Tonight, the “Interinactivity Returns” tour runs through the program we all know and love as TNA. Yeah, I was gonna do Impact, then I realized that Bound For Glory was just a few short days later! How could I NOT cover a PPV involving Hulk Hogan wrestling live? That is going to be awesome. I’m pretty sure he can’t even run the ropes anymore. Anyway, I’m just doing this show the one time, so just to get this out of the way in advance: shut up, Corey Yuen. No one cares what you think.
Actually, let’s give the card it’s just due – this PPV actually seems to have a decent lineup. And as funny as it will be, Hogan .vs. Sting WILL draw eyeballs to this PPV, without question. And this time around, they actually have some stuff lined up that will impress people who tuned into see it, IF they let the guys go balls to the wall. It doesn’t even matter if Hogan and Sting sucks. No one is expecting it to be any good. But for anyone who tunes in, they’ll have some good technical matches, some great stuff like AJ and Daniels, and RVD and Lynn are about half as good as they used to be, so still much better than the rest of the roster. Aries and Kendrick will fly all over the place. Anderson and Ray will suck, but it’s a brawl, so they can still make it work.
But like, Hogan doing this interview seems to have thrown the PPV before it even started. At first I thought it was kayfabed, but then he started talking about how awesome Jeff Hardy is when Jeff Hardy is the guy who they’re playing up as Immortal’s biggest threat right now. So Roode sucks and Hardy rules, do I have that right? So, for the main event, they’ll have Hardy get involved because he rules and Roode sucks. Maybe Storm will turn on Roode too, or something. So why build Roode up like this then? If it’s all going to be about a guy WHO JUST GOT OUT OF PRISON 4 DAYS AGO, then what does it matter?
I gotta say, good for AJ for calling Hogan on his bullshit on Twitter. I’m sure it’s not going to do any favours for AJ down the road, but really, what does it matter at this point? Hogan’s already said on multiple occasions that he thinks AJ isn’t worth anything. TNA has such poor control over their productions that a couple years ago, Samoa Joe was able to go out and talk for 5 minutes on the mic about how shitty TNA is when Scott Hall didn’t show up and they didn’t cut him off.
So really, when Hogan comes out, AJ should just show up, push him to the ground, and spit on him. He doesn’t need to actually hurt him or anything, I’m not saying that, but I’m pretty sure Hogan can’t stay on his feet from a strong shove at this point, nor even get up if he’s knocked down without at least 5 minutes and a lot of help from the ropes. So AJ should just come out, do that, and leave. Or he gets escorted out. Who really cares? Either as a shoot or a worked shoot, this would work. What are they going to do to him, really? Even if they fire him, just by coming out and shoving Hogan to the ground, he’s a star. He’s the guy who called Hogan on his BS for what he’s done to TNA. Bam.
Obviously, that’s not going to happen. But it’s still BS no matter how you look at it. And it’s not like the PPV can’t be good just because of the Hogan interview, but honestly, it does sort of put a damper on your hopes for the future.
Just to show that I’m going into it from a positive attitude, I’m stoked that they’re doing this show from Philly. Philly is always an interesting crowd and I honestly have no idea how they’re going to react to some of what they’re seeing tonight. Here’s hoping against hope that TNA makes some good moves here, because it’s certainly been a while.
LET’S CROSS THE LINE!!!
Anyone else read Sideshow Bob’s Impact recap from last week? Although I didn’t agree with a lot of his opinions, it was a great recap. He just did summaries of the matches, which I found to be a solid move. I’m going to do the same thing tonight.
Soldi opening video package. Awesome sign in the crowd says “Warning: Swerves Ahead”. That guy who dresses up like Hulk Hogan and follows him around is here.
TNA X-Division Championship Match
Austin Aries .vs. Brian Kendrick
Kendrick’s gimmick is… odd. He’s sort of dressed like Sabu. People are into Aries tonight, although he’s a heel, but I’m guessing a lot of that is because this is in Philly. Aries is cool. Big Aries chants for this match, and boos for Kendrick whenever he pulled off a move, which is a good sign that the crowd is fired up for this. Some good back-and-forth action, and Aries, as always, hit his moves in a way that just looks more solid than most wrestlers you’ll see. I’ve never been a huge Kendrick fan, but he did his part. Aries was in control for the match as the heel, and tried to get the crowd to boo him but it didn’t work all that well.
