TNA Victory Road 2012
TNA Victory Road 2012 (3/18/2012)- Orlando, FL
#1 CONTENDERSHIP MATCH: Bully Ray vs. James Storm- DUD!
I had no problem with this going on first because of the way they set it up, but this was the second most-hyped match on this card… and it goes JUST OVER A MINUTE?
AUSTIN ARIES & ERIC BISCHOFF SEGMENT- eh
TNA X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Austin Aries(c) vs. Zema Ion- 6.25/10
Great opener, but I think that the use of the hairspray was a mistake for a few reasons. First of all, Aries beating Ion while blinded makes Ion look bad. Second, we have a heel vs. heel match here, so having one cheat and the other not cheat is bad, especially when Aries and Ion both have so much heel heat on them. Third, having Aries kick out after being blinded is a waste of a potential future resource. To my knowledge, no one has yet kicked out after the hairspray to the eyes. They should build that up as a finish to Zema Ion matches for a while. Then, when someone finally kicks out afterwards, it will be an awesome nearfall (like they did with James Storm spitting the beer into people’s eyes).
MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS VIDEO PACKAGE- HELL YES! Sabin & Shelley will be back soon!
TNA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Samoa Joe & Magnus(c) vs. Matt Morgan & Crimson- 5/10
It told its story well.
BOBBY ROODE PROMO & SEGMENT WITH JAMES STORM- okay
ROBBIE E. SEGMENT- bad.
First Robbie says that there is no one in the back who isn’t already signed to a match. So despite knowing about this Open Challenge in advance, TNA only brought enough wrestlers to fill out the other matches on the card?
TNA TV TITLE MATCH: Robbie E.(c) (w/Rob Terry) vs. Devon- 2/10
Short and unexciting. I don’t think anyone really wanted to see Devon win this belt. And the fact that Brooke Hogan got involved scares me.
DIXIE CARTER INTERVIEW- dull. Dixie says “I trust Sting implicitly. He is my man. He as been since day one” Really Dixie? You don’t remember the entire year that Sting was a heel and you thought he was actively working against you? It wasn’t that long ago (March 2010- March 2011). Only in TNA can someone hype up the company’s tenth anniversary, then forget an entire year of the company’s history… in the same promo.
TNA KNOCKOUTS’ TITLE MATCH: Gail Kim(c) vs. Madison Rayne- 4/10
AJ STYLES & MR. ANDERSON vs. CHRISTOPHER DANIELS & KAZARIAN- 7/10
KURT ANGLE PROMO- Great
JEFF HARDY vs. KURT ANGLE- 7.75/10.
An awesome match, but two things really bothered me. First, there was a point in the match where they were outside the ring for a good minute and the ref just stopped counting, and then when Kurt got back in the ring, he started counting from one again. TNA does this a lot and I absolutely HATE it. If you want to give people more time on the floor, do what ROH and CHIKARA do and use a twenty-count instead of ten.
The second thing was that, during the finish, the ref was positioned in such a way that he couldn’t see Kurt grabbing the ropes for illegal leverage (which was good)… but also in such a way that he was FACING AWAY FROM THE PIN (which was inexcusably bad).
NO HOLDS BARRED MATCH: Sting vs. Bobby Roode- 6/10
This was actually a very good match… until the finish. They were telling a great story with Roode working over Sting’s legs and Sting fighting back with bursts of offense… then Sting hits his head on a char while performing a Scorpion Death Drop, allowing Roode to cover him for the win. Never mind the fact that it just totally ignores most of the story that they just spent the last sixteen minutes telling… this might well have been THE WORST possible finish they could have done here. It doesn’t make Roode look good because he won by accident, and it makes Sting look like an idiot. Even worse, weapons of any sort played no part in this match aside from the aforementioned accidental chair bump, making it abundantly clear that this pointless gimmick was added on solely for the purpose of doing this moronic finish.
THE AFTERMATH- Horrendous. After the match, Bobby Roode goes to get another chair. Dixie tells him not to, so he drags her over the barricade and dumps her into the ring. Dixie tries to protect Sting while Bobby yells at her then drags her off. Sting made a brief comeback but Roode put him down with a chair shot, then taped him to the ropes, leaving him helpless while Roode took Dixie and… just yelled at her some more. Roode goes to hit Sting with the chair, but Dixie once again drapes herself over Sting’s body to stop him. Then being a horrible person, Bobby… just starts rubbing Sting’s facepaint off and rubs it on Dixie.
This was way too drawn out and anti-climactic. Bobby Roode is the biggest heel in the company. He has already spit on Dixie (late last year, on Impact) so this time he has to do something more for the angle to progress. Something like HIT ONE OF THEM WITH THE CHAIR! At least spit on them or paintbrush them or something else disrespectful (it won't move the angle forward well, bt at least it would be something). Instead he just stood there for WAY too long. You would think that one of the babyfaces would want to come out and help his bosses (or even a heel, as getting in the champs face generally does lead to title shots), but apparently not. All that talk about everyone loving Dixie seems to be kayfabe BS as well as legit BS. This was just lame.
