NWA-TNA Weekly PPV #34

Your hosts are Don West and Mike Tenay

Raven does a promo from the crowd, quoting Pete Townsend and says that the Clockwork House of Fun Match will be his “Hiroshima.” He then says he has a destiny to become the NWA-TNA World Champion and neither Sandman or Jeff Jarrett can stop him. Camera shows that the words “Ravensnet” is written above him. It was of the same quality as a Middle School Dance banner. Someone says “whoa” are few times then technical dificutlies take place. When we are back, Kevin Sullivan was into the ring. He runs down Raven, stating that he took down legends and did not do it in a bingo hall. Sullivan says that he heard the Clockwork House of Fun match is the most dangerous of all time and says that he demanded NWA-TNA to make him an observer, not a referee of this match. He wants Raven to destroy Sandman and says if he does not, the gates of hell will open up and it will belong to him. Raven says he respects Sullivan then welcomes him to the asylum. Someone levels Raven then we see the Sandman in the crowd, pounding beers. Production problems galore here. 

Tenay apologizes for the technical difficulties and runs down the rest of the show, including a special interview with Vince Russo that was conducted by Tenay earlier this week in Georgia. He says his announcement will shock everyone.

Konnan is introduced into the ring. He has another luchadore to face Jerry Lynn. He runs down their credentials and brings out Super Crazy.

Lynn armdrags Crazy as Tenay applauds Lynn for putting off his title shot and taking on the “luchadore invasion” led by Konnan. They then have a fantastic reversal sequence, ending with both men trading armdrags. Both men take turns playing to the crowd and they respond well to both men. Crazy clotheslines Lynn but Lynn reverses a powerbomb with a rana. Lynn takes him down again with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors and Crazy regroups outside with Konnan. Lynn dropkicks Crazy off the apron and takes him down with a rana from the apron, coming dangerously close to hitting his own head off the floor. Lynn misses a charge in the corner and Crazy gets some mounted punches. Lynn gets a springboard Tornado DDT for two out of nowhere then beats on Crazy in the corner. Crazy gets whipped towards the corner but slides out of the ring instead. Lynn chases him around and back into the ring, where he runs into a spinning heel kick. Lynn rolls outside and Crazy hits a quebrada, springing off of the top rope. Back in the ring, Lynn cuts off Crazy but he blocks a superplex attempt and gets two off of a springboard moonsault. Crazy is in disbelief then runs into a TKO, which gets two. Konnan jumps on the ring apron and distracts Lynn as he has Crazy set up for the cradle piledriver. Crazy  flips over and hits Lynn with a basement dropkick. Springboard moonsault gets two. Lynn floats over on a suplex attempt but Crazy hits him with a tornado DDT. Sitout powerbomb gets two. He places Lynn on top for a rana but Lynn rolls through and gets the win (9:07) ***1/2. After the match, Konnan is pissed at Crazy for losing then slaps him in the face.

Thoughts: Awesome match. Crazy could still go and he and Lynn had really good chemistry. The Konnan angle with the luchadores is getting fun.

Another video recap of the Jarrett/Russo feud. It focused a lot on the stuff about Russo’s family from last week.

We are shown the so-called exclusive interview from earlier this week with Russo. Tenay asks him to speak and Russo goes on about working under McMahon and then feuding with Jerry Jarrett for six months in TNA before talking about his family. He says he has been a terrible father and husband and should spend more time with his family. He brings up that the other wrestlers should do that as well and brings up Curt Hennig, stating that one day he is gone and asks how many days he spent away from his family. Russo says he is leaving the wrestling business then Tenay questions the validity of that statement. Russo says that Tenay is too involved in wrestling and promises it is not a “work” or “an angle.”

