TNA Slammiversary PPV Evaluation 6/10
By Nathan Kyght, PWTorch PPV specialist

BEST MATCH – KURT ANGLE/A.J. STYLES VS. DANIELS/KAZARIAN

I thought this was just an absolutely fantastic tag match, with great efforts from all involved. Some may argue that the opener between Austin Aries and Samoa Joe was better, but I enjoyed the tag match more and thought that it was one of TNA’s best matches so far this year. I was a little disappointed to see Daniels and Kazarian lose the titles, as I think that they have been awesome in their new roles, but TNA more than likely wanted to present a "feel-good" moment on the show before Bobby Roode retained in the main event of the evening. The win was made even better by Kurt Angle, who celebrated the victory as if it was the most important win of his career. Putting emphasis on wins - who knew?

WORST MATCH – JAMES STORM VS. CRIMSON

Granted, this was more for the "surprise pop" for the returning James Storm, but this still felt like a throwaway segment. And after a 14-month (14-month!) win streak, it ended in two minutes in an unannounced match. It feels like money left on the table, if you ask me.

BIGGEST SURPRISE – JOSEPH PARK, ESQ.

I was certain that Slammiversary was going to feature the big reveal of Joseph Park is, in fact, Chris Park (you know, Abyss). Kudos to TNA for holding off. I think that this storyline has been great, and I’m more than happy to watch them continue it to, presumably, Bound For Glory. Bully Ray is a top heel, I think Joseph Park is incredibly entertaining, and when the moment finally happens, it’s going to be great. Good stuff.

BIGGEST LETDOWN – NONE

Wait to go, TNA. With what I feel like have been several very good Impact shows in the last few weeks, and two back-to-back pay-per-views that were great, TNA finally feels like it’s hitting its stride again. Time will tell, of course, but the company feels like it has a lot of momentum at the moment.

BEST QUOTE – CHRISTIAN (CAGE)

“There were more corners last time.”

I imagine that Christian wasn’t exactly thrilled to be the WWE star making the trek to the show, but this was still a nice line.

BEST MOVE – STING

Granted, the crash mat was in pretty full view for the audience watching at home (although the alternative was no crash mat, which would have been insane), but this was still the "big spot" of the night. It gave the crowd something to cheer for after Roode retained the title, made Sting look good, and you have to assume that this feud will continue a little longer. Roode has been just great as Champion, and hopefully they feed him a few more challengers before the inevitable Bound For Glory main event with James Storm.

BEST MATCH FINISH – KURT ANGLE/A.J. STYLES VS. DANIELS/KAZARIAN

Kaz tapping to the anklelock to give the babyfaces the win and the titles was a strong way to put over the new champs, but what I especially liked was that Kaz was so close to reaching the ropes. The fact that he tapped with such a short way to gain relief from the hold made the move seem excruciating. Great ending.

OTHER THOUGHTS

- Austin Aries and Samoa Joe had a heck of a match, easily the second best match on the show. Aries is on-fire of late, and I would really enjoy seeing this feud continue, perhaps as a main event of Destination X. Given more time, these two have a classic in them.

- Kid Kash and Hernandez still work for TNA. Huh. Still, a nice undercard match that seemed to be a renewed push for a babyface Hernandez. We’ll see.

- Devon & Garett Bischoff and the Robbies had an okay match, but Garett just isn’t getting anywhere in winning over the crowd. Time for a repackage, methinks (and who doesn’t want to boo a heel Garett?), although my prediction is a love interest angle between Garett and Brooke Hogan or Madison Rayne. I hope they resist doing that angle. But, they won’t. Side note: I never want to see Garett dancing again.

- Jeff Hardy, Mr. Anderson, and RVD had a really fun three way dance. I was surprised that Hardy didn’t win (if only for ratings on Thursday), but all men worked hard and I really enjoyed it. Second side note: Mr. Anderson won and then yelled “I’m coming for you, Bobby.” Maybe throw “or Sting” in? Just saying.

- Gail Kim and Miss Tessmacher (I guess TNA can only have one "Brooke" per show) had a good Knockouts match, although I felt it was a step down from the excellent match they had at Sacrifice. Either way, Gail is probably going to get a re-match and I think they work well together. Thumbs up.

- Bobby Roode and Sting had a passable, if not particularly memorable main event. It wasn’t bad by any means, but was not really as good as the top match on the show should have been. Still, the right man won, and it wasn’t (drastically) overbooked. It’s a simple formula and TNA is doing it well: Give someone the title, and then have them not lose. It works. Every time.

WHAT IT’LL BE REMEMBERED FOR

Simply put, being a great show. As I said, TNA feels fresh and exciting at the moment, and TNA knocked this one out of the park. The arena and the overall presentation for this show were top notch, TNA looked major league, the crowd was hot all night, and the show flowed seamlessly. This was one of the best TNA shows I’ve seen. I highly recommend the replay.

UPDATED 2012 PPV EVALUATION RANKINGS

1 - WWE EXTREME RULES (2012-04-29)
2 - WWE WRESTLEMANIA XXVIII (2012-04-01)
3 - WWE ELIMINATION CHAMBER (2012-02-19)
4 - TNA SLAMMIVERSARY (2012-06-10)
5 - TNA SACRIFICE (2012-05-13)
6 - WWE OVER THE LIMIT (2012-05-20)
7 - WWE ROYAL RUMBLE (2012-1-29)
8 - TNA VICTORY ROAD (2012-03-18)
9 - TNA LOCKDOWN (2012-04-15)
10 - TNA GENESIS (2012-01-08)
11 – TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS (2012-02-12)

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