TNA Slammiversary PPV Review
June 28, 2015
By: Adam Martin of Wrestleview.com
It’s no secret the TNA brand has been struggling for some time now. While a fresh reboot back in January on a new network seemed to stop the bleeding, rumors of that television agreement expiring this September reopened new wounds and created a dark cloud over a company celebrating 13 years in business this month.
Combine that with almost no buzz at all for tonight’s Slammiversary PPV and you have an interesting situation about to unfold at Universal Studios in Orlando. $49.95 was the price tag tonight if you wanted to watch this event in full HD. Whether or not a card largely thrown together at the last minute was worth that is your call as a consumer.
Without question, the sudden and surprising return of Jeff Jarrett to TNA earlier this week did help create some much needed buzz for the show. With so many questions surrounding Jarrett’s involvement with TNA and his current venture with Global Force Wrestling, it turned out to be a very smart call by TNA officials to set this plan in play.
Feedback was minimal. Just not a lot of interest in tonight’s show.
@MickeyPhree: “Illogical booking, production snafus, and two good matches. Typical TNA.”
@Ghetto187: “Davey vs Aries was match of the night. Whole pay per view was awesome”
Oh and Eric Young has a suggestion if you didn’t like the PPV tonight.
King of the Mountain returns in 2015
This was a one match show. You could make a case that the feuds developing on television were in play tonight. Yet, it’s clear the focus was on Jeff Jarrett and the return of a gimmick match I thought we’d never see again in TNA. It’s extremely disappointing that production issues causing an audio glitch with microphones and commentary trickled its way into Jarrett’s backstage promo. Jarrett’s promo on this past week’s Impact Wrestling was among the most if not the most interesting thing this company has done all year. It’s a true shame a production glitch in the third hour had to put a damper on this big moment.
Wonky gimmick rules aside, I really enjoyed the psychology of having Jarrett fight to get pinfalls and come up short repeatedly only to get tossed into the penalty box. This worked really well and helped them tell a great story throughout the main event. Eric Young was especially fun with his quick offense including a nasty looking piledriver on Jarrett over a ladder. Matt Hardy bumps are fun as he controlled the traffic. Bobby Roode always sets a fun pace in TNA matches. Drew Galloway seemed a bit out of place at times. It’s designed to be a chaotic match and it’s one of the things I do not miss about TNA main events.
Jarrett winning the King of the Mountain Championship wasn’t all too surprising. Quite frankly, given his last minute involvement, it was pretty much expected. We seem to be at the start of a possible working agreement between TNA and Jarrett’s Global Force Wrestling. Whether or not Jarrett truly wants to go all in on associating himself with a damaged brand like TNA remains to be seen. He continues to be extremely vague during interviews and continues to release information when he sees fit. Either way, his return to TNA was fun and provided a moment not many wrestling fans thought they would see ever again.
Storm and Magnus tear down the Impact Zone
James Storm and Magnus, two talents believed to be on the outs with TNA following tonight, put together a very fun brawl inside the Impact Zone. While I wasn’t a big fan of the storyline build up as part of weekly TV, the actual match execution involving brawling and weapons was quite fun. Storm has this amazing ability to just draw you in with anything he does. A wonderful example of this was Storm literally spitting at Josh Mathews at ringside. It felt genuine and you believed his anger. Magnus was the perfect opponent and showed some genuine emotion at the end. Well done between both of these guys.
Quick Thoughts
* EC3 is growing on me. Tyrus as a support staff seems to be working very well right now.
* Gave it a shot. Just not a fan of Taryn Terrell’s heel delivery at all.
* Austin Aries and Davey Richards tried to tear down the house. I wasn’t feeling it.
* Bram has a ton of potential continuing the angle of going after old TNA stars.
* Jessie Godderz has potential. I’m not sure what they thought that promo would do for him.
* I’m honestly not sure why I should care about anyone in the X Division right now.
Overall Impression
The feel good story of Jeff Jarrett’s return to TNA as the company celebrates 13 years was the focus tonight and I felt like they delivered. You always want to leave the people with more questions and that’s definitely the case with Jarrett right now. Still, I’m not sure what this show accomplished to advance the TNA brand.
Agree? Disagree? You’re in luck. We now have a new comments area down below where you can share your thoughts about Slammiversary.
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