Wrestling’s 4R’s PPV Edition: TNA Sacrifice 2007

Introduction!

Welcome back to another PPV edition of WRestling’s 4R’s! It is time once again to break down the PPV of the past weekend in the 4R’s style. I am still getting used to calling it the 4R’s, it’s craziness! But that is what we are, and we have all four on display today to be sure. We’re going to look at the TNA Sacrifice PPV, which had one spectacular match, one shitty match, a lot of good matches but Multi-man burn out set in. But how was the show overall? Let’s do the quick explanation and get to work!

PS: I will have another newer banner for these.

Sacrifice Podcast~!

That’s right, I have some new technology and PODCASTING is back. It’s me and the wife discussing TNA Sacrifice, SCRIMPS, The Tudors and More!

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How the 4R’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.

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TNA SACRIFICE 2007~!:size=36>

The Matches:

TNA X-TITLE MATCH: Chris Sabin defeated Sonjay Dutt and Black Machismo @ 13:09 via pin ***½

Robert Roode defeated Jeff Jarrett @ 13:12 via pin ***

Christopher Daniels defeated Rhino @ 10:06 via pin **¼

Basham and Damaja defeated Kip James @ 4:30 via pin (ASS) Trash of the Night!

TEXAS DEATH MATCH: Chris Harris defeated James Storm @ 17:18 via Not Answering the Count **** Match of the Night!

Jerry Lynn defeated Alex Shelley, Senshi and Tiger Mask IV @ 11:01 via pin **¾

NWA TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Team 3D defeated Steiner and Tomko and LAX @ 12:46 via pin **½

Samoa Joe defeated AJ Styles @ 12:46 via pin ***½

NWA TITLE MATCH: Winner and NEW NWA Champion Kurt Angle defeated Sting and Christian Cage @ 10:59 via Submission **½

The Right:

The X-Title Match – The show kicked off with the X-Division title on the line as Sabin defended against Dutt and Machismo. This was a good way to kick off the show as the X-Division almost always delivers in the opener like they did here today. They played up the dissention between Dutt and Machismo early on, and they started to play anything you can do I can do better, which is always fun. They worked hard, kept a good pace and just as it looked as if it would end, they would keep it going, like when Dutt broke up a pin with the 450, sweet stuff. In the end, Sabin was a dick, shoved Dutt into Machismo and got the schoolboy for the surprise win, as most thought he would drop the title. After the match Machismo and Dutt argued since neither won, and Dutt was screwed out of the title again. It is a simple and effective story, see, you do not need to overbook and shoot people to make things work. Grampa Nash came out to calm the whipper-snappers down, and like an angry 3-year old Dutt leg kicked Nash and ran away. Nash then promised punishment on Impact this week, so we had a good match, good opener, and we have a reason to look forward to the TV this week. Fine stuff here and Sonjay Dutt and the angry man who wants the title that has alluded him for 4-years or so is good stuff.

The NWA Tag Title Match – The NWA Tag Title match was the 2nd three way of the evening, and while I was not that excited about another 3-way, I will say that this was a fine match. The beginning was some of that All Japan no sell fest that worked here. Steiner got dropped on his head with a SICK German from Ray, and then Steiner answered back with a sick TBONE to Ray. This was fine entertainment. Homicide bumped around like a freak, Hernandez did his power and flying, Tomko worked very hard and this was good shit. The one thing I will say I hate is that Ray continued to no sell Cide a lot and make him look like shit, and that bothers me to a great deal. The crowd is growing sick of them as well as they chanted “SAME OLD SHIT” when they went for the tables. In the end Steiner and Tomko argued and that cost them the match as Tomko ate a 3D. This was fine because they aren’t going to be a team, and LAX didn’t have to be beat. So after the match, Tomko and Steiner continued to argue and they brawled. Tomko was beating him down and then the crowd popped as RICK STEINER made his TNA return and took out Tomko. He ran laps, the Steiner’s did the classic pose and stared down with 3D. This will lead to the match that many people want to see, just because it has not been done. UWF has done it and TNA will now try to get some buys off of it. Good plan, it won’t be a pretty match probably, but sound business to deliver a match that hasn’t happened on TV or PPV.

