My TNA Slammiversary 2012 Recap

Hulk Hogan came out and thanked the fans for their support for TNA and also claimed that the next ten years for the company will be even better, well we'll see about that. He also announced the first match for the night, Samoa Joe versus Austin Aries.

Austin Aries (c) defeated Samoa Joe to defend the X Division Championship in a superb opener for the show. Both men went back and fourth in a thrilling contest, you knew this was going to be something worth watching but they both exceeded my own personal expectations here. The moves were crisp and the sequences were put together very nicely, plus the electric crowd certainly helped too. Smart choice to open the pay-per-view.

Hernandez defeated Kid Kash in a fair match up. It was a surprise but not unwelcome addition to the card. Hernandez managed to get the crowd on his side as the bout went on with his as always impressive aerial moves for a man his size. Kash put in a decent effort too.

Devon and Garet Bischoff defeated Robbie E and Robbie T in an average tag team bout. It wasn't awful, just nothing particularly special or memorable about the match. Garet, as usual, looked a bit out of his depth. Devon unsurprisingly had the crowds firm support throughout.  

Mr. Anderson defeated Rob Van Dam and Jeff Hardy in a blistering Triple Threat match to become number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight title. The action came fast and thick in this highly entertaining contest. All three men deserve credit here for their great efforts, definitely one worth checking out. Once again the crowd were also brilliant throughout this match.  

James Storm defeated Crimson in a short but passable match. 'The Cowboy' answered the previously unbeaten Crimson's call for an open challenge, managing to have most of the crowd rise to their feet as he set up his match-winning Last Call Superkick for the one-two-three. It was more of a squash match really with Crimson having very little offense, but it's just good to have the on form Storm back.

Dixie Carter came out and thanked all the fans and everyone else who's helped in the rise of TNA. She also asked out the Impact Wrestling roster to thank them too. Sting was then announced as the very first inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame. Now as I said before I personally feel that it's too early for TNA to have a Hall of Fame, but this was a very feel good moment as the VT dedicated to 'The Icon' played and Sting gave a short speech. 

Brooke Tessmacher defeated Gail Kim (c) to win the TNA Knockouts Championship. It was a surprisingly decent title bout and probably the best match that I've seen Tessmacher involved in. It was well planned out for the both of them. Unfortunately there were a few  sloppy moments here and there but on the whole I enjoyed it.   

Joseph Parks defeated Bully Ray in a mediocre No Disqualification match up. It wasn't bad for what it was I guess, namely the supposedly nervous and inexperienced Parks having the first ever fight in his life. During the match Joseph obviously crept under the ring and changed into the Abyss gear to Choke Slam Bully through a table, then went back under and changed back to Joseph to gain the winning pin. I hope they don't keep this up for long, it's just silly and a bit of an insult to the fans intelligence really.      

Hogan introduced surprise guest Christian out. Christian, or rather Christian Cage here,  and asked the fans to give themselves a round of applause for their support. He than also introduced the number one moment in TNA history (there'd been a count down of the top ten best moments in the companies' history throughout Impact Wrestling episodes and Slammiversary) which was Sting's return to pro wrestling years ago in TNA. I thought it'd be them going prime time on Spike. 

Kurt Angle and AJ Styles defeated Kazarian and Christopher Daniels (c) to obtain the TNA Tag Team Championship in the absolutely superb match of the night. This is without a doubt the best tag team match I've seen so far this year and probably the best TNA match so far too. The bout was captivating at the start but absolutely thrilling in the final third. With the crowd reactions and flawless action you couldn't help get sucked into this, like with any special wrestling match.

If you're someone that doesn't normally watch TNA then I urge you, please do yourself a favour and at least watch this match up. Trust me, you'll be grateful. And if you do then let me know what you thought.

Bobby Roode (c) defeated Sting to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. It was a fairly decent main event, definitely not up to par with the previous match and Aries vs Joe bout from earlier. As much as I realise Sting means to many fans, his main eventing days should have been long gone by now. He can still clearly entertain but he's best suited to short bursts in matches now. Roode retained after smashing a beer bottle over sting's head. And of course the referee completely ignored all the broken glass and other bottles left in the ring right next to Roode. It looked ridiculous was a poor ending to the main event an otherwise good PPV. Afterwards Sting threw over the ref and Scorpion Death Dropped Roode from the stage. 

Roode retaining once again felt anticlimactic considering all the build up for Sting during the night, and makes me wonder who they actually have in mind to finally topple the champion? Aries at Bound For Glory perhaps? He did hint at wanting to hit that main event scene earlier in an interview. We'll see.  

Overall Slammiversary was a solid pay-per-view, with some memorable matches to take away. Unfortunately the ending just felt wrong and spoilt it a little, just a little though.