BRM Reviews TNA Victory Road 2006 (bad)

[Big Red Machine]

TNA Victory Road 2006 (7/16/2006)- Orlando, FL

SHANE DOUGLAS PROMO- this started out great, with Shane talking about the age old question “is life about the journey or the destination?” then talking about the tough journey The Naturals have been on under his tutelage… then he screws it up by saying that “tonight, their destination starts to come true.” Then he starts talking about their “journey” to the tag titles starting tonight. Umm… wouldn’t that journey have started with you training them, Shane? And to put the cherry on top of this sequence of screw-ups, Shane temporarily forgets Andy Douglas’ name.

THE NATURALS vs. THE DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH (w/Simon Diamond)- 4/10
Shane swore to his father, God, and Chris Candido that The Naturals would seem like a completely new team tonight. Well… they didn’t. They looked like the same old Naturals. After the match, Shane comes out and is angry at the Naturals, despite their victory.

CHRISTIAN PROMO- bad

RHINO vs. “THE ALPHA MALE” MONTY BROWN- no rating. Good segment.
They brawl a lot, and when they brawl all of the way to the back of the crowd we get a no contest. The first ref-bump was kind of pointless.

KONNAN PROMO- great!

SONJAY DUTT & RON “THE TRUTH” KILLINGS vs. LAX (w/Konnan)- 6.5/10
Towards the end of the match, Homicide threw a chair into the ring. This chair was not used at all and did not affect the match in any way. The referee didn’t even bother to move it.

SCOTT STEINER PROMO- standard Scott Steiner hilarity. He did do a very good job with the part of the promo putting over the possibility of him facing Jarrett for the title if he wins tonight’s main event.

TEAM CANADA SEGMENT- they lost a match on Impact and were forced to disband, so D’Amore takes them all out to the ring and publicly puts over Roode, Petey, and A-1, and then blames EY for Team Canada being forced to disband. He demands that EY turn in his Team Canada jacket and shorts (leaving EY standing in his boxers). A great segment which did a good job of setting Team Canada off on their angles as singles wrestlers, and the fans were totally into it. I’m not sure I would have done this on PPV, though.

SENSHI PROMO- great

TNA X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Senshi(c) vs. Kazarian- 6.75/10

LARRY ZBYSZKO PROMO & SEGMETN WITH SLICK JOHNSON- amusing.

HAIR VS. HAIR MATCH: Raven vs. Larry Zbyszko- 3.5/10

KEVIN NASH, ALEX SHELLEY, & JOHNNY DEVINE PROMO- not very good. Nash just didn’t seem to give a f*ck.

JAY LETHAL & CHRIS SABIN vs. KEVIN NASH & ALEX SHELLEY (w/Johnny Devine)- 6.75/10
A very good match in which everyone played their roles perfectly. They did a spot where Lethal went for a quebrada into a crossbody on Nash but fell about a foot short, so Nash stuck his arms out to try to catch Lethal and they somehow turned it into something that resembled a wacky lucha arm drag. Good work by both guys on that.
POST-MATCH ANGLE- bad. Lethal distracts Nash to allow Sabin to jump him from behind. Nash goes after Sabin now, so Lethal jumps Nash from behind. This continued for a bit (so we have the babyfaces instigating a post-match beatdown by using their two-on-one advantage and attacking the heel from behind). Shelley and Devine make the save for Nash and the heels get the advantage. The heels then commence their own beatdown and Nash goes to powerbomb Sabin, but a chair-swinging Jerry Lynn chases the heels off. The Jerry Lynn stuff was very good. I just wish it wasn’t set up by the babyfaces acting like heels.

TEAM 3-D PROMO- Half great, half bad.
Brother Ray starts this promo off by saying the word “violence” about thirty-six times while Devon and Runt struggle not to laugh. Despite the fact that 3-D are babyfaces (which Brother Ray would later remind us by saying that the James Gang’s decision to team with Abyss was “a deal with the devil”), Brother Ray says that B.G. James’ father, pro wrestling legend “Bullet” Bob Armstrong “has one foot in the gutter, and the other in the grave,” is “a decrepit old man,” and that “no one cares about him.” Yes. The babyface is needlessly sh*tting on a legend.
Once Brother Ray was done talking, Devon cut a great promo. It would have been nice if they had let Runt talk, though, considering that he is the new person on this team who is making this match different from the last big match these two teams had.


NO DISQUALIFICATIONS MATCH: Team 3-D vs. The James Gang & Abyss (w/James Mitchell)- 6/10
Penzer accidentally announced Abyss’ weight as 248 lbs. Yeah. Right.
A good match, but disappointingly short.

AMW & GAIL KIM PROMO-okay. They get across their continuing “communication problems” by having Storm tell Gail to shup up when she starts to a respond to a question and by having Harris tell Storm to leave the bottle of beer he is drinking in the back. Storm, being awesome, responds by saying “why? There’s beer in it!” Even when he is a dirty heel, you’ve gotta love James Storm.

