NWA-TNA Weekly PPV #12
Date: September 4, 2002
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West, Ed Ferrara
Hosts: Jeremy Borash, Goldilocks

And now, for something you might have seen before, as the company is trying to find a way to save some money so we’re getting a Best Of show. Thankfully it’s the best of the X-Division, which is pretty easily the best thing about the company so far. That being said, it’s not a great sign when you need something like this just a few months in but here we are. Let’s get to it.

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

Note that I’ll be including the full versions of the matches even if the versions aired here are clipped.

Various fans, wrestlers and TNA personalities talk about the X-Division and how special it is. While it’s still just the old cruiserweight division all over again, they’re treating it as something important and that’s a good thing to see after so many years of WCW never coming close.

Jeremy Borash and Goldilocks welcome us to the show and talk about how great the division has been from the beginning.

From Weekly PPV #1:

AJ Styles/Low Ki/Jerry Lynn vs. Flying Elvises

The Elvises would be Sonny Siaki/Jorge Estrada/Jimmy Yang and they jump the other three to start. Lynn is right up for a dive onto Siaki as Styles powerslams Yang. Lynn comes in with a backbreaker for two on Yang as this is all action to start. Back up and Yang sends Lynn into the corner for the step up moonsault kick too the chest. It’s off to Siaki, who gets sent into the corner so Ki can come in to strike away. An over the shoulder backbreaker plants Ki before a Samoan drop into a moonsault gets two.

A neckbreaker out of the corner into a running shooting star press gets two on Ki but he’s back with a heck of a kick to the head. It’s back to Styles for the springboard moonsault into the reverse DDT for two as everything breaks down. Lynn Cradle Piledrives Estrada but walks into a fisherman’s neckbreaker from Siaki. Ki kicks Styles by mistake though and Yang Time (twisting moonsault) is good for the pin on Styles at 6:27.

Rating: B-. And that’s how TNA starts. They weren’t kidding with the “total nonstop action” part as they had all six people going nuts out there and cramming in as much stuff as they could in about six and a half minutes. That isn’t much time to work with but Styles looked like a star and Lynn looked like the established veteran while Ki was the hard striker. Throw in a kind of awesome gimmick like the Flying Elvises and how can you go wrong?

The Flying Elvises talk about how amazing it is to be in the first match in company history. They wanted to be first and never felt like that before. Mike Tenay pops in for some comments…and I have no idea why he’s shot with a Dutch angle.

From Weekly PPV #2:

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 jump past Lynn and Styles winning the Tag Team Titles and move into their first title defense. From Weekly PPV #4.

Tag Team Titles: AJ Styles/Jerry Lynn vs. Disciples Of The New Church

The Disciples (Slash/Tempest, with James Mitchell) are challenging. Slash shoulders Lynn down to start but a powerslam is escaped. Lynn runs the corner for a bulldog and Styles comes in for a running flipping splash to the back. Tempest (better known as Crowbar) comes in and gets his arm cranked, followed by a kick to the face for a bonus. Back up and Tempest runs him over, only to be sent outside. That doesn’t last long as Tempest is back in to take over, including an anklescissors out of the corner.

Styles gets backdropped to the apron but comes back in with a springboard missile dropkick, allowing the tag back to Lynn. Everything breaks down and the Disciples pull a diving Styles out of the air. Lynn makes a quick save and Styles adds a Lionsault for two on Tempest. Back up and Tempest’s Death Valley Driver gets two on Styles so Slash can come back in for some rams into the buckle.

What would become James Storm’s Eye of the Storm sends Styles flying but he’s fine enough to catapult Slash into the corner. Lynn comes back in to start the comeback, including a sitout bulldog for two on Tempest. Another Death Valley Driver is broken up and Lynn hits the cradle piledriver, only for Slash to kick him in the face. Styles tags himself back in and (kind of) hits the Spiral Tap to retain at 10:37.

Rating: C+. This was a way to show that the champions who don’t quite get along can get along well enough to retain the titles, even if they were still having issues. It’s still probably the top story in the promotion at the moment, or at least the most interesting, though I’m not sure how much ground that is covering. The New Church is already looking like a bunch of losers and odds are that is going to continue without much to make it better.

From Weekly PPV #6.

Tag Team Titles: AJ Styles/Jerry Lynn vs. Flying Elvises

The Elvises are challenging and Sonny Siaki is on commentary. Lynn and Estrada trade arm control to start until until Lynn elbows him in the face and grabs a running headscissors. Styles adds a running knee to the face and a legdrop gets two. An elbow to the jaw gives Styles two more but Estrada gets in a slam, allowing the rather necessary tag off to Yang.

Lynn comes back in to knock Yang into the corner, setting up a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. What looks like a top rope cutter from Styles…just kind of crashes down and Yang sends him outside for a heck of a clothesline. Back in and a Koji Clutch keeps Styles in trouble, setting up Estrada’s knee to the ribs for two. The banged up ribs are dropped over the top rope for two and a Lionsault connects for the same.

Another rather slow motion knee drop into a slingshot hilo gets two next two, followed by the logical abdominal stretch. Styles tries to fight back but Lynn gets knocked off the apron so the beating can continue. A kick to the face gets Styles out of trouble though and it’s back to Lynn to clean house. Lynn dives onto Estrada but Styles accidentally takes Lynn out with a dive of his own. Lynn is VERY busted open but he’s fine enough to come back with the slingshot Fameasser over the ropes. That’s enough to pin Estrada, even as Styles is on top for the Spiral Tap, and retain at 15:24.

Rating: B. Well hokey smoke, a wrestling match broke out on this show. It really shouldn’t be any surprise that Styles and Lynn work this well together as they’re incredibly talented but at the same time the Elvises are right there with him to make their side work. This was a rather good match and one of the better things the promotion has produced so far.

They Styles and Lynn kept arguing and fighting but then they started getting along a bit more.

We see some quick highlights of AJ Styles beating Elix Skipper and Lynn beating Low Ki via DQ.

From Weekly PPV #6 (and earlier in the night as we go back in time a bit).

Amazing Red vs. Low Ki

Red snaps off some armdrags to start and then kicks Ki outside. Back in and a middle rope clothesline drops Ki but he’s right back with a hard kick for two of his own. A butterfly suplex into a double underhook crank has Red in trouble but he fights right back out. Red goes up top, where Ki pulls him into a hanging dragon sleeper for some rather painful cranking.

They trade kicks to the head until Red’s hat flies off, which has him so annoyed that he hits a quick standing shooting star press for two. The Code Red gets two more but Ki strikes away, only to get dropped with a spinwheel kick. Red’s corkscrew moonsault misses though and the Ki Krusher 99 finishes for Ki at 7:29.

Rating: B. This is how you make someone into a bigger deal as Red was in there hanging with someone who almost won the X-Division Title last week. The perk of a promotion still being this new is that people can still make an impact in a hurry. That’s what Red did here and it was a heck of a match as the show kicks off fast.

From Weekly PPV #8.

Amazing Red/Spanish Announce Team vs. Flying Elvises

It’s a brawl to start until Siaki is left alone to clothesline Red. Jose Maximo (brother of Joel) gets triple powerbombed and the Elvises get to pose and dance. For some reason Yang and Estrada go to commentary, leaving Siaki to get triple teamed in the corner. Then they sing a little Elvis as a surfboard/dragon sleeper combination sets up a top rope double stomp for two on Siaki.

Back up and Siaki fights back but he doesn’t want a tag from Yang. Red kicks Siaki down on top and it’s a double super Spanish Fly for two. Yang and Estrada come back in and take out the Maximos but Estrada gets caught in Code Red for two more. Estrada counters a double super Spanish Fly into a double super DDT to the Maximos. A top rope legdrop/splash combination hits Red but the other Elvises pose, allowing Siaki to steal the pin at 11:46.

Rating: B-. Oh that’s a Russo trait if I’ve ever seen one. You have the team who doesn’t get along but wins anyway, making the other team look that much worse. If Red and the SAT’s can’t beat Siaki when they have him 3-1, why should I believe they can beat pretty much anyone? It’s a bad idea and something that Russo absolutely loved, which shouldn’t be all that surprising.

Mike Tenay and various wrestlers talk about the SAT’s and Amazing Red. This includes the SAT’s, but one of their microphones isn’t working because of course.

Now talk about the intensity and hard hittingness of Low Ki.

From Weekly PPV #8.

X-Division Title: Low Ki vs. AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn

Styles is defending and gets double teamed to start, including a faceplant. A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gives Lynn two on Ki but Styles is back up with a powerslam. Ki is back up with a dropkick and elbows but Styles pulls the referee in and kicks Ki low (there’s a joke there somewhere). Ki and Lynn strike it out until Lynn sends him to the apron for a legdrop over the rope.

The dragon sleeper has Styles and Lynn in trouble but Lynn takes Ki down. A top rope hanging DDT gets two on Styles with Ki making the save. Ki butterfly suplexes Styles for two and Styles puts Ki down for the same with Lynn making the save. Styles and Ki go up top and it’s a super sunset bomb to turn it into a Tower Of Doom. Ki gets back to back dragon sleepers for back to back saves.

Styles brainbusters Lynn for two but Lynn is back with a Ki Crusher 99 for two on Ki. Back up and Ki accidentally takes out the referee (ERG) but gets launched out to the floor. Styles chairs Lynn down so Ki covers for two, only for Styles to hit the Styles Clash to break it up….but Ki falls back on Lynn for the three (as in the third count, with the break apparently not mattering, which isn’t how it works in wrestling) for the title at 16:18.

Rating: A-. Rough ending aside, this was great. They were all going nuts and doing their thing as fast as they could and it made for an awesome match. As usual, the X-Division stuff is stealing the show and that shouldn’t be a surprise given what else we’re seeing. Excellent match here as they were doing everything they could for all of the time they had.

Low Ki is happy about his win. I think. It’s hard to tell with him.

From Weekly PPV #9.

X-Division Title: Low Ki vs. Sonny Siaki vs. Jimmy Yang vs. Jorge Estrada

Ki is defending and this is elimination rules. Siaki and Ki start things off as we’re actually tagging here. Ki fights him into the corner early on but gets powerbombed out. Estrada comes in and grabs a Regal Roll but the Lionsault is countered. Some kicks rock Estrada for two, with Siaki having to break up a dragon sleeper.

The Elvises aren’t happy with each other so Yang comes in with a middle rope spinwheel kick. Yang chokes him over the ropes but Ki is quickly out of a sleeper. Estrada comes back in and takes out Yang, including a springboard flip dive on the floor. Back in and Yang hits a dropkick into a Boston crab, which he bends back really fast and Estrada taps immediately for the elimination at 6:41.

Ki comes in so Yang hits him with a missile dropkick for two. Yang Time is loaded up but Siaki crotches him down, setting up the Ki Crusher at 7:56 to get us down to one on one. Siaki comes in with a pop up cutter for two but Ki is back with a springboard kick to the face. Siaki manages a shot to the face, only to get sent into Yang as he’s still on the apron. Ki rolls him up to retain at 9:22.

Rating: B-. They only had so much time here as you had three eliminated to cover in the span of less than ten minutes. At the same time, the Elvises are having issues and that’s likely going to lead to something going south sooner or later. As for Ki, it’s a good move to have him beat all three members of the team to retain, as that’s going to make anyone look strong.

From Weekly PPV #10.

X-Division Title: Low Ki vs. Jose Maximo vs. Joel Maximo vs. Amazing Red

Ki is defending under elimination rules. All three challengers start hammering on Ki, who blasts them with kicks to the head. We settle down to Ki chopping Red but it’s too early for the Ki Crusher. Joel comes in for a tornado DDT to Ki and it’s quickly off to Jose. Ki is fine enough to kick both Maximos into the corner but Red comes in to pick up the pace. Everything breaks down and an Alabama Slam/neckbreaker combination drops Ki.

Red’s top rope hurricanrana sends Joel into Jose and Ki tosses Red onto both Maximos. Ki’s big twisting dive off the top takes all three of them down again, giving them a quick breather on the floor. Back in and Ki is knocked outside again, leaving Joel to hit a lifting sitout Pedigree to pin Jose at 9:07.

Back in and Ki kicks away at Joel but Red knocks Joel down and hits a twisting top rope splash for the elimination at 10:10. So it’s Red vs. Ki for the title, with Ki countering Code Red into something like an Alabama Slam into the corner. A super Ki Crusher is countered but the second attempt plants Red hard to retain the title at 12:08.

