KELLER'S TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS PPV BLOG
FEBRUARY 12, 2012
ORLANDO, FLA.
AIRED LIVE ON PAY-PER-VIEW

-When Jeff Hardy says "Odds are against me all the time," what exactly does that mean? Because of his undisciplined selfish recreational drug use over the years, the odds are against him staying sober? I don't say that to be unfair, but really who he is to say odds are against him - whether it's in character or not? He's been given more breaks because of his natural charisma and gifted athleticism than almost anyone in this industry. Odds are anything but against him.

-Jeremy Borash is with Mike Tenay on commentary. Tenay said Taz is dealing with a loss in his family.

1 -- ZEMA ION defeats JESSE SORENSEN via countout in 3:00.

-Zema Ion, whom I had a chance to interview for over an hour on Friday's PWTorch Livecast, is an outstanding heel character. He's a mix of "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin from World Class in the mid-1980s and the heel Lightning Kid in the Global Wrestling Federation days on ESPN with a dose of Johnny B. Badd (with the whole "I'm the prettiest" schtick).

-They did a schtick with Zema stealing a little kid's football at ringside.

-Love Borash's note that Zemo is so different from everyone else, while everyone has an iPad, he has a Samsung Galaxy Tab. Great note.

-Another fun note from Tenay that Zema brought his hairspray on the airplane coming back from the Philipines.

-Odd finish. Zema dove from the top rope onto Sorensen at ringside and caught him in the head with his knee. The ref checked on him and he must've signaled he was okay, yet he ended up being counted out and seemed to have trouble even moving, much less getting up, from the awkward position he was in at ringside. The ref checked a second time and did the cross-arm signal to get help from the back. I hope Sorensen isn't legit hurt.

-Zema snickered, celebrating his victory. He then told the camera that's why they call him the most dangerous flyer in the business. Obviously he has no idea whether the injury is serious or not.

-On replay, the way he landed indicates he was out as he fell, as he didn't brace himself at all and his arms landed at awkward angles. They went to wide shot showing a gathering of doctors and officials at ringside. Tenay and Borash noted that this shows the dangers involved in any high-flying moves. It's true. Wrestlers are always putting themselves at great risk every time they step foot inside the ring, and this is one of example of how being slightly out of position can lead to an injury (as happened with veterans Miz and R-Truth on Raw last week).

-They showed concerned fans at ringside watching the officials tend to Sorensen.

-They went backstage to Christy Hemme interviewing Robert Roode who seemed slightly distracted and worried for Soresen. This was clearly an impromptu time-filling interview. Roode talked about becoming the most dominant World Hvt. Champion in the last several months. This was an old school interview that would typically have been put in between squashes in a TV show to promote an upcoming match. It's such a good way to let wrestlers establish who they are and talk right into the camera to fans while hyping upcoming matches.

-They moved on to the next match, so Sorensen was taken to the back. No word yet on whether he was moving on his own or stretchered.

2 -- ROBBIE E. (w/Robbie T.) pinned SHANNON MOORE after interference from Robbie T. (*1/2)

-What you'd expect from these two - a rudimentary solid match with the obligatory mid-match chinlock from Robbie (actual two of them tonight). Robbie projected a lot of personality, going all-in with his obnoxious New Jersey club-hopping gimmick.

-Bad Announcer Grammar Alert: "…Tara admits her and Gail know each other so well…" It's "she and Gail."

3 -- GAIL KIM (w/Madison Rayne) defeated TARA to retain the Knockouts Title.

-Borash talked about Kim's attitude change since her return to Impact Wrestling, and noted that she's always got this celebrity chef she's dating with her. She is in a relationship with a celebrity chef. Borash said she's got a big head. This seemed to be news to Tenay.

-A marathon by standard WWE Divas TV match standards at nearly 7 minutes, but I'd have liked to see a statement match between two veterans like this go 10 minutes at least, but still only around seven minutes. Tara dominated the first minute, then Kim took over with help from Rayne and remained on offense for several minutes. Then Tara came back with a powerslam out of nowhere and both were slow to get up. Kim worked over Tara's knee and then finished her with the Eat Defeat/Da'Feet finisher.

