TNA No Surrender 2011

TNA No Surrender 2011

Orlando, FL - September 2011

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the TNA World Heavyweight Champion was Kurt Angle, Brian Kendrick was the X-Division Champion, Mexican America were the TNA World Tag Team Champions, Mickie James was the Knockouts Champion, Eric Young held the Television Championship (but did not appear on the show), and the team of Tara and Miss Tessmacher were the Knockouts Tag Team Champions. 

The show begins with a moment of silence to recognize the 10-year anniversary of the September 11th attack. Its a heavy scene with Zelina Vega, whose father was killed in the attack, holding up the US flag. We then get a video package hyping the main event and the finals of the BFG series (and the video is silent for some reason).

Kid Kash vs. Jesse Sorensen was the opening contest, a bout to determine the number one contender for Brian Kendrick's X-Division Championship. Sorensen was another Dudley Boys trainee who came into TNA without much experience. Kash's is terrific in this; his kicks are stiff, he hits a nasty release suplex at one point (and then another towards the end), and he sells big for Sorensen's often-awkward offense. Sorensen isn't the worst worker ever, but he wasn't PPV ready. Kash hits a moonsault but either he was out of position or Sorensen was. Sorensen hits his finish (and nearly breaks Kash's neck in the process) because he was the rising star, but he wasn't at all ready to be put into that position after a showing like this where he or his opponent could have been injured. (2/5)

Backstage, Angle complains to Hogan about only how quickly tonight's main event was put together. 

James Storm vs. Bully Ray was up next, with the added stipulation that Storm could only win the match by submission. Bully gets a ton of heat playing the chickenshit early, practically running away from Storm and yelling at the ref. The crowd chants "Pussy Ray" until Ray finally lands a cheap shot and the match truly begins. Storm catches him with a hip toss and applies an armbreaker, showing off his new submission skills (Tenay notes he's been training in that area recently to expand his arsenal). Storm continues to work on Bully's arm and reapplies the hold but Bully again kicks out of it and rolls to the outside. Storm follows him out this time and hits him with some haymakers and then slams his injured arm into the steps. Bully, selling limb damage the whole time, takes a swig of beer, grabs a chair, and when the ref takes the chair from him, spits the beer in Storm's eyes to blind him. Bully lays into him with some overhand, open-hand chops to the chest and calls for the Bubba Bomb, but Storm catches him a third time with the cross armbreaker. Bully gets his foot under the bottom rope to break it up so Storm applies a Sharpshooter but Bully crawls his way to the ropes. Storm hits him with some more kicks to the arm and then applies a Fujiwara armbar. Bully counters it into a pin attempt and Storm releases it. At this point, this has to be the best non-stipulation singles match of Bully's career. The finish protects Storm as he loses by DQ after inadvertently spitting beer in the ref's face but he does make Bully submit to the cross armbreaker. After the match, Bully calls Christy Hemme a bitch and proclaims himself the next TNA World Champion to an audible negative response. Good stuff all around. (3/5)

Before the next match, we get a video package reviewing the feud between Winter and TNA Knockouts Champion, Mickie James. Winter was aligned with Angelina Love and it is suggested that she has her under some sort of "spell." The previous Winter/Love match I watched was pretty bad so I had low expectations for this. Right from the jump we get an ugly dropkick from James when Winter tries to get the upperhand before the bell. To the outside they go, where James whips Winter into the steps and then slams her into the rail. Back in the ring, Winter takes over for a bit before James delivers her signature head scissors out of the corner. Love trips her up from the outside and Winter connects with a snap suplex for 2. Winter's heat segment features an old school backbreaker and then a swinging backbreaker ala Sheamus, but she can't keep James down, who comes back with a jacknife pin counter and then a neckbreaker. A forearm exchange leads to James rallying with clotheslines and a big back heel kick for 2. James applies a single leg crab but Winter reaches the ropes with relative ease.Love slips her the title belt, there's a tug of war with Hebner and James looks like she'll get the win with a roll-up but Winter kicks out. Winter runs her into the corner, James fights back and goes for the tornado DDT but Love pulls her out of the ring. James comes off the apron onto Winter and then chases Love up the ramp as Hebner begins to count her out. After Winter distracts Hebner, Winter inadvertently spits blood into the eyes of Love, who is holding James by the ropes. Again, Hebner gets distracted, allowing Winter to spit blood into James' eyes behind his back and get the sneaky pinfall. Uh...didn't the last match feature multiple spit spots leading to the finish? This wasn't too bad, but the weak finish didn't help it any. (2/5)