Rating: B-. Good enough, but this was similar to last week’s match against the Flying Elvises as there was no reason to believe that two of the three were going to have a chance. That leaves you a long time before we get to the one on one match and then it only lasts about two minutes. The match itself was a bunch of spots and Ki striking, which is a good way to bring Ki up even higher.

And now, a best of three series between Styles and Lynn. From Weekly PPV #10.

AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn

Falls Count Anywhere and the first of a three match series tonight. It’s a brawl to start with Lynn taking him outside, where Styles manages a whip into the steps. Styles strikes away before getting crotched on the barricade to cut him off rather quickly. They fight into the crowd with Styles evening things up a bit, including a running flip dive off the balcony. Styles rams him into the barricade but gets suplexed back to ringside for two.

Back in and they trade flips until Lynn gets in a Stunner. A powerbomb is countered into a faceplant for two, with Lynn getting his foot on the ropes. I’m not sure why that breaks the count in a falls count ANYWHERE match but we’ll move on. A neckbreaker gives Styles two but Lynn is back up with a hurricanrana to the floor. They slug it out on the stage where Lynn drops him with a discus lariat. Something like a bulldog off the stage gets two and it’s back to the stage where Lynn hits a cradle piledriver for the pin at 9:56.

Rating: B-. These two work well together and it makes sense for the two of them to be put together this many times on one show. At the same time, they didn’t stay out there too long to burn the fans out. If nothing else, having Styles getting a rub from Lynn, who is as smooth of an in-ring veteran as TNA has, is a great idea.

Jerry Lynn is ready to finish AJ Styles for good but here is Styles to jump him from behind. Since the second match is No DQ, we’ll just start it in the back.

Jerry Lynn vs. AJ Styles

No DQ and Lynn is up 1-0. They strike it out and go inside with Lynn hitting a Stunner over the ropes. A table is set up but Styles cuts him off, with the table being turned over. Styles’ springboard dive hits the upside down table (ouch) but he’s right back up with a legdrop onto a chair onto Lynn. A catapult sends Styles face first into the chair in the corner though and Lynn hits the slingshot Fameasser in the ropes.

Lynn’s tornado DDT to the table on the floor is broken up and a double clothesline leaves both of them down. Lynn tries a sunset flip but Styles grabs the chair and cracks him in the head for the save (that was nice). Back up and Lynn hits a top rope hanging DDT onto a chair…and pulls Styles up at two (uh oh). Styles knocks him off the top but gets crotched, setting up a super hurricanrana through the ringside table (with Styles landing head first for a scary crash). Back in and Styles is fine enough to reverse another tornado DDT attempt into the Styles Clash onto the chair for the pin at 10:37.

Rating: C+. Another good enough match between the two of them and again they didn’t overstay their welcome. That’s something you need to do if you’re going to see them fighting over and over, especially if Styles was all but guaranteed to win and tie the series up. It was a bit too similar to their first match, though nothing bad whatsoever.

With the series tied, we’re having a ten minute Iron Man match for the final fall and it starts right now.

Jerry Lynn vs. AJ Styles

Ten minute Iron Man match and the winner gets an X-Division Title shot (ignore the clock on screen starting before the bell). Styles gets smart and pins the down Lynn at 11 seconds.

Styles – 1
Lynn – 0

Styles pins him again at 19 seconds.

Styles – 2
Lynn – 0

Lynn kicks out of a third cover and reverses a suplex into a neckbreaker for two. Styles grabs a sleeper to slow him down as we’re already two minutes in. Lynn fights up so Styles pulls him down by the hair and puts on the chinlock. Back up and Styles’ hurricanrana is countered into a faceplant to give Lynn a fall at 3:49.

Styles – 2
Lynn – 1

Lynn follows Styles’ plan by covering for an immediate two but Styles scores with a backdrop. We have five minutes left as Lynn comes back with the springboard Fameasser for two. Lynn goes up but gets caught in a Razor’s Edge Dominator (that was cool) and a delayed cover gives Styles another fall at 6:32 (even if the referee was a bit confused).

Styles – 3
Lynn – 1

Styles hammers away as Low Ki comes to watch, complete with a ladder. We have two minutes left as Lynn hits a tombstone for the pin at 8:13.

Styles – 3
Lynn – 2

Lynn can’t hit the cradle piledriver but can hit a Styles Clash to tie it up at 8:58.

Styles – 3
Lynn – 3

They trade very fast rollups but neither can get the pin as time expires at 10:00.

Rating: B-. This one saw the two of them getting the chance to show off their athleticism a bit more and Styles getting two falls at the start was very smart. I’m not wild on seeing the whole thing end in a draw, but otherwise, how else would we get to a triple threat title match? It didn’t get too insane, but Ki coming out with the ladder more or less guaranteed where this was going.

Post match Ki comes in and raises both of their arms, only to kick them down. Ki says the division is about the champion so next week it’s time to prove that he is the greatest in a ladder match.

Various wrestlers are impressed by AJ Styles.

Styles is glad to be the best and you’ll see even more.

Mike Tenay thinks the X-Division is awesome.

From Weekly PPV #11.

X-Division Title: AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn vs. Low Ki

Ki is defending in a ladder match. Ki and Lynn chop it out to start with Styles quickly taking Lynn’s place. Lynn is back up but misses his slingshot Fameasser, allowing Ki to springboard kick Styles down. Back in and Lynn takes over on both of them, including a fairly illogical surfboard to Ki. A suplex drops Styles and you can see Lynn have to stop himself from covering.

Ki breaks up a Liontamer to Styles (Why?) and drops both of them in a hurry. Styles knocks Ki into the corner and they’re all down for an early breather. It’s Styles up first and he heads to the floor, where a ladder is bridged between the barricade and the apron. Ki and Styles climb onto said ladder but Lynn is right there for a double faceplant.

Lynn baseball slides a ladder into Styles’ ribs but Ki cuts off his climb. Styles unloads on Ki until he gets dropped by Lynn. A double hiptoss sends Ki into a ladder leaning against the rope, followed by a suplex sending Lynn into the same ladder. Ki is back up with a hurricanrana to send Styles into the ladder and they need a breather. Styles loads up the ladder and tries a climb but Ki pulls him down for some kicks to the chest.

Ki pulls Styles off the ladder again and then sends the ladder over, with Lynn crashing down in a heap. Back up and Lynn hammers on Styles, followed by a sitout powerbomb on Ki. Two more ladders are brought in and Styles climbs after Ki, who puts him in a dragon sleeper. Lynn breaks that up (Why?) and shoves Styles down, followed by a cradle piledriver off the ladder to plant Ki. That’s enough for Lynn to pull the title down for the win at 20:05.

Rating: B+. This was more of a match where they went after each other rather than the ladder and that makes things so much more interesting. Sometimes it’s nice to see them mix it up a bit and in this case, it was great to focus on people this talented. Lynn gets the title and can defend it against a bunch of people, including these two, and I can certainly go for more of that at the moment.

Wrestlers and Tenay praise Jerry Lynn.

Lynn talks about being interested in the X-Division because it suits his style. Cue Styles, who offers respect to Lynn. Cue Ki, who is still coming for the title. Lynn is looking forward to it.

Overall Rating: B. While this wasn’t so much a look back at the X-Division as much as it was a look at the three way feud with some side players, it does at least focus on by far the best thing in TNA to date. You’re only going to get so far on everything else the promotion has to offer, but these guys have been doing great in the few months the promotion has been around. That’s what this should have been and it wound up working fairly well, assuming you don’t mind almost everyone else being completely ignored.

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

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: Impact Wrestling

TNA Weekly PPV #12
Date: September 4, 2002
Hosts: Jeremy Borash, Goldilocks

So I started doing this series about six years ago and then stopped because….well TNA has to be taken in short doses. I got a free month of their streaming service though and it turns out that I skipped this special show, meaning my numbering was a bit off. I can’t handle that so this one is more for my own sanity. This is a Best of the X-Division show so let’s get to it.

Note that the matches on the show are clipped but for the sake of simplicity, these are the full versions.

Wrestlers and fans talk about how awesome the X-Division is. True indeed, especially at this point. As always, Mike Tenay sounds awesome describing something like this.

Opening sequence.

Jeremy and Goldilocks welcome us to the show and explain the concept of the X-Division. It’s how the promotion started so here’s the first TNA match ever.

From Weekly PPV #1.

AJ Styles/Low Ki/Jerry Lynn vs. The Flying Elvises

That would be Jorge Estrada, Sonni Siaki and Jimmy Yang. The Elvises try to jump them to start but get sent outside instead with triple dropkicks. The dives to the floor follow and it’s AJ powerslamming Yang as we hear about the first X-Division Champion being crowned next week. AJ counters a belly to back suplex and brings in Lynn to face Siaki. Lynn avoids a flipping legdrop as the pace is crazy to start. A Rey Mysterio sitout bulldog gets two and it’s off to Low Ki to hit Siaki rather hard.

Siaki comes back with a neckbreaker and an over the shoulder backbreaker for one. Estrada comes in and hits a neckbreaker out of the corner but Low Ki dropkicks the knee out. One heck of a kick to the face brings AJ back in but Yang kicks his head off for two. Everything breaks down and Estrada powerbombs Low Ki for two as Lynn makes the save and hits the cradle piledriver. Ki kicks Styles by mistake though and after dropkicking Ki to the floor, Yang Time is enough for the pin on Styles at 6:50.

Rating: B-. And that’s how the X-Division got started. That’s exactly what they should have done too as it was a great way to show you what the division, and the company (in theory) were all about. This was fun stuff, even though Styles losing the first ever match in company history is downright hard to fathom. Well not really given how this company would go, but it’s still strange to hear.

Estrada and Yang talk about how awesome the team is but also want to pay their dues. Tenay (with the camera at a Dutch angle for no logically explained reason) says Siaki is causing the team issues as of late because tension reigns.

From Weekly PPV #2.

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

Yes it’s just the X Title here as this isn’t an official division at this point. Ok so from what I can tell, two people start it off and when one is pinned, someone else comes in. When you lose twice, you’re eliminated. That’s a pretty cool concept actually. Styles and Psicosis start things off with AJ taking over quickly. A superkick gets two but Psicosis hits an elbow to the face to take over. Guillotine legdrop gets two on Styles but he pops back up and hits the Clash for the first pin on Psicosis.

Low Ki comes in immediately and fires off kicks, but AJ nips up from the mat and hurricanranas him down. That was AWESOME. Low Ki reverses a German and kicks AJ’s head off to take over again. The Clash is broken up and AJ is launched into the post. Low Ki goes up top and Germans AJ down into a dragon sleeper (nowhere near as smooth as it could have been). AJ grabs the rope to escape so Low Ki kicks Styles in the head again. Low Ki misses a BIG flip dive and AJ clotheslines his head off. A German suplex into a belly to back facebuster gets the pin on Low Ki to get Jerry Lynn in to face Styles.

Lynn immediately clotheslines AJ down and hits the Cradle Piledriver to give him his first loss. This took less than ten seconds.

Psicosis comes in with a missile dropkick to the back of Lynn’s head to take him down fast. They fight over a go behind until Lynn snapmares him down, followed by a headscissors. Lynn gets a boot up in the corner and a middle rope bulldog gets two. Psicosis sends him to the floor and hits a somersault plancha to take Lynn out. Back in and a spinwheel kick off the top gets a close two. Ricky Steamboat is going to take over as referee once we get down to two. Psicosis goes up again but jumps into a dropkick. Lynn hits the Cradle Piledriver to eliminate Psicosis.

Low Ki is back in next and it’s time to kick. To recap it’s Lynn with zero losses and Styles/Lynn with one each. Low Ki kicks Jerry down and hits a Muta Elbow for two. Lynn gets up a boot in the corner but Low Ki kicks him in the face and hurricanranas him off the top. Jerry rolls through that into a sunset flip for two and it’s time for more kicks. Lynn says bring it on and hits an enziguri to take Low Ki down. They slug it out and Lynn backdrops him to take over. Jerry goes to the apron and avoids a shoulder to the ribs so he can hit a kind of Fameasser.

