Genesis kicks off with Eric Young and LAX taking on the team of Jimmy Rave, Kiyoshi, and Sonjay Dutt. This was an elimination match but there were no quick eliminations and, once the pinfalls did start happening, it became obvious that the aim of the match was all about promoting Hernandez, who had earned a future TNA World Championship match at the previous pay-per-view by grabbing one of the briefcases in the Feast-or-Fired match. I was interesting in seeing Kiyoshi as he was the worker I was least familiar with. Now I understand why as he wasn't too impressive here. After both Young and Homicide were eliminated, Hernandez ended up getting the victory over all three of the heels, but because none of the heels were particularly over, it doesn't feel like that big of a feat. This was fine for what it was. (2.5/5)
Next up - Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin for the vacant TNA X-Division Championship. Shelley and Sabin were both heels, but the "heat" of this match was really about how they were best friends/tag team partners. This is a very good match as most predicted it would be at the time. Shelley showed off more high-flying than he usually did and Sabin did the same with his technical wrestling and submissions, which was a clever turn on what one may have expected. This was wrestled "straight up" until the finish, which saw Shelley feign an injury in order to surprise Sabin with a roll-up. Over at Cagematch, this has a higher rating that I'm going to give it, but if you're into either of these guys, this is worth checking out. (3.5/5)
Next up - ex-referee Shane Sewell takes on Sheik Adbul Bashir. This isn't woeful, but it isn't very good either. The crowd wasn't particularly into this and there weren't any creative twists to make it more interesting than just a former referee wanting to exact revenge on a heel that was a thorn in his side and nearly cost him his job. Very paint-by-numbers with neither Sewell or Bashir having the charisma or ability to lift the material given. They go 10 minutes but it feels like longer. (1.5/5)
The TNA World Tag Team Championships are on the line as Consequences Creed and Jay Lethal defend the titles against Beer Money and Abyss and Matt Morgan in a triangle tag. There's a trashy spot featuring Jacqueline but it pops the crowd so who am I to judge. I like the psychology throughout as both Beer Money and the champs work hard to stay in the match and prevent the monsters from coming in out of fear that they will dominate and then quickly win the titles. Speaking of the monsters, they'd been building up their split for months at this point and we finally get it here when Abyss accidentally clobbers Morgan with a chair. If the last match suffered because it was uninventive and too by-the-numbers, this match works because while it is absolutely a straight-forward, somewhat "simple" match, the teams knew how to infuse it with just enough high spots and comedy and twists and turns to make it work and maintain the crowd's interest. Not spectacular, but not bad. (2.5/5)
Next up - ODB, Roxxi, and Taylor Wilde taking on the team of Raisha Saeed, Rhaka Khan, and Sojourner Bolt. The only reason to watch this match is to see Saeed, aka Cheerleader Melissa, a 10-year veteran at this point who was the most fluid and capable performer in the ring but also tethered to a gimmick that didn't allow her to shine. The crowd isn't too into things, but does pop for Taylor Wilde flying from the top rope to the floor. This is also the first time in the night when some slick spots on the outside cause problems as Roxxi, Khan, and Bolt nearly slip getting into position to catch Wilde. ODB gets the win and then Kong shows up and there's a big brawl and, well, it isn't very inventive or fresh but they were stuck with Christy Hemme getting injured before the show. (1.5/5)
Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett follows in a No Disqualification match. Dave Meltzer went ga-ga for this match online and while it is very good, I wouldn't call it an all-time classic the way others have. There are some flaws in psychology throughout the match, even if one can overlook the sporadic selling (which, to be fair, is something that is cooked into pro-wrestling anyway but more noticeable in some matches compared to others). Here, my issues are maybe nitpicky, but I had them nonetheless. For starters, I think the layout is a bit disjointed as the biggest and wildest bumps and spots happen in the middle of the match and are bookended by "straight" wrestling, which means the stakes and violence isn't escalating but rather crescendo'ing around the two-thirds mark. Second, I