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WRestling’s 3R’s PPV Edition 3.13.07: TNA Destination X 2007
Introduction!
Welcome back to another PPV edition of WRestling’s 3R’s! It is time once again to break down the PPV of the past weekend in the 3R’s style. It was the 6th PPV of the year, Destination X. It was another gimmick filed effort, and would showcase the debut of the Elevation X Match! There was some very good stuff on the show, and some pretty bad stuff on the show but how did it stack up in the land of the 3 R’s? Let’s break the bitch down!
How the 3R’s of wRestling Work!
Here is a quick explanation of the 3 R’s. I will take the 4 main shows (5 if I go RetRo) of the week: TNA Impact, WWE Raw, ECW on Sci-Fi and WWE Smackdown. If we have a PPV, that show will get a special PPV edition of the R’s all to its own. I then group my feelings on the shows in various categories: The Right, the wRong and the Ridiculous. The Right is stuff that worked very well: a great promo, a great match and so on. PuRgatoRy is a section between the right and wrong. It shows equal traits from both sides that cannot be ignored and need discussed. It is not a bad place per say, as things can get remedied or go the wrong way the very next week. The wRong is what it sounds like: bad matches, bad or boring promos and so on. The Ridiculous is stuff that had no right on TV: Stupid angles, Diva searches and so on. And there is always a possibility of a 5th R, which is as bad as they come, unless you are TNA. They have a special R all of their own, the 6th R; the Russo-FN-Riffic~!
This column is supposed to be analytical, and at the right time very critical of the shows, it was the whole reason it was created. This is not a “mark” column, nor a “smark” column, I cannot speak for Geoff, but my goal is to analyze the show from many different fronts, reward the good and call out the bad. There are also occasions where I will bring out a 4th, 5th or even a 6th R to the column, so beware of those~! I will not apologize for my opinions, they are as they are, whether very positive or negative.
The Matches:
Ghetto Brawl – Non-Title Match: LAX defeated Team 3D @ 14:50 via pin **½
Double Bullrope Match: Storm and Moore defeated Williams and Kim @ 8:05 via pin **
Cross Face Chicken Wing Match: Senshi defeated Austin Starr @ 11:10 via Submission ***
VKM defeated The Heart Breakers @ 9:07 via pin ½*
TNA X-Division Title Match: Chris Sabin defeated Jerry Lynn (2 falls to 1) @ 13:30 via pin **¾
Elevation X Match: Rhino defeated AJ Styles @ 12:40 ***
Kurt Angle defeated Scott Steiner @ 12:00 via pin *¾
Last Rites Match: Sting defeated Abyss @ 9:51 (F.T.S.) TRASH of the Night!
NWA Heavyweight Title Match: Christian Cage defeated Samoa Joe @ 17:10 via pin **** MATCH of the Night!
The Right:
Elevation X – This may have been the greatest scaffold match of all time. Of course most of them have all sucked a nut, but seriously, this was a damn fine effort here. They did the smart thing in having then do some brawling on the floor at first, that was a great idea as they got to give the fans some action and then do the climb spot to “officially” start the match. They got up there and AJ showed no fear as he danced a jig on top of the X. Rhino started to climb and this is where about 40% of the crowd started to cover their face and were completely afraid and thought that Rhino may die. Now my main gripe for this is that after they showed Rhino running across the thing on Thursday, they had him be afraid here and that was a small lack of continuity. They really did a good job of working the stipulation as well as possible. They did good teases, AJ had his gloves, which were a nice touch and they just seemed to have a plan and stick with it. I thought it was rather creative that they did the spot with AJ hiding INSIDE the structure. It was a cool visual and led to Rhino having the crowd help him spot, which is great; crowd interaction = good. They eventually both got back and brawled some more and then in a tribute to Midnight Express Scaffold Matches, AJ Styles busted out the BABY POWDER OF HEELISH EVIL to use on Rhino, and of course it backfired and that led to Rhino getting a mini-gore on top of the structure. AJ stared to slide and Rhino stomped his feet as AJ hung and he took the bump, flat back and really about as safe a bump as you could take off of the thing. Rhino gets the big win, AJ gets his in the end for being a little prick and the drama was good stuff.