Roode vs. Jarrett – Robert Roode and Jeff Jarrett had their match on the show. It was actually supposed to go on in the semi-main spot, but JJ had to head back to be with his wife, who is in poor health. In the pre-match interview, Roode said, “Jeff Jarrett, tonight you make Robert Roode.” And that was the truest thing he has ever said. This was a damn fine match here, as Roode is playing the heel role superbly and Jarrett was the awesome face. He bumped around for Roode like a freak and made him look very good. Roode for his part stepped it up and I think really showed people what I have been saying about him for a long time. In the end, Roode got the win after tossing JJ to the exposed turnbuckle and getting the perfect plex for the shocking upset. This is what should have happened and it came off well. After the match Brooks and Roode were going to EL KABONG JJ, but Eric young made the save and they got dueling figure fours on them and the place was bananas, like they were for the entire match. They hate Roode and love Eric and JJ. I don’t know if I am that excited about where this will go, as it looks to be Roode and Brooks vs. Young and JJ at Slammiversary, but if booked well it could work. The good thing is that JJ is out of the main event picture and doing well as the crowd was into everything. Overall no complaints.

AJ vs. Joe – While I have and will complain about cold matches, this is an exception to the rule, because it is Joe and AJ and well, it will and did rock pretty well and the people love them both. I will state that this was below a lot of their other matches, and part of that I feel was them holding back due to not wanting to outshine the main event. They went out there and had a damn fine match, AJ was awesome in the heel role and tried to play up the fake injury, which Joe did not buy. They worked hard, they kept the crowd and then Joe was sent to the floor and “hurt” his knee. He managed back into the ring, and kicked away AJ and then went for a charge and fell on his face. AJ went for the Spiral Tap, and misses as Joe rolled to his feet and was FAKING! He beat AJ at his own game, AJ was fucked, Joe got the clutch and then got a SICK suplex out of it for the win. That was the 2nd nasty head bump as he dropped AJ on his head with a DVD, as again they went out there and went balls to the wall as far as realism. Maybe below expectations, but still a damn fine match.

Texas Death~! – James Storm and Chris Harris last month had one of the worst matches of the year last month. This time it was a story of redemption as they turned it around and had one of the best matches of the year on this show. They had the classic Texas Death match. Come dressed as you are, pin or submission and then you have to answer the 10-count. So they began brawling into the crowd to kick things off, which worked out very well. Storm was on the floor and Harris went to the top rope and dove over the railing and got a huge cross body, and the first pin at about 5-minutes in. This was fine as far as the first pin, and the crowd was rocking. Later on, Storm killed Harris with a chair shot in the tree of woe, and we had the first blood loss of the match. Storm would get a whirly bird through a table and got a pin. Harris would battle back, and get a catapult to Storm, who was laid under the table, and this produced a SICK amount of blood from Storm. There was so much blood that they HAD to change the apron afterwards. They kept battling, Harris got the catatonic through a trashcan for a close fall. Later Storm got a sweet superkick into a chair on Harris for a close fall. Finally they went for beer bottles, and went to hit each other and Harris FINALLY got the redemption and killed Storm with it, held his hand as we saw the glad crumble and he covered for the pin. Storm couldn’t answer the count and Harris got the big win. Storm was a total crimson mask, a very impressive sight, and this was nothing short of awesome. The only complaint is that the have this awesome match, and as soon as Harris gets the win and they cut backstage for some bullshit interview that meant jack and shit. Plus they had audio issues, but you could hear the crowd chanting “THANK YOU” to these guys. In what could have been a MAGICAL moment, was shit on. You guys are fucking clueless. Congratulations, you took a moment given to you and pissed on it. TNA production, you fail at life.

