The Furious Flashbacks – TNA Turning Point 2008

The Furious Flashbacks – TNA Turning Point 2008

The New World Order, I mean the Millionaire’s Club, I mean the Main Event Mafia begin their aggressive takeover of TNA

Now, you may be surprised to see me reviewing this show after I vented my spleen at the previous one ( Bound for Glory ’08). But hey, if I stopped watching wrestling companies because they made stupid booking decisions I would be constantly searching for new promotions to watch. Also Bound for Glory ’08 isn’t that bad. I hated that they jobbed Joe to Sting but I understood why they did it. I just didn’t like how they did it, which is frankly a common complaint. I realise they were going for the Millionaire’s Club, or Main Event Mafia as its now called, vs the New Blood. I even dig that idea, even if its recycled from one of WCW’s worst storylines, ever. That’s because TNA’s old boys, Nash aside, can actually wrestle. So there is a pay off. I just wish they could have found a different way of getting from A to B. From having Joe as champion to having the MEM ruling the roost. The downside is Russo (and friends) is totally booking this like the nWo, which isn’t a good idea because winning and losing of matches shouldn’t be based on what gang you belong to but rather you good you are. Which is why so many matches involving the New World Order sucked. They tried to build the heat up for too long and ended up ruining everything. Seeing as the storyline is just starting here in TNA I will try to cut them some slack on this show.

We’re in Orlando, Florida. Hosts are Mike Tenay & Don West.

They try hard to get this angle over during the opening video but it makes no sense. Sting referring to Joe as nobody is ridiculous. He’d be the guy who kicked your ass all over the arena last month. I know he’s a heel but come on! And Angle saying he wouldn’t recognise him if he saw him in an airport is even more ridiculous as he feuded with him for ages and jobbed the TNA title to him. I know they’re trying to make the MEM out to be jerks but to have Sting totally change overnight is stupid. At least Nash’s motivation makes sense. He felt Joe never respected him despite all the coaching he imparted. He feels Joe owes him for the title run. That makes sense. I can get behind that. But then Nash has never had any problem getting stuff over. His problems have always come in the ring.

Secondly I dig that they’ve finally done something with Abyss with Jarrett using him as a buffer between himself and Kurt Angle. The monster that Angle needs to slay.

BACKSTAGE the Main Event Mafia turn up and ignore Jeremy Borash. Only Scott Steiner stops to give an interview, which increases gives credence to the theory that Steiner doesn’t belong in this faction. He’s had what, one main event in TNA? But then a lot of the MEM are delusional so he fits into that theme.

X Division Rankings Match

Consequences Creed, Petey Williams, Sonjay Dutt (with So Cal Val), Jimmy Rave, Volador Jr, Eric Young, Doug Williams, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Homicide, Jay Lethal are the competitors. Lots of guys, again, and it seems TNA didn’t really learn from the mess of the opening match at Bound for Glory BUT at least this is a tag match with eliminations to establish X division rankings. I have no problem with that.

Big name talent involved. Volador Jr is from CMLL, Tanahashi from New Japan and Doug Williams the top talent from the UK. Tanahashi is a particularly big deal as he was the IWGP champion after Brock Lesnar bailed on NJPW. He’d go back to New Japan right after this and win his 3rd IWGP title. Not bad for a small guy. Dutt is an early highlight running from Lethal and kissing Val. Doug impresses for me too as he has a strong scientific style and he’s bigger than everyone else. Petey makes a point of singling him out for abuse. Lethal & Volador is INCREDIBLE. They’re so fast and their styles mesh perfectly. Dutt ruins that. But in a good heel-ish way. Dutt-Volador is cool too. I think TNA could benefit from using more luchadores. That next generation of guys to come out of Mexico just isn’t happening. Where are the Rey Mysterios? The Juvis? Volador cleans out Sonjay with a super rana here and he’s pinned. Which shows how highly TNA don’t rate him. Putting him out ahead of three guys who don’t work there regularly in a rankings match. He made it onto the next two PPV’s before his contract expired but this is a very big sign that he’s on the outs with TNA.

It also put Volador over BUT he hasn’t been back since this match so what was the point of that? He’s over! Crowd love flip dives and shit like that. Rave clocks Volador with Ghanarea to get shot of him. Probably not a surprise seeing as he wasn’t coming back. Again, I think TNA underuses luchadores. It was a big success for WCW. I guess Russo doesn’t like them.

