klunderbunker
Welcome to My (And Not Sly's) House
No Surrender 2005
Date: July 17, 2005
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 775
Commentators: Don West, Mike Tenay
I've had this sitting around for months and I needed to do a TNA show so here you go. I'll be focusing on PPV more for awhile since there are only 90 I haven't done and I want to try to get closer to finishing them. It'll more or less be Raw, Nitro, PPV and requests until I'm done with PPV or until my mood changes, which will likely be every week or so. Anyway, this is one of the older shows and the main event is Raven vs. Abyss for the title. I believe they were off TV at this point, waiting on a new deal to be made. Let's get to it.
Yeah I was right: from late May until early October, there was almost no Impact (other than some regional stuff) on TV at all. It was aired online and then on Spike.
The opening video is the usual choir stuff with clips and soundbytes of the top matches added in.
Matt Bentley/Alex Shelley vs. America's Most Wanted
Shelley is a heel here. Bentley is more or less here because Shawn Michaels is his cousin. Shelley's tape collection is played up here which was a much bigger aspect of his character in the day. He would study a lot and it made him more talented. Storm looks odd without the beard. Shelley vs. Storm to start us off. Oh and Traci is with the non famous team. They hit the mat for a bit and there's a piece of tape on the middle of the mat.
Shelley fires off some chops so Storm fires one of his own. Storm skins the cat (I still want to know why that's the name of the move) and it's off to Bentley. This is a battle of the superkicks. Storm fires off some arm drags and that spot in the middle of the ring with the tape is moving. It looks like either the mat is torn or there's a trapdoor there or something like that.
Harris comes in to stomp away a bit. Back to Bentley who isn't afraid now that Storm is gone. They're really playing up that superkick thing. Delayed vertical suplex gets no cover as Bentley runs from Storm. They brawl to the floor and Shelley goes into the railing. Now he goes flying off the stage into a wall of some sort. Storm is like screw the security helping Shelley up and dives off the stage onto Alex, mostly missing him.
Harris and Bentley fight on the outside as you have to wonder when countouts were abolished. Traci saves Matt with a low blow but he can't hit a piledriver on the ramp. Traci gets handcuffed to the post. We get back to a regular match and now it's time for the Superkick thing. Bentley is all psyched out so Shelley tries to make a save which fails as well. DDT gets two on Shelley who I think is illegal.
A Hart Attack gets two on Bentley. They call for the Death Sentence but Shelley makes the save. Storm tries to skin the cat but gets caught by a baseball slide in a nice touch. Traci manages to throw in a shoe which gets a two count. Bentley wants the other shoe for some reason but he walks into a full nelson slam. Storm superkicks Shelley for the pin.
Rating: C+. This could have been more but the random three minute brawl felt out of place. Good opener though as the fans got into things here which they should have. AMW would go on to be the most dominant team in TNA ever and they might still be to this day. Either way, good opener but a weird middle part.
Bentley sneaks in a superkick to put Storm down post match.
We get a clip from earlier in the night on the pregame show where Jarrett rants about WWE cutting a bunch of people and the possibility of them coming to TNA. Namely he's worried about Rhyno for some reason. Of course he doesn't say WWE but who else could he mean? He would show up and the Dudleys would too eventually.
Team Canada says they'll win tonight in all of their matches. Jeff Jarrett comes up to ask about Rhyno. He leaves and Roode isn't sure they should trust Jarrett. This is part of the Planet Jarrett stable which bored most people to tears.
Shark Boy vs. Mikey Batts vs. Elix Skipper vs. Sonjay Dutt
The winner qualifies for the Super X Cup which is, say it with me, A TOURNAMENT!!! The winner of the whole thing got a title shot at Daniels and the X Title. Elix and Sonjay start because you don't tag. Dutt does a big revolving spin move into an armdrag. Spinebuster puts Dutt down and it's off to Mikey who isn't very popular. Shark Boy comes in but this is before he was a really popular crowd favorite.
He's better than he's given credit for too but with a gimmick/name like Shark Boy, how serious can anyone take him? Also the whole biting thing isn't helping him. Sonjay beats him down a bit and Skipper tags himself in as Dutt is going for something off the top. Sharky hits a modified neckbreaker on Skipper for two. Skipper uses the Matrix move to avoid a cross body but Sonjay comes off the top via a springboard into a double stomp.
Dutt takes down Mikey with a springboard missile dropkick and Skipper gets two with a weird kind of reverse headlock takeover. He tries to walk the ropes (think Old School) into a rana on a crotched Batts but it's mostly botched. I can live with that as it's not like it's a simple move. They're both legal and a collision puts them both down.
There's a double tag and Dutt takes over on Shark Boy again. The masked one really doesn't have that much success does he? They start the dives but most of them are countered. Sudden Death (Celtic Cross. Finlay used to use it) takes Batts down and Sonjay goes up to hit a Hindu Press (big flippy move into a splash that hits about 10% of the target) to Batts to go to the tournament.
Rating: C-. Eh this was fine but the botches hurt it. It never really got going and came off as just more X Division stuff. Dutt would get crushed by Joe in the first round of the tournament which he would go on to win at the next PPV. This was fine but the division was about to be revolutionized by Joe, AJ and Daniels so this is kind of the last of the old days of it.
3 Live Crew says they're fine, even though they haven't seen or heard from BG James in over a month. Killings says give him more time. This is about Kip James (Billy Gunn)
showing up and tempting BG (Road Dogg) to the dark side.
Apolo/Sonny Siaki vs. Diamonds in the Rough
The Diamonds in the Rough were a pretty weak three man team and here's it's David Young/Simon Diamond. Eventually Elix Skipper would join the team also. This is Young's first match with the team. Young is most famous for losing like every match he was in for two years in a row. Diamond says he's going to take Young to greater heights which isn't saying much. If I remember right there's no real story here and it's just a tag match to fill in a roster spot.
