TNA Destination X 2005 Review

Hello ladies and gentlemen and welcome back to another review from the only wrestling blog that tells Curt Hawkins to face the facts: Seanomaniac Wrestling Reviews! I am your host, it is a cold night here in Ireland and I am in the mood for some TNA. Sorry for the lame intro, I can’t bring myself to be overly positive at the moment as my internet continues to fail me. Destination X is the next pay per view in my line of chronological reviews, Jarrett’s reign of terror continues so expect to hear some scathing comments from myself as I dive head first into the TNA over-booked main event scene.

Opening Promo

Arabian sounding music plays as we are treated to some knowledgeable quotes and shots of TNA wrestlers in pain. Halfway the narrator kicks in and tells us of the action! Big matches of the night include The Outlaw (Billy Gunn) vs Kevin Nash, DDP vs Jeff Jarrett and Jeff Hardy vs Abyss!

Team Canada vs 3-Live Kru/AMW

TNA’s ultimate opening act are back once again. No Ron the Truth Killings this time as he is in an Ultimate X match later in the night so we have Konnan and BG James. Their partners in this eight-man tag match are the tag champions AMW, you know my thoughts on these two by now. They had a classic with Triple X in the cage, won the titles and have nobody to work with that comes close to them. Disappointingly, this is AMW’s role for the pay per view while Team Canada fall down the ranks of the card although at least Bobby Roode does not look like a lesbian Mordecai anymore as he grew out his beard (There are always positives).

 So BG and Young start us off, a lot of comedy here in this opening match, Storm comes in and Young is hopping out of the ring and it is so zany, it is hard to take note of what I am watching. Harris takes the tag and misses a shoulder thrust in the corner after Roode saves Young. Roode and Williams take turns working the arm of Harris with armbars and single arm DDTs.

 Eventually, Harris tags in Konnan who proceeds to rolling clothesline and Alabama slam everyone into oblivion, a pin attempt creates a huge brawl between everyone. Coach D’Amore climbs the top rope, Konnan drags the manager into the ring, celebrates wildly and gets nailed with a lariat from behind by Bobby Roode as Team Canada walk out victorious.

 That was a solid opener, the comedy could be seen as a little too much but I did not mind it at all. Not much in the way of story but they had eight minutes, Team Canada win to set up a tag team title match I guess? Can really see another reason for them winning if they are not going to claim they have a win over the champions so let’s see where they go from here.

Winners: Team Canada over AMW/3-Live Kru following massive lariat to chrome dome’s head!

Chris Sabin vs Chase Stevens W/ Andy Douglas & Chris Candido

Nice to see Candido, another wrestler who went way too soon, rip. Sabin is the babyface while Stevens is the heel, I am not sure what brought these two men to this point as Stevens is in a tag team with Douglas and Sabin was battling the likes of Petey in the X Division. 

These two have 6 minutes and they try to throw a lot into the match, Sabin wrestles circles around Stevens before Candido and Douglas interfere to help their partner. Stevens works over Sabin until Sabin rallies with clotheslines and a nice tornado DDT. Stevens thinks he has Sabin after a devastating big boot courtesy of his partner but Sabin reverses the pin to defeat Stevens.

 The heels put the boots to Sabin so Shocker, a Mexican lucha libre star runs to ringside and unveils himself to the TNA audience by whopping the heels’ asses. Not much to say here, didn’t feel like a pay per view match but more like an angle to get over Shocker.

Winner: Sabin over Stevens following fancy pin!

(Texas Bullrope Match) Dustin Rhodes vs Raven

Rematch from the last pay per view that I did not really want to see, Raven doesn’t want the bullrope but is forced to apply the strap. Rhodes takes the time to smash Raven into the Ultimate X structure, the ringpost and the turnbuckle.

 Raven does not get much in the way of offence, Raven blocked the bulldog and dodged a punch from Rhodes by using a chair but moments later, Rhodes nails Raven with the bulldog into the chair and that’s all folks. Just like that, it felt flat and had no real crowd heat, it just ends like a squash really, Raven never looked like a threat, never got in any sort of attacks, Raven was just beaten and that’s all to say.

