TNA – Sacrifice ’06 DVD Review

TNA – Sacrifice – Impact Zone – Orlando, Florida –May 14, 2006

Introduction

The opening video package is narrated by the usual guy, and features clips of most of the key players in action tonight. It doesn’t highlight any of the matches specifically, but it does hinge on the theme of Sacrifice, which everyone on tonight’s card has had to do.

MATCH #1: Jushin “Thunder” Liger vs. Petey Williams

Our opening match is part of the World X Cup Tournament. The standings as of right now are –

1) USA, 5 points
2) Mexico, 2 points
3) Canada, 0 points
4) Japan, 0 points

Jushin Liger has one of my favorite entrance songs, ever. Liger and Williams are the captains of Team Japan and Team Canada, respectively. The winner of this match receives three points. They start off with some mat wrestling, with Liger being the crowd favorite. Liger dumps Williams to the floor and lands a dive from the top rope to the floor. Team Japan takes liberties on Williams on the floor while Liger distracts the referee. Williams is out there by himself, with no one to thwart Black Tiger, Minoru Tanaka, and Hirooki Goto. Back in the ring Liger tries a frog splash but Williams gets the knees up. Williams hits a spinning lariat and then mocks Liger for being Japanese. Williams stays in control and the crowd continues to chant for Liger. Williams goes for the Canadian Destroyer but Liger hits a Palm Thrust and a Liger Bomb for two. Williams gets up and tries the Destroyer again, but Black Tiger distracts the referee while Goto sneaks in the ring and hits Williams with a low blow and Liger hits a face slam to get the win at 7:16. That match was about half as long as it should have been, but it was good while it lasted.
Rating: **½

The standings now look like so –

1) USA, 5 points
2) Japan, 3 points
3) Mexico, 2 points
4) Canada, 0 points

Backstage, we discover that Sting has a locker room! He might even be in there! Sting teams with TNA X-Division Champion Samoa Joe to face Jeff Jarrett & Scott Steiner.

Tenay and West officially welcome us to the show. They hype Team 3D vs. The James Gang, AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels vs. America’s Most Wanted for the World Tag Team Titles, Samoa Joe & Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett & Scott Steiner, and the Full Metal Mayhem match between Christian Cage and Abyss for the NWA World Championship.

Borash is backstage with the champs, America’s Most Wanted, Jackie Gayda, and Gail Kim. Jackie is crying for some reason. Harris says they’re not worried, because they’ve got friends in high places. Storm cuts his usual redneck promo and makes some nasty threats on Jackie. Jackie then announces that she’s pregnant. Borash is excited about the news, but Gail is not, so she fires her. Uh, okay.

MATCH #2: NWA World Tag Team Title Match – America’s Most Wanted vs. AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels

AMW have been champions since 10.22.05, and this is their ninth defense. Gail Kim and Jackie Gayda are barred from ringside. Styles and Daniels attack right away and Styles hits the dropkick and once again informs everyone that that is indeed the way you do it. Daniels comes in and the challengers continue to have control of the match. The champions use chicanery to take over on Daniels, and deliver some potent double team moves as well as continuing to cheat. Styles gets the hot tag and cleans house on the champions. They do the almost requisite Tower of Doom spot. Big crossbody by Daniels (the illegal man) gets a two count. The battle spills to the floor and Styles hits a huge dive on Harris into the crowd. They’re back in the ring and the high risk moves keep right on coming. The champions are in control. Everyone hits their big moves and the referee gets knocked out. Suddenly a nightstick falls from the sky and we learn that Gail Kim is in the rafters (hey, it’s not ringside) and Styles gets hit with the stick and AMW retains the titles at 15:30. Some complained about the finish but I actually think it’s kind of clever. These two teams have good chemistry together.
Rating: ***¾

Borash is backstage with Larry Zbyszko and A1. Basically, Zbyszko hates Raven, so he went to Scott D’Amore and has been assured that A1 will eliminate Raven tonight. Mark “Slick” Johnson busts in and tells Zbyszko that the new face of TNA Management will be named next month at Slammiversary.

