1.    TNA X Division Championship: Amazing Red(c) vs. Homicide

The night kicked off with Homicide challenging Amazing Red for the X Division Championship. This was a great way to kick off the PPV as the match was very back and forth and had a ton of high spots.  Red connected with a hurricanrana and a crossbody early on in the match but Homicide soon took control with a belly to back spulex and a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Homicide then worked over Red for a bit before Red gets back into it with a dropkick and a DDT for a near fall. Red counters the Gringo Killer and an ace crusher and hits a standing shooting star press for another near fall. Homicide hits a cutter for a near fall afterward. Eventually this match comes to an end when Homicide goes for a top rope hurricanrana, but Red held on and hit the Code Red for the win. Good X Division match to open up the show and pop the crowd. Match Rating: 6/10

2.    6 Woman Tag Team match for all the Knockouts Championships: TNA Women’s Knockout Champion ODB and TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions Sarita and Taylor Wilde vs. The Beautiful People

I generally don’t like tag team matches where champions can lose their titles without eating a pin, and this match did little to change my opinion. The fans voiced their dislike for Lacey Von Erich with “You can’t wrestle” chants and a Lacey Von Botch sign. The faces all work over Madison Rayne for a bit before she gets the hot tag to Velvet Sky, who hits a snapmare and a running knee before tagging in Von Erich. After Wilde gets beaten down by The Beautiful People for a while, ODB gets the hot tag and cleans house. Just when it seems that the heels have gotten her under control, ODB connects with a few elbow smashes to fight them off. She then hits a reverse-FU to win the match and the faces retain their titles. This match was fairly sloppy and was not enjoyable. Can we please end the Sarita/Wilde vs. The Beautiful People feud now? Match Rating: 3/10

3.    TNA World Tag Team Championship: The British Invasion(c) vs. Beer Money Inc. vs. The Motor City Machineguns

After a weak Knockouts match, this 3 way for the Tag Titles got the PPV back on track. However, the one gripe I had about this match was that much of the later portion of it was built around Beer Money vs. The British Invasion, and the match had been promoted for weeks as the Guns vs. British Invasion (Beer Money was merely added to the match on the Impact before the PPV). Anyway, this match was good, even though it was a bit shorter than I would have liked it to be.  Roode gets worked over by Sabin and Shelley in the early going, and takes a slingshot senton from Sabin. The Guns then worked over the British Invasion for a bit with double team moves but Sabin falls victim to a double team neckbreaker from the Invasion and the heels are in control. Sabin eventually fights back with an enzuigiri and is tagged by Storm. Storm hits Magnus with a uranage and hits a double suplex with Roode onto Williams. Beer Money and the Guns hit a bunch of double team moves on the Brits but Sabin misses a slingshot move over the top rope and crashes to the floor. Storm hits an enzuigiri to Williams, but Eric Young appears outside the ring with the Global title and attacks Storm. Storm then goes after Young up the entrance ramp, where Kevin Nash appears and takes the Global belt before surprisingly hitting Storm with it. The Brits then capitalize on this and hit a double team move on Roode to retain their titles. Good tag title match but it could have been a bit better. Match Rating: 6/10

4.    Six Sides of Steel: Tara vs. Awesome Kong

Who would have thought that a women’s match clocking in at less than 8 minutes would have been the match of the night thus far when it ended? Kong hits a couple big moves early on including an electric chair drop and a stunning missile dropkick. Kong then splashes Tara against the cage and chokes her against the steel. She also hit a very nice looking front suplex against the side of the cage. Tara fights back into the match with a DDT and slams Kong into several sides of the cage before hitting a standing moonsault for a near fall. The two women fight on the top rope which ends with Tara hitting a nice powerbomb onto Kong for a near fall. Tara then scales the cage and hits an incredible crossbody off the top for the win. This was the best women’s match of the year, no doubt. Match Rating: 6.5/10

5.    Rhino and Team 3D vs. Matt Morgan, Hernandez, and D’Angelo Dinero

This match had been advertised as a street fight, but was fought under standard 6 man tag rules. There is tension early on between Dinero and Matt Morgan, allowing the heels to take control. Dinero soon goes after Ray with a double leg take down and some punches but Ray fights back into it with some elbow strikes and a Bubba Bomb before tagging in Rhino. Rhino fights with Morgan, who hits a big clothesline before everyone enters the ring, leading to Dinero suffering a reverse 3D. Devon later puts on a chin lock and hits a lariat on Dinero before making the tag to Rhino. The heels work over Dinero for a bit before Morgan is tagged back into the match. Morgan hits a ton of punches, a side slam, and a splash for a near fall. Hernandez later does an impressive dive outside the ring to the entire opposing team. The match eventually comes to an end when Hernandez gets hit with a chair by Devon while the ref’s back was turned and Rhino hits a Gore for the win. Why didn’t the young guys go over here? Match Rating: 5.5/10

6.    No Disqualification, Falls Count Anywhere: Scott Steiner vs. Bobby Lashley

Just before the start of the match, it was announced that it would be No DQ and Falls Count Anywhere. I thought that the gimmick would help the match out greatly and make it more entertaining, but instead it just opened the door for horrible camera work and a ton of botches. I seriously think every major spot was botched somewhat. The match starts off with the two brawling in the stands and Lashley goes after Steiner with steel chairs. The two then went back to the ring where they hit various suplexes on each other but overall the match pace slowed down. Steiner hits a Frankensteiner that Lashley almost completely botched and barely made contact with the mat. The two then brawl to the backstage area and the cameras struggle to keep up. We have to wait a bit before getting a camera going backstage. The two start hitting (I use that term lightly) each other with various weapons and Lashley hits a very weak-looking suplex to Steiner through a table. Lashley connects with a super-light shot with a 2×4 before crashing through some plywood while going after Steiner. Steiner chokes out Lashley with a cord before the two go back into the Impact Zone. They fight near a metal scaffolding, which Steiner takes apart. Steiner takes a lead pipe and hits Lashley in the head with it (so lightly that there is barely any impact at all) and Lashley falls down. Steiner pins him for the win. Just a complete mess of a match. Match Rating: 2.5/10

7.    Kurt Angle vs. Desmond Wolfe

Thankfully this next match rejuvenated my interest in the PPV. This was definitely the technical match of the year as far as mainstream wrestling goes. This match really had it all and was great from start to finish. It was a bit slow in the beginning with the two simply doing a bunch of submission holds such as hammerlocks, but it quickly got better. Wolfe repeatedly works over the arm of Angle with stomps and a great submission hold.  Angle fights back into it with a flying forearm before hitting six German suplexes in a row. He then goes for the Angle Slam but Wolfe counters with a great arm drag. Wolfe connects with a big lariat but Angle kicks out. He then hits Angle with the Tower of London for another near fall before Angle hits a big lariat of his own. Angle misses a moonsault and Wolfe puts on the London Dungeon. Wolfe goes for a second Tower of London, but Angle counters and Wofle tries for a superplex instead. Angle fights him off and hits a frog splash for a near fall. Both men try for the Tombstone but Angle eventually counters into the Ankle Lock. Wolfe fights out of that hold, but Angle locks in a side triangle choke to force the submission and win the match. Even though Wolfe (aka ROH’s Nigel Mcguinness) didn’t win, Angle put him over big time and the crowd really got into him. This was TNA’s match of the year at its conclusion, but unfortunately it did not hold that title for long. Match Rating: 8.5/10

