Ladder Match: Kazarian vs. Amazing Red vs. Daniels vs. Brian Kendrick - This was the first of 3 matches featuring X division stars here & this resembled the opening X division matches of the past where it was just full of action that knew how to get the crowd hot to the point where they started an "X DIVISION!" chant. Various spots & moments including one wrestler doing a moonsault off the middle of the top rope onto Kaz who was ontop of a ladder that was wedged between a guardrail & the apron, Red giving Daniels a frankensteiner off the ladder onto the floor, Kaz legdropping Daniels facefirst into a ladder, Kaz backdropped on a ladder while Daniels was powerbombed into one, and Kaz having a "spiderman" moment with his leap onto the ladder. Great way to kick off the show.
Knockouts Champion Tara vs. Daffney - For weeks leading up to this match, Daffney was completely out of control & going psycho on both Tara & O.D.B. in matches leading up to Tara going for revenge here. This was an average match that was really nothing special past Daffney executing an usual submission hold that I don't recall seeing before.
Global Champion Rob Terry vs. Magnus - Before the match, Brutus Magnus let it be known that for now on, he would only be known as Magnus...and that's the only noteworthy thing about this battle of the former members of the British Invasion since this was a quick "Goldberg-like" squash victory for Rob Terry to retain his championship.
Ultimate X Match: Generation Me vs. Motor City Machine Guns - For those who don't know, Generation Me is the tag team known on the independent scene as the Young Bucks (Maxx & Jermey) & as the Guns referenced in their pre-match interview...had a close resemblance to the early years of Matt & Jeff Hardy. As expected with an Ultimate X match, and the earlier Ladder match, this was full of action & highlight moments such as Alex Shelley delivering off some unique angled cross bodyblocks to the outside while Gen Me doing some of Guns own moves like the dives over the top rope so many times that I lost count, Jermey doing a faceplant on Sabin before doing the moonsault to Shelley on the outside, Sabin jumping off Maxx's back to spear Jermey off the Ultimate X ropes, Maxx giving Shelley a running powerbomb into Jermey's knees, and Jermey falling flat on his back from the Ultimate X ropes. The company name described this match exactly, "Total Non-Stop Action."
Kevin Nash & Eric Young vs. Scott Hall & Sean Waltman - Hall & Waltman turned on Nash weeks earlier because Nash couldn't get them a TNA contact leading him to reunite with Eric Young in this match where if Hall & Waltman won, they would get their TNA contract. This was one of those "put a storyline over" matches as Young worked the whole match & took the fight to both Hall & Waltman before they had to use a spray can to get the advantage until Young was able to tag in Nash...only to be powerbombed by Nash & tagged back in have Hall & Waltman win their contracts & reunite with Nash as we heard the theme music of the nWo Wolfpac while they left a mark in the ring that nobody would forget for the rest of the night.
X Division Champion Douglas Williams vs. Shannon Moore - Before I get started, for those who like these little trivia notes...this is Shannon Moore's first-ever singles match on PPV despite working for WCW & WWE in the past decade. Williams made it clear that he felt the X division should be based around the more technical wrestling style as opposed to the fast paced/high flyin' style that Shannon Moore wrestles so this was definately a clash of styles with Moore making the best of his opportunity causing Williams to resort to using a brick in order to retain his championship.
Tag Team Champions Matt Morgan & Hernandez vs. Beer Money - This was another "put a storyline" over match as Hernandez & Morgan just couldn't get along as Morgan kept trying to showoff infront of Hernandez whenever he wasn't telling him what to do...only for them to still retain the tag team titles before things finally exploded between the two men.
Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Anderson - Angle was out for revenge for not only Anderson eliminating him from the tournament the previous month but also disrespecting his warrior medal by spitting on it & carving it into Angle's own head. Kurt reflected back to his old "ECW wrestling machine" days as he completely outwrestled & dominated Anderson early to the point where he was inviting him to apply a headlock only to easily shove him off when he did it. Anderson was able to get the advantage after hanging Angle's arm over the top rope & working on it before Angle was able to recover & get Anderson a piece of his own medicine with the warrior medal to victory...before Anderson got the last word in.
TNA Champion A.J. Styles vs. Abyss - Abyss walked into this match with restored confidence as it was weeks earlier that Hulk Hogan took Abyss under his wing, gave him his Hall Of Fame ring, and even his old WCW "American Made" theme song. Flair came to ringside with A.J. in a wheelchair being pushed by Desmond Wolfe's valet Chelsea as a result of Abyss throwing him through the ramp on the previous Impact. Abyss attacked & dominated early in the match before A.J. focused on Abyss' leg & later trying to use a chair on Abyss only for it to come back to haunt him. Both men heavily relied on their strengths as A.J. used his speech & athleticism resorting to such moves as his spiral tap & 450 splash while Abyss stuck to the power game including delivering a belly to belly suplex that tossed A.J. across the ring. Flair did get involved (including a comedic moment where Hogan pushed him in his chair away from ringside) before Abyss "Hulked Up" and delievered such a forceful chokeslam to A.J. that the entire match had to stop because he went through the ring before Hogan & Abyss started having fun at the expense of Flair & Desmond Wolfe. This was a good match between both men but I think the ending & aftermath hurt more than helped.
In the end, this PPV was a mixed bag as this PPV was hyped up as a showcase for the X division with it did with all it's matches (Ladder/Ultimate X/X Title) while also having solid matches (Angle/Anderson & Styles/Abyss before the ending) but there were too many matches that were just more about putting over a storyline than having a good match (Nash/Young vs. Hall/Waltman & Tag Title Match) with some matches coming off as fillers (Terry/Magnus & Knockouts Title). In the end, I'll say that this is an event worth checking out if you either have a few spare bucks on you or a fan of the X division in TNA.