MATCH #3: Raven vs. A1

The gist of this match is that Zbyszko suspended Raven just because he annoyed him, and whoever the new face of TNA Management is decided to reinstate Raven right away. So Zbyszko went to Scott D’Amore, who claimed that A1 could take care of the issue. This is Raven’s first match since January. Zbyszko attacks Raven before the bell, which allows A1 to control the early portion of the match. He uses a lot of power moves to wear Raven down. Raven tries to make a comeback, but Zbyszko distracts the referee and A1 hits a low blow. Zbyszko tries to interfere again but it backfires and Raven hits the Even Flow DDT to get the pin at 5:19. Well, A1 didn’t really do much to impress. Zbyszko challenges Raven to come back to the ring and squash it.
Rating: *

Borash is backstage with Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner, who will face Sting and Samoa Joe in a tag team match tonight. Jarrett is not worried about Samoa Joe, because he thinks that Sting and Joe will not be able to coexist. Steiner gets a few verbal barbs in on Sting, and really focuses on Joe.

MATCH #4: “The War Machine” Rhino vs. Bobby Roode

Rhino and Roode are trying to have a match, but Tenay and West are much more focused on talking about the main event tag team match tonight. Rhino and Roode are both power wrestlers, but Rhino is much more aggressive in the early stages of the match. Rhino controls Roode with punches and throws him outside the ring. Rhino delivers a suplex on the entrance ramp. Rhino tries to jump off the ropes, but D’Amore distracts Rhino and Roode knocks him to the floor. D’Amore tosses Rhino back into the ring and Roode gets a two-count. Roode goes on offense and does the usual assortment of chinlocks and bodyslams and such. Rhino almost comes back but Roode continues to work on the neck and head. Rhino finally does make the comeback and he avoids D’Amore’s distractions to hit a spinebuster for two. Roode recovers and tries going to the top rope but Rhino knocks him down and hits a superplex. Roode comes back and goes for the Northern Lariat, but Rhino ducks it and hits a belly-to-belly suplex. D’Amore comes in behind the referee’s back and that allows Roode to hit the Northern Lariat and get the pin at 12:07. Guys like Roode will never get over if they never ever win a match without some kind of interference and / or screwjob. It was a solidly worked match, but never too exciting.
Rating: **¼

Borash is backstage with Team 3D. Brother Ray remembers where they were on all kinds of important dates, including 9/11, President Bush’s re-election, when OJ Simpson was declared not guilty, and when he and his Brother Devon first won the WWE World Tag Team Titles. They won the belts from the team they face tonight, The James Gang, back when they were called The New Age Outlaws, on February 27, 2000. Ray says history will repeat itself, and Devon testifies.

MATCH #5: The James Gang vs. Team 3D

This whole feud is based on past accomplishments and nostalgia. At least it’s in the midcard, but I still wish I cared about either of these teams. I just don’t. BG James cuts his usual promo before the match. Tenay says Team 3D were 10-time WWE Tag Team Champions, but they were actually just nine. The New Age Outlaws held the gold five times. This is only the second time these teams have faced each other. Kip and Devon start it out with some back and forth stuff. BG tags in, and Ray tags in as well. Ray actually executes a dropkick, and the James Gang is entertained by that. They do some brawling stuff and I’m finding myself not paying much attention. BG finally goes to the outside and grabs a lead pipe and hits Devon with it and the James Gang gets the win at 9:35. That was the usual pedestrian stuff from these two washed-up teams.
Rating: *¾

Borash is backstage with James Mitchell and Abyss, who will challenge for the NWA World Title tonight. Mitchell cuts his usual promo that sounds really cheesy. Abyss yells and grunts in the background. Mitchell promises that Abyss will win the championship tonight. Abyss is one scary dude. This is his second shot at the title since Christian Cage won it.

