In what has been for the most part a very disappointing and unsuccessful year for TNA, the company pulled out all the stops Sunday night to make Slammiversary their best show of the year and one of the best professional wrestling shows of 2009 thus far. Featuring two equally impressive King of the Mountain matches as well as some other notable matches on the card, the PPV was a big success.

 

King of the Mountain match for the TNA X Division Championship: Suicide (c) vs. Alex Shelley vs. Chris Sabin vs. Jay Lethal vs. Consequences Creed

 

The show started off with a bang with the first King of the Mountain match, and this was thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish and ended up being the better of the two KOTM matches on the show (albeit slightly). In the opening minutes, the two tag teams ganged up on Suicide and hit him with many double team moves. Surprisingly, Suicide was able to defy the odds in this situation and gain the first pinfall of the match before Lethal pinned him to gain eligibility as well. Once Suicide entered the penalty box, the Guns-Lethal Consequences alliance fell apart as the two teams started to brawl with each other. This match was filled with a ton of crazy spots. One spot saw Sabin leap off of the top of the penalty box to hit a crossbody to Suicide on the entrance ramp (who caught him PERFECTLY). Another one occurred when Lethal was sitting on the edge of a ladder that was lying flat on a turnbuckle and Suicide dropped Creed onto the other end of the ladder, catapulting Lethal into the ring. Lethal also at one point hit an elbow drop to Sabin, who was lying on a ladder that was positioned across the ring apron and guardrail. Other cool moments included Suicide dropkicking a ladder while Shelley tried to scale it, Creed hitting a somersault senton over the top rope onto Lethal and Suicide, and a sliced bread from Shelley to Creed on the ring apron. Late in the match, Lethal is sitting on the turnbuckle right next to the penalty box and gets trapped when Suicide leans a ladder with one edge on the penalty box and the other on Lethal. While Suicide beats down Creed on top of the penalty box, Shelley climbs another ladder to try and hang the belt. Suicide then jumps off of the leaning ladder and hits Shelley with a cutter off of the second ladder before hanging the belt to retain his title. A completely awesome match, one of TNA’s best all year.

Match Rating: 8/10

 

 

Chris Daniels vs. Shane Douglas

This was a weak match. Douglas is terribly out of shape, past his prime, and on top of that he also hurt himself early on in this match. After a bit of brawling in the opening minutes, Daniels wears down Douglas with headlocks. Outside the ring, Daniels hits a springboard split-legged moonsault before Douglas gets some offense in by throwing Daniels into the steps. After some more slow paced action in the ring, Daniels connects with an STO before hitting the Best Moonsault Ever to win the match. Daniels tried his best here and actually got a better match out of Douglas then his buddy AJ Styles did on Impact. They also get brownie points here for keeping it short. Still not that great of a match though.

Match Rating: 4/10

 

 

TNA Knockouts Women’s Championship: Angelina Love (c) vs. Tara

This was a pretty solid women’s match. Due to the dirty finish here I expect this feud to continue and I look forward to more matches between these two as I do believe they have good chemistry. Both girls connected with good kicks throughout the match and kept it interesting despite the dead crowd. Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne got involved in this match by beating down Tara on the outside while Love distracted the ref. Tara hits a really cool looking side slam late in the match but instead of going for a pin she sees Sky on the outside and attacks her as well as Rayne. Once she returns to the ring, Love throws her into the ropes where she is met with some hairspray in the eyes from Sky. Blinded, Tara is hit with the Lights Out from Love, who gets the pin to retain her title. Weird ending but it made sense. One of the better women’s matches in a while.

Match Rating: 5/10

 

 

Monster’s Ball Mixed Tag Team match: Abyss and Taylor Wilde vs. Raven and Daffney

Going into this match, I thought that if the women stayed out of the picture for the most part, then this would be a good match. To my surprise, they were prominently featured and greatly added to the match. Between all four competitors, Daffney appeared to have taken the most punishment and Taylor Wilde showed me she can be pretty aggressive. After Abyss hurls Daffney over the top rope in the opening minutes, all four competitors began fighting in the crowd. While Abyss and Raven were brawling elsewhere, Wilde leaped off the top of some stage equipment and splashed Daffney through a table in what was a very cool spot. Once the action moved back toward the ring area, Raven started to beat down Abyss with a kendo stick and trash can. Once Abyss started to gain an advantage, Dr. Stevie interfered by smashing a chair over his head, busting him open. Stevie interfered very often in this match, breaking up pinfalls as well as grabbing and holding the ref whenever it looked like the babyfaces were poised to get the win. Late in this match, after Abyss had dumped out a bag of thumbtacks, Wilde slams Daffney onto them! A woman just got put through tacks in a North American wrestling ring! Wow! Anyway, Raven connects with an Even flow DDT on Abyss onto a chair for a two count afterwards. Abyss then hits a Black Hole Slam onto the tacks and the faces win this match. A very entertaining and brutal hardcore match.

