WrestlingNerd Presents: TNA Final Resolution 2011 Review (Let's tie it down)

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another written review. Today, we take a look at TNA Final Resolution. How would TNA's final PPV of 2011 fair out? Well, let's find out and start the review.

Match #1: RVD vs Christopher Daniels
We open up with a rivalry in which I have no idea why it's still continuing. The way RVD/Daniels started this rivalry was pretty silly (a screwdriver?), and there was no reason to have a rematch between the two in terms of storytelling since RVD won the match at the last PPV. I think the only reason RVD/Daniels happened again is simply because the creative staff didn't know what else to do with them, so they put together a pointless rematch. Now, I will be fair and say this match was better than the one they had at Turning Point, but I don't think it's saying much. This was a pretty decent match to open up the PPV, but the lack of a storyline can make you lose interest. The finish comes when RVD hits the Frogsplash and wins yet again. I really hope this ends things between the two. Yeah, I realize RVD vs Daniels sounds good on paper, but if you aren't going to give them a proper storyline, then you are wasting the intrigue this rivalry could've brought. By the way, did Tazz just say, "Hit by a telephone poll unless you're a telephone man"? What the hell does that even mean? I think Tazz drank his lunch this evening.

Winner via pinfall: RVD

Match #2: Robbie E vs Eric Young for the TV Championship
I think a rematch like this was best reserved for free TV, but no matter. I was actually surprised in how this match went. Robbie actually looked like he was holding his own in the ring. This is probably the best I've seen out of Robbie E since.....ever. I like this move since a champion should look like he knows what he or she is doing....at least to a degree for a heel. Tazz is really loosing his mind. He's talking about head sizes and...mobsters? I don't know, I was trying to disregard what he was saying for the evening. I know that at times, Tazz will dig pretty deep for some....interesting commentary, but this is just plain weird. The finish to this match was also strange. Rob Terry has Young on the top of the second rope, but Robbie rushes in. He ends up hitting his bodyguard in the crotch while Eric was able to escape. Young does a fireman's carry on the both of them. I have no idea what he was trying to accomplish by doing that, but whatever (Shenanigans gives me super strength!!!). Young eventually loses control of both guys and it appears things are back to normal. Terry is still arguing with the ref, so Young hits a dropkick on him. With the distraction, Robbie hits a Code Breaker and steals this match. This will most likely end things between Robbie and Eric. Young will continue to try and make people laugh (The keyword being "try") while Robbie will go up against someone else. At the moment, I don't know who would be the best competition for Robbie. RVD and Daniels were in the middle of a pointless feud, so RVD is available?

Winner via pinfall and still TV Championship: Robbie E

Match #3: Matt Morgan and Crimson vs Pope and Devon for the Tag Team Championships
I think my main problem with this match is the tag champs weren't the focus for this match. The story here was the trust issue between Pope and Devon. You think for being tag champs that they would invest some build up for them, but this one had Pope and Devon written all over it. The match honestly felt like it was one-sided as Morgan and Crimson were mostly in control. The match is pretty forgettable and it ended with Morgan and Crimson hit a Double Chokeslam on Devon for the clean victory. After the match, Pope is with Devon's kids and Pope is upset with his partner. It also appears that Devon's kids are also disappointed with their father. I'm kinda surprised the kids didn't get involved in this one. What this shows is TNA is still continuing this storyline in which Pope is teaching Devon's kids all the wrong things while Devon can't seem to perform actual parenting. I just don't have that much interest in this storyline. Part of me wants to see it be over and done with already or some sort of a turn to change things up.

Winner via pinfall and still Tag Team Champs: Matt Morgan and Crimson

Match #4: Austin Aries vs Kid Kash for the X Division Title
Tazz, what is wrong with you tonight? He talks about how the referee did a great job in checking on the shoulders of a pinfall attempt. Doesn't that already go hand in hand? That would be like telling Princess Peach a great job for getting kidnapped or telling the person at McDonald's a great job for taking your order. Again, I know Tazz says some stuff that's pretty out there, but he really went overboard on the insane pills tonight. I liked the match, but I really didn't like the storyline going into this match. Kash felt betrayed for Aries playing him at Turning Point, and now we have a match? Not only that, but there really wasn't a face turn by either competitor, so that makes it tougher on the audience to choose someone to root for. In fact, the audience was split and really didn't know what to do. Then again, this is the Impact Zone so they would be satisfied with Hulk Hogan flexing his muscles. The finish comes when Aries gets a foreign object, but the referee intercepts it. Kash also pulls out a foreign object, but the ref takes that away. Aries grabs his championship belt and tosses it in the hands of Kash while playing stupid. It's like the Eddie Guerrero trick, but done differently. I kinda like it. While the ref is dealing with another object, Aries is able to take advantage and hits the Brainbuster for the victory. I'm not really sure what this does. While it made a hell of a lot more sense for Aries to retain his title, should this rivalry really continue? I'm starting to think TNA doesn't quite know what to do with the X Division. Aries is by far the most superior talent on that X Division roster and there isn't anyone else who can challenge, from a babyface perspective. Which is why Kash got to fill-in for the last month. The only way I see this rivalry continuing is if Kash were to turn face. While I am not a big fan of that idea, what other option is there considering that the rest of the X Division talent is young, green, and bland? Yeah, TNA needs to work on this.

