TNA Genesis results from Orlando: Jeff Hardy wins but Bobby Roode retains title

TNA Genesis took place last night (Sun., Jan. 8, 2012) from the Impact Zone in Orlando, Florida, and featured Bobby Roode defending his world championship against Jeff Hardy.

The major theme coming out of the show was the same theme coming out of every pay-per-view (PPV): The numbers they do on Impact on Thursdays are far better than what they do on PPV, so they treat pay shows like they're second rate with garbage finishes. And that's what last night was all about.

Roode retained his title in a decent enough match that ended in disappointment when he simply nut-checked the referee for the disqualification. Hardy was over big -- far more than anyone else on the card -- but it made no sense to have him win the belt here. I can see the argument for having a smoz finish but it's stuff like this that makes fans just tune out. Too often you end a TNA show feeling empty, like you wasted your money and you should have just waited for Impact to see the results. Because really, with all the smoz finishes, there aren't any real results.

This theme held true in the Knockout's title match between Gail Kim and Mickie James, as well but this finish was far more silly. As per an added stipulation suggested to Sting by Velvet Sky that was given almost no promotion outside of a video on YouTube earlier tonight, Madison Rayne was suspended in a cage during the match. Towards the end, she threw some brass knuckles in the ring, but they rolled out. The clueless referee went out to retrieve them and when he did so, Rayne threw another set of brass knuckles, only James recovered them and used them on Kim, which the clueless ref saw and called for the disqualification.

Again, about as unsatisfying a finish as it gets.

Kurt Angle and James Storm's match failed massively to get over with the crowd and we've now come to the point that Angle is making it obvious he's protecting himself from taking any real risks as he gears up for his run at the Olympics. Sadly, even while he's doing this, his matches are better than most anyone else on the card. What sucks about it is Storm looks lesser for working with him, though he's talented enough to be just fine.

The last big match on the card, or at least the one that got some promotion, was the Abyss vs. Bully Ray Monsters Ball match. And really, the less said about it the better. Essentially, it was a plodding spotfest that saw Abyss go all out to get over and the crowd react with apathy. It's like they think they can do what Hardy did back with WWE and have him do enough crazy sh*t that fans will love him for it. Only TNA fans couldn't care less. He's a monster; we get it. He's just not someone folks will take seriously ... ever.

Bully Ray, on the other hand, who has real potential and has worked his ass off to get in shape and become a top heel, deserves to be working in WWE again. Not that they wouldn't book him into the ground but TNA isn't doing much of anything with him while he's miles ahead of anyone else on the roster.

Complete TNA Genesis results after the jump.

-- Austin Aries def. Jesse Sorensen, Kid Kash and Zema Ion to retain the X-Division title

Standard X-Division match that made it seem as though Aries and Ion are headed for a feud, which wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, save for Ion's god awful catchphrase.

-- Devon def. D'Angelo Dinero

The crowd actually bothered to get up for this match but they botched what could have been a solid finish. Dinero turned on Devon's sons, leading to Devon going nuts and beating him down, getting the crowd ready for the finish off a powerslam. Except it didn't happen and they went back and forth for a bit before Devon eventually got the pin on a reverse suplex. Looks like this feud is done for.

-- Gunner def. Rob Van Dam

RVD did a stretcher job here after some interference from Ric Flair, who was ringside. It looked like he was being written off TV and word is that his contract is coming up soon. It's just as well, he hasn't looked himself for some time now.

-- Gail Kim def. Mickie James to retain the Knockouts title

As stated above, the finish killed the match which was otherwise pretty good. At least they get the time of day in TNA and aren't booked to look like complete fools.

-- Abyss def. Bully Ray

Spotfest that ultimately ended in an angle backstage that saw Ray with blood on his hands and acting like he legit hurt Abyss. Not sure what the point is but it's nearly impossible to get invested in Abyss' character at this point.

-- Matt Morgan and Crimson def. Samoa Joe and Magnus to retain the tag team titles

Group of guys who are all better off as singles wrestlers competing in tag teams, one of which was thrown together in a wacky tournament that no one cared about. The match went about how you would think, save for an awesome chant during the match where the crowd said, "We want Morgan" then turned a minute later saying, "No we don't."

-- Kurt Angle def. James Storm

A match that was okay by most standards but fell short of what we've come to expect of both Angle and Storm. Again, though, Angle is gearing up for his big run at the Olympics and he's not even trying to hide how much he's protecting himself.

-- Jeff Hardy def. Bobby Roode via disqualification, Roode retains the TNA world heavyweight title

Weird match that was decent for what it was but was hurt by the finish. The booking was done to protect everyone without having to make a title change, but there are far better ways to go about it than what they did, which was have Roode just get himself disqualified in the most blatant way possible.

As stated previously, PPV's don't matter in TNA and in many ways, I can't blame them. The numbers they do are so god awful, they have no choice but to build to TV, where the audience increases significantly. The downside, of course, is that the promotion can only live for so long with that model.

Overall, this was a poor show that accomplished nothing other than possibly ending the feud between Devon and Dinero and writing RVD out of the company.

Anyone feel differently?