NWA-TNA Weekly PPV #6

July 24, 2002

Live from the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville, TN

Your announcers are Mike Tenay, Don West, and Ed Ferrara.

The show opens up with Jarrett standing in the ring with a chair. Two security guards come in and get destroyed. Jarrett gets on the mic and promises that the next two hours are going to be “raw violence.” He promises that “Bodies will be lying everywhere unless Shamrock comes out and hands him the title, which he states is rightfully his. Jarrett re-iterates that Shamrock needs to give him his title. Camera shows Shamrock tossing around security in the back. Bob Armstrong and Don Harris then step aside and let Shamrock go to the ring. He runs into a guy who is absolutely jacked (Tenay tells us that he is named Ian Harrison) and tells him to guard the door, telling him that no gets in and no one gets out. Shamrock then shoves a piece of wood between the handles and storms off. Back in the ring, Behrens tells Jarrett to shut-up and that he is suspended for 60 days. He gives Jarrett an ultimatum but Jarrett responds by hitting him with the chair. I support that decision. Shamrock runs out and takes out Jarrett. Apolo and Monty Brown run out to break up the melee. They hold Shamrock back but Jarrett hits him with a chair. Now Brian Lawler and K-Krush run out to protect Jarrett as Ferrara declares the security-less TNA the “Wild West.” Tenay questions whether or not Shamrock has a concussion. Probably the best main-event segment done by TNA at this point, which isn’t saying much. The intrigue as to what will happen without security present was a decent idea. The only real negative about the segment was how poor the production values were and how small the arena looked. The lighting was terrible and they had some audio problems at the beginning too.

The announcers run down the card. Matches include Sabu vs. Shamrock for the title in a ladders or submission match and AJ Styles & Jerry Lynn vs. The Flying Elvises for the tag-titles.

Amazing Red vs. Low Ki

This is the TNA debut for Red, who is just 20 years old at this point. Funny how there was no mention about both men being billed from Brooklyn. Ki starts off with a kick. Red gets an armdrag and sends Ki outside with a dropkick. Red puts on the brakes then gets a rana off of the apron. Loud TNA chant by the crowd. Back in the ring, Ki misses a charge and Red dropkicks him into the corner, getting two. Ki eats boot off of a charge and Red jumps off the top rope getting a neckbreaker for two. Ki blocks a rana and kills Red with a Koppu kick, sending him to the floor. Ki with a slam and elbow drop, for two as Tenay mentions that Ki chose his name from the Blackstreet song “No Diggity.” Never would have guessed that. Springboard kick gets two. Ki rolls through a double underhook suplex and locks in the Dragon Wing. Red gets chopped in the corner but gets out. He climbs up top but is knocked down and Ki gets a hanging dragon sleeper as the crowd is chanting his name loudly. Ki beats the crap out of Red and backs him into the corner. Red pushes off the ropes and kicks Ki in the head. Ki shoves Red back into the corner and then blocks his kicks in rapid succession and caps off this great sequence with a kick that sends Red’s bandana flying off. Ki goes for a kick but Red with the sweep and the standing shooting star press for two. Code Red (sunsetflip bomb) gets two. Ki catches Red in a tilt-a-whirl but Red manages to turn that into a tornado DDT. Ki blocks a second DDT attempt and charges at Red with Palm thrusts. He charges at Red, who rolls away and then lands a beautiful spin kick, which gets two. Another fantastic sequence and these guys have tremendous chemistry. Red tries the Infra-Red (Corkscrew moonsault) but Ki moves out of the way. Ki with the Tidal Crush and then the Ki Crusher for the win (7:27) ***1/4. Ferrara gives Red “mad props” as the fans are on their feet.

Thoughts: Excellent debut for Red. He looked great and the fans reacted positively towards him. Looks like TNA found a keeper. Ki is very much over with the TNA crowd, actually he might be the most over worker that they have, and the whole match was a pleasure to watch. The X Division is clearly the best thing that TNA had going at this point.   

