It’s time to look at the men from down under, as we take a look at Wrestlerock 15: End Of Year Bash 2, held at The Corner Hotel in Melbourne last December, and featuring new Wrestlerock Champion, the mad bastard Krackerjak and Australia’s weapon of mass destruction, Chris Knight, taking on Julian James’ new stable, The Establishment.

The show begins with a video re-cap, documenting the events of the previous show which saw the formation of The Establishment, as well as the title match at the Wrestleclash show, which saw the Krackerjak defeat Jag to become the new Wrestlerock champion. It’s then on to the introductions, with new host Mark Williamson, who introduces the crowd to Chris Fresh and his new commentary partner, Rohan Herbstreit.

Then it’s on to the first match, a midget match with Joey Russell Junior facing Mr. Big. It’s no secret that I’m not exactly a fan of midget matches, and this match is one of the reasons why. The action just wasn’t that good. Thankfully, the action was broken up when Julian James walked into the ring an brought out The Establishment, Jag, Slex and Lazer. Lazer and Slex proceeded to attack the midgets. James then goes on to slag off Krackerjak, before announcing, in his role as Wrestlerock owner, that Krackerjak’s title will be on the line in the main event handicap match. It’s a hell of a promo, setting up James’ credentials as a heel.

Normal action resumed with Cletus taking on Trikki D. Time to be completely honest here. This match disappointed me. As always, Cletus put in a great performance. But Trikki D, well, he just didn’t do it for me. While there were some aspects of his game that were good, there were also some aspects that weren’t that good, including some of the basics, and it kind of dragged the match down a little. Cletus got the win in this one, continuing his winning streak with what could be described as a variation of the Canadian destroyer. Disappointing to say the least.

The next match saw Matt Silva facing Pitbull Craig Cole, two guys making their Wrestlerock debuts. This was just what the doctor ordered after the previous match, a good match between two wrestlers looking to make a good impression in front of the Wrestlerock faithful. In one corner we had Cole, a tough, no nonsense, beer drinking Aussie battler against the enigmatic, bandana wearing Silva, a young high-flyer, and it was the battler who won out, taking Silva apart after he’d spit beer into Cole’s face. All this seemed to do was inspire Cole, who downed a quick one before taking Silva out with a series of power moves, finally putting him away with a sit down power bomb. Hopefully we’ll see the Pitbull in Wrestlerock again soon.

Mixed tag-team action, with Carnish and Carshinda, accompanied by WTC cohorts Sebastian Walker and Bulldog, taking on Carlo Cannon and Tennille Taylor. This match continued the storyline set up from the two previous shows (read my reviews to find out what happened), and was a well executed match. The two women gave a really good account of themselves, with the exchanges between Carnish and Cannon even better. The ending came when, having argued amongst themselves, the WTC members sent Carshinda to the back. It wasn’t long afterwards that Cannon took Carnish out with a super kick, and Taylor getting the pin for her team. Afterwards Walker verbally lambasted Carnish, and when he instructed Bulldog to attack him, the big guy gave him the finger and walked away. Enraged, Walker slapped Carnish, who responded by super kicking his now former manager, finishing him off with a camel clutch.  A good match with a very interesting angle at the end. But Carnish a face????

Back in the ring, Carlo Cannon called Tennille Taylor back out, and in a wrestling tradition that dates back years, he asked her to marry him. Naturally, she accepted.

Main event time, a handicap tag-team match with Wrestlerock Champion Krackerjak and Chris Knight facing The Establishment team of Jag, Slex and Lazer, accompanied by Julian James, with Krackerjak’s title on the line. This one started off with action both in and out of the ring. Enraged by Chris Fresh’s comments towards him, Julian James threw him out of the building, taking his place next to Rohan Herbstreit at the commentary table, with Mark Williamson joining them and constantly sucking up to the boss. Inside the ring the action was fast and furious, with Krackerjak and Knight making good work of Slex and Lazer, and looking like they’d get the DQ win when Jag clobbered Knight with a chair. It was then that James suddenly announced that the match now had a no DQ stipulation. The great action in the ring continued, with the Establishment beating the hell out of Knight before he got the hot tag to Krackerjak, and all hell broke loose once again. As Knight and Lazer brawled to the back, Jag power bombed Krackerjak through a table at ringside, rolling him back into the ring to get the three count, which the referee was reluctant to complete. To celebrate the win, Jag put Krackerjak through a second table. All I can say here is wow, what a great f’n match.

DVD extras come in the form of The Establishment’s appearance at the Wrestleclash show, recap and aftermath videos, as well as a set from the rock of Wrestlerock, Mammoth Mammoth.

