TNA One Night Only: TNA 10 Reunion
TNA One Night Only: TNA 10 Reunion (3/17/2013)- Orlando, FL
OPENING VIDEO PACKAGE- this was very good. It got in most of the iconic moments in TNA history and most of the major players who weren’t currently in WWE (the James Gang, Christian, Ron Killings). I would have liked to have seen more of AMW, Jerry Lynn, and Monty Brown (in fact, I was quite disappointed by the complete and total lack of pounces), but oh well. That’s not really something I can complain too much about. Something that I can complain about, on the other hand, was the very end of this video package, in which the voice-over said â€"tonight, TNA turns ten.†GGRRRRRR! We just had Slammiversary XI back in June! Why would you f*ck up a great video package by ending it was an obvious factual inaccuracy that makes you look like you don’t even know how old your own f*cking company is?!
SONJAY DUTT vs. PETEY WILLIAMS vs. KENNY KING- 6/10
While Petey is on his way back down to the ring, Tenay informs us that Petey recently returned to TNA after a â€"five year absence.†It was actually four years, not five. I know that he is rounding up, but between this and the horrible gaffe at the end of the opening video package, it makes it seem like TNA can’t do basic math.
During Kenny King’s entrance, Tenay wondered whether Kanny King might be the best wrestler in TNA from Las Vegas. The answer to that would be an easy â€"yes.†Why? BECAUSE HE’S THE ONLY ONE FROM THERE!
They jumped around a lot and did a bunch of stuff with a very minimal amount of story. I was quite disappointed with the lack of Scott D’Amore in this match. It’s a TNA reunion show, damn it!
TOP TEN MOMENTS VIDEO PACKAGES- I really didn’t like this. First of all, they just reused the ones from Slammiversary X. Why not add in a new moment like maybe Aries beating Bobby Roode to win the TNA World Heavyweight Title and prove that â€"Option C†is a real threat? Doing that would not only make it look like something has actually happened in the past year, but it would also help dispel the feeling I am getting that TNA is just lazily recycling old video packages rather than putting any real effort into this show. Also, if you are going to show some of these clips back to back, it would have been a good idea to cut out the little opening video for it so that we don’t have to watch the same clips twice in a row.
VELVET VS. GAIL VIDEO PACKAGE- wouldn’t this have been the time to give us a video package about how awesome the Knockouts have been? This is a show celebrating TNA’s history, and these two are merely representing the Knockouts. The match really isn’t about them personally. These One Night Only shows aren’t supposed to be storyline-driven, remember? But for some inexplicable reason, TNA spent ALMOST FOUR AND A HALF MINUTES on a video package about Velvet and Gail’s personal history! I’m also 99% sure that this was just various old video packages spliced together, rather than anything new.
GAIL KIM vs. VELVET SKY- 2/10
On this show that celebrates the history of TNA, Taz, no reason at all, decides to refuse to do his â€"let the pigeons loose!†catchphrase for Velvet’s entrance. Apparently Velvet rubbing the ring ropes into Gail’s crotch and stomach was so painful that it immobilized Gail. Anyway, this match was lame. Not much more than a bunch of clotheslines and dropkicks.
This match was completely unworthy of the beloved division it was supposed to promote. Yes, Velvet has been a big part of TNA’s history, but she is pretty darn bad in the ring, and TNA knows this. Why not book a tag match with Mickie and Tara in there, too, so Velvet wouldn’t have had to work so much and we could have gotten a match worthy of the Knockouts Division.
JB INTERVIEWS JOSEPH PARK- COME ON! It’s the TNA Reunion Show and they give us Joseph Park instead of Abyss?! BOOOO!!! And Joseph even reminds us of this in his promo.
TEN MAN GAUNTLET: Johnny Devine vs. Shark Boy vs. Chase Stevens vs. Cassidy Riley vs. Robbie E. vs. Jessie Godderz vs. Matt Morgan vs. Mr. Anderson vs. Johnny Swinger vs. Joseph Park- 0.5/10
Taz and Tenay’s pointless bickering here really annoyed me. The first big spot of the match saw Johnny Devine botch a fancy attempt at a moonsault and land right on his head. Shark Boy rushed to get Johnny out of the match and a referee helped Johnny backstage. Rather than being concerned, Taz and Tenay decided to make jokes about this.
