TNA Against All Odds 2011

TNA Against All Odds 2011
February 13th, 2011
TNA Impact! Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: ????

So here we arrive at what has to be one of the worst build-ups to a PPV in recent memory, with most of tonight's match-ups having been announced the previous Thursday on Impact. The big matches tonight are Angle vs. Jarrett and a ladder match for the World title with Mr. Anderson and Jeff Hardy.


Your hosts are Mike Tenay and Taz


TNA X-Division Title #1 Contenders Match
Robbie E vs. Jeremy Buck vs. Max Buck

Max and Jeremy Buck of Generation Me are supposed to be Robbie's opponents here but they couldn't get on their flight in time (legitly) and are not here tonight, so Robbie E comes to the ring and demands the referee count both of them out and award him the match, which he does. Okay, we couldn't have thrown out two new X-Division guys to wrestle here in this spot? Kazarian comes out before Robbie can leave though and challenges him to have their title match right now, so we're off right to the next match then...


TNA X-Division Title Match
Kazarian (C) vs. Robbie E

Kaz brawls with Robbie down to the ring and throws him in, taking the immediate advantage with shots to Robbie in the corner. Inverted atomic drop a kick combo gets Kaz a quick two. He drapes Robbie over the top rope and simply kicks him off the apron to the outside. Kaz climbs to the top but Cookie distracts him long enough to allow Robbie to take his legs out from under him, slamming his face into the steel ring steps. Back inside Robbie gets a diving fist for only a one count. Big "Let's go Kaz!" chant starts up but Robbie gets a russian leg sweep for two. Robbie slaps on a chinlock and this is not how you want your X-Division opener to start with, you're supposed to be firing the crowd up with high-risk moves, not putting them to sleep with rest holds Robbie. Springboard dropkick from Kaz and then a few big clotheslines, and he follows it up with a springboard legdrop for two. Kaz goes for the inverted tombstone but Robbie counters and tries for a neckbreaker, only for Kaz to roll him up for a two count. Cookie gets a cheap shot in on Kaz and it almost wins it for Robbie, but Kaz kicks out at two. Kaz hits the inverted tombstone for the win however at 7:11, seemingly out of nowhere. Well that wasn't very good. They had to replace the opener with a straight title match, but Robbie still isn't anywhere near ready to match Kaz's energy and workrate in the ring so the outcome was never in doubt and this was hardly the exciting fast-paced opener that it was supposed to be. **


Backstage Scott Steiner cuts a rambling promo with Beer Money, seemingly drunk off his ass. Or not, who knows with Scott, he always sounds shitfaced.


Scott Steiner/Robert Roode/James Storm vs. Rob Terry/Gunner/Murphy

AJ Styles comes to the commentary table before the match to add some color to what is otherwise inevitably going to be an extremely tedious match-up. Decent reaction for the recently returned Scott Steiner. Big "Scotty" chants to start us off as Steiner and Gunner start us of with a lock-up. Well atleast Gunner & Murphy have wrestling gear now and aren't still wrestling in their security uniforms. Big pair of belly-to-belly suplexes from Steiner and Rob Terry Tags in now for a steroid-posedown with Big Poppa Pump. Steiner was genetically disgusting back before it was cool Rob! Storm tags in next and gets an inverted atomic drop-Russian leg sweep combo. Murphy tags in now but eats a knee and a neckbreaker from Storm. Gunner and Murphy start to isolate Storm now, bating him down in their corner and trading quick tags. Storm getsthe hot tag to Roode eventually and he takes out both Gunner and Murphy with forearms and clotheslines. Big leaping neckbreaker off the top gets Roode a two count on Gunner. Bigtime sidewalk slam gets him another two but Murphy breaks it up and the match breaks down from here, with everyone fighting in and out of the ring. Beer Money hit a double-suplex on Rob Terry and do their trademark Beer Money chant. Big spinebusters from Roode on Gunner, Murphy, and Terry, and the crowd wants Steiner, who tags in. He sets Murphy up on the top rope and hits the famous Frankensteiner off the top for the win at 10:13! Wow, pointless matches much? Pure filler here as it was clear Beer Money and Steiner would be winning with Steiner's recent return. Just a way to kill some time on PPV. *¾


Backstage Christy Hemme intervews Devon with his two sons. He apologizes for his actions on Impact this past week and then announces that his sons will not be at ringside tonight for the match with Bully Ray.


