PPV Evaluation - TNA No Surrender
September 9, 2012
By Nathan Kyght, PWTorch PPV specialist

First and foremost, I’d like to extend best wishes to Jerry "The King" Lawler, and to his family.

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

After their excellent tag team encounter back at Slammiversary, I was really looking forward to the re-match, and it didn’t disappoint. Kurt Angle on one leg is still better than a lot of wrestlers on two legs, and aside from a few minor spots it was hard to notice that Angle wasn’t working at 100 percent - that guy is a machine. I’m glad that TNA kept the Tag Titles on Daniels and Kazarian, as they have been as good as anything across the board in wrestling in recent months, and hopefully this leads to a third encounter at Bound for Glory (perhaps with a stipulation attached?). All in all, understandably not as good as their first match due to Angle being hurt, but still a great match and easily the best thing on the show.

WORST MATCH – MISS TESSMACHER VS. TARA

Not dreadful, but unmemorable despite the best efforts of Tara. Maybe it’s just me, but Miss Tessmacher doesn’t really display any sort of charisma or fire in-ring; I’m not sure why I’m supposed to be rooting for her. Tara, though, has always been really good, and was here, too. It just wasn’t enough.

BIGGEST SURPRISE – JAMES STORM LOSES

Sometimes wrestling fans complain that the product is too predictable, but this was a case where I thought that what has seemingly been a year-long storyline would culminate in James Storm winning the Bound for Glory series and finally heading to the show to win "the big one." When Bobby Roode failed to regain the title, I still assumed that he’d have it back somehow on this show or on Impact, but either way it seemed certain that James Storm was going to win. Now, Jeff Hardy gets the TNA Title shot at Bound for Glory, and, while I’m sure the match with Austin Aries will be good, I can’t help but think that a Roode vs. Storm main event with Storm winning the title would have been a better way to cap off TNA’s version of WrestleMania. We’ll see how it all plays out.

BIGGEST LETDOWN – NO SURRENDER

I understand that all creative roads in TNA lead to Bound for Glory, but the build-up and execution of No Surrender, to a certain degree the company’s Royal Rumble (in terms of crowning the number one contender) was laughable. No card until three days before the pay-per-view? The champ in a vague "encounter" with an unnamed masked man? And, then a show that really did just feel like a commercial-free Impact. I think No Surrender hurt the build to next month’s big event.

BEST QUOTE – AUSTIN ARIES

“I’m not coming out here for a wrestling match, or as the TNA Champ. That’s all bull----."

You’re right. Being the TNA champ IS bu-. Wait. What?

BEST MOVE – DANIELS

It wasn’t really a big-move kind of a show, so in a week with some genuinely bad news playing out in the wrestling world, let’s go the lighthearted route and give it to Daniels for his martini to the eyes on A.J. Styles. I laughed.

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

This gets the nod here simply for the right decision being made on who got their hands raised. As I’ve said, Daniels and Kazarian are lightning in a bottle together; a genuinely great, homegrown TNA tag team that I’m happy to pay money to see. Long live their reign as world tag team champions. Of the world.

OTHER THOUGHTS

- Jeff Hardy and Samoa Joe had a nice match to start off the pay-per-view, although I don’t think that it was as good as their match last week on Impact. Still, the crowd was into it and the two men shared some nice chemistry. I’d have rather seen a Joe vs. Storm final to the BFG Series, but that’s a minor gripe and certainly only a personal preference. All in all, a good way to start the show.

- James Storm seemed particularly motivated in the next match, which was the second semi-final against Bully Ray. Bully Ray is one of the best heels in the business right now (up there with Brock Lesnar in terms of being a pure heel, and not a "cool" bad guy, in my opinion), and the two men worked well until an eye-rolling finish. I get that Roode is now once again Storm’s most hated enemy after costing him the match, but really… the ref didn’t see all of the shards of glass all over the ring? Not a big deal, but definitely silly.

- The Austin Aries fight segment was clearly suited better for Impact. The crowd was dead-silent during all of it (until the TNA vs. A&E brawl at least), and the reaction to "random masked guy" was crickets. This angle seems to have lost a lot of its steam, and unless something major happens soon, it’d be better regulated to a mid-card level angle.

- Zema Ion and Sonjay Dutt had a nice X Division match, but as has become a very common theme, it was lost in front of a library-quiet Impact Zone. That venue is so burned out on TNA that it is usually more of a detriment to the product than not. They worked hard, and Ion continues to improve, but the crowd didn’t help this at all.

- RVD and Magnus had a decent television match, but the silent crowd continued. I think Magnus has the potential to be a really big star in TNA, and so the decision to have him lose to RVD here was a bit baffling. Still, there was nothing wrong with the match. It continued this shows pattern of being decent, but nothing special.

- The Hogan segments with the “police” locking down the Impact Zone were ludicrous. Hogan at one point informed the police that if he saw any members of Aces & Eights, they were to beat them down, and throw them out. So, of course, the police took notes, because the Hulkster told them to. Sigh.

- Main event time, and the show limped to a close. The main event did't feel at all like a big-time pay per view show-ender, despite both Bully Ray and Jeff Hardy working hard. The (half) show long angle of Jeff Hardy being injured went out the window as well, with the supposedly damaged Jeff performing swanton after swanton with no trouble at all. Hardy goes over, the crowd sort of cared, and that was it.

WHAT IT’LL BE REMEMBERED FOR

We all knew that this show was basically just a countdown show to Bound for Glory, but it was a disappointing and utterly forgettable night. I thought this was the first bad TNA pay-per-view in quite a while, and did stall some interest for their major show coming up on October 14. Still, there’s definitely time to salvage everything. However, this show was somewhat of a waste.

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 DESTINATION X (2012-07-08)
6 - TNA SACRIFICE (2012-05-13)
7 - WWE MONEY IN THE BANK (2012-07-15)
8 – TNA HARDCORE JUSTICE (2012-08-12)
9 – WWE SUMMERSLAM (2012-08-19)
10 - WWE OVER THE LIMIT (2012-05-20)
11 - WWE ROYAL RUMBLE (2012-1-29)
12 - TNA VICTORY ROAD (2012-03-18)
13 - TNA LOCKDOWN (2012-04-15)
14 - WWE NO WAY OUT (2012-06-17)
15 – TNA NO SURRENDER (2012-09-09)
16 - TNA GENESIS (2012-01-08)
17 – TNA AGAINST ALL ODDS (2012-02-12)

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