Purgatory:

Daniels vs. Rhino – Christopher Daniels and Rhino had a match here on the PPV. This is all part of Daniels push with the deal with Sting. He has the new look, the new attitude and Rhino is well, doing nothing. I hate to say that, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. Rhino is working hard and all, but there is just something that isn’t allowing him to get further up the card. But they have this match, Rhino played the power game for a while and was taking Daniels to school. Until Rhino missed a plancha, and hurt his shoulder and Daniels went onto the psychological attack and started to dismantle him. He worked the arm over, they all worked hard and it was fine. Daniels used the bat, and low and behold, it led to the pin! It meant something and it worked and was simple. Unfortunately the crowd wasn’t into it, mostly because the match was cold, little build, no real reason to care. Also, I think they had some time cut because this match looked as if it was peaking, and then they skipped to the end. That’s unfortunate, because I feel that it could have been so much better. It wasn’t bad mind you, but didn’t deliver as one would expect considering it was Daniels and Rhino who has been very motivated in TNA. They had an after match angle where Rhino beat down Daniels and bloodied him. He went to Rhino Drive him through a chair, but security stopped that. Daniels knelt in his own blood and seemed happy with it. Fine after match, but I still feel it felt a bit flat.

The X-Four Way – And now we go onto another multi-man match. The big problem is that this came off as nothing special. Especially when you consider that they had to follow the Death Match. Add onto that the fact that the first 2 matches were really good. The match started off very slow, and built pretty well. But they never fully got into full gear, and when it ended, you felt like foreplay ended and you were about to get the nookie, and was cut off. Blue balled. I said was cold, slow, no heat and didn’t need to be on the card, as I think they could have stood to drop a match. But if they had to do it, make it a tag match, it would have been better I feel. Again, not bad, but not nearly what it could have been. To many matches, and honestly if not a tag, it could have been a 3-way as the addition of Tiger mask meant jack shit.

The wRong:

The NWA Title Match – We finally got to the main event, the NWA Title match, and by the tie this match came around I had no desire to see this match. I like Christian, I like Sting, I like Angle, and I wanted to see the match. But at this point, I had no desire to watch and neither did she. Gimmick burn out again on TNA’s part, and yes, triple threat and four way matches area gimmick. I should NEVER, not want to watch the main event of a show. And when I don’t want to, what does the common fan feel like? This was bad on the behalf of the booking team. You may see this very line again later on, but that’s the point, I have to repeat it because it needs it. So they have the match. I was working to care, and the beginning was fun as Angle and Sting tossed Cage out of the ring to play up that they wanted to kill each other, fun stuff. They worked hard, there was fun stuff, and Angle hit about 56 Germans on Christian at one point. String went for a Superplex on Cage and then Angle ran up top and German suplexed them off in a sweet spot, tower of doom style. Sting eventually ran wild, Stinger splashes for all and then we had a ref bump/pull out and this became every TNA Main event ever. There were low blows, phantom pins and submissions…And then the finish came. Only 11-minutes in and they had more time left. The finish was the shitty double end, Dusty Clusterfuck, Vince Russo thinking he is telling a story lame bullshit. Sting counters the Unprettier, rolls up Christian as the ref is recovering. Angle in and gets the Ankle lock on Cage, and as the first ref counts the pin, a second rushed down and sees Sting tap and they call for the bell. Angle is announced your NEW NWA Champion and then, quicker than shit they cut to black. Most likely because they know they fucked up. I hated this. I know what they are doing. Cornette will come out this week, strip Angle of the title, they will toss away the NWA Shit since that is over and then have a tournament or something to get the 5-guys for the KOTM match. I am guessing Angle, Cage, Sting, Joe and maybe Daniels or AJ. That’s all well and god, but there HAD to be a better way get to this. I hated this ending. It is bad for business I feel and people do not like fuck finishes, ESPECIALLY when they pay for it. Why can now one just win a match in the main event?

Too many multi-man matches – Yes sir indeed, there were way too many multi-man matches on this show. I like triple threats and four ways, when they are done right. I don’t mind them in wrestling either. HUZZAH. But when the title matches all slowly became triple threats, I was worried. Then, they added a four way X-Division match, a match that was cold, no hype and no reason to care. So I go into the show and the opening 3-way is good stuff. I liked it, as mentioned above, and thought it was a great way to kick off the show. Then later on we had the X four way, and this as I said was cold, slow, no heat and didn’t need to be on the card, as I think they could have stood to drop a match. But if they had to do it, make it a tag match, it would have been better I feel. The next match was the tag title match. That was good stuff overall, and unknowingly I had hit the wall. When the main event came on the screen, I looked at the wife and said, “I have no desire to watch another multi-man match.” I like Christian, I like Sting, I like Angle, and I wanted to see the match. But at this point, I had no desire to watch and neither did she. Gimmick burn out again on TNA’s part, and yes, triple threat and four way matches area gimmick. I should NEVER, not want to watch the main event of a show. And when I don’t want to, what does the common fan feel like? This was bad on the behalf of the booking team. I hope to God that outside of the KOTM match at the next show that they are normal matches. Please God I beg of thee.