In conclusion - Wrestlerock 15, sadly, isn’t the best show I’ve seen from the Aussie boys. Although there were three good, solid matches here, it was let down by a rather poor beginning. Also, while the introduction of Julian James as an in-ring character has benefited the promotion, the loss of Julian James as a full-time commentator may have harmed it a little. James and Chris Fresh had great chemistry, something that Fresh and Rohan Herbstreit didn’t seem to have. While Fresh continued with his outrageous style, Herbstreit did seem a little subdued, something that really doesn’t fit in with Wrestlerock’s adult style.

So overall, I suppose three out of five good matches isn’t that bad, but having seen entire Wrestlerock shows where five out of five matches were all good, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

With thanks to Rohan Herbstreit for supplying a copy of this release. Wrestlerock 15: End of Year Bash 2 can be purchased online by visiting www.wrestlerock.com.

It’s gimmick match overload time again, as Total Non-Stop Action celebrate their seventh year of business with Slammiversary, headlined by a King of the Mountain match for the TNA World Championship, and shown on a three day delay here in Britain on Bravo 2. Commentary duties are handled, as always, by Mike Tenay and Don West.

The show begins with the first title match of the evening, with Suicide defending the X Division title in a King of the Mountain match against Lethal Consequences and the Motor City Machine Guns, with some baseball guy I’ve never heard of acting as the keeper of the belt. This Suicide character is really starting to grow on me, as is the storyline surrounding him. As always with an X Division match, it’s full of fast paced action and some tremendous team work, as both teams went all out to take the masked man down. Needless to say though that this co-operation only lasted until Jay Lethal pinned Suicide and the masked man was put in the penalty box. We also had the interesting moment where Chris Sabin allowed Alex Shelley to pin him to he could become eligible to hang the belt, only for his attempt to be disrupted big style by Suicide. In fact there was so much great action it would probably take me pages and pages to document everything. In the end though it was the masked man who defied the odds, stopping Shelley from hanging the belt with a dive off the top of the penalty box, before climbing the ladder and hanging the belt. Suicide was still X Division Champion ending a tremendous match.

Next up was what was being billed as a second chance match, as “The Franchise” Shane Douglas faced “The Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels. Hey, I know he’s only called Daniels in TNA now, but he’ll always be The Fallen Angel to fans all over the world. For someone who hadn’t been in the ring for a while, Douglas looked pretty good, although he was clearly hampered by the ankle injury he sustained early on. But overall this match was okay, nothing overly spectacular, just a good, solid match, with Daniels getting the pin after a BME. It certainly will be interesting to see if Douglas has any kind of future in TNA.

Then it’s time for the second title match of the evening, with Angelina Love defending her Knockouts title against the artist formerly known as Victoria, now known as Tara. Miss Love is, as always, accompanied by her Beautiful People cohorts, Velvet Skye and Madison Rayne. As always with the Knockouts division it’s a very good and very entertaining match, with some good exchanges between champion and challenger, mixed with liberal amounts of interference from Skye and Rayne on the outside. In the end the numbers went against Tara. Having grown tired of their interference, she gave both girls a good slap before returning to the ring, and while Love distracted the referee, Skye sprayed Tara’s eyes with hairspray. One Lights Out move later, and Love had the title retaining pin. Good match, but I’d like to see these two go at it again.

The Monsters Ball followed, with Raven and Daffney, accompanied by Doctor Stevie, taking on Taylor Wilde and Abyss. You know, I remember when they used to lock the Monsters Ball participants in darkened rooms for twenty four hours before the match, depriving them of food, light and water in order to get them ready. I guess times have changed now, eh? It’s basically one big brawl, with both teams hitting each other with a variety of weapons, and the obligatory TNA brawl through the crowd, and it’s damn entertaining at the same time. We got Wilde diving off a stack of speakers and putting Daffney through a table, and inflicting more punishment on the former Sarah Palin impersonator by slamming her down on a bunch of thumb tacks. The thumb tacks came into play at the end of the match, with Abyss taking Raven out with a black hole slam onto them, getting the winning pin for his team. Good stuff, but I’m not really sure of having the Knockouts involved in this kind of match.

It was back to singles action for the next match, with Matt Morgan going up against Sting, with the stipulation being that if Morgan gets the win, he joins the Main Event Mafia. The battle between legendary veteran and young up and comer made for interesting viewing. Morgan is improving with each and every outing, and putting him in the ring with someone like Sting can only do good for his career. It was a good match, well played out with a good storyline, and two good performances. This could be Sting’s best pay-per-view match this year. Well, it was certainly better than the match where he lost the title to Mick Foley. The veteran came out on top in this one, taking the big man down with a second Scorpion Death Drop. Nice stuff, although it does seem kind of strange that Sting is being treated like a face while the rest of the Mafia are being treated like heels.

