The Chrononaut Chronicles: TNA Hard Justice 2006 — Sunday, August 13, 2006
– A really creepy yet awesome PPV-opening video this month, exploring the conflict between good and evil. Great foreshadowing of the rumored Christian heel turn too, as the voiceover mentions that we all have the capacity to be righteous and to commit atrocities, and says that when a man of light tries to extinguish the darkness within, he may become that which he hates. Amazing stuff, really. The PPV intro following the video is pretty cool too.
– Johnny Devine vs. Eric Young
Still billed as “residing in an undisclosed location”, Eric makes his entrance through the crowd from outside the building, leading a small army of fans in a march around the ring as Mike Tenay likens him to the Pied Piper and the crowd chants “Don’t Fire Eric”. They’re doing a great job with this guy. Devine takes the mic and brings up their history as teammates, noting that Eric always chokes and warning him that he’s going to get fired tonight. Eric does the “eye-to-eye” hand motion and Devine just pokes him in the eyes, but Eric comes back and eyepokes Johnny before hugging him. Aww, isn’t that sweet. Johnny wants no part of it though and pounds Eric in the corner as the crowd chants “Super Eric”. Young fights out of a chinlock and crucifixes Devine for a two-count, but Devine takes control again, fish-hooking him by the mouth and slapping his face. Eric responds with a slap of his own, but Devine drops him with a floating inverted DDT for two after reversing a whip to the corner.
The crowd starts to chant “The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire” as we see fire extinguishers being used to combat a small fire in the rafters, filling the arena with smoke. Oh my god. Amidst the haze, Devine snap-suplexes Eric, but misses a springboard moonsault and Showtime small-packages him for two. Don West likens the environment to the Bears/Eagles “fog bowl” and the fans chant “You can’t see us” as Young plants Johnny with a nice powerbomb and hits a discus clothesline. Young lands a sweet flying elbowdrop off the top turnbuckle for a close near-fall, and Devine rolls up Eric with his feet on the ropes for a near-fall of his own. Eric ducks an enzuigiri but catches Johnny’s feet, slamming him with a wheelbarrow suplex into a neckbreaker for the three-count as the crowd is hot, no pun intended.
Afterwards, Earl Hebner in street clothes jumps Slick Johnson at ringside and chokes him with a belt until TNA Security pull him off. Earl’s clothes are all dirty and tattered, so either he was fighting the fire too or he blew all the money he made in his career and now lives on the streets. Larry Zbysko arrives on the scene to calm Earl down, but Hebner blames Slick for costing him his job, stating that he isn’t taking the fall alone and threatens to take Zbysko and Jarrett down with him. Guilty pleasure time: I’m actually kind of interested to see where they go with this angle.
– “Earlier Today”, we see Jarrett and Steiner walking down a hallway. WALKING! Then, also “Earlier Today”, we see the arrival of Christian and Sting in the parking lot, with Christian playing the Morgan Freeman role in Driving Mr. Borden. When did he become Sting’s chauffeur?
– A video package sets up the four-way tag team match to determine the next challengers to the NWA World Tag Team Championship.
– In the Impact Zone, the road crew replaces the mat and the commentators kill time by talking endlessly about the four-way.
– The video features from Impact detailing the Sting/Jarrett saga are all shown together in their entirety, followed by a “Technical Difficulties, Please Stand By” screen. Then we are treated to another showing of the exact same Sting/Jarrett segments since they were so compelling the first time.
– Tenay and Jeremy Borash are now outside the Impact Zone standing near a firetruck as they inform us that the Fire Marshall has evacuated the building due to the fire. Matt Bentley is shown signing autographs for the fans outside, which is cool. West comes out and replaces JB to announce that people will be allowed back in the arena shortly and hypes the rest of the PPV while complaining about the humidity. Eric Young arrives on the scene to assure Jim Cornette that the fire wasn’t his fault and that he’s got everything cleaned up so they can go back inside soon.
Showtime scampers off as Monty Brown shows up and cuts an overly long, fairly horrible improv promo in which he finds several different ways to say that he is the Alpha Male. If this was a test, I think he just failed. I would have had Rhino and/or Joe rush out and brawl with Monty a bit to hype the Falls Count Anywhere later. The fans are shown filing back into the building as Monty finally finishes and Shane Douglas, with the Naturals, takes his place to cut a promo endorsing George W. Bush’s “War on Terror” (ugh) and stating that adversity creates great men.
