TNA Weekly PPV #4: Jeff Jarrett and the Flying Elvises

TNA Weekly PPV #4
Date: July 10, 2002
Location: Nashville Municipal Auditorium, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West, Ed Ferrara

For the first time in a few weeks, we don’t have a new title to be decided. We do however have a six way X-Division elimination match as well as a racecar driver vs. K-Krush. The first three shows have been pretty good so far but they need to fill in the middle of their cards better than they have been. Let’s get to it.

While we may not have new champions to decide, we do have two title matches tonight. Hey look, here’s one of them now.

Tag Titles: AJ Styles/Jerry Lynn vs. Slash/Tempest

Tempest is more famous as Devon Storm, who is more famous as Crowbar in WCW. We get a clip from last week with AMW being attacked and taking them out of the tag title tournament. AJ and Lynn teamed up and beat the Rainbow Express for the titles. Slash and Tempest are here because TNA was actually trying to set up a real division instead of having like three teams.

Lynn and Slash get things going. Slash is a power guy so Lynn speeds things up and takes him to the mat with a headlock takeover for two. A rana is countered into a powerbomb which is countered into an X-Factor for another two. AJ comes in and you know things are going to speed up even more. Off to Tempest who takes AJ down by the arm but AJ drop toeholds him to the floor.

Back in and Tempest chops away, followed by a top rope flipping headscissors to take Styles down. AJ tries the move that we would later call the Styles Clash but gets backdropped to the apron instead. Everything breaks down and the Disciples (of the New Church) are sent into each other and out to the floor. AJ dives onto both of them but gets caught, so Lynn dives on all three to knock them down.

Styles gets sent into the apron so Jerry takes over with a slingshot Fameasser, followed by a springboard moonsault from AJ for two on Tempest. Slash takes Lynn down and Tempest hits a Death Valley Driver for two on AJ and a jumping back elbow to set up a chinlock. The Disciples hit a double sitout chokeslam for two as Styles is in the process of getting killed again. Slash hits what we would call the Eye of the Storm for no cover before missing a dropkick.

A discus lariat puts Slash down again and there’s the hot tag to Lynn. There’s a tornado DDT to Slash but Tempest superkicks him down. Tempest’s top rope rana is countered and Lynn hits a middle rope cross body for two. The Cradle Piledriver kills Tempest dead but AJ tags himself in and hits the Spiral Tap for the pin to retain.

Rating: B-. Pretty good opener here as the new champions get a good win to establish themselves as the best. The idea of them fighting over who the best guy on the team is makes for a good story, especially when Styles is X-Division Champion on top of being a tag champion. Good opener here as things are off to a good start tonight.

The win gets pyro for some reason.

We recap the tag match that ended last week’s show with Christopher turning on Hall, giving Krush and Jarrett the win.

Hall calls into the show and says he’s coming for all three of them.

Here’s Christopher to talk about why he turned on Hall last week. He talks about transitioning from being a child to being an adult. Christopher says he’s always been identified as Jerry Lawler’s son (Tenay: “That’s because you are.”). He’s tired of being overshaddowed by his father and he’s going to prove he belongs in this business. He says screw Jerry Lawler because he was never there to be a father to Christopher. Tonight, everything starts to change. He goes on another rant against Lawler for always kissing up to Vince and tonight, it’s all about him, which is why his name is now Brian Lawler.

Brian Lawler vs. Norman Smiley

MAGIC IS BACK!!! Lawler pounds him in the corner and Smiley is in trouble early. A neckbreaker puts Smiley down but Norman comes back with a slam. West is his usual completely over excited self on commentary here, shouting about how Norman needs to DO IT FOR JERRY. Lawler gets spanked a bit but we don’t get the Big Wiggle.

Lawler rams Norman’s head into the mat to stop the comeback and things slow WAY down. Well he is from Memphis so you have to expect a lot of slow paced offense. A charge into the corner hits post though and Smiley fires off some right hands. Norman pounds away in the corner but a low blow puts him down. The Hip Hop Drop (minus the goggles) gets the pin for Lawler.

Rating: D. At the end of the day, it’s Grandmaster Sexay as a big time heel in this company. You can only take that so seriously and I don’t think it worked all that well. The match with Hall is next week so hopefully he gets put down where he belongs. Nothing to see here as it was a Memphis style squash, meaning they stretched a two minute match into over five.

Jarrett doesn’t like that he doesn’t have a world title match tonight. Bill Behrens tells him to chill so Jarrett shoves him, earning a suspension. Jarrett leaves and we hear someone in a locker room that might be James Mitchell yelling at someone else, saying this will never happen again.

K-Krush vs. Hermie Sadler

Time for racecar drivers in the ring. We recap the stuff that set this up which saw two racecar drivers beating Krush (R-Truth) up. Hermie jumps him to start and knocks Krush to the floor and pounds away. Krush chokes him back to the post but misses Hermie’s head with a punch and hits the post instead. Back inside and the ax kick puts Sadler down for two. A powerslam kills Sadler again but he kicks out again. Now it’s a figure four on Sadler but he rolls over to escape it. Krush misses a dropkick but rolls Sadler up for the pin with his feet on the ropes.

