NWA-TNA Weekly PPV #2
Date: June 26, 2002
Location: Von Braun Center, Huntsville, Alabama
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Ed Ferrara, Don West

So after last week’s not so great debut, we have the followup here, which was taped after the first show. The big story is Jeff Jarrett (shocking I know) vs. Scott Hall, which was set up at the end of last week’s show. In addition, we’re crowning the first ever X Champion, which should be quite a fun way to go. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with a long recap of last week. Dang that’s a lot of Jeff Jarrett.

Opening sequence.

Commentary previews the show.

Scott Hall vs. Jeff Jarrett

Jackie Fargo and Toby Keith (yes the singer) are here with Hall, who knocks Jarrett down to start. That means an early standoff, which lets Jarrett yell at the referee. Hall slugs Jarrett down and sends him flying with the fall away slam, as he tends to do. Back up and Jarrett snaps off some dropkicks before grabbing the sleeper.

Hall reverses into one of his own but gets suplexed down (they LOVED that sequence) for a delayed two. The discus punch and some clotheslines have Jarrett in trouble but cue K-Krush to break up the Razor’s Edge. Jackie Fargo goes after K-Krush so Keith comes in to hit Jarrett low. A double faceplant finishes Jarrett at 6:58. Ignore that the referee would have seen everything Keith did.

Rating: C+. This was a match that wasn’t exactly lighting the mat on fire but what mattered was the star power. This might not exactly be a top level match on the biggest stage, but it is a pair of big, established names. That is how you get people watching and hopefully they stick around for everything else, though that is quite the tricky situation to make work.

We look at the various women in the lingerie battle royal, including the fight between Francine and Elektra last week.

Cheex vs. Frank Parker

Cheex, who probably weighs over 500lbs, has the Brown Eyed Girl with him. Parker’s clotheslines have no effect so Cheex slams him down and hits the running hip attacks. Parker gets in a cheap shot though and hammers away as Alicia is here to talk to Jeremy Borash. Not that it matters as Cheex fights back and hits the big splash for the pin at 2:10. This was exactly what you would think it would be.

Post match, Borash pays Alicia off.

Next week: Tag Team Titles.

We look back at K-Krush arguing with the NASCAR drivers last week, with Brian Christopher making the save.

K-Krush vs. Brian Christopher

Christopher has Sterling Marlin and Hermie Sadler (the aforementioned drivers) with him. Krush jumps him to start and hits an elbow in the corner but Christopher fights back in a hurry. A running bulldog gives Christopher two but Krush is right back with a suplex. We hit the chinlock for all of a few seconds before Christopher fights up and hits an enziguri. Christopher goes to hammer away in the corner but gets atomic dropped back down. Krush goes to the apron and gets crotched by the drivers. The Hip Hop Drop finishes Krush off at 5:07.

Rating: C. Something tells me Christopher is going to be getting a lot of TV time in the near future and that is only so interesting. There’s a reason he is best known for his time either as part of a team or with his dad and that is likely going to be on display here. The match was little more than an excuse for the drivers to hurt Krush and that is hardly interesting in the first place.

Miss TNA: Lingerie Battle Royal

Joanie, Francine, Shannon, Alexis Laree, Elektra, Taylor, Erin, Sasha, Tyler

This is bra and panties rules and the winner gets a contract. The fact that commentary doesn’t bother mentioning most of the entrants during their individual entrances isn’t the best sign of things to come. It’s a brawl to start as Ferrara talks about wanting to see skin pop out.

Various clothing is removed and Tyler and Sasha are out rather quickly. Erin is gone and a bunch of women get together to eliminate Francine. Joanie is out too and we’re quickly down to four. Ferrara goes over to hit on Francine and gets whipped for her efforts. Shannon and Laree eliminated in the melee, leaving Taylor to eliminate Elektra for the win at 4:48.

Rating: D. This was barely a match as it was more about everyone running all over the place and getting eliminated. There’s only so much you can get out of something like this and they weren’t hiding the point. That being said, this was bad even under this style’s standards, which says a lot as it doesn’t exactly have standards in the first place.

Post match Francine comes back in, takes out Taylor, and whips her with the belt.

Goldilocks is interviewing Apollo when Bobcat, with David Young, interrupts. Bobcat wants to know why she isn’t getting attention and yells at Goldilocks, who isn’t having it.

Apollo vs. David Young

Bobcat is in Young’s corner. Young’s running shoulders have no effect and a double arm trap belly to belly sends Young flying again. Back up and Apollo misses a charge into the corner as Bobcat hits on Jeremy Borash. A chinlock doesn’t last long so Young grabs a suplex for two, setting up another chinlock. Apollo is back up with a tornado DDT but Young snaps off a spinebuster. Instead of covering though, Apollo yells at Bobcat for being on Borash’s lap. The distraction lets Apollo hit a superkick into a TKO for the pin at 5:27.

Rating: C. This was a nice enough showcase for Apollo, who was treated as a pretty big deal in last week’s Gauntlet For The Gold. The company is going to need to build up some names that aren’t all WWF/WCW castoffs and Apollo could be a nice place to start. He certainly has a good look and that is more than a nice foundation, with the col finisher helping too.

Post match Bobcat gets in the ring with Young and celebrates, leaving Young to walk off.

Here is Joel Gertner to limerick about various things and then talk about the joys of alternative lifestyles. That’s enough to bring out the Rainbow Express and we’re ready to go.

Rainbow Express vs. The Dupps

Hold on though as we cut to the back where the Dupps aren’t going to wrestle. Executive Bill Behrens panics but runs into Chris Harris and James Storm, who he sends to wrestle the match instead.

Rainbow Express vs. Chris Harris/James Storm

The Express jumps them during their entrance but Storm kicks away at Lenny. A tornado DDT puts Storm down and Lenny kisses Bruce’s hand for a tag. Bruce’s sunset flip gets two and everything breaks down for a bit. The Express uses the distracted referee to get in a cheap shot on Storm, allowing Lane to grab the Tiger (Lion) Tamer. Harris isn’t having that and breaks it up with a clothesline, meaning it’s a hot tag to bring in Harris to clean house. Everything breaks down and the Express is rammed together, with Harris grabbing a rollup for the pin at 4:48.

Rating: C-. The right team won, which is at least somewhat due to how terrible the Express is presented. The wrestlers are fine, but it’s playing up every stereotype and treating them as heels, which is hardly a great way to go. Harris and Storm fall into the category of “they’re new and young so maybe try something”, which is something that has to happen in a big way around here.

Here is Ricky Steamboat, in a referee shirt, to bring out World Champion Ken Shamrock for a chat. Steamboat puts over the title as important and Shamrock promises to defend the title with honor. Cue James Mitchell to interrupt, saying he is on a mission from God (his, not yours) and that is why the Disciples of the New Church will control the NWA World Title. Mitchell issues a title challenge for next week against Slash. Shamrock says let’s do it tonight but here is Malice from behind to lay him out. Apparently Malice is getting the title shot instead. Makes more sense.

We look at last week’s six man tag with the Flying Elvises beating AJ Styles, Low Ki and Jerry Lynn. The three losers and Psicosis are in the X-Division Title tournament, leaving Ferrara to ask the logical question: why aren’t the WINNERS fighting for the title?

X Title: Jerry Lynn vs. AJ Styles vs. Psicosis vs. Low Ki

For the vacant title and it’s double elimination, meaning it’s a string of singles matches and you have to lose two falls to be eliminated, with the last man standing being the champion. That’s a unique idea and I could go for seeing it used again. Styles chops at Psicosis to start but gets faceplanted down for his efforts. A superkick gives Styles two but Psicosis knocks him down and hits the guillotine legdrop for two. Back up and a hurricanrana is countered into the Styles Clash to give Psicosis his first loss at 2:01.

Psicosis – 1 loss
Styles – 0 losses
Ki – 0 losses
Lynn – 0 losses

Low Ki comes in to kick away at Styles, including an enziguri. Another Styles Clash is broken up and they go to the corner, where Ki reverse superplexes him into a dragon sleeper. Styles makes the rope so Ki kicks him in the face, only to miss a Phoenix splash. A hard clothesline takes Ki down again and a belly to back faceplant gives Ki his first loss at 4:21 total.

Psicosis – 1 loss
Ki – 1 loss
Styles – 0 losses
Lynn – 0 losses

Lynn is in next and immediately hits the cradle piledriver to pin Styles at 4:41 total.

Psicosis – 1 loss
Ki – 1 loss
Styles – 1 loss
Lynn – 0 losses

Psicosis comes in to dropkick Lynn down but he’s back up with a middle rope bulldog for two. A headscissors sends Lynn outside and there’s the big flip dive to drop him again. Back in and a top rope spinwheel kick gives Psicosis two but he gets dropkicked out of the air. Another cradle piledriver pins Psicosis to officially eliminate him at 7:42 total.

Ki – 1 loss
Styles – 1 loss
Lynn – 0 losses
Psicosis – Eliminated

Ki is back in to kick Lynn down for two and a power drive elbow gets the same. A super hurricanrana connects but Lynn rolls through into a sunset flip for two of his own. There’s an enziguri to stagger Ki again and Lynn hits a jumping Fameasser from the apron. Ki tries a triangle choke but gets powerbombed down for a VERY near fall, with the fans not exactly seeming convinced by the kickout. Ki’s fisherman’s buster is countered into a DDT (nicely done) and the cradle piledriver gives Lynn the pin at 12:02 total.

Styles – 1 loss
Lynn – 0 losses
Psicosis – Eliminated
Ki – Eliminated

So it’s down to Styles vs. Lynn, with Styles needing to beat him twice in a row to win the title. Styles is right back in with a discus lariat and a spinwheel kick gets two. A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gives Lynn two of his own but Styles blocks a sunset flip and hits a slingshot splash for two. Lynn’s tornado DDT gets two more and they’re both down for a breather. Back up and Styles’ neckbreaker gets two, followed by Lynn’s rather snappy Liger Bomb out of the corner getting the same. Styles is right back with a Styles Clash for the pin at 16:05 total.

Styles – 1 loss
Lynn – 1 loss
Psicosis – Eliminated
Ki – Eliminated

It’s one fall to a finish for the title and Ricky Steamboat comes in to referee. They trade pinfall reversal sequences to start until Lynn knocks him to the floor. There’s a whip into the barricade to drop Styles but he’s right back with a shot of his own. Back in and Lynn hits a reverse suplex to drape Styles over the top before reversing a hurricanrana into a flipping faceplant for two.

Back up and Styles hits the fireman’s carry backbreaker for two of his own but Lynn’s brainbuster gets two more. The sleeper goes on, with Styles jawbreaking his way to freedom. Styles goes up and gets superplexed back down for two and Lynn is getting frustrated. Lynn takes him up again but gets shoved down, setting up the Spiral Tap to give Styles the pin and the title at 25:59.

Rating: B. This was a really cool idea and something I could go for seeing again. The double elimination stipulation made it feel like the best person won and helped cover the idea of the last person entering having a huge advantage. Styles is someone who has already stood out and beating someone with the status of Lynn is only going to help move him along.

We look at all of the falls in the title match.

Commentary previews next week to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. Good enough show here, though the promotion is firmly still in the “getting its feet wet” stage. They have only presented about three and a half hours of content and are still getting their initial champions set. That should make for some good enough shows, but they are still having some of the freak show aspects with things like Cheex. The main event is rather good though, as they are trying to find a mixture of established names and young up and comers, which seems to be working well enough, at least so far. It’s way too early to tell though and that is going to be the case for a long time.

 

 

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Impact Wrestling
Date: November 24, 2022
Hosts: Tom Hannifan, Matthew Rehwoldt

It’s Thanksgiving and that means we are in for a special Best Of show around here. That’s about as logical as you’re going to get for this time of year as there is no reason to believe that anyone is going to pay attention to a show on such a big holiday. You never know what you’ll see on something like this but let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

The hosts welcome us to the show and promise us some great Thanksgiving moments, plus a look at Overdrive.

We’ll start with Thanksgiving 2008, with Rhino pinning Alex Shelley in a triple threat match also involving Sheik Abdul Bashir. As a result, Rhino gets $25,000 and Shelley has to wear a turkey suit, as enforced by Mick Foley with threats of firings/bad history lessons.

Wrestlers say what they are thankful for (Joe Hendry is thankful for mirrors because he gets to see who he really is).

Deaner asks Eric Young if this is the end of Violent By Design but doesn’t get an answer. It’s time for an answer to the unanswered questions so they have to go back to where it all began. How about before that when the team doesn’t exist?

We go back to Thanksgiving 2007, at the Angle household, featuring Kurt and Karen as pilgrims and Jeremy Borash, Tomko and AJ Styles as guests (it was a weird time). They pray (with gold medals on the plates) and Styles eats during the prayer. People keep opening their eyes during the prayer, with Karen and JB making faces at each other. Robert Roode and Traci Brooks come in, as do James Storm and Jackie Moore (with beer). Chris Harris arrives and complains about the directions.

Eric Young shows up, a bit under dressed, and breaks a bunch of stuff. Kurt stands up to yell, revealing that he’s wearing the World Title, and sends Eric to the kid’s table (Eric gets lost on the way). Then the X-Division arrives, with Sonjay Dutt trying to get donations for starving children. Storm and Young get in a drinking contest and Styles leaves as Black Reign (Dustin Rhodes) and Rellik (that’s overused joke spelled forwards) arrive. Reign lets his rat Misty into the food and we take a break.

