Ronnie’s Reviews: TNA Slammiversary 2007

TNA Slammiversary

A video package kicks things off, with some clips from Nashville and going through TNA through the years. It’s actually kind cool as a lot of the clips aren’t pretty rare so you get a good feel of what TNA used to be like. There are no words, just clips, and that gives it kind of a good feel. It ends kind of stupid like, but I digress, as it started off pretty cool. If you never watched the old TNA, there were apparently a lot of midgets.

And we’re brought in by the Lo Cash Cowboys playing the official theme song of Slammiversary. It was kept short, so it wasn’t that bad. The pyro then goes off and here we go.

Match 1 : The Latin American Xchange (w/ Konnan) vs Rhino and Chris Harris Senshi (w/ Hector Guerrero)

Chris Harris was originally scheduled to be Rhino’s partner, but was pulled out last minute due to unknown reasons (to be explained later).

Homicide and Rhino are gonna kick things off. The crowd is amped right now. Rhino starts things out with a headlock. Homicide pushes him off but gets shoulder blocked. Rhino lifts up Homicide with a military press and slams him down. Homicide hits Rhino with an elbow in the corner, but Rhino comes back with one of his own. Rhino lifts Homicide up for a powerbomb and Homicide flies to the outside. Back in the ring as Homicide floats over a head scissors. Huge suplex by Rhino, and only gets two on the pin. Senshi’s now in and hit’s a snapmare, followed with a running elbow drop. Homicide charges Senshi into the corner and here comes Hernandez. Senshi hits Hernandez with a kick, and follows up with another. He hits him with some more. He goes for a shoulder block, but Hernandez doesn’t budge. Huge chop by Senshi. Hernandez takes out Rhino but runs into a spin kick, then one to the back of the head, and then a huge kick to the side of the head. Hernandez doesn’t go down, so Rhino takes him down with a huge clothesline. Pin but Hernandez launches him off at two. Senshi with some more kicks, and now palm strikes. He then takes out Homicide. Hernandez catches one of Senshi’s kicks and throws him across the ring. Awesome. He wraps the shirt around his neck and tosses him across the ring again. Homicide gets the tag and hits him with a running back elbow. Pin but only two. Homicide takes Senshi and catapults him into Hernandez. Hernandez catches him and hits him with a belly to belly overhead throw. Homicide goes to the top now as Hernandez hit’s the slam. Homicide with a huge elbow off the top. Pin but again only two. Hernandez gets the tag and locks in the bear hug. Senshi bites the nose but runs into a brick wall. CRACKER JACK!!! That sent him flying. He’s looking for a powerbomb, but Senshi counters out and hit’s the double foot stomp. Tag to Rhino and Homicide. Rhino takes out Homicide with a clothesline. Powerslam by the War Machine. He spears him in the corner. Belly to belly suplex to Hernandez. Homicide tries to take out Rhino but gets hit with a spinebuster. Pin but only two. Senshi runs at Hernandez but gets caught. Senshi low bridges Hernandez, sending him to the outside. Senshi on the inside and hits Hernandez with a huge springboard crossbody like maneuver to the outside. ON the inside as Homicide hit’s the Gringo Cutter. Konnan gives Homicide the slapjack. Hector hangs Homicide up on the top rope and GORE!!!

Winners : Rhino and Senshi (*** – Great opener. These guys just went all out and the crowd totally loved it)

Tenay and West introduce themselves and run down the card. The TNA tag team belts are on the line, and Scott Steiner is injured, so who his replacement is in question. One of the four challengers is left in question for the main event (I’ll explain more on that later). We now get a video package for the main event. Why? I don’t know.

JB’s in the back and he’s with Eric Young. JB reminds EY that it’s all on the line. EY says some expression that doesn’t make sense, and Traci comes up. She asks him what happened to what they had together. She says she doesn’t like Robert Roode, but she likes him. JB says not to listen to her. Gail Kim tells Eric that she’s trying to manipulate him. She the kisses him, and says that’s a kiss from a real woman. She then says she’s watching her. Traci is pissed.

Match 2 : Chris Sabin© vs Jay Lethal – X-Division Championship

Lethal was getting over fast with his new gimmick, so TNA decided to give him a title shot on their second biggest show of the year. Kevin Nash comes out to join Tenay and West on commentary. I may not like Nash in the ring, but he‘s pretty damn entertaining on commentary. Sonjay Dutt then comes out in his guru gimmick, throwing the rose pedals around.