The third title match of the evening follows, with Beer Money challenging Team 3D for the TNA Tag-Team titles. Now, because this match involves a run in from The British Invasion, I’m once again bound by the threats of legal action by Nick “Brutus Magnus” Aldis. If you recall, he’s threatened to take legal action against me if I say anything negative against him on the internet. So, because of this, rather than leave a blank space, here’s a recipe for won ton soup;

The name won ton means swallowing a cloud, and the wonton floating in this popular soup are thought to resemble clouds. This recipe for Won ton Soup serves 4.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
18 - 24 won ton wrappers
Filling:
1/2 pound boneless lean pork, chopped finely
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
a few drops sesame oil
1 teaspoon sherry
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 green onion, finely minced
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 dashes of white pepper
Other:
Water for boiling won tons
4 1/2 - 5 cups chicken stock
green onion, thinly sliced, as desired
a few drops sesame oil (optional)

Preparation:
Combine all the filling ingredients in a bowl, mixing well. Lay one won ton skin in front of you. Cover the remaining won ton skins with a damp towel to keep them from drying out.

Filling the won tons: Moisten all the edges of the won ton wrapper with water. Place a heaping teaspoon of won ton filling in the center. Fold the won ton wrapper in half lengthwise, making sure the ends meet. Press down firmly on the ends to seal. Use thumbs to push down on the edges of the filling to center it. Keeping thumbs in place, fold over the won ton wrapper one more time. Push the corners up and hold in place between your thumb and index finger. Wet the corners with your fingers. Bring the two ends together so that they overlap. Press to seal. The finished product should resemble a nurse's cap. Repeat with remaining won tons.

Alternate method: Place the teaspoon of filling in the middle of the wrapper and twist to seal. The final result should resemble a money bag or drawstring purse.

Boiling the won tons: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the won tons, making sure there is enough room for them to move about freely. Let the won tons boil for 5 - 8 minutes, until they rise to the top and the filling is cooked through. Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon.

To make the soup: bring the chicken stock to a boil. Add the won tons and bring the soup back to a boil. Add the green onion, remove the pot from the heat and add the sesame oil, stirring. Ladle into soup bowls, allowing 6 won tons per person.

Main event time, the King of the Mountain match, with Mick Foley defending the TNA World title against Legends Champion A.J. Styles, Jeff Jarrett, Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle. Before the match even began Joe attacked Angle, and because of this, the referees ruled that Joe would begin the match in the penalty box, and that Angle would automatically be eligible to hang the title belt. Some good, and some questionable, action followed. Jarrett, Styles, Angle, and in particular Joe put in some great work here. But as much as I love the guy, I have to say that Mick Foley was very disappointing. Every time I see him wrestle now he just seems to be a shadow of his former self, having to take rests at regular intervals, unable to go at full tilt for an entire match, and even though he pulled off a high risk move when he elbow dropped Angle from the top of the penalty box, he failed to catch Styles as he, with help from Joe, dived over the top rope onto him. It was now pretty obvious why his main title defences have been in multi-man matches. But the big swerve at the end was what made this match. Having taken out all of the opposition, Joe climbed the ladder, about to hang the title, when Angle joined him on the ladder. Then, to everybody’s surprise, Joe handed the belt to his supposed hated enemy, and Kurt Angle became the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion, with the other members of the Main Event Mafia, minus Sting, appearing on the stage to applaud their man, ending what was, for the most part, a good match.

In conclusion - this years Slammiversary event delivered, well, mostly. There were still too many gimmick matches for my liking, and even though they were good, it would be nice if they could cut down on their number. As for the main event, well, I’ve said my piece about Mick Foley, and now that he’s no longer champion, perhaps things will get better. But in all, it was a good show, which gets my thumbs up.

A few weeks ago we stepped into Ring of Honor territory with a review of Proving Ground 2009 Night One. Now we’re going to pick up where we left off, by taking a look at the second show that weekend, Proving Ground 2009 Night Two, headlined by former WWE and TNA star D-Lo Brown challenging Nigel Mc****ss for the ROH World title.

The show begins with Shawn Osborne taking on the always dependable Jerry Lynn. It’s a very solid opener, with Lynn impressing as always, and Osborne giving a good account of himself against the veteran. Osborne tried everything in his arsenal as he attempted to put Lynn away, but he could never quite get the job done, with Lynn coming back well, and eventually taking Osborne down with his trademark cradle piledriver, ending this very good opening match.