NWA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels(c) & Sirelda vs. America’s Most Wanted & Gail Kim- 6.5/10
Rather than the standard spot where AMW inadvertently wind up in a sixty-nine position, they decided to involve Gail this time around and so we got the same sort of situation leading to AMW inadvertently… um… let’s say “tag teaming” Gail, and Gail’s reaction once she realized what position they were in was just priceless! Props to Gail for that.
I think that the spanking spot would have worked better after the low blow instead of before it because sexual harassment is not cool.

SAMOA JOE PROMO- good.

WINNER BECOMES #1 CONTENDER TO THE NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Sting vs. Samoa Joe vs. Scott Steiner vs. Christian Cage-5.75/10
Very disappointing.


A bad show from TNA. None of the big matches felt like they lived up to their potential, and most of the matches just felt like filler because they were waiting to get to something bigger next month.

STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Don West- “Backwards Moonsault off the top rope.”
All moonsaults are backwards, Don.

2. Don West describes the main event as being “all for one and one for all.” Sorry Don. That would mean that everyone is on the same team.

[badnewzxl]

I don't see Lethal and Saben jumping Nasgh as a 'heel' move bc they were x-division underdogs going up against an industry GIANT; I never consider it heelish for folks to team up to take out giants....

[Big Red Machine]

I don't see Lethal and Saben jumping Nasgh as a 'heel' move bc they were x-division underdogs going up against an industry GIANT; I never consider it heelish for folks to team up to take out giants....

It was just the way it happened. It was after the match, and they were taunting him for being slow and just came across as being jerks. There was no babyface fire at all.

[XIV]

I don't see Lethal and Saben jumping Nasgh as a 'heel' move bc they were x-division underdogs going up against an industry GIANT; I never consider it heelish for folks to team up to take out giants....

It was just the way it happened. It was after the match, and they were taunting him for being slow and just came across as being jerks. There was no babyface fire at all.

This. Jumping him and taunting him saying "do we feel small now? Are we little now?" would have been acceptable. Teasing Nash for his conditioning is pretty heel.

[cero2k]

This. Jumping him and taunting him saying "do we feel small now? Are we little now?" would have been acceptable. Teasing Nash for his conditioning is pretty heel.

but CM Punk kept doing it over and over and we cheered him

[Big Red Machine]

This. Jumping him and taunting him saying "do we feel small now? Are we little now?" would have been acceptable. Teasing Nash for his conditioning is pretty heel.

but CM Punk kept doing it over and over and we cheered him

Because Punk was the anti-hero. These guys are supposed to be white meat babyfaces sticking up for the X-Division.

[cero2k]

but CM Punk kept doing it over and over and we cheered him

Because Punk was the anti-hero. These guys are supposed to be white meat babyfaces sticking up for the X-Division.

i don't see a difference, it's like saying that the TMNT were acting heel for ganging up on Shredder, or The Power Rangers ganging up on one of Rita's monsters, or the Avengers ganging up on Ultron. annnd all of them either said jokes or stroke poses after defeating their enemies. insult to injury, but that's what heroes do.

[Big Red Machine]

but CM Punk kept doing it over and over and we cheered him

Because Punk was the anti-hero. These guys are supposed to be white meat babyfaces sticking up for the X-Division.

i don't see a difference, it's like saying that the TMNT were acting heel for ganging up on Shredder, or The Power Rangers ganging up on one of Rita's monsters, or the Avengers ganging up on Ultron. annnd all of them either said jokes or stroke poses after defeating their enemies. insult to injury, but that's what heroes do.

It's the way that they did it. It's hard to convey if you haven't seen the show.

[badnewzxl]

but CM Punk kept doing it over and over and we cheered him

Because Punk was the anti-hero. These guys are supposed to be white meat babyfaces sticking up for the X-Division.

i don't see a difference, it's like saying that the TMNT were acting heel for ganging up on Shredder, or The Power Rangers ganging up on one of Rita's monsters, or the Avengers ganging up on Ultron. annnd all of them either said jokes or stroke poses after defeating their enemies. insult to injury, but that's what heroes do.

I'm with cero on this; I don't see the difference. Heels and faces exist in different degrees; many more than just 3 or 4 each.

And if I'm remembering correctly, during this feud they played up how childish/child-like Saben, Lethal, and Sonjay were as a part of Nash looking down on them. I remembered scenes backstage of them playing video games in stuff. This all seems to fit PERFECTLY with what they did.

I hate it when people follow a paradigm of how to be a "good guy;" it makes it hard to relate to them (e.g. CENA) maybe that's why I never looked at it the way BRM and XIV are in this situation....

[Big Red Machine]

Because Punk was the anti-hero. These guys are supposed to be white meat babyfaces sticking up for the X-Division.

i don't see a difference, it's like saying that the TMNT were acting heel for ganging up on Shredder, or The Power Rangers ganging up on one of Rita's monsters, or the Avengers ganging up on Ultron. annnd all of them either said jokes or stroke poses after defeating their enemies. insult to injury, but that's what heroes do.

