.jpg)
The second TNA PPV of the Hulk Hogan Era, Against All Odds 2010 begins with Ric Flair shouting like crazy about how Eric Bischoff has named himself the Special Guest Referee for the night's main event. After a video package, we go to the ring for the opening contest - and the first match of the night's 8-Man Stud Tournament - Desmond Wolfe vs. D'Angelo Dinero. This is a better outing than their one at Genesis, though I'm sure many were upset with the finish. Wolfe dominates most of the match and, because of that, it is quite entertaining. He also delivers a much more brash, guttermouth set of moves, which plays to Dinero's strength as a bumper as compared to the slower, more submission-style offense Wolfe utilized in their previous encounter. I think some of the voters on Cagematch are a bit harsh on this one when they complain about the match length as their last match, despite being longer, was less engaging bell-to-bell. We saw what they could do given more than 10 minutes and it wasn't all that great. (2.5/5)
The next match saw the reigning TNA World Tag Team Champions - Matt Morgan and Hernandez - do battle. This wasn't going to be a clinic and there's one particularly ugly spot when Hernandez comes off the top and Morgan isn't prepared or physically can't catch him. To their credit, they move on nicely and don't try it again (which probably would've ended in another embarrassing botch). I really liked the finish too as, prior to the bout, Morgan and Hernandez had promised to have something of a "gentleman's match" and keep it all about the spirit of competition, but Morgan is such a jerk that he refuses to take a count-out victory and, instead, goes after Hernandez' clearly-injured shoulder before pulling on his tights to get the W. Its really good arrogant jock heel work and, because the match itself doesn't go super long, I was never really bored by this. (2.5/5)
Kurt Angle vs. Ken Anderson is next. Anderson's pre-match promo was good as he was forced to improvise a bit when the microphone didn't cooperate on its way down to the ring. Anderson and Angle had really good chemistry, but the match sorta peters out as it gets going and could've stood to be a little bit "tighter" after Anderson bloodies Kurt with his dog tag necklace. I really liked Anderson's energy throughout, but kinda wish he had been even more overt and needlessly vile when he went after Angle's cut. (2.5/5)
Abyss vs. Mick Foley was next. Before the match began, Eric Bischoff talked to both guys backstage and told them that if there were any "shenanigans" in their match, Abyss would have to lose his mask. He made the match No DQ and then handed Foley a barbwire bat. Wouldn't the possibility of challenging for the TNA World Championship be enough of a motivator? Anyway...I really hate this version of Abyss and Foley was so clearly far, far, far past his prime. Foley busts out the thumbtacks, but ends up Black Hole Slam'd into them for the finish. This was more about the "story" than the action, which was unoriginal, uncreative, and boring. (1.5/5)
Team 3D vs. The Nasty Boys was next. This match might've been cool if happened in WCW in 94' when the Nasties were wrestling an ultra-violent style against guys like Foley and Team 3D were still a fresh team. In 2010? Not so much. Knobbs can barely take a bump. The work throughout is sloppy with the Nasties not even bothering to really tag each other. The fans want tables within the first 5 minutes, which is par for the course by this point for Team 3D in TNA. Jimmy Hart interferes to give the Nasties the win with a finish straight out of their WWE run in the early 90s, but the camera misses it. The best thing to say about this match is that it only goes 11 minutes and its clear that Team 3D are trying their best, but this was not good. (1.5/5)
The Studs Tournament continues with Matt Morgan vs. "The Pope." Somehow, this is better than either guy's first match on the show despite Dinero wrestling Desmond Wolfe and Morgan taking on a fairly good brawler/bruiser in Hernandez. Sometimes its just a matter of chemistry and these two guys have it. Morgan works better as a heel bully and Dinero draws sympathy having to bump and sell against a much bigger opponent. This wasn't a "must see" match or anything, but it was considerably better than it probably had any right to be considering the talents involved at this time in their careers, especially Dinero, who was still fairly "green" and was being expected to work (spoiler alert) three matches on the show. (2.5/5)
