TNA Against All Odds 2012

TNA Against All Odds 2012
February 12th, 2012
Impact Wrestling Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 800-1400 +/-

Welcome everyone to another edition of 411's LIVE TNA PPV coverage for tonight's Against All Odds show. I missed two of the last three shows because of various circumstances, but I'm back and recharged and ready to go tonight. Impact has seemingly been on an upswing so far in the year 2012, so hopefully tonight will continue that trend and deliver a solid show. The card looks good with a few notable X-Division matches alongside a big fatal four way main event for the World title, so without further adieu lets jump right into the thick of things and start the show!


Your hosts are Mike Tenay and Taz


TNA X-Division Title #1 Contender's Match
Zema Ion vs. Jesse Sorenson
Jesse gives his football to a little kid at ringside so Ion tries to get in his face but winds up eating a forearm. Back in the ring we're off and Ion eats a Northern Lights suplex before being clotheslined back out of the ring by Jesse. Back inside Jesse hits a 'rana on him and Ion bails out of the ring and steals the football from the kid! Heinous villainy! Jesse misses a tope on Ion and Zema nails him with a missile dropkick back in the ring. Jesse bails this time and Ion follows him out with a huge moonsault to the floor! Jesse is down and I'm not sure if this is kayfabe or not but he appears to be injured badly, so the ref counts him out and awards the match to Zema Ion at 4:04. This was going quite well before the injury. Fun stuff while it lasted, but way too short. **


Christy Hemme is backstage with Bobby Roode to get his thoughts on tonight's title match. Roode says the odds are actually in his favor because of the winning streak he's been on the last few months. He calls out all three men individually, including his former ally Bully Ray before reminding us that he's the most dominant champion this company has ever seen.


Robbie E comes out next to lay out an open challenge for a shot at the TV title in an apparent bonus match. Who answers? Why a returning Shannon Moore of course!


TNA TV Title Match
Robbie E. © vs. Shannon Moore
Both men trade quick armdrags to start before Moore dropkicks Robbie out of the ring. Robbie tries to walk out on the match but Shannon fetches him back to the ring. Spinning heel kick from Moore gets a quick near fall. Robbie sends Moore flying off the apron moments later with a running knee. Back in the ring Robbie is all over him Moore tries to mount a comeback but Robbie hits a jumping elbow from the second rope for another two count. Robbie slaps on a chinlock briefly until Moore counters into an enziguri. Moore hits a big bulldog for his own near fall but Robbie kicks out and bails from the ring. Moore dropkicks him and then takes him out with a big Asai moonsault to the floor! Robbie kicks out of the pin attempt back in the ring though. Moore misses another moonsault attempt and eats a lariat. Robbie takes too long going to the top rope and Moore gives him the super frankensteiner for a very close near fall. Moore gets sent out of a cradle attempt right into Robbie T at ringside, who nails him with a right hand, giving Robbie E enough time to plant him with a DDT and retain at 9:31. This was actually pretty solid considering Robbie's limitations in the ring. It took awhile to get going, but the last few minutes were engrossing. **1/2



TNA Knockouts Title Match
Gail Kim © vs. Tara
Tara's all over Gail to start with forearms and a snapmare. Gail responds with a neckbreaker over the top rope on Tara. Madison Rayne walks off on Kim as she hits a cross-body from the second rope on Tara for a two count. She applies the Brock Lock then transitions into the Octopus Hold. Top-rope hurricanrana from Gail but Tara responds with a powerslam out of nowhere. Tara hits a tilt-a-whirl sideslam but Kim kicks out of the pin attempt. Both ladies fight to the top rope where Tara back-drops Kim from the top before hitting a moonsault! Tara's knee appears to be injured from the move and when she tries for the Widow's Peak, Kim counters into a kneebreaker and then hits her with the Eat Defeat to retain at 6:44. Solid, up-tempo match from the ladies here that actually could have benefited from a few extra minutes. **1/4


Backstage James Storm tells Christy Hemme that tonight is personal and he's out for revenge on his former partner Bobby Roode.


TNA Tag Team Title Match
Matt Morgan/Crimson © vs. Samoa Joe/Magnus
Joe and Magnus have actually been building a small following in the fanbase despite being the clear cut heels. Joe and Morgan start us off with Joe trying for a few shoulder-blocks and getting nowhere. Morgan hits one of his own and grabs an arm, but Magnus tags in. Morgan tags out to Crimson and both men trade wrist and head locks. Crimson delivers a nice t-bone suplex to Magnus and then tags Morgan in for a few shots. Magnus takes advantage of a knee from Joe and tags out to the Samoan, who lays in some vicious jabs and headbutts. Joe and Magnus trade quick tags and work Crimson over in their corner in classic heel fashion. Back drop suplex from Magnus nets a two count and Joe tags back in for some stiff chops. Crimson continues to take the beatdown until he manages to fire off a clothesline from the second rope and get the hot tag to Morgan, who cleans house on both of the challengers with ease. Morgan catches Magnus in mid-air with a swinging sidewalk slam but Joe breaks the pin up. Crimson tries for the spear but accidentally hits his own partner with it and then gets knocked out of the ring. This allows Joe and Magnus to hit a double team move to pick up the win and the titles at 10:10. Not sure if that counts as the end of Crimson's streak or not, but either way it was time for a change. Solid formula tag match for the most part here and the fans seemed to dig the title change, so no real complaints here. Could have used a bit more excitement though. **1/4


