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TNA'S FINAL RESOLUTION: A SHOW THAT WAS TOO CUTE FOR ITS OWN GOOD

Last night's Final Resolution PPV was one of those nights where you wanted to just shake your head at TNA and wonder what in the world they were thinking when they devised some of the finishes for the show. In a world where many in TNA used to point at Dusty Rhodes for being the culprit for bad finishes a year ago and in a world where wrestling fans are openly sick of bad finishes and storylines in World Wrestling Entertainment, TNA did nothing to show they were a true alternative to professional wrestling last night. If anything, they came off in many cases, I hate to say, like WCW. While in many cases the wrestling itself was fine, there were so many finishes that left fans shaking their heads because the company did something that was obviously not what their fans wanted to see.

Worse still, the show was headlined by the first big level appearance of Sting for the promotion since signing his one year deal. A number of casual wrestling fans, their curiosity piqued by the return of one of their favorites, would be giving TNA a chance to earn their dollars for the first time last night. While Sting looked acceptable (although at times disinterested) for someone who hadn't worked a major match in several years, TNA did nothing underneath to try and capture the attention of the fans, hook them in, and make them want to come back next month. After several months of very good PPVs, TNA spent most of last night with their tires stuck in the mud, advancing storylines by giving their fans the exact type of finishes that the company has worked their rear off to be an alternative to. It was enough to make even the most TNA friendly wrestling fan get frustrated and throw their hands up.

TNA tried to be too creative and too cute with the finishes, on the wrong night to do it. While I can understand they want to advance the storylines, it was too much at once, much like many of their Impact episodes try to get too much across. In the past, TNA could use the crutch that they had superior wrestling action inside the ring. While the wrestling was good last night, bad finishes will overshadow even the best matches. Last night, unfortunately, there were too many cases of overshadowing hard work with bad finishes.

Team Canada vs. Jay Lethal & Kenny King & Lance Hoyt: I thought this was a solid six man tag. King and Lethal both looked really good here and I was especially impressed with King as I wasn't familiar with his work at all. The Canadian Destroyer is a really great move. Eric Young reminds me a lot of Eddie Gilbert inside the ring and that is a big compliment coming from me. A good athletic wrestling match.

Homicide & Konnan vs. The Naturals: Homicide is such a good worker, you'd never realize he's as banged up as he is. This was OK for what it was, but one would think that if BG James wanted to kill Konnan, he wouldn't be sitting backstage waiting to do it when Konnan is an easy target. It seems like the Naturals were NWA Tag champions a million years ago, doesn't it?

Alex Shelley & Roderick Strong & Austin Aries vs. Matt Bentley & Sonjay Dutt & Chris Sabin: A great six man tag to open the PPV portion of the card. Strong, Shelley, Sabin, and Aries are all wrestling machines. Dutt is really charismatic when given the chance and fits in well with all of the aforementioned. Bentley is more grounded then the other workers and works a more methodical style, but did well here. Sabin's new look is going to take some getting used to. I thought it was odd he changed it before his new action figure is set to be released. I hope the new look is indicative that he's going to finally get his well deserved push. In many ways, this was one of the two standout matches of the show and I loved it.

The James Gang vs. The Diamond in the Rough: The crowd seemed more interested in chanting "New Age Outlaws" than anything else. Again, it was weird to see the James Gang just wrestling here when one would think they would be out looking for Konnan, but I guess they needed to get their first official PPV match under their belt.

AJ Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi: This was one of the two matches where all the good work in the world couldn't have helped them because the finish ripped the life out of the crowd. The match was OK with a long feeling out process and it seemed to build somewhat, but once it got to the point where you expected some big spots and false finishes out of the bout, Shannon Moore appeared right out of Monday Night Raw finish #106, hitting the ring to interfere. It was odd to see Styles immediately hit his finish on Tanahashi, then suddenly be concerned about his well being. If TNA needed to continue the Shannon Moore storyline, he should have been added to the match as part of a Three-Way, or a vignette should have been done at another point in the show. Perhaps Moore should have appeared while Styles was checking on Christopher Daniels, getting over what a disrespectful jerk he is by taking that moment to get his own spotlight. The finish came off really disjointed here. When TNA brings in a talent from overseas and touts him as something special, their fans expect to see something special as a result, particularly when that talent is in the ring with AJ Styles. To give those fans anything else is criminal in my opinion.

Raven vs. Sean Waltman: I have to say I think Waltman was a letdown as the mystery opponent, although he and Raven did have a hell of a match last year for the company. I guess with his return, we can start the 6 month countdown to when Jeff Hardy is given another chance to no show. This match didn't do it for me at all. It lacked any real sense of emotion with two guys just whacking each other on the head for no real reason with weapons. Why would Waltman want to use them anyway? The spot with the shopping cart off the stage was insane, especially given Waltman's past neck problems. The finish here was horrible. Can someone within TNA please explain to me why they have Dave Hebner watching the show but then when an obviously bad call is made, Hebner is nowhere in sight? I understand they are building the storylines but this is a case where that storyline had a gaping hole in it. Jackie Gayda's cameo during the post-match vignette did nothing to help anyone's case either as it came off like a really bad acting segment in a Cinemax movie. The lone saving grace was Cassidy Riley's legitimately upset looking reaction to his hero being ousted from the company.

Ron Killings vs. Bobby Roode: TNA has always tried to keep Roode strong in his appearances, so if they weren't going to use the angle where Killings shocked and pinned him twice on Impact two weeks ago as a major launching pad for Killings, why did they do it? The angle was a backdrop for the ongoing 3 Live Kru breakup, where Killings is the only one involved who has any sense by wanting no part in any of it. Yet, he turns around to watch while everyone else is brawling? Why did it take BG James over an hour to decide to come looking for Konnan anyway? The match did nothing for anyone involved.

Abyss vs. Rhino: I will give Rhino a ton of credit for working hard and trying to pull out lots of moves that someone his size probably shouldn't logically be doing. His plancha is something to behold and should be saved for special occasions. I can understand that he has something to prove after all those months of being railroaded in WWE, but that's a year ago and now he has a well deserved spot. He needs to save them to get the big pop on a major show. Abyss is a great brawler and Rhino worked hard but this didn't click the way I expected. Still, I liked the finish because it came out of nowhere and was a clean pinfall, ignoring the chair, so no one lost a step. James Mitchell cuts one hell of a promo, by the way, pun intended.

Team 3D vs. America's Most Wanted: When this one was over, I was looking around for Dusty Rhodes, Stephanie McMahon, George Gulas, Verne Gagne, Kevin Nash, anyone to blame. This was easily the worst finish in the last year of TNA's PPVs. The referee gets blinded, counts a pinfall involving two wrestlers that look nothing like each other physically, is handed a towel by the ring announcer (who despite not being blinded can't bother to tell the referee what he just saw), and then rules that the wrong team wins based on who's on top of the pile when his eyes are clear. Where was Dave Hebner? Larry Zbyszko? The other referees? Jeremy Borash? The TNA Production team with a replay on the video screen? Anything? If TNA didn't have a good idea for a finish, then Team 3D should have taken the loss and been so pissed off about losing that they trashed everyone they get their hands on until they get a rematch. These are the damned Dudley Boyz we are talking about - they are going to lay down and accept something so blatantly stupid, even in a storyline aspect of things? Unless TNA wanted new viewers to think that their product was no different from the worst of WCW-era finishes, I don't know what else to say about their thought process here.

Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels: At this point, it was in the hands of Joe and Daniels to save the show and they had a really good match. In theory, I didn't have any problem with the finish here except that after all the lame finishes we had seen all night, this one, which should have felt like a major dramatic storyline turn, was just another in the line of matches that didn't end with a legitimately clean finish. I'd like to see TNA explain why AJ Styles threw in the towel for Daniels (especially when it was Samoa Joe's) as opposed to the referee stepping in and saying that Daniels couldn't continue the match. Was it to get heat on Styles for stopping the match? To get Joe mad that he couldn't continue the job? To get Daniels upset that Styles didn't give him a chance to recover? Why? I understand all these things don't need to be explained immediately and they are obviously building to a Three-Way rematch, which works for me, but sometimes you need a post-match interview to continue the flow of things.

Jeff Jarrett & Monty Brown vs. Sting & Christian Cage: This was what the fans came to see, based on the reaction to Sting when he came out. Sting did a good job getting himself in shape and although he didn't have an extraordinary performance, everything that he was known for doing, he still did at an acceptable level. It was nice to see he and Cage doing the stereo moves. Monty Brown came off looking like a main event star here, minus one spot with he and Christian where time stood still. Jarrett getting pinned by Sting was an interesting finish, because they had been pushing so hard that Cage was going to be gunning for the title. As a moment, it was fine and the match was acceptable.

TNA took a slight step backwards last night, mostly because they tried to do too much and be too cute. It's one thing to try and use an angle or a heel finish to advance the storylines. It's another to do way too many of them at once, specifically in matches where fans have been educated to expect good wrestling and clean finishes (AJ Styles vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi) and matches that have been built up over several months to a climax (Team 3D vs. AMW). To not give the fans what they expect for the sake of doing cute finishes takes away from the exact idea of what TNA is meant to be in the first place - an alternative. If they aren't going to be that alternative, there are other places where fans will look. They want to like and follow TNA. I hope last night was a singular occurrence and not the start of a trend of PPVs that don't live up to the hype because the creative team is trying too hard to be creative instead of allowing the company's best assets, its talent and work ethic, to speak for themselves.

Mike Johnson can be reached at Mike@PWInsider.com.

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