Thanks a bunch man. I actually have one more for ya!
Well the final PPV to review from my Christmas gifts is No Surrender 2008...why did I save the worst for last?
Thats not to say NS08 was a bad show. It was solid, and it was cool that TNA finally got a big show up there in Canada (crowd was awesome BTW), but I would venture to say that it is definately the weakest PPV in my TNA DVD collection because I usually pick up my absolute favorite shows, but the Cross the Line 3 pack was a really sweet deal, and No Surrender was not a show I regretted watching.
- The show opens up with an in ring promo from Sting who says that he has resigned with TNA and got a title shot against the winner of the No Surrender main event at Bound for Glory. The promo was good (minus the slip up that everybody & their grandmother seemed to comment on) but I think it also highlighted the problem with No Surrender in that they were clearly saving the really good stuff for Bound for Glory. We all knew it was going to be Joe vs. Sting at BFG, and this confirmed it. But this segment was cool for the Canadian fans who at least got to see Sting.
The Prince Justice Brotherhood vs. The Rock & Rave Infection & Christy Hemme: Intergender Tag Team Match
Fun match to open with. Basically just a goofy comedy match with some nice action thrown in. Super Eric hit some really cool moves. Curry Man is hilarious. I know everybody wants Daniels back, and I do too, but I'm going to kind of miss Curry Man. It was also nice that EY got on a card in Canada.
Awesome Kong vs. ODB: Falls Count Anywhere
This was another fun match. The crowd was really into this match, but then again ODB & Kong are the two most over KOs, so there you go. It was a pretty good power match with some nice shots taken. This match was actually better than I remember.
Team 3D vs. Abyss & Matt Morgan
The birth of the Morgan/Abyss tag team! Unfortunately the Canadian fans didn't seem to like Matt Morgan very much. I remember being a little excited for this match because it was the PPV return of Abyss, and I've always liked him. This match was ok. It was a basic big man tag match, not much else. They teased a Morgan/Abyss break up after the match, but I think they halted that and decided to just make the Monster's Ball for BFG a tag match.
"Maple Leaf Muscle" Petey Williams (c) vs. Consequences Creed vs. Sheik Abdul Bashir: X Division Championship Triple Threat Match
Canadian crowd loved Petey (obviously) and hated Mr. USA Consequences Creed, although he seemed to win them over by the end of the match at least a little bit. This was a pretty good 3 way match. Lots of great action in here. And of course because it was Canada, they had to have Earl Hebner in there, and they did a spot where Petey had Bashir in the Sharpshooter, and Don said "Do it Earl! They might forgive you a little bit" LOL. Anyways, this was a pretty good match, with a surprise ending as Bashir took the title.
Taylor Wilde (c) w/Rhino vs. Angelina Love w/Kip James & Velvet Sky: TNA Knockout Championship
Two Canadian girls get to shine in their home country. They even got Traci Brooks to observe the match, fitting her new role as Knockout Law. Taylor brought out Rhino to even out Kip James on Love's side. This was another solid title match. I was a little surprised that Love didn't win the title, but it was a nice bout that showed off what both girls can do. I wish they'd let Love do more, but what can you do?
"Black Machismo" Jay Lethal vs. "Guru" Sonjay Dutt: Ladder of Love Match
After the disaster at Hard Justice, TNA apologized to Dutt & Lethal by letting them have a ladder match. It was similar to what they did with Storm & Harris after their Blindfold match bombed & they gave them a Texas Deathmatch. So the winner of this match would ger So Cal Val, making this the battle of who will earn my jealousy. Well its safe to say that the Ladder Match was MUCH better than the Chain match. I would say that they definately had the best match of the PPV. Ya know, if I could somehow superimpose this match over that bad chain match at Hard Justice, Hard Justice would probably have been the PPV of the year for TNA. Oh well. The feud wasn't that good, but at least we got a great ladder match out of it. And in this day and age, to come up with ladder spots that haven't been done before. Well Lethal & Dutt did it, and kudos to them. Great match.
Beer Money Inc (c) vs. Latin American Xchange: TNA Tag Team Championship
My favorite tag matches of 2008 involved LAX & Beer Money, so any excuse to have these two teams go at it again is a good one. Salinas was "attacked" backstage and didn't come out with LAX, and never came out again. Roode was the only Canadian that got booed. Yeah. He's damn good. Anyways, this match was nowhere near as good as alot of their previous ones, but still solid. We got the usual cool spots from LAX & great heel work from Beer Money. It wasn't their best match, but a worthy portion of the PPV.
"The Phenomenal" AJ Styles vs. Frank Trigg: Mixed Martial Arts Match
Unfortunately, the best parts about this match came before it started with an in ring promo from Trigg & after the match with AJ whacking Trigg with a Kendo Stick. But the match itself was the worst of 2008 IMO. The fans shit all over it, so when I said the Canadian crowd was great, I'm sure AJ would definately disagree with me. The good part about it was that it proved my point that MMA & Pro Wrestling are two completely different things and mixing the two is very risky. But poor AJ. It would have been better if they tried a regular match to see what Trigg could do, because the guy is a good heel character. I also have a funny feeling that the match was cut short because of the crowd reaction because the ending just came out of nowhere.
Samoa Joe (c) vs. Christian Cage vs. Kurt Angle: TNA World Championship
Originally this was supposed to be a 4 way match with Booker T as the 4th man, but Booker had to miss the PPV due to Hurrican Katrina. Its weird though. Nobody seemed to care. Anyways, this match was about as predictable as it gets since Sting & Joe had a confrontation before the match started. Predictability aside, this was a really good 3 way main event. There were some nice spots, good action, and the crowd was into Christian obviously. My only real knock on the match was the ending which kind of made Joe look weak. I was also a little disappointed that they ended the show with a teaser for Angle/Jarrett rather than Joe/Sting. I think the title match for BFG should have been the one to leave the fans thinking about, but whatever.
Overall, I have to say that No Surrender was better than I remembered. Its still not a great PPV by any means, and it was obvious that they were just killing time before Bound for Glory. However, there were alot of fun & solid matches, with a pretty good main event, and a great ladder match. The MMA Match was the only dud. Other than that, it was a pretty solid show.
1) Lethal vs. Dutt
2) Joe vs. Cage vs. Angle
3) Petey vs. Creed vs. Bashir
4) ODB vs. Kong
5) LAX vs. BMI
6) PJB vs. Rock & Rave
7) Taylor vs. Love
8) Abyss/Morgan vs. 3D
9) AJ vs. Trigg