Sunday 16 September 2007

TNA Slammiversary 2006 on TWC - TV Review

Has it really been four years since Total Non-Stop Action opened their doors? Well, to celebrate this, TNA presents us with Slammiversary, shown on a one week delay on The Wrestling Channel here in Britain, with our usual hosts, Mike Tenay and Don West.

The show begins quickly as Team 3-D and the James Gang start things straight away with the bingo hall brawl. It seems that in answer to the re-birth of a certain promotion, TNA are putting on their own form of extreme action as the former Dudleys and Outlaws battled all over the Impact Zone with anything they could get their hands on, with Devon getting the win after Kip was 3-D’ed through a table. A great way to open the show.

The Professor and DW then run down the rest of the card, before Borash interviews Jeff Jarrett about his chances in the upcoming king of the mountain match. During the interview Larry Zybysko interrupts, saying that Jarrett was right about who he said would be the new public face of TNA management.

Back in the arena, Rhino continues his feud with Team Canada as he faces Bobby Roode and Coach D’Amore in a handicap match. As with their match last month, Rhino and Roode put on some good exchanges, and D’Amore again proved that as well as being a great trainer he’s capable of a few good moves himself, mainly when Rhino was on the mat though. D’Amore’s confidence proved to be his undoing though, as after missing a moonsault from the top, Rhino took him down with the gore for the win.

Backstage, Borash sits and chats with X-Division champion Samoa Joe, about his upcoming bout with Scott Steiner. Given Steiner’s recent record this could either be a corker or a stinker.

Time for the number one X-Division contenders match next, with Senshi, Shark Boy, Petey Williams, Jay Lethal, Alex Shelley and Sonjay Dutt. Why is Dutt still being announced as being from Bombay, when Bombay doesn’t actually exist anymore? Anyway…..a little slot to start off with, until the eliminations came thick and fast, with Dutt and Senshi as the final two in the ring. These two put together a great series of moves, until Senshi hung Dutt upside down in the corner and came down with the double foot stomp from the top rope to become the number one contender to the X-Division title. As always, Senshi was highly impressive.

Backstage, JB interviews Kevin Nash and Alex Shelley about the big guy’s match with Chris Sabin. Nash is a good talker, but can he still go? Of course, we then get the obligatory video package.

Then it’s on to the aforementioned match as Kevin Nash, in his first match for over a year, faces Chris Sabin. While Bash wrestled his usual, slow, plodding kind of match, Sabin was great, pulling out all the moves, making Nash look like he can still go. However, it was only the help of his new buddy Alex Shelley did Nash get the win after a power bomb.

Backstage, Borash interviews America’s Most Wanted and Gail Kim about the upcoming tag title match. There’s the usual talk of victory here, and talk of a neutralizer to take Kim out. We then get the video package showing the history behind this match.

Back in the Impact Zone, as A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels challenge America’s Most Wanted for the NWA tag-team titles. I didn’t think that these two teams could improve on their previous encounter, but they did. Great action throughout, Gail Kim getting eliminated by a massive muscle-bound woman, Storm accidentally clobbering Harris with a beer bottle, and Daniels pinning Harris and getting the win after a Styles moonsault followed by his own BME. AMW’s record breaking title reign was over.

Out the back, Borash interviews one of the king of the mountain men, Sting. It’s your basic hyperbole display from the face painted one. We then go to a video package chronicling some of the best moments in TNA history.

Then it’s time to reveal the news that everyone has been waiting for, as the Professor introduces the new public face of TNA management, none other than the legendary Jim Cornette. Cornette cuts a hell of a promo, as he always has done, where he puts the company over, and promises to be a strong hand as far as the rules are concerned.

We then return to the back as Borash has the…..ahem…..pleasure to interview Scott Steiner. It’s your usual shouting type if interview from Steiner, once again laced with a few curses before he promises to kill Samoa Joe. We then get a look at the video package, looking back at what brought these two together.

Then it’s the match that part of me was really looking forward to, while another part of me was dreading, as Scott Steiner faces Samoa Joe. Although he’s now somewhat limited in what he can do, this is probably Steiner’s best match of the past five years. These two tore pieces off each other in a hard-hitting bout, with Steiner getting out of the rear naked choke, and Joe out of the Steiner Recliner, before Joe got the win with a power slam as Steiner came back off the ropes.

Backstage, Borash interviews the champ, Christian Cage, about defending the title in the king of the mountain match, with Cage promising to retain the title. We then see the video, taking a look at the match and the various combatants.

Then it’s time for our main event, as Christian Cage defends his NWA title against Sting, Jeff Jarrett, Abyss and Ron Killings in the king of the mountain match. Another match that was packed with great action, and five great performances from all concerned, and a very controversial ending, as first TNA management man Larry Zybysko stopped Sting from climbing the ladder, and then referee Earl Hebner was part of another screw job, pushing the ladder over as Sting and Cage fought over the title belt, sending them crashing over the top rope, making it dead easy for Jarrett to climb the ladder, put the belt in place, and win the title. Or did he? As he celebrated on the ramp, a referee came out and snatched the belt off Jarrett and handed it to Jim Cornette, leaving everyone asking who the champ was as the show came to an end.

In conclusion - a good outing from TNA’s pay-per-view team here. Although the Nash/Sabin match didn’t really do it for me, the rest of the card was good. This definitely gets the thumbs up!

No comments:

Post a Comment