The Ridiculous:

VKM vs. Basham and Damaja – This would be our trash of the night folks. Let me preface this by saying that the set up earlier in the show was actually good stuff. Basham and Damaja jumped VKM during a mini-fanfest deal before the show, beat down Kip and then put BG James through the table with the Brain Damage. This was good. So then Kip gives an interview, all pissed an emotional and actually pretty good about them sending his brother to the hospital and that he would go out there alone and fight. So he did, and for the first little bit he ran wild on emotion because of what they did to Kip and it was fine. But then, there was silence as the crowd didn’t care. This broke down into a very lame match, and in the end it went about 5-minuted and Kip got in way too much, Basham and Damaja looked like tools and no one is ever going to care about this whole thing. They should have killed Kip. I mean, you do the run wild thing and that is good stuff, but then he should have been cut off and utterly destroyed by these two men. They did it wrong, and in the end this was horrible. They need to end this program SOON, VERY SOON because if not you’ll have two dead tag teams. And the shame of that is Basham and Damaja have a lot to offer, unfortunately they cannot really show that working with Kip and BG.

A Fucking Kangaroo – Seriously. I guess someone in TNA was sitting backstage and was thinking to themselves, “WHAT CAN WE DO TO BE MORE LIKE WCW, AND I MEAN THAT IN A SHITTY WAY.” And some asshole brought up Wildcat Willie from the old WCW Studio shows and they all popped, a standing ovation in the back and they said let’s have a fucking mascot. So then they had to decide, what kind of animal. And Russo stood up and said, “I gots it…a fucking Kangaroo!” And they all looked at him and laughed, and he said, “Nah, follow me here yous guys, you see, a kangaroo has a pouch, we could hit weapons in there, he could have a sandwich in there, maybe we could get that jerking off midget back and hide him in there. WWE uses midgets and they’re over!” My god what is the world coming too when your top priority is a kangaroo? Maybe it is like Sharkboy or something ad that was the only way he could get a payday or some shit, but it is DUMB stuff like this that continues to hold TNA back, and yes I am serious. Jesus, a kanga-FN-roo.

KAN-GA-FN-ROO~!

Closing Thoughts:
As expected going in this was a good wrestling show. There was only one bad match, and it was bad due to the poor booking and execution. The X-Guys delivered as usual, maybe not as much as most wanted, but they held up their end. Roode stepped it up and Jarrett was a machine in getting his offense over. Daniels and Rhino was a fine under card match, tag title match was good and the surprise of Rick Steiner was fun. AJ and Joe delivered, not a classic and a bit low as far as the potential they have shown in the past, but they had limited time and would have destroyed the main event if they would have gone out there and fully done their thing. The main event was every TNA main event, and the overbooking sucked big time. The story of the night was the redemption of Harris and Storm after last month’s abortion. Strom has all of the personality tools, and I have thought Harris could be a player since right before the FSN days when he had a big singles run with Storm injured. A great match.

In the end, and with a re-watch I will go with a 7.25 out of 10 and I guess I’ll get my TNA card revoked. A lot of people thought that this was a blow away show, and while there was a lot of good there was a lot of stupid booking and I cannot help but feel as if this show underachieved. It wasn’t bad in anyway, quite the contrary the show was good. But it was like being blue balled, teased, you saw the greatness a lot of the times, and then never fully got it. Solid stuff overall, and hopefully they can keep it up and deliver huge at Slammiversary. You all need to see the Texas Death match, so get a replay or “obtain” the match somehow.