Cradle Piledriver is broken up and Low Ki grabs an arm hold. Lynn counters into a HARD powerbomb for two and loads up a brainbuster. Low Ki counters into a fisherman’s buster but Lynn counters THAT into a DDT for no cover. Cradle Piledriver hits out of nowhere and it’s down to Styles vs. Lynn. Styles has to get two falls to win the title while Lynn only has to get one.

Styles runs in and hits a quick kick but the Clash is countered into a hurricanrana. A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two for Jerry and both guys are down. Lynn is sent to the apron but his sunset flip only gets one. AJ pops up top and hits a springboard moonsault for two. Jerry snaps off a tornado DDT for a two count and they’re both down again. Styles hits a DDT of his own for two but he charges into a running Liger Bomb out of the corner for two for Jerry. Cradle Piledriver is countered into the Clash and it’s one fall apiece, meaning Steamboat takes over and it’s next fall wins the title.

Both guys are down for a bit before they head to the corner. We get a pinfall reversal sequence which would make Flair and appropriately enough Steamboat jealous. There are about ten near falls in a minute and they clothesline each other to put both guys down again. They head to the floor and Lynn hits a WICKED Irish Whip into the barricade to send Styles flying.

AJ is like screw the pain and hits the moonsault into the reverse DDT on the floor to take over again. Back inside and Jerry breaks up a springboard to hit an Elevated DDT for a VERY close two. Lynn loads up the Cradle Piledriver but AJ counters into a hurricanrana. The hurricanrana is countered into a powerbomb but Lynn rotates him further than that, sending AJ’s face into the mat in a SWEET move.

Both guys are down again but it’s Lynn up first. Another Cradle Piledriver is countered into an FU into a backbreaker for two for Styles. Lynn counters a suplex into a brainbuster for two of his own. There’s a sleeper but AJ escapes and goes up top, only to get crotched and superplexed for two for Jerry. Lynn loads him up top again but AJ shoves him off and Spiral Tap gives him his first of many X Division Titles.

Rating: A. This was AWESOME and a total star making performance for AJ. Matches like this one were the ones that got the company on the map (eventually) and this was excellent even ten years later. Lynn vs. AJ was the first big feud as they would go at it for months, over that title and another one eventually. Great stuff here and an actual new idea for a match.

They can do other stuff too.

From Weekly PPV #3.

NWA World Tag Team Titles: Rainbow Express vs. ???/???

The NWA rules that they must have another match, so the opponents are AJ Styles/Jerry Lynn. The Express jumps them as they come in and the unnamed team is in trouble early. Lynn sends them to the floor and hits a slingshot dive followed by a corkscrew dive from Styles. Jerry and Lenny officially start and it’s time for gyrations. Lynn sends him into the corner and Bruce comes in illegally for some homosexual themed spots.

Lenny takes over and it’s off to Bruce via a kiss to the hand, freaking West out. Lynn is sent to the apron and he hits a legdrop to the back of a charging Bruce’s head to take over. Off to AJ who hits a spinwheel kick for two as West praises him nonstop. Back to Lynn who gets two off a bulldog. Back to Lenny who avoids a dropkick and puts on the Liontamer (screw the Tiger Tamer) while shouting to ASK HIM. AJ breaks it up with a clothesline and Bruce comes in sans tag.

Lenny comes back in quickly and a long delayed vertical suplex gets a sexual cover for two. West’s anti-gay shouting is kind of funny. Lynn comes back with a sunset flip out of the corner for two on Bruce and Bruce does the same for the same result. Bruce hooks a chinlock and then a headscissors to keep Lynn on the mat. Lynn escapes a powerbomb but Bruce escapes the Cradle Piledriver, only for Bruce to escape into a rollup for two.

Lynn DDTs Bruce down and both guys are dazed. Hot tag brings in AJ to face Lenny and things speed up. Everything breaks down and Lenny hits a Skull Crushing Finale on Styles for two. Cradle Piledriver takes Lenny down followed by Bruce and Jerry going to the floor. Spiral Tap to Lenny gives Lynn and Styles the titles.

Rating: C+. This was pretty good although it culminates one of the worst “tournaments” I’ve ever seen. The story works well as AJ beat Lynn last week and now they’re partners with AJ still holding the X Title. That would be the big feud for the next few weeks, although I’m not sure why, as AJ beat Lynn twice in a row last week. Yeah Lynn won once, but that still puts AJ up 2-1. The match was pretty good though.

They have to defend the things.

From Weekly PPV #6.

Tag Titles: Flying Elvises vs. Jerry Lynn/AJ Styles

It’s Estrada and Yang for the Elvises with Siaki on commentary. Lynn and Estrada start things off and Jorge is sent into the corner very quickly via an armdrag. Estrada comes back with a side slam but misses a Lionsault. A spinning Gory Special by Lynn doesn’t seem to do much and they trade headscissors. Off to AJ who hits a sweet spin kick for two but then gets sent into the middle buckle via a headscissors.

Yang comes in and maybe he’ll actually sell something. Styles nips up into another headscissors and takes Yang down with a belly to back suplex for two. Back to Lynn as the champions stay on offense. A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two for Jerry and it’s back to Styles. Yang tries a tombstone but Styles counters with, you guessed it, a headscissors. Yang finally gets his knees up to stop a cross body and the Elvises take over.

Everything goes to the floor and Siaki interferes with a clothesline to give the challengers their first real advantage. Yang hooks a modified Koji Clutch before bringing Estrada back in. The Elvises tag in and out rapidly and hit suplexes and flip attacks for two after two. AJ hooks a small package for two but gets clotheslined down by Estrada again. A spinebuster gets two for Estrada and Yang hits a slingshot hilo for two.

Yang hooks an abdominal stretch on AJ which doesn’t last long either. The moonsault into the DDT puts Yang down but Estrada breaks up the tag to Lynn. AJ gets beaten on even more before FINALLY hitting a kick to the face of Yang to break free and tag in Lynn. Lynn speeds things way up and dropkicks Yang to the floor, followed by a big plancha. Estrada dives on them both and here’s AJ for the big dive, but Siaki pulls the challengers out and Styles hits Lynn, busting Lynn open on the barricade.

The Elvises hit a top rope splash/legdrop and SWEET GOODNESS is Lynn bleeding bad! I mean his face is COVERED. Lynn can’t stand up but he manages a quick shot to Estrada for the pin while Styles is ready for the Spiral Tap on Yang, meaning Lynn stole a pin just like AJ did recently.

Rating: B-. This was pure formula, but the good thing is that the standard tag formula works very well. Lynn vs. Styles works very well and it’s being played out very well. For a new company, this is the perfect midcard feud and it’s working incredibly well. Good stuff again here which is all you would expect from these guys.

Lynn and Styles went to war over this and there was a big argument as a result. Jerry accused him of being a glory hound so AJ laid him out with a Styles Clash.

Clips of AJ successfully defending against Elix Skipper and Jerry Lynn getting laid out in a match against Low Ki due to Styles shenanigans.

On to something new!

From Weekly PPV #6.

Amazing Red vs. Low Ki

Tenay talks about how important this is for the rankings. Didn’t we already establish the rankings a few weeks back? We head to the floor almost immediately with Red hitting a sweet hurricanrana to take over. Back in and Low Ki looks a bit insane before hitting a Liger Kick to take over. An elbow drop gets two and it’s off to a cravate. A springboard enziguri to the face gets two and HOKEY SMOKE LOW KI USED A SUPLEX!!! I don’t think I’ve ever seen him use one before.

Red gets put in the Tree of Woe and a baseball slide gets two for Ki. Red fires off some kicks in the corner but Low Ki blocks the next few and kicks Red’s hat off. A leg sweep from Red takes Low Ki down and a standing shooting star gets two. A swinging sunset flip gets the same and they’re both back to their feet. Red’s tornado DDT is countered but he avoids some stomps from Low Ki. It’s time for some gymnastics and an enziguri from Red takes Ki down. A big corkscrew moonsault misses for Red and the Ki Krusher 99 (sitout fisherman’s brainbuster) gets the pin for Low Ki.

Rating: C+. I’m not a fan of Low Ki but he was WAY over in early TNA. Red was a great flipper and that’s all you need to be to secure an occasional spot on a card like this one. This was fine for an opener here and the match was fine all things considered. Low Ki would become the first ROH World Champion three days later.

From Weekly PPV #8.

Spanish Announce Team vs. Flying Elvises

I’m serious. That’s their name. It’s Amazing Red, Joel Maximo and Jose Maximo. The Elvises are Jimmy Yang, Sonny Siaki and Jorge Estrada. It’s a big brawl to start Tenay says that the SAT (the name they’ll become known by) are named because of the announce table always broken at a WWE event. Thanks for that one Mike. I NEVER would have gotten that without you.

Red and Siaki are left in the ring and we’re told that Jose Maximo is the one with elbow pads. Got it. Back to four guys in the ring again with Siaki throwing Red in the air and catching him in a Samoan Drop. All three Elvises are at least on the apron now. Jose Maximo is in the ring now and takes a triple sitout powerbomb before being sent outside again. Red comes in again and we still haven’t had a one on one match.

Siaki LAUNCHES Red onto the Maximos but Siaki won’t let his partners pose. Ok so it’s Joel vs. Sonny to start but Sonny doesn’t want to let either of his partners in. Yang and Estrada go to do commentary, basically making it 3-1. Joel in the ring now but it’s quickly off to Red with a standing shooting star press. Jorge starts to sing on commentary. The Maximos double team Sonny and put him in a wicked double team combo submission with Joel hooking a surfboard and Jose hooking a dragon sleeper. If that’s not enough, Red hits a double stomp while Siaki is up in the surfboard. FREAKING OW MAN!

Off to Red vs. Siaki now with Sonny hitting a pumphandle suplex for two. Yang gets back on the apron but Sonny STILL won’t tag. Yang gets back on commentary as a triple team takes Sonny down so Jose can kick him in the head for two. Siaki gets a right hand in to Red but the Maximos come in for a double C4 off the top.

Red hits a corkscrew moonsault and the other Elvises come in. Everything breaks down and the Code Red (sunset flip bomb) gets two for Red. The Maximos set for some double team spot but Yang slips off Jose. Estrada counters another double C4 into a double DDT off the top. Yang and Estrada go up at the same time for a stereo top rope legdrop and splash combo, only to have Siaki steal the pin on Red.

Rating: B-. Good choice for an opener here with a bunch of high flying spots and furthering of the split between the Elvises. Siaki is a solid heel and it’s kind of a shame that his push stopped. This is the right kind of opener though and the crowd was fired up by the big spots. It worked in WCW and it works everywhere else.

People are impressed by the Spanish Announce Team because they came all the way from New York to get here. They can’t wait to face the best around.

Video/praise on/for Low Ki.

From Weekly PPV #8.

X-Division Title: Low Ki vs. AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn

Styles and Lynn are tag champions and Styles is X Champion. I’ll only refer to Styles as a champion in this though for the sake of clarity. Lynn and Low Ki take out Styles to start and immediately brawl with each other. Low Ki fires off kicks at Lynn but Jerry catches one of them and AJ kicks Ki in the head. Lynn hooks Styles in an inverted Gory Special but gets dropkicked down by Low Ki.

A Muta style elbow gets two on the champ for Low Ki but Styles does his awesome nip up into a hurricanrana to take over. There’s a torture rack to Low Ki but AJ keeps going with it and hits a kind of reverse AA into a facebuster. Lynn pops up and takes AJ down but Styles comes right back with a McGillicutter to take Jerry down. A hurricanrana from AJ is countered into a kind of powerbomb facebuster for two by Jerry.

Low Ki is sent to the apron but he slingshots in to roll up Jerry as Jerry German suplexes AJ which gets a double two count. Cool spot. Lynn and Low Ki chop it out as AJ is down. AJ tries a suplex on Low Ki but gets caught in a Dragon Sleeper. Lynn tries for a save but gets caught in the same hold. Jerry suplexes Low Ki down but AJ saves. AJ goes up but Jerry DDTs him off the top for two.

Styles and Low Ki slug it out but Low Ki kicks him in the face to take over. AJ hits his moonsault into the reverse DDT for two and then loads up a superplex on Low Ki but Jerry turns it into a Tower of Doom for two. All three guys get an awesome looking rollup for two, followed by AJ and Lynn trading very close two counts again. Low Ki rolls up Lynn, but Jerry kicks out, sending Low Ki into the Styles Clash position. Jerry breaks it up for some reason but the setup looked good.

