Tuesday, January 13, 2009

TNA Genesis thoughts

I felt TNA Genesis was a PPV that was great overall but unfortunately ended with a whimper.

The opening match, which was basically thrown together close to the last minute, was a well-done six-man tag team elimination match. It was pretty good action with the usual everyone-gets-involved chaos and the high fliers decide to do their suicide dives to the outside. Everyone completely got off their seats for Hernandez's one. Even though he's done it many times before, that guy never ceases to amaze me for his performances. As the sole survivor of the match, he is definitely groomed for that World Title shot thanks to the Feast or Fired match.

The match of the night to me was the X-Division match between Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin. It was basically a match usually reserved for the ROH shows...yes, that's how excellent it was. The pace was quick, the crowd was electric, and the two men pulled out every move they knew. It took a pretty weak finish to get the pin, but the rating wasn't affected too much because they had already exhausted their moveset.

The match between Sheik Abdul Bashir and Shane Sewell was built up extremely well, and they delivered a decent match. Sewell did a good job of keeping the crowd on his side, but basically I did not care for the finish. Sheik had his problems with refs again, this time Earl Hebner, and all the refs coming out to congratulate Sewell for his win was just one of those "whatever, get outta here" moments. I just didn't dig that finish.

The Three Team Tag Title match was pretty good. Another fine performance from Beer Money, who delivered perhaps the spot of the year with the threesome with Jackie. My friend and I just laughed at that one. Beer Money rightfully got the tag belts back; they should have never lost them on Impact, but thank TNA's bad booking for that one.

The six-woman tag match put up at the last minute was a forgettable match that basically saw ODB get the pin, so now she's next in line to face Awesome Kong (who's been battling injuries of her own). It's unfortunate Christy Hemme had to suffer an injury; she most likely would have won the title at Genesis.

A close second in the match-of-the-night category was between Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarrett. Sick spots galore and bloodshed made this one memorable. Jarrett took some real bad bumps out there, and he was obviously in a lot of pain after the match. The history between the two was amazing, and I'm pretty sure Meltzer will give this match a higher rating than the Shelley/Sabin match. It's just that, in terms of wanting to watch either match again, I'd pick the X-Division in a heartbeat because it had more near falls, more amazing moves, and, to me, more excitement.

Note: My prediction is that Meltzer will give the Angle match around ****1/2 and the Shelley match **** to ****1/4

And then the matches basically got worse from there. The World Title match played second fiddle to Foley's return, which was mistake #1. Sting has been banged up, yet they made him wrestle at the PPV. That was mistake #2. Then, they made Rhino look weak from a beatdown, strengthening the Main Event Mafia more (which wasn't needed at all), and basically we're back at square one again. Three strikes and you're out.

If I ran things, I would have done some sort of attack on Sting at the last Impact taping before Genesis. Mafia could have worked their influence to cancel the title match for whatever reason. Sting gets to recover and keep the belt longer. I know they wanted to have the World Title defended on the show somehow, but I'd rather take no match than have a big letdown of a match on a show I would need to pay money to see.

The six-man tag was just a big mess. It was horrid at the start as a regular match, got putrid when the double countout was done, and then Foley had to exercise his power to get the match restarted under Hardcore rules. The rating got saved thanks to some nice weapon shots and the AJ Styles frog splash.

I know that Kevin Nash was supposed to be a part of the main event and he was held out due to a legit severe staph infection, but still, couldn't they have gotten someone better than Cute Kip?!

In closing, Genesis was a PPV that impressed early on and past the midway point with two matches at ****1/4 or higher. However, it simply did not deliver at the end. The injuries to Sting and Steiner, and the unfortunate infection for Nash really make me think that the Mafia's days on TV are numbered big time.

Rating: ***3/4

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