Jeff Jarrett attempts to get past Harrison as he wants to find Shamrock. He won’t budge and Jarrett refers to him as “Joe Steroids” a few times and walks away. Not much of a segment

The Hotshots are in the ring as Cassidy O’Reilly takes the mic to state “we are pricks, we are proud, we are protruding” before grabbing their crotches. That was pathetic. Chris Harris and James Storm head out and we are shown a pre-recorded interview between the two conducted by Goldylocks. It is revealed that the Hotshots were the ones who attacked the two during the Tag-Team Tournament a few weeks ago. Storm does a stereotypical goofy, smiling cowboy routine until he is cut off by Harris who tells him to cut out the “buckaroo bullshit.” He tells Storm that his gimmick sucks and to get rid of the cap guns and says no one cares about “this Stan Hansen crap.” In this segment, Harris was the one who can off looking like a star and watching this live, I would probably have not believed that Storm would be where he is today and that Harris would have turned into a fat whale that is basically out of wrestling.

The Hotshots vs. Chris Harris & James Storm

This match starts with all four men brawling on the ramp. Back in the ring, Storm takes down O’Reilly with a shoulderblock then catches him with a spinebuster after a reversal sequence. Harris tags in, unbeknownst to O’Reilly, and is taken down with a tilt-a-whirl headscissors. Harris then spears Stevens. O’Reilly rakes the eyes and tags Stevens. Harris quickly beats him up and gets a delayed vertical suplex for two. Overhead belly-to-belly and tag to Storm. O’Reilly runs into the ring and immediately knocks him off the apron. He goes outside and slams him onto the guardrail before rolling him back inside as Stevens gets two. Dropkick gets two. They get some double team moves, including the Sureshot (double basement dropkick) that gets two. Storm fights back but gets hit with a jumping back elbow. Split-legged moonsault get two. Tag to Stevens and they get the Hotshot Drop. Stevens heads up top and misses a moonsault but the spot is fucked up as Storm was supposed to roll out of the way and he ends up clearly getting hit with and both men are down. Storm eventually tags and beats the piss out Stevens. Thesz press to O’Reilly. Hotshots get the advantage but Harris takes them down with a double clothesline. Storm with a reverse tornado DDT to O’Reilly and Harris gets a Northern lights suplex to Stevens to the win ( 5:17) *1/2. After the match, the Hotshots attack Storm and Harris. They use a superkick/German suplex combo and Stevens completely whiffs on the first attempt but its sold anyway. They take the cap guns that belonged to Storm and whip them.

Thoughts: The match fell apart at the end. Before that, it was a basic tag match. The Hotshots, particulary Chase Stevens, did not look very good at all. These two had little chemistry out there. The announcers spent a lot of time on commentary referring to Storm & Harris as TNA’s “odd couple” and bringing up their bad luck so far in the promotion. The one positive about this was that TNA was actually trying to establish the tag-division, instead of throwing a bunch of random guys thrown together.    

Camera cuts to Goldylocks who is backstage with Ken Shamrock and a trainer. Shamrock is getting examined and then comes out of his daze and pins the trainer against the wall demanding Jarrett. Bad acting by Shamrock and a corny segment overall.

Apolo vs. Brian Lawler

Tenay plugs Apolo as a six-time IWA champion and how he is unbeaten in TNA singles competition. Yeah, he is 1-0. Crowd with a “Jerry’s Kid” chant directed at Lawler. Apolo works the arm but Lawler gets a slam. Apolo with a shoulderblock then a double underhook suplex. Lawler snaps his chain and slams it against the canvas out of frustration. He backs Apolo in the corner and lands a few shots but jaws with the fans and gets hit. Apolo catches him with a sitout spinebuster, getting two. Apolo charges but eats a boot as the announcers debate over who should be the #1 contender to Shamrock’s title. Lawler chokes out Apolo with his necklace before dropping it down his own pants. Lawler continues to pose to the crowd. Apolo blocks a suplex and hits one of his own but misses a splash. Missile dropkick by Lawler and he once again plays to the crowd before making the cover. Chinlock applied by Lawler as the “Jerry’s Kid” chant is brought back. Apolo gets out of the hold and the two duck each others clothesline attempts. Lawler thinks he ducked an attack by Apolo then gets clotheslined down. Apolo with a slam and a legdrop, which gets two. Apolo catches Lawler with a superkick and struggles to get him into position for the TKO before Lawler counters with an inverted DDT. Lawler is shown bleeding from the mouth then gets up and dances around for a while. Neckbreaker by Lawler and  he poses then dances backwards until he backs into Apolo, who rolls him up for the win (7:01) *1/2. After the match, Lawler is in a state of shock. He heads down to the announcers table and eventually chokes West as Tenay is screaming for Lawler to stop. Ferrara, Tenay, and Tiny the Bellkeeper get him to stop.