Rating: D-. I’m going to keep this short: stop putting racecar drivers in wrestling matches. No one cares, it doesn’t get people interested, and they rarely can do anything in the ring. That’s it.

Krush hits Sadler post match and that’s a DQ so Sadler wins. Sure why not.

Omori, the challenger for Shamrock tonight, is getting ready. Alicia comes up to him and money is exchanged.

Hot Shots vs. Briscoe Brothers

Yep, the ROH Briscoe Brothers who are barely 18 here. The Hot Shots are Cassidy Riley and Chase Stevens. It’s interesting to see the Briscoes basically being jobbers coming into this. I can never remember which Briscoe is which so we’ll say that’s Mark in the ring with Riley. Off to Jay (I was right) who chases Riley around, only to get caught by Mark off a blind tag. The Hot Shots LAUNCH Mark over the top onto Jay followed by a pair of big dives to take the Briscoes out again. Everything breaks down and the Disciples of the New Church come in to clean house for a double DQ.

Malice kills all four of them with chokeslams and Mitchell gets in the ring with the Disciples. He says they want Malice to get a title match against Shamrock or people are going to get hurt. The timekeeper gets brought into the ring but Shamrock comes in before death can occur. The Disciples jump him and beat him down but Omori, the opponent for later, runs in for the save.

The Dupps are ready for the Flying Elvises tonight.

Instead of the tag match we had scheduled, here’s Jasmine St. Clair, an adult star who showed up in ECW in its final year. She talks about how she wants to see some T & A and offers to give JB a lap dance. While dancing she takes off her thong and Bill Behrens comes out to stop it. In a funny bit, Ed Ferrara runs into the ring and spears Behrens down. Behrens eventually covers Jasmine up and drags her away.

The Dupps vs. The Flying Elvises

The Dupps are country boys named Bo and Stan (Trevor Murdoch) and the Flying Elvises are Sonny Siaki and Jorge Estrada, both of whom you don’t really need to know. Brawl to start and the Dupps sloppily clean house to control early. Mortimer Plumtree comes out for commentary for no apparent reason. Siaki and Stan start things off with Stan in full control. Off to Bo with a shoulder and legdrop for two. Siaki tries to speed things up but gets caught in an Alabama Slam out of the corner.

Mortimer is trying to come up with suspects for the attack on AMW last week which is the most interesting part of the match. Some Elvis cheating gives them control and it’s off to Estrada. After getting in a bit of trouble, Estrada comes back with a split legged moonsault for no cover. Off to Stan who cleans house and kills Estrada with a full nelson slam. Apparently that’s not worthy of selling because Estrada hits a pumphandle throw and a twisting springboard swanton for the pin on Stan.

Rating: D. There was nothing to see here at all. I have no idea who I was supposed to cheer for here and neither team gave me a reason to care about either one of them. This is the kind of filler match that I was talking about in the intro: it’s not horrible or anything, but there’s nothing interesting at all here and I don’t think anyone cared about any of these guys at all.

Lynn and Styles are fighting in catering with Lynn getting the better of it and hitting a good piledriver on an anvil case.

NWA World Title: Takao Omori vs. Ken Shamrock

Harley Race is here for no apparent reason other than he’s Harley Race. Well that’s a good enough reason for me. Shamrock doesn’t have the belt with him for some reason. He quickly takes Omori down and puts on a headscissors. Omori comes back with a spinwheel kick as Tenay talks about how awesome the NWA is. Off to a quick chinlock but Omori misses a spinwheel kick in the corner.

Shamrock goes after the knee like a good submission specialist but then shifts to a simple punch to the jaw. The problem here is already clear: there’s no story to this match and it’s just there because we need a challenger from outside the company. Omori grabs a full nelson slam but his Bombs Away knee drop off the top misses. The crowd is about as interested as I am here, which is why you can hear the guys in the match talking.

A big clothesline which is apparently another of Omori’s finishers gets two and Tenay is the only person fired up about the kickout. Shamrock comes back with a dropkick of all things followed by a leg bar. Well, the wrestling version of one at least. A piledriver from Omori is broken up by a shot to the apparently injured knee of Omori. That’s a pretty quick injury but it’s due to a submission guy so it makes sense at least. Shamrock puts on the ankle lock but Jarrett runs in for the DQ with a chair shot.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t much. I’ve said this before: you have to give fans a reason to care about these matches. Who is Omori? What has he accomplished in wrestling to give him a world title match? We’ve never seen him before on this show (and we won’t ever again) and the announcers only mentioned one match he had, which was a seven second win. Well that’s cool, but it doesn’t really make me believe this guy is a world title contender. On top of that, Shamrock was basically just a name at this point and didn’t have anywhere near the skill in the ring that he used to have.

Jarrett beats up both guys with the chair until Harley Race comes in for the save. Jarrett hits him with the chair too and security gets a few shots to their heads too.

Lynn doesn’t have much to say. He leaves so Mitchell and the Disciples show up. They’re looking for Jeff Jarrett because of a sin Mitchell can’t forgive. They leave too and we hear what sounds like screaming or moaning. It’s Bill Behrens bound and gagged on the floor. Ok then.

