No wrestler was more tied to WCW than Sting. He rose to fame just as Turner bough the company and stayed until the end never leaving to work the WWF. He would feud with pretty much every major name WCW ever had. He was part of the companies PPV ever at Starcade 1997. When WCW closed in 2001 Sting was one of a number a talents under contract to Time Warner and not WCW so he wasn't included in the sale to Vince McMahon. As various other WCW stars appeared on WWE TV Sting remained free. He mad a few appearances for WWA and TNA in 03 and 04 but the question remained would we ever see The Stinger back on TV in a regular role. In 2006 TNA announced to the world they had a reached a deal Sting and was ready to return to the wrestling world full time. Sting's debut was set for Final Resolution and tag team match. Sting would team with recent TNA pick up Christian Cage to face NWA world champion Jeff Jarrett and Monty Brown. I loved this PPV when it first aired but I've been a huge Sting fan. So now all these years later how does this event live up. Was I just so happy to see Sting back that I ignored problems or is the classic I remember. Also I think it fits given we might be about to see the end of Sting's TNA career.
The DVD includes the pre show and two pre show matches. This was different than the pre shows TNA does now it would include not just matches but little angles and sometimes changes to the card. Actually I prefer this pre show to what TNA does now. To me it was just more engaging they would still air video packages to hype the show but there is just something about having a shot of the arena and live video that I enjoy over a countdown style show. Jeremy Borash welcomes us and runs down the card hyping the return of Sting. A much slimmer than he is now Shane Douglas interviews Christian Cage asking him about the main event. The peeps let out a big Christian chant. People have to remember Christian jumping TNA was a huge deal. The guy was so hot in the WWE he brought the energy that he and TNA have never really recaptured. Christian talks about how Brown and Jarrett are scared of losing there spots and that he will be NWA world champion. Great interview as always from Christian Cage
Team Canada A-1, Petey Williams, and Eric Young vs Lance Hoyt, Jay Lethal, and Kenny King- So strange to watch a match like this now and see where everyone would go. Mike makes a point of how Scott D'Amore isn't with his team for this match.After Petey and Jay start us off they tag in the big men Hoyt and A-1. At this stage Kenny King was pretty much a jobber and he had a lot of work to do to get to that more polished worker he would become he wasn't awful but just a little rough. Eric Young was also just starting his comedy work after and man guy just has a knack for it. Team Canada worked Kenny King over for a length of time. Before he made a tag to Lance Hoyt sadly the production team missed the tag since they were showing a replay. Petey Williams picked up the win hitting the trademark Canadian Destroyer witch really is a an amazing move. Match good for a pre show match of course they weren't going to go for broke. Only guy that didn't look good was A-1 the guy was your classic body not much else but it worked for Team Canada given they had two small guy and a great worker in Roode you could team him up with at all times.
The Latin American exchange Konnan and Homicide vs The Naturals Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas- These were the early days of LAX when they really didn't have a set lineup that clicked hell Hernandez was months away from debuting. Before the match Konnan invites Ron Killings to join LAX witch I never really got. Yes Killings and Konnan were parters in 3LK but the gimmick of LAX was they were all Latin's that hated America why recruit the Black guy? The Naturals bum rushed the ring for a hot start. Homicide looked decent here but not spectacular. The Naturals were always a very under rated team and it's to bad they didn't get a longer run but from what I understand they kind of blew some big chances. Konnan was well Konnan basically the same moves you had seen since 1996 when he joined WCW. LAX picked up the win after Konnan hit Stevens with a weapon. Decent match but nothing you couldn't skip over. LAX wouldn't really get going until Hernandez joined up.
Backstage Shane Douglas was outside Sting's dressing room. Upon enervating he found Team Canada had invaded it. Petey Williams rants about TNA was rolling out the red carpet for Sting when he didn't show up. Eric Young told Petey that Sting could be anywhere. Suddenly the lights went out only for it to be Scott D'Amore pulling a prank and yeah I got a good laugh out of Eric Young's reaction. D'Amore told his boy they had business to deal with. Decent segment it did two things one told you that if you wanted to see Sting you had to buy PPV and two told new fans that were watching to see Sting that Team Canada was working with Jeff Jarrett and Monty Brown. And a really good move TNA made was not having Sting appear at all before the show the only thing we did get his Voice on the PA to taunt Jarrett. Hell they didn't use a photo of him for the PPV graphic instead we got a Sting logo. There is also a lot other standard PPV hype card getting run down over and over again. Videos for the big matches all stuff you can skip.
Roderick Strong, Austin Aries, and Alex Shelley vs Matt Bentley with Traci Brooks, Chris Sabin and Sonjay Dutt- Yes folks this Generation Next was in TNA. TNA had paired Aries, Sabin, and Shelley. The idea was there were pissed of they were getting the chances others were even debuted with a win over AJ Styles, Chris Daniels, and Chris Sabin. I know some ROH fans were pissed TNA "stole" ROH's stable but one these guys were still working in ROH at the time and two if your a fan of these guys and there gimmick why wouldn't you want to see them go to the next level. This what you got of the X-Division back than fast amazing action. The perfect kind of action to open the PPV with and really get the fans going. By the way if have only see Austin Aries's current look track down this show back when he was still using his original gimmick and look. Generation Next an awesome triple team moves as Strong hit a powerbomb as Aries hit a neck breaker while Shelley hit a double stamp on Sonjay. Sonjay was our Ricky Morton for this match getting worked over by the than TNA newcomers. Eventually Dutt reversed a Strong back breaker into a DDT and tag Sabin. The annoying thing about Matt Bentley given he was the cousin of Shawn Michales he often had a similar look and used a number of HBK's moves I wish he would used more of his own style because the guy was a pretty talented worker. Alex Shelley rolled up Matt Bentley to pick up the win. Match was very good. Just what you want fast passed and getting the fans going.And it's a shame some issues led to the Gen Next stable no working out. Of course things worked out for Aries in the long run.
We get a video recapping the end of Three Live Kru an stable TNA paired up when they had nothing for Killings, BG James, and Konnan. I never got into 3LK sadly that meant we got a we full on New Age Outlaws reunion and them feuding with LAX. And this video was stupid to have her since LAX, The James Gang and Killings didn't wrestle each other here on this show.
The Diamonds in the Rough David Young and Elix Skipper with Simon Diamond vs The James Gang Kip and BJ James- I'm not about to try and rewrite history here and say The Outlaws weren't extremely over at one point because they were. I'm not going to claim they are the worst wrestlers I have ever seen because they weren't. I'm not going to that if a team worked together in WWE there could never be a good reason for TNA to reunite them because that's insane. But this was 2006 the bloom was off the rose for The Outlaws, James Gang VKM what ever you call them. This was clearly TNA trying to cash in on hot act from the MNW era. The Diamonds were a decent team but something never really clicked. Where teaming with Daniels and Low Ki brought out the best in Skipper he and Young were just ok. This match had one goal to give the James Gang a win as they started there feud with LAX. I actually think Diamond could have been a very good manager if he had gotten a team with a push. In a strange moment the Diamonds had a pin but Kip had distracted the ref witch is a heel spot and the James Gang were faces. Kip James picked up the win after hitting Skipper with a move that looked like a cobra clutch into a slam. Match was blah not anything great.
Shane Douglas interviewed Christopher Daniels and asked Daniels if he was returning from a concussion he suffered at the hands of Samoa Joe. Daniels was fired up remind everyone Joe hadn't beat him during his winning streak and that he could be the man to end it. Very good promo by Daniels. Who as always has played his role well no matter what it is.
Hiroshi Tanahashi vs AJ Styles- This was an international showcase match. I always love when any company brings in outside talent it just ads a new flavor and gives us matches we wouldn't see otherwise. This match was basically TNA's hot young star vs New Japan's hot young star. Of course AJ already had a few world title runs under his belt and in the years since Tanahashi has become IWGP World Champion many times. We got a split crowd as a number of "Smart" fans chanted for the New Japan star while the TNA fans changed for AJ. This two guys had very similar styles that just gelled perfectly. They exchanged a number of different moves. Sadly I think people think X-Division or "international" star they think "oh high flying" these are two complete wrestlers able to do it all. Tanahasi got a lot of offense in and I like that you gotta let anyone look good to make that win look important. Since this match AJ has changed up his move set a bit so it was cool to see some of the older spots he would do. This mach has zero storyline purpose but it was more about just have have a great match. Honestly I wish TNA would get back to using guys from Japan and Mexico and hey New Japan since AJ's a free agent right it would be nice to see appear. Shannon Moore who was feeding with AJ ran in but his he nailed Tanahasi by mistake allowing AJ to hit the Styles Clash for the win. Very good match if your a fan of a New Japan and Tanhasi or just want to see a very good AJ Styles match with someone he didn't work with often you might want to track this down.
