TNA Turning Point Hits

Kurt Angle vs. Abyss: This was a really fun brawl with some wild moments. The most memorable moment of the match was when Angle ran off the stage and performed a summersault dive onto Abyss, who was standing on the floor. The great thing about that stunt and the other big spots of the match was that they didn't elicit cringes by using over the top stunts that put themselves in danger. Rather, the big stunts were fairly tame by their normal standards, yet still very effective.

Beer Money vs. Motor City Machine Guns: Nice tag team match. It's too bad that Scott Hall and ICP were still at ringside and distracted from the early action because these two teams delivered the best tag title match in recent TNA history. I wasn't a fan of the beer spitting finish, but it was encouraging to see these four get over 16 minutes of ring time.

Kevin Nash vs. Samoa Joe: Nash worked really hard and exceeded the expectations of most viewers in the process. Joe looked strong by kicking out of Nash's Jackknife powerbomb finisher twice. Unfortunately, we haven't seen the move much in recent years, so Joe kicking out wasn't as meaningful as it would have been if Nash was still a full-time wrestler. Nevertheless, Joe looked good in defeat. The finish was so bad that I and others I spoke with assumed it was something they came up with at the last minute as a replacement for something involving Scott Hall. In fact, there were several weak finishes on the show and it continues to be a sore spot that the company needs to address.

Booker T vs. Christian Cage: A solid match. It was hard to care about the TNA Legends Title since Booker just named himself champion, so I liked the added stipulation that Cage must join the Main Event Mafia since he lost. It will be interesting to see how the storyline plays out now that most people are under the impression that Cage heading back to WWE.

TNA Turning Point Misses

Scott Hall: I'm not down on Insane Clown Posse since they seemed to be acting professionally and applauding the wrestlers. For that matter, they had permission to be there unlike Hall. I'm not sure why TNA would give them permission to stand in the front row and distract viewers from the action in the ring, but that's another story. The real issue is Hall showing up and appearing at ringside without permission. At this point, you have to wonder why TNA even lets him in the building. I was happy to read on PWTorch.com that Hall was not scheduled to be part of the Kevin Nash vs. Samoa Joe match simply because he's too unreliable to count on even for something that basic. It's sad to watch Hall's downward spiral continue.

Sting vs. A.J. Styles: It wasn't a bad match, but it just didn't feel like a worthy pay-per-view main event. TNA failed to establish Styles as a legitimate threat to the title, which is a big problem considering that he and Samoa Joe are the best that the TNA Originals have to offer. Worse yet, TNA has already stated that Joe won't get a rematch against Sting. They could always ignore that stipulation and I'm sure they will sooner or later, but where does Sting go from here now that he's defeated the top two wrestlers from the TNA Originals faction?

Roxxi and Taylor Wilde vs. Awesome Kong and Raisha Saeed: Come back, Scott D'Amore. The women's division hasn't been nearly as good since the former agent left the company. I'm sure the departure of Gail Kim hasn't helped matters, but the quality of matches in the division has dropped significantly and my interest in the Knockouts is waning.

Eric Young: I applaud the move to move on from the tired comedy character he had been playing. It was a fun gimmick that scored a lot of laughs, but it simply played out. Unfortunately, TNA is just doing too much too soon with the serious Young character. He was not the right wrestler to deliver the rah-rah speech on behalf of the young wrestlers. For that matter, he seems out of place in the X Division and I was disappointed to see him become the No. 1 contender. By the way, the opening match had its moments and was a solid opener, but it's getting really hard to care about these random 10-man X Division gimmick matches that take place on every TNA pay-per-view.

Jay Lethal and Little Petey Pump: They are billed as TNA Originals, yet they are playing characters that idolize two veterans. In fact, Williams still dresses like Scott Steiner, who is a member of the Main Event Mafia. The Black Machismo gimmick has overstayed its welcome and I was never a fan of Little Petey Pump. The feud with the MEM is the perfect opportunity for these characters to grow up in a storyline sense and become their own men.

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