It’s time to step into the Impact Zone once again as we take a look at TNA’s latest pay per view offering, with A.J. Styles challenging Bobby Roode for the World title in the main event of Turning Point, shown this past Wednesday on Challenge here in Britain.
The show began with the first title match of the evening as Robbie E, accompanied by former Welshman Robbie T, challenged Eric Young for the TV title.
Long time readers will know that I’m not exactly a fan of Eric Young’s character, and Robbie E isn’t that far behind in that respect, so this wasn’t exactly one of my all-time dream matches.
The stuff at the beginning was annoying as hell. Young just can’t do comedy. Thankfully this stopped after a massive clothesline from the former Rob Terry, and I’m not exactly a big fan of his either.
The only good part was the action, which is something I can’t fault. It was fluid and well executed, with T playing a cameo role at regular intervals.
T ended up contributing to the ending, taking Young out with a clothesline to the legs as he stood on the ring apron. Moments later it was all over when E secured the title winning pin.
Mixed tag action followed as Ink Inc, Jesse Neal, Shannon More and Toxxin challenged Mexican America, Hernandez, Anarquia and Sarita, accompanied by Rosita, for the Tag Team titles.
Now this was a lot more entertaining. The early exchanges between Moore and Anarquia was a sign of how good this match would be, and the exchanges between the male contingents were also a joy to behold.
As for the girls, their brief involvement was also well executed. This was the first time I’d seen Toxxin in action and she looked quite good.
It was during the inevitable mass brawl that Rosita tried to interfere, only for Toxxin to stop her from entering the ring. It was then that Sarita, title belt in hand, clobbered Toxxin from behind, and a three count later the champions had retained the title.
The title action continued with Jesse Sorensen and Kid Kash challenging Austin Aries for the X Division strap.
For the majority of this match we saw Kash and Aries taking the youngster to the wood shed, with Kash acting as Aries’ hired gun.
Sorensen had his moments, but they were few and far between as Aries and Kash tried to take him apart. There were a few moments when the two bad guys looked like they were going to come to blows, mainly when Kash went for the pin, but they worked well together for the most part.
Later in the match, with Aries recovering at ringside, Kash decided to take matters into his own hands by taking Sorensen down with his piledriver variation, but when Kash went for the pin he didn’t see Aries racing around ringside so he could put Sorensen’s foot on the bottom rope, breaking the referee’s count.
Kash had no idea what had happened, and moments later Aries sneaked up from behind and rolled him up for the title retaining pin. Needless to say that Kash was none too happy with the result.
Then came the no disqualification match between Christopher Daniels and Rob Van Dam.
Well, that’s what we thought we were going to get. Before the match began Daniels took to the microphone and challenged “Bob Van Dam” to a straight wrestling match. RVD accepted the challenge, and the two shook on the agreement.
What followed was an extremely entertaining match. These two matched each other hold for hold and move for move, and brought back fond memories of RVD’s past classics.
Daniels became frustrated early on when RVD dominated before he took the upper hand. But when RVD took back the momentum the Fallen Angel went walkabout, saying he’d had enough.
RVD hadn’t though. He followed Daniels back up the ramp and attacked. A brief brawl followed with RVD leg dropping Daniels as he was draped over the guard rail before they returned to the ring.
The gentlemen’s agreement then went out of the window when Daniels brought a chair into the equation, taking RVD down with a side slam on it, and when he didn’t get the pin he left the ring, searching for the toolbox under the ring so he could find his new favourite weapon, the screwdriver.
Despite the pleadings of the referee Daniels went to use it on his man, only for RVD to block it with the chair. He then tossed the metal item to Daniels and took him out with the van daminator, sealing the win after a frog splash from the top rope.
The singles action continued with Matt Morgan taking on the still undefeated Crimson.
This was basically two big guys trying to beat the hell out of each other, and for some reason it made for compelling viewing.