One small gripe before I do the wrap here, and that is that they should have had Jim Cornette cut a promo about the match. This is a man that ruined his knees falling from a scaffold and it could have added a little something to the build, but they missed the boat there.
So the end AJ falls, Rhino stands tall and everyone is happy. They did a great job of selling the injury as AJ laid there and looked dead, making the bump look worse than it really was. They had the security and EMT’s come out, put the neck brace on him and stretcher him out. Tenay and West did a nice job of announcing after this, as they didn’t go into the over hype mode. They were more subdued and just sold replays of the bump and the shock to the system it could have made. Just solid stuff here by both of them and I needed to mention that because I have slammed them for various things recently. In the end this was way better than anyone could have expected as it had tons of drama and kept the crowd interested, if not scared the entire time.
The Cross Face Chicken Wing Match – This was another case of taking two guys who can work a hell of a match and limiting them in terms of building a match. The fact that the stipulation takes away the drama of pin falls and other submissions could destroy a match. That being said they went out there, busted their asses and had a damn fine match. I re-watched the bout, and in all reality I think they did their absolute best with what was given to them and I revised my rating up to ***, as that is about what I feel they could have topped out at and did so. They work very well together, snug and everything worked. They teased the chicken wing well, especially for a move that neither use regularly. The transitions all worked, Senshi was brutal with the chops and lit up Starr’s chest. Starr once again is playing the “THE Austin Starr” character to perfection (a mix I feel of Superstar Graham and Savage) and it just worked. Backlund would eventually come down, and he and Starr talked junk to each other and this allowed Senshi to eventually get the tap out win. These guys were given a match that should have tanked due to the stipulation and lack of drama, but made it work to their advantage and did build some good drama. After the match Starr slammed Senshi and Backlund together and then applied the chicken wing to Backlund, who sold it SO damn well it was so tremendous. I actually think that Backlund and Starr could have an interesting little match.
Christian’s awesomeness, promos and Cage vs. Joe – There is no doubt about it that Christian Cage is on a roll as the chicken shit/asshole heel champion. Once again the power of the promo was on display for young Mr. Cage. During the pre-show he got a letter from Tomko, explaining that he would be in Japan on business and return “when he got his title shot.” Cage was upset and wanted to find Steiner. He eventually did and Steiner said there was no “us” and that Cage was on his own. Then he took Leticia and went to find Abyss. He tries to play the family card with Abyss again and even gave Abyss an autographed picture of himself with a ridiculously long signature. Abyss seemed to get angry, and then offered up the fist to Cage. Cage in his excitement hit the rock and proclaimed SHAKE AND BAKE BABY~! This man is great. But after Sting took care of Abyss, Cage was left along again and was in his locker room sulking. And then THE GREAT ‘FN’ MUTA came to visit Cage! Cage got back some cockiness and was nice at first and then said Muta USED to be champion and could get some credibility back by hanging out with him. Muta took off the hood and MISTED the locker and scared the hell out of Christian. This was great. Also Joe gave a tremendous promo earlier in the evening talking about being caged and held back for 2-years, but finally getting unleashed for his title shot tonight. Just great emotion here from Joe and the stage was set. Joe they got Polynesian Fire Dancers for his entrance! That was tremendous and they had everyone thinking that this was the night.
Now we go to the match. This was one hell of a match I will have to say. They worked hard, it clicked, Cage looked great, Joe looked great and it was all-great. The X-Division guys stopped Cage from leaving, Joe got the visual pin off the muscle buster, which the crowd went bananas for. He got a close 2 count after the ref came back. We did get the ref bump and all, but they worked through it and when the did the finish, in which Joe was killing young Christian and got the choke, the roll through by Cage and him getting the ropes was perfect as they were both in the best position and it just worked. THIS is how you beat Joe. They did have some bullshit, but this allows Cage to look like a sneaky and smart wrestler and doesn’t weaken Joe at all. There wasn’t all of the outside guys running in and such, and in the end both guys come out of the match looking great. The crowd was into everything they did, they cared about this match because they love and believe in Joe and they hate Christian for all the right reasons. As I said earlier they have everyone thinking that Joe was going to win, and he didn’t. It was a tremendous match, good finish and the crowd was into everything. The only question is this: Was this the right decision on the right night, or will it devalue the eventual Joe win, which I imagine will be now at Slammiversary at King f the Mountain and Joe’s two-year anniversary with TNA.