Of the four guys from TNA’s past that they used, only Johnny Devine got any sort of reaction at all. Absolutely no one popped in any way for Cassidy Riley. Well… that’s not completely fair of me. I’m pretty sure I heard a few crickets cheering when he came out.
There was a minute amount of a story here with the Hotshots and Bro-Mans trying to work together and later with Morgan and Anderson, but other than that, this match like exactly what it was: a completely a total waste of time which existed only to create spots on the card four guys who were miniscule parts of TNA’s history, and who the fans didn’t give a damn about. Some â€"reunion show†this is.
BAD INFLUENCE PROMO- good
LAX vs. BAD INFLUENCE vs. TEAM 3-D- 4.5
Mike Tenay, entire seriously, asked Taz if he thought that LAX was â€"credible.†THEY ARE FORMER TNA WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS! They had better be f*cking credible!â€
At the beginning of this match, some idiots in the crowd started chanting â€"YOU SCREWED BRET!†at Earl Hebner. It’s 2013. GET OVER IT!
This match was extremely disappointing. The four heels worked over Homicide, Homicide made a hot tag to Hernandez, then Homicide got pinned a few minutes later. This should have been so much more than it was.
AUSTIN ARIES PROMO- eh. It would have been good, if not for the one line where he basically said that this match didn’t matter at all because it was just a regular wrestling match with nothing on the line.
JEFF HARDY vs. AUSTIN ARIES- 6.5/10
Before the match we got another couple of recycled video packages from past PPV. Rather than show us clips we’ve already seen to hype up a match we’ve already bought, why not GIVE THE MATCH MORE TIME?!
Yet another disappointing match. It was good, but we’ve seen these two do much better together.
JAMES STORM vs. BOBBY ROODE- 6.75/10
More recycled video packages, followed by a very good match with a horrendous-looking pinfall. It looked like there was no pressure at all on Storm’s upper body and that the only reason he got pinned was an inexplicable inability to do just a fraction of a sit-up.
SAMOA JOE PROMO- awesome. Joe wants to knock Kurt out!
KURT ANGLE vs. SAMOA JOE- 7/10
I wish they would have actually had Joe knock Kurt out. It would have made the finish to this one just feel different than any of their other matches. Joe did use a lot of strikes to the head, but they wound up ending it with the usual exchange of finishers and we didn’t get any good teases of a knockout finish.
Overall, a bad show from TNA. The only good matches on the show were disappointing, considering the talent involved, but most importantly, this show completely failed as what it was supposed to be. AS we were often reminded, this show was a â€"reunion†and a celebration of the past ten years of TNA, but this show did not feel like either one of those things.
Say what you will about the in-ring failings of HardCore Justice, but at least they had most of the right people there for a reunion show: Tommy was there, and he wreslted Raven. RVD was there. Sabu, Taz, Sandman, the Dudleys, Mick Foley, the Gangstas, Rhino, Balls Mahoney, Axl Rotten, Al Snow, Stevie Richards, Justin Credible,2 Cold Scorpio… Blue Meanie, Pitbull 2, Francine, and Tod Gordon all appeared in pre-taped messages to the fans. Yeah, they couldn’t get Paul Heyman, Joey Styles or Shane Douglas, but for the most part, they got the people you think about when you think of ECW.
On this show, TNA failed at that. Yes, they had James Storm, Bobby Roode, Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe, Kurt Angle, Kaz, Daniels, and LAX, but those guys are all on the roster right now. When you advertise a reunion show, people expect some nice blasts from the past. And when I say a â€"blast†from the past, I mean an actual blast, not a Team Canada fourth-stringer, one half of the Naturals, and CASSIDY F*CKING RILEY!
