Chrononaut Chronicles: TNA Genesis 2006 – 11/19/06

PPVs, Reviews

The Chrononaut Chronicles: TNA Genesis 2006 – Sunday, November 19, 2006

– I finally discovered that we do in fact get the Preshow here, but it’s on a different channel than the PPV itself. (For those of you in Ontario with Rogers Cable it’s on the Viewer’s Choice Preview Channel, which for me is 327 while the PPV is on 330.) In addition to a fun promo with Christy Hemme interviewing the Latin American eXchange, Eric Young came out to make his big announcement but was interrupted again, this time by Robert Roode with Ms. Brooks. Roode decided that his “Open Challenge” would be answered by Young, who was in street clothes as Roode attacked him and threw him in the ring to start the match. They had a good little match that saw Roode pin Young using the ropes for leverage, but Eric and his fans informed the referee so the bout was restarted and in a nice “turnabout is fair play” bit, Eric pinned Roode with his feet on the ropes for leverage. Of course, Eric and the fans denied any wrongdoing afterwards while Mike Tenay & Don West speculated that if everybody denied seeing it, maybe it didn’t really happen. Funny stuff.

– Yet another in the long line of absolutely amazing PPV-opening videos from Dave Sahadi kicks us off, using footage and radio transmissions of mankind’s first trip to the moon and comparing it to TNA’s growth to tie into the themes of Genesis and evolution. In a really nice production touch, when soundbites from wrestlers’ promos are played in the video, they sound like radio transmissions from space. The Pagliacchi remix tune is an outstanding and unique choice as well. I can’t say enough good things about the incredible work Sahadi does each week. If he could book as well as he does stuff like this, TNA would be #1 hands-down.

– Kazarian & Maverick Matt & Johnny Devine vs. Voodoo Kin Mafia

This is indeed a 3-on-2 handicap match and one good thing I must say about the James Gang’s change to the Voodoo Kin Mafia is that at least they don’t do the tired old New Age Outlaws prematch spiel anymore. “DX Sucks” chant to start as Matt backs BG into his corner and they pummel him, but BG fights back with the dancing punches until Matt superkicks him. Devine gets the tag and keeps biting BG’s ear as the heels drag BG to their corner and Kazarian jabs him with one of the white sticks they brought. The heels control BG until he decks the Maverick with a flying forearm off the ropes and makes the hot tag to Kip, who unloads on all three guys and drops Matt with a crappy Pedigree. Kip stomps his foot a la Shawn Michaels to tease Sweet Chin Music on Matt, but just tosses him out of the ring instead and back-bodydrops Kazarian over the top rope onto him. Kip catches Devine jumping off the top turnbuckle and plants him with the Missouri Boat Ride for the pinfall as the VKM gimmick is officially over with the crowd, like it or not. Afterwards, BG gets all supersmark on us again by talking about Paul Levesque, Michael Hickenbottom, & Vince McMahon and advises them to watch Impact this Thursday. Tenay stupidly claims he’ll be glued to his screen Thursday night watching Impact on SpikeTV; I know they tape the show Monday but it airs on Thursday and he’s the play-by-play guy, so that sounded really dumb.

– After West & Tenay run down tonight’s lineup (we already bought the PPV, STOP SHILLING IT!) Kazarian & Bentley drag a hooded Devine down to the ring and make him kneel as Raven’s theme plays and Raven walks out in a white suit with some sort of bondage neckbrace covering his mouth, apparently revealing himself as the trio’s “Great Redeemer”. Raven repeatedly canes Devine across the back with a purple kendo stick until welts form and walks off alone as Tenay declares that this was “weird”. Cool angle and I like Raven’s new look as it appears he will be in more of a managerial role with his new flock.

– Jeremy Borash interviews the Naturals with Shane Douglas, who brags about his boys beating Team 3D in a Tables match and suggests that Ray & Devon flew to Japan to avoid them, so the Naturals will beat Dutt & Lethal instead tonight. They show a broken table that has “TEAM 3D WAS HERE” written on it, which is funny.