Back with Young and Storm rather drunk (Young has found a wig and they have both lost their shirts). Jay Lethal (as Black Machismo) arrives as Kurt looks like he wants some cyanide. Then So Cal Val arrives, so Lethal gives her his jacket to walk on. Kurt tries to restore order as Awesome Kong shows up and sits at the other end of the (really long) table. She eats food that may or may not be wax and, since there are a bunch of tables, Team 3D arrives, with food being thrown at them.

A bunch of people leave to get away from Team 3D, who were invited by someone other than Kurt. They sit at the kid’s table and take food from Kurt’s daughter, who says they suck (I would have paid to see her put through a table). Then Kevin Nash and Scott Hall arrive and Karen takes pies to the face. Everyone else shows up and the food fight is on. This was HILARIOUS in a wrestling way.

We look at Mickie James beating Taylor Wilde at Overdrive. Then Deonna Purrazzo comes out to yell at her and sets up the next match in James’ Last Rodeo.

From Thanksgiving 2016, loser wears a turkey suit.

Grado vs. Robbie E.

They slug it out to start with Grado getting the better of it off the snap jabs. A double clothesline puts both guys down as this is a little less funny than I was expecting. Robbie grabs a rollup for the pin at 2:39.

Grado is turkey suited.

We look at the end of Josh Alexander beating Kazarian with the C4 Spike to retain the World Title at Overdrive. Then Bully Ray came out, announced he was officially challenging at Hard To Kill in January, and beat up Alexander in front of his family. Then, with Alexander zip tied to the rope, Ray pulled Alexander’s wife over the barricade….and just threatened her because Alexander was loose. After the show, Ray grabbed the title but Rich Swann came out for the save. Scott D’Amore came out and threw stuff at Ray while asking what was wrong with him. Great segment. Why does it need to be Bully Ray and not someone new?

From Thanksgiving 2013.

Here are all of the winners of the matches tonight plus Velvet who is with Sabin. Roode points this out and Sabin throws Velvet out. Bobby asks everyone what they’re thankful for. Bad Influence is thankful for their intelligence and large endowment. Kaz is thankful that Park isn’t here to drink the gravy or fornicate with the pumpkin pie. Gail is thankful for being the prettiest and most dominant Knockout in the history of the company. Oh and her family too.

Sabin is thankful for his hair, being the best X-Division Champion ever and Velvet Sky. The Bro Mans are thankful for Mr. O Phil Heath, Zema Ion (officially part of the team) and for being the best team ever. Bad Influence: “I’m not sure about that.” Roode says the real Thanksgiving was last month in Canada and the fans will be thankful when he becomes the next champion.

It’s time to eat but here’s Angle to interrupt. He sees a ring full of turkeys, which are fighting words for the people in there. Roode challenges him to a fight which Angle accepts, and here’s his backup. Fernum and Barnes (a couple of losers who lost the Turkey Bowl) are still in the turkey suits. You can fill in the blanks yourself here: bad guys are destroyed, food is everywhere, Spud panics, turkeys fly. The good guys, Velvet and ODB celebrate to end the show.

More wrestlers are thankful for various things.

We look at Kenny King going after Mike Bailey at the overdrive pre-show and losing a six way match as a result.

King is going to take out Bailey before going after the X-Division Title.

From Thanksgiving 2017.

Team Edwards vs. Team Adonis

Eddie Edwards, Garza Jr., Allie, Fallah Bahh, Richard Justice
Chris Adonis, Caleb Konley, Laurel Van Ness, KM, El Hijo Del Fantasma

The loser of the fall wears a turkey suit and there’s food at ringside, along with Eli Drake. We’re not ready yet though as the teams sit down at the food tables as Drake insists that everyone has to put on the suit if they lose. He has a statement for JB to read, which pretty much just says everyone play nice.

Justice sticks his finger in Konley’s mouth to start and gets two off a rollup. Laurel comes in and jumps on Justice’s back so it’s off to the women for a change. KM and Bahh are up next with some shots to Bahh’s head taking us to a break. Back with Bahh crossbodying KM and bringing in Garza….WHO TAKES OFF HIS PANTS! I’m rather thankful.

Garza gets punched down though and it’s time for the heel beatdown. Adonis comes in for two off a legdrop and it’s time for a bearhug (on a guy with a bad shoulder). That goes nowhere and the hot tag brings in Eddie to clean house. Everything breaks down in a hurry and KM gets crushed between Justice and Bahh.

We get the big crash to the floor and Justice falls off the apron, only to be caught without much effort. Allie dives onto everyone to break up the pile and everyone is down. Back in and Adonis can’t grab the Adonis Lock, allowing Eddie to roll him up for the pin at 16:04, meaning Adonis gets to wear the suit.

Rating: C-. Oh what were you expecting here? This was all in good fun and nothing more than a comedy match. The match was just there for the sake of having a one off match for a holiday special and as a result, it’s really hard to be harsh on it. Adonis having to wear the suit is fine and it continues a (rather goofy) tradition. It wasn’t anything good, but it’s perfectly harmless.

Post break, Adonis refuses to wear the suit. Security actually stops him as the referee holds up the suit like an executioner’s ax. After a lot of persuading and a GOBBLE GOBBLE (One of us?) chant, Adonis finally puts it on and walks around a bit. Adonis isn’t cool with the chants though and the required food fight, with Adonis hitting Drake in the face with a pie, ends the show. This was actually entertaining as they just went with the simple comedy and it worked perfectly well.

Delirious and Yuyu Uemura yell at each other in….something and Japanese.

Here’s what’s coming on various shows.

Steve Maclin wants the World Title but he is being held captive by his own company. From now on, it’s mayhem for all.

From Thanksgiving 2007.

Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Chris Sabin

This is the finals of the Turkey Bowl, with the winner getting $25,000 and the loser wearing the turkey suit. Joe and Sabin double team Styles to start and knock him to the floor. That leaves Sabin to take Joe down but a kick misses, giving us a staredown. Styles gets knocked to the floor again and we take a break.

Back with Sabin charging into a hot shot but Joe comes back in to punch Styles in the face. Styles breaks up the suicide elbow to Sabin though, meaning Joe punches him in the face some more. The drop down into a dropkick hits Joe and we take a break. Back again with Joe countering the springboard moonsault into an Air Raid Crash with Sabin having to make a save.

We take another break and come back again with Sabin hitting a springboard DDT to drop Joe. That earns Sabin a trip to the floor but Styles Peles Joe. The charge into the corner only hits kick to the face though, allowing Joe to hit the Muscle Buster for the pin at 9:33 shown (of the nearly thirty minute match).

Rating: B-. Well it seemed to be a good match, at least from what we saw of the thing. Joe was on another planet at this point and Styles was in his weird phase as Angle’s wacky goon, but it isn’t like he was going to be awful in the ring. Throw in a very talented Sabin and of course this was going to work, even if we missed almost twenty minutes.

Post match we cut to a livid Kurt Angle (AJ’s boss), storming out of his own Thanksgiving dinner. Back in the arena, AJ won’t put the suit on so here is Jim Cornette to order him to do it. After some coaxing, Styles (very slowly) puts the suit on so Tomko and Kurt come out to yell. Samoa Joe and the Outsiders come out to laugh at Angle and pals, meaning the brawl is on. The bad guys are cleared out, with Eric Young coming in to add a turkey leg to Angle to wrap things up. Then Hall got fired and Joe was given a live mic at the pay per view where he went on an all time rant against a lot of people.

Overall Rating: C. I never know what to say about these things, especially when it was a bunch of clips from what was little more than a comedy concept. There was a bit of decent action and it is fun to look back at some flashes of different times in the company’s history, but there was nothing worth seeing here. Granted that is kind of the point, but this was still a weird choice for a show.

 

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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AND

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Impact Wrestling
Date: June 30, 2022
Location: Tennessee State Fairgrounds, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Matthew Rehwoldt, Tom Hannifan

We’re a day away from Against All Odds and that means it is time to wrap up the card. I’m not sure if that is going to work out in such a short term build but at least they have some time to get it done. The main event of Josh Alexander defending the World Title against Joe Doering is already set and should work out well enough for a one off. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with a recap of Honor No More injuring Mark Briscoe last week and taking him out of Against All Odds (and probably out of the company).

America’s Most Wanted and the Good Brothers try to get PCO to jump from Honor No More to…whatever they’re calling themselves. Vincent comes in to say PCO belongs to Honor No More and no one else.

Trey Miguel vs. Steve Maclin vs. Laredo Kid vs. Chris Bey

The winner gets the X-Division Title shot at Against All Odds. Maclin gets double teamed to start and knocked outside, with Kid hitting a big dive to follow him out. That leaves Miguel to avoid a kick to the head and hits a basement dropkick. Kid comes back in for a spinning faceplant on Miguel but it’s Maclin coming back in for an elbow to the face.

Mayhem For All is broken up by Miguel so Maclin and Bey head to the apron. A running hurricanrana sends Maclin out to the floor and Kid hits the big dive, allowing Bey to moonsault onto the other three. Back in and Bey hits a pop up cutter for two on Kid with Miguel making the save. The top rope Meteora finishes Bey to send Miguel to the title match at 6:13.

Rating: C+. I’m running out of ways to say that a match with a bunch of cruiserweight style wrestling experience are going to have an exciting match like this one. Miguel getting the title shot makes sense and should give us a good match when they get the show tomorrw. I double Miguel wins there, but at least he did here.

Raven of all people joins us to talk about the Clockwork Orange House Of Fun match.

Against All Odds rundown, plus what’s coming tonight.

Gisele Shaw vs. Rosemary

Taya Valkyrie is at ringside and the Influence is on commentary. They go with the grappling to start until Rosemary grabs her by the hair and bites her head. Rosemary sends her into the buckle over and over, with Shaw going outside as we take a break. Back with Shaw chopping away in the corner as the Influence talks about Shaw getting a potential internship.

A series of running elbows gets two on Rosemary but Shaw misses a running knee. Rosemary’s exploder suplex drops Shaw for two but she’s back with a springboard cutter (didn’t look great) for two of her own. Back up and Rosemary gets in a shot of her own to set up the spear but everyone gets in a fight on the floor. The distraction lets Shaw knee Rosemary to cut off the spear for the pin at 9:22.

Rating: C. Shaw going to the Influence isn’t that interesting, though I don’t quite think that is where this winds up. Rosemary losing via a distraction/something close to shenanigans isn’t the worst ending, but I’m not sure where this story is heading. That being said, it’s a story involving the Women’s Tag Team Titles and I’ll take that over just random title matches.

Post match the Influence comes in to beat up Rosemary with Shaw’s help. The three of them pose together.

Mickie James isn’t worried about Deonna Purrazzo and/or Chelsea Green. The two of them come up and mock James for only thinking about herself, so James decks both of them.

Rosemary summons James Mitchell and ask about Havok. He has seen her in the darkness a bit, so Rosemary tells him to tell her that it’s ALL HANDS ON DECK.

Savannah Evans vs. Jordynne Grace

Non-title and Tasha Steelz is here with Evans. Grace gets driven into the corner to start for some shoulders to the ribs but runs Evans over to cut that off fast. They fight to the floor where Evans hits a chokeslam onto the apron, followed by some choking back inside. Evans’ full nelson is countered into a bulldog and Grace strikes away, setting up the MuscleBuster for the pin at 3:49.

Rating: C-. Grace didn’t squash her but rather muscled through Steelz’ bodyguard to set up tomorrow’s rematch. I don’t think there is a ton of reason to believe Steelz has a chance at Against All Odds, but maybe it’s a better move to just get the rematch out of the way and move on to someone else for Grace.

Video on Joe Doering, who was very big in Japan.

Josh Alexander is proud of getting to retain the World Title at Slammiversary but now he’s ready for Doering at Against All Odds.

Tag Team Titles: Honor No More vs. Good Brothers

PCO/Vincent are challenging for Honor No More, with the rest of the team and James Storm at ringside too. Anderson takes Vincent into some corners to start so PCO comes in to hammer away. That means it can be back to Vincent for some running forearms in the corner to rock Anderson again.

A middle rope legdrop crushes Anderson again as this is one sided so far. The Deanimator actually connects for once but Vincent’s chinlock doesn’t last long. Gallows comes in off the tag and starts cleaning house but the Magic Killer is broken up. Vincent misses Redrum though and it’s a rollup to give Anderson the pin at 5:19.

Rating: C. The Brothers are pretty good at what they do and Honor No More can be thrown together in almost any combination for a match like this. They didn’t have a ton of time here so they had to pack a lot of things into this one in a hurry. The division needs some more teams, but Honor No More works in a five minute match.

Post match Honor No More beats down the Good Brothers and James Storm but Chris Harris and then Heath, with pipes, come in for the save.

Post break the Good Brothers, Heath and America’s Most Wanted celebrate, but Storm says Harris isn’t wrestling at Against All Odds. Harris says he is and Storm gives in.

Ace Austin vs. Alex Zayne

Chris Bey is here with Austin, who bails to the floor at the bell. Back in and Zayne sends Austin into the corner before headscissoring him back out. A knee to the face drops Austin and we take an early break. Back with Austin working on the arm but Zayne slugs away and hits a clothesline.

