2012 "Victory Road" PPV Discussion *CONTAINS SPOILERS*

[Omnitalent]

I did not like this ppv. Not even a little.

Storm vs. Ray was one of the matches I was looking forward to and they hyped it very well with the "hostage" angle and really had my inter... oh. It's done.

Aries vs. Ion seemed very disinteresting. The match itself wasn't BAD, but nothing to write home about. The heel/heel dynamic hampered this match as I can't see TNA turning either man anytime soon, so they were both playing as the antagonist. Fans were cheering for Aries, but it was mainly because he's more talented and not Xema Ion. Aries tweeting during the match was fucking stupid. But I'll touch on that at the end of this post.

Samonus vs. Crimson/Morgan. I love that Joe and Magnus are standing out and are being showcased, but it bothers me to no end that they (and the tag team belts) are just tools to progress the already boring ass feud between Crimson and Morgan. The match was not great and the end result was seen coming from a mile away. I know that some might think that a heel turn is what Crimson needs, but it isn't. It's just going to expose his mediocre mic skills and charisma moreso as he'll be talking a lot more. Crimson needs to be on his own, heel or face. No talking, just going in and winning. And the fact that he's going to be feuding with Matt Morgan is laughable as Morgan is annoying enough as is.

Robbie E. vs. Devon aggrevates me. As much as I hate Robbie E, he had an established program with his "open challenge" and it was going well. Then we get what seems to be a 15 minute promo leading up to an anticlimatic match with Devon. I don't get why Devon is here, and I am pissed at the lack of backstory. But then Devon wins the TV title. It doesn't make sense. Why build a program if you are just going to haphazardly end it on a whim. Not only that, the match was boring as piss and left me confused.

Gail vs. Madison was leaps and bounds better than I thought it would be. Really solid match, but the dead crowd, Tenay and Tazz just killed the match. Shame really, Madison had a great showing, and this is the first time that Gail actually impressed me.

AJ/Anderson vs. Christopher Daniels/Kaz was up next. Not a bad match. Just overbooked to all hell. I don't get what Daniels is doing with Kaz, I don't get why Anderson is teaming with AJ, and I just don't get why this was on the ppv. The AJ/Daniels/Kaz triangle is good, but this seemed like a match for the sake of having a match.

Angle vs. Hardy. Match of the Night. I love Angle. His promo before the match was genuine and the best promo in TNA in a few months. While Hardy can't wrestle, Angle proved that he still is the best in the world and can carry any spotmonkey to a quality match. It's not something to order a ppv for in any way shape or form, but was a very good match. I may also think this because the ppv was disheartening and weak up to this point.

Roode vs. Sting. I'll be honest. I didn't care for this match and ended up playing flash games instead of watching it. But the finish was garbage. What happened after the finish was garbage. And The general feel of everything was garbage. Roode as champ is a fucking joke who can't beat a 55 year old man clean and needs to beat up and disrespect a middle aged woman to get heat.

Overall, this ppv sucked. I can't think of many high points, and TNA's overwhelming whoring out of Twitter was shameless and so overdone. Yes, I know WWE does it too. Talk about that in the WWE thread. Not a match or segment went by without mentions of trends and hashtags and tweets being read out by Tenay and Tazz. At the end of the knockouts title match, the ending was devalued so so so much by Tenay and Tazz talking, at length, about a tweet that came through talking about Madison and Gail's wardrobes as the match finished. It is so pathetic how much they fucking shoved twitter down the viewer's throats.

This show proves my catchphrase right. You can't spell abortion without a T, an N, and an A. I did not like this ppv. Not even a little.

[4 Gold Scorpio]

Strangely, we don't get much PPV discussion here unless it involves something that people have to complain about but we're working on that.

We have a download section to post streams while we don't allow YouTube videos in threads unless it's in the main news article...slows things down.

I personally am busy on Sundays so I have to catch a replay/download of the PPV but this card on this one looks good on paper.

[Omnitalent]

Strangely, we don't get much PPV discussion here unless it involves something that people have to complain about but we're working on that.

Complaining is the easiest thing to do. I don't like my first ppv review being so negative, but it was really easy for me to dislike it.

I recommend you do watch it though, and if you can argue that it's good, I'd love to hear it.

[RasslingFanatic]

I will keep this intro short and sweet. I watch Impact Wrestling or a TNA PPV and I write my thoughts as I watch the PPV. Then I copy and post those thoughts here, unedited. If anyone knows me, you will know this could get controversial at any time. My thoughts and opinions as I watch TNA. Hope this generates some activity.

