GENESIS

November 13, 2005

Raven . . . busts out ankle lock counters like he thinks he’s Kurt Angle.

Jeff Hardy . . . looks light years away from a future main event player in the WWE.

Abyss . . . looks like the second coming of Mick Foley with his willingness to take crazy bumps.

SHARK BOY vs. NIGEL McGUINNESS

Nigels’s finest moment, this is not. It’s fun when Nigel is in control, even though he doesn’t do anything that couldn’t be found in his ROH matches. He works the arm the usual ways, and does his usual spots like the rebound lariat and he catches Sharky with the boot while he does the headstand. Of course, after more or less carrying the match, Nigel jobs to a flash cradle. There’s nothing from Sharky other than a bite to break Nigel’s wristlock, a bulldog from the top, and the small package that gets the pin. Nigel looks good in defeat. Sharky looks lousy in victory.

SIMON DIAMOND/ELIX SKIPPER/DAVID YOUNG vs. LANCE HOYT/CHASE STEVENS/ANDY DOUGLAS

There really isn’t anything surprising here, aside from the Diamonds going over. Skipper and Young are pinballs for Hoyt, and the Naturals also get a chance to show off some impressive stuff. But just when it seems like they’re going to wrap it up, Skipper hits a spear and the Diamonds start working over Steven’s injured neck. Their work isn’t really anything special, aside from a wicked kick from Skipper, but Stevens’s selling makes it work just fine. Hoyt tags back in and it looks like the babyfaces will win after all, but the match breaks down, which leads to Young and Skipper double face planting Stevens to steal the win.

RAVEN vs. P. J. POLACO

I understand that Vince owns the trademark to the name “Justin Credible” but this was the best name that TNA could come up with for him? The match itself isn’t anything special, they have a boring brawl with Credible killing time with rest holds, and then they start running through their usual spots, with Raven winning out with the DDT. Hell, the best bump of the match is Cassidy Reilly taking a cane shot to the head and dropping like a safe. The coolest thing here, strictly for its awesome weirdness, was seeing Raven block a superkick and then segue to an ankle lock, as though he was Kurt Angle. Seriously, it ruled.

BG JAMES/KONNAN/RON KILLINGS vs. BOBBY ROODE/ERIC YOUNG/A-1 (Hockey Stick Fight)

Even with the hockey stick gimmick, this is more or less the same match that these two teams always have. It’s structured in the usual formulaic way with the babyfaces in control. The heels take over, and then the comeback. Only this time the heels can’t steal the win. It’s also nice to see that, unlike at Sacrifice when BG was the ref, Kip actually calls the match down the middle. There are a few fresh moments to the match, thanks to the hockey stick gimmick, such as some comedy from Young when he tries to illegally grab the stick and Kip puts the kibosh on it. There’s also a nice spot when BG gets one of the sticks and Roode gives him an electric chair drop before James can use it. There’s a fun home stretch with someone taking out someone from the other team, ending with Killings finishing off Young with his diving legdrop, with two sticks on his grapefruits. It’s a fun little match, but it’s just a re mix of the same old song and dance.

MONTY BROWN vs. JEFF HARDY (#1 Contender’s Match for the NWA World Heavyweight Title)

Monty isn’t anything particularly great here, but he’s passable. Of course, Jeff is so far away from passable that he makes Monty look like a world class worker by comparison. Jeff acts like he’s on an acid trip, and all his spots are done so slowly that they’re not even exposing, they’re embarrassing. Jeff’s “run” across the guardrail is more like a somewhat brisk walk. The close camera angles that shows how far some of their spots are from making actual contact doesn’t help matters either. The only cool thing here was Monty clearing the announce table and yelling for Mike and Don to leave, as though he was going to throw Jeff into (or through) it, and then throwing him in the ring and taunting everyone for getting excited. There’s a somewhat decent sequence, where Brown escapes the Twist of Fate, but Jeff counters into a reverse one. Jeff misses the Swanton, and Monty pounces him to win. I’m surprised that Monty went over cleanly, but he deserved it for putting up with this nonsense.

CHRISTOPHER DANIELS/SAMOA JOE/ALEX SHELLEY/RODERICK STRONG vs. CHRIS SABIN/SONJAY DUTT/AUSTIN ARIES/MATT BENTLEY (Elimination Match)

Overall, this is a fun match. Their work itself isn’t really meaningful, but it’s smooth more often than not. The only one who really doesn’t deliver anything impressive is Bentley, which isn’t exactly a shock, but he adds to the Daniels/Joe story, so it’s not like he was completely useless. The work before the first elimination is fine, it’s more of an exhibition of what the eight of them can do than it is anything else, but their exchanges are mostly smooth. The only real exception is Dutt’s attempt to do Dragon Kid-style multiple head scissor rotations on Strong and falling down. Once Aries eliminates Strong, the wrestlers start dropping like flies with eliminations coming in short order. Almost like clockwork, whoever makes an elimination is the next one to go, the only exceptions being Daniels eliminating Aries, and Sabin being left against Joe and Daniels and not being able to pull the win out.

The story to the match isn’t found in the work though. It’s the dissension between Joe and Daniels (which is established through a video package before the match starts) and the ways that Joe and Daniels show that they’re working through their issues for the good of their team. Joe and Daniels make several saves for each other throughout the match, and Daniels even acknowledges that a cheap shot from Joe was able to help him turn the tide to the match. They even work together a bit to eliminate Bentley, when Daniels puts Bentley on his shoulders and assists Joe to hit the Muscle Buster. There’s a quick tease of Daniels accidentally hitting Joe, but Daniels puts on the breaks in time. They’re able to work together long enough to win the match.

