The Good, Bad, & Ugly: What Was Right And VERY Wrong At Final Resolution
Report by Arttie Parker on 01/19/2006 at 10:57 PM
Okay, I’ve had 4 full days and 3 full viewings of TNA’s latest pay-per-view event, Final Resolution, and I’ve come to one conclusion that a lot of people might not like. But, as always, I strive to be truthful in this column, so I’m going to lay it out for you the way I see it.
Final Resolution was not a very good pay-per-view.
There I said it…and I stand by it. Final Resolution was a major letdown for me. I would go so far as to say it was the worst TNA pay-per-view that I have watched so far (though it is still far ahead of even an average WWE pay-per-view!). And the sad thing is there were so many things that did go well and things that could have made this an incredible night for more reasons than the return of Sting. But sadly, that didn’t happen, and Sting’s return might have been wasted on pay-per-view buyers who may think twice about ordering again anytime soon. So here we go…I’ll break it down for you with the GOOD, BAD, and the UGLY of Final Resolution.
THE GOOD
1. No question, the return of Sting can be labeled nothing short of great. I was a little kid all over again! I had goosebumps when his intro started to roll! It was awesome! He looked great, moved around well, and remained involved in the match, which should quiet some of the doubters. A lot of people thought he would be a late tag in, or perhaps his ring time would be seriously limited, but that was not the case. There were no real quick in-and-out tags, just to get the icon into the ring; Sting did his share of the work when he was in the ring. He didn’t look rusty at all, though one Stinger Splash could’ve possibly been pulled off a bit better. Sure, he looked a little bit blown up (winded), but I think a lot of that was simply nerves and excitement. He looked fit, he looked in good shape, and most importantly, he looked happy to be back in the ring. The man was beaming underneath all the face paint. And as excited as Sting was, the crowd was just as excited! There is no question that Sting's return tops the GOOD LIST!
2. A close second on the good list has got to be the work of Christian Cage. At Final Resolution, Christian Cage proved his worth to the company, in my opinion. He proved he is more than capable of carrying a match, and did a good job of working the ring and keeping fans involved while Sting was allowed to take a breather. Plus, the guy just exudes charisma and cuts a better promo than anyone in TNA right now, bar none, which helps him get over that much more. But perhaps the best thing about Christian Cage’s performance was his willingness to let Sting be the star of the night! Imagine all the garbage he went through in WWE, getting buried night in and night out, despite how over he was with the fans. He could have easily been upset at Final Resolution as well, but he was smart enough…no, he was CLASSY enough, to realize that Final Resolution was not about him. And that fact alone elevated Christian Cage another notch in my mind.
3. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels was an excellent match that did two things very well. The match put Christopher Daniels back to the forefront of the baby face pack in the X-Division with a performance that was all heart and guts. He took a massive beating and yet remained in the match for the most part until the very end, when Styles had to mercifully throw in the towel. If there were any who wondered how Daniels would hold up with the much larger Samoa Joe, they got their answer.
Perhaps even more important, however, this match SOLIDLY put Samoa Joe at the head of the heel pack for all of TNA! The man is flat out evil, now. There is no doubt that Samoa Joe is going to be THE hot new heel of TNA in 2006, regardless of what Monty Brown, Abyss, or anyone else does. And if TNA doesn’t capitalize on how hot this man is, I really feel for the company. Samoa Joe has the size, the look, the attitude, and most importantly now, the heat, to take over the heavyweight division in a way that no one has ever done in TNA! Heel or not, you have got to love the excitement that Samoa Joe has brought to TNA!
4. Abyss vs. Rhino was a match that I was pleasantly surprised by. In fact, I would say that this is was one of the most solid “big man” matches that TNA has ever done. It wasn’t overly flashy, it certainly wasn’t “match of the year” quality, but it gave fans hope that the heavyweight division can be something more than just a distraction between X-Division (and now Sting) matches. I disagree with the booking of this match and having Abyss win, but I thought it was a well-worked match and did nothing to seriously damage either competitor. In fact, we might have seen a nice little feud ignited with this match.
5. The debut of Homicide. I really feel like he showed exactly why he was one of the hottest properties on the indy circuit, and why not only TNA, but also WWE, wanted him. If he can get over being paired with Konnan (or, more likely Apollo most of the time), Homicide could possibly be the break out rookie of 2006 for TNA. He really is that good, and we saw flashes of that talent at Final Resolution. Again, nothing that makes you think “wrestler of the year”, but he showed enough promise to land on the GOOD LIST.
6. A. J. Styles definitely belongs on this list. The match was not what it could have been, again because of how it was booked (check the UGLY LIST for more…), but Styles proved once again why he is the TRUE Franchise in TNA (forget Shane Douglass…see the BAD LIST for more on this!). There are very few wrestlers in any federation that could take a totally unfamiliar opponent like Tanahashi, get him completely over and make him look extremely good, and then still manage to win the match without looking like he was showboating or trying to show-up the newcomer. Styles has so much talent, so much charisma, and so much true wrestling ability, that it is hard to believe how young the guy is. I have yet to see Styles put on a bad match, but all things considered, this was an incredible display of the complete wrestling package of A.J. Styles.
Honorable mention: Sonjay Dutt (TNA‘s version of Rey Mysterio…but possibly better), Tanahashi (a talent that could do BIG things in the X-Division and one I hope to see again), and Generation Next (the beginnings of a great stable! Hopefully these guys continue to progress.)
THE BAD
1. The James Gang. I apologize to any New Age Outlawz fans out there, but the return of the James Gang was, in a word, sad. They were, at best, a shell of the tag team they once were. They were out of sync, they didn’t look like they were overly comfortable in the ring together, Kip James had the worst hair in the history of TNA…they were just not what fans were hoping for. You could see it when they came out; fans desperately wanted to get behind these guys! They were trying to chant along with BG’s new ring introduction for the tag team, but then Kip took the mic and totally lost them with his stupid “Get it, got it, good!” tirade (what was that?!). And they lost the crowd after that. We still had the “Shake Rattle And Roll” and we still had the Fam-***-er, but we didn’t have the New Age Outlawz. We had a shadow of that once highly entertaining tag team. I’m not saying they could NEVER be the tag team they used to be; it is possible that this was just an off night. Perhaps we can still look forward to the James Gang being the “taaaaaag teeeeaaammm chaaamiooonnnsss of the worrrrrlllllld!”, but they are going to need to seriously step it up.
2. Monty Brown on the microphone. I have long been a proponent of Monty Brown, saying how he needs a push, how he has improved his in-ring abilities, how he has toned down the “Serengeti” gimmick to make him more accessible…and then he pulls this. The guy sounded like a broken record of bad clichés! Flavor of the month this, and flavor of the minute that, only to label himself the flavor of the millennium! Come on! It sounded like this was his fifth interview instead of his fiftieth! And what was with his impersonation of an alarm clock (Tick Tock, Tick Tock…Beep, Beep, Beep!) or Elmer Fudd (Be vewy vewy careful…)?! Laughingly bad! I actually felt sorry for the guy! I just hope he was watching a replay of the even by himself so that he doesn’t have to be embarrassed by having family members or friends around him to see and hear those ridiculous interviews. I still think Brown has the physical tools to be an absolute monster in the wrestling ring, but his interview skills were monstrously bad at Final Resolution, and its very hard to get behind a champion (or serious contender) who can‘t get his point across…period!
