One Night Only: Joker's Wild Results and Review
May 2013
May 2013
Jeremy Borash and Christy Hemme began the show in the ring. There was a gigantic 100,000 dollar check and a tumbler. 12 teams will consist of randomly drawn partners. The winner of each match will qualify for a 100,000 dollar Gauntlet Battle Royal with the winner earning 100,000 dollars.
-James Storm and Christian York defeated Gunner and Crimson to qualify for the Gauntlet.-Mr. Anderson and Jessie defeated Douglas Williams and Kid Kash. Anderson and Jessie qualify.
-Samoa Joe and Christopher Daniels defeated Chavo Guerrero and Rob Van Dam.
-Bobby Roode and Joseph Park defeated Robbie E and Zema Ion.
-Devon and Doc defeated Hernandez and Alex Silva.
-Matt Morgan and Rob Terry defeated Al Snow and Joey Ryan.
-James Storm won the 100,000 dollar Gauntlet Battle Royal, last eliminating Bobby Roode.
Show Review
-Joker's Wild was more story-driven than Xtravaganza last month. Most of the matches had some sort of backstory or narrative in them. While Xtravaganza had much better wrestling, the tag tournament tonights was also fun.
-The opening tag team match was really fun. Christian York works better with bigger opponents as opposed to smaller opposition. He and Storm were a fun team. There was some good back and forth between the two.
-Gunner and Crimson could be a good duo if used by TNA. I would tap into their military background as both were formerly military. I am curious to see if TNA brings them on screen following their backstage promo. Gunner and Crimson could add alot to TNA's Tag Team scene.-Jessie was great at playing the douche in their tag team match. Mr. Anderson (who was referenced as being in the Aces and Eights) wore his normal attire. That's an issue with taping so far in advance as characters and looks changed. I think TNA got lucky with Anderson as he and Devon didn't touch at all in the Gauntlet. I popped when Anderson turned on Jessie and gave him the Mic Check.
Williams and Kash were a good team at Xtravaganza and they were a good tag team tonight. Its disappointing that they won't be tagging in the future with Williams in OVW and Kash out of TNA.
-Joe and Daniels vs RVD and Chavo Guerrero was probably the best tag team match of the bunch. There was alot of good fluid action and Joe/Daniels worked well together. Daniels was incredibly funny tonight.
-Law and Order is a great tag team name. Roode and Park were another good duo. I like how they played into Park's split personality, even if he hasn't snapped in recent months. He was hilarious in his backstage segments with Daniels, telling the camera man to get him away while he was doing his interview.
-It's really surprising that Devon and Doc were partners in this match huh? That tag match was likely one of the weaker ones of the show. I haven't bought into Alex Silva yet. He might be a good heel but tonight he was underwhelming. He needs some sort of character.
-BTW, while Taz was still an imbecile on commentary, he did have some good lines tonight. Much better than Xtravaganza.
-I REALLY enjoyed the Matt Morgan/Terry vs Snow/Ryan Match. The dynamic between Ryan and Morgan played on their alliance a few months ago. Because of the distance from when this was taped, Rob Terry played as Robbie E in this match.
The fact that Al Snow was able to get his revenge after Bound For Glory was a nice tie-in to this match. I also liked the fact that Terry and Morgan had issues in the Gauntlet Match due to Morgan turning on Terry in this one.-Each of the One Night Only shows has a special guest or has a few of them. Al Snow seemed to be this month's guest. It was kinda disappointing since I thought someone outside of the company would have been more interesting.
-I like mixing the roster up on these shows. While normally TNA pins wrestlers in certain divisions, its fun to see heavyweights interact with X Stars and tag wrestlers interact with heavyweights etc. etc. I think matchups would remain fresh if TNA did this more.
-I love the Gauntlet Battle Royal/Royal Rumble Match. The surprise of who will come next is an intriguing one. I like the action we get in the match. There were a few really good moments in this one such as Beer Money temporarily reuniting, Joseph Park and the final moments with Storm overcoming everything.
-James Storm got a push tonight without really getting a push. This would benefit him and TNA more if there was any fallout from the One Night Only shows. More could be attained from the results and it could give the product a refresher. However with things the way they are now, this show will be forgotten in a month.
-The Hardcore Justice 2 preview got me extremely excited for the July PPV. I am more excited for this show than I am Slammiversary. From the video, we will be getting an LAX reunion, New Church, Bob Holly, Brother Runt, James Mitchell, Shark Boy, Jacqueline and Judas Mesias. Along with that we get the return of hardcore wrestling with Tables, Ladders and other weapons. I am surprised that show will be coming next because it wasn't taped third.
-I hope they continue the themed shows into 2014. If they do, I would have them as specials that air on Spike instead of an episode of IMPACT. There are about 10 or so shows in between the major PPVs so it would make sense to use these shows as a bookmark. You could tape it like they do now instead of an episode of IMPACT. Some of the themes they used this year would be fun again.
FINAL THOUGHTS: The match quality wasn't as good as Xtravaganza last month. Last month you had Ultimate X, Aries vs Joe and Jerry Lynn's final match. Alot of these tag matches were fun and enhanced storylines but only a few of them were good. Nonetheless, for a 15$ price tag, this was a fun three hours.