– In an obviously pretaped backstage bit, Borash interviews Alex Shelley, who confirms that Kevin Nash will be unable to compete tonight due to a severe neck injury. JB doesn’t believe the story, so Alex has Johnny Devine wheel Big Kev in, seated in a wheelchair with a neckbrace on. Nash devotes his 100% support to Shelley and valiantly removes his neckbrace so that he can remove his dogtags and present them to Alex, who puts them on as Nash says Alex is going to war this evening. Damn, I had a feeling this would happen and almost wrote it into my PPV predictions, but I didn’t. Oh well, at least we get a better match this way.
– X Division #1 Contender: Chris Sabin vs. Alex Shelley
Johnny Devine wheels Kevin Nash down to ringside so they can watch the match. As Johnny was earlier, Alex is wearing a black armband that has “KEV” written on it. West and Tenay don’t buy Nash’s story and play up that he was afraid of a great athlete in his prime like Sabin, as Sabin and Shelley trade fast-paced maneuvers early on. Sabin nails Shelley with a springboard dropkick for a two-count and a seated enzuigiri for another two, then mocks Nash by setting up Alex for a Jackknife and raising the nWo hand signal, but decides to dropkick Alex in the side of the head instead. Shelley bulldogs Sabin and lands a Lionsault for two, but Sabin ends up hiptossing him over the top and follows out with a suicide dive through the ropes. Nash tries to help Shelley up and warns Sabin not to touch him because of his neck.
Sabin sends Shelley back in and springboards in, but Shelley catches him in the crotch claw and runs off the ropes. Sabin hits a spinkick to the gut, an enzuigiri, and a basement dropkick to the knee, flipping Alex over. Springboard legdrop scores a near-fall and Sabin sets Shelley up on top, but Alex brings Sabin down in a super inverted atomic drop and goes into a multiple-revolution tilt-a-whirl, ending in the Border City Stretch submission hold on the mat. That was cool. Sabin finally grabs the rope, so Shelley goes up for a moonsault but Sabin hangs him upside-down and nails the hesitation dropkick to the face. I love that, and so does Don West. Sabin takes Shelley out of the corner in a Razor’s Edge position and flips him over into a DDT for an extremely close near-fall. Some fans even chant “That was three” briefly.
Shelley fights off Sabin on the top and brings him off the turnbuckles from behind with a backcracker before planting him with the Shellshock while Devine distracts the ref. Nash is late sliding the chair in as the ref counts two and goes back over to Devine while Shelley picks up the chair and Sabin dropkicks it into his face. Sabin discards the chair and plants Shelley with the Cradle Shock for the 1-2-3 to become the #1 Contender to the X Division Championship.
– Borash interviews James Mitchell, who compares Runt to a cockroach without the sense to scurry out of harm’s way. Mitchell mentions a rumor that Raven has been advising Runt, but says that Runt beating Abyss is just a fairytale that will end with Runt living “miserably ever after”. Abyss roars in the background as the sinister minister laughs. I still say that TNA should give Mitchell his own interview segment called “The Devil’s Advocate” or “The Confessional” or something; the guy is just a great talker.
– A video package recaps the Abyss/Runt feud.
– Abyss vs. Brother Runt
Runt has a new look, wearing a tie-dye tanktop and a mohawk to resemble Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver, which is cool to get him over as a crazy little bastard. Runt trash-talks and slaps Abyss, who presses Runt overhead but he escapes and rams head-first into the Monster’s gut. Runt goes for a crossbody but bounces off and Abyss throws him from the ring into the crowd, who once again throw him back to ringside. What part of crowd-surfing do these idiots not understand? Runt escapes from another military press and Acid Drops Abyss’ throat over the guardrail as Raven watches from the bleachers. Runt dives off the top onto Abyss and retrieves a couple of chairs, but referee Slick Johnson won’t let him bring them into the ring. Meanwhile, Abyss wedges one of the chairs in the turnbuckles and ends up crashing Runt’s head right through the chair.
Abyss avalanches Runt and sits him up on top, but Runt punches the Monster with his own chain and leaps off with the double-stomp to the lower abdomen for a two-count. Abyss catches him by the throat, but Runt kicks him low and Acid Drops him for another two. Runt sets up for another Acid Drop, but Abyss pushes him into the ref and charges, crushing Slick when Runt moves. Abyss drops Runt with the Shock Treatment as Mitchell introduces the bag of thumbtacks, which Abyss spreads out on the canvas. Abyss pushes and stomps Runt’s face into the tacks, which get stuck in the former Spike’s forehead. This seems to get the little guy fired up, as Runt repeatedly punches and headbutts Abyss until the Monster presses him in the air and he crashes down on the tacks. Mitchell gives the signal and Abyss crushes Runt with the Black Hole Slam on the thumbtacks for the pin.
