TNA: No Surrender
September 9, 2012
Orlando, FL
Impact Zone

The current TNA champs are as follows:
TNA World Heavyweight Champion: Austin Aries (7/8/2012)
TNA Television Champion: Devon (3/18/2012)
TNA X-Division Champion: Zema Ion (7/8/2012)
TNA World Tag Team Champions: Christopher Daniels & Kazarian (6/28/2012)
TNA Knockouts Champion: Miss Tessmacher (8/16/2012)
TNA Knockouts Tag Team Champions: Eric Young & ODB (2/28/2012)

Your hosts are Mike Tenay and Tazz.

• Jeff Hardy vs. Samoa Joe – BFG Series Semifinals
  

Oh no. My copy of the show starts near the finish of the first match. This is the second time that has happened in the last few months. Hardy fights off the MUSCLE BUSTER with a DDT. Off comes the shirt! He wants the SWANTON, but Joe stops him up top for another shot at the MB. Jeff counters into a sunset flip for 1-2-NO! But wait, what’s this? Jeff applies an arm triangle that choked Joe out last week on Impact. Not here though. Joe rolls out into a cover, but Jeff hooks the arms and rolls Joe back shoulders down for the 1-2-3! (1:16 shown) It looked like a pretty good match there, too. Obviously not enough time provided here to give you a rating.

• Bully Ray vs. James Storm – BFG Series Semifinals
  

Interesting. Both Storm and Ray were in this same kind of predicament last year where Bully Ray eliminated Storm from the BFG series that Bobby Roode would go on to win by beating Bully Ray at No Surrender. I love it! When Bully Ray brings up this bit of history to Storm, he gets spit on and throws a tantrum on the floor. In the ring, Bully Ray ties up with Storm and slaps him on the chest. Storm retaliates with a pimp slap. They do that over again and Bully Ray receives the same treatment. Storm fires back with punches and whips Bully Ray hard across the ring into the opposite corner. He flops to the mat and rolls out to regroup. Somehow, he’s bleeding and cries to Earl about it. Storm is back on Bully like a tornado on a windmill until Ray goes to the eyes. Storm rallies with a backdrop and a clothesline gets two. To the floor again, this time Storm follows him out and slams his head off the steps. Back in, Storm goes for the LAST CALL in the corner, but Bully moves and messes up Storm’s knee. Instead of working the knee, Bully starts pounding Storm to set up a bearhug. Storm earclaps out into a big boot for two. Suplex scores another nearfall. Bully hammers Storm in the corner a little too long and gets threatened by Earl. Over in the corner, Storm stops a ten-count corner punch and powerbombs Bully down for 1-2-NO! Storm hits an enziguri and a flying bodypress for another close one. Bully grabs a staggered Storm for a side slam for two. Crucifix by Storm gets two. He hits another enziguri and charges Bully, but runs over Hebner by mistake. BULLY BOMB to Storm! Slow cover and another ref counts 1-2-NO! Flying senton misses and that other ref gets knocked out by Storm. Whoops. As Hebner wakes up, Storm hits Closing Time on Bully back into Earl. Whoops again. No ref for Storm. As he goes to wake up Hebner again, Bobby Roode APPEARS and blasts Storm from behind with a beer bottle. He puts Bully Ray on top and regardless of the fact that huge shards of fake glass are everywhere, Hebner doesn’t worry about it too much and regardless gives the three-count to Bully Ray. (12:54) The in-ring psychology was fun and these two do have a great chemistry together. The finish is fine since it SHOULD set up a Storm v. Roode gimmick match for BFG. And hey, I hope it’s done the RIGHT way by ending the feud once and for all as opposed to just having a gimmick match for the sake of doing one. ***

