It’s multi man madness time again as Total Non-Stop Action present their latest pay-per-view, No Surrender, headlined by Kurt Angle defending the TNA World title against A.J. Styles, Matt Morgan and Sting, and shown on a three day delay on Bravo 2 here in Britain, with Mike Tenay and Taz handling commentary duties.The first match of the show saw new champions crowned, with the new incarnation of The Beautiful People, Velvet Skye and Madison Rayne, facing the team of Taylor Wilde and Sarita, with the new Knockouts Tag-Team titles on the line. Brief mention is made of Angelina Love’s departure from the company before Earl Hebner comes down to the ring and throws Slick Johnson out of the match because of his past relationship with young Ms. Skye. As for the actual match, it’s not bad, but it’s a tad short. Wilde and Sarita pulled off some tremendous double team moves, the likes of which would make Ricky & Robert proud. However, Madison Rayne is good, but she just isn’t as good as the departed Ms. Love. As the ending, our baby faces came out on top, with Sarita taking out Madison with a springboard drop kick off the ropes, with Taylor getting the pin with a bridge suplex.
Now if the opener was short, the next one was even shorter, with Eric Young taking on Super-Mex himself, Hernandez. Young, still trying to get the big man to join the World Elite, said he wasn’t going to fight back, and came to the ring still dressed in his business suit. Young was true to his word, and it wasn’t long before Hernandez pinned EY after the border toss. Well, I’m not exactly sure what to make of this one.
The second title match of the evening followed, with Christopher Daniels challenging Samoa Joe for the X Division title. You can never really tire of seeing these two go up against each other. These two have tremendous chemistry, and it showed in this match, with Daniels high flying moves matching up against Joe’s hard hitting style. The story here was Joe working over Daniels’ injured left knee, but the former Fallen Angel managed to fight back, and after a great series of counters Joe finally managed to synch in the rear naked choke for the submission victory. A very good match this, probably the best on the show.
Then it was on to falls count anywhere action, with the mystery man Suicide tackling D’Angelo Dinero. This match actually started when Suicide attacked the Pope during a backstage interview, and while there were some interesting spots during the fight backstage, it didn’t really get interesting until they reached the arena. However, as the match went on, it did seem to drag a little, and when the end came, with Dinero pinning Suicide after the masked man missed a jump off the entrance way and went through a table when Dinero moved out of the way, I was slightly relieved.
The second vacant title was contested next, with ODB and Cody Deaner fighting it out over the Knockouts title. Why? Just why? Having built up a great reputation for their women’s division, they have to go and screw it up with this poor excuse for a match. So, the action may have been okay at times, but the entire concept just sucked, and whoever came up with this idea should be fired, or at least given a good slap. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, ODB got the pin after Deaner missed a top rope splash, so at least we had a woman winning a women’s championship.
Normal service was resumed with the battle of the big boys, with Abyss challenging Kevin Nash for the Legends title, with Nash hoping to claim Dr. Stevie’s bounty. Mick Foley came down to do a spot of guest commentary, with a barbed wire baseball bat in hand, and shared some classic moments with his fellow WWE alumni Taz. As for the match, it was strangely compelling. It was slow paced and hard hitting, but extremely well executed, and the story was played out really well, with Stevie turning up and taking a seat on the stage, with Daffney appearing from out of the crowd with a taser in her hand. Abyss stopped this heinous attempt by taking her out with a black hole slam, but the offending weapon soon made it’s way into Nash’s hands, and while the referee was trying to stop Foley from handing Abyss his baseball bat, Nash used the taser on a very sensitive part of Abyss’ body, enabling him to get the pin. It was then that Stevie refused to give Nash the bounty. Big Sexy ended up power bombing Stevie, and leaving with the cash. Although this wasn’t a patch on the Joe/Daniels match, it was still quite good, and Nash’s best pay-per-view match this year.
The Lethal Lockdown match was next, with Beer Money, Inc. and Team 3D taking on The British Invasion, Scott Steiner and Booker T. Sadly, I am unable to review this match for you. If you recall, Nick Aldis, the man behind the Brutus Magnus gimmick, has threatened me with legal action if I say anything negative about him on the internet, and while I’m not going to contact him and ask him to withdraw his threat, I’m not going to stop anyone else from doing so. So if anyone wants to ask him, then why not visit his website at http://www.gladiator-oblivion.com.
So, back to normal service, with Bobby Lashley finally making his TNA debut against Rhino. Firstly, I’d like to say that it was great seeing Rhino back on pay-per-view. It seems like ages since he’s been on a big show. As for the match, it was another of those hard hitting affairs, with two good performances, although it was obvious that Lashley wasn’t going to go all out because of his MMA career. As the ending, after Lashley accidentally speared the referee, Rhino attempted his second gore, which Lashley countered with a knockout punch for the winning pin. A nice little match here.
Main event time, with Kurt Angle defending the TNA World title against three challengers, A.J. Styles, Matt Morgan, and Sting. Or at least he thought he was going to be three. Before the match began Hernandez came down the ramp with his feast or fired briefcase to cash in his TNA World title shot, turning this into a five way match. The big man then attacked Angle, beating the hell out of him while the other three just stood and watched, and when the bell finally rang Hernandez continued his attack on Angle up the ramp and onto the stage. He was about to throw Angle off the stage with the border toss with Eric Young suddenly appeared and attacked him, taking him down with a pile driver on the stage, and taking him out of the match, turning it back into a four way. It wasn’t long before Angle and Morgan formed a temporary alliance against Sting and Styles. Again, the action was okay, but this was another of those matches that just seemed to drag on and on with no ending in sight. When it did get near the end there were plenty of near falls, and with Angle lying prone in the middle of the ring, Sting and Styles looked at each other. Sting then left the ring to attack Morgan on the outside, leaving Styles to take Angle out with a 450 splash to get the title winning pin.
In conclusion - while there was some good action on this show, this won’t go down as one of my favourite TNA pay-per-views. Some matches seemed way too short, while others just seemed way too long, and I’m not sure if I agree with having a Lethal Lockdown match on any other pay-per-view apart from Lockdown. It just doesn’t seem right.
As for the main event, I really can’t understand why Hernandez was put into the main event in the first place. It would have made more sense, and created more drama, if he’d cashed in his feast or fired World title shot for a pay-per-view main event. It would have given us a new face in the main event scene, and a new match-up. Then they could have had the World Elite cost him his big chance. That would have made a lot more sense. But then again, I’m just a lowly internet writer, so what the hell do I know?
So overall, as many a high school teacher would say - could do better.
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