TNA Sacrifice 2008

TNA Sacrifice 2008

Orlando, FL - May 2008

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the TNA World Champion was Samoa Joe, the TNA Tag Team Championships were vacant, the X-Division Champion was Petey Williams, and the Knockouts Champion was Awesome Kong.

One of the big storylines coming into tonight's show was the Deuces Wild Tournament to find new TNA World Tag Team Champions. The opening contest is one of four quarter finals - Team 3D taking on the odd couple pairing of James Storm and Sting. Storm was a heel and was essentially "big timing" Sting because he was the more experienced tag wrestler. Eventually Sting gets into the match and Storm gives up, opting to drink a beer outside of the ring instead of getting involved. A little bit of fun gaga with Jacqueline too and Brother Ray slapping her on the butt to a big pop. Sting ends up sending Storm through a table and letting Team 3D get the win. Not exactly the "hot opener" that this show - or any show - needs. (1/5)

Christian Cage and Rhino team up against rivals Booker T and Robert Roode next. Another short, forgettable match that just kinda happens. Everyone involved is perfectly capable, but this was nothing really special. After the match, Booker T turns heel by attacking Cage and Rhino. Seems sort of like TNA didn't have much of a plan for Booker T long-term when they brought him in (no surprise there). Slightly better than the opener, but not really by much. Neither team had any real chemistry or did anything remarkable. (1.5/5)

The tournament continues as The LAX (Hernandez and Homicide) take on Kip James and Matt Morgan. Another match that doesn't run long or leave much of an impression aside from how much smaller Homicide looked compared to everyone else. Hernandez is the most impressive performer as he goes toe-to-toe with both Gunn and Morgan and holds his own. It really is no surprise that as the years went on, "SuperMex" became one of the more popular powerhouses on the roster. Unremarkable and too short to even be considered close to good. (1/5)

AJ Styles and Super Eric vs. Awesome Kong and BG James followed in the last match of the tournament. Another skippable, forgettable, unremarkable match that is only salvaged because of how good AJ Styles and Awesome Kong are. This was still too goofy of an idea for me as there was no real chance of Kong winning. At one point, TNA's Tag Team Division was considered to be infinitely stronger than the WWE's, but looking at this tournament, you just don't see any of that. Styles botches the finish and they end things with a roll-up, a decent-enough save but another knock against this sub-par match. (2/5)

A 10-man Terrordome Match to find the new number one contender for the X-Division Championship follows with Consequences Creed, Shark Boy, Curry Man, Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Jimmy Rave, Kaz, Sonjay Dutt, and Jay Lethal all taking part. Before the match begins, Jim Cornette announces that the winner of this match will not only become the number one contender for the X-Division Championship, but will take Kurt Angle's spot in the main event. I'll give some credit to TNA for trying to hot-shot someone into a prominent match from this batch of talents - I assume they figured that it would be Lethal who got the rub as he had had some major matches and moments in 2007 - but I'm not sure it wouldn't have been a better story for Cornette to announce that he has found a suitable replacement and then to utilize someone on the roster who was a bit more of a "name" talent like Styles or Sting or even Matt Morgan or Ron Killings (who at least was a former TNA World Champion). Anyway...with Shark Boy, Curry Man, and Super Eric all on this card, it does feel a bit like TNA was veering too far into bad, gimmicky comedy as these characters/gimmicks were all treading on the same or, at best, adjacent grounds. Shelley and Sabin's double-team maneuvers are the highlight, but Creed and Sonjay also have spotlight moments. This was a fun 10-or-so minutes, but the concept of the match didn't lend itself to a great finish and the sheer number of bodies in the ring meant that there was lots of overselling so that certain guys could "get their shit in." (2.5/5)

The Deuces Wild Tournament continues as Team 3D takes on Christian and Rhyno. The commentators don't mention it, but the crowd recognizes that these four have considerable history from their WWE days. I like Christian and Rhyno coming in and selling the damage from Booker T's attack earlier. I wasn't expecting much about this match, but it was fine. Christian has good chemistry with both of the Dudleys and he and Rhyno get to look tough by keeping things relatively even despite the beatdown they suffered earlier in the show. Johnny Devine ends up coming out and helping the heels win after 10 minutes or so. Nothing remarkable, but nothing offensive or bad either. Better than I expected, to be honest. (2.5/5)