• TNA Knockouts Champion Miss Tessmacher vs. Tara
  

There’s a really hot chick refereeing Knockouts matches now instead of creepy old men named Earl who can easily be swayed by hotness. Anyways, once again WWE is BEHIND TNA when it comes to their ladies. Armdrags and wristlocks to start. How about a headlock too while we’re at it? Then they start with the cradles. One lands Tessmacher on the floor and on her way back in, Tara schoolgirls her up for 1-2-NO! That serves to piss off Tessmacher a little that her total BFF is trying to get a cheap win over her. That results in some FIERY armdrags. A wheelbarrow faceslam sets up a series of clotheslines by Tessmacher. Tara tries a cross corner whip reversal, but Tessmacher counters with a clothesline out of the corner. TESS-SHOCKER gets blocked and the SPIDER’S WEB gets 1-2-NO! Superplex gets two. She tries for WIDOW’S PEAK, but Tessmacher escapes into a sunset flip for the 1-2-3. (6:36) They shake hands now, but you better believe there will be HELL TO PAY! Nah, I don’t know. Decent enough with a minimum amount of botches. What more can you ask for? *½

Elsewhere, Hulk Hogan breaks up a fight between Bobby Roode and James Storm and sends them to jail where they will be serving hard times.

• Austin Aries vs. A Member of Aces & 8’s – Unsanctioned Fight
  

No referees, just a fight. It is just Austin Aries against Luke Gallows. I MEAN, an evil looking masked man referred to by Tenay and Tazz as the guy who breaks arms. Aries is wearing his t-shirt and black pants, so you KNOW he means business. Aries stomps this guy and keeps him on the floor until he can hit a proper Heat Seeking Missile. After beating him up around ringside, Aries mounts him in the corner for the ten-count punches when this guy who breaks arm low blows the crap out of Aries to the point he falls from the corner to the floor. This masked guy follows him out and whips him into the steps. It’s around this time that some smarty pants at ringside cries out the name Gallows. Back in, the violence continues all over Austin’s face. As the masked guy lifts up Aries for a powerbomb, some powder comes out and goes all over the masked guy’s face. They fight up the aisleway and Aries brings him back in before climbing up top, but the masked man knocks him down to the floor. The masked guy tries to attack with a chair, but Aries ducks and punches him with a roll of quarters. Aries hits the BRAINBUSTER and calls for the mask, but that’s when the rest of Aces & 8’s attack. The locker room empties to come and help Aries – face and heel alike – until they clean house. After Bully Ray finally appears and runs off the last remaining gang members, here comes Hulk Hogan to lay down the law carrying a baseball bat. He wants Aces & 8’s gone and all the doors locked. Hulk yells out, “Somebody call the cops!” That is a wonderful piece of audio that I’m sure will be used in some way by somebody much funnier than I. During the chaos, Jeff Hardy gets his shoulder rammed into the ringpost. Bully Ray is the first one to notice that Jeff is hurt as he gets some medical assistance. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE BFG FINALS?

• TNA X-Division Champion Zema Ion vs. Sonjay Dutt
  

Sonjay ALMOST won Ultimate X two months ago, so now he gets an X-Division title shot. Despite being with the company off and on now for eight years, he’s never won the thing. Not once. To put this in perspective for you, Zema Ion has won the X-Division title before Sonjay Dutt. Ha, I kid. Zema’s alright. Sonjay pulls on Zema’s afro to start. There’s fancy unnecessarily athletic armdrags and Zema is on the floor. Back in, Sonjay walks the ropes and double jumps before finally finishing with another armdrag. What silliness. Tazz recalls a story of being on the road and being amazed watching Sonjay Dutt at 2AM on the TV from his hotel room. Now Sonjay busts out some a series of headscissors takedowns from inside and out the ring. Back in again, Sonjay springboards into a gutbuster. Zema slows the pace down as he works heel all over Sonjay. Meanwhile, more cops have arrived because Hulk Hogan demanded it be so. In the arena, Zema hits the Hostile Makeover for 1-2-NO! Up in the corner, Sonjay delivers another fancy headscissors to put Zema back on the floor. He wants to fly, but Zema cuts him off with a shoulderblock through the ropes. Zema flips back inside off Sonjay’s back, but Sonjay turns him around and runs him down to get himself FIRED UP. Zema reverses a cross corner whip and follows Sonjay in, but Sonjay follows him back towards the opposite corner and levels Zema with a running boot! He wants the super headscissors, but Zema counters into a sunset flip. Sonjay rolls through and tries the Buzzsaw kick, but Zema lays down for a standing moonsault instead. Cover, 1-2-NO! Zema attempts a superplex on Sonjay, but he gets punches and tossed down to the floor. Now Sonjay flies with an Asai Moonsault. Back in, Sonjay delivers the springboard splash for 1-2-NO! They trade blows, but Zema counters a hurracanrana with a powerbomb. RINGS OF SATURN! Oh, Sonjay makes the ropes and hits the SONJAY CUTTER. That puts Zema in place for the MOONSAULT DOUBLE STOMP, but Zema moves at the last second. Rollup sequence earns each a few nearfalls, but leads to a GORY BOMB from Ion to retain. (11:33) I fully expected Jesse Sorenson to appear here, but nope. Decent match with just a few too many phony armdrags for my liking. **½

Backstage, Hulk Hogan meets with the rent-a-cops demanding that no one is allowed in or out of the building. If anybody tries to get in or out, police brutality is a must. Just have fun with it!

Elsewhere, Al Snow and a trainer check up on Jeff Hardy. Borash plays CNN here with no diagnosis or any type of update for us. However, Magnus can tell us about Jeff Hardy’s condition. Is he a doctor of any kind though? Magnus feels Jeff is suffering from a severe lack of common sense. Well, that is the smartest thing I’ve heard all night. Among so many other reasons why Jeff lacks common horse sense, Magnus says Jeff should not have interjected himself in the Aces & 8’s battle when he had so much lose if something went wrong. As you can plainly see, it did. Now Jeff must pay the price, as RVD will tonight when he faces Magnus!

• Rob Van Dam vs. Magnus
  

Some feeling out BS to start. Van Dam kicks Magnus out to the floor for some guardrail action. He wants that spinning kick off the apron onto the guardrail, but Magnus moves and RVD crashes. Back in, that gets two for Magnus. Marufuji clothesline gets two. Magnus applies the Cloverleaf, but Van Dam grabs the ropes. Flying elbow scores a nearfall. RVD comes back with one spinning kick and HERE COMES RVD! Rolling Thunder for 1-2-NO! Magnus avoids the springboard kick and heads up top, but RVD slams him down. He wants a monkey flip in the corner, but Magnus shuts him down with a clothesline for two. RVD kicks away the Cloverleaf and delivers one more kick to put Magnus down for the FIVE-STAR FROG SPLASH for the 1-2-3. (10:07) Nothing too special here either way. **

In the back, Christopher Daniels and Kazarian whine about conspiracies against them. Two title defenses in four days? WHAAAAAT?

• TNA World Tag Team Champions Christopher Daniels & Kazarian vs. AJ Styles & Kurt Angle
  

AJ and Angle beat down Daniels to start. The champs try a blind tag attack on Styles, but that fails. Kazarian receives a big double back drop for his troubles. Backbreaker by AJ on Kazarian. He knocks Daniels off the apron, but turns back around into a thumb in his eye. Tag to Daniels, he hiptosses Kaz into a legdrop on AJ. They put the hurting on AJ for a bit cutting the ring in half. Finally, AJ fights off a double-team as he runs Kazarian into Daniels. While the champs are down, Angle gets the tag and delivers a release German suplex on Kazarian for two. He wants a Hat Trick of Germans for Kaz, but Daniels helps out his partner. Regardless, Daniels takes the third suplex. Kaz slingshots in for a DDT on Angle to slow him down. That gets two. Now Angle is *your* face in peril. Kaz climbs to the top, but Angle pops up with a RELEASE GERMAN SUPERPLEX! Hot tag to AJ, he hits a neckbreaker off his shoulder onto the knee for two. Asai DDT on Daniels gets two. Here comes Kazarian with a running front dropkick to send Styles flying back towards his corner. AJ ducks a double clothesline and fires back with one of his own. Tag to Angle, flying splash to Daniels for 1-2-NO! Down come the straps! ANGLE SLAM to Kaz! Now to Daniels! Cover, 1-2-NO! Daniels grabs the bottom rope. Angle grabs an ANKLELOCK, but Kaz breaks that up with a jumping enziguri. Back to AJ, he hits Kazarian with his springboard forearm smash. With Angle down, the numbers consume AJ. However, he takes a monkey flip from Kazarian and headscissors Daniels down! You know the spot. Pele Kick to Kaz! Cover, 1-2-NO! As Daniels comes off the ropes, Angle grabs him from the floor and applies the ANKLELOCK. Meanwhile, AJ hits a Springboard 450 Splash on Kaz for 1-2-NO! Daniels kicks Angle away and stops Styles up top. He wants a superplex, but Daniels gets punched to the floor. Kazarian is still there though to give Styles the FLUX CAPACITOR! Cover, 1-2-NO! Now he wants a Styles Clash, but Angle stops Kaz with a release German suplex. Daniels attacks Angle, but they clothesline each other out to the floor where it appears Angle tears his groin during the bump. While the ref checks on him, AJ tries the STYLES CLASH on Kaz, but Daniels throws an appletini in his eyes! Now Daniels slips out of the ring and Kaz schoolboys AJ for the win. (19:31) Obviously, Angle’s loss is the champs gain. Another great match from these two, but just not quite on par with the awesome Slammiversary contest. ***¾

• Jeff Hardy vs. Bully Ray – BFG Series Finals
  

When it looks like Jeff is not going to show up, out comes Hulk Hogan. He thinks Bully Ray is behind Jeff being injured, but Bully Ray says he wants to win this more than anything fair and square. Unfortunately, what can he do if Jeff isn’t here? Hogan suggests wrapping up the BFG Series on Impact instead to get this figured out. Crowd boos that one. Just when Hulk wants an answer from Bully Ray, Jeff’s music hits and we have got ourselves a match. Jeff is just a one-armed man though. Bully offers a fist pound from Jeff as a sign of respect and he accepts. In this match, the moves aren’t as important as the story. It’s a very simple story though. Bully ravages Jeff for the most part, but hope spots pop up every now and then. Jeff even gets a nearfall off a quick SWANTON BOMB. After he misses the Whisper in the Wind, the BUBBA CUTTER gets two. Jeff hits another quick Twist of Fate, but crashes and burns off the Swanton. Another BUBBA CUTTER gets 1-2-NO! Now Bully misses a corner charge and gets met with a pair of Twists of Fate. It looks like Bully will stop Jeff up top, but Jeff wins a slugfest and shoves Bully back down to the mat for the fatal SWANTON BOMB to win the BFG Series. (12:24) No Aces & 8’s to be found and we get a “happy” ending to the show. A rather strange booking choice though. The only conceivable reason Jeff won was to give the Bound for Glory main event more of an edge over Aries v. Bully Ray. But consider this, Jeff should NEVER EVER be trusted again to the point of being your #1 guy. As for Bully Ray, he decided to stick with TNA when he had the option of going back to the WWE. He’s been able to turn his entire career path around and became arguably the best heel in American wrestling. Personally, I would have awarded Bully Ray, but that’s just me. Jeff might get a few extra buys for BFG, but I can’t see anyone thinking Jeff would or even should win the TNA world title. This ending just felt like the wrong one, but it could be that I am the one who is wrong. We shall see. **¼

Final Thoughts: This was a little bit of a letdown from the previous three PPVs. I honestly was disappointed for the way the great BFG series ended, but what can you do? Nothing downright horrible and a couple good ones to catch here though. I’ll go with a strong thumbs in the middle for No Surrender 2012. Here’s to hoping Bound for Glory is super epic.