NWA-TNA Weekly PPV #58

 

Sabin bails and the other two men chase him but end up
running into each other. They start brawling for a bit then Sabin and Kazarian
wind up in the ring. Sabin hits an enziguiri and tries to traverse across the
wires but Shane pulls him down and hits a neckbreaker. He climbs then Kazarian
pulls him down and hits a neckbreaker. Sabin roughs up Kazarian but Kazarian
puts him on his shoulders and Shane, who is on the wires, takes him off with a
rana. Kazarian tosses Sabin to the floor and Shane and Kazarian climb and meet
in the middle but Sabin takes them down with a springboard dropkick. Sabin
beats both men with a chair until Kazarian kicks it into his face. Shane is
busted open on the floor then after Kazarian sets up the chair, Sabin puts him
through it with a catatonic. Sabin goes after Shane who is now pouring out
blood from his forehead. Sabin goes back to climb but Shane runs in and takes
him down with a chairshot. The belt drops down as all three men are on the mat.
The bell rings as they stop the match in order to re-hang the belt. All three
men are now brawling on the floor as the ring crew hangs the belt. Sabin saves
a botched spot as he as Shane in a fireman’s carry and Kazarian overshoots a
sunset flip and Sabin holds on to Shane and drops him down as he hits Kazarian
with a basement dropkick. Kazarian then drives Sabin’s head into the mat in a
Canadian Destroyer of sorts. He climbs across the cable but Shane holds him up.
Kazarian drops but Shane climbs and tries a rana but Sabin powerbombs him off
in an insane spot that pops the crowd. Shane is covered in blood as Sabin climbs
up again. Kazarian blows a springboard move then climbs up and spears Sabin off
the cable and the belt falls yet again. They stop the match to hang it back up.
Sabin and Kazarian meet in the middle and end up taking each other off. Shane
is outside and on the floor after getting shoved off the top rope. Sabin and Kazarian
climb back up and Kazarian kicks him off but Shane comes speeding over and
grabs the belt as the fans go crazy (13:27) ****.

Thoughts: A fantastic match. Even the belt falling down
twice couldn’t ruin this as all three men busted their ass. They also got over
the new concept, which was a great thing for the promotion as they are trying
to find their identity. They are trying to push Shane, which is fine, but they
need to do more than constantly mention that Shawn Michaels is his cousin if
they want to get him over.

 

In the parking lot, Scott Hudson interviews Sonny Siaki and
Trinity, who show up in a hearse. Two men take out a casket that represents the
career of D’Lo Brown. This is going nowhere.

 

West lets us know that Dusty Rhodes is not here tonight. They
start by brawling outside of the ring. In the ring, AMW hit Swinger with the
Hart Attack but Diamond breaks up the pinfall. Harris hits Diamond with the
catatonic but Gilbertti runs in and hit him with the Chartbuster. Diamond rolls
on top but only gets two then starts firing away. Swinger is on the floor with
Storm and lifts up the mat and suplexes him on the concrete. AMW are getting
choked out as the camera goes back and forth between each man. Storm breaks up
a double team move with a superkick on Diamond then fires away. AMW takes the
advantage. Harris and Diamond spill outside and rams Harris into the post.
Diamond then accidentally hits Swinger in the head with a chair and storm rolls
him up but that only gets two. That looked brutal. As Diamond is on the apron,
Harris runs through the ropes and spears him off. AMW sets up Swinger for the
Death Sentence but Gilbertti knocks of Harris and slides the belt into Swinger
and he hits Storm behind the ref’s back for the win (8:27) ***1/4. After the
match, they beat on AMW until security clears the ring.

Thoughts: These teams continue to have really good matches
and the feud remains hot. AMW was really one of the best teams on the planet at
this point.

 

Scott Hudson is with the Gathering. Julio is pissed at the
New Church for attacking Raven and challenges them to a tag match. Shane
Douglas interrupts but Julio attacks him then the New Church run out and they
start brawling.

