[Taroostyles]

I'd say BWM I is about ****, kinda hard to rate a match like that.

I also agree about the Lockdown 06 opener, I love that match and have it around ***3/4 or so.

Did the X Gauntlet open up the 1st TNA monthly PPV Victory Road 04? If so, that would definitely have to be in the discussion as well.

[Chiller88]

Originally Posted by Taroostyles

Did the X Gauntlet open up the 1st TNA monthly PPV Victory Road 04? If so, that would definitely have to be in the discussion as well.

OMG, I completely forgot that that opened the PPV. That'd be my #2 opener then.

1. 12-Man Elimination Tag - Victory Road '08
2. X Gauntlet - Victory Road '04
3. Sabin/Lethal/Dutt - Sacrifice '07
4. LAX/XXX - UX - Bound For Glory '07
5. Xcape - Lockdown '07

[TripleG]

Originally Posted by Chiller88

It's kinda weird how all these matches are either from '07 or '08...

05 had its share of good openers. Some of them invovled 3LK, Sonny Siaki, or Apolo, which aint good, but we got Barbedwire Massacre which I completely forgot about when I was making my list. If nothing else, its the best opener of 2005. I also really liked Joe/Liger from BFG.

From 06, we had some solid ones. An X Gauntlet from BFG, and Multi Man X Match from TP, Naturals vs. Aries/Strong from AGA, Shelley vs. Lethal from DX, The World X Cup Preview from LD. And while it wasn't a great match, who'll forget that EY/Devine match where the Impact Zone caught fire!

By my personal favorites from 06 are the Liger vs. Petey match from Sacrifice (too bad the PPV cut out because the match was awesome) and I can't believe I'm saying this, but Team 3D vs. The James Gang in the Bingo Hall Brawl was great. Do you believe that a great New Age Outlaws match Post 2000 doesn't exist? Watch this match and you'll be proven wrong.

2007 was probably the best year for openers though. Loved the Xscape match from LD, Sabin/Dutt/Lethal from Sac, the X Gauntlet from VR, and of course that awesome Ultimate X from BFG. But there were other really good ones as well. AJ vs. Rhino LMS from FR, LAX vs. Team 3D from DX (by far their best match together), XXX vs. Lethal/Dutt vs. MCMG from HJ. And believe it or not I would even throw Rhino/Senshi vs. LAX from Slammy up there as a great opener, and I even really liked Abyss vs. Black Reign from Gen too. Didn't think I would but meh.

2008 has given some really good ones. People loved LAX vs. RNR from FR despite it being short, which is good. Short match does not equal bad match. As long as its good, then its good. Of course the upped it by adding the Guns to the mix in a really good match at DX. LD opened up again with Xscape and it was once again pretty good, and of course we got that outstanding tag team elimination match from VR that everyone is raving about.

But where's the love for Petey vs. Kaz from Slammiversary? Hell even I forgot it while I was making my list. That was an outstanding opener as well.

[stinger-splash]

2008 openers:

Final Resolution: LAX vs RR Infection: **1/2 (Super Border Toss FTW!)
Against Aall Odds: AJ/Tomko vs Bullet/BG *
Desrination X: RR Infection vs LAX vs MCMG ***3/4 - **** (Tremendous match. Non-stop back and forth action. Crazy opener)
Lockdown: X-scape: ***1/4 (Not as good as last year's, but still a fun match)
Sacrifice: 3D vs Sting/Storm *1/2
Slammi: Kaz vs Petey: ***3/4
Victory Road: 12-man Elimination X: **** - ****1/4

[ADN]

Top 5 openers

Elimination Tag (VR 08) - ****1/4
X-Gauntlet (VR 04) - ****
LAX/XXX (BFG 07) - ****
Dutt/Lethal/Sabin - ***3/4
Kaz/Petey - (SV 08) - ***3/4

I probably would put BWM I in there but its kinda hard to rate it for me as well.
Looks like Meltzer has it at ***-

[Ownage™]

Angle/Styles - Slammiversary 08 - ****1/4

[steverockamaniac]

DVD Review : TNA’s Best of the Bloodiest Brawls Scars and Stitches”
Reviewed by : Steve “Rockamaniac” Wilson of MainEventRadio.com