Monty Brown, Chris Harris, Alex Shelley, Rhino, Raven, The New Church, Matt Bentley, Traci Brooks, Angelina Love, Scott D’Amore… those are the types of bring-ins people expect when you have a TNA reunion show. Wrestlers who meant a lot to TNA at various times in TNA history. Instead, the best they could give us was Johnny Devine, Cassidy Riley, Johnny Swinger, and Chase Stevens.
Perhaps the more egregious crime here was the lack of guys who should have been on this show but weren’t who are STILL UNDER CONTRACT TO TNA: Eric Young, Abyss, Sting, and most importantly, Jeff Jarrett and AJ Styles. What the hell is the point of doing a TNA reunion show without AJ and Jeff? If, for whatever reason, you can’t get the guys that you need to do a successful reunion show, DON’T DO ONE!
This didn’t feel like a reunion show at all. It felt like a regular TNA show. Pretty everyone one this show aside from Shark Boy and the four throwbacks is on the current roster, and Shark Boy has always been popping up every now and then anyway. This show was supposed to celebrate the TNA’s history, but all we got was a bunch of random matches with spot-fillers like Robbie E. Jessie, Godderz, and Mr. Anderson and a bunch of matches that rehashed recent feuds. They didn’t even make any new video packages aside from the opening two minute package.
A reunion show is, in most respects, more about the wrestlers and the fans than it is about the promotion. It is a thank you to the fans for supporting the promotion, and, as a longtime fan of TNA, this was the One Night Only show I was most looking forward to… and as a longtime fan of TNA, this show pissed me off. Reunion shows are about nostalgia, but this show had none. A â€"celebration of the history of TNA†should have been TNA giving us the chance to enjoy some of our favorite acts from years past one last time and making fantasy matches between the stars of the present and the stars of the past. This show was a half-assed off-brand substitute for a reunion show, and the lack of thought put into it really pissed me off. As I said above, if you can’t do a reunion show right, don’t do it… but TNA decided to give us this disgustingly anemic effort instead, package it as a â€"reunion show†and hope we would buy it. As a longtime fan who came here to celebrate the history of TNA, this show reinforced the feeling that TNA doesn’t give a damn about its fans.
OPENING VIDEO PACKAGE- this was very good. It got in most of the iconic moments in TNA history and most of the major players who weren’t currently in WWE (the James Gang, Christian, Ron Killings). I would have liked to have seen more of AMW, Jerry Lynn, and Monty Brown (in fact, I was quite disappointed by the complete and total lack of pounces), but oh well. That’s not really something I can complain too much about. Something that I can complain about, on the other hand, was the very end of this video package, in which the voice-over said â€"tonight, TNA turns ten.†GGRRRRRR! We just had Slammiversary XI back in June! Why would you f*ck up a great video package by ending it was an obvious factual inaccuracy that makes you look like you don’t even know how old your own f*cking company is?!
SONJAY DUTT vs. PETEY WILLIAMS vs. KENNY KING- 6/10
While Petey is on his way back down to the ring, Tenay informs us that Petey recently returned to TNA after a â€"five year absence.†It was actually four years, not five. I know that he is rounding up, but between this and the horrible gaffe at the end of the opening video package, it makes it seem like TNA can’t do basic math.
During Kenny King’s entrance, Tenay wondered whether Kanny King might be the best wrestler in TNA from Las Vegas. The answer to that would be an easy â€"yes.†Why? BECAUSE HE’S THE ONLY ONE FROM THERE!
They jumped around a lot and did a bunch of stuff with a very minimal amount of story. I was quite disappointed with the lack of Scott D’Amore in this match. It’s a TNA reunion show, damn it!
TOP TEN MOMENTS VIDEO PACKAGES- I really didn’t like this. First of all, they just reused the ones from Slammiversary X. Why not add in a new moment like maybe Aries beating Bobby Roode to win the TNA World Heavyweight Title and prove that â€"Option C†is a real threat? Doing that would not only make it look like something has actually happened in the past year, but it would also help dispel the feeling I am getting that TNA is just lazily recycling old video packages rather than putting any real effort into this show. Also, if you are going to show some of these clips back to back, it would have been a good idea to cut out the little opening video for it so that we don’t have to watch the same clips twice in a row.
