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Hard Justice kicks off with a match for the Number One contendership for the X-Divisin Championship - Chris Sabin vs. Alex Shelley vs. Jay Lethal vs. Consequences Creed vs. Amazing Red vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Suicide vs. the debuting "Pope" D'Angelo Dinero in an Escape-The-Asylum/X-Division Asylum match. Amazing Red was a recent re-hire by TNA who had tagged with Suicide a few weeks prior, while Dinero had been released by the WWE in November 2008 (he worked there under the name Elijah Burke) and was seen as something a top prospect due to his charisma, a guy that the WWE had "held down" despite him not actually having much of a track record of great matches. Anyway, this is a spotfest and it was designed to pop the crowd and it did so effectively. Dave Meltzer gave this 4 stars in the Observer, but I'll cut him slack because he was reviewing this at the time it happened and, in 2009, this sort of over-the-top multi-man clusterfuck, when executed well, could still be something to behold. Here, the talent involved is so uniformly strong that all the moving parts and pieces never get jammed up and everyone gets a chance to shine. It's not a match I'd recommend seeking out, but as an opener, it worked. Also, extra credit to Kaz, whose bump from the top of the cage looked ridiculously painful. Dinero not going for the win when he had the opportunity was just bad booking considering the stakes while the way Daniels won also felt a bit too heelish and weak, like he'd been "hiding" at the top of the cage for awhile and just waiting for everyone else to wipe each other out. Amazing Red was arguably the most impressive worker in this match in terms of offense while the Guns had the best tandem moves. After the match, Daniels cut a promo about how he didn't care who won the X-Division Championship later in the match as he'd beat them at the next's month PPV. He also sent his regards to AJ Styles, which seemed to telegraph that we'd be getting another 3-way between Daniels, AJ, and Samoa Joe in due time... (3/5)
Next up - Abyss vs. Jethro Holliday (the roughneck wrestler formerly known as Trevor Murdoch in the WWE) in a match where, if Holliday won, he'd had received $50,000 (the bounty put on Abyss's head from Dr. Stevie Richards). This was your standard brawl with Holliday working hard to give a good impression despite the finish being fairly predictable. According to wikipedia, Holliday won the "Future Legend" award from the Cauliflower Alley Club in 2009...not great foresight there. Holliday always had a great old-school looks that would make viewers think he could be or would be the next Stan Hansen but Hansen was more than just a "look" - he was vicious and did everything with gusto and felt larger-than-life. Here, Holliday shows signs of being good but never of being great and that's what it would've taken for this to be anything more than a throwaway match. Abyss, like Team 3D, was a victim of his own reputation in a sense because people always expected thumbtacks and gore from him so when you only get a couple of chair shots, it feels like you're getting cheated. (2/5)
The British Invasion's Rob Terry took on "SuperMex" Hernandez in the next bout. Terry came in with Hernandez' Feast-or-Fired Briefcase in his possession, which held a contract for a TNA World Championship match. Hernandez cut a rather unnecessary promo before the match, essentially challenging all three men to a fight. Despite having the numbers advantage, Hernandez is able to send Magnus and Doug Williams to the floor. The bell rings and Hernandezs hit Terry with a single shoulder tackle to get the win, which...well...I'm not sure what that was about. I like Hernandez but that felt like a bait-and-switch with the "match" going under a minute. I would've liked to see what these two guys could have really done. (1/5)
The British Invasion vs. Beer Money was next. Eric Young joined the commentary team as he had become the leader of World Elite, a stable comprised of the Invasion, Bashir, and Kiyoshi. Beer Money were on a bit of a cold streak after losing the TNA World Tag Team Championships but were hoping to turn it around with a victory against the IWGP Champs. This was a solid if not super remarkable tag team match with some very good teamwork out of both teams and, of course, Doug Williams being super crisp. Not a bad showing and it didn't overstay its welcome, but not anything I'd put on either team's highlight reel. (2.5/5)
Backstage, Cody Deaner makes a rape joke before the next match. Yeah. It is...not good. Then, during his match, tagging with "girlfriend" ODB to take on Angelina Love and Velvet Skye in a match where Love's Knockouts Championship is on the line, he sexually assaults all three members of the Beautiful People. Why, if he "only has eyes" for ODB does he run around kissing the other three women and pantomime having doggystyle sex with one of them at one point? This shit is not funny and Deaner comes across like an ultra-perverted Joe Dirt. Not only is this bad - because not a single performer in the match is a very good worker, including ODB, whose gimmick is reminiscent of an adult Garbage Pail Kid - it is offensive and embarrassing and sub-Attitude Era in terms of "cleverness." Like, Mae Young giving birth to a hand could at least be considered absurd. This is just gross. (0/5)
