TNA Hard Justice PPV Results - 8/12/07 - Orlando, FL
Results from Gerweck.net.
By the way, if you want to hear The Russ, I’m going to start doing weekly updates again on The Indy Wrestleline. Call (317)592-9401 and press option 2 for “The Way I See It” every Tuesday afternoon. I’ll have some thoughts on there today about TNA and Pacman Jones.
They opened the show with a few video packages. The last one ended with a Pacman Jones highlight reel from the media hoopla over the past week. Jones apparently arrived at the building gun-free, so the element of danger has been minimized. Maybe they’ll start a fire on the roof again instead…
Jay “Black Machsimo” Lethal & Sonjay Dutt defeated Triple X & The Motorcity Machine Guns (Triple Threat Tag Match). I think Mike and Don spent more time commentating the action between the two empty chairs at ringside for Karen Angle and her new boyfriend than they did on the match. Pretty average X-Division tag team match, which means it will probably be the best action we see tonight. Lethal got an inside cradle on Daniels for the win. I was very shocked that Daniels was the one who got pinned, but Lethal is hot right now. One hopes this will turn into a singles feud, but I am not optimistic enough about TNA’s creative direction right now for them to pick up on that.
Kazarian defeated Raven. You remember the days when Raven was relevant in the wrestling world? He’s got a great mind for the business, but TNA has put about zero effort into promoting this most recent stable of his. Before the match, Raven told Kazarian that if he rejoined Serotonin that everything would be okay between them. Frankie teased taking up his offer, but then took out Raven. A back-and-forth match for the most part… later on, Raven caned Kazarian while the referee was distracted. Kazarian countered a DDT with a big boot to get the win. This maybe could have been a great TNA match two years ago…
Backstage, “Shit Disturber” Jeremy Borash told Kurt Angle that his wife was in Samoa Joe’s locker room with another man. Angle stormed off complaining about Joe. Way to go, Jer… why didn’t you just go in there and take naked Polaroids while you were at it?
“Cowboy” James Storm defeated Rhino (Barroom Brawl). No surprise here, although this was pretty silly at times for a feud blowoff. Storm poured a beer on a mannequin that was supposed to be the bartender, and Rhino drank a beer and then sprayed some on Jackie Moore. So much for staying on the AA wagon… and then Rhino stuck Storm’s head in the toilet for good measure. Man, why don’t more guys notice that toilet at ringside? Out came the tables, ladders, and trash can, but it was the beer bottle to the head that did in Rhino.
The Latin American Xchange defeated the Voodoo Kin Mafia. Thankfully, this match was not very long. Roxy Laveaux threw powder into Homicide’s eyes so that Kip James could hit the Fameasser for the pinfall. After the match, Hector Guerrero told Earl Hebner what happened, and he restarted the match. Homicide rolled up Kip James for the pinfall, but after the match, the LAX argued with Guerrero. Man, if only Hector Guerrero were around to tell the referee what happened for every match… nobody would get screwed over again!
Robert Roode defeated Eric Young (Humilation Match). Pretty typical match between these two, as in I’m not really sure how much more stale this can become. Maybe if they start growing mold on their backs? Our Miss Brooks threw Roode a pair of brass knuckles to get the win. After the match, Roode attempted to get his humiliation in, but Gail Kim ran in for the save. Roode accidentally took out Brooks, and then escaped the tarring-and-feathering that Young and Kim gave to Brooks. YAWWWWWN.
“Wildcat” Chris Harris defeated “Black Reign” Dustin Rhodes via DQ.
Apparently the Black Reign gimmick is like Goldust with black and white paint. Think Muta with more redneck, I guess. This was not much of a match, with Rhodes shoving away referees while he and Harris brawled outside the ring. Finally, Earl Hebner came out and had enough. Nobody could control Rhodes, so then security showed up and got taken out. Rhodes gave Harris some color after he drove a black spike into his face. Sonjay Dutt, Jay Lethal and Kazarian ran out to make the save. While I liked the execution of the match somewhat and the ending, I thought it was a terrible bait and switch to promote a match that never really happened. Maybe Hebner and Hector Guerrero should form a tag team of tattletales.
The Steiner Brothers defeated Team 3D. I guess the burial continues. 3D got a lot of good heel heat too. Such a waste. Sloppy work from the Steiners. I guess Scott gets points for getting up to hit the Frankensteiner again, but on the minus side, Rick almost killed Brother Ray from dropping him on his head. The Steiners hit the top rope bulldog on Brother Devon for the win.
Backstage, Kurt Angle was crying on Dr. Nash’s couch over his wife’s philandering. Yippee.
