I've given up on TNA death predictions - they're the cockroach of wrestling - they'll just keep surviving, with their fanbase never really rising or falling in great numbers. I'm sure they'll die, but it'll be like WCW's death - after anyone really cares about the company.
Victory Road had the potential to be very good, and instead basically peaked with the opener, which, at 27 minutes in length, was probably the longest match in about a year in TNA. Very exciting opener, although it began to feel like an ROH match after a while, and not in a good way, as I became numb to seeing so many dazzling moves that could've finished the match just get 2 counts.
The rest of the was just a bunch of stuff - the tag title match had nothing going for it beyond the fan strapping segments, the women's match wasn't as good as their Impact match, and I question having Taylor pin Kong twice in under a week (TV continuity-wise) given that doing that EVER is supposed to be a big deal. At least they're fluke wins, but that really doesn't help the knockouts belt out, as it's held by a champion who only wins via flukes.
Dutt-Lethal was perfectly fine, but not as good as their previous PPV match (I believe at BFG '07). The finish worked at making Dutt seem more like a snake, although I could've done without them showing Val every five seconds, as that took away from the match a bit. Good character development for Lethal in this match, as he was far more serious here than he's been in past matches - in keeping with the new, wild Savage-esque character.
The ultimate X was nothing special aside from the ending, which was insane and didn't really look good because Kaz grazed Daivari. I'm disappointed in TNA's director, as he missed the big fall for Kaz called "a bad landing" on commentary, but we did get a shot of Daivari's beard instead. Brilliant move...
I applaud TNA for letting the World X Cup winners get a long celebration - they often cut anything remotely celebratory short in favor of some sort of skit, and they didn't do that here...too much. I'll cut them a bit of slack for just cutting during the middle of the dance - at least they showed part of it.
The Booker skits started off great with the house roaming one - I'm a bit bothered by TNA once again showing those cheap replicas of WWE belts on their programming, although at least they didn't linger on them here like they did with the Team 3D's legacy usage of them before.
Booker had a bunch of great one liners here, while the PWA school one worked at making Booker out to be a caring guy, with the restaurant one showing him as a smart businessman who will do anything to make a buck, while the golf one showed off more of his character's arrogant side.
Good stuff overall, and they did a good job of making the TNA World title seem important with Booker selling it as THE crowning achievement in his life (which, after seeing all of the other ones in theses segments, carried more weight to it).
These segments really should've aired on Impact, although they worked well at selling this as definitely being a show in Houston (along with the space center and skyline-showcase segments) - it was nice to see them make an effort at making the location of the show seem meaningful, which they sorta did with BFG '07 being in Atlanta, but didn't do it to this degree, or as well. It's a good thing they did such a good job there, because the finish of the show easily could kill Houston as a money-drawing market for TNA.
The six-man full metal mayhem was the second-best match on the show. Trigg's commentary was fantastic, with "Why is Kurt using chairs? He's so much better at using ladders!" "Kurt's a great father, even though his wife's a whore." being two of my favorites.
Having Christian wear a shirt to cover up his back due to the "glass table" spot was smart, as it sold the injury (which played into the match a bit when Angle, showing his Trigg-approved ladder expertise, hit him with a belly to belly onto one) - and it also worked at preventing them from having to show that Christian's back wasn't at all hurt by the "glass" table spot, which was evident on the show it aired when the towel was shown pre-bloodied, while his back was never shown cut up once.
Given that they didn't even show the end results of the fan polling, they should've just announced this as a full metal mayhem match and not even wasted time building up the fan interaction element, as them not announcing what kind of match it was isn't going to do this show's buyrate any favors.
The match itself wasn't a classic, but was mostly a satisfying spotfest. The doomsday through a table, 3D off the steps through the table on the floor, and Olympic slam off the ladder were pretty innovative, although I'm not sure if they were worth it given that Devon seemingly got injured due to the doomsday device spot, and Angle's neck landing on the slightly-vertical part of the table on the Olympic slam spot was a scary sight.
The main event was built up very well with the pre-entrance backstage walking segments and video packages highlighting the wrestlers - these, combined with the Booker T videos earlier really made this feel like more than just the main event of a B-level PPV.
The match itself though wasn't anything special. It was slightly memorable because both guys bled, which means something with Booker as he rarely bleeds.
The ending was simply dreadful, with Joe knocking out one ref with a single light punch, and the other with a low blow and a DDT, leading to Sting coming out, trying to calm him down, then being disrespected by Joe, resulting him beating Joe senseless with a ball bat, leading to Booker getting a visual pin with Sharmell counting the fall. Somehow, out of all this, Booker's the heel (seemingly).
The insane finish didn't help anyone - Joe came off like a bitch, Sting looked like a bully, and Booker came off like a coward. It was a memorable ending, but not a particularly good one. They did such a good job of building up this match tonight, and this finish really shit all over that good work.
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UPN. He probably would've held either the WWE or World Heavyweight title had it not been for the London bombings. 
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