TNA PPV Reports 2/10 TNA Against All Odds PPV: Angle vs. Christian exceeds expectations until the finish, Rhino returns By Jason Powell Feb 11, 2008 - 12:41 AM Email This Article | Printer Friendly Page Send Us News & Results | Back to Main Listing Aired live on pay-per-view from Greenville, S.C. Jeremy Borash welcomed viewers to the show and introduced members of the Color Guard along with Bob Armstrong and B.G. James. A man stood in the middle of the ring and sang the national anthem... A video package hyped the show... Mike Tenay and Don West introduced themselves... B.G. and Bob stood in the ring. B.G. took the mic and said he had three words for ya: “God Bless America.” Fireworks exploded on the stage... 1. Tomko and A.J. Styles defeated Bob Armstrong and B.G. James at 7:47 to retain the TNA Tag Titles. Before the match, Styles took the mic and complained that Tomko had not returned his calls in three weeks. Tomko put over the James family and said A.J. needed to focus on the match or they would lose the titles. Bob knocked down Styles with an early slap. Tomko tagged in. He got in Bob’s face, but was also stunned by a slap. Father and son teamed up on Tomko. Once B.G. left the ring, Tomko no-sold another slap from Bob. Later, Styles caught James’ knee with a missile dropkick. Moments later, Tomko and Styles hit the tornado splash on James for the win. Kip ran out immediately after the match to check on James, who was still selling the knee injury. No heel turn. Well, at least they protected Bob by having B.G. do the job. Powell’s POV: Lively crowd thus far and the building looks really good on television. I didn’t mind Styles selling for Bob because he plays the clown so often. However, it bothered me to see Tomko selling Bob’s slap. Anything less than knocking out Bob with one of his punches made him look weak given the way he’s been put over as a monster. Backstage, Karen Angle threw a tantrum in front of Kurt and Borash. She screamed that she’s sick of Kurt’s obsession with the TNA Title. He argued back by telling her to leave the room and take her PMS with her. “One day you’re going to hear what I’m saying and it’s going to be too late,” Karen said as she left the room in a huff. Kurt shook his head and said, “Bitch,” under his breath... The announcers ran through the pay-per-view lineup... A highlight package recapped the Ms. Brooks vs. Payton Banks feud... 2. Traci Brooks beat Payton Banks at 5:07. They exchanged slaps to start the match. Brooks was dominant for the first two minutes as the match spilled to ringside. Banks came back by slamming her opponent’s face into the ring steps. Back in the ring, Banks hit the backstabber for a nearfall. Later, Banks charged Brooks in the ring and missed. Brooks rolled her up for the win. Afterward, Banks clotheslined Brooks from behind. Traci came back and cleared Banks from the ring. Both women tried hard and the crowd loved it Fine for what it was considering that the audience sees them both as valets and wasn’t expecting much... A video package recapped the Petey Williams and Scott Steiner story line... Backstage, Scott Hudson stood by while Scott Steiner and Petey Williams cut promos against one another. Steiner said he’d have a surprise for Petey if he copied him in the ring... 3. Scott Steiner defeated Petey Williams at 9:23. Both wrestlers posed to start the match. The crowd was split in their “Let’s go” chants for both wrestlers. Steiner hit a belly-to-belly suplex off the top rope. He had Petey pinned three times, but pulled him up to continue the assault. Petey came back and went for the Canadian Destroyer, but Steiner picked him up and powerbombed him. Later, Petey came close with a few nearfalls. He set up Steiner for a the Destroyer again. However, a tall African-American woman walked out and removed her shirt to distract Petey. Scott took advantage of the distraction and hit the Last Ride on Petey for the win. The woman raised Scott’s hand afterward... Backstage, Kurt fretted over Karen walking out on him. Borash said he should be nicer to her. He reminded Kurt that Thursday was Valentine’s Day. Borash told Kurt he’d show him how to treat her. Borash pretended to be Kurt, while Angle played his wife’s part. Borash was rubbing Kurt’s head and saying romantic things when Styles walked in. Funny. I guess now we know why Karen was so bitchy earlier. They have to set up whatever silliness they have in store for the couple on Thursday A video package put over the TNA Drinking Title with quotes from drinking champions. Funny... 