TNA’s final pay-per-view of 2008, Final Resolution, comes to us live this Sunday from the Impact Zone in Orlando, FL. In case you are experiencing a case of déjà vu, this is the second time TNA has run the Final Resolution event this year – the first one being held in January where Kurt Angle successfully defended the TNA World Champion. Angle isn’t defending the championship this time around, but his career in TNA is on the line in a match against Rhino. That match, along with six others, round out the Final Resolution card.
- Sting/Booker T/Kevin Nash/Scott Steiner vs. AJ Styles/Samoa Joe/Team 3D (TNA World Championship)
- Kurt Angle vs. Rhino w/ Special Enforcer Mick Foley
- Beer Money, Inc. vs. Abyss & Matt Morgan (TNA Tag Team Championship)
- Sheik Abdul Bashir vs. Eric Young (X Division Title)
- Awesome Kong vs. Christy Hemme (TNA Knockouts Championship)
- The Beautiful People & Sharmell vs. ODB/Taylor Wilde/Roxxi
- Feast or Fired Match
Sting/Booker T/Kevin Nash/Scott Steiner vs. AJ Styles/Samoa Joe/Team 3D (TNA World Championship)
Mick Foley booked this match putting the Main Event Mafia against AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and two partners of their choosing. Styles and Joe, along with help from Rhino, we able to convince Team 3D to join the Frontline and they became their partners in the 8-man tag team match. However, this isn’t just a regular 8-man tag team match, it is also for the TNA World Championship.
Of course, it can’t be that simple either. Yes, Sting can lose the title without being pinned, but only AJ Styles can win the title, even if he isn’t a deciding factor in the match. So let’s say if Samoa Joe pins Scott Steiner, AJ Styles would become the new World Champion. Classic TNA overbooking in this one and I shouldn’t have to go into detail as to why this match stipulation is stupid and why it is a bad idea.
I really hope that the title doesn’t change hands in a match like this, but I have a strong feeling that it might. Out of all of the members of the MEM, Sting is the one who isn’t a full heel and this could be used as a way for him to get out of the group. On the other hand, part of me thinks that it would be best to keep the World title away from the Frontline members for the time being, so I have to say that the Mafia will somehow win this match.
Starman’s Prediction: The Main Event Mafia to win the match and allow Sting to retain the World Championship.
Kurt Angle vs. Rhino w/ Special Enforcer Mick Foley
Kurt Angle has been trying to get Jeff Jarrett back in the ring ever since he lost to him at Bound for Glory. He hasn’t gotten that opportunity yet, but he will if he defeats Rhino, however, if Angle loses, he will be gone from TNA for good. To make sure there is no interference from the rest of the Main Event Mafia, Mick Foley has been appointed as the special guest enforcer.
Jarrett warned Angle that he will also be fired if any members of the MEM come out to help. With that said, Angle has promised to have someone watching his back and TNA’s mobile service has hinted that it will be a former World Champion who has shared tag team gold with Foley. As for Rhino, he has had a spark lit under him as of late and scored a huge victory this past week as he defeated Sting by pin fall in a non-title match.
As good as Rhino has been in the past few weeks, it is hard for me to see Angle leaving TNA any time soon. As for the man watching his back, my original assessment missed a viable option in Mikey Whipwreck. With that said, my prediction remains the same and I am going to say it will be Terry Funk.
Starman’s Prediction: Kurt Angle to win the match and face Jeff Jarrett at Genesis.
Beer Money, Inc. vs. Abyss & Matt Morgan (TNA Tag Team Championship)
A few weeks ago during Impact, Abyss & Matt Morgan defeated the LAX,Tanahashi & Volador, and Team 3D in a 4-team ladder match to become the #1 contenders to the tag team titles. Since then, the current Tag Team Champions, Beer Money, Inc., have busted two beer bottles over Abyss’ head and have even gotten him liquored up.
This match will be more of the same from Beer Money, who will once again win this match by using either a beer bottle or the hazardous acid beer spit into the face of their opponents. I have a feeling that Beer Money will be losing their tag team titles soon, but to Team 3D, not Abyss & Morgan.
Starman’s Prediction: Beer Money, Inc. to retain their tag team titles.