The backbreaker into the faceplant drops Austin again but he’s right back with the Miz clothesline in the corner. The springboard kick to the face looks to set up the Fold, which is blocked by Zayne’s jumping knee. Austin bails to the floor so Zayne moonsaults onto both of them. Back in and a Bey distraction cuts Zayne off though, allowing Austin to hit the Fold for the pin at 10:29.

Rating: C+. This was your other X-Division match of the week as Austin gets a boost off a win on the way to….whatever else he is going to be doing. Zayne continues to be a guy who can do all of the flips and such, though he needs to win something if they want these wins over him to matter. He got close here, but that is only going to go so far.

Against All Odds rundown.

Trailer for a movie sponsoring Against All Odds.

Frankie Kazarian vs. Chris Sabin

Alex Shelley is here with Sabin and Kazarian’s wife and son are here. They trade armdrags to start and that means an early standoff. Armdrags and headscissors escapes give us another standoff as they’re even so far. Sabin dropkicks the knee out and we’re already in the Figure Four. The rope is grabbed so Sabin wraps the leg around another rope, only to get kicked away.

Kazarian hits the legdrop over the ropes to take over, setting up a fisherman’s suplex for two. Sabin sends him outside for a slugout, where the Wave of the Future sends Sabin into the post. We take a break and come back with Sabin fighting out of a front facelock and snapping off a DDT for two. Kazarian gets sent outside for a change and it’s Sabin hitting a suicide dive. They trade rollups for two each back inside until Kazarian hits a slingshot DDT for two more.

The Flux Capacitor is blocked so Kazarian settles for a northern lights suplex. Sabin is able to send him outside for a tornado DDT onto the floor, but since it’s modern wrestling, Kazarian is fine enough to grab a slingshot cutter for two back inside. The Cradle Shock give Sabin two so Kazarian takes him up for a superplex and a double knockdown. They slug it out and trade kicks to the face until Sabin hits the Clothesline From Hell, Michigan. The second Cradle Shock finishes Kazarian at 21:16.

Rating: B. That’s your wrestling match of the week and they made it work really well. There were no shenanigans and Sabin won with his finisher. It’s one of the better TV matches you’ll see, which was done with no gimmicks or insanity. That is the kind of thing that is going to work every time and they had a heck of a match here, which shouldn’t be surprising.

Overall Rating: B-. This was more of a wrestling heavy show and that isn’t a bad thing. There are a lot of talented people on the roster and this show served as a big table setter for Against All Odds. Maybe they can make the show work on such short notice, but I can’t imagine the expectations are that high. For now though, we had a good TV show and that is all you need sometimes.

Results
Trey Miguel b. Steve Maclin, Laredo Kid and Chris Bey – Top rope Meteora to Bey
Gisele Shaw b. Rosemary – Jumping knee
Jordynne Grace b. Savannah Evans – MuscleBuster
Good Brothers b. Honor No More – Rollup to Vincent
Ace Austin b. Alex Zayne – Fold
Chris Sabin b. Frankie Kazarian – Cradle Shock

 

 

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Well I did the second and third best teams in TNA history, so I better do the best. Today is America’s Most Wanted.

We’ll start at the team’s debut, from TNA Weekly PPV #2.

Rainbow Express vs. James Storm/Chris Harris

If you don’t recognize the names, this would be the debut of the team that would become known as America’s Most Wanted, who would be the most successful team in TNA history. The Express jumps the replacements but Storm and Harris clean house, knocking both guys to the floor. Storm and Lenny get things going and Storm charges into a boot in the corner. Lenny hits a bad looking tornado DDT to Storm and it’s off to Bruce.

Don West has to FREAK because Lenny kisses Bruce’s hand to tag. You know, because they’re gay and therefore evil. Harris gets a hot tag and cleans house but everything breaks down. Oh ok the hot tag wasn’t seen. Lenny suplexes Storm down as we hear about how the Express had to be in the closet for years because of WCW. Lenny hooks a Liontamer (called a Tiger Tamer here for no apparent reason) but Harris breaks things up. Everything breaks down and Harris gets two near falls on Lenny. The Express is rammed together and a rollup gets three on Lenny for the pin.

Rating: D-. This was another dull match in a series tonight. The stuff here with the Express being gay was about as forced as you could get and it became really uncomfortable at times. Also it’s very clear at this point that they have almost no idea how to fill in “two hours” (read as about 100 minutes) every week. Bad match here, but AMW would get about a million times better.

They would quickly challenge for their first Tag Team Titles at Weekly PPV #12. This is just after a tag team gauntlet with the two survivors’ teams facing off for the titles.

Tag Titles: James Storm/Chris Harris vs. Brian Lee/Ron Haris

Ron chokeslams James on the stage to start things off as a handicap match. Also here’s Jeff Jarrett to beat up BG James and take the focus off the title match. Lee kicks Chris in the face as AMW (are they even called that yet?) is in big trouble. Chris comes back for a bit but gets clotheslined down for two. West points out the problem here: too many people named James and Harris.

Storm finally gets back in and cleans house, only to get caught in a chokeslam/belly to back suplex combo for no cover. Ron pulls out a table for no apparent reason and lays Storm out on top of it. Lee loads up Chris in a chokeslam but gets rolled up (and into the ropes) to give AMW the pin and the titles.

Rating: D. This was barely even a match with Chris getting beaten down for a few minutes and Storm being on the floor most of the time. The table thing was stupid and the ending was even worse as both guys were in the ropes for the fall and the referee counted it anyway. Nothing to see here, but at least the right team won.

A major feud was with XXX, including this less famous cage match at Weekly PPV #50.

Tag Titles: Triple X vs. America’s Most Wanted

From June 25, 2003 and inside a cage. This isn’t the famous cage match these teams had but I’ve seen this one before and it’s awesome as well. The champions XXX are comprised of Elix Skipper and Christopher Daniels while the challengers are James Storm/Chris Harris. This is the fifth match but XXX has won via outside interference every single time. This is also TNA’s first ever cage match.

It’s a brawl to start but the referee makes them tag to get on my nerves. Harris bulldogs Daniels down before AMW picks up Skipper and launches him into Daniels. This is pin or submission only, meaning escape doesn’t count. Daniels and Harris are the official starters and the fans chant for the Fallen Angel. Skipper gets in a cheap shot from the apron before throwing him face first into the cage for two. Harris is already busted open.

The champions take turns stomping on Harris’ forehead until Daniels gets two off a springboard moonsault press by Skipper. Harris gets a lucky shot off a running clothesline but Daniels kicks his head off for two. Back to Skipper who sends Harris into the cage again but Harris comes off the ropes with another clothesline. There’s the hot tag to Storm who cleans house, sending Skipper chest first into the cage with a reverse suplex. A powerslam gets two on Daniels but he kicks Storm’s knee out to slow him down.

We get a Kill the Cowboy chant, which is hopefully a remnant from the early days of the company rather than the fans not liking Storm’s current work. The champions hit a suplex/cross body combo on the bloody Storm but Skipper’s ribs are injured from being sent into the cage. Back up and the two of them rams heads, setting up a double tag to Harris and Daniels. Harris takes over with the raw power by ramming Daniels head first into the cage over and over. Skipper’s ribs get reacquainted with the steel as well as Daniels is busted open too.

Harris loads up the Catatonic (spinning Rock Bottom) but Daniels counters into the Angel’s Wings (lifting sitout Pedigree) for a very close two. Everything breaks down and Daniels blocks a reverse tornado DDT by taking Storm onto the top rope for an STO to the mat. Skipper belly to bellys Harris down before sending him into the cage again. Elix goes up top for no apparent reason but gets powerbombed down in a HUGE crash to give Harris a near fall.

Daniels hits Last Rites (Cross Rhodes) on Storm for an even closer two as Harris makes yet another save. Harris and Daniels go up top but Daniels backs away across the rope, allowing Harris to hit a diving spear for an even closer near fall. Skipper takes Harris down with the Play of the Day before going for a very big climb. Elix dives off the top with a high cross body but reinjures his ribs in the process. STORYTELLING BABY!

A delayed cover gets two so Skipper goes up again, only to be knocked down a bit and then out to the floor. Storm superkicks Daniels down and the Death Sentence (spinebuster/legdrop) mostly misses Daniels for two. Skipper tries to climb back in but gets knocked back to the floor. Harris goes up to the very top of the cage for a HUGE Death Sentence to crush Daniels for the pin and the titles.

Rating: A. There’s your price of admission right there. This was all about taking two teams and having them beat the tar out of each other for twenty minutes. On top of that we have the story of Skipper’s ribs in a good piece of psychology, a rarity in matches like these. The amazing thing is these four would top this effort in another cage match at Turning Point the following year. Great match.

They would also appear on the first episode of Impact on June 4, 2004.

Tag Titles: America’s Most Wanted vs. Kid Kash/Dallas

AMW is challenging. The idea is Kash and Dallas have been ducking the only team they know can take the titles but tonight they’re out of places to run. The winners here have to defend against the winners of a fan poll next Wednesday night. Kash and Storm get us going with the Cowboy taking him down by the arm. Off to Harris for a clothesline and bulldog for two but Dallas makes the save.

Back to Storm who gets caught in a hot shot, allowing for the tag off to the big man Dallas. We take a break and come back with Storm superkicking Kash down, only to have Dallas make the save at two. Kash goes to the corner and climbs onto Kash’s shoulders but misses the moonsault, allowing for the hot tag off to Harris. A cross body and clothesline get two each on Dallas as everything breaks down. Dallas loads up Storm in a reverse Razor’s Edge before flipping him down onto his back for a frog splash from Kid but Harris spears Kash down. Dallas kicks Harris in the face but Storm rolls him up for the pin and the titles.

Rating: C+. Basic tag formula here with a title change to give the show some historical significance. AMW continues to be the best team ever in TNA as they have that chemistry that you only see in great teams. Kash and Dallas were just placeholder champions until AMW stopped their singles stuff over the last month or so.

Here’s the first highlight reel moment for TNA as AMW main events the second three hour show at Turning Point 2004.

America’s Most Wanted vs. Triple X

This is one of the things that TNA did that was indeed different: sometimes something other than the heavyweight title feud ended the show, which is definitely a good idea here. The six man was just ok but this was a great match. This is in a cage remember. AMW brings in handcuffs. That‘s a signature thing for them and they‘ll come into play later so remember that.

They have to tag here but I‘ll give that ten minutes tops. Daniels and Storm start us off. Is there a significance to the tape that Daniels puts on his left shoulder that I‘ve never gotten? I‘ve always wondered that. Off to Daniels who kicks Storm in the back to take control. It breaks down quickly and AMW double teams Daniels. Off to Harris as Daniels is already busted open.

Skipper (XXX is Daniels/Elix Skipper if you weren‘t sure on that one) gets his team the advantage and gives it back over to Daniels. He‘s GUSHING already. Harris takes Skipper down and it‘s back to Storm. Powerslam puts Daniels down. They load up the Death Sentence on Skipper but Daniels makes the save. Skipper pulls a towel back and handcuffs Harris to the post. West: “Oh what a dirty trick!” Yes, handcuffing your mortal enemy to a cage and making him defenseless is the same sort of thing you would hear on The Brady Bunch Don. Well called.

XXX double teams Storm and Daniels taunts Harris with the key. They drive the key into the head of Storm and hit a double team powerbomb/elbow combination for two. We get some heel miscommunication and Storm spears Daniels. There‘s the key and Harris in free. That‘s a nice twist on the hot tag because it‘s basically the same thing. Harris cleans house and Storm is back up too.

I think everyone but Harris is bleeding. Triple X gets rammed into the cage multiple times but Skipper grabs a belly to belly to Harris. A suplex/cross body combo gets two. Hart Attack gets two on Skipper. Daniels hits a quick Downward Spiral to Storm and Harris goes into the steel. Harris is busted too. Death Sentence (AMW‘s finisher) gets two on Harris who kicks out.

Skipper goes to the top of the cage (I don‘t think you can win by escape) to Harris POWERBOMBS HIM OFF THE CAGE for two. FOR TWO. Angel‘s Wings gets two for Daniels. Daniels goes up but Harris follows him. Now it‘s time for the highlight reel moment to end all highlight reel moments in TNA. Skipper is sitting on another corner than Harris and TIGHTROPE WALKS THE EDGE OF THE CAGE AND HURRICANRANAS HARRIS TO THE MAT!!! WOW!

Daniels IMMEDIATELY drops an elbow off the top of the cage BUT IT GETS TWO. Daniels goes back up as we watch replays for a four man Tower of Doom. Daniels overrotates and lands on his face. Harris powerbombed Skipper who electric chaired Storm who suplexed Daniels. Everyone is pretty much dead but Skipper and Harris counter each others‘ finishers. Everyone knocks everyone else down and Harris handcuffs Daniels to the cage in a nice play off what happened to him earlier. Last Call to Skipper and AMW pins him with XXX‘s PowerPlex to split up XXX.

Rating: A+. What else did you expect me to give this? This match holds up incredibly well with the few moments from the cage walk to the Tower of Doom being as breathtaking as you‘ll ever see. Absolutely awesome match and if you‘re a fan of bloodbath cage matches that leave your jaw hanging open, find this right now because it‘s excellent.

The team would start having some issues leading into Slammiversary 2005.

