Genesis 2009 with KB

[klunderbunker]

Genesis 2009
Date: January 11, 2009
Location: Bojangles’ Coliseum, Charlotte, North Carolina
Attendance: 2,700
Commentators: Don West, Mike Tenay

Since I need to get some of these TNA shows done, here’s one of them so I can get it done. This is in the middle of Front Line vs. Mafia, which is the main event of course. The main event is Foley, Styles and D-Von vs. Steiner, Booker and Nash. Nash isn’t here though due to an infection, so we’ll see who replaces him. Sting vs. Rhyno is the world title match, so as you can see, this isn’t much of a show on paper. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is about Front Line vs. Mafia, which talks about power corrupting people etc. Foley talks about being better than he ever was for one night. The video is of course overly dramatic but basic, which is TNA’s style around this time.

This is one of the rare not in Orlando shows. The set looks like an old Nitro one.

Sonjay Dutt/Jimmy Rave/Kiyoshi vs. Eric Young/LAX

We hear that Christy Hemme is more or less done forever due to a neck injury. She came back briefly but it didn’t last. Young is listed from Nashville. We get a replacement match with 6 Knockouts since Hemme is hurt. This is before Hernandez got his big push. Rhyno isn’t here yet either. This match wasn’t announced. They’re just throwing all these things at us so sorry for the rapid fire stuff. That was more or less in real time.

It’s weird seeing them at more of a real arena than a sound stage where wrestling is held. Dutt and Homicide start us off. It’s weird to think that this was just a year and a half ago. Young is the happy face and not crazy here. Hernandez has the world title case at this point but would use it in like 6 months. SICK slingshot shoulder block by Hernandez to take out Kiyoshi.

Even the announcers say this isn’t a serious match for the most part. Kiyoshi has paint on his face that looks like blood. And now let’s take the focus off the match completely as Jim Cornette is knocking on the door of the Mafia’s dressing room. Well at least it didn’t last long. I’ve never been a fan of this break neck speed style of programming. Scratch that to a degree actually as it can work but I still see no excuse to do it during a match. It comes off as disrespectful to the guys out there performing.

Kiyoshi is Muta’s partner, which is the explanation for the pain. It reminded me of Muta so that fits really well. Hot tag to Young and it goes nuts. Everyone goes flying with all kinds of dives and a pair of tope con hilos. Sweet stuff. Young throws Rave back in for two and we’re back to normal now.

Scratch that normal thing as everyone is in and it’s a huge mess. Fun stuff here so far. Cornette is STILL trying to get in the dressing room. See, that’s what I mean. We have a fast paced tag match that I’m getting into and we cut to Cornette pounding on a damn door. Wait this is elimination? That’s something we hear 10+ minutes into a match. Dutt puts his feet on the ropes to get rid of Young.

Rave’s look reminds me of Christian when he started in WWF. He uses tights to get rid of Homicide, and now it’s Hernandez vs. the heels. Methinks a squash is coming. I love how he just plows through people. Naturally, Hernandez and his MUSTACHE OF AWESOMENESS just massacres them. Border Toss gets rid of Kiyoshi. BIG OLD sitout powerbomb ends Dutt. HUGE freaking splash off the top ends Rave. That was impressive.

Rating: B-. Fun match but I question the elimination style mixing with the six man. If you want to do a six man then do a six man and if you want to have Hernandez dominate three guys then have Hernandez dominate three guys. Having Homicide and Young in there just cluttered things up, but it was still very fun and a great choice for an opener. Hernandez was indeed awesome and then they threw him in a bullshit tag team with Morgan. I still don’t get that one.

We go back to Cornette and the Mafia where he finally gets in, thereby making the two previous segments totally pointless. Steiner says he knows nothing about Rhyno but Cornette suspects the Mafia had something to do with it. We hear about Rhyno’s alcoholism which I think is completely kayfabe but I’m not sure.

We recap the X Title match between Shelley and Sabin which is a tournament final. Total wet dream match today given what they’ve been doing lately in the tag stuff. Young was stripped because of some controversy.

X Division Title: Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin

I’m not a fan of these X Factors things or the tag ropes that they do for tag matches. We know there are issues and it just comes off as weird. They’re the Guns here so this is a big build for the match. No awesome theme music yet though. It’s almost weird seeing the 6 sided ring here. This should be very good. We fight over a wristlock and both guys nip up at the same time to a standoff.

It’s a very basic technical style to start which suggests to me that they’ve got a lot of time to work with. They’re heels here actually but since it’s TNA, no one seems to care. We crank it up with kicks and go to the mat. Cool counter by Shelley as Sabin is going for a springboard move and Shelley just punches him.