If it were not for the performance of Bobby Roode, Bully Ray would be there top heel and I can’t think of a WWE heel that is out performing those two. He is even has the fans chanting for Devon. I like how they have Ray getting the 1 contendership stipulation added to the match with Storm, will give fans a reason to care.
Here comes James Storm. I think Storm needs a Steve Austin moment, I think the cage match against Roode next month is the time for such a moment. I don’t hate how they got straight into this match, oh just as I type that Storm wins, thought I remember reading he was hurt. Cancel the match or getting his finish over on a guy who can get all his heat back in one promo on Impact.

You can’t go wrong with an Austin Aries promo and putting a name like Eric in this promo adds a little bit more legitimacy to Aries. I hope Bischoff doesn’t show up again though.
These x-factor pre-match is not working. They need to mention wrestling styles as much as they do the storyline background.

Really like Zema Ion, he has this natural arrogance, just want to smack him across the head. A big thumbs up for the story in this match as Ion is trying to get under the skin of the champion. Who else can see this feud with Ion resulting in a babyface Austin Aries? Double thumbs up for Aries making a twitter post during the match, ha ha. Side note; matches are more enjoyable when Tenay is not speaking. I mentioned in another post about TNA needing to bring in a big time babyface to really elevate the X-Division Championship by working with Aries. I actually am starting to consider the possibility of Aries becoming that babyface.

Great match, too much twitter talk and I am officially on the turn Aries babyface bandwagon, if there is one.
Good idea using a vignette, to hype the return of the Motor City Machine Guns.

Am I the only one who recognises how well Christy Hemme is performing as a ring announcer? Much better than Lillian Garcia, that is for sure. These are the things you pay attention too when Morgan and Crimson in the ring. I have grown old of their act. Maybe they do a thing where Morgan turns heel after teasing that Crimson will turn. On the other hand, not sure if TNA meant to do this, but I like the story of Crimson and Morgan rushing to the top of a weak Tag Team division on athletic ability alone, hit a road block against a team that quickly developed team chemistry. Crimson refuses to tag Morgan, it is an okay idea but I’d rather they keep the focus on the battle between Joe/Magnus and Crimson/Morgan before they focus on this split. I swear Joe needs to get back in shape and change his attire that is all he needs to get his career back to where it was a few years back. TNA execute this turn pretty well, but as I said earlier they could have placed this later down the track. Have Joe and Magnus go over, but have Morgan and Crimson win 4 straight tag matches to earn a title shot, then have this match.
I like TNA letting the fans use twitter to ask the wrestler question and use that as the basis for what the wrestlers talk about. Great backstage confrontation, I am really excited for Lock Down.

Things you notice when…Robbie is on T.V. Please bring out a new T.V Championship belt. Bring RVD back, have him take the belt and bring out a new Championship. Robbie E picking on the people, he is actually doing a good job but the fans don’t seem to care, well he is getting some heat here at least. So Devon is the guy taking up the challenge and the fans actually care, I am surprised. I believe it is the wrong move giving Devon the win and taking the belt off of Robbie E. Use the fact the fans see him as more of an annoyance and as the joke wears off they can turn that into heat for a RVD return to legitimize the Championship.

The Knockout Championship is the one thing they have that the WWE cannot compete with. They have a talented group of women in TNA. WWE has some talent in their roster, but they have them involved in flatulence gimmicks. Not much to say about this match, it is a solid match and easy to watch.

Half way through the tag match between Daniels/Kaz and Styles/Anderson and I can see where Anderson fits, but still don’t quite understand the exact reason Kaz turned on Styles. Solid match even though there isn’t much heat with the people. Good sell by Anderson on that kick to the back of the head as he goes for the finish. A.J Styles comes in with some explosive offense, he really is too exciting to be in a midcard program like this. Clean win, with the blind tag, very nice.

Kurt Angle and an over babyface with superb athletic ability…I have high hopes for this match with Jeff Hardy. If you have read my blog about using catch wrestler, this is the perfect chance to use it with Kurt Angle grounding Hardy.

When I do not comment much on a match it usually means I am lost in the match and is a good thing. Great finish! Perfectly executed and Brian Hebner was in great position to make the finish work. Weird tweets aside, Kurt should get credit for still being one of the best workers in the business.

Sting promo, please don’t be Joker Sting, please don’t be Joker Sting! Oh, interesting…a bit of split personality. Listen guys, part of the reason people always compare Undertaker and Sting and would love a dream match. Both characters have different versions. Sting was a surfer guy, while Undertaker was a, well an Undertaker.

Undertaker turned into the Deadman then Sting became a version of the Crow. Undertaker becomes an American Badass as Sting started to become more like a real person. This joker style sting is one of those personalities of the Sting character. So that is my take on the Joker Sting. I was hoping it would not be Joker Sting tonight because I thought the more serious Crow like version was better suited to make this match work.

