TNA Sacrifice 2007
TNA Sacrifice 2007 (5/13/2007… and not March 11th, as the Jewel case says)- Orlando, FL
TNA X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Chris Sabin(c) vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Jay Lethal- 8/10
Dutt and Lethal had planned to team up to make sure that one of them would win, but they both wanted to be the one to win, and thus, predictably, could not get along. Sabin also tried to do his best to contribute to this, and they told that story very well. An awesome opener.
At one random point in the middle of the match, they cut to what I believe is a man in a giant kangaroo suit. We only saw it from the waist up and we couldn’t see much of its ears, but I can’t imagine what other animal it could be. For some reason there was a woman massaging its hand. The camera just cut to this thing with no explanation of what it was or why we were seeing it, and it stayed there for a good four seconds (while there was stuff going on in the ring!) until Don and Mike informed us that this was â€"Stomper, the new TNA mascot.†Okay…
1. Who thought this was a good idea?
2. If you needed to have a mascot, don’t choose one whose face looks so… evil (this thing was f*cking scary)
3. DON’T CUT TO IT IN THE MIDDLE OF A F*CKING MATCH!
Don informed us that Stomper, who was just standing there, looking evil and having his hand massaged, appeared to be â€"having a good time.â€
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Dutt and Lethal have a shoving match, which turns into a brawl, but Kevin Nash quickly runs in to break it up… while wearing the world’s ugliest shirt. Dutt then turned heel by kicking Nash in the back of the knee.
ROBERT ROODE PROMO- very good
KEVIN NASH PROMO- he challenges Dutt to a match on Impact.
FOOTAGE OF VKM AT A MEET & GREET- they get jumped by Damaja and Basham and B.G. gets put through a table. Apparently he has a â€"super-severe†concussion.
JEFF JARRETT vs. ROBERT ROODE (w/Traci Brooks)- 7.25/10
Tenay used the phrase â€"secret mystery friend.†This made me laugh my ass off.
They had a great Memphis-style match. Both guys worked over each others' knees and they made fantastic use of Traci’s presence at ringside. After the match, Roode tried to hit Jarrett with a guitar, but Jarrett blocked it and locked Roode in the figure four. Traci then got the guitar and tried to hit Jarrett with it, but EY came out and locked Traci in the figure four, too.
LETICIA INTERVIEWS CHRISTIAN’S FACTION- Good stuff.
Christian guarantees a clean sweep for him and his guys. Tomko apparently isn’t here, and thus Steiner is unhappy. AJ says he will beat Joe.
CHRISTOPHER DANIELS vs. RHINO- 6/10
Daniels came down to the ring with a Sting mask and a black baseball bat, teasing a feud with Sting. The match was pretty good, but nothing special. Sick-looking finish, though.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Rhino is angry and wants to beat Daniels up. He chases him backstage, then they come back out and Daniels is bleeding all over the place. Rhino then sets up to do a Piledriver off the second rope through some chairs, but security stops him.
CHRISTY HEMME vs. VKM VIDEO PACKAGE- she says that the last two teams she brought in (who both lost to VKM) really weren’t her teams. Yeah, sure. Whatever makes you feel better, Christy.
KIP JAMES PROMO- awesome babyface promo… except that we just got a video package showing us that this guy is a sexist pig.
KIP JAMES vs. BASHAM & DAMAJA (w/Christy Hemme)- DUD!
Short and boring. This did not deserve to be on PPV. Kip loses, then he fights Basham and Damaja off, just to get beaten up again. Then Lance Hoyt showed up to make the save (we had been told that his flight was delayed).
CHRIS HARRIS PROMO- awesome!
TEXAS DEATH MATCH: Chris Harris vs. James Storm (w/Jackie Moore)- 9/10
One of the most brutal, bloody matches I have ever seen. THIS is was a f*cking GRUDGE MATCH. I loved Harris ripping his AMW shirt in half as he came down the ramp.
STING & DANIELS BACKSTAGE- They talk. I have no freakin’ idea what they are talking about. Daniels walks off angrily. Sting then cuts an okay promo about the main event.