Siaki is a well built guy and that's about it. Apolo is a guy who is a big deal in Puerto Rico and that's about it. Young vs. Apolo to start and Young, who is billed as a power guy, is shoved around a lot. Gorilla press drop sets up a leg drop for two. Off to Siaki who looks a lot like Apolo. Young, who is a fairly big guy, hits an Asai Moonsault to Siaki. Apolo, another big guy, dives over the top rope to take the heels out in a swanton but lands on his feet. WHY DID THEY LET THIS GUY GO???
Young vs. Siaki now with Young wanting a handshake but slapping Siaki instead. Sonny hammers away but runs into a cheap shot clothesline by Diamond to take him down. That doesn't last long as Apolo is brought back in to beat on Young a bit. Diamond hasn't been in legally I don't think. Sky High gets no cover as Diamond takes Apolo down. Spinebuster to Siaki but Young isn't legal. He walks into a TKO and we're done.
Rating: D+. I liked Apolo so this wasn't that bad. It's more or less a squash and I have no idea why that's on a PPV. To be fair though this is one of the very first PPVs from the company (well in a traditional sense at least) so they didn't really know what they were doing yet. Nothing of note here but Apolo and Siaki looked good.
Samoa Joe vs. Chris Sabin
Joe has only been here for a month now so this is his biggest TNA match to date. I miss the Hail Sabin song. They chop it out and Samoa beats Detroit. Sabin tries to use speed and Joe smothers him into the corner. Joe takes him to the mat a few times and is almost wrestling an MMA style. Sabin tries a shoulder block and gets yelled at. Sabin starts thinking and uses a dropkick which works a bit better.
He tries the Cradle Shock and Joe is like boy I had Mexican today don't even try it. Joe beats him down in the corner and hits the face wash. There's a chinlock as this has been more or less one sided. Suplex gets two. Sabin is only 23 here. A bunch of strikes put Sabin right back down. The announcers ask who is going to be able to stop Joe. That was a very good question for over a year.
Sabin is sent to the apron but gets a springboard dropkick. Another dropkick sends him to the floor and Joe goes into the railing. The fans aren't sure who to cheer for so they cheer for both of them. Another Cradle Shock attempt but Joe is like man I had the El Presidente platter today and Sabin is on defense again. He grabs a tornado DDT for two. Joe casually grabs a powerbomb and transitions into the STF.
He gets bored with that quickly though and goes to a Crossface. Now it's off to some weird arm/neck hold but Sabin finally makes the ropes. That's the kind of stuff Joe needs to do more of today: use those insane submission combinations and actually get some submissions out of them. Musclebuster is countered into a running powerbomb for a close two.
I guess some of the tacos have worn off now as he's able to set for the Cradle Shock. Joe fights out of it but gets caught by an enziguri. That doesn't seem to matter though as Joe shrugs it off and takes him to the corner. Musclebuster (what muscles does it bust anyway) hits and the Clutch ends this.
Rating: B. Solid match here and Sabin managed to keep it from being total dominance. The idea of Joe being too heavy and being able to use the submissions to his advantage was a great combination and it worked for well over a year. When it takes Kurt Angle to be able to finally beat you, that's a pretty solid level of abilities.
We recap the Naturals/Lance Hoyt vs. Team Canada. The Naturals are tag champions and Jimmy Hart of all people is their surprise manager. Team Canada is hated so anyone that fights them is automatically very popular, even when you're as boring as the Naturals.
The face team says they're awesome and Jimmy talks a bit.
Team Canada vs. Lance Hoyt/Naturals
Team Canada is Eric Young/Bobby Roode/A-1 (generic power guy). The Naturals are named Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas. This is about Team Canada's coach Scott D'Amore getting beaten up by Hoyt and the Naturals thinking it was awesome. Those evil Canadians try to jump the champs early and that doesn't work well at all, resulting in the ring being Canada-free.
Big brawl now and the Canadians run again. Stevens dives off the top in a big moonsault and Hoyt, who is a big guy and the biggest in the match, adds one also. We're into a regular match now and it's Douglas vs. Young and Young is in trouble. Off to A-1 who doesn't do any better. Hoyt comes in again as we're told how the Naturals, who were 3 time tag champions at this point, should be shocked that Hart would care about them.
I think Douglas is the one with black hair. Hey I'm right. Awesome. Douglas gets a knee to the head of the steak sauce kid for two. Stevens comes in now and gets beaten up by Young. Yes kids, Eric Young used to wrestle in wrestling matches rather than in Hollywood against celebrities. Roode comes in with the hockey stick but throws it to Jimmy Hart and dives on the mat. The referee sees Hart with the stick so Hart is thrown out. OH NO! You mean the world tag team champions who won the belts before Hart joined them have to be by themselves???? HOW WILL THEY COPE WITH THIS???
Powerslam puts Stevens down and it's back to Roode. Stevens gets beaten down for awhile as the Canadians have their way with him. Such a dirty, dirty Natural. Big beating follows and Roode hits a snap suplex for two. The idea is supposed to be that the Canadians are dominating because there's no Hart out there to guide the Naturals. Dropkick puts Roode down and it's double tags to Hoyt and Young.
Hoyt goes all insane and chokeslams Roode. He's rather popular which isn't something I expected. Young tries to charge at him in the corner but Douglas tags himself in and gets two on Young. The Naturals set for their finisher, the Natural Disaster, but Roode picks up the left behind megaphone and after a shot to the back of Douglas, Young is able to steal the pin.
Rating: B-. Pretty solid six man here and the feuds worked fine as they had two different feuds added together into one match here. Good stuff overall and the 15 minutes went by really fast here. The Canadians would become Jarrett goons for awhile before disbanding about a year later. AMW would get the tag titles soon enough after this.