Tag-team action follows, Kenny King and Rhett Titus facing The British Lions, Chris Gray and Tommy Taylor. This is the first time I’ve seen my fellow Brits in action, and I have to admit I kind of have mixed feelings about their performances. While Taylor’s offence looked great early on, Gray’s wasn’t as good, as he seemed to botch most of the moves he attempted. Granted, he played the part of the punching bag well as King and Titus doubled up on him, but defence isn’t the only part of the game. King and Titus, meanwhile, looked great, and were clearly the most popular team in this match, despite the fact that they were meant to be heels. King got the pin for his team here, taking Gray down with a blockbuster off his partner’s shoulders. So the verdict here is King and Titus good, British Lions, could do better.

Then it was back to singles action, with Bison Smith taking on John Kermon. It’s basically another attempt to make Smith look like a monster, and it worked. A couple of power moves followed by a choke slam did the job, with Smith getting the easy win. A good way of building the NOAH regular as a killing machine, although I hope he wasn’t getting paid by the hour here.

The singles action continued with Davey Richards, accompanied by Larry Sweeney, and one half of the ROH Tag-Team Champions, Kevin Steen. This was billed as a big grudge match, and it certainly lived up to the hype. Some great wrestling throughout made this match special, with even a little bit of humour. As Richards worked over Steen’s leg, he started to go for a figure four leg lock. But as the crowed began the Ric Flair “wooo” chants, Richards broke off the hold and gave the crowd the finger. As well as this moment of hilarity, we also got a great storyline, with Richards working over the leg he’d previously help injured, and Steen unable to use certain holds because of it. Nevertheless, Steen managed to pull the victory out of the bag, countering Richards’ cloverleaf with a small package to get the win, ending a great contest. Needless to say that Larry Sweeney was happy with the result.

Next up, The Age of the Fall, Jimmy Jacobs and Delirious, taking on the team of Tyler Black and Necro Butcher. This was another one of those grudge matches, and for the most part it was quite good, with Jacobs and Delirious working well as a team, and Black pulling off some good moves as well. But then Necro Butcher had to get involved with his poor looking offence. He only seemed happy when he went a little hardcore, when he draped Delirious’ torso over the edge of a table and came down from the ring apron with what was meant to be a leg drop, except it looked like he didn’t even touch the masked man. The end came when, as Black was about to super kick Delirious, Jacobs came into the ring and clobbered Black with a steel chair, earning himself an immediate disqualification. Three quarters of the wrestlers in this match were great, but it’s sad that the Necro Butcher had to stink things up again.

Then it’s on to Austin Aries as he goes up against Brad Attitude. It’s a good solid wrestling match, but that’s always the way with the former World Champion, as he sought to put the newcomer who was looking for a permanent spot on the roster in his place. But as the old saying goes it takes two to tango, and Attitude did his part to make this match what it was, with his corkscrew body press from the top rope a thing of beauty. But in the end experience won out over youth, as Aries took Attitude down with an awesome looking brain buster to get the winning pin. Nice stuff, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Brad Attitude on the big stage in the future. By the way - is it me or are Aries’ tights the worst in wrestling at the moment?

Six man tag-team action followed, with The Dark City Fight Club, Jon Davis and Kory Chavis, along with their partner Francisco Ciatso, taking on Roderick Strong, Erick Stevens and Brent Albright. This was as hard hitting as you could get. Early on Strong unleashed with a series of knife edge chops on Davis’ chest, which were so hard they opened him up, and with every other wrestler in this match hitting each other as hard as they could, it made for a very good match, with the Fight Club team impressing, some great teamwork throughout, and plenty of false finishes before Ciatso tapped out to Strong’s Boston Crab. Afterwards Davis, Chavis and Ciatso earned a “please come back” chant from the ROH faithful, and rightfully so.

The match I was really looking forward to was next, with Bryan Danielson taking on the other half of the ROH Tag-Team Champions, El Generico. Lasting over twenty minutes, Generico and Danielson put on one of the best matches I’ve seen this year, a tremendous back and forth encounter with great wrestling, a highly believable storyline, two outstanding performances, attempted interference from Bison Smith, and even some light hearted comedy early on. I really can’t speak too highly about this one, it was that damn good. In the end, Danielson’s attempt to stop the rampaging Bison from interfering led to his downfall. After taking care of the big man, Danielson climbed to the top rope, only to be taken out with a yakuza kick from Generico, who followed it up with his version of the brain buster, with Danielson’s head crashing onto the top turnbuckle. A three count later and the masked man had the win. Thins didn’t end there though, as a recovered Smith stormed into the ring, attacked Generico, and then took Danielson down with his variation of the power bomb, before numerous wrestlers came out from the back to stop the monster causing more damage. A great way to end a great match.

