Joe's Thoughts - NWA-TNA 08/20/03...

[Guest Joe]

Joe’s NWA-TNA Thoughts – August 20, 2003...

 

The show starts with a video not recapping last week, but rather hyping tonight’s main event, a gauntlet match to crown the number one contender for the NWA World Title...Wasn’t expecting that so right away I can’t help but be excited...

 

We cut to the ring where Raven and Shane Douglas are in the mist of exchanging punches...The other Gathering and New Church members are also brawling around the arena...After a few minutes, the fighting stops and Raven grabs a mic...He talks about the mystery man that has attacked him the last few weeks, which naturally leads to the lights going out (after last Thursday, I’d rather not see any black outs thank you) and the mystery man entering the ring behind Raven...We get a few flashes of light here and there, enough to see the mystery man put a rope around Raven’s neck and hang him over the ropes...The lights finally come back up and the mystery man runs away quickly as possible...Julio Deniro, Alexis Laree, and CM Punk try their best to help Raven free...Shane Douglas and James Mitchell approach Raven with a pair of scissors (because naturally if you want to hurt Raven, you cut his hair) but they are stopped by the Gathering...Overall a good way to start the show...Really gives it that non-stop action feel...

 

Backstage, Scott Hudson interviews Jerry Lynn about his recent difficulty with Don Calis...Jerry mentions that every time Calis keeps him off of a show, Lynn loses money...He also throws in the fact that he, like everybody else, has bills to pay and a family to feed...Don Calis comes walking over and informs Jerry that after he hit Elix Skipper with a scale and attacked a referee last week, he will be fined five thousand dollars...Calis told Lynn that considering Jerry’s current financial situation, he won’t accept personal checks...Great segment! I am really loving this Don Calis/Jerry Lynn storyline...Let’s just get Calis to back a heel (somebody who needs a good mouthpiece maybe) and have some matches out of this...

 

The first match of the night is the X-Division Championship “Ultimate X” Match between Michael Shane, Frankie Kazarian, and X Champ Chris Sabin...I’m not sure what to say about this...It was good, don’t get me wrong...The three men definitely put on great performances...But a lot went wrong and the match overall felt like a train wreck...Along with a couple of botched spots, the X title belt fell (fell!) twice from where it was hanging, which forced the match to be stopped (twice!) so that the belt could be put back up...That was just awkward...Michael Shane bled like I’ve never seen a wrestler bleed before...Seriously, his entire upper body was covered in blood...In the end, Michael Shane wins the title, which I also have mixed feelings about...On the one hand, I’m a huge Michael Shane fan and him with the belt is a great thing...I’m also glad that Kazarian, the would-be-obvious winner here, didn’t win...But I’m disappointed that Chris Sabin has lost the title...Sabin has been one of the brightest spots in TNA for the past few months...His X-Division Title reign was one of the best, and considering that he was still going strong and a fan favorite, there was no reason for him to lose the belt...TNA seems to think the title needs to change hands once every two months, but actually a title should stay on a champion until it feels right for him to lose it...It didn’t feel right for Sabin to lose here, and frankly it would have done more for the title if he retained it then to have a new champion...

 

The apparently non-title Double Bull Rope match between America’s Most Wanted and Diamond and Swinger is next...Good match, lots of entertaining action between the four men...Really these four have had nothing but good matches against each other for the past few months, which has really made this feud fun to watch and made Diamond and Swinger one of the top tag teams in TNA...In the end, Simon Diamond and Johnny Swinger finally (finally!) get a win over Storm and Harris...I was growing tired of Storm and Harris beating Diamond and Swinger every week, and honestly if they had won again tonight, my review of the match would be much more bitter...But Diamond and Swinger finally win a match, which helps to freshen the feud a lot, and excite me even more for the eventual next meeting between the two great teams...

 

Backstage, Julio Deniro mentions that Raven is injured after what happened earlier tonight...Julio challenges The New Church to a tag match right now...This leads Shane Douglas and the New Church to come over and begin brawling with Deniro, Laree, and CM Punk...Uh, speaking of which, why no explanation on CM Punk suddenly being part of the Gathering again? A few weeks ago he “flaked out” on them by not showing for the six man Clockwork Orange House Of Fun match...After that, you would think CM Punk wouldn’t be considered a member of the team, but he is...That’s just inconsistent and really bothers me...

 

Sonny Siaki and Trinity come out to the ring next to hold a funeral for D’Lo Brown’s career...Wait, didn’t I see this on Raw back in 1999?...Anyway, Siaki calls D’Lo a real good guy, saying “he loved his cheeseburgers, he loved his cotton candy”...I don’t know, it made me laugh...A casket is brought down to the ring and (not surprisingly) D’Lo pops out of it (when did he get in?)...He attacks Siaki and Trinity, throwing them both in the casket and closing it...While I love the idea of a D’Lo/Siaki feud, there have to be more creative ways of going about getting heat on it...This was so obvious and has been done a million times already...

