It’s multi-man madness time again as we step into the Impact Zone for Total Non-Stop Action’s latest offering, Turning Point, headlined by A.J. Styles defending his World title against long-time rivals Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels, and shown on a three day delay here in Britain on Bravo 2. As usual, Taz and Mike Tenay are handling commentary duties.
The show began with Don West’s number one guy, Amazing Red, defending the X Division title against Homicide. Yep, that’s right, we’ve got an X Division match on pay-per-view that only involves two men. I couldn’t believe it at first either. But anyway, as far as show openers go, it’s very good, with Red and Homicide showing some great chemistry in the ring, and West annoying the hell out of me with his constant shouting, sounding even louder than he did when he was on commentary. This nice little romp came to an end after Red took Homicide out with the code red. Very enjoyable.
The title action continued with The Beautiful People taking on ODB, Taylor Wilde and Sarita, with ODB’s Knockouts and Wilde & Sarita’s Knockouts Tag Team titles on the line. This was another example of just how much this division is missing Angelina Love. While Madison Rayne and Velvet Skye looked good as a team, Love’s replacement Lacey Von Erich didn’t really do anything. The match action was okay, but it wasn’t exactly awe inspiring. No title changes here, as ODB got the pin on Rayne after a big slam.
Sadly, I’m unable to review the next match, which sees the British Invasion defending the Tag Team Championship against Beer Money and the Motor City Machine Guns. Long time readers will know that this is because Nick Aldis, the man behind the Brutus Magnus gimmick, has threatened me with legal action if I say anything against him on the internet, which means that I can’t give any of his matches a truthful review. As I’ve said before, I’m not going to go crawling to the man begging him to withdraw his threat, but if anyone reading this wants me to start reviewing his matches, then just Google him and you’ll find out how to contact him.
Normal service is resumed then with Awesome Kong facing Tara in a cage match. This was a whole lot better than the other Knockouts match on this show. Kong and Tara are definitely the best thing about TNA’s women’s division at the moment, and it showed in this match. Great action throughout as we were treated to the great sight of Tara power bombing Kong off the ropes. The end came when Tara dived off the top off the cage and pinned Kong after what looked like a Lou Thesz press, although Tenay said it was a cross body block.
Six man action followed with Rhino and Team 3D going up against the team of D’Angelo Dinero, Hernandez and Matt Morgan. So when did Team 3D turn heel again? And when did the Pope turn face? You can tell I’m not a regular Impact viewer, can’t you? This one had a good storyline as Dinero tried his best to prove to Morgan and Hernandez that he was a good guy, even taking the bullet for Hernandez by taking 3D’s back suplex/neck breaker combo. This one saw Rhino getting the win after taking Hernandez down with the gore, ending an enjoyable match.
Falls count anywhere, no disqualification action followed with Scott Steiner and Bobby Lashley. This was another of those matches that left me scratching my head a little. From what I saw in the pre-match video package, Lashley had a damn good reason to hate Steiner, which was why the stipulations for this one were added at the last minute. Sadly, this apparent grudge match wasn’t actually that intense. The action was okay, but it was nothing special. There was a nice bit of brawling outside the ring, but if ever a match needed the obligatory brawl through the crowd then it was this one. Steiner took home the win here, pinning Lashley after clobbering him with a metal pipe he’d pulled off the scaffolding near the Spanish announcer’s table.
The match I was really looking forward to was next, as the artist formerly known as Nigel Mc****ss, Desmond Wolfe, took on Kurt Angle. My fellow Brit and former ROH Champion put on a great display here as both men played their part in putting on a technical classic, the kind of match we hardly seem to get on pay-per-view these days. The fans were right about this one, this was awesome, and I really can’t speak too highly about it, as Angle got the win after Wolfe tapped out to an arm triangle. Great work guys.
The main event saw A.J. Styles defending the World title against Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels. If anything this was even better than the previous match, with all three reminding us just how great their matches against each other were four years ago when the X Division title was on the line. Tremendous action throughout, with all three men showing just why they’re so damn great. The end came when Daniels took Joe out with the BME, only for Styles to come out with a 450 splash to break up the pin and take the glory for himself. This was definitely one of the best TNA pay-per-view matches of the year.
In conclusion - well, this year’s edition of Turning Point had it’s good and bad moment. The Knockout titles match and the Steiner/Lashley match did leave a bit to be desired, but thankfully those matches I was allowed to review without the threat of legal action delivered, with the Wolfe/Angle and Styles/Joe/Daniels matches delivering in spades. So in all a good and enjoyable outing from TNA here.
