TNA Destination X 2012

TNA Destination X 2012

Orlando, FL - July 2012

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, Bobby Roode was the TNA World Champion, the X-Division Championship had been vacated by Austin Aries (in order to challenge for the World Championship), Christopher Daniels and Kazarian held the TNA World Tag Team Championships, the Knockouts Champion was Brooke Tessmacher, Devon Dudley was the TNA Television Champion, and Eric Young and ODB were the TNA Knockouts Division Tag Team Champions.

Despite having reviewed dozens of TNA PPVs over the years, this is only the fourth Destination X show I've watched. This PPV was built around TNA's X-Division, though this was not always the case (Destination X 2007, for example, featured decidedly non-X Division talent like the Voodoo Kin Mafia, Sting, and Scott Steiner in major matches). Kinda like their Lockdown PPVs, which, at one point, featured only cage matches, there is good and bad that comes with building an entire PPV around a single concept. In this case, the good is that you know the action is going to be fast-paced and emphasize high-flying and innovation. The negatives are that you may end up with matches that feel similar and some of the company's bigger names - the aforementioned Ken Anderson, Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam and the entire Knockouts Division - do not appear. (Which, in the case of Sting, Bully Ray, and Abyss, might be addition by subtraction.)

The show begins with a 4-way for a chance at a chance to compete in the Ultimate X Match later in the night - Dakota Darsow vs. Rubix (who wrestled somewhat-more-famously as Jigsaw in CHIKARA) vs. Mason Andrews (aka Scorpio Sky) vs. Lars Only (who has wrestled as a couple different characters on the indie scene and, according to Cagematch, eventually landed in Billy Corgan's NWA). This was a decent opener and a good way to set the tone for the evening with all four men getting to shine at various points and Rubix and "Mason Andrews" showcasing their high-flying. The fact that this match happened in front of the same (or at least very similar audience) as the ones that attended TNA's Impact tapings helped things considerably because none of them had been in the company very long. Rubix was the most over, but Scorpio Sky got the W and went on to the Ultimate X Qualifier against... (2.5/5)

Kid Kash, who had done some consistently good work in TNA after joining a year or so earlier as part of a group of ex-ECW talents. Kash's viciousness and cruelty came across well during this run, while his overconfidence was always his weakness, which is a good mix for a heel, but not necessarily special enough to make one stand out. Mason Andrews was eventually able to capitalize on an error by Kash, but I'm not sure the fans were ever really 100% behind him (unsurprising considering he had only shown up in TNA a week before this event, had lost in under 4 minutes, and had no discernible gimmick). Kudos to TNA for trying to create a new star in a single night, but Kash deserved better. Not a bad match, but forgettable. (2.5/5)

Samoa Joe cut a promo backstage to hype his Bound for Glory Series match against Kurt Angle later on in the show. 

Back in the ring, Douglas Williams, a 2-time X-Division Champion, took on Kenny King. King, similar to Scorpio Sky, had debuted in TNA a few days before this event, so the audience didn't react to much of anything he did. The lack of heat really hurt this match and Williams, like Kash, probably deserved better after the good work he had done not too long before this. On commentary, it is noted that King moonlighted as a male stripper. I'm willing to wager that there were more than a few nights when he made more money doing that than he probably did wrestling. Another forgettable match as, aside from a cool knee-to-the-face from the top by Williams (Williams is not someone I remember coming off the top very often), I wasn't too impressed by anything these guys did and the story didn't suck me in either. (2/5)

Backstage, Christopher Daniels cut a promo, building up his Falls Count Anywhere match with AJ Styles. Daniels is someone that I, theoretically, should really enjoy, but for all his flawless execution and undeniable skill, I find myself consistently underwhelmed. Like...how many really great matches does he have that don't involve AJ Styles?

We return to the ring for another Ultimate X Qualifier - this one being Rashad Cameron (who?) vs. Sonjay Dutt, who had just returned to TNA. According to Cagematch, Cameron had debuted in TNA by defeating "Mason Andrews" (Scorpio Sky) on an episode of Impact a little bit over a week before this event, meaning the audience didn't know him all that well (unless they were fans of his work as BLK Jeez in CZW, CHIKARA, and various Tri-State indies). I was a relatively big fan of Dutt when I first saw him way back around 04'/05' when he was a fun, high-flying babyface, became less of a fan during his feud with Jay Lethal and So Cal Val when he portrayed a pervy creep, and didn't see much character at all in his match here. In fact, Cameron's oversized personality was much more on display in the 7 minutes they got. Another forgettable match that wasn't terrible but had no business being on a PPV. (2/5)

A video package highlighting Jesse Sorensen, who had suffered a brutal neck/spine injury caused by Zema Ion months earlier, aired next. Christy Hemme then welcomed Sorensen to the ring to talk to the fans. Sorensen got a good response and cut a decent promo, straight-forward and heartfelt. Sorensen promised that, in one year's time, he would be the X-Division Champion and would be challenging for the TNA World Championship, which was a ridiculous thing to assert, but why not dream big? 