Main event time, with D-Lo Brown challenging Nigel Mc****ss for the ROH World title. Lots of jaw jacking at the beginning here, before the match actually began. Action wise it was okay, but not outstanding. Both Mc****ss and Brown put in good performances, but there just seemed to be something missing, something that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. In the end Mc****ss retained his title after taking Brown down with a second jawbreaker lariat. Afterwards, as Mc****ss grabbed the microphone and gloated over his win, Brown came up from behind and attacked, before draping the ROH title belt over the champion’s fallen body. As I said, not bad, but not outstanding.

Extras come in the form of the usual ROH Video Wire.

In conclusion - the second night of Proving Ground does come with it’s good and bad points, but thankfully the good far outweighs the bad. There’s good performances throughout this show, and some really poor one, but overall this release is worth the price of admission just for the outstanding match between Bryan Danielson and El Generico, which is probably the reason the main event seemed a little flat. But overall, another good ROH release, and one you should consider adding to your collection.

With thanks to the powers-that-be at Ring of Honor for supplying a copy of this release.

When you compare the WWE to TNA, there are some areas where WWE are on top, but others where TNA do so much better. One example of this is TNA’s tag-team division. This is why they’ve recently released a two-disc set entitled “Second 2 None: World’s Toughest Tag-Teams”. But as far as tag-teams go, are TNA really “second 2 none”? That’s what I’m hoping to find out by reviewing this collection.

The collection focuses on TNA’s four main teams at the moment - Team 3D, Beer Money, Inc., The Motor City Machine Guns, and the Latin American Xchange, and as with other TNA releases, the interviews with those concerned are mixed in with the matches.

DISC ONE
Lockdown 2007: LAX defend the NWA Tag-Team titles against Team 3D in an electrified cage match. I don’t think I need to tell you how different this is from a normal cage match. Conspicuous by his absence at ringside when this match started was Konnan, LAX’s resident mouthpiece. If I’m to be totally honest, this match was okay, but it wasn’t overly exciting, and didn’t really get going until Konnan was wheeled down to ringside. With his crony having knocked out the ringside referee, Konnan was going to get involved in the match, but was stopped by Spanish broadcaster team member Hector Guerrero. But what got me about this one was that the actual gimmick, the electrified steel cage, wasn’t actually used until late on, when Hernandez used his border toss to thrown Brother Devon into the cage, accompanied by a flickering of the lights and sound effects. Now despite, as Mike Tenay kept telling us, the cage having ten thousand volts surging through it, Devon recovered pretty damn quickly. Highlight of the match came when Hernandez, complete with rubber gloves and boots, climbed to the top of the cage, intending to put Devon through a table, with Devon moving out of the way and Hernandez crashing through. In the end, the brothers emerged victorious, taking Homicide out with a 3D after he’d been thrown into the cage. Not bad, but there were certain aspects that just didn’t make sense.

Slammiversary 2007: Team 3D defend the NWA Tag-Team titles against Rick Steiner and Road Warrior Animal, a late replacement for the injured Scott Steiner. This one’s quite a quick match, and entertainment-wise it’s not too bad, especially seeing Steiner and Animal teaming together. Not really much to talk about here, with Team 3D getting the win after taking Steiner down with the 3D.

Turning Point 2007: NWA Tag-Team Champions Team 3D and Johnny Devine take on The Motor City Machine Guns and X Division Champion Jay Lethal in a tables match. This match was a part of their feud, which saw Team 3D and Devine trying to destroy the X Division. This was one of the best feuds TNA have ever produced, and this particular match was probably the best in this series. The Guns and Lethal looked superb in this match, with the Guns in particular putting together some great double team moves. Some of the spots did look a little contrived, but overall it was a great match. The end saw Team 3D screwing their opponents out of the win. After the referee took an accidental hit, Lethal put Devine through a table with a top rope table. But Team 3D came into the ring, took the Guns out, and then changed positions so it looked like Devine had put Lethal through the table. The referee made the count, and the bad guys won. Best match on the collection so far.

Victory Road 2008: A.J. Styles, Christian Cage and Rhino take on Kurt Angle and Team 3D in a match where the fans pick the stipulation. Their choice - full metal mayhem. So what we have here is basically a hardcore match, and a mass, six-man brawl, with both teams using an array of toys to beat the hell out of each other in a match which is actually very entertaining. We have guys hitting each other with chairs and ladders, getting put through tables, and jumping off high platforms onto their opponents below, as well as attempted interference from 3D’s running buddy Johnny Devine. Devon actually suffered an ankle injury in this match, and kudos to him for continuing, especially as it was obvious that he was having a great deal of trouble moving around. The end saw Frank Trigg, who had been commentating at ringside, attack Styles as he climbed a ladder, intending to put Angle through a table. This gave Angle the chance to recover, as he put Styles through a the table from the ladder, getting the pin for his team afterwards. A very good match, even better than the previous one.