Afterwards, Raven stands in his trademark pose and stares down Abyss from ringside as Runt walks out under his own power, which is a victory in itself. I would have loved to see a longer match, but I guess the fire ruined that, so hopefully there will be a rematch.
– Borash interviews Rhino, who claims that he wasn’t going crazy earlier like everybody else because he already is crazy. The War Machine expresses his desire to rape Monty’s face with his fists (great line) and asks if the fans want him to bring the fight to them. They cheer as Rhino vows to burn down the building and as the fire rains from above, he will cut someone in half with the GORE! GORE!! GORE!!! Wow, that was a tremendous promo in my opinion. Rhino could be the unexpected breakout star of 2006-07.
– A great video package sets up the Falls Count Anywhere match.
– Falls Count Anywhere: Monty Brown vs. Rhino vs. Samoa Joe
As soon as Joe hits the ring, he goes after Rhino and it is ON like neckbone, sucka. The crowd support is split between Rhino and Joe as Rhino tosses Monty to the floor and slingshots out with a plancha. Joe soon follows, wiping out Rhino with the suicide elbow dive through the ropes and whipping him into the guardrail before the Alpha Male hammers them both with a trashcan. Joe blocks the next shot and punts the can into Monty’s face, which is something I can’t recall seeing before. Joe sits Monty in a chair and creams him with the Ole Kick, then throws the can at Rhino and they brawl into the crowd. They hit each other with a kendo stick and Joe Ole Kicks Rhino’s head, cracking the bleacher boards as we get a “Holy Shit” chant. Joe drags Rhino back toward ringside, but Monty leaps over the railing out of nowhere and floors both of them. Perfect camerawork.
Rhino ends up on top of Monty, who kicks out at two and rolls over to cover Joe for a two-count. Rhino sends Monty into the bleacher boards, then throws Joe against it and charges but Joe moves and Rhino crashes into the boards. Monty whips Joe into the broken boards and goes after Rhino as Joe tries to use the boards on Monty, but it breaks and falls out of his hands in the first weak-looking spot of the match. Monty and Rhino brawl into the bleachers until Joe jabs a crutch into the Alpha Male’s throat and hits the War Machine with it. Joe calls for a chair from a fan and uses it on Rhino, then poses until Monty attacks him. Joe superkicks Monty and headbutts Rhino as they go through the crowd to the ramp, where Joe whacks Rhino with an umbrella. NICE.
Rhino smacks Joe with a trashcan lid and Monty throws the chair into Rhino’s face from the crowd. Rhino snap-suplexes Monty on the ramp and plants Joe with a belly-to-belly on the stage, but Joe kicks Rhino in the head when he goes for the Gore. Monty quickly slams Rhino with a double-underhook suplex on the ramp for two and dropkicks Joe when he charges at him for another two. In the ring, Monty controls Rhino until Joe hits the inverted atomic drop, one-footed dropkick to the face, and a trashcan lid-assisted senton backsplash. Rhino spinebusters Joe on the chair for a near-fall and sits him up on the top, but Joe brings Rhino down with a sunset flip powerbomb on the chair for two. Monty drags Joe to ringside and sets up a table on the floor, then tries to suplex Joe off the ramp but Joe blocks and they brawl up the ramp.
Monty drops Joe with a SICK spinning neckbreaker on the stage; you could hear the loud smack and see his head bounce off the stage, I’d be surprised if he doesn’t have a concussion. My head aches just seeing that. The Alpha Male prepares to Pounce, but Rhino hits him and Joe with the trashcan lid and props up two tables vertically against the bleachers beside the ramp. Rhino goes up on the ramp and charges at Monty with the Gore, but Monty sidesteps him and the War Machine flies off the side of the ramp and crashes through the tables. Wicked spot. Monty swiftly goes after Joe, who catches Brown and drives him off the ramp with an STO through the table that Brown himself set up earlier to score the deciding pinfall. Awesome brawl with several different, creative spots throughout.
Afterwards, Joe grabs the microphone and roars that he came to TNA looking for a fight, adding that regardless of whether the building burns down, he got one tonight and offers to do it all over again. I was hoping he’d issue a challenge to whoever wins the main event, but this was short and sweet and at least he got to say something.
