TNA tries once again to give a whole new meaning to the term “mixed bag”.
Opening Match: TNA World Tag Team Titles: Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley © vs. Max and Jeremy Buck
Desmond Wolfe and Magnus were the original challengers but had to pull out due to “personal issues”. I’m not complaining about their replacement. Both teams trade control to start and are being pretty tentative. Max and Sabin both go for dropkicks and things become serious. Jeremy catches Shelley with a few armdrags and Max innovatively moonsaults onto his arm. Jeremy follows with a double stomp to the arm. Sabin blind tags in and the Motor City Machine Guns double team Jeremy. The MCMG isolate him as Max starts obtaining some heel heat. Jeremy eventually makes the tag and Max plants Sabin with a wheelbarrow bulldog. Shelley comes off the top with a thrust kick on Max. Jeremy hits Shelley with a neckbreaker on the apron and Generation Me work him over. Jeremy misses a dropkick and Shelley is able to make the tag. Sabin cleans house with forearms and spikes Max with a springboard tornado DDT. Shelley clotheslines Jeremy to the floor and follows out with a dive. Max propels Jeremy into hitting an inverted DDT on Sabin. Jeremy connects with a series of kicks on Shelley. Some kind of constant superkick exchange ends with the MCMG connecting with stereo superkicks on Max. The MCMG hit their neckbreaker-crossbody combination on Max to retain their titles at 12:51. I agree with inserting Generation Me into the match and both teams put forward an effort about equal to their outing at Destination X. However, I never believed that Generation Me could feasibly win the titles. Also, I felt as though the action down the stretch became a little too wacky. Hopefully a feud is starting between these two teams because I know for a fact that they have better in them. **¾
Generation Me attack the Motor City Machine Guns after the match. They lay out Shelley with a DDT from the apron to the floor. Generation Me start laughing as EMTs check on Shelley at ringside.
Match #2: X Division Title: Douglas Williams © vs. Sabu
They start with a feeling out process. I’d be shocked if these two have ever wrestled each other before so a feeling out process makes sense. Sabu finds success with a slingshot leg drop and lands a dive to the outside. He sets up a table on the floor but the action goes back into the ring. Williams connects with a flying uppercut. Sabu completely botches a top rope hurricanrana and brings a chair into the ring. That does not make Earl Hebner a happy camper. Sabu uses the chair to land a springboard moonsault. Williams sends him face-first into the chair and takes control. Sabu comes back with a springboard tornado DDT. He adds a springboard back elbow and uses the chair to land a corner charge. Williams kicks the chair into Sabu and hits a gutwrench suplex. Williams retreats to the floor and Sabu can’t keep his balance on a chair-assisted dive. Sabu tries again with a regular plancha and finds success. Williams avoids another dive and Sabu puts himself through the table. In the ring, Williams hits Sabu with the X Division belt to retain his title at 11:12. About what I expected. Sabu performed way too many springboards, botched a few spots, and still didn’t lose the crowd’s support. Williams just played along until the cheap finish. There’s really not too much to like about this match. They used a lot of bells and whistles yet still couldn’t make it work. *¾
Match #3: Madison Rayne vs. Velvet Sky
Tara accompanies Rayne while Angelina Love comes to the ring with Sky. Rayne attacks from behind and shows right away that she is a woman on a mission tonight. Sky fights back with a slap but walks into a clothesline. Rayne performs the “scissors stomp”, which isn’t exactly what Alex Shelley calls the same move. Sky connects with a series of strikes and hits a spear. She follows with a bulldog but Tara interjects herself. Love fights off Tara at ringside. Sky plants Rayne with a DDT for the win at 4:43. Nothing you couldn’t see on Impact every week. *
Match #4: Falls Count Anywhere: Rhino vs. Abyss