Lethal with a jab to start. Sabin’s pissed, and gets hit with another. Lethal with a running arm drag counter out of a hip toss. He hits one of his own. Sabin tries to roll to the outside. Lethal grabs him and hits him with an elbow. Sabin hit’s a huge right hand and starts hitting him with clubbing blows. Back elbow by Lethal, and then hit’s a head scissors. Sabin on the outside now as Lethal hit’s the suicide dive, sending Sabin into the guardrail. Lethal goes to the top and hit’s the double axe handle. Pin but only two. Lethal with a back elbow to follow up, and now hits him with the jabs in the corner. Sabin floats over Lethal in the corner and spits in his face. Clothesline in the corner by Sabin and he follows up with a huge bulldog. He then starts choking Lethal in the ropes, just sitting on the back of his head. He just starts stomping him all over now, and follows up with a seated senton. Pin but only two. He crosses the legs and locks in a double arm underhook chicken wing. Lethal fights out with the rights, but Sabin knees him. Lethal runs over Sabin’s backdrop attempt and hit’s a clothesline. Dropkick by Lethal follows. Sabin goes for a low blow, but Lethal catches him. Sabin pokes him in the eyes anyways. Sabin with the jabs to Lethal and he starts hitting him with palm strikes to the back of the head. Back elbow into the corner by Sabin, and he starts pain brushing him. Arm drag by Lethal, and another. Huge clothesline follows. Springboard moonsault and he hypes the crowd up. Huge spinning suplex by Lethal, but only gets two on the pin. Sabin hit’s a HUGE boot in the corner. He puts Lethal up to the top now. He goes for a hurricanrana, but Lethal holds on. Reverse suplex into a sitout face buster by Lethal. Pin but only two. Lethal goes to the top, but Sabin gets up. Lethal pushes him off the top. He dives off but gets hit with a spin kick to the gut. Enzuigiri follows, and then Sabin hits him with a huge spin kick to the face. Pin but Lethal somehow kicked out. Cradle Shock coming up, but Lethal counters out. He goes for a Lethal Injection, but Sabin counters by pushing Lethal into the corner. Crucifix by Sabin, but Lethal kicks out. Lethal Combination coming up, but Sabin counters out with the elbows. Cradle Shock coming up, but Lethal counters out and hits an enzuigiri. SUPERKICK!!! LETHAL COMBINATION!!! He goes to the top. ELBOW CONNECTS!!! Pin and that’s all.

Winner : Jay Lethal (***¼ – Great match here as you would expect. Both guys are excellent in the ring, and they put on a great 15 minute match up displaying that. It’s a shame Lethal’s first run with the belt would end very quickly, but TNA made it up to him in the way he won it back, so it all worked out)

Lethal and Nash celebrate in the ring afterwards.

We get a video package for our next match to follow.

In the back now as Storm says he didn’t cross the line. Wycheck’s a former NFL player. His teams done nothing. Now he wants to step in his world. You better keep you wife and your kids at home, because he’ll give him the last concussion of his life. Sorry about your damn luck. Jackie then makes fun of Leticia’s boobs. Weird.

Match 3 : James Storm and Ron Killings (w/ Ms. Jackie Moore) vs Frank Wycheck and Jerry Lynn (w/ Kyle Vanden Bosch)

For those of you who don’t know, Wycheck’s a former NFL football player for the Tennessee Titans. This match had kind of a weird setup as this was Killing’s return match, and he wasn’t a heel. Never mind the fact that TNA didn’t really give much mention to it. Besides, the entire rivalry going into this match was Wycheck and Storm.

Lynn and Killings start things out. Lynn does some weird dance, and Killings kicks him in the gut. Truth floats over Lynn in the corner, does the split and then hit’s the spin kick. WHAT’S UP!! He then starts hitting Lynn with the rights. Huge back elbow by Lynn follows, and he hits him with an Armdrag. Truth counters with a knee to the gut, and here comes Storm. Wycheck gets the tag, and he’s pumped. Storm locks in a headlock. Wycheck pushes Storm off, and Storm takes him down with a shoulder block. Storm then puts on a helm. Truth passes him a football and Storm misses on purpose. Wycheck’s pissed. Storm locks in another headlock. Wycheck pushes him off but gets hit with another shoulder block. Storm’s taunting him again. Storm pushes Wycheck and gets hit with a huge shoulder block. Another one follows. DROPKICK! Truth comes in but gets crotched on the top rope. Wycheck picks up Lynn and tosses him onto both Killings and Storm. Back in the ring as Wycheck hits an atomic drop and tries to throw Storm over the top. Storm goes to skin the cat, but Lynn hits him with a baseball slide. Wycheck chases Truth on the outside but gets hit with a clothesline by Storm. Storm then charges Wycheck into the guardrail. Back in the ring now as Storm is taunting Wycheck. He sets him on the bottom rope and goes to the outside. Huge kick by Storm follows. Killings grabs a chair (w/ padding). The ref grabs it and here comes Lynn. Huge head scissors by Lynn. He gets elevated onto the apron. Killings grabs his legs and yanks him down. Back in the ring now as Storm looks for the Eye of the Storm. It connects. Storm grabs the beer bottle and pours some on Lynn. He then spits it into Kyle Vanden Bosch’s face. He’s pissed. Here comes Killings and he’s taking it to Lynn. Lynn ducks a clothesline and they both hit each other with cross body’s at the same time. Wycheck’s got the tag and starts slamming both Truth and Storm. Dropkicks to both guys, and he takes both of their heads and smashes them together. He pokes Truth in the eyes. Huge clothesline to the Truth, but Storm plants Wycheck with a superkick. Vanden Bosch takes Storm and pulls him to the outside. Jackie jumps on his back, so he pulls her off. He then takes Storm and throws him into the guardrail. Storm’s got the beer bottle and looks to hit Wycheck with it. Lynn intercepts and throws Storm to Wycheck. PILEDRIVER!!! Pin and that’s all.

