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On to the action inside the Impact Zone.
They started off with the usual warm up and introduction of the announcers and So Cal Val. As an added bonus, they taped a match for Xplosion. I think it was done because they are going to be filming five weeks of television before Final Resolution and this was a way to get a match out of the way.
I was hoping that they would do a pre-show match and with the way the women’s division has been rebuilt, I was hoping that Hamada and Alissa Flash would be given a chance to wrestle in a pay per view environment. Even though this was an Xplosion match, I still consider it a pay per view match. I thought it was a good pre-show match. Unfortunately, the crowd seemed to care more about Alissa teasing the fans with her ring attire by zipping and unzipping her top during the course of the match. These two women have had a good feud on Impact over the last few months and I really hope these two women are given the chance to challenge for the title.
As is the case with most TNA pay per views, they started off with an X Division match to get the crowd hot at the start of the night. One thing that affects my enjoyment of a lot of X Division matches is when they try to fit fifteen minutes of action into an eight minute match. Homicide and Red presented an X Division match that did not go overboard with those types of moves and while there were some highspots during the match, they were spaced out enough where you would remember them instead of it being something you forgot as soon as the next match started.
I liked that both men got in enough offense to make it look like both men had a chance to win the match. I was a bit surprised that Red was able to kick out of a Michinoku Driver after Hamada used one to win the previous match. There were also a few good counters, especially when Homicide was able to hit a cutter out of a moonsault attempt by Red. During the match, when they were fighting on the turnbuckles, I was thinking that maybe we would see Red get the victory with a Code Red from the turnbuckles. This match definitely made me want to see more between these two.
Another good sign from the opening match was the lack of interference by the World Elite. Any outside interference definitely would have taken away from the match.
I thought the Six Woman Tag Match was okay. There were a few good double team moves by Sarita and Taylor. However, there did not seem to be anything like that from the challengers. With all of the times in women’s wrestling when someone is thrown by their hair, it was about time that someone’s extensions were pulled out. I was a bit surprised by Lacey’s reaction after the match regarding what happened with her hair and seemed like it was something trivial to be laughed about than to be frustrated about losing the match.
I liked the Desmond Wolfe interview and continued a string of solid promos to build his debut and feud with Kurt Angle. For me, the thing that makes Desmond’s promos so effective is that he is talking in a normal tone of voice, similar to the promos that Jake Roberts used to give.
I thought the tag title match was good until the interference took place. There were a number of good double team moves by all three teams. However, one set of ‘double team moves’ that frustrated me were the ‘usual poses’ that each team does in the middle of matches. It seems that there is a groundswell of criticism for taking time out of a match to play up to the crowd like Storm and Roode do instead of trying to win the match. There is a title on the line in this match. There was also a strange part of the match when Storm, Roode, Shelley, and Sabin all hit rapid fire moves on Magnus and Williams and while Shelley and Sabin were in the ring, Storm and Roode applauded them. Aren’t they ‘opponents’ because they are all trying for the tag titles?
With the interference by Eric Young, James Storm cared more about attacking Young during the match than helping his partner and trying to win the match. Then Kevin Nash comes out and after taking the International Legends belt and hits James Storm with it?
I wonder if the Motor City Machine Guns will demand a rematch claiming that Storm and Roode should not have been in the match because they lost their ‘final chance’ at the titles in the steel cage match on Impact.
While they were setting up the cage, I had mentioned to the people I was sitting with that it would have been nice to find out why Nash came out during the match and attacked Storm and that it would have been interesting to hear Nash say that it was because of Hogan. Then they showed the segment in the back and I had to chuckle when Nash utter the ‘H word’.
I thought the cage match between Kong and Tara was okay. TNA deserves a lot of credit for giving us a women’s match in a cage when their feud had progressed to the point where a cage match was logical. Additionally, these are two women on the roster who I thought could do well in a cage match. There were a few good spots in the match, especially the power bomb by Tara while Kong was on the turnbuckles and the cross body from the top of the cage.
I thought it was a good touch to have Lauren interview Tara after the match to get her comments. It looks like the feud with Kong is now over as Tara sets her sights on the title. Maybe it will continue if Tara or Kong win the title, but for now, each can move on.
The six man tag match was better than I expected, but I did not like finish of the match. I was also a bit surprised that Matt Morgan had issues with D’Angelo Dinero pushing him out of the way when Team 3D was setting up for the 3D towards the end of the match only to take a double team move from Team 3D. At that point, I thought that Dinero might be setting up a turn on Morgan and Hernandez. While it is a common occurrence in all companies, when the referee is too easily distracted by action outside the ring to focus on interference in the ring.
I was surprised that they were through five matches shortly after 9:00. It was not a situation in my mind where things were rushed. At this point, I was glad that it appeared that they were going to give the main events a lot of time.
The Steiner/Lashley match was much better than I expected and saw Lashley take a lot more from Steiner than I expected. I think the addition of the falls count anywhere and no disqualification stipulations added to the match because it gave them the leeway to go outside the Impact Zone. Inside the Impact Zone, it took a little time for the action in the back and outside to appear on the HoganTron. When Steiner rearranged the scaffolding behind the Spanish Announce Table, I was afraid that it was going to collapse on Hector and Willie. I was definitely surprised that Steiner defeated Lashley in this match but it looks like this feud will continue.
I liked Steiner’s semi-tribute to Rick Rude by wearing tights that had a picture of Kristal Lashley strategically placed. (I don’t remember if Steiner has done this before in his feuds)
I thought Kurt Angle’s segment with Jeremy Borash was very good and was a good compliment to the earlier segment with Desmond Wolfe. The serious nature of the comments added a lot to a match that probably did not even need promos to get over with the crowd.
The Desmond Wolfe/Kurt Angle match was better than I expected, and I was expecting this to be among the best matches of the pay per view. I really liked the way that the match built with Wolfe working on Angle’s arm while maintaining control of the match. The Angle six rolling German suplex spot was impressive and a good way for Angle to try to get back at Wolfe for Wolfe’s attempts to go after Angle’s neck. I was a bit surprised that Angle kicked out of the Tower of London instead of getting his foot or hand on the rope based on the amount of damage that he suffered in the match. I liked Angle’s counter of the second Tower of London attempt. I was a bit surprised that after Angle used his ‘injured’ arm for a clothesline before Desmond returned to the arm and put him in the London Dungeon was not enough for him to tap.
After the match, I was expecting to see Wolfe attack Angle.
There is definitely a way that they could do a rematch between Wolfe and Angle.
I don’t know if it was because I was in the Impact Zone because I read the praise that Mike gave to this match, but there was something that detracted from my enjoyment of the match and that was being in the Impact Zone. Within a minute or two of the match starting, there was a ‘This is Awesome’ Chant. How was working on Angle’s arm ‘awesome’? Then there was a ‘Thank you Dixie’ chant and a ‘This is wrestling’ chant. If ‘this’ is wrestling, what were the six matches before it? How should the other wrestlers on the show feel that they are not ‘wrestling’? I don’t know if these things can be heard on the broadcast, but it is something that took away from the match for me. I also wonder why it took ten minutes for the ‘This is awesome’ chant in the main event. There have been times when the crowd enhanced a match for me (and I have been in the middle of the insanity for some of those matches like the Abyss/Lance Hoyt match at Sacrifice 2005) and I know that many of the people on the site have talked about how crowd reactions have made some matches better or even worse because of their actions.
I liked the Samoa Joe promo before the main event. I was a bit surprised that we did not hear from A.J. or Daniels. Joe has done a great job of trying to manipulate the situation for his benefit, but we would see it backfire in the match.
I thought the streamers were a good touch to give the main event a special feel and separate it from the rest of the show.
I don’t know if the main event lived up to the hype of being ‘four years in the making’ but it was a very solid match and a worthy follow up to their match from 2005. I thought that Daniels was the star of this match and threw in a number of moves that had not been seen in the Impact Zone before or in a long time. I thought the Boston Crab and Camel Clutch combination was an interesting submission hold. Throughout the match, there was the possibility that any of the three men could win the match. I liked the finish of the match with Daniels hitting the BME only to have Styles break it up with the springboard 450 splash to get the pin on Joe.
I liked that they had Jeremy Borash interviewing Daniels after his stare down with Styles after the match. I believe it was filmed for the TNA website but it should continue the feud between Daniels and Styles. Maybe this will be the main event for Final Resolution. At least it would keep Daniels out of the Feast or Fired match that he has not had a good history.
It was interesting to see that Daniels was talking about how it was his chance to ‘be on the same level’ as A.J. since he was treated as the golden boy by TNA management and that he had the match won only to see Styles stop him with the 450 splash and get the pin on Joe. I wonder if Daniels will confront A.J. and complain that he thought they were friends and that he was tired of A.J. stealing his thunder.
I was a bit surprised that they focused so much on the fact that the Unbreakable 2005 match was the ‘best match in TNA history’ because of the possible way that it could be viewed that nothing in the last four years has been at that level.
One other thing that made this pay per view fun for me was that a few people who had stopped going to the TNA pay per views in Orlando that I know from other shows in the area returned to the Impact Zone on Sunday. This made the show fun because when there was the occasion to react to something that happened or did not happen, they knew what I was talking about.
