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CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, Rob Van Dam was the TNA World Heavyweight Champion (having defeated AJ Styles for the title on an episode of Impact if I'm not mistaken), the TNA World Tag Team Champions were The Band (Hall and Nash, but also Waltman and Eric Young because reasons), the X-Division Champion was Kazarian (despite the fact that the previous champion, Doug Williams, had never lost the title), the Knockouts Champion was Madison Rayne, and the Beautiful People were the Knockout Tag Team Champions.
Sacrifice 2010 begins with a triple threat tag team match to crown new number one contenders' for the TNA Tag Team Championships between The Motor City Machine Guns, Beer Money Inc., and Team 3D. This match was all about showcasing the Guns and they look terrific here, their tandem offense getting big reactions and executed beautifully throughout. The bulk of the match is fought between Beer Money and the Guns, though Team 3D do enough in the match to warrant their inclusion (even if they're definitely a step behind the other teams in terms of what they can physically do at this point). At under 15 minutes, this match never gets dull, never really slowing down from beginning to end. Good opener with the right team winning. (3/5)
I'm not sure why the Abyss/Desmond Wolfe backstage segment was pulled off of YouTube, but I'm guessing it was because doing a storyline involving sex trafficking was not something TNA was super proud of years later. Anyway, no big loss...
And so, instead of showing that segment, the show jumps to Rob Terry defending the TNA Global Championship against Orlando Jordan. This is a bizarre match as Terry absolutely dominates and it looks like he is going to wrap this one up in under 5 minutes, but OJ gets some offense in and makes it a contest...that nobody wanted to see or cared about. Terry was not a worker capable of doing a full 10-minute match and because this one, which is about 8, showed his limitations. OJ is actually a bit of a better worker than I remember him being, with some good heel tendencies and vicious strikes, but he's not a miracle worker and far from the kind of guy who could carry another bad-to-decent wrestler. (1.5/5)
Doug Williams challenged the recognized TNA X-Division Championship against Frankie "Kaz" Kazarian in the next match. Williams, who was stripped of the title due to be unable to compete because of green card issues (?), was trying to win back the belt he'd never really lost. Kazarian was a perpetual TNA "project," a guy they clearly hoped they could somehow morph into a star at the same level as, say, AJ Styles or Samoa Joe...but it never really came together. He's very good in this match, as is Williams, but there is just something about this that doesn't quite reach the level of being an all-time classic (even with ample time and a great mix of action). Kaz takes a nasty bump on what was supposed to be a Buckle Bomb, the kind of "botch" that could've done serious, serious damage to his spine. Its an awkward moment - the crowd audibly gasps - and you can almost see the hesitation about where to go next as the match still had 3-4 minutes in it (despite the Buckle Bomb bump being so noticeably violent that it could've likely worked as a match-ender). The clean finish was a bit of a surprise too as I expected Williams to have to use some sort of treachery to get the win. (3/5)
Backstage, there's a segment with Team 3D talking to Ink Inc., the team of Shannon Moore and their protege Jesse Neal. Gee, I wonder if Team 3D is going to take out their frustrations later in the show on the guys they mentored who are challenging for the TNA World Tag Team Titles...
Madison Rayne defends the TNA Knockouts Championship against Tara in a Title-vs.-Career match next. Tara having her "retirement" match go under 7 minutes tells you a lot about how much trust the new regime in TNA had in the Knockouts Division. Tara is clearly the better worker of the two as Madison Rayne doesn't move very smoothly and none of her offense looks convincing enough. The booking is bizarre too as Rayne gets a clean victory to retire Tara. I can understand Tara wanting to put over Rayne, but as a member of the Beautiful People, she wasn't really a credible worker and the roster had other talents that could've used the rub. Spoiler alert: Tara did not actually retire either and still was competing regularly up through the 2020s. Pretty weak match. (1.5/5)
Backstage, we get a segment with Eric Young talking about why he joined "The Band," aka Kevin Nash and Scott Hall (and Sean Waltman, who had been written off TV in April for reasons I couldn't quite find online but am guessing either had to do with him having Hepatitis C or being a drug addict). You might recall that not too long before this, Nash actually turned on Young to join his old friends. This does not make Young look cool or tough, which I guess is the point of him being a heel, but I'm not a fan of it.
