TNA: Turning Point
December 11, 2005
Orlando, FL
Universal Studios

The current TNA champs are as follows:
NWA World Champion: Jeff Jarrett (11/3/2005)
NWA World Tag Team Champions: America’s Most Wanted (10/22/2005)
TNA X-Division Champion: AJ Styles (9/11/2005)

PRE-SHOW: Jeremy Borash and Shane Douglas kick us off with tonight’s line-up. Borash says that something major will happen tonight that will change the face of TNA in 2006. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? BUY THE PPV AND FIND OUT!

• Pre-show: The Naturals & Lance Hoyt vs. Buck Quartermain, Joe Doering, and Jon Bolen
  

Hoyt subs for Jeff Hardy who was a no-show. He is kind of too big of a star to be on the pre-show, but come on. Quartermain shows us how to bump around for the stars as the Naturals control things to start. Stevens even gives him a suplex on the floor. We get a showdown between the taller guys who now work almost exclusively in Japan: Hoyt and Doering. As Doering takes a clothesline to the floor, the jobbers regrouping is interrupted by Stevens giving Douglas a backdrop on top of them. Back inside, Douglas plays face in peril for a bit. Hoyt gets the hot tag and takes on all three until Doering breaks up a powerbomb. Bolen receives the NATURAL DISASTER and then after Hoyt clears the ring, Bolen gets the BLACKOUT for the three-count. (7:11) Just a glorified squash that doesn’t really mean anything.

NOW ONTO THE SHOW!

Your hosts are Mike Tenay and Don West.

• Barbed Wire Massacre: Abyss (w/James Mitchell) vs. Sabu
  

What more can these two do to each other at this point? This ultimately has to end this feud. By the way just so there’s no confusion, this is a BARBED WIRE ROPES MATCH similar to the one between Terry Funk and Sabu back in the ECW days. Sabu busts out a barbed wire bat to scare Abyss to start. However, he takes the first bump into the wire and then several more. To defend himself, Sabu has one of those spikes you always see Abdullah the Butcher using and rips open the arm of Abyss. Air Sabu into the barbed wire. Fun! Abyss takes a drop toehold into the wire, but then chokeslams Sabu on a chair. He wants to senton splash a barbed wire chair on Sabu’s chest, but Sabu turns it sideways to cut up some scrotum. I mean, why not. The force from the weight of Abyss squashes the chair into Sabu’s chest anyways. A few barbed wire chairshots takes Abyss to the floor for Air Sabu. To make him pay, Abyss hangs Sabu out to dry on the barbed wire. Next up, Abyss brings a pair of BARBED WIRE TABLES into the ring. His plan backfires as Sabu ends up making a barbed wire sandwich out of Abyss and sits on his face for the win. (10:59) There we go. An effective (albeit insane) barbed wire match in half the time of the Funk/Sabu massacre. Sabu takes some time away from TNA for a few months after this match and returns for one last match in April before heading over to WWE for the ECW reboot. *½

We get clips of Planet Jarrett and Rhino appearing at Universal Studios today.

Backstage with Shane Douglas, the 4Live Kru shows us how tight they are right now. SO TIGHT.

• Austin Aries & Matt Bentley (w/Traci) vs. Alex Shelley & Roderick Strong
  

Aries and Shelley start us off with hammerlocks and headlocks. Aries escapes the headscissors and explodes on Shelley with the dropkick. Shelley bites his way out of the BRAINBUSTER. They switch over to Bentley and Strong. Bentley and Aries deliver a double suplex and double fist drop to show their tag team skillz. Bentley then busts out a headscissors out of the corner and enziguri kick gets two. Tag to Aries, he delivers the corkscrew slingshot splash. Aries gets caught over on the wrong side of town. As Aries grabs the top rope, Strong pulls him into a backbreaker, which is SO RODERICK STRONG. In comes Shelley, he disrespects Aries and hits a Lionsault for two. Bentley gets brought in for some cheating by Shelley and Strong as they deliver a double-team reverse neckbreaker for two. Shelley cuts off the tag to Bentley, allowing the missile dropkick by Shelley into a Power Breaker from Strong! EPIC. Cover, 1-2-NO! Aries manages to fight off another double team though and hot tags Bentley. Flying Elbow to Shelley gets two. Strong cuts off the SUPERKICK and delivers DEATH BY RODERICK. Flying Senton Splash by Shelley gets 1-2-NO! Aries makes the save and we get some heel miscommunication. Strong nearly rolls off the apron into Shelley’s camera, which would just be disastrous. Finally, Bentley gets the SUPERKICK on Shelley for the win. (8:04) Fun little tag match showing us an ounce of what at least Generation Next is capable of. Matt Bentley is just the odd man out in this combo. ***¼

Backstage with Shane Douglas, Monty Brown is talking to a Bob the Builder doll – because Christian was wearing Timberlands on iMPACT. Anywho, Monty knows Christian will not take his spot. Hmm. Jeff Jarrett appears and makes fun of Monty’s clothes for some reason. He tries to smarten up Monty that there is a conspiracy against him involving TNA management. Christian is the new golden boy no matter what Monty Brown wants. Since Monty doesn’t seem to understand, Jarrett leaves to talk to someone who does.