Rave tries it on with Doug Williams and that isn’t a good idea at the best of times. CHAOS THEORY and its goodnight Jimmy. I can see TNA running out of ideas for Jimmy Rave. He’s a solid enough performer and generally gets a tonne of hate from Indy crowds. However if you’re looking at both of the men in the ring and asking; which would you rather had a title in TNA? The answer would be Doug Williams. That was pretty evident when Jimmy Rave was released not long after this. Not quite good enough for a big company. Not yet anyway. He needs seasoning and physicality.

Doug starts getting overconfident and he throws EY and Creed out and starts popping off suplexes. Then Homicide takes over but hits an INSANE TOPE CON HILO, which sees him land across the guardrail. OWWWW. Seeing as he’s injured he’s eliminated next. It feels planned as Homicide frequently flies into the rail and is fine. Plus Hernandez was out here right away, which suggested he was hanging around waiting for it to happen.

Doug & Tanahashi find themselves isolated against four TNA Young Lions. They’re very deliberate in trying to pick those two guys off, which is a good idea because if I was picking favourites for this match on an even footing and a neutral ground I’d pick Doug & Tanahashi to win. Followed by Petey & Jay Lethal. Petey shows his ability to win a match out of nothing but hitting the CANADIAN DESTROYER fluidly on Creed to boot him. That was cool because it felt organic. It wasn’t a kick to the guts to set it up like so many finishing moves. It just happened that Creed ducked too early and got caught. Cool sequence. Petey looked awesome in picking him off. Creed was a favourite coming in having had a losing title shot the previous month.

The next elimination is the biggest surprise in this thing. Given how awesome Petey is you’d think he’d got right to the end but he’s picked off by Doug & Tanahashi and the latter frogsplashes him out. Yeah, Petey was the biggest threat to both guys but given the TNA boys teaming up before you’d think Eric Young & Jay Lethal would have considered saving their potential partner. And from a booking POV I find it hard to look past Petey Williams in the X title picture.

Tanahashi has gotten himself nicely over and the crowd chants “USA” at him. He and Doug combine their non-American audience approved offence and that’s the story for the remainder of the match. Lethal picks off Tanahashi with an inside cradle, which for my money is one of the biggest pinfall victories of his career (up there with Angle & Joe) if Tanahashi had been built up to be anything in TNA. This would have left Tanahashi 4th in line for a title shot BUT New Japan then granted him an IWGP title shot at the Tokyo Dome in January, which he promptly won. That buggered up his remaining TNA dates as he was now the IWGP champ and he cancelled them. Shame really. I think he could have really done something here but naturally the lure of the IWGP crown was too great and Russo doesn’t have a great record of booking foreign talent.

Lethal & EY clearly see that Doug is the big threat here and double team him into the Youngblood neckbreaker. Doug, despite being now ranked 3rd, disappeared off TV until the British Invasion storyline.

So its two of the TNA Frontline guys; Young & Lethal to determine who gets a title shot. They actually go right into some good counterhold wrestling until they blow something or other. Headlock? Jay tries something but its countered into a Northern Lights for the pin. I think that was the old RVD/Lynn DDT into the NL spot but they did it too fast for anyone to see it. Young gets the pin and the title shot, which is the only part of the booking that makes sense in retrospect. ***1/4.

Ok, so where did this concept go so wrong? Well, the rankings match effectively resulted in one thing happening: Eric Young got a title shot where he won the belt in screwy fashion so they had a tournament to determine a new champion. But, they already have guys ranked at #2 and #3. Why not have them wrestle each other? Isn’t that the point of rankings? Otherwise why book this match in the first place? Doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense although you could argue a lot changed after this match. It was enjoyable though and they gave it time, which was crucial. I’ll give them that. Only Jimmy Rave and Sonjay Dutt got to look like total jobbers because of how quick they were eliminated and both of them were on the outs with TNA anyway.

POST MATCH Eric Young shows just how far his character has come over the past few months. He cuts a promo about how its everyone’s dream to be a wrestler. He says they may be kids but they’re here to leave a legacy. “Tonight these kids become men”. Hey, little Eric is all grown up! I dig it. Based on that promo I’d quite happily put him against most of the MEM. The thing with Eric Young is I totally forget what he’s capable of until he does it.