Both men came out with the big guns here as they tried to put the other away, and after a while it became apparent to all that despite all of the big moves neither man could get the job done.
It got to the point where they stood in front of each other in the middle of the ring, urging the other to hit him in the face.
So then the slugfest began, and when the referee tried to stop them he ended up shoving him to the mat. The referee immediately called for the bell, disqualifying both men.
But that wasn’t enough for Crimson and Morgan as they tried to continue their brawl until security came down to the ring to separate them. Me thinks we haven’t seen the last of this.
Then it was back to tag team action as Immortal’s Scott Steiner and Bully Ray faced former Immortals Mr. Anderson and Abyss.
This one wasn’t too bad. Ray and Steiner did a good job of using Anderson as a punching bag early on, although Steiner seemed intent on arguing with the ringside fans who were chanting his name.
Eventually Anderson got the hot tag to Abyss, who proceeded to clean house until the Bully managed to clothesline him over the top rope.
Then came the rather strange incident. Steiner was taking care of Anderson in the ring, and was about to take him down with a Frankensteiner from the top rope in his team’s corner.
It was then that Abyss walked over to the corner and tagged Anderson. Steiner executed the move and went for the cover, only for the referee to explain to him that Anderson was no longer the legal man, even though he hadn’t been tagged in his own corner.
Abyss then came up on Steiner from behind and took him down with the black hole slam for the winning pin.
But that wasn’t the end of the action. Ray got a table and set it up in the ring, and seconds later the Immortal members put Abyss through it, only for the monster to stand right back up, sending the bad guys running for cover.
It was back to title action for the next match as Gail Kim challenged Velvet Sky for the Knockouts title.
Although this one won’t go down as one of the classics of the year it was quite entertaining. The girls put together some good sequences, and it wasn’t long before Knockouts VP Karen Jarrett came down to the ring to monitor her new pet project.
Inevitably Mrs. Jarrett had to try and interfere, and while she was arguing with the referee Kim’s tag partner Madison Rayne came into the ring to take Sky out. It wasn’t enough to give Kim the winning pin though.
That came a few moments later. After more attempted interference from Rayne Kim finally took Sky out with her eat the feet (is that what it’s called?) finisher for the pin, adding the Knockouts title to her Tag Team strap.
Then it was on to the battle of the Jeffs as Jeff Jarrett, accompanied by his missus, took on Jeff Hardy.
This one didn’t last long. Hardy rushed into the ring and took Jarrett down with a twist of fate. Three seconds later and Hardy had the win.
Needless to say that Double J was none to happy, and called for another match. Hardy readily agreed.
Jarrett had more success second time around, dominating for the most part and looking good in doing so, but as he went for the figure four leg lock Hardy countered with a small package for the win.
Once again Jarrett was none too happy, and as Hardy made his way back up the ramp and the missus argued with the referee Jarrett clobbered Hardy with a chair before dragging Hardy back into the ring and ordering the referee to re-start the match.
Jarrett then took Hardy down with the stroke, but as he went for the pin Hardy rolled him over and scored his third pin of the night. Once again Jarrett was none too happy, but this time there was nothing he could do about it.
The main event saw A.J. Styles challenging his former Fortune buddy Bobby Roode for the World title.
This was a pretty enjoyable encounter, although the crowd seemed almost tepid towards it at times. Styles and Roode showed some great chemistry in the ring, putting together some well executed sequences.
Even though he’s only been champion for a short time Roode seems to be growing nicely in his new role, while Styles was a more than able challenger for his first title defence.
Both men brought out their big moves, but it was Roode who emerged victorious, rolling up Styles and getting the winning pin with a handful of tights.
In conclusion - once again I took the decision not to read any reviews before I watched this show, and I’m glad I made that decision.
Turning Point proved to be a very enjoyable show, and while the majority of the matches probably won’t be remembered as classics in years to come they all delivered, with the Daniels/RVD and World title matches the encounters of the evening for me.