– Sonjay Dutt & Jay Lethal vs. The Naturals

Jerry Lynn comes out on the stage with Lethal & Dutt but goes backstage after wishing them luck, while Shane Douglas stays at ringside with his team. The Naturals jump Dutt & Lethal to start while shouting threats for Team 3D, but the X Division babyfaces clear the ring and execute a sweet stereo dive out to the floor onto Andy Douglas & Chase Stevens. Back inside, they control Stevens with double-teams until he catches Lethal with a kick to the acorns and tags Andy, who pounds Jay and taunts him by almost letting him make the tag before dragging him away and tagging Chase as the Naturals hold the advantage with frequent tags. Lethal finally punches Douglas in the gut to counter a double-axhandle off the top and makes the hot tag as Sonjay unloads on the Naturals and lands a Lionsault on Chase for a near-fall. The Franchise climbs up on the apron to interfere, but Sonjay punches him and Lethal yanks him down to the floor. Meanwhile, the Naturals botch their missile-dropkick/sitout-powerbomb double-team but Stevens pins Dutt anyway while we get a faint “You Fucked Up” chant. Andy showed some good heel taunting and this was a solid tag bout with a f*cked-up finish.

– JB interviews LAX with Konnan, who calls Petey Williams a “coward” and cuts a great promo incorporating real-life events as he warns that anybody who tries to stop them from burning the American flag is infringing on their constitutional rights. When JB mentions that Jim Cornette is in the building to represent TNA Management with “huge ramifications” for LAX, Konnan states that they don’t take orders from whiteboys.

– A video package sets up Daniels/Sabin and depicts them both as X Division pioneers.

– JB interviews Christopher Daniels, who admits that he and AJ Styles are best friends but says that he did what he had to do when he won the X Title in the three-way on Impact. The Fallen Angel chastises Chris Sabin for disrespecting them and promises to leave with not only the championship, but Sabin’s respect as well.

– TNA X Division Title: Chris Sabin vs. Christopher Daniels [champion]

Sabin is great as a heel during his entrance and locks up with Daniels, backing him into a corner and rubbing his hands in the new X Champion’s face. Sabin flips out of a wristlock and slaps Daniels in the face as the crowd boos and Sabin smirks. Daniels returns the favor by flipping out of a wristlock, but Sabin blocks a forearm and pokes the Fallen Angel’s eyes to take the advantage. Daniels comes back with a series of hiptosses and Sabin bails out in true heel fashion, but slowly comes back in and Daniels curbstomps his face into the mat before landing an Arabian moonsault for a two-count. Daniels rams Sabin’s head to the turnbuckles and headbutts him for another two, but Sabin sends him to the apron and dropkicks him off to the floor. The crowd boos as Sabin teases a dive and stops on the apron before jumping with a basic double-axhandle in a nice bit of heel psychology. Sabin drops Daniels’ throat on the guardrail and scores a two-count in the ring as he fires off a hiptoss, a fistdrop, and a seated dropkick to the back of the head for another two. Sabin applies that old heel standby, the dreaded trapezius nervehold, but Daniels fights out and misses a springboard back-crossbody as Sabin covers him for two and chokes him on the ropes. Daniels battles out of a surfboard and slugs away, but Sabin hangs Daniels in the tree of woe and connects with the Hesitation dropkick before throwing a chair in the ring and warning West to shut up.

AJ Styles appears in the ring to confiscate the chair and Sabin yells at him, but the upside-down Daniels sits up to avoid the next dropkick and Sabin slides out to ringside as Daniels leaps off the top turnbuckle with a great flying bodypress to the floor. Sabin slaps himself as they both crawl back into the ring and Daniels unloads on his challenger, sitting him on the turnbuckle and bringing him down with the necktie sitout slam for two. Daniels slams Sabin with the standing uranage and signals for the Best Moonsault Ever, but Sabin stops him and drills him with a sick springboard tornado DDT for a near-fall. Daniels comes back with an enzuigiri as Sabin stagger-sells it and counters a huracanrana with a sitout powerbomb for two, but Daniels catches Sabin in mid-springboard and spikes him with a Death Valley Driver, followed by the BME for a close near-fall. Sabin blocks the Angel’s Wings and counters with a legdrag before blasting Daniels in the corner with the running Yakuza to the face and lifting him for the Cradle Shock, but Daniels counters with a crucifix (the finish of the Impact three-way) for an extremely close near-fall. Sabin goes for the Razor’s Edge into a DDT, but Daniels counters with an outside cradle for the three-count to retain the TNA X Division Championship in a really good match. Afterwards, Sabin prepares to chairshot Daniels from behind, but Jerry Lynn runs out to stop him and orders him to shake the Fallen Angel’s hand. Sabin shakes Daniels’ hand and raises his arm but when Lynn turns to leave, Sabin plants Daniels with the Cradle Shock and runs off. Awesome. Have I mentioned how much I like Sabin as a heel?

