This is the only post PPV feature that will attempt to grade out how everyone who appeared on the PPV did. Teams will be treated as a unit with standout performers highlighted. To see a quick breakdown of the match and who won, just click that wrestler’s name. Let’s get to the Report Card for TNA Final Resolution!
Both Shelley and Sabin were especially impressive here. Shelley got to play face-in-peril all match and did a great job selling. That’s expected, but what wasn’t was how well he sold this beating during his offense after the hot tag. Sabin, meanwhile, has become one of the top hot tags in wrestling. His fire, offense, and timing are all top notch. If the belts aren’t going on MCMG, then turn Shelley heel and let them tear the house down in the undercard.
British Invasion: B-
Doug Williams felt invisible this whole match. I’m not quite sure why, but he was entirely generic. Brutus Magnus showed very good fire, but is still fairly green and sloppy. I really hope they didn’t keep the belts to drop to Kevin Nash.
Tara: C+
Tara didn’t have a lot to work with here. The crowd does not like ODB as a heel and ODB is still learning to work as a heel, but she got something watchable out of her opponent, so her rating can’t be too bad.
ODB: F
She was a bad heel that the audience didn’t want to boo and she managed to change little enough of herself that the audience is left without much reason to boo. This is a big misfire.
Kevin Nash: D
He didn’t do much but crush smaller guys. I guess that’s what he’s good at nowadays.
Samoa Joe: C
He did a bit more than Nash and still came out looking pretty nasty. Not bad for a mess of a battle royal.
Rob Terry: F
This guy needs work. Perhaps his X-Division title shot is so that he can work with someone who can help train him on the job? He needs it if he’s going to be wrestling on television.
Seems this guy will never get a fair shake as anything but a reprehensible stereotype. Whatever, hopefully he can return as someone worthwhile.
Beer Money: B
They seemed to do most here, which was interesting in that they always seem to outwork everyone else outside of the main event. I’m convinced James Storm is the best tag wrestler of this generation and Robert Roode can be a future main event superstar.
Consequences Creed still has no business on television and Lethal is utterly wasted as both his partner and in this match.
Kiyoshi: N/A
After all this time, Koyoshi still hasn’t gotten enough time for me to tell if he’s actually any good.
Eric Young: F
So glad that huge push of Hernandez was wasted trying to get Eric Young over only for them to then realize what the rest of the world already knew: Eric Young isn’t worth getting over.
Hernandez: B-
While the work still isn’t there, he looks dangerous and has undeniable charisma. This feud has done him no favors, but perhaps work with Daniels or Wolfe now can help elevate his game to where it needs to be.
The Pope: F
He was sloppy and out of place. It’s hard to even call this the same guy who worked so well with Suicide a few months back. Whatever caused him to miss time is seemingly still in his head and putting him out there with this kind of performance is counter productive.
Suicide: F
This gimmick is just done. He looked about as out of place as is possible in this one, not helped by 3-D deciding to not sell for the smaller guys since they had to job to Morgan.
Matt Morgan: C-
He’s over, but damned if I can see why. He was about as unimpressive as one can be in going over multi-time tag champions all alone.
Team 3-D: F.
They killed Suicide and The Pope all match then didn’t make Morgan look good. If they’re going to have an attitude about it, then they shouldn’t be working with younger guys and hurting their careers.
Rhino: B-
Hey, someone had to have their finisher eaten by Hernandez and be eliminated early. Props to Rhino for being that guy, though the match would have been superior if it were D-Vonn.
Jesse Neal: B+
Easily the best he’s ever looked, Neal finally seems threatening. I don’t know why TNA puts guys this green on television, let alone PPV, but Neal is working extremely hard to make the best of it and had his best nice thus far, with ease.
So he and Steiner put on a passable match last month, then TNA pushed their luck and tried it again. Bad idea that bit TNA, as this was slow, boring and poorly put together. Lashley needs a good match on Impact to wash the stink of this one off of himself.
He was as bad as Lashley, but seemed more into the match and broke out the frankensteiner, so he gets the slight boost to passing for his efforts. I think Steiner is a good guy to teach more agile youngsters about structure and psychology if he keeps his head on straight. With pure power guys, however, the matches get too slow to be worthwhile.
Foley looked the most lively he has since coming to TNA. Apparently the thought of working with Hogan in some fashion has caused him to get into better shape. Abyss sort of went through the motions, but when that includes the spots it always does with him, that’s no bad thing. This felt like it was here to get the match out of the way and nothing Mick or Abyss did changed that.
Stevie and Raven are both better off retired. They’re broken down and not good. Only extremely high garbage match IQs make them worth keeping, and both are good enough on the mic and as teachers that they should be passing on what they know, not stinking up PPVs and this from a big mark for both men.
Kurt Angle: A-
Angle was great here, doing a lot of very good matt wrestling and selling his arm consistently throughout. While he could have and probably should have jobbed, his losing of the first fall at least made Wolfe look good.
His arm work, leg selling and gusher made this match. For anyone who doubts that the indies can produce world class talents, they need look no further than Mr. Wolfe, who’s having the best matches with Angle of anyone in TNA, arguably ever (and the argument only really extends to Christian). With this kind of quality, the title should be on Wolfe soon- he’s already the best heel in the company, as well as, in this writer’s opinion, the second best worker after Samoa Joe (AJ is three, Angle four).
AJ Styles: B+
AJ put on yet another great match- a few more of these and the ignoble start to his title run will be utterly forgotten. He gave Daniels a ton here and went back to some of the flashy offense that so defined his early career, except with the psychology and timing he’s learned since. He even sold on offense, a huge flaw never quite corrected, at least until the finishing sequence when he forgot about his hurt back and lowered his grade.
Daniels: A
The surprise of the night for me, I thought Daniels was done, but he put on a clinic here. A bit more cheating and his psychology would have been perfect to go with his perfect storytelling with the back work and smack talking. Daniels has proven he can shine in a big spot when his character is given motivation and he has a good wrestler to work with. Hopefully he’s never again as wasted as he was and falls back into the bad habits he showed aren’t fatal flaws tonight.
Click here for my final thoughts on the Pay Per View. TNA has earned a B+ due to their focused effort tonight in every match, even the bad ones having a purpose that they accomplished. Good job, TNA.