Which is why this show is getting the thumbs up from me. It may not have been spectacular but it was worth watching.
The show began with the first title match of the evening as Robbie E, accompanied by former Welshman Robbie T, challenged Eric Young for the TV title.
Long time readers will know that I’m not exactly a fan of Eric Young’s character, and Robbie E isn’t that far behind in that respect, so this wasn’t exactly one of my all-time dream matches.
The stuff at the beginning was annoying as hell. Young just can’t do comedy. Thankfully this stopped after a massive clothesline from the former Rob Terry, and I’m not exactly a big fan of his either.
The only good part was the action, which is something I can’t fault. It was fluid and well executed, with T playing a cameo role at regular intervals.
T ended up contributing to the ending, taking Young out with a clothesline to the legs as he stood on the ring apron. Moments later it was all over when E secured the title winning pin.
Mixed tag action followed as Ink Inc, Jesse Neal, Shannon More and Toxxin challenged Mexican America, Hernandez, Anarquia and Sarita, accompanied by Rosita, for the Tag Team titles.
Now this was a lot more entertaining. The early exchanges between Moore and Anarquia was a sign of how good this match would be, and the exchanges between the male contingents were also a joy to behold.
As for the girls, their brief involvement was also well executed. This was the first time I’d seen Toxxin in action and she looked quite good.
It was during the inevitable mass brawl that Rosita tried to interfere, only for Toxxin to stop her from entering the ring. It was then that Sarita, title belt in hand, clobbered Toxxin from behind, and a three count later the champions had retained the title.
The title action continued with Jesse Sorensen and Kid Kash challenging Austin Aries for the X Division strap.
For the majority of this match we saw Kash and Aries taking the youngster to the wood shed, with Kash acting as Aries’ hired gun.
Sorensen had his moments, but they were few and far between as Aries and Kash tried to take him apart. There were a few moments when the two bad guys looked like they were going to come to blows, mainly when Kash went for the pin, but they worked well together for the most part.
Later in the match, with Aries recovering at ringside, Kash decided to take matters into his own hands by taking Sorensen down with his piledriver variation, but when Kash went for the pin he didn’t see Aries racing around ringside so he could put Sorensen’s foot on the bottom rope, breaking the referee’s count.
Kash had no idea what had happened, and moments later Aries sneaked up from behind and rolled him up for the title retaining pin. Needless to say that Kash was none too happy with the result.
Then came the no disqualification match between Christopher Daniels and Rob Van Dam.
Well, that’s what we thought we were going to get. Before the match began Daniels took to the microphone and challenged “Bob Van Dam” to a straight wrestling match. RVD accepted the challenge, and the two shook on the agreement.
What followed was an extremely entertaining match. These two matched each other hold for hold and move for move, and brought back fond memories of RVD’s past classics.
Daniels became frustrated early on when RVD dominated before he took the upper hand. But when RVD took back the momentum the Fallen Angel went walkabout, saying he’d had enough.
RVD hadn’t though. He followed Daniels back up the ramp and attacked. A brief brawl followed with RVD leg dropping Daniels as he was draped over the guard rail before they returned to the ring.
The gentlemen’s agreement then went out of the window when Daniels brought a chair into the equation, taking RVD down with a side slam on it, and when he didn’t get the pin he left the ring, searching for the toolbox under the ring so he could find his new favourite weapon, the screwdriver.
Despite the pleadings of the referee Daniels went to use it on his man, only for RVD to block it with the chair. He then tossed the metal item to Daniels and took him out with the van daminator, sealing the win after a frog splash from the top rope.
The singles action continued with Matt Morgan taking on the still undefeated Crimson.
This was basically two big guys trying to beat the hell out of each other, and for some reason it made for compelling viewing.
Both men came out with the big guns here as they tried to put the other away, and after a while it became apparent to all that despite all of the big moves neither man could get the job done.
