TNA Sacrifice 2006
TNA Sacrifice 2006 (5/14/2006)- Orlando, FL
WORLD X CUP SECOND ROUND MATCH: Jushin â€"Thunder†Liger (w/Team Japan) vs. Petey Williams (w/Scott D’Amore)- 5.5/10
I really have to question the wisdom of making Liger’s team heels. Getting to see Liger in the US is a special treat and the fans WANT to root for him. Why fight against that?
AMW PROMO- Jackie’s fake sobbing was horrific, and them telling her to shut up when she wasn’t making any noise (but was fake sobbing)… it looked like she was having a bad case of the hiccups rather than crying. Jackie reveals that she is pregnant so Gail Kim fires her.
NWA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH WITH GAIL KIM BARRED FROM RINGSIDE: America’s Most Wanted(c) vs. AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels- 8/10
Harris threatening to hurt Don West if he didn’t wish his mother a happy Mothers’ Day was hilarious. The man might be one of the most dirty, despicable heels this company has ever seen, but he still loves his mother.
Having AJ and Daniels show a lot of team cohesion during the shine did a great job of getting over the fact that they are, perhaps, the better tag team and deserve the titles. This match was full of great action and had an awesome finishing sequence. Those damn dirty heels! GRRR! I hate them SO MUCH!
JB INTERVIEWS LARRY ZBYSZKO, A-1, & SLICK JOHNSON- good. We find out that we will learn who the new face of TNA Management will be at Slammiversary.
RAVEN vs. A-1 (w/Larry Zbyszko)- 5/10
Good for what it was. Good post-match pull-apart, too.
RHINO vs. BOBBY ROODE (w/Scott D’Amore)- 6/10
TEAM 3-D PROMO- great! (although he said â€"WWE,†â€"the Dudley Boys,†and â€"the New Age Outlaws†and no one was ever sued, which makes you wonder if TNA was telling the truth all of those times they claimed that they couldn’t say â€"ECW†on the air).
JEFF JARRETT & SCOTT STEINER PROMO- Jarrett was eh, Steiner was good.
TEAM 3-D vs. THE JAMES GANG- 6.25/10, but perfect for what it was
This was a lot of fun fan-service, but it still had that dream match feel going until the finish, which played perfectly into the program they are working and did a great job of setting up for next month’s gimmick match at Slammiversary. Also, BUBBA DOES A F*CKING DROPKICK!
JAMES MITCHELL PROMO- awesome, as usual.
WORLD X CUP FINALS GAUNTLET MATCH- 5.5/10
A very disappointing bunch of spots with no real story. Petey wins, so the US and Canada are tied on points. Later on in this show Tenay would tell us that Sabin and Petey will have a tiebreaker match on Impact… meaning that they had a match on PPV to set up for a blow-off on free TV. Even without Russo TNA still has flashes of utter stupidity.
After the match Kevin Nash shows up hits Puma with the powerbomb… then picks him up and hits him with a big boot. Isn’t that a bit backwards? Nash says that a big wrestler can beat up an X-Division wrestler, then says â€"size does matter.â€
SAMOA JOE PROMO- good
STING & SAMOA JOE vs. SCOTT STEINER & JEFF JARRETT (w/Gail Kim)- 5/10
WOW! Those fifteen minutes flew by very quickly! It felt like we really didn’t get to see anything here. It just all flew by so quickly I thought we were still in the shine when the finish came. What we did see of Joe vs. Steiner has me psyched for Slammiversary, though. Between that and the finish to the James Gang vs. Team 3-D, I think I might go pop that DVD in right after I finish with this one!
I was wondering how they were going to finish this match while still keeping Sting vs. Jarrett open for BFG, building to Joe vs. Steiner at Slammiversary, and keeping Sting strong all at the same time. Basically, we have a situation here where no one can take a pin (the other three for the reasons I have listed and Jarrett because he is the champ- MAYBE Sting could take a dirty pin). Anyway, what they did was the option that made the most sense in terms of the things I listed above, but it is the sort of thing that needed to be followed up on and wasn’t (Joe pinned Jarrett clean. When someone pins the champ clean it NEEDS to build to something!).
AFTERMATH- Joe teases not accepting a handshake from Sting but then accepts one. Joe starts to walk off and Steiner sneaks up behind Sting with a chair. Steiner and Jarrett beat Sting down, but despite the fans pleading, Joe decides not to help Sting. Jarrett and Steiner continue the beatdown until a whole bunch of babyfaces (and the James Gang) all come down to make the save.
CHRISTIAN CAGE PROMO- okay
FULL METAL MAYHEM MATCH FOR THE NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Christian Cage(c) vs. Abyss (w/James Mitchell)- 6/10
I popped huge when James Mitchell finally got what’s been coming to him, but other than that, the match was extremely disappointing. It really felt like they just did a couple of spots and that was it. Mike Tenay’s almost emotionless, purely analytical commentary just made things worse.
Overall, a very disappointing show from TNA. The tag title match was the match of the night by far. This show did a good job of setting up for some of the big matches at Slammiversary, but on its own it was extremely disappointing, which is not acceptable for a Pay-Per-View.
