TNA’s second pay-per-view of the year, Against All Odds, comes to us this Sunday from the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. All five championships will be on the line with the main event featuring a four way match for the TNA World Championship. Aside from these five title matches, two other grudge matches have also been added to the card.
- Sting vs. Kurt Angle vs. Brother Ray vs. Brother Devon (Four Way Match for the TNA World Championship)
- Beer Money, Inc. vs. Jay Lethal & Consequences Creed (TNA Tag Team Championship)
- Alex Shelley vs. Eric Young (X Division Title)
- Awesome Kong vs. ODB (TNA Knockout Championship)
- Booker T vs. Shane Sewell (Legends Championship)
- Abyss vs. Matt Morgan
- Petey Williams vs. Scott Steiner
Sting vs. Kurt Angle vs. Brother Ray vs. Brother Devon (Four Way Match for the TNA World Championship)
Brother Ray had been absent from television for a while after suffering a brutal “hit” from the Main Event Mafia. Upon his return, Ray and Brother Devon had challenged Sting and Kurt Angle to singles matches, however, Jim Cornette instead booked all four in a four way match for the TNA World Championship. Since then, tension has been rising between Kurt Angle and Sting where it came to a head at the end of the last episode of Impact.
I am 99% positive that neither member of Team 3D will have a chance of winning the TNA World Championship during this match. This leaves us with Kurt Angle and Sting, which is what this match is really about. I would love to see Sting walk out with the title and get even deeper under Angle’s skin, but with his current knee problems, it may be a good time to take the title off of him and put it on a person who can defend it in regular matches. Sting will lose his title to Angle and will soon be on his way out of the MEM.
Starman’s Prediction: Kurt Angle to win the TNA World Championship to start his third reign as champion.
Beer Money, Inc. vs. Jay Lethal & Consequences Creed (TNA Tag Team Championship)
Jay Lethal & Consequences Creed won the TNA Tag Team Championship last month on an episode of Impact when they cashed in their Feast or Fired briefcase. Their title reign wouldn’t last long, though, as Beer Money would go on to regain the titles a few days later at Genesis. Thankfully for the ex-champions, they would defeat the team of Matt Morgan and Abyss to once again become the #1 contenders to the tag team gold.
Beer Money attacked Lethal & Creed prior to their match against the Motorcity Machine Guns on Impact this past week and took Creed out with a steel chair while his arm was pinned up against the ring post. With that said, I find it highly unlikely that Beer Money will lose their titles while they face an injured opponent and they should easily retain.
Starman’s Prediction: Beer Money, Inc. to retain the straps.
Alex Shelley vs. Eric Young (X Division Title)
This match was a last minute add-on to the card as Eric Young ran out to become Jay Lethal’s partner after Consequences Creed was taken out of the match after being attacked by Beer Money. Eric Young picked up the victory for his impromptu team after driving both Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin down to the match with a double Death Valley Driver. After the match Shelley challenged Young to a match for the X Division Title.
As I stated in my Impact recap this past week, I did find it odd that Shelley would throw out a challenge and put his title on the line, especially if it means as much as he says it does. At any rate, although this match won’t be as great as the match between Shelley and Sabin last month, it should still be entertaining. With Shelley just picking up the title a month ago, I hope that he can walk out of this match with the X Division Title around his waist.
Starman’s Prediction: Alex Shelley to retain the X Division Title
Awesome Kong vs. ODB (TNA Knockout Championship)
Due to an injury to Christy Hemme, the Lumberjack match between her and Awesome Kong at Genesis was turned into a six-woman tag team match where the person who scored the pin fall would be awarded a title shot for the Knockout Championship. ODB picked up the win and is now facing Awesome Kong for the title. To make the match even, the rest of Kong’s Kongtourage has been banned from ringside.
Without the distraction of Raisha Saeed, Sojourner Bolt and Rhaka Khan, ODB should have a decent chance of winning the Knockout Championship. With Awesome Kong rumored to be nursing injuries, this has a good chance of happening. With that said, I still have to say that Kong will walk out of the match with the title as she defeats ODB just as she did last year at Against All Odds.
Starman’s Prediction: Awesome Kong to retain the Knockout Championship.
Booker T vs. Shane Sewell (Legends Championship)
On a recent Impact, Shane Sewell and Booker T got into a post-match fight in a tag team elimination match that Sewell was officiating. Due to this, Booker T took out his frustrations on Rudy Charles and Andrew Thomas the following week when the MEM took over Impact. Once order was restored to the program, Jim Cornette made a “blockbuster” announcement and booked these two in a match together.
This past week it was announced that the Legends Championship was going to be on the line as well. With or without the title on the line, I doubt Sewell has any chance in hell of taking the title that Booker created. If Sewell does happen to win, it will be due to disqualification or other referee involvement.
Starman’s Prediction: Booker T to win the match.
Abyss vs. Matt Morgan
During a match to determine new contenders to the tag team titles, Abyss powerbombed Jay Lethal on top of Matt Morgan, which ended up costing their team the match. The two came to blows afterwards and had to be separated by security. A week later, Morgan apologized to Abyss but quickly turned on him and turned him into a bloody mess with a few chair shots.
This past week on Impact, Abyss delivered a very spirited promo which was probably one of the best ones of his career. He was standing in a ring loaded with weapons and has reverted back to his old monster self. While it is a nice change to see the Abyss of old, it won’t be enough to defeat Morgan in a one-on-one grudge match. I’m sure it won’t be the last meeting between these two, though, so Abyss will have another chance at Morgan in the near future.
Starman’s Prediction: Matt Morgan to win.
Petey Williams vs. Scott Steiner
After being beaten by the MEM, Petey Williams, who is still stuck in his Scott Steiner gimmick, returned and set his sights on his former mentor. Williams has said that what is between him and Steiner is personal while the MEM have tried to soften him up in a tag team elimination match and putting him against Matt Morgan where Williams had to have one arm tied behind his back.
I can potentially see this match going either way. On one side I can see the MEM continue with the dominating ways and squash Williams like a bug. I can also see a scenario where Williams wins this match along with a little help from the Front Line. I am going to flip a coin and say Williams wins this match. Now, if he could only lose the Little Petey Pump look.
Starman’s Prediction: Petey Williams to win.
That about does it for the Against All Odds preview. There is a possibility of an eighth match that could be added to the card as the newcomer, Brutus Magnus, has issued an open challenge to anyone on the TNA roster. I doubt it would happen, but a person who I’d like to see step up to the challenge is AJ Styles. There are two reasons for this – one, I think Styles could bring out the best in Magnus to show the fans what he is made of, and two, the fact that Styles has wrestled on every three-hour TNA pay-per-view. That is quite the streak if you think about it as it goes back to the Victory Road pay-per-view in November of 2004.
Aside from the open challenge, Samoa Joe could make his return to TNA and make his presence felt in some shape or form. Even with that as a possibility, it is hard to recommend this pay-per-view to anyone aside from die-hard TNA fans. TNA did some good work on setting up the event on the final Impact, but the overall card is still pretty weak, even though all five championship titles are on the line.
As always, live coverage of the Against All Odds pay-per-view will take place on Gerweck.net starting at 8:00 PM EST.