– In a Paparazzi Productions video, Kevin Nash has a bad feeling about tonight’s match because Shelley & Starr are in a tailspin, but they name off some memorable enhancement talent such as Lazertron, George South, & Reno Riggins and promise to win. Nash: “Let’s win one for Bo.” Shelley: “Schembechler?” Nash: “Derek.” Funny stuff.

– “The” Austin Starr & Alex Shelley vs. Ron “The Truth” Killings & Lance Hoyt

Kevin Nash with his arm in a sling joins Tenay & West on commentary and refers to himself as an “X Division pioneer”, while Hoyt proves that white men can’t dance during his entrance with Killings. Nash explains that he injured his arm defending his X Division Title in the Budokan and calls a “mandatory meeting” for all X Division athletes this Thursday to help get the division back on track as Shelley spinkicks Killings in the gut and strikes a Rick Rude pose, but Truth drops him with a reverse STO and Alex scurries back to his corner on his knees to hug Austin. Starr isn’t very sympathetic as he tags himself in and walks away from a test of strength to pose and preen, so Truth goes into a dance routine and Starr punches him. I always want to do that when he dances in the middle of a match too. Starr does a version of the Macarena to show he can dance too and tries to run away, but Truth catches him over his shoulder and plants him with a running powerslam. The babyfaces pinball Starr as Truth tags Lance and they double-hiptoss Starr, followed by a double elbowdrop for a two-count as Shelley makes the save. Starr almost makes the tag, but Hoyt flapjacks him and knocks Shelley off the apron before going to the top turnbuckle for a moonsault. However, Shelley trips him and Hoyt ends up hanging in the tree of woe as Starr pounds the knee and Truth comes in to help his partner, distracting the referee while the heels double-team the big guy. Shelley stands on Hoyt’s groin (Nash calls this move “the Amish Churn”) and finally releases him from the tree of woe to work over the leg as Nash wonders what’s up with Hoyt’s lower-back tattoo.

Starr comes in with an Eddie-style slingshot senton for two and tags Shelley, who slingshots in with a senton of his own and continues working Hoyt’s leg while Nash takes credit for teaching the Andersons the strategy of focusing on a body part. Starr gets the tag and slingshots in with the corkscrew splash for two, but Shelley eats Hoyt’s boots when he tries a splash off the top turnbuckles and Lance makes the hot tag to Truth, who nails Shelley with the spinning forearm off the ropes and punches Starr. Shelley fires off a spinning heelkick, but Truth ducks and Alex accidentally hits Austin. Truth drops Shelley with the falling vertical stunner for two as Starr breaks the pin and Truth levels them both with a dual-dropkick before scoring with a guillotine legdrop off the top to Shelley’s groin while Hoyt holds his legs upright. Truth ends up crotching himself on the top rope when he misses a Harlem Sidekick and Starr knocks him to the floor after clipping Hoyt’s knee, which Lance was still selling. Good for him. The heels zero in on Lance’s leg again, but Starr opts to dive through the ropes and wipe out Killings instead while Shelley lands a nice frogsplash off the top across Hoyt’s knee and orders Starr to bring the PaparazziCam closer to capture his shining moment. However, Hoyt wraps up Shelley in a small package for the 1-2-3 and Nash isn’t happy as he comes down to ringside and blames Alex for screwing up. This was actually a pretty good little tag match with solid psychology, but the crowd wasn’t really into it. It’s a shame that Alex & Austin are seemingly going to break up because they make a great team.

– A video package recaps the epic two-week build to the AJ/Christian match.

– JB interviews Christian Cage, who riffs on Borash’s eyeshadow and lipgloss and declares that he is still undefeated. Christian references AJ blindsiding him on the Preshow and claims he takes care of his business face-to-face, which causes JB to roll his eyes and Cage warns him never to roll his eyes again. Cage plans on adding Styles to his victims list alongside Rhino, Abyss, Sting, & Jeff Jarrett and announces that if he isn’t granted his NWA Title shot against the winner of Sting/Abyss, he’ll just take it.

