TNA Slammiversay 2012
TNA Slammiversay 2012 (6/10/2012)- Arlington, TX
OPENING VIDEO PACKAGE- GREAT! They hit almost all of the major moments in TNA history. Raven winning the NWA World Title at Slammiversary, AJ ending Jatrrett’s eleven month long title reign, Angle headbutting Joe, the cage-walk rana, Joe winning the title, Hogan & Bischoff coming in, a shot of Sting winning the belt, a few shots of the Unbreakable three-way, some Abyss spots… The only moments I would have included that TNA didn’t are Christian’s debut and Roode hitting Storm with the beer bottle. With the way that TNA has been playing this, I think that should be considered a major moment in TNA history, just like AMW’s turn would have been if it had happened on a TNA show.
HULK HOGAN PROMO- not bad. Hogan then says that the first match will be Aries vs. Joe, and that it will be an X-Division Title match. Now anyone who has been unfortunate enough to have listen to Taz and Tenay over the past year will surely see one major problem with this. Ever since the rule’s creation, Taz and Tenay have been incessantly putting over how cool they think it is that the X-Division Title now has a 225lb weight limit. So how, exactly, is SAMOA JOE eligible to challenge for it?
Tenay explains this away by saying that an exception to the rule is being made because Hogan said so. So it is only rule unless the guy in charge decides he doesn’t like it? How dumb is that?
TNA X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Austin Aries(c) vs. Samoa Joe- 7/10
Great opener.
KID KASH vs. HERNANDEZ- 6/10
Not sure exactly why this match is happening (especially on PPV), but it was pretty good.
ROBBIE E. & ROBBIE T. vs. GARRETT BISCHOFF & DEVON- 3/10
How not-over is Garrett Bischoff? ROBBIE E was beating him down, and the crowd popped.
PROMOS BY THE TAG CHAMPS- Kaz was decent, Daniels was great
WINNER GETS A TNA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH THIS WEEK ON IMPACT: Jeff Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Mr. Anderson- 7.5/10
Great match, with a lot of great triple threat match spots. I LOVE triple threat matches that really make you feel like the guys in the ring have to be on their toes at all times because once you deal with one opponent, the other one will be coming at you. This match did a great job of that.
My one problem with this match was the way that the backslide/compactor clutch spot was done. Anderson got a two count, then Jeff hit the compactor clutch and the ref counted two again before RVD kicked out… but RVD never kicked out after Anderson’s two count, so the first count for the double pin should also have been the three count for Anderson’s backslide on RVD.
CRIMSON PROMO- okay
CRIMSON vs. JAMES STORM- DUD!
Crimson, the big undefeated monster... loses in two minutes. That's right people. The total time of this match was two minutes and seven seconds. A drugged-up Jeff Hardy can last ninety seconds against Sting, but a sober undefeated monster can't even last a minute longer than that?
I also think that James Storm was an absolutely horrible choice for the person to end Crimson's streak. Ending Crimson's streak is the sort of thing that (with at least semi-competent bookers) will give the guys who does it a HUGE amount of momentum. The problem is that James Storm's return would be a HUGE deal anyway. All he had to do was show up and hit Bobby Roode with the last call and he would instantly be the most over babyface in the company again. I think that they shouldn't have done the Kid Kash vs. Hernandez match and instead had Hernandez be the one to end the streak, using the time from both this match and that match.
AUSTIN ARIES PROMO- very good
STING IS INDUCTED INTO THE TNA HALL OF FAME- why does everyone hate Dixie? Because she is so unbelievably deluded. She says that Sting is doing is best work ever right now. Lady, have you ever seen a Sting match from before he was in TNA? Hell, did you even watch any of his matches from 2006?
Dixie also says that we will have a formal induction ceremony at Bound For Glory. Great. So we will take even more time away from an even more important PPV for this crap.
TNA KNOCKOUTS’ TITLE MATCH: Gail Kim(c) vs. Miss Tessmacher- 4.25/10
Okay match, but the crowd was behind Tessmacher and popped huge for the title change.