America’s Most Wanted vs. 3 Live Kru

It’s Konnan/BG here. Konnan and Harris get things going and Storm misses a potential tag. Konnan speeds things up and hits the rolling clothesline. For some reason he takes his shoe off and throws it at Harris. Weird guy man. Storm gets in a kick and that allows Harris to tag him in legally. AMW takes over on Konnan with Harris hitting a top rope double ax for two. Storm comes in but jumps into a boot followed by a facejam. Tag to BG and things speed up a bit.

Superkick puts the Dogg down but the cover is delayed meaning it’s only good for two. AMW double teams again but they’re still not clicking that well for the most part. It’s Harris in there at the moment and a jumping clothesline puts BG down. Off to Storm again and the reverse tornado DDT gets two. Back to Harris who jumps into a punch and here are the punches from James. AMW gets rammed together but it only gets two on Harris. Here’s the Outlaw to fight with Konnan while a Hart Attack pins James.

Rating: D+. This was more about an angle than a match. Actually it was more about two angles than a single match. Not bad or anything but a lot of this stuff feels like it belongs on a TV show rather than on a thirty dollar PPV. The fans wanted the Outlaws back together again but it would be a few months before that happened.

Here they are at Bound For Glory against a team they couldn’t figure out (except for when AMW beat them for the titles like two weeks before this): the Naturals.

Tag Team Titles; Naturals vs. AMW

The Naturals are Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas and the champs have Gail Kim in their corner. It’s a big brawl to start with the Naturals in full control on the floor. Things settle down with Stevens vs. Storm in the ring but the Naturals double team him into a running powerbomb against the barricade. Harris gets double teamed in the ring as Storm stumbles up the ramp.

The Naturals go after him to keep up the beating and both champs are sent into the barricade. Douglas chokes Harris with tape until Gail Kim offers a distraction, allowing Harris to send him into the metal tress. Andy is busted open and AMW goes after the cut as we get down to a regular tag match. Eye of the Storm gets two on Andy but he’s able to get over to the corner for the hot tag.

Stevens cleans house and Storm hits Harris by mistake. Storm misses a pair of superkicks and gets nailed by Stevens for two. Gail throws in some powder but Stevens knocks it into Harris’ face, causing him to hit the Cataonic on James. The Naturals hit AMW’s Death Sentence for two on Harris. They load up the Natural Disaster (elevated Stunner) but Gail comes in to break it up. Douglas goes after her but Harris gets up and handcuffs him to the barricade. More distractions let Storm bust a beer bottle over Stevens’ head, setting up the Death Sentence to retain the titles.

Rating: B. This was a really solid brawl with the Naturals getting as close as they could to winning the titles. AMW had only won the belts back a few days before this so they weren’t about to drop them this fast. They’re the best team TNA ever had and there’s no reason to have them lose this fast. It also helps that they so rarely beat the Naturals, who were billed as the team AMW couldn’t figure out for awhile.

Time for a new big opponent. From Turning Point 2006.

LAX vs. American’s Most Wanted

LAX has the tag titles but this is FOR HONOR. You win by hanging your country’s flag, even though both teams come in with the other’s flag. But EVEN THAT is overly complicated because the flags are already hanging in the corners. I think you have to steal the others’ flag and replace the one in your corner with that one. Brawl to start but Gail Kim, AMW’s chick, hits a GREAT moonsault to the floor to take out LAX. Storm goes for the American flag, which I guess is how you win.

James gets put in the Tree of Woe but Homicide can’t drive a chair into his face. Harris won’t free him though as he needs to dive on Hernandez. Yeah apparently you have to steal your own flag (as in the one that represents your country, not the own flag you brought with you, so it’s your flag but not YOUR flag) and put it in the corner that’s designated yours’. There’s a ladder involved for some reason, despite the fact that you could stand on the top rope and get the flag.

LAX is dominating as Homicide hits Three Amigos for a big reaction. Gail offers a distraction and Harris superplexes Homicide down. Hernandez pulls down the Mexican flag and now we’re told that you have to hang the flag above the ring like it’s in a ladder match. Could this be any more overly complicated? Well yeah actually it could but it’s pretty annoying. Gringo Killa is loaded up but Gail comes in and ranas Homicide. You know the good guys are pretty big cheaters in this match.

Now Gail, the Canadian-Korean, takes the American Flag but gets stopped by the Cuban most famous for his success in America as a Mexican import. Now Petey freaking Williams, who is in the middle of this somehow, comes in to try a Destroyer on Konnan but Hernandez makes the save. SuperMex dives onto Storm but mostly misses. Harris and Homicide go up and start to hang the flag but Storm comes up with a beer bottle. He breaks it over the head of Homicide but the glass gets in Homicide’s eyes, allowing Hernandez to come in and hang the flag to win.

Rating: D+. The match was ok, but SWEET GOODNESS did they overly complicate things here. There were three run-ins and they didn’t bother to explain what in the world Petey had to do with this. This match was just ok but the overbooking really hurt things. If they’re this short on time, why in the world are they leaving these matches at like ten minutes?

AMW had to fight off the most successful tag team ever at Final Resolution 2006.

Tag Titles: America’s Most Wanted vs. Team 3D

We get big match intros and we’re ready to go. D-Von and Storm get things going in what would be a very different match today. Storm takes him down to the mat with a headlock but gets hiptossed and dropkicked down. Harris jumps D-Von from behind and the champs take over. Scratch that as D-Von hits a double clothesline to take over again. Off to Ray as things speed up. One thing you can never say about Ray is that he’s dull. The guy knows how to keep people fired up.

Harris clotheslines Ray down for two and it’s a standoff. They go to the corner and Ray fires off his chops. The middle rope backsplash misses (duh) and it’s back to Storm. Ray is like screw that and cleans house before bringing D-Von back in. A spinebuster gets two on Storm, and What’s Up Cowboy? The Dudleys go for a table because disqualifications mean jack in this company, but AMW dropkicks it into their faces.

Harris takes D-Von down with some tape to the throat and it’s off to Storm for a chinlock. Back to Harris but he gets sent into the post shoulder first. Hot tag brings in Ray and house is cleaned. Side slam gets two on Harris and heel miscommunication lets Ray hit a DDT for two on Wildcat. Everything breaks down and AMW hits a modified Hart Attack for two o Ray. They loads up the Death Sentence but D-Von makes the save.

Ray returns the favor by breaking up a superplex and the Doomsday Device gets two as well. Harris makes the save and gets two on Ray off a big boot. Storm grabs a chair but accidentally clocks Harris into the reverse 3D for two. Bubba shoves Storm off the top through a table and a rollup gets a VERY close two on Harris. Gail hands (not slips, hands while in the ring) Harris powder but Ray knocks it into the referee’s eyes. 3D gets the pin and the titles, but remember that the referee is blind.

Rating: B. This was getting good at the end, but that powder looks like Instant Dusty to me. TNA did a good job at pushing its tag teams at this point and making them seem to be like something that actually mattered. This was a good example of that as the fans were wanting to see the title change here, and that’s what they got.

Oh of course it isn’t, as the Canadians come in, beat up the Dudleys and put Harris on top of Ray as the referee gets his vision back, calling the win for AMW. I’m sure ALL FOUR CANADIANS DESTROYING THE DUDLEYS didn’t shake the ring or anything at all either right? Dusty Finish as you likely saw coming.

Time for another dream match at Sacrifice 2006.

Tag Titles: America’s Most Wanted vs. Christopher Daniels/AJ Styles

Styles and Daniels jump the champions to start and Daniels/Harris go to the floor so AJ can hit the dropdown dropkick on the Cowboy. Daniels comes in and we’re ready to go. He takes Storm down and cranks on the arm but it’s off to Harris who runs Daniels over. The challengers double team Storm and Harris’ full nelson slam is countered into a bridging Indian Deathlock with a chinlock but the Cowboy makes the save.

Styles comes in legally now and the challengers tag in and out quickly to work on the arm. AMW finally starts cheating and get Daniels into the corner to take over. The champs cheat like true heel champions would do with choking and face pulling before Harris hooks a chinlock. A back elbow gets two on the Fallen Angel. Daniels counters an Irish whip to send Storm’s shoulder into the post and it’s hot tag to AJ.

AJ speeds things way up with his headscissors but Storm makes the save. Daniels gets tagged back in for some reason and we get a Tower of Doom with Daniels on top. Oh scratch that as he shoves the Tower down and hits a top rope cross body for two on Harris. I wish AMW would have their names on their trunks because when their backs are to the camera it’s very hard to tell them apart.

Daniels throws Harris into the crowd and AJ dives from the top rope over the barrier and onto Harris. The match kind of breaks down a bit and everyone is on the floor. A fan has a box of cereal for some reason. Back in and Daniels breaks up the Death Sentence before putting Harris into a fireman’s carry. AJ hits the Pele before the DVD hits to kill Harris dead. BME misses but the Last Call does as well. Harris hits his spear to take Daniels down for two.

It’s Storm vs. Daniels legally now but Daniels hits a double clothesline to bring in Styles. AJ goes up high with a double clothesline of his own but he charges into a boot from Storm. AJ loads up a superplex but Harris makes the save, resulting in a Doomsday Device into a reverse tornado DDT by Storm for two. That looked awesome.

Daniels comes back in for the save and the challengers hit a BME/Frog Splash combo for two on Storm. Styles tries the Clash but the Cowboy escapes with a low blow and the superkick for two. Angel’s Wings hits Storm for two as Harris makes the save. This is getting awesome. Daniels, Harris and the referee get knocked to the floor and something falls from the rafters into the ring. It’s a nightstick and Gail Kim is seen in the rafters. AJ hits the Clash on Storm but Harris blasts him in the back of the head with the nightstick for the pin to retain.

Rating: B+. This was getting awesome at the end but we had to have Gail Kim interfere to end the thing. This would set up another match at Slammiversary which wasn’t as good but it gave us the title change which we needed. Still though, this was the old school idea of putting four guys out there and giving them fifteen minutes to have a great match. As usual, it worked.

Rematch from Slammiversary 2006.

Tag Titles: Christopher Daniels/AJ Styles vs. America’s Most Wanted

AMW has the titles of course. Gail is looking great in all white tonight. Storm hides something behind the steps before the match starts. Styles and Storm start us off, which is a potential PPV main event today. Storm takes him down with a shoulder block so Styles starts jumping around to take over. There’s the dropdown dropkick and Storm is in trouble. The challengers start tagging in and out quickly as they work over Storm’s arm.

It’s off to Harris vs. Daniels for a battle of arm control. Daniels gets him down and steps on the head of Harris just to be evil, although in a friendly way of course. Storm comes in and we get some homosexually suggestive positions as a result. AMW gets sent to the floor and Styles hits a huge flip dive over the top to take them both down. Daniels brings Storm back in for a slingshot elbow drop for a delayed two.

Back to Styles and the perfect double teaming begins. Styles slides through Harris’ legs to ram his face into the apron. Styles goes back in to face the legal Storm but everything breaks down on the floor. Gail gets involved out there and AMW takes over again. AJ tries to use the barricade as a launch pad but Storm takes the legs out and sends AJ’s chest into the steel.

Back in and it’s Storm vs. Styles before a quick tag brings Harris back in. With Harris doing nothing he brings Storm back in for some kicks to the head for two. Back to the Wildcat who chokes away. I’m starting to get why Storm was the successful one after the team broke up. AJ gets spun around and almost makes a tag out of it, only to get caught in a spinning mat slam by Storm.

Styles counters the reverse tornado DDT and hits the Pele to put both guys down. There’s the double tag and Daniels speeds things up. The slingshot moonsault gets two on Harris as Storm messes up his save. A Blue Thunder Bomb puts Harris down but Gail makes the save. Sirelda, a Chyna wannabe, makes her debut and lays out Gail.

Back to the match, AMW tries a double team move off the top but AJ makes the save, allowing Daniels to hook a victory roll for two. Storm throws in a chair for Harris to blast Daniels to two. Hot tag brings in AJ with the springboard forearm followed by a pumphandle gutbuster. Spinal Tap misses and Harris blasts AJ in the face with the brass knuckles.

Daniels makes the save and AJ hits a slingshot splash for two. Back to Daniels but Angel’s Wings is broken up. The Last Call is blocked by a low blow and Angel’s Wings hits the second time but Harris elbows the referee. Storm brings in the beer bottle but it hits Harris in the head. A frog splash from AJ followed by the BME gives the Dream Team the titles.

Rating: B-. Another good match here and it would start a pretty solid reign for the new champions. AMW would slowly slip into a funk and be broken up by the end of the year. AJ and Daniels were a solid team though and they had some awesome matches against LAX, which was the whole idea of putting them together in the first place.

We’ll wrap it up right before the team split. From Bound For Glory 2006.

America’s Most Wanted vs. Team 3D vs. Naturals vs. James Gang

So that video pretty much meant nothing didn’t it? This is one fall to a finish. The Naturals’ manager Shane Douglas does their intro and then leaves as was his custom at this point. The James Gang is the New Age Outlaws. Storm runs over Stevens to start and dropkicks him into the corner for the tag off to Ray. James gets planted with a Rock Bottom and Harris gets clotheslined for trying to make a save.

BG tags himself in and we get a double Flip Flop and Fly from he and Ray on AMW. Kip and D-Von come in and jump both guys but get clotheslined out to the floor. Storm comes back in with an enziguri to Ray before going after the Naturals, only for both teams to get caught in a Tower of Doom with Douglas taking the worst of it. BG escapes the Catatonic and hits the pumphandle slam on Harris but gets clotheslined down by Stevens.