Purgatory:
The Ghetto Brawl – Destination X 2007 began with the Ghetto brawl between Team 3D and LAX. They had a bunch of trashcans and shit like that, and some of that warped metal all graffiti’d up and in front of the ring aprons. The rules were that the match would be won by pin or putting someone through a table. They had a really fun brawl. Into the stands, weapons shots, stiff kicks and all. The crowd loved it and was into it from the opening bell and even started the damn “This is awesome chant” for the opening match. But hey, if it gets them to cheer and keeps them off their hands then it is a good thing. We had 98 run ins and after an Alex Shelley frog splash through a table, LAX got the win. It was a fun match for the most part, a good opener. But while it was pretty fun, it was once again this crazy brawl deal with 73 people hitting the ring, which is the only way 3D will lose to LAX these days, because God forbid 3D put over the hottest act in the company, or what was the hottest act in the company. Also, while I respect Johnny Rodz his run in was painful to watch. Not only because he was old and slow and looked bad, but because the “Latino Nation” must for the most part be a bunch of beginning students. When you have one guy doing the big clean house deal like that, he needs to stay stationary and you feed him and bump like crazy. While they bumped well, they made Rodz come to him and that took away from that. Finally, Russo does love his race riots though doesn’t he? Remember the Nation of Domination, Los Boricuas, and Disciples of Apocalypse? Oh yeah. Latinos vs. Devon’s Black Brothers from Brooklyn! BOOK IT! It also annoys me that this wasn’t a title match, because the way it was being built like it was supposed to be. I hope that they end this soon, while as there is some good there is a lot of trash with it as well.
Lynn vs. Sabin – Jerry Lynn won the #1 contenders ladder match on Impact and would get to challenge for the X Title once again. This time it would be 2 of 3 falls, which I thought was a pretty good idea. You play off of the fact that Sabin is younger and may have the better endurance, while Lynn has the experience factor. Overall a good set up for the match. Overall I will say that the match was good, if a little below what we have been getting the last 5-6 months from the X-Title matches though. Part of that is that I really feel that the match needed more time to develop. They should have not had the bad VKM vs. Heartbreakers match and given that time to this match, because with that time I think it could have been something really special. Instead we had the first two falls in under 10-minutes and it was more resembling an Impact special than a PPV match. Also, the finish was the normal we have to throw out a distraction thing with Daniels in a FN Sting mask! Now seriously, this was so 10-years ago WCW it was dumb. Here is a clue, you have Lucha genius Mike Tenay there, pick a random Lucha mask and TEASE that it is a Lucha star and then have him unmask as Daniels. Also, you do this AFTER the match I think and not as the finish. Also, I was a little disappointed that Daniels new angle is a lateral move with the X-Division. I was really hoping that this new dark Daniels would move onto a Sting feud, but that isn’t the case. Overall it was fine, but could have been much better I feel.
The wRong:
Double Bullrope Match – Now we move to the double bullrope match. The first problem was the fact that they had to follow the wild opening brawl so the crowd was not really with them. This took away from a good effort from all involved here. They also didn’t make the best use of the stipulation I feel, They tried, but really I think it was the wrong match for them all together. And then there is the question of extending the feud here. They have done a good job of keeping Harris and Storm separated, and selling the Harris injury, but they maybe waiting too long ad if their first match is at Lockdown, that is a mistake here. Also with there being no Harris involvement, it seems as if they are just dragging their feet. Finally I have to ask, why tie Gail down? It is like when they had the chain match and had AJ tied down, you negate what they do the best. To me a lot of the stipulations make the talent fight an uphill battle to have a good match, and that is not good booking, that is shitty booking when you take good talent and make them look bad due to too many gimmicks. A good effort here but it just didn’t quite pull it off.
