TNA:Genesis - November 19, 2006
by Ultimate Worrier
Live from the TNA Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida.
Attendance: 900
Some random facts about November 19, 2006; the number one song in America was "My Love," by Justin Timberlake featuring T.I. and the number one movie was "Deja Vu" directed by Tony Scott.
Opening promo package focuses on the moon landing. We hear Neil Armstrong and some opera music as a backdrop. I spent way too long trying to find the name of the song, but failed. It's a very famous song, though. We see shots of Angle and Joe, Sting and Abyss, and also Konnan hates America. It has a very WCW feel.
Hosts for tonight are Mike Tenay and Don West, but they don't introduce themselves and we head straight to the action.
Kazarian, Maverick Matt, and Johnny Devine vs. The Voodoo Kin Mafia (B.G. James and Kip James)
This is a handicapped match. Kaz and friends enter with horrific make-up and a very Raven-esque vibe. Voodoo Kin Mafia enter and they have chairs. The spiders from Mars beat down Road Dogg. I feel bad for Kaz. James fails poorly on a kip up attempt and reaches out to the ref for help off his fat ass. Yikes. Also, the referee is wearing shorts for some reason. We get the (hot?) tag to Billy Gunn and he cleans house of the scrubs. He hits a pedigree and then teases the sweet chin music but does a crotch chop instead and finishes the match with the cobra clutch slam.Voodoo Kin Mafia defeat Maverick Matt, Johnny Devine, and Kazarian by pinfall (3:39)
This was AWFUL.
Post match B.G. gets the mic and "shoots" on Vince, Triple H, and HBK, and he invites them to watch Impact this Thursday. This was very pathetic.
Tenay finally introduces himself and Don West and we preview tonight's card. The losers from our first contest return to the ring, and Devine kneels down.
enters with a Kendo stick and whips Devine, presumably because Devine took the pinfall. I don't care.
In the back, we get our first Jeremy Borash sighting as he interviews Shane Douglas and two guys. They never tell me who they are, so I guess they don't matter, and they're up next.
Sanjay Dutt and Jay Lethal vs. The Naturals (Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas)
Dutt and Lethal enter first, and then the nameless men from the interview. They are "the naturals" and their names are Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas, thanks ring announcer man. Shane is not related to Andy according to Wikipedia.
Jay Lethal is RIPPED and the only guy in this match that looks like he belongs on a wrestling show. Lethal receives a kick to the dick and the referee does nothing. At least this ref has pants on. Five minutes pass and I still don't know who is Chase and who is Andy.
Sanjay gets the (hot?) tag and the crowd takes a moment of silence. Can't help but think Dutt should have gotten the heat, and Lethal get the hot tag to fire up the comeback. Shane gets involved which causes a 2-on-1 situation that Sanjay can't overcome and The Naturals get a three count.
The Naturals defeat Sanjay Dutt and Jay Lethal by pinfall (8:21)
*3/4. Compared to the opener, this was Flair vs. Steamboat.
Borash (sighting #2) is with Konnan and LAX and they have tag titles. Lots of tag teams on this show so far, and that's not a complaint from me. I love tag team wrestling. Konnan has been trying to burn the American flag but keeps getting his plans thwarted by babyfaces. Ironically, in 2020, this gimmick would probably make Konnan a babyface. He cuts a scathing promo on the United States and it's
Promo package shows us Christopher Daniels, A.J. Styles, and Chris Sabin and the (feud?). As far as I know, A.J. isn't in this match.
Borash (#3) interviews Daniels. Daniels doesn't like Sabin's new attitude and he tells us that Daniels and Styles "built this X-Division," and I have no idea what that means because I have no idea what an "X-Division" is.
Sabin gains the advantage and tosses in a chair. A wild A.J. Styles appears, and removes the weapon from the combat zone. Daniels attacks with a plancha. He hits Lance Archer's finisher, but it only gets 2. Sabin with a springboard DDT, also gets 2. Best Moonsault Ever connects, but Sabin kicks out. Helluva Kick to Daniels, but Daniels nearly wins with a crucifix pin. Another trap into a unique pin and Fallen Angel gets the three.
We check in with "Paparazzi Productions," which is Kevin Nash with two doofuses. Everything is shaky cam, and zoomed in. The guy on the left is a total goon. They all put their hands together and make bedroom noises. That was a real segment.
R-Truth and Shelley start off, pedestrian stuff and Shelley tags Starr. I hate everything he does. Lance without the tattoos and long red braid looks ridiculous to me. Why isn't he paired with Nash? He has that big dude vibe. Naturally, Big Daddy Cool buries him on commentary. Oh hey, the ref is Earl Hebner. Shelley and Starr work over Hoyt, because this is TNA. Wouldn't it make sense for the big man to get the hot tag and clean house? Starr continues to anger me by breathing. Shelley has a definite Seth Rollins thing going on. Truth finally tags in and no one cares.
Shelley mistakenly hits Starr, but Truth can't get the three. Top rope leg drop to Shelley, which he sells for 30 seconds, and the heels are back on the attack. Shelley with a frog splash to the knee, then he and Starr do some bullshit with a camera on the outside and Hoyt ends up winning with a roll-up.
