WRestling’s 3R’s PPV Edition 2.15.07: TNA Against All Odds 2007

The Matches:

Pre-PPV Match: Serotonin defeated Sonjay Dutt and Jay Lethal @ 5:17 via pin **

LITTLE ITALY STREET FIGHT: LAX defeated Team 3D @ 12:30 via pin **

Senshi defeated Austin Starr @ 8:35 via pin **¼

TUXEDO MATCH: Christy Hemme defeated Fat Naked Oily Guy @ 2:30 via Stripping (ASS, TO MUCH ASS) TRASH of the Night!

Lance Hoyt defeated Dale Torborg @ 5:23 via pin ½*

MOTOR CITY CHAIN MATCH: AJ Styles defeated Rhino @ 15:53 via pin ***¼

X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Chris Sabin defeated Jerry Lynn @ 13:50 via pin ***

James Storm and Miss Tennessee defeated Petey Williams and Gail Kim @ 9:00 via pin **½

PRISON YARD BRAWL: Sting defeated Abyss @ 12:02 ***½ MATCH of the Night!

NWA TITLE MATCH: Christian Cage defeated Kurt Angle @ 19:04 via pin ***¼

The Right:

Sabin vs. Lynn – First we will discuss the X-Title match. Unfortunately a lot of the live crowd did not seem to be into this match. The reason for this is that they decided to work more of a basic and old school match. I loved it because the match showed that Chris Sabin is really learning to act like a heel, and to perform as one as well. I said a long while ago that having Jerry Lynn work in the ring as opposed to an agent, ala Finlay could be very important to the X-Division performers and it appears as if I was right because Sabin has come a long way from a face with little fire and personality to a very good heel. The match it self was good as I said, and continues Sabin’s strong streak of performances on PPV: Two matches with Senshi, two with Daniels, one with Daniels and Lynn and this one with Lynn. Sic straight PPV matches involving Sabin and or the X-Title, all of these matches chiming in at *** or above. While not MOTY candidates or matches that you will remember for years to come, Sabin has made the transition to heel well and proven that he can and will deliver on PPV in this role. Good stuff.

James Storm and Miss Tennessee vs. Petey Williams and Gail Kim/Chris Harris returns! – It is no secret that I have been a fan of this feud thus far, and the way they have booked it as to not blow the load of the first Storm vs. Harris match. Miss Tennessee debuted at the last PPV after Storm defeated Petey. They beat down Petey and Gail, and even used the AMW Death Sentence on her. That led to this match at the PPV. It was a fine match as they all worked well together. It is nice to see Gail being used in more in ring action, and Miss Tennessee is a good person to have brought in as she is a good worker with both men and women. As I said good match here, and in the end Storm and Tennessee got the victory. They once again beat down Kim and Williams and looked to drop the Death Sentence again, but the place erupted as Chris Harris, WITH EYE PATCH STILL made his big return and evened the odds. He saved the day and cleared the ring as Storm was visibly pissed off. The angle has been done very well thus far, and now it will be up to Harris and Storm to carry it in the ring and with promos. It is all up to them now as the booking got them this far, and they now have to prove that they are able to succeed in singles.

Sting vs. Abyss – Sting and Abyss, Prison Brawl Match. I have said that while the point of the angle (Abyss shooting his father) is too over the top for me, the rest of the feud has been really, good, especially the build from week to week and the promos from Sting and Mitchell. They both gave good interviews again on the PPV and set everything up for this match. As I said in the round table I think that they really wanted to capture a Sting vs. Vader vibe here. While not a classic bout, I think that they really did hit close to that level of vengeance and brutality in this match. Abyss always works hard in his PPV matches and this was no different. Sting, for an over 40-year old born again Christian who could coast on reputation also once again busted his ass and did things you wouldn’t expect, including the big cross body from the dumpster to Abyss through a table early on in the match. Overall this was my match of the night as they worked very hard and got the monkey of the early bad matches off their back. Sting didn’t quite get his revenge on Mitchell, so I expect one last encounter between the men, where Mitchell may end up off of TV for a while. It is also good to see Sting working so hard and also it was GREAT to see NO THUMBTACKS in the match!

