The first match is a Ultimate X match between Kenny King, Chris Sabin and Suicide for the X-Division Championship. At the beginning, Sabin and Suicide join forces against King. That doesn't last too long as they all start going after each other. As with most X-Division matches, there is a lot of high-flying offence. Highlights of this match include Sabin stepping on Suicide to hit a tornado DDT on King; King applying a single leg Boston crab on Sabin; Suicide hitting an electric chair on Sabin followed by a legdrop by King; and a dropkick from Suicide to Sabin and King on the outside. The end happens when King and Sabin are fighting it out by the belt and Sabin manages to get King off the rope to grab the belt and become the new X-Division Champion. I enjoyed this match and once again, the X-Division get the event off to a good start.
Winner: Chris Sabin
Predictions: 0 for 1
Hulk Hogan comes out and congratulates Sabin on his victory. When he comes down to the ring, he is interrupted by Mr Anderson, Wes Brisco and Garrett "Future of the Business" Bischoff. After a verbal sparring match, Hogan puts them in a match against the team of Magnus, Samoa Joe and Jeff Hardy. Anderson and Hardy start the match and Hardy dominates him followed by Brisco then Bischoff. Joe comes in and almost stomps Bischoff to death in the corner. Later on, Aces and Eights start to wear down Magnus. Brisco hits an armbreaker and Magnus manages to tag in Hardy who takes control of the match, hitting a twist of fate on Bischoff and a whisper in the wind on Brisco. Hardy goes for the swanton but Bischoff pulls him down onto the turnbuckle. Joe and Magnus don't take that well and hit their snapmare/elbow combo on Bischoff. Chaos ensues and Brisco rolls up Magnus for a pin. However, Hardy stops that with a swanton bomb on Brisco and pins him to get the win. This was quite a good match, although I was surprised that this was the second match on the card.
Winners: Magnus, Samoa Joe and Jeff Hardy
Predictions: 0 for 2
After Devon and DOC attack Joseph Park (brother of Chris? You know, Abyss?) during his interview, we get a match between Jay Bradley and Sam Shaw with the winner going on to take part in the Bound for Glory Series. Both guys go for the cover early and later on, Shaw hits a monkey flip. Bradley hiys a backbreaker. Shaw makes a comeback with some dropkicks and tries a reverse neckbreaker. Bradley almost takes Shaw's head out with a lariat to get the win. It was quite a basic match but it was still a decent match.
Winner: Jay Bradley
Predictions: 0 for 3
The next match is Joseph Park (brother of Chris? You know, Abyss?) challenging Devon for the Television Championship. At least that was the plan as Park doesn't turn up thanks to being attacked earlier in the night. Devon gets on the mic and demands that the referee ring the bell and count to ten or he will get hurt. The referee does the count and Devon wins. That was a good match; oh wait, what match?
Winner: Devon
Predictions: 0 for 4
Afterwards, Devon continues to mock Park and Abyss. Abyss comes out and we have an impromptu match between the two. Devon manages to get the advantage and keeps Abyss in the corner. Devon hits a legdrop, mocks Hogan and goes for a flying headbutt but misses. This gives Abyss the opportunity to make a comeback, hitting a chokeslam followed by a black hole slam to get the win and Abyss is your new Television Champion. The match wasn't too bad and Taz kinda has a point when he says that it wasn't an official match. But it's wrestling logic. What you're gonna do?
Winner: Abyss
Predictions: N/A
TNA President Dixie Carter comes out to announce that the second inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame will be Kurt Angle. I've been a big fan of Angle since he debuted in the WWE and I would love to see him back there and one day, be inducted in the WWE Hall of Fame. Angle is a tremendous wrestler who is probably of the best technical wrestlers that I have ever seen as most of the matches that involve him are normally really good. Once again, congratulations to Kurt Angle.
Now a match that
I’m quite looking forward to: a four team elimination match for the Tag Team
Championship between Bad Influence,
James Storm and Gunner, Bobby Roode and Austin Aries and Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez. Chavo and
Hernandez dominate Daniels, Aries and Roode before Storm is tagged in and faces
off against Roode. Later on, Chavo and Hernandez do a double suicide dive on
Bad Influence and eventually the efforts of Roode and Aries and Bad Influence
manage to wear down Hernandez. Hernandez gets to tag in Chavo after doing a
double suplex on Aries and Roode. Chavo starts to get some momentum on Kazarian
and does the usual three amigos on him. After a bit of chaos, Kazarian gets hit
with a crucifix powerbomb by Hernandez followed by a frogsplash by Chavo.
Daniels stops the pin by hitting Chavo with one of the Championship belts.
Unfortunately, it was right in front of the referee, who promptly disqualifies
them. Aries, being inspired by Edge’s manual “How to be the Ultimate
Opportunist”, takes advantage and pins Chavo to eliminate him and Hernandez and
therefore, guaranteeing that we would have new Tag Team Champions. Roode and
Aries try to wear down Gunner but to no avail as Storm is soon tagged in.
Gunner slingshots Aries in to a DDT by Storm and Roode stops the pin. Roode
hits a RR spinebuster on Gunner followed by a 450 splash by Aries. However,
Gunner kicks out and soon after Storm hits the last call on Aries and Gunner
puts him in the torture rack to get the win. This was a fun match and I was
impressed by all the guys taking part in the match.
