So I mentioned yesterday that I caught Saturday's UFC Pay-Per-View, and that I'd give some thoughts. Well, here they are. They'll be a little brief, though, since I'm not the biggest UFC fan (but I won't pass up the chance to see a PPV for free). It's not gonna be as involved as the Wrestle War 90 review, but I don't know if I'll ever do another one of those any time soon.
The best fight was the second one, and one of the guys used an Alkaline Trio song as his entrance music. That right there was one huge advantage UFC has over pro wrestling: the use of non-generic entrance music. For instance, I'd much rather hear AC/DC (which one fighter used, by the way) than some song I'd never heard before. I'm going to be checking a lot of stuff online, such as the names of the fighters and things of that nature, so keep that in mind.
The second fight had Clay Guida (the Alkaline Trio guy) take on Tyson Griffin. It was a back and forth battle that went the distance (three 5 minute rounds, for those interested). I, along with the announcers, thought Guida had it won, but the judges gave the fight to Griffin.
I couldn't believe that there were no title fights on the show, either. Maybe it had to do with the 3pm start time, but that was due to the fact that the broadcast came from Belfast, Northern Ireland. I would've thought that the UFC would think enough about the sold out crowd to give them a title shot, but it wasn't the case.
The main event pitted Rich Franklin vs. Yushin Okami. As I've stated, I'm far from an expert on this stuff but I'd like to know what the reasoning was to make this the main event over the other fights. The announcers didn't really touch on it, either. On top of all that, the fight was boring. The only boring fight of the show to boot. Okami spent the first two rounds doing next to nothing, and tried to mount a flurry in the third round. I couldn't figure that out at all, since it's not a twelve round boxing match where you can afford to conserve some energy for the end of the fight. The UFC only gives you three rounds to work with (unless it's a title fight, then it's five rounds), so there's not really a lot of time to waste. Maybe he thought the fight was scheduled for five rounds since it was a main event. I don't know. Overall, it was a decent show all around.
One other point I wanted to make about the entrances: pro wrestling could learn a lot from the UFC and wait until the guys are in the ring before they are announced. In my opinion, it makes everything seem a little more important. And, i'm not gonna go into the fights I didn't mention, so look em up online if you care to.
I mentioned that I caught TNA Slammiversary as well. This one had a lot of questions to be answered, and one of them concerned Scott Steiner and his injury that I mentioned a little while back. I was really looking forward to The Steiner Brothers taking on Team 3-D (formerly known as The Dudley Boyz) but I knew it wouldn't be able to take place. I knew that fact because I read about it on the internet, not because it was mentioned on TV, because it wasn't. Also, there was a hole to fill in the main event because of stuff that happened recently on iMPACT! I haven't written anything about the show in a while not because I haven't been watching, but because it hasn't really been that riveting.
The PPV itself, though, was actually pretty good. Here's some stuff that stuck out:
1. LAX (Homicide & Hernandez w/ Konnan) vs. Rhino & Senshi (w/ Hector Guerrero)
I thought Chris Harris was partners with Rhino? Maybe they put him in the vacant main event slot. Hernandez was throwing Senshi around like a lawn dart. The crowd is really into everything. It must be because it's Nashville and TNA had a lot of their great moments there. Rhino & Senshi pick up the win after interference from Guerrero. Good match, but LAX is more of a full time team, so it didn't make much sense to have them lose, especially this early on the card.
2. Chris Sabin (X-Division Champion) vs. "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal - Title Match
I was a fan of Lethal's from his days in Ring Of Honor, and he's doing a Randy Savage gimmick now. I'll admit he does a great impression. Kevin Nash helps on commentary and says some stuff. Jay captured the title after a good showing from both guys, and I've never been a fan of Sabin's. He looked sharp tonight, though. I kinda figured he'd lose the strap, though, since him and Alex Shelley have been tearing up the indies as a tag team. They're collectively known as the Murder City Machine Guns, and it's pretty much the coolest name in a while. TNA will probably make them a part of the tag team division soon enough.
3. Frank Wychek & Jerry Lynn (w/ Kyle Vanden Bosch) vs. James Storm & Ron Killings (w/ Miss Jackie)
This match had no business being as good as it turned out to be. Wychek is a former Tennessee Titan, and I'm guessing that Vanden Bosch was his teammate at some point. My only major gripe about this match was the fact that Killings got thrown in for no real reason. He'd been out of action for months, and his return was treated like nothing special. Wychek gave Storm a cradle piledriver (Jerry Lynn's finisher) for the win. However, it looked pretty dangerous and Storm's lucky he wasn't injured.
