The Best Of The Rest 2.06.08: Volume 31 – Lashley, Against All Odds and More

TNA Against All Odds
TNA brings Pay Per View action our way this Sunday live from Greenville, South Carolina. This is a pretty big venue for TNA to run in so it’ll be interesting to see how they do in terms of attendance. Their current product is far below stellar, but the card they have lined up for this event is decent for what they have to work with (minus the tag title match).

Payton (Rain) Banks Vs. Traci Brooks:
This should be a solid women’s match. Traci has constantly been improving her in-ring work, and Rain is a very solid wrestler. So I expect this one to be a good match, but I don’t see TNA giving these two enough time to really get going. I see Traci getting the W here.

Drinking Championship – James Storm Vs. Eric Young:
Good lord give these two something else to do. They are both solid wrestler’s and have proved before that they can deliver in the ring, so why are the stuck in this ridiculous under-card program? James Storm will win whatever happens with HEEL TACTICS!!!

TNA Tag Title Match – AJ Styles & Tomko Vs. “Bullet” Bob Armstrong & BG James:
The Bullet is still ticking but that doesn’t mean he belongs in a wrestling ring, and he certainly shouldn’t be challenging for the #2 wrestling company’s tag titles. The run of AJ & Tomko has been great thus far, and it is unfortunate that they are defending their titles against these two on a big event for TNA. Don’t expect this one to go long. Winners: AJ & Tomko via whatever they want.

Booker T Vs. Robert Roode:
I have actually enjoyed the angle these two have had, and didn’t think that the mixed tag they had last month was half bad. I also appreciate the fact that Booker was shot immediately into the main event program and isn’t dominating TV time, and that was surprising considering he came right to TNA from the E and TNA loves themselves some E wrestlers. As for the result of this match, I see this angle going on a bit longer sooooo expect some HEEL TACTICS to get a W for Roode.

Barbwire Massacre – Abyss Vs. Judas Mesias:
This was a good idea, but the state athletic commission not allowing this match to happen live in front of the SC crowd will be its downfall. I can see the crowd growing bored with the idea of having to watch a taped match when they paid for live wrestling. But still props to Abyss and Judas if they are willing to cut up their bodies for the product. I can see Abyss winning this one and moving on to a new program.

6 Man Street Fight – Team 3D & Devine vs. Motor City Machineguns & Jay Lethal:
I’m anxious to see if the theme of this match is “let’s see if we can kill Johnny Devine” like the Ultimate X match was. As much as I dislike this angle, all the men involved work well together. The Ultimate X match was pretty silly and made the X-Division look pretty bad, but other than that the work they have all been doing is pretty solid. I think a street fight is a good style of match up to bring out the best in all 6. I see the MCMG’s and Lethal getting their revenge and winning this match.

TNA Women’s Title Match – Awesome Kong Vs. ODB:
I don’t really care for the ODB character, but the in-ring work is solid enough and she seems to be getting over so go with. There is no way in hell she’s beating the beast that is Awesome Kong but it’ll be fun to watch her try.

TNA World Title Match – Kurt Angle Vs. Christian Cage (Special Enforcer – Samoa Joe):
An exact rematch from the same event a year ago. Let’s hope that this match isn’t the over-booked mess that that match was. Going off of the good match they had last month, this should be solid. The addition of Joe is unneeded but hey I’ll take it. I don’t like the fact that Joe isn’t on this card, but it means we’re closer to him finally getting the title, then I’ll just have to live with it. Going by TNA’s record there is no sight of a clean finish in this one, and once again Angle will retain using his always present HEEL TACTICS!!!

Random E Ranting:
Bobby Lashley Released:
I’m really surprised it took this guy this long to decide this isn’t what he wanted. Another case of Lesnar-itis has struck the E, fortunately this time it isn’t as big of a blow to the company. I think that Lashley didn’t really know what he was getting himself into, but knew with his body and size he could make a living in the professional wrestling world. He had a good run made some money, but now has realized he doesn’t want to deal with the drama that comes along with things and is looking to make money elsewhere. I heard a rumor that he may try out his luck in MMA, which would be a horrendous decision as he would be taken out quickly.

No Way Out Main Event’s
Just wanted to quickly comment on the over-kill ME’s of No Way Out. Two Elimination Chamber’s in one night? As if one wasn’t enough of a gimmick over-kill. I understand where the E is coming from wanting strong number leading into ‘Mania. But is there a need for two of these matches? Especially when it is on the same card as Orton-Cena. I mean everyone knows Cena is going to win (which makes me cry at night) but it’s still a big match.

