Your new NWA World Champion: Christian Cage

The fuckin PPV was tonight?

What the fuck. Dammit. I've been saving up Impacts like candy likely, getting ready to have a binge.

I've been calling that title win since before Christian even debuted in TNA.

And some quick reults. They're not that fantastic, but here they are.

Wow, I just ready a PPV report, and this looks like the best TNA has ever done.

Getting Aries/Strong in a solid opener. Putting Lethal on the map with an upset win. What sounds like a great Tag Title match with a deserving challenger in Sabin/Dutt. And the Falls Count Anywhere match sounds really fun.

The X Title Match sounds awesome, and I'm hoping for the magic of youtube to hook me up in not too long a time.

And the title match sounds perfectly built and booked.

But why the hell did Jackie slap Shelley? Do I need to watch my Impacts?

This really could be a big turning point for TNA.

I wouldn't necessessarily say it was TNA's best show of all time, but it was damn solid. Good main event, the 3-way was a BIT dissappointing, and the AMW/Sabin/Sonjay match was also very well done. Even Team 3d/Team Canada was surprising. I'll do a full write up tomorrow though.

I'll be ordering a replay of this. This was a wait and see who wins the main event before ordering show.

Yeah, I wasn't really saying I thought it was their best show ever, but more saying it looks like TNA got their shit together and finally delievered THAT show, through their booking and decisions, and the wrestling as well.

If that makes sense.

Please tell me that someone on another board made up the "TNA imitates the Screwjob because it's such a fresh idea" spot in the main event.

With that out of the way, and ignoring the usual garbage like Canada/3D, looks like a good show. How long does Jarrett let go of the title for this time, a few weeks?

My thoughts on the show last night.............


By the way, TNA last night marked the return of ring announcer……….DAVID PENZER!!!!!!!

They opened up the PPV with The Naturals vs. Roderick/Aries. Now I did hear about this match happening before the show but after Rod/Aries decided to stay at the ROH on Saturday night after TNA tried to pull talent because of weather………..I didn’t know weather to expect them or not. But anyway, they made it and the match was on. Aries seemed to carry the match but I honestly still can’t get into The Naturals. They just don’t do much for me and they don’t even come close to matching talent with the likes of Rod/Aries. By the way, I would honestly love it if someone could explain to me why Aries apparently thinks he’s Jesse Ventura these days as well………..I would appreciate it. But the watch was nothing special with The Naturals not doing much until Chase Stevens ended up hitting a nice Shooting Star on to Rod/Aries on the floor. Nice spot for sure. Everything else was just ok with The Naturals looking bad on offense and even lost at times. Strong hit his usual shtick and Aries hit some good highflying offense here and there but it was pretty evident that when TNA allowed The Naturals to hit their finish for the win that they did so because of Aries/Strong deciding to stay at ROH on Saturday night as well.

Rating - *1/2

Up next was the X-division 4 way with Bentley/Shelley/Lethal/Petey. I was really jazzed when I heard they had added this to the PPV because I thought that the show was lacking in the x-division category before they did. Good work by all in the contest with a pretty good sequence or two out of Shelley/Bentley (remember these two got into it backstage a few weeks back, so it was cool that they were at least professional) and great stuff from Petey and Lethal too. The Orlando crowd was DEFINITELY behind Lethal all the way and I was rather surprised when Jay actually pulled this one out. But there were some really good 4 way spots and the usual from what you would expect out of this one and the match came off really well. Plus, they needed something to bring the crowd back after the first match was just so blah.

Rating - **3/4

At this point they decided it was time for LAX vs. The James Gang. GRAND. Although TNA has really done a stellar job at building this feud up as something important AND special……………it just isn’t. Especially because I don’t care about the payoff at all (aka the inevitable Konnan/BG singles match) and it’s just never anything THAT great in the ring. Plus, it looks like since Apolo no showed the last PPV that he’s on the outs in TNA as he has been replaced in LAX with a guy name Machete (anyone know anything about this guy?). But like usual Billy Gunn has a fucked up time trying to work with someone better than him when he totally fucked up a tilt a whirl backbreaker spot with Homicide. BG did a solid job though working with both guys and honestly there really isn’t much to talk about because it was so HO HUM. James Gang won my DQ when Konnan interfered if you are really concerned about the outcome…..

