NWA-TNA pay-per-view #36
March 12th, 2003
Live from Nashville, Tenn.
By Marc Donmoyer, Torch Team Contributor

Show opened with a recap of Erik Watts, David Flair, and Brian Lawler beating on Jeff Jarrett last week.

Jeff Jarrett was seen heading towards the SEX locker room calling out Watts. Security dragged Jeff Jarrett away.

I'm writing from the haze of an irritating head cold. I'm not in the best condition to mark out for Pro Wrestling excitement, but I'm fairly sure that's what's in store. This is my fourth show since I've been reviewing and I'm pretty excited to see what's going to happen. Each week I've assigned a value to this pricey television show, and each week they've come up short on my ten dollars. NWA-TNA has, however, managed to put on three solid entertaining PPVs, and never made me feel ripped off. I'd love to see NWA-TNA raise the bar tonight and make me, their viewer, a big winner. It's good to see the tag belts are finally going to be on the line, and there are some solid dudes in that match. I'm also thrilled that Raven and A.J. Styles are having a #1 contender's match, that's a main event in my book any day. I had the pleasure of seeing Raven main event USA's �March Madness� this weekend at the Elks Lodge. He and Sandman had us in the palm of their hand and I loved every minute of it. I've never been to an Indy show before and it was a very unique experience. I had a great time with my roommate, Mike. The only better live experience for Mike and I was this years �SummerSlam.� I'm sure it wasn't the best Indy show, but that didn't really matter to me. It was a whole lot of fun and I got to see many TNA stars in action, not to mention some guys I'd love to see on TNA, and I smiled the whole way through. That ticket cost me $20, the show was worth $38. I'm not feeling well so I'm going to be calling less moves and paying more attention tonight. It'll be a shorter review but I'll be sure to find out what it's worth.

Konnan was in the ring. He introduced his lucha team of the week as Damien & Halloween.

(1) Jerry Lynn & David Young defeated Damien & Halloween. Tenay said Lynn's partner was supposed to be Paul London, but London is sidelined with some nasty sickness. Konnan was on commentary and rather entertaining this week. Damien & Halloween weren't particularly exciting compared to recent lucha imports. Decent action in the ring before Konnan nailed Young on the outside with a drop kick to the knee. Young was injured and carried to the back. Damien and Halloween double teamed Jerry Lynn with a really lame swing into a stalled leg drop. In the blink of an eye Lynn rolled up one of the jobbers for three, essentially winning another handicap match. Konnan was livid that he forgot to teach his crew how to win any matches and yelled at them. Konnan and Lynn get into it and Konnan hits his rolling lariat. It seems all of this is leading to a Konnan-Jerry Lynn match and not some loftier purpose, but I guess we'll see.

Match Value: 75 cents. An okay match, nothing special.

Goldylocks was in the back walking with Erik Watts. Jeff Jarrett attacked Watts from behind but security dragged him off again.

Watts entered the arena to X-Pac heat and got plenty of un-Angle you sucks. Jarrett ran in with a bat and he and Watts attempt to have a bat fight. Security managed to catch that slippery Jarrett again and they broke it up. The security at the Asylum is not unlike the Keystone Cops.

Goldy was in the back with Kid Kash and Trinity. He put himself over as the X-division champion and said tonight he'll knock them down two by one instead of one by one. Amazing Red came into the shot and said Kash wouldn't be champ if it wasn't for Trinity. He told Kash Trinity should stay in the back tonight.

D-Lo Brown entered the ring to chants of �D-Lo.� As predictable as this was, it was still great to see D-Lo Brown come out to chants and look pumped. D-Lo said after getting that reception from the asylum he didn't care about the WWE. He said he used to be a huge up and comer but was shut down by backstage politics and told he wasn't a team player. He said he came to the TNA because they promised him that wasn't the case and it was a level playing field here. D-Lo assured us all he will be a huge superstar in TNA, like he always should have been. Good speech, effective segment, and not over done on the WWE stabs.

�Ace in the Hole� Sunny Siaki entered. I can only imagine what WWE's The Rock would do to Siaki's �Ace in the Hole� moniker if he ever feuded with him. Siaki extended his hand to Brown and offered for Brown to join SEX. It's not as if Brown should feel honored, as near as I can tell everyone gets invited to join SEX. They seem to be getting along but Brown says no thanks, he's doing this alone. Siaki references the D-Lo Brown racism angle from the WWE and called Brown one stupid� Brown didn't let him finish as he nailed Siaki with a Sky High and the Lo Down. The crowd cheered D-Lo as he exited and TNA girls shook their booty. D-Lo Bonus: 50 cents.

