TNA Final Resolution Review - December 9, 2012

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Nice impromptu match with James Storm defeating Kazarian. Neither guy was originally advertised, so this was a smart way of including both Storm and Kaz on the show and effectively killing time. The pre-match promo was enjoyable and the crowd was hot for it. The match itself was well wrestled, but it was over within five minutes. Nonetheless, this was a good way to kick off Final Resolution.

Fun match with Rob Van Dam defeating Kenny King to successfully retain his X-Division Championship. There wasn't much of a story going into it, but the commentators noted that much of King's offense was modeled after Van Dam, so that could be a good start to an eventual feud between the two. King had an impressive showing against the X-Division Champ and I hope this feud continues past this point.

---

Decent match with Chavo Guerrero and Hernandez defeating Joey Ryan and Matt Morgan via disqualification to successfully retain the World Tag Team Championships. Ryan and Morgan are a bit of an odd pairing, but Morgan looked dominant throughout the entire match, which was nice to see. I'm also glad that Chavo has toned down his numerous Eddie tributes, as they've made his matches less annoying as of late. The finish was weak, but I assume it was done to protect the challengers and keep the feud alive.

Entertaining match with Austin Aries defeating Bully Ray. Although their Sacrifice match was a bit better, they still have amazing chemistry together regardless. The finish was logical for a rematch to be held next month at Genesis, but it didn't meet my original expectations.

Fine match with Tara defeating Mickie James to successfully retain her Knockouts Championship. These two have worked some great matches in the past, hence why this bout came as a disappointment to this viewer. Tara is nothing more than a comedy act with Jesse in her corner nowadays, and James' attire was another obnoxious component of this contest. I expected more from this match, but it's always possible their eventual rematch could be better.

Good eight-man tag team match with Kurt Angle, Samoa Joe, Garrett Bischoff and Wes Brisco defeating Aces and 8s. Everyone was able to get in their signature spots and even the rookies looked good, but the finish is what ruined it for me. How do they expect viewers to take Aces and 8s seriously if they continuously lose? I understand that Brisco and Bischoff will more than likely be revealed as members at some point (as indicated by the finish), but why not execute it here? If nothing else, Angle scored the pin-fall win for his team on his birthday, so I guess that was a nice touch.

Excellent match with Daniels defeating AJ Styles. As much as we've seen these two face each other over the years, their matches never grow tiresome for this viewer. It told a strong story and the finish with Daniels putting Styles away with the Styles Clash was very well done. Obviously, this is the ultimate indicator of a Styles heel turn, which is probably the smartest thing to do at this point. I'm not confident this is the actual final time we'll see these two wrestle one another, but fingers crossed TNA doesn't allow them to cross paths for a long, long time.

Solid match with Jeff Hardy defeating Bobby Roode to successfully retain his TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Roode worked over Hardy the entire match only for Hardy to battle back with the victory, so it was  a well told story that the live crowd reacted to accordingly. The finish was predictable, but it's interesting that Aces and 8s didn't help out Roode. I'm not sure what to think of them ambushing Hardy and Aries following the bout, as they seem directionless at the moment.

Overall, a good show that featured some solid in-ring action and logical results. However, predictability isn't a bad thing in this case, as most of the right people went over and furthered a handful of feuds in the process. I'm not sure where many of the angles go from here, but that's something to look forward to this week on Impact Wrestling. With this being the final pay-per-view of 2012 for TNA, I must say that TNA had a strong streak of enjoyable events over the course of the last year. Here's hoping they maintain the momentum going into 2013.