Ink Inc. (which, by the way, is the second tag team on this show with "Inc." in their name because TNA had absolutely zero quality control) challenged The Band for the TNA World Tag Team Championships next. I was really surprised that Hall and Nash worked this match because I figured bringing in Eric Young to replace Waltman would mean he would be the one getting in the ring more often than not (they even alluded to The Band following the "Freebird Rule" in their pre-match promo). I was less surprised that this match was unremarkable, dull, and relied too heavily on shtick and overbooking as both Eric Young and then Bubba Ray Dudley got involved. Over on Cagematch, the reviewers give it a pass by saying it isn't as bad as it could've been, which is true, but its not like its even in the ballpark of good or entertaining either. (1/5)
Desmond Wolfe vs. Abyss followed. As I noted earlier, the storyline coming into this match was that Wolfe had convinced his valet, Chelsea, to fake that she had been physically (sexually?) assaulted by Abyss and Abyss had been arrested. Didn't they try to run this storyline with Goldberg in 99'? Anywho...at least half the crowd is chanting for Desmond Wolfe, which tells you how over "Hulkamaniac" Abyss was as a gimmick. The match goes 9 minutes but feels longer because it is so pedestrian. I'm a Desmond Wolfe/Nigel McGuinness fan, but seeing him working over Abyss with a key lock is not riveting stuff. Up for grabs in this stinker are Abyss' Hall of Fame ring (which the Hulkster had given to him for some reason because I think Bischoff and Hogan thought having Abyss as their new 'Evad Sullivan' was a good idea) and the "services" of Chelsea for 30 days if Abyss were to win. Abyss wins after "Hulking Up," which is about as lame as you'd expect, and screams in the face of a terrified Chelsea to further this terrible storyline. (1.5/5)
Ken Anderson took on Jeff Hardy in the next bout. Another good promo from Anderson before the match, referring to Hardy's fans as the "Creatures of the Night," which I wasn't previously aware was what Hardy called his fans (and associate that phrase much more with the Undertaker). Anyway...good, not great match. Hardy looked kinda slow here, not necessarily drugged-out or drunk or anything, just not as spirited and energetic as he was in his better matches. Anderson was good, but often lacked that "next level" in his matches when there wasn't blood or some storytelling element that he could rely on to make a match memorable (not dissimilar to Edge). The same can also be said of Jeff Hardy who always seemed to shine more in stipulation matches or when he had the opportunity to dive off of something super high. Not a bad match at all, just not anything I'd seek out. (2.5/5)
The next "match" is more of an angle than actual match as Sting absolutely destroys Jeff Jarrett all over the arena. Jarrett is sporting a crimson mask before the cameras even cut to Sting to beating his ass backstage. I really liked the way Sting went after Jarrett's arm and shoulder and Jarrett's selling of the damage. This went on a bit long and I kinda felt like someone - anyone - should've come out to try to stop the Stinger as it went on (Hogan eventually showed up). Also, as was an issue throughout this show, including in the previous match, the crowd seemed split on what they were watching as a vocal portion cheered on Sting. I think its fair to say that the loyal TNA fans had trouble "playing along" with some of the storylines being presented because, ultimately, guys like Hogan and Bischoff were viewed as outsiders who were changing what the TNA hardcore fans loved most of the company. And so guys like Abyss, positioned as their ally, got booed against beloved "indie" guys like Desmond Wolfe (it also didn't help that Abyss, unless he was wrestling a match involving barbwire and tacks, wasn't all that great). Its hard to rate this as a "match" because the wrestling portion - Sting hitting his trademark reverse DDT for the win - only last 12 seconds. As a segment, though, it was entertaining enough to warrant a point. (+1)
Main event time - AJ Styles challenging Rob Van Dam for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Van Dam had come in from the WWE and immediately declared himself "Mr.TNA," which was surprisingly not shit-on by the TNA fans. Like Jeff Hardy, Van Dam is so beloved that he can get away with patently absurd stuff like that. This was a disappointment to me, a match that felt really disjointed and separated by too much flat work despite some good spots - Styles hitting an awesome dropkick to Van Dam's face, Styles ridiculous front-flip dive to the floor, Rob Van Dam signature stuff, Ric Flair's incoherent-but-amusing commentary. The match had a "big fight feel" in its initial minutes and the crowd was with them for most of its 20+ minute runtime, but this was not the "Dream Match" I was hoping for. Like Hardy, Van Dam looked a little slow here, which makes sense considering the wear-and-tear to his body. This forced AJ to slow down his own game, which made the overall presentation feel boring. I also really disliked the bizarre decision to shoehorn a Jay Lethal/Ric Flair spot at the end of the match. Lethal's involvement hurt the "star quality" aspect of the match as he, even at his TNA peak, was several positions lower on the ladder than anyone else involved. Plus, it took attention away from a match that, in its final minutes, should've really had all the focus and heat. Underwhelming bout. (2/5)
With a Kwang Rating of 2.13-out-of-5, TNA Sacrifice 2010 is mostly sub-average with the major matches on the card (Anderson/Hardy, Van Dam/Styles, and Wolfe/Abyss) all being decent-at-best. The opener and the X-Division Championship matches are good, but certainly not "must see" and the Jarrett/Sting angle, even if well-executed, could still be categorized as a "bait-and-switch" moment for TNA on a card that wasn't good enough for that to go unnoticeable.
FINAL RATING - DUDleyville
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