WrestlingNerd Special: TNA One Night Only: TNA 10 Reunion (2013)

What up wrestling fans, I'm the WrestlingNerd bringing you another special review. Today's special review is TNA's One Night Only: TNA 10 Reunion. I know I said I wouldn't really look at these, but since when do I listen to my own words? I left professionalism the day I created this page. Without further delay, let's begin. 

Is this really the title? 

Before we begin, we need to address the PPV title. First of all, why is called TNA 10 Reunion? I know the concept of tonight's show was to show the 10 years TNA has been around, but shouldn't it be called TNA 11 Reunion? Yeah, not a good sign if it shows they can't even count the amount of years they've existed. Second, what kind of PPV name is '10 Reunion'? It doesn't even sound right. It sounds like what a toddler says when he or she's learning how to speak. What's even stranger is how the talents were calling this PPV, 'TNA 10'. So, what's the name of the damn show? It seemed like they were calling it whatever the hell they wanted as long as it had something to do with TNA being around for 10+ years. Why didn't they just call it 'Four-Sided Hell' or something like that? It would sound stupid, but it sounds better than '10 Reunion'. At least 'Four-Sided Hell' sounds like a PPV name. My God, we haven't even started yet and I'm already off the deep end. This is only the second ONO PPV I've reviewed from TNA and on both occasions, I had to address the PPV name. I'm not expecting this great title to a PPV, but anything's better than TNA 10 Reunion. My guess is they paid one person a soda to come up with a PPV name. Actually, that would explain a lot. 

X Division and Knockouts

The first match of the night was an X Division match between Kenny King, Sonjay Dutt, and Petey Williams, but not before a 3-4 minute music video… exciting. If I recall, didn't this match happen a few months ago on Impact? I thought this was the night of honoring the past rivalries of TNA, not the 2-3 week feud that went nowhere. The match may be considered good, but I got bored with it to be honest. There was a lot of moments where the action ranged from fast-paced to really slow. I've seen better X Division matches in my day to say the least. Kenny wins the match with the Royal Flush. The next match of the night was Velvet Sky vs Gail Kim. While this is another rivalry that's happened in the last few years, I don't mind this one since I view it as TNA classic vs TNA modern. Gail was the first KO champ in TNA while Velvet is the fan favorite in the modern era, so that one fits the reunion concept better. In a short contest, Velvet wins the match with the In Yo Face. Not a whole lot to take in from the match if you ask me.

TNA hides the fact this was filmed back in March very well *wink wink*

We cut to a Joseph Park interview because when you think of the history of TNA, you think Joseph Park. Seriously, you can't even bother to get him in the Abyss mask for these events? The next match was a battle royal featuring past and present stars. You get all of your favorites like Joseph Park, Shark Boy, Chase Stevens… Cassidy Riley… Robbie E… Johnny Swinger?… Okay, well not exactly some of your favorites, but they did have a coffee break in TNA at one point. Yeah, I might as well get this out of the way since this is a continuing issue throughout the evening. For calling it an anniversary PPV, it doesn't really take advantage of it. Instead of names like Jeff Jarrett or AJ Styles, you get these cast of characters you either don't remember or don't care about. Talk about false advertising since you aren't really fulfilling the damn gimmick. They should just call this 'TNA Reunion: The Budget Edition', because that's essentially what you're getting. Oh, but there's more! Another issue about these ONO PPVs is the fact they're taped months in advance. Just like the Hardcore Justice 2 PPV, this showing was taped around March. Most of the time, TNA covers their tracks to make it look 'in-tune', but then there's time where no effort was put into it since they basically wrote themselves in a corner. It was obvious with Matt Morgan's presences in this PPV, despite the fact TNA released Morgan a month ago. Not only that, but you also have Robbie E and Jesse arguing with one another since there was a moment both guys didn't like each other, while they're currently a tag team in TNA. You see how this makes the event look dated? The commentators can do the best they can to cover up the current characters/storylines in TNA, but when it's f***ed up, it's f***ed up. This is why I find it laughable how TNA tries to connect the continuity of these PPVs with its current set-up. The purpose of these PPVs is to NOT connect with the current storylines, so why even bother trying to explain yourself out of it? Either go all the way or just leave it alone! Sigh… So, Matt Morgan won the match. It wasn't very intriguing and didn't make any sense. You can win by throwing your opponent over the top or of via pinfall/submission? Did a five-year old write this? Needless to say, this particular segment was a mess. Shark Boy would've had more luck if he brought the fish back. I want the fish to make a comeback. It was the best part of the last PPV. I wanna see the fish!

