UWF-TNA Live Event 4/15/2006

Written by: Bob Colling

United Wrestling Federation/Total Non-Stop Action Live Event
Date: 4/15/2006
From: Palmyra, Virginia

Opening Contest: NWA-TNA World Tag Team Champions America’s Most Wanted vs. The Naturals: Storm and Stevens start off the opening tag bout. Stevens gets the early control with several arm drags and the challengers hit a double clothesline in the corner. Harris misses a sunset flip from the apron after Douglas side stepped the attempt. Douglas drops Harris with a high knee and bulldogs Harris face first across Stevens face! The middle rope has broken! Storm works over Stevens left arm behind the referees back. Storm ends up yanking on Harris’s arm on accident and they are incorporating some comedy to the match. The Naturals continues to make AMW look like homosexuals with the various positions they end up in. Douglas is slammed on the concrete floor by Storm as the champs regain control of the bout. Harris gets a near fall on Douglas following a delayed vertical suplex. Storm spins Douglas around on his shoulders and slams Andy hard down to the canvas. Harris clotheslines Douglas with his wrist tape. Douglas plants Storm with a tornado DDT! Stevens and Harris get the hot tags with Stevens cleaning house with right hands and a backdrop. Storm superkicks Stevens but can’t get a three count. Stevens spin kicks Harris and Douglas nearly pins Storm with a roll up. The bell is rung, but the match isn’t over. Harris clotheslines Stevens but spits beer into Storm’s face! The Naturals hit a face buster/neckbreaker combo for a near fall on Storm! They do the Tower of Doom spot and all four men are laid out. Storm slides one of the tag belts in but the referee prevents Douglas from using it. Storm nails Douglas with the championship and Harris gets the win. (***. A standard opening bout that was entertaining to me. They mixed comedy well with wrestling and the wrestling portion was solid as usual between these four men. A good start to the show.

Second Contest: Amber O’Neal vs. Jacqueline: If you have any interest in this match, then I apologize ahead of time. I simply don’t care about these two. After roughly seven minutes of action, Jacqueline gets the win with a German suplex.

Third Contest: Matt Bentley & Maven vs. Team 3-D in a street fight: Maven is from the Virginia area but he is playing the heel role. Bentley and Maven attack Team 3-D early on to get the advantage in the street fight. Ray and Devon turn the momentum into their favor with a double clothesline and Ray splashes both men in the ring. Bentley and Maven are tossed over the top to the floor as well. Ray works over Bentley with a steel chair while Devon is choking Maven on the floor. Ray hits Bentley with two chairs in the ring as the heels are getting beaten up, but it’s nothing all that special or memorable for that matter. Devon comes off the top to hit the What’s Up and they are going for the tables. Maven cuts them off with a double clothesline. Interesting that in a street fight they are using regular tag team rules. That always bugs me when they switch the rules like that. Ray is worked over for a few minutes until Devon gets the hot tag and drives Bentley down with a jumping reverse DDT. Bentley suffers a backdrop/neckbreaker combo. Maven plants Ray with a DDT and Devon walks into a superkick from Bentley. Maven and Bentley miss top rope attacks and Bentley is hit with the 3D which gives Devon a three count. (**. Just your basic match, really. I didn’t really like it as they steered away from the street fight aspect.) After the match, Team 3-D try to use a table, but Maven saves Bentley from using the table. That sucks for the fans, they don’t even get a table spot.

Fourth Contest: Christopher Daniels & Sonjay Dutt vs. Elix Skipper & David Young: Daniels and Young started the match. Young is controlling Daniels early on with a few arm drags. Daniels hip tosses everyone and that includes his partner and referee. You’d think that would be a disqualification but this may be a comedy match, which would be a shame. Skipper is worked over in the corner by Daniels and Dutt. The faces hit double elbow drops on Skipper and Young as they are providing a little bit of comedy, but it’s not funny. Skipper drives Dutt down to the canvas with a spinning side slam after Young kicked Dutt from the apron. Skipper controls Dutt with a double underhook suplex for a two count. Dutt is knocked out by Elix and a standing spin kick after Sonjay got a near fall after a middle rope crossbody. Young gets a two count following a spine buster on Dutt. Sonjay hits a nice slingshot hurricanrana from the apron on David. Daniels gets the tag and cleans house with clotheslines. Daniels plants Young with a Death Valley Driver but Skipper made the save. Dutt gets a near fall on Young with a hurricanrana. Daniels takes Skipper out with a moonsault on the floor. Dutt pins Young following a standing shooting star press! (**3/4. A decent match that had some fine action throughout. It was just rather average to me, really)

