TNA Final Resolution live PPV coverage from Orlando

Welcome to our live coverage of tonight's TNA Final Resolution PPV. We're looking for your thoughts on this show, as well as last night's WEC, Strikeforce and ROH major shows, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match on each individual show to dave@wrestlingobserver.com
We're opening with the British Invasion vs. Motor City Machine Guns for the TNA tag team titles
Very good opener. Story was the Machine Guns got near fall after near fall using cool moves. The finish saw ref Slick Johnson with Shelley, allowing a Doomsday device type of move, where Sabin was on Doug Magnus' shoulders and Williams came off the top with a European style forearm instead of the clothesline, and then Magnus pinned Sabin with a folding press. Crowd was really into the near falls. Fast pace really good match.
ODB vs. Tara for the Knockouts title is next
Tara won the championship. The finishing sequence was an attempt for the Widow's peak, reversed into an attempt at the TKO, but Tara rolled off her shoulder into a Toyota roll for the pin. More physical than a WWE women's match but short match that wasn't all that good.
Feast or Fired Battle Royal is up now. Participants are Jay Lethal, Consequences Creed, Cody Deaner, Robert Roode, James Storm, Sheik Abdul Bashir, Kiyoshi, Rob Terry, Kevin Nash (with the winner of the long forgotten valet for a night contest), Homicide, Eric Young and Samoa Joe
Not much of a Battle Royal, the four people who pulled briefcases down from different ring posts were Sheik Abdul Bashir, Kevin Nash, Rob Terry and Samoa Joe, so what we do know is Beer Money isn't getting a tag title shot out of this and the guy fired isn't Deaner.
It went down like this:
Kevin Nash got a tag title shot. He had a blond stripper looking valet from the valet for a night contest that pretty much everyone forgot about.
Samoa Joe got a world title shot
Rob Terry got an X title shot
Bashir was fired. Bashir & Terry opened up the briefcases together with the idea that everyone would think Bashir was getting the X shot and Terry was getting fired.
Team 3-D & Rhino & Jesse Neal vs. The Pope & Suicide & Matt Morgan & Hernandez in an elimination match. Hernandez has to start and go five minutes and if he doesn't survive, the heels win the match.
Crowd was flat for the match. It also felt disorganized as twice it didn't appear if the announcers even knew there was an elimination. Hernandez survived the 5:00, and sidestepped a gore and pinned Rhino with a schoolboy first. Neal was DQ'd for a chair shot on Suicide. It was a safe weak chair shot to the head. Hernandez then clobbered Neal with a chair shot to the head. Even with what people know, this was probably the biggest pop so far this show for the chair shot. Hernandez was DQ'd. Team 3-D did a 3-D on Suicide, so came down to 3-D vs. Pope & Morgan. They used a 3-D on Pope and Devon pinned him. Morgan then pinned Devon with a carbon footprint. Bubba went for a chair shot on Morgan, but he used the carbon footprint on the chair into Bubba's face and pinned him to take the match. Disappointing overall.
They previewed the Abyss & Foley vs. Raven & Dr. Stevie match, but clearly they are disorganized because they came back from the preview and said that was coming up later and then previewed Bobby Lashley vs. Scott Steiner which is next
Lashley vs. Steiner in last man standing
Lashley won via ten count. Steiner was about to hit Lashley with the pipe, but Kristal ran out and took the pipe away from Scott and threw it into the ring. Bobby didn't catch it, but did spear Steiner and then Bobby took the pipe and hit Steiner with it for the ten count. Match was a series of power moves and ten counts. Mike Tenay and Taz said Lashley and Steiner finished their issues with this match Match was okay, biggest pop was Scott doing a Frankensteiner off the top rope. Steiner probably injured his left knee since he was limping most of the way, but looked like he did most or all of the planned spots. Finish was good.
Raven & Dr. Stevie vs. Abyss & Mick Foley
Foley announced it was a Foley's House of Fun match which meant no DQ and weapons were legal. It was what you'd expect. Had the second most heat of anything on the show so far, trailing only the opener. At one point Raven "injured" Foley and they did a 2-on-1 on Abyss. As they were about to finish Abyss, Foley came back with a shopping cart filled with weapons. Foley used hard broiler pan shots on both. They also used hard kendo stick shots and Foley wrapped Stevie up in barbed wire and put him on a table near the entrance ramp. Foley came off the ramp with an elbow drop to take out Stevie and himself. Finish saw Daffney run in, and Raven tried to DDT Abyss, but Abyss escaped and used a black hole slam on Raven for the pin. Good for the style.
Kurt Angle vs. Desmond Wolfe in a three fall match in a cage, first fall pins, second falls submissions, third escape the cage.
Long match. Not as heated or as good as their first match, but better from a psychology standpoint. First fall saw Wolfe get the pin first when Angle missed a moonsault and Wolfe used a lariat and Tower of London for the pin. Second fall was an exchange of submissions. This was good, not anywhere close to 90s Volk Han but they used all kinds of submissions with Angle finally winning with a heel hook. Wolfe worked on Angle's shoulder for much of the second fall with overhand wristlocks and uma platas. Third fall saw both men bleeding. Angle's was hardway. Wolfe bled like crazy, apparently trying to emulate Steve Austin in WrestleMania 13. The finish saw Angle use the heel hook and Wolfe tapped like crazy and finally passed out from the pain. Angle went to climb over the top but Wolfe tried to crawl through the door but Angle dropped first to win. They pushed the idea that Angle should get a title shot for winning this match. Very good match but the crowd seemed tired even though they appreciated the match.
Mick Foley cut an old school promo about Hulk Hogan coming on January 4th.
A.J. Styles vs. Daniels for the TNA title is the main event
Crowd was tired but the work was pretty much exceptional here. Some tremendous stuff here. Among the big spots were Daniels setting Styles up for a backward superplex, but instead dropped him on the turnbuckles. Another spot was Daniels doing the plancha into a huracanrana on the floor, but Styles dropped Daniels on his head on the floor. Daniels had nasty swelling over the right eye like you'd see in a real fight and it may have been from that spot. Early in the match Daniels gave Styles a uranage on a chair on the floor behind the refs back. Styles kicked out of the best moonsault ever and Daniels kicked out of the Styles clash. The finish was Daniels going for a Frankensteiner off the top rope, but Styles blocking it and using a Styles clash off the middle rope from that position for the pin.
Even though the crowd wasn't as hot consistently a the main events on last month's show, they pretty much exploded for the finish. I really thought the layout for this match was tremendous the way it all built and made sense at the end, not to mention the expected strong execution.