Winners : Frank Wycheck and Jerry Lynn (**½ – Usually when pro athletes enter the ring, it equals disaster. Tonight that wasn’t the case as Wycheck actually held his own and looked pretty damn good in there. That piledriver easily could’ve gone wrong, yet Wycheck pulled it off to perfection. Surprisingly good match here)

Tenay and West hype up the next match, which is…

Match 4 : Alex Shelley vs Mr. Bob Backlund

My god, Bob Backlund is one of the craziest characters in the world. He’s almost legitimately crazy, yet the guy can still go in the ring at the age of 58.

Backlund and Shelley shake hands to start. Shelley looks kind of surprised. Single leg takedown by Backlund, and another, and another. Bob’s going crazy. Shelley with a shoulder block, and he’s now taunting him. Spin kick to the gut, and he follows up with some chops. They start trading chops, and Shelley rakes the eyes. Hip toss by Shelley, and he locks in the key lock armbar. Backlund counters out by lifting Shelley onto his shoulder. He puts Shelley on the top rope and slaps him. Double arm underhook by Backlund, and he throws him across the ring. Atomic drop by Backlund. Sabin grabs Backlund’s leg and goes to the top. Backlund crotches him up there. Shelley charges but gets drop toe holded into the groin. Roll up into a bridge by Backlund, and this one is over.

Winner : Bob Backlund (*¼ – It was short, so it wasn’t that bad, but Backlund going over here makes no sense. He’s not a full time competitor, so why have him go over a guy if you’re not going to keep him around long term. A win here for Shelley would have done a lot more here than a win for Backlund)

Post match beat down sees Sabin go after Backlund but instead Sabin gets locked in the Cross Face Chickenwing. He then locks it in on Shelley and here comes Nash. Lynn now comes out and sides with Backlund, but eats a big boot from Nash. They then take out Backlund. ASCS Rush to Lynn. And so the legend of the Gun’s begin, or rather takes off. Here comes Lethal and he takes out both Sabin and Shelley. He asks Nash what’s going on. Sabin and Shelley get some more shots in on Backlund as we cut away.

-Tenay and West try to recap what just happened, but we here someone yell “Sting” as the lights go out.

It’s Christopher Daniels, and he’s in the crowd. He says Sting told him he misinterpreted his guidance. The mistake wasn’t Daniels’ though, it was Sting’s. Daniels wasn’t just listening to Sting’s words. His relationship to our father changed how he saw things. He’s realized that he’s always been an angel, sent from the heavens to do his bidding. He’s strived to be God-like. You take an eye for an eye, and a life for a life. His god has no tolerance for those who have wronged him. That gift allowed him to become tag team champion, X-Division champion, and will allow him to become a world champion. Sting, in that ring, my will be done.

Match 5 : Voodoo Kin Mafia vs Basham and Damaja (w/ Christy Hemme)

This is another one of those rivalries that just went on for way too long that no one really cared about. VKM get a pretty loud reaction.

We start off with a massive brawl. I don’t know which guy is which. VKM backdrops one guy onto another. Kip chases Christy into the ring. Basham and Damaja take control now. Christy trips BG’s leg, allowing Basham to hit the leg lariat. Tag to Damaja, and they double stomp BG in the corner. Tag back to Damaja, and he hits some jabs. BG comes back with some rights, but he gets poked in the eyes. Basham back in. Drop toe hold followed by a knee drop. Russian leg sweep to BG and Basham gets the tag. He goes for a headbutt off the top, but BG rolls out of the way. Damaja and Kip gets the tags. Kip’s going crazy, taking out everyone. Tilt a whirl slam to Damaja, but Basham breaks up the pin. Damaja hits Kip with a knee, and they go for a double suplex. BG spears one of them and Kip rolls up another for the win.

Winners : Voodoo Kin Mafia (* – Really quick, yet I don’t think anyone really cared. This rivalry sucked, and the match wasn‘t anything better)

Post match sees Kip through Damaja over to the top and chase after Christy. She runs up the ramp, but Lance Hoyt stops her. He then goes to carry her to the back, but Kip tells him to bring her to the ring. Kip goes for a chokeslam, but Hoyt boots him. IN THE FACE!! Basham and Damaja back in and hold BG down, allowing Hoyt to boot him. Christy and Hoyt then make out to end this awfulness.

Leticia’s in the back with Jim Cornette. Jim tells Rick Steiner that he has to forfeit the match. Rick says he’s not by himself, and that he has a partner. He whispers it in Jim’s ear. Jim says he’s got himself a tag team match. Leticia asks who it is, and Jim tells her if he wanted her to know, he would’ve whispered it in her ear too.