Shelley follows that up with a front flip legdrop onto the back of the head of Sabin as he was in the position Orton has people in for the elevated DDT. Lionsault for two. We chop it out as Sabin is back into it now. This is getting into more of an indy style and hits a NICE springboard tornado DDT. And hey let’s talk about Rhyno since this isn’t important at all. Shelley hooks a crossface as this is very back and forth.

Downward spiral into a turnbuckle in a painful looking bump. The fans like Shelley more as they crank it up again. Emerald Flosion to Sabin for two and Shelley misses a frog splash. He goes for it again and hits two in a row for two which I thought was the finish. Cradle Shock (love that move) gets two for Sabin. Sliced Bread only gets two as we’re bordering on a Japanese style here. Sliced Bread is blocked again and Shelley has hurt his ankle. Sabin checks on him, and you know what’s coming. Shelley rolls up his concerned friend for the title. Not sure if I like that ending or not.

Rating: A-. Different style here but the ending is kind of a head scratcher. They went back and forth and the match was definitely entertaining, but I’m very rarely a fan of the “let’s only use finishers” style of an ending, but I also would have liked a more definitive ending than a sneaky one. However, doing something different when the traditional stuff hasn’t worked is a nice though, so I can accept that. Very good match and very fun.

Cornette tells us that Nash isn’t here tonight and here’s Mick Foley (called Cactus by Jim). He’s told about Nash not being here and says the Mafia has until the bell to find a partner or it’s a handicap match.

Now we run down the card that we’ve already paid for and would have likely known if we’re seeing this. It’s only a minute long so I can hardly complain about it, but I just don’t get why it’s here. Why pay someone to put it together?

We recap Shane Sewell (a referee but a big star in Puerto Rico) vs. Sheik Bashir. Nothing special at all as far as a story goes here if you didn’t get that.

Shane Sewell vs. Sheik Abdul Bashir

Yes, this is apparently worthy of PPV time. Shane is in a referee shirt sans sleeves. He’s #27 also for no apparent reason. Sewell moves pretty well. I’ve never quite gotten why he was given such a big push but it didn’t last long. This has been on the floor more than in the ring. Sewell is almost counted out after being dropped on the railing. West talks a lot and is annoying.

Bashir bashes America a lot, despite Sewell being Canadian. WOW. Ok so Shane started him comeback and literally pointed at the ceiling, Bashir looked and Shane punches him. That actually worked? Scratch the comeback as Bashir takes over again. Shane makes another comeback with very generic stuff. Top rope cross body gets two.

The fans start clapping after Shane more or less asks them to. Nothing wrong with basic stuff like that. In Charlotte we get a figure four. Naturally that gets a nice pop from this crowd. Bashir gets after Hebner but the referee fights back, resulting in a chase around the ring. Sunset flip by Sewell ends it. The other referees come down to celebrate.

Rating: D-. Just a generic as hell match and nothing any good at all. There just was no interest at all here and seriously why should there be? A midcard heel against a referee? This is supposed to be worthy of paying for? Sewell used very generic stuff which makes the match rather boring. Just nothing at all here.

Booker gets on Cornette for yelling at him and the referees make the save. Sewell and Booker have a staredown, which became a feud somehow. Guess how well it went.

We recap the tag title feud (with the belts being called the most desired set of bling in professional wrestling). Lethal Consequences cashed in their Feast or Fired (MITB) case for a shot like 3 days ago to win them.

Tag Titles: Lethal Consequences vs. Beer Money vs. Matt Morgan/Abyss

Abyss has some wicked cool blue fire for his entrance. Morgan and Abyss are arguing apparently lately. This was supposed to be a regular tag match but we threw in another team just for the hell of it. The Boozer Cruiser debuts here. Roode might have a slight knee injury. Very slow to start us off here with Storm and Creed starting us off. That sounds like the opening lineup for a concert.

This is really boring with nothing of note going on about two minutes in. I still don’t get the point in making this a threeway. It just doesn’t help at all as far as I can tell. Everyone beats up Beer Money, which tells me they’ll win. Stereo dive/flip by the champions to take out Beer Money. Morgan and Abyss haven’t done much at all here.

Morgan goes up top and takes out all four of them with a BIG dive off the top. Sweet one. The best team in this misses a double bulldog on Abyss and then do their shot which they haven’t perfected yet. West talks about how great the tag division is and he’s more or less right. The division is indeed better than WWE’s, which isn’t saying much really. Creed takes out Beer Money again which has been a running theme so far.

This is just kind of dragging along here. It’s not particularly bad and the high spots are helping it out, but this just isn’t getting going. Then again it might be that there’s no real drama here. I really would have preferred a standard match as the third team is just cluttering things up out there. Storm has a cowboy hat on now for no apparent reason.

What is the obsession in wrestling with cowboys? There are cowboy characters everywhere and there almost always have been. What is the deal with that? Cowboys are cool I guess but why do we have to have at least one in every promotion? Lethal comes in and cleans some house as Morgan and Abyss stay on the apron for about 80% of the match so far. Morgan saves a pin though.

Lethal can’t hurt Abyss with punches so Abyss grabs him and gives him a chokebreaker which looked sick. It’s a big mess now as everyone goes for their finishers. Roode hits a Blockbuster on Morgan for two again. Belt is tossed in and Abyss misses a shot with it so that Roode can cover him. Since it’s TNA though that’s too simple so we do like three more things and THEN Roode gets the pin on Morgan.

Rating: D. This was ok but sweet damn it was just boring at times. I still don’t get why they had to have three teams in there. The match was ok but it just never clicked at all. This was more about Morgan and Abyss splitting up which they more or less do after the match, but why did we need Lethal Consequences in there to do that? They were thrown in less than a week before, so what’s the point? Match was just too crowded.

Angle goes insane and storms into Cornette’s office where he yells at Jim, saying if Cornette wants to know something about the Mafia that Cornette should come to him. Angle admits that the Mafia beat the hell out of Rhyno, but did give him cab fare. Well that’s always nice. Did he get a fake phone number too?

ODB/Taylor Wilde/Roxxi vs. Sojourner Bolt/Raisha Saed/Rhaka Khan

This is the replacement for the Hemme/Kong match and the person that scores the pin gets a future title shot. The later of the teams is called the Kongtourage and are actually a stable. Saed has a body suit now instead of the more or less gown. Wilde and Bolt start us off. Please make this quick. Crowd is pretty much dead.

Well that whole Knockout thing was nice. Let’s talk about the guys now. Not sure why but I always had a thing for Khan. Wilde gets beaten down and this just isn’t that interesting really. It’s not bad, but the while idea here is that the girls on Kong’s team wants to challenge Kong, but no one has actually said that so it’s just West shooting his mouth off again.

Curb stomp to Taylor and it’s more or less a standard tag formula here. Khan and ODB fight and it’s ugly. The fans only care about ODB and from out of nowhere a small package gets her the pin. At least it was short, even though it took forever it seemed. Kong comes down for the staredown and required big brawl with everyone involved.

Rating: D. Again just nothing special at all here. No one cared and it was very clear that they didn’t. This was a replacement match, but it shows the desperate need for the fresh blood known as the Beautiful People that made the division so much better. Bad match.

Sting says he doesn’t condone what happened to Rhyno. He never went full heel in this angle which was a nice touch I always thought.

We recap Angle vs. Jarrett, which is Jarrett coming out of retirement at a previous show to fight Angle. That was a good match and if I remember right this one is also.

Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett

This is No DQ. Somehow this is the most anticipated match in the history of TNA. I’ve always liked Jarrett’s music. They slug it out to start which makes sense in a grudge match. This is personal here. How personal do you think it would be if it happened today when Jarrett is engaged to Angle’s ex wife? Rhyno is here but he’s all injured. Beer to the face of Angle as this has been a big mess the whole time.

It’s good but it’s just completely insane so far. The fans are all over Kurt here. We get into a traditional match now with Angle in control. Jeff has dark gray boots which look weird. He gets an armdrag to avoid the Slam and a HUGE backdrop to send Angle to the floor. Jarrett dives over the ropes but hooks his foot on the ropes and FACEPLANTS on the mat. They hit the table now as this is a big brawl.

Bell to Jarrett’s head and Angle is dominating here. Jeff is busted open something fierce. You would think Jeff got run over by a car as they completely oversell the bell shot. That blood is just FLOWING out of his head and it looks great. They’re up on the stage now and Angle is busted open too. Angle Slam off the stage through a table in a NICE spot. West decides that they won’t be able to walk again. Naturally they’re up in about 30 seconds.

Jarrett’s face is awesome here with the blood covering it. They slug it out in the middle of the ring and pick up some speed here. Stroke is countered into the ankle lock which gets reversed after a few moments. Despite being in the ankle lock that long Jeff can manage to dropkick a chair into Angle’s face. Stroke gets two. Angle hits a decent top rope missile dropkick to set up the Slam for two.

Crowd is mostly into this but not fully, which is odd as this has been a rather good match. Angle eats post but blocks the guitar shot. Chair to the head of Jarrett gets two as the kicking out is getting awesome here. Scratch that as it’s been awesome. Ankle lock goes on forever after a missed enziguri but Jarrett gets out AGAIN. The guitar is broken though and Jarrett is somehow able to stand again.

Chair shot to Angle but Jarrett is down too. His ankle is gone but of course he was able to get a big chair swing in first. Well of course he was. Jeff gets over for a lazy cover and Angle spins over into a crucifix for a pin where the count was fast. Clean ending if nothing else. He Pillmanizes the ankle after the match, drawing a LOUD thank you Kurt chant.

Rating: B+. Very solid match here but it was just missing something. I think it was the amount of brawling around the arena that kind of took away from things. The ankle lock going on forever was kind of stupid too since just afterwards he was fine enough to swing a chair like that. Good match and very entertaining, but it just lacked that spark to make it great.

Rhyno says he’s fighting tonight.

Jarrett is taken out on a stretcher.

The video is about the Front Line vs. the Mafia. Ever notice how much Russo LOVES factions? Rhyno pinned Sting in a nothing match, here’s a title shot. There you go.

TNA World Title: Sting vs. Rhyno

Sounds like a weak superhero comic. I still don’t like these tales of the tape. Why do we need to be told again what the main points here are? Also why isn’t this the main event? Oh that’s right: there are more old guys and D-Von in the main event. Rhyno is holding his back, has tape around his head and has blood on his face. He couldn’t even just wash his face?

Rhyno jumps him when the coat is still on. NO reaction for Rhyno shouting to the crowd as this is a very Sting crowd. Rhyno as usual has the Detroit Tigers D on his back which always comes off as cool to me. Cue people suggesting the Guns should join him because it would be AWESOME. The tape is off of Rhyno’s head. About two or three minutes in Sting gets his t-shirt off.

He throws on a bearhug, which isn’t something you would imagine him using. This however is smart as Rhyno’s back is hurt so Sting goes after it. This is a great example of what I always talk about: psychology. Sting’s finishing hold works on the legs and back and Rhyno has a bad back. It would make no sense for Sting to go after Rhyno’s arm would it? Working on his injured back makes sense though. That’s a fine example of psychology.

Belly to belly by Rhyno gets two after he breaks out of the hold. GORE out of nowhere and it gets no reaction at all. Sting hits the floor and I’m puzzled as to the lack of reaction. Rhyno goes up top and misses a splash and there’s the Scorpion. Ever since the late 90s Sting has never really done this move the same. He’s always kind of leaning over Rhyno instead of sitting down. I’ve never gotten why either but it just doesn’t look nearly as effective as it could be otherwise.

Fans loudly booing Rhyno now. He goes for the Gore but his back gives out and Sting hits the Death Drop to retain. I’m still trying to understand the crowd here as they were just completely anti-Rhyno the whole time. Again, and please Vince Russo pay attention: PEOPLE LIKE STING. No matter who you put against him or what you do with him, the people love him.

Rating: D. This would be an ok match on TV or something, but for a PPV, this was very bad. This is supposed to be the match that the title is for on PPV? People were supposed to pay to see this? It could have been an ok match but I don’t get why they had to do the injury angle and such. It just wasn’t entertaining on a PPV main event level. Just didn’t do it at all.

The Front Line talks about the main event. D-Von looks so out of place here it’s unreal. He’s here because the Mafia beat up Bubba on Impact. AJ is here because the same thing happened to Joe, and because he’s AJ and belongs in the main event of a PPV in TNA. Foley wants to know which version of him is showing up.

We recap the Mafia dominating TNA and the faction war that started because of it. Basic stuff and fairly done but it still results in a meaningless six man involving D-Von in the main event of a PPV. That just doesn’t work in any dimension.

Main Event Mafia vs. Front Line

It’s Booker, Steiner and a mystery partner here vs. AJ, D-Von and Foley but I just felt like trying to make it seem more important. Booker is Legends (Global/TV) Champion here. He’s also the British version here. The suitable replacement is of course Cute Kip. As in Kip James. As in Billy Gunn. As in the “he’s gay but we’re not going to say he’s gay because it would likely get us in trouble” character.

Fans are SILENT when he’s announced. This was a one shot deal for the Mafia and everyone just freaked out when they picked him, as no one bought him as anything but a joke. Tenay of course mentions DX and the Outlaws because we have to remind people of that instead of his success in TNA. Gunn lists off his WWF accomplishments and says he really is a bad ass. This is about a minute after Booker introduced him as the Cutie.

This is Foley’s return to the ring. AJ is still the awesome face at this point and the most awesome wrestler in the world. Him without the robe works MUCH better than with it. Foley is apparently wearing the flannel to be like Brother Ray. That’s so stupid I can’t even make a joke about it. I guess Foley is the big draw here. Steiner cusses out West before the match starts.

We leave the ring immediately and it’s a huge mess. Foley goes up for the elbow but the heels all move. We finally get things back to at least close to calm and start doing some tagging. That’s a pretty good lineup of tag wrestlers on the Mafia side actually. On the other side it’s not bad either I guess, but seriously, D-Von Dudley is in a main event in 2010. What sense does that make?

It’s just a six man tag though. There’s nothing on the line and there’s nothing of importance here. After this match no matter who wins or loses things will be exactly the same. Why should I want to watch this match? Better yet why would I pay to see this match? That’s the issue I have with tags ending PPVs: they accomplish nothing. AJ fights out of trouble with a Pele.

Fameasser misses and Kip takes the Pele. Hot tag to Foley who beats up Kip James. They head to the floor and brawl a lot….and there’s the bell? It’s a double countout but Cornette comes out and says restart it just because I guess. Booker says Cornette doesn’t have the authority to do that. Foley says he does though so it’s restarted, also making it a hardcore match.

Everything goes nuts of course as everyone is fighting in the aisle with weapons etc. The fans want tables. Foley goes onto the announce table via Booker. After some more skirmishing, Foley tells D-Von to get the tables. Booker is put on a regular table and out of NOWHERE comes AJ with a huge dive to crush Booker and take out everyone but D-Von and Steiner.

Top rope headbutt to Steiner and Foley busts out Socko. It’s in Booker’s mouth but Steiner saves. Everything goes insane and Steiner takes a double arm DDT onto a chair from Foley to get pinned. As the Front Line celebrates, Tenay talks about how the Mafia won tonight. Uh, yeah sure they did dude. Just glad this is over.

Rating: F+. I know I’ve said this a lot but Kip James and D-Von Dudley were just in the main event of a PPV. Add in that to the fact that it was a meaningless six man tag with nothing on the line and that we stopped for a promo series in the middle and that the hardcore stuff was weak and why should this get anything above failing? Just a bad match to main event a PPV with to put it mildly.

Overall Rating: D. This felt like an Impact special. That’s the best way to put it I think. There’s really nothing worth going out of your way to see on it. Jarrett/Angle is good as is the X Title match, but at the same time both are rather meaningless. Angle vs. Jarrett is 1-1 now and it’s not like the X Title means a damn thing anyway right? The last two matches completely should have been switched out as well. For the life of me I don’t get why they went with the match order that they chose. It’s not the worst show I’ve ever seen from them, but it’s pretty damn bad to put it mildly. Even with two rather good matches, this just completely fails as a PPV. Bad show, only check out the two matches mentioned if you’re a pretty big fan of any of the guys in them.

 

[X]

Pretty shit PPV for the most part here, but it was well worth checking out for the Shelley-Sabin and Angle-Jarrett matches, both of which were excellent. Shelley and Sabin could have a good match blindfolded so that's no shock, but I was surprised by how much I loved Angle vs. Jarrett's No DQ match, that was a match of the year candidate in my eyes, had it rated at ****1/4 if I remember correctly, just an insanely entertaining wild brawl and FIGHT between two guy with legitimate heat for one another, awesome match, one of the best in Jarrett's career I'd have to say.

Everything else is forgettable, but I highly recommend anyone check out the Sabin/Shelley and Angle/Jarrett matches if you get the chance, they're both awesome.

Also...stop hatin' on Billy Gunn. He was one of my favorite wrestlers when I was a kid.

Obviously he shouldn't have been in a main event in 2009, but still, I love the dude and wish he could get a decent gig.

 

[Uncle Sam]

I think I nominated a Jarrett/Angle match for match of the year last year. I can't remember if it was that one or one they had at a different pay-per-view - Bound For Glory maybe? The one I got to see live - which was like a hybrid of the two and, shamefully, had Jarrett winning - wasn't even recorded. Good match though.

Like most TNA pay-per-views, it was dangerously uneven. The Main Event Mafia, like TNA's stable storylines always do, dragged down the show. Looking back, it's incredible that even TNA fumbled with that storyline as often as they did. I didn't even know what the fuck was going on by the end. Something about Matt Morgan. It ended, the company got good for about two months, Hogan came in and the rest is history.

I don't know what X is on about; Angle/Jarrett being a ****1/4 match! It was clearly, clearly a ****1/2 match. I mean, the difference between a ****1/4 and a ****1/2 is pretty glaring. It's easy to differentiate.