BACKSTAGE Interview Girl has Jarrett & Foley. Double J is off to talk sense into the MEM while he wants Foley to calm the kids down. I like this angle in its infancy. Jarrett isn’t convinced that MEM are going to be assholes forever (based probably on his past associations with many of them in WCW) but Foley is clearly sceptical of their motivation and also wary of the younger guys as he’s been backstabbed by guys he’s championed before.

Awesome Kong/Raisha Saaed w/Rhaka Khan v Taylor Wilde/Roxxi

Kong has the belt back and has formed the KONGtourage. Rhaka turned on Taylor when she went heel so there’s an added layer there. The faces clearly think of Saaed as the weak link and isolate her for a bit of reverse formula. Wilde has the same mentality as Gail Kim to getting over. Throwing out crowd friendly babyface offence for them to pop. You could argue Taylor only really got her shot at TNA because Gail Kim had quit and gone back to the WWE. The secondary story in this match shows Rhaka getting in Taylor’s head and preventing hot tags. I think its very noticeable and telling that the female fans really like Roxxi. Because a) she looks like a normal chick and b) she’s brave. It makes her an ideal candidate for taking heat. Taylor’s plucky babyface antics also make her a good candidate for that role though. But she kicks ass in this match. She takes it to all three heels and her leg kicks on Kong are HARSH. Damn, girl, where did those come from? Roxxi is the smart one here; she takes out Kong! Low bridges her over the top and then adds in a plancha. That leaves Taylor alone with Saaed where she can finish with the German suplex although I’m surprised Rhaka does nothing to interfere with her team up against it. **. There’s nothing wrong with formula. It’s a little annoying to see it every time the Knockouts wrestle but hey, that’s tag wrestling for you. Taylor and Roxxi both got over with this win while Kong wasn’t hurt in the loss. That’s a booking win that allows them to carry on with these girls for a few months at least.

BACKSTAGE Borash tries his luck with MEM again but Jarrett interrupts. He warns them not to let this get out of hand. Angle takes it well; calling Jeff a pussy with no balls.

Sheik Abdul Bashir v Rhino

Bashir is the X Division champion although not for much longer. The title isn’t on the line here because they don’t want Rhino to take that belt and he has to win here. I think Rhino has his most fun in wrestling when he’s just annihilating people. That doesn’t really happen here though. Rhino just doesn’t seem to be into this, which is weird because the crowd is so hot for it. The match instead has no sense of direction and the crowd end up getting distracted by the Insane Clown Posse being in the audience. Not only that but Scott Hall is with them because he was working for JCW at the time. That’s because he’d burned his bridges everywhere else. They’re here to promote the “Juggalo World Order” (that’s SO original) and an angle in their own company. Which doesn’t make much sense to me and just serves to distract the fans from this match. Which I’m guessing the wrestlers feel because Bashir puts it in the cooler and Rhino doesn’t care. The match mainly focuses on Bashir’s issues with ref Shane Sewell, which would lead to him losing the title and feuding with a referee. Oh and losing this match. GORE! ½*. The fans were distracted by the Juggalo nonsense and TNA were concerned about that and basically ejected them after the tag title match. Let’s face it; they were there to get themselves over and ended up ruining this match and could possibly have ruined the rest of the show.

Sidenote: “Last Call” Scott Hall finally managed to show up at Turning Point after no-showing the PPV the year beforehand. Hey, he was booked the year before and had to buy a ticket to this show! I know I complain about some wrestling angles making no sense but Scott Hall makes no sense. Unless you’re as drunk as he is. I imagine his thought process on both occasions was “fuck TNA”.

BACKSTAGE Mick Foley talks to the Frontline about respect. He says he fought for respect and wants them to meet the older guys halfway. The Motor City Machineguns mouth off to him and Foley points out that’s why Sting doesn’t like these guys. Shelley continues to mouth off and I’m reminded that they’re about to wrestle the HEEL tag champs next. So Shelley just acted like a total douchebag. Why would TNA do this? It makes no sense to turn these guys heel. The fans love them. I just don’t see what this does for anyone. Now as a mark I would want Alex Shelley to get his ass handed to him by Beer Money. I would be cheering the heels. What does that achieve?

Tag titles – Beer Money (c) v Motor City Machineguns

I can’t believe TNA just opted to ruin the set-up for this match. It was so, so easy. I would have thought they couldn’t possibly fuck it up. But no, TNA booking strikes again. Every company that hires Vince Russo ends up with the worst writing. I get they’re trying to tease dissention within TNA Frontline. I get that. I get that They’re teasing a heel turn for this team. I get that too. But they didn’t need to do this right before this match. That was the very last point in time that they should have done this. During the match; fine. After the match; fine. On Impact; fine. You get the picture.

