411’s Instant PPV Analysis 09.14.08: TNA No Surrender 2008

Greetings, humanity! Welcome to Lansdell’s Instant Analysis for TNA – No Surrender. We had a promising card with 4 title matches, and AJ breaking Frank Trigg’s in-ring cherry. The main event has taken a hit with the loss of Booker T due to Ike-erference, but should be strong nonetheless. What happened? You can read the full recap from Emperor Csonka here. See what we thought was going to happen with the roundtable here. But first, read me!

Sting Speaks!

I could pretend I know why they startwed the show with this. Sting came out and said nothing new: he name-dropped Bret Hart for the cheap pop, he spoke about a lack of respect and he got face pops. It all smells like Millionaire’s Club vs New Breed again: a good idea ruined because the supposed heels worked as faces.

Personal Enjoyment Index: 5 Leave it for Impact.

Rock and Rave Infection vs Prince Justice Brotherhood

They leave in pieces? Really?

To borrow a phrase from Larry, “They had a match, it was what it was and it was fine.” There was enough comedy in the match to cover up the fact that a woman was on one team, and the action we had was good. It never felt forced, wrong, slow or bad. That said, there was nothing here that was beyond good. I suppose Eric’s double DVD was impressive, but one move does not a match make. There was never a major storyline here to follow, but the finish with Curry Man covering Christy while stroking her face is clearly leading up to something. I’m a fan of lower-card feuds, so as long as it doesn’t end up dominating the airtime, let’s give it a pass for now.

Rating: **3/4

ODB vs Awesome KONG! – Falls Count Anywhere

Man how nasty was that bothced table powerbomb? I wonder if the Saeed interference was planned all along or if it was to give Kong a chance to get her wind back? The match really did nothing for me, it was a decidedly bland hardcore effort with two people who just weren’t clicking tonight. Their pull-apart brawls have had far more chemistry than they’ve shown in actual matches, which is a shame. I doubt this feud is done, which hurts me because I am no fan of ODB. She just seems to be lacking something, probably talent, although the fans love her.

Rating: **

Team 3D vs Matt Morgan and Abyss

I guess, if they tried REAL hard, they could make Matt Morgan more like Brock Lesnar. Not by much though.

This was better than I dared hope. Not great, but better. Team 3D showed they can still pull outone good match a month, but what bugged me is the continued teasing of the chair shots. The match was not announced as No DQ and yet the ref made no effort to remove the chair from the ring or to stop it being used. The post-match shenanigans seem to suggest that this is not over and that we’re headed for a Morgan-Abyss encounter at some point, which could be stiff if nothing else.

Rating: **3/4

X-Division Title – Sheik Abdul Bashir vs Consequences Creed vs Petey Williams (C)

Bizarro World in full effect as Creed gets booed and Williams is cheered.

Heck of a match. Lots of innovative spots, particularly the double leg drop off the top by Creed and Bashir trying to cover Creed while Petey had Bashir in the Sharpshooter. Speaking of the Sharpshooter, was anyone else expecting Russo to come down dressed as McMahon when Petey locked it in? As with all of the recent X-Division title matches, the pace was up and the action was continuous. Petey may just be the most consistent PPV performer for TNA this year. Up there with Kaz and AJ Styles. Bashir-Creed seems like it could continue, but Petey should still be in the mix since he wasn’t pinned. They could match them up again for a couple of months straight and it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest.

Hey, no cheap finishes yet!

Rating: ***½

TNA Knockouts Title – Angelina Love vs Taylor Wilde (C)

Gregory Helms gets to plow Velvet Sky. I hate him.

This wasn’t bad, I suppose. Wilde is at the stage where she needs a more talented person in the ring with her to make a good match. Love isn’t that person. Like I said, it wasn’t bad, but I never felt drawn into the match and with so many bodies at ringside, you knew they were going to get involved in the finish somehow. What is the point of Traci Brookes if she isn’t actually going to enforce anything? Hopefully we’ve seen the last of this feud, and Wilde can move on. I’d LOVE to see her vs Jackie, but we all know Kong is next.

