Ralph’s Rassllin’ Recap – TNA Turning Point 2013 on Spike (Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, AJ Styles, Magnus, James Storm, Bobby Roode, Mr. Anderson, Bully Ray, Aces & Eights)

Live Coverage, Reviews, Top Story

Ok, I didn’t see many others providing coverage of TNA’s Turning Point, so I thought I’d offer a little review. Check out BD’s That Being Said report too for another perspective.

We open with exclusive coverage of Bobby Roode jumping “Cowboy” James Storm in a bar somewhere last night in an attempt to take him out ahead of their big Bullrope match. The two of them have good chemistry, although the idea that there wouldn’t be some police involvement and/or legal consequences for such actions is a little laugh.
Now, we get a little recap of the events that led to tonight’s card, including AJ Styles walking out on the company with the TNA World Title, thus necessitating the tournament, two matches of which will take place tonight. In addition to Storm/Roode, we also get Samoa Joe vs. Magnus in a Falls Count Anywhere match.
Then we go to Dixie Carter with Samoa Joe backstage. She puts herself over and tells Joe to forget about defending the title against AJ if he wins it, “because he’s gone – he’s off defending stolen property in third world countries for pesos.” Way to endear yourself to the Hispanic audience. Honestly, Dixie is just awful. She has absolutely no business being on television.

Now, we’re in the ring, and, oh goody! More Dixie! She’s mad because the police are looking into possibly pressing charges against Roode (ok, that makes sense), thus ruining the scheduled match. But out comes Storm. He says he will make all the potential legal issues go away if she’ll give him, instead of the Bullrope match, a Florida Death match, which I assume will follow the same rules as a Texas Death match, but I’d have to check the Florida State Athletic Commission in the section on Death matches to be sure. I’m not sure the bar’s owners would agree to that deal. Anyway, he gets his wish.

They’re promising Abyss vs. Joseph Park later tonight. I’m intrigued.

We’re going right into Joe/Magnus. First match, 20 minutes into the show. Joe comes to the ring and then decides to go to the back and find Magnus. Shouldn’t he be, like, right there by the entrance. Surely, he knows his match is next.
We come back from commercial, and they seem to find each other. They immediately then fight their way to the ring, thus negating Joe’s whole plan of taking the fight to Magnus. It’s a pretty solid back and forth match. The announce team put Magnus over and correctly point out that he’s the only non-former champion left in the tournament.
Sorry, I’m not really good at play-by-play.

The first real near-fall comes as Joe nails Magnus with a dive onto the floor and that gets a two-count on the apron. Some contrived spot with a chair wedged into the corner ropes ends with Joe ramming his own head into the chair, and despite his Samoan heritage, that’s enough for the pin on the outside. Match went about 8 minutes, and was not really the pay-per-view level of match I was hoping for. I’m pegging Magnus as the next big thing for TNA, so I’m all right with the outcome.

We’re half an hour in and it’s been an unoffensive, if not especially captivating, show. The crowd seems pretty into it, and hey, I’m not paying for this. I’m thinking along the lines of an old “Clash of the Champions” show.
Although we were told to expect Abyss/Park next, instead it’s Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian. They are collectively known as Bad Influence, in case you didn’t know. They are completely aping Attitude Era Edge and Christian, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Oh, I see, they want to watch the match, or “train wreck,” as they called it. So, Park comes out first. Then, Abyss’ music hits, and there’s no Abyss. Bad Influence berates and belittles Park. He gets all sad, then Kazarian dumps bucket of “blood” on Park. The verbal beatdown continues. Park then just leaves the ring and walks to the back. Well, that happened.
Gail Kim is in the ring after commercials. She’s got Lady Tapa (?) with her. She’s issuing an open challenge. Out comes Candace Larae (?). Tenay and Taz are so into the match, they decide to shill the new TNA Trading Cards (do people still do that?) instead of providing commentary. It’s not a bad match, per se, but the crowd has absolutely no vested interest in it. Kim wins with the “eat defeat” in about 3 minutes.

James Storm is in the back gathering up plunder for his Florida Death Match with Bobby Roode.

TNA is so through with AJ Styles, he gets a full 60-second “commercial” showing all his outlaw title defenses “brought to you by Friends of AJ Styles.” Uh-huh.

We get a quick promo from Ken Anderson. Seriously, it was like 15 seconds.

Recap of the saga of Storm and Roode, including their time as Beer Money and their feud over the TNA title. Storm is out first with a beer and a trashcan full of implements of dismemberment. Storm jumps Roode the instant he clears the curtain. Apparently this is just your standard Last Man Standing Match, so I guess it’s not like a Texas Death Match. In a Texas Death Match (in Tennessee, anyway, if that makes sense), After each fall, the referee issues a 10-count. If the guy can’t make it to his feet, the match is over. If he does, the match resumes. Jerry Lawler and Bill Dundee once had a Texas Death Match in Memphis that lasted two hours.

Anyway, this quickly devolves into a garbage brawl, which is too bad, because these guys can actually wrestle. I can’t believe the WWE hasn’t gone after Storm. He’s a legit looking cowboy character, and they haven’t had one in a while. I guess Jesse and Festus or maybe Cade and Murdoch were the last ones. I’m not so sure I like the gimmick matches in the title tournament.