Steiner vs. Angle – The match starred really well I thought. They had intensity and were really knocking the hell out of each other. Things were clicking well, and I thought that the fans were into it, but not as much as I would have thought they would be. Things started to get odd, and I think that they wanted to rely on the brawl too much. With their backgrounds they really should have played up the amateur aspects of the match and then brawled I guess. They started to look tired then, probably because they brawled too much and expended all of their energy and this went from a pretty good match to hell quickly. It started to get slow, sloppy and just pathetic. After such a good start it just all fell down hill. Steiner dropped Angle on his head during an attempted Angle Slam/Back Suplex spot and it got worse as Angle looked out of it and Steiner would start to favor his left leg, the one with the nerve damage. As if it couldn’t get any worse, the finish of this match was bad. They were up top and Angle went for a sunset flip powerbomb. His part didn’t look that great, and then as he fell Steiner said “fuck this, I’m not taking that bump” and held onto the ropes for what seemed like an eternity. He finally let go and they just went home with a very anti-climatic ending. I thought that this could be pretty good or bad, and it started really good, but ended up really bad. What a shame, as the promo leading in were a lot of fun but things didn’t deliver in the end.
The Ridiculous:
VKM vs. The Heart Breakers – The Christy Hemme vs. VKM worst feud of the year extended to this PPV as it was announced that VKM would battle her mystery team. Most times mystery teams are a let down and well, this was. I was personally hoping for the Bashams but instead we got Antonio and Romeo, the Heartbreakers. They still look good and have great tans but they also still suck in the ring. VKM was sandbagging the entire match as they don’t want to be there and the crowd did not care about the Breakers, unless you count “you suck dick” chants as caring. Tenay also made about 57 gay jokes about the Breakers liking “Go-Behinds.” This was all kinds of bad, not worst of the year stuff but very bad indeed. And then Hemme stayed with the TNA tradition of tag team mangers and PUNISHED her team for losing. Tremendous.
THE RUSSO-FN-RIFFIC~~~!:
The Last Rites Match – Some of you may be wondering what “F.T.S.” means for the rating, well I will allow you. FUCK THIS SHIT! Let me preface this all by saying both Sting and Abyss busted their asses, they worked very hard to try and make a good match. It was GREAT for 2-minutes as they brawled and Sting ran wild. He went for another Stinger splash and got BUSTED THE FUCK OPEN when Abyss killed him with a candleholder, that was a corner decoration. You see Russo hates wrestling so much that he tries to hide the ring with 87 gimmicks. And then, then it went off the cliff. Abyss signaled for the “deathbed” and as it was lowered, we got spooky lights and smoke and the crowd rebelled. “FIRE RUSSO clap clap clapclapclap FIRE RUSSO clap clap clapclapclap FIRE RUSSO clap clap clapclapclap.” They hated this, and when it was lowered you took two guys who have really worked hard in their matches, including a great brawl in my opinion last month and limited them by having the bed in the ring for the final 7-minutes. They tried but it was just bad, the crowd did come alive for a chokeslam on the casket, but that was about it. Sting won, Abyss was risen to the heavens or some shit and Ring of Glory lives. I expected way too much here. I was also praying that Muta would come from the deathbed and MIST Sting and lead to a match between them. Silly me.
Closing Thoughts:
This was a show that was…there. Some of it sucked but some of it was great, while most of it was just there. There was good wrestling at times, everyone working hard but Gimmick-Paluza and the booking of Russo are more and more evident with every PPV. It was relegated to the shows, but has now come to the PPV and you can really see it and no matter how hard some guys work (Sting and Abyss) the matches have about no chance to succeed and the crowd is trying to let them know this. Overall I will go with a 5.5 out of 10 and no recommendation to order other than to see the Joe vs. Cage match, which was very good stuff. There was some good and entertaining things on the show, but some really bad things too. After a great 2006 PPV wise, TNA has slid a lot thus far in 2007 and it will take a hell of a show to top the Rumble.
