Before I even start, don’t forget to read BD’s excellent review. If you haven’t yet, go, now, I don’t want to see you here before you have!
That being said, let’s take a look at This year’s Slammiversary. First of all let’s be fair here, many, including me, were expecting a train-wreck and, well, it wasn’t. Does that mean it was a good show? Not exactly. As so often with TNA it’s seldom as simple as good or bad.
Take the X-division Three-way for example. Good match? Absolutely, even if there were some sloppy spots, those three worked their asses off to entertain, no doubts about that. Of course couldn’t help but laugh out loud at Tenay harping about how the X-Division is part of the promotion’s DNA and how important it is. Really Mike? Is that why the match was barely promoted and got zero build-up in the weeks leading up to this? And that’s the problem, good match, good effort by all three , but still feeling somewhat pointless because the X-Division is just kinda there and while the matches are usually good, little is done to push or support them with story-lines.
Gods that Jessie Godderz promo at the start was bad. They really should keep him away from any microphone. But at least there was some sort of logical story between him and Robbie E. Not that bad of a match, but that finish came out of nowhere. Why do I have the sinking feeling Godderz is gonna get pushed over Robbie E despite the result?
Matt Morgan vs Bram was transformed into a street-fight so, of course, those two ended up having a normal match, and a rather boring one at that. Here is the thing TNA, adding meaningless stipulations just before the match starts is just silly. Stop doing that. Generic Matt Morgan match, and Bram looked lost out there at time. If he is supposed to be the “next big thing” for TNA, as some are suggesting, they have a long road ahead of them. Still, funny how commentary kept trying to sell the “carnage”… That wasn’t really happening.
ECIII promo. That’s the guy many are saying is good? Sorry, still don’t see it.
Aries vs Richards is probably one of the main reasons why the show isn’t being panned by critics. Hell Aries on his own is probably one of the main reasons TNA still got viewers. A fantastic match, while the finish might fall a bit flat, with a team called “Dirty Heels” it’s kinda expected so I can go with it. This once. To put things into perspective, TNA’s tag team division is one of the few things TNA got praised for recently and look no further than those 4 individuals for the reason why. I don’t know if the rumors about Aries leaving are true, but if they are, this might be the biggest blow yet for TNA.
Knockouts are the other thing that is mostly good in TNA, when creative doesn’t go wild with them at least. This was fine while it lasted. The Dollhouse has that kind of creepy-sexy thing going on for them. Not bad.
The Non-sanctioned, Revenge for attempted Murder, hey look at us we’re doing Vince Russo even better than Vince Russo Match was, frankly, a good effort from both Storm and Magnus. Only problem was, the over-booked mess that was the lead-up to this one killed it before it even started.
Ethan Carter III in what was basically a filler match. Yes, that I get, that’s his place.
The King of the Mountain gimmick is supposed to have given us some great matches in the past. I’m not sure I fully agree since the whole concept is an over-booked mess almost by definition. Perhaps not the worst of them, I wouldn’t know, I’m really not into such matches myself, but Jeff Jarrett winning? They do realize it’s 2015 right? And yes, Jeff looked to be in great shape, and yes he can still be used, even NJPW did so, in Tag matches, down the card. Never in a main event winning a title. This is not his place anymore (assuming it ever was), TNA, GFW and Jarrett himself should realize that by now.
Conclusion: No you can’t really say this was bad but yes TNA is still very much in trouble. Blame the booking, you would be absolutely right in this case.