Aries had Kendrick down and was teasing that elbow, and was actually getting the crowd to pop for it, then Kendrick kicked him in the face like 30 times until Aries ducked. That was pretty cool. Aries has some really good combo-moves that the crowd popped for. Aries tried to hit that dropkick that looks like it could murder someone, but Kendrick got his foot up and hit a nice tornado DDT for two. Crazy chants for Aries after that move, and he followed it up with that awesome suicide dive through the bottom two ropes. That move is awesome, lots of guys can go through the top two ropes, not so much the bottom two. Then he hit that lethal corner dropkick. Kendrick got a couple near falls and they had a great ending sequence that featured Kendrick hitting Sliced Bread #2 WITH ARIES ON THE SECOND ROPE, that only got 2. That was pretty nuts.
MAJOR chants for Aries after that, and Kendrick tried for SB2 off the apron again but Aries held on and Kendrick hit the pavement. Aries then punted Kendrick in the skull. Aries then hit the lethal corner dropkick again and pinned. Definitely a great match, and a solid opener.
Winner & Still TNA X-Division Champion: Austin Aries
Backstage, some people are playing with kids. Tracy is there. Then Karen Angle comes in. I guess the kids were Karen’s and she’s mad and says the kids are confused enough as it is. Ha, that’s pretty funny. What would the kids have to be confused about regarding Tracy though? Wouldn’t their confusion be mostly Karen’s fault anyway? Anyway, Karen rambles about being the referee tonight. Karen is yelling at Tracy a lot. Tracy mutters as Karen walks offscreen.
Van Dam and Lynn have a nice video package. I guess Jerry Lynn is insane now, and he might be with Hogan and Bischoff? I hope they’re not getting ALL of the good matches out of the way early.
Full Metal Mayhem Match
Rob Van Dam .vs. Jerry LynnÂ
Call me crazy, but I don’t know exactly what “Full Metal Mayhem” even means. Is it a ladder match? Why can’t they just call it that? Van Dam’s music is almost as annoying as Jeff Jarrett’s music. Good crowd for Van Dam’s entrance. Mad ECW chants to start. Some back and forth technical exchanges to start. Van Dam and Lynn both get the upper hand at different points. A possible botch early on where I’m guessing they were supposed to go over the ropes but didn’t. Van Dam legdrops Lynn across the apron. Van Dam moonsaults off the guardrail but eats mat. Lynn gets out a ladder and the pain is starting early. Van Dam gest a chair but Lynn baseball slides the ladder into his mush.
Van Dam hits a cross body and Lynn hits the chair. Van Dam skateboards a chair into Lynn. Van Dam hits a rolling thunder on top of the ladder, and that still looks like the most painful thing ever. 2 count for Van Dam. Van Dam then does a backflip off the ropes for no reason at all then Lynn dropkicks a chair into his face. Lynn shoves Van Dam onto the ladder and Lynn tries to do a second-rope senton onto it, but misses. Damn man, this ain’t bad at all. Van Dam tries for a Van Daminator but Lynn ducks and throws it into his face. German suplex from Lynn gets 2. They volley for a bit but Lynn eats a DDT on the ladder before Van Dam moonsaults onto Lynn, on the ladder. Van Dam puts Lynn on the ropes and dives, but Lynn dives first and they both crash to the mat. RVD got the worst of it.
Lynn gets another ladder, btu Van Dam clotheslines him back into the ring. Van Dam is going to suplex him onto the ladder on the outside, but instead Jerry leapfrogs him to attempt to put him through the ladder, but his foot moves it. As a result, Van Dam’s head sort of hits the ladder and sort of hits the guardrail. That looked ROUGH. 2 count though, so I guess he’s OK. Lynn tries to hit him with a chair but RVD gets a Van Daminator off. 2 count for RVD. Van Dam goes for a Van Terminator. Crowd is going nuts, and Van Dam kicks a chair AND a ladder into Lynn. Nice “holy shit” chant from the crowd, and this gets 3.
Wow, solid match. Again, it’s not 15 years ago, and how could it be really, but I never thought it’d be that good of a match. Who was it that said that Lynn had no place in a big-time promotion? They hug and give a high-five after the match.
Winner: Rob Van Dam
Now we are in a parking lot. Dixie Carter gets out.
Video package for Crimson / Joe / Morgan. Matt Morgan and Crimson should not talk, really, at all. Ever.
