NWA-TNA #6

NWA-TNA #6
07/24/2002 from Nashville, Tennessee, USA

I wanted to get to this review sooner, but the previous episode was just so bad I felt like I needed a break. So I cleansed my pallet with some awesome wrestling shows(Road To Dominion from New Japan and Best In The World from ROH) and now I'm back.

I'd like to add that I watched part of this past Sunday's Slammiversary. The main event, The King Of The Mountain match for the new King Of the Mountain championship, was so bereft of basic wrestling psychology. It was honestly amazing the company has made it to their 13th anniversary.

But I'm here to review episode six of their weekly pay per views. Coincidentally this also features an awful main event.

The show started a lot like the previous week, with Jeff Jarrett in the ring with a chair. He said the NWA title is rightfully is, and that he wont leave the building until he has it. They cut to NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ken Shamrock in the back with security. He went into a rage for some reason. I guess because he wanted to get at Jarrett and the security guards were trying to stop him. It's never really explained. He then had an argument with Bob Armstrong and the head of security. They step aside and let Shamrock leave the room. Shamrock then locks security in the room and had his friend, the very roided looking Ian Harrisson stand in front of the door to make sure no one got in or out.

Back in the ring, NWA VP Bill Behrens came out to confront Jarrett. He said his reign of terror is over, and suspended him for 60 days. Jarrett started swinging the chair on Behrens. Shamrock came out to make the save and to get his hands on Jarrett. Then Monty Brown and Apollo came out to break it up. They hold Shamrock back and Jarrett hit him with the steel chair right in the head. K-Krush and Brian Lawler then came out to back up Jarrett. Haven't they already suspended Jarrett multiple times? The announcers tried to put over the idea that everyone was in danger because security was locked up.

Match #1: Lo-Ki vs. Amazing Red

This was Amazing Red's first appearance in TNA. Mike Tenay said that Lo-Ki got his name from the Blackstreet song "No Diggity" which is pretty hilarious to me. This match was a good opener but nothing special. They basically did a lot of spots, so basically a typical Amazing Red match. Red is still working random indies in the North East. He's just a guy that never got to the next level. Lo-Ki did his typical stuff like stiff martial arts kicks. Lo-Ki kicked out of the Code Red(looked a lot better than the one John Cena has been doing as of late) and the Infrared(top rope flippy dippy do). Lo-Ki eventually won with the Title Krusher(cartwheel kick) and the Ki Krusher. Match was fine but really short and about the average quality of a WCW Monday Nitro cruiserweight match. **1/2

In the back we see a short clip of Jarrett confronting Harrisson, calling him "Joe Steroids". Jarrett backed off.

Match #2: The Hot Shots(Cassidy O'Reilly & Chase Stevens) vs. America's Most Wanted(James Storm & Chris Harris)

The Hot Hots cut a short promo about their dicks. Multiple tag teams in TNA had dick gimmicks at the time. Apparently The Hot Shots were supposed to be cocky heels. There was also a short video shot earlier in the day where Goldylocks interviewed America's Most Wanted. Harris seemed embarrassed by Storm's cowboy gimmick. That's understandable. It's also revealed that The Hot Shots were the ones that laid out Harris and Storm during the tag team tournament a few weeks prior. They had a basic tag team match(!!!) where the Hot Shots tried to get heat on Storm. The crowd was pretty dead. Eventually Harris pinned one of the Hot Shots with a northern lights suplex. Pretty much a TV quality match between two teams no one cared about. *1/2. After the match the Hot Shots started beating down AMW. They totally botched a super kick into a german suplex. The Young Bucks would laugh.

They then went backstage with Shamrock getting checked on by an EMT. Shamrock woke up from being knocked out and immediately shoved the guy against the wall asking him where Jarrett was. The guy didn't seem scared at all.

Match #3: Brian Lawler vs. Apollo

There's a loud "Jerry's kid" chant to get Brian Lawler pissed. Not really much to say about this match. It was pretty basic with some back and forth offense between the two. Lawler yelled and baited the crowd to try and heat them up. While he was thrusting his pelvis at the crowd Apollo schoolboyed him for the pinfall. Again, fine for a TV match, but this was sold on PPV. *1/2. During the match they talked up possible title contenders and included both Apollo and Lawler. They also pushed K-Krush and Scott Hall as contenders.

