Slammiversary
2014
Date:
June 15, 2014
Location: College Park Center, Arlington, Texas
Location: College Park Center, Arlington, Texas
Commentators:
Mike Tenay, Tazz
Reviewed by Tommy Hall
Time
for another TNA pay per view which at least has been good in the last
few years. The show has had some decent build, but due to a
combination of injuries and TNA's horrific marketing skills, the
World Title match has been changed and there was no mention of the X
Division Title match on television. The show does look good on paper
though and we get the newest Hall of Fame announcement. Let's get to
it.
We
open with the trio in the back with MVP saying he's here to make sure
Dixie doesn't screw things up tonight. MVP can't be out there with
them though because of his knee.
Video
on the history of TNA up to this point.
X-Division
Title: Sanada vs. Tigre Uno vs. Davey Richards vs. Eddie Edwards vs.
Crazy Steve vs. Manik
Sanada
is defending and this is a ladder match. Also keep in mind that
Destination X and Option C are coming up soon. Manik dives through
the ropes to take out Sanada before the bell. The Wolves follow suit
with stereo suicide dives and Steve has apparently knocked Tigre Uno
down. Steve gets a ladder from under the ring and uses it to climb
back to the apron. Tigre dropkicks him down and mostly misses a
corkscrew dive to take everyone out.
Sanada
and Manik fight over a ladder in the ring with the champion taking
over via a springboard chop to the head. Tigre replaces Manik and
kicks Sanada in the back of the head but the Wolves double team him
into a German suplex onto the ladder in the corner. Edwards throws
in a fresh ladder but Manik dropkicks both of them down. Steve (very
popular tonight) comes in for the Terry Funk spinning ladder spot,
taking down everyone that comes into the ring.
Manik
makes a save but Steve shoves the ladder over, only to have Manik
land on the top rope and dive out to knock out the Wolves. Steve
goes up again and touches the belt but of course loses his hand eye
coordination since this is a ladder match, allowing Sanada to make
the save. The ladder is busted so Sanada slams Steve onto it to set
up the moonsault. The fans think this is awesome as Tigre enziguris
Sanada off a better ladder.
Tigre
wedges the broken ladder into the standing one to form a bridge, but
the Wolves catch him in a powerbomb/top rope Backstabber combo. The
Wolves both go after the belt but Sanada makes the save. Edwards
Sanada clothesline each other to the floor and Eddie crashes into the
barricade, leaving Davey on top. Manik makes the save and powerbombs
Davey onto the bridged ladder in a SCARY landing. Sanada climbs up
to retain at 9:40 before someone dies.
Rating:
B-. The match was fun but some
of those spots looked too dangerous for my taste. Richards getting
powerbombed was way too scary looking and I didn't like how he
landed. Hopefully everyone is fine, but I question having people go
through a match like this without even giving the match hype on TV.
The
announcers explain the World Title situation. For once this is
totally beyond their control.
Here's
the trio with MVP on crutches to insult Texas A&M and the fans
for booing him. They shouldn't be so angry at him while he's here
against doctor's orders. Dixie has gone to the Board of Directors in
an estrogen filled moment of insanity, resulting in him being
censored. MVP explains the World Title situation to the live crowd
and says he won't be involved in either qualifying match. King and
Lashley promise to win their matches, unlike Texas A&M.
Samoa
Joe vs. Bobby Lashley
Winner
goes to the title match tonight. Lashley quickly takes Joe into the
corner but gets enziguried in the other corner to give Joe control.
Bobby leapfrogs over the Samoan and clotheslines him down, only to
have Joe pound him down with strikes. The Facewash is loaded up but
Bobby rolls to the floor to get a breather. You don't go outside on
Joe though and it's the suicide elbow to take Lashley out again.
Joe
gets cocky for a split second and Lashley is able to send him into
the steps. Back in and Lashley fights out of the corner Rock Bottom
with a swinging neckbreaker for two. A snap suplex sets up a nerve
hold on Joe and an elbow to the face stops his comeback cold.
Another nerve hold is broken up by a kick to the head and the
backsplash gets two. Now the release Rock Bottom looks to set up the
Clutch but Lashley drives him into the corner. Joe has to stop
himself from running into Earl Hebner, allowing Bobby to nail the
spear for the pin at 8:50.
Rating:
C+. This wasn't bad with
Lashley getting one of his biggest wins since coming back. Putting
Joe in the title match didn't make a ton of sense after Lashley beat
Eric on Thursday so this was the best option all things considered.
