TNA Final Resolution 2011

TNA Final Resolution 2011

Orlando, FL - December 2011

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this match, the TNA World Champion was Bobby Roode, the X-Division Champion was Austin Aries, the TNA World Tag Team Champions were Crimson and Matt Morgan, the Knockouts Champion was Gail Kim (who was also co-Knockouts Tag Team Champions with Madison Rayne), while Robbie E was the TNA Television Champion.

Final Resolution began with Christopher Daniels vs. Rob Van Dam in a rematch from the previous month's Turning Point show. I disliked that match considerably, so I was not super excited to see on this card, but this was an improvement as it was a much more straight-forward match with Daniels toning down the ill-fitting chickenshit/cowardly heel shtick. The match also ran under 10 minutes, which is just about the amount of energy that Van Dam seemed to be able to expend at this point in his career. Daniels and Van Dam would've/could've/should've had better chemistry at other times, but by 2011, Van Dam was not the Van Dam of 99' and Christopher Daniels, while a consummate pro, wasn't going to pull a Match of the Year contender out of him or such a heatless, dull storyline. Better than first outing, but not by much. (2/5)

Robbie E defended his TNA Television Championship against the former champion, Eric Young, in the next match. Yup, two rematches of two forgettable/bad matches from the previous show in a row. If Young was mildly amusing at Turning Point, he's gone from "mild" to "plain" in this one while Robbie E's gimmick just feels cheap and like something you'd see at your local indy show rather than on national TV. I liked Rob Terry as his muscle but wish they would've gone "bigger" with this whole presentation. Anyway...the match is fine, but feels long (which is not a compliment when your match is 7 and a half minutes). (2/5)

Crimson and Matt Morgan defended the TNA World Tag Team Championships against Brother D-Von and "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero. Two thoughts struck me before the bell even rang: (1) Matt Morgan won TNA gold with Hernandez and Crimson to make him a 3-time TNA World Tag Team Champion and that has to put him in the category of "Worst Modern Wrestlers To Have Multiple Championships" and (2) I can't believe the storyline involving Dinero and Brother D-Von and D-Von's sons was still going on as D-Von and Dinero had had a match about this very issue way back in August of 2011. Anyway, this wasn't good. I was surprisingly impressed by the Crimson/Morgan match from the previous show as the two went at it in a physical match that didn't overstay its welcome, but none of that chemistry carried over into their tag team effort and D-Von and Dinero weren't a great pairing either. Like the previous match, this was under 10 minutes but was a chore to sit through because nothing really happened of consequence. There weren't any major botches or miscommunications, but filler like this shouldn't be on a PPV costing people money to see. Then again, looking at the active roster in TNA at this point, its not like they had a ton of options as The Young Bucks had left, the Guns were injured/inactive at the time, and the rest of the roster was fairly thin. (1.5/5)

Next up - Kid Kash challenging Austin Aries for the TNA X-Division Championship. This one needed a "Who Booked This?" sign in the audience because its a serious case of booking malpractice to put two heels in the ring together and expect them to get the crowd exciting no matter how good they are (and, in this case, Aries and Kash deliver the goods). At one point, Kash hoists Aries up for a powerbomb on the top rope and Aries counters it into a hurricanrana and it barely registers with the audience because there is zero investment in this match. I actually felt kinda bad for them because they were working their asses off here in front of a crowd that was given nobody to root for. Today, a match like this could conceivably work in front of an audience like AEW's, where the crowd is often more appreciative of the in-ring work, is bit more "smarkish," and probably would've been more willing to engage in a match pitting an ROH guy vs. an ECW guy. In front of the TNA crowd of 2011, though, this was A Jerk We Don't Like vs. A Jerk We Don't Like. (2/5)

Mickie James challenged Gail Kim for the TNA Knockouts Championship in the bout that followed. James and Kim both came to TNA with a similar reputation: workers not "Divas," wrestlers not bikini models. Given a spotlight match and a major storyline, James and Kim didn't put together a particular great or even good match, which is a shame. There were individual moments  and elements that were neat - Kim taking a wicked bump out of the ring around the post, Mickie's bumping and selling - but this felt like it needed something more special to start and took awhile to heat up before we go to interference finish (with James being so close to the ropes that it felt like she should've/could've been able to get a foot on the bottom one). I'm not sure if more time would've helped or if my expectations were unrealistic, but this wasn't as good as I was hoping for. (2.5/5)

