TNA Turning Point 2011

TNA Turning Point 2011

Orlando, FL - September 2011

CHAMPIONS RUNDOWN: Coming into tonight's show, Bobby Roode was the TNA World Champion, the X-Division Champion was Austin Aries, Velvet Sky was the Knockouts Champion, the Television Champion was Eric Young, Mexican America were the TNA World Tag Team Champions, and the Knockouts Tag Team Champions were Gail Kim and Madison Rayne. 

TNA Turning Point 2011 starts with a video package that doesn't do a very good job of explaining how we got to tonight's main event - at least for anyone who is following the storylines solely through the PPV results. The Bound for Glory show had ended with Kurt Angle retaining the TNA World Championship through heel tactics against Bobby Roode but, a month or so later, Roode has the title and has turned heel on the former champion and his ex-tag partner James Storm (which means there were two televised TNA World Championship title switches in the span of a month and both could've been seen as rather huge coronations had they been treated as such). Also, if you're thinking the night's main event would be Roode/Storm or Roode/Storm/Angle to settle who is the rightful TNA World Champion, you'd be thinking wrong...

The opening contest sees Robbie E (backed up by "Robbie T," aka former British Invasion wrestler Rob Terry) challenge Eric Young for the TNA Television Championship. Young puts his heart into his performance, but his character was too dopey for me at this point. Maybe if I was a regular TNA viewer at this time I could've/would've understood why Young was wearing such a garish ensemble and why he stripped down twice - once to tights that read "FTW" and then to even smaller purple tiger-print ones - as he started to fire-up for the finishing stretch, but the commentary team didn't help matters at all. The crowd didn't totally turn on this, which shows just how much innate charisma Young had and that, over time, he had built a connection with the crowd. Interference from Rob Terry leads to a title change. (1.5/5)

The next bout was for the TNA World Tag Team Championships as Mexican America (with Sarita, aka Sarah Stock [who has been all over wrestling news websites recently with her criticisms of AEW]) took on Ink Inc. and Toxxin (journeywoman Christina Von Eerie). I'm not sure why the TNA Tag Team Championships would be on the line in a six-man tag, but whatever. The story here is that Hernandez had put Jesse Neal on the shelf and now the ex-Marine was back seeking revenge. When the commentary team noted that these two teams faced each other at Bound for Glory, I wondered if I had maybe fallen into a coma during it and that was why I didn't remember it, but some research reveals that it was on the pre-show (which probably explains why Bound for Glory felt like one of the best TNA PPVs I've ever seen). It's not that either time is particularly terrible, but they're not interesting or exciting workers beyond a single spot or two in the cases of Shannon Moore and Hernandez. Anarquie and Jesse Neal are just dull. Sarita and Toxxin were there but not over enough to make a difference when they got their segment in the match. It was 8 minutes that felt like 12-13. (1.5/5)

Austin Aries defended the TNA X-Division Championship against Jesse Sorensen and Kid Kash in the next match. They got considerably more time than the six-man and told a more interesting story, but this still wasn't close to "must see." Coming into the match, Kash and Aries had formed an alliance to punish Sorensen for...well...that's not super clear based on the pre-match promo or the commentary work, but Kash sure does hate him. Aries plays the weasel who only cares about retaining the championship, which makes Kash look like an absolute fool for trusting him for so long. Sorensen showed fire at times, but his offense didn't feel special or unique. Kash's finisher was nasty, though. (2.5/5)

Rob Van Dam vs. Christopher Daniels was next. Daniels was insufferable, which is the point of being a heel, but he wasn't insufferable in an entertaining, clever, or original way. Before the match, which was supposed to be No DQ, Daniels has Rob Van Dam to agree to making it just a straight-up wrestling match, which should've paid off with Daniels using all sorts of dirty tricks and weapons, going back on his word and exposing himself as not being able to beat RVD straight-up. Unfortunately, they took till the end of the match to get to that part of the match and, in the 10 minutes it took to get there, we didn't see much of any chemistry between these two guys. Maybe in 2011 this would've been considered good, but I found it pedestrian and boring at times, two guys basically moving through the paces for 10 minutes before we get to Daniels grabbing a screwdriver, getting stopped from using it, eating a frog splash and losing relatively cleanly. (2/5)

Somehow the next match - Crimson vs. Matt Morgan - was the best Crimson matches I think I've ever seen despite him being in there with another guy that I rarely have much praise for. Now, that's not to say this match is particularly great or innovative or even that the crowd is super into, but it is physical, tells a basic story, and offers sufficient "big men slapping meat" vibes to work. Even the finish, an inconclusive draw caused by both guys roughing up the referee, worked for me just because it was unexpected and not a finish you see every day. This still isn't good enough to warrant seeking out, but it exceeded my admittedly low expectations. (2.5/5)

