NWA-TNA Weekly PPV #57

August 13, 2003

Your hosts are Don West and Mike Tenay

Tenay hypes the top matches for tonight, which include Raven vs. Shane Douglas and America’s Most Wanted & Dusty Rhodes vs. Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger & Glen Gilbertti

 

Vampire Warrior & Devon Storm & Sinn vs. 3 Live Krew

The match starts with Konnan and Storm. They proceed to engage in a terrible sequence of mistimed moves capped off by Konnan dropping Storm on his head with an armdrag. Konnan was wrestling at a snails pace, as does BG when he tags. Storm dodges an attack and makes the tag as they all take turns beating on BG. They use quick tags to neutralize BG until he collides with the Vampire Warrior. The Harris Brothers are shown watching from the ramp as Killings tags in and runs wild. The match breaks down then 3 Live Krew hits them all with double-team moves until BG finishes off Sinn with a pumphandle drop (5:21) ¼*.

Thoughts: The good news for TNA is that the crowd loves 3 Live Kru. The wrestling was shit but this did a good job of getting the crowd going so the segment was a success overall. Sinn would eventually go on to be Kizarny in the WWE, for those who were wondering.

 

Tenay informs us that Jerry Lynn will return to face Elix Skipper and Bobby Eaton has accepted the open challenge from Kid Kash to all legends. Also, Michael Shane will face Frankie Kazarian in a ladder match for the #1 contender to the X Division Title, which means that Chris Sabin remained champion after last week’s title holdup.

 

We are seen footage after the show last week that shows Russo’s guys beating the shit out of D’Lo. Jarrett came out and Russo tried to hit him with a bat but he blocked it and Jarrett cleaned house with a chair. They are continuing to book Jarrett like Stone Cold Steve Austin.

 

Erik Watts is in the ring. He talks about how his dad taught him about fighting then gets interrupted by AJ Styles and Vince Russo, who is holding a bat. Russo tells Watts that he needs to shut up and listen to him. I have to say that having AJ in the ring with these two guys, who are much taller than him, isn’t a good thing at all. Add that to the fact that he dresses like the Redneck version of Nick Carter and you have a champ that is more like a chump than anything else. Russo acts like a tough guy on the mic then says that starting tonight they are on vacation as there are no more contenders. He even claims that he contacted Sting, who was afraid. They walk away and as they are on the ramp, Watts gives them three options, get a single-bed hotel room and play “Hide the pee-pee,” fight Low Ki tonight, or option three, leave but then having to forfeit the belt. Russo says that he and the champ have a plane to catch and will get back to him later. AJ comes into the ring by himself and tries to get Watts to take the belt from him but Low Ki comes out and destroys him, to minimal crowd response. Legend runs in but Watts takes care of him and has AJ up for the chokeslam but Russo hits him with the bat. Jarrett then comes out and cleans house as Ki sends AJ to the floor with a koppu kick. This did an okay job hyping up the match between AJ and Low Ki.

 

Scott Hudson is backstage with Swinger, Diamond, and Gilbertti. The highlight is was Diamond doing a very funny Dusty Rhodes impression. They promise that they will not lay down for Dusty’s elbows.

 

Elix Skipper vs. Jerry Lynn

Lynn attacks Skipper from behind on the ramp to start .In the ring, Skipper takes control. Lynn comes back with a back elbow smash but Skipper uses his momentum to dump him outside. Lynn dodges a moonsault off the apron then goes inside and dropkicks Skipper off the apron, holding his scale. They fight on the apron and Lynn brings him back in then yells at Skipper, blaming him for losing a payday last week. Skipper hits a beautiful double springboard moonsault for two. He crotches Lynn on the top rope, who then ducks his ropewalk rana and crotches himself and Lynn gets the win with a double underhook DDT (3:58) *1/4. After the match, Skipper attacks Lynn from behind but misses a senton from the top rope and Lynn ends up hitting him with a scale. Lynn applies a chinlock then shoves the ref and grabs him by the ropes as a few other refs come out. Don Callis can be seen from the ramp taking notes, shaking his head in disbelief.

Thoughts: A disappointing match. The Skipper push has been a failure and they keep making Lynn look like a joke. The angle between Callis and Lynn is also not working so far and it probably never will.

 

Scott Hudson is with Chris Sabin, who has the belt back in his possession. He is not concerned with facing either man as he can beat them easily. Sabin would have beneited from a manager as promos are not his strong suit.