Impact, 3rd January, 2008: A gauntlet match, featuring the Rock ‘N’ Rave Infection, the Voodoo Kin Mafia, Team 3D, the Motor City Machine Guns, and LAX, It’s a Royal Rumble type match, with one man entering at a time, and when two men are left, they bring their partners back out for a normal tag-team match. It’s another example of an overbooked TNA stipulation match. It’s your usual battle royal type action here, with Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin going up against Lance Hoyt and Jimmy Rave making it to the final match. This part doesn’t actually last long, mainly because a great deal of the match was cut out because of a commercial, with Shelley taking Rave out with Sliced Bread #2. But their celebration doesn’t last long as Team 3D return, along with Johnny Devine, to attack their foes, trying to injure their hands, before Jay Lethal and the rest of the X Division run in to make the save. This could have been a whole lot better, if the commercial break hadn’t cut out the end of the battle royal segment and the beginning of the tag-team match. Really poor planning and editing there.

Impact, 10th May, 2007: Alex Shelley and X Division Champion Chris Sabin (they haven‘t been named the Motor City Machine Guns yet) face Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt. This is one of those matches you just wish had been given more television time. There’s some tremendous action throughout this one, but at a shade over five minutes long, with Shelley pinning Dutt with his version of Nova’s old kryptonite crunch, or whatever the hell it’s called.

Genesis 2007: The Motor City Machine Guns take on Team 3D. If this match had taken place in WWE, then we’d have seen a dominating performance from Brothers Ray and Devon, and Shelly and Sabin would have been treated like jobbers. Instead the Guns were treated as equals, and that’s one of the things that made this match great. Shelly and Sabin’s team work was second to none, and Team 3D were just as good, playing the role of overgrown bullies to perfection, thinking that they can push around their smaller opponents, but finding that it’s not about the size of the dog in the fight….well, you know what I’m getting at here. Team 3D basically throw everything they can at the Guns, but their attempt to put Sabin through a table backfired when Sabin somersaulted off the table, ducking out of the way of a charging Devon, who ended up going through the table himself. The Guns then attacked Ray with a series of kicks, before Sabin got the pin for his team, ending a tremendous match.

Impact, 27th December 2007: TNA Tag-Team Champions A.J. Styles and Tomko go up against the Motor City Machine Guns in a non-title match. It’s another short television match which doesn’t really do either team justice, with a lot of the action cut out because of a commercial break. The Guns do a good job of dealing with the massive Tomko, but a distraction from Eric Young, trying to offer advice as to who Styles should align himself with (Angle or Christian?), sees both Sabin and Shelley pinning Styles at the same time. If only they’d been given more time.

Impact, 10th January 2008: Senshi (aka Low-Ki) and Elix Skipper face the Motor City Machine Guns. It’s another match sadly curtailed by television time constrictions. The action is fast, furious, and exciting to watch, but I’m again left to wonder what would have happened if they’d been given more time. Shelley got the pin on Senshi after the trademark kicks.

Impact, 12th June 2008: Speed Muscle, Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino face the Motor City Machine Guns in a World X Cup preview match. The best of the Impact matches so far, with an impressive showing from the Dragon Gate team. At times they looked like a Japanese mirror image of the Guns, especially with some of their double team moves. Sabin got the pin on Yoshino, after the Guns took him out with a double super kick. Short, but awesome.

Impact, 30th October 2008: Hiroshi Tanahashi and Volador take on the Motor City Machine Guns. The Japanese/Mexican team put on a good display against the Guns, pulling off some great double team moves, although they’re obviously not as good as the Guns, with Sabin pinning Volador after the cradle shock. As with some of the other television matches, a bit too short.

DISC TWO
Hard Justice 2008: LAX, defend their TNA World Tag-Team titles against Beer Money, Inc. You can tell this is one of Beer Money’s early outings, because Robert Roode is still wearing his spangled entrance robe. This feud started after Roode and James Storm won a number one contenders match. Later, they put Homicide through a glass covered table, injuring his eye. As for the match, it’s a great example of two teams at the top of their game, with Hernandez looking absolutely tremendous here. His dive over the top rope onto his opponents and landing on his feet was a thing of beauty, while Roode and Storm showed some great chemistry in the fledgling tag-team. Beer Money got the win and the titles in this one. While the referee was outside the ring trying to stop a catfight between Jackie Moore and Salinas, Homicide was about to take Storm down with the gringo killer, only for Roode to come into the ring and to hit Homicide right in his injured eye with a beer bottle. A few seconds later, Roode got the win, ending a great match.