VELVET VS. GAIL VIDEO PACKAGE- wouldn’t this have been the time to give us a video package about how awesome the Knockouts have been? This is a show celebrating TNA’s history, and these two are merely representing the Knockouts. The match really isn’t about them personally. These One Night Only shows aren’t supposed to be storyline-driven, remember? But for some inexplicable reason, TNA spent ALMOST FOUR AND A HALF MINUTES on a video package about Velvet and Gail’s personal history! I’m also 99% sure that this was just various old video packages spliced together, rather than anything new.
GAIL KIM vs. VELVET SKY- 2/10
On this show that celebrates the history of TNA, Taz, no reason at all, decides to refuse to do his â€"let the pigeons loose!†catchphrase for Velvet’s entrance. Apparently Velvet rubbing the ring ropes into Gail’s crotch and stomach was so painful that it immobilized Gail. Anyway, this match was lame. Not much more than a bunch of clotheslines and dropkicks.
This match was completely unworthy of the beloved division it was supposed to promote. Yes, Velvet has been a big part of TNA’s history, but she is pretty darn bad in the ring, and TNA knows this. Why not book a tag match with Mickie and Tara in there, too, so Velvet wouldn’t have had to work so much and we could have gotten a match worthy of the Knockouts Division.
JB INTERVIEWS JOSEPH PARK- COME ON! It’s the TNA Reunion Show and they give us Joseph Park instead of Abyss?! BOOOO!!! And Joseph even reminds us of this in his promo.
TEN MAN GAUNTLET: Johnny Devine vs. Shark Boy vs. Chase Stevens vs. Cassidy Riley vs. Robbie E. vs. Jessie Godderz vs. Matt Morgan vs. Mr. Anderson vs. Johnny Swinger vs. Joseph Park- 0.5/10
Taz and Tenay’s pointless bickering here really annoyed me. The first big spot of the match saw Johnny Devine botch a fancy attempt at a moonsault and land right on his head. Shark Boy rushed to get Johnny out of the match and a referee helped Johnny backstage. Rather than being concerned, Taz and Tenay decided to make jokes about this.
Of the four guys from TNA’s past that they used, only Johnny Devine got any sort of reaction at all. Absolutely no one popped in any way for Cassidy Riley. Well… that’s not completely fair of me. I’m pretty sure I heard a few crickets cheering when he came out.
There was a minute amount of a story here with the Hotshots and Bro-Mans trying to work together and later with Morgan and Anderson, but other than that, this match like exactly what it was: a completely a total waste of time which existed only to create spots on the card four guys who were miniscule parts of TNA’s history, and who the fans didn’t give a damn about. Some â€"reunion show†this is.
BAD INFLUENCE PROMO- good
LAX vs. BAD INFLUENCE vs. TEAM 3-D- 4.5
Mike Tenay, entire seriously, asked Taz if he thought that LAX was â€"credible.†THEY ARE FORMER TNA WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS! They had better be f*cking credible!â€
At the beginning of this match, some idiots in the crowd started chanting â€"YOU SCREWED BRET!†at Earl Hebner. It’s 2013. GET OVER IT!
This match was extremely disappointing. The four heels worked over Homicide, Homicide made a hot tag to Hernandez, then Homicide got pinned a few minutes later. This should have been so much more than it was.
AUSTIN ARIES PROMO- eh. It would have been good, if not for the one line where he basically said that this match didn’t matter at all because it was just a regular wrestling match with nothing on the line.
JEFF HARDY vs. AUSTIN ARIES- 6.5/10
Before the match we got another couple of recycled video packages from past PPV. Rather than show us clips we’ve already seen to hype up a match we’ve already bought, why not GIVE THE MATCH MORE TIME?!
Yet another disappointing match. It was good, but we’ve seen these two do much better together.
JAMES STORM vs. BOBBY ROODE- 6.75/10
More recycled video packages, followed by a very good match with a horrendous-looking pinfall. It looked like there was no pressure at all on Storm’s upper body and that the only reason he got pinned was an inexplicable inability to do just a fraction of a sit-up.