Cage vs. Angle – A lot of people seemed very down on the match because of the fact that it was to former WWE guys. Hell, I would love to see Joe, AJ and Daniels main event for years to come, unfortunately that is not the deal right now. Cage is nothing short of tremendous right now in his heel role. “The Instant Classic” is delivering and I have no issues with him on top. He and Angle had a very good 19-minute match (Sorry Kurt, not the best of the millennium) and left it open enough for them to have an eventual rematch and still have a lot to do because they didn’t give too much away. Cage was booked as the old style Flair heel that needed the stable’s help to overcome the super face. “Stone Cold Angle” came out of the match looking strong in defeat, which was important so really no complaints with the match. Also, if you didn’t expected the over booked finish of the match you are a fool. Joe as the enforcer, Tomko as Cage’s second, Steiner as the consultant. It was all really basic and actually works out, even though I am not a fan of the over booking. Angle gets screwed due to Steiner, which sets them up in a feud and keeps the title off of Angle for now. This also frees up Joe to go after the NWA title. Also this will help set up for what I am thinking is the next Lethal Lockdown match with Cage, Tomko, Steiner and AJ vs. Rhino, Joe, Angle and another face. In that aspect it worked out rather well, but not a tool they should use all the time. TNA really needs to stay away from that. At least we didn’t have the big “TNA MAIN EVENT STYLE” segment that I always hated.

Purgatory:

AJ vs. Rhino – Despite the stipulation, which I feel was a mistake due to it limiting what AJ does best plus the addition of POLES, AJ and Rhino had another good PPV match together. For the most part they played the stipulation well with the chain, with Rhino dominating with the power moves. This was just a good and intense brawl, and AJ finally got the key and released himself so that he could be AJ and the match picked up. AJ cuffed Rhino to the ropes at one point, but Rhino managed a gore and laid out AJ, but was too far from the key. Earl Hebner decided to be the face ref and kick the key to Rhino and released him and the beast was loose indeed. He ran wild for a bit, but then missed the gore through the table he set up and AJ won again, outsmarting him. This was a good match. But the fact remains that in the end Rhino lost again and was made to look like a goof that can’t even connect with his own finishing move. Rhino has not won a major match in MONTHS going back to the feud with Cage, where he lost all the matches. I think they are trying to play up that Rhino is constantly getting screwed and when he finally wins it will be a huge retribution. Unfortunately I feel they are waiting too long, because if the win coming is not HUGE, then this will all be for not and that is why I am putting this in purgatory.

The wRong:

Pre-Show Stuff – Once again I have issues with the Pre-Show. TNA has a bad habit of putting things on the pre-show, which are actually relevant, and then expect people to know about it later and believe it is important. This time Serotonin got their FIRST WIN EVER as a unit in TNA, and most people won’t know about it unless they actually saw the pre-show (not on replays) or read a recap. This is just like when they hyped up Roode’s manager and then revealed it on the pre-show, totally devaluing it. They did the same here with the Serotonin win. Bad planning here.

Hoyt vs. Torborg/Baseball Guys – Normally this would have been the trash of the night, but thanks to the tuxedo fiasco it was saved that dubious honor. I will say that Hoyt worked really hard, and while he is far from a ring general he tried to make the best of this, unfortunately for him he was in there with THE DEMON! Hoyt was taken out by a chair shot from Peirzinski and then pinned by Torborg. It looked to be finished. But the heels didn’t win! Oh no, you see they did the wacky unannounced restart because the face baseball guy decided to tell the ref that the heels cheated! Face baseball man nails Torborg with a chair, and Hoyt gets an F5 for the real win. Ah those wacky faces, they cheated and it was all right. The match sucked, and while I appreciate TNA trying to get mainstream attention and increase buys and ratings, but they need to limit this sort of thing because it took up valuable PPV time. If it helps sell tickets in St. Louis and they are a main reason then I suppose I will be proven wring, but as far as a match, it was bad and didn’t need to be on PPV.

Roode/Young/Brooks/PCS – I have to say that this kind of thing does NOT belong on PPV. This is a TV angle, this is stuff that should have really been played out on Impact over a few weeks like it had been, not a lame running gag on the PPV. Brooks has Shelley film her duping Young into signing the deal with Roode INC. Also, they used the PCS crew in a viewing party deal. Yes, Shelley couldn’t even get a match on the pre-show, just relegated to his film work, the man is being wasted. Then we went to a long in ring segment with Roode and Young, basically Roode got to say he owned Young while he had to stand there and take it. Again, way too long and it should not have been on PPV. They wasted a lot of time with these segments. Time which could have been used for matches, you know, those things that sell the PPV and replays. No one is buying a replay to see these segments.