We recap the 3 Live Crew vs. Monty Brown/Kip James. We went over this earlier for the most part so there isn't much else to say here. Brown is Kip's partner because.....well somebody has to be I guess.
Kip says he and BG will be tagging again soon. Oh apparently he's just now naming himself Kip James. Before this he was the Outlaw, which caused a big legal issue with WWE and the DVD releases had to be edited to avoids copyright lawsuits, which is understandable here. Monty tries to do the Pounce line but Jarrett comes up to complain about Rhyno again. Kip and Rhyno say chill. Brown says he'll help Jarrett in exchange for a title shot, but since Jarrett doesn't have the title, that's not likely at the moment. Jarrett says there could be a Black Wednesday, which was the nickname for a day a bunch of WWE guys were released.
3 Live Crew vs. Monty Brown/Kip James
The Crew is Konnan/Ron (R-Truth) Killings. This is a street fight. The announcers call Kip James a sarcastic name but it's what he would go by for years. The Crew clears the ring and Truth dives over the top to take out Monty. James is already busted open. There just happens to be a cookie sheet at the announce table and it goes upside Kip's head. Down goes the referee maybe 90 seconds in.
We already have a replacement and Kip gets beaten down a lot via a double team. Brown comes in for the save and now it's K-Dawg who is in trouble. Brown vs. Truth at the moment and Truth counters an Alpha Bomb into a rana. Leg lariat puts Monty down for two. Axe kick hits for two as Kip pulls the referee out. Kip sends him into the railing so Truth hammers on him. Brown hits a Pounce out of nowhere for the pin on Truth. BG James is watching from the ramp.
Rating: D. This was pretty weak. I have no idea why this was a street fight since the whole thing was about waiting for BG to come in and do something which wound up being totally inconsequential. Weak match and the weapons didn't add much to it. Just get to the Outlaws reunion already.
Kip calls BG to the ring and offers him a chair to drill Konnan with but BG declines.
We recap Waltman vs. Styles. Waltman arrived and cost AJ the world title in the King of the Mountain match then said he was better than AJ. Jerry Lynn comes in to play peacemaker for some reason.
Jerry Lynn, the referee tonight, says he'll be fair tonight.
AJ Styles vs. Sean Waltman
This should be good. Both guys have history with Lynn. He and Waltman had a huge feud on the indy circuit which got Waltman his job in WWF. AJ and Lynn used to be tag team champions. Feeling out process to start. AJ has that swagger to him here and looks all cocky. Waltman grabs a headlock to try to keep things slow. That doesn't work since it's AJ vs. Waltman and a monkey flip sends Waltman to the floor. SUCH VENGEANCE!!!
AJ takes over and gets a suplex for two. Bridging Indian Deathlock goes on but Waltman gets a shot in to break it up. AJ fires off some kicks but Waltman blocks a suplex. And never mind as AJ dropkicks him to the floor again. Big dive over the top takes Waltman down and the fight is on the floor. Sean gets a low blow to finally slow Styles down. Back in and a legdrop gets two on AJ.
Off to the chinlock which is fine after they've been going hard for a few minutes. It's fine in a situation like that but it gets annoying when you're a minute in and someone puts a rest hold on because they're already tired. There's a 1-2-3 Kid chant. Bronco Buster is countered into a Styles Clash attempt but Waltman escapes and manages to hit the Buster on the second attempt.
Spin kick sends AJ to the floor and the announcers freak out just a bit too much over it. A jumping flip off the top to the floor looks much better. Styles' nose is bleeding. AJ manages to send him into the post though and both guys are down. Back inside there's the forearm and it's still awesome. AJ is all fired up now and hits the moonsault into the reverse DDT for two.
Waltman kicks him low though which Lynn seems mostly cool with. A northern lights suplex gets two for Waltman. He goes up but jumps into a dropkick as this is getting awesome with the back and forth can you top this stuff. AJ grabs a backslide attempt which he rolls through into a tiger bomb which he rolls into the Clash for TWO. Wow I thought that was the ending. Spiral Tap misses and the X-Factor only gets two. Waltman goes to the floor and grabs a chair to Pillmanize AJ's leg but Lynn breaks it up. Waltman argues with Lynn, allowing AJ to hit the second Clash for the pin.
Rating: B+. I really got into this at the end. Lynn did change the ending but it was to keep things all fair. Good stuff here and as usual, Waltman is FAR better and more interesting when he's not in there being the plucky underdog against a monster. This was rather good and it set up Lynn vs. Waltman at Sacrifice.
We go to the back and Jarrett is still ranting about the title, this time to the boss Larry Zbyszko. Enough of that though: let's talk about Rhyno! He's in the building but Larry doesn't know where.
We recap Daniels vs. Williams. Daniels says he's the best X Division guy in the world and he's revolutionizing a lot of stuff. Williams says he can win because he has the Canadian Destroyer which Daniels says he can break so Williams was trying a bunch of other stuff like the Sharpshooter.
X-Division Title: Christopher Daniels vs. Petey Williams
Williams has A-1 with him. Man that old X-Title belt is ugly looking. It looks like they put a big red X sticker on it. Williams jumps Daniels before the bell during the entrance and whips him to the floor. Back inside and Petey has been totally dominant so far. The Canadian hits a Russian to the American for two. There's a different referee instead of the scheduled one due to the street fight earlier. Nice continuity there.
Out to the floor and Petey tries a rana from the apron but Daniels counters into a powerbomb into the apron. Ok that looked good. Back inside now and Daniels works on the back like a good wrestler. The fans are split here. A triple backbreaker gets two for the bald one. Off to a bearhug which is different but it makes sense here. I remember a match at Wrestlemania 4 where Strike Force was defending against Demolition and Jesse pointed out that Strike Force, while not huge guys, are still big strong guys that are capable of using power if they need to. That's very true and something you don't often think about.
Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two. Delayed vertical suplex gets a very delayed cover for two. Daniels is really mixing up the offense on the back which is a nice move. He shifts to a chinlock but puts a knee in the back at the same time. That's a very nice little touch and keeps the psychology going. Williams starts firing back but gets caught in a Downward Spiral and there's the Koji Clutch which is broken up by Steaksauce Dude.
Daniels keeps arguing with A-1 which is slowing him down a lot. Williams fires off some right hands and Daniels hits...something, resulting in both guys being down. It was like a tilt-a-whirl slam but both guys hit the mat. Petey gets going and Samoa Joe is watching from the ramp. They chop it out and Petey takes over with a middle rope dropkick. Daniels hits the floor and looks at Joe a bit.
A-1 throws him back in and Williams climbs up Daniels to get a DDT for a close two. Daniels grabs a Death Valley Driver and both guys are down. He loads up the Best Moonsault Ever but another Joe distraction results in the Sharpshooter being hooked. He even hooks an arm but can only get two. Daniels grabs a rope and an STO gets two.
Release Rock Bottom is countered into a Destroyer attempt which is countered into an Angel's Wings attempt which is also countered. They go up and the champ slams him from the ropes. That's a new one. Cross body misses though and both guys are down again. They slug it out and Petey gets a crucifix for two. Williams points to A-1 who throws in a chain. Daniels pulls out his own chain and knocks Petey out with it. BME ends this.
Rating: B-. This was really good until the ending. That totally went against the flow of the match and holds it down a lot. I have no idea what the point was in having the screwy finish and it didn't help anything at all. It makes Daniels look weaker than he needs to and the whole thing didn't work for me. The other 16 minutes are rather good though.
We recap the main event. Raven won the title at the last PPV, taking Jarrett's spot in King of the Mountain because Jarrett beat up a fan. Abyss is the first challenger because he was in the match also I guess. Jarrett is in the main event because he has to be. There's a chain involved also so this is a dog collar match. Why does it take five minutes to explain that?
NWA World Title: Abyss vs. Raven
It's a dog collar match and also no surrender, meaning submissions don't count. You can only win by pin (or DQ since that's a TNA rule back in the day). This gets big match intros which the fans won't shut up for at all. The fans seem to be for Abyss. Raven is wrestling with his eye piercing in. He's braver than I am. Abyss pulls Raven to him using the chain and the fans have some stupid chant they're doing where they wave their hands back and forth like idiots.
Chair is brought in quickly and is wedged between the top and middle ropes. Raven hits the floor and starts throwing like 6 chairs in. In a nice touch Raven gets him distracted and pulls him in with the chain into the chair wedged between the ropes. They're out on the floor now and Abyss is getting whipped by the chain. It's table time and Raven wraps the chain around his fist but accidently punches the post.
Chokeslam is broken up but Abyss gets in a knee to break bird boy's momentum. Abyss puts a chair on Raven's chest and hits a middle rope splash onto the chair onto Raven for two. Those fans are REALLY getting annoying as the chair is something like ooooooooh Abyss ooooooooooooooh Abyss oooooooooh Abyss. Yeah that's not going to get old fast. Raven pulls Abyss off the ropes into a pile of chairs and both guys are down.
Raven brings in a staple gun and puts a piece of paper onto Abyss' head. They go to the floor and Mitchell interferes, taking Raven down in the process. They go up by the entrance and Raven is busted bad. There's a table set up under the stage and up they go. Raven escapes two chokeslams and shoves Abyss all the way through the table. That might have been a full three foot drop!
Abyss pulls Raven off the stage through a second table which Mitchell set up. He wraps the chain around Raven's mouth and Mitchell asks if Raven wants to quit, laughing at him because he can't quit anyway. Abyss goes under the ring and gets another table. He puts it against the ring but Raven dives into Abyss and both guys go through it. Falls count anywhere it seems but we're looking at the fans so we miss the count.
Back inside now and Raven hammers away, putting Abyss down with a discus lariat. DDT hits for two and the fans aren't that thrilled that Abyss kicked out of it. Raven clotheslines him to the apron and chokes away which makes sense in a match like this. Mitchell comes in to break the hold up with his cane. Abyss is unhooked from the chain and the fans start that annoying chant again.
The masked man goes under the ring and finds a bad, presumably containing tacks. Abyss rips Raven's shirt off to make the tacks hurt even worse. They're laid out on the mat and Abyss sets for a powerbomb. Cassidy Riley, a Raven tribute guy (literally that's what he was described as. He dressed like him and wrestled just like him) comes out for the save but gets chokeslammed over the top through a table.
Abyss, ever the genius, goes for ten punches in the corner and is powerbombed onto the tacks. That only gets two as does the Black Hole Slam. Another chokeslam is countered and Raven DDTs him onto the tacks to retain. Raven went down into the tacks on his bare back to so points to him for trying something sick like that.
Rating: B-. Good match, but this is the kind of match that should not go twenty minutes like this one did. Raven got fire around this time with the whole destiny thing and this was no exception. Not a great match or anything but it was plenty violent which is the idea behind ones like this so no complaints there.
Post match, Jarrett comes out with a guitar. While he's talking, he tells Raven to turn around. Rhyno is there and gores Raven to end the show, apparently siding with Jarrett. THEN WHY IN THE WORLD DID WE HAVE TO LISTEN TO JARRETT WHINING ABOUT RHYNO ALL FREAKING NIGHT WHEN HE KNEW HE WAS IN THE BUILDING BECAUSE LARRY FREAKING TOLD HIM??????
Overall Rating: B. Good show overall even with a somewhat weak main event. The problem here is that not a lot happened. It's kind of a filler PPV and that's ok because we got some good matches out of it. This was a weird time in the company though as not a lot was going on and they wouldn't be back on TV for like four months. Raven would eventually lose the title at a house show because the NWA is stupid. Worth checking out if you're rather bored.
