The Rise & Fall Of TNA | Wrestling Timelines

27. September 11, 2005 | Unbreakable

For all of his many, almost objective faults, it was actually Russo who suggested Don West as colour commentator, and the man is really coming into his own. When TNA is bad, his off-the-charts enthusiasm feels like a shallow salesman trick - probably because that’s who he is - but when it’s great, West is inordinately effective at losing his mind and helping you follow him in a state of pro wrestling bliss. 

TNA Unbreakable 2005 is headlined by Samoa Joe Vs. AJ Styles Vs. Christopher Daniels. The match instantly becomes one of the very best ever promoted on U.S. soil. The powerhouse Joe spends much of it scraping the skin from his opponents’ faces and blowing them the f*ck away with chops. Daniels and AJ can only repel Joe’s rampage with breathtaking aerial risks and inventive use of TNA’s six-sided ring - until Daniels somehow picks him up and drops him with a death valley driver. Joe appears to take this personally. In an incredible moment of storytelling and action, as AJ and Daniels trade blows on the outside, Joe runs the ropes, as if to say “I can do your sh*t better than you”, and flattens them with a mind-blowing twisting suicide dive. 

West loses it, screaming “You’ve gotta be kidding me!” louder than ever before. Tenay is superb, too, screaming “Get this replayed!” at the top of his lungs. He wants to see it again just to be sure that he actually saw something so impossible. Back when this is ultra-rare and means a lot more, Dave Meltzer awards the match *****. It is just one of seven matches to achieve that score, worldwide, in the 2000s. On this night, just three years after the sexual assault angles, homophobia, and Schutzstaffel t-shirts of the early PPVs, TNA and its signature X-Division feels like the destination for the greatest pro wrestling on earth.

It’s not all great. Jeff Hardy clearly can’t be arsed, and the two former members of the New Age Outlawz are worthless. But the very strong performances from the likes of Austin Aries, Roderick Strong, Abyss, Chris Sabin, and Petey Williams demonstrate that TNA boasts a core worth building around, and Sabu, Raven and Rhino, as good once as they ever were, prove that the stars of yesteryear aren’t necessarily just there to collect a cheque. 

Unbreakable is awesome by the standards of the time. Vince Russo is a memory. TNA is a month away from debuting on national television. This could be the start of something.