TNA Slammiversary XII Review

TNA Slammiversary XII took place on Sunday 15th June at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas. How will the TNA landscape look after this event? Let's take a look.

The first match is a ladder match for the X-Division Championship as Sanada  faces the challenge of Tigre Uno, Manik, Crazzy Steve, Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards. We get to see a lot of aerial moves such as Tigre Uno doing a corkscrew springboard splash to all the competitors outside.  Crazzy Steve comes very close to grabbing the belt but Sanada comes in and stops that. Later on, Manik seems to brutally murder Davey Richards with a sunset flip powerbomb onto the ladder and Sanada manages to climb up and grab the belt to win the match. I really enjoyed this match and it was a great way to open the Pay-Per-View.

Winner: Sanada

Predictions: 0 for 1

We now get the first qualifying match for the main event as Bobby Lashley faces Samoa Joe. Highlights of the match include: a suicide dive by Joe; and a spinning neck breaker by Lashley. The end comes when Lashley hits a spear to win the match. There wasn't that much that stood out. However, I thought it was a pretty decent match.

Winner: Bobby Lashley

Predictions: 1 for 2

Magnus (with Bram) takes on Willow (with Abyss) next. This was a decent match although both guys didn't do anything that stood out, although Willow did do a reverse splash to Magnus and Bram on the outside which was pretty cool. In the end, Magnus bounces Willow's head off the turnbuckle then hits a back suplex side slam to get the win.

Winner: Magnus

Predictions: 1 for 3

Next was a segment in which Kurt Angle announced the next inductee into the TNA Hall of Fame. That turned out to be Team 3D. I think this is a really good choice. Team 3D, otherwise known as the Dudley Boyz, were one of the top tag teams at the turn of the millennium, winning 23 tag team championships in ECW, WWE and TNA; and were involved in some of the greatest tag team matches in history. I still find it weird that the TNA Hall of Fame involves wrestlers that are still active. But anyway, a good choice.

We now get the second qualifier for the main event as Kenny King takes on Austin Aries. The match goes back and forth and we can to see King being cocky when he is dominating Aries. However, that comes back to haunt him as Aries makes his comeback and gets the win with a top rope brainbuster. It was a really enjoyable match and it looked like that anyone could win it.

Winner: Austin Aries

Predictions: 2 for 4

We now get The Von Erichs take on the team of Jesse and DJ Z. Jesse and DJ Z work over Marshall and later on, Ross before he gets the hot tag to Marshall. The Von Erichs look to have the match won but Jesse comes in and hits Ross with a steel chair to get disqualified. Afterwards, Kevin Von Erich comes in and applies the Von Erich claw on DJ Z. I thought the Von Erichs did pretty well in this match. However, I think it would have been better if they won the match cleanly.

Winners: The Von Erichs

Predictions: N/A

The Knockouts Championship is on the line as Gail Kim challenges Angelina Love with Velvet Sky. Kim tries a springboard hurracarrana but Love counters it into a powerbomb. Later on, Velvet Sky sprays hairspray into Kim's face right in front of the referee Brian Stiffler and Angelina Love hits the Botox Injection for a 2 count. Senioe Referee Earl Hebner comes in, ejects Sky and Stiffler and referees the match himself. Kim does make a comeback. Kim dropkicks Hebner and looks like she twice has the match won. However, Stiffler is busy tending to Hebner. Love counters a roll up into a roll up and Stiffler slides in and counts the 3 count to get the win. I thought it was a good match and I wonder what the repercussions for Stiffler's actions will be.

Winner: Angelina Love

Predictions: 3 for 5

Next is a Texas Death Match between Ethan Carter III and Bully Ray. There was a brutal bit where Bully kicks a steel chair into EC3's face. Overvthe course of the match, they both use chairs, tables, a cheese grater, a Dallas Cowboy trash can containing shards of glass, and a rope connected to a cowbell. Bully exposes the ring boards and tries to powerbomb EC3 onto them. Rockstar Spud comes in to save him but he gets destroyed with a kendo stick. EC3 hits the one percenter, driving Ray onto the boards for a 9 count. Dixie Carter runs in and is chased by Bully. She runs into EC3 that somehow knocks her out. Bully tries to send Dixie through the table. However, EC3 hits him with a kendo stick and Rockstar Spud pulls Dixie off the table just before Bully falls through them. The referee counts to ten and EC3 wins the match. I quite enjoyed this match, although I didn't really like the ending.

Winner: Ethan Carter III
Predictions: 4 for 6

The penultimate match is between Mr Anderson and James Storm. Storm injures Anderson's knee early on and Storm focuses his attack there. The end comes when Storm spits beer into the face of one of the Dallas Cowboys watching the show. A couple of minutes later, Cowboys player George Selvie comes to the ring and distracts Storm long enough for Anderson to hit the mic check and get the win. Whilst I thought it was a bit short, I quite enjoyed this match and I can see them having some more matches in the foreseeable future.

Winner: Mr Anderson

Predictions: 4 for 7

The main event is a steel cage for the TNA World Championship. Eric Young will face the challenge of Austin Aries and Bobby Lashley. Aries and Young team up briefly to take down Lashley before they start to fight each other. Highlights of the match also include: Aries doing a powerbomb pin on Young for 2 followed by a running dropkick on Lashley; Young doing an AA type move on both Lashley and Aries; Young doing an elbow drop on Lashely from on top of the cage; and Aries doing a brainbuster for 2. Lashley misses a spear and goes flying out of the cage and Young gets the win after reversing a brainbuster into a piledriver. I really enjoyed this main event, although it was quite short. I'm still finding it a bit weird Young being the Champion. However, that doesn't matter as Lashley wins it on the following Impact.

Winner: Eric Young

Predictions: 5 for 8

I quite enjoyed Slammiversary. I thought most of the matches were good, although a couple seem to be a bit short. Despite that, I'm sure TNA are starting to head in a good direction. They probably won't be but there's no harm in being optimistic.