AJ goes to the corner but Low Ki puts him in the Tree of Woe and in the Dragon Sleeper at the same time. Lynn’s tornado DDT to Low Ki is countered into a dragon sleeper on the ropes but AJ kicks him in the head and covers Lynn for two. A neckbreaker gets two on Lynn but Low Ki tries the Ki Crusher on AJ. Styles counters that but Low Ki hooks the Styles Clash on Styles. Jerry hits a Ki Crusher on Low Ki and you know what’s coming next. The cradle piledriver gets two on Lynn and the fans are digging this a lot.

Low Ki accidentally kicks the referee and is thrown to the floor by both opponents. Jerry and AJ collide to put both guys down and AJ falls to the floor in pain. Scratch that as he brings in a chair which he caves in Lynn’s head with a chair. AJ goes up but as he climbs, Low Ki covers Lynn. In a pretty questionable ending, the referee gets to two, AJ hits Spiral Tap on Low Ki, Low Ki comes up off Jerry, goes back down on Jerry, and the referee counts one more time (as in the referee slaps the mat only once more) for the three count and Low Ki is champion.

Rating: B. Bad ending aside, this was a fun match which showed off what TNA was good at: high flying matches with guys going so fast it’s almost impossible to keep up with what’s going on. I missed a few spots because I couldn’t type fast enough to keep up with them. Low Ki was by far the most popular guy in the match so going with him as champion was the right move. AJ and Lynn would keep feuding for awhile longer.

Low Ki this is a major opportunity and is ready for everyone. No one is taking the title from him.

From Weekly PPV #9.

X-Division Title: Low Ki vs. Jorge Estrada vs. Sonny Siaki vs. Jimmy Yang

Four corners elimination here. Yang and Estrada have armbands on because it’s been 25 years since Elvis died. There are tags required here so it’s Low Ki vs. Siaki to start. Siaki LAUNCHES Low Ki out of the corner but Low Ki comes back with kicks of course. Siaki takes him down but Estrada tags himself in and hits a running shooting star press for two. Low Ki escapes a suplex and fires away kicks at Estrada including a BIG one to the head.

Tenay says the kicks break your opponents spirits. Estrada gets put in a dragon sleeper, as does Siaki who came in sans tag. Off to Yang who hits what we would call a Rough Ryder to take Low Ki down followed by a middle rope spinwheel kick for no cover. Siaki isn’t even paying attention to the match and Yang escapes the Ki Crusher. Yang is placed on the top rope and chokes Low Ki over the ropes in a Tarantula kind of move.

Low Ki kicks him down and Estrada tags himself in to face Yang. Things speed up with Yang being knocked to the floor. There’s a BIG dive by Estrada and Yang is in trouble. Back in and Estrada hits a tornado DDT which Yang “blocks” (I didn’t see a block) it and dropkicks Estrada down. Yang puts on a Boston Crab and Estrada taps before the referee is even down to check him. That looked odd.

Low Ki sneaks in on Yang and kicks him a bit as is his custom. Yang gets his foot up in the corner to stop a charging champion. A missile dropkick gets two for Yang as Siaki is still not paying attention. Yang goes up but Siaki intentionally crotches him down. Ki Crusher gets us down to one on one. Siaki immediately charges in and pounds away on Low Ki but the clothesline each other down. Low Ki gets up first and hits a springboard spin kick followed by even more kicks to the chest. Siaki hits some kind of freaky looking punch. Yang comes back and decks Siaki, knocking him into a rollup to keep the belt on the kicking dude.

Rating: C. This was more about the angle than the match and I don’t think anyone thought Low Ki was in danger of losing the title. Siaki needs to get away from the other Elvises so he can become a bigger star, which he only kind of did in the future. Not much of a match but there were some good parts to it.

From Weekly PPV #10.

X-Division Title: Low Ki vs. Jose Maximo vs. Joel Maximo vs. Amazing Red

Elimination rules here and Low Ki is defending. Apparently the three men form a team called the S.A.T.’s. I think I remember hearing that before. Didn’t we basically do the same thing last week with the Elvises? They all go after Low Ki to start but he, say it with me, kicks them all down. Both of the Maximos get hard kicks in the head and apparently they have to tag.

Red and the Maximos get in a fight before it gets down to Red vs. Ki with the champ hitting a hard elbow for two. The Ki Crusher 99 is broken up and Red fires off a kick to the back to take over. Off to let’s say Jose who has a tornado DDT countered and the champ fires off some chops in the corner. The Maximos double team Low Ki a bit to take him down and Joel gets two off a clothesline.

Ki comes off the ropes with a pretty sloppy springboard hurricanrana to take Joel down and then kicks the tar out of both brothers at the same time. Red tags himself in and tries to pin Joel off a standing shooting star but only gets two. We get some overly complicated triple teaming from the SAT’s before Red turns on Jose with a hurricanrana. Joel drops Ki with something like Wasteland but he pops up (selling? What’s that?) and hits a spinning springboard kick to Red who is dropped from WAY in the air by Joel.

Ki gets sent to the floor so the three guys in the ring get to flip around a bit. Red hits a bunch of kicks to send the brothers to the outside followed by a hurricanrana to Jose off the apron to send him into Joel on the floor. Red loads up a dive onto Ki but the champ kicks him in the head on the way. Ki loads up the Crusher but instead throws Red over the top onto the brothers to take them out again. A big twisting dive takes out the Maximos and everyone is down.

Back in and Jose hits a powerbomb into a facebuster on Red for two. Joel hits a sitout Pedigree on Jose for a fast elimination and Ki rips off kicks to the face of the remaining Maximo. A springboard tornado DDT takes Joel down and the Infra-Red (spinning corkscrew “splash”) gets us down to Ki vs. Red. Ki slams Red into the corner a few times before trying a Ki Crusher out of the corner. Red escapes to avoid death but Ki hits it anyway for the pin to retain.

Rating: C+. The more I see of these kind of matches, the less I care about them at all. They’re all over the place and have a ton of botches throughout them. Also the idea of selling ANYTHING is totally foreign. As for the match itself, was there ever any doubt as to who the final two were going to be? The fans liked it but it’s just nothing of note at all other than some decent high spots.

It’s back to the big grudge though as Styles and Lynn had a best of three series to crown a new #1 contender.

All three matches are from Weekly PPV #10.

AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn

This is the falls count anywhere match which is the first of three between the two tonight. AJ tries a baseball slide as Lynn comes in because he’s all evil at the moment. Lynn pounds on AJ and we head into the crowd which is fine here as the fall can end there. That’s what got old about ECW: the brawling was worthless because the match couldn’t end out there. After nothing in the crowd, they chop it out around ringside and Lynn crotches AJ on the railing.

We head back into the crowd but since the production values have to be lower now, we can barely see what’s going on. I guess it’s more like ECW than I thought. AJ throws him into a barricade and hits a backsplash for two. Back to ringside we go with Lynn suplexing AJ onto the floor for two and we head back inside. AJ tries the springboard moonsault but Lynn jawbreakers (is that a word?) him to counter. This isn’t going as fast paced as you would likely expect, but it’s the first of three ten minute matches they’re doing tonight.

The Cradle Piledriver is broken up by something like an X-Factor and both guys are down. AJ tries a suplex but gets countered into a neckbreaker before we head back outside where Styles gets two off a hurricanrana. An enziguri puts Lynn down and they head up the ramp. Lynn hits a spear of all things and bulldogs Styles off the stage onto a well placed platform. Back up to the stage and Lynn counters a Styles Clash into the piledriver to win the first match.

Rating: C+. Like I said, they’re doing thirty minutes in total tonight so them going a bit below their usual speed is acceptable. The ending was nothing special here but being on the stage made the piledriver look much better. AJ as a heel worked well at first, but once he turned face he was going to be a big deal and everyone knew it. Solid opener here though.

AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn

This is No DQ. AJ beats on Jerry to send him down to ringside and then into the ring. Lynn gets sent to the apron but grabs AJ’s neck to guillotine him on the top to take over. We already have a table set up but Lynn’s sunset bomb through said table is blocked. AJ misses a splash and Lynn grabs a chair but Styles takes him down and legdrops the chair onto Jerry’s face. This is very fast paced so far.

The chair is placed between the top and middle ropes in the corner as Lynn tries a powerbomb on AJ, only to get countered into a sunset flip for two. AJ gets sent face first into the chair (following law #1 of wrestling: if you set it up, you get hurt by it) for two before being sent to the apron. Lynn hits his rotating legdrop to the back of Styles’ head but his tornado DDT through the table is countered. Still fast paced and really good stuff so far.

Back in and AJ clotheslines Lynn down before BADLY missing a springboard splash, drawing a rare derogatory chant at Styles. They clothesline each other down and it’s Lynn getting up first. He tries a sunset flip, only to get whacked in the head by a chair by AJ. Well that’s efficient. AJ loads up another chair shot but Lynn channels his inner RVD to dropkick it back into Styles’ face. That gets two so Lynn DDTs AJ off the top for another two.

The fans want tables (again) as Jerry gets kicked away from the ropes. That gets AJ nowhere as Lynn crotches him and hits a HUGE hurricanrana to send Styles through the table on the floor. Somehow that only gets two so Jerry takes the chair and goes up. A sunset bomb by AJ doesn’t work, but he hangs on and hits the Styles Clash onto the chair to knock Jerry out cold and get the pin to tie up the series.

Rating: B. REALLY fast paced match here but unlike the four way, this one was, you know, good. This was the feud that got the company noticed, which is something Lynn was always good for: a solid performance that got someone else, be it Van Dam or AJ, over better than they ever could on their own. Good stuff here.

The third match, a ten minute Iron Man match, begins immediately.

AJ Styles vs. Jerry Lynn

AJ gets two quick falls on the unconscious Lynn inside of twenty seconds. A third attempt only gets two and Lynn fights back with a neckbreaker. Styles grabs a sleeper and pulls Lynn down by the long hair. Why would you ever be a face with long hair? It’s not going to end well for you. A chinlock goes nowhere so AJ tries a hurricanrana, only to get countered into an X-Factor from Lynn to make it 2-1. Jerry tries to do what AJ did and get a second pin really fast but Styles gets up at two.

We’re about four minutes in now as AJ counters the cradle piledriver with a backdrop before missing a corner charge. That always happens for some reason. Jerry goes up top but gets caught in a crucifix and slammed face down onto the mat to make it 3-1 AJ. A spinwheel kick puts Jerry down again as we have Low Ki standing on the stage with a ladder for no apparent reason. Two minutes to go now and Jerry grabs a tombstone out of nowhere to make it 3-2.

Lynn loads up the cradle piledriver but AJ keeps blocking it. In a nice thinking move, Jerry shifts his legs and hooks AJ in a Styles Clash of all things to tie the match up again. That’s a Russo favorite but I don’t think he was around at this point yet. A backslide gets two for AJ and they fight to a draw in a slick pinfall reversal sequence.

Rating: C+. Not as good as the No DQ match but then again this was their third match of the night. This is one of those feuds that works well, so naturally TNA’s idea is to run it into the ground by doing the same match over and over again. Still though, good stuff here, really stupid ending aside.

AJ talks about how awesome the X-Division is.

Tenay (finally at a regular angle) thinks the X-Division guys deserve to be in the main events. Low Ki impresses him most, and that’s what takes us to the last match on the show.

Finally, from Weekly PPV #11.

X-Division Title: Jerry Lynn vs. Low Ki vs. AJ Styles

This is a ladder match with Ki defending. They circle each other for a bit until Styles drops down and grabs a ladder. Both other guys slide to the floor as well with Styles hitting Jerry with the ladder, only to have Low Ki kick the ladder back into AJ. They head back inside where Low Ki kicks Lynn off the apron. A handspring kick takes Styles down as well as Jerry comes back in.

Lynn hits a sweet spinning tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to take the champ down before pounding on Styles in the corner. Low Ki gets put in a surfboard but Styles breaks it up and stomps on Low Ki a bit. Jerry suplexes AJ down and puts him in a Liontamer, only to have Low Ki fire off kicks to break it up. Lynn won’t let it go and shouts to kick him harder. Low Ki is fine with that and kicks Lynn hard enough to break up the hold.

A running kick in the corner takes Styles down again before loading him into the Ki Crusher. Instead of dropping him though, Low Ki rams him into Jerry in the corner to put both guys down. The champ goes to get the ladder but Jerry baseball slides it back into Low Ki to take over again. Styles heads to the floor as well to kick the champ in the head before dropping Lynn face first onto the apron.

With the ladder bridged between the ring and the barricade, all three guys stand on top of it and slug it out before a big headbutt sends all three guys to the ground. Lynn is up first and sends a ladder into the ring which is dropkicked into AJ’s ribs and chest on the mat. Low Ki is up again and starts setting up the ladder, only to have AJ deck him from behind. The ladder is leaning against the ropes as AJ GOES OFF on the champ, only to walk into a punch from Jerry.

Lynn and Styles launch Low Ki into the ladder in a double hiptoss and it’s one on one. AJ does a Daniel Bryan backflip off the ladder and tries a tornado DDT, only to have Lynn counter and hit a northern lights suplex to send AJ back first into the ladder. Ki is back in and kicks Jerry down but realizes he can’t pin him. A charge in the corner is caught by Lynn but he hurricanranas Jerry into the ladder to put all three guys down again.

It’s AJ back up first to ram the champ with the ladder before he tries to climb, only to get kicked by Low Ki. AJ is hung in a Tree of Woe in the ladder where Low Ki fires off kicks to the chest. Now Low Ki climbs but Jerry makes the save and suplexes him down off the ladder to put everyone down again. AJ gets up and hits the moonsault DDT on Low Ki to pop the crowd again. Jerry pounds on Styles and catches a jumping champion in a running Liger Bomb to take over yet again.

There’s a second ladder in the ring now as Styles brings in another one. Low Ki slides out and brings in a third as this could get very messy in a hurry. The challengers stop fighting long enough to make a save of Low Ki as Styles and Low Ki fight on top. Low Ki hooks a Dragon Sleeper on top of the ladder (grab the title you dolt) but here’s Lynn again and all three are on a ladder.

In a pretty awesome move, Low Ki has his ladder shoved down but he gets his foot on the top rope and shoves himself and the ladder back to an upright position. AJ gets shoved to the floor and it’s Lynn vs. Low Ki. Jerry is like DIE YOU KICKING SPOT MONKEY and cradle piledrives him off the ladder. Lynn climbs up and wins the title to end the show.

Rating: B+. Solid, solid match here with all three guys beating the tar out of each other. It’s not on the level of one of the TLC matches, but for what we had here, this was one of the better ladder matches you’ll see in awhile. I’d have preferred just Lynn and AJ because I’m not a fan of Low Ki at all, but the shove back off the rope was good enough for me to overlook him. Solid stuff.

We get a quick preview for the Gauntlet For The Gold for the Tag Team Titles in two weeks (no show on September 11 of course).

We wrap it up with an interview with Jerry Lynn, who talks about how great the X-Division is and how impressed he is with the other people in the division. AJ comes up for a rather mocking handshake, only to turn around and see Low Ki. With AJ gone, Low Ki says AJ isn’t the only one gunning for the title. Lynn says he’s looking forward to it to end the show.

Overall Rating: B+. The point of this show was to make the X-Division look important and they did that very well. The whole thing was a great collection of action with everyone flying all over the place and getting your attention. That was the point of the X-Division in the first place and I think it’s fair to call it a huge success. This made me want to see more from this era, but then I remember everything else that comes with this division and that feeling is toned down a lot. Still though, great stuff and an awesome look back/preview for what defined the company in its early days.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

Someone has to talk about TNA.http://www.wrestlingrumors.net/kbs-review-option-c-killed-x-division/25660/

Some rare KB booking ideas.

This appears to be for this weekend only so check it out while you can.

http://www.impactwrestling.com/news/item/5360-TNA-on-YouTube-Freeview-Weekend-Watch-Select-Classic-Compilation-Releases-For-Free

Here’s what you can check out:

Covering two current TNA stories.1. Apparently AJ Styles will be gone for a few more months, defending the TNA World Title around the world.

Translation: Remember that guy we spent most of 2013 building up?  Well you just don’t get to see him anymore but come back later because he might be back then.  Until then, watch a bunch of guys that AJ beat in a competition fight for the other title in his absence!

2. Dixie Carter announced a former world champion returning to Impact tomorrow night in Cincinnati.

It would be Pacman Jones, the former tag team champion from several years back.  In other words, instead of bringing in new Knockouts, tag teams, X-Division guys or some fresh faces, TNA feels the better move is to bring back a guy who didn’t wrestle, most people complained about being in TNA the first time, and makes the news for not getting arrested rather than the more traditional opposite.

That’s TNA in a nutshell at the moment.  More on their screwups later.

This is what selling TNA to a fan might sound like right about now.Dude you should totally watch Impact Wrestling.  They have this guy named AJ Styles who does the most awesome flips and dives and has the best matches in the world.

Potential fan: That sounds cool.  Which one is he?

Oh well actually he left after turning down money and a car and implied sex with a not terrible looking woman.  But he’s champion and the best in the world!

Potential fan: But I can’t see him?

You might be able to if you don’t mind listening to Spanish or Japanese commentary.

Potential fan: HUH?

Never mind.  Oh I know you’ll love this: TNA has this thing called the X Division which has no limits on it at all.  Everybody is all about leaving it all in the ring and giving everything they have to be champion.  They fly around and have to crawl across ropes to pull down a title belt.

Potential fan: Now that has to be cool.  When are they on?

Actually scratch that since they weren’t on TV this week because Impact needed more time to spend on the not bad looking older woman.  Wait I almost forgot the best part!  There’s this team called Aces and 8’s and they’re just like Sons of Anarchy and they ride on motorcycles and beat up everyone!

Potential TNA fan: I don’t watch Sons of Anarchy.

Uh……Oh there’s this guy there named EC3 who is just like Robert Griffith III.

Potential TNA fan: He’s my favorite player on my favorite team.  Ok so I need to look for the black guy named EC3.  He has to be cool.

Actually he’s white.

Potential TNA fan: But he’s more athletic than everyone else right?

…..not especially.

Potential TNA fan: He represents Washington DC though?

If the DC stands for Directly from Cleveland he does!

Potential TNA fan: Nicest guy in the company?

Actually he looks to be one of the new top heels.  He’s the nephew of the older lady who isn’t bad looking.

Potential TNA fan: …..is he recovering from knee surgery?

YES!  I can indeed assure you that he had his knee operated on last year and is at least mostly back to full strength!

Potential TNA fan: So to recap, you want me to watch a show where to see the best guy in the world I need to watch other companies, I should be a fan of Sons of Anarchy, the high flying dudes weren’t even on last week, the show is apparently dominated by a woman that isn’t that bad looking and there’s a guy who is supposed to be like RG3 because he’s the polar opposite of him?

……did I mention Sting is still there and Hulk Hogan might come back?  And Sting can almost bend over still!

The worst part: this isn’t meant as a parody.

Unbreakable
Date: September 11, 2005
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 775
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Don West

For those of you that keep track, this is the final TNA PPV that I haven’t done. The reason I chose this one for the last spot is the main event, which is universally considered the best TNA match of all time. Meltzer gave it five stars and I have yet to hear anyone say anything bad about it. The interesting thing is this is during the dark ages for the company, as they’re off TV here and wouldn’t get back on for another three weeks or so. Due to that and the main event, the rest of the show is almost totally forgotten. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is themed like an old school radio announcer and how TNA is the new national pastime. It runs down the main events, which also includes Raven vs. Rhyno for the title. That and the triple threat are the only matches mentioned. I liked this and the stupid idea was kind of cute.

3 Live Kru vs. Diamonds in the Rough

The Diamonds are Simon Diamond, Elix Skipper and David Young. After Konnan does his usual schtick, Elix and BG start things off. This was the same pairing that started off the match at the previous PPV I did. Elix uses his speed to control early but BG comes back with the same moveset he’s been using for years. Young tries to come in and gets double teamed by Killings and James. Back to Skipper and the Diamonds get in some triple team action on the former Road Dogg. Seriously, that’s what they call him quite a few times. BG escapes, hot tags Konnan, a shoe is thrown and the X-Factor pins Young. Seriously, that’s it.

Rating: D. What in the world was the point of this? It was like four minutes long and the match sucked. This was a horrible choice for an opener but I guess the fans are happy with the ending. The Diamonds were a really weak mini stable and I don’t think anyone ever cared about them in any way, shape or form. Really bad choice to start the show here.

We recap the preshow with Brown, Jarrett and Hardy all wanting the BFG title match. That would go to Kevin Nash on paper but Rhyno in reality.

Austin Aries vs. Roderick Strong

Aries takes him to the mat immediately as the fans chant about Generation Next. West explains that they’re stable mates in ROH as Strong takes over again. Aries (who looks really weird without his mustache) nips up and takes over again. A dropkick sets up a headlock on the mat for Aries as Austin is in control. Strong tries the Strong Hold but Aries spins out of it and we get a standoff.

Aries’ monkey flip is countered and Strong busts out the backbreakers. He throws Aries into the buckle for two and follows it up with a butterfly suplex for the same. Another backbreaker gets two and Strong stays on the back. He mixes it up by putting on a full nelson with his legs, only to get rolled up for two. Strong goes to a safer chinlock but Aries pops up. That gets him nowhere though as Roderick dropkicks him down for two.

Strong is continuing his career run of not being that interesting in the ring with this match. Aries comes back with a clothesline and hits the Pendulum Elbow for two. The slingshot spinning splash gets the same and Strong is in trouble. A backbreaker out of nowhere (he’s the Messiah of them you know) gets Strong control again and the double knee gutbuster gets a VERY close two. Aries blocks the Strong Hold and hits the corner dropkick. The brainbuster sets up the 450 for the pin on Strong.

Rating: B-. Fun match but it came and went. There’s nothing else to this one at all with no story behind it or anything. This was a way for these guys to get out there and fly around a little bit which worked, but it doesn’t advance anything or prove anything. It was a good match and that’s all it was supposed to be though.

Monty Brown isn’t worried about teaming with Kip James. Cue Kip who says Monty should apologize to Jarrett for wanting a title match. Monty says no so Kip says get your head in the game. Brown says his catchphrase and that’s about it.

Monty Brown/Kip James vs. Lance Hoyt/Apolo

James/Brown injured Apolo’s normal partner Sonny Siaki so this is about revenge. Hoyt and Kip start and this could get bad in a hurry. Lance is a big guy with some agility but he needs someone to work well off of. Kip tries his usual stuff but can’t do anything against Hoyt’s power. After getting slammed by Lance, James heads to the floor for a break. We’ll try Monty instead and it’s the same result minus the break.

Off to Apolo who is a short but well built guy who was a big star in Puerto Rico but he just kind of left TNA one day and was never heard from again. Monty, the biggest star in this match (at this point) gets beaten back and forth for a few minutes like a pinball. It’s FINALLY off to Kip who has a bit more luck. Now we get to the meat of the match with Hoyt in trouble, which is an acceptable option.

Brown and Kip take turns on the big man, trying to keep him down with work on the knee. Brown keeps him in the ring with pure raw power, which is the best thing for a guy like him to do. Off to Kip and he immediately screws up, getting caught in a double clothesline which allows the double tag to bring in Brown and Apolo. Apolo cleans house but gets caught in the Fameasser. That gets James nowhere as he walks into a big boot and the moonsault from Hoyt but Brown knocks him to the floor. Apolo superkicks Kip down but turns around into the Pounce from Brown for the pin.

Rating: D+. Another dull match here but it wasn’t as bad as the opener. Brown was a war machine but he kept getting stuck in stupid matches like this instead of having a big continued push. He wouldn’t have been a great champion but he would have been a solid challenger, kind of like a muscular JBL. This was decent enough though.

Team Canada is without Coach D’Amore due to an injury he has. Petey tries to pep up the team instead and everyone talks about their respective matches tonight.

Petey Williams vs. Chris Sabin

Unless I’m mistaken, they play the wrong music here and Petey comes out to Abyss’ music at first. Sabin was supposed to face Shocker but AAA pulled Shocker out so Williams is the replacement. Sabin works on the arm to start and takes Petey down with an armdrag. They head to the floor for nothing but Sabin comes back in with a middle rope elbow. They head back outside but Chris’ sunset bomb off the apron is blocked.

Sabin tries a dive off the apron but hits barricade to give the advantage to the Canadian. Back in now and Williams puts him into the Tree of Woe for O Canada. A backbreaker gets two for Williams but Sabin starts his comeback with shots to the ribs. Petey is like screw that and hits a big DDT for another two. Off to a chinlock as the fans do their dueling chants thing.