– AJ Styles vs. Christian Cage

Despite West & Tenay insisting that Christian is a despicable heel, we get dueling “Let’s Go AJ”/”Let’s Go Christian” chants right away to kill that illusion as they lockup and struggle with each other until Cage smacks AJ’s back and AJ answers with a slap to the face. Cage thankfully no-sells a brief “CLB” chant and goes for the Unprettier, but Styles counters with an electric chair and Cage bails out when AJ grabs him for the Styles Clash. The referee stops Cage from retrieving a chair and Styles throws him back in the ring, where he flapjacks Christian and scores a two-count with an Oklahoma sideroll. Cage bails out again, but Styles follows out with an amazing swanton dive over the top rope and hits his leg on the guardrail as he lands on Cage. Back inside, AJ gets two and they go back to the floor when Christian trips up AJ as he goes for a springboard. Christian rams AJ’s upper back against the railing and stretches his back in the ring before dropping him with an inverted-DDT backbreaker across the knee for two as we get a “Christian Sucks” chant. Cage double-legs Styles and Styles snaps off the kipup huracanrana, but Cage cuts him down with a clothesline for two and back-suplexes him for another two after AJ misses a splash in the corner. Styles fights out of a tight chinlock and drops Cage with a fireman’s carry into a backbreaker, but misses a frogsplash off the top and Christian climbs up. However, he takes too long and AJ brings him off the top turnbuckle with a nice superhuracanrana. They slug it out and trade chops on their knees as they both struggle to their feet and AJ catches Christian with his sweet dropkick, followed by the kneedrop for two.

Cage baits him into a double-leg takedown and catapult, but AJ lands on his feet on the middle turnbuckle and flips back with a wicked moonsault-inverted DDT for a near-fall. That was great. Cage rips Styles in half with a spear for a near-fall and hooks him for the Unprettier, but Styles pushes him off and grabs him for the Styles Clash. Christian counters with a back-bodydrop, but AJ lands on his feet and fires off the Pele for a close near-fall. Styles attempts a springboard huracanrana, but Cage counters with a powerbomb for a pair of two-counts and retrieves a chair in frustration. Christopher Daniels runs down to grab the chair from Cage and they engage in a tug-of-war as AJ tries to sunset-flip Cage, but the Fallen Angel crashes to the floor when Christian releases the chair and sits down on Styles, hooking the legs for the pinfall. Really good match with Christian slowing the pace early on whenever AJ had the advantage. Afterwards, Styles argues with Daniels and piefaces him as several referees along with Jay Lethal & Sonjay Dutt try to separate the former NWA World Tag Team Champions. Rhino runs in and orders everybody else (except Styles & Daniels) out of the ring as he explains that he just finished feuding with his former best friend and he doesn’t want the same thing to happen to the Phenomenal Angels. That’s a brilliant way of using the Rhino/Christian storyline to segue into a new angle for him and tie into the Styles/Daniels story. The War Machine urges them to be men and shake hands, but AJ calls Rhino “Dr. Phil” and says he’ll call him if he needs a psychiatrist before storming out of the ring. I really like how this is playing out and involving Rhino is a good idea to show that these aren’t just two “X Division guys”. Good stuff all around.

– JB interviews Gail Kim & AMW, who cut an intense patriotic promo recapping their encounters with LAX as Chris Harris acknowledges that they haven’t always been good guys, but they never disrespected their country. James Storm adds a touch of class with a comment about LAX being good at “swimming and drywalling” before they head out.

– A video package recaps the LAX/AMW feud.