Overall, a bad PPV from TNA that ended on an utterly awful note.
#1 CONTENDERSHIP MATCH: Bully Ray vs. James Storm- DUD!
I had no problem with this going on first because of the way they set it up, but this was the second most-hyped match on this card… and it goes JUST OVER A MINUTE?
AUSTIN ARIES & ERIC BISCHOFF SEGMENT- eh
TNA X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Austin Aries(c) vs. Zema Ion- 6.25/10
Great opener, but I think that the use of the hairspray was a mistake for a few reasons. First of all, Aries beating Ion while blinded makes Ion look bad. Second, we have a heel vs. heel match here, so having one cheat and the other not cheat is bad, especially when Aries and Ion both have so much heel heat on them. Third, having Aries kick out after being blinded is a waste of a potential future resource. To my knowledge, no one has yet kicked out after the hairspray to the eyes. They should build that up as a finish to Zema Ion matches for a while. Then, when someone finally kicks out afterwards, it will be an awesome nearfall (like they did with James Storm spitting the beer into people’s eyes).
MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS VIDEO PACKAGE- HELL YES! Sabin & Shelley will be back soon!
TNA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Samoa Joe & Magnus(c) vs. Matt Morgan & Crimson- 5/10
It told its story well.
BOBBY ROODE PROMO & SEGMENT WITH JAMES STORM- okay
ROBBIE E. SEGMENT- bad.
First Robbie says that there is no one in the back who isn’t already signed to a match. So despite knowing about this Open Challenge in advance, TNA only brought enough wrestlers to fill out the other matches on the card?
TNA TV TITLE MATCH: Robbie E.(c) (w/Rob Terry) vs. Devon- 2/10
Short and unexciting. I don’t think anyone really wanted to see Devon win this belt. And the fact that Brooke Hogan got involved scares me.
DIXIE CARTER INTERVIEW- dull. Dixie says “I trust Sting implicitly. He is my man. He as been since day one” Really Dixie? You don’t remember the entire year that Sting was a heel and you thought he was actively working against you? It wasn’t that long ago (March 2010- March 2011). Only in TNA can someone hype up the company’s tenth anniversary, then forget an entire year of the company’s history… in the same promo.
TNA KNOCKOUTS’ TITLE MATCH: Gail Kim(c) vs. Madison Rayne- 4/10
AJ STYLES & MR. ANDERSON vs. CHRISTOPHER DANIELS & KAZARIAN- 7/10
KURT ANGLE PROMO- Great
JEFF HARDY vs. KURT ANGLE- 7.75/10.
An awesome match, but two things really bothered me. First, there was a point in the match where they were outside the ring for a good minute and the ref just stopped counting, and then when Kurt got back in the ring, he started counting from one again. TNA does this a lot and I absolutely HATE it. If you want to give people more time on the floor, do what ROH and CHIKARA do and use a twenty-count instead of ten.
The second thing was that, during the finish, the ref was positioned in such a way that he couldn’t see Kurt grabbing the ropes for illegal leverage (which was good)… but also in such a way that he was FACING AWAY FROM THE PIN (which was inexcusably bad).
NO HOLDS BARRED MATCH: Sting vs. Bobby Roode- 6/10
This was actually a very good match… until the finish. They were telling a great story with Roode working over Sting’s legs and Sting fighting back with bursts of offense… then Sting hits his head on a char while performing a Scorpion Death Drop, allowing Roode to cover him for the win. Never mind the fact that it just totally ignores most of the story that they just spent the last sixteen minutes telling… this might well have been THE WORST possible finish they could have done here. It doesn’t make Roode look good because he won by accident, and it makes Sting look like an idiot. Even worse, weapons of any sort played no part in this match aside from the aforementioned accidental chair bump, making it abundantly clear that this pointless gimmick was added on solely for the purpose of doing this moronic finish.
THE AFTERMATH- Horrendous. After the match, Bobby Roode goes to get another chair. Dixie tells him not to, so he drags her over the barricade and dumps her into the ring. Dixie tries to protect Sting while Bobby yells at her then drags her off. Sting made a brief comeback but Roode put him down with a chair shot, then taped him to the ropes, leaving him helpless while Roode took Dixie and… just yelled at her some more. Roode goes to hit Sting with the chair, but Dixie once again drapes herself over Sting’s body to stop him. Then being a horrible person, Bobby… just starts rubbing Sting’s facepaint off and rubs it on Dixie.
This was way too drawn out and anti-climactic. Bobby Roode is the biggest heel in the company. He has already spit on Dixie (late last year, on Impact) so this time he has to do something more for the angle to progress. Something like HIT ONE OF THEM WITH THE CHAIR! At least spit on them or paintbrush them or something else disrespectful (it won't move the angle forward well, bt at least it would be something). Instead he just stood there for WAY too long. You would think that one of the babyfaces would want to come out and help his bosses (or even a heel, as getting in the champs face generally does lead to title shots), but apparently not. All that talk about everyone loving Dixie seems to be kayfabe BS as well as legit BS. This was just lame.
Overall, a bad PPV from TNA that ended on an utterly awful note.