Storm pops up with the Eye of the Storm to Chase, only to get caught in D-Von’s reverse inverted DDT. A Bubba Bomb drops Douglas but Kip hits Ray with a Fameasser. Stevens decks Kip for two on Ray as BG and I think Harris fight up the ramp. Team 3D hits a Doomsday Device on Stevens and there’s a What’s Up for Douglas. It’s table time but Stevens dropkicks Team 3D down. The Natural Disaster plants D-Von for two before he pops up for 3D on Douglas for the pin.

Rating: C-. This was kind of mess without enough time to mean anything and no flow to the match. It was a tag team version of the cruiserweight mess which was only there for high spots. It doesn’t help with the James Gang was there for nostalgia and the Naturals just weren’t that interesting. The match wasn’t bad but it didn’t do anything for me.

America’s Most Wanted is as good of a tag team has ever had and no one comes close to their records. They have the most reigns and BY FAR the most combined days with the belts. The team became main event guys in the company and had one heck of a blow off match at Sacrifice 2007. They were the first big team, no one has ever been bigger, and I can’t imagine anyone doing it in the future.

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Knock knock. Today is Chris Harris.

Harris got started in 1994 and we’ll pick things up on Superstars on August 24, 1996.

Faarooq vs. Chris Harris

Faarooq is still the gladiator here and has Sunny with him. Harris scores with an early dropkick but a second attempt is slapped away. Faarooq just hammers him down and nails a powerslam before the Dominator gets the pin.

Harris would get signed to WCW in the dying days. Here he is on Worldwide, September 2, 2000.

Cruiserweight Title: Chris Harris vs. Elix Skipper

Elix is defending of course and jumps Harris to start. Chris tries a headlock but gets forearmed in the face. A big shoulder drops the champion and a clothesline puts him down on the floor. Harris follows him out with a plancha and is in full control so far. Back in and Elix slingshots into a headscissors, followed by a belly to belly suplex for two. A missile dropkick (with Elix landing on his feet) gets two on Harris and we hit the chinlock. Chris fights back with a swinging neckbreaker and a suplex before going up top for a high cross body. Elix pops up at two and grabs the Play of the Day for the pin to retain.

Rating: C. This wasn’t bad with Harris getting to show off instead of just getting squashed. He had a great look and could fly well enough here but it’s not like it really mattered in late 2000 WCW. They wanted to make him a country singer which would have gone as well as you would expect it to, so maybe it was lucky for him that they went under when they did.

Another Worldwide match on February 10, 2001.

Shannon Moore vs. Chris Harris

Shannon flips over him to start and nails Harris with a shoulder block. A rollup gets two for Moore but Harris hammers away in the corner and throws Shannon over the corner and out to the floor. Chris planchas out to the floor and takes Shannon down. Back in and a monkey flip and hard clothesline are good for two on Moore. Shannon comes back by slamming Harris head first onto the mat and stomps away. Something resembling a Whisper in the Wind gets two for Shannon. A Fameasser gets the same but Harris comes back with a swinging neckbreaker. Moore shrugs it off and hits a sleeper drop for the pin.

Rating: C-. Harris had potential but he needed some better surroundings. The important thing here though is he’s getting ring time and can say he was on TV in one of the major promotions in the country. Moore’s in ring work is underrated but he never really went all that far.

Harris would head to TNA for his most successful run. We’ll start on Weekly PPV #2.

NWA World Tag Team Title Tournament First Round: James Storm/Chris Harris vs. The Johnsons

Oh geez it’s the Johnsons. They’re named Dick and Rod and we’ll say Rod starts with Harris. Harris speeds things up and hits some armdrags followed by a Thesz Press to take over. Off to Storm who hits a headscissors to put Rod down. The Johnsons start cheating and hit a double powerbomb on Storm to take over.

A suplex puts Storm down and a double shoulder block gets two. We’ll say Dick jumps into a boot and Storm superkicks him down. There’s the hot tag to Harris who cleans house. He spears Rod down but his cross body gets caught. Storm dropkicks Harris’ back so that he falls on Rod for the pin to advance.

Rating: D+. Nothing special here but you could see the talent in the team that would become known as AMW. At the end of the day here though, they were a joke written by someone with the mind of a five year old. There’s only so much credibility you can give to a match like this one. The ending was good though and that dropkick was pretty awesome looking.

Harris and Storm would become known as America’s Most Wanted and here’s their first title win at Weekly PPV #12.

Gauntlet for the Gold

There are twenty people (ten teams) in this with two individuals starting. It’s a Royal Rumble style match and when there are two people left, the partners return for a tag match for the vacant titles, which were vacated when AJ/Lynn had a double pin against Jarrett/Killings. Brian Lawler is #1 and James Storm is #2. Lawler crotches him on the ropes before the bell but Storm fires off right hands. Apparently Chris Harris is going to be #20.

Storm pounds away to start and a missile dropkick puts Brian down. With nothing else happening, here’s Jose Maximo at #3. Lawler gets double teamed in the corner for a bit before fighting both guys off. Derek Wyles is #4 but after some headscissors, Lawler throws him out. Joel is dumped too and we’re back to Storm vs. Lawler. Actually scratch that as Lawler eliminates his third guy in a row by sending Storm out. You know, because Brian Lawler is AWESOME.

Buff Bagwell is #5 and he comes in with middle fingers blazing. Oh wait he’s Marcus Bagwell here, despite looking and wrestling like he has for years. Bagwell hits a neckbreaker and pounds away in the corner until Kobain is #6. Lawler again gets to dominate some more talented people until Ace Steele is #7. There’s nothing of note to talk about here as it’s just standing around and slowly beating on each other in the corner with Lawler biting Bagwell’s head.

Jorge Estrada is #8 and gets chopped by Steele. The ring is getting too full now. Lawler hits Bagwell low in the corner and Brian Lee is #9. Hopefully he can throw some of these little men out. We don’t get that of course since that would help the match, so here’s Syxx-Pac at #10. Syxx cleans house and dumps Jose off a chop (yes a chop) before hitting the Bronco Buster on Marcus.

CM Punk (Steele’s partner) is #11 but Steele is thrown out before Punk makes it to the ring. We hear about how impressive it is that Lawler has lasted ELEVEN minutes as Jimmy Rave (Derrick Wylde) is #12. Punk hits a Rey Mysterio sitout bulldog on Rave as there are too many people out there. Ron Harris (Brian Lee) is #13 to give us our first full team. Their dominance is shown as they send Jorge to the apron, but the Karate Elvis (again, seriously) sunset flips Lee down to survive. The second attempt works though and Estrada is gone.

Punk and Rave are tossed by the big guys as well, meaning two full teams are eliminated. Syxx sends out Bagwell and Lawler (no fanfare, which is odd as the announcers have spent ten minutes worshipping the guy) as BG James (Marcus Bagwell) is #14. We get heel miscommunication between Lee and Harris but Road Dogg (blonde here for some reason) gets stomped down I the corner. Joel Maximo (Jose Maximo) is #15 and is out about two seconds later.

Syxx gets hit with a big double spinebuster but since Waltman is a GIANT KILLER he clotheslines both of them down at once. Since we haven’t seen enough of him tonight, here’s Brian Lawler AGAIN to throw out Syxx. Slash (Kobain) is #16 and BG James is triple teamed. Sonni Siaki (Jorge Estrada) is #17 and he goes after Slash to give James a breather.

Disco Inferno (Brian Lawler) is #18 as the match continues to drag. Scott Hall (Syxx Pac) is #19 and he pounds away on Lee. Ron Harris is dumped out and Chris Harris (James Storm) is #20, giving us a final grouping of Hall, Chris Harris, Siaki, Disco, James and Lee. The announcers aren’t sure if Slash was eliminated despite seeing him go over the top. Siaki is dumped and Disco gets caught between Hall and BG until Hall finally knocks him out. Hall and James square off but Lee jumps both guys for stereo eliminations, getting us down to Harris vs. Lee, meaning the battle royal is over.

Rating: D. This was long and dull with the partner thing going almost nowhere. Between that and the worship of Brian Lawler, this never went anywhere. The fast intervals helped, but so many of these people are unknown for the most part, which makes it hard to care about any of them. Also the two giants looked pitiful out there for the most part which didn’t do them any favors.

Tag Titles: James Storm/Chris Harris vs. Brian Lee/Ron Haris

Ron chokeslams James on the stage to start things off as a handicap match. Also here’s Jeff Jarrett to beat up BG James and take the focus off the title match. Lee kicks Chris in the face as AMW (are they even called that yet?) is in big trouble. Chris comes back for a bit but gets clotheslined down for two. West points out the problem here: too many people named James and Harris.

Storm finally gets back in and cleans house, only to get caught in a chokeslam/belly to back suplex combo for no cover. Ron pulls out a table for no apparent reason and lays Storm out on top of it. Lee loads up Chris in a chokeslam but gets rolled up (and into the ropes) to give AMW the pin and the titles.

Rating: D. This was barely even a match with Chris getting beaten down for a few minutes and Storm being on the floor most of the time. The table thing was stupid and the ending was even worse as both guys were in the ropes for the fall and the referee counted it anyway. Nothing to see here, but at least the right team won.

One of AMW’s major feuds was with XXX, including this match at Weekly PPV #50.

Tag Titles: Triple X vs. America’s Most Wanted

From June 25, 2003 and inside a cage. This isn’t the famous cage match these teams had but I’ve seen this one before and it’s awesome as well. The champions XXX are comprised of Elix Skipper and Christopher Daniels while the challengers are James Storm/Chris Harris. This is the fifth match but XXX has won via outside interference every single time. This is also TNA’s first ever cage match.

It’s a brawl to start but the referee makes them tag to get on my nerves. Harris bulldogs Daniels down before AMW picks up Skipper and launches him into Daniels. This is pin or submission only, meaning escape doesn’t count. Daniels and Harris are the official starters and the fans chant for the Fallen Angel. Skipper gets in a cheap shot from the apron before throwing him face first into the cage for two. Harris is already busted open.

The champions take turns stomping on Harris’ forehead until Daniels gets two off a springboard moonsault press by Skipper. Harris gets a lucky shot off a running clothesline but Daniels kicks his head off for two. Back to Skipper who sends Harris into the cage again but Harris comes off the ropes with another clothesline. There’s the hot tag to Storm who cleans house, sending Skipper chest first into the cage with a reverse suplex. A powerslam gets two on Daniels but he kicks Storm’s knee out to slow him down.

We get a Kill the Cowboy chant, which is hopefully a remnant from the early days of the company rather than the fans not liking Storm’s current work. The champions hit a suplex/cross body combo on the bloody Storm but Skipper’s ribs are injured from being sent into the cage. Back up and the two of them rams heads, setting up a double tag to Harris and Daniels. Harris takes over with the raw power by ramming Daniels head first into the cage over and over. Skipper’s ribs get reacquainted with the steel as well as Daniels is busted open too.

Harris loads up the Catatonic (spinning Rock Bottom) but Daniels counters into the Angel’s Wings (lifting sitout Pedigree) for a very close two. Everything breaks down and Daniels blocks a reverse tornado DDT by taking Storm onto the top rope for an STO to the mat. Skipper belly to bellys Harris down before sending him into the cage again. Elix goes up top for no apparent reason but gets powerbombed down in a HUGE crash to give Harris a near fall.

Daniels hits Last Rites (Cross Rhodes) on Storm for an even closer two as Harris makes yet another save. Harris and Daniels go up top but Daniels backs away across the rope, allowing Harris to hit a diving spear for an even closer near fall. Skipper takes Harris down with the Play of the Day before going for a very big climb. Elix dives off the top with a high cross body but reinjures his ribs in the process. STORYTELLING BABY!

A delayed cover gets two so Skipper goes up again, only to be knocked down a bit and then out to the floor. Storm superkicks Daniels down and the Death Sentence (spinebuster/legdrop) mostly misses Daniels for two. Skipper tries to climb back in but gets knocked back to the floor. Harris goes up to the very top of the cage for a HUGE Death Sentence to crush Daniels for the pin and the titles.

Rating: A. There’s your price of admission right there. This was all about taking two teams and having them beat the tar out of each other for twenty minutes. On top of that we have the story of Skipper’s ribs in a good piece of psychology, a rarity in matches like these. The amazing thing is these four would top this effort in another cage match at Turning Point the following year. Great match.

AMW would get the chance to get the titles back on Impact, June 4, 2004.

Tag Titles: America’s Most Wanted vs. Kid Kash/Dallas

AMW is challenging. The idea is Kash and Dallas have been ducking the only team they know can take the titles but tonight they’re out of places to run. The winners here have to defend against the winners of a fan poll next Wednesday night. Kash and Storm get us going with the Cowboy taking him down by the arm. Off to Harris for a clothesline and bulldog for two but Dallas makes the save.

Back to Storm who gets caught in a hot shot, allowing for the tag off to the big man Dallas. We take a break and come back with Storm superkicking Kash down, only to have Dallas make the save at two. Kash goes to the corner and climbs onto Kash’s shoulders but misses the moonsault, allowing for the hot tag off to Harris. A cross body and clothesline get two each on Dallas as everything breaks down. Dallas loads up Storm in a reverse Razor’s Edge before flipping him down onto his back for a frog splash from Kid but Harris spears Kash down. Dallas kicks Harris in the face but Storm rolls him up for the pin and the titles.

Rating: C+. Basic tag formula here with a title change to give the show some historical significance. AMW continues to be the best team ever in TNA as they have that chemistry that you only see in great teams. Kash and Dallas were just placeholder champions until AMW stopped their singles stuff over the last month or so.

Here’s the famous match with AMW vs. XXX from Turning Point 2004.

America’s Most Wanted vs. Triple X

This is one of the things that TNA did that was indeed different: sometimes something other than the heavyweight title feud ended the show, which is definitely a good idea here. The six man was just ok but this was a great match. This is in a cage remember. AMW brings in handcuffs. That‘s a signature thing for them and they‘ll come into play later so remember that.

They have to tag here but I‘ll give that ten minutes tops. Daniels and Storm start us off. Is there a significance to the tape that Daniels puts on his left shoulder that I‘ve never gotten? I‘ve always wondered that. Off to Daniels who kicks Storm in the back to take control. It breaks down quickly and AMW double teams Daniels. Off to Harris as Daniels is already busted open.

Skipper (XXX is Daniels/Elix Skipper if you weren‘t sure on that one) gets his team the advantage and gives it back over to Daniels. He‘s GUSHING already. Harris takes Skipper down and it‘s back to Storm. Powerslam puts Daniels down. They load up the Death Sentence on Skipper but Daniels makes the save. Skipper pulls a towel back and handcuffs Harris to the post. West: “Oh what a dirty trick!” Yes, handcuffing your mortal enemy to a cage and making him defenseless is the same sort of thing you would hear on The Brady Bunch Don. Well called.

XXX double teams Storm and Daniels taunts Harris with the key. They drive the key into the head of Storm and hit a double team powerbomb/elbow combination for two. We get some heel miscommunication and Storm spears Daniels. There‘s the key and Harris in free. That‘s a nice twist on the hot tag because it‘s basically the same thing. Harris cleans house and Storm is back up too.

I think everyone but Harris is bleeding. Triple X gets rammed into the cage multiple times but Skipper grabs a belly to belly to Harris. A suplex/cross body combo gets two. Hart Attack gets two on Skipper. Daniels hits a quick Downward Spiral to Storm and Harris goes into the steel. Harris is busted too. Death Sentence (AMW‘s finisher) gets two on Harris who kicks out.

Skipper goes to the top of the cage (I don‘t think you can win by escape) to Harris POWERBOMBS HIM OFF THE CAGE for two. FOR TWO. Angel‘s Wings gets two for Daniels. Daniels goes up but Harris follows him. Now it‘s time for the highlight reel moment to end all highlight reel moments in TNA. Skipper is sitting on another corner than Harris and TIGHTROPE WALKS THE EDGE OF THE CAGE AND HURRICANRANAS HARRIS TO THE MAT!!! WOW!

Daniels IMMEDIATELY drops an elbow off the top of the cage BUT IT GETS TWO. Daniels goes back up as we watch replays for a four man Tower of Doom. Daniels overrotates and lands on his face. Harris powerbombed Skipper who electric chaired Storm who suplexed Daniels. Everyone is pretty much dead but Skipper and Harris counter each others‘ finishers. Everyone knocks everyone else down and Harris handcuffs Daniels to the cage in a nice play off what happened to him earlier. Last Call to Skipper and AMW pins him with XXX‘s PowerPlex to split up XXX.

Rating: A+. What else did you expect me to give this? This match holds up incredibly well with the few moments from the cage walk to the Tower of Doom being as breathtaking as you‘ll ever see. Absolutely awesome match and if you‘re a fan of bloodbath cage matches that leave your jaw hanging open, find this right now because it‘s excellent.

AMW would turn heel in late 2005 and defend the titles at Bound For Glory 2005.

Tag Team Titles; Naturals vs. AMW

The Naturals are Chase Stevens and Andy Douglas and the champs have Gail Kim in their corner. It’s a big brawl to start with the Naturals in full control on the floor. Things settle down with Stevens vs. Storm in the ring but the Naturals double team him into a running powerbomb against the barricade. Harris gets double teamed in the ring as Storm stumbles up the ramp.

The Naturals go after him to keep up the beating and both champs are sent into the barricade. Douglas chokes Harris with tape until Gail Kim offers a distraction, allowing Harris to send him into the metal tress. Andy is busted open and AMW goes after the cut as we get down to a regular tag match. Eye of the Storm gets two on Andy but he’s able to get over to the corner for the hot tag.

Stevens cleans house and Storm hits Harris by mistake. Storm misses a pair of superkicks and gets nailed by Stevens for two. Gail throws in some powder but Stevens knocks it into Harris’ face, causing him to hit the Cataonic on James. The Naturals hit AMW’s Death Sentence for two on Harris. They load up the Natural Disaster (elevated Stunner) but Gail comes in to break it up. Douglas goes after her but Harris gets up and handcuffs him to the barricade. More distractions let Storm bust a beer bottle over Stevens’ head, setting up the Death Sentence to retain the titles.

Rating: B. This was a really solid brawl with the Naturals getting as close as they could to winning the titles. AMW had only won the belts back a few days before this so they weren’t about to drop them this fast. They’re the best team TNA ever had and there’s no reason to have them lose this fast. It also helps that they so rarely beat the Naturals, who were billed as the team AMW couldn’t figure out for awhile.

Here’s a dream match from Final Resolution 2006.

Tag Titles: America’s Most Wanted vs. Team 3D

We get big match intros and we’re ready to go. D-Von and Storm get things going in what would be a very different match today. Storm takes him down to the mat with a headlock but gets hiptossed and dropkicked down. Harris jumps D-Von from behind and the champs take over. Scratch that as D-Von hits a double clothesline to take over again. Off to Ray as things speed up. One thing you can never say about Ray is that he’s dull. The guy knows how to keep people fired up.

Harris clotheslines Ray down for two and it’s a standoff. They go to the corner and Ray fires off his chops. The middle rope backsplash misses (duh) and it’s back to Storm. Ray is like screw that and cleans house before bringing D-Von back in. A spinebuster gets two on Storm, and What’s Up Cowboy? The Dudleys go for a table because disqualifications mean jack in this company, but AMW dropkicks it into their faces.

Harris takes D-Von down with some tape to the throat and it’s off to Storm for a chinlock. Back to Harris but he gets sent into the post shoulder first. Hot tag brings in Ray and house is cleaned. Side slam gets two on Harris and heel miscommunication lets Ray hit a DDT for two on Wildcat. Everything breaks down and AMW hits a modified Hart Attack for two o Ray. They loads up the Death Sentence but D-Von makes the save.

Ray returns the favor by breaking up a superplex and the Doomsday Device gets two as well. Harris makes the save and gets two on Ray off a big boot. Storm grabs a chair but accidentally clocks Harris into the reverse 3D for two. Bubba shoves Storm off the top through a table and a rollup gets a VERY close two on Harris. Gail hands (not slips, hands while in the ring) Harris powder but Ray knocks it into the referee’s eyes. 3D gets the pin and the titles, but remember that the referee is blind.

Rating: B. This was getting good at the end, but that powder looks like Instant Dusty to me. TNA did a good job at pushing its tag teams at this point and making them seem to be like something that actually mattered. This was a good example of that as the fans were wanting to see the title change here, and that’s what they got.

Another dream match from Sacrifice 2006.

Tag Titles: America’s Most Wanted vs. Christopher Daniels/AJ Styles

Styles and Daniels jump the champions to start and Daniels/Harris go to the floor so AJ can hit the dropdown dropkick on the Cowboy. Daniels comes in and we’re ready to go. He takes Storm down and cranks on the arm but it’s off to Harris who runs Daniels over. The challengers double team Storm and Harris’ full nelson slam is countered into a bridging Indian Deathlock with a chinlock but the Cowboy makes the save.

Styles comes in legally now and the challengers tag in and out quickly to work on the arm. AMW finally starts cheating and get Daniels into the corner to take over. The champs cheat like true heel champions would do with choking and face pulling before Harris hooks a chinlock. A back elbow gets two on the Fallen Angel. Daniels counters an Irish whip to send Storm’s shoulder into the post and it’s hot tag to AJ.

AJ speeds things way up with his headscissors but Storm makes the save. Daniels gets tagged back in for some reason and we get a Tower of Doom with Daniels on top. Oh scratch that as he shoves the Tower down and hits a top rope cross body for two on Harris. I wish AMW would have their names on their trunks because when their backs are to the camera it’s very hard to tell them apart.

Daniels throws Harris into the crowd and AJ dives from the top rope over the barrier and onto Harris. The match kind of breaks down a bit and everyone is on the floor. A fan has a box of cereal for some reason. Back in and Daniels breaks up the Death Sentence before putting Harris into a fireman’s carry. AJ hits the Pele before the DVD hits to kill Harris dead. BME misses but the Last Call does as well. Harris hits his spear to take Daniels down for two.

It’s Storm vs. Daniels legally now but Daniels hits a double clothesline to bring in Styles. AJ goes up high with a double clothesline of his own but he charges into a boot from Storm. AJ loads up a superplex but Harris makes the save, resulting in a Doomsday Device into a reverse tornado DDT by Storm for two. That looked awesome.

Daniels comes back in for the save and the challengers hit a BME/Frog Splash combo for two on Storm. Styles tries the Clash but the Cowboy escapes with a low blow and the superkick for two. Angel’s Wings hits Storm for two as Harris makes the save. This is getting awesome. Daniels, Harris and the referee get knocked to the floor and something falls from the rafters into the ring. It’s a nightstick and Gail Kim is seen in the rafters. AJ hits the Clash on Storm but Harris blasts him in the back of the head with the nightstick for the pin to retain.

Rating: B+. This was getting awesome at the end but we had to have Gail Kim interfere to end the thing. This would set up another match at Slammiversary which wasn’t as good but it gave us the title change which we needed. Still though, this was the old school idea of putting four guys out there and giving them fifteen minutes to have a great match. As usual, it worked.

The team had to split eventually and have the required feud. They had a horrible match at Lockdown 2007 but we’ll look at the great match from Sacrifice 2007.

Chris Harris vs. James Storm

This is a Texas Death Match, which is last man standing but you have to get a pin or submission before the ten count begins. Both guys are in street clothes. In a cool visual, Harris rips up an AMW shirt on his way to the ring. This feels like it’s going to be awesome which is a very good sign. They slug it out in the aisle and Harris has the trademark handcuffs.

They go into the crowd almost immediately and Storm is running away. They’re in the back row of the arena and Storm is almost thrown over the wall in the back. I wonder what’s back there. Maybe it’s where they keep Shark Boy? All Harris so far as they head to the ring. Storm throws a drink in Harris’ face to shift momentum but Storm gets thrown into a wall to changes things right back again.

Harris is in the ring alone and has a beer and a chair. Storm is still over the railing so Harris hits a HUGE dive over the railing to kill Storm dead and gets a pin. Storm is up at 8 though. Harris goes up again but Storm knocks him off and gets his leg tied up in the ropes so that he’s in a Tree of Woe but hanging outside the ropes. Storm cracks him with a chair to the head and Harris is busted.

It’s Table Time as Harris is placed on the top rope. He avoids a hurricanrana and counters a sunset flip (???) into a Sharpshooter of all things. Well it takes out the legs so that makes sense. He can’t get it on so he kicks Storm in the balls. He catapults Storm face first into the bottom of the table, cutting him open on the metal part. FREAKING OW MAN!!! Harris can’t suplex him through the table so Storm kicks him low to balance things out.

Storm hits the Eye of the Storm to put Harris through the table. That looked awesome and it gets an academic pin but only gets nine. Here’s another table brought in by the Cowboy. He falls down trying to get it in though, probably due to blood loss. The table is on the outside but Storm can’t hit another Eye over the top. Harris goes to the apron and gets caught in an Elevated DDT for no cover.

Storm brings in various basic hardcore weapons but as he’s getting in himself, Harris spears him through the ropes to put him through the table. Not exactly Foley vs. Edge but not bad. Back in, Harris picks up a chair and Storm superkicks it into his face for two. Storm is STUNNED. You can’t see Storm’s face. It’s literally a crimson mask. They trade HARD trashcan lid shots and Harris hits the Catatonic (spinning Rock Bottom) onto a trashcan for two.

Now the match gets taken down a peg because Jackie Freaking Moore has to get involved. WHY DOES SHE ALWAYS HAVE A JOB??? She isn’t attractive, she’s nothing special in the ring, she’s always getting in the way, and NO ONE FREAKING CARES ABOUT HER. And if you say you do, you’re lying. Gail Kim comes out and cuffs her so she can drag her out of here. Both guys have beer bottles and Harris gets a shot to the head of Storm for the pin and the ten count. Perfect way to end it.

Rating: A. GREAT brawl and war here which is exactly what they needed to do. Tenay and West freak out and say how great it is and for once this year, they’re right. This was a blood war and Storm’s face is absolutely scary given how much blood there was on it. Great match and absolutely worth seeing based on the level of violence here.

Based off of that win, Harris would get a World Title shot at Slammiversary 2007.

TNA World Title: Kurt Angle vs. Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Christian Cage vs. Chris Harris

This is King of the Mountain and the title is vacant. Ok so King of the Mountain is TNA’s signature match, or at least it was before Hogan and Bischoff took over. There are five guys and there is a place to hang the belt above the ring. In essence, it’s a reverse ladder match because you have to hang the belt above the ring. Before you’re allowed to do that though, you have to qualify by pinning someone else. When someone is pinned that person has to go to the penalty box for two minutes. Got all that?

