desired. A lot of them looked good on paper (AMW vs. 3D, Rhino vs. Abyss, Styles vs. Tanahashi), but they all wound up being very middle of the road. Joe versus Daniels is terrific and the main event is fun (especially if you’re a big Sting fan), so this gets a mild recommendation.
Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]