Petey chokes away as Tenay talks about September 11 and Hurricane Katrina. Sabin gets in a kick to the back of the head and everyone is down. Chris gets up first and fires off forearms before they trade chops. Sabin takes over with kicks and a fisherman’s buster for two. Cradle Shock and the Destroyer are both countered but Williams grabs a Sharpshooter.

Sabin gets to the ropes and Petey is getting frustrated. A tornado DDT out of the corner gets two for Chris and both guys are down again. The Canadian hits a Russian legsweep on the American for no cover. The Destroyer is broken up again but Sabin’s missile dropkick misses. The Sharpshooter goes on again but it’s worse than Rock’s. After that gets broken up, Petey misses a charge into the corner and Sabin drives him into the corner again. The Cradle Shock is broken up again, as is the third Destroyer attempt. Cradle Shock (a fireman’s carry into a kind of piledriver) finally hits for the pin for Sabin.

Rating: B-. It’s Sabin vs. Williams. Were you expecting anything but a good and solid match here? The X-Division was on fire at this point and they could have some random matches like this one or the one earlier and have a good match out of it. Good stuff here and considering there was no story to it, this was pretty impressive.

Matt Bentley returns post match and superkicks both guys. He wants an Ultimate X match at Bound For Glory which I think he wound up getting.

We recap Sabu vs. Abyss. This is fallout from a tag match last month that I don’t remember at all. They’re both violent and that’s about it.

Sabu vs. Abyss

James Mitchell wants to make it No DQ and of course it is. Sabu fires away with right hands but they have next to no effect. Abyss throws him around but Sabu keeps coming, likely due to his history of head trauma. A big boot puts Sabu down but he keeps coming back with chops. The fans want tables less than two minutes into the match. Does foreplay mean nothing to these people?

Instead Sabu gets a chair and pounds away with it, including hitting an Arabian Facebuster with it for two. A clothesline puts both of them on the floor and there’s the table. That one is broken though (as in it broke while he was setting it up) so Abyss sets up one of his own. Sabu uses the distraction to hit a flip dive over the top rope and out onto Abyss. They head back in and Sabu charges straight into a backdrop through the two tables at ringside. That’s a bad stretch of luck for him there.

Abyss sets up a table in the ring but takes FOREVER to do it, allowing Sabu to come back with chair shots to the head. Now the fans want thumbtacks. These people are never satisfied. Sabu goes up top with the chair and drives Abyss through the table for three, but Mitchell puts Abyss’ foot on the rope. You know, because in a match based on pure carnage, a foot on the rope is good enough to break it up.

Abyss goes under the ring and gets the tacks which are spread on the mat. They take turns teasing going into the tacks for a bit until Sabu whacks Abyss with a chair. That gets nowhere so Sabu springboards into a Black Hole Slam onto the tacks for the pin with no feet on the ropes this time.

Rating: C+. It’s Abyss vs. Sabu in a hardcore match. What else were you expecting here? They beat on each other with weapons for awhile, Sabu got thrown around a lot, Abyss got hit in the head with a lot of stuff, and someone got thrown into the tacks. What else were you expecting here? The match was just ok but eventually they would have a solid hardcore match with barbed wire everywhere which was a lot better.

Sean Waltman isn’t here tonight so Alex Shelley, the partner he won the Chris Candido Memorial Tag Team Tournament with, will be getting his title match with someone else.

Tenay and West talk about what we just heard.

Bobby Roode vs. Jeff Hardy

Geez wouldn’t THIS be a different match today? Hardy is back in the ring after a few months away, I believe doing a no show. They trade clotheslines to start as Hardy tries to use his speed against the power guy of Team Canada. Well the second power guy of Team Canada as A-1 took that spot from him. Roode heads to the floor and Hardy dives onto him to take over. Back in and Hardy loads up Whisper in the Wind but Bobby pulls him onto the ropes to break it up.

A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two for Bobby as he starts working on the back. Scratch that as it’s a neck crank instead. He switches that up and puts a knee in Jeff’s back and pulls on the arms instead. Hardy comes back with a sunset flip for two but Roode rolls out and hits a low dropkick of all things to take over again. Belly to back suplex gets two. Jeff gets in some right hands and the Whisper in the Wind hits this time for two.

Roode goes back to the back of Hardy but Jeff sweeps the leg and drops his legs between Roode’s legs to slow Roode down again. Jeff goes up but Petey Williams pops up with a hockey stick shot to break up the Swanton. Roode’s superplex attempt is broken up so he runs the ropes like Angle and hits a superplex for a delayed two.

The hockey stick comes in but Jeff kicks him in the ribs and hits the Twist to take Roode down and out to the floor. Jeff loads up a Swanton to the floor but Roode moves before the jump. Petey tries the Destroyer on the floor but Jeff escapes. Now Jeff Jarrett comes out (Hardy attacked Jarrett last month) and blasts the other Jeff with the hockey stick and rolls Roode in for the pin.

Rating: C-. Roode was next to nothing at this point but he was starting to get better. Obviously he would get WAY better eventually as would Hardy, but at this point it was a midcard match. Hardy and Jarrett wouldn’t do much for awhile as they had had their big match almost a year earlier. Not much here but I could think of many worse ways to spend ten minutes.

We recap the tag title match. There was an eight man tag last month between the Naturals (champions), AMW, and Team Canada. Tonight it’s those three teams plus the winners of the Candido tournament in an elimination match. That’s about it.

Jimmy Hart and the Naturals say they’ll keep the belts. AMW comes up for a glare and Storm says his catchphrase.

Tag Titles: The Naturals vs. America’s Most Wanted vs. Team Canada vs. Alex Shelley/???

The Canadians are Eric Young and A-1 here. The Naturals (Andy Douglas with the black hair and Chase Stevens with the blonde) come out with a towel like Chris Candido always had. He was their manager too so that’s a very nice touch. This is elimination rules too. Shelley has no partner here. It’s a big brawl to start until it’s Stevens vs. Storm get us going. Shelley quickly tags himself in to try to steal a pin on Stevens but it only gets two.

Stevens fights back and A-1 hits a knee to Shelley’s back to make sure Stevens isn’t in trouble. That doesn’t sit well with Chase but while he’s yelling, Eric Young tags himself in and beats on Shelley. Off to A-1 for a chop in the corner and a suplex for two. Back to Eric with a front facelock and the double teaming continues. The announcers rip Waltman to no end but Shelley hits a Stunner to Young and a DDT to A-1 at the same time. Johnny Candido, Chris’ brother, jumps over the barricade and gets on the apron to be Shelley’s partner. Not that it matters as he’s almost immediately hit low and rolled up for the pin.

We’re down to three now and it’s Storm vs. Young. There’s the Eye of the Storm for two as AMW is in control. Out to the floor with A-1 interfering again to take over. Back inside and Young gets a suplex for two before A-1 comes in for some choking. Young hooks a chinlock as this match is starting to get dull. Storm FINALLY superkicks Young down and dives for the hot tag to Harris.

Wildcat cleans house and hits a Thesz Press to A-1. Bulldog takes the same guy down but A-1 breaks up the Catatonic. Harris hooks a pretty nice delayed vertical for two on A-1 but as he loads the same move up on Young, A-1 hits him in the back with the hockey stick. Young rolls up Harris for the pin and it’s down to two teams. Stevens comes in again and drops a bunch of legs on Young for two.

Back to Douglas and Young gets the advantage back with some choking. Jimmy leads USA chants on the floor but Douglas gets caught in a Samoan Drop for two. They head to the floor and Eric shoves Jimmy down. That’s crossing a line brother. Douglas hits a jumping knee out of nowhere and there’s the hot tag to Stevens.

The comeback is short lived as A-1 powerbombs the tar out of Stevens to stop him cold. Everything breaks down and Young superplexes Douglas for two. The Canadians load up a Doomsday Device but Jimmy pays them back for attacking him earlier. Young gets crotched and the Natural Disaster to the steak sauce man gets the pin to retain the belts.

Rating: C+. This was ok but it started dragging a lot at times. The stuff with Shelley was a mess but at the same time that wasn’t his fault, due to Waltman no showing. The Naturals were good and having Hart with them helped more than anything else they could have done for themselves. Decent match here but it ran longer than it needed to. At the end of the day, you can only see these people face each other so many times, which is what happened with the Naturals vs. AMW.

Bound For Glory ad.

Rhyno blasts the WWE and says that he’ll win tonight.

We recap the world title match. Rhyno debuted two months ago by Goring Raven through a table. Last month he got a pin in a tag match over Raven to get this title match. That’s about it and Jarrett is lurking for the winner.

NWA World Title: Raven vs. Rhyno

This is No DQ and Raven is defending. Raven brings in his shopping cart full of weapons as is his custom. The weapons are brought in almost immediately and Rhyno bails. He finds a kendo stick from somewhere but stalls more anyway. Raven’s Rules include falls count anywhere apparently. They both have sticks and it’s time for a duel. I don’t think Thesz and Brisco ever did anything like that other than that one show in Boston back in 63. Rhyno knocks him down and chokes with something we can’t see. Apparently it was a nunchuck.

Raven comes back with a pizza cutter to bust Rhyno open. The fans chant that they want pizza. WELL GO BUY IT YOU FREAKING TIGHTWADS! You didn’t pay for a ticket so go buy yourselves a slice! They head to the floor and Raven rams him into a keg. WHY IS THERE A BEER KEG? Either way Rhyno is busted open and Raven finds a ladder. Rhyno hits him with the keg and Raven hits him with the kendo stick. Some cane shots to the back get two.

Raven puts on an ankle lock but Rhyno makes a rope. He slugs Bird Boy to the floor and pops him in the back with a chair a few times. Back inside and Raven is busted open by a garbage can shot. Rhyno does a Joe Face Wash in the corner but Raven grabs the foot for the ankle lock again. Rhyno shrugs that off and pulls out the staple gun. He staples the head of Raven, right on the cut. They didn’t even do that back in Boston in 63.

Rhyno goes up but misses a splash, hitting a chair instead. They slug it out with Raven taking over via the discus lariat. A knee lift puts Rhyno down in the corner and there’s the bulldog for two. Rhyno fights back and here’s Cassidy Riley (Raven worshipper) to help but his distraction means Raven’s DDT only gets two. Rhyno sets up the ladder against a chair like a ramp and then pounds away in the corner on Raven in front of it. If you don’t know what’s coming here, you’re an idiot. That only gets two and both guys are spent.

Rhyno seesaws the ladder into Raven’s face and the champ is in even more trouble than he was before. That also gets two so Rhyno brings the shopping cart inside. This is starting to look like their Backlash 2001 Hardcore Title match which is a good thing. Raven rams him into the cart and avoids the Gore, sending it into the cart. That’s right out of the 01 match and here’s Jarrett. He loads up a belt shot but Jeff Hardy comes down to take the belt away. Raven DDTs Jarrett and Rhyno to retain.

Rating: B-. Decent brawl here but it was too messy for my tastes. Raven was a good champion but him being off TV makes him mostly forgotten. That’s a shame too because he breathed some fresh air into the main event scene. He would lose the title four days later in Canada at some other NWA event, likely because the NWA thought it was a good idea. Anyway, decent match but nothing great.

We recap the main event. Daniels is champion and Joe won the shot last month over AJ. They threw Styles in there anyway and this is the result. Not much else needs to be said.

X-Division Title: Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels

Daniels is the longest reigning champion ever at this point, AJ is a four time champion and Joe is undefeated. This is TNA’s greatest match ever so let’s see if it holds up. AJ and Joe team up to beat down Daniels to start which is kind of a surprising move. Joe kicks him HARD in the back and AJ does the same thing. It turns into a contest and I think Joe wins by a hair. Daniels gets up but Joe kicks him in the face. Cool sequence.

AJ grabs a fast rollup on Joe and we’re ready to get going. They trade pinfall attempts so fast that I can’t type them until Joe hooks a modified Rings of Saturn. Daniels breaks it up and kicks AJ down for no cover. Joe chops the champ and hits a standing enziguri to knock him to the floor. AJ takes Joe down but Daniels is back in to take over on Styles, getting two. Joe chops them both in the corner but Daniels fires back with chops of his own.