8.    TNA World Heavyweight Championship: AJ Styles(c) vs. Daniels vs. Samoa Joe

This was a rematch of what many consider to be TNA’s best match of all time back at Unbreakable 2005. While this match wasn’t quite as good as that bout, it came pretty darn close to topping it. This topped Angle/Wolfe as the match of the night and TNA’s match of the year for 2009. Styles opens the match with an assault on both men, but Joe fights back with an enzuigiri and a splash on Styles. Styles and Daniels do some great chain wrestling before Joe reenters the match to go after Styles. Joe hits a high knee to Daniels and puts on a leg hold that is broken up by Styles. Styles hits a suplex to Joe and locks in an inverted Indian death lock which is broken up by Daniels. Daniels hit a ton of moves to Styles before slamming him onto Joe. Daniels puts on a combination Boston Crab/Camel Clutch on both men before Joe fights out of the clutch and hits a urange. More action in the ring ends when Daniels dives outside the ring onto Styles and Joe. Back in the ring, Joe has Daniels in a rear naked choke when Styles does a twisting body press onto both men. Joe powerbombs Styles before working him over with a couple submission holds. Joe gets taken down with an enzuigiri from Daniels and a Pele from Styles. A great spot occurred in the middle when Daniels had Joe in a reverse DDT clutch and Styles came in with a senton on Joe. Styles hits a moonsault into an inverted DDT onto Daniels, but Daniels hits the Last Rites for a near fall that is broken up by Joe. Joe then hits Daniels with a Muscle Buster but Styles breaks up the pin and fights with Joe. Styles and Daniels go for each other’s finishers but are ambushed by Joe. Joe dropkicks Styles to the floor but is caught with an STO and a BME from Daniels. As Daniels goes for the pin, Styles comes out of nowhere with a springboard 450 splash onto both men. Style spins Joe to retain his title in this classic, almost perfect three-way match. Match Rating: 9.5/10

Overall PPV Rating: 8.75/10

My name is Jared Silberkleit. I am from Orange, CT and am a huge fan of pro wrestling. I mostly follow WWE and TNA but I also watch the smaller promotions such as ROH and DGUSA. I have been a lifelong WWE fan and have become a TNA fan over the past few years. Aside from wrestling, I also really love baseball and football and follow many other sports such as hockey and MMA. I have written for www.sportsgrumblings.com roughly a year now as well.

1.    Finals of the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship Tournament: Taylor Wilde and Sarita vs. The Beautiful People (Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne)

This was actually a pretty decent match to start the PPV. Because Angelina Love was released by TNA, Madison Rayne replaced her as Velvet’s partner (Can you say death of this stable?). Anyway, this match was smartly booked with Sky doing the majority of the work for the Beautiful People. Sarita carried the majority of the match by doing her typical lucha moves on Sky before the heels start working her over. Eventually Sarita is able to get the hot tag to Wilde, who starts to get a ton of offense in on the Beautiful People. Match ends when Sarita hits a missile dropkick on Rayne, who is then hit with a German suplex from Wilde followed by a bridge pin, so Wilde and Sarita are the first ever Knockouts Tag Team Champions. It was a very brief match, lasting just under 5 minutes. Decent opener, my only gripe is that it was very, very short. Match Rating: 4/10

2.    Eric Young vs. Hernandez

Wow. TNA decided to book this match as a complete squash and not even bother having these guys wrestle. Young comes out in a suit, saying he won’t fight his “brother”. Hernandez comes out, hits a few power moves, then hits the Border Toss on Young and beats him in less than a minute. We moved on to other things right after the pinfall, so this was just a waste of time and served no purpose. Match Rating: DUD (0/10)

3.    TNA X Division Championship: Samoa Joe(c) vs. Daniels

As expected by most people, this ended up being the match of the night. This wasn’t as good as these guys’ matches together from 2005-2006 but it is evident that the chemistry is still there. I think that what kept this match from being “great” was that Joe has gotten heavier and changed his style a bit this year, and also the match should have gotten a bit more time, granted it was about 14-15 minutes. I did like how they were able to combine lots of high-flying action and spots with great technical wrestling. Daniels, as expected did a lot of top rope moves and dives to the outside in the early going, which included a springboard moonsault. Joe worked over Daniels’ legs for a good portion of the match, utilizing a half Boston crab. Late in the match, Daniels goes for a Best Moonsault Ever but Joe gets up and Daniels ends up jumping over him and landing on his feet. Joe then throws Daniels into the corner and hits an enzuigiri before going for a Muscle Buster. Daniels counters and goes for the Angels Wings, but Joe counters that and puts Daniels in a sleeper hold before bringing him down into the Coquina Clutch. Daniels taps out and Joe retains. Very good match. Match Rating: 7/10

