Monday, September 10, 2012

WrestlingNerd Presents: TNA No Surrender 2012 Review


What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at TNA No Surrender 2012. Who becomes the #1 Contender to the TNA World Championship? Let's find out and start the review. 

Match #1: Jeff Hardy vs Samoa Joe; BFG Series Semi-Final
We open up the same way we opened up Impact this week. As I already explained in my Impact review, I didn't like how we got the same match in one week, I need to talk about tonight, so let's move on. The match was better than the one on Impact, but something feels off. Maybe its the chemistry between Hardy and Joe, but this match can't seem to tell a good story. Hardy wins with a rollup. This comes as no surprise.  As for Joe…..Tea Time with Magnus? 

Winner via pinfall: Jeff Hardy

Match #2: James Storm vs Bully Ray; BFG Series Semi-Final
Kinda odd that both semi-final matches would be on this early. I can understand giving the guys a breather, but Storm/Bully deserves to be in the middle of the card. Come on, do you really want the Knockout or X Division matches over Storm/Bully? Oh well. UGGGGH….IMPACT ZONE!!! Did they seriously chant, "You love pizza"? I think this audience is physically gonna give me cancer. The finish comes when Bobby Roode makes his return and hits Storm with a beer bottle, so Bully steals the match. I can see people complaining about this, but here's what I have to say. Storm winning the BFG Series would've been correct….IF Roode was still the world champion. Well, not sure if you have lived under a rock for the last two months, but Roode lost the title. Honestly, it makes sense for Storm to focus on Bobby. 

Winner via shenanigans: Bully Ray

Match #3: Tessmacher vs Tara; KO Championship
So, a Super-plex can't finish off Tessmacher, but a rollup takes out Tara? I really get sick of seeing KO/Diva matches end with a rollup. It just shows a lack of not caring. Then again, do I care at the end of the day? Match was passable, but this "rivalry" isn't doing it for me. 

Winner via sleep time and still KO Champion: Tessmacher

Wait, Bobby and Storm get sent to jail? So, is the punishment for interrupting a match ass rape? Damn, Hulk Hogan doesn't f*** around. Austin Aries wants to fight Armbreaker Dude. Yeah, that's his official name. You didn't know this? Tazz and Tenay never seize to amaze me with their "brilliant" commentary. They are seriously analyzing the punches and kicks from Aces and Eights. What's next? Analyzing Aces and Eights poker tournament? He appears to have Ace/King suited. It will be interesting to see what robot voice has to do. Especially since Hair Man raised with…..what just happened? Okay, this is so boring. For being a world champion, he seems to be struggling against a jobber. Despite his struggles, Aries manages to hit the Brainbuster on him….minus all the dirty tricks he used. Shouldn't these roles be reversed? Just what the hell happened? Just as Aries is about to unmask Armbreaker Dude, the rest of Aces and Eights show up. How is this shocking, Tenay? Aces and Eights are bad guys. Bad guys never hold their end of the bargain. Again, I'm convinced doing things "old school" is just another term for brain damage. TNA locker room arrives to help. During the whole attack, Hardy ended up injured. Hogan demands for a lockdown AND the cops? Why didn't he do this sooner? It's wrestling logic, but writing like this can go a long way. This would explain why this didn't happening at the end of the show. I've said for over a month that Bully Ray would be the leader of As & 8s. He wonders what Joseph Parks is investigating, Hardy ends up injured, and Bully always arrives late to deal with the stable. Not to mention that Bully has never been attacked by the group. I still think all the signs point towards Bully.

Match #4: Zema Ion vs Sonjay Dutt; X Division Title
Oh yeah…..these two have a rivalry. With almost no exposure, its very easy to forget. Zema ends up retaining his championship by hitting a finishing slam. Match was fair, but I could care less about this match. I really blame TNA creative more than Zema. Ion can generate heat and isn't too bad at what he does, but its clear that they aren't sure what to do with the title or Zema. If they did, Zema would show up more on a weekly basis. I'd love to be one of the lower-end championship holders in TNA. 29-30 days off and working one day out of the month? That's the easiest paycheck ever. 

Winner via pinfall and still X Division Champion: Zema Ion

Is Hogan a general manager or a sheriff? I want you to beat them and then take them away? Yeah, I'm pretty sure law enforcement doesn't work like that. In fact, let me try this….

Dammit Hogan!!!

Match #5: Magnus vs RVD
A match thrown together at the last moment. I generally don't care about these matches since I would've preferred an actual storyline. I get that they are trying to prep Magnus for Joe, but this lazy. Not only that, but they failed to make Magnus any better. Why expose him in a possible feud with Joe and NOT have him beat RVD? It really doesn't make much sense. Then again, we gotta let the Impact Zone get their nostalgia fix. Frog Splash for the victory. 

