On Rewind-A-Wai #86, we travel back to September 2005 for a review of TNA Unbreakable 2005 from the Impact Zone in Orlando.
This show has been selected by Espresso Executive Producer @Legacy_of_Power_A_Po.
Post your memories, feedback & questions below. The full event can be viewed on IMPACT Plus.
The main event is available below:
TNA Unbreakable
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Orlando, Florida
*X Division Championship: Christopher Daniels (c) vs. AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe
*NWA World Championship, Raven’s Rules: Raven (c) vs. Rhino
*NWA World Tag Team Championship: The Naturals (c) vs. America’s Most Wanted vs. Eric Young & A1 vs. Alex Shelley & Johnny Candido
*Jeff Hardy vs. Bobby Roode
*No Disqualification: Sabu vs. Abyss
*Petey Williams vs. Chris Sabin
*Monty Brown & Kip James vs. Lance Hoyt & Apolo
*Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong
*David Young, Elix Skipper & Simon Diamond vs. 3 Live Kru
1 Like
Jake from The Windy City
There hasn’t been a ton of Impact/TNA reviews on Rewind-A-Wai and I’m happy that this was chosen here. With all the negativity surrounding what is or used to be TNA, I consider this to be the ultimate peak of the company with the X Division and bringing in guys like Christian Cage. Many would argue TNA never enjoyed such a period, but I would say that they were far more entertaining than WWE from the summer of 2005 until at least 2007 where they started to do some hokey stuff and copying things from WWE.
As far as Unbreakable itself, it was a slightly above average show by TNA standards and I looked back on this on Impact Plus when this was announced. Some matches I thought were just there, Aries vs Strong was a good showcase for those two. The hardcore matches were interesting but I felt I have seen the same Abyss match and Raven match for that matter far too many times now. Sabin and Williams was pretty solid and those two worked their behinds off. The rest of the undercard was ok, but obviously the main event carried the whole show, action from beginning to end with no dull moments in between. I give Unbreakable 7 shooting star presses out of 10.
2 questions if you don’t mind:
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We’ve heard a lot of retro podcasts looking back at the 90s period with the Monday Night Wars. I feel there is a missing market there with assessments of mid 2000s wrestling with ROH and TNA. Do you think there can be an interest out there to have a Conrad Thompson-like show going back to this particular period?
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Why do you think over the years after this, TNA really didn’t work out as being a viable alternative to WWE and AEW being better at executing that theory today? Was it because of Dixie Carter’s incompetence? Vince Russo? Too many cooks in the kitchen with Hogan and Bischoff? Them trying too hard to be WWE-lite?
3 Likes
Alex from Minneapolis
This show I feel will forever only be remembered for the classic 3 way match that all these years later is constantly praised. It’s really interesting to see the hope and optimism for TNA with the Spike debut looming and the abundance of talent the TNA roster was made up of and that within 6 months, TNA would also secure big gets in the forms of Christian and Sting.
2 questions
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Would you guys say that 2005 is the biggest boom period for non WWE wrestling given the success ROH, TNA, CZW, NOAH, etc all had that year?
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Between RAW, iMPACT, UFC and Bellator, who do you think benefitted the most from being on Spike TV’s massive platform?
1 Like
The lion share of this PPV’s success goes to the main event. Joe, AJ and Daniels have made magic that night. The mixing and matching with all three was excellent and I loved the dynamic where there was a clear-cut babyface (AJ), a clear-cut heel (Daniels) and a badass hovering in the gray area (Joe). The combination spots were tremendous and all three have gone down different paths since that match.
It remains the high water mark of TNA