BULLY RAY PROMO- nothing we didn't hear him say on Thursday night
HARDCORE MATCH: Bully Ray vs. Joseph Park- no rating. AWESOME segment. This angle has been poorly booked, and was, IMO, a poor idea to begin with. That being said, if they had to do this angle, the way they did this match was the best way to do it. Excellent storytelling and facials, especially from Park. This match felt very CHIKARA. Great storytelling and good fun.
BOBBY ROODE PROMO- okay
CHRISTIAN CAGE APPEARANCE- a nice touch
TNA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Christopher Daniels & Kazarian(c) vs. AJ Styles & Kurt Angle- 7.75/10
TNA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Bobby Roode(c) vs. Sting- 5.5/10
THIS was your main event for Slammiversary?
The story they told with the Scorpion Death Lock was decent, but the match wasn’t exciting at all. I was disappointed by the time this got (not much more than then minutes) and the lack of false finishes (it’s the main event of Slammiversary for crying out loud). The things that really pissed me off, though, were how little offense Roode got in, and the finish. Bobby Roode can beat RVD clean but he can’t beat a 53 year old man? And not only that, but Sting absolutely dominated the match. This made Roode look extremely weak.
One sequence in this match that I absolutely hated was when Roode tried to run away and Sting made a show of quickly returning to the ring to break the count so that there wasn’t a count-out, then he gets Roode and rather than bring him back to the ring… he brings him AROUND the ring and locks in the Scorpion Death Lock on the announce table… and this time he is just lucky that the ref decides not to count them both out. That was stupid.
Anyway, then we got the crappy finish and I thought this was over and done with, but then it got worse. Sting gets up after the match and beats the crap out of Bobby Roode. Why do they insist on making Roode look weak just to make Sting look better. It doesn't even help Sting at all because he is freakin’ STING.
Overall, a decent show from TNA, but nowhere near acceptable for Slammiversary. Once again Sting way under-delivers on PPV.
OPENING VIDEO PACKAGE- GREAT! They hit almost all of the major moments in TNA history. Raven winning the NWA World Title at Slammiversary, AJ ending Jatrrett’s eleven month long title reign, Angle headbutting Joe, the cage-walk rana, Joe winning the title, Hogan & Bischoff coming in, a shot of Sting winning the belt, a few shots of the Unbreakable three-way, some Abyss spots… The only moments I would have included that TNA didn’t are Christian’s debut and Roode hitting Storm with the beer bottle. With the way that TNA has been playing this, I think that should be considered a major moment in TNA history, just like AMW’s turn would have been if it had happened on a TNA show.
HULK HOGAN PROMO- not bad. Hogan then says that the first match will be Aries vs. Joe, and that it will be an X-Division Title match. Now anyone who has been unfortunate enough to have listen to Taz and Tenay over the past year will surely see one major problem with this. Ever since the rule’s creation, Taz and Tenay have been incessantly putting over how cool they think it is that the X-Division Title now has a 225lb weight limit. So how, exactly, is SAMOA JOE eligible to challenge for it?
Tenay explains this away by saying that an exception to the rule is being made because Hogan said so. So it is only rule unless the guy in charge decides he doesn’t like it? How dumb is that?
TNA X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Austin Aries(c) vs. Samoa Joe- 7/10
Great opener.
KID KASH vs. HERNANDEZ- 6/10
Not sure exactly why this match is happening (especially on PPV), but it was pretty good.
ROBBIE E. & ROBBIE T. vs. GARRETT BISCHOFF & DEVON- 3/10
How not-over is Garrett Bischoff? ROBBIE E was beating him down, and the crowd popped.
PROMOS BY THE TAG CHAMPS- Kaz was decent, Daniels was great
WINNER GETS A TNA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH THIS WEEK ON IMPACT: Jeff Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Mr. Anderson- 7.5/10
Great match, with a lot of great triple threat match spots. I LOVE triple threat matches that really make you feel like the guys in the ring have to be on their toes at all times because once you deal with one opponent, the other one will be coming at you. This match did a great job of that.