– Borash is backstage with Zbysko, who claims that he had Earl Hebner thrown out of the building. JB offers Larry the opportunity to come clean about Slammiversary, but he denies any involvement with Jarrett or Hebner. Slick Johnson shows up to demand an explanation for Earl’s attack earlier and speculates that Zbysko, Hebner, and Jarrett have something going on together, vowing to get to the bottom of it. Larry blames it all on Slick’s quest to become Senior Referee and promises to call Cornette and do his best to have Slick fired.
– A video package recaps Sirelda’s TNA debut and her feud with Gail Kim. Great, we aren’t getting the four-way tag and a couple matches were obviously shortened, but we have time for a Zbysko skit and the women’s match?
– Gail Kim vs. Sirelda
Gail’s outfit almost makes up for having to see this match-up. Damn she’s hot. Sirelda (wo)manhandles Gail as the fans chant “She’s a man”, which is funny but also a bit disrespectful. I mean, she’s not in Nicole Bass territory or anything. We get a brief “You f*cked up” chant when Sirelda blows a Gail comeback spot. She should not be on TV. On the other hand, Gail shows her skills with a running kneedrop, a Tarantula, and a legdrop off the middle turnbuckle while doing her best Shawn Michaels impression by bumping for the big green stiff. Gail finally ends our misery with a somersault neckbreaker off the second turnbuckle to pin Sirelda. I almost feel bad for Sirelda, but hopefully this is the end for her and they let WWE have her. I’m not a big fan of women’s wrestling, but Gail has gotten really good and TNA should do their best to sign Trish when her contract expires, grab some of the other talented female indy workers, and give a Knockouts Division a shot.
– Borash interviews Scott Steiner, who marble-mouths his way through a promo that namedrops the Ultimate Warrior, Lex Luger, and Goldberg as other choices Sting could have made for his cornerman. Steiner claims to be highly educated because he went to the University of Michigan, but badly mangles the term “homo sapien” (it sounded like “homeo sapeen”) to prove Christian’s point. Big Poppa Pump promises that when Jarrett beats Sting, they’ll both be packing their bags.
– A video package sets up the X Division three-way and shows why Lethal was added to the match.
– X Division Title: Petey Williams vs. Jay Lethal vs. Senshi [champion]
Petey is sporting a new black-and-red motif with “Canadian Destroyer” written on the back of his trunks instead of the more generic “Canada”. Senshi tosses Lethal to the floor and Petey slingshots out with a huracanrana before Senshi dives onto both of them with (what I believe is) the Space Flying Tiger Drop. Am I right? Whatever it was, it looked really cool. Some good action back in the ring and Senshi waffles Petey with a cartwheel kick, like a reverse Pele. Petey dropkicks Senshi’s knee and suplexes Lethal into a neat submission hold, but Senshi kicks away at the Canadian to break it. Senshi elevates Lethal and catches him with two feet in the gut on the way down as Petey and Senshi take turns assaulting Lethal. Poor Jay.
Petey hangs Lethal in the tree of woe and performs the “O Canada” nutpress, after which Senshi unloads on Petey with chops and kicks. Lethal battles back with a dual-dropkick off the top on both opponents and a double seated dropkick as the crowd cheers him on. Heelkick off the middle turnbuckle on Petey followed by a bridging suplex on Senshi gets two for Lethal. Petey catches Lethal with the tilt-a-whirl Russian legsweep (let’s call that the Canadian Legsweep for obvious reasons) and goes for the Destroyer, but Jay fights out and German-suplexes Petey with a bridge for two. A series of roll-ups and cradles involving all three guys ends when Senshi blocks a sunset flip and crushes Petey with a double-foot stomp for two.
Senshi unleashes machine-gun chops to Lethal’s chest, but Jay reverses a whip and catches Senshi in the overhead release dragon suplex for a near-fall. Lethal decks Petey with the dropsault, but misses the Diving Dynamite off the top and Petey drills him with the Canadian Destroyer. However, before he can cover him, Senshi nails Petey with a vicious double-foot dropkick and pins Lethal to retain the X Division Championship. Smart finish and a good match, although nothing groundbreaking. Afterwards, Senshi and Petey argue over the belt.
– Borash interviews LAX as Konnan continues his streak of good intense promos, promising to continue their era of violence and use their anger and ferocity against the NWA Tag Team Champions. I like Homicide’s little machine-gun noise at the end too.
