This Day In Wrestling History - January 15

Date: January 15, 2006 (8 years ago)

Feature: Sting made a handful of appearances for TNA during their Wednesday Night PPV era a decade ago. But, Sting's first big Sunday Night PPV was the Final Resolution 2006 event featuring Sting and Christian against Jeff Jarrett and Monty Brown in the main event. Also on the show, A.J. Styles faced current Japanese wrestling sensation Tanahashi and the New Age Outlaws wrestled as the James Gang in undercard matches...

Torch Back-Issue: PWTorch Newsletter #896.

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TNA Final Resolution PPV Results
January 15, 2006
Orlando, Fla.
Report by Wade Keller, PWTorch editor

(1) Alex Shelley & Austin Aries & Roderick Strong beat Sonjay Dutt & Chris Sabin & Matt Bentley (w/Traci) at 9:55. Good pacing and a better feel to the opening match than on recent PPVs. (**3/4)

(2) James Gang (B.G. James & Kip James) beat Diamonds in the Rough (Elix Skipper & David Young w/Simon Diamond) at 7:43. Minimal reaction to the reunited tandem. (3/4*)

(3) A.J. Styles beat Hiroshi Tanahashi at 11:22. Tanahashi, who was representing New Japan, wore his U–30 title belt to the ring. Tenay listed Tanahashi’s credentials during the opening few minutes. Tenay said there were many photographers and reporters from Japan present to cover his match against Styles. The opening sequence of counters and mat wrestling proved to be the best part of the match. Don West noted that Styles couldn’t get in rhythm. Shannon Moore ran into the ring with the Mr. TNA plaque he stole from Styles on Impact the previous night. Shannon tried to hit Styles, but he ducked and Shannon KO’d Tanahashi. Styles kicked Shannon to the outside then hit the Styles Clash for the pin. The match fell below expectations because there wasn’t much chemistry. (**1/4)

(4) Sean Waltman beat Raven at 7:52 and Raven was fired from TNA. Decent match, but not smooth. (*1/4)

(5) Bobby Roode (w/Scott D’Amore) beat Ron Killings at 9:47. Uninspiring, formula singles match. (*)

(6) Abyss (w/James Mitchell) beat Rhino at 9:18. Abyss hit his Black Hole Slam for the win. Another formula singles match with the rule book forever lost. (*3/4)

(7) America’s Most Wanted (Chris Harris & James Storm w/Gail Kim) beat Team 3D (Brother Ray & Brother Devon) at 13:40 to retain the NWA Tag Titles. Team 3D initially celebrated in mid–ring and Tenay declared them new champions. However, Team Canada ran out and jumped Team 3D. They put Harris on top of Ray. The confused referee, who toweled off his eyes during the Canada run–in, thought he had actually counted Harris pinning Ray because Harris was on top of Ray. He awarded the belts to AMW and TNA pulled the rug out from under the fans. The finish could have been clever, but its effectiveness was dampened by too many other messy finishers. (*3/4)

(8) Samoa Joe beat Christopher Daniels via forfeit at 15:40 to retain the X Division Title. Joe gave Daniels another Muscle Buster, this time on a chair in center–ring. Again, no application of rules. He followed with a series of kicks and knee strikes to Daniels’s head. Tenay screamed, “Somebody stop him! Stop him already. We’ve got to stop this! You’ve gone way over the line, Joe!” A.J. Styles then stood on the ring apron and struggled with his conscience. Eventually, he threw in the towel. The referee stopped the match, having apparently decided that Styles had the authority to decide when Daniels had enough. Best wrestling of the night. However, it was too short to tell a complete story. (***1/2)

(9) Christian Cage & Sting beat Jeff Jarrett (w/Gail Kim) & Monty Brown at 15:09. Brown and Jarrett came out first, followed by Christian, and finally Sting. Sting’s entrance had all of the special effects TNA could muster. Sting walked out with a baseball bat in hand. He played to the crowd. He had shorter hair, but otherwise had the full Crow get–up.

Near the end, The ref went down in a collision. Sting tossed Monty out of the ring and put Jarrett in the Scorpion Death Lock. The ref was still down. Brown re–entered the ring and tossed Christian over his head onto Sting, breaking up the hold. Sting and Christian exchanged words. Brown grabbed the NWA Title and swung it at Sting, but Christian shoved Sting to the mat to save him. Sting and Christian had a misunderstanding and Sting threatened Christian with the belt. Christian explained he was on his side. Team Canada ran into the ring. Gail Kim distracted Sting long enough for Jarrett to KO Sting with the title belt. The ref crawled over and counted a near fall. A four–way brawl broke out with the heels in control. Sting began no–selling. He flexed and yelled. Jarrett took out his guitar and Sting bashed it with his baseball bat. Sting gave Jarrett the Scorpion Death Drop for the win. Tenay said Sting’s performance “answered all the questions.” Lots of gimmicks and bag–o–tricks shortcuts and too many storylines at play for Sting’s first match. (**3/4)

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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