Winner via veteran status: RVD

Match #6: Christopher Daniels and Kaz vs AJ Styles and Kurt Angle; TNA Tag Titles
Remember when this whole storyline started when Daniels recruited Kaz in the dumbest way possible? Oh, weren't those happy ti-

…..never mind. Ugh, this commentary is awful. I know Tazz and Tenay can do some wonky commentary, but they really flipped the s*** switch tonight. It isn't even funny in a comical way. Its just……bad. As for the match, it was good…damn good. This was the match of the night, at least in my book. If something good has happened during this terrible rivalry/storyline, it would be the match quality. The close-calls near the end might have been overdone, but this was still pretty good. The finish comes when Styles gets appletini in his face. So, none of those finishers can keep Styles down, but an appletini ends his day? As stupid as it is, there's just something about this that I find funny. What's the encore? Is Styles gonna slip on a banana peel? Are we gonna throw a sandwich at Styles, thus leading to a concussion? The ending could be considered weak, but is it any sillier than the previous Styles/Daniels drama? If you think about it, this match doesn't accomplish anything. The rivalry between Styles and Daniels continues and keeps getting ridiculous. PULL THE F***ING PLUG ALREADY!!! Both guys are desperate for a new program.

Winner via appletini and still TNA Tag Champs: Christopher Daniels and Kaz

Hogan, I don't think the cops care about the BFG Series. Look at their expressions? If anything, they are just hoping the check doesn't bounce. Watch out, Commissioner Gordon. Hulk is after your job….LOLZ….I can't even say that with a serious face. 

Match #7: Bully Ray vs Jeff Hardy; BFG Series Finals
Hardy hasn't arrived to his fight, so Hogan comes out and decides if Bully cares about the company, he will wait four days for Hardy to compete. As the two continue to banter, Hardy shows up to compete. Yeah, so TNA basically wasted your time with gibberish. Anything to eat up the three hours, I suppose. So, this match was mostly telling a story. Hardy was competing with one arm. Bully was in control, but Hardy continued to fight back. The finish comes when Hardy hits another Swanton Bomb for the victory. Match was okay, but the storytelling is what made this stand out. I thought Bully was gonna get the title match, but they decided to give it to Hardy. To be fair, TNA already did Aries/Bully earlier in the year, so they probably didn't want to do it again. At the same time, they probably didn't want to draw parallels between Immortal and As & 8s. If Bully really is the leader of the group, he doesn't necessary need the championship when it comes time to reveal who is leading this stable. When Immortal debuted, it was the same night that Hardy turned heel and stole the world championship. So, I'm fine with taking a slightly different route….If my theory turns out to be correct. Then again, Bully is almost too obvious at this point, so could it by someone else? I know that I'm trying to look at all the options since I typically don't like to become one of those people who instantly trashes the company just because YOUR guy didn't win or because they got one over on the smarks and decided to write up something different. At least it shows TNA is thinking outside the box. Of course, this move can also blow up in their face, but we'll cross that bridge when it comes. 

Bully Ray: Do you know who I am?
TNA staff: Okay, give the match to Hardy and let's order a pizza. Wait, were you saying something?
Bully Ray: *sigh*

Winner via pinfall and NEW #1 Contender to TNA World Title: Jeff Hardy

Overall Impression:
For a PPV that's prepping for TNA's version of WrestleMania, I found it a bit disappointing. Outside of the BFG matches, I wasn't really invested in anything else. Yes, TNA does put on decent matches, but if you have no storyline with some of these matches, why should I care? RVD and Magnus had a fair match, but it was so forced that it isn't worth a second look. X Division title match hasn't been mentioned for over a month, so why should I care about the title now? I'll be fair and say the final match was there for storytelling and not match quality, but it does hurt the match quality when you have to play a kayfabe injury. I love how the entire premise for the Aries/Armbreaker Dude revolved around Aries, but no longer gets mentioned after Hardy got taken out. What, no follow-up with Aries? Hogan was over-the-top, but he was everywhere in tonight's show. The matches help, but this show needed something bigger to make it stand out. It kinda felt like a glorified TV taping and I really felt that something was missing out of tonight. If I have to give this PPV a score between 1-10 and 5 considered average on here, I have to give TNA No Surrender 2012 a 6 out of 10, which is considered slightly above average. The show features a few decent matches, but I was hoping for a little more at the end of the day. Some may say my expectations were a little high, but I think they could've hinted at more things going into Bound for Glory….minus As & 8s and the world title. Still, at least TNA continues to put on better PPVs than the PPVs they were showcasing at the beginning of the year. That's gonna do it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. As always, tell me what you thought of my review or tonight's show. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show. See you next time. 

WrestlingNerd's Official score of TNA No Surrender 2012: 6 out of 10

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