– A video package recaps the LAX angle and their attacks on Styles & Daniels. I love the Latin music they’re using for these.
– NWA World Tag Team Title: Latin American eXchange vs. A.J. Styles & Christopher Daniels [champions]
Moody Jack Melendez lets his long hair flow free and performs LAX’s ring intro in Spanish as the fans sitting around “Little Mexico” really get into the act, which is neat. Hernandez overpowers Daniels to start, but Daniels sends him out to the floor and throws his bandana at Homicide, who demands to be tagged in as Daniels tags Styles. They go through some chain-wrestling and trade punches before Homicide snaps off a huracanrana and Styles responds with the kip-up rana. The Phenomenal Angels control Homicide with some nice double-teams, including a back-suplex/clothesline combo and a powerbomb/sideslam, until the Notorious 187 drills A.J. with a Cutter as Styles was hanging over the middle rope. That looked nasty, and it gets a two-count.
Hernandez gets the tag and whips Homicide into Styles with a clothesline, then charges in with a great splash for two. Hernandez ducks the Pele and slams A.J. with a brutal overhead half-nelson suplex for two. Homicide gets the tag and knocks A.J. to the floor, then dives through the ropes with a crazy somersault suicide plancha that squashes A.J. against the railing. Konnan gets his shots in and Homicide scores a two-count as LAX keep Styles isolated in their side of the ring until he finally makes the hot tag to Daniels, who unloads on both members. Split-leg moonsault on Homicide gets two before 187 goes to the floor and Daniels does a split-leg moonsault onto him from the apron. Hernandez then dives over the top with an incredible no-hands plancha, wiping out both Daniels and Homicide. Man, this guy is awesome. LAX pound Daniels at ringside as Styles springboards out with a picture-perfect shooting star press onto all three guys.
“That was awesome” chant is fully deserved as back in the ring, A.J. drops Homicide with the inverted Clash for two and knocks Hernandez off the apron. The champs execute a beautiful springboard Rockerplex on Homicide and A.J. covers, but Hernandez breaks the pin at two and discards Styles. LAX plant Daniels with the Steiner Bulldog off the top for a near-fall, but A.J. stops the count and sets Homicide up for a superplex. Hernandez comes underneath and powerbombs Styles, who in turn superplexes Homicide. Daniels dives off the top, but Hernandez catches him by the neck and Crackerjacks him. Styles surprises Hernandez with an enzuigiri and the springboard inverted DDT, but stops the pin when he sees Homicide, who Cuts him. Daniels thunderbombs Homicide and all four guys are laid out.
Styles hits the Pele on Hernandez and Daniels knocks the muscleman through the ropes with a flying knee before slamming Homicide with a standing STO. A.J. goes to the top, but Konnan trips him up and LAX regain control as Hernandez lifts Daniels in the Border Toss while Homicide hooks Styles for the Gringo Killa, but A.J. flips out and sends 187 crashing into Hernandez. The Angels quickly take Hernandez down with the Total Elimination-style Hi-Lo double-team and Daniels covers Hernandez for the 1-2-3 to retain the NWA World Tag Team Championship. DAMN, that was a great tag match. I don’t do star ratings, but to me this was **** and could have gone higher with more time. Super stuff.
– A promo airs for TNA No Surrender 2006 on Sunday, September 24.
– Borash interviews Christian, who accuses Jarrett of setting the building on fire to get out of tonight’s match and rips on Steiner. Cage states that Sting deserves to become NWA World Champion for all the sacrifices he’s made, and says that Jarrett is selfish. Christian promises a new era in TNA starting tonight, because THAT’S (how he rolls), adding that “it’s showtime, folks!”
– Since we didn’t see enough of the saga earlier, we see the final part of Sting/Jarrett covering Victory Road and the buildup to this evening’s main event.
NWA World Heavyweight Title Match: Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett [champion]
Christian Cage accompanies Sting while Jeff Jarrett has Scott Steiner by his side, as West actually implies that Double J’s boos are louder than Sting’s cheers. As several referees keep the two rivals separated, we get Jeremy Borash’s Super Special Ring Introductions following their entrances. A loud “Steroids” chant breaks out; it’s definitely not directed at Sting or Christian, that’s for sure. Sting goes for an early Scorpion Deathlock, but Jarrett scrambles away and slaps the Stinger, who shoves him down by the throat and tries the Scorpion again. Jarrett grabs the ropes and bails out, but Sting follows and tosses Jarrett over the announce table. Sting bashes Jarrett with a fan and makes a bad pun about it being an electric fan, not a wrestling fan, before they go into the crowd, followed by Cage and Steiner.