It’s Ring of Honor time again, and for this review we’re going back to Dayton, Ohio, on April 24th, as Roderick Strong challenges Jerry Lynn for the ROH World title in A Cut Above. As always, Lenny Leonard and Dave Prazak are handling commentary duties, and they’re joined sporadically by current TNA star Nigel Mc****ss, or Desmond Wolfe as he’s now known.
The show began with a very strong encounter pitting current ROH Tag Team Champion Eddie Edwards against former ROH World Champion Bryan Danielson. As soon as I saw on the box that these two were facing each other I thought it would be a cracker, and I wasn’t wrong. This wasn’t the usual quick ROH show opener. There was some tremendous action throughout as they matched each other hold for hold and move for move, and after all of that it only seemed right that Danielson got the win with the simplest of moves, a reversal of a small package. I kind of wondered though why this was the opener.
The four corner survival match featuring Rasche Brown, Silas Young, Matt Cross and Claudio Castagnoli had a hard job following the great opener, and although it featured some good moments, it felt like a let down. It was short and quick, with the mohawk-sporting Young tapping out to Castagnoli’s new finishing move, Swiss sleeper holdings.
The quick action continued with Jimmy Rave taking on Grizzly Redwood, or Big Josh for the 21st century. This was basically a match that was designed to re-establish Rave as a major heel, with Rave getting the quick win with his finishing move after Redwood was distracted by Prince Nana and Ernie Osiris. Redwood was then attacked after the bell, and for some reason old Dirty Ernie ended up stealing Redwood’s boots. I have no idea why. Well, I suppose it succeeded in getting Rave over again.
Tag team action followed with the Phoenix Twins facing Austin Aries and Rhett Titus. Sadly, no Kenny King in this match, although Aries and Titus did a pretty good job as a team, looking solid and dependable as always. The twins, names Tweaks and Dash, looked good, although I had no idea just who was who. This enjoyable encounter finished after Aries took out Tweaks, or was it Dash, with his trademark brain buster. An enjoyable encounter, with the twins showing some promise.
Then came the match I was really looking forward to, with Chris Hero taking on Colt Cabana. A good old fashioned wrestling match here, but then again, that’s what you get whenever Cabana is in the ring. His British influenced style is apparent for all to see. He’s always a delight to watch, and Hero was the perfect foil for him here as they put together a great match, with Hero tapping out to Cabana’s billy goat’s curse submission hold. Just who comes up with the names of these finishers?
Masked newcomer Egotistico Fantastico was up next, going up against cult leader Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs was sporting an eye patch after his street fight with another masked man, Delirious, on the previous show. This was another of those quick matches, designed to introduce Fantastico to the ROH faithful, and he gave a good account of himself, putting on a good display before tapping out to Jacob’s end time submission. A nice little match, and a welcome change, seeing Jacobs facing someone who wasn’t a member of his Age of the Fall stable.
Then it was the turn of the other Tag Team Champion, Davey Richards, as he faced Tyler Black. This proved to be just as good as the opener, with some tremendous wrestling from both men. Richards has really come into his own since he began teaming with Eddie Edwards, and his work has been outstanding, as was Black’s, who’s really starting to grow on me. Plenty of near falls in this one, with Richards getting the tainted win, countering Black’s super kick attempt with a roll up with a handful of tights. Again, a somewhat simple finisher for an outstanding match, and it worked perfectly. Nice one.
The second tag team match of the show saw the Dark City Fight Club team of Jon Davis and Cory Chavis face Kevin Steen and Jay Briscoe. Steen’s and Briscoe’s regular partners, El Generico and Mark Briscoe, were both out with knee injuries, so it kind of made sense for them to come together and form a hybrid unit of sorts. They worked well together, looking solid as always. Chavis and Davis didn’t look too bad either, and this made for a very good match. The hybrids got the win though. As DCFC were about to double slam Briscoe, Steen, who had got the blind tag, raced into the ring and pinned Chavis with a roll up, once again proving that you’d don’t need a flashy move to finish a good match.
The main event saw Roderick Strong challenging Jerry Lynn for the ROH World title, Strong’s eleventh attempt at winning the big belt. This proved to be the match of the night, with a good beginning that developed into a great storyline after Strong was busted open, hitting the steel barricades after diving off the ring apron attempting to attack Lynn. This one move turned this into a very emotional encounter, with Strong fighting against the odds and his decreasing strength. It wasn’t enough though, as Lynn once again defied Father Time as he matched Strong’s performance, finally taking Strong down after a second cradle pile driver. An outstanding encounter, and worthy of it’s main event status.
Only one extra on this release, the usual ROH Newswire.
