First Pay Per View of the year! Let’s see how this version of Genesis goes after last year’s… effort.
1. Starting with the X-Division guys is perfect. Not only is it an exciting way to start our PPV year, but it harkens back to one of the things WCW did right through the late 90s – let the little guys go out and kill themselves in order to get the crowd hyped up. Aries winning was good. I like Aries. I would pay to see Aries v Punk. Now, some one’s going to tell me that they’ve fought a hundred times in the past, and it was crap. Well, send me links, send me videos, send me DVDs, I don’t care. (Actually, DVDs would be good.)
2. Pope v Devon was dull and felt like it went on too long, but the ending was the right finish for what has been a nice, long-term story-line. One positive, though – very few can take a beating like Devon. And his celebration at the win looked actually genuine.
3. Gunner should not have beaten RVD, Flair should not be Gunner’s manager, and Gunner needs to go back to wrestling school for a few months. Mind you, I like Flair in the role as manager – perfect. I think TNA are hoping he’ll be a Bobby Heenan and pull anyone they throw with him up, but Heenan was more about the wrestler while Flair is still more about Flair, so there’s still work to do there as well.
4. The Knockouts match was a mess. These two should have been able to put on a good show… but they didn’t. But I guess this just means when James finally defeats Kim they’re going to treat it as a big deal, overcoming the odds, yadda, yadda, yadda… Bleh. Looks like another year of getting my female wrestling from RCW and no one else.
5. Unfortunately the only matches I’ve seen Abyss in that have been any good at all have been hardcore, weapons matches. Another example here. Him winning was an interesting development, and one I wasn’t expecting. But I do like Bully Ray’s persona. He plays the prick heel to perfection. I’m not a fan of hardcore for the sake of hardcore. This match was just there.
6. Tag match was okay, the champs retained, whatever. But remember when TNA had the best tag division we’d seen for years anywhere? Remember? Well, I don’t think they do… Having said that, this is probably the best use for Morgan, Crimson and Magnus at the moment. Joe? Well, I don’t know what the use of Joe is in TNA at the moment. Maybe a return to ROH would respark those fires. Or… he could come out here and wrestle in RCW. That’d be cool. But it almost looked like Joe and Magnus were going to remain a team after this, so maybe that’s something.
7. I liked the Storm/Angle match. Angle won, but I don’t think this is over.
8. Roode and Storm are two of the best promo guys in TNA at the moment, along with Bully Ray. I think what makes them stand out is that all of them are unique and show enough of their personality and sound like they are being genuine. And in this day and age, that’s different.
9. So… the ending of the main event and the ending of the Diva’s match were pretty much the same? Goody! Cheap endings are awesome! Oh, and Jeff Hardy should not be in the main event scene. Yes, I know he’s got the little girls screaming for him, but there are others who should be in there against Roode – Storm, Styles, hell, even RVD, and maybe heels like Angle and Aries. But not Hardy. That being said, the match was certainly not awful.
10. Match of the night: Storm v Angle. Wrestler of the night: Austin Aries. Positive things: Sting and Flair in their current roles (i.e. not wrestling) is a perfect use of both; TNA talents Storm and Roode and those X-Division guys are putting on good matches; no Anderson or Jeff Jarrett! Negative things: what’s happened to the Knockouts?; Hardy being at the top; Gunner being pushed.
So there we go. I braved the first PPV of the year from TNA. Last year Genesis was pretty awful, albeit with one great match. Overall, this show was better than that one, though no matches stood out like the tag match from last year (mind you two of those guys – Storm and Roode – are still putting on strong matches). And so this has been enough for me to continue – at least for the time being – watching the TNA PPVs.