2007 PPV Rankings:
1. WWE Royal Rumble (Combined Roster) 8.0
2. TNA Final Resolution 7.0
3. WWE New Year’s Revolution (RAW) 6.0
3. TNA Against All Odds 6.0
5. TNA Destination X 5.5
6. WWE No Way Out (SD) 4.0
2007 TOP 5 PPV Match Rankings:
1. (WWE Royal Rumble) Last Man Standing WWE Title MATCH: Cena vs. Umaga ****¼
2. (WWE Royal Rumble) The Royal Rumble Match ****
2. (TNA Destination X) NWA Title Match: Christian Cage vs. Samoa Joe ****
3. (TNA Final Resolution) 30-Minute Iron man Match: Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe ***¾
4. (WWE New Year’s Revolution) Steel Cage IC Title Match: Jeff Hardy © vs. Johnny Nitro ***½
4. (WWE No Way Out) HBK and John Cena vs. The Undertaker and Batista ***½
4. (TNA Against All Odds) PRISON YARD BRAWL: Sting vs. Abyss ***½
2007 PPV MVP AWARDS:
This is a little added deal here, as I feel that there are some other things that should be mentioned from the PPV’s.
Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker: A Rumble to Remember – WWE Royal Rumble
JBL: Solo Commentating – WWE No Way Out
AJ Styles and Rhino: Elevation X – TNA Destination X
DESTINATION X READER FEEDBACK:
From Manu –
First of all, Time Warner sucks. I didn’t see the pre-show (Muta arriving), didn’t see the first hour, finally got the show in the second hour (I even ordered the show early so I didn’t have problems like I did for WM 22), and it still screwed up. the first person I talked to said a) he can’t give me a discount (which I wasn’t asking for), and b) to see the first hour, I could order the replay. well, eventually he came back and said I’d get the replay automatically, and I was fine with that. not like I go to bed at 11. (fast forward to 11:30) still no replay, time Warner chick tells me its not gonna happen after rebooting my box 4 times, and she’ll just give me a credit, so, while I hate time Warner, she was nice to me. sucks that I missed the first hour, though.
onto the show:
f’n Orlando. “FIRE RUSSO” and “TNA! TNA! TNA!” chants in the SAME F’N MATCH??????? not to mention the fact that half the crowd paid attention to…what? a fight? instead of the Sabin/Lynn match. granted, that wasn’t as great as I had hoped, but still, wtf? And what was that random “TNA!” chant for? the only thing I could figure was either security kicked that guys ass, or Samoa Joe came out and bitch slapped whoever was creating the commotion. I can’t wait till the non-Orlando ppvs.
as for the matches themselves – Sabin/Lynn was kind of under whelming.
ya know – I like Steiner. really, I do. but he comes across as a….zombie, in the ring.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen sting bleed like that. sweet! although I had kinda hoped abyss would win a match (other than that title match, that is), but I guess if this will end the feud, I’m okay with that. move sting on to someone like AJ, or Joe, or Angle, or etc.
MUTA!!!!!!!! So, while I was on the phone with time Warner, my roommate and me checked out youtube for Muta clips. Saw a “history of Muta” vid, which was cool, and Muta vs. the Great Muta (Johnny the Bull, who should’ve never been fired from WWE). I need to get a Muta dvd with my bonus this year, as well as Joe vs. Kenta, and some other ROH dvds. Anyways, Muta rules all, no matter how old and out of his prime he is.
Guess TNA didn’t go through with that split from the NWA yet. maybe the time changing threw them off?
I thought the main event was great. while Joe deserves the title, I didn’t want to see him win it tonight. the timing isn’t right, IMO. If wrestling feds gave the title to someone when they deserved it, we wouldn’t have moments like stone cold beating HBK at WrestleMania. I want to see Joe feud with Christian for the next couple months, then win it at Slammiversary. Let the anticipation build a little bit more (beyond the constant anticipation of “Joe deserves the title”) to seeing Joe whip Christian’s ass, then let him win it at their anniversary show.
Overall, if I end up having to pay for this show, I’m still glad I ordered it.
