TNA Sacrifice 2009

1: Bashir & MCMGs vs. Eric Young & Lethal Consequences (8/10)
While this match was very well wrestled, there was no real build-up to the match or reason for it to be on PPV. TNA has spent so much time setting up the 4 way main event of this PPV that the rest of the matches on the card were just not adequately addressed.


The Motor City Machine Guns are very talented in the ring, when they actually slow down a little bit and wrestle. Faster is not necessarily better. As talented as these guys are, the backstage big shots in TNA can’t seem to find anything to do with them. If they are the best tag team in TNA, as many people claim, why not put them into a feud with 3D and Deer Money? Instead they are allied with Shawn Diavari (Sheik Abdul Bashir). It just doesn’t make sense to me. Frankly, I’m kind of sick of these two guys as a tag team. They are incredibly talented as a team, but they are also very talented as singles competitors. Sabin vs. Shelley will eventually happen, and for me, the sooner the better.


2: Daffney vs. Taylor Wild - Monster’s Ball (2/10)
While I was impressed--marginally--with Taylor Wild’s performance in this match, it was still bad. The match barely lasted five minutes. This match was nothing more than another link in the chain of the asinine Abyss/Dr. Stevie storyline. Why don’t they just put Abyss up in a dress and have him ride a unicycle around the Impact Zone. The only good thing about this match was that we did see Abyss deliver the choke slam on Dr. Stevie into the tacks. Hopefully this will mean a return to violence for Abyss, because I’m to sure that he can be repackaged and still be successful.


3: Christopher Daniels vs. Suicide - X Division Title (10/10)
Daniels vs. Suicide is the best wrestled match I’ve seen in all of TNA--including TV, PPV, and web match exclusives--in a long damn time. I don’t like the Suicide character. I think it’s ridiculous to have a videogame character as the X Division Champion. But obviously both Daniels and Franky Kazarian are world class pro wrestlers. That’s right folks, Kaz is Suicide (as if you hadn’t already figured it out). The interference by the MCMGs and the subsequent use of the old 5 more minutes gimmicks was executed perfectly to further push Daniels as a returning baby face. This is the first instance in quite some time that a TNA match has left me saying, “I want more.”


4. Angelina Love vs. Awesome Kong - Knockout’s Title (1/10)
The best word to describe this match is boring. The whole idea of a 118 pound Angelina Love defeating a 280 pound Awesome Kong is ridiculous to begin with, but the cliché heel chicanery that was used by Love to pick up the win was overkill, as was the beat down after the match.


A question that this match, and every Awesome Kong match for that matter, brings up for me is; why is Melissa Anderson (Cheerleader Melissa) acting as Kong’s valet instead of as an in-ring competitor? Melisa Anderson is a very talented wrestler. She is not a talented actress. Her Syrian accent is not in any way passable. This is yet another TNA personnel move that I don’t understand in the least.


5. Samoa Joe vs. Kevin Nash (6/10)
This match did an okay job of selling the Samoa Joe/Nation of Violence gimmick. I will give it to Nash, he put on as good a match as can really be expected of him these days. Also, I have to give it to him for being willing to sell for Joe. This match was not the best as far as actual wrestling goes, but it served it’s purpose.


6. Beer Money Inc. vs. British Invasion - Team 3D Tag Team Invitational Tournament Finals (10/10)
First off, the build-up for this match was pretty dumb. Seeing Team 3d being pushed as such gracious baby faces after so long as vicious heels doesn’t really work for me. I also don’t find the British Invasion to be that entertaining. Brutus Magnus doesn’t strike me as being an excellent wrestler. I think the exact opposite of Doug Williams. He is great, but I would like to see him get a singles push. The man is 35 years old, and if he doesn’t get a descent singles push now, he may never get it.


With all of the above having been said, this was an excellent match. In fact, I think it may be the best match I have seen either of these teams wrestle. Robert Roode was the most entertaining he has ever been. James Storm’s skin-the-cat-with-beer-in-his-mouth spot was entertaining and the spot with the super kick into the briefcase that ended the match was also good.


While this match was very good, I don’t think it established TNA Wrestling as the best in tag team wrestling. Nor does it change the fact that tag team wrestling is a dying art.


7. Booker T vs. A.J. Styles - TNA Legends Title (6/10)
First off, the idea of the Legends Title is idiotic. I wouldn’t exactly refer to Booker T as a legend. He is a multiple time Tag Team Title holder, a former World Champion, and U.S. Champion, but he has never seemed like a great wrestler to me. I think that the only real legends TNA have are Mick Foley and Sting.


In the history of the I Quit match, there are many memorable matches: Tully Blanchard vs. Magnum T.A., Ric Flair vs. Terry Funk, Rock vs. Mankind, John Zandig vs. Wife beater (from CZW), and more. This I Quit match was more in the vain of Flair vs. Funk, but not quite as good. While the match was well-wrestled, the level of violence was not what it needed to be for a type of match that really is the be-all end-all of specialty matches. Also, the ending (which featured the utterly useless Jenna Morasca) was disgusting.


8. Mick Foley vs. Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle - TNA heavyweight Title (10/10)
This match reads like a Who’s Who of professional wrestling. Sting and Foley are living legends. Angle and Jarrett are both great wrestlers. But coming in, I was not expecting very much out of this match. Foley is--to be blatantly honest--out of shape and beaten from a long career of extreme matches. Stinger is still great in the ring, up until about the twenty-five minute mark of a match, then his age starts to show. Jarrett is a good wrestler, but one of his matches is much like any other. Kurt Angle is without a doubt the best pure wrestler in the match, but his past neck injuries are always there in the background. It makes me wonder exactly how much Kurt is holding back these days.


The reality of it is, the match went far above and beyond my expectations. This was a great match. Jarrett put on a good performance. Angel held nothing back. Sting has still got it. Even Foley looked a bit like his old self. Even the ending, Sting becoming the new leader of the MEM, was not what I expected.


Overall (53/80)


This is the first TNA PPV I have seen in quite a while that I actually enjoyed watching. With the exception of a few bad matches, the card was very good. The Daniels vs. Suicide match took me back to before the “big stars” came to TNA, back to a time when TNA really felt like it was all about the wrestling and not about the star power. Most of the in-ring action was so damn good that I actually found don West’s horrible heel announcer commentary tolerable. Here’s hoping that TNA can put on some good Impact broadcast in the near future and that Slamiversary is as good as this year’s Sacrifice PPV.