TNA Genesis Hitlist: Jeff Hardy vs. Bobby Roode vs. Austin Aries, Christopher Daniels beats James Storm, Kenny King stands out despite losing, the worst referee in the world, Samoa Joe vs. Mr. Anderson

By Jason Powell

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TNA Genesis Hits

Jeff Hardy vs. Bobby Roode vs. Austin Aries: A very good main event that left me frustrated with the way the match was presented on television. TNA waited until the pay-per-view to have Roode and Aries truly get on the same page with the goal of eliminating Hardy from the match first. They spent the weeks leading up to the show bumbling around and playing comedy heels. They failed to make it seem like Hardy's title was ever in jeopardy on television and cost themselves some buys in the process. Nevertheless, this was easily the best match of the night and Hardy looks as strong as he's ever looked in TNA.

Kenny King: He showed a lot of charisma during his backstage promo. He's cocky and defiant, which makes him stand out in a division that's filled with bland characters. He carried his persona over to his match with Christian York. Even though York won the match, King stood out as the top heel of the division.

Christopher Daniels vs. James Storm: I don't like where this leaves Storm, who seems like he's in the same rut that the A.J. Styles character is. However, I continue to be extremely entertained by the Daniels and Kazarian act. Daniels has completely reinvented himself and found success at a later stage of his career much like Bully Ray. TNA needs to make Daniels or another heel look strong coming out of this pay-per-view, as Hardy has now beaten the top two in Aries and Roode in singles matches and now in a three-way. The problem is that Daniels has lost so many times in singles and tag matches that it's going to take some time to get him there. He's a blast to watch, but they have to build his credibility if he's going to be more than a one-off challenger to Hardy.

Samoa Joe vs. Mr. Anderson: Joe and Anderson haven't always had good in-ring chemistry together, so this was one of their better matches. Joe was so sick at the tapings on Saturday that he wasn't even shaking hands for fear that the bug he was battling was contagious. Here's hoping Anderson had a flu shot this year. At any rate, Joe worked well considering his illness, and the finish was logical considering the story they are telling with Anderson and Aces & 8's.

Devon vs. Joseph Park: More Park fun. It was cool to see the live crowd so into his act. He's doing such a good job in this role and I was totally wrong months ago when I felt that it was time to wrap it up and move on. TNA has gotten a lot of milage out of the Park story and it's certainly more entertaining than the one dimensional Abyss character has been in years.

Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez vs. Matt Morgan and Joey Ryan: A minor hit for a solid opening match considering that Morgan was limited by injury. Things fell apart in the closing seconds when Hernandez botched a powerbomb on Ryan that looked dangerous. Aside from that, the match went well and got the show off to a solid start.

Overall show: A middle of the road show. It looked that way on paper, so those who purchased the event got what they paid for with a strong main event to boot. This has to be the last live B-level show on Sunday nights. With only four live pay-per-view events per year, there's no excuse not to deliver shows that look strong on paper and deliver.

TNA Genesis Misses

Velvet Sky vs. Gail Kim vs. ODB vs. Miss Tessmacher vs. Mickie James in a gauntlet match: Was the goal of this match to make Taryn Terrell look like the least competent referee in history? Her character missed tights being held twice and wrestlers being under the ropes when they were pinned twice. She eventually caught Kim cheating only to miss it when Kim's leg was under the bottom rope when Velvet Sky pinned her. Why did they go to such lengths to protect Kim anyway? Why Sky just pin her clean? I did laugh for all the wrong reasons when the next referee also missed it when Christopher Daniels put his feet on the ropes while pinning James Storm.

Rob Van Dam vs. Christian York: This was odd storytelling. The idea was that York was woozy after King hit him with a cheap shot following their match. What no one bothered to explain was why York was expected to wrestle the tournament final and then immediately challenge Van Dam for the X Division Title. The wrestlers made the most of it, but I just couldn't get past the bizarre booking. It's not like a heel is in storyline control of the company and made this happen.

Bully Ray and Brooke Hogan: This was a worthless plug for Impact in the middle of a pay-per-view. They didn't forward the storyline in any way. Ray simply came out and recorded footage of the fans cheering after they were invited to the wedding. I didn't expect a big storyline twist or anything, but I thought there would be some payoff to their appearance.

Sting vs. DOC: A weak performance for Sting. His comeback at the end of the match was half hearted. The fans didn't even seem to think that Sting was going over after he hit his finisher because the comeback was so lackluster. It's just another case of the Aces & 8's wrestlers losing clean. I want to like the faction, but TNA is making that very difficult.