– NWA World Tag Team Title: America’s Most Wanted vs. Latin American eXchange [champions]

LAX’s entrance just isn’t the same without Moody Jack’s Spanish introductions. What happened to him anyway? Konnan does some prematch micwork warning Jim Cornette not to infringe on their First Amendment right to burn the flag as AMW attack Homicide & Hernandez to kick off the match with a heated brawl around ringside. Back inside, AMW throw Homicide right back out over the top rope onto Hernandez, who comes in and blindsides Harris when Konnan distracts him. The Wildcat comes back with the Thesz Press + punches and tries to suplex Hernandez, but he can’t lift him and gets clubbed by Hernandez before Homicide tags in and slingshots in with a somersault legdrop. LAX tag in-and-out as they prevent Harris from tagging out and take control until Harris spinebusters Homicide and tags Storm, who cleans house with a back-bodydrop on Homicide and tilt-a-whirl headscissors on Hernandez. Homicide slips out of the Eye Of The Storm and the Cowboy hits a dropkick for a one-count as Hernandez makes the save and lifts Storm for the Border Toss, but Harris pulls Storm out of harm’s way and suplexes Hernandez for two. Homicide sneaks in with a twisting DDT and gets caught as AMW set him up for the Death Sentence, but Hernandez breaks it up and launches Harris off the top turnbuckle with a Super Crackerjack that gets a near-fall for Homicide. Hernandez catches Storm going for a crossbody and plants him with a powerbomb before Homicide lands a splash off the top for two as Harris makes the save.

Harris attempts the Catatonic and Homicide tries to counter with the Gringo Killa, but Harris pushes him off into Hernandez to knock the big guy through the ropes. AMW level Homicide with the Hart Attack for a near-fall, but Hernandez drags Harris out to the floor and posts him while Storm knocks Homicide off the apron with an enzuigiri. Storm clocks Hernandez with an enzuigiri and Harris follows off the top turnbuckle with a flying clothesline as Gail cheers them on and AMW execute the Death Sentence on Hernandez, but Konnan distracts the referee so there’s no count. Meanwhile, Homicide cracks Storm with the blowtorch can and Hernandez pins him to retain the NWA World Tag Team Championship in a good first match of a series. Afterwards, Konnan slapjacks Harris and LAX menace Gail as Homicide hooks her up for the Gringo Killa, but Petey Williams runs out with a lead pipe to make the save and clears LAX from the ring. Jim Cornette marches to the ring to cut a promo damning LAX for their bad taste and states that the military veterans, family, and friends didn’t appreciate their vows to burn the flag. Cornette announces that TNA Management has decided to strip LAX of the NWA Tag Team Title and orders them to return the belts by this Thursday on Impact or their contracts will be terminated as the crowd boos and starts a loud “Bullshit” chant. Wow, talk about a miscalculation. Actually, the conspiracy theorist in me wonders if Russo knew what would happen and did it anyway to make Cornette look stupid. If I didn’t know better, I’d say this was a double turn with LAX going anti-establishment face (i.e. Stone Cold, DX ’97) and Russo playing up Cornette’s past allegations of racism as yet another power-drunk heel authority figure.

– While Abyss brandishes Sting’s baseball bat, James Mitchell cuts a great promo trying to get into Sting’s head by suggesting that the NWA World Champion sees a reflection of his own inner darkness when he looks at Abyss. The sinister minister notes that Sting will have to dig into the “reptilian” part of his brain as Mitchell promises that his Monster will take the Stinger down the “highway to hell” and that Sting will be thankful for the knowledge he’ll gain along the way.

– A video package builds up Sting/Abyss.

– NWA World Heavyweight Title: Abyss vs. Sting [champion]

James Mitchell carries the baseball bat and we should get JB’s Super Special Ring Introductions after the entrances, but Sting attacks Abyss as soon as he enters the ring and clotheslines him over the top rope with the bat. Sting follows out with a slingshot plancha and they brawl into the crowd as Sting repeatedly rams Abyss’ head into the wall before dumping him back to ringside. Abyss avoids a Stinger Splash as Sting crashes into the guardrail and the Monster whacks him across the back with a chair. Less than five minutes into the match, Abyss sets up a pair of tables with barbed-wire boards on them near the stage and positions Sting for a powerbomb, but Mitchell orders him not to do it when the referee threatens a disqualification and Abyss mauls the NWA World Champion around ringside instead. Back inside, Sting fights out of a neckvice and hits three Stinger Splashes as he kicks away at Abyss’ leg and lands a pretty sweet splash off the top turnbuckle for a two-count. Sting charges for another Stinger Splash in the corner, but Abyss levels him with a big boot and Mitchell passes in the NWA Title belt. However, Sting ducks the beltshot and applies the Scorpion Deathlock until Abyss grabs the rope to break. Sting shoves the ref away as he picks up the belt and charges, but Abyss catches him in the Black Hole Slam for a near-fall and Sting bumps the ref while fighting out of a chokeslam.