I'm with cero on this; I don't see the difference. Heels and faces exist in different degrees; many more than just 3 or 4 each.

And if I'm remembering correctly, during this feud they played up how childish/child-like Saben, Lethal, and Sonjay were as a part of Nash looking down on them. I remembered scenes backstage of them playing video games in stuff. This all seems to fit PERFECTLY with what they did.

You're confusing this feud with the MEM (that was the one where Nash called them all losers for playing video games) and their later feud with Jerry Lynn where Jerry yelled at them doing Jackass-like stunts backstage. THis was just about Nash bieng an asshole and saying "I am bigger, therefore I am better."

I hate it when people follow a paradigm of how to be a "good guy;" it makes it hard to relate to them (e.g. CENA) maybe that's why I never looked at it the way BRM and XIV are in this situation....

I'm not saying that there isn't room for variation. I just think it needs to be fleshed out and fit into the character to work (Punk in 2011 is a great example of that).
And I never had trouble relating to Cena. I always liked having someone who stands for what's right.

[XIV]

I'm with Big Red, Nash wasn't saying anything about their conditioning or things like that, so why bring it up as the response?

Nash was playing as BRM said the "I am bigger and therefore better" role. The response should have been about how small can beat big and in the beatdown section of it, should have only used their height, size & small person maneouvers to trash talk and beat down Nash. His conditioning had no previous bearing or factor in this feud. That's why it was out of place, that's why it didn't feel right and that's why it comes across as heelish.

[badnewzxl]

I'm with Big Red, Nash wasn't saying anything about their conditioning or things like that, so why bring it up as the response?

Nash was playing as BRM said the "I am bigger and therefore better" role. The response should have been about how small can beat big and in the beatdown section of it, should have only used their height, size & small person maneouvers to trash talk and beat down Nash. His conditioning had no previous bearing or factor in this feud. That's why it was out of place, that's why it didn't feel right and that's why it comes across as heelish.

I don't see the difference; they used their quickness to counter Nash's size. They WERE proving that small can beat big. They were double teaming and taunting him, but faces have done that to giant heels forever. I don't consider it "heelish" bc it was more about Nash having the tables turned on him and learning his lesson....

[Big Red Machine]

I'm with Big Red, Nash wasn't saying anything about their conditioning or things like that, so why bring it up as the response?

Nash was playing as BRM said the "I am bigger and therefore better" role. The response should have been about how small can beat big and in the beatdown section of it, should have only used their height, size & small person maneouvers to trash talk and beat down Nash. His conditioning had no previous bearing or factor in this feud. That's why it was out of place, that's why it didn't feel right and that's why it comes across as heelish.

I don't see the difference; they used their quickness to counter Nash's size. They WERE proving that small can beat big. They were double teaming and taunting him, but faces have done that to giant heels forever. I don't consider it "heelish" bc it was more about Nash having the tables turned on him and learning his lesson....

But it wasn't within the confines of a match. It was a after a match which they had already won.

[badnewzxl]

I'm with Big Red, Nash wasn't saying anything about their conditioning or things like that, so why bring it up as the response?

Nash was playing as BRM said the "I am bigger and therefore better" role. The response should have been about how small can beat big and in the beatdown section of it, should have only used their height, size & small person maneouvers to trash talk and beat down Nash. His conditioning had no previous bearing or factor in this feud. That's why it was out of place, that's why it didn't feel right and that's why it comes across as heelish.

I don't see the difference; they used their quickness to counter Nash's size. They WERE proving that small can beat big. They were double teaming and taunting him, but faces have done that to giant heels forever. I don't consider it "heelish" bc it was more about Nash having the tables turned on him and learning his lesson....

But it wasn't within the confines of a match. It was a after a match which they had already won.

i didn't say anything about it being within the confines of the match. After the way Nash treated them, he deserved what he got; that's what I'm saying. I didn't think Lethal and Saben were crossing the line, I thought Nash was getting what he deserved.

They ran that same angle (pretty much) with the Dudley's and Johnny Devine v. the X-Division; during which there was an instance where the rest of the X Division jumped 3D & co. and I didn't think that was heelish either. It's hard to call something "heelish" when the fans wanna see it happen bc they/we will just like that wrestler more for it, regardless of whether one is a face or a heel....

[Big Red Machine]

I don't see the difference; they used their quickness to counter Nash's size. They WERE proving that small can beat big. They were double teaming and taunting him, but faces have done that to giant heels forever. I don't consider it "heelish" bc it was more about Nash having the tables turned on him and learning his lesson....

But it wasn't within the confines of a match. It was a after a match which they had already won.

i didn't say anything about it being within the confines of the match. After the way Nash treated them, he deserved what he got; that's what I'm saying. I didn't think Lethal and Saben were crossing the line, I thought Nash was getting what he deserved.

See... that's not what I thought Nash deserved. Nash deserved to be proven wrong by being beaten one-on-one in the middle of the ring, fair and square, by an X-Division guy. The fact that it took two of them to beat him up just proves Nash right: He can beat any one of them.