Styles headscissors both guys down into opposite corners and fires off kicks at Joe. Joe is like screw that and suplexes him down overhead style. There’s the Facewash to Styles but Daniels breaks up the running kick to the face. Daniels hits a springboard moonsault onto Joe on the floor but you know AJ has to top him, so he hits a springboard shooting star to take both guys down. He rolls Joe back in for two and things slow down a tiny bit.

Actually scratch that as Styles hits the drop down/dropkick combo for two. Daniels comes back in again and monkey flips AJ at Joe but AJ twists in mid air into a rana on the fat man. Daniels O’Connor rolls Styles for two and then launches him over the top and out to the floor. A flying knee sends Joe into the corner and Daniels slaps him in the face. Joe will have none of that and slaps Daniels back but Daniels rolls him up for two.

Joe counters the rollup into the Clutch so Styles busts out Spiral Tap to break up the hold. That gets two on both guys and Daniels sends Styles back to the floor. An STO puts Joe down but AJ breaks up the BME. I feel like I’m talking to a 3 year old after that last exchange with all the spelling. Daniels gets caught in the Tree of Woe and AJ kicks away, but Joe splashes AJ into Daniels. A running dropkick to the face breaks the Tree and Daniels is out.

The running big boot that Joe does knocks AJ’s head into Tallahassee somewhere and the backsplash gets two. Daniels comes back out of nowhere and hits the Death Valley Driver on Joe. Everyone is down until Daniels covers Joe for two. AJ gets sent to the floor and both he and Daniels miss moonsaults. They slug it out so Joe hits a corkscrew plancha to take both guys down. The fans are losing their minds over this stuff. Back in and Daniels breaks up the MuscleBuster but Styles goes up too. AJ and Daniels fight on the top so Joe backdrops both of them down at the same time.

Joe gets up first and he looks MAD. He and AJ slug it out with AJ taking over but Joe slugs him right back and hits a big old German release suplex to take over. There’s the MuscleBuster but Daniels comes in with the belt. He charges at Joe but the Samoan hits a snap powerslam to cut that off. Joe picks the belt up but Daniels kicks it into his face. Daniels and AJ slug it out and that just feels appropriate. A blue thunder bomb out of nowhere gets two on Styles.

Release Rock Bottom puts AJ down and the BME gets two as Joe makes the save. Daniels puts a Dragon Sleeper on Joe and hooks the Last Rites (rolling cutter which he didn’t use that often) to send Joe to the floor again. AJ bounces back up and hits the moonsault into the reverse DDT for two. Styles goes up but Daniels hits a palm strike to stop him. Daniels superplexes him down but he can’t cover. Joe comes in and covers both guys for two.

Joe focuses on Daniels and hits his powerbomb into the Boston Crab into the STF sequence so he can call a LONG spot to Daniels. Daniels (wearing a wedding ring) gets the rope so Joe beats up AJ a bit more. He fires off forearms but AJ snaps off the Pele to take over again. The Rack into a neckbreaker gets two for Styles but Daniels is back up. AJ hits a sunset flip into the Clash but Joe makes the save at two. Daniels ducks a charging Joe to send him tot he floor. AJ and Daniels slug it out and Daniels tries the Angel’s Wings. AJ counters into a bridging backdrop and stays on top for the pin and the title.

Rating: A+. Yeah that’s the easy answer but there’s no real other option to go with here. This was about twenty three minutes long and the longest they go without action is maybe 20 seconds. These three have incredible chemistry together and it was a great example of what smaller guys can do. It’s not the best match in TNA history by a mile but it’s the best match by a few feet. Great match.

Daniels looking up from his knees and shouting NO is the perfect way to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. The show is good overall but it’s not a masterpiece. At the end of the day, everything other than the main event is ok but there’s nothing worth seeing aside from that. The main event is an absolute classic for the speed and workrate alone. This is probably the company’s best period ever and it’s a shame that it wasn’t on TV at all. Pretty good show here but the large majority of the worth of it is on the main event. The rest is pretty skippable.

With that, I’ve reviewed every three hour TNA pay per view (this is being written with Slammiversary 2012 being the most recent PPV). I know there are a lot of the two hour shows and I’ve got the first seventeen scheduled already so they’re coming soon. As for TNA, as a whole I think there are more bad/weak PPVs than good ones, but some of them are very good. There are some excellent shows such as Slammiversary 2012, Sacrifice 2007 and Bound For Glory 2011 among others.

In short, TNA is just like most wrestling companies. The PPVs can be hit or miss but it depends on what you have going into them. The problem in the early days of the shows was that they didn’t have a lot of material to fill the cards out with, but that was due to them only having an hour a week for TV. TNA has since fixed a lot of their original issues but like any other company they’ll continue to have ups and downs for years.

The best period is probably 2005-2006 before Angle got there and the company started to evolve into something more like a WWE style company. Whether or not that’s a good thing is up for debate, but the company has grown up a lot over the years. At the moment things are on a hot streak but that could change at any given moment. Overall the shows are probably more bad than good, but there are great TNA shows and they’re worth checking out if you can find them in full.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews, and pick up my new book of Complete 2001 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $4 at:

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for just $4 at:

Back to singles matches.

THANK GOODNESS.  The three way match rules were getting really annoying as there’s nothing gained by having everything as a triple threat.  Good choice here.

Destination X 2010
Date: March 21, 2010
Location: Impact Zone, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Mike Tenay, Taz

So the focus is back on the X Division here as we have Ultimate X and a tag team ladder match to take a look at this time. I watched this show live and I liked what I saw for the most part. We have AJ vs. Abyss in the main event which if it’s anything like their cage match about 5 years ago it will be great. Anyway, let’s get to it.

The opening video is thankfully about the X Division with Daniels talking about how awesome he is. And now we’re done with that and talking about the rest of the card. Of course it’s over the top since this is a TNA video.

Kazarian vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Amazing Red vs. Christopher Daniels

Winner is #1 contender to the X Division Title. Oh and it’s a ladder match. This was when Daniels had some weird thing on where it wrapped around his neck and then down to his arms. It just looked weird. Make your own Antonio Banderas jokes. We get going and Kendrick hits the floor. Smart. Red launches himself of the ropes to hit everyone not named Kendrick. There’s your first ladder.

Everyone goes for the contract in a row but no one gets it. I love that STO Daniels does. Taz knowing the real name of it might be the only thing worth a thing from him. The ladder has an ad for TNAwrestling.com. There’s something amusing about that. TNA gets the idea here at least: have a spot fest. That’s what a match like this is supposed to be and that’s what they’re giving us.

Red hits a SWEET hurricanrana to the floor. In a spot that I thought was stupid Kazarian has Red in position for the Flux Capactior on the ladder. The setup is like a Rock Bottom. His left arm is free. WHY DIDN’T HE GRAB THE FREAKING PAPER??? He makes up for it a bit with a slingshot Fameasser to a ladder on Daniels. Nice. Kendrick gets his fingers slammed in a ladder. FREAKING OW!

Daniels and Kaz are the only ones left in there. And there’s Kendrick so never mind. Crowd is totally behind Kendrick here in case you’re wondering. That five clap sequence the audience does needs to freaking die. It truly does. In a nice spot, Red goes for a springboard something but jumps into a Diamond Cutter from Kazarian. I like it.

Ladder number two is in and Red and Daniels have a race. Kazarian does the Shelton Spider-Man spot to get onto the ladders and knocks Daniels off to win the thing.

Rating: B+. It was a spot fest and that’s all it had to be. This was a great way to open the show and the match was solid. Even in a TNA crowd you have to get them fired up and what better way than this? Kaz will win the title soon and after this he deserves it. Fun match.

We talk about A.J. vs. Abyss for no apparent reason. I can’t get over this ring thing. It’s just idiotic to say the least. And here’s Ric Flair for no reason at all. Chelsea brings him out in a wheelchair. To the shock of no one, Flair is ticked off. I know some people love this, but it’s saddening to see him look like this much of a joke anymore.

He was so great and now he’s just a blithering old man. The ask your mother jokes are still kind of funny though. Seriously though, he’s just a crazy man that won’t let go of the past now.

We cut to Hogan and Abyss and Hogan likes him a lot. Shocking isn’t it? It continues to confuse me that he’s a former world champion here and all of a sudden he’s’ never accomplished a thing. The ring is just stupid. Is it supposed to make him super powered or something? He looks like someone attacked him with ketchup and mustard. Bischoff comes in and he has limited hair now. If nothing else the jokes Abyss and Hogan make are kind of funny.

Knockouts Title: Tara vs. Daffney

Tara is just made of hotness. Apparently Daffney is the “challengemer”. Sure why not Tenay. The zombie hot thing is hit or miss for me with her. She does the splits for her entrance which is unique apparently. I guess if Melina is hurt that makes it unique. Tara goes straight for her and we’re off and running early. Tara’s shirt comes off and I start smiling. At least she didn’t do the dance for the moonsault this time.

It’s ok when she’s dominating but not when she’s ticked off. Tara busts out a Tarantula which at least fits really well. Daffney hooks a screwed up submission hold which is very unique. This is a bit sloppy but it’s very nice to see women having a match where it looks like they know what they’re doing and you have a legitimate flow to the match rather than just moving from spot to spot, most of which would be blown.

Daffney doesn’t get to wrestle much but she’s not bad when she does. Widow’s Peak ends it. Daffney steals the spider afterwards so the feud continues.

Rating: C+. Not bad at all here. It’s nothing great, but it was perfectly watchable. Daffney surprised me in there and Tara of course is dependable so that works out fine. I wish they didn’t do the spider thing as there’s no real point to continuing this since Tara got a clean pin but whatever.

Brutus Magnus is changing his name to just Magnus. This turns into a discussion of Frankenstein. Sure why not.

Global Title: Magnus vs. Rob Terry

Terry is getting the Goldberg push which is fine I guess. It keeps his matches short if nothing else. It never ceases to amaze me that people talk about what an alternative to WWE TNA is supposed to be and here we have a not incredibly talented musclehead guy getting a mega push. A spinebuster ends this in like a minute and a half.

Rating: N/A. The Goldberg push continues, which I can’t say I have many problems with. This was a total non-threat so that’s all fine and good.

We get a highlight package on Ultimate X with a bunch of people talking about how dangerous it is. We’ll ignore that none of them have ever been in one of these matches.

The Machine Guns talk about how great they are and say Generation Me need their Hardy Boys Starter Kit. That’s rather amusing and the crowd laughed hard at it.

Taz says he was looking at the structure earlier when he was hanging in the rafters. Do I even need to make fun of that?

Ultimate X: Motor City Machine Guns vs. Generation Me

You think this could be awesome? Yeah me too. Penzer screws up a bit on his opening line. Ok one is Max and one is Jeremy. I’ll never remember that but whatever. BIG pop for the Guns. Seriously, how have these two never been tag champions? This is Sabin’s 13th Ultimate X match out of 20 that have happened. That’s INSANE. The Guns immediately hit the corners which is rather stupid but whatever.

Don’t expect a ton of play by play or criticism over psychology here. It’s just not going to happen. In a painful looking spot, One of the Bucks gets their hair pulled around the structure. FREAKING OW MAN! Ok Max has the headband. Got it. I think we got a Team 3D chant in there. Why? What the freaking heck? Who cares as Shelley hits a sweet looking dive to shut the fans up.

There is little more fun to see than precision double teaming. That’s what the golden age of tag wrestling was predicated on and these guys bring that back. Jeremy is freaking entertaining. He hits a springboard modified X-Factor and immediately hits a moonsault to the floor. Sweetness. They do something smart and say no replays until the match is over. That’s a good idea.

Jeremy gets up on the X but Sabin makes the stop. Shelley actually tickles Jeremy to knock him down. Well whatever works I guess. The fans think this is awesome. Now if only they were paying to see it. Everyone goes on one part of the X and they all do the leg hook thing but everyone falls. Kick-o-rama begins and it’s sweet. The speed of these guys is epic.

In a SWEET spot, Max is in the Tree of Woe and Jeremy takes a belly to belly into him. And in a STUPID move, the Guns unhook Max. Seriously, why in the world would you do that? It makes NO sense. One guy is on the floor and the other is stuck in the corner. One guy plays guard and the other goes up. Whatever though as we got a cool double team out of it. Sabin and Jeremy go up but down comes Jeremy and the Guns win it!