After a funny promo backstage, Scott Steiner and Bully Ray teamed up to take on Abyss and Mr. Anderson. Like the last match, I did not go into this expecting anything good. Anderson and Billy started things off with Billy doing lots of shtick, bumping and feeding for Anderson before tagging out after a back suplex. Steiner hits some chops but then eats a clothesline off the second rope. Bully Ray pulls Anderson down and pulls him crotch-first into the post, giving Steiner the advantage. For some reason, the crowd goes wild at this point for Steiner, chanting “We Love Steiner” as he continues to berate them. It’s clearly the opposite of what the guys from Immortal were hoping for as this whole segment was about building to Abyss’s hot tag. Steiner comes in to a huge pop and hits an avalanche fireman’s slam that looked great. Another “Steiner” chant breaks out but they cut it off by having Bully come in. Anderson makes the tag and Abyss takes out both heels. Abyss hits a huge splash onto Steiner but only gets 2. He calls for the chokeslam and hits it but Bully breaks the count. Abyss hits a double clothesline but gets clotheslined out of the ring. Anderson had tagged in and he hits a crossbody on Steiner for 2. Steiner hits a sweet reverse Rock Bottom (Flatliner?) and then positions Anderson for the Frankensteiner as the crowd chant for it. He hits it! The ref doesn’t make the count because Hebner says Abyss was the legal man…which I don’t think he was. Black Hole Slam by Abyss and that’s the finish. Maybe I missed the tag? After the match, Bully brings out a table and slides it into the ring. He sets it up and they hit a double chokeslam to put the Monster through it! Abyss no sells it! Steiner goes running and Bully hightails it too. They kept this short and action-packed and it exceeded my expectations. Nothing super special, but a solid outing in front of a crowd that was having a great time - even if it probably wasn’t the type of reactions they were hoping for. (3/5)

Backstage, Karen Angle talks up the Knockout Tag Team Champions, Gail Kim and Madison Rayne, as Kim will be challenging Velvet Sky for her TNA Knockouts Championship. Not much to this match (which goes a measly 6 minutes) and ends with Kim winning after interference by Madison Rayne and additional offense by Kim. (1.5/5)

Jeff Hardy took on Jeff Jarrett in the next...match? Matches? Some backstory first: Jeff Hardy had been pulled off of TV after showing up wasted at the Victory Road 2011 show in March but had returned to TV seeking forgiveness and "one more chance" (spoiler alert: Hardy would get "one more chance" a whole bunch of times after this in multiple promotions), which enraged Jarrett. They had a brawl at the previous PPV and Hardy had been shown on-screen in the weeks prior apologizing to various TNA regulars. Hardy wins with a Twist of Fate in less than 8 seconds to end the match - which would've warranted a 0 rating - but then agrees to a second fall. This one goes longer - about 5 minutes - and Jarrett gets some offense in, but then Hardy pins him again for a second consecutive fall. I'll give them a point for at least giving us some semblance of a competitive contest, but it was far from great. After the match, Jarrett attacks Hardy on the ramp, rolls him into the ring, and hits him with his finish. Hebner refuses to count at first, but eventually obliges...only for Hardy to roll up Jarrett for a third visual pin. This was less of a "match" and more of an angle, but the story was really all about Jarrett and not Hardy, which runs counter to any and all of the intrigue around this match to begin with. It didn't put over Hardy "strong," it didn't further Hardy's quest for forgiveness, and it didn't provide good wrestling. Why not just go out and attempt to have a good match without all this overbooked nonsense? (1/5)

Main event time - Bobby Roode defending the TNA World Championship against AJ Styles. I wanted to like this match as a big fan of Styles, but this was two guys working really, really hard but still coming up short in terms of delivering a good match. It was just a dull, one-gear match until Styles took a nasty fall to the outside towards the end, further evidence that even in his worst matches Styles will often give you at least one spot that is excellent. I read on Cagematch that Styles was suffering an ankle injury going into this match and wish that had been part of the story of the match instead of them just going back-and-forth for 20 minutes until Roode got the cheap handful-of-tights roll-up finish. An underwhelming contest. (2/5)

With a Kwang Score of 1.94-out-of-5, Turning Point 2011 saw a noticeable dip in average match quality from the previous few shows I've reviewed. The best match of the night was, surprisingly, the Immortal/Abyss & Anderson tag match due in large part to the charisma and efforts of Bully Ray and Anderson, who were clearly among the most motivated workers on the roster at this time. Roode/Styles was a disappointment but watchable, the X-Division Championship match was decent at best, and nothing else on the card left a positive impression. Without a single match worth watching, this one falls into the category of...

FINAL RATING - DUDleyville