Rating - *

From here TNA decided to bust out the tag team title match and I was rather relieved as they needed to bring it up a level after that shitty match. If you caught Impact this week you may have noticed the Sabin tweaked his ankle a bit and they used that as the framework in this match saying that he wasn’t 100%. Good work on all parts here as TNA did a killer job of getting Sonjay/Sabin over as the uber babyfaces and AMW as the dickhead southern heels. They had AMW work the ankle of Sabin over for a large portion of the match and they really put this one together well. They did a rather anticlimactic ending in this one with AMW just hitting the death sentence on Sonjay for the pin while Sabin was caught holding his ankle on the floor (Storm slammed the guardrail on it) and AMW retains. After the match they had AMW handcuff Sonjay in the ring to the ring post and they were going to whack him with a chair until Sabin took the chair and made the save. I really didn’t think they were going to do a title switch here, but at least this match wasn’t a throwaway as they really did a good job at making Sonjay/Sabin look like really awesome babyfaces.

Rating - ***3/4

Then it was time for the pinfalls count anywhere match between Rhino/Abyss. Now I’ll admit that after all of the feuding that these two have done in the last few months I really didn’t want to see this match at all. But once they announced that it was falls count anywhere…………..it did spark my curiosity a bit. They did a good job building this one on TV too and it was a major match on the card at this point. Both guys did some good stuff as they basically did you usual table spots and whatnot with good work on both of their parts. Rhino bladed early with a solid garbage can shot from Abyss. At one point in the match there were about 4 tables stacked out near the catwalk, two setup in the ring, and the crowd was ELECTRIC. They went back and forth with Abyss chokeslaming Rhino through the one for a two count. Then Rhino gored Abyss into the table in the corner……….at this point the crowd is going APESHIT. I was digging this one myself as it was a well thought out, well executed match. Rhino was bleeding heavily and the final part of the match saw Rhino gore Abyss off of the catwalk onto the tables waiting below and finally getting the cover (just to further explain, Rhino kind of just shoulder blocked Rhino off of the catwalk…….but I think you get the idea)…..

Rating - ****

From here we got the x-division 3 way rematch between Daniels/AJ/Joe for the X-Division championship. Of course this was the rematch of the 3 way that MANY people consider to be the best match in TNA history and was even given ***** stars by Da Meltz…….so in other words……..it had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately for TNA and the guys in this match………it didn’t do the job. Kind of the reason why I wish they wouldn’t have done this in the first place………….but oh well the match is still pretty solid. I did like how they set this one up with both AJ/Daniels hating Joe but neither guy could let the other one go. Every time either AJ or Daniels got the upper hand on Joe.......then the other would break it up. There were some stuff shots all around and some really good sequences and Daniels was the work horse of the match taking everything that Joe AND AJ could dish out. The ending in this one was basically Daniels and AJ have Joe knocked out and AJ attempting to go for the win. At that point AJ had thrown Daniels to the floor as he was climbing the ropes as JOE lay lifeless on the match. Then Daniels grabs AJ’s foot trying to stop him from going at Joe. Then Joe boots Daniels off of the apron and gives AJ the muscle buster for the pin.

Rating - ***1/2

Now it was time for the Team 3D/Team Canada match that I really wasn’t looking forward to. But I was actually mistaken as Team Canada did a great job as the heels in this match with D-Von bleeding all over the place, and them pulling out a lot of stops to make Team 3D look good here. There was a decent amount of BS interference and everything, but it all worked out in the grand scheme of things. There were a lot of close calls with Team Canada almost getting the win and Young and Roode were bumping all over the place to make Team 3D look better than they have up to this point in TNA. I did feel that this match did help get Team Canada over a bit more as heels and it was by far the best match for the former Dudleys in TNA. By the way, Team 3D hit the 3d for the win…..