Date: July 17, 2005
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 775
Commentators: Don West, Mike Tenay
I've had this sitting around for months and I needed to do a TNA show so here you go. I'll be focusing on PPV more for awhile since there are only 90 I haven't done and I want to try to get closer to finishing them. It'll more or less be Raw, Nitro, PPV and requests until I'm done with PPV or until my mood changes, which will likely be every week or so. Anyway, this is one of the older shows and the main event is Raven vs. Abyss for the title. I believe they were off TV at this point, waiting on a new deal to be made. Let's get to it.
Yeah I was right: from late May until early October, there was almost no Impact (other than some regional stuff) on TV at all. It was aired online and then on Spike.
The opening video is the usual choir stuff with clips and soundbytes of the top matches added in.
Matt Bentley/Alex Shelley vs. America's Most Wanted
Shelley is a heel here. Bentley is more or less here because Shawn Michaels is his cousin. Shelley's tape collection is played up here which was a much bigger aspect of his character in the day. He would study a lot and it made him more talented. Storm looks odd without the beard. Shelley vs. Storm to start us off. Oh and Traci is with the non famous team. They hit the mat for a bit and there's a piece of tape on the middle of the mat.
Shelley fires off some chops so Storm fires one of his own. Storm skins the cat (I still want to know why that's the name of the move) and it's off to Bentley. This is a battle of the superkicks. Storm fires off some arm drags and that spot in the middle of the ring with the tape is moving. It looks like either the mat is torn or there's a trapdoor there or something like that.
Harris comes in to stomp away a bit. Back to Bentley who isn't afraid now that Storm is gone. They're really playing up that superkick thing. Delayed vertical suplex gets no cover as Bentley runs from Storm. They brawl to the floor and Shelley goes into the railing. Now he goes flying off the stage into a wall of some sort. Storm is like screw the security helping Shelley up and dives off the stage onto Alex, mostly missing him.
Harris and Bentley fight on the outside as you have to wonder when countouts were abolished. Traci saves Matt with a low blow but he can't hit a piledriver on the ramp. Traci gets handcuffed to the post. We get back to a regular match and now it's time for the Superkick thing. Bentley is all psyched out so Shelley tries to make a save which fails as well. DDT gets two on Shelley who I think is illegal.
A Hart Attack gets two on Bentley. They call for the Death Sentence but Shelley makes the save. Storm tries to skin the cat but gets caught by a baseball slide in a nice touch. Traci manages to throw in a shoe which gets a two count. Bentley wants the other shoe for some reason but he walks into a full nelson slam. Storm superkicks Shelley for the pin.
Rating: C+. This could have been more but the random three minute brawl felt out of place. Good opener though as the fans got into things here which they should have. AMW would go on to be the most dominant team in TNA ever and they might still be to this day. Either way, good opener but a weird middle part.
Bentley sneaks in a superkick to put Storm down post match.
We get a clip from earlier in the night on the pregame show where Jarrett rants about WWE cutting a bunch of people and the possibility of them coming to TNA. Namely he's worried about Rhyno for some reason. Of course he doesn't say WWE but who else could he mean? He would show up and the Dudleys would too eventually.
Team Canada says they'll win tonight in all of their matches. Jeff Jarrett comes up to ask about Rhyno. He leaves and Roode isn't sure they should trust Jarrett. This is part of the Planet Jarrett stable which bored most people to tears.
Shark Boy vs. Mikey Batts vs. Elix Skipper vs. Sonjay Dutt
The winner qualifies for the Super X Cup which is, say it with me, A TOURNAMENT!!! The winner of the whole thing got a title shot at Daniels and the X Title. Elix and Sonjay start because you don't tag. Dutt does a big revolving spin move into an armdrag. Spinebuster puts Dutt down and it's off to Mikey who isn't very popular. Shark Boy comes in but this is before he was a really popular crowd favorite.
He's better than he's given credit for too but with a gimmick/name like Shark Boy, how serious can anyone take him? Also the whole biting thing isn't helping him. Sonjay beats him down a bit and Skipper tags himself in as Dutt is going for something off the top. Sharky hits a modified neckbreaker on Skipper for two. Skipper uses the Matrix move to avoid a cross body but Sonjay comes off the top via a springboard into a double stomp.
Dutt takes down Mikey with a springboard missile dropkick and Skipper gets two with a weird kind of reverse headlock takeover. He tries to walk the ropes (think Old School) into a rana on a crotched Batts but it's mostly botched. I can live with that as it's not like it's a simple move. They're both legal and a collision puts them both down.
There's a double tag and Dutt takes over on Shark Boy again. The masked one really doesn't have that much success does he? They start the dives but most of them are countered. Sudden Death (Celtic Cross. Finlay used to use it) takes Batts down and Sonjay goes up to hit a Hindu Press (big flippy move into a splash that hits about 10% of the target) to Batts to go to the tournament.
Rating: C-. Eh this was fine but the botches hurt it. It never really got going and came off as just more X Division stuff. Dutt would get crushed by Joe in the first round of the tournament which he would go on to win at the next PPV. This was fine but the division was about to be revolutionized by Joe, AJ and Daniels so this is kind of the last of the old days of it.
3 Live Crew says they're fine, even though they haven't seen or heard from BG James in over a month. Killings says give him more time. This is about Kip James (Billy Gunn)
showing up and tempting BG (Road Dogg) to the dark side.
Apolo/Sonny Siaki vs. Diamonds in the Rough
The Diamonds in the Rough were a pretty weak three man team and here's it's David Young/Simon Diamond. Eventually Elix Skipper would join the team also. This is Young's first match with the team. Young is most famous for losing like every match he was in for two years in a row. Diamond says he's going to take Young to greater heights which isn't saying much. If I remember right there's no real story here and it's just a tag match to fill in a roster spot.