 

Sonny Siaki and Trinity are in the ring. Trinity is wearing
a dress that barely covers her tits. Hey, anything to distract you from her
face is a good thing. They wheel out the casket that represents D’Lo’s career
as Siaki delivers a eulogy. This segment bombs as Siaki drones on then places
flowers on top of the casket but D’Lo pops up and attacks Siaki. He ends up
tossing both Siaki and Trinity in the casket and stands on top as the crowd
chants for D’Lo. This was the loudest pop for D’Lo since he debuted in the company.

 

Hudson is with Christoher Daniels and Joe Legend. They run
down their opponents for tonight, Jeff Jarrett and Erik Watts. Not much
interesting took place here.

 

Both teams brawl to start. Punk takes out Sinn with a tope
then Slash gets double-teamed in the ring. The New Church takes control and
puts Punk in the Tree of Woe on the ropes then continue to hit him with
double-team moves. Slash gets two off a vertical suplex. Punk fights back but
gets double-teamed in the corner. Slash and Punk collide in the ring and both
men are down but Punk makes the tag to Julio. He runs wild until Sinn catches
him with a super kick. Punk goes up for a rana on Sinn but Slash throws powder
in his face and Sinn takes him down with a super powerbomb but that only gets
two. Julio puts Sinn on his shoulders and Punk takes him down with a
blockbuster and that gets two. Mtichell tries to interfere but Alexis crotches
him and hits Slash with a tornado DDT. Julio hits Slash with a full nelson slam
but Shane Douglas runs in and hits Julio with a chain as the ref checks on
Mitchell, then places Slash on top and he gets the win (7:07) **1/2. After the
match, Douglas and the New Church continue their assault and end up cutting
some of Alexis’s hair.

Thoughts: The match was all action. Sinn looked pretty bad
but I do not think he was any worse than Lee, the guy he replaced. It’s weird
seeing Punk be in a stable with Raven considering that they were feuding in RoH
at the time. Slash was a really underrated worker and I wondered would have happened
with his career if he didn’t team up with Jamie Dundee, who fucked up all their
chances at a push while they were wrestling ass PG-13.

 

Mike Tenay does a sit-down interview with Erik Watts. He
says that they don’t play politics in here, unlike the “people up North.” He
then explains the difference between NWA and TNA in a convoluted manner that
only makes sense to him and the half-wits who came up with this interview. He
said that TNA runs the promotion and NWA runs the wrestling and this somehow resulted
in Don Callis coming in the company. He is then asked about his relation with
Jarrett and goes back to saying how he was held down by other promotions. This
drags on some more and finishes eventually. A complete waste of time and one of
the most pointless interviews that I have ever heard.

 

We are shown a video of AJ Styles and Vince Russo on
vacation. The production values are shit and it seems like they at a Days Inn
somewhere in a terrible neighborhood. AJ tells Watts that he will be there next
week and removes his bathrobe and does a flip into the pool.

 

Both teams start brawling on the floor. Watts leaps the rail
and takes out Legend with a crossbody and they brawl in the crowd. In the ring,
Daniels beats on Jarrett for a bit. Jarrett comes back with a flapjack and a
dropkick but Legend comes in and Jarrett gets double-teamed. Legend nails
Jarrett with a Yakuza kick then a clothesline. Daniels tags and puts Jarrett in
a front facelock but Jarrett escapes and fights off both men and makes the tag
but the ref did not see it and the heels go back to double-teaming Jarrett. He
fights back again and tags and Watts goes wild and actually looks decent. He
powerbmobs Legend on te turnbuckle and chokeslams Daniels but Legend breaks
that up. Watts goes up top and hits a missile mule kick on Legend! Jarrett hits
Daniels with the spinebuster and that gets two. Daniels comes back with an STO
but misses the BME. Jarrett goes for the Stroke but Legend breaks that up with
a super kick and that gets two. The match breaks down then Jarrett rolls up
Legend for the win (8:18) ***. After the match, Jarrett gets assaulted but both
securities run out then they start fighting. Jerry Lynn runs in and fights with
Red-Shirt Security but gets dragged away. Then, two guys in Freddy and Jason
masks run in and handcuff Watts to the railing and Jason hits Jarrett with a
Styles Clash then reveals himself as AJ Styles then Freddy as Russo, who yells
at Jarrett that he told him he gets no title shots and no gauntlet tonight.
They set up a table as Russo calls Jarrett a piece of shit, and Jarrett gets
triple-powerbombed. After that, they put Jarrett in the hearse