Winner: Rhodes over Raven following a bulldog onto the chair!

Disciples of Destruction W/ Traci vs Phi Delta Slam W/ Trinity

So there can only be one secretary for director of authority Dusty Rhodes, Traci and Trinity picked two teams and they are battling out representing their woman. Trinity chose the team known as Phi Delta Slam who are two fat guys wrestling in basketball like gear while Traci picked The Harris Brothers.

 This is slow and difficult to care for as Phi Delta Slam beat on one of the Harris brothers for what seems like is an eternity. I will give Trinity props who took a big bump into the crowd for her team. The Disciples use the old switch-a-roo to outfox the Phi Delta Slam as a Harris Brother boots one of the fat guys into oblivion. Yeah this was slow and easily the worst match on the card.

Winners: Disciples of Destruction over Phi Delta Slam with a Big Boot!

Monty Brown vs Trytan

My boy Monty Brown who has been treated awfully as I predicted after his match with Jeff Jarrett now faces some guy that TNA has been building up as a big deal, a man known as Trytan. This guy is massive, Brown lays into Trytan who no sells it all. Super botched military press slam, really scary move there, call it nerves or inexperience, it looked nasty.

 Brown blocks the Chokeslam, Brown lowbridges Trytan but Trytan clubs Brown who misses a double axe handle. Massive chops by Trytan who rams Brown into the X structure and ring apron. Clubs and kicks by Trytan in the corner, shoulder thrusts and elbows to the face. Brown blocks a corner clothesline, Brown brings Trytan to his knees but Brown eats a Chokeslam.

 Brown kicks out at two, powerslam is blocked by Brown. Brown attempts a clothesline but Trytan is not down. Huge dropkick by Brown, fallaway slam by The Alpha Male. Brown was about to nail The Pounce but the lights are out, lights come back on and Brown Pounces a masked man in black.

 Brown pins the man in black but Trytan was up on the ramp. Brown does not even take the mask off the masked man. About from the scary botch, match was fine but I don’t think wrestling was such a kind career to Trytan.

Winner: Brown over Masked Man following Pounce!

(Falls Count Anywhere Match) Jeff Hardy vs Abyss

So these two battled at the last pay per view which was an ok match, Abyss was victorious by retrieving the contract containing a future world title match. Abyss grabs a chair while Jeff Hardy is posing, Jeff blocks the chair shot and goes to work on Abyss. Abyss was looking for Shock Treatement, Hardy sneaks out and clotheslines Abyss to the floor. Poetry in Motion by use of the chair by Hardy. Abyss rakes the eyes of Jeff and rams Jeff into the guard rail.

 Abyss and Jeff spill out to the backstage area. Abyss grabs a table as Jeff staggers to his feet, they are by catering and Abyss pulls out another table. Jeff slams Abyss into a wall and lays the monster on the tables. Jeff climbs a support beam to deliver a Swanton Bomb from about 12 feet in the air. Ridiculous bump from Jeff, Abyss is quick back to his feet as the two are coming back to the ringside area. Jeff is crotched on the guard rail, clothesline from the monster.

 Abyss gathers a few chairs, Abyss wedges a chair into the corner so Hardy dropkicks a chair into Abyss’ head. Big boot by Abyss floors Jeff, Abyss lays a chair on Hardy. Abyss climbs to the second rope, huge splash onto Hardy. Cover and it is a two and a half for Abyss. Abyss tries to deliver a second splash, Jeff drives the chair into Abyss’ balls. Two massive chair shots floor Abyss, two count for Jeff Hardy. Hardy is frustrated and rolls to the outside, Jeff grabs his signature ladder. Abyss and Jeff are climbing the ladder, Jeff knocks Abyss down and nails his signature ladder leaping leg drop.