3. Apollo no-showing the event makes the BAD LIST because I think it really affected the entire debut of the Latin American Exchange. I think it not only affected the match that ended up having Homicide tagging with Konnan (I don’t think K-Dawg was supposed to be in that match, originally), but I also think it changed the booking of the Ron Killings match, and possibly the James Gang vs. Diamonds In The Rough match. It had to have affected things, otherwise, once again, I have to REALLY question the booking committee of TNA. The breakup of 3LiveKru was a big deal in TNA, what with Konnan attacking Kip, and then BG James in mid-ring, and then assaulting Bullet Bob Armstrong backstage and injuring him…this was supposed to be HUGE! They had an entire fully-produced promotional package made up to let fans know what was going on. So what do they do? Have an LAX match on the free-view, and then a weak confrontational segment between Konnan and Killings backstage and then Konnan showing up just in time to help The Truth lose? That’s it??! They did more on iMPACT! these past few weeks than they did on Final Resolution. I can’t help but feel this was a major missed opportunity on TNA’s part, and I hope they work quickly to rectify this before the momentum of breaking up 3LK is totally lost.
4. Shane Douglass. PLEASE, someone, get the microphone away from this guy until he realizes that his interviews are NOT ABOUT HIM! He was an average wrestler with an average gimmick who became a champion in an excellent federation, but he’s not in ECW ! This is not about him! He is terrible on the microphone backstage; no not terrible, he is brutal! What was with calling Sting “Steve” during that little backstage skit with Team Canada? Are we supposed to be impressed that Shane knows Sting’s real name? Does anyone care if they are friends in real life? No! And his interview with Christopher Daniels was just lame! That interview was about Daniels coming back to face the monster who nearly ended his career, NOT about Shane doing some sort of “Guy Microphone” announcer job, going from being an overly-informed expert on Daniels’ medical condition, to genuinely “moved” by The Fallen Angel’s speech about his toughness and determination. Good grief! Or, “I’ve been in the ring with you Raven! I know how dangerous you can be, I know what you are capable of!“ GASP! Shane Douglass used to be a wrestler? How interesting! NOT! Get him off the microphone. Let him set up the ring or something! Bring in a real announcer who wants to do the job for the wrestlers, and not self-promote themselves based upon who they used to be.
5. Shannon Moore. What in the world is going on here? Put the “Prince Of Punk” in the ring already, and stop these ridiculous run-ins that he is doing interfering in A.J. Styles’ matches. He’s got a great look, he appears to be in excellent condition, and he is a very talented wrestler. So use him! But don’t interject him into a match like Styles/Tanahashi that has no storyline and is all about a wrestling match featuring two of the top young talents in the world. What does that serve? Now fans will question whether or not A.J. would have won if Moore hadn’t interfered. And we may never get to find out, since Tanahashi was on loan from New Japan. Who knows when he will get back to the States. I’m all for Shannon Moore and his gimmick if he gets to use it IN THE RING. Don’t waste his talent, and TNA’s limited TV time, by ruining the matches of the main draw in your federation.
6. Dead End Appearances. Shannon Moore (as I just addressed)…did nothing. Jackie Gayda….did nothing. Jerry Lynn….did nothing. Dave Hebner….did nothing. So why bring them in? Why have Hebner standing out in the audience, looking around at nothing? When Mike Tenay is forced to say “It looks like he smells something bad,“ its hard not to laugh it is so stupid! I am afraid of how much money is being wasted on these “names” who are doing absolutely nothing.
Dishonorable mention: The burial of Jay Lethal (why bring him in for a big pay-per-view if you’re just going to job him out?), Ron Killings on the microphone (maybe he has just been letting Konnan and BG talk for so long that he forgot how), and the apparent demotion of Chris Sabin (former X-Division champion now in jobber mode??? And what‘s with the new image?).
THE UGLY
1. The booking of Final Resolution was just short of atrocious! It was hard to watch at times. Botched finishes or interference in multiple big-time matches. This was starting to look like a “worst of WCW” show. It was simply terrible what they (the bookers) did to what should have been incredible matches! In some cases, the wrestlers were basically able to overcome the horrible booking/writing (Styles and Tanahashi put on a great wrestling show despite no storyline and a ridiculous interference angle.). In other cases, nothing could overcome the mess that was handed to the wrestlers involved…but I’ll address those situations individually, in UGLY numbers 2 and 3.