• Raven vs. Chris K
  

Since deal as last month. Larry Zbyszko offers Raven the release and tries to piss him off by mentioning a girlfriend. His special secret opponent is KANYON or Chris K. There’s some ringside violence to start. Inside the ring, Chris K delivers that Rocker Dropper from the second rope for two. No water in the pool when he tries a Flying Moonsault though. Kanyon escapes an ANKLELOCK and we’re back on the floor as Chris K takes a bump down the ramp. Whoa, Raven’s mouth is bleeding. Back inside, Chris K avoids the drop toe hold on the chair and blocks a punch with the chair as well. He wants the Rocker Dropper again, but Raven counters and powerbombs Chris K on the chair. RAVEN EFFECT gets the win. (5:45) Afterwards, Raven again refuses to sign the release causing another pull-apart situation. Cassidy O’Reilly appears to laugh with Raven. Pretty much the end of Kanyon’s wrestling career as he would retire in 2007. Of course, not before outing Bret Hart that the Montreal Screwjob was all a work, WHICH IT WAS. *

Backstage with Shane Douglas, Team Canada wonders where Bobby Roode is. Once Scott D’Amore tells them all to shut up, Roode walks in with Jeff Jarrett. They will find out what this big announcement is going to be that will change TNA forever going forward.

• 4Live Kru vs. Team Canada (w/Scott D’Amore)
  

Kip tosses Roode around to start and press slams Williams too. To make matters worse for Petey, BG and Konnan spread his legs for the TRUTH LEGDROP. Tag to Young, Road Dogg and K-Kwik get rowdy all over him. Shake Rattle and Roll and the Shaky Knee Drop gets two. The tide turns for a short time as BG becomes *your* 4LK in peril. O CANADA nut stomp happens. Hot tag to Kip, Jackhammer to Young gets two. The match breaks down and as it looks like Kip will put away Roode with the MISSISSIPPI BOAT RIDE, Konnan steals a chair away from D’Amore and lays out Kip with it. Reluctant to do so, Roode jumps on Kip for the pinfall. (7:18) Sometimes the obvious thing is the right thing to do. Truth and BG try to find out why Konnan did what he did. When BG tries to help up Kip, Konnan blasts him with the chair as well. Truth goes all BUG EYED and can’t believe what he’s seeing. Konnan hugs Truth and wants Truth to join him, but no. Truth is still in complete shock. The match was inconsequential as Konnan turning on 3LK and dumping them to start LAX is what matters. Right? **

Backstage with Shane Douglas, the Diamonds in the Rough are reading Sports Illustrated and various sports newspapers. Baseball players don’t belong in these parts.

• Basebrawl Match: Chris Sabin, Sonjay Dutt, and Dale Torborg (w/AJ Pierzynski) vs. Diamonds in the Rough
  

Bobby Heenan replaces Don West on commentary (thank GOD) for this match. Apparently there were only two headsets in the budget. He puts over TNA big time. Sabin and Sonjay have no problems with DITR to start, but they clear out when big Dale Torborg tags into the match. Sonjay gets thrown on top of them. Back inside, Young gives Sonjay the WHIP BLAST for 1-2-NO! Sonjay tilt-a-whirls all over Skipper and ends up getting dumped on his face on the bottom rope. Whoops. Spinning Spinebuster by Young gets two as well. Over on the apron, Sonjay slingshots himself into a headscissors and makes the hot tag to Torborg. Chokeslam to Diamond gets 1-2-NO! Skipper gets wiped out with the SONJAY CUTTER and Young takes the Hesitation Dropkick from Sabin. Out they go, Sonjay and Sabin deliver STEREO DIVES. Meanwhile in the ring, Diamond low blows Torborg and whacks him with AJ Pierzynski’s shin guards. Does he just carry those everywhere he goes? Cover, 1-2-NO! Pierzynski pulls out the ref to stop the count. Well, Heenan hops up from the table and pulls the ref away so that NO GOOD TURNCOAT BACKSTABBER Johnny Damon (who is sitting in the front row) can hand AJ a home plate to whack Simon Diamond. CRADLE SHOCK sets up the HINDU PRESS as they all dogpile Diamond for the three-count and the SportsCenter moment. Well, at least Cold Pizza. (8:01) Not all that great and a waste of my boy Chris Sabin’s talents. But hey, you do what you can to get noticed by the MSM. *½

Backstage with Shane Douglas, Christian Cage says the talk is over and yet continues to talk about going to the Serengeti and bringing back with him the carcass of an Alpha Male – BECAUSE THAT’S HOW HE ROLLS.

• #1 Contenders Match: Christian Cage vs. Monty Brown
  

Essentially, winner gets Jarrett at some point. After some nose to nose trash talking, Monty goes for the POUNCE early as Christian ducks out to the floor. Christian baits Monty out to the floor and then finds himself escaping a press slam in the ring only to toss Monty back out on the floor. Christian dives on top of him from the top rope. That gets two. Brown escapes the Unprettier (which doesn’t look that hard to do when it’s done really slowly) and drops Christian on the top rope from the electric chair position. He presses Christian up and drops him on the floor. Ouch. Brown does that bit where he fakes people out as he doesn’t throw Christian into the guardrail. YA’LL SO STUPID. Anyways, Monty pounds on Christian in the ring and tries for a few pin attempts. One of the top turnbuckle pads is pulled off by Christian by “accident”. He starts working the back with a belly to belly throw and applies a bow and arrow using the ringpost. On the outside, Christian shoves Monty into the guardrail to create some separation. Back inside, Christian mounts his comeback and hits the Tornado DDT for two. Rollup out of the corner with his feet on the ropes gets two. Frog Splash connects, but Monty kicks out and presses Christian onto the ref. ALPHA BOMB gets 1-2-NO! Brown grabs a full nelson, but Christian runs Monty off into the exposed turnbuckle. While he’s out on his feet, Christian nails the UNPRETTIER and picks up the NWA world title match. (12:37) This is what you call a Perfectly Acceptable Wrestling match. ***¼

Backstage with Shane Douglas, Team 3D tell us about how ready they are for their tables match with AMW.

• Tables Match: Team 3D vs. America’s Most Wanted
  

Much like the main event at Genesis, it starts out as a big brawl. Devon pairs off with Harris while Ray gets his hands on Storm. AMW try to double-team Devon, but that’s short lived. WHAT’S UP headbutt to Storm! In comes the first table, but the 3D on Storm is broken up. AMW prop up a table in the corner and try to whip Devon, but Ray tackles him down. While Storm and Ray fight on the outside, Harris tries to splash Devon through the table. That doesn’t work either as Ray manages to crotch Harris for a superplex only for Storm to move the table at the last second. Devon sets up another table on the outside as Ray backdrops Storm on top of Devon and Harris. Another spot where the table gets moved at the last second. Storm nails Devon with the LAST CALL and looks to mock him with the 3D through a table, but Devon puts on the brakes and DDTs Storm. Since mocking seems to be the name of the game, Team 3D give Storm the DEATH SENTENCE through a table to eliminate him at 9:21. Harris attacks Team 3D with chairs and takes Devon to a table up on the stage. Just when he thinks he’s in control, Ray appears and they put him through the table with the 3D for the win. (10:37) Clean sweep for Team 3D. Didn’t have as much of the heat that the six-man brawl had last night and it was mostly big spot/move table moments. We find out that James Storm has to be helped out due to an injury. I don’t guess it ended up being too serious of a concussion since he didn’t seem to miss any TV time. **

• TNA X-Division Champion AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe
  