We now see LAX beating up Hector Guerrero in the crowd. Security tries to break it up, but they can’t.

Match 6 : Robert Roode (w/ Ms. Brooks) vs Eric Young – Freedom match

Another rivalry that just Would. Not. Die. The rules to this one are that if Eric wins, he would get his freedom, but if he loses, he will be fired.

Roode starts taunting Young, even slapping him in the face. Young hulk up and blocks Roode’s punch. He then chokes him into the corner. Roode pushes him and starts stomping him. Young tosses Roode over the top and goes to the top rope. Huge crossbody block by EY to Roode. He throws Roode back in the ring and goes for the cover, but only gets two. Back on the outside now as Roode throws EY into the guardrail. Back in the ring as Roode goes for the pin, but only gets two. Roode’s now choking EY in the ropes. Roode distracts the ref as Traci starts hitting Eric. Pin but only two. Eric tries to fight back, but he runs right into a back elbow. Roode only gets two on the pin, so he starts choking EY. Snapmare by Roode and he hit’s the neck breaker. Eric hits Roode with a back elbow in the corner. Roode ducks a clothesline though and hit’s a neck breaker. Pin but again only gets two. Modified camel clutch by Roode follows. Eric counters it into an electric chair. Young with the right hands now. Backbody drop follows. Huge discus clothesline by EY connects. Pin but only two. Young with the Flair flip in the corner. He goes to the outside and exposes Traci’s ass. Roode goes to the outside and Eric hits him with a suicide dive. Eric goes to the top. Roode charges up but gets knocked down. Elbow drop connects. Pin. 1…2…2.93454!! Roode hit’s a jawbreaker and then a short arm clothesline. He goes up to the second rope, going for a knee drop. He jumps down but EY gets the leg up. He sets Roode up to the top. Traci runs in but EY catches her. He puts Roode on top of her and DOUBLE DEATH VALLEY DRIVER!!! Pin but Roode miraculously kicks out. Roode goes to the outside and grabs a chair. EY goes after him but gets clocked. Pin and it’s over.

Winner : Robert Roode

Roode gets on the mic and says Eric’s fired. Jim Cornette comes out and says Roode is gonna open his ears and shut his stinkin’ mouth. He told Roode that he was gonna keep an eye on this match. From what he just saw, this wasn’t fair. This match is not over. This match is going to be restarted.

Roode starts hitting Young with the punches to the face. Gail Kim comes out and attacks Traci. They start brawling up the ramp. Roode goes to pick up EY… SMALL PACKAGE!!! It’s over.

Winner : Eric Young (**¾ – Alright match here. It wasn’t the greatest thing ever, but it was ok. My only gripe is that the finish was extremely similar to the one they used at Genesis 2006, but since that was on the preshow, I’m sure a lot of people don’t remember it)

JB’s in the back with Team 3D. Ray says tonight is historic for TNA. What was supposed to be a historic night in tag team wrestling also. Team 3D and the Steiner Brothers were supposed to face off, but because Scott Steiner isn’t here tonight, it won’t. Some people say he’s got a throat problem, because he’s been talking too much. He punked out on the wrestling business. He punked out on his brother Rick. It hurts him to say these things about Scott. Four weeks ago they had respect for them, but The Steiner’s spit in their faces. Scott left Rick to do his dirty work. What kind of partner is Rick going to be able to come up with. He hopes Scott gets well so he can beat the crap out of him. Whoever Rick’s partner is, who cares. OH MY BROTHER, TESTIFY!

Match 7 : Team 3D© vs Rick Steiner and Animal – TNA World Tag Team Championship

Side note, this is the first time the TNA Tag Team Championships were being defended on PPV. Team 3D looks pleased, at least Devon does, that Animal is Rick’s partner.

Devon and Rick are gonna start things off. Tie up to start. Rick pushes Devon in the corner and breaks the hold. Rick rakes the eyes and starts hitting Devon with the rights. Devon ducks a clothesline and hit’s the flying back elbow. Scott slam and an elbow connects. Rick counters an irish whip and hit’s a backdrop. Ray gets the tag and they hit Rick with a double shoulder block. Rick hits Ray with a knee and tags in Animal. Stare down and Animal locks in a headlock. Ray pushes him off but gets hit with a shoulder block. Headlock by Ray. He gets pushed off but gets hit with a shoulder block. Piledriver by Ray. Animal no sells it and hit’s the rights. Double clothesline by both guys, and they’re back up now. Front facelock by Ray as he tags in Devon. Animal counters a backdrop attempt and tags in Rick. Ray grabs Rick and hangs him up on the top rope. Clothesline by Devon follows. Devon hits Rick with the rights in the corner. Ray gets the tag and hit’s a neck breaker. Pin but only two. Tag to Devon and he hit’s a scoop slam. Devon goes to the second rope but misses a diving headbutt. Animal gets the tag and boots Devon down. Powerslam to Ray. Backdrop to Devon and then Ray. Double clothesline by Animal takes both members of 3D down. Rick gets the tag and they hit both Ray and Devon with clothesline. Animal thinking Doomsday Device but instead gets hits with a reverse 3D. Rick hits both Ray and Devon with a double clothesline. Devon counters an irish whip and 3D!!!