4. Eric Young defeated James Storm to retain the TNA Drinking Title in 8:00. During the match, the announcers noted that the barbwire match would take place in Orlando. They said it was the first in history that a TNA pay-per-view would air from two different cities. Turn a negative into as much of a positive as possible, I suppose. Late in the match, Jackie passed a beer bottle to Storm. Rhino ran out and Gored Storm while the ref was still distracted, which enabled Young to get the win. Afterward, Rhino took the mic and said he had a lot to say, but it wasn’t the time or place. He said Thursday on Impact might be the time and place... Powell’s POV: There was no need for Rhino to pick up the mic and pimp Impact. The announcers could have stated later in the show that they had received word that Rhino would address the crowd at Impact on Thursday. The fans expect the announcers to shill. They don’t expect a wrestler to tell them in the middle of a show they paid for to tell them to tune into the free show to hear his comments. This wasn’t as frustrating as B.J. Penn telling UFC pay-per-view buyers to visit his website if they want to hear his comments, but it was annoying. Crystal interviewed Jim Cornette in Orlando regarding the barbwire situation. He was honest about the situation and explained why the match had to be held in Florida. He ran a tomato over some of the barbwire that was hanging in the background and put over the danger of the match... An ODB vs. Awesome Kong video package was shown... 5. Awesome Kong (w/Raisha Saed) beat ODB at 6:52 to retain the TNA Knockouts Title. Kong dominated the offense early. The crowd was hot throughout the match and rallied behind ODB as she made her comeback. Saed stood on the apron when ODB was on a roll. ODB ran over and knocked her down. Kong hit her with two punches and a spinning back fist before nailing the Awesome Bomb for the win. The crowd was into the match and it was easily the best of the night thus far... In Orlando, James Mitchell cut a promo in which he noted that “mommy won’t be there” when Abyss is sliced open by the barbwire. He said when Abyss begged him to stop, he’d have Judas Messias send him straight to hell... A video package recapped the feud... 6. Abyss defeated Judas Mesias (w/James Mitchell) at 14:35 in a barbwire match. The announcers set the tone by warning viewers who are squeamish that they might not want to watch the match. The ropes were removed from the ring and replaced by a barbwire fence that left enough room for the wrestlers to crawl underneath. The cameramen got good close-up shots of the barbwire while the crowd chanted for Abyss. Early in the match, Abyss pulled a chair wrapped in barbwire from underneath the ring. Mesias stole the chair and opened up Abyss with a chairshot. Later, Mesias brought a barbwire board inside the ring. Moments later, Abyss grabbed another barbwire board and set it up between the guardrail and the ring. Mitchell handed Mesias a small section of barbwire from underneath the ring. Apparently, these guys didn’t notice that there was barbwire where the ropes usually are. The match was all punches and kicks in between spots. At 10:00, Abyss picked up Mesias and dropped him stomach-first onto the barbwire board inside the ring. At ringside, Abyss dropped Mesias back-first onto the barbwire board that was set up between on ring and the rail. Back inside the ring a few minutes later, Mesias shoved Abyss into the corner back-first into a barbwire board. The match concluded with Abyss hitting the Black Hole Slam onto one of the barbwire boards and getting the pin. Powell’s POV: The barbwire looked awesome set up around the ring. I’m happy Abyss didn’t pull out the thumbtacks and go overboard like he’s known for doing. He certainly lived up to the bloodbath hype, but I expected to see Mesias bleed more than he does during his ring entrance. He took the big bumps during the match and his back and stomach came away mostly unscathed despite landing on barbwire multiple times. Backstage, Hudson interviewed Roode regarding his match against Booker T. Good promo from Roode, who talked about how much he hated Booker... Backstage, Borash interviewed Booker T, who kept it short and simple. “Robert Roode, in 30 seconds, your punk ass belongs to me”... 7. Booker T fought Robert Roode (w/Payton Banks) to a double countout at 9:17. Booker was all over Roode during the first four minutes of the match. However, Payton came in the ring and patted him on the back. Booker wound up for a punch, but stopped when he saw it was her. I guess that’s supposed to make him look better than Roode even though it should make him sympathetic to Roode’s initial claim that striking Sharmell was an accident. After nine minutes of good action, Roode and Banks bailed to the back. Booker ran after them and continued to brawl with Roode backstage while the ref counted them both out. Roode escaped just long enough to throw Banks out of his car and drive off alone... An video recapped Samoa Joe’s recent story line, but it was cut off abruptly... Backstage, Kurt surprised Karen by announcing that he wants to renew their wedding vows on Impact this week. She squealed in delight and left the room giddy. Kurt turned his attention to hyping his match match against Chrsitian. He also warned Samoa Joe to stay the hell out of his way... A video hyped the six-man tag match... Backstage, Team 3D cut a promo... 