Match Rating: 6.5/10

 

 

Sting vs. Matt Morgan

This was probably the worst match of the night. TNA appeared to have taken a page out of the WWE’s book with this one as they utilized the Big Show vs. John Cena formula with Morgan dominating Sting the whole match until Sting comes back in the end. Morgan was in control for the most part by hitting many slams and applying some holds to wear down Sting. Once Sting started to make a comeback, the match actually got worse as the botches started to occur. First, Sting gets out of a powerslam attempt and just falls down after a Scorpion Death Drop attempt. Then, he gets up and hits the move but it comes off looking like a Russian leg sweep. Come on Sting, you’re better than that. Anyway, Morgan flings off Sting when he attempts the Scorpion Deathlock, but the Icon connects with a second Scorpion Death Drop off the top turnbuckle (this one looked better than the first) to pick up the victory. One of the rare weak points on the PPV.

Match Rating: 3/10

 

 

TNA World Tag Team Championship: Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother Devon) (c) vs. Beer Money Inc. (James Storm and Robert Roode)

This was a good match but I felt it could have been much better given what these two have done in recent months together. It was somewhat slowly paced for the first 10 minutes or so with each team hitting the occasional double team move. Then all of a sudden, The British Invasion come to ringside to get on commentary with Tenay and West. Now I feel like I’m watching Impact. TNA, this is type of thing you do on TV when you’re hyping up a PPV match or feud. Anyway, the commentary was somewhat humorous but seemed to take away from the match and right when it was getting good too! The pace picked up but unfortunately we couldn’t even get a decent reaction from the announcers as they were preoccupied with the Brits. Storm connected with a nice hurricanrana off the top turnbuckle. Devon and Ray had Storm set up for the 3D but Roode started brawling with Ray, reducing the move to a flapjack from Devon. In the last few minutes, the British Invasion get involved. Ray does a suicide dive to the outside onto two of them while Devon knocks the other one off the ring apron through a table that 3D had set up earlier. But as he turns around, Beer Money connects with the DWI to win the match and regain the tag titles. A good, solid tag team match but it could have been better.

Match Rating: 6/10

 

 

King of the Mountain match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship: Mick Foley (c) vs. Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett vs. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe

After wasting a ton of time with many video packages, the main event KOTM match gets underway. This was nearly as good as the X Division match earlier in the show but that match was just a smidge better. This one had a strange beginning, as Joe attacked Angle before the bell rang, resulting in Angle becoming instantly eligible and Joe having to go in the box. A couple minutes later Foley laid down to allow Jarrett to pin him in order to get some rest in the penalty box. Joe would take everyone out in the ring before choking out Foley in the Coquina Clutch, gaining eligibility for himself. He also made an attempt later to hang the belt, but Foley pushed the ladder over, causing Joe to land awkwardly on the edge of it. Jarrett later smashed a guitar over Angle’s head before battling with Foley atop a ladder, before it was pushed over by Styles. Foley and Styles brawled afterward on top of the penalty box, which ultimately resulted in Foley throwing Styles back into the ring. After Angle connected with an Angle Slam on Jarrett, Foley jumped off the penalty box and dropped an elbow on Angle followed by a successful pinfall to gain eligibility. Shortly after this, Styles pinned Foley to become the final man eligible. He was left alone in the ring after Joe took everyone else out on the outside with a suicide dive. Angle then got back in the ring but was hit with a Styles Clash. As Styles climbed the ladder with the belt, Joe came back into the ring and powerbombed him off the ladder and hitting him with a clothesline. Joe then snatched the belt and climbed the ladder along with Angle. In a stunning move, Joe handed the belt to Angle, allowing him to hang it to become the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion. What a swerve! Not your typical TNA swerve as this one came out of nowhere and came off great. A surprising ending to a very good KOTM match and a great PPV from TNA.

Match Rating: 7.5/10

 

Overall PPV Rating: 8/10