We get a recap of Raven's history with Larry Zbyszko. To explain Raven had been screwed out of the NWA title and Larry who was in charge of the Championship Committee would not grant Raven a rematch. We than get a promo from Raven talking about Larry and how if he loses his tonight his wrestling career is over. Great promo by Raven. Larry was in the ring and introduced the final nail in Raven's coffin would be Sean Waltman. Waltman had been out of TNA but he and Raven had a pretty good match in the past but the name is a let down. Waltman isn't a bad worker but just felt like they could have picked a more fitting name to face Raven.
If Raven wins he gets a title shot if he loses he is gone Raven vs Sean Waltman- Raven had tried to get his hand on Larry on the start opening the door for Waltman to attack him. This was a NO DQ match so Raven brought down the weapons. Raven was busted open early on. In a cool spot Raven planted Waltman in a shopping cart and shoved it off he ramp. I always like watching old Raven matches because the guys had moves a lot people didn't use. After the ref got bumped Larry took over as the official and slow counted Raven on a pin attempts. Witch sadly means you knew what was going to happen Larry was going to screw Raven here. And of course that's what happened as he allowed Waltman to X-Factor Raven off a ladder and than counted 3 even with Raven's foot on the rope. Match was bad. I don't think anyone was demanding a Raven vs Waltman match. There were other guys you could have used and it was clear the finish would be Raven getting screwed. Post match Larry mocked Raven and had security escort him out of the building.
Shane Douglas interviewed Ron The Truth Killings. Killings cut his usual bad promo until he was interrupted by Konnan. Konnan tried to patch things up from the end of 3LK. I never got this as I said and long term it never added anything because Killings never joined with either side. Konnan promised he would have Killings back tonight. Tenay and West talked about the fact Raven was gone and they did a great job selling the moment as a huge deal as guy that been such a big part of TNA was gone.
Backstage as Raven was leaving Larry kept taunting him even tossing Raven his back. Jackie Gayda showed up to talk to Raven. Jackie declared something bigger was going on than even Raven knew. Now there actually was a reason for all this it just got lost as plans changed as I said Raven has lost his NWA title to Jarrett and TNA did plan to do a big rematch but than Sting and Christian got hired and went with them facing Jarrett. Jackie's part in the story I think was to unveil Larry had been helping Jarrett but well to draw out the story they had her get blackmailed Jarrett to join him and than she got pregnant and left the business.
Bobby Roode with Scott D'Amore vs Ron Killings- They recapped how Killings and Roode's recent history on Impact with Killings beat in less than a minute Roode twice but D'Amore distracted Killings allowing Roode to beat Killings. Killings went for a quick rollups like how he had beat Roode on IMpact and I like it given the story they had told. Of course this time Roode kicked out. Even bak than Roode was a great talent and was able to carry Killings. One things I love about Roode is he's willing to react to anything he doesn't no sell or undersell and did a great job telling the story of a guy that had been beat easily twice and was pissed about it. The guy is also just such a natural in the ring. D'Amore was a great manager always willing to do what ever it took to get heat on himself and his wrestlers. Konnan made his way out and distracted Killings allowing Roode to hit the Norther Lariat for the win. About as good as Truth match your going to get but I give all the credit to the guy he was working with. Post match we got some stuff with the James Gang and LAX as Killings just walked away ok we get it Killings is done with both of them.
James Mitchell cut a promo on his clients Abyss' match with Rhino. Mitchell mocked Rhino for the issues in his personal life and how Rhino lost the world title. I am amazed TNA doesn't have Mitchell still working for them or that WWE never hired the guy but will give mush mouth Mantell a job. I also kind of hope when TNA brings back Abyss that they revert him to the silent monster. A video recapped the history between Abyss and Rhino. It was actually a pretty well connected story. Mitchell and Abyss had been hired by Scott D'Amore to get Rhino away from him. And I always love when companies connect there stories like this.
Abyss with James Mitchell vs Rhino- If there was a comeback wrestlers of the year in 2005 it was Rhino. The guy had been so misused by WWE for years and than finally got fired after issues in his personal life caused him to lose it during WrestleMania weekend. TNA brought him in and the guy was finally allowed to show how talented he was again. He had awesome matches with Raven and Jeff Jarrett even holding the NWA world title for a little while also the guy got mad over with the TNA fans. They saw a guy busting his ass for them and they loved him for it. My buddy Patrick Kelly used to say Rhino was the guy that even though he worked for ECW and WWE you saw him as a TNA guy. Of court Abyss is a monster but always able to have to good match and isn't some slow ox like Khali. These two guys had a brutal match using stiff chair shots and slams it really is nice to see two power guys that can truly work. I would even say both guys are graceful. One thing I always loved about Tenay is how he tries to make points like a sportscaster would here pointing out that Rhino couldn't just hit the gore out of no where like other moves he needed to weaken Abyss down to set up for it. The cool thing about this match is Rhino is one of the few guys that he can hit power moves on Abyss moves and not have it be some miracle shot. Rhino went for a move after hitting the ropes but ran right into the black hole slam leading to a win for Abyss. A great match especially if you like power wrestling and bigger guys.
Shane Douglas interviewed Team 3D before there NWA world title match. The story was that 3D had held the ECW, WCW, and WWE tag titles but never the NWA titles and this was there chance. Brother Ray listed the great teams that had held the NWA tag titles. While I think Team 3D had some letdown in the rings and no matter what they claim they weren't the great team ever damn the two guys could cut a great promo. And he speaks about how much it would mean to join these great teams you got the sense Brother Ray really meant it.
NWA World Tag Team Titles America's Most Wanted James Storm and Chris Harris with Gail Kim vs Team 3D Brother Ray and Brother Devon- AMW was the first great TNA tag team. Able to wrestle any style with anyone. They held the NWA tag belts more than anyone else in TNA. . Also they had some many classic matches with so many different teams. So it was a natural fit to feud them with 3D. Plus AMW's heel turn was pretty shocking the idea of the two hero's joining with Jarrett shocked a lot of people. Also this feud got real personal as AMW laid out Team 3D early on and than mocked hem by holding a funeral for them. Devon started us off a really well done exchange of chain wrestling. If you had told me in 2006 that Storm and Ray would have runs as world champion while Chris Harris was out of the wrestling business I would have called you stupid. It really is to bad Chris never got that big singles run in TNA or WWE it's also to bad the guy just lost his fire and blew a few chances to return. As I said AMW was able to do pretty much anything and 3D could have very good matches when they truly needed to so having these two bigger teams were able to have a very good wrestling match. In a nice spot as Harriss tried to use powder but Ray kicked his hand leading to it to blind Harris, Gail and the referee. 3D hit the 3D and the blind Charles counted 3 but AMW's allies Team Canada ran it to switch the pin. It sounds stupid repeating it but the finish worked well as the fans were thrilled to think 3D had the titles only to have it ripped out of there hands.
Shane Douglas interviewed Jarrett and Monty Brown. For some strange reason throughout the night Douglas has called Sting "The Man they Named Sting." instead of the usual "The Man Called Sting." Its a small thing but come on Shane you were in WCW with Sting. Jarrett predicted that Sting and Christian couldn't get along since both men wanted the NWA title and the shot at Jarrett. Jarrett took a shot at Christian calling him a mid card comedy act witch was a key part of there feud. Also in a nice touch Jarrett pointed out Christian habit of stabbing partners in the back. I always like when companies use guys whole history. Brown in hindsight has the Ultimate Warrior syndrome where looking back you go "While did everyone think he was so great?" Yes the guy had potential but a lot of that came from the guys he was working with.
