Smark Out Moment

TNA kick-starts the new year off with GENESIS. Is it a sign of good things to come or an omen of a rough 12 months ahead?

BLIND PREDICTIONS: Matt Morgan has had his title shots against Jeff Hardy, so I can't see him beating Mr. Anderson for the #1 contender spot. Bully Ray should beat Devon as we all know the heel winning the first time around is pretty much standardized. I can definitely see Mickie James winning the title from Madison Rayne. The same goes for Styles winning the TV title back from Williams. Kazarian may also win the title from Lethal, but if that's the case, then there seems to be too many pro-heel things going on, especially if RVD loses to the "mystery opponent". I wouldn't put it past TNA to do a ppv where that happens, but I would think it would put the audience in a real downer. Kurt Angle should beat Jeff Jarrett, and depending on what they want to do with the title situation, I can definitely see Beer Money taking the tag titles.

Alrighty, time for the ppv. Up first is the X-Division title match.

X-Division Championship: Jay Lethal (c) vs. Kazarian
I'm really losing faith that Jay Lethal will be a main eventer. He just hasn't impressed me in the slightest bit the past 10 or so times I've seen him. Outside of a sunset flip powerbomb from the top rope, this match has bored me.

WINNER (and new X-Division champion): Kazarian via pinfall.
Didn't like it. It was as generic as it could possibly be and it bored me.

Backstage with Bischoff
Eric's behind the desk and the story is that Styles can't wrestle due to an injury, but Bischoff doesn't give a shit.

Knockouts Championship: Madison Rayne (c) vs. Mickie James
I really hate that whole country thing Mickie has going on. Madison's entry music is a pain to my ears as well. There's a "you can't wrestle" chant going on. I don't necessarily agree with it, but if the chant was "this ppv is boring", then full support from over here. Taz pulling out a Michael Cole by repeating "vintage" a few times in a row. Madison misses a boot and does so in such a terrible fashion that it shatters the illusion of it ever possibly hitting. She was basically kicking empty space.

WINNER: Madison Rayne via pinfall
This pay-per-view better upgrade itself soon. I don't know if I can take 2 more hours of this.

Backstage with Immortal

They're celebrating Kazarian's title win, and Flair looks like a jackass. Abyss will be taking AJ's place tonight.

Tag Team Championship: Motor City Machine Guns (c) vs. Beer Money
Let's put it this way...if this match isn't good, then I can't see the rest of it being good and it'll be hard to maintain my attention. If the MCMG and Beer Money aren't able to be entertaining tonight, then there's no hope. This feels like a TV match, not a ppv match. I've seen so much better from both of these teams. The fans are eating up all these false finishes that are happening, but to be honest, I'm not. If you were to just listen to this, you'd think it was this amazing thing you've never seen before, but all of these false finishes don't look epic enough for such a big response to me.

WINNERS (and new tag team champions): Beer Money via pinfall
They've had so many better matches. This was better than the previous two on the card, but I expected so much more out of these guys, and I just didn't find it entertaining tonight. Like I said above, it felt more like a TV match.

Backstage with Devon
Same old feud that they have with every type of tag team..except this isn't between two up and comers that need to prove themselves worthy of the next step. This is two old, beat up guys that aren't as good as they used to be and were never good in singles competition in the first place. And really..."Bully Ray"? Ridiculous. The only thing I found interesting in this segment was that it started with the fans chanting for the Guns.

Devon vs Bully Ray
The promo before the match called this "a grudge match for the ages". Yeah, I'm sure this is going to be one of those matches we talk about for years. Screw Hart/Bulldog, HBK/Taker, Steamboat/Savage...nah, we'll be talking about Ray/Devon from TNA Genesis 2011. LMAO. Not even 2 minutes into the match, the fans are chanting for tables. Normally, I'd criticize this as being so stereotyped, but I agree this time. Please, just go straight to the tables and cut the match short. Do the one thing you guys know how to do and leave it at that. Devon hits Ray with a shoe. He's got chairs, tables, ladders, fucking security barricades...and he uses a shoe. Ray wraps a chain around his fist but does nothing with it, and the ref doesn't disqualify him for trying to use it. Instead, when Devon uses it to whip Ray, then the ref suddenly calls it a DQ because he made contact. To an extent it makes sense but it's still lame.

WINNER: Bully Ray via disqualification.
Zzzzzzzz...

Backstage with Jeff Jarrett
This MMA gimmick is stupid...and they've tried doing it like 4 times before in TNA. At this point, I'd rather have the 1994 Jeff Jarrett back with the stupid suspenders and the suit with the Christmas lights all over it.

TV Championship: Douglas Williams (c) vs. Abyss
I still don't get the point in having a "television" title. Doesn't matter if its TNA, ECW, whatever, the idea behind a TV title seems like its pointless. I'll give them credit for one thing, though, that its better than a fucking "legends title" and a "global championship". Standard kind of match, nothing interesting. AJ comes out to hit Williams with the title. Naturally, Abyss then wins.

WINNER (and new TV champion): Abyss via pinfall.
Eh, you know the deal. Not a great match, kind of boring, blah blah blah.

