Against All Odds PPV - where is the logic in TNA?

Each Year, WWE stages a pay-per-view in between Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania, appropriately named No Way Out. It is traditionally a throw away show, since most of the Wrestlemania card is usually known prior to entering the February PPV, and WWE risks key players being injured prior the company’s biggest event of the year. This year’s No Way Out was a bit different. For a change, much of the Wrestlemania card was merely speculation and WWE had to determine which directions they were heading for this year’s Mania at the Citrus Bowl in Orlando, Florida.

The ECW title should be renamed the curtain jerker championship. What is WWE’s problem with CM Punk? He is about the only guy on ECW side that gets a pop from the fans. Why bury the guy? In asking around, it appears Punk is being punished for something that happened sometime before the Royal Rumble. Guerrero winning the No Way Out PPV opener wasn’t a surprise to me, but Chavo going over clean did astound me. Chavo Guerrero is a good wrestler, but no one cares about the guy, with or without a strap. Once again, WWE flies in Joey Styles and Tazz to comment one seven minute match.

You know, I liked Mike Adamle back in the day, but at last I checked, my calendar says 2008. Why did they brining him in now? Was he unable to find work, and Vince McMahon hired him because he felt sorry for the guy? Adamle was hired to do the “Mean Gene” backstage interviews, but the guy is simply horrible in this role as a wrestling interviewer. I guess at least he didn’t call Jeff Hardy “Jeff Harvey” on this PPV.

Some people liked WWE booking two elimination chambers on one PPV. The more you do a match, the less it seems special, especially putting jabronis like Big Daddy Worthless and The Great Tree in one chamber match. The Smackdown chamber match was very weak. Why wasn’t Kane booked for the match? We didn’t really think fifty year old Fit Finlay was going to earn a Wrestlemania main event, did we? This was a pointless match since only Batista and Undertaker had a chance to win.

Ric Flair really sold for Mr. Kennedy in his potential retirement match, and carried him to a decent match. With WWE bleeping out Flair’s swearing, it came off as if it was scripted. The figure four around the ring post brought back great memories of Bret Hart executing the maneuver. Great promo by Flair after the match. Hopefully Mr. Kennedy learned something by working with the Nature Boy. Whooo.

WWE instituted a wellness policy to protect their employees, yet, they actually allowed Rey Mysterio to work a match with a torn biceps. Why? Mysterio isn’t going to last much longer at the pace he is going. Personally speaking, I wouldn’t have allowed Mysterio to wrestle at No Way Out. I know he wants to work Wrestlemania this year, but the guy needs immediate surgery. Watching him work with Edge made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

The PPV seemed to be just another ho hum WWE PPV until the Big Show returned to the square circle. I wonder if the emergency rehearsal Saturday night was for the Big Show-Floyd Mayweather angle? If so, it was well worth it. What an outstanding angle involving a mainstream sports celebrity. Hopefully TNA was taking notes. Great heat, and it was refreshing the commentators shut up to allow the angle to tell the story. Can you imagine Mike Tenay and Don West keeping their traps closed for that length of period? This has great potential heading into Wrestlemania.

I truly believe the heat stemming from the Big Show-Mayweather carried over to the WWE championship match. I still have no idea why John Cena would wrestle Randy Orton at No Way Out instead of Wrestlemania. What happened to the winner of the Royal Rumble making a tough decision to decide which title he’ll challenge for at Mania? I understand the DQ finish was likely to set up a three way at Wrestlemania, but it was still a lame ending.

I thought the mobile voting results for the Raw elimination chamber was quite telling. Jeff Hardy won the poll with 38% when it was pretty well known that Triple H was going to win. This should indicate that WWE really needs to be more respective to what their fan base wants. I’m not a Hardy fan myself, but he should be pushed to top based on the crowd reaction. Heck, he’d be more entertaining on top that mind-numbing Randy Orton.

I thought the Raw elimination felt a bit rushed. It felt like WWE was running out of time, so we saw a cluster of eliminations at the tale end of the match. This was a good elimination chamber in all, and I was pleased to see that WWE did protect Hardy in this match. At this time last year, Umaga was on the verge of a huge evolution heading into the high profile battle the billionaires match at least year’s Mania, but now it appears he is headed for Money in the Bank. Come on, you knew if Hunter wasn’t going to win the Royal Rumble, he’d win this one.

All in all, I’m going to give the PPV a thumbs in the middle (leaning slightly down) based largely on the success of the Big Show-Floyd Mayweather angle. Hopefully they continue to build the heat for their potential Wrestlemania showdown. It was a largely predictable PPV. Best match of the night, the Raw elimination match.

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