THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne
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Website: www.twoshedsreview.com
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Finally, the match that has been hyped-up since the beginning of the year as the legendary Sting faces “The King of the Mountain†Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World title at TNA’s Hard Justice. Our hosts, as always, are the “Professor†Mike Tenay and Don West.
The first match of the evening sees Eric Young, still convinced he’s losing his job, facing former Team Canada buddy Johnny Devine. Young is gaining something of a cult following these days, while Johnny Devine seems to be copying Chris Jericho’s promo style. It’s an entertaining opener from the two Canadians, with Young getting the win after his unique variation of the neck breaker, but sadly the bout will be remembered for the pyro that started a fire in the rafters of the building. Credit to Young and Devine though for finishing the match despite the cloud that had surrounded the ring, thanks to the fire extinguishers.
After the bout, Earl Hebner appeared out of nowhere and attacked Slick Johnson at ringside. Something tells me that we’re going to get one of those awful ref v ref matches soon.
After a delay of over forty minutes, which saw the evacuation of the building by the fire brigade, and with matches either cancelled or shortened, it’s back to the action. As Kevin Nash cries off with a neck injury, Alex Shelley takes his place in the X Division number one contenders match against Chris Sabin. However, despite his “injuryâ€, Nash is wheeled to ringside to provide moral support for his charge. A good match between the two X guys, with Sabin and Shelly pulling off some good moves, and working extremely well together. However, the Paparazzi’s plan proved to be their undoing. As Devine distracted the ref, Nash threw a chair into the ring for Shelley, which was promptly kicked into his face by Sabin, who then finished him off after the cradle shock to get the win.
Next up, it’s a David v Goliath battle as Brother Runt faced Abyss. In the pre-match interview James Mitchell again proves that he’s one of the best promo guys in the business. As always, Runt plays the part of the underdog to perfection, throwing everything he could against the monster, but coming up short. As the referee took a snooze, Abyss brought the thumbtacks into the equation, ramming and stomping Runt’s head into the tiny spikes, before using the tacks again, black hole slamming Runt onto them, and with Mitchell pushing the dazed ref back into the ring, Abyss got the winning pin in what was a great encounter.
Three way action follows in a falls count anywhere match, with Rhino, Samoa Joe and Monty Brown. This was nothing more than a fight, and a damn good one at that, with three guys tearing strips off each other, hitting each other with whatever they could get their hands on, going through tables, and Joe getting the pin on Brown following an STO off the ram and through the table. Another enjoyable bout here.
Backstage, Jeremy Borash talks to the wig-wearing Larry Zybyszko about the Earl Hebner incident. They’re interrupted by Slick Johnson, and Zybyszko says he’s going to get him fired.
Time for the ladies, as Gail Kim faces Sirelda. A fairly decent encounter, and another example of how Gail should be used more as a wrestler. Sirelda showed that she’s improved since last month. Gail came out on top here, getting the pin after a neck breaker off the ropes.
Borash then interviews Scott Steiner, who still proves that he’s one of the worst promo guys in the business at the moment.
More three way action next, with Senshi defending his X Division title against Petey Williams and Jay Lethal. Now this is what the X Division should be about, none of that Kevin Nash crap, with guys pulling out all the stops, with all three, in particular Jay Lethal, putting on a tremendous showing. The end came when Williams took Lethal down with the Canadian Destroyer, only for Senshi to stop him from making the cover so he could pin Lethal himself to retain the title.
More title action follows, as A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels defend the tag titles against the LAX team of Homicide and Hernandez. I didn’t hold out high hopes for this one, and those hopes were not justified. An exciting match, probably the best I’ve seen in a while. Homicide was finally allowed to show what he could do, and the exchanges between all four men were certainly a joy to behold, with Styles and Daniels retaining the titles after a high-low on Hernandez. This certainly deserves a re-match.
Backstage, Borash chats with Christian Cage about his role in the main event. A good promo from the former champion as he promises to watch the challenger’s back.
On to the main event, as Jeff Jarrett defends the NWA title against Sting. Tons of drama in this one, starting with the obligatory brawl through the crowd before the action eventually returned to the ring, with tons of interference from both corner men, the referee taking a snooze, and Cage turning on Sting, clobbering him with Jarrett’s guitar as he came off the top rope for a stinger splash, with Jarrett getting the pin a few seconds later. A little overbooked, which seems to be the way with TNA main events, but enjoyable nonetheless.
In conclusion – TNA did a great job to get the show going again after the fire, especially when there was a possibility it might have to be called off, and despite the disappointment of a couple of matches being called off, most of those left delivered what they set out to do.
So an enjoyable show from TNA here. Just try and keep Scott Steiner away from any form of interview segment please!!!!