Rhino starts brawling with Abyss during his entrance. He throws some plunder into the ring and lands a plancha to the floor. They brawl through the crowd and into Universal Studios. Abyss irish whips Rhino into a trash can and they make their way back to ringside. In the ring, Abyss whips Rhino into a garbage can. If it seems like I’m repeating myself, I am. They aren’t getting too innovative here. They brawl around the entrance area and Rhino throws Abyss through a wall. We lose them for awhile under the stage until Rhino gets thrown through another part of the wall. Abyss brings a piece of guardrail into the ring and props it in the corner. Rhino hits him with a cookie sheet repeatedly and finds success with a corner spear. Rhino follows with a belly to belly suplex. Abyss blocks the Gore and chokeslams him onto a garbage can. Abyss grabs Janice but Rhino stops him from using it by hitting a Gore. Abyss responds with the Black Hole Slam. Rhino blocks a powerbomb with a clothesline. He misses a Gore and collides with the guardrail. Abyss hits another Black Hole Slam for the victory at 12:41. The beginning portion of this match was extremely dull and uninteresting. The crowd brawling went nowhere they were repeating spots. When they started trading finishers, the action picked up a bit. Nevertheless, this brawl contained nothing that made it stand out and I’ll probably forget this match even happened by next month. **
Match #5: Sting and Kevin Nash vs. Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe
I’m really trying to keep an open mind here. Joe sends Nash to the floor and connects with a corner enzuigiri on Sting. Nash cheap shots Jarrett from the apron and Sting adds a clothesline. Mike Tenay reveals that Impact will not air this Thursday. So about 5,500 people know now. Nash hits a side slam on Jarrett and Sting finds success with his corner splash. Jarrett and Sting both connect with clotheslines. Joe enters the match and takes care of business. He lands a dive to the floor on Nash. Jarrett hits Sting with his own bat. Joe applies the Coquina Clutch on Sting for the win at 6:13. Purely used for storyline purposes. Honestly, this felt like a standard Impact main event. I’m glad that Joe was put over but no one truly benefits from a six-minute pay per view match with a screwy finish. *½
Match #6: I Quit Match: AJ Styles vs. Tommy Dreamer
Styles tries to jump Dreamer during his entrance to no avail. Dreamer tries working the submission game early on and back drops Styles to the floor. Back in, Styles misses a corner charge and collides with the ringpost. Dreamer immediately goes after his shoulder and connects with a clothesline from the apron. Styles hits a suplex on the entrance ramp. Dreamer blocks a figure four by hitting Styles with a spotlight. He starts choking Styles with cables. Styles collides with the ringpost again and Dreamer hits a shoulderbreaker. In the ring, Dreamer uses a chair to further attack the shoulder. Styles grabs a fork from his kneepad but walks into a DDT. Dreamer now uses the steel steps to inflict more damage to the shoulder. Styles crotches him on the guardrail and starts working over the left leg. He applies a figure four around the ringpost but Dreamer perseveres. Styles locks in a regular figure four but Dreamer turns it over. Styles misses a kick and Dreamer synchs in a chair-assisted half crab. Dreamer tries to use the fork but Styles comes out of nowhere with a pele kick. Dreamer blocks a dive with a kendo stick shot. He attacks Styles’ injured shoulder with the kendo stick and applies a crossface using the kendo stick. That looked brutal in a good way. Styles grabs another fork and catches Dreamer in the eye. Styles continues to drive the fork into Dreamer’s eye, causing him to quit at 16:58. They kept things simple and it worked wonders for them. The constant submission attempts added some legitimacy to the match and both men had me believing that they were doing everything in their power to win. Dreamer didn’t look sluggish and more than held his own. The finish was appropriately gruesome and everything came together here. In fact, this is the best outing from Dreamer since I don’t know when. ***
Match #7: Jeff Hardy vs. Kurt Angle