SAMOA JOE PROMO- awesome. Joe wants to knock Kurt out!
KURT ANGLE vs. SAMOA JOE- 7/10
I wish they would have actually had Joe knock Kurt out. It would have made the finish to this one just feel different than any of their other matches. Joe did use a lot of strikes to the head, but they wound up ending it with the usual exchange of finishers and we didn’t get any good teases of a knockout finish.
Overall, a bad show from TNA. The only good matches on the show were disappointing, considering the talent involved, but most importantly, this show completely failed as what it was supposed to be. AS we were often reminded, this show was a â€"reunion†and a celebration of the past ten years of TNA, but this show did not feel like either one of those things.
Say what you will about the in-ring failings of HardCore Justice, but at least they had most of the right people there for a reunion show: Tommy was there, and he wreslted Raven. RVD was there. Sabu, Taz, Sandman, the Dudleys, Mick Foley, the Gangstas, Rhino, Balls Mahoney, Axl Rotten, Al Snow, Stevie Richards, Justin Credible,2 Cold Scorpio… Blue Meanie, Pitbull 2, Francine, and Tod Gordon all appeared in pre-taped messages to the fans. Yeah, they couldn’t get Paul Heyman, Joey Styles or Shane Douglas, but for the most part, they got the people you think about when you think of ECW.
On this show, TNA failed at that. Yes, they had James Storm, Bobby Roode, Jeff Hardy, Samoa Joe, Kurt Angle, Kaz, Daniels, and LAX, but those guys are all on the roster right now. When you advertise a reunion show, people expect some nice blasts from the past. And when I say a â€"blast†from the past, I mean an actual blast, not a Team Canada fourth-stringer, one half of the Naturals, and CASSIDY F*CKING RILEY!
Monty Brown, Chris Harris, Alex Shelley, Rhino, Raven, The New Church, Matt Bentley, Traci Brooks, Angelina Love, Scott D’Amore… those are the types of bring-ins people expect when you have a TNA reunion show. Wrestlers who meant a lot to TNA at various times in TNA history. Instead, the best they could give us was Johnny Devine, Cassidy Riley, Johnny Swinger, and Chase Stevens.
Perhaps the more egregious crime here was the lack of guys who should have been on this show but weren’t who are STILL UNDER CONTRACT TO TNA: Eric Young, Abyss, Sting, and most importantly, Jeff Jarrett and AJ Styles. What the hell is the point of doing a TNA reunion show without AJ and Jeff? If, for whatever reason, you can’t get the guys that you need to do a successful reunion show, DON’T DO ONE!
This didn’t feel like a reunion show at all. It felt like a regular TNA show. Pretty everyone one this show aside from Shark Boy and the four throwbacks is on the current roster, and Shark Boy has always been popping up every now and then anyway. This show was supposed to celebrate the TNA’s history, but all we got was a bunch of random matches with spot-fillers like Robbie E. Jessie, Godderz, and Mr. Anderson and a bunch of matches that rehashed recent feuds. They didn’t even make any new video packages aside from the opening two minute package.
A reunion show is, in most respects, more about the wrestlers and the fans than it is about the promotion. It is a thank you to the fans for supporting the promotion, and, as a longtime fan of TNA, this was the One Night Only show I was most looking forward to… and as a longtime fan of TNA, this show pissed me off. Reunion shows are about nostalgia, but this show had none. A â€"celebration of the history of TNA†should have been TNA giving us the chance to enjoy some of our favorite acts from years past one last time and making fantasy matches between the stars of the present and the stars of the past. This show was a half-assed off-brand substitute for a reunion show, and the lack of thought put into it really pissed me off. As I said above, if you can’t do a reunion show right, don’t do it… but TNA decided to give us this disgustingly anemic effort instead, package it as a â€"reunion show†and hope we would buy it. As a longtime fan who came here to celebrate the history of TNA, this show reinforced the feeling that TNA doesn’t give a damn about its fans.