Winners:
James Storm and Gunner
Predictions: 1 for 5
Next was a match
that I thought could be very interesting: a Last Knockout Standing match
between Gail Kim and Taryn Tarrell with ODB as the referee. The women start punching each other before
Tarrell gets the momentum with a swinging neckbreaker. Gail Kim applies an
octopus stretch in order to make Tarrell pass out. Unfortunately, the count
only goes to 5. Kim gets steel chair but Tarrell kicks it out of Kim’s hand.
Later on, Tarrell does a cross body while Kim had the chair and she lands on
top of it. Kim wraps Tarrell’s legs round the ring post and applies a
figure-four leg lock type move. Tarrell manages to get up at the count of 8 and
Kim tries to spear her into the turnbuckle. However, Tarrell moves out of the
way and Kim crashes into the steel chair that she had earlier put inbetween the
top two turnbuckles sending her flying to the outside. Kim amazingly gets up at
the count of 9. Tarrell then gives Kim a taste of her own medicine when she
does the same figure four move that Kim did earlier. Kim gets up at the count
of 5 and dodges an attempted suicide dive by Tarrell sending her to the
entrance way. ODB counts up to 9 before Tarrell gets up and she and Kim fight
it out on the entrance way. Kim tries to piledrive Tarrell. However, Tarrell
manages to get out of it and bulldogs Kim off the entrance way to the floor.
Tarrell gets up at 9 but Kim doesn’t survive the 10 count, making Tarrell the
winner. This was an amazing night with a lot of highspots, especially
concerning the brutality. The ending, along with Kim flying into the steel
chair, were two of the brutal things that I have ever seen in women’s
wrestling. While I will probably will never see a match like that in the WWE,
TNA have showcased the talent that is available and the type of matches that women
can do.
Winner:
Taryn Tarrell
Predictions: 1 for 6
The penultimate
match is between AJ Styles and Kurt Angle. The action moves quickly to
the outside where Styles show his new style of aggression but a bit later on,
Angle gets the advantage after a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Styles starts to
target Angle’s left knee with a springboard dropkick. Styles continues the
pressure with a single leg Boston crab but Angle reverses into an ankle lock,
which Styles gets out by grabbing the rope. They start punching each other
before Angle hits a couple of clotheslines followed by a belly to belly suplex.
Angle hits a T-Bone suplex for a 2 count. Styles hits a spinebuster followed by
a lionsault for 2. Angle hits a few German suplexes for 2 but Styles gets back
into the match. Angle tries a German suplex from the top turnbuckle but Styles
lands on his feet so Angle does an overhead belly to belly suplex, sending
Styles into the corner. Angle hits an Olympic slam for 2. Angle then applies
the ankle lock but Styles rolls out of it. Styles applies the calf killer but
Angle reverses into the ankle lock and grapevines the leg. Styles manages to
kick out of it and the end comes when Angle goes for the Olympic slam. Styles
manages to reverse it into an attempt at a sunset flip. However, Angle stops it
and puts in another pin attempt to get the win. Even though the ending seemed a
bit out of place, I enjoyed the match.
Winner:
Kurt Angle
Predictions: 1 for 7
The main event is a
no holds barred match with Sting
challenging Bully Ray for the TNA
World Championship and if Sting loses, he is no longer able to challenge for
the Championship. Sting stinger splashes Ray the second that Jeremy Borash
finished his introductions and beats the crap out of his opponent. He gets the
Championship belt and slaps Ray’s back with it. The action and Ray clotheslines
Sting down, giving him back the momentum. Ray clotheslines Sting and immediately
runs to the back to grab a chair. He swings and misses and Sting gets it and
proceeds to destroy Ray’s back with it. Brooke Hogan comes out and Sting
convinces her to go to the back. This gives Ray the chance to low blow Sting
when he comes back. Ray starts using the chair on Sting’s back, kicks the chair
into his face then hits the piledriver for a 2 count. Ray gets a table and
powerbombs Sting through it yet Sting amazingly kicks out at 2. Ray gets a
knife from Tazz and starts to dismantle the ring, exposing the wood under the
ring. Sting tries a stinger splash but misses and Ray hits another piledriver,
this time driving Sting’s head onto the wood. Sting yet again kicks out at 2 so
Ray goes for the piledriver but it gets reversed. Sting goes for the piledriver
but Ray gets out of it and gets hit with a Scorpion death drop. Sting covers
Ray but Bischoff, DOC, Brisco and Knox of Aces and Eights come in to stop the
count. Sting manages to deal with them and hits Ray with a chain. However, the
count is stopped by Devon pulling the referee out of the ring. Sting tries to
crossbody Ray but he gets hit ith a hammer that was given to him by Mr Anderson.
Ray covers Sting and gets the win. This was quite a short match but it did seem
to end in a bit of a clusterfuck.
Winner:
Bully Ray
Predictions: 2 for 8
I thought that
Slammiversary was a good event. The highlights for me were the tag team match,
Angle vs Styles and the Knockouts match. There are some problems in TNA, such
as their creative decisions but you can’t deny that they have some good talent
that have the ability to put on good matches.
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