Lots of trashcan related shenanigans ensue. At least the crowd seems into the match. Storm is bleeding, and I’m reminded how much I don’t like that the WWE doesn’t allow blood. Roode finds Storm’s beer bottle and smashes it over Storm’s head, very much like when Roode first turned on Storm, but he beats the count. Storm beats the count a couple more times. Eventually Roode finds a plywood board with barbed wire nailed to it under the ring (why it was there, when there was no Florida Death Match scheduled to take place, is adequately explained, or even mentioned). Anyway, Roode is about to put Storm, who is out of it, through the wire/board, but Gunner shows up and happens to have a towel, which he throws into the ring, and that’s apparently another way to end a Florida Death Match. Match was about 12 minutes long. It wasn’t bad. The long road to James Storm basically refusing to give up only to have his friend throw in the towel for him served to make Storm look strong while putting Roode over and inching toward the Angle vs. Roode final they seemed to be teasing a couple of weeks ago.

That means the semi-finals are Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Hardy and Magnus vs. Bobby Roode. No word on whether or not those will be gimmick matches.

Back from commercial, Storm is conscious, in the ring, and pissed at Gunner. I’m with him. On what authority did Gunner throw in the towel? Why would the referee automatically assume that was what that was supposed to signal? It would be one thing if Gunner was Storm’s manager or something, or if a TNA official made the call. Oh well.

And they show the updated bracket, and I swear to you they moved things around. Now it’s Hardy vs. Roode and Angle vs. Magnus. Now, I really think they’re going to go through with Angle vs. Roode in the finals.

We go to a package with Christie Hemme and “new up and coming Impact Wrestling sensation” Sam Shaw. I’m sorry, he asked to be called Samuel Shaw. If I’m supposed to already know who this guy is, I’m sorry. I don’t. He’s an artist as well as a wrestling sensation. They look at some of his art. Hemme flirts with him and gives him her number. He takes it, but when she leaves, the camera lingers on Shaw who shows signs of being a neat freak, or maybe OCD. I’m going to call it and say that the big reveal is that Shaw is gay. I don’t know if he really is, but I bet that’s where they take the character. Can’t let WWE and Darren Young get all the homosexual wrestling fan demographic dollars.

Some chump, who I later ascertain to be Ethan Carter III, talks down to some of his buddies, who I think are the chumps he’s been beating in his TV matches. Apparently he’s tired of beating these guys and is ready for some real competition.

Bully Ray promo. He’s really made the most of his main event push, but I think that’s just about over. He’s a good heel and all, but I don’t know where he goes from here after Aces & Eights ends.

Backstage, Dixie summons Angle, but not before he says he’s looking forward to facing Magnus.

EC3 (I actually like that as far as nicknames go) is in the ring. He promises to take on a “TNA founding legend,” and hey, it’s Shark Boy! Didn’t see that coming. Shark Boy looks rusty, and I’m not sure who to blame, but they botch a lot of spots. Anyway, Carter finishes with Dean Ambrose’s finisher (which he hits cleanly and Shark Boy sells well) in about 3 minutes. Carter puts himself over and is light-years better than Dixie on the mic.

Promo for the Bully/Anderson match. Did anyone ever explain what exactly it was that got Anderson removed from the WWE? It seemed like there were big plans for him with the Money in the Bank win and all that.

Dixie has Angle and Roode in her office. She’s promoting next week’s Impact show, which is on Thanksgiving, and thus no one will be watching. But that’s not going to stop her from having the “Dixie Carter TNA Thanksgiving Special,” by God. Now, here’s an interesting development. The Main Event of said show is a “Thanksgiving tradition,” she says. It’s an 8-man Elimination Tag Match, so basically a traditional Survivor Series match. If you were unaware, the Survivor Series actually was originally held on Thanksgiving, basically to screw with the NWA. That’s not a bad move at all actually. Wrestling fans looking for something to watch will be able to catch the show. It doesn’t further the TNA title tournament on a show that is likely to deliver low ratings. So, good move, TNA.

Now it’s time for the Main Event of this show. There’s 15 minutes left in the show, unless they got permission to go over. No one has mentioned any kind of gimmick here, so I guess it’s a straight up match … and no sooner do I type that when it’s announced that we’re going with No DQ. About a half dozen wrestlers, including Angle, Gunner, Magnus, Daniels, Kazarian, and Joe come out and stand on the apron to watch the match. That’s interesting in that is stresses that the roster is sick of Aces & 8’s. I assume this means this will end with said wrestlers hoisting a victorious Anderson on their shoulders to close the show.

Anderson takes the early advantage with a low blow. Bully eventually gains control. A table gets involved. And a big chain. Back and forth, continuing through a commercial break. Just a side note: I wish they wouldn’t cut to commercials during matches. It just doesn’t make sense.

Anyway, Bully tries to piledrive Anderson on the floor, but he reverses it. Knux gets involved. He eats a piledriver on the floor for his troubles. He symbolically strips Knux of his Aces & 8’s jacket. Back in the ring, Bully spears Anderson through a table in the corner. That gets BOUT A 2.8 count. Taz gives Brooke a hammer. She tries to throw it to Bully (or was it on purpose?) but Anderson catches it and nails Bully with it. Mic Check on Bully and the Aces & 8’s are history. Taz is forced by Angle and Magnus to remove his vest. Anderson actually doesn’t get hoisted above the other guys’ heads. He instead celebrates in the ring with his collection of vests.

The show closes with a promo for the Thanksgiving show, which will include the Survivor Series match with Team Angle vs. Team Roode, as well as a funeral for Aces & 8’s hosted by Anderson.

So, it wasn’t a blow away show, but it wasn’t bad. I don’t regret watching it or anything. Let’s see where they go from here. Thanks for reading.

A lifelong self-admitted geek and nerd, Ralph has passed on his love of comic books, movies and pro wrestling to his children. In his day job, he writes for a newspaper in the Memphis area and plays volleyball and softball. He is almost as smart and as funny as he thinks he is.