Thoughts: Match itself was mediocre. They spent a lot of commentary building up Apolo as next in line for the belt and he won using a rollup after his opponent was playing to the crowd, which was a waste. Lawler’s playing to the crowd worked fairly well here but he does it to the point of overkill and that won't work every night.  

Video recap of K-Krush choking out people with his belt.

Krush comes out and says he is now known as “The Truth.” States that “they” gave him the “K-Krush” name. He says he will not abide by what “they” want him to do as a few in the crowd chant “anarchy.” He compares himself to the ones that have been kept down by “they” like Allen Iverson (He was wearing his jersey), Mike Tyson, Ray Lewis and even OJ Simpson. Monty Brown comes out and mockingly says “poor oppressed one” before saying that he has had enough of the Truth. He tells Truth that he is a two-time AFC champion and that he has left football on his own to make his opportunity in TNA. States that “They” helped him create that opportunity and that The Truth can’t walk the walk and might not be all that. Truth says he has no problem with Brown then calls him an “Uncle Tom” as the two go at it. Brown gets the advantage and caps it off with the Alphabomb. Decent segment as both men are good on the mic and it makes for a nice singles feud.

Video recap of the AJ Styles / Jerry Lynn feud.

Tenay interviews AJ and Lynn in a pre-taped bit. Styles says that he wants to be just like Lynn and states he respects Lynn and his attempts to educate him. Lynn says how ten years ago he was in AJ’s shoes and appreciates the fact that AJ realizes what it takes to succeed in wrestling. Lynn promises the fans that they will see him and AJ work on the same page tonight. A segment showing that AJ and Lynn are on the same page for once and it worked okay I guess. Although, it is transparent that something will happen that changes this feeling.

NWA-TNA Tag –Team Championship Match

AJ Styles & Jerry Lynn (Champions) vs. Jorge Estrada & Jimmy Yang w/Sonny Siaki

Siaki joins in on commentary and refers to himself in the third person. I can barely hear him and I think it is a combination of poor audio and the fact he is not a good talker. His voice is monotone. Lynn and Estrada starts things off. Lynn gets an armdrag and they then trade hammerlocks. Sideslam by Estrada is followed by some Elvis poses. Estrada lands on his feet in a lionsault attempt but gets caught with the Gory Special. Estrada escapes and hits a rana as Siaki mentions how he taught the Elvises everything that he knows. Tilt-a-whirl headscissors by Lynn and a tag to AJ and they do some double team stuff. AJ and Estrada duck a bunch of moves before AJ nearly rips off Estrada’s head with a spinning heel kick. Estrada floats over in the corner and catches AJ with a headscissor takedown. Slam and a tag to Yang, who dodges a dropkick and stomps on AJ capped off by a crappy attempt at an Elvis pose. AJ with a rana from his back but Yang regains control with a side headlock. AJ knocks him down and a tag to Lynn. Snapmare is followed by a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker, which gets two. Tag to AJ who gets a headscissors off of a tombstone attempt. AJ leaps to the top off of an Irish whip and comes back with a crossbody but Yang drops to one knee, catching AJ. That looked cool. Yang distracts the ref after cheap-shotting Lynn as Estrada attempts to work on AJ outside. AJ sends Estrada to the railing but Siaki leaves the booth and clotheslines AJ off camera before rolling him back into the ring. Side legsweep by Yang into an armbar. Moonsault kick by Yang and tag to Estrada, who gets a snap suplex for two. Kneedrop gets two. Side Effect gets two. Tag to Yang who hangs AJ across the ropes on a front suplex and does it again, getting two. Tag to Estrada, who gets a springboard moonsault for two. AJ manages a small package but gets stomped immediately afterwards. Spinebuster by Estrada gets two. Estrada with a suplex and tag to Yang, who comes in with a tope con hilo, getting two. Yang locks AJ in the abdominal stretch as Siaki talks himself up. AJ breaks the hold and gets the Phenomenon as both men are down. AJ is close to making the tag as Estrada runs in and knocks Lynn off of the apron. Tag to Estrada and he chokes out AJ with his foot. Estrada holds the rope on AJ’s dropkick attempt and covers, getting two. Tag to Yang, who kicks AJ while he is down. AJ fights back and kills him with a kick as both men are down. Yang’s nose is just pouring out blood. Tag to Lynn and he goes nuts. Yang breaks up a pin attempt by Lynn then gets dropkicked to the floor and Lynn follows up that with a slingshot plancha. Estrada then hits Lynn with an Asai Moonsault. AJ attempts a corkscrew placnha but Siaki shoves his team out of the way and AJ ends up hitting Lynn. Lynn is busted open. The Elvises hit a beautiful looking flying legdrop/splash combo as Lynn is wearing a crimson mask. Double muscle buster to AJ as Lynn is struggling to get on his feet. AJ fights back and knocks down Yang. Lynn is on the apron and gets the guillotine leg drop to Estrada and follows that with a slingshot plancha for the win as AJ was on top attempting to go for the Spiral Tap (16:20) ***1/2. AJ leaves the ring upset that Lynn stole the pin.

