Victory Road proves bumpy for TNA!By Phil Allely
TNA’s Victory Road card had great potential, recent editions of Impact! were very well received and the 2011 pay-per-view output to date has been too, so perhaps we should not let one poor main event ruin a good thing? The PPV itself was forged around Sting’s return and shock world heavyweight title win over Hulk Hogan‘s Immortal brand, his much-hyped re-match with Jeff Hardy being the expected highlight of a card that was designed to build things up for the upcoming usually feud-ending Lockdown PPV. Unfortunately things went a bit awry and Sting ended up squashing Hardy in a main event match that lasted mere seconds.
The preceding bouts fared far better though and served their purpose well.
Kicking things off Tommy Dreamer faced Bully Ray in an enjoyable ECW style No DQ/Falls Count Anywhere brawl that featured comic spots, weapons, an inflatable doll and a Devon run-in to give Dreamer the win.
Unlikely champs Angelina Love and Winter then lost their TNA Knockouts Tag Team Belts to the feisty duo of Sarita and Rosita in a decent Knockouts outing.
Matt Morgan and Hernandez went down the ‘first blood’ route next with a fast, furious and vicious at times, brawl, that ending confusingly as a mystery man ran in for the ref bump and gave Supermex the opportunity to coat Morgan in fake blood and gain the win.
The X Division then took things high octane with the Ultimate X four man match between Generation ME, Robbie E and champ Kazarian, the mix of career shortening moves, risk-taking action and even a tease of a Buck brothers break-up all kept this flowing, Kaz though justified his spot as champ by retaining his title for Fortune.
Fortune’s Beer Money defended their tag team straps in a reasonable match with challengers Ink Inc. Jesse Neal and Shannon Moore tried their utmost to keep up with TNA’s finest tandem, but they fell short, a DUI on Moore keeping the gold in the Fortune camp for a while anyway.
AJ Styles faced Matt Hardy in a Fortune/Immortal bout that saw Ric Flair join in the action. Styles was as impressive as ever and Hardy showed signs of his old self. Styles taking the win with a little help from referee Earl Hebner.
The Penultimate bout saw Rob Van Dam tackle Mr Anderson and saw both go though their trademark moves, strut their stuff and enthusiastically vie for the no 1 contenders spot. The crowd were hot for this one and yet even after so many close calls the match ended as a (unpopular result of a) double count out.
Which of course made the main event all the poorer for it duration and content (Eric Bischoff had more ring time than Jeff Hardy), TNA are now in full on damage limitation mode, US fans have been offered great incentives for supporting Victory Road and UK fans have been privy to some unique fan interaction events, here’s hoping Lockdown gets them back on track and resumes normal service for the organisation
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