Over the years, TNA has become notorious for releasing Best of DVD’s that focus in on a certain brand of matchups. We’ve seen multiple volumes dedicated to the best the X division has to offer, one for the Tag Teams and we’ve also seen 2 releases highlighting the blood filled hardcore action that TNA has offered over the years. Although they seemingly want you to forget that they made the first one which highlighted the 12 bloodiest battles from the year 2003, because in 2006 they released a DVD called Best of the Bloodiest Brawls and listed it as Volume 1, looking beyond that, hitting the market next week will be TNA’s Best of the Bloodiest Brawls : “Scars and Stitches” aka Volume 2 or Volume 3 depending on how you want to look at it, and this DVD picks up where the last one left off and take us on a 3 hour ride from Turning Point 2005 to this year’s Against All Odds PPV.
The DVD opens with a promo featuring the likes of Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett, Samoa Joe and others offering their thoughts on what it means to them to find themselves losing their own blood during a matchup, Nine matchups are then featured, ( 3 of which have been featured on previous best of releases) Before each match you get a short promo putting over the match, although the wrestlers involved don’t always talk about the specific match, that is left to the voiceover guy who explains some of the feud surrounding the match in question. Action begins with Jeff Jarrett vs Rhino from the December 2005 Turning Point PPV. This matchup didn’t have a hardcore stipulation on it but the intensity of the feud between Rhino and Jarrett at the time caused the matchup to spill out all over the arena, and needless to say caused the blood to flow. Second matchup is the Lethal Lockdown from April of 2006, as Sting’s Warriors took on Jarrett’s Army. This was a cage match, but most of the “blood and brutality” came in the final minutes once the cage ceiling is lowered and the weapons come into play, a good matchup nonetheless and this was the matchup where AJ Styles and James Storm battled at the top of the cage and Styles came flying off of a ladder setup on the roof of the cage, going through Storm and a table.
We then get the Daniels and Styles vs LAX, six sides of steel cage machup from Bound For Glory 2006. This matchup was featured on the best of tag teams dvd, and while I absolutely loved the match, I don’t think it warrants being on a DVD supposedly featuring the “best of the bloodiest brawls”. Next up is Christian Cage vs Rhino in a Six Sides of Steel Barbed Wire match from Impact in November 2006, a matchup which was included on the Best of Christian Cage DVD put out last year, it was also included as an extra on the Dark Rising DVD which the horror/comedy film that Christian Cage starred in a year plus back. The first battle between Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle is then up, this of course from Genesis in November of 2006. Ill never get sick of watching these two go at it, definitely one of the more enjoyable matchups on the disc for me.
A well deserving entry on this DVD is the Destination X 2007 Last Rites matchup between Abyss and Sting, this truly was a bloody brawl, as was the next matchup which is the Falls Count Anywhere battle between Cowboy James Storm and The Wildcat Chris Harris from the Sacrifice 2007 PPV, this was actually included on the Best of 2007 DVD, but was an absolute classic battle and in a way I cant imagine this DVD being put out without this matchup included. Mr Hardcore in TNA, Abyss, is featured in the two final matchups on this DVD, the first being against Tomko in a No DQ-Must be a winner matchup from the Slammiversary 2007 PPV, and then we top it all off with the obvious choice of the Barbed Wire Massacre between Abyss and Judas Macias from this past February’s Against All Odds PPV. I could break down every match but true TNA fans probably remember these matchups vividly, while others can have the chance to enjoy them for the first time.
The promo material included states that there is a “variety of bloody bonus features” although my screener version did not have those included, perhaps it will be included on the final pressing of the DVD.

There has always been pros and cons when it comes to Best of DVD’s, on one hand it’s a way to get some of the best footage in your collection for one low price, on the other hand, those who have most of the footage already have little to no interest in picking up the best of, especially when almost no new footage is included. The interview segments included before each match are sometimes too vague, and should of spent more time on having the guys involved talk about the match about to be shown. The fact that 3 of the 9 matchups were on other Best of DVD’s is a huge negative. One is acceptable, but a third of the disc’s content is too much. There is other candidates that could of replaced the previously released matches. For example Monsters Ball matchups from Bound For Glory 06 and 07, or the initial Full Metal Mayhem match from Sacrifice 2006. I could understand the argument that you wouldn’t want to make this a Abyss only DVD as all 3 matchups I just mentioned feature Abyss, So why not one of Team 3D’s battles from recent years?

Ultimately the DVD is not an absolute must buy, but it is buyable , specifically if your looking to add some solid hardcore TNA action to your collection with only one purchase.

[TripleG]

I think the major problem that prevents me from buying Best of the Bloodiest Brawls: Scars & Stitches is the fact that I already have most of the matches.

But the selections are mostly good, and definately belong on a Best of Bloodiest DVD.

- I like how it literally picks up right where the first one left off. The Last Match on "Vol 1" (or 2 depending on how you look at it) was Abyss vs. Sabu from TP05, and the 1st match is Rhino vs. Jarrett from TP05. In think that match is pretty underrated and very entertaining.

- Nethal Lockdown 2006 is my personal favorite Lethal Lockdown match to date. It was awesome.

- AJ/Daniels vs. LAX needed to have one of their matches on here. I mean that feud was so damn violent it would have been a crime if they didn't get at least one spot on this DVD. They chose the Six Sides of Steel which was pretty violent. The Border Brawl would have been a good choice as well.

- Rhino vs. Christian in Barbedwire Steel Cage is one of the few matches from this set I don't have. Its one of the best matches in Impact history easily. Very violent too.

- Angle vs. Joe from Genesis doesn't come to mind right away when I think of violent bloody brawls, but the intensity in this match was just off the charts and it came off like both men were trying to kill each other so it fits.

- Sting vs. Abyss also warranted a spot on here, but I'm surprised they gave it to The Last Rites match. I mean this was the first match where the fans chanted "Fire Russo" because they hated the set up with the casket. It was still an ok match and Sting's blade job was just nasty (which is probably why they put it on here) but their matches at Genesis & Against All Odds were pretty hardcore too and were way better.

- Harris vs. Storm is one of the best hardcore matches in TNA history without a doubt. Hell its one of TNA's best match matches period.

- Tomko vs. Abyss is an interesting choice for this set and I remember it as the first match where I thought "Hey! Tomko might not suck after all!"

- Judas vs. Abyss in BWM II is a good one to close with too.

Overall, a nice set, but since I already have most of the matches, there isn't much reason to pick it up. If you don't have most of the matches and you like violence, then by all means go and get it because it is a good collection

[Taroostyles]

Originally Posted by Ownage™

Angle/Styles - Slammiversary 08 - ****1/4

I really wanna watch this again cause I was torn between **** and ****1/4, I remember seeing that some people thought that was overrating it with that kind of rating but I really didn't see how, it was a really great match to me.

It was built well, the crowd was hot, the execution was pretty much perfect, and the ending worked well in the context of the feud and made both guys still look strong.

Probably like #3 or #4 in my TNA MOTY rankings. I can't wait for their next match.

[Ownage™]

I originally had it at **** but I watched it again last night and I loved it. I'm going to watch it again today to see if my ****1/4 rating holds up.

I'm trying to re-watch all of TNA's big matches so far this year so I can come up with a top 5 or a top 10.