TNA Destination X Review

Last Sunday saw TNA putting on their monthly offering but this time not from the Impact zone but from the Scope in Norfolk Virginia. I can’t wait until all TNA PPV’s are done from arenas which aren’t the Impact zone as I think it makes the PPV’s that much more special. Having a PPV from the same venue as your produce TV just gives the show a TV feel and not something special or worth paying money for.

Now going in to this I didn’t think much of the card but it is normally the events where I don’t expect much of the card that I go home enjoying the most so I went in with some hope. So with some hope inside of me this is what I thought of how it all went down.

Opening Video

I thought this was a lot better than TNA’s previous efforts with a simple but effective video. With some of the crazy videos they have put together with random footage and even more random ideas this video looked brilliant. Speaking of videos though they need to improve their videos that they put together to promo individual matches. On these videos they need to cut back on the amount of voiceovers they use and let the footage and the audio from commentators to tell the stories.

Highspots

Highspots have a place on a pay per view card and I think a match with some nice highspots is a good way to kick off a card and TNA did this with the three way tag match. The match was well executed and it was good to see LAX getting the win to re-establish themselves in the tag team scene. However with highspot matches you have to be careful not to over do them and put them back to back which is what we had with Destination X as the three way tag team match followed by the X-Division title match. The matches were that similar that they both featured a release powerbomb which isn’t the most commonly used move.

SoCal Val

The match between Jay Lethal and Petey Williams was instantly forgettable but the match did great things to develop SoCal Val’s character as Jay Lethal’s girlfriend. Being a face character and the partner of a face character she is expected to behave and act in a certain way. What they did at Destination X was interesting though as when Jay Lethal was pushed off the top rope by Scott Steiner and was about to be pinned Val took it upon herself to pull the referee to stop him from making the count. I know good guy wrestlers have done acts like this before but I thought it was interesting for a face female valet to do this.

Eric Young the Superhero

As expected Eric Young made his metamorphosis in to a superhero during his bout tagging with Kaz against Rellik and Black Reign. Now it is good in wrestling for the fans to be able to predict some of the things that are going to happen as people will tune in to see if they were right but I think Eric Young has been poorly handled in this one. Eric Young has been on a huge push over the last year in TNA I thought it would have made more sense in the long run to use this match for Eric young to finally show some courage and stand up against the monsters not to be put in a stupid costume and to then hit the ring with limited or little effect. Now if he turned in to a super hero with a good costume and hit the ring and made a huge impact then it would have at least given him something big to build on.

Fish Market Madness

Ok I like a bit of comedy in a wrestling show but you have to be careful that comedy doesn’t turn to look stupid and cringe worthy which is what happened in this match. I don’t think Team 3D, Curry Man or Fish Boy came out of the match with any credibility left. The great thing with wrestling is that moments like these are soon forgotten in the minds of wrestling fans so this match won’t have any long lasting affects on the combatants.

Knockouts not a knockout this month

Now you know I usually rave about the women’s division but I didn’t think it was up to it’s usual high standard at Destination X. It may just be that my expectations have got too high now with the Knockouts division but I hope they continue to try and raise the bar and not have too many outings like this one.

Robert Roode / Booker T

For a match with so much build and storyline for it only to go ten minutes and for those to be the least intense ten minutes of a strap match I have ever seen is very poor. It wasn’t until after the match that the intensity happened and that was thanks to Traci Brooks selling the lashes she received and then by Sharmell making her comeback b strapping everyone insight from security to James Cornette. Roode and Booker need to take a leaf out of the books of these two women when it comes to intensity.

Rhino vs Cowboy James Storm – Who came up with the idea for Elevation X?

I was not looking forward to this match on the card and it lived up to my low expectations. Normally the thing you can look forward to in these type of matches his a big bump at the end and after some time spent balancing above the ring James Storm finally climbed down as low as he could before he was finally pushed off by Rhino for an unexciting bump.

Does a six man work as a main event?

I for one am not a fan of having tag matches or six ways which aren’t for titles as main events. These type of matches have been used as main events for many TNA events and I don’t think many of them have worked. To get people to buy a PPV you need a strong main event which has a clear storyline and one person people want to see win and one they want to see lose. Now you knew Samoa Joe was going to get the win as they needed to push him for his title shot but to give him a great push they needed to have him pin Kurt Angle to put the thought in the fans mind that he can beat Angle. It made no sense for him to beat Tomko especially with what they could be planning to do with Tomko as this ending just made him look like the weakest link and not a possible future headline star.

Overall

There were no standout moments or standout matches that will live long in the memory. The show was well produced from a TV point of view but now they have that looking good they need to work on the content.