TNA Sacrifice 2012
TNA Sacrifice 2012 (5/13/2012)- Orlando, FL
This review contains SPOILERS if you haven't seen the show. You are warned.
I come into this PPV with almost NO Knowledge of the state of TNA. I don't really know the back stories other than viewing the build up videos for each match.
TNA Tag Team Title match
Samoa Joe & Magnus (c) vs Kazarian & Christopher Daniels - 7/10
Decent 15 minute match. Kaz and Daniels are a great tag team, it's a good move putting the titles on them; however, it's unfortunate that they had to take them off of Joe and Magnus. Looking at the match, it's obvious that Joe is crazy over with the people and still soo dominant, let's hope this loss doesn't mean he gets lost in the mid-card once again. I lol'd when Daniels missed the moonsault on Joe.
TNA Knockout's Title match
Brook Tessmacher vs Gail Kim (c) - 5/10
First time ever that Tessmacher seemed like a real challenger (cuz of the entrance and attire mostly), and Gail Kim is just the best champ that they could have right now; yet, this match is still not big enough as the KOs division was yrs ago. The finish makes me think that we'll see a rematch soon. Regardless, more than 7 minutes would have been great, but it's better than the usual KOs match.
Kaz/Daniels promo - good, unfortunately had to do with the Styles/Dixie thing.
TNA TV Title Match
Devon (c) vs Robbie E vs Robbie T - 3/10
They should really transition Robbie E/T into a tag team called Robbies or something. Devon looks great, and having him defend the title every show would be a great push for anyone else, but for some reason, pushing Devon feels weird, at least Ray became this Bully gimmick, but Devon is just that...Devon. The match was ok at most, predictable as hell. I actually enjoyed E not hiding behind T and some of the first E pins with T just watching. The match was 6 minutes more than i wanted to watch.
Mr. Anderson vs Jeff Hardy - 6/10
Hardy's face paint eyes freak me out...they always do. Code of Honor respected, which kinda disagrees with the build up video. Hardy using the mic check should have meant something, same with Anderson using the Twist of Fate. This should transition into a swanton vs kenton feud. Something tells me the finish got f'ed up, but i loved the reversal. By the end of the match, I still don't know if this guys hated each other (as the video suggested) or not.
Austin Aries Promo - pretty good
Parks' Promo - It's weird, with Abyss' return, this should be a serious affair, but Parks is all comedy
Crimson pre-match promo - good until he asked the ref if he knew what winning was about, that was awkward.
Crimson vs Eric Young W/ ODB - 5/10
I lol'd hard at Young attacking the ref instead of Crimson. I've always said that Young is misused, underrated, but his work here is great. The match itself was enjoyable because of Young. Crimson at this point needs someone to take him to the limit.
Bully Ray promo - Bully Ray was spot on!! Twittah!! JB was a bit annoying.
Austin Aries (c) vs Bully Ray - 8/10
AWESOME BUILD UP VIDEO!!!
Ray is in great shape. I really like how Aries' offensive had to be constant fast moves to keep Ray under control, while Ray required little amount of moves, all slow and spaced out. That really plays out to the size factor that they were trying to sell for both guys. The Brainbuster was an awesome spot, but Ray was supposed to lose to that, it was the whole point in proving that Aries could indeed connect it. I liked watching Last Chancery getting locked.
With the Ray/Parks thing, i still don't know where Abyss/Parks will go.
AJ Styles Promo - YES! That's what wrestling is about, stories don't matter, he's here to fight.
Kurt Angle vs A.J. Styles - 8/10
Decent build up video. They made wonders to make Angle vs Styles make sense while AJ feuds with Kaz/Daniels. Taz and Tenay should have done a better job selling us how these two have so much history together, and thus countering so much, but they keep acting scientist with every lock. Audience was baaad, really dead for the important parts and sounding smarky when it didn't matter. Was that springboard senton supposed to be a 450?? Good match overall. Aftermath was meh!
Robert Roode Promo - great promo, but don't recap Impact.
TNA World Title Match
Robert Roode (c) vs Rob Van Dam - 7/10
I don't think Taz has ever seen a ladder match before, do you remember that Booker T meme?? I think it should belong to Taz now. Anyway, basic ladder match with the usual basic ladder spots, maybe two or three innovative ones i can't recall from other matches. The finish, while botched, was good and convincing, and legit for Roode.
Final thoughts:
Sacrifice was an overall good show for TNA, some matches felt like they should belong to Impact, but I blame that on the fact that the PPV was in the Impact Zone and not somewhere else. Not a lot of waste in segments, but I would have maybe cut one or two matches to give some time to other matches. The second half of the show was all solid, one after the other.
Notes:
- LA Park mask in the audience...nice!
- Loved that Parks was sitting in the audience since the start of the show.
- Front row audience changed from the KOs match to the Hardy vs Anderson, i guess pervs are allowed to cut in.
- The huge #TNASacrifice in the back looks like cheap advertisement.
- I hate Tenay and Taz...with all my heart.
- YES! YES! YES! Chants invade TNA too.
- @Taz: Long sleve shirt under your suit please.
- What was that about so many signature moves getting stolen (while Taz and Tenay not selling them of course).