Samoa Joe vs. Pope D'Angelo Dinero

The point of this match? Hard to tell. Dinero sort-of-kind-of turned heel weeks back and Joe started making some vague accusations about wrong-doing on Dinero's part with his "donation money", so now we've got this match-up. Pope stalls to start. Pope tries a lock-up inside but Joe quickly slaps on a headlock and Pope bails again, teasing a count-out. Suddenly Okada, an ally of Joe's, comes out and blocks Pope from leaving though, and Pope is met with a big tope from Joe who then tosses him back inside. Pope gets a suplex and starts celebrating but then gets his head taken off with a lariat. Big heel kick to Pope in the corner and then Joe starts laying shots in at will, washing his boot across Pope's face. Running knee sends Joe to the outside though and Pope slams him into the ring apron. Back inside they trade open-hand slaps and then Pope hits a neckbreaker for two. Big enziguri-senton combo gets Joe a two count of his own. Powerslam for another two for Joe. Pope pulls the pad off the top turnbuckle and tries to toss Joe into it head-first to no avail. He tries for a rollup but Joe catches him in the Coquina Clutch and Pope immediately taps out at 8:33. Okay, abrupt finish there that doesn't make Pope look very good. This could have been quite good, but they wasted too much time stalling and the end result was a completely average match. **¼


After the match Pope slams Joe into the exposed turnbuckle a few times to some nice heat from the Impact Zone crowd.

Backstage Christy Hemme gets an interview with Mickie James about her upcoming Knockouts title match tonight.


TNA Knockouts Title Last Woman Standing Match
Madison Rayne (C) vs. Mickie James

They've been building this for awhile now with Mickie feuding with both Madison and Tara, and this looks to be the apparent blow-off. This is the first time I can recall seeing a "Last Woman Standing" match, so it should be interesting at the very least. Mickie starts off with some big shots before Madison tosses her to the outside. They brawl up the ramp a bit and then back to ringside as a small "Mickie" chant starts up. Back inside Madison gets a knee-breaker that puts Mickie down for an 8 count. Madison gets tossed back outside again and Mickie comes off the apron with a body-press that lays both women out for a 7 count. Madison crawls underneath the ring and Mickie chases after her. They come out on the other end of the ring and Mickie hits a few athletic kicks to put Madison down for a 6 count. Back inside Mickie gets tossed off the top rope to the outside and is down for a 9 count. Madison tries to hit Mickie with her glove that's apparently "loaded" but Mickie comes off the top with a Thesz press and a spin-kick on Madison. She takes the loaded glove from Madison and puts it on, but Tara (who Taz calls Victoria--oops) hits the ring and distracts Mickie long enough for Madison to lay her out with the loaded glove and the ten count to end the match at 8:30. Awful gimmick match that had no point to the actual gimmick. Something tells me this feud is going to continue another 6 months now because of that finish too. Ugh. *½


Backstage a stoned looking Jeff Hardy applies some of his make-up while cutting a bizarre and short promo on Mr. Anderson, calling him an asshole. Really creative stuff there Jeff.


Matt Morgan comes down to the ring now and calls out Hernandez, who cost him the TNA World title in a match last Thursday on Impact. Hernandez calls Morgan the "Great White Hype" and cuts a promo about how he went back to Mexico to AAA to embrace his roots. Is this supposed to get Hernandez over as a heel? Hernandez says "This is Hispanic America", which most of the crowd cheers for. Again, is this supposed to get him over as a heel? Hernandez complains that TNA and America can't recognize his talent but before Morgan has a chance to respond, Hernandez low-blows him and hits a fireman's slam. That's it, that's your pointless segment of the night.

Backstage Christy Hemme tries to interview Matt Hardy about his new nickname "Cold-Blooded". Matt, apparently trying to upstage his brother in the crazy factor, cuts a rambling promo on RVD about him being a stepping stone for Matt and how Matt is going to chew him up and spit him out. You shouldn't eat rocks Matt.


Matt Hardy vs. Rob Van Dam

These two faced off at last month's PPV, so of course let's just do it again since we have no idea what to do with either guy. Matt's been in TNA for barely 5 weeks and they already don't know what the hell to do with him. Lockup to start and they trade punches and kicks. Rob tries for a monkey flip but gets clotheslined instead. Matt gets tossed to the outside and Rob tries for a moonsault off the apron but gets his legs taken out from under him by Matt. Matt tries for a suplex outside but gets draped over the guardrail and Rob hits the legdrop off the apron. Back inside Matt gets a DDT off the second-rope for a two count. Big legdrop gets Matt another two count. Matt locks on a bizarre double-underhook guillotine type submission for a bit but Rob gets his foot on the ropes for the break. Full-nelson hold from Matt now and what's supposed to be a fast-paced match on paper has been a rather slow affair thus far. RVD gets his jaw-jacked on the top rope and Matt flies off the top only to eat a weak superkick from Van Dam. RVD misses Rolling Thunder but gets a standing moonsault for two. Split-legged moonsault gets Rob another close two. Side Effect from Matt Hardy for another two and Matt taunts the crowd, getting some surprising heat for a guy so soon off a WWE run. He tries for the Twist of Fate but RVD counters out with a kick. Hardy tries a superplex off the top but backdrops Van Dam off the top instead. Big moonsault from Hardy misses. RVD comes off the top then with the Five Star Frog Splash for the pin at 13:22. O...kay? What does a clean job do for Matt so new to the company? Does RVD really need that win? Okay match that picked up towards the end, but like this entire show thus far it was nothing special. **½


Backstage Bully Ray tries to get Christy Hemme to cry in an extremely misogynistic segment in which Ray LICKS Hemme's hair. If that was supposed to be creepy Ray, it wasn't. It was just weird.


