TNA – Sacrifice 2008 – DVD Review

Wrestling is a matter of skill and putting your body on the line no matter what the cost may be. When it comes to winning your match and taking out your opponents you must leave it on the table and try to make sure you come out on top. Is it really worth the sacrifices that are necessary in order to be declared the winner and get the title strapped around your waist? To some it is, but to me…no sacrifice was greater then me having to watch this PPV.

On May 11, 2008, TNA superstars came together in Orlando, Florida so that the six-sided ring could endure Sacrifice. Almost every wrestler on the roster would appear on the card tonight in matches that would call for them to make the ultimate sacrifices. A Deuces Wild Tournament would pit four tag-teams up against four teams that were randomly paired together. Would the current teams be able to show their time together is all it took to persevere, or would the wildcard teams be able to somehow have enough chemistry to advance? And more so, would any team have enough gas in them to make it through three matches in one night to capture the vacant Tag Titles?

The beautiful women so perfectly called the “TNA Knockouts” would all step into the ring against one another and risk it all in order to get a title shot against Awesome Kong. But when it boils down to it, the loser will end up getting her head shaved. Also at Sacrifice, ten X-Division stars will step into the brand new Terrordome structure, putting their safety on the line for a shot at the X-Division Title held by Petey Williams. And later in the night, Samoa Joe will try and defend his TNA World Heavyweight Title against both Scott Steiner and the Olympic gold medalist Kurt Angle.

**There are spoilers in this review!**

~ Introduction – Kurt Angle shows up and admits that his doctor doesn’t want him to wrestle due to the injury suffered in a match in South Korea. Scott Steiner shows up next with Petey Williams and Rhaka Khan which leads to Steiner babbling. Rick Steiner and Kevin Nash then pop out of the limo…oooooooo! Samoa Joe arrives last in what looks like the same exact limo every time and gives his thoughts on the earlier arrivals.

~ Deuces Wild: Team 3D Vs. James Storm & Sting – The reasoning for this tournament is the dumbest one in history. Eric Young wouldn’t admit that he was also “Super Eric” so the titles were stripped from him and Styles?? My God that is retarded. And can anyone say, WCW’s Lethal Lottery reincarnated? Hello!

Anyways, right away there is tension teased between Storm and Sting. Don West goes into a rant about how smart it is for Storm to take control of his team since he has so much expertise in tag team wrestling in TNA. That’s great Don, but one guy against one of the longest tenured tag teams in wrestling is still not a good idea. Very slow match with a dumb ending that made it even worse.

~ Deuces Wild: Robert Roode & Booker T Vs. Rhino & Christian Cage – Another case of a tag team with tension between in Roode and Booker so it makes for a case of the established team versus one that has to try and work together. Booker’s hair is getting insanely long. I wish he’d go back to the flattop. Another kind of short match, but I guess that is to be expected considering they are putting a whole tournament in one night along with other matches. Nothing much except constant problems between Roode and Booker which ultimately causes their demise.

And that’s two random teams already gone from the tournament.

~ Deuces Wild: Kip James & Matt Morgan Vs. LAX – Kip James just needs to go. I’m not sure where he needs to go, but off of television would be a great start. Morgan and James actually have no real tension since they are simply a randomly placed together team so this may actually work. LAX of course works better together, but the match still seems to drag with hardly anything going on. Hector Guerrero looks incredibly out of place with LAX too with that suit and bandanna. Oh, but even though there are no problems between Morgan and James doesn’t mean that LAX can get the victory here cleanly. Random team number three is a gone pecan.

~ Deuces Wild: AJ Styles & Super Eric Vs. BG James & Awesome Kong – AJ Styles and Eric Young (I refuse to acknowledge the stupid superhero gimmick. Hurricane and Gregory Helms was something different because there was actual “effort” there.) BG James and Awesome Kong are together as a team for nothing more then comedy purposes. James also needs to disappear. If AJ could get away from the goofy angles he’s placed in, then he’d be a bit more legit. As for now though, Kong is the most legitimate wrestler in this match. Ok, the match was meant to be a comedy and that’s how it ended too as Styles screwed up the finish incredibly bad and they didn’t even try to cover it well either.

Well, all four randomly placed together teams are now gone making the first round and point of the “Deuces Wild” stipulation totally pointless.

~ Terrordome: Chris Sabin Vs. Consequences Creed Vs. Curry Man Vs. “Guru” Sonjay Dutt Vs. Jay Lethal Vs. Jimmy Rave Vs. Johnny Devine Vs. Kaz Vs. Alex Shelley Vs. Shark Boy – The Terrordome is a giant red structure with its roof standing thirty feet above the floor. It is a big cage with a rounded roof with a hole right in the center of it. The winner of the match must climb up the cage and escape out the hole. Call this the Elimination Chamber without the chambers and with the winner being determined by escape. Big whoop although the structure doesn’t look all bad, but would look better if it wasn’t pressed up against the ring. Jim Cornette comes out beforehand and says that winner will not only get an X-Title shot, but also take Angle’s place in the main event.

This is a big chaotic mess with action that is very hard to see due to the small space in between the bars and the bright red color. Can I tell you just how much I can’t stand Shark Boy’s gimmick where he thinks he’s Stone Cold? Awful. A few nice spots here and there including a monstrous Tower Of Doom out of one of the corners. It wasn’t a bad match even though it is meant to be nothing more then big spot after big spot, and I’m OK with that. Best match of the night by far.