The Ridiculous:

LAX vs. 3D – The sad part is that most of the match represented the best match of the feud thus far. They were working stiff but working well together. Drunken Runt was kept away, Konnan is confined to a wheelchair and they were having a fight. But then, then it became stupid. You see, the “Latino Nation” rushed the ring. Five or Six guys dressed in LAX style gang attire rushed the ring and attacked 3D. What is the worst part of this all? 3D fought them off rather easily. What is even sadder is that this is the reason 3D lost. It took like 8-men to defeat them, and they looked like supermen. I have no problems with nefarious heel tactics, that is what makes them heels, but to me this was way too much here. It made LAX look weak as hell again on PPV. And then there were the announcers. They were so calm when these guys hit the ring. “Look, the Latino Nation is here!” Like we knew whom the hell these guys were. We didn’t, we had no clue actually. We made an educated guess due to how they were dressed and whom they attacked. I have to say that 3D came off looking very strong and LAX looking very weak again, and that is not a good thing at all.

Now this will look familiar, but I have to repeat the rant, Team 3D is officially the stupidest tag team EVER! Let us Tarintino back to last year’s Against All Odds PPV. They were screwed by AMW and Team Canada in their tag team title match. They then went on Impact and said that the fans could VOTE…THE FANS could decide if they went after their tag title rematch, or for revenge against AMW. The fans voted revenge and they once again went away from the titles. Back to life…back to reality in 2007. They get screwed at Final Resolution because of drunken Spike/Runt/Unless ass-face and then rematch with LAX on Impact, which they lose due to Moody Jack. LAX owns them. LAX the goes on the offensive and attacks Ray’s family, his uncle exactly, in his place of business. So 3D is PISSED off at the tag team champs. They want to hurt them…they want revenge and they want respect, so they challenge them to the little Italy street fight, non-title. Why? Because, it isn’t about the title, it is about revenge and respect. Right. You see this is why they come off as stupid. They have let themselves be derailed yet again. For a team that proclaims that they want the NWA Titles SO BAD to complete their legacy, they are quick to be thrown off the track. At one point I liked the booking of this, not giving them the titles right away, but now they have stretched it out too long and when they do finally with the titles, while still an impressive career accomplishment, it won’t mean as much as it could have I feel.

Gimmick Overload – There were NINE matches shown on the PPV this month and FOUR of them were GIMMICK MATCHES! There was a tuxedo match, a little Italy Street Fight, a Prison Brawl and a Motor City Chain Match. Now I for one usually like when they offer so many different matches. To me it feels like they are trying to break things up and give you a little more bang for the buck. But the problem with it this time, is after so many PPV’s with so many gimmick matches, the crowd got burnt out. The Tuxedo match was a horrific joke, which I will discuss below. The Little Italy Street Fight and Prison Brawl really shouldn’t have been on the same show, as I feel that they are too close to the same style of match. The chain match was also over booked I feel. Why can’t they just have a chain match, touch the corners, old school goodness? Nope, we have to involve POLES in the match with a weapon and a key. It doesn’t have to be that difficult, simplicity is often best. Unfortunately they have gone over the edge with the gimmick matches, and they need to slow down because after Destination X (That will have a huge new gimmick match) the next PPV is Lockdown, which will be the all cage match show…WITH GIMMICKS for the cage matches. The important fact here is that the gimmick matches should be used as a progression of a feud. As the feud goes on, the matches elevate in importance and violence.

THE RUSSO-FN-RIFFIC~~~!:

Hemme, Fat Naked Oily Guy and Kip James – This is the kind of thing that I do not want on a PPV, no matter what company I am watching. They setup Hemmer’s “first match” for the show, and they don’t announce an opponent. I think we all had a bad feeling that it would be Kip or Sirelda, but you know it was much worse than that. They trotted out the big fat naked oily guy for a tuxedo match with Hemme. This was brutal to watch, right up there with Trump vs. Rosey from Raw, maybe worse. And it just isn’t me noticing how bad the angle and subsequent match were, the Impact zone fans are rebelling as well with chants of “Fuck you Russo” during this while thing. And then Kip James comes out after the match and says that the people wanted to “see this” and proceeded to rip off the rest of her clothes. So not only is he a sexist asshole but also is he is full on sexual harassment with the blowjob references and clothes ripping off. Is rape next? The whole angle sucks, and I will say again that if they try to move to a women’s division without the second hour they are idiots. You know what the funniest thing of them all is? The whole thing people were telling me was that the VKM stuff was against WWE for their stupid skits. Well, WWE has stopped the stupid skits and TNA is still doing them, so I was right hen this whole thing started, it was stupid.

Closing Thoughts:
This was a solid show. The in ring action was good, not great and obviously no blow away matches that we will remember months from now. But it was a solid effort. There was a lot of al lout efforts from the guys, Sabin is progressing as a heel, Sting continues to do his best at his age to step it up a notch, Cage is awesome as the lead heel and really there was a lot to like. But there was also a lot of bad, and it was bad. Not smart booking and too much talking and nonsense for a PPV.