2. Raven vs. ….X-Pac?! Huh? We have been being teased all along that this final wrestler from Raven’s past was going to be brought in by Larry Zbyszko to end Raven’s career. Interesting names like Justin Credible and Chris Kanyon had been brought in previously, and names like Sandman, Lance Storm, Perry Saturn, and so many others were mentioned to be the final surprise combatant. But instead of one of these names, we got a fat, out of shape X-Pac?! WHY?! What if he had no-showed again? What would they have done then? Pulled Zbyszko himself out of retirement? Anyway, forget that we were given X-Pac (if you can forget that…), what about the booking of the match itself? Not only does Raven lose a “retirement match” in a questionable finish (foot on the ropes...classic Raven), but we had Zbyszko have to step in as the referee after the real ref is knocked out! So, who doesn’t see Raven’s foot on the ropes? Why, Zbyszko, of course! Pathetic! But it doesn’t end there! The previously mentioned Jackie Gayda appears out of nowhere in the parking lot to insult Larry Z., and to tell Raven that the two of them have a lot in common and that they need to talk! They are then shown walking back into the building together to set some things straight. So what did they set straight? WHO KNOWS?! We never see either one of them again! We just move on like the whole parking lot confrontation never happened! Wow….that’s great storytelling right there. Sheesh.
3. And the UGLIEST of them ALL?! The booking of the Team 3D vs. AMW tag team title match! Without a doubt, this takes the cake as the absolute worst piece of wrestling writing I have seen since…since…well, since the last time I watched a WWE segment that featured Vince! But seriously, you have the most decorated tag-team in history in Team 3D. They have won the ECW, WCW, WWE, and Japanese tag-team title belts and are missing only the NWA-TNA title from their trophy case. We are talking one of the best, if not THE best, tag-teams of all time! Then on the other side of the ring, you have the hottest tag-team in professional wrestling over the past two or three years, no matter what federation you are talking about. Several magazines have voted AMW the “tag team of the year” in 2004, 2005, or both. They are the 6-time NWA-TNA tag-team champions. This is set up to be a tag-team match for the ages, right? WRONG! Instead of the classic match that we should get, we get POWDER! Yep, that’s right! We get Team 3D winning when Brother Ray slaps powder out of the hands of Gail Kim (who crawled into the ring RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE REFEREE!) and Chris Harris, and into the face of both Harris and the referee! Harris is incapacitated, Ray rolls him up, the blind ref is guided into position by Devon, and the three count is delivered, making Team 3D the NWA-TNA champs! But wait! Team Canada runs in, beats down Team 3D, throws Harris on top of Brother Ray, and the referee then raises the hand of Harris who he “thinks” he counted as the winners! Awesome, right?! Awesomely STUPID! No one is going to remember that the match was actually an excellent tag match up to the last 2 or 3 minutes of absolute absurdity. The only good thing I can say about this match was I am glad Team 3D did NOT win the title like this. When they win the NWA-TNA tag-team titles, they deserve to win it in a true, honorable, clean match that ends one-two-three in the middle of the ring, not in some hokey, ridiculous match that is straight out of the “How To Botch An Obvious Classic Match Handbook” written by Vince McMahon!
TNA still puts out a far superior pay-per-view event to that of the WWE, and they still have the most exciting athletes in the most exciting division in all of pro-wrestling (the X-Division), but they have GOT to come up with something better than Final Resolution. They probably had thousands of potential new fans tuning in to see the return of Sting, and instead of an awesome example of what TNA has to offer, they were treated to a car-wreck of a pay-per-view.
There are things to love, here. I love the athletes. I LOVED the return of one of my heroes. I love what TNA is doing with the X-Division, with Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, and A.J. Styles. I love seeing new stars brought in like Tanahashi. I love TNA wrestling as a whole.
I did not love Final Resolution.
Here’s hoping that Against All Odds returns us back to the greatness that we have come to expect from TNA!
God bless!
