TNA – Against All Odds 2008 – DVD Review

DVD Reviews, Reviews

aao2008
Available at Amazon.com

On February 10, 2008 from the BI-LO Center in Greenville, South Carolina, TNA showed up to bring a night jam-packed with wrestling to the fans on the coast. It is a night that rings true to the title of the PPV and that is Against All Odds. The superstars of TNA go out to the ring and aim to prove that they can do anything with the cards stacked against them and with their backs against the wall. No matter what would come their way, they would be ready.

This event was full of grudge matches and the only real match that lived up to the Against All Odds moniker was the first match of the night which saw sixty-eight year old Bullet Bob Armstrong in competition. Throughout the night though, every single title in TNA would be on the line for the champion to retain or for their opponents to walk out on top of the world.

~ TNA Tag Team Title Match – BG James and his father Bullet Bob Armstrong take on AJ Styles and Tomko for the tag titles. First of all it is just stupid having Bullet Bob out there. The match is just incredibly lame since it is virtually a handicap match with Bullet Bob being absolutely useless. It’s a comedy match and something to get the fans riles up from the start. Wouldn’t have worked for me and doesn’t.

~ Traci Brooks Vs. Payton Banks – Traci Brooks was fired by Robert Roode so he went out and got a new valet, Ms. Payton Banks. Brooks has some talent in the ring and it shows, but Banks is just dead-weight out there. Not much of a match.

~ Scott Steiner Vs. Petey Williams – Both guys have the “I’m the most muscular” gimmick going on now and still each had a case from the “Feast Or Fired” match. Petey had the case for the World Title shot while Steiner had the X-Title shot case. The winner of this match would get both cases awarded to them. Steiner is just so incredibly washed up and this whole case thing really reminds me of a another match involving a briefcase, ladder, and world title shot. Just sayin’! It bothers me that Petey Williams is being wasted in something like this. The match isn’t that bad, but very predictable.

~ Eric Young Vs. James Storm – I hate the entire idea of this “World Drinking Title” stupidity. It makes a total mockery of any title in any promotion ever, and is a complete waste of time. The match is not bad, but is tarnished by the entire idea of it and the ending which is just wasteful as well.

~ Awesome Kong Vs. ODB – ODB is insanely popular with the crowd, but I am not sure how she honestly thinks she can beat Awesome Kong. How can any female…or male for that matter, think they can beat Awesome Kong? This match could have been a really nice brawl even if predictable, but thanks to interference it was tarnished as well.

~ Barbed Wire Massacre 2 – OK, the thing here is that South Carolina has certain rules about wrestling and thus wouldn’t allow this match to actually happen within the state. Therefore the match is taking place “live” at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. Alright, what’s dumb here is that this match was taped a week or two in advance and simply shown and advertised as being live. Why couldn’t they really do the match live, but just in a different location? Even in an empty arena or something would have worked. Did TNA not think that the result of it would be leaked online or something? Dumb.

Abyss and Judas Mesias are step-brothers and forced to battle it out. The ring ropes have been replaced with the barbed wire and it is set up all around the ringside area for the competitors’ use. Needless to say, but this is a huge bloody brawl. Mesias is supposed to be this demon beast, but he looks like an under-developed midget.

~ Booker T Vs. Robert Roode – This feud has been running on for way too long and all the while Roode is involved in like three other angles going on in TNA. The match is decent enough but nothing special. I really hate to see Booker being wasted in something like this, and hate the ending of this match even more as we get yet another craptastic finish.

~ Hardcore Street Fight – Even though I can’t stand Team 3-D, this match was actually really good and by far the best of the entire night. Team 3-D and Johnny Devine are fighting to win and get rid of the X-Division forever. Jay Lethal and the Motor City Machineguns are fighting to keep the X-Division alive and force Brother Ray and Brother Devon to be less than 275 pounds each time they wrestle after this event. It is a huge brawl with lots of weapons and a really hot finish that made me extremely happy. Lethal is a star that needs to be recognition right now.

~ Kurt Angle Vs. Christian Cage – These two stars battled a really good match with a lot of near falls from the Special Enforcer Samoa Joe at ringside. TNA naming Joe as this enforcer made me really think they would let Angle and Cage fight it out with a true winner coming out on top. That wouldn’t be the case though and another run of interference makes this match just as big a waste of time as most of the rest of the card.

The event is shown in 1.33:1 Full Screen format and it looks really good actually. No problems with pixilation or any glitches at all.

The event is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and everything sounds great right up to the awful entrance themes and Don West’s absurd screaming.

Impact Match: AJ Styles & Tomko Vs. Samoa Joe & Kevin Nash – This match took place on the February 14, 2008 edition of Impact. Christian Cage was due to be Joe’s partner but got taken out earlier in the night. Joe needed a replacement and I still don’t understand how it ended up being Nash. One day they’re bitter enemies, the next they’re best friends. Trust me this match wasn’t much, and surprise surprise there was outside interference.

Impact Feature: The Angle Wedding – This is also from the February 14, 2008 edition of Impact. Kurt and Karen Angle were going to renew their vows, and whomever they got to play the priest is an awful actor. It seems that AJ Styles (Angle’s best man) really wants Karen so he’s all pissy. A big hoopla ends the ceremony and it’s supposed to be funny or something.

Photo Gallery – Lots of still frame shots from the event.

Man, talk about a big waste of time. Five matches ended with interference while another ended in a double count-out. Only three out of nine matches had clean endings and that, my friends, is not a good ratio at all. There is no reason for all of that. Interference and angle advancement is what the weekly showing of Impact is for, and believe me they do it plenty on there too. The PPV should be for the final payoff after a month of build-up, but you can’t even give us that can you TNA? Bah. The special features aren’t much and show what happened after the actual event which doesn’t really make much sense since by then, the build-up for next month’s PPV has already begun. There may not be many, but there’s got too be any TNA DVD out there that is better then this.

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TNA presents Against All Odds 2008. Featuring: Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Christian Cage, James Storm, Eric Young, Awesome Kong, Jay Lethal, MCMG, and many more. Running time: 180 minutes. Rating: Not Rated. Released on DVD: April 29, 2008. Available at Amazon.com