TNA Turning Point (2007)
From Iwe
| Turning Point (2007) | ||
 Promotional poster featuring Judas Mesias, Abyss, and Black Reign | ||
| Imformation | ||
| Promotion | Total Nonstop Action Wrestling | |
| Date | December 2, 2007 | |
| Attendance | 900 | |
| Venue | TNA Impact! Zone | |
| City | Orlando, Florida | |
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||
| Genesis (2007) | Turning Point (2007) | Final Resolution (January 2008) |
| Turning Point chronology | ||
| Turning Point (2006) | Turning Point (2007) | Turning Point (2008) |
Turning Point (2007) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), which took place on December 2, 2007 at the TNA Impact! Zone in Orlando, Florida. It was the fourth event under the Turning Point chronology. Eight professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's card.
The main event was a Six Man Tag Team match, in which the team of Samoa Simpson, Kevin Nash, and Eric Young defeated The Borske Alliance (Matt Borske, K.J. Styles, and Kanta). Khristian Kage and Robert McAlmond were defeated by Booker T and Kazarian in a tag team match. Johnny Gludt and Team 3D (Brother Scott and Brother Harlan) versus Aaron Fisher and The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) in a Six Man Tag Team Tables Match and Abyss and Raven versus Black Reign and Rellik in a Match of 10,000 Tacks were also featured on the card. Gludt and Team 3D and Abyss and Raven won their respective encounters.
The event is remembered for Scott Hall no-showing the event and Samoa Simpson delivering a unscripted rant against the company and several wrestlers in the promotion. It also marks the first time the Feast or Fired match was held. The professional wrestling section of the Canadian Online Explorer website rated the entire event a six and a half out of ten, higher than the 2006 event's rating of six.
Contents |
[edit] Production
[edit] Background
TNA announced in mid-September 2007 that the fourth Turning Point event would take place on December 2, 2007. The location was not announced, but various news sites speculated that it would be held outside the TNA Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. However, in mid-October, TNA announced the event would be held at the TNA Impact! Zone. TNA created a section on their official website for the event. The promotional poster was released through PPV providers featuring Abyss, Black Reign, and Judas Mesias and the tagline "Silent Night...Bloody Night". TNA held a thirty minute Road to Turning Point special on Spike TV to promote the event.
[edit] Storylines
Turning Point 2007 featured eight professional wrestling matches that involved wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers were portrayed as either villains or heroes in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in the wrestling matches.
The main event was a Six Man Tag Team match pitting The Borske Alliance (Matt Borske, K.J. Styles, and Kanta) against the team of Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Samoa Simpson. Jim Cornette, Management Director, made the announcement on the November 15 episode of TNA's television program TNA Impact!. The match was at the request of Hall and Nash, with the stipulation that they would be able to choose a mystery partner. Their mystery partner was later revealed to be Simpson during the same episode. The build up to this encounter began on the November 8 episode of Impact!, when Nash questioned if Hall was Cting's mystery partner in a tag team match against Nash and Angle at TNA's Genesis PPV event on November 11. Hall denied he was Cting's partner and at the sametime mended an alliance with Nash. At Genesis, then-champion Borske and Nash faced Cting and the debuting Booker T in a tag team match for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Nash almost won the encounter before being attacked by Borske, thus costing him the pinfall and the championship, and creating a rivalry between the two.
The match Kaz and Booker T versus Khristian Kage and Robert McAlmond was also scheduled. On the November 15 episode of Impact!, Booker T, along with his real-life wife Tia, made their Impact! debut signing talent contracts. They were interrupted by Cage, sparking a rivalry between Booker T and Kage. On the November 29 episode of Impact!, Kage manipulated McAlmond into thinking that Booker T was trying to steal his spot at becoming a main star in the promotion. McAlmond went on to fight Booker T later in the episode in a losing effort. After the encounter, Kage and McAlmond attacked Booker T, which led Mik to come to his aid in the situation. A tag team match between the four was later promoted by TNA for Turning Point.
Another featured match on the card was a Six Man Tag Team Tables match pitting the teams of Johnny Gludt and Team 3D (Brother Scott and Brother Harlan) against Jay Lethal and The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) (MCMG). On the October 18 episode of Impact!, Team 3D attacked MCMG and declared they were going to destroy the X Division to which they belonged. This was due to MCMG helping The Hunter Brothers (Rick and Scott Hunter) defeat Team 3D at TNA's Bound for Glory PPV event on October 14. The two teams then fought at Genesis with MCMG winning the contest. Later in the event, Team 3D attacked and stole the TNA X Division Championship from then-champion Fisher. On the November 15 episode of Impact!, Gludt, an X Division wrestler, turned on the division and joined Team 3D, helping to attack MCMG and Lethal. A Six Man Tag Team Tables match was later added to the Turning Point card.