Tenay and West just learned that the satellite feed went out during the first match, so they show the finish of it again. They could have left that out of the DVD.

MATCH #6: World X Cup Finals – Gauntlet Match

The World X Cup Standings are –

1) USA, 5 points
2) Japan, 3 points
3) Mexico, 2 points
4) Canada, 0 points

Winner of this gauntlet gets five points, the runner-up team gets two. Christy Hemme comes out to present the trophy to the winning team. Minoru Tanaka is the #1 entrant. Puma, representing Mexico for some reason, is the #2 entrant. Tanaka feigns a handshake and takes advantage of Puma. Tanaka hits a Fisherman’s Buster and tries a pin, but that won’t work until it’s the last two guys. Petey Williams is out at #3. Despite what happened earlier, Williams doesn’t hesitate to work with Tanaka. That doesn’t last too long though, as Williams hits a clothesline on him and goes after Puma. Team USA Captain Chris Sabin is the #4 entry. Sabin dominates all three of his opponents. Hirooki Goto is #5. He and Tanaka start working together right away. Team Mexico’s Incognito is #6. I know nothing about Incognito, who is making his TNA debut here. Johnny Devine of Team Canada is the #7 entrant. No one has been eliminated yet. Sabin finally gets some help when Sonjay Dutt comes out at #8. Dutt hits some big moves, including a reverse rana on Devine. Black Tiger is next for Team Japan, he’s #9. Magno of Team Mexico is #10, and I don’t know anything about him either. Eric Young is #11, and he’s pretty over as a babyface for being a member of Team Canada. He unleashes the headlock on his opponents. Dutt appears to be injured outside the ring, and he gets carried to the back. #12 is Team USA’s Alex Shelley, whose allegiances have been questionable as of late as it relates to Team USA. Sabin and Shelley argue, so and Devine is able to eliminate Sabin and Shelley tosses Devine. The Captain of Team Japan, Jushin Liger, is #13. It looks like Incognito is gone too, I don’t see him in the ring anymore but I didn’t hear about him being eliminated. Magno gets eliminated as Shocker comes out at #14. Shocker creatively eliminates Black Tiger, and Tyson Dux is our #15. Shelley eliminates Goto. The #16 and final entrant is Jay Lethal of Team USA. Lethal eliminates Tanaka, leaving Liger as the sole representative from Japan. Shelley eliminates Shocker too. Dux actually eliminates Liger, and Lethal eliminates Young right after that. Shelley tosses Dux. Our final four is Shelley, Lethal, Williams, and Puma. Shelley tries a running knee strikes and he tumbles to the floor. Puma then eliminates Lethal, so we’re down to Williams and Puma. Puma hits a brainbuster and tries a move off the top rope but Williams avoids it and hits the Canadian Destroyer to get the pin and score five points for Team Canada at 18:35. That was decent for a gauntlet match but nothing too special.
Rating: **

Kevin Nash comes out after the match to beat on Puma to prove his superiority over X-Division competitors. He runs down the entire division and talks about how much better big guys are than little guys. He states that Size Does Matter.

The standings are now –

1) Team Canada, 5 points
2) Team USA, 5 points
3) Team Mexico, 4 points
4) Team Japan, 3 points

Tenay and West aren’t sure how the tie is going to be resolved.

Borash is backstage with TNA X-Division Champion Samoa Joe. Borash wants to know if he and Sting have even spoken to each other today. Joe says it doesn’t matter, because he doesn’t need to be friendly with someone to kick somebody else’s ass.