No Surrender 2008: Beer Money, Inc. defend their TNA Tag-Team titles in a re-match with LAX. The Beer Money image is more or less set in stone now, with James Storm coming to ring with his foam dome helmet on. It’s a good match, but nowhere near as good as their previous encounter. One great moment saw Homicide almost gain revenge for the beer bottle incident, only for Roode to move out of the way, with Homicide smashing the bottle on the ring steps. Beer Money retained when, while the referee was dealing with a brawl at ringside, Jackie Moore came into the ring and threw powder into Homicide’s face, with Roode getting the pin with a bridge suplex.

Bound for Glory 2008: Beer Money Inc. defend their TNA Tag-Team titles against Abyss & Matt Morgan, Team 3D and LAX in a Monster’s Ball match, with Steve “Mongo” McMichael as special referee. It’s basically an eight man brawl with weapons, and Steve McMichael wandering around the ring with a gormless look on his face making the occasional very slow count. He even got involved in a face-off with stance with Storm, and clotheslined Roode. So apart from McMichael’s very poor performance, the action was good, with eight good performances, interference from 3D’s running buddy Johnny Devine, Abyss gets put through a flaming table, Hernandez gets put through a table with thumb tacks on it, and Roode stealing the pin to retain the titles. Good stuff, but if only Mongo was so bad as a referee!

Genesis 2009: Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed defend the TNA Tag-Team titles against Matt Morgan & Abyss and Beer Money, Inc. in a three way match. Lethal and Creed won the titles just a few days before this show by cashing in their feast or fired option. Not the best match on the collection, but still good in it’s own right. The exchanges between the champions and Beer Money were the best thing about this match, while Abyss and Morgan just seemed like bystanders most of the time, not really adding anything to the match until the final few moments, when Abyss accidentally clobbered Morgan with one of the title belts. Lethal looked like he was going to get the pin on Roode, but the referee was distracted by Jackie Moore on the outside. Back in the ring Storm super kicked Lethal, and draped Roode over the fallen Morgan to get the winning pin.

Against All Odds 2007: NWA World Tag-Team Champions LAX face Team 3D in a non-title Little Italy Street Fight. It’s basically a hardcore match, which begins with the ring looking like a cheap restaurant. They hit each other with rub**** bins, steel chairs, and the cheap looking tables, before Homicide cut open Devon with a pizza cutter, after which Brother Ray challenges Homicide to a cheese grater/pizza cutter showdown. There’s also interference from a few members of the Latino Nation, but in all it’s nothing really special. There isn’t even the trademark TNA brawl through the crowd, which is what this match was crying out for. Plenty of false finishes near the end, after Brother Ray kicked out of a pin after Hernandez put him through a table, with the big guy soon getting the win after taking Devon with the border toss, getting the pin with a little help from Homicide.

Destination X 2007: NWA World Tag-Team Champions LAX face Team 3D in a non-title Ghetto Brawl. It’s basically a hardcore/tables match, where you can win by pinfall or by putting someone through a table. This one is a little more entertaining, with both teams hitting each other with whatever they can get their hands on, and unlike the previous match, we get the trademark TNA brawl through the crowd. We even have Mike Tenay quoting punk legends The Clash after Hernandez got thrown into a wall. “He fought the wall and the wall won!” Eventually they got back to the ring, hitting each other with various weapons again, before the Latino Nation attacked Ray and Devon again, only for Devon’s mentor Johnny Rodz to come down to the ring to clean house, and when the Latinos came back, Devon’s “brothers from Brooklyn” came down and attacked the Latinos, and as they brawled around ringside, the match finally returned to normal. It wasn’t long before the brawlers came back, with Brother Ray taking them all out with a top rope dive. Then, of all people, Alex Shelley came down to the ring with his camera, and helped Homicide take Devon down, putting him through a table with a frog splash, with the referee counting Homicides pin. As I said, this was a little more entertaining, but way too overbooked towards the end.

Bound for Glory 2007: Triple X (Senshi and Elix Skipper) face LAX in an Ultimate X match, with the winner becoming the number one contenders to the TNA Tag-Team titles. Now this was more like. Ultimate X matches always promise a lot, and they always deliver. Four great performances here, with, for me, the highlight being the exchanges between Senshi and Hernandez, and once again it was Elix Skipper who supplied the death defying moment, diving off one of the structures and taking Hernandez out with a cross body block. The end came when, after border tossing Skipper on to Senshi at ringside, Hernandez climbed along the wires to grab the big “X” to win the match and get the title shot. Out of the three matches to focus on LAX so far, this is the best.

