Chrononaut Chronicles: TNA Turning Point 2005 — 12/11/05

PPVs, Reviews

The Chrononaut Chronicles: TNA Turning Point 2005 — Sunday, December 11, 2005

– Our PPV-opening video this month focuses solely on the no-ropes Barbed Wire Massacre between Sabu and Abyss, welcoming us to the “Parthenon of Pain” and promising that somebody’s going to bleed. Good stuff as usual.

– Barbed Wire Massacre: Abyss vs. Sabu

There are no ropes around the ring, only strands of barbed wire, as this was hyped as the first-ever live PPV barbed wire match in North America. Sabu has his nose taped and brings a chair with him, but Abyss stomps on his hand when he tries to slide in, so Sabu retrieves a barbed-wire bat and brings it in with him. A swing and a miss results in the bat getting tangled in the barbed-wire strands, so Sabu gets the chair and springboards off for a huracanrana, but Abyss catches him and teases powerbombing him in the barbed wire before Sabu takes him down to the mat for a pin attempt. Abyss kicks out at two with such force that Sabu eats the barbed wire, busting open his forehead while James Mitchell cackles at ringside. In a neat touch, the referee is wearing gloves, boots, and a long-sleeved shirt to protect himself.

Abyss punches Sabu in the face and drops him throat-first on the barbed wire as the fans chant “TNA”. Sabu produces a spike from his boot and gouges the Monster’s arm several times, causing his arm to bleed profusely, but when Sabu springboards off the chair, Abyss moves and Sabu lands on the barbed wire, shredding his pant leg. Abyss pounds Sabu against the strands and charges at him, but Sabu drop-toeholds him into the barbed wire and adds a chairshot for a two-count. Abyss chokeslams Sabu on the chair for two and Mitchell slides in a chair wrapped in barbed wire, which Abyss places on Sabu and goes for an Earthquake splash but Sabu lifts the chair and catches Abyss in the cranberries. Why didn’t anybody ever try that against Jason or Leatherface? Sabu hammers Abyss with the barbed-wire chair and Abyss rolls out to the floor, so Sabu springboards off the chair over the barbed wire and somersaults down onto Abyss.

Sabu discovers a 4×8 (according to Mike Tenay; I didn’t measure it myself but I guess he did) sheet of plywood wrapped in barbed wire and throws it in the ring, but Abyss front-suplexes Sabu from the floor gut-first on the barbed-wire strands. Abyss tries to powerbomb Sabu on the barbed-wire board but Sabu escapes, so Abyss goes for a chokeslam and Sabu bites his hand to block it. Sabu charges, but Abyss presses him overhead and drops him on the barbed-wire board. Nasty. Mitchell passes in another barbed-wire board and Abyss sets it up in the corner, but he ends up crashing into it when Sabu sidesteps a charge. Abyss staggers back with the board “stuck” to him and Sabu knocks him down onto the other barbed-wire board, sandwiching Abyss between the boards as Sabu jumps on top of the sandwich to score the pin on Abyss. Great bloody spectacle that was actually voted the 2005 Match of the Year on TNAWrestling.com somehow. Afterwards, Mitchell helps free Abyss from the barbed-wire sandwich as the crowd chants “Abyss” and “Thank you” in a nice show of respect.

– Tenay and Don West babble about the rest of tonight’s lineup to kill time while the TNA Road Crew fix up the ring properly. We also see footage from earlier today of Jeff Jarrett arriving with AMW in a black limo, and Rhino arriving in a white Ford F150.

– Shane Douglas interviews 4 Live Kru regarding their eight-man match tonight against Team Canada. Konnan suggests that he and Kip should tag together more often since they won a tag match on Impact, then says something en espanol and he’s ready to “shake ‘n’ bake” the Canadians. He should sue Ricky Bobby for catchphrase infringement or something.

– Elsewhere backstage, we see Abyss’ wounds being tended to while Mitchell hugs him and gives him words of encouragement. I love the chemistry between them because not only do they work as heels, but they could easily be turned babyface like Undertaker and Paul Bearer in the early ’90s.