From Nathan –
NWA World Title Match (***3/4) (Match of the Night)
Christian Cage vs. Samoa JoeLast Rites Match (3/4*) Fire Russo Chant (*****)
Sting vs. AbyssKurt Angle vs. Scott Steiner (**1/2)
Elevation X Match – ( 1/2*)
AJ Styles vs. RhynoWinner Must Use The Cross face Chicken wing (**)
Senshi vs. Austin StarrTNA X-Division Title Best 2 Out of 3 Falls Match (***)
Chris Sabin vs. Jerry LynnVoodoo Kin Mafia vs. The Heartbreakers (1/2 *) Trash of the Night
Double Bullrope Match (3/4*)
Petey Williams & Gail Kim vs. James Storm & Jackie MooreNWA Tag Team Titles Ghetto Brawl Match (*3/4)
LAX vs. Team 3-DFor the third straight month, Russo mania has been running wild and it hit hard with Destination X. 5 Gimmick matches in one show. It’s a shame that the Ghetto street fight that had great potential was ruined from the horrible endings. Are we going to have a “race war” now at Lockdown? Even a match that had a stupid gimmick like the Cross face Chicken wing match could have been better if they didn’t have the stupid stipulation involved. The 2/3 falls match was an excellent PPV caliber match until the garbage ending that ruined the great feeling of the great match. The elevation X match was absolutely unwatchable. Did they not even go back and look at previous scaffolding matches to see what they could have done to make it entertaining. My god has taken higher falls in Ultimate X matches and the announcers “thoughts and prayers are with AJ Styles” wtf was that. The Last Rites match with candles at ringside and a casket ascending from the ceiling. Sting is busted open profusely with a wax candle? I think the highlight of the last 3 months of TNA is when the crowd finally said, we have had enough and started to chant “FIRE RUSSO” during the horrible gimmick fest that was the last rites match. WTF was up with Samoa Joe’s new entrance and music. The match itself was good though except just like Angle/Christian we have multiple Ref Bumps and endless plunder at the end of the match and the HORRIBLE ending. Can we please have just one clean finish to a main event match? Is that so much to ask. Easy thumbs down on this one. Another horrible ppv. I give it a 5/10
From Rogelio –
I really tried to give this a chance but gotdamn this ppv is not very good. The crowd is dead to the world, the matches are really slow and the
wrestlers don’t seem too excited to be there. I am writing this while watching the last rites match. They turn off the lights to lower the casket?! They just couldn’t have a casket placed at ringside? With the crowd chanting “Fire Russo” I think they feel the same way.BTW, TNA really needs to move out of Universal studios cuz the crowd is so pro-TNA it is getting ridiculous. They were chanting this is awesome during the “ghetto brawl”? What match were they watching? The crowds need to be partial in my eyes so the people in charge can see what is working and what is not. Just my thought.
And finally from Travis –
Match of the night: NWA title match Christian Cage vs. Samoa Joe.
Runner up: Steiner vs. Angle. Up until the blotched finish this match was excellent.Trash of the night: VKM vs. Mystery opponents
Runner up: Ghetto brawl tag team title match LAX vs. 3-D
2nd runner up: Texas Bull rope match
3rd Runner up: Cross face chicken wing matchElevation X had me on the edge of my seat. X division title match was decent but I did not like the ending. It would have made more sense to have Jerry Lynn win and Chris Daniels attack him after the match or on the next impact instead of putting him back in the middle of the boring Lynn Sabin saga.
Non-wrestling Highlight would be all the segments of Christian desperately searching for help.
The main event saved the show. The first hour and a quarter I would give a 3 out of 10. The last hour and a quarter I’d give a 9 out of ten. Overall a 7. It was better than any ppv WWE has put on ECW ONS 2006.
Thanks for joining me for this special edition of the 3R’s, and don’t forget to check out the regular edition complete with all of the other shows from the week!
For more interesting information on wrestling, check out Bryan Alvarez and Figure Four Weekly Online, Mike Campbell over at SPLASH MOUNTAIN and Dr. Keith Lipinski over at F4W~!