Thoughts: This is probably the best match ever that involved
Erik Watts. He actually looked good in the ring too. The post-match angle with
AJ and Russo was fine, even if I was obvious that those two were wearing the
masks

 

A video airs that says “He is Coming” with Roddy Piper’s
music playing.

 

Dusty Rhodes promises to give Glen Gilbertti the bionic
elbow next week in their Bullrope Match. This was a taped promo.

 

West runs down next week’s show:

Gilbertti vs. Rhodes

 

Wrestlers enter at 90 second intervals, with the last two
men facing off in a singles match. Eliminations occur by either pinfall
submission, or being thrown over the top rope. #1 is Kid Kash and #2 Ron
Killings. They have a nice sequence of moves until Christopher Daniels enters
at #3. He and Killings go at it as Kash watches from the corner. Killings gets
double-teamed until BG James enters at #4. They 3LK work iron claws and
continue to beat on Kash and Daniels. #5 is Sonny Siaki, who apparently escaped
from the casket. He works on BG as nothing else of note happens. Jeff Jarrett’s
music goes off at #6 but he isn’t here any longer. Siaki grabs the mic and says
he will win the gauntlet. No matter how hard they try, Siaki will ever get over
as a star. Not much happens until D’Lo enters at #7 and he cleans house. Mad
Mikey then comes out and goes to the announcers table and rants about not being
in the gauntlet then Siaki gets eliminated by D’Lo off camera. At least we get
a replay. Abyss enters at #8 as Mikey continues to rant and harass Tenay. Abyss
catches Killings and tosses him to the floor. He then eliminates BG with a big
boot. #9 is the Sandman as Abyss eliminated Kid Kash. Mad Mkiey goes in the
ring but Abyss tosses him too. Sandman tosses Abyss a beer then spits it in his
face and hits him with a kendo stick a few times but runs into the Black Hole
Slam. Legend enters at #10 and kicks Sandman in the face. Abyss hits D’Lo with
the Black Hole Slam and has been booked like a huge monster and looks really
good out there. #11 is Konnan and he goes after Legend and shows fire. Tenay
lets us know that there are just two slots left as the Sandman gets eliminated.
#12 is Shane Douglas and he goes after everyone. Konnan eliminates Legend as
Tenay says that Raven was taking to the hospital and not here at the moment to
take the last spot. D’Lo and Konnan double-team Douglas as Raven does in fact
show up as the last entrant, covered in blood and a bandage over his forehead. Douglas
looks terrified in the corner. Abyss grabs Raven but he turns a chokeslam
attempt into a DDT then he eliminates Abyss by tossing him over the top rope.
Daniels eliminates Konnan and D’Lo but Raven eliminated him with a catapult
over the top rope. Douglas and Raven are the last two left and they both spill
over the top rope. Raven takes Douglas off the apron with a jawbreaker but
Douglas hits him with a chair. He covers but that only gets two. Douglas brings
the chair in the ring but Raven sends him into it with a drop toehold and both
men are down. Douglas gets a few nearfalls 
and goes for the belly-to-belly but Raven headbutts out of that and hits
the Raven Effect for the win (22:18) ***1/2. The crowd popped big for that
finish.

Thoughts:  A great
segment overall. This was one of the better battle royal matches that I have
seen. The built up Abyss like a monster too but more importantly they put over
the challenger strong.

 

Final Thoughts: One
of the best shows TNA has produced at this point. Their main feuds are clicking
and all the matches were solid too. TNA has strung together a few really good
shows in a row and are gaining a bit of momentum. Next week’s main event for
the title between Raven and Styles should be excellent.