James Storm took on Kurt Angle in a grudge match next as Angle had attacked Storm from behind, concussing him, and then bloodied him on another episode of Impact before this. Anyway, Storm and Angle exchanged wristlocks and holds to start with The Cowboy faring well enough and maintaining relative control, eventually knocking Angle over the top with a clothesline. Angle applied a drop toe hold that sent Storm into the steps and rolled him back into the ring. Angle stopped trying to outwrestle Storm and went for hard strikes and boots on the mat. After a bit of a comeback, Angle slowed him back down with a headlock. From there, Angle hit some snug German suplexes, an Angle Slam, attempted a moonsault, and applied multiple ankle locks but Storm would not give up. Storm hit a sloppy DDT-esque maneuver on the apron and eventually a superkick to get the clean W but, throughout the match, his offense was noticeably loose and poorly executed. (2/5)

Jeff Hardy took on Jeff Jarrett in a stipulation-loaded cage match next. Hardy put his career on the line, but if he won, he'd become number one contender for the TNA World Championship. Considering Hardy's reputation at the time - remember, it was less than a year since he had shown up at Victory Road so loaded that they had to take the title off of him in a 90-second "match" against Sting - the finish for this was never really in question and the 11th hour addition of Jeff or Karen Jarrett being fired if they lost didn't change much (I'd have to double-check, but I could swear Jarrett had been fired/re-instated from TNA a few times before this already). Anyway...Hardy does some big moves off the cage, including a failed swan dive and a nifty Vader Bomb off the top rope that does connect, but this isn't too good. Sting and Karen Angle get involved because of course they do. When this feud started, there was some real intensity and I liked the initial conflict and tension around Jeff Jarrett being disappointed with how Hardy had been welcomed back into TNA despite the embarrassment that he brought it with his drug abuse. There was an undeniable kernel of Jeff Jarrett being "in the right" even as a heel, but the feud devolved into very predictable and trope-ish story beats, including the nonsensical concept that somehow defeating Jarrett would make Hardy a top contender despite Jarrett having already lost to Hardy at the previous PPV and, prior to that, having not won a televised singles match since May (when he defeated Matt Morgan). Terrible writing, meh match. (1.5/5)

Main event time - AJ Styles challenging Bobby Roode for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in a 30-Minute Ironman Match. How this got 3.5 stars in The Observer I'll never know...this was a bore to sit through with its saving grace being AJ Styles' selling. I can understand the argument that this was "smartly worked" with lots of psychology, that they needed to start things off slow, that Roode targeting Styles' knee grounded the match in a believable athletic-focused story, even that the finish - spoiler alert: it ends in a draw and inexplicably does not go into a "sudden death" round (something that has been firmly established in pro-wrestling as guaranteed as overtime in any other sport) - effectively made Roode look like an undeserving cowardly champion and that AJ was adequately "protected." Ultimately, though, I rate matches based on my enjoyment of them and this was not enjoyable. After Roode takes the 2-0 lead, the match is built around AJ Styles overcoming the odds and doing so by going after Roode's shoulder, but because Roode controlled so much of the first 15 minutes of the match, Styles' comeback fell flat for me. In my mind, Roode needed to take more damage to explain falling from a 2-0 lead to down 3-2 and it needed to go beyond Styles targeting his arm. I wasn't expecting much out of this match because the more I've watched Roode, the more I find him to be pretty bland, but I was curious if AJ could carry this into watchable territory. As hard as he tried and as good as his individual performance was, it wasn't enough. (1.5/5)

With a relatively poor 1.88-out-of-5 Kwang Score, Final Resolution 2011 is a considerable step down from the last show I reviewed, Bound for Glory 2011. Not a single match on this show, aside from the Gail Kim/Mickie James match, even hits average range and some of the matches, like the main event, the underwhelming cage match, and the World Tag Team Championship match, are hard to sit through. 

FINAL RATING - DUDleyville