~ Deuces Wild: Team 3D Vs. Rhino & Christian Cage – As if seeing Team 3D once on a PPV isn’t bad enough; here they come again. Having two teams that have worked together for a while makes for a much better tag match since now the focus is no longer on the “feuding partners placed together as a team.” This is a decent enough back and forth match that had a crappy finish. Wonderful, Team 3D will show up again on this DVD.

~ Deuces Wild: AJ Styles & Super Eric Vs. LAX – This is really not too bad a match on paper when you look past Eric Young’s stupid gimmick. And like I said before, we’re now past the wild card teams, which makes this a match that can be enjoyed more easily. Homicide and Styles work fantastically together and really need to be in the ring more often against one another. See TNA, that’s a good match-up right there. Focus on it, but you won’t and you know why? Because the first two minutes of this match has Homicide and Styles do some awesome work with a lot of reversals and pin attempts but the announcers pay not one second of attention to it. The rest of the match is kind of quick, but another decent one finally. Glad to see LAX continue getting pushed.

~ Makeover Match: Jacqueline Vs. Traci Brooks Vs. Salinas Vs. Rhaka Khan Vs. Velvet Sky Vs. Angelina Love Vs. Christy Hemme Vs. Gail Kim Vs. Roxxi Laveaux vs. ODB – Alright, so all the Knockouts will start out in the ring in a battle royal. The final two competitors will participate in a ladder match for a TNA Knockouts’ Title Match. The runner-up gets her head shaved. Gail Kim has immunity won in a match at a taping of Impact so if she is the runner-up then her head won’t be shaved.

Ok wait…Salinas was eliminated right away, but she went through the ropes and not over the top. Weird. Velvet Sky’s ass is nothing but cottage cheese and that is evident from an oh so (not) lovely camera angle. And good God to Traci Brooks getting kicked in the back and WALKING from the center of the ring to the ropes and tossing herself out. That was horrible. There is a lot of teaming up against the giant which is Rhaka Khan and it all boils down to Gail Kim and Roxxi surviving to the ladder match.

Alright so since Kim has immunity; if Roxxi wins then Angelina Love gets her head shaved because she was the last eliminated in the battle royal. And if Kim wins then Roxxi’s head is shaved. For those keeping score at home with the stipulations, forget about it. As if it wasn’t enough of a clusterf*ck already, there’s plenty of interference to make even the one-on-one turn upside down.

~ Deuces Wild: Team 3D Vs. LAX – Yay, Team 3D again. It is evident the crowd is just as sick of seeing them as I am. Interference as usual and we’ve seen this match before so it’s not really anything new.

~ Heavyweight Championship: Samoa Joe (c) Vs. Scott Steiner Vs. Kaz – I thank the good Lord above that Kaz was added to this match because if it had been just Joe and Steiner for fifteen minutes then my head would have exploded. There are no problems with Samoa Joe, but Steiner is just dreadful and should never get in a wrestling ring again. He didn’t do awful here, but there’s no way he could have had a decent match with Joe on his own. Nice work from Joe and Kaz making for good agile spots that would be countered by Steiner’s power.

I was kind of surprised that there was a tease of something brewing between Joe and Nash from the very start of the show and then Nash never even showed his face during the main event.

The event is shown in 1.33:1 Full Screen format and it looks fine. There are no pixilation problems and the production work is well done.

The event is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and it also all sounds good. Man, if only Don West could have his tongue cut out then I’d watch TNA every single week.

Kurt Angle: Surgery Update – Angle talks about his fifth and sixth neck injuries and how they happened. It lasts about two minutes and is nothing exciting.

X Division: Terrordome – It took four miles of steel to build and weighs about six thousand pounds and that is about all we get into the making of this structure. The participants then give their feelings on the match. This feature runs close to ten minutes and is nothing much except “it’s a big match.”

Knockouts Interviews – All the chicks give their views and thoughts about their upcoming match and what’s more important: the title or their hair? They also give predictions on who will get shaved. Most hope it will be one of the Beautiful People. It would have been nice if they would have done real backstage candid interviews instead of staying in character. Runs close to five minutes.

Roxxi Laveaux Receives Stitches – This feature is simply four minutes of Roxxi getting stitches backstage and I have to admit that the girl is a friggin’ trooper.

Trailers – Best Of TNA 2007, TNA Against All Odds, TNA Lockdown, and TNA Global Impact

You know, if it wasn’t for the Terrordome or Joe and Kaz in the main event then this would be the absolutely worst PPV I’ve ever seen. But just those matches are no reason to ever pop this DVD in again. Avoid this one at all costs because the tag tournament just dragged on, and that is saying a lot because I love tournaments. Wrestling tournaments are some of my favorite things and I wish there were more of them, but this one sucked. Why make random teams if not a single one gets past the first round? It takes any unpredictability right out of the whole thing. The Knockouts’ match was somewhat decent as was the main event, but the spot-filled Terrordome match is the only thing I’d ever possibly watch again. The special features add up to just over twenty minutes and are boring. TNA never really thrills me, but this is just ridiculously bad.

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Navarre Corporation presents TNA Sacrifice 2008. Featuring: Samoa Joe, Scott Steiner, Kaz, Sting, Booker T, AJ Styles, James Storm, Rhino, and many more. Running time: 210 minutes. Rating: Not Rated. Released on DVD: July 15, 2008. Available at Amazon.com