 

Scott Hudson interviews Joe Legend and Christopher Daniels about their match against Jeff Jarrett and Erik Watts...What can you say, Daniels cutting a promo is always a good thing...Legend’s not bad on the mic either...

 

The New Church of Slash and Synn (where’s Brian Lee? It’s not the same without Lee!) take on The Gathering of Julio Deniro and CM Punk...Good match...James Mitchell tries to get involved, but is stopped by Alexis Laree, who herself hits a tornado DDT on Slash...In the end, Slash and Synn win thanks to interference by Shane Douglas...After the match, Shane cuts some of Alexis Laree’s hair as we move closer to the eventual (but out of nowhere) hair vs. hair match between Raven and Douglas (though Shane doesn’t have much hair to begin with...maybe Mitchell’s long hair will be on the line instead?)...

 

In a pre-taped interview, Mike Tenay talks to Erik Watts about his job as the director of authority in NWA-TNA...Watts assures us that with him in charge, there will be no backstage politics...He also talks about how this company is owned half by the NWA and half by TNA, and his relationship with Jeff Jarrett, first as his enemy and then as his friend...Thank you for finally explaining how Watts went from trying to kill Jarrett to being Jeff’s best friend...Watts also talks about Vince Russo, saying that there isn’t enough room in TNA for both himself and Russo...Is there any way to get rid of both of them?...

 

A taped interview with AJ Styles and Vince Russo on vacation is show...Styles talks about how he beat D’Lo, beat Jeff Jarrett, and can’t get a hold of Sting...No mention of Low Ki, who had an amazing match against Styles last week?...Lastly, Styles mentiones the gauntlet taking place later tonight and how he will gladly beat whoever wins it next week...At least AJ got to do the talking in this segment...I like that Russo has pretty much stopped stealing Styles’ spotlight...

 

Joe Legend and “Fallen Angel” Christopher Daniels take on Erik Watts and Jeff Jarrett next...Okay match, nothing really special...Legend strikes me as boring to watch in the ring...And Watts, while he has improved his actual wrestling skills, still does nothing for me...I think it’s the way he’s booked...Every time he deals with a heel, it’s always somebody smaller then him, and he basically throws the guy around like a wet rag (he did this to Kid Kash for months)...Daniels is one of the best wrestlers in the world but doesn’t get to show that off much here...And Jarrett did his thing, which was fine...Jarrett and Watts win the match, and thankfully it’s Legend that is pinned (so Daniels doesn’t lose his heat any)...After the match, Daniels and Legend attack Watts and Jarrett...They are soon joined by two people out of the audience, who are dressed as Freddie Kruger and Jason...Of course under the masks are Vince Russo and AJ Styles...Actually this was kind of surprising and left me with a smile...AJ hits the Styles Clash on Jarrett and Russo grabs a mic, yelling to Jarrett that he will not get any more title shots...From there, Legend, Daniels, and Styles drive Jarrett through a table with this three man power bomb like thing...From there they take Jarrett, throw him in a hurst, and drive away...Good stuff...I guess Jarrett won’t be in the Gauntlet later after all...

 

A short video airs promising that “He’s Coming”...Since there are bagpipes playing in the background, it’s safe to assume that the “He” in question is Rowdy Roddy Piper, just off of his short but...well short, WWE run...

 

Next we get a video telling us that next week it will be Dusty Rhodes against Glen Gilberti in a bull rope match...I can smell the ratings!...Oh wait, that’s my dinner burning...Uh, be right back...

 

Okay, main event time...The Gauntlet for a shot at the NWA World Title...Good match, especially at the beginning...I was really into it for about the first ten minutes or so...Seeing guys like Kid Kash, Christopher Daniels, and Ron Killings against each other, and knowing that one of them could get a title shot really had me excited...I was rooting for Killings to win myself so when he was eliminated, I was really disappointed...Abyss looked good in this match, playing that monster role Kane had a few Royal Rumbles ago...The only bad thing is Abyss has about two moves in his arsenal so, you know, it’s hard to see him going very far...In the end it comes down to Shane Douglas and Raven, with Raven getting the pin and becoming the number one contender for the NWA world title yet again...That means Styles vs. Raven next week which should be good as both men always deliver...

 

Overall a good show, though nothing overly special...Nothing to match up with last week’s great Styles vs. Low Ki match anyway...

 

So to sum it all up:

 

THE GOOD

-The Gauntlet match, especially the first ten minutes...I only wish Killings won!...

-Michael Shane winning the X Division Title...Have I mentioned Shane rules!...

-Diamond and Swinger finally beating Storm and Harris!...

 

THE BAD

-Guys like Jerry Lynn and Low Ki not being in the Gauntlet...

-Chris Sabin losing the X Division Title in the middle of a great title run...

-Siaki’s funeral for D’Lo...Sorry, it’s been done to, well, death...

 

THE UGLY

-The blown spots and title belt falling twice during the Ultimate X match...