2007 Total Nonstop Action Wrestling pay-per-view event
The 2007 Turning Point was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced and by the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion, which took place on December 2, 2007 at the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida. It was the fourth event under the Turning Point chronology, and the twelfth and last event on the 2007 TNA PPV schedule. Eight professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's card with only one featuring a championship.
The main event was a Six Man Tag Team match, in which the team of Samoa Joe, Kevin Nash, and Eric Young defeated The Angle Alliance (Kurt Angle, A.J. Styles, and Tomko). In another tag team match, Christian Cage and Robert Roode were defeated by Booker T and Kaz. In a high-profile match, Johnny Devine and Team 3D (Brother Devon and Brother Ray) wrestled Jay Lethal and The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) in a Six Man Tag Team Tables Match. Devine and Team 3D won the contest. The contest between Abyss and Raven versus Black Reign and Rellik in a Match of 10,000 Tacks was also featured on the card. Abyss and Raven won the encounter.
The event is remembered for Scott Hall's failure to show up for the event and for Samoa Joe's unscripted rant against 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.
Production.
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.
Storylines.
Turning Point featured eight professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
The main event was a Six Man Tag Team match pitting The Angle Alliance (Kurt Angle, A.J. Styles, Tomko) against the team of Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Samoa Joe. 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 Joe during the same episode. The buildup to this encounter began on the November 8 episode of "Impact!", when Nash questioned if Hall was Sting'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 Sting's partner and at the sametime mended an alliance with Nash. At Genesis, then-champion Angle and Nash faced Sting 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 Angle, thus costing him the pinfall and the championship, and creating a rivalry between the two.
The match Kaz and Booker T versus Christian Cage and Robert Roode was also scheduled. On the November 15 episode of "Impact!", Booker T, along with his real-life wife Sharmell, made their "Impact!" debut signing talent contracts. They were interrupted by Cage, sparking a rivalry between Booker T and Cage. On the November 29 episode of "Impact!", Cage manipulated Roode into thinking that Booker T was trying to steal his spot at becoming a main star in the promotion. Roode went on to fight Booker T later in the episode in a losing effort. After the encounter, Cage and Roode attacked Booker T, which led Kaz 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 Devine and Team 3D (Brother Devon and Brother Ray) 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 Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott Steiner) 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 Lethal. On the November 15 episode of "Impact!", Devine, 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 Gail Kim defending the TNA Women's World Championship against Awesome Kong and the team of Abyss and Rhino 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. Kim'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 Rhino came to Abyss' aid. Impact! commentator Mike Tenay later announced on the November 22 episode of "Impact!", that Rhino and Abyss were scheduled to face Reign and Rellik in a Match of 10,000 Tacks at Turning Point 2007.
Event.
Miscellaneous.
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, Christy Hemme, Jackie Moore, Ms. Brooks, Karen Angle, and Sharmell were also featured on the broadcast.
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 Devine and Team 3D against the team of Jay Lethal 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, Lethal drove Devine 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 Lethal with the X Division Championship belt. They followed by draping Devine over Lethal, making it appear as though Devine had driven Lethal through the table, thus winning the match for his team.
Velvet-Love Entertainment (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky) faced off against the team of ODB and Roxxi 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 James Storm, who was accompanied by Jackie Moore, 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 Steiner, Senshi, B.G. James, Petey Williams, Shark Boy, Lance Hoyt, Christopher Daniels, Elix Skipper, Homicide, Hernandez, Kip James, Jimmy Rave, Chris Harris, and Sonjay Dutt. The contest lasted eleven minutes and fifty-five seconds. Christy Hemme accompanied Rave 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 Steiner, after he took it from Kip, who had taken it from the retriever Daniels.
Main event matches.
Gail Kim 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 Kim retained the title.
The Match of 10,000 Tacks was up next, pitting Abyss and Raven against Black Reign and Rellik. Rhino 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 Raven. 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 Christian Cage and Robert Roode, 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 Cage into the mat face first with 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 Joe, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall against The Angle Alliance (Kurt Angle, A.J. Styles, and Tomko), who were accompanied by Karen Angle. Hall had announced that morning that he would not show up. Prior to the match, Joe 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: Eric Young. The six men fought for a total of nine minutes and thirty-one seconds, before Joe slammed Tomko into the mat with his Muscle Buster maneuver to gain the pinfall.
Reception.
A total of nine hundred people attended the event. Canadian Online Explorer writer Chris Sokol rated the entire event a six and a half out of ten, which was the same rating given to the 2006 Turning Point event. It was higher than the six out of ten given to TNA's next event Final Resolution. It was lower than the seven and a half out of ten given to TNA's previous Genesis PPV event. Compared to rival World Wrestling Entertainment's Armageddon PPV event held on December 16, Turning Point was rated lower as Armageddon was given a seven out of