Winner via pinfall and still X Division Champ: Austin Aries

Match #5: Gail Kim vs Mickie James for the KO Title
So, what the hell happened to the production truck here? The video transitions were all over the place and they replayed the hype video of Gail/Mickie twice. Either TNA production team was falling asleep, or they were too busy jerking off to other programs. Go team? The match was tolerable for KO standards, but nothing amazing. When the Impact Zone is bored, you know you're doing something wrong since that audience will cheer anything. The finish comes when Gail is trying to run away, but Mickie brings her back to the ring. As they work their way to the ring, Madison Rayne arrives and causes a distraction as the referee is dealing with Gail. Kim takes advantage of the distraction by hitting Eat D'feet (Yes, that's seriously what she's calling it. I know, pretty bad pun) and wins the match. Man, how much shenanigans can you cram in one show...

Eh, never mind. The rivalry will definitely continue between these two, which actually makes sense. Not a whole lot to say regarding this one.

Winner via pinfall and still KO Champ: Gail Kim

Match #6: James Storm vs Kurt Angle
This was the match I had the most interest in. I felt that story and tension between the two was put together pretty well and I expected to see a pretty good wrestling match. If you're a fan of technical wrestling, you will enjoy this match. However, if you don't like that style of wrestling, you might get bored with this match until the last couple minutes of the contest. Still, I really enjoyed what I saw with this match. I think most people will disagree with me when I say this, but this was the Match of the Night in my book. This went back and forth for almost 20 minutes. Kurt got a few near falls, but can't get the victory. Storm is still selling the head injuries, but still manages to stay in the match. What also makes this match great is the story being told. Yes, storytelling is important, despite what the IWC says. The finish comes with Kurt misses the Moonsault. Man, is Kurt going to be known as the guy who epic fails with the moonsault?

D'oh, I missed. Anyway, Storm follows up with the Last Call Superkick and gets the victory. Big victory for Storm. The strange thing is that I can actually see a rematch between these two. Based on what would happened tonight, Robert Roode would already have competition for the world title, so they can either give Storm another opponent or have a rematch with Kurt and continue to build his stock. This is a match I recommend you check out. Good job by both competitors, but I also wouldn't expect anything else from Storm or Kurt.

Winner via pinfall: James Storm

Match #7: Jeff Hardy vs Jeff Jarrett in a Steel Cage match
There was a new stipulation added to this match. The stipulation was if Hardy won, he would get a title match. If Jarrett won, Hardy would be fired. It was added during the weekend that if Hardy won, he would get a title match and either Jarrett or Karen would be fired...

Oh, please get rid of Karen. She might be fun to look at, but I don't want to hear that shrieking voice anymore. Hey, I can take Michael Cole and Vickie Guerrero, but Karen Jarrett.....THAT'S just too much!!! Once again, Hardy is wearing the Zora mask from Majora's Mask. What's up with that? I wouldn't be surprised if he created this while he was "envision stuff". People were very interested in this match, but I just couldn't get into it. I'll admit the match was okay, but there was just something about it I didn't like. I think the main problem is the match was too short. It was only around 10 minutes long. I realize we have a 30 minute Iron Man match on the card, but this match needed more time. I would've taken out the TV title or the RVD/Daniels match since those weren't worthy of being on PPV. Thus, it would give Hardy/Jarrett another 10 minutes. Plus, this felt very short in terms of quality cage matches. As Sting said a few weeks ago, Karen was handcuffed to Sting during the match. Show of hands. Who still thinks Karen would get involved? I apologize in advance. Hardy had a chance to win this match, but you know he has to go for that stuntman spot. He attempts Swanton Bomb from the top of the cage, but misses. The finish comes when Jarrett pushes Hardy into the cage door. This causes Sting to get hit by the cage door. Karen takes the keys and is now free (surprised? You shouldn't be). She smashes the cage door in Hardy's face and it appears Jarrett is going to win, but Hardy still kicks out. Karen grabs the guitar, but Sting is back up and intercepts it. This allows Hardy to hit Twist of Fate on Jarrett and he finally picks up the victory. Hardy will get a title match at Genesis (TNA's next PPV) while it appears Jarrett or Karen will be fired. Sting says one of they will be fired on Impact this week. Again, I'm kinda hoping for Karen to get fired, but wouldn't be shocked if Jeff ended up being "fired".