Triple-Threat Match
Samoa Joe .vs. Crimson .vs. Matt Morgan
It’s nice that TNA has found a way to job Joe out to two losers at once. Having him lose to one loser at a time was really inefficient. I was curious as to who the crowd would back in this one. It didn’t look much like the crowd was into any of these guys during their entrances really. After the music went off, there were some Joe chants. Both guys worked on Joe as the crowd booed. Joe got the better of Crimson as the crowd was into what he was doing. Then both guys worked on him again as the crowd booed. Really, I gotta question anyone who can’t see the crowd responses here. Joe ducks Crimson as he goes to the floor, then he cuts Morgan off at the knees as the crowd came alive again. Joe hasn’t even really done anything yet, but these cement mixers he’s in there with aren’t good for much.
Sidewalk slam by Morgan and the crowd goes dead again. Joe takes both guys out AGAIN. Morgan gets the upper hand on Joe, then Joe takes HIM out of the ring and onto Crimson. Crowd is soldily into Joe here, and Joe does a suicide dive for the first time in… I don’t even know. Morgan goes from the top rope to do a cross-body on Crimson. Joe is just standing there laughing at him. Hahaha, that’s awesome. Now the crowd has taken to chanting “You Screwed Bret” at Earl Hebner.
Joe gets a couple 2-counts on Crimson. Joe keeps working on him, until Crimson works back with some strikes to some more boos. Crimson does hit that one suplex that he’s really good at, and Morgan slides in for a 2-count. Then the two guys stare each other down while Joe gets in between them, but they take him down again. Then Crimson and Morgan shove each other because they’ve exhausted their moveset. They trade punches, with the crowd seemingly behind Morgan. Joe takes Morgan out into the guardrail and then kicks Crimson… who was in the ring… in the face… from the floor. Joe runs him into the corner and ruins his shit with a kick in the corner.
Joe goes for a Muscle Buster, but Morgan breaks it up with a big boot. Crimson spears Joe for the pin to a chorus of boos. Pretty lame finish, but at least Joe didn’t look like a total bitch this time around. The match itself was pretty dull, aside from a few spots where Joe took control of both guys. Morgan and Crimson did basically nothing at all. Joe pretty much took both guys out multiple times. Who was it that said that no one could ever get behind Joe again? Hopefully they watched this show.
Winner: Crimson
Bully Ray cuts a promo saying he’s been exploiting Philly for years, because TNA knows that the crowd will not get behind Anderson otherwise.
Falls Count Anywhere Philadelphia Street Fight
Bully Ray .vs. Mr. Anderson
Well, if they’re gonna do a match with these two guys, at least they got the match type right. And they didn’t let Anderson talk. Pretty standard brawl. There was a funny moment where one hit the other with a sign that I think was harder than they expected. They brawled up the ramp where Ray grabbed the Anderson mic and did a great job of getting mad heat by saying he was from New York. Then Anderson grabbed it, and reminded Ray they weren’t in New York, BITCH, and hit him with it, to a nice reaction. They went backstage and used pipes. Ray piledrove Anderson into the floor.
They brawled back out front. “Asshole” chants last for a few seconds. Hey, it’s better than I thought it’d be, thanks to Bully Ray’s heel work. They bring weapons into the ring. Ray gets backdropped onto the guardrail, which bends. Anderson then tries to senton him onto it, but misses. Anderson then eats a Bubba-bomb through table. Nice couple of spots there. 2-count for Ray. More “Anderson” chants from the crowd. Ray then goes for the 20th senton of the night, because I guess it’s Jeff Hardy Appreciation Night, and in honor of him, they’re missing a lot of them. Anderson hits a Mic Check into the guardrail.
They go outside and get more weapons. Anderson gets Ray onto a table and hits him with a senton (obviously) but the table doesn’t break, so Anderson Mic Check’s him through the table. He then pins. Whatever, for a brawl, it wasn’t good I guess. Again, better than I expected, but I sure hope they don’t plan on pushing Anderson to yet another failed main-event run. Anderson looks like he’s about to throw up.
Winner: Mr. Anderson
Bischoff is schmoozing with a ref. Bischoff says the ref has done a great job and that no one is the wiser. Bischoff says that Hogan doesn’t know about this conversation, and that Sting needs to be taken out. The ref says that he’s got Bischoff’s back. I guess this referee is Bischoff’s son. Taz and Tenay then looked stunned for like 5 minutes over this. They just stutter over each other repeatedly. They say they can’t figure this out… FIGURE IT OUT YOU IDIOTS!!! Seriously. Tenay looks like he’s about to have an aneurism here.