- Roode and Aries breaking longest reign records?? well played TNA, well played.
This review contains SPOILERS if you haven't seen the show. You are warned.
I come into this PPV with almost NO Knowledge of the state of TNA. I don't really know the back stories other than viewing the build up videos for each match.
TNA Tag Team Title match
Samoa Joe & Magnus (c) vs Kazarian & Christopher Daniels - 7/10
Decent 15 minute match. Kaz and Daniels are a great tag team, it's a good move putting the titles on them; however, it's unfortunate that they had to take them off of Joe and Magnus. Looking at the match, it's obvious that Joe is crazy over with the people and still soo dominant, let's hope this loss doesn't mean he gets lost in the mid-card once again. I lol'd when Daniels missed the moonsault on Joe.
TNA Knockout's Title match
Brook Tessmacher vs Gail Kim (c) - 5/10
First time ever that Tessmacher seemed like a real challenger (cuz of the entrance and attire mostly), and Gail Kim is just the best champ that they could have right now; yet, this match is still not big enough as the KOs division was yrs ago. The finish makes me think that we'll see a rematch soon. Regardless, more than 7 minutes would have been great, but it's better than the usual KOs match.
Kaz/Daniels promo - good, unfortunately had to do with the Styles/Dixie thing.
TNA TV Title Match
Devon (c) vs Robbie E vs Robbie T - 3/10
They should really transition Robbie E/T into a tag team called Robbies or something. Devon looks great, and having him defend the title every show would be a great push for anyone else, but for some reason, pushing Devon feels weird, at least Ray became this Bully gimmick, but Devon is just that...Devon. The match was ok at most, predictable as hell. I actually enjoyed E not hiding behind T and some of the first E pins with T just watching. The match was 6 minutes more than i wanted to watch.
Mr. Anderson vs Jeff Hardy - 6/10
Hardy's face paint eyes freak me out...they always do. Code of Honor respected, which kinda disagrees with the build up video. Hardy using the mic check should have meant something, same with Anderson using the Twist of Fate. This should transition into a swanton vs kenton feud. Something tells me the finish got f'ed up, but i loved the reversal. By the end of the match, I still don't know if this guys hated each other (as the video suggested) or not.
Austin Aries Promo - pretty good
Parks' Promo - It's weird, with Abyss' return, this should be a serious affair, but Parks is all comedy
Crimson pre-match promo - good until he asked the ref if he knew what winning was about, that was awkward.
Crimson vs Eric Young W/ ODB - 5/10
I lol'd hard at Young attacking the ref instead of Crimson. I've always said that Young is misused, underrated, but his work here is great. The match itself was enjoyable because of Young. Crimson at this point needs someone to take him to the limit.
Bully Ray promo - Bully Ray was spot on!! Twittah!! JB was a bit annoying.
Austin Aries (c) vs Bully Ray - 8/10
AWESOME BUILD UP VIDEO!!!
Ray is in great shape. I really like how Aries' offensive had to be constant fast moves to keep Ray under control, while Ray required little amount of moves, all slow and spaced out. That really plays out to the size factor that they were trying to sell for both guys. The Brainbuster was an awesome spot, but Ray was supposed to lose to that, it was the whole point in proving that Aries could indeed connect it. I liked watching Last Chancery getting locked.
With the Ray/Parks thing, i still don't know where Abyss/Parks will go.
AJ Styles Promo - YES! That's what wrestling is about, stories don't matter, he's here to fight.
Kurt Angle vs A.J. Styles - 8/10
Decent build up video. They made wonders to make Angle vs Styles make sense while AJ feuds with Kaz/Daniels. Taz and Tenay should have done a better job selling us how these two have so much history together, and thus countering so much, but they keep acting scientist with every lock. Audience was baaad, really dead for the important parts and sounding smarky when it didn't matter. Was that springboard senton supposed to be a 450?? Good match overall. Aftermath was meh!
Robert Roode Promo - great promo, but don't recap Impact.
TNA World Title Match
Robert Roode (c) vs Rob Van Dam - 7/10
I don't think Taz has ever seen a ladder match before, do you remember that Booker T meme?? I think it should belong to Taz now. Anyway, basic ladder match with the usual basic ladder spots, maybe two or three innovative ones i can't recall from other matches. The finish, while botched, was good and convincing, and legit for Roode.
Final thoughts:
Sacrifice was an overall good show for TNA, some matches felt like they should belong to Impact, but I blame that on the fact that the PPV was in the Impact Zone and not somewhere else. Not a lot of waste in segments, but I would have maybe cut one or two matches to give some time to other matches. The second half of the show was all solid, one after the other.
Notes:
- LA Park mask in the audience...nice!
- Loved that Parks was sitting in the audience since the start of the show.
- Front row audience changed from the KOs match to the Hardy vs Anderson, i guess pervs are allowed to cut in.
- The huge #TNASacrifice in the back looks like cheap advertisement.
- I hate Tenay and Taz...with all my heart.
- YES! YES! YES! Chants invade TNA too.
- @Taz: Long sleve shirt under your suit please.
- What was that about so many signature moves getting stolen (while Taz and Tenay not selling them of course).
- Roode and Aries breaking longest reign records?? well played TNA, well played.