Joe goes right after Angle. Cornette is holding the belt. This is kind of a mess at first which makes it really hard to call. Cage and Styles beat up Harris and then Styles lays down for Cage. Angle makes the save but Joe wants to hurt him some more. Styles takes Harris down again and wants Christian to lay down. Christian says no so Styles rolls him up for two. The camera is all over the place, making it really hard to keep up with.

Joe and Christian are in the ring now and down goes the Canadian. Off to Harris but the Cataonic and Unprettier both miss. A full nelson slam puts Christian down but Styles breaks it up. He gets caught in the Catatonic for a fast pin by Harris, making him eligible. The clock for AJ is at 1:30 by the time he gets in the cage. Harris and Cage fight on the floor so Joe throws a ladder at them.

Back to Angle vs. Joe with the fat boy taking over. Angle grabs a boot though and here are the Rolling Germans. Christian comes in and is in an ankle lock/Koquina Clutch combo. Styles gets out just in time for the save. Cage puts a ladder between the ring and barricade like a bridge. Christian falls down onto it due to a right hand by Harris to crotch him. On top of that he’s stuck there.

In the ring, AJ hits the Pele and springboard forearm to put Joe outside. Styles Clash to Angle is countered into the ankle lock but AJ breaks it, sending Kurt to the floor. AJ gets launched onto Christian onto the ladder. Harris goes up another ladder but Angle Slams him off for a pin to become eligible. Joe THINKS and throws the ladder to the floor. He beats up everyone in sight, hitting a MuscleBuster on AJ for two.

We get a ref bump in a gimmick match. Angle gets put in the choke and he taps, but there’s no referee. Christian hits Joe with a ladder and steals the pin on Kurt. Man there are some smart people in this company. The referee can’t let Harris out even though his time is up. Oh there’s another referee so it doesn’t matter. Joe stops Christian from hanging the belt and hits a huge cutter off the ladder onto the belt.

Harris goes up with the belt and people start booing. A belt shot stops Joe and he hiptosses Christian off, but Styles hits a springboard dropkick to break it up. Angle is out of the box. AJ and Joe climb on top of the box for no apparent reason. AJ kicks Joe low but Joe launches AJ off the top and through the announce table. Harris knocks Joe off the top and Christian is tossed back into the ring after climbing up as well. Harris hits a huge clothesline to kill Angle.

Everyone is down so Harris goes Terry Funk and spins around with the ladder over his head. He goes up AGAIN but Christian knocks him over and into the buckle. Christian goes up but Kurt grabs the ankle lock while the Canadian is still up there. No tap though and they fight on the ladder. Harris spears Christian off and Angle hangs the belt to become champion. How bad is it that I don’t remember him pinning anyone? I had to go back and find where he pinned Harris.

Rating: B. Good match here as the King of the Mountain was its usual insane but fun self. This is TNA’s signature match and almost as usual it gets to be a fun match. Angle winning the title and becoming the first champion is probably the right move. They waited WAY too long on pulling the trigger on Joe, but that’s TNA for you. Good main event though.

Harris would be signed by WWE and be named Braden Walker in one of the dumbest names WWE ever came up with. He had two matches on ECW, starting on July 8, 2008.

Braden Walker vs. Armando Estrada

Braden throws him around to start but Armando hammers away in the corner. A big clothesline drops Walker and Armando puts on a reverse chinlock. Some right hands have Braden in trouble and he gets dropped with a suplex. Estrada misses a charge into the corner and a clothesline puts him down. Walker gets two off a full nelson slam and goes up top for a cross body. He mostly lands on Estrada’s shoulders and neck and gets the pin due to Estrada probably having a broken neck.

Rating: D. Oh yeah this was bad. To be fair Estrada isn’t the best opponent in the world but Walker was about as boring and bland as you could imagine someone being here. He had no charisma at this point and it really showed how he wasn’t ready for a spot this big. It didn’t help that he had clearly gained weight and wasn’t in the shape he was back in TNA.

One more Braden match on ECW, August 5, 2008.

Braden Walker vs. James Curtis

Walker cranks on a wristlock to start before hooking a delayed vertical suplex for two. Off to an armbar until Curtis nails him with a forearm to the face. A big clothesline drops James again and a fisherman’s suplex is good for the quick pin.

Harris would be brought back into TNA for a one off match at Sacrifice 2011.

Tag Titles: Beer Money vs. Matt Hardy/Chris Harris

The former partners start us off as Harris’ tights say America’s Most Wanted. The fans chant Braden Walker and it’s off to Matt before any contact. The champs take over on Matt as Walker is indeed bigger than he was the last time we saw him. Now it’s Harris in against Storm’s new “partner”. Off to Storm now and Harris runs off as Storm glares at him.

The challengers keep using AMW moves on Storm in an attempt at psychology but the gut of Harris keeps covering it up. Codebreaker out of nowhere puts Matt down but Storm needs a tag. Double tag to ZERO reaction and Roode plays face in peril again. Roode gets his back worked on via a middle rope elbow by Hardy and it’s off to a gutwrench.

Finally off to Storm who gets to beat on Harris. Skin the cat sets up an elevated DDT to Harris. Reverse tornado DDT gets two for Storm. He likes those DDTs I guess. Matt breaks up DWI but it’s a Backstabber for him. Catatonic doesn’t work and Roode hits a spinebuster to Harris. The Beer Money shout sets up a superkick to Harris but Storm doesn’t want to do DWI. Instead it’s the Death Sentence (Trash Compactor for you REALLY old school fans) and Harris is done. Matt apparently just walked off and left Harris somewhere near the end.

Rating: C-. Just a match here as Harris dragged this WAY down. He’s terribly out of shape and his selling and timing were way off. It seems like the Harris thing is probably going to lead to an AMW reunion because that’s the best way to use a guy like Storm right? Either way, weak match and not much to write home about at all.

Chris Harris is a guy that worked well in a tag team but never found his niche in a singles run. His stuff with AMW is still the best tag team run in TNA history and isn’t going to be topped anytime soon. The Braden Walker run just killed his credibility though and no one wanted to touch him after that. Harris had his time but it went away very quickly.

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Turning Point 2004
Date: December 5, 2004
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 700
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

This is the second ever three hour PPV from TNA so don’t expect much in the way of groundbreaking stuff. That being said, the main event is one of the most famous as well as scariest moments ever in TNA. Also to the best of my knowledge, this is Randy Savage’s last wrestling match ever. Let’s get to it.

Oh and I forgot: this is the DUMB angle where TNA sent guys to a WWE show with a bunch of gifts and filmed the WWE wrestlers talking and chatting with TNA guys. For some reason, this is SCANDALOUS and we see the tape tonight.

The opening video is about the six man main event with Hardy/Styles/Savage saying they love the business and the Kings of Wrestling (Hall/Nash/Jarrett) in Elvis suits saying it’s about them. This goes on way too long and has way too many Elvis jokes.

Vince and HHH impersonators say they’ll never allow the tape to air. Abyss comes up with balloons and Fake HHH runs from him. This could be a really long night.

Tag Titles: Ron Killings/BG James vs. Eric Young/Bobby Roode

3 Live Kru are the champions. They won the titles from the Canadians a month ago, making this a rematch. Young and BG get things going with Young being rammed into all of the buckles. Young tries to steal BG’s gyrating punches so the Kru hits their version of What’s Up. Here’s Roode to face Truth. Truth is a replacement for Konnan who is injured so this is under the Freebird Rule.

Truth hits his usual not-WWE stuff and gets two off a spinning kick. The Canadians double team Truth with a double backbreaker for two. They take over with Roode bringing Young back in. Young stomps on Truth in the corner but Truth won’t even sell it at all. He pulls himself up and hits a missile dropkick. No tag as it’s back to Roode. They try their own What’s Up but Truth escapes and makes the tag.

James knocks Roode to the outside and punches Young down. Roode comes back in and James gets two on him off a forearm. Young goes up but Truth hits the ax kick. Roode hits his spinebuster on James for a VERY close two. Roode sets for maybe a spear but the Kru hits a Hart Attack with a side kick instead of a clothesline. James loads up the pumphandle but Johnny Devine runs in and hits James in the back with a hockey stick so the Canadians can get the titles.

Rating: C-. Not terrible here and it was ok enough for an opener. It wasn’t particularly good and I didn’t care who won by the end. That’s a running problem for this era of TNA: the matches and feuds aren’t really compelling as they’re trying desperately to keep a show on and fill in three hours. There’s some ok stuff in here though so it’s certainly not a failure or anything.

Shane Douglas talks to the Director of Authority (GM/boss) Dusty Rhodes. Dusty says this is a huge night and that the Kings of Wrestling will get what’s coming to them. The fans are talking on the internet about Cookie Gate. Yeah it’s about the tape again.

We recap the X-Division 6 man. This involves Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka for some reason. Apparently Kash has been saying that Jimmy’s dive off the cage meant nothing while Sonjay’s team says don’t diss the Superfly. I’ve heard far worse reasons to have a feud.

Matt Bentley/Kazarian/Kid Kash vs. Sonny Siaki/Sonjay Dutt/Hector Garza

The beard doesn’t work on Kaz at all. Sonjay and Kash start us off with some mat wrestling. Hector comes in and it’s Bentley punching him. Garza was a guy that was supposed to get a big push in TNA, even pinning Scott Hall if I remember. Siaki vs. Kaz now as things speed up. Siaki and Sonjay team up for an assisted rana to Kaz. Traci distracts Sonjay so Kaz can hit a one armed DDT to give us our face in peril.

The heels work over Sonjay, mainly focusing on the arm. They do the whole lack of tag thing to bring Bentley in to crank on the arm even more. There’s a Stunner to the arm and the heels work on Dutt’s arm even more. They tag in and out and all take some shots at it. Kash sets for a hammerlock slam but rams the arm into the buckle instead. Dutt tries to fire back with right hands but Bentley takes him down by the arm.

Dutt is pulled back to the corner and Kaz comes in again and more arm work follows. Do any of them know a match ending arm submission? Dutt is sent to the ropes and manages to hit a miracle springboard rana and it’s hot tag to Garza. Garza hits a high moonsault on Kaz and everything breaks down. Garza backdrops Dutt 360 degrees over the top to the floor. Traci’s interference backfires and Garza gets the pin on Bentley with a corkscrew moonsault.

Rating: C+. Pretty fun tag match here with more of a classic story than a spotfest. That’s very nice for a change of pace and it worked well here. Dutt did well selling the arm and Garza looked like a big deal. Then he got busted for steroids (which to be fair were legal in Mexico) and hasn’t really appeared in America since.

Savage talks to Scott Hudson (seriously?) and says nothing of note.

Coach D’Amore says Petey will keep the title.

Video on the Serengeti Survival Match, which means hardcore I think. Monty Brown beat Abyss in a Monster’s Ball Match and then got a world title shot on Impact. Abyss jumped him before the match and the injuries cost him the title. There’s a focus on thumbtacks in this.

Monty Brown vs. Abyss

Abyss is the monster heel here and Brown has bad ribs. Brown wants to start it on the ramp and here we go. You can win by pin, submission or slamming the other person into tacks. Abyss rams him into the apron to work on the back. He pulls off the tape early on and Brown is in trouble. Abyss gets a table set up quickly and the fans want fire. Greedy freaks.

The table is set up in the corner and Abyss grabs a bag. The fans still want fire. Brown comes back with a clothesline and right hands. We’re in trouble now as Brown has used up about 50% of his offense in the first three minutes. Big boot gets two for Abyss. West calls Abyss cunning and very smart. And people wonder why he’s not announcing anymore. Abyss brings in a chair and hits him in the injured ribs with it. Why don’t heels ever have injured ribs? When you turn face do you sacrifice the strength in your ribs?

The chair is placed on Brown’s ribs and Abyss hits an Earthquake onto the chair for two. The fans chant to use the table. All Abyss at this point as he pounds on the ribs. The fans continue to get on my nerves by chanting various annoying things. Abyss sets for another Earthquake but Brown moves the chair to crotch Abyss. A chair to the head puts Abyss down and Brown hits a British Bulldog powerslam onto the chair.

The Pounce is countered into the Black Hole Slam for a delayed two. That’s not a move you often see kicked out of. Abyss wedges a chair between the turnbuckles and of course is rammed into it. The Pounce hits but it knocks Abyss to the floor. The delay results in it only getting a two count. Brown tries another Pounce but Abyss ducks, sending Brown head first into the table for two. Both guys get bags of tacks and OH SWEET MERCIFUL GOODNESS BROWN RIPS ABYSS’ SHIRT OFF!!! THEY’RE JIGGLING!!! Brown hits an Alabama Slam into the tacks and I need to go see a doctor.

Rating: C+. This was a fine lesson in hardcore wrestling. Here’s the idea: if the match is about the guys and the weapons are props, the match is usually better. When the match is about the weapons and the guys are props, the match is usually worse. This was about Abyss vs. Brown and the tacks and other stuff were there too, making for a much more entertaining match.

HHH and Vince break any tape they find, including Best of D-Ray 3000.

Mike and Don run down the rest of the card.