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2007 PPV Rankings:
–WWE Backlash 8.5
–WWE WM XXIII 8.0
–WWE Royal Rumble 8.0
–TNA Sacrifice 7.25
–TNA Final Resolution 7.0
–TNA Lockdown 7.0
–WWE New Year’s Revolution (RAW) 6.0
–TNA Against All Odds 6.0
–TNA Destination X 5.5
–WWE No Way Out (SD) 4.0

2007 TOP PPV Match Rankings:
– (WWE Royal Rumble) Last Man Standing WWE Title MATCH: Cena vs. Umaga ****¼
– (WWE Backlash) Last Man Standing World Title MATCH: Batista vs. The Undertaker ****¼
– (WWE Backlash) WWE Title MATCH: John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Randy Orton vs. Edge ****¼
– (WWE Royal Rumble) The Royal Rumble Match ****
– (WWE WM XXIII) WWE TITLE MATCH: John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels ****
– (TNA Sacrifice) Texas Death Match: Chris Harris vs. James Storm ****
– (TNA Destination X) NWA Title Match: Christian Cage vs. Samoa Joe ****
– (TNA Lockdown) Lethal Lockdown (Team Cage vs. Team Angle) ****
– (WWE WM XXIII) Money in the Bank III ***¾
– (TNA Final Resolution) 30-Minute Iron man Match: Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe ***¾

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. Not every PPV will have one, it just depends on who I think steps up and deserves some extra recognition.
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
Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker: “They still got it!” – WWE WrestleMania XXIII
AJ Styles: Almost Dies for his Craft – TNA Lockdown
The Main Events: “We can step up.” – WWE Backlash
Harris and Storm: Redemption – TNA Sacrifice

TNA SACRIFICE FEEDBACK:
From Nathan –

TNA X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Chris Sabin © vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. “Black Machismo” Jay Lethal (***)

Jeff Jarrett vs. Robert Roode w/Miss Brooks (**)

Christopher Daniels vs. Rhino (** 1/2)

Voodoo Kin Mafia vs. Basham & Damaja w/Hemme (FTS, 0/5) TRASH of the night

TEXAS DEATH MATCH: Chris Harris w/Gail Kim vs. James Storm w/Miss Jackie
(****1/4) Match of the Night

Jerry Lynn vs. Alex Shelley vs. Tiger Mask IV vs. Senshi (***)

TNA TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Team 3D © (Ray and Devon) vs. Scott Steiner &
Tomko vs. LAX (Homicide y Hernandez) w/Konnan (**)

Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles (**)

TNA WORLD TITLE MATCH: Christian Cage © vs. Kurt Angle vs. Sting (**)

I’ve had enough of this Bullshit. I’m sorry. TNA had a chance to finally put on some good wrestling with this card but they blew it. They had to put nine matches on this card, which of course took away from time to actually get a good match in. They were all rushed. WHY THE FUCK WAS VKM AND THE BASHEMS ON THE CARD. The X Davison matches were fun like they usually. Most of the matches were ruined by the bullshit endings. Harris and Storm had the match of the night in a great Texas Deathmatch / Brawl and more than made up for their Russo riffic match from Lockdown. And then we get to the most disappointing match of the night. AJ and Joe, These guys should be the top guys in the company IMO. Why the hell was this match even happening. I kept asking myself, why are these guys feuding, what is their story, what was the build. I felt so bad for them watching this match as TNA has ruined them. And then we get to the craptastic main event. It was ok from the start but WHAT THE FUCK WAS UP WITH THE BULLSHIT ENDING. I mean seriously I have never been so mad with a finish to a PPV since the Montreal Screw Job. This was TNA’s best PPV in months but that’s not saying ANYTHING at all. I give this POS a 5/10 and two thumbs down.

From Kyle –

I thought this Pay Per View was worth about $25 of the $30 spent. It was a solid show from top to bottom. The match of the night was ‘Wildcat’ Chris Harris vs. ‘Cowboy’ James Storm in the Texas Death match. The blood pouring out of both men were unbearable. Storm pulled an HBK by the way he was bleeding. I liked that both wrestlers weren’t wearing their ring attire and instead jeans. That’s something, that’s been missing in street fights for the past few years. The trash of the night was the handicap VKM vs. Basham and Damaja match. It was just HORRID. No more details.

Thanks for joining me for this special edition of the $R’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 and Mike Campbell over at SPLASH MOUNTAIN!