My one problem with this match was the way that the backslide/compactor clutch spot was done. Anderson got a two count, then Jeff hit the compactor clutch and the ref counted two again before RVD kicked out… but RVD never kicked out after Anderson’s two count, so the first count for the double pin should also have been the three count for Anderson’s backslide on RVD.
CRIMSON PROMO- okay
CRIMSON vs. JAMES STORM- DUD!
Crimson, the big undefeated monster... loses in two minutes. That's right people. The total time of this match was two minutes and seven seconds. A drugged-up Jeff Hardy can last ninety seconds against Sting, but a sober undefeated monster can't even last a minute longer than that?
I also think that James Storm was an absolutely horrible choice for the person to end Crimson's streak. Ending Crimson's streak is the sort of thing that (with at least semi-competent bookers) will give the guys who does it a HUGE amount of momentum. The problem is that James Storm's return would be a HUGE deal anyway. All he had to do was show up and hit Bobby Roode with the last call and he would instantly be the most over babyface in the company again. I think that they shouldn't have done the Kid Kash vs. Hernandez match and instead had Hernandez be the one to end the streak, using the time from both this match and that match.
AUSTIN ARIES PROMO- very good
STING IS INDUCTED INTO THE TNA HALL OF FAME- why does everyone hate Dixie? Because she is so unbelievably deluded. She says that Sting is doing is best work ever right now. Lady, have you ever seen a Sting match from before he was in TNA? Hell, did you even watch any of his matches from 2006?
Dixie also says that we will have a formal induction ceremony at Bound For Glory. Great. So we will take even more time away from an even more important PPV for this crap.
TNA KNOCKOUTS’ TITLE MATCH: Gail Kim(c) vs. Miss Tessmacher- 4.25/10
Okay match, but the crowd was behind Tessmacher and popped huge for the title change.
BULLY RAY PROMO- nothing we didn't hear him say on Thursday night
HARDCORE MATCH: Bully Ray vs. Joseph Park- no rating. AWESOME segment. This angle has been poorly booked, and was, IMO, a poor idea to begin with. That being said, if they had to do this angle, the way they did this match was the best way to do it. Excellent storytelling and facials, especially from Park. This match felt very CHIKARA. Great storytelling and good fun.
BOBBY ROODE PROMO- okay
CHRISTIAN CAGE APPEARANCE- a nice touch
TNA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Christopher Daniels & Kazarian(c) vs. AJ Styles & Kurt Angle- 7.75/10
TNA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Bobby Roode(c) vs. Sting- 5.5/10
THIS was your main event for Slammiversary?
The story they told with the Scorpion Death Lock was decent, but the match wasn’t exciting at all. I was disappointed by the time this got (not much more than then minutes) and the lack of false finishes (it’s the main event of Slammiversary for crying out loud). The things that really pissed me off, though, were how little offense Roode got in, and the finish. Bobby Roode can beat RVD clean but he can’t beat a 53 year old man? And not only that, but Sting absolutely dominated the match. This made Roode look extremely weak.
One sequence in this match that I absolutely hated was when Roode tried to run away and Sting made a show of quickly returning to the ring to break the count so that there wasn’t a count-out, then he gets Roode and rather than bring him back to the ring… he brings him AROUND the ring and locks in the Scorpion Death Lock on the announce table… and this time he is just lucky that the ref decides not to count them both out. That was stupid.
Anyway, then we got the crappy finish and I thought this was over and done with, but then it got worse. Sting gets up after the match and beats the crap out of Bobby Roode. Why do they insist on making Roode look weak just to make Sting look better. It doesn't even help Sting at all because he is freakin’ STING.
Overall, a decent show from TNA, but nowhere near acceptable for Slammiversary. Once again Sting way under-delivers on PPV.