I put over in my review for TNA’s go-home edition of Impact! how on paper, I think that tonight’s Sacrifice pay per view should be decent. The problem is that I’ve said that before and TNA didn’t deliver. I’m hoping that’s not the case tonight because I thought the build-up on Thursday was real solid and it definitely made me want to watch the pay per view tonight.
TNA’s ratings have held steady and that’s something to be said when WWE is struggling to keep their ratings at the normal level. However, I don’t think TNA’s doing a great job converting those weekly television viewers into pay per view buyers. And when they do, I don’t think they’re providing events that are going to make someone run home to spend another $30.00 when the next one rolls around.
That being said, Sacrifice is filled with some intriguing matches and a Main Event that is going to witness either a title change or a major sacrifice by a major player. Booker and Styles have had a good, lengthy feud up to this point and although I doubt many people are really getting behind the Legends title, they should be behind this program continuing. They’ve done very good work together. Nash and Joe is another great semi-Main Event undercard match that although the build-up wasn’t what it would have been nearly a year ago when they were working together, it’s still going to be fun to see how they do tonight.
The Knockouts Division has definitely suffered since the departure of Gail Kim (I don’t think Gail’s jump to WWE was the sole cause, but that’s a story for another time), but I think TNA has definitely rebounded with the Love/Kong feud. Love is a stronger wrestler than Sky and, in my opinion, better on the mic as well (that Impact! promo this last week was probably the best promo of the night). They’ve brought Kong back full-circle as a face and she’s back to being the dominant female she once was without seeming invincible. I think Love has to go over tonight and continue to ride that wave on top of the Knockout’s Division. It should be a great match though.
Depending on how far they’re going to continue on with the Suicide gimmick, I don’t think they need to take the title off of him yet. If they are keeping the program going, then he needs to retain, but if it’s going to play out in the next couple of months in an effort to bring Kaz back to the company, they should go ahead and switch to Daniels. This would allow them to have Suicide challenge for a rematch once, possibly even twice, putting his mask on the line eventually. Following the reveal of Kaz, he and Daniels could have a good serious program together, hopefully adding some credibility back to the X-Division that is long overdue.
I’m already tired of hearing Brother Ray put over the TNA tag team division week in and week out, but I’m 100-percent behind the movement to bring it back to the level it was at once. The 3D Tag Team Invitational has done a good job of continuing the progress with Beer Money (the best tag team in the business today) and emerging the British Invasion as a very worthy challenger. 3D, the Brits, and Beer Money can carry the division thoroughly or a while and then if they credibly add the Guns and LAX back to the mix at some point down the line, I think they’d be right back to where they once were with the tag teams. Tonight’s pay per view can start that development and it should be a good, entertaining match between the two teams as well, so that’s always a plus.
I’ll have a review posted tomorrow with my thoughts on the show and the outcomes, but here’s my predictions for tonight’s pay per view. However, I’m going to post two: my predictions for what I think they’ll do and the predictions that I wish they would do.
Predictions That I Think They’ll Do:
Winners: Daffney, British Invasion, Angelina Love, Suicide, Samoa Joe, A.J. Styles, Mick Foley over Kurt Angle
Predictions That I Hope They Do:
Winners: Daffney, British Invasion, Angelina Love, Daniels, Samoa Joe, Booker T, Kurt Angle over Mick Foley
Analysis:
As you can see, there is a slight difference between what I think they’ll do and what I hope they do. I don’t want to see Mick Foley as the leader of the Mafia because I think that kills Kurt Angle, but that’s the only person I can really see Mick beating to retain the title. I don’t see Jarrett losing his television "control" of the company, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they do that anyway. Sting’s not retiring yet, so he shouldn’t be pinned, nor should he win. I don’t want to see Jeff as the Champion either. Angle’s the only one in this match that needs to hold the strap at this point in time. He can work the best programs and matches with young, fresh challengers when they eventually go in that direction. They also need to put him back on top of the company so he’s not the next to leave when his contract comes up.
Make sure you come back to WrestleZone.com for live, exclusive play-by-play coverage of tonight’s Sacrifice pay per view and then send in your opinions on the show to [email protected] and we will post some of them up on Monday.