Arttie Parker
Report by Arttie Parker on 01/19/2006 at 10:57 PM
Okay, I’ve had 4 full days and 3 full viewings of TNA’s latest pay-per-view event, Final Resolution, and I’ve come to one conclusion that a lot of people might not like. But, as always, I strive to be truthful in this column, so I’m going to lay it out for you the way I see it.
Final Resolution was not a very good pay-per-view.
There I said it…and I stand by it. Final Resolution was a major letdown for me. I would go so far as to say it was the worst TNA pay-per-view that I have watched so far (though it is still far ahead of even an average WWE pay-per-view!). And the sad thing is there were so many things that did go well and things that could have made this an incredible night for more reasons than the return of Sting. But sadly, that didn’t happen, and Sting’s return might have been wasted on pay-per-view buyers who may think twice about ordering again anytime soon. So here we go…I’ll break it down for you with the GOOD, BAD, and the UGLY of Final Resolution.
THE GOOD
1. No question, the return of Sting can be labeled nothing short of great. I was a little kid all over again! I had goosebumps when his intro started to roll! It was awesome! He looked great, moved around well, and remained involved in the match, which should quiet some of the doubters. A lot of people thought he would be a late tag in, or perhaps his ring time would be seriously limited, but that was not the case. There were no real quick in-and-out tags, just to get the icon into the ring; Sting did his share of the work when he was in the ring. He didn’t look rusty at all, though one Stinger Splash could’ve possibly been pulled off a bit better. Sure, he looked a little bit blown up (winded), but I think a lot of that was simply nerves and excitement. He looked fit, he looked in good shape, and most importantly, he looked happy to be back in the ring. The man was beaming underneath all the face paint. And as excited as Sting was, the crowd was just as excited! There is no question that Sting's return tops the GOOD LIST!
2. A close second on the good list has got to be the work of Christian Cage. At Final Resolution, Christian Cage proved his worth to the company, in my opinion. He proved he is more than capable of carrying a match, and did a good job of working the ring and keeping fans involved while Sting was allowed to take a breather. Plus, the guy just exudes charisma and cuts a better promo than anyone in TNA right now, bar none, which helps him get over that much more. But perhaps the best thing about Christian Cage’s performance was his willingness to let Sting be the star of the night! Imagine all the garbage he went through in WWE, getting buried night in and night out, despite how over he was with the fans. He could have easily been upset at Final Resolution as well, but he was smart enough…no, he was CLASSY enough, to realize that Final Resolution was not about him. And that fact alone elevated Christian Cage another notch in my mind.
3. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels was an excellent match that did two things very well. The match put Christopher Daniels back to the forefront of the baby face pack in the X-Division with a performance that was all heart and guts. He took a massive beating and yet remained in the match for the most part until the very end, when Styles had to mercifully throw in the towel. If there were any who wondered how Daniels would hold up with the much larger Samoa Joe, they got their answer.
Perhaps even more important, however, this match SOLIDLY put Samoa Joe at the head of the heel pack for all of TNA! The man is flat out evil, now. There is no doubt that Samoa Joe is going to be THE hot new heel of TNA in 2006, regardless of what Monty Brown, Abyss, or anyone else does. And if TNA doesn’t capitalize on how hot this man is, I really feel for the company. Samoa Joe has the size, the look, the attitude, and most importantly now, the heat, to take over the heavyweight division in a way that no one has ever done in TNA! Heel or not, you have got to love the excitement that Samoa Joe has brought to TNA!
4. Abyss vs. Rhino was a match that I was pleasantly surprised by. In fact, I would say that this is was one of the most solid “big man” matches that TNA has ever done. It wasn’t overly flashy, it certainly wasn’t “match of the year” quality, but it gave fans hope that the heavyweight division can be something more than just a distraction between X-Division (and now Sting) matches. I disagree with the booking of this match and having Abyss win, but I thought it was a well-worked match and did nothing to seriously damage either competitor. In fact, we might have seen a nice little feud ignited with this match.
