TNA’s Hard Justice will come to us live from the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida, this Sunday on pay-per-view. All five of TNA’s championships, plus the IWGP Tag Team Championship, will be on the line in six of the nine matches scheduled for the card.
- Kurt Angle vs. Sting vs. Matt Morgan (TNA World Heavyweight Championship)
- Mick Foley vs. Kevin Nash (TNA Legends Championship)
- Booker T & Scott Steiner vs. Team 3D (TNA Tag Team Championship)
- Homicide vs. Samoa Joe (X Division Title Match)
- Angelina Love vs. ODB (TNA Knockout Championship)
- Steel Asylum Match (X Division #1 Contender Match)
- The British Invasion vs. Beer Money, Inc. (IWGP Tag Team Championship)
- Hernandez vs. Rob Terry (Feast or Fired Briefcase)
- Abyss vs. Jethro Holliday ($50,000 Bounty)
Kurt Angle vs. Sting vs. Matt Morgan (TNA World Heavyweight Championship)
While in temporary control of TNA, Angle booked this match to be a three-way between himself, Sting and the winner of a best-of-three series between AJ Styles and Matt Morgan. The series was won by Morgan and Angle offered him a spot in the Mafia as long as he helps Angle retain the championship. Morgan said he wasn’t going to let a golden opportunity pass him by and said he was going for the championship.
Angle is having some current legal problems, which could influence the outcome of this match, so this could turn in to an opportunity for TNA to turn Morgan into a huge star. I highly doubt it, though, as Angle will retain regardless of the negative publicity he is receiving. I feel that Morgan and Angle will work together to take out Sting, which would explain as to why Angle would book himself in a match such as this.
Starman’s Prediction: Kurt Angle to retain the TNA World Championship
Mick Foley vs. Kevin Nash (TNA Legends Championship)
Mick Foley pinned Kevin Nash in a tag team match to win the TNA Legends Championship. The victory was tainted, though, as Sting assisted Foley and Bobby Lashley in winning the match. Angle talked to TNA management, who agreed with Angle, but decided to let the outcome stand and book a rematch between Foley and Nash.
Nash and Foley had an exchange during the contract signing in which the two expressed their different philosophies on how they view wrestling, their careers and championship titles. These two are great personalities but considering their physical conditions, I’m not expecting much from this match. Barring any major injury from these two during the match, Kevin Nash should regain the championship he was cheated out of.
Starman’s Prediction: Kevin Nash to regain the TNA Legends Championship.
Booker T & Scott Steiner vs. Team 3D (TNA Tag Team Championship)
Booker T & Scott Steiner defeated Beer Money last month to win the TNA Tag Team Championship. Instead of a rematch, the new champions are putting their titles on the line against the 22-time champions, Team 3D, who say they were screwed out of the titles at Victory Road. Team 3D also wants to solidify their name as the greatest tag team of all time by beating members of the Steiner Brothers and Harlem Heat.
I wish there was a better reason for this match to be taking place instead of a rematch with Beer Money, especially since Team 3D recently lost the IWGP Tag Team Titles to the British Invasion, who are going up against Beer Money. Seems backwards to me, but so does many of the booking decisions made within TNA. At any rate, Booker and Steiner will retain due to their strength in numbers with the Mafia.
Starman’s Prediction: Booker T & Scott Steiner to retain the gold.
Homicide vs. Samoa Joe (X Division Title Match)
Samoa Joe took on Homicide for the X Division Title a few weeks ago on Impact but let his emotions take control and got disqualified after hitting the referee. Since then, Taz has said that he will motivate Joe and guarantees that Joe will put Homicide out at Hard Justice.
I can’t disagree with Taz’s guarantee on this match and we will see Joe walk off with the X Division Title after this is all said and done. This should be a good match to watch and could be one of the better ones of the night. I will also go on the record to predict that tension between Homicide and Hernandez will come to a boil after the match is over.
Starman’s Prediction: Samoa Joe to win the X Division Title for the fourth time.
Angelina Love vs. ODB (TNA Knockout Championship)
The Beautiful People have had their share of problems with the likes of ODB and Cody Deaner as of late. It came to a head when Deaner planted a juicy kiss on Love’s lips that cost her a match against ODB. Since then, the Beautiful People have promised to rid TNA of its ugliness, specifically ODB and Cody Deaner.
I originally thought this was going to be a mixed tag team match between Angelina Love & Velvet Sky against ODB & Cody Deaner for the Knockout Championship, but according to tnawrestling.com, this is just going to be a singles match. Maybe TNA is rethinking its use of tag team matches for singles titles. We can only hope. At any rate, ODB will once again come up short in her quest to become the Knockout Champion and lose to Love.
Starman’s Prediction: Angelina Love to retain the championship.
Steel Asylum Match (X Division #1 Contender Match)
Participants: Suicide, Chris Sabin, Alex Shelley, Amazing Red, Daniels, Jay Lethal, Consequences Creed
The Steel Asylum returns and it will feature seven X Division stars competing for a shot at the X Division Title. The winner is the one who escapes the cage through the opening at the top of the dome. Looking at the list of the participants, two names immediately stick out to me – Suicide and Daniels, which would highly depend on the winner of the X Division Title match that is also on the card.
If Suicide wins, he would get a shot at the title that he lost to Homicide. On the other hand, Daniels could embark in a feud against Samoa Joe for turning his back on the TNA Originals that could tear the house down each and every time they face in the ring. Since I picked Joe to win the X Division Title and would much rather see Daniels go up against Joe, I have to go with Daniels.
Starman’s Prediction: Daniels to escape the Steel Asylum.
The British Invasion vs. Beer Money, Inc. (IWGP Tag Team Championship)
The British Invasion recently stole the IWGP Tag Team Championships from Team 3D in a tables match that took place on Impact. Instead of Team 3D challenging the Brits in a rematch, they are instead putting them up against Beer Money, a team they assisted to defeat Team 3D for the TNA Tag Team Championship.
As I said for the Team 3D match, I wish there was a better explanation for this match, but alas there is not. Maybe I missed something down the line. Please, someone inform me if I did.
Starman’s Prediction: The British Invasion will retain the titles in this match.
Hernandez vs. Rob Terry (Feast or Fired Briefcase)
The British Invasion recently laid out the LAX and stole their Feast or Fired briefcases. Since then, Homicide has recently won his back and successfully cashed it in to become the X Division Title. Hernandez will get his chance to win his briefcase back when he faces the muscle of the British Invasion in Rob Terry.
Hernandez has been getting a major push as of late and has even scored a high profile victory over Samoa Joe. I don’t see his momentum slowing down any time soon and he will regain possession of his briefcase just as his partner did.
Starman’s Prediction: Hernandez regains the Feast or Fired briefcase.
Abyss vs. Jethro Holliday ($50,000 Bounty)
Abyss beat Dr. Stevie to a bloody pulp and shocked him with a taser during their no-disqualification match at Victory Road. Due to that, Stevie has put a $50,000 bounty on the head of Abyss to anyone who can maim him and end his career. Jethro Holliday took him up on the bounty and attacked Abyss in the back before challenging Abyss to a match.
For those of you who don’t recall, Holliday was brutally beaten by Raven in A Clockwork Orange House of Fun match recently on Impact and was about to be put into a straight jacket but was saved by none other than Abyss. I guess this is the way Holliday shows his thanks and that is by getting Abyss in a match.
Abyss will win this match, however, there is a good chance that others try to cash in afterwards.
Starman’s Prediction: Abyss to defeat Jethro Holliday.
That is it for the Hard Justice preview. There are a lot of title matches on the card, however, I only foresee two title changes to take place. If history repeats itself, as it usually does, my predictions will be way off the mark.
Even with all of the title matches taking place, TNA has given little reason for their fans to watch the event. Hernandez against Rob Terry and Abyss vs. Jethro Holliday seem more suited for an edition of Impact than a PPV card. The tag team titles matches also seem backwards to me, while most of the title matches seem to back lacking.
The X Division Title match and the Steel Asylum match should be pretty entertaining, but other than that, nothing really seems to stand out to me. This may be an event you want to skip.
- Sting vs. Kurt Angle vs. Matt Morgan:
With what happened to Kurt, maybe the officials are thinking on giving Sting the title. Remember that this is Sting’s last chance at the world championship. Then he loses the title on his final match, at Bound For Glory
- Mick Foley vs. Kevin Nash
I expect something a little boring and stopped, but anyways I think Foley is going to win. Just for this to continue.
- Booker T/Scott Steiner vs. Team 3D
Booker and Steiner retain, just because they are the Mafia.
- ‘Cide vs. Joe
Joe already had two mentors (Nash and now Taz), which is hurting his persona, in my point of view. And he had this huge push to the main event and now he’s going to have a match for the X, which doesn’t have the credibility of other times?
- Angelina vs. ODB is kind of predictable.
- Steel Asylum: I totally agree with you. But I guess this will open the PPV, so, this means we’ll know who’s gonna win in the match for the title. Daniels-Joe or Suicide-Homicide (cool irony).
- Brits vs. Beer Money: just like the Booker/Steiner-3D, I don’t understand the match, but whatever.
- Hernandez vs. Rob Terry is also predictable.
- Abyss vs. Jethro is also predictable.
So this is a “Hardcore Rules” PPV? Where the only stipulation match is the Steel Asylum, which actually is the less important match of the night (but by far the best, in my opinion) in wrestling.
Please, Dixie, DO SOMETHING~!!!
Last year Hard Justice was promoted as a hardcore pay-per-view. I don’t recall hearing that this year. Not sure if they forgot about that stipulation, decided against it this year or if it will still be that way. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear that every match will be under hardcore rules once the event starts.
As for Joe, I think that with the way the main event picture being over crowded, Joe lost out and got pushed out of it for the time being. The X Division Title is a step down from where he was at last year, but if he wins the title, it gives the Mafia more power since the could potentially hold every title, with the exception of the Knockout Championship.
In the overall picture, it probably helps Joe a little bit even though it is the title with the least credibility. Who knows, a potential feud between Joe and Daniels could maybe help restore some of the lost credibility.
They promete Hard Justice, at Victory Road, as a PPV that would be contested under “Hardcore Rules”.
*promoted