TNA Knockouts Championship Match
Madison Rayne .vs. Mickie James .vs. Winter (w/ Angelina Love) .vs. Velvet Sky
(Special Referee Karen Angle)Â
Knockout storylines are like the result of what would happen if they followed the advice from that focus group full of kids on The Simpsons when they were trying to figure out how to revamp Itchy And Scratchy. “So… you want a realistic, down to earth show… that’s completely off the wall and swarming with magic robots?” The point is that I have absolutely no idea what’s going on with these crazy whores right now, but I’m sure it’s crazy.
Anyway, I don’t think I need to tell anyone here just how important this match was. It was absolutely all on the line here. All of it. And these competitors left it all in that ring. That’s why I’m sorry that I couldn’t be bothered to pay the least bit of attention to it.
Winner & New TNA Knockouts Champion: Botchamania Velvet
Kaz talks about how good Bobby Roode is. And he talks about how he wishes AJ and Daniels could just fight their match and have the feud over with. There’s a video-package that plays for this match that was good if you don’t include the awful music that was playing.
I Quit Match
AJ Styles .vs. Christopher Daniels
Daniels has some odd new music. So does AJ. They brawl to start. Daniels powers AJ down and tries to make him quit. The speech was awkward and it seemed like the crowd didn’t know how to react. AJ got up and and kicks Daniels a few times. Then AJ tried to make Daniels say it and Daniels was all “WHY DON’T YOU SUCK DICK”. AJ then gives him some stiff kicks and a pumphandle. Crowd chants for AJ. He tries to make Daniels quit again. What the hot crackers are they doing this for? Don’t they have to beat each other up a LOT more before either will even consider quitting? AJ reverses a Daniels suplex then hangs him in the air before dropping him hard. AJ then gives him that bridge-chinlock submission while Daniels screams that he won’t quit. The crowd is just totally dead for this. I don’t have an explanation. The odd “quit” sequences aren’t helping.
Nice sequence leads to Daniels eating that 360 dropkick that AJ does. AJ then does a HILO (I think that’s what you call it) over the ropes onto Daniels. Forearm shots on Daniels. He gets under the ring and grabs a tolbox and throws a wrench at AJ, but it misses. He tosses AJ into the ring and grabs a screwdriver. He tries to drive it into AJ’s skull… okay, this is just odd. Crowd is still dead, but they’re trying to get some people into it with some claps. They trade kicks on the apron, that ends with AJ taking a botched move and landing on some ropes instead of the apron. Daniels asks AJ if he wants to quit. AJ says nothing. Daniels says “No? Okay.” Wow, this is just really odd. I got nothing here.
He then takes AJ into the ring and gives him a backdrop. Then he asks him again. After a backdrop?!?! AJ says no. Daniels gives him a BME that gets a nice response, and Daniels puts on a single leg crab. AJ screams into the mic. Crowd is trying to clap him back to life. I’ve never seen an I QUIT match structured like this, and it’s not working. Some weak duelling chants now. Daniels gives him a slam. Daniels goes and grabs a chair. He props it on AJ’s throat and grabs a mic and talks about how he’s been wishing AJ would take his last breath under the chair. Daniels talks about how he didn’t want AJ to say “I Quit”, that he just wanted to beat AJ to death instead.
Daniels then calls to Wendy on the mic (AJ’s wife?) and says that she should take AJ’s kids out of the room because they shouldn’t see him murder AJ.
I swear to God I didn’t make that up.
AJ gets up and starts kicking his ass. That was the worst murder attempt ever. AJ hits a springboard and an inverted DDT followed by an enziguri. Daniels catches him and hits a slam, then goes for a clothesline but AJ hits a pele and the Styles Clash. Crowd is starting to come alive now. AJ grabs the chair and then puts it down and sees the screwdriver that Daniels attempted to murder him with. He grabs it and Daniels then quits on the spot before AJ touches him.
AJ celebrates, goes up the ramp, then Daniels blindsides him and gives him a rough Angel’s Wings on the stage. Daniels screams that he never lost.
Winner: AJ Styles
Who wrote that mess?!?! This match was not at all indicative of how good these guys are, realistically it should have been the match of the night. These guys really needed to make an impression here after all this garbage that Hogan talked. This is where I would love to tell you, just like with Jerry Lynn and Samoa Joe above, that anyone who thinks that AJ and Daniels can’t deliver are wrong. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you that based on tonight, and that’s very disappointing. That match was awkward and clumsy, mostly due to the repeated submission attempts, but the murder stuff was even worse than that. I would love to know who wrote that mess, and I sure hope that it wasn’t AJ or Daniels.