I'm still not wild on Lashley's in ring work, especially the spear
due to so many people using it, but he could be worse.
The
Carters have a party suite above the arena. Dixie thinks Ray will
see Ethan's vicious side tonight. Dixie won't comment on the
meetings she had this week until she's in the middle of the ring.
The only hint she'll give is that the karma that got to MVP is
nothing compared to what's coming. Spud looks like the Joker.
Magnus
vs. Willow
Bram
and Abyss are the seconds here. Magnus stomps away in the corner to
start and avoids a baseball slide to send Willow into the steps.
Back in and a big clothesline gets the same for the Brit. There's a
buckle bomb for good measure and Magnus hammers away on the mask. We
hit the chinlock for a bit before Willow fights back with an atomic
drop and the legdrop between the legs for two.
The
Twist is countered but Magnus runs into two boots in the corner. A
middle rope splash gets two for Willow before Magnus avoids the
Swanton. Bram tries to interfere but Abyss is right there to hammer
away. All four guys start brawling on the floor until Willow goes up
top and just jumps backwards onto the Brits.
Now
Abyss and Bram fight in the ring with the Monster easily throwing him
to the floor. The guys in the match get back in as Bram gets his
metal bar, only to be one upped by Janice. They walk up the ramp as
Magnus breaks up the Whisper in the Wind, setting up a belly to back
suplex into a side slam for the pin on Willow at 10:00.
Rating:
C-. This was a mess for the
most part but not bad. They would have been better off making this a
tag match to get everyone in there, but that seems to be where
they're headed anyway. The Willow gimmick isn't doing anything for
me either as the announcement that it's Jeff Hardy just killed the
whole point of the character.
Here's
Kurt Angle to announce the newest Hall of Fame inductee. Angle talks
about how being in the Hall of Fame means you've earned respect
forever from the boys in the back and the fans. The inductee
is......Team 3D in a bit of a surprise. A loud and long WE WANT
TABLES chant goes up and we go to a wide shot of the arena for some
reason.
Bully
can barely get a full sentence out as the fans are chanting WELCOME
BACK. They accept the induction because of every single one of the
fans. D-Von says he wasn't going to come back to TNA but if he's
going out, he has to be by Bully's side after all their history
together. Catchphrases and poses close out the segment.
Ethan
Carter cuts a good promo about how he's beaten all the members of the
TNA Hall of Fame so tonight he gets to beat the latest. This isn't
Von Erich Country anymore because the Carters have taken over.
Austin
Aries vs. Kenny King
Winner
goes to the cage match tonight. Aries hits the corner dropkick less
than thirty seconds in but King escapes the brainbuster and gets to
the floor. The top rope ax handle puts King down again but King
crotches him on top to get a breather. A dropkick puts Austin on the
floor and King sends him hard into the barricade for good measure.
They
head inside again with King hammering away before putting on
something like a seated abdominal stretch. Aries fights up and
smacks King's ears to put him on the floor, setting up a suicide
dive. King is thrown back inside so Aries can ram him over and over
into the buckles, setting up a missile dropkick for two.
King
comes back with a cradle suplex and a high kick but gets caught with
his feet on the ropes. The Last Chancery can't get the submission so
King comes back with a springboard Blockbuster for a close two.
Aries gets tired of dealing with King and takes him into the corner
for a super brainbuster to send Austin to the cage at 10:04.
Rating:
C+. This is the logical choice
as King hasn't really shown that he can beat a guy of Aries' level in
a one on one match. The ending sequence was really cool and it gives
us a more intriguing main event than Eric vs. two members of the
trip. Aries is a guy that could be brought up the ranks in TNA to
fill in their lack of top faces.
JB
introduces some Dallas Cowboys to a VERY mixed reaction. After that
mention is over, JB brings out the latest Von Erichs: Ross and
Marshall, accompanied by an ancient looking Kevin. The Bro Mans
interrupt and say that a lot of things in Texas aren't tight,
including being a Von Erich. Robbie isn't here for reasons not
specified.
Bro
Mans vs. Ross Von Erich/Marshall Von Erich
Marshall
wrestles barefoot like Kevin did. This is DJZ and Jesse for the team
tonight. Marshall cleans house on DJZ to start but can't hook the
Claw. A powerslam puts DJZ back down and it's off to the older Ross
for some dropkicks. Jesse breaks up something off the top rope and
DJZ hits a nice flip dive to take Ross down on the ramp.