The last of the quarter finals matches were next as Ken Anderson had a rematch against Abyss (they had fought in Anderson's TNA debut a month earlier at Genesis). I liked Anderson's pre-match promo, even if it was a bit corny to work in a Caddyshack reference. Anyway, this was equal to or maybe better than the Genesis match. Anderson was working full-on heel by this point and it was shorter, which meant I didn't have to stomach too much of Abyss in lame babyface mode. Still, nothing worth watching and the only thing it really progressed was that Abyss didn't want his mask taken off. (1.5/5)
The TNA World Championship was on the line next as AJ Styles defended against Samoa Joe, who was cashing in his guaranteed World Title shot from the Feast-or-Fired match. Before the match, Hulk Hogan tells Eric Bischoff that he needs to call it down the middle despite his history with Ric Flair. They were really trying to add some intrigue to this match because I don't think anybody believed Joe stood a chance considering Styles' heel turn was relatively recent and he was clearly being pushed hard in his new role as "The Next Nature Boy." I can see why some people really disliked this run from AJ as he wasn't necessarily "natural" in the role and the over-the-top mimicking of Flair could be grating. Personally, I kinda liked the shtick. Once the bell rings, this match is great. AJ and Joe make it look so easy, but their chemistry here was off the charts and you can see it with the brilliant cut-offs and the counters and the way they organically go from one signature spot to another. AJ Styles' bumping is its usual awesome. Joe's jabs look sharp. The biggest criticisms I had of this match is that with so much focus on Joe's knee, I would've liked to see that play a factor in the finish - which featured Eric Bischoff punching out Flair on the outside but missing out on Joe's visual 3 count - instead of it ending with a Pele Kick and a Styles Clash that weren't at all part of the rest of the narrative of the rest of the match. The mix of AJ and Flair was always going to be a bit of an awkward pairing because they are so dissimilar in their characters and the way they work a match and this is a good example of how the pieces don't fit. Still, for 17-out-of-20 minutes, this match is really, really good. (3.5/5)
Main event time - "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero vs. Ken Anderson in the finals of the night's 8 Card Stud Tournament. Before the match begins, Anderson cuts another promo and, again, I'll admit, I liked it. Maybe its because I haven't watched much Ken Anderson in the past 15 years, but I enjoyed the shtick. Dinero also cuts a promo but gets attacked by Scott Hall and Sean Waltman. Why them? Hall couldn't work and Waltman was, at best, passable at this point in his career. Anyway, this leads to Anderson almost winning by countout, Dinero showing up, and Anderson dominating the majority of the match as Dinero played the fiery underdog. I tired of the dynamic around minute 7, but I'll admit that they brought me back in towards the end and the Impact Zone crowd was hotter for D'Angelo Dinero here than on any other night that I know of. In a previous review of a Dinero match, I wrote about how his selling wasn't his strong suit and I'll eat my words a bit here because he is very easy to root for in this match, if maybe just a bit over-the-top at times when he's gripping his abdomen and writhing around on the floor. Again, I would've maybe shaved a couple minutes off of here, but overall, this was solid and because they had built up Dinero's finisher as a really strong move, the finish made more sense than it might seem. Anderson having his finish not end the match was a poor choice, though. (3/5)
With a Kwang Score of 2.33-out-of-5, Against All Odds 2010 is an uneven show and impossible to recommend as a whole, but there are some strong performances that do nudge things towards "watchable" territory. The actual wrestling in Styles/Joe is excellent. Dinero has what I assume is the best night of his career. Anderson looks like a star. Matt Morgan has two decent outings. The low points of the card are the matches featuring the more sluggish brawler types - Abyss, Team 3D, the Nasty Boys - wrestling in boring contests that would've benefitted considerably from the more violent, wild hardcore spots that put them on the map in the first place.
FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver
No comments:
Post a Comment