Christopher Daniels and Kazarian are interviewed by SoCal Val backstage, and talk about their opponents tonight being has-beens of the X-Division that were forced out of TNA by Dixie Carter, just like she tried to do with Bad Influence. Daniels calls himself a national treasure, and gives us permission to worship them….now.
Daniels gets his own X-Division video package.
Bad Influence vs. Sonjay Dutt & Petey Williams
Lots of back-and-forth action early on, until the heels slow the pace and work over Petey Williams with quick tags. Typical Bad Influence work, distracting the referee and cheating their way to the advantage. Kaz gets caught with a brutal swinging neckbreaker from Petey, and the hot tag is finally made to Sonjay Dutt who cleans house. The numbers game eventually takes its toll on Sonjay as well, and Williams makes the save to help his partner.
Canadian Destroyer attempt on Daniels, but Kaz breaks it up, only to take a huge neckbreaker from Sonjay Dutt. Daniels and Petey fight to the outside, and Sonjay rolls up Kazarian for a quick two-count. Kaz finally gets Fade to Black on Sonjay, and Chris Daniels hits the BME for the win.
Results: Bad Influence win via pinfall
After the match, Daniels holds up Sonjay, but Kazarian accidentally levels his own partner with a clothesline. Petey Williams sneaks up behind him and hits the Canadian Destroyer to appease the live crowd.
Sonjay Dutt and Chris Daniels should not be allowed to wear similar ring gear in the same match.
There are very few guys who are more iconic in the X-Division than these four men. Sonjay continues to be the best X-Division athlete never to win the title, and while I’ve heard some critics refer to Petey as a “one trick pony” with the Destroyer, he is far from it in my opinion. The crucifix armbar (or Octopus Stretch) was applied during the match – my favorite submission ever created – so I was a happy camper.
I’m actually glad they slowed down the pace to allow the heels to work at a comfortable tag team style. After the crazy Ultimate X match, they needed both a breather and something to set these guys apart. Working more of a traditional tag match – with a few awesome X-Division spots of course – was a great way to make that possible. Bad Influence continues to be one of the best things about TNA, and their experience inevitably lead to their victory. It will be interesting to see if either Petey or Sonjay will stick around going forward.
Grade: B-