In conclusion - despite a couple of dodgy moments, A Cut Above is another strong show from the Ring of Honor crew. While the four corners and Rave squash matches were a tad disappointing, they did accomplish what they set out to do, and the action in the other matches more than made up for those disappointments. In short, A Cut Above would be a worthy addition to any wrestling collection.
With thanks to the powers that be at Ring of Honor for supplying a copy of this release.
It’s multi-man madness time again, as Total Non-Stop Action travelled to California for their biggest show of the year, Bound for Glory, headlined by Sting challenging A.J. Styles for the TNA World title, and shown on a three day delay here in Britain on Bravo 2, with Mike Tenay and Taz handling commentary duties.
The show began with Amazing Red, now apparently managed by former commentator Don West, defending the X Division title against Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Suicide, Homicide and Christopher Daniels in an Ultimate X match. It’s the usual X division fare hear, plenty of fast paced action and numerous high spots with those concerned throwing each other all over the place, which was very entertaining in it’s own way. Once again Daniels looked the pick of the crop here, with his battle with Suicide atop the X structure the highlight of the match. It didn’t get either of them the win though. Red had followed them up to the top, and after they’d taken each other out, he climbed down through the structure and claimed the belt, retaining his title in the process. Nice action throughout, and a good way to open the show.
Things went downhill a little as Taylor Wilde and Sarita defended the Knockouts Tag Team titles against the Beautiful People, now with Lacey Von Erich in their corner. This was basically the same kind of match they had last month, even down to the referee bit at the beginning, although that was obviously changed a little, this time with old Earl Hebner applying a lip-lock to Lacey before sending her to the back. The ending was just the same though, with Taylor getting the pin on Madison with a bridging back suplex after Sarita had taken her out with a drop kick off the ropes. Come on guys, if you’re going to give us the same match two months in a row, at least come up with a different ending!
The title action continued with Kevin Nash defending the Legends title against Eric Young and Hernandez, with Young promising to give Nash a big wad of cash if he could take Hernandez out. So you’ve got one wrestler putting a bounty on another. Haven’t heard that before, have we? Anyway, Nash and Young doubled up on big Super Mex, with the big guy once again showing some great moves, before old EY double-crossed Big Sexy. As he was about to power bomb Hernandez, Young pushed him into Nash’s nether region, before pinning the champion to win the title. It was okay, but it could have delivered a lot more.
Sadly, I cannot review the next match, the TLC or whatever it was match featuring Booker T & Scott Steiner, the British Invasion, Beer Money and Team 3D, with both the TNA and IWGP Tag Team titles on the line. If you recall, Nick Aldis, the man behind the Brutus Magnus gimmick, has threatened me with legal action if I say anything negative against him on the internet, and as Mr. Aldis has still failed to withdraw his threat, I’m still unable to say anything about his TNA performances, which I feel is a great shame. But as I’ve said before, I’m not going to send him an e-mail begging him to withdraw his threat. However, I’m not going to stop anyone else from doing this. (His website address is www.gladiator-oblivion.com, wink wink.)
Normal service is resumed with the fifth title match in a row, with ODB defending her Knockouts title against Awesome Kong and Tara. Taz made a good point before this match started - why is a spider getting it’s own ring introduction. Anyway, this was a nice little match, with good exchanges throughout, Tara fighting with a woman in the crowd (that woman looked like a natural by the way), and Raisha Saeed costing her big buddy the match, throwing a chair into the ring that Kong just didn’t want to use, which ODB later used by driving her face first into it, getting the title retaining pin. One question though - ODB did this right in front of the referee - so why wasn’t she disqualified?
Finally, it was on to non-title action, with Samoa Joe facing Bobby Lashley in a submission match. This turned out to be a rather exciting encounter, and some good submission exchanges early on, and both men putting in a good effort, with Lashley getting the win with what looked like an arm triangle. No tap out from Joe here though, as the referee stopped the match.
The Monsters Ball match pitting Abyss against Mick Foley, with Dr. Stevie as the special referee, was next. This was another of those okay matches, although it could have been a whole lot more. Big Abyss took the big bump early on, falling off the entrance way scaffold through the stage after a series of punches from Foley. Later, Stevie was taken out a couple of times, Daffney went through a barbed wire board, Foley used the taser on Abyss, before the masked man got the pin by choke-slamming Foley onto another barbed wire board, using Stevie’s limp arm to make the count. Okay, some of the bumps were good, but still, this just seemed to be lacking that certain something.
Then came the sleeper match, with big Matt Morgan facing Kurt Angle. This was a lot better than I expected it to be, with some good back and forth action, plenty of near falls, and both men putting in great performances, before Angle got the winning pin with a victory roll. This was definitely the match of the night for me, and a nice show of sportsmanship at the end with Angle shaking Morgan’s hand.
