Welcome to 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 Genesis and see how Hulk Hogan’s first big show in charge went.
Red has thus far utterly failed as X-Division champion. He rarely gets singles matches, but when he does his role is to keep them fast paced and exciting, to get the crowd buzzing for the rest of the night. He failed at that here in a match that was slow (probably not his fault) and sloppy (mostly his fault). The title needs to be moved off him; it was already waning in importance and all Red is doing is accelerating that.
Brian Kendrick: D-
Kendrick is a fast-paced, fun, charismatic wrestler who works as either a face or a heel due to his innate cockiness and humor. None of that was in effect now, as he wrestled slowly, felt like a guy going through the motions and just picking up his paycheck. Perhaps frustrated he wasn’t going over, this match was still nowhere near the top of the former Spanky’s game. His debut did cause at least a small stir, so there is that minor bonus saving him from failure.
Sean Morley: C-
What the hell was a guy who’s always been a jobber to the stars doing going over a guy who was in the main event last month? The crowd is clearly not buying his played-out gimmick. It’s a shame; his ring work was as solid as it could be, but with the wrong personality behind it and fighting the wrong opponent, it just died.
Daniels: C+
Daniels worked very hard to appear to be a heel, but the crowd hated Morley’s gimmick. Decrying Sports Entertainment then putting Val Venis over the pure wrestler Daniels is so obviously contradictory that even TNA fans notice. Still, at least Daniels absolutely worked his ass off, even when jobbing to a guy who really didn’t deserve the win.
ODB: F
Somehow, even among women’s wrestlers ODB has become poor enough to stand out. She was using a Hogan formula and quite over, but when asked to deviate, has appeared lost. To make matters worse, they’ve confused her character to the point where I don’t know what’s going on with her.
Tara: B-
Tara worked hard and the match wasn’t terrible thanks to her. That’s about all that can be said here.
These guys worked double time for their huge opponents. That’s important and warrants a high score because of how hard it is to have a good match against a monster face team, since neither guy can really play heel in peril and get heat. With some smart double teams and cheating, they made a good match where their opponents still came off as world beaters. Their title run was often overshadowed, but still good and this was a fitting way for the belts to come off of them.
While these guys worked hard, their situation is frustrating. Hernandez was broken up with Homicide to be a singles star, only for his push to be wasted on yet another failed Eric Young push and the end up in another, lesser tag team. Matt Morgan got a huge, incredibly long feud with Kurt Angle, got over, and now is in a thrown together team. What was the point?
The Pope: B
Pope is still spotty, but his pre-match promo was, as usual, very good, and in the match he played his role particularly well. He wasn’t the wrestler Wolfe was, so he used his fire and athleticism to fight back with great effectiveness. Some better knee selling would, however, have made a big difference.
Desmond Wolfe: A+
He casually wandered in and gave Pope the best match of his career, while simultaneously debuting an awesome new heelish, cocky look and playing his character in everything from his entrance to the smallest mannerisms during the match perfectly.
Beer Money: C
I’m glad they went over, but what a forgettable performance.
Who would have ever thought Nash and Waltman would outwork one of the top teams in wrestling?
Ken Anderson: C
Only his great promo kept him this high. He looked so lost in the match, with no discernable personality and absolutely atrocious pacing. This is exactly why, despite some of the best promos in the business, he would never have been accepted on top in the WWE. Even the bad wrestlers on top understand their role in the ring. Luckily for him, he’s in TNA and a big signing. That promo alone will assure his push continues.
Abyss: F
His acting backstage remains pathetic, while in ring he had one job: make Anderson look good. He failed, utterly.
Kurt Angle: A-
Under control and effective all match, Angle did exactly what he needed to to stay the face and not oversell the eventual AJ turn. Of course, given his role, he should have totally done away with the rest holds, but beyond that, he was excellent.
AJ Styles: B-
AJ Styles will always have one huge problem as a heel: he’s just too flashy. Fans cheer big, flashy moves. AJ mostly did away with those for much of this match, but the timing for being a heel absolutely needs work. AJ also managed to foreshadow his heel turn a bit with more jaw jacking than usual, but, again, the timing was off and there was no escalation of these actions during the match. It felt like Styles was going for Stone Cold at Wrestlemania 17 and he just didn’t get there.
Hulk Hogan put on a reasonably focused show. Feuds seem to be building and heading places and the shock factor was kept down to a minimum. The only match that the wrong guy really went over in was Morley over Daniels, so that isn’t the end of the world, as it’s the second match. There was no great wrestling or real compelling reason to tune in again, but at least the show was watchable with solid storytelling. It’s a step.
