Predictably, Sting retained the TNA World Title last night against Rob Van Dam. TNA so much as told us that this would be the case on last week’s Impact when Mr. Anderson repeatedly mentioned wrestling Sting for the title in the future, and it proved not to be a swerve. Sting’s title defense was a good one, as he and RVD brawled all over the Impact Zone, inducing a “this is awesome” chant from the Orlando crowd. After the match, Mr. Anderson entered the ring and stood nose to nose with the main who stands between he and the coveted title. In my mind, the looming Sting vs Anderson match could go either way. I think Anderson should win it, but I’m not convinced that he will.
In the secondary main event, Kurt Angle & Chyna were victorious over Jeff & Karen Jarrett when the former made the latter tap out to double ankle locks. Karen tried to get out of the match before it began, citing an ankle injury, but Mick Foley hit the ring to set her straight. The rules of the mixed tag match were changed on the fly, apparently, when Jarrett wasn’t forced to tag out when Chyna became legal. Hmm. Chyna didn’t look too great, although she wasn’t a complete disaster either, so I guess the appearance was a success. I can’t imagine that this is the end of this feud, and that’s unfortunate. I wonder how involved Chyna will be moving forward, but that’s more of a morbid curiosity than anything else. There is nothing that can make Jarrett vs Angle compelling again at this stage in the game, it’s just gone on for far too long. The rest of Sacrifice, including the one and only Brian Kendrick, after the jump.
- Tommy Dreamer went over AJ Styles in a pretty good hardcore fight. Dreamer won with a DDT through a table after Bully Ray interfered. It’s a little confusing as to why TNA would put Tommy over one of their top talents in AJ Styles, but ultimately, I don’t think the loss hurts AJ much, if at all. I was impressed that these guys meshed as well as they did; on paper, this match looked like trash, but I was entertained with its execution. Bully Ray cut a promo beforehand and reminded the world that he’s currently the best heel in wrestling. As odd a pairing as he and AJ Styles are, I’m eagerly anticipating the climax of their feud, and I’m curious to see what role Dreamer plays in it moving forward.
- Beer Money enjoyed a dominating victory over Matt Hardy and Chris Harris. Storm and Harris being the legal men together was teased for most of the first half of the match before finally happening. Beer Money won with the Death Sentence, a trademark of America’s Most Wanted, which was a nice touch. Entertaining tag team action here.
- Mickie James notched a win over Madison Rayne after Tara leveled her former employer with the loaded glove. Decent outcome. I’m glad Mickie retained the title, she deserves a fair reign as champion. My only complaint about this match was the lack of Miss Tessmacher.
- The Brian Kendrick, in all his glory, defeated Robbie E. I’m a Kendrick mark, so I was very pleased to see him find a rare win on last night’s show. Wrestling the whole match in his robe and often going into yoga poses, Kendrick’s current gimmick seems more like a character from Street Fighter than it does a professional wrestler. That’s A-OK in my book. He tried to make nice with Robbie E and Cookie a few times, even telling Cookie that “God has a plan” for her. Prior to the match, Kendrick cut an awesome promo about bringing the X Division back to prominence, and I hope fo the sake of TNA fans everywhere that he does just that.
- Crimson’s streak is still intact after his win over Abyss last night. Abyss enlisted the help of Janice, but it was not enough as he fell to a sitout powerbomb. I can’t wait for Crimson to lose and this streak nonsense to be over.
- Kazarian retained the X Division Championship in a match against Max Buck. Good thing they broke up Generation Me for this. The match was pretty good, as bouts containing Max or Jeremy usually are, but I’ll never understand the dissolving of such a good tag team to job the members as singles competitors. Hopefully the belt finds its way around the waist of Brian Kendrick sooner than later.
- Mexican America gained a dirty victory over Ink Inc with some help from Sarita & Rosita. Jesse Neal had the match won prior to the interference, and I was pulling for him just for unpredictability’s sake. Mexican America is a legitimate stable though, and I understand the choice to put them over as such. With Matt Morgan and Ink Inc behind them, I’m curious to see who Super Mex and his posse’s next target will be.
Sacrifice was pretty good. Nothing shocking, and there weren’t really any must-see matches, but at the same time there wasn’t anything boring either. Tessmacher would have been nice, but I’m not going to complain about a show with Brian Kendrick on it. The lack of Hulk Hogan was a gigantic plus too. Let’s hope that trend continues on Impact.