Winners : Team 3D (**½ – This one was kept short and that worked to their advantage. Both Rick and Animal were gassed by the end of this. This was an alright match though. It’s watchable, but not much more)

Post match celebration lasts about 5 seconds before we cut to the video package for the next match.

Match 8 : Christopher Daniels vs Sting

Sting comes down from the rafters. Awesome.

Daniels starts things out with a knee. He goes for a shoulder block but Sing doesn’t budge. Shoulderblock by Sting connects. Sting counters Daniel’s hiptoss attempt into one of his own. Another hiptoss. Dropkick. He then kicks the legs and locks in the Scorpion Death Lock. Daniels immediately gets to the ropes and bails out. Sting ducks a right and knocks Daniels’ off the apron. Clothesline off the apron by Sting. Daniels knocks Sting off the apron, sending him into the guardrail. He then takes Sting and throws him ribs first into the guardrail. Back in the ring now as Daniels’ goes for the cover, but only gets two. Gutbuster by Daniels’ follows. Knee in the corner connects. Sting starts to fight back but gets hit in the ribs. Snapmare by Daniels and he then hit’s an elbow drop. He then stands on the chest of Sting, mocking him. He starts working on the ribs in the corner. Sting fights back with the rights. Sting counters a hiptoss, but Daniels counters Sting’s counter by raking the eyes. Daniels’ locks Sting in an abdominal stretch. Slam by Daniels and he hit’s the split legged moonsault. Pin but only two. Splash in the corner by Daniels. Sting no sells it and gets pumped up. Sting no sells all of Daniels’ shots. Huge rights by Sting. Reverse atomic drop and he hits multiple clothesline. Bulldog by Sting connects. Pin but only two. Sting goes for the Sting Splash in the corner but Daniels cuts him off with a flying leg kick. Angel’s Wings coming up, but Sting counters into a backdrop. Sting goes for the Stinger Splash but Daniels gets the knees up. Last Rite’s countered into a Scorpion Death Drop and that’s all.

Winner : Sting (** – This had the potential to be great, but for some reason they were given no time. They crammed as much as they could into the 6 or 7 minutes they were given, but it just wasn‘t enough to make this great. Never mind the fact that this rivalry was dropped for no reason, this was a total disappointment)

Leticia’s in the back with Team Cage. Christian says after tonight, everyone will refer to Christian as the world champion. AJ says he’s in the match too. Christian starts crying, thanking AJ that he’s going to sacrifice himself in the match. He then tells Tomko to take Abyss out.

Match 9 : Tomko vs Abyss – No Disqualifications match

Backstory – Team Cage (Christian, AJ Styles and Tomko) all took out Abyss on Impact months back. Christian was set to compete in a KOTM qualifier, but had no idea who his opponent was. It turned out to be Abyss, and he made sure that Team Cage knew he wanted blood.

Both guys start things off by trading rights. Tomko gets the upper hand with a knee. Abyss counters an irish whip. Tomko counters a backdrop but gets clotheslined over the top. Tomko pulls Abyss to the outside and they start to brawl out there. Abyss throws Tomko into the guardrail, and then into the steps. Tomko counters an irish whip, sending Abyss into the guardrail. Huge boot by Tomko follows. He then slams Abyss’ face into the steps. Right hands by Tomko follows. Back in the ring now as Tomko goes for a boot, but Abyss counters into a chokeslam attempt. Tomko fights out but runs into a huge boot. Splash by Abyss in the corner. Abyss then charges Tomko in the corner for the hip attack, but he clearly missed him. Tomko with an elbow in the corner, but he runs right into a chokeslam. Pin but only two. Abyss rolls to the outside and grabs a bag. Tenay and West argue as to whether it’s glass or tacks. It’s tacks. Abyss goes for a chokeslam, but Tomko counters out into a two handed chokeslam, slamming Abyss into the tacks. Pin but only two. Tomko charges Abyss but gets planted with the Black Hole Slam. Pin but somehow Tomko kicked out at two. Abyss rolls back to the outside and grabs another bag, this one presumably filled with glass. It is, and he pours them onto the mat. Tomko hits Abyss with a huge clothesline. He takes one of the pieces of Glass and starts grinding it into Abyss’s face. Tomko then stomps Abyss’s face into the tacks. He’s covered in blood now. Abyss rolls to the outside. Tomko grabs a barbed wired baseball bat. He hits Abyss in the gut with it and then on the back as they walk up the ramp. He hits Abyss with it again, and they’re now at the stage. Abyss starts to climb a structure, so Tomko climbs up on the other side. I’ve never understood why these wrestlers start climbing these structures in hardcore matches. It never ends well for one guy, but it’s usually the other guy, so I guess it makes sense. Tomko gets to the top and tries to hit Abyss with the bat. Abyss avoids it and yanks at the bat, causing Tomko to come crashing down on this object. If you were watching this live, you would know that it was just a bunch of boxes, but TNA decides to skip that part on the DVD. We now see Tomko trying to crawl back up the ramp to the ring. Abyss starts to follow. Tomko gets back into the ring and Abyss soon follows. Tomko meets Abyss with the stomps. He charges Abyss but gets Black Hole Slammed into the glass. Pin and it’s over.