As Sorensen made his way to the back, Zema Ion came down the aisle and the two had a brief "moment" together but did not come to blows. This match felt like the first since the opener that the audience really cared about, mostly because Ion was a truly dislikable heel and his opponent, Flip Cassanova (better known as Flip Kendrick), has that "It" factor that makes people want to cheer him the second he pops out of the curtain. Or maybe I'm just a bit of a make for the guy because he used to wrestle consistently in northeast Ohio for Absolute Intense Wrestling? It's a shame they only got 3-and-a-half minutes because Kendrick deserved better and I think they could've done more, but this was all about building up Ion and, in that respect, it was successful. (1.5/5)

Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle, part of the Bound For Glory Series, followed. Tenay and JB talked up their longtime rivalry and Angle's vow to win the Series by defeating every one of his opponents by submission. They got a good amount of time, there was a good bit of physicality, and they did a good job of selling the danger of each other's submissions, but the word "good" is about as high as one could go on this match. For all the talk of Joe's agility and speed by the commentators, it was clear that he was not in top shape at this time and Angle was also in a bit of a lurch career-wise having not really had a major storyline to sink his teeth into since the rivalry with Jeff Jarrett a year (or two?) earlier. Joe and Angle's chemistry and a surprising outcome pushed this into average territory, but this was not at the same level as their better work. (2.5/5)

A Last Man Standing Match between AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels was next. By this point, AJ and Dixie Carter had revealed that they were not having an affair and had actually been working on getting their mutual friend - Claire Lynch - sober. Daniels (and Kazarian) had then revealed, though, that Lynch was pregnant and AJ Styles was the father of her unborn baby. None of this nonsense comes into play during the match, but it's a double-edged sword. On one hand, not having Dixie Carter and Claire Lynch involved means that Styles and Daniels can go out and do what they do best. On the other hand, this match - up until the ridiculous finish, one of the craziest spots I've ever seen - ends up feeling, especially in its first half, a bit like any other Styles/Daniels match in their lengthy rivalry (even with the stipulation). Tenay and JB work hard to sell the idea that the reason the match begins with actual wrestling and not just straight-up brawling (as is usually the case in a Last Man Standing match) is because the dropkicks and suplexes they dish out are meant to "soften up" their opponent before, presumably, they bust out the heavier arsenal. It's not very convincing. The match gets better once both men are bloodied and the TNA crowd is very into it, but this was really only worth watching for the final spot. (3/5)

The show rolled on with an Ultimate X Match for the vacant TNA X-Division Championship between the night's previous winners - Sonjay Dutt, Zema Ion, Kenny King, and Mason Andrews. Ultimate X matches are usually wild spotfests so I was looking forward to this one, especially after the slightly underwhelming qualifer matches earlier in the show. Surely, these four were saving their best moves for this match? Yes, King and Andrews were unknowns before this night, but in this environ, they would definitely bust out the kind of innovative offense that put folks like Petey Williams and Elix Skipper on the map way back when, right? All they would need was a little bit of time...which they didn't end up getting as the match went under 10 minutes and Sonjay Dutt, the most experienced of the bunch, spent a good portion of it being checked-on by the medical team (obviously I'm not saying he should've worked through a potential serious neck injury, but it certainly didn't help the match). While it featured some good spots and the effort was there, this lacked heat, felt rushed, and didn't leave much of an impression because no one shined. A very disappointing match. (1.5/5)

Main event time - Austin Aries challenging Bobby Roode for the TNA World Championship. The story coming into this match was that Aries had to relinquish his X-Division Championship in order to challenge Roode, which was one of Hulk Hogan's final decisions during his TNA run. Because Aries' character is being a smug, cocky prick (a character maybe not too far from his real-life personality based on the few podcasts I've heard him on over the years), this did not work for me as a "babyface underdog triumphing over the unlikable heel" story despite the commentators building it up as such and a sizable portion of the the audience in attendance wanting it to be that (the cheers for Aries are impossible to ignore, but there are also plenty of pro-Roode fans). Aries doesn't lean into that babyface underdog role either and it is not until the final minutes that Roode does anything definitively heelish. From a technical standpoint, they deliver a competitive, hard-hitting match with some nice twists and turns, but I was not sold on the emotion of the match or its conclusion as much as others. Maybe its a "you had to be there" thing? A good match, no doubt, but not the all-time classic that some would have you believe and a bit of a weird way to end Roode's lengthy reign in my book. (3/5)

I went into Destination X 2012 with relatively high hopes. I had heard the Aries/Roode match was great. I expected the Ultimate X match to deliver the kind of ridiculous spots and "car crash" bumps that can be super entertaining. AJ Styles/Christopher Daniels and Joe/Angle can usually be counted on to deliver solid stuff. Unfortunately, I found every match on the show to be a tad underwhelming. Earning a Kwang Score of 2.28-out-of-5, Destination X 2012's "highs" are high enough to make it worth checking out unless you're an Aries superfan or dying to see what a "basement level" Angle and Joe match looks like.

FINAL RATING - High Risk Maneuver