– Alex Shelley & Roderick Strong vs. Austin Aries & Matt Bentley

This is the PPV debut of Shelley’s video camera gimmick as Tenay puts him over as a “student of the game” who watches countless hours of videotape to prepare for his matches. Aries and Shelley go through some good chain-wrestling before Shelley bites his way out of a wristlock and tags Strong, who gets armdragged and locked in an armbar. Aries drops the Pendulum Elbow on the arm for a two-count and tags Bentley, who helps Aries double-suplex Strong. Bentley & Aries both kip-up, point to each other, and land a double-fistdrop on Strong in a little Rockers tribute that earns Matt a two-count. Roderick catches Matt in a jawbreaker and tags Alex as the heels isolate Bentley in their corner and exchange quick tags until Bentley makes the tag to Aries, who slingshots in with the twisting corkscrew splash on Strong for two. The heels take control on Aries as Shelley lands the Lionsault for two and Strong also scores a near-fall after a back-suplex/neckbreaker double-team.

Aries fights out of a front-facelock, but Shelley knocks Bentley off the apron before he can make the tag and we get a wicked double-team that sees Alex hit Austin with a missile dropkick off the top as Roderick drops him in a powerbomb-backbreaker across the knee. Strong gets two off that and tags Shelley, but Aries avoids a double-team and makes the hot tag to Bentley, who cleans house and drops the flying elbow off the top for a near-fall on Alex. Bentley sits Shelley up on top, but Strong grabs Matt in a fireman’s carry into a falling gutbuster on the knees, which Shelley follows with a senton backsplash off the top that only gets two when Aries breaks the pin. Heel miscommunication sends Strong sailing out to the floor and he hilariously freaks out because he almost knocked over the Shelleycam. Back inside, Bentley nails Shelley with the “Head On (apply directly to the forehead) Collision” superkick for the pinfall. Good tag action there that didn’t rely on highspots and crazy dives.

– Shane Douglas interviews Monty Brown, who is holding a Bob The Builder doll and talking to it as if it’s Christian. The Alpha Male says he thought they “had a dress code up north” and insults his boots before warning Cage that he won’t be able to leapfrog him and take his spot. Monty has obviously been into the thesaurus as he spouts off some big words and promises that Christian will feel the PPOOOOUUUUNNNNCCCCEE…PERIOD! Jarrett appears behind Brown and says that it doesn’t matter if he beats Christian tonight, because TNA Management is bringing in a New Face. Monty doesn’t “get it”, so Jarrett claims he’ll go talk to someone who does.

– Raven comes out for his match and Larry Zbysko, surrounded by TNA Security, repeats his offer for Raven to sign his release from TNA or endure a living hell. Raven refers to Larry as “a gameshow answer to a question that nobody’s ever asked” and insults the “washed-up has-been” before laughing at Larry’s offer. Zbysko tells Jeremy Borash to introduce Raven’s opponent, and it is none other than The Artist Formerly Known As Kanyon, complete with “Who Betta?” tights.

– Raven vs. Chris K

That’s it? That’s the best they could do for a name? This is pre-gay too, so Kanyon doesn’t even have that going for him here. CK pounds Raven in and out of the ring as Tenay recalls their history in WCW. CK does a running dive off the steps, but Raven moves and Russian-legsweeps Chris against the guardrail. Back in, CK plants Raven with the Rockerdropper off the middle turnbuckle for a two-count and goes for a moonsault off the top, but Raven rolls out of the way and hooks in the anklelock. Chris escapes, but Raven kneelifts him over the top rope and hiptosses him on the ramp. Ouch. Back in, CK avoids the drop-toehold on the chair and sets up a Rockerdropper, but he gets powerbombed on the chair and Raven drills Chris with the DDT for the 1-2-3. Afterwards, Larry is angry and orders Raven to sign his release like a man and leave TNA. Raven responds negatively and slaps Zbysko, who punches back until TNA Security and Cassidy Riley pull them apart.

– Shane Douglas interviews Team Canada and notes that Bobby Roode hasn’t been seen all day, which worries Eric Young. Petey tries to slap Eric, but Eric stops him and warns him to stop slapping him. D’Amore states that Petey has no right to slap Eric because they’re teammates, then hauls off and slaps Showtime himself. D’Amore says they’re all about business as Jarrett arrives with Roode and asks if they know anything about the New Face of TNA for 2006. D’Amore has placed some calls to find out, but Roode assures the NWA Champion that the Canadians have his back no matter who it is.

