TNA Hardcore Justice 2011

TNA Hardcore Justice 2011

Orlando, FL - August 2011

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the TNA World Champion was Sting, the X-Division was Brian Kendrick, the TNA World Tag Team Champions were Beer Money Inc., the Knockouts Champion was Mickie James, the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions were Tara and Miss Tessmacher, and Eric Young was the Television Champion.

The show begins with a video showcasing Sting's "Joker" gimmick and the night's main event - Sting vs. Kurt Angle for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. I wasn't watching TNA weekly at the time - admittedly, I was never a weekly viewer aside from maybe a couple of months here and there - so I don't remember too much about the gimmick aside from Sting's Heath Ledger-inspired promos, where he would break into song and maniacal laughter (which, honestly, makes it maybe a bit closer to what Joaquin Phoenix did close to a decade later).

Anyway...Austin Aries vs. Alex Shelley vs Brian Kendrick for Kendrick's X-Division Championship was the night's opening contest. Aries had worked in TNA years earlier as "Austin Starr," though I don't think that was referenced when he re-joined the company. Aries is not my favorite person and neither is Kendrick but their douchebag tendencies weren't widely known at this time. As expected, this is a fast-moving, action-packed match and the three combatants have great chemistry. Really liked Aries' heel work. Shelley's offense looked terrific and some of his submissions were really impressive. I was a bit surprised that Kendrick didn't "shine" as much as the other two, but his quickness, timing, and pinballing held the match together even if the other two shined more. What I also liked about this match was that it wasn't all high-flying and big spots as they devoted much more time and energy into establishing the story of Aries being the cowardly spoiler for the first half and Shelley and Kendrick basically wrestling a 1-on-1 match as Aries picked his spots. Towards the end, there seemed to be a "botch" when they were going for a "Tower of Sliced Bread #2" spot, but they played it off so well that I actually thought it added realism to the match. This wasn't "must see" or anything, but it was a fun, well-worked match and a good opening contest. (3.5/5)

The TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championships were on the line next as Sarita (AEW producer/trainer Sarah Stock under a mask) and Rosita (Zelina Vega) of the Mexican America stable challenged Tara and Brooke Tessmacher. Unsurprisingly, Sarita and Tara do much of the heavy lifting for their teams, but Tessmacher isn't nearly as bad as I would've assumed based on her limited training. Vega might actually be the weakest link in the match, taking an ugly bump in the corner from a Tara chokeslam early on and delivering an awkward splash later on. Still, I'll give her credit - she throws herself into some of her falls and takes a hell of a Widow's Peak to end things. A decent enough contest. (2.5/5)

Devon (of Team 3D fame) vs. "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero was next on the card, a match that was part of the annual Bound for Glory tournament/series. The action was good, but I disliked the "drama" before it kicked off with Dinero cutting a promo backstage about how he was going to "do the right thing." Once he got to the ring and the bell rang, Dinero, who had befriended Devon's kids, wife, and even his mother, offered to lay down, but Devon wanted to kick his ass instead. If you're going to spend so much time on an angle or storyline like this, I feel like you need to go over-the-top with it and really deliver the unexpected. Instead, after initially trying to have Devon pin him, Dinero fought back and we got a good-not-great match between the two. Devon was competent as a singles wrestler, but its obvious he doesn't have any real buy-in from the fans as anything apart from being a member of Team 3D. Dinero, who was somewhat over a year earlier, was a midcarder-at-best by this point and, while giving him the clean W here was a step in the right direction of renewing his push, I would've liked to see some storyline progression that illustrating his cunning or that he was a dangerous, clever "puppetmaster" in a way that this match does not deliver on. Not bad, but nothing worth seeking out. Oh, Matt Morgan was surprisingly not bad on commentary. (2/5)

Mickie James defended her TNA Knockouts Championship against Winter (formerly known as Katie Lea Burchill). This was not good. They got 9 minutes but they had zero chemistry and there wasn't a single sequence or move that looked anything above mediocre. Looking over at Cagematch, it is mind-boggling that Winter somehow has a rating of 8 despite, to my knowledge, not once having a match or gimmick in the States that was very good. I tend to like Mickie's work, but will concede that she's at her best when she's paired with a dance partner that compliments her own mix of strong character work and solid (if not super flashy or innovative) in-ring skill. At this point, James' character was so basic and uninteresting that I've been mostly unimpressed with her TNA run up to this point and miss the days when she was pushing boundaries a bit in WWE and having one of the era's best storylines/feuds with Trish Stratus. "Hardcore Country" Mickie James was too vanilla and certainly not "hardcore" in any way. (1/5)

