I got in the mood to check out some vintage (vintage?!) TNA wrestling after enjoying my copy of TNA Impact for the PS2. I checked the matches listed and Hard Justice 2008 looked perfect. Check they even are promoting the game during the show.

This one has been up for 11 years so I'm thinking they won't pull it down or put it behind a pay wall any time soon. I am going to put it up top if you want to watch it sans reviews. I don't do spoilers/play by play reviews but if you want to go in fresh, there you go! 
Here it is courtesy of TNA:

If you want some reviews as a watch-guide or maybe to read my takes, here they are

Conquenses Creed vs Petey Williams - Very good to great X division title match opener. I mean they did like a few moves each that should have been the finisher. There was some shenanigans but it all worked out in the end so it wasn't a problem. Creed aka Xaiver Woods had a rocket push and the fans (myself included) were like 'who the fuck is this cartoon character looking like that dude from that Ready 2 Rumble boxing game!?' People love this goofy shit now but not so much then. Pairing him with Jay Lethal was a good idea because they looked like two looney tunes and they actually had fun matches. Anyhow, very good stuff here

The Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky) and Awesome Kong vs ODB, Taylor Wilde and Gail Kim - This is pretty good. Gail Kim vs Kong is always worth the time. Actually everyone but Velvet Sky was good. The Knockout division was always really good. Not necessarily a PPV caliber match but a good way to get your top talent in the show.

Beer Money vs LAX - Sweet ass entrance with an MC rapping and Hector Guerrero and their babe dancing (everyone seemed to have a babe at this time b/c of Spike TV I bet). Also Hernandez should have had a big singles run at some point...maybe I missed it during the Hogan era but the dude was big, he was young & could move and was over with the fans. Anyhow, this was an all action tag title match! I would even call it a classic TNA tag title match to be honest. Not only was the wrestling on point but they worked the story of Homicide having his eyes hurt in a previous encounter (probably that week's episode). They didn't over sell it but it was enough to still keep some heat on Beer Money. There's some shenanigans but again nothing that didn't work in terms of the story. However in '08, I would have disagreed because they used this finish way too much to the point where it was Jeff Jarrett bullshit booking. But I'm OK with it now because I'm watching this in retrospect. Hopefully there's no more B.S. on the show and I'll give this a pass.

Jay Lethal vs Sonjay Dutt (Black Tie  Ball And Chain Match) - Gimmick match...also Tenay says this is Lethal's PPV debut!? Is that right? Or just as Black Machismo? Really dug this mid card feud though... had similar vibes to Doring & Roadkill feuding with Nova & Chetti or Simon Diamond & partner. Fun story, good wrestling, humor...this was really good. They had some good classic chain spots, did some brawling and were able to pull of some high risk moves. Some people were chanting "boring" but they were quickly silenced (thankfully... ass hats...). The tuxedo/black tie part was kinda silly since you could win by tearing this off of your opponent or by  pinning them...how is that humiliating? They wrestle in essentially speedos...typical over complicated gimmick but Dutt & Jay don't really waste any time on this. 

Christian Cage and Rhino vs Team 3D (Brother Ray and Brother D-Von) (Jersey Street Fight) - Great hardcore tour the building, use the weapons, do the spots match. These are the 4 guys who should be doing this kind of match and they do it right. Not as crazy as it could have been but it's perfect for where it's at on the card. Loads of shit in the ring at the end, post match shenanigans ala ECW...yeah this was cool to see.

 AJ Styles vs Kurt Angle (Last Man Standing Match) - All time classic TNA match without a doubt. This was part of the Karen Angle-AJ-Kurt story and there were some excellent matches and moments from this feud. The intensity was off the charts here..every hit  looked like they laid it in. The pacing was on point even when they got down to the finish (last man standings/Texas deathmatches can be anticlimactic) but they did this right..teasing all along the way of what would be enough to score a pin fall or submission THEN teasing what would be enough to keep these guys down for 10. This was fought from bell to bell like it really meant something. An absolute all time classic and another feather in AJ & Angle's TNA caps. This is one I didn't about but damn this was one of the best I've seen so far this year.

Booker T vs Samoa Joe (Six Sides of Steel with Weapons TNA World Title Match): Not gonna lie, I was not interested in Booker T in TNA. Loved him in WCW...but when he came in I could see TNA becoming more like WCW in the bad ways... and I was right! But really his in ring stuff wasn't up to snuff especially with stuff Joe & Kurt did or Kurt & AJ...he'll even Sting was putting it all out there despite his age. Booker was just that guy waiting to go back to WWE and doing a WWE style whereas the other guys upped their game (at least during this era before Main Event Mafia which is when I was pretty much avoiding since it was NWO all fucking over again). Reading the Wikipedia page, this era was pretty much the beginning of the end of my big time interest in TNA...the seeds were planted around this time. Haha I'm still miffed 16 years later (holy crap...this was 16 years ago!!?) Anyhow, the match! Don't think it can top the previous ones but, let's see...Yeah this was good perhaps very good. It definitely felt like a step down from the AJ/Kurt match but also from the Rhino/Christian vs 3D/Dudleys match. Joe definitely brought the goods doing all of the risky stuff both offensively and defensively. But at least Booker was OK doing a match like this and taking his shots when it was his turn. It was a by the numbers TNA PPV main event but that doesn't make it bad. Had this not been an absolute banger of a PPV (one I totally remember the Impact episodes leading up to), this match may  have looked better. This was actually probably a good way to keep things going post AJ/Kurt, there's definitely some cool spots plus we get a twist to keep the story going for the next few weeks. So from a business standpoint, this is a good way to end the show.

Overall, this was a great PPV show for TNA. Like I said, I absolutely remember all of this but on paper non of it seemed like enough to get to buy it. It was too much dough and TNA was starting to get the taint of WCW on it. In all fairness, I was right where 2 matches were some shade of WCW especially at the finish line. I was watching ROH at the time (got a couple of their PPVs instead) as well as getting deeper into puroresu. So I made the right call for then BUT with the passage of time (and at no charge!), I was finally able to enjoy this. And damn is it enjoyable! I watched every match which is a rarity for me. Damn near every match was a gimmick match but they were all different enough that it stayed exciting. Only one bull crap finish (to a classic tag match) so I'll let it slide...again it actually works so that's fine. Thankfully no bull crap with Kurt vs AJ or anything else truly. Absolutely recommend checking this show out...either as a nostalgia trip or just for the great action.