Things start to pick up

One positive about these showings has to be Bad Influence. The majority of the people who cut these promos go about as cliche as you can get, but it's nice to witness somebody actually trying to pull something off. Bad Influence is quickly becoming one the best parts of TNA. This match was Bad Influence vs LAX vs Team 3D. This was the first match of the night that actually looked good. I actually enjoyed this match and I hope we get more matches like this. Bully Ray and Devon are the victors after hitting the 3D on Homicide. I love the Christian Cage moment they featured at their top ten company moments…

Christian: The reason I'm here is because I love wrestling… but it wasn't enough to keep me here… bye.

Oh yeah, there's a PPV going on right now…

Austin Aries and Jeff Hardy had a decent match, but I think their BFG and eventual ladder match were better. Still, this was a decent edition to the series. Hardy won with a small package. As long as people buy Hardy's merchandise, he will always get a couple of 'big' wins every now and then. The next match was Bobby Roode vs James Storm. It started a bit slow, but it did pick up. The match did end in a bit of an anti-climax (Roode put foot on ropes for leverage), but it was still a decent outing. The last match of the evening was Kurt Angle vs Samoa Joe, obviously trying to relive Kurt's first rival in TNA and the point where Joe started his roller coaster trend. The match tries to replicate what it did in the early days, but it just wasn't there. I'm not saying the match was bad, but not one of the better Kurt/Joe matches available. This one needed more time on the clock, but that's what happens when you invest over 20-minutes in a battle royal nobody cares about. Kurt wins with the Angle Slam and that's it. Wow, I just literally talked by three matches in a short amount of time. Yeah, it really didn't leave that much of an impression on me. 

Overall Impression:

This is the second ONO PPV I've watched and in both cases, I felt the majority of the talents didn't go out there to put on the full effort. I'm not saying all the matches were terrible or a pain to sit through, but most of these matches have happened in the last 2-3 years and their previous encounters are better. Most of these matches feel watered-down and while not a bad evening of wrestling, it isn't something I would go out of my way to watch a second time since it felt boring in my eyes. Some people in these ONO showings try harder than others to entertain (Christopher Daniels), but most of them are almost counting by the minutes until the show's over. This is what I would consider an average showing, but so average that charging money for this is a joke. I wouldn't be surprised if you put this card on Impact and it would be more successful than tonight. Maybe you think I'm being too harsh on a PPV that doesn't connect with the current storylines of the show, but I still expect some value of entertainment at the end of the day. While with a traditional PPV where I expect good storytelling with compelling matches/silly segments, all I expect from these PPVs is the entertainment factor. I honestly think this PPV doesn't do that very well. Hell, at least the last PPV had that stupid, yet hilarious, moment with the fish winning the battle royal, but there wasn't anything like that this evening. I know this was meant to be taken more seriously due to the theme of tonight's show, but more effort could've went into the preparation of this show. Again, you show off ten years of TNA and don't have people like Styles, Jarrett, or even Abyss? You couldn't even get Sting to sign up for this? Like I said earlier, this is false advertising at its finest. If the PPV worked for you, that's perfectly fine. You got something out of it that I couldn't get myself. I think people forget that I write reviews to make you laugh and to share MY thoughts on the show, not review based on what others want me to say. Well, I think I've gone on long enough about this event. That does it for the review and I hope you enjoyed it. Tell me what you thought of my review or tonight's show. I will see you guys and girls in the next one.