-Backstage Christy Hemme pointed out that this was James Storm's first TNA Title match since November. He got his swagger back on the mic here, getting into his groove Dusty Rhodes/Michael Hayes style.

3 -- SAMOA JOE & MAGNUS defeated MATT MORGAN & CRIMSON in 10:00 to capture the TNA Tag Team Titles (*3/4)

-Morgan got a late hot-tag and seemed to have things going his way when Crimson mistakenly speared him after Joe side-stepped him. Magnus then hit his top rope elbowdrop for the win.

-I like the chemistry with Joe and Magnus. Tenay talked about how Joe isn't someone who gets along well with others, so this random teaming wasn't seem a long-term arrangement, but it's worked out.

-Christy Hemme interviewed Bully Ray backstage who talked about the main event. I like each of the four wrestlers in the main event getting time to hype the match throughout the event between matches. He insulted Christy and sent her away. Ray contended he had the number of his opponents. He said he's now in Roode's head like no wrestler has ever been. He vowed that he was about to piss off the wrestling world and become the new TNA Heavyweight Champion.

4 -- AUSTIN ARIES defeated ALEX SHELLEY via tapout after a brainbuster suplex and front chancery in 15:00. (***1/2)

-Tenay noted that Sorensen has been transported to "a local medical facility" (he means "hospital"). He said they'd update viewers on his condition as soon as they had word.

-Good crowd heat for the near falls late in the match. Unfortunately they got the "This is Awesome!" chant from some fans in the crowd. There were some other fans countering with the more desirable "Let's Go Shelley" chant. The goal in a match is to get the crowd rooting for someone to win, but praising the wrestlers for how awesome they are at putting on an exciting fight. I mean, it's not bad thing, but it's far from ideal. Real money is made from fans caring about who wins, not waiting around to chant how awesome a good, competitive back-and-forth match is.

-Clean tappet win for Aries, which is a good move. TNA needs a long-term champion in the X Division. The longer he holds that title, the more each title defense will matter because a really long historical reign will be at stake. The era of rapid-fire title changes (popularized by Vince Russo, among others) should be over, as decades of equity built up through disciplined, restrained booking of title changes has been spent. Now it's time to make title changes mean something again by cutting way back on them and making the very concept of being a champion something a select few get to experience, and when they do, they hold the belts for a long time in most cases.

-Christy interviewed the fourth entrant in the main event. Hardy had full facepaint and a dark head scarf.

5 -- KAZ (w/Christopher Daniels) pinned A.J. STYLES in 19:00. (***)

-Tenay said he's very curious what Daniels has over Kaz that gives him control over him.

-Borash talked about how Styles used to travel with his friends, but now he's just got his phone to keep him occupied. Borash brings some fresh insight into telling the story of the characters in ways Tenay and Taz don't. He draws good visual pictures. After the finish, he talked about how Daniels will be bragging about how he beat Styles, taking credit for Kaz's win. Again, it paints a picture that builds the heel character of Daniels.

-In the end Styles springbaorded onto Daniels at ringside rather than springboard into the ring to go after Kaz. That gave Kaz a chance to recover and hit his Fade to Black reverse back piledriver for the win.

-The match itself was good start to finish, paced better than "methodical" but it didn't have that Match of the Year contender feel at all despite going long enough to get to that point if they wanted. These two can have a three-star match in 19 minutes easily, and they put it together here.

-Christy Hemme interviewed Eric Bischoff and Gunner backstage. Bischoff said he resents Hulk Hogan getting in his family business, but he also respects all Hogan has done. He said he believes Gunner will beat Garett so severely that he won't be able to participate in physical activity again. He broke down a little as he said he feels responsible because it's so tough for his son to live up to his accomplishments. He said he is presenting Garett and Hogan with a white towel so they can throw it into the ring to end the beating. He said it's his responsibility as a father to give Garett this out. Gunner said Hogan will need to use that towel to wipe up what's left of Garett when he's done with him.

6 -- GUNNER (w/Eric Bischoff) pinned GARETT BISCHOFF (w/Hulk Hogan) in 12:00.