New Church jump the Hotshots right after the bell. The camera shows Sonny Siaki and Desire coming ringside, and orders Gilbertti and Sanders to go back to the locker room. In the ring, Slash fights off a double-team and tags out. Lee boots down O’Reilly then drops a bunch of elbows. Camera cuts to Killings in the bleachers, again, as Slash takes down both Hotshots with a clothesline. O’Reily makes a blind tag and holds Slash in place, allowing Stevens to hit a missile dropkick. They both work on Slash in the corner for a bit. Stevens misses a corner charge and Slash hits a helicopter slam. He makes the “hot” tag to Lee who runs wild. This crowd is dead right now. They do a spot where all miss top rope moves that ends with Lee getting two off of a kneedrop. Stevens cuts off Slash and gets two off of a running sitout powerbomb. O’Reilly hits an ugly top rope clothesline on Lee. Mitchell hooks the leg of Stevens as Lee places him on his shoulders and Slash comes off top with a missile dropkick for the win (6:09) *. After the match, the Harris Brothers push around the Hotshots then beat the crap out of them. Tenay is pushing the idea that without Russo, SEX has no direction or leadership.

Thoughts: Not that bad but the having the Hotshots, a jobber tag team, join SEX is just a waste. They did not need to join their bloated faction.

Goldylocks is with the Sandman backstage. He is slurring his speech and talks incoherently about his history with Raven and about their upcoming match. He smokes his cigarette and cracks open a beer as Goldy is disgusted. Sandman was obliterated here.

Video package of Erik Watts, Brian Lawler, and David Flair destroying Jeff Jarrett last week.

Tenay welcomes Jarrett into the ring. He asks him about Russo’s comments and Jarrett says it his hard for him to believe but said he brought Russo’s kids on the show last week as an attempt to change him to how he was in the past. He then mentions how Russo has “big balls” but became obsessed with sports entertainment and resented the thing that he loved, pro wrestling. Tenay then switches topics to his challengers, AJ Styles and Raven, but gets interrupted by Erik Watts, Brian Lawler, and David Flair. Watts said he came out to explain why he put Jarrett through a table last week. He goes down memory lane, both being sons of promoters and meeting as kids. Watts brings up his college football career and wrestling all over the world and how Jarrett called him to give words of encouragement. Watts brings up how he was given a contract to train Karl Malone and Jay Leno in WCW. Says they crossed paths in the WWF and they held Watts down, but Jarrett did not make any calls. Watts then says how it took Jarrett ten years to make it to the “big leagues” and got his first contract after twenty-one days of training. What the hell? He then says how he is 6’6 260 lbs but Jarrett had to work hard every day to become a heavyweight. A “we don’t care” chant breaks out as Watts continues to go down memory lane. Watts then closes by stating he will regret what he did to him as Jarrett looks completely perplexed. Watts promo skills are a lot better than his in-ring ability but this segment went nowhere. Erik Watts is not someone who the crowd cares about. I will say this though, he can cut a decent promo. Sure, the material was weak but he delivered it as best as anyone could have.

Sanders and Gilbertti go to the announcers table. Estrada ducks a clothesline then hits Disgraceland with a flying forearm. Sonny Siaki and Desire come out and tell Sanders and Gilbertti that they need to come out back for a meeting. They all leave and Disgraceland gets distracted. Estrada gets up and hits him with a superkick. He heads up top but misses a frog splash. Rollup by Disgraceland gets two. Slingshot suplex gets two. Elbow drop gets two. German Suplex gets two. Estrada fights back and gets a dropkick. Rollup gets two. Disgraceland gets a bridging rollup for two then a slam. He goes up top but is caught with a fist after a double axehandle attempt. Estrada then hits him with a really cool move. He picked him up like a shinbreaker then spun him around like an Angle Slam (3:35) ¼*.

Thoughts: The match was a backdrop for the SEX drama. That is not a bad thing as what was shown looked pretty bad. Estrada’s new finisher looked cool though.

Goldylocks is with SEX. Sanders and Siaki are arguing then slap each other. Gilberti takes over control and introduces us to “Holly Wood,” a blond with big tits. The former Mortimer Plumtree comes in but the Harris Brothers toss him out. More dissention between SEX.

