Pro Wrestling Chronicle

TNA presents the 2007 edition of their Sacrifice PPV this weekend. Here’s a quick match by match look at what could be a really good show, depending on how TNA handles a variety of things.

Voodoo Kin Mafia vs. Christy Hemme’s team of Doug Basham & the Damaja
The next step in what has been a horrible angle. The booking has been terrible throughout this entire thing, so now we get the former Basham Brothers introduced to the company. They laid out VKM on Impact to build to the match, but without a win in this match they will flounder just like almost every other former WWE talent TNA has signed. And they’ve really got their work cut out for them coming in on a horrible angle and with opponents that are limited in the ring.

Tiger Mask IV vs. Senshi vs. Alex Shelley vs. Jerry Lynn
We get the monthly installment of a multi man X-Division match to get as much talent on the show as possible. I’m not complaining, as they usually end up being fun spot filled matches, but it’d be nice to see more build to these things, rather than just tossing them together and announcing them a couple of days before the show. But, Senshi was left with nothing to do when Austin Starr got suspended. They don’t seem to be doing anything with Jerry Lynn again. Alex Shelley has been teaming with Sabin, but with Sabin as X-Division champion, he gets tossed in here. And the casual fan, who has no clue who Tiger Mask is, didn’t even get to see clips or anything of him. And the smart fans aren’t going to throw down $30 just to see him on PPV, so he really adds nothing to the match. Should be good, but when matches are just tossed out there like this what reason are they really giving us to care?

Jeff Jarrett vs. Robert Roode
Jeff Jarrett ended up being the friend that Eric Young alluded to for weeks. I have no problem with that. It keeps Jarrett in a nice mid card match and away from the top. But, the point of this feud is to see Eric Young get revenge against Roode and get his freedom back. For that reason, and to attempt to get Roode some more heat, I’d like to see Roode get a cheap win here. Unfortunately we’ll probably end up with Young helping Jarrett win the match. Roode needs the win, Jarrett doesn’t… it’s as simple as that to me.

Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles
I could watch these guys wrestle any time. Give them at least a good 15-20 minutes and they’ll steal the show. But once again, why? This was quietly added over the week, but with no real build. Nothing discussing the history between the two. Nothing about the amazing matches they’ve had in the past. Nothing. What does it say when these two guys, who are both upper level talent in TNA, don’t have a real angle or story line going on and are just tossed into a match to get them on PPV? I’m happy to see them go at it, but saddened by the fact that it really means nothing between two guys that have been pushed at the top, but just can’t seem to maintain that position due to all of the awesome angles creative has been coming up with on top… man, what was the last awesome thing TNA had on top again??

Christopher Daniels vs. Rhino
I saw this match live at ECW Arena back in 99. Sadly, I was looking forward to that match more than this one and neither one of them was an established talent in ECW at the time! Daniels new character has yet to really be explained. I’d be ok with that and just waiting to see where it goes, but TNA has a serious weakness in the talent development department, so I don’t have any hope that we will ever get any real answers. The build up to this match? Last week on Impact Samoa Joe, Team 3D, and Rhino totally destroyed Daniels last week. Yeah, the heel got destroyed and apparently we’re supposed to hate this new, unexplained character of Daniels so much that we’ll want to pay $30 to see him take another beating. Don’t worry, it doesn’t make sense to me either!

Texas Death Match: Chris Harris vs. James Storm
Ok, so we got stuck watching one of the worst PPV matches of all time with their blindfold match at Lockdown last month, due to the fact that Harris couldn’t be cleared to wrestle and it was the only way Cornette could book the match. But then the very next night Harris is able to return full time?!? Why did we have to suffer through that match last month then?? This feud has lost any steam it had. These guys really need to tear it up here. I remember hearing all the stories of how the singles match they had against each other in 2002 was so good that it led to them getting signed by TNA. Hopefully they are able to recapture some of that magic here.

X-Division Title: Chris Sabin vs. Jay Lethal vs. Sonjay Dutt
Part one of our 3 way overkill, as all 3 title matches are 3 ways this month. This match has the potential to steal the show. Lethal’s Black Machismo character is over and I’d put the title on him right now. A huge part of that is due to my love for the Shelley/Sabin team and wanting Sabin to lose the X-Division title so they can focus on that. Sonjay has finally gotten fed up with the lame gimmicks by Nash and the fact that Lethal is getting all of the TV time, so this could be where he finally gets completely fed up. Does anybody really care? I’m sure it’ll just lead to more steroid jokes or something anyway.

NWA World Tag Team Title: Team 3D vs. LAX vs. Tomko & Scott Steiner
Why are Tomko & Steiner teaming? LAX and 3D have had a many month feud, which from an in ring standpoint has just never really seemed to click. Does TNA actually think the addition of Tomko & Steiner in the match is what may help that? This match does nothing for me, which is a shame, since I loved LAX a few months ago and ever since this feud with Team 3D they’ve just lost a ton of steam, IMO. Team 3-D made history with their title win last month. Now that they have that out of the way, I’d like to see LAX get the title back and get them the hell away from Team 3-D.

NWA World Title: Christian Cage vs. Kurt Angle vs. Sting
This match has been all about Angle and Sting. They’ve tried to play it up that Christian is trying to stir the pot and keep creating more friction between Sting & Angle, but to me it just felt like he’s been second, behind their feud. Not a good position to be in as the champion. And hell, where is the logic in making this match into a 3 way, but having Angle & Sting more concerned about each other than the World Title right now?

This show has a ton of matches that could be really good matches, but will the history of bad booking keep that from happening? That is the biggest question. It’s a shame, as this company has all the potential in the world, but just seems to keep going in the wrong direction.