-I know Bischoff and Hogan are big names, but putting this on as the semi-final is pretty shameless of the considering Garett's experience level and popularity with fans at this point. It would have made a statement to put the X Division match or Tag Title match or even the Knockouts Title match in the semi-final position, sending a message to fans that the title is more important than a family feud gimmicky match with overpushed "son of the promoter."

-Wonderful. Another son of a promoter who is too cool to wear traditional wrestling gear. At least, unlike Shane McMahon, he's not wearing tennis shoes. He's wearing shiny black pants with a white and red stripe down the side.

-Not sure who's fault, but that was an awful arm drag out of the corner by Garett on Gunner. Gunner barely got off the ground.

-Hogan shouted encouragement and tips at ringside during the match. It gave the match a UFC feel with the coach at ringside shouting instructions at ringside. It was the only part of this match that resembled a UFC fight, though. The crowd couldn't have looked more bored.

-Hogan hit Bischoff at ringside after Eric took a cheapshot at his son. That woke the crowd up and some chanted "Hogan! Hogan!" briefly.

-A few minutes later Hogan climbed not the ring apron with the white towel in hand. Garett told him not to throw in the white towel. Oddly, Hogan said seconds earlier as he climbed onto the ring apron, "Garett, you've gotta fight back!" Gunner then gave Garett a DDT for the win. The DDT looked awful. Garett didn't go down with it fast enough and Gunner's arms popped off of his head and Garett had to throw himself head-first into the mat on his own. Seriously, if this was anyone but Eric's son, he'd be sent to OVW for a few years to get better. Embarrassing.

-Tenay said: "Almost difficult to watch as this match progressed." Yeah, you could say that. Who thought 12 minutes was a good idea? I guess Hulk and Eric needed the face-time. This entire storyline is really indefensible on any objective standard. You could tell Tenay and Borash were doing their best to walk a fine line of calling the story in the ring but not killing their credibility by putting it over in any sincere way. They're not that good at acting.

-Christy Hemme interviewed Sting backstage who said it feels good to be in the Impact Zone tonight. He said he'll use his authority to make sure Roode doesn't walk out on the match or hit someone with a beer bottle. He said he'd be sure there's a clear-cut winner tonight. He closed with, "It's Showtime!"

7 -- ROBERT ROODE vs. JEFF HARDY vs. BULLY RAY vs. JAMES STORM -- TNA World Hvt. Title Match

-Jeff had his eyelids painted so when his eyes were closed, it looked like they were actually open and he was wearing blue contact lenses. There are a lot of third shift security guards who just got an idea on how to get through those long overnight shifts without anyone noticing they're sleeping.

-Tenay called Roode the "master of loopholes" and asked if they've ever had a more fortunate World Champion.

-Roode wanted Ray on his side and tried to talk him into working with him. Ray was stone-faced and heard him out. Roode said they should take out Hardy and Storm so "it can be me and you, one on one, like it should be!" Ray jumped out of the ring and stared at Roode as Hardy and Storm beat him up at the start of the match.

-Borash made it clear that the winner gets the World Title no matter who the pin is on. This rule in particular makes such a farce of the integrity and prestige of being a champion.

-Late in the match Storm hit a Last Call Superkick. Ray yanked the ref out of the ring. Storm dove after Ray, but landed on the ref Brian Hebner instead.

-Hardy yanked off his shirt and got the Kerry Von Erich Sportatorium pop from the crowd.

-Roode grabbed his belt, meanwhile, and was going to hit Hardy with it. Sting entered the ring and yanked the belt away. As Sting lectured Roode, Roode spit at Sting. Sting swung the belt at Roode, but Roode ducked and Sting KO"d Hardy. Roode laughed as Sting told Roode he sucks. Roode told Sting to count. Roode made the cover and Sting made the reluctant three count.

-Lots of action, but it didn't add up to a good match, and the finish fell flat. TNA does stuff like this too often so it doesn't mean anything. If they set the standard that World Title matches end cleanly 15 straight months, something like this might generate some buzz and outrage and emotions. But it's just expected from viewers and plays off more like an angle than a satisfying finish to a match that proved or resolved something.

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