We are then shown cage dancer Lollipop then some guy from the TNA auction a few months back who won a bid to become a dancer. He is in the cage with a superhero suit and a cape. What a clown.

The “Interrogators” segment is next and we have another technical problem as the audio from Tenay’s interview with Jarrett from earlier tonight is played. Kid Kash is the guest this week. He has a goofy smile, probably stoned, and pauses a lot between answering. He says winning the X Division is the highlight of his life and calls Amazing Red, “real short.” He also says that Paul Heyman is Jewish. Riveting stuff. Kash was acting a bit heelish here.

Kash shoves Red off of a lockup. Red catches Kash with a kick then they do a bunch of counters. Neither men can gain the advantage and they end in a standoff. Red works the arm for a bit until Kash escapes. They trade armdrags for a bit until the end in another standoff. They do some more counters until Red gets a rana (which looked horrible) and a flapjack. Kash rolls outside and Red hits him with a running flip dive. Red chops him a few times then switches it up to kicks. Kash sends Red into the guardrail and eventually bounces a chair off of his head. He rolls Red back into the ring and gets two off of a top rope clothesline. Red gets two off of the Code Red and goes back on offense. Kash catches him and hits the Bank Roll for two. Kash goes up top but Red meets him up and hits a superplex. He covers and gets two as the crowd starts a “TNA” chant. Red lands on the second rope after an alley oop then Kash jumps up top and hits Red with a Super German Suplex, getting two. I think Red was supposed to land on his feet but the momentum send him into the turnbuckles. That was a crazy bump but it only got a two count. Red comes back with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors and a super kick. He hits the 718 but that only gets two. Kash lands on the apron following a backdrop but Red knocks him down with a spinkick. He flies out with another running flip dive but Trinity moves in the way and gets squashed. Back in the ring, Kash eats boot off of a charge and Red hits his swinging STO. Red Star Press gets two. Red gets caught and fights out of the Moneymaker but Kash gets him again and hits it for the win (9:34) **3/4.

Thoughts: Some really awesome stuff but there was zero psychology in this match. It felt like an exhibition. The opener was a lot better but these guys did bust their ass.

Goldylocks is with Jeff Jarrett but AJ Styles busts into his locker room. He demands a rematch. Jarrett tells him that he is crying like a bitch and will give him a shot on his terms before shoving him out.

Tenay is with America’s Most Wanted in an interview that was recorded earlier today. AMW is wearing matching leather jackets and baseball hats. Harris says that he and Storm have busted their ass to show how they are the best tag-team today. Harris lists Bret Hart and Curt Hennig as his idols growing up. He says they are the number one contenders and will face anything Russo throws at them. Harris says the only concern with their opponents tonight (Sanders & Gilbertti) is that viewers at home will get up and leave the room.

Storm and Sanders start things off. Tenay says that AMW will face XXX for the belts next week. They mess up a monkeyflip but Storm takes him down with a rana. They take turns beating on each other in the corner as we see Ron Killings sitting in the bleachers, looking sad. Gilbertti tags and gets a hiptoss after some counters. He looks horrible in the ring. Storm nails him with a superkick then tags Harris. They double-team him  and knock Sanders down from the apron. Gilbertti gets an atomic drop but walks into a Thesz Press. Gilbertti looks really mechanical and stiff. Sanders gets a cheap shot on Harris and Gilbertti knocks Storm off the apron. They try do double team Harris but he tosses them to the floor. He elevates Storm onto both men and they brawl around the ring. Back inside, Harris holds up Sanders as Storm hits a missile dropkick, which looked terrible as Storm nearly dropkicked Harris. They double team Sanders for a bit until he gets a dropkick on Storm, which sends him into Harris who then falls to the floor. They double-team Storm for a bit. Disco misses an elbow drop and hot-tag to Harris. He beats on Sanders and knocks down Gilbertti. Storm comes in and they hit the Hart Attack but Disco breaks up the cover. The camera then shows Moondog Spot at ringside, looking to weigh about 350 lbs. Back to the action as Harris accidentally shoves Disco into the referee. Harris puts Sanders in the Sharpshooter but Elix Skipper runs in and breaks it up with a hard chairshot to the back. That Sharpshooter looked fantastic. Skipper shoves Storm off the top rope then hits Harris with a very, very weak looking chairshot and Sanders covers for the win (8:49) **.