We got PISSED OFF AJ tonight, folks. He BUM RUSHES THE SHOW right at Joe and gives him a suplex. He snapmares Joe over and kicks him in the shoulder blades. More kicks. Styles even levels Joe with the Best Dropkick in the Business. Joe eventually has enough and chops him back. Styles tries to get into a brawl with Joe, which is a big mistake. Joe kicks the crap out of AJ and boots him to the floor. They fight on the apron over a suplex, which ends with Styles snapping Joe’s neck on the top rope. Joe sidesteps a pescado and sweeps AJ’s feet out from under him to face plant on the apron. He then grabs AJ and violently swings him into the guardrail. Joe whips Styles into the guardrail and then boots him down. Back inside, Joe snapmares AJ for the combination that ends with a devastating knee drop. Holy crap. AJ tries to kick him back and takes an even more powerful kick to the gut from Joe. There’s just nothing AJ can do now. He tries a leapfrog, but Joe catches him in mid-air for a flapjack. Jumping senton splash gets two. Running knee in the corner sets up what could be the Face Wash, but AJ catches the boot. Discus Clothesline gets stopped with a slap to the face. He shoves AJ down into another corner and delivers a running boot. Another fight on the apron sets up a Pele Kick from AJ, but a springboard into a powerbomb. OH MY GOSH. Joe wants the STF, but AJ escapes. Nevertheless, Joe bends him in half with a Boston crab with his hands clasped at the femur bones. NASTY. AJ manages to kick Joe in the face to break free, which is pretty creative. Joe takes a tumble to the floor so that AJ can bust out the FOSBURY FLOP. Back in, AJ nails the Springboard Punch to the back of Joe’s head for two. Asai DDT gets two as well. Joe cuts him off with a powerslam, but then AJ plays a little rope a dope and kicks Joe back. His mouth is busted open. Powerbomb to Joe gets 1-2-NO! Joe cuts him off again with a Lariat. Styles gets some of that FIGHTING SPIRIT going after a butterfly powerbomb. Joe doesn’t know what to think. Another Pele Kick connects. They fight up on the top rope as Joe teases a SUPER MUSCLE BUSTER. AJ brings Joe down and hits the STYLES CLASH for 1-2-NO! Joe shoves the ref into the ropes to try and trip up AJ, but Styles jumps down just in time and tries an O’Connor roll only to fall back into the COQUINA CLUTCH. AJ refuses to tap and passes out from the hold to give Joe the win and his first X-Division title. (18:55) Just when you think he’s going to show AJ Styles some respect, Joe helps him to his feet only to knock him back down again with the X-Division title. He looks to give AJ the Christopher Daniels treatment with a Muscle Buster on a chair when speak of the devil himself Christopher Daniels returns to get a piece of Joe. Unfortunately, Joe is still too awesome and headbutts the concussed Daniels down. Security swarms to protect Daniels as he takes his belt and goes home. I’d choose the Sacrifice match over this, but this was still an amazing encounter. ****¼

Backstage with Shane Douglas, GORE! GORE! GORE! Rhino says that a lot.

• NWA World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett vs. Rhino
  

Some serious arm work to start, you guys. Rhino lifts Jarrett up out of a short-arm scissors and drops him on the top rope. Press Slam to Jarrett! Time to go to the floor and brawl through the crowd. VINTAGE TNA! Jarrett gets busted open. Back to ringside for a moment as Rhino abuses Jarrett with a chair. Somewhere else in the studio building, Rhino takes a bump off a scaffold through a table. VINTAGE ECW! On the ramp, Rhino sets up another table in the opening of the entrance tunnel and GORES Jarrett down into the tunnel. Ha, the table didn’t break. That had to be scary. Kudos to Jarrett for having some serious big brass balls for that bump. When the ref orders both men to return to the ring before the ten count, Petey Williams and Eric Young head out and beat up Rhino before helping Jarrett back to the ring. Next thing we know, Rhino sprints back to the ring. He is a house of fire right now. Petey crotches Rhino up top though and allows a superplex from Jarrett. Rhino fights back with a Samoan Drop and GORES the ref by accident. Of course. In comes A-1 and Bobby Roode. A-1 receives a GORE, but Roode nails Rhino with a NORTHERN LARIAT. Cover, 1-2-NO! Jarrett KABONGS Rhino with the GEETAR for 1-2-NO! Hey look, it’s Jackie Gayda. She’s here for reasons that aren’t exactly clear. Another thing that isn’t exactly clear is why she’s dressed like a prostitute right now. Wouldn’t just wearing regular clothes have sufficed? She slaps Jarrett back into a GORE! Cover, 1-2-NO! While security tries to get rid of Jackie Gayda, Rhino attempts the RHINO DRIVER on a couple chairs. D’Amore catches Rhino with the hockey stick to help Jarrett deliver the SUPER STROKE ONTO TWO CHAIRS for the win. (17:32) Just when things look their brightest for Planet Jarrett, the lights go out and a black and white scorpion logo appears on the Impact Tron while some heavy metal music plays. When the strobe lights stop, a spot light shines down on a black trench coat, some black boots, and a black bat that’s now sitting on a chair in the middle of the ring. We now know that it is indeed Sting who will change the very direction of TNA in the year 2006. Jarrett has no clue what to do or think about this bit of breaking news. Typical overbooked TNA main event from what I saw. **½

Final Thoughts: This was kind of an in between show as it had to happen in order to move things forward. Jarrett has vanquished Rhino so that Christian can now be established as the top challenger to the NWA world title, Joe has captured the X-Division title as Christopher Daniels will certainly be going after him, Team 3D got their long-awaited revenge on AMW, and we finally got that Konnan heel turn over with already. There’s nothing outright bad here as we got a handful of solid matches. You know Styles versus Joe is of course gold. Mild thumbs up for Turning Point 2005 as we are now seven PPVs deep earning that distinction.