Bobby Roode looks like a World Champion and is a natural heel. The crowd is really into this match and they have not touched yet. The fans are really cheering for Roode to lose this match, which is a great sign that his heel persona is working the people. Sting must have hurt himself legit on that chair shot. I think the purpose of this little program was to get Roode more heat leading into Hardcore Justice and some arrogant Roode promo’s claiming he beat Sting on his own merit will be good for the upcoming PPV. Hogan chants, oh shit. Anyone who says Hogan is still not over; just listen at the end of this match. Oh shit, Roode gets Dixie by the hair. Does this remind anyone of Jake Roberts/Elizabeth a little bit? This could be a horrible anger, but the performance of Roode and Dixie; yes Dixie Carter has made this work.

As we finish the PPV with the crowd hurling insults and negative chants at Bobby Roode. That is the way they needed this PPV to end. Overall I enjoyed the PPV, even though there were some matches that didn’t hold my interest. I thought this PPV should have been about getting Storm and Roode into the perfect position to build towards their cage match at Lockdown. Storm and his finisher are over and Roode has plenty of heat.

[Omnitalent]

I agree with your thoughts on Bully Ray. The guy is at the top of his game and really had nothing to lose last night. But his match with James Storm was criminally short. Apparently, Storm was hurt and they had to rush together what we got, but it was still left a bad taste in my mouth to start off the ppv. And the argument that "The Last Call superkick can be hit from anywhere!" is somewhat of a weak argument. It's a superkick. Of course it can be.

Aries and Bischoff interaction would have been good, but they had that awkwardly forced tension between Bischoff and Borash. For a company that fired Vince Russo and is "On the upswing from Russo style", the dialogue and purpose of Borash/Bischoff is set in realism and is supposed to be very cutting edge, just like Russo's stylized writing. Then they had A Double and Eric stand there and talk with no real direction and the camera not cutting away for like 90 seconds which is just poor production.

And lastly, Roode came off as mega weak to me last night. I did end up watching his match and he NEEDED a dominant win, which he did not get. Bobby Roode cannot win clean. He's a heel champ, yes, but he's falling into the same rut that Miz had with his championship run. He doesn't win clean and isn't given any credibility. I mean, it's STING. The guy is over 50 and has no place fighting the world champion. This is how TNA books their World Champion? I'll accept it, but I have no real respect for Roode until he has a clean win without controversy against someone who poses a legitimate threat.

[RasslingFanatic]

I agree with your thoughts on Bully Ray. The guy is at the top of his game and really had nothing to lose last night. But his match with James Storm was criminally short. Apparently, Storm was hurt and they had to rush together what we got, but it was still left a bad taste in my mouth to start off the ppv. And the argument that "The Last Call superkick can be hit from anywhere!" is somewhat of a weak argument. It's a superkick. Of course it can be.

Aries and Bischoff interaction would have been good, but they had that awkwardly forced tension between Bischoff and Borash. For a company that fired Vince Russo and is "On the upswing from Russo style", the dialogue and purpose of Borash/Bischoff is set in realism and is supposed to be very cutting edge, just like Russo's stylized writing. Then they had A Double and Eric stand there and talk with no real direction and the camera not cutting away for like 90 seconds which is just poor production.

And lastly, Roode came off as mega weak to me last night. I did end up watching his match and he NEEDED a dominant win, which he did not get. Bobby Roode cannot win clean. He's a heel champ, yes, but he's falling into the same rut that Miz had with his championship run. He doesn't win clean and isn't given any credibility. I mean, it's STING. The guy is over 50 and has no place fighting the world champion. This is how TNA books their World Champion? I'll accept it, but I have no real respect for Roode until he has a clean win without controversy against someone who poses a legitimate threat.

Never said they are getting over the fact the superkick can happen from any where, it is that when he hits it you go to sleep. Combined that with the surprise factor, it can happen any time, makes it easier for fans to maintain hope during his matches meaning the comeback will work so much better. Same thing with Jake Roberts and his DDT.

Roode didn't need a dominate win. All his heat is generated because he decided to cheat and take shortcuts, not because he is a dominate Champion. He built himself up as legitimate before he turned heel when TNA pushed him really strong as a babyface. Then he decided to take a shortcut by turning on his friend to achieve a selfish goal. He was willing to drop his fans, his friends, his own values for a belt and he is continuing the take shortcuts because it has been working and he cares more about the belt.

Ric Flair was never a dominate Champion, he lost the World Title over 20 times and whenever he retained the belt it was usually after cheating the whole match, the Horseman or time-limit draws. All you need is to make the fans want to see the heel lose. The finish of the match is something I didn't like, should have been a more clean finish. Maybe Spinebuster onto the chair, but it is a minor thing. Roode has heat and people want to see Storm kick his ass.