Jeff Jarrett is here! He calls out Jeff Hardy. He says no one wants to have anything to do with Hardy. Crowd is giving Jarrett some good heat, but it dies off, then Hardy, fresh out da joint, comes out to barely anything and an entrance theme that is actually worse than his last song, if you can believe it. It’s like someone hit a baby seal with Karen Angle. Maybe that was just the music. Because now it’s off, and the crowd doesn’t seem to know what to do. Hardy jumps Jarrett, Jarrett fights back, security comes out, and the crowd is very complacent. They continue dodging security to jump each other, and the reactions get a bit better. D’Lo and Simon Diamond coming out.
Then the best thing ever happens. The crowd starts chanting for D’Lo. Great indication of how much they want to see Jeff Hardy or Jeff Jarrett. Hardy celebrates, but the crowd still seems put off. They were red hot at the beginning of the night too. It would be tough to get back into a show after the Knockouts match and that I Quit disaster though.
This show has gone rapidly downhill.
Video package for Hulk Hogan and Sting. WHERE IS MY MEXICAN AMERICA / INK INC MATCH?!?!
Here it is, ladies and gentlemen. This should have been billed as the match of the century, in that the age of both guys involved is over a century. I legitimately can’t believe they’re actually doing this. I thought for sure they’d find some BS copout. I mean, Hulk Hogan can’t do the legdrop anymore. I’m pretty sure he can’t even run the ropes anymore. I’ve been looking forward to this ever since I found out I had this horrible assignment to recap these TNA and WWE wrestling shows again.
There was once a Mad Magazine when I was a kid, like in 1996 or so, that had a parody of something wrestling-related. It was set like 15 years down the road (so 2011) and had Hulk Hogan fighting Bret Hart, both in the rings with canes. Geezer Ramon came from behind with the walker and took one of them out, and The Undertaker showed up and put one of them in a bodybag. Gorilla Monsoon said that it was a tragic ending to WrestleMania 28. The years or numbers might be off, as I can’t remember exactly, but they’re not off by much. It was pretty funny at the time. Basically exactly that is about to happen right in front of me. It’s still funny, but in a sad way.
Actually, let’s be fair. This PPV kicked a fair amount of ass for the first half, which not too many people thought was possible in the company’s current state. The last 40 minutes have been rough. But this… THIS should be nothing short of amazing. Did you know there were actually some people that were complaining that it was NO-DQ? How in the WORLD do you expect them to even get through this, assuming they do, without turning this into a giant schmoz?
Enough talk. Let’s get to THE ACTION.
No-Disqualification Match For The Control Of TNA
Starcade 1997 .vs. PPV’s In 2011Hulk Hogan .vs. Sting
Hulk Hogan .vs. Progress
Hogan’s music hits and the crowd just goes completely apeshit. Wow. Hogan is in jeans and a t-shirt. Dixie is watching from the audience. The referee is Bischoff’s kid. Sting’s music hits and he gets a nice reaction as well. He is in an old-school Sting jacket, Crow / Wolfpack face-paint, and a Hulkamania T-shirt. He’s thrown like 5 gimmicks together. Taz says this is “mind games”.
Bell rings. Hogan tosses some soft punches that Sting dodges. Hogan motions towards the entrance and Ric Flair comes out to a huge pop. Please let him sexually harass Dixie. Please, I promise I’ll give this show 100 stars if he does that. Dixie is upset that Flair is here. Now the entire crowd is just “WHOO”ing.
They lock up. Headlock by Sting. Hogan goes down to one knee. Sting runs into Hogan, Sting goes down, and Hogan tosses his bandana on him, hulks up, and gives him the crotch chop. Crowd loves this. Sting takes off the Hogan shirt and Hogan punches him down and puts on a chinlock. Sting punches out but runs into Hogan’s arm and goes down again. Sting retreats out of the ring. Sting goes back in, and Hogan rakes the back and for some reason Sting acts like he was shot in the back with a cannon. Hogan then rakes the eyes. Sting back to the outside. Fucking amazing match so far.
Flair jumps Sting with the jacket and the referee pretends to not notice. Hogan comes out and hits a low-blow and then punches him a few times. Then he starts eating Sting. Flair passes something to Hogan. He hits Sting with it. Tenay said it was a “spike”. Hogan then yells at the ref for some reason. Hogan then runs the Spike into Sting repeatedly. Hogan tosses Sting back into the ring and then braces himself on the ropes to get back up. He then punches Sting and does the Flair walk. Flair is losing it with appreciation.