Street Fight Match
Bully Ray vs. Brother Devon

There really is no reason for these two to be having a program so high on the card in the year 2011, no reason at all. Both guys are totally gone at this point in the ring, their "break-up" was executed terribly, and I really don't think anyone cares or wants to see these two continue to feud, so of course we'll probably see them wrestle another 30 times over the next six months. Street fight rules here so it could be mildly entertaining. They brawl outside immediately to start and we're off. Devon slams a jug of water into Ray's face and the lazy brawling continues around ringside. Yawn. Devon grabs a Singapore cane and a few trash can lids and starts beating down Ray inside the ring with the cane. Devon's two sons come down to ringside now and you can just smell the tasteless swerve coming. Ray comes up from behind and slams a chair into Devon's back. Ray puts the chair around Devon's neck and grabs a chain, but Devon's kids hit the ring and try to fight Ray off. Back body drop from Devon and one of his sons grabs a trash can and slams it into Ray's face. They do the "Wazzup" spot with Devon's two sons holding Ray's legs. Devon's kids push him and do their own version of the "Get the tables!" chant and slide a table into the ring now. Ray low-blows Devon while he's setting the table up though and Ray grabs a pair of handcuffs from under the ring, cuffing Devon to the turnbuckle in the corner. Bully Ray then beats up Devon's kids and rolls up one of his sons for the 3 count at 9:24. Huh? When did the kids become a legal part of this match? Why was Ray able to pin them for the win? This made no sense, and I just did not care at all. Dull and tedious. *


After the match Ray puts one of Devon's kids through a table. Devon is practically crying, checking on his son. Come on dude, for a team that made it's career on table spots you are over-selling the hell out of this bit Devon. He's practically screaming like he just found out he lost a child in Iraq. Just awful.


Backstage Jeremy Borash gets an interview with Jeff Jarrett about his match with Kurt Angle tonight. A completely tasteless angle in which the custody of Angle's children is on the line, similar to the Mysterio-Guerrero feud that the WWE ran in 2005. It was tasteless then and it's tasteless now. Angle cuts a decent promo with Christy Hemme as well backstage.


Kurt Angle vs. Jeff Jarrett

If Kurt wins, he gets custody of he and Karen's two children, and if Jarrett wins Angle has to walk Karen down the aisle when she and Jarrett renew their vows. This has been a completely tasteless and unecessary angle, as if these two guys couldn't just have a good feud and match based on their natural talents as performers instead of having to exploit Angle's marital troubles and children. Let's forget about the disgusting angle though and just try to focus on the match. Angle has brought the best out of Jarrett in recent years and hopefully this won't be any different. Big "Angle" chants as they lock-up to start us off. Angle works a hammerlock for a bit Big northern lights suplex gets Angle a two count. Jarrett gets tossed to the outside and Angle starts laying in shots right in front of his ex-wife Karen, who takes the opportunity to slap Kurt in the face. Jarrett slams him into the steel guardrail and back inside the ring he chokes him on the second rope. Cross-body off the top from Jarrett, which is a surprise, but Angle rolls through for a two count. Jarrett goes to the top but Angle gets an overhead belly-to-belly suplex off the top rope! Another big belly-to-belly gets Kurt another two count and things are picking up now. Kurt tries for a German but it's countered and he tries for the ankle lock but Jarrett counters out of that as well. Kurt hits his trademark trifecta of German suplexes. 1-2--NOO! Jarrett kicks out just in time. Kurt tries for the Angle Slam but Jarrett floats over with an enziguri. Jarrett tries for the Stroke but Angle rolls through into the ankle lock briefly. He hits the Angle Slam but Karen is on the apron, distracting the ref. Low-blow from Jarrett behind the ref's back. Jarrett hits The Stroke! 1-2--NOO! Angle kicks out to the crowd's surprise. Kurt chases Karen to the outside but Jarrett sneaks up from behind and tosses him into the steel steps. The ref is knocked out but comes to just as Angle is about to hit Jarrett with a chair, which the ref takes out of his hands. Big T-Bone suplex from Angle for a two! Jeff hits The Stroke from the top rope (sort-of), but Angle kicks out again before the three count. Big German from Angle and he pulls down the straps and slaps on the ankle lock. Karen grabs Jeff's hands and gets dragged into the ring where she distracts the ref while Angle grapevine's Jarrett's leg and makes him tap. Jarrett slams the chair into Angle's face though behind the ref's back. 1-2--NOO! Angle kicks out again! Crowd is surprised and so am I as they keep making it appear that Kurt is going to get screwed only to have him kick out each time. Schoolboy rollup gets Angle a two and he tries for a sunset flip, but Jarrett shifts the momentum in his favor and gets the clean pinfall win at 16:18. Wow, strange finish there as why wouldn't you have Jarrett beat Angle through cheating? Instead you have Angle lose clean and lose custody of his children. The match itself was actually quite good as Angle did his usual carry-job, tossing Jarrett around with his usual crisp suplex spots. Head-scratching finish aside, the best match of the night thus far. ***¼


