Even though I thought Flair/Foley was a fun match, I do agree there was a bit of sadness in watching these guys still throwing themselves onto tacks when their careers are already so legendary. It seemed beneath them.

Check out the video:

The Motor City Machine Guns defeated Team 3D and Beer Money to become #1 Contenders to the World Tag Team Titles

This was a good opener! The Machine Guns gained the much needed win as the “best tag team never to hold the titles.” There were some good spots but nothing that stood out.

“The Freak” Rob Terry defeated Orlando Jordan to retain the Global Title

People constantly criticize Terry, but I think he is underrated. There were rumors that Orlando Jordan would be doing something controversial, but other than his somewhat flamboyant entrance, I don’t know what it could be. The beginning was good with Terry smashing through Jordan but when Jordan worked the leg for way too long, it really hurt the battle.

Douglas Williams defeated Kazarian to “win” the X Division Title

Another good match which was a lot more mat based than I would have figured. The crowd was not into it. The big reaction was when Douglas powerbombed Kazarian into the corner and looked like he hit his head on the turnbuckle. Williams won with the Chaos Theory in a pretty good match. Kazarian officially was champion for around a month but never physically held the belt.

Madison Rayne defeated Tara to retain the Knockouts Title. Tara is gone from TNA

This was a rather mediocre contest. This would also be Tara’s final TNA match as she was on her way out. It was very sloppy and I couldn’t get into it in any way. Rayne picked up the win with her version of Matt Striker’s “Golden Rule” maneuver. Out came the Rayne and washed the Spider out!

The Band defeated Ink Inc to retain the TNA Tag Team Titles

Everything the Band touches, turns to shit! I like the Ink Inc tag team but there was no way they would make Scott Hall and Kevin Nash look good. I think Hall, Nash and now even Eric Young have overstayed their welcome. A boring match with a stupid turn by Brother Ray; I have seen enough of the Band!

Abyss defeated Desmond Wolfe to gain Chelsea’s Services for 30 Days

While the angle this past week was campy, I enjoyed it for what it was. It got me to care a little about this match but that was it. Abyss’ character just isn’t clicking with this audience. I think if this was WWE, he would be over much more but with TNA’s audience being late teens, 20’s and older adults, it is falling flats. Let’s hope the ends justify the means. Again, another match which was mediocre to solid but nothing better than that. I never believed for one second that Wolfe was going to win here. Looks like we will be seeing some form of a Beauty and the Beast angle.

Jeff Hardy defeated Mr. Anderson

Before this match, Mr. Anderson cut the best promo I have heard this year. He said since Jeff Hardy has creatures of the night, he has “Anderson’s Assholes.” He then did his catchphrase to which his fans chanted along with him. He said “thanks assholes.” He then finished his catchphrase by screaming in Christy’s ear.

The match was nothing special but it was solid. The highlight was a springboard from a chair by Jeff that knocked he and Anderson in the ring. Sloppy at points! After the match, Anderson extended his hand possibly signaling a face turn but Jeff Hardy didn’t accept. The prematch promo really was good but hurt the match as the fans were chanting “We are assholes” and other things of that nature instead of reacting to the match.

Sting defeated Jeff Jarrett

In one of the more interesting moments of the night, this match began with Jeff Jarrett being bloody and beaten. Sting was able to defeat Jarrett seconds into the match with the Scorpion Death Drop. Wonder what happened?

Oh yeah! Before the two guys even entered, it was revealed that Sting was attacking Jeff Jarrett backstage with a baseball bat. It was pretty much an extended beat down which included Sting bloodying Jarrett and popping his shoulder from the socket. After the match, Jarrett was loaded onto a gurney, which Sting knocked down later. The Hero, Hulk Hogan came out to protect Jeff. It was a good story told and protected Sting’s character while advancing the storyline.

Rob Van Dam defeated AJ Styles to retain the TNA World Title

This was the selling point of the show and from RVD’s interview where he would carry AJ to his best match in AJ’s career, I expected more. First of all, AJ has had as good if not better matches than RVD has had, so RVD comes off like a douchebag. Secondly, RVD didn’t even carry AJ to a great match. This thing was good at best but never really clicked into overdrive. There were some nice spots such as the moonsault off the stage ramp (got to love the new location to do moves off of) and the monkey flip, but other than that it was all AJ. It wasn’t bad by any means but I expected way more.

In a way, Ric Flair and Jay Lethal overshadowed it. Ric Flair was ejected from ringside, joined commentary, then tried to intervene at the end. Jay Lethal’s 2006 music hit, and the lethal one came out and fended off Ric, even putting him in a figure four. Flair was great on commentary and I enjoyed the Lethal and Flair interaction but I feel that it took away from the finish.

FINAL THOUGHTS

TNA has had five PPVs this year and Sacrifice in my opinion falls in the bottom two. There was some solid wrestling but nothing really stood out. Maybe it’s the failed experiment on Mondays or maybe it’s the fact that TNA is back in the same position they were two years ago, but I couldn’t get into this. If you are a loyal TNA fan and can spare 35 bucks then go ahead and watch this. So far this year TNA hasn’t had a horrific show but this one is on the bottom of the pile.

Many will say that “TNA lost the war” or that “TNA failed on Monday Nights.” Whatever the claim is, that is now history. The one question I ask, is will TNA learn from history if in fact they test the waters again?  There are many things TNA did wrong when they attempted to take over Mondays:

Too much of a gap between January 4^th and March 8

It’s a simple fact that TNA had momentum following January 4^th. The internet media was buzzing and people were talking. Unfortunately TNA took too long to make the eventual move to Monday Nights and they had no real momentum going into the show.

Going Head to Head with Raw

Nobody should dispute the fact that WWE is a much bigger and more powerful entity in pro wrestling. Monday Nights is there nights and TNA tried to take a piece of the pie. However instead of taking a little bite, they thought they should go head to head with the cook and take the whole thing. When TNA went head to head for both hours against Raw, they got destroyed. Eventually the move to the 7 to 9 EST timeslot gave them that hour to boost their fanbase.

Replays

When you have a show on Monday and a replay on Thursday, you give your fans the opportunity to miss the original airing knowing they can catch it later in the week. While the ratings have to be completely judged differently because of this, I think that it harmed TNA’s impact on Monday Night. Why catch TNA over WWE if you can watch both shows during the week?

Lack of Advertising

TNA has a philosophy of giving the fans big matches on Impact without advertising them ahead of the show. They believe they create a “can’t miss show” but unfortunately this doesn’t work when you have competition in the same genre. When WWE announces big matches ahead of time, the fans have to make a pick between a big match and the possibility of a big match. This has always been a weak point in TNA’s product that they will need to learn from.

Live versus Taped Shows

Yet another problem in the face-off was that half the time, TNA was taped against the always live WWE show. Live shows create a buzz where you don’t know ahead of time what will happen. When you tape a show, people know what will happen on it and can miss it in favor of the Live Show. Should TNA return to Mondays in the future, they will need to do so on a 100% Live basis. The lack of being live on their move back to Thursdays is what I will miss most about this experiment.

In the end I will say this was a fun time period in TNA’s history. They went head to head with a giant and at times presented a more entertaining product. Hopefully this experiment will put things in perspective that the fans don’t need them to compete with Raw, but be there as an alternative to Raw. Spike is still solidly in the corner of TNA, and they will celebrate their homecoming on May 13, a little over two months since the experiment began. It was fun while it lasted, but now that its over, its time to build off of what they learned.