BRM Reviews TNA Genesis 2012

[Big Red Machine]

TNA Genesis 2012 (1/8/2012)- Orlando, FL

FOUR CORNERS ELIMINATION MATCH FOR THE TNA X-DIVISION TITLE: Austin Aries(c) vs. Kid Kash vs. Jesse Sorensen vs. Zema Ion- 5.5/10.

JB, DEVON’S KIDS, & POPE SEGMENT- AWESOME!

DEVON vs. “THE POPE” D’ANGELO DINERO (w/Devon’s Kids)- 6.25/10. A good match that told a very good story… but it was WAY too early in this angle for that story! The kids only turned on Devon a few weeks ago, and now they are back with him already? WTF? If you want the reconciliation of the family to have a major emotional impact, you have to have to first have strong negative emotions for it to replace. All we had here was the turn. No promo with Devon’s kids trashing him. No spot where the kids wail on Devon because he won’t fight back. No spot with Pope using the kids as shields because he knows Devon will never hurt them. No emotional plea from Devon’s wife for her sons to come back home. Nothing at all. The kids turned on Devon a few weeks ago, and now they turned back. Okay then. Angle over.

VELVET SKY & STING- eh

STING & JB- They keep talking about Jeff “building the bridge of trust back”… but WE haven’t seen that at all.

ROB VAN DAM vs. GUNNER (w/Ric Flair)- 4.25. Disappointingly short.
Tenay keeps talking up Gunner’s “path of destruction”… but the first guy he put out (only a few weeks ago, and the only one who isn’t a trained wrestler) is back already, so it really isn’t that destructive.

JEFF HARDY PROMO- bad… but I least I now understand the opening words of Jeff’s theme song.

TNA KNOCKOUTS’ TITLE MATCH: Gail Kim(c) vs. Mickie James (w/Velvet Sky)- 3.5.10/ Gail and Mickie’s wrestling match is ruined by overbooking.
“Velvet’s Touch” turned out to be a very effeminate version of the “Penalty Box” from the King of the Mountain match, which Madison was locked in… and they then lifted it in the air, because apparently the cage wasn’t enough to stop her from interfering… I guess.
I really didn’t like them lifting the cage up into the air. As someone with a fear of falling from high places, whenever they do something like this, first and foremost on my mind is Owen Hart. Raising the cage (and Madison inside of it) is just an extra level of risk that is completely unnecessary, as it doesn’t help the match in any way. Furthermore, the last time that TNA did this (Final Resolution 2010), the person in the cage was able to cheat… and did so in a way that she wouldn’t have been able to do if she was in the cage on the floor! So, from a kayfabe point of view, this doesn’t always work!

AND… I CALLED IT! The cage STILL DOESN’T HELP!

BULLY RAY PROMO- okay

MONSTER’S BALL MATCH, IN WHICH, IF BULLY RAY WINS, ABYSS MUST REJOIN IMMORTAL: Bully Ray vs. Abyss- 7/10. I really liked Abyss’ no-selling here, as it fit well into the angle and showed us exactly what sort of weapon it was that Bubba was willing to risk his body to try to bring back to Immortal. Nothing says that heels can’t be brave… or even have admirable qualities.

MORGAN & CRIMSON PROMO- Morgan was great. Crimson was lame.

TNA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: Matt Morgan & Crimson(c) vs. Samoa Joe & Magnus- 5.25/10

JAMES STORM PROMO- okay

KURT ANGLE vs. JAMES STORM- 7.5/10. Another great match by these two. This match was also a solid example of why Tenay needs to be replaced. He didn’t sell any of the finishers, and he didn’t sell Kurt’s cheating at the finish until after the match during the recap segment… and even then he was just disappointed, rather than outraged.

BOBBY ROODE PROMO- very good

TNA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Bobby Roode(c) vs. Jeff Hardy- 6.75/10. I would have given it 7, but the combination of bad psychology on the first Twist Of Fate and the stupid finish made me mark it down.

Overall, not a good show from TNA. Definitely not worth the money.

[badnewzxl]

so, are you giving this a 'bad' or just a 'not good?' I don't think it was great, but MUCH better by comparison to all their ppv's from the past two years....

[Big Red Machine]

so, are you giving this a 'bad' or just a 'not good?' I don't think it was great, but MUCH better by comparison to all their ppv's from the past two years....

I'd say a "not good."

I think saying it was better than most of their shows over the last two years is a HUGE stretch, though.

BFG was better than this, as was Destination X, Final Resolution was better than this... and that is just in the past 6 months. I think I'd even take last year's Genesis over this show. Can't find my review of it, but I remember liking No Surrender 2010 a lot more than I liked this show, too.

[Rabid619]

I thought the opener was pretty solid, more then a 5.5.

I definitely agree with the thing about Devon's kids, i mean they just turned on him 5 minutes ago and they turned back FAR too soon.

Finish of Roode/Hardy sucked, i think TNA needs to hire someone who won't give us a sh*t finish for a PPV or at least most matches.

I didn't watch the whole PPV, just the first 3 matches and honestly Taz & Tenay put me off big time. I wanted to see the X-Division title match more then anything else on the card and lost interest with everything else, Taz & Tenay really put me off for the rest of the show when they claimed not to know that Gunner was capable of doing what he did to RVD despite his past issues. Very stupid..

[badnewzxl]

I thought the opener was pretty solid, more then a 5.5.

I definitely agree with the thing about Devon's kids, i mean they just turned on him 5 minutes ago and they turned back FAR too soon.

Finish of Roode/Hardy sucked, i think TNA needs to hire someone who won't give us a sh*t finish for a PPV or at least most matches.

I didn't watch the whole PPV, just the first 3 matches and honestly Taz & Tenay put me off big time. I wanted to see the X-Division title match more then anything else on the card and lost interest with everything else, Taz & Tenay really put me off for the rest of the show when they claimed not to know that Gunner was capable of doing what he did to RVD despite his past issues. Very stupid..

but Devon's kids didn't turn on Pope, Pope turned on THEM. I think that's the story they were trying to tell. Remember, Devon was constantly telling his boys to stay away from Pope and Pope to stay away from his boys; he came off as an overprotective parent, but in the end he was right. Pope's a bad influence. So bad that he'd even turn on his own followers.

The boys had a change of heart when Pope was attempting to peer pressure them, but they still wanted to be cool with Pope.

[Rabid619]

but Devon's kids didn't turn on Pope, Pope turned on THEM. I think that's the story they were trying to tell. Remember, Devon was constantly telling his boys to stay away from Pope and Pope to stay away from his boys; he came off as an overprotective parent, but in the end he was right. Pope's a bad influence. So bad that he'd even turn on his own followers.

The boys had a change of heart when Pope was attempting to peer pressure them, but they still wanted to be cool with Pope.

You're right, he did turn on them. I almost forgot that he hit both of them. He threw one out of the ring right?

[badnewzxl]

but Devon's kids didn't turn on Pope, Pope turned on THEM. I think that's the story they were trying to tell. Remember, Devon was constantly telling his boys to stay away from Pope and Pope to stay away from his boys; he came off as an overprotective parent, but in the end he was right. Pope's a bad influence. So bad that he'd even turn on his own followers.

The boys had a change of heart when Pope was attempting to peer pressure them, but they still wanted to be cool with Pope.

You're right, he did turn on them. I almost forgot that he hit both of them. He threw one out of the ring right?

pretty sure. The moral of this story between Devon, his kids, and Pope is: "Papa knows best." And I like that....