TNA No Surrender 2011 Review

Jesse Sorensen Vs Kid Kash

So we kick things off tonight with the PPV début of Jesse Sorensen, and already he's fighting to become 1# Contender for the X-Division Championship. Considering he's lost all but one match in his short professional career so far, I'd say this chance is a little pre-mature. Meanwhile Kid Kash is back in the TNA fold after a long stint away in the WWE amongst other companies – so in short we've got two guys wrestling who most of the audience doesn't know and doesn't care about. The pace is frantic at the start – too frantic actually. They rush through their routine so fast it looses any impact and never quite gels. Kash gets in some strong offence, such as when he drops Sorensen straight down from a vertical suplex position, but the pace dips dramatically when he's on top, and the match never really builds towards it's finish. Sorensen's finisher is pretty sloppy in practice, even if it is an impressive show of strength. As long as he's in the X-Division he'll be okay, but if they ever want to push him further he'll need something more consistent. It's enough to pick up a pretty big win for the kid, we'll have to see if his title match gets on the card for Bound for Glory.

Rating: 2.5 Stars


Bully Ray Vs James Storm

Why can't TNA just make clear, reasonable decisions once in a while, you know, just to shake things up? This entire BFG tournament has been an affront to common sense from the start, so I'm not sure why I expected anything to change now we're down to the final four. Still, I think everyone was surprised to hear that Storm has to make Ray submit if he wants to win the series, because this match is for points just like all the others. Forget how it was explained months ago - how the final four would compete in a knock-out tournament with the final at Bound for Glory. Oh no. It's not like that now. It's like TNA punishes you for actually paying any attention at all. I get that they wanted some added drama, but I'm to busy trying to remember all the BS rules for this tournament to give the plight of James Storm much thought.

I have to admit that Bully Ray has done some of the best work of his career in recent months. This certainly is the best push he's had as a singles star away from Devon, something I'd have thought impossible in 2011. His stalling tactics don't please anybody to start things off, inspiring a “Pussy Ray” chant from the crowd. He continues to stall at every opportunity, which does nothing for the tempo of this contest and starts to loose audience interest. Finally something happens – Ray takes a swig of Storm's beer, brings a chair into the ring and while the ref removes it he spits the beer in Storm's face. Tazz has to take time out to explain how the quiver he feels when he fights Bully Ray isn't the same as the quiver he feels when he sees a pretty girl. Good to know.

Storm works on Ray's arm and he sells it nicely, just barely making it out of every hold Storm puts him in. Finally Storm decides to get Ray with his own tactics and takes a swig of beer, but Ray ducks the spit and it goes right into the referee's face instead. Storm gets on another arm-breaker and Ray taps, but Storm is disqualified for the beer. Not a bad match, but way too much time wasting to be considered good. I guess they wanted to avoid friction between Beer Money, so I suppose this makes sense.

Rating: 2.5 Stars


TNA Tag Team Championship
Mexican America Vs Brother Devon and D'Angelo Dinero

This match is the definition of plodding. It never picks up and just exists until it doesn't. Miscommunication between The Pope and Devon on an early double team means they have to go for it again, which is played off by Tazz as a sign of the team's inexperience working together. Pope goes over and sexually assaults Rosita on the apron (I wish I was making up more of that than I am), but gets interrupted by Anarquia. He fights back, tags in Devon and, as they set up for the Wassup Headbut, I can't help but think TNA is a bit confused and Bully Ray has somehow swapped places on the card with The Pope. I remember not too long ago when Dinero was on the verge of being a big time player in TNA, and now he's just Devon's latest partner. Even Tenay and Tazz seem bored by all of this, as both teams move from one miscommunication to another. Devon manages to mess up a tandem of corner punches, even with the crowd keeping rhythm for him while Dinero gets his hands on Rosita again for, as Tenay puts it, some “good old double-team spanking!”, which Tazz admits to being involved in before. Then, finally, it ends. Boy that was tiresome.

Rating: 1.5 Stars


Matt Morgan Vs Samoa Joe

A match like this ought to be a big deal, the first time these guys have ever locked up on PPV, but the lack of atmosphere inside the Impact Zone holds it back. Morgan is a talented big-man and Joe is one of the best in the world, yet something about this encounter doesn't click and the match never achieves the intensity you'd hope for. Joe's been misused for ages in TNA, so it was refreshing to see him get a bit of a push off this attack angle. I assumed they were building him up again, but no. Of course not. The ending comes from nowhere as Morgan hits the Carbon Footprint and pins Joe right after being in his submission hold. Well that's disappointing. I can't see how an easy, quick win for Morgan does anyone any favours, but here's hoping Joe makes his way to the WWE soon where at least he'll be paid more to do stupid jobs. Still the best match so far tonight.

Rating: 3 Stars


Robert Roode Vs Gunner

So, as with our last BFG series match, this one is for points. As far as I can tell, the winner, even if ranked 2#, won't face Bully Ray for the title shot unless they have the same points as him, which for both Gunner and Roode means nothing less than a submission victory here. It's still stupid, but they turn a pretty decent match out of this new goal which is better than Storm and Ray did. Neither man has much in the way of unique character either in their appearance or offence, so it's hard for me to see them as anything more than upper mid-carders. Roode is certainly the better of the two, and deservedly gets the win. The match is nothing mind-blowing, but it tells a story, gets someone over and is performed well. You can't ask for much more than that.

