Best Match: Austin Aries vs. Jeff Hardy

Worst Match: Either the Eric Young & ODB/Jessie Goddarz & Tara match or Kurt Angle/Devon

Having been in attendance for this PPV, I thought it was a good show. Probably #2 overall for TNA this year behind Destination X in my opinion. Maybe tied with Sacrifice from May.

1. Samoa Joe over Magnus in a No DQ TV Title Match. Very enjoyable match. Surpassed their match at Bound For Glory. It reminded me of Christian/Randy Orton from Summerslam last year in that it was a no dq match that really only utilized one weapon (in this case the chair, in that match's case the stairs.) Thought they had some very good nearfalls towards the end, particularly Magnus managing to hit the Michinoku Driver + the elbow drop on Joe, which he just used to defeat Joe on this past week's impact. Magnus kicking out of the Muscle Buster was also a nice surprise, considering I feel like that move is very rarely kicked out of. Joe retaining was expected, but I have to wonder where Magnus goes from here. At such a young age and being in as good of a physique as he is, there is no excuse to not have him on television weekly. He's incredibly talented and has seen a vast improvement in comparison to when TNA first brought him in. Working with Nigel McGuinness, Doug Williams, and Samoa Joe in the past has helped him improve immensely. 

2. Eric Young & ODB over Jessie Goddarz & Tara. I've seen worse intergender tags. I expected much worse from this one as well, considering I thought the ODB/Jessie singles from the 11/1/12 Impact was awful. More than anything I was surprised by the finish. I expected the match to end up as a Knockout's Tag Team Title Match and for them to do the switch, but perhaps they have managed to work out a deal with EY. Either that or they are saving the title switch for Impact. (Something TNA NEVER EVER does....) Jessie has personality and he and Tara are a fine act together. He still needs some work in the ring, but he is substantially better than someone like Garett Bischoff.

3. Rob Van Dam over Joey Ryan to retain the X-Division Title. Match was alright. I wasn't sure how these two would click going into it. Unlike most fans, I really enjoy Joey Ryan's work and Rob Van Dam is very hit and miss in TNA, so I didn't know what to expect. Instead, we just got a pretty basic match which is fine at least. Like the opener, I question where Joey goes from here. This was a match where really either guy could have won, but I felt they may have at least potentially done a schmoz ending to end up with a rematch for December to not only protect Joey, but to keep RVD's reign going. Instead, we just got RVD pinning Joey clean as a sheet and Matt Morgan laying him out afterwards.

4. DOC (Luke Gallows) over Joseph Park. I felt that this match could have been trimmed down a bit, but it overall had some good storytelling to make up for the slow action. Too much comedy though, considering this was supposed to be Park's big shot at the Aces & 8's. I understand he is a non-wrestler, but some of the cat & mouse comedy, while funny out of context, did not work in context. It's been said a million times, but Joseph Park is magnificent at playing this character. Magnificent enough to the point that I never need to see Abyss back as a full time character. 

5. Chavo Guerrero & Hernandez over Christopher Daniels & Kazarian to retain the tag titles. A good match, but not a great match. I feel like Chavo has lost a lot of his initial fandom since debuting in the Impact Zone. Daniels & Kazarian on the other hand are by far the most hated guys in the building. They are also substantially better as a team than Chavo & Hernandez, but that's what happens when you have known each other for essentially a decade, if not longer. Thought the match really picked up towards the end with some nifty power moves from Hernandez and Daniels & Kazarian busting out Gangnam style being particularly hilarious.

6. James Storm over Bobby Roode and AJ Styles. I was surprised in this not getting the semi-main spot. I suppose it was right for Devon/Angle to be the buffer between the two. Maybe it came off better on TV, but I was initially disappointed in this match considering the three involved. I was expecting a great match, but instead felt like the action involved left it as overall good - very good. Reading it now, I guess AJ working a bit sloppily makes more sense than it did live since live, I could not tell the story that they were trying to tell with him being off of his game. I fully expected Roode to win here to set up Roode/Hardy for next month, so I was pleased when Storm won. He has gone through too much of a start/stop push over the last year to go through another halt. As for booking AJ, I am hoping that going forward they either do one of two things: 1) Towards Destination X, have AJ win the X-Division title to use as a loophole to get a world title shot at that PPV or 2) (and the much more obvious option) AJ wins the BFG Series and goes to win the belt at Bound For Glory. If it were me, I'd hope for AJ/Aries for BFG 2013 or DX 2013, but that remains to be seen.

7. Kurt Angle over Devon. Very average match. Nothing bad enough to complain about, but nothing good enough to go wild over either. Devon just seemed far away from being on Kurt's level as a competitor, despite not being horrible. The result particularly surprised me since Devon is supposed to be this big heel and having him lose in his first PPV outing since the turn was questionable. I also fully expected Wes Brisco to cost Angle the match and reveal himself as an Aces & 8's member after the segment from this past week's Impact with Angle/Sting talking with him about the importance of timing. That didn't happen and instead, we just have a very average match where not a lot happened beyond Luke Gallows clearly being upset with Angle after the match. I can say that I am looking forward to a match between those two unlike how I felt going into this one. Also got to love how all of Aces & 8's came out and Devon still ended up losing cleanly.

8. Jeff Hardy over Austin Aries. Great, great match and an easy MOTN and probably a top MOTYC for TNA. I may have liked it more than Aries/Roode at Destination X (my current pick for best TNA match this year) As far as I'm concerned, Aries has brought out Hardy's best performances in TNA (both in this run and the 2004 - 2006 run) two months in a row. By the time the bell rang, nobody in the audience was sitting really. I compared this match to the Kevin Steen/El Generico Ladder Match that was held at "PWG Steen Wolf" in October of last year in terms of insanity. Some incredibly unsafe stuff happened in this match, particularly in the punishment that Jeff Hardy took. I did not expect this kind of match whatsoever going into it. It goes to show how Aries really should be an easy pick for wrestler of the year (or at the very least top five) considering that in singles matches on PPV, the guy has had great ones with a whole variety of opponents while Jeff Hardy should be an easy pick for comeback of the year as he is arguably as good as he was in his last WWE run. Props to both guys for the abuse that they took. I know some people may not be nuts about the mayhem that took place in this match, but I personally thought it was a must-see match by the end of it.

If there is a negative that I can say about the show, it's that there wasn't a lot of story advancement in some matches, mainly with the Aces & 8's which is the top story in the company. As an example, nothing came out of Kurt Angle/Devon which I at least expected something to happen with Aces & 8's having another person revealed. Instead, one reveal happened on TV then Sting was destroyed on free TV instead of PPV. But that's TNA for you with their priorities. At minimum, they now have the next PPV main event announced thanks to this PPV.

Overall though, some good wrestling on this show was seen in the opener, tag title, and triple threat followed by an absolutely insane main event. Everything else on the show at least was serviceable - fine. That makes for a thumbs up show in my opinion and making TNA 6/7 for good PPVs in a row (No Surrender 2012 being the exception, which I thought was only alright.)

J.P. Nichols