11/16/2006 TNA Impact: Christian Cage def. Rhino in 11:54. Yes, we have a Barbwire Cage match on free television here in a pre-AEW moment. Like many of you, I too suffer from Christian fatigue almost twenty years after this match, but he really was so fucking good. They only had twelve minutes and still managed to build the story, escalating to the point where Christian was a bloody fucking mess with his face covered in the most literal crimson mask you’ll ever see. Holy shit, this was on a random Thursday night on cable? They worked in bolt cutters, a chair, a straitjacket, and other items because the barbed-wire cage wasn’t enough. As overbooked as all that seems on paper, it was more like a DiBiase and Duggan tuxedo street fight because every gimmick worked, and the crowd was going apeshit. I’m not putting it at that level, but maybe the light-beer equivalent. This match was escape the cage rules, and while that stip felt like it hurt every WWF cage match in the big blue cage, the crowd was rabid for this. This match worked so well that they didn’t need nearfalls to get the match over. They did the finish where Rhino speared Christian out of the cage accidentally, but the absolute bloody pulp that Christian was made it work here. Rhino doesn’t get enough credit at times, either, for being a good, believable worker, but this was the Christian Cage show. I made that whole review without any Christian Cage/cage puns. The restraint of a champion. ****1/4