Siaki is a well built guy and that's about it. Apolo is a guy who is a big deal in Puerto Rico and that's about it. Young vs. Apolo to start and Young, who is billed as a power guy, is shoved around a lot. Gorilla press drop sets up a leg drop for two. Off to Siaki who looks a lot like Apolo. Young, who is a fairly big guy, hits an Asai Moonsault to Siaki. Apolo, another big guy, dives over the top rope to take the heels out in a swanton but lands on his feet. WHY DID THEY LET THIS GUY GO???
Young vs. Siaki now with Young wanting a handshake but slapping Siaki instead. Sonny hammers away but runs into a cheap shot clothesline by Diamond to take him down. That doesn't last long as Apolo is brought back in to beat on Young a bit. Diamond hasn't been in legally I don't think. Sky High gets no cover as Diamond takes Apolo down. Spinebuster to Siaki but Young isn't legal. He walks into a TKO and we're done.
Rating: D+. I liked Apolo so this wasn't that bad. It's more or less a squash and I have no idea why that's on a PPV. To be fair though this is one of the very first PPVs from the company (well in a traditional sense at least) so they didn't really know what they were doing yet. Nothing of note here but Apolo and Siaki looked good.
Samoa Joe vs. Chris Sabin
Joe has only been here for a month now so this is his biggest TNA match to date. I miss the Hail Sabin song. They chop it out and Samoa beats Detroit. Sabin tries to use speed and Joe smothers him into the corner. Joe takes him to the mat a few times and is almost wrestling an MMA style. Sabin tries a shoulder block and gets yelled at. Sabin starts thinking and uses a dropkick which works a bit better.
He tries the Cradle Shock and Joe is like boy I had Mexican today don't even try it. Joe beats him down in the corner and hits the face wash. There's a chinlock as this has been more or less one sided. Suplex gets two. Sabin is only 23 here. A bunch of strikes put Sabin right back down. The announcers ask who is going to be able to stop Joe. That was a very good question for over a year.
Sabin is sent to the apron but gets a springboard dropkick. Another dropkick sends him to the floor and Joe goes into the railing. The fans aren't sure who to cheer for so they cheer for both of them. Another Cradle Shock attempt but Joe is like man I had the El Presidente platter today and Sabin is on defense again. He grabs a tornado DDT for two. Joe casually grabs a powerbomb and transitions into the STF.
He gets bored with that quickly though and goes to a Crossface. Now it's off to some weird arm/neck hold but Sabin finally makes the ropes. That's the kind of stuff Joe needs to do more of today: use those insane submission combinations and actually get some submissions out of them. Musclebuster is countered into a running powerbomb for a close two.
I guess some of the tacos have worn off now as he's able to set for the Cradle Shock. Joe fights out of it but gets caught by an enziguri. That doesn't seem to matter though as Joe shrugs it off and takes him to the corner. Musclebuster (what muscles does it bust anyway) hits and the Clutch ends this.
Rating: B. Solid match here and Sabin managed to keep it from being total dominance. The idea of Joe being too heavy and being able to use the submissions to his advantage was a great combination and it worked for well over a year. When it takes Kurt Angle to be able to finally beat you, that's a pretty solid level of abilities.
We recap the Naturals/Lance Hoyt vs. Team Canada. The Naturals are tag champions and Jimmy Hart of all people is their surprise manager. Team Canada is hated so anyone that fights them is automatically very popular, even when you're as boring as the Naturals.
The face team says they're awesome and Jimmy talks a bit.
Team Canada vs. Lance Hoyt/Naturals
Team Canada is Eric Young/Bobby Roode/A-1 (generic power guy). The Naturals are named Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas. This is about Team Canada's coach Scott D'Amore getting beaten up by Hoyt and the Naturals thinking it was awesome. Those evil Canadians try to jump the champs early and that doesn't work well at all, resulting in the ring being Canada-free.
Big brawl now and the Canadians run again. Stevens dives off the top in a big moonsault and Hoyt, who is a big guy and the biggest in the match, adds one also. We're into a regular match now and it's Douglas vs. Young and Young is in trouble. Off to A-1 who doesn't do any better. Hoyt comes in again as we're told how the Naturals, who were 3 time tag champions at this point, should be shocked that Hart would care about them.
I think Douglas is the one with black hair. Hey I'm right. Awesome. Douglas gets a knee to the head of the steak sauce kid for two. Stevens comes in now and gets beaten up by Young. Yes kids, Eric Young used to wrestle in wrestling matches rather than in Hollywood against celebrities. Roode comes in with the hockey stick but throws it to Jimmy Hart and dives on the mat. The referee sees Hart with the stick so Hart is thrown out. OH NO! You mean the world tag team champions who won the belts before Hart joined them have to be by themselves???? HOW WILL THEY COPE WITH THIS???
Powerslam puts Stevens down and it's back to Roode. Stevens gets beaten down for awhile as the Canadians have their way with him. Such a dirty, dirty Natural. Big beating follows and Roode hits a snap suplex for two. The idea is supposed to be that the Canadians are dominating because there's no Hart out there to guide the Naturals. Dropkick puts Roode down and it's double tags to Hoyt and Young.
Hoyt goes all insane and chokeslams Roode. He's rather popular which isn't something I expected. Young tries to charge at him in the corner but Douglas tags himself in and gets two on Young. The Naturals set for their finisher, the Natural Disaster, but Roode picks up the left behind megaphone and after a shot to the back of Douglas, Young is able to steal the pin.
Rating: B-. Pretty solid six man here and the feuds worked fine as they had two different feuds added together into one match here. Good stuff overall and the 15 minutes went by really fast here. The Canadians would become Jarrett goons for awhile before disbanding about a year later. AMW would get the tag titles soon enough after this.