8. The Motor City Machine Guns and Black Machismo vs. Team 3D and Johnny Devine in a street fight in 13:00. Jay Lethal wore a Machimso shirt to the ring, but he didn’t do much in the way of Machismo schtick. The babyface team was very aggressive early and hit simultaneous dives to the floor. The dominated the first five minutes of the match by using a slew of weapons that included chairs, trash cans, signs, a blowup doll, and a kitchen sink. Team 3D came back and Brother Ray piledrove the doll. “He just piledrived the blowup doll,” Tenay said. “And that’s the first time I’ve ever said that in my life.” Sure it is, Mike. Actually, funny line. Ray nailed Machismo with a great clothesline at 8:00. The crowd roared and chanted, “We want tables.” Ray hit Lethal with a board and can over the head. So Cal Val climbed onto the ring apron and begged Ray to stop. He spotted her and dragged her into the ring. “No, we don’t do that here,” Tenay yelled. He licked her face and grabbed a cheese grater. Lethal left him hanging for a half-second, making it obvious that he was going to stop Ray. Later, Lethal hit the top rope elbow on Devine and drove him through a table for the win. The ring announcer noted that Lethal was the new X Division champion. Afterward, Val hugged Lethal. Ray refused to give the belt to the referee, so Lethal dove onto him and took the belt himself... Powell’s POV: Thank goodness that the division that features the lamest gimmicks and leaves viewers most frustrated will live to disappoint another day. Good action, though. Lethal was made out to be the star of the match. A video package showcased the main event story lines... Backstage, Hudson interviewed Christian. Good promo. Does anyone else find it odd that the challenger in the main event title match has been invisible for the first 85 minutes of the show?... 9. Kurt Angle (w/Karen Angle) defeated Christian in 21:30 to retain the TNA Title. Samoa Joe served as the ringside enforcer, while Rudy Charles served as the referee inside the ring. Joe took a seat at ringside to start while Angle and Christian delivered some mat work. At 7:30, Angle suplexed Christian over the top rope and onto the floor in the first big spot of the match. Angle grabbed a chair, but Joe took it away. At 10:30, Christian came back with a great German suplex. This led to a nice series of nearfalls for Christian, who did a nice job of expressing his frustration through his facials. At 14:30, Angle caught Christian in the angle lock, but Christian reached the ropes. at 17:30, Angle accidentally clotheslined the referee. Joe entered the ring and took his place. Christian caught Angle in the ankle lock. Karen tried to save him, but Christian dragged her into the ring by pulling Kurt into the center of the ring. Joe threw up his hands and let them go. Karen slapped Christian, who wound up to punch her. Angle recovered and charged at Christian, who ducked, causing Angle to charge into his own wife in the corner. Christian scored a great nearfall with Joe making the count. Joe expressed frustration over not being able to make the three count. He carried Karen out of the ring and placed her in a chair. A.J. Styles ran out, but Joe caught him. Joe beat up Styles and left the ringside area in the process. Tomko came out, teased punching Angle, and instead hit Christian with his finisher. Angle woke up the referee and made the pin. Tomko immediately headed backstage. Karen, still seated in the chair, smiled while Kurt celebrated his win. “God, I never saw that coming,” Tenay said to close the broadcast... A video invited package that featured individual shots of various wrestlers. They asked what separates fantasy and reality? They asked the same question regarding good and bad and right and wrong. They dared fans to “cross the line,” which is apparently TNA’s new slogan... Powell’s POV: Don West drove me nuts with all of his “he’s got him” calls because it tipped off nearfalls throughout the show and especially during the main event. The final match was really strong. I didn’t think Christian had any chance to win the match because I’m not even sure whether he’s a heel or a babyface and he wasn’t exactly the center of attention coming into the show. However, the match was good enough and some of the nearfalls were done so well that I bought into a couple. This didn’t feel like a big time main event coming in, but I would gladly purchase another pay-per-view with Angle and Christian on top, particularly if I had some inkling that that there would be a clean pinfall. TNA is doing the same type of finishes for Angle’s matches that they did throughout Jeff Jarrett’s run with the belt. He’s Angle. It wouldn’t kill the credibility of his opponents if they did a clean job to him as long as the match was competitive. 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