DVD Review: TNA Genesis 2005

Those of you who read TBLWrestling.com know that I recently began watching Total Nonstop Action wrestling – otherwise known as TNA. They call themselves the “new face of professional wrestling” and to help set themselves apart from WWE, they have a six-sided ring and have their weekly tapings as well as pay per views all in the same soundstage at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida.

Side note – if WWE has a television contract with NBC Universal, then wouldn’t that mean that the Universal organization has some affiliation with both WWE and TNA? Weird.

This pay per view was awesome. Sure, something is certainly “missing” from it because it was held in the same arena that their weekly tapings are held in, but TNA is working to fix that situation. They are holding their first monthly PPV outside of Universal Studios this coming October. I think it’ll do them some good!

However, that is a minor point against what was a great show that not only saw a completely out of control main event (literally, they were all over the place), but that also saw the TNA debut of Christian Cage. Those of you who are interested in what the former WWE Intercontinental Champion had to say during his TNA debut can flip over to TBLWrestling.com’s quotes section and take a read.

There was one bad part of the pay per view, though. BG James (formerly Road Dogg in WWE) had a really awkward mini-tirade against WWE and Vince McMahon in his backstage interview. In my short time watching TNA, this seems to be a recurring phenomenon. A few weeks ago on TNA Impact, former ECW World Champion Rhino actually started the show with an in-ring promo against the new ECW show and Vince McMahon. There just seems to be frequent references to WWE and how it sucks or how Vince is nuts or whatever and listen – I’m not going to debate any of that stuff. I will, however, say that if I’m watching TNA then I must already be aware that there is a problem in WWE or that I just don’t like what I’m seeing in WWE.

Let me get back on topic before I miss the point of this post. This PPV was fantastic! I’m not going to go through a match-by-match recap of the deal because that’s boring and the PPV is already a few months old. The main points that I want to get across are that the while the overall feel of the show may come up to the standard of a WWE produced show, it’s damn close. TNA, however, completely surpasses WWE in terms of the wrestling that takes place in the ring. They do a phenomenal job of getting the desire and determination of their wrestlers over with the crowd – oh, and speaking of the crowd, they are completely into the show 100%. Anyone who has ever watched a wrestling show with a hot crowd or who has been to an independent show knows that a hot crowd can make a show just like a dead crowd can kill one. The TNA crowd is completely into the product and it comes off very well on screen.

And the X Division is something to see. At the time of this PPV, Samoa Joe and AJ Styles were just a few of the many young up and comers that were a part of the X Division. Folks, the quality of this division is unmatched on RAW, Smackdown!, or the Tuesday show. This is what you want when you buy a wrestling PPV – you want people giving it everything that they’ve got because you’re willing to plunk down the money to buy their show. That’s something that you don’t get in every wrestling promotion…

I give Genesis 2005 a rousing approval. If you can get your hands on a used copy of this DVD (like I did), then spend the money and buy this event. It was well worth the money because, unlike other wrestling pay per views, there’s a strong possibility that I’ll watch this event over and over again!

Good job TNA!