TNA Genesis 2012

TNA Genesis 2012

Orlando, FL - January 2012

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the TNA World Champion was Bobby Roode, Austin Aries was the X-Division Champion, the Television Champion was Robbie E, the Knockouts Champion was Gail Kim, and the Knockouts Tag Team Champions were Gail Kim and Madison Rayne.

The show kicked off with Austin Aries defending his X-Division Championship in a 4-way elimination match against Jesse Sorensen, Zema Ion (who, at one time, went by DJZ for a spell and now goes by Joaquin Wilde in the WWE), and Kid Kash. Solid X-Divison match here that benefitted from the mix of styles and characters and experience levels too. Liked the interconnectivity of some of the spots and sequences. Zema's 450 didn't look perfect but was still impressive. Nothing super special here but a good match. (3/5)

Devon took on "The Pope" D'Angelo Dinero in the next match. I wasn't expecting much out of this contest as I'm not a big fan of either guy and this storyline - with Devon's sons betraying their father by becoming part of Dinero's entourage - had been running for quite awhile by this point without delivering anything good. I was pleasantly surprised by this, though, as they stuck to a simple story and didn't get too cutesy with it as Dinero, the heel, ended up slapping around Devon's sons when they wouldn't attack their dad. I'm not sure if Vince Russo booked this or not, but if he did, kudos for the restraint in not "overbooking" this! I think Devon should've gotten the W a big quicker after his fire-up, but that's just a slight criticism of a match that exceeded my expectations by sticking with a straightforward approach and letting the emotion of the match carry things. (2.5/5)

Gunner vs. Rob Van Dam followed. Gunner is managed by Ric Flair, who looks like he fully recognizes how lame and unimportant this pairing is. Gunner, like Crimson before him, in the midst of a push that seems completely unwarranted considering how unexciting he is. Not much chemistry with Van Dam, but RVD's TNA run was mostly lackluster so I wasn't expecting much out of him. The match goes about 7 minutes and ends with Gunner DDTing Van Dam on the concrete floor. RVD should sell it like death but doesn't. Not very good, but inoffensive. (1.5/5)

Mickie James challenged Gail Kim for the Knockouts Championship in the next match, with Gail Kim's tag partner, Madison Rayne, hanging from a Shark Cage (per the decision of TNA Knockouts Division General Manager wanna-be, Velvet Skye). James and Kim worked hard, but there was definitely some "slop" to this, including James' attempt a hurricanrana on the outside. I was expecting some sort of swerve with Skye turning on James, but am glad that didn't happen. However, the finish was really, really flat with James getting DQ'd when the ref caught her using brass knucks. The crowd immediately chanted "Bullshit," which was well-deserved as it felt like the match was only just getting started when it ended at well under 10 minutes. (1.5/5)

Abyss took on Bully Ray in a Monster's Ball match next with the added stipulation that if Abyss lost, he would be forced to rejoin Immortal. I'll credit for Bully Ray to trying to give this match more story and structure than your typical "kitchen sink hardcore" match, but when you make the audience wait for the big spots, they need to be memorable and impressive and not many of them were. Abyss got cut up on his arm from barbwire and Bully took a chokeslam into the tacks to finish this, but because of his ring gear, it didn't seem particularly vicious or painful. Ray was a great heel at this point in his career and his chickenshit antics helped his matches "pop," but he was never a superworker and one can only carry the plodding, one-note Abyss so far. (2.5/5)

Samoa Joe and Magnus teamed up to take on the reigning TNA World Tag Team Champions, Crimson and Matt Morgan in the next match. Joe and Magnus had decent chemistry for a "thrown together" tag team, but this was still not very good. At under 10 minutes, this wasn't much of a title match and there wasn't much of a story to it. Part of the problem is that all 4 guys were essentially "tweeners" as Crimson wasn't particularly popular or over, Joe had been turned and re-turned multiple times and no longer had a main event aura, and Magnus and Morgan, while technically faces (?) were not without their vocal detractors in the Impact Zone. Heatless and not interesting enough to carry it over the hump, this was inoffensive but below average. (2/5)

Next up - Kurt Angle vs. James Storm. This is the kind of match that really hurts Kurt Angle's reputation for me as the crowd wants to care about this, but the match is just boring. Angle eventually wins with a low blow, going back on his promise to win the match by "out wrestling" the "barroom brawler." Didn't Christopher Daniels do this same sort of gimmick a few months earlier? Also, it would've worked better if Angle had really upped the cockiness and arrogance throughout the match, getting the over-the-top heel heat that this match desperately needed to work. Storm is alright, but nothing more. Someone on Cagematch described this match as "flat" and that feels like the best descriptor for it. (2/5)

Main event time - Jeff Hardy vs. Bobby Roode for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. The build-up for this match was all about Hardy's redemption story after his embarrassing "performance" at Victory Road 2011. I was pleasantly surprised at how much better this match was then some of the other Bobby Roode title defenses from this run. Hardy is wrestling with a ton of energy and, against a very charismatic (and very over) performer who the fans believe might actually get the W, Roode's methodical pacing - around this time he was getting compared to Triple H quite a bit - does work at building suspense and drama. Unfortunately, the finish was incredibly deflating and makes this impossible to recommend as Roode - spoiler alert - attacks the referee in order to retain the title. Its the same sort of non-finish that we got at the previous PPV (where an Ironman match ended in a draw) and, while it does get Roode some heat, I can't imagine anyone who spent money on this show wanting to spend money on the next event. Points awarded for the first 16 or so minutes of this match, too bad they couldn't find a better way to end it. (2/5)

With a Kwang Score of 2.13-out-of-5, Genesis 2012 is a mostly rough watch with only one match that can be considered above-average (the spirited opener) and two matches that are average-at-best but exceed expectations only because they're better than one would expect given the participants (Abyss vs. Bully Ray and Devon vs. D'Angelo Dinero). The main event isn't too bad until the finish renders the previous 15 minutes meaningless and the Mickie James/Gail Kim is also a disappointment.

FINAL RATING - DUDleyville