Views from the Hawke’s Nest: TNA One Night Only – Xtravaganza 2014

April 12, 2014
Orlando, Florida

Commentators: Mike Tenay & Jeremy Borash

The deal with the first six matches is that if the outsider wins the match, he goes on to the Ultimate X main event. If the TNA roster member wins, gets the pleasure of knowing he held down an independent wrestler looking for a break.

Low Ki vs. Chris Sabin
At the 2006 Bound For Glory, these guys had an awesome match.

Sabin was heeling it up right away. He got the advantage by going after Ki’s midsection. Sabin went for a Gory Special at one point, but Ki escaped and hit a double stomp. Ki then made a comeback. Ki hit some of his trademark offense before finishing Sabin with the Ki Krusher.

This felt like a match that you would see on Xplosion. That means the match was fine, but you expect more from these two on a PPV. The crowd likes Low Ki, and I’m glad he advanced to the main event.
Match Rating: **1/2

Austin Aries cut a promo with JB in the back. I thought it was a great heel promo where he mentioned a number of excuses in case he lost tonight, but he was trying to act like he would never make excuses. He said he will take the X Title back from Sanada two falls to none.

Rashad Cameron vs. DJ Zema
Cameron angered Zema by touching his hair and DJ headphones. Cameron went for a dive, but Zema blocked it and then worked him over. Zema was in control longer than I expected. He went for a Lionsault, but Cameron got his knees up. Cameron then hit a tope con hello. Cameron then made a comeback. Zema avoided a frog splash. Cameron avoided a DDT and then got a small package: 1…2…3!

On paper, this did not look too good. However, they worked hard and kept the in-ring structure basic enough that it was not too hard for the crowd to get into it. I don’t understand why TNA keeps bringing back Sabian, but I suppose there are worst indie guys they could bring in year after year for these types of shows.
Match Rating: **1/2

There was a good video package for Sanada.

Jigsaw vs. Kenny King
Unlike Cameron, Jigsaw is a really talented performer that I’m glad TNA keeps bringing back year after year.

After some brief back and forth action, King cut Rubix off by dropping him on the apron. King worked him over. Rubix came back with a hurricanrana and a tope suicida. They went back and forth in the ring. Jigsaw seemed on the verge of victory, but King caught him with the Royal Flush: 1…2…3

Kenny King has all of the tools to be a great wrestler seemingly, but I rarely think too highly of his matches. This was yet another match that did not impress me. Jigsaw should have been in the main event instead of Cameron.
Match Rating: **1/2

Ethan Carter III is putting $25,000 on the line in the tag team ladder match. He says he will buy the fans’ love.

Ace Vedder vs. Manik
Vedder is the former Trent Barreta.

Vedder cut off Manik by dropping him on the apron after some solid action. Vedder hit a tope con hello. Manik came back and hit a Silverking Dropkick. Vedder put a stop to Manik’s momentum with a release German. Manik got a nearfall with The Nifty Powerbomb. Vedder avoided a Superfly Splash and hit a Busaiku Knee to the back of the head: 1…2…3

This was yet another solid match on this show. It was my favorite match so far. They put together a couple of fresh sequences to put this match above everything else. It was nothing spectacular though.
Match Rating: **3/4

Sonjay Dutt vs. Rockstar Spud
I’m with Spud.

They’re doing a story with Sonjay where they’re calling him the best X-Division wrestler to never win the X-Division Championship. Spud could not get anything going until he blocked a springboard move. He had to cheat to keep control for a bit. Dutt avoided a high risk move from Spud and then made a comeback. Dutt finished Spud with a moonsault double stomp.

The crowd really never got into this at all. I would rather watch Spud comedy in an Ultimate X match than Sonjay.
Match Rating: *

Petey Williams vs. Tigre Uno
Petey cut a wretched promo before the match.

They looked okay going back and forth early on. Uno hit a corkscrew dive. Pete cut him off with a dragon screw. Petey worked him over after that. Uno avoided a German and then made a comeback. Uno hit a butt stomp on Petey’s dick: 1…2…3? What the fuck was that finish?

I heard some bad things about this match, but it didn’t seem off to me. The finish was really odd though. I cannot tell if there was a miscommunication or if they just decided to do a really weird finish for the sake of it.
Match Rating: **1/2

So, it’s going to be Low Ki vs. Rashad Cameron vs. Ace Vedder vs. Sonjay Dutt in the main event.

Ethan Carter III came out and talked about how he was putting up his own money for this match. EC3 is very entertaining.

The Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie “Eddie Edwards” Edwards) vs. Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels & Kazarian) [Ladder Match]
The match started as a tornado tag without ladders. They kept teasing using the ladder. The Wolves went for their stereo topes, but BI blocked it with a ladder. They started to climb, but neither team got close. They started to use the ladders more as weapons, but they weren’t doing anything stupid with them. Daniels ended up on a ladder, and Davey gave him a double stomp. Kaz springboarded onto a ladder, but The Wolves gave him the powerbomb/backstabber. Eddie then got the clipboard or whatever was hanging about the ring.

EC3 tried to take the check, but The Wolves kicked him and took the check back. Class warfare?

This is one of the safest tag team ladder matches ever, but I do not mean that as an insult in the slightest. They worked a fan-friendly pace and kept me entertained throughout the match. That’s always enough to get a thumbs up out of me.
Match Rating: ***1/2

Sanada(c) vs. Austin Aries (2/3 Falls for the X-Division Championship)
Sanada won the belt from Aries in Japan in what was a very enjoyable match.

The first fall was all back and forth action. Sanada blocked a tope suicida and then hit a moonsault: 1…2…3

Aries played possum at the start of the second fall and hit Sanada with a Heat Seeking Missile. Aries worked him over throughout this fall. Sanada started to fight back and went for a springboard move, but Aries dumped him to the floor. Sanada got back to the ring. Aries seemed desperate and went for a moonsault. Sanada avoided it and hit a springboard chop to the head. They started going back and forth. Aries hit a couple of corner IED Kicks. Sanada reversed a brainbuster into an O’Connor Roll with a bridge: 1…2…3. Sanada retains the title by defeating Aries two falls to zero.

I thought this was quite good. Unfortunately, the crowd has been quite dead all night which put a ceiling on this one. Aries is a great performer who excels in TNA. Sanada continues to show a ton of potential, and I’m glad TNA is using him.
Match Rating: ***1/4

There was a video hyping up Ultimate X that was great just because Angle said he always does a prayer before this match. Each guy did a good interview explaining what this match meant to them. Actually, Cameron didn’t get an interview in the video. Odd.

Low Ki vs. Ace Vedder vs. Rashad Cameron vs. Sonjay Dutt [Ultimate X Match for an Ultimate X Championship Shot]
Ki has never won an Ultimate X match before. Dutt has never won the X-Division Championship before. Vedder and Cameron are looking to earn a regular spot.

A few guys tried to climb early on, but they went to trading movez back and forth quickly enough. The crowd was kind of supporting Ki, but overall, they remained pretty quiet. There still wasn’t a ton of climbing attempts for a while. Sonjay hit Ki with standing sliced bread and then climbed to the top of the structure. Vedder did the same. The structure was moving a lot. While those two battled, Ki and Cameron got onto the cables. Ki got the X and the title shot.

Much like the ladder match, this was one of the safest matches of its kind. I think for these kind of matches to reach their potential, you need to have a few guys who are young and dumb. These guys put together a few nifty sequences though to keep entertained throughout most of the match. I particularly liked the last few minutes once the serious attempts to get the X started.
Match Rating: ***

Check out some of your favorite TNA wrestlers in free matches!
The Hardys vs. The Briscoes
Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe
Hulk Hogan vs. Sting
Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson (Cage Match)
Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Homicide vs. Amazing Red vs. Suicide
Christian vs. Kaz (Ladder Match)
Low Ki vs. Chris Sabin
Jeff Hardy vs. Sabu vs. Abyss vs. Rhyno (Monster’s Ball)
Samoa Joe vs. Chris Sabin
AJ Styles vs. Abyss (Cage Match)
A.J. Styles vs. Low Ki vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Psicosis
AJ Styles vs. Low Ki vs. Jerry Lynn
AJ Styles & D’Lo Brown vs Triple X (Christopher Daniels & Elix Skipper)
Kazuchika Okada & Homicide vs. The Young Bucks
Kurt Angle vs. AJ Styles vs. Sting vs. Matt Morgan vs. Hernandez
Chris Sabin vs. Jay Lethal
Kurt Angle vs. Christian Cage vs. Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Chris Harris (King of the Mountain)
Chris Sabin vs. Jay Lethal vs. Alex Shelley vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Shark Boy
Christian Cage vs. Sting vs. Ron Killings vs. Jeff Jarrett vs. Abyss (King of the Mountain)

Thanks everybody for reading! You can send feedback to my Twitter or to my email address: [email protected]. Also, feel free to check out my own wrestling website, FreeProWrestling.com. Check out a full/organized list of all the wrestling show reviews I’ve done at 411mania.

The 411: I thought this show was a breeze to watch, but it's overpriced. It didn't feel like a PPV. It felt like a wrestling heavy version of Impact. That's not the end of the world, but they shouldn't have charged so much for it.
Final Score:  6.0   [ Average ]