We recap the 3 Live Crew vs. Monty Brown/Kip James. We went over this earlier for the most part so there isn't much else to say here. Brown is Kip's partner because.....well somebody has to be I guess.
Kip says he and BG will be tagging again soon. Oh apparently he's just now naming himself Kip James. Before this he was the Outlaw, which caused a big legal issue with WWE and the DVD releases had to be edited to avoids copyright lawsuits, which is understandable here. Monty tries to do the Pounce line but Jarrett comes up to complain about Rhyno again. Kip and Rhyno say chill. Brown says he'll help Jarrett in exchange for a title shot, but since Jarrett doesn't have the title, that's not likely at the moment. Jarrett says there could be a Black Wednesday, which was the nickname for a day a bunch of WWE guys were released.
3 Live Crew vs. Monty Brown/Kip James
The Crew is Konnan/Ron (R-Truth) Killings. This is a street fight. The announcers call Kip James a sarcastic name but it's what he would go by for years. The Crew clears the ring and Truth dives over the top to take out Monty. James is already busted open. There just happens to be a cookie sheet at the announce table and it goes upside Kip's head. Down goes the referee maybe 90 seconds in.
We already have a replacement and Kip gets beaten down a lot via a double team. Brown comes in for the save and now it's K-Dawg who is in trouble. Brown vs. Truth at the moment and Truth counters an Alpha Bomb into a rana. Leg lariat puts Monty down for two. Axe kick hits for two as Kip pulls the referee out. Kip sends him into the railing so Truth hammers on him. Brown hits a Pounce out of nowhere for the pin on Truth. BG James is watching from the ramp.
Rating: D. This was pretty weak. I have no idea why this was a street fight since the whole thing was about waiting for BG to come in and do something which wound up being totally inconsequential. Weak match and the weapons didn't add much to it. Just get to the Outlaws reunion already.
Kip calls BG to the ring and offers him a chair to drill Konnan with but BG declines.
We recap Waltman vs. Styles. Waltman arrived and cost AJ the world title in the King of the Mountain match then said he was better than AJ. Jerry Lynn comes in to play peacemaker for some reason.
Jerry Lynn, the referee tonight, says he'll be fair tonight.
AJ Styles vs. Sean Waltman
This should be good. Both guys have history with Lynn. He and Waltman had a huge feud on the indy circuit which got Waltman his job in WWF. AJ and Lynn used to be tag team champions. Feeling out process to start. AJ has that swagger to him here and looks all cocky. Waltman grabs a headlock to try to keep things slow. That doesn't work since it's AJ vs. Waltman and a monkey flip sends Waltman to the floor. SUCH VENGEANCE!!!
AJ takes over and gets a suplex for two. Bridging Indian Deathlock goes on but Waltman gets a shot in to break it up. AJ fires off some kicks but Waltman blocks a suplex. And never mind as AJ dropkicks him to the floor again. Big dive over the top takes Waltman down and the fight is on the floor. Sean gets a low blow to finally slow Styles down. Back in and a legdrop gets two on AJ.
Off to the chinlock which is fine after they've been going hard for a few minutes. It's fine in a situation like that but it gets annoying when you're a minute in and someone puts a rest hold on because they're already tired. There's a 1-2-3 Kid chant. Bronco Buster is countered into a Styles Clash attempt but Waltman escapes and manages to hit the Buster on the second attempt.
Spin kick sends AJ to the floor and the announcers freak out just a bit too much over it. A jumping flip off the top to the floor looks much better. Styles' nose is bleeding. AJ manages to send him into the post though and both guys are down. Back inside there's the forearm and it's still awesome. AJ is all fired up now and hits the moonsault into the reverse DDT for two.
Waltman kicks him low though which Lynn seems mostly cool with. A northern lights suplex gets two for Waltman. He goes up but jumps into a dropkick as this is getting awesome with the back and forth can you top this stuff. AJ grabs a backslide attempt which he rolls through into a tiger bomb which he rolls into the Clash for TWO. Wow I thought that was the ending. Spiral Tap misses and the X-Factor only gets two. Waltman goes to the floor and grabs a chair to Pillmanize AJ's leg but Lynn breaks it up. Waltman argues with Lynn, allowing AJ to hit the second Clash for the pin.
Rating: B+. I really got into this at the end. Lynn did change the ending but it was to keep things all fair. Good stuff here and as usual, Waltman is FAR better and more interesting when he's not in there being the plucky underdog against a monster. This was rather good and it set up Lynn vs. Waltman at Sacrifice.
We go to the back and Jarrett is still ranting about the title, this time to the boss Larry Zbyszko. Enough of that though: let's talk about Rhyno! He's in the building but Larry doesn't know where.
We recap Daniels vs. Williams. Daniels says he's the best X Division guy in the world and he's revolutionizing a lot of stuff. Williams says he can win because he has the Canadian Destroyer which Daniels says he can break so Williams was trying a bunch of other stuff like the Sharpshooter.
X-Division Title: Christopher Daniels vs. Petey Williams
Williams has A-1 with him. Man that old X-Title belt is ugly looking. It looks like they put a big red X sticker on it. Williams jumps Daniels before the bell during the entrance and whips him to the floor. Back inside and Petey has been totally dominant so far. The Canadian hits a Russian to the American for two. There's a different referee instead of the scheduled one due to the street fight earlier. Nice continuity there.
Out to the floor and Petey tries a rana from the apron but Daniels counters into a powerbomb into the apron. Ok that looked good. Back inside now and Daniels works on the back like a good wrestler. The fans are split here. A triple backbreaker gets two for the bald one. Off to a bearhug which is different but it makes sense here. I remember a match at Wrestlemania 4 where Strike Force was defending against Demolition and Jesse pointed out that Strike Force, while not huge guys, are still big strong guys that are capable of using power if they need to. That's very true and something you don't often think about.
Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two. Delayed vertical suplex gets a very delayed cover for two. Daniels is really mixing up the offense on the back which is a nice move. He shifts to a chinlock but puts a knee in the back at the same time. That's a very nice little touch and keeps the psychology going. Williams starts firing back but gets caught in a Downward Spiral and there's the Koji Clutch which is broken up by Steaksauce Dude.
Daniels keeps arguing with A-1 which is slowing him down a lot. Williams fires off some right hands and Daniels hits...something, resulting in both guys being down. It was like a tilt-a-whirl slam but both guys hit the mat. Petey gets going and Samoa Joe is watching from the ramp. They chop it out and Petey takes over with a middle rope dropkick. Daniels hits the floor and looks at Joe a bit.
A-1 throws him back in and Williams climbs up Daniels to get a DDT for a close two. Daniels grabs a Death Valley Driver and both guys are down. He loads up the Best Moonsault Ever but another Joe distraction results in the Sharpshooter being hooked. He even hooks an arm but can only get two. Daniels grabs a rope and an STO gets two.
Release Rock Bottom is countered into a Destroyer attempt which is countered into an Angel's Wings attempt which is also countered. They go up and the champ slams him from the ropes. That's a new one. Cross body misses though and both guys are down again. They slug it out and Petey gets a crucifix for two. Williams points to A-1 who throws in a chain. Daniels pulls out his own chain and knocks Petey out with it. BME ends this.
Rating: B-. This was really good until the ending. That totally went against the flow of the match and holds it down a lot. I have no idea what the point was in having the screwy finish and it didn't help anything at all. It makes Daniels look weaker than he needs to and the whole thing didn't work for me. The other 16 minutes are rather good though.
We recap the main event. Raven won the title at the last PPV, taking Jarrett's spot in King of the Mountain because Jarrett beat up a fan. Abyss is the first challenger because he was in the match also I guess. Jarrett is in the main event because he has to be. There's a chain involved also so this is a dog collar match. Why does it take five minutes to explain that?
NWA World Title: Abyss vs. Raven
It's a dog collar match and also no surrender, meaning submissions don't count. You can only win by pin (or DQ since that's a TNA rule back in the day). This gets big match intros which the fans won't shut up for at all. The fans seem to be for Abyss. Raven is wrestling with his eye piercing in. He's braver than I am. Abyss pulls Raven to him using the chain and the fans have some stupid chant they're doing where they wave their hands back and forth like idiots.
Chair is brought in quickly and is wedged between the top and middle ropes. Raven hits the floor and starts throwing like 6 chairs in. In a nice touch Raven gets him distracted and pulls him in with the chain into the chair wedged between the ropes. They're out on the floor now and Abyss is getting whipped by the chain. It's table time and Raven wraps the chain around his fist but accidently punches the post.
Chokeslam is broken up but Abyss gets in a knee to break bird boy's momentum. Abyss puts a chair on Raven's chest and hits a middle rope splash onto the chair onto Raven for two. Those fans are REALLY getting annoying as the chair is something like ooooooooh Abyss ooooooooooooooh Abyss oooooooooh Abyss. Yeah that's not going to get old fast. Raven pulls Abyss off the ropes into a pile of chairs and both guys are down.
Raven brings in a staple gun and puts a piece of paper onto Abyss' head. They go to the floor and Mitchell interferes, taking Raven down in the process. They go up by the entrance and Raven is busted bad. There's a table set up under the stage and up they go. Raven escapes two chokeslams and shoves Abyss all the way through the table. That might have been a full three foot drop!
Abyss pulls Raven off the stage through a second table which Mitchell set up. He wraps the chain around Raven's mouth and Mitchell asks if Raven wants to quit, laughing at him because he can't quit anyway. Abyss goes under the ring and gets another table. He puts it against the ring but Raven dives into Abyss and both guys go through it. Falls count anywhere it seems but we're looking at the fans so we miss the count.
Back inside now and Raven hammers away, putting Abyss down with a discus lariat. DDT hits for two and the fans aren't that thrilled that Abyss kicked out of it. Raven clotheslines him to the apron and chokes away which makes sense in a match like this. Mitchell comes in to break the hold up with his cane. Abyss is unhooked from the chain and the fans start that annoying chant again.
The masked man goes under the ring and finds a bad, presumably containing tacks. Abyss rips Raven's shirt off to make the tacks hurt even worse. They're laid out on the mat and Abyss sets for a powerbomb. Cassidy Riley, a Raven tribute guy (literally that's what he was described as. He dressed like him and wrestled just like him) comes out for the save but gets chokeslammed over the top through a table.
Abyss, ever the genius, goes for ten punches in the corner and is powerbombed onto the tacks. That only gets two as does the Black Hole Slam. Another chokeslam is countered and Raven DDTs him onto the tacks to retain. Raven went down into the tacks on his bare back to so points to him for trying something sick like that.
Rating: B-. Good match, but this is the kind of match that should not go twenty minutes like this one did. Raven got fire around this time with the whole destiny thing and this was no exception. Not a great match or anything but it was plenty violent which is the idea behind ones like this so no complaints there.
Post match, Jarrett comes out with a guitar. While he's talking, he tells Raven to turn around. Rhyno is there and gores Raven to end the show, apparently siding with Jarrett. THEN WHY IN THE WORLD DID WE HAVE TO LISTEN TO JARRETT WHINING ABOUT RHYNO ALL FREAKING NIGHT WHEN HE KNEW HE WAS IN THE BUILDING BECAUSE LARRY FREAKING TOLD HIM??????
Overall Rating: B. Good show overall even with a somewhat weak main event. The problem here is that not a lot happened. It's kind of a filler PPV and that's ok because we got some good matches out of it. This was a weird time in the company though as not a lot was going on and they wouldn't be back on TV for like four months. Raven would eventually lose the title at a house show because the NWA is stupid. Worth checking out if you're rather bored.