Low Ki vs. Elix Skipper vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Kid Romeo vs. Tony Mamaluke vs. Christopher Daniels

This is a six man elimination match to determine the X-Division rankings. The winner is the #1 contender. This is Daniels’ debut. There are only two in the ring at a time which is probably a good thing for this match. Daniels vs. Romeo to get things going and they trade wristlocks. Both guys avoid various moves before Daniels hits a Japanese armdrag but walks into a dropkick. The winner gets their title match next week apparently.

Skipper comes in and moonsaults over Daniels before superkicking him down for two. Daniels takes him into the corner but Mamaluke tags Daniels to bring himself in. Wouldn’t you want to stay on the apron for the most part of this match? Ferrara points out how much bigger Mamaluke looks which is indeed a striking difference to how he looked in ECW. He goes for the knee but gets clotheslined down by Elix.

Skipper tags in Lynn but it’s quickly off to Low Ki for some hard kicks to Mamaluke. Mamaluke comes back with a hard belly to back suplex for two. Mamaluke grabs some kind of a neck hold on Low Ki but it doesn’t last long. Tony punches Romeo in the corner for no apparent reason before tagging in Daniels, who hits a side slam on Low Ki for two. Romeo comes in and gets kicked before Daniels tags in Lynn. Lynn rolls through a Gory Special into a sunset flip for two. We need to get some people out of here so that it’s easier to tell who is who.

A tornado DDT gets two on Romeo and it’s off to Daniels who misses a top rope splash to Romeo. Lynn vs. Daniels now and Lynn is sent to the floor. Daniels hits a split legged moonsault out to the floor onto Lynn and it’s time for everyone to dive on a bigger pile with each dive. Back in and Lynn hits a guillotine Fameasser onto Daniels while Daniels is in the ropes. Things finally calm down again and it’s Mamaluke vs. Daniels in the ring. Mamaluke rolls some suplexes before hitting a Russian leg sweep for two. Apparently Lynn was on the floor too long and has been eliminated despite not being in the ring He’s ranked sixth.

Skipper hits the Overdrive (MVP’s old Play of the Day) to eliminate Mamaluke and it’s off to Low Ki vs. Skipper. Low Ki sends him into the ropes and Skipper falls through them to the floor. Back in and Low Ki escapes the Overdrive and puts Skipper into a fireman’s carry before ramming Skipper’s back into the buckle. Skipper uses the Matrix to avoid a kick and suplexes Low Ki down for no cover. Instead it’s a missile dropkick to Low Ki which sends him into the corner to tag in Daniels.

Elix almost immediately hits a reverse suplex on Daniels for two but Daniels clotheslines him down. They trade standing switches and Daniels hits the Last Rites (Cross Rhodes) to eliminate Skipper. We’re down to Romeo, Daniels and Low Ki. Romeo comes in and pounds on Daniels before hitting a Rey Mysterio sitout bulldog for two. Low Ki gets knocked to the floor but isn’t counted for no apparent reason. Romeo goes up but Daniels crotches him. They fight on the top and Romeo hits an AWESOME version of what we would call White Noise off the top to get us down to two.

So we’re down to Romeo vs. Low Ki. Wait scratch that as Daniels’ foot was on the ropes. This is one of the things that ECW and TNA has always done that gets on my nerves: you get a HUGE move like that and it only gets two. Low Ki kicks Romeo’s head off and puts on a Dragon Clutch for the tap to get us down to one on one for real now.

They chop it out and Daniels grabs a Downward Spiral to take Low Ki down. A back heel trip puts him down again but Low Ki manages to crotch Daniels on top. Daniels knocks Low Ki off the top and this the BME for a delayed two. They trade rollups for a lot of near falls and for some reason the fans start booing this out of the building. I must have missed something there because that was the most exciting part of the match. Daniels escapes the Dragon Clutch and puts Low Ki on top before slamming him down for two. Last Rites are countered into a sitout fisherman’s buster by Low Ki for the pin out of nowhere.

Rating: B-. This is the kind of match that is long rather than quite good. It didn’t really pick up until the very end even then it wasn’t anything great. Having this be elimination was way better than having it be one fall to a finish because those matches are never anything but spot fests. This wasn’t bad but it wasn’t as great as the announcers were hyping it up to be.

The Flying Elvises come out and beat Daniels and Low Ki down before the four other X guys from the main event make the save. The fans chant for Low Ki.

Here’s Jarrett with less than two minutes to go. He wants a title shot next week. Jarrett yells at some Tennessee Titans who jump the railing and beat Jarrett up. The Disciples come out as well and beat up Jarrett to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This was ok but they still have a lot of tweaking to do. A lot of the names are there because they’re just that: names. I can certainly forgive them for a lot of stuff here because it’s just their fourth show and they have some stories going on, but they need to fix some of the problems they’ve got here, namely adding some better talent to the midcard. Like I said though, it’s four weeks in so I can’t be too critical yet. Decent show but no great match this week.

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