TNA SACRIFICE

Sunday, April 27th, 2014
Orlando

There was a time when I genuinely liked TNA. I used to look forward to their ppv's. Often I liked their ppv's better than the WWE's. Perhaps I'm just a WCW guy through and through, because TNA just feels like WCW all over again, and this time it's reminiscent of the end. For reasons nobody knows, TNA put two ppv's back to back this year even though they only have four. If you only have four...shouldn't you make them special? What the fuck was special about this show? I watched one match on this show in it's entirety, the others I fast-forwarded and watched in spots. This was just a demoralizing show. How this company still exists is beyond me. And the saddest fact is they have a stellar roster: Somoa Joe, Jeff Hardy, Kurt Angle, Austin Aries. C'mon! Wake...up.

BRO MANS & DJ ZEMA ION vs. THE WOLVES: Good, high-action opener. The Wolves won the titles even though it was 3 vs. 2 for no reason. **1/2

SAMUEL SHAW vs. MR. ANDERSON: The loser gets committed! To an asylum! Feels like bad Vince Russo. And the premise was funnier than the match. Pretty dull. *

WILLOW & KURT ANGLE vs. ECIII & ROCK STAR SPUD: TNA's biggest star is now wrestling under a mask and pseudonym. Makes sense to hide their popular guy, right? This match was short and awful. Not sure what the point was. 1/2*

SANADA vs. TIGRE UNO: Not bad. Felt too choreographed, not fluid enough. Uno gave Sanada a sick twist/flip into a spike DDT. Cool moves...just didn't mesh. **

JAMES STORM vs. GUNNER "I QUIT MATCH": Not as good as last month's cage brawl. Gunner bled from a beer bottle hit to the head. Gunner suplexed Storm from the top rope onto a guardrail set up between two chairs. Storm quit when Gunner had a piece of glass and started cutting his face. The WWE can't do this stuff, so it was unique. **

MADISON RAYNE vs. VELVET SKY: The Beautiful People are the kind of sluts you'd fuck and feel bad about it in the morning. This was pretty lame. 1/2*

BULLY RAY vs. BOBBY ROODE "TABLES MATCH": Dixie dressed up in a fake beard as a crew member and pushed Bully Ray off the top rope through a table. Then she took the beard off right there. Shocking! This was boring. 1/2*

MAGNUS vs. ERIC YOUNG: I admit...I said TNA should make Eric Young the champ years ago. He's entertaining, a decent wrestler, and a crowd favorite. Sadly, they gave him the title on a random Impact show. Everyone thinks they did it because Eric Young looks like Daniel Bryan. The underdog with the beard is apparently in vogue in pro-wrestling. So they stick Young in a feud with the world's most boring wrestler. It was a mediocre match to a poor, pointless show. *

WWE WRESTLEMANIA XXX

Sunday, April 6th, 2014
New Orleans

THE ROCK, HULK HOGAN, & 'STONE COLD' STEVE AUSTIN: To start the show these three dudes came out, did their one-liners and usual schtick, then left. It was kind of cool and mostly pointless.

THE USO'S vs. LOS MATADORES vs. THE REAL AMERICANS vs. RYBACK & CURTIS AXEL: This was on the pre-show, which is ridiculous because why do they have a pre-show when the show is already four hours? I only caught some of this. Good action. Cesaro turned face post-match.

DANIEL BRYAN vs. HHH: Good match. Not spectacular. HHH is rarely in great matches. After Bryan won, HHH beat him up. I think having Bryan in two matches would have been good six months ago when he was super hot...now he's just hot. But CM Punk quitting really turned this show around. The original plan for this show was Bryan vs. Sheamus, HHH vs. Punk, and Batista vs. Orton. Horrible! So it turned out better. **1/2

THE SHIELD vs. THE NEW AGE OUTLAWS & KANE: They should have had The Wyatt's vs. The Shield on this show. This pointless match was short and fairly dull. *1/2

THE ANDRE THE GIANT MEMORIAL BATTLE ROYAL (CESARO): Ugh. No one likes a battle royal. The winner gets a trophy. Why not have the winner get, I dunnoh, a title shot? Cesaro wasn't even supposed to be in this...he was #31 in a 30-man match. Cesaro picking up The Big Show and tossing him over the top rope to win was cool. 1/2*

JOHN CENA vs. BRAY WYATT: Not sure why this match was on the biggest show of the year. To make it fairly obvious and apparent that Vince McMahon and HHH didn't believe in Daniel Bryan for real...they had Bryan lose to Wyatt at The Royal Rumble and even though Cena got nothing out of this victory and was the betting underdog he still had to win tonight. I honestly think one reason The Undertaker didn't want to retire with an undefeated WM streak was because of Cena's "superman" aura. *1/2

THE UNDERTAKER vs. BROCK LESNAR: Well...it's too bad the dead man didn't lose during that five year string of good WM matches. Why? His loss would have been attached to a good match instead of this so-so affair. He's old, figured it out in training so decided to lose. After a few near-falls, Lesnar delivered an F-5 and won. The fans were shocked and silent. It was the hot topic everyone is still talking about (when I say everyone...I mean wrestling fans and...well, Jon Stewart mentioned it on The Daily Show). I think it was good that he lost for a lot of reasons. The last few years these streak matches have gotten tired. Both guys kick out of a million finishers then The Undertaker wins. Also, The Undertaker is too old to be doing this. Nice to pass the torch to the next generation. Not a good match but a great moment that will live on. *1/2

VICKIE GUERRERO DIVA'S INVITATIONAL (AJ LEE): Yeah. I didn't watch this.

DANIEL BRYAN vs. BATISTA vs. RANDY ORTON: The best WM main event in years. Lots of action. A sick spot. A good win for Bryan. A good way to end a so-so show. The two Bryan matches were really the only two good ones on this show. Batista picked up Bryan while standing on the announce table, Batista bombed him and Orton RKO'd him in mid-air through the Spanish announce table. The medics put Bryan on a stretcher but he got off. Orton's back was bleeding because he landed on a TV monitor. Sadistic spot. Bryan made Batista tap out. And then confetti and celebration. ***