This is something I've been working on for a while as I figured with Bound for Glory coming up, now would be a good time to look back in TNA's history with some of their finest matches.

Of course I selected all of these myself. I thought about getting the opinions of the posters, but that would take too long, so I just made the list myself. Feel free to discuss the matches and you can talk about whether or not you agree with it being on the list.

20)

AN EPIC ENCOUNTER
“The Samoan Submission Machine” Samoa Joe vs. “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner
Slammiversary: June 18, 2006



“Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner had earned a reputation for being one of the toughest and most ruthless men in the history of professional wrestling. He definitely lived up to that reputation when he first appeared in TNA Wrestling back in March 2006 for the Destination X PPV event. Steiner, who was brought in to be Jarrett’s hired gun, immediately made an impact as he attacked several superstars including Norman Smiley, Shark Boy, The Naturals, and the Legendary Sting during the first few weeks of his time with the company. At Lockdown, he was part of Jeff Jarrett’s team as they went up against Sting’s Army in the Lethal Lockdown main event match which was contested inside of the dangerous Six Sides of Steel and wrestled under traditional “War Games” rules. Even though Jarrett’s team came up on the losing end, Steiner showed his dominance as he suplexed everyone in sight upon his entry to the ring. Despite his team losing, Steiner demonstrated that he might be unmatched when it came to brute strength.

However, there was another star in TNA who showed a monster like dominance in the ring, and that was Samoa Joe. Despite his huge size, Joe found his place in the X Division. The X Division is normally reserved for Cruiserweight styles wrestlers, but as the tag line of the division states “It’s not about weight limits. It’s about no limits” and that fit Joe perfectly. The 280lbs Samoan Submission Machine, who made his debut with TNA at July 2005’s PPV Slammiversary, ran through and dominated every X Division superstar in his path. It started with one sided wins over lower card wrestlers such as Sonjay Dutt, Alex Shelley, Shark Boy, and Delirious, but it wasn’t long before Joe began working with some of the more established X Division stars. After a victory over Chris Sabin, Joe soon moved on to the X Division cream of the crop as he challenged AJ Styles and Christopher Daniels. Throughout the end of 2005 and early portion of 2006, Joe defeated both AJ and Daniels twice each in singles competition, and took the X Division title from both of them. Having never been pinned or forced to submit (his only loses were in Triple Threat and Ultimate X matches in which he wasn’t involved in the decision) Joe was billed as the Unstoppable and Undefeated Juggernaut of TNA. However, it was time for Joe’s dominance to be tested in different waters, so he soon moved towards the heavyweight division.

Even though he was still the X Division champion, Joe began to wrestle more heavyweight style wrestlers, and it came as no surprise that Joe would soon go after the biggest stars in TNA. Samoa Joe agreed to be Sting’s tag team partner in a match against Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner at Sacrifice in May 2006. Joe earned his team the win with a pinfall over the former NWA World Champion Jeff Jarrett, but it was the confrontation between Joe and Steiner that generated interest among the fans. They knew it was only a matter of time before that dream match would take place, and Big Poppa Pump would prove to be the ultimate test for Samoa Joe.

The match was set for TNA’s 4th Anniversary show, Slammiversary 2006, an event that also marked the one year anniversary of Samoa Joe’s debut with TNA. The Joe/Steiner match was billed as being main event caliber and commentator Mike Tenay even said that “This is probably the biggest match in TNA history where a title wasn’t on the line” The match started out as a gigantic brawl that saw both men hit big moves on each other. Steiner threw Joe around in ways that nobody had ever seen before while Joe was able to be the only one in TNA to match Steiner blow for blow. Towards the end of the match, Joe was able to lock in his Coquina Clutch, but much to the surprise of everyone, Steiner became the first wrestler in TNA to escape from the dreaded submission hold. Steiner fought back with a huge Half Nelson Suplex that sent Joe crashing down on his head. This allowed Steiner to lock in his own submission hold, The Steiner Recliner, but Joe showed great fighting spirit as he was able to fight out of the hold. After flinging Steiner into the ropes, Joe was able to hit a quick Snap Powerslam on Steiner for the quick pinfall. After one of the most evenly matched bouts in TNA history, Joe emerged victorious with his undefeated streak still in tact.