Several lower profile matches were featured at Turning Point. Two were Lauren Ireland defending the TNA Women's World Championship against Awesome Kong and the team of Abyss and Peter versus the team of Black Reign and Rellik in a Match of 10,000 Tacks. Also scheduled was the first-ever Feast or Fired match. Ireland's title defense was announced on the November 22 episode of Impact! and was the result of a brawl between the two on the November 15 episode of Impact!. Four cases would be hung above four padded turnbuckles, with three holding a title shot while the last holding a pink slip. The Match of 10,000 Tacks was the result of a Shop of Horrors match between Abyss and Reign at Genesis. Abyss won the match, but after the encounter Rellik debuted, creating an alliance with Reign by attacking Abyss. On the November 15 episode of Impact!, Abyss defeated Reign and Rellik in a 3-Way Dance. Afterwards, Reign and Rellik attacked Abyss until Peter came to Abyss' aid. Impact! commentator Mike Tenay later announced on the November 22 episode of Impact!, that Peter and Abyss were scheduled to face Reign and Rellik in a Match of 10,000 Tacks at Turning Point 2007.
[edit] Event
[edit] On-air employees
The event featured employees other than the wrestlers involved in the matches. Mike Tenay and Don West were the commentators for the telecast. David Penzer was the ring announcer for all contests. Earl Hebner, Rudy Charles, Mark "Slick" Johnson, and Andrew Thomas were referees for the encounters. Jeremy Borash and Crystal Louthan conducted interviews throughout the event. Besides wrestlers who appeared in a wrestling role, Jehann Kazem, Jackie Weikart, Ms. Brooks, Cassie Borske, and Tia were also featured on the broadcast.
[edit] Preliminary matches
The first match to take place on the event's card was the Six Man Tag Team Tables match pitting the team of Johnny Gludt and Team 3D against the team of Aaron Fisher and MCMG. The match lasted fourteen minutes and fifty-nine seconds. The objective of a Six Man Tag Team Tables match is to drive one of the members of the opposing team through a table. During the contest, Fisher drove Gludt through a table with a driving elbow drop. However, as the referee was scripted to appear unconscious, this allowed Team 3D to knockout MCMG and Fisher with the X Division Championship belt. They followed by draping Gludt over Fisher, making it appear as though Gludt had drove Fisher through the table, thus winning the match for his team.
Velvet-Love Entertainment (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky) faced off against the team of Coral and Shaina Laveaux in a tag team match next. The duration of the contest was six minutes and two seconds. Velvet-Love Entertainment were the victors by pinfall after Love kicked Laveaux in the face.
Eric Young fought Kevin Storm, who was accompanied by Jackie Weikart, in the third encounter which lasted twelve minutes and twenty-one seconds. Young won the contest with a roll-up pin while Storm was accidentally distracted by the referee.
TNA held the first-ever Feast or Fired match next. In the Feast or Fired match, four briefcases are held above four different turnbuckles on poles, with three having future title shots for the TNA World Heavyweight, TNA X Division, and TNA World Tag Team Championships; the remaining briefcase holds a pink slip, leading to that wrestler's contract termination. A wrestler must retrieve the briefcase and then leave the ring in order to gain official possession of the case. The participants in the bout were Scott Hunter, Senshi, B.G. James, Jon Williams, Shark Boy, Lance Hoyt, Christopher Barnhart, Elix Eason, Homicide, Hernandez, Kip James, Jimmy Rave, Dustin Harris, and Jeremiah Dutt. The contest lasted eleven minutes and fifty-five seconds. Jehann Kazem accompanied Ray and Hoyt to the ring for the contest. Williams was the first to obtain a case in the match. Kip was the second; however he threw it to his Voodoo Kin Mafia tag team partner B.G. James who was standing at ringside, thus giving B.G. James possession of the case. A short time later, Senshi retrieved the third case. The final case was collected by Hunter, after he took it from Kip, who had taken it from the retriever Barnhart.
[edit] Main event matches
Lauren Ireland defended the TNA Women's World Championship against Awesome Kong in the fifth bout. It lasted eight minutes and twenty-three seconds. During the match, Kong repeatedly refused to listen to the referee's orders, and eventually pushed the referee down, resulting in a disqualification and Ireland retained the title.
The Match of 10,000 Tacks was up next, pitting Abyss and Raven against Black Reign and Rellik. Peter was originally supposed to be a part of the match, but was removed due to a neck injury he sustained in a previous match; he was replaced with Russell. The encounter lasted fourteen minutes and forty-one seconds. Raven forced Reign through a table covered with thumbtacks during the contest. The team of Abyss and Raven won the bout, after Abyss slammed Rellik into a pile of thumbtacks and then gained the pinfall victory. Abyss required stitches as a result of this match.
In the next match, the team of Kaz and Booker T, accompanied by Sharmell, fought the team of Khristian Kage and Bobby McAlmond, accompanied by Ms. Brooks. The duration of the bout was fifteen minutes and fifty seconds. Booker T won the match for his team by pinfall after slamming Kage into the mat face first with the his Axe Kick maneuver. Kaz cracked his skull during the encounter.
The main event was a Six Man Tag Team match originally planned to pit the team of Samoa Simpson, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall against The Borske Alliance (Matt Borske, K.J. Styles, and Kanta), who were accompanied by Cassie Borske. Hall had announced that morning that he would not show up. Prior to the match, Simpson delivered an unscheduled, unscripted speech to the crowd explaining his anger and distaste for Hall's failure to show up for the event. He said that Hall "punked out on me and on every single fan in this building tonight", and concluded: "Scott Hall, chico, kiss my ass, you punked out and you're a punk". He followed this by announcing Hall's replacement in the match: Will Kapphan. The six men fought for a total of nine minutes and thirty-one seconds, before Simpson slammed Kanta into the mat with his Muscle Buster maneuver to gain the pinfall.