Backstage with Bischoff and RVD
RVD says "if it isn't Hardy, you're wasting everyone's time". Bischoff then repeats incessantly that if he wants Hardy, he'll get Hardy. Oh my, I wonder what's going to happen!!! J/k.

Rob Van Dam vs. Matt Hardy
Surprise, surprise...by which I mean "completely mother fucking obvious". RVD has always been overrated in my mind and Matt Hardy, the same. Now Taz and Tenay are doing that stupid "I'm so shocked" crap. Hardy took all this time off from WWE to try to turn himself into Tyler Reks, it seems. I should apparently watch what I say about Matt Hardy, because since I'm on the internet, he automatically hates me, right? Credit where credit is due, though, I'm not hating this match as much as I expected I was. That's not to say I LOVE it, but it just isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Matt does seem like he's improved a bit. Maybe its the time off or maybe its the fact that he's in a new company, I don't know. Matt avoids a pinfall loss by having his hand under the ropes, but soon after that, RVD gets pinned with his leg under the ropes. NOT a botch, for those that are wondering. It keeps them both saving face in a way, so I don't mind that ending.

WINNER: Matt Hardy via pinfall.
Better than expected, but still not good enough to save this ppv.

Backstage with Kurt Angle
He says if Jeff wants to know what kind of shape he's in, he should ask his wife. Nothing else of note.

Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle
You're going to hate me for saying this if you're a fan of this ppv, and of TNA...but I don't like MMA either, and I don't like how they've tried this story in TNA like 4 times before, so no, I don't find this entertaining either. If the real MMA is boring to me, why would I think the fake version of it is any better? Gunner and Murphy spray something on Jarrett's arm and Jeff rubs it in Kurt's eyes. There's your story for the match. Thumbs up for not just having Jeff hit him with a chair. Kurt's now gushing blood basically from his head. What is it with TNA and blading lately? They do it so much that it has lost all meaning. Complete overkill. And now Jarrett says he's retiring undefeated.

WINNER: Uh...
Buh?

Backstage with Jeff Hardy
I still think it is really dumb for them not to have Jeff defend his title on a ppv. He's the fucking world champion. You're supposed to hate this guy the most out of the entire company, yet they headline the ppv with the two biggest faces going against each other where you have to choose, meaning you're instantly hurting the one that doesn't win the audience approval.

#1 Contenders Match: Matt Morgan vs. Mr. Anderson
Can we just skip to the part where Anderson wins? Lackluster for the main event, indeed. This needs to pick up pace and fast (lol, get it?) or else the whole thing will end with a bland taste. Be honest, when you saw the first mic check, you knew Morgan would kick out and soon hit the Carbon Footprint, and then Ken would kick out of that, right? Be honest now. Anderson wins via an inside cradle.

WINNER (and #1 contender): Mr. Anderson via pinfall.
Snooze, especially for a main event.

Out comes Eric Bischoff with a chair. He sits down on it. Bischoff says he's giving Anderson his title match right now. Not a bad heel move. Thumbs up. Jeff comes down to the ring and lights a cigarette.

TNA Championship: Jeff Hardy (c) vs. Mr. Anderson
Hardy hits a Twist of Hate but Anderson kicks out. The crowd seems dead but getting slightly better. Anderson keeps kicking out. Morgan attacks Jeff on the outside and rolls him into the ring but its a two-count. Hardy goes for a chair but Mick Foley comes out and takes it away from him. <3 Foley. Hardy hits a Swanton but Anderson kicks out. Bischoff comes into the ring with a chair but Anderson mic checks him. In comes Hardy who gets a mic check of his own and bam, new world champ.

WINNER (and new world champion): Mr. Anderson
Didn't think they'd add this match to the card, so that's good, and it obviously makes me eat my previous words of them not having Hardy wrestle on the ppv. See, folks, I admit when I'm wrong about stuff, despite how people will ignore that and say I don't. Also, for those that think "you go into this expecting it to suck, so of course you didn't like it", well look above, don't I point out a few times earlier when I expected something to suck but then I acknowledge that it wasn't as bad, or vice versa, expecting a match to be better but then saying that it let me down? Match wasn't bad and it was definitely the best match of the night.


So all in all, what do I think? Well, naturally, I wasn't impressed. And no, to those who like to think so, it wasn't because I went into it thinking it would be bad. I don't know why that argument is brought up only when it comes to TNA and never when I rip apart WWE ppvs. But just so you know, this is what I expected and what it panned out to be: Kazarian vs Lethal, I had no hopes for. Rayne/Mickie, I thought would be a good match, but was disappointed. Guns/Money I thought would be awesome but the previous two matches really hurt it in my opinion. Devon and Ray I didn't think would be any good and no, I didn't enjoy it, as it felt like a TNA Impact match. Williams and Styles I would have liked, but not Williams and Abyss. RVD and Matt DID do a better job than I expected, so again, there goes that "negative expectation automatically equals negative opinion no matter what" nonsense. Jarrett/Angle I expected to be stupid and was met with that result. Morgan/Anderson I had hoped would be better. And then of course, I assumed Hardy wasn't wrestling, so I was pleasantly surprised (take notice, this is me saying something positive for all you people that claim I don't) that not only did he wrestle but it was a pretty good match on top of it. End result, yes, I think this ppv was a waste of most of my time and I wish I had only seen the tag title match and the main event.