Promo package for Christian and A.J. This was pretty well done. A.J. with short hair a clean shave and trunks is weird. Borash (#4) interviews Christian in the back. Christian appeals to me by taking credit for Jeff Jarrett not being around.
After the match, Styles and Daniels argue and shove each other. Sanjay Dutt and Jay Lethal come in and try to break them up. Rhino comes out next to try to play peacekeeper and he gets a mic. He cuts a promo on the power of friendship. A.J. calls the man-beast "Dr. Phil" and storms off.
Mike Tenay asks "What the Hell was that about?"
It's your job to tell me, Mike.
Backstage, Jeremy Borash (#5) is with America's Most Wanted and Gail Kim. James Storm without a beard looks ridiculous. The other guy talks a lot and cuts a really good promo explaining the storyline. Storm doesn't do as well.
We get a full promo package after the interview. Gail Kim takes a Border Toss from LAX in an awesome spot. A lot of LAX beat downs occurred onto AMW. Konnan wants to burn the American flag. AMW won't let them. Also, the NWA World Tag Team Titles are on the line.
James Mitchell and Abyss are in a dark room. Mitchell cuts another really good promo about Sting, Sting's demons, and how they compare to Abyss. Abyss grunts and moans.
Promo package for our NWA World championship match. Sting is honorable. Abyss is a monster. Abyss beat A. J. to earn this shot.
Four and 1/2 minutes in and we finally get into the ring. Sting battles back but Abyss is too big and strong to keep down. In another nonsensical moment- Mitchell hands Abyss the title belt, but the ref pulls it away, and Sting locks in the Scorpion Death Lock. Abyss gets to the ropes. Abyss hits the Black Hole Slam, but Sting kicks out. Ref takes a stray elbow from Sting and goes to sleep. Mitchell hands Abyss a bag of thumbtacks, but Sting grabs his bat. Death Drop gets a two count. Sting pours the tacks onto the mat, so naturally Abyss gives Sting a choke slam onto the tacks. Crowd chants TNA, Sting kicks out and Hulks up. Sting locks in the Scorpion again, and Abyss taps, but Mitchell has the ref distracted. Sting pulls Mitchell into the ring and gets him in the Scorpion and Mitchell taps as well. On the outside again and Sting kills Abyss with a chair, then takes a long time getting his repel rope tied around Abyss's feet and getting his fat ass into the air. He finally does, and hits him with a chair like an overweight piñata, then just lowers him back down. Sting leads him up the aisle way and threatens to toss Abyss onto the barbed wire. The ref tries to stop Sting and he gets pushed away and clotheslined. The bell sounds and Sting shoves Abyss off into the tables and barbed wire.
Alright then. Strange, but I guess I don't hate it.
Promo package for Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle. I am HYPE.
Jeremy Borash (#6) does the ring announcing for our main event which is being called by the announcers "the Dream Match of the Decade." In 2020 with hindsight, I'm not sure they're wrong, so fair fucks to them. Well played, TNA
**** great match but I want more! 13 minutes? What a tease. Joe gets the mic and the crowd lets him know he tapped out. Joe says "Goddamn right I tapped out" and requests a rematch and a handshake. Angle blows him off and walks up the aisle. Joe threatens to do things the hard way and he leaves. Tenay and West cover the highlights of the match and invite us to see their December offering.
In conclusion: if you asked me at the halfway mark, I would have said this is among the worst wrestling shows I had ever seen. However, a really strong second half saved it, and I would even go so far to say I recommend a watch. The main event was excellent, A.J. and Christian delivered, the tag title match was decent and Sting vs Abyss was a lot of fun even if it wasn't "a good match"
There's also some really good promos on this show, Konnan, James Mitchell, and Christian all delivered. Chris Harris was great.
Good show.
No Limits X-Division Championship match: "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels (champion) vs. Chris Sabin
We take a look at Mike Tenay's "X-Factors" during the entranced. Sabin looks like the love child of Dean Ambrose and Jack Evans. Crowd is split early.
Christopher Daniels defeats Chris Sabin by pinfall (13:29)
***. After the match Jerry Lynn stops an attack by Sabin. Lynn makes Sabin and Daniels shake hands, but Sabin attacks anyway. Gotta get my heat back, brother. He hits his finish and runs. Tenay is shocked and appalled by this heelish behavior from the heel.
Austin Starr and Alex Shelley vs. Lance Hoyt and Ron "the Truth" Killings
Starr and Shelley are the doofuses who were with Nash, and Big Kev has joined the commentary desk. Starr is the total goon. Not the WWF Goon, that was Bill Irwin.
Quick Wikipedia check and Austin Starr is actually Austin Aries. No wonder I hate him so much. Nash declares himself a pioneer of the X-Division. Lance Hoyt and Killings enter and I am excited just to know somebody on this show. Nash continues to improve the commentary team and Tenay is cranky about it.
Lance Hoyt and Ron Killings defeat Austin Starr and Alex Shelley by pinfall (11:07)
*It was fine until the end, when it all fell apart.