Rating: 3 Stars


X-Division Championship
Austin Aries Vs Brian Kendrick

Kendrick is supposed to be the face here, but I just want to slap 'The Wizard of Odd' as hard as I can. Thankfully Austin Aries is there to do that for me and starts out aggressive with a series of crisp arm drags. Good, back-and-forth brawling takes them to the outside for a while before Aries grounds Kendrick firmly in the ring. Aries is intense and motivated, keeping the champion down with a wave of athletic offence. Kendrick makes a come back, but it's Aries excellent salesmanship that shines through and builds good pace. This is almost a squash for Aries at times, and if it were anyone else fighting anyone else I might have a problem with that, but somehow in this case I don't. A series of convincing near-falls adds to the drama before Aries hits the Brainbuster for the win and the title. Glad to see the belt on one of TNA's best talents. Can't take anything away from Kendrick though, he kept up all the way. This was a great match!

Rating: 4 Stars


Robert Roode Vs Bully Ray

Even without the stupid, fluid rules of this tournament, there's something else about it I just don't get. See, I understand the appeal of using this series to put over someone new, to bring some fresh blood to the main-event and maybe reward a TNA original for years of loyalty and hard work. Bobby Roode fits this bill perfectly and I'm happy to see him go on to fight for a world title. What I don't understand is how he has become more credible than he already was or what he has achieved that really earns him a shot above all others. In order to build someone's credibility, they have to go over opponents who are themselves credible. If you want someone to look like they can challenge for the world championship, they need to go over former contenders, former champions – people whom the audience respect and consider to be at a higher level than the name you're trying to build. They don't even have to beat these people, just being competitive can be enough to get someone new over. The issue with this tournament and with this final especially is that no one involved is credible. Why weren't AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, RVD or Mr. Anderson a part of these final matches? Were Roode to go over one of these names, he'd be instantly established as someone who could legitimately hang with Kurt Angle. Bully Ray, for all the work he has done to improve and stand out this year, is not credible and beating him doesn't elevate Roode in my eyes.

To make matters worse, the agenda of this match seems to be to illegitimise Bully Ray as much as possible. First he carries on his stalling routine from his match with Storm, then he runs around the outside before being physically intimidated by a fan. Remember – this is supposed to be a valid contender to the heavyweight wrestling championship of the world. Also bear in mind that the intention of this match is to place Robert Roode in the fan's mind as a legitimate star worthy of being in the main-event of the biggest TNA... no, the biggest WRESTLING show of the year. The stronger Bully Ray appears in this one match, the bigger the impact when Roode defeats him. Weakening Ray at this point just doesn't do anyone any favours. Ray's stock has risen by doing so well in this tournament, but make him look bad here and he'll be back down the card in no time.

I can't even write about this match – almost nothing happens but the result. Ray looses almost as soon as they start wrestling proper. Remember this match wasn't even supposed to happen tonight, it was unannounced so it wasn't even really anticipated. Doing it this way cost TNA both audience interest and maybe some PPV buys, and it gains them nothing. Sure, there's the “anything can happen so you better always tune in”, AKA Vince Russo school of marketing, but that doesn't actually make money in 90% of cases. I'm glad Roode won it, but this whole thing was a joke and if they're not careful now he won't even last as a main-event star and the whole summer of 2011 will have been for naught.

Rating: 2 Stars


TNA Championship
Kurt Angle Vs Sting Vs Mr. Anderson

With almost no build up it's not surprising that no one in the audience really cares about this match. It's obvious Angle will retain, so the entire thing is just there to fill out the card, the exact opposite of what a main-event should be. The lack of atmosphere is not helped by the match itself, which may as well be a tag match the way they routinely swap participants between the ring and the outside. The first time all three men get together they pull off a nice Double-German Suplex, showing a hint of what the match could be like if they'd thought it out a bit more. Things get more contrived later on, especially the moment where Anderson just stands there and watches Sting in the Ankle Lock for ages rather than break it up, just because he's waiting to catch Kurt off the counter he knows is coming. In the end Hogan makes his contractual appearance, blinding Sting with some fluid or something that lets Angle get the win. Show over, carry on.

Rating: 2.5 Stars


TNA No Surrender 2011 Final Score: 2 Stars

I gave TNA another chance to impress me tonight, and yet again they came up short. While the Aries Vs Kendrick match was great, the rest of the card was either passable or disappointing. Nothing really awful, but TNA has a serious deficit of logic in their booking that permeates through almost everything they put on. The headache known as the BFG tournament is at least over now, meaning we can move on to actually building up Robert Roode in time to face Kurt Angle and Immortal next month in Pittsburgh. I'm shocked at the absence of many TNA stars, not just from the card but from backstage segments or commentary as well. There was no mention of Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam, AJ Styles, Christopher Daniels, Abyss, Eric Young, Ric Flair or Jeff Jarrett – which is odd considering this is the last show before the biggest TNA show of the year and it needs selling. I'd be looking forward to Bound for Glory much more if I thought AJ Styles would be on it, that's for sure.