Sometimes it’s like pulling teeth to get a good pay-per-view out of TNA. That was anything but the case Sunday at Against All Odds. From top to bottom, the card delivered. The matches you thought would be good delivered above expectations while the lacklustre matches on paper held their own. The show was highlighted by the Fatal Four Way for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and the X Division Title match between Austin Aries and Alex Shelley.
Emanating from the Impact Zone in Orlando, Fla., Against All Odds featured five title matches, but none bigger than the four-way match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, as Bobby Roode defended his title against James Storm, Bully Ray and Jeff Hardy with Sting at ringside as the special enforcer.
Ray decides to sit the early part of the match out and allow Hardy and Storm to beat on Roode. Well, that’s until Storm tries to pull a fast one on Hardy with a roll-up. Hardy returns the favor until they get on the same page again. But just as that happens, Ray comes back into the fold and clotheslines both men.
Now everyone’s turning on everyone. Roode and Storm hit the Beer Money suplex on Ray. They look at each other with a funny eye after that before slugging it out. Ray and Roode look to combine on a spike piledriver on Hardy, but Storm breaks it up. Now it’s Storm and Hardy who go for a superplex on Roode, but Ray comes over and we get a Tower of Doom spot and now all four men are down.
Hardy hits Ray with a Twist of Fate but Roode delivers a flap jack to Hardy. Now Ray hits Roode and Hardy goes for another Twist of Fate but Ray shoves him off. He goes into the corner where he traps the referee. Ray charges, Hardy moves and the ref eats it. Ray hits the Bubba Bomb on Hardy and has the pin but there’s no ref. Hardy with the Twist of Fate on Ray now. Same thing. Storm and Roode back up and Roode eats the Last Call Superkick but Ray pulls the referee out of the ring.
Storm comes over the top to hit Ray but hits the referee instead. In the ring, Ray charges Hardy but runs right into a Double R spinebuster. Hardy with a Twist of Fate on Roode and he goes for the Swanton Bomb, but Roode rolls out and Hardy crashes. Outside, Roode grabs his belt and looks to use it, only Sting grabs it away from him. Roode all up in Sting’s face and he shoves him. Again. Still no response from Sting. Now Roode spits in Sting’s face and that does it. He swings the belt but Roode ducks and Sting hits Hardy instead.
Roode covers and orders Sting to count. Sting gets down, right in Roode’s face and starts to count. Reluctantly, Sting hits the mat three times.
Winner via pinfall and STILL TNA World Heavyweight Champion: Bobby Roode
Roode tells Sting to present him with the title and raise his hand after the match. Again, Sting does so reluctantly.
The next TNA pay-per-view is Victory Road on March 18.
After an opening video package, Mike Tenay and Jeremy Borash welcome us to Against All Odds, an eight-match card from Orlando, Fla.
Match #1 – X Division No. 1 Contender’s Match – Zema Ion (The Philippines) vs. Jesse Sorensen (Katy, Texas)
The match is off to a roaring start, going back-and-forth. Sorensen is out the outside and Ion comes off the top but ends up hitting Sorensen on the top of the head with both his knees. Sorensen is clearly hurt and knocked out. He doesn’t move as Ion goes back to the ring. The referee briefly checks on Sorensen then starts counting. He hits nine and then just stops before going to 10. Sorensen still hasn’t moved. The referee goes back outside the ring and finally calls for the bell as EMTs, trainers and medics rush to the ringside area.
Winner via countout: Zema Ion
Match Rating: NR
Robbie E is out. He says he and Robbie T figured they’d do something special for this show, creating the Robbie E Invitational. He offers anyone to come down and get a shot.
Match #2 – TNA World Television Championship – (c) Robbie E (Seaside Heights, NJ) vs. Shannon Moore (Whispering Pines, NC)
Robbie gets the worst of it early and tries to take a walk, but Moore runs up the ramp and brings him back to the ringside area. Moore controls much of the match. He hits a big Asai moonsault onto Robbie and goes to work, getting near fall after near fall. He rolls Robbie up but Robbie pushes him off right into a big punch for Robbie T. Robbie E takes advantage, hitting an implant DDT and that does it.
Winner via pinfall and STILL TNA World Television Champion: Robbie E
Match Rating: 6/10
Match #3 – TNA Knockouts Championship – (c) Gail Kim (Toronto, Ontario) vs. Tara (San Bernardino, Calif.)
Great back-and-forth action early. Kim working some unique submission holds, but Tara starts to fire up. Kim goes to the top but Tara cuts her off and backdrops her off the top rope. She follows that up with a moonsault from the top rope that connects but she cannot capitalize right away. She comes up holding her injured knee but crawls over and makes a cover but Kim kicks out at two. A limping Tara goes for the Widow’s Peak, but Kim escapes, attacks Tara’s knee and then hits Eat Defeat and that’s it.
Winner via pinfall and STILL TNA Knockouts Champion: Gail Kim
Match Rating: 7/10
Match #4 – TNA World Tag Team Championship – (c) Matt Morgan (Fairfield, Conn.) & Crimson (Brooklyn, NY) vs. Samoa Joe (Isle of Samoa) & Magnus (Norfolk, England)
Joe and Magnus control and isolate Crimson. Joe with the right hands in the corner. He goes for a splash but Crimson gets an elbow up, then a boot and he follows that with a clothesline from the second turnbuckle. He finally tags Morgan. He hits Joe with the discus clothesline then runs Magnus and Joe together.