Rating: A-. Just a sweet match here. Much like the TLC matches, this wasn’t about wrestling but about high flying spectacles which is just fine. These are designed to have the guys showcase themselves and that’s what they did here. Very fun match and worth finding a copy of for sure.

The highlight package is great of course.

We recap the Band vs. Nash and Young. Seriously, could they make Nash’s heel turn more obvious? I certainly don’t think so. Oddly enough Nash throws a left handed punch in the video. That’s rather odd.

Hall and Nash say they’re ready and use the term Wolfpack a lot. Is this a Hangover commercial? WOW that was weak. Hall is in passable shape here which is shocking. Waltman steals my Crosby and Stills joke so I hate him even more now.

Scott Hall/Sean Waltman vs. Kevin Nash/Eric Young

The heels get no music. Ok then. Waltman is named Syxx-Pac here but that’s just not being written. Hall has a partner yet he’s a lone wolf. Figure that one out. I mean why would he be channeling Barry Windham? There’s a sign all night that says PG Sucks. That line and theory just amuses me. The Survey says the fans want Hall and Waltman to have contracts.

Why does that not surprise me? Young is just billed from Canada. Is that the best they can do? Pac and Young start us out so Pac will be bearable here. He’s always been better against small guys. I just have no reason to believe he’s this giant killer that everyone swears he is. Hall comes in and does all his old stuff. Seriously I’m sitting here calling every move he’s going to do down to the second.

Young and Pac botch the heck out of a backdrop. Waltman hits a decent over the top rope dive. No Nash at all yet as they have the whole thing so telegraphed it’s pathetic. Seriously, this is boring simply because we know what’s coming. Waltman sprays paint in Young’s eyes. Yeah I’m sure the referee sees nothing odd about that at all since he was with Nash the whole time. Nash gets the tag and there it is.

Even Taz sounds bored with it. All three finishers hit and it’s over. They do the paint outline of Young on the mat which makes the whole thing look stupid. We even get the Wolfpack theme song minus the lyrics. We’ll ignore the Young push being crushed for three old guys that were a unit 12 years ago.

Rating: D. Seriously, this was boring stuff. There was no point to the match as it was all about the turn that we all knew was coming. When a TNA crowd sounds bored out of their mind, you know you screwed up something bad. Also, it was so much of a swerve that they had the Wolfpack music not only ready but remixed without the lyrics. That’s a REAL swerve.

Angle burns a picture of Anderson. Ok then.

X-Division Title: Shannon Moore vs. Doug Williams

So on a show where the X-Division is being highlighted, the X Title match is going on about halfway through the show? Sure why not. Why is Moore getting PPV time when Hardy and Van Dam and Pope and Sting aren’t again? Has Moore ever won anything? Also, why do we need both him and Jesse Neal? I seriously couldn’t tell them apart if I had to. Moore apparently reads from the book of DILLIGAF.

Wow that’s idiotic but at least it’s something minor. We get a Cravate so I’m happy. It’s a weird kind of side headlock that Chris Hero uses a lot in case you’re wondering. It looks like you’re setting for a snapmare but you never flip the guy over. Williams is a good striker if nothing else. The crowd finally wakes up a bit. Williams reaches under the ring and gets a brick which gets the win. There needs to be an official Under the Ring Checker.

Seriously, people just throw EVERYTHING under there. Moore is allegedly bleeding but it doesn’t look like much blood to me. Post match we get a semi-shoot promo from Williams where he complains about how the division isn’t about wrestling anymore but high fliers so he’s going to change that. He goes and steals a woman’s purse to put lipstick on Moore. Ok then. The fans chant for RVD and no one comes of course. I would argue Hogan and his booking are what’s wrong with the division but that’s just me.

Rating: D. Weak stuff here as not only did no one care but the match wasn’t that good. Seriously, what in the world is the appeal of Shannon Moore? I seriously don’t get it. He never wins anything, his look is stupid and he’s nothing special in the ring. Total filler match.

We recap Morgan and Hernandez vs. Beer Money. This was just after Beer Money turned heel on television while whining about not being on television. I flat out do not like this angle at all as it’s making the tag titles look stupid kind of. If you insist on turning Morgn heel, at least wait awhile first.

Tag Titles: Matt Morgan/Hernandez vs. Beer Money

Sweet goodness have the champions fallen far. I like the opening of Beer Money’s theme song if nothing else. DAng that outline looks stupid. At least Morgan is wearing somewhat white tights so that’s a perk. Morgan and Roode start us out. And so much for that as Hernandez is tagged in maybe 10 seconds into the match. Did they miss the boat with Hernandez.

So basically the champions can’t be hurt and the challengers have zero chance here. Ah ok that’s better as Hernandez gets beaten down. Hernandez holds Storm up in a suplex for about 25 seconds. That’s very scary. So basically Morgan is cocky and comes in when Hernandez has beaten the other guys down.

Morgan blocks a big dive from Hernandez and then the Supermex gets hit with an enziguri, Once he remembers to sell it, Roode goes way up in my eyes with a Blockbuster. I love that move. After more arguing, the size and power are too much and a modified Dominator ends this. Morgan kicks Hernandez afterwards.

Rating: D+. This was all angle and not much about the match at all. That’s ok I guess as it set up a bigger one the next night. This was ok but nothing great at all. Beer Money isn’t as good as people say they are but they’re ok. I still don’t like the champions being together but that’s neither here nor there I guess. Decent but I wanted it to end.

We recap Angle vs. Anderson and their game of pass the medal. The promos have been good but it’s been repetitive with the medal being the focus of the thing over and over again.

Mr. Anderson vs. Kurt Angle

We have 53 minutes left so this is going to be LONG. We start off slow which is odd as they’ve fought before but that’s fine. The crowd is clearly not as hot as they were during the ladder or Ultimate X match. That’s not particularly a good thing but to be fair it means they put on a good match earlier. Much like he did with Shane at KOTR 2001, Angle does the volunteering to let Anderson get a free hold on him.

Naturally, Angle wins here. Angle is outwrestling him here which is what you would expect of him obviously. Dang the bald one can throw a punch when he wants to. Anderson works on the arm but that doesn’t work very well. Ok maybe it does. It’s so hard to tell at times. This has slowed down a lot and it’s not helping much at all. If nothing else Angle can still do a decent belly to belly. Naturally the Angle Slam gets two.

When was the last time that actually worked? Mic Check and tights get two. Angle busts out a frog splash and it wasn’t bad at all. There goes the referee as Anderson hits a belly to back suplex. Oh ok he spun about two inches so it’s an Angle Slam. Got it. Angle gets his medal back. Yeah I don’t care at this point either. He then does the same thing that he criticized Anderson for over the last few months.

Oh him being a face makes it ok though right? That’s the Hulk Hogan principle I believe. Ankle Lock ends it a few seconds later. Anderson was more or less worthless here. He was ok looking but this was very one sided. Anderson blasts the crowd afterwards. He says his name about ten times so this has to be a good promo right?

Rating: C-. Not bad, but really Anderson never had any real chance to win. Like I said, he looked ok but there was zero drama here. That’s never a good thing, especially in a long match like this. Either way, not bad or anything, just not that exciting.

We recap the Abyss/AJ match, which is perhaps the weakest main event I could think of. I mean really, did ANYONE buy Abyss possibly winning the title here? I never once did as they’re going to likely give it to Pope at Lockdown. Basically Hogan gave up his HOF ring and it’s made Abyss powerful or something. Oh and he chokeslammed Flair through the ramp.

AJ says he’s not afraid and Abyss is stupid.

Abyss says he has a ring and thanks Hogan. Remember: Abyss was nothing without Hogan. This goes on way too long and ends with Hogan catchphrases.

TNA World Title: A.J. Styles vs. Abyss

Seriously, the Hogan worship needs to END. This is idiotic to say the least. Oh look: let’s take someone not like Hogan at all and turn him into someone that does Hogan things. It’s just stupid. He’s a monster. Let him be a freaking monster! Flair and Chelsea are here too. Even big match intros aren’t helping this much. Yeah the red and yellow spots on his shirt are just idiotic looking.

Abyss does something SMART and jumps AJ during the intros. That’s a good and simple idea that works. We’re on the ramp now and Flair goes after Abyss. Seriously, what is he going to do? Remember, he’s in a wheelchair. See this is what makes AJ’s heel turn stupid: he can work great matches ON HIS OWN. AJ is a great wrestler and was world champion. WHY WOULD HE NEED A MENTOR???

That’s never been explained I don’t think. He’s the best in the world. What can Flair help him do? Become the best on Venus too? I mean if you factor Flair completely out of this, it’s a solid match based on AJ’s abilities alone. I just do not see what Flair adds to this at all. The other issue: Styles’ offense is based on face style moves. Seriously, he fights like a face does with the high flying stuff and all the kicks.

That’s what makes little sense to me. AJ works on the leg which makes perfect sense at least. The springboard forearm is caught. I love how AJ is outside in position for a springboard and Taz says he thinks he’s going for a springboard. Wow indeed. Pele brings AJ back into control. Question: WHERE IN THE WORLD IS JOE??? Seriously, we haven’t heard about him in like 2 months now and everyone is just not talking about him?

That makes no sense but whatever. It’s TNA so there we are. AJ hits Spiral Tap. CAN’T YOU SEE HOW EVIL HE IS??? The fans chant for the move and I shake my head at how they messed this up. Black Hole Slam gets two with almost no heat. And Flair maces the referee. A belt shot puts AJ down but it’s HOGAN FOR THE SAVE BABY!!! He brings Hebner with him so there’s your new referee I guess.

AJ continues to fail as a heel as he hits a springboard 450 splash but Abyss GIMMICK INFRINGEMENTS UP! Abyss chokeslams him through the ring and Hebner throws the match out. So let me get this straight. Abyss just crushed AJ after Hardy beat AJ on Impact and Pope gets AJ at the next PPV. Why is AJ being bought as champion again? Flair gets mace from Hogan.

Yeah the old men wandered out here looking for the Country Kitchen Buffet and wind up in the ring. And we get the idiotic ending to the show as they mace and punch Wolfe who also ran down and he stumbles over Flair who is on all fours to fall into the hole in the ring. WOW. Hogan leads Abyss around the ring like a canine and that’s it.

Rating: C-. The match itself was good, but the ending is straight up stupid. Seriously, they did a comedy sketch to end the PPV. Also, if AJ is more or less dead, why isn’t Abyss champion? Why does that make it a no contest? The whole thing just made limited sense to me. Also, AJ wrestles like a face, period. There is no reason for him to act like a heel at all. The ending here is the main issue though.

That and the lack of drama to it. Not once in the buildup or in the match did I expect Abyss to win, period. I think Pope gets the title at Lockdown. So what if his hype is mostly gone now due to the long delay? Since when does a champion need people to care about him right? Anyway enough of a tangent. This was an ok match with a flat out stupid ending. Don’t do this again TNA.

Overall Rating: D+. This is a show in two parts. The first half or hour and a half or so is great stuff. The second half, as in everything after Ultimate X, is just weak. There is not a single match on there that got me going or was really that good. The crowd is noticeably weaker too and for a TNA crowd, that’s saying a lot. After this show, I realized the issue: nothing of note happened here.

No titles changed hands, a lot of the feuds are unresolved, we knew MCMG and Kazarian would be winning their matches and AJ looks weak. Tell me, what was settled here? If we’re supposed to wait for Lockdown to do that, why have this show at all? It’s not a bad show by any means. It’s just uneventful. There are two GREAT matches on it which is why this is a good show.

There are passable matches here, no doubt. But like I said, nothing definitive happened here. Anderson and Daffney are going to keep feuding with the respective faces, Abyss deserves another shot, and the tag champions still don’t get along. What came from this show? Oh wait: Nash joined the Band in the most predictable segment this year.

That’s the big thing from this show right? Again, what came out of this show at all, because I’m missing it. Check out the X Division gimmick matches, but other than that, you’ll miss nothing off this show at all.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews

Apparently RVD’s contract is up and therefore he’s a free agent, meaning he could sign with WWE if he wants, or he could go anywhere else he would like.  This would be another high profile TNA star that has had his contract expire in recent days and the first to actually be remembered on time.

I wouldn’t mind if he left TNA.  He hasn’t had anything of note to do in months as he spent five months as X Champion and spent the entire time fighting Kenny King and Zema Ion in throwaway matches.  Why stick around when you’re just there to fill in a spot on the card?