Rating - ***1/4

Now it was MAIN EVENT time and it was Jarrett/Christian for the NWA World Heavyweight title. Before the match, Christian hit a really good promo about becoming the NWA champion and they even had his wife in the crowd for this one. All night leading up to the match there were backstage segments that had Larry Zybysko saying about the “special guest referee” for the match and basically was politicking people to NOT interfere in the main event. They did allow Jarrett to have Gail Kim at ringside but there was to be no other outside interference. This match had the crowd jacked and they were ready as usual to see JJ get beat. Well, TNA finally came through with this one as not only was it a really good match……………but the crowd and most people I know that watch TNA got their wish……….Jarrett dropped the NWA World Heavyweight championship. But not without some other notable things in the contest. First off, Dave Hebner and Larry Z brought out the special ref for the match………..EARL HEBNER. Oh no, it’s time to play up a screwjob………..and that’s exactly what they did. Jarrett put Christian in the sharpshooter and they definitely teased the screwjob finish from SS97, but they just teased it and nothing more. The crowd was going crazy at this……..At one point in the match Hebner got knocked out and Jarrett hit the stroke off of the top rope for a no cover. Christian fired back with an unprettier……….no count on that. Then TNA official Slick Johnson made his way down and a 2 count. Then JJ decided to nutshot SJ and gets him out of the match. Eventually though Hebner came to and made the count after Christian hit the unprettier 1……2…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………and the eventual Hebner 3 count. Your winner and NEW NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION……….CHRISTIAN.

Rating - ***1/4

You didn't rate the last match?

Going by Jarrett's scale of average, DK probably would rate it at ***1/4. :D (hopes to see if I was close with the guess)

*** is always a good guess for Jarrett in the ring with a competent opponent.

I swear I saw that post AFTER I edited mine.

Weird...........I guess Jarrett HAS become that predictable.

His best matches are almost always around the ***1/2 zone, and with a good-very good worker in the ring with him, he hovers around the *** mark almost automatically. I just split the difference and went with the extra 1/4.

Edit: And yes, Jarrett is predictable. He's not exactly Mr. Wizard in the ring.

I wouldn't say that's a negative in his case. At least you know what you're going to get with him in the ring and that it'll stay watchable. I don't think he gets enough credit for having good matches with a wider variety of opponents then most.

Jarrett's problem, in my eyes, he relies too much on the same formula of 10 minutes of brawling around the ring and in the crowd and 10 minutes of overbooked crap with everyone kicking out of 10 finishing moves, a ref bump, and some run ins.

This is the Jarrett 2003-2004 scale, so maybe he got better. :)

There was almost an immediate change in Jarrett in the ring once he gave up backstage responsibilities.

I would agree with MD on this that he certainly gets bashed a bit too much for the fact that he has average matches constantly. My main problem with him is his booking. He's just booked too much like fucking superman when everything he does in that role isn't believable. He overcomes WAAAAY to much shit for a heel champion.

Heel or face. In 2003, he was fighting of stables of 6-7 men single handedly! I'm sorry, but when I think of "Superman" wrestlers, Double J isn't one of them.

That does sound like a good show, although it seems to have a slow start.

This sounds like a pay-per-view that I would probably be interested in owning. I'm always in the mood to watch Jarrett job a world title.

To a WWE mid-carder.

A WWE midcarder jobs a worthless world title to a WWE midcarder. I don't see any problem with that, Prof. :D

Found a live torrent via TorrentReactor if anyone is into that kind of thing. There is some fun fancam footage on youtube as well, although the sync is all fucked up.

I just watched the main event and wow. The ending shot of the ring completely filled with fans celebrating is just an incredible sight.

yeah, I'm retarded for not mentioning that in my review.

Whoever had the idea to let them in is a genius. It really added to the moment and made it seem important.

Makes it feel like there is still kayfabe in pro wrestling.

My torrent is done, and I couldn't be happier about it. I'm gonna start it when I finish this poker tourney. YAY!

Even I got to admit that's pretty fucking cool, and I never like to admit anything.

Honestly that picture doesn't even do it justice. I mean the ring was packed with people.

I've seen the Rocky movies, so that's a good enough simulation for me. :)

Getting the replay is actually a better value on Dish Network. You get the PPV for the entire day instead of the live showing and 1 replay.

I was watching a couple of the matches a second time around and I was kind of thinking that they should've had Dutt and Sabin win the tag titles. Then have America's Most Wanted win the belts back on Impact.

Or have Sabin/Dutt win and fire AMW. There's hundreds of teams on the Indy's that are probably more talented and willing to work cheaper than them, too.

I still say TNA should have a revolving door of talent for the midcard and the occasional main eventers. Use people for 2-3 months, get rid of them for a whilw and bring in new people. Then start over again.