Boss Man Slam for Magnus but Joe breaks up the pin and puts the boots to Morgan. Crimson in, but Joe rakes his eyes. Joe off the ropes but he runs into a double shoulderblock from the champs. They call for the double team chokeslam, but Magnus breaks it up. Joe and Magnus run Morgan into the corner. Joe with a splash and a kick. He goes for the snap mare but Morgan pushes Joe into Magnus and he falls off the top. Crimson comes in and goes to spear Joe, but Joe moves and he hits Morgan instead. Joe dispatches of Crimson and then lines Morgan up in the corner. He hits the snap mare and Magnus comes off the middle turnbuckle with the silky-smooth elbow. That’s it!
Winners via pinfall and NEW TNA World Tag Team Champions: Samoa Joe & Magnus
Match Rating: 6/10
Match #5 – TNA X Division Championship – (c) Austin Aries (Minneapolis, Minn.) vs. Alex Shelley (Detroit, Mich.)
Crowd behind both men. Aries slips under the ring and comes out and knees Shelley to the outside. Then he comes through with his signature suicide dive. Aries takes over from there. Aries works the crowd a little too long before going for the Pendulum Elbow and Shelley moves. But Aries maintains control by raking the eyes, but that doesn’t last for long.
Shelley with some kicks and he gets going. Aries tries to sneak under the ring again, but this time, Shelley sees it coming and back drops him to the floor. Then he comes through the ropes with a suicide dive of his own. Back in the ring, Shelley goes for a double stomp but Aries rolls out of the way. Shelley grabs Aries and hits a driver for two.
The two go back-and-forth and end up on the apron. Aries shoves Shelley into the ring post and then hits a DVD onto the apron. Ouch. Back in the ring, Shelley rallies and hits Sliced Bread but Aries gets his hand on the bottom rope at the very last second. Shelley goes for the kick but Aries ducks it and hits one of his own. He hits a high-velocity corner dropkick, followed by the brainbuster, but Shelley kicks out.
Aries can’t believe it. He goes for another, but Shelley with a small package for two. Shelley with two kicks but Aries kicks out. Shelley now goes for Sliced Bread but Aries counters it and hit some knees to the top of the head. Shelley is hurting. Aries hits him with another brainbuster, but instead of covering, he locks in the Last Chancery and Shelley has no choice but to tap.
Winner via submission and STILL TNA X Division Champion: Austin Aries
Match Rating: 8/10
Match #6 – Kazarian (Anaheim, Calif.) vs. AJ Styles (Gainesville, Ga.)
Styles in control. He hits a flying forearm off the apron and sends Kazarian flying into the guard rail on the floor. Back in the ring, Styles applies the Indian Death Lock but Kazarian is able to reach out and grab the bottom rope, barely. Styles misses a flying forearm in the corner and Kazarian comes in and puts Styles into orbit with a huge monkey flip.
Now Kazarian takes over. Springboard leg drop connects. It is all Kazarian here right now. He hits a side Russian leg sweep for two. Kazarian is all over him but can’t finish. Kazarian locks Styles’ arms up with a knee to the back but Styles is able to work to a vertical base. The two slug it out in the centre of the ring before Styles hits some clotheslines and a kick. Backbreaker for Styles. Styles works for the Styles Clash but Kazarian evades it.
Styles eats a boot then a big drop kick that sends him flying. The two go back-and-forth. Kazarian clotheslines Styles over the top and Styles hits the apron hard. Kazarian slingshots Styles in and hits a cutter but Styles kicks out at two. Styles goes to the top but Kazarian cuts him off and hits a kick that incapacitates Styles for a bit. Kazarian goes to the top but Styles fights back. He headbutts Kazarian to the canvas and follows with the jumping inverted DDT for two. Styles goes for a suplex but Kazarian slips out the back and plants Styles face-first into the mat.
They trade quick covers but Styles hits the Pele and both men are down. Styles goes to the apron and goes to springboard, but instead of going and hitting the moonsault onto Kazarian in the ring, he goes backwards and hits Daniels with it, who was behind him. Styles comes back in the ring but runs right into the Fade To Black and that does it.
Winner via pinfall: Kazarian
Match Rating: 8/10
Match #7 – Gunner (Atlanta, Ga.) vs. Garett Bischoff (Clearwater Beach, Fla.)
Gunner in complete control here, just toying with Bischoff here, really. That is, until he runs into a flapjack. Gunner, though, responds with a neckbreaker. He puts Garett on the ropes where Eric slaps him behind the referee’s back. That brings Hulk Hogan over and decks Eric. In the ring, Garett with a small package for two.
Gunner with another neckbreaker. And another. Hogan threatening to pull the plug and throw in the towel as Gunner continues to work on Bischoff’s neck. Gunner with a DDT and that does it.
Winner via pinfall: Gunner
Match Rating: 3/10
Match #8 – Fatal Four Way for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship – (c) Bobby Roode (Toronto, Ontario) vs. Bully Ray (New York City) vs. James Storm (Leiper’s Fork, Tenn.) vs. Jeff Hardy (Cameron, NC)
Winner via pinfall and STILL TNA World Heavyweight Champion: Bobby Roode
Match Rating: 7/10
Event Rating: 7.5/10
Matt Bishop can be reached at bishop20@msu.edu. Please include your name and hometown. Click here to follow Matt on Twitter. Should be a good one!.