Victory Road 2008: TNA World Tag-Team Champions LAX face Beer Money, Inc. in a fans revenge match, with numerous marks…I mean fans around the ring carrying leather straps, with orders to whip the wrestlers if they leave the ring. It’s another early match from James Storm and Robert Roode’s tenure as a team (they’re not wearing matching outfits here), and while the action in the ring is good, outside it’s kind of sucks. I reviewed a similar match on the Jeff Jarrett DVD recently. I didn’t like that aspect of it, and it’s the same here. Thankfully the mark’s attempts didn’t amount to much, and the title didn’t change hands when Homicide took Roode down with a cutter off Hernandez’s shoulders. Good match, but please don’t let the marks get involved.

BONUS MATCHES
Impact, 20th November 2008: Sonjay Dutt and Hiroshi Tanahashi face Consequences Creed and Jay Lethal: Very quick match with Creed pinning Dutt after taking him out with the TKO.

Impact, 8th January 2009: Lethal Consequences cash in their Feast of Fired shot and challenge Beer Money, Inc. for the TNA World Tag-Team titles. With Robert Roode having just injured his knee in a singles match, James Storm, dressed in street clothes, began this one alone. Roode does eventually get involved in the match, but his inability to run interference leads to his team’s downfall, as Lethal is able to stop Roode hitting him with a steel briefcase, with Lethal himself using the case to take out Storm while the referee is distracted by Jackie. A three count later, and new champions are crowned in a very good and well executed encounter.

In conclusion - while the majority of the action on this collection is good, I couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

Let’s begin with the interview segments. Apart from the interviews with Team 3D, the rest of the interviews are carried out with the separate members of the team, and while they were okay, it would have been nice to see Homicide and Hernandez, Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley, and Robert Roode and James Storm interviewed together instead of alone. We could have seen how they played off against each other away from the ring.

As for the matches, while there were no five star classics, most of them were good. However, I was a little disappointed that those putting this collection together didn’t look a little deeper into the TNA archives. It would have been nice to see matches involving some of the teams that are no longer around, such as America’s Most Wanted, the original Triple X, and the excellent team of Christopher Daniels and A.J. Styles. But I suppose I can be thankful that The Johnsons weren’t featured.

So in all, it’s a good enough collection, but it was somewhat lacking in certain areas. It’s worth having a look, but be prepared to be a little disappointed.

With thanks to the powers-that-be at TNA for supplying a copy of this release.

It’s not often that you see a film that is so realistic and brilliantly made it’s also quite scary at the same time. This is the case with the critically acclaimed Mickey Rourke film “The Wrestler”, recently released on DVD here in Britain.

Rourke stars as faded 80’s wrestling star Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a man who once sold out Madison Square Garden but now ekes out a living working at a supermarket in New Jersey, while getting his regular wrestling fix working on indy shows at the weekend.

Despite being way past his prime,  Robinson yearns for his glory days and dreams of returning to the top of his profession. He sees a proposed match with his old wrestling enemy The Ayatollah as his way back, but then his world collapses when he suffers a heart attack after a show, and undergoes bypass surgery. He’s later told that his career is over.

As he tries to put his career behind him, Robinson gets a job working at the deli counter at the supermarket. But away from the wrestling business he realises just how empty his life is, and he tries to build bridges with the only two women his life, a stripper named Cassidy, played by Marissa Tomei, and his estranged daughter, played by Evan Rachel Wood.

As you’ve probably heard so many times over the past year or so, Rourke is perfect in the role of the faded star. This is, by far, his best performance, and it’s obvious why everyone was raving about it.

But the thing that sets this film apart from other portrayals of the wrestling business is it’s realism. For years we’ve seen tongue-in-cheek looks from Grunt through No Holds Barred right up to Ready to Rumble.

Speaking from personal experience, this film is so damn realistic it’s frightening. I saw things in this film that I saw first hand from my own time in the wrestling business, and Robinson’s story, of how he’s more or less addicted to the adulation he receives from wrestling fans, and of how he has little to no life outside of the wrestling business, is something I’ve seen for myself time and time again.

In conclusion - The Wrestler is a brilliant piece of film making. Director Darren Aronofsky, Mickey Rourke and all those connected with this film should be proud of their accomplishments. If you haven’t seen it yet then go out and buy a copy right now. You won’t be disappointed. And if you’re in the wrestling business and you can identify with Randy “The Ram” Robinson, then as far as the makers of this film are concerned, then it’s mission accomplished.