 

Ladder Match to Become Number One Contender to the X Division Title

Frankie Kazarian vs. Michael Shane

Kazarian knocks Shane down and quickly grabs the ladder but as he comes down the ramp, Shane flies out with a tope con hilo. Shane slugs away then whips Kazarian into the ladder. Kazarian hits the charging Shane with the ladder and uses it as a weapon. They go back and forth a bit until Kazarian takes down Shane with a springboard dropkick. Shane is backdropped into the ladder them climbs the top rope and leapfrogs the ladder, hitting Shane with a leg drop. Kazarian climbs up for the contract but Shane fights back and takes him off with a swinging neckbreaker. Both men climb up top slowly and that ends with Kazarian hitting a sunset powerbomb. Shortly after that, he climbs the ladder and almost has the contract but Sabin runs out and shoves him off the ladder. He heads up the ramp and as Shane climbs up the ladder he takes him off with a springboard contract then climbs up the ladder and grabs the contract as the ref rules this match a no contest (8:54) **1/2. After the bell rings, Sabin takes out both men with the ladder and his belt. Callis comes out and grabs both the contract and the belt

Thoughts: The fans groaned at this finish. It looks like we are going to get a three-way match as a result, which should be good given the fact that these guys are all good in the ring.

 

Another video on Mad Mikey. He is shown on the shitter reading the “National Enquirer,” with the lead story being Ben Affleck cheating on Jennifer Lopez. He goes to wipe then realizes he has no toilet paper so he rips off the cover and goes to wipe. The tape freezes then Teany takes us to the production truck where Mikey is shown beating up everyone inside.

 

Scott Hudson is backstage with Jeff Jarrett. He says that one day, Russo will have to meet him face-to-face and that he also knows his weakness and at the end, it will take him down.

 

Kid Kash vs. Bobby Eaton

Before the match, Kash tells us that he was having a great day until he went to catering and found out that Dusty Rhodes ate all the brownies, thus needing a lesson in respect. Eaton tries to go after Kash as he is talking and looks to wear himself out in the process. Kash attacks Eaton from behind then kicks him halfway out the ring. Kash bounces a chair off of Eaton and goes back inside to continue his assault. Kash mocks Eaton by performing jumping jacks. Kash hits Eaton with an elbow drop on the floor then rams him into the post. Back in the ring, Kash applies the iron claw but Eaton fights back. He can barely do anything at all on offense but Kash makes it look okay. He gets two off a backbreaker but Abyss comes out and distracts Eaton, allowing Kash to hit a low blow then school-boy him for the win (3:36) DUD.

Thoughts: Eaton had no business being in the ring but he doesn’t seem like the guy who knows when to quit, which is probably why he is in the terrible condition that he is today. Kash had to do the work for two people here.

 

Backstage, Legend attacks Watts as Scott Hudson looks on. Looks like these two will be facing off shortly in a match that no one will care about.

 

A video package on the feud between Shane Douglas and Raven is shown. This feud has been really good despite the fact that Douglas can barely even do anything in the ring.

 

Scott Hudson is with Raven, inside of his lair. Raven promises closure when he either finds out who is Mitchell’s mystery man or destroy the internal organs of Shane Douglas.

 

Shane Douglas vs. Raven

Douglas bails but is able to pull Raven down and crotch him against the post. They trade punches but Douglas sends him into the steps with a drop toehold. The crowd is jacked for this match. Raven is bleeding already as Douglas is yelling in the face of a female fan. Douglas stops a comeback with a cheapshot then rams his head off the announcers table. They finally take it inside as Douglas taunts the fans. Raven fights back with chops but eats boot on a charge. Douglas flips off the crowd the grabs a chair and hits Raven with a drop toehold. Douglas is frequently stalling and taunting the fans, as he is in awful shape an already blown up. He hits Raven then shows the blood on his hand to the camera. The crowd is solidly behind Raven as Douglas applies the figure-four. Raven eventually reverses the hold but Douglas is able to grab the ropes. Raven then hits Douglas with several clotheslines, with the last one terribly mistimed to the point the fans started to boo. Raven is wearing a crimson mask then headbutts out of a belly-to-belly attack and hits one of his own. James Mitchell is on the ramp with a body bag and interrupts as Raven is about to hit Douglas with the Raven Effect. Mitchell says that he has Alexis in the bag and only has fifteen seconds worth of oxygen left. He goes go hhelp but Douglas attacks. The fans start a countdown then Raven small packages Douglas for the win (10:55) **1/2. Raven runs out and opens the bag but it’s the mystery man. The lights go off and Mitchell gives Douglas scissors but security runs out and stops any further damage from taking place.

Thoughts: This was about as good of a match you could possibly get out of Douglas at this point. They were smart to stretch it out and make sure that Douglas took breaks to taunt the fans, which helped maintain the heat this match had. The crowd was into it the whole time and TNA has done a masterful job in building up Raven as a face.

 

Sonny Siaki cuts a promo on D’Lo Brown, calling him a failure. He is in a dark room holding a flashlight up to his face, making it look as bush-league as possible. Next week, Siaki promises to hold a career burial for D’Lo’s career. Looks like these two will now feud.

