Slammiversary

Its hard to say which PPV is the TNA equivalent of Wrestlemania, but I think its safe to say its Slammivesary since its been the main show and they have been counting it every year (this being the 9th year). So that being said, the expectations should be high for this PPV. 

The first match, the former tag team champions, The British Invasion, took on the current tag team champions Beer Money. However, Robert Roode is out with a shoulder injury. Since Chris Sabin of the Motor City Machine Guns is also out with an injury, Alex Shelley stepped in for Roode and an all-star tag team was formed. This was in my opinion one of the best matches of the show, and of course the championships were retained by this all-star team! 

There were however some very disappointing matches in the middle card of this event. I get the impression that the Hogan / Bischoff regime wants to use the established superstars from the old TNA to put over their new up and coming talent. In the next match, Scott Steiner was sacrificed to put over Matt Morgan, who kissed his wife after the match, which seemed odd to me. Then one of the TNA legends (who I think is being wasted now) Samoa Joe was forced to not only lay down for a new rising star, Crimson, but he also shook his hand after the match and gave him his seal of approval to be the new undefeated star in the company. Personally, I think the established stars shouldn't be wasted in putting over these new wrestlers that have done nothing to earn it yet. There are current stars that could be used to put on amazing matches, but they weren't used because Hogan wants to push guys like Crimson and Morgan. Let me ask you this... Where was Pope? Where was Daniels? Where was Matt Hardy? (BTW when is Jeff coming back?)

It was announced that Bischoff was getting rid of the X Division when Abyss won the title. Then Bischoff promised to keep the X Division around because the fans wanted it. But then Abyss announced it was now the Xtreme Division.... what does that mean? is it going to be like the hardcore or ECW title? Regardless, Abyss defended the title in a regular, three-way, match against Kazarian and Kendrick. This match seemed promising because all three are very talented, however, their styles seriously clash. Abyss is a hardcore monster, whereas the other two are high flying fast paced wrestlers. This match seemed awkward and unprepared. Abyss won and retained his title, whatever it is called now.

There was a woman's match for the knockouts title. Champion Mickie James defended against super hot Angelina Love, who is now drugged and zombie like with Winter. Personally I think Winter is a joke, but Angelina is hotter than ever with this new gimmick so whatever, go with it! I was hoping she would win the title for a record setting 6 time, but alas that was not the case this time. I was disappointed, I think TNA especially, has been too reluctant to have the titles change hands. Its a very slow paced company with long boring story-lines that seem to go nowhere. How long has this been going on? In some cases they have PPV matches with now build up, and in other cases they have 6 months of build up with now pay off. Its very annoying. In this case, there wasn't much build up, but the only redemption would have been an exciting title change. They dragged out Mickie winning the belt from months and months, while we all watched Madison Rayne's boring gimmick night in and night out. Now its hardcore country, and its already getting old. I say turn the title over to Angelina Love and set up the inevitable feud between the new evil Angelina and the improved Velvet Sky, who is long overdue for a title reign!

In the end, there was only 3 real matches worth watching on this whole PPV... AJ Styles vs Bully Ray in a last man standing match, Sting vs Anderson for the championship, and the final showdown between Kurt and Jeff!

AJ stole the show like always, jumping off the stage, jumping off the scaffolding, going threw tables. Bully Ray was a bloody mess. It was an epic match no doubt. But the ending was disappointing. After crashing threw a table onto Bully, AJ was back on his feet first, but was kicked headfirst threw the stage and did not return before the 10 count and lost the match to Bully Ray. I thought it was a lame ending to a great match, but I must say, Bully Rays new character is a really big improvement and he did give AJ a good storyline and a great match.

The last match of the night was Angle and Jarrett, but I am a firm believer that the main event should always be the title match, so I will save that one for last. 

For a final showdown, this was pretty tame. This was the basic, simple, regular wrestling match. This should have been the first match. No cage, no special rules or stipulations. Just that Angle's gold medal was on the line. At least for once we didn't have to put up with Karen! They covered all the basics, each used their trademark moves. Angle slams, strokes, and of course ankle locks. There was actually a moment when I thought Angle was going to tap out to his own ankle lock. If that happened I would have stopped watching TNA for good. Luckily that didn't happen. Jarrett also pulled his trademark guitar out from under the ring and gave Angle a great guitar shot to the head. Angle would not stay down though and eventually locked in the ankle lock and Jarrett finally tapped out once and for all ending this amazing feud!

Finally, this brings us to the championship match between Anderson and the champion Sting! This match had a great build up with Anderson dressing up as the old original Sting with the bright colours and bleached blonde hair. Sting finally snapped and did something I thought he should have done a long time ago. He changed his look and make up and went from looking like the Crow to looking more like the Joker! It wasn't perfect, he basically just changed to red tights and smered his make up a bit, but it was a cool change I thought. This match started out wild in the crowd fighting everywhere. They eventually got in the ring and Sting just destroyed Anderson. Sting had Anderson down for the 3 count after hitting the Scorpion Death Drop. However, even though Hogan and Bischoff both promised no outside interference, Bischoff ran down to ring side and ruined the whole match. This was a new and lame finish though... As the referee counted one, Bischoff slammed his hand on the mat and when the referee counted 2, Sting thought he heard 3 and got up from the pin. By the time Sting had realized what had happened, Anderson nailed him with a Mic-Check to win the world title! 

I dont like what they have done with Anderson. I liked his cool "asshole" gimmick, but now he has just become a real asshole. The old Sting idea was pretty cool, but I like Anderson as a baby-face better than as a heel. Oh well, someone had to take Jeff Hardy's place as the top heel and I guess that is now Anderson. I don't know if there will be an ongoing feud with Sting or if they will move on, hopefully to RVD. But only time will tell. BTW... where was RVD at the PPV???