What's next? Samoa Joe challenging Homicide for the TNA X-Division Championship. This is a disappointment. Joe was not looking good here and might have been going through a career low stretch. His new look - baggy pants and face-paint - wasn't great and he looked a little extra doughy. While he and Tazz may have been buds backstage, they did not have a ton of on-screen chemistry. Being a part of Main Event Mafia ran counter to his whole character. The crowd was behind Homicide - chanting 187 from the very start - and Joe did some good work maintaining that heat, but this match never really got to that "second gear" and the finish felt a bit abrupt. I'm guessing that they had better, more spirited encounters in TNA but this felt like a TV match and not even a very good one. (2/5)
Booker T and Scott Steiner defended the TNA World Tag Team Championships against Team 3-D in the next match. This one was fought on "No DQ/No Countout" rules because, I'm guessing, they realized that having a straight-up match would've been a total snoozefest and that this show needed something a bit stronger to keep the crowd happy. I have to say that I've come around a bit on Scott Steiner's post-WCW career having now watched more of his WWE run in 2003 and now his TNA years. Steiner was clearly not the worker he was 10 years earlier but he puts in more effort than I think some people give him credit for. In this match, he leaps off a fairly high barricade onto Bubba and while its hardly the level of execution of AJ Styles or Rey Mysterio, its still more than a guy the size of Steiner (with his history of nerve damage to his foot) should probably be performing. The rest of the brawling all over the arena is a bit too messy and pedestrian to leave much of an impression, but I liked some of the nearfalls and the teases towards the end. The inclusion of two referees telegraphs that we're going to get a wonky finish but I would say that the execution of the double-pin is good, arguably great. This match didn't leave me dying for another round, but the crowd was hot at the end so I'm clearly not the audience for this feud. (2.5/5)
Kevin Nash vs. Mick Foley for Foley's Legends Championship is next. I'm not sure how Foley had the Legends Championship at this point, but it doesn't really matter. The build-up for this match, aside from the championship stuff, was that Foley (now a full-fledged babyface) and Nash had philosophical differences despite their friendship: Nash was a self-described "athlete" and "professional," while Foley was a "wrestler," sacrificing his body for "art" and not what really matters (money). It is this kind of personal issue and ability to play into Nash and Foley's histories that helped set the stage for what I would pretty confidently - as of this writing - say is Foley's last great match. There's not much technical wrestling on display or anything, but that was never either guy's strength. Instead, this match is just a great, super bloody brawl that features two excellent signature Foley bumps (his classic back-of-the-skull bump into the guardrail and a crash-and-burn elbow from the apron to the floor) performed with the kind of gusto that its hard not to think that Foley believed this would be his last outing. Nash has his work boots on too. He may not be moving as well as he once did, but he bleeds a gusher to nearly match Foley's crimson mask and shows more energy in his bumping, selling, strikes, and overall movement than I think he brought to the Samoa Joe match a few months prior. I wouldn't necessarily call this "must see" because that would be overselling the quality of the action...but this certainly exceeded expectations and was entertaining from beginning to end. The clear match of the night up till this point. (3.5/5)
Main event time - Sting vs. Kurt Angle vs. Matt Morgan for Angle's TNA World Championship. Credit to TNA here as they planted some interesting seeds in the build-up to this match. Morgan was a "wanna-be" Main Event Mafia member, but had been refused entry into the elite faction. So, coming off some big wins against Abyss and others, Morgan and AJ Styles competed in a series of matches to determine the next number one contender. Morgan came out on top, but Angle convinced him earlier on this show to work together, noting that "As long as one of them left with the TNA World Championship," Morgan would be welcomed into the MEM. This put Sting at a disadvantage, which made him an even more sympathetic babyface. It also made Angle, the cowardly and untrustworthy champion, a bigger heel. Now, I'm not sure anyone expected Morgan to win the title here...but, then again, there was some scuttlebutt at the time about how TNA viewed his potential and their investment in him as a potential "top guy." But enough hype...does the match deliver? I'd argue it features one of the better Sting performances of at least the previous few years and that Morgan and Angle are great playing off of each other. This is not a great technical bout or a high-energy spotfest or a match featuring unbelievable sequences. It is a sports-entertainment match and it is better for being that. Of course, because its TNA in 2009, the finish is overbooked and not well-executed and I still wouldn't consider this a "great" match, but it is likely better than what you would expect on paper. (3/5)
With a Kwang Score of 2.17-out-of-5, Hard Justice 2009 is a mixed bag with some relative highs and significant lows. The ODB match is abysmal, offensive, and supremely stupid, but the main event isn't so bad and Foley/Nash overdelivers. The opener is a fun spotfest and the World Tag Team Championship match is better than expected just by being average. Still, Joe/Homicide is listless and uninspired and the Rob Terry/Hernandez match is a lame bait-and-switch.
FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver
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