(2) Kid Kash (w/Trinity) defeated Johnny Storm and Amazing Red to retain the X-Division Title. A good match that didn't quite click at all times. Storm had some good moves in the beginning including an inverted suplex on Red. A really cool early spot had Storm huracanrana Red into Kash's waiting arms who slammed Red with an awesome powerbomb. Storm hit an inverted huracanrana from the top on Red. During the match West and Tenay kept calling for replays that never showed up. They commentated as if I was seeing a replay, but I wasn't. Amidst this they were apologizing for last weeks technical problems and giving props to the production team's resourcefulness. It was kind of sad. This is PPV, fine: 75 cents. Kid Kash hit a flipping Van Daminator drop kick that made we wish we did have replay. Kash hit a double release German suplex on both challengers as they were tied up on the ropes. Again, there was no replay.Red had Storm on the mat but hit a plancha to the outside on Kash instead. Trinity went for a top rope moonsault to the outside on Red and barely hit him. Storm dove from the ring but Trinity took the shot for Kash. Kash and Storm were alone in the ring. Kash hit a moonsault cross body but Storm kicked. Storm and Kash had a really awkward minute on two different turnbuckles with some serious sloppiness. I think Storm even hit a move he calls the rewind but either it's a mental attack or he missed. Finish came as Kash hit a running Money Maker on the debuting Storm for the pin. Amazing Red attacked Trinity after the match but Kash knocked him down.

Match Value: $1.25. A fun X-Title match again. Nothing to special and it was rather sloppy at points. Storm did fine on his debut.

Goldy was in the SEX locker room with Sunny Siaki. Goldy asked Siaki why SEX didn't get his back why D-Lo was beating him down. Siaki said to ask them, notably upset. Mike Sanders entered and he and Siaki started brawling. Glen Gilberti broke it up and got everyone's attention. Gilberti cut a really good speech motivating SEX and saying they had to get it together and start winning. He came off like a leader and I really liked his work. It sold me, and I was interested to see what SEX was going to do about it. The scene closed as the Harris brothers took a really long dramatic pause and said: if anyone has a problem with what Gilberti said talk to us.

(3) The Harris Brothers (Ron & Don) defeated Sandman & Steve Corino. Match ended in about 30 seconds as the Harris Brothers double teamed Corino, and hit the H-bomb. This happened while Sandman was still doing his really long entrance through the crowd. This was a very clever way to have the Harris Brothers snag a win. I doubt it would have been much of a match anyway. After the pin Sandman & Corino brawled with The Harris Brothers. Corino & Sandman just couldn't get it together and The Harris Brothers crushed them.

Match Value: 75 cents. I liked how they booked the whole segment, despite the lack of good action.

Goldy was in the back with Mike Sanders. Sanders said he was the man and only had an A game. Gilberti enters and tells Sanders he isn't all that. Gilberti tells Sanders he needs to prove himself and stop acting like he's something. Gilberti then told Holly Wood she needed to do the same tonight, prove herself.

Dusty Rhodes entered. He called out the new generation (Watts, Lawler, and Flair). Lawler and Flair come out and Rhodes lectures them. He tells them how much better their fathers were and tells Flair he's an a-hole just like his dad. Dusty called Lawler king of nothing. Rhodes gave them both an atomic elbow before getting double teamed. D-Lo Brown ran in and saved Rhodes. Watts joined the party and Rhodes and Brown were getting beat down. The new generation got routed out of the ring as Jarrett made the final run in.

Solid America's Most Wanted Video aired.

(4) �Hacksaw� Duggan defeated Mike Sanders. Sanders said he was dedicating this match to Vince Russo. His mystery opponent turned out to be Duggan, and Sanders looked horrified. Mike Tenay and Don West really tried to get Duggan over. The crowd was really into him and it was pretty fun all things considered. Still a pretty lame match with Duggan punching, and Sanders selling like crazy. Finish came as Sanders missed a second rope moonsault and took a clothesline from Duggan for the pin.

Match Value: 50 cents. Duggan was funny. Bonus: 25 cents.

Goldy interviewed A.J. Styles in the general vicinity of Raven's Nest (everyone watch your head). Goldy looks annoyed and disgusted all at the same time. I can't wait till she attempts the pensive look some day. Styles called out Raven, Raven approached, Styles winged a chair at him. The Harris Brothers pull Raven back and tell him to wait.

Recap of the vacant title story.

(5) Triple X(Chris Daniels & Low Ki)(w/Elix Skipper) defeated America's Most Wanted (James Storm & Chris Harris) to become NWA-TNA Tag Team Champions. Good tag match. Triple X waited for the last second to announce which two of the three would be competing in the match. Harris was all over Daniels and hit a solid nelson slam but Daniels kicked. Harris hit a running powerslam on Daniels but Low Ki broke up the pin. America's Most Wanted hit the death sentence on Daniels but Low Ki pulled out the ref. Skipper interfered and chaos ensued. Skipper took a super kick from storm when he tried to bring in a chair. Harris had Daniels in the sharpshooter and Daniel's tapped but the ref was bumped. Harris hit the Catatonic,but their was no ref. Triple X were trying to use the belt as a weapon but America's Most Wanted kept fighting it off. Finish came as Low Ki eventually nailed Harris with the belt and Daniels got the pin on Harris. I'm fairly in the last third of this match anyone was allowed to pin anyone, at least it appeared that way.

Match Value: $1.75. A lot of build up to a good tag match. Not amazing, but good.

Siaki and D-Low were brawling in the parking lot. Jeff Jarrett came to Brown's aid and scared off Siaki.

Glen Gilberti and Holly Wood were in the ring. Gilberti has been way over with me this show, but this was a little much. He started ranting about TNA fans wanting T and A. He said Russo's vision was to take SEX out of Nashville and to Hollywood. He asked who wanted to come out and fight Holly Wood and show some T and A. He told Athena she wasn't worth a nickel (has Gilberti been reading my columns? Har). The crowd chanted for lollipop to come out of her dancing cage. They got their wish, and I mean they got their wish. Lollipop came out and she and Holly Wood started rolling around. Half of Lollipop's chest was exposed during the brawl in what I perceived to be an accident as she covered up. Then Holly Wood went ahead and tore off Lollipop's top as Lollipop attacked Wood bare breasted. Jeremy Borash covered her up relatively quickly, but there was some serious nudity. I'm surprised they went this route; on the other hand this is PPV. I have Cinemax, a girlfriend, etc., so this isn't something I need to see in a wrestling show. I'm not that offended though, as viewers also have to expect blood violence and swearing on TNA. This is a PPV and they want to keep and get viewers to pay money. From a marketing stand point this is an edge they have to cash in on. I'll probably get flack for this, bonus: $0.50.

(6) A.J. Styles and Raven wrestled to a no decision. Entertaining main event with a tease finish. Jarrett was on commentary. Styles went for a very early Styles Clash and Raven slipped away. A sick spot came as Styles tried to spring board off the barricade but got crotched something awful. Raven taunted Jarrett on the outside. The ref went to reprimand Jarrett and Raven nailed Styles with a chair. Styles was bleeding very early. Jarrett talked as Raven had Styles in a sleeper. Styles got momentum and hit Raven with a reverse ddt. Raven kicked. Styles attempted a springboard huracanrana but Raven sit down powerbombed him. Styles tried to pin Raven several times after a super kick, a head scissors takedown, and a ddt. Styles attempted a crossbody to the outside but Raven sort of got his knees up. Raven went for a chair on the outside but Jarrett got involved. Security, just now figuring out where the wily Jarrett had gotten to, dragged Jarrett away. Styles missed Raven with a missile drop kick and bumped the ref. Raven hit an Evenflow ddt and a new ref came in for the count but Styles kicked. The second ref got bumped as Styles hit the Styles Clash. The original ref counted but now Raven kicked. Finish came as Raven and Styles collided. Raven hit Styles with the chair as Styles kicked Raven. They were both down with arms over each other and both refs made a count. Show closed as they're debating who really won the match.

Match Value: $1.75.

Total Value: $7.75

Marc digs feedback. He wants to know how much you thought it was worth. Drop him a note at MDonmoyer@PWTorch.com

We suggest these recent related articles...

KELLER’S WWE MSG SPECIAL REPORT 10/3: Lesnar vs. Big Show, Cena vs. Seth in a cage, Jericho vs. Owens in an IC Title match, Dudleys vs. New Day for tag titles

McNEILL's Late Night Deadblog - WWE Night of Champions: Bucklebombs, Light-up Jackets, Poachers, IcoPro, Eddie, more!

KELLER’S WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS PPV REPORT 9/20: Ongoing “virtual time” coverage of event including Sting vs. Seth, Cena vs. Seth, Ryback vs. Owens, mystery partner with Reigns & Ambrose, Divas Title, Tag Title, more