TIGER MASK IV vs. JERRY LYNN vs. ALEX SHELLEY vs. SENSHI- 7/10
It probably would have been best for Tenay to not mention the fact that the Tiger Mask character originates in a cartoon. If this was my first exposure to it, it would hurt my ability to take it seriously. We got some great X-Division action here, and a decent post-match angle with the Motor City Machine Guns beating Lynn down, then Bob Backlund making the save.
LETICIA INTERVIEWS TOMKO- Tomko says Steiner is an idiot. He also doesn’t like people questioning his loyalty.
NWA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Team 3-D(c) vs. Scott Steiner & Tomko vs. LAX (w/Konnan)- 6/10
They did a good job telling their story with Steiner and Tomko, while the other two teams filled in the rest of the match with their usual stuff. Steiner and Tomko actually came to blows after the match… and RICK STEINER made his return to wrestling by making the save.
KURT ANGLE PROMO- FRICKIN’ AWESOME!
JB informed us that Kurt has requested a promo â€"on Sting’s set.†It sounded silly, but it worked perfectly with Kurt’s promo.
SAMOA JOE vs. AJ STYLES- 7.25/10
A fun match, and a good payoff for some of AJ’s heel antics over the past few months.
NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Christian Cage(c) vs. Kurt Angle vs. Sting- 6/10
A decent match with a poorly executed, convoluted Dusty finish. A disappointing main event from such a strong show.
An awesome show from TNA! Great wrestling the whole way up and down the card (with the exception of the very short dud). This felt like TNA getting back on track after a few big missteps on recent PPVs. It was like everything good about TNA came rushing back. We even got the return of the â€"pull-back under SoCal Val’s leg†camera shot that TNA used to have at the beginning of most of their PPVs!
STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Tenay totally undersells an ANGLE SLAM ON THE RAMP as just â€"a suplex on the ramp.†How the f*ck does Tenay not recognize one of Kurt’s finishers?! He also called the Scorpion Death Lock a â€"Scorpion Submission.â€
TNA X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Chris Sabin(c) vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. Jay Lethal- 8/10
Dutt and Lethal had planned to team up to make sure that one of them would win, but they both wanted to be the one to win, and thus, predictably, could not get along. Sabin also tried to do his best to contribute to this, and they told that story very well. An awesome opener.
At one random point in the middle of the match, they cut to what I believe is a man in a giant kangaroo suit. We only saw it from the waist up and we couldn’t see much of its ears, but I can’t imagine what other animal it could be. For some reason there was a woman massaging its hand. The camera just cut to this thing with no explanation of what it was or why we were seeing it, and it stayed there for a good four seconds (while there was stuff going on in the ring!) until Don and Mike informed us that this was â€"Stomper, the new TNA mascot.†Okay…
1. Who thought this was a good idea?
2. If you needed to have a mascot, don’t choose one whose face looks so… evil (this thing was f*cking scary)
3. DON’T CUT TO IT IN THE MIDDLE OF A F*CKING MATCH!
Don informed us that Stomper, who was just standing there, looking evil and having his hand massaged, appeared to be â€"having a good time.â€
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Dutt and Lethal have a shoving match, which turns into a brawl, but Kevin Nash quickly runs in to break it up… while wearing the world’s ugliest shirt. Dutt then turned heel by kicking Nash in the back of the knee.
ROBERT ROODE PROMO- very good
KEVIN NASH PROMO- he challenges Dutt to a match on Impact.
FOOTAGE OF VKM AT A MEET & GREET- they get jumped by Damaja and Basham and B.G. gets put through a table. Apparently he has a â€"super-severe†concussion.
JEFF JARRETT vs. ROBERT ROODE (w/Traci Brooks)- 7.25/10
Tenay used the phrase â€"secret mystery friend.†This made me laugh my ass off.