Winner : Abyss (**¾ – Pretty good hardcore brawl between these two. Besides the cardboard box fall (which in no way needed to occur during this match) these two just went back and forth with the hardcore spots. I may be underrating this, but it was too short to be anything better)

-JB’s in the back with Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle. Angle says tonight, let’s agree to go out there and give it the best they’ve got so there will be no hard feelings after tonight. Joe says tonight, he’s going to break Angle. It’s real, it’s damn real.

-Mike Tenay comes down to the ring, and directs the fans attention to the screen. When you talk about professional wrestling in Nashville, you can’t talk about it without thinking of this man’s name.

-Jarrett says the last five years of his life have been difficult yet rewarding. In June of 2002, the dream became a reality. Toby Keith turned down the White House to play at the event. He talks about taking TNA to Hulk. He cashed in his frequent flyer miles to fly to Japan to make that happen. In the early part of 2002, he and his father founded the company. He mentions his wife’s name and starts crying. The emotion is still so raw. Jill was the one who gave him the real encouragement. She would tell him that he could do this, doing everything possible to make TNA exist. She had a real passion for the business. Over 11 years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She survived, but 2 ½ years ago it came back. On May 23, 2007, she won the real race. She won the race that mattered. Her favorite bible words were “It’s all about love”. As far Jeff Jarrett in TNA, he doesn’t know when, where and if, but he doesn’t step into the ring if he isn’t prepared. Inside a wrestling ring is the worst place for him now. He thanks the people, and on behalf of Jill, thank you.

-We then get a live shot of the crowd who is clapping out of respect. They start a loud “Thank You Jeff” chant. Jim Cornette says the night is very emotion, but tonight he has to determine the 5th participant in the KOTM match. There were only two choices in his mind. Both guys have been with TNA since the inception. The first one you just heard from, Jeff Jarrett. He went to Jeff and he not only asked but insisted to give the opportunity to the second man. Please welcome back to where it all started, the Wildcat, Chris Harris!

Match 10 : Chris Harris vs AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe vs Christian Cage vs Kurt Angle – King of the Mountain match – Vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Backstory – At Sacrifice, the main event saw NWA World Champion Christian Cage defend the belt against Sting and Kurt Angle in a Three Way match. While Sting had Christian rolled up, Angle put Sting in the Ankle Lock. At the same time the ref counted three on the pin Sting tapped out. Jim Cornette declared the championship belt vacant, and at Slammiversary, in the King of the Mountain match, the first ever TNA World Heavyweight Champion would be crowned. Kurt Angle qualified over Rhino, Joe went over Sting and Christian Cage went over Abyss via disqualification. AJ Styles was supposed to face Jarrett, but because Jarrett had to pull out, he instead had to face Tomko, whom he beat. Harris and Storm faced off in a qualification match, but it ended in a double count out.

Side note, Angle comes in at second to last with years on experience, tying with AJ at eight. Thought that was kind of interesting. We get the super special in ring introductions before this one gets underway. Why AJ Styles is always announced as a two time Triple Crown Winner instead of three always annoys me.

Joe goes straight after Angle as AJ and Cage go after Harris. Huge chops by Joe to Christian. Joe and Angle go to the outside. AJ splashes Harris in the corner. Christian then leaps up AJ’s back and hits Harris with a splash. Christian tells AJ to lay down so he can get the cover. I like how we’re getting the AJ/Christian stuff out of the way early. Christian covers AJ, but Angle comes in to break up the pin. Belly to belly suplex on AJ. Joe trips Angle’s leg and brings him to the outside. Cage jumps over Harris, ducks under and then AJ runs in for the dropkick. Cage goes after Harris, and AJ rolls him up. Christian kicks out and starts to argue. Huge left arm lariat to Christian by Harris. Enzuigiri to Harris by AJ. Styles goes for the springboard, but Joe trips his leg. He then puts AJ in a powerbomb position and whips him into the barricade. On the inside now as Joe hits Christian with a reverse atomic drop and then the Sick Kick. Chop to the back, kick to the chest and then the vintage knee drop. Harris takes Joe and throws him to the outside onto Angle. Harris goes for the Catatonic on Christian, but Christian counters out into an Unprettier attempt. Harris counters that and hit’s the full nelson slam. AJ runs into a boot from Harris in the corner. AJ goes for a tornado DDT but Harris counters it into the Catatonic position. As he hits it, he knocks Christian over. Pin and that’s it for AJ.

