THE TWO SHEDS REVIEW by Julian Radbourne
E-mail: twosheds316@aol.com
Website: www.twoshedsreview.com
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Once again we take a trip into TNA territory. But this time, the territory is situated in Detroit, and not Florida, as we take a look at what is their biggest show of the year, Bound for Glory, with our usual hosts for the evening, Mike Tenay and Don West.
We begin with the Kevin Nash open invitational battle royale thingy, with Nash giving away an old bowling trophy. It’s basically a battle royal fought under Royal Rumble rules, with wrestlers such as Shark Boy, Petey Williams, Alex Shelley, Johnny Devine, a woman, a midget and more. Once it got down to Austin Starr and Jay Lethal, it became a normal match, with Starr getting the pin after a brain buster. Afterwards, Nash presented the trophy to Starr, much to the annoyance of Shelley. Nothing really wrong with this one I suppose, but it didn’t really set the pulses racing.
Backstage, Jeremy Borash chats with America’s Most Wanted about LAX’s attack on Gail Kim. So are AMW faces again? I really should start watching TNA more often.
Four way tag action follows, featuring the Naturals, the James Gang, America’s Most Wanted and Team 3-D. It starts off as a normal tag bout, but soon breaks out into a brawl as all four teams pull off their signature moves, and the Naturals accidentally colliding with each other, leading to Douglas getting pinned after a 3-D. Afterwards, Shane Douglas returned to the ring and tore a strip off his charges. Although quite enjoyable, it might have been best to put this one on later in the card, because we had two quite similar, multi-man spot-based matches right next to each other.
Backstage, Borash is outside Samoa Joe’s dressing room, trying to get a few words, when the special referee for the Monster’s Ball match, Jake Roberts, appears. Looking better than the last time I saw him in Britain, Jake makes references to showing Borash a snake or something.
Yet more multi-way action follows in the form of the aforementioned Monster’s Ball match, featuring Abyss, Brother Runt, Raven and Samoa Joe, with Jake Roberts as the special referee. I must admit I had my doubts about this one, mainly because I thought that Joe wasn’t really suitable for this kind of match. But those doubts came to nothing in what proved to be a great match, with Runt taking a serious bump from the entrance scaffold, Abyss getting a face full of pins, and Joe getting the win after a muscle buster on Raven, groggy after a DDT from Roberts. Are TNA leading us to a Roberts v Raven feud perhaps?
Backstage, Borash talks to a hyper-ventilating Eric Young before Larry Zybysko interrupts.
Back in the arena, Jim Cornette makes an in-ring announcement, first that Samoa Joe would be fired if he interfered in the main event. Kurt Angle then arrives on the scene, saying a few things about his role on the show, and his problems with Joe, before the big guy comes running down the ramp. It takes a ton of security to keep them away from each other.
We return to in-ring action as Senshi defends the X-Division title against Chris Sabin, who thankfully seems to be ignoring the Jackass code now. Now I didn’t think these two would be able to top their match the previous month, but they did. This was probably one of the best X-Division matches I’ve seen, with great moves a plenty, tons of great false finishes, and a simple ending, with Sabin winning the title after a small package. Please, TNA, give us Senshi v Sabin part three!
Backstage, Borash gets a word from Christian Cage, who hypes his upcoming street fight with Rhino. Cage once again proves how great a promo guy he is.
It’s then time for the match itself, Detroit Eight Mile street fight action between former best buddies Rhino and Christian Cage. These two literally beat the crap out of each other, starting outside in the street before eventually getting into the arena. Tons of chair shots, a piledriver and a mis-timed gore through a table eventually saw Cage get the winning pin. After putting a load of stuff, including chairs, broken table parts, ladders and a road sign on Rhino’s fallen body, Cage came down with a torrent of vicious chair shots, before getting the final pin on the unconscious Rhino. While it wasn’t the best street fight I’ve seen, it certainly was good, with tons of drama, and a good story to tell.
The second title match of the evening follows, as LAX battle A.J. Styles and Christopher Daniels for the tag-team titles in six sides of steel. After their great Ultimate X match, they just about managed to go one better. While the X-Division dream team again proved how great they are, Homicide and Hernandez again proved they can hang with the big boys, and the ending was certainly interesting. As Daniels was choked out with a metal coat hanger held by Konnan at ringside, Homicide took Styles out with the Gringo Killer to get the winning fall and the tag-team titles. A very exciting and great match here.
Main event time, as Sting puts his career on the line against Jeff Jarrett’s NWA World title, with Kurt Angle making his second appearance of the evening as the special enforcer. It’s your typical Jarrett fare here, minus the over-booked ending but still with the obligatory brawl around the arena. Indeed, things only seemed to go up a notch after Angle took out the ref as he was about to count both men out as they lay on the mat. Eventually it was Sting who emerged victorious, locking in the Scorpion Death Lock after taking a Jarrett guitar shot to get the submission victory and the NWA title in a match that was just above average.
In conclusion – another mixed bag from TNA here, and another example of poor match positioning as far as the first three matches go. Apart from the Cage/Rhino, tag and X title bouts, Bound for Glory could have been a whole lot better, and it’s boast about being TNA’s “Wrestlemania” is a tad misleading.
One other thing – I taped this when it was first shown on The Wrestling Channel a few weeks ago. What happened to the Eric Young v Larry Zybysko match? Or was this one so short and awful that I fell asleep while watching it?