X-Division Championship Samoa Joe © vs Christopher Daniels- Before the match they aired a video recapping Joe's brutal beat down of Daniels a few months earlier and than Daniels returning to stop him from doing the same to AJ Styles. TNA did a great job of building up Joe when he first got there he was given a long a unbeaten streak and put against smaller guys allow him to truly look like a killer. He was able to things most guys his size could only dream off. He didn't talk and it wasn't clear if Joe was a heel or a face. Finally went full heel destroying Daniels and beating AJ Styles to win the X-Division title. The match started much like a real fight would both men tentative to start. Joe was looking for power and Daniels used his speed. It seemed like every time Daniels started to build momentum Joe would shut him down with one big move. For example Daniels would land a kick to stop Joe and than would charge only to get caught by Joe in the Power Slam. I really wish joe would get back to working more submission wrestling as the guy really could do it well but given he's in the heavyweight Division these day I get het might have adjust his style. Also the guy could do moves like a hunncanrana which could you ever see another guy that big doing that. Daniels hit the BME only getting two. In an awesome spot Daniels hit sling shot elbow drop to the floor on Joe. But that proved to be Daniels undoing as after that he couldn't move the same opening the door for Joe to target the head even hitting the Ole kick on the outside busting Daniels wide open. In a nice touch Mike Tenay brought up Bret Hart pointing out it wasn't actually just the match with Goldberg but series of concussions that ended Bret's career. Over and over and again Daniels nailed Daniels in the head and it became like a fight that should have been ended already like if you have ever seen the Joe Warren and Pat Curran fight. At one point Joe hit the muscle buster and locked in the clutch only for Daniels to get the ropes. Daniels attempted to stand but collapsed on the ground. AJ Styles made his way out to cheer on Daniels as Joe landed a series of knees to Daniels head AJ finally threw in the towel. This was great story telling 101. The 3 way feud with Joe, AJ, and Daniels is by far some of the best stuff TNA has ever done. This match was a classic and alone to me that night was worth the price of the PPV.
Backstage wet got one more Christian promo. Christian addressed Jarrett earlier comments. He said he was happy to team with Sting and said he and Sting both hated Brown and Jarrett. Christian also promised he would win the NWA title from Jarrett. Great promo hyping the main event and setting up for Christian's eventual title win.
Jeff Jarrett with Gail Kim and Monty Brown vs Sting and Christian Cage- I can't stress enough how big a deal Sting joining TNA was. It was a cope for TNA to get Sting when WWE had failed. There was a buzz that you just don't get very often in wrestling on this night. Brown did have a lot of promise and potential but he didn't have that great passion for wrestling to get better. But in a match like this he was fine since Jarrett could do a lot of the heavy lifting for his team. And I will say this if you asked who the most underrated wrestler of all time is? Jeff Jarrett. Even now I still get chills seeing Sting to the ring for this match but I do wish TNA would have had him repeal from the roof given what a big part of his gimmick that had been. In a very smart move Christian started of this team forcing fans to wait just a little longer to see Sting wrestle. Any time a guy is off for so long you do wonder can they still be as great as he was and well the fans gave Sting a massive you still got it chant and they were right. TNA had two huge matches they were setting up for Christian vs Jarrett and Sting vs Jarrett normally it's kind of easy to have one get lost but in this match the didn't happen. Eventually the match settled into what you would expect Christian the face in peril trying to tag Sting only for Jarrett and Brown to figure out a way to keep Sting out of the match. Brown and Jarrett went for a con-charito on Christian who ducked and finally made the hot tag to Sting.The ref went down after Sting ducked a Monty Brown clothesline. Sting locked in the scorpion death lock but the ref was still down as Jarrett tapped out. In a cool spot Brown used a scoop slam to toss Christian onto Sting to break the hold. This also allowed Sting and Christian to play up the mistrust for a little bit. Eventually Bobby Roode and Eric Young ran but the two faces fought them off. Sting his the scorpion death drop on Jarrett for the win. The match did have a few rough spots as it got ECW like at the end with run ins and weapons but it was still very good. It was a great return for Sting and it was cool to see a legend like Sting standing next to Christian who at the time was hitting what i think his peak was. The show ended with Sting soaking in the moment of his return.
As I said I loved this PPV when I first saw it so who does hold up? Very well actually. Yes there are a few down parts that don't age well like the James Gang stuff but there is still a lot of great stuff on this show. The AJ vs Tanahasi match, the X-Division title match and the main event. Plus its kind of cool to look back and see how far TNA has come and see the changes that guys like Roode and Storm have gone through.
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