Sheik Abdul Bashir vs. Eric Young (X Division Title)
Eric Young recently defeated Sheik Abdul Bashir and won the X Division Title, however, it was due to some biased officiating at the hands of referee Shane Sewell. Afterwards, Jim Cornette stripped Eric Young of the title and gave it back to its rightful owner and had the title change stricken from the record books. Cornette also put referee Sewell on probation due to his involvement in the match.
As far as this match is concerned, I can really see it go either way. Sheik Abdul Bashir has been such a great, vile, heel that I can see why the title is wrapped around his waist. However, Eric Young has been one of the bright stars in the Frontline faction that I can see a reason for him to hold on to it as well. With my predictions going against the Frontline thus far, I am going to go out and say that Eric Young will capture the X Division Title in this match.
Starman’s Prediction: Eric Young to win the X Division Title.
Awesome Kong vs. Christy Hemme (TNA Knockouts Championship)
For the past three months, Christy Hemme has been training with AJ Styles to get into shape and to sharpen her in-ring skills. Christy then asked Traci Brooks for a match against Awesome Kong but Traci made her go through Kong’s partner, Raisha Saeed, first to prove herself. Christy won that match and won a mixed tag team match where she was able to pick up the pin fall on Kong.
Christy seems to have all to momentum in her favor, but all of the training in the world won’t help her when she steps into the ring with Awesome Kong. The champion will easily overpower the challenger and put Christy away very easily.
Starman’s Prediction: Awesome Kong to retain the championship.
The Beautiful People & Sharmell vs. ODB/Taylor Wilde/Roxxi
ODB recently started her own weekly talk show segment and her first guest was Sharmell. Their conversation didn’t last too long and it wasn’t long before Sharmell challenged ODB to a match at Final Resolution. As a precautionary measure, Booker T hired the Beautiful People to watch her back and it soon became a 3-on-1 matchup. ODB then enlisted the help of Taylor Wilde and Roxxi to even out the sides.
To gain the services of the Beautiful People, Booker T had to promise to give them his lavish dressing room in return if their team wins the match. Since that is one of the stipulations outside of the match, my guess is that they will come up short in getting Booker’s dressing room as ODB and pals wins this 6-woman tag team match.
Starman’s Prediction: ODB, Taylor and Roxxi to win the match.
Feast or Fired Match
The participants in the Feast or Fired match are Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Homicide, Hernandez, Jimmy Rave, Lance Rock, Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt, Petey Williams, Consequences Creed, Curry Man, BG James, Cute Kip and Shark Boy.
Four of the 14 participants in this match will score a briefcase that could contain one of three title matches or one that contains a pink slip. Due to the match type I am not going to predict any winners. I will say, though, that I hope it doesn’t get drawn out as long as it was last year, where the cases were still being fought over months after the match took place.
Over the past four weeks, TNA has been trying hard to get this pay-per-view to not look as weak as it normally would have. Rhino has been gaining some momentum lately and scored a huge win over Sting and Christy Hemme scored a pin fall on Awesome Kong to help push her into her title match. Even with those factors added in, the Final Resolution card looks pretty weak as a whole.
The main event for the World Championship doesn’t help matters at all. It should have just been a regular 8-man tag match that pitted members of the two feuding factions. The World Championship stipulation doesn’t belong there unless they are using it as a way for Sting to lose the title without actually having to be the one to lose it. Again, if the overall reason for this feud is to push the younger stars, a World Championship victory like that isn’t a good idea.
The Kurt Angle/Rhino match should be fairly easy to predict as it is almost guaranteed that Angle will face Jeff Jarrett once again in the near future, probably next month at Genesis. Aside from finding out who Angle got to watch his back and the Feast or Fired match, the card really comes off as a regular run of the mill episode of Impact.
In fact, one of the reasons you’d probably want to purchase this event is to find out who walked away with the Feast or Fired briefcases. If TNA is smart, they would also let the winners reveal the contents of the cases at the pay-per-view instead of letting people find out in some Impact spoilers online.
With that said, the Final Resolution pay-per-view is probably best suited for hardcore TNA fans. If you don’t fall in that category, you may want to stay away from this one and save your money for some Christmas gifts instead. Whatever you choose, you can always follow along with live coverage of the event on Gerweck.net.