Mike Tenay brought out Pacman Jones and asked him why he came to TNA. Pacman claimed he wanted to show everyone how great of a team player he was. Instead, Ron “The Truth” Killings showed up… keep in mind that we heard for two weeks that Pacman Jones was coming to TNA, but the guy who got released from his contract, they don’t want to publicize his return. Anyway, The Truth said that pro wrestling isn’t a team sport… it’s about individuals. Can’t argue with that logic. They went on about Pacman’s contract saying that he can’t be touched (on camera), and then Killings tried to go after him, but the cops kept them separated. After an interview segment, Pacman was found in the back lying on the ground with a cut over his eye. Bet the NFLPA won’t be happy to see that stretcher job either…
Sting, Abyss & “The Punisher” Andrew Martin defeated Christian Cage, AJ Styles & Tomko (Doomsday Chamber of Blood). Sting was the first to draw blood on Tomko with a chairshot, but the heels triple-teamed him and threw him out of the cage. Cage pulled out Mainway’s Bag-O-Glass and cut open Abyss. Meanwhile, Sting pulled some wire cutters from his utility belt and attempted to break through the barbed wire. After the pier 6 brawl, Abyss hit Styles with a Black Hole Slam for the win and the #1 Contender’s spot.
Kurt Angle defeated Samoa Joe for the TNA World Heavyweight, X-Division, and World Tag Team Championships (Winner Takes All Match). Karen Angle and her boyfriend were sitting at ringside to play the mind games. Joe pulled down Angle’s trunks so that the moon was out, which got the appropriate laughter from the Trophy Wife at his embarrassment. Angle got out of the ring to yell at his wife, but she threw champagne in his face. Remember when Angle said last year that he never wanted his wife to get involved with his work? I do. Anyway, maybe now there’s some wrestling THANK GOODNESS IT’S ABOUT TIME I MEAN IT’S ONLY FREAKING SAMOA JOE AND KURT ANGLE IN THERE anyway, trust me that they finally got the wrestling on track… and then, they bumped the referee. Oh joy. Angle took over on Joe while the ref was out, so Karen grabbed her chair, teased throwing it to Joe, but gave it to Angle instead and OH MY WHAT A SWERVE WHO THE HELL REALLY CARES chairshot on Joe, and Angle gets the win. Where’s Hector Guerrero when you really need him? It’s Armageddon 1999 all over again minus the drive-thru wedding.
Ugh… it’s sad that there was some good action on this show that totally got overshadowed by all the circus crap going on.
August 15th, 2007 at 8:52 am
I think I’m not even going to bother watching this. I guess the only real surprise on the undercard was that XXX got pinned. But I can’t say that I am loving that fact that Goldust (lite?) is going to be appearing regularly.
I have to say that I was amazed at the genius of coming up with the gimmick match to end all gimmick matches. Not. It surprised me to hear that Abyss won as I thought Christian or Sting were more likely candidates but it is clear that he comes off much more effective as a heel. They have already made him talk but I hope they don’t go down the route of taking his mask off a la Kane. On a sidenote, does anyone know if Marvel can sue over the use of the name “The Punisher”?
I was hoping that Joe would win the main event but if TNA decide to go with the idea of doing away with the X-Division title which you mentioned in the preview, I reckon it’ll be the first nail in the coffin of TNA.
August 15th, 2007 at 10:19 am
I think Goldust was at his best when he debuted because they let him go full-fledged with the gay gimmick and letting it play off the obvious homophobia. One of my favorite moments in a feud was when Goldust kept referring to Ahmed Johnson as a “Hershey bar” or something and felt him up or something while Ahmed was on a stretcher. When they finally met at King of the Ring for the I-C belt, Ahmed busted open the entrance doors and ran to the ring to get his hands on him, which I guess you could interpret him as being really ticked off or really horny.
I bet that TNA is using the “Punisher” nickname with their consent because they are making TNA’s toy line. I bet it’s also probably not as much money as WWE used to have to pay them to use the word “Hulk”.
The spoilers say that Angle has to defend all three titles in three different matches at No Surrender, so I guess it is not going away yet. If they are trying to unintentionally kill off the X-Division, then they might as well do away with the 6-sided ring too, because that’s the only thing that makes it useful.
August 15th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
“they might as well do away with the 6-sided ring too..” Damn good call out there..
I don’t see why they would get rid of the X-Divison title..unless they had plans of bringing in some other type of secondary title–TV/National/etc.
Ahhh..man I totally forgot about that Goldust v. Ahmed fued..good (not great) stuff there!
We could argue/debate the point with what they need and don’t need in TNA–but I think we could all agree is what they need is a more consistent show with decent storylines and GOOD action. Not rehash of what was done years ago by the other guys.
(I still say dump VKM immediately though)