Sting hits a punch and HOGAN GOES DOWN!!! HE BUMPED!!! HOLY SHIT!!! Dixie is losing it now. Sting goes outside to the ring to chase Flair, then abandons it and goes back in. He then punches Hogan a few more times and Hogan goes down again. THAT’S TWICE!!! That’s two more than I thought the old bastard had in him. Sting goes back outside and chases Flair again, tackles him, and takes something from him. Sting is using the weapon to spike Hogan in the head. The referee is staring right at it and not doing anything. I probably shouldn’t think this hard about it.
Hogan is busted open in the corner. Sting hits a Stinger Splash and knocks Flair off the apron. Sting hits another splash, this time on Hogan’s back. He goes for the Scorpion Death Lock… sideways.
The world seemed to go into slow motion. The moment was much larger than Hulk Hogan or Sting. It was larger than Immortal or Eric Bischoff or Dixie Carter. It was larger than the audience and the viewers. It was larger than TNA or professional wrestling. It was larger than life. This wasn’t about a win or a loss or a matcg. It was about cruelty verses compassion. About oppression verses freedom. About good verses evil. The entire future of the pro wrestling, nay, the world, would be determined in this very moment.
Every fan around the world watched their TVÂ in silence waiting nervously to see what the fate of their Earth would be.
Hogan tapped out.
Winner: Sting
Flair jumps Sting after the bell. Bischoff brings Immortal out. The announcers wonder what is going on. Abyss is lurking backstage.
Bischoff’s kid stops Bischoff from hitting Sting with a chair. So Bischoff knocks his own kid out with the chair. Thanksgiving dinner will be tense.
Immortal resumes beating up Sting. Sting is asking Hogan for help.
Hogan looks shocked, and the crowd goes nuts for Hogan to help Sting.
Hogan then tears off his shirt and the crowd just completely loses it. He has apparently made the snap decision to abandon Immortal based on… well, I don’t know what it’s based on.
Hogan Hulks Up. Immortal somehow realizes this means that Hogan has abandoned him and attack him.
Hogan and Sting then take out Immortal.
Hogan punches Bischoff and he then sells it like death. Dixie is laughing and clapping like a child. Hogan mouths that “he is back”.
Sting and Hogan celebrate and shake hands.
You are to immediately forget all of Hogan’s earlier atrocities. They were all due to Bischoff.
I don’t even really know what to say to that. It was surreal to say the least. The biggest swerve was that it was actually better than AJ and Daniels.
Video package for Roode / Angle.
TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match
Kurt Angle .vs. Robert Roode
TNA have been building Roode up nicely. I can’t say that Roode would have been the best choice for the “next guy” to go with, even assuming they do that, but he’s still a LOT better of a choice than some of the others out there. Although, none of that is probably going to happen anyway now, but you never know. Roode comes out to a nice reaction. So does Angle. He could have been fighting Kimbo Slice right now, I sure hope TNA appreciates this. Big “Bobby” chants as the bell rang.
They volley back and forth, with the crowd solidly behind Roode, but pretty exhausted from Hogan and Sting. Angle hits 3 suplexes early, and goes for a moonsault early, but Roode goes up and suplexes him off the rope. They both get up slow and trade blows. Roode gets the upper hand with a couple clotheslines. Necksnap from the second rope gets Roode 2. They trade some near-falls after some mat wrestling and some medium spots. Eventually, Roode blocks an Angle Slam and the ref gets tussled, and Angle hits a low blow and hits an Angle Slam. 2-count.
Crowd is coming alive a bit more now. Kurt goes for the rolling german, but Roode reverses after one and puts on the crossface. Kurt gets under the ropes for a break. Spear from Angle gets 2. Kurt goes for a move from the ropes, not sure what, but Bobby reverses it into a crossface which Angle escapes. They volley for a bit until Angle hits the Angle Slam. Roode has his hands on the ropes, but the ref counts anyway.
Winner And Still TNA World Heavyweight Champion: Kurt Angle
Right, I forgot that Roode sucks according to Hogan.
So the PPV started out really well, but that awkward and forced 40 minutes in the middle really took some momentum out of it. Very, extremely disappointed in AJ and Daniels. Hogan and Sting was pretty surreal, I don’t even know what to say about that. That was easily the loudest reaction anything got all night, and it had Hogan falling down 3 times, which was 3 more times than I expected. I legitimately have no idea how the IWC is gonna react to that. I don’t even know what I think about it.
Overall, I’d say it was at least as good as recent WWE PPV’s.
I’ll see you when I see you.
– Blair