didn't love some of the nearfalls and kickouts, very few of which were ones I "bit" on despite being built around signature finishing moves (Jeff Jarrett simply shooting both arms in the air after an Angle Slam was particularly overdramatic in a bad way when a more spirited full-body kickout might've worked better). Finally, the finish itself, a schoolboy "flash pin" felt like a weird prelude to Jarrett eventually getting stretchered out when I think a more definitive, more violent ending would've been better. Those flaws aside, this is still a worthwhile watch and features at least three of the craziest - but probably accidental - bumps I can recall witnessing. Angle gets flipped to the outside and immediately slips on his landing, falling to the ground in a heap. Jarrett attempts a splash and shockingly tries to dive over the top rope, tripping himself in the process and taking a nasty fall to the floor as well. Then, minutes later, Angle hits an Angle Slam on Jarrett into a table off the stage but clearly overshoots it a bit and it is Angle that goes through the furniture while Jarrett lands hard on the concrete (and maybe hits the edge of another table?). They're brilliant moments because they remind us of how dangerous hardcore wrestling can be and how important precision is to prevent injury. Crazy stuff. The crowd was super into this, it felt very heated, the actual wrestling was crisp and high-impact, but this isn't in masterpiece territory. (4/5)
Sting defends his TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Rhyno in the next match. This was a booking mess with a match that wasn't nearly as good as if they had probably just given these 12-15 minutes and maybe let one of their better agents - and I'm not even sure there was one working in TNA at the time - help them lay out a match. One of the stories of the evening was that Rhyno had been kidnapped by the Main Event Mafia earlier in the day, beaten up, and left for dead somewhere. He miraculously made it to the arena anyway, bandaged up and selling damage to his lower back. Sting claims he had nothing to do with the attack despite being a part of the MEM. The match is not good at all. The crowd is pretty much full behind the Stinger because they are in Charlotte and overcompensating with an angle to try to get Rhyno sympathy ended up forcing them to wrestle a match that was all about Sting attacking Rhyno's lower back with bearhugs and his Scorpion Deathlock. This should've been an absolute mauling by Sting with him really selling how conflicted he was about beating down on an already-beaten man, about how much he detested what the MEM had done, with the Stinger begging Rhyno to give up for his own good until he finally put him away with a Scorpion Death Drop. Instead, we get a back-and-forth match that doesn't work because Rhyno showing toughness in defeat is the exact same thing as pretty much every other Rhyno match ever (and especially by this point, when nobody bought him as a main event-level Championship contender). Sting is moving slow and looking old here, which could've at least been counteracted by some character development, but we don't get any. A very poor "main event" match. (1/5)
Main event time - Scott Steiner, Booker T, and the man replacing Kevin Nash....Kip James (Billy Gunn) taking on Mick Foley, AJ Styles, and Brother Devon of Team 3D. This is reminiscent of one of those thrown-together WCW main events when it was obvious that booking plans had fallen through due to injuries or contract disputes and the star power just wasn't there to present something that really felt "main event caliber." Here, I'm not sure why they didn't just make it Foley and AJ vs. Steiner and Booker because Devon and "Kip" stick out as being over in very specific contexts, namely their respective Attitude Era tag teams. Speaking of Foley and AJ, you can see that Foley wants this to be good and AJ being AJ is able to make it decent, but nobody else shines at all and the false finish/re-start came off as a bit corny. Very clunky action at times as Foley did not look good even doing the simple stuff. (2/5)
With a Kwang Score of 2.31-out-of-5, Genesis 2009 is saved by a very good Jarrett/Angle match, an inoffensive Tag Team Championship bout, and a solid X-Division Championship match out of the Motor City Machine Guns. Everything else is either passable or outright terrible, which is a shame because, on paper, a match like Rhyno/Sting and the six-woman tag could've been better. With only one match really worth checking out, this one falls into the category of...
FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver
No comments:
Post a Comment