TNA PPV report
December 5, 2004
Live from Orlando, FL
Reported by Chris Gartshore, Torch Team Contributor

Here we go with another TNA PPV review. This month, is TNA's Turning Point. I actually wish I was in Orlando, as it's been snowing here in Toronto and also pretty cold. The show seems pretty solid once again this month and TNA must keep up the pace of being the "new face of professional wrestling", if they want to stick around.

We open with the promo piece of TNA being the "new face of professional face of wrestling." It's a slick looking piece of video and it just shows you how much Dave Sahadi has meant to TNA.

A video is shown of Randy Savage, Jeff Hardy and AJ Styles, talking about how much they love this business and TNA. Macho Man? Really? Not from what I've read. Anyway, in the same piece, we see Jeff Jarrett, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, all claiming to be the "Kings of wrestling." They are driving in a Cadillac, all decked out in Elvis gear. They go on to say that the "Kings" are taking over and that Macho Man needs to "snap out of the wrestling biz." It's a "Kings of wrestling" versus TNA promo piece that was fairly well done and also pretty funny.

The show opens as Mike Tenay welcomes us to the evening. He and Don West run down the card for tonight.

We throw to outside the studio as we see a limo pull up. "Vince McMahon and Triple H" get out, as Vince claims that TNA will not be showing the footage of the WWE invasion into Universal Studios a few weeks back. Whomever they got to do both Vince and Triple H, they did an excellent job throughout the night. It's good to see TNA actually making fun of this, as it was, in my opinion,�really blown out of proportion by WWE.

(1) Team Canada defeated 3 Live Kru (B.G. James & Ron Killings) to capture the NWA Tag Team Titles. BG James and Eric Young start off. James takes control early on. They both tag out to their respective partners, Ron Killings and Bobby Roode. James and Killings take over. They work on Roode. Killings climbs to the top rope, but is knocked off by Roode. Both Roode and Young work over Killings making quick tags in and out. Young is singing Oh Canada as Killings comes off the ropes and hits him with a dropkick. Young manages to tag out to Roode, but Roode avoids Killings from making the tag to James. Killings eventually makes the tag to James. James takes out both Roode and Young, sending Roode out to the floor. James tags back out to Killings. Young goes to the top rope, but Killings hits the scissor kick on him from the top rope also, sending him to the mat. James and Roode are now in the ring. James attempts the pump-handle slam on Roode, but he is hit with the hockey stick by a returning Johnny Devine. Roode covers James for the win and we have new, NWA Tag Team Champions, Team Canada. Good opening match that got the crowd into the show.

In the back, Shane Douglas is with Dusty Rhodes. Rhodes says that tonight is going to be a night to remember. He goes on to say that they will show the WWE footage tonight. He asks that if they want some, come get some.

A video is shown of the storyline behind the six-man tag match of Dutt, Kash, Kazarian, Shane, Garza and Siaki.

(2) Sonjay Dutt & Hector Garza & Sonny Siaki defeated Kid Kash & Kazarian & Michael Shane. We have Dutt and Kash start off. They trade blows back and forth, before they take it to the mat with some quick moves. Good series of action. Garza is tagged in by Dutt. Kash tags out to Shane. More great transition wrestling ensues. Kazarian is tagged in. Siaki is tagged in by Garza. Siaki throws Kazarian into the turnbuckle and makes a blind tag to Dutt. Dutt comes in and is thrown over by Siaki and hits a huracanrana on Kazarian from the top-rope. Great move. Dutt is distracted by Traci and is caught by Kash. The three men tag in and out and work over the arm of Dutt for a long period of time. Kazarian has a hold of Dutt, but he manages to jump on the ropes and hits a springboard huracanrana on Kazarian. Dutt finally tags out to Garza. Garza cleans house and hits a moonsault on Kazarian. Garza is thrown to the outside. Siaki clotheslines both Kash and Shane over the ropes to the floor. Dutt runs at Siaki and once again throws him over, sending him crashing into Kash and Shane below. Another nice move. In the ring, Traci tries to hit her splash on Siaki, but he moves and hits Kazarian with it. Garza climbs up to the top rope and hits a sick looking tornado splash on Kazarian. Garza covers Kazarian for the win. Another solid bout with lots of great action.

Scott Hudson interviews Randy Savage in the back. Savage says that he is not going to let the "Kings" take over.

We have another interview segment with Scott Hudson. He has Scott D'Amore and Petey Williams with him. Williams says that he and Chris Sabin grew up in wrestling together and that tonight, he'll find out why he was the better wrestler.

A video is shown on the events leading up to the Serengeti Survival match between Abyss and Monty Brown.

(3) Monty Brown defeated Abyss. Monty Brown is on the ramp and invites Abyss to come to him. Abyss runs out to Brown and Brown throws Abyss around ringside. Abyss reverses and throws Brown into the ringpost. Abyss works on the injured back of Brown. Abyss puts a table in the ring and sets it up in the corner. Brown back in the ring. They trade shots. Abyss goes outside and grabs a chair. Abyss hits Brown with the chair in the ribs. Abyss puts the chair on a fallen Brown and he hits a sitdown splash onto the stomach of Brown. Abyss now works on the back of Brown. Abyss tries another sitdown splash with the chair, but Brown turns the chair up and hits Abyss in the lower region as he's about to sitdown. Brown gets up and cracks Abyss with the chair to the head. Brown sets the chair down, picks up Abyss and hits a running powerslam onto the chair. Nice show of strength from Brown. Brown sets up Abyss for the pounce, but Abyss reverses it into his Blackhole Slam. Abyss puts the chair in the ropes and tries to throw Brown into it. Brown reverses it and sends Abyss into the chair. As Abyss comes back out of the corner, Brown hits the pounce on Abyss, sending him to the floor. Brown goes out and brings Abyss back into the ring. Brown tries for the pounce again, but Abyss moves out of the way, sending Brown headfirst (no hands!) straight through the table that was still positioned in the corner. Ouch! Abyss grabs the bag of tacks. Brown also has a bag of thumbtacks. Brown pours his tacks onto the mat, but Abyss throws his away. Abyss hits Brown from behind and tries to chokeslam Brown into the tacks. Brown kicks out of it and pulls the shirt of Abyss off, exposing his back (and lack of a physique) . They trade chops. Abyss attempts a powerslam on Brown into the tacks, but Brown reverses it and picks up Abyss over his head. Brown whips him into the tacks on the back of his head. Brown wins. Pretty good match between these two. Not as good as last months three-way, but a good, big man match.

We throw to "Vince and Triple H" in the back, searching for the tape. They make fun of someone wearing jeans. Vince tells him that's against the dress-code and that he's fired. Genius. He tells his "son" to move along. As they're walking, a woman has a tape in her hand and Vince tells Triple H to go and get it. She drops the tape and runs away. Vince tells Triple H to destroy the tape, with his sledgehammer of course and the it ends up being a best of D Ray 3000 tape and not the footage they're looking for. They both continue on. This just keeps getting funnier.

(4) Johnny B. Badd & Pat Kenney defeated Johnny Swinger & Glenn Gilberti. Great, what a bonus match!! Actually, no. Why they had this on the PPV, I'll never know. Jacqueline is the special referee. This is an old-school type match. It also kind of killed the crowd, who up until this point, were very vocal. It was very back and forth between all four men. No one team really had the advantage. Swinger and Gilberti eventually work over Kenney, keeping him from making the tag to Badd. Kenney�finally manages to tag in Badd. Badd takes out both Swinger and Gilberti. At this point, the match starts to break down. Gilberti pushes Jacqueline out of the way. She comes back and Gilberti hits her again. Badd throws Gilberti into Jacqueline and she scoops him up and bodyslams him to the mat. Badd then grabs Gilberti and hits his TKO. Badd pins Gilberti for the win. This was just a waste of time as far as I'm concerned. It served no purpose and was just not an exciting match.

Outside the studio, we see Jarrett, Hall and Nash throwing Randy Savage into a car as it speeds off. Mike Tenay and Don West are wondering what will become of the six-man tag match.

A video package is shown of the history between Raven and Diamond Dallas Page. Erik Watts is shown at the announce table with Tenay and West.

(5) Diamond Dallas Page pinned Raven. Page takes after Raven before the bell sounded. They both slug it out. Page has Raven in the corner and the referee tries to stop him. Page pushes the referee off and then kicks him straight in the face. I honestly think he really knocked the referee out by accident. Page kicks Raven out of the ring. Page takes Raven out through the crowd. Page uses a garbage can and someone's crutch on Raven. Back in the ring, Page continues to work on Raven. Page tries for the Diamond Cutter, but Raven held onto the rope. Raven grabs his helmet and hits Page with it twice in the head. Raven grabs a chair from outside. He sets it up in the middle of the ring. He hits the drop toe-hold on Page into the chair. Page comes back and hits a series of moves on Raven. Raven back up and hits a series of moves on Page. Raven hits a superkick on Page. Page manages to pull himself up and reverses a throw to throw to the ropes and hits Raven with the Diamond Cutter. Raven kicks out of the pin attempt. Raven's two Henchmen come down to the ring. Raven hits a DDT on Page. Erik Watts jumps into the ring. Watts asks the Henchmen to get in the ring. Both of the men jump into the ring and are taken out by Watts. Page is back on his feet and tries to thank Watts for helping him out. Watts clotheslines Page and knocks him down. Tenay and West freak out over why Watts did what he did. Watts picks up Page and sets him up for a chokeslam, but Page kicks out of it and hits a Diamond Cutter on him. Raven now back up and works on Page. He tries another DDT, but Page reverses it and hits the Diamond Cutter on Raven. Page pins Raven for the win. Good match. It's good to see Page is still in ring shape. I hope he sticks around.

We see a hidden camera shot in a dressing room. "Vince and Triple H" are in there. Traci comes in and offers them some cookies. Vince knocks the cookies out of her hand and says this is how all of this started in the first place. Triple H tries to eat the cookies off the floor. Vince screams that he wants to see Dusty Rhodes.

A video of the Petey Williams and Chris Sabin feud is shown.

(6) Petey Williams pinned Chris Sabin to retain the X Division title. This is how the X Division should be presented every time out. A fantastic match. Both men try holds on each other, but they are reversed back and forth. Williams misses a clothesline on Sabin and Sabin hits him with a dropkick to the back of the head. Williams rolls to the ring apron. He tries to come back in, but is caught by Sabin as he sets up for the Cradle Shock. Williams hangs onto the ropes and sends Sabin over the ropes, to the floor. Williams is thrown back in the ring, but comes back out, over the ropes and hits a huracanrana on Sabin to the floor. Sabin gets back up and hits a powerbomb type throw on Williams into the steel guardrail outside. Very cool�move. Sabin hits a flying body- press onto Williams from the crowd, back to ringside. Another nice move. Sabin throws Williams back into the ring. Sabin tries to suplex him over the ropes to the floor, but Williams hangs on and drops Sabin onto the ropes, throat first. Scott D'Amore works over Sabin and throws him into the ring. Williams hits a huge spike DDT on Sabin. Williams takes it to the mat and works on Sabin. Williams hits him with chops, dropkicks and submission moves. Williams climbs to the top rope, but Sabin catches him and throws him off with an overhead suplex. Sabin and Williams trade shots. Sabin hits Williams with a bicycle kick to the head. Sabin picks up Williams and hits a running powerbomb on him. Sabin goes to the top rope, but Williams knocks him�off and hangs him upsidedown on the ropes. Williams attempts a baseball slide to the face of Sabin, but Sabin reaches up and grabs the ropes as Williams slides out to the floor. Sabin turns up, gets to the top�and hits a somersault on Williams outside to the floor. Sabin throws Williams back in the ring. Williams comes back and hits a backbreaker on Sabin and tries for his Canadian Destroyer. Sabin reverses it and tries for a pin, but Sabin kicks out. Williams quickly grabs Sabin and puts him in a loosely held Sharpshooter. Sabin gets to the ropes, thus breaking the hold. Sabin and Williams are both on the top rope. Williams tries to hit the Canadian Destroyer from the top, but Sabin holds onto the ropes and hits a reverse headscissors/powerslam combination (don't ask) . Sabin immediately picks up Williams and hits a sweet sitdown piledriver. Sabin goes for the pin, but Williams kicks out. Sabin sets up for the Cradle Shock, but Scott D'Amore grabs a hold of Williams feet. Sabin drops Williams and turns his attention to D'Amore. On the other side of the ring, Williams puts on a pair of taped brass knuckles. Sabin comes over to grab Williams and Williams hits him with his fist. Sabin falls to the mat and Williams covers him for the pin, to retain his X Division championship. It was a weak way to finish up such a great bout, but it doesn't take away anything from the overall, amazing match. This match is truly, one for the books.

We see a Senior TNA Official go to the dressing room of "Vince and Triple H". It's a "little person" for all of you politically correct folks and Vince reacts with a "gimmie a break". The "little person" kicks Vince in the leg as he falls to the floor. He then hits him with the cookie tray and then leaves the room.

We cut to a video package of the "Kings of Wrestling". They show footage of their reign of terror throughout the past month and the TNA wrestlers that are trying to stop them.

(7) Randy Savage & A.J. Styles & Jeff Hardy defeated Jeff Jarrett & Scott Hall & Kevin Nash. Right off the bat, Macho Man was nowhere to be seen except in the final two minutes of the match. This was a bad move, as he was the selling point of the PPV. I don't know what happened as to why he wasn't in the entire match, but this was inexcusable, no matter what the "problem" may have been with Savage. The "Kings of Wrestling" came out in their "Elvis" jumpsuits. They looked either hilarious or stupid, depending on how you looked at it. I thought it was hilarious. It was a three on two match from the beginning. Still no Savage as he was "kidnapped" earlier. Jarrett and Styles start off. Jarrett takes control early. Styles hits a dropkick on Jarrett. Jarrett tags out to Hall. Hall works on Styles. Styles throws Hall into the corner and asks for Nash to come in. Nash comes in and throws around Styles. Styles comes back and hits Nash with a dropkick. Jarrett and Hall come in and are also met with a drop- kick by Styles. Styles tags in Hardy. Hardy hits a double-dropkick from the top rope on Hall and Jarrett. Hardy also takes Nash down. Nash hits Hardy with the boot to the face. Jarrett back in. Jarrett works on Hardy. Hall now in and he also works over Hardy. Nash is tagged in by Hall. They continue to tag in and out as they work over Hardy. Hardy manages to kick Hall and make the tag to Styles. Hall also makes the tag to Jarrett. Styles, once again, takes out all three men. Styles climbs the ropes and as he's about to spring off them, Nash takes out his legs from under him, sending him bouncing off the ropes to the mat. All three men now work over Styles again. Styles did manage to make the tag to Hardy, but the referee didn't see it. The beating on Styles continues. Jarrett and Styles go at it. Styles finally makes the tag to Hardy, who comes in and hits�his reverse legkick on Jarrett. Hardy hits a Stunner on Jarrett. Hall jumps in and takes on Styles. Hardy pins Jarrett, but as the referee is counting, he is pulled out of the ring by Nash and punched. Styles baseball slides into Nash, sending him to the floor. Styles goes out and fights with Nash. In the ring, Hardy climbs the ropes, but is hit with a guitar shot by Hall. Hardy still falls onto Jarrett as he was trying to set up for the Swanton Bomb. Styles cross-bodyblocks Hall over the top rope to the floor. We still don't have a referee. As everyone is laid out, Randy Savage finally makes his way out to the ring. WOW, is he ever bald!! He is tagged in by Hardy. He takes out Jarrett, Nash and then Hall. A new referee is now out. Savage reverses a sleeperhold on Jarrett. Hardy and Styles jump on the backs of Hall and Nash and also put them in sleeperholds. Jarrett gets out of the sleeper and goes off the ropes and attempts a sunset flip on Savage. Savage blocks it and punches Jarrett in the face and then grabs his leg and folds him up for the pin. I guess you could say that this match wasn't that bad, but with Savage being a "no-show" right until the end, I'm sure it left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths. The match was barely passable, but it was what I expected going into it anyway. I'm glad this wasn't the match to close the show.

Outside the studio, we see "Vince and Triple H". Vince is being put into an ambulance as Triple H runs in�saying, "Daddy, I didn't find the tape." Classic. As the ambulance is pulling away, you can hear Triple H screaming, "Daddy, what do want me to do." This was a very good running gag throughout the night. Whether or not it has any, no pun intended, impact on WWE or it's fans, is the million dollar question. We'll have to wait and see if WWE responds to this in any way.

A promo piece for the next TNA PPV is shown. It's called Final Resolution and it is to be broadcast on January 16, 2005.

We now see the WWE video. This video was made at Universal Studios while WWE was filming their commercial for the Royal Rumble in January. For TNA not be sued and allowed them to show it, they had to black out all WWE employees that were caught on camera. They show Shane Douglas, Traci, Abyss and the 3 Live Kru walking up to the WWE shoot. They try to get some food and talk to whoever they could with. Most of the people scatter, but some people do stick around to talk with them. Most notably, Rey Mysterio. Although you couldn't see his face, you could tell it was him by his tattoos. After all the WWE staff ran into hiding, the TNA staff made fun of them as the video came to an end. This was the biggest overreaction to anything I've ever seen. If the WWE was afraid of this footage being shown, they had better close their doors now because there was nothing in here that made them look bad. It was all in fun.

The history between America's Most Wanted and Triple X is shown. They show their original cage match, which I couldn't believe was already a year and a half ago, as well as some of the other encounters they have had. The piece ended with, "for one of these teams, tonight, will be their final turning point." Those few words added a great deal of importance to the match.

(8) America's Most Wanted defeated Triple X in the six sides of steel cage match. Triple X will never be able to tag up again. Erase any and all memories of the last PPV match between these two teams. This match was incredible. Christopher Daniels and James Storm start off the match. They eventually tag out to their partners, PrimeTime and Chris Harris. AMW double team Daniels and throw him face first into the cage. Daniels is busted open heavily, early on. Storm continues to throw Daniels into the cage. Harris is tagged in by Storm and he is double-teamed by PrimeTime and Daniels, after Daniels makes it to his corner. Daniels and PrimeTime both work over Harris with tags. Harris comes back and puts PrimeTime into the cage. PrimeTime tags out to Daniels and Harris tags out to Storm. Storm sets up for the Death Sentence, but is kicked out of it by Daniels. Harris jumps off the ropes and splashes Daniels. Harris throws PriemTime into the corner, but he hangs on to the rope. Harris runs at PrimeTime, but he ducks and sends Harris up and into the cage. Harris is now bleeding. PrimeTime handcuffs Harris to the corner. Daniels holds the key to the handcuffs. Both Daniels and PrimeTime double-team Storm. They taunt Harris with the key and then turn around and rake it across the face of Storm. Daniels and PrimeTime throw Storm into the cage. Storm is now bleeding. Daniels rams the head of Storm into the cage repeatedly. Daniels climbs to the top rope and hits the elbow on Storm as he was being held by PrimeTime. Daniels climbs the ropes again. PrimeTime is holding Storm. Daniels tries a clothesline, but Storm ducks out of the way and hits PrimeTime instead. Storm runs off the ropes and spears Daniels to the mat. The key has fallen out of the hands of Daniels. Storm grabs the key and throws it to Harris. Harris unlocks himself from the handcuffs. Harris takes out both Daniels and PrimeTime. They pair off as Harris rams Daniels head into the cage over and over. Storm suplexes PrimeTime into the cage facefirst. Harris hold Daniels up and suplexes him on two sides of the cage. Daniels and PrimeTime double-team Harris with a top- rope bodypress. Storm hits a neckbreaker on PrimeTime. Storm throws Daniels and PrimeTime into the cage. Harris hits a lariat on PrimeTime. Daniels back up and he and PrimeTime throw Harris into the cage. Triple X set up to do AMW's finisher, the Death Sentence. They hit it and go for the pin, but Harris kicks out. PrimeTime climbs to the top of the cage. Storm grabs him and powerbombs him from the top of the cage to the mat. Awesome spot. Daniels climbs to the top of the cage as Harris follows him. Harris is sitting on top of the cage, trying to kick Daniels off, who is now below him. PrimeTime climbs up the cage and tries to get his footing. He finds his grip and proceeds to walk across the top of the cage and hits a huracanrana on Harris from the top of the cage to the mat. Simply amazing spot. Yes, it was that good! Daniels then jumps off the top of the cage and hits an elbow drop on Harris below. All four men are now laying on the mat and rightfully so. Daniels goes to the top of the cage, but Storm catches him. PrimeTime tries to bring Storm down with a powerbomb. Harris gets up and grabs PrimeTime. All four men come crashing down to the mat in a sort of suplex/powermomb/totem pole type move. It was a little sloppy, but it still looked painful. Harris is the first to his feet and he takes on PrimeTime. Harris goes for the Catatonic, but PrimeTime reverses it and both men send each other into the cage. Daniels is now up and hits Storm with headbutts. Storm and Daniels are on the top rope. Daniels kicks Storm off as Daniels continues to walk across the ropes. Harris comes in and spears Daniels in the stomach, sending him to the mat. Harris now handcuffs Daniels to the ropes. PrimeTime tries to take on both men by himself, but is taken down with a superkick to the face by Storm. AMW give the sign to use Triple X's finisher, the Powerplex. They set up PrimeTime and hit the Powerplex. Storm covers PrimeTime for the win in an incredible match. Triple X must now split up, never to tag again in TNA. This match was a spectacle. Insane bumps. Great wrestling. Pace and action. It had it all. I wouldn't say that it's worth the price of the PPV (and I don't consider any one match to ever be the price for a PPV, no matter what company it is) , but it did take up a large chunk of it's worth.

Mike Tenay and Don West argue that this is the best match they've ever seen and that history was made tonight. I don't know if I'd go that far, but it was definitely a strong show once again from TNA.

Overall, the pacing was once again good of all the matches presented and the real only downer was the "bonus" six man tag match. It had some real good bouts, Sabin and Williams, Raven and DDP and of course the cage match. The "Kings of Wrestling" versus Hardy, Styles and Savage was okay, but as I said earlier, they should be apologizing for the "lack" of Randy Savage in that match. I wouldn't rate this show as high as the last PPV, but it's not that bad either. I'll score this month's show a 7.5 out of 10.

On a personal note, this will be my last TNA PPV report for the Torch. I have recently landed a new job with better pay and more hours, so I won't have the time to do this again. In the past, I've always had Monday's off, so that�in the�time it takes to do these up, it didn't really come into play. Now with this new schedule, I cannot dedicate myself to it and I didn't want to promise something, that I may not have been able to produce.

I would like to thank Wade Keller for taking me on and giving me the chance to show everyone what I have to offer, not only as a wrestling fan, but as�writer as well. Without Wade, I would still be on my WGB message board, trying to spread the word of TNA. I will take all that I have learned from him and others as well (Zen) and use it to further myself, both personally and professionally. I thank everyone who did enjoy reading my reports and one day I hope to return to the Torch and continue to do what I've found to come and love. Writing.

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