4.    Falls Count Anywhere: D’Angelo Dinero vs. Suicide

This match was added as a special “bonus”. I groaned at the fact that this meant yet another 9 match PPV (!) from TNA but I liked this match being added to the card as these guys had a solid match on the Impact before No Surrender. This match had an interesting beginning, as Dinero was being interviewed backstage when Suicide attacked him, and the bell rang because the match was Falls Count Anywhere. This started off as a messy but fun brawl between these two as they fought all over the backstage area. They go out in that hangar area where Dinero hits a nice diving elbow off some stacked boxes/dumpsters onto Suicide. We then got some silly stuff like Suicide doing a splash on a cart, Dinero getting back body dropped into a wheelbarrow, and Suicide pantsing Dinero. The match really started to pick up as these guys made their way back to the ring, when they actually began to wrestle. Back outside the ring again, Dinero hits a nice suplex onto the entrance ramp. They brawl up to the stage where Suicide brings out a table. He lays Dinero out on the table before climbing the wall above an entrance tunnel. He jumps off the ledge for a diving leg drop but Dinero moves and Suicide crashes through the table. Dinero then makes the cover for the win. This was a pretty entertaining brawl. Match Rating: 6/10

5.    TNA Women’s Knockout Championship (vacant): ODB vs. Cody Deaner

This wasn’t a good intergender match but not nearly as bad as most of us thought it would be. They did some good comedy stuff throughout, but something about man-on woman violence kept me from really getting into this match. Deaner tries for a pin at one point with his feet on the ropes, but the ref sees it and stops the count, leading to a shoving match between the ref and Deaner. ODB was massively over here, like the most over she’s been in many months. They also did a ton of near falls to try and keep the match interesting, but I felt it was a bit excessive and the match started to lag through the final 2 minutes. Eventually, Deaner misses a flying headbutt and ODB picks him up and hits the TKO for the win and the Knockouts title. Hopefully TNA takes ODB seriously as champion because when she’s not doing dumb antics she’s actually a solid worker and she’s very over with the crowd. Match Rating: 3.5/10

6.    TNA Legends Championship/$50,000 Bounty Challenge: Kevin Nash(c) vs. Abyss

This represented the low point of the PPV. Most people did not expect much from these guys but the awful ending puts it possibly beneath expectations. Mick Foley was on guest commentary as well. For the first few minutes this was just a typical, slow, big man match like everyone expected, with both guys hitting power moves here and there. They brawled outside the ring also, with Nash trying to use a chair and Abyss not allowing it and just slamming Nash’s head on the steps and the ring apron. Daffney also runs in with the tazer (it’s back!) and tries to attack Abyss but he hits a Black Hole Slam on her. Wow, with all these weapons and interference you would have thought the ref might have wanted to call for the bell. But you know, they’re TNA and it’s OK. Anyway, Abyss chokeslams Nash, then sees Foley and asks him to hand him the barbed wire bat. Foley gets up to go give it to him but the ref holds him back to prevent him from giving the bat to Abyss. While the ref is busy with Foley, Nash comes from behind with the tazer and tazes Abyss in the nuts. And yes, just like at Victory Road, the tazer was SMOKING. Nash gets the pin right after this to retain the belt and claim the bounty. However, Dr. Stevie tries to weasel out of the deal and leave with the money, but Nash hits a horrible powerbomb on him before leaving with his title and the money. Horrible match. Match Rating: 2.5/10

7.    Lethal Lockdown: Beer Money Inc. (Robert Roode and James Storm) and Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) vs. The Main Event Mafia (Scott Steiner and Booker T) and The British Invasion (Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams)