Not even the main event could top that, as Sting challenged A.J. Styles for the TNA World title. This proverbial battle of the generations was great, with Sting putting in his best performance for ages, and Styles looking as great as always. So we had good action throughout, and again, plenty of near falls, until the finish came out of nowhere, with Styles taking Sting down with a pele kick from the ring apron, and getting the pin after a splash off the top rope. Styles didn’t celebrate in the ring afterwards though, as he called Sting back to the ring. The icon didn’t announce his retirement as everyone expected though, saying that he could stay in TNA forever. A good match, but the quick finish kind of spoiled it a little for me.
In conclusion - once again the boys and girls of TNA have given their fans a mixed offering. While some matches were very good, others weren’t that good, and others just left me scratching my head, because they could have delivered so much more. But then again, that’s TNA for you I’m afraid, and you have to take the good with the bad.
It’s time to step into Ring of Honor territory again, but this review will be slightly different, as we’re going to take a look at two shows. They’re on the same disc though, in case you’re wondering, with Double Feature II featuring The Hunt Begins & Tag Title Classic, filmed during their trip to Canada this past April.
So what better place to start than part one, The Hunt Begins, held in Montreal. The show began with the latest in a long line of Age of the Fall grudge matches, with Jimmy Jacobs squaring off against Tyler Black. It’s unlike the usual ROH show opener. Sure, it’s fast paced at times, but it lasts longer than ten minutes. There’s some nice action here, with Jacobs again proving to be a great heel, although he couldn’t put his former protégé away, not even with three end time guillotine chokes. Black escaped from the third attempt, and finally took Jacobs out with a super kick to earn the pin. It wasn’t enough for Black though, as he got his hands on a chair, intent on inflicting more damage. Jacobs bolted from the ring though.
Match two saw four corner survival action, with jay Briscoe, Roderick Strong, Kenny Omega and Austin Aries. This was another of those spot driven matches, which featured some nice action along the way, and some impressive high flying moves from home country boy Omega. It wasn’t all about Omega though, as all four men put in great performances, with Omega getting something of an upset win by countering Aries’ brain buster attempt with a backslide for the win. Nice work all round.
Tag team action followed, with Jimmy Rave and Claudio Castagnoli teaming up against Brent Albright and Colt Cabana. To say that Cabana continued to be warmly welcomed back into the ROH fold would be an understatement here. On the opposite end of the scale, Rave was slightly annoyed with the TNA and Rock ‘N’ Rave chants. Another match with some great action throughout, particularly the exchanges between Castagnoli and Cabana, with a screw job finish that’s been used countless times over the years. As Albright went to suplex Rave into the ring from the apron, Prince Nana tripped Albright up and held on to his leg as Rave got the winning pin. Cabana and Albright got a small measure of revenge after the final bell though.
The main event of the first show saw newly crowned ROH World Tag Team Champions the American Wolves teaming with former WWE star Sylvan Grenier against Kevin Steen, El Generico and future WWE star (hopefully) Bryan Danielson. We had some nice exchanges early on, with Grenier playing the cowardly heel to perfection, refusing to wrestle his fellow Canadian Steen. Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards again proved what a great team they are, while Danielson, as always, looked tremendous. All of these ingredients made for a great match, with Grenier tapping out to Steen’s sharpshooter. Hey, at least there wasn’t a screw job finish here!
Part two, the aptly-titled Tag Title Classic, was held the following night in Markham, and began with singles action, with Claudio Castagnoli and Colt Cabana taking up where they’d left off the night before. Now, although this was the usual relatively short ROH show opener, it actually wasn’t that fast paced. In fact, it was a good old fashioned wrestling match, put on by two men extremely well versed in the British/European style, and it made for fantastic viewing. It reminded this particular writer of the halcyon days of World of Sport way back when, as both Double C’s engaged in hold countered by hold, and with hardly a punch in fight. Sadly, the whole thing was kind of spoiled by the outside interference, as the Embassy’s Prince Nana and Ernie Osiris came down to the ring to aid their Swiss friend. But as Ernie was about to give his shoe to Castagnoli, so he could clobber Cabana, while Nana was distracting the referee. But then Brent Albright appeared, took the shoe from Ernie, and threw it at Castagnoli. This distracted him enough for Cabana to get the pin with a roll-up. Now I know that had to further the ongoing storylines, but couldn’t they have just let Cabana and Castagnoli do their thing?