TNA X-Division Title Match
Austin Aries © vs. Alex Shelley
These two go back a long time all the way to Generation Next in ROH, so this should be good. Aries shows off to start with some cartwheels and posing but Shelley takes it right to him with some stiff chops. Aries is sent out of the ring and Shelley wipes him out on the floor with a diving cross-body from the top rope. Dueling chants from the fans as Aries hangs Shelley's neck over the top rope. He tries for a slingshot tope, but Shelley gets his knees up and hits a thrust kick off the top rope before clotheslining Aries back out of the ring. Aries sneaks up behind Shelley by traveling underneath the ring and knocks Shelley out to the floor before hitting his trademark lightning fast tope suicida onto Alex on the floor. Back inside Aries hits an elbow drop to the back of Shelley's neck for a two count. Aries takes too long to hit the pendulum elbow and Shelley moves out of the way. Shelley hits a big running lariat that takes Aries inside-out and then sets up for the Sliced Bread, but Aries blocks it. Shelley drives Austin's head into the second turnbuckle with his knee and Aries bails out of the ring to climb underneath it again. Shelley sees him coming this time though and hits his own tope suicida onto Aries on the floor. Shelley misses the double-stomp attempt off the top but then hits the Celtic Cross on Aries for a near fall. Aries responds with a kneebreaker and the pendulum elbow before trying for the brainbuster. Shelley blocks it with a knee but eats another lariat. Both men fight to the ring apron and Aries delivers a Death Valley Driver to Shelley onto the side of the apron! Nasty. Aries hits a double axe handle smash from the top for good measure but Shelley still manages to kick out back in the ring. Aries misses the 450 Splash and Shelley hits him with the Sliced Bread, but Aries grabs the bottom rope at the last possible second on the pin attempt! Aries absolutely nails Shelley in the face with a few knees and a running dropkick and then hits the brainbuster, but Shelley kicks out at the last second this time! Crowd popped big for that kick out. Shelley nails Aries with a series of kicks but Austin won't stay down. Shelley tries Sliced Bread again but Aries counters into a gourdbuster of sorts. He hits Shelley with the brainbuster and transitions into the Last Chancery, leaving Shelley no choice but to tap out giving Aries the win at 15:11! Outstanding little match between two of the best this company currently has to offer, these two bumped and busted their asses for fifteen minutes of hard-hitting action and the result was a great match, as expected. ***1/2


AJ Styles vs. Kazarian
Christopher Daniels is with Kaz obviously, what with being his apparent black-mailer and all. Kaz wants to shake AJ's hand so AJ gets into his face and rips the Daniels t-shirt off of his chest before applying a side headlock. Both men trade some basic holds to start us off as a big "Daniels sucks!" chant starts up. Dropkick from AJ and Kaz responds with a sick counter out of the corner into a facebuster. Kaz exits the ring so AJ follows him out with a flying forearm from the apron. Back inside AJ applies the Muta Lock briefly until Kaz gets the rope break. Huge monkey flip from Kaz and he follows up with a gut-wrench slam. Springboard legdrop gets Kaz a two, as does a spinning heel kick. Big Russian leg sweep from Kaz but still AJ kicks out. Both men trade forearm shots and AJ picks up some steam with some stiff lariats and an Atomic facebuster for another two. Both men trade attempts at their respective finishers and Kaz nails AJ with a powerful dropkick. AJ tries again for the Styles Clash but gets flung to the apron instead. Kaz slingshots over the top rope and slams AJ's face into the side of the ring apron in a nasty spot and both men are out. AJ tries to slingshot back in the ring but Kaz hits him with an Ace Crusher in mid-air for another near fall. Stiff bicycle kick from Kaz sprawls AJ out on the top rope in a dangerous position, and Kaz tries to take advantage but gets tossed off. AJ hits the backflip into reverse DDT out of the corner. Kaz counters another move by AJ into a sick reverse STO and both men can barely get back to their feet by the 10 count. Both men trade some roll through cradle attempts until AJ nails Kaz with the pele kick. AJ goes to the top seemingly for a springboard, but moonsaults out of the ring to take out Daniels at ringside instead! Kaz hits him with the Fade to Black reverse tombstone on his way back into the ring though and that's enough for the pin at 18:45. This one took a little bit to get going but once it did it was chock full of stiff, hard hitting action and some totally reckless regard by AJ Styles for his own body and well-being, just like you'd expect. Solid stuff. ***1/4


Backstage Christy Hemme is with Eric Bischoff and Gunner. Bischoff shows some mock sympathy for the beating his son is about to take and has a towel ready to throw in to end things. Gunner says the towel's to wipe up what's left of Garrett after the match, and then smacks himself in the face like a doofus. That was odd.