Crimson vs. Rob Van Dam followed, a match that was booked as part of the Bound For Glory series to crown a new number one contender for the TNA World Championship. Crimson, who was given something of a mega-push despite having less than 60 matches under his belt by this point according to Cagematch, was simply not ready to be doing more than squash matches on TV to build up his reputation and also get a better feel for how to play to the crowd and get them engaged. Rob Van Dam, as much as I think he's had some excellent matches over the years, is also like a kid in high school who is happy to be a C student as long as he can hang with his buddies and collect a fat paycheck. He's over, sure, and rightfully beloved for his undeniable charisma and the showmanship he brought in his prime, but 2011 Rob Van Dam is very different from 1998 or 2002 Rob Van Dam and the 2011 version is who we get here. Jerry Lynn ends up causing a DQ when it looks like RVD is going to take a loss. I'm hoping that RVD wanting to revisit his legendary feud with Lynn - after their generally well-received Destination X match from a month or so earlier (I haven't seen it, but it has a decent near-7 rating at Cagematch) - means he'll bring more creativity and energy to their eventual match. As for Crimson...I'm still waiting to see what the TNA execs saw in this kid. (1.5/5)

Fortune (AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, and Frankie Kazarian) took on Immortal's Scott Steiner, Abyss, and Gunner (also known as Jaxson Ryker). Gunner was the worst worker in this match by a few country miles and I'm certainly no Abyss fan or claiming that Steiner was working at even 25% of his former glory. Speaking of Abyss, him and AJ Styles always had such great chemistry and timing so putting them together in this match is sort of a "cheat code" for getting something halfway decent. Daniels and Kazarian are great technical wrestlers in terms of execution, timing, bumping, selling, high-flying...really everything except making me truly care if they win or lose, which, to me, has always prevented me from rating them very high. It was clear here that year and years of working with Steiner - in tags, in singles, in multi-mans - paid off because he does not look out of place or awkward or even "slow" against the X-Division guys. This isn't a great match or anything and I'd argue it goes a touch too long at nearly 15 minutes, but AJ, Daniels, and Kaz brought the energy to make this work. (2.5/5)

Bully Ray vs. Ken Anderson was the next match, a fight to figure out who was TNA's true "asshole." Both guys were heels, but Anderson was maybe more a tweener at this point despite joining Immortal. Anderson had won the TNA World Championship at Slammiversary but then dropped the title back to Sting on an episode of Impact. Anyway...this was surprisingly solid. I'm not a huge fan of Bully Ray as a person or a performer and Anderson has never been someone I considered a great in-ring worker, but they brought the intensity and kept the foot on the gas throughout this match, delivering a good fight. (3/5)

After a backstage segment in which Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff voiced their displeasure with Abyss, the Tag Team Championships were on the line as Beer Money Inc. defended the gold against Mexican America (Hernandez and Anarquia). This wasn't too terrible, mostly because Storm and Roode are/were solid hands in the ring and they had plenty of experience against Hernandez from his time teaming with Homicide in LAX, a much, much better team than the one he had going here with Anarquia. At 10 minutes, this one didn't overstay its welcome but still felt like a legitimate title defense. What this match could've used was an actual gimmick or stipulation and Brian Hebner sending Sarita and Rosita back to the locker rooms before the match even began meant that they had this get this match over with just the in-ring action (when the women could've been used better to build heat and suspense). (2/5)

Main event time - Kurt Angle vs. Sting for Sting's TNA World Championship. The storyline coming into this match was that Sting, who was in his "Joker" phase, was trying to keep hold of the TNA World Championship so that it would've fall into the clutches of Immortal as he was the lone defender against their takeover of the company and was trying to return Dixie Carter to power (somehow). Angle, meanwhile, was the Number One Contender and his sole motivation was winning back his cherished TNA World Championship. It was essentially a face/face dynamic and the match was fought cleanly by both men for most of its 15-minute runtime. I'll give credit to Angle too as he was definitely doing everything he could to make Sting's offense look great and spent most of the match bumping and selling rather than pushing the tempo or "gassing" the Stinger. The rating on Cagematch seems to be mostly based on the unpopular finish, which saw the ref go down from an errant enziguiri and then Hulk Hogan coming down with a chair (seemingly to attack Sting). Angle pulled the chair out of Hogan's hands and basically sent Hogan out of the ring before striking Sting with it himself and then hitting an Angle Slam for the victory. Personally, I thought the finish - while not great - made logical sense and did leave the show with an interesting cliffhanger as Angle proved he was willing to do whatever it took to win the title but didn't necessarily want Hogan's help to do it (even though that is how it worked out). I don't know where the storyline went from here, but I'm at least curious, which is a feeling I don't always have at the end of watching one of these TNA shows. (2.5/5)

With a 2.28-out-of-5 score on the Kwang meter, Hardcore Justice 2011 didn't feel "hardcore" at all and really could've used at least one or two matches with meaningful, enticing stipulations to make them worth sitting through. The opener was the best match on the show as nothing else on the card delivered anything above "alright." As much as I respect and enjoy so much of Sting's work in the early-to-mid-90s and even in AEW, his charisma could only carry him so far at this stage of his career and it showed in his output. 

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver