TNA News TNA PPV Flashback: Powell's review of the 2008 TNA Turning Point pay-per-view with Sting vs. A.J. Styles for the TNA Title, Samoa Joe vs. Kevin Nash, Kurt Angle vs. Abyss, Christian vs. Booker T By Jason Powell Nov 15, 2009 - 03:00 PM Email This Article | Printer Friendly Page Send Us News & Results | Back to Main Listing The following is the "Live Coverage" report of the Nov. 9, 2008 TNA Turning Point pay-per-view. I will be covering the 2009 event tonight here on Dot Net. Plus, Members can look forward to my exclusive audio recap of the show later tonight. You can access all Dot Net Audio on the ad-free version of the site for only $5 per month by visiting the Dot Net Members' Signup Page. Live from Orlando, Fla. At Universal Studios The show opened with a video that focussed on the Main Event Mafia vs. TNA Originals feud... Backstage, Jeremy Borash tried to speak with the Main Event Mafia as they arrived in a Hummer limo. Four members blew him off, but Scott Steiner stuck around and talked about how the young guys disrespect them. "They want a war?" he asked. "Well there ain't going to be no war because we're going to end it before it gets started... Mike Tenay and Don West introduced the show from ringside as pyro and a light show flashed on the stage... 1. Eric Young won an X Division Elimination match in 17:15. The participants were Consequences Creed, Sonjay Dutt (w/So Cal Val), Petey Williams, Jimmy Rave, Volador, Eric Young, Doug Williams, Tanahashi, Homicide, and Jay Lethal. The rules are pinfall or submission elimination. Tenay said the match would be fought under lucha libre tag rules. Early in the match, Sonjay and Lethal locked up. Lethal got the better of the exchange, but Sonjay taunted him by kissing Val at ringside, which led to a suicide dive from Lethal. Good spot. At 6:50, Volador hit a top rope move on Sonjay and scored the first pin of the match. Rave pinned Volador about a minute later. Doug Williams checked in and pinned Rave at 8:45. At 10:00, Homicide dove through the ropes and flipped onto a pair of opponents, but his momentum carried him over the guardrail. The referees checked on Homicide and determined that he was unable to continue. Hernandez came out to check on his tag partner. At 12:45, Petey hit the Canadian Destroyer on Creed and scored the clean pin. Less than a minute later, Tanahashi pinned Petey. Williams and Tanahashi teamed up on Lethal while Young recovered outside the ring. However, Lethal secured and inside cradle out of nowhere on Tanahashi and pinned him. Young recovered and pinned Williams at 15:45. The match came down to Lethal and Young. After some back and forth action, Young suplexed Lethal and scored the clean pin. Petey and Creed headed back to the ring and joined Young and Lethal. Young took the mic and addressed the Main Event Mafia. Young said they are just wrestlers and discussed how TNA was everyone's dream. He vowed that their legacies will not be forgotten. "Tonight these kids become men," Young said in reference to him and the other guys in the ring... Powell's POV: Forgettable match. Solid work and everyone tried hard, but it was booked in a way that no one really stood out. If the fans liked Eric Young as much as TNA creative does, he'd be the next Hulk Hogan. I've enjoyed his act many times, but I'm not feeling his current push even though I'm all for shaking things up and abandoning the comedy. The announcers ran through the pay-per-view lineup... Backstage, Lauren interviewed Jeff Jarrett and Mick Foley. Jarrett asked Foley to talk to "the kids" and said he was going to talk to the Main Event Mafia. Meanwhile, one of Foley's kids was sleeping on the couch behind them... 2. Roxxi and Taylor Wilde defeated Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed (w/Rhaka Khan) in 9:10. At 5:00, Khan tripped Wilde, who then confronted her at ringside. Khan didn't back down. Rather, she basically laughed at Taylor. Awkward moment. Later, Taylor took a hot tag from Roxxi and cleaned house on all three heels for a short sport. In the end, Wilde suplexed Saeed and bridged while the referee counted the pin.... Backstage, Borash tried to interview the Mafia members again when Jeff Jarrett entered the room. Jarrett tried to get the old guys to play nice with the young guys. Kurt Angle flipped out and ripped Jarrett for not having the balls to give him a rematch. Angle stormed out of the room. Nash mumbled a lot and Jarrett spoke about the company being his future... 3. Rhino defeated Sheik Abdul Bashir in 8:20. Before the match, a wounded veteran named Sgt. Shaun Autrey was introduce to serve as the special ring announcer for Rhino's entrance. The spazzy, wannabe wrestler referee guy worked the match. Scott Hall and the Insane Clown Posse were at ringside wearing "JWO" t-shirts. Bashir mocked Hall and then slapped one of the guys with the clowns. The announcers didn't refer to the Clowns or Hall by name. Rather, Tenay said there are some familiar faces at ringside. Later, Bashir locked Rhino in a headlock. Meanwhile, the crowd chanted "Razor" for Hall. In the end, Bashir and spazzy referee guy bickered. Bashir spat in his face, then turned around and walked into a gore. Rhino made the cover and got the win... Backstage, Mick Foley addressed the TNA Originals. Alex Shelley clowned around and ignored Foley, who cut a promo on him. Shelley started to tell Foley to take his "tubby ass" to the back, but Lethal jumped in and grabbed slammed Shelley against a locker. Styles apologized to Foley. "Some of these guys, A.J.," Foley said. "Some of these guys..." Foley left the room... Powell's POV: I spoke to someone in the building and the buzz is that Hall is/was supposed to get involved in a match at some point. However, at least one member of TNA has claimed that the company did not know Hall was going to appear at ringside, which might explain why Tenay didn't refer to him by name. 4. Beer Money (w/Jacqueline) defeated The Motor City Machine Guns to retain the TNA Tag Titles in 16:30. Before the match, Hall waved at one of the Beer Money guys. The heels spent the early part of the match working over Shelley, who eventually made a hot tag to Sabin. Good action with Sabin working over James Storm and Robert Roode. At 11:45, Shelley frogsplashed Storm. Sabin made the cover for a good nearfall. Later, Jackie ran in and interfered. Sabin picked her up and slammed her. As the referee tended to Jackie, Storm spat beer in Sabin's eyes. The tag champs hit the DWI (drinking while investing) for the win... Powell's POV: Good match. Best of the night so far with plenty of action and good nearfalls. Hall was tame during his match. He clapped for a few moves. The announcers have yet to mention him by name, which is just weird no matter what the situation is. Backstage, Borash interviewed Booker and Sharmell about the TNA Legends title. Sharmell was kind enough to do all the talking, which spared viewers from Booker's silly accent... A video recapped the Booker vs. Christian storyline... 5. Booker T (w/Sharmell) defeated Christian Cage to retain the TNA Legends Title and force Cage to join the Main Event Mafia. Cage has to join the Main Event Mafia if he loses the match. Hall and the ICP crew are no longer at ringside. Tenay announced that the Genesis pay-per-view will be held in Charlotte, N.C. Cage scored some quality nearfalls and was slapped by Sharmell. Booker went for a kick on Cage, but he moved and Booker came close to kicking Sharmell. Booker and Cage each avoided the other's finisher. Cage rolled up Booker, who grabbed Cage's trunks to roll through and then held the trunks while the referee counted to three. After the match, Booker said from the stage he didn't try to hurt Cage. He welcomed him to the Main Event Mafia and then informed him that there is protocol. He said they were having a meeting at 8:00 a.m. and ordered him to attend... Backstage, Lauren interviewed Big Bird and Snuffleupagus. Abyss cut a promo about his match with Kurt Angle. Then his boyfriend said it should be him out there instead of Abyss... A video recapped the Jarrett vs. Angle feud and included some Abyss footage... 6. Kurt Angle defeated Abyss in a falls count anywhere match in 17:00. Angle shied away from Abyss during the opening moments by running to ringside whenever Abyss tried to lock up. A short time later, Angle and Abyss brawled into the crowd with Abyss getting the better of the brawl. At 6:00, Angle struck Abyss with a chairshot and then walked up the ramp. He stopped when he saw Abyss walking toward him. Angle ran toward the edge of the stage and then summersaulted onto Abyss on the floor. Cool and unexpected move. Later, Abyss went for a chokeslam on the floor, but Angle kicked him low. "It looked like he was going to try (chokeslam), but a kick in the nuts will stop that," West said. Wow. Angle gored Abyss through the wooden wall at the base of the stage. The two wrestlers disappeared under the stage at 9:30. The camera cut to a shot of the announcers. In the background, Angle crashed through another part of the stage and then Abyss followed him. At 10:25, both wrestlers ended up back inside the ring. At 13:00, Abyss rammed Angle's head into a chair that was set up between the ropes in one corner of the ring and then chokeslammed him for a very good nearfall. Abyss placed the chair over Angle and went for a second rope kneedrop, but Angle moved. Angle picked up the chair struck Abyss with it. He