5. The debut of Homicide. I really feel like he showed exactly why he was one of the hottest properties on the indy circuit, and why not only TNA, but also WWE, wanted him. If he can get over being paired with Konnan (or, more likely Apollo most of the time), Homicide could possibly be the break out rookie of 2006 for TNA. He really is that good, and we saw flashes of that talent at Final Resolution. Again, nothing that makes you think “wrestler of the year”, but he showed enough promise to land on the GOOD LIST.
6. A. J. Styles definitely belongs on this list. The match was not what it could have been, again because of how it was booked (check the UGLY LIST for more…), but Styles proved once again why he is the TRUE Franchise in TNA (forget Shane Douglass…see the BAD LIST for more on this!). There are very few wrestlers in any federation that could take a totally unfamiliar opponent like Tanahashi, get him completely over and make him look extremely good, and then still manage to win the match without looking like he was showboating or trying to show-up the newcomer. Styles has so much talent, so much charisma, and so much true wrestling ability, that it is hard to believe how young the guy is. I have yet to see Styles put on a bad match, but all things considered, this was an incredible display of the complete wrestling package of A.J. Styles.
Honorable mention: Sonjay Dutt (TNA‘s version of Rey Mysterio…but possibly better), Tanahashi (a talent that could do BIG things in the X-Division and one I hope to see again), and Generation Next (the beginnings of a great stable! Hopefully these guys continue to progress.)
THE BAD
1. The James Gang. I apologize to any New Age Outlawz fans out there, but the return of the James Gang was, in a word, sad. They were, at best, a shell of the tag team they once were. They were out of sync, they didn’t look like they were overly comfortable in the ring together, Kip James had the worst hair in the history of TNA…they were just not what fans were hoping for. You could see it when they came out; fans desperately wanted to get behind these guys! They were trying to chant along with BG’s new ring introduction for the tag team, but then Kip took the mic and totally lost them with his stupid “Get it, got it, good!” tirade (what was that?!). And they lost the crowd after that. We still had the “Shake Rattle And Roll” and we still had the Fam-***-er, but we didn’t have the New Age Outlawz. We had a shadow of that once highly entertaining tag team. I’m not saying they could NEVER be the tag team they used to be; it is possible that this was just an off night. Perhaps we can still look forward to the James Gang being the “taaaaaag teeeeaaammm chaaamiooonnnsss of the worrrrrlllllld!”, but they are going to need to seriously step it up.
2. Monty Brown on the microphone. I have long been a proponent of Monty Brown, saying how he needs a push, how he has improved his in-ring abilities, how he has toned down the “Serengeti” gimmick to make him more accessible…and then he pulls this. The guy sounded like a broken record of bad clichés! Flavor of the month this, and flavor of the minute that, only to label himself the flavor of the millennium! Come on! It sounded like this was his fifth interview instead of his fiftieth! And what was with his impersonation of an alarm clock (Tick Tock, Tick Tock…Beep, Beep, Beep!) or Elmer Fudd (Be vewy vewy careful…)?! Laughingly bad! I actually felt sorry for the guy! I just hope he was watching a replay of the even by himself so that he doesn’t have to be embarrassed by having family members or friends around him to see and hear those ridiculous interviews. I still think Brown has the physical tools to be an absolute monster in the wrestling ring, but his interview skills were monstrously bad at Final Resolution, and its very hard to get behind a champion (or serious contender) who can‘t get his point across…period!
3. Apollo no-showing the event makes the BAD LIST because I think it really affected the entire debut of the Latin American Exchange. I think it not only affected the match that ended up having Homicide tagging with Konnan (I don’t think K-Dawg was supposed to be in that match, originally), but I also think it changed the booking of the Ron Killings match, and possibly the James Gang vs. Diamonds In The Rough match. It had to have affected things, otherwise, once again, I have to REALLY question the booking committee of TNA. The breakup of 3LiveKru was a big deal in TNA, what with Konnan attacking Kip, and then BG James in mid-ring, and then assaulting Bullet Bob Armstrong backstage and injuring him…this was supposed to be HUGE! They had an entire fully-produced promotional package made up to let fans know what was going on. So what do they do? Have an LAX match on the free-view, and then a weak confrontational segment between Konnan and Killings backstage and then Konnan showing up just in time to help The Truth lose? That’s it??! They did more on iMPACT! these past few weeks than they did on Final Resolution. I can’t help but feel this was a major missed opportunity on TNA’s part, and I hope they work quickly to rectify this before the momentum of breaking up 3LK is totally lost.