After the match is a different story, Joe gets mad because he believes Daniels stole his pin on Sabin which won them the match. Sabin was up for the Muscle Buster, but Bentley grabbed Joe’s leg and broke it up. Daniels jumped in and hit Angel’s Wings to get the pin. They seem to patch things up, but then Joe lays him out with the running kick and destroys him with a chair shot and two Muscle Busters, one of which was on a chair. This brings out AJ Styles, and the best TNA match up to that point (a rematch of the previous best TNA match up to this point) is set up for the next month. Fun, but meaningless, work, a good story, and a great angle afterwards. Not too shabby. ***1/2

ABYSS vs. SABU

As you might expect, these two aren’t going to set the world on fire with their ring work, but it’s fun to watch this just go see how out of his mind Abyss really is. Abyss takes just about every bump known to man. He takes multiple chair shots, a corner bump into a chair, and even a table bump with only his head on the table. Sabu even messes up his moonsault and Abyss takes his foot right in the face. Not to mention the thumbtack bump where he misses a splash and lands in them, with tacks sticking in his hands and elbows. The one nice storyline touch here is the ‘Abyss fears barbed wire’ story, which comes up when Sabu brings out the barbed wire chair and Abyss backs right up. But when the opportunity presents itself, Abyss works past it in order to win the match by giving Sabu the Black Hole Slam on the chair, which sets up their barbed wire match next month. If you’re big on actual wrestling and more than minimal storytelling, then this isn’t your cup of tea, but it’s not completely worthless either.

AJ STYLES © vs. PETEY WILLIAMS (X-Division Title)

Hey, this is actually pretty decent at times. Petey gets pigeonholed as being a one move wonder thanks to the Canadian Destroyer, but he shows how good he can be here, bringing all kinds of nice, and surprising, counters to a lot of AJ’s spots. If anything, it’s AJ’s performance that’s sketchy. Petey takes over the match after a distraction by A-1 on the floor, and hitting a German suplex off the apron that lands Styles onto the guardrail. Petey smartly makes it count by continuing to work over AJ’s midsection. His work isn’t anything brilliant, although the body scissors was surprising, but the effort is nice. It’s AJ who decides that they’ve done enough of that kind of work and starts throwing strikes to take over the match and forgets about it completely.

After that, the match more or less just breaks down into a spot exhibition, although, again, Petey’s counters are a very welcome addition. There’s another cool thing from Petey when puts on an ugly sharpshooter, and also hooks one up AJ’s arms, temporarily keeping him from getting the ropes. The other cool thing here was Styles spotting Joe (and the bloody towel from the Daniels beating) on the ramp and staring a whole right through him, even when he planting Petey with the Super Styles Clash and getting the pin. Between Petey being surprisingly game for the match and the Styles/Joe tease, this is better than any Petey Williams match has any right to be.

JEFF JARRETT/JAMES STORM/CHRIS HARRIS vs. RHINO/BROTHER RAY/BROTHER DEVON

TNA headlines a PPV with the sort of match that you’d expect to find as a main event of the final RAW or Smackdown before a WWE PPV. Two of the top feuds that will come to a head on PPV (and would for TNA the following month) pairing off for one final skirmish. Thankfully, this plays out better in execution than in theory, even though it’s mostly just a big brawl. The two things that separate this from what you’d expect to find on TV are its length and the level of violence involved.

As expected, this is another case where you’re gong to be woefully disappointed if you’re only interested in workrate, but the match has quite a few fun moments to it. There’s a funny spot with Storm throwing a beer bottle at Devon on the ramp. Storm gets some revenge by using a cheese grater on Bubba, after Bubba used it to open him up. One of the best moments of the match was Rhino gearing up to Gore Jarrett through a table set up in the entrance way, only for Storm to superkick Rhino and save Jarrett. Rhino gets a great near fall on Jarrett when he recovers and Gores him in the ring, only for Harris to pull out the ref to make the save. It’s funny, actually, Team 3D winds up making AMW look like a real pair of tough guys. Team 3D literally beats AMW all over the arena, with Bubba opening up Storm with a cheese grater and Devon busting open Harris with the bell. But, all it takes is a simple pair of chair shots to take Bubba and Devon out and to let the heels control the match.

The finish isn’t anything special, after several attempts to use tables, Bubba and Devon just forgo it and hit Storm with the regular 3D to win them the match. The battle is over but the war continues. Jarrett lays out Rhino with the guitar and Team Canada help beat down Team 3D. Christian hits the ring, makes like he’s joining the Canadians and then swerves them by helping out Team 3D, and putting Jarrett through the table. While all this is going on, Rhino, the guy supposed to be challenging for the title next month, is laid out on his back. It all makes for a fun enough main event and a satisfying way to end the show, but I still don’t think “The New Face in Professional Wrestling” should be aping ECW or Attitude Era-WWF.

Conclusion: Overall this is mostly a fun show. The X-Division carries the show on its back, as usual. But there’s also a couple fun ECW-style brawls. The Jeff Hardy debacle is the worst thing to see here, and at least that comes with the satisfaction of seeing him job cleanly. Thumbs in the middle, but leaning upwards.