Qualified : Chris Harris over AJ Styles

AJ has to go to the penalty box for two minutes. Cage and Harris trade lefts on the outside. Joe takes the ladder and tosses it over the top onto them. Joe and Angle go at it now. Knee in the corner by Joe. You know what follows. Angle catches Joe’s leg on the face wash and hit’s a german suplex. Second one connects. Third connects too. Christian comes in and goes after Angle. Angle counters a slam into the Ankle Lock. Joe locks Christian in the rear naked choke while Angle has the Ankle Lock locked in. AJ comes in and takes out Joe as Harris takes out Angle. Christian sets up a ladder connecting from the apron to the guardrail. He tries to suplex Harris from the ring onto it. Does that ever work? Harris counters out, crotching Cage on it. It’s AJ’s time to shine now. Phenomenon to Harris connects. Pin but Joe breaks it up. Pele to Joe. Flying Forearm takes Joe out. Styles Clash coming up on Angle, but Angle counters into an Ankle Lock. AJ counters out into a kip up/head scissors combo. He then charges Harris but Harris elevates him over the top onto Christian who was laying down on the ladder. Harris sets up a ladder in the middle of the ring now as he starts to climb. Angle runs in and hits the Angle Slam. Pin and Angle’s now qualified.

Qualified : Kurt Angle over Chris Harris

Joe takes out Angle and dumps the ladder to the outside. Joe and Angle trade rights on the inside. Powerslam by Joe. Palm strikes to Christian now. Christian charges Joe in the corner but gets hit with the STJoe. AJ charges Joe but gets caught and planted with the over the shoulder belly to back piledriver. MUSLCE BUSTER TO AJ!!! Joe covers but Angle breaks it up. Angle Slam countered by Joe. Angle misses Joe and takes out the ref. Coquina Clutch to Angle. He taps but there’s no ref. Christian takes the ladder and rams it into the head of Joe. Christian covers Angle and he’s now qualified.

Qualified : Christian Cage over Kurt Angle

Christian now sets up a ladder in the middle and starts to climb. Joe runs in and climbs up too. CUTTER OFF THE LADDER!! Joe just killed him. Harris is now in and he sets the ladder back up. He gets to the top, but Joe chases him up. Harris hits Joe with the belt, knocking him off. Christian runs up but gets hiptossed off. Springboard dropkick by AJ knocks the ladder over. Angle’s back up now as AJ goes to the top rope, looking to take Harris out. He then goes to the top of the penalty box, but Joe chases him up. They start to brawl on the top. AJ looks to suplex Joe off it, but Joe doesn’t allow him to. Again, does that ever work? He counters into the Coquina Clutch, but AJ hits him with a low blow to counter out. Joe takes AJ and throws him off the top onto the table. Awesome. That looked sick. Harris and Cage are now doing battle on top of the penalty box. Cage looks for a suplex, but Harris hits him with a reverse suplex sending Cage flying back into the ring. That looks like it could have gone horribly wrong for Cage’s face if he hit the turnbuckle. Harris dives off the box, taking Angle down with a huge clothesline. Harris sets the ladder up, but Christian cuts him off. Harris puts the ladder on his head and starts spinning around, taking out Christian and Angle. I’ve always hated that spot, but I digress. He then sets the ladder back up and starts to climb. Christian knocks the ladder over, sending Harris face first onto the turnbuckle. He then takes the ladder and throws it at Harris. Cage now sets the ladder up. Angle grabs his leg though. He locks him in the Ankle Lock on top of the ladder. Christian fights out and hits Angle with the belt. He goes to hang it but Angle fights him off. Harris is at the top and spears Cage off the ladder. That leaves Angle on top of the ladder with the belt. He hangs it and that’s all!

Winner : Kurt Angle (****¼ – Awesome main here. This is one of, if not definitely, my favorite KOTM matches ever. At the time, Joe going over seemed like the right move, but Angle winning worked out well in the long run. Harris, even as a surprising last minute edition, still looked like a legitimate threat which was great while the rest of the competitors, as expected, totally held their own. Overall, this match made the PPV)

-Joe comes in the ring and throws the ladder out. He and Angle stare down. He asks for a handshake. Angle kicks him in the gut and OLYMPIC SLAM!! That’s the exclamation point. We’re out.

Extras:

Five Years – This one is a video package highlighting the last five years of TNA. It can also be seen on last years Slammiversary. They changed parts of it as it went to the end.

Fan Interaction – It’s the fan interaction event. Not much more can be said.

Chris Harris vs James Storm (w/ Ms. Jackie Moore) – King of the Mountain Qualifier (Impact June 7,2007)

You know what, TNA should’ve just added these two to have a one on one match at Slammiversary and had Abyss qualify for the main event.