Mitchell presents Abyss with the bag of thumbtacks, but Sting retrieves the bat and knocks the bag out of his hand with a very light tap before ramming the bat into the Monster’s gut and planting him with the Scorpion Deathdrop for a two-count as Mitchell drags the ref out of the ring. Tenay & West are shocked as Sting spreads the thumbtacks on the mat and tries to knock Abyss onto them, but Abyss chokeslams Sting ON THE TACKS! Holy shit. And he even lays motionless on them for a few extra moments as Abyss covers him for a near-fall before Sting pops to his feet and Stingers-Up like he did when Jarrett hit him with the guitar at Bound For Glory. We get a nice closeup of the numerous thumbtacks and trickles of blood on Sting’s back as he drop-toeholds Abyss face-first into the tacks and locks on the Scorpion, but Mitchell distracts the ref so he doesn’t see Abyss tapping out. Sting releases Abyss and traps Mitchell in the Scorpion for a meaningless tapout before chairshotting Abyss across the back at ringside and eventually hanging the Monster upside-down from his rappel thingie after taking forever to hook him up while the ref pleads with Sting not to do it. An unusual growth can be seen on Abyss’ side (whatever that is, it’s awesome for the gimmick… like Foley’s mangled ear) and he seems more concerned with keeping his manbreasts covered as Sting bashes him with a series of chairshots and lets him down. This seemed like a cool idea in theory, but the execution left a lot to be desired.

Sting drags Abyss up to the stage above the barbed-wire tables and grips him by the throat as the ref tries to stop him, but Sting piefaces the ref a couple of times and finally clotheslines him to earn a disqualification. The bell rings as Sting shoves Abyss off the stage and down through the barbed-wire tables below for a “TNA” chant. Abyss twitches in the barbed wire and Sting shakes his head at ringside as ring announcer Dave Penzer announces that according to a long-standing TNA rule, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship can change hands via DQ; therefore, Abyss is the new champion! OH MY GOD, I never saw that one coming. Mitchell laughs at Sting and presents the belt to Abyss while West notes that the ref gave Sting numerous chances and Tenay explains that the DQ rule is in place to ensure a clear finish and avoid champions getting themselves disqualified to keep the title. This was a pretty cool match with Sting surprisingly taking the thumbtacks bump and a great story told (through the match and Mitchell’s promos during the Preshow and PPV) of Mitchell setting the trap and Sting falling for it by letting his “inner darkness” resurface. It would have been nice if the DQ rule had been referenced at all during Jeff Jarrett’s last title reign, but that helped add to the shocking finish which I really don’t have a problem with since it’s something different and a cheap DQ copout ending would have pissed me off. Maybe I’m just biased because I’m a huge Abyss fan and I never expected him to win the belt.

– A video package recaps Kurt Angle’s arrival to TNA and his feud with Samoa Joe.

– Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle

After the entrances, we get JB’s Super Special Ring Introductions and Angle gets a bigger reaction than Joe. They circle each other and the crowd takes a page out of the ROH Joe/Kobashi playbook, chanting “This Is Awesome” during the opening lockup. I know people will criticize that, but I take the chant to mean it’s awesome we’re seeing Angle vs. Joe since nobody ever thought it would happen six months ago. Angle single-legs Joe and looks for the Anklelock, but Joe quickly grabs the rope to break as we get a “Joe’s Gonna Kill You” chant. They go to lock up again and Joe unloads with stiff kicks, knees, punches, headbutts, and stomps, but Angle catches him in an overhead belly-to-belly suplex and clotheslines Joe over the top rope. Joe drags Angle out under the bottom rope and swings his head against the guardrail in a scary-looking spot considering Kurt’s infamous neck problems as some fans chant “Holy Shit”. Back inside, Joe covers for a two-count and Angle fires back with a series of forearm uppercuts, but misses a charge in the corner and collapses to the floor before Joe dives out through the ropes with an Elbow Suicida and rams Angle against the ringsteps.