– Team Canada vs. 4 Live Kru

The Truth does a 4LK rap before Konnan & BG go through their stale old micwork. Kip press-slams Petey and Konnan throws his shoe at Petey, who falls victim to Truth’s flying legdrop to the groin and tags Showtime. 4LK have their way with poor Eric until BG gets trapped in Canadian territory and they gangrape him in their corner. BG makes the hot tag to Kip, who cleans house and jackhammers Eric for a two-count as all hell breaks loose with all eight men slugging it out. Kip drops Roode with the Famouser and Konnan suddenly waffles him over the head with a chair behind the ref’s back. The referee turns and sees Konnan with the chair, but makes the count anyway as Roode pins Kip. Afterwards, BG confronts Konnan while Truth attempts to mediate. BG helps Kip, but Konnan whacks him with the chair too. Truth looks confused as Konnan tries to hug him and invites Killings to leave with him, but the former two-time NWA Champion stays in the ring.

– Shane Douglas interviews the Diamonds In The Rough, who are reading USA Today and Sports Illustrated as they talk about the media attention for their feud with the Chicago White Sox. Simon warns Bobby Heenan not to get involved in the match or he’ll be eating fastballs.

– A video package recaps White Sox catcher AJ Pierzsnyhdbski’s appearance on Impact, which was interrupted by Simon Diamond, and the media coverage TNA received as a result. Back live in the Impact Zone, we see some baseball players in attendance.

– Diamonds In The Rough vs. Sonjay Dutt & Chris Sabin & Dale Torborg

Bobby “The Brain” Heenan comes out first and joins Tenay and West on commentary. Simon wears a catcher’s vest, while the babyfaces have batting gloves on and AJ Pierzynski as their manager. Tenay actually brings up Torborg’s WCW history as the KISS Demon, but doesn’t remind us how much he sucked. Heenan claims that he advised Pierzynski to lie and cheat and puts over TNA while Elix Skipper tries to flip out of a Sabin hammerlock and lands on his head after screwing up a spot just moments earlier. Amazing that the dude who did that breathtaking cagewalk huracanrana flubs basic spots like that. Tenay plays a poor-man’s Gorilla Monsoon to the Brain while Sonjay scores a two-count on David Young with a crossbody off the top and follows up with a Sabu-style twisting springboard legdrop for another two. Torborg gets the tag and clears the ring before pressing Dutt overhead and tossing him out onto the Diamonds at ringside.

Back in the ring, Simon winds up like he’s throwing a pitch and punches Dutt for a two-count. Skipper tags in and Dutt does a multiple-revolution tilt-a-whirl, but Primetime almost drops him on his head. What the hell is up with him tonight? Young spinebusters Dutt for two, but Sonjay snaps off a slingshot somersault rana and makes the hot tag to Torborg, who cleans house and chokeslams Simon for two. Sabin & Dutt dive onto Skipper & Young on the floor while Simon lowblows Torborg and smacks him with the shinguard. Simon covers the former Demon, but Pierzynski yanks the referee out before he can count to three and argues with him until Heenan comes over and distracts the ref. Meanwhile, Johnny Damon in the front row passes a homeplate to Pierzynski and he nails Simon with it. How did Damon smuggle that into the building? Sabin plants Diamond with the Cradle Shock and Sonjay lands the Hindu Press off the top before the three babyfaces pile on top of Simon for the pin. I guess that’s legal in a Basebrawl match.

Afterwards, Pierzynski autographs the homeplate on top of Simon and Jeremy Borash steps in to interview the winners. Sabin & Dutt present a pair of TNA championship rings to Pierzynski & Torborg and Heenan bites on the ring to ensure its authenticity. Everybody shakes hands and leaves as the Brain gets a “Weasel” chant.

– Shane Douglas interviews Christian Cage, who promises that Captain Charisma will become the #1 Contender tonight. Cage states that he’s going to take a stroll onto the Serengeti and return with an Alpha Male carcass, because THAT’S how he rolls.

– A video package recaps Christian jumping to TNA last month and Monty Brown Pouncing him on Impact to set up their “Contender’s Match” this evening.

– Monty Brown vs. Christian Cage

The Alpha Male shoves Christian on his ass and they trashtalk until Christian slaps him in the face and they slug it out. Monty sets Cage up for an early Pounce, but Cage bails out to ringside and taunts Monty, who slides out to the floor as Christian slides back in and mocks Brown by rubbing his forehead on the ropes. Back inside, Monty catches Christian leaping off the top turnbuckle and presses him overhead, but Cage slips out and tosses Brown over the top. Christian goes to the top and hits a nice dive out onto Monty; I don’t even remember the last time he did that in WWE. That gets a two-count so Cage tries to hook the Unprettier, but Monty counters with an electric chair and drops Cage’s throat across the top rope before pressing Christian overhead and dumping him all the way down to the floor. Monty batters Christian at ringside and does his U-turn bit to fool the fans into thinking he’s going to throw Cage into the crowd, but sends him into the ring instead. A series of stomps (looks like Monty’s been reading the Randy Orton playbook) gets two and Monty tosses Cage in the air, letting him fall on his face, for another two. Crossface forearms get yet another two and Christian fights out of a t-bone suplex, but Monty catches him in an overhead belly-to-belly off the ropes for a near-fall.