4. Shane Douglass. PLEASE, someone, get the microphone away from this guy until he realizes that his interviews are NOT ABOUT HIM! He was an average wrestler with an average gimmick who became a champion in an excellent federation, but he’s not in ECW ! This is not about him! He is terrible on the microphone backstage; no not terrible, he is brutal! What was with calling Sting “Steve” during that little backstage skit with Team Canada? Are we supposed to be impressed that Shane knows Sting’s real name? Does anyone care if they are friends in real life? No! And his interview with Christopher Daniels was just lame! That interview was about Daniels coming back to face the monster who nearly ended his career, NOT about Shane doing some sort of “Guy Microphone” announcer job, going from being an overly-informed expert on Daniels’ medical condition, to genuinely “moved” by The Fallen Angel’s speech about his toughness and determination. Good grief! Or, “I’ve been in the ring with you Raven! I know how dangerous you can be, I know what you are capable of!“ GASP! Shane Douglass used to be a wrestler? How interesting! NOT! Get him off the microphone. Let him set up the ring or something! Bring in a real announcer who wants to do the job for the wrestlers, and not self-promote themselves based upon who they used to be.
5. Shannon Moore. What in the world is going on here? Put the “Prince Of Punk” in the ring already, and stop these ridiculous run-ins that he is doing interfering in A.J. Styles’ matches. He’s got a great look, he appears to be in excellent condition, and he is a very talented wrestler. So use him! But don’t interject him into a match like Styles/Tanahashi that has no storyline and is all about a wrestling match featuring two of the top young talents in the world. What does that serve? Now fans will question whether or not A.J. would have won if Moore hadn’t interfered. And we may never get to find out, since Tanahashi was on loan from New Japan. Who knows when he will get back to the States. I’m all for Shannon Moore and his gimmick if he gets to use it IN THE RING. Don’t waste his talent, and TNA’s limited TV time, by ruining the matches of the main draw in your federation.
6. Dead End Appearances. Shannon Moore (as I just addressed)…did nothing. Jackie Gayda….did nothing. Jerry Lynn….did nothing. Dave Hebner….did nothing. So why bring them in? Why have Hebner standing out in the audience, looking around at nothing? When Mike Tenay is forced to say “It looks like he smells something bad,“ its hard not to laugh it is so stupid! I am afraid of how much money is being wasted on these “names” who are doing absolutely nothing.
Dishonorable mention: The burial of Jay Lethal (why bring him in for a big pay-per-view if you’re just going to job him out?), Ron Killings on the microphone (maybe he has just been letting Konnan and BG talk for so long that he forgot how), and the apparent demotion of Chris Sabin (former X-Division champion now in jobber mode??? And what‘s with the new image?).
THE UGLY
1. The booking of Final Resolution was just short of atrocious! It was hard to watch at times. Botched finishes or interference in multiple big-time matches. This was starting to look like a “worst of WCW” show. It was simply terrible what they (the bookers) did to what should have been incredible matches! In some cases, the wrestlers were basically able to overcome the horrible booking/writing (Styles and Tanahashi put on a great wrestling show despite no storyline and a ridiculous interference angle.). In other cases, nothing could overcome the mess that was handed to the wrestlers involved…but I’ll address those situations individually, in UGLY numbers 2 and 3.