After the match we got the obligatory post-match angle. Lawler walked up to West who was pointing out the stupid way in which he lost the match. Lawler strangled him and Tenay and Ferrara freaked out. The announce team and the time keeper restrained Lawler. I guess they wanted to put over how anything can happen without security present. The thing is that security never did shit in any of the previous weeks because stuff like this happened all the time.

K-Krush got an introduction from Jeremy Borash and came out for a promo. He reiterated his point from last week, that the man had kept him down all his life. He compared himself to other athletes that aren't given their due recognition because people were afraid of their success, comparing himself to Alan Iverson, Mike Tyson and even OJ Simpson. He said that he was renouncing the name K-Krush and would now be known simply as The Truth. He was interrupted by Monty Brown, we would see a lot of him in this show. Brown said that the same people that kept Truth down were giving him opportunities in the NWA. Brown pointed out that he had played in two Super Bowls. Brown's promo was not nearly as good as Truth's. The two got in a scuffle, with Brown laying out Truth with the Alpha Bomb. Brown was obviously a guy TNA wanted to push to the moon, but he would never be good enough to go all the way with.

We then got a long ass recap of the AJ Styles and Jerry Lynn feud. It really showed how much they were rushing this thing as months worth of matches and angles were done in just six weeks. But then they showed a Tenay interview with Lynn and Styles, where they seemed to be on the same page. Styles said that he saw the error of his ways and would now walk in the footsteps of Lynn, the veteran. Lynn also seemed understanding of Styles and said he realized that he was once in his shoes as a young up and comer. Guess they buried the hatchet before their big tag team title defense! Or I guess TNA decided to take their foot off the gas with this feud and slow it down a bit.

Match #4: NWA-TNA Tag Team Championship Match
AJ Styles & Jerry Lynn(c) vs. The Flying Elvises(Jimmy Yang & Jorge Estrada)

The announcers wondered aloud which of the Elvises were going to be in this tag match. Apparently they were enacting the Freebird Rule. Styles accidentally dropped his belt during his entrance. Sonny Siaki was present on commentary. Siaki basically put himself over the same way he did last week. The Elvises get the heat on Styles, working him over for a long time. Styles did a flying cross body right onto Yang's knee which looked painful. The crowd seemed pretty bored. While Styles was outside the ring Siaki clotheslined him. Styles tried to do a dive on Estrada, Yang, and Lynn on the outside, but Siaki pushed his partners out of the way. Lynn got busted open pretty bad. The finish came when Styles was about to go for the Spiral Tap on Yang, when Lynn hit a flying body press on Estrada for the pinfall. Match was fine but the lack of crowd reaction really hurt it. Overall this was the best match on the show. ***. After the match Styles looked pissed that Lynn stole the victory for his team. He walked off with his belts, Lynn laying bloodily in the ring.

FINALLY DISCO INFERNO MADE IT TO TNA! This was the first "Jive Talkin'" with Disco Inferno segment. He was alone on the entrance ramp with some furniture. He cut a promo basically saying that he was the best sports entertainer to ever live because he beat Barry Horrowitz 16 times and retired Joey Maggs. He said he was there to teach people like AJ Styles and Ken Shamrock how to be a superstar. Basically your typical heel promo. The idea is that the heel thinks he's way better than he actually is. I guess Jive Talkin' is gonna be a weekly thing from here on out. Fuck yeah.

Match #5: Monty Brown & Elix Skipper vs. Johnny Swinger & Simon Diamond

Speaking of jobbers, out came a jobber tag team from ECW in Swinger and Diamond. They had a really boring fucking match. They tried to get some heat on Elix Skipper but it just didn't work. Brown got the pin with the Alpha Bomb. 3/4*.

The Truth came out and attacked Brown from behind. Skipper was apparently in on it, or just didn't care, as he just walked away. Truth hung up Brown with his belt like he did the week before with Norman Smiley and Scott Hall. Brown sucked but at least it was a step up from feuding with Nascar drivers.

