February 07, 2021 / By mobanmarket
TNA held their Turning Point pay-per-view from the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida last night. Despite what looked like a weak main event on paper the event had a strong undercard which made me look forward to this pay-per-view. I feel like there can never be too many gimmick matches on a pay-per-view as I enjoy all of the stipulations added in to keep things entertaining. To say that my expectations for this show were higher than normal would be an understatement. Last night’s Turning Point ended up being a mixture of the good, the bad, and the ugly.
I liked the way that the show opened with Team 3D and Johnny Devine versus The Motor City Machine Guns and Black Machismo Jay Lethal. Chris Sabin and Alex Shelly are outstanding workers as I really enjoy their tag team. Everyone worked hard in this one to have a fun match with all of the tables. My only complaint was that the tables seemed too much like cardboard. It seemed as if they were breaking far too easy without any notable crashes. I enjoyed the finish to the match as Lethal won the event for his team but Team 3D was able to keep the heat by “screwing” their opponents.
TNA wants ODB to be a heel but it looked as if the fans actually got into her character at last night’s pay-per-view. They even ended up chanting ODB and called for her later in the night to go after The Awesome Kong. I had fun watching the diva tag match and enjoyed it for what it was. It seems like on WWE pay-per-views the diva matches are just an excuse to get up and take a bathroom break whereas the four women in this match actually worked what I felt like was a very solid bout.
The backstage segment that Kurt Angle did when he entered Christian Cage’s dressing room was entertaining. I don’t know what it is about Christian and Angle but they have chemistry while working together in segments such as this that just clicks. I love the way Ms. Brooks is acting towards Robert Roode with the whole “takes one to know one” comment after Roode called Christian an asshole. Roode has the look to be a huge superstar and seems to fit his gimmick nicely.
James Storm vs. Eric Young was a very solid match and probably one of the best matches of the night as far as wrestling is concerned. However, by using all of the juice in this angle prior to the event it was a little disappointing when there was no blood in the match. That is the problem with using blood in wrestling. When you do it, it is very entertaining; however, it almost has to be near the end of the feud because nothing can top it. Despite the tremendous wrestling match between Storm and Young I didn’t feel like it topped the stuff on iMPACT with all of the juice.
As I mentioned above, this event featured the good, the bad, and the ugly. The Feast or Be Fired match was part of the bad. There were some good spots in the match but it felt like to me it was one big waste of time. Basically it was one big Battle Royal except no one could be eliminated and the “winners” could actually end up being a big loser by getting the “pink slip.” The idea behind the match was good but it turned out really bad when they didn’t even open the cases. Here I just sat through this disaster only to find out that I have to watch iMPACT to find out who got what. Why did I pay $30 for an iMPACT preview? This should have been scrapped all together.
Awesome Kong is the most entertaining female wrestler that I have ever seen. Of course she doesn’t have good looks like all of the rest but this is the kind of old school female wrestling that fans like me appreciate. Throw out the sleazy sex angles that appeal to horny teenagers and let’s see some good ring work! I was very entertained throughout this one and felt like Gail Kim was spectacular in selling her spots and making the match very believable. I didn’t have a problem with the referee disqualifying Kong as I understand that the company did not want to change the title and this was the only way to keep it from happening.
Call me a mark but the Match of 10,000 tacks stole the show for me. I love over-the-top messy matches filled with juice (blood). I was disappointed with Rhino being the first no-show of the night but I felt like Raven was good enough to fill the role so the match didn’t suffer. One thing I will say about Raven is that he needs to lose some weight, his beer gut is tremendous and he looks terrible! Black Reign or Dustin Rhodes is disturbing; sometimes I think these gimmicks he plays really aren’t that far from the real Dustin which is scary. Rhodes was able to sell a hellacious shot when he landed through the table in the bed of tacks on the outside. I popped immediately. Rellik’s work was very solid and Abyss worked harder than anyone in the bout which is something from him that I’ve come to expect. I’m not sure what got Abyss bleeding so bad whether he bladed and got split open with a shot or he just bladed too deep but he was losing a tremendous amount of blood for a long period of time.
There was a point in this match where I felt like if they didn’t go to the finish soon, Abyss was going to pass out. I saw him say something to the referee and to Rellik before they went to the finish which may have been him telling him to go home early. Nevertheless I have to give Rellik props for taking the fall on the tacks and for Abyss sacrificing his own health to entertain us. Good bout guys, this should have been billed as the show’s main event.
Christian Cage and Robert Roode had a very fun match with Booker T and Kaz. Kaz is becoming one of my favorite workers to watch in the ring as his fast-pace style is something that I find very entertaining. Booker was solid but I didn’t like the spot where he did the Spinaroonie but Roode interfered before he could hit the Scissors kick. Christian and Booker worked well together as everyone seemed to have good chemistry. This was no five star match but it was entertaining. They had a tough act to follow and I feel like they came through, although this would have probably worked better before the 10,000 tacks.
I’m not sure if Samoa Joe’s promo before the main event was a complete shoot, a work, or a work-shoot but I agreed with everything that he said. TNA keeps depending on people like Scott Hall to draw for their company when there are people like Joe, Robert Roode, The Motor City Machine Guns, and Abyss that live and die for this company week in and week out. What kind of thanks do they get? They get Superstar Scotty Hall no-showing the main event and ending a decent pay-per-view on a sour note. I hope this was a wakeup call to all of the people calling the shots in TNA that something has to change. Must we re-live the destruction of WCW all over again?
The main event was a disaster. Putting Eric Young in the bout made no sense because he had already worked and Kevin Nash refused to sell any of his spots. Joe wasn’t focused either as he missed badly on several spots, completely botching a dive to the outside. The event would have been better off concluding with the previous tag match. The match only went ten minutes and the only thing that I could think about was how right that Samoa Joe was; shame on TNA management for depending on a guy that has developed a reputation for being so unreliable.
All and all it was a fair effort from TNA Wrestling. The good: Team 3D & Johnny Devine vs. The Motor City Machine Guns & Jay Lethal, The Knockouts tag match, Young vs. Storm, Kong vs. Kim, the match of 10,000 tacks, and Booker/Kaz vs. Cage/Roode. The bad: Feast or Be Fired, two wrestlers no-showing the event, and Kevin Nash refusing to work to the best of his abilities. The ugly: the entire main event which left a sour taste in my mouth. I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to check out the replay but there are several matches that are worth watching, especially if you want to see some good in-ring work with some women. The match of 10,000 tacks will entertain you as well as the opening tag match. It was by no means the pay-per-view of the year but I have seen much worse.
Richard can be contacted at richard [at] grayinternet.com
Richard Gray is a professional wrestling journalist and frequent contributor to Rajah.com. He has been covering the world of professional wrestling since 1999 and has had the opportunity to cover ground breaking stories such as the demise of ECW, the WCW buyout, the Benoit tragedy, and more. For more on Richard check out his web site at WrestlingNewsWorld.com.
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