I didn’t initially like the idea of having the Lethal Lockdown at a PPV separate from Lockdown, but it made sense with both face teams feuding with both of the heel teams throughout the past few months. The match started off with Storm and Williams, who were soon joined by Magnus, who helps Williams bust open Storm by ramming him face first into the cage. Every minute or two a new person came into the match. Steiner surprisingly performed well early on before the weapons were introduced, beating Beer Money pretty badly and hitting a top rope Frankensteiner. Some good back and forth action for the rest of the non-weapons portion of the match until Ray comes in as the last entrant. As he’s coming down the ramp, Rob Terry suddenly assaults him with a chair and takes him down before he can get in the ring. Terry yells for the roof to be lowered with the weapons, and it is. The match really picked up at this point. Both teams traded a ton of shots with trash cans, kendo sticks, and crutches. Storm and Williams make their way onto the roof of the cage, where Storm dangles and nearly falls off. Roode eventually joins his partner and they hit a double suplex to Williams on the roof. Meanwhile, Ray turns the tables on Terry outside the ring and grabs a chair and enters the cage. He delivers a ton of chair shots to all members of the opposing team. Him and D-Von connect with the 3D on Steiner, while Beer Money returns to the ring to hit the DWI to Magnus for the victory. Very entertaining hardcore match, it came close to topping Daniels/Joe as the best match on the card. Match Rating: 7/10

8.    Bobby Lashley vs. Rhino

After an exciting Lethal Lockdown match, things slowed down with Bobby Lashley’s TNA PPV debut. His match with Rhino here started off OK with the big man brawl that we expected. Surprisingly, Rhino actually got in a decent amount of offense, but Lashley is able to overpower him and bust him open. Lashley eventually goes for a spear but misses and hits the ref. Rhino then hits a Gore as a second ref enters the ring. Lashley kicks out of a pin attempt, Rhino goes for another Gore, and Lashley hits him with a big Knockout punch for the win. Huh? Way to copy Big Show. Really, a spear would have been just fine. This was a very disappointing match from these two; it was hurt by the lack of time and a weak ending. Match Rating: 3.5/10

9.    TNA World Heavyweight Championship: Kurt Angle(c) vs. Matt Morgan vs. AJ Styles vs. Sting vs. Hernandez

Right after they finish up with the introductions, Hernandez comes down to the ring and says he’s cashing in his Feast or Fired case. The match started off pretty good with Hernandez taking down Angle and brawling with him up to the stage where he tries for a Border Toss off the stage. Suddenly, Eric Young comes out and attacks Hernandez, hitting him with a piledriver. Hernandez does not come back for the rest of the match. Anyway, much of the match consisted of Sting and Styles teaming up to take on Morgan, who was occasionally joined by Angle. Sting and Styles get a brief advantage when Styles hits a Pele to Morgan, knocking him off the ring apron, and Sting hits a missile dropkick on Angle. Styles then gets briefly taken out after Morgan hits him with the Hellevator. Sting hits a few Stinger Splashes on Morgan and Angle, but Angle hits him with an Angle slam for a near fall. He then puts an Ankle Lock on Sting, but Morgan hits Angle with a Carbon Footprint. Styles then returns to the ring, helping Sting send Morgan to the outside. With Angle flat on his back in the ring, Sting did a suicide dive onto Morgan on the outside, leaving Styles in the ring alone with the fallen Angle. Styles then hit a springboard 450 splash before pinning Angle to become the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion! This has been a long time coming, and is probably a couple years too late, but this is huge for TNA to have AJ Styles as their World Champion. Tons of fans and wrestlers from the back (including Christopher Daniels) come out to congratulate Styles on his huge title win. It might have been better to have this moment at Bound for Glory but I liked how Styles won it in the Impact Zone and got to celebrate with the fans. Overall a pretty good title match to close out a pretty good show. Match Rating: 6.5/10

Overall PPV Rating: 7.25/10

My name is Jared Silberkleit. I am from Orange, CT and am a huge fan of pro wrestling. I mostly follow WWE and TNA but I also watch the smaller promotions such as ROH and DGUSA. I have been a lifelong WWE fan and have become a TNA fan over the past few years. Aside from wrestling, I also really love baseball and football and follow many other sports such as hockey and MMA. I have written forwww.sportsgrumblings.com for roughly a year now as well.