WORLD X CUP SECOND ROUND MATCH: Jushin â€"Thunder†Liger (w/Team Japan) vs. Petey Williams (w/Scott D’Amore)- 5.5/10
I really have to question the wisdom of making Liger’s team heels. Getting to see Liger in the US is a special treat and the fans WANT to root for him. Why fight against that?
AMW PROMO- Jackie’s fake sobbing was horrific, and them telling her to shut up when she wasn’t making any noise (but was fake sobbing)… it looked like she was having a bad case of the hiccups rather than crying. Jackie reveals that she is pregnant so Gail Kim fires her.
NWA WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH WITH GAIL KIM BARRED FROM RINGSIDE: America’s Most Wanted(c) vs. AJ Styles & Christopher Daniels- 8/10
Harris threatening to hurt Don West if he didn’t wish his mother a happy Mothers’ Day was hilarious. The man might be one of the most dirty, despicable heels this company has ever seen, but he still loves his mother.
Having AJ and Daniels show a lot of team cohesion during the shine did a great job of getting over the fact that they are, perhaps, the better tag team and deserve the titles. This match was full of great action and had an awesome finishing sequence. Those damn dirty heels! GRRR! I hate them SO MUCH!
JB INTERVIEWS LARRY ZBYSZKO, A-1, & SLICK JOHNSON- good. We find out that we will learn who the new face of TNA Management will be at Slammiversary.
RAVEN vs. A-1 (w/Larry Zbyszko)- 5/10
Good for what it was. Good post-match pull-apart, too.
RHINO vs. BOBBY ROODE (w/Scott D’Amore)- 6/10
TEAM 3-D PROMO- great! (although he said â€"WWE,†â€"the Dudley Boys,†and â€"the New Age Outlaws†and no one was ever sued, which makes you wonder if TNA was telling the truth all of those times they claimed that they couldn’t say â€"ECW†on the air).
JEFF JARRETT & SCOTT STEINER PROMO- Jarrett was eh, Steiner was good.
TEAM 3-D vs. THE JAMES GANG- 6.25/10, but perfect for what it was
This was a lot of fun fan-service, but it still had that dream match feel going until the finish, which played perfectly into the program they are working and did a great job of setting up for next month’s gimmick match at Slammiversary. Also, BUBBA DOES A F*CKING DROPKICK!
JAMES MITCHELL PROMO- awesome, as usual.
WORLD X CUP FINALS GAUNTLET MATCH- 5.5/10
A very disappointing bunch of spots with no real story. Petey wins, so the US and Canada are tied on points. Later on in this show Tenay would tell us that Sabin and Petey will have a tiebreaker match on Impact… meaning that they had a match on PPV to set up for a blow-off on free TV. Even without Russo TNA still has flashes of utter stupidity.
After the match Kevin Nash shows up hits Puma with the powerbomb… then picks him up and hits him with a big boot. Isn’t that a bit backwards? Nash says that a big wrestler can beat up an X-Division wrestler, then says â€"size does matter.â€
SAMOA JOE PROMO- good
STING & SAMOA JOE vs. SCOTT STEINER & JEFF JARRETT (w/Gail Kim)- 5/10
WOW! Those fifteen minutes flew by very quickly! It felt like we really didn’t get to see anything here. It just all flew by so quickly I thought we were still in the shine when the finish came. What we did see of Joe vs. Steiner has me psyched for Slammiversary, though. Between that and the finish to the James Gang vs. Team 3-D, I think I might go pop that DVD in right after I finish with this one!
I was wondering how they were going to finish this match while still keeping Sting vs. Jarrett open for BFG, building to Joe vs. Steiner at Slammiversary, and keeping Sting strong all at the same time. Basically, we have a situation here where no one can take a pin (the other three for the reasons I have listed and Jarrett because he is the champ- MAYBE Sting could take a dirty pin). Anyway, what they did was the option that made the most sense in terms of the things I listed above, but it is the sort of thing that needed to be followed up on and wasn’t (Joe pinned Jarrett clean. When someone pins the champ clean it NEEDS to build to something!).
AFTERMATH- Joe teases not accepting a handshake from Sting but then accepts one. Joe starts to walk off and Steiner sneaks up behind Sting with a chair. Steiner and Jarrett beat Sting down, but despite the fans pleading, Joe decides not to help Sting. Jarrett and Steiner continue the beatdown until a whole bunch of babyfaces (and the James Gang) all come down to make the save.
CHRISTIAN CAGE PROMO- okay
FULL METAL MAYHEM MATCH FOR THE NWA WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Christian Cage(c) vs. Abyss (w/James Mitchell)- 6/10
I popped huge when James Mitchell finally got what’s been coming to him, but other than that, the match was extremely disappointing. It really felt like they just did a couple of spots and that was it. Mike Tenay’s almost emotionless, purely analytical commentary just made things worse.
Overall, a very disappointing show from TNA. The tag title match was the match of the night by far. This show did a good job of setting up for some of the big matches at Slammiversary, but on its own it was extremely disappointing, which is not acceptable for a Pay-Per-View.