Thoughts: The match wasn’t much but Harris really stood out here. Disco looked awful but wasn’t in the match too much, luckily. Its amazing that Harris did not end up being the breakout star of AMW.  

Goldylocks is in the SEX locker room as everyone is fighting. Sanders and Siaki then fight in the crowd and go to the ring, where the crew is setting up for the Clockwork Orange House of Fun Match. They are now in the ring and Desire jumps on Sanders. Holly Wood hits Desire and they catfight. The rest of SEX breaks this up and Sanders and Siaki make up. Holly Wood and Desire try but Desire picks her up and flattens her with a Rock Bottom. The crowd popped big for that and SEX heads back to the locker room.   

Video Recap of the Raven/Sandman feud.

Sullivan is the “promoter” of this match. He has a referee’s shirt painted on his torso. Raven makes his entrance from the parking lot. The ring is filled with weapons and one side has a steel side. Sandman enters with a 12-pack of Milwaukee’s Best. Raven nails Sandman with a trashcan lid as soon as he enters. Sandman goes low then hits a dropkick. He tosses Raven to the floor and moves apart the guardrail. He drapes Raven over the rail and hits some poor excuse of a running leg drop. He pulls out a table and slides it into the ring as Raven is already bleeding. Sandman dodges a drop toehold but Raven gets catches him with a DDT in a terribly sloppy sequence. Sandman gets whipped into the fence and Raven beats him with a chain. Raven sets up the table then hits him with a realtor’s “For Sale” sign. Sullivan hands Raven chairs that he uses on Sandman, then finishes it off with a drop toehold. Sandman is a mess out there. Raven has a crimson mask and puts Sandman on the table. The crowd gets restless as Raven goes up top and hits an elbow drop through the table. Sandman goes for his 12-pack and uses it to beat Raven. He then switches to the Signapore Cane as Raven is bleeding buckets. They now head up to the crowd and brawl. The camera shows three tables stacked up near the balcony. They go to the top level and Raven uses the fire extinguisher, which blinds the Sandman and he falls through the tables, giving Raven the victory (8:19) *1/2.

Thoughts: Sandman was god-awful but Raven carried him enough to make it passable. Sandman has been a major bust in TNA as his matches sucked and the crowd didn’t even react much to him at all.

After the match, Raven is in the ring and demands his title shot and tells Jarrett that he is a bloody mess and now is his only chance that he has to defeat him. Raven demands Jarrett, stating he has a destiny to fulfill as Jarrett runs to the ring and beats on him. The crowd barely reacts, except for some lady screaming. AJ runs in but Jarrett ducks a chairshot and it hits Raven. Lawler and Flair run in and Jarrett easily disposes of them. Erik Watts then runs in and beats him with a bat. The others get up and attack him.Flair places the burlap sack on Jarrett’s face as Lawler hits his top rope legdrop .Flair pulls out a replica title belt from the sack and they continue to destroy Jarrett with Tenay screaming on commentary until the show ends. So, Watts is a bigger threat to Jarrett than AJ or Raven?

Final Thoughts: The show was decent, but the Watts/ Jarrett stuff is a waste of time. After Raven winning the match, they have him get destroyed by Jarrett to set up an attack for the trio of Brian Lawler, David Flair, and Erik Watts? No one cares about Watts, although to his credit he cut a pretty good promo. It looks like SEX is disbanding soon, which is a good sign. The opening match was excellent and besides the Disgraceland/Estrada match, nothing else was embarrassing.