placed the chair over Abyss and hit a moonsault for another strong nearfall. "We're watching something special here, folks," West said. At 15:30, Abyss hit the Black Hole Slam for another good nearfall. Angle crawled out of the ring and headed up to the Spanish announce perch. Angle shoved one of the announcers down and then climbed the scaffolding behind their desk. Abyss followed until both men were standing on a platform located above the table. Angle ended up punching Abyss off the platform and through the table below. Angle climbed down and scored the pin. West called the match one of the greatest things he's ever seen in professional wrestling... Powell's POV: Very good brawl. Much better than expected and easily the most memorable match of the evening so far. The big bump at the end wasn't as insane as it sounds, which is a good thing. Abyss wasn't too high off the ground when he crashed through the table. Backstage, Lauren interviewed Samoa Joe, who said his match with Kevin Nash was about getting even... A Joe vs. Nash video aired... 7. Kevin Nash defeated Samoa Joe in 11:30. Nash and Joe squared off and traded punches to start the match. The announcers helped tell the story that Joe dominated the early action and then caught a break when he was able to whip Joe into the ring post. Nash reached under the ring and found a tool that enabled him to remove the turnbuckle pad. Nash took the first shot in the corner when Joe whipped him into the exposed turnbuckle. Moments later, Nash reached up and pulled Joe into the corner, where Joe's head collided with the steel. Later, Joe dumped Nash to ringside and then ran toward the ropes for suicide dive, but Nash struck him with a chairshot. Back inside the ring, Nash hit the Jackknife powerbomb, but Joe kicked out. Nash sold it as a major happening by flashing a look of shock that Joe kicked out of his finishing move. Nash rammed Joe's head into the exposed turnbuckle again. Joe came up bleeding from the head. Nash hit him with another Jackknife powerbomb. Joe kicked out again. Nash flashed a look of surprise and frustration. Nash moved toward Joe, who reached up and caught him in an arm bar. Nash punched Joe a few times and the ref was bumped. Nash struck Joe from behind with a low blow. Nash grabbed the referee and dragged him over to count as he pinned Joe while using the ropes for leverage... Powell's POV: Much better than most people probably expected it to be, but the finish was really lame with the cheesy ref bump. No sign of Scott Hall during the match. My guess is that Hall was supposed to interfere and they called it off when he appeared at ringside. That's just a guess, though. Backstage, Jeremy Borash interviewed Sting, who said his will is more powerful than anything Styles can bring to the ring. He said he didn't know how he was going to do it, but he was going "kick him out of my house"... A Sting and Styles video aired... 8. Sting pinned A.J. Styles to retain the TNA Title in 14:45. Before the match, the announcers noted that the Mafia had been dominant throughout the show. Borash handled the in-ring introductions. The live crowd was excited about the match and the wrestlers received dueling chants. Sting settled into control of the match and worked over Styles's ribs and abdomen. At 12:00, Styles went for the Styles Clash, but Sting caught him with a kick to the head. Sting came back with a Stinger Splash. They fought on the ropes and Styles flipped over Sting and turned it into a powerbomb. A.J. hit the Spinal Tap. He mouthed the words, "one more time," and then headed back to the top rope. Kurt Angle and Booker T ran out, but Styles greeted them with punches and prevented them from climbing inside the ring. Styles went for the Pele kick, but Sting avoided it and then caught Styles in a side role for the win. The other members of the Main Event Mafia joined Sting in the ring while Tenay and West talked about how awesome they are. The announcers ran through highlights of the pay-per-view matches. Back live, the Main Event Mafia posed in the ring to close the show... Powell's POV: A forgettable main event. The live crowd was into it a lot more than I was. Both guys worked hard, but it was so obvious that they were going to have the Mafia get the clean sweep on pay-per-view that it was hard to buy into the match. HELP SUPPORT DOT NET! BECOME A MEMBER AT OUR CHARTER RATE OF JUST $5 A MONTH - GET THE FIRST LOOK AT EXCLUSIVE INSIDER DOT NET NEWS, TONS OF EXCLUSIVE AUDIO SHOWS, MESSAGE BOARD ACCESS, START YOUR OWN BLOG, AD-FREE MAIN LISTING: SIGN ME UP (or MORE INFO) GOT AN IPHONE OR IPOD TOUCH? THEN BE SURE TO DOWNLOAD OUR NEW FREE iPhone APP: (click here!) 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