“Alpha Female” chant as Monty squashes Christian in the corner and pulls him out with such force that Cage pulls the padding off the turnbuckle. Monty bends Christian around the ringpost and scoops him up on the floor, but Cage slips out and posts Brown. Both men struggle back into the ring and Captain Charisma unloads on the Alpha Male with punches and forearms before planting him with a tornado DDT for a near-fall. Christian rolls up Monty with his feet on the ropes for two, but gets caught on the top as Monty tries for a belly-to-belly superplex. However, Christian fights him off and lands a frogsplash to draw an “Eddie” chant, which was a nice tribute. That gets a near-fall for the Captain, who runs off the ropes but gets caught and Alpha Bombed for a close near-fall. Monty applies a full nelson, but Christian charges toward the corner and drops down, ramming Brown’s head against the unprotected turnbuckle. Christian quickly drills Monty with the Unprettier for the 1-2-3 to win his first TNA PPV match.

– Shane Douglas interviews Team 3D, who say they’ve been representing TNA as the All Japan Real World Tag Team Champions but are focused on the only gold they’ve never held: the NWA World Tag Team Title. Ray promises to make AMW taste some “Dudley 3D wood” tonight and Devon testifies.

– A video package recaps the 3D/AMW saga thus far to build up tonight’s Tables match.

– Non-Title – Tables Match: Team 3D vs. America’s Most Wanted

Wow, two months in TNA and they’re already falling back on the ol’ Tables matches they did to death in WWE. Team 3D charge up the ramp and attack AMW to kick off the contest as all four guys brawl around ringside and on the stage. Ray rams James Storm’s head on the announce table, but the Cowboy rakes Ray’s face. Meanwhile in the ring, Chris Harris covers Devon after a delayed vertical suplex, but the referee won’t count because the only way to win is to put your opponents through a table. Duh. AMW try to double-team Devon, but he double-clotheslines the NWA World Tag Team Champions before Ray drags the Wildcat out to the floor and 3D hit the “Whazzup” headbutt on Storm. Ray then leads the crowd in ordering Devon to get the tables, which he does. The former Dudleys set Storm up for a 3D through the table, but Harris breaks it up and props up a table in the corner. AMW whip Devon to the corner, but Ray tackles Devon to stop him from hitting the table. Harris lays out Devon on a table and goes to the top, but Ray rolls Devon off the table and superplexes the Wildcat down; however, Storm moves the table before they land.

A table is set up at ringside and Devon and Harris brawl beside it as Ray back-bodydrops Storm out of the ring, but the Cowboy soars over the table and wipes out Harris and Devon. Back in the ring, Ray lays Storm on a table and goes to the top, but Storm gets off and lowblows Ray, then climbs up and brings the big guy down with an impressive superhuracanrana after Devon pulls the table away. Storm superkicks Devon and AMW signal for a 3D through the table, but Devon counters with a DDT on Storm while Ray chops Harris out of the ring. Team 3D then drive Storm through the table with AMW’s own Death Sentence in a neat spot and Harris waffles both Ray & Devon with chairshots. Harris takes Devon to the stage and tries a suplex through a table, but Devon & Ray 3D the Wildcat through the table to complete the victory in a shutout, 2-0. Afterwards, 3D celebrate in the crowd while Storm is still laid out in the ring, as it looked like he might have been hurt when Devon landed on him for the Death Sentence earlier.

– A video package airs to get Samoa Joe over as a nasty heel for disrespecting and breaking the “unwritten” X Division code of sportsmanship with his assaults on Daniels and Styles. While Joe plays a great heel, it just didn’t work because nobody wanted to boo him.

– In the ring, James Storm is still down and being attended to as we see a replay of the Death Sentence. Watching this live, I was afraid his career would be in jeopardy. The way Devon landed to put him through the table looked really brutal on his neck; I’m glad he turned out to be alright.

– TNA X Division Title: Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles [champion]

Samoa Joe has the towel with Christopher Daniels’ dried blood on it, which was a nice touch. AJ goes right after Joe as soon as the bell rings with shoulderblocks in the corner and a snap suplex before snapmaring him and pounding him with a kick and a knee to the face. Joe counters a back-bodydrop with a kick to the face, but Styles meets him with a dropkick and continues to control his challenger. They slug it out and Joe unleashes several vicious kicks to knock AJ out of the ring, then rolls him back in and Styles snaps Joe’s neck across the top rope to send Joe to the floor. AJ hops out to the apron, but Joe kicks AJ’s feet right out from under him and Styles eats the apron. Joe pulls Styles off in a powerbomb position and swings him around, smashing AJ’s head against the guardrail. Ouch. Joe whips AJ into the railing and stalks him before blasting him with the one-footed dropkick.

Back in the ring, Joe snapmares Styles into position to chop him across the back, kick him in the chest, and drop the jumping knee off the ropes. AJ kicks away, but Joe stops him with one stiff kick that leaves AJ gasping for breath. AJ tries to leapfrog, but Joe flapjacks him and squashes him with the senton backsplash for a two-count. Styles fights out of a rear-chinlock, but Joe reverses a whip to the corner and charges in with the flying knee to the face. Styles counters a facewash by holding Joe’s foot and getting up, but Joe slaps him down and hits a running seated kick to the face in the corner. Joe knocks Styles out to the apron, but AJ fires off a Pele and springboards in for a huracanrana; however, Joe catches him in a powerbomb for a near-fall. When AJ kicks out, Joe tries to transition immediately to the STF, but AJ blocks it so Joe switches to a traditional Boston crab instead. AJ gets the rope, but Joe drags him away and cinches in his nasty Samoan Crab until Styles kicks his way out of it.

Dueling “Let’s go AJ/Let’s go Joe” chants from the fans as Joe charges at Styles in the corner, but AJ back-bodydrops him over the top rope and leaps over the top with a Phenomenal running shooting star press, which Tenay calls the “Fosberry Flop”. Styles rolls Joe in the ring and springboards in with a flying forearm to the back of the head for a near-fall. Styles flips out of a German suplex and lands the springboard-moonsault inverted DDT for two, but Joe catches him in the snap-powerslam for a near-fall of his own and we get a well-deserved “This is awesome” chant. Joe seems to be wearing down (in a storyline sense) as AJ dodges his kicks and slaps, then spinkicks and powerbombs Joe in an amazing display of strength for a close near-fall.

AJ is bleeding from the mouth and looks glassy-eyed as he runs off the ropes and Joe decapitates him with a sick lariat, but Styles kicks out after a one-count and Joe can’t believe it. Joe tigerbombs Styles, but AJ kicks out just as the ref counts two and Joe looks confused. Joe applies the standing choke and headbutts the back of AJ’s neck, but Styles refuses to go down and fires off the Pele. Styles sets Joe up on top for a Muscle Buster, but Joe blocks it so AJ climbs up for a superhuracanrana. Joe blocks that too and hooks Styles for a Muscle Buster, but AJ escapes and brings him down with a powerbomb into a semi Styles Clash (not as pretty as it sounds) for a close near-fall. AJ goes to the top and Joe pushes the ref into the ropes, but AJ hops into the ring and rolls up Joe. Joe kicks out and snatches Styles in the Kokina Clutch as AJ fights it, but the ref finally calls for the bell and awards the X Division Championship to the Samoan Submission Machine.

Afterwards, Joe helps Styles up and the commentators naively believe that he’s seen the light of the X Division code, but Joe cracks AJ with the title belt and fends off the intrepid TNA Security forces before retrieving a chair and setting up AJ for a Muscle Buster as the crowd chants “Joe’s Gonna Kill You”. Suddenly in a WWE-esque moment, Christopher Daniels’ music cranks up as the Fallen Angel races out and double-legs Joe, punching away at him. Joe headbutts back and threatens to use the chair, but TNA Security and referees are more successful this time as Joe takes his new belt and leaves. Wow, that match was f*cking wicked and even better than I remembered. I’d probably mark that as my 2005 Match of the Year.

– A promo airs for TNA Final Resolution on Sunday, January 15.

– A comprehensive video package takes us back to Rhino’s ironman performance at Bound For Glory capped off by his NWA World Title win, only to lose the belt back to Jeff Jarrett on the Primetime Special. We then see the Rhino vignettes where he talked about his departure from WWE and his ex-wife taking his daughter away from him, which Jarrett mocked with Dr. Phil references to set up Jarrett/Rhino III tonight.