The Stoppage:
UFC 81 is in the books and I didn’t do amazing on my predictions coming in at 5 out of 9, but things went the way I wanted them to so I’m happy. Looking down at how the card started… Rob Emerson pulled out a split decision over Keita Nakamura. In a surprising decision finish Marvin Eastman beat Terry Martin by unanimous decision. I was surprised by this as this seemed to be the only fight on the card with some heat and bad blood heading into it. So not to have a TKO or KO is kind of a bummer. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen anything quite like what Tim Boetsch did to David Heath in an MMA fight. If you don’t know what I’m talking about take a look…

Prior to that Heath ate about 20 knees to the face and following the slam he took about 15 punches that went unanswered. It’s ironic that Herb Dean was late in stopping a fight. Moving along. How wild has Chris Lytle looked in his past 2 fights? The wild scrap he had with Thiago Alves and now this crazy 33 second TKO over Kyle Bradley. Lytle looks to have really changed up his style. He’s been leaving all in the cage and is looking to get his career back on the right track. I have always thought that Lytle is a great fighter who suffers from a poor record. If he keeps up what he is doing, he may turn around his career and become a player in his division. On to the first live fight of the night, Tyson Griffin Vs. Gleison Tibau. As is always the case with Griffin, an entertaining fight. In this fight he was constantly swinging and looking for a KO. While I respect his desire to get a highlight reel knock out, there is no need to abandon what brung you to the dance. Tyson is a wrestler and, like Matt Hughes, may need to establish himself as a ground fighter and not worry about getting the big KO, cause when you come out swinging like that you can easily get caught (look at Lambert-Gouveia). Ricardo Almeida made a successful return to the UFC with his quick submission victory over Rob Yundt. I don’t know if anyone expected anything different seeing as Yundt only had 3 days or so to prepare. Another man who took a fight for UFC 81 on short notice was Jeremy Horn. Unfortunately for Jeremy, his luck was about as good as Yundt’s. Nate “The Great” looked… well great in his victory. Dominating almost all of the fight, he was only in trouble during the omaplata attempt by Horn, but he got out. Nate came out in the 2nd round and slapped on a sick guillotine and it was all over. Great showing from Marquardt, and I expect him to rise up and possibly get another title shot. This brings us up to what was easily the most anticipated fight of the night, Frank Mir Vs. Brock Lesnar. Like I expressed last week, being a die hard Mir mark, I had to support my boy. And I would like to think that my support paid off. I enjoyed seeing Angle, Taker, and Austin all out at the event. Is there ever a time that Stone Cold doesn’t look like a total badass? I think not. Well the talk was over, Lesnar came out uber aggressive and got a take down and immediately starting throwing wild hammer fists. I don’t see much of a controversy in the time out, Lesnar clearly hit 5-6 punches to the back of the head and told the ref he was clear on the rules. The Stache did his job, the deduction of a point is where things were a bit hazy but in the end it didn’t really matter. When things picked back up, Lesnar landed some good shots and was being insanely aggressive with his shots and it ended biting him in the ass. He almost got caught in an armbar, stood up and got himself trapped in a kneebar. I’m very happy that Mir got the W, but you can’t deny how impressive Lesnar looked in his debut. Mir even said he only won a few seconds of that fight. Brock will be back, I just think that ju jitsu should be the main thing Lesnar works on. If he can get that down… scary thoughts come to mind. Finally on to the main event of the evening. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Vs. Tim Sylvia. Nog once again displayed his incredible heart. The fight was almost a replica of Nog famous bout with Cro Cop. He got his ass kicked for 10 minutes, then came out and got one take down and it was over. Awesome finish for me and my buddies watching the PPV as none of us care for Sylvia. It looks now that there are three men who want to lay claim to the title of “#1 Heavyweight in the World.” How this problem will be solved, I have no idea. I don’t even know if it will. Another great event from the UFC, and now our next stop is UFC 82 featuring a fight that I personally having been waiting for some time, Anderson Silva Vs. Dan Henderson. More on that in the weeks to come.

Well that’s it for me this week. If you haven’t seen “There Will Be Blood” yet, do so immediately. Even if you have to drive an hour to see it, it’s worth it.

Feedback, as always, is welcome at [email protected] or directly below with that oh-so-nifty comment box.

*This Week’s YouTube Sendoff*

^Best SuperBowl Commercial^

I’ll see you right back here next week.