Joe intimidates referee Earl Hebner in the ring as he administers the 10-count until Angle climbs back in with his forehead busted open and Joe pounds the dripping wound with a stomp, a punch, and a headbutt. Joe mauls the cut and Angle comes back with punches, but Joe snap-powerslams him for two and hammers the wound with crossface forearms as we get dueling “Angle”/”Joe” chants. Angle comes back again with forearm uppercuts, but Joe drops him with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker that sees Angle’s neck hit Joe’s knee instead. That gets two before Joe sits Angle on the top turnbuckle and slaps him, but Angle slaps back and snatches Joe in a front-facelock, so Joe carries him off the turnbuckles and Angle plants him with a tornado DDT for a near-fall. Joe wins a slugfest but Angle avoids a charge in the corner and pops off the three Rolling Germans, although the third one looked like Joe was supposed to flip and land on his face but couldn’t get up high enough. Angle scores another near-fall and lifts Joe for the Olympic Slam, but Joe armdrags out of it and squashes Angle in the corner with the running knee to the face before sitting him on the turnbuckles. Joe hits the jumping kick and crushes Angle with the Muscle Buster for a close near-fall as Angle gets the shoulder up and the “This Is Awesome” chant returns.

Angle staggers to his feet and Joe comes from behind for the choke, but Angle rolls out of it and plants Joe with the Olympic Slam for another close near-fall as the crowd chants “Make Him Tap” and Kurt pulls down the straps to show he’s getting SERIOUS. Angle applies the Anklelock and Joe fights desperately to escape until he manages to roll over and break it by slipping Angle into the Kokina Clutch, which Angle escapes by picking Joe’s ankle and reapplying the Anklelock. Joe finally leverages out of the submission, but Angle dodges a charge in the corner and snaps off another Olympic Slam before pulling his straps up in order to pull them back down again for a nice crowd pop. Angle cinches in the grapevine Anklelock on the mat and Joe finally taps out to end the Samoan Submission Machine’s 17-month undefeated streak in Kurt’s first TNA PPV match as the crowd erupts. Crisp hard-hitting (albeit shorter than expected) match with some excellent counterwrestling near the end. Afterwards, Joe receives a “You Tapped Out” chant and admits that he tapped out because he recognized that Kurt was the better man tonight. Joe requests a rematch and offers a handshake, but Angle heelishly blows him off and heads up the ramp as West & Tenay can’t believe he didn’t shake the hand. Joe states that he’ll have to do it the hard way then and slowly marches away as we are treated to some replays from the match.

– Tenay & West wrap things up to close the PPV with an Angle-themed video promo for TNA Turning Point ’06.

Afterthoughts: I’ve been reading some of the feedback for this PPV while putting this recap together and I must say I’m really surprised at the negativity. When TNA signed Angle, the internets were buzzing with the smarkiest smarky smarks moaning that he wouldn’t know enough to tone it down and would probably kill himself in his first match with crazy suplex bumps and high-risk maneuvers. So here we have his first PPV match and those same people are bitching that it was too short and not exciting enough and whatever else… because it didn’t go 30 minutes with crazy suplex bumps and high-risk maneuvers. If the match had gone 30 minutes with crazy suplex bumps and high-risk maneuvers, the same people would be bitching that Angle hadn’t learned anything and would be dead within a month. As I figured from the beginning, TNA and Angle will just never be able to win over some people no matter what they do. I personally enjoyed the visual of Joe vs. Angle and thought they had a great first match together to whet the appetite for a rematch and/or series of matches.

As for the rest of the PPV, I can understand the issues many had with the Sting/Abyss finish since the DQ rule hasn’t been mentioned in over a year as far as I know (I just saw Hard Justice ’05 on ESPN Classic Canada and it was mentioned during the very good Jarrett/Styles match) but regardless, it’s been around since the beginning and at least it was a unique finish that did a great job of furthering the storyline. Plus, Abyss as World Champion is just awesome to me. The “stripping the tag titles from LAX” angle was a definite misstep and I’m interested to see how they follow up on Impact after the negative crowd reaction, but much like Joe/Angle I thought the match was a good first in a series. Daniels/Sabin and AJ/Christian were excellent matches as well. I think this PPV was a lot like Final Resolution ’06 in that it was really good wrestling-wise (except VKM/Movement) but it was largely criticized for the screwy finishes of some of the matches. I’ll admit I was a bit underwhelmed during the original viewing but I really enjoyed the show a lot more the second time, and maybe others will have the same experience.