4. Mr. Backlund vs. Alex Shelley
Mr. Backlund is 50 something former WWWF and WWF Champion Bob Backlund. Alex Shelley I mentioned earlier. I kinda figured Shelley would take the loss here, because of the aforementioned stuff with Sabin. I was right. I have to admit, though, that Backlund looked great for his age. The announcers made mention that he's in phenomenal shape, and I believe it. There was a lot of stuff involving Kevin Nash, Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal, and Jerry Lynn afterward but it didn't make much sense.
5. VKM (B.G. James & Kip James) vs. Basham & Damaja (w/ Christy Hemme)
This match was awful. VKM used to be called The New Age Outlaws in the WWF back in the mid 90's and the other team were known as the Basham Brothers in WWE at some point. I didn't really pay any attention, though, since WWE was already shit by that time. And, the two aren't really brothers, but they play(ed) them on TV. VKM won. Next!
6. Eric Young vs. Robert Roode (w/ Ms. Brooks)
Before the match, Jim Cornette interviewed Rick Steiner. Steiner whispered the identity of his partner into Cornette's ear. The plot thickens. The Young/Roode feud hopefully came to an end tonight. Not because it hasn't been interesting (at times), but because it's dragged on longer than this post. There were two highlights this one: Eric Young pantsing Brooks a little too hard, causing her panties to come about 70% off, and a double Death Valley Driver on Roode and Brooks. Eric Young got the win after a restart of the match due to cheating. This meant that Eric Young wouldn't have to fired from TNA. Alright.
7. Team 3-D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon) (TNA World Tag Team Champions) vs. Rick Steiner & ????? - Title Match
Here we go. This is what I've been waiting for. Before the match, Brother Ray cut a promo basically accusing Scott Steiner of pussing out on the match. This is despite the fact that Scott has a throat injury that required surgery. I hope this leads to Steiner returning the favor on Brother Ray when he gets better. So Rick's partner was Animal from The Legion of Doom/Road Warriors, and I guess that's as good as it could've been. Animal made some headlines during the college football season since his son is Ohio State Buckeye James Laurinaitis. I would've much rather seen The Steiner Brothers together, but the match was still serviceable. The Nashville crowd continued to be ON FIRE throughout the match, and that helped immensely. This great crowd was probably a major factor in my opinion of the show as a whole, to be honest. 3-D retained the straps (no great surprise) but Steiner took the fall. I was kinda thinking Animal would be the one to do that, but he wasn't. Get well soon Scotty!
8. Christopher Daniels vs. Sting
This one had a lot of potential, and fulfilled some of it. I like the premise of this feud, since it brings Sting's religious tendencies to the forefront. Plus, Daniels finally has a reason to be the Fallen Angel. Sting pinned Daniels, and that was a little surprising. This feud just started, and I figured Daniels would have to get a victory in order for it to continue. We'll see.
9. Abyss vs. Tomko - No Disqualification Match
They pulled out all the stops here. Neither of these guys are my favorites, but they put in one hell of a brawl. Thumbtacks, broken glass, a fall off a scaffold, and more in this one. Abyss got the win, and the revenge on Tomko.
10. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Kurt Angle vs. Christian Cage vs. ?????????? - King of the Mountain Match for the vacant TNA Title
Kurt Angle won the title in controversial fashion at the last PPV, so there is no champion. One more person had to be added, but before that was announced, they showed a video of Jeff Jarrett on the screen. I expected him to not only compete in this match, but also to win it, but that wasn't the case. This is due to the fact that his wife recently passed away. He explained that, among other things, in the pretaped video. That's all I'll say. Cornette announced Chris Harris as the 5th guy, which explains why he wasn't in the first match. I guessed right. The rules of this match are ridiculously convoluted, but here they are: all five are in the ring at once, but pinfalls count anywhere in the building. After someone is pinned, the winner has the chance to climb a ladder and hang the title on a hook. That's how you win. The loser has to sit in a penalty box for 2:00. However, if you're pinned, you can still pin someone else once you get out of the penalty box and try to hang the belt. I think that covers it. After about 20 minutes of nonstop, fast paced, train wreck action, Kurt Angle became the new TNA World Champion. Samoa Joe tried to shake his hand, but Angle had none of that. Maybe that'll be the next feud?
So that was the TNA Pay-Per-View. If I say so, it was their best one in a while. In other news, I made a trip to Music Saves earlier today and grabbed the new Chromeo album I mentioned a little while back, Fancy Footwork. I already had an advance copy, but I wanted to support them by buying a copy of the album. I'm gonna support em even more on July 13th in Buffalo when they perform with Flosstradamus and you should too! In closing, I wanna say that the album is primo car stereo material. My speakers haven't been woofed that hard since TV on the Radio's last one.
Until Then,
Later.
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