Hardy hits a gourdbuster and connects with a dropkick. Angle blocks a charge and hits a powerbomb. The Impact Zone is already chanting “this is awesome”. Angle begins to ground Hardy, who eventually fights back with a mule kick. Hardy botches his corner dropkick and the crowd gets on his case. These are the same people who supported Sabu. Angle hits a belly to belly suplex but Hardy responds with a jawbreaker. Angle catches Hardy up top with a suplex. Hardy armdrags out of an Angle Slam and hits the Twist of Fate. Angle avoids the swantan and hits the Angle Slam. The straps are down. Hardy fights off an ankle lock but falls victim to rolling german suplexes. Angle misses a moonsault and Hardy finds success with Whisper in the Wind. The action goes to the floor where Hardy hits the Twist of Fate. He actually lands a swantan to the floor. These two are throwing bombs at each other and we’re just over the ten-minute mark. In the ring, they trade punches and Angle hits a german suplex. Angle lands a frog splash but Hardy answers with the Twist of Fate. Hardy lands another swantan for a nearfall. He lands yet another swantan but Angle won’t stay down. Hardy tries a third consecutive swantan but Angle gets his knees up. Angle hits the Angle Slam for a two count. He synchs in an ankle lock but Hardy powers out. Hardy connects with a clothesline from the apron but finds himself in another ankle lock. He’s able to power out once again. Angle goes back to the ankle lock and grapevines the leg. Jeff doesn’t tap and the twenty-minute time limit is reached. The crowd is not happy as Eric Bischoff makes his way to ringside. FIVE MORE MINUTES!! TNA! TNA! TNA! Love this company. Angle immediately goes after Hardy’s left leg. Hardy dropkicks him into the guardrail and tries to go up top. Angle catches him with a top rope Angle Slam. Hardy sends Angle to the floor. He barely makes it back into the ring at nine. Angle tries a quick pin attempt to no avail and they both connect with clotheslines. The time limit has expired once again. FIVE MORE MINUTES! I can’t handle this. Angle connects with some punches but misses a charge and collides with the ringpost. Hardy sends him into the steel steps. Angle is busted open. Hardy applies a boston crab but Angle reverses into an ankle lock. Hardy hangs on for about thirty seconds the time limit has expired for the third time. Due to Angle’s blood loss, this match is finally ruled a no contest after 30:00 of match time. This is a hard match to rate. TNA tried something different and it worked for the most part. I loved the first twenty minutes with these two just going at each other with full force. The constant finishers didn’t feel like overkill and it put over the TNA World Title nicely. The extra five-minute intervals and eventual no contest ruling definitely put a damper on what they had going. The good news is that they made the extra time limit segments suspenseful and it’s hard not to recognize the effort both men put into this match. Check out this contest if you can. While the ending isn’t quite satisfying, everything leading up to that point is tremendous. ****
Match #8: Mr. Anderson vs. D’Angelo Dinero
Talk about having a tough act to follow. They start with some chain wrestling and eventually become more intense. Dinero finds an opening to start working over the left shoulder. Anderson connects with a nice enzuigiri and returns the favor by working over Dinero’s shoulder. Both men connect with clotheslines. Dinero wakes up with some strikes. They battle up top and Anderson is sent to the floor. Dinero follows out with a flying crossbody. Back in, they tease finishers and Anderson hits a finlay roll. Dinero answers with a lungblower and armdrags out of a Mic Check attempt. Anderson is able to hit the Mic Check on a second attempt. Dinero misses the DDE and Anderson hits another Mic Check for the victory at 17:23. These two had seventeen minutes to work with and were content to deliver a decent yet unspectacular match. They even had a feud to play off of and failed to make the action interesting. This would have been a fine midcard match but it just felt underwhelming as the main event. It’s especially sad considering that I may have given this show a slight recommendation if this match had come through. **½
Overall: No Surrender 2010 is another mundane pay per view offering from TNA. The card is highlighted by a fantastic match between Angle and Hardy along with Dreamer’s best performance in years. The rest of the card is severely lacking, especially because it’s missing a worthwhile main event. It’s a shame that we’re in September and I haven’t been able to recommend any pay per view from TNA this year. I’m sure Angle/Hardy will be released on the “best of 2010” DVD and that’s all there is to see on this show. Hopefully TNA takes a turn in the right direction with Bound For Glory.