Thoughts: Really good match. This was about two things. First, to further along the feud between Lynn and Styles and second, attempting to elevate Siaki. The AJ/Lynn stuff is still intriguing but Siaki is just not a top guy. He did not impress on commentary as he speaks in a monotone voice and that doesn’t make for a main event act, especially when your gimmick is constantly taking about yourself  

Disco Inferno is show sitting on a couch. He says that he is world famous and builds up his career, stating he gave Goldberg his first ever loss and retired Joey Maggs, before stating he beat Barry Horowitz sixteen times. He then says that he is in this “hicktown” to pass on his wisdom. Calls AJ a “glorified professional somersault artist” and promises to teach Jeff Jarrett and the entire state of Tennessee to speak English. He plugs his “Jive Talkin’” segment for next week and that he will provide a ray of hope for a better tomorrow. A waste of time with a few shoot comments tossed out, which means it was probably written by Russo.

Shamrock goes to Harrison, looking for Jarrett, who hasn’t seen him. He storms off looking for him. 

Simon Diamond & Johnny Swinger vs. Monty Brown & Elix Skipper

Skipper offers Diamond a handshake and gets slapped. Skipper with a spin kick and the two trade shots. Skipper gets two off of a rana. Cradle gets two. Swinger charges and is clotheslined by Brown. Double dropkick to Diamond and Skipper goes to work on the back. Swinger with a clothesline on the apron and tags in. Double team move gets two. Legsweep gets two. Skipper dodges a crossbody by using the matrix but Diamond tags in and hammers away. Rolling suplexes by Diamond followed by a gordbuster for two. Swinger tags and they double team Skipper some more. Skipper avoids a charge and Diamond accidentally clotheslines his own partner. Skipper with a Northern Lights Suplex as both men are down. Brown tags in as the crowd is silent. Powerslam to Diamond and he then presses Swinger onto Diamond, getting two. All four men in the ring and the heels hit Skipper with a double flapjack. Brown fights off an Irish whip and Skipper trips up Swinger outside as Brown catches Diamond and hits the Alphabomb for the win (5:35) *1/4. Skipper then bails as The Truth runs in a chokes out Brown as the announcers scream how Skipper set up Brown

Thoughts: Match was nothing special at all. Brown barely did anything as that was for the best. This really was to further along the feud between Brown and The Truth. Simon and Swinger’s TNA debut was lackluster.

Goldylocks is with the Dupps. Stan makes crude comments and Bo is upset that they don’t have any matches. Bo asks where Fluff is as Stan calls him a retard for leaving him with Pop Dupp, who apparently takes a lot of Viagra and fucks goats. Stan informs Bo that in the “wrasslin” business, all you have to do for a match is to bump into someone and issue a challenge. Bo bumps into Ian Harrison, who leaves his post for the match.

Borash is in the ring as the Dupps come out, to his surprise. They tell him that Bo’s opponent is “Some big musclehead guy from the back.” Tenay reminds everyone that his name is Ian Harrison.