Winner via pinfall: Jeff Hardy

Match #8: Robert Roode vs AJ Styles; Iron man Match for the TNA World Title
I think a lot of people enjoyed this match, but I wasn't a big fan of it. I think my problem is there was too many victories in this match. Call me old fashion, but I like Iron man matches in which the number of victories is kept to a really small number. This was 30 minute Iron man match, and yet TNA had almost the same amount of victories you get with 60 minute Iron man matches. There was a point where I found myself paying way more attention to the clock than to the match itself, and I'm pretty sure that isn't what you want you audience to do. Roode took a 2-0 lead with a pinfall and a submission victory. AJ quickly tied it at 2-2 when he was able to get a submission and roll up victory of his own. AJ took the lead when he hit a springboard 450 Splash. Roode was able to tie it once again by getting a heelish pinfall. He pinned AJ, but the referee didn't see Roode grab the rope for leverage. Either way, it's a 3-3 tie. We are down to the last minute of the match and Roode.....starts running away. He does this until the clock runs out. The match ends in a 3-3 tie and.....this ends the show? Yeah..... no overtime? No extra five minutes? No real winner and loser? Just a tie...yep....a tie. I think many of you have this thought going through your head...

3-3 Tie. Robert Roode is still champion in event of a tie

Why was there a tie? We already knew that Roode would most likely be going up against Hardy at the next PPV. We also had to figure that this was a blow off feud. Heck, we wouldn't be doing an Iron man match unless it's supposed to be one of those "final encounter" type matches. So, they do this match and they have it end up in a tie? The only real conclusion I can think of in ending the match like this is for the Genesis match to be a Triple Threat Match, Roode vs Hardy vs Styles. If that's what TNA is shooting for, then I'm okay with the tie....even know I hate when pro wrestling does ties. I think the old saying goes "a tie is worse than losing". Well, in terms of fans who ordered this PPV, it is worse than say a winner and/or loser. A tie would give AJ another title shot while keeping Roode's selfish character in check. However, this is also TNA. I wouldn't be surprised if this whole tie deal is never resolved and Roode ends up going up against Hardy at Genesis while AJ is in another program. I also wouldn't be surprised if TNA ends up doing a free TV title match between Roode and AJ, thus ending things. If they go with either of those two scenarios, than TNA is freakin' stupid. All they're doing is pissing people off by having matches end like this. Don't get me wrong. I am all for storytelling and I always way "let's see where they are going with this", but it has to connect or make sense. If it doesn't, all you are doing is airing pointless scenes and wasting time while pissing people off. I can see a lot of people immediately lose interest in TNA after tonight; and for a company that needs to grow, that isn't what you want to create. I think what's even more insulting is that there was no overtime or an extra five minutes. Hell, the had another 10 minutes until the PPV was over, so don't tell me they didn't have the time to do so. An overtime would've soften the blow, but the fact TNA didn't even do is a joke. All I can say is if it turns out to be a Triple Threat match at Genesis or something more creative and fun down the stretch, then I am fine with this tie. If that isn't the case, TNA needs to castrate their entire creative staff and hire people with a actual brain to call the shots cuz bulls*** like this isn't working.

Overall Impression:
Up until the main event, I felt the evening was pretty average. It wasn't terrible, but nothing amazing about it either. In many ways, this felt like a glorified TV taping. However, considering how TNA does a lot of their TV tapings, this was a hell of an improvement compared to what has shown up on Impact lately. Outside of the Storm/Angle, everything else was in the average department and made this a decent evening. Although, the additions of the X Division match and cage match can catch you eye and help out with you grade this. Still, when you factor in how the main event turned out, you can easily go from saying this was a fun evening to a very disappointing evening. I was content with what I saw for the most part, but I just can't get over the tie. What is with TNA and ties? This is pro wrestling, not hockey. I am aware that WWE has gotten away with ties in the past, but I swear it happens more often in TNA than WWE. TNA really relies on the tie solution to make sure both guys leave with the same stock, but it does piss people off. In general, I hate ties in pro wrestling. Well, time to score TNA Final Resolution. On a scale of 1-10 and 5 being considered average on my show, I have to give Final Resolution a 4 out of 10. I was okay with giving this a 5 since the action/PPV quality was a lot better than what TNA has done lately, but I had to take a point away for the tie (Hey, I almost thought about taking 2 points off for the tie). A 4 out of 10 on my show is considered slightly below average. The action wasn't bad tonight, but there was a lot of things featured tonight that didn't make this PPV stand out and can leave you with a sense of disappointment. Now, I have to be fair and say the card going into Final Resolution wasn't anything special, so I didn't really have much in terms of expectations for this event. A lot of the matches felt like action you would see on free TV, but you can still put together a fun evening with an average card. I also wasn't big on the audience tonight, but I've never been high on the Impact Zone, so I've grown to expect this crowd to not get you on your feet. Even more of a reason to take this show on the road since you get the same audience every week with the Impact Zone. TNA needs a different audience on a weekly basis so you can get more genuine crowd reactions. I often feel like its too phony when they're in the Impact Zone. I would like to add that TNA has put enough interest for this week's Impact. We could see Jarrett or Karen fired, and I'm sure they would want to talk about the tie and what happens with AJ. There's also the Storm/Angle fall out, so they did build Impact pretty well for this week. I have to at least give them credit for that. That's going to 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. The Slammys for WWE Raw are tomorrow night, so....that could be interesting. I don't expect much with the Slammys, but I will talk about it. I will see you guys and girls on the next WrestlingNerd show, see you next time and tie one down.

WrestlingNerd's Official Score of TNA Final Resolution 2011: 4 out of 10