Sting batters Jarrett throughout the crowd and wraps a fan’s beach towel around Jarrett’s head, then hits an earringer. Sting rams Jarrett into the boards and tells JJ to get up because he’s not bending over to pick him up; I love shoot comments that aren’t meant to be shoot comments. Sting finally dumps Jarrett back to ringside and SPLASHES WATER FROM A BOTTLE IN HIS FACE! OH MY GOD! I hope they have a doctor on-hand. Back in the ring, the ref is busy with Christian as Sting goes to the top, but Steiner whacks him in the knee with a chair. Sting collapses to the mat as Steiner slams Christian with an overhead belly-to-belly on the floor and does pushups. Jarrett zeroes in on Sting’s knee and works it over before applying the figure-four leglock.
Jarrett slaps Sting in the face and the Stinger flips over to reverse the figure-four, but Jarrett grabs the rope and Sting unloads on him. Jarrett avoids a Stinger Splash and goes for the Stroke, but Sting counters with the Scorpion Deathdrop and covers the NWA Champion. Steiner pulls the ref out after the two-count and Christian attacks Big Poppa Pump, threatening to use the chair until the ref warns that he’ll eject him. Um okay, and how about THE GUY WHO JUST YANKED YOU OUT OF THE RING? While the ref is distracted with the cornermen, Jarrett tries to use the title belt but Sting ducks and Christian trips Jarrett. Sting nails Jarrett with the gold and covers him, but Jarrett gets his foot over the rope.
Sting runs off the ropes and shoulderblocks Jarrett down, then stands with his back to the ropes and waits for Steiner to smack him with a chair. That looked so f*cking stupid. Sting falls head-first into Jarrett’s groin, which has to be a violation of something in the Bible. As we’ve learned from Shawn Michaels though, it’s not a sin if you do it on a wrestling show. Steiner brings a chair in the ring as Christian follows him in and knocks the Big Bad Booty Daddy back out. The ref is busy with Steiner as Christian picks up the chair and looks like he might hit Sting, but turns and pastes Jarrett. Ah, they’ve decided not to do the obvious and hold off on the heel turn. Great swerve, guys! The ref sees the damage and ejects Cage while Steiner gloats, but the ref sends him back to the locker room as well.
Jarrett avoids a dropkick from Sting and (poorly) applies a Scorpion Deathlock, but Sting powers out and locks in his own Scorpion. Of course, Jarrett makes it to the ropes and Sting goes for the Stinger Splash, but Jarrett moves and pulls the ref in the way. Oh no. Jarrett Strokes Sting as Steiner brings a guitar out and Jarrett takes it to the top in preparation to hit the Stinger, but Christian runs out and hits the heels with a baseball bat. Christian has the guitar and wants to use it, but Sting back-suplexes Jarrett and goes to the top. And wouldn’t you know it, when Sting dives off, Christian busts the guitar over his head in mid-air. Christian leaves as Jarrett rolls over on Sting and scores the pinfall to retain the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Afterwards, Jarrett looks confused but celebrates with Steiner while Christian smiles on the ramp and Tenay and West call him a selfish man to close the PPV.
Afterthoughts: What a bizarre show. From the unexpected fire to the super-obvious Christian heel turn and inevitable Jarrett victory, this was a night of ups and downs. The main event was a slow-motion replay for those of us who weren’t watching WCW in 2000. I am completely in favor of Christian as a heel, but he’s going to have to do a lot of explaining to have his turn make sense. I’m guessing that, since he helped Sting throughout the match, Christian decided to turn when Sting wouldn’t let him get the guitar shot in on Jarrett. It sounds kinda silly, but to Christian, that decision epitomized Sting’s “selfish” attitude so he went ahead and cost him the match. The commentators’ comments about Christian being selfish might be a hint; his selfish character is so selfish that he puts his own interests ahead of TNA’s. I could see a Sting/Christian/Jarrett three-way for the next PPV.
The rest of the night, aside from the women’s match, was really good. Nash sitting out could have easily been guessed, but it gave us a better match, so no problem. The Falls Count Anywhere was great, as was the tag title match, with the other matches all being pretty damn good too. I wonder how they’ll handle the replays and the DVD release, since the fire episode took up about 30-40 minutes. Recommended, if you stop watching before the main event. Thanks for reading, and see you in the future.