– Shane Douglas interviews Rhino, who states that his life is back on track and he wants to be a champion for his little girl. The Man Beast promises to cut Jarrett in half with the GORE! GORE!! GORE!!!

– NWA World Heavyweight Title: Rhino vs. Jeff Jarrett [champion]

We get JB’s Super Special Ring Introductions following the entrances as the crowd chants “Fire Jarrett” and “Jeff’s a jobber”, which he undoubtedly somehow interprets as heel heat. They trade wristlocks to start and Rhino gets an early one-count off a shoulderblock, but Jarrett scores his own one-count after a dropkick. Jarrett hiptosses Rhino into a nice figure-four wristlock and asks the crowd what they think about that, but they respond with “Fire Jarrett” chants and Rhino powers up to his feet, still with Jarrett on his arm and drops him across the top rope. Rhino press-slams Jarrett and drapes him on the top rope, then boots him in the face to knock him to the floor. Rhino slingshots out with a plancha and they go into the crowd, where Jarrett blocks a suplex from the bleacher fence and sends Rhino crashing to the floor. Rhino reverses a whip into the boards and batters the NWA World Champion through the crowd, busting him open as the Man Beast hammers away at the wound.

Rhino works Jarrett over with chairshots as West suggests that Jarrett might be distracted by the rumors of the New Face of TNA in 2006. Rhino lays Jarrett out on a table, but JJ rolls off and climbs up a scaffold. Rhino follows him and they slug it out until Jarrett whacks Rhino with a chair and the former NWA Champion falls off the scaffold and crashes through the table. Damn, that looked like a painful landing. Jarrett rams Rhino’s head against the guardrail, but that only served to awaken the Man Beast as he snap-suplexes Jarrett on the ramp and props up a table vertically in front of the entrance tunnel. Jarrett stands up and Rhino Gores him through the table into the tunnel, but the table didn’t break and ends up crashing on top of JJ. Borash announces that the referee is ordering both men to return to the ring by the count of 10 or the match will be declared a double countout, so Petey Williams & Eric Young run over Jarrett’s bloody broken body and toss Rhino down the tunnel, then carry Jarrett to the ring.

The ref is almost to 10 when Rhino roars down the ramp and unloads on Jarrett while fighting off the Canadians as well. Spinebuster gets a near-fall and Rhino goes to the top, but Petey pulls his foot and crotches him right in front of the ref, who ejects the Canadians from ringside. Jarrett superplexes Rhino for two, but Rhino drops him with a TKO for a near-fall. Rhino charges at Jarrett, but the champ moves and Rhino Gores the ref in the corner. Rhino counters the Stroke with a belly-to-belly and prepares the Gore, but Bobby Roode runs in and Rhino pounds him. A1 runs in next and gets GORED! GORED!! GORED!!! Roode nails Rhino with the Northern Lariat from behind and Jarrett covers, but Rhino kicks out. Jarrett busts the guitar over his head, but Rhino kicks out again. Jackie Gayda walks out and slaps Jarrett as Rhino rips into him with the Gore, but Jarrett kicks out at the very last possible moment and TNA Security escort Jackie out.

Rhino sets up two chairs and takes Jarrett up the turnbuckles for a Rhinodriver, but Scott D’Amore runs out and cracks Rhino in the ankle with the hockey stick. Jarrett Strokes Rhino off the turnbuckles onto the chairs and hooks the leg for the three-count to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Afterwards, D’Amore celebrates with Jarrett until the lights mysteriously go out and scorpion logos flash on the video screens while some Sting-like music plays. A spotlight shines in the middle of the ring, where there is now a chair set up with a baseball bat, boots, and a black trenchcoat on it. Tenay wonders if it will be Sting changing the face of TNA in 2006 while Jarrett and D’Amore look confused (I wonder if that’s the same look they had when Impact ratings dipped after Jarrett regained the belt) to close the PPV.

Afterthoughts: I might be getting repetitive here, but another blowaway PPV from TNA to continue the streak of really strong shows. I’d have to say this is probably the best TNA PPV of them all, with the absolutely incredible Joe/Styles, the spectacle of the Barbed Wire Massacre, a strong X Division tag match, Christian/Monty, and even Rhino/Jarrett all ranging from very good to great in my opinion. The question from here is, can the streak continue with the impending debut of Sting as TNA tries to move in a more mainstream direction? Find out next time!