Next up was the weekly backstage segment with The Dupps. After making Goldy uncomfortable by talking about the color pink, they seemed upset with not having a match that week. Stan Dupp suggested that if they just bump into another wrestler, they would get put in a match. So they walk two feet over to Ian Harrisson who was still guarding the room with all the security officers. Bo Dupp bumps into him and Harrisson dropped his pants, revealing his wrestling trunks.

Match #6: Bo Dupp vs. Ian Harrisson

I liked this Harrisson guy way better when he was just standing in front of a door. This was a really slow and boring match. They actually messed up near falls twice, when one guy didn't kick out in time and the ref had to just declare a two count. That type of stuff really pisses me off. Stan Dupp ran in and mercifully ended the match early by hitting Harrisson with a piece of wood, which Harrisson then broke over his knee. -**

They went to the back where Jarrett opened the door that had all the security guards locked up. Apparently Ken Shamrock teleported in there since the last time we saw him, because he immediately ran up to Jarrett and the two had a pull apart brawl. Why would Jarrett even let the guards out if he was suspended for 60 days earlier in the show? Now the guards could enforce his suspension. This whole thing was baffling.

Match #7: Ladder Or Submission Match for the NWA World Heaveyweight Championship
Ken Shamrock(c) vs. Sabu

At this point in the show there was about ten minutes left for the main event. That's the same amount of time that Raw leaves for the main event on average. The problem with this is that this was the main event of a pay per view. Yes they were weekly shows, but you still had to fucking pay $9.95 for them. And if you pay for a show on PPV you expect something a bit better than what you would get on TV. This match was horrendous. I honestly don't even know how this was booked. Like whose fucking idea was this? I really want to know because whoever booked it has absolutely no clue when it comes to basic wrestling psychology

For starters this is a ladder match between two guys that had no feud. Usually stipulation matches are saved for the end of a feud, for the big blow off. These guys had no history together. Also there was already a ladder match THE PREVIOUS WEEK. Why would you want to water down this stipulation? Then there's the fact that you could also win the match with a submission. WHY NOT JUST HAVE A REGULAR FUCKING MATCH?

This clusterfuck of a match started with mat wrestling. A ladder match starting with mat wrestling always sucks the air out of the room. But typically the match is between two bitter rivals in the first place, so it would normally start with brawling. Given that these two guys had no interactions with each other prior to this match, I guess it makes sense that they would start with mat wrestling. So they do some stuff and try to do some submissions on each other. The crowd started a "boring" chant. Sabu hit a springboard leg drop and tried to pin Shamrock. I can't blame him, I would be confused too. About six minutes in Sabu finally goes for the ladder, but Shamrock hit a baseball slide into him and the ladder. They brawled outside for a bit. Sabu set up a table outside and he did a spring board flip with the assistance of a chair onto the table. Shamrock moved so Sabu only hit the table. Shamrock moved way too early because it looked like he just disappeared and Sabu did the move for no apparent reason. Shamrock climbed the ladder and held the belt, looking confused as there was a major miscue. He just stood there waiting for the lights to go out. Eventually they did and Malice came out and chokeslammed Shamrock off of the ladder. Then he climed the ladder and grabbed the belt, forcing a no contest apparently which is the result given on Cagematch. It should be said that during the match the announcers received word from security that they were leaving and that they hoped everyone killed each other in TNA. I'm not making this up. I guess they were as pissed of at the booking of this match as I was. They also said that Ricky Steamboat would be coming back next week to be the authority figure.

It's totally stupid to have a ladder match end in a no contest. Why didn't they just book a regular match and have Malice run in and do a DQ? The whole match was really half assed on Sabu and Shamrock's part, but I can't really blame them that they didn't want to kill themselves in a ladder match with such a shitty finish. This was one of the worst main events I've ever seen. -***

In 2002 you could turn on Smackdown and see better wrestling than what was on this show. And the expected you to pay to see this every week? On the bright side, at least this show didn't feature a dwarf masturbating inside a trash can.