TNA Victory Road 2012 Review (belatedly!)

Victory Road took place last Sunday from the Impact Wrestling Zone (for a change). The last 2 have been pretty good so, will that continue? Let’s take a look.

We start with Bully “Calfzilla” Ray coming in and saying that he is holding the PPV hostage until his match against James Storm becomes a No. 1 contender’s match. Storm comes out and agrees to do so but he makes the match right now. Ray gets the upper hand and drinks some of Storm’s beer in order to spit it in Storm’s face. Unfortunately, that plan fails as Ray walks into a Last Call and loses the match. Well, that was quick! I was looking forward to this and instead we get a 2 minute joke of a match. I’m very disappointed with this and not a good way to start the PPV.

Winner: James Storm                                                              Predictions: 1 for 1

Next was the X-Division Championship as Austin Aries (the best thing in TNA right now) took on Zema Ion. Early on in the match, Aries sends a tweet while Ion is on the outside. Ion hits a moonsault on Aries outside the ring, but he only gets a 2 count. Later on, Ion sprays Aries in the eyes and does a roll up but he only gets a 2 count. Ion tries to take advantage of Aries’ temporary blindness but Ion gets hit with a powerbomb from the top turnbuckle. Aries then, while still blinded, hits the Last Chancery to make Ion submit and retain the title. I really enjoyed this match and once again it showed why Aries is the best thing in TNA right now. Hopefully over the next few months, he will start to challenge for the World Championship.

Winner: Austin Aries                                                               Predictions: 2 for 2

Next was the Tag Team Championship match with Samoa Joe and Magnus being challenged by Crimson and Matt Morgan. This effectively becomes a handicap match with Crimson, despite Morgan’s pleas for a tag, dealing with Joe and Magnus by himself. For the most part, he handles them pretty well before eventually getting worn down. Morgan decides to take matters into his own hands, tags himself in and destroys Joe and Magnus. Crimson then tags himself in and after a few arguments, Crimson spears Morgan, giving Joe and Magnus the opportunity to get the victory. I felt that this match told a good story with Crimson and Morgan falling apart in front of our very eyes. I suspected that Crimson was going to turn heel eventually but hopefully his undefeated streak will actually lead to fucking something.

Winners: Crimson and Matt Morgan                                      Predictions: 3 for 3

Robbie E comes out for his open challenge and decides to extend it to the audience. After checking out some of them, he decides to cancel the challenge and do some posing instead. While posing, Robbie T notices Devon going through the crowd to accept the challenge. Despite Robbie E’s protests, the referee starts the match. It was pretty decent with a slightly bizarre cameo by Hulk Hogan’s daughter, Brooke. The end had Robbie E trying to take advantage of  Robbie T’s distraction to do a roll up and failing then Devon hitting a Spinebuster to become the new TV Champion. I thought the match was ok and I loved the bit beforehand. I find Robbie E slightly annoying sometimes but I liked his part in the whole thing here. I could be a cheeky bastard and use the “Divas Royal Rumble” rule to void the prediction (especially since I’m 3 for 3 at the moment) but I’m not going to. Congratulations to Devon on becoming the new TV Champion.

Winner: Devon                                                                        Predictions: 3 for 4

The Knockouts Championship was on the line as Gail Kim defended her title against Madison Rayne in could be an interesting match. During the match, Gail injuries Rayne’s right knee then starts to dominate resulting in a missile dropkick. Gail tries to hit Eat Defeat a couple of times but was unsuccessful. Eventually, she made third time lucky and gets the victory. This was a decent match, which is better than anything that you get in the WWE at the minute. As for Kim, I guess her friendship with Rayne is over.

Winner: Gail Kim                                                                    Predictions: 4 for 5

Christopher Daniels and Kazarian take on the team of Mr Anderson and AJ Styles. Anderson and Styles work well to begin with Styles doing a huge vertical suplex on Daniels. Eventually, Daniels and Kazarian start to wear Styles down. Eventually, Anderson gets the hot tag and tries to hit the Mic Check on Daniels. Styles blind tags himself in and Kazarian tries to hit the Fade to Black. However, Styles countered it into the Styles Clash to get him and Anderson the victory. I enjoyed the wrestling in this match as it has some entertaining high spots.

Winners: Mr Anderson and AJ Styles                                      Predictions: 4 for 6

The penultimate match was between Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle. This was a really good match with so many highlights, including Hardy hitting a Twist of Fate getting a near fall. The end had Hardy hitting the Swanton Bomb and attempting to pin Angle. However, Angle countered into a roll up and used leverage on the ropes to get the victory. Slightly miffed that Angle had to cheat to get the win but it doesn’t take away from what is, at the minute, the match of the night.

Winner: Kurt Angle                                                                 Predictions: 5 for 7

The main event was a non-title match between Sting and World Heavyweight Champion Bobby Roode. This was another good match with Sting really pushing Roode to the limit in a relatively brutal match. The end had Roode throwing a chair into the ring and setting it up. Roode tries to suplex Sting onto the chair. Sting counters it and hits Roode with a Scorpion Death Drop. However, in the process, he bangs his head onto the chair and knocks himself out..??  Wait, what? Then Roode pins Sting and gets the win?? Right, I’m seriously confused as to what the fuck just happened and it’s now boiling into anger. I’ll get to that in a minute as the event hasn’t ended yet.  Roode continues to assault Sting and ties him up to the ropes with duct tape (guessing TNA don’t have handcuffs readily available like the WWE do). TNA President Dixie Carter goes into the ring and Roode rounds on her, giving her a torrent of verbal abuse.

Up until the end, I was enjoying this match then the end ruined it for me. Sting knocking himself out is possibly the dumbest thing that I have ever seen in a wrestling ring, and I’ve seen some dumb stuff. I would understand if someone like Garrett “the future of the business” Bischoff did something like that as it is a rookie mistake. Am I seriously meant to believe that Sting, who has been wrestling for about 30 years and is an icon of wrestling in the 80’s and 90’s, would do a dumb move like that?! I expected Roode to employ some sort of shenanigans to win this because it’s TNA for God’s sake. However, this ending makes everyone look really fucking stupid and reinforces my belief that Roode is not a strong champion.

Winner: Bobby Roode (bizarrely!)                                         Predictions: 6 for 8

I enjoyed some aspects of this PPV as it had some good wrestling matches. As always, I enjoyed the Austin Aries (the best thing in TNA right now) match and I thought the match between Jeff Hardy and Kurt Angle was the best one of the night. However, the beginning and the end ruined it for me. I heard rumours that Storm was carrying an injury going into the event but that doesn’t excuse a 70 second match. As for the ending, what the fuck TNA?! Storm is the number 1 contender for the World Heavyweight Championship and he, along with the Champion Roode, need to look strong going into Lockdown, one of TNA’s flagship PPV events. Unfortunately, they have done the complete opposite and that does not bode well.