Gunner vs. Garrett Bischoff
Oh God I wish this angle would die. Hulk Hogan is in Garrett's corner while Eric Bischoff is in Gunner's. Garrett is actually a bit hot to start with some armdrags and a dropkick before applying a wristlock. Eric trips his son up off an Irish Whip and Gunner takes advantage by choking Garrett behind the ref's back. Garrett fires off a flying forearm and rolls Gunner up for two but its not long before Gunner is back in firm control of the match. Gunner hits the old Tully slingshot suplex, but Garrett kicks out of the pin attempt. Garrett counters into a sloppy flapjack and this crowd is dead. Eric gets another cheap shot in on his own son behind the ref's back and Hogan's had enough, so he walks over and lays Eric out with a right hand much to the crowd's approval. Gunner hits a series of neckbreakers, focusing on the neck injury from the piledriver on the concrete Gunner gave him weeks back on Impact. The neck-work continues as Hogan asks the crowd if he should throw the towel in. He doesn't, but it doesn't matter because Gunner finishes Garrett off with a DDT moments later for the win at 12:02. Garrett isn't actually that terrible in the ring, but if Hulk Hogan can't even get the fans to care about him, I think it's safe to say he's not going to amount to anything. Match was adequate enough if a bit long. *1/2


Crazy Sting is backstage to tell us it's showtime. If I didn't know any better I'd say that man was extremely high on cocaine.


TNA World Title Four-Way Match
Robert Roode © vs. James Storm vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Bully Ray
Sting is our special guest ring enforcer. No idea why Roode's tron video has the words "Off the Chain" on it, but we'll go with it. Roode manages to convince Ray to wait outside the ring apparently as we start off with Jeff and Storm double teaming the champ. Storm even lets Jeff do the old Hardy Boyz spot off his back to Roode but then rolls him up moments later for a near fall. Ray hits the ring and wipes out both of the faces, leading Roode to think he's going to work with him, but when Ray goes to high five him he gives him a Rock Bottom instead. Storm fires off a lungblower on Roode for another two count. Roode and Storm actually partner up to deliver a double suplex to Ray in a slightly surreal moment but Roode cheap shots Storm before he can do the old Beer Money chant. Whisper in the Wind off the top from Hardy onto Roode, but he stands up only to eat a big boot from Ray. Ray follows up with a splash and the crowd tries to get under his skin with a "Devon's better!" chant. Ray delivers a superplex to Jeff but again Hardy kicks out. Storm and Hardy try for a double suplex on Roode in the corner but Ray runs up and powerbombs them for the huge four man Tower of Doom spot. Always a fun spot, but Ray can't get a pin off of it on any of his three opponents. He tries for the Bully Bomb on Jeff but Hardy counters into the Twist of Fate. Roode plants Jeff face-first and then tries for a spear, but Ray blocks it. Ray accidentally hits the ref in the corner and hits the Bully Bomb on Jeff, but the ref's out. Jeff hits the Twist of Fate, but still the ref is down. Roode spears Jeff but then eats a Codebreaker from Storm. Storm nails Roode with the Last Call superkick, but Ray pulls the ref out at the count of two. Roode tries to slingshot out on Ray but winds up taking out the ref again instead. Ray runs into a spinebuster from Roode, who turns around into the Twist of Fae from Jeff. Hardy misses the Swanton attempt though as Roode grabs his title from ringside and into the ring. Sting takes the title from him though and tries to egg Sting on to hit him with the belt, even spitting in his face. Sting bites and Roode ducks and the Stinger winds up laying out Jeff Hardy with the belt instead. Roode covers Jeff and Sting reluctantly has to count the three for Roode to retain at 15:09. A bit chaotic as you'd expect but a solid main event hat was well worked by all four men while it lasted. The finish works too because it only makes you hate Bobby Roode more for sneaking away by the skin of his teeth once again. ***


We go off the air with a dejected group of challengers left in the ring as Roode walks off still the World champion.


Bottom Line: Not exactly a home-run show or anything, but the matches I looked for to deliver did just that and there was nothing on the show I'd call actively bad outside of the Gunner/Garrett Bischoff match. All in all a fairly solid offering from TNA this month with a few matches worth checking out, we'll go with a mild Thumbs Up tonight.


Score: 6.5/10