 

Scott Hudson is with Don Callis. He lets us know that since Watts got attacked, he has been assigned to deal with the X Division problem. He brings us a diagram of the “Ultimate X” match, which features fifteen-foot poles in the corners that are connected by steel wires and in the middle, will be the belt. Callis also promises that this will “pop a tremendous buyrate” then asks Hudson if he knows the importance of buyrates. This match will take place next week between Sabin, Kazarian, and Shane. I thought they did a pretty good job of selling the new concept match, even if the diagram looked like it was drawn by a twelve year-old.

 

We are shown footage from last week’s match between AMW and Simon & Swinger

 

Glenn Gilbertti & Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger vs. America’s Most Wanted & Dusty Rhodes

Match starts with everyone brawling in the end. Storm takes out Diamond & Swinger with a plancha then Harris takes them out once they get up. Storm suplexes Swinger back into the ring. AMW work on Swinger until Harris eats boot on a charge. Gilbertti tags but Harris hits him with a Thesz Press and tags Dusty but the heels bail. The crowd starts chanting for Dusty then Gilbertti tags Diamond. Dusty elbows the arm and tags Storm. He takes him over with a headscissors but Swinger grabs his foot and the heels take control. Diamond suplexes Storm then catches him with a super kick that gets two. Storm fights back against Swinger and tags Dusty but the ref was distracted by Diamond and disallows the tag. Storm dodges an attack and clotheslines Diamond to the floor before making the hot-tag to Dusty. He hits Gilbertti with the bionic elbow then uses the bullrope and gets the pin (8:35) **3/4. After the match, Christopher Daniels attacks Dusty until Stone Cold Jeff Jarrett runs out and kicks his ass. Legend runs out and clotheslines Jarrett to the floor as everyone starts brawling in the end as the bell rings continuously. Watts runs out then Jarrett grabs a chair and cleans house on the heels. Watts grabs the mic and says that AMW will face Diamond & Swinger in a double bullrope match. He also says that he and Jarrett will team up to face Daniels & Legend.

Thoughts: Fun match and this feud remains strong. Dusty only did his trademark stuff and the rest of the match was all action.

 

Scott Hudson is with Low Ki, who is back from Japan and will face AJ Styles. He promises to mark the new era in TNA

 

NWA-TNA Heavyweight Championship Match

Low-Ki vs. AJ Styles w/Vince Russo

They lockup and end up going all over the ring as Russo joins the announcers table. They fight over a go behind then use matwork, with neither man able to get the advantage. Ki then chops AJ hard but runs into a dropkick. Neckbreaker gets two. Ki hits AJ with his version of the 619 then takes him down with a European uppercut. Corkscrew elbow gets two. Ki continues with his hard chops then uses the Bite of the Dragon. Ki dropkicks the leg then repeatedly kicks AJ in the chest. AJ ducks a kick and sweeps the leg but Ki kips up and nails AJ with a rolling Koppu Kick. Ki gets a sunset flip out of the Styles Clash but AJ comes back with an enziguiri. AJ kips up and sends Ki to the floor with a headscissors. He then hits the Phenomenon off the apron and it looked great. Back inside, they trade nearfalls until AJ hits a spinning heel kick and then a suplex. Ki floats over on a suplex attempt and puts AJ in a dragon sleeper. AJ snaps him off the ropes then grabs a chinlock. Russo pokes Ki with the bat as AJ distracts the ref. AJ beats on Ki in the corner but the ref falls and that allows Ki to hit a springboard kick. Ki hits a flying forearm then hits a double underhook suplex and uses a bridge to get two. Damn, that was sweet. He kicks the shit out of AJ for a bit. AJ counters a muscle buster with a DDT in another fantastic spot. AJ dodges a handspring kick and flattens Ki with a discus clothesline. AJ uses a flurry of moves but Ki is able to put AJ in the octopus. AJ turns that into a German suplex then maintains his hold and hits a facebuster but that only gets two. AJ tries for another Phenomenon but Ki is able to kcik him in the head. Ki knocks AJ to the floor with a cartwheel kick and goes outside. Russo pokes him with the bat but Ki beats on Russo as the fans go nuts. He climbs the top ropes but referee Rudy Charles prevents him from hitting Russo and as his back is turned, AJ hits him with the bat and rolls him in the ring and gets the win (14:54) ****.

Thoughts: One hell of a match. I’m pretty sure that no one bought Low Ki as having a chance to win but the wrestling itself kept the crowd going. Just a great match with tons of hot moves.

 

Final Thoughts: Not a bad show at all. Sure, there are some problems with the company and no one wants to see Jeff Jarrett booked like he is Stone Cold Steve Austin but they have developed two really good feuds and had one awesome main event. They also built up some intrigue next week with the new Ultimate X concept. TNA has had a solid few weeks of programming.