Rating: **

Black Machismo Jay Lethal vs The Guru Sonjay Dutt – Ladder of Love match

I am very aware that my Round Table prediction is highly unlikely, but it’s what SHOULD happen. Besides, SoCal is fugly.

Well, we got our cheap finish. Normally I would crap all over it, but we all knew it was coming and it worked in the context of the feud. Finish aside this was a tremendous ladder match with, once again, some innovative spots. We’ve had so many ladder matches that innovation is getting harder, but these guys managed it. They finally delivered a very strong match to go along with the very long feud. Seriously, this is like the 7th pay per view in a row that these two have faced off, and I wish I thought it was done. I say we’ll see one more, at Bound For GLory, and then we can finally put this feud down. I hope the match is more like this one and less like the last few. Maybe we’ll even see the two guys realising that she’s just not worth it.

Rating: ***3/4

TNA Tag Team Title – LAX vs Beer! Money! (C)

Beer Money have a new shirt. That is going to cost me. New matching trunks too.

The match just didn’t do it for me. It wasn’t just the second cheap finish in a row, it wasn’t the result, but there was just something wrong with the match in my mind. There was no flow, the chemistry seemed off, and the crowd seemed completely out of it, not popping even for the hot tag to Homicide. I did like Homicide’s DDT from the second though. Both teams are capable of better, and I’m fairly sure we’ll get a chance to see that next month. LAX play a prominent role in the Bound For Glory advertising, so you’d imagine them having a big match on the card. I’m sure a lot of people will have liked this, but I can’t rate this any higher. Which bugs me, because I like both teams.

Rating: *3/4

Frank Trigg vs AJ Styles – MMA-Style Submission Match

Horrible. Terrible. The first round wasn’t so bad, and I thought they might be able to make something out of this disaster waiting to happen. The crowd was taking a nice steaming dump all over it, with both a “Fire Russo!” and a “This is bullshit!” chant. Not 2 minutes later, they were proven right. A no contest after a low blow, in a submission match?? What, he couldn’t go on? What was AJ gonna do, clamp on the old testicular claw? Give me a break! Trigg looks to have a considerable amount of talent, why couldn’t yopu just let them have a straight God damned wrestling match? Damn you Russo! I was actually looking forward to these two hooking up in a real match, but now I just couldn’t care less. FUCK YOU RUSSO!

Rating: ¼*

Four Three Ways to Glory TNA Title Match – Christian Cage vs Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe (C)

Booker’s travel problems made the match even better on paper, in my mind.

That valiant face Samoa Joe retains thanks to a guitar shot to the head. The match was doing pretty well, not great but not bad at all, until they went with YET ANOTHER cheap-ass finish. We didn’t even need one here! And now we get Sting-Joe at Bound For Glory, which personally I could not give two shits about. Presumably we get Jarrett-Angle, which is fresh at least, and probably Christian-Booker. The mtch got around 20 minutes and they did some good stuff with it, but it wasn’t what you’d expect from these three and seemed a little stop-start in places. They probably had to adjust in a hurry with Booker being stuck in Houston so I can’t be too hard on them for that. Joe retaining doesn’t bug me, but Jarrett has started on the wrong foot by inserting hmiself into a main event just to get the face time.

Rating: ***¼

Match of the Night: I almost gave this to the X-Division match despite it not getting the best rating of the night, but in the end Guru-Machismo gets the nod because it was so much better than any of the other matches in this feud, and it was a pleasant surprise. Those two factors make up for the finish and the fact that we’ll have to see it again next month.
Trash of the Night: No surprise here: AJ-Trigg. I doubt you will find ANYONE who enjoyed that.

Final Thoughts: A surprising card all round, some matches being far better than expected and a couple being far, FAR worse. Too much interference, too little crowd heat (strange for Canada) and a sudden change to the card didn’t help matters, but the undercard all came through with strong performances that kept this event from being a total waste. Not TNA’s best effort of the year, but a passable one nonetheless.

Final Score: 7/10