Overall I will go with a low 6.0 out of 10 for the show and no recommendation for a replay. It was just fine, and TNA has done much better as far as PPV offerings. I don’t feel that it was nearly as horrible as some have said, but for those defending the show as great they need to wake up because the bad was easy to see. As I said, do not get a replay, wait for another show to spend your money on as this one was just there.

2007 PPV Rankings:
1. WWE Royal Rumble (Combined Roster) 8.0
2. TNA Final Resolution 7.0
3. WWE New Year’s Revolution (RAW) 6.0
3. TNA Against All Odds 6.0

2007 TOP 5 PPV Match Rankings:
1. (WWE Royal Rumble) Last Man Standing WWE Title MATCH: Cena vs. Umaga ****¼
2. (WWE Royal Rumble) The Royal Rumble Match ****
3. (TNA FR) 30-Minute Iron man Match: Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe ***¾
4. (WWE New Year’s Revolution) Steel Cage IC Title Match: Jeff Hardy © vs. Johnny Nitro ***½
4. (TNA Against All Odds) PRISON YARD BRAWL: Sting vs. Abyss ***½

+++++

As of next PPV these will be off the list.

(TNA Against All Odds) MOTOR CITY CHAIN MATCH: AJ Styles vs. Rhino ***¼
(WWE New Year’s Revolution) WWE Title Match: John Cena © vs. Umaga ***¼
(TNA Final Resolution) PCS Finals: Alex Shelley vs. Austin Starr ***¼
(TNA Final Resolution) X-DIVISION TITLE MATCH: Chris Sabin vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Christopher Daniels © ***¼

AGAINST ALL ODDS READER FEEDBACK:

From Adam who was there live –

I’m not going to pick the match/trash of the night or rate the PPV since I was there live and that’s nothing like watching PPVs on TV, but I do have a few thoughts to share.

First, the people in the front row wearing the “Team Eckstein” shirts are the people who coordinate the line, so they were basically plants. Yeah, you did hear that chant during the Christy match right, and I wasn’t a part of it, but shortly after it (ironically when the poles were getting put up for the Chain match), I was informed that if I held up my “Fire Russo” sign again, I’d be ejected from the building. I was going to go on a big rant about this, but I’ve calmed down a bit, so I’m not going to make a big deal about it.

Inside the arena, we didn’t have sound during the outside part of the Prison Yard Match, which led to some interesting chants, but other than that it was more entertaining than it had any right being considering the ridiculousness of the stip. The crowd was a bit split during this match, with some people actually chanting “Sting’s A Bully!” Afterwards, when Abyss was walking to the back, he got a standing ovation.

I’m not sure how it came across on TV, but the crowd was split about 50/50 during the main event. Also, some guys around me were giving Hebner a really hard time, including yelling for him to “Ring the damn bell!” when Sting had Mitchell in the Scorpion Deathlock, and commenting that he ejected Tomko from ringside because Christian was a Canadian wearing black and pink.

From Casey –

-The Match of the Night
I’m giving this one to the Little Italy Street Fight
-Trash of the Night
Not hard, Base-Brawl
-Score the show from 1-10
3
-And include any “overall thoughts” on the show

I was at the show. I live here in Orlando and attend all the PPVs, more or less. My friend and I made two signs, each reading “I hate Base-brawl” and mine read “TNA is Gimmick Matches”. Within the first two seconds of the PPV, our signs got pulled. It wasn’t a very good start.

From there, I thought the Street Fight was pretty good. I mean, your basic spot fest but it was really fun. But as the night continued, the crowd definitely died.

I don’t know if it came across this way, but the crowd hated the X-Division Title Match. I think it’s slow build ruined it for a lot of people as a good section of the crowd was singing “The X Division ain’t what it use to be, ain’t what it use to be”.

Also, another side note, Miss Tennessee’s booby fell out but Rudy Charles basically tackled her so she could get things in place. I don’t think she realized because Rudy had to inform her. James Storm was on the apron at the time and gave us this look like “Hell yeah, titties!”. That was pretty priceless.

But the entire crowd was dead for the rest of the night until some parts during the final two matches.

I mean, I love wrestling and I watch TNA every week but this PPV really sucked the big one. And often, I find that PPVs I thought rocked turn out to be horrible in other people’s eyes. I’m guessing it’s because I was there and it’s more exciting, but this was trash in my eyes.

December to Dismember Versus Against All Odds? Who Will Win?

Thanks for joining me for this special edition of the 3R’s, and don’t forget to check out the regular edition complete with all of the other shows from the week!

For more interesting information on wrestling, check out Bryan Alvarez and Figure Four Weekly Online, Mike Campbell over at SPLASH MOUNTAIN and Dr. Keith Lipinski over at Puroresu Power!