It got to the point where they stood in front of each other in the middle of the ring, urging the other to hit him in the face.
So then the slugfest began, and when the referee tried to stop them he ended up shoving him to the mat. The referee immediately called for the bell, disqualifying both men.
But that wasn’t enough for Crimson and Morgan as they tried to continue their brawl until security came down to the ring to separate them. Me thinks we haven’t seen the last of this.
Then it was back to tag team action as Immortal’s Scott Steiner and Bully Ray faced former Immortals Mr. Anderson and Abyss.
This one wasn’t too bad. Ray and Steiner did a good job of using Anderson as a punching bag early on, although Steiner seemed intent on arguing with the ringside fans who were chanting his name.
Eventually Anderson got the hot tag to Abyss, who proceeded to clean house until the Bully managed to clothesline him over the top rope.
Then came the rather strange incident. Steiner was taking care of Anderson in the ring, and was about to take him down with a Frankensteiner from the top rope in his team’s corner.
It was then that Abyss walked over to the corner and tagged Anderson. Steiner executed the move and went for the cover, only for the referee to explain to him that Anderson was no longer the legal man, even though he hadn’t been tagged in his own corner.
Abyss then came up on Steiner from behind and took him down with the black hole slam for the winning pin.
But that wasn’t the end of the action. Ray got a table and set it up in the ring, and seconds later the Immortal members put Abyss through it, only for the monster to stand right back up, sending the bad guys running for cover.
It was back to title action for the next match as Gail Kim challenged Velvet Sky for the Knockouts title.
Although this one won’t go down as one of the classics of the year it was quite entertaining. The girls put together some good sequences, and it wasn’t long before Knockouts VP Karen Jarrett came down to the ring to monitor her new pet project.
Inevitably Mrs. Jarrett had to try and interfere, and while she was arguing with the referee Kim’s tag partner Madison Rayne came into the ring to take Sky out. It wasn’t enough to give Kim the winning pin though.
That came a few moments later. After more attempted interference from Rayne Kim finally took Sky out with her eat the feet (is that what it’s called?) finisher for the pin, adding the Knockouts title to her Tag Team strap.
Then it was on to the battle of the Jeffs as Jeff Jarrett, accompanied by his missus, took on Jeff Hardy.
This one didn’t last long. Hardy rushed into the ring and took Jarrett down with a twist of fate. Three seconds later and Hardy had the win.
Needless to say that Double J was none to happy, and called for another match. Hardy readily agreed.
Jarrett had more success second time around, dominating for the most part and looking good in doing so, but as he went for the figure four leg lock Hardy countered with a small package for the win.
Once again Jarrett was none too happy, and as Hardy made his way back up the ramp and the missus argued with the referee Jarrett clobbered Hardy with a chair before dragging Hardy back into the ring and ordering the referee to re-start the match.
Jarrett then took Hardy down with the stroke, but as he went for the pin Hardy rolled him over and scored his third pin of the night. Once again Jarrett was none too happy, but this time there was nothing he could do about it.
The main event saw A.J. Styles challenging his former Fortune buddy Bobby Roode for the World title.
This was a pretty enjoyable encounter, although the crowd seemed almost tepid towards it at times. Styles and Roode showed some great chemistry in the ring, putting together some well executed sequences.
Even though he’s only been champion for a short time Roode seems to be growing nicely in his new role, while Styles was a more than able challenger for his first title defence.
Both men brought out their big moves, but it was Roode who emerged victorious, rolling up Styles and getting the winning pin with a handful of tights.
In conclusion - once again I took the decision not to read any reviews before I watched this show, and I’m glad I made that decision.
Turning Point proved to be a very enjoyable show, and while the majority of the matches probably won’t be remembered as classics in years to come they all delivered, with the Daniels/RVD and World title matches the encounters of the evening for me.
Which is why this show is getting the thumbs up from me. It may not have been spectacular but it was worth watching.
No comments:
Post a Comment