Back
in and Jesse nails a dropkick bur Ross avoids a second one and makes
the hot tag to Marshall. Everything breaks down and Ross hits a
missile dropkick to put both guys down. Jesse brings in a chair but
gets it dropkicked into his face, setting up a series of basic double
team moves from the brothers. Not that it matters as DJZ brings in
the chair for the DQ at 5:07.
Rating:
D+. Well that was a waste of
pay per view time. The Von Erichs looked ok at best but it's clear
that they need ring time more than anything else. They didn't know
how to finish a match yet and it looked like they needed to get
through a bunch of spots instead of bringing the match to a close.
Not terrible, but the ending really didn't work for me.
Post
match Kevin comes in to put the Claw on Jesse, drawing the only big
pop from the crowd.
Angelina
says she'll keep the title tonight. JB asks how many time Angelina
has won the title without Velvet's help but Angelina says they're a
team.
Knockouts
Title: Gail Kim vs. Angelina Love
Angelina
is defending and Gail won a triple threat on Thursday to set this up.
Gail hits a quick running forearm to start but her top rope
huricanrana is countered with a powerbomb. A side slam gets two on
Kim and Angelina throws her out to the floor. Velvet
interference doesn't help as Kim sends Love knees first into the
steps. Back in and Gail gets crotched on the top, setting up an ugly
looking reverse bulldog for two.
Sky
uses the hairspray but referee Stiffler ignores it. The Botox
Injection gets two and here's Earl Hebner to eject Sky and
make himself referee. Gail speeds things up and gets two off a
neckbreaker but gets powerbombed for two more. Kim
accidentally dropkicks Earl in the back but nails Eat Defeat.
Stiffler ignores the cover to check on Earl and does the same again
when Love gets rolled up. Angelina reverses into a rollup of her own
and Stiffler counts the pin to retain the title at 6:57.
Rating:
D+. Egads this story is getting
old. Didn't we have Stiffler in love with the Beautiful People like
five years ago? Nothing to see here for the most part as Gail vs.
Angelina has been done on PPV so many times that they ran out of
stuff to do years ago. The match was ridiculously overbooked. Also
don't we already have a questionable referee in Brian Hebner?
D-Von
has to go back to the hotel for dinner with his kids. Bully cuts a
promo on Texas wrestling legends and thinks Ethan is in way over his
head. His advice to Ethan: start praying. Ethan gets crucified for
the sins of his Aunt Dixie and he'll be baptized in blood.
Bully
Ray vs. Ethan Carter III
Texas
Death Match, meaning last man standing. Ray brings out a bullrope
ala Stan Hansen for a nice tribute. Carter is thrown to the floor by
the rope to start and Ray brings out a pair of tables. They're
stacked next to each other on the floor but Carter recovers from the
coma he was in to get in a few shots and take over. Ray fights right
back and sets up another table in the corner but the fans want
cowbell.
Carter
avoids the table but gets his chest ripped off by more chops. Time
for the cheese grater to rip up Ethan's chest (barely), which isn't
something you often see. Carter gets in a few shots to take over and
sends Ray face first into a chair on the mat. He goes up top but
gets crotched and superplexed onto the chair to put both guys down.
Ray grabs a Dallas Cowboys
trashcan from under the ring before starting to cut up the mats to
expose the wood under the canvas.
Joker
Spud comes out with a kendo stick shot to Ray's back for no effect.
Ray kicks him low and knocks Spud silly with the stick but Carter
hits a quick One Percenter onto the exposed boards for our first
count over twelve minutes into the match. Ray is up at eight so
Carter pours out the glass in the trashcan. Carter goes up but dives
into a Bubba Cutter, sending the injured chest into the glass for a
cool spot. He's up at eight though so Ray takes the stick outside to
knock Ethan silly again.
Ray
puts him on the tables and goes up but here's Dixie for a
distraction. Bully goes
after her and sends Ethan into Dixie to knock her out cold. Ethan
gets punched down and Ray puts Dixie on the table. He takes too long
though, allowing Spud to pull her off and Ethan knocks Ray through
the tables with a kendo stick shot for the win at 17:05.
Rating:
C. It was a nice brawl with
some nice spots but NO ONE CARES ABOUT DIXIE. After all this, if she
doesn't go through a table in New York, this whole story has been a
huge waste of time. Also, never accept an induction to the Hall of
Fame unless you want to lose on a last second fluke the same night.
At least D-Von didn't join forces with Dixie.