 Two count for Jeff Hardy! Jeff attempted Twist of Fate, Abyss countered into Shock Treatment for a two count. Nice counter from Abyss on that one. Abyss runs into the wedged chair after Jeff dodges, roll up by Hardy gets a two count. Abyss crotches Jeff on the top rope, Abyss finds himself a table. Abyss has the table in position, Hardy is on the table and Abyss is climbing to the top rope. Jeff was playing possum and Jeff has Abyss for a hurricanrana but Abyss powerbombs Jeff through the table.

 Jeff battles from his knees, Abyss was thinking Chokeslam. Jeff low blows Abyss and Twist of Fates Abyss onto the ladder and Jeff gets the win! Abyss beats down Jeff after the match. Abyss has his bag of thumbtacks, Abyss whips Hardy into the ropes and wham! BLACK HOLE SLAM ON THE TACKS! That was an entertaining match, the finish was tame compared to what else had happened in the match so it felt a little flat for me. Spots were good, nothing went wrong so yeah, I liked this match.

Winner: Jeff Hardy over Abyss following A Twist of Fate on the ladder!

(Taped Fist/First Blood Match) The Outlaw vs Kevin Nash

Billy Gunn had cost Nash the championship in his match against Jeff Jarrett. Billy Gunn had also been talking to BG James (Road Dogg) which had caused friction within 3-Live Kru. Gunn is going by the name Kip James while the DVD named him as The Outlaw. Kip throws rights to the head of Nash, Nash cuts off James with two knees and an elbow. Massive closed fist by Nash, elbows to the side of the head of James.

 Nash is momentarily rocked by James before Nash clotheslines James’ head off his shoulders. Clubs to the back by Nash, James drags Nash by the ropes, right to the legs goes James as Tenay brings up Nash’s numerous knee injuries. James has a screwdriver, that is different but Nash blocks the screwdriver. Elbows to the head of James, Nash drills James with a fist, catapult over the ropes by Nash. Nash hurls James into the X structure and Nash has a chair. 

James avoids the chair shot with a low blow, James whacks Nash with the chair. James looks for more weapons, James exposes the turnbuckle, referee blocks the turnbuckle. Nash survives the exposed turnbuckle bump with a big boot. Snake eyes on the turnbuckle does not work, referee is blocking the path. James shoves Nash into the referee, low blow by Nash on James.

 Nash nails the snake eyes on the exposed steel, Nash does it twice to open up James. Closed fists into the head of James and James is busted open. Jeff Jarrett is here, Jarrett nails Nash with a title belt and a stooge comes down to the ring and works on James to remove the blood. Referee sees Nash is bleeding and we have a winner. 

Nash is not happy so James is hammered by a lot of punches before nailing a powerbomb. Nash would almost botch the move by tripping over. Lucky for Nash there were ropes to save Nash. That match was slow with not a lot of action, I liked the psychology of the chairs and exposed turnbuckles being used to open up both competitors. Finish was cheap and I do not want to see more Jarrett and Nash so this could mean disaster.

Winner: James over Nash following Shenanigans!

(X Division Championship Match) AJ Styles © vs Christopher Daniels vs Primetime Elix Skipper vs Ron The Truth Killings

Ok so get this, we start the match as a tag team match. The one who takes the pin is eliminated. We then have a triple threat match, the one who takes the fall is eliminated and when we have two people left in the match, we have an Ultimate X match. The big tease of the tag match is that Skipper could face Daniels. Skipper eats a dropkick from Truth, powerslam on Skipper. Cover and a bridge out by Skipper, double underhook suplex by Primetime.

 Missile dropkick by Skipper, Styles is legal and Styles wants Daniels. Truth goes to tag Daniels, Daniels backs away from the tag, he wants no part of AJ. Elbows by Truth, massive dropkick by Styles and Daniels cheap shots AJ. Corkscrew forearm by Truth, Daniels is legal. Right hands by Daniels, calf kick for a two count. Forearm shot by Skipper from the apron which allows Daniels to knock down AJ. Styles fights out of a submission before Daniels drops Styles into a crossface.

 Styles reaches the ropes with his foot, springboard moonsault by Daniels. Two count for Daniels, Styles fights back to his feet. Daniels misses a back suplex as Styles rolls out, enzuigiri by Styles. Truth is in, Skipper was not paying attention so Styles tags in Skipper. Truth kicks Skipper to the curb, top rope axe kick for a two count as Daniels saves his former partner. Truth clotheslines Daniels to the floor, tope con hilo by Styles. Skipper drills Truth with Sudden Death and we are down to three!

Disappointingly, we did not see Skipper and Daniels come to blows even though Skipper had been positioned as a face at the last pay per view. Skipper and Styles wrestle before we have a kicking war. Clothesline leaves both men down, Daniels starts climbing for the championship belt. Daniels climbs the cables to moonsault onto both men. That was cool, I thought he would stay up there until the X match starts but I was wrong. Daniels forearm shots Styles, Skipper is mad with Daniels. Daniels turns on Skipper, rights to the face of his former partner. Exploder suplex on Skipper, Styles is knocked to the floor. 

Skipper clotheslines Daniels, belly to belly suplex plants Daniels. Spinkick to the face, more forearm shots. Styles nails Primetime with a forearm, gutbuster on Daniels by Styles. Styles and Daniels are on the top rope, Skipper joins the two. Skipper is hanging from the cables, Skipper nails an inverted frankensteiner on Styles, Skipper powerbombs Daniels who was looking for a hurricanrana. Skipper kicks Daniels in the corner.

 Styles nails a shooting star press on both Skipper and Daniels. Styles nails both men with suplexes and kicks. Neckbreaker on Daniels for a two count. Styles was thinking Styles Clash on Daniels, Skipper saves Daniels with a spinkick. Skipper drills Styles with a Sudden Death after a botched counter from an inverted DDT. Daniels rolls up Skipper after the Sudden Death.

Daniels climbs the structure with Styles in a heap on the ground, Styles yanks down Daniels. Daniels is not happy, big clothesline as Daniels climbs to the prize once more. Styles drags down Daniels again, forearm shots and a backbreaker. Daniels headbutts Styles multiple times and with his last inch of strength, Styles scores with the Pele Kick. Both men are on the cables, Styles kicks off Daniels but Daniels rebounds with a spear, knocking down Styles.

 Daniels and Styles are by the cables once more, Daniels plants Styles with a uranage from the cables. Daniels is climbing the top rope, Styles joins Daniels. Daniels ram Styles into the structure, Daniels and Styles fall from the structure again. Both men try to grab the belt and again, both men fall. The two climb once more and fall to the floor. The referee was smacked on the way down, Styles pulls down the championship but there was no referee.

 Daniels drills Styles with the Angel’s Wings and places the belt on top of himself. Referee is revived and Daniels win the match. Ok so the tag match was disappointing, Truth was merely an afterthought and was treated as such with the match not lasting very long. The second part was more interesting with spots mixed in with the cables that weren’t really adding to the match, they felt more like oh let’s try and get a replay moves.

 With Skipper being a face at the last pay per view, I felt they had a real chance to establish him as such by kicking the crap out of Daniels yet they played really safe and he looked like such a dweeb as Daniels betrayed twice and then pinned him after hitting his finisher. So maybe the Primetime experiment is over? I don’t know but after this match, I certainly don’t care much for his gullible character. The final part was the most ridiculous as it was just climbing up and down the cable and falling off. 

That wouldn’t be that bad if they were building to each spot or doing moves in between to keep the opponent down but no, Daniels and Styles would knock one another down, climb up, knock one another down and repeat the cycle until the finish. I just thought it was boring and repetitive, you can only fall off the structure so many times and spring back to your feet before I stop caring. So it was decent but certainly, the weakest of all X division title matches I have seen so far.

Winner: Daniels over Everyone Else following retrieval of the belt!

(NWA/TNA World Heavyweight Championship Match Jeff Jarrett © vs DDP

You know what people love the most in the world? Rehashes of WCW from the year 2000, the greatest year in the company’s history. Super sarcasm levels right there but anyways, Jarrett wants to end DDP.

 There will be no Kimberly this time, there will be no David Arquette. Monty Brown and the likes of 3-Live Kru are at ringside to prevent there is no Guitars or Cellos used by Jarrett. We also have heels like Candido and The Naturals. Living Legend Larry Zbysko motherfuckers! DDP is waiting for Jarrett who slowly makes his way into the ring. Jarrett runs from DDP, the babyfaces surround Jarrett but do not touch Jarrett.

 DDP catches Jarrett on the floor after minutes of stalling, we are in the ring where DDP keeps ahead of the champion. Cactus Jack clothesline by DDP, DDP and Jarrett brawl into the crowd. DDP throws Jarrett over the Spanish announce table and pummels Jarrett who spins in a chair. Jarrett low blows DDP, Jarrett smashes DDP’s leg with a chair. Jarrett works the knee, figure four is countered. Roll up and a two count for the challenger, figure four is countered into a small package. Two count for DDP, stomps by Jarrett who struts afterwards, Page springs up and throws haymakers at Jarrett.

 Jarrett cuts off DDP with a shin breaker and a figure four. DDP reaches the ropes, sunset flip attempt, two count for challenger. Sleeper by the champion, DDP counters with a back suplex. Big boot by DDP, Jarrett is rammed into the turnbuckle. Clothesline and a two count for DDP. Diamond Cutter is blocked but Uranage is not blocked. Spiral Bomb by DDP, two count! Running Cutter is blocked, Candido grabs DDP’s leg.

 Stroke by Jarrett, cover and a two count. Babyfaces and heels brawl on the floor, Jarrett has his guitar. BG James takes away the guitar from Jarrett. Konnan has Jarrett, BG nails Konnan by mistake. Truth is confused as Konna is out-cold. Jarrett climbs the top rope, DDP shoves the referee into Jarrett. Diamond Cutter is blocked by Kip James who nails a FameAsser. DDP kicks out and damn you TNA! You have over-booking this shit again, X-Pac is here. Spinkick to Billy Gunn and Jeff Jarrett. Two bronco busters, James is knocked to the floor by X-Pac. DDP and Jarrett are left alone, DDP was thinking Diamond Cutter but a whole bunch of heels interfere and take Cutters. DDP wipes them all out like a true babyface and DDP is measuring Jarrett.

 Diamond Cutter but an attorney is in the ring, Brown is in the ring and wait a minute, Monty Brown obliterates DDP with a Pounce. Jarrett is on top and the referee counts a three! Ok so the TNA main event scene produces another over-booked performance as another babyface is moments away from glory only for Jarrett to prevail as he dominates everyone and they look stupid for even trying to beat the man. This time it was a heel turn from Brown. Honestly, I am interested to see Brown as a heel, the guy looked like he was about to become a star before he hit a wall known as Jarrett. Hadn’t been booked great since the loss to Jarrett despite winning so it could be a nice change of pace.

 On the other hand, I am really losing my patience with this main event match that TNA seem to have with all the interference and guitars and runs in like what was the point of X-Pac coming back for a second pay per view in the row and not screw Jarrett? You would probably forget about it in the sea of madness that was this match. The ring work was good from DDP and Jarrett especially considering one of the men was 48. I just want a clean finish in the main event at this stage or at least no Jarrett.

Winner: Jarrett over DDP following Godzilla like levels of Shenanigans!

Overall, this was one of the weaker shows that I have reviewed. There was not a lot of big matches on the card that delivered and the cheap finishes one after another in the three final matches were a bit much. AMW has a decent opener but look like they have nobody to work with for the titles on their level. Sabin had a tv match at best, Trinity vs Traci the team match was pretty bad. Raven and Rhodes had what felt like an extended squash while James vs Nash was slow though it had good psychology. The X Division match came off as lazy and a bit zany for the three matches in won while the main event is what I have come to expect from TNA. It was too much the first time I saw it and now it is just getting god damn ridiculous! See you next time for another review!