They had a great Memphis-style match. Both guys worked over each others' knees and they made fantastic use of Traci’s presence at ringside. After the match, Roode tried to hit Jarrett with a guitar, but Jarrett blocked it and locked Roode in the figure four. Traci then got the guitar and tried to hit Jarrett with it, but EY came out and locked Traci in the figure four, too.
LETICIA INTERVIEWS CHRISTIAN’S FACTION- Good stuff.
Christian guarantees a clean sweep for him and his guys. Tomko apparently isn’t here, and thus Steiner is unhappy. AJ says he will beat Joe.
CHRISTOPHER DANIELS vs. RHINO- 6/10
Daniels came down to the ring with a Sting mask and a black baseball bat, teasing a feud with Sting. The match was pretty good, but nothing special. Sick-looking finish, though.
POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Rhino is angry and wants to beat Daniels up. He chases him backstage, then they come back out and Daniels is bleeding all over the place. Rhino then sets up to do a Piledriver off the second rope through some chairs, but security stops him.
CHRISTY HEMME vs. VKM VIDEO PACKAGE- she says that the last two teams she brought in (who both lost to VKM) really weren’t her teams. Yeah, sure. Whatever makes you feel better, Christy.
KIP JAMES PROMO- awesome babyface promo… except that we just got a video package showing us that this guy is a sexist pig.
KIP JAMES vs. BASHAM & DAMAJA (w/Christy Hemme)- DUD!
Short and boring. This did not deserve to be on PPV. Kip loses, then he fights Basham and Damaja off, just to get beaten up again. Then Lance Hoyt showed up to make the save (we had been told that his flight was delayed).
CHRIS HARRIS PROMO- awesome!
TEXAS DEATH MATCH: Chris Harris vs. James Storm (w/Jackie Moore)- 9/10
One of the most brutal, bloody matches I have ever seen. THIS is was a f*cking GRUDGE MATCH. I loved Harris ripping his AMW shirt in half as he came down the ramp.
STING & DANIELS BACKSTAGE- They talk. I have no freakin’ idea what they are talking about. Daniels walks off angrily. Sting then cuts an okay promo about the main event.
TIGER MASK IV vs. JERRY LYNN vs. ALEX SHELLEY vs. SENSHI- 7/10
It probably would have been best for Tenay to not mention the fact that the Tiger Mask character originates in a cartoon. If this was my first exposure to it, it would hurt my ability to take it seriously. We got some great X-Division action here, and a decent post-match angle with the Motor City Machine Guns beating Lynn down, then Bob Backlund making the save.
LETICIA INTERVIEWS TOMKO- Tomko says Steiner is an idiot. He also doesn’t like people questioning his loyalty.
NWA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Team 3-D(c) vs. Scott Steiner & Tomko vs. LAX (w/Konnan)- 6/10
They did a good job telling their story with Steiner and Tomko, while the other two teams filled in the rest of the match with their usual stuff. Steiner and Tomko actually came to blows after the match… and RICK STEINER made his return to wrestling by making the save.
KURT ANGLE PROMO- FRICKIN’ AWESOME!
JB informed us that Kurt has requested a promo â€"on Sting’s set.†It sounded silly, but it worked perfectly with Kurt’s promo.
SAMOA JOE vs. AJ STYLES- 7.25/10
A fun match, and a good payoff for some of AJ’s heel antics over the past few months.
NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Christian Cage(c) vs. Kurt Angle vs. Sting- 6/10
A decent match with a poorly executed, convoluted Dusty finish. A disappointing main event from such a strong show.
An awesome show from TNA! Great wrestling the whole way up and down the card (with the exception of the very short dud). This felt like TNA getting back on track after a few big missteps on recent PPVs. It was like everything good about TNA came rushing back. We even got the return of the â€"pull-back under SoCal Val’s leg†camera shot that TNA used to have at the beginning of most of their PPVs!
STUPID ANNOUNCER QUOTES:
1. Tenay totally undersells an ANGLE SLAM ON THE RAMP as just â€"a suplex on the ramp.†How the f*ck does Tenay not recognize one of Kurt’s finishers?! He also called the Scorpion Death Lock a â€"Scorpion Submission.â€