NWA TNA PPV notes featuring three of company's best matches all in one night
by Dave Meltzer
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I know a lot of people don't like the idea of buying taped PPV shows. Well, if you skipped this one for that reason, you made a big mistake and this more than maybe any show in TNA history is a must to watch on replay. The first 75 minutes or so of this show was the best stuff this company has ever put out. The X division tournament so greatly exceeded expectations and after watching tons of videos from all over the world over the past few weeks, Juventud Guerrera has more natural in-ring talent than anyone I've seen. Not only that, but he showed it in all three of his matches, two of which were match of the year caliber and two of the company's three or four best matches of the year.
1. Mad Mikey pinned Lazz in 1:50 with a double arm DDT. This seemed to be filler because the show ran short. Lazz' best moves were dry humping and kissing Mikey. I can see why Mikey would be mad. They also announced Mikey at 244 pounds. That must be a record for exaggerations.
2. Guerrera beat Nosawa in 4:31 in the first round of the tournament. This was too short, but very good and crowd loved it with Guerrera winning with an on target 450 splash.
3. Teddy Hart pinned Jonny Storm in 2:48. Based on that, they probably edited about a minute out of the match. It was a series of high risk moves. Storm did a flip plancha. hart did a top rope Asai moonsault and appeared to hurt his wrist. Hart did the most awesome looking DDT I've ever seen. Crowd loved this as well. Hart won with a shooting star press. Well, nobody ever denied Ted Hart had talent.
4. Chris Sabin pinned Jerry Lynn in 3:30. Again too short. Lynn attacked ref Rudy Charles. Don Callis came out and told him he was about to get fired. While this was going on, Sabin kicked him low and got the pin. Viva La Lucha.
5. Frankie Kazarian pinned Michael Shane with a cradle in 3:25. Again, just too short but all action. Both guys looked good.
6. Guerrera pinned Hart in 9:59. This was one of hte best high flying style matches I've seen in a long time. Hart made a faux pas as this was taped a different week but aired the same night as he was wearing different gear. Juvi at least figured this out. Hart, a little unsteady on his feet, did a moonsault off the barricade landing on Guerrera with a double kneedrop. Hart also did twisting 450 like move which was similar to a sky twister. He also did a top rope Asai moonsault to the floor, and used it to sell his knee injury. Tons of near falls back and forth. Hart got a near fall with a shooting star. Guerrera got a near fall with a Juvi driver and got the pin with a second one, off the middle ropes. This was every bit as good as Guerrera's match of the year candidate with Blitzkrieg in WCW several years back as Hart is more polished than Blitzkrieg.
7. Sabin pinned Kazarian in 7:31. This was a great match, it just couldn't follow the bout before. Kazarian did the sunset flip power bomb over the top rope to the floor. I hate that spot because the chance of injury to the back of the head is too high. Sabin used a Tiger suplex for a near fall. Kazarian used his Wave of the future for a near fall. Sabin did this kick out of nowhere that was really cool. Tons of near falls including Kazarian doing a one man Spanish fly. Kazarian did a front rolling cradle, but Sabin kept rolling with it for the pin. This would have been the best match on 75% of WWE PPVs and 95% of TNA PPVs and on this show it was fighting for third place.
In here, they did an angle where Terry Taylor was interviewing, I believe Harris & Storm. Kid Kash and Abyss came out and Kash slapped Taylor in the face again. No question angle coming up.
8. Sabin pinned Guerrera in 14:46 to win the tournament. Sabin nearly killed Guerrera early on by dropping him in an ugly way with a power bomb. Crowd was not into this match early compared to the other X matches, but hte work was so good they were loving it by the end. Sabin did a wheelbarrow German suplex. Guerrera did a Japanese Ocean Cyclone suplex (wow, first big move Tenay didn't recognize all night, he & West were awesome as well). So many great moves and innovative moves here. Guerrera got near falls with both a Juvi driver and a 450, before Sabin won with a fisherman suplex. Only negatives I'd say is after all those big moves, the fisherman was kind of a weak finisher, even though it is one of Sabin's big moves. The real negative is right after the bout ended, they cut away to an interview backstage. It's watching the crowd after a match like this, and both guys doing curtain calls of sorts, that makes people remember the bout. This was better than a lot of matches that will do better in awards at the end of the year because it was cut away like it was nothing. It also cheapened the tournament with no presentation after so many great bouts.
9. Jeff Jarrett & D-Lo Brown & Raven & Harris & Storm beat Chris Daniels & Johnny Swinger & Simon Diamond & A.J. Styles & Shane Douglas in a sort of War Games in 20:38. It was one cage. they brought people in faster (first segment with Jarrett vs. Daniels was 3:00 and intervals were 90 seconds after that with Styles, Harris, Diamond, Brown Douglas, Storm, Swinger and Raven in that order coming in). It was constant weapons shots to the head, going way too long and it was past numbing. Jarrett, Daniels and Harris juiced, with Jarrett juicing the biggest of course. They used a baseball bat, garbage can lid, and a guitar as weapons. Finish saw Jarrett pin Diamond (I believe) after Brown and Harris both simultaneously came off the top rope onto him. Post match saw a huge brawl with Watts, 3 Live Crew, New Church, Kash and Abyss and everyone involved. It ended with the door being locked and Raven alone with all the New Church members as Douglas started slowly cutting his hair. Show went off the air like that. I guess that means Raven should be bald when we see him next, but I guess after Kane wasn't burned after being caught in a huge fire, Raven doesn't need to be bald after being locked in a cage with three heels, one of them brandishing scissors.
Next week are two different taped shows. They didn't make it at all clear on the TV that DirecTV viewers won't get the one cent show.