We
recap Anderson vs. Storm. This started in a qualifying match for a
World Title shot before Anderson cheated to win a drinking contest
and made fun of cowboys. Why TNA thinks he's going to be cheered in
Texas doing this is beyond me.
Mr.
Anderson vs. James Storm
Storm
grabs a mic even though it's 10:22 and we've got another match after
this. He rips on the Cowboys because he's a Titans fan but the
booing breaks up his catchphrase. The brawl is on before the bell
with Anderson high fiving the Cowboys and spitting beer in Storm's
face. They get in the ring for the opening bell and James goes right
for the knee. A few shots have Anderson so banged up that he can't
run across the ring and a Figure Four has him in even more trouble.
Anderson
is quickly in the ropes and Storm misses a charge in the corner to
give Mr. a breather. Storm gets crotched on the top and slammed down
for two, only to send Anderson face first into the middle buckle.
Now it's Anderson going up but getting kicked in the back of the
head. He's still able to pick Storm up for the rolling fireman's
carry off the middle rope but Storm kicks him out to the floor.
Storm spits beer at the Cowboys so they jump the railing for a
distraction, allowing Anderson to hit the Mic Check for the pin at
5:25.
Rating:
C-. The match was short due to
time but it was still entertaining enough. Anderson vs. Storm didn't
need the Cowboys for this to work but since it's a midcard match in
TNA, I'm sure we'll get 19 rematches to keep things going way after
its expiration date. The Cowboys might get them some extra media
attention if nothing else.
Austin
Aries tells Eric Young that the greatest man should win the match
tonight. Eric says they've flown in crazy people to the show
tonight.
We
recap the main event, which is just an Eric Young video due to the
last minute changes.
TNA
World Title: Austin Aries vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Eric Young
In
a cage with Young defending with wins by pin or submissino, not
escape. Lashley takes over to start but gets double teamed down.
The smaller guys do a fast paced sequence until Lashley throws Aries
into the cage. Young gets the same as well, allowing Lashley to
stand tall. Bobby throws both guys around again but misses a charge
into the post. Young and Aries go at it again until Eric hammers on
Bobby in the corner.
Aries
powerbombs the champion down but stops to go after Lashley again,
only to be suplexed into the cage for two. We get a bad looking
botch as Aries hits a running cross body in the corner but Young just
lets him bounce off of him for some reason. Young gets to show off
his freakish strength with a double Death Valley Driver but Lashley
is up at two. He puts Young on top of the cage as the fans chant
please don't die. Aries goes up top as well to take Lashley down
with a hurricanrana, but Eric stands up on top of the cage for the
huge elbow to Bobby.
Aries
punts Eric in the head though and hits the brainbuster for a very
close two. Lashley spears Austin down for two and spinebusters the
champion, only to miss the spear and fall out of the cage. Remember
that doesn't end the match though as escape doesn't count. Young
hits the top rope elbow on Aries for another close near fall. The
piledriver is countered with a low dropkick to Young's face and
everyone is down. Young and Aries slug it out but both guys miss
forearms. Aries hits some discus forearms and the corner dropkick
but walks into the piledriver to retain Eric's title at 12:10.
Rating:
B-. This got better near the
end but Eric keeping the title made me roll my eyes. The reign has
been far better than I expected it to be but he needs to be the focal
point of the company instead of the other guy in the major feuds. To
be fair though, I'd assume MVP was supposed to take the title tonight
before the injuries.
Young
helps Aries up after the match.
Overall
Rating: B-.
As usual, TNA puts on a good show for Slammiversary. I really wish
they could get their stuff together on TV because if this was what
they were putting out there every week, things would be so much
easier to sit through. Instead we're usually stuck with one story
dominating a show or 19 Dixie Carter segments with her bad acting
talking about whatever war she's having that no one cares about.
Good show but not as good as the last few years'. Nothing blew the
doors off but most of the matches were solid and nothing was bad so I
can't complain much.
Results
Sanada
b. Crazy Steve, Manik, Eddie Edwards, Davey Richards and Tigre Uno –
Sanada pulled down the title belt
Bobby
Lashley b. Samoa Joe – Spear
Magnus
b. Willow – Belly to back suplex into a side slam
Ross
Von Erich/Marshall Von Erich b. Bro Mans via DQ when DJZ used a
chair
Angelina Love b. Gail Kim – Rollup
Angelina Love b. Gail Kim – Rollup
Ethan
Carter III b. Bully Ray when Ray couldn't answer the ten count
Eric
Young b. Austin Aries and Bobby Lashley – Piledriver to Aries
Remember to check out my website at kbwrestlingreviews.com and head over to my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:
http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6
What's Crazy Steve doing in a X Division title match?