Bo Dupp w/Stan Dupp vs. Ian Harrison

Bo with kicks in the corner as Stan joins the announcers table. Harrison throws some knees and tosses him out of the corner. Sitout slam gets two as the crowd starts a “USA” chant. Bo floats over on a suplex attempt but gets booted as Stan can’t distinguish between the letter “X” and the Union Jack on Harrison’s tights. Bo comes back with a shoulderblock then sends him down with a big boot. Splash gets two. Harrison gets a back suplex for two. Harrison tries a press slam but cant get him up and just slams him down. Harrison with thrusts in the corner and it looks like we are watching in slow motion. He catches Bo with a powerslam and Stan fucks up his cue to run in for the DQ so the ref has to hang his hand in the air and wait for Stand to run in the ring. (2:58) ¼*. Harrison beats on Stan and takes the piece of wood out of Bo’s hand and breaks it over his knee as the Dupps run away scared.

Thoughts: If this was an attempt to get Harrison over, it was a huge failure. Besides the fact that he is slow and clumsy in the ring, it seemed like Tenay was the only person that knew his name. Also, Bo wasn’t the best worker for Harrison as he didn’t sell well and took him down rather easily. Stan Dupp on commentary as the idiot redneck was brutal. Not funny at all. For some reason, he was doing a Crocodile Hunter impersonation because he thought Harrison was from Australia. I’m surprised he actually became decent as Trevor Murdoch in the WWE because he sucked in every aspect while in TNA.

Jarrett is out back and unlocks the door holding back security since Harrison was not there any longer. He walks in as several security guys are standing around and then gets attacked by Shamrock. Security and Apolo break it up and they hold Jarrett back as Don Harris tells Shamrock to take care of business.

Video recap of last week’s #1 contender match between Sabu and Malice.

NWA-TNA World Heavyweight Championship

Ladder or Submission Match

Ken Shamrock (Champion) vs. Sabu

Shamrock lands a few knees to the gut then misses a charge. Sabu tries a kick but Shamrock catches his foot then punches him down. Shamrock tries to turn Sabu over for an ankle lock but he reaches the ropes. Sabu manages a rollup and tries for a leglock but Shamrock quickly counters that with an anklelock as Tenay informs us that security has gotten “fed up” and has left the building. Shamrock with a few kicks and then goes for a chinlock. Sabu gets a clothesline and goes for an armbar but Shamrock reverses that into a leglock. Tenay breaks the news that Ricky Steamboat will be here next and will have “full authority” of the show. Sabu hits an ugly looking springboard leg lariat and follws that with a slingshot flip legdrop but briefly goes for the cover like an idiot before getting Shamrock in an armbar. Shamrock easily breaks the hold and whips Sabu in the corner and connects with a spinning heel kick. He drops Sabu with a punch and Sabu rolls outside and grabs the ladder. Shamrock baseball slides it into Sabu’s face and drags him up the ramp. He tosses Sabu into the dancer’s cage then they make the way back to the ring. Sabu throws Shamrock against the guardrail. He gets a table from underneath the ring and places Shamrock on top. He brings a chair in the ring but crashes through the table in a double springboard senton attempt, causing a huge gash on his back. A “Holy Shit” chant breaks out. In the ring, Shamrock goes up the ladder as Sabu slowly makes it to his feet. Shamrock holds the belt for at least 45 seconds but is unable to unhook it and the lights go off. When they re-appear, Malice is in the ring and chokeslams Shamrock off of the ladder. Malice then unhooks the belt in all of two seconds as the show ends (9:32) *1/4.

Thoughts: Bad match. The style clash was too much to overcome and the formula of getting a submission, breaking the hold, and locking up again was repetitive and boring. Sabu doing a matwork-based match is not something that anyone wants to see. Also, the ending was so awful. There was no point to having a non-finish given the stipulation. Plus, Malice has already been pinned twice by Shamrock and once by Sabu and hasn’t even won a match so why would anyone buy him as a threat? Where was the New Church? Also, Jarrett stated that he wouldn’t leave the show unless he had the belt so I wonder what happened to him?

Final Thoughts: Well, there were a few positives. First, they actually attempted to establish the singles and tag-team ranks. Amazing Red had a great debut and the tag-match was fun. Besides that, the no security theme got lame at the end and the World Title means absolutely nothing at this point. They have no talent at all on the face side. The production values were the worst they have been as the lighting was almost non-existent. Overall, this was an improvement over the past two shows and a step in the right direction but they need to do a better job at executing and getting talented heavyweights, especially on the face side.