2. Raven vs. ….X-Pac?! Huh? We have been being teased all along that this final wrestler from Raven’s past was going to be brought in by Larry Zbyszko to end Raven’s career. Interesting names like Justin Credible and Chris Kanyon had been brought in previously, and names like Sandman, Lance Storm, Perry Saturn, and so many others were mentioned to be the final surprise combatant. But instead of one of these names, we got a fat, out of shape X-Pac?! WHY?! What if he had no-showed again? What would they have done then? Pulled Zbyszko himself out of retirement? Anyway, forget that we were given X-Pac (if you can forget that…), what about the booking of the match itself? Not only does Raven lose a “retirement match” in a questionable finish (foot on the ropes...classic Raven), but we had Zbyszko have to step in as the referee after the real ref is knocked out! So, who doesn’t see Raven’s foot on the ropes? Why, Zbyszko, of course! Pathetic! But it doesn’t end there! The previously mentioned Jackie Gayda appears out of nowhere in the parking lot to insult Larry Z., and to tell Raven that the two of them have a lot in common and that they need to talk! They are then shown walking back into the building together to set some things straight. So what did they set straight? WHO KNOWS?! We never see either one of them again! We just move on like the whole parking lot confrontation never happened! Wow….that’s great storytelling right there. Sheesh.
3. And the UGLIEST of them ALL?! The booking of the Team 3D vs. AMW tag team title match! Without a doubt, this takes the cake as the absolute worst piece of wrestling writing I have seen since…since…well, since the last time I watched a WWE segment that featured Vince! But seriously, you have the most decorated tag-team in history in Team 3D. They have won the ECW, WCW, WWE, and Japanese tag-team title belts and are missing only the NWA-TNA title from their trophy case. We are talking one of the best, if not THE best, tag-teams of all time! Then on the other side of the ring, you have the hottest tag-team in professional wrestling over the past two or three years, no matter what federation you are talking about. Several magazines have voted AMW the “tag team of the year” in 2004, 2005, or both. They are the 6-time NWA-TNA tag-team champions. This is set up to be a tag-team match for the ages, right? WRONG! Instead of the classic match that we should get, we get POWDER! Yep, that’s right! We get Team 3D winning when Brother Ray slaps powder out of the hands of Gail Kim (who crawled into the ring RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE REFEREE!) and Chris Harris, and into the face of both Harris and the referee! Harris is incapacitated, Ray rolls him up, the blind ref is guided into position by Devon, and the three count is delivered, making Team 3D the NWA-TNA champs! But wait! Team Canada runs in, beats down Team 3D, throws Harris on top of Brother Ray, and the referee then raises the hand of Harris who he “thinks” he counted as the winners! Awesome, right?! Awesomely STUPID! No one is going to remember that the match was actually an excellent tag match up to the last 2 or 3 minutes of absolute absurdity. The only good thing I can say about this match was I am glad Team 3D did NOT win the title like this. When they win the NWA-TNA tag-team titles, they deserve to win it in a true, honorable, clean match that ends one-two-three in the middle of the ring, not in some hokey, ridiculous match that is straight out of the “How To Botch An Obvious Classic Match Handbook” written by Vince McMahon!
TNA still puts out a far superior pay-per-view event to that of the WWE, and they still have the most exciting athletes in the most exciting division in all of pro-wrestling (the X-Division), but they have GOT to come up with something better than Final Resolution. They probably had thousands of potential new fans tuning in to see the return of Sting, and instead of an awesome example of what TNA has to offer, they were treated to a car-wreck of a pay-per-view.
There are things to love, here. I love the athletes. I LOVED the return of one of my heroes. I love what TNA is doing with the X-Division, with Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, and A.J. Styles. I love seeing new stars brought in like Tanahashi. I love TNA wrestling as a whole.
I did not love Final Resolution.
Here’s hoping that Against All Odds returns us back to the greatness that we have come to expect from TNA!
God bless!
Arttie Parker
I agree with everything he said. Very Valid Points.
I am so glad that someone else saw the same things that I saw after watching the PPV 2 times myself.
I felt like hitting a brickwall a few times after some of the crap booking that went on throughout the night.
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