The LAX vs. Styles and Super Eric is next in another tournament match. If AJ Styles got to shine in the first outing, this is Super Eric's round to show what he can do. Lots of energy out of Eric from beginning to end. Hernandez looked like a beast here. Some good wrestling throughout, which is unsurprising because all four might be among the best performers in the entire tournament and they knew how to make the most of their minutes. But this needed more time to really be considered better than average. (2.5/5)

Another multi-man follows as we get a Knockout Battle Royal for the #1 Contender's spot where the final two participants will then fight in a ladder match where the loser will have their head shaved. Holy overbooked stipulation match, Batman! The participants are Rhaka Khan (whose entrance music is good enough to give this match at least 1 point by itself), Velvet Sky and Angelina Love (aka the Beautiful People, whose entrance is so lewd, even Attitude Era Vince McMahon would've probably had to loosen his tie watching it), fan favorite ODB, Salinas of the LAX, Christy Hemme, Jacqueline, Traci Brooks, Roxxi Laveaux, and Gail Kim (who has immunity from getting her head shaved because...I'm not really sure). Kim was the heavy favorite anyway so it was always likely she'd end up in the final two - I'm not sure there are two other women in this match who could even work a 3-minute ladder match - but there was at least some chance that the Beautiful People might end up the final two, which could have been interesting. Anyway, the action is not good in the battle royale, but it rarely is for these sorts of things. When the dust settles, Kim and Roxxi are the last two participants, but because Kim has immunity, if Roxxi wins, it will be Angelina Love who will get her head shaved. The Ladder Match portion of this is way, way, way better and more violent than it probably has any need to be. At one point, Kim hits a sunset flip powerbomb from the ladder and it looks like it might have given Roxxi all the concussions. She comes back, though, and nails a spinebuster onto the ladder in return that there was just no easy way for Kim to take. Vicious stuff. Roxxi is bleeded pretty bad from, I think, the side of her head and her hand. The Beautiful People are constantly interfering to try to make sure Kim wins (so that Angelina doesn't have to have her head shaved). Eventually, their efforts bear fruit and Kim wins the match, but because she did it in somewhat heelish fashion (the true babyface thing to do would've been to step aside, let Roxxi win and have her moment, and screw the Beautiful People) the crowd doesn't cheer and instead chants "Fire Russo" and "Bullshit." For how ridiculously overbooked this was, how did they not see that coming? After the match, Kim and Roxxi try to beat up on the heels, but they escape and it is Roxxi who is forced to have her hair cut. I'm not 100% sure, but it at least felt like the entrances and the post-match lasted longer than the battle royale and the match itself. Again, a point awarded to Rhaka Khan's theme music and another point to the incredible effort by Kim and Roxxi. (2/5)

The Deuces Wild Tournament Final was next - LAX vs. Team 3D for the vacant TNA World Tag Team Championships. These two teams had a whole series of matches against each other in 2007 (IIRC), so the chemistry was there. I really loved Homicide kick-starting the match with a ridiculous tope con hilo. Unfortunately, the rest of the match never really reached that peak again - though Hector Guerrero putting Johnny Devine was kinda cool (if very sloppy). Once again, "Super Mex" Hernandez was super impressive with his agility and power. I liked the clean finish off of a Border Toss-into-a-Frogsplash combo too. Nothing really special in this match, but no worse than average. (2.5/5)

Main event time - Scott Steiner and Kaz challenging Samoa Joe for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Kurt Angle was supposed to be in this match but was injured in South Korea. Frank Trigg was on commentary for this as he had become Angle's on-screen cornerman/training buddy. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised with this match. It's not a classic or anything, but Steiner is more game than I believed he'd be by this point. Steiner's work in 2007/2008 is hit or miss, but this match is worked at the right pace for him and all of his big moments are good aside from a really awkward something-or-other that he and Kaz attempt from the top rope. Joe gets the decisive victory with no interference or bullshit - which I was expecting considering that Rhaka Khan and Petey Williams were at ringside - and Kaz got to look like he belonged in the main event (though, this didn't really solidify him as much as I'm sure he and TNA management hoped). (3/5)

With an overall Kwang Rating of 2.05-out-of-5, Sacrifice 2008 isn't the worst TNA PPV I've reviewed, but it's close to the bottom. The Deuces Wild tournament didn't produce a single match that was better than average and could've been booked in such a more creative way than what we got. The TNA World Championship match was the clear match of the night, though the most entertaining 5 minutes could've been the super violent ladder match portion of the TNA Knockouts Battle Royal. Not worth seeking out, but it did have its moments.

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver