Classic Wrestling Card: TNA Sacrifice 2010

 

1. 3-Way Dance to Determine the # 1 Contenders for the TNA Tag Team Titles: Team 3D VS The Motor City Machine Guns VS Beer Money Inc (Robert Roode & James Storm) 

Result: The Motor City Machine Guns win by pin

How in the world did Chris Sabin not break Bully Ray’s neck when he hit his finisher off the top rope. It looked absolutely devastating. I didn’t feel like Beer Money got featured enough in this match. They got taken out every time they built momentum. As we would see in the following backstage footage after this match, the actions taken in this match were aiming to build a rift between the Team 3D members. The footage showed frustrations building between Bubba and D-Von. 

2. TNA Global Championship: © Rob Terry VS Orlando Jordan 

Result: Rob Terry wins by pin to retain his title 

Orlando Jordan had one of the most unique entrances I’ve seen in wrestling, coming down like an acrobat in Cirque Du Soleil. His entrance was as graceful as he was inside the ring. His opponent though was a brute. The match was sloppy at times with Terry lacking technical ability. If it was based on that metric alone, then Jordan should have won this match as he carried the match at times. But Terry had the look and the momentum of booking. After the match, Or

3. TNA X-Division Championship: © Frankie Kazarian VS Douglas Williams

Result: Douglas Williams wins by pin to win the TNA X-Division Title 

Besides the main event, this was the best match on the card. The X-Division is famous for bringing together rivalries of some of the most exciting and prolific wrestlers in TNA history. Williams and Kazarian went back and forth hitting maneuver after maneuver. And oftentimes with fast paced wrestlers, they counter and don’t always sell their opponents moves, but that didn’t happen here. Douglas Williams elevated Kazarian’s high impact style, and Williams looked like a real threat. Williams winning the belt back from Kazarian promised to keep this rivalry going, and the fact that they were given nearly 15 minutes to work, showed that TNA was invested in this program. Historically, the reason why I think Williams failed to translate to American audiences was because he’s a bit boring, but when paired with someone who brings excitement to every match like Kazarian, it really puts him over. 

4. Title VS Career Match for Knockouts World Title: © Madison Rayne VS Tara 

Result: Madison Rayne wins by pin to retain and end Tara’s TNA career 

Madison Rayne and the rest of The Beautiful People’s entrance is one of the most prolific entrances in wrestling history. I feel like Toxic Attraction years later took a lot of inspiration from their entrances and look. Tara, or as some fans might know her as Victoria, still looked great. Her and Rayne worked a really good match, but the 3 on 1 odds were too much for Tara as Rayne picked up the win. Tara doesn’t get a lot of credit for being one of the first powerhouse female talents. Rayne did a good job neutralizing that power of the black widow, but it’s hard to win wrestling matches when there are multiple distractions on the outside. Tara got a great applause as she walked off. 

5. TNA World Tag Team Championship Match: © The Band (Hall & Nash) VS Ink Inc. (Jesse Neal & Shannon Moore) 

Result: The Band wins by pin with the help of Brother Ray 

Bubba was offended by the disrespect his pupil Jesse Neal showed him backstage. So he took that personal, and would come down to the ring and smash a kendo stick over the head of Neal. People thought that Bubba was going to screw over the Band since Team 3D had problems with them leading up to this match. Hall & Nash looked decent for their age. They didn’t do much as expected with two old guys broken down from injuries over the years. But Ink Inc were young and exciting and provided a lot of the bumps and high impact in this match. I always thought Shannon Moore was an underrated worker. He did a really great job in putting over the moves of Hall and Nash who clearly didn’t put as much malice into their arsenal then they would have in the past. Bubba turning on Neal, the kid that he was training, set up a really good and personal storyline as well. Good booking, and decent tag team match despite the fact it contained two senior citizens.  

6. Ring VS Chelsea Match: Abyss VS Desmond Wolfe 

Result: Abyss wins by pin to earn the services of Chelsea 

Abyss was in such bad shape at this point in his career. He used to be able to move well for his size. But he was much slower, no matter how much Desmond Wolfe was able to work this match. It worked out as the match took a slower pace. Abyss got distracted and Wolfe hit Abyss with brass knuckles. Thinking the match was over, Abyss miraculously powered out of the cover at 2. Abyss began channeling Hulk Hogan at the end of the match, and hit a vicious Black Hole Slam. I loved Abyss’s work in the beginning of TNA, but at this point he was a shell of the powerhouse he was just a couple years prior. 

7. Jeff Hardy VS Mr. Anderson 

Result: Jeff Hardy wins by pin 

A competitive match between Hardy and Anderson (Mr. Kennedy for WWE fans). Anderson’s counters were solid, as he smoothly countered a lot of Hardy’s high impact offense, and made Hardy have a proper fight with him. Anderson, not known for being the best in ring worker, did a great job in playing the heel and elevating Jeff. Normally, Jeff will set up a wrestler in the corner, and use a chair or his brother Matt to catapult himself into his opponent. Jeff tossed Anderson onto the ramp and would hit that move on Anderson while he was tied up on the ropes.  

8. Sting VS Jeff Jarrett 

Result: Sting wins by pin 

Sting attacked Jeff Jarrett before the match even got started. A new heel Sting was making a statement in a new era of TNA wrestling. This was more for storyline than for an enjoyable wrestling match. 

9. TNA World Heavyweight Title: © Rob Van Dam VS AJ Styles (W/ Ric Flair) 

Result: Rob Van Dam wins by pin to retain 

This is a dream match that a lot of people don’t even know happened. RVD is still close to his prime, taking on a prime AJ Styles. The match had time to work and it was a glorious display of stiff kicks and counters. I still feel like RVD should have put over Styles in this spot. Lethal got involved fighting with Ric Flair on the outside, causing a distraction.

Total Show Grade: 6.8/10  

A lot of star power, some really good matches, but no young stars were put over which needed to happen for TNA at this time. They had to push some new young talent to give people a fresh face as this locker room at this time was ancient. I mean Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were wrestling on this card. It’s a decent pay per view that I enjoyed watching, but nothing worth writing home for.