Six man tag team action followed, with Austin Aries, Rhett Titus and Kenny King taking on Kenny Omega, Kevin Steen and El Generico. Well, it was meant to be El Generico, but the masked man was unable to compete because of a knee injury, so they brought in another masked man, Generico Dos (Generico II, get it???). A double wasn’t exactly too happy with this, but he did wish El Generico well - then kicked his crutch out from under him. From there we had a ton of nice action, with Omega once again impressing with his high flying moves, and King and Titus again impressing with their timing and team work. Things were taken up a notch towards the end, with Titus and King doubling up to take Generico Dos down with a double stomp/spiked pile driver, with Titus getting the winning pin seconds later, ending what was a very good match.
The Age of the Fall grudge matches continued, and this time Jimmy Jacobs faced off against the masked man, Delirious, in a Markham street fight. So how many former members has Jacobs actually annoyed them? I’m beginning to lose count. Anyway, this one started with Delirious attacking Jacobs during a backstage interview. From there they fought into the crowd, eventually making their way to the ring, and it wasn’t long before Jacobs began to fill the ring up with chairs. These proved pivotal in the remainder of the bout, as did the table Delirious had set up at ringside, a table he would later go through courtesy of a Jacobs spear. It was then that Daizee Haze came down to check on her man, only for Jacobs to throw here into the ring, where he threatened to use his trusty railway spike on her. Thankfully, Delirious saved the day, spewing his black mist into Jacob’s face. Haze then managed to grab the spike herself, using it on Jacobs, before Delirious used the spike himself in a modified cobra stretch for the submission win, ending a great and very dramatic match.
Normality returned with Jay Briscoe taking on Roderick Strong. A great face versus face battle saw two great performances and nice exchanges throughout, as they two guys once again showed that they’re well made for each other. The wrestling holds developed into something of a slug fest towards the end, before Briscoe countered Strong’s Boston crab attempt to get the pin with a roll-up. This was the match of the night for me, but I hadn’t seen the main event yet.
The main event saw the American Wolves, Eddie Edwards and Davey Richards, defending the ROH World Tag Team titles against Bryan Danielson and Tiger Black. After watching this I could see why they named this one the way they did. It was forty five minutes of tremendous, non-stop action, with four great performances. Move for move, counter and counter, and four wrestlers going all out to put on what was a Tag Title Classic. I really can’t speak too highly about this one, I really can’t, and I also can’t single out any particular moment for praise, because there’s just too many. As for the result, it seemed fitting that the time limit expired, with the match ending in a draw. Awesome, just awesome.
There’s the usual extra in the form of the ROH Newswire, but nothing more than that.
In conclusion - even though this release was missing some of the company’s top stars, these two shows still impressed the hell out of me. Okay, I was a little disappointed with the way the Cabana/Castagnoli match ended, but what happened before that made up for that.
As for the other matches, I know I’m going to sound like a stuck record again, but there just wasn’t one bad match here, folks, and it’s now getting to the point where I’d rather watch a Ring of Honor show than a WWE or TNA show.
So as you can probably tell from that last comment, this DVD comes highly recommended, and if you don’t buy this, I’ll come round all of your houses, point at you, and shout “fool!” at you repeatedly.
With thanks to the powers that be at Ring of Honor for supplying a copy of this release.
A few years ago I had the privilege to review one of the best wrestling documentaries of the past ten years, Michael Moody’s 101 Reasons Not To Be A Pro Wrestler. Many have described it as the best thing since Beyond the Mat, and rightfully so. But the highlight for many the segments featuring former ECW star New Jack. In fact, they were so well received that Moody later made a documentary dedicated to the man himself, New Jack: Hardcore.
Well, New Jack is back, but this time he’s in slightly different surroundings, talking to Sean Oliver in the latest of Kayfabe Commentaries’ YouShoot series.
So what the hell is YouShoot, I hear you ask. Well a YouShoot interview is basically a shoot interview, but with a difference - the subject doesn’t answer questions from an interviewer, oh no. This time, it’s we mere mortals, the fans, who get to pose the questions.
New Jack is the perfect choice for an exercise like this, and while he may have a somewhat questionable reputation in the eyes of some people, as a guest he’s interview gold. He not only comes across as a straight talking kind of guy, but as the kind of guy you’d readily go out for a drink with.
Jack basically tells it like it is, and more often than not he adds a humorous slant to everything he says, no matter how serious the subject matter is. In fact I’d go as far as saying that New Jack could perhaps be the most entertaining talker in the history of professional.
And in case you’re wondering, there are some questions asked about some of the controversial incidents in his career, with the names of Mass Transit and Vic Grimes being mentioned.
It really is great listening to Jack talk about his exploits in the wrestling business, and if you’re wondering if you should get this release, then do so, because as the old saying goes you won’t be disappointed.