Pat Kenney/Johnny B. Badd vs. Glen Gilbertti/Johnny Swinger

Gilbertti and Swinger are known as the New York Connection. Great: Jacqueline is the referee. Kenney is kind of famous as Simon Diamond from ECW. He and Swinger were a tag team in ECW so there’s history there. There’s no story here that I can find so we’re in filler territory. Kenney and Swinger start as the fans chant Simon Diamond. Simon (screw it) fights off both of the NYC until Gilbertti is sent outside.

Off to Badd who looks really weird with short hair. The NYC double teams Simon to take over. Badd seems content to chill on the apron. It’s not a heel move or anything. He just doesn’t seem to care. Jackie breaks up some double teaming and Swinger gets two off a clothesline. They work on Simon’s back which was injured in the match somewhere. Simon hits a sitout spinebuster on Swinger which allows the tag to Badd. Both heels get knee lfits TKO to Glenn is broken up by Swinger. Gilbertti shoves Jackie and Stuns Badd but Jackie gets involved (of course) and slams Gilbertti. TKO by Badd ends this.

Rating: D. Imagine that: Jackie messes up a match. To be fair though the match was boring, mainly because there was no real story to this. The NYC were one of the leftovers from the older run of the company so they were brought along for about five minutes. This was nothing of note though and was pretty bad. To be fair though, it was just there to bridge us to the second half of the show.

The Kings of Wrestling (who have no relation to Hero and Castagnoli if you’re curious) put Savage (we couldn’t see him) into a car and send it off, presumably making it a handicap match later.

Recap of Raven vs. DDP. Raven wants to be world champion so DDP came in and hit him with Diamond Cutters to come out of retirement. Erik Watts is in this somehow too but his black hole of caring keeps me from looking up why.

Raven vs. Diamond Dallas Page

Watts sits in on commentary. That’s fine as long as he doesn’t wrestle. Page’s music is a complete ripoff of his WCW song. Page claims Raven has been living somewhere rent free so tonight Page is collecting. Ok then. Discus lariat puts Raven down. Page baseball slides Raven to the floor and they head into the crowd. This is Raven’s Rules apparently.

Page hits him with a trashcan and we head back to ringside. We had a ref bump in there somewhere so a replacement came out. Page tries the Cutter but Raven grabs the rope. He puts on some weird helmet he brought with him and rams it into Page almost like Juggernaut. Raven has a chair brought in and then facewashes DDP in the corner. Drop toehold onto the chair gets two.

Page gets up like it’s nothing and hammers away on Raven. Another discus clothesline sets up a regular clothesline but the Cutter is countered by a low blow. Rollup gets two. Another rollup gets two and we’ve got blood. A horrible bulldog gets two for Raven. Page belly to bellies him for two. Raven superkicks him down for two. There’s no flow to this at all as it’s more of a spotfest than the X match earlier.

Diamond Cutter only gets two and we’ve got druids. DDT kills Page but it only gets two. Raven calls in the druids but Watts comes in to stop them. Both get chokeslams and the druid is revealed to be wearing khaki shorts. Watts turns on Page and clotheslines him down. Cutter to Watts, Cutter to Raven, pin.

Rating: D. Bad match for the most part because these two don’t bother selling anything. And why should they? Raven didn’t have to in ECW because he hardly ever lost and Page didn’t have to because he was over 40 in WCW. The match was really boring as a result and I don’t think anyone cares. Watts’ turn didn’t mean anything either.

Vince and HHH complain about the lack of food. Traci comes in with milk and cookies and Vince yells at her, saying bring him Dusty.

We recap the X Title match. Sabin won an Ultimate X match and has countered the Destroyer a few times to get in Petey’s head.

X-Division Title: Petey Williams vs. Chris Sabin

They trade counters to start and the fans are split. Cradle Shock is countered and Petey is freaked out. They mess up a leapfrog and Petey hits his leg on Chris’ head. Standoff as Petey is getting frustrated. Springboard dropkick sends Petey to the outside again and he almost jumps into the Cradle Shock again. They head to the floor and Petey hits a sweet slingshot rana from the ring to the floor.

Sabin one ups that and release powerbombs Williams into the barricade. Then he heads into the crowd and dives over about three rows of fans to clothesline Petey. Sweet sequence! Petey gets in a shot though and D’Amore chokes Sabin while Petey has the referee. Back inside and Petey does the O Canada bit as he stands on Sabin’s crotch.

Standing tornado DDT gets two as well. Tenay rants about D’Amore as he’s known to do. Petey hits a few suplexes for two. He’s trying to prove that he’s not a one move wonder. The fans are still split. I think the guys are a bit tired as the match has slowed down a good bit. Petey goes up so Sabin runs the corner like Angle to suplex Williams down. So much for things slowing down I guess.

They slug it out and neither guy can do much. Other than the spinning enziguri by Sabin followed by the running powerbomb for two. Sabin gets caught in the Tree of Woe but pulls up to avoid a suicide dive, then hits a BIG plancha to take Williams out. This is REALLY good. Petey flips into a Russian legsweep for two. Destroyer is countered into the Cradle Shock which is countered by Petey into a Sharpshooter!

Sabin gets the rope and they go to the corner. Chris sets for what looks like a superplex but Petey tries a sunset bomb to counter. Sabin counters that and flips Petey backwards so that Petey’s face slams into the mat. That gets rolled through after the contact into a piledriver by Sabin for a VERY close two. Sabin tries the Cradle Shock but D’Amore gets on the apron. That lets Williams get brass knuckles to hit Sabin with for the pin to retain. That ending BLOWS after the match they were having!

Rating: B+. This was AWESOME as they were countering everything and kept the pace going for at least eighty percent of the match. The ending is horrible though as they built up the match forever and then just stop it dead with a cheap ending. This got the crowd going strong for the two main events though and that’s why these guys are out there. Excellent match and if you give it a better ending it’s a classic.

A midget (Demo from Micro Championship Wrestling) beats up Vince for no apparent reason.

Recap of the Kings of Wrestling vs. Hardy/Styles/Savage. The Kings say they’re taking over and that’s about it. The other three guys say they’re fighting for TNA.

Jeff Hardy/AJ Styles/Randy Savage vs. Kings of Wrestling

Savage was kidnapped remember. The Kings come out to Elvis impersonator music and Elvis suits. AJ looks like he’s about 19 here. Jarrett is world champion. Hall looks almost human. AJ and Jarrett start us off. Bah I can’t say Jeff in this. AJ and the champ see who can get the bigger reactions from the crowd then do some technical stuff. A headscissors takes Jarrett down and a dropkick takes him down again.

Off to Hall. He and Nash are wrestling in those Elvis suits. Give me a break. Hall works on the arm so AJ takes the knees out to control. He wants Nash so Hall spits at him and makes the tag. AJ uses the speed again and dropkicks all three Kings down. Hardy is tagged in and dropkicks Hall and Jarrett down as things speed up. Slingshot dropkick by Hardy has Nash in trouble.

Nash gets in a big boot and Hardy is in trouble. Here’s the champ who beat Hardy last month at Victory Road. I always thought that was two or three months before this show. Jarrett hot shots him on the top rope and it’s time to strut. Back to Hall for a discus punch and chokeslam for two. Nash comes in for a sideslam which gets two also. Back to Hall who hooks the abdominal stretch. Nothing but trademark stuff from the Outsiders.

Hall hooks a modified STF but pulls on the hair instead of the neck. That has to hurt. Hardy gets his mule kick (catching Hall squarely in the hand) which is enough for the tag to AJ. Things speed up again and AJ cleans house. Moonsault into the reverse DDT gets two. Styles Clash to Jarrett is avoided and Nash breaks up the springboard forearm. Fallaway slam for two as we’re just waiting on Savage to make the big miracle appearance.

Nash hits the framed elbow (complete with Karate Elvis Action!) for two. Back to Jarrett and they work over the ribs which the Outsiders started on. Naturally this leads to the Figure Four LEG Lock but AJ rolls him up for two. Hall breaks up the tag and Nash hooks a bearhug. See, THAT makes sense. AJ makes the unseen tag and it’s back to Jarrett. They slug it out and both hit cross bodies to put them down.

AJ finally makes the tag to Hardy and house is cleaned. Stroke is countered into a Twist of Stunner and AJ adds a springboard cross body to Hall. Nash takes out the referee though as the numbers are catching up with them. Hardy goes up for the Swanton but Hall hits him with the guitar. Hardy falls forward onto Jarrett for the Swanton anyway but there’s no referee. Here’s Savage with a big old bald spot as is his custom. Naturally with everyone down he wants a tag and fires off right hands. All three of the Kings get caught in sleepers for some reason. Jarrett tries a sunset flip but Savage falls on him for the pin.

Rating: C-. The match was ok but the ending was HORRIBLE (again). Savage might have been out there 90 seconds. He would be gone the next day because he proposed a one month title reign for himself and said he’d drop it back to Jarrett the next month but it was vetoed. That’s his last match, which is a sad note to go out on.

Vince is loaded into an ambulance as HHH doesn’t know what to do without him.

Video on Final Resolution. I remember this video actually.

Here’s the tape that has been talked about all night. Shane Douglash, Traci (with cookies) and Abyss (with balloons) go to see…a bunch of blurry objects. Roadie and Ron Killings are there too. They steal some catering and the only body I recognize is I think Eddie Guerrero. Seriously you can’t see ANYTHING and they don’t say any names. These could be TNA dudes for all we know. That was it? Seriously? WE SPENT TWO AND A HALF HOURS BUILDING TO THAT??? Ok to be fair this was when TNA was nothing so it’s a bigger deal I guess. Rey was there too apparently but you couldn’t see him at all.

We recap XXX vs. AMW. This was the big tag feud in TNA as they’ve fought dozens of times but there hasn’t been a distinct winner to the whole thing. They’ve had cage matches before but they were in the four sided cage. AMW hit an awesome Death Sentence from the top of the cage to win that one. Now they’re having another cage match and the losing team has to split up forever.

America’s Most Wanted vs. Triple X

This is one of the things that TNA did that was indeed different: sometimes something other than the heavyweight title feud ended the show, which is definitely a good idea here. The six man was just ok but this was a great match. This is in a cage remember. AMW brings in handcuffs. That’s a signature thing for them and they’ll come into play later so remember that.

They have to tag here but I’ll give that ten minutes tops. Daniels and Storm start us off. Is there a significance to the tape that Daniels puts on his left shoulder that I’ve never gotten? I’ve always wondered that. Off to Daniels who kicks Storm in the back to take control. It breaks down quickly and AMW double teams Daniels. Off to Harris as Daniels is already busted open.

Skipper (XXX is Daniels/Elix Skipper if you weren’t sure on that one) gets his team the advantage and gives it back over to Daniels. He’s GUSHING already. Harris takes Skipper down and it’s back to Storm. Powerslam puts Daniels down. They load up the Death Sentence on Skipper but Daniels makes the save. Skipper pulls a towel back and handcuffs Harris to the post. West: “Oh what a dirty trick!” Yes, handcuffing your mortal enemy to a cage and making him defenseless is the same sort of thing you would hear on The Brady Bunch Don. Well called.

XXX double teams Storm and Daniels taunts Harris with the key. They drive the key into the head of Storm and hit a double team powerbomb/elbow combination for two. We get some heel miscommunication and Storm spears Daniels. There’s the key and Harris in free. That’s a nice twist on the hot tag because it’s basically the same thing. Harris cleans house and Storm is back up too.

I think everyone but Harris is bleeding. Triple X gets rammed into the cage multiple times but Skipper grabs a belly to belly to Harris. A suplex/cross body combo gets two. Hart Attack gets two on Skipper. Daniels hits a quick Downward Spiral to Storm and Harris goes into the steel. Harris is busted too. Death Sentence (AMW’s finisher) gets two on Harris who kicks out.

Skipper goes to the top of the cage (I don’t think you can win by escape) to Harris POWERBOMBS HIM OFF THE CAGE for two. FOR TWO. Angel’s Wings gets two for Daniels. Daniels goes up but Harris follows him. Now it’s time for the highlight reel moment to end all highlight reel moments in TNA. Skipper is sitting on another corner than Harris and TIGHTROPE WALKS THE EDGE OF THE CAGE AND HURRICANRANAS HARRIS TO THE MAT!!! WOW!

Daniels IMMEDIATELY drops an elbow off the top of the cage BUT IT GETS TWO. Daniels goes back up as we watch replays for a four man Tower of Doom. Daniels overrotates and lands on his face. Harris powerbombed Skipper who electric chaired Storm who suplexed Daniels. Everyone is pretty much dead but Skipper and Harris counter each others’ finishers. Everyone knocks everyone else down and Harris handcuffs Daniels to the cage in a nice play off what happened to him earlier. Last Call to Skipper and AMW pins him with XXX’s PowerPlex to split up XXX.

Rating: A+. What else did you expect me to give this? This match holds up incredibly well with the few moments from the cage walk to the Tower of Doom being as breathtaking as you’ll ever see. Absolutely awesome match and if you’re a fan of bloodbath cage matches that leave your jaw hanging open, find this right now because it’s excellent.

Overall Rating: B. There’s some bad stuff on here, but considering this is their second three hour PPV ever, this was incredible. Things slowed down a bit after this when it became about DDP and Nash and Jarrett, but they would pick it right back up with Lockdown in a few months. Very good show although it’s kind of hard to find. Check out the main event for sure though.

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