Fifth Contest: Jeff Hardy vs. AJ Styles: This was being billed as a first ever meeting between these two. However, that isn’t true at all. They actually wrestled previously in 2004 for TNA when Hardy first made his debut. So, it’s at least their second match against each other. The start of the match sees a slow start with the focus being mat wrestling and arm holds, mostly. Styles dropkicks Hardy to hit the first real impactful move for a near fall. Styles hits a backbreaker and a vertical suplex for a near fall. AJ locks in an Indian death lock but Hardy doesn’t give in. Hardy stops AJ on a springboard attempt from the apron and knocks Styles to the floor. Hardy takes Styles out with a slingshot crossbody on the floor! Hardy continues to work over AJ in the ring with a spinning kick. Jeff drives Styles down with a front suplex. They botch a double spinning clothesline in the middle of the ring. AJ his the Pele kick and hits a springboard forearm smash for a near fall. Hardy stops Styles with a jaw breaker and a side Russian leg sweep. Hardy drops down with both legs to nearly pin AJ. Jeff hits the Whisper in the Wind but Styles just manages to kick out. Styles plants Hardy with a springboard reverse DDT for a near fall. Hardy gets out of the Styles Clash to hit the Twist of Fate! Hardy doesn’t go for the cover. Hardy goes up top but misses the Swanton Bomb! Styles plants Hardy with the Styles Clash to get the clean victory! (***1/4. I was surprised to see the effort given by both men in this one. They did all their spots and it was an enjoyable match between two of the top names in TNA both at the time and currently. I should note that Styles clearly got in the proper position for the Swanton Bomb as he was too far away and had to roll over on his own to make the spot work. That just annoyed me about it. Anyway, it was a solid match here.) After the match, AJ shakes Hardy’s hand before leaving.

Main Event: NWA-TNA World Heavyweight Champion Christian Cage vs. NWA-TNA X-Division Champion Samoa Joe: Early on, Cage keeps Joe on the mat with a front facelock. Joe knocks Cage off his feet with a running shoulder block. Joe wins a test of strength and drops Cage to his knees. Joe avoids the Unprettier and nearly gets the choke locked in but Cage is able to dump Joe to the floor. Cage comes off the ropes but is nailed by Joe with a kick. Joe drives his knee into Cage’s chest for a two count. Cage tries to fight back but Joe knocks him off his feet with a forearm strike. Joe continues to work over Cage with several kicks and strikes. Joe avoids an attempted crossbody by Cage. Joe is stopped when Christian hits a reverse DDT. Cage drops Joe with a series of clotheslines and hits a dropkick from the middle rope for a two count. Joe delivers a running yakuza kick but misses a senton splash. Joe nearly wins following a senton splash of his own. Joe avoids a top rope frog splash and Joe has locked in the choke but Cage reaches the ropes. Joe tries for the Muscle Buster but Christian gets out and hits the Unprettier! Maven has come out and yanks the referee out and attacks Cage. Matt Bentley has also come out to attack Cage and that’s the ending of the match. The Naturals come out as well to attack Maven and Bentley. AMW run out and attack the Naturals. Daniels and Dutt have ran out as well to get in on the action. Of course, that brings out Skipper and Young. Here comes Team 3-D to clean house. Remember when Maven avoided being sent through a table? Well, they kind of make up for that as Maven is powerbombed through a table by Brother Ray. (**1/2. It was a decent match before the bullshit finish, but it was really the only way they could have gone about it. Joe had never lost a match at this point, and are you really going to job your champion at a live event to the undercard champion? I didn’t think so. It was alright, but nothing special.)

Final Thoughts:
I thought it was a fine show this time around. The opener was a good start and along with Styles/Hardy you get some quality action. There wasn’t anything I’d consider to be awful, but I wasn’t interested in sitting through a womens match. Plus, there are only six matches and there are three or four quality bouts on the show. If you have some time to kill, pop it in and enjoy it. I’ll give it a mild thumbs up.

Thanks for reading.