TNA Hard Justice 2008 PPV Review

- Your hosts are Mike Tenay and Don West.

- From Trenton, New Jersey. Original airdate: 8/10/08

- Sting arrives without his make-up on and he refuses to talk. Way to make Sting seem less cool, mysterious and threatening by making him look like a balding, stocky PTA Father.

- F.I.L.T.H.E.E., and Grandmaster Caz open the show with the tune we've been hearing all month hyping the PPV. HAHA, No reaction for these guys. The crowd finally pops for the hasbeen rappers leaving. Thank God that's over.

- X Title, Opening match: Petey Williams v. Consequences Creed w/ Fro

Crowd seems to be in complete mild mode, but then again Creed's whole push since his redebut has been "Hey, here's this guy! He's a good guy! Cheer for him!" Creed's Fro should absorb all the impact of the Canadian Destroyer. Damn Daivari looks BUFF. Crowd is quite behind Petey right now as they do a Boo-Yay sequence, with Creed getting the boos. Jersey is trying to be "bizarro land". Damn that Defiant NJ crowd! Nice to see Mike Tenay simply own up to the crowd being behind the heel, rather than trying to give us the runaround. Creed D T on Rhaka Khan! Wow Don West LOVES Man on Women Violence. End came when Petey retains the X Title by pinning Creed with the Canadian Destroyer (after teasing it for like 6 times), after Sheik Abdul Bashir interferes and hits Creed with a steel chair.

X champion Petey Williams d. Consequences Creed, Canadian Destroyer -- pin (***1/2) Really fun X opener.

- Guest Referee - Traci Brooks: ODB, Gail Kim & Taylor Wilde v. Awesome Kong & The Beautiful People

What have they done with my Awesome Kong? Angelina is wrestling like she cares tonight. End came when Wilde rolls up Angelina Love for the pin. That's seriously her finisher isn't it?!

ODB, Gail Kim & Taylor Wilde d. Awesome Kong & The Beautiful People, Wilde front rolling cradle pin -- Love (**1/2) Good Knockouts tag.

- Lauren is with Team 3D. They're looking for Sting but Ray is afraid of heights. This means that EVERY HEEL is afraid of heights. Even Heel Sting.

- TNA Tag Titles: LAX v. Beer Money

A Beer Money/LAX duel chant. End came when Homicide was pinned after getting a beer bottle to the face (in particular, to his eye, which was "injured" when he was put through a glass table on Impact). Robert Roode having a belt is a crime against humanity. On the one hand, James Storm holding the belt again seems so right.

Beer Money d. TNA tag team champions LAX, Storm pins Homicide (****) One of the best pure tag matches I've seen all year.

- Nash is in the rafters with Sting. Nash and Sting share that close bond that only comes from WCW survivors.

- Black Tie Brawl and Chain match: Jay Lethal v. Sonjay Dutt w/ Turban and tux

A useless gimmick for a useless abortion of a feud. Does anyone actually still care about those two fighting over the ugly bitch with pink hair? I would've thought Val was going to turn if Val looked smart enough to actually understand what was going on. Seriously, she makes Maria look like Madame Curie. "Boring" chants followed by "Fire Russo" chants. End came when Lethal pinned Dutt with the Lethal Combo and a Savage Elbow for the pin. WTF you can win by PIN? So, if it was going to end in pinfall... why even add the tuxedo stripping element?

Jay Lethal d. Sonjay Dutt in the black tie brawl and chain match, flying elbow -- pin (*) Wacky gimmick killed it.

- New Jersey Streetfight: Christian & Rhino v. Team 3-D

Generic hardcore match. End came when Rhino gored Brother Ray into (but not through) a table. Post-match, Johnny Devine attacks Cage and Rhino with the Kendo stick, but "The Milkman" Abyss runs-in for the save. Abyss has the cane, but he drops it. So, if Abyss no longer uses weapons, then weren't his promos before his return where he talked up how he still wanted to hurt people pointless?

Christian & Rhino d. Team 3-D in a New Jersey streetfight, Rhino spear into a table -- pin Bubba (**) Match was like I stepped into a time machine and woke up in 1997.

- AJ Styles promo. AJ is quite effective in dishing out more serious promos these days.

- Last Man Standing: AJ Styles v. Kurt Angle w/ STARS AND BARS singlet

AJ in the spiffy white and baby blue outfit; he's going to bleed just for the blood stains on the white effect. One of the big spots was Angle hitting a somersault senton (!) onto Styles. Angle is the last person that should be doing flipping sentons off the stage. Then again Angle doing ANYTHING in the ring in his condition is high risk. Tenay reminds us that "Kurt Angle won the gold medal in Atlanta with a broken neck". Another only people who were living under a rock for the last 10 years wouldn't know that line. They hit each other with their own finishers like it's 2001 WWE all over again. End came when AJ killed Angle dead with a DDT OFF THE TOP ROPE! Godspeed, Kurt, you crazy motherfucker. Post-match, AJ tries to kill Kurt again, then Sting showed up and gave Styles a Scorpion Death Drop. I wonder if Sting's heel turn is going to end up in Wrestlecrap...

AJ Styles d. Kurt Angle in a last man standing match, DDT off the top rope -- knockout (****1/2) Tremendous Texas Death Match.

- TNA Title, Six Sides of Steel Weapons match: Samoa Joe v. Booker T

Crowd seems mixed: more pro Joe though with "Joe's Gonna Kill You" chants. Did Joe weigh less in ROH or does TNA booking just add pounds? Joe blades as the fat boy bleeds for his belt. The crowd has nothing better to do than chant "You Screwed Bret" at Hebner despite a huge World Title match is going on. End came when the lights went out and when they came back on, Joe had a guitar, which had not previously been in the cage, and he El Kabonged Booker with it. Well the guitar should have everyone buzzed about the possible return of the Honky Tonk Man! Either that or the guitar now means Sting is a Country Rock star... But in all seriousness it just means Jeff "I can take infinite finishers with no damage whatsoever" Jarrett is back. Time to repent and abandon ship, methinks. I guess this is the sound of a wrestling promotion collapsing in on itself. There's nothing left to do but panic.

TNA champion Samoa Joe d. Booker T in a six sides of steel Weapons match, guitar shot -- pin (**1/2) Booker & Joe have got to put on the most anti-climactic matches of all time.

Final Thoughts: Meltzer thinks the show was, ya know... real good. They overbooked certain aspects of this show, but by and large, the wrestling was really good. So yeah, basically this was a good show with some booking issues.