ReplyDeleteGetting the loudest reactions of the match.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the main event and have no problem with EY retaining if that's kind of awesome he's going to bring. The "plucky underdog champion who takes on all comers" is as basic as it gets, but we haven't seen it in a long time. And Tommy: THANK YOU for heeding the advice. Hope you bought something nice with the nickels. The whole thing read so much better without the crutch.
ReplyDeleteYou've gotten that in my head now so I've been avoiding it.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeletePost match David comes in to put the Claw on Jesse, drawing the only big pop from the crowd.
David Von Erich was there? That is big news.
Indeed it would be. Fixing that.
ReplyDeleteNice review. Fun show. Small minor nitpick......Taz spells it with one Z in TNA.
ReplyDeleteThat's all the Z's that TNA can afford.
ReplyDeleteZombie Wrestling Fed would blow away anything that could be produced with the living.
ReplyDeleteAre those guys real Von Erichs?
ReplyDeleteI gave up trying to keep that straight years ago.
ReplyDeleteI believe so. They're like Harts: there are so many of them you can always find a few somewhere.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to the hot female one that was (I believe) Kerry's daughter
ReplyDeleteShe sucked so bad in the ring by Knockout standards even TNA couldn't keep her.
ReplyDeleteLacey left wrestling. Pretty sure she's a model now.
ReplyDeleteThat's a damn shame
ReplyDeleteAnd this guy is their champion...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UaY4idyLww
Anything to revisit this clip
It's a surprise they didn't spell it Tazzz just to fuck with WWE. Come to think of it, they should have done that with Knux, just name him Mike Knoxx instead.
ReplyDeleteI like Eric as the World Champ. His performances in the ring and his character is exactly how Daniel Bryan should have been booked as the champ instead of being Zack Ryder 2.0 and being upstaged by his wife. The writers should just stop portraying him as unimportant compared to the MVP/Dixie nonsense.
ReplyDeleteThe "underdog champ who takes on everybody and has kickass matches while doing so" formula is more than enough to carry an entire TV show.
It would make things a lot easier to sit through. Anything without Dixie would be easier to sit through actually.
ReplyDeleteShe did some webcam stuff.
ReplyDeleteLike I said before, Kevin was there with no shoes on. Dude is like 60...does he OWN a pair of shoes?
ReplyDeleteRusso will say anything to protect his reputation, but the Death of WCW book is pretty bad. The book doesn't contain a single source or reference so the book is all unverified heresay and gossip. The book is full of opinions and theories presented as facts. The book doesn't have any metrics and doesn't critically look at issues by trying to find evidence to support claims. It's a fun read, but it's junk.
ReplyDeleteThe authors really should have talked to Russo, Bidchoff, Nash, and Hogan. Even if every word they said was in defense of their work, you can still measure those words against metrics and evidence to see if anything is true.
He did when he walked through the Sportatorium for the final time but that was over ten years ago so he's likely worn those out by now.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised to hear King and Aries only got a C+. I believe King is an Aries protege, so you'd think they'd have better chemistry.
ReplyDeletePretty sure
ReplyDelete'Tonight...In this very ring!' > the rest of literature
I get the sources argument, but its fairly obvious what some of the sources are: Nielsen for TV ratings, Time Warner for all the financials, backstage people for the out-of-ring stuff. Not sure how they'd get attendance if Time Warner didn't go into massive detail for revenue, but its likely they can consult with the arena owners. Buyrates are likely factored into financials but WCW released some publicly as stated in the book, not to mention if any PPV providers are publicly traded on the stock market you can get access to some numbers from there.
ReplyDeleteJust the sheer amount of the numbers and figures make it seem fairly obvious they're accurate, and what the fuck would the authors have to gain by fudging 1999 PPV buyrates anyways? The backstage stuff can be all bullshit because thats the nature of wrestling, but if Alvarez says 9241 paid or whatever for a WCW PPV, I'd believe that.
I believe he had sandals or flip flips on during his pre match interview.
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly would the nonsense be? I cna get all the backstage stuff, because there would be a lot of lying going on about certain backstage happenings and fights and booking meetings, but if the book was "complete bullshit" as you stated above, does that include all the TV ratings Nitro did, the PPV buyrates, the attendance, and the notes about crowds throwing garbage/disapproving of the product on live TV/etc? Cause that is quite the opposite of bullshit.
ReplyDelete