So now we have the heel tag champions against two assholes. So nobody fucking cares. Worst crowd reactions all night. Way to go TNA. MCMG’s try to salvage matters by just running their usual tag team offence at speed. The thing about most of their offence is it shouldn’t be legal BUT they are so fast they can do an insane amount of stuff in their five seconds after a tag. It looks great but the crowd doesn’t care because we just ran that stupid backstage segment. I know this seems strange but I’m actually a bigger fan of Beer Money anyway. Regardless of booking. And I didn’t even like Roode until the team formed. Working against smaller guys is much better for him and Storm is a great tag wrestler anyway. Crowd is still dead btw. Storm gets a great reaction by mocking Sabin with the crane though, which kinda shows again how badly TNA has fucked this one up. We run formula to ZERO crowd reaction. Missing the hot tag: zero reaction. Jacqui interferes: zero reaction. Beer Money miscuing gets a reaction because they’re clear-cut heels and people like it when they fuck up. We get to the hot tag and its mild. Sabin, being less of a dickhead in the back, gets better pops and his stuff is so much sharper and exciting than Shelley’s too. The crowd gets back into it as Sabin starts popping moves off. With the crowd back they can finally get the momentum going. Shelley hits a tope and a frogsplash and those popped. Right, so now we’re back. But this should have been this hot from the bell and would have been if TNA weren’t fucking idiots. MCMG’s worst fault (along with their biggest strength) is their frequent inability to work their stuff into the rules of tag team wrestling so almost every match breaks down as it progresses. I don’t like holes in logic like that. Seeing as they do a bunch of stuff without tagging here you wonder why anyone bothered tagging in the whole match. Still it is fun stuff; like the ASCS Rush. Then Jacqui breaks the fall and the ref gets stuck with her in a contrived finish. Storm brings the beer spit and the DWI finishes. ***. I saw this getting a lot of love at the time but I wasn’t feeling it. The first half was badly affected by the previous backstage segment and the second half just felt like a different match with different rules. Kudos for the guys involved getting the crowd back after the booking. These are the best teams TNA had at the time (and still are) so I’m quite happy for the feud to continue. If I’d just seen the match and not the interview I’m sure I would have liked it better.

Sidenote: Its amazing how I can watch any piece of shit Indy match and enjoy reviewing it and yet when TNA do something stupid it just rubs me up the wrong way. It’s the same as when WCW used to do it. They should know better! They have the talent and experience to do better than this.

BACKSTAGE Booker T refuses another interview although there are hints of his King Booker persona sneaking back in. Not least of all the cape. Don’t know why he’s rocking an African accent though.

Legends title – Booker T (c) w/Sharmell v Christian Cage

Cage’s contract is about up so there are no prizes for guessing the winner here. The Legends title is a bit unnecessary. One thing I did like about TNA was that it didn’t have a lot of needless belts. This one was basically created just so Booker had a title. Not good enough to win the world title? No problem; have this sparkly piece of junk. It’s the same thing as the hardcore title; a gift for Mick Foley. Or the European title; a vanity belt for Davey Boy Smith. After those title reigns were over they might as well have thrown the belts away.

The real story isn’t about this title but rather that if Christian loses he’s forced into the MEM. It’s a pity Christian left because he’s the most intriguing part of this storyline. Would he go along with the stipulation? Where does he fit into everything? How would he be with the TNA Frontline? This match fits into the back catalogue of average Christian-Booker matches. Its inoffensive and passable but that’s about it. Christian is pretty generous and lets Booker boss the match. They do run a great near misses sequence where Booker keeps trying to kick Cage’s head off and he keeps ducking and diving. But that’s a highlight of an otherwise mediocre bout. Booker does one thing I like here; he makes a point of waiting for a natural break in the match to get his Spinneroonie in. Rather than waste a good chance to get the win to work the spot in. There is a nice story to do with familiarity too. Booker avoids all Cage’s signature stuff so he goes to the Texas Cloverleaf instead and Book gets totally caught with it and then gets laid out with the Book End too! I dig all that. If they’d been doing that throughout the match I’d have been more into it. Booker eventually wins with a roll up reversal and a handful of tights. **1/4. The familiarity stuff was good and saved this match from being a disaster. It was subtle too. Subtlety is underrated.

MEM 1 TNA 0

BACKSTAGE Abyss says he’s fine from the burns he suffered at Bound for Glory. But he’s not pissed at Team 3D he’s focused on Angle. He’s made this match falls count anywhere so Angle can’t run away. Well, actually he can run away. He can’t get counted out. If you wanted him to not run away you should have asked for a cage match. Matt Morgan teases dissension. Russo sure loves his dissension.

Kurt Angle v Abyss

This whole match would seem to suit Abyss. Falls count anywhere is to his benefit. And yet Angle is so much more than an Olympic wrestler. He tries early to make this match his own kind of bout but Abyss responds with violence. Angle takes option 2: running away. So they take this into the bleachers. The idea being that it buys Angle some time and wears the bigger man out. When Angle runs out of room he realises the real horror of the situation he’s in. Abyss is the relentless Michael Myers to his Jamie Lee Curtis. So Angle goes to option 3: fighting violence with violence he attacks Abyss with a chair. This has far better results than his first two approaches. Realising he needs that bit extra Angle goes and somersaults off the stage. SOMERSAULTS. OFF. THE. STAGE. Is there anything Kurt Angle can’t do? WWE got scared with Angle because he’s nuttier than squirrel shit but he’s proved in TNA that he really IS the man. Quite possibly the most talented active wrestler anywhere in the business.

They run a great spot where Angle charges Abyss through the side of the stage and then moments later Angle is thrown through the other side by Abyss. Once again, Abyss is being made to look like an absolute BEAST there. Look at what Angle is having to resort to in order to just get Abyss into trouble. But his original plan remains. He wants to turn this into a wrestling match if he can and yet he can’t match Abyss for power. Angle’s attempts at wrestling gets him the Olympic slam for 2. So he opts for getting the chair, his original momentum turner, and Abyss punches it into his face. This time Abyss was ready for the chair. Angle will have to get more creative than that. CHOKESLAM…for 2. That’s one near fall each where they both thought it was over. Angle starts to use his speed at this point. Its an extra dimension that had gone untested. He goes all LUCHA-ANGLE. MOONSAULT ONTO A CHAIR ONTO ABYSS! That doesn’t finish either. Abyss then makes a big mistake. He goes to the Tombstone, which isn’t one of his regular moves and Angle can counter out into the anklelock. Abyss kicks him off though using his powerful legs. BLACK HOLE SLAM…FOR 2. Now they’re totally having the ‘Angle match’ but I appreciate the effort and variety that lead to it. Angle decides to run again (which didn’t work for him before) but this time he takes the high ground. He goes past the Spanish announce position, pushing them over in the process, and up the scaffolding. Abyss teases a press slam off it but Angle counters and European uppercuts Abyss through the Spanish announce table for the win. ****1/4. The match kept gathering momentum and everyone knew the finish would be big. They busted their asses out there to get everything over and both guys come out of it looking great although for the storyline Angle is the one that wins a toss-up finish. He was microseconds away from losing there.

MEM 2 TNA 0

BACKSTAGE Samoa Joe says he knew Nash would come after him sooner or later but he’s annoyed with himself for not seeing the turn coming. Joe makes a great point of saying that Nash always hangs around with great men, men greater than him.

Samoa Joe v Kevin Nash

Joe is the leader of TNA Frontline and is out for revenge so this should be a no-brainer. After all Nash is five years past being relevant as a main eventer and its only that short a time thanks to Triple H. This match has been a year in the making so credit to TNA for sticking with it for so long and thus giving it a pay-off like this. And lo and behold, the crowd is hot for it. Even though its right after that awesome Abyss-Angle match. Joe shows hints of that posing douchebaggery that cost him the title against Sting but thankfully its not quite so obvious. It is the reason that Nash gets openings though and I can’t understand the logic of that. Even if Joe was working a character; the character would realise from watching back his matches that it was costing him. Nash goes to his tools and exposes the turnbuckles, which is important because it shows Nash can’t win clean. AGAIN Joe poses and AGAIN it costs him. They really are making him look like a total dumbass. This time Nash drags him into the exposed buckle. I’m assuming this is no DQ because that’s a DQ. Hmm, it does seem to be billed as a singles match. Odd. Nash, to his credit, looks like he actually cares, which is a switch on his character from WCW days. He did the same in WWE when H’s gave him a title shot. I think he’s probably grateful to get the opportunities nowadays to have good matches. Nash uses a chair and I would now question if the referee is blind or corrupt. Nash has certainly used cheating to get ahead. Way more than Sting last month. Jack Knife…for 2. Nash’s sell on that kick-out is AWESOME. Nash uses the exposed buckle again and this time the referee WARNS him. But that’s the third infringement and he does it TWO MORE TIMES busting Joe open. Er, ref? That’d be a DQ. Do we not have rules around here? JACK KNIFE…FOR 2. Another great sell from Nash on the kick-out. AND JOE IS BACK UP! Nash goes low and pins with both feet on the ropes for the win. **1/2. When I heard the outcome I figured they’d totally fucked this up and when I proof read it I thought the same but the match was surprisingly good AND Joe came out of it looking a lot stronger than Nash. I still wouldn’t have finished with something as weak as a nut shot and the ropes. Another chair shot maybe. It wasn’t as if Nash could get himself disqualified. Nash also understood what he had to do to win unlike Sting who would have lost without Nash.

MEM 3 TNA 0

TNA title – Sting (c) v AJ Styles

Much like during WCW’s own failed attempt at a heel veterans Vs babyface young guys angle the crowd reactions are a mess. If anything Sting gets the bigger pop and the crowd seem distant. This doesn’t have a big match atmosphere. The divided crowd eventually rally each other into making noise. Say what you like about the Impact Zone but the fans are often hot. Youth Vs Experience has never been more prevalent on this card than during this match. AJ is the very definition of the guy TNA fans wanted to see pushed because of his loyalty to TNA and his incredible skill set. While Sting defines the veteran debuting in 1985. His heel turn has been at the heart of this whole angle, which is why he’s the world champion. Unlike against Joe this is an even encounter. Sting using his experience to pick AJ apart systematically while AJ throws out crazy moves at speed showing what he’s capable of. Sting isn’t used to being the ‘big man’ but you’d never know it. He grinds away with a series of holds designed to wear AJ down and doesn’t do anything stupid. It’s a smart game plan from the champ. Its AJ who takes the risks, as he needs to, and when he does make mistakes it allows Sting to get stuff in like the Stinger Splash. The difference between this Sting & Sting at Bound for Glory is incredible. I know Sting isn’t usually comfortable as a heel but he seems quite confident here. Sting does make a mistake when he considers using the ropes though and AJ is able to sunset bomb and add in a Spiral Tap. However this is the point where Angle & Booker run in. See, this marks the big difference between this match and the rest of the card. The MEM were confident they could sweep all 4 matches BUT this is the one they REALLY don’t want to lose so are willing to give Sting back-up to make sure they win. I’m not overly keen on the finish but it is quite clever. AJ goes for the Pele Kick but Sting sidesteps it and rolls AJ up for the win. I like that Sting was able to scout that move and feel it coming because of his experience but it shouldn’t really lead to the end of the match. A minor quibble though with a solid showing for both guys. ***.

MEM 4 TNA 0

POST MATCH the Main Event Mafia come out here to celebrate the sweep. The big concern being whether the fans now perceive the young guys as losers. I think the main event needed a little more of the deck stacked against AJ Styles.

The 411: On paper the card didn’t look like much but it really delivered. Most of the matches were better than expected. Especially Angle-Abyss, which is an outside shot for MOTY. The booking is a little untidy around the edges. The long term plan interfering with segments of the show. It needed tweaking somewhat. If Alex Shelley had spoken to Foley like he did AFTER MCMG’s had lost it would have been totally different. As it was that segment had a knock on effect and hurt the match. If you just read the results from this show you’d probably feel like it was WCW all over again but the matches themselves frequently gave the loser the lion’s share (Abyss & Joe especially). However it’s the booking after this show that would concern me. After this Joe didn’t win on PPV until April as part of Team Jarrett at Lockdown and didn’t get revenge on Nash until May. By which point TNA had already switched world champions. While I like the idea of TNA having a long term booking plan it never seems to materialise. Just scraps of it. The TNA rankings match shows this. A match that ended up meaning very little. While TNA can be hugely frustrating this show works fine standing alone. The Main Event Mafia look strong, their challengers look strong still and the undercard looks fun. Of course TNA’s long term plan is to turn Joe heel and have him join the MEM, which doesn’t make sense but hey that’s wrestling for ya.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]