Christian Cage vs. A.J. Styles
Styles enters first. Christian receives cool lighting so clearly they think he is a star. We have the ref who wears shorts again. Early going we see a lot of back and forth demonstrating how equally matched they are. It's all very competent and easily the best thing in the show so far. Christian tries the Unprettier, but Styles lifts him on his shoulders and dumps him, in a cool spot. Christian bails to catch his breath so A.J. Hits him with a somersault plancha. A.J. Is looking great here, Cage is struggling to gain control, but finally does about 9 minutes in. Crowd is into this match a lot more than anything else so far. Don West is terrible. She offers no insight at all, but luckily for us he also manages to talk ALL THE TIME. Styles awesome Moonsault reverse DDT gets a LONG 2 and crowd was fooled with that one. TNA chant gets going. Christian answers with his running huh (the spear). A frustrated Christian grabs a chair, but Christopher Daniels runs down and grabs the chair. They have a tug of war while A.J. attempts to roll Christian into a pin, but the chair helps Christian prop himself upward and he hooks Styles' legs and steals a three.
Christian Cage defeats A.J. Styles by pinfall. (15:50)
****, really good match.
NWA World Tag Team Championship match: LAX (Homicide and Hernandez) with Konnan (champions) vs. America's Most Wanted (James Storm and "Wildcat" Chris Harris) with Gail Kim
There's a lot of guys named Chris in TNA. Mike Tenay tells us the "tag lines" which is essentially a third recap of the feud. I am very familiar with this conflict now. Konna gets the mic and tells us he will burn the flag tonight. AMW attack LAX and everyone brawls to the outside. The bell never rings, so the result of this match shouldn't count. Also I didn't know when to start my stopwatch. Double team from AMW looks cool. Crowd is still hype, killing the long held belief that you can't put back to back hot matches on big shows. LAX get the heat on Harris and Tenay wants to talk about Petey Williams. Commentary in this promotion is garbage. Storm is a house of fire after the hot tag. Hernandez bungles running the ropes and I giggle. Hernandez tosses dudes like nothing, and the work rate in the match suffers. Hart Attack by AMW, but they only get 2. They hit the Death Sentence, but Konnan distracts the referee, and Homicide sneaks in with the blowtorch and smashes Storm with it. LAX get the cover and the win to retain.
LAX defeat America's Most Wanted by pinfall. (9:20)
**, started great, fell apart. Heels hit Harris with the slapjack and take him out, then surround Gail Kim and push her around. They tease giving her a vertebreaker and the bell rings obnoxiously, which I love, but Petey Williams rushes in with a lead pipe to save the damsel in distress. Then Jim Cornette comes out and cuts a promo about the American flag. He says management is stripping LAX of their tag titles. That seems unfair, they won the match. Crowd chants "bullshit." I agree. Cornette says they have until Thursday to give the belts back or they will be fired. Tenay says Cornette is all about "law and order" and I laugh thinking about 2020 Donald Trump tweets.
NWA World Heavyweight Championship match: Sting (champion) vs. Abyss
We see "the tale of the tape," which I love. Sting looks great. I missed this entire run, until his mini WWE run I hadn't seen Sting since the final episode of Nitro. Sting starts fast and brawls with Abyss in the crowd. Abyss has a great mask for COVID America. Sting misses a Stinger Splash on the barrier, and Abyss attacks with a chair. Is this no DQ/count-out?) up the aisle way and Abyss assembles two tables and two panels of barbed wire on top. Abyss wants to powerbomb Sting off the stage into his play set but James Mitchell and the referee talk him out of it.
Abyss defeats Sting by disqualification. (15:23)
** fun for what it was, but more than 2/3 was just brawling outside the ring, garbage wrestling with weapons and a f*ck finish. Sting walks back to the ring and puts a silly face on, preserving his gimmick as the stupidest man in the history of pro wrestling. Also, in TNA, apparently titles can change hands by disqualification, and that makes Abyss the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion.
Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe
Joe is unbeaten. Kurt is Kurt fucking Angle. Crowd chants "this is awesome" on the first lockup. Everything is stiff and believable. Joe throws Angle into the stairs then argues with Earl Hebner for what feels like forever. In that eternity, Angle runs the razor and we have color. It's a gusher and Joe rubs Angle's blood onto his own chest. Angle goes for the triple Germans but can't land the third. Joe reverses the Angle Slam and sets up a Muscle Buster, which he hits. It only gets 2. Angle Slam connects but only gets 2. Crowd chants "make him tap." Angle pulls down the straps because now he means business. He locks in the ankle lock. Joe reverses to the Coquina Clutch in a brilliant spot, but Angle gets the Ankle again! Joe rolls through and Kurt is in the buckle. Joe misses a charge and gets hit with another Olympic Slam. Angle puts his straps back on just to fire up and take them back down, grabs the Ankle Lock one more time, attaches a leg grapevine, and Joe just can't reach safety. Samoa Joe taps and takes his first loss.
Kurt Angle defeats Samoa Joe by submission. (13:35)
Sound Off!
Comment about this article on Da' Wrestling Boards!