After the match Kurt cries (again), and leaves his boots in the center of the ring as he leaves, apparently signalling ANOTHER retirement for him. What's that, his 2nd in the last 2 months now?


Backstage Mr. Anderson cuts a promo on Jeff Hardy about their upcoming ladder match, doing a rather good Jesse Ventura impression in the process.


TNA World Heavyweight Title Ladder Match
Mr. Anderson (C) vs. Jeff Hardy

If there's one thing Jeff Hardy can't screw up, it's a ladder match, so hopefully this will be decent. We've got two referees for this ladder match (why do we even need one), which makes you wonder if they're actually going to book a Dusty Finish for a ladder match. Nothing would surprise me from TNA at this point though. The bell sounds and we're off. Hardy stalls to start but Anderson chases him outside to the ladders. Jeff tries for the quick Twist of Hate but Anderson tosses him into the apron. Neckbreaker from Jeff on Anderson onto a ladder back inside and the ladders have come into play already. Jeff tries climbing the ladder quickly but Anderson takes him down easily. Jeff sticks the ladder between Anderson's legs and dropkicks it into his crotch. That'll hurt the yambags as Taz might say. Russian leg sweep onto the ladder in the corner from Anderson! Nice spot. Anderson brings another ladder into the ring and both men begin climbing to the top. Jeff hits a sunset-flip powerbomb off the top of the ladder on Anderson! That's a spot that never gets old in ladder matches. Tenay and Taz sell the impact on Anderson's recent (kayfabe) concussions, as he did infact hit his head nastily on the mat there. Hardy then tries the big leapfrog-legdrop off the turnbuckle and over the ladder on Anderson, but Anderson moves out of the way just in time. Big back body-drop sends Anderson onto another ladder in the corner. Anderson gets sent outside and Jeff follows him out with the slingshot baseball-slide. He grabs another ladder, his own personal Day-Glo multi-colored ladder and slams it into Anderson, who slams it right back. Anderson's leg gets slammed into the steel steps and then Hardy runs and jumps off the steel steps with a big whisper-in-the-wind leg lariat to Anderson draped over the steel guardrail. Very cool little spot. Back inside Anderson suplexes Jeff onto another ladder in the corner nastily. Anderson tries climbing the ladder but Jeff hits him with a Twist of Hate that more resembles an RKO, cutting right to the ace-crusher finish of the move. Jeff grabs his pink-and-green ladder and tosses it into the ring, but Anderson lifts Jeff onto his shoulders and hits the Green Bay plunge on the ladder! Anderson goes for the big senton off the top but Jeff moves and the back of Anderson's neck snaps on the ladder. ouch. Jeff sets up two ladders and they both climb to the top where they fight over the title for a bit before both men end up falling nastily to the mat as the ladders fly to the side! Nasty falls there for both men but it looked like they botched the spot as it appears Jeff was supposed to grab the title on the way down. Jeff just climbs up and snatches the title for the completely anti-climactic win at 18:16. Wow, what is with the abrupt and bizarre finishes all night long? This was thankfully a big step up from everything before it with both men hitting some very nice and sometimes creative spots here. The ending had no heat at all and was pretty much the definition of anti-climatic, but overall this was a great little ladder match. ***¾


We sign off the air with Jeff celebrating on top of his personal Day-Glo ladder.

Bottom Line:

Wow, so many problems with this show. Most of these matches were announced barely a week ago, many of them had questionable finishes, and the majority of them were just plain bad. The first two hours of this show is utterly mediocre at best, which unfortunately just isn't enough to tip the scales in TNA's favor for this show overall. The main event is well worth checking out, but you can skip everything else and be fine. Thumbs leaning sligthtly down for TNA Against All Odds 2011.


Score: 5/10