On February 12th TNA held their second PPV of the year, Against All Odds; an interesting theme for a PPV with it's Vegas décor and gambling related graphics but being held in the Impact zone thousands of miles away from Sin City did TNA play their cards right?
#1 Contenders Match for the X Division Championship: Zema Ion defeated Jesse Sorensen via countout
The X Division match kicked off the card and I don't need to tell you what happened as it was one of the biggest talking points of the PPV, but I would like to take this moment to wish Jesse well and hopefully he will make a full recovery. Kudos to Ion for keeping character although the concern for his competitor was apparent, it's just a shame these two didn't get the chance to showcase themselves.
Open Invitation Match for the Television Championship: Robbie E (c) def. Shannon Moore by pinfall
With the TV title not being defended on TV for months it was a last minute addition to the card, which is a surprise that it hasn't been forgotten about! I was surprised that Moore answered the call as he hasn't been on TV in a while and he should be (in my opinion) me giving the X Division more depth. The match wasn't much to shout about but at least it meant the belt was defended, for months I have been saying that the TV title should be given more prominence but to do so a better division needs to be built, the belt should be a stepping stone to the heavyweight championship rather than just a show filler.
Knockouts Championship: Gail Kim (c) def. Tara by pinfall
A solid match as expected between the two knockouts and a title match that Madison Rayne didn't get involved in as she walked away from ringside mid bout. Kim picked up the pinfall after Tara hit a top rope moonsault but sold a knee injury on the landing which Kim capitalised on. It was good to see Tara get so much offence on Kim compared to their Impact match a few months ago when Tara jobbed within a minute. The match however was more another step in the Kim / Rayne storyline rather than a match where the title could change hands.
Tag Team Championship: Samoa Joe & Magnus def. Matt Morgan & Crimson (c) by pinfall
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| New Champions (photo by Lee South) |
A better match than the one that took place at Genesis but that was to be expected as the challengers have had more time to gel as a team. There was good back and forth action and the end of the match came with Joe & Magnus hitting their snapmare / top rope elbow double team move on Morgan.
Joe and Magnus make for a good team and can hopefully bring about a rise in the tag division, Magnus is a rising star and Joe seems to have re-emerged from the wilderness of pointless feuds in a direction that will hopefully see him rise to the top again. Morgan and Crimson will most likely go on to have another 'Dream Match' as the competitive streak and tension between the two has been their since Sting put them together.
X Division Championship: Austin Aries (c) def. Alex Shelley via submission
As I predicted in my preview this match was the highlight of the night as both men were on form in a back and forth match that was a good advert for the X Division.
Aries has now gone onto beating everybody in the division and although he will be defending against Zema Ion in the near future it is difficult to see where 'the greatest man to ever live' will lose the title, as it will soon get to the point where either Aries will have to move up to find greater competition or the competition comes and find Aries.
Kazarian (w/ Daniels) def. A.J. Styles by pinfall
A slow starter but strong finisher this match was the first in what will probably be a series of match ups involving the three which I would imagine to keep on going until Destination X. The match included some good action between the two as would be expected although I felt a lot of direction was taken away from Kazarian as the fan's continued to show their anger at Daniels, but this is to be expected as we still don't know why Kazarian has sided with Daniels despite not being comfortable with it.
Kazarian getting the win gives him a little more prominence as he has been the weakest link in this fued so far, not in his ability but the fact since losing the X Division championship last year he hasn't really had much to do, hopefully these matches will elevate him.
Gunner (w/ Eric Bischoff) def. Garett Bischoff (w/ Hulk Hogan) via pinfall
A match that I feel shouldn't have been on PPV managed to land itself the Semi Main Event slot and managed to match my expectations of nothing. Gunner continued his ruthless streak but that means nothing when he is facing somebody who is making his PPV debut, especially as the pinfall came moments after Hogan was ready to throw in the towel.
Forcing Garett down fans throats isn't the way to go, if we are to get behind him as a wrestler then he has to prove himself and pay his dues, going straight into the semi main event above seasoned pro's such as Austin Aries, Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles is a slap in the face to them and proves it's who you know (or who your related to) rather than what you know.
Hopefully after this shambles Garett will be taken off TV for a while, ply his trade at house shows to gain more experience and work his way from the bottom of the card... but we all know realistically that sadly wont happen.
World Heavyweight Championship: Bobby Roode (c) def. Jeff Hardy, James Storm and Bully Ray via pinfall
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| Victory Road's likely Main Event (photo by Lee South ) |
Yet another main event that ends in an angle rather than an actual finish. The match was entertaining up until the end when the ref took a bump and Sting, who was enforcing the match, stepped in to stop Roode using the belt as a weapon and ended up knocking out Hardy with the championship and slow counted the victory.
The finish to this match sets up Sting vs. Roode which is likely to happen at Victory Road as Hardy had his rematch on Impact and looks set to enter a program with Kurt Angle whilst Ray and Storm had a number one contenders match with Storm facing his former Beer Money Inc. partner at Lockdown.
Hopefully this will be the last time we see a PPV event to end with more questions and no definitive winners as it is doing the company more harm in the long term as fans are unwilling to pay for matches that they get no reward from.
Overall Against All Odds was a bit of a let down, it was hard to build back up from the accident that occurred in the first match, a lot of this event is building to bigger things in the future, with Vince Russo leaving TNA hopefully things will get on track and provide quality PPV events that are worth the money that fans are being asked to stump up on a monthly basis.
@Robbie_G_CH
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