They start brawling on the outside of the ring to start. Storm elevates Harris into the crowd. Harris takes Storm and throws him into that wooden wall. Storm splashes something into Harris’s face and takes control. Harris counters an irish whip, sending Storm into the guardrail. Storm counters an irish whip, sending Harris into the wooden wall. Harris charges Storm into the guardrail. He rolls back into the ring and goes to the top. He leaps into the crowd, taking out Storm and I think some fans. Awesome. Harris comes back over the guardrail and grabs a chair. Storm cuts him off with a right. He then sets Harris’s head in the chair and smashes his head with another chair as we head to commercial.

We’re back and we see Storm go for a baseball slide but get caught by Harris and slammed into the guardrail. Harris is gushing blood right now and Storm’s not doing much better. Jackie Moore slaps Harris. Harris grabs her and Storm cuts him off. Storm now grabs a table and Harris does too. They both set them up on the outside. They both grab trash can lids now. Harris throws a trash can in the ring and Storm’s got a kendo stick. They both have trash can lids now as they’re in the ring. They trade shots with the lids. They both are just wailing on each other and Harris grabs the trash can and plants Storm with it. Pin but only two. Storm goes for a superkick, but Harris counters. Harris with a boot in the corner and goes for a sunset flip off the ropes, but Storm rolls through and catapults him into a chair set up in the corner. Pin but only two as we head to commercial.

Storm skins the cat but Harris hits him with a trash can. Harris goes for the spear, but Storm hits him with the trash can lid. Storm then sets Harris up on the table as he goes to the top rope. SWANTON THROUGH THE TABLE!!! Awesome. Storm hits Harris with a trash can lid, and then Harris hits him with one too. Storm grabs the beet bottle and throws it at Storm. Harris avoids it. Storm grabs another but Harris SPEARS HIM THROUGH THE WALL!!! That was balls. It’s announced that if neither Harris or Storm can get back to the ring by the count of ten, then neither man will qualify for the match at Slammiversary. As Rudy starts counting, Angle walks down the ramp to look on. Joe follows and gets in Angle’s face. Rudy counts to ten and this is over.

Angle hits Joe with a right and they start to brawl. Angle tries to throw Joe into the steps, but Joe stops short and throws Angle face first into them. Joe goes into the ring to follow Angle, but Angle rolls to the outside as security breaks it up.

Winner : Double Count Out (***¼ – Awesome match here. During their rivalry, they had a really awful match (Lockdown) but also had a MOTY candidate (Sacrifice). This sort of landed a little above the middle as they just went balls out with weapons. The Joe/Angle aftermath brawl was good too so that the crowd would get sent home happy. Overall, great match)

Easter Egg – If you go to the Chapters menu and to the chapter Intro, press up, left and right and enter on your clicker to get the hidden Easter Eggs.

Slammiversary Music Video – They used the theme song by Lo’ Cash Cowboys for this one. Not much more to say.

King of the Mountain match – This is another music video, this one only highlighting the main event though. The music used was generic too.

___________________________________________________________________________
Bad:
-Alex Shelley vs Bob Backlund (Short match that did Shelley no favors. It furthered the coming together of Shelley and Sabin, but this match was bad)
-VKM vs Basham/Damaja (Not much to say other than this was utter crap)

Average:
-Storm/Killings vs Wycheck/Lynn (Better than expected. It wasn’t great, but it was somewhat entertaining, which was surprising)
-Roode vs Young (This rivalry went on forever. This match was just another stepping stone in it. It was alright though)
-3D vs Rick/Animal (Short, but it worked in their advantage as all Rick and Animal clearly don’t have that much stamina in them. This match was alright)
-Daniels vs Sting (They tried as hard as they could, but the lack of time made this a huge disappointment. Still, they did what they could and for that, it was alright)

Good:
-LAX vs Rhino/Senshi (Good match to kick off the show, and definitely got the crowd into it)
-Lethal vs Sabin (Two of the X-Divisions finest facing off where one of them is looking out to prove he deserves to be the best. How can you go wrong?)
-Tomko/Abyss (I was contemplating putting this in average, but ultimately I found it to be better than anything else that we’ve been given in a while, so I’ll put it in the good)
-Harris/Storm (I know this is on the extras, but it was pretty damn good and definitely worth watching if you pick up the DVD)
-KOTM match (Excellent main event and a historical one at that)

The 411: This was the first ever TNA event I had ever watched live. When I first saw it, I thought it was excellent. Watching it 3 years later though, you can definitely see it has many flaws, the first being that the entire night seemed rushed. Ten matches is way too many. Also, a lot of the matches didn’t live up to the hype. While no one was expecting much from the tag title match, a lot of people had high hopes for Daniels/Sting, and because they were rushed on time, it was a major let down. Putting these points aside though, this was a pretty good PPV. The first two matches and the last two matches were all very good. The main event made this show though, and Slammiversary once again proved to be a historical moment for TNA. Plus, the Harris/Storm match on the extras is great too. Overall, don’t go out of your way to get this PPV, but if you happen to come across it, it’s not the worst way to spend 3 hours.

Final Score:  7.5   [ Good ]