Brother Devon and "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero took on Mexican America's Hernandez and Anarquia, who were the reigning TNA World Tag Team Champions. This didn't start off too hot, but picked up considerably as it went on. Hernandez was especially good here. I could've done without the played-out misogyny spots (Dinero forcing a kiss on Rosita, holding her up by her hair off the apron, spanking her towards the end), but I can't deny that the crowd ate it up and that her and Sarita got big reactions for their involvement. This was paint-by-numbers but it was effective. The finish was pulled straight from the classic Warrior/Rude match at WrestleMania V, one of my all-time favorites. (2.5/5)

Samoa Joe vs. Matt Morgan was the next match. With Samoa Joe being built up as a backstage bully over the previous few weeks, I figured he would get a somewhat dominant win over Matt Morgan to get the character over but...no. Instead, we get a back-and-forth match that was at least 3-4 minutes too long with Joe looking sluggish and gassed at times and Morgan trying to bring the energy but not showing all that much growth from years of work. I've seen better Matt Morgan matches than this and I've sure as hell seen at least a dozen better Samoa Joe matches than this. A disappointment. (1/5)

Gunner vs. Bobby Roode in the other semi-finals of the Bound for Glory series was next. Before the match, James Storm gave Roode a spirited pep talk and Jeremy Borash reminded him that in order to advance to the finals, he would need to win by submission. Gunner and Roode got a fair bit of time (12 minutes that felt more like 18) and the crowd was fully behind Roode, but there's only so much one could do against a guy like Gunner who was serviceable at best here and didn't get all that much better in the years that followed based on what I saw out of him. Roode is also someone that, at multiple times in TNA and then in NXT, seemed like he could break out and be a bigger deal, but as technically sound as he was, he was never a super worker who could elevate his opponent to a great match. After the match, Bischoff comes out and announces that Roode will face Bully Ray later on in the show. (2/5)

After a promo backstage, Austin Aries challenged Brian Kendrick for the TNA X-Division Championship. This was solid, but they definitely lost the crowd a bit in the middle when they slowed things down and did more mat-based stuff. Aries was on the rise in TNA and Kendrick, dubbed "The Wizard of Odd" by Bischoff, was basically back to being a comedy wrestler by this point as his more serious, "spiritual" gimmick had fizzled out. The best match on the show up to this point in terms of in-ring action but that's not exactly saying much. (3/5)

The finals of the Bound for Glory tournament was next with Bully Ray taking on Bobby Roode in the second match of both guys' evenings. This started off with lots of shtick from Bully Ray, which got him a ton of heat and really got the crowd behind Roode. Unfortunately, the brief runtime - well under 15 minutes - really undercut the "moment" and prevented this from feeling like a true tournament final. The fact that Ray and Roode had probably worked with each other many times over the years in tag matches was apparent in their timing and the fluidity of the match, but the finish seemed a bit sudden to me and I would've liked to have seen Ray get a bit more of a "comeuppance" en route to the feel-good ending. (2.5/5)

Main event time - Sting and Mr. Anderson challenging Kurt Angle for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Sting was in his "Joker" form at this point, Angle was aligned with Hogan and Bischoff's Immortal stable, and Anderson was a former champion and former member of Immortal. With all this going on and all three of these guys being pretty hit-or-miss during their TNA runs, I was not expecting to enjoy this match as much as I was. They wisely leaned far away from any of the storyline building to this match and opted instead to just put on a match that made sense and was built around all three guys' more well-known personas, motivations, and styles. Angle does nothing particularly heelish. Sting does Sting stuff. Anderson is the wildcard but he's also game for being on the receiving end of all of Angle's suplexes and eager to sell the hell out of the Scorpion Deathlock and the Death Drop. This match could never be mistaken for the kind of multi-mans we get from AEW and WWE today, often built around intricate sequences and rapid-fire high spots. But this is never slow and doesn't suffer from any convolution. Unfortunately, the screwy finish ruins an otherwise a perfectly good main event and, due to the star power and the strong performances of all three men, arguably the Match of the Night. One of the better Sting matches I've seen from his TNA run and maybe even one of the better Angle and Anderson bouts from their time there too. (3/5)

With a Kwang Rating of 2.33-out-of-5, No Surrender 2011 is another not-so-hot TNA PPV with very little to recommend but at least three solid bouts in the main event, a surprisingly good Storm/Bully Ray match, and a decent X-Division Championship match. 

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver