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Welcome to our live coverage of TNA Turning Point from Orlando. We're looking for your thoughts on tonight's show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Jay Lethal vs. Robbie E for the X Division title
Robbie E won the title. Cookie scooped Lethal's leg when he was on the top rope and he was crotched on the top. Robbie then followed with a neckbreaker for the pin. E bumps well and Lethal had a good match. Crowd was hot for the match. Good opener.
Mickie James vs. Tara (with Madison Rayne in the corner)
These two did a great job. They worked it like they hated each other and were fighting. They ended up outside the ring for a long time and weren't counted out. However, as the ref tried to calm them down outside the ring, they both threw the ref into a wall and he disqualified both of them. They continued a high-intensity brawl outside the ring with Tara hitting her with a broom stick, and then broke the broom stick over James' back. James came back with a garbage can shot. They had a pull-apart again and James broke free and got in the ring and told Tara to come in. Tara broke free and got in the ring. Tara was nailing security as they tried to break them up. James ended up tearing off Tara's shirt and left her in her bra before it was finally broken up. This was the best women's match on a major show in either promotion in a while. Even the double DQ, which usually sucks as a finish, worked here.
Motor City Machine Guns vs. Team 3-D for the tag team titles in the supposed 3-D retirement match.
Very good match. Long match and at the beginning they didn't have the heat of the prior two matches, probably because it was a face vs. face match. Crowd was more into 3-D because of the retirement deal but the Guns did not play heel at all. A lot of good spots including Devon being told to get the table, but Bubba, who bled early from running into the post, ended up breaking the table. The announcers really put over this as 3-D's final match but it was hurt because even though the fans half played into it nobody believed in. The big spots were Devon kicking out of the Skull & Bones and Sabin kicking out of 3-D. They played up the kicking out of the 3-D big on the commentary. The finish saw the Skull & Bones on Bubba and Sabin pinned him. The four celebrated together after. This wouid have been great had people not been burned by so many fake stips. Match itself was very good, not the caliber of the Beer Money matches but it told its story.
Tommy Dreamer talked about how he, Taz and Raven were the ones who got 3-D into wrestling. Actually they came up with the original gimmick that became the Dudley brothers in a discussion where they were talking about the movie "Slapshot" one day in the dressing room. Dreamer said that one of the members of EV 2 may leave and he has to wrestle his friend.
RVD vs. Tommy Dreamer
Weird match. RVD won with a frog splash after he had twice missed on the move earlier int he match. RVD apologized after the match and said he was sorry. He then hugged Deramer. They brutalized each other but this match had no heat. Very sluggish match. They used a ladder and a chair on each other. Once, when Dreamer did a frog splash, it appeared he may have broken his wrist. If not, they did a hell of a deal with a bone sticking out of the wrist. The match kind of fell apart and it wasn't like RVD ever worked on the wrist. But Dreamer reacted to it like a pro wrestler selling. They did a lot to each other but for some reason the crowd just wasn't into it.
Kazarian & A.J. Styles & Beer Money & Douglas Williams vs. Rhino & Sabu & Stevie Richards & Raven & Brian Kendrick
If someone in Fortune loses, someone from the team has to leave, but if Fortune loses, nobody is getting fired. They are pushing the stips are one-sided to favor Fortune. The finish saw Sabu go for a huracanrana off the top, but Styles blocked it and turned it into the Styles clash and he pinned Sabu. It's no longer that Fortune got to pick who leaves, instead it was the guy who got pinned which meant Sabu is gone. Match didn't have a lot of heat and it never really clicked. Flair said he hated The Sheik and Sabu is gone. Well, apparently signals were crossed because Flair told Sabu that he was gone but the announcers had already told us Sabu was gone because he was pinned. Flair was singing a song called "Good bye Sabu" which wasn't good, but Flair could get away with it. A storyline deal early is that Kendrick worked the idea of blowing out his knee in the first minute. Both Mike Tenay and Taz acted like Kendrick was faking the injury to avoid getting pinned and having to leave. So maybe Kendrick was the guy Bischoff was talking about.
RVD gave a speech saying that Sabu being gone showed he didn't get what he wanted. Dreamer said that Sabu deserved to be a multimillionaire for all he's put his body through. They made the Sabu leaving seem like a big deal. But we just had the supposed same thing earlier in the show and on last month's show.
During a Pope interview, Tara and Mickie Jaems showed up and had another pull-apart. Madison Rayne laid James out from behind.
Pope vs. Abyss
Instead of fans as lumberjacks, they had "The Congregation" being a bunch of African-American guys who were buddies with Pope from childhood including his brother Kevin (who did look like him). The lumberjacks attacked Abyss every time and of course favored Pope. But then at the finish, Eric Bischoff came out, started laughing and Kevin attacked Pope. Then the rest of the congregation put the boots to Pope and threw him to Abyss who won with a black hole slam. Not much of a match and the big swerve that makes no sense since the guys who had been paid off were helping him the entire match is done so often that it means nothing.
Stevie Richards challenged A.J. Styles to a match for Impact tomorrow.
Samoa Joe vs. Jeff Jarrett
Jarrett won the match after a ref bump with interference from Gunner & Murphy. Joe used an elbow suicida wiping out Jarrett and ref Brian Hebner. Gunner & Murphy came in to interfere. Joe took care of both of them, but Jarrett used a night stick on Joe's knee and then choked him out with the night stick while Murphy put the boots to Joe. Murphy then revived Hebner and threw him in the ring and Jarrett used a sleeper on the already "out" Joe for the win. They pushed what an insult it was that Jarrett beat Joe with his own finisher. These finishes have just been a killer.
Bischoff was celebrating with Pope's congregation. Bischoff said they first have to watch the title match before they start the party. You think another run-in is coming?
Jeff Hardy vs. Matt Morgan for TNA title
This match exemplified real problems. When Morgan was selling, the crowd would chant for Hardy. Hardy twice used the twist of hate, as it's now called, and Morgan kicked out, and the people didn't care. At another point Morgan used the carbon footprint and Hardy never kicked out but the ref stopped counting at two. Clearly a planned spot. Hardy got right up and hit his second twist of hate but Morgan kicked out. Match was barely okay, certainly at PPV main event level and didn't have that much heat. Finish was a whisper in the wind and a third twist of hate.
They did a commercial for Final Resolution. Included were Sting, who supposedly quit the promotion and Kurt Angle, who supposedly has retired.
Show started strong but after Machine Guns vs 3-D, it was downhill.
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