MATCH #7: Tag Team War – Sting and Samoa Joe vs. Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner

The video package for this match makes Samoa Joe look like a really big deal, which I like. I don’t like Sting’s little “Deal or No Deal” gimmick. Everyone stalls for a few minutes to start, and the first actual wrestling is between Sting and Jarrett. Sting gets the upper hand so Jarrett tags out to Steiner. They wrestle for a minute until Sting tags in Joe, and the crowd is hot to see Joe and Steiner fight. Joe hits a few strikes but Steiner counters with a belly-to-belly suplex. Joe comes back with a flurry of offense and the crowd loves it every time Joe does something. Steiner comes back with Another belly-to-belly suplex. Jarrett comes in and any offense he gets in on Joe makes me angry. Joe comes back with the STJoe. Sting gets the hot tag and Jarrett goes for the rana that he always hits and never gets powerbombed out of. The only way the heels can knock Sting down is through double teaming. Steiner hits Yet Another belly-to-belly suplex, this time on Sting. They do the false hope tag spot and Sting winds up falling head-first onto Steiner’s balls. Jarrett comes in and Joe gets the hot tag as well. Joe dominates both guys. Sting and Steiner brawl on the outside while Joe abuses Jarrett in the ring. Jarrett hits a low blow and the Stroke to just about no reaction. Joe kicks out, of course. He nails the Muscle Buster on Jarrett a moment later to get the pin at 14:24. He cleanly pinned the NWA World Champion, which should immediately make him the #1 Contender. The match itself was kind of lame, with no real heat or flow, but I do like that Joe got to go over. Sting offers Joe his hand, and Joe debates it before accepting. Joe goes walking up the ramp while Steiner and Jarrett go back in the ring to beat up Sting with the baseball bat, a steel chair, and the guitar. Joe finally turns around and gives the heels the eye, but instead he turns around and walks away. I like that. Rhino, The James Gang, Chris Sabin, and Jay Lethal make the belated save for Sting. What were they waiting for?
Rating: **¼

MATCH #8: NWA World Heavyweight Title Match, Full Metal Mayhem – Christian Cage vs. “The Monster” Abyss

The video package for this one is set to the same creepy music Stanley Kubrick used in Eyes Wide Shut. We go backstage where Borash is with Christian Cage, the NWA World Champion. He takes a swipe at Jeff Jarrett and tells Abyss that even if he doesn’t have the belt, he is still the champion. He says that Full Metal Mayhem is the match that he made famous. He’ll take back the title tonight, he promises. Cage has been the NWA Champion since 2.12.06, and this is his third defense. This is a big brawl right from the get-go. It doesn’t take long for the ladder to get involved. Cage creatively uses the ladder against Abyss first, putting over how he’s been involved in many of these types of matches. Abyss tries to use a steel chair, but Cage reverses it and uses it against the challenger. It’s a little odd that Cage has gotten so much offense so far, but it’s working for the match. Abyss delivers a belly-to-belly suplex right onto the ladder, and he’s in control now. The fight spills to the floor and Abyss goes for his chain, but Cage is able to take the weapon and use it himself. He climbs up the ropes for leverage, but Abyss pulls on the chain and sends Cage through a table that was set up at ringside. Cage takes a nasty spill off the top of the ladder, and Mitchell brings thumbtacks into the ring. Cage recovers and hits an Unprettier on Abyss right on the ladder. He then delivers a uranage to Mitchell right on the tacks. Cage climbs the ladder and could grab the belt but instead he chooses to deliver a frog splash through the table Abyss was on. That gives him enough time to climb the ladder and retrieve the title at 16:14. Cage looks really good for being able to beat Abyss, and Abyss looked strong as well, which is always a plus. This was just as good as their Lockdown match, which is only a shame because I was hoping it’d be a little better.
Rating: ***½

The 411: The two title matches are both really good, but the rest of the card is filled with mediocrity. Jushin Liger once again gets wasted in a less than eight minute match, which is always frustrating. Samoa Joe’s involvement with the